StemCell Therapy

Prominent participants in the global market for bioinformatics includeID Business Solutions, Ltd., Illumina, Inc., GenoLogics Life Sciences Software, Inc., Affymetrix, Inc., Life Technologies Corporation, Agilent Technologies, Inc., CLC bio A/S, and Accelrys, Inc. In order to march ahead, they are seen investing heavily in research and development of more cutting-edge products.

A report by Transparency Market Research projects theglobal bioinformatics marketsworth to be around US$9.1 bn by 2018-end.

The global market for bioinformatics has been segmented broadly into platforms, content management, and services by the report. They are all commercially available for sorting the data accumulating form research and development projects by leveraging bioinformatics. Among them, the bioinformatics platform comprising of sequence alignment platforms, sequence manipulation platforms, structural analysis platforms, and sequence analysis platforms is leading vis--vis consumption. This is because of their growing application in the process of research and development for drug discovery. Geographically, North America leads the market on account of the huge allocations towards cutting-edge research and development, swift uptake of latest technologies, and a well etched out regulatory framework in place.

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Pressing Need to Cure a Range of Ailments Boosts Adoption of Bioinformatics

Bioinformatics finds application in managing the data emanating from research and development in the domain of life science, biopharmaceutical, and biotechnology. Its market has been seeing a steady upswing owing to the increasing usage of IT applications in the domain of healthcare sector to store, process, access, and retrieve data. Besides, the pressing need to treat several diseases effectively alongside the demand for preventive solutions are also having a positive impact on the market. Growing thrust on research and development has been a major catalyst too.

Study of Molecular Medicine and Genetics Augurs Well for Market

Bioinformatics finds usage in preventive medicine, molecular medicine, drug development, and gene therapy. Currently, the molecular medicine is stoking their demand majorly. They also find usage in genetic research for antibiotic resistance, veterinary science, and microbes. All these are decidedly impacting their market positively.

Elaborates the lead analyst of our report, The growth in the worldwide market for bioinformatics market is being propped up by the solid progress in the study of genetics. As per estimates, the volume of genetic data entries would rise twofold every 15 years. And with the total amount of generated data being too large to be supported by the present data entry programs, savvy companies are seen resorting to more advanced models of bioinformatics.

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Key Players Train Sights on Asia Pacific

At present, developed geographies of Europe and North America are where most of the development in the bioinformatics has occurred. This is because of the huge amounts allocated for research and development and swifter deployment of newest technologies. However, key players have also set their gaze upon Asia Pacific with its fast developing infrastructure in scientific fields, the improvements in government and private funding, and the rising literacy and awareness rates.

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Bioinformatics Market Analysis and Forecast up to 2020 - News Cast Report

KEY POINTS

Arthritis is a catch-all term for a series of painful conditions that cause tenderness and swelling of one or more joints.Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis are two of the most common types of arthritis.

The Joints Affected

Osteoarthritis usually affects the knees, spine, hips, and hands. Rheumatoid arthritis, on the other hand, oftentimes affects the wrists, hands, and feet.

While there is no cure for this painful condition, there are some lifestyle interventions that have been proven to alleviate the symptoms. Among these is consuming a well-known Christmas treat. gingerbread treatment for arthritis Photo: NickyPe - Pixabay

A Delicious Treatment

A key ingredient of the gingerbread man can help alleviate arthritis symptoms. Several studies have shown ginger extract helps a lot in alleviating joint pains caused by arthritis.

One prominent research revealed that ginger extract has the same efficacy as ibuprofen in the first treatment period. Another study also found that Echinacea and ginger supplements can reduce pain and inflammation after knee surgery. Echinacea is a well-known herb that is often taken to treat colds and flu.Researchers also discovered that highly concentrated doses of ginger extracts are very effective for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee.

The Study

The research involved volunteers who are experiencing moderate-to-severe knee pain. After taking ginger extracts, the volunteers said they felt lesser pain in their knees upon standing and after walking.

An animal study also revealed ginger could help relieve joint pains caused by rheumatoid arthritis. The findings of the researchers were further strengthened by another research which found ginger to be very effective in relieving human muscle pain due to an exercise-induced injury.

Volunteers who ingested at least two grams of raw or heated ginger reported the pain they felt somewhat lessened. The inflammation was also reduced. The volunteers applied ginger extract three times a day for twelve weeks, and during this time, they report having reduced levels of pain.

Researchers say that, while raw and heated gingers are equally helpful in alleviating joint pains, heat-treated ginger is believed to have a stronger effect. The studys findings also suggest applying a ginger-laced gel or cream directly to the affected area can also alleviate the painful symptoms.In many studies, researchers say ginger extracts can greatly improve osteoarthritis in the knees when it is applied topically.

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Relieve Joint Pains Caused By Arthritis This Christmas By Having This Treat - International Business Times

Oregon State University research has provided the first complete, cellular-level look at whats going on in joints afflicted by osteoarthritis, a debilitating and costly condition that affects nearly one-quarter of adults in the United States.

The study, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, opens the door to better understanding how interventions such as diet, drugs and exercise affect a joints cells, which is important because cells do the work of developing, maintaining and repairing tissue.

Research by the OSU College of Engineerings Brian Bay and scientists from the Royal Veterinary College in London and University College London developed a sophisticated scanning technique to view the loaded joints of arthritic and healthy mice loaded means under strain, such as an ankle, knee or elbow would be while running, walking, throwing, etc.

Imaging techniques for quantifying changes in arthritic joints have been constrained by a number of factors, said Bay, associate professor of mechanical engineering. Restrictions on sample size and the length of scanning time are two of them, and the level of radiation used in some of the techniques ultimately damages or destroys the samples being scanned. Nanoscale resolution of intact, loaded joints had been considered unattainable.

Bay and a collaboration that also included scientists from 3Dmagination Ltd (UK), Edinburgh Napier University, the University of Manchester, the Research Complex at Harwell and the Diamond Light Source developed a way to conduct nanoscale imaging of complete bones and whole joints under precisely controlled loads.

To do that, they had to enhance resolution without compromising the field of view; reduce total radiation exposure to preserve tissue mechanics; and prevent movement during scanning.

With low-dose pink-beam synchrotron X-ray tomography, and mechanical loading with nanometric precision, we could simultaneously measure the structural organization and functional response of the tissues, Bay said. That means we can look at joints from the tissue layers down to the cellular level, with a large field of view and high resolution, without having to cut out samples.

Two features of the study make it particularly helpful in advancing the study of osteoarthritis, he said.

Using intact bones and joints means all of the functional aspects of the complex tissue layering are preserved, Bay said. And the small size of the mouse bones leads to imaging that is on the scale of the cells that develop, maintain and repair the tissues.

Osteoarthritis, the degeneration of joints, affects more than 50 million American adults, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Women are affected at nearly a 25 percent rate, while 18 percent of men suffer from osteoarthritis.

As baby boomers continue to swell the ranks of the U.S. senior population, the prevalence of arthritis will likely increase in the coming decades, according to the CDC.

The CDC forecasts that by 2040 there will be 78 million arthritis patients, more than one-quarter of the projected total adult population; two-thirds of those with arthritis are expected to be women. Also by 2040, more than 34 million adults in the U.S. will have activity limitations due to arthritis.

Osteoarthritis will affect most of us during our lifetimes, many to the point where a knee joint or hip joint requires replacement with a costly and difficult surgery after enduring years of disability and pain, Bay said. Damage to the cartilage surfaces is associated with failure of the joint, but that damage only becomes obvious very late in the disease process, and cartilage is just the outermost layer in a complex assembly of tissues that lie deep below the surface.

Those deep tissue layers are where early changes occur as osteoarthritis develops, he said, but their basic biomechanical function and the significance of the changes are not well understood.

That has greatly hampered knowing the basic disease process and the evaluation of potential therapies to interrupt the long, uncomfortable path to joint replacement, Bay said.

Bay first demonstrated the tissue strain measurement technique 20 years ago, and it is growing in prominence as imaging has improved. Related work is being conducted for intervertebral discs and other tissues with high rates of degeneration.

This study for the first time connects measures of tissue mechanics and the arrangement of the tissues themselves at the cellular level, Bay said. This is a significant advance as methods for interrupting the osteoarthritis process will likely involve controlling cellular activity. Its a breakthrough in linking the clinical problem of joint failure with the most basic biological mechanisms involved in maintaining joint health."

