StemCell Therapy

Have you ever wondered why you wash your rice or soak it overnight before cooking it? Perhaps you wash your rice grains to enhance taste, reduce starch levels, or maybe that's just the way your family has always prepped rice. Thanks to a tip from science communicator Samantha Yammine who came across Dr. Nausheen Sadiq's neat finding while live-tweeting a forum on Diversity and Excellence in Science it turns out there is another reason why, as washing rice actually helps reduce the concentration of heavy metals, like chromium, cadmium, arsenic, and lead.

Heavy metal contamination in crops can be caused by human activities, such as mining, fertilizers, pesticides, and sewage sludge. Compared to most cereal crops though, rice (Oryza sativa L.) actually accumulates more heavy materials, like cadmium or arsenic, where long-term heavy metal intake can cause health risks. For example, long-term arsenic exposure leads to skin disease, high blood pressure, and neurological effects. This is especially important to consider as rice is a staple food across the globe.

Heavy metal contamination in crops can be caused by human activities, such as mining, fertilizers, pesticides, and sewage sludge.

Photo by TUAN ANH TRAN on Unsplash

In a recent study, researchers investigated the effects of different cooking methods (normal, high-pressure and microwave cooking) on the concentration, bio-accessibility and health risks posed by three heavy metals (cadmium, arsenic and lead) in two strains of brown rice. After cooking 100 grams of brown rice grains, researchers evaluated bioaccessibility (i.e. how much of the heavy metal is released for absorption) by mixing rice samples with simulated gastric fluid, and then used spectrometery to measure heavy metal concentration. Lastly, the researchers calculated the health risk posed by the heavy metals by calculating values such as the average daily dose.

Overall, the researchers found that instead of the three different cooking methods, it was the washing process which significantly reduced concentrations of cadmium, arsenic and lead, suggesting that the reduction may be due to rice morphology. For example, lead is found largely in the outer compartments of rice kernels, so lead is more likely to be removed during rice washing.

In contrast, the three cooking methods did impact bioaccessibility i.e. how much of the heavy metal would be released for absorption by the body. Here, washing and soaking isn't enough as rice absorbs water poorly at 25C. This finding was also reflected in calculated values: the average daily doses of cadmium, arsenic and lead were lower in washed and cooked rice, compared to raw rice.

It's worth noting that the European Commission has enforced limits on heavy metal levels - for example, arsenic is currently limited to 200 parts per billion (ppb) for adults and 100 ppb for infants. Both the U.S. and Canada currently have no limits in place for arsenic in food though Canada is currently reviewing a proposal to add maximum levels for arsenic found in white and brown rice, while the U.S. FDA has previously released a (non-binding) risk assessment, suggesting the same 100 ppb levels as Europe.

So the takeaway here is that yes, your family and all those professional chefs have been right all along. Yes, washing rice involves sacrificing some of its nutritional value, but doing so means you can reduce the levels of heavy metals present in grains, and still enjoy dishes like rice cakes. And returning back to Yammine's reporting, Saudiq actually shared that by soaking and washing rice for ~5 mins, you can get rid of 50-100% of these elements. (Thanks Sam!)

Read more from the original source:
TikToks are teaching Generation Z about science - Massive Science

Texas A&Ms College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences and VolitionRx Limited (Volition) have partnered to develop and test early cancer screenings for animals, namely dogs.

As part of the partnership, A&M veterinary oncologists are testing Volitions Nu.Q, a set of tests for biomarkers in the blood. Volition is an international company that has experience with cancer screenings on humans. The company has recently sought to expand into other fields and markets, looking towards the U.S. market through the veterinary field.

A&M revealed the partnership on Oct. 25, with Dr. Eleanor M. Green, the Carl B. King Dean of Veterinary Medicine, hosting the signing at A&M. According to the colleges website, Green has actively sought out collaborations and innovations in the veterinary field.

According to the Volition website, cancer is associated with abnormal levels of uniquely structured nucleosomes found within the blood. Patients that may have malignant tumours could be identified using the Nu.Q tests. However, doctors would have to confirm the analysis with follow-up procedures.

Associate professor and Dr. Fred A. Palmer and Vola N. Palmer Chair in Comparative Oncology Dr. Heather Wilson-Robles is set to lead the research. Wilson-Robles said that the partnership would look into transferring a process used for humans unto animals.

One of the great things is that Volition sort of pioneered the way in Europe for liquid biopsy techniques for human cancer, Wilson-Robles said. Were in the process of trying to apply those same liquid biopsy techniques to veterinary medicine, which would allow us to run diagnostics that traditionally have been pretty invasive and required heavy sedation or anesthesia and [are] costly and make them a simple blood test.

Wilson-Robles said she hopes to distinguish inflammation from cancer through testing and clear any confusion between the two. She said the hope is cancer is different enough from any other disease that the Nu.Q can have a high percentage rate of correct diagnostics in veterinary cases.

Specific nucleosomes can be associated with [a] specific disease, Wilson-Robles said. Inflammation and cancer generally have higher levels of nucleosomes than others. What wed like to do is develop some basic general assets that try to tell you cancer versus inflammation or other diseases and then provide additional panels which may be able to give more information.

A&M also receives an equity stake in Volition Veterinary Diagnostics Development LLC as part of the arrangement. The stake in the Volition subsidiary company, a company that is owned by a parent company, is 12.5 percent according to the Volition website.

Jeremy Kenny, program manager for veterinary innovation and entrepreneurship with the College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences, said the Volition veterinary subsidiary company would like to enter the market soon. The hope is that the subsidiary company will have a product ready.

Theyre creating a veterinary subsidiary company, Kenny said. The next step is the new veterinary company [will be] creating the product. I believe maybe for early next year, they [will] start selling tests.

See the rest here:
A&M partners with VolitionRx for research into cancer screenings for dogs - Texas A&M The Battalion

Associate Professor/Assistant Professor (Animal Physiology) in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences[Ref. C/527/09]

City University of Hong Kong is a dynamic, fast-growing university that is pursuing excellence in research and professional education.As a publicly-funded institution, the University is committed to nurturing and developing students talents and creating applicable knowledge to support social and economic advancement. The University has nine Colleges/Schools. As part of its pursuit of excellence, the University aims to recruitoutstanding scholarsfrom all over the world in various disciplines, includingbusiness, creative media, data science, energy and environment, engineering, humanities and social sciences, law, science, veterinary medicine and life sciences.

The new Jockey Club College of Veterinary Medicine and Life Sciences at City University of Hong Kong in collaboration with Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine is assembling an outstanding group of international academics to undertake teaching and research in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health. The Department is rapidly developing as an international research-oriented centre to support veterinary training and research in Hong Kong and the region. It is well positioned to provide a strong link between the preclinical veterinary sciences and applied (clinical) veterinary medicine. In another dimension it focuses on One Health, an area spanning the health of animals, humans and the environment. The Department plays a key role in teaching students for the Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine programme and the MSc in Aquatic Production and Veterinary Health, as well as in other related activities such as enabling postgraduate research opportunities. Departmental faculty members undertake teaching, research and diagnostic service across their areas of specialty.

Applications are invited for the above post:

Duties

Plan and establish world-class teaching and research facilities, teach and manage undergraduate and postgraduate courses, develop new research directions and maintain robust research programmes, and carry out administrative work and any other duties to facilitate the development of the Department and the College as a whole.

The appointee is also expected to contribute to the development and implementation of the professional veterinary curriculum in the area of Animal Physiology modelled on the integrated Function and Dysfunction construct as delivered by Cornell Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine.

Requirements

A PhD in relevant disciplines (Animal Physiology/Animal Science/Animal Nutrition/Digestive Physiology/Veterinary Medicine/Zoology/Biology) or equivalent. Candidates with background in the fields of Digestive Physiology and Nutrition are particularly encouraged to apply.

A veterinary degree registrable in Hong Kong preferred, but not essential. Applicants must have demonstrable evidence of research success (including publishing influential works and obtaining external research funding).

Salary and Conditions of Service

Remuneration package will be driven by market competitiveness and individual performance. Excellent fringe benefits include gratuity, leave, medical and dental schemes, and relocation assistance (where applicable). Initial appointment will be made on a fixed-term contract.

Information and Application

Further information on the posts and the University is available athttp://www.cityu.edu.hk, or from the Department of Infectious Diseases and Public Health, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Hong Kong (email :chhung@cityu.edu.hk).

To apply, please submit an online application athttp://jobs.cityu.edu.hk, and include a current curriculum vitae, a cover letter, research and teaching statements based on the position.Applications will receive full consideration until the position is filled.Only shortlisted applicants will be contacted; and those shortlisted for the post of Assistant Professor will be requested to arrange for at least 3 reference reports sent directly by the referees to the Department, specifying the position applied for. The University's privacy policy is available on the homepage.

