Photo:Deep Longevity added SquareOne Wellness to its growing longevity network. SquareOne physicians will get training in longevity medicine and interpret the AgeMetric reports incorporating multiple aging clocks.view more

Credit Image: Deep Longevity, Inc

Today, Deep Longevity Inc, a pioneer in deep biomarkers of aging and longevity, and SquareOne Wellness announced a collaboration to deploy an extensive range of AI-powered aging clocks. Deep Longevity is to develop and provide the customized predictors of human biological age to the network of SquareOne Wellness clinicians and to provide a training program in longevity medicine.

Deep Longevity is a fully-owned subsidiary of a public company, Regent Pacific Group Limited (SEHK:0575.HK). Deep Longevity developed and exclusively in-licensed a portfolio of granted and pending patents on aging clocks developed using the latest advances in artificial intelligence.

Deep Longevity aging clocks are supported by a number of academic publications summarized in a recent review titled BioHorology and biomarkers of aging: Current state-of-the-art, challenges and opportunities

SquareOne Wellness has been on the forefront of total wellness in the treatment of addiction. SquareOne has a holistic approach to wellness and addiction whose goal is to help patients live happier, healthier and longer lives. Deep Longevity and SquareOne will partner to see the impact that the utilization of aging clocks has on continued recovery. We are always looking for new tools to help our patients reach their full potential in their recovery and in their overall health and life. We believe that the addition of deep aging clocks will be an added tool in long term patient success, said Joshua Jones, Director of Patient Interactions of SquareOne Wellness.

In the scope of the partnership SquareOne Wellness physicians will be trained in deep aging clocks and will be able to provide their customers with AgeMetric reports and engage in advanced research to assess the performance of aging clocks in the context of continued recovery.

The traditional approach to preventative medicine is focused on preventing disease by diagnosing the symptoms early or reducing the risks of disease. The AI-guided longevity medicine goes much further then that and is focusing on tracking the persons rates of aging at many levels, identification of longevity bottlenecks, and utilizing the latest advances in science and technology to slow down or reverse biological and psychological aging. We are very happy to have SquareOne join the rapidly growing network of our research and clinical partners focused on providing customers with extra years of productive and happy life, said Alex Zhavoronkov, Chief Longevity Officer of Deep Longevity Inc.

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About Deep Longevity, Inc

Deep Longevity has been acquired by Regent Pacific (SEHK:0575.HK), a publicly-traded company. Deep Longevity is developing explainable artificial intelligence systems to track the rate of aging at the molecular, cellular, tissue, organ, system, physiological, and psychological levels. It is also developing systems for the emerging field of longevity medicine enabling physicians to make better decisions on the interventions that may slow down, or reverse the aging processes. Deep Longevity developed Longevity as a Service (LaaS) solution to integrate multiple deep biomarkers of aging dubbed deep aging clocks to provide a universal multifactorial measure of human biological age. Originally incubated by Insilico Medicine, Deep Longevity started its independent journey in 2020 after securing a round of funding from the most credible venture capitalists specializing in biotechnology, longevity, and artificial intelligence. ETP Ventures, Human Longevity and Performance Impact Venture Fund, BOLD Capital Partners, Longevity Vision Fund, LongeVC, co-founder of Oculus, Michael Antonov, and other experts AI and biotechnology investors supported the company. Deep Longevity established a research partnership with one of the most prominent longevity organizations, Human Longevity, Inc. to provide a range of aging clocks to the network of advanced physicians and researchers.

http://longevity.ai/

About Regent Pacific (SEHK:0575.HK)

Regent Pacific is a diversified investment group based in Hong Kong currently holding various corporate and strategic investments focusing on the healthcare, wellness and life sciences sectors. The Group has a strong track record of investments and has returned approximately US$298 million to shareholders in the 21 years of financial reporting since its initial public offering.

http://www.regentpac.com/

About SquareOne Wellness.

SquareOne Wellness is an addiction and wellness clinic that focuses on recovery of opioid addiction and behavioral health. SOW focus is on helping patients look at every aspect of their health utilizing medically assisted treatment, behavioral health therapy and lifestyle changes to help sustain recovery and live healthier and longer lives. For more information, visit Squareonewellness.org.