The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, Arthritis Research UK, the Medical Research Council, and the Diamond-Manchester Branchline at Diamond Light Source supported this research.

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To Your Health: Study paves way to better understanding, treatment of arthritis - The Chief News

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-12th District) voted in favor of H.R. 3, the Elijah E. Cummings Lower Drugs Costs Now Act. This landmark legislation will give Medicare the power to negotiate directly with the drug companies to lower the cost of prescription drugs for Medicare beneficiaries and Michiganders with private insurance.

Too many hardworking men and women face the terrifying high costs for prescription drugs and seniors dont have coverage for dental, vision, or hearing services, said Dingell. The House is delivering on the first step to lower prescription drug prices for the people. Since coming to Congress, I have led the fight to get Medicare to cover hearing aids and service. The eyes, ears, and teeth are just as much a part of healthcare. This bill invests savings from prescription drugs right back into expanding Medicare benefits to include dental, vision, and hearing.

Making hearing aids more affordable has been a priority for Dingell since coming to Congress. The first bill she ever introduced was the Medicare Hearing Aid Coverage Act to cover hearing aids for beneficiaries. Similar legislation passed the Energy and Commerce Committee this fall.

Right now, drug prices in the US are nearly four times higher than the combined average of 11 other similar countries, and Americans pay as much as 67 times more than consumers in other nations for prescription drugs.

Through allowing Medicare to directly negotiate the cost of prescription drugs, H.R. 3 will save patients and seniors $120 billion, and reinvest have a trillion dollars in expanding Medicare benefits to cover dental, vision, and hearing services, programs to address the opioid crisis, and research for new cures and treatments.

Diabetes About 9.8 percent of Michigan 864,882 people - are living with diabetes. For the most commonly used insulin medications, Michigan residents spend anywhere from $1,200 to $20,000 annually.

Under H.R. 3, Michigan residents could spend 3.5 times less on insulin. H.R. 3 can lower the average total cost of the insulin NovoLOG Flexpen by 76% from about $19,800 to $4,800 per year. Under H.R. 3, some commonly used insulins can cost as little as $400 per year.

Arthritis - 27 percent of Michigan residents have arthritis, 30.5% of whom experience severe joint pain because of it. H.R. 3 can lower their total costs on most arthritis drugs from about $40,000 to $10,000 per year.

Asthma About 10.8 percent or 310,955 Michigan residents live with asthma. H.R. 3 can lower their total costs on most asthma drugs from about $1,400 to $270 per year.

HIV/AIDS In 2015, 777 Michigan residents were diagnosed with HIV. H.R. 3 can lower their total costs on most HIV drugs from about $15,000 to $6,000 per year.

Give Medicare the power to negotiate directly with the drug companies to bring down prices and create powerful new tools to force drug companies to the table to agree to real price reductions.

Make the lower drug prices negotiated by Medicare available to Americans with private insurance too, not just those on Medicare.

Stop drug companies ripping off Americans while charging other countries less for the same drugs by limiting the maximum price for any negotiated drug.

Create a new $2,000 out-of-pocket limit on prescription drug costs for people on Medicare.

Save taxpayers approximately $500 billion over the next ten years and reinvest that savings

Save American households $120 billion.

Save private businesses more than $40 billion.

Save taxpayers approximately $500 billion and reinvests that savings to expand benefits.

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Dingell votes in favor of legislation to drastically lower the cost of prescription drugs - Dearborn Press and Guide

DEAR DR. ROACH: Are you aware of the possibility of pancreatitis resulting from long-term vitamin D2 supplementation? I was diagnosed with IPMN with chronic pancreatitis after being on 50,000 IU of vitamin D2 once a week for nine months. I had mild upper left quadrant pain, which I am told is quite unusual for pancreatic cysts. After doing some research, I decided to decrease and then stop the D2. As I did, cyst sizes and tumor markers both decreased. In addition, the pain resolved. I was fortunate enough to detect the connection, but have not had any interest from medical practitioners about looking into the possible link here. J.D.

ANSWER: This is a complex issue, and it starts with your IPMN, which stands for intraductal papillary mucinous neoplasms of the pancreas. These are tumors of the pancreas that are at risk for becoming cancerous.

The size is the biggest predictor of malignancy, so your doctors are likely monitoring the size of your tumors. Those less than 2 cm in size are at low risk for malignancy. Malignant and cancerous are synonymous terms, but the boundary between benign tumors and malignant ones is not as sharp a line as we used to think.

These cystic tumors are filled with mucin and can block the main pancreatic duct or a side pancreatic duct, through which the pancreatic enzymes that help to digest food flow into the small intestine. Insulin is also produced by the pancreas, but it is transported to the body through the splenic vein into the liver rather than the ducts into the intestine. Blockage of the ducts causes ductal dilation behind the obstruction. For the subset in whom the pancreatic ducts get blocked, IPMN can also cause inflammation of the pancreas, called pancreatitis.

Scientists observed that vitamin D levels D2 and D3, the usual kind we supplement are low in people with any kind of pancreatitis, but vitamin D treatment often made the pancreatitis worse. This seeming paradox was resolved when it was further found that the inflammatory cells in the inflamed pancreas were making the active form of vitamin D (1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D), and high levels of this active D vitamin were increasing calcium levels. The increase made pancreatitis worse. The low levels of circulating vitamin D2 and D3 are part of the bodys response to the elevated 1,25-dihydroxy vitamin D. Vitamin D supplementation is thus not usually done in pancreatitis since it can make it worse.

With the lessening of inflammation because you stopped the D2, its possible the cysts decreased in size and the ducts were able to go back toward normal, relieving inflammation in your case of IPMN.

DEAR DR. ROACH: I have just been diagnosed with a Bakers cyst behind my knee but received little information about it. Can you please tell me causes and cures? D.O.

ANSWER: A Bakers cyst is a common problem. It is a fluid collection behind the knee. In adults, these are usually due to increased joint fluid (from arthritis, a meniscal tear or trauma) communicating with the back of the knee through a one-way valve.

They are treated by addressing the underlying problem; for instance, anti-inflammatories and moderate exercise for arthritis. In addition, an injection of an anti-inflammatory into the joint space is usually successful in relieving symptoms. If a person is resistant to these treatments, an orthopedic surgeon has particular expertise in managing these.

Dr. Roach regrets that he is unable to answer individual letters, but will incorporate them in the column whenever possible. Readers may email questions to ToYourGoodHealth@med.cornell.edu or send mail to 628 Virginia Dr., Orlando, FL 32803.

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Vitamin D's odd connection with pancreas inflammation - Marshall News Messenger

Lifestyle Desk, , Updated Mon, 30 Dec 2019 09:27 AM IST

Uric acid is an rising drawback over time. Due to extend of this acid within the physique, an individual will get arthritis drawback. Arthritis causes swelling within the joints, inflicting insufferable ache. The impact of this ache begins displaying slowly on well being as nicely. Explain that the formation of uric acid within the physique is because of weak metabolism. Uric acid works by damaging blood cells. But yoga is one means which may eliminate this drawback. Today were telling you Three such yogasanas with the assistance of which youll management uric acid.

Abigale is a Masters in Business Administration by education. After completing her post-graduation, Abigale jumped the journalism bandwagon as a freelance journalist. Soon after that she landed a job of reporter and has been climbing the news industry ladder ever since to reach the post of editor at Our Bitcoin News.

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High Uric Acid Causes Arthritis And Joint Pain Yoga For Control - By controlling uric acid, these 3 Yogasanas will relieve joint ache, common follow -...

Tripterygium wilfordii, popularly known as thunder god vine root is primarily used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in traditional Chinese medicine. The side effects of Trpterygium wilfordi are relatively low and hence it makes an attractive option for arthritis patients to improve their quality of life. Apart from an herbal approach in arthritis the Tripterygium wilfordii root is claimed to have antifertility, antiviral, and antitumor activities although not enough clinical evidence is available to support the claims.

This root extract is gaining significant acceptance among the arthritis patients due to its herbal nature and increasing consumers trust on herbal medicines. The regulatory aspects of herbal medicines favor the growth of herbal products market in USA, India, China and many European countries. This is expected to fuel the market growth of herbal products including Tripterygium wilfordii in the forecast period.

