StemCell Therapy

1) After repeated attempts, which are also cost-consuming, many couples opt out of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) treatments, losing their hope for pregnancy. Can pregnancy be successful after multiple failed IVF attempts?

An IVF cycle can fail because of a few reasons Improper diagnosis of the cause of infertility, improper treatment, chromosomal abnormalities in embryo and failure of implantation/endometrial receptivity. One of the first things that IVF requires is that both the male and female partners go through a few tests, including blood tests and ultrasound, to determine the root cause of infertility. It is only after a thorough investigation of each unique patient case that a treatment can be charted out. In many cases, the couple is required to take up medication to treat underlying health conditions or even other procedures such as removal of uterine fibroids.

Once fertilisation of the egg and sperm takes place and an embryo is formed, pre-implantation genetic testing (or PGT) is performed to check for any genetic anomalies in the embryo; these anomalies can act as a barrier to conception or lead to miscarriage. Thus, PGT helps in two waysa) transfer of the best graded embryo into the uterus, and b) single embryo transfer (multiple embryo transfers can be done in some cases to increase the probability of pregnancy but can lead to complications later). The technology used including minute details such as the temperature and humidity at which gametes are handled can also make a significant difference to the success of an IVF cycle. In most cases, the gap is bridged by understanding the history of the patient, taking a unique approach to the case and choosing the right technology.

2) You had a patient who got pregnant after the 14th attempt. Can you share details?

After repeated cycles of failed in-vitro fertilisation (IVF), Nashik couple Vibha and Abhik (names changed) were successful with a twin pregnancy on their 15th attempt. Married for 15 years, the couple exhibited secondary infertility since they already had an elder child. Hoping to complete their family with more children, they tried to conceive naturally as well as using assisted reproductive technology (ART). Then they opted for IVF.

Vibha (36) reported having chronic hypertension and hypothyroidism. Upon testing for fertility parameters, it was found that the uterine lining, endometrium, had grown into the uterus (called adenomyosis). Additionally, the left fallopian tube was blocked with fluids (left terminal hydrosalpinx) and had less number of viable eggs (poor antral follicular count). On analysing Abhiks semen sample, it was found that he had severe oligoasthenoteratozoospermia or OAT. This condition is marked by three characteristic defects in sperm low sperm count, poor sperm movement and abnormal shape.

The couple had attempted ART 12 times with their own eggs, all of which failed. Given the couples compromised levels of healthy egg reserve and sperm, the best alternative was to opt for donor embryos. Donor embryos are genetically and physically healthy and have better chances of implanting in the uterus, and subsequently leading to a live birth.

In order to prepare Vibhas uterus for implantation, she was given platelet-rich plasma (PRP) 10 days before embryo transfer. Laser assisted hatching also helped to prepare her womb. Two donor embryos were transferred. Levels of human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) and an ultrasound confirmed the presence of two growing foetuses. But they didnt last full term. This is called recurrent implantation failure. This is a complex problem that occurs due to a number of reasons. The treatment plan varies, depending on the source of the problem. In such cases, the best solution that provides light at the end of the tunnel is personalised treatment, depending on the unique nature of each case.

3) What is the success rate of IVF per cycle according to the age of the couples?

Age has a variety of effects on fertility in general and the efficacy of IVF. According to the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the average percentages of ART cycles that lead to a live birth are: 31 per cent in women younger than 35 years of age 24 per cent in women aged 35 to 37 16 per cent in women aged 38 to 40 8 per cent in women aged 41 to 44 3 per cent in women age 43 and older

These success rates have historically been associated with the biological clock of women and their limited reproductive window. However, new studies on the relation of age and male infertility have found that men, too, have a similar limitation. Men above the age of 40 have been found to have deteriorated sperm quality and reduced fertility.

4) It has been observed that even young couples in the age group of 25 and 35 face infertility and are now opting for IVF treatment. What are the reasons behind early infertility?

Young couples in their mid-20s and 30s are increasingly having difficulty conceiving. This can be attributed to the emergence of lifestyle-related diseases such as diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and thyroid disease. Other lifestyle triggers are work-related stress at work, poor eating habits, increase in consumption of alcohol and tobacco and lack of regular exercise. The pandemic-induced lockdowns and work-from-home formats have meant long sedentary hours, which have upset the hormone patterns of young people. Medical conditions such as endometriosis, endometrial tuberculosis and polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) are also to blame.

It is, however, imperative to mention that there is an increased awareness about infertility. The easy access to information on IVF and an openness to accept a medical solution to infertility have played a significant part in changing mindsets. This is also applicable for people who are born with genetic diseases or congenital limitations.

5) What kind of fertility issues are most common among younger couples nowadays?

There has been a spike in cases among couples experiencing infertility wherein women have been diagnosed with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) and men with azoospermia. It has also been noted that in many young men experiencing infertility, exposure of the pelvic area to continuous heat (such as laptops or engines) has been a contributor. It is known that the testes need to be a few degrees cooler than the rest of the body. This exposure to heat sources impacts sperm production.

Moreover, with six per cent of the adult Indian population living with one or more sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) that can impact reproductive organs and function, it is essential that those with multiple sexual partners get regular STD tests done so that they can be treated early enough. In women, other fertility health issues can include endometriosis, pelvic inflammatory disease and uterine fibroids. In men, other fertility challenges can include erectile dysfunction, retrograde ejaculation and varicoceles.

6. Considering the changing lifestyle of todays young generation, what suggestions do you have for those who want to marry late?

You must get married or begin a family only when you feel prepared to do so. For young people, especially in urban centres, it has become increasingly common for both partners to become financially independent first before committing to a family. Those who envision having a family in the future can plan their fertility journey ahead in time.

With the help of cryopreservation techniques, they can freeze their eggs and sperm in their 20s to early 30s and use them up to 10 years later when they are ready to get married and/or to start a family. Even for young couples, who are married but would want to focus on their careers or explore the world before bringing in a new life, embryo freezing is a technique that can help them conceive later. This ensures that eggs, sperms and embryos are harvested at a time when they are genetically and morphologically robust.

Additionally, young individuals must also take care of their health to avoid complications. The simple things that one can do is to incorporate a balanced diet, be physically active, maintain a healthy weight, avoid consumption of alcohol and tobacco, take proactive measures to combat stress and anxiety and go for regular health check-ups.

7. Is there a right age for IVF?

Even with technology, age continues to be a major determinant of pregnancy outcomes. Women in their 20s and early 30s, who use IVF, have more chances with pregnancies and single live births. However, after reaching the mid-30s, the success rates begin to drop slowly. Ageing eggs are unable to fertilise with a sperm or have genetic anomalies, reducing chances of a full-term baby. At the age of 30, women have about 12 per cent of the 300,000 eggs that they are born with. By the age of 40, only 9,000 of them remain. As soon as women reach the age of menopause (50-55), there are very less eggs remaining in the ovary and their viability is questionable. Patients are recommended to seek eggs from younger egg donors once they reach the age of 43.

As per the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act, 2021, men and women need to be between the legal age of marriage and 55 respectively to seek treatment. This is essential as conceiving at an older age may also lead to several other complications for both the mother and baby.

Regardless of seeking the entire process of IVF, young couples as well as single men and women have the choice to freeze their sperms and eggs, respectively. This ensures that these gametes are collected early on in their lives and can be utilised when they are ready to have children in the future.

(Why this doctor? Dr Kshitiz Murdia has a fellowship in infertility from Singapore. He has experience of performing more than 15,000 IVF cases)

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Is pregnancy possible after multiple failed IVF attempts? Can your frozen eggs and sperm be as healthy later? - The Indian Express

Hospital Healthcare Europe had the pleasure of speaking with Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Javad Parvizi MD FRCS, who shared his thoughts on recently published international consensus meeting recommendations on venous thromboembolism and how they could impact clinical care

Please tell us about your background and institution?

Dr Parvizi originally trained for four years to be cardiovascular surgeon before moving to the US to undertake research on blood flow based in an orthopaedics laboratory. He later took up a residency in orthopaedics at the Mayo Clinic before finally moving to Philadelphia, where he has been since 2003. The Rothman Institute is part of Thomas Jefferson University and one of the largest orthopaedic practices in the world, employing over 300 physicians and surgeons. According to Dr Parvizi, this busy department performs approximately 20,000 joint replacements every year.

What exactly is a DVT and how common is it?

As Dr Parvizi explained, a DVT is a deep vein thrombosis and is a clotting problem that occurs in peoples veins and blocks the vein. He added that sometimes a clot in the lungs can stop people from breathing, leading to a fatal outcome. As he continued, both a DVT and pulmonary embolism or collectively, a venous thromboembolism (VTE), are potentially life-threatening conditions if not treated or prevented.

Dr Parvizi discussed how most VTEs happen after surgical procedures but a VTE can be an unprovoked occurrence, for instance, through air travel, sitting for a long period of time or even out of the blue. Although there is always a risk of developing a DVT after a surgical procedure, Dr Parvizi added that current thinking suggested that some patients have a genetic predisposition to develop a VTE.

How high is the risk of developing a VTE among surgical patients?

According to Dr Parvizi, the risk of developing a VTE after an orthopaedic procedure (even when accounting for other risk factors) is variable. There are two types of VTE: one below the knee (a distal DVT); and a proximal DVT, which occurs above the knee, and which is associated with a greater risk to a patient. Dr Parvizi felt that distal DVTs are common, suggesting that these can occur in 10% 15% of cases after a joint replacement but, fortunately, as he explained, these are all self-limiting, non-significant events. In fact, Dr Parvizi noted how in many cases, both clinicians and patients would be unaware that a DVT occurred and that distal DVTs invariably resolve over time. Nevertheless, the development of a pulmonary embolism (PE) is a much more serious complication, but thankfully the rate at which these develop is much lower. Dr Parvizi estimated that a PE might occur at a rate of perhaps 0.5% or even lower, although the rate of a fatal PE is even lower, perhaps 1 in 1000, although the literature suggests that the actual incidence might be lower still, at 1 in 4000.

What is the patient burden of a VTE?

In most cases where a patient develops a distal DVT after surgery, Dr Parvizi described this as a benign event that commonly resolves without any lasting problems. In contrast, a chronic VTE is more problematic and could lead to postphlebitic syndrome, where there is a blockage of the veins in the legs. As he explained, postphlebitic syndrome can result in chronic swelling, and chronic ulcerations for a patient. However, he ventured that perhaps the most important reason to assess whether a patient had a DVT was to prevent the formation of a PE. Although there is a widely held belief in the mechanical propagation theory, i.e., where a DVT literally travels from distal veins to the pulmonary circulation, Dr Parvizi said that recent work has questioned this theory and that now we think that a DVT doesnt really travel to the lungs but that a PE and DVT can develop at the same time, in a patient who is in a hypercoagulable state.

What about the healthcare and economic burden of chronic DVT?

Dr Parvizi explained how the economic impact of a chronic DVT is significant, as patients require long-term treatment, which might include hospitalisation as well as chronic use of anticoagulants. As he explained, a DVT is more likely to become chronic if a patient develops several DVTs during their procedure or when they become unresponsive to anticoagulation, and this latter effect can arise if an individual has an underlying problem with the anatomy of the veins.

Why do you think that the new guidelines were necessary?

Dr Parvizi explained how surgery induces a hypercoagulable state and which, in turn, increases the risk for the development of VTE. In the past after joint replacement, patients usually stayed in bed for a prolonged period of time. As a result, he added during the 1970s and 80s, the rates of DVT and PE were very high. In recent years, with a shift towards outpatient surgery and implementation of rapid recovery protocols, the overall incidence of VTE has declined drastically. Nevertheless, one practice from the past that has continued is the post-operative use of aggressive anticoagulation and Dr Parvizi discussed how in recent years, given the change in surgical practice and advice to avoid prolonged bed rest, the value of such aggressive anticoagulation has been called into question. A further consideration which might reduce the need for anticoagulation is greater use of intermittent compression devices. According to Dr Parvizi, due to a major shift in the delivery of care, there is now less requirement for aggressive anticoagulation. However, an important driver for change is the attendant risk associated with the use of anticoagulants, which lead to bleeding, increasing the risk for a haematoma, gross bleeding into the surgical wound or even in other organs such as the brain. Additionally, anticoagulants are both expensive and can be inconvenient to the patient, given the need for healthcare professionals to administer and/or monitor the anticoagulation drugs. Furthermore, anticoagulants are not benign drugs, and their use is associated with several other problems that include the need for re-hospitalisation, re-operation, infection and joint stiffness. In fact, Dr Parvizi noted how there have been studies showing that aggressive anticoagulation can kill patients, just like fatal PE.

