StemCell Therapy

Genetics & Molecular Biology Journal is an international scholarly, peer reviewed journal presenting original research contributions and scientific advances related to the field of genes, genetic variation and macromolecules. Molecular biology is the study of development, structure and function of macromolecules vital for life. It deals with the molecular basis of biological activity and overlays genetics and biochemistry.

The journal Scope Encompasses structure & functional studies of bio molecular, Cell Biology, Microbial genetics, Biological Molecules, molecular immunology, genetics, genetic disorders, cellular biology and molecular research. It also includes biochemical and molecular influence on genetic material. Genetics & Molecular Biology broadly covers the domains of life, plants, animals, microorganism and human.

The journal accepts manuscripts in the form of original research article, review article, short communication, case report, letter-to-the-Editor and Editorials for publication in an open access platform.

The Journal is using Editor Manager System for easy online tracking and managing of the manuscript processing.

Submit manuscript atwww.editorialmanager.com/imedpub/or send as an e-mail attachment to the Editorial Office at[emailprotected]

Cell biologyis a branch of biology that studies cells their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division, death and cell function. Research in cell biology is closely related to genetics, biochemistry, molecular biology, immunology, and developmental biology.

Related Journals of Cell BiologyCell Science & Therapy, Cell & Developmental Biology, Cellular and Molecular Biology, Cell Biology: Research & Therapy, Molecular Biology, Genes to Cells, Journal of Molecular Cell Biology, Biology of the Cell, Developmental Cell, Developmental Cell, Eukaryotic Cell, European Cells and Materials

Gene technology is defined as the term which include a range of activities concerned with understanding of gene expression, advantages of natural genetic variation, modifying genes and transferring genes to new hosts. Genes are found in all living organisms and are transferred from one generation to the next.Gene technology encompasses several techniques including marker-assisted breeding, RNAi and genetic modification. Only some gene technologies produce genetically modified organisms. We use the most appropriate technique, or combination of techniques, to achieve the desired goal.

Related Journal of Gene Technology

Gene Technology, Journal of Genetic Syndromes & Gene Therapy, Human Genetics & Embryology, Journal of Next Generation Sequencing & Applications, Biochemica et Biophysica Acta - Gene Structure and Expression, Gene Therapy Press, Conservation Genetics, Clinical Epigenetics, Genes, Current Genetics, Gene Expression.

Bioinformatics is the application of computer technology to the management of biological information. Computers are used to gather, store, analyze and integrate biological and genetic information which can then be applied to gene-based drug discovery and development. Bioinformatics tools aid in the comparison of genetic and genomic data and more generally in the understanding of evolutionary aspects of molecular biology. At a more integrative level, it helps analyze and catalogue the biological pathways and networks that are an important part of systems biology. In structural biology, it aids in the simulation and modeling of DNA, RNA, and protein structures as well as molecular interactions.

Related Journalsof Bioinformatics

Proteomics & Bioinformatics, Bioinformatics, Proteins: Structure, Function and Genetics, BMC Bioinformatics, Briefings in Bioinformatics, IEEE/ACM Transactions on Computational Biology and Bioinformatics

Comparative genomics It is an exciting new field of biological research in which the genome sequences of different species - human, mouse and a wide variety of other organisms from yeast to chimpanzees are compared.

Related Journals of Comparative genomics

Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics, Journal of Genetic Syndromes & Gene Therapy, International Journal of Biomedical Data Mining, Journal of Pharmacogenomics & Pharmacoproteomics, Functional & Integrative Genomics, Microbiome, Evolutionary and Genomic Microbiology, Genomics and Comparative Genomics, Journal of Virology, Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part D: Genomics and Proteomics, BMC Genomics, Comparative and Functional Genomics, Current Bioinformatics

Genetic mutation is a permanent change in the DNA.Mutations may or may not produce changes in the organism.Hereditary mutations and Somatic mutations are the two types of Gene mutations.Former type is inherited from the parents and are present in every cell of the human body whereas latter type may occur at some point of life time due to environmental factors..

Related Journals of Genetic MutationsGenetic Medicine, Genetic Engineering, Mutation Research/Genetic Toxicology and Environmental Mutagenesis, European Journal of Human Genetics, Genetics in Medicine, Human Mutation, Human Molecular Genetics, Genetic mutations Journals, Journal of Genetic Counseling, Genetic Journals, Genetic Disorder Articles, Journal of Genetic Mutation Disorders.

Gene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are usually proteins which functions as enzymes, hormones and receptors. Genes which do not code for proteins such as ribosomal RNA or transfer RNA code for functional RNA products. Gene expression is the process by which the genetic code the nucleotide sequence of a gene is used to direct protein synthesis and produce the structures of the cell. Genes that code for amino acid sequences are called as structural genes.

Related Journals of Gene Expression

Gene Technology, Journal of Next Generation Sequencing & Applications, Journal of Data Mining in Genomics & Proteomics,Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics, Transcriptomics: Open Access, Critical Reviews in Eukaryotic Gene Expression, Gene Expression, Gene Expression Patterns, Brain research, Gene expression patterns, Critical Reviews in Eukaryotic Gene Expression.

Molecular cloning is a set of techniques used to insert recombinant DNA from a prokaryotic or eukaryotic source into a replicating vehicle such as plasmids or viral vectors. Cloning refers to making numerous copies of a DNA fragment of interest, such as a gene.

Related Journals of Molecular cloning

Gene Technology, Cloning & Transgenesis, Journal of Next Generation Sequencing & Applications, Journal of Data Mining in Genomics & Proteomics, Transcriptomics: Open Access, Stem Cells and Cloning Advances and Applications, Clinical Genetics, Clinical Genetics, Forensic Science International: Genetics, Advances in Genetics.

Molecular genetics is a branch of genetics and molecular biology that deals with the structure and function of genes at a cellular and molecular level. One of the main achievements of molecular genetics is that now one can have the clarity about the chemical nature of the gene. Molecular genetics is concerned with the arrangement of genes on DNA molecule, the replication of DNA, the transcription of DNA into RNA, and the translation of RNA into proteins. Gene amplification, separation and detection, and expression are some of the general techniques used for molecular genetics.

Related Journals of Molecular Genetics

Journal of Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Tissue Science & Engineering, Cell Biology: Research & Therapy, Advances in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology, Cloning & Transgenesis, Journal of Molecular Biology: Open Access , Molecular Cell, Genetics and Molecular Biology, BMC Molecular Biology, Advances in Molecular and Cell Biology, Molecular Biology of the Cell

It is the branch that explores the relationship between the immune system and genetics. The term immunogenetics is based on two words immunology and genetics. Immunology deals with the biological and biochemical basis for the body's defense against germs such as bacteria, virus and mycosis.

Related Journals of Immunogenetics

Immunogenetics: Open Access, Journal of Antivirals & Antiretrovirals, Journal of Clinical & Cellular Immunology, Journal of Data Mining in Genomics & Proteomics, Immunogenetics, International Journal of Immunogenetics, Immunology and Immunogenetics Insights, International Journal of Immunogenetics.

Evolutionary Genetics is the study of how genetic variations leads to evolutionary changes. It includes evolution of genome structure, genetic change in response to selection within populations, and the genetic basis of speciation and adaptation

Related Journals of Evolutionary Genetics

Genetic Syndromes & Gene Therapy, Phylogenetics & Evolutionary Biology, Genetic Disorders & Genetic Reports, Cell & Developmental Biology, Journal of Social, Evolutionary, and Cultural Psychology, Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Evolutionary Computation, Genetic Programming and Evolvable Machines, Genetic Counseling, Genetic Epidemiology.

The methods used to identify the locus of a gene and the distances betweengenes.

Related Journal of Gene Technology

Gene Technology, Journal of Genetic Syndromes & Gene Therapy, Human Genetics & Embryology, Journal of Next Generation Sequencing & Applications, Biochemica et Biophysica Acta - Gene Structure and Expression, Gene Therapy Press, Conservation Genetics, Clinical Epigenetics, Genes, Current Genetics, Gene Expression.

Cloning is defined as the processes used to create copies of DNA fragments, cells or organisms. Cloning is commonly used to amplify DNA fragments containing whole genes, but it can also be used to amplify any DNA sequence such as promoters, non-coding sequences and randomly fragmented DNA. It is widely used technique of biological experiments and practical applications including genetic fingerprinting to large scale protein production.

Related Journals of Cloning

Gene Technology, Cloning & Transgenesis, Journal of Next Generation Sequencing & Applications, Journal of Data Mining in Genomics & Proteomics, Transcriptomics: Open Access, Stem Cells and Cloning Advances and Applications, Clinical Genetics, Clinical Genetics, Forensic Science International: Genetics, Advances in Genetics.

Gene Sequencing is the process of determining the precise order of nucleotides within a DNA molecule. It includes any method or technology that is used to determine the order of the four basesadenine, guanine, cytosine, and thyminein a strand of DNA.

Related Journal of Gene Technology

Gene Technology, Journal of Genetic Syndromes & Gene Therapy, Human Genetics & Embryology, Journal of Next Generation Sequencing & Applications, Biochemica et Biophysica Acta - Gene Structure and Expression, Gene Therapy Press, Conservation Genetics, Clinical Epigenetics, Genes, Current Genetics, Gene Expression.

Genetic Engineering is a technique of controlled manipulation of genes to change the genetic makeup of cells and move genes across species boundaries to produce novel organisms.

Related journals of Ethics in genetic engineering

Current Synthetic and Systems Biology, Gene Technology, Genetic Disorders & Genetic Reports Hybrid, Advances in Genetics, BMC Medical Genetics, BMC Genetics, Conservation Genetics, Epigenetics, Infection, Genetics and Evolution, Journal of Assisted Reproduction and Genetics, Neurogenetics, Psychiatric Genetics.

Molecular Medicine strives to promote the understanding of normal body functioning and disease pathogenesis at the molecular level, and to allow researchers and physician-scientists to use that knowledge in the design of specific tools for disease diagnosis, treatment, prognosis, and prevention.

Related Journals for Molecular Medicine

Biomedicine Journals, Journal of Biomedical Science, Journal of Biomedical Research, Translational Biomedicine Journal, Aperito International Journal of Biomedicine, Asian Biomedicine Systems Biomedicine, Biomedical Journal, Biomedicine International Journal, Biomedicine Journal

Molecular biology is the study of biology at the molecular level. The field overlaps with other areas of biology and chemistry, particularly genetics and biochemistry. Cell biology studies the properties of cells including their physiological properties, their structure, the organelles they contain, interactions with their environment, their life cycle, division and death. Molecular and cellular biology are interrelated, since most of the properties and functions of a cell can be described at the molecular level. Molecular and cellular biology encompass many biological fields including: biotechnology, developmental biology, physiology, genetics and microbiology.

Related Journals of Molecular Cell Biology

Cell and Developmental Biology, Journal of Cell Biology, Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, Nature Cell Biology, Current Opinion in Cell Biology, Trends in Cell Biology.