City University of Hong Kong is an equal opportunity employer and we are committed to the principle of diversity. Personal data provided by applicants will be used for recruitment and other employment-related purposes.

Worldwide recognition ranking 52nd, and 4th among top 50 universities under age 50 (QS survey 2020); 1st in Engineering/Technology/Computer Sciences in Hong Kong (ARWU survey 2016); and 2nd Business School in Asia-Pacific region (UT Dallas survey 2017)

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Associate Professor/Assistant Professor (Animal Physiology) job with CITY UNIVERSITY OF HONG KONG | 185658 - Times Higher Education (THE)

Dear Cathy,

This letter is in response to the reader with the Manx cat with the litter box problems (Reader says kitty pee pads a lifesaver, Oct. 4).

Her letter reminded me of a woman I worked with in Houston who adopted a shelter kitten with an extremely small stub of a tail, small even for a Manx. The cat had trouble controlling her urinary flow, both timing and location.

A vet examined her and said that cats with vestigial tails frequently have bladder control problems. I took this kitten to a friend who lived out in the country, and she found a good home there.

So, I am wondering if the reader with the Manx cat has taken her cat to the vet for an exam. This bladder control problem might help explain why she goes on the floor rather than in the litter box.

It might also explain why she was found wandering the neighborhood even though she had a bell and collar on. Its possible the previous owner just turned her outside because they didnt want to deal with her urinary problems anymore.

Dallas Henderson

Dear Dallas,

I asked Bonnie Beaver, professor at Texas A&M Veterinary Medicine, for the answer.

There are many reasons a cat does not use a litter box. The short tail of the Manx can be associated with this problem, she said.

If really short, there are abnormalities of the spinal column that affect nerves going to the urinary bladder and sometimes the rectum. They are much like people with spina bifida, in this regard. Affected Manx cats usually have little control and so dribble urine. It could appear that they dont use the litter box, but it is because their bladder really doesnt fill up. The urine that is not in the box would tend to be small amounts in several locations, not larger amounts in one location.

If the cat was using one or two locations away from the litter box instead, it was likely associated with the more typical causes of house soiling.

So youre correct. It could be part of the problem. Thanks for writing.

Dear Cathy,

About a month ago, I noticed a cat living under the garden shed. She was a trap/neuter/release cat with a clipped ear.

She was friendly, so we took her in and set her up in a room until she got used to the other cats. My son put poop from the other cat boxes in her box. She sniffed and figured out that is where she is supposed to go. Smart cat.

She is now known as Lucy instead of Clippy the Second.

Norm

Dear Norm,

Proof that a clipped ear (TNR) cat is sometimes a very friendly cat. Thanks for giving her a home.

Send your pet questions, tips and stories to cathy@petpundit.com. You can read her Animals Matter blog at http://blog.mysanantonio.com/animals and follow her at @cathymrosenthal.

The rest is here:
Cats with stubbed tails more prone to litter box issues - San Antonio Express-News

For police officers in the US, the genetic profiles that 20 million people have uploaded to consumer DNA sites represent a tantalising resource that could be used to solve cases both new and cold.

But for years, the vast majority of the data have been off-limits to investigators.

The two largest sites, Ancestry.com and 23andMe, have long pledged to keep their users genetic information privateand a smaller one, GEDmatch, severely restricted police access to its records this year.

Sharing the full story, not just the headlines

However, a Florida detective announced at a police convention that he had obtained a warrant to penetrate GEDmatch and search its full database of nearly 1 million users. Legal experts said that this appeared to be the first time a judge had approved such a warrant, and the development could have profound implications for genetic privacy.

Thats a huge game-changer, explainedErin Murphy, a law professor at New York University. The company made a decision to keep law enforcement out, and thats been overridden by a court. Its a signal that no genetic information can be safe.

Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average.

Getty

The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females.But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal

Ye et al/Current Biology

African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017.

Reuters

Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago

A. Gennari

A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste

Steven G Johnson

Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands

Clay Bolt

Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal

New Mexico Museum of Natural History

Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold

Faye Levine, University of Maryland

A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males

Getty

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase

Getty

The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies

Getty/AFP

The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Grard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers

Reuters/AP

The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn"

Viktor Radermacher / SWNS

Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star.

ESO/A. Mller et al

Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins

Getty

Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs

Jos Iriarte

More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test.Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly.

Getty

The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth.

Pictures by: Tom Momary

Included in Wellcome Image Awards, this 3D image of an African grey parrot shows the highly intricate system of blood vessels.

Scott Birch. Wellcome Images

Another Wellcome Images Award winner, this time of baby Hawaiian bobtail squid. The black ink sac and light organ in the centre of the squids mantle cavity can be clearly seen.

Macroscopic Solutions. Wellcome Images

Jackdaws can identify dangerous humans from listening to each others warning calls, scientists say. The highly social birds will also remember that person if they come near their nests again, according to researchers from the University of Exeter. In the study, a person unknown to the wild jackdaws approached their nest. At the same time scientists played a recording of a warning call (threatening) or contact calls (non-threatening). The next time jackdaws saw this same person, the birds that had previously heard the warning call were defensive and returned to their nests more than twice as quickly on average.

Getty

The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperatures at which they are incubated. Warm temperatures favour females.But by wiggling around the egg, embryos can find the Goldilocks Zone which means they are able to shield themselves against extreme thermal conditions and produce a balanced sex ratio, according to the new study published in Current Biology journal

Ye et al/Current Biology

African elephant poaching rates have dropped by 60 per cent in six years, an international study has found. It is thought the decline could be associated with the ivory trade ban introduced in China in 2017.

Reuters

Scientists have identified a four-legged creature with webbed feet to be an ancestor of the whale. Fossils unearthed in Peru have led scientists to conclude that the enormous creatures that traverse the planets oceans today are descended from small hoofed ancestors that lived in south Asia 50 million years ago

A. Gennari

A scientist has stumbled upon a creature with a transient anus that appears only when it is needed, before vanishing completely. Dr Sidney Tamm of the Marine Biological Laboratory could not initially find any trace of an anus on the species. However, as the animal gets full, a pore opens up to dispose of waste

Steven G Johnson

Feared extinct, the Wallace's Giant bee has been spotted for the first time in nearly 40 years. An international team of conservationists spotted the bee, that is four times the size of a typical honeybee, on an expedition to a group of Indonesian Islands

Clay Bolt

Fossilised bones digested by crocodiles have revealed the existence of three new mammal species that roamed the Cayman Islands 300 years ago. The bones belonged to two large rodent species and a small shrew-like animal

New Mexico Museum of Natural History

Scientists at the University of Maryland have created a fabric that adapts to heat, expanding to allow more heat to escape the body when warm and compacting to retain more heat when cold

Faye Levine, University of Maryland

A study from the University of Tokyo has found that the tears of baby mice cause female mice to be less interested in the sexual advances of males

Getty

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a report which projects the impact of a rise in global temperatures of 1.5 degrees Celsius and warns against a higher increase

Getty

The nobel prize for chemistry has been awarded to three chemists working with evolution. Frances Smith is being awarded the prize for her work on directing the evolution of enzymes, while Gregory Winter and George Smith take the prize for their work on phage display of peptides and antibodies

Getty/AFP

The nobel prize for physics has been awarded to three physicists working with lasers. Arthur Ashkin (L) was awarded for his "optical tweezers" which use lasers to grab particles, atoms, viruses and other living cells. Donna Strickland and Grard Mourou were jointly awarded the prize for developing chirped-pulse amplification of lasers

Reuters/AP

The Ledumahadi Mafube roamed around 200 million years ago in what is now South Africa. Recently discovered by a team of international scientists, it was the largest land animal of its time, weighing 12 tons and standing at 13 feet. In Sesotho, the South African language of the region in which the dinosaur was discovered, its name means "a giant thunderclap at dawn"

Viktor Radermacher / SWNS

Scientists have witnessed the birth of a planet for the first time ever. This spectacular image from the SPHERE instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope is the first clear image of a planet caught in the very act of formation around the dwarf star PDS 70. The planet stands clearly out, visible as a bright point to the right of the center of the image, which is blacked out by the coronagraph mask used to block the blinding light of the central star.

ESO/A. Mller et al

Layers long thought to be dense, connective tissue are actually a series of fluid-filled compartments researchers have termed the interstitium. These compartments are found beneath the skin, as well as lining the gut, lungs, blood vessels and muscles, and join together to form a network supported by a mesh of strong, flexible proteins

Getty

Working in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso, a team led by archaeologists at the University of Exeter unearthed hundreds of villages hidden in the depths of the rainforest. These excavations included evidence of fortifications and mysterious earthworks called geoglyphs

Jos Iriarte

More than one in 10 people were found to have traces of class A drugs on their fingers by scientists developing a new fingerprint-based drug test.Using sensitive analysis of the chemical composition of sweat, researchers were able to tell the difference between those who had been directly exposed to heroin and cocaine, and those who had encountered it indirectly.