Dr Parvizi acknowledged that while there are current guidelines available to help surgeons, these are subject to several limitations. For instance, most relate to hip and knee replacement and do not specifically cover other orthopedic procedures such as spine, foot and ankle, and sports surgery.In addition, Dr Parvizi mentioned how the current guidelines are totally disparate and conflicting in nature, with some recommending either for or against aggressive anticoagulation. A further limitation was that the current guidelines do not take into account the genetic or geographic predisposition for formation of VTE. As Dr Parvizi explained, For example, Asian patients are at a much lower risk of developing VTE than Caucasians. A final constraint of the currently available guidelines is that these were outdated, relating to surgical protocols that are not in effect any more, or limited themselves to reviewing literature that was mostly conducted by industry, which of course introduces some degree of bias.

Given all of the limitations, the International Consensus Meeting (ICM) gathered over 500 experts and specialists from across the world to produce updated and global guidelines using a strict and well defined process. The guideline committee reviewed the current literature, formulated relevant questions for current practice and sought consensus on these questions. Ultimately, the finished product was designed to be a global guideline for the prevention of VTE after all orthopaedic procedures.

A further advantage of the new guideline was the inclusion of physicians from other medical disciplines, such as cardiology, haematology, anaesthesia, vascular medicine and others, which enhanced the value of the guidelines and made them more applicable.

What would you say are the overarching principles and key recommendations of the guideline?

Dr Parvizi felt that the overarching principle of the guideline was the prevention and management of VTE for all orthopaedic procedures. He explained how the guideline was divided up into ten parts, one of which was a general section, with each of the subsequent sections being related to the different sub-specialities, e.g., foot and ankle, spine, etc.

The general recommendations were designed to answer questions relevant to all patients who underwent an orthopaedic surgical procedure. A total of 200 questions/issues were covered that included questions such as, are there genetic predispositions that cause VTE? or does prolonged bed rest increase the incidence of VTE? with the answer being yes to both questions.

Dr Parvizi felt that the most important recommendations were the following. Administration of aggressive anticoagulation is not necessary for the majority of patients undergoing orthopaedic procedures. He added that there is now plenty of evidence to show that intermittent compression devices work very well to prevent VTE but also that they provide additional benefits such as a reduction in post-surgical swelling of extremities, offer a better range of motion for the knee, and are associated with better patient satisfaction compared with the use of aggressive anticoagulation.

One overarching conclusion of the guideline, stemming from the available literature, is that low-dose aspirin is cost-effective and a safe modality for prevention of VTE. Studies have shown tha the use of aspirin also reduces post-operative fever, which is a common event that worries the patients and healthcare professionals. Moreover, Dr Parvizi mentioned that the use of aspirin has also been to reduce the rate of extra bone formation in the soft tissues (heterotopic ossification) and stiffness after orthopaedic procedures. He explained how the guideline recommended that aspirin should preferably be given twice a day for a period of four weeks but even two weeks of aspirin appears to be enough for most of these patients.

Overall, Dr Parvizi thinks that the new guidelines will allow clinicians to move away from the use of aggressive anticoagulants and to make greater use of intermittent compression devices and aspirin. In fact, he believes that the use of aggressive anticoagulants should now be reserved for those patients with a genetic predisposition and/or patients an extremely high risk for a VTE.

How will these guidelines impact clinical practice?

Dr Parvizi mentioned how in the US there has been a general shift over the last few years away from the use of aggressive anticoagulation towards the use of aspirin and intermittent compression devices. In fact, he quoted data from a survey of over 3000 joint surgeons showing that over 90% of surgeons now use compression devices and/or aspirin for prevention of VTE after joint replacement. While there has been an important change in practice among US surgeons, he thought that adoption of aspirin and intermittent compression devices by surgeons from other parts of the world has been slow mostly due to medico-legal concerns. A further barrier to adoption of aspirin and intermittent compression devices has been the resistance of colleagues from other specialties, such as haematology and cardiology, who might not be aware of the wealth of orthopaedic literature endorsing the use of aspirin.

He hopes that the publication of the new guidelines will provide the necessary endorsement and reassurance to the medical community to embrace a change in practice.

Are there any remaining uncertainties that might be addressed in the future?

Dr Parvizi felt that one of the benefits of developing a new guideline was that while providing robust evidence to support a change in orthopaedic practice, it also highlighted gaps in the current evidence and enabled the formulation of relevant questions that should be addressed by future research. He believes that there is a need for independent studies to compare the efficacy of low-dose aspirin with other anticoagulation agents. He mentioned one current, ongoing study (PEPPER trial) that is comparing low-dose aspirin, coumadin and factor 10 inhibitors for VTE prevention, the results of which are eagerly awaited. He noted how more studies are required to better understand the genetic mutations that predispose individuals towards having a VTE as well as more work on the role of intermittent compression devices.

Taken together, Dr Parvizi hoped that future studies will facilitate a move away from the use of expensive anticoagulants which ultimately have a huge economic impact. For example, he described how in the US alone there are over one million joint replacement procedures undertaken per year so if 92% of those patients are receiving aspirin, the anticipated cost savings would run into hundreds of millions.

Furthermore, there are a whole range of additional benefits to using aspirin including a reduction in the development of haematomas, infection risk, post-operative fever and subsequent clinical, fever work-up, less need for transfusions and a lower level of post-operative anaemia. He added that the available data suggest that aspirin is actually better than coumadin for the prevention of VTE. Ultimately, he suggested that convenience, efficacy, safety and economic benefits of aspirin are just beyond dispute now and that, over time, there will be a shift towards the use of aspirin and intermittent compression devices instead of expensive anticoagulant medications.

As for the next steps, Dr Parvizi says that the combination of the publication of the guideline in a prestigious orthopaedic journal (Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery) and future translations of the documents into numerous languages will allow effective dissemination of the work that was generated by over 500 experts. The guidelines are being discussed at various conferences and have been endorsed by a number of professional organisations, publishing the guideline on their websites. Finally, Dr Parvizi believes that it is necessary that patients who require orthopaedic procedures should no longer fear the development of a blood clot and become better informed that the changes in surgical procedures and VTE management in recent years are designed to be safer and more convenient for them.

Recommendations from the ICM-VTE: General. The ICM-VTE General Delegates. J Bone Joint Surg 2022;104(suppl 1):4162.

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Meet the Expert: Focus on orthopaedics and VTE - Hospital Healthcare Europe

Scientists at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York say that stress-induced circadian clock disruptions may influence weight gain.

A study published in June showed that mice with artificially increased stress levels and interrupted hormone releases experienced an increase in fat cell growth. Its results appear in Cell Reports.

The second study, published in August, found that fat cell precursors commit to becoming fat cells only within a few hours at night. This work appears in the Proceedings of the National Academies of Sciences (PNAS).

Mary Teruel, PhD, associate professor of biochemistry at Weill Cornell Medicine, was the senior author of both studies.

A lot of forces are working against a healthy metabolism when we are out of circadian rhythm, Dr. Teruel said in a press release. The more we understand, the more likely we will be able to do something about it.

In the Cell Reports study, Dr. Teruel and her team implanted pellets with glucocorticoids, a type of stress-related hormone, in mice. This was to mimic the effects of chronic stress or Cushings disease.

Cushings disease triggers elevated levels of cortisol, the bodys stress hormone.

The pellets released glucocorticoids under the skin of the mice at a steady rate over three weeks. The researchers also observed control mice with typical daily stress hormone fluctuations.

Although all the mice ate the same healthy diet, the mice with pellets ended up weighing over 9% more than the control mice.

The researchers observed whether the weight gain was from fat expansion and found that the brown and white fat of the pellet mice had more than doubled. Their insulin levels spiked as well.

To the teams surprise, the metabolic disturbances kept blood glucose levels low. Further, the disruptions prevented fat from accumulating in the blood or liver.

When the researchers removed the pellets, these changes reversed immediately.

Dr. Teruel explained to MNT: We saw this in our paper, basically, once we stopped flattening the corticoids, [the mice] started reversing [the fat mass gain] and the hyperinsulinemia went away so that increased insulin that seems to be causing the fat mass gains that went away when the restored rhythm.

She added that this study indicates that chronic stress can make weight gain more likely, even with a healthy, low fat diet.

If you stress the animals at the wrong time, it has a dramatic effect. The mice arent eating differently, but a big shift in metabolism causes weight gain, Dr. Teruel said in the release.

Dr. Teruels research team hopes that their findings lead to developing drugs that could help reset circadian rhythms to help people with obesity.

We dont know enough [yet], but one would think cortisol receptor antagonists or [] things that restore the cortisol rhythms would probably help a lot.

Dr. Mary Teruel

Experts understand that flaws in circadian clock genes can alter cell differentiation in fat, immune, skin, and muscle cells.

The PNAS study revealed that even though differentiation happens over a few days, differentiation commitment happens within only a few hours. The findings also show that daily bursts of cell differentiation seem to be limited to evening phases when people are normally resting.

The decision to become a fat cell happens rapidly over 4 hours. It is like a switch, Dr. Teruel said.

Medical News Today discussed this with Dr. Mir Ali, bariatric surgeon and medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California.

Dr. Ali explained how fat cells come to be: Fat cells form from [an] adipocyte progenitor cell or a type of cell that has not differentiated into its final form. The form it takes [to become] a fat cell depends on the hormonal and chemical stimulation it receives.

In the study, Dr. Teruel and her partners used fluorescent markers to observe daily fluctuations of fat cell production.

The researchers attached a red fluorescent protein to a protein that regulates circadian clock genes. They also attached a yellow fluorescent protein to peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARG), a protein that controls fat cell production.

They discovered that during the rest period of the day, a certain circadian protein CCAAT enhancer binding protein alpha induces a rapid increase in the protein that regulates fat cell production.

The researchers also found that when PPARG levels hit a certain threshold, individual fat precursor cells irreversibly commit to differentiate within only a few hours, which is much faster than the rest phase and the overall multiday differentiation process.

Dr. Teruel and her team believe that working with this time window may open therapeutic strategies to use timed treatment relative to the [circadian] clock to promote tissue regeneration.

Dr. Ali said: These studies are interesting in that they show the timing and length of stimulation affect the formation and growth of fat cells. The implications of this are that if we can find a way to safely influence the cell to grow or not grow, it may affect obesity in humans.

However, he believed that more extensive research is needed to make the studies findings applicable to humans.

Dr. Teruel told MNT that she and her co-authors were just trying to work on basic mechanisms [] Right now, we need to show this is really a mechanism that happens []

The researchers do plan to replicate the studies with people. We are looking at protein ribbons and humans using saliva samples, Dr. Teruel shared with MNT. Were planning to do those kinds of experiments.

Their main objective, she said, is to figure out ways to restore circadian [rhythms].

Dr. Teruel mentioned that currently known strategies, such as meditation and regular sleep in the dark may help.

She expressed hope that there could be some pharmacological ways [to] fix this in the future as well.

The rest is here:
Stress can throw off circadian rhythms and lead to weight gain - Medical News Today

This story was originally published by the Guardianandis reproduced here as part of theClimate Deskcollaboration. The colorized thylacine footage was created by Australias National Film and Sound Archive

Scientists in Australia and the US have launched an ambitious multimillion-dollar project to bring back the thylacine, a marsupial that died out in the 1930s, and reintroduce it to its nativeTasmania.

The thylacine, also known as the Tasmanian tiger, is the second undertaking by Colossal, a Texas-based biotechnology de-extinction company that last year announced it planned to use genetic engineering techniques tore-create the woolly mammoth and return it to the Arctic tundra.

Its new project is a partnership with the University of Melbourne, which earlier this yearreceived a $5m philanthropic giftto open a thylacine genetic restoration lab. The labs team has previouslysequenced the genome of a juvenile specimenheld by Museums Victoria, providing what its leader, Prof Andrew Pask, called a complete blueprint on how to essentially build a thylacine.

The thylacine was Australias only marsupial apex predator. It once lived across the continent, but was restricted to Tasmania about 3,000 years ago. Dog-like in appearance and with stripes across its back, it was extensively hunted after European colonization. The last known survivor died in captivity in 1936. Despite hundreds of reported sightings in the decades that followed, andsome quixotic attempts to prove its ongoing existence, it was officially declared extinct in the 1980s.

The scientists aim to reverse this by taking stem cells from a living species with similar DNA, thefat-tailed dunnart, and turning them into thylacine cellsor the closest approximation possibleusing gene editing expertise developed by George Church, a professor of genetics at Harvard Medical School and Colossals co-founder. New marsupial-specific assisted reproductive technologies will be needed to use the stem cells to make an embryo, which would be transferred into either an artificial womb or a dunnart surrogate to gestate.

Pask said the partnership was the most significant contribution ever made to marsupial conservation in Australia as more than 30 scientists worked to accelerate the massive grand challenge of bringing the thylacine back from the dead. He believed the first joeys could be born in 10 years.

Colossals chief executive and other co-founder, the tech and software entrepreneur Ben Lamm, was more bullish, believing it was possible in less than six years, the timeframe that the company had set itself to produce the first set of mammoth calves. I think its highly probable this could be the first animal we de-extinct, Lamm told the Guardian.

