Earl Crow: How’s your religion vocabulary? Some terms for testing yourself – Winston-Salem Journal

Posted on August 20, 2017 by ev1

Nearly every discipline has its own special language. There are many words and terms in religion that are commonly used but, perhaps, not fully understood. Today, I would like to use this column to help define some of these terms. You may already be familiar with them, and if so, good. You may want to play a game and test yourself as to how many you know.

Eucharist: The word actually means thanksgiving and refers to the sacrament of Holy Communion. Jews fleeing Egyptian bondage had a Passover feast that was celebrated by Jesus at his last supper with his disciples. The bread and wine of the eucharist is representative of or becomes depending on your denominational belief, the body and blood of Christ.

Catholic: May refer to the Roman Catholic Church. The term literally means worldwide, so many Protestants claim to be a part of the catholic church of Jesus Christ.

Deism: The belief in a God who is the creator but not governor of the universe. He created and established certain natural laws by which the universe would operate, but he does not intervene in the historical process or in the lives of humans. This is comfortable for people who are very scientific-minded, but it destroys the idea of petitionary prayer.

Fundamentalism: This is a theological position which emerged in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. It affirms the virgin birth of Jesus, his sacrificial atonement, his bodily resurrection, his second coming and most important, the inerrancy of Scripture.

Anti-nomianism: Nomos means law. Anti-nomianism is an heretical idea that says that since we are saved by faith alone, there is no need to obey Gods law.

Eschatology: Eschaton means the end, So, eschatology is the study of the end times.

Teleology: Telos denotes purpose. Teleology is the study of the end purpose of all things.

Sacrament: The word is derived from the Greek word for mystery. A sacrament, therefore, is a divine mystery by which God grants his grace to those who participate. Roman Catholicism counts seven sacraments; Luther reduced it to two for Protestants.

Vulgate: An early translation of the Bible into Latin by Jerome, probably about A.D. 404.

Rapture: The belief that both believers alive and dead will be caught up to meet Christ in the air. Some people believe this will occur before a period of tribulation and others after the tribulation. It necessarily supposes a flat Earth and heaven as up.

Anathema: Means to be cursed.

Parousia: Refers to the presence or second coming of Christ.

Theism: The belief in a God who is both creator and governor, and who is active in history and human life.

Agnosticism: Gnosis means knowledge. In Greek, it becomes negative if preceded by an A. Agnosticism means a lack of knowledge. An agnostic neither believes nor disbelieves in God.

Atheism: If theism is belief in God, add the A and atheism is the denial of Gods existence.

If you can think of words that should be added there are many please let me know.

Earl Crow taught religion and philosophy at High Point University. He has pastored churches and still performs weddings, preaches and offers seminars. He majored in religion at Duke University and attended the Duke Divinity School and has studied at the University of Edinburgh, Scotland, and received his doctorate from the University of Manchester, England. His column is published Saturdays in the Journal. If you have questions about religion or faith, email Earl Crow at ecrow1@triad.rr.com.

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Earl Crow: How's your religion vocabulary? Some terms for testing yourself - Winston-Salem Journal

Another View: ‘The Color Purple’ is just as brilliant as ever – Auburn Journal

Posted on August 20, 2017 by ev1

I was 16 years old the first time I read Alice Walkers The Color Purple, and I was shocked. Looking back, Im not sure why. It wasnt as if Id never heard that kind of language. It wasnt as if Id never witnessed domestic violence or didnt know people who dated other people even though they were already married to someone else. It wasnt as if Id never been attracted to a woman although, I never would have admitted it at the time. I guess Id never seen it all together inside a novel. Later, I went to see the movie with my dad and step-mom, and when (spoiler alert!) Shug Avery kissed Miss Celie, my step-mom gasped, and my dad whispered, Its not like that. But I knew it was like that. When I started the book I thought, as a white teen growing up in rural California in the 1980s, I could not possibly have anything in common with a black family living in rural Georgia in the early 1900s. I was two-thirds of the way into the book when Miss Celie always so meek and oppressed and sad gets angry and tells her abusive husband shes leaving, and then curses him. Until you do right by me, she says, everything you even dream about will fail. Ooh, thats a powerful scene, and it spoke to me. Maybe I didnt have much in common with Celie, but I knew how it felt to want to curse a man. In a 2012 Democracy Now interview with Amy Goodman, Walker explains how in that moment Celie is not speaking as one woman to one man. Shes speaking for all oppressed women as well as the earth. Celie basically curses all the misters in the world unless people are doing right by the poor of the world, by the downtrodden, and by women, generally, they are doomed. Our culture, our society, our world is doomed. Soon after The Color Purple was released it became a best seller in China. When she visited China in 1983, Walker asked what made the book so popular there. The answer: The oppression of women is global. Thats the magic of great literature. It reaches across all boundaries to shed light on whats universal within us. Because I could identify with Celies anger, I had empathy for her, and, though Id never experienced it myself, suddenly I could understand racism as more than an abstraction. It affected the characters I loved. Sofia, Celies daughter-in-law, is beaten and goes to jail for refusing to be the white mayors maid, and then shes forced to be the mayors maid. Celie finds out her dad was lynched by white men. Shug has to drive through the night because theres nowhere for her to stop and sleep, eat, or even use the bathroom. Sure, its fiction, but its also not fiction. Im re-reading the Pulitzer-Prize winning novel right now and remembering who I was at 16, and thinking about how the novel shaped me in ways I didnt even recognize. For example, I was an atheist. The novel didnt change that, but Shug and Celies conversation about religion opened a door in my brain that allowed me to think about God in a different way, a less angry way. It aint a picture show It aint something you can look at apart from anything else including yourself. I believe God is everything, say Shug. Everything that is or was or ever will be. And when you feel that, and be happy to feel that, youve found it. I didnt remember those lines years later when my daughter was born, but they were butterflying inside of me so that as Ive mentioned here before with her birth I was open to the idea of agnosticism. But maybe at 16 I had some kind of premonition of how I would change, because when I finished reading it, I decided that if I ever had a daughter Id name her after one of the characters in The Color Purple. Thats just what I did.

