Monthly Archives: August 2017

Cancer Treatment Centers of America and Foundation Medicine Join Forces to Advance Precision Cancer Treatment – Markets Insider

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CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Aug. 15, 2017 /PRNewswire/ --Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) and Foundation Medicine today announced a new element to their longstanding partnership to increase awareness of advancements in genomic testing and precision medicine in oncology. The educational initiative directed toward physicians, other caregivers and patients will highlight the importance of integrating comprehensive genomic testing of solid tumors early in an individual's care plan as a model to inform personalized care and improve clinical outcomes for individuals with cancer.

"Precision cancer treatment using advanced genomic testing is changing the science of cancer care," said Maurie Markman, M.D., President of Medicine & Science at CTCA. "As oncologists, we have an obligation to the patients we serve to keep pace with, and, whenever possible, lead the way in the application of the latest diagnostic tools that may help inform treatment decisions. Our partnership with Foundation Medicine empowers our physicians to customize treatment plans according to the individual patient's clinical profile right down to the molecular level, and therefore furnish care in a much more comprehensive and effective manner."

The partnership brings together CTCA, a national network of five cancer treatment hospitals at the forefront of delivering precision cancer treatment to address individual patients' unique treatment needs, and Foundation Medicine, a leader in molecular information that offers a suite of comprehensive genomic profiling (CGP) assays that identifies the molecular alterations in an individual's cancer and matches them with potentially relevant targeted therapies, including immunotherapies.

Through their shared patient-centered philosophy, CTCA and Foundation Medicine will educate the medical community about the successful approach CTCA is using to incorporate FoundationOne for solid tumors into clinical care. Specifically, the educational initiative will feature several patients with cancer, chronicling each person's journey from cancer diagnosis to tumor profiling to treatment. Through this case-based approach, the program aims to provide insights into precision medicine treatment approaches based on an individual's unique cancer, including the selection of targeted therapies, appropriate clinical trials and responses to immunotherapy.

"Precision medicine, and a move to a more personalized, targeted approach to cancer care, is becoming ever more ubiquitous as the published data continues to validate this approach as leading to better clinical outcomes for patients," said Vincent Miller, M.D., Chief Medical Officer for Foundation Medicine. "As such, it's critical that every stakeholder in a patient's care planphysician, patient and care teamis knowledgeable about the benefits of genomic profiling, and importantly, that they have the right tools at the ready to implement such an approach. We applaud CTCA leadership in this area and we're delighted to collaborate with them on this educational initiative."

To learn more about genomics and precision cancer treatment, visit cancercenter.com. To learn more about genomic testing and FoundationOne, visit FoundationMedicine.com.

About Cancer Treatment Centers of AmericaCancer Treatment Centers of America Global, Inc. (CTCA), headquartered in Boca Raton, Fla., is a national network of five hospitals that serves adult patients who are fighting cancer. CTCA offers an integrative approach to care that combines advancements in genomic testing and precision cancer treatment, surgery, radiation, immunotherapy and chemotherapy, with evidence-informed supportive therapies designed to help patients physically and emotionally by enhancing their quality of life while managing side effects both during and after treatment. CTCA serves patients from around the world at its hospitals in Atlanta, Chicago, Philadelphia, Phoenix and Tulsa. Reflecting our patient-centered approach to cancer care, our patient satisfaction scores consistently rank among the highest in the country for cancer care providers, and CTCA is also rated one of the most admired hospital systems in the country in national consumer surveys. For more information, visit cancercenter.com, Facebook.com/cancercenter and Twitter.com/cancercenter.

About Foundation Medicine Foundation Medicine(NASDAQ:FMI) is a molecular information company dedicated to a transformation in cancer care in which treatment is informed by a deep understanding of the genomic changes that contribute to each patient's unique cancer. The company offers a full suite of comprehensive genomic profiling assays to identify the molecular alterations in a patient's cancer and match them with relevant targeted therapies, immunotherapies and clinical trials.Foundation Medicine'smolecular information platform aims to improve day-to-day care for patients by serving the needs of clinicians, academic researchers and drug developers to help advance the science of molecular medicine in cancer. For more information, please visithttp://www.FoundationMedicine.comor followFoundation Medicineon Twitter (@FoundationATCG). Foundation Medicineand FoundationOne are registered trademarks ofFoundation Medicine, Inc.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including, but not limited to, statements regarding the objectives of any educational initiatives between CTCA and Foundation Medicine; the importance of integrating comprehensive genomic testing of solid tumors early in an individual's care plan to improve clinical outcomes for individuals with cancer; and the value and performance capabilities of Foundation Medicine's comprehensive genomic profiling assays. All such forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations of future events and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially and adversely from those set forth in or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include the risk thateducational initiatives are not developed or launched in the anticipated manner; Foundation Medicine'sCGP andservices will not be able to identify genomic alterations in the same manner as prior clinical data or prior experience; and the risks described under the caption "Risk Factors" inFoundation Medicine'sAnnual Report on Form 10-K for the year endedDecember 31, 2016, which is on file with theSecurities and Exchange Commission, as well as other risks detailed inFoundation Medicine'ssubsequent filings with theSecurities and Exchange Commission.All information in this press release is as of the date of the release, andFoundation Medicineundertakes no duty to update this information unless required by law.

Contact: Michael Myers Cancer Treatment Centers of America rel="nofollow">michael.myers@ctca-hope.com 561-923-3179

Lee-Ann Murphy Foundation Medicine 617-245-3077 rel="nofollow">pr@foundationmedicine.com

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Circular RNA Linked to Brain Function – Technology Networks

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For the first time, scientists have shown that circular RNA is linked to brain function. When a RNA molecule called Cdr1as was deleted from the genome of mice, the animals had problems filtering out unnecessary information like patients suffering from neuropsychiatric disorders.

While hundreds of circular RNAs (circRNAs) are abundant in mammalian brains, one big question has remained unanswered: What are they actually good for? In the current issue of Science, Nikolaus Rajewsky and his team at the Berlin Institute of Medical Systems Biology (BIMSB) of the Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC), as well as other collaborators within the MDC and Charit, present data that for the first time link a circular RNA to brain function.

RNA is much more than the mundane messenger between DNA and the protein it encodes. Indeed, there are several different kinds of non-coding RNA molecules. They can be long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) or short regulatory RNAs (miRs); they can interfere with protein production (siRNAs) or help make it possible (tRNAs). In the past 20 years, scientists have discovered some two dozen RNA varieties that form intricate networks within the molecular microcosm. The most enigmatic among them are circRNAs, an unusual class of RNAs whose heads are connected to their tails to form a covalently closed ring. These structures had for decades been dismissed as a rare, exotic RNA species. In fact, the opposite is true. Current RNA-sequencing analyses have revealed that they are a large class of RNA, which is highly expressed in brain tissues.

Thousands of circular RNAs exist in nematode worms, mice and humans

In 2013, two pioneering studies that characterized circular RNAs appeared in the journal Nature, one of them by Nikolaus Rajewsky and his team. Intriguingly, most circular RNAs are unusually stable, floating in the cytoplasm for hours and even days on end. The systems biologists proposed that at least sometimes circRNAs serve gene regulation. Cdr1as, a large single-stranded RNA loop that is 1,500 nucleotides around, might act as a sponge for microRNAs. For example, it offers more than 70 binding sites for a microRNA called miR-7. MicroRNAs are short RNA molecules that typically bind to complementary sequences in messenger RNAs, thereby controlling the amounts of specific proteins produced by cells.