The challenges faced by the project are significant, and the scientists acknowledge several breakthrough steps will have to land for it to succeed. On reproductive technology, Pask said: We are pursuing growing marsupials from conception to birth in a test-tube without a surrogate, which is conceivable given infant marsupials short gestation period and their small size.

If successful, the plan would be to introduce the animal in a controlled setting on Tasmanian private land with an eventual goal of returning it to the wild. The researchers said returning an apex predator could help rebalance the states ecosystem. But Pask said they also hoped that their work could have a wider impact in helping to addressan extinction crisis.

He said the world was changing too rapidly for existing conservation techniques to save many threatened species, pointing to the catastrophic impact on Australian wildlife from bushfires. We have to look at other technologies and novel ways to do that if we want to stop this biodiversity loss, he said. We have no choice. I mean, it will lead to our own extinction if we lose 50 percent of biodiversity on Earth in the next 50 to 100 years.

He said the team hoped to address concerns about the genetic health of the speciesan issue with the now extinct populationby sequencing the genomes of between 80 and 100 individuals, and that dealing with genetic diversity was relatively straightforward compared with other challenges the research faced.

The announcement has received a mixed response from conservation biologists. Corey Bradshaw, a professor in global ecology at Flinders University, believed it was unlikely to be successful. Even if you can do it [in the lab]and I have my doubts about thathow do you create the thousands of individuals of sufficient genetic variation you need to create a healthy population?

Euan Ritchie, a professor in wildlife ecology and conservation at Deakin University, said other outstanding questions included whether the project could do more to help threatened species than existing conservation genetics. He said turning a lab-created animal into a wild population would be an enormous challenge, but the financial support for de-extinction research should not be seen as a zero sum game.

Obviously we want to, as much as possible, save the current species we have, but if someone wants to fund bringing back the thylacine and they dont want to fund something else, then why not? If we do learn more about genetics that can be used to protect existing species, then all the better.

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Scientists Aim to Bring the Tasmanian Tiger Back From Extinction Mother Jones - Mother Jones

Ozone therapy is considered to be one of the most effective treatments to relieve pain, joints and contractures. Dr. Mariella Alvarenga, an expert in Aesthetic and Orthomolecular Medicine, shares her experience and the benefits of this technique.

It is the administration of medical ozone into the body for the treatment of various diseases. Through a set of techniques, ozone is used as a therapeutic agent in a large number of pathologies, such as osteoarthritis and arthritis, primarily inflammation. It consists of injections into pain points, that is, they are of direct action in local application.

What type of deformity is it recommended for?

It is used not only in medicine but also in beauty treatments. In beauty I can treat acne, cellulite, flaccidity, localized fat. When what is the drug, it improves circulation in general, it is indicated for hypertension, diabetics; in those chronic diseases which are degenerative and have impaired circulationDr. Alvarenga said.

On the other hand, ozone also works to improve the immune system as it stimulates the production of stem cells and the treatment consists of removing blood that will be ozonated and then reapplied intramuscularly. This treatment is called ozonized autovaccine or auto hemotherapy.

Also, it has another advantage that is important to me, which is the issue of price. Orthomolecular formulas became quite expensive, this is a fact. So, this gives me an opportunity to improve the package because it is a complete combination deserves, he said.

Those who want to know more about this serum therapy and improve their quality of life can contact her on Instagram or Facebook as @dramarielaalvarenga or call on 3764 527871.

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Benefits Of Ozone Therapy In Pain Medicine - Nation World News

Ashton Kutcher has opened up about being diagnosed with a "rare form of vasculitis", an autoimmune disease that left him unable to see, hear, or walk. The Two And A Half Men actor shared the diagnosis in the Monday episode of the National Geographic show, Running Wild with Bear Grylls: The Challenge. "Like two years ago, I had this weird, super rare form of vasculitis, that like knocked out my vision, it knocked out my hearing, it knocked out like all my equilibrium," Kutcher said in a clip shared by entertainment programme Access Hollywood.

In the video, the 44-year-old further said it took him a year to build his life from scratch and that he was "lucky to be alive". After the clip went viral on social media, Kutcher posted a clarification on Twitter, saying the health scare happened three years ago following which he had made a full recovery.

Let's find out whatvasculitis is that affected Kutcher severely.

Vasculitis is inflammation of a blood vessel or blood vessels.The inflammation can cause the walls of the blood vessels to thicken, which reduces the width of the passageway through the vessel. If blood flow is restricted, it can result in organ and tissue damage.Vasculitis may affect anyone regardless of age or other factors. It may be treated with medication that controls the inflammation and prevents flare-ups.

Kutcher revealed that due to hisVasculitis, he was unable to 'see, hear, or walk'.This is a possible complication of untreated giant cell arteritis, whichcan cause double vision and temporary or permanent blindness in one or both eyes. Some types of vasculitis can cause numbness or weakness in a hand or foot. The palms of the hands and soles of the feet might swell or harden.Dizziness, ringing in the ears and abrupt hearing loss may also occur, as per Mayo Clinic.

Read:Can Monkeypox spread through sex? Experts answer who are at high risk for transmission

General symptoms of vasculitis include: fever, headache, fatigue, weight loss, general aches and pains. Other signs and symptoms are related to the parts of the body affected. Vasculitis may turn severe and requires treatment and expert care. So if any of the mentioned symptoms show up or persist, seeing a doctor is recommended. Mostly, vasculitis can be treated with medication and proper medical oversight.

Read:Can stress be good for brain functioning? Here's what the researchers have to say

(With PTI inputs)

Latest Health News

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Ashton Kutcher battled vasculitis causing blindness, loss of hearing. Know all about the rare condition - India TV News

VM - Prevent Blindness Is Recognized as a Healthy People 2030 Champion for Supporting the Initiatives Vision PEOPLE: Honors By Staff Friday, August 5, 2022 12:24 AM CHICAGOPrevent Blindness, the nations leading voluntary eye health and safety nonprofit organization, has been recognized by the Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion (ODPHP) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) as a Healthy People 2030 Champion. As a Healthy People 2030 Champion, Prevent Blindness has demonstrated a commitment to helping achieve the Healthy People 2030 vision of a society in which all people can achieve their full potential for health and well-being across the lifespan.ODPHP recognizes Prevent Blindness, along with other Healthy People 2030 Champions, as part of a growing network of organizations partnering with ODPHP to improve health and well-being at the local, state and tribal level.Prevent Blindness has been a collaborator with the Healthy People Initiative for several decades. Objectives for the Healthy People 2030 program align with the Prevent Blindness sight-saving mission in a variety of areas, including childrens vision, diabetes, falls prevention, eye safety, access to care for underserved populations and more.At Prevent Blindness, we are excited that vision and eye health are included as key components in the overall objectives for Healthy People 2030, said Jeff Todd, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness. We look forward to working closely with the ODPHP and other partners in advancing education, awareness and access to care for millions of Americans.Healthy People 2030 is the fifth iteration of the Healthy People initiative, which sets 10-year national objectives to improve health and well-being nationwide. Healthy People 2030 Champions are public and private organizations that are working to help achieve Healthy People objectives. They receive official support and recognition from ODPHP.ODPHP is thrilled to recognize Prevent Blindness for its work to support the Healthy People 2030 vision, says RADM Paul Reed, MD, ODPHP director. Only by collaborating with partners nationwide can we achieve Healthy People 2030s overarching goals and objectives.For more information about Prevent Blindness and a variety of vision and eye health topics, please visit PreventBlindness.org. For more information on Healthy People 2030, please visit Health.gov/healthypeople.Healthy People 2030 Champion is a service mark of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Used with permission. Participation by Prevent Blindness does not imply endorsement by HHS/ODPHP.

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Prevent Blindness Is Recognized as a Healthy People 2030 Champion for Supporting the Initiative's Vision - Vision Monday

What if, in people with blinding retinal disorders, one could simply introduce into the retina healthy photoreceptor cells derived in a dish from stem cells, and restore sight?

According to a news release form the University of Pennsylvania, it is a straightforward strategy to curing blindness, yet the approach has been met with a number of scientific roadblocks, including introduced cells dying rapidly or failing to integrate with the retina.

A new study, published in Stem Cell Reports, overcomes these challenges and marks significant progress toward a cell-based therapy. The work, led by a team at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, in collaboration with researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, and the National Institutes of Healths National Eye Institute (NEI), introduced precursors of human photoreceptor cells into the retinas of dogs. A cocktail of immunosuppressive drugs enabled the cells to survive in the recipients retinas for months, where they began forming connections with existing retinal cells.

In this study, we wanted to know if we could, one, improve the surgical delivery of these cells to the subretinal space; two, image the cells in vivo; three, improve their survival; and four, see them migrate to the layer of the retina where they should be and start integrating, said William Beltran, a professor of ophthalmology at Penn Vet and senior author on the study. The answer to all those questions was yes.

Beltran and Gustavo Aguirre at Penn Vet have long been interested in addressing retinal blinding disorders and they have had great successes to date at producing corrective gene therapies for conditions with known causative genes. But for many cases of inherited retinal degeneration, a gene has not been identified. In other patients, the disease has progressed so far that no photoreceptor cells remain intact enough for gene therapy. In either scenario, a regenerative medicine approach, in which photoreceptors could be regrown outright, would be extremely valuable.

To develop a cell therapy, Beltrans team joined with groups led by John Wolfe of CHOP and Penn Vet; David Gamm at the University of Wisconsin-Madison; and Kapil Bharti at the NEI, in a consortium supported by the NEIs Audacious Goals Initiative for Regenerative Medicine. The partnership combined Beltrans teams expertise in canine models of retinal degeneration and vast experience in cell-based therapy approaches from the Wolfe, Gamm, and Bharti labs.

According to the news release, photoreceptor cells, which are made up of rods and cones, constitute a layer of the outer retina critical to initiating the process of vision, whereby the energy of light transforms into an electrical signal. To function properly, they must form a connection, or synapse, with cells of the inner retina to pass along the visual information. Thus, the goal of this cell therapy is to recreate this layer and enable it to integrate with the retinas other cell types in order to relay signals from one layer to the next.

In the current work, the team used stem cellderived precursors of human photoreceptor cells developed in the Gamm lab to serve as the basis of the cell therapy. In collaboration with the Bharti lab, they developed a new surgical approach to inject the cells, which were labeled with fluorescent markers, into the retinas of seven dogs with normal vision and three with a form of inherited retinal degeneration, then used a variety of non-invasive imaging techniques to track the cells over time.

The use of a large animal model that undergoes a naturally occurring form of retinal degeneration and has a human-size eye was instrumental to optimize a safe and efficient surgical procedure to deliver doses of cells that could be used in patients, Gamm said in the news release.

The researchers observed that cell uptake was significantly better in the animals with retinal degeneration compared to those with normal retinas.

What we showed was that, if you inject the cells into a normal retina that has its own photoreceptor cells, the retina is pretty much intact and serves as a physical barrier, so the introduced cells dont connect with the second-order neurons in the retina, the bipolar cells, Beltran noted in the news release. But in three dogs that were at an advanced stage of retinal degeneration, the retinal barrier was more permeable. In that environment, cells had a better ability to start moving into the correct layer of the retina.

Because the transplanted human cells could be interpreted by the dogs immune system as foreign entities, the researchers did what would be done in other tissue transplant procedures: They gave the dogs immunosuppressive drugs. The trio of medications had been tested previously by Oliver Garden, a veterinary immunologist with Penn Vet at the time of the study, who is now dean of Louisiana State University School of Veterinary Medicine.

Indeed, while the injected cell populations declined substantially in dogs that did not receive the immune-suppressing drugs, the cell numbers dipped but then sustained in the dogs that received the cocktail.

The university noted that further characterization of the introduced cells revealed evidence of potential synapses.

We saw that yes, some are appearing to shake hands with those second-order neurons, Beltran added in the release. There appeared to be contact.

The next stage for this project will be to continue optimizing the therapy, and then test whether there is a functional responsein other words, improved visionin its recipients.

Read the original here:
Researchers make progress toward a stem cellbased therapy for blindness - Ophthalmology Times

GRAND FORKS Assistant Professor Renae Bjorg is carrying on a UND legacy in the field of visual impairments and blindness.

With her new book Guidelines and Games for Teaching Efficient Braille Reading (Second Edition), she continues the work of a longtime UND professor and her former mentor, Myrna Olson.

The first edition of Guidelines and Games'' was published in 1981, and was written in part by Olson, a UND professor of almost 50 years, and Sally Mangold, professor at San Francisco State. Since it was published 40 years ago, the book has remained one of the most popular resources for teachers learning how to teach students braille.

Bjorg said she was approached by American Printing House Press to write the book for the 40th anniversary of the first edition.

The updated edition, says Bjorg, includes new information about technological advances from the last 40 years, as well as updated terminology and research. The new edition also has more of a focus on bridging the gap between students who can see and students who are visually impaired or blind when learning to read.

Were still teaching reading and writing, said Bjorg. Its still English language arts, its just a different modality now Braille instead of print, but its still the same.

