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Audra Ang moved to North Carolina in 2012. Ever since, shes been falling in love with the state and its natural places.

One of the things I really like doing is exploring the area and discovering the things that make it special, said Ang, a senior public relations specialist for University Development.

One day after work this summer, she and a friend visited the Neuse River Greenway Trail in Raleigh and snapped photos of sunflowers around sunset.

We immediatelyfelt the magic of the area, Ang said. It was the golden hour, the sun was setting and there were a ton of people there. It just felt like a great community event.

One of herpictures, below, resulted in Ang winning the grand prize - a night at the JB Duke Hotel - in the 2017 #DukeTimeOff photo campaign.

Angs photo was selected from approximately 430photos shared by Duke staff and faculty, including pictures from six different continents. The 2017 #DukeTimeOff campaign, which ran from May 26 to August 11, highlighted the hobbies, excitement, and big and small summer adventures of University and Health System employees.

The other grand prize photo, below, came from Katie Donahue, a clinical nurse in Duke Health System. Donahue earned dinner for two at the Washington Duke Inn.

Donahue spent part of June visiting a friend in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. She spent a week exploring, hiking, camping and visiting Yellowstone National Park. This picture, taken during a drive back from Grand Teton National Park, captured Donahue on top of a car, soaking in Wyomings wide open spaces.

It was kind of a spur-of-the-moment picture, Donahue said. We were driving back and the road was empty. It was a really pretty view, so we stopped. It was a fun moment.

While pictures were being shared over the summer, a few employees kept popping up. Here are selections from four employees who routinely shared beautiful images of their #DukeTimeOff. As the campaigns most active participants, they each receive a $25 card to Duke University Stores.

Informatics Educator with Duke Health Technology Solutions Michael Palko kept his photographic eye open all summer. But this shot of a quiet beach at Surf City was a favorite.

Among the photos Kara Bonneau, a database analyst with the Center for Child and Family Policy, shared, this one taken during a hike near Blowing Rock was particularly majestic.

Lindsay Gordon-Faranda, a public relations specialist for Duke Childrens Hospital, had a busy summer. This shot from her trip to St. Kitts and Nevis captures the excitement of an adventure about to begin.

Jacqueline Rimmler, a clinical research analyst at Duke Cancer Institute, kept her camera busy during many walks in nature. This picture taken during a hike in Duke Forest illustrates the peace and quiet she found on those outings.

Finally, over the course of the campaign, there were many photos that captured the value of time away from work. Here are 11 that the Working@Duke editorial staff found particularly amazing.

Medical Lab Scientist Jessica Robertson took a trip of a lifetime to Israel in June. She shared this photo of floating in the Dead Sea with her husband. She said it was one of our very favorite memories.

Kathryn Kreider and her husband, Jon, spent part of their time off traveling to Rocky Mountain National Park, where they snapped this photo during a hike that featured this view from 12,000 feet up.

Time off is critical to recharge your mind, body and spirit, she said. It provides perspective and a renewed sense of purpose.

Associate Director of Student Affairs Kyle Fox shared this photo from a trip to Asheville. He and his son enjoyed the pop-up waterpark dubbed Splashville, which comes to life in the summer in the citys Pack Square.

In early June, LeTeya Robinson and her family and friends gathered a Lake Lynn Park in Raleigh to celebrate the birthdays of her son Casey and her husband Kenny.

Time off is important so one can spend time with those who mean the most, she said.

Mike Tuggle, an exercise physiologist at Duke Health and Fitness Center, posted this photo of a day off that began with a run with his doghter.

Took the day off to spend with family, he said.

Critical Care Clinical Pharmacist Morgan Trammel spent part of her summer hiking the remote Faroe Islands. She shared this photo of a spot along the cliffs above Lake Srvgsvatn where she stopped for lunch and enjoyed the view.

The optical illusion is so incredible, but the picture makes the massive cliffs look small, she said.

Samantha Shaltz, a lab research analyst in Dukes Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, and her husband Brad provided one of the campaigns most inventive photos. Taken with a drone, this shot features the pair taking a moment to relax during a June kayak trip to Falls Lake.

Shaltz said the image captures her #DukeTimeOff, which normally consists of crazy kayaking adventures with my husband every weekend in the summer, rain or shine!

Simone Pitre, a program coordinator with the Global Health Innovation Center, visited her sister in Australia earlier this summer. She shared this image of her attempt at zip-lining over the Crystal Cascades Watering Hole near Cairns, Australia.

She wrote that she enjoyed my #DukeTimeOff by trading a cubicle for a waterfall!

Tim Pennigar, a project manager with Duke Health Systems, snapped this photo on July 5 at the border between Alaska and Canadas Yukon Territory. At that point, he was on the home stretch of an epic 11,000-mile motorcycle journey from Durham to Alaska and back.

Personally, hitting the road for a long-distance motorcycle ride creates space for solitude and reflection basically time to work things out while going really fast, he wrote.

Clinical nurse Victoria Yap shared this photo from her July trip to Sunset Beach.

Sun, sand and serenity, my idea of Duke Time off, she wrote.

Natalie King, an embryologist with Duke Fertility, shared this photo during a trip to Grandfather Mountain she took in late June. This photo was taken from the mountain itself, showcasing some of the stunning views of western North Carolina.

Thank you to all Duke staff and faculty who participated this year.

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Love of Nature Fuels #DukeTimeOff Photo Winners - Duke Today

Not eating, deliberately, has been a way to make a political statement for centuries. And for even longer, its been a normal part of some religious practice. But far more recent uses of fasting are for weight loss and other health benefits -- scientifically proven benefits like lowered cholesterol and reducing systemic inflammation.

Dr. Valter Longo joins us on Take Care this week to discuss the benefits, challenges and problems associated with fasting. Longo is a professor of gerontology and biological science at the University of Southern California Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. Hes also director of the USC Longevity Institute.

There are three major fasting practices, according to Longo.

Short term effects of fasting

When you begin to fast, your body makes a metabolic switch.

There is no more sugar basically coming into the body, Longo says. "There are no more proteins coming in, so the body switches from a mode in which carbohydrates are the main source of fuel to fats. So the body starts breaking down the fats.

Autophagy can also occur, where cells start to destroy themselves, only to replace them later.

Theres also breaking down of entire cells, so killing of entire cells, and then eventually the regeneration of the cells that have been killed during fasting when we return to the normal food, Longo says.

Long term effects of fasting

Longo says the idea of fasting should be respected, because it has large consequences. He says that within just five days of fasting the brain switches from using just sugar to make fuel to using both sugar and ketone bodies at a 50:50 ratio.

Just like you dont take drugs because they worked for someone else, you shouldnt try fasting without the guidance of a medical practitioner, Longo says. Water only fasting, for example, should only be attempted at a clinic with nurses and doctors on staff.

