StemCell Therapy

Walk to Cure Arthritis Welcomes Ridgefields Dr. Sanjay Gupta of

Orthopaedic Specialists of Connecticut as Event Chair

Chuckie Namiot Of Ridgefield, diagnosed with Juvenille Arthritis in 2011, will show his Zest for Life at the Event

The Arthritis Foundation announced that Ridgefield-resident Sanjay Gupta, M.D. of Orthopaedic Specialists of Connecticut has been named the corporate chair of the 2017 Danbury Walk to Cure Arthritis, which will take place on Sunday April 30, 2107. As chair, Dr. Gupta will provide leadership in helping the event reach its fundraising goal of $75,000.

Dr. Gupta is a long-time Arthritis Foundation advocate and volunteer, and was chosen as the 2017 Walk to Cure Arthritis chair because of his strong leadership skills, passion for helping others and dedication to removing the burden of arthritis from local communities.

The majority of my day-to-day professional life is dedicated to helping people and their families deal with arthritic pain, said Dr. Gupta. The pain of arthritis may not be visible but it is incredibly real and the # 1 cause of disability in America. More must be done to help.

Chuckie Namiot, a 13 year old from Ridgefield deals with that pain on a daily basis. He was first diagnosed with Juvenile Arthritis in 2011 and will participate in the Walk to Cure Arthritis with his team named Chuckie is Awesome. Despite the daily challenges that he faces from his illness, he continues to show a zest for life that has always been his signature trait. Even with the pain Chuckie endures, he is a driven competitor in sports. Cycling has become his passion. In 2014 he received a silver medal in the Connecticut State Time Trial. In the past, he has been involved in youth wrestling and football. Chuckie is known for his empathetic nature. Regardless of how his body feels, he would rather make others feel better than worry about himself. There is no doubt that trait will serve him well in the future when he plans to become a Pediatric Rheumatologist to help others like him.

The Arthritis Foundations Walk to Cure Arthritis is an annual, nationwide fundraising event focused on accelerating the search for a cure and building a better life for the 50 million Americans, including 300,000 children, living with this painful and debilitating disease. In Connecticut more than 663,000 adults and an estimated 3,400 children have arthritis the nations leading cause of disability.

Dr. Gupta is an orthopedic surgeon with Orthopaedic Specialists of Connecticut and widely recognized as one of the top joint replacement surgeons in the state. He is currently the chief of orthopedics at Danbury Hospital. He completed a two-year fellowship at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York and specializes in hip and knee disorders and joint replacement. The physicians at Orthopaedic Specialists of Connecticut trained at the top hospitals and universities in the country. Recent data shows that they have the best surgical outcomes in the area. Dr. Gupta and his family reside in Ridgefield.

The Walk to Cure Arthritis is nationally sponsored by Amgen.

About the Arthritis Foundation

The Arthritis Foundation (Arthritis.org) is the Champion of Yes. Leading the fight for the arthritis community, the Foundation helps conquer everyday battles through life-changing information and resources, access to optimal care, advancements in science and community connections. The Arthritis Foundations goal is to chart a winning course, guiding families in developing personalized plans for living a full life and making each day another stride towards a cure. The Foundation also publishes Arthritis Today, the award-winning magazine that reaches 4 million readers per issue.

Photo: Dr. Sanjay Gupta

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Walk to Cure Arthritis is Sunday, April 30 - HamletHub

Treatment

The Stem Cell treatment performed at our clinics is a painless medical procedure where Stem Cells (cellular building blocks) are usually administered intravenously and subcutaneously (under the skin). The whole procedure takes approximately one hour and has no known negative side effects.

Following the treatment, the Fetal Stem Cells will travel throughout the body, detecting damaged cells and tissue and attempts to restore them. The Fetal Stem Cells can also stimulate existing normal cells and tissues to operate at a higher level of function, boosting the bodys own repair mechanisms to aid in the healing process. These highly adaptive cells then remain in the body, continually locating and repairing any damage they encounter.

As with any medical treatment, safety should be of the highest priority. The Stem Cells used in our treatment undergo extensive screening for possible infection and impurities.

Utilizing tests more sophisticated than those regularly used in the United States for Stem Cell research and transplant. Our testing process ensures we use only the healthiest cells to enable the safest and most effective Fetal Stem Cell treatment possible. And, unlike other types of Stem Cells, there is no danger of the bodys rejection of Fetal Stem Cells due to the fact they are immune privileged. This means that you can give the cells to any patient without matching, use of immunosuppressive drugs and without rejection. This unique quality eliminates the need for drugs used to suppress the immune system, which can leave a patient exposed to serious infections.

With over 3000 patients treated, Stem Cell Of America has achieved positive results with a wide variety of illnesses, conditions and injuries. Often, in cases where the diseases continued to worsen, our patients have reported substantial improvements following the Stem Cell treatment.

Patients have experienced favorable developments such as reduction or elimination of pain, increased strength and mobility, improved cognitive function, higher tolerance for chemotherapy, and quicker healing and recovery.

To view follow up letters from patients, please visit the patient experiences page on our website.

All statements, opinions, and advice on this page is provided for educational information only. It is not a substitute for proper medical diagnosis and care. Like all medical treatments and procedures, results may significantly vary and positive results may not always be achieved. Please contact us so we may evaluate your specific case.

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Breakthrough Stem Cell Treatments, Stem Cell Therapy ...

Thursday, April 20, 2017 5:03 p.m. EDT

By Will Boggs MD

(Reuters Health) - For people with type 2 diabetes, maintaining good blood sugar control in the years after receiving a coronary artery stent is associated with a lower risk of heart attack and stroke, according to a recent study.

Although intensive glucose control had no benefit on the rate of major cardiovascular events in previous studies, our data suggest that strict glucose control after PCI (heart catheterization) can improve long-term clinical outcomes in diabetic patients, Dr. Joo-Yong Hahn from Samsung Medical Center in Seoul told Reuters Health.