And like learning to read can be made fun for seeing students, learning to read can be fun for visually impaired or blind students as well. Board games and word games can be used to teach seeing students to read and write, so the book outlines similar games for those that cannot see.

When we can learn to make it fun and incorporate ergonomics and posture, then students, children and teachers can enjoy the process and enjoy the full learning and apply it in a natural way, said Bjorg.

Many of Bjorgs collaborators for Guidelines and Games were her advisees at UND that have gone on to work in the field of education and visual impairment and blindness, like Sara Careless, Sandra Kenrick, Danielle Moelter-Swangstue and Amy Neils.

We all have strengths and abilities, and part of my job as an adviser and a professor is to look at my students and pull these things out of them, she said. These students that I invited are beautiful writers and researchers, and highly qualified teachers in our field.

Others, like Laura Roy, coordinator of the Blind and Visually Impaired Services Unit in Manitoba; Dave Beckett, consultant for the blind and visually impaired in Manitoba, and Brittany Hagan, associate professor at Mayville State University have been impacted by Olson and wanted to give back to her.

Austin Winger, one of Olsons sons, also helped with the book.

Bjorg recently signed books at the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired International Conference in St. Louis, and has been invited to present at the North Dakota State Deafblind Conference and a conference in Nebraska hosted by the Nebraska Center for the Education of Children who are Blind or Visually Impaired.

At the book signing in St. Louis, Bjorg was surprised by the number of people lined up to get a copy of her book signed. At the conference, more than 200 copies were sold.

It was really encouraging, she said. People were so excited to get this book and when I was signing books, people didnt know Myrna Olson because some of the people are new in the field.

Read more from the original source:
UND professor carries the torch for UND studies of visual impairment and blindness - Grand Forks Herald

(August 8, 2022 / JNS) Operation Breaking Dawn was a textbook illustration of Israels tactical brilliance and prowess on the one hand, and strategic blindness on the other.

Tactically, Israels Iron Dome system allows its civilians to remain almost entirely unharmed while terror armies pummel Israels cities and villages with missiles and rockets. So too, Israel has developed precision-guided weapons and operational intelligence capabilities which in combination enable it to conduct pinpoint assaults against targets and destroy them with little to no collateral damage.

From Friday through Sunday, Islamic Jihad shot nearly a thousand projectiles at Israel. But largely thanks to Iron Dome, no Israelis were harmed by direct hits. In precision strikes, Israel was able to eliminate Islamic Jihads commanders.

However, while Israels leaders are right to trumpet the operations tactical, technology-based success, Operation Breaking Dawn was a strategic fiasco on multiple levels.

The first level of strategic failure is the operational one. Breaking Dawn was precipitated by Islamic Jihads decision to respond to Israels arrest of its senior operative Bassem Saadi early last week in Jenin with a threat to carry out a mass casualty attack on Israeli civilians and military personnel from Gaza.

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According to Egyptian mediators, Israel agreed to consider releasing Saadi and perhaps another Islamic Jihad terrorist in exchange for a ceasefire. If the Egyptian announcement is accurate, then Islamic Jihad will be able to present its missile assault as a victory. By lobbing a thousand projectiles at Israeli cities from Gaza, the terror group was able to coerce Israel into freeing terrorists in Samaria.

Even better, from Islamic Jihads perspective, for the four days that preceded Israels initiation of Operation Breaking Dawn, the government ordered more than a million Israelis to remain in their homes and closed rail service and the major highways connecting population centers in southern Israel to the rest of the country. That four-day lockdown, based solely on Islamic Jihad threats, was the greatest victory the terror group ever achieved.

Israels operation demonstrated the depth of the strategic challenge Gaza poses. Islamic Jihad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps, which founded it in 1988 and still arms and commands its operations today. Islamic Jihad used to be seen as a mere nuisance in the Gaza Strip. But this week it showed it has amassed an arsenal capable of presenting Israel with a massive security challenge. Even worse, it has just a fraction of the capabilities that Hamas enjoys.

Hamas is not a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran, but it is an Iranian client. Hamas receives funding and arms from Tehran. Its leaders are in direct, intimate contact with the Iranian regime, which they brag about. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran last April to participate in Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis inauguration. Hamas tens of thousands of missiles cover nearly all of Israel. Its anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles pose a threat to Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza.

Iranian sponsorship isnt the only thing Hamas and Islamic Jihad share. They are partners. According to media reports, there were Hamas officers in Islamic Jihad command centers all week long. Hamas approved every missile volley Islamic Jihad launched and provided it with logistical support. Given the intimacy of their cooperation, the fact that Hamas didnt use its own missiles to attack Israel is a meaningless distinction. Indeed, its worse than that. Pretending that Hamas is not involved in an operation it actually enabled and participated in gives Hamas a free pass for waging war.

But for the Lapid-Gantz caretaker government, none of this mattered. The government and its attendant media insisted Hamas and Islamic Jihad are totally separate from one another, and even rivals. The governments narrative claimed Hamas was acting like a responsible adult.

Between Friday and Saturday, the IDFs job quickly moved from attacking Islamic Jihad to ending the operation as quickly as possible to avoid Palestinian civilian casualties that would compel Hamas to start shooting its own missiles at Israel. In other words, the government put the onus on itself. Hamas would come in if Israel made a mistake. Hamas is responsible. It cares about its people. And it will only join the fray if Israel forces its hand.

This false narrative is doubly destructive given Hamas actual nature. Hamas isnt a responsible governing authority. Its a terrorist organization ideologically committed to annihilating Israel and the entire Jewish people. By treating Hamas as the responsible adult in the room, the government gave legitimacy to an actor that is morally, militarily, ideologically and politically illegitimate.

This is not to say that Israel should have opened a major campaign against Hamas. A caretaker government lacks the political legitimacy to initiate a large-scale conflict. But the governments kowtowing to Hamas, like its anxious acceptance of Islamic Jihads ceasefire terms, was unnecessary and destructive.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantzs behavior vis--vis Gaza is in keeping with the overall strategic blindness that has afflicted this government in relation not only to Irans Palestinian proxies Islamic Jihad and Hamas, but also to Irans Lebanese legion Hezbollah and, indeed, Iran itself.

Lapid and Gantz are poised to accept a deal to transfer some of Israels sovereign economic waters to Lebanon. There are two concepts behind the deal, negotiated by the Biden administration. First, most importantly and like the White House, Lapid and Gantz insist Lebanon is a political entity separate from Hezbollah. This is entirely false. Hezbollah is the most powerful military organization in Lebanon. It has swallowed the Lebanese Armed Forces, which operate at Hezbollahs pleasure. And it has also swallowed the government, which will not do anything Hezbollah opposes.

The second concept, which flows from the first, is that by enabling Lebanon to develop natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, Israel will empower the government against Hezbollah. This too is entirely false. Hezbollah controls the negotiations. Lebanon will not profit from the deal at Hezbollahs expense. The deal will transform Hezbollahand Iraninto players in the Mediterranean gas industry, opening up a whole new sphere of profit, as well as potential extortion and blackmail of Israel.

As for Iran itself, from the moment they formed their government with their erstwhile partner Alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Lapid and Gantz opted to subordinate Israels policies towards Iran to the Biden administration. They announced a policy of no surprises, which effectively gave the administration veto power over all Israeli operations against Irans nuclear installations and other offensive operations.

Since the Biden administrations central Middle East policy is to reinstate Barack Obamas 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the implication of no surprises is that Israel agreed to subordinate its confrontational policy towards Iran to the U.S. policy of appeasing Iran.

Lapid/Gantzs predecessor and nemesis is opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. During his long premiership, Netanyahu also sought to avoid major military confrontations with Hamas and Hezbollah. But unlike Lapid and Gantz, Netanyahu did so while adhering to a strategic concept that had the virtue of not only being right, but effective.

Netanyahu recognized that the Palestinians, like Hezbollah, are part of Irans war machine. As Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps General Asghar Emami said in a May 2021 interview, Iran doesnt need to directly attack Israel because its proxies Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas are on Israels borders.

Emami said, Due to our presence in the axis of resistance, we have placed [Israel] under siege. We dont need to send airplanes or missiles to Israel. Now, with our presence in the axis of resistance, we can hit Israel with mortar shells.

Netanyahu adopted an integrated, three-pronged Iran strategy. He sought to deprive Iran of funds to diminish its economic capacity to fund its proxies. He built and used the capacity to carry out near-continuous acts of sabotage against Irans nuclear installations and personnel. And he led Israel in waging a full-scale diplomatic war against Iran.

One of the crowning achievements of Netanyahus strategy was his success in persuading then-president Donald Trump to withdraw from Obamas 2015 deal with Iran. Obamas deal transferred more than $100 billion to Tehran through sanctions relief. Immediately after the deal went into effect in August 2015, Iran began funneling massive funds to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, as well as the Houthis in Yemen, enabling them to escalate their wars against Israel and the Sunni states. By walking away from the deal and reinstating U.S. economic sanctions on Iran, Trump set Iran on the road to poverty, and its funding for its terror proxies dried up. Had the policy been continued under Biden, Islamic Jihad would likely not have had a thousand missiles of varying ranges to lob at Israel over three days.

Iran crossed the nuclear threshold in recent weeks for two reasons: First, the Biden administration stopped enforcing sanctions and thus emboldened the Iranians to massively increase their levels of uranium enrichment and stockpiles of enriched uranium. Second, Israel dramatically scaled back its operations in Iran as part of the Lapid-Gantz-Bennett no surprises policy.

Netanyahus diplomatic war against Iran, even in the face of U.S. animosity, is what drew the Arab states to Israel. The 2015 nuclear deal threatened the Sunnis no less than it threatened Israel. Netanyahus unapologetic opposition to the agreement drew Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain to Israels side.

As for the Palestinians, Netanyahu largely ignored them. And when he was forced to fight them, he made clear that they were first and foremost Iranian proxies. His argument was convincing because it was accurate. In 2014, recognizing the truth of Netanyahus claim, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt stood with Israel against Hamas, Turkey, Qatar and the Obama administration, which tried to force Israel to accept Hamas ceasefire demands.

Over the past week, Lapid and Gantz barely mentioned Iran, despite the fact that Islamic Jihads leader Ziad Nahalka was in Tehran the entire time. Their reticence was likely due to the fact that as Irans Palestinian proxy pummeled Israel with missiles and rockets, Bidens negotiators are in Vienna, yet again begging Iran to accept sanctions relief in exchange for a nod to the 2015 nuclear deal. By hiding the fact that Iran stood behind Islamic Jihad/Hamas entire assault, Gantz and Lapid returned the Palestinians to center stage, to devastating effect for Israel.

By giving Iran a free pass, Israel alienated its Arab allies. Instead of supporting Israel, the UAE is co-sponsoring a U.N. Security Council meeting to discuss Israels operation. Saudi Arabia published a full-throated condemnation of Israels operation against an Iranian proxy.

It is easy to understand the logic of a limited campaign. But by carrying it out in a state of strategic blindness, the caretaker government legitimized Hamas and undermined Israels position in the strategic battle of our timesagainst Iran.

Caroline Glick is an award-winning columnist and author of The Israeli Solution: A One-State Plan for Peace in the Middle East.

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The strategic blindness of Israel's caretaker government - JNS.org

What comes to mind when you think of blindness?Is it a person donning dark sunglasses, possibly with a cane, or a guide dog?

There are certainly people with vision loss who fit this bill, but for many others, their experience of blindness is not quite so black and white.

Karan Nagrani is legally blind, but if you passed him in the streetit's likely you wouldn't know.

Diagnosed at the age of 11 with a degenerative genetic condition called retinitis pigmentosa, the now 36-year-oldonly has a fraction of his vision remaining.

"It starts off asnight blindness and loss of side vision, and then the central [vision] starts to get affected," Mr Nagrani said.

"When people look ahead, they see 180 degrees I see less than three degrees, and at night, it's completely black."

From his home in the southern coastal city of Albany, Western Australia, Mr Nagrani has made it his mission to educate people on what he calls the "spectrum of blindness".

"I think people have this misconception that if you're blind, your eyes don't look normal," he said.

"I can still make eye contact because I can still see a little bit, so people get a little confused."

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When meeting new people, Mr Nagrani said he often felthe hadto "convince"them of his disability.

"I feel a sense of fear until I've convinced them that I have a disabilitybecause I don't want to be called a fraud.

"That is the fearthat people are going to say, 'His eyes look normal, he's making eye contact, I think he's faking it'."

Knowing there would come a day when he would lose his sight, hedidn't let his diagnosis deter him from pursuing his dream career.

"Growing up, I knew I was going to go blind, but I didn't want to pick a career based on that I wanted to live my life and do something that I enjoy," he said.

"Being creative, I got into graphic design and filmmaking, and I did that for 14 years.

"I'm proud to say I had a really successful career in marketing that I had to give up because I can't use laptops or computers anymore."

With the knowledge and skills gained from his career, Mr Nagrani is putting them to use bycreating infographics and videos for social media using his smartphone.

