StemCell Therapy

By Malinda Larkin

Posted July 12, 2017

Many veterinary colleges have long been promoting diversity and inclusion, but now the AVMA Council on Education has codified these practices, approving revisions to six of its 11 Standards of Accreditation during its spring meeting, March 25-28.

The desire to have the concepts of diversity and inclusion better integrated into accreditation standards is nothing new. In fact, it was a prominent point of discussion during the North American Veterinary Medical Education Consortium. This series of three national meetings in 2010 brought together hundreds of stakeholders to discuss core competencies needed by graduates, and to review and explore progress in developing new educational models for delivery of the veterinary curriculum.

One of the core competencies for graduating veterinarians that came from NAVMEC was diversity and multicultural awareness, specifically: "Veterinarians demonstrate an understanding of the manner in which culture and belief systems impact delivery of veterinary medical care while recognizing and appropriately addressing biases in themselves, in others, and in the process of veterinary medical care delivery."

An example of the revisions is Standard 11 (Outcomes Assessment), which now says that institutions must be able to observe, assess, and document that students demonstrate "ethical and professional conduct; communication skills including those that demonstrate an understanding and sensitivity to how clients' diversity and individual circumstance can impact health care."

In Standard 9 (Curriculum), newly adopted wording states that veterinary schools must provide opportunities throughout the curriculum for students to gain and integrate an understanding of the important influences of diversity and inclusion in veterinary medicine. This includes the impact of implicit biases related to an individual's personal circumstances on the delivery of veterinary services.

Veterinary colleges also are now required to cultivate a diverse faculty through their hiring policies and retention practices, consistent with applicable law. These institutions must also demonstrate ongoing efforts to achieve parity in advancement opportunities and compensation, according to changes to Standard 8 (Faculty). Student recruitment and admission practices, too, must be nondiscriminatory, as per changes to Standard 7 (Admissions).

Further, a veterinary college must be able to show a commitment to diversity that extends to the overall academic environment. This is interpreted as the college being an institution "that does not discriminate and seeks to enhance diversity, consistent with applicable law. Diversity may include, but is not limited to, race, religion, ethnicity, age, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, cultural and socioeconomic background, national origin, and disability."

The COE had received a number of public comments on the proposed changes; most were in support of the revisions. On the basis of the public comments, the council also revisedand ultimately approvedlanguage that clarified the COE's intent and was less prescriptive, according to the council's newsletter.

"The intent of the council is not to require colleges to meet specific numeric goals; rather, to have appropriate policies, processes, and practices in place that, in keeping with the mission of the college, are designed to promote the recruitment and retention of a diverse academic community and to promote, from qualified applicants, the recruitment and admittance of a diverse student body, consistent with applicable law. In addition, the council believes that, within the framework of the law that each college must function, diversity may be utilized as part of a holistic admission process," the COE wrote in the newsletter.

In addition to language incorporating diversity and inclusion in the standards, the council also modified the following language:

The revised COE standards are posted on the AVMA website.

AAVMC continues to move the needle on diversity (May 1,2015)

Certificate programs promote diversity in veterinary medicine (Nov. 1, 2014)

Dialogue about diversity reveals tensions (May 1, 2013)

We're all in this together (May 15, 2011)

Speakers share strategies to increase diversity (Oct. 1, 2010)

Read more:
Diversity, inclusion added to accreditation standards - American Veterinary Medical Association

The American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Kent McClure has joined our team as Chief of Governmental Relations. In this newly created position, hell lead the AVMAs federal and state advocacy efforts to further elevate the success of our advocacy work.

Dr. McClure brings tremendous experience in advocacy at the federal and state level, said AVMA CEO Dr. Janet Donlin. The AVMA is already home to the leading advocacy staff for veterinary medicine in the nation, and the addition of Dr. McClure in this new position is going to take our advocacy work to the next level.

Dr. McClure previously served as General Counsel for the Animal Health Institute, where he worked on the development of policy that impacts the veterinary profession, animal health product research and commerce. Dr. McClure has served as a member of the AVMA Judicial Council, a trustee on the AVMA-Professional Liability Insurance Trust, a liaison to the AVMA Council on Biologic and Therapeutic Agents, and a member of the board of directors of the National Association for Biomedical Research. He also worked as an attorney at Cowles & Thompson and practiced veterinary medicine in Texas. He holds a DVM from the Texas A&M College of Veterinary Medicine and Biomedical Sciences and a J.D. from University of Texas School of Law.

Im excited to join the AVMA and use my experience to advocate for the veterinary profession and sound public policy, said Dr. McClure. We have a lot of exciting opportunities in front of us, and Im looking forward to working with our talented team to protect, promote and advance veterinary medicine.

The AVMA has also promoted Dr. Ashley Morgan to Director of State Advocacy. Dr. Morgan has served as an assistant director in the AVMAs governmental relations division since 2008, during which time she honed her expertise on pharmaceutical issues and built relationships with state veterinary medical associations across the country. In her new role, Dr. Morgan will be responsible for providing vision and leadership for the AVMAs state advocacy efforts. Dr. Morgan holds a DVM from Cornells College of Veterinary Medicine and is a Certified Association Executive.

Read more:
Dr. Kent McClure joins the AVMA to lead advocacy efforts - American Veterinary Medical Association

As a child, I used to dread going for my annual checkup. Whether it was the anxiety of receiving shots or being poked and prodded, the lollipop at the end never really made up for the angst beforehand. With age comes wisdom, however, and I now understand why a health check is important for the human body to function properly.

In a security scenario, a health checkup has become indispensable, from basic patch hygiene to monitoring the configuration of a security information and event management (SIEM) solution itself. Thats why IBM Security and ScienceSoft have joined forces to introduce the Health Check Framework Manager app for IBM QRadar to help security analysts conduct checkups on their QRadar deployment.

The app allows access to set up and administrate the Health Check Framework (HCF) for IBM QRadar SIEM. The HCF helps analysts understand the state of QRadar performance to identify whether its flawless or has misconfigurations that may result in overlooked attacks on the IT environment.

The HCF monitors a variety of essential QRadar performance parameters through 60 operational metrics and 25 health markers. The solution delivers statistics such as as events per second (EPS) and flow per interval (FPI), event and flow timelines, and incoming log data quality according to a preset schedule or on demand.

Once the checkup is complete, the HCF automatically generates a comprehensive report and sends it to QRadar admins. The report delivers a detailed analysis of QRadars essential features, showing whether the parameters meet the baseline requirements. It also provides a clear vision of the deployment state and pinpoints anomalies to address.

Overall, the Health Check Framework Manager app delivers:

The HCF is a unique solution to review the QRadar operational state. Manual checks can consume unreasonable amounts of human effort and time, since the average number of events per second checked with QRadar can reach 10,000 or higher. Developing custom add-ons is more expensive compared to the HCF.

One recent high-level project involved delivering the HCF for QRadar to a big North American bank that services more than 15 million clients worldwide. The banks broad IT environment required an automated monitoring tool. The HCF and Manager app were installed to detect and report any deviations in the security network so the banks security team could respond quickly and prevent the instances of missed offenses.

Regular health checks are vital for any security tool to ensure proper functioning, so dont put off that checkup any longer. Make an appointment with the security doctor by downloading the new app on IBM Security App Exchange to integrate HCF and QRadar SIEM.