The process by which amino acids are linearly arranged into proteins through the involvement of ribosomal RNA, transfer RNA, messenger RNA, and various enzymes.

Related Journals of Protein Interaction

Cell & Developmental Biology, Advancements in Genetic Engineering, Protein Interaction Viewer, Molecular cloning & genetic recombination, Current Synthetic and Systems Biology, Genome Biology, Protein Journal.

Chromosomes andGene expression is the process by which information from a gene is used in the synthesis of a functional gene product. These products are usually proteins which functions as enzymes, hormones and receptors. Genes which do not code for proteins such as ribosomal RNA or transfer RNA code for functional RNA products. Gene expression is the process by which the genetic code the nucleotide sequence of a gene is used to direct protein synthesis and produce the structures of the cell. Genes that code for amino acid sequences are called as structural genes.

Related Journals of Chromosomes and Gene expression

Gene Technology, Journal of Next Generation Sequencing & Applications, Journal of Data Mining in Genomics & Proteomics,Journal of Proteomics & Bioinformatics, Transcriptomics: Open Access, Critical Reviews in Eukaryotic Gene Expression, Gene Expression, Gene Expression Patterns, Brain research, Gene expression patterns, Critical Reviews in Eukaryotic Gene Expression.

Autoimmune disorders are caused when immune system of the body reacts, against our own body, thus leading to many autoimmune disorders. There are several autoummune disorders they are celiac diseases, diabetes mellitus, graves diseases.

Related Journals of Autoimmune Disorders

Journal of Autoimmune Diseases, Immunome Research, Journal of Clinical & Cellular Immunology, Journal of Autoimmune Diseases and Rheumatology, Open Journal of Rheumatology and autoimmune Diseases

DNA is a molecule that contains the instructions an organism needs to develop, live and reproduce. These instructions are found inside every cell, and are passed down from parents to their children. DNA is made up of molecules called nucleotides. Each nucleotide contains a phosphate group, a sugar group and a nitrogen base.

Related journals of Recombinant DNA

Down Syndrome & Chromosome Abnormalities, Fungal Genomics & Biology, Gene Technology, Genetic Disorders & Genetic Reports Hybrid, Genetic Syndromes & Gene Therapy, Advances in DNA Sequence-Specific Agents, Artificial DNA: PNA and XNA, DNA Reporter.

A genetic disorder is a genetic problem caused by one or more abnormalities in the genome, especially a condition that is present from birth. it occurs as a result of altered gene or by set of genes. Abnormalities can also be small as single base mutation. They can also involve addition or subtraction of entire chromosome. There are four groups of genetic disorders like single gene disorders, chromosome abnormalities, mitochondrial disorders and multifactorial disorders.

Related Journals of Genetic Disorder Human Genetics and Embryology, Cloning and Transgenesis, Carcinogenesis and mutagenesis, Hereditary Genetics: Current Research, Journal of Genetic Mutation Disorders - Annex Publisher, Journal of Genetic Disorders and Genetic Report, Genes and Diseases - Journal - Elsevie, Genetic Disorders - Frontier, Source Journal of Genetic Disorders (SJGD) - Source Journals

One of a group of molecules similar in structure to a single strand of DNA. The function of RNA is to carry the information from DNA in the cell's nucleus into the body of the cell, to use the genetic code to assemble proteins, and to comprise part of the ribosomes that serve as the platform on which protein synthesis takes place.

Related journals of Recombinant DNA

Down Syndrome & Chromosome Abnormalities, Fungal Genomics & Biology, Gene Technology, Genetic Disorders & Genetic Reports Hybrid, Genetic Syndromes & Gene Therapy, Advances in DNA Sequence-Specific Agents, Artificial DNA: PNA and XNA, DNA Reporter.

The passing on of traits from one generation to another generation. Human genetics is the study of inheritance in human beings. Human characteristics are inherited from parents to offspring in discrete unites called genes. Genes consist of specific information coded in the chromosome that consists of segments of chromosomes. Human genetics includes a variety of overlapping fields like classical, molecular, biochemical, population, developmental, clinical and cytogenetics.

Related Journals of Human Genetics

Human Genetics and Embryology, Journal of Cytology & Histology, Hereditary Genetics: Current Research, General Medicine: Open Access, Journal of Molecular and Genetic Medicine, Immunogenetics: Open Access, American, Journal of Human Genetics, Annals of Human Genetics, Annual Review of Genomics and Human Genetics, Current Protocols in Human Genetics, European Journal of Human Genetics, Human Genetics, Twin Research and Human Genetics, International Journal of Human Genetics, Journal of Human Genetics

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Genetics and Molecular Biology Research - iMedPub

ADIPOSE STEM CELL THERAPIES AND TREATMENTS

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Please Note: Although we have supplied links to the research journals above on the use of stem cells for specific conditions, we are not saying that any of these studies would relate to your particular condition, nor that it would even be an effective treatment. OurAutologousStem Cell Therapy is not an FDA approved treatment for any condition. We provide stem cell therapy (less than manipulated) as a service &as a practice of medicine only. Please see theFAQ pagefor more information. Thesejournal articlesare for educational purposes only &are not intended to be used to sell or promote our therapy.

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Telephone:(602) 439-0000Fax: (602) 439-0021

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CHICAGO Go ahead and have that cup of coffee, maybe even several more. New research shows it may boost chances for a longer life, even for those who down at least eight cups daily.

In a study of nearly half-a-million British adults, coffee drinkers had a slightly lower risk of death over 10 years than abstainers.

The apparent longevity boost was seen with instant, ground and decaffeinated, results that echo U.S. research. It's the first large study to suggest a benefit even in people with genetic glitches affecting how their bodies use caffeine.

Overall, coffee drinkers were about 10 percent to 15 percent less likely to die than abstainers during a decade of follow-up. Differences by amount of coffee consumed and genetic variations were minimal.

The results don't prove your coffee pot is a fountain of youth nor are they a reason for abstainers to start drinking coffee, said Alice Lichtenstein, a Tufts University nutrition expert who was not involved in the research. But she said the results reinforce previous research and add additional reassurance for coffee drinkers.

"It's hard to believe that something we enjoy so much could be good for us. Or at least not be bad," Lichtenstein said.

The study was published Monday in the journal JAMA Internal Medicine.

It's not clear exactly how drinking coffee might affect longevity. Lead author Erikka Loftfield, a researcher at the U.S. National Cancer Institute, said coffee contains more than 1,000 chemical compounds including antioxidants, which help protect cells from damage.

Other studies have suggested that substances in coffee may reduce inflammation and improve how the body uses insulin, which can reduce chances for developing diabetes. Loftfield said efforts to explain the potential longevity benefit are continuing.

Adam Taylor, fetching two iced coffees for friends Monday in downtown Chicago, said the study results make sense.

"Coffee makes you happy, it gives you something to look forward to in the morning," said Taylor, a sound engineer from Las Vegas.

"I try to have just one cup daily," Taylor said. "Otherwise I get a little hyper."

For the study, researchers invited 9 million British adults to take part; 498,134 women and men aged 40 to 69 agreed. The low participation rate means those involved may have been healthier than the general U.K. population, the researchers said.

Participants filled out questionnaires about daily coffee consumption, exercise and other habits, and received physical exams including blood tests. Most were coffee drinkers; 154,000 or almost one-third drank two to three cups daily and 10,000 drank at least eight cups daily.

During the next decade, 14,225 participants died, mostly of cancer or heart disease.

Caffeine can cause short-term increases in blood pressure, and some smaller studies have suggested that it might be linked with high blood pressure, especially in people with a genetic variation that causes them to metabolize caffeine slowly.

But coffee drinkers in the U.K. study didn't have higher risks than nondrinkers of dying from heart disease and other blood pressure-related causes. And when all causes of death were combined, even slow caffeine metabolizers had a longevity boost.

As in previous studies, coffee drinkers were more likely than abstainers to drink alcohol and smoke, but the researchers took those factors into account, and coffee drinking seemed to cancel them out.

The research didn't include whether participants drank coffee black or with cream and sugar. But Lichtenstein said loading coffee with extra fat and calories isn't healthy.

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Fresh grounds for coffee: Study shows it may boost longevity

THE ASBVME OFFICE WILL BE RELOCATINGBeginning Monday, July 30th through August 7th, 2018!We will be in the process of moving the ASBVME Office, with thatbeing said, we will not be fully operable until Tuesday, August 7th, 2018, the phone system as well as computer systemwill have to be relocated and reconnected at the new office. We apologize for any inconvience in which this may cause.The New Physical Address will be: 8100 Seaton Place, Suite AMontgomery, AL 36116. The phone numbers will be changing as well, once we know them we will post on this website.These Rules have not gone into effect as of yet!The following Rules will be discussed, you may click on each Rule below to read the Rule and the Changes:

Rule 930-X-1-.12 - Continuing Education Requirements

Rule 930-X-1-.32 - Minimum Standards for Mobile Premises

VTNE APPLICATIONS

To sit for the VTNE for the November - December testing window, your LVT Application must be in theASBVME Office by October 1st, 2018.

To sit for the NAVLE for the Nov. - Dec., 2018 testing windown,your COMPLETE CERTIFICATION of NAVLE ELIGIBILITY APPLICATION must be in the ASBVME Office by

ASBVME Office Closed 2018:

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Alabama Veterinary Medical Examiners Board

We have a lot of knowledge to share with you about stem cells and their value in skin care. We thought we would start with a current review of ongoing work in human stem cell science to give you some context. In the next few days we will be getting a lot more specific about wound healing, anti-aging, and related applications.

Human Stem Cells: Introduction

Future advances in many medical fields are thought to be dependent on continued progress in stem cell research. In this section, BTF briefly looks at the future of stem cell based therapies in the treatment of traumatic injury, degenerative diseases, and other ailments, and concludes with a review of current cell based therapies (stem cell and non-stem cell) in the field of skin care.

While the possible indications for stem cell based therapies are numerous,the field of stem cell science is young and years (or decades) may pass before todays promising laboratory results translate into useful clinical treatments. Only time will tell whether successes evolve or remain frustratingly elusive. We do know that success is possible.

The first stem cell therapy was bone marrow transplantation, originally accomplished in the mid 1960s. Last year, there were more than 50,000 such transplants worldwide. In earlier years, infusion of filtered bone marrow cells was performed with stem cells comprising but a very small part of the volume. Newer techniques have made it possible to separate cellular types to enable use of much higher concentrations of stem cells.

Much progress has been made in characterizing stem cells and understanding how they function. There is much more to the story than differentiation into tissue specific cells. Recent research shows that perhaps even more important is the fact that stem cells, especially certain types of stem cells, communicate with the cells around them by producing cellular signals called cytokines, of which there are hundreds.

Cytokines trigger specific receptors on cell membranes that result in precise responses. This phenomenon is considered an essential element in the healing response of all tissues. Identifying and characterizing the large number of cytokines is an important part of stem cell research.