Additionally, Rajewsky and his collaborators mined databases and discovered thousands of different circRNAs in nematode worms, mice and humans. Most of them were highly conserved throughout evolution. We had found a parallel universe of unexplored RNAs, says Rajewsky. Since publication the field has exploded; hundreds of new studies have been carried out.

Understanding a circle that is mostly present in excitatory neurons

For the current paper in Science, the systems biologists teamed up with Carmen Birchmeiers lab at the MDC to reconsider Cdr1as. This particular circle can be found in excitatory neurons but not in glial cells, says Monika Piwecka, one of the first authors of the paper and coordinator of most of the experiments. In brain tissues of mice and humans, there are two microRNAs called miR-7 and miR-671 that bind to it. In a next step, Rajewsky and his collaborators selectively deleted the circRNA Cdr1as in mice using the genome editing technology CRISPR/Cas9. In these animals, the expression of most microRNAs in four studied brain regions remained unperturbed. However, miR-7 was downregulated and miR-671 upregulated. These changes were post-transcriptional, consistent with the idea that Cdr1as usually interacts with these microRNAs in the cytoplasm.

This indicates that Cdr1as usually stabilizes or transports miR-7 in neurons by sponging them up, while miR-167 might serve to regulate levels of this particular circular RNA, says Rajewsky. If microRNA floated in the cytoplasm without binding anywhere, it would get broken down as waste. The circle would prevent that and also carry it to new places like the synapses. He adds: Maybe we should think about Cdr1as not as a sponge but as a boat. It prevents its passengers from drowning and also moves on to new ports.

The changes in microRNA concentration had dramatic effects on the mRNA and proteins produced by nerve cells, especially for a group called immediate early genes. They are part of the first wave of responses when stimuli are presented to neurons. Also affected were messenger RNAs that encode proteins involved in the maintenance of the animals sleep-wake cycles.

Cdr1as modulates synaptic responses

Using single-cell electrophysiology, Charit-researcher Christian Rosenmund observed that spontaneous vesicle release at the synapse happened twice as often. The synaptic responses to two consecutive stimuli were also altered. Additional behavioral analyses performed at the MDC mirrored these findings. Even though the mice appeared normal in many ways, they were unable to tune down their responses to external signals such as noises. Similar disruptions in pre-pulse inhibition have been noted in patients suffering from schizophrenia or other psychiatric diseases.

It is an everyday experience how much we depend on this filtering function: When a loud noise suddenly disturbs the quiet atmosphere of a library, you cannot avoid being alarmed. The same bang, however, will seem much less threatening next to a construction site. In this instance, the brain has had the chance to process previous noises and filter out unnecessary information. Therefore, the startle reflex is dampened (pre-pulse inhibition). This basic brain function that allows healthy animals and people to temporarily adapt to a strong stimulus and avoid information overload has now been linked to Cdr1as.

Functionally, our data suggest that Cdr1as and its direct interactions with microRNAs are important for sensorimotor gating and synaptic transmission, says Nikolaus Rajewsky. More generally, since the brain is an organ with exceptionally high and diverse expression of circular RNAs, we believe that our data suggest the existence of a previously unknown layer of biological functions carried out by these circles.

Reference

Piwecka, M., Glaar, P., Hernandez-Miranda, L. R., Memczak, S., Wolf, S. A., Rybak-Wolf, A., ... & Trimbuch, T. (2017). Loss of a mammalian circular RNA locus causes miRNA deregulation and affects brain function. Science, eaam8526.

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Clinical trial uses a genetically engineered virus to fight cancer – Medical Xpress

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August 15, 2017 Dr. Steven Powell. Credit: Sanford Health

Sanford Health is the first site in the United States to launch a clinical trial using a genetically-engineered virus that aims to destroy therapy-resistant tumors.

The Phase I immunotherapy trial is for those ages 18 and older with metastatic solid tumors that have not responded to standard treatments. The treatment injects an oncolytic (cancer-destroying) virusvesicular stomatitis virus (VSV)into the tumor. The virus is engineered to grow in cancer cells, destroy these tumors, and then spread to other cancer sites. During this process, it recruits the immune system to the area with the goal of triggering an immune response.

The virus, commonly known as VSV, can infect cattle, but it rarely causes serious infections in humans.

The virus is genetically altered by adding two genes. The first gene is a human interferon beta gene, which is a natural anti-viral protein. This protects the normal, healthy cells from being infected, while still allowing the virus to work against cancer cells.

The second gene makes the NIS protein found in the thyroid gland, which allows the researchers to track the virus as it spreads to tumor sites. Vyriad, a biopharmaceutical company in Rochester, Minnesota, developed this technology and is led by Stephen Russell, M.D., Ph.D., a professor of molecular medicine at the Mayo Clinic and an expert in oncolytic virus therapy.

"Oncolytic viruses are the next wave of promising cancer immunotherapy treatments," says Dr. Steven Powell, a medical oncologist with the Sanford Cancer Center in Sioux Falls, S.D., who collaborated with Vyriad on the development of this clinical trial. "We are very excited about using VSV as researchers have seen promising results using other similar viruses, such as the polio virus, in early clinical trials."

Dr. Shannon Peck, an interventional radiologist at Sanford with experience in interventional therapeutics, oversees the viral injection procedures. Enrollees in the trial are given a one-time injection and then are followed for 43 days to evaluate for safety and clinical benefit. To ensure safety during this period, other anti-cancer therapies cannot be used. However, after this 43-day period, chemotherapy, immunotherapy or targeted therapy can be restarted.

Sanford Health is the first in the nation to launch the Vyriad solid tumor oncolytic virus clinical trial. Call 1-877-SURVIVAL to learn more or to see if you qualify.

Explore further: First study of Oncolytic HSV-1 in children and young adults with cancer indicates safety, tolerability

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If you upload your mind to a computer, are you immortal or just a bot? – Quartz

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Immortality has gone secular. Unhooked from the realm of gods and angels, its now the subject of serious investmentboth intellectual and financialby philosophers, scientists, and the Silicon Valley set. Several hundred people have already chosen to be cryopreserved in preference to simply dying, as they wait for science to catch up and give them a second shot at life. But if we treat death as a problem, what are the ethical implications of the highly speculative solutions being mooted?

Of course, we dont currently have the means of achieving human immortality, nor is it clear that we ever will. But two hypothetical options have so far attracted the most interest and attention: rejuvenation technology and mind uploading.

Like a futuristic fountain of youth, rejuvenation promises to remove and reverse the damage of aging at the cellular level. Gerontologists such as Aubrey de Grey argue that growing old is a disease that we can circumvent by having our cells replaced or repaired at regular intervals. Practically speaking, this might mean that every few years, you would visit a rejuvenation clinic. Doctors would not only remove infected, cancerous or otherwise unhealthy cells, but also induce healthy ones to regenerate more effectively and remove accumulated waste products. This deep makeover would turn back the clock on your body, leaving you physiologically younger than your actual age. You would, however, remain just as vulnerable to death from acute traumathat is, from injury and poisoning, whether accidental or notas you were before.

Rejuvenation seems like a fairly low-risk solution, since it essentially extends and improves your bodys inherent ability to take care of itself. But if you truly wanted eternal life in a biological body, it would have to be an extremely secure life indeed. Youd need to avoid any risk of physical harm to have your one shot at eternity, making you among the most anxious people in history.