Watch the on-demand webinar: Improve Threat Visibility and Operational Efficiency

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Preventative Medicine: Get a Health Check for Your SIEM - Security Intelligence (blog)

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Theres been a lot of uncertainty about the possibilities for startup entrepreneurs in the healthcare sector. Biotech is too slow andtoo risky, the naysayers complain, to be a solid venture. Luckily, such old school cowardice is gradually being debunked. In an age where consumers are increasingly in control of theirhealth, the potential for startup success in theindustry has never been more real.

Related: 4 Ways Entrepreneurs Can Innovate in the Healthcare Space

Dr. Tonmoy Sharma didnt come to the United States to be an entrepreneur. By the time he joined the American Psychiatric Association in 2004, he had already studied medicine on three continents and had almost 20 years of experience as a physician. Dr. Sharma opened a six-bed facility to treat addiction in 2009, and now hes CEO of a booming healthcare business, Sovereign Health, thats changing the way addiction is treated. And its surpassed the national average in clinical effectiveness. "With all of the recognitions Sovereign Health has received over the past few years, says Veena Kumari, Sovereigns Chief Scientific Officer, I wasn't surprised to see such impressive clinical outcomes for Sovereign Health's programs.

But many are still surprised to see that successful healthcare and innovative entrepreneurialism have such a fertile overlap. Here are some reasons you should be thinking about making a move to the medical economy.

Theres venture capital looking for the next great startup right now. That money will find someone, and it could be you. The last quarter of 2015 saw 172 VC deals in the biotechnology and medical devices sectors, to the tune of $2 billion in investment capital. How quick is your math? Thats an average investment of about $11.6 million per deal.

If youve got a big idea for the world of medicine, and can organize a team of crackshot scientists(or maybe you have medical background and want to go into business), nows not the time to hold back. Get out there and start pitching for startup capital.

Related: 3 Mobile Solutions to Healthcare Industry Problems

Lets be honest, we dont need another Snapchat. What we do need are better vaccines, more cost-effective medicines, customer friendly healthcare systemsand preventative medicine for the underprivileged. Theres a humanitarian element to this, but theres also the fact that its simply good business. Before anything else, all successful businesses meet a need.

Consumers are increasingly interested in preventative maintenance and personal wellness. This presents myriad opportunities for nonmedical health sectors like the $16 billion yoga industry.

Innovating on the ground floor in wellness doesnt require a PhD, it just takes good business sense and a willingness to help people look out for their own health. How about an app that helps you find healthy options when youre dining out? HealthyOut beat you to that one, but keep thinking in that direction. The next great health and wellness idea is right around the corner.

The medical economy is stable. Healthcare expenses for the average American family are starting to level out. Theyre up by just 4.3 percent this year, the smallest increase the post-9/11 era has seen. This is good for consumers, although health care expenses still put a lot of pressure on most Americans and their employers.

Its also good for entrepreneurs, who can help consumers find ways to make their dollars work for them more efficiently. With good businesses working in their favor, costs dont need to be so high, and innovative companies can still be lucrative. The days of exploitative big pharma preying upon sick Americans are finally on the wane, and that means the little guy can step in and help clean up the mess.

Related: Healthcare Franchises May Be Just What the Doctor Ordered

We may not know what the future holds for Snapchat and Silicon Valley tech, but people will always need healthcare services --which means the healthcare industry isnt going anywhere either. Its a good sector to stake your claim in just for that. So when youre thinking about your next big idea, consider the possibilities in this overlooked dark horse of a startup sector. If you put your efforts to work in the healthcare industry, you just might find it rewarding in all the right ways.

Chirag Kulkarni is a serial entrepreneur and advisor. He is the CEO of Insightfully, which is using AI to discover what employees skills and passions are to reallocate human capital within the enterprise. He has also spoken at Accenture, In...

Continued here:
3 Reasons Entrepreneurs Should Consider the Opportunities in Healthcare - Entrepreneur

LONDON Greater consumption of coffee could lead to a longer life, according to two new studies published Monday.

The findings have resurfaced the centuries-old conversation on coffees health effects.

One study surveyed more than 520,000 people in 10 European countries, making it the largest study to date on coffee and mortality, and found that drinking more coffee could significantly lower a persons risk of mortality.The second study was more novel, as it focused on non-white populations. After surveying over 185,000 African-Americans, Native Americans, Hawaiians, Japanese-Americans, Latinos and whites, the researchers found that coffee increases longevity across various races.

People who drank two to four cups a day had an 18% lower risk of death compared with people who did not drink coffee, according to the study. These findings are consistent with previous studies that had looked at majority white populations, said Veronica Wendy Setiawan, associate professor of preventative medicine at USCs Keck School of Medicine, who led the study on nonwhite populations.

Given these very diverse populations, all these people have different lifestyles. They have very different dietary habits and different susceptibilities and we still find similar patterns, Setiawan said.

The new study shows that there is a stronger biological possibility for the relationship between coffee and longevity and found that mortality was inversely related to coffee consumption for heart disease, cancer, respiratory disease, stroke, diabetes and kidney disease.

The study on European countries revealed an inverse association between coffee and liver disease, suicide in men, cancer in women, digestive diseases and circulatory diseases. Those who drank three or more cups a day had a lower risk for all-cause death than people who did not drink coffee.

Both studies were published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

We looked at multiple countries across Europe, where the way the population drinks coffee and prepares coffee is quite different, said Marc Gunter, reader in cancer epidemiology and prevention at Imperial Colleges School of Public Health in the UK, who co-authored the European study.

The fact that we saw the same relationships in different countries is kind of the implication that its something about coffee rather than its something about the way that coffee is prepared or the way its drunk, he said.

The biological benefits and caveats

Coffee is a complex mixture of compounds, some of which have been revealed in laboratories to have biological effects, Gunter said.

Studies have shown that certain compounds have neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory properties that can help reduce risk for illnesses like Parkinsons disease.

In the European study, people who were drinking coffee tended to have lower levels of inflammation, healthier lipid profiles and better glucose control compared with those who werent. It is still unclear which particular compounds provide health benefits, but Gunter said he would be interested in exploring this further.

Both studies separated smokers from nonsmokers, since smoking is known to reduce lifespan and is linked to various deceases. However, they found that coffee had inverse effects on mortality for smokers too.

Smoking doesnt seem to blunt the effects of coffee, Gunter said. It didnt matter whether you smoked or not. There was still a potential beneficial affect of coffee on mortality.

However, Dr. Alberto Ascherio, professor of Epidemiology and Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, said people should be wary of this finding.

Even if it was in some way true, it doesnt make sense to me, because by smoking, you increase your mortality several-fold. Then, if you reduce it by 10% drinking coffee, give me a break, said Ascherio, who was not involved in the study.I think its a dangerous proposition because it suggests that a smoker can counteract the effects of smoking by drinking coffee, which is borderline insane.

The studies complement work that has been done on coffee and mortality, he said, and it has been reasonably documented that coffee drinkers have a lower risk of death.

With all observations from previous studies, however, its difficult to exclude the possibility that coffee drinkers are just healthier to begin with, Gunter said.

People who avoid coffee, particularly in places like the US and Europe where drinking the beverage is very common, may do so because they have health problems. Their higher mortality rate could be a result of them being less healthy to begin with.

I think that the solid conclusion is that if youre a coffee drinker, keep drinking your coffee and be happy, Ascherio said. And if youre not? I think you can go on drinking your tea or water without a problem.

Meanwhile, Gunter and Setiawan stand a bit more firmly on coffee as a health benefit.

The takeaway message would be that drinking a couple cups of coffee a day doesnt do you any harm, and actually, it might be doing you some good, he said.

Moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy diet and lifestyle, Setiawan said. This studies and the previous studies suggest that for a majority of people, theres no long term harm from drinking coffee.

But as you know, the news on coffee has not always been positive. And the argument over the merits of your daily cup of joe dates back centuries. Lets take a look at the timeline.

1500s headline: Coffee leads to illegal sex

Legend has it that coffee was discovered by Kaldi, an Ethiopian goatherd, after he caught his suddenly frisky goats eating glossy green leaves and red berries and then tried it for himself. But it was the Arabs who first started coffeehouses, and thats where coffee got its first black mark.

Patrons of coffeehouses were said to be more likely to gamble and engage in criminally unorthodox sexual situations, according to author Ralph Hattox. By 1511 the mayor of Mecca shut them down. He cited medical and religious reasons, saying coffee was an intoxicant and thus prohibited by Islamic law, even though scholars like Mark Pendergrast believe it was more likely a reaction to the unpopular comments about his leadership. The ban didnt last long, says Pendergrast, adding that coffee became so important in Turkey that a lack of sufficient coffee provided grounds for a woman to seek a divorce.

1600s headline: Coffee cures alcoholism but causes impotence

As the popularity of coffee grew and spread across the continent, the medical community began to extol its benefits. It was especially popular in England as a cure for alcoholism, one of the biggest medical problems of the time; after all, water wasnt always safe to drink, so most men, women and even children drank the hard stuff.

Local ads such as this one in 1652 by coffee shop owner Pasqua Rose popularized coffees healthy status, claiming coffee could aid digestion, prevent and cure gout and scurvy, help coughs, headaches and stomachaches, even prevent miscarriages.

But in London, women were concerned that their men were becoming impotent, and in 1674 The Womens Petition Against Coffee asked for the closing of all coffeehouses, saying in part: We find of late a very sensible Decay of that true Old English Vigour. Never did Men wear greater Breeches, or carry less in them

1700s headline: Coffee helps you work longer

By 1730, tea had replaced coffee in London as the daily drink of choice. That preference continued in the colonies until 1773, when the famous Boston Tea Party made it unpatriotic to drink tea. Coffeehouses popped up everywhere, and the marvelous stimulant qualities of the brew were said to contribute to the ability of the colonists to work longer hours.

1800s headline: Coffee will make you go blind. Have a cup of hot wheat-bran drink instead

In the mid-1800s America was at war with itself and one side effect is that coffee supplies ran short. Enter toasted grain-based beverage substitutes such as Kelloggs Caramel Coffee and C.W. Posts Postum (still manufactured). They advertised with anti-coffee tirades to boost sales. C.W. Posts ads were especially vicious, says Pendergrast, claiming coffee was as bad as morphine, cocaine, nicotine or strychnine and could cause blindness.

1916 headline: Coffee stunts your growth

While inventions and improvements in coffee pots, filters and processing advanced at a quick pace throughout the 1900s, so did medical concerns and negative public beliefs about the benefits of coffee.

Good Housekeeping magazine wrote about how coffee stunts growth. And concerns continued to grow about coffees impact on common aliments of the era, such as nervousness, heart palpitations, indigestion and insomnia.

1927 headline: Coffee will give you bad grades, kids

In Science Magazine, on September 2, 1927, 80,000 elementary and junior high kids were asked about their coffee drinking habits. Researchers found the startling fact that most of them drank more than a cup of coffee a day, which was then compared to scholarship with mostly negative results.

1970s and 80s headline: Coffee is as serious as a heart attack

A 1973 study in the New England Journal of Medicine of more than 12,000 patients found drinking one to five cups of coffee a day increased risk of heart attacks by 60% while drinking six or more cups a day doubled that risk to 120%.

Another New England Journal of Medicine study, in 1978, found a short-term rise in blood pressure after three cups of coffee. Authors called for further research into caffeine and hypertension.

A 38-year study by the Johns Hopkins Medical School of more than a 1,000 medical students found in 1985 that those who drank five or more cups of coffee a day were 2.8 times as likely to develop heart problems compared to those who dont consume coffee. But the study only asked questions every five years, and didnt isolate smoking behavior or many other negative behaviors that tend to go along with coffee, such as doughnuts. Or Doooonuts, if youre Homer Simpson.

Millennium headline: Coffee goes meta

Now begins the era of the meta-analysis, where researchers look at hundreds of studies and apply scientific principles to find those that do the best job of randomizing and controlling for compounding factors, such as smoking, obesity, lack of exercise and many other lifestyles issues. That means that a specific study, which may or may not meet certain standards, cant tip the balance one way or another. We take a look at some of the years. The results for coffee? Mostly good.

2001 headline: Coffee increases risk of urinary tract cancer

But first, a negative: A 2001 study found a 20% increase in the risk of urinary tract cancer risk for coffee drinkers, but not tea drinkers. That finding was repeated in a 2015 meta-analysis. So, if this is a risk factor in your family history, you might want to switch to tea.

2007 headline: Coffee decreases risk of liver cancer

Some of these data analyses found preventive benefits for cancer from drinking coffee, such as this one, which showed drinking two cups of black coffee a day could reduce the risk of liver cancer by 43%. Those findings were replicated in 2013 in two other studies.

2010 headline: Coffee and lung disease go together like coffee and smoking

A meta-analysis found a correlation between coffee consumption and lung disease, but the study found it impossible to completely eliminate the confounding effects of smoking.

2011 headline: Coffee reduces risk of stroke and prostate cancer

A meta-analysis of 11 studies on the link between stroke risk and coffee consumption between 1966 and 2011, with nearly a half a million participants, found no negative connection. In fact, there was a small benefit in moderate consumption, which is considered to be three to five cups of black coffee a day. Another meta-analysis of studies between 2001 and 2011 found four or more cups a day had a preventive effect on the risk of stroke.

As for prostate cancer, this 2011 study followed nearly 59,000 men from 1986 to 2006 and found drinking coffee to be highly associated with lower risk for the lethal form of the disease.

2012 headline: Coffee lowers risk of heart failure

More meta-analysis of studies on heart failure found four cups a day provided the lowest risk for heart failure, and you had to drink a whopping 10 cups a day to get a bad association.

2013 headline: Coffee lowers risk of heart disease and helps you live longer

For general heart disease a meta-analysis of 36 studies with more than 1.2 million participants found moderate coffee drinking seemed to be associated with a low risk for heart disease; plus, there wasnt a higher risk among those who drank more than five cups a day.

How about coffees effects on your overall risk of death? One analysis of 20 studies, and another that included 17 studies, both of which included more than a million people, found drinking coffee reduced your total mortality risk slightly.

2015 headline: Coffee is practically a health food

As a sign of the times, the U.S. Department of Agriculture now agrees that coffee can be incorporated into a healthy lifestyle, especially if you stay within three to five cups a day (a maximum of 400 mg of caffeine), and avoid fattening cream and sugar. You can read their analysis of the latest data on everything from diabetes to chronic disease here.

2017 headline: Yes, coffee still leads to a longer life

The largest study to date on coffee and mortality surveyed 520,000 people in 10 European countries and found that regularly drinking coffee could significantly lower the risk of death.

Another study with a focus on non-white populations and had similar findings. That study surveyed 185,000 African-Americans, Native Americans, Hawaiians, Japanese-Americans, Latinos and whites. The varying lifestyles and dietary habits of the people observed in both studies led the authors to believe that coffees impact on longevity doesnt have to do with how its prepared or how people drink it it has to do with the beverages biological effect on the body.

But stay tuned. Theres sure to be another meta-study, and another opinion. Well keep you updated.

