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KOCHI: A two-day conference, beginning on August 6, on integrative Ayurveda and modern medicine, titled Amrita Samyogam 2017, is being held in collaboration with Amrita Universitys School of Ayurveda. More than 60 experts and 1,000 delegates from around the world will be taking part. It will be inaugurated by the Union Minister of State for AYUSH, Shripad Yasso Naik.

The event will bring together allopathic doctors, Ayurveda practitioners and modern scientists on a common platform. It will identify strategies for integrating Ayurveda with Allopathy in the management of cancer, auto-immune diseases like arthritis, diabetes, neuro-degenerative diseases, and mental health. The conference will demonstrate how integrative medicine can be made a reality through examples of clinical integration, basic science studies, and application of new technologies.

Said Prof. Shantikumar Nair, Director, Centre for Nanosciences & Molecular Medicine, Amrita University: Integrating Indias ancient tradition of Ayurveda with evidence-based modern medicine has the potential to revolutionise world healthcare. Integrative medicine is becoming a popular specialty among physicians in Western countries because of the myriad ways in which it can benefit patients.Dr Nair says that it focuses on healing the person in his entirety rather than merely treating the symptoms by investigating the root cause of illness. It is much more patient-centric and can positively impact chronic and lifestyle diseases for which modern medicine has no answer. Western medicine and Indian ancient healing sciences can be a win-win combination to effectively tackle the enormous healthcare challenges facing humanity, says Nair.

The event is expected to trigger important collaborations across the world in the field of integrative medicine, especially academic collaborations and funding opportunities.

See the article here:
Conference on integrative ayurveda - The New Indian Express

When Deb Lynams golden retriever Benny suffered a major medical episode, she initially sought out traditional veterinary medicine. Unfortunately, she concluded that the recommendation she received could have harmed or even killed him.

Two years ago Benny had a massive seizure.

It was such a scary event, recalled Lynam. His body was flipping out of control all over the living room. But the vet wasnt going to do anything because it was just one seizure.

Lynam brought Benny back to the Spokane-area home also shared by Flinn, another golden retriever, and Twosie, a Jack Russell terrier. Then Benny had two more seizures.

He was so out of it that he grabbed my hand and wouldnt let go. The vet ran tests: idiopathic epilepsy from an unknown cause. She prescribed barbiturates.

As a nursing assistant at St. Lukes Rehabilitations brain injury unit, she knew that side effects of barbiturates could include stupor, loss of coordination, instability, irritability, and even death, at least in human.

Her son suggested cannabis oil, she never had considered for pets.

I finally agreed. We gave Benny a dose after that third seizure, and another dose the next morning, Lynam said. He had one more seizure, which only lasted five seconds. He got up, walked away, and has not had another seizure in more than two years.

CBD hemp oil is typically made from low-THC hemp. THC is the molecular compound that causes mental and physical reactions associated with general marijuana use, while CBD is another natural compound that provides pain relief.

Lynam now spends about $50 a month on treats for Benny, including CBD oils that she drizzles over his food, along with Canna-Pet, a brand of flavored organic biscuits suggested for dogs. She finds some items online and at Sativa Sisters, a Spokane retailer.

Im a big advocate for CBD in treating seizures in dogs, she said. Im sticking with what works and hopefully it will continue to be readily available.

Now, Benny isnt the only pet to benefit from them.

Flinn, her 9-year-old golden retriever, has come up with a limp so Im starting to use CBD on her. She has bad anxiety when we go to agility and obedience trials, where she gets really nervous. I give her CBD dog gummy treats, and she seems better in public Im a true believer.

The American Veterinary Medical Association has encouraged its members to investigate cannabis use for ailing pets. In a 2013 professional journal article, Veterinary Marijuana? the AVMA suggested that further research could prevent accidental overdoses from owners well-meaning attempts to relieve pets pain and suffering.

The article continued identifying CBD use to treat behavior-based disorders, including separation anxiety and noise phobia, as well as irritable bowel syndrome and feline immunodeficiency virus infection; for management of pain, nausea, and seizures; and as an appetite stimulant. Cannabis oil is also being used topically to treat tumors.

During the 2016 Nestl Purina Companion Animal Nutrition Summit, veterinarian Susan Wynn of BluePearly Georgia Veterinary Specialists Nutrition and Integrative Medicine Department, discussed therapeutic intervention and the use of cannabis on companion animals.

Wynn told attendees that although veterinarians cannot recommend cannabis, they can advise on toxicity, since dogs have more brain receptors for cannabis than humans, which makes them especially sensitive.

Similar conflicts in providing advice are seen at Washington State Universitys College of Veterinary Medicine, where due to federal funding, cannabis is considered an illicit substance so cant be researched for possible medical use in pets. But toxicity can be discussed.

Currently, most pet products containing CBD are not regulated, something the U.S. Food and Drug Administration finds troubling. In letters sent to companies selling CBD products for pets in 2015, the FDA expressed concerns about marketing messages and labeling that claimed the products help pets with asthma, cancer, chronic pain, dementia, seizures and other maladies.

This uncertainty over verbiage and effectiveness also caused the FDA to caution owners about using any cannabis products for pets, without first talking to their vet about other treatment options.

Despite the FDAs lack of guidance, many pet experts report nothing but success in CBD oil treatments. One of those experts is Montana-based Nancy Tanner, certified professional dog trainer, and owner of Paws and People. She has several clients who give products to their dogs for anxiety.

For dogs under 20 pounds, and especially picky eaters, CBD is available in small tablets containing powder in clear vegetarian capsules. Bigger dogs can have oils mixed into food, or dog treats such as Canna-Pet.

Its not a sedative. It allows a dog to take a deep breath and reset, she added, noting that it also helps dogs suffering from past trauma, but not necessarily specific events such as thunderstorms or fireworks.

Though some pooch owners say dogs can benefit from cannabis, cats may not be as receptive. While oils like lavender and chamomile work for dogs, they are toxic for cats, said Nancy Tanner, certified professional dog trainer and owner of Paws and People. Felines and canines are built differently. Humans and dogs, however, have similar receptors and are receptive to CBD as a medicinal plant. With the exception of a few Canna-Pet products especially for cats, most pet products are intended for dogs only.

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Cannabis for our canines - The Spokesman-Review

Six days before the official opening of the James M. Stockman Cancer Institute in Frederick, the sand-colored lobby was already bustling with radiology patients coming in for treatment.

I hope your doctor has good things to say today, one smiling nurse told a man waiting with family members. Other patients settled into chairs beside wide plate glass windows overlooking the institutes newly landscaped healing garden. Across the lobby, a row of touch-screen check-in kiosks blinked, set up and ready for use.

The overall atmosphere hushed and efficient and full of natural light was exactly what Dr. Patrick Mansky pictured when he thought of an optimal healing environment for cancer patients. Holistic care including the importance of creating comfortable clinical conditions has become a prime focus in treatment over the past 10 to 15 years, said Mansky, the medical director of medical oncology at the new institute.

Its a big change, and the idea of optimal healing flowed into how the new building was constructed, he added. We wanted an environment that was centered around the patient and supported recovery.

The Stockman Cancer Institute, set to fully open July 31, is the newest expansion of the oncology program within Frederick Regional Health System the umbrella organization that encompasses Frederick Memorial Hospital and its affiliated clinics. The new building will replace the FRHS Cancer Therapy Center on Seventh Street and offer several new services to patients, said Dr. Mark Soberman, the medical director of the FRHS cancer service line.

One new amenity, on the second floor of the institute, is an integrative medicine suite that accommodates supplementary treatments such as acupuncture and yoga. The Complementary Therapy Clinic painted a sunny yellow includes a large front room for movement therapy classes and several adjoining areas fitted with massage tables and a row of lockers.

The institute also includes brand-new oncology equipment, including the latest model of the CyberKnife radiosurgery system. The large, sleek machine stark white and reminiscent of a prop from the USS Enterprise cuts radiation treatment time in half and is the only one of its kind in Maryland, D.C. and northern Virginia, said Dustin Simonson, a medical physicist at the SCI.

In the old model, the radiation beam only came out in a circle, but this new beam can shape the radiation to the tumor and allows us to treat larger growths, he added. Its also more flexible and heavy-duty, so we know were able to treat patients at least 50 percent faster.

The biggest coup detat, though, is the institutes ability to provide the same level of care in a much nicer environment, Soberman said. The gently curved building was designed to minimize so-called patient pong the practice of sending visitors to different areas of the hospital to meet with different specialists.

In the SCI, changing rooms flow into treatment rooms via sliding wood doors, and patients will be seen by multiple specialists in the same exam room. On the second floor, a multidisciplinary clinic allows physicians to confer and design a coordinated treatment plan for patients.

Mansky also excitedly pointed out five different color schemes in various areas of the building. Green for the infusion center, where all 20 open bays are equipped with touch-screen tablets, and blue for exam and changing rooms. The radiation and integrative medicine clinics are painted a joyful yellow, while the multidisciplinary clinic is turquoise to symbolize strength, he said. Purple reserved for the Center for Chest Disease is meant to denote courage.

Thats part of the optimal healing environment and also helps with wayfinding, Mansky said. The color, lighting, architecture everything was designed to put patients at ease.