"Growing up, I never saw any content that prepared me for what it is that I will or won't see," he said.

"Now, I'm using my graphic design skills while I still can to create resources that other people are using."

His Instagram account showcases a sense of humour that hasn't happened totally by chance.

"Social media is all about entertainment you can present serious information, within reason, in a fun manner.

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"Going by the responses that I get, it's actually the entertaining, informative posts that are most engagingbecause people actually stop and read and comment."

But not everyone on the internet has his positive energy.

"There's always that one person who has something nasty to say," he said.

"I remember putting up a post once where I showed people what it's like to wake up with retinitis pigmentosa one of the shots was on the balcony, showcasing the beautiful Albany landscape.

"Someone commented,'What a waste of such a beautiful view on someone like you'.

"I get those comments, but I actually think that's a reflection on them, and I brush it off."

Blind people experience an extra layer of difficulty navigating day-to-day life because of social stigma, according to eye expert Professor William Morgan.

Often patients put in a lot of effort to appear "normal".

"Many people will think they're just normal peopleand get irritated and annoyed if they bump into them, for example, or take longer to sit down on a busbecause they're having to feel their way around the seat," Professor Morgan, from the University of Western Australia and managing director of Lions Eye Institute in Perth, said.

"I do get those comments from patients actually; that they put an enormous amount of effort into nullifying the disability as much as possible."

Professor Morgan said services hadimproved dramatically for vision-impaired people in recent years, but there wasstill a way to go in regard to awareness.

"These people are putting a huge effort into mixing in society, and so increasing the tolerance [would help, as well as] an awareness of the different sorts of vision that you lose with these broad categories of diseases."

For Mr Nagrani, sharing his personal experience online is aboutfostering acceptance for all forms of blindness.

"It makes me so happy to see people from across the globe message me, asking me if they can share my posts to raise awareness," he said.

"I feel likeeven though I've had to give up my marketing career, I'm actually finding this more fruitful, in the sense that I feel like I'm really making a difference now."

ABC Great Southern will deliver a wrap of the week's news, stories and photos every Thursday. Sign up here.

See the rest here:
Karan Nagrani is using social media to raise awareness about the 'spectrum of blindness' - ABC News

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says this is why the Ministry is considering using eye screening tests to diagnose other underlying health problems.

Most cases of blindness and vision impairment in the country stem from non-communicable diseases.

Permanent Secretary for Health, Doctor James Fong says this is why the Ministry is considering using eye screening tests to diagnose other underlying health problems.

There is a lot of undiagnosed NCDs around and what is most unfortunate is that many of those NCDs only become visible only when a person starts to lose their sight. I am hoping that we do not have to pick up diseases at that point, that there is some degree of screening of the eye, we will be able to early detect impairment and do something about it.

Dr Fong says blinding NCDs such as cataract, glaucoma and diabetic retinopathy are the most common eye diseases in the country.

He adds 80 percent of blindness and vision impairment is preventable or treatable, depending on early detection.

Read the original post:
Vision impairment and blindness related to NCDs: Fong - FBC News

By Caroline Glick

Operation Breaking Dawn was a textbook illustration of Israels tactical brilliance and prowess on the one hand, and strategic blindness on the other.

Tactically, Israels Iron Dome system allows its civilians to remain almost entirely unharmed while terror armies pummel Israels cities and villages with missiles and rockets. So too, Israel has developed precision-guided weapons and operational intelligence capabilities which in combination enable it to conduct pinpoint assaults against targets and destroy them with little to no collateral damage.

From Friday through Sunday, Islamic Jihad shot nearly a thousand projectiles at Israel. But largely thanks to Iron Dome, no Israelis were harmed by direct hits. In precision strikes, Israel was able to eliminate Islamic Jihads commanders.

However, while Israels leaders are right to trumpet the operations tactical, technology-based success, Operation Breaking Dawn was a strategic fiasco on multiple levels.

The first level of strategic failure is the operational one. Breaking Dawn was precipitated by Islamic Jihads decision to respond to Israels arrest of its senior operative Bassem Saadi early last week in Jenin with a threat to carry out a mass casualty attack on Israeli civilians and military personnel from Gaza.

According to Egyptian mediators, Israel agreed to consider releasing Saadi and perhaps another Islamic Jihad terrorist in exchange for a ceasefire. If the Egyptian announcement is accurate, then Islamic Jihad will be able to present its missile assault as a victory. By lobbing a thousand projectiles at Israeli cities from Gaza, the terror group was able to coerce Israel into freeing terrorists in Samaria.

Even better, from Islamic Jihads perspective, for the four days that preceded Israels initiation of Operation Breaking Dawn, the government ordered more than a million Israelis to remain in their homes and closed rail service and the major highways connecting population centers in southern Israel to the rest of the country. That four-day lockdown, based solely on Islamic Jihad threats, was the greatest victory the terror group ever achieved.

Israels operation demonstrated the depth of the strategic challenge Gaza poses. Islamic Jihad is a wholly owned subsidiary of Irans Revolutionary Guards Corps, which founded it in 1988 and still arms and commands its operations today.

Islamic Jihad used to be seen as a mere nuisance in the Gaza Strip. But this week it showed it has amassed an arsenal capable of presenting Israel with a massive security challenge. Even worse, it has just a fraction of the capabilities that Hamas enjoys.

Hamas is not a wholly owned subsidiary of Iran, but it is an Iranian client. Hamas receives funding and arms from Tehran. Its leaders are in direct, intimate contact with the Iranian regime, which they brag about. Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh was in Tehran last April to participate in Iranian President Ebrahim Raisis inauguration. Hamas tens of thousands of missiles cover nearly all of Israel. Its anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles pose a threat to Israeli ground and air operations in Gaza.

Iranian sponsorship isnt the only thing Hamas and Islamic Jihad share. They are partners. According to media reports, there were Hamas officers in Islamic Jihad command centers all week long. Hamas approved every missile volley Islamic Jihad launched, and provided it with logistical support. Given the intimacy of their cooperation, the fact that Hamas didnt use its own missiles to attack Israel is a meaningless distinction.

Indeed, its worse than that. Pretending that Hamas is not involved in an operation it actually enabled and participated in gives Hamas a free pass for waging war.

But for the Lapid-Gantz caretaker government, none of this mattered. The government and its attendant media insisted Hamas and Islamic Jihad are totally separate from one another, and even rivals. The governments narrative claimed Hamas was acting like a responsible adult.

Between Friday and Saturday, the IDFs job quickly moved from attacking Islamic Jihad to ending the operation as quickly as possible to avoid Palestinian civilian casualties that would compel Hamas to start shooting its own missiles at Israel.

In other words, the government put the onus on itself. Hamas would come in if Israel made a mistake. Hamas is responsible. It cares about its people. And it will only join the fray if Israel forces its hand.

This false narrative is doubly destructive given Hamas actual nature. Hamas isnt a responsible governing authority. Its a terrorist organization ideologically committed to annihilating Israel and the entire Jewish people. By treating Hamas as the responsible adult in the room, the government gave legitimacy to an actor that is morally, militarily, ideologically and politically illegitimate.

This is not to say that Israel should have opened a major campaign against Hamas. A caretaker government lacks the political legitimacy to initiate a large-scale conflict. But the governments kowtowing to Hamas, like its anxious acceptance of Islamic Jihads ceasefire terms, was unnecessary and destructive.

Caretaker Prime Minister Yair Lapid and Defense Minister Benny Gantzs behavior vis--vis Gaza is in keeping with the overall strategic blindness that has afflicted this government in relation not only to Irans Palestinian proxies Islamic Jihad and Hamas, but also Irans Lebanese legion Hezbollah and, indeed, Iran itself.

Lapid and Gantz are poised to accept a deal to transfer some of Israels sovereign economic waters to Lebanon. There are two concepts behind the deal, negotiated by the Biden administration.

First, most importantly and like the White House, Lapid and Gantz insist Lebanon is a political entity separate from Hezbollah. This is entirely false. Hezbollah is the most powerful military organization in Lebanon. It has swallowed the Lebanese Armed Forces, which operate at Hezbollahs pleasure. And it has also swallowed the government, which will not do anything Hezbollah opposes.

The second concept, which flows from the first, is that by enabling Lebanon to develop natural gas fields in the eastern Mediterranean, Israel will empower the government against Hezbollah. This too is entirely false. Hezbollah controls the negotiations. Lebanon will not profit from the deal at Hezbollahs expense. The deal will transform Hezbollah and Iran into players in the Mediterranean gas industry, opening up a whole new sphere of profit, as well as potential extortion and blackmail of Israel.

As for Iran itself, from the moment they formed their government with their erstwhile partner Alternate Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, Lapid and Gantz opted to subordinate Israels policies towards Iran to the Biden administration. They announced a policy of no surprises, which effectively gave the administration veto power over all Israeli operations against Irans nuclear installations and other offensive operations.

Since the Biden administrations central Middle East policy is to reinstate Barack Obamas 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, the implication of no surprises is that Israel agreed to subordinate its confrontational policy towards Iran to the US policy of appeasing Iran.

Lapid/Gantzs predecessor and nemesis is opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. During his long premiership, Netanyahu also sought to avoid major military confrontations with Hamas and Hezbollah. But unlike Lapid and Gantz, Netanyahu did so while adhering to a strategic concept that had the virtue of not only being right, but effective.

Netanyahu recognized that the Palestinians, like Hezbollah, are part of Irans war machine. As Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps General Asghar Emami said in a May 2021 interview, Iran doesnt need to directly attack Israel because its proxies Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas are on Israels borders.

Emami said, Due to our presence in the axis of resistance, we have placed [Israel] under siege. We dont need to send airplanes or missiles to Israel. Now, with our presence in the axis of resistance, we can hit Israel with mortar shells.

Netanyahu adopted an integrated, three-pronged Iran strategy. He sought to deprive Iran of funds to diminish its economic capacity to fund its proxies. He built and used the capacity to carry out near-continuous acts of sabotage against Irans nuclear installations and personnel. And he led Israel in waging a full-scale diplomatic war against Iran.

One of the crowning achievements of Netanyahus strategy was his success in persuading then-president Donald Trump to withdraw from Obamas 2015 deal with Iran. Obamas deal transferred more than $100 billion to Tehran through sanctions relief.

Immediately after the deal went into effect in August 2015, Iran began funneling massive funds to Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah, as well as the Houthis in Yemen, enabling them to escalate their wars against Israel and the Sunni states. By walking away from the deal and reinstating US economic sanctions on Iran, Trump set Iran on the road to poverty, and its funding for its terror proxies dried up. Had the policy been continued under Biden, Islamic Jihad would likely not have had a thousand missiles of varying ranges to lob at Israel over three days.

Iran crossed the nuclear threshold in recent weeks for two reasons: First, the Biden administration stopped enforcing sanctions and thus emboldened the Iranians to massively increase their levels of uranium enrichment and stockpiles of enriched uranium. Second, Israel dramatically scaled back its operations in Iran as part of the Lapid-Gantz-Bennett no surprises policy.

Netanyahus diplomatic war against Iran, even in the face of US animosity, is what drew the Arab states to Israel.

The 2015 nuclear deal threatened the Sunnis no less than it threatened Israel. Netanyahus unapologetic opposition to the agreement drew Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt and Bahrain to Israels side.

As for the Palestinians, Netanyahu largely ignored them. And when he was forced to fight them, he made clear that they were first and foremost Iranian proxies. His argument was convincing, because it was accurate.

In 2014, recognizing the truth of Netanyahus claim, the UAE, Saudi Arabia and Egypt stood with Israel against Hamas, Turkey, Qatar and the Obama administration, which tried to force Israel to accept Hamas ceasefire demands.

Over the past week, Lapid and Gantz barely mentioned Iran, despite the fact that Islamic Jihads leader Ziad Nahalka was in Tehran the entire time. Their reticence was likely due to the fact that as Irans Palestinian proxy pummeled Israel with missiles and rockets, Bidens negotiators were in Vienna, yet again begging Iran to accept sanctions relief in exchange for a nod to the 2015 nuclear deal.

By hiding the fact that Iran stood behind Islamic Jihad/Hamas entire assault, Gantz and Lapid returned the Palestinians to center stage, to devastating effect for Israel.

By giving Iran a free pass, Israel alienated its Arab allies. Instead of supporting Israel, the UAE is co-sponsoring a UN Security Council meeting to discuss Israels operation. Saudi Arabia published a full-throated condemnation of Israels operation against an Iranian proxy.

It is easy to understand the logic of a limited campaign. But by carrying it out in a state of strategic blindness, the caretaker government legitimized Hamas and undermined Israels position in the strategic battle of our times against Iran.