Read more:
Drinking More Coffee Leads to a Longer Life, Two Studies Say - wnep.com

A study done by the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health indicates that adults over age 60 and teens do about the same level of physical activity. According to the CDC, out of ten high school students, less than three do 60 minutes of physical activity a day. The same is true of older adults, raising concerns that both of these age groups are at risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other illnesses. This study backs up these findings.

The research gathered data from 12,529 individuals using information from the National Health and Nutritional Examination Surveys done in 2003-04 and 2005-06. During these surveys, individuals work activity monitoring devices for seven days except when in the shower or sleeping. The devices recorded all activity within that period. The end result showed that neither teens nor those over age 60 met the World Health Organizations physical activity guidelines.

These findings were published in Preventative Medicine on May 30, 2017.

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Diabetes Health in The News: Teens and 60-Year- Olds Do the Same Level of Physical Activity - Diabetes Health (press release)

Tulane University scientists will get $12 million for animal studies to test drug combinations to treat Lassa fever and to develop a vaccine for the deadly virus, which can attack internal organs and cause bleeding from the mouth, nose and other places.

Tulane's medical school says a team led by Robert Garry is getting grants from the National Institutes of Health for two five-year studies.

One, getting $5.7 million, will evaluate a drug mixture to treat the virus, which is common in parts of West Africa. The other will provide $6.3 million to develop a vaccine based on a recently discovered possible target for antibodies on the surface of the virus, a news release Tuesday said.

"In West Africa, we need a drug to treat acutely infected patients as well as a preventative measure to stop it," said Garry, professor of microbiology and immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine. "Vaccine initiatives in rural Africa are difficult so you are never going to be able to vaccinate everyone. You need to be able to treat people when they get sick."

Some 100,000 to 300,000 people a year get sick from the virus, most often transmitted in food contaminated with rat feces or urine. About 5,000 of them die, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's website.

Garry said the vaccine will include both Lassa and Ebola fever glycoproteins surface structures that can be targeted to keep a virus from infecting host cells.

"Ebola is likely to come back, and Lassa isn't going away so you have to protect against both," Garry said. "We think we can do it with one shot."

The other project will test three antibodies that have done well in early animal studies, to see which mixtures work best. Tulane is working on this project with scientists at Zalgen Labs in Germantown, Maryland; The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California; the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston and the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute in La Jolla.

___

Online:

Lassa fever: http://www.who.int/mediacentre/factsheets/fs179/en/

Medical school: http://www2.tulane.edu/som/

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: https://www.cdc.gov/vhf/lassa/index.html

Excerpt from:
Tulane gets $12M for Lassa fever animal studies - Lexington Herald Leader

NEGAUNEE TOWNSHIP, Mich. (WLUC) In the last decade, tobacco use has declined nationally, but the U.P. smoking rate of 23 percent remains higher than both state and national averages.

Tobacco's negative effects hit rural areas like the U.P. harder than urban ones, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A CDC study found adolescents in rural regions begin smoking earlier than those in urban areas. That's a problem, since adolescents' brains are still developing and more vulnerable to addiction.

The likelihood for addiction is greater, said Dr. Kevin Piggot, a family and preventative medicine physician. So when you talk to most adults in regards to when they began smoking, they began in their teenage years.

As cigarette smoking declined, use of other tobacco products like e-cigarettes and chewing tobacco rose.

But we do know still nicotine is present, Dr. Piggot said. Nicotine is an addictive substance and the whole issue of becoming addicted results for many people in a lifelong use of that substance.

Experts said quitters who get both medication and therapy have the best chance of success. But those resources can be hard to find in some parts of the U.P.

If we look up here where we may not have active tobacco cessation classes going on, resources to counselors that can work with somebody quitting tobacco, then that can be a limitation, said Sarah Derwin, health educator at the Marquette County Health Department.

For a link to a list of cessation resources, click here.

See original here:
Tobacco use continues in UP - UpperMichigansSource.com

The Center for Sight provides free eye surgery at its annual Mission Cataract event.

For the past two years Daniel Medrano-Luna has lived inside a thick haze.

Through the fog of cataracts, the 68-year-old walked over two hours to his church every Sunday for Mass, before hitching back to his campsite in Bradenton. If no one picked him up on his way back home, he would sleep outside and take a bus back Monday.

Homeless and without insurance, Medrano-Luna had little hope for an eye appointment with an opthamologist, let alone corrective surgery.

But that changed when Medrano-Luna was approved for a free cataract surgery at the Center for Sight in Sarasota. The center opened its doors Wednesday for its annual Mission Cataract event, in which staff members offer free cataract eye surgeries to people who cant afford it.

Nearly 100 patients signed up for the Wednesday event and some will return on July 19, the second day of surgeries, to have the cataract in their other eye removed. Medrano-Luna and his girlfriend Lynn Atyeo arrived by bus early. They were worried after the surgery because they didnt know if they could afford to come back for the follow up appointment Thursday.

These past few months have been very rough, Atyeo said. Ive been very sick and Ive been living off disability. I try to feed the both of us with my food stamps.

Atyeo helps translate for Medrano-Luna, who immigrated to the United States from Mexico in 1981. After the surgery, when the two began asking for donations for the appointment the next day, center staff members instead scheduled a transport bus to pick them up.

Oh bless you and thank you all so much, Atyeo said after one staff member confirmed the follow up. The couple will return next week so that Medrano-Luna can have the cataract in his other eye removed.

Cataracts develop as the lens of the eye becomes foggy or opaque, leading to blurred vision. The surgery is considered a minor outpatient procedure in which the doctor removes the lens and replaces it with a clear artificial lens.

Dr. William Soscia has been a surgeon with the Center for Sight and its Mission Cataract event for nearly a decade.

Its an exciting day for all of us, Soscia said. When we were at the beginning phases of our career, for me 20 years ago when I was in med school, I was asked why I wanted to do this. The answer was to take care of people.

The nurses and surgeons donate their time on both days that the center provides the free surgeries. Soscia said that about five years ago Dr. David Shoemaker founded the Center for Sight Foundation, which raised money for the event. The team has expanded the services to offer more than 100 surgeries over the two Wednesdays.

We all come in here with a smile. We all come in here excited because we are all doing this to help people, Soscia said. It feels like a million bucks.

Soscia estimated that the surgery and services administered to the patients would cost around $3,000 to $5,000 for each eye. Many of the patients have developed cataracts in both eyes. But giving sight back to those who couldnt afford it otherwise has a clear impact on those helping to provide the service.

I was in Ghana, Africa, in 2000 and that was a great experience. But this has a particular special feeling because it's in the town we live in, Soscia said. We get to take care of the people who are working and living in the same place as us.

Some patients traveled across Florida for the procedure. Ed Brown, 54, drove hours from north of Gainesville. Hehad to leave his job as a forklift driver after cataracts diminished his vision. For more than a year he was without a job, struggling to complete even simple tasks.

I looked high and low for someone to help me, Brown said. But you get stuck in that rut and you cant get out."

He found out about the free surgery online and applied. Upon receiving the call, Brown said he called his girlfriend and mother and told them the good news. Over the next few weeks hell be spending time with some family that lives in Sarasota while he recovers.

Its overwhelming. I can see everything where before I couldnt see anything, Brown said. I dont think Ive ever seen this good out of this eye. This is awesome."

In the future, Brown said he plans to support the Center for Sight and the Cataract Mission.

Im going to give back, Brown said. Ive talked to some people who have donated to and thats what Im going to do.