Getty

The storm bigger than the Earth, has been swhirling for 350 years. The image's colours have been enhanced after it was sent back to Earth.

Pictures by: Tom Momary

Included in Wellcome Image Awards, this 3D image of an African grey parrot shows the highly intricate system of blood vessels.

Scott Birch. Wellcome Images

Another Wellcome Images Award winner, this time of baby Hawaiian bobtail squid. The black ink sac and light organ in the centre of the squids mantle cavity can be clearly seen.

Macroscopic Solutions. Wellcome Images

DNA policy experts said the development was likely to encourage other agencies to request similar search warrants from 23andMe, which has 10 million users, and Ancestry.com, which has 15 million.

If that comes to pass, the Florida judges decision will affect not only the users of these sites but also huge swaths of the population, including those who have never taken a DNA test. Thats because this emerging forensic technique makes it possible to identify a DNA profile even through distant family relationships.

Using public genealogy sites to crack cold cases had its breakthrough moment in April 2018, when California police used GEDmatch to identify a man they believe is the Golden State Killer, Joseph James DeAngelo.

After his arrest, dozens of law enforcement agencies around the country rushed to apply the method to their own cases. Investigators have since used genetic genealogy to identify suspects and victims in more than 70 cases of murder, sexual assault and burglary, ranging from five decades to just a few months old.

Most users of genealogy services have uploaded their genetic information in order to find relatives, learn about ancestors and get insights into their health not anticipating that police might one day search for killers and rapists in their family trees.

After a revolt by a group of prominent genealogists, GEDmatch changed its policies in May. It required law enforcement agents to identify themselves when searching its database, and it gave them access only to the profiles of users who had explicitly opted in to such queries. (As of last week, according to GEDmatch co-founder Curtis Rogers, just 185,000 of the sites 1.3 million users had opted in.)

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Like many others in law enforcement, Detective Michael Fields of the Orlando Police Department was disappointed by GEDmatchs policy shift. He had used the site last year to identify a suspect in the 2001 murder of a 25-year-old woman, a case he had spent six years trying to solve. Today, working with a forensic consulting firm, Parabon, Mr Fields is trying to solve the case of a serial rapist who assaulted a number of women decades ago.

In July, he asked a judge in the 9th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida to approve a warrant that would let him override the privacy settings of GEDmatchs users and search the sites full database of 1.2 million users.

After Judge Patricia Strowbridge agreed, the site complied within 24 hours. He said that some leads had emerged but that he had yet to make an arrest. He declined to share the warrant or say how it was worded.

Mr Fields described his methods at the International Association of Chiefs of Police conference in Chicago last week. Logan Koepke, a policy analyst at Upturn, a nonprofit in Washington that studies how technology affects social issues, was in the audience. After the talk, multiple other detectives and officers approached him asking for a copy of the warrant, Mr Koepke said.

DNA policy experts said they would closely watch public response to news of the warrant, to see if law enforcement agencies will be emboldened to go after the much larger genetic databases. I have no question in my mind that if the public isnt outraged by this, they will go to the mother lode: the 15-million person Ancestry database, Ms Murphy said. Why play in the peanuts when you can go to the big show?

Woman conceived by rape of her 13-year-old mother wants DNA test to prosecute father: Im a walking crime scene

Yaniv Erlich, chief science officer at MyHeritage, a genealogy database of around 2.5 million people, agreed. They wont stop here, he said.

Excerpt from:
Detective granted game-changing warrant to search genetic database - The Independent

A top American university will expand genetic testing in India in partnership with the All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Delhi and the Kasturba Medical College in Manipal.

A $2.3 million grant from the National Institute of Health over five years will help the University of Michigan and Indian geneticists identify and confirm genetic changes that are the basis of developmental disorders.

Noting that seven out of 10 children with developmental disorders in India do not receive genetic testing, the university, in a media release on Wednesday, said the study hopes that with greater access to genetic testing, children with developmental disorders of genetic origin will be more likely to receive a molecularly confirmed diagnosis.

"An accurate molecular diagnosis can dramatically improve care management of individuals with rare developmental disorders and involved treatments," Stephanie Bielas, associate professor of human genetics at the U-M Medical School, said.

"Without a genetic diagnosis, individuals with rare disorders can incur inappropriate care and medical procedures," she said.

Advanced genetic tests like exome sequencing are often out of reach of many Indian patients because of the cost, and it often requires a multidisciplinary group of experts.

Bielas, the university said, has been working with her partners in AIIMS and Manipal, a city in the southern state of Karnataka for the last four years, building on the technological and organisational infrastructure needed to improve access to genetic testing.

During this time, they have identified sequencing partners, developed the platforms needed to analyse sequence data, and trained teams who can interpret the sequence and go back to the families with the results.

Integrating genetic counselling into the continuum of genetic testing is an important part of increasing access to genetic testing, Bielas said.

"It is only when the families understand the results of the genetic test and the risk for recurrence that the benefits of genetic testing for families and communities are realised," she said.

India is home to 1.3 billion people and represents 20 per cent of the world's population. But less than one per cent of the genomic data used for research comes from this region.

Researchers hope that uncovering this genetic diversity will provide a better understanding of the human genome and differences in the presentation of inherited developmental disorders, it said.

The researchers also want to establish an accessible database that can be shared with other scientists and institutions for research and to contribute to responsible development of genomic medicine in India and beyond, the university said.

Read more from the original source:
US varsity to collaborate with AIIMS, KMC on genetics - Deccan Herald

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MILWAUKEE -- The earlier you catch breast cancer, the better your odds are of beating it. That is the idea behind the FOX6 initiative, Buddy Check 6.

Birthdays are a time to celebrate -- especially the big ones like turning 30 years old -- which is what Antonina Sendik was doing last month.

"I'm one of the lucky ones," Sendik said.

In fact, you might say Sendik is just starting her life.

"It's been a very emotional six months," Sendik said.

Sendik's father has had two brain tumors and was recently diagnosed with a disease called Cowden's Syndrome. It is a red flag that Sendik and her five siblings may have inherited the gene mutation that can cause a host of health problems. Doctors recommended genetic testing. They found Sendik had an 86 percent chance of developing breast cancer.

"I had no symptoms. I felt fine besides what was on the inside," Sendik said. "We started talking then about -- I'm probably going to have a double mastectomy."

Sendik learned that reality just a few months ago.

"You never think this is going to happen to you or this can't happen to me," Sendik said. "I would have loved to have blown it off. Learning that risk, I had no choice.

Sendik's doctor felt the same.

"With the genetic mutation, we knew that the risk was there," Dr. Caitlin Patten said.

"She said my job is to keep you safe -- and that's what I'm going to do," Sendik said.

With that, Sendik decided to go through with the surgery. It was a success. Post-surgery, the breast tissue that was removed was tested.

"So there were cancer cells. But it hadn't broken outside the duct -- it hadn't spread anywhere," Sendik said.

Sendik was relieved.

"She got it, it's gone, it's out of me," Sendik said.

Sendik does not need radiation or chemotherapy because the cancer is gone. She just needs to maintain a healthy lifestyle -- and keep regular appointments with her doctor.

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Genetic testing leads woman to take steps to avoid breast cancer: Im one of the lucky ones - WITI FOX 6 Milwaukee

Surge in number of healthy patients who want genetic testing to find risk of cancer

Independent.ie

Growing numbers of healthy people are on waiting lists for months to find out if they have inherited genes which leave them at a higher risk of some cancers, it emerged yesterday.

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/surge-in-number-of-healthy-patients-who-want-genetic-testing-to-find-risk-of-cancer-38669341.html

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/health/article38421846.ece/d571b/AUTOCROP/h342/ward-stock.jpg

Growing numbers of healthy people are on waiting lists for months to find out if they have inherited genes which leave them at a higher risk of some cancers, it emerged yesterday.

They are being referred for specialist screening because of their family history of certain forms of cancer.

However, they face the anxiety of delays to be seen because understaffed services in St James's Hospital in Dublin are struggling to cope.

Prof David Gallagher, a consultant in medical oncology and genetics, warned his clinic is now getting 7,800 referrals a year - around 150 a week - and this is leading to waiting lists.

He said his team expects to provide 4,000 test results this year - up from less than 500 in 2013 - but it cannot keep pace with demand.

The patients include those with a family history of particular cancers who want to know if they have inherited versions of the genes which leave them at increased risk.

The clinics are also dealing with a significant number of referrals of patients who have cancer and need to learn if they have a genetic mutation which would make them suitable for certain drug treatments.

A healthy patient who is referred today will be on a waiting list until May, said Prof Gallagher.

"A lot of the testing is urgent. We keep slots for urgent cases each week. If the testing will change the treatment of a cancer patient, we will get them in," he said.

However, it means that this pushes out the time faced by patients who need testing to show if they have a mutated gene which can increase their chance of getting cancer of the breast, ovary or prostate.