Tricia Caspers is an award-winning poet and journalist. She may be reached at pcaspers@westtrestlereview.com

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Another View: 'The Color Purple' is just as brilliant as ever - Auburn Journal

Global Nanomedicine Market Research Report 2016 satPRnews – satPRnews (press release)

Posted on August 20, 2017 by ev1

Global Nanomedicine Market Research Report 2016

2016 Global Nanomedicine Market Report is a professional and in-depth research report on the worlds major regional market conditions of the Nanomedicine industry, focusing on the main regions (North America, Europe and Asia) and the main countries (United States, Germany, Japan and China).

Download sample pages of this report: https://goo.gl/cBLFx6

The report firstly introduced the Nanomedicine basics: definitions, classifications, applications and industry chain overview; industry policies and plans; product specifications; manufacturing processes; cost structures and so on. Then it analyzed the worlds main region market conditions, including the product price, profit, capacity, production, capacity utilization, supply, demand and industry growth rate etc. In the end, the report introduced new project SWOT analysis, investment feasibility analysis, and investment return analysis.

The report includes six parts, dealing with: 1.) basic information; 2.) the Asia Nanomedicine industry; 3.) the North American Nanomedicine industry; 4.) the European Nanomedicine industry; 5.) market entry and investment feasibility; and 6.) the report conclusion.

Download sample pages of this report: https://goo.gl/cBLFx6

About Us:

Key Market Insights is a stand-alone organization with a solid history of advancing and exchanging market research reports and logical surveys delivered by our numerous transnational accomplices, which incorporate both huge multinationals and littler, more expert concerns.

Contact:

sales@kminsights.com

+1 (888) 278-7681

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Global Nanomedicine Market Research Report 2016 satPRnews - satPRnews (press release)

Scientists give star treatment to lesser-known cells crucial for brain development – Seacoastonline.com

Posted on August 20, 2017 by ev1

After decades of relative neglect, star-shaped brain cells called astrocytes are getting their due. To gather insight into a critical aspect of brain development, a team of scientists examined the maturation of astrocytes in 3-D structures grown in culture dishes to resemble human brain tissue. The study, which confirms the lab-grown cells develop at the same rate as those found in human brains, was published in Neuron and funded in part by the National Institutes of Healths National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

This work addresses a significant gap in human brain research by providing an invaluable technique to investigate the role of astrocytes in both normal development and disease, said NINDS program director Jill Morris, Ph.D.

In 2015, a team directed by Dr. Sergiu Pasca, an assistant professor of psychiatry and behavioral science at Stanford University in California, and Dr. Ben Barres, Ph.D., a Stanford professor of neurobiology, published a method for taking adult skin cells, converting them to induced pluripotent stem cells, and then growing them as 3-D clusters of brain cells called human cortical spheroids (hCSs). These hCSs, which closely resemble miniature versions of a particular brain region, can be grown for many months. The cells in the cluster eventually develop into neurons, astrocytes, and other cells found in the human brain.

One of the challenges of studying the human brain is the difficulty of examining it at different stages of development, Dr. Pasca said. This is a system that tries to simulate brain development step by step.

In the new study, Steven Sloan, a student in Stanfords M.D./Ph.D. program, led a series of experiments comparing astrocytes from hCSs to those found in tissue from the developing and adult human brain. The team grew the hCSs for 20 months, one of the longest-ever studies of lab-grown human brain cells.

The results verified that the lab-grown cells change over time in a similar manner to cells taken directly from brain tissue during very early life, a critical time for brain growth. This process is considered critical for normal brain development and deviations are thought to cause a variety of neurological and mental health disorders, such as schizophrenia and autism. Creating hCSs using cells from patients could allow scientists to uncover the underlying developmental biology at the core of these disorders.

The hCS system makes it possible to replay astrocyte development from any patient, Dr. Barres said. Thats huge. Theres no other way one could ever do that without this method.

The current study showed that hCS-grown astrocytes develop at the same rate as those found in human brains, in terms of their gene activity, their shapes, and their functions. For example, astrocytes taken from hCSs that were less than six months old multiplied rapidly and were highly engaged in eliminating unnecessary connections between neurons, just like astrocytes in babies growing in the womb. But astrocytes grown in hCSs for more than nine months could not reproduce and removed significantly fewer of those connections, mirroring astrocytes in infants 6 to 12 months old. On the other hand, just like astrocytes from developing and adult brains, the early- and late-stage astrocytes from hCSs were equally effective at encouraging new connections to form between neurons.

Astrocytes are not just bystanders in the brain, Dr. Pasca said. Theyre not just there to keep neurons warm; they actually participate actively in neurological function.

Since astrocytes make up a greater proportion of brain cells in humans than in other species, it may reflect a greater need for astrocytes in normal human brain function, with more significant consequences when they dont work correctly, added David Panchision, Ph.D., program director at the National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH), which also helped fund the study.

The researchers caution that hCSs are only a model and lack many features of real brains. Moreover, certain genes that are active in fully mature astrocytes never switched on in the hCS-grown astrocytes, which they could conceivably do if the cells had more time to develop. To address this question, the researchers now hope to identify ways to produce mature brain cells more quickly. hCSs could also be used to scrutinize precisely what causes astrocytes to change over time and to screen drugs that might correct any differences that occur in brain disease.

These are questions that are going to be very exciting to explore, Dr. Barres said.