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Sarasota cataract center restores sight for the needy - Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Meibomian gland dysfunction -also known as dry eye syndrome - is on the rise among women due to excess make-up of the eyes. Though not taken seriously, the condition leads to blepharitis, extreme blurred vision, said doctors.

Latest medical cases revealed that though MGD until now was seen due to ageing, now the trend has changed and it is occurring among young women as well.

"The changing trend of make-ups causing MGD is dangerous. Eyeliner and other make-up usually clog the meibomian glands leading to formation of painless lumps in the eyelids hence obstructing the vision," said Mahipal Sachdev, Director, Centre for Sight, a chain of eye centres in North India.

Elaborating on the condition, Sachadev, who often sees young women with MGD says that the meibomian produce oils that prevent the tears from evaporating quickly. Whenever the glands do not function properly, the blockage in the gland restricts it from producing oil.

"The oil may sometimes thicken leading to cause benign lumps in the eyelids known as chalazion. MGD is the most known and leading cause of dry eye syndrome, blepharitis and in extreme cases loss of vision," said Sachdev.

Medical Sciences says that there are around 40 such glands that produce oil that flows out of the eyes as tears to keep the eyes moistened. Thickening of this oil restricts its flow causing accumulation and blockage, forming a lump in the eyelid. A blocked oil gland causes this condition of red swollen eyelids.

"Around 40 per cent of the women with high usage of eye make-up products tend to get affected with oil gland blockages. Parabens and yellow wax used in mascara and eyeliners to stiffen them to make it waterproof are the same chemicals that also clog the oil glands leading to MGD, chalazion, dry eye syndrome and blepharitis," Parul Sony, senior consultant and director of Gurgram's Complete Eye Care.

Stating that anti-ageing eye creams contain retinoids that has also been linked to thickening and degeneration, Sony said that such make-ups kill the blood cells in the meibomian gland ducts.

A study by Canada's University of Waterloo said people who apply eyeliner on the inner eyelid run the risk of contaminating the eye and causing vision trouble.

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Vision problems on the rise due to heavy eye make-up - Indulge (press release) (registration)

AN ELDERLY Bundaberg woman is furious she has to travel out of town to have sight-saving surgery.

The 71-year-old, who asked to remain anonymous, can't understand why cataract surgery is no long available in the Rum City.

A cataract is a clouding of the lens in the eye which leads to a decrease in vision.

The woman was advised the surgery contract was given to an ophthalmologist in Hervey Bay and it was her only option.

"It's not easy for somebody who can't see or drive to get to Hervey Bay, she said.

"And it's day surgery so you need to have someone collect you.

Symptoms include blurry vision, seeing faded colours and halos around light and trouble with bright lights and seeing at night.

Surgery involves removing the natural lens and inserting an artificial one.

The said if there were no ophthalmologist in the Bundaberg area she would understand, but while there were at least two in town she found it baffling.

If the option to go to Brisbane was on the table the woman said she would take it, because transport would be easier.

"It's just crazy the blind have to travel two towns away to get the surgery, she said.

"My first eye was done here but because they've changed it I have to leave Bundaberg.

Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service chief executive Adrian Pennington said before 2015 cataract surgery was not available in Wide Bay at all.

"Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service has recently negotiated a new contract with Hervey Bay Surgical Hospital to provide cataract surgery for all Wide Bay public patients, he said.

This means people's only options were either to sit on a lengthy waiting list in Brisbane while their eyesight deteriorated further, or to pay privately - often at a cost of thousands of dollars.

"Travelling to Brisbane also means significant inconvenience, he said.

"Importantly, the new contract with Hervey Bay Surgical Hospital is delivering cataract surgery at a better price than our previous contract, meaning these services can sustainably be provided locally in Wide Bay.

Mr Pennington said under the arrangements, patients got high-quality care at the right time in their home region, and could claim the Patient Travel Subsidy if eligible.

He said patients were given comprehensive information about public transport options if they were unable to drive, and support and advice was available from the hospital's Patient Travel office.

"While we appreciate that for some patients this will mean travelling out of their immediate area, we still believe this is the best possible outcome for the majority of the community we serve.

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Patients with low vision must go to Bay for surgery to see - Bundaberg News Mail

Cataracts are the single leading cause of blindness worldwide, afflicting roughly 42 percent of the global population, including more than 22 million Americans. The disease, which causes cloudy patches to form on the eye's normally clear lens, can require surgery if left untreated. That's why Google's DeepMind AI division has teamed with the UK's National Health Service (NHS) and Moorfields Eye Hospital to train a neural network that will help doctors diagnose early stage cataracts.

The neural network is being trained on a million anonymized optical coherence tomography (OCT) scans (think of a sonogram, but using light instead of sound waves) in the hopes it will eventually be able to supplement human doctors' analyses, increasing both the efficiency and accuracy of individual diagnoses.

"OCT has totally revolutionized the field of ophthalmology. It's an imaging system for translucent structures that utilizes coherent light," Dr. Julie Schallhorn, an assistant professor of ophthalmology at UC San Francisco, said. "It was first described in 1998 and it gives near-cell resolution of the cornea, retina and optic nerve.

"The optic nerve is only about 200 microns thick, but you can see every cell in it. It's given us a much-improved understanding of the pathogenesis of diseases and also their response to treatments." The new iteration of OCT also measures the phase-shift of refracted light, allowing doctors to resolve images down to the capillary level and observe the internal structures in unprecedented detail.

"We're great at correcting refractive errors in the eyes so we can give you good vision far away pretty reliably, or up close pretty reliably," Schallhorn continued. "But the act of shifting focus from distance to near requires different optical powers inside the eye. The way the eye handles this when you're young is through a process called 'accommodation.'" There's a muscle that contracts and changes the shape of the lens to help you focus on close objects. When you get older, even before you typically develop cataracts, the lens will stiffen and reduce the eye's ability to change its shape.

"The lenses that we have been putting in during cataract surgery are not able to mimic that [shapeshifting] ability, so people have to wind up wearing reading glasses," Schallhorn said. There's a lot of work in the field to find solutions for this issue and help restore the eye's accommodation.

There are two front-runners for that: Accommodating lenses, which use the same ciliary muscle to shift focus, and multifocal lenses, which work just like your parents' multifocal reading glasses except that they sit directly on the eye itself. The multifocals have been on the market for about a decade, though their design and construction has been refined over that time.

To ensure the lenses that doctors are implanting are just as accurate as the diseased ones they're removing, surgeons are beginning to use optiwave refractive analysis. Traditionally, doctors relied on measurements taken before the surgery to know how to shape the replacement lenses and combined those with nomograms to estimate how powerful the new lens should be.

The key word there is "estimate." "They especially have problems in patients who have already had refractive surgery like LASIK," Schallhorn explained. The ORA system, however, performs a wavefront measurement of the cornea after the cataract has been removed to help surgeons more accurately pick the right replacement lens for the job.

Corneal inlays are also being used. These devices resemble miniature contact lenses but sit in a pocket on the cornea that's been etched out with a LASIK laser to mimic the process of accommodation and provide a greater depth of focus. They essentially serve the same function as camera apertures. The Kamra lens from AcuFocus and the Raindrop Near Vision Inlay from Revision Optics are the only inlays approved by the FDA for use in the US.

Glaucoma afflicts more than 70 million people annually. This disease causes fluid pressure within the eye to gradually increase, eventually damaging the optic nerve that carries electrical signals from the eye to the brain. Normally, detecting the early stages of glaucoma requires a comprehensive eye exam by a trained medical professional -- folks who are often in short supply in rural and underserved communities. However, the Cambridge Consultants' Viewi headset allows anyone to diagnose the disease -- so long as they have a smartphone and 10 minutes to spare.