On a solidly practical level, the SCI will also be cheaper, Soberman said. Because the center is separate from the main campus of Frederick Memorial Hospital, FRHS executives negotiated with the state Health Services Cost Review Commission to categorize the institute as part of the unregulated medical market the same classification as doctors offices or free-standing clinics. The new classification allows the SCI to offer services at lower rates than the main hospital.

Up to 40 percent lower, in fact, Soberman said. You dont have facility fees, you dont have physician fees. This is basically no more expensive than going to a private doctors office.

A dedicated financial counselor will also be on staff to consult with patients on payment options and financing treatment.

When it opens on Monday, the institute will host 92 staff members, including eight physicians and one nurse practitioner, Mansky said. The building measures 62,500 square feet and cost a total of $40.5 million, including new oncology equipment. $19.5 million of the total cost was raised through community philanthropy, according to Soberman, including a $3 million gift from local business owner James M. Stockman. Stockman, 86, owns Rockledge Plaza on the Golden Mile.

Construction took a little more than 16 months, from the groundbreaking on March 16, 2016, to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for the new institute on Thursday.

Stockman, who attended the ceremony, hoped his donation to the new institute would be an image booster for the local health care system. While the gift was inspired by his father, a cancer survivor, he said he also wanted to help the county overall.

As far as Im concerned, theres nothing the matter with hometown pride, he said. Its a good thing for Frederick County, but I think it will also put the hospital on the map. Frederick Memorial will be much more recognizable in the region.

FRHS has also been part of the MD Anderson Cancer Network since May 2016. The 16-member network, centralized at the University of Texas, allows local oncology specialists to offer patients more access to clinical trials and experimental treatments, Mansky said.

Follow Kate Masters on Twitter: @kamamasters.

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Frederick Regional Healthcare System set to open new cancer ... - Frederick News Post (subscription)

Vickie Holder was preparing to kill herself.

The intense, undiagnosed pain she endured for three years had taken its toll. She started to pay down credit cards and put her affairs in order, deciding that if the pain didnt stop on its own, she would stop it her own way.

I could not live with that pain. I just couldnt live with it. I would just go crying, Holder said.

Sitting at a table at Fays Country Kitchen, the Carlisle restaurant she runs with her husband, Jim, Holder shared the darkest chapter of her story, hoping that it would help someone anyone in a similar situation find an answer.

And, shes certain the answer is Lyme disease.

If you have something thats wrong with you and nobody can pinpoint it, you have Lyme disease, Holder said. If youve been to all kinds of doctors and nobody can find anything wrong with you, I guarantee its Lyme disease.

Finding a diagnosis

It all started three years ago with pain behind her eyes that felt like it was in the eye socket itself, Holder said.

She went to an ophthalmologist who diagnosed her with dry eye. Holder said she had dealt with dry eye in the past and knew this was something different. She sought a second opinion, and that person also rendered the diagnosis of dry eye. A third opinion from Johns Hopkins Hospital after numerous tests also cited dry eye as the cause of the pain.

Holder remained unconvinced.

It wasnt that dry that it should have caused me the problems I was describing to them, Holder said.

The pain persisted, and eventually she said it felt like something was eating away at the nerves in her face.

Holder started trying anything anyone suggested in search of relief. Looking at a list in a folder containing the paperwork chronicling her journey, she started checking off all the ways she tried to ease the pain: acupuncture, muscle testing, ionic cleanses, detox programs, visits to a salt cave, meditation, reiki, clean eating, chiropractic care, massages and essential oils. She even bought a pulsed electromagnetic field therapy mat.

I was doing all of this all along with going to my family doctor numerous times, and him giving me numerous medications and numerous diagnoses, Holder said.

Doctors, including a neurologist and an infectious disease specialist, tried CAT scans, brain scans and numerous blood tests over a three-year period to try to get to the root of the problem. Four of those blood tests included tests for Lyme disease that returned negative.

All four tests were negative. All at my expense, she said.

Doctors even told her that what she needed might be a psychologist.

Through it all, Holder had the nagging feeling that her condition could be Lyme disease.

Nobody even said Lyme disease. None of them. I was asking them, Could this be Lyme disease? Holder said.

Other symptoms that could have helped to pinpoint Lyme disease were easily explained away by other causes. Aches in her leg? Thats from putting in 12-15 hours a day at the restaurant. Feet hurting? Holder thought she needed new shoes. She had no energy, but she was taking care of her father in addition to working long hours.

I had a reason for everything except for my eyes, she said.

The pattern continued for nearly three years at the cost of around $20,000 until a friend made a suggestion that proved to be the turning point in Holders search for answers.

A friend of mine said, I want you to go see Dr. Noonan. I am telling you, you have Lyme disease, Holder said.

Confronting Lyme disease

Dr. Noonan is Dr. Frank Noonan, who practices family medicine at Central Pennsylvania Integrative Medicine in Myerstown in Lebanon County. Type his name into Google, and the words Lyme disease will come up along with his name as a suggested search. What doesnt come up in this age of connectivity is a website or an official Facebook page.

Holder contacted Noonan and spent a few hours filling out paperwork in preparation for her first visit. Based solely on that paperwork, Noonan was almost certain he knew the cause of Holders persistent pain.

Just by my paperwork, he was 99.9 percent sure I had Lyme disease, she said.

Noonan ordered yet another test for Lyme disease, but this one was different. These test results went to a lab in California that specializes in tick-borne illnesses, a lab that is reputed to perform one of the most accurate tests in the country for Lyme disease.

It took three weeks for the test results to come back, but Holder finally had her answer on March 6 she had Lyme disease.

All these four tests that I had? I just assumed I didnt have Lyme disease because they all came back negative, but theyre called false negatives, Holder said.

Dr. Timothy Stonesifer of Cumberland Valley Parochial Medical Clinic in Shippensburg said he sees patients like Holder often. Doctor after doctor will diagnose other causes for their symptoms until one doctor is willing to do different blood testing.

We really dont have an accurate test, he said. The sad part is its the FDA-approved test.

Stonesifer said better testing would help with early detection and treatment. It could also help to define how persistent the disease is or determine whether extended use of antibiotics or the use of multiple antibiotics would be effective for some patients.

More funding for research is essential to finding that better test. Funding for Lyme disease at both the state and federal levels lags far behind funding dedicated to other health concerns.

I believe theres more money for leprosy and swimmers ear in the United States, Stonesifer said.

The road ahead

Holder started treatment on March 30. Noonan prescribed three antibiotics that she takes twice a day. She also takes a probiotic as well as another medication that affects the gel surrounding bacteria to allow the antibiotics to do their work.

Noonan told her that it would take at least five weeks before she would start to see results.

It was exactly five weeks until I felt relief, Holder said.

Eight weeks after the treatments started, Holder returned to Noonans office for a change to her antibiotic routine and to undergo an IV treatment.

Every six weeks, Holder travels to Myerstown to receive one bag of vitamin C and B vitamins to boost her immune system and a second bag containing a detox agent that allows the dead Lyme bacteria to be eliminated from the body. The whole process takes about two hours.

This will be the routine for the next six to nine months. Each treatment will cost $460, which is not covered by insurance, Holder said.

Speaking now, with a diagnosis and with a treatment plan, Holder almost sounds incredulous when she thinks about where her undiagnosed Lyme disease almost took her.

To take your life over something thats been misdiagnosed over three years? she asked

She knows now that her condition is treatable, but not curable. Its likely she could experience a flare-up in the future.

I can live right now with whats going on with me, Holder said.

Read more from the original source:
Living With Lyme: Diagnosis took three years for Carlisle woman - The Sentinel

Ever since I was a kid, I was always curious about the secrets to longevity and what made people live to 100. I mean, 100 is kind of a random number, but triple digits?! Thats pretty amazing there must be some kind of secret. Seeing as you usually hear that peoples grandparents die in their 70s or 80s I was totally intrigued by these long-lived peeps.

My great grandma, who I knew until I was about 10 years old, lived to her later 90s, 97 or 98 and I was still hanging out with her at that age talking about life. Unfortunately since I was so young, the only thing I remember was how creepy she was. She was really small. Really thin. And really veiny.

Anyway, as I got older I became more interested in longevity not because I actually wanted to live to 120, but because the kinds of people that live to 120 are the ones who usually enjoy an unprecedented quality of life throughout their lives.

The people who take good enough care of themselves to live to that ripe, old age, also suffer from a fraction (or none) of the health problems that plague the majority of people today.

Interestingly enough, as I researched the secrets to their longevity I found much of the same advice, over and over.

You can find that advice below.

Exclusive Bonus: Download this bonus guidethat tells the story of how a Chinese herbalist lived to 200+ and his 4 pieces of advice.

Based on her Wikipedia entry, at age 85, she took up fencing and continued to ride her bicycle up until her 100th birthday. She was reportedly neither athletic, nor fanatical about her health.

Calment lived on her own until shortly before her 110th birthday, when it was decided that she needed to be moved to a nursing home after a cooking accident (she was having complications with sight) started a small fire in her house.

Calment smoked from the age of 21 to 117, though according to an unspecified source, she smoked no more than two cigarettes per day. (Damn babygirl you smoked for 100 years?!)