The other option would be mind uploading, in which your brain is digitally scanned and copied onto a computer. This method presupposes that consciousness is akin to software running on some kind of organic hard-diskthat what makes you you is the sum total of the information stored in the brains operations, and therefore it should be possible to migrate the self onto a different physical substrate or platform. This remains a highly controversial stance. However, lets leave aside for now the question of where you really reside, and play with the idea that it might be possible to replicate the brain in digital form one day.

Unlike rejuvenation, mind uploading could actually offer something tantalizingly close to true immortality. Just as we currently back up files on external drives and cloud storage, your uploaded mind could be copied innumerable times and backed up in secure locations, making it extremely unlikely that any natural or man-made disaster could destroy all of your copies.

Despite this advantage, mind uploading presents some difficult ethical issues. Some philosophers, such as David Chalmers, think there is a possibility that your upload would appear functionally identical to your old self without having any conscious experience of the world. Youd be more of a zombie than a person, let alone you. Others, such as Daniel Dennett, have argued that this would not be a problem. Since you are reducible to the processes and content of your brain, a functionally identical copy of itno matter the substrate on which it runscould not possibly yield anything other than you.

Whats more, we cannot predict what the actual upload would feel like to the mind being transferred. Would you experience some sort of intermediate break after the transfer, or something else altogether? What if the whole process, including your very existence as a digital being, is so qualitatively different from biological existence as to make you utterly terrified or even catatonic? If so, what if you cant communicate to outsiders or switch yourself off? In this case, your immortality would amount to more of a curse than a blessing. Death might not be so bad after all, but unfortunately it might no longer be an option.

Another problem arises with the prospect of copying your uploaded mind and running the copy simultaneously with the original. One popular position in philosophy is that the youness of you depends on remaining a singular personmeaning that a fission of your identity would be equivalent to death. That is to say: if you were to branch into you1 and you2, then youd cease to exist as you, leaving you dead to all intents and purposes. Some thinkers, such as the late Derek Parfit, have argued that while you might not survive fission, as long as each new version of you has an unbroken connection to the original, this is just as good as ordinary survival.

Which option is more ethically fraught? In our view, mere rejuvenation would probably be a less problematic choice. Yes, vanquishing death for the entire human species would greatly exacerbate our existing problems of overpopulation and inequalitybut the problems would at least be reasonably familiar. We can be pretty certain, for instance, that rejuvenation would widen the gap between the rich and poor, and would eventually force us to make decisive calls about resource use, whether to limit the rate of growth of the population, and so forth.

On the other hand, mind uploading would open up a plethora of completely new and unfamiliar ethical quandaries. Uploaded minds might constitute a radically new sphere of moral agency. For example, we often consider cognitive capacities to be relevant to an agents moral status (one reason that we attribute a higher moral status to humans than to mosquitoes). But it would be difficult to grasp the cognitive capacities of minds that can be enhanced by faster computers and communicate with each other at the speed of light, since this would make them incomparably smarter than the smartest biological human. As the economist Robin Hanson argued in The Age of Em (2016), we would therefore need to find fair ways of regulating the interactions between and within the old and new domainsthat is, between humans and brain uploads, and between the uploads themselves. Whats more, the astonishingly rapid development of digital systems means that we might have very little time to decide how to implement even minimal regulations.

What about the personal, practical consequences of your choice of immortality? Assuming you somehow make it to a future in which rejuvenation and brain uploading are available, your decision seems to depend on how much riskand what kinds of risksyoure willing to assume. Rejuvenation seems like the most business-as-usual option, although it threatens to make you even more protective of your fragile physical body. Uploading would make it much more difficult for your mind to be destroyed, at least in practical terms, but its not clear whether you would survive in any meaningful sense if you were copied several times over. This is entirely uncharted territory with risks far worse than what youd face with rejuvenation. Nevertheless, the prospect of being freed from our mortal shackles is undeniably alluringand if its ever an option, one way or another, many people will probably conclude that it outweighs the dangers.

This article was originally published at Aeon and has been republished under Creative Commons.

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There’s a job going that’ll give you a 28K salary and unlimited holiday to test out sex toys – Metro

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(Picture: Dave Anderson/metro.co.uk)

Dream jobs dont come around often.

You know, other than that gig as a whisky ambassador, the position that pays you to travel the world and review fancy homes, and the offer of getting paid to play with Lego all day.

So when these opportunities arrive, youve got to grab them with both hands. Then put em in your pants, in this case.

London-based sex toy brand LoveWoo is currently advertising for an official sex toy reviewer.

Yes, thats a job, and yes, it involves vigorously testing out sex toys to make sure theyre as brilliantly orgasm-inducing as they should be.

The responsibilities include testing out all kinds of products thatll be sent to your door by LoveWoo, and creating reviews to establish why the sex toy is good, how it can be improved, and offer personal recommendations.

Theres more to it than just wanking with fancy equipment, mind. Youll also need to upload reviews on to the website and use social media to share them, respond to customer queries, and write features for the site.

The good news? You can work from home two days a week, while the other three days youll be in the office?

The better news? The role pays 28,000 a year, gives you unlimited holiday, and you get to go on a staff retreat for three days each year. Fancy.

Throw in the discounted gym membership, a day off for your birthday, and private healthcare, and youve got a pretty sweet deal if youre good at writing and enjoy a solo sex sesh.

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If you fancy applying, youll need to send in a sample sex toy review, as well as a CV and/or a video application telling LoveWoo all about yourself and why youd be great at being a sex toy reviewer.

There doesnt seem to be a deadline, but wed recommend applying sharpish if youre interested. We reckon a lot of people would be up for getting paid to masturbate.

MORE: Why did FetLife remove a womans public photo of her period blood?

MORE: How bosses can make their workplace more mental health friendly

MORE: What to do if you experience sexism in the workplace

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There's a job going that'll give you a 28K salary and unlimited holiday to test out sex toys - Metro

10 tools for creating compelling content for social media – Marketing Land

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Social media has changed a lot over the last five years and truth be told, thats the understatement of the century.

New platforms have come into the mix. Veteran platforms continue to evolve their algorithms, rules and layouts. There are constantly new things to learn about how to use social media to get the highest coveted asset of all in this space attention.

One thing that never seems to change about social media marketing is the need for something eye-catching. Marketers have argued over whether one-liners beat several paragraphs. Weve talked about the importance of hashtags.

But what also doesnt change, despite the constant ebb and flow of social updates, is the need for the content to compel a fan or follower to stop, look and react.

Social media is a noisy place. Your content is shoved between moving objects (videos) and GIFs (the hottest trend in commenting these days). To capture the attention of the person whos often mindlessly scrolling through the newsfeed, you need something just as catchy.

Does that mean your job is to pump out content thats just as loud? Far from it.

To get someone to stop and engage with your business on social media, you need to create compelling content that promises something in exchange for the persons time. Once YOU know the key takeaway (I cant decide that for you), then you can get to work creating images, videos and more that beg to be engaged with.

And when youre ready to do that, I have 10 tools that you can use to put your message together in a beautiful-looking post thatll stop a scroller in his or her tracks. Lets take a peek.

Im kick-starting this list with a tool thats relatively well-known but often not maximized to its full potential.

Canva is the go-to tool for non-designers because its so easy to use. Yes, you can create some fun social media graphics using its templates, but theres more to it. You can also design advertisements, infographics, brochures and more. Those pieces can be shared on Facebook and Twitter, which means you can get more out of every type of marketing collateral you design even whats meant for offline.