The Viewi works much like the Daydream View, wherein the phone provides the processing power for a VR headset shell -- except, of course, that instead of watching 360 degree YouTube videos, the screen displays the flashing light patterns used to test for glaucoma. The results are reportedly good enough to share with you eye doctor and take only about five minutes per eye. Best of all, the procedure costs only about $25, which makes it ideal for use in developing nations.

And while there is no known cure for glaucoma, a team of researchers from Stanford University may soon have one. Last July, the team managed to partially restore the vision of mice suffering from a glaucoma-like condition.

Normally, when light hits your eye, specialized cells in the retina convert that light into electrical signals. These signals are then transmitted via retinal ganglion cells, whose long appendages run along the optic nerve and spread out to various parts of the brain's visual-processing bits. But if the optic nerve or the ganglion cells have been damaged through injury or illness, they stay damaged. They won't just grow back like your olfactory sensory nerve.

However, the Stanford team found that subjecting mice to a few weeks of high-contrast visual stimulation after giving them drugs to reactivate the mTOR pathway, which has been shown to instigate new growth in ganglion cells, resulted in "substantial numbers" of new axons. The results are promising, though the team will need to further boost the rate and scope of axon growth before the technique can be applied to humans.

Researchers from Japan have recently taken this idea of cajoling the retina into healing itself and applied it to age-related macular degeneration cases. AMD primarily affects people aged 60 and over (hence the name). It slowly kills cells in the macula, the part of the eye that processes sharp detail, and causes the central focal point of their field of vision to deteriorate, leaving only the peripheral.

The research team from Kyoto University and the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology first took a skin sample from a human donor, then converted it into induced pluripotent stem (IPS) cells. These IPS cells are effectively blank slates and can be coerced into redeveloping into any kind of cell you need. By injecting these cells into the back of the patient's eye, they should regrow into retinal cells.

In March of this year, the team implanted a batch of these cells into a Japanese sexagenarian who suffers from AMD in the hope that the stem cells would take hold and halt, if not begin to reverse, the damage to his macula. The team has not yet been able to measure the efficacy of this treatment but, should it work out, the researchers will look into creating a stem-cell bank where patients could immediately obtain IPS cells for their treatment rather than wait months for donor samples to be converted.

And while there isn't a reliable treatment for dry-AMD, wherein fatty protein deposits damage the Bruchs membrane, a potent solution for wet-AMD, which involves blood leaking into the eyeball, has been discovered in a most unlikely place: cancer medication. "Genentech started developing a new drug when an ophthalmologist in Florida just decided to inject the commercially available drug into patients eyes," Schallhorn explained.

"Generally this is not a great idea because sometimes things will go terribly wrong," she continued, "but this worked super-well. It basically stops and reverses the growth of these blood vessels." The only problem is that the drugs don't last, requiring patients to receive injections into their eyeballs every four to eight weeks. Genentech and other pharma companies are working to reformulate the drug -- or at least develop a mechanical "reservoir" -- so it has to be injected only once or twice a year.

Stem-cell treatments like those used in the Kyoto University trial have already proved potentially effective against a wide range of genomic diseases, so why shouldn't it work on the rare genetic condition known as choroideremia? This disease is caused by a single faulty gene and primarily affects young men. Similar to AMD, choroideremia causes light-sensitive cells at the back of the eye to slowly wither and die, resulting in partial to complete blindness.

In April of 2016, a team of researchers from Oxford University performed an experimental surgery on a 24-year-old man suffering from the disease. They first injected a small amount of liquid into the back of the eye to lift a section of the retina away from the interior cellular wall. The team then injected functional copies of the gene into that same cavity, replacing the faulty copies and not only halting the process of cellular death but actually restoring a bit of the patient's vision.

Gene therapy may be "surely the most efficient way of treating a disease," lead author of the study, Oxford professor Robert MacLaren, told BBC News, but its widespread use is still a number of years away. Until then, good old-fashioned gadgetry will have to suffice. Take the Argus II, for example.

The Argus II bionic eye from Second Sight has been in circulation since 2013, when the FDA approved its use in treating retinitis pigmentosa. It has since gotten the go-ahead for use with AMD in 2015. The system leverages a wireless implant which sits on the retina and receives image data from an external camera that's mounted on a pair of glasses. The implant converts that data into an electrical signal which stimulates the remaining retinal cells to generate a visual image.

The Argus isn't the only implantable eyepiece. French startup Pixium Vision developed a similar system, the IRIS II, back in 2015 and implanted it in a person last November after receiving clearance from the European Union. The company is already in talks with the FDA to bring its IRIS II successor, a miniaturized wireless subretinal photovoltaic implant called PRIMA, to US clinical trials by the end of this year.

Ultimately, the goal is to be able to replace a damaged or diseased eye entirely, if necessary, using a robotic prosthetic. However, there are still a number of technological hurdles that must be overcome before that happens, as Schallhorn explained.

"The big thing that's holding us back from a fully functional artificial eye is that we need to find a way to interface with the optic nerve and the brain in a way that we transmit signals," she said. "That's the same problem we're facing with prosthetic limbs right now. But there are a lot of smart people in the field working on that, and I'm sure they'll come up with something soon."

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High-tech solutions top the list in the fight against eye disease - Engadget

Vision Express has discovered that 92% of the patients tested on its Vision Van, as part of a recent UK tour during Macular Week, are not attending regular eye checks.

The multiple revealed that 64% to the patient it saw required a new prescription, 19% had not had their sight checked for over 10 years and 5% admitted never having an eye exam before their visit to the Vision Van.

Referrals were also made for further medical attention that related to suspected high cholesterol, central vision problems and a freckle on the eye.

CEO of Vision Express, Jonathan Lawson, told OT: Our Vision Van continues to receive a fantastic response from the public, but its very concerning that we are still seeing a worrying neglect for eye health, with such a high percentage of visitors to the van admitting to not having had their eyes checked in over 10 years. Worse still, several visitors told us they had never had an eye test.

The Vision Van toured the UK during Macular Week (2630 June) in a bid to improve the countrys prospects for age-related macular degeneration (AMD), the most common cause of sight loss in the UK.

The mobile eye testing unit visited Boston, Wrexham and Leicester, after each city was identified as having a high percentage of people aged over 65. The van also visited Blackpool because of its reputation for smoking, and Huddersfield, where the rate of sight loss due to AMD is higher than the national average.

I hope that by continuing to take our Vision Van out on the road, targeting UK eye health hotspots, we can encourage even more people to consider maintaining regular sight check- ups. Our key concern is for the public to take eye care seriously, and the starting point is a simple examination, Mr Lawson said.

The CEO also revealed that the majority of people Vision Express spoke to on the tour did not realise that an eye test can detect other health-related problems and added that this is the reason why theres a need for initiatives like the Vision Van.

Continue reading here:
Nine out of ten Vision Van visitors do not attend regular eye checks - AOP

A transplant can cure end-stage liver cirrhosis - hardening of the liver - but not all patients have this option.

For those who are not eligible for a transplant, an alternative may be in sight.

A clinical trial was launched yesterday to explore the use of stem cells to reverse liver cirrhosis.

In the study conducted by a multi-centre team led by the National University Hospital (NUH), doctors aim to determine if stem-cell therapy can improve liver function. Stem cells will be taken from a patient's own bone marrow and will be isolated and injected directly into the patient's liver to initiate the repair.

