StemCell Therapy

Top Stem Cell in Las Vegas and Henderson NV (844) GET-STEM

Las Vegas, Nevada (PRWEB) February 20, 2017

R3 Stem Cell is now offering regenerative medicine treatment in Las Vegas and Henderson Nevada. Treatments have helped many patients avoid surgery and improve their lives dramatically. R3 has partnered with Dynamic Stem Cell Therapy to offer treatment for all types of conditions. Call (844) GET-STEM for more information and scheduling.

Regenerative medicine therapy with stem cells has become mainstream, and the pioneers at Dynamic Stem Cell Therapy are experts. The conditions treated include arthritis, tendonitis, sports injuries, ligament injuries along with a host of systemic issues such as COPD, CHF, Lupus, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Crohns Disease, Diabetes and many more.

The Las Vegas stem cell center uses the patients adipose tissue, and concentrates the stem cells in a same day treatment. The treatment is offered either as an injection or an infusion, depending on the need.

The therapy works great for helping patients avoid the need for potentially risky surgery, such as joint replacement or tendonitis surgery. Not only does the procedure include stem cells, but also growth factors along with other healing agents.

Along with the adipose stem cell therapy, the Las Vegas stem cell doctors utilize platelet rich plasma therapy, known as PRP therapy for short. The combination of the two augment the capability of repair.

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Over 85% of patients benefit from the regenerative medicine procedures. Call (844) GET-STEM for more information and scheduling with the top stem cell therapy in Las Vegas.

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I stare at a computer for entirely too many hours a day more than Id care to think about and by the end of the week, I feel it. At least, my eyes do.

Eye strain from staring at a computer is so common it has its own name: computer vision syndrome. And its pretty widespread, though estimates of its prevalence vary. The symptoms will probably sound familiar: blurry vision, headaches, dry eyes, watery eyes, and tired eyes.

For most people, these symptoms are temporary

For most people these symptoms are temporary, and if you stop using a computer for a while, theyll go away. The bad news is that these symptoms can occur if youre looking at a computer for two hours. If youre like me, you look at computers a lot more than that.

Computers are harder on the eyes than printed pages in part because we blink less. Our blink rate drops by a third when were reading on screens, leaving our eyes dry, according to the University of Iowa. There are some other reasons, too, the American Optometric Association says: the contrast between characters isnt as strong on a screen as in a book, and letters are less precisely rendered. All of these things make the eyes work harder, leaving them tired. Staring at the screen from a less-than-ideal angle only exacerbates the discomfort. Ideally, you should be looking slightly down at your screen at a 15 to 20 degree angle and it should be placed about 20 to 28 inches from your eyes.

It helps to take rest breaks. Every 20 minutes youre on the computer, take 20 seconds to stare at something 20 feet away optometrists call this the 20-20-20 rule. After two hours of continuous computer use, take 15 minutes away from the screen to rest your eyes. Some people who dont ordinarily wear glasses may also benefit from getting computer-specific specs. These glasses reduce glare and increase contrast, so your eyes dont have to work as hard when youre working with spreadsheets or writing fire tweets. Working at a computer also gets more difficult as you age and your eyes are less flexible. Contact lens wearers may deal with more dryness and blurriness, because you already blink less while wearing contacts. I often wear my glasses instead of my contacts I find that helps. I also use lubricating eye drops, so my eyes dont feel as parched.

If youre having trouble after a long day of staring at the computer, it might be worth saying hello to your eye doctor people with undiagnosed alterations in their vision are more at risk for eye strain. But the good news is that your vision is probably going to be fine in the long run. Just try to be kind to your eyes.

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You aren't going to go blind from staring at a computer too long - The ... - The Verge

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A study found a bout of low intensity exercise boosts neurons that process visual information.

But the same benefit was not seen in more vigorous physical activity - which was no more effective than remaining sedentary.

The finding adds to growing evidence that remaining relatively fit helps cut the risk of poor vision.

Previous research has found people who have regular activity three or more times a week are almost three and a half times less likely to develop visual impairment.

In the latest study participants rode stationary bikes while wearing a wireless heart rate monitor and an EEG (electroencephalogram) which measures electrical activity in the brain.

At the same time the 18 volunteers performed a simple viewing task using high contrast stimuli composed of alternating black and white bars presented at one of nine spatial orientations.

These were performed while at rest and during bouts of both low and high intensity exercise.

Interestingly, just the light work out improved the visual cortex, the part of the brain that plays an important role in processing visual information.

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Psychologist Dr Tom Bullock, of the University of California, Santa Barbara, said: We found the peak response is enhanced during low intensity exercise relative to rest and high intensity exercise.

His team had fed the recorded brain data into a computational model that allowed them to estimate the responses of the neurons activated by the visual stimuli.

They were able to generate a 'tuning curve,' which estimates how well the brain cells are representing the different orientations.

Dr Bullock said: We also found the curve narrows in, which suggests a reduction in bandwidth.

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Common health myths and old wives' tales

Together, the increased gain and reduced bandwidth suggest these neurons are becoming more sensitive to the stimuli presented during the low intensity exercise condition relative to the other conditions.

The researchers said it is universally accepted the benefits of exercise go well beyond fitness, from reducing the risk of disease to improving sleep and enhancing mood.

Physical activity gives cognitive function a boost as well as fortifying memory and safeguarding thinking skills.

But the study, published in the Journal of Cognitive Neuroscience, suggests it can also improve vision.

Recent research neuron firing rates in the regions of mouse and fly brains associated with visual processing increase during physical activity, so Dr Bullock and colleagues wanted to know if the same might be true for humans.

Professor Barry Giesbrecht said: We show the increased activation - what we call arousal - changes how information is represented, and it is much more selective.

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That is important to understand because how that information then gets used could potentially be different.

There's an interesting cross-species link that shows these effects of arousal might have similar consequences for how visual information is processed.

That implies the evolution of something that might provide a competitive advantage in some way.

But they don't know the mechanism by which this is occurring. He said: There are some hints that it may be driven by specific neurotransmitters that increase global cortical excitability and that can account for the change in the gain and the increase in the peak response of these tuning profiles.

From a broader perspective, this work underscores the importance of exercise.

Professor Giesbrecht added: In fact, the benefits of brief bouts of exercise might provide a better and more tractable way to influence information processing - versus, say, brain training games or meditation - and in a way that is not tied to a particular task.

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Exercise is GOOD for eyesight: Going for a brisk walk could improve your vision - Express.co.uk

The myth stems from the1960s, when a company sold faulty colour televisions that emitted excessive amounts of radiation due to a factory error

MOST of us will be familiar with our parents telling us off for sitting too close to the TV for fear wed end up with square eyes.

But it turns out there is zero truth to the myth that putting our faces too close to the screens is damaging toour eyesight.

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While it may land you with a headache, its certainly not going to impair your vision.

So where did this bizarre ruse come from?

The myth actually dates back to a time in the late 1960s, when for a brief period sitting too close to the TV could actually cause you some harm that is, if you owned aGeneral Electric set.

In 1967, the company admitted that many of their colour televisions were emitting excessive radiation,due to a factory error.

At the time, healthofficials estimated the amount of dodgy x-rayscoming from these defective TVs was around 10 to 100,000 times higher than was then deemed acceptable.

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As a result, they recommended keeping kids a safe distance away.

They pointed out that as long as you put several feet between you and the TV, and didnt watch it for more than an hour at a time at close range, most likely youd be fine.

Eventually General Electric recalled the faultyTVs and fixed the problem by addinga leaded glass shield around the tubes.

This made pressing your nose up against the screen perfectly safe once again, though the stigma has lingered to this day.

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While sitting close to the TVmay not make a person nearsighted, the reason they feel the necessity to sit in such close proximity may be because they are nearsighted and undiagnosed.

If you or your child habitually sit too close to the television for comfort, it might be worthwhile getting your eyes tested.

Watching too much TV may also cause eye strain and fatigue make sure you turn it off early enough to get a good nights sleep.

Think youve got expert vision?Only people with superb eyesight can see these virtually invisible objects in this test.

Last year we told how toddlers who watch too much TV grow into antisocial misfits who can become violent at 13.

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It's a myth that sitting too close to the TV damages your eyesight, and here's why - The Sun

Remember the lines in that great old song? Jeepers, creepers, whered you get those peepers? Jeepers, creepers, whered you get those eyes?