LinkedIn owns SlideShare, so its a natural platform to include on this list because it automatically syncs with one of the largest social media networks used today.

On SlideShare, you can upload your presentations, so they dont gather digital dust sitting on your computer after youve given them. Sharing them with your audience is easy. Simply press a button, and you can distribute them to Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

You can also embed your SlideShare presentation on your website using IFrame or WordPress shortcodes (depending on what you use to house your website).

Take your presentation uploads a step further and add your voice overlay to them with SlideSnack.

With this presentation-sharing tool, you can upload past presentations, put your voice to them, and then share them on Facebook or YouTube. You can also embed them on most websites, including those that use WordPress, Blogger, Weebly and more.

Video is the holy grail of social media marketing because it incorporates both visual movement and audio interest. If you have a stellar idea for a video, turn your concept into a reality with PowToon.

You dont have to be a video master to use PowToon. This platform offers several templates to choose from that you can customize and brand according to your business. Then, all you do is plug and play your content and share.

With your video in place, you can use it to promote your business on YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo and just about any social network.

Magisto is another video editor that makes it easy to put together professional-looking and -sounding videos, regardless of your skill level. Once you have your videos uploaded and a theme selected, you can drag and drop scenes and add your logo, captions, music and narration.

The free version is limited but still quite robust. With the commercial version, you get several more features, including the ability to custom-brand your video and use commercially licensed music.

Whats an easy way to get engagement? Ask a question. But sometimes, just asking a single question isnt enough to get a healthy response from your audience. Thats where Typeform comes into play.

Typeform is an easy-to-use quiz builder that lets you ask your audience questions. Use the drag-and-drop builder to put together a variety of styles of questions, including multiple choice, image-based, yes or no answers, short or long text answers and more.

Once you have your quiz created, share the link on any social network to encourage participation in a unique way.You can also embed Typeforms on your website.

Perhaps you want to have a little fun with your audience. Interactive quizzes with results you can instantly share are hotcakes on social media these days. Your company can create one, too, using Playbuzz.

Playbuzz lets you put together a series of tests or questions for your audience. Once the respondent is done answering them, theyll either get their end result (10 out of 10 correct!) or find out a fun fact about themselves (for example, which character youre most like on a TV show).

Its a simple way to engage your followers and make your brand fun. These are also great types of content because they encourage your followers friends to engage with your brand, too.

Piktochart lets you take survey results, stats and other tidbits of knowledge and turn them into an eye-catching (and scroll-stopping) infographic.

This type of social media content often scares many non-designers because it feels so rich, and thus hard to create. Piktochart simplifies the process by offering you over 600 templates to choose from.

With your template in place, you can add your own text, fonts, colors and logo. When its done, you can share it quickly with built-in social media options. Its fast and easy.

Visme is another tool that lets you put information together in a beautiful way. This platform offers several options for how that information is displayed, including in presentations, infographics, reports, wireframes and more.

Once created, you can share your content on your website, from a URL or on social media.

Podcasting is a huge trend these days, but if youre new to the world of audio content, production can be a roadblock. Podbean changes that by giving you an easy way to create professional podcasts in minutes without high-tech software or equipment.

Once created, you can publish your podcasts to Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and more. Or you can upload and promote your podcasts with a Podbean paid plan.

At one point, a lack of technological knowledge was a good excuse for not offering stellar social media content. These tools change that.

Once you have your content format in mind images, videos, quizzes, infographics or audio choose the tool that best matches your goals and get to work.

What other tools have you used to create compelling social media content your audience cant wait to consume?

Some opinions expressed in this article may be those of a guest author and not necessarily Marketing Land. Staff authors are listed here.

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Stanford Medicine X conference to focus on creating positive change in health care – Stanford Medical Center Report

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Medicine X, Stanford Universitys premier conference on emerging health care technology and patient-centered medicine, will return to campus Sept. 15-17.

This years conference, which will be held at the Li Ka Shing Center for Learning and Knowledge, will focus on the responsibilities of health care citizenship and how individuals can take action to improve health care in the United States.

Medicine X 2017 will focus on how we can take action to create the change that we want to see in the health care system and move beyond ideas into action, saidLawrence Chu, MD, professor of anesthesiology, perioperative and pain medicine at Stanford and founder and director of Medicine X. With the current uncertainty in the future of health care, its important to stop and consider how each of us might work to create a new culture of caring in health care that doesnt exist right now.

Medicine X aims to bring together everyone who plays a role in health care researchers, patients, providers, designers, technologists and policy leaders and encourage them to work together to build a framework for health care transformation, Chu said. This framework, known as Everyone Included, is a trademark of Stanford Medicine X and was co-developed with a diverse group of health care stakeholders over the past seven years at the conference.

In January during President Obamas farewell speech, he talked about how his future role was going to be as a citizen, Chu said. That inspired me to think about how we, as individuals, might consider this role in terms of health care. We hope this conference will give people both the inspiration and the tools and resources they need to take action and create change.

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Precision Medicine for Preventing Suicide – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

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A research team led by scientists at the Indiana University (IU) School of Medicine say they have created a novel method for diagnosing suicide risk by developing blood tests that work in everyone as well as more personalized blood tests for different subtypes of suicidality and high-risk groups.

The researchers also demonstrated how two appsone based on a suicide-risk checklist and the other on a scale for measuring feelings of anxiety and depressionwork along with the blood tests to increase the precision of tests and to propose potential lifestyle, psychotherapeutic, and other interventions. The team also noted that they were able to identify a series of medications and natural substances that could be developed for preventing suicide.

Their study ("Precision Medicine for Suicidality: From Universality to Subtypes and Personalization") is published in Molecular Psychiatry.

We sought to investigate whether blood gene expression biomarkers for suicide (that is, a liquid biopsy approach) can be identified that are more universal in nature, working across psychiatric diagnoses and genders, using larger cohorts than in previous studies. Such markers may reflect and/or be a proxy for the core biology of suicide. We were successful in this endeavor, using a comprehensive stepwise approach, leading to a wealth of findings, write the investigators.

Steps 1, 2 and 3 were discovery, prioritization and validation for tracking suicidality, resulting in a Top Dozen list of candidate biomarkers comprising the top biomarkers from each step, as well as a larger list of 148 candidate biomarkers that survived Bonferroni correction in the validation step. Step 4 was testing the Top Dozen list and Bonferroni biomarker list for predictive ability for suicidal ideation (SI) and for future hospitalizations for suicidality in independent cohorts, leading to the identification of completely novel predictive biomarkers (such as CLN5 and AK2), as well as reinforcement of ours and others previous findings in the field (such as SLC4A4 and SKA2).

"Our work provides a basis for precision medicine and scientific wellness preventive approaches," said Alexander B. Niculescu III, M.D., Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and medical neuroscience at IU School of Medicine and attending psychiatrist and research and development investigator at the Richard L. Roudebush Veterans Affairs Medical Center.

The multistep research approach began with serial blood tests taken from 66 people who had been diagnosed with psychiatric disorders, followed over time, and who had at least one instance in which they reported a significant change in their level of suicidal thinking from one testing visit to the next. Using the Niculescu group's Convergent Functional Genomics approach, the team prioritized the candidate gene expression biomarkers that were best associated with suicidality in each individual and across individuals.