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Biology: Deep Longevity and SquareOne Wellness partner on deep biomarkers of aging and longevity - Tdnews

Amid the news explosion that followed President Trumps COVID-19 diagnosis and brief convalescence earlier this month, there was a nugget you might have missed: The antibody treatment from biotech company Regeneron the president tookseemingly to great effecthad been developed in part by means of cells derived from fetal tissue.

Most of the discussion around this revelation concerned whether it showed the president to be a hypocriteeither personally because of his stated pro-life beliefs, or as a matter of policy because his administration has suspended federal funding for scientific research involving fetal tissue. (Both claims were dubious: There was no reason to believe the president knew the provenance of the Regeneron cocktail when he was treated with it, and the kind of fetal-derived cells used to develop the drug were not included in the administrations funding freeze.)

But the news portended a larger problem that may prove important in months to come: the ethical objections other pro-life people may have to new COVID treatmentsincluding vaccineswith similar issues in their development history.

I think its going to test our convictions about these things, said Dr. C. Ben Mitchell, a professor of moral philosophy at evangelical Union University and senior fellow at the Center for Bioethics & Human Dignity. Whether or not we are going to be consistent with our convictions.

Beyond the central aim of ending legal abortion, no issue has so united the pro-life movement over the last few decades as the push to prevent fetal and embryonic remains from being used in medical research. In the 2000s, the battle involved embryonic stem cell research: President Bush prohibited federal funding for research involving new embryonic stem cell lines in 2001, a policy President Obama reversed in 2009. More recently, the issue has been researchers use of fresh tissue from recent abortions, following activist David Daleidens 2015 expos on Planned Parenthoods practice of selling organs from aborted fetuses to medical research companies.

But while pushing for public policy changes and supply chain reforms to make researchers less reliant on ongoing abortions, pro-lifers have also struggled with a parallel issue on a more personal level: whether its permissible to make use of treatments developed via the use of fetal tissue that already exist. If abortion is evil, they ask themselves, then can I in good conscience allow myself to benefit from medicines that rely on the practice?

Such questions are complicated by the fact that, unlike the tissue research that has dominated pro-life policy space in recent years, many medical products in current use, including a number of childhood vaccines, have a connection to abortion that is distant and tenuous. The cell cultures used in developing such medicines are most accurately described not as fetal cells themselves, but as cells that are fetal-derived: Cells originally taken from an aborted fetus that have been cultivated to multiply freely ever since.

The most widely used of these cell lines date back to just a handful of abortions in Europe in the 1960s. The WI-38 cell line, which has been used to develop vaccines for rubella, rabies, measles, mumps, and various other diseases, is derived from the lung tissue of a fetus aborted in Sweden in 1962; The MRC-5 line, used to produce vaccines for Hepatitis A and polio, dates back to 1966. Other lines are used for other purposes: HEK293 cells, which are derived from fetal kidney cells isolated in the Netherlands in the early 1970s, can be used to create virus-like cells that arent able to infect humans. Researchers use these pseudoviruses to test new therapeutics without having to handle live virus themselves, reducing the need for extreme biosafety precautions in laboratory settings. (The aforementioned Regeneron made use of HEK293 cells in this way.)

These cell cultures wont reproduce infinitely, but saying so almost feels like a technicality: Descendants of the WI-38 and MRC-5 lines have been used to create hundreds of millions of doses of vaccines over the past half-century.

Going by any sort of costbenefit analysis, the use of these cell lines has been a force for good in the world. By making use of the remains of a bare handful of elective abortionsabortions that would have taken place whether or not researchers decided to use thema staggering number of people around the world have been spared the miseries of a whole host of wretched and deadly diseases.

But for those who advocate for decoupling from such practices, simply to use the language of cost and benefit in the first place is to give away the game. If thats the measure, they argue, its hard to see how you could oppose any promising medical research, even the most depraved: How can you weigh the suffering of a few unfortunates against the ongoing benefits to all humanity of curing a deadly disease?

These sorts of ethical questions arent the exclusive domain of the pro-life movement. What posture we ought to take toward ill-gotten medical research is a question that has long occupied bioethicists, given how much of the science underpinning our current understanding and practice of medicine was conducted in unethical waysoften even by the standards of their own time, and even more so by the more exacting standards of the present.

The classic example, of course, is the gruesome human experimentation carried out by Nazi doctors in concentration camps, but there are examples closer to home, too: black men in Alabama whose untreated syphilis was allowed to fester for decades so government researchers could observe the progress of the disease, all the while assuring the subjects they were being treated; developmentally disabled children in New York given chocolate milk laced with feces to deliberately infect them with hepatitis as part of an effort to develop a vaccine.