The study was funded by NINDS, the National Institute of Mental Health, the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine, the MQ Fellow Award, and Stanford University.

The NINDS is the nations leading funder of research on the brain and nervous system. The mission of NINDS is to seek fundamental knowledge about the brain and nervous system and to use that knowledge to reduce the burden of neurological disease.

The mission of the NIMH is to transform the understanding and treatment of mental illnesses through basic and clinical research, paving the way for prevention, recovery and cure. For information, visit the NIMH website.

The National Institute of General Medical Sciences supports basic research that increases understanding of biological processes and lays the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment and prevention. For information, visit the NIGMS website.

The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) was established to transform the translational process so that new treatments and cures for disease can be delivered to patients faster. For information, visit the NCATS website.

The National Institutes of Health, the nation's medical research agency, encompasses 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. NIH is the primary federal agency conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and is investigating the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

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Scientists give star treatment to lesser-known cells crucial for brain development - Seacoastonline.com

Nanotechnology May Be Used to Heal Wounds, Repair Organs – Healthline

Posted on August 18, 2017 by ev1

Researchers in Ohio are using skin cells and small chips to develop treatments that can repair damage from wounds, stroke, and organ failure.

Your skin cells are programmable, allowing them to be converted into other types of cells.

And now researchers have discovered how to reprogram them, making your body a potential gold mine of cells that can be used to heal wounds, treat stroke damage, and even restore function to aging organs.

A recent study published in Nature Nanotechnology describes the development of Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT), a technology that can convert an adult cell from one type to another.

The study was led by Chandan Sen, PhD, and L. James Lee, PhD, researchers at The Ohio State University. Sen and his colleagues applied the chip to the injured legs of mice, reprogramming the mices skin cells into vascular cells.

Within weeks, active blood vessels formed, saving the legs of the mice.

The technology is expected to be approved for human trials within a year.

This breakthrough in gene therapy is made possible by nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at a size at which unique properties of material emerge.

That means the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of materials are different at the atomic scale than at the larger scale were seeing on an everyday basis.

A nanometer is a billionth of a meter. A DNA molecule is 2 nanometers in diameter. Nanotechnologys scale is roughly 1 to 100 nanometers.

At the nanoscale, gold reflects colors other than what it does at the scale visible to the unaided eye. This physical property can be used in medical tests to indicate infection or disease.

Gold is yellow in color at the bulk level, but at the nanoscale level gold appears red, said Dr. Lisa Friedersdorf, director of the National Nanotechnology Coordination Office (NNCO) of the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

The NNCO coordinates the nanotechnology efforts of 20 federal government agencies.

We now have tools to enable us to fabricate and control materials at the nanoscale, Friedersdorf told Healthline. Researchers can create a nanoparticle with a payload inside to deliver a concentrated drug release directly to targeted cells, for instance. Soon well be able to identify and treat disease with precision. We could have personalized medicine and be able to target disease very carefully.

TNT works by delivering a specific biological cargo (DNA, RNA, and plasma molecules) for cell conversion to a live cell using a nanotechnology-based chip.

This cargo is delivered by briefly zapping a chip with a small electrical charge.

Nanofabrication enabled Sen and his colleagues to create a chip that can deliver a cargo of genetic code into a cell.

Think of the chip as a syringe but miniaturized, Sen told Healthline. Were shooting genetic code into cells.

The brief (one-tenth of a second) electrical charge of the postage stamp-sized device creates a pathway on the surface of the target cell that allows for the insertion of the genetic load.

Imagine the cell as a tennis ball, Sen said. If the entire surface is electrocuted, the cell is damaged and its abilities are suppressed. Our technology opens up just 2 percent of the surface of the tennis ball. We insert the active cargo into the cell through that window, and then the window closes, so there is no damage.

Cell reprogramming isnt new, but scientists have previously focused on converting primarily stem cells into other types of cells. The process took place in labs.

We disagreed with this approach, Sen said. When switching a cell in the lab, its in an artificial, sterile, and simple environment such as a petri dish. When its introduced into the body, it doesnt perform as intended.

We went upside-down. We bypassed the lab process and moved the reprogramming process to the live body, he explained.

This point-of-action capability will allow hospitals to adopt TNT sooner than if the process was limited to research facilities.

Sens teams approach was to act first, figure it out second.

There are a number of procedures and processes at play, Sen said. We dont understand all of them, but we achieved our goal. Now that weve achieved our goal, we can get into the details of how it works.

The healing of injuries by converting skin cells into vascular cells to regenerate blood vessels is one proven application of TNT.

Sens team also created nerve cells by the conversion process, injecting the newly formed neurotissue from the skin of a mouse with brain damage from stroke into its skull. The replacement rescued brain function that would otherwise have been lost.

Sen envisions additional uses for TNT, including organ recovery.

We could go into a failing organ via an endoscopic catheter with a chip to reprogram cells and restore organ function, Sen said. It doesnt have to be a skin cell. It could be excessive fat tissue.

TNT could improve our quality of life as we age, too.

Im a runner, so I have joint issues, Friedersdorf said. Nanotechnology could enable the regeneration of cartilage. Im hoping these technologies will be available when Im in need of them.

Sen and his team are currently searching for an industrial partner to manufacture chips designed to work for humans.

Then comes testing.

Ultimately, Sen hopes to drive rapid advancement in nanoscience and health.

Im a scientist, but this was inspired by the need to make an impact on health, Sen said. Our main goal is impact.

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Nanotechnology May Be Used to Heal Wounds, Repair Organs - Healthline

TAT Holds Global Medical Tourism Event: "Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017 … – Benzinga

Posted on August 18, 2017 by ev1

The Tourism Authority of Thailand is holding the Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Showcase 2017 to encourage Thailand's health tourism business in order to demonstrate the potentiality and readiness of health service products of Thailand at an international level, in order to create opportunities for health service providers of Thailand. Sellers can meet health tourism business representatives, buyers and media from all over the world to introduce Thailand's products and services to sales representatives worldwide.