Calment ascribed her longevity and relatively youthful appearance for her age to olive oil, which she said she poured on all her food and rubbed onto her skin, as well as a diet of port wine, and ate nearly one kilogram (2.2lb) of chocolate every week.

Not a bad life, eh? Smoke, drink and eat chocolate.

Based on biographical information via Wikipedia:

Her only child, Kathryn Knauss Sullivan, who was 96 at the time of Sarahs death and lived to be 101 herself, once explained Knauss longevity by saying: Shes a very tranquil person and nothing fazes her. Thats why shes living this long.

On his 115th birthday Mortensen gave his advice for a long life: Friends, a good cigar, drinking lots of good water, no alcohol, staying positive and lots of singing will keep you alive for a long time.

He credited his longevity to funche, a boiled corn, codfish and milk cream-like dish, which he ate every day as a habit. Mercado also claimed that his sense of humor was probably responsible for his long life, and he would tell jokes and humorous anecdotes almost to the end of his days.

He would not elaborate on details of his love life, but would humorously hint about them: in one of the many interviews he gave to Puerto Rican media, Mercado claimed to have been at the dancing club (a euphemism for a bordello) owned by Isabel la Negra the day she was assassinated.

He was 82 years old at the time and reportedly hid under a table when Oppenheimers killers started firing gunshots. Asked what he was doing there, he said: praying or at least I was when the bullets started flying!

Mind your own business and dont eat junk food. Treat everyone the way you want to be treated, work hard and love what you do.

Laughter keeps you healthy. You can survive by seeing the humor in everything. Thumb your nose at sadness; turn the tables on tragedy. You cant laugh and be angry, you cant laugh and feel sad, you cant laugh and feel envious.

Do the right thing, dont smoke, dont drink, eat right and dont overdo it. If you need a little extra help, take some vitamins. Going to work is what keeps me going.

Look inside your soul and nd your tools. We all have tools and have to live with the help of them. I have two tools, my words and my images. I used my typewriter, computer and my cameras to ght injustice. Whenever I see a possibility of helping people who are in danger, I want to help them.

Eat right and do what you love. Whatever you love to do is play; doing what you dont like to do is work. I have never worked a day in my life!

Have a good appetite, lots of friends, and keep busy.

Stay active even at 100. Eat in a balanced way Dont stay mad at anythingyou have to get used to the losses, otherwise you cant win. Lastly, stay close with your family, they keep you thinking.

Have a good wife, two scotches a night, and be easy-going.

It is very important to have a widespread curiosity about life.

Take it easy, enjoy life, what will be will be. Sleep well, have a Baileys Irish Cream before bed if you have a coldyou will wake up ne the next morning.

Dont smoke, dont drink, and dont retire!

Take one day at a time and go along with the tide.

Keep busy! Do things that youve never done before.

Dont ght the day, just let it be. Get up and be positive. Avoid any and all drama; I dont get involved with silly minutiae or difcult personalities; people respect me for that.

Be good, dont complain, just get up and do. Keep on working, keep on going, and have a good time.

Get involved. Youll nd pleasure and sometimes disappointment but there is a sense of achievement if you participate in a successful undertaking, whether it is organizational or professional. Work hard, it will pay off.

Whatever is hard, you make hard, but if you take it as it comes, it doesnt come hard. Dont worry, dont want so much, and be satisfied with what youve got. Be willing to share with your friends and those less fortunate.

You must keep active or you will just wither away. Always be involved in some activity.

You have to make the best out of your life and have a good attitude.

When you live for God, talk to him, go to church, have nice people around you; that is the best medicine. God provides for you. Sometimes you dont know when it is coming, but it is coming.

Try to understand the kind of person you are and accept who you are; but if you want to improve your situation, change it. Keep your eye on the stars and try to succeed at what you want to do.

For a long, healthy life, you need a plan and a purpose. It could be family, writing a book, becoming president. Without a purpose, plan or objective, what do you need?

Never run out of responsibility; if you dont have one, nd one. Find a cause and knock yourself out for it. It will enhance your brainpower, interest in life, and keep you alive longer. Im alert because I work. Virtue is its own reward.

My longevity is attributed to my long happy marriage. We did everything together. She was perfect in my eyes.

You know whats cool?

There are definitely a few things repeated over and over.

I went back through the list and wrote down the top 5 things that appeared the most frequently. Do you know what they were?

The most commonly cited things:

[See Also: A 256 Year Old Man Reveals His 4 Secrets to His Longevity]

I think that many of us intuitively know some of the things that contribute to a long life, like relaxing and enjoying life, keeping your mind busy, and obviously eating right and exercising.

One of the craziest things Ive come across in the past few years is that some people have willed themselves to death. In extreme survival situations, people have been found in safe, secure places, with food and water, who simply gave up. Sometimes there was a journal, but other times these people had no verifiable medical reason for their death. They just didnt want to fight.

The external is seriously overrated in our society people seem to neglect the power of the mind to make a person happy or miserable, successful or unsuccessful, lazy or driven.

The oldest woman in the world smoked every day for almost 100 years. Was she lucky? Maybe.

But listen to all of these people talk they just freaking love life. A good cigar, a glass of wine, some chocolate, and good friends. Theyre living the good life no wonder they want to go on living.

So what about you? Do you know anyone who lived to a ripe-old age? What do you think contributed to it?

Yes, Im pretty biased since Im the author of the book.

But it was an instant #1 Amazon bestseller in the health category, and heres why.

Its not about diets.

Its not about stupid eating less and moving more advice.

Its not about willpower, discipline and grinding it out.

It all comes down to habits just a few in particular.

I cover all of them in my bookMaster The Day: Eat, Move and Live Better With The Power of Tiny Habits.

Check it out on Amazon here.

There are over 55 5-star reviews now. What are you waiting for?

Alex

***

Sources: Some adapted from the book Extraordinary Centenarians in America.

Other quotes were compiled from interviews listed in Wikipedia.

Images: Indian Man, Countryside, Empire State Building, Puzzle, Bridge, Sunset, Ice & Sunset, Green Vegetable, Desert

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23 People That Lived to 100 Spill Their Secrets of Longevity

Researchers have identified the largest-ever number of genetic markers most of which are brand new to science that are linked to life expectancy.

A research team based in Switzerland has pinpointed a massive haul of genetic markers. It is the largest group of such genetic markers ever identified. The vast majority of them are new to science. They are directly tied to the life expectancy of human beings. All but two of these SNPs are brand new to science. The research was made possible thanks to the support of the Swiss Initiative in Systems Biology. The findings were recently published in Nature Communications.

The Genome's Role

The length of an individual's life is predominantly determined by his environment. As an example, the place one resides, his level of wealth, dietary intake and whether he smokes all play major roles in how long he will live. Yet between one-quarter and one-third of variations in life expectancy arelikely determined by the genome.

About the Discovery

Scientists think variations at certain locations along DNA sequences, referred to as nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), provide clues about the genetic aspect of lifespan. Yet only two of these markers have been identified. The Swiss research team comprised of experts from Switzerland's Institute for Bioinformatics, the University of Lausanne, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne and the Lausanne University Hospital have utilized an innovative computational means of pinpointing a remarkable 16 SNPs tied to lifespan. It is the largest group of genetic markers associated with lifespan ever discovered.

How the Discovery was Made

The Swiss research team studied a data set comprised of more than 116,000 people derived from a United Kingdom Biobank study. They analyzed about 2.3 million SNPs. Priority was given to DNA variations known to be associated with sickness tied to age in order to scan the genome in a highly effective manner. The research determined one in ten individuals carries a configuration of these newly identified markers that can decrease lifespan by more than a year versus the population at large.

The majority of the newly identified SNPs were linked to several different risk factors or diseases like a predisposition to develop schizophrenia or the likelihood of developing a drug addiction. It is clear that it is not as simple as pinpointing places along DNA molecules that code for a distinct lifespan. The research performed by the Swiss scientists approached the links between longevity and genetics in more of a holistic manner.

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16 Genetic Markers Linked to Lifespan | Worldhealth.net Anti-Aging ... - Anti Aging News

Just as smaller animals of a given species generally live longer than their larger cousins, one might expect that taller humans are genetically programmed to sacrifice longevity for height.

But its not that simple.

A major multinational study of 841 men and women from across four populations found lower levels of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) in men living to age 100 and yet most of them were taller than men in the younger control group.

The apparent explanation for this head-scratcher is that some long-lived men and only men have a genetic mutation that makes their growth hormone receptors more sensitive to the effects of the hormone. The cells absorb less growth hormone, yet protein expression is increased by several times.

This mutation seems to be responsible for their ability to live about 10 years longer than the control group of 70-year-old men without the mutation, even though they have a lower amount of growth hormone and are about 3 centimeters (1.18 inches) taller.

The lead author of the study is Prof. Gil Atzmon of Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York and head of the Laboratory of Genetics and Epigenetics of Aging and Longevity at the University of Haifa. Since 2001, Atzmon has been studying the human genome and its impact on aging and longevity.