Longo does cite fasting-mimicking diets as a safe way to achieve positive, long-term effects (diets that mimic fasting usually allow you to eat between 100 and 750 calories per fasting day). These effects include:

What you can do

Keeping in mind compliance, I would say there are three major things that can be done, Longo says.

He says for those who have problems with weight, the first two options are best. Time restrictive eating is a good option for many people, allowing them to eat for a certain period of time, say 12 hours and then restricting eating for the following 12 hours.

Most people can do it. Most people around the world who get to 100 years of age -- that was normal [for] them, Longo says.

Another option is to just cut back on the number of meals you eat per day, he says.

You can go from lets say three, four, five, six meals a day, reduce it to two major meals per day and one snack, Longo says If you look around the world, its very common for people to have two meals a day.

A periodic fasting mimicking diet also can reap most of the benefits associated with the practice. A normal, healthy person, who exercises regularly can eat a restricted calorie diet of 750 to 1,100 calories a day for five days in a row, according to Long0, and can do this once or twice a year.

The rest is here:
Why fasting can help, or hurt, your chances of longevity and weight loss - WRVO Public Media

Written by Ishi Khosla | Published:August 19, 2017 2:23 am Scientific studies and research have shown that besides genetic factors, longevity is strongly linked to food and exercise habits.

Immortality is impossible but living a long life isnt. Some cultures like the Vilcabambans of the Ecuadorian Andes, the Hunza of Pakistan and the centenarians of the Okinawa island in Japan are known for their long lives and may help scientists dealing with life expectancy.

Okinawa, for instance, is home to the worlds healthiest elderly with the longest recorded life expectancies. Scientific studies and research have shown that besides genetic factors, longevity is strongly linked to food and exercise habits.

Low-calorie healthy diets and high physical activity in these extraordinarily healthy societies are the secrets for their extended lifespans with virtually no reported incidence of diseases like high blood pressure, heart disease, cancer, diabetes and other degenerative diseases such as rheumatism, osteoporosis, Alzheimers and vision problems.

So what are the dietary secrets to longevity? Eating less has been found to be critical and seems to be the centrepiece of longevity. In animal experiments, researchers have demonstrated that calorie restriction has now been clearly proven to be effective and up to 30 per cent calorie restriction leads to extended years in a manner believed to be similar to genetic modification. Additionally, high intake of vegetables, fruits, whole grains, soy, fish and eating less fat along with healthy lifestyle seems to explain protection from diseases and increased lifespan.

A study reported that healthy older Okinawans eat an average of seven servings of vegetables, seven servings of whole grains, two servings of soy products; fish twice or thrice a week and very little sugar and added fats. Their diets include little meat and no margarines, hydrogenated fats or trans fat.

Although the impact of good nutrition on health and disease begins very early in life, its never too late to make changes. According to researchers, at age 65 men and women in high- income countries still have a life expectancy of a further 15 and 19 years respectively. The older one becomes, the longer one is likely to live, and thus, by the time men and women reach age 75, life expectancy is still 9 and 11 years, respectively. This dispels the common assumption that changes in lifestyle to improve health are no longer worthwhile in old age. In fact, the prevalence of heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, obesity and arthritis is highest in the older population. Studies demonstrate that it is still worthwhile for older people to make lifestyle changes like diet modification, weight reduction, sodium restriction, saturated fat restriction smoking cessation and that these changes make life in later years healthier, more active and less dependent.

Clearly, living long is not a coincidence. It is a result of many factors and when it comes to health and longevity, the sum of the dietary components is greater than its individual elements. The important thing to be remembered is that these scientifically proven secrets of the worlds healthiest and long-lived people are simple to say the least. Adopting them with common sense can certainly extend your later years with vibrancy and vitality.

Super-centenarian diet

* Eat less and eat well- low calories and nutrient dense foods.

*Choose a diet particularly rich in phyto-chemicals (antioxidants), vitamin B6, B12, folic acid, zinc, calcium, iron, chromium, vitamin D & E and omega-3 fats.

* Eat good carbohydrates, good fat, high-quality proteins and fibre.

* Include plenty of whole grains, fruits and vegetables into your dietary plans.

*Include protein-rich foods such as fish, soy, legumes peas and beans, seeds, nuts, fermented milk products, buttermilk & fermented foods.

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Diet diary: From Andes to Japanese islands, lessons in longevity - The Indian Express

The purpose and engagement of a job you love can keep you healthy and connected.

Published: September, 2017

Image: monkeybusinessimages/Thinkstock

While many women dream of kicking back and relaxing into retirement, there's increasing evidence that in some cases, it's better for your brain and your health to keep your nose to the grindstone a little longer.

"The research to date is mixed, but it tends toward the positive that is, for many people, there are health benefits to working longer," says Dr. Nicole Maestas, associate professor of health care policy at Harvard Medical School.

The right job, she says, can keep you connected socially; it can help you stay physically active; and it can give you a purpose, a challenge, or a creative outlet. These factors have all been shown to contribute to health over the long term.

One 2016 study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggests that retiring early may actually increase your risk of dying early. Findings showed that healthy people who postposed retirement and chose to retire a year later than those in a comparison group had an 11% lower risk of dying from any cause during the study period (1992 to 2010). Retirees with health problems also lived longer when they postponed retirement. Another study, by the French government's health research agency, linked a later retirement to a reduced risk of Alzheimer's disease and other forms of dementia.

Working longer may also help you retire more comfortably when you do decide it's time. Women who stay on the job longer can earn back income lost during breaks they took earlier in their careers. In one recent study, Dr. Maestas found that women gain more financial return than men do from continuing to work through their 50s and 60s. "And it has the added benefit of boosting their Social Security benefits," she says.

However, it's important to note that while the research may be leaning in favor of working longer for better health, not all studies show benefits or even a connection. In a study in the Journal of Health Economics, Australian researchers concluded that it's actually your overall health not your retirement agethat affects longevity.

The variation in findings may reflect two challenges inherent in this area of study. First, it's difficult for researchers to determine which came first, health problems or retirement. "While work may affect your health, at the same time your health affects your ability to work," says Dr. Maestas. A second challenge is that existing research has studied the effects of retirement on different groups of people. Some may benefit from retiring sooner, others from working longer. "Researchers haven't figured out yet who gets the benefits and who doesn't," says Maestas.

These mixed findings make sense when you think about how the job you do and the environment you work in can influence your health. While a positive work environment may improve your health, the opposite may be true for women who work in hostile environments that cause them physical or psychological stress, involve physical risks, or are monotonous and uninspiring, says Dr. Maestas. "So, if there is one message to women, it is to continue to work if you experience the work environment in a positive way; otherwise, you might consider transitioning to a new positionperhaps even within the same company," she says.