Other ethical issues involve the origin of immortalized cell cultures in particular. The longevity of these cell lines is such that many of them predate modern medical standards on ethical human research, which werent truly codified until the National Commission for the Protection of Human Subjects of Biomedical and Behavior Research, established by Congress for the purpose in 1974, published its Belmont Report in 1979. The oldest such cell line in existence is a culture of cervical cancer cells taken from a woman named Henrietta Lacks in 1951, who died of the disease that same year. Lacks never consented to having her cells cultured; nor did the women who obtained the abortions that resulted in the WI-38 or MRC-5 cells.

These fraught ethical issues are not a thing of the past. After decades of lobbying, the Lacks family finally won a partial concession from the National Institutes of Health in 2013 to place some restrictions on medical access to information about their relatives cells. Pro-life organizations continually push for researchers to divest from and seek alternatives to fetal cell cultures as well.

For some pro-life bioethicists, the vast distance between the harm of the original abortion and the use of the modern treatment in which it resulted means that, while policymakers and biotech firms still have a moral obligation to work toward developing ethically unproblematic alternatives, individuals dont necessarily have a moral duty to abstain from such treatments themselves. Medical ethics are complicated and a matter of conscience, said Tiffany Manor, who directs the Life Ministry of the conservative Lutheran ChurchMissouri Synod. Some modern medical procedures result from past research that was conducted unethically. That doesnt mean that we ought to throw out all of the beneficial procedures.

But others argue that individuals retain a moral duty to keep pressure on the medical research industry by declining the use of such treatments when possible without creating grave risks to public health. The Catholic Churchs Pontifical Academy for Life tried to strike such a balance when it considered the question in 2005:

On a cultural level, the use of such vaccines contributes in the creation of a generalized social consensus to the operation of the pharmaceutical industries which produce them in an immoral way. Therefore, doctors and fathers of families have a duty to take recourse to alternative vaccines (if they exist), putting pressure on the political authorities and health systems so that other vaccines without moral problems become available. They should take recourse, if necessary, to the use of conscientious objection with regard to the use of vaccines produced by means of cell lines of aborted human foetal origin.

The document goes on:

As regards the diseases against which there are no alternative vaccines which are available and ethically acceptable, it is right to abstain from using these vaccines if it can be done without causing children, and indirectly the population as a whole, to undergo significant risks to their health.

You can see the precarious moral tightrope here: It is good, in the mind of pro-life ethicists, to attempt as much as possible not to participate, however indirectly, in the evil act of a long-ago abortion. But one ought not strain so hard to avoid that participation that one thoughtlessly commits another evil act: allowing oneself or ones children to become vectors of otherwise preventable disease, spreading suffering and even death to those around them.

All this, remember, is just the moral calculus that surrounds such vaccine under normal medical circumstances. Throw in a global pandemic and an unprecedented race to treat and cure it, and you begin to get a sense of the scale of the ethical headaches involved.

Take the issue of Regeneron. Since his own positive experience with the companys antibody cocktail, REGN-COV2, President Trump has become its biggest cheerleader; pushing for it to play a major role in COVID treatment going forward. We have hundreds of thousands of doses that are just about ready. I have emergency use authorization all set, he said on October 7. Youre gonna get better, and youre gonna get better really fast.

But both Regenerons drug and a similar antibody treatment currently being developed by Eli Lilly made use of fetal tissue in their developmentnot in the actual manufacture of the drug, as mentioned above, but in creating neutered pseudoviruses to test its effectiveness.

Imagine a person whose doctor has recommended such a drug trying to make a decision in the light of the moral principles suggested by the Pontifical Academy for Life. On the one hand, the drug is a product of fetal tissue research in only the most remote possible way. But the possibility of endangering others by abstaining does not bear considering here, as the cocktail is a treatment, not a vaccine. Further, it is unclear how a person recommended such a treatment by a doctor ought to think about the question of whether there are ethically acceptable alternatives. Other drugs can help manage COVID, of course, but generally speaking their effect is cumulative: Dexamethasone and remdesivir are not replacements for antibody therapy.