Longevity genes

The researchers working with Atzmon looked at four elderly populations: 567 Ashkenazi Jews in the Longevity Genes Project at Einstein, 152 from a study of Amish centenarians, and the rest from an American cardiovascular health study and a French longevity study.

In 2008, the Longevity Genes Project found a genetic mutation in the IGF-1 receptor of some women, though its not the same as the one affecting mens lifespan.

We knew in the past that genetic pathways associated with growth hormone were also associated with longevity and now we have found a specific mutation whose presence or absence is directly related to it, said Atzmon.

This study makes it an established fact that there is a relationship between the function of the growth hormone and longevity. Our current goal is to fully understand the mechanism of the mutation we found to express it, so that we can allow longevity while maintaining quality of life, he added.

The 16 researchers involved the study, published June 16 in Science Advances, are associated with institutions in Israel and France as well as the US states of New York, Maryland, California, Vermont, Massachusetts and Washington.

Clue to longer life

While more research is needed to understand why the receptor mutation affects longevity and why it happens only in men, the study suggests that making a slight change in this specific piece of DNA could possibly make people live longer.

Although the presence of the mutation almost certainly ensured longevity, Atzmon stressed that many other factors affect longevity and that many men without the mutation also live to 100 and older.

Atzmon is one of the principal researchers in the Longevity Genes Project at Einstein along with Israeli endocrinology specialist Dr. Nir Barzilai.

Their groundbreaking 10-year study of healthy Ashkenazi Jews between the ages of 95 and 112 and their children attempted to understand why humans dont all age at the same rate, and why only one in 10,000 individuals lives to 100.

The centenarians were found to have genetic protective factors (longevity genes) that overcame factors such as diet and lifestyle.

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Mutation explains why some men live to 100 - ISRAEL21c

Jacques Laplante andDavid Riendeau

Sunday, 30 July, 2017 08:00

UPDATESunday, 30 July, 2017 08:00

Look at this article

The secret of the longevity of centenarians? A combination of genetics, healthy living and unshakable confidence in itself, said Dr. Judes Poirier, to whom we owe the book Young and centenary.

The book of popular science explains the mechanisms of human ageing through the phenomenon of centenarians, always more numerous in our society.

For 15 years, a colleague has sought to know the secret of longevity of several century-old French. The answers were very varied. One swore by a glass of red daily, while for the other, it was his spoonful of honey, says Judes Poirier, director of research at the Institute of mental health Douglas.

Archival Photo Chantal Poirier

Dr. Judes Poirier has explored the factors that contribute to the longevity of centenarians

However, all claimed to have worked for all their lives and get a great pride.

The same exercise has been done, this time with their children and grandchildren.

They held that the centenarians were people decidedly positive, determined and confident in their abilities. They lived fully in the moment, and remain constantly active.

The same explanations of regularity, temperance, and work come back in most of the major studies on centenarians conducted in various countries, notes Dr. Poirier.

A complex issue

The causes responsible for the aging are multiple and it is possible to age beautifully, emphasizes the scientist, citing by example the benefits of physical activity.

The exercise by itself does not prolong the life of the human. However, it improves the quality of life of the past few years. The goal is to mitigate the risk of emerging chronic diseases such as obesity and diabetes.

Young hundred-year-old also addressed the issue of blue zones, these areas of the world where the life expectancy of their inhabitants is superior to the rest of the world.

If they have the same genes, their mode of life is different, observes Judes Poirier, who has compiled some general trends in their habits, such as having life goals clear and to live a long time with their family.

Six tips for aging well

Number of centenary over time

In 2061, it is estimated that there will be nearly 34 000 centenarians in Quebec.

Source : Institut de la statistique du Qubec

Irene Richard, 106 years

Photo Pierre-Paul Poulin

The life of Irene, Richard, 106 years, can be summed up in two words : hard work. Click here to read more

Geraldine Crevier, 100 years

Photo Chantal Poirier

When asked, Geraldine Crevier, 100 years old, replied that there was no secret to his longevity, especially as she smoked until the age of 50 years. Curious by nature, this is perhaps not his thirst for learning that keeps it alive, but it is certainly making his old days as interesting. Click here to read more

Winnifred Rees, 100 years

Photo Marc QMI Agency, Desrosiers

My secret is prayer and the Bible. I believe in the power of God, says Winnifred Rees, who will soon be 101 years old. Click here to read more

Joacquina Lalande, 106 years

Photo Chantal Poirier

From the top of its 106 years, Joacquina Lalande refuses to impose. The only daughter of a family of seven children, she has always been a go-getter who wasnt afraid of hard work. Click here to read more

Sarah Patenaude, 110 years

Photo Agence QMI, Marc Desrosiers

According to Sarah Patenaude, to live well, it takes work, but do not lay claim to. It is necessary to take a vacation, eat fruit and meat and well practice his or her religion, whatever it may be. Anyway, there is some good in all religions, she said. Click here to read more

Gisele Bright, 101 years

Photo Ben Pelosse

If several of the centenarians attribute their longevity to a trick or a secret of any kind, such as a healthy life, away from tobacco and alcohol, this is not the case of Gisle Brilliant, which celebrated its 101 years in may. Click here to read more

Read more from the original source:
How to live old - The Sherbrooke Times

Credit: CC0 Public Domain

The answer to how long each of us will live is partly encoded in our genome. Researchers have identified 16 genetic markers associated with a decreased lifespan, including 14 new to science. This is the largest set of markers of lifespan uncovered to date. About 10 percent of the population carries some configurations of these markers that shorten their life by over a year compared with the population average. Spearheaded by scientists from the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics, the Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), the University of Lausanne and the EPFL, the study provides a powerful computational framework to uncover the genetics of our time of death, and ultimately of any disease. The study is published today in Nature Communications.

Why do some of us live longer than others? While the environment in which we live including our socio-economic status or the food we eat plays the biggest part, about 20 to 30 percent of the variation in human lifespan comes down to our genome. Changes in particular locations in our DNA sequence, such as single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), could therefore hold some of the keys to our longevity.

"Until now, the most comprehensive studies had found only two hits in the genome," points out Prof. Zoltn Kutalik, Group Leader at SIB and assistant professor at the Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (CHUV).

In a new study, a team of scientists, led by Kutalik, has used an innovative computational approach to analyse a dataset of 116,279 individuals and probe 2.3 million human SNPs.

An unparalleled number of SNPs associated with lifespan (16) were uncovered, including 14 new to science. "In our approach, we prioritized changes in the DNA known to be linked to age-related diseases in order to scan the genome more efficiently," says Kutalik. "This is the largest set of lifespan-associated genetic markers ever uncovered."

About 1 in 10 people carry some configurations of these markers that shorten their life by over a year compared with the population average. In addition, a person inheriting a lifespan-shortening version of one of these SNPs may die up to seven months earlier.

The approach also enabled the researchers to explore how the DNA changes affected lifespan in a holistic way. They found that most SNPs had an effect on lifespan by impacting more than a single disease or risk factor, for example through being more addicted to smoking as well as through being predisposed to schizophrenia.

The discovered SNPs, combined with gene expression data, allowed the researchers to identify that lower brain expression of three genes neighbouring the SNPs (RBM6, SULT1A1 and CHRNA5, involved in nicotine dependence) was causally linked to increased lifespan.

These three genes could therefore act as biomarkers of longevity, i.e. survival beyond 85-100 years. "To support this hypothesis, we have shown that mice with a lower brain expression level of RBM6 lived substantially longer," comments Prof. Johan Auwerx, professor at the EPFL.

"Interestingly, the gene expression impact of some of these SNPs in humans is analogous to the consequence of a low-calorie diet in mice, which is known to have positive effects on lifespan," adds Prof. Marc Robinson-Rechavi, SIB Group Leader and professor at the University of Lausanne.

"Our findings reveal shared molecular mechanisms between human and model organisms, which will be explored in more depth in the future," concludes Prof. Bart Deplancke, SIB Group Leader and professor at the EPFL.

This study, which is a part of the AgingX Project supported by SystemsX.ch (the Swiss Initiative in Systems Biology), therefore brings us a step closer to grasping the mechanisms of human aging and longevity. It also proposes an innovative computational framework to improve the power of genomewide investigations of diseases more generally. As such, the framework could have promising applications in the field of personalized medicine.

Explore further: Study shows smoking doesn't always mean a shortened life span or cancer

More information: Aaron F. McDaid et al. Bayesian association scan reveals loci associated with human lifespan and linked biomarkers, Nature Communications (2017). DOI: 10.1038/NCOMMS15842

See the rest here:
The 16 genetic markers that can cut a life story short - Medical Xpress - Medical Xpress

Sketchy stem cell "cures" infiltrate trial database

Stem cell clinics offering unapproved treatments for ailments from hip pains to erectile dysfunction increasingly use a federal clinical-trials database as a marketing tool a strategy that confuses patients and exposes them to "unjustifiable" safety risks and costs, according to a new study.

At least 18 purported clinical trials all of which involve unregulated therapies and require patients to pay to enroll are listed on ClinicalTrials.gov, the comprehensive registry for public and private clinical trials that is run by the National Institutes of Health, according to the journal Regenerative Medicine.

Leigh Turner, who authored the study and is an associate professor at the University of Minnesota's Center for Bioethics and School of Public Health, said NIH should use much tougher screening tools to exclude from its database unapproved treatments.

