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A soothing experience: Custom pain management through alternative therapies – dvm360

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Traditional Chinese medicine provides Dr. Sally Barchman an opportunity to create a unique pain management treatment plan for each veterinary patient.

Dr. Barchman performing acupuncture with her dog. | Photo courtesy of Troy Van Horn.

For Sally Barchman, DVM, CVA, owner of State Line Animal Hospital and Holistic Health in Leawood, Kansas, her interest in acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine stems from honoring the memory of a late colleague and friend. Today, inside the spa-like atmosphere of her integrative medicine space, pets in pain find relief.

I was practicing in the main hospital and it wasnt as zen I imagined it could be. So now in the space we have a running fountain and use an essential oil diffuser, and the walls are in a softer-color paint. We have the tools that we need but try to keep it minimalistic, Dr. Barchman says. Soft music and comfortable rugs on the floor and exam table complete the space, which is in a leased building across the street from the main hospital.

Traditional Chinese medicine is composed of five components: acupuncture, food therapy, Chinese herbs, exercise and tui na, which is a type of massage. At Dr. Barchmans practice, instead of massage, a chiropractor not only performs chiropractic adjustments on the animals but also does deep tissue manipulation and myofascial release. Dr. Barchman is certified in veterinary acupuncture and is also working toward her certification in food and Chinese herbs.

When an animal presents with signs of pain, Dr. Barchman completes a traditional exam, but then also checks the pets tongue and pulse diagnosis to direct her treatment plan.

A view of Dr. Barchman's treatment space. | Photo courtesy of Troy Van Horn.

You look at the tongues color and whether it is dry or wet, and feel the strength and speed of their pulses, to see whats going on, she says. Dr. Barchman also discusses food and Chinese herbs with clients in addition to acupuncture.

There are yin and yang properties in every food, so if an animal presents with hot signs, you want to cool them down; with cool signs you want to warm them up. This can be done with things like changing up the protein in the pets dry food or home-cooking meals, she says.

When combined with food and herbs, acupuncture can be performed less frequently, Dr. Barchman says. Acupuncture is the more expensive part of it, so if we can use food and herbs to help balance out the body, the acupuncture treatments can be done less often, she says.

The plan is tailored to what each patient and client needs and is able to do. If a client says I just cant cook for my pet right now, well discuss other options, Dr. Barchman explains.

The essential oils that Dr. Barchman diffuses in her treatment space. | Photo courtesy of Troy Van Horn.

It depends on whats going with that animal on that day. It goes a little deeper than just giving an NSAID and moving on, Dr. Barchman says. Whatever the client wants to do is what well do and what works best for the animal. Well often try a combination of Eastern and Western medicine. I tell the client, A quick fix is medication, but it doesnt always fix the underlying cause. So sometimes if its a really painful condition well start with medication but then follow up with acupuncture and herbs to try and get them off the medication eventually or prevent the condition from occurring again.

The flexibility of combining alternative and traditional therapies allows Dr. Barchman to provide a complete solution for each patients she sees, she says. And even though these modalities typically require follow-up appointments over a period of time, she doesnt have problems with client compliance. Usually the people who are seeking out holistic care are really dedicated, so we dont have too much of a problem with people not coming back, she says. One thing that helps is that often, especially with painful conditions, results are seen after just one session, she says.

Thats not always the case, though, so Dr. Barchman came up with a package plan to encourage follow-through. If people buy four follow-up treatments, they receive half off of their consult price. In five treatments you should see whats going to happen, so I encourage the package. If they arent really believers I try to have more than just one treatment to have a chance to help the animal, Dr. Barchman says.

Our purpose is loving on people by loving on their pets through high-quality, integrative medicine, Dr. Barchman says. So well tailor the plan to whatever the client wants to do.

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A soothing experience: Custom pain management through alternative therapies - dvm360

Sports medicine doctor on how to combat knee arthritis symptoms – CBS News

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A new study found osteoarthritis of the knee is more than twice as common as it was just a few generations ago. It's estimated that the lifetime risk of developing this condition is 46 percent.