Heart disease is the major cause of death among people with type 2 diabetes, Hahns team writes in Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions. Although intensive blood sugar control is known to reduce damage to tiny blood vessels that are involved in many of the nerve and circulatory effects of diabetes, its not clear if the same is true for major arteries such as the ones that carry blood to the heart.

The researchers studied 980 patients with type 2 diabetes who had undergone percutaneous cardiac intervention (PCI) to clear a blocked coronary artery and place a supportive mesh tube known as a stent. Hahns team followed the patients health for up to seven years.

They looked at long-term blood sugar control using a measurement known as hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c or A1C), and used it to compare the patients risks of death, heart attack, repeat catheterizations and stroke over the study period.

The researchers defined good control as an A1C score below 7.0 and poor control as A1C of 7.0 or higher. Then they matched patients according to other risk factors and ended up with 322 pairs of patients for comparison.

In the overall group of 980 patients, the risk of all bad outcomes was 25 percent lower with good blood glucose control than with poor blood glucose control.

In the matched comparison, some 37 percent of patients with poor control had bad outcomes (heart attack, stroke, and so on) over the next seven years, versus less than 28 percent of patients with good control. Most of the difference in bad outcomes between the groups resulted from a higher rate of repeat stenting in the group with poor blood glucose control.

PCI is not the end of treatment for coronary artery disease, Hahn said by email. Optimal medical treatment, including glycemic control, is a cornerstone therapy after PCI, he said.

The effects of glucose control in type 2 diabetes may differ according to patient characteristics, such as recent cardiovascular events, baseline glycemic control status and duration of diabetes, Hahn added.

The researchers write that more study is needed before they can conclude strict glucose control after stenting will improve long-term clinical outcomes in people with diabetes.

Its important to underscore the message of good glycemic control, said Dr. Azfar G. Zaman from Newcastle University in the UK. He was not involved in the study but has done similar research. In patients with PCI there is evidence to support better outcomes and need for fewer interventions, Zaman said by email.

This is a single center study with limited numbers, but the findings support data from other studies, he noted.

SOURCE: http://bit.ly/2pjU0al Circulation: Cardiovascular Interventions, online April 3, 2017.

View post:
Diabetes control tied to heart stent outcomes - WHTC

by Delaine Mathieu, News 4 San Antonio

Good 4 You: Mental fitness for diabetes

There's a unique new therapy group in San Antonio designed to help people living with diabetes cope with the disease. It's called Mental Fitness for Diabetes. The goal of the program is to help treat mental side-effects that come along with diabetes. "I remember when I was diagnosed with diabetes," said Sarah Villegas. "March 31 for 2016. So, it's been a year."

The 71-year-old registered nurse was completely surprised when she was diagnosed with type two diabetes. "When the doctor came in and showed me my lab results," she explained. "I looked at the paper and I said, are you kidding me?"

Villegas lost seventeen pounds and got her condition under control. When she heard about this new mental fitness group, she was pleasantly surprised. "Never in my 49 years as a registered nurse -- to combine diabetes, a major chronic illness with a major mental health illness, which is chronic, and put them together -- that is an awesome concept," she said.

Valerie Moczgemba, with Alamo Wellness Group, will be running the sessions. "A lot of times, people who have been diagnosed with diabetes experience depression anxiety," she said. "There also may be anger or irritability. She said they'll be focusing on disease management and how mental health symptoms play into disease management.

Villegas says it's high time a treatment like this is made available for people with diabetes. "It cannot be ignored," she said. "We need to address their physical health issues as well as the mental issues. They both go hand-in-hand."

April 30th is the last day to register. If you're interested in signing up, go to alamowellnessgroup.com.

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Good 4 You: Mental fitness for diabetes - WOAI

by Zack Hedrick, Fox San Antonio

Researchers discover technique that could lead to diabetes cure

SAN ANTONIO Doctors in San Antonio have made a breakthrough discovery which could mean a potential cure for people with diabetes.

Tom Mathieu is a fanatical bike rider.

He believes he's pedaled more than 20,000 miles since he began riding in his early thirties.

He started riding because of a condition he was diagnosed with as a teenager.

Doctors told me it'd be a miracle that you see 60," said Mathieu.

Mathieu is a type 1 diabetic and his doctors tell him his body produces zero insulin.

He and his doctors believe his bike riding has helped keep his diabetes in check.

Well I'm 73 and I've had [diabetes] since I was 14," said Mathieu.

Researchers at UT Health San Antonio have discovered a strategy that could mean a cure.

It's a game changer, said Dr. Bruno Doiron. It change drastically the life of a patient that's diabetic."

Using a technique called gene transfer, doctors can alter other cells so they start to secrete insulin but only in response to sugar.

"Im using already what's naturally in your body," said Dr. Doiron.

The University Health System says diabetes is the 4th leading cause of death in Bexar County.

Mathieu calls the potential therapy revolutionary.

He says diabetes is a condition that requires discipline, but says this discovery would give a lot of freedom back to people dealing with diabetes.

People won't be burdened by what diabetes causes and then the cost of those causes, said Mathieu. I think it's miraculous."

Doctors say the therapy has cured diabetes in mice for one year without any side effects, which has never been done.

The goal is to conduct large-animal studies and human clinical trials in the next three to five years.

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Link:
Researchers discover technique that could lead to diabetes cure - FOX 29

CARSON CITY Patients and family members of those who suffer from diabetes shared stories of struggle and heartbreak Wednesday and urged support for a bill to rein in the escalating costs of diabetes medication.

Bonnie Sedich knows the pain all too well. Four of her five children were diagnosed with juvenile diabetes. There was no family history. Two children died when in adulthood. Two others live with the disease.

One son, Jeffrey, was diagnosed at age 3. His body was found in a rural California region in 1981, a bottle of insulin by his side. He died at 19.

