StemCell Therapy

According to the Cleveland Clinic, more than 60% of infant blindness cases are caused by inherited eye diseases such as congenital cataracts and glaucoma, retinal degeneration, optic atrophy and eye malformations., and up to 40% of patients with certain types of strabismus (ocular misalignment) have a family history of the disease. In adults, glaucoma and age-related macular degeneration are two of the leading causes of blindness, and both appear to be inherited in a large portion of cases.

Applied Genetic Technologies (Nasdaq: AGTC) is developing treatments for severe opthalmological diseases using gene therapy to replace abnormal or broken genes with normal functional genes, enabling the body to produce proteins to treat its own illness.

Pipeline

AGTC has a broad pipeline of severe opthalmological diseases and corresponding gene targets that it's pursuing in the clinic, including two programs under collaboration with Biogen (Nasdaq: BIIB).

Source: Applied Genetic Technologies Corporation website

X-Linked Retinoschisis (XLRS)

An inherited form of retinal degeneration affecting young males, presenting with poor visual acuity by school age that usually worsens during the teenage years. Severe complications such as retinal hemorrhage or retinal detachment occur in up to 40% of patients, especially in older individuals. There are currently no approved treatments for XLRS.

Achromatopsia (ACHM)

An inherited condition that is associated with visual acuity loss, extreme light sensitivity resulting in daytime blindness and total loss of color discrimination. There is no specific treatment, although deep red tinted spectacles or contact lenses can reduce symptoms of light sensitivity. AGTC is working on two programs based on the gene mutations known as CNGB3 and CNGA3, which account for 75% of affected patients.

X-Linked Retinitis Pigmentosa (XLRP)

An inherited condition that causes boys to develop night blindness by the time they are 10 years old, followed by progressive constriction of the field of vision. Affected men become legally blind at an average of about 45 years of age.

Age-Related Macular Degeneration (AMD)

The leading cause of blindness in the US, with more than 1.6 million people affected. Wet AMD is a more severe progression of AMD. Although it affects only 10-15 percent of those who have the condition, it accounts for 90 percent of the severe vision loss caused by macular degeneration according to the Macular Degeneration Partnership. One of the treatments for wet AMD is ranibizumab, a blood vessel growth inhibitor marketed as Lucentis by Roche (OTCQB: RHHBY) and Novartis (NYSE: NVS), which requires frequent injections into the affected eye. AGTC believes that gene therapy offers a potential long-term solution to treat wet AMD with just one injection, and that there is a strong rationale for combination therapy to become the standard of care.

Management

CEO Sue Washer has led the company since 2002. She has a decade of pharmaceutical management and research experience with Abbott Labs (NYSE: ABT) and Eli Lilly (NYSE: LLY) and more than 16 years of senior management experience with entrepreneurial firms in Florida including three start-ups. Ms. Washer is the chair of Southeast BIO and a member of the Executive Committee of BioFlorida and the board of the Florida High Tech Corridor Council.

William Sullivan was announced yesterday as the new CFO succeeding the retiring Larry Bullock. Mr. Sullivan has 20 years of experience in corporate finance, leading strategic transactions, fundraising, and accounting. Most recently, he held a variety of leadership positions at Merrimack Pharmaceuticals (Nasdaq: MACK), including CFO, Principal Accounting Officer and Treasurer.

Michael Goldstein, MD has been Chief Medical Officer since November 2016. Previously, Dr. Goldstein was the Chief Medical Officer and VP of Clinical Research at Eleven Biotherapeutics (Nasdaq: EBIO). He is the Co-Director of Cornea and External Disease Service and Assistant Professor of Ophthalmology at the New England Eye Center.

AGTC Stock

AGTC went public in 2014, raising $57.5 million in gross proceeds at a post-IPO valuation of $168 million. The stock peaked at above $400 million in market value in early 2015 but is now trading at an all-time low of just $82 million. The company has a good cash position - $149 million as of the end of March and an anticipated $130-$140 million at the end of the fiscal year, June 30th. We like where AGTC sits on the risk-reward spectrum, as we await the company's fiscal year-end update sometime this month.

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Link:
Applied Genetic Technologies (AGTC): Gene Therapy for Opthalmology - Equities.com

NOVI, Mich., Aug. 3, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Thousands of military men and women involvedinthe long raging war in the Middle East have arrived home suffering from undiagnosed traumatic brain injuries, the "invisible wound" of battle. These injuries can lead to stress, depression, insomnia, alcoholism, substance abuse and, all too often, suicide.

Center for Neurological Studies (CNS), a Novi-based non-profit, has launched "Hope After Combat," an in-depth study combining ten diagnostic testing disciplines to diagnose and develop individualized treatment for veterans with brain injuries.

"Any attempt to treat veterans with traumatic brain injuries begins with an accurate diagnosis," says Randall Benson, M.D., CNS Vice President and Medical Director. "Combat injuries are frequently mis-diagnosed resulting in inappropriate and unsuccessful treatment. We can and must do better. Better diagnoses lead to improved outcomes."

Hope After Combat combines diagnostic testing including neurology, neuro-opthalmology and neuropsychology enhanced by CNS' advanced magnetic resonance imaging techniques (MRI), diffusion tensor imaging and susceptibility-weighted imaging. These advanced MRI techniques developed at CNS are significantly more sensitive than traditional MRI imaging and have worked successfully on hundreds of non-combat brain-injury victims.

In the Hope After Combat study, once diagnostic testing is complete a treatment plan is developed and the veteran takes part in an individualized 60-day rehabilitation program based on his or her specific diagnosis. All disciplines continue to provide input and care for the victim and his/her family. The final study is expected to include more than 50 combat victims.

"These veterans and their families are desperate for answers and we're trying to provide them," says John D. Russell, CEO and President of CNS. "The veterans have been real troopers in every sense of the word and we're learning from their individual efforts and progress. But our donors are the ones who've made the study possible. Without them we couldn't bring all these disciplines together for such an important study."

For further information or to participate in or make a contribution to the Hope After Combat study, contact John Russell at 313-228-0930 or visit the CNS website, http://neurologicstudies.com

CNS was founded in 2011 with the objective of advancing scientific research for neurovascular disease. CNS staff are available for interview on brain injuries and brain-related diseases.

View original content:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/military-brain-injuries-are-the-subject-of-center-for-neurological-studies-hope-after-combat-study-300499425.html

SOURCE Center for Neurological Studies

Read the rest here:
Military Brain Injuries are the Subject of Center for Neurological Studies "Hope After Combat" Study - Markets Insider

Column

Underdevelopment has its cost which is far greater than the mere incidental. Siddkur's is thus an avoidable personal tragedy. It could not have happened if the authorities moved fast and were serious enough to take up the affiliation matters. The tragic incident involving Siddiqur, however, has both diluted and shifted the focus from the main issue. Now Siddikur has become the issue instead of the fate of 167,000 students, writes Nilratan Halder

In case of the loss of his eyesight, an uncertain future stares in the fact of the young man and his poor mother. He lost his father at an early age and his mother struggled to educate her son with the hope that he would soon take over the responsibility of the family once he completes his graduation. He nurtured in his bosom the dream of becoming a government officer and pleaded with her to wait for two more years. Now that appears to be a distant dream.

To call it an accident is a gross misstatement. What prompted the students of Dhaka City's seven government colleges affiliated with the University of Dhaka after their dissociation with the National University to hold a demonstration exposes both underdevelopment and the lack of seriousness on the part of some highly placed responsible people. Relations between the National University and the University of Dhaka cannot be said to be ideal on account of personal antagonism between the highest authorities. Lack of cooperation and coordination between the two universities simply cast a dark shadow on the future of 167,000 students studying at those colleges. For months students have been passing agonising time in the absence of curricula or syllabuses for some and an announcement of exam date for others. How so often does it happen that students are holding rallies for announcement of exam dates? The demonstrating students at Shahbagh were exactly doing this. They were not protesting against anyone. Their objective was simple: just announce the exam date so that they do not have to waste their academic year. Usually demonstrations are held for opposite reasons but here is a most positive cause they were making a demand for.