Bangkok, Thailand (PRWEB) August 19, 2017

Mr. Noppadon Pakprot, Deputy Governor for Tourism Products and Business, Tourism Authority of Thailand presided over the Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017 yesterday, which unveiled the latest "Functional & Regenerative Medicine" innovation in Thailand.

Mr. Noppadon Pakprot, Deputy Governor for Tourism Products and Business at TAT said, "Thailand has long been recognized as a world destination for medical tourism. According to a report by VISA and Oxford Economics, Thailand has once more been confirmed as one of Asia's top medical tourism destinations. Thailand now has 58 JCI-accredited hospitals, more than any other Southeast Asian country."

The Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017, under the concept "Thailand: a Paradise for Longevity", showcased Thailand as a destination for longevity products and services.

Thailand has adopted the latest innovative medicine of the century: "Functional & Regenerative Medicine," the most popular health trend in the world. In fact, Thailand is the first and only country in Asia that has specialized Functional & Regenerative Medicine hospitals, namely Better Being Hospital and MALI hospital

Moreover, Thailand has become an anti-aging center in Asia with the largest number of American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine-certified medical professionals in Asia with 500 doctors.

"Recently, the government implemented new medical tourism policies extending the visitor stay period to 90 days for members of CLMV countries and Republic of China in order to accommodate medical tourists traveling to Thailand. In addition, the long-stay visa has also been extended to 10 years for 14 countries as follow: Japan, Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Canada and the U.S. These two recent policies should further enhance the positioning of Thailand to be a world-class medical tourism hub recognized the world over."

Mr. Noppadon noted: "This is the 4th such event that TAT has organized, and this year we proudly present the top 44 Health and Wellness providers in Thailand. This event will display the potential of Thailand along with its plethora of health and wellness products to international awareness. It will also provide a marketing platform for Thai health and wellness providers to discuss prospective business deals with medical tourism facilitators and travel agencies from across the globe."

The one-day event highlighted why Thailand is a "Paradise for Longevity", along with holding an informative presentation on the concept of "Functional & Regenerative Medicine." In the afternoon, buyers had the chance to discuss business deals with the top 44 health and wellness provider in Thailand, including: General Hospital, Plastic Surgery Hospital, Regenerative Functional Medicine Hospital, Anti-Aging Clinic, Cosmetic & Aesthetic Clinic, Dental Clinic, Cell Therapy Clinic, and Lab Check Up, all of whom were ready to discuss prospective business deals with international buyers.

Mr. Noppadon Pakprot concluded as follows: "We hope that this event will further strengthen the awareness of Thailand as the premier destination for health and wellness tourism, and that the trade event would help generate more than 500 millions Baht to the Thai economy."

Ms. Jittima Udayachalerm, Director, Royal Orchid Plus Business Unit said, "Royal Orchid Plus is delighted to be part of this global medical tourism event at this time. We've created exciting marketing activities to support this project. We've organized a special event, inviting Royal Orchid Plus Platinum and Gold members to come and get health check-ups for free, and also given them the chance to meet and buy special packages from the hospitals and clinics at the event. Additionally, we will promote an exclusive health and wellness deal to Royal Orchid Plus members through our online channels, including email, social media, and our website."

For the original version on PRWeb visit: http://www.prweb.com/releases/ThailandHealthWellness/2017/prweb14612783.htm

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TAT Holds Global Medical Tourism Event: "Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017 ... - Benzinga

Media's Anti-Aging Agenda without the Benefit of Scientific Evidence, Fact or Common Sense – Anti Aging News

Posted on August 18, 2017 by ev1

Allure Magazine announces it's intention to ban the term "anti-aging," and wipe it from the internet. Another veiled political attack against the successes of anti-aging sciences, but longevity medicine cannot be stopped.

First of all let us applaud the 29 celebrities in the Allure Magazine online article on August 15, 2017 (https://www.allure.com/gallery/celebrities-against-anti-aging) for what appears to be living and eating healthy, adhering to Anti-aging Medical Principles (preventative medicine), getting the proper amount of exercise, possibly buying all natural, non-gmo foods, and being blessed with great genetics.

Unfortunately, being blessed with great genetics alone does not always help someone stay beautiful as they circle the sun more than 40 times. You have to believe that, all though age is inevitable, it is not the only factor that causes your body to deteriorate and grow older.

WorldHealth.net thinks its horrible that some people misuse terms, or that in many cases the wrong message gets attached to good philosophies. WHN doesnt believe in unnecessary plastic surgery, hormonal therapies that are not physician supervised and medically legal, stem cell therapies at the beauty shop, overzealous and sometimes completely fake claims by advertisers such as anti-aging miracle skin creams, nor does WHN or any of its affiliates believe a buzz word or coined term should be used to influence potential consumers. WHN believes that credible noncommercial information should be used as a tool to combat ignorance and protect consumers.

If you are truly interested in the mission of Anti-aging medicine, subscribe to the Longevity Now newsletter here at WorldHealth.net and go to A4M.com and read about this 25 year old revolution. Anti-aging medicine, said Dr. Ronald Klatz, President of the A4M, who is accredited with Coining the Term Anti-aging more than 25 years ago, for the most part is all about inner beauty, it isnt about cosmetic surgery, solely enhancing your appearance, or even living forever. Its about living healthy, growing older with a better quality of life, and slowing down or defeating disease such as Macular Degeneration, Alzheimers, Diabetes, disease associated with Hormone Inadaquacies, and a host of other aliments that affect our bodies from gravity to normal wear and tear. No matter how new or old your car is you have to change the oil at regular intervals or your car simply wont last. I know this is a simply analogy, but our bodies are basically the same. Anti-aging is basically Preventative Medicine that looks stand takes advantage of natural remedies mixed with Scientific Gains to help the 100,000 plus doctors the A4M has trained, help their patients live happier and healthier lives.