Another daughter, Elizabeth, was diagnosed when she was 8. She died in November at 51 of complications from the disease. Over the years, the cost of her drugs skyrocketed from about $10 a bottle to more than $300. Toward the end, she was paying more than $2,100 a month if she could afford it, Sedich said.

If you cant afford your diabetes medications then you just suffer and die, Sedich said.

She and others spoke at a press conference to urge support for Senate Bill 265. Sponsored by state Sen. Yvanna Cancela, D-Las Vegas, the bill would establish a list of insulin-related diabetic products to be treated as essential medications. It also would create a refund when insulin costs exceed the medical consumer price index.

The bill would require drug makers to divulge how prices are set, including the cost of medications, as well as amounts spent on marketing and research. It would set registration and reporting requirements on pharmaceutical sales representatives.

Diabetes is a serious disease that affects people for a lifetime, Cancela said. Medical costs are twice as high for people with diabetes.

Deadly and common

Diabetes is the eighth-leading cause of death in Nevada, where 12.4 percent of adults have the disease and 38 percent are pre-diabetic, she said.

Senate Majority Leader Aaron Ford, D-Las Vegas, is one of those who have been determined to be pre-diabetic. He said he received he diagnosis about a year ago.

Diabetes has become one of the largest public health crises in our time, and the medication to treat this disease must be affordable and accessible, he said. In this time of crisis, we have to come together.

Keyonna Lawrence said she was diagnosed as diabetic three years ago. A personal care assistant, she tries to control the disease through diet, and she stretches mediations when she can afford it by taking a half-dose.

My biggest fear is my 11-year-old son is going to wake up, say, Mom? and Moms as cold as ice, Lawrence said.

SB265 was granted an exemption and waiver from deadlines and remains pending in the Senate.

Contact Sandra Chereb at schereb@reviewjournal.com or 775-461-3821. Follow @SandraChereb on Twitter.

Sen. Yvanna Cancela, sponsor of Senate Bill 265, said diabetes care cost Nevadans about $2.4 billiion annually in medical costs.

Over the last 20 years, vials of the most commonn insulin products have gone from $17 to $138; and $21 to $255.

According to the American Diabetes Association, 281,355 people in Nevada, or 12.4 percent of the adult population, have diabetes. Another 787,000, or 38.5 percent of the adult population are pre-diabetic with blood glucose levels higher than normal.

Read more:
Family members of diabetes patients plead for law to limit ... - Las Vegas Review-Journal

By Alan Mozes

HealthDay Reporter

WEDNESDAY, April 19, 2017 (HealthDay News) -- People with type 1 diabetes face the risk of developing a disease that can cause blindness, so treatment guidelines have long called for annual eye exams.

But new research suggests this one-size-fits-all advice is costly and ineffective, because people with a low risk may need less-frequent screenings while people at high risk may need to be seen more often.

Diabetic retinopathy can damage the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye and trigger full vision loss, the researchers explained. Screening can catch this disease before irreparable damage is done, but not every person with diabetes faces the same risk.

"For example, patients with no or minimal eye changes and good blood sugar levels might not need their next examination for another four years," said study author Dr. David Nathan.

"On the other hand, if the patient already has developing eye disease and their blood sugar control has not been in the recommended range, they might need a repeat examination in as soon as three months," he added.

Nathan is the director of the Diabetes Center and Clinical Research Center at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston.

Current guidelines suggest getting an annual eye screening within three to five years of a type 1 diabetes diagnosis. People with type 1 diabetes cannot produce any insulin.

To assess that advice, the investigators focused on type 1 diabetics (aged 13 to 39) who had enrolled in a large, national diabetes trial between 1983 and 1989.

The latest analysis involved 24,000 eye exams conducted over 30 years among roughly 1,400 people with type 1 diabetes.

Retinal photographs were taken every six months until 1993, and then -- in a follow-up study -- once every four years until 2012. The study participants' vision, advanced retinopathy status and general diabetes history were tracked for an average of nearly 29 years.

The researchers determined that those participants who had an average blood sugar level of 6 percent, but no signs of retinopathy, could forgo the annual screening in favor of just one exam every four years. Similar people with mild retinopathy should be screened once every three years, the team concluded.

By contrast, those with severe or moderate retinopathy would do well to get screened every three to six months, respectively, the study authors reported.

People with higher blood sugar levels (8 to 10 percent) might also need to be screened more often, the researchers cautioned.

On average, the new recommendations for people with type 1 diabetes would likely cut the need for eye exams in half over a two-decade period. That would translate into an overall savings of $1 billion, while ensuring that those facing the highest risk got more timely treatment, the researchers said.

The findings were published in the April 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.

Nathan described the results as "definitive." However, he said the jury is still out as to "whether the individualized frequency of eye examinations will be implemented by physicians" and followed by people with type 1 diabetes.

"The risk is that physicians may find it easier to schedule an annual eye examination compared with the new individualized schedule, which may be more difficult for physicians and patients to remember," he acknowledged.

"However, most physicians and ophthalmology offices use computer programs -- including reminder programs -- for scheduling, so we think that this potential barrier should not be a substantial obstacle," Nathan added.

Courtney Cochran, senior manager of media relations for the American Diabetes Association (ADA), noted that the ADA issued updated guidelines for retinopathy screenings in February.

The new recommendations now state that people with type 1 diabetes should start annual screenings within five years of their diabetes diagnosis. But those who remain free of retinopathy for a year or two may "consider" the option of less-frequent exams.

However, the ADA also said that if and when "any level" of retinopathy is detected, annual screenings are a must, while those with progressing retinopathy will require even more frequent screenings.

Dr. Jamie Rosenberg, who wrote an editorial that accompanied the study, suggested the new recommendations reflect "a trend toward reducing unnecessary screening for eye diseases."

"The upside to this new screening protocol would be significant money saved for the health care system, in addition to time saved for both patients and doctors," said Rosenberg, who is an associate professor of clinical ophthalmology and visual sciences at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, in New York City.