The $2.6 million Phase III trial will use biopsy and clinical measurements of liver function to test the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of the stem-cell treatment.

The study is funded by the National Medical Research Council, and a total of 46 patients will be recruited. It will run for four years, and patients will not need to bear the costs of stem-cell treatment.

Liver cirrhosis is caused by diseases such as chronic hepatitis B and non-alcoholic fatty liver disease. A liver transplant provides a definitive cure to end-stage cirrhosis. However, in Singapore, less than 5 per cent of end-stage liver cirrhosis patients receive a liver transplant.

The number of people on the waiting list for a liver transplant has been increasing over the years, according to statistics from the Ministry of Health.

Last year, there were 57 on the waiting list, up from nine in 2007. There are around 50 waiting for a liver transplant this year.

Many patients do not fulfil the eligibility criteria for a transplant because of other health complications or because they are above the age limit of about 70 years.

Ms Jac Low, 44, who works in the engineering sector, is optimistic. Her 70-year-old mother suffers from liver cirrhosis and is waiting to enter the trial.

"This brings new hope to patients, and my mother is happy to learn about it," said Ms Low.

While similar therapy treatments have been conducted overseas in countries such as Egypt and India, they have not been fully evaluated for efficacy.

Associate Professor Dan Yock Young, a senior consultant in the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at NUH, said: "We are conducting the study in a systematic and scientific manner in order to get definitive evidence of the effects of the treatment."

He said stem-cell therapy is not a substitute for a liver transplant but provides an option for those who are not eligible for one.

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Can't go for liver transplant? There's hope still, Health News & Top ... - The Straits Times

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (WSET) -- Some scientists say they've figured out how to safely 'shut off' genes.

WCAV in Charlottesville reported that it could potentially lead to curing some genetic diseases.

'Gene editing,' using something called using the CRISPR system, has been around for a few years, but a team at UVA says it found a way to 'silence' genes without harming surrounding cells.

The discovery could eventually help doctors turn off genes that are making patients sick.

It will also help scientists be able to more directly research genes individually.

"For a lot of these genes in our body, we still don't know their functions," said Dr. Mazhar Adli, with the UVA Dept. of Biochemistry & Molecular Genetics. "So now we are able to go and inactivate each gene and to study what the gene is doing."

Among the diseases that doctors could possible treat with the gene-silencing method are cystic fibrosis and hemophilia.

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UVA scientists say they can safely 'shut off' genes. | WSET - WSET.com - WSET

Published Wednesday, Jul. 12, 2017, 7:35 am

Front Page Events New way to shut off genes speeds battle against genetic diseases

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Gene editing using the CRISPR system is transforming genetic research and could be poised to transform the treatment of genetic diseases such ashemophiliaandcystic fibrosis. Now aUniversity of Virginia School of Medicineresearcher has found a safer and highly efficient way to use the system to silence genes.

Mazhar Adli, PhD, and his team have developed a technique to prevent genes from carrying out their function without causing the extensive DNA damage the current approach requires. This is important because silencing genes allows scientists to understand what individual genes do and identify the ones that cause disease. Gene silencing also may one day let doctors better treat and even cure genetic diseases with abnormal gene activity.

Our genes the blueprints for life are segments of the long double strands of DNA in our cells. To silence genes using the current approach, the CRISPR system cuts both strands. Doing this too often causes the cells to die a major limitation for CRISPR. Even cuts that are not fatal to cells can have unintended effects that result from the bodys efforts to repair the broken DNA.

Adlis approach, on the other hand, avoids cutting the DNA altogether. Instead, it takes advantage of the fact that DNA is made of four main building blocks: cytosine, adenine, guanine and thymine. Adlis method lets scientists use CRISPR to convert one building block into another to artificially create what are called stop codons the off switches that naturally occur at the end of genes. Turn cytosine into thymine, for example, and the whole gene is silenced, meaning there is no protein production from that gene.

We found around 17,000 genes we can target this way, and, as you know, we have roughly 20,000 genes, Adli explained.So a very large fraction of the genome we can target with this CRISPR stop approach.

He noted the benefits of the new techniques genetic alchemy: Its about as efficient as what we used previously, he said. But more importantly, it is safer. It doesnt cause cell death. Further, the new approach is compatible with high-throughput screening that lets scientists do their research much more quickly. You can delete basically every single gene [of certain types] in a population of cells and then watch the entire population to see whats going to happen to them, he said. So with a single experiment you can interrogate the function of thousands and thousands of genes.

Adli, of UVAs Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics, is making his technique available for free to scientists around the world. Any lab that uses CRISPR should have the capability to use it, he said. He expects it will initially be used for research in labs like his, but, with the first human tests of gene editing now beginning, that may change in the future.

Adlis team has outlined the new technique in an article in the scientific journalNature Methods. The article was written by Cem Kuscu, Mahmut Parlak, Turan Tufan, Jiekun Yang, Karol Szlachta, Xiaolong Wei, Rashad Mammadov and Adli.

The work was supported by a V Scholar award from the V Cancer Research Foundation and a pilot project award from the UVA Cancer Center.

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New way to shut off genes speeds battle against genetic diseases - Augusta Free Press

The Baylor College of Medicine Board of Trustees, Academic Council and Faculty Senate have approved a new Genetic Counseling Program, which will award a Master of Science degree through the School of Allied Health Sciences.

The two-year program prepares graduates to engage individuals and families who are at risk for, or affected by, conditions that may have a genetic cause. Genetic counselors provide information, facilitate understanding, identify support resources and explain genetic testing options for individuals in whom a genetic condition may be present. Genetic counselors educate families about the pros and cons of genetic testing, the possible outcomes, and when testing is desired, arrange testing and help interpret results.

In many stressful, complex and scary situations involving an individuals health and well-being, there is a discomfort in knowing what healthcare decisions to make, said Daniel Riconda, program director and associate professor of molecular and human genetics at Baylor College of Medicine. Genetic counselors often engage with families under moments of stress, duress and uncertainty. They respond to the patients needs in a sensitive and empathic manner. Genetic counselors foster families adjustment to the circumstances and allow them to adapt in the best way they can.

The Masters degree program is well positioned to leverage Baylors extraordinary strengths in genetics to train students in a dynamic clinical and research intensive environment. Baylor College of Medicines Department of Molecular and Human Genetics is ranked No. 1 in the country in National Institutes of Health funding.

As a health sciences university, Baylor College of Medicine values the role that each member of a patients healthcare team plays in providing care. It is an opportune time to add this important program to our portfolio of excellent training opportunities for the next generation of healthcare professionals, said Dr. Alicia Monroe, provost and senior vice president of academic and faculty affairs at Baylor College of Medicine.

The program will include foundational courses as well as clinical rotations throughout the Texas Medical Center and will allow students to sit for the American Board of Genetic Counseling Certification Exam upon completion of the program. The inaugural cohort for the program will consist of eight students.

Genetic Counseling is natural fit to our growing School of Allied Health Sciences at Baylor College of Medicine, which also includes a Physician Assistant Program, Doctor of Nursing Practice Program in Nurse Anesthesia and an Orthotics and Prosthetics Program, said Dr. Robert McLaughlin, dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences at Baylor. The new program builds on the national reputation our programs have earned for excellence and innovation.

Graduate programs in genetic counseling must be accredited by the Accreditation Council for Genetic Counseling (ACGC) before students enroll so that their graduates are eligible to take the American Board of Genetic Counseling certification exam. The Baylor College of Medicine Genetic Counseling Program is not yet accredited, but the required letter of intent to apply for accreditation to the ACGC was submitted in June 2017. An accreditation decision must be obtained before the March 15, 2018, deadline for programs to be eligible to enroll in the 2018 match that pairs each applicant to a program that student wishes to attend.