Not every induced response is necessarily beneficial. It is the symphony of responses that is important. How to promote helpful responses while inhibiting non-beneficial ones is a continuing focus of cellular biochemical research as well as the basis upon which drug companies spend huge resources developing drugs to either trigger or block particular cytokine receptors. Good examples in the field of dermatology are EGFR (epidermal growth factor receptor) blocking compounds for use in treating susceptible cells, most notably cancers stimulated by EGF.

Potential Treatments

Stem cell therapies hold potential to treat many conditions and diseases that affect millions of people in the U.S.

From the Laboratory to the Bedside

Going from the research laboratory to the bedside takes time. Only one month ago, the FDA granted marketing approval for the first licensed stem cell product. Derived from donated umbilical cord blood, the product contains stem cells that can restore a recipients blood cell levels and function. In the chart below, the type of cells recovered from umbilical cord blood are those designated as HSC cell. They are the exact cells responsible for the success of bone marrow transplantation.

Of particular note are the cells designated in the chart as MSC or mesenchymal stem cells. MSC cells are the focus of intense research in the treatment of a number of conditions because this type of stem cell can differentiate into a variety of cell types including bone, cartilage, muscles, nerve, and skin (fibroblast.)

Recent announcements about stem cells being used to fabricate replacement parts (bone, cartilage, heart muscle) are based on MSC research. They truly are the duct tape of the bodys repair tool box; a phrase coined because of their importance in the healing of injuries.

Research has shown MSC cells reside in a number of tissues, including the bone marrow. Through precise chemical signaling that originate from sites of injury, MSC cells have the ability to become mobile, enter the blood stream and travel through the circulation to the injury. Upon arrival, MSCs orchestrate the healing response. Local resident stem cells are also called into action, to produce more stem cells or to produce needed tissue specific cells. In large part, MSCs accomplish their tasks bio-chemically.

Secreted cytokines have been identified as themajormechanism by which MSCs perform their important reparative functions. There are hundreds of cytokines identified thus far. The healing response is an intricate and balanced process in which many cytokines participate.

Despite their inherent ability to differentiate into essentially any type of cell, embryonic stem cells are unlikely to be a major research focus in the foreseeable future. Ethical and political considerations limit the acceptability of their use. Federal regulations permit research only on existing cell lines which are few in number. It is difficult to see how this prohibition will end any time soon.

Getting Closer butNot There Yet

MSC (mesenchymal stem cell) therapies include use ofcellsanduse of MSC factors, the cytokines or chemical messengers mentioned above. Methods of administration will likely include intravenous infusion, injections into tissues or body spaces, or development of drugs that activate or block certain cytokine effects. Drugs already in development include epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) blockers for use in cancer treatment.

Stem Cells and Skin Health

From fetal life to death, the numbers and activity of stem cells diminish. The chart at left shows how the population of mesenchymal stem cells in the bone marrow dwindles with age.

Knowing that stem cells are important in producing differentiated daughter cells (such as fibroblasts within the dermis) and are instrumental in orchestrating the bodys response to injury, it is easy to understand how skin damage from sun exposure, gravity, smoking, trauma, toxins, even repetitive facial movement, accumulates over time.

This is one line of evidence (we will look at others) that mesenchymal stem cells (or more specifically the relative lack of same) has a lot to do with aging. Skin aging included.

Products Claiming to Activate Skin Stem Cells

The number of skin products claiming to activate human skin stem cells is large and growing. As discussed previously on BFT, a whole slew of plant derived stem cell products are being marketing, NONE of which can actually or theoretically activate anything, especially not a human stem cell.

Other products claim to have essential nutrients or antioxidants or some other magical ingredient that will suddenly make stem cells take notice and unleash their regenerative power. It is highly unlikely, except in the most extreme case of malnourishment, that any nutrient or antioxidant is deficient enough to cause a cell not to function.

These and the botanical stem cell products are marketing ploys. Human stem cells deep within the dermis will never know whether or not these substances are applied. Moisturizers and other recognized ingredients in these products can be beneficial to skin appearancebut not because a stem cell is involved.

This is worse than junk science. This is scamming.

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Skin & Human Stem Cells : An Introduction | BareFacedTruth.com

Goutham Narla, MD, PhD, Chief, Division of Genetic Medicine

As use of genomic technologies continue to increase in research and clinical settings, the Division of Genetic Medicine serves a key role in bringing together basic, clinical, and translational expertise in genomic medicine, with multidisciplinary faculty comprised of MDs, PhD scientists, and genetic counselors. Demand for expertise in genetics continues to increase, and the Division of Genetic Medicine is committed to advancing scientific discovery and clinical care of patients.

In addition to our Medical Genetics Clinic, genetics services are available through several other Michigan Medicine clinics and programs, including the Breast and Ovarian Cancer Risk Evaluation Program, Cancer GeneticsClinic,Inherited Cardiomyopathies and Arrhythmias Program,Neurogenetics Clinic, Pediatric Genetics Clinic, and Prenatal Evaluation Clinic.

Our faculty are focused on various research areas including cancer genetics, inherited hematologic disorders, neural stem cells,the mechanisms and regulation of DNA repair processes in mammalian cells, predictive genetic testing,understanding the mechanisms controlled by Hox genes, birth defects, bleeding and thrombotic disorders, and human limb malformations.

Division of Genetic Medicinefaculty are actively engaged in the education, teaching, and mentorship of clinicians, and clinical and basic scientists, including undergraduate and graduate students, medical students, residents, and fellows from various subspecialties.

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Genetic Medicine | Internal Medicine | Michigan Medicine ...

Charlotte Ophthalmology, is a leading Charlotte area eye center with over 40 years of experience. Our physicians have helped thousands of people see better, look better, and feel better. We are committed to excellence, and our patients turn to us for the best care available. We believe in one-on-one patient interaction. At our office, its not about the numbersits about treating patients one at a time.

Charlotte Ophthalmology Clinic invests in the latest laser, surgical, and pre-op testing equipment available. Our physicians are always up-to-date on the newest treatments and technologies, all delivered with the personal care our patients have come to expect.

Drs. Branner, Whiteside and Vaziri are our vision correction surgeons and physicians. They are among the most experienced and well-trained in the entire country. Together they have performed thousands of surgical, cosmetic and vision correction procedures and work as a team to meet all of your eye care needs. All are board certified by the American Academy of Ophthalmology, and they have completed extensive training as eye surgery specialists and ophthalmologists.

We are proud to announce the addition of Lensx Laser Cataract Surgery. For patients who are candidates, the latest technology for cataract surgery allows our doctors to use a surgical laser, called LENSX, for specific segments of the procedure to make cataract surgery more accurate than ever before. This laser system creates incisions without a blade so that the capsulotomy, primary incisions and even astigmatism incisions can be created more precisely.

Dr. Branner, Dr. Vaziri and Dr. Whiteside are all certified LENSX surgeons and will be happy to examine your eyes to determine if this procedure is right for you. More Information on Lensx

Charlotte Ophthalmology is proud to be the only practice in North Carolina to offer Z-Vision, the most advanced all-laser Lasik available. This procedure combines the most advanced Ziemer femtosecond laser for more gentle creation of the flap with the precision and accuracy of true Custom Wavefront VISX technology to reshape the cornea and give a quicker recovery for your vision. Our operative suite is constantly monitored to maintain strict humidity and temperature levels, which are imperative for the equipment to function properly. Our laser technicians recalibrate our systems between each patient. Dr. Branner, Dr. Whiteside, and Dr. Vaziri personally make sure your Lasik experience will be a positive, personal experience with the results you would expect from an expert in this field.

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Picea abies, the Norway spruce,[3] is a species of spruce native to Northern, Central and Eastern Europe.[4] It has branchlets that typically hang downwards, and the largest cones of any spruce, 917cm (312634in) long. It is very closely related to the Siberian spruce (Picea obovata), which replaces it east of the Ural Mountains, and with which it hybridises freely. The Norway spruce is widely planted for its wood, and is the species used as the main Christmas tree in several cities around the world. It was the first gymnosperm to have its genome sequenced, and one clone has been measured as 9,550 years old.

The Latin specific epithet abies means fir-like.[5]

Norway spruce is a large, fast-growing evergreen coniferous tree growing 3555m (115180ft) tall and with a trunk diameter of 1 to 1.5m (39 to 59in). It can grow fast when young, up to 1m (3ft) per year for the first 25 years under good conditions, but becomes slower once over 20m (65ft) tall.[6] The shoots are orange-brown and glabrous (hairless). The leaves are needle-like with blunt tips,[7] 1224mm (15321516in) long, quadrangular in cross-section (not flattened), and dark green on all four sides with inconspicuous stomatal lines. The seed cones are 917cm (312634in) long (the longest of any spruce), and have bluntly to sharply triangular-pointed scale tips. They are green or reddish, maturing brown 57 months after pollination. The seeds are black, 45mm (532316in) long, with a pale brown 15-millimetre (58-inch) wing.[1][8][9][10][11]

The tallest measured Norway spruce is 62.26m (204ft) tall and grows near Ribnica na Pohorju, Slovenia.[12]

It can often be observed that the roots of spruces pushed over in a storm form a relatively flat disc. This is usually due to the rocky subsurface, a high clay content or oxygen-depletion of the subsoil and not to a preference of the trees to form a flat root system.[citation needed]

The Norway spruce grows throughout Europe from Norway in the northwest and Poland eastward, and also in the mountains of central Europe, southwest to the western end of the Alps, and southeast in the Carpathians and Balkans to the extreme north of Greece. The northern limit is in the arctic, just north of 70N in Norway. Its eastern limit in Russia is hard to define, due to extensive hybridisation and intergradation with the Siberian spruce, but is usually given as the Ural Mountains. However, trees showing some Siberian spruce characters extend as far west as much of northern Finland, with a few records in northeast Norway. The hybrid is known as Picea fennica (or P.abies subsp. fennica, if the two taxa are considered subspecies), and can be distinguished by a tendency towards having hairy shoots and cones with smoothly rounded scales.[8][9][10]

Norway spruce cone scales are used as food by the caterpillars of the tortrix moth Cydia illutana, whereas Cydia duplicana feeds on the bark around injuries or canker.

Cones of P.obovata and Picea abies

Cones of P.obovata are short and have rounded scales.

Cones of P.abies are longer and have pointed scales.

