StemCell Therapy

An alarming spike in traffic deaths on U.S. roadshas been blamed on app-addled drivers, and computer vision firms say they have a remedy: Theyll save us from ourselves by assessing our alertness, mostly by figuring outwhichway werelooking.

To stand out from the herd, Eyesight Technologies, of Herzilya, Israel,is touting its product as doing that and more besides.

We dont just look at the drivers gaze, but also at his gestures, says Iain Levy, head of the decade-old embedded vision companys new automotive division.

Voices may differ betweenusers andaccents, he adds, butgesture is very natural.And as we move to higher levels of vehicle autonomy, gestures become even more interesting as you have time to do more things than just drive the car. Even so, the company is collaborating with a voice-recognition firm in order to allow oralcommunication as well.

The only hardware requirements area camera and an infrared lamp. That way, no matter how bright it may be outside, the system can stilltrack the drivers eyelids, his iris, and the tilting of his head.

Heres how thevarious functions might work together:

The softwarebased on deep neural networksestimatesthe drivers age and gender, the better to position the seat, air conditioner, and rear-view mirror. And, with awide field-of-view camera to scan the entire cabin, the systemcould even make sure that nochild getsinadvertently left behind.

Because safety alone may be a hard sell, particularly for a feature that smacks of Big Brother, the company is selling convenience also.For instance, drivers cangive a thumbs-up tolike a roadside attraction or to control the phone.

Such manipulations were the companys original focus in theapps it designed for smart phones and smart homes. Its product Singlecuelets you controlhousehold appliances by waving afingerin the air. Eyesight Technologies is also working on a robotics home-care system for elderly people. Its conducting that researchtogether with Kuang-Chi,a technology conglomerate inShenzhen, Chinathat recentlyinvestedUS $20 millionin the Israeli company.

IEEE Spectrums blog about the sensors, software, and systems that are making cars smarter, more entertaining, and ultimately, autonomous. Contact us:p.ross@ieee.org

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Ubers experiment in San Francisco showed that bicycles and bike lanes are a problem self-driving cars are struggling to crack 31Jan

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Eyesight Technologies Will Watch You Drive, and That's a Good Thing - IEEE Spectrum

WYDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Williamsburg, James City & York Counties.

Healthier lifestyles, including regular exercise and better eating habits are all goals most diabetes patients are striving for.

Kendra Robinson, a certified diabetes educator at Old Towne, believes these goals, plus learning from each other in a group setting is essential in managing the disease.

At Old Towne Medical Center, group medical visits are an option for patients with Type 2 diabetes a program that has been successful for the past eight years.

Robinson follows 400 diabetes patients, and said those who do group visitswhich include four to five patientshave better outcomes than those who are seen individually by doctors.

These patients tend to follow through more than patients we are seeing one on one, Robinson said.

During group visits, doctors and nurses give patients information about medications and nutrition, but the patients learn how to manage the disease from each other, Robinson added.

Ultimately, diabetes is a disease that is self-managed, Robinson said. Lifestyle modification is the number one treatment.

Type 2 diabetes, distinct from type 1 diabeteswhich is caused by genetic mutations or virusesoften develops from lifestyle factors, namely obesity.

March 28th marked the American Diabetes Association (ADA)s nation-wide Alert Day, in which it invites all Americans to take a diabetes risk test on its web site: http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/diabetes-risk-test/?loc=alertday

According to the ADA, the biggest risk factor for diabetes is becoming overweight by overeating.

Not surprisingly, dietary changes are the biggest obstacle diabetics need to overcome, Robinson added. Access to healthy food is a challenge. Changing age-old eating habits is very difficult.

With that in mind, Old Towne also offers cooking classes and grocery store tours for diabetes patients.

During the classes, they make healthy meals, and then send everyone home with a bag of groceries and healthy recipes. They also go to the grocery stores where patients are most likely to shop.

We teach them how to get the most bang for buck; read a food label; use a coupon, Robinson said.

Its a big hit because at the end of the tour, everyone gets a little gift card to buy some things they learned about on the tour that they never tried before.

This spring Old Towne plans to launch an eat out program, which will target older men who are either widowed or single and tend to eat out a lot.

The idea is to go to the restaurants where they regularly eat and help them select healthy food items.

Old Towne also has a medications assistance program that provides diabetes medications for free, Robinson said, and the Sentara Williamsburg Regional Medical Center provides discounted rates for diabetes-related testing.

This financial help is significant because diabetes can be an expensive disease to manage. At Old Towne 76 percent of patients are uninsureda number that is rising, according to Janis C.L. MacQueston, Old Towne Director of Development.

The patient population also tends to be fairly transient. Of the 400 diabetes patients that Robinson follows, between 250 and 300 come regularly, meaning every three to six months.

For those who stick around for a while, control is pretty good, Robinson said.

But the attrition rate is high, and they constantly get new patientsespecially young adults who were obese in childhood and carried that into adulthood, she continued.

According to the Virginia Atlas of Community Health, six percent of the population over age 19 in Williamsburg has type 2 diabetes, and 25 percent of the population between the ages of 14 and 19. In James City County, ten percent of the adult population has diabetes, and 37 percent of teenagers.

Many patients test for diabetesat one of Old Townes free walk-in clinicswhen they already have tell-tale signs of the disease, like blurry vision or frequent sweating, Robinson said.

We check their blood sugar, and its off the charts, she added.

Another program in Williamsburg at the Peninsula YMCA called the Diabetes Prevention Program tries to help people before they even get to that point. It enrolls people with prediabetes, which can morph into diabetes, usually within five years, if left untreated.

The program is nationwide, has beenimplemented in 252 YMCAs throughout the U.S., and follows CDC guidelines, saidMichael Bennett, the regional director of operations and chronic diseases at the Peninsula YMCA.

Bennett said theyve enrolled 32 people locally.

So far weve had really good stories, he said. The facilitator gives them tools, and the participants help each other out. They become a support system for each other.

The goal is for people to lose five to seven percent of their body weight, and engage in 150 minutes of physical activity each week.

Michael Maguire, age 71, did the same prevention program at the Victory Family YMCA in Yorktown. He was pre-diabetic before doing the course.

Unfortunately, I inherited the family susceptibility to diabetes, and I was headed to full-fledged type 2 [diabetes], Maguire said.

He weighed a little over 200 pounds at the beginning of the course, which he started in December, 2015. A year later, he was down to 182and his A1C was below the pre-diabetic range.

Achieving these numbers has meant eating fewer sweets and carbs. Once he found himself in the middle of a heavy meal, actually opting for a salad instead.

For most people, it took forty to fifty years to develop the lifestyle of diabetes. You cant undo that in forty or fifty days, but you can in forty to fifty weeks, he said, adding that the program is slow-paced and very supportive.

The Williamsburg Health Foundation gave the YMCA a $45,000 grant to sign up 75 new people by the end of the year, Bennett said.

Were trying to encourage people to nip it in the bud, he said.