Individualized schedules will make tracking patients more difficult, Rosenberg agreed. But, "this new screening protocol has great potential if adherence to the examination schedule could be assured."

WebMD News from HealthDay

SOURCES: David Nathan, M.D., director, Diabetes Center and Clinical Research Center, Massachusetts General Hospital, and professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston; Jamie Rosenberg, M.D., associate professor, clinical ophthalmology & visual sciences, and associate professor, clinical pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, and attending physician, Montefiore Health System, New York City; Courtney Cochran, senior manager, media relations, American Diabetes Association; April 20, 2017, New England Journal of Medicine

Read more:
Is Annual Eye Exam a Must for Type 1 Diabetes? - WebMD

On Thursday, Lodis Day 2 Day Diabetes Support Group will host a panel of experts on the illness, and the public is invited to attend.

Our support group is being flooded with question after question by the increasing number of people being recently diagnosed with diabetes, group founder Duane Simpfenderfer Sr. said. These type of question and answer sessions provide us with the best way to help people.

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Day 2 Day Diabetes Support Group to meet with experts on the illness - Lodi News-Sentinel

It takes remarkable drive and ambition for a young boy from the small east Nepalese village of Olangchungola with no running water or electricity to become one of the leading eye surgeons in Asia. Especially considering this village is a long four-day walk away from the nearest school. But after losing his 17-year-old sister to the tuberculosis, Ruit decided to focus on medicine to so other peoples lives arent destroyed by easily preventable and curable diseases.

In the Himalayas, like many other parts of the world, cataracts blindness is considered a natural part aging even though its completely preventable.

Dr. Geoffry Tabin is an ophthalmologist and close friend to Ruit. He told FoxNews.com, cataracts is a clouding of the crystalline lens, which is a small lens that focuses light that sits just behind the pretty colored part of the eye called the iris. In the western world, surgery can easily cure cataracts but those in the third world have to live with it and fall into blindness.

Typically, cataracts surgery involves removing the cloudy lens and replacing it with an artificial one called an intraocular lens. Ruit wanted to bring this procedure to the Himalayas. But, in order to do so the process had to be simplified and made more cost effective. His idea was to remove the expensive technology, make the process manual and somehow lower the cost of the intraocular lenses. To achieve this goal he created the Tilganga Eye Centre - now the Tilganga Institute of Ophthalmology - in 1994, in Kathmandu, Nepal.

The cost of these intraocular lenses at that time was over 200 dollars and that was almost impossible to provide that to people at the community level, Ruit told FoxNews.com. Ruit teamed up with ophthalmologist Dr. Fred Hollows to start making the lenses locally in Nepal. The approach worked. Within three years the costs per lens dropped dramatically to just three dollars.

With costs down and the simplification of the procedure, Ruit was able to provide over 100,000 cataract surgeries for just 25 dollars per procedure.

Using his efforts as groundwork, Ruit teamed up with Tabin to create the Himalayan Cataract Project whose aim is to focus on training and developing the infrastructure and techniques to end preventable blindness.

Weve been able to bring the amount of blindness in Nepal from 1 per hundred down to .28 percent, Tabin said. Their efforts and spreading to other parts of Asia and even Africa.

View original post here:
Doctors team up to stop preventable blindness - Fox News

An eye scan with Diabetic Retinopathy hemorrhages highlighted.

IBM on Thursday announced its latest breakthrough in combating eye disease, with new research methods that could help doctors diagnose and classify diabetic retinopathy (DR).

DR is a complication of diabetes and one of the leading causes of blindness in the US. Using deep learning and visual analytics technology, IBM researchers were able to classify the severity of patients' diabetic retinopathy (DR) with 86 percent accuracy.

The method takes just 20 seconds to identify and classify legions, which could help more doctors screen more patients. Currently, diabetes patients are screened for DR by an expert clinician, in an often manual and time-intensive process.

DR is classified into five severity levels (no DR; mild; moderate; severe; proliferative DR) based on the presence of lesions on the retina and damage to the retina's blood vessels.

IBM's new method for classifying the disease combines two analytics approaches -- convolutional neural networks (CNN) with a dictionary-based learning to incorporate DR specific pathologies.

The research results were presented at the IEEE's International Symposium on Biomedical Imaging this week in Melbourne.

The work builds on IBM Research's use deep learning techniques and image analytics technology to help diagnose a range eye diseases. IBM has invested heavily in using cognitive technology in the health care sector, with 12 research labs around the world focused on using medical imaging analysis for a range of diseases from eye disease to lung cancer and melanoma.

Read the original post:
IBM uses deep learning to better detect a leading cause of blindness - ZDNet

New Delhi: India has changed its over four-decade-old definition of blindness, bringing it in line with the WHO criteria, a step that would drastically bring down the number of people considered "blind" in the country.

According to the new definition, a person who is unable to count fingers from a distance of three metres would be considered "blind" as against the earlier stipulation of six metres, which was adopted in 1976.

The aim of revising the definition is also to be able to generate data which can be compared with global estimates and achieve the WHO goal of reducing the blindness prevalence of India to 0.3 per cent of the total population by 2020.The notification in this regard has been issued by the Union Health Ministry.

Going by the new definition, the population of blind people in India will reduce from 1.20 crore (as per National Blindness survey 2007 data) to 80 lakh."Because of the earlier definition, we were projecting a higher figure of blind people from India at any international forum, presenting ourselves in poor light.

Image used for representational purpose only.

"Also, the data that we generated under the programme could not be compared with the global estimates as other countries were following the WHO definition," said Dr Promila Gupta, Deputy Director General of National Programme for Control of Blindness (NPCB).

Further, India has to achieve the goal set by the WHO which recommends reducing the prevalence of blindness to 0.3 percent by 2020 to achieve the elimination of avoidable blindness.