When it comes to aging, that phrase should be Jeepers, creepers, take care of those eyes!

Myth: Live long enough and you wont be able to see a thing.

Despite lyrical language about our eyes, loss of vision typically feels inevitable, as we get older. By middle age, most of us are feel the need to carry reading glasses everywhere and joking about needing longer arms to help read the fine print of this newspaper and just about everything else. Add a couple of decades, and we resign ourselves to living with the fuzzy blur of cataracts until were eligible to have them surgically removed.

We anticipate changes in our sight as normal aging. But specific changes in vision are not well understood. Consequently, many of us often think aberrations are normal and not likely to seek guidance from an eye care specialist.

Reality: Age-related vision changes are relatively limited while eye diseases common in later life can result in permanent vision loss if untreated.

The eye ages in several important ways. Normal age-related changes result in specific differences in vision, some of which are easily apparent and others of which are harder to see, if you'll pardon my pun.

The change that gets almost all our attention is presbyopia literally "old eyes." Beginning early in adulthood, the lens of the eye begins to lose flexibility making it harder to focus from near to far and back again. Sometime in the 40s, this lose becomes noticeable. Around age 60 or so, flexibility plateaus, resulting in no further loss of near vision.

Presbyopia is worse with fatigue. The tiny muscles in the eye that work to flex the lens and focus our eyes get tired just like other muscles. Close work think of using a computer, reading for long periods, or doing things like sewing makes the eyes dry, which in turn makes presbyopic vision worse.

Other visual differences that come with age are more noticeable in particular situations. Sensitivity to glare is more bothersome at night while driving and in buildings with shiny floors and bright lights.

Some changes in vision that occur more frequently as we age are actually signs of eye diseases. They create serious risk to sight if ignored. While cataracts are the most familiar eye condition in later life, knowing about the less familiar diseases of glaucoma and macular degeneration is critical.

Cataracts are a clouding of the lens of the eye, creating foggy looking vision with difficult seeing colors clearly as well. Cataracts occur when normal aging changes combine with damage from personal habits like smoking, diseases like diabetes and environmental exposures especially ultraviolet light (UV).

By 80, the majority of us have cataracts or have had them surgically removed. Surgery is the welcome part of having cataracts. Surgery removes the damaged lens and inserts a new, prosthetic version, literally restoring vision.

Curative treatment is not yet possible with glaucoma and macular degeneration. These two less common but more problematic eye diseases require early detection and continuous treatment to stabilize vision and protect against blindness.

Glaucoma is a disease where pressure inside the eyeball itself gets too high. There are two primary forms but open angle glaucoma is the most common. It is painless and there are no initial symptoms.

High pressures in the eye damage the optic nerve over time creating gradual loss of peripheral or side vision over time. Untreated, glaucoma can progress to complete blindness. African Americans, Mexican Americans and people over 60 are at greater risk.

Age-related macular degeneration or AMD results in visual loss that is the opposite of that in glaucoma. The macula is a special spot in the center of the retina, at the back of the eyeball. The macula contains specialized cells for sharp, central vision.

With AMD, ability to see what is right in front of us fades. Reading, driving, and anything for which we need to see what is right in front of us is lost. Advanced AMD does not create total blindness but it does make those with advanced disease functionally blind. Smoking along with family history increase likelihood of developing AMD.

Tips: Young or old, take care of your eyes.

Protecting our eyes is essential to our vision as we age. Guidance on how to protect and preserve vision is helpful, no matter what your age:

Email me at mythsofaging@gmail.com and tell me what you think about sight in later life. Follow me on Twitter @SarahHKagan for tweets about myths of aging, health, and aging well. Until next time, be well and stay active.

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Eying vision changes and problems related to aging - Burlington County Times

Pennsylvania non-profit agency in Williamsport is celebrating its 60-year anniversary. North Central Sight Services Inc. (NCSS) has launched its diamond anniversary, announcing an exciting year that observes the values of the agency-employment, prevention and independence.

Robert Garret, president and CEO, said that since 1910 the Pennsylvania Association for the Blind had been actively working to set up agencies that serviced the needs of people who are blind. In February 1957, they incorporated the Lycoming County Association for the Blind (LCAB). Members of the Harry Plankenhorn Foundation were involved and the local Lions Clubs 14G were too, in terms of putting together the Board of Directors for the fledging organization, Garrett said.

In those early days the agency would send out what Garrett described as visitors who would go to homes of people who were blind with talking book machines containing books on record from the Library of Congress. Other supports also were provided, such as transportation and limited employment opportunities at the 901 Memorial Avenue operation re-caning chairs and making door mats from recycled tires.

The agency had much-needed help from the community to remain solvent. We got a mortgage on the Memorial Avenue building and the Lions Club paid that off in about five years. It was actually quite amazing. We were also recipient of a rather large donation from the United Way to keep the organization going, Garrett said.

In 1974, the organization, under the leadership of Leroy Price, received a grant to expand services to the blind. We received additional seed money from the Federal Government to provide more extensive services for elderly people who were blind so they could stay independent living in their own home, Garrett said. At this time Price hired three people to provide services to those people and Garrett was one of them.

In 1982, Price retired and David Franklin took over and grew the industry. Knowing that more than 50 percent of blindness is preventable, Franklin also established and expanded the Prevention of Blindness Department at the agency.

The goal of prevention at NCSS is to promote public awareness about potential blinding eye diseases, prevention measures and the overall importance of eye health. They provide educational presentations and information about eye safety and eye health for all age groups. Their child and adult vision screenings are designed to detect symptoms of decreased vision, which may lead to serious eye diseases.

In 1986, Garrett was named the fourth executive director of the LCAB. In 1988 the agency changed its name to North Central Sight Services due to its expanding reach of services. Over the next few years, their service region further expanded to Centre and the Northern Tier counties, and the industry operations grew and prospered: they affiliated with the National Industries for the Blind; conducted a capital campaign in 1989 and raised just under $1 million to renovate the entire building and add an addition, increasing square footage by one third; and started producing tractor feed labels for the Federal Government that required hiring additional employees, followed by selling digital media and diskettes in 1990.

In 2005, NCSS bought the 63,000 square foot facility at 2121 Reach Road and, after renovations, moved in January 2007. NCSS has continued to see growth, but not without its challenges.

Like every business, weve had our ups and downs. We did give up Susquehanna and Potter counties about two years ago. It just was not fiscally feasible. We are now looking at other sources of revenue for our services, Garrett said.

As revenue from federal government contracts has curtailed, NCSS has had to diversify to achieve its mission. As the environment has changed, we are moving more toward services, doing a lot more document management and destruction and those kinds of things. The revenue is not near as large as it was when we were doing that huge amount of business with the federal government. So weve diversified, but in doing so its also brought some challenges, Garrett said.

The major challenge NCSS faces is one of increasing costs to provide services. As vision screening and accommodative equipment technology has advanced, its price tag also has seen an equivalent increase. The eSight program is one such technology. eSight Eyewear is electronic glasses that allow people with severe vision loss to actually see, and, thereby, make the most of their remaining vision and regain functionality.

We dedicated all of our fundraising efforts in 2016 toward the eSight mission to provide a device to help someone see a whole lot better on the job as they did before. Its not cheap. eSight is $15,000 for the unit, but it can provide a whole new way of seeing for people. We believe thats really important, Garrett said.

The diamond anniversary celebration was kicked off with the creation of the #NCSS60 hashtag on social media. Meagan Proffitt, marketing and public relations nanager, said its a good way to track the anniversary on social media as they go through the year. What were going to be doing is short videos that include interviews and comments from clients and community members about what NCSS means to not only people who work here but the people in the community, Poffitt said.

The year-long celebration has many events slated for 2017 to mark the milestone achievement. Dining in the Dark is an event to be held at LeJeune Chef Restaurant on the campus of Pennsylvania College of Technology on March 18. All guests are guided to their seats and served dinner completely blindfolded. This allows participants to understand in a very small way, and for a short period of time, what daily life can be like for someone who is blind or visually impaired.

Weve also added a second one this year. Well be hosting that on Feb. 25 at the Lock Haven Moose Lodge No. 100, Proffitt said.

Other scheduled events include the Lions Journey for Sight 5K Walk on May 7 and the Golf for Sight Tournament to be played on June 2 at the Wynding Brook Golf Club in Milton.