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Baylor to offer new genetic counseling degree program - Baylor College of Medicine News (press release)

Kiwi agricultural research in genetics and breeding will be boosted by a new Massey University-led centre launched today.

The AL Rae Centre - named in memorial for the late Massey emeritus professor who was one of the founders of modern animal breeding - will headed by world-leading Kiwi scientist Professor Dorian Garrick, who has returned to New Zealand for the top role of chief scientist.

It aims to advance quantitative breeding, genetics and genomics to benefit the agricultural sector, along with a new wave of scientists through postgraduate courses.

Positions for four PhD scholarships, one postdoctoral fellow and two eminent visiting scientists have been created with a $250,000 gift from The Norman FB Barry Foundation.

"We cannot stress the importance of those funds to what we seek to do," co-director Professor Hugh Blair said.

"The country's top students were enticed away from discovery science in genetics because of the greater salaries in banking and other agribusinesses areas."

Low salaries for PhD students in New Zealand had resulted in more attractive opportunities for these talented people elsewhere - either completing their PhD studies overseas or going directly into employment here, Blair said.

"This had led to underachievement in discovery science for a number of years, with similar science centres around New Zealand suffering from lack of resources and a short-term focus driven by an industry keen on solving the issues at hand.

"For a number of years there has been a lack of research in quantitative genetics, in favour of molecular genetics. We want to marry these two areas to get a picture of the overall merit of the animal."

The centre will be based in AgResearch's Ruakura Research Centre, away from the university's three campuses, but closer to industries it will work with.

Blair said its big drawcard would be Garrick, who has been involved in animal evaluation programmes, performance recording databases and breeding schemes around the world.

"He is one of the world's top animal breeders and he has worked on a variety of genetic improvement programs around the world, including beef cattle, dairy cattle, dual-purpose sheep, fine-woolled sheep, pigs, elk, chickens, salmon and tree breeding."

Garrick said New Zealand had many opportunities to boost returns from its primary industries, through selection based on accurate predictions of performance using genomic data.

The work led by the centre would apply to a wide range of traits and species, and could comprise large pedigrees of millions of animals.

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New centre to boost Kiwi agricultural research - NZ Herald - New Zealand Herald

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. (NEWSPLEX) -- Researchers at the University of Virginia have come up with a safe way to successfully "shut off" genes, potentially leading to a cure for genetic diseases.

Gene editing, using the CRISPR system, has been around for several years, but cells would often be damaged in the editing process.

However, a team at UVA has figured out a way to silence genes without harming surrounding cells, opening the door to new methods of treating and preventing diseases that are written in an individual's genome.

The team says the discovery will eventually help doctors turn genes off that are making patients sick, while also enabling scientists to more directly research individual genes.

"For a lot of these genes in our body, we still don't know their functions," said Mazhar Adli, assistant professor in UVAs Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics. "So now we are able to go and inactivate each gene and to study what the gene is doing."

Cystic fibrosis and hemophilia are among the diseases doctors could possibly treat with the gene-silencing method.

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UVA scientists successfully, safely "shut off" genes - The Charlottesville Newsplex

Michel Stevens of Harpers Ferry, W.Va., has been a chef for more than 35years. Its a profession that monopolizes her waking hours. Sometimes it infiltrates her sleeping ones, too.

I dream up recipes in my sleep, Michel wrote. Often my dreamtime recipes come out somewhat better than my waking recipes. My husband, John, thinks I should write a cookbook called Dream On: Adventures in Sleepcooking.

Over the last few days, Ive shared stories of how aggravating dreams about work can be. But sometimes good things happen.

[Eyes wide shut: Dreaming about work is as common as a coffee break]

As a computer engineer/programmer for over 40years, sometimes my work does find its way into my dreams, wrote Fred Myers of South Bend, Ind. Occasionally, Ill work out an approach to solving a problem in a dream, wake up, write it down, and then it actually pans out when I get to work. Very satisfactory.

Sheri Bellow, a licensed psychologist from Crofton, Md., has had similar experiences.

I can report that I wrote much of my doctoral dissertation while I slept, Sheri wrote. Id be immersed for hours each day in research and writing, often stopping when I reached a stumbling block, uncertain of what my next step would be. At that point, I was generally exhausted and would sleep, waking later with my first thoughts containing the solution to my quandary. I learned the importance of keeping pen and paper nearby while I slept.

Sleep: Theres a reason we spend a third of our lives doing it, even if we arent sure what that reason is.

It must be important, said Rachel Salas, a Johns Hopkins Medicine neurologist who studies sleep and treats sleep disorders. And if sleeping is important, that would suggest that dreaming is important.

But scientists arent sure exactly why.

There are a lot of theories out there, Salas said. The bottom line is we just dont know. There is some research suggesting that dreams are the brain processing or getting rid of unwanted memories, kind of consolidating memories as were sleeping.

On a biological level, sleep cleanses the cerebrospinal fluid in which the brain and spinal column bathe. If the fluid doesnt get cleaned, Salas said, theres a higher risk for developing Alzheimers disease or dementia.

Great, another thing to worry about as we try in vain to drift off to sleep.

As for dreams, some scientists think they can play a role in creativity. Theres some research showing that musicians have been inspired during their dreams and have actually composed music during sleep, Salas said.

So maybe those job dreams arent so bad, though I guess it depends on the job and the dream.

Most of us dream about four to six times a night, even if we dont remember those dreams when we wake up. Salas said research suggests that dreams about things that happened at work or home, or about people you know, occur during non-REM sleep, the type of sleep that accounts for about 75percent of our slumber.

REM sleep is a deeper sleep, but one in which the brain goes into overdrive. Brain activity during REM sleep resembles that in a waking brain.

Bizarre dreams, where were flying or talking to an alien and we believe it, those are more likely to be in REM sleep, Salas said.

REM sleep characterized by rapid-eye movement and increased heart rate and respiration is also the setting for an unsettling condition known as REM behavioral sleep disorder.

These people tend to be older over 50 and they start having these very vivid dreams, usually during REM sleep in the early morning, around 4a.m., Salas said. These people act out their dreams. In normal people our brain is kind of in check, otherwise we would all be acting out our dreams. These people, they lose that. They have violent dreams.

Salas said one of her patients fractured his clavicle during an episode.

People who suffer from depression or anxiety tend to have higher incidents of nightmares, Salas said. Some patients who have unsettling dreams can benefit from integrative medicine therapies, such as hypnotherapy, meditation and mindfulness.

Dreams may not mean anything, except to a Freudian. Even so, Salas said that if a patient comes to her and describes dreams of choking, suffocating or drowning, thats actually a red flag in my mind. It could suggest that person maybe is not breathing correctly and may have sleep apnea.

For the rest of us, work dreams may just be an inevitable, occasional nighttime visitor.

Talking in your sleep

Rachel Salas will be answering sleep-related questions from noon to 1p.m. Thursday during a Facebook chat. Visit facebook.com/johns.hopkins.medicine.

Bye for now

Heres what Im dreaming of: vacation. Im taking some time off to cleanse my cerebrospinal fluid. Look for me back in this space on July31. Until then, sweet dreams.

Twitter: @johnkelly

For previous columns, visit washingtonpost.com/johnkelly.

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Snooze you can use: Sleep is important, so dreams must be, too, right? - Washington Post