A positive result means the person with the inherited faulty versions of genes can take steps to manage and reduce their risk.

BRCA1 and BRCA2 - which actress Angelina Jolie inherited - are two of the best known examples of genes that raise a woman's risk of developing breast or ovarian cancer.

Prof Gallagher said the majority of women in Ireland who test positive for these genes still adopt a "watch and wait" approach, but there has been a rise in the numbers having preventive surgery.

These are not the only cancer risk genes, and there are many that people can now be screened for. "Five different genes cause Lynch syndrome," he pointed out.

Lynch syndrome is a genetic condition that can significantly increase the risk of developing bowel cancer, as well as cancer of the womb and ovary.

The only clinics for public patients who need genetic testing are in St James's Hospital and Crumlin Hospital.

Prof Gallagher said his service is "hugely under-staffed" and there is an urgent need for more consultant cancer geneticists and counsellors.

A new cancer geneticist will join the team from New York next year, but it will remain under huge pressure. He said there is also a need for Ireland to develop its own molecular genetics lab. Currently samples are sent abroad for testing, which adds to the delay.

Prof Gallagher will be among the speakers at a conference in St James's Hospital today. The Trinity-St James's Cancer Institute will unveil a sculpture by Chris Wilson to mark the 25th anniversary of the first time a woman was tested for the BRAC2 gene in Ireland.

Irish Independent

Read more:
Surge in number of healthy patients who want genetic testing to find risk of cancer - Independent.ie

New testing at the University of Vermont Medical Center will help determine the role DNA plays in your health.

We want to improve peoples lives, said Dr. Debra Leonard, chair of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Vermont Medical Center.

For the past year and a half, shes been working along with a team of physicians and specialists to develop Genomic DNA Testing.

It really is to integrate genetic information into routine medical care, she said.

Dr. Leonard said that information can be very helpful in improving outcomes for patients if they know their disease risk in advance. The testing will allow patients to learn about differences in their DNA that can make certain diseases more likely.

What we will be focusing on is diseases related to the heart and diseases related to cancer risk, Dr. Leonard said.

UVM Health Network is partnering with Invitae and LunaPBC on the project which will provide information on nearly 150 genes that are indicators for illnesses. The goal is to recognize if a patient is at risk for one of those diseases before they actually experience their first symptom, allowing doctors to intervene early and make informed decisions.

So we can use preventive strategies or close monitoring to catch the diseases earlier or even implement strategies to prevent the diseases, she said.

Right now, the testing is in its beginning phases. Last Friday, it was offered to the first patient, who agreed to have their blood drawn and sent out for testing, fully funded by the department. Over the next year, UVMMC is aiming to test 1,000 patients ages 18 and older.

See the rest here:
Genetic testing at UVMMC aims to improve patient care - Local 22/44 News

What is known as the Fourth Industrial Revolution will bring about the disappearance and transformation of thousands of jobs; At the same time, it will give great emphasis to information and communication technologies.

However, there will be other areas with great potentials, such as biotechnology and medical research, where Costa Rica could become a hub in the future if it seizes the opportunity.

Costa Rica has the human talent to carry it out and to initiate a bioreactivation of the economy; However, decision-makers have not yet seen the opportunity, says Miguel Rojas, a researcher at the Biotechnology Research Center of the Instituto Tecnolgico de Costa Rica (Technological Institute of Costa Rica).

And in this area of science, innovative technologies such as precision and regenerative medicine will be applied, as well as tissue engineering and RNA and stem cell-based therapies.

Immunotherapy and advanced diagnoses would also have a place in this wave of job creation and economic recovery.

The engineers and biotechnology engineers (IBio) of the TEC have the appropriate training and ability to work with these methodologies. The paradox, in this case, is that the country has the human talent for these new processes, but the decision-makers at the political, business or financial level have not realized this enormous possibility for the country, said Rojas.

Currently, there are 608 TEC graduates, which represent one in 40 applicants who wanted to study it, so the system itself guarantees the excellence of human talent.

On the other hand, it is estimated that about 20 million medical tourism patients every year, according to the specialized guide of Patients Beyond Borders.

One of the biggest demand for this business is from Americans, with some 1.9 million traveling outside their borders to receive medical care.

Costa Ricas proximity to the United States, cost and human talent make it competitive; In 2018, more than 15,000 people identified health care as their main reason for travel, to the country according to the Instituto Costarricense de Turismo (ICT) Costa Rican Tourism Board so there is plenty of room to grow.

As for medical research, biotechnology would have multiple applications in the future, says the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).

Costa Rica has a great opportunity in clinical research for us to sell or develop sponsored by pharmaceutical houses or with medical equipment producers, taking advantage of the presence in the country of multinationals, said Massimo Manzi, executive director of the Cmara Costarricense de la Salud (Promed) Costa Rican Chamber of Health.

In this way, the country would not only receive designs and produce them, but it would also be fully involved in all the stages of research, development and pre-commercialization of clinical studies.

The Biotechnology career has high expectations, according to the TEC that receives 1,664 applications per year (2016-2018), but only 40 per year are accepted. As of March 2018, the school reports 556 graduates, of which 60% are women, which have potential work in 20 countries on four continents.

Survivors of the revolution

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) said that the robotization of sectors of the economy would displace more than 7 million jobs in the 17 most important economies in the world by 2020.

However, several careers will have a high demand and are the following:

La Repblica reports in Spanish.

Read more from the original source:
Costa Rica sets the foundations with development potential in the Fourth Industrial Revolution - Q Costa Rica News

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If the impeachment inquiry against President Trump moves to a trial in the Senate, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) told reporters this week, his role there must take precedence over his presidential campaign. "We are doing something that is with the gravity of removing the sitting president from office," Booker said. "I will be there. I will be focused. And I will do my work."

Insofar as any member of Congress deserves plaudits for promising to prioritize duly representing his constituents over seeking greater personal power, that's dandy. But Booker's framing of his work as remedying a crisis of presidential misconduct evinces a too-common misconstruction and one which helped us into this mess in the first place. It makes the legislature's restraint on executive power entirely ex post facto, letting lawmakers skip the more necessary work of trimming the imperial presidency back to its basic administrative roots.

Impeachment is necessary and sometimes unavoidable, but it is not prophylactic. Partisanship keeps it from functioning as a reliable protection against future wrongdoing, because even the worst presidents can expect near-lockstep support from their own party in Congress, and almost every president in the last half century has had at least a few years of a friendly majority in one house or both.

Divided government likewise offers no guarantee of accountability, as House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi's foot-dragging on this very impeachment inquiry has revealed. Political considerations, chiefly alienating independent and swing voters, will often outweigh ethical concerns. "High crimes and misdemeanors" are significantly in the eye of the beholder, and the beholder is looking at the next election cycle.

That reality makes impeaching the president rather like a trip to the emergency room. Yes, it might save your life. It's also mostly unconnected to the day-to-day of responsible, healthy living except if it's your own fault that you're in the emergency room, in which case the visit should prompt some changes to whatever part of your lifestyle is the culprit.

The congressional Democrats spearheading this impeachment have no apparent intention of making such a change. They'll bandage a broken skull and send the patient right back to biking without a helmet. They'll try to oust this president and leave the very same tools of corruption and abuse for the next one. They'll let him claim, in deed if not in word, that he has the "right to do whatever he wants as president," armed with pen and phone.

This state of affairs can only be acceptable to the selfish or naive. It appeals to politicians and partisans because the power they persistently leave unchecked will sometimes fall to them. Why melt the crown if it may yet rest upon your head? And it appeals to those who retain a civics class credulity about American politics, clutching against all evidence to the belief that we may yet develop markedly better and broader electoral tastes. Unless Mr. Rogers rises from the grave with a hankering for the campaign trail, I wouldn't count on it.

The safer and more certain option is massive structural reform. Congress must put meaningful restrictions on the power of the presidency. The executive branch has for decades crept beyond its proper administrative function to usurp congressional authority, dictating the priorities of state well beyond the vague leeway of executive discretion.

Incidentally, it is this very pseudo-lawmaking which made Trump's alleged quid pro quo possible. Reform could indicate to foreign leaders that the president is an administrator with no power to refrain from disbursing funds Congress told him to disburse. It could place stricter limits on national emergency declarations, ensuring the president cannot unilaterally move money around in direct contravention of Congress. It could significantly curtail presidential immunity, making the president subject to indictment. Perhaps most importantly, it could limit the scope of executive orders, the favored method for presidents of both parties to exercise unconstitutional policy-setting authority.

This is a difficult and unlikely ask in that it requires sacrificing short-term partisan advantage for a long-term shot at more functional and congenial governance. I get the implausibility here.