For more information or to help NCSS achieve its mission of providing employment, prevention and independence of people with blindness and visual impairment, you may donate directly through their website, http://www.ncsight.org/; call 866-320-2580; give to the United Way of Lycoming, Clinton or Bradford counties; or participate in the First Community Foundation Partnerships Raise the Region event on March 7-8.

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North Central Sight Services celebrates diamond anniversary - Williamsport Sun-Gazette

Storm has the best type of personality under his circumstances, taking well to constructive criticism, adopting a positive attitude to all life has served him.

A LIFE in darkness wasnt the norm for Toti local, Storm Schwartz (26). A diagnosis of Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) at age 10 led to the deterioration of his vision and by 18 the young man was completely blind.

Fortunately an American company, Second Sight offers an operation that will allow Storm to regain some of his eye-sight again, albeit at a high cost.

Schwartz used to come to our youth church with his sister and friends. He was and still is an inspiration to others, a kind boy from an early age who always saw the best in others.

When Storm was diagnosed I remember him squinting his eyes to see, until his vision was completely gone. Then he needed to hold onto someones shoulder to be led around, said youth pastor of Lions Gate Church, Peter Buchner.

It was difficult to adjust and adapt to a life without vision, to use a cane. I had to swallow my pride, ask for help, rely on people constantly, listen hard and find a new form of independence, explained Storm.

Storm attended Rehoboth Christian School in Illovo, from his early grades he struggled to read and couldnt understand why. When diagnosed he continued at the school, arriving early every day to familiarise himself with his surroundings, using certain structures as landmarks. Storm then moved to Browns School to continue his learning, where he scraped through each grade. Storm finished his schooling through Glenwood-based Open Air School, for learners with physical impairments. By this time he needed a scribe as he was completely blind. He matriculated and passed all his exams by memory alone. Storm has the best type of personality under his circumstances, taking well to constructive criticism and adopting a positive attitude to all life has served him.

I remember over-hearing a school teacher say hell never make matric, hes not an academic. It was then that I decided I could and would prove her wrong and I did, said Storm.

The Toti local has thrived in all work he has done. From being a commercial crime companys switch board operator to making biltong, he proved himself a fast learner and diligent worker. In addition, he achieved the highest results for his level one brail test. Storm aspires to be a motivational speaker and journalist. He has been on numerous journalism and business courses throughout the country, meeting many people along his journey. He enjoys staying active at Virgin Active, attending park walks with his family along the Toti promenade and swimming in Baggies Beachs tidal pool.

Storm Shwartz doing Toti promenades Park Run with aunt, Belinda Simeon

Storm played blind cricket where a ringing ball is used and has represented the KZN team in Cape Town where his team placed third overall. He continued through to SA trials.

We enjoy watching movies. Ill explain to him whats visually happening, then hell burst out laughing and I wouldnt have caught onto the joke, so hell explain to me what my ears missed, said grandfather, Alan Symons, previously a pastor at Lions Gate Church.

I have always said that Stormie is differently abled, as his inability to see hasnt stopped him from having incredible insight. He is the most intuitive person I know, the best listener youll find. I am so proud of him and I believe Im going to live to have him see me again, during this lifetime, said Alan.

We too often take for granted all the beauty around us, which our eyes enable us to see.

I miss seeing my family, the ocean, expressions on faces, my friends and those I know, said Storm.

Words cant express how grateful I am for the help that has already come in and all the support I feel over this time.

Storm wrote about his condition and his hope of affording the life-changing surgery, using voice-activated software on his laptop:

I was born with full vision and at the age of 10, was diagnosed with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP), by 18 I had lost 100% of my total vision. I have been blind for eight years. After recently having testing done, we found out the reason for my RP is genetic. Extensive tests have been run and due to my strong optic nerve, I am a perfect candidate to have the Argus II Retinal Prosthesis done. Second Sight Medical Products Inc. is giving a second chance to blind people with RP to see again. This developer, manufacturer and marketer of implantable visual prosthetics provides a form of useful vision to blind patients. Unfortunately this procedure is only available overseas and at a great cost to a South African.

Living in hope, Schwartz explained that the procedure alone would cost $150,000. Which excludes pre and post-op diagnosis, flights, visas, accommodation and assistance. He would need in the region of a staggering R3,75-m to see again.

If anyone is able to assist towards his costs, contact him on 061 855 2010.

Storm Shwartz doing Toti promenades Park Run with aunt, Belinda Simeon

DID YOU KNOW? Click on the words highlighted in red to read more on this and related topics. To receive news links via WhatsApp, send an invite to 061 694 6047 The South Coast Sun is also on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest why not join us there?

Do you have more information pertaining to this story? Feel free to let us know by commenting on our Facebook page or you can contact our newsroom on 031 903 2341 and speak to a journalist.

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Storm's journey to regain his eyesight - South Coast Sun

By PEG MEENTS Over the past decade, Dining with Diabetes has been a very popular Ohio State University Extension program. Here in Hancock County, weve collaborated with Blanchard Valley Health System. Registered dietitians and exercise physiologists participate, and there are also dedicated volunteers who provide support. Program participants learn strategies to manage diabetes through menu planning, carbohydrate counting, portion control, label reading, and taste-testing healthy recipes. One of the most difficult challenges for people with diabetes is often figuring out what they can eat, and when. A newly revised version of the program is being introduced this year and it will be exciting to see what new recipes and recommendations are offered. The program will now have four classes, and our series in Hancock County begins March 8 and will be held every Wednesday through March 29 from 10 a.m. to noon in the Cardiac Rehab department at Blanchard Valley Hospital. Program fee is $40, and thanks to the Blanchard Valley Hospital Foundation scholarship, assistance can be provided if needed. Enrollment deadline is Feb. 28, and a minimum of six participants is needed so, if interested, please contact OSU Extension Hancock at 419-422-3851 or email meents.1@osu.edu The recipes in the Dining with Diabetes collection incorporate healthy cooking techniques. Food and fellowship are always a great combination. We learn from each other and share our successes as well as struggles. While this program is intended for persons with diabetes and their family members or caregivers, much of the focus is on establishing healthful eating patterns which many people can benefit from. Heart-healthy eating and modest weight loss will be included, as persons with diabetes have a greater risk for cardiovascular disease and modest sustainable weight loss can significantly improve blood sugar control. Since I am relatively new in my position with Extension, this will be my first time working as a part of this team. Julie Russell and Natasha Wappelhorst from Blanchard Valley Health System have been involved and are anxious to begin the March series. Past participants of Dining with Diabetes sing the praises of how this program has helped them to add months or years to their life. But while program supporters are dedicated, participation is fundamental to the continuation of Dining with Diabetes here locally. So lets think spring and make a plan for healthy eating and warmer days when we can get outside to walk. If Dining with Diabetes sounds like a program that you could benefit from, I hope that you will enroll and make the commitment to fully participate in the food and fellowship! Meents is program coordinator for family and consumer sciences at the Ohio State University Extension office, Findlay.

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Weekend: Dining with Diabetes gets 2017 updates - The Courier

Researchers have found that abdominal fat may either cause or relate to the cause of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. People who are genetically at a greater risk of having a higher waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index are likely to have an increased risk of developing these conditions.

New research detailing these findings was published in JAMA.

Body mass index (BMI) is used to measure body fat based on height and weight, and it is a common method of working out whether a person is overweight or obese. Obesity is a major risk factor for both type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

Regardless of BMI, body fat distribution can vary from one person to the next. Some people carry more fat around their visceral organs, called abdominal adiposity (fat), while others carry fat on their thighs and hips.

Previous observational studies have indicated that abdominal fat is associated with type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease. However, it remains unclear whether these associations represent a causal relationship.

Dr. Sekar Kathiresan, of Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, and colleagues conducted a study to investigate whether being genetically inclined to have an increased waist-to-hip ratio (WHR) adjusted for BMI (a measure of abdominal fat) was linked to cardiometabolic traits (such as lipids, glucose, insulin, and systolic blood pressure), and type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

The team gathered data from four genome-wide association studies conducted between 2007 and 2015, which included up to 322,154 participants, and individual-level, cross-sectional data from the UK Biobank collected between 2007 and 2011, which included data from a further 111,986 people. Estimates for cardiometabolic traits were based on this combined data set.

Analysis did show that being genetically predisposed to a higher WHR adjusted for BMI was connected with increased levels of quantitative risk factors, including lipids, glucose, insulin, and systolic blood pressure, and a greater risk of developing type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

Kathiresan and co-authors say that the results permit several conclusions. Firstly, the findings agree with previous studies that associate abdominal fat with cardiometabolic disease.