See the original post here:
Strategic blindness of caretaker government - The Jewish Star

The victim of a gruesome attack in Massachusetts is trying to turn her suffering into something good.Janet Blanchard, of Haverhill, was left blind and almost died from a random attack in her hometown last year.NewsCenter 5's Maria Stephanos lived next door to Blanchard when they were growing up in Groveland, and Stephanos shared Blanchard's story following the attack.Blanchard is now focused on spending time with her family and friends, especially her 14-month-old grandson, Lincoln.She is still searching for a cure for her blindness and working to help others who suffer from complete vision loss.On Sept. 2, the Bradford Country Club in Haverhill will host the Janet's Journey Golf Tournament, a fundraiser for the Second Chance for Sight Foundation a nonprofit that was founded in Blanchard's honor by her son-in-law, Zach.The money raised by the golf tournament will help assist complete-vision-loss organizations, medical research and individuals. Blanchard and her family hope to help others who have been affected by blindness by improving their quality of life through research and development.Anyone who is interested in donating to the Second Chance for Sight Foundation should email Leadership@secondchanceforsight.com.Those who are interested in sponsoring the Janet's Journey Golf Tournament should click here for more information.

The victim of a gruesome attack in Massachusetts is trying to turn her suffering into something good.

Janet Blanchard, of Haverhill, was left blind and almost died from a random attack in her hometown last year.

NewsCenter 5's Maria Stephanos lived next door to Blanchard when they were growing up in Groveland, and Stephanos shared Blanchard's story following the attack.

Blanchard is now focused on spending time with her family and friends, especially her 14-month-old grandson, Lincoln.

She is still searching for a cure for her blindness and working to help others who suffer from complete vision loss.

On Sept. 2, the Bradford Country Club in Haverhill will host the Janet's Journey Golf Tournament, a fundraiser for the Second Chance for Sight Foundation a nonprofit that was founded in Blanchard's honor by her son-in-law, Zach.

The money raised by the golf tournament will help assist complete-vision-loss organizations, medical research and individuals. Blanchard and her family hope to help others who have been affected by blindness by improving their quality of life through research and development.

Anyone who is interested in donating to the Second Chance for Sight Foundation should email Leadership@secondchanceforsight.com.

Those who are interested in sponsoring the Janet's Journey Golf Tournament should click here for more information.

See the original post here:
Massachusetts woman blinded by attack working to help others regain sight - WCVB Boston

Trying to achieve fairness through blindness has not worked.

A woman, lets call her Lisa, applies for a loan. Shes 35 with a graduate degree, a high earning trajectory and a 670 credit score. She also just returned to work after taking time off to start a family.

Her application goes to an algorithm, which assesses her risk profile to determine whether she should be approved. The algorithm sees her recent gap in employment and labels her a risky borrower. The result? Her application is rejected.

Examples like this happen every day in lending. Are these decisions fair?

When it comes to fairness in lending, a cardinal rule is, Thou shalt not use variables like race, gender or age when deciding whether to approve someone for a loan.

This rule dates back to the Equal Credit Opportunity Act (ECOA), passed in 1974 to stop lenders from deliberately denying loans to Black applicants and segregating neighborhoodsa practice called redlining. The problem got so bad, the government had to ban the consideration of race or gender when making loan approval or other high-stakes decisions.

The assumption behind ECOA was that if decision makersbe they humans or machinesare unaware of attributes like race or gender at decision-time, then the actions they take will be based on neutral and objective factors that are fair.

Theres just one problem with this assumption: Its wishful thinking to assume that keeping algorithms blind to protected characteristics means the algorithms wont discriminate.

In fact, building models that are blind to protected status information may reinforce pre-existing biases in the data. As legal scholar Pauline Kim observed:

Simply blinding a model to sensitive characteristics like race or sex will not prevent these tools from having discriminatory effects. Not only can biased outcomes still occur, but discarding demographic information makes bias harder to detect, and, in some cases, could make it worse.

In a credit market where Black applicants are often denied at twice the rate of White applicants and pay higher interest rates despite strong credit performance, the time has come to admit that Fairness Through Blindness in lending has failed.

If we want to improve access to credit for historically underrepresented groups, maybe we need to try something different: Fairness Through Awareness, where race, gender and other protected information is available during model training to shape the resulting models to be fairer.

Why will Fairness Through Awareness work better?

Consider the example of the woman, Lisa, above.

Many underwriting models look for consistent employment as a sign of creditworthiness: the longer youve been working without a gap, the thinking goes, the more creditworthy you are. But if Lisa takes time out of the workforce to start a family, lending models that weigh consistent employment as a strong criterion will rank her as less creditworthy (all other things being equal) than a man who worked through that period.

The result is that Lisa will have a higher chance of being rejected, or approved on worse terms, even if shes demonstrated in other ways that shes just as creditworthy as a similar male applicant.

Models that make use of protected data during training can prevent this outcome in ways that race and gender blind models cannot. If we train AI models to understand that they will encounter a population of applicants called women, and that women are likely to take time off from the workforce, the model will know in production that someone who takes time off shouldnt necessarily be deemed riskier.

Simply put, different people and groups behave differently. And those differences may not make members of one group less creditworthy than members of another.

If we give algorithms the right data during training, we can teach them more about these differences. This new data helps the model evaluate variables like consistent employment in context, and with greater awareness of how to make fairer decisions.

Fairness Through Awareness techniques are showing impressive results in healthcare, where identity-aligned algorithms tailored to specific patient populations are driving better clinical outcomes for underserved groups.

Lenders using Fairness Through Awareness modeling techniques have also reported encouraging results.

In a 2020 study, researchers trained a credit model using information about gender. The gender-specific model resulted in about 80% of women getting higher credit scores than the gender-blind model.

Another study, done by my co-founder John Merrill, found that an installment lender could safely increase its approval rate by 10% while also increasing its fairness (measured in terms of adverse impact ratio) to Black applicants by 16%.

The law does not prohibit using data like gender and race during model trainingthough regulators have never given explicit guidance on the matter. For years lenders have used some consciousness of protected status to avoid discrimination by, say, lowering a credit score approval threshold from 700 to 695 if doing so results in a more demographically balanced portfolio. In addition, using protected status information is expressly permitted to test models for disparate impact and search for less discriminatory alternatives.

Granted, allowing protected data in credit modeling carries some risk. It is illegal to use protected data at decision time, and when lenders are in possession of any protected status information theres the chance that this data will inappropriately influence a lenders decisions.

As such, Fairness Through Awareness techniques in model development require safeguards that limit use and preserve privacy. Protected data can be anonymized or encrypted, access to it can be managed by third party specialists, and algorithms can be designed to maximize both fairness and privacy.

Fairness Through Blindness has created a delusion that the disparities in American lending are attributable to neutral factors found in a credit report. But studies show again and again that protected status information, if used responsibly, can dramatically increase positive outcomes for historically disadvantaged groups at acceptable levels of risk.

Weve tried to achieve fairness in lending through blindness. It hasnt worked. Now its time to try Fairness Through Awareness, before the current disparities in American lending become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

See the original post:
Is It Time To Start Using Race And Gender To Combat Bias In Lending? - Forbes

Its 2022, and the modernisation project of the regency era is well underway. Each year, a new season ofBridgertondescends upon us and gives the internet a new diamond of the season to rave over. If 2021 was Reg-Jean Pages year, 2022 would be Simone Ashleys. Not only are the two protagonists in theGossip Girl-Esque period drama, but both stand out as actors of colour in a conventionally white story.

A more recent case of colour-blind casting in regency-era dramas has been in the case of the Netflix adaptation of Jane AustensPersuasion. With Malaysian-British actor Henry Golding, Nigerian-British actress Nikki Amuka-Bird, and many more, Persuasion joins the race-blind casting club.

Within the casting itself, critics point out that race-blindness has compromised historical accuracy. As in the case of most race-blind period dramas, this argument has also been extended to instances such as the questions of accuracyregardingHalle Baileys casting inThe Little Mermaid(2023).

However, such casting in historical dramas is not a new phenomenon. Be it Dev PatelplayingDavid Copperfield(2019) and Adeel AkhtarplayingLestrade inEnola Holmes(2020), colour-bind casting has been a feature in showbiz for quite some time. In fact, lest we forget, even Amitabh BachchanplayedMeyer Wolfsheim inThe Great Gatsby(2013), a character is originally written to be an Ashkenazi Jew.

Disney-fantasy films such as the upcomingLittle Mermaid(2023) and superhero movies likeThor: Ragnarok(2017) have also embraced a colour-blind cast. So if the colour-blind casting is so rapidly expanding to all forms of film and television, what is with the whole debate over it?

It all began with the operaTannhuser(1961), whichfeaturedmezzo-soprano Grace Bumbry as Venus. Bumbry led on to become the first black singer to ever perform at the Bayreuth Festival in Germany. However, her casting was not just a move to make the opera seem more inclusive, but in fact, there lay a much deeper vision on the part of the director Wieland Wagner. Hiring a black singer for a white role waspartof a larger picture to sever post-War Bayreuths ties from its turbulent and racist past.

Opponents of heterogeneous casting in implausible roles and plotlines have also alleged that racial inclusion has been reduced to atick-box exercise. Race-blindness solely for the purpose of scoring DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) points is increasingly common and a lot less desirable.

The opera soon became a huge scandal, and Bumbrys casting swelled up to a high level of national significance. Contrast this with the deluge of critical views thatPersuasionfinds itself in. Leaving the casting aside the screenplay itself is facing a lot of flak- especially from Austens deepest admirers, who regard the movie to be a greatly watered-down andFleabag-ifiedversion of the novel.

Within the casting itself, critics point out that race blindness has compromised historical accuracy. As in the case of most race-blind period dramas, this argument has also been extended to instances such as the questions of accuracyregardingHalle Baileys casting inThe Little Mermaid(2023).

Opponents of heterogeneous casting in implausible roles and plotlines have also alleged that racial inclusion has been reduced to atick-box exercise. Race-blindness solely for the purpose of scoring DEI (Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion) points is increasingly common and a lot less desirable.

As in the case of the 2020 Huluadaptationof Sally Rooneys novel Normal People, thoughtless race-blind casting led to the three major anti-heroes being people of colour for no specific reason. Colour-conscious casting in modern fiction would rather focus on racial diversity by answering why a specific character needs to belong to a specific race.

As in the case of the 2020 Huluadaptationof Sally Rooneys novel Normal People, thoughtless race-blind casting led to the three major anti-heroes being people of colour for no specific reason. Colour-conscious casting in modern fiction would rather focus on racial diversity by answering why a specific character needs to belong to a specific race.

This, in turn, would require self-interrogation and accountability, which could be the factors that filmmakers try to avoid by random race-blind casting.

The damages that can be done by race-blind casting are deeper. At best, it is implausible and almost hilarious to see a host of actors from various racial backgrounds play characters from theMahabharatain the 1989 film adaptation, written by English and French screenwriters. At worst, it ignores the history of discrimination in the entertainment industry and dismisses any accountability about the intention of why an actor of a specific race was cast for a specific role.

A 2018articlein the Harvard Journal of Sports and Entertainment Law addresses another facet of race-blind casting in Hollywood. Race-blind casting does not appropriately deal with the discriminatory environment that exists even in the present-day labour market. Ignoring race, as done inPersuasionandBridgerton, feeds into the harmful notion that not talking about race and the contexts it adds would fix Americas deeply entrenched racist rhetoric.

Movies and TV have great potential to contribute to meaningful societal changes, learning about the world, understanding diverse contexts, and connecting with various cultures.

However, a very elementary and widely-observed purpose of cinema is entertainment and even escapism. For instance, most mainstream Hindi cinema is aimed at being anescapistexperience for the masses, providing a brief distraction from the trials and tribulations that the lower and middle classes face.

Along these lines, proponents of race-blind casting argue that people of colour, too, deserve escapist, fantastical, and implausible storylines in mainstream cinema. Addressing historical oppression and marginalisation in each story with a character of colour would not only take the focus away from the primary plotline but also restrict people of colour to only see themselves represented through reminders of a painful past and present.

Also read:Women, Race & Class: Angela Davis And The Womens Movement In India

What acts as a middle ground on both sides of this debate is the need to replace colour-blind casting with colour-conscious casting. While the former succeeded in bringing in a larger number of actors of colour to our screens, the latteracknowledgesand embraces the various layers and dimensions that racial contexts bring to a story.

In order to meaningfully and accurately include characters of colour in historical dramas, it is essential, to begin with choosing a racially diverse historical setting in the first place. Such a plotline can act as the perfect vehicle to not only address issues of racial representation in traditionally white-dominant storylines, but it would also provide depth to the story by appropriately weaving in conversations on race within backgrounds they have been missing in all this time.

Not seeing colour and being colour-blind has always been ineffective and even harmful response to tackling deeply-rooted racism. Duplicating the same within film and TV would not have any different effects either. Heres hoping that whichever upcoming period drama is going to be the next talk-of-the-town, it does away with the pattern of feeding viewers false and one-dimensionalhistoriesunder the garb of representation.