"Do we really want ClinicalTrials.gov to be 'caveat emptor,' where no one is paying attention to the substance of studies being listed?" said Turner. "A lot of these studies are just marketing pitches designed to appeal to people with COPD, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson's disease."

Most legitimate trials do not charge patients, though they might face incidental costs such as travel.

Laurie Mcginley, The Washington Post

Canadian study find a sugar spike after NAFTA

The North American Free Trade Agreement may have dramatically changed the Canadian diet by boosting consumption of high-fructose corn syrup, a new study suggests.

That boost arrested a years-long decline in total sugar consumption. And it shifted Canadians away from liquid sweeteners such as maltose and molasses toward high-fructose corn syrup, a sweetener that has been linked to the obesity epidemic.

The peer-reviewed study, published in the Canadian Medical Association Journal, found that as tariffs on high-fructose corn syrup dropped over a four-year period, consumption grew: from 21.2 calories of corn syrup per day in 1994, to 62.9 calories per day by 1998.

NAFTA may thus have contributed to growing obesity and diabetes rates over that time, its authors say.

"There are free-trade deals being negotiated all over the world, and NAFTA has been used as a blueprint for many of them," said Pepita Barlow, a doctoral student at Oxford University and the lead researcher on the paper. "In some ways, this is an opportunity to think about who benefits from these deals, and who loses and how we can craft them to better promote health and wellness."

Caitlin Dewey, The Washington Post

The smarter the kid, the longer the life?

Intelligent children tend to live longer than their less gifted peers, a new study suggests.

Scottish researchers began their study with 75,252 men and women born in 1936 94 percent of the Scottish population born that year who had taken standardized intelligence tests in 1947. By 2015, they were able to confirm a cause of death for 25,979 of them; 30,464 were still living in Britain.

After controlling for many health, socioeconomic and behavioral characteristics, they found that lower scores on the childhood intelligence test were associated with death from heart disease, stroke, respiratory disease, lung cancer and stomach cancer. All of these diseases are highly associated with smoking, and smoking did partially explain the association with mortality. But even after controlling for smoking, the link to lower scores on the intelligence test did not disappear.

The study, in BMJ, found no association of lower intelligence with cancers not related to smoking or with suicide, but there was a strong association with death by accidental injury.

The reasons for the link are far from clear. We dont know yet why intelligence from childhood and longevity are related, and we are keeping an open mind, said the senior author, Ian J. Deary, a professor of differential psychology at the University of Edinburgh. Lifestyles, education, deprivation and genetics may all play a part.

Nicholas Bakalar, The New York Times

See the rest here:
Health Shorts: Stem cell 'cures,' Sugar spike, Longevity - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Geneva : A Swiss-led team conducting research on life expectancy said on Thursday it had identified the largest-ever number of genetic markers that are almost entirely new to science.

The answer to how long each person will live is partly encoded in their genomes or their genetic material, Xinhua quoted the researchers as saying, who published the findings in journal Nature Communication.

The study was led by scientists from the Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics (SIB), Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV), the University of Lausanne and the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL). The study used advanced computer capabilities to uncover the genetics of our time of death and ultimately of any disease.

During the research, the scientists identified 16 genetic markers associated with a decreased lifespan, including 14 that are new to science.

"This is the largest set of markers of lifespan uncovered to date," said the SIB in the statement.While the environment in which we live, including our socio-economic status or the food we eat, plays the biggest part in explaining longevity, about 20 to 30 per cent of the variation in human lifespan comes down to genomes.

Follow this link:
Swiss-led research team identifies new life-expectancy markers - The Hans India

Stem cell therapy isn't approved to treat heart failure in the U.S., but dozens of clinics nationwide advertise the treatments anyway, often charging thousands of dollars for procedures that may not be safe or effective, a new study suggests.

Researchers found 61 centers offering stem cell therapies for heart failure as of last year in the U.S. alone, including five that claimed to have performed more than 100 procedures. Only nine centers required copies of patients' medical records and just one facility said it had a board certified cardiologist on staff.

NEUROLOGIST BACKS FAMILY'S FIGHT TO OVERTURN TEEN'S DEATH CERTIFICATE

"We simply do not know anything about the quality of the treatment delivered at these centers," said senior study author Dr. Paul Hauptman director of heart failure at Saint Louis University Hospital.

"These centers are not regulated in any way," Hauptman said by email.

Almost 6 million Americans have heart failure, and it's one of the most common reasons older adults go to the hospital, according to the American Heart Association.

It happens when the heart muscle is too weak to effectively pump enough blood through the body. Symptoms can include fatigue, weight gain from fluid retention, shortness of breath and coughing or wheezing. Medications can help strengthen the heart and minimize fluid buildup in the body.

While some experimental stem cell therapies for heart failure are currently being tested in late-stage human trials, none have won approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

CTE FOUND IN BRAINS OF 110 OUT OF 111 DECEASED NFLERS

In theory, after a transplant, stem cells could permanently become part of the diseased heart and either help grow new healthy heart tissue or tell existing cells to work better, said Paul Knoepfler, a cell biology researcher at the University of California Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento who wasn't involved in the study.

It's also possible stem cells could temporarily visit the heart and stimulate a positive response in cells already there, he said.

Even though there's no conclusive proof yet that any stem cell treatments are safe and effective for heart failure, centers contacted for the study charge an average of $7,694 for each treatment using patient's own stem cells and $6,038 for each procedure with donor stem cells.

In one instance, though, a clinic staff member said, "If you have a million dollars to spend we will set you up with weekly infusions."

Hauptman's team had used a standard script when contacting each center, asking about the stem cell treatment itself, medical exams before and afterward and pricing.

Among the other responses they received from clinic staff were remarks such as, "If you know anyone that can start an IV, a neighbor that is a nurse for example, we can send you the stem cells and that person can administer them to you" and "We hope you don't believe your doctor when they tell you there is nothing they can do, you were smart to call us."

None of the sites in the study discussed what methods they used to isolate or identify stem cells, though most claimed to use patients' cells and 24 said they got cells from fat tissue.

Most centers claimed to deliver cells intravenously, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine.

"This approach has been associated with complications such as stroke, in which infused cells block blood vessels in the brain," said Douglas Sipp, a researcher at RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, who wasn't involved in the study.

"The biggest risk is that patients will waste their money, time and hopes on an unnecessary and useless invasive procedure," Sipp said by email.

DENTIST FACES CHARGES AFTER 4-YEAR-OLD SUFFERS BRAIN DAMAGE

If any stem cell treatment did ultimately prove safe and effective enough to win FDA approval, it would likely offer a significant improvement over the limited treatment options currently available, said Leigh Turner, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics who wasn't involved in the study.

But it's impossible to say what patients would get at unregulated clinics offering unapproved stem cell therapies, Turner said by email. In at least two cases unrelated to the current study, patients died after getting stem cell procedures at a clinic in Florida, and in another case at a different Florida clinic, a woman went blind, Turner noted.

"Clinics marketing stem cell treatments to patients suffering from heart failure might be administering anything from slurries of mixed cells, some of which might be stem cells, to nothing more than cellular debris," Turner said. "Often one can only speculate."

Here is the original post:
Dozens of US clinics sell unproven stem cell therapies for heart failure - Fox News

Submitted photoA picture of Linus and Leonard Huiras in their early 20s. Both brothers died of symptoms related to Dyskeratosis Congenita, a rare hereditary disease that affects a small number of people worldwide.

Robin Huiras decided long ago that rather than sit and feel sorry for herself, she could do the exact opposite and raise awareness for the rare disease that she was born with.

Huiras life changed at age 10 when she received the news that she had Dyskeratosis Congenita (DC), a disease that affects less than one in a million people worldwide. Its a hereditary disease that was passed on to her from her fathers side of the family.

The daily battle of fighting a rare disease that is capable of destroying the human body leaves her with few options: Battle the disease quietly or help educate as many people as she can and raise money to better research it.

Huiras, who turned 40 this past March, is a 1995 New Ulm Cathedral graduate. Her dad, Linus Huiras died in June 1991 at age 43 from complications of the disease. Her uncle and Linus twin brother Leonard died in 1985 at the age of 37, also from complications of the disease. Her cousin, Joe Huiras (Leonards son), a 2002 graduate of Sleepy Eye St. Marys, also is battling the disease.

She is passionate about educating others about the disease. She became involved in a non-profit charity called Dyskeratosis Congenita, Outreach, Inc. and in 2013 she became president and helped the group do a number of activities, including sponsoring family camps and publishing a medical guidebook on the disease.

Submitted photoCousins Robin Huiras and Joe Huiras together last December. Both have Dyskeratosis Congenita, a rare hereditary disease.

She helped the group raise money and this year, for the second year in a row, she is organizing a golf tournament at the Sleepy Eye Golf Club and that will be held on Aug. 19. Last year the tournament raised more than $7,000 for the group and shes hoping to double the size of the tournament from last year.

About the disease:

Raising awareness for DC is Huiras main goal. Those with the disease usually have an increased chance of developing several life-threatening conditions, including disorders that impair bone marrow function. These disorders disrupt the ability of the bone marrow to produce new blood cells.