And it is exactly for this reason Siddiqur is now going to lose his eyesight. The police know the language of force and indiscriminately use it. This was an apolitical demonstration and could be handled with care. After all, the demonstration was not violent. It is exactly here the authorities responsible for creating the mess also demonstrated how callous and insensitive they could be. Eminent educationist Jafar Iqbal has rightly accused the Dhaka University authorities for not doing enough to save the day for the highest seat of learning. It failed miserably when no one felt the need to arrive at the scene to tell that the exam schedule has been finalised two days ago. If this message was conveyed to the assembled students, they would leave the place happily.

Instead, the authorities maintained an atrocious silence over the decision they have already arrived at. Understandably, the preparation for a smooth transition and takeover is missing. Overall, it is a mess that the two universities have created for the students of the seven colleges. The students are now neither here nor there. The website of the NU has been deleted and the DU is yet to prepare the required dossier for the inducted students. Now the very objective of raising the quality of education of the seven colleges under the DU is fading out when the rudimentary tasks remain unfulfilled. These are signs of underdevelopment and inefficiency.

It is already late but the authorities need to gear up their efforts in order to bring the academic activities of the colleges in order. It is not a tall order, though. The university has its curricula and syllabuses. Those will mostly be recommended with minor changes for the colleges as well. Students not receiving lessons in the absence of syllabi cannot be blamed for demanding the same. If the crucial issues are not attended on a priority basis, more such unpleasant incidents cannot be ruled out. The name of the game is discharging duty responsibly.

However, responsibility is increasingly becoming a casualty at the hands of teachers at the highest seats of learning now. Or else, it would have been unthinkable for teachers getting involved in a scuffle with students over Dhaka University Central Students' Union (DUCSU) election and the number of university senate members required for the election of the university's vice-chancellor.

nilratanhalder2000@yahoo.com

Read more from the original source:
Loss of Siddikur's eyesight and focus shift - Financial Express Bangladesh

Proudly Providing Integrative Medicine in Virginia

Your health is important to us and we will not rest until we have helped you figure out a solution to your ailments. At Optimal Health Dimensions, we pride ourselves on caring, listening, and providing personalized solutions. If you are suffering from a medical impairment, or affliction, our Virginia integrative medicine practice is dedicated to helping you achieve results to better your future. We employ highly-skilled healthcare practitioners which allows our patients to glean from a variety of therapy options as well as extensive medical knowledge and experience. Our holistic doctors are dedicated to providing excellent services for our patients, and we can put our experience to work for you if you choose to take advantage of our services.

We offer the following therapeutics to our clients:

Intravenous Light Therapy

If you are suffering from an illness that is causing severe pain, our providers offer a therapy that can help relieve those symptoms using an intravenous delivery system that delivers UVA light, green and red light waves to the individual directly through the vein.

Bio-identical Hormone Therapy - The Rejuvenated You Therapy (RYT) ApproachIf you are facing a hormone deficiency of estrone, estradiol, or testosterone to name a few, then you may greatly benefit from the option of Bio-identical hormone replacement therapy. This is the process by which your hormones are targeted and matched on a molecular level, and then replaced with identical hormones to supplement a deficiency.

Healthy Baby ProjectThere are too many cases where mothers before pregnancy were not detoxed or properly prepared for the joyful event of a pregnancy resulting in an un-well baby or child that later develops undesirable medical issues. With our years of experience, we can help you pursue a healthy lifestyle and prepare your body to an optimal level to receive and nourish your unborn baby.

IV TherapiesThere is a variety of different issues that can be solved through various IV nutrient/mineral and antimicrobial therapies. In the case of dehydration, an IV can be used to quickly hydrate a human body. IVs can be used to supplement nutrients, minerals, and vitamins or quickly insert antibacterial medicine, or used for detoxification purposes through flushing the system.

Nutritional ConsultationAll our providers have extensive experience and medical skill in nutritional and lifestyle modification to provide you with a better understanding of the human body and how it responds to the fuel given. There are many different medical issues that can be solved by healthy nutrition choices, and exercise. You will greatly benefit from the information gleaned from our skilled medical staff.

Besides our most popular therapeutics mentioned above, we also provide many other therapies to address and improve your unique health needs. Even when you can't put a finger on what health problem is plaguing you, we can listen to your symptoms and prescribe the therapies and medications that could most likely benefit you. Don't try to troubleshoot your health conditions on your own or by simply going off of the tips you find on Google. We are certified experts that can provide you with the proven and beneficial therapies you need.

These therapies include the following:

At Optimal Health Dimensions, we care about your unique situation and will not approach improving your health with any cookie-cutter tactics. Our work ethic and character is something we prize above all else.

What makes us stand apart, is that we will do the following:

Your medical concerns are important to us, and we can put our first-hand knowledge to work for you. Are you looking for aholistic doctor in Virginia?Contact us today to schedule an evaluation so we can begin the process of retaining the medical assistance that you need. Don't delay in getting the counsel and guidance you need to pursue a healthier, happier life. We care about your life and your future, which is why we use integrative medicine to heal both your mind and body. By choosing Optimal Health Dimensions, you will be in the safe hands you can trust. Visit our Fairfax medical center today at 3930 Pender Drive, Suites #260 and #280!

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Our Services | Virginia Integrative Medicine

FOREST GROVE, Ore., Aug. 4, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Every year, stress and professional burnout cost US business and consumers over $400 billion. Thousands of talented, well-trained professionals become overwhelmed by burnout and leave the careers they love, creating shortages in many critical industries such as nursing, primary care medicine and teaching.

While researchers have successfully demystified many aspects of burnout, people who need help don't know where to start. OnOctober 8, 2017, the definitive guide, "Save Yourself from Burnout: A System to Get Your Life Back," will be available in bookstores and online retailers nationwide.

This informative, encouraging and highly strategic guide, written by the integrative medical team of Dr. Marnie Loomis, naturopathic physician, former faculty member of the National University of Natural Medicine, and Beth Genly, retired nurse-midwife, former faculty member of Oregon Health and Science University, provides a comprehensive approach to understanding and overcoming burnout. It is specifically designed for people who are exhausted yet want to return to the lives and careers they love.

"Burnout has devastating effects on health and well-being. 'Save Yourself from Burnout' is timely and offers a multitude of customizable solutions for people who are feeling burned out," comments Kelly Campbell, Ph.D., associate professor of psychology, California State University, Santa Barbara; and co-host of the radio show "Let's Talk Relationships."

"We both experienced burnout. When we realized so many of our students, colleagues and loved ones were also suffering from burnout, we had to figure out how to help," Dr. Loomis says.

"Unlike generic lists of tips and tricks, 'Save Yourself from Burnout'leads each reader to identify the extent of their own burnout protection and vulnerability, creating a simple visual map to guide recovery and maintain their energy and passion for life," Genly adds.

"Save Yourself from Burnout" details how burnout is different from and more destructive than stress. "Burnout is common, but most people try to keep it a secret when it happens to them. Certainly, when burnout got to me, I wondered if I had some deep-seated personal flaw that might be the cause."

"Fear and stigma keep most people from talking about it," Dr. Loomis says. "We find people are empowered by thinking of burnout as a sort of repetitive stress injury, like carpal tunnel syndrome or tennis elbow. If you treat burnout as an injury to the parts of your mind and body that deal with constant stress, the path to recovery becomes clear."

For those who have witnessed the devastating effects of burnout on their friends, family members and coworkers, the new book, "Save Yourself from Burnout," provides hope that burnout does not have to be a life sentence for the members of our community who are too valuable to lose.