Tripterygium wilfordii Extract MarketSegmentation

The Tripterygium wilfordii root extract is segmented on the basis of dosage form, distribution channel and region. Tripterygium wilfordii is segmented on the bases of dosage form as tablets, capsules and powder. Originally available in powder form only, the benefits of Tripterygium wilfordii has created a costumer side demand and hence formulations of different kind have been developed and the shift in consumer trust towards herbal medicines is expected to drive the Tripterygium wilfordii market during the forecast period.

On the basis of distribution channel the Tripterygium wilfordii root extract market is segmented as retail, online retail, herbal specialty store and supermarket. With the increasing internet penetration in developing countries, the online sales of herbal supplements has also gained momentum and is expected at grow at a significant rate.

On the basis of region the Tripterygium wilfordii extract can be segmented into the following key regions; Western Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, Middle East and Africa. The Western European region, with its high expenditure on herbal medicine research is expected to drive the Tripterygium wilfordii market. The North American region has registered an ever increasing demand and acceptance in herbal products which is expected to further grow, contributing to a major factor for growth in the region. The Asia pacific region being the origin in use of Tripterygium wilfordii is also expected to see a steady increase in the market growth due to the a large populations belief in traditional remedie

Tripterygium wilfordii Extract Global Market Trends and Market Drivers:

The trends in use of traditional or herbal medicines is different for different regions, for example manufacturers do not need to register their products with FDA in US or get an approval, these are sold as dietary supplements. For this reason a large number of herbal products are flooding the American market and gaining high acceptance among masses.

The increased focus in innovation in herbal products in Western Europe is generating supply side demand and countries like Germany and France are spending high amounts on research. This is expected to act as a driving tool for the growth of the herbal product market including Tripterygium wilfordii root extract.

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In Indian regulatory system the marketing and sales of herbal products are furthermore liberal, herbal products are established products being used from a long time hence there is no safety study required for established products. This is expected to catalyze the growth of Tripterygium wilfordii root extract market.

The Tripterygium wilfordii root market is of great potential due to the above limited regulations and the high amount of faith in people for the use of herbal products. The unavailability of herbal practitioners and high concentration of the practitioners in certain regions is expected to be a major restrain in Tripterygium wilfordii root market.

Tripterygium wilfordii Extract Market Key Players:

The Tripterygium wilfordii powder from Asia Pacific constitutes for a major market share and hence some of the key prayers are also concentrated in these areas. Some of the key global players include; Shaanxi Jintai Biological Engineering Co., Ltd., Xian Hao-Xuan Bio-Tech Co., Ltd., Hunan Jin Kang Biotechnology Co., Ltd., Stanford Chemicals Co. Organic Herb Inc. among others.

This post was originally published on Market Research Sheets

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Tripterygium wilfordii Extract Market : Macroeconomic Factors to Create Positive Impact on the Industry Growth and its Potential - Market Research...

OBJECTIVES:

We aimed to assess the safety and efficacy of tocilizumab as monotherapy or in combination with methotrexate in a routine clinical practice setting in Tunisian patients with RA who did not respond to conventional treatment with disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (DMARDs-IR).

A total of 51 DMARDs-IR adult patients with moderate to severe RA participated in a phase IIIb, open-label clinical trial. Patients received 8 mg/kg of tocilizumab every 4 weeks in combination with a DMARD or as monotherapy during 24 weeks. The study was extended to 24 other weeks for those who had at least a moderate response at the end of the initial phase. Safety and efficacy of tocilizumab were analysed.

Four patients discontinued treatment prematurely due to an adverse event. The most common AEs were hypercholesterolemia (18 cases), increased triglycerides (17 cases), increased transaminases (15 cases), rash (14 cases), neutropenia (7 cases), digestive disorders (3 cases) and respiratory disorders (3 cases). After 52 weeks, 90.5% of patients responded to treatment. At the end of the study, 61.9% of the patients had a mild RA and almost 50% of patients were in remission. Overall, 29.2, 6.3 and 4.3% of patients achieved ACR20, ACR50 and ACR70 responses, respectively. Additionally, the study showed a significant improvement in all individual parameters of ACR core data.

Treatment with tocilizumab was well tolerated and showed a fast and sustained efficacy in Tunisian patients with moderate to severe active RA who had an inadequate response to DMARDs.Key Points Up to 40% of RA patients remain inadequate responders to a prior csDMARD or a tumour necrosis factor inhibitor (TNFi) biological agent. A non-TNF biological agent like tocilizumab with or without methotrexate is recommended in those patients. In this study, tocilizumab treatment improved the number of responders, the number of patients in remission, and the evolution of disease activity. The meaningful clinical improvement seen denotes a rapid and sustained response to treatment. Tocilizumab presented a favourable safety profile with few withdrawals due to AEs, consistently with what was observed in other trials. This study provides new information about the safety and efficacy of tocilizumab in a patient population resembling that expected in clinical practice among the Tunisian population.

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Safety and Efficacy of Tocilizumab as Monotherapy or in Combination with Methotrexate in Tunisian Patients with Active Rheumatoid Arthritis and...

Everyone in the Angus business brags about the Angus cow. No matter what environment you put her in she will adapt and thrive.

This year, we attended a Montana Angus Association tour of the Certified Angus Beef headquarters in Wooster, OH, and the National Angus convention, Reno, NV. We feel it is important to stay informed about changes in our industry and the quality end product we are providing to the consumer. We were especially impressed with the standards that are met with Certified Angus Beef.

Bar JV Angus has always been a family run operation. There are currently three generations collaborating at the ranch; Jim and Loretta Vitt, Dale and Jill Vitt and Cody and Sierra Vitt. We currently run 325 registered cows and 160 commercial cows. In its 44 years as a registered Angus business, Bar JV has continued to produce a product that will provide quality and increase profitability for their customers.

At Bar JV Angus we remain focused on developing a solid foundation of quality Angus genetics. Our mission is to remain focused on what is important to a commercial operation: low maintenance cows with longevity that produce pounds at weaning. Breeding elite Angus females who produce high performance bulls for the profitability of commercial cattlemen is the ultimate goal.

While the American Angus Association has provided us with a great set of selection tools, there are traits that we require beyond EPDs. Structural soundness, good feet and udders are fundamental and essential for longevity. Disposition and maternal instincts are also absolutely necessary. Also breeding bone into our cattle to enable them to handle the amount of growth that is found in today's genetics. Another thing we look for is a long neck and smooth shoulders, which ensures calving ease. We consider calving ease to be bred into our cow herd.

Dale and Jill Vitt. (Submitted photo)

They also believe that cows should be able to take care of themselves; allowing them to graze until the weather forces them to feed. In the winter season, alfalfa and grass hay are fed along with beet pulp and corn silage. Calving begins the first week of March at Bar JV, allowing most of the herd to calve out in the pasture unassisted.

Bar JV Angus' annual production sale will be held Tuesday, March 24 in the sale barn at the ranch. We will be selling 100 bulls and 180 commercial heifers. Bar JV invites you to join us on sale day. Visitors are always welcome to come by the ranch to view the bulls, heifers or the cows. We would love to show you our operation. We are always happy to discuss any questions you may have and assist in finding you the right bulls or heifers to match your needs.

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Bar JV Angus Sale To Be Held On March 24 - The Roundup

It was quite a year for the Jews of the Bay Area. From TV shows to Barbie Death Camp to white supremacists to racial diversity in the Jewish community, here are the 10 stories our online readers clicked on the most in 2019.

It was a big year for Israeli TV in America. One show in particular, Shtisel, became an unlikely crossover hit among American viewers when the 2013-2016 series about the travails of a haredi family in Jerusalem hit Netflix late last year. As our TV reviewer Esther D. Kustanowitz wrote in January, there are some universal themes about family, community and change that kept mainstream audiences fascinated by the show:

In September, we brought you perhaps the strangest piece of news we covered this year: the curious case of Burning Mans Barbie Death Camp display. Heres how reporter Gabe Stutman described it: A sea of nude Barbies is seen moving toward three full-size kitchen ovens. Some are crucified on bright pink crosses. Other photos show toy soldiers with semi-automatic rifles marching the Barbies from the rear. A banner strapped to an RV proclaims the Barbie Death Camp the friendliest concentration camp at Burning Man. Another reads arbeit macht plastik frei, a reference to the message over the Auschwitz gate meaning work makes you free.