While the disease is capable of affecting many organs throughout the body, areas that have high rates of cell reproduction are mainly affected.

A lot of people think of it almost as an aging disease, where our aging process for our skin and our organs are accelerated, Huiras said. People that have DC a lot of times have bone marrow failure because our blood cells are one of the areas in our body that reproduce really quickly. Ninety percent of people that have DC have bone marrow failure.

Submitted photoGolfers in last years Huiras Golf Tournament Fundraiser in Sleepy Eye. The tournament raised more than $7,000 for Dyskeratosis Congenita research.golf tournament group photo cutlineParticipants in last years Huiras Golf Tournament Fundraiser in Sleepy Eye. The tournament raised more than $7,000 for Dyskeratosis Congenita research.

They are also at higher than average risk for blood cancers and have a higher risk of developing other cancers, especially cancers of the head and neck.

Oral cancer is huge, different blood cancers, different lymphomas can happen, she said. Scientists are interested in researching the disease because it can tell them a lot about the process of cancer.

Huiras noted that there are no cures for many of the complications, but there are some treatments that can slow the progression.

A lung transplant or a bone marrow transplant can be a cure for a symptom, but there is no cure for the disease, she said. Scientists are really interested in studying it, especially because of this concept of aging.

Huiras said that the diagnosis is usually made early on in a persons life. Something as simple as frequent bloody noses can be a warning sign.

Usually what happens is people get anemia and most times it happens when a person is a child, she said. There are cases when people find out when theyre an adult, they just have less severe variety of it. Kids might get bloody noses a lot, or kids might just get sick all the time and a lot of patients have poor immune systems.

Her own personal battle:

Huiras is no stranger to the complications of DC. Having battled the disease her whole life, shes had her fair share of struggles that shes encountered, none of them being an easy fix.

She started having chronic headaches at age 10 and so she went to Mayo Clinic and they did a bone marrow biopsy. There, they made the diagnosis of DC after seeing her cells were abnormal.

Despite having the disease, her teenage years were fairly normal, but she did have a few problems. She started taking prednisone daily when she was 17.

I bruised easy and my biggest thing was I couldnt run, she said. When we did the mile in gym class, that was the hardest thing for me to do.

In 1999 at the age of 22, she had an internal bleeding episode and she nearly died before she finally got to the hospital. This was a life-changer for her and she knew she had to make better decisions if she was going to continue to battle the disease.

I wasnt taking care of myself and I wasnt making the best choices, she said. I did finally go to the hospital and they were surprised I was walking and still alive. Then in my 20s, I was actually transfusion dependent, so every two months Id have to go in and get a liter of red blood cells.

She was prescribed anabolic steroids and the drugs helped her depleted bone marrow make red blood cells for a short time, but eventually those stopped working.

In December of 2005 at the age of 28 and out of options, she had a stem-cell transplant. A younger brother, who is not affected by the illness, was her stem cell donor.

She has two children and neither have DC. Her first child was born in 2008 and her second in 2012. In 2010, she had eye tear duct surgery and in 2012, she started having mild hip pain. This led to eventually having her hip joints replaced, one in January of 2017 and the other in April of 2017.

Robins battle is far from over. But shes doing fine and shes turning her attention again to helping bring awareness to the disease.

Im certainly much better than I was before, she said. I wouldnt say Im at 100 percent, but its so minor compared to the horror show that was going on before.

More than just a golf

tournament:

Robins life isnt the only in her family thats been dramatically impacted by DC. Her cousin has been fighting symptoms of the disease for nearly a decade. A stem cell transplant in 2012 at Fairview University Hospital in Minneapolis has been followed by medical ups and downs. In November 2016 Joe was diagnosed with two forms of cancer.

Not only will the Huiras golf tournament bring attention to the disease, but it will directly supporting Joe and his family, which fits the mission of DC Outreach, Huiras said.

Many of the people competing are family members, but there are many others who attended last years event to help raise money for DC.

While that was satisfying for Huiras, it was also a time where friends and families gathered to share stories of her dad and uncle.

It was like a family reunion, but what was amazing about it was we had never had an opportunity to really talk about my dad and my uncle Leonard in a way in that everyone was acknowledging of what they went through, and how it wouldve made them to know that their kids were working together to keep their memory alive, she said. It was special to have everyone in the same room to have everyone talk about their lost brothers and that was really awesome.

Some of the symptoms of

Dyskeratosis Congenita

Skin, nail and mouth changes: Abnormal dark discoloration of the skin, nails may fall off, white, thickened patches of on mucous membranes of th mouth (oral leukoplakia).

Bone marrow failure: Individuals can develop bone marrow failure marked by deficiency of the three types of blood cells (red cells, white cells, platelets)

Leukemia and cancer: Individuals can develop leukemia, especially of the head and neck.

Lung disease: Often found in patients with DC, it usually develops later than the skin abnormalities and bone marrow failure.

Excessive watery eyes

Excessive sweating of the palms and soles of the feet

Cavities and tooth loss

Narrowing of the esophagus

Urinary tract anomalies

Liver disease

Information came from: https://rarediseases.org/rare-diseases/dyskeratosis-congenita/#symptoms

2017 Huiras

Golf Tournament

August 19, Sleepy Eye Golf Course

If you go:

The tournament itself is a nine-hole scramble on August 19 at Sleepy Eye Golf Club. Registration begins at 8 a.m. And shotgun start is 8:45. You can call the Sleepy Eye Golf Club ahead of time or show up the day of to participate in the event.

The event itself costs $50 and that includes golf cart and lunch. There were 44 golfers last year who competed and there are spots for 72 this year. Money goes toward DC research and Joe Huiras medical expenses.

See the rest here:
The fight of her life - NUjournal

Stem cell therapy isnt approved to treat heart failure in the US, but dozens of clinics nationwide advertise the treatments anyway, often charging thousands of dollars for procedures that may not be safe or effective, a new study suggests.

Researchers found 61 centers offering stem cell therapies for heart failure as of last year in the US alone, including five that claimed to have performed more than 100 procedures. Only nine centers required copies of patients medical records and just one facility said it had a board certified cardiologist on staff.

We simply do not know anything about the quality of the treatment delivered at these centers, said senior study author Dr. Paul Hauptman director of heart failure at Saint Louis University Hospital.

These centers are not regulated in any way, Hauptman said by email.

Almost 6 million Americans have heart failure, and its one of the most common reasons older adults go to the hospital, according to the American Heart Association.

It happens when the heart muscle is too weak to effectively pump enough blood through the body. Symptoms can include fatigue, weight gain from fluid retention, shortness of breath and coughing or wheezing. Medications can help strengthen the heart and minimize fluid buildup in the body.

While some experimental stem cell therapies for heart failure are currently being tested in late-stage human trials, none have won approval from the US Food and Drug Administration.

In theory, after a transplant, stem cells could permanently become part of the diseased heart and either help grow new healthy heart tissue or tell existing cells to work better, said Paul Knoepfler, a cell biology researcher at the University of California Davis School of Medicine in Sacramento who wasnt involved in the study.

Its also possible stem cells could temporarily visit the heart and stimulate a positive response in cells already there, he said.

Even though theres no conclusive proof yet that any stem cell treatments are safe and effective for heart failure, centers contacted for the study charge an average of $7,694 for each treatment using patients own stem cells and $6,038 for each procedure with donor stem cells.

In one instance, though, a clinic staff member said, If you have a million dollars to spend we will set you up with weekly infusions.

Hauptmans team had used a standard script when contacting each center, asking about the stem cell treatment itself, medical exams before and afterward and pricing.

Among the other responses they received from clinic staff were remarks such as, If you know anyone that can start an IV, a neighbor that is a nurse for example, we can send you the stem cells and that person can administer them to you and We hope you dont believe your doctor when they tell you there is nothing they can do, you were smart to call us.

None of the sites in the study discussed what methods they used to isolate or identify stem cells, though most claimed to use patients cells and 24 said they got cells from fat tissue.

Most centers claimed to deliver cells intravenously, researchers report in JAMA Internal Medicine.

This approach has been associated with complications such as stroke, in which infused cells block blood vessels in the brain, said Douglas Sipp, a researcher at RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, who wasnt involved in the study.

The biggest risk is that patients will waste their money, time and hopes on an unnecessary and useless invasive procedure, Sipp said by email.

If any stem cell treatment did ultimately prove safe and effective enough to win FDA approval, it would likely offer a significant improvement over the limited treatment options currently available, said Leigh Turner, a researcher at the University of Minnesota Center for Bioethics who wasnt involved in the study.

But its impossible to say what patients would get at unregulated clinics offering unapproved stem cell therapies, Turner said by email. In at least two cases unrelated to the current study, patients died after getting stem cell procedures at a clinic in Florida, and in another case at a different Florida clinic, a woman went blind, Turner noted.

Clinics marketing stem cell treatments to patients suffering from heart failure might be administering anything from slurries of mixed cells, some of which might be stem cells, to nothing more than cellular debris, Turner said. Often one can only speculate.