However, it is possible to protect your knees and even reverse some of the symptoms. Dr. Jordan Metzl, a sports medicine physician at New York's Hospital for Special Surgery, joined "CBS This Morning" to discuss what might be causing the increase and what you can do to reduce arthritic symptoms.

Asked what people are doing wrong when it comes to arthritis, Metzl said, "They're not recognizing the symptoms of arthritis."

The first thing to do if you are having symptoms, Metzl said, is to get an X-ray, which will show if there is a "narrowing between the bones."

Metzl also credits the inactivity of modern life. "If you were alive 100 years ago, you walked more, you were much more active," Metzl said.

"As this study shows us, the incidence of arthritis, the prevalence has more than doubled in the past hundred years and there are some different reasons for why that may be including people living longer and having higher weights but also related to activity," Metzl said.

X-rays of what a healthy knee versus an arthritic knee looks like.

CBS News

To reduce symptoms, he says the best thing to do is strengthen your muscles with exercises like squats and lunges instead of saying off of the knee and, in effect, becoming more inactive.

"We want them to be very active. When they get arthritis I get them started on exercise, strengthening," Metzl said.

While he says the wrong shoes can play a part in making symptoms worse, they don't necessarily cause arthritis.

"I think the shoes may be part of making the symptoms worse. I don't think it really has a lot to do with the reasons people get arthritis which are probably genetic, longevity, body index and then maybe inactivity but once you have arthritis we do a lot to control your symptoms," Metzl said.

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How glass-sealed connectors increase medical device longevity – Medical Design & Outsourcing

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As medical instruments and technologies grow more sophisticated and complex, it is increasingly important to guard sensitive components from the autoclaving process while supporting their longevity. Glass offers a solution.

Jochen Herzberg, Schott Electronic Packaging

Autoclavable glass-sealed connector from Schott [Image courtesy of Schott Electronic Packaging]

Implementation of high-quality connectors using the right materials is crucial. Inferior components can weaken the protection of the devices electronics. Glass-to-metal sealing technology, already used in other harsh-environment applications such as aviation, aerospace and automotive safety, has emerged as an ideal solution in the development and manufacture of medical connectors. Glass-to-metal sealed connectors offer a resilient and dependable option that remains reliably gas-tight for over 3,500 autoclaving cycles, subsequently helping extend the lifespan of medical devices.

Many medical connectors are sealed with polymers or epoxy resins, which are not capable of maintaining a dependable seal over a long period. During the autoclaving process and especially after repeated cycles, polymer-based connectors will allow for a certain permeability of moisture. This can cause damage to electronic components. The binders and chemicals that make up polymer seals deteriorate over time, leaving a brittle shield incapable of providing truly reliable protection from autoclaving conditions.

The aging process and breakdown of these organic materials can happen quickly, sometimes after as few as 100 autoclaving cycles. The potential inability of polymer seals to stand up to the fundamentally important autoclaving process can lead to a plethora of problems: shortened device lifespan, failure during a procedure and increased total cost of ownership from compromised seal integrity.

A common argument against glass as a material is the idea that it is easily broken. Glass-to-metal sealing technology challenges this concept. Using advanced manufacturing processes, the glass preform and metal pieces are heated to a temperature that melts the glass, fusing glass and metal to create a gas-tight and pressure-proof seal.

During their use, glass seals maintain integrity because glass is inorganic and non-aging. It is non-porous and resistant to drastic environmental changes. This makes it a choice material to use in the manufacture of medical connectors because it has a proven ability to withstand the autoclaving process more than 3,500 times. The strong seal effectively prevents the ingress of moisture and other outside contaminants, safeguarding electronics from damaging humidity and particulates.

Confidence is of the utmost importance in medicine. A doctors confidence in his abilities, decisions, colleagues and treatment all come together in the effort to create a successful patient outcome. The same need for confidence applies to medical devices. Medical professionals must be able to have trust in their equipment. The use of devices with glass-to-metal sealed connectors goes a long way to help establish this on many fronts.