The good news is that today women have more flexibility than ever when mulling whether to retire or stay at work a few years longer. "One helpful trend in this regard is that 'retirement' is no longer an all-or-nothing decision like it used to be," says Dr. Maestas. In some cases, women reshape their jobs rather than leave them altogether. "Many people reduce hours, change jobs, downshift to less demanding positions, or change occupations. Some people take short breaks to reboot skills or take a trip," says Dr. Maestas. "Some people will later upshift for a period of time if a great opportunity comes along. They may even start a business."

Ultimately, for most women, the decision about when to retire will depend on a variety of considerations, from family needs to health and future plans. "But it is worth placing more weight on the long view working longer can enhance financial security and, under some circumstances and for some people, may even boost your health," says Dr. Maestas. "In my opinion, women should try to maintain engagement in the workforce for as long as possible."

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Putting off retirement may benefit your brain, health, and longevity - Harvard Health

« Back to Webcasts Index

Featuring Mary Beth Franklin from InvestmentNews

Your clients are living longer and spending more time in retirement than ever before especially female clients, who often outlive their spouses or partners.

This live, interactive webcast will arm you with strategies and data for understanding your female clients' life expectancies as well as their retirement and financial scenarios. Research from Great-West Financial in collaboration with the Stanford Center on Longevity focused on how you can incorporate longevity planning into your practice will also be presented.

Register Now

Featuring Mary Beth Franklin from InvestmentNews

Your clients are living longer and spending more time in retirement than ever before especially female clients, who often outlive their spouses or partners.

This live, interactive webcast will arm you with strategies and data for understanding your female clients' life expectancies as well as their retirement and financial scenarios. Research from Great-West Financial in collaboration with the Stanford Center on Longevity focused on how you can incorporate longevity planning into your practice will also be presented.

Attendees may submit questions before and during the live event. This free and invaluable resource will help you, your current clients and prospects.

Sponsored by:

Continuing Education Credits: For all webcasts approved for CE credit by the CFP Board, credit will be reported one week after the live event. For on-demand viewers, CE credit will be reported 30 days after the live event. After 30 days, webcasts are available until December 31 in the calendar year for on-demand viewing and are not eligible for CE credit.

For all webcasts approved by IMCA for CIMA/CIMC/CPWA CE credits, email info_cecredits@investmentnews.com for the IMCA program ID to self-report for CE credit. Program IDs will be provided up to 30 days after the live event. After 30 days, webcasts are available until December 31 in the calendar year for on-demand viewing and are not eligible for CE credit.

Continued here:
Longevity Lifestyle Preparation: What advisors need to know to prepare female clients for living well to and through ... - InvestmentNews

Perspective and timing is everything.

In 1930, five years before Social Security legislation was passed, the average life expectancy of U.S. citizens was 59.7 years. Thus, the math worked out somewhat favorably for a program designed to pay workers a continuing income after retirement at age 65. The number of people who could statistically expect to live long enough to actually collect was pretty limited, and the percentage of people older than 65 was less than 6%.

What it means to be elderly has undergone a dramatic shift.

Today, those aged 65 and above make up around 12% of the U.S. population. That number is expected to hit 19% by the year 2030. And the average life expectancy in the US has gone up to almost 80 years.

Our perspective on what it means to be elderly has undergone a dramatic shift. Indeed, the World Health Organization estimates that a typical 60-year-old today can reasonably expect not only to survive for many more years, but also to enjoy a healthy, active lifestyle for two decades or more. As technology and medical science continue to advance, we may soon receive a longevity dividend of 30 or even 40 years beyond that available to our great-grandparents. Some researchers even suggest that half of the babies born in todays industrialized countries will live to an age of 100.

When 80 becomes the new 60Think about this prospect: The seniors of the future are likely to enjoy two, three or even four decades of life beyond what we now consider retirement age. What possibilities does this open up? Will it change the way we think about work? About education? About health care?

Another factor to consider is that the baby boomers entering retirement today are more educated, more technically savvy and more connected to the information universe than any prior generation of retirees. They are accustomed to asking questions, looking things up and digging for answers. They also have more information available to them than ever before. A recent Merrill Lynch study reported, for example, that boomers were four times more likely to do their own research on health matters than their parents. These retirees want more than just access to expertise; they want to participate in evaluating the data relevant to their decisions.

Start Slideshow

For clients considering long-term care options, a move may be appealing if they find care options in other states that can help them save down the road.

Joseph Coughlin, director of MITs AgeLab, suggests that increasingly, people entering retirement are outcome-focused. Employing a metaphor first suggested by marketing theorist Theodore Levitt, Coughlin says that more and more, retirees just want the tools needed to accomplish the goals they desire. They dont want to own a drill because they want to have a drill around the house; what they really want is a tool to create hole in the wall.

Similarly, boomers dont really want stocks, bonds, mutual funds or insurance; they want the means to live their desired lifestyle when they are no longer actively employed. They want to solve the problems that come with longevity, and those problems, more and more, go beyond simply funding their retirement accounts.

Use the right toolsThe key to longevity planning, then, is to be positioned as a provider of the necessary tools. Consider some of the problems that todays retirees will face:

In order to position themselves to adequately respond to the longevity needs of an aging clientele, advisors will increasingly be called upon to provide not just transaction-based assistance, but also to serve as facilitators of the relationships required to address these and other problems. We will fall short helping our aging clients if we stay in our financial silos; instead, we will need to become conduits for leading them to the solutions they require.

Financial advisors now stand at a frontier: the new business of longevity, says Joseph Coughlin, president of MITs AgeLab.

Certainly, it isnt reasonable to expect advisors to also become experts in gerontology, physical therapy, or occupational counseling. Our deep knowledge of our clients situations and our ability to help them make wise choices about their financial resources will continue to be crucial. We must still be their tool for the important job of maintaining financial security.

But as the longevity trend continues, our clients will need other tools as well. Working from the foundation of our commitment to know them thoroughly, we can provide vital connections for our clients to the other tools they will need. We can form relationships with trusted, thoroughly vetted professionals in industries including housing, construction, home care and employment to help them and their children solve their problems. As AgeLabs Coughlin notes, Financial advisors now stand at a frontier: the new business of longevity. That business will provide them with opportunities to engage with their clients over a lifetime, on more topics, more often, and with greater intimacy.

In many ways, this is the logical extension of the financial advisors mantra of Know your client. As our clients travel farther down the road of the longevity revolution, it will be up to us advisors to help keep their vehicle in top running condition.

Kimberly Foss, CFP, CPWA, is a Financial Planning columnist and founder of Empyrion Wealth Management in California and New York. Shes also the New York Times best-selling author of Wealth by Design. Follow her on Twitter at @KimberlyFossCFP.

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Voices The role of advisors in longevity planning - Financial Planning

As with any popular multiplayer game, the community of Friday the 13th: The Game is a passionate one, and passionate communities are quick to express that passion, be it laudatory, constructive or even outright negative. Just a few weeks ago, when fans figured out that IllFonic, one of the game's two development teams, was also working on another game, they were quick to doom and gloom how they had abandoned Friday the 13th.