Still I recommend it, and will continue to recommend it forever, because impeachment is confusing, uncertain, retroactive, narrowly targeted, and politically fraught. It may censure or remove a bad president, but it does so only in connection to a small selection of provable misdeeds and via a process that will always be subject to accusations of injustice. The best impeachment remains a contributor to political rancor and fails to stop further executive overreach. It's an ounce of cure when we need a pound of prevention.

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Impeachment is the ER. We need to practice preventative medicine. - The Week

You may have seen DO at the end of a physicians name but not known the meaning behind this degree. It stands for doctor of osteopathic medicine, and these doctors are trained in modern medicine as well as holistic medicine based on the philosophy that the body is an integrated whole. They receive special instruction in the musculoskeletal system and osteopathic manipulative therapy (OMT), a hands-on approach to diagnosing and treating patients. Bayhealth Primary Care PhysicianVincent Lobo, DO, DACFP, who has been performing OMT in his practice for over 40 years, discusses its uses and benefits.

The premise behind osteopathic or holistic medicine is that the mind, spirit, and structure and function of the body are interdependent. Essentially, if your body is structurally healthy, it heals itself. Pain or other problemsoccur when there are somatic dysfunctions of different levels of the spine, said Dr. Lobo. Somatic dysfunction is defined as a restriction in the bodys framework. This may originate in the skeletal system or fascia, the bodys connective tissue, and may alter the circulatory, lymphatic or nervous system.

If theres a lesion in the back or the spine is out of alignment, for example, the nerves that connect from that area to the internal organs send abnormal nerve impulses that will, in turn, affect those organs, he said. The opposite can also occur when a disorder of an internal organ manifests as a spine problem, such as an inflamed gall bladder causing back pain.

Osteopathic physicians aim to restore the normal mechanics in the body. In an osteopathic structural exam, I typically examine for posture, spinal motion, joint restriction, tissue spasms, spinal curvature, leg lengths, and conditions of the feet, said Dr. Lobo. With OMT, gentle pressure is applied or manual manipulations are done on the muscles, joints or nerves that are the source of the dysfunction. This can improve posture, relieve pressure and reduce pain.

Dr. Lobo said that some of the more common ailments for which he performs OMT are chest wall pain, tension headaches, thoracic pain, sinus problems, neck and low back pain, temporomandibular joint dysfunction (TMJ), and some abdominal pain. There are a variety of OMT techniques, and these are dependent upon the specific problem and a patients age. Two types are muscle energy techniques, involving muscle stretching and contractions, and myofascial release which is like a soft tissue massage.

A critical element of osteopathic medicine is preventative medicine and education, said Dr. Lobo. This includes encouraging patients to maintain healthy diet and physical activity, and teaching them what they can do on their own to help with their medical issues, such as using correct form when lifting, wearing orthotics in shoes, or doing certain exercises.

All DOs have the knowledge, but not all DOs perform OMT, Dr. Lobo said. Its another modality of treatment but like anything else, including physical therapy or acupuncture, nothing is 100%. I think its good for people to know that Bayhealth has this resource through some of its doctors.

To learn more about osteopathic physicians and those who use OMT in their practice, visitBayhealth.org/Find-A-Doctoror call 1-866-BAY-DOCS (229-3627).

Excerpt from:
What is Osteopathic Medicine and OMT? - CapeGazette.com

The local grocery store sells capsules. Sephora carries lotions. And that effortlessly put-together mom at drop-off swears by a $78 oil to help her sleep. Yup, were talking about CBD, which many (including your yoga teacher) tout as the ultimate salve for anxiety, pain and insomnia, among other woes. But put-together momand yoga instructor aside,what about our children (who are bouncing off the walls as we speak)? Is CBD oil for kids safe? Or even a good idea?

Hang tight there, mama. Before you start dropping cannabinoid oil under your childs tongue or packing gummies in her lunchbox, you need to get the scoop on whether or not its safe and effective. Read on for a deep dive into how CBD works and the risks and benefits associated with giving it to children. (Spoiler: CBD oil is not recommended for kids, but theres also still a lot of research to be done in order to prove the efficacy either way.)

CBD, short for cannabidiol, is an organic compound found in both the hemp plant and its under-the-counter cousin, marijuana. In fact, CBD is the second-most active component in marijuana, but unlike THC (aka tetrahydrocannabinol), it has no psychoactive properties. So dont worry; its not a gateway drugits not even going to get you (or your kid) high. That said, pure CBD has been touted as a therapeutic treatment for an astonishing array of ailments: insomnia, anxiety, schizophrenia, epilepsy, menstrual cramps, arthritis, multiple sclerosis, inflammation and chronic pain, to name a few.

Curious about its potential as an organic cure-all? Take note: Not all modes of delivery are created equal. In order of speed and efficiency, CBD can be smoked (or more commonly, vaped), absorbed as a tincture, ingested orally or applied topically.

In fact, Consumer Reports published a helpful guide to these methods of CBD use, as summarized here:

So yeah, CBD can be found pretty much everywhere and in every form, from bath bombs to seltzers to face masks to mascaras (yep). But ubiquity doesnt mean safety. For starters

We went to WebMD(best friend to moms and hypochondriacs the world over) to learn a little bit about CBDs current legal status. And suffice it to say, its complicated. See, as of 2018, hemp and hemp-derived products became legal in all 50 states. But there are some exceptions when it comes to CBD. For example, [CBD] can't be legally included in foods or dietary supplements. Also, cannabidiol can't be included in products marketed with therapeutic claims... And these restrictions apply to all CBD products, including those derived from hemp, even though the hemp plant itself contains only trace amounts of THC. And just to add to the confusion (though it is news to nobody): there are still products labeled as dietary supplements on the market that contain cannabidiol...

TLDR: Businesses arent being busted for selling CBD, and parents who buy it arent being charged with misdemeanors. Still, the restrictions are in place for a reason, so that's something to consider before you administer it to yourself or, of course, your children.

Anecdotal evidence of CBDs healing capacity abounds: Internet blogs say you should have it in your parenting toolbox, your real-life social circle buzzes about its efficacy and even PureWow writers kind of dig it, too.

Same goes for the medical and scientific communities, where practitioners and researchers alike are excited about its potential, and for good reasonthe early evidence is promising and the findings suggest more than just a fad.

For example, a 2019 study in The Permanente Journal, "Cannabidiol in Anxiety and Sleep: A Large Case Series," published just this year concluded that cannabidiol may hold benefit for anxiety-related disorders. While the results of this study showed no evidence of a [limiting] safety issue, researchers echoed the resounding sentiment of the medical community: all results must be interpreted very cautiously. Randomized and controlled trials are needed to provide definitive clinical guidance.

In a 2018 study in the publication Neuropsychopharmacology, which focused on impulse control and addictive behaviors, researchers found in rat subjects (so take this study with a grain of salt) proof of principle supporting potential of CBD for relapse prevention.

Theres also a ton more research out there on CBDs potential as a therapeutic treatment, and it looks pretty goodbut the science still remains too scarce and too young to validate the many glowing claims made about its use. Fortunately, the explosion of consumer interest in the compound has encouraged Congress to support further research and many more studies are currently under way. For now, though, few doctors are willing to give you (or your kiddo) the go-ahead.

TLDR: Theres still a lot more research to be done for a definitive answer.

If youre intrigued by the anecdotal evidence and wondering what the harm is in trying this trendy stuff out on your sleep-deprived or anxious child, we dont blame you. And theres at least one case study that suggests the therapeutic benefit of CBD in children; this one from 2016, which details a 10-year-old girl who suffered from PTSD-related anxiety and insomnia and found her symptoms improved by CBD treatment. Whats more, theres a pretty strong consensus among reputable sources that pure CBD does not pose serious, acute health risks. The World Health Organizations critical review concludes that CBD is generally well tolerated with a good safety profile. But dont go rushing to the health food store yet. The WHO report is helpful in furthering research efforts, but you should probably leave the clinical trials to the scientists, most doctors agree.

We checked in with clinical psychologist Dr. Bethany Cook (author of For What It's Worth: A Perspective on How to Thrive and Survive Parenting Ages 0-2) as to what she thought about the use of CBD for pediatric patients with anxiety. Bottom line: She encourages parents to consult a pediatrician before exploring alternative therapies like CBD, acknowledging that CBD could be a useful part of a pediatric anxiety treatment plan because of its ability to produce decreased physiological responses but agrees that much research still needs to be done to understand all the potential pros and cons.

We confirmed this with Dr. Dyan Hes (medical director and founder of Gramercy Pediatrics), who agrees that its best not to start experimenting with relatively unknown remedies. Dr. Hes reminds parents that, aside from the one FDA approved THC based drug, Epidiolex, for use in specific types of seizures in children over age2 yearsno other CBD oils on the market have been tested in a rigorous scientific manner in children. Plus, because the promising early evidence is too new to provide insight on long-term effects, we do not know how CBD would interact with other medications or affect the growing brain.