Contact

Beth Genly503-267-4482 rel="nofollow">170920@email4pr.com

Dr. Marnie Loomis, ND 503-544-7044 rel="nofollow">170920@email4pr.com

Book Data

Save Yourself from Burnout: A System to Get Your Life Back,by Dr. Marnie Loomis, ND, and Beth Genly, MSN

Find Photos, Videos, Author Bios, and Advance Readers' Reactions at: http://www.burnout-solutions.com/press-kit-save-burnout/

View original content with multimedia:http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/burnout-recovery-guide-by-doctornurse-team-offers-new-science-based-system-300499590.html

SOURCE Bouclier Press

Read more here:
Burnout Recovery Guide by Doctor/Nurse Team Offers New Science-Based System - Markets Insider

Workdays at Sheridan Medical Group start with "morning scrubs," brainstorming sessions where doctors, physician assistants and their health team gather to talk about ways to best serve the patients they will serve in the coming hours. A physical therapist, nutritionist, behavioral therapist and other workers on the 32-member staff also likely will attend.

This isn't the way traditional offices operated.

It's by design.

Doctors here have been trained to ask more questions, spend a bit more time with patients, and send them down the hallway to talk with preventative health specialists, including physical therapists in the medically oriented gym.

"We believe that we are creating the model for the future," said Jennifer Carlson, clinical director of the Town of Tonawanda practice. "I think this sort of interdisciplinary team is really essential. What we know is what's been happening in the past a physician making decisions on behalf of a patient has failed. We know we in the U.S. have the sickest population that's costing the most amount of money in the entire developed world."

Dr. Richard Carlson Jr., an internist and geriatrician, and Dr. Rajiv Jain, board certified in pediatrics, internal medicine and sports medicine, launched Sheridan Medical 11 years ago. Both doctors have trained and practiced in Buffalo and far-flung places, including Africa. Their fathers were both doctors.

They've enlisted help from their wives in establishing a Sheridan Drive operation that looks to provide cradle-to-grave, community health services in the same building in a patient-centered way.

Aanchal Jain, who has a finance background, is director of business operations. Jennifer Carlson is tasked with making the operation click.

"I see the world through the eyes of a social worker," said Carlson, a graduate of the University at Buffalo School of Social Work who has worked three decades in the field. "Social workers have their roots in transformation. They've been agitators and have sort of an incendiary role because they're sympathetic to the needs of individuals. They are trained to be good communicators and relationship builders and to perceive shortcomings, problems and challenges, then to bring to bear various kinds of forces to help a system become more responsive."

It has been a challenge, she said, but the staff looks to help change health care in Western New York as it goes about its work.

Q. This sounds quite a bit different than the top-down medical care many patients know.

If you can't think differently about your role in the lives of patients, you're never going to change the way you're practicing medicine. Patients are going to continue to become overly dependent on you and they're not going to take their responsibility seriously. It's way too easy to take a back seat and let somebody else run the show. You need to make it harder for people to not be in control. If you stop being in control, they can start to pick up the slack

Doctors' offices have historically had a bunch of exam rooms and a receptionist and a waiting room. That's it. We need teaching spaces, places where people can confer. Our reimbursement doesn't match what we know we need to be doing. We're getting paid to take care of diseases. Eighty percent of our reimbursement is dedicated to fee for service but our practice is deeply invested in population health management. We're banking on that flipping and we're going to be ready.

Q. What do you do?

A huge amount of my time is dedicated to teaching the staff and the patients to think differently about care from a preventative standpoint and to take themselves seriously as a member of a team. Historically, all of our nurses and our medical assistants and our dietitians were cued to take orders from the doctor. The doctor has a lot of knowledge about overall health but they don't really know a lot about nutrition. They're very bad social workers. This is not a secret. Our doctors have heard me say this to them. But they're great doctors. Great doctors. It's almost as important knowing what you don't do

That team approach matters. Physician satisfaction has gone down the drain. They're working 18-hour days. Their reimbursement rates are lower than in the past. Their document burden is incredible. People should know that.

Q. And you're seeing more chronically ill patients?

The whole reason reform came into being is that we are sicker than any other country in the entire developed world and we're putting huge amount of money way more than anybody else into maintaining sick people. Our strength as a team is helping not only with medication but poor eating habits or stress management.

Q. You say insurers could be more helpful?

We're absorbing part of the cost to develop the model. People who work here know what works and what doesn't, and how to collaborate, yet there's no reimbursement structure to support some of what we do. Insurers know that to prevent that 80-year-old on multiple medications and with complex health issues from falling, it's really critical they be seen and be given a suitable fitness program. Sending them to the Y is not the same thing as being seen by physical therapist Russ Certo and his team (but he can't get traction with insurance companies on reimbursement). Getting someone in to see a dietitian so we can create a menu that's suitable for whatever it is they're struggling with, rather than have them become diabetic ... would be better but the system is not designed to reimburse those services.

email: refresh@buffnews.com

Twitter: @BNrefresh

Originally posted here:
Tonawanda medical practice thinks holistically, despite insurance challenges - Buffalo News

Primary Care is comprehensive medical care by those specifically trained in first contact and continuing care for patients, serving as the central hub for all of the patients health care needs. Primary Care Providers (PCPs) specialize in the management of chronic medical diseases, treatment of acute issues, and preventative care. A good PCP is an invaluable asset to your health.

Yet somewhere along the way, that value has come into question. HMSA has promoted its new payment transformation model as a way of supporting primary care. But they failed to actually calculate a fair and reasonable wage for such services.

The Big Island is in the midst of a population expansion, in addition to a staggering physician shortage of 33%. In the last 8 months alone, Hilo has lost 6 PCPs, only one of which was not related to income. This magnifies the physician shortage, and not due to the expected upcoming retirements, making the acuity of the situation pronounced and urgent. HMSA advised us that as PCPs we should be able to safely and effectively care for 2,500 patients, an industry standard.

We practice evidence based medicine in my office, and a search of journals revealed that this number was actually a speculative remark in a journal that has since been discounted on numerous occasions. Estimates based on the time required to provide all recommended acute, chronic and preventative care for 2,500 patients is 21.7 hours/day. To manage chronic conditions alone for a panel of patients in whom those conditions are already controlled, it is estimated to take 3.5 hours/day. When those conditions are uncontrolled, the time commitment increased to an estimated 10.6 hours/day.

Other time management studies suggest a conventional medical model of primary care can manage approximately 1,000 patients with appropriate care. Time delegation models validate Team-Based Primary Care, with a PCP supervising a medical team including midlevel providers, nurses, medical assistants and receptionists to maximize high quality care to a larger population of patients. However there needs to be a system in place that allows for appropriate reimbursement of such a model.

With an average reimbursement of $24/month, working 200 hours/month, we need to manage over 1500 patients to pay a fair and reasonable salary to a single physician, and over 2100 patients to support Team-Based care. And that does not include any overhead or supplies; just salaries. There is no change in the HMSA reimbursement, no matter what services the patient requires acute illness or injury, nebulizer for asthma flare-up, routine follow up, skin biopsy to check for cancer. We get the same $24/month.

With this reimbursement model, the PCP actually loses money by offering more to their patients. Patients lose their opportunity to receive the best medical management at a true medical home. Ultimately, the insurance company actually loses more money and worse, patients will visit urgent care and ER more frequently, as more PCPs shut their doors, unable to afford the primary care the patients need and deserve.

Letters, commentaries and opinion pieces are not edited by Big Island Now.