The researchers then tested the validity of the biomarkers using blood samples drawn from 45 people who had committed suicide. The biomarkers were subsequently tested in another group of individuals to determine how well they could predict which of them would report intense suicidal thoughts or would be hospitalized for suicide attempts.

The researchers identified RNA molecules as the biomarkers whose levels in the blood changed along with changes in the levels of suicidal thoughts experienced by the patients.

Among the findings reported in the current paper were:

Dr. Niculescu points out that while suicide can impact individuals in all walks of life, he believes such tragedies can be averted.

This landmark larger study breaks new ground, as well as reproduces in larger numbers of individuals some of our earlier findings," he said.

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Precision Medicine for Preventing Suicide - Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

University to offer 50 places to study medicine through clearing this week – GP online

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A London medical school said it is braced to receive thousands of calls this week as it opens up around 50 places on its medicine degree through clearing for the second year running.

St George's medical school, at the University of London,said it was enormously keen to run the programme again following its success last year, the first time medical school places were offered through clearing in the UK.

Around 50 places on its five-year medicine course, commencing this year, will be available through clearing, but competition for the last-minute spots is set to be fierce.

GPonline reported that the clearing hotline was inundated with 1,800 calls just hours after A level results were released last year. Over 8,000 enquiries were eventually made in total.

This year, St George's has increased its call handling team two-fold to help meet the anticipated demand on results day this Thursday from hopeful candidates.

Clearing is usually used by universities to fill up any leftover places, but St George's said that it had purposefully set aside the clearing places to account for the unpredictability of A level grades, rather than them being available as a consequence of inadequate interest in its medicine course.

The move will offer a lifeline to students who otherwise would have missed out and allow more top achievers a chance to study medicine without having to delay their ambitions for another year, it said.

All students are expected to get at least grade A in all subjects and will be interviewed and scrutinised in the same way as students who apply before results day.

Ameera Cajucom, a student who won a place through the scheme last year, said: I think that going through clearing for St George's was life changing, practically a miracle. I didn't realise how much it was the university for me, the life and the culture is perfect.

Professor Jenny Higham, principal of St Georges, said: Following clearing and adjustment last year, many outstanding students, who could not gain a place elsewhere, are now on the road to fulfilling their dreams of becoming a doctor or pursuing another specialism.

We are enormously keen to open our doors to students with the same drive and ambition this year.

The school will also offer clearing places on a number of other courses, including biomedical science, physiotherapy and paramedic science.

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University to offer 50 places to study medicine through clearing this week - GP online

Restoring loss: Bio-inspired materials give boost to regenerative medicine – Arizona State University

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August 15, 2017

What if one day, we could teach our bodies to self-heal like a lizards tail, and make severe injury or disease no more threatening than a paper cut?

Or heal tissues by coaxing cells to multiply, repair or replace damaged regions in loved ones whose lives have been ravaged by stroke, Alzheimers or Parkinsons disease?

Such is the vision, promise and excitement in the burgeoning field of regenerative medicine, now a major ASU initiative to boost 21st-century medical research discoveries.

ASU Biodesign Institute researcher Nick Stephanopoulos is one of several rising stars in regenerative medicine. In 2015, Stephanopoulos, along with Alex Green and Jeremy Mills, were recruited to the Biodesign Institutes Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics (CMDB), directed by Hao Yan, a world-recognized leader in nanotechnology.

One of the things that that attracted me most to the ASU and the Biodesign CMDB was Haos vision to build a group of researchers that use biological molecules and design principles to make new materials that can mimic, and one day surpass, the most complex functions of biology, Stephanopoulos said.

I have always been fascinated by using biological building blocks like proteins, peptides and DNA to construct self-assembled structures, devices and materials, and the interdisciplinary and highly collaborative team in the CMDB is the ideal place to put this vision into practice.

Yans research center uses DNA and other basic building blocks to build their nanotechnology structures only at a scale 1,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

Theyve already used nanotechnology to build containers to specially deliver drugs to tissues, build robots to navigate a maze or nanowires for electronics.

To build a manufacturing industry at that tiny scale, their bricks and mortar use a colorful assortment of molecular Legos. Just combine the ingredients, and these building blocks can self-assemble in a seemingly infinite number of ways only limited by the laws of chemistry and physics and the creative imaginations of these budding nano-architects.

The goal of the Center for Molecular Design and Biomimetics is to usenatures design rulesas an inspiration in advancing biomedical, energy and electronics innovation throughself-assembling moleculesto create intelligent materials for better component control and for synthesis intohigher-order systems, said Yan, who also holds the Milton Glick Chair in Chemistry and Biochemistry.

Prior to joining ASU, Stephanopoulos trained with experts in biological nanomaterials, obtaining his doctorate with the University of California Berkeleys Matthew Francis, and completed postdoctoral studies with Samuel Stupp at Northwestern University. At Northwestern, he was part of a team that developed a new category of quilt-like, self-assembling peptide and peptide-DNA biomaterials for regenerative medicine, with an emphasis in neural tissue engineering.

Weve learned from nature many of the rules behind materials that can self-assemble. Some of the most elegant complex and adaptable examples of self-assembly are found in biological systems, Stephanopoulos said.

Because they are built from the ground-up using molecules found in nature, these materials are also biocompatible and biodegradable, opening up brand-new vistas for regenerative medicine.

Stephanopoulos tool kit includes using proteins, peptides, lipids and nucleic acids like DNA that have a rich biological lexicon of self-assembly.

DNA possesses great potential for the construction of self-assembled biomaterials due to its highly programmable nature; any two strands of DNA can be coaxed to assemble to make nanoscale constructs and devices with exquisite precision and complexity, Stephanopoulos said.

During his time at Northwestern, Stephanopoulos worked on a number of projects and developed proof-of-concept technologies for spinal cord injury, bone regeneration and nanomaterials to guide stem cell differentiation.

Now, more recently, in a new studyin Nature Communications, Stephanopoulos and his colleague Ronit Freeman in the Stupp laboratory successfully demonstrated the ability to dynamically control the environment around stem cells, to guide their behavior in new and powerful ways.

In the new technology, materials are first chemically decorated with different strands of DNA, each with a unique code for a different signal to cells.

To activate signals within the cells, soluble molecules containing complementary DNA strands are coupled to short protein fragments, called peptides, and added to the material to create DNA double helices displaying the signal.

By adding a few drops of the DNA-peptide mixture, the material effectively gives a green light to stem cells to reproduce and generate more cells. In order to dynamically tune the signal presentation, the surface is exposed to a soluble single-stranded DNA molecule designed to grab the signal-containing strand of the duplex and form a new DNA double helix, displacing the old signal from the surface.

This new duplex can then be washed away, turning the signal off. To turn the signal back on, all that is needed is to now introduce a new copy of single-stranded DNA bearing a signal that will reattach to the materials surface.

One of the findings of this work is the possibility of using the synthetic material to signal neural stem cells to proliferate, then at a specific time selected by the scientist, trigger their differentiation into neurons for a while, before returning the stem cells to a proliferative state on demand.

One potential use of the new technology to manipulate cells could help cure a patient with neurodegenerative conditions like Parkinsons disease.

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Restoring loss: Bio-inspired materials give boost to regenerative medicine - Arizona State University

Doctors From Top Medical Schools Prescribe Fewer Opioid Painkillers – NBCNews.com

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Janet Currie Denise Applewhite / Princeton University Office of Communications

In addition to physicians who studied at U.S. medical schools, Currie and Schnell looked at doctors practicing in this country who studied abroad. They discovered that physicians trained in the Canada and Caribbean were also quick to prescribe prescription opioids.