For more information on the YMCA program, people can call 757-342-5338, or visit the YMCA web site: http://www.peninsulaymca.org/diabetes/.

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Group medical visits key with managing diabetes | Williamsburg ... - Williamsburg Yorktown Daily

When University of Nebraska-Lincoln undergrad Ethan Cismoski began browsing fraternities to join, Delta Tau Deltas philanthropic partner immediately caught his attention.

The national fraternity has a partnership with the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, a nonprofit organization funding research to find a cure for Type 1 Diabetes a disease Cismoski was diagnosed with he was 16.

Once he was diagnosed, Cismoski, the current philanthropy chair of the Lincoln fraternity, had to learn how to adjust to accommodate for the disease. This includes checking blood sugar about six times each day and injecting insulin after every meal.

Learning about it was pretty hard, he said. Its such a big lifestyle change everyones heard of diabetes, but nobody really knows what happens or what the people go through.

On Sunday morning, Delta Tau Delta hosted an event to help change this. The Lincoln fraternity chapter teamed up with the College Diabetes Network-Lincoln student organization to raise awareness for Type 1 Diabetes through its first annual JDRF Walk.

The walk looped across campus, leading them from the Nebraska Union, through Memorial Stadium and back. While the walk was free, $15 donations gave participants a T-shirt. All proceeds went to the Lincoln JDRF chapter.

Haley Schepers, president and founder of College Diabetes Network-Lincoln,said she was happy the organization and fraternity were able to pair up to host the event.

Its good to show that the Greek community is more than just Greek life, she said. Its good to have them support us and be able to work with them as a Greek life, university life combination, which doesnt happen very often.

Justin Hicklin, the external vice president of the fraternity chapter, said the walk had raised about $1,200 as of Sunday morning, but this years event focused more on raising awareness rather than money.

(We want people to be) aware of what diabetics go through on a daily basis, Hicklin said. I think its just cool that people are here and show that they care.

Schepers said she hopes increased awareness can lead to a change across campus.

We want to create a community of support for Type 1 Diabetics on campus, she said. Theres different things for Type 1 Diabetics (that can change), like having the carbs at the dining halls that helps make their lives easier on campus.

Cismoski agreed that raised awareness is important he could even see misinformation about the disease at Sunday's walk. Event organizers offered free coffee and donuts, and Cismoski overheard people asking if diabetic people could eat the food.

Diabetes is pretty popular, but no one really knows how it works, he said. We can eat the same stuff you do, we just need an extra step.

Original post:
UNL diabetes walk raises Type 1 awareness - Lincoln Journal Star

PortCityDaily.com is your source for free news and information in the Wilmington area.

Donna Livingston has a sweet tooth. Cookies, soft drinks, sweet tea. She likes her sugar.

Livingston, age 59, had never thought about the consequences of her cravings until she retired in 2011 from her career as a high school math teacher at New Hanover High School in Wilmington.

Over the next few years, she noted a rise in her health insurance premiums. To bring them back down, her health insurance company said that she would need to have a health assessmentwhich included an A1C reading, the average of three months of blood sugar levels.

Her A1C was 5.6, which is borderline normal. A blood sugar of 5.7 is considered pre-diabetes, and 6.5 is diabetes. But Livingston was overweight160 pounds on her 54 frame. She had other worrisome health measures. So, the state lumped her in the pre-diabetic category.

It kind of scared me that I was at risk for diabetes, Livingston said, recalling that her maternal grandfather had the disease, but neither of her parents had it.

What Livingston learned about diabetes, she didnt like.

It can affect a lot of organs. You can get amputations because of it, she said. You can be on meds for the rest of your life.

Livingston didnt want to go down that path, so she consulted a nutritionist, and later saw an ad in the paper for a diabetes prevention course at the YMCA, and signed up.

The YMCA course is part of a nation-wide CDC effort to curb the diabetes epidemic in the U.S. According to the American Diabetes Association, in 2012 nearly 10 percent of the population had diabetes, or 29.1 million people. Another 86 million Americans had pre-diabetesan increase of 79 percent from 2010.

March was national diabetes awareness month, and last Tuesday was diabetes alert day, in which the ADA invites all potentially at-risk Americans to take its online assessment, which can be taken at any time: http://www.diabetes.org/are-you-at-risk/diabetes-risk-test/?loc=alertday

The CDC diabetes prevention program, which is active at YMCAs in 47 states, has enrolled more than 50,000 people. At the Wilmington YMCA, over 130 people enrolled in the first year-long program, which started in October, 2015.

Our goal is really to help people get in front of (diabetes), said Marjorie Lanier, the diabetes prevention program coordinator at the Wilmington YMCA. (The program has) been replicated over and over again. There is a lot of evidence that people enrolled in program can cut their risk in half.

The course is group-based, with no more than 15 people in any one group. They meet weekly for classes, and are also required to do 150 minutes of exercise per week.

The power in that is that the groups are all in the same boat, working toward similar goals, Lanier said. That peer support is really powerful.

The next courses begin in May, and more information is at the YMCA website:https://www.wilmingtonfamilyymca.org/programs/diabetes-prevention-program/

Livingston, who finished the program in February, agreed that sharing ideas with her classmates was one of the most useful parts of the program. Most importantly, she learned how to control portions and make better food choices, like cutting out fried food and limiting pasta.

Ive never been a diet person, but this is a program that you can live with. Youre eating regular food, Livingston said.

She eats more salads, fruit and veggies, and if she has a sweetlike cherry dump cake (one of her favorites)shell just have one piece, and then share it at church.

Eating like this, Livingston has stuck to a 1,200-calorie diet, and she ended up losing about 45 pounds, at one point weighing just 116 pounds. That far exceeded the programs own five-to-seven percent weight loss goal for participants.

Livingston felt too thin, so she added nuts and some other healthy fats to her diet, and is now back up to her ideal weight of 125-130 pounds.

Many counties in the South comprise what the CDC considers the diabetes belt. Although New Hanover is not among the 29 North Carolina counties in that categorynor are Pender and Brunswickthe rate of diabetes in this area is significant.

According to the North Carolina Public Health Department, 12.1 percent of the population in Pender County is diabetic, 11 percent in Brunswick, and 8.4 percent in New Hanover County.

In nearby Columbus County, which is considered part of the diabetes belt, 16 percent of the population has diabetes.

Susan Mintz, a registered nurse and certified nurse educator at the New Hanover County Health Department, blames the incidence of diabetes primarily on a culture of poor food choices.

Cheap, fast food is just way too plentiful. Weve kind of lost a connection with trying to eat well. Weve lost what is a normal amount of food to eat, Mintz said. Were just not exercising. Were spending too much time on computers. The populations getting older.

Mintz runs a call line out of the health department for newly diagnosed diabetes patients (910-798-6775), as well as a support group for people with diabetes and pre-diabetes, as well as their caretakers.