Cross-contamination incidents are one of the most substantial threats to patient safety and professional integrity in the medical industry. Mitigating the risk of such incidents is why the autoclaving process is extremely important in medical environments. Traditionally, steam sterilization presents a major strain on devices because it can accelerate wear on components. With protection for electronics from glass-to-metal connectors, devices can undergo a complete and intensive autoclaving cycle over 3,500 times without risk of accelerated damage or wear on the electronics.

Increased reliability aided by the use of glass-to-metal connectors eases worry both in the operating room and finance office. Glass-to-metal connectors can help extend device service life, reduce maintenance costs, and lessen the chance of warranty claims and physician frustrations. Surgeons and patients can experience the safety benefit of a decreased chance of device failure, while hospital budgets can experience a reduced burden thanks to a less-frequent device replacement schedule.

Versatility is another key benefit that sets glass-to-metal sealed connectors apart in a constantly developing medical landscape. Integration possibilities for medical applications include surgical tools, endoscopes or instruments for spectrometry and pulse oximetry. Customization possibilities can be met for individual and exact application needs, enabling design flexibility for medical device engineers. This creates the opportunity to conceptualize distinct ideas while still meeting strict regulatory requirements for medical devices.

Glass-to-metal sealed medical connectors can be custom-designed in a number of ways, including varying shapes, sizes and pin configurations to match requirements for integration in medical devices that require power and data supply and must be repeatedly autoclaved.

Devices and techniques will change, but the rigid standards for autoclaving requirements for hygienic operating rooms will remain a constant. As medical instruments and technologies grow more sophisticated and complex, it is increasingly important to guard sensitive components from the autoclaving process while supporting their longevity. Glass, in its distinct role as an inorganic and reliable sealing material, offers a way.

Jochen Herzberg is an innovation leader at Schott Electronic Packaging in Landshut, Germany.

(See the best minds in medtech live at DeviceTalks Boston on Oct. 2.)

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Gene-editing scientists to share $500K Albany Med prize – Albany Times Union

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Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D. , professor, Molecular and Cell Biology and Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley. (UC-Berkeley)

Jennifer Doudna, Ph.D. , professor, Molecular and Cell Biology and Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley. (UC-Berkeley)

Luciano Marraffini, Ph.D., associate professor, Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University, New York City. (Mario Morgado)

Luciano Marraffini, Ph.D., associate professor, Laboratory of Bacteriology, The Rockefeller University, New York City. (Mario Morgado)

Gene-editing scientists to share $500K Albany Med prize

Albany

Five scientists whose work on the revolutionary gene-editing technology CRISPR will share the 2017 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research.

The decision by the Albany Prize National Selection Committee to award the $500,000 prize to these researchers stands out from recent announcements of the prestigious award, which have acknowledged scientists for groundbreaking work leading to current medical advances. While developments using CRISPR have exploded this year, its use in humans remains a promise, but one with far-reaching effects.

"The committee saw this technology as having huge potential for eradicating human disease," said Dr. Vincent Verdile, dean of Albany Medical College and chair of the prize committee.

CRISPR (pronounced "crisper") stands for "clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats." It is a DNA sequence that simple bacteria use to defend themselves against viruses by snipping out part of the virus DNA so it can be recognized by the bacteria's own immune systems. The technology based on it lets scientists "edit" genes at specific locations by removing, adding or altering parts of the DNA sequence.

In the last year, CRISPR technology has been used to remove a gene linked to heart disease from human embryos and to create a cancer-killing gene that shrinks tumors in mice. Last week, scientists revealed in the journal Science that they had created piglets stripped of viruses that could cause disease in humans; the technique could open the door for eventual transplantation of livers, hearts and other organs from pigs to people.

The scientists who will share the Albany Prize are:

Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Institute for Infection Biology in Germany. Charpentier is co-inventor and co-owner of the intellectual property comprising the CRISPR gene-editing system, and co-founder of two companies developing the technology for biotech and biomedical applications.

Jennifer Doudna of the University of California, Berkeley. Five years ago, Doudna described a simple way of editing the DNA of any organism using an RNA-guided protein founded in bacteria.

Luciano Marraffini of Rockefeller University in New York City. Marraffini discovered that CRISPR works by severing DNA and was the first to propose that it could be used to edit genes in organisms other than bacteria. With Feng Zhang, he performed the first successful CRISPR gene-editing experiment in human cells.