Secondly, the findings suggest that the distribution of body fat, beyond BMI measurement, could partly explain the disparity in risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease that is reported in both individuals and subpopulations.

"For example, increased abdominal adiposity at a given BMI has been proposed as an explanation for the excess risk of coronary heart disease observed in South Asians," the authors explain. "Similarly, greater abdominal adipose tissue at a given BMI has been proposed to underlie the excess risk of coronary heart disease at a given BMI among men compared with women," they add.

Lastly, WHR adjusted for BMI may lead to novel therapeutic strategies for the reduction of abdominal fat and decreasing the risk of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease.

"Although a substantial focus of drug development has been toward therapeutics to reduce overall adiposity, there has been little effort toward the development of therapies that modify body fat distribution to reduce abdominal adiposity," say the authors. Kathiresan and team conclude:

"These results provide evidence supportive of a causal association between abdominal adiposity and the development of type 2 diabetes and coronary heart disease."

Limitations of the study include the fact that there is a small chance that the findings from the study represent a "shared genetic basis" between WHR adjusted for BMI and coronary heart disease, instead of a causal relationship.

Learn how obesity may lead to heart attacks and stroke.

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Abdominal fat may cause type 2 diabetes, heart disease - Medical News Today

Drug pricing is a drawing a lot of column space across both mainstream and financial news media right now, and some of the bigger players in the pharmaceutical and healthcare spaces are taking a hit as a result. It's an industry wide pressure factor, but there is particular focus right now on the diabetes market leaders including Sanofi SA (NYSE:SNY), Novo Nordisk A/S (NYSE:NVO) and Eli Lilly and Co. (NYSE:LLY). All of them are under investigation as part of a lawsuit rooted in allegations of price-fixing for insulin products.

How the suit will play out is anyone's guess.

It's going to be tough to prove anything as the very definition of "price-fixing" is quite ill defined and subjective anyway. Nonetheless, if prosecutors do manage to bring something to the table and the ruling goes against the companies in question, while for any one company the ramifications may be minimal, they are likely to be big for the direction of the diabetes industry as a whole.

Investors are picking up on this as a number of smaller diabetes plays are drawing increased speculative volume as the bigger players come under increased pressure. If these smaller companies can play their cards right, now could be a great time to wrestle some speculative attention away from the more established entities, and for smaller players to gain strength near to medium term.

One company that is attempting to do exactly that right now, and that looks to have an attractive pitch, is Oramed Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ:ORMP).

The company's CEO, Nadav Kidron, featured on CNBC's Squawk Box earlier this week and highlighted both the potential impact of the company's insulin product on the treatment landscape, and the way that product plays into the great insulin pricing debate that now rages. Both sides of the story reinforce an already intriguing investment pitch, and make Oramed a compelling contender in the insulin/diabetes space going forward.

A quick introduction

Oramed has spent the last twelve months or so slowly crawling out from under the radar in the biotech space. The firm is an Israeli biotech that has developed a technology capable of enabling oral delivery for compounds that wouldn't normally be viable orally because of their pharmacologic composition and the pharmacokinetics associated with their administration. Oramed's flagship candidate is oral insulin, and with Novo Nordisk recently dropping out of the oral insulin space, Oramed is now pretty much all alone.

There are a few problems with oral insulin as a concept, and these problems are the root of the fact that no company has been able to bring an oral insulin to market to date.

The first is that insulin is very unstable in its naked form, and as a result, it is extremely difficult to get it to the liver without it being broken down along the way. Our gastrointestinal tract is built to break things down, and even the most resilient of material falls foul to enzymes in the stomach. On its own, insulin doesn't stand a chance. The second is that even if insulin does get past the stomach, uptake and absorption through the intestine are very tough to achieve. Without intestinal absorption through to the liver, the insulin is essentially useless.

ORMD-0801

Oramed's drug candidate ORMD-0801 has a built in combination of protease inhibitors and absorption enhancers to try and get the insulin through intact. As has been noted in past coverage of this company, the technology behind the absorption enhancers is unclear, with Oramed holding its cards close to its chest on the proprietary tech that underpins the process. What we can assume with relative certainty, however, is that the protease inhibitors distract the enzymes (the proteases) that would normally break down the insulin, while the absorption enhancers enhance intestinal permeability to facilitate uptake and get the insulin where it needs to be.

From there, ORMD-0801 employs the portal vein to get the insulin to the liver. This vein is the same transport route taken by naturally-produced insulin in its journey from the pancreas to the liver. By mimicking this route, the theory is that the liver can regulate the insulin administered similar to what happens in a normal healthy person. Intramuscular insulin needs to be measured manually each time it is injected with overdoses and underdoses a chronic problem, since the insulin cannot be regulated automatically.

Many will read this and say that oral insulin isn't going to replace injectable insulin, as this sort of delivery doesn't facilitate long-acting insulin administration. That's true, but there's a key point here that many who have looked at this company and denounced its prospects have missed - Oramed isn't trying to replace long acting (basal) insulin; at least not right now and not with ORMD-0801.

Application to type 1 diabetes

Type I diabetes patients will generally inject long-acting insulin daily, and also rapid acting insulin (bolus) before meals. The goal of this bolus administration is to stabilize blood sugar levels before meals. The problem is that administering both types of insulin through injection results in a large number of daily injections, and it's a really unpleasant and tough regimen to stick to. The latter administration type, the bolus admin, is what Oramed is trying to replace with ORMD-0801, with the goal (at least at the beginning) being to reduce the daily injection count.

And the data that the company has collected to date supports this replacement.

Patients that took one capsule of 8mg insulin before meals, three times daily, demonstrated an 11.5% reduction in mean glucose pretreatment to post treatment. In a Phase IIa study that followed up on this data, across 21 type 1 patients, Oramed was able to show a consistently lower blood glucose level (as measured by FPG) in dosed patients compared to placebo.

Application to type 2 diabetes

In type II diabetes, the drug has shown a similar promise. Again, here, Oramed is not trying to replace current standard of care. Instead, it's trying to delay the point at which patients need to start administering standard of care. Type II diabetes treatment is lifestyle-based initially, and then moves on to active injection therapy. Oramed is trying to add a middle stage between these two points with ORMD-0801, to reduce insulin resistance and stimulate insulin secretion with the goal of a delay in onset of severity.

And this takes us full circle to the price-fixing issue in diabetes treatment. It's this delay that the CEP pointed to as potentially providing cost-saving to the consumer and market as a whole in the interview linked above. This could become a key point in the ongoing conversation about insulin and drug-pricing as a whole.

Again, data is in place that supports this hypothesis. In a Phase IIa designed to confirm safety and tolerability across 30 type 2 patients, ORMD-0801 demonstrated a reduction not just in fasting glucose levels, but also in nighttime mean glucose levels and daytime glucose levels, when compared to placebo.

A follow up to this, a Phase IIb, replicated these results, but to a more impressive degree. Against a primary endpoint of a reduction in mean nighttime glucose, ORMD-0801 hit across a patient population of 180 patients. The dose was one pill, nightly, for a month.

China

There's a licensing deal in place right now with a Chinese entity that brought in a little over $600K revenues for the last quarter and that promises to bring in up to $38 million in milestone payments related to ORMD-0801's development. There's also the promise of 10% royalties on what amounts to a 500 million patient population of prediabetic Chinese patients. Remember, this is a prophylaxis target, not a responsive one at core.

Risk

The primary risk right now is the standard development stage biotechnology company risk - operational cash. Cash on hand was $2.3 million as of November 30, 2016, but as per the most recent company presentation, here, this had risen to $44 million by start Feb, 2017. Even with this degree of cash on hand, however, chances are we are going to see some degree of dilution near term unless Oramed can complete a direct offering, especially as the company moves towards the initiation of a registration trial in the type II target later this year. Pivotal trials are expensive, especially in an indication like type 2 diabetes, and the company will have one eye funding commercialization as and when the trial closes and an NDA submission follows.

If data comes out as supportive of an efficacy thesis, however, and ORMD-0801 reaches commercialization, this dilution should have minimal impact on an early stage holding.

So where are the catalysts coming from?

The primary catalyst is the initiation of a phase III trial in the type 2 indication. Based on company communication, the type 2 target is the first that will move into a registration study, and initiation is expected at some point during late 2017.