"It would have been extremely difficult to achieve the WHO goal using the earlier NPCB definition since we had been addressing an extra 4 million (40 lakh) individuals blind due to refractive errors. Whereas, by adopting the blindness criteria of WHO, India now can achieve the goal," said Professor Praveen Vashist, in-charge Community Ophthalmology at Dr R P Centre for Ophthalmic Sciences, AIIMS.

Also, the name of the scheme, 'National Programme for Control of Blindness' has been changed to 'The National Programme for Control of Blindness and Visual Impairment'.

"The programme, henceforth, will not only focus on the blind persons but also those with some kind of visual impairment. With the change in nomenclature, the number of beneficiaries will now increase to 40 million," Dr Vashist added.

The previous definition of blindness was adopted at the time of the inception of the NPCB in 1976.

"The probable reason for keeping 6 metres as the cut off distance for defining blindness in India was to include economic blindness cases which referred to a level of blindness which prevents an individual to earn his or her wages.

"In contrast, the WHO definition adopts a criteria for blindness that is which hampers the routine social interaction of a person (social blindness)," Gupta said.

Read more:
India swaps 40-yr-old definition of blindness for WHO criteria: 40 lakh people will no longer be classified 'legally ... - Firstpost

Glaucoma is the worlds leading cause of irreversible blindness. And heartbreakingly, so many cases are preventable.

Glaucoma develops slowly over the years, often without any noticeable symptoms. It describes the build-up of pressure inside the eye that pushes against the optic nerve, causing permanent damage over time.

There is no cure, and any vision lost to glaucoma cannot be reversed. But a simple, regular eye examination can make an incredible difference. Early diagnosis can help prevent any additional damage, with eye drops, medication or surgery able to control the pressure.

The risk grows greater with age. At 60, your chances of developing glaucoma will be 4 to 10 times higher than at age 40. If you have a family history of glaucoma, this risk is increased tenfold.

A new campaign called Glaucoma Aware is on a mission to unearth 150,000 Australians who face preventable blindness and dont know it. As per the campaigns recent survey results, around 60% of Australians either havent been tested or dont know if theyve been tested for glaucoma.

Consult your optometrist today, or click here to learn more.

One in two family members of Australians with advanced glaucoma are likely to show early signs of the disease.

Sue, 58, a Melbourne optometrist, knows this sadly all too well, with three out of four generations of her family affected.

Sues grandmother, Nellie, was diagnosed late in life. She was put on topical eye-drop medications, but unfortunately her glaucoma was already well established, she says.

Her glaucoma proved very difficult to control she was virtually blind by the time that she died, aged 95 in a nursing home.

Sues mother, Ellen, also got her eyes examined. Fortunately, she was diagnosed at a very early stage. shes been on topical eyedrops these last 30 odd years, and fortunately shes had good vision.

At 84 she takes no other medications and leads a very active lifestyle, including driving confidently.

Sue, keenly aware of her higher risk, gets an examination every year.

But Sue was taken by surprise when her son Daniel, also studying optometry, called with some startling news.

In the final week of his course, Daniel rang us and said the students had been checking each others intra-ocular pressures in preparation for their final practical examination, and his had been found to be unusually high.

At just 28 (an age where everybody thinks theyre bulletproof), Daniel was diagnosed with pigment dispersion syndrome an aggressive condition that can lead to glaucoma if its not treated at an early age.

Are you at risk from glaucoma? Learn more at Glaucoma Aware

Thankfully, at the time of diagnosis, Daniel showed no visual loss. He now receives regular care, and his pressures are now controlled with eye drops.

The family is optimistic he can continue life with his vision unaffected, and that in time, the pressure will subside.

Nonetheless, it was a startling wake-up call: glaucoma can affect anyone at any age. Even infants can develop the disease.

We routinely tell our patients that it should be checked every two years from the age of 40, or earlier if you have a family history, says Sue. But it certainly brought the message home to us: even at a younger age, this is something that can increase without having any awareness.

Sue believes this is particularly important for Australias over-60s. The incidence of glaucoma increase dramatically through the decades.

A lot of people self-diagnose as they get older. If they have trouble with their eyesight, they assume that its just because theyre getting older.

I think the lesson is that regular check-ups are important for everybody.

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The simple test that could prevent permanent blindness - Starts at 60

EAST SYRACUSE, N.Y. (WSYR-TV) - An East Syracuse woman went blind before she turned 30, and she turned what was once one of the worst time of her life into material for motivational speaking.

Diabetes not only took Monica Johnsons sight in 2002 it made her bedridden with nerve damage.

My first words that I had uttered were my life is over and Ill never be able to do anything ever again and that's it my life is over, she said.

She was a manager at a store at Destiny and a horse trainer before she went blind, and she was worried she would not have the same opportunities again.

I had gone from being totally sighted and working all sorts of jobs and opportunities to just to losing my sight. It started getting dark it was almost like a dimmer switch and things just starting a darker little by little by little. Over a six month period of time, on Feb. 9th I woke up and that was that was the last time I had saw daylight, Johnson said.

She said she had to move in with her parents and went into a deep depression.

Johnson said one day, she had a feeling that there is so much more to life than laying in bed and doing nothing.

Today, she lives on her own and travels the country as a motivational speaker.

She says there is no way she should be doing all she does today without the help of Aurora Central New York, an organization that helps both the vision and hearing impaired.

If youd like to get in contact with Monica Johnson, you can reach her at visionwithnosight@gmail.com.

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East Syracuse woman finds strength in her blindness: The - WSYR

A new treatment for blindness caused by diabetes is on the way, with Bicycle Therapeutics at Babraham announcing a milestone achievement.

The new treatment, for diabetic macular edema, is being devised in partnership with Belgian company ThromboGenics, which is focused on developing treatments for back of the eye disease.

Bicycles are a new class of small molecule medicines designed to overcome many of the limitations of

existing drugs.