Populations in southeast Europe tend to have on average longer cones with more pointed scales; these are sometimes distinguished as Picea abies var. acuminata (Beck) Dallim. & A.B. Jacks., but there is extensive overlap in variation with trees from other parts of the range.[8][9][10]

Some botanists treat Siberian spruce as a subspecies of Norway spruce, though in their typical forms, they are very distinct, the Siberian spruce having cones only 510cm long, with smoothly rounded scales, and pubescent (hairy) shoots.[8][9][10] Genetically Norway and Siberian spruces have turned out to be extremely similar and may be considered as two closely related subspecies of P.abies.[13]

Another spruce with smoothly rounded cone scales and hairy shoots occurs rarely in the Central Alps in eastern Switzerland. It is also distinct in having thicker, blue-green leaves. Many texts treat this as a variant of Norway spruce, but it is as distinct as many other spruces, and appears to be more closely related to Siberian spruce (Picea obovata), Schrenk's spruce (Picea schrenkiana) from central Asia and Morinda spruce (Picea smithiana) in the Himalaya. Treated as a distinct species, it takes the name Alpine spruce (Picea alpestris (Brgger) Stein). As with Siberian spruce, it hybridises extensively with Norway spruce; pure specimens are rare. Hybrids are commonly known as Norwegian spruce, which should not be confused with the pure species Norway spruce.[8][9][10]

The Norway spruce is one of the most widely planted spruces, both in and outside of its native range, and one of the most economically important coniferous species in Europe.[14] It is used as an ornamental tree in parks and gardens. It is also widely planted for use as a Christmas tree. Every Christmas, the Norwegian capital city, Oslo, provides the cities of London (the Trafalgar Square Christmas tree), Edinburgh and Washington D.C. with a Norway spruce, which is placed at the most central square of each city. This is mainly a sign of gratitude for the aid these countries gave during the Second World War.[15]In North America, Norway spruce is widely planted, specifically in the northeastern, Pacific Coast, and Rocky Mountain states, as well as in southeastern Canada. It is naturalised in some parts of North America. There are naturalised populations occurring from Connecticut to Michigan, and it is probable that they occur elsewhere.[14] Norway spruces are more tolerant of hot, humid weather than many conifers which do not thrive except in cool-summer areas and they will grow up to USDA Growing Zone 8.

In the northern US and Canada, Norway spruce is reported as invasive in some locations, however it does not pose a problem in Zones 6 and up as the seeds have a significantly reduced germination rate in areas with hot, humid summers.

The Norway spruce tolerates acidic soils well, but does not do well on dry or deficient soils. From 1928 until the 1960s it was planted on surface mine spoils in Indiana.[14]

Several cultivars have been selected as ornamentals (Barrya, Capitata, Decumbens, Dumosa, Clanbrassiliana, Gregoryana, Inversa, Microsperma, Nidiformis, Ohlendorffii, Repens, Tabuliformis, Maxwellii, 'Virgata', 'Inversa', Pendula), with a wide variety of sizes and shapes, from full-sized forest trees to extremely slow-growing, prostrate forms. They are occasionally traded under the obsolete scientific name Picea excelsa (an illegitimate name). The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:[16]

The Norway spruce is used in forestry for (softwood) timber,[22] and paper production.

The tree is the source of spruce beer, which was once used to prevent and even cure scurvy.[23] This high vitamin C content can be consumed as a tea from the shoot tips or even eaten straight from the tree when light green and new in spring.

It is esteemed as a source of tonewood by stringed-instrument makers.[24] One form of the tree called Haselfichte(de) (Hazel-spruce) grows in the European Alps and has been recognized by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. This form was used by Stradivarius for instruments.[25] (see German Wikipedia for details).

Norway spruce shoot tips have been used in traditional Austrian medicine internally (as syrup or tea) and externally (as baths, for inhalation, as ointments, as resin application or as tea) for treatment of disorders of the respiratory tract, skin, locomotor system, gastrointestinal tract and infections.[26]

A press release from Ume University says that a Norway spruce clone named Old Tjikko, carbon dated as 9,550 years old, is the "oldest living tree".[27]

However, Pando, a stand of 47,000 quaking aspen clones, is estimated to be between 80,000 and one million years old.[28][29][30]

The stress is on the difference between the singular "oldest tree" and the multiple "oldest trees", and between "oldest clone" and "oldest non-clone". The oldest known individual tree (that has not taken advantage of vegetative cloning) is a Great Basin bristlecone pine over 5,000 years old (germination in 3051 BC).[31]

The genome of Picea abies was sequenced in 2013, the first gymnosperm genome to be completely sequenced.[32] The genome contains approximately 20 billion base pairs and is about six times the size of the human genome, despite possessing a similar number of genes. A large proportion of the spruce genome consists of repetitive DNA sequences, including long terminal repeat transposable elements. Despite recent advances in massively parallel DNA sequencing, the assembly of such a large and repetitive genome is a particularly challenging task, mainly from a computational perspective.[33]

Within populations of Picea abies there is great genetic variability, which most likely reflect populations' post-glacial evolutionary history. Genetic diversity can in particular be detected when looking at how the populations respond to climatic conditions. E.g. variations in timing and length of the annual growth period as well as differences in frost-hardiness in spring and autumn. These annual growth patterns are important to recognise in order to choose the proper reforestation material of Picea abies.[34]

p-Hydroxybenzoic acid glucoside, picein, piceatannol and its glucoside (astringin), isorhapontin (the isorhapontigenin glucoside), catechin and ferulic acid are phenolic compounds found in mycorrhizal and non-mycorrhizal roots of Norway spruces.[35] Piceol[36] and astringin[37] are also found in P.abies.

Extracts from Picea abies have shown inhibitory activity on porcine pancreatic lipase in vitro.[38]

Picea abies (L.) H.Karst is the accepted name of this species. More than 150 synonyms of Picea abies have been published.[39]

Homotypic synonyms of Picea abies are:[40]

Some heterotypic synonyms of Picea abies are:

Read more here:
Picea abies - Wikipedia

Driven to solve your unique challenges.

The biotechnology industry requires sophisticated, mixed-use facilities for product development, manufacturing, and distribution. Effective process-driven engineering coupled with an in-depth understanding of adaptive bioprocess design, and the requirements that impact it, are critical to meeting your unique design needs.

For more than three decades, CRB has specialized in delivering high-quality bioprocess facilities that are safe, reliable, and sustainable. Utilizing state-of-the-art methodologies and practices, we provide services across the entire project lifecycle, from conceptual design through preliminary and detailed design, construction, commissioning, and validation.

Our biotechnology teams are widely acknowledged as some of the top experts in their field.They actively participate in industry committees that help advance the standards andguidelines for biotech facilities and processes. Drawing fromtheunparalleled experience of our team of experts, many of whomhave worked atoperating companies themselves,CRB can provide a deep understanding of clinical, research, and regulatory requirements specific to your facility, as well as the processes that drive your business.

At CRB, we believe every project deserves acustomized approach.We work collaboratively with youtounderstand your needs, andwetailor our world-class expertise to find the right solutions for your technical challenges.Most importantly,we approach your project with the samemindset thatour founders instilled in thiscompany 30+ years ago -- we continually put your interests first. That's why, when partnering with CRB, you can be assured thatyour teamwill never be satisfied untilwe haveachieved success for your business!

Original post:
Biotechnology - crbusa.com

Integrative medicine is the practice of combining conventional medical treatments with non-conventional (alternative or complementary) ones.

As more psychiatrists begin to incorporate evidence-based integrative treatment methods, and as patients begin to seek out and utilize alternative treatment options, it is important for psychiatrists to understand both the benefits and effects of such treatments.

Learn more about integrative medicine in psychiatry, including evolving terminology, types of treatment, and patterns of use, while earning CME with the following activity through the APA Learning Center.

Introduction to Complementary, Alternative, and Integrative Medicine in Psychiatry: General Overview of CAM in the United States

Launch Course

APA's Caucus on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, a special-interest group of the APA, participates and coordinates in monthly webinars on integrative medicine and psychiatry. APA members interested in joining the Caucus, or for more information on upcoming webinars, please send an email to apacaiminfo@gmail.com.

Over- and Under-Methylation in the Psychiatric Population

Micronutrients as a Treatment for Psychiatric Disorders: The Evidence to Date

Restoring Resilience in Young Adults

For more information on upcoming webinars, please send an email to apacaiminfo@gmail.com.

Each year APA meetings include sessions on the topic Integrative Medicine (CAM). To submit an abstract for consideration, please review APA Meeting Submission and Guidelines.

Learn More

The Residents Journal: Complementary and Alternative Medicine in Psychiatry

A 2013 issue of The Residents Journal, dedicated to complementary and alternative medicine in psychiatry, discusses the history and evolution of integrative medicine as a maturing specialty and includes a case report discussing how melatonin can provide relief to posttraumatic stress disorder patients.

Download

Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Psychiatry

Written from the perspective of clinicians who practice both traditional and alternative medicine, this book discusses alternative therapies and provides an academic and practical review of complementary and alternative medicine.

View More

Complementary and Alternative Treatments in Mental Health Care

This book serves as a concise and practical reference reviewing many complementary and alternative treatments used in North America and Europe, including their history and rationale.

View More

Complementary and Integrative Treatments in Psychiatric Practice

Examines a range of treatments, including neutraceuticals, mind-body practices, art therapy, and neurotherapy, to combine and integrate for optimal patient outcomes.

View More

See more here:
Integrative Medicine - psychiatry.org

Signed by President Bill Clinton in 1996, Congress passed the Dickey-Wicker Amendment, in which Jay Dickey and Roger Wicker argued against funding research in which human embryos were created and then destroyed for the purpose of stem cells.

In 2001 President George Bush passed an executive order further limiting research on stem cells by preventing the creation of additional embryonic stem cell lines to add to the 22 in existence at the time. Federal funds were confined for use only in stem cell lines already in existence. In 2009 our current President, Barack Obama had authorized a new executive order highlighting three conditions to be fulfilled for federal funding of embryonic stem cell research.According to How Stem Cells Work, by Stephanie Watson and Craig Freudenrich, these three conditions were:1) The cell line was one of the 22 in existence during the Bush administration or was created from embryos that had been discarded after in vitro fertilization procedures.2) The donors of the embryos were not paid in any way.3) The donors clearly knew that the embryos would be used for research purposes prior to giving consent.

See more here:
stem-cells | ETHICAL, LEGAL, AND SOCIAL ISSUES

A recent1 review paper proposed a controversial claimthat the vast majority of animal species arose contemporary with modern humans. Not surprisingly, this claim was met with backlash from the evolutionary community. On what basis did the authors make this wide-reaching claim? Is their assertion true? Furthermore, what ramifications do their data have for the creationist explanation of the origin of species from the originally created min or kinds?

The main focus of Stoeckle and Thalers paper is genetics. Specifically, they focus on a subset of DNA in human and animal cells, termed mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA). Their analysis of mtDNA is clear, straightforward, and carefully justifiedso much so that I will summarize their arguments by liberally quoting from their paper.