Some might say its the least Jewish story we wrote this year, but I beg to differ. My visit to the recently remodeled Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Temple in Oakland was a personal highlight of the year. It was the first time it had been open to the public in over 50 years, and the visit did not disappoint. As I wrote at the time: I was there out of my love of religious architecture and because Id heard that [Mormon temples] include architectural references to the Mishkan (the portable sanctuary used by the Israelites as they wandered in the desert), as well as the ancient Temples that stood on Jerusalems Temple Mount.

No one article about him truly topped the list, but weve been covering the story since the 24-year-old Concord man was arrested in June and accused of plotting online to shoot Jews. Police found a weapons cache and Nazi literature in his home. He has been in and out of court and jail since then. Last month, a federal charge was added: In 2017, he falsified an application to join the Army by lying about his mental health history, according to the FBI. His bail has been revoked and he remains in custody as his case progresses.

This profile of iconoclastic billionaire Craig Newmark, founder of Craigslist, was the first in-depth interview he has given about his Jewish upbringing and values. More and more Im conscious of the notion of treating people like I want to be treated, and more and more Im conscious of the notion that I got lucky financially and I should share that in ways that mean something, he told our late colleague Rob Gloster in April.

The 2018 Portrait of Bay Area Jewish Life and Communities revealed that one-quarter of local Jewish households include at least one person of color. In our Jan. 25 editorial, we wrote: Its time we acknowledge not only the tendency to make Jews the other in broader society, but the equally pernicious tendency to other Jews of color right here within our own community. Our cover story is replete with stories from Jews of color being stared at or questioned when they show up in synagogue, and being passed over for leadership positions. But we also highlighted ways in which the situation is changing for the better.

Remember this years middling Netflix film The Red Sea Diving Resort, based on the secret Israeli plan to extract Ethiopian Jews through Sudan in the early 80s? Yeah, theres no reason you should. Much more interesting is the real-life story of one of the Israeli naval commandos who took part in the operation. Nir Merry lives in Mountain View today, and as he told editorial assistant Gabriel Greschler, during the operation he spent nights picking up Ethiopian Jews who had hiked for days, sometimes weeks, to reach the rendezvous point. He recalled avoiding armed Sudanese patrols on the coastline and ferrying the refugees to a disguised Israeli Navy ship in the Red Sea. We were tired but really excited, Merry said. I remember picking [up] an [Ethiopian] lady and you could hear little squeaks. And I realized it was a baby tucked in her dress close to her body.

Just last week, Adam Eilath, head of school at Ronald C. Wornick Jewish Day School in Foster City, registered his dismay at the Hanukkah-themed episode of the Disney series Elena of Avalor. In his opinion piece he wrote, As a Sephardic Jew raising two small daughters in an American Jewish community whose default is almost always Ashkenazi. I was excited that the episode would feature Princess Rebekah from a Latino (Ladino) Jewish kingdom. But, he continued, As usual, the only way that Sephardic culture gets represented in this episode is by incorporating Sephardic food.

This story was part of a three-part series on the rise of home genetic testing and the ease of doing genealogical research from the comfort of your home computer. One woman we spoke with grew up Catholic, but found out that she was 50% Asheknazi Jewish from a 23andMe home genetic test. But, as reporter Maya Mirsky asks, what does that really mean? The question itself is a new wrinkle in the age-old debate of just what it means to be Jewish, which has been given a kick in the pants from the commercialization of a field of science that says it can tell you something new: For a price, you can now choose from one of seven commercial genetic tests to find out just how Jewish you are.

In October we reported on a Nazi flag seen hanging inside a state parole office in Sacramento. How did it get there? And why was it hanging in a government building? The California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation told us in an email that they have a zero tolerance policy for the display of objects that are derogatory in nature, but they pointed out that their officers deal with gang members and high-risk sex offenders, [so] we will come into contact with items that may be considered objectionable. However, the email continued, We take this issue seriously and have removed the item and are looking into the circumstances for why the flag was displayed in potential view of the public. No word yet on what they found out.

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Our 10 most read stories of 2019: genetics, TV, 'Barbie Death Camp' and more - The Jewish News of Northern California

A Chinese court sentenced biomedical scientist He Jiankui and two accomplices to prison on Monday for illegal medical practice for genetically engineering three babies.

In November 2018, He announced the birth of the first two children, twin girls named Lulu and Nana, as well as the pregnancy of a second woman carrying a genetically engineered fetus. The news created a scientific firestorm, with human genetic engineering experiments widely viewed as dangerous and unethical by scientific organizations worldwide. The third baby has now been born, according to reporting from Chinas state news agency.

The genetic engineering team fabricated an ethics review of their experiment, according to the Nanshan District People's Court of Shenzhen City ruling. They used the faked permissions to recruit couples living with HIV in hopes of helping them to conceive children genetically engineered to receive a mutation giving them immunity to some forms of the disease.

He, formerly a biomedical scientist at the Southern University of Science and Technology in Shenzen, received a prison sentence of three years and a fine equivalent to $480,000. His associates, Zhang Renli and Qin Jinzhou, received jail terms of two years and 18 months with a two-year reprieve, according to the ruling, for practicing medicine without a license and violating Chinese regulations governing assisted reproduction.

The prison sentence and stiff financial penalty sends a message to other Chinese scientists that unsanctioned efforts at human germline editing will not be tolerated, University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine researcher Kiran Musunuru told BuzzFeed News, by email. I expect that it will have a deterrent effect, certainly in China and possibly elsewhere.

At an October conference, Musunuru had reported that a draft study submitted to a scientific journal about the twins by Hes team suggested that the genetic engineering attempt had badly misfired, targeting the wrong location for the mutation and potentially seeding other mutations throughout the DNA of the children.

Science academies worldwide formed an oversight commission in March, following widespread condemnation of the experiments.

The court ruling found the three sentenced scientists acted "in the pursuit of personal fame and gain" and have seriously "disrupted medical order, according to Chinese state media.

More:
The Chinese Scientist Who Made The First Genetically Engineered Babies Is Going To Prison - BuzzFeed News

(KARK) An Arkansas infant born with a life-threatening genetic disorder has received a multi-million dollar treatment that could save her.

Its also a big milestone since shes the first baby in the state that had the pricey one-time injection paid for by insurance.

When Josephine Gilmore was 4-months-old, doctors found she was born with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, also known as SMA. Its a rare genetic disorder that causes a persons nerves to start dying before theyre born.

How could I let this happen to my kid? Why didnt I see the signs? But you dont know, says Josephines mom Casey Gilmore. Theres not enough education about SMA and how horrible of a disease it is.

The earlier doctors detect the disorder, the better the outcome. Unfortunately many times SMA is not found until a child is a few months old, and that can be too late.

At 6 months nearly 90 percent of the motor neurons in a childs body are dead, Gilmore explains.

There is a gene therapy drug that can help reverse the effects of SMA. Its a one time injection that costs around $2.1 million. Doctors call it life-saving.

Read more:http://bit.ly/35UVgCo

The rest is here:
Infant with life-threatening genetic disorder receives $2.1M injection - KVOA Tucson News

What Can Genes Tell Me About My Cancer Risk?

Before pursuing any kind of genetic testing, it is important to understand that the majority of cancers are not the direct result of genes passed down from your parents. Inherited gene changes sometimes called mutations or variants contribute to somewhere between 5 and 10 percent of all cancers. For that reason, genetic testing and counseling is typically recommended only for people who have had certain types of inherited cancer or who have histories of cancer within their family.

Genetic testing allows healthcare providers to look for inherited gene mutations associated with increased cancer risk, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 gene changes that have a clear tie to breast and ovarian cancer. For example, women in the general population have roughly a 12 percent chance of developing breast cancer in their lifetime; for women with BRCA mutations, it is closer to 70 percent, according to the NCI. Understanding that risk can help a woman and her healthcare providers plan prevention strategies.

RELATED: My Genetic Test Came Back BRCA Positive. Now What?

Medical-grade genetic cancer testing is typically ordered by your doctor or a specialist, such as a genetic counselor. The tests are noninvasive and typically use a blood or saliva sample.

"Medical-grade testing is developed and approved to answer medical questions [such as]: 'Do I carry a mutation in one of these hereditary cancer genes?'" says Ellen Matloff, the president and CEO of My Gene Counsel, a company that helps clients better understand their genetic testing results, and the former director of the cancer genetic counseling program at Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut. "At-home testing kits are for entertainment and are not developed, or approved, to answer medical questions."