She also notes that because CBD is technically classified as a supplement, the regulations are pretty loosey-goosey and products may be unreliable. In fact, there is not one quality control agency verifying the labeling and concentration of CBD in the oil, [and] CBD itself has varying strengths depending on the source and manufacturing process. In other words, pure CBD used at a known dose could very well be the best thing since sliced bread, but the point is moot because thats not what youre buying at the bodega. For this reason, Dr. Hes says, pediatricians have concluded that at this point it is not safe to give a child any CBD product. This goes across the board whether to be used topically on the skin or ingested.

TLDR: Would Dr. Hes recommend CBD for children? For now, the answer is no, she tells us.

Dr. Cook says that teaching cognitive coping skillsis a powerful way to restructure neural pathways to treat and prevent anxiety. In short, there are tons of ways to help your child stay calm without going the CBD route. Here are a few tried-and-true methods, recommended by moms and health professionals alike.

1. Limit screen time

TV is fast-paced these days (take a stroll down memory lane and watch Mr. Rogers for comparison) and has been linked to aggression, attention and sleep issues in children. Its not just televisioneven just one hour of general screen time per day has been linked to lowered curiosity, self-control, emotional stability and a greater inability to complete tasks, according to a San Diego State University study published in 2018 in the journalPreventative Medicine Reports. Add to that a National Institutes of Health estimate that todays youth spend an average of five to seven hours staring at a screen each dayand Houston, weve got a problem.

Butlets be real, technology isnt going anywhere, and kids are drawn to it like moths to a flame, so you might want to take advantage of that. Which brings us to...

2. Download a meditation app

There are dozenssome better than othersthat can cater to your childs specific needs whether its helping your little one fall asleep with a soothing sleep story or providing centering visual cues or calming breathing exercises. Smiling Mind offers a super zen full body scan to help kids become more aware of how their bodies react when theyre under duress. Headspace and StopBreatheThink also have guided meditations specifically designed for kids.

3. Invest in noise-cancelling headphones

Maybe you live in a small space and have a light sleeper, or perhaps your child struggles with sensory overload. Good noise-cancelling headphones or earmuffs can help her find quiet and calm no matter the situationand theyre doctor-recommended. A study published in theHong Kong Journal of Occupational Therapyfound that children with autism spectrum disorder who often experience anxiety benefitted greatly from having those unpleasant sounds and stimuli blocked. Find a pair with a cool print or pattern on them in your kids favorite color and youre golden.

4. Tuck under a weighted blanket

Real clinical studies into weighted blankets and how effective they actually are dont exist (yet). But experts seem to be sold on at least giving them a chance when it comes to anxiety and sleeplessness. The idea here is that the blankets act in the same way that tightly swaddling a newborn creates a feeling of snug security that encourages calmness and sleep, aHarvard Medical School paperpraising the pricey blankets explained. The university recommends trying one thats about 10 percent of your childs overall body weight, meaning a 60-pound kid should use a blanket no heavier than six pounds.

5. Be a team

While many of these products can work wonders, dealing with your issues piecemeal might not be as effective as thinking holistically. You are in this battle with your child. So join the team. Meditate with them and get comfy under the weighted blanket. Learn alongside your child whats working and whats not and developa lifestyle that works for you both. A great resourceon actively dealing with your kids anxiety in real time is thislist from The Child Mind Institute. It recommends techniques like modeling healthy anxiety management in yourself, expressing positive but realistic expectations and tackling scary things together.

Yeah, we cant condone giving your kiddo a whole bunch of CBD gummies. But there are plenty of resources for helping your little guy stay calm under pressure. (And if youre still concerned that his anxiety isnt improving, definitely consult your pediatrician.)

RELATED: Is CBD Oil Just One Big Marketing Gimmick? (Dont @ Me)

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CBD Oil for Kids: Is It Safe and Does It Work? - Yahoo Lifestyle

The go.TOP was named the Best New Radiological Devise in 2017 by Aunt Minnie for a good reason; this scanner has more artificial intelligence on board than any other CT on the market today.

PRINCETON, N.J. (PRWEB) November 07, 2019

Princeton Longevity Center, the premier preventive medicine center in the Northeast and leading international health advisory company, is pleased to announce their installation of the new SOMATOM go.TOP computed tomography (CT) system. Princeton Longevity is the first healthcare facility in the Northeast to acquire this advanced imaging technology, continuing their long tradition of providing the highest levels of expertise and care to their patients.

Exceptional TechnologyThe go.TOP was named the Best New Radiological Devise in 2017 by Aunt Minnie for a good reason; this scanner has more artificial intelligence on board than any other CT on the market today. The go.TOP includes many second reader capabilities such as lung CAD, anatomy coverage, and contrast enhancement features and has the ability to lay out anatomy in multiple planes for an easier, more accurate diagnosis. Additional features include a 0.33-second rotation time, Stellar detector technology, and the ability to deliver personalized, precise radiation doses. These features, along with the systems advanced mobile, tablet-based workflow, give Princeton Longevity technologists the ability to optimally adapt to each patient and offer a full spectrum of clinical care.

Exceptional Patient CareThe SOMATOM go.TOP CT is a 128-slice scanner with a patient-centered mobile workflow; with the go.TOP, technologists spend 50% more time in direct contact with patients. Patients can be scanned in seconds with minimized doses of radiation. Safer, faster scans serve more patients and the innovative design of the go.TOP offers the ability to scan a wider array of patients; factors such as patient size, claustrophobia, or the presence of implants or pacemakers are no longer limitations to care. Flexibility and mobility options give technologists at Princeton Longevity the freedom to provide greater comfort to patients.

Princeton Longevity Center is a premiere preventative medicine center and executive health center with locations throughout the Northeast.

If you would like more information about this topic, please call Andrea Lanza or to locate a center at our website.

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Princeton Longevity Center Announces First Northeast US Installation of Siemens' State-of-the-Art SOMATOM go.Top CT Scanner - PR Web

Will we one day combine tardigrade DNA with our cells to go to Mars?

Chris Mason, a geneticist and associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell University in New York, has investigated the genetic effects of spaceflight and how humans might overcome these challenges to expand our species farther into the solar system. One of the (strangest) ways that we might protect future astronauts on missions to places like Mars, Mason said, might involve the DNA of tardigrades, tiny micro-animals that can survive the most extreme conditions, even the vacuum of space!

Mason led one of the 10 teams of researchers NASA chose to study twin astronauts Mark and Scott Kelly. After launching in 2015, Scott Kelly spent almost a year aboard the International Space Station while his twin brother, Mark Kelly, stayed back on Earth.

Related:By the Numbers: Astronaut Scott Kelly's Year-in-Space Mission

Geneticist Chris Mason discusses the genetic effects of spaceflight at the 8th Human Genetics in NYC Conference on Oct. 29, 2019.

(Image credit: Chelsea Gohd/Space.com)

By comparing how they biologically reacted to their vastly different environments during that time, scientists aimed to learn more about how long-duration missions affects the human body. Mason and the dozens of other researchers who worked to assess the genetic effects of spaceflight uncovered a wealth of data that has so far revealed many new findings about how space affects the human body.

Researchers hope that this work, which continues today, might inform strategies to support astronaut health on future missions. Mason discussed some of the results of this research at a talk at the 8th Human Genetics in NYC Conference on Oct. 29.

In addition to the research Mason discussed at the conference, these researchers are working on seven more papers incorporating the data from the twins study. However, they also hope to use new data from a larger sample.

"We want to do some of the same studies, longitudinal studies, with people on Earth, people in space," Mason told Space.com at the conference.

By studying, specifically, how certain genes are expressed during the different stages of spaceflight (including the intense return to Earth), these research efforts could support future efforts to mitigate the dangers of spaceflight, Mason said.

For instance, if further studies were to confirm that landing back on Earth were harmful to the human body, scientists could develop ways to prevent those detrimental effects. But with such a small body of data (the twins study was just two people), scientists aren't ready to prescribe any specific treatment or preventative medicine to alter how humans genetically react to spaceflight.

"I think we do what is normally done in science We see something interesting; let's try it in mice first," Mason said.

He noted that they might not even find it necessary to prescribe anything to alter the effects they've seen in astronauts like Scott Kelly. "Some of those changes, even though they're dramatic, maybe that's how the body needed to respond," Mason said.

Related: Space Radiation Threat to Astronauts Explained (Infographic)

While, Mason noted, future astronauts might be prescribed medicine or other tools to help to mitigate the effects which they've uncovered with this research. However, new studies are investigating how tools such as gene editing could make humans more capable of traveling farther into space and even to planets such as Mars.

One of the main health concerns with space travel is radiation exposure. If, for example, scientists could figure out a way to make human cells more resilient to the effects of radiation, astronauts could remain healthier for longer durations in space. Theoretically, this type of technology could also be used to combat the effects of radiation on healthy cells during cancer treatments on Earth, Mason noted.

However, the idea of tinkering with human genes is controversial. But Mason emphasized that there will likely be decades of research completed before this kind of science is applied to humans.