Link:
LETTER: HMSA and Primary Care Physicians - Big Island Now

8 photos: Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia

8 photos: Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia

8 photos: Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia

8 photos: Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia

8 photos: Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia

8 photos: Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia

8 photos: Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia

8 photos: Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia

COLUMBUS, Ohio Representatives of the Serbian and Angolan Armed Forces met with members of the Ohio National Guard in late June to discuss plans for an upcoming Combined Medical Engagement set to take place in Angola later this year. More than 20 planners from all three countries gathered for a week to work through the details for the upcoming event.

The upcoming Combined Medical Engagement will have medical personnel from the three nations provide infectious disease prevention training as well as basic care to four different villages in the area surrounding Caixito, Angola. Local residents will be able to receive preventative medicine as well as see specialists in obstetrics, pediatric care, dermatology and optometry.

The Ohio National Guard has a long-standing relationship with Serbia, having been state partners with the country for more than 10 years as part of the National Guard State Partnership program. Ohio National Guard and Serbian Armed Forces conducted a similar event in Serbia in 2016. Last years event, (see Combined Medical Engagement partners ONG, Serbia, Angola to help citizens in rural Serbia) which included three observers from the Angolan military, was conducted to lay the groundwork for developing a working relationship with Angola in the future.

Read the original:
Planning underway for combined medical engagement in Angola with Ohio, Serbia - U.S. Africa Command (press release)

Aug. 2, 2017 Tommy Thompson, former Wisconsin governor and the U.S. Health and Human Services (HHS) secretary under George W. Bush, says the GOPs inability to enact health care reform creates a golden opportunity for bipartisanship.

Thompson is speaking at the State Bar of Wisconsins upcoming Health, Labor and Employment Law(HLE) Institute, Aug. 17-18, in Wisconsin Dells. Hell talk about the health care political atmospherefrom the perspective of the countrys top health official.

The four-term Republican state governor served as HHS secretary from 2001 to 2005, overseeing the passage of Medicare Part D (prescription drugs), a contentious bill at the time. He also dealt with 9/11, smallpox vaccination, and the AIDS epidemic.

In preparation for his HLE appearance, Thompson reflects on his experience as HHS secretary and where health care could be headed next.

Number one, I think the Republicans really have made some terrible mistakes and should have had a workable plan that had the votes to get through. They didnt, and thats their fault. Secondly, Obamacare is dead. Its not going to go anywhere. Sooner or later, the Democrats will have to realize they should work with the Republicans to get a bipartisan bill done.

Third, the President has the opportunity to either continue the subsidies or not, and to the best ofmy knowledge, he has not made up his mind yet. But all indications are that he will apply pressure and could accelerate the demise of Obamacare and therefore force action.

Looking back at history, you always have Democrats and Republicans working together when you have big social policy. You look back at Social Security, you look back at Medicare, look back at Medicaid, look back on Medicare Part D, which I was responsible for all successful programs by the way and they were all done with bipartisan votes. Never has there been a really big change on social policy in America without bipartisan support. And so I think that the failure of the Republicans to act gives Congress a golden opportunity. Im looking at this optimistically as a way to get a bipartisan health care bill through thats reform minded, thats affordable and accessible, and treats all the states the same on Medicaid.

I think thats doable and its possible, and I think that will be the result when saner minds come back in the fall and realize they have to get something done.

Very contentious. President Bush told me he promised to get drug coverage for seniors and said it was my responsibility to get it done. And so, my department and the White House worked for weeks on getting that done, and I spent months over inCongress working with the House Ways and Means Committee and the House and the Senate Finance Committee to get a bipartisan proposal done. In the Senate, I had John Breaux [Democrat for Louisiana], and Max Baucus [a Democrat from Montana] and got a bipartisan bill done. I also had some outside advice from Ted Kennedy. He didnt vote for it, but he gave me a lot of good advice.

My philosophy never changes. My philosophy is to work with people who want to get things done. I did that as governor and I did it as secretary. If a Democrat wanted to work with me, I said come on in. We did it.

The biggest change in AIDS policy was done under the Department of Health and Human Services. We set up the Global Fund, and with President Bushs leadership, we were able to pass the Presidents Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). To this day, he will credit PEPFAR as his No. 1 accomplishment in the social arena.

I had 9/11 on my handsand fears of bioterrorism. I had a shortage of medicine. People were afraid that smallpox was going to be the next big epidemic, and we did not have enough vaccine. We went around and found a cache of smallpox vaccine from the 1950s that was locked up in a room at a pharmaceutical company, and we were able to use that vaccine and divide it up so that we could make more smallpox vaccine.

It was finding that cache and finding a way to use it, it was setting up a public health system that had deteriorated, including adequate antibiotics and vaccines. People were really worried about smallpox and monkey pox, and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). AIDS was running rampant, especially in Africa. We set up the Global Fund and PEPFAR to fight that. I negotiated with Bayer to buy Cipro, an anthrax vaccine, at a percentage of what they were selling it to the public. To my knowledge, no HHS secretary has negotiated with a pharmaceutical company for lower drug prices.

Getting a health care bill done.

Obamacare is not going to stay. It just isnt. Its falling apart. Congress has got to pass something.

Because they dont understand the importance of it. We spend 91 percent of our health care dollars getting people well after they get sick, and less than 9 percent of that $3 trillion is spent on keeping you well in the first place. We do not have a health system, we have a disease system. I think we should go to a health system.

I was into wellness and prevention when I was governor, but I really got into it when I became HHS secretary and went down to CDC and did something no secretary has ever done. I spent a week at each of the divisions. I found out that we are killing ourselves through obesity and diabetes, and we were not going to be able to afford it. I decided we were going to prevent diabetes, infectious diseases, and chronic illnesses. Alzheimers and diabetes are killing our health care costs. I came to the conclusion that the best way forward was wellness and prevention.

Preventative health has always been a low funding priority. It just always has been. People just dont understand it. They dont understand the connection. One thing is the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has to put a fiscal estimate on it. The CBO does not score something as esoteric as wellness. They cant score it without a dollar amount.

BadgerCare came as an idea I had when I was sitting on the Joint Finance Committee 50 years ago. I came to the conclusion that if you were middle-income to well-to-do, you could buy a good lawyer if you got in trouble. If you were poor, you got a public defender at the states expense.

If you were, like I was then, just on the verge of making a living, small business people that I represented including farmers working 14 hours per day those poor blokes never had enough money to hire a lawyer or a doctor or go to get your shots. I didnt think it was fair. That carried with me, but I couldnt get anything done while I was in the Assembly because I was always in the minority. That changed when I became governor. That was how BadgerCare came to be.

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Tommy Thompson: Congress has a Golden Opportunity on Health Care - WisBar

Seen any clone armies in your backyard lately? Probably not. This might surprise you if you are old enough to remember the ethical panic that greeted the birth of Dolly the sheep, the first mammal cloned from an adult cell, in Scotland 21 years ago.

The cloned creature set off a crazy overreaction, with fears of clone armies, re-creating the dead, and a host of other horrors, monsters, abuses and terrors none of which has come to pass. That is why it is so important, amid all the moral hand-wringing about what could happen as human genetic engineering emerges, to keep our ethical eye on the right ball. Freaking out over impending superbabies and mutant humans with the powers of comic book characters is not what is needed.

An international team of scientists, led by researchers at the Oregon Health and Science University, has used genetic engineering on human sperm and a pre-embryo. The group is doing basic research to figure out if new forms of genetic engineering might be able to prevent or repair terrible hereditary diseases.

How close are they to making freakish superpeople using their technology? About as close as we are to traveling intergalactically using current rocket technology.

So what should we be worrying about as this rudimentary but promising technique tries to get off the launch pad?

First and foremost, oversight of what is going on. Congress, in its infinite wisdom, has banned federal funding for genetic engineering of sperm, eggs, pre-embryos or embryos. That means everything goes on in the private or philanthropic world here or overseas, without much guidance. We need clear rules with teeth to keep anyone from trying to go too fast or deciding to try to cure anything in an embryo intended to become an actual human being without rock-solid safety data.