During the same timeframe, Oramed also intends to initiate a phase II multi site study to investigate the efficacy of its GLP-1 analogue, which is built on the same technology as the insulin assets.

Both events are value creating.

Disclosure: I/we have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.

I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.

Editor's Note: This article covers one or more stocks trading at less than $1 per share and/or with less than a $100 million market cap. Please be aware of the risks associated with these stocks.

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Here's Where Oramed Fits Into The Diabetes Space - Seeking Alpha

Closer to Levins home, this militant brand of Protestantism had been stirring in Philadelphia quite a while as well. In 1831, there had been a clash in the streets when Irish Protestants paraded past an Irish Catholic church in celebration of King Williams establishment of Protestant control of Ireland in 1690. More recently, in 1842, an assemblage of Philadelphia preachers named themselves the American Protestant Association, deemed the system of Popery to be, in its principles and tendency, subversive of civil and religious liberty, and destructive to the spiritual welfare of men and resolved to unite for the purpose of defending [their] Protestant interests against the great exertionsto propagate that system in the United States.

Watching this divisive movement gain support and momentum, Levin launched another newspaper, the Daily Sun, to use as a mouthpiece for his own nativist sentiment. Levin approached nativism through the lens of temperance and his steadily increasing resentment of the established political parties, the Democrats and the Whigs. As Levin saw it, candidates for office were decided on not by the people but by party insiders, in groggeries over segars, precisely the equivalent of the perennial smoke-filled room where cabals of secretive power brokers are said to do the dark work of true governance. Levin believed party politics to be tied up in vice and corruption and asserted that only a third party would allow for true democracy; thus he attached himself to the new American Republican Party, lately victorious in the New York mayoral election. In its Philadelphian iteration, under the auspices of Levin and other proponents, this party called itself the Native American Party. While today the term "Native American" refers to indigenous peoples, then it was a term taken up with pride to distinguish those born stateside from the wretched, tempest-tossed refuse that huddled in masses on teeming foreign shores.

While only a secretary of this nascent party, Levin was perhaps the most vocal advocate of its cause and, as a publisher, the most capable of disseminating its message. In addition to regular editorials in the Daily Sun, Levin published a book expressing his feelings on the Irish Repeal Associations campaign to dissolve Irelands union with Great Britain around this time. Predictably, he did not view it as a bid for freedom, for its leader, Daniel OConnell, was a papist who would only make Ireland beholden to the Pope. And it was just this that he warned the predominately Catholic immigrants of Europe, and particularly the Irish Catholic, intended to do in America: stage a coup by voting as a block, raising up their own men to power and subverting American democracy in favor of monarchism and deference to the Catholic Church. Our only hope, as he represented it, was to stem the surging influx of indigents and criminals and papists and to defy the cronyism and corruption of the ruling parties: in short, to support Native Americanism.

*

Before we examine the most outrageous chapter of Levins life, I would like to pause for a moment to offer a caveat regarding my scholarship. I make no claims to being a rigorous historian. I am a storyteller first and foremost, an entertainer; therefore, I may sometimes give short shrift to elements of my subject matter that dont serve well the narrative I am trying to dramatize. However, my promise is that, while attempting to shape and share an engaging story, I will also make my best efforts to present the story accurately and provide reliable sources.

To that end, I should mention some other contemporary circumstances that likely contributed to the anti-immigrant sentiments of the times as well as to the general desire for a change in the status quo of party politics. All of these factors are clearly outlined in John A. Formans Lewis Charles Levin: Portrait of an American Demagogue, a comprehensive source that I have relied on heavily.

Two important dynamics beyond anti-Catholicism that exacerbated this political climate in Philadelphia were a loss of status on the national political stage and a descent into economic depression. In 1836, the most important Philadelphian in the country, Nicholas Biddle, President of the Second Bank of the United States, was stymied in his attempt to recharter the institution by President Andrew Jackson. The Bank War, as it was called, had been a prominent issue in the Presidential campaigns of 1832, and after Jackson successfully blocked the banks recertification in 36, Philadelphia and her people took it as a personal defeat. No longer the central hub of the American economy, Philadelphia lost some of its eminence, and Philadelphians became disillusioned with their political leaders and open to outsider politicians that suggested the established parties were corrupt and/or ineffectual.

Then, in 1837, an economic crisis occurred that led to years of recession. In the absence of the national bank in Philadelphia, federal capital was placed in a variety of pet banks, relocating money from the large banks that relied on it to smaller banks that certainly benefitted from it. The practical effect, however, was panic, as major banks, now carrying far less capital, could not extend credit or offer loans as they had before. In Philadelphia, as well as elsewhere, the Panic of 1837 meant hard times, and as is almost always the case when Americans suffer economic hardship, the poor immigrant, who will often work for lower pay, is blamed for the privations of by natural-born citizens.

While the loss of their national bank and the ensuing recession certainly added to the atmosphere, one issue in particular allowed Lewis Charles Levin to really rile up his audience, and this one, again, Americans will recognize: religion in schools. The debate here, however, was not about its presence but rather about what form it would take. Catholics in the Kensington district protested that the Bible used as a reader in schools was a Protestant King James Bible and contended that Catholic students should be allowed to use a Catholic text. Levin and his Native Americans misconstrued their position, perhaps willfully misrepresenting their complaint, and warned the public that the Irish Catholics of Kensington wanted to have the Bible removed from schools, which, if it were allowed, Levin argued would lead to a new generation of idle, profligate, dissolute youth. In short, the evil immigrant papists were hell bent on undermining the very moral fabric of society.

This was the background and the political narrative when, in May of 1844, Levins incitements finally erupted into violence.

*

The Native Americans rallied first in Independence Square, holding forth to crowds of supporters about the Bible issue. But perhaps that wasnt provocative enough, for next they moved their rally right into the heart if Kensington district so that the Irish Catholics themselves could hear their disparaging speeches. The first of these rallies disbanded when Irish Catholics, predictably, gathered to face their deriders. However, in the spirit of authentic agitation, Levin and the Native Americans were not discouraged from holding their rallies in the very dooryards of Irish Catholic Kensington residents but rather determined to do so again, likely hoping that violence would break out and somehow prove their dispersions against the Irish to be true.

On a stormy Monday in May, Lewis Charles Levin ascended a stage to address his audience. As if on cue, the heavens opened up with a rumble, and a downpour beganthis perhaps a gesture toward divine intervention. But Levin was undeterred. Taking shelter in a nearby marketplace, he resumed his remarks, which have ever been described as passionate and incendiary.

It must have begun as a murmur at the crowds peripherya confrontation between a nativist and an Irishman. Very quickly, then, it came to blows and graduated to full-scale rioting, as men brandished bricks and cudgels. When gunfire boomed in the marketplace, the first struck was a constable, shot in the face. Others received gunshot wounds in their sides, their hips, their legs. Stones and bricks filled the air, crashing down upon those gathered and battering the walls and windows of businesses and houses in the area. With the report of pistols, many dispersed, and others gave chase. Residents homes received barrages of rocks for no other reason than that men had fled into an adjacent alley or fallen against their doors. The damage to property was enormous, and the violence unrestrained.

The next day, the Native American convened again, no longer in Kensington, to counsel restraint. Many among their audience called for Levin, to hear what the chief instigator had to say about curbing their retaliation against the Irish rioters. Levin kept his silence, and the rioting continued for another two days. The militia had to be deployed to bring an end to it, but by then, numerous rioters on both sides as well as bystanders had been wounded, and seven were dead. When the smoke literally cleared, a seminary and two Catholic churches had been destroyed by arson, as well as some thirty private residences.

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Historical Blindness

There is no evidence that members of the Trump presidential campaign broke the law when they were in contact with various Russian officials during the campaign and transition period.

Yet that has not stopped some liberals from fantasizing about impeachment proceedings, based on unsubstantiated claims that Trump coordinated with Russian hackers to embarrass Hillary Clinton.

Voters knew months before the election that Trump advisers, including Michael Flynn, Paul Manafort and Roger Stone, had close ties to Russia. This was one of many reasons to oppose Trump's candidacy. But he won anyway. Nothing that was reported last week, all attributed to anonymous sources within the intelligence community, invalidates that result.

President Donald Trump is furious over the constant leaks from the national security apparatus that undermined former National Security Adviser Flynn.