Dr. Ronald Klatz went on further to point out, magazines such as Allure hardly focus on or promote inner beauty. They focus on outward appearance, pushing cosmetic goods, promote unbelievably attractive celebrities and models, and then they have the Gaul to take shots at Botox for helping many millions of people try to look and feel a little better. Unfortunately, Allure type magazines give young women unrealistic expectations on a daily basis that you need to look like Hale Berry, or Jennifer Anniston to be beautiful. Thats simply not true, but you do need to live the Anti-aging lifestyle so as you advance in years your dont suffer, and decay in old folks, but rather enjoy life to your last breath. Thats the true Anit-aging message.

WHN would like recognize bias, and WHN is a proponent of Anti-Aging Medicine so therefore WHN is slightly biased. WHN is an opponent of the abuse of the term Anti-aging by advertisers, product peddlers, and financially motivated journalists. For example, WHN can only make guesses as to the intentions of Allure Magazines position on the term Anti Aging. Allure could be talking about skin cream. However, WHN can use the quotes actually published by Allure titled 29 Celebrities That Are Against The Term Anti-Aging to let WHNs readers draw their own conclusions as to the intentions of Allure. If you read the quotes exactly as the appear at https://www.allure.com/gallery/celebrities-against-anti-aging, you will notice that only 3 of 29 beautiful celebrities even mentioned Ant-Aging.

WHN prefers to be honest and avoid Fake News. WHN would like you to know that Jamie Lee-Curtis almost mentioned the term Anti-aging. Instead Jamie refers to Anti-aging as Anti referencing aging in the same sentence before the term Anti which is the word that ends the sentence. Jamie starts the next sentence with Aging with the sentence before ending in Anti. This is simply journalistic dishonesty by a publications editor. This example of lack of journalistic integrity can be seen underlined below in Jamies quote:

I am appalled that the term we use to talk about aging is 'anti (end of sentence). Aging( Start of new sentence to create Anti. Aging) is as natural as a baby's softness and scent. Aging is human evolution in its pure form. Death, taxes, and aging." fromThe Huffington Post

TAT holds global medical tourism event: "Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017," focusing … – Markets Insider

Posted on August 18, 2017 by ev1

BANGKOK, Aug. 17, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Mr. NoppadonPakprot, Deputy Governorfor Tourism Products and Business,Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) presided over the Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017 yesterday, which unveiled the latest "Functional & Regenerative Medicine" innovation in Thailand.

Mr. NoppadonPakprot, Deputy Governorfor Tourism Products and Business at TAT said, "Thailand has long been recognized as a world destination for medical tourism. According to a report by VISA and Oxford Economics, Thailand has once more been confirmed as one of Asia's top medical tourism destinations. Thailand now has 58 JCI-accredited hospitals, more than any other Southeast Asian country."

The Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017, under the concept "Thailand: a Paradise for Longevity", showcased Thailand as a destination for longevity products and services.

Moreover, Thailand has become an anti-aging center in Asia with the largest number of American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine-certified medical professionals in Asia with 500 doctors.

"Recently, the government implemented new medical tourism policies extending the visitor stay period to 90 days for members of CLMV countries andTaiwan in order to accommodate medical tourists traveling to Thailand. In addition, the long-stay visa has also been extended to 10 years for 14 countries as follow: Japan, Australia, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, UK, Canada and the U.S. These two recent policies should further enhance the positioning of Thailand to be a world-class medical tourism hub recognized the world over."

Mr. Noppadonnoted: "This is the 4th such event that TAT has organized, and this year we proudly present the top 44 Health and Wellness providers in Thailand. This event will display the potential of Thailand along with its plethora of health and wellness products to international awareness. It will also provide a marketing platform for Thai health and wellness providers to discuss prospective business deals with medical tourism facilitators and travel agencies from across the globe."

The one-day event highlighted why Thailand is a "Paradise for Longevity", along with holding an informative presentation on the concept of "Functional & Regenerative Medicine. In the afternoon, buyers had the chance to discuss business deals with the top 44 health and wellness providers in Thailand, including: General Hospital, Plastic Surgery Hospital, Regenerative Functional Medicine Hospital, Anti-Aging Clinic, Cosmetic & Aesthetic Clinic, Dental Clinic, Cell Therapy Clinic, and Lab Check Up, all of whom were ready to discuss prospective business deals with international buyers.

Mr. NoppadonPakprot concluded as follows: "We hope that this event will further strengthen the awareness of Thailand as the premier destination for health and wellness tourism, and that the trade event would help generate more than 500 million Baht to the Thai economy."

Ms. Jittima Udayachalerm, Director, Royal Orchid Plus Business Unit said, "Royal Orchid Plus is delighted to be part of this global medical tourism event at this time. We've created exciting marketing activities to support this project. "We've organized a special event, inviting Royal Orchid Plus Platinum and Gold members to come and get health check-ups for free, and also given them the chance to meet and buy special packages from the hospitals and clinics at the event. Additionally, we will promote an exclusive health and wellness deal to Royal Orchid Plus members through our online channels, including email, social media, and our website."

SOURCE Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017

Link:
TAT holds global medical tourism event: "Amazing Thailand Health and Wellness Tourism Showcase 2017," focusing ... - Markets Insider

Growth in Nanomedicine market-2017 trends, forecasts, analysis … – satPRnews (press release)

Posted on August 18, 2017 by ev1

Download sample pages of this report: http://www.kminsights.com/request-sample-1892

Nanomedicine is a branch of medicine that applies the knowledge and tools of nanotechnology to the prevention and treatment of disease. Nanomedicine involves the use of nanoscale materials, such as biocompatible nanoparticles and nanorobots, for diagnosis, delivery, sensing or actuation purposes in a living organism.