Francisco J.M. Mojica of the University of Alicante in Spain. Mojica's work has led to the development of tools used in the genetic manipulation of any living being, including humans.

Feng Zhang of the Broad Institute of Massachusetts Institute of Technology and Harvard University. Zhang pioneered the development of gene editing tools for use in human cells from bacterial CRISPR systems.

The Albany Prize Committee's selection of five scientists to share the award this year reflects an increasing trend in science toward collaboration, where information is shared and groups of researchers move knowledge forward in ways that no one of them could do alone, Verdile said. It's a major change since the days when a single scientist would be credited with, say, the discovery of a vaccine.

"That's more of where the future of biomedical research is going what's good for the good of mankind, not me personally," Verdile said.

News reports in recent years have focused on the ethical aspects of CRISPR technology, which in addition to its potential to prevent devastating diseases, could also be used for cosmetic purposes or have unintended consequences that affect the descendants of the person whose genes are edited. The Albany Prize Committee did not consider such "what if" scenarios, Verdile said, leaving those conversations for future ethicists and policymakers as specific medical techniques are developed.

The Albany Prize, one of the nation's largest for science and medicine, was established in 2000 by the late Morris "Marty" Silverman, a New York City businessman and philanthropist who grew up in Troy. A commitment of $50 million from the Marty and Dorothy Silverman Foundation allows for the prize to be awarded annually for 100 years.

Albany Med released the 2017 award recipients' names Tuesday morning. The recipients will formally receive their awards at a Sept. 27 ceremony in Albany.

chughes@timesunion.com 518-454-5417 @hughesclaire

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Gene-editing scientists to share $500K Albany Med prize - Albany Times Union

Feng Zhang to share Albany Medical Prize – MIT News

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Feng Zhang, a member of the McGovern Institute for Brain Research and an associate professor in the Departments of Brain and Cognitive Sciences and of Biological Engineering, has been named a winner of the 2017 Albany Medical Center Prize in Medicine and Biomedical Research.

Zhang, who is the Poitras Professor in Neuroscience at MIT and a core member of the Broad Institute, is recognized for his contributions to the development of CRISPR-Cas9 as a gene editing technology, which in the words of the prize announcement has revolutionized biomedical research and provided new hope for the treatment of genetic diseases and more.

The $500,000 prize has been given annually since 2001 to those who have altered the course of medical research, and is one of the largest prizes in medicine and science in the United States. Past recipients include eight Nobel Laureates.

In announcing the award, the Dean of Albany Medical College, Vincent Verdile, said: Rarely has such a recent discovery transformed an entire field of research, as CRISPR has in biological research. Its implications for biological processes, including human health and disease are promising and quite profound.

Zhang will share the prize with four other CRISPR researchers: Emmanuelle Charpentier of the Max Planck Institute; Jennifer Doudna of University of California at Berkeley; Luciano Marraffini of Rockefeller University; and Francisco Mojica of the University of Alicante.

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Genetically Engineering Pigs to Grow Organs for People – The Atlantic

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The idea of transplanting organs from pigs into humans has been around for a long time. And for a long time, xenotransplantsor putting organs from one species into anotherhas come up against two seemingly insurmountable problems.

The first problem is fairly intuitive: Pig organs provoke a massive and destructive immune response in humansfar more so than an organ from another person. The second problem is less obvious: Pig genomes are rife with DNA sequences of viruses that can infect human cells. In the 1990s, the pharmaceutical giant Novartis planned to throw as much $1 billion at animal-to-human transplant research, only to shutter its research unit after several years of failed experiments.

Quite suddenly, however, solving these two problems has become much easier and much faster thanks to the gene-editing technology CRISPR. With CRISPR, scientists can knock out the pig genes that trigger the human immune response. And they can inactivate the virusescalled porcine endogenous retroviruses, or PERVsthat lurk in the pig genome.