The leaks are definitely a problem. The D.C. bureaucracy is picking out classified information to feed to the press in order to wage a guerrilla campaign against Trump. That is unacceptable.

But such bureaucratic abuse does not excuse the Trump administration's continued blindness to the threat of Vladimir Putin's regime.

Barack Obama promised to show more flexibility to Russia after he was re-elected. But the Trump administration has tied itself in knots excusing Putin's misdeeds.

Like all bullies, Putin responded to this weakness with more aggression. Russia is cruising a spy ship up and down the Eastern seaboard, and Russian planes are buzzing U.S. Navy ships in the Black Sea.

Trump's admiration and excuses for an authoritarian thug like Putin are deeply troubling. Critics should concentrate on Trump's weak foreign policy, rather than on conspiracy theories about the 2016 election.

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Russian blindness: Trump team ties troubling - The Union Leader

Posted February 19, 2017 07:14:44

Tim Hughes once caught a plane from New York to LA. Sitting next to him was a woman, a striking brunette with big hair.

Mr Hughes helped her with her bags and then sat back to enjoy the attention of the unusually solicitous airline staff. Upon landing he wished her an enjoyable stay.

"I live here," was her steely-eyed reply.

"It was only two weeks later, after I'd seen a magazine article about her, that I realised that the person I'd been sitting next to was Elizabeth Taylor," recalls Mr Hughes.

The former IT professional has a condition called prosopagnosia, sometimes known as "face blindness".

But people with prosopagnosia aren't actually blind; they know when they see a face, but their brain can't process who it belongs to.

An inability to tell the difference between two similar faces does not necessarily mean that a person has prosopagnosia, and difficulty perceiving differences is not the same as difficulty with remembering faces, though the result can be the same.

"One of the things that we think people [without prosopagnosia] do when they look at faces is to see the face more as a whole, rather than the individual parts that make up the face," says Romina Palermo, associate professor of psychology at the University of Western Sydney.

"We know that people who see faces more as wholes tend to be better at recognising faces. We also know that people who have prosopagnosia don't tend to look at a face as a whole as much, they tend to see the parts more often."

Brain injury, most often a stroke can cause prosopagnosia, but there is also a congenital, or developmental, version in which certain brain mechanisms fail to develop properly, possibly due to genetics.

The neurological explanation for prosopagnosia is complex: to recognise a face, the brain relies on a neural network of at least three core regions in the occipital and temporal lobes of the right and left brain hemispheres which supply different aspects of face processing.

"There are a number of processes, and our understanding is sketchy," says Brad Duchaine, professor in psychological and brain sciences at New Hampshire's Dartmouth College.

"In our posterior lobes we have a fairly simple, image-based representation of the face that you're seeing which is exactly what you're seeing you're encoding the values of the features of that face.

"As you move to more anterior areas in the brain, those areas are giving what's called a 'view independent' manner, where you're extracting a representation of just who a person is. It's not tied to the particular image of the face that you're seeing at that moment."

As for Mr Hughes, he first suspected something wasn't right back in Year Six.

"There were two similar looking blonde-haired boys. I never could tell them apart, even though the other kids could," he says.

Since then, Mr Hughes' inability to recognise faces has put him in some awkward situations, especially once he started dating.

"I knew my girlfriend would be getting on the same bus, and would be wearing school uniform but I was petrified I wouldn't be able to tell who she was. Luckily, she recognised me," he says.

Things didn't work out so well another time: "One time I went to my girlfriend's house to pick her up but after a short while, the woman I was talking to said, 'I think you want my sister.'"

Many people with prosopagnosia don't have as much trouble recognising family members, but unfamiliar situations can make things difficult.

"One time at the beach I thought I'd misplaced my son Stuart," says Mr Hughes. "There was a boy standing next to me who I thought was one of Stuart's friends, so I asked him if he knew where Stuart was. He replied, 'Yes, I'm Stuart.'"

People with prosopagnosia usually develop coping strategies to give them clues to the identity of the person they're interacting with.

They use extra layers of information such as gait, voice, eye colour, clothing, or hairstyle. For people with prosopagnosia, a new hairdo can be quite confusing.

Mr Hughes' coping mechanisms include examining people "top to toe" and having a friend point out who's who, or who he might expect to see at an event.

He also lets people know he has the condition and that he might not recognise them next time he sees them.

He's not a fan of the term "face blindness" because it's not accurate. He prefers to say that he has "facial recognition issues" once he puts facial features together, he can identify who a person is.

The Australian Prosopagnosia Register was begun about 10 years ago, and people can sign up for information, receive updates on research and do tests to help figure out what level of prosopagnosia they have.

There have also been studies on whether people can be trained to improve their facial recognition abilities.

They can, but it's intensive, involving tasks like looking at photos and trying to identify subtle differences in people's eyes or the distance between the eyes.

Research into prosopagnosia also opens a window on to how the human brain processes faces. Facial recognition is a specialised task utilising different areas in the brain, and information about how this happens could assist with other research.

"It's useful to know how everybody processes faces," says Professor Romina Palermo.

"When some people are unable to do it, there can be insights into how the brain works.

"Facial recognition is a specialised task utilising a distributed network of areas in the brain, and information about how this happens can assist with other areas of cognition."

Topics: health, genetic-disorders, brain-and-nervous-system, psychology, australia

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Prosopagnosia: What it's like to live with 'face blindness' - ABC Online

We grew up listening to our parents saying that if we use computers for a long time, it will eventually make us go blind. This my friends was something I always believed to be true, but how is it possible to not use a computer when our survival in the modern world depends on it? Computer vision syndrome is the term used for eye strain caused due to staring at a computer for too long. The symptoms, well we all know what they are; blurry vision, headaches, dry eyes, watery eyes, and tired eyes.

The symptoms are generally temporary if you stop computer usage for a while but if you are anything like me and are literally addicted to sitting in front of a computer, then these symptoms can be a problem, but then the question is, we read books too so why arent they bad for the eyes? The answer is pretty interesting actually. According to the University of Iowa, its because while we are using computers, our rate of blinking drops by a third which results in our eyes becoming dry.

According to the American Optometric Association, the contrast that exists on the screen isnt as strong as it is in books and the letters are less precisely rendered. The eyes thus have to work harder and this leaves them tired. If you are looking at a screen from a non-ideal angle then that only worsens the strain. You must be wondering what that ideal angle is. Well, ideally you must be looking slightly down at the screen at an approximate 15-20 degree angle. The computer must also be placed about 20-28 inches away from you. So get a protractor and a ruler and start measuring (no not literally).

It also helps to take breaks while you are at the computer. Every 20 minutes take a 20 second break to stare at something 20 feet away. This is referred to as the 20-20-20 rule by optometrists. If you are planning to use a computer for a longer time, then after every 2 hours take a 15 minute break from computer usage. Some people who dont usually use spectacles can benefit from computer specific glasses. These spectacles are designed to reduce glare and increase the contrast. With age our eyes also become less flexible. Interestingly people who wear contacts may suffer from increased blurriness and dryness because they already blink less because of the contacts. So do your eyes a favor and use spectacles while you are at a computer.

And one more thing, if these things arent helping then its probably the right time to pay your eye doctor a visit because something needs checking.

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Don't Worry You Can Save Your Eyes From Blindness If You Sit In ... - Wccftech

The Associated Press

DECATUR -- Two Illinois lawmakers have proposed a plan to offer tax credits to biotechnology businesses in hopes of boosting agricultural jobs in central Illinois.

The legislation, introduced by Republican state Sen. Chapin Rose of Mahomet and Democratic state Sen. Andy Manar of Bunker Hill, would provide incentives to produce and sell new renewable products made from biomass and other renewable sources, the Herald & Reviewreported.

Manar said the state is strategically poised to lead the development of new renewable products.

"We have leading biotechnology companies, large and small, that are leading research and development efforts on these innovative products, and we have critical mass in infrastructure to produce and transport these renewables around the world," Manar said.

Rose said there's potential for Decatur to be at the center of a new $20 billion biotechnology industry. He said the intent is to utilize Decatur's production and shipping capacity through the Midwest Inland Port along with the Integrated Bioprocessing Research Lab in Urbana.

"The potential for jobs is here," Rose said. "We have something no one else has to offer. This bill will help us capitalize on this and bring these jobs to central Illinois."

The proposed legislation would provide a state tax credit to Illinois companies that produce and sell new manufactured products made from bio-based molecules of biomass feedstocks. Those products, including renewable chemicals and food additives, represent the next generation of advanced biofuels.