The ongoing market trends of Nanomedicine market and the key factors impacting the growth prospects are elucidated. With increase in the trend, the factors affecting the trend are mentioned with perfect reasons. Top manufactures, price, revenue, market share are explained to give a depth of idea on the competitive side.

Each and every segment type and their sub types are well elaborated to give a better idea about this market during the forecast period of 2017respectively.

Download sample pages of this report: http://www.kminsights.com/request-sample-1892

About Us:Key Market Insights is a stand-alone organization with a solid history of advancing and exchanging market research reports and logical surveys delivered by our numerous transnational accomplices, which incorporate both huge multinationals and littler, more expert concerns.

Contact:sales@kminsights.com+1 (888) 278-7681

Leveraging The Power of Behavioral Science in Banking – The Financial Brand

Posted on August 18, 2017 by ev1

One of the benefits of advanced analytics and digital technology is the ability to better understand consumer behavior. In financial services, organizations are creating differentiation by using machine learning to assist consumers in managing their financial lives.

By Jon Ogden, Director of Content at MX

In the age of advanced analytics, data is quickly becoming more and more valuable and for good reason. Data enables banks, credit unions, and fintech companies to better understand their users, edge out the competition, and provide the right product to the right person at the right time.

However, finding clever ways to dice and display data isnt always sufficient for changing behavior. That is, its not enough just to present users with data points and expect them to get their financial lives in order or to know how to handle their money correctly. Changing behavior requires much more. Thats where behavioral science can help.

Behavioral science analyzes what actually gets people to change their behavior rather than going along with whatever common sense says might work. Common sense says that we wont constantly eat unhealthy food once we know it causes us health problems, and yet we often do it anyway. So what actually persuades people to change habits? Thats perhaps the most critical question the field of behavioral science asks.

Lets look at five examples from various industries to see what motivates people to behave how they truly want to behave.

Behavioral marketer Nancy Harhut tells about an interesting angle Merrill Lynch took to get more people to save up for retirement. The investment bank knew that for most young people, retirement is far from their top priority an understandable situation since young people are often wrestling with student debt and saving up for their first home. And yet, everyone knows that if you save for retirement early you get far better returns at retirement.

So what did Merrill Lynch do? They had users upload a photo of themselves and then ran the photo through an aging algorithm so users could see what they would look like at age 30, 40, 50, and so on. It seems like an odd feature for an investment bank to include in their digital product, but it ended up working. Users more fully realized that they needed to prepare for the future, and they changed their behavior accordingly.

The newest version of the iWatch comes with the Breathe app, an app that reminds you to focus on your breath for a certain period each day. Because the reminder is directly attached to your body in the form of a watch, you wont miss the alert to start and stop. The app also syncs to an iPhone so you can track how long you spent focused on your breathe each day.

Were still at the very beginning of whats possible with wearables, but apps like Breathe showcase an example of how technology influences behavioral science. When our technology is directly tied to our bodies, it may become easier and easier to remember to act in ways that improve our will.

Its not hard to imagine an app that alerts you in real time when youre about to spend too much at a grocery store thats equipped with the kind of technology thats available via Amazon Go(technology that can track whats in your cart as you pick it up or put it back). It wouldnt be surprising to see an app in the future that lets you set a budget before you enter a store and then holds you to that budget before you check out.

Riffing on the same theme of mindfulness, Insight Timer uses the power of networks to hold people accountable to change their behavior. When you sign into the app, it immediately shows you where people are using the app all over the world including people who live near you. From there you can find your friends and see how theyre doing at keeping up on their meditation practice.

It might seem like a small thing, but getting clued in to how your friends are behaving goes a long way to changing your behavior. You know that if you dont perform the desired behavior (in this case, meditation), all of your friends will see it and possibly even strangers who live near you. So you make an extra effort to make certain youre consistent in your habits.

While finances tend to be an area where were more private, its not hard to imagine applications that incentivize you to keep to your financial goals by connecting you with your friends. They wouldnt necessarily have to know the details of your goals, but simply by knowing that your peers will see if you binge on the coffee budget again, you might be less likely to do so.

Another example from banking comes from SunTrusts onUp program. To help users change their financial behavior, SunTrust invites them to take a preliminary quiz, share their personal stories, and attend in-person instruction about saving money. Each of these activities cues the user to pay closer attention to their financial habits, moving them closer to become financially confident.

It will be interesting to see how the onUp program develops as it integrates more fully with a range of APIs and various technologies. Even at this stage, its clear that SunTrust is leading the way when it comes to shifting the behavior of their users and helping them get in control of managing their money.

The Lose It app combines many of the ideas listed above into a single experience. Theres a community aspect, where you can compete against for your friends for losing weight and share your favorite recipes. You can even combine your efforts and join teams that compete against other teams, making for a gamified experience. If youre not interested in the community aspects, you can also select from a number of gamified personal challenges to tackle specific areas of fitness youd like to focus on. These challenges are coupled with tips and suggestions along the way.

In addition, the Lose It app connects to other applications such as Facebook, Twitter, Nike+, Fitbit, etc. This enables the app to combine the behavioral benefits of these other applications, similar to how the future of digital banking is likely to unfold, with a robust mix of APIs.

When it comes to things like finances, rest, and diet, human beings generally know what we should be doing. We each need just a little nudge to get us moving in the right direction. By studying examples from the field of behavioral science, banking can create experiences that help their account holders move in the right direction, making communities financially strong and improving company loyalty and well-being in the process. Its a goal worth pursuing.