I think doctors in Canada and the Caribbean get training similar to the way they are trained in U.S. medical schools. They are taught to ask about pain and one of the things doctors are evaluated on is how they treat pain, Currie said. That puts lot of pressure on them to do something about patients pain.

But thats not the case the world over, she added.

Eastern European doctors were the least likely to prescribe opioids, Currie said.

Daniel Raymond of the

A doctor who works for a small practice often doesnt, he said. Then theres the fact that its easier to write a prescription than to talk to a patient about alternatives that dont involve risky pills.

Either way, the importance of studies like this if they validate calls for more professional pain management training in medical schools, he said.

The important thing is making these systems work for everybody, wherever they get their health care, said Raymond.

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Doctors From Top Medical Schools Prescribe Fewer Opioid Painkillers - NBCNews.com

UB welcomes largest-ever medical school class – University at Buffalo Reporter

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They volunteer at food pantries and suicide hotlines, work with the homeless and refugees, and assist at hospice and Meals on Wheels. Theyve done research on cancer, diabetes and geriatrics, and worked on medical missions all over the globe.

They are the 180 students of the Class of 2021 at the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences, who received their white coats at a ceremony on Friday in the Mainstage theater in the Center for the Arts.

The white coat ceremony is a symbolic rite of passage shared by medical students across the U.S. to establish a psychological contract for professionalism and empathy in the practice of medicine.

For each student who was coated, the ceremony was a personal milestone, says Michael E. Cain, MD, vice president for health sciences and dean of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences.

But this years white coat ceremony was also an institutional milestone, Cain adds. We officially welcome to UB its largest-ever medical school class, 180 students, up from 144.

That expansion, which he calls a necessity to help fill the physician shortage in the region and in the nation, was only made possible by the construction of the medical schools new home on the Buffalo Niagara Medical Campus. Students will begin classes in the new building in January after spending their first semester on the South Campus.

Of the 180 students, 152 are from New York State, 78 are from Western New York and 40 earned their undergraduate degrees from UB.

At the ceremony, all 180 medical students took the Oath of Medicine. During the calling of the class, students were called to the stage individually and were presented with their coat while their undergraduate institution and hometown was identified by Charles M. Severin, associate dean for medical education and admissions.

The keynote address was given by Robert H. Ablove, clinical associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedics. The Leonard Tow Humanism in Medicine award was presented to Lynn Steinbrenner, clinical assistant professor in the Department of Medicine and chief of the Oncology Section at the Veterans Administration WNY Healthcare System.

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UB welcomes largest-ever medical school class - University at Buffalo Reporter

Media Advisory: UB logo to be installed on new medical school building – UB News Center

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BUFFALO, N.Y. In another sign that the new home of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo is nearing completion, the universitys logo will be installed on Wednesday, Aug. 16.

Best time for media is 10:30 a.m. Best location is at the intersection of Allen and Main streets. On-site press contact: Ellen Goldbaum, 716 771-9255.

Weighing in at more than 400 pounds and measuring 83 inches by 161 inches by 6 inches deep, the UB logo, made of aluminum, will be lifted about 140 feet.

The crane that will hoist the logo is expected to arrive at 9 a.m., with lifting beginning at 10:30 a.m.

The most time-consuming part of the installation will be lining up the logo with the knifepoints on the building so that it can be secured and bolted to the building.

The logo was designed to be halo illuminated, so at nighttime, it will be backlit against the building.

It was manufactured by ASI Signage Innovations on Grand Island, which is also manufacturing and installing the buildings exterior and interior signage, including the name of the school, which was installed last week.

The project has required close collaboration between UB, LP Ciminelli and ASI Signage.

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Media Advisory: UB logo to be installed on new medical school building - UB News Center

Does Liberty Need the State? – Cato Institute (blog)

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Writing at the Niskanen Center, Samuel Hammond has some harsh words for libertarians. Its a short step, he says, from anti-statism to some particularly ugly forms of nationalism:

The appeal of white nationalism to libertarian anti-statists should not be surprising. After all, nationalist and revanchist movements have historically represented powerful tools for mobilizing secession and other forms of political resistance to the state. Their common cause is all the stronger in multicultural, liberal democracies where ethnic grievances can be called upon to portray the state less as a political compact between competing groups, and more as tyrannical sovereign infringing on some sub-groups right to self-determination.

To the extent that hes right about this, thats pretty embarrassing. Hammond cites AnCap YouTube to argue that there have been all too many who took this path. Im not sure that its fair to judge anyone else by AnCap YouTube, although his judgment on some of them is certainly correct.

Other parts of his essay I think are quite wrong: Its not necessarily crazy or evil to think that the state should be at least somewhat congruent to the nation. That proposition does not necessarily entail ethnonationalism, and certainly doesnt when I assert it. A nation, as an imagined community, need not be ethnic at all. A pluralist nation may include people of many different ethnicities, religions, and other affiliations. The American nation has always been pluralist in its aspirations. Throughout our history we have increasingly delivered on the promise of pluralism, not just to favored groups, but to all. That work should continue, and if saying you too are a part of this nation can help with the task, then we should say it loudly and often.

Hammond also claims that liberty needs the state. On this point I am sure that the Niskanen Center will get the usual howls of protest from exactly the people who should be the least surprised. Of course the Niskanen Center would say something like this. But is it true?

Its clearly correct to say, with Hammond, that in many cases state sabotage automatically empowers the most dominant and dominating subgroups in our otherwise open society, its much less clear that this must always be the case.

The way forward for radical libertarians and others who dream of a stateless (or just a less state-dominated) society consists of figuring out how to manage these tendencies toward domination, so that when the state does retreat, it is individual that liberty advances, rather than some other form of unjust domination.

I dont know quite to what extent the project can succeed. But I think its reasonable to expect that we can enjoy a much smaller state than the one we have right now. Reasonably as well, this development could leave the vast majority of citizens, and particularly the least well off, better off by a range of widely acceptable criteria. What seems in order is not a broad declaration for or against the state, but a constant and relentless tinkering on the margins, with the aim of delivering less arbitrary domination of one person or group by another. Racial groups most certainly included.

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Does Liberty Need the State? - Cato Institute (blog)

Liberty Cheesesteaks Re-opens Tomorrow in New, Larger Spot – Eater New Orleans

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Liberty Cheesesteaks throws open its doors at a new, bigger location just steps from the original this Wednesday with an expanded menu, more seating, televisions for Saints and Eagles games, and ros on tap. Liberty Cheesesteaks new home is at the corner Freret and Soniat Streets, in the former home of La Nuit Comedy Theatre.

Owners Michael Casey (a Philly native) and Joseph Sereme debuted the tiny cheesesteak hub on Freret Street in 2013, in what had also been the incubator home of the first Dat Dog, with only eight seats. That location closed on July 20.

The new space is equipped with three times as many seats, eight barstools inside, as well as a few seats outside. The bar has five beer taps and a dedicated ros tap.

Additionally, sports fans can watch Saints and Eagles games on five flatscreen televisions equipped with all the sports packages.

The menu will go through more subtle changes. The restaurant plans to roll out a new menu item monthly over the next eight months. As the team introduces and tests the popularity of new items, itll phase out less popular ones from the menu.