Under the terms of the alliance, ThromboGenics has an exclusive license to undertake pre-clinical and clinical development and subsequent commercialization of a specified drug candidate; in return Bicycle receives development milestone payments and royalties on sales of products resulting from the collaboration.

Were delighted to be realizing our first candidate milestone from a Bicycle alliance and to be

advancing another Bicycle towards the clinic for the treatment of a significant disease, in this case DME, said Dr Kevin Lee, Bicycle chief executive. This achievement confirms the potential for Bicycles to be developed to address a broad range of poorly treated diseases.

We are continuing to expand our pipeline through research collaborations which will extend our reach into new therapeutic areas and allow us to explore new applications for the Bicycle platform.

This is an exciting moment in our partnership with Bicycle Therapeutics, said Dr Patrik De Haes, chief Executive of ThromboGenics NV. We believe that THR-149, a novel plasma kallikrein inhibitor, holds great promise for ophthalmology applications, expanding the range of treatment options available for people with diseases of the eye, particularly DME. We are rapidly moving towards the

clinic, and expect to begin clinical development early in 2018.

Bicycle Therapeutics is developing a new class of medicines to treat cancer and other important

diseases based on its bicyclic peptide product platform.

Bicycles are like antibodies. Their small size enables rapid and deep tissue penetration, allowing tissues and tumours to be targeted from within. Their peptidic nature provides a tuneable pharmacokinetic half-life and a renal route of clearance, thus avoiding the liver and gastrointestinal tract toxicity often seen with other drugs.

The company says it is rapidly advancing towards the clinic with its lead programmes which selectively deliver toxins to tumours. Its unique intellectual property is based on the work initiated at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge by the scientific founders of the company, Sir Gregory Winter and Professor Christian Heinis.

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New treatment for blindness - Cambridge News

Senior doctors from LVPEI said the focus of Indian eye researchers was on ocular regeneration, which involved developing methods to regenerate eye tissues.

Indian and UK executives speaking at the inaugural function of the four day UK-India Researcher Links Workshop, organised by The University of Sheffield, UK & L V Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, on Thursday at Hotel Taj Vivanta.

Hyderabad: Leading eye researchers from India and United Kingdom have agreed to join hands in an endeavour to eliminate corneal blindness.

Researchers from both the countries participated in a workshop aimed at discussing and developing innovative and scientific solutions to treat damaged corneas, at LV Prasad Eye Institute (LVPEI) on Thursday.

The workshop, titled Application of innovative chemistry and bio-materials to treat corneas damaged by trauma, disease and infection featured close to 200 young researchers who were hand picked by senior eye researchers from UK and India after a thorough scrutiny of applications.

We need young scientists from both the countries who can generate unique ideas to handle corneal ailments. The workshop will establish collaborations between the two countries and nurture a generation of young scientists who can respond to ailments related to corneas, said Deputy Chief Executive, Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, Stephen Hawthorne.

Senior doctors from LVPEI said the focus of Indian eye researchers was on ocular regeneration, which involved developing methods to regenerate eye tissues. A major goal of this collaboration is to eliminate corneal blindness that will involve stem cell therapy for cornea, replacement of cells by using artificial cornea and explore 3D printing of tissues and organs for such eye defects, said Vivek Singh, Scientist, LVPEI.

The Royal Society of Chemistry and British Council through Newton Fund, are investing Rs 2.50 crore to organise Newton Researcher Links workshops for creating a platform for Indian and UK researchers.

Mei-kwei Barker, Director, British Council South India; Professor Sheila MacNeil from University of Sheffield and top researchers from LVPEI were present.

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India, UK to collaborate for treating corneal blindness - Telangana Today

Discovery of a gene in zebrafish that triggers congenital blindness could lead to new treatments for a similar disease in humans.

Asian Scientist Newsroom | April 20, 2017 | In the Lab

AsianScientist (Apr. 20, 2017) - In a study published in Scientific Reports, researchers report a zebrafish model of Leber congenital amaurosis (LCA), one of the most common causes of childhood blindness that accounts for five percent of all vision impairments.

LCA can be genetically transmitted to a child when both parents possess at least one dysfunctional copy of a gene involved in eye development. Although LCA is relatively common, the molecular mechanism behind the disease remains unclear.

Now, researchers in the Developmental Neurobiology Unit at the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University (OIST) have found a similar syndrome in zebrafish. From this research, they aim to use zebrafish as a model to unravel the causes of LCA and therefore provide new leads for a treatment.

LCA affects the retina, the thin layer of tissue at the back of the eye that detects light as well as differentiates colors and communicates the information to the brain via the optic nerve. A healthy retina usually features light-sensitive cellsphotoreceptorscalled cones and rods. Cones are specialized in bright environment and detect colors while rods are used in dim light but are monochrome, which is why we see in black and white at night.

A person with LCA will display deformed or absent cones and rods. A total of 24 genesincluding a gene called Aipl1have been linked to LCA in humans and mice.

Using a genetically mutated zebrafish embryo that did not react to visual stimuli, the researchers discovered that zebrafish DNA contains two Aipl1 genes, namely Aipl1a and Aipl1b, which are active in rods and cones respectively.

The mutantcalled gold rush (gosh)presents a genetic mutation in the Aipl1b DNA sequence, and therefore losing Aipl1 activity in cone photoreceptors. Consequently, the cone photoreceptors showed a deformed morphology and sustained degeneration. Rods however were not affected, suggesting that the degeneration is cone-specific.

Probing further, the authors of the study also revealed that Aipl1 is critical for the stability of two enzymescGMP-phosphodiesterase 6 and guanylate cyclasewhich mediate phototransduction, the process of converting light into an electrical signal. Without these enzymes, the zebrafish is unable to react to light stimulus as the information is stopped in photoreceptors and fails to initiate the transmission of visual information into the brain through the optic nerve.

The research indicates that Aipl1b gene is important for visual function and maintenance of cone photoreceptors in the zebrafish. Without it, cones do not detect light stimuli and degenerate during development.