Still in the South, its the female that cooks, Mintz said. Were all brought up in a certain culture, eating certain foods.

Weaning people from their beloved sweet tea and fried chicken can be tough, she added.

As long as we can keep the education going, I think that can help. Its one of those things where you cant quit.

The support group meets on the first Friday of every month from 10 a.m.-11 a.m. at the New HanoverCounty Senior Center on Shipyard Boulevard.

diabetes, dieting, health, sugar

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Prevention is key to remaining outside the South's 'Diabetes Belt' - Port City Daily

Special to the Journal

Hinghams Ryan Enright was diagnosed with a unique form of diabetes, known as latent autoimmune diabetes in adults (LADA), in 2010 and this year, Enright will be running his 20th Boston Marathon for Joslin Diabetes Center, where he receives his diabetes care from Dr. Elena Toschi.

Since being diagnosed six years ago, the 44-year-old has learned how to manage and cope with his diabetes with the help of the doctors, educators and staff at Joslin, which is especially important for a seasoned marathoner.

Enright is running 40-50 miles each week in preparation for his 25th marathon, doing his long runs on the weekends in Hingham and logging miles along the Charles River during the week. He wears a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to monitor his blood sugar levels as he runs, and has had to experiment with the settings to ensure he does not go high or low as his distances increase.

My hope is that the funds I raise will benefit Joslin and their team of researchers in their battle to find a cure, said Enright. This is a very specialyear for me given that it will be my 20th consecutive Boston Marathon and I am so grateful that I have the resources at Joslin who make it possible for me to make that left on Boylston Street and cross the finish line. Running on Team Joslin for the second year in a row has allowed me to elevate the awareness of this great organization and educate people on what diabetes is all about, and how it can be prevented and treated. I credit the education, passion and mission of Joslin for helping me not miss a step on my way to Boston number 20.

Ryans goal is to raise $10,000 for Joslins High Hopes Fund. For more information or to donate, visit Ryans CrowdRise page: https://www.crowdrise.com/JoslinDiabetesCenterBoston2017/fundraiser/ryanenright.

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Hingham man running 20th consecutive marathon despite diabetes - Wicked Local Hingham

Type 2 diabetes is a serious health concern in the United States and across the globe. New research shows that a high consumption of legumes significantly reduces the risk of developing the disease.

The legume family consists of plants such as alfalfa, clover, peas, peanuts, soybeans, chickpeas, lentils, and various types of beans.

As a food group, they are believed to be particularly nutritious and healthful. One of the reasons for this is that they contain a high level of B vitamins, which help the body to make energy and regulate its metabolism.

Additionally, legumes are high in fiber and contain minerals such as calcium, magnesium, and potassium. They also comprise a variety of so-called phytochemicals - bioactive compounds that further improve the body's metabolism and have been suggested to protect against heart disease and diabetes.

Finally, legumes are also considered to be a "low glycemic index food," which means that blood sugar levels increase very slowly after they are consumed.

To make people aware of the many health benefits of legumes, the year 2016 has been declared the International Year of Pulses by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. Pulses are a subgroup of legumes.

Because of their various health benefits, it has been suggested that legumes protect against the onset of type 2 diabetes - a serious illness that affects around 29 million people in the U.S. and more than 400 million adults worldwide. However, little research has been carried out to test this hypothesis.

Therefore, researchers from the Unit of Human Nutrition at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili in Tarragona, Spain, together with other investigators from the Prevencin con Dieta Mediterrnea (PREDIMED) study, set out to investigate the association between legume consumption and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes in people at an increased risk of cardiovascular disease.

The study also analyzes the effects of substituting legumes with other foods rich in proteins and carbohydrates, and the findings were published in the journal Clinical Nutrition.

The team investigated 3,349 participants in the PREDIMED study who did not have type 2 diabetes at the beginning of the study. The researchers collected information on their diets at the start of the study and every year throughout the median follow-up period of 4.3 years.

Individuals with a lower cumulative consumption of legumes had approximately 1.5 weekly servings of 60 grams of raw legumes, or 12.73 grams per day. A higher legume consumption was defined as 28.75 daily grams of legumes, or the equivalent of 3.35 servings per week.

Using Cox regression models, the researchers analyzed the association between the incidence of type 2 diabetes and the average consumption of legumes such as lentils, chickpeas, dry beans, and fresh peas.

Overall, during the follow-up period, the team identified 266 new cases of type 2 diabetes.

The study revealed that those with a higher intake of legumes were 35 percent less likely to develop type 2 diabetes than their counterparts who consumed a smaller amount of legumes. Of all the legumes studied, lentils had the strongest association with a low risk of type 2 diabetes.

In fact, individuals with a high consumption of lentils (defined as almost one weekly serving) were 33 percent less likely to develop diabetes compared with their low-consumption counterparts - that is, the participants who had less than half a serving per week.

Additionally, the researchers found that replacing half a serving per day of legumes with an equivalent portion of protein- and carbohydrate-rich foods including bread, eggs, rice, or potatoes also correlated with a reduced risk of diabetes.

The authors conclude that:

"A frequent consumption of legumes, particularly lentils, in the context of a Mediterranean diet, may provide benefits on type 2 diabetes prevention in older adults at high cardiovascular risk."

Learn how a healthful vegetarian diet could substantially reduce type 2 diabetes risk.

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Legumes may lower risk of type 2 diabetes - Medical News Today - Medical News Today

Gabe Kirsch helps lead the Bulls to back-to-back national titles Courtesy of Gabe Kirsch |

Senior hockey player Gabe Kirsch takes a shot. Kirsch plays for the UB hockey club team despite being diagnosed with type-1 diabetes.

Can I get a whiskey coke, Gabe Kirsch says at the bar.

Kirsch, a senior hockey player and biomedical science major, inputs the amount of carbs in his whiskey coke into his insulin pump. From there, his insulin pump does all the work, ensuring his blood sugar levels remain steady.

Kirsch has type-1 diabetes. One misstep in his diet could lead to irregularities in his body.

However, Kirsch does not let this disease stop him from doing what he loves, which is to play hockey. Hes part of the UB club hockey team, which has won back-to-back Division III club hockey national titles the first UB team to win back to back.

The issue I have is, what happens in your body physiologically is when you start to play hockey, you have adrenaline hormones and what those do is they mobilize your bodys glucose storage for energy, Kirsch said. So, for a person like me who doesnt have the insulin to counteract, a lot of times Ill have elevated blood glucose cells during a game.

Type-1 diabetes is typically diagnosed in children and was originally called juvenile diabetes. Only about 5 percent of people with diabetes have type-1, according to the American Diabetes Association. Those with type-1 diabetes suffer from a lack of insulin production. Insulin helps the body to absorb glucose, or sugars.

For every two grams of carbs, Kirsch needs to pump insulin into his body. Every diabetic has a different ratio of carbs to insulin and if not done properly, it can affect everyday tasks, or even sleep.