To cap the dilemma off, it isnt as though a pro-life person could start off with unproblematic treatments and work up to REGN-COV2 as a matter of last resort: Patients arent prescribed antivirals or steroids for COVID unless theyre already seriously sick, while antibody treatments like Regenerons have been shown to be helpful only if theyre given very early in the course of the disease, before the bodys own immune response has had a chance to kick in.

COVID vaccines in development present further difficulties. First, we dont actually know which of the many vaccines currently being developed will end up the first to pass muster as a safe, effective, and mass-producible weapon against the pandemic. Many of the candidates do not make use of fetal-derived cells in any capacity. Others use such cells only in confirmatory tests, as with Regeneron. Still others use them in the production of the vaccines themselves.

Of the four vaccines seemingly closest to release in America, twothose being developed by Pfizer and Modernawere merely tested on fetal-derived cells. Two others, from Johnson & Johnson and AstraZeneca, are made with them. The latter vaccines Phase III clinical trials were placed on hold earlier this month, but were resumed last week.

Under ordinary circumstances, this would be a no-brainer: Many pro-life people would simply wait for one of the less objectionable vaccines to become available. But during the coronavirus pandemic, where every day that goes by without a vaccine is critical, what happens if Johnson & Johnson or AstraZenecas product is first past the post, and the federal government invests heavily in its development and distribution?

Its unclear whether such a situation would provoke a legal clash. The federal government doesnt have the constitutional authority to mandate vaccines, but states and cities can; all 50 states require children to receive a battery of vaccines before attending public school, although all offer various exemptions for religious, philosophical, and/or other reasons. Whether citizens have a right to such exemptions, however, is less clear: the Supreme Court has upheld mandatory vaccination programs in the past and has separately ruled that the right to practice religion freely does not include liberty to expose the community or the child to communicable disease.

Theres no reason to believe yet that states will choose to go that route. New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, whose state was racked by the coronavirus this spring and who last year signed a state law ending religious exemptions for childhood vaccines, is thus far messaging that an eventual COVID vaccine will be available to all New York residents who want one.

The likelier scenario may be that such a clash will instead simply play out in the court of public opinion.

One of the nightmare scenarios Ive been thinking about is, say we get a safe and effective vaccine, and it comes from what many would regard as tainted sources, said Mitchell. And so pro-lifers decide not to use the vaccinethey wont be vaccinated. My guess is that there would be a huge uprising in the society saying, Well, youre posing now a public health risk. We now have a vaccine, but youre choosing not to use it. Youre exposing others to it by not taking the vaccine, or youre going to cost our health care system huge amounts of money in treating you when we have a vaccine that could prevent getting COVID-19, but you choose not to. So I think those are going to be an important test of our convictions.

Photograph by Paul Hennessy/NurPhoto/Getty Images.

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Is the Pro-Life Movement on a Collision Course with the Coronavirus? - The Dispatch

The environment directly affects our health and plays a major role in our quality of life, longevity, and health disparities.

By Kunal Sood

When it comes to Global Health, there is no THEM, only US

GLOBAL HEALTH COUNCIL

Global health is an important phenomenon nowadays and an urgent social concern. A sick and ailing population across the globe has created geo-political instability and compromised our security. Mutating patterns of diseases that include the COVID-19 pandemic as well as other factors such as the lack of PPE in the field to protect our frontline global health practitioners have created tremendous challenges. We are in the midst of a global health crisis here and now. More than ever before do the fields of science, psychology, innovation and technology need to come together to create a better future for us.

Here are some of the most pressing global health issues we face today that we need to solve for with scientific and technological innovation:

Efficient and affordable access to effective healthcare: Good and affordable health services should be a human right and available within reasonable reach given the exponential innovation in the field of medicine to those who require them whenever necessary. It should be convenient, effective and affordable irrespective of ones age, caste, colour, creed, sex, race or religion. Apart from easy access, there should be a safe, evidence-based protocol when treating the likes of a global health crisis from such communicable diseases like the current pandemic and rarer diseases like chikungunya. Additionally With the overall increase of illness like cancer, diabetes, and other non-communicable diseases worldwide, access to quality health care for all is essential in reducing health inequality and the road map in order to do this lies in using technological innovation and democratizing digital health for all