There are several reasons for that. Medical-grade testing is far more thorough, Matloff says. For example, medical-grade testing for BRCA gene mutations analyzes thousands of gene variant options, whereas one leading at-home kit considers just three.

There are also differences in accuracy. A study published in March 2018 in the journal Genetics in Medicine found that 40 percent of gene variants reported in direct-to-consumer tests were false positives and that some of the variants companies told users meant they were at increased risk for certain health conditions are actually considered common gene variants by clinical labs.

An unpublishedstudy presented in October 2019 by Invitae, a medical-grade genetic testing company, found that an individual's ethnicity may have a significant impact on whether their at-home test results are accurate. MUTYH gene mutations, for example, would have been missed in 100 percent of Asian and 75 percent of African American test takers, but only 33 percent of Caucasian individuals.

"Medical-grade testing uses laboratory techniques and validation methods not used by most at-home testing kits," Matloff explains. "So those results are generally more accurate."

Health insurance plans will often cover genetic testing which can cost thousands of dollars but not always, according to the U.S. National Library of Medicine and Breastcancer.org. Direct-to-consumer genetic cancer risk tests tend to be less expensive, so they can be a good starting point for people who are worried about their family history and who do not want to spend too much.

"There are some at-home genetic cancer testing kits that are good, reasonably priced, and convenient for people who do not meet insurance criteria for coverage of traditional medical-grade testing and prefer to pay out of pocket and have the test delivered to their house," Matloff says.

But it is important to remember that everyone from the American Cancer Society to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) caution that the tests may provide incomplete or inaccurate information, and urge individuals to talk to their doctors before making any health-related decisions on the basis of those tests.

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What to Know Before You Buy an At-Home Genetic Cancer Risk Test - Everyday Health

NEW YORK, Dec. 30, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --

The Asia Pacific prenatal and newborn genetic testing market is expected to reach US$ 1,679.956 Mn in 2027 from US$ 630.914 in 2018. The market is estimated to grow with a CAGR of 11.6% from 2019-2027.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05833588/?utm_source=PRN

The key factors responsible for the growth of the market in Asia Pacific are rising burden of genetic diseases among infants, increasing fertility rates and developing healthcare scenario with rising awareness among populace regarding the benefits of prenatal testing.On the other hand, use of digital microfluidics in newborn testing is likely to be a prevalent trend in the future years.

Soaring birth rates among developing economies are responsible for fueling global baby boom.However, the rising birth rate also contributes to rising birth defects and infants suffering from several genetic diseases.

According to a report published by Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation in 2018, there are almost 250 babies born every minute around the globe. Moreover, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the fertility rates for Hispanic women was highest in 2017 among Hispanic women with 67.1 births per 1,000 women.Asian countries such as India and China also have high fertility rates due to factors such as effects of religion, inadequate supply of family welfare services, poverty, and others. According to the World Bank in 2016, the fertility rates in India were reported to be 2.23 births per women as compared to 1.80 in the United States and 1.62 in China. Moreover, neighboring countries, such as Pakistan also have alarming rates of fertility. In 2016, the birth rate in Pakistan was reported to be 3.48 births per woman as per the World Bank data. However, the birthrate in India has successfully reduced its high fertility rate, but still is high as compared to other developed nations. According to the United Nations (UN) report published on June 2019, the fertility rate has reduced to 2.1. Therefore, by 2050 additional 273 million people will be added to India's population. The increasing number of parturient women across the world are thus likely to create increasing demand for prenatal and newborn genetic tests across the globe leading to the growth of the market.The Asia Pacific prenatal and newborn genetic testing market, based on the disease indication was segmented into cystic fibrosis, sickle cell anemia, downs syndrome, phenylketonuria, recurrent pregnancy loss, and Antiphospholipid syndrome, and other diseases.In 2018, Down syndrome segment held the largest share of the market, by disease indication.

The highest share of Down syndrome attributes to the high prevalence of this genetic abnormality among fetuses and availability of multiple tests for its screening and diagnostics. However, the sickle cell anemia segment is expected to grow at the fastest rate during the coming year.Some of the major primary and secondary sources for prenatal and newborn genetic testing included in the report are Food & Drug Administration (FDA), Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), International Trade Administration (ITA), Japan Society of Obstetrics and Gynecology (JSOG), Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (cSIR), Pakistan Down Syndrome Association (PDSA) and others.

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05833588/?utm_source=PRN

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The Asia Pacific prenatal and newborn genetic testing market is expected to reach US$ 1,679.956 Mn in 2027 from US$ 630.914 in 2018 - PRNewswire

Genetic mutations take place deep inside our DNA and can be challenging to identify, let alone treat. Scientists hope that a new deep learning approach will help doctors better combat these disease-causing mutations.

Thanks to their data-crunching abilities, deep learning and A.I. have become increasingly important medical tools in recent years. These models are able to digest and make use of reams of medical data created by the human body by learning patterns from a test data-set and applying those rules to new, incoming data. Far from replacing a physician, these medical machines simply help physicians make connections quicker and more accurately.

While previous deep learning approaches have found success in predicting harmful mutations in the human genome, this new approach is the first to target metal-binding sites of proteins.

The study was published this December in the journal Nature Machine Intelligence and used something called a multichannel convolutional neural network (MCNN) to better understand what kinds of mutations affect disease development. Because metal ions play key structural and physiological roles in the human body, the team focused specifically on the regulation of different metallic nutrients in proteins, something called metalloproteins.

The studys lead author, Hongzhe Sun, a professor and chemistry chair at the University of Hong Kong, said in a statement that this approach can make use of data the team has already collected.

Machine learning and AI play important roles in the current biological and chemical science, said Sun. In my group we worked on metals in biology and medicine using integrative omics approach including metallomics and metalloproteomics, and we already produced a large amount of valuable data using in vivo/vitro experiments. We now develop an artificial intelligence approach based on deep learning to turn these raw data to valuable knowledge, leading to uncover secrets behind the diseases and to fight with them. I believe this novel deep learning approach can be used in other projects, which is undergoing in our laboratory.

But, before bringing in the A.I., the team first had to analyze data collected from these metalloproteins. They found that mutations in different metal ions, usually caused by a change in size or hydrophilic-ness, affected the development of different diseases. For example, zinc-binding site mutations appeared to play a major role in breast, liver, kidney, immune system and prostate diseases while mutations in calcium- and magnesium-binding sites were associated with muscular and immune system diseases. Due to data availability, the research focused on these three metal types.

From there the researchers broke their data into 80 percent training data for the MCNN to learn from and 20 percent testing data to determine how well the MCNN could apply its new knowledge to novel situations. In order to gain useful knowledge from the data sets, the team extracted both spatial and sequential features from the data and fed that to the MCNN.

Using this data the MCNN was able to identify two disease-causing mutations that a previous similar study, PolyPhen-2, had only marked as benign. These mutations were connected to a variety of cancers as well as a rare genetic disorder called JohansonBlizzard syndrome. Apart from these two novel discoveries, the team also found that the MCNN was able to correctly identify disease-causing mutations 82 percent of the time.

In addition to being a useful tool to help researchers make sense of genetic data and to better tackle disease-causing mutations, the research team also hopes that their approach could be used to develop new drugs as well by predicting the binding affinity of small molecules and proteins.

Abstract:

Metalloproteins play important roles in many biological processes. Mutations at the metal-binding sites may functionally disrupt metalloproteins, initiating severe diseases; however, there seemed to be no effective approach to predict such mutations until now. Here we develop a deep learning approach to successfully predict disease-associated mutations that occur at the metal-binding sites of metalloproteins. We generate energy-based affinity grid maps and physiochemical features of the metal-binding pockets (obtained from different databases as spatial and sequential features) and subsequently implement these features into a multichannel convolutional neural network. After training the model, the multichannel convolutional neural network can successfully predict disease-associated mutations that occur at the first and second coordination spheres of zinc-binding sites with an area under the curve of 0.90 and an accuracy of 0.82. Our approach stands for the first deep learning approach for the prediction of disease-associated metal-relevant site mutations in metalloproteins, providing a new platform to tackle human diseases.

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Scientists are using A.I. to unlock humanity's most mysterious mutations - Inverse

The days when an inventor sat behind closed doors tinkering with groundbreaking technology are over. Nowadays, scientists from a variety of backgrounds work together to come up with an invention or a product. They also dare to bring it to the market at an ever-increasing rate. By no means are all innovations a success, but one invention is enough to change the world.