Sometimes your sleep would get interrupted, lets say you eat a late time snack, you give yourself too much insulin and then you start to feel hypoglycemic symptoms while youre sleeping, Kirsch said. So, you have to get up and go eat some carbs.

Kirsch must always keep an insulin pen on him. His close friends and roommates all know how to use the pen in case of an emergency. Luckily, Kirsch has never had to use the pen.

Kirschs friends know how difficult it was for the hockey player to adjust, but admire his determination to overcome the disease and continue playing.

It doesnt really affect him, he still goes to school and plays hockey and does all the same things that he did before, said Kelly Yazwinski, a longtime friend and senior occupational therapy major. Hes good at hiding it but he loves to talk about it a lot. We make fun of him for it, we rip on him because he always talks about it.

Kirsch found out he had diabetes his senior year of high school after his hockey season was finished. The following season, at his former school Mercyhurst College, Kirsch sat out due to the disease. He was still adjusting to the daily work that goes into staying healthy and maintaining the right glucose balance.

Jennifer Kirsch, his mother, worried he might not have been ready to start playing again.

Even for him, he was a little worried about it as well because it was such a new process, Jennifer said. The testing, the eating and counting carbs and all that. I think he just wanted to get a handle on it first before he played a sport.

Jennifer received a phone call from Kirschs pediatrician one day while her son was in school, taking an exam. After testing Kirschs blood at a regular appointment, the results came back and revealed he had type-1 diabetes.

When I went into the school [to pick him up] I was crying and he said to me Mom it is going to be OK. He was rock solid and I dont think the whole thing really hit him and I was a wreck and didnt handle it well at all but he was rock solid, Jennifer said.

Kirsch remembers the situation vividly. He had a feeling something was wrong with his body. He lost 10 pounds in a matter of a couple months and never realized it until his boss at his job said something to him.

Kirsch was in the hospital for four days. Doctors and nurses taught him what he needed to do to maintain his health with the disease.

That remorse for myself kind of transitioned quickly because I was in the pediatric unit and so I had all these other little kids that were maybe 10 years old that had also got diagnosed, Kirsch said. It was kind of eye opening in a way and I didnt feel as bad for myself I started feeling bad for these kids that didnt understand why every time they had to do something so normal such as eating, they had to take a shot.

Four years after his diagnosis, Kirsch hardly notices the wire that comes out of his shirt, connecting his insulin to his body. Regular checks have become routine and the hockey player has a great sense of what he can and cannot eat or drink.

As for his diabetes on the ice, his teammates dont take notice of it either.

His diabetes does not affect his gameplay at all, you could not tell he was diagnosed with it, said Danny Edmonds, a teammate and roommate. He was a heavy contributor to our team with his leadership as well as points.

Kirsch has been able to still do what he loves while never letting diabetes control his life.

Its definitely a controllable thing. Kirsch said. The first month or so there is a adjustment phase. You need to learn how to count carbs efficiently and recognize what your body is telling you.

Jeremy Torres is a sports staff writer and can be reached at sports@ubspectrum.com

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Diabetic UB hockey player looks to maintain lifestyle - University at Buffalo The Spectrum

FAIRFIELD TWP.

Eleven years ago, Tyrel Jensen, then a junior at Taylorsville High School in West Valley City, Utah, was inspired by Michael Brecker, a professional saxophone player who was battling leukemia and needed a bone marrow transplant.

While researching the disease, Jensen learned about a donor registry, http://www.bethematch.org. He registered, swabbed his mouth and returned the results in a sealed envelope. Brecker died in 2007, and Jensen said he forgot about registering.

At the same time 1,652 miles away in Fairfield Twp. Chris Allen was fighting for his life. His body was filled with Stage 4 lymphoma, and even though he had defeated the disease twice before, the latest diagnosis was dire: Either get a stem cell transplant or die in three months.

We thought we had it, but it has come back with vengeance, Allens doctor told him. Its not looking good. This is going to be a whole new game this time. Were going to take you the closest to death you will ever be.

Allen responded: I dont want to go through this again. Im out. I dont want to do it.

But you are going to die, his doctor said.

Initially, Allen decided he was tired of fighting and was prepared to die. But his family and friends convinced him he was being selfish, and he needed to take every step possible to save his life.

Allens two older brothers were tested as possible stem cell donors, and while one was a match, Allen didnt feel his brother was healthy enough for the procedure.

Then he received the call that changed his life forever and connected two families the Jensens and the Allens.

We got a match, Allen was told by the transplant coordinator.

Just four simple words. Four life-saving words.

Allen was told nothing about the donor.

Jensen had his blood drawn on June 14, 2015, and the bag was flown from Utah to Cincinnati. As Allen was waiting for the procedure to begin, he was handed the bag that was tagged, A, RBC Compatible, Plasma Compatible.

At the time Allen told the eight people in his hospital room: Im holding my life right here.

Not a religious man, Allen admitted he asked a friend to place his hands on the bag and pray for a positive outcome.

I might need a little help here, Allen told those in the room.

The stem cell transplant procedure lasted 45 minutes and was performed on June 15, 2015, forever known as Allens second birthday.

Allen, 57, remained in the hospital for one month where his progress was constantly monitored. After his test results showed his body was accepting the transplant, he was released, but still he had to remain indoors because of the possibility of infection.

Last summer, one year after the transplant, Allen was called and informed about his donor, a young man with a wife and a son in Utah. Before the transplant, the men were strangers. That changed on June 15, 2015.

Blood brothers now, Allen said.

When he got up the nerve, he called Jensen, 27, unsure what to say. What do you say to someone who just saved your life? Thanks seems a little insignificant.

To celebrate the transplant, Allen invited Jensen, an account manager at a software company, and his family to attend their annual summer party in their back yard. Jensen came by himself, spent three days with the Allens and was an instant celebrity at the party. Allen and his longtime girlfriend, Teresa Spurlock, stood on the stage and announced to the crowd there was one special person in attendance.

The young man that saved my life was introduced, Allen said.

The party was surreal, Jensen said. It was kind of a dream in a way. It was a lot of people I dont know but somehow feel so closely connected to.

Allen now is a living billboard for the importance of being a donor.

Without a donor, he said, Id be dead by now.

As a phone conversation ended Friday morning between the two men, Allen was still thanking Jensen.

Thanks again, he said. I will never be able to tell you how much I love you. Thanks again, pal.

For Jensen, being a donor brought the transplant full circle. He has a brother who also received a transplant that gave him a few more years, Jensen said.

I knew what it was like to receive after going through it with my brother, he said.

Jensen said it made him feel pretty emotional to help Allen.

There was a pause on the phone.

Grateful, he said, his voice cracking. And its one of those things where my contribution really was so much smaller than the effect it had on him. It was a small sacrifice from my perspective. I feel like I gave so little. You dont have to give much, but the difference it makes is huge.

The difference between life and death.