Of course, this wasn't the case, and IllFonic released a strongly worded statement to that effect, but anyone who still wasn't convinced should be more than satisfied by yesterday's series of announcements regarding Friday the 13th, including a clothing pack, a new full-size map, new counselors and new playable Jasons. But, for the first time since release, Friday the 13th: The Game has revealed a strategy for longevity that is about more than just the frills (even though the frills in this case are particularly easy on the eyes).

Yes, many people will be more than satisfied with the announcement of the Spring Break 1984 clothing pack, which features in its header image the counselor Tiffany in an unbelievably skimpy bikini. When I first saw this image, I assumed it was a fan-made joke, and then I assumed that bikini's in the 1980s couldn't have possibly looked like that. Of course, I was wrong on both assumptions. But as eye-popping as these new counselor outfits may be, we've gotten new outfits before in Friday the 13th: The Game. As an apology for launch issues, they released a Retro Jason Skin, and a new clothing pack with two new outfits for each counselor.

That said, this particular counselor skin is certainly capturing the cheesier tropes of the 80s horror movie, with the scantily clad counselors being killed by Jason Voorhees. But again, these are just frills, and they won't sustain a game by themselves. But this upcoming update, for several reasons is much different than Content Update 1. Beyond just visuals, the upcoming changes will actually enhance how we play and enjoy Friday the 13th: The Game.

You have to mention the new counselors, which, if handled correctly, should each bring a new playstyle to the table, offering new strategies to which players will have to adjust. Likewise, the new playable Jason should feel like he brings his own strengths and weaknesses to the table. Meanwhile, all of these strategies can play out on the upcoming new full map. But, more than anything else, you have to admire Gun Media's and IllFonic's continued commitment to improving stability.

While their lack of expediency in this matter has frustrated even the most devoted fans, it's nice to know that it's still happening. Better yet, Gun Media nearly fully detailed the upcoming patch that purports to fix several game-ruining bug fixes, such as key objects falling through the ground upon death and ensuring Perks that start you with items actually work (imagine that). Sure, we don't know the timeline just yet, but when have we ever been able to nail Friday the 13th: The Game to a specific date? Beyond that, it's just refreshing to see that the future of Friday the 13th is secure and goes beyond superficial additions (sexy, though they may be).

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Friday the 13th's Longevity is More Than Just This 80s Bikini - Game Revolution

Q: With the solar eclipse looming Monday afternoon, I notice the Winston-Salem Open is scheduled to start play at 3 p.m. Are any adjustments being considered for the players participating at that time?

Answer: Play will go on as normal, according to organizers of the Winston-Salem Open. The eclipse will start at 1:12 p.m., reach its maximum at 2:41, and end at 4:03 p.m. But there will be some special commemorations of the event at the Open:

Q: If someone normally wears vision glasses, do the eclipse safety glasses go over, or under, your glasses, or should no other glasses be worn at all? I havent seen this addressed anywhere. What is the protocol for eyeglass wearers?

Answer: If you normally wear eyeglasses, keep them on while wearing eclipse glasses put eclipse glasses on over them, said Dr. Rajiv Shah, assistant professor of opthalmology at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center.

Its also important to note that even when wearing eclipse glasses, you should not look at the sun through a camera, telescope, binoculars or other optical device. The concentrated solar rays will damage the filter and enter the eyes, Shah said.

He added that you should always supervise children using solar filters and inspect the glasses before use. If the glasses are scratched, punctured, torn or otherwise damaged, they should be discarded.

And to repeat a frequent warning: Dont try to use ordinary sunglasses, even very dark ones. Wear solar eclipse glasses and use handheld solar viewers that are compliant with the International Organization for Standardizations ISO 12312-2 standard. Failing to use proper precautions could lead to irreparable eye damage.

And dont wear eclipse glasses while driving.

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Ask SAM: How will Winston-Salem Open handle eclipse? | Ask SAM ... - Winston-Salem Journal

People can't look at Monday's solar eclipse without solar eclipse glasses.

This weekend, sun and moon lovers may look all over the Capital Region for the safety-tested, black-filmshades.

But they will have trouble finding them.

Stores have exhausted their supplies. There were none at Toys "R" Us in Clifton Park, none at Wal-Mart in Amsterdam, none at Lowe's in Glenville.

Lowe's in Niskayuna -- no. Walmart in Rotterdam -- no. Local hardware stores -- no.

"We are all sold out," said one store representative on Friday. "Every store around is sold out."

Places all over the country have sold out. And online sales may now be tricky;even rush orders may not arrive by early Monday afternoon, when the "Great American Eclipse" will begin.

The rare event will darken skies from Oregon to South Carolina along a 70-mile stretch. People in the "path of totality" will see the moon completely block the sun and cast a shadow on the surface of the Earth.

In the Capital Region, astronomy fans will see a partial eclipse -- 66 percent of the sun will be covered by the moon. The show will start at 1:22 p.m. and end at 3:56 p.m. The best time to check out the cosmic conference will be about 2:45 p.m.

Libraries around the U.S. have the shades, whichresemble old-fashioned, 3-D movie glasses. According to the American Astronomical Society, 6,900 libraries have been given solar eye wear through a program supported by NASA, Google and the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation.

At the Schenectady County Public Library's eclipse gathering, which begins at noon and runs until 4 p.m., glasses will be available outside the building. People who attend the library party won't even have to examine the heavens to see the lunar-solar team-up; a live NASA stream of the celestial event will be held in the McChesney Room.

The glassessold out at miSci -- Schenectady's Museum of Innovation and Science. Valerie Rapson, outreach astronomer at the Dudley Observatory at miSci, said the museum's gift store had nearly 4,000 pairs in stock.

People must have the protection if they'regoing to watch the skies. Sunglasses with tough-sounding names such as "Solar Shields" are not going to work. They will not be safe.

The American Optometric Association added that smoked glass, unfiltered telescopes or magnifiersand polarizing filters will also be unsafe for eclipse viewing.

The American Academy of Opthalmology has also issued a warning:"Looking directly at the sun, even while it's partially eclipsed, can permanently damage vision or blind you."

According to Rapson, "The special glasses block 99.99 percent of the light, which is way more than a regular pair of sunglasses. That's the main thing to stress. Sunglasses are not enough. They really have to have those safety glasses."

The eclipse glasses must come from reputable vendors -- theAmerican Astronomical Society has composed a page of legitimate manufacturers and authorized dealers of eclipse glasses and handheld solar viewers, all verified to be compliancewith the ISO 12312-2 international safety standard.

Angela Strong, assistant library director for operations at the Schenectady County Public Library, is expecting a large crowd for the eclipse party. She said glasses will be distributed outside the building, with a limit of four pairs per family.

"We're going to encourage people to share the glasses," Strong said. "It's recommended people limit their viewing to three minutes at a time."

People without glasses at miSci will be able to "watch" the show with "sun spotters," devices that will project images of the sun on white paper. Telescopes equipped with safe solar filters will also be on the grounds.