Second, we need to determine who should own the techniques for genetic engineering. Important patent fights are underway among the technology's inventors. That means people smell lots of money. And that means it is time to talk about who gets to own what and charge what, lest we reinvent the world of the $250,000 drug in this area of medicine.

Finally, human genetic engineering needs to be monitored closely: all experiments registered, all data reported on a public database and all outcomes good and bad made available to all scientists and anyone else tracking this area of research. Secrecy is the worst enemy that human genetic engineering could possibly have.

Let your great-great-grandkids fret about whether they want to try to make a perfect baby. Today we need to worry about who will own genetic engineering technology, how we can oversee what is being done with it and how safe it needs to be before it is used to try to prevent or fix a disease.

That is plenty to worry about.

Arthur L. Caplan is head of the division of medical ethics at the New York University School of Medicine.

Visit link:
Don't fear the rise of superbabies. Worry about who will own genetic engineering technology. - Chicago Tribune

Human genetic engineering is moving forward exponentially and we are still not having any meaningful societal, regulatory, or legislative conversations about whether, how, and to what extent we should permit the human genome to be altered in ways that flow down the generations.

But dont worry. The scientists assure us, when that can be done, there will (somehow) beSTRICT OVERSIGHT From the AP story:

And lots more research is needed to tell if its really safe, added Britains Lovell-Badge. He and Kahn were part of a National Academy of Sciences report earlier this year that said if germline editing ever were allowed, it should be only for serious diseases with no good alternatives and done with strict oversight.

Please!No more! When I laugh this hard it makes mystomach hurt.

Heres the problem: Strict guidelines rarely are strict and the almost never permanently protect. Theyare ignored, unenforced, or stretched over time until they, essentially, cease to exist.

Thats awful with actions such as euthanasia. But wecant let that kind of pretense rule the day withtechnologies that could prove to be among themost powerful and potentially destructive inventions in human history. Indeed, other than nuclear weapons, I cant think of a technology with more destructive potential.

Strict oversight will have to include legal limitations and clear boundaries, enforced bystiff criminalpenalties, civil remedies, and international protocols.

They wont be easy to craft and it will take significant time to work through all of the scientific and ethical conundrums.

But we havent made a beginning. If we wait until what may be able to be done actually can be done, it will be too late.

Wheres the leadership? All we have now is drift.

View original post here:
Genetic Engineering with 'Strict Guidelines?' Ha! - National Review

A coral reef takes thousands of years to build, yet can vanish in an instant.

The culprit is usuallycoral bleaching, a disease exacerbated by warming watersthat today threatens reefs around the globe. The worst recorded bleaching eventstruck the South Pacific between 2014 and 2016, when rising ocean temperatures followed by a sudden influx of warm El Nio waters traumatizedthe Great Barrier Reef.In just one seasonbleaching decimated nearly a quarter of thevast ecosystem, which once sprawled nearly 150,000 square miles through the Coral Sea.

As awful as it was, that bleaching event was a wake-up call, says Rachel Levin, a molecular biologist who recently proposed a bold technique to save these key ecosystems. Her idea, published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology, is simple:Rather than finding healthy symbiontsto repopulate bleached coral in nature, engineer them in the lab instead.Given that this would requiretampering with nature in a significant way, the proposal is likely to stir controversial waters.

But Levin argues that with time running out for reefs worldwide, the potential value could wellbe worth the risk.

Levin studied cancer pharmacology as an undergraduate, but became fascinated by the threats facing aquatic life while dabbling in marine science courses. She was struck by the fact that, unlike in human disease research, there were far fewer researchers fighting to restore ocean health. After she graduated, she moved from California to Sydney, Australia to pursue a Ph.D. at the Center for Marine Bio-Innovation in the University of New South Wales, with the hope of applying her expertise in human disease research to corals.

In medicine, it often takes the threat of a serious disease for researchers to try a new and controversial treatment (i.e. merging two womens healthy eggs with one mans sperm to make a three-parent baby).The same holds in environmental scienceto an extent.Like a terrible disease [in] humans, when people realize how dire the situation is becoming researchers start trying to propose much more, Levin says.When it comes to saving the environment, however, there are fewer advocates willing to implementrisky, groundbreaking techniques.

When it comes to reefscrucial marine regions that harbor an astonishing amount of diversity as well as protect land massesfrom storm surges, floods and erosionthat hesitation could be fatal.

Coral bleachingis often presented as the death of coral, which is a little misleading. Actually, its the breakdown of the symbiotic union that enables a coral to thrive. The coral animal itself is like a building developer who constructs the scaffolding of a high rise apartment complex. The developer rents out each of the billions of rooms to single-celled, photosynthetic microbes called Symbiodinium.

But in this case, in exchange for a safe place to live, Symbiodinium makes food for the coral using photosynthesis. A bleached coral, by contrast, is like a deserted building. With no tenants to make their meals, the coral eventually dies.

Though bleaching can be deadly, its actually a clever evolutionary strategy of the coral. The Symbiodinium are expected to uphold their end of the bargain. But when the water gets too warm, they stop photosynthesizing. When that food goes scarce, the coral sends an eviction notice. Its like having a bad tenantyoure going to get rid of what you have and see if you can find better, Levin says.

But as the oceans continue to warm, its harder and harder to find good tenants. That means evictions can be risky. In a warming ocean, the coral animal might die before it can find any better rentersa scenario that has decimated reef ecosystems around the planet.

Levin wanted to solve this problem,by creatinga straightforward recipe for building a super-symbiont that could repopulate bleached corals and help them to persist through climate changeessentially, the perfect tenants. But she had to start small. At the time, there were so many holes and gaps that prevented us from going forward, she says. All I wanted to do was show that we could genetically engineer [Symbiodinium].

Even that would prove to be a tall order. The first challenge was that, despite being a single-celled organism, Symbiodinium has an unwieldy genome. Usually symbiotic organisms have streamlined genomes, since they rely on their hosts for most of their needs. Yet while other species have genomes of around 2 million base pairs, Symbiodiniums genome is 3 orders of magnitude larger.

Theyre humongous, Levin says. In fact, the entire human genome is only slightly less than 3 times as big as Symbiodiniums.

Even after advances in DNA sequencing made deciphering these genomes possible, scientists still had no idea what 80 percent of the genes were for. We needed to backtrack and piece together which gene was doing what in this organism, Levin says. A member of a group of phytoplankton called dinoflagellates, Symbiodinium are incredibly diverse. Levin turned her attention to two key Symbiodinium strains she could grow in her lab.

The first strain, like most Symbiodinium, was vulnerable to the high temperatures that cause coral bleaching. Turn up the heat dial a few notches, and this critter was toast. But the other strain, which had been isolated from the rare corals that live in the warmest environments,seemed to be impervious to heat. If she could figure out how these two strains wielded their genes during bleaching conditions, then she might find the genetic keys to engineering a new super-strain.

When Levin turned up the heat, she saw that the hardySymbiodinium escalated its production of antioxidants and heat shock proteins, which help repair cellular damage caused by heat. Unsurprisingly, the normal Symbiodinium didnt. Levin then turned her attention to figuring out a way to insert more copies of these crucial heat tolerating genes into the weaker Symbiodinium, thereby creating a strain adapted to live with corals from temperate regionsbut with the tools to survive warming oceans.

Getting new DNA into a dinoflagellate cell is no easy task. While tiny, these cells are protected by armored plates, two cell membranes, and a cell wall. You can get through if you push hard enough, Levin says. But then again, you might end up killing the cells. So Levin solicited help from an unlikely collaborator: a virus. After all, viruses have evolved to be able to put their genes into their hosts genomethats how they survive and reproduce, she says.