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Stranger gives Fairfield Twp. man another chance at life - Hamilton Journal News

By Marc Levy Monday, April 3, 2017

The 2017 ReelAbilities Film Festival comes to Cambridge and Somerville to wrap up the year: Notes on Blindness screens at 7 p.m. Monday at the Brattle, and Rachel Is at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday at the Main Library. The festival ends with Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing, an HBO documentary made with The Boston Globe, in a 7 p.m. Thursday showing that includes a talk with two subjects of the film and Globe reporter Eric Moskowitz.

The 10-film festival has been inclusive in its definition of disability, and films seen since the kickoff Wednesday have explored autism, blindness, Down syndrome, muscular dystrophy and psychiatric conditions. Each documentary challenges our audience to think differently about people with disabilities in a time when conversations about diversity are crucial, said Mara Bresnahan, director of the festival.

The three documentaries on the way:

Notes on Blindness follows writer and theologian John Hull as his sight deteriorates to the point of total blindness in 1983, with him speaking into a cassette recorder to make sense of the upheaval it causes and his journey into a world beyond sight. Directors James Spinney and Peter Middleton who will do a Q&A via Skype after the screening enliven the story by having actors lip-sync to the recordings, adding a sense of intimacy. Tickets are $12 for the 7 p.m. Monday screening at The Brattle Theatre, 40 Brattle St., Harvard Square.

Rachel Is explores the relationship between Jane and Rachel, her developmentally disabled daughter, as each seeks independence from the other. Afterward, director Charlotte Glynn will be on hand for a discussion with Susan Senator, author of Autism Adulthood: Strategies and Insights for a Fulfilling Life. The 6:30 p.m. Tuesday screening at the Main Library, 449 Broadway, Mid-Cambridge, is free, but registration is encouraged by clicking here and using the button to buy tickets.

Marathon: The Patriots Day Bombing uses never-before-seen footage to show the emotional and physical recovery of people whose lives were changed at the Boston Marathon bombing a newlywed couple, a mother and daughter, and two brothers. Bombing survivors and film subjects Patrick Downes and Jessica Kensky will be on hand to talk with the audience, with the Globes Moskowitz moderating. The film shows at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Somerville Theatre, 55 Davis Square, with $10 tickets released at the box office an hour before.

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ReelAbilities brings three of its final films, including docs on blindness, race bombing - Cambridge Day (registration)

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Blindness is one of the physical defects that can cripple a man and make him almost useless and insignificant in a world where normal people live. The gift of seeing is one of the best gifts that God has bestowed on man. We cannot imagine a world where there is nothing but darkness all over. We all are dreaming to see all the beautiful sights that this world can offer us to see. And so, to be blind is almost synonymous to dying because blindness and darkness are the alter ego of death.

The man in our gospel today is dead from his birth. He never saw the world since birth and to the world standards, he is dead. His humanity is filled with the darkness of despair, loneliness, misery and maybe with so much pain and agony. But his spirit does not follow the same path for he is destined to meet the Lord who would eventually give him what he lacks and perfect his defects. Jesus did not instantaneously give him his eyesight but he did it with a condition of washing the mud from his eyes first that Jesus smeared on him. Other gospel miracles tell us of instant cures and instant solutions to problems but this one requires something from the blind man. God is not being unjust here but maybe he simply wants to raise a point that out of every grace that is freely given to man, there is a corresponding obligation or duty on the part of man. I think this is fair enough because we are not supposed to be spoon fed by God without us doing our part.

After his sight was given to him, he bowed down and worshipped Jesus, his Lord. Bowing down would mean his submission of his entire life to God and he placed the Lord at the center of his life in worship. Now the blind man has been transformed from a dead and useless creature to a living and efficient tool of propagating Gods love and mercy to the world. In the darkness of his life, the light of Christ had shone. In his death, the new life in Christ has dawned. And in his despair, hope was his salvation.

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the whole country is in darkness and the whole country is dead. We can also say that the whole country is beginning to despair and that the Philippines is physically blind. I dont need to elaborate on these things because I know that you know so well that these are the harsh realities that confront each and everyone of us. We clamor for a change not only in our government and leaders but change in the entire system of our life as Filipinos. We start to blame one another save ourselves because we no longer want to remain blind and embrace the darkness in our life. We are in darkness because we are blind to the truth. We are hopeless because we do not want the Lord to rule our lives and in the process let go of our personal dreams and ambitions. We are dead because the light of Christ has been vanished by our selfishness.

So where do we go? The blind man in the gospel is so lucky that Christ had passed by where he was probably sitting. However, we are not so lucky just like him because the truth is we are even luckier than him because Christ is wanting day and night to be with us. The problem lies in our stubbornness and our refusal to simply let him in to our lives. We do not want our country to be ruled by God and this is evidenced by the fact that we continue to cloud the truth to come out in the open. We can never be like the blind man who turned out to be personification of Gods love and mercy and we can never have the new life because what we want actually is to remain forever in the darkness of our lives and in our sinfulness.

This country is sick. Change in the leadership may not be the solution and the people power also may not be the necessary means to effect change. What we actually need is the change of heart of every man. I bet this is next to impossible and so, personally, my fervent prayer is for every corrupt government officials, the executors of political killings and extra-judicial killings, the liars in the senate hearings, the rapists and drug addicts, the robbers and killers, the pimps and the harlots to simply settle in this forsaken country of ours. When everyone of them from the whole wide world is gathered in this little archipelago, maybe thats the time for me to settle somewhere else where peace and tranquility, justice and equality, goodness and Gods love reign as never before. Thats the only time when we can say we are no longer blind.

The rest is here:
Heal Our Blindness, Lord - Catanduanes Tribune

Pics: Umesh Marpalli Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Apr 2: Kishen Gangolli from Kundapurcame out with the gold medal in the IBCA Asian Chess Championship for the blind held at Manipal which came to an end on Friday March 31. Kishan, who ended the eighth round against Aryan B Joshi from Maharasthra on Friday through a draw, was declared winner for having collected maximum of seven out of eight possible points. Born blind, Kishen has never accepted blindness as a shortcoming.

Kishen now aims atchess Olympiad for the blind being held in June this year at Macedonia. He wants to win gold medal for the team in addition willing gold medal for himself. In 2012, he had participated in the chess Olympiad held in Chennai and won gold medal. India, the best performance of which was 16th place in Olympiad till then, won fifth spot in that competition. Kishen has been working hard for himself and the country since then.

Indian chess team now comprises Kishan Gangolli, Makwan Ashwin K of Gujarat, who got silver medal this time, Soundarya Kumar Pradhan of Odisha and Aryan Joshi and Patil Shjrish from Maharashtra.

Kishan (25) is from Gangolli in Kundapur taluk. His father, Raveendra, employed in Canara Bank, has settled down in Shivamogga. His mother works as beautician in Shivamogga. Kishen happens to be the only child of his parents. He has secured MA in economics from Kuvempu University with second rank.