Reach Gazette reporter Jeff Wilkin at 395-3124 at at wilkin@dailygazette.com or @jeffwilkin1 on Twitter.

Originally posted here:
Eclipse safety glasses hard to find in Capital Region - The Daily Gazette

Irish biotech giantShire plc (LON:SHP) received a validation fromthe UK, in the capacity of the Reference Member State, for its marketing authorization application forlifitegrast. If approved, lifitegrast would be the first and only treatment in a new class of drugs (LFA-1 antagonist) to address the signs and symptoms of dry eye disease in adults in Europe, said the company.

Shire submitted the application for marketing authorization (MAA) through a Decentralized Procedure toDenmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Portugal, Spain and Greece.This submission is another important milestone for lifitegrast and the millions of patients living with dry eye disease, which can impact a persons vision-related quality of life, affecting daily activities such as reading and using computers, commented Shires head of clinical department Howard Mayer.

Opthalmology hasnt been at the core of Shires growth agenda historically, but its acquisition of SARcode Bioscience in 2013 marked an official entry into the medical field, where Shire expects to capitalise on unmet needs in eye care through a multi-faceted approach targeting rare diseases and specialty conditions.

Shires MAA forlifitegrast is backed by what the company claims to be the largest development program to date for an investigational stage dry eye disease candidate. The program involves five clinical trials with 2,500 patients. In four safety and efficacy studies, lifitegrast improved symptoms as measured by patient reported eye dryness score (EDS), and in three of the four studies improved the objective signs of dry eye disease (measured using corneal staining), said Shire.

Nearly a year ago, llifitegrast received the US FDA approval as Xiidra for dry eye treatment. Out of more than US$14 billion in sales over the past year, Xiidra accounted for just over $50 million (representing a more than 20% market share in the US) with opthalmology contributing 2% to overall sales, which largely comprises of five therapeutic areas: Hemtology, Genetic Diseases, Immunology, Neuroscience and Internal Medicine.

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Shire PLC (SHP): Looking To Captalise On Unmet Needs In Eye Care - Simply Wall St

Bangladesh has successfully reduced around 50% of child blindness in last the 14 years, which has come down to 25,000 from 48,000 as estimated in the year 2000.

Dr AHM Enayet Hussain, head of paediatric ophthalmology at the National Institute of Opthalmology and Hospital and program manager of national eye care program, made the announcement while presenting his keynote paper at an orientation on childhood blindness for journalist at the National Press Club yesterday.

Orbis International and Bangladesh Nari Sangbadik Kendra jointly organised the orientation under National Childhood Blindness Reduction Program at Orbis and the National Eye Care.

Presenting his keynote speech, Enayet said although no national survey was conduction on child blindness in the country, the World Health Organisation (WHO) estimated the number of child blindness patients using Under-5 child mortality rate.

Currently, the Under-5 child mortality rate is at 53, so it can be said that the estimated number of child blindness patients would be around 25,000, he added.

He also added: We had conducted cataract surgery of more than 10,000 children between 2005 and 2010. When we reviewed the success of these operations, we observed that many of the operation did not give satisfactory outcomes as the patient did not come for treatment at an earlier age.

He urged the people to bring their children, who are suffering from eyesight problem, for treatment and informed that the government will be providing all kinds of eye care treatment, including surgery, free of cost.

When asked, Dr Munir Ahmed, country director of Orbis International for Bangladesh, told the Dhaka Tribune: I will not disagree with him [Enayet] but before using this data it should be validated in some way.

However, the number of child blindness patients had definitely reduce in number. But, a large number of children continue to suffering from avoidable childhood illnesses.

He further said early detection of the problem, quality of treatment and post-treatment care can prevent avoidable blindness or restore the sight of the children.

Child eye experts said avoidable child blindness and visual impairment is a significant health issue in Bangladesh and its impact fuels poverty and worsens socio-economic inequality.

They also added that children of Bangladesh have been suffering of different eye related issues, such as cataract, refractive error, strabismus, rop (retinopathy of prematurity), ptosis and eye injury.

Quoting WHO, global estimates of childhood blindness show that the prevalence of childhood blindness in Bangladesh is at 0.75 per 1,000 children.

They said approximately 1.3 million children have refractive errors and around 1,53,600 have low vision problems, of which around 78,336 can be avoided.

Without intervention, blind or visually-impaired children are likely to experience low educational achievement, lack of productive employment opportunities, social isolation and increased poverty.

Among others, Mohammed Alauddin, director program of Orbis, Dr Nahid Ferdousi, co-ordinator of National Childhood Blindness Reduction Program, Dr. Lutful Husain, staff optholmologist at Orbis, and Parvin Sultana Jhuma, general secretary of Bangladesh Nari Sangbadhik Kendra, also addressed the program.

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Bangladesh successfully reduces child blindness over the last 14 years - Dhaka Tribune

Experts are warning people about counterfeit eclipse glasses.

Watching solar eclipse(Photo: Daniel MacDonald / http://www.dmacphoto.com, Getty Images/Flickr RF)

You've heard over and over that you shouldn't look up at the sun during Monday's solar eclipse (or ever, as a general rule), but what actually happens if you do?

Dr. Jacob Chung, Chief of Opthalmology at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center, answered our burning (ahem) questions about what'll happenif you just can't help but take a peek sans ISO-approved glasses during the big event.

If you look at it for a second or two, nothing will happen. Five seconds, I'm not sure, but 10 seconds is probably too long and 20 seconds is definitely too long.

The eye works like a camera, and the retina is like the film of your eye. So looking at the sun too long is almost like burning a hole in the center of your film, or retina. We don't have pain fibers there so you won't have discomfort or feel pain, but you might see a fuzzed out, dark spot.

The retina can't heal itself, so the blind spot is permanent and cannot be treated, but definitely go see a doctor to make sure it's the right diagnosis.

ECLIPSE GUIDE: Everything you need to know about the solar eclipse

GLASSES: 5 places to get eclipse glasses before the big day

If you're in that 70-mile swath where you'll be able to see the total eclipse [parts of Oregon, Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska, Montana, Illinois, Kentucky, South Carolina], you have about a two-minute window where the sun is 100 percent eclipsed. Because we have a partial eclipse, there is a zero-second window where it's safe to look at the sun directly.

Look, no one loves to look at the sun: it hurts. The reason it's more dangerous during the eclipse is because you don't feel much discomfort, yet your eyes are receiving all the harm. It's similar to getting sunburnedon a cloudy day.

[Chuckles] Yes.

They filter out a lot more of the sun's harmful radiation something like 100,000 times more than standard sunglasses.

The best alternative is to visualize it from an indirect method. Put your phone camera on selfie mode, then turn your back to the sun and see the eclipse that way.