Environmental quality: The environment directly affects our health and plays a major role in our quality of life, longevity, and health disparities. Poor air quality is linked to premature death, cancer, and long-term damage to our respiratory and cardiovascular systems. Secondhand smoke containing toxic and carcinogenic chemicals that contributes to cardiovascular disease and lung cancer in non-smoking adults. Globally, nearly 25% of all deaths and the total disease burden can be attributed to poor environmental factors. Safe and clean air, land, and water are fundamental to a healthy community and a healthy environment. Smoke and pollution-free environment help prevent disease and even helps advanced medicine heal and cure other health problems. As an alternative today we have technologies such as HEPA and UV light air purifiers that can help control the high levels of air pollution and second-hand smoke to protect the ones we love and create a healthier environment by design

Mental health: Mental health problems have spiked given the recent lockdowns and although help is available we must deploy more resources and capital towards helping those that suffer. People with mental health problems can get better and many fully recover from depression and other forms of mental illness. Mental health includes emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It affects how we think, feel, and act and often causes stress which is the underlying cause for many physical ailments as well. Our mental state often determines how we handle stress, relate to others, and make choices. Mental health is important at every stage of life, from childhood and adolescence through adulthood. Over the course of your life, if you experience mental health problems, your mindset, mood, and behaviour could be affected negatively. Hence it is vital to pay attention to your mental health and use health-based apps such as headspace or calm on your smartphone to help inculcate the practice of mindfulness to regulate your emotional wellbeing. Yoga is also known to do wonders for the mind, body and soul connection so find time in your daily routine to integrate mediation and yoga into your way of life.

Substance abuse: Substance abuse can be very harmful to your health given the hazardous nature of certain substances if overdosed, including alcohol and illicit drugs. Psychoactive substance use can lead to addiction and eventually in some cases leads to isolation and even death. The solution lies in legislating effective policies which influence the consumption levels and patterns of substance use to minimize related harm can significantly reduce the public health problem.In addition health interventions that use technology to track and alert health care workers in time to intervene in cases where one may overdose can save a life. Such interventions with technology can also be used for rehab once the patient is stable with the right kind of medical supervision can recover and restore their overall wellbeing.

Tobacco: Over 80% of the worlds 1.3 billion tobacco users live in low- and middle-income countries. The tobacco epidemic is the second biggest public health threats the world has ever faced, killing more than 8 million people a year around the world. More than 7 million of those deaths are the result of direct tobacco use while around 1.2 million are the result of non-smokers being exposed to second-hand smoke. Again here we must be able to use conscious media and technology to help change behaviour and quit smoking. Furthermore, we must create awareness around protecting those that suffer around smokers due to second-hand smoke.

Obesity: Obesity has become the number one epidemic globally outpacing even tobacco and is defined as the abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that presents a risk of our health in all forms. Obesity is one side of the double burden of malnutrition, and today more people are obese than underweight. It is associated with a higher risk for serious diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, heart disease, cancer and chronic lower back pain which affects ones overall quality of life.

It is critical that we as a nation and planet take stock of both our personal and communal healthcare systems and personal wellbeing. There has never been a better time for us to launch a Global Health Revolution. We can light the spark that ignites a movement that doesnt just save our planet but transforms humanity to usher in a new era of human prosperity and planetary flourishing. A place where technology truly serves all of the wonder and biodiversity that exists in our world. But most important make sure that every life counts and every human being matters.

(The author is Founder, We The Planet. Views expfressed are personal.)

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Why is there a need of Global Health Revolution - The Financial Express

Published 10-22-20

Submitted by Johnson & Johnson

In addition to its own cadre of scientists hard at work fighting the pandemic, Johnson & Johnson also supports external researchers and entrepreneurs equally dedicated to finding solutions for the current health crisis. We take a look at some of this groundbreaking work happening across the globefrom San Francisco to Seoul.

Originally published on jnj.com

"I love curiosity-driven research," saysWilliam N. Hait, M.D., Ph.D., Global Head, Johnson & Johnson External Innovation. To generate the kind of knowledge we need about diseases, people have to be curious. They have to follow their ideas using rigorous scientific methods to generate the breakthroughs we so fervently desire.

It's a philosophy that guides how Dr. Hait approaches his work overseeing the company's sourcing of early-stage external innovationacross the globe.

And as Dr. Hait notes,COVID-19has only made this search for new knowledge all the more urgent. The current pandemic has thrown into stark relief how important it is to address such situations effectively and rapidlyand ultimately prevent new outbreaks from occurring, he says.