Kishen took to chess seriously when in sixth standard with the support of his maternal uncle. He began to participate in chess competitions for the blind in 2011. He was initially trained by Krishna Udupa from Shivamogga who happens to be another blind chess player.

Kishen usually mingles with everyone without unduly publicizing his handicap or seeking any undue favour. Kishen feels that he could come so far because of his habit of overlooking his blindness and the determination to do more in sports and life.

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Udupi: Kishen Gangolli - Blindness is no hindrance to this chess champ - Daijiworld.com

LOS ANGELES--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (Nasdaq: PBYI), a biopharmaceutical company, announced that results from an ongoing Phase II clinical trial of Puma's investigational drug PB272 (neratinib) were presented at the 2017 American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting (AACR) that is currently taking place in Washington, D.C. The presentation entitled, Neratinib in HER2 or HER3 mutant solid tumors: SUMMIT, a global, multi-histology, open-label, phase 2 basket study, was presented as a plenary session by David Hyman, M.D., Director of Developmental Therapeutics at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK), and principal investigator of the trial.

The Phase II SUMMIT basket trial is an open-label, multicenter, multinational study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of PB272 administered daily to patients who have solid tumors with activating HER2 or HER3 mutations. All patients received loperamide (16 mg per day initially) prophylactically for the first cycle of treatment in order to reduce the neratinib-related diarrhea.

Included in the presentation were data on 141 patients enrolled in the neratinib monotherapy arm of the trial, including 124 patients with HER2 mutations and 17 patients with HER3 mutations. This included patients with 21 unique tumor types, with the most common being breast, lung, bladder and colorectal cancer. There were also 30 distinct HER2 and 12 distinct HER3 mutations observed among these patients, with the most frequent HER2 variants involving S310, L755, A755_G776insYVMA and V777.

In the HER2-mutant cohort, clinical responses were observed in tumors with S310, L755, V777, P780_Y781insGSP and A775_G776insYVMA mutations. When stratified by tumor type, responses were observed in patients with breast, cervical, biliary, salivary and non-small-cell lung cancers, which led to cohort expansions in these tumor types. No activity was observed in the HER3-mutant cohort. A more detailed presentation of the data is presented in Table 1 below and a copy of the full presentation is available on the Puma Biotechnology website.

HER2mut

HER2mut

HER2mut

HER2mut

HER2mut

HER2mut

HER3mut

Lung

(95% CI)

rate, n (%)

(95% CI)

20.1

(95% CI)

(0.5--NA)

The neratinib safety profile observed in the SUMMIT study is consistent with that observed previously in metastatic patients with HER2 amplified tumors. With anti-diarrheal prophylaxis and management, diarrhea was not a treatment-limiting side effect in SUMMIT. The interim safety results of the study showed that the most frequently observed adverse event was diarrhea. For the 141 patients enrolled in the neratinib monotherapy arm with safety data available, 31 patients (22%) reported grade 3 diarrhea. The median duration of grade 3 diarrhea for those patients was 2 days. 4 patients (2.8%) permanently discontinued neratinib due to diarrhea and 21 patients (14.9%) temporarily discontinued neratinib due to diarrhea and then restarted after the diarrhea subsided.

Dr. David Hyman stated, "Neratinib showed signs of clinical activity in several of the cohorts in the SUMMIT trial. The safety profile of the drug was manageable and the diarrhea was not treatment-limiting with appropriate prophylaxis and management. We look forward to completing enrollment in the ongoing cohorts in the study and continuing to utilize the basket trial design to explore possible treatment options for these select patient populations.

"The basket-trial design we are utilizing for SUMMIT is enabling us to evaluate the clinical potential of neratinib in patients with specific mutation-types rather than limiting exploration to one tumor type at a time. It is an efficient approach that is generating clinically meaningful information to guide targeted therapy across a broad spectrum of tumor types with HER mutations, including in patients with rare tumors who may not otherwise have access to investigational therapies, said Alan H. Auerbach, Chief Executive Officer and President of Puma Biotechnology. We are very pleased with the preliminary activity seen with neratinib in the SUMMIT trial. We look forward to advancing this targeted compound into further clinical development in multiple HER2 mutant tumor types, both as monotherapy and in novel combinations."

About Puma Biotechnology

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. is a biopharmaceutical company with a focus on the development and commercialization of innovative products to enhance cancer care. The Company in-licenses the global development and commercialization rights to three drug candidatesPB272 (neratinib (oral)), PB272 (neratinib (intravenous)) and PB357. Neratinib is a potent irreversible tyrosine kinase inhibitor that blocks signal transduction through the epidermal growth factor receptors, HER1, HER2 and HER4. Currently, the Company is primarily focused on the development of the oral version of neratinib, and its most advanced drug candidates are directed at the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. The Company believes that neratinib has clinical application in the treatment of several other cancers as well, including non-small cell lung cancer and other tumor types that over-express or have a mutation in HER2. Further information about Puma Biotechnology can be found at http://www.pumabiotechnology.com.

Forward-Looking Statements:

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding the development of the Companys drug candidates. All forward-looking statements included in this press release involve risks and uncertainties that could cause the Company's actual results to differ materially from the anticipated results and expectations expressed in these forward-looking statements. These statements are based on current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and actual outcomes and results could differ materially from these statements due to a number of factors, which include, but are not limited to, the fact that the Company has no product revenue and no products approved for marketing; the Company's dependence on PB272, which is still under development and may never receive regulatory approval; the challenges associated with conducting and enrolling clinical trials; the risk that the results of clinical trials may not support the Company's drug candidate claims; even if approved, the risk that physicians and patients may not accept or use the Company's products; the Company's reliance on third parties to conduct its clinical trials and to formulate and manufacture its drug candidates; the Company's dependence on licensed intellectual property; and the other risk factors disclosed in the periodic and current reports filed by the Company with the Securities and Exchange Commission from time to time, including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2016. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof. The Company assumes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements, except as required by law.

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Puma Biotechnology Presents Results from the Phase II SUMMIT Trial of PB272 for ERBB2 (HER2) Mutant, HER2 Non ... - Business Wire (press release)

The free talk, Listen to Your Heart A Cardiologists Inside Look at Cardiovascular Health, Inflammation and Arthritis, is scheduled for 6 p.m. Wednesday, April 5 in DuVal Auditorium at Banner- University Medical Center Tucson, 1501 N. Campbell Ave.

University of Arizona Sarver Heart Center cardiologist Dr. Charles Katzenberg, is expected to discuss cardiovascular risk and its relationship with inflammation.

Topics will include the key role of the inflammatory process in arthritis-related diseases; the subsequent increases in the risk of diabetes, hypertension and underlying cardiac disease, and research initiatives on the horizon.

Katzenberg will also explore the role of an anti-inflammatory diet and discuss how specific preventive measures can help reduce cardiovascular risk.

Parking is available in the Banner-University Medical Center Tucson visitor/patient parking garage just south of the hospitals main entrance. Bring your parking ticket to the lecture to be validated for free parking.