Or, take twopieces of cardboard or paper. Cut a hole in one and again, turn yourback to the sun and hold it up against the second one. Thesun will cast its rays through the pinhole, [creating a projection on the second piece of cardboard/paper].

I had a case many years ago of a gentleman who had a condition called solar retinopathy. I don't know if it was during an eclipse, but he said he was on LSD and looked at the sun for four straight hours. In hisretina there was a pigmented spot and his vision was very poor, needless to say. Hewas basically legally blind.

In summer, of course, since we're closer to the sun. But there are different ways you can get damage from the sun in your eyes. If you are outdoors a lot you can get a growth on the surface of your eye, called pterygium. It's found very commonly in people who live or grew up in equatorial regions, and a lot of surfers get itbecause the water reflects UV into eyes [the condition is also called Surfer's Eye]. If very severe, it can start to obscure your vision and cause irritation from time to time. That can be surgically removed, however.

Chronic sun exposure can also contribute to formation of cataracts and macular degeneration. So, wear sunglasses as often as it makes sense to.

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Eye doctor explains why you shouldn't look at the sun during the ... - NorthJersey.com

The study suggests it may encourage blood cancer stem cells to die.

Researchers say Vitamin C may "tell" faulty stem cells in the bone marrow to mature and die normally, instead of multiplying to cause blood cancers.

They explained that certain genetic changes are known to reduce the ability of an enzyme called TET2 to encourage stem cells to become mature blood cells, which eventually die, in many patients with certain kinds of leukaemia.

The new study, published online by the journal Cell. found that vitamin C activated TET2 function in mice engineered to be deficient in the enzyme.

Study corresponding author Professor Benjamin Neel, of the Perlmutter Cancer Centre in the United States, said: "We're excited by the prospect that high-dose vitamin C might become a safe treatment for blood diseases caused by TET2-deficient leukemia stem cells, most likely in combination with other targeted therapies."

He said changes in the genetic code that reduce TET2 function are found in 10 per cent of patients with acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), 30 per cent of those with a form of pre-leukaemia called myelodysplastic syndrome, and in nearly 50 per cent of patients with chronic myelomonocytic leukaemia.

Such cancers cause anaemia, infection risk, and bleeding as abnormal stem cells multiply in the bone marrow until they interfere with blood cell production, with the number of cases increasing as the population ages.

Prof Neel said the study results revolve around the relationship between TET2 and cytosine, one of the four nucleic acid "letters" that comprise the DNA code in genes.

To determine the effect of mutations that reduce TET2 function in abnormal stem cells, the researchers genetically engineered mice such that the scientists could switch the TET2 gene on or off.

Similar to the naturally occurring effects of TET2 mutations in mice or humans, using molecular biology techniques to turn off TET2 in mice caused abnormal stem cell behaviour.

Prof Neel said, remarkably, the changes were reversed when TET2 expression was restored by a genetic trick.

Previous work had shown that vitamin C could stimulate the activity of TET2 and its relatives TET1 and TET3.

Because only one of the two copies of the TET2 gene in each stem cell is usually affected in TET2-mutant blood diseases, the researchers hypothesised that high doses of vitamin C, which can only be given intravenously, might reverse the effects of TET2 deficiency by turning up the action of the remaining functional gene.

They found that vitamin C did the same thing as restoring TET2 function genetically.

By promoting DNA demethylation, high-dose vitamin C treatment induced stem cells to mature, and also suppressed the growth of leukaemia cancer stem cells from human patients implanted in mice.

Study first author Doctor Luisa Cimmino, of New York University Langone Health, said: "Interestingly, we also found that vitamin C treatment had an effect on leukaemic stem cells that resembled damage to their DNA.

"For this reason, we decided to combine vitamin C with a PARP inhibitor, a drug type known to cause cancer cell death by blocking the repair of DNA damage, and already approved for treating certain patients with ovarian cancer."

The researchers found that the combination had an enhanced effect on leukaemia stem cells, further shifting them from self-renewal back toward maturity and cell death.

Dr Cimmino said the results also suggest that vitamin C might drive leukaemic stem cells without TET2 mutations toward death, given that it turns up any TET2 activity normally in place.

Corresponding author Professor Iannis Aifantis, also of NYU Langone Health, added: "Our team is working to systematically identify genetic changes that contribute to risk for leukaemia in significant groups of patients.

"This study adds the targeting of abnormal TET2-driven DNA demethylation to our list of potential new treatment approaches."

Continued here:
Blood cancer: High doses of vitamin C could encourage stem cells to die - Express.co.uk

Only 3,224 miles to go. Let me at it, says Geoff Thomas as he prepares to set off around Spain, 21 days of pure agony covering every inch of La Vuelta, each stage completed 24 hours before the peloton attacks the third and final grand tour of the season.

Thomas is a cancer survivor dedicated through his own foundation to raising cash and awareness of blood cancer, the disease that struck down the former Crystal Palace midfielder in 2003. Thomas was diagnosed with chronic myeloid leukaemia and given just three months to live. It was, he says, a dark place, yet here he is 12 years in remission and immersed in another lung busting slog to make life possible for others.

The scale of the challenge is insane, or stupid as Thomas describes it, for a bunch of amateur cyclists, one of whom is 67 years old. Having already completed the Giro dItalia and the Tour de France on the same terms this year there is no backing out now.

The initiative is after all called the Geoff Thomas Three Tours Challenge, and for better or worse he will be in the saddle on Friday alongside four equally committed travellers to attempt something only 39 professional riders have done before. The hope is to funnel more than 1m to Cure Leukaemia, the charity set up by the man he credits with saving his life Professor Charlie Craddock.

I got involved in all this through going through the illness. My only chance of survival was stem cell replacement. At my first meeting with a doctor I was given three months to live. The next day I saw Professor Craddock and he put me in intensive chemo straight away. He offered a different prognosis, saying I might have three years.

I was lucky my sister was a very good match as the donor. The treatment more or less kills you then they bring you back to life. My sister had to have the stem cells removed from her spine, quite a painful procedure. These days its like giving blood. They harvest the cells from a blood sample. As a result more people are going on the donors list.

Back when I was diagnosed there was a clinical trial that I couldnt get on. It proved very successful, resulting in survival rates of more than 90 per cent for the drug involved. There was no real infrastructure to run clinical trials back in 2003. A lot of hospitals did not have the facilities, no clinical researchers in place etc. For a small amount of money in the grand scheme we are now able to put that into place.

Hospitals are now working together to get the results required and survival rates have gone up. As a result of the work we have done with clinical trials we have seen almost 200m worth of drugs available for free to patients on the NHS. And that is something we are really proud of.

The fight goes on, and so do the fundraisers, and for this one, you can never be ready, says Thomas. Some of the climbs are ridiculous. I dont look at the course or whats head I just think of bringing enough weight to bear on the pedal to turn the wheel. And you have to be lucky.