Innovation Origins regularly speaks to innovation leaders, trendsetters who are high on the innovation ladder. Steef Blok has the floor today. The director of TU/e Innovation Lab is responsible at Eindhoven University of Technology for valorization. That entails bringing knowledge from the university back to society. He has to deal on a daily basis with technologies that the rest of the world might not become acquainted with until ten years from now. Technology forms the foundation for the growth of prosperity in the Netherlands. Our daily lives are wholly influenced by it, Blok states.

He talks about the impact of technology in the past and its importance for the future: Our ancestors used to spend all day collecting and preparing food. Technology made it possible for food to be produced on a greater scale. As a result, not everyone had to deal with food and people started providing services. This is how the economy as we know it today came into being. Later on, machines began to take over more and more of the heavy work that people had to do, for example on farms. As a result, the economy grew and so did prosperity.

Sticking with that example for a moment, the advent of machines meant that the farms had to continue to grow as well. You cant put a large machine on one hectare of land. More space is needed for that. Besides that, farmers have to produce more in order to recoup the cost of those machines. Thats how mass production came about.

Although Blok believes that this type of mass production is now going to be phased out again with the advent of intelligent systems. We can connect machines through these intelligent systems. This allows us to remotely switch on the heating at home, but it also enables ASMLs machines to communicate with each other. The possibilities are unimaginable. Even for the aforementioned farmers. For example, a Brabant potato farmer flies drones over his land in order to measure the amount of manure and water thats on the land. He only fertilizes the soil that actually needs it. That saves time and money and is also better for the environment. The harvest will be better as a result too.

A potato is still a potato, but this farmer takes care of his land in a tailor-made way. Thanks to smart technologies, the more of the same mentality is a thing of the past. This can have several meanings. As an example, in the future, a machine could make a different product for one customer than for another.

Universities are indispensable when it comes to these kinds of developments. This is where such systems are conceived. Universities are about ten years ahead of the market. But not everything that is designed at a university will survive on the market. Some projects dont even get further developed into a product. If that does happen, it sometimes doesnt yield the results you envisage. Weve come up with inventions that I thought would make the world a better place. And nobody on the market cared.

I heard, for example, that early menopause is one of the main reasons why some women cant have children. Women are already really reduced in their reproductive ability ten years before the onset of menopause. For example, if someone starts menopause prematurely, at around 40 years of age, they would have already had low fertility from the age of 30. The average age at which a woman has a child in The Netherlands is now over 29 years of age. Technology might offer a solution to this problem.

At the university, we designed a diagnostic chip that allows us to detect the gene that can predict a womans early onset of menopause. As a result, women know at an early age whether they will start menopause early, and they can tailor the time when they can begin to have children. The chip costs about 6 million. So it seemed like the ideal solution. Expensive and often unpleasant treatments with hormones and IVF would be used less as a result. But in the end nobody wanted it. Women didnt want to know at all when they were going to go through menopause. Oh well. The world is full of surprises.

Consumers will ultimately use a product. Naturally, they have to want to do that. This is not only true in the field of healthcare, but also in the field of sustainability and circularity. Things are already improving in those areas. For example, we are already using more and more refurbished computers instead of immediately throwing away all our electronics. We are also handling food more carefully. If we dont want to burn waste anymore, but want to re-use everything instead, that should already be taken into account during the production process. In order to achieve this, entire production processes need to change.

Genetic engineering is also one of the topics that we do a lot of research on at the university, but on which public opinion is really divided. Bananas grow in a greenhouse under controlled conditions at the University of Wageningen. This way the plants are no longer affected by disease. This allows for a constant supply of bananas. These plants are genetically manipulated. I wouldnt hesitate for a second to use that on a large scale.

Genetic engineering in humans is also being explored more extensively. Ive worked in the hospital sector. Here Ive seen people suffer from diseases like cancer and Ive seen people die. Suppose theres a child on its way who has a disease or disability. But when you remove one gene, its completely healthy. Id do it. Although genetic manipulation does pose a risk to people. Imagine, for example, that over time youve designed a perfect human being. But thats true for other technologies: Atomic energy isnt bad, but an atomic bomb is. I admit that the engineered human being is a bit scary. But we can t stop technological progress.

Read more here:
How innovation works: 'A perfect human being is the danger that genetic manipulation poses' - Innovation Origins

The 2010s are coming to an end, and looking back there have been some pretty amazing advances and innovations in health and science.

Advances in prosthetic limbs

Prosthetic limbs have been around since ancient times. In Egypt, a prosthetic wooden toe was found on a mummy dating back 3,000 years. By the Dark Ages, inventors could incorporate hinges on prosthetic arms used by knights. In modern times, the field of prosthetics has turned to incorporating more technology into physical stand-ins for limbs. In the last several years, theres been a boom in advances that have led to the best and most useful prosthetics weve ever seen.

Reports from the early 2010s talked about the potential for new technology to allow people to control prosthetics with their minds and to receive sensory information from their devices. It may have been a reach in the early part of the decade, but now it is literally within grasp. There are new prosthetic hands being tested that give the user the ability to grab objects with their thoughts and even to sense the texture of what they are touching. New bionic hands allow the user to feel again by sending signals back to the brain about the things they are touching, like whether its hard or soft. Other research groups have been working on bionic arms that can move based on the users thoughts through a brain-computer interface. While these have demonstrated its possible to accomplish these goals in the lab, theres still more to be done before people can use these devices outside in the real world.

Many of these advanced prosthetics are still prototypes and may not reach the general population for a while. Luckily, cheaper 3D printers have made simple prosthetics more accessible. These are important because a prosthetic device can improve the quality of life for people. For example, this person has been printing prosthetic hands and arms for people in Africa after watching an online tutorial. New materials that go into 3D printers are cheaper than they used to be and are being used in prosthetics to provide a more affordable option for patients.

Although prosthetics have been around for ages in some form or another, they arent always used. One variable to consider is the social acceptance of having a prosthetic. Theres still a lot of stigma around disabilities and many people may reject prosthetics even if they are available. In 2012, an athlete with both feet amputated competed in the mens 400 meter race at the Olympics in London. There was some controversy over whether the runner with a prosthetic foot should be allowed to run in races with people who dont have prosthetics or if they should only be allowed in competitions specifically for people who have them. Prosthetics also need to be comfortable and usable in order to be successfully adopted. In one study, about 4.5 percent of people rejected prosthetics and 13.4 percent stopped using their prosthetics. As the new prosthetics that are more natural and intuitive to use come to market, hopefully more people will benefit, and the social barriers to acceptance will disappear.

CRISPR

The genome modification technique called Clustered Regularly Interspaced Short Palindromic Repeats, aka CRISPR, was a culmination of a few decades of work by scientists, and major studies explaining the method were published in 2013. The version of it called CRISPR-associated protein 9 or CRIPSR-Cas9 is what most researchers are specifically using in most cases. It involves a regular gene editing mechanism that happens in bacteria. The bacteria can take sections of DNA from attacking viruses and essentially use that to remember the viruses if they return. When the virus is back, the bacteria can target the matching sections of DNA in the virus, cut it and disable the virus.

Though 2013 was only six years ago, as far as science goes, CRISPR has been moving at lightning speed towards practical applications. Using CRISPR to edit a gene sequence, researchers can now add, delete or modify DNA segments more quickly and accurately than ever before. Since the technique was developed, researchers have used CRISPR to target diseases caused by a single gene like cystic fibrosis or sickle cell disease.

Probably the most infamous use of CRISPR are the CRISPR babies. In late 2018, a Chinese researcher, He Jiankui, claimed to have used CRISPR to modify the genomes of two babies to include a mutated version of a gene that protects against HIV. This case was and is highly controversial for the ethical concerns with genetically modifying a human genome at the embryo level, or germline, meaning it can be passed down to future generations and has not been done before in humans. Recently, MIT Technology Review obtained excerpts from Hes research, and experts say that the report and data may be untrustworthy. This means it is still unclear if He and collaborators actually successfully modified the babies genomes. The scientific community overall condemns this way of using CRISPR to edit a human germline genome and has called for an international moratorium on it until a framework can be agreed on.The researcher has been sentenced to three years in prison in Shenzhen, China.