All content 2017 by The Financial Brand and may not be reproduced by any means without permission.

City Officials Turn To Behavioral Science To Improve Government Services – CBS Philly

Posted on August 18, 2017 by ev1

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) What can behavioral science tell us about littering? The city of Philadelphia is trying to find out. The city is conducting experiments on various groups of residents to figure out what works.

The entire city is potentially the petri dish for GovlabPHL, an effort to improve government by experimenting with different messages, processes, provisions. The mayors policy chief Anjali Chainani is in charge.

We pilot program modifications and test to see what actually works before scaling something up,Chainani said.

READ: Wharton School Analysis Finds Problems With Immigration Proposal

She works with a team of behavioral scientists from local colleges. Dan Hopkins from Penn says its an academics dream come true.

Its a really neat, unparalleled opportunity to actually get to test these ideas in practice, Hopkins said, to put some of our research and our expertise to the test and see what actually works and which ideas dont really scale up when youre trying to deploy them in government.

So, for instance, you say youd recycle more if you had a good, covered bin. But would you? The city ran a controlled experiment in bin distributionon two routes one in Brewerytown and one in Port Richmond. They gave out 1,500 bins in April and are studying the results even as they plan the next one on which messages people respond to best.

Were really invested in the public being able to capitalize and learn from these results, as well,Chainani said. If it doesnt, we may want to try something else before spending a lot of money on lidded bins.

READ: Clean-Up Continues For Notorious Kensington Drug Haven

Another experiment looks at how trash can placement affects littering.

And GovLabPHL is researching not just litter but other efforts. How best to get people to renew their Bike-share pass, for instance, or enroll in wellness programs.

Employing behavioral science can help us get better bang for our scarce taxpayer dollars, Hopkins said.

Read the rest here:
City Officials Turn To Behavioral Science To Improve Government Services - CBS Philly

We’ve Already Got Socialized Medicine – Scientific American (blog)

Posted on August 17, 2017 by ev1

On July 12, an FDA panel recommended approval of the first genetically engineered T cell for commercial sale to treat childhood leukemia, a blood cancer. The biologic could cost $300,000 per patient, leaving questions of whether some insurance companies will pay for it. Such cancer therapies can run into sizable costs for patient follow-ups. But, in the coming years, engineered T cells will be in high demand, even more so if they can be applied to solid tumors.

The Trump administration keeps threatening to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which suggests new inequalities to health care access. This will only be made worse by expensive new drugs, which test the limits of insurance reimbursement. However, even a single-payer system is unlikely to help to ensure access to such staggeringly expensive biologics. For instance, the National Health Services in Britain will be hard pressed to reimburse for six-figure biologics. If so, the only ethical action would be to use the power of the state to force down the cost of such cancer drugs.

A conservative argument against socialized medicine is based on the tragic vision of human nature, which suggests that people are guided by innate self-interests, and that societyand, by implication, biotechrequires constraint through moral and legal checks. The reality is that many of us do harbor a genetic variant that predicts a rare genetic disorder, or cancer, and we certainly cant afford to correct every anomaly in nature. However, a counter-position is that we are already participating in socialized medicine through funding the National Institutes of Health, which subsidizes the risk and cost of investigating drug targets and tools, not to mention results in generous salaries for many scientists.

In 2004, Noam Chomsky noted that Eisenhowers military-industrial complex was a misnomer, arguing that the actual purpose of taxpayer support is to boost economic prospects for investors, including those at life science companies. If you walk around MIT today, around Kendall Square, you see small biotech companies, spin-offs of government-sponsored research in what will be the cutting edge of the economy, namely, biology-based industries.

If you looked around 40 years ago (then to the newly developing Route 128 corridor), you would have seen small electronics firms, spin-offs of what was then the cutting edge of the economy, electronics, under military cover. So Eisenhowers military-industrial complex is not quite what is generally interpreted. In part, yes, its military. But a main function of the military, or the National Institutes of Health, or the rest of the federal system, is to provide some device to socialize costs, get the public to pay the costs, to take the risks. Ultimately, if anything comes out, you put it into private pockets.

That cancer patients should be criticized for depending on socialized medicine on the consumer end conceals the fact that scientists depend on taxpayers to subsidize their careers, while developing many of the technologies in academic settings and then profiteering them out. The high profile patent battle over CRISPR gene editing system was one of these situations, which resulted in a mix of philanthropic and public money paying for the invention of a technology that is now enrapt in a web of financial dealings not to mention bitter rivalries. Editas Medicine, a spinout of Harvard and MITs Broad Institute, which claims exclusive rights to medical applications of CRISPR-Cas9, signed a highly profitable $737 million deal with cancer T-cell company Juno Therapeutics.

If we are already participating in socialized medicine, the only tragedy will be if the socialism stops on the consumer side. One suggestion I have made previously is to no longer fund academic scientists and their partners who have established a strong foothold in the economy. Novartis (the company with the cancer biologic expected to price up to $300,000, compared with the $25,000 cost to actually manufacture it) recently completed a$600 million campus in Cambridge. The Broad Institute is seeded with $1.4 billion in wealth. The state of the union of life science is strong. If cutting taxpayer subsidies to scientists is too sensitive an idea, then we can use the power of the state to contain the costs of biologics, which we effectively subsidize.

A drug price fairness initiative is on the ballot in Ohio, and would enable public payers such as Medicaid to pay 20 percent under market price; transparency laws, established in Vermont make the costs of drugs clear; indeed, we may even cap the cost of biologics by executive order.

Entrepreneurial scientists are moving ahead with some exciting work on making use of CRISPR to disable genes in our T cells, which could prevent cancer cells from shutting down an immune response, and by adding bits of code to our immune cells to enable them to attach to abnormal protein fragments on solid tumors. If we take a tragic view of nature, these drugs will be priced as high as the market will allow. We can use the power of the state to change that.