"These new bio-based products offer great potential to the Illinois economy across the entire state," said Warren Ribley, president and CEO of Biotechnology Innovation Organization, which is among the organizations leading the efforts in Illinois. "We need to lead now by leveraging our tremendous assets or forever be playing catch-up."

The plan's chances in the state legislature are uncertain.

Illinois' corporate tax incentive program has been under scrutiny recently with critics calling it too expensive and favorable to large businesses. Last month Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner signed an extension of the program through April but has called for replacing the program, known as EDGE, or Economic Development for a Growing Economy.

Rauner's spokeswoman Eleni Demertzis saidMondaythat the bill is "under review."

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Illinois senators propose biotechnology tax credits - The State Journal-Register

By: Express News Service | Mohali | Published:February 19, 2017 4:43 am The National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, on Saturday observed its 7th foundation day.

The National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute, Mohali, on Saturday observed its 7th foundation day at the NABI premises at Phase 8 in Mohali. The NABI is an autonomous institute aided by the department of Biotechnology, Government of India, and carries out research in the area of biotechnological applications at the intersection of agriculture, food and nutritional biotechnology.

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A gathering of heads of the institutes and faculty from the Tricity region joined the function. More than 200 scientists, students and staff participated in the foundation day ceremony. Prof. Nagendra Kumar Singh, national professor, B P Pal chair and project director, ICAR National Research Centre on Plant Bioterchnology, New Delhi was the chief guest.

He delivered the foundation day lecture on Decoding the genomes of crop plants uniquely important for India. Dr T R Sharma, executive director, NABI highlighted the achievements of NABI and mentioned that NABI is poised to play an important role in generating world-class knowledge in the area of agri-food and health security. NABI is working on strategies to overcome anti-nutritional activity, and make food crops a better quality source for nutrition.

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National Agri-Food Biotechnology Institute celebrates seventh foundation day - The Indian Express

Puma Biotechnology Inc (NYSE:PBYI) was downgraded by Zacks Investment Research from a buy rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Tuesday.

According to Zacks, Pumas progress with the lead candidate, neratinib, has been impressive. Currently, neratinib is under review in both the U.S. and the EU for the treatment of HER2-positive breast cancer. An approval would be a huge boost for the company given the immense commercial potential in the target market. Several additional studies on neratinib targeting different types of breast cancer patient populations are currently underway. Being a development-stage company, Puma does not have any approved product in its portfolio yet. Thus, the company is totally dependent on neratinib for growth. Puma has had its share of setbacks related to neratinib. With so much depending on the successful development and approval of neratinib, any further kind of development or regulatory setback could hamper the companys growth prospects and the stock adversely. Shares of the company have underperformed that of the industry in the past one year.

Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. Citigroup Inc. set a $88.00 price target on Puma Biotechnology and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a buy rating and issued a $88.00 price target on shares of Puma Biotechnology in a research note on Wednesday, November 30th. J P Morgan Chase & Co set a $89.00 price target on Puma Biotechnology and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Monday, November 14th. Cowen and Company restated a market perform rating on shares of Puma Biotechnology in a research note on Tuesday, November 15th. Finally, Credit Suisse Group restated an outperform rating and set a $111.00 target price on shares of Puma Biotechnology in a research note on Tuesday, November 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, four have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. The stock presently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $68.56.

Puma Biotechnology (NYSE:PBYI) traded up 0.73% on Tuesday, hitting $34.60. Puma Biotechnology has a one year low of $19.74 and a one year high of $73.27. The firms 50-day moving average is $37.28 and its 200-day moving average is $45.81. The companys market capitalization is $1.27 billion.

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board increased its position in shares of Puma Biotechnology by 53.2% in the third quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 16,700 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $1,120,000 after buying an additional 5,800 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA increased its position in shares of Puma Biotechnology by 112.0% in the third quarter. BNP Paribas Arbitrage SA now owns 2,133 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $143,000 after buying an additional 1,127 shares during the period. Northern Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Puma Biotechnology by 1.2% in the second quarter. Northern Capital Management LLC now owns 16,288 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $485,000 after buying an additional 190 shares during the period. Traynor Capital Management Inc. bought a new position in shares of Puma Biotechnology during the second quarter valued at about $246,000. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in shares of Puma Biotechnology by 31.4% in the second quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 231,875 shares of the biopharmaceutical companys stock valued at $6,907,000 after buying an additional 55,345 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 80.98% of the companys stock.

About Puma Biotechnology

Puma Biotechnology, Inc is a biopharmaceutical company that focuses on the development and commercialization of products for the treatment of cancer. The Company focuses on in-licensing the global development and commercialization rights to over three drug candidates, including PB272 (neratinib (oral)), which the Company is developing for the treatment of patients with human epidermal growth factor receptor type 2 (HER2), positive breast cancer, and patients with non-small cell lung cancer, breast cancer and other solid tumors that have a HER2 mutation; PB272 (neratinib (intravenous)), which the Company is developing for the treatment of patients with advanced cancer, and PB357, which is an orally administered agent.

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The Puma Biotechnology Inc (PBYI) Stock Rating Decreased by the Zacks Investment Research - DailyQuint

The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) published in 2015 that one in 250 children have some form of joint pain that may be related to either an autoimmune condition or infection.

If the pain is due to an underlying infection, treating the child would usually result in complete resolution of the arthritis.

However, some of these children may have an autoimmune cause for their arthritis. These children would have seen many doctors and the pain doesnt appear to go away with standard painkillers. At times, the pain can be so severe that they cannot do normal activities in school, or worse, they will skip school completely as they are unable to get up from bed and walk.

When the joint pain lasts more than six weeks, the child may have a condition called childhood arthritis (know medically as Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis or JIA), and it affects children and teenagers up to the age of 16.

This is a chronic condition and is due to the immune system attacking the joint capsule or synovium, leading to overt inflammation. This inflammation will lead to pain, swelling and increased warmth on the skin surface.

The pain is usually associated with early morning stiffness, i.e. the child will have difficulty straightening or bending the affected joint in the morning.

These children will move around with bent knees or elbows, and sometimes, they can be seen walking with a limp. The exact cause of this condition is still unknown.

Unfortunately, due to lack of awareness, many of these children only get referred many months later to a paediatric rheumatologist.

JIA is an aggressive condition, and if not managed early, can lead to long-term damage to the structures within and surrounding the joint. As these children are growing, this disease can affect their growth plate, leading to shortening of their limbs.

Worse still is that when the bones are completely damaged, they will not be able to bend their joints.

It is very important to get these children treated as soon as possible to prevent long-term damage to all these vital structures in their body.

There are eight sub-types of JIA, namely oligoarthritis, rheumatoid-factor-positive polyarthritis, rheumatoid-factor-negative polyarthritis, systemic arthritis, juvenile psoriatic arthritis, systemic arthritis, enthesitis-related arthritis and undifferentiated arthritis.

Oligoarthritis occurs when four joints or less are affected and it usually affects children below the age of five. This condition mainly targets larger joints like the knees, ankles and elbows.

Patients with this subtype are prone to suffer eye inflammation called uveitis and will need to have regular follow-up with the eye specialist.

For rheumatoid-factor-positive polyarthritis and rheumatoid-factor-negative polyarthritis, more than four joints are inflamed. The difference is only whether or not there is an autoantibody called rheumatoid factor present.

If this autoantibody is present, the child is likely to have a worse outcome as the disease is more aggressive and will probably need the newer drugs for control.

These two subtypes usually affect children above five years of age.

Girls are more likely to have polyarthritis than boys.

Systemic arthritis usually affects children below five and is a severe form of arthritis, as these children usually present with high grade fever and rash, which cannot be explained or have no source of infection.

This subtype is due to uncontrolled inflammation within the body and can lead to swelling of the heart, lungs, liver and spleen. It can cause a severe drop in the white blood cells, red blood cells and platelets, leading to a medical emergency called Macrophage Activation Syndrome. This condition can lead to death if not identified early, and as such, should be managed urgently by a paediatric rheumatologist.

Enthesitis-related arthritis is a form of arthritis that affects not only the joints but also the enthesis, which is the part where the ligaments or tendons attach to the bones.

This subtype usually affects school-going children and can lead to severe back pain due to inflammation of the sacroiliac joint. This is a joint that forms between the tail bone and the hip bone.