As fraught with controversy as the CRISPR babies may be, CRISPR technology still holds a lot of promise and can be used responsibly, supporters say. For example, researchers are using it to target cancer cells by taking a patients immune cells, modifying them using CRISPR and then infusing the patient with the modified cells. For blood diseases, a patient with sickle cell disease is reported to be responding well to a CRISPR treatment that has allowed her body to produce a crucial protein.

Another area that has boomed this decade partly because of CRISPR technology is stem cell therapy, which well get into in the next section.

Stem cell therapy

Technically, the only Federal Drug Administration (FDA)-approved stem cell therapies are blood-forming stem cells derived from umbilical cord blood. Blood-forming stem cells are used to treat patients with cancer after chemotherapy has depleted blood cells, as well as patients with blood disorders like leukemia whose bone marrow tissues are damaged. These types of treatments have been around for about 30 years, but in the 2010s weve seen potential for more uses of stem cells in health care.

The main idea behind stem cell therapy is that because the cells are pluripotent meaning they can become many other types of cells they can be introduced into parts of the body that are damaged and need new cells. On top of that, researchers can now extract some types of stem cells from a persons body, so no need for umbilical cords. This opens up the possibilities for highly personalized treatment where one person can be treated with stem cells from their own body.

Researchers are exploring how stem cells can be used to treat liver disease, cerebral palsy, stroke, brain injury and others. There are many ongoing research-backed clinical trials for stem cell therapy. A quick search for stem cell therapy on the governments clinical trial database turns up 5,638 results. And because of the work necessary to even get to the clinical trial stage, theres likely an order of magnitude more stem cell therapy studies in the pre-clinical trial stages.

Stem cell therapy is also being offered in for-profit clinics around the U.S. In these cases, the clinics are typically taking fat tissue from a patient, isolating the stem cells and then administering the stem cells back to the patient. In some cases, the treatments may lead to health complications, like blindness in a few extreme cases, and the FDA warns that such treatments are unapproved and potentially harmful. The FDA is ramping up regulation of stem cell clinics and earlier this year took a specific clinic in Florida to court.

Although there are many stem cell clinics offering unproven stem cell therapies, its not all hype. Granted that its difficult to pass the clinical trial stage to get FDA approval, stem cell research may lead to new treatments for several health conditions that could completely change the health care landscape.

You can follow Chia-Yi Hou on Twitter.

See the article here:
The most important health innovations of the past decade - The Hill

Stem Cell Assay Market: Snapshot

Stem cell assay refers to the procedure of measuring the potency of antineoplastic drugs, on the basis of their capability of retarding the growth of human tumor cells. The assay consists of qualitative or quantitative analysis or testing of affected tissues and tumors, wherein their toxicity, impurity, and other aspects are studied.

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With the growing number of successful stem cell therapy treatment cases, the global market for stem cell assays will gain substantial momentum. A number of research and development projects are lending a hand to the growth of the market. For instance, the University of Washingtons Institute for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine (ISCRM) has attempted to manipulate stem cells to heal eye, kidney, and heart injuries. A number of diseases such as Alzheimers, spinal cord injury, Parkinsons, diabetes, stroke, retinal disease, cancer, rheumatoid arthritis, and neurological diseases can be successfully treated via stem cell therapy. Therefore, stem cell assays will exhibit growing demand.

Another key development in the stem cell assay market is the development of innovative stem cell therapies. In April 2017, for instance, the first participant in an innovative clinical trial at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health was successfully treated with stem cell therapy. CardiAMP, the investigational therapy, has been designed to direct a large dose of the patients own bone-marrow cells to the point of cardiac injury, stimulating the natural healing response of the body.

Newer areas of application in medicine are being explored constantly. Consequently, stem cell assays are likely to play a key role in the formulation of treatments of a number of diseases.

Global Stem Cell Assay Market: Overview

The increasing investment in research and development of novel therapeutics owing to the rising incidence of chronic diseases has led to immense growth in the global stem cell assay market. In the next couple of years, the market is expected to spawn into a multi-billion dollar industry as healthcare sector and governments around the world increase their research spending.

The report analyzes the prevalent opportunities for the markets growth and those that companies should capitalize in the near future to strengthen their position in the market. It presents insights into the growth drivers and lists down the major restraints. Additionally, the report gauges the effect of Porters five forces on the overall stem cell assay market.

Global Stem Cell Assay Market: Key Market Segments

For the purpose of the study, the report segments the global stem cell assay market based on various parameters. For instance, in terms of assay type, the market can be segmented into isolation and purification, viability, cell identification, differentiation, proliferation, apoptosis, and function. By kit, the market can be bifurcated into human embryonic stem cell kits and adult stem cell kits. Based on instruments, flow cytometer, cell imaging systems, automated cell counter, and micro electrode arrays could be the key market segments.

In terms of application, the market can be segmented into drug discovery and development, clinical research, and regenerative medicine and therapy. The growth witnessed across the aforementioned application segments will be influenced by the increasing incidence of chronic ailments which will translate into the rising demand for regenerative medicines. Finally, based on end users, research institutes and industry research constitute the key market segments.

The report includes a detailed assessment of the various factors influencing the markets expansion across its key segments. The ones holding the most lucrative prospects are analyzed, and the factors restraining its trajectory across key segments are also discussed at length.

Global Stem Cell Assay Market: Regional Analysis

Regionally, the market is expected to witness heightened demand in the developed countries across Europe and North America. The increasing incidence of chronic ailments and the subsequently expanding patient population are the chief drivers of the stem cell assay market in North America. Besides this, the market is also expected to witness lucrative opportunities in Asia Pacific and Rest of the World.

Global Stem Cell Assay Market: Vendor Landscape

A major inclusion in the report is the detailed assessment of the markets vendor landscape. For the purpose of the study the report therefore profiles some of the leading players having influence on the overall market dynamics. It also conducts SWOT analysis to study the strengths and weaknesses of the companies profiled and identify threats and opportunities that these enterprises are forecast to witness over the course of the reports forecast period.

Some of the most prominent enterprises operating in the global stem cell assay market are Bio-Rad Laboratories, Inc (U.S.), Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. (U.S.), GE Healthcare (U.K.), Hemogenix Inc. (U.S.), Promega Corporation (U.S.), Bio-Techne Corporation (U.S.), Merck KGaA (Germany), STEMCELL Technologies Inc. (CA), Cell Biolabs, Inc. (U.S.), and Cellular Dynamics International, Inc. (U.S.).

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Stem Cell Assay Market Expected to Witness a Sustainable Growth over 2025 - Filmi Baba

For a complete list of our obituaries, seehere.

SYDNEY BRENNER SCIENTIFIC SYMPOSIUM

Nobel laureate Sydney Brenner died in April at the age of 92.

Brenner was best known for his discovery of sequences that stop protein translation, mRNA, and his investigation of the nematode C. elegans, which he realized would be an ideal model organism to study cell differentiation and organ development. That work won him the 2002 Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine.

[H]is great strength was in experiments, and in particular the choice and execution of ones that were both important and ingenious, Francis Crick, the codiscoverer of DNA who shared an office with Brenner at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in the UK, wrote in atribute to Brenner in The Scientist in 2002.

US DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY, OAK RIDGE NATIONAL LABORATORY

American geneticist Liane Russell, famous for her work on the deleterious effects of prenatal radiation exposure and the chromosomal basis for sex determination in mammals, died in July at age 95.

She and her husband William Russell established the Oak Ridge National Laboratorys (ORNL) Mouse House, an extensive colony of mutant mice bred to model the effects of exposure to radiation.

Russells work led to a healthcare policy to ask women if they are pregnant before X-raying them and also to avoid X-rays shortly after menstruation in women of childbearing age.

Inventor of the polymerase chain reaction technique and winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1993, Kary Mullis, died in August at age 74.

Mullis was known as a weird figure in science and a flamboyant philanderer who evangelized the use of LSD, denied the evidence for both global warming and HIV as a cause of AIDS, consulted for O.J. Simpsons legal defense, and formed a company that sold jewelry embedded with celebrities DNA, according to a 1998 profile in The Washington Post.

Mullis wrote in The Scientist in 2003 that his first attempt at PCR in 1983 was a long-shot experiment. . . . so [at midnight] I poured myself a cold Becks into a prechilled 500 ml beaker from the isotope freezer for luck, and went home. I ran a gel the next afternoon [and] stained it with ethidium. It took several months to arrive at conditions [that] would produce a convincing result.