See the article here:
More than 60 US clinics have sold unproven stem cell therapies for heart failure - New York Post

California officials decided this week to dedicate $5 million to prevent people at high risk for diabetes from getting the disease, hoping to stem the huge numbers of Californians expected to be diagnosed in the coming years.

Currently 9% of Californians have diabetes, but a study last year found that 46% of adults in California have prediabetes, a condition in which blood glucose levels are higher than normal but not high enough to be considered diabetic.

That is a staggering number, said Flojaune G. Cofer, research and state policy director for Davis-based Public Health Advocates, which sponsored the bill, SB 97, that adds the new funding.

Cofer said that if nothing is done to stop prediabetics from developing diabetes, millions more Californians will become diabetic in the next five years and the states diabetes rate will likely double. Approximately 70% of prediabetics will become diabetic in their lifetime.

Gov. Jerry Brown on Monday approved $5 million to pay for Medi-Cal recipients to enroll in the Diabetes Prevention Program starting July next year. Participants must be overweight and have high blood sugar levels, but not yet be considered diabetic.

The program helps people lose 5% to 7% of their body weight by eating more healthfully, exercising more and reducing stress and has been shown to cut the risk of developing diabetes by more than half. California will become the third state to cover the program as a Medicaid benefit after Montana and Minnesota.

Daniel Zingale, senior vice president at the California Endowment, said Medi-Cal has long covered the high costs of dialysis for diabetic patients whose kidneys have failed, but not the lower costs of trying to get people to eat better and work out more to prevent getting diabetes in the first place.

Whats revolutionary about this change is that it finally starts to recognize that by investing modest amounts on the front end on prevention, we can save enormous amounts in the long term, Zingale said.

The states $5 million investment is expected to be matched by $8 million from the federal government, Cofer said. Each year, the state expects to enroll roughly 25,000 people. Implementing the program should save $45 million a year because of those who end up not developing diabetes and requiring less medical treatment as a result of the intervention, Cofer said.

soumya.karlamangla@latimes.com

Twitter: @skarlamangla

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With diabetes rising at alarming rate, California puts money behind prevention campaign - Los Angeles Times

Cash Halpin shovels the last bite of rice into his mouth and asks for another serving.

I ate all the carbs, he proudly announces, mouth still full.

Yeah, says his mother, Mills Halpin, who rolls her eyes at her 6-year-old son. Eat some protein.

His father, Mike Halpin, is beside him on an opened laptop, checking the latest data available from Cashs insulin pump. The boy is part of a clinical trial testing the Medtronic MiniMed670G, a system capable of continuously monitoring his glucose levels and making microadjustments to keep them consistent throughout the day.

Cash is in the youngest group of participants to be tested, ages 2 to 6. The same Medtronic model was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration last fall for ages 14 and up.

Mike Halpin administers about a unit of insulin, a tiny bubble of hormone to handle the approximately 35 grams of carbs Cash is consuming for dinner. Manual adjustments are still required at mealtimes, but the new system offers his parents a little reprieve, something they havent experienced since he was diagnosed three years ago.

With this new system, if they are off a little you just cant be exact all the time, Mills Halpin says the pump can adjust for it.

I still dont know how people did this 10 years ago, she says. I just hug any family who has diabetic kids in their 20s and 30s.

Mills Halpin knew what was happening when her toddler suddenly had an unquenchable thirst and a need to visit the bathroom several times an hour.

She was traveling, headed to a cousins wedding in Nashville, Tennessee when the symptoms started.

It was two flights, and he needed to go to the bathroom five or six times on each flight, she said.

And he wouldnt stop drinking. She couldnt give him enough water.

Liters, she said. Literally liters of water couldnt get enough. Thats because his sugar level had built up to the point where his body was trying to flush all the sugar out of his system.

She remembers turning to the internet, scrolling through pages and pages of Google results and looking for any other possible diagnosis. She had to get five or six pages down before she could find any other thing besides what she suspected: diabetes.

She admitted that she was in denial.

He wasnt acting sick at all. He didnt feel bad. He was totally himself, other than those two things, she said. I think I knew that he had it, but I didnt realize I should have been at the hospital.

The two stayed in Tennessee for a weekend, and she scheduled an appointment with his pediatrician the day they arrived back home. The family was immediately rerouted to Primary Childrens Hospital in Salt Lake City.

Cash was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes, an autoimmune disorder marked by the inability to produce adequate insulin or, sometimes, any at all. Without this hormone, normally produced by the pancreas, glucose is left in the blood rather than moved to the cells. High levels of glucose in the blood can send the body into ketoacidosis, a condition that can lead to a coma and death if not treated.

Type 2 diabetes, by contrast, typically occurs when a person develops insulin resistance. Production still occurs, but the body loses its ability to efficiently utilize it, which can also result in high levels of glucose in the blood.

Lifestyle choices can help manage Type 2 diabetes, among other treatments. Type 1 diabetes requires lifelong insulin injections to maintain proper levels of glucose.

Cashs blood-sugar level was over 400 when he was diagnosed, Mills Halpin said.

Normal is more like 100, she said.

They spent two days in Salt Lake City getting a crash course on how to administer insulin and count carbohydrates. Cash received five or six injections a day.

He didnt understand at first, but he caught on very quickly for a 3-year-old, she said. He understood this was something he had to have. He didnt have a choice.

It was hard for her and her husband. They had to stick their kid several times a day to get a reading, and it brought tears to her eyes.

I was probably much more upset than he at the time, she said. Well, still. Hes handled it all with grace.

A week later they made their way to the Rocky Mountain Diabetes Center in Idaho Falls, Idaho.

I find when parents first find out when their child has diabetes, theyre kind of in shock, said Becky Sulik, a dietician and certified diabetes educator at the center. At the beginning of diabetes theres a lot of stuff to learn.

Sulik, a Type 1 diabetic herself, is often the parents point of contact for learning what lifelong disease management entails. She teaches parents how to perform needle sticks and what the numbers mean what is too high and what is too low.

Those are the things we call essential, meaning they really need to know those things right up front, Sulik said. Its hard because you have a parent and a child who are overwhelmed. Its scary for them because theyre afraid if they make a mistake its really going to put their child in danger.

Cash was fitted for an insulin pump about two and half months after his diagnosis, a Medtronic MiniMed 530G.

Everything changed after the diagnosis.

His parents became experts at carb counting milk has 12 grams of carbs, a banana has about 7. The 530G wasnt as technologically advanced as Cashs new setup it still required a lot of manual interaction. For the past three years one parent or the other has slept in Cashs room to perform frequent blood glucose checks, administering insulin if he was too high or waking him up to shove gummy bears in his mouth if he dipped too low.

They reached out to Teton County School District No. 1 in advance of his kindergarten year at Jackson Elementary, explaining the issues their son would bring into the classroom. Carin Cusick, a paraprofessional educator, underwent special training along with a few other staff members before the start of the school year.

It was nerve-racking at first, Cusick said, being in charge of this little boys health. She was in constant communication with Cashs parents for the first month. Cashs old pump linked to their iPhones, so Mom and Dad received updates on his levels throughout the day. The school nurse would frequently stop by to check in. She had a lot of support, Cusick said.

The small spikes he would have throughout the day normal for a diabetic became less and less alarming, she said. She soon learned PE after lunch twice a week was a good way to burn off energy if he was running high after the meal.

She memorized the amount of carbs in the common classroom snacks and documented every food he ate and every insulin dose she gave on a clipboard. Cash also has celiac disease, not an uncommon paired diagnosis for someone suffering from an autoimmune disorder. Hes on a gluten-free diet to regulate associated gastrointestinal issues.

Although he is young, Cash is involved in managing his disease.

Hes very responsible, Cusick said. Hes so good about, Ms. Carin, can I have some more?

His older brother, Kane, senior to Cash by a year and a half, took on a new role after the diagnosis as well. The two have a designated spot on the school bus, side-by-side, right behind the driver. When asked about Cashs pump, Kane rattles off how it works and how it helps his brother. When Cash crashes his scooter Kane is the first to make sure hes OK.

Everyone has had to grow up a lot faster than planned, Mills Halpin said.

It has changed our whole familys life, she said.

The new pump, however, has offered a lot of hope for the Halpins and hopefully other children, as well.

Weve been in range for four days, she said.

They have just started feeling comfortable letting him sleep alone. The couple joke that its weird sleeping next to each other again. But things will never be completely normal for the family. They will always be aware of what hes eating, how much he is exercising.

Youre chasing a number, Mike Halpin explains.

Eventually Cash will have to take over management of his disease. Eventually hell go to karate practice alone, instead of being carefully monitored by his parents, who call him over between kicks and punches to check his monitor.

Thats the one thing the pump cant determine is exercise, Mike Halpin says. The algorithm doesnt figure that out quick enough.

They feed him fruit chews about 4 to 6 carbs apiece throughout practice, and his mom worries his infusion set will be ripped out during a fight where the kids are trying to grab straps from each others belts.

His tube is sticking out, she says, leaning over to her husband. Cash, come here.

He walks over diligently and presents his blue pump.

Youre scrappy, Mills Halpin tells her son.

What does that mean? he asks.

Tough, she said, and sends him back into the ring.

It will be years before he attends sports practices alone, Mills Halpin says. For now, hes not bothered by his parents attention.