We sat down with Dr. Hait to learn just how he and his teams atJohnson & Johnson Innovationhave been hard at work tackling the current global health crisis by investing in and helping advance innovative solutions from "curiosity-driven" scientists and entrepreneurs alike to some of the biggest challenges presented by the pandemic.

1.Tapping Into the Global Innovation Grid

Cities around the world have become ecosystems for innovationplaces where a community of academic institutions, start-ups, incubators and investors come together to take on some of the worlds toughest problems in healthcare.

At Johnson & Johnson Innovation, our job is to plug ourselves into this innovation grid by building the infrastructure to support and invest in healthcare innovation, says Dr. Hait.

The company does this through its fourInnovation Centers(ICs), located in some of the worlds top hubs for innovation in life sciencesBoston, London, San Francisco and Shanghaias well asJohnson & Johnson InnovationJLABS, its global network of incubators. The ICs are designed to promote collaborations between Johnson & Johnson and entrepreneurs developing next-generation pharmaceuticals, medical devices and consumer healthcare products.

A few years ago, the San Francisco IC teamtogether with Johnson & Johnson Innovations corporate venture arm,JJDC, and the company's Global Public Health teaminvested in a startup diagnostic company calledCue Health. The team worked with Cue Health to develop programs for tracking HIV viral loads andrespiratory syncytial virus (RSV), a common illness that can be life-threatening for infants, adults withchronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)and the elderly.

Cue Health was in the final stage of clinical validation for their molecular test for influenza detection at home when the pandemic hitand the company quickly created a rapid diagnostic test for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. In June, the companyreceived Emergency Use Authorization from the Food & Drug Administrationfor its point-of-care test (meaning it can be used under the supervision of healthcare workers), which can deliver results in about 20 minutes.

Thanks to the insights of our team, we were one of the earliest investors in Cue Health, which has now developed a leading rapid test for COVID-19, says Dr. Hait.

2.Addressing Worldwide Health Threats Todayand Tomorrow

The COVID-19 pandemic has offered critical lessons for healthcare providers, scientists and policymakers around the world, including the importance of preparing for the next big health threatwhether its another infectious disease pandemic, a biological hazard like antibiotic-resistant bacteria or an environmental threat like climate change.

Through a partnership with the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), a component of the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Johnson & Johnson InnovationJLABS is working to help improve health security and our nations response to medical threats and emerging infectious diseases.

The program, calledBLUE KNIGHT, supports startup companies that are working on potentially groundbreaking innovations aimed at preventing and addressing 21st century health threats by providing, among other benefits, lab space, funding and mentorship from BARDA and the Johnson & Johnson family of companies.

In August, the first seven companies were selected for their promising work on urgently needed diagnostics, therapeutics, vaccines and other technologies for COVID-19. One of these companies,Gabi SmartCare, is developing a remote monitoring device for at-home use that combines advanced medical wearable technologies and predictive digital analytics to help physicians better monitor patients with respiratory illnesses like COVID-19.

Our preparedness and response to emerging public health threats, as well as existing debilitating diseases, requires new, transformational approaches, Dr. Hait says. Through Blue Knight, we aim to identify and nurture the best ideas of early-stage companies from across our global innovation network to accelerate the development of potentially life-changing new solutions aimed at preventing, intercepting, treating and curing serious diseases.

3.Tackling Chronic Health Conditions That Can Make People More Vulnerable to Severe Illness

As a physician, Dr. Haits ultimate vision is to create a world without disease in which people don't just have increased lifespans, but longer healthspans, or the number of years spent free of disease.

As part of that mission, Johnson & Johnson Innovation became the principal corporate sponsor of the Healthy Longevity Catalyst Awards in the United States, which is one component of a multi-year, multimillion-dollar international initiative launched by the U.S. National Academy of Medicine (NAM) last year. In January, the initiative debuted theHealthy Longevity Global Competition, which set out to find scientists working on promising ideas that closely align with Dr. Haits vision of immorbidity, or a life free of disease.

Most chronic health conditions, likeheart disease,type 2 diabetesorcancerbegin in middle age," Dr. Hait says. "When humans lived to just 55, that was not as big of a deal. But if you live well into your 90s, like many people do today, that can mean 50 years spent dealing with diseases that can significantly impact your enjoyment of life.