Even still, Science and Natureboth rejected the resulting manuscript, which was ultimately published in Methods in Enzymology in 1987 and helped earn Mullis his Nobel.

Chemical engineer George Rosenkranz, the director of the pharmaceutical company that first synthesized a synthetic form of the hormone progesterone, died in June at the age of 102.

He and colleagues developed norethindrone, a synthetic version of progesterone, which was then used in the combined oral contraceptive pill and approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 1959. The work, along with efforts in biotech, earned him many awards from scientific organizations and from the Mexican government.

Despite that, he was a very humble man, Roberto Rosenkranz, one of his sons, told the Los Angeles Times. He never was out to take credit.

Ophthalmologist and inventor Patricia Bath, whose research on lasers advanced cataract surgery, died in May at the age of 76.

During her medical internship in New York, she conducted an epidemiological study on blindness and found the rate of the condition among the black population was twice that of the white population. The finding led her to start the field of community ophthalmology, caring for underserved populations. She promoted the field by traveling to perform surgeries, training clinicians, and donating equipment.

Bath then moved to the University of California, Los Angeles, medical center in 1974 and in the 1980s began studying lasers for their potential to treat eye disorders. In 1988, she patented a device called Laserphaco Probe, which removes cataracts.

I had a few obstacles but I had to shake it off, Bath told ABC News in 2018. Hater-ation, segregation, racism, thats the noise you have to ignore that and keep your eyes focused on the prize, its just like Dr. Martin Luther King said, so thats what I did.

Nobel laureate Paul Greengard, who discovered that the brain communicates with chemical signals, died in April. He was 93.

Paul was an iconic scientist whose extraordinary seven-decade career transformed our understanding of neuroscience, Richard Lifton, president of Rockefeller University, where Greengard had been a faculty member, said in a statement. His discoveries laid out a new paradigm requiring the understanding of the biochemistry of nerve cells rather than simply their electrical activities. This work has had great impact.

Greengards work revealed how the brain uses dopamine and other chemicals to send signals from one nerve cell to another, discoveries that won him a Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2000. Greengard used the prize money to establish an award for women doing outstanding biomedical research and named the prize after his birth mother. Drawing attention to the achievements of women working in science, he and Baylor College of Medicine professor Huda Zoghbi wrote in The Scientist in 2014, sets a powerful example for those women still dreaming of their own success.

Public health whistleblower, physician, and researcher, Shuping Wang, died in September at the age of 59.

Wangs career started in China in the 1980s, where she was a doctor and hepatitis researcher. In 1992, she was testing blood serum samples from a plasma collection station where she worked and realized that unsanitary blood collection methods had led to a hepatitis C epidemic among people who donated and received plasma at the clinic. She reported the findings to officials and was fired, the Salt Lake Tribune reported.

She took a job at the Zhoukou Health Bureau and, analyzing the blood samples there, she found 13 percent of donors had HIV and the cross-contamination there was also leading to the spread of the virus. Officials challenged her results and asked her to change the data for a report that would be sent to the provincial Department of Health. Again, she refused.

Her findings lead to the shutdown of her clinic and the establishment of HIV testing for donors. Still, roughly 1 million farmers were infected with HIV from selling their blood plasma at Chinese collection sites during the epidemic, according to The Washington Post.

In September, a few days before Wangs death, a play about her life, The King of Hells Palace, opened at Hampstead Theatre in London.

COURTESY OF RUTGERS UNIVERSITY

The developer of a widely used DNA analysis technique called shotgun sequencing, Joachim Messing, died in September. He was 73.

Jos approach to the development of his DNA sequencing tools was to spread them freely and widelythat is, he did not patent them, Robert Goodman, the executive dean of agriculture and natural resources at Rutgers University, where Messing was a faculty member, told The New York Times. He was an incredibly generous man.

His development of the DNA analysis technique and his use of it made Messing the most-cited scientist of the 1980s, according to the Institute for Scientific Information. He went on to study crop modifications, such as boosting amino acids in corn to make it more nutritious and increasing crops drought resistance.

TUFTS UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE

Tufts University researcher Stuart Levy died in September at the age of 80.

Levy studied antibiotic resistance and in the 1970s showed that bacteria resistant to the drugs could move from the intestine of farm animals to farm workers, a discovery that had implications for bacterial spread in facilities such as hospitals. After Levy published his findings, other researchers started to study antibiotic resistance in hospitals.

It is hard to overstate his importance in limiting the spread of antibiotic resistance, particularly in hospital settings, Ralph Isberg, a professor of molecular biology & microbiology at Tufts, and his colleague John Leong wrote in a statement sent to The Scientist.

Neuroscientist Rahul Desikan, who developed an MRI-based map of the human cortex and identified genetic risk factors for neurogenerative diseases, died in July from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 41.

The MRI-based map, which quickly became one of the most widely-used tools in the neuroscience community, has been cited more than 4500 times, Christopher Hess, a colleague of Desikan at University of California, San Francisco, wrote in a memorial. Color figures of the atlas in its various forms still fill the pages of our leading scientific journals.

Desikan and his colleagues had just started, in 2016, what was then the largest study on the genetics of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) when he began to experience his first symptoms the disease. He was diagnosed with ALS a few months later.

I went into medicine to take care of patients with brain diseases. Now, I have one of the diseases that I study, Desikan said in a press release earlier this year. Even with the disease, he said, he continued to find neurology fascinating and beautiful.

Ashley Yeager is an associate editor atThe Scientist. Email her at ayeager@the-scientist.com. Follow her on Twitter @AshleyJYeager.

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Those We Lost in 2019 - The Scientist

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), sometimes called Lou Gehrigs disease, is a neurodegenerative disease affecting nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. Researchers at the University of California San Diego School of Medicine published research describing a new way to deliver a gene-silencing vector to mice with ALS. The therapy resulted in long-term suppression of the disease if the treatment was given before the disease started. It also blocked disease progression in the mice if symptoms already appeared.

The study was published in the journal Nature Medicine.

At present, this therapeutic approach provides the most potent therapy ever demonstrated in mouse models of mutated SOD1 gene-linked ALS, said senior author Martin Marsala, professor in the Department of Anesthesiology at UC San Diego School of Medicine. In addition, effective spinal cord delivery of AAV9 vector in adult animals suggests that the use of this new delivery method will likely be effective in treatment of other hereditary forms of ALS or other spinal neurodegenerative disorders that require spinal parenchymal delivery of therapeutic gene(s) or mutated-gene silencing machinery, such as in C9orf72 gene mutation-linked ALS or in some forms of lysosomal storage disease.

ALS appears in two forms, sporadic and familial. The most common form is sporadic, responsible for 90 to 95% of all cases. Familial ALS makes up 5 to 10% of all cases in the U.S., and as the name suggests, is inherited. Studies have shown that a least 200 mutations of the SOD1 gene are linked to ALS.

In healthy individuals, the SOD1 gene provides instructions for an enzyme called superoxide dismutase. This enzyme is used to break down superoxide radicals, which are toxic oxygen molecules that are a byproduct of normal cellular processes. It is believed that the mutations in the gene cause ineffective removal of superoxide radicals or potentially cause other toxicities resulting in motor neuron cell death.

The new research involves injecting shRNA, an artificial RNA molecule that can turn off, or silence, a targeted gene. This delivers shRNA to cells by way of a harmless adeno-associated virus (AAV). In the research, they injected the viruses carrying shRNA into two locations in the spinal cord of adult mice expressing an ALS-causing mutation of the SOD1 gene. They were performed just before disease onset or after the laboratory animals started showing symptoms.

The researchers have tested the approach in adult pigs, whose have spinal cord dimensions closer to those in humans. They found that by using an injector developed for adult humans, the procedure could be performed without surgical complications and in a reliable fashion.

The next step will be more safety studies with a large animal model.

While no detectable side effects related to treatment were seen in mice more than one year after treatment, the definition of safety in large animal specimens more similar to humans is a critical step in advancing this treatment approach toward clinical testing, Marsala said.

About 5,000 people are diagnosed with ALS in the U.S. each year, with about 30,000 people living with the disease. There are symptomatic treatments, but no cure. Most patients die from the disease two to five years after diagnosis.

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Experimental Gene Therapy Shows Promise for Preventing and Treating Lou Gehrig's Disease in Mice - BioSpace