"I don't have any plans of having engineered astronauts in the next one to two decades," Mason said. "If we have another 20 years of pure discovery and mapping and functional validation of what we think we know, maybe by 20 years from now, I'm hoping we could be at the stage where we would be able to say we can make a human that could be better surviving on Mars."

But what does it mean to genetically engineer a person to better survive in space or on another planet? There are multiple possible approaches.

One way that scientists could alter future astronauts is through epigenetic engineering, which essentially means that they would "turn on or off" the expression of specific genes, Mason explained

Alternatively, and even more strangely, these researchers are exploring how to combine the DNA of other species, namely tardigrades, with human cells to make them more resistant to the harmful effects of spaceflight, like radiation.

This wild concept was explored in a 2016 paper, and Mason and his team aim to build upon that research to see if, by using the DNA of ultra-resilient tardigrades, they could protect astronauts from the harmful effects of spaceflight.

Genetically editing humans for space travel would likely be a part of natural changes to the human physiology that could occur after living on Mars for a number of years, Mason said. "It's not if we evolve; it's when we evolve," he added.

While changes to the human body are to be expected as our species expands off-Earth, there is a way to do this science responsibly, Mason said. "In terms of a question of liberty, you're engineering it [a future human] to have lots more opportunities, again assuming we haven't taken away opportunities," he said. "If we learned that, in some way, when we decided to try and prove the ability of humans to live beyond Earth, and we take away their ability to live on Earth, I think that would be unjust."

Genetically engineering humans could be ethical if it makes people more capable of inhabiting Mars safely without interfering with their ability to live on Earth, Mason said.

Follow Chelsea Gohd on Twitter @chelsea_gohd. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Need more space? Subscribe to our sister title "All About Space" Magazine for the latest amazing news from the final frontier!

(Image credit: All About Space)

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Can We Genetically Engineer Humans to Survive Missions to Mars? - Space.com

The number of women attending regular smear tests steadily declines after the age of 45, according to a new study, despite half of cervical cancer diagnoses occurring in women over 49.

Cervical cancer is one of the most preventable types of cancer butthe findings from the University of Michigan cancer centre highlight the need for women to continue attending appointments post-menopause for early detection to be possible.

The new study, which appeared in the journal Preventative Medicine and analysed data from around 80,000 participants in the USA, found screening rates drop in certain subpopulations of women, particularly those between the ages of 49 and 65.

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Women in rural communities and those with lower levels of education were also less likely to regularly attend their screening.

In the UK,the NHS says all people with a cervix between the ages of 25 and 64 should go for regular cervical screening they will get a letter in the post inviting them to do so.

Unless your doctor requires you to be tested more regularly, you will have a smear test every three years between the ages of 25-49 then every five years between 50-64. After the age of 65 you will only be invited if one of your last tests presentsabnormal results.

Cervical screening checks for abnormal cell changes in the cervix or the presence of HPV (the human papillomavirus).

A routine programme of vaccination against HPV has been offered to girls in UK secondary schools since 2008 and boys since September 2019. But older age groups have not had this, which scientists say places even greater emphasis on screening.

Professor Diane Harper, senior study author, said: Early detection is key to preventing invasive, devastating and potentially fatal cases of cervical cancer.

From a public health standpoint, screening of women under 30 is considered to be the least effective investment of resources, because cancer tends to develop in middle age.

Meanwhile, if a woman is screened after age 42, there is an 8 in 10 likelihood no cancer will be detected at her next screening a few years later -- meaning theyre a vital way of catching problems early.

This study supports previous research from Cancer Research UK which foundwomen who failed to attend screenings after their 50th birthday were six times more likely to end up with cervical cancer.

The number of eligible women aged 50-64 who attended cervical screening appointments dropped from 81% in 2003 to 77.5% in 2013.

Link:
Women over 45 less likely to attend smear test despite 50% of cervical cancers being diagnosed later in life - The Independent

Health care spending represents nearly a fifth of the United States gross domestic product.

The U.S. spends more per capita on health care than any other country about 25% more than the second-biggest spender, Switzerland, according to recent data from the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health. Yet the countrys health outcomes compare unfavorably to most other industrialized nations. Americans pay more for their health care, driven by a sprawling, opaque web of providers, insurers and little-understood middlemen.

Health care is also an industry seemingly in a state of flux, with new technologies, shifting regulatory frameworks and consumer demand pushing the industry into new, often controversial, territory.

Dr. Paul Matherne, a pediatric cardiologist and acting chief medical officer of the University of Virginia Health System, has led UVA Darden School of Business MBA students through the industry for years, teaching Challenges in Health Care and Solutions and Innovations in Health Care. He is also a 2010 graduate of Dardens Executive MBA program.

Matherne recently offered his thoughts on the challenges and opportunities in the field.

Q. Why do Americans spend so much more than other countries while our outcomes tend to be somewhere in the middle of the pack?

A. Because we are paying for what we can think of as sick care, and we are expecting health care. We have a great sick care system. If you are sick in this country, we can generally, without a lot of waiting, get you in to be seen and diagnosed and treated, but it will be expensive.

One problem is that how hospitals get paid and how doctors get paid is not aligned. There are times when a hospital gets paid more if a doctor moves somebody through the hospital faster, but the doctor gets paid less because theyre paid on a per-day basis. Thats just one of the many examples.

In health care, we also have a very complicated relationship between all the stakeholders. You have the person getting the service, the patient, whos paying part of it, but not all of it. Then you have someone else, the insurance company, telling patients where they can get the service. Actually, the insurance company telling you where you can get the service usually isnt paying for it either, because most companies are self-insured; theyve just hired an insurance company to administer the plan a very confusing system.

Also, as a society, were not really into preventative medicine and healthy lifestyles. We dont design neighborhoods for easy walkability. We cant access healthy foods everywhere. There are whole parts of the country, particularly in some cities and in rural areas, where you really cant find any healthy food, and fast food or processed foods are cheaper, so thats what people eat.

Equally as detrimental to our health is that we dont spend much time teaching people how to be healthy. If you look at other countries that have economies like ours, they spend far more on non-sick care health-related initiatives in prevention and education. As a result, they have better outcomes when measured by obesity and diabetes rates, infant mortality and lifespan, among others.

Q. You have a course on innovation in the health care system at Darden. What does innovation look like and where does it come from?

A. Innovation in health care can be anything from an amazing new idea or technology to adopting a tried-and-true method from the non-health care sector.

In the course, we try and look at what health systems are doing to try and improve care and bring down costs. How are they using big data, for instance? How is technology helping?

How are home health and telemedicine technologies going to help us bridge some of the gaps? What is the impact of a company like 23 and Me on health care?

We also try to get students to think about solutions in non-health care businesses that might be applied to health care. How can we improve health care by focusing on the patient experience? Whats the line between what is a hotel and what is a hospital? They seem to bump up against each other at times.

Q. The Affordable Care Act brought significant change to U.S. health care. What has been one of its major impacts?

A. One of the single most important things the Affordable Care Act did was to get rid of preexisting conditions as a reason to deny insurance. Im a pediatric cardiologist, so I take care of children with very serious heart disease. In the past, it could be difficult to find coverage, especially if you changed insurance carriers.

I once had a family who made the mistake of changing insurance carriers and not reading the fine print. So their 10-year-old daughter couldnt get insurance, and they were above the poverty line and she wasnt disabled, so she couldnt get Medicaid. This was a child who had significant medical needs, and the dad was told, Here are the choices: Let your business run into the ground and go bankrupt, or divorce your wife and leave your family destitute then your child can get Medicaid. In addition, when this child and those like her were to become adults, they could not get insurance because of the preexisting heart disease.

That doesnt happen anymore. Thats a big, big deal.

Q. How is technology going to affect health care in the near future?

A. Technology, including telemedicine, is amazing. The same thing is true for artificial intelligence. These things have changed the face of medicine and will continue to make advances in care, but fundamentally thats not why we have poor outcomes.

If I could get people to quit smoking and lose 50 pounds, that would do far more for their health than some fancy new algorithm or machine predicting that theyre going to have diabetes or heart attacks. I already know theyre going to have diabetes and heart attacks when theyre smoking, overweight and have a poor family history.

If we truly want to change the health of the nation, its got to go beyond technology.

Q. What does a path forward for sustainable health care and health spending in the United States look like?

A. The solution is going to be to begin to tie all the incentives together. Incentives for a company, incentives for hospital, for the government, for the patient and for providers.

Currently, they are not aligned. The better we can align all the stakeholders and focus on health rather than sick care, the better the health of our nation will be.

Link:
Health Care in the U.S.: 5 Big Questions on Its Pricey Present and Uncertain Future - UVA Today

While kids are getting excited about hitting the slopes, local families are bracing for a brutal cold and flu season. Although parents can't control everything, when it comes to their kids' health, there are preventative measures that may help limit the impact.