About 15 years ago, DNA barcoding was first proposed as a tool for practical taxonomy.2 Taxonomy is the field of science concerned with the classification of life, and scientists thought that taking small subsets of DNA would aid in identifying and classifying species. The particular mitochondrial sequence that has become the most widely used is the 648 base pair (bp) [think of base pairs as DNA letters] segment of the gene [a subsection of DNA sequence] encoding mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI).3

With a subset of a subset of DNA, Skeptics of COI barcoding raised a number of objections about its power and/or generality as a single simple metric applicable to the entire animal kingdom, including: the small fraction of the genome (about 5% of the mitochondrial genome and less than one millionth of the total organisms genome [total DNA in an organism]) might not be sensitive or representative.4

A simple example from humans illustrates this concern. For instance, on average any two humans differ at 0.2%0.5% of their mtDNA base pairs. Theoretically, if all mtDNA differences are evenly distributed around the human mtDNA genome, you would expect 12 mtDNA differences in each individuals 648 bp COI barcode. With numbers this low, one generation of an extra mutation or two in the COI barcode sequence might throw a real classification pattern (i.e., one based on comparisons of hundreds of anatomical and physiological features) into confusion.

However, since the early days of DNA barcoding, such objections have been mostly mollified. I can attest to this from my own experience in handling thousands of mtDNA sequences. As a representative of the mtDNA diversity among species and individuals, a subset of mtDNA sequence is a good first approximation. Though subsets arent always perfect representations of the whole sequence, they are good initial data points.

Furthermore, over several decades of mtDNA barcoding, scientists have discovered a specific clustering pattern among mtDNA barcodes from individuals across diverse species: a general observation is that barcode clusters correspond best to species in well-studied animal groups, where taxonomists have mostly decided and agreed upon what species are. Thus there is good support in several major phyla, including Chordata [e.g., vertebrates and a handful of other species], Arthropoda [e.g., insects, arachnids, and crustaceans], Mollusca [e.g., shellfish, octopi], Echinodermata [e.g., starfish]. We note that these phyla are estimated to contain about 34 of named animal species.5

This fact has two major ramifications: First, the cluster structure of the animal world found in COI barcode analysis is independent of any definition(s) of species. Second, domain experts judgments of species tend to agree with barcode clusters and many apparent deviations turn out to be exceptions that prove the rule.6 In other words, the initial fears of those skeptical of DNA barcoding have not been met. Instead, barcoding has been very successful.

In light of these successes, the authors acknowledge the unexpected implications for explanations for the origin of species: At its origin DNA barcoding made no claim of contributing to evolutionary theory,7 yet the pattern of DNA barcode variance is the central fact of animal life that needs to be explained by evolutionary theory.8

Expanding our scope beyond the narrow evolutionary focus of the authors, we can generalize their statement: These mtDNA barcode patterns need to be explained by any model purporting to account for the origin of species.

The barcode patterns take a very specific form: the clustering structure of COI barcodessmall variance within species and often but not always sequence gaps among nearest neighbor species is the primary fact that a model of evolution and speciation must explain. Furthermore, the average pairwise difference among individuals (APD; equivalent to population genetics parameter ) within animal species is between 0.0% and 0.5%. The most data are available for modern humans, who have an APD of 0.1% calculated in the same way as for other animals.9

Stoeckle and Thaler recognize the sweeping potential in these patterns: The agreement of barcodes and domain experts implies that explaining the origin of the pattern of DNA barcodes would be in large part explaining the origin of species. Understanding the mechanism by which the near-universal pattern of DNA barcodes comes about would be tantamount to understanding the mechanism of speciation.10

In their evolutionary model, Stoeckle and Thaler invoke two hypotheses account for the barcode cluster patterns: Either 1) COI barcode clusters represent species-specific adaptations, OR 2) extant populations have recently passed through diversity-reducing regimes whose consequences for sequence diversity are indistinguishable from clonal bottlenecks.11

Their conclusion? Modern human mitochondria and Y chromosome [another subset of DNA, but inherited paternally] originated from conditions that imposed a single sequence on these genetic elements between 100,000 and 200,000 years ago.12 In other words, to account for human CO barcode patterns, they favor the second hypothesissome sort of population dynamic (contraction) that reduced the genetic diversity of the population.

Stoeckle and Thaler then extrapolate their conclusions to controversial heights. To justify their extrapolation, they caution that one should not as a first impulse seek a complex and multifaceted explanation for one of the clearest, most data rich and general facts in all of evolution. Then they draw a parallel: The simple hypothesis is that the same explanation offered for the sequence variation found among modern humans applies equally to the modern populations of essentially all other animal species. Namely that the extant population, no matter what its current size or similarity to fossils of any age, has expanded from mitochondrial uniformity within the past 200,000 years.13 In other words, based on mtDNA barcodes, Stoeckle and Thaler claim that the vast majority of species have originated contemporary with modern humans.

Though Stoeckle and Thaler dont perform this step, lets revisit their data and take their results to the next logical conclusion. We can do this because creationists have no problems with the observations that Stoeckle and Thaler describe. Ive already mentioned that my own experience with mtDNA matches theirsbarcodes are a useful first approximation and should be treated as such. Yet this first approximation has revealed a consistent patternlow numbers of mtDNA differences within species and higher numbers of mtDNA differences between species.

Furthermore, since Stoeckle and Thaler explore the origin of individual speciesrather than the origin of whole classification groups, like mammalstheir reasoning applies almost seamlessly to the creationist explanation for the origin of species. Their claim that species arose recently is one that focuses on species within kindsnot one that explores changes from one kind into another. In other words, for Stoeckle and Thalers particular question, evolutionists and creationists agree on the question of common ancestry.

Nevertheless, they differ sharply on the question of timewhen these individual species arose. Unlike Stoeckle and Thaler, creationists invoke not two, but three potential explanations for low numbers of mtDNA sequence differences within species: (1) species-specific adaptations; (2) changing population sizes or past bottlenecks (see especially the discussion of American bison (Bison bison) mtDNA and African buffalo (Syncerus caffer) mtDNA in this paper; (3) time recent origin (e.g., within the last 4,5006,000 years).

We now have two decades worth of direct measurements of the rate at which human mtDNA mutates, and it matches exactly the 6,000-year timescale and rejects the evolutionary timescale (see Genetics Confirms the Recent, Supernatural Creation of Adam and Eve and references therein). Thus, taking Stoeckle and Thalers results to their logical conclusion, we can revise their statement to Modern human [mitochondrial DNA] originated from conditions that imposed a single sequence on these genetic elements14 about 6,000 years ago.

Lets now re-extrapolate these results to other species. The simple hypothesis is that the same explanation offered for the sequence variation found among modern humans applies equally to the modern populations of essentially all other animal species. Namely that the extant population, no matter what its current size or similarity to fossils of any age, has expanded from mitochondrial uniformity within the past 6,000 years.

We can refine this conclusion even more, with more spectacular implications for the creationist model: In the last two decades, the mtDNA mutation rate in a handful of invertebrate species has also been directly measured, and these rates14 are around 10 times higher (or more!) than the human mtDNA mutation rate (again, see this article and references therein). This would imply that multiple species within a genus (or perhaps even a family) have originated within the last 6,000 years.

In other words, these broad mtDNA barcode results suggest that, in general, the predictions15 I made for mtDNA mutation rates in diverse species are likely to be fulfilled. This is good evidence that Darwins ideas are well on their way to being replaced.

As this article was going to press, the theistic evolutionary organization BioLogos posted a critique of Stoeckle and Thalers paper. More specifically, BioLogos posted a critique of creationist responses to Stoeckle and Thaler. BioLogos took strong exception to the type of thesis that I advanced above. For example, consider the following quote from BioLogos: "Did Stoeckel [sic] and Thaler conclude that 90% of animal species appeared at same time as humans? The answer is No [emphasis theirs].

Did I miss a key element of the Stoeckle and Thaler paper?

Lets take a look at the BioLogos article, which was written by PhD biologist and professor Joel Duff. Duff clearly desired to minimize the implications of Stoeckle and Thalers paper. For example, Duff characterized the journal in which it was published as a low-profile Italian journal. He also downplayed the impact, saying that the extended press release didnt generate much reaction inside or outside of the scientific community. More strongly, Duff denounced claims like the one I made above as mischaracterization of the original research. He said it was an incorrect claim that most species originated about the same time.

Why?

To support his assertion, Duff proposed an examination of the original intent of the authors of this paper. Since an authors intent is invisible unless the author clearly states it, Duffs suggested methodology to justify his strong critique is a creative way to tackle a scientific controversy.

After examining Stoeckle and Thalers intent to Duffs satisfaction, Duffs journalism gets more questionable. Weve already examined his emphatic assertion: Did Stoeckel [sic] and Thaler conclude that 90% of animal species appeared at same time as humans? The answer is No. Duff justifies his forceful condemnation with a quote from Stoeckle and Thalers paper: the extant population, no matter what its current size or similarity to fossils of any age, has expanded from mitochondrial uniformity within the past 200,000 years.16 In light of this quote, Duff concludes, In other words, the genetic diversity observed in mitochondrial genomes of most species alive today can be attributed to the accumulation of mutations from an ancestral genome within the past 200,000 years, and Duff asserts that the authors never claim that most species came into existence within the past 200,000 years.

For a critique that began with a proposal to examine intent, Duff seems to have missed the actual intent of the authors. The title of their paper is, Why should mitochondria define species? After discussing and justifying at length the observation that mtDNA differences do, in fact, delineate species, the authors then make a startling statement: The pattern of DNA barcode variance is the central fact of animal life that needs to be explained by evolutionary theory17 [emphasis theirs]. In case the intent of their statement wasnt transparent, the authors make it explicit: The agreement of barcodes and domain experts implies that explaining the origin of the pattern of DNA barcodes would be in large part explaining the origin of species. Understanding the mechanism by which the near-universal pattern of DNA barcodes comes about would be tantamount to understanding the mechanism of speciation.18 They then spend the next chunk of their paper discussing what mtDNA barcodes imply about the mechanism of speciation. Clearly, Stoeckle and Thaler are concerned with much more than just the accumulation of mutations from an ancestral genome within the past 200,000 years. Instead, they have a strong focus on the origin of species.

But did the authors never claim that most species came into existence within the past 200,000 years? In one sense, if we split hairs, Duff is technically correct: In their paper, Stoeckle and Thaler never say so explicitly. Yet as weve just observed, the conclusion about the timing of the origin of species is implied. Furthermore, Thaler makes the conclusion explicit in the press releasethe very one that Duff cited:

Our paper strengthens the argument that the low variation in the mitochondrial DNA of modern humans also explains the similar low variation found in over 90% of living animal specieswe all likely originated by similar processes and most animal species are likely young19. [emphasis added]

How did Biologos miss this?

Duff advances a second argument in his critique of the implications of Stoeckle and Thalers paper. He says that the mtDNA results at best, [tell] us the minimum age of the species. It tells us little to nothing about the maximum age of a species [emphasis his]. For the maximum age, Duff thinks the fossil record is essential. Furthermore, he states that an examination of the mitochondrial genome of any species will only tell us when the common ancestor of all modern members of this species existed, which will almost invariably occur after the evolutionary origin of the species.