I missed a few days of the Tour de France after I fell and injured my hip. It was only on day two, a flat bit, and it became infected about ten days later. I was gutted to have to stop but I realised my aim is to get awareness out there and pull in the money that I know is making a difference to peoples lives. This is the final leg. Im determined tol stay on the bike this time and make it to the end.

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From death's door to mountain top, beating cancer the Geoff Thomas way - iNews

An experimental drug combined with the traditional chemotherapy drug cisplatin, when used in mice, destroyed a rare form of salivary gland tumor and prevented a recurrence within 300 days, a University of Michigan study found.

Called adenoid cystic carcinoma, or ACC, this rare cancer affects 3,000-4,000 people annually, and typically arises in the salivary glands. It's usually diagnosed at an advanced stage, is very resistant to therapy, and there's no cure. People may have read about ACC in the news lately, because elite professional runner Gabe Grunewald is currently undergoing her fourth round of treatment since her 2009 ACC diagnosis.

Typically, oncologists treat ACC tumors with surgery and radiation. They rarely use chemotherapy because ACC is extremely slow-growing, and chemotherapy works best on cancers where cells divide rapidly and tumors grow quickly, said Jacques Nr, a U-M professor of dentistry, otolaryngology and biomedical engineering, and principal investigator on the study.

The Nr lab treated ACC tumors with a novel drug called MI-773, and then combined MI-773 with traditional chemotherapy cisplatin. MI-773 prevents a molecular interaction that causes tumor cells to thrive by disarming the critical cancer fighting protein, p53.

Study co-author Shaomeng Wang, U-M professor of medicine, pharmacology and medicinal chemistry, discovered MI-773, which is currently licensed to Sanofi.

Researchers believe that blocking that interaction sensitized ACC cancer cells to cisplatina drug that under normal conditions, wouldn't work. When administered to the mice with ACC tumors, the cisplatin targeted and killed the bulk cells that form the tumor mass, while MI-773 killed the more resistant cancer stem cells that cause tumor recurrence and metastasis.

"This drug MI-773 prevents that interaction, so p53 can induce cell death," Nr said. "In this study, when researchers activated p53 in mice with salivary gland cancer, the cancer stem cells died."

The key is that in many other types of cancer, p53 is mutated so it can't kill cancer cells, and this mutation renders the MI-773 largely ineffective. However, in most ACC tumors p53 is normal, and Nr said researchers believe this makes these tumors good candidates for this combined therapy.

Researchers performed two different types of experiments to test ACC tumor reduction and recurrence. First, they treated tumors in mice with a combination of MI-773 and cisplatin, and tumors shrank from about the size of an acorn to nearly zero.

In the second experiment, the acorn-sized tumors were surgically removed, and for one month the mice were treated with MI-773 only, with the hope of eliminating the cancer stem cells that fuel recurrence and metastasis.

"We did not observe any recurrence in the mice that were treated with this drug after 300 days (about half of mouse life expectancy), and we observed about 62 percent recurrence in the control group that had only the surgery," Nr said. "It's our belief that by combining conventional chemotherapy with MI-773, a drug that kills more cancer stem cells, we can have a more effective surgery or ablation."

One limitation of the study is that it's known that about half of all ACC tumors recur only after about 10 years, and this observational period was only 300 days.

In a typical metastasis, the cancer cells spread through the blood to other parts of the body. But ACC cancer cells like to move by "crawling" along nerves, and it's common for ACC tumor cells to follow the prominent facial nerves to the brainpicture a mountain climber ascending a ropewhere it's often fatal.

Research is still too early-stage to know how humans will respond, and the drug will work primarily in tumors where p53 is normal. If p53 is mutated, which is fairly common in other tumor types, this drug won't work as well, Nr said.

The work was funded by the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Research Foundation, U-M and the National Institutes of Health.

The study, "Therapeutic Inhibition of the MDM2-p53 interaction prevents recurrence of adenoid cystic carcinomas," appeared earlier this year in the journal Clinical Cancer Research.

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Cisplatin Combination Kills Rare Cancer Cells in Mice - Bioscience Technology

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new medicine for use against a rare, rapidly progressing blood cancer after other treatments have failed.

The agency approved Pfizer Inc.'s Besponsa for patients with a type of advanced acute lymphoblastic leukemia. By then, life expectancy is low.

"These patients have few treatments available and today's approval provides a new, targeted treatment option," Dr. Richard Pazdur, the FDA's director for cancer drugs, said in a statement.

This year an estimated 5,970 Americans will be diagnosed and 1,440 will die from the cancer, according to the National Cancer Institute.

The drug will cost $168,300 without insurance for the typical nine-week treatment course.

In testing that included 218 patients, 36 percent given Besponsa had their cancer vanish for eight months on average; 17 percent of those given chemotherapy had complete remission for a median five months.

Besponsa is believed to work by blocking the growth of cancerous cells by binding to their surface.

The powerful injected drug, known chemically as inotuzumab ozogamicin, comes with the FDA's most-stringent warning because it can cause severe liver disease, including blocking veins in the liver. It also carries an increased risk of death in patients who have received a certain type of stem cell transplant.

Besponsa also can cause a decrease in blood-cell and platelet production, infusion-related reactions and problems with the heart's electrical pulses. Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding should not take Besponsa because it may harm a developing fetus or a newborn baby, the FDA warned.

More-common side effects include fatigue, severe bleeding, fever, nausea and headaches.

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FDA OKs Pfizer drug for rare, fast-killing type of leukemia - ABC News

Air pollution could increase the risk of infection by damaging the immune system, according to a study.

Scientists have demonstrated for the first time that nano-sized particles in traffic fumes reduce the body's ability to kill viruses and bacteria.

While the potential link between car-choked streets and illness has been the subject of much debate, the work at Edinburgh Napier University is the first to show this effect and presents significant human health implications.

Dr Peter Barlow, who led the research, said: "This is an area of research that is very poorly understood.

"We were extremely concerned when we found that air pollution particles could inhibit the activity of these molecules, which are absolutely essential in the fight against infection.

"In light of these findings, we urge that strong action plans are put in place to rapidly reduce particulate air pollution in our towns and cities."

The study focused on tiny molecules found in the immune systems of humans and animals, known as antimicrobial peptides, which increase in response to infection.

It found carbon particles could trigger changes in the molecules, potentially resulting in "an increased susceptibility to infection".

The implications are potentially profound for people living in areas of high air pollution, who breathe in huge concentrations of particles every day or absorb them through skin contact.

Those with pre-existing lung conditions like asthma or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease are said to be especially vulnerable.

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Traffic fumes 'increase infection risk by damaging immune system' - Birmingham Mail

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The Scripps Research Institute announced Thursday that it was awarded a five-year, $11.2 million federal grant to continue a long- running project to reveal the detailed workings of the mammalian immune system.

The project, which also includes professors from the Center for Infectious Disease Research in Seattle, Stanford University and the University of Texas Southwestern, aims to map the molecular and cellular interactions that underlie immunity and inflammation in health and disease. That in turn should enable the invention of better drugs and vaccines for infections, inflammatory diseases, and other immune-related ailments, according to TSRI.