The pandemic has also exposed how these chronic conditions can make some older adults more vulnerable to COVID-19. Experts have learned that havingcertain medical conditionssuch as COPD, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and kidney diseasecan potentially increase your risk of severe illness.

As people age, the risk for many of these diseases increases, and as a result, this viral illness can be devastating to older people, Dr. Hait says. Because as we get older, our once finely tuned immune system can often be detrimentally affected.

When a person becomes infected with a pathogen like COVID-19, the body mounts an immune response against the virus. This is accompanied by an inflammatory reaction that can manifest through such symptoms as a fever, chills, muscle aches and headaches.

In most healthy, young people, as the infection is brought under control and ultimately eliminated, the inflammatory response subsides, Dr. Hait explains. But in some older people, or those whose immune system is already out of balance, the inflammatory component can continue or even accelerate, potentially creating serious or even permanent damage to important tissues.

Dr. Hait hopes to find solutions to such age-related challenges with NAM's Healthy Longevity Global Competition, in which up to 450 Catalyst Awards of $50,000 each will be awarded to scientists around the world with promising ideas over three years, and one or more award winners will receive up to $5 million.

The goal is to create a global movement that gets the worlds great minds thinking about how we can live free of disease, Dr. Hait says. We are looking for ideas that will make people sit up and take notice.

One country that is eager to see what great innovations come from the challenge is Japan, which has the worldslargest populationof adults over age 65.

In arecent webinar hosted by the U.S.-Japan Councilto talk about the competition, Dr. Hait said, I'm on the lookout for people who are generating new scientific knowledge. Because its the massive amount of knowledge that allows us to translate science into meaningful benefits for people.

4.Finding Innovative Ways to Embrace Our New Normal

COVID-19 has upended healthcare around the world, leading to a stark decline in in-person doctor visits, and hastening the rise of telemedicine.

The pandemic hit and catapulted us into the future, Dr. Hait says. Pre-pandemic, data shows that about 0.1% of Medicare primary care visits were by telemedicine; today thatscloser to 50%. Were not going back, so the question is: How does a company like Johnson & Johnson position itself to be effective in this new world of healthcare?

One way is through Johnson & Johnson Innovation'sQuickFire Challenge program, which is designed to harness the worlds collective problem-solving power by issuing calls for innovation that anyone can answer.

This summer, theSeoul Innovation QuickFire Challengelaunched to seek ideas related to healthcare in the new normal, including e-health platforms that can lead to better patient experiences and outcomes; technologies that can improve the implementation and security of telemedicine and remote patient monitoring; and smart systems for vaccine distribution and adherence. Up to two innovators with the best ideas will receive up to $125,000 in grant funding, a one-year residency at the Seoul Bio Hub and mentorship from Johnson & Johnson experts.

Johnson & Johnson Innovation is also backing leading digital healthcare companies likeThirty Madison, which aims to allow patients to access affordable, virtual care for chronic conditions like migraines and acid reflux. Its one of many such investments that Johnson & Johnson InnovationJJDC has made in startups focused on tele-medicine, home diagnosis or direct-to-consumer healthcare.

This pandemic is having an enormous impact on people around the worldand the innovators who will lead us to solutions. We are determined to be a support system for them, he says. We were built for times like these.

Caring for the world, one person at a time... inspires and unites the people of Johnson & Johnson. This year, we celebrate 126 years of embracing research and science bringing innovative ideas, products and services to advance the health and well-being of people. Employees of the Johnson & Johnson Family of Companies work in more than 250 operating companies in 60 countries throughout the world. The passion and commitment of our people yield innovations that further minimize our impact on the planet, drive new alliances to address major health challenges in developing and developed countries, and help to create economic opportunity for people. Improving human health and well-being is our crucial mission and the ultimate measure of upholding our responsibility now and for generations to come.

At Johnson & Johnson, our top priority is health-health of people and the planet. That's why we set aggressive corporate wide goals to reduce our environmental impact, outlined in our Healthy Future 2015 goals. To this end, we established the proprietary Earthwards process for developing and marketing greener products through lifecycle analysis. Every Earthwards recognized product must achieve a greater than 10 percent improvement in at least three of the seven goal areas:

More from Johnson & Johnson

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4 Ways Johnson & Johnson Is Cultivating Outside-the-Box Innovations for COVID-19 - CSRwire.com

How terrorist groups and other violent non-state actors treat civilians can significantly affect how long such groups will last. As the militant group Ansar al-Sunna (ASWJ) actively expands its area of operations outside the occupied port town of Mocmboa da Praia in northern Mozambique, the insurgencys treatment of civilians warrants attention.