But how does Duff know that this is true? Ive already documented that fossils do not directly record genealogical relationships; only DNA does. Why would Duff defer the genealogical question of ancestry (a.k.a. the question of the origin of species) to an indirect field of science (paleontology) when a direct field (geneticsmtDNA) gives a clear answer?

Ive also documented that the process of speciation involves several stepsat a minimum, (1) the formation of one or more distinct individuals, (2) the multiplication of these distinct individuals into a population, and (3) the isolation of this distinct population from the parent species. How does Duff know that the supposed ancestors (recorded by fossils) of modern species were isolated enough from the other populations alive at the time to be called a new species? Duff is trying to win a scientific argument, not by data and by experimentation, but by assertion. This is not a scientific way to resolve the controversy.

BioLogos response is sad, if not ironic. Weve already documented the fact that our evolutionary opponents dont read our literature (Duff included , despite BioLogos professed commitment to dialogue with those who hold other views); yet they call us liars. Sometimes I wonder if they carefully read even the evolutionary literature. Either way, BioLogos main critique (of the implications of Stoeckle and Thalers paper) amounts to misrepresentation and speculation even approaching outright denial. If this is the best that the evolutionary community can do, then perhaps my scientific conclusions (above) are even stronger than they first appear.

See more here:
Hundreds of Thousands of Species in a Few Thousand Years?

Last year, a team of scientists spotted what they believed was a hybrid animal off the coast of Kauai, Hawaii.A new report from Cascadia Research Collectiveconfirms they did and the new sea creature is the result of a whale and a dolphin mating, the teams head researcher told CBS News.

What the researchers discovered was a hybrid of a melon-headed whale and a rough-toothed dolphin. In an interview with local newspaperThe Garden Island,the head of the project said the discovery is their most unusual finding. We had the photos and suspected it was a hybrid from morphological characteristics intermediate between species, Robin Baird said.

During their two-week project, scientists were able to get a biopsy sample from the creature and study its genetics. They were able to confirm that the animal was a hybrid. Based on the genetics, the father was a rough-toothed dolphin and the mother a melon-headed whale, Baird told CBS News via email.

One of the species that makes up this hybrid is very rare in Hawaii. Melon-headed whales usually dont swim in these waters, so when scientists spotted the whale, they put satellite tags on the animal. During this two-week study, scientists also spotted another rare species in the water, pantropical spotted dolphins, which they also tagged.

Bairds research team is going to be back in Kauais waters next month, when they hope to get more photos of the new hybrid whale-dolphin and water samples. They also hope to do testing on other species in the area.

Were hoping that just by talking to some tour operators and fishermen we might get tips and encounter something like pilot whales, Baird said.

See the article here:
New hybrid whale-dolphin discovered in Hawaii

The outgoing director of the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences has accepted a job at CHI St. Vincent.

Dr. Peter Emanuel turned in his resignation letter on May 4. His last day at UAMS is Tuesday.

Emanuel, 59, will join CHI St. Vincent on Sept. 1, according to a statement from the hospital. His position was not specified.

At the time of his resignation, he declined to give the reason for his departure, only citing unspecified challenges. He could not be reached for comment Friday afternoon.

UAMS is conducting a national search for a new cancer institute director, said Leslie Taylor, vice chancellor of communications and marketing. Dr. Laura Hutchins was appointed interim director in June. Hutchins is a professor in the College of Medicine Division of Hematology/Oncology, where she was division director from 1998 until September 2013.

Emanuel is a widely recognized expert in leukemia and lymphoma, a UAMS website states. He joined UAMS in 2007 after leaving the University of Alabama at Birmingham, where he was a professor of medicine, genetics and biochemistry.

From 2004 to 2006 he was the acting director of the National Cancer Institute-designated Comprehensive Cancer Center at the Alabama university.

During his time at UAMS, he oversaw the addition of the cancer institute's 12-story research and treatment tower, which opened in 2010. His annual salary was $500,000.

His resignation in May followed UAMS' decision to temporarily suspend its cardiac surgery program due to lead surgeon Dr. Gareth Tobler's retirement. That program restarted at the beginning of July, with the hospital contracting with four new physicians.

UAMS also laid off almost 260 employees in January to curb an anticipated $72.3 million deficit. Those layoffs included one full-time physician -- a general ear, nose and throat doctor who did not work at the cancer institute.

News of Emanuel's new role comes one day after an invoice that his wife, Carla Emanuel, sent seeking reimbursement from the Winthrop P. Rockefeller Cancer Institute became public.

The $4,000 bill lists events that she attended, phone calls she made and work she did to resolve problems with donors. Taylor said UAMS was not going to pay the bill because state procedures regarding vendors and invoices were not followed.

Taylor added that the invoice was the first one she was aware of from a spouse, and the institution does not normally reimburse people for attending fundraising events.

The Arkansas Times first reported on the invoice on Thursday.

Metro on 07/28/2018

Originally posted here:
LR hospital hires cancer institute chief - arkansasonline.com

July 27, 2018 - By Vernon Prom

Investors sentiment increased to 1.61 in Q1 2018. Its up 0.38, from 1.23 in 2017Q4. It is positive, as 24 investors sold Seattle Genetics, Inc. shares while 53 reduced holdings. 31 funds opened positions while 93 raised stakes. 159.52 million shares or 12.47% more from 141.83 million shares in 2017Q4 were reported.

California State Teachers Retirement System reported 165,312 shares. 13,084 are held by Bluecrest Cap Ltd. Pictet Asset invested in 0.1% or 786,323 shares. Swiss Bankshares owns 0.02% invested in Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) for 349,100 shares. Keybank National Association Oh invested in 0% or 8,414 shares. 4,998 were accumulated by Shell Asset Mngmt Company. Pnc Financial holds 6,727 shares. Utah Retirement Sys holds 0.02% of its portfolio in Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) for 19,600 shares. Wells Fargo And Co Mn, a California-based fund reported 306,681 shares. The Connecticut-based Bridgewater Associate L P has invested 0.01% in Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN). Amundi Pioneer Asset Management has 21,523 shares. National Bank Of America Corp De accumulated 496,573 shares. Daiwa Securities accumulated 4,395 shares. Zurcher Kantonalbank (Zurich Cantonalbank), Switzerland-based fund reported 23,953 shares. Pub Employees Retirement Association Of Colorado invested in 20,183 shares or 0.01% of the stock.

Since February 1, 2018, it had 3 buys, and 12 sales for $266.62 million activity. Cline Darren S also sold $497,983 worth of Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) shares. The insider SIEGALL CLAY B sold 18,832 shares worth $951,393. The insider HIMES VAUGHN B sold 5,000 shares worth $290,604. 10,457 shares were sold by DRACHMAN JONATHAN G, worth $552,452.

JP Morgan now has a $77 target on the $11.55 billion market cap company or 5.51 % upside potential. In analysts note issued to clients on Friday, 27 July, Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ:SGEN) shares have had their Overweight Rating kept by professional analysts at JP Morgan.

Among 8 analysts covering Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ:SGEN), 7 have Buy rating, 0 Sell and 1 Hold. Therefore 88% are positive. Seattle Genetics has $77.0 highest and $60.0 lowest target. $68.13s average target is -6.65% below currents $72.98 stock price. Seattle Genetics had 12 analyst reports since January 31, 2018 according to SRatingsIntel. SunTrust maintained it with Hold rating and $60.0 target in Wednesday, February 7 report. The stock of Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) earned Buy rating by Needham on Wednesday, February 7. J.P. Morgan upgraded the shares of SGEN in report on Wednesday, February 14 to Buy rating. The rating was maintained by Morgan Stanley on Wednesday, March 21 with Overweight. The firm has Buy rating by RBC Capital Markets given on Tuesday, March 20. The firm has Buy rating given on Monday, June 11 by SunTrust. The company was maintained on Wednesday, February 7 by H.C. Wainwright. On Thursday, February 1 the stock rating was maintained by H.C. Wainwright with Buy. The stock of Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) has Neutral rating given on Wednesday, February 7 by Bank of America. The firm has Overweight rating by JP Morgan given on Wednesday, February 14.

The stock increased 2.43% or $1.73 during the last trading session, reaching $72.98. About 1.60M shares traded or 72.55% up from the average. Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) has declined 15.50% since July 28, 2017 and is downtrending. It has underperformed by 28.07% the S&P500.

Seattle Genetics, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes targeted therapies to treat cancer worldwide. The company has market cap of $11.55 billion. It markets ADCETRIS, an antibody-drug conjugate for relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma and relapsed systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. It currently has negative earnings. The firm also develops SGN-CD33A that is in Phase III clinical trial to evaluate SGN-CD33A in combination with hypomethylating agents in previously untreated older patients, as well as in Phase 1/2 clinical trial for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia ; ASG-22ME, which is in Phase I clinical trial for Nectin-4-positive solid tumors, including bladder cancer; SGN-LIV1A that is in Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with LIV-1-positive metastatic breast cancer; and SGN-CD19A, which is in Phase II clinical trial for patients with relapsed DLBCL, as well as in Phase II trial for patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL.

More notable recent Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) news were published by: Streetinsider.com which released: Seattle Genetics (SGEN) Adcetris On-going Launch in 1L cHL is Positive Says SunTrust. on July 02, 2018, also Benzinga.com with their article: Benzingas Daily Biotech Pulse: Biogen, AC Immune Slip Despite Positive Trials, Sarepta Slapped With Clinical Hold published on July 26, 2018, Seekingalpha.com published: Mid-stage study underway for Seattle Genetics tisotumab vedotin in solid tumors; shares up 1% premarket on July 12, 2018. More interesting news about Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) were released by: Seekingalpha.com and their article: Dont Sell Axon Enterprise Cramers Lightning Round (7/11/18) published on July 12, 2018 as well as Benzinga.coms news article titled: Benzingas Daily Biotech Pulse: Achaogen To Trim Workforce By 28%, Amgens Beat-And-Raise Quarter with publication date: July 27, 2018.

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TOday's Movers: Seattle Genetics (NASDAQ:SGEN) Stock ...

July 27, 2018 - By Mona Holcomb

Investors sentiment increased to 1.61 in Q1 2018. Its up 0.38, from 1.23 in 2017Q4. It is positive, as 24 investors sold Seattle Genetics, Inc. shares while 53 reduced holdings. 31 funds opened positions while 93 raised stakes. 159.52 million shares or 12.47% more from 141.83 million shares in 2017Q4 were reported.

Pub Employees Retirement Association Of Colorado holds 20,183 shares. Jgp Global Gestao De Recursos Ltda reported 22,334 shares or 0.47% of all its holdings. Jane Street Gru Limited Company invested in 3,903 shares or 0% of the stock. Prudential Fincl, New Jersey-based fund reported 6,451 shares. 7,900 were reported by Ellington Management Grp. Caisse De Depot Et Placement Du Quebec reported 5,300 shares or 0% of all its holdings. D E Shaw & stated it has 168,554 shares. Td Asset owns 0.01% invested in Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) for 154,016 shares. Virtu Fincl Ltd Liability Corporation reported 10,922 shares stake. Stratos Wealth Limited holds 0% of its portfolio in Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) for 1,213 shares. World Asset Inc stated it has 3,870 shares. State Of Alaska Department Of Revenue reported 9,710 shares stake. Franklin Res has 108,400 shares for 0% of their portfolio. Zurcher Kantonalbank (Zurich Cantonalbank) owns 23,953 shares. 205,300 are owned by California Pub Employees Retirement.