Levin isolated a virus that infected Symbiodinium, and molecularly altered it it so that it no longer killed the cells. Instead, she engineered it to be a benign delivery system for those heat tolerating genes. In her paper, Levin argues that the viruss payload could use CRISPR, the breakthrough gene editing technique that relies on a natural process used by bacteria, to cut and paste those extra genes into a region of the Symbiodiniums genome where they would be highly expressed.

It sounds straightforward enough. But messing with a living ecosystem is never simple, says says Dustin Kemp, professor of biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham who studies the ecological impacts of climate change on coral reefs. Im very much in favor of these solutions to conserve and genetically help, says Kemp. But rebuilding reefs that have taken thousands of years to form is going to be a very daunting task.

Considering the staggering diversity of the Symbiodinium strains that live within just one coral species, even if there was a robust system for genetic modification, Kemp wonders if it would ever be possible to engineer enough different super-Symbiodinium to restore that diversity. If you clear cut an old growth forest and then go out and plant a few pine trees, is that really saving or rebuilding the forest? asks Kemp, who was not involved with the study.

But Kemp agrees that reefs are dying at an alarming rate, too fast for the natural evolution of Symbiodinium to keep up. If corals were rapidly evolving to handle [warming waters], youd think we would have seen it by now, he says.

Thomas Mock, a marine microbiologist at the University of East Anglia in the UKand a pioneer in genetically modifying phytoplankton, also points out that dinoflagellate biology is still largely enshrouded in mystery. To me this is messing around, he says. But this is how it starts usually. Provocative argument is always goodits very very challenging, but lets get started somewhere and see what we can achieve. Recently, CSIRO, the Australian governments science division, has announced that it will fund laboratories to continue researching genetic modifications in coral symbionts.

When it comes to human healthfor instance, protecting humans from devastating diseases like malaria or Zikascientists have been willing to try more drastic techniques, such as releasing mosquitoes genetically programmed to pass on lethal genes. The genetic modifications needed to save corals, Levin argues, would not be nearly as extreme. She adds that much more controlled lab testing is required before genetically modified Symbiodinium could be released into the environment to repopulate dying corals reefs.

When were talking genetically engineered, were not significantly altering these species, she says. Were not making hugely mutant things. All were trying to do is give them an extra copy of a gene they already have to help them out ... were not trying to be crazy scientists.

Read more from the original source:
A Blueprint for Genetically Engineering a Super Coral - Smithsonian

Edited human embryos. Image: OHSYU

This week, news of a major scientific breakthrough brought a debate over genetically engineering humans front and center. For the first time ever, scientists genetically engineered a human embryo on American soil in order to remove a disease-causing mutation. It was the fourth time ever that such a feat has been published on, and with the most success to date. It may still be a long way off, but it seems likely that one day we will indeed have to grapple with the sticky, complicated philosophical mess of whether, and in which cases, genetically engineering a human being is morally permissible.

On the heels of this news, on Thursday a group of 11 genetics groups released policy recommendations for whats known as germline editingor altering the human genome in such a way that those changes could be passed down to future generations. The statement, from groups including the American Society for Reproductive Medicine, said that doctors should not yet entertain implanting an altered embryo in a human womb, a step which would be against the law in the United States. But they also argued that there is no reason not to use public money to fund basic research on human germline editing, contrary to a National Institutes of Health policy that has banned funding research involving editing human embryo DNA.

Currently, there is no reason to prohibit in vitro germline genome editing on human embryos and gametes, with appropriate oversight and consent from donors, to facilitate research on the possible future clinical applications of gene editing, they wrote. There should be no prohibition on making public funds available to support this research.

Safety, ethical concerns and the impact germline editing might have on societal inequality, they wrote, would all have to be worked out before such technology is ready for the clinic.

Genetic disease, once a universal common denominator, could instead become an artifact of class, geographic location, and culture, they wrote. In turn, reduced incidence and reduced sense of shared risk could affect the resources available to individuals and families dealing with genetic conditions.

If and when embryo editing is ready for primetime, the group concluded that there would need to be a good medical reason to use such technology, as well as a transparent public debate. Some have questioned the medical necessity of embryo editing, arguing that genetic screening combined with in vitro fertilization could allow doctors to simply pick disease-free eggs to implant, achieving the same results via a method that is less morally-fraught.

In February, the National Academy of Sciences released a 261-page report that also gave a cautious green light to human gene-editing, endorsing the practice for purposes of curing disease and for basic research, but determining that uses such as creating designer babies are unethical. Other nations, like China and the UK, have forged ahead with human embryo editing for basic research, though there have been no published accounts of research past the first few days of early embryo development.

Given the way the culture, religion and regional custom impact attitudes toward genetically-engineering human life, its safe to say that this debate will not be an easy one to settle. As the policy recommendations point out, views on the matter vary drastically not just across the US, but around the world, and yet one nation making the decision to go ahead with implanting edited embryos will create a world in which that technology exists for everyone.

In the meantime, though, there are still more than a few kinks to work out in the science before were faced with these questions in the real world.

Read the original post:
Experts Call on US to Start Funding Scientists to Genetically Engineer Human Embryos - Gizmodo

The approach is generic enough that you could theoretically apply it to other flowering plants. Blue roses, anyone? There are broader possibilities, too. While the exact techniques clearly won't translate to other lifeforms, this might hint at what's required to produce blue eyes or feathers. And these color changes would be useful for more than just cosmetics. Pollinating insects tend to prefer blue, so this could help spread plant life that has trouble competing in a given habitat.

Just don't count on picking up a blue bouquet. You need a permit to sell any genetically modified organism in the US, and there's a real concern that these gene-modified flowers might spread and create havoc in local ecosystems. The research team hopes to make tweaked chrysanthemums that don't breed, but that also means you're unlikely to see them widely distributed even if they do move beyond the lab. Any public availability would likely hinge on a careful understanding of the flowers' long-term impact.

Read more:
Genetic engineering creates an unnaturally blue flower - Engadget

I regularly see comments on various social media sites from MS patients who have traveled, or who plan to travel, outside the U.S. to be treated with stem cells. Some of these patients have reported excellent results and a reversal of symptoms. Others have died. Many MS patients are frustrated with the slow stem-cell approval process in the U.S.

I wrote about this slow process in February, but just the other day someone commented on that old column, and said she was heading to Russia soon for a stem cell transplant:

They started studying it in Chicago more than 20 years ago, it is ridiculous that is still has not been approved! Boy, they keep on approving those high priced drugs that dont work and can kill you! I have been studying this and waiting for 17 years for approval in the states. I cant wait any longer, I am heading to Moscow in February to receive the treatment that I need!

But an article that recently appeared in the journal Science Translational Medicine strongly warns against this sort of thing, and what the authors call the marketing of unproven stem cell-based interventions.

Those authors are 15 scientists from seven countries. One of them is Sarah Chan of the University of Edinburgh. Quoted in a university press release, her remarks sound as if they could be directed to the MS patient who is heading to Moscow:

Many patients feel that potential cures are being held back by red tape and lengthy approval processes. Although this can be frustrating, these procedures are there to protect patients from undergoing needless treatments that could put their lives at risk.

The scientists concerns are about stem cell therapies for many diseases, not just those that are used as MS treatments. The authors call the practice of advertising therapies that arent supported by clinical research, and that are often made directly to patients, stem cell tourism.

Chan and her colleagues are calling for the World Health Organization to offer guidance on what should be considered responsible clinical use of cells and tissues, just as the WHO does for medicines and medical devices.

Stem cell therapies hold a lot of promise, Chan writes, but we need rigorous clinical trials and regulatory processes to determine whether a proposed treatment is safe, effective and better than existing treatments.

Rather than rushing through stem cell approval in the U.S., the authors call for tighter regulations on stem cell therapy advertising, especially regarding potential clinical benefits. They also think that international regulatory standards should be established for the manufacture and testing of human cell and tissue-based therapies.