Manager Stephan Belle hinted that, while no more major expansions are planned at this time, the Tulane stadium may be getting cheesesteaks soon.

Opening hours are 11 a.m. to 11 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. Thursday through Saturday.

5031 Freret Street, New Orleans, LA 70115

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Liberty Cheesesteaks Re-opens Tomorrow in New, Larger Spot - Eater New Orleans

New-look Liberty still shining bright at local volleyball scrimmage – The Bakersfield Californian

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Liberty, which won the programs first Division I section title over Clovis West in a sweep last November, not only returns head coach Amy Parker, but the Patriots have four starters returning, led by Oregon commit Elise Ferreira. The Patriots also added Lanie Camarillo, a transfer from Frontier at outside hitter.

The addition of Camarillo helps ease the loss of Brooklynn Cheney, the 2016 BVarsity Player of the Year.

It helps a lot. Those are huge shoes to fill, Parker said.

Ferreira, who committed to Oregon in July, will move to her more natural position at setter after playing mainly outside hitter the last two years for Liberty.

I would do anything for my team. I hit for my team for two straight years, Ferreira said. No one has really got to see me set, and thats what Im going to college for. But I am very excited for everyone to see my role at my position. Thats my thing.

Ferreira does take a lot away from playing on the outside that has helped her setting game.

I got to see from their perspective on how to, as a setter, make my hitters better, Ferreira said. Seeing that role helped me as a setter. But now I am excited for everyone to see what I have worked so hard for on the court this year.

The Southwest Yosemite League will continue to be the power league in town in the sport.

Stockdale, coached by Maria Collatz, returns starters Maci Haddad, Natalie Coday and setter Sydney Richardson.

The three other SWYL teams in action on Monday all are talented teams with new coaches.

BHS, under Ashely Wires, returns Ava and Sophie Palm while Penny Roberts takes over at Centennial with returning starters Alexus McLeod, Mikaela Eknoian and Kendall Yanez.

Morgan Dake takes over at Frontier, a team led by senior Penelope Zepeda.

Tehachapi went 10-0 in the South Yosemite League and will return three starters for new coach Rachel Wulff.

The Warriors return SYL MVP Paige Parker, Mady Cotta and Lauren Nousch in a league that is wide open with Ridgeview, Independence and East.

I like that we are pretty equal, Ridgeview coach Deb Whitbey said. Its anyones league.

Highland, the Southeast Yosemite League champions last fall, graduated the teams top two hitters, including Rachel Toenjes, and setter Faith Mendedez, but return Sadie Armijo and Brendelyn Brannan.

BCHS, winners of four consecutive section titles, will have a new look and philosophy this fall now that the Eagles move up into D-II for the playoffs.

We are changing our focus and trying to create a better dynamic, BCHS coach Matt Touchstone said. Hopefully one that can help up build and continue to compete at a high level as we move up divisions.

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New-look Liberty still shining bright at local volleyball scrimmage - The Bakersfield Californian

Lt. Col. Allen West talks liberty, tyranny – Prescott Valley Tribune

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Photo by Jason Wheeler.

Lt. Col. Allen West with Gage Lee at his Guardian of the Republic event Saturday, Aug. 12, in Prescott Valley.

Liberty and tyranny. Those were the two words Lt. Col. Allen West said he wanted everyone to remember at Saturday nights Guardian of the Republic, an event presented by the Republican Women of Prescott.

The difference between liberty and tyranny is something that must be talked about in the United States, West said. Its not about Republican and Democrat, but what each person believes in as the principle of governance and the relationship between the individual and the federal, state and local government, he said.

That is the philosophical problem we have in the United States of America, but until the Republican Party starts to talk about what liberty and tyranny truly is, theyre going to continue to miss the boat, West said, stating that the difference between liberty and tyranny is the difference between believing the individual is able to do what they want with themselves and the fruits of their labor and believing someone else in a far off place is the one who makes that decision. Elected officials need to be pressured to make that delineation, he said.

Tell me which side of the line that youre on. Tell me when you go to Washington D.C., are you going to vote for and advocate for the policies that allow me to have my liberty, that allow me to have my freedom, that allow me to go out and take care of my family, that allow me to go out and choose whats the best form of education for my children, that allow me to go out and say I want to be able to provide health care for myself.

West, who retired from the U.S. Army as a Lieutenant Colonel, is a former member of the U.S. House of Representatives and a member of the Republican Party. He represented Florida's 22nd congressional district in the House (2011-13).

People voted into office need to be able to see the difference between liberty and tyranny as its a strategic battle, West said. At the same time, children need to be taught civics and what it means to live in the republic that is the United States of America, he said, noting that there are some adults that dont understand it.

Further, the Republican Party doesnt know its history, West said, remarking it was established so everyone can enjoy freedoms, rights and liberties.

Its always been the champion of the individual irrespective of class because they believe that everyone has equality of opportunity, not equality of outcomes, he said. Equality of opportunity means you have liberty. Equality of outcomes means you have a state of tyranny because someone is deciding where you can go, how far you can achieve.

West urged the audience to make sure theyre talking about what they believe in that makes the Prescott area such a great little piece of heaven. Here, Phoenix and Tucson are where the fight really is, he said.

Its all about the next generation and passing on a better place to them, West said, inviting a boy by the name of Gage Lee up to the stage with him. The question everyone needs to ask themselves is if theyre going to leave a legacy of liberty or tyranny for their grandchildren, he said.

Ask what I did to advance liberty for Gage and this generation. If youre not doing that, you really dont understand what it means to be an American. Our commitment has always been to pass on a constitutional republic, to pass on through our DNA that which is liberty, West said.

He added he doesnt care what people call him because he sees Lee and those more worried about being called a name than standing up for liberty and the next generation dont understand the essence of what it means to be an American. You need to leave out of here tonight with a commitment to Gage and all these other children and grandchildren up here in Prescott, in Yavapai, that it wont happen on your watch. That one day, Gage will be able to look and say they gave it all for me.

In the end, a persons grave will have a start date, end date and a dash in between that either says they fought for liberty or succumbed to tyranny, he said, mentioning that leadership is not about what a single person achieves or attains, but what they enable to others to achieve and attain.

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Lt. Col. Allen West talks liberty, tyranny - Prescott Valley Tribune

What the Libertarian Party supports – Idaho Press-Tribune

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You know its going to be a good day when you open your Idaho Press-Tribune and find a political opponent opining that Idaho Libertarians may not understand the partys philosophy! In her Aug. 8 column, Judy Ferro starts by chiding Libertarians for allegedly not knowing that our think tanks support abolishing public schools and roads.

Yet those are libertarian positions! Reports of widespread poor public school performance and poor public road maintenance are readily available. She did overlook reporting that our country had both effective schools and a functioning road network long before those functions were taken over by an ever-growing state. Returning to private, market-based solutions in these two areas is what she refers to as, destruction of infrastructure.

In most places, government insists that only it can design, build and control our roads with decidedly mixed results. In contrast, consider the modern automobile in all the market-driven styles and sizes, a marvel of engineering and of responding to the needs and desires of drivers, mostly in spite of state interference via regulations. And, sure, some government rules improve auto safety, but how much safer might they actually be, if safety were left to the consumers, their insurance companies and ratings organizations?

She then devotes most of the column to describing and then decrying the idea that circles around from time-to-time that our government should shut down most social programs and just send people a check each month. Make no mistake, guaranteeing your income is still socialism; its just repackaged as The Welfare State writ large. As our national debt approaches $20 trillion, its also not clear how funding might work. In this case she appears to oppose one version of socialism in favor of just tweaking todays socialist programs.