Since February 1, 2018, it had 3 insider buys, and 12 insider sales for $266.62 million activity. $936,818 worth of stock was sold by SIEGALL CLAY B on Friday, February 9. On Thursday, March 15 HIMES VAUGHN B sold $290,604 worth of Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) or 5,000 shares. On Wednesday, May 9 the insider Cline Darren S sold $497,983. DRACHMAN JONATHAN G sold $552,452 worth of stock or 10,457 shares.

EU: In an analyst report issued to investors and clients on 27 July, H.C. Wainwright reiterated their Buy rating on Seattle Genetics (SGEN) shares. They now have a $98.0 target price on the firm. H.C. Wainwrights target indicates a potential upside of 37.54 % from the companys last price.

The stock increased 2.04% or $1.45 during the last trading session, reaching $72.7. About 995,861 shares traded or 7.56% up from the average. Seattle Genetics, Inc. (SGEN) has declined 15.50% since July 27, 2017 and is downtrending. It has underperformed by 28.07% the S&P500.

Seattle Genetics, Inc., a biotechnology company, develops and commercializes targeted therapies to treat cancer worldwide. The company has market cap of $11.50 billion. It markets ADCETRIS, an antibody-drug conjugate for relapsed Hodgkin lymphoma and relapsed systemic anaplastic large cell lymphoma. It currently has negative earnings. The firm also develops SGN-CD33A that is in Phase III clinical trial to evaluate SGN-CD33A in combination with hypomethylating agents in previously untreated older patients, as well as in Phase 1/2 clinical trial for patients with relapsed or refractory acute myeloid leukemia ; ASG-22ME, which is in Phase I clinical trial for Nectin-4-positive solid tumors, including bladder cancer; SGN-LIV1A that is in Phase 1 clinical trial for patients with LIV-1-positive metastatic breast cancer; and SGN-CD19A, which is in Phase II clinical trial for patients with relapsed DLBCL, as well as in Phase II trial for patients with newly diagnosed DLBCL.

More notable recent Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) news were published by: Streetinsider.com which released: Seattle Genetics (SGEN) Adcetris On-going Launch in 1L cHL is Positive Says SunTrust. on July 02, 2018, also Seekingalpha.com with their article: Dont Sell Axon Enterprise Cramers Lightning Round (7/11/18) published on July 12, 2018, Seekingalpha.com published: Mid-stage study underway for Seattle Genetics tisotumab vedotin in solid tumors; shares up 1% premarket on July 12, 2018. More interesting news about Seattle Genetics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGEN) were released by: Benzinga.com and their article: Benzingas Daily Biotech Pulse: Biogen, AC Immune Slip Despite Positive Trials, Sarepta Slapped With Clinical Hold published on July 26, 2018 as well as Benzinga.coms news article titled: Benzingas Daily Biotech Pulse: Achaogen To Trim Workforce By 28%, Amgens Beat-And-Raise Quarter with publication date: July 27, 2018.

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Seattle Genetics (SGEN) "Buy" Rating Reaffirmed Today By H ...

The stem cell procedure for the treatment of knee pain is minimally invasive, takes about 3 hours, and patients walk out of the office on their own following treatment. To start, stem cells are harvested from your abdominal or love handle fat using high tech, minimally-invasive liposuction equipment. Stem cells from your bone marrow are also utilized. The bone marrow concentrate is harvested using a specially designed, low-trauma needle which is placed into the posterior iliac crest under live x-ray guidance.

Mild IV sedation, in combination with local anesthetic, is used to provide patient comfort during the procedure. The harvested cells are then prepared for injection using an advanced separation and centrifugation process.

With the use of live x-ray guidance, the cells and growth factors are injected into the affected knee joint under sterile conditions. Dr. Brandts extensive experience with knee injections, along with the aid of the appropriate image guidance, ensures the cells are reaching their targeted area so you have the best chance for improvement.

To complement the high stem cell count achieved with the use of adipose derived stem cells, we often utilize PRP, A2M, and placental derived growth factors during our knee procedures and follow-up treatments.

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Stem Cell Therapy for Knees: Definitive Guide [with ...

From Nobel Prizewinning author Jos Saramago, a magnificent, mesmerizing parable of loss

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides her c

A city is hit by an epidemic of "white blindness" that spares no one. Authorities confine the blind to an empty mental hospital, but there the criminal element holds everyone captive, stealing food rations and assaulting women. There is one eyewitness to this nightmare who guides her chargesamong them a boy with no mother, a girl with dark glasses, a dog of tearsthrough the barren streets, and their procession becomes as uncanny as the surroundings are harrowing. As Blindness reclaims the age-old story of a plague, it evokes the vivid and trembling horrors of the twentieth century, leaving readers with a powerful vision of the human spirit that's bound both by weakness and exhilarating strength.

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Blindness by Jos Saramago - goodreads.com

Taxus baccata is a conifer native to western, central and southern Europe, northwest Africa, northern Iran and southwest Asia.[3] It is the tree originally known as yew, though with other related trees becoming known, it may now be known as English yew,[4] or European yew.

The word yew is from Proto-Germanic *wa-, possibly originally a loanword from Gaulish *ivos, compare Breton ivin, Irish o, Welsh ywen, French if (see Eihwaz for a discussion). Baccata is Latin for bearing red berries. The word yew as it was originally used seems to refer to the color brown.[5] The yew () was known to Theophrastus, who noted its preference for mountain coolness and shade, its evergreen character and its slow growth.[6]

Most Romance languages, with the notable exception of French (if), kept a version of the Latin word taxus (Italian tasso, Corsican tassu, Occitan teis, Catalan teix, Gasconic tech, Spanish tejo, Portuguese teixo, Galician teixo and Romanian tis) from the same root as toxic. In Slavic languages, the same root is preserved: Russian tis (), Slovakian tis, Slovenian tisa, Serbian-Croatian-Bosnian tisa/. Albanian borrowed it as tis.

In German it is known as Eibe.

In Iran, the tree is known as sorkhdr (Persian: , literally "the red tree").

The common yew was one of the many species first described by Linnaeus. It is one of around 30 conifer species in seven genera in the family Taxaceae, which is placed in the order Pinales.

It is a small to medium-sized evergreen tree, growing 1020 metres (3366ft) (exceptionally up to 28 metres (92ft)) tall, with a trunk up to 2 metres (6ft 7in) (exceptionally 4 metres (13ft)) in diameter. The bark is thin, scaly brown, coming off in small flakes aligned with the stem. The leaves are flat, dark green, 14 centimetres (0.391.57in) long and 23 millimetres (0.0790.118in) broad, arranged spirally on the stem, but with the leaf bases twisted to align the leaves in two flat rows either side of the stem, except on erect leading shoots where the spiral arrangement is more obvious. The leaves are poisonous.[3][7]

The seed cones are modified, each cone containing a single seed, which is 47 millimetres (0.160.28in) long, and partly surrounded by a fleshy scale which develops into a soft, bright red berry-like structure called an aril. The aril is 815 millimetres (0.310.59in) long and wide and open at the end. The arils mature 6 to 9 months after pollination, and with the seed contained, are eaten by thrushes, waxwings and other birds, which disperse the hard seeds undamaged in their droppings. Maturation of the arils is spread over 2 to 3 months, increasing the chances of successful seed dispersal. The seeds themselves are poisonous and bitter, but are opened and eaten by some bird species including hawfinches,[8] greenfinches and great tits.[9] The aril is not poisonous, it is gelatinous and very sweet tasting. The male cones are globose, 36 millimetres (0.120.24in) in diameter, and shed their pollen in early spring. The yew is mostly dioecious, but occasional individuals can be variably monoecious, or change sex with time.[3][7][10]

Taxus baccata can reach 400 to 600 years of age. Some specimens live longer but the age of yews is often overestimated.[11] Ten yews in Britain are believed to predate the 10th century.[12] The potential age of yews is impossible to determine accurately and is subject to much dispute. There is rarely any wood as old as the entire tree, while the boughs themselves often become hollow with age, making ring counts impossible. Evidence based on growth rates and archaeological work of surrounding structures suggests the oldest yews, such as the Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, may be in the range of 2,000 years,[13][14][15] placing them among the oldest plants in Europe. One characteristic contributing to yew's longevity is that it is able to split under the weight of advanced growth without succumbing to disease in the fracture, as do most other trees. Another is its ability to give rise to new epicormic and basal shoots from cut surfaces and low on its trunk, even at an old age.[citation needed]

The Fortingall Yew in Perthshire, Scotland, has the largest recorded trunk girth in Britain and experts estimate it to be 2,000 to 3,000 years old, although it may be a remnant of a post-Roman Christian site and around 1,500 years old.[16] The Llangernyw Yew in Clwyd, Wales, can be found at an early saint site and is about 1,500 years old.[17] Other well known yews include the Ankerwycke Yew, the Balderschwang Yew, the Caesarsboom, the Florence Court Yew, and the Borrowdale Fraternal Four, of which poet William Wordsworth wrote. The Kingley Vale National Nature Reserve in West Sussex has one of Europe's largest yew woodlands.

The oldest specimen in Spain is located in Bermiego, Asturias. It is known as Teixu l'Iglesia in the Asturian language. It stands 15m (49ft) tall with a trunk diameter of 6.82m (22.4ft) and a crown diameter of 15 m. It was declared a Natural Monument on April 27, 1995 by the Asturian Government and is protected by the Plan of Natural Resources.[18]

A unique forest formed by Taxus baccata and European box (Buxus sempervirens) lies within the city of Sochi, in the Western Caucasus.

The oldest Irish Yew (Taxus baccata 'Fastigiata'), the Florence Court Yew, still stands in the grounds of Florence Court estate in County Fermanagh, Northern Ireland. The Irish Yew has become ubiquitous in cemeteries across the world and it is believed that all known examples are from cuttings from this tree.[19]

Yews in this genus are primarily separate-sexed, and males are extremely allergenic, with an OPALS allergy scale rating of 10 out of 10. Completely female yews have an OPALS rating of 1, and are considered "allergy-fighting".[20] Male yews bloom and release abundant amounts of pollen in the spring; completely female yews only trap pollen while producing none.[20]

All parts of a yew plant are toxic to humans, due to taxine alkaloids, with the exception of the yew berries (however, their seeds are toxic). Additionally, male and monoecious yews in this genus release cytotoxic pollen, which can cause headaches, lethargy, aching joints, itching, and skin rashes; it is also a trigger for asthma.[20][21] These pollen grains are only 15 microns in size,[22] and can easily pass through most window screens.[20]

Taxines A and B the major taxine alkaloids found in the yew plant are cardiotoxic. The taxines act as calcium and sodium channel antagonists, causing an increase in cytoplasmic calcium.[23] Taxine B is a worse cardiotoxin than taxine A.[24]

The foliage itself remains toxic even when wilted, and toxicity increases in potency when dried.[25] Ingestion and subsequent excretion by birds whose beaks and digestive systems do not break down the seed's coating are the primary means of yew dispersal.[26] Horses have a relatively low tolerance to taxine, with a lethal dose of 200400mg/kg body weight; cattle, pigs, and other livestock are only slightly less vulnerable.[27] Several studies[28] have found taxine LD50 values under 20mg/kg in mice and rats.