Contact health reporter Stephanie Innes at 573-4134 or email sinnes@tucson.com. On Twitter:

@stephanieinnes

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Free Tucson lecture to focus on arthritis-heart disease connection - Arizona Daily Star

April 02, 2017 10:00 ET | Source: Premier Wellness Group

CAPE CORAL, Fla., April 02, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Regenerative cell therapy offers residents a way to reduce pain and support their bodys healing process from auto accident injuries, personal injuries, and sports injuries. Painful acute and chronic injuries can be healed using amniotic stem cells. Patients can experience pain relief without drugs with regenerative cell therapy injections that use the growth factors in amniotic stem cells to stimulate healing. Regenerative cell therapy can allow patients a safe form of pain relief and reduce their reliance on pain medications. Regenerative cell therapy is available as part of a patients individualized treatment program by the medical team at Premier Wellness Group.

Regenerative stem cell therapy offers pain relief for auto accident injuries and personal injuries, such as patients dealing with shoulder pain, knee pain, and back pain. Stem cells are a powerful tool for healing. The specialized cells begin as blank cells in that they can be used to regrow any cell needed. It is possible to regrow new cells, muscle, and tissue without surgery. Uninjured stem cells are injected into a targeted area and develop into needed cells. Stem cell therapy supports the bodys own healing process, allowing patients to benefit from injury management without surgery or painkillers.

Patients do not need to worry about any reactions due to rejection, and the amniotic regenerative stem cell therapy process is the least evasive of other forms of stem cell therapy. Patients need little, if any, downtime and stem cell therapy complements chiropractic treatments, massage therapy, nutritional counseling, and corrective exercises to guide the body back into a state of wellness. Stem cell therapy can reduce inflammation, promote healing, and increase range of motion.

We are pleased to provide patients with a natural form of pain relief and rehabilitation that takes into account the bodys own ability to heal itself, said Dr. Patrick King. Regenerative cell therapy requires no surgery- only injections performed by our physician. Stem cell therapy is safe and most patients require no downtime. We invite residents suffering from pain or trauma due to a car accident injury, sports injury, or personal injury to contact our team to learn more about this advanced therapy for healing and recovery.

Dr. Patrick King, clinic director and owner of Premier Wellness Group, has served the chiropractic and rehabilitation needs of residents of Cape Coral, Fort Myers, and surrounding communities for more than 15 years. Patients have made Premier Wellness Group their destination for drug-free, non-surgical pain relief, and rehabilitation. Services at Premier Wellness Group include regenerative cell therapy, trigger point therapy, corrective exercises, lifestyle recommendations, and chiropractic care.

Call (239) 573-7988 to learn more about Cape Coral regenerative cell therapy for knee and shoulder pain relief, or to schedule an appointment. Visit http://www.mypremierwellnessgroup.com/ for additional details.

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Premier Wellness Group Offers Regenerative Cell Therapy for Knee ... - GlobeNewswire (press release)

An expert in stem cell treatment is warning of dodgy operators in New Zealand offering unproven and potentially dangerous treatments.

Auckland University Medical School lecturerBronwen Connor's warning comesafter arecently-released scientific paper documented a case of three women in the United States who were blinded by an experimental treatment for macular degeneration.

She said many people had stem cell therapy in the belief it was scientifically valid, but that was not often the case.

Dr Connor told Nine To Noon the cells used most often for the treatments were known as adipose cells, which were obtained from fat tissue in the body. They were popular because they couldbe obtained from a patientby liposuction, isolated out, then re-injected for supposed therapeutic use.

"Adipose stem cells obviously have a very important job, but predominantly their job is to make bone and cartilage. They also do have some anti-inflammatory properties. But they, to date, have not been shown to have any potential or ability to generate brain cells, for example, or new kidney cells or heart cells."

Websites for clinics offering the treatments listed up to 20 or 30 different types of diseases, disorders or conditions that one source of cells could supposedly treat. That was worrying, she said.

Adipose stem cells might be the right choice to help repair cartilage damage in the knee. "However, it wouldn't be your stem cell choice if you ... had Parkinson's disease and you were going to try and replace some of those lost cells in your brain."

Dr Connor said people needed to be sceptical and check if, for example, there hadbeen any human clinical trials involving the treatment.

"There are always dangers around treatments that we haven't taken out long-term and which there haven't been sufficient rigorous human clinical trials undertaken [on]. This is the purpose of clinical trials, to see what is the safety aspect and the efficacy of this procedure."

She advisedpeople to think about it in terms of medicines and drugs that people were used to taking, like aspirin. "If you inject yourself with a stem cell population and you have a bad side effect, you can't get those cells out. So ... we really need to know what those cells are going to do long-term and what any potential risk is, because they cannot be retrieved."

The Ministry of Health did not regulate stem cell therapy in this country because the cells were not regarded as medicine. She said it was a grey area, because cells were being taken from a patient and re-injected into the same patient with their consent. "But really, moving forward in the next 10 to 20 years, we're going to see more and more of these type of therapies that don't involve a pill or a tablet or our traditional thought of a medicine, and we really need to get regulations around that type of therapy."

She had spoken to people who paid large sums of money for the treatments.

"When I questioned them a little bit more ... did it help, they would sort of sheepishly say 'well, no not really'."

Dr Connor said clinics offering the treatments often emphasised the benefits according to the scientific literature, but it might be benefits in animals - not from human trials. She wanted quality control addressed and standardisedprocedures, along with safety and efficacy.

Dr Connor wanted to see clinical trials of many of the therapies,as they hadpotential. "Our fear is that, as with the three women with the macular degeneration, is that anything that goes wrong will really hinder the field because people will just see it as stem cell therapy."

Originally posted here:
The risks of unproven stem cell treatments - Radio New Zealand

myfox8.com

Diabetes: Kids and Type 1 Diabetes myfox8.com The incidence of type 1 diabetes, previously known as juvenile diabetes, has been steadily rising in the United States. Type 1 diabetes is an auto-immune disease in which the body is destroying the cells in the pancreas that make insulin, and is often ...

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Diabetes: Kids and Type 1 Diabetes - myfox8.com

REIDSVILLE Since Fall 2015, the Cone Health Nutrition and Diabetes Management Center in Reidsville has been tackling diabetes head on as the first clinic of its kind in Rockingham County.

We provide education to patients that have diabetes and other medical problems, said Penny Crumpton, registered dietician and certified diabetes educator with the center. Our goal is to try to help provide knowledge and education to those who need assistance in helping improve their diabetes and reducing the complications that we know diabetes can cause.

According to Crumpton, diabetes is a serious issue in Rockingham County.

The rates of diabetes are extremely high in Rockingham County so the need is very great in terms of reaching out to those who are most in need, Crumpton said. While we educate patients with diabetes, we also try to reach out and address the epidemic of pre-diabetes that certainly puts patients at high risk for developing diabetes down the road.

Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to long time and irreversible problems, including damage to the eyes and kidneys, cardiovascular complications and peripheral vascular disease.

In the year and a half since the center opened, Crumpton and Gebre Nida, the centers endocrinologist, have been working with patients to help address those problems.

At the office, patients can come for one-on-one counseling sessions to discuss their situation or guests can attend free community education classes at 9 a.m. on the first and third Monday of the month at Annie Penn Hospital.

Yet with diabetes a prevalent problem in the area, Crumpton and Nida are pushing for awareness through the diabetes task force. This task force unites local health care providers and other community stakeholders around making a change.

Were working through the diabetes task force to try to increase the public awareness of the rates of diabetes and getting the resources more visible to the community and being able to connect patients with resources, Crumpton said.

For Norbert Hector, the center has already made a difference in his life after visiting the center for the first time in February.

According to Hector, he was diagnosed with diabetes about 20 years ago and has been on insulin for about 11 years.

About two months ago, my readings became very erratic, and so I called (my primary care provider) and tried to do some self-adjusting and really messed it up, he said.

His doctor referred him to Nida at the Cone Health Nutrition and Diabetes Management Center in Reidsville.

As a diabetic, I had been concerned about it, Hector said. I know its a progressive disease, and Ive watched other diabetics including my brother get progressively worse and my brother eventually died.

By following the directions given to him by Nida and Crumpton and with the support of his wife, Hector has already seen improvements in his condition.

I feel a lot more optimistic now than I did two months ago, he said.

As the center creates more stories like Hectors and the practice builds, they will consider adding another endocrinologist and diabetes educator to widen the centers impact and reach the growing population affected by diabetes.

For more information about the Cone Health Nutrition and Diabetes Management Center in Reidsville, call 336-951-6070 or visit the center at 1107 S. Main St., Reidsville.

You have nothing to lose and whole lot to gain, Hector said. Give it a shot.

Contact JustynMelrose at (336) 349 -4331, ext. 6140 and follow@jljmelrose on Twitter.

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Cone Health clinic fights diabetes in Rockingham County - Greensboro News & Record

(Reuters Health) Diabetes can lead to blindness, but children and teens with diabetes may not receive recommended eye exams in the years following their diagnosis, a U.S. study suggests.

Researchers found that just 65 percent of youth with type 1 diabetes and 42 percent of those with type 2 diabetes had vision-loss screening within six years of their diabetes diagnosis.

More youth now than ever are being diagnosed with diabetes. By 2050, the prevalence with type 1 will triple and the prevalence with type 2 will quadruple, with the greatest increase in minority populations, said lead study author Dr. Sophia Wang of the University of Michigan Medical School in Ann Arbor.

The American Academy of Ophthalmology recommends screening for diabetic retinopathy five years after an initial diabetes diagnosis for youth with type 1 diabetes while the American Diabetes Association and the American Academy of Pediatrics recommend screening within three to five years. For kids with type 2 diabetes, screening is recommended at diagnosis.

Diabetic retinopathy is a complication of diabetes that may not have symptoms in early stages but can progress to vision loss. The damage to the retina of the eye results from damage to tiny blood vessels that affects other parts of the body as well.

About half of people with retinopathy develop diabetic macular edema, a fluid build-up in the retina, or glaucoma.

Diabetic retinopathy is the number one cause of vision loss in ages 20-74, so screening is an important component of diabetes care, Wang told Reuters Health by email.

To see how many kids with diabetes are getting the recommended screening, Wang and colleagues analyzed data from a national managed care network, which included more than 5,400 youth under age 21 with type 1 diabetes and 7,200 with type 2 diabetes.

Overall, researchers found that about 4,000 kids, or 31 percent, had an eye exam.

Those with type 1 diabetes were more likely to have had an eye exam compared with those who had type 2 diabetes, the study team reports in JAMA Ophthalmology . White and Asian youth were more likely to have had exams than black and Latino youth. Those with a higher household net worth were also more likely to receive an eye exam compared with those in lower-income households.

Despite the fact that all the youth in our study possessed health insurance, we found disparities by race and family affluence, suggesting that they may be particularly at risk, Wang said.

In the study, 11 percent of black children and teens and 18 percent of Latino youth were less likely to undergo an eye exam compared to white kids. Younger patients were also less likely to receive an exam than older ones.

We must educate adolescents and caregivers on the importance of screening to improve care coordination between different medical specialists such as pediatricians, endocrinologists, ophthalmologists and optometrists, said study author Dr. Joshua Stein of the University of Michigan Kellogg Eye Center in Ann Arbor.

More research is needed on new technologies which might render ophthalmic screening more accessible, such as retinal photography performed in primary care physicians clinics, he told Reuters Health by email.

Diabetic retinopathy is considered the most common microvascular complication of diabetes and is projected to grow at an alarming rate, said Dr. Seema Garg of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who wrote a commentary accompanying the study.

Visual impairment is detrimental to patients personal independence, economic productivity, employment and overall quality of life, she told Reuters Health by email. The opportunity costs of a lifetime of blindness are enormous.

Socioeconomics, geographical barriers, delayed referrals from primary care doctors, language barriers and cultural barriers also play a part in the screening gap. Retina screening via telemedicine could help address the issue, especially for racial minorities and economically disadvantaged youth, Garg writes in the commentary.

Telemedicine is an emerging strategy for improving screening with remote expert interpretation, she writes. Telemedicine is effective in reaching underserved populations in remote, rural or urban settings where patients may be at risk for more advanced disease.

SOURCE: bit.ly/2nAJHv1 and bit.ly/2nQkjn2 JAMA Ophthalmology, online March 23, 2017.

A federal judge in Delaware on Friday struck down key patents held by Acorda Therapeutics Inc related to its multiple sclerosis drug Ampyra, causing the stock to tumble 24 percent before trading was halted.

YANGON Myanmar is training up hundreds of midwives in an effort to reduce the number of women who die in childbirth, one of many social policy reforms launched by the country as it emerges from decades of military rule.

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Youth with diabetes need vision loss screening | Reuters - Reuters

Men's Health

Eat 3 Servings Of This a Week to Cut Your Diabetes Risk By 35% Men's Health After analyzing the food consumption of 3,349 people at high risk of heart disease but without type 2 diabetes, they discovered that those who ate about 3 servings a week of lentils, chickpeas, beans, and peas were 35 percent less likely to develop ... Eat legumes to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by 35%Daily Mail Eat legumes to cut the risk of Type 2 diabetesHindustan Times Suffering from diabetes? Eating legumes may helpEconomic Times Malay Mail Online -Diabetes.co.uk all 14 news articles »

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Eat 3 Servings Of This a Week to Cut Your Diabetes Risk By 35% - Men's Health

Metformin in breast cancer Nature.com A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology reports that metformin improves the prognosis of patients with HER2-positive, hormone receptor (HR)-positive breast cancer and diabetes mellitus. The phase III randomized ALTTO trial included ...

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Metformin in breast cancer - Nature.com