Also read:A Racist India & How Its Racism Is Different For North-Eastern Women

Featured image source:British GQ

Excerpt from:
Persuasion Film Review: Is Heterogeneous Casting Race-Inclusionary Or Escapist? - Feminism In India

The Hindus concept of Satyug vs Kaliyug is actually on the difference of free-self-respecting life versus dependent-bonded slavery period. fearless vs fearful mood, intelligence vs blindness, There is a difference in the time of Karmavaad vs. Fatalism. that is when India became independent in 1947 So India had to make that constitution which would change the mood of the Hindus, He was worried about his behavior. The question is, what should have been the objectives of independent India and its constitution? My The straight forward answer is that the first priority of the nation-state of India is to end the Kali Yuga of the Hindus. Citizens out of the experience of fourteen hundred years of slavery. Fear, Liberation of the people from the systems of hunger and loot.

India of seventy five Kaliyuga decreased or increased,,2 : The issue is complex. I have analyzed the Hindu character in the past as well. The Hindu nature created in the slavery of fourteen hundred years has already been discussed. The essence is that the concept of Satyug versus Kaliyug of the Hindu is actually on the difference of free-self-respecting life versus dependent-bonded slavery period. There is a difference between fearless versus fearful mood, intelligence versus blindness, karmavad versus fatalism. We all know why Kali Yuga was formed for Hindus and what are its symptoms. Because of that, when India became independent in 1947, India had to make a constitution in which the change of mood of the Hindus, their behavior and behavior would have been concerned.

The question is, what should have been the objectives of independent India and its constitution? Its straight forward answer is that the first priority of the nation-state of India is to end the Kali Yuga of the Hindus. The citizens came out from the experience of fourteen hundred years of slavery. Liberation of the people from the systems of fear, hunger and loot.

Only then the constitution had to adopt the resolutions of these three tasks, objectives (1) To eliminate the fear of governance, governance among the citizens. So that people get out of the mood of slavery and have the nature to live with vivacity. So that they (2) be free from the habit of fear, devotion, hunger and dependent life created in the experience of subordination. Citizens left the escapist-fatalistic nature and became puritan-karmicists. (3) To embrace these two objectives in the mind of the country, importance should have been given to the knowledge sources, energy and sense of Sanatani Dharma-Shastras. So that the ideals of the character-moral-cultural values would form and blossom the resolve of the Hindu majority community. In the education-understanding of the citizens, that intellectual force would have been made possible by which the renaissance of the eternal heritage of ancient civilization-culture would have been possible. The unique identity of India could have been created by the eternal intellectual force. The global contribution of Hindus would have been possible.

Think, in seventy-five years from the Constitution of India, its results and the behavior of the nation, what identity of India has developed in the world? Is there such an identity that has been created in the last 75 years of other constitutions like Japan, Germany, Israel, China made around the time of 1947. Japan, Germany, Israel, and China all have their own distinctive identities of culture and culture. He has a status in his world fraternity. Think what is the identity of India in the world ahead of them?

stupid superstition

The objectives of ending Kali Yuga were not laid down in the Constitution of India. Rather, the Kali-yuga nature of the people, the official methods of slavery were made more powerful. The above mentioned three did not work. The Constituent Assembly of India did not consider it necessary to refine the merits and demerits of Hindu mood-disposition, intellect and education, nor did it make it the purpose of molding the civil rites into the moral parameters of religion-culture!

As a result, in a crowded civil society without culture, without character, labor is done like donkeys, but the result is poverty, vanity, wildness, living in cages, tying and sharing in caste-religion. Pay attention to the current times. What kind of India photos have been found in the world? What news was heard from India in the global concerns of the pandemic? The world has seen photos of India like cremation grounds and unclaimed deaths on the banks of the Ganges, in the same way, symbols of any other civilization-culture were seen in the country? What superstitious things the world has heard and known from India. Like the diagnosis of virus with cow dung. To drive away the epidemic by clapping. Means the scriptures of the past (there is no such thing in any Satyug Sanatani theology) and not by knowledge, but by cooking up the superstitions of myths, the Hindu was proved to be a foolish nature. In the myths itself, the Prime Minister of India talks about organ transplant surgery in ancient India and the devotees shout that the solution to every disease and problem is the mantra. Cow urine cures diseases and cow releases oxygen. Not only this, the peacock pregnant with the tears of the peacock and leaving the duck in the pond created oxygen in the water of the pond. Whatsup foolishness is the identity of India. An IIT head from India releases the video that the father of a friend of his in Chennai was captured by a ghost and he chased away the ghost by reciting the Bhagavad Gita. Imagine, a robotics professor and his skull telling the world that his friends father was physically very weak but after reciting the mantra, he got such power that he got up and started dancing. Later, the friends mother and wife were also caught by the ghost. Then he recited the mantra loudly for 45 minutes to an hour and freed both of them from the ghost.

Is all this the nectar of knowledge of India for 75 years? Know that the Sanatani Hindu did not live in such superstitions. Such straw is not in the Vedas of Hindus. On the contrary, the Adi Sanatani Dharmashastras of the Hindu were composing the Vedas and Vedangas by understanding nature, revealing and invoking its powers. There was debate with Ilham then.

In fact, this mental disability of India is the Kali-yuga nature of the time of slavery. The subjection of the heretics has made us fatalists-superstitions. That is why the Hindu elite leaders before and after independence had to seriously consider the reality of mental handicap. Had to find a solution. In its truth it was to become the primary objective of the Constitution. But the opposite happened. There was a superstition among the gentry of the Constituent Assembly that there is no such idea of political philosophy, polity in Hindu religion-civilization-culture, so that the citizens of the concept of nation-state can make themselves cultured and responsible. It was also thought that if the values of culture-religion or its insistence on the constitution-country were prestige, then the state religion should not be considered biased. We the people of India will be called antiquarians. Such fear and superstition apparently stemmed from the dreadful mood of the slavery period. Gandhi continued to see the ideal of Ram Rajya but his followers, the Constituent Assembly, rejected the truthful light of Ram Rajya and the original Sanatani religion behind it in horror and cynicism that religion and theology were opium and gapaudi!

As a result, the constitution was formed only which was the already made fabric of the Britishs language, philosophy, thought, intention, the tendency to rule the people. The making of the constitution did not take place in the priority of giving sovereign wings to the individuals freedom, his self-ownership, charitableness, but was building democracy in the stamp of making sovereignty-monarchy of power and government.

The result is in front. Seventy-five years later, Hindus (be it secular or communal) are fighting fiercely for their freedom. He lives in hunger, fear and devotion. He is filling his stomach with donations, donations, freebies. One gets rich from corruption. And when it comes to human nature, it is superstitious, brazen and scattered.

am i wrong? (Ongoing)

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The journey of Kali Yugi started with the mistake of objectives! - Youthistaan

Executive Summary

State Medicaid websites are a key source of information and an avenue for enrollment in or renewal of coverage for many applicants and existing enrollees. Medicaid households include a disproportionate share of nonelderly adults with limited English proficiency (LEP), and three in ten nonelderly Medicaid adults report having a disability. When the continuous enrollment requirement related to the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends and states resume regularly scheduled redeterminations and renewals, individuals with LEP and/or disabilities may be at increased risk of losing coverage, despite remaining eligible, due to barriers in accessing eligibility and renewal information. Several federal laws require state Medicaid agencies to provide information in a way that is accessible to people with LEP and people with disabilities (Appendix).

This issue brief reviews accessibility of information for people with LEP and people with disabilities provided through state Medicaid websites and call center automated phone trees as of June 16, 2022. The analysis shows that while states have taken some steps to support access to information and applications for people with LEP and people with disabilities, gaps in accessibility remain. Given the potential challenges people with LEP and people with disabilities may face maintaining coverage once Medicaid renewal and redeterminations resume following the end of the public health emergency, specific steps to minimize barriers and ensure easy access to information, applications, and assistance could help prevent coverage losses among those who remain eligible.

Most states have taken steps to support access to information and applications for people with LEP and people with disabilities. Such steps include the following:

While states have taken steps to support access to information and applications for people with LEP and people with disabilities, continuing gaps in accessibility remain. Some of these gaps include:

State Medicaid websites are a key source of information and an avenue for enrollment in or renewal of coverage for many applicants and existing enrollees. Medicaid households include a disproportionate share of nonelderly adults with limited English proficiency (LEP), and three in ten nonelderly Medicaid adults report having a disability. While Spanish is the most common language spoken among nonelderly adults in Medicaid households who have LEP, Chinese and Vietnamese are each spoken by 3% of these adults, and there are a diverse set of languages spoken overall by this group. Medicaid enrollees have a variety of disabilities, including blindness or low vision; deafness or hard of hearing; intellectual and developmental disabilities such as autism or Downs syndrome; traumatic brain or spinal cord injuries; and mental illness. Some people may have both LEP and a disability.

When the continuous enrollment requirement related to the COVID-19 public health emergency (PHE) ends, and states resume regularly scheduled redeterminations and renewals, individuals with LEP and/or disabilities may be at increased risk of losing coverage, despite remaining eligible, due to barriers in accessing eligibility and enrollment information. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) guidance about the PHE unwinding reminds states about these obligations and prompts states to review their communications with people with LEP and people with disabilities as a strategy to mitigate inappropriate coverage loss. Several federal laws require state Medicaid agencies to provide information in a way that is accessible to people with LEP and people with disabilities. The Appendix provides background information on these laws.

This issue brief reviews accessibility of information for people with LEP and people with disabilities provided through state Medicaid websites as well as call center automated phone trees and information on application assistance, as of June 16, 2022. We assessed homepages and call center automated menu options in all 50 states and DC and PDF applications in the 41 states that provide them online (Appendix Table 1). We had limited ability to assess online applications because, while all states except Alaska provide an online application, individuals must create an account to view the online application in all but three states (IN, MS, UT) (Appendix Table 1). We identified sixteen states that provide information about how to obtain one on one assistance with completing an application on their homepage or application. See the Methods box for more detail.

Overall, about two-thirds of states (33) provide information on their Medicaid program homepage in a language other than English (Appendix Table 2 and Figure 1). The number of languages other than English range from 1 to over 100 in 17 states using automated translation systems such as Google Translate. Five states (GA, KY, LA, MA and NE) also use Google Translate to offer translations in a more limited number of languages. In the remaining 11 states with translated information, the number of languages available other than English ranges from 1 to 22. All 33 states that offer translation on their homepages offer information in Spanish, and, in five states, Spanish is the only language other than English that is available. The other languages most commonly available include Chinese, Vietnamese, and Tagalog. There may be potential quality issues with translations in states using automated translations, such as Google Translate. Google has indicated that it is not intended to replace human translators or to be used in public health contexts without having translations verified and other research has found Google Translate to be unreliable in medical contexts., Two states (MD and GA) include disclaimers that the English version of the homepage is the most reliable. In three states (FL, MS, and KY), some content in the headers, footers, and/or menus of the translated versions of the homepage remains in English. In nine states, clicking links in translated versions of the homepage leads to English content. Ten state homepages included automated chatbots to address simple questions. In seven of these states, the chatbots can address questions in Spanish, including Florida, which also translates into Haitian Creole, and Rhode Island, which uses Google Translate to offer over 100 languages.

Most states with online PDF applications (34 of 41 states) offer the application in languages other than English (Appendix Table 2 and Figure 1). In 23 of these states, Spanish is the only other language in which the PDF application is available. In the remaining 11 states, PDF applications are offered in additional languages, including in over 10 languages in California, New York, Oregon and Washington. The most common other languages available are Vietnamese (6 states), Chinese (5 states) and Korean (5 states). Most PDF applications (37 of 41) ask about the applicants preferred spoken language, which may facilitate access to linguistically accessible communications in the future. Seven states had mobile device applications through which individuals could access applications and eligibility information and submit documents, and in three of these states (CO, MD, and MI), these applications could be accessed in languages other than English, primarily Spanish.

Seventeen states include multilingual taglines on their homepages or within one click of their homepages with information on how to access language assistance services (Appendix Table 2). Eleven of these states provide taglines in at least 15 languages other than English. All 17 states include taglines in Spanish, and the other most common languages are Chinese (13 states) and Vietnamese (12 states).

Most states with PDF applications (29 of 41 states) include multilingual tagline notices regarding the availability of language assistance services on the PDF application (Appendix Table 2). These taglines are generally present on the first or second page of the application or as a footer running across every page. In 11 of these states, taglines are only provided in Spanish and English, and, in the remaining 18 states, they are provided in between 5 and 19 languages other than English. In addition to Spanish, the most common other languages in which taglines are offered are Chinese (13 states) and Vietnamese (13 states)

In 49 states, call centers answered with automated phone trees, and 40 of these states offered menu options in languages other than English. However, in 31 of these states the only other language offered through the menu is Spanish (Appendix Table 2 and Figure 1). In the remaining states, phone tree menus offer between two and six languages other than English. In some states, other language options are only offered after the applicant listens to a long set of options in English.