So theres less room for error, please note that the two older political parties are not tied in any way with the Libertarians, the third largest political party. Libertarians generally support: personal and economic freedom; non-interventionist foreign policy; robust national defense; tolerance of others peaceful choices; respect for others property rights; civil liberties; individual right to keep and bear arms; separation of church and state; giving generously to those in need; less strict immigration policy; and lower taxes. Libertarians generally oppose: government-regulated economy or morality; UN-led U.S. military action; regime change; using eminent domain for private gain; war on drugs; surveillance state; and taxpayer funding of government or private charities.

Most government activities opposed by libertarians are direct violations of existing constitutional limits on permitted government actions.

In the Treasure Valley, anyone interested in learning more about libertarian philosophy is welcome to join us for our monthly, no-host philosophical libertarian brunch the second Saturday of every month at the TNT Dynamite Bar & Grill, next to the Shiloh Inn at Exit 36 in Nampa. We gather starting at 10:30 a.m. and typically have a program from 11-noon. There are no exams, no fees and everyone is welcome.

Libertarians are keeping the light of liberty burning!

Rob Oates, Caldwell, is chairman of the Libertarian Party of Idaho. Email him at chair@lpid.org.

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What the Libertarian Party supports - Idaho Press-Tribune

Libertarian Party Chairman Savaged For Virtue Signaling In Brutal Twitter Beatdown – The Liberty Conservative

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Libertarian Party chairman Nicholas Sarwark has come under fire for his abrasive and ineffective leadership style, but he took it to a new extreme last night. After insulting Murray Mr. Libertarian Rothbard and then focusing his ire on libertarian heroes like Tom Woods and Bob Murphy, libertarians on Twitter decided to take the fledgling figurehead to task.

Dishonest LP chair implies Im white nationalist/Nazi. Sad. I only think hes a lying idiot, intellectual property expert Stephen Kinsella said in a Tweet.

So [Sarwark] takes unprovoked potshots at [Tom Woods] and then tries to act like he has moral high ground, Mises Institute social media director Tho Bishop said. What a sad sack.

Libertarian-turned-alt-right video blogger Stefan Molyneux even piled on by saying, The Chair of the Libertarian National Committee is virtue-signaling against [Tom Woods] and [the LP] wonders why they are irrelevant!

Molyneux followed up that zinger with a viciously accurate meme depicting the many recent public humiliations the LP has experienced under Sarwarks stewardship. From there, even run-of-the-mill libertarians couldnt resist the fun with many proclaiming that they were leaving or had left the LP due to the arrogant, tone-deaf attitudes of failures like Sarwark.

Wow, 2 million away from the libertarian dream of federal funding! [Sarwark] could then spend it on attacking even more real libertarians, user Andkon said in a Tweet.

The kind of pansy that pissed away the best opportunity the LP ever had by heading what became a joke party with a joke candidate, user Kip Hooker wrote in a Tweet referring to Sarwark. And I say that as someone that voted for Johnson.

Sarwark and his left-libertarian allies are demanding that libertarians sign a petition against fascism in the wake of this weekends Charlottesville disaster, as a way to exploit the crisis for cheap political purposes. While this is clearly Sarwarks latest scheme to enforce leftist orthodoxy upon the libertarian movement, people are no longer buying it.

After receiving the barrage of disdain from libertarians, Sarwarkin typical fashionbrushed off all the criticism. He is self-assured that thumbing libertarians in the eye and embracing leftist values are the way to go moving forward.

Pro tip: People who have won an argument dont need to tell everyone that theyve obliterated their opponent, Sarwark wrote in a Tweet following the smack down. Sarwark also accused his opponents of being alt-right and tacitly supporting fascism and Nazism.

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Libertarian Party Chairman Savaged For Virtue Signaling In Brutal Twitter Beatdown - The Liberty Conservative

Goat-blood drinking Orlando man had key billing for Charlottesville rally – Orlando Sentinel

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Augustus Invictus, a former Libertarian Party candidate for U.S. Senate from Orlando most famous for saying he sacrificed a goat and drank its blood, had an important role in the white nationalist Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville on Saturday.

Invictus, 34, was listed as a featured marcher for the Saturday event, which was roundly condemned after marchers carried Nazi flags, performed Hitler salutes and chanted white supremacist and anti-Semitic sayings while carrying torches. He could not be reached for comment Monday.

Invictus lost the 2016 Libertarian primary for U.S. Senate in Florida to Paul Stanton, but not before state Chairman Adrian Wyllie resigned in protest. The Libertarian Party of Seminole County also disbanded and its chair, Don Menzel, resigned in protest of his candidacy. Wyllie alleged at the time Invictus wanted to lead a civil war in the country, recruit neo-Nazis to the party and supported a eugenics program.

Invictus denied he had white supremacist sympathies at the time, but the Tampa Bay Times reported Monday white nationalist leader Richard Spencer credited Invictus with writing a first draft of the Charlottesville Statement.

The statement, according to the Times, has tenets including, Jews are an ethno-religious people distinct from Europeans ... whites alone defined America as a European society and political order .. [and] the so-called 'refugee crisis' is an invasion, a war without bullets, taking place on the fields of race, religion, sex and morality.

Spencer is hoping to speak at the University of Florida on Sept. 12, but nothing has been finalized, university officials said Monday. UF President Kent Fuchs wrote in an email the university has a First Amendment obligation to let him do so.

Invictus, a former attorney who voluntarily gave up his eligibility to practice law in March, has been active on the political scene in Central Florida this year. In May, he spoke before the Orlando City Council meeting in May against removing the Confederate Johnny Reb monument. The statue was ultimately moved to a cemetery.

In a YouTube video posted in July, Invictus revealed he was leaving the Libertarian party and registering as a Republican.

Countless millions of Americans are beginning to lament the leftward shift in their homeland, and the great awakening is upon us, he said in his video. Let us aim our rifles in the right direction, let us fight beside each other rather than against each other. Let us unite the right wing of American politics at long last, in order to secure our country and its civilization.

In Charlottesville, a counterprotester, Heather Heyer, was killed and others injured Saturday after a car ran into them following the rally. An Ohio man has been charged with second-degree murder and other charges.

President Donald Trump was criticized, including by members of the Republican Party, for not specifically condemning white supremacists and neo-Nazis by name. But on Monday, Trump specifically denounced those groups, saying, We condemn in the strongest possible terms, this display of hatred, bigotry, and violence."

In 2015, Invictus said he had walked from Central Florida to the Mojave Desert two years earlier and spent a week fasting and praying. In a pagan ritual to give thanks when he returned home, he said he killed a goat and drank its blood.

I did sacrifice a goat. I know that's probably a quibble in the mind of most Americans, he said at the time. I sacrificed an animal to the god of the wilderness ... Yes, I drank the goat's blood.

He also contended he had been investigated by the FBI and other law enforcement because of his political views. He renounced his citizenship in one of his posted writings, and in another he prophesied a great war, saying he would wander into the wilderness and return bearing revolution.

News Service of Florida and the Associated Press contributed to this report. slemongello@orlandosentinel.com, 407-418-5920 or @stevelemongello

White nationalist Richard Spencer scheduled to speak at UF next month

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Goat-blood drinking Orlando man had key billing for Charlottesville rally - Orlando Sentinel