To date, ASWJs strategy has been notably inconsistent, fluctuating between hearts and minds and shock and awe. Understanding ASWJs approach towards civilians is critical to providing them with adequate protection, as well as to crafting effective counterinsurgency measures against the group.

Civilians continue to shoulder the brunt of the insurgencys success. More than 309,000 Mozambicans are internally displaced, largely due to the conflict in the north. As insurgent control over roads increases, many fleeing civilians consider maritime routes to be the safest option, resulting in capsized ships and deaths at sea.

Hundreds of thousands are also food insecure. The UNs Famine Early Warning Systems Network has declared crisis-level food insecurity in the north, exacerbating pre-existing chronic hunger. Cabo Delgado province, the insurgencys epicenter, has the countrys second-highest rate of chronic malnutrition.

On top of this, ASWJ has blocked access to basic services, including electricity, education, and medical care.

At times, ASWJ appears to employ a hearts and minds strategy in an attempt to gain the populations support for tactical purposes (such as human intelligence), recruitment, and overall sustainability of the insurgency.

This strategy involves de-legitimizing the national government and its monopolization of the use of force to justify ASWJs actions and create a common enemy in the state.

Two important components of this strategy are the provision of services and the targeting of the state, such as infrastructure and personnel. For example, on April 7, ASWJ raided a World Food Programme-affiliated food warehouse and distributed its contents to the local population.

In another incident, insurgents distributed stolen medicine and fuel to residents perceived to be loyal. ASWJ has frequently targeted state assets, including administrative buildings, military posts, police stations, and state workers.

Additionally, on several occasions, the group has warned civilians of impending attacks and instructed them to leave the area. This was the case in March 2020 when ASWJ attackers warned residents of Quissanga about an upcoming attack on Mocmboa da Praia. Seven months later, the group gave poorer older civilians in the coastal areas of Macomia District $125 to flee impending attacks.

At other times, ASWJ appears to employ a shock and awe strategy. The group exercises control and seeks to build legitimacy and notoriety by creating fear, utilizing violence, and projecting power. This primarily manifests as violent attacks against civilians, mass casualty attacks, and the deprivation of basic services.

ASWJ has prevented basic services and necessary medications from reaching some areas in northern Mozambique. In Cabo Delgado province, one of the countrys pandemic hotspots, this has complicated the governments response to COVID-19.

Additionally, the group has carried out mass attacks and executed a campaign of violence against civilians, irrespective of age. Most notably, it executed over 50 individuals in Xitaxi in Muidumbe District after some locals refused to join the group.

Other recent attacks, although smaller in scale, include the beheadings of seven civilians on September 24 and a six-person family, including two children, on September 26. In each of these incidents, along with numerous other attacks, property was destroyed or stolen.

ASWJs strategy towards civilians has been strikingly inconsistent, making it difficult to assess its broader strategic aims.

Are they intentionally combining these strategies in the hopes of gaining recruits through popular support while simultaneously inducing concessions from the state through violence? Are they trying to command civilian respect through fear or coerce it through the distribution of minor services? If the group becomes more intimately tied to the Islamic States Central Africa Province, will they take a staunch hearts and minds or shock and awe stance?

These questions are yet to be answered, but with regard to the Islamic State, its treatment of civilians is not uniform across its factions. Thus, a stronger affiliation with Islamic State Central Africa Province will not inherently necessitate a shock and awe strategy. The Islamic State West Africa Province provides a good example: the group largely pursues a hearts and mind strategy on Lake Chad, which has contributed to its longevity.

Overall, tracking and better understanding of ASWJs approach to civilians will allow for more effective counterinsurgency and the protection of local populations.

Kelly Moss is an African Maritime Security Researcher at Stable Seas, a program of One Earth Future. Her research and publication background focuses on terrorism and substate violence in sub-Saharan Africa. Kelly graduated from Georgetown Universitys School of Foreign Service, where she received her masters degree in Security Studies, and has worked at three U.S. federal government agencies, including the Bureau of African Affairs at the Department of State.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position of The Defense Post.

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Hearts and Minds or Shock and Awe? Ansar al-Sunnas Conflicting Strategy Towards Civilians - The Defense Post