Thats all well and good, but where does that leave the MS patients who need this treatment now, not five or 10 years from now? What do they say to the woman whos been waiting for 17 years and can wait no longer, so shes headed to Russia? How many more months or years of clinical trials are needed before stem cell therapies will be considered safe, effective and better than existing treatments in the United States?

Just askin.

(Youre invited to follow my personal blog at http://www.themswire.com)

***

Note:Multiple Sclerosis News Todayis strictly a news and information website about the disease. It does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. This content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read on this website. The opinions expressed in this column are not those ofMultiple Sclerosis News Today, or its parent company, BioNews Services, and are intended to spark discussion about issues pertaining to multiple sclerosis.

Go here to see the original:
A Warning About 'Stem Cell Tourism' - Multiple Sclerosis News Today

'Fear has two meanings; forget everything and run OR face everything and rise - the choice is yours.

The latter half of this saying applies to Granard native Stephen Garland (45) who was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) back in 2015.

He had been ill for five years before finally getting to the crux of of the matter and is now fundraising with gusto so that he can access specialised treatment in Russia.

Although its 25 years since he left Ireland and set down roots in Spain and Brazil, in recent times he moved back home and now resides in Longford town with his wife Valeska Magalhes.

He played football for Granard and was president of Barcelona Gaels for five years.

Stephen has set up an online campaign - To Russia with Love and is set to bring comedy charity gigs to a whole new level over the coming months.

An events manager by trade, the Granard man has worked as a comedy and music promoter for the last 20 years, and has gotten to know many of the big names in the comedy business.

Therefore its not surprising to learn that the much loved funny man Jason Byrne has lent his support to the To Russia with Love campaign.

Byrne is now set to headline a charity fundraiser at the Longford Arms Hotel on Saturday, September 23 next.

And as Stephen pointed out, the rest of the bill is beginning to take shape and all details will appear on my page as soon as they are known.

The night is expected to include a host of other comedy personalities and there are lots of surprises in store!

Jason Byrne was one of the first acts the Granard man ever brought to Spain to help him launch professional comedy in the region.

That was 2004 and the industry has come a long way in the intervening 13 or so years.

When I let Jason know about my condition he said he would help in any way he could, added Stephen who was diagnosed just over two years ago now.

I was in a meeting with the highly regarded neurologist Professor Xavi Montalban, of CEMCAT a fantastic MS specialised institution in Barcelona, he said, recalling the day with clarity.

Unimpressed with his MRI quality at that point, Stephen engaged in further tests in the months thereafter and in June 2016 he was diagnosed with the PPMS strain of MS which is regarded as the least common type with no cure or treatment available. He says there are four types of MS including Relapsing-Remitting MS (RRMS); Secondary-Progressive MS (SPMS); Primary-Progressive MS (PPMS); Progressive-Relapsing MS (PRMS).

After an exhausting four year search for a diagnosis that has taken me thousands of kilometres within Brazil; across an ocean; back home to Ireland and then subsequently on to my other European home, Barcelona, there was relief to know what was wrong with me, finally, the son of Gerry and Roseanne added.

Stephen is also the brother of well- known Longford town businessman David.

And so now, the next step for the Granard native is Russia.

I first came across the AA Maximov Hematology and Cell Therapy Department of the National Pirogov Medical Surgical Centre which specialises in the state-of-the-art treatment of hematological, oncological and autoimmune diseases, via an editorial in the Cavan Celt newspaper, said Stephen.

This article told the story of a young man from Castleblayney in Co Monaghan - Darren Gibson - who had just recently being diagnosed with MS - RRMS the Relapsing, Remitting type and he was intent on going to Russia for Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplant (HSCT).

He was seeking to raise funds, so I touched base with him and we subsequently got to know each other.

Darren as the true pioneer and the first Irish person to go to Russia has been an invaluable source of help and inspiration to me.

To date nearly 10,000 has been raised for Stephens treatment in Russia with the stakes rising by the day for much more!The target is 70,000.

Stephen says it is imperative that he gets to Russia.

While I am cognitively sound at the moment, this could all change, so this is why I need to get to Russia, he continued, before pointing out that while MS was a terrible disease, his life was moving forward nonetheless.

I need to retrain now and Im undertaking a Degree course in web development over the coming months.

I had a goal of raising 70,000 - a figure I have arrived at from several people who have made the exact same journey I am proposing, he continued before pointing out the figure represented flights and visa expenses at 5,000; HSCT, 50,000; post haematologist care, 5,000.

He says the treatment will not cure the MS but what it will do is stop it from progressing.

I am staying positive and keeping myself busy organising fundraisers so I can raise the money to get to Russia, he explained.

Stephen will also be part of the 70th anniversary of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August where his play The Pre-Disposed will play eight nights at the Banshee Labyrinth Banqueting Hall in Edinburgh.

It will run from August 12-19 from 21:50-22:50 and centers around his own story told through three 10 minute segments with video clips included for effect.

Fundraisers to date include the Barcelona Comedy Festival Fundraiser Weekender; Granard GAA St Stephen's Day Walk and Fays Bar Christmas Prize Draw.

Im a positive guy, he adds.

My focus now is on getting to Russia for this treatment. To donate to this very worthy cause or to find out more about Stephen Garland and his campaign log onto http://www.stopmyppms.com

Donations can also be made at http://www.gofundme.com/StopGarlandsPPMS.

Continued here:
Longford Lives: From Granard to Russia in the fight against MS - Longford Leader

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--According to the latest market study released by Technavio, the regenerative medicine market in the US is expected to grow at a CAGR of almost 24% during the forecast period.

This research report titled Regenerative Medicine Market in the US 2017-2021 provides an in-depth analysis of the market in terms of revenue and emerging market trends. This market research report also includes up to date analysis and forecasts for various market segments and all geographical regions.

The regenerative medicine market in the US is expected to grow at a rapid pace during the forecast period. The major factors that are driving the demand for regenerative products are increasing investments in R&D activities and the rising incidence of chronic diseases. Leading vendors have increased their R&D investments to develop innovative medical therapies, which is driving the overall growth of the market. M&A and strategic alliances among vendors will have a significant impact on the market growth.

This report is available at a USD 1,000 discount for a limited time only: View market snapshot before purchasing

Buy 1 Technavio report and get the second for 50% off. Buy 2 Technavio reports and get the third for free.

Technavios healthcare and life sciences research analysts categorize the regenerative medicine market in the US into the following segments by end-user. They are:

Looking for more information on this market? Request a free sample report

Technavios sample reports are free of charge and contain multiple sections of the report including the market size and forecast, drivers, challenges, trends, and more.

Hospitals

Hospitals are the key end users in the market, which form a partnership with regenerative medicine manufacturing companies to provide cell therapy and tissue scaffolds to improve patient care and treatment. The increasing number of wound treatment, craniomaxillofacial surgery, knee replacement cases, and soft tissue repair has increased the demand for cell therapy and tissue scaffolds in the market.

According to Srinivas Sashidhar, a lead orthopedics and medical devices research analyst from Technavio, Hospitals provide cell therapy in outpatient settings to reduce the cost burden on the patient. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services provides reimbursement to the hospitals based on the Current Procedural Terminology code and the type of cell or tissue scaffold product. A minimal amount is paid to the physician who performs the procedure. Most of the hospitals have budget constraints and are required to reduce medical expenses. This has made many hospitals to avoid purchasing the high-cost regenerative medicines.

ASCs

There is an increased need for monitoring chronic conditions outside hospitals. The growing focus toward offering more consumer-friendly outpatient services and locations has increased the demand for ASCs. Individuals who have received vital signs monitoring in emergency rooms will step into urgent care centers. ASCs have a limited number of suppliers.