The gosh mutant is a good model for understanding the molecular and cellular mechanism of cone cell death and the pathological process of human LCA. Hopefully, this new knowledge will help to find a future cure for patients who suffer such a devastating disease as LCA, said Dr. Maria Iribarne, first author of the study.

The article can be found at: Iribarne et al. (2017) Aipl1 is Rrequired for Cone Photoreceptor Function and Survival through the Stability of Pde6c and Gc3 in Zebrafish.

Source: Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology Graduate University; Photo: Shutterstock. Disclaimer: This article does not necessarily reflect the views of AsianScientist or its staff.

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Understanding Inherited Blindness Through Zebrafish Eyes - Asian Scientist Magazine

OTTAWA, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

BioTalent Canada announced today that its animated short, Expanding Accessibility in Biotechnology, has won the Platinum Award for Motion Graphics Information at the 2017 Hermes Creative Awards, an international competition overseen by the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals (AMCP). The award showcases the talent and creativity of marketing and communications professionals, many of whom have contributed to public service or charitable organizations.

This Smart News Release features multimedia. View the full release here: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170420005937/en/

Expanding Accessibility in Biotechnology was created as part of BioTalent Canadas Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act (AODA) employer-awareness campaign, launched in 2016 and funded in part through the Government of Ontarios EnAbling Change Program. The campaign aims to reach and educate bio-economy employers on compliance with the new AODA accessibility standards.

As a national non-profit HR association for the Canadian biotechnology industry, BioTalent Canada works to ensure that the bio-economy has access to the talent it needs. According to research by the organization, only 7.6% of bio-economy companies had persons with disabilities on staff.

BioTalent Canadas animation seeks to increase awareness among employers on the importance of persons with disabilities as a strategically valuable labour market for Canadas biotechnology sector. Developed by eSolutions Group, the animation addresses the importance of creating an inclusive and diverse workforce, which in turn strengthens an organizations innovation.

Canadians with disabilities represent a valuable labour market, one which is under-represented in the bio-economy, says Rob Henderson, BioTalent Canadas President and CEO. It is encouraging to see an animation focused on the benefits of diversity win this award and get showcased at an international level.

Along with the animated short, BioTalent Canada is hosting events across Ontario to educate and train employers on AODAs accessibility standards and what they need to do to comply. The next event will be taking place on April 25th, in the heart of the City of Mississaugas life sciences core.

For more information on the Expanding Accessibility in Biotechnology event in Mississauga, or to register, visit BioTalent Canadas event page.

About BioTalent Canada

BioTalent Canada is the HR partner of Canadas bio-economy. As an HR expert and national non-profit organization, BioTalent Canada focuses on building partnerships and skills for Canadas bio-economy to ensure the industry has access to job-ready people. Through projects, research and product development BioTalent Canada connects employers with job seekers, delivers human resource information and skills development tools so the industry can focus on strengthening Canadas biotech business. For more information, please visit biotalent.ca.

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170420005937/en/

MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE:http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170420005937/en/

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BioTalent Canada's Animation to Promote Accessibility in Biotechnology Honoured with Award - Yahoo Finance

WASHINGTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

The Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO) today announced education program session titles and speakers for the 2017 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology. The education program features seven diverse content tracks with speakers from around the world over three days of the conference. The worlds largest industrial biotechnology and partnering event will be held July 23-26, 2017 at the Palais des congrs de Montral in Montral, Qubec, Canada.

Brent Erickson, executive vice president of BIOs Industrial & Environmental Section, stated, BIOs 2017 World Congress will feature the most diverse group of speakers and presenters in the conferences history, with scientists and executives from start-up companies, investors from the finance sector, consumer product manufacturers and government officials from across Canada, Europe, the United States and Asia. The education program and partnering system provide a unique forum for conference attendees to share the latest advances in renewable chemicals, synthetic biology, enzymes, food ingredients, fragrances, flavors, cosmetics, biofuels and biorefineries, agricultural crops and biobased materials.

Sessions featuring Renewable Chemicals and Biobased Materials include:

A Revolution in Biobased Products and Packaging Wed. July 26, 11:45 am

Renewable Chemicals and Thermoplastics for Performance Materials Mon. July 24, 10:30 AM

Scaling Novel and Innovative Processes for Commercialization Mon. July 24, 1:45 PM

Meeting Brand Owner and Retailer Demand for Green Chemicals, Materials, and Products Wed. July 26, 10:30 AM

Industrial Synergies and the Circular Economy Wed. July 26, 10:30 AM

All programs at the 2017 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology are open to members of the media. Complimentary media registration is available to editors and reporters working full time for print, broadcast or web publications with valid press credentials.

For more information on the conference please visit https://www.bio.org/events/bio-world-congress. For assistance, please contact worldcongress@bio.org.

About BIO

BIO is the world's largest trade association representing biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the BIO International Convention, the worlds largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world. BIOtechNOW is BIO's blog chronicling innovations transforming our world and the BIO Newsletter is the organizations bi-weekly email newsletter. Subscribe to the BIO Newsletter.

Upcoming BIO Events

BIO International Convention June 19-22, 2017 San Diego, Calif.

BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology July 23-26, 2017 Montreal, Canada

View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170420005149/en/

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BIO Announces Educational Sessions for 2017 BIO World Congress on Industrial Biotechnology - Yahoo Finance

NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - April 19, 2017) - Planda Biotechnology (PLPL) recently presented investors with its outlook for 2017 and a number of milestones that the company plans to accomplish in 2017. Planda's plans are certainly aggressive and representative of the new Chief Operating Officer (COO) -- someone we feel is ideally suited to move the company forward. It didn't take long at all for the new COO, Callum Cottrell-Duffield, to put his stamp on the company's future.