He likes us being there for karate and soccer, she says. Lots of other parents are there, so it doesnt seem unusual. I dont think hes crazy about our coming to, say, summer camp every day at lunch to dose his meal.

But they will continue to shoulder the burden of the disease as much as possible, until hes old enough to handle it on his own, she says.

Hes only 6, she says. Hes still a kindergartner. He has the rest of his life to be in charge of it.

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Kid on cutting edge in diabetes trial - Jackson Hole News&Guide

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Flood Warningissued July 12 at 2:00PM EDT expiring July 13 at 3:12PM EDT in effect for: Tippecanoe

Flood Warningissued July 12 at 2:00PM EDT expiring July 13 at 1:59PM EDT in effect for: Greene, Monroe, Owen

Flash Flood Watchissued July 12 at 1:49PM EDT expiring July 14 at 8:00AM EDT in effect for: Bartholomew, Boone, Brown, Carroll, Clay, Clinton, Decatur, Delaware, Fountain, Hamilton, Hancock, Hendricks, Henry, Howard, Jennings, Johnson, Madison, Marion, Monroe, Montgomery, Morgan, Owen, Parke, Putnam, Randolph, Rush, Shelby, Tippecanoe, Tipton, Vermillion, Vigo, Warren

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Step Out Walk to Stop Diabetes - WRTV Indianapolis

JDRF Children's Congress is one of the largest advocacy events supporting type 1 diabetes.

Two Texoma girls will represent Texas at the nation's capital at the event held every other year in Washington D.C.

Both girls leave in a couple weeks and are excited to talk about their stories. Their goal is to encourage lawmakers to seek continued funding for type 1 diabetes research.

Claire and Emma were just 10 years old when they were diagnosed with type one diabetes.

Emma's father also has type one, so he knew the signs. Claire's father is a family practitioner who diagnosed her with the autoimmune disease.

"Diabetes? What? I knew my dad had it but I was still like, I knew a little about diabetes back then but I was still like, what's that?" Emma said.

"He sat me down and said, 'Claire, tomorrow morning we're going to go get your blood drawn. I really think you have diabetes," Claire said.

Claire said when she was diagnosed, there was a lot she didn't know about diabetes.

"I'm extremely active and so when I was diagnosed, I was afraid I was going to have to slow down and not do as much. I really thought that diabetes was going to limit me, but now that I've been diagnosed and I've had it for so long, I realized that you know, the label, diabetic, does not limit me at all," Claire said.

Both girls said they have learned a lot along the way, especially the signs that their blood sugar levels are plummeting.

"I start to lose like, what makes sense to me. I'll be doing something over and over again. And I was like, okay this isn't right. I need to go take a break, figure out what's going on,"Emma said.

In addition to keeping on top of their levels, they said humor was key.

"It has been a hard adjustment with diabetes because I do wear machines on my body. I get weird stares in public or people come up and ask if I'm a robot. You know, so you definitely have to find the humor in diabetes," Claire said.

The insulin pump has changed a lot for those managing type one and researchers say funding is key in finding the next advancement.

An artificial pancreas is already in clinical trials.

"It's a close loop system between the insulin pump and the continuous glucose monitor. So if your blood sugar levels read too low then the pump can automatically suspend through a threshold suspend of insulin. So it will stop giving you insulin. So it reacts like a regular person's pancreas would react," Claire said.

Emma and Claire hope their trip to D.C. will help lawmakers put a face to the disease and help them better understand what living with type one is all about for kids like them and more than one million others in Texas, alone.

Emma and Claire are set to head to the nation's capitol in just over a week.

They will join about 160 other kids and lobby for three days.

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Texoma Teens to Advocate for Diabetes Research in DC - KFDX

Novo Nordisk(NYSE:NVO) and Glooko said today they jointly launched the Cornerstones4Care mobile application designed to aid individuals in managing their diabetes.

The C4C application integrates Novo Nordisks diabetes knowledge and personalized patient support with Glookos digital platform and data analytics, the companies said, and is the 1st jointly developed product from the pair, which announced a collaborative deal in January.

More people than ever are using mobile apps for chronic disease management, and the apps, like the new C4C app, go beyond data capture or tracking to providing insights and recommendations based on that data. By leveraging the expertise and capabilities of Glooko, combined with Cornerstones4Care content, we were able to build a truly unique app to better support people with diabetes. Ultimately our digital health solution will help health care practitioners gain round-the-clock insight into their patients, and empower people with diabetes to better manage their diabetes, with the aim of ultimately leading to better diabetes management outcomes, Glooko CEO Rick Altinger said in a press release.

The application is designed to allow individuals with diabetes to measure and track blood glucose, activities and meals in a central location, and will serve as a framework for additional jointly-developed tools from the companies.

The companies said that the C4C app uses Glookos tech designed to sync a users blood glucose and activity data from the majority of currently available diabetes and exercise devices, and can identify trends to aid in understanding factors that impact blood glucose.

For over 90 years, Novo Nordisk has continued to develop innovative diabetes medicines and devices.In todays environment, in order to truly improve the prospects of the 29 million people with diabetes in the US, we must aspire towards leadership in digital health that complements our research and development expertise. That was the catalyst to our partnership with Glooko as well as IBM Watson Health and this milestone is just the beginning.Our companies share a common vision of empowering patients with ever improving digital health solutions and we are excited about our combined capabilities and what that can do for improving diabetes treatment, Novo Nordisk senior VPDavid Moore said in a prepared statement.

The C4C app is currently free to all Cornerstones4Care.com customers and is available on Apple(NSDQ:AAPL) and Google (NSDQ:GOOG) devices, the companies said.

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Novo Nordisk, Glooko launch joint C4C diabetes management app - Mass Device

A retrovirus is any virus belonging to the viral family Retroviridae. All The genetic material in retroviruses is in the form of RNA molecules, while the genetic material of their hosts is in the form of DNA. When a retrovirus infects a host cell, it will introduce its RNA together with some enzymes into the cell. This RNA molecule from the retrovirus must produce a DNA copy from its RNA molecule before it can be considered part of the genetic material of the host cell. Retrovirus genomes commonly contain these three open reading frames that encode for proteins that can be found in the mature virus. Group-specific antigen (gag) codes for core and structural proteins of the virus, polymerase (pol) codes for reverse transcriptase, protease and integrase, and envelope (env) codes for the retroviral coat proteins (see figure 1).Figure 1. Genome organisation of retroviruses.

The process of producing a DNA copy from an RNA molecule is termed reverse transcription. It is carried out by one of the enzymes carried in the virus, called reverse transcriptase. After this DNA copy is produced and is free in the nucleus of the host cell, it must be incorporated into the genome of the host cell. That is, it must be inserted into the large DNA molecules in the cell (the chromosomes). This process is done by another enzyme carried in the virus called integrase (see figure 2).

Now that the genetic material of the virus is incorporated and has become part of the genetic material of the host cell, we can say that the host cell is now modified to contain a new gene. If this host cell divides later, its descendants will all contain the new genes. Sometimes the genes of the retrovirus do not express their information immediately.

Retroviral vectors are created by removal op the retroviral gag, pol, and env genes. These are replaced by the therapeutic gene. In order to produce vector particles a packaging cell is essential. Packaging cell lines provide all the viral proteins required for capsid production and the virion maturation of the vector. These packaging cell lines have been made so that they contain the gag, pol and env genes. Early packaging cell lines contained replication competent retroviral genomes and a single recombination event between this genome and the retroviral DNA vector could result in the production of a wild type virus. Following insertion of the desired gene into in the retroviral DNA vector, and maintainance of the proper packaging cell line, it is now a simple matter to prepare retroviral vectors (see figure 3).

One of the problems of gene therapy using retroviruses is that the integrase enzyme can insert the genetic material of the virus in any arbitrary position in the genome of the host. If genetic material happens to be inserted in the middle of one of the original genes of the host cell, this gene will be disrupted (insertional mutagenesis). If the gene happens to be one regulating cell division, uncontrolled cell division (i.e., cancer) can occur. This problem has recently begun to be addressed by utilizing zinc finger nucleases or by including certain sequences such as the beta-globin locus control region to direct the site of integration to specific chromosomal sites.

Gene therapy trials to treat severe combined immunodeficiency (SCID) were halted or restricted in the USA when leukemia was reported in three of eleven patients treated in the French X-linked SCID (X-SCID) gene therapy trial. Ten X-SCID patients treated in England have not presented leukemia to date and have had similar success in immune reconstitution. Gene therapy trials to treat SCID due to deficiency of the Adenosine Deaminase (ADA) enzyme continue with relative success in the USA, Italy and Japan.

As a reaction to the adverse events in the French X-SCID gene therapy trial, the Recombinant DNA Advisory Committee (RAC) sent a letter to Principal Investigators Conveying RAC Recommendations in 2003. In addition, the RAC published conclusions and recommendations of the RAC Gene Transfer Safety Symposium in 2005. A joint working party of the Gene Therapy Advisory Committee and the Committee on Safety of Medicines (CSM) in the UK lead to the publication of an updated recommendations of the GTAC/CSM working party on retroviruses in 2005.

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Gene Therapy Retrovirus Vectors Explained