Havilah Brodhead is a family nurse practitioner and the owner of Hearthside Medicine Family Care in Bend. She works with local families and warns that influenza, strep, norovirus, RSV, pertussis, pneumonia and rhinovirus are coming. Brodhead explains that more illnesses are born in colder months because people spend more time inside where microscopic droplets from cough or sneeze are invisibly suspended mid-air, just waiting to be inhaled.

The good news, according to Brodhead, is that our immune systems are primed for what she calls a systemic, underground warfare, ready to protect us with layers of defense. "One of our most under-appreciated defense systems works as a physical barrier: our skin," she explains. "Beneath our skin circulates our under-armor powerhouse: antibodies."

The human body is undeniably incredible, but there are ways to help it out during the cold and flu season. Brodhead suggests taking some of the following steps to help fortify your family members' immune systems for the months to come.

Encourage sleep: Lack of sleep sends bodies into a stress response, which lowers immunity. As a rule, preschoolers (ages 3-5), should get between 10-13 hours of sleep each night. Children ages 6 to 13 need 9-11 hours, and adolescents ages 14-17 require between 8-10 hours.

Decrease stress and pressure: You've likely heard about the toll stress takes on our immune systems. Teach your child healthy coping mechanisms and mindfulness. Anxiety, stress and depression often result in higher levels of the stress hormone cortisol, which lowers the immune system.

Increase the joy and cuddles: Multiple studies show that people who are positive tend to have more robust immune systems. Laughter has been documented to increase immunity! Hugging, cuddling and having skin-to-skin contact does wonders for mental and physical health.

Use warm water and soap over hand sanitizers whenever possible. Recent research revealed that even just rinsing hands in water prevents the flu more successfully than using hand sanitizers. Also, most hand sanitizers contain some ingredients that may be more harmful than good.

Protect your skin: Don't neglect that important first line of defense. Keep your skin free from cracks by using a thick moisturizer and, staying hydrated.

Food as medicine: Whenever you are able, choose organic, colorful fruits and vegetables and add them to every meal. Use organic whole grains for carbohydrates.

Proper sneezing technique: Teach your children to cough and sneeze into their elbows rather than into the air.

Choose your supplements wisely and be conservative: Exercise caution with supplements, especially pregnant or breastfeeding mothers, infants and young children. Some are safe while some are not so safe. Some can interact seriously with prescription medications or exacerbate health conditions. Supplements are not regulated by the FDA, so what is in the actual product may not be what is on the label or may be contaminated.

Our bodies are prepared to go to war during this cold and flu season. So, stock your fridge with healthy, organic foods and get ready to do a whole lot of cuddling. There are worse ways to spend your winter days.

Go here to see the original:
Are You Ready? | Health | Bend - The Source Weekly

STEAMBOAT SPRINGS With winter fast approaching, parents of young children are likely gearing up for the dreaded ear infection.

Were entering the season, said Dr. Jason Sigmon, an otolaryngologist at UCHealth Ear, Nose and Throat Clinic in Steamboat Springs. Theres a higher incidence of ear infections during fall and winter months due to the increase in upper respiratory and nasal infections.

Below, Sigmon outlines what you need to know about ear infections in children.

Children, especially those younger than 3, tend to accumulate fluid underneath their eardrums. That moist environment creates prime conditions for a virus or bacteria to take hold.

The virus or bacteria gets to the ear from the nose, which is why most children who have ear infections will have some associated nasal symptoms, Sigmon said. Adults arent as susceptible, in part, because our sinus and nasal infections usually stay in our sinuses and nose.

The biggest risk factor is age, Sigmon said. As kids get older, risk of ear infections decreases.

There are not any known, clear genetic links to increased risk of ear infections, and there arent recognized preventative measures that can stop an ear infection from taking hold.

Dont be surprised if children develop more upper respiratory and nasal illnesses when entering a day care or school setting for the first time.

Thats very normal, and is necessary for their immune systems, Sigmon said. It doesnt mean a child is going to develop chronic ear infections.

The most common symptoms of an ear infection include irritability, poor sleep, nasal congestion, nasal drainage, ear tugging and a low-grade fever.

If a child has persistent symptoms that last more than 72 hours, or symptoms that worsen, they should be seen by their pediatrician or family medicine doctor, Sigmon said. Its really important to have that regular relationship with a primary care provider. Theyre well versed in how to treat and monitor your childs ear infections.

Ear infections are typically treated with oral antibiotics, as well as ibuprofen or acetaminophen to help relieve pain.

Its important to get ear infections addressed quickly, not just to help relieve your childs discomfort.

In rare cases, chronic ear infections that arent diagnosed can result in some speech and language delays, and even some hearing loss, Sigmon said. But most hearing loss associated with chronic ear infections is reversible once infections have been treated medically or with placement of ear tubes.

If ear infections become chronic, a child may be referred to a specialist like Sigmon, who may consider putting in ear tubes.

We typically put in ear tubes only after the pediatricians and family medicine doctors have exhausted all methods of managing those infections, Sigmon said.

The tiny plastic tubes help prevent the buildup of fluid, which staves off ear infections.

Ear tubes equalize pressure across the eardrum and prevent fluid from accumulating underneath the eardrum, as that fluid is a reservoir for recurrent infections, Sigmon said. Placing a tube helps break the cycle of recurring ear infections.

A child is typically sedated for the quick procedure. Then, a small incision is made in his or her eardrum, and the tube is inserted.

Its a very quick procedure, Sigmon said. And its very successful, without a lot of side effects.

Tubes typically come out on their own over time, and most children just need one set. Most of the time, as children get older, they outgrow their need for tubes, Sigmon said.

Susan Cunningham writes for UCHealth Yampa Valley Medical Center. She can be reached at cunninghamsbc@gmail.com.

Continued here:
Monday Medical: Ear infections in kids - Steamboat Pilot & Today

from the knowing-too-much dept

The cost of sequencing every DNA "letter" in a human genome has fallen faster than Moore's Law, from around $100 million in 2001, to under $1,000 today (although some say the overall cost in a clinical context is higher). This brings with it the prospect of routinely carrying out full-genome sequencing for everyone. That's precisely what Matt Hancock, the UK's Health Secretary, has said he wants to see as a part of the country's National Health Service (NHS), reported here by The Telegraph:

"My ambition is that eventually every child will be able to receive whole genome sequencing along with the heel prick test [a basic test for genetic conditions]," he told the conference.

"We will give every child the best possible start in life by ensuring they get the best possible medical care as soon as they enter the world. Predictive, preventative, personalised healthcare -- that is the future of the NHS -- and whole genome sequencing and genomics is going to play a huge part in that," he said.

Creating a massive database of near-complete genomes will probably ring alarm bells for Techdirt readers. Just recently, US police have started obtaining warrants to search entire DNA databases, even of people who opted out of allowing law enforcement to access their genomic data. That's despite the fact that "touch DNA" is mostly guesswork, and that crime lab testing is beset with problems. Moreover, a mistaken belief that DNA is infallible can lead to innocent people being charged with serious crimes like murder.

It's true that DNA can be a very powerful tool for solving crimes by finding distant matches in publicly-available genetic data, and then constructing family trees to narrow down the possible suspects. But that fact also exposes why routinely obtaining someone's DNA, as Hancock proposes for newborns in the UK, has an important impact on anyone related to the person whose whole genome is sequenced.

Even when DNA databases of a complete population are not set up for the purposes of mass surveillance, as Kuwait proposed (but then scaled back), and as China is implementing in Xinjiang as a way of controlling the local Uyghur population, there are other serious issues that need to be considered.

For example, the Telegraph article notes that full-genome sequencing of newborns means "parents could choose to be alerted to the fact their child faced heightened risks of specific diseases, and allow the NHS to offer more tailored treatment." But would parents necessarily welcome knowing that their child is more likely than the average individual to develop some serious genetic condition at some point in their lives? And what about if that condition had no treatment at present? What is gained by knowing of the risk? Might parents, and later the affected children themselves, find that knowledge almost too much to bear -- a genetic sword of Damocles hanging over them all their lives? Equally, parents might feel guilty if they don't ask for this information, which could allow for earlier treatment of diseases.

There's no doubt that full-genome sequencing will have a major impact on medicine in the decades to come, and offers the hope of more targeted and more effective medicines for many conditions. But for the benefits to be realized, doctors and genetic counselors will need to find effective ways to talk to people about what the detailed but probabilistic information revealed by their complete genomes will mean for their future health and treatments. Only then can we make informed decisions that enhance our well-being and happiness.

Follow me @glynmoody on Twitter, Diaspora, or Mastodon.

Filed Under: babies, dna, health minister, matt hancock, nhs, privacy, surveillance, uk, uk health secretary

More here:
Health Minister Wants Full-Genome Sequencing Of Every Newborn Child In UK To Become Routine - Techdirt