Children with inflammatory bowel disease, which is an autoimmune disease causing inflammation in the intestines, are at greater risk of developing this subtype.

Examples of swelling in childhood arthritis.

Juvenile psoriatic arthritis affects 20% of children who have psoriasis (an autoimmune skin disease where the skin flakes excessively due to rapid skin cell turnover) or have parents or siblings who have psoriasis themselves.

It usually affects the fingers or toes of children above the age of five, leading to sausage-shaped fingers called dactylitis.

Treatment for JIA aims to control the disease as early as possible to prevent further damage to the childs joints.

It can start with targeted injections into the joints with potent anti-inflammatory medications such as triamcinolone (if there are only a few joints involved), to combination treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for those with more severe forms of the disease.

Most recently, there are more targeted therapies against certain inflammatory molecules in the body, called biologics, which add to the arsenal of treatments against JIA.

With all these medications, the cure rate for JIA is good, especially if treated early, and more than 80% of children with JIA can lead normal, active lifestyles similar to other children.

In a nutshell:

Children and teenagers can have arthritis too.

If a child has joint pain for more than six weeks, the child will need to seek medical help from a paediatric rheumatologist as soon as possible as it may be JIA.

JIA is a chronic, autoimmune disease that can lead to life-long disability if not adequately treated.

JIA has no exact known cause.

There are many subtypes of JIA and each subtype has different levels of severity.

Children with unexplained fever for weeks without a known source may have a severe form of JIA.

Children with psoriasis can also have arthritis.

Early treatment is very important to prevent damage to the joint and growth plate.

Current treatment regimens have a good success rate and most children can lead normal and active lives.

Parents and the paediatric rheumatologist play an essential role in helping children with JIA cope with this disease, which requires long-term care and treatment.

Dr Cham Weng Tarng is a consultant paediatrician and paediatric rheumatologist. This article is courtesy of the Malaysian Paediatric Associations Positive Parenting programme in collaboration with expert partners. This article is supported by an educational grant from Sunway Medical Centre. For further information, visit http://www.mypositiveparenting.org. The information provided is for educational and communication purposes only and it should not be construed as personal medical advice. Information published in this article is not intended to replace, supplant or augment a consultation with a health professional regarding the readers own medical care. The Star does not give any warranty on accuracy, completeness, functionality, usefulness or other assurances as to the content appearing in this column. The Star disclaims all responsibility for any losses, damage to property or personal injury suffered directly or indirectly from reliance on such information.

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Home Bone Health Osteopenia (bone loss) update: natural treatment, anti-inflammatory diet, diabetes, psoriatic arthritis

In case you missed it, here is Bel Marra Healths roundup on osteopenia decreased bone densityfeaturing information on what factors contribute to bone loss, natural treatment options, anti-inflammatory diet tips for stronger bones, and how psoriasis affects bone density.

Bone loss, and more specifically osteoporosis, is often identified as a female health problem, but men are not immune to losing bone density. There are many factors that can contribute to bone loss, so practicing bone-boosting habits is essential, especially as you age.

Bones are composed of minerals, the most predominant being calcium. The body goes through a process called resorption, meaning it breaks down old bone and creates newer, stronger ones. Unfortunately, as we age, this becomes more difficult. The quicker old bone breaks down the more the need for new bone increases, but older adults simply do not create new bone as quickly as someone who is young. Bone loss can lead to osteopenia, which can evolve into osteoporosis. Bone disease can increase fractures and breaks and can negatively impact a persons life. Here are four factors that can contribute to bone loss, aside from aging, and what you can do to prevent bone loss. Continue reading

Many people are familiar with the term osteoporosis, but fewer have heard the term osteopenia, which means lower bone density than normal. If you have osteopenia, your bone density may be lower than normal peak level, but it isnt low enough to be considered osteoporosis.

Bone density is simply the measurement of how dense and strong bones are. Lower bone density puts you at a higher risk of eventually getting osteoporosis.

Low bone density is often associated with the elderly. As we grow older, bones become thinner due to the fact that the body reabsorbs bone cells faster than new bone is made. Other diseases or treatments can also cause osteopenia. Continue reading

New research published in the Journal of Bone and Mineral Research suggests that women who consume a diet high in anti-inflammatories experience less bone loss than their peers.

The study examined data from the Womens Health Initiative and compared inflammatory elements of participants diets to their bone mineral density and fractures, discovering a connection between food and bone health. Continue reading

Diabetes can increase the risk of bone loss, and the severity of diabetes can determine its impact on bone health. Osteoporosis is a consequence of diabetes, and both diabetes and osteoporosis have a high prevalence in America. The likelihood of developing both conditions increases with aging.

Type 1 diabetes causes bone mineral density loss, weakening the bones and leading to osteoporosis. In type 2 diabetes, though, there isnt a great loss in bone mineral density. In fact, type 2 diabetics tend to have higher bone mass density than average. Unfortunately, many of these patients tend to be overweight, and that extra weight contributes to bone loss and bone weakening over time. Many studies have even shown that type 2 diabetics, even with above average bone mineral density, are still at a higher risk for bone fractures. Continue reading

Psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis patients show higher osteoporosis and osteopenia prevalence, according to research. M. Elaine Husni, director of the Arthritis and Musculoskeletal Center at Cleveland Clinic, said Clinicians who treat patients with psoriasis or psoriatic arthritis should be on alert for an association with osteopenia and osteoporosis. The researchers suggest there is strong evidence to link psoriatic arthritis to bone loss, and there is an independent association between psoriasis and low mineral density. Continue reading

Related: Bone loss linked with serious illness

Related Reading:

Bone health not improved after weight loss surgery

This one thing is protecting your bones

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Osteopenia (bone loss) update: natural treatment, anti-inflammatory diet, diabetes, psoriatic arthritis - Bel Marra Health

(This story originally appeared as exclusive content on the Verizon INDYCAR Mobile app. To download the app for smartphones, click here.)

AVONDALE, Ariz. At 82, A.J. Foyt's body has literally been beaten beyond his years.

The first four-time winner of the Indianapolis 500 has experienced everything from a broken back at a 1964 NASCAR race in Riverside, California, to two badly broken feet and legs in a horrible crash at Road America in a 1990 Indy car race.

Foyt retired from racing on pole qualifying day at the 1993 Indianapolis 500, but retirement hasn't been much easier. He was stung more than 200 times from an attack of killer bees in 2005, trapped under an overturned bulldozer on his Texas ranch in 2007 and had knee replacements and a hip replacement. In November 2014, Foyt underwent triple-bypass heart surgery and remained in the hospital for weeks afterward because of complications.

Foyt has survived it all but not without a struggle. He now is looking for a fountain of youth and told the Verizon INDYCAR Mobile App that he will undergo stem cell therapy in Cancun, Mexico.

They have to cut away some of the tissue from my stomach and it takes 8-10 weeks for it to grow back to produce the stem cells, Foyt said in an exclusive interview. I'll probably have it done soon so that we can begin the treatment within the next two to three months.

Adult stem cells are able to grow and become a cell for a specific tissue or organ, according to the National Institutes of Health. They are different from embryonic stem cells, which come from fertilized eggs or aborted fetuses. Embryonic stem cells can turn into cells for nearly any tissue in the body.

The procedure is not performed in the United States, so Foyt has found a medical facility in Mexico that can do the treatment that regenerates newer and younger cells. He said he will have stem cells injected into each ankle and shoulder, as well as into his blood.

It used to be you would have to go to Germany to get this procedure, but now it's available in Cancun and that is probably where I'll have it done, Foyt said Saturday during the Verizon IndyCar Series open test at Phoenix Raceway. I'm not in good health like I used to be and, if my son Larry hadn't taken over (running) the team four years ago, I would have had to shut it down. It's something he likes to do and I'm backing him 100 percent.

Foyt said he feels good to be his age after all the crap that I've been through.

I feel better this year than I did last year, Foyt continued. If I get to feeling bad, I probably won't show up at the race. But I'm going to do that stem cell deal. My wife, Lucy, has been pretty sick lately. Dan Pastorini (the former NFL quarterback) did it and it helped him. Peyton Manning (the former Indianapolis Colts and Denver Broncos quarterback) did it for his neck and it really helped him. Tony Dorsett (the former Dallas Cowboys running back) did it, so I think we should try it.

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INDYCAR legend Foyt plans to have stem cell therapy - IndyCar.com - INDYCAR