Symptoms of yew poisoning include an accelerated heart rate, muscle tremors, convulsions, collapse, difficulty breathing, circulation impairment and eventually cardiac arrest. However, there may be no symptoms, and if poisoning remains undetected death may occur within hours.[29] Fatal poisoning in humans is very rare, usually occurring after consuming yew foliage. The leaves are more toxic than the seed.[30]

In the ancient Celtic world, the yew tree (*eburos) had extraordinary importance; a passage by Caesar narrates that Cativolcus, chief of the Eburones poisoned himself with yew rather than submit to Rome (Gallic Wars 6: 31). Similarly, Florus notes that when the Cantabrians were under siege by the legate Gaius Furnius in 22 BC, most of them took their lives either by the sword, by fire, or by a poison extracted ex arboribus taxeis, that is, from the yew tree (2: 33, 5051). In a similar way, Orosius notes that when the Astures were besieged at Mons Medullius, they preferred to die by their own swords or by the yew tree poison rather than surrender (6, 21, 1). The Irish name Ean / Eoghan is thought to be derived from the yew's importance in ancient Ireland and means 'of the yew'.[citation needed]

The yew is traditionally and regularly found in churchyards in England, Wales, Scotland, Ireland and Northern France (more specifically in Normandy). Some examples can be found in La Haye-de-Routot or La Lande-Patry. It is said that up to 40 people could stand inside one of the La-Haye-de-Routot yew trees and the Le Mnil-Ciboult yew is probably the largest one (13 m diameter[32]). Indeed, some of these trees are exceptionally large (over 5 m diameter) and may be over 2,000 years old. Sometimes monks planted yews in the middle of their cloister, as at Muckross Abbey (Ireland) or abbaye de Jumiges (France, Normandy). Some ancient yew trees are located at St Mary the Virgin Church, Overton-on-Dee in Wales.

In Asturian tradition and culture the yew tree has had a real link with the land, the people, the ancestors and the ancient religion. It was tradition on All Saints Day to bring a branch of a yew tree to the tombs of those who had died recently so they will find the guide in their return to the Land of Shadows. The yew tree has been found near chapels, churches and cemeteries since ancient times as a symbol of the transcendence of death, and is usually found in the main squares of the villages where people celebrated the open councils that served as a way of general assembly to rule the village affairs.[33]

It has been suggested that the sacred tree at the Temple at Uppsala was an ancient yew tree.[34][35] The Christian church commonly found it expedient to take over existing pre-Christian sacred sites for churches. It has also been suggested that yews were planted at religious sites as their long life was suggestive of eternity, or because being toxic they were seen as trees of death.[36] Another suggested explanation is that yews were planted to discourage farmers and drovers from letting animals wander onto the burial grounds, the poisonous foliage being the disincentive. A further possible reason is that fronds and branches of yew were often used as a substitute for palms on Palm Sunday.[37][38][39]

In interpretations of Norse cosmology, the tree Yggdrasil has traditionally been interpreted as a giant ash tree. Some scholars now think that in the past an error has been made in the interpretation of the ancient writings, and that the tree is most likely a European yew (Taxus baccata).[40]

Certain compounds found in the bark of yew trees were discovered by Wall and Wani in 1967 to have efficacy as anti-cancer agents. The precursors of the chemotherapy drug paclitaxel (taxol) was later shown to be synthesized easily from extracts of the leaves of European yew,[41] which is a much more renewable source than the bark of the Pacific yew (Taxus brevifolia) from which they were initially isolated. This ended a point of conflict in the early 1990s; many environmentalists, including Al Gore, had opposed the destructive harvesting of Pacific yew for paclitaxel cancer treatments. Docetaxel can then be obtained by semi-synthetic conversion from the precursors.

Wood from the yew is classified as a closed-pore softwood, similar to cedar and pine. Easy to work, yew is among the hardest of the softwoods; yet it possesses a remarkable elasticity, making it ideal for products that require springiness, such as bows.[42]

One of the world's oldest surviving wooden artifacts is a Clactonian yew[43] spear head, found in 1911 at Clacton-on-Sea, in Essex, UK. Known as the Clacton Spear, it is estimated to be over 400,000 years old.[44][45]

Yew is also associated with Wales and England because of the longbow, an early weapon of war developed in northern Europe, and as the English longbow the basis for a medieval tactical system. The oldest surviving yew longbow was found at Rotten Bottom in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland. It has been given a calibrated radiocarbon date of 4040 BC to 3640 BC and is on display in the National Museum of Scotland. Yew is the wood of choice for longbow making; the heartwood is always on the inside of the bow with the sapwood on the outside. This makes most efficient use of their properties as heartwood is best in compression whilst sapwood is superior in tension. However, much yew is knotty and twisted, and therefore unsuitable for bowmaking; most trunks do not give good staves and even in a good trunk much wood has to be discarded.

There was a tradition of planting yew trees in churchyards throughout Britain and Ireland, among other reasons, as a resource for bows. "Ardchattan Priory whose yew trees, according to other accounts, were inspected by Robert the Bruce and cut to make at least some of the longbows used at the Battle of Bannockburn."[46]

The trade of yew wood to England for longbows was so robust that it depleted the stocks of good-quality, mature yew over a vast area. The first documented import of yew bowstaves to England was in 1294. In 1350 there was a serious shortage, and Henry IV of England ordered his royal bowyer to enter private land and cut yew and other woods. In 1423 the Polish king commanded protection of yews in order to cut exports, facing nearly complete destruction of local yew stock.[47] In 1470 compulsory archery practice was renewed, and hazel, ash, and laburnum were specifically allowed for practice bows. Supplies still proved insufficient, until by the Statute of Westminster in 1472, every ship coming to an English port had to bring four bowstaves for every tun.[48] Richard III of England increased this to ten for every tun. This stimulated a vast network of extraction and supply, which formed part of royal monopolies in southern Germany and Austria. In 1483, the price of bowstaves rose from two to eight pounds per hundred, and in 1510 the Venetians would only sell a hundred for sixteen pounds. In 1507 the Holy Roman Emperor asked the Duke of Bavaria to stop cutting yew, but the trade was profitable, and in 1532 the royal monopoly was granted for the usual quantity "if there are that many." In 1562, the Bavarian government sent a long plea to the Holy Roman Emperor asking him to stop the cutting of yew, and outlining the damage done to the forests by its selective extraction, which broke the canopy and allowed wind to destroy neighbouring trees. In 1568, despite a request from Saxony, no royal monopoly was granted because there was no yew to cut, and the next year Bavaria and Austria similarly failed to produce enough yew to justify a royal monopoly. Forestry records in this area in the 17th century do not mention yew, and it seems that no mature trees were to be had. The English tried to obtain supplies from the Baltic, but at this period bows were being replaced by guns in any case.[49]

Today European yew is widely used in landscaping and ornamental horticulture. Due to its dense, dark green, mature foliage, and its tolerance of even very severe pruning, it is used especially for formal hedges and topiary. Its relatively slow growth rate means that in such situations it needs to be clipped only once per year (in late summer).

Well over 200 cultivars of T. baccata have been named. The most popular of these are the Irish yew (T. baccata 'Fastigiata'), a fastigiate cultivar of the European yew selected from two trees found growing in Ireland, and the several cultivars with yellow leaves, collectively known as "golden yew".[7][10] In some locations, e.g. when hemmed in by buildings or other trees, an Irish yew can reach 20 feet in height without exceeding 2 feet in diameter at its thickest point, although with age many Irish yews assume a fat cigar shape rather than being truly columnar.

The following cultivars have gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit:-

European yew will tolerate growing in a wide range of soils and situations, including shallow chalk soils and shade,[58] although in deep shade its foliage may be less dense. However it cannot tolerate waterlogging, and in poorly-draining situations is liable to succumb to the root-rotting pathogen Phytophthora cinnamomi.

In Europe, Taxus baccata grows naturally north to Molde in southern Norway, but it is used in gardens further north. It is also popular as a bonsai in many parts of Europe and makes a handsome small- to large-sized bonsai.[59]

In England, yew has historically been sometimes associated with privies, possibly because the smell of the plant keeps insects away.[60]

The late Robert Lundberg, a noted luthier who performed extensive research on historical lute-making methodology, states in his 2002 book Historical Lute Construction that yew was historically a prized wood for lute construction. European legislation establishing use limits and requirements for yew limited supplies available to luthiers, but it was apparently as prized among medieval, renaissance, and baroque lute builders as Brazilian rosewood is among contemporary guitar-makers for its quality of sound and beauty.

Clippings from ancient specimens in the UK, including the Fortingall Yew, were taken to the Royal Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh to form a mile-long hedge. The purpose of this "Yew Conservation Hedge Project" is to maintain the DNA of Taxus baccata. The species is threatened by felling, partly due to rising demand from pharmaceutical companies, and disease.[61]

Another conservation programme was run in Catalonia in the early 2010s, by the Forest Sciences Centre of Catalonia (CTFC), in order to protect genetically endemic yew populations, and preserve them from overgrazing and forest fires.[62] In the framework of this programme, the 4th International Yew Conference was organised in the Poblet Monastery in 2014, which proceedings are available.

There has also been a conservation programme in northern Portugal.

Continued here:
Taxus baccata - Wikipedia

There are several tests and tools your doctor may use to diagnose RA. First, he or she may ask questions about your medical history and examine the joints that are bothering you. Next, your doctor may perform tests to confirm a diagnosis, including, but not limited to:

A rheumatoid factor test looks for an antibodyCLOSE Antibody: a proteinproduced by the immune system when it detects harmful substances like bacteriathat fights off infection. called a rheumatoid factor. About 80% of people with RA eventually have this antibody, although its possible to have the rheumatoid factor in your blood and not have RA.

Another test measures your erythrocyte sedimentation rate. People with RA tend to have abnormally high sedimentation rates.

X-rays are used to help determine the extent of damage in the joints that are affected by RA. Plus, a sequence of X-rays taken over time can help to show the progression of the disease.

When it comes to treating RA, early diagnosis and treatment is extremely important because it can help slow disease progression and help prevent joint damage. So if you think you could be suffering from RA, be sure to talk with your doctor about your symptoms.

Link:
What is Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA)? | Arthritis.com