The government in the US focuses on reducing overall hospital costs. Governments pay low reimbursements in these centers compared with hospitals, which helps in making profits. In addition, these centers offer better patient care, and people can go through the same services offered in hospitals at a lower cost, which will lead to an increase in surgical procedures in these centers, adds Srinivas.

Regenerative medicine centers

Regenerative medicine centers are certified clinics that offer healthcare services to people. These centers have specialized departments for regenerative medicine, which offer care and treatment. For instance, the Regenerative Medicine Clinic at the Cedars-Sinai Heart Institute offers treatment and consultation for heart patients. For such patient pool, the clinic investigates the effect and efficiency of stem cell therapy.

Kansas Regenerative Medicine Center in the US provides stand-alone stem cell therapy. It offers autologous adipose-derived stem cell treatments. It contains multidisciplinary physicians to provide treatment to the patients. The skilled professionals conduct mini liposuction procedures to isolate and implant patients source of regenerative cells from the fat tissue.

The top vendors highlighted by Technavios research analysts in this report are:

Browse Related Reports:

About Technavio

Technavio is a leading global technology research and advisory company. Their research and analysis focuses on emerging market trends and provides actionable insights to help businesses identify market opportunities and develop effective strategies to optimize their market positions.

With over 500 specialized analysts, Technavios report library consists of more than 10,000 reports and counting, covering 800 technologies, spanning across 50 countries. Their client base consists of enterprises of all sizes, including more than 100 Fortune 500 companies. This growing client base relies on Technavios comprehensive coverage, extensive research, and actionable market insights to identify opportunities in existing and potential markets and assess their competitive positions within changing market scenarios.

If you are interested in more information, please contact our media team at media@technavio.com.

More:
Regenerative Medicine Market in the US - Forecasts, Segmentation, and Opportunity Assessment by Technavio - Business Wire (press release)

Shares ofChina Regenerative Medicine International Ltd (8158.HK) is moving on volatility today-0.90% or -0.002 from the open.TheHKSE listed companysaw a recent bid of0.22 on1530000 volume.

Dedicated investors often strive hard to set themselves up for success. Finding long-lasting success in the stock market may not be an easy endeavor. The mindset of a short-term trader may differ greatly from that of a long-term investor. Investors often have to be prepared for many different situations. Obtaining the proper knowledge about stocks and the investing world is typically a main goal for active traders and investors. Once the investor is armed with knowledge, they may be able to see things that others cannot. This may involve staying up to date on various fundamentals, technicals, and macro-economic conditions.

Taking a deeper look into the technical levels ofChina Regenerative Medicine International Ltd (8158.HK), we can see thatthe Williams Percent Range or 14 day Williams %R currently sits at -50.00. The Williams %R oscillates in a range from 0 to -100. A reading between 0 and -20 would point to an overbought situation. A reading from -80 to -100 would signal an oversold situation. The Williams %R was developed by Larry Williams. This is a momentum indicator that is the inverse of the Fast Stochastic Oscillator.

China Regenerative Medicine International Ltd (8158.HK) currently has a 14-day Commodity Channel Index (CCI) of -15.72. Active investors may choose to use this technical indicator as a stock evaluation tool. Used as a coincident indicator, the CCI reading above +100 would reflect strong price action which may signal an uptrend. On the flip side, a reading below -100 may signal a downtrend reflecting weak price action. Using the CCI as a leading indicator, technical analysts may use a +100 reading as an overbought signal and a -100 reading as an oversold indicator, suggesting a trend reversal.

The RSI, or Relative Strength Index, is a widely used technical momentum indicator that compares price movement over time. The RSI was created by J. Welles Wilder who was striving to measure whether or not a stock was overbought or oversold. The RSI may be useful for spotting abnormal price activity and volatility. The RSI oscillates on a scale from 0 to 100. The normal reading of a stock will fall in the range of 30 to 70. A reading over 70 would indicate that the stock is overbought, and possibly overvalued. A reading under 30 may indicate that the stock is oversold, and possibly undervalued. After a recent check, China Regenerative Medicine International Ltds 14-day RSI is currently at 44.93, the 7-day stands at 46.99, and the 3-day is sitting at 44.24.

Currently, the 14-day ADX for China Regenerative Medicine International Ltd (8158.HK) is sitting at 22.53. Generally speaking, an ADX value from 0-25 would indicate an absent or weak trend. A value of 25-50 would support a strong trend. A value of 50-75 would identify a very strong trend, and a value of 75-100 would lead to an extremely strong trend. ADX is used to gauge trend strength but not trend direction. Traders often add the Plus Directional Indicator (+DI) and Minus Directional Indicator (-DI) to identify the direction of a trend.

Excerpt from:
China Regenerative Medicine International Ltd (8158.HK) Reaches Active Mover List - Morgan Research

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Liposuction Scottsdale AZ | Smartlipo | Fat Transfer Phoenix

Kristin Comella, Chief Science Officer

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is the fourth leading cause of death in the United States, and is projected to be the third by 2020. COPD is associated with an exaggerated chronic inflammatory response causing airway abnormalities. Patients typically undergo a progression of declining lung function, characterized by an increase of cough, shortness of breath, and mucus production. Extra-pulmonary manifestations of COPD include osteoporosis, cardiovascular disease, skeletal muscle abnormalities, and depression. There is currently no cure and the manifestations can only be treated symptomatically. It afflicts more than 5% of the population in many countries and accounts for more than 600 billion in health care costs, morbidity, and mortality.

Adult stem cells are found in every part of the body and their primary role is to heal and maintain the tissue in which they reside. Stem cells are unspecialized cells capable of renewing themselves by cell division. In addition, they have the ability to differentiate into specialized cell types. Adult stem cells can be harvested from a patients own tissue, such as adipose (fat) tissue, muscle, teeth, skin or bone marrow. One of the most plentiful sources of stem cells in the body is the fat tissue. In fact, approximately 500 times more stem cells can be obtained from fat than bone marrow. Stem cells derived from a patients own fat are referred to as adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs). Adipose derived stem cells have been explored with respect to their activity in diseases involving significant inflammatory or degenerative components. More recently, adult stem cells have been identified as having the potential to reverse the effects of diseases like COPD.

The mixed population of cells that can be obtained from fat is called a stromal vascular fraction (SVF). The SVF can easily be isolated from fat tissue in approximately 30-90 minutes in a clinic setting (under local anesthesia) using a mini-lipoaspirate technique. The SVF contains all cellular elements of fat, excluding adipocytes. Tens to hundreds of millions of ADSCs can be obtained in the context of the SVF acquired from 20-200 ml of adipose tissue during this out-patient procedure. This sets the stage for their practical use at the point-of-care, in which a preparation of ASC can be provided for infusion or injection after the mini-liposuction. COPD patients who have undergone stem cell therapies often express the willingness to receive additional cell infusions if possible, due to a feeling of well-being associated with the injection. There is early evidence of feasibility and safety of infusions into the patients with COPD. In relevant studies, intravenous infusion of cultured adipose stem cells has been demonstrated to remarkably improve the onset and progression of smoke exposure-induced emphysema in rodents.

Stem cells possess enormous regenerative potential. The potential applications are virtually limitless. Patients can receive cutting edge treatments that are safe, compliant, and effective. Our team has successfully treated over 7000 patients with very few safety concerns reported. One day, stem cell treatments will be the gold standard of care for the treatment of most degenerative diseases. We are extremely encouraged by the positive patient results we are seeing from our physician-based treatments. Our hope is that stem cell therapy will provide relief and an improved quality of life for many patients. The future of medicine is here!

For additional information on Stem Cell Centers of Excellences South Miami clinic, visit http://www.stemcellcoe.com.

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Stem Cells Offer New Solutions for Lung Disease - Miami's Community Newspapers