Three weeks ago Planda named Callum Cottrell-Duffield as its new COO, a role that will have him running the day-to-day operations of the company. In the time since being named COO, he has put together a plan to not only get Planda back on track, but to also move it aggressively into the future. With Planda shifting from purely a research and development biotechnology company to a company that is more focused on operations and sales, Callum Cottrell-Duffield is the ideal person to run Planda's day-to-day activity.

After all, he has been there from the beginning where he helped to prepare the company's 8,000-acre tea estate to grow, harvest and produce Planda's signature product, the highly bioavailable Phytofare Catechin Complex. Last year when that signature product was available for mass production and ready to market on a much broader scale, it was Callum Cottrell-Duffield who led the company's sales and marketing team. He has traveled throughout Africa, the United States, Europe, Asia and South America to tell the Planda story, and he has become the face of the company to the industry and to the large buyers who are either current clients or interested in developing a relationship with Planda worldwide.

In the company's latest news release, the COO highlighted several areas where he expects to see improvement and areas where Planda can realize growth. Among those items, Callum Cottrell-Duffield said that he (i) has placed getting the company "current" with its SEC filings at the top of his agenda, (ii) expects to increase production and to continue growing sales with Planda's existing customers as well as gaining traction in the market, which should lead to the addition of new customers all in an effort to make Planda cash flow positive and profitable by the end of 2017, (iii) recently signed a financing agreement that will provide the necessary capital to see the company through until it becomes cash flow positive.

With the appointment of Callum Cottrell-Duffield to COO, the company's CEO, Roger Baylis-Duffield, can now focus his efforts as a scientist on spearheading the company's clinical trials and developing new products for Planda to market. In the company's research and development efforts, the CEO will be busy with a number of major studies this year.

According to the COO, Planda's work in the clinic will include:

Additionally, Planda has granted a research license to Protext Mobility to develop pharmaceutical applications involving Phytofare. Protext will be conducting a human study using Phytofare to regulate glucose levels in Type 2 diabetics as well as, taking over the research to establish a platform for producing non-psychoactive Cannabis. Planda states that the plan for Protext is to produce a Phytofare complex containing bioavailable cannabinoids, cannabinoid acids, and polyphenols that will be formulated into an oral delivery system.

Needless to say, with success in these studies, these are all areas where Planda could develop much-needed products that could, in turn, drastically improve the company's bottom line. For a full look into the COO's agenda for 2017, read Planda's latest news release here:

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/plandai-biotechnology-chief-operating-officer-162043100.html

About Stock Market Media Group

Stock Market Media Group is a Content Development IR firm offering a platform for corporate stories to unfold in the media with research reports, corporate videos, CEO interviews and feature news articles.

We may from time to time include our own opinions about our featured companies, their businesses, markets and opportunities. Any opinions we may offer are solely our own, and are made in reliance upon our rights under the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, and are provided solely for the general opinionated discussion of our readers and viewers. Our opinions should not be considered to be complete, precise, accurate, or current investment advice, or construed or interpreted as research. Any investment decisions you may make concerning any company are solely your responsibility based on your own due diligence. Our publications are provided only as an informational aid. We encourage you to invest carefully and read the investor information available at the web site of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission at: http://www.sec.gov. We also recommend as a general rule, that before investing in any securities you consult with a professional financial planner or advisor, and you should conduct a complete and independent investigation before investing in any security after prudent consideration of all pertinent risks.

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We are not a registered broker, dealer, analyst, or adviser. We hold no investment licenses and may not sell, offer to sell or offer to buy any security. Our publications are not a recommendation to buy or sell a security.

Section 17(b) of the 1933 Securities and Exchange Act requires publishers who distribute information about publicly traded securities for compensation, to disclose who paid them, the amount, and the type of payment. In order to be in full compliance with the Securities Act of 1933, Section 17(b), we are disclosing that SMMG is compensated $5,000 per month by Plandai Biotechnology for content development. Neither SMMG nor anyone associated with it owns shares in PLPL.

For more information: http://www.stockmarketmediagroup.com.

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Plandai Biotechnology Sets Aggressive Agenda for 2017 - Yahoo Finance

By Ruthie Hawkins

Over 54 million people, about 23 percent of all adults in the United States, suffer from arthritis, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports.

According to research, the risks for arthritis is not equal among men and women. With the exception of gout, women have a significantly higher risk for nearly all types of arthritis and in particular osteoarthritis of the knees.

Could you have arthritis and not know? To help you return to your regularly scheduled lifestyle, here are seven signs of arthritis every woman needs to know.

1. Catching Also known as grinding, if joints like your knees or wrists feel like their tendons are tangled or catching on another, this is an early symptom of arthritis.

2. Fatigue With rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the immune system attacks the joints, in turn, leaving your body feeling fatigued. A loss of appetite, which can also induce fatigue, can also be an underlying symptom of arthritis.

3. Chronic Inflammation Flare-ups or a periodic increase in inflammation is a common symptom of rheumatoid arthritis, the Arthritis Foundation says.

4. Poor Range of Motion Less mobile than years before? Cant seem to reach for the top shelf without difficulty? These range-of-motion issueswhen accompanied with painoften point to arthritis, experts say.

5. Redness and Rash Though rare, in some cases, redness and rash may present itself, pointing to a condition called psoriatic arthritis. Red, flaky, and scaly in appearance, this inflammatory condition is incurable (but treatable) and may cause flares of joint pain, stiffness, and swelling especially in the morning hours. Even mild skin psoriasis can have a significant degree of arthritis, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) says.

6. Stiffness For many, arthritis begins with the inability to fully extend or bend a joint. Your joints may feel stiff, tight or full due to inflammation. Fortunately, experts suggest starting your day with a simple stretch session will reduce this symptom.

7. Swelling When comparing your joints, if one appears larger or puffier than the other assuming its not due to a previous injury that swelling may be indicating an underlying issue with arthritis.

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Seven Arthritis Signs Every Woman Should Know - Tri County Sentry (blog)