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We've Already Got Socialized Medicine - Scientific American (blog)

100 years after legislators barred WSU from starting medical school, WSU’s first class of medical students start … – The Spokesman-Review

Posted on August 17, 2017 by ev1

When Washington State University opens the doors to its first class of medical students Wednesday, many of them wont know and most may not care about the political maneuvering that first made this day difficult, and then made it possible.

Just over two years ago, it wouldnt even have been legal for WSU to have its own medical school.

A 1917 law gave the University of Washington the sole authority to operate a medical school in the state, a result of the Legislature settling a turf war over academic majors between the schools in Seattle and Pullman. The state had only so much money to spend on its public colleges, and wasnt about to pay for duplicating expensive programs. UW got architecture, law, journalism and aeronautical engineering; what was then Washington State College got veterinary medicine, almost anything related to agriculture and rural life.

A medical school, when one was built, would be exclusively the right of UW, the law said in another section. That didnt happen for another 28 years, when the Legislature came up with $3.7 million for the university to set up schools of medicine and dentistry as World War II was ending.

That law stayed on the books, and UW School of Medicine expanded as Washington grew. The fact that it was the only medical school at a public university in Washington probably didnt seem so strange because the nearby states of Wyoming, Alaska, Montana and Idaho had none at all. In the 1960s, the university set up a cooperative arrangement with those states to educate their med students as well in a program called WWAMI, which takes its acronym from the first letters of the five states.

WWAMI had a presence in Pullman for years, but in the 1990s, local leaders began angling for expanded medical education in Spokane to complement one of the citys biggest growth industries, health care. One problem was they didnt have a place to put it.

Todays new medical students may look around and marvel at the grassy hillsides and river walkways of Riverpoint campus, but should realize that 25 years ago that was just a stretch of debris-strewn rail lines between Gonzaga University and Trent Avenue. The area began to change when local leaders persuaded the Legislature to build the Spokane Intercollegiate Research and Technology Institute, which was a cooperative effort between local public and private colleges. The state later built classrooms nearby for WSU and Eastern Washington University.

In 2006, WSU broke ground on a new Intercollegiate College of Nursing at Riverpoint, moving the coordinated nurses training from its old quarters near Spokane Falls Community College.

Five years later, city leaders had a new ask: a building for medical students at Riverpoint. While it was often called a med school by locals, its official title was the Biomedical and Science Center.

That was late 2011. The state still was trying to recover from the recession, and the $70 million structure wasnt in then-Gov. Christine Gregoires early budget proposal. But WSU President Elson Floyd made the hard sell and Spokane had some powerful allies in the Legislature, including then-Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, a Spokane Democrat whose district included Riverpoint. The final capital budget had $35 million for the building, with the understanding that the next year, the state wouldnt walk away from the project halfway through, and the rest of the money would be in the 2013-15 capital budget. It was.

Brown retired at the end of 2012 and took the job of chancellor at WSU-Spokane.

Before that building was complete, however, friction between WSU and UW got hot enough to start a brush fire.

For the 2013 school year, UW was given enough money to send 20 medical students to WWAMI in Spokane; it sent 17. Floyd said UW didnt recruit enough students to fill the slots. UW President Michael Young said the school could only find 17 students who wanted to go to Spokane. Floyd countered that if UW wouldnt cooperate, WSU would start its own medical school.

Good luck, said Young, adding that Floyd didnt know how a medical school is run. What came to be known as the medical school Apple Cup was on.

Gov. Jay Inslee a Husky alum married to a Cougar alum tried to stay out of the rivalry, and wrote a budget in late 2014 that didnt have new money for either medical school. He let the universities make their pitches to the legislative committees that would write the final budgets.

Although UW had plans to eventually have a new class of 80 med students each year at WWAMI in Spokane, it was Floyd who put on the full-court press starting in January 2015 for WSU to have its own medical school. He made repeated trips to Olympia, wowed lawmakers during committee hearings and charmed them in private meetings. He slowly made inroads into the strong support UW traditionally has from Seattle-area legislators, and his pitch for a new school with a different system to train doctors for family medicine and rural practice resonated with those from rural areas who were seeing a shortage of health care practitioners. It would be part of an overall strategy that included more medical residencies in rural hospitals and clinics and more financial aid for students who would practice in those areas.

Floyd also had some powerful allies like Mark Schoesler, the Ritzville Republican whose district includes the Pullman campus and parts of Spokane County and who by then was Senate majority leader.

When the Legislature held hearings on rewriting the 1917 law, UW said it didnt object to the change as long as money for the new school didnt come out of the WWAMI budget and hurt that program.

In March 2015, the Legislature passed a bill that gave WSU the legal authority although not the money to have its own medical school. In legislative budgets that were released a few weeks later, UW was allotted $9.7 million to expand WWAMI in Spokane and WSU was given $8 million over the next two years to cover the costs of seeking accreditation and getting ready for its first class of med students.

On April 1 of that year, Floyd, Brown and a group of smiling legislators stood behind Inslee as he signed the WSU medical school authorizing bill. There were cheers all around, but the loudest were for Floyd.

Two months later, university officials announced Floyd was taking a leave of absence to battle colon cancer. He would lose that battle before the end of the month.

In what may have been the easiest decision of the 2015 session, the Legislature moved within days to name the new medical school for Floyd.

UW would later break off its arrangements with WSU for WWAMI and enter into an agreement with nearby Gonzaga University. The competition for funding has decreased slightly as the need for doctors the two schools can produce has increased. The states 2017-19 operating budget has a total of $15 million for medical education in Spokane between the two schools.

Based on plans for the two programs, Spokane could go from having no medical school at the beginning of this decade to at least 240 med students in two schools at the end of it.