Approximately half of states (25) provide general information about the availability of reasonable modifications (also known as reasonable accommodations) for people with disabilities on their homepage or within one click from their homepage, while 32 states provide this information on their online PDF application (Appendix Table 4 and Figure 4). States often provide information about reasonable modifications for people with disabilities on a separate webpage titled Nondiscrimination policy or Accessibility rather than directly on their homepage. Users can usually find these separate webpages by clicking on a Nondiscrimination policy link at the bottom of the homepage. States often use these separate webpages to outline their general commitment to serving the needs of people with disabilities (CT). Most of these separate webpages include information about free auxiliary aids and services necessary to afford an individual with a disability an equal opportunity to participate in all services, programs and activities (KY). Additionally, states often include information about reasonable accommodations such as alternative formats including Braille or large print materials, teletypewriter (TTY) numbers, and how to request qualified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters on these separate webpages. The availability of information in plain language also is an important means of providing access for people with cognitive disabilities, though our website review did not assess content for plain language.

Two states (CA, CO) post a large print PDF application form online, while another 15 states include information on their homepage about how to obtain materials in large print or Braille (Appendix Table 4 and Figure 4). For example, Wyomings homepage indicates that a large print PDF application is available upon request. Like Wyoming, most other states often list a phone number (and/or a TTY number) for individuals to call to request materials in alternative formats or advise users to contact their local office. The remaining 35 states do not mention alternative formats on their homepage or within one click from their homepage. Ten state homepages (CT, DE, HI, KS, LA, MS, NH, NY, TN, and VA) allow users to increase or decrease the font size of text on the webpage. Connecticut and Louisiana are the only two states that allows users to change the homepage to a high contrast mode to improve readability for users. Making information and applications available in multiple formats is an important means of increasing access for people with disabilities. People with disabilities may access information in different ways, depending on their type of disability and type of assistive technology they use.

State homepages and online application landing pages were evaluated using WAVE, a suite of automated web accessibility measurement tools that includes 110 elements that assess potential accessibility errors for people who are blind or have low vision. WAVE is developed and made available as a free community service by WebAIM (Web Accessibility in Mind) at Utah State University. WAVE assesses web accessibility, including compatibility with screen reader software, which can be used by people who are blind to convert web content to synthesized speech, and screen magnifiers or zoom, which can be used by people with low vision. Because WAVE is automated, it does not assess all aspects of accessibility that may be encountered by website users. However, WAVE does identify the accessibility errors that are most frequently encountered and that tend to have the greatest impact on users who are blind or have low vision. Additionally, errors identified by WAVE have been found to correlate with the existence of other accessibility issues that WAVE does not detect but which can be encountered by a website user. The WAVE analysis was applied to a total of 101 webpages, including the homepages for all 50 states and DC and the online application landing pages for 49 states and DC.

The most common accessibility issue detected by WAVE is very low contrast text, with 67% of the assessed webpages (in 47 states) showing at least one incidence of this error (Appendix Table 3 and Figure 5). Overall, WAVE detected an average of seven instances of very low contrast text errors per page across the 101 webpages assessed. Low contrast text refers to the difference in brightness between text or a graphic and its background colors and is difficult for people with color blindness or low vision to read. Other commonly detected accessibility issues include missing labels to describe the various fields of content in a form (27% of pages, 24 states) and images missing alternative text (25% of pages, 23 states) (Appendix Table 3). Alternative text is used to describe the content of an image. Images that lack alternative text and forms without text labels cannot be properly identified by screen readers, making this content very difficult to access for people who rely on that technology.

The average number of accessibility errors detected by WAVE across the 101 assessed state homepages and online application landing pages is substantially lower than the average number of errors found on webpages in general. Specifically, WAVE detected an average of 11.4 errors per page across the 101 webpages assessed, compared to the average of 50.8 errors per page found on the top one million web homepages generally. The number of web accessibility errors detected on the assessed webpages varies widely across states (Appendix Table 3). Over half of the states have 15 or fewer errors across their homepages and online application pages and in seven states, there are less than five errors (Figure 5). These findings suggest that states have given notable attention to ensuring accessibility on these pages overall, although some pages may have errors that could pose difficulty for users with disabilities.

Thirty-two states list a TTY call center number directly on their homepage or within one click from the homepage (Appendix Table 4 and Figure 6). Eight of these states require users to click on a contact us tab to find a TTY number, while 13 states require users to click on a different link to a nondiscrimination or access for users with special needs webpage to find a TTY number. TTY numbers allow individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to communicate by sending typed messages over the phone line. If states communicate with applicants or the public by phone, they also must handle calls via TTY or similar technology. North Carolina is the only state to list a Spanish language TTY (Relay Service) on its homepage. Similarly, Utah is the only state to list a Spanish Relay number for individuals with speech and/or hearing impairment on their PDF application.

Twenty-two states provide information about how to request an ASL interpreter on their website (Appendix Table 4 and Figure 6). One of these states (WA) directly lists this information on their homepage, while the other 21 states require users to click on another link such as a nondiscrimination webpage to find information about how to request an ASL interpreter. Both TTY numbers and ASL interpreters can help promote effective communication for people who are deaf or hard of hearing that could be essential for someone to understand how to enroll in or retain Medicaid coverage.

The large majority (49 of 51) of call centers answer with an automated phone tree and only 12 of the automated phone trees include an option to speak to a live person in the first set of menu options (Appendix Table 4 and Figure 6). Two call centers (DC, SD) answer with a live person instead of an automated phone tree. Access to a live person can improve accessibility for people with LEP and/or intellectual or developmental disabilities and people with mental health disabilities. As of the time of our data collection, the call center wait time to speak with a live person was less than 15 minutes in 34 states, while in six states, the wait time was more than 15 minutes. In the remaining seven states, we were unable to reach a live person. The end of the COVID-19 PHE may increase these wait times, as states resume processing redeterminations and renewals.

As the COVID-19 PHE ends and states resume regularly scheduled Medicaid redeterminations and renewals, people with LEP and/or disabilities may face increased challenges to maintaining coverage despite remaining eligible due to barriers in accessing eligibility and enrollment information. Under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act, Section 1557 of the Affordable Care Act, and the Rehabilitation Act, state Medicaid agency program information must be accessible to people with LEP and people with disabilities. The Biden Administration has issued a proposed rule revising implementing regulation for Section 1557, taking steps to reverse Trump Administration policy and regulations that significantly narrowed the implementation and administrative enforcement of the regulations. The proposed rule reinstates the requirement that Medicaid agencies provide notice of the availability of language assistance services and auxiliary aids and services in both physical locations and on their websites. Additionally, the rule, for the first time, requires state Medicaid agencies to give staff clear guidance and training on the provision of language assistance services, and effective communication and reasonable modifications to policies and procedures for people with disabilities, in order to improve compliance. Regardless of the status of the regulations, the underlying statutory protections of Section 1557, which require meaningful access to federal programs for people with LEP and/or disabilities, remain as well as protections under other federal laws and federal Medicaid regulations that require public programs be accessible to people with LEP and/or disabilities.

As states prepare to resume Medicaid redeterminations and renewals, they can take steps to prevent and minimize potential administrative barriers to maintaining coverage, particularly for people who have LEP and/or disabilities. CMS guidance outlines specific steps states can take, including ensuring accessibility of forms and notices for people with LEP and people with disabilities and reviewing communications strategies to ensure accessibility of information. Increasing access to a live person through call centers and/or providing a dedicated call center line for people with LEP may also help improve accessibility for people with LEP and people with disabilities. Ensuring accessibility of information, forms, and assistance will be key for preventing coverage losses and gaps among these individuals.

KFF appreciates the assistance of Jared Smith, program manager at Utah State University Institute for Disability Research, Policy and Practice, with analyzing and interpreting the WAVE results.

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iHealthScreen Inc. completed a prospective study for early diagnosis of AMD in primary care settings. The initial clinical trial results show adequate accuracy for FDA clearance. The study was funded by NIH SBIR grants and completed with the collaboration of the New York Eye and Ear Infirmary at Mount Sinai.

AMD, with no early signs or symptoms, is a leading cause of adult blindness in the developed world. Early detection can enable preventative measures in time to reduce the incidence of AMD. Currently, AMD diagnosis has been limited to retinal examination by an ophthalmologist. AMD cases in the U.S. are expected to grow from 2.1 million to 5.4 million in the next ten years, and there is an increasing need for large-scale screening and identification of individuals who are at risk of developing late AMD. iHealthScreens AI-based tool can facilitate this screening and help prevention of late AMD, i.e., blindness.

In an interview, Dr. Bhuiyan spoke about the study and the findings: We are encouraged by the results and believe that the new AI-based technology can diagnose early AMD in primary care settings, which enables the timely preventative measures by ophthalmologists and prevent this deterioration of vision. We want to express our sincerest thanks to the participants and professional staff who were involved in this clinical trial and gathered the data.

These results speak to the feasibility of this approach, said Theodore Smith, M.D., Ph.D., Trials Principal-investigator and Professor at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. I believe that the ease of use of iHealthScreens AI tool will contribute to its adoption in the wider primary care community.

iHealthScreen is in the final stage of submitting the results to FDA for 510K clearance.

About iHealthScreen

iHealthScreen is a private, clinical-stage, medical diagnostic/device company. iHealthScreen has developed iPredict, an AI and telemedicine-based HIPAA compliant platform for automated screening and prediction of individuals at risk of developing late age-related AMD, diabetic retinopathy (DR), glaucoma, cardiovascular heart disease, and stroke.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220808005447/en/

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iHealthScreen Completed Prospective Trial of AI-Based Tool for Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD) Screening and Submitting the Results to FDA for...

Tuna and various other seafood are rich in Vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is one of the less talked about vitamins. Unlike vitamin C and other vitamins, we often neglect the significance and need for vitamin B12. In this article, we discuss why you need to add vitamin B12 to your diet. We also list foods that are rich in vitamin B12 and can improve your consumption.

Why do we need Vitamin B12?

Our bodies rely on our food to stay alive. Being a complex mechanism, there are numerous nutrients our bodies needs and various ways in which these nutrients influence our health. Vitamin B12 improves and facilitates many functions in our bodies.

Here's why you must add sufficient vitamin B12 to your diet:

1. Protect eye health

Eating sufficient vitamin B12 lowers your risk of developing macular degeneration. This eye condition can cause blindness. Macular degeneration is common in older adults. However, not consuming enough vitamin B12 might increase your risks.

2. Prevent and treat depression

Serotonin is one of the happy hormones. Meaning, that it promotes better moods and improves mental health. Vitamin B12 plays an integral role in the production of serotonin. Studies show that people with vitamin B12 are at almost double the risk of developing depression.

3. Improve brain health

Vitamin B12 not only improves but is responsible for facilitating various functions in the brain and the nervous system. Lack of enough vitamin B12 might cause brain atrophy. Brain atrophy means a loss of neurons. This loss of neurons in the brain may also result in dementia and memory loss.

Besides these functions, vitamin B12 also facilitates energy production, aids our ability to think, and maintains the proper functioning of the brain and nervous system. Hence, vitamin B12 is an essential nutrient and necessary for survival.

What foods provide Vitamin B12?

Here are 7 foods that are rich in vitamin B12 and can significantly improve your intake:

1. Organ meats

Organ meats especially livers and kidneys are often the most abundant in various nutrients including vitamin B12. These foods may be ideal if you have a vitamin B12 deficiency or any other nutrient deficiency.

2. Dairy products

Dairy products are a great source of vitamin B12 for vegetarians. You can also incorporate them into your daily routine as they are extremely versatile and of many varieties. Try consuming milk, yogurt, cheese, etc. daily.

3. Eggs

Eggs are another more commonly consumed food that is rich in Vitamin B12. Similar to other foods, eggs are also abundant in various other foods that are beneficial to our bodies.

4. Fish

Fish is easily available seafood that is rich in vitamin B12 and many other nutrients. In fact, fish like tuna and salmon may also provide other nutrients such as protein, selenium, phosphorous, vitamin B3, vitamin A, etc.

5. Fortified cereal

Fortified cereals are a great source of vitamin B12 and many other nutrients for vegans and vegetarians. Fortification refers to adding nutrients to food that does not naturally have them. It may be beneficial but you are always encouraged to eat foods that are naturally rich in nutrients.

In conclusion, it is important for you to ensure you consume all the nutrients you require. Having a well-balanced diet can help you achieve your daily nutrient requirements. Although the most amount of vitamin B12 is often sourced from meats, vegans and vegetarians can still manage to consume the right amounts of B12.

If you think you might have a B12 deficiency, it is ideal to see a doctor. If yes, your doctor might prescribe supplements that are the best way to maintain the right intake. Make sure to only consume vitamin B12 supplements if prescribed as they can clash with other medications.

Disclaimer: This content including advice provides generic information only. It is in no way a substitute for a qualified medical opinion. Always consult a specialist or your own doctor for more information. NDTV does not claim responsibility for this information.

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Vitamin B12: Why You Need It & Foods To Increase Your Vitamin B12 Intake - NDTV