The project has been funded by the National Institute for Allergic and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health, for 15 years.

It is one of the most productive large-scale science grants that NIAID funds, said Richard Ulevitch professor in TSRIs Department of Immunology.

The researchers use a system called forward genetics, in which the scientists create random DNA mutations in a population of test animals.

They screen the animals for resulting immune-related changes and, when they find significant ones, use state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technology to identify the mutated genes that caused the modifications.

The researchers also mine existing literature on gene and protein function, and apply the statistical and computational methods of systems biology, to connect the data points and thereby map the networks that underlie immunity.

Over the years, the scientists have published noteworthy findings in scientific journals and maintained online databases with their results.

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Scripps Research Institute Awarded $11.2M for Mammalian Immune System Project was last modified: August 17th, 2017 by Debbie L. Sklar

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Scripps Research Institute Awarded $11.2M for Mammalian Immune System Project - Times of San Diego

Mathias Uhlen

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.Center for Biosustainability, Danish Technical University, Copenhagen, Denmark.School of Biotechnology, AlbaNova University Center, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Cheng Zhang

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Sunjae Lee

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Evelina Sjstedt

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Linn Fagerberg

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Gholamreza Bidkhori

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Rui Benfeitas

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Muhammad Arif

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Zhengtao Liu

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Fredrik Edfors

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Kemal Sanli

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Kalle von Feilitzen

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Per Oksvold

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Emma Lundberg

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Sophia Hober

School of Biotechnology, AlbaNova University Center, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Peter Nilsson

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Johanna Mattsson

Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Jochen M. Schwenk

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.

Hans Brunnstrm

Division of Pathology, Lund University, Skne University Hospital, Lund, Sweden.

Bengt Glimelius

Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Tobias Sjblom

Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Per-Henrik Edqvist

Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Dijana Djureinovic

Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Patrick Micke

Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Cecilia Lindskog

Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

Adil Mardinoglu

Science for Life Laboratory, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.School of Biotechnology, AlbaNova University Center, KTHRoyal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden.Department of Biology and Biological Engineering, Chalmers University of Technology, SE-412 96 Gothenburg, Sweden.

Fredrik Ponten

Department of Immunology Genetics and Pathology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.

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A pathology atlas of the human cancer transcriptome - Science Magazine

Using fragments of circulating tumor DNA in blood, University of California San Diego School of Medicine researchers were able to identify theoretically targetable genetic alterations in 66 percent of patients with cancer of unknown primary (CUP), a rare disease with seven to 12 cases per 100,000 people each year.

In order to plan treatment for cancer in general, physicians first attempt to pinpoint the primary cancer where the tumor first developed. In CUP, despite its spread throughout the body, the origin remains unknown, making treatment more difficult. The current standard of care is platinum-based combination chemotherapies with a median survival time of six to eight months.

Razelle Kurzrock, MD, director of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health.

In a study published in the journal Cancer Research on August 15, researchers report that by sequencing circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA) derived from blood samples in 442 patients with CUP, they were able to identify at least one genetic alteration linked to cancer in 290 66 percent of patients. Researchers used a screening test developed by Guardant Health that evaluates up to 70 genes. Based on known carcinogenic mutations, 99.7 percent of the 290 patients who had detectable tumor DNA in their bloodstream had genomic alterations that could hypothetically be targeted using existing FDA-approved drugs (as off-label use) or with therapies currently under investigation in clinical trials.

By definition, CUP does not have a definite anatomical diagnosis, but we believe genomics is the diagnosis, said Razelle Kurzrock, MD, director of the Center for Personalized Cancer Therapy at Moores Cancer Center at UC San Diego Health and senior author. Cancer is not simple and CUP makes finding the right therapy even more difficult. There are multiple genes and abnormalities involved in different areas of the body. Our research is the first to show that evaluating circulating tumor DNA from a tube of blood is possible in patients with CUP and that most patients harbor unique and targetable alterations.

A blood or liquid biopsy is a diagnostic tool based on the idea that critical genetic information about the state of disease can be found in blood or other fluids. One vial of blood could be used to detect the onset of disease, monitor its progression and measure its retreat less invasively than a tissue biopsy.

Shumei Kato, MD, assistant professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine.

Another advantage of the liquid biopsy is that the location of the cancer does not matter, said Shumei Kato, MD, assistant professor of medicine at UC San Diego School of Medicine and first author. With a blood sample, we can analyze the DNA of tumors throughout the body to find targetable alterations. With tissue biopsies, we can only see genomic changes that are in that one site and that may not be the same as what is in different sites not biopsied, such as the lung or bone.

Liquid biopsies are relatively simple to get and can be obtained regularly to monitor changes over time, as was the case with a 60-year-old woman with CUP. Her case, which was evaluated by Brian Leyland-Jones, MB, BS, PhD and study co-author with colleagues at Avera Cancer Institute, was described in the study to show the changes observed in ctDNA over the course of her treatment.

What we saw was that the patient was responding to treatment, but the cancer had emerging new mutations, said Kurzrock. Whats new here is that we can do the same evaluation through a blood test that we previously could only do with a tissue sample. You will see these changes with a simple blood test and it is easy to repeat blood tests, but hard to repeat tissue biopsies.

The study also reported the case of an 82-year-old man who was prescribed a checkpoint inhibitor immunotherapy as part of his treatment because of a mismatch repair gene anomaly that is typically observed in less than two percent of patients. He showed a partial response within eight weeks and blood biopsies showed the tumor DNA disappearing.

We can see that each patient has different mutations in their tumor DNA, which means that treatment plans cannot be a one-size-fits-all approach; a personalized approach is needed, said Kato.

Kurzrock is already using liquid biopsy technology in the Profile Related Evidence Determining Individualized Cancer Therapy (PREDICT) clinical trial a project focusing on the outcome of patients who have genomic testing performed on their tumors and are treated with targeted therapy.

The authors suggest that a liquid biopsy approach should be further investigated in next-generation clinical trials focusing on CUP.

Co-authors include: Nithya Krishnamurthy, Scott M. Lippman, UC San Diego; Kimberly C. Banks, Richard B. Lanman, Guardant Health, Inc.; Pradip De, Kirstin Williams, and Casey Williams, Avera Cancer Institute.

This research was funded, in part, by the National Cancer Institute (P30 CA016672) and the Joan and Irwin Jacobs fund.

Disclosure: Razelle Kurzrock receives consultant fees from X-biotech and from Actuate Therapeutics, as well as research funds from Genentech, Pfizer, Sequenom, Guardant, Foundation Medicine and Merck Serono, and has an ownership interest in Novena Inc. and CureMatch Inc.

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Blood Biopsy Reveals Unique, Targetable Genetic Alterations in Patients with Rare Cancer - UC San Diego Health