On Thursday, scientists working for a startup called eGenesis reported the birth of 37 PERV-free baby pigs in China, 15 of them still surviving. The black-and-white piglets are now several months old, and they belong to a breed of miniature pigs that will grow no bigger than 150 poundswith organs just the right size for transplant into adult humans.

eGenesis spun out of the lab of the Harvard geneticist George Church, who previously reported inactivating 62 copies of PERV from pig cells in 2015. But the jump from specialized pig cells that grow well in labs to living PERV-free piglets wasnt easy.

We didnt even know we could have viable pigs, says Luhan Yang, a former graduate student in Churchs lab and co-founder of eGenesis. When her team first tried to edit all 62 copies in pig cells that they wanted to turn into embryos, the cells died. They were more sensitive than the specialized cell lines. Eventually Yang and her team figured out a chemical cocktail that could keep these cells alive through the gene-editing process. This technique could be useful in large-scale gene-editing projects unrelated to xenotransplants, too.

When Yang and her team first inactivated PERV from cells in a lab, my colleague Ed Yong suggested that the work was an example of CRISPRs power rather than a huge breakthrough in pig-to-human transplants, given the challenges of immune compatibility. And true, Yang and Church come at this research as CRISPR pioneers, but not experts in transplantation. At a gathering of organ-transplantation researchers last Friday, Church said that his team had identified about 45 genes to make pig organs more compatible with humans, though he was open to more suggestions. I would bet we are not as sophisticated as we should be because weve only been recently invited [to meetings like this], he said. Its an active area of research for eGenesis, though Yang declined to disclose what the company has accomplished so far.

Its great genetic-engineering work. Its an accomplishment to inactivate that many genes, says Joseph Tector, a xenotransplant researcher at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Researchers like Tector, who is also a transplant surgeon, have been chipping away at the problem of immune incompatibility for years, though. CRISPR has sped up that research, too. The first pig gene implicated in the human immune response as one involved in making a molecule called alpha-gal. Making a pig that lacked alpha-gal via older genetic-engineering methods took three years. Now from concept to pig on the ground, its probably six months, says Tector.

Using CRISPR, his team has created a triple-knockout pig that lacks alpha-gal as well as two other genes involved in molecules that that provoke the human immune systems immediate hyperacute rejection of pig organs. For about 30 percent of people, the organs from these triple-knockout pigs should not cause hyperacute rejection. Tector thinks the patients who receive these pig organs could then be treated with the same immunosuppressant drugs that recipients take after an ordinary human-to-human transplant.

Tector and David Cooper, another transplant pioneer, were both recently recruited to the University of Alabama at Birmingham for a xenotransplant program funded by United Therapeutics, a Maryland biotech company that wants to manufacture transplantable organs.

Cooper has transplanted kidneys from pigs engineered by United Therapeutics to have six mutations, which lasted over 200 days in baboons. The result is promising enough that he says human trials could begin soon. These pigs were not created using CRISPR and they are not PERV-free, though recent research has suggested that PERV may not be that harmful to humans. It will be up to the FDA to decide whether pig organs with PERV are safe enough to transplant into people.

If it happens, routine pig-to-human transplants could truly transform healthcare beyond simply increasing the supply. Organs would go from a product of chancesomeone young and healthy dying, unexpectedlyto the product of a standardized manufacturing process. Its going to make such a huge difference that I dont think its possible to conceive of it, says Cooper. Organ transplants would no longer have to be emergency surgeries, requiring planes to deliver organs and surgical teams to scramble at any hour. Organs from pigs can be harvested on a schedule, and surgeries planned for exact times during the day. A patient that comes in with kidney failure could get a kidney the next dayeliminating the need for large dialysis centers. Hospital ICU beds will no longer be taken up by patients waiting for a heart transplant.

With the ability to engineer a donor pig, pig organs can go beyond simply matching a human organ. For example, Cooper says, you could engineer organs to protect themselves from the immune system in the long term, perhaps by making their own localized dose of immunosuppressant drugs.

'Big Pork' Wants to Get In on Organ Transplants

At last Fridays summit, Church speculated about making organs resistant to tumors or viruses. When an audience member asked about the possibility of genetically enhancing pig organs to work as well as Michael Phelpss lungs or Usain Bolts heart, he responded, We not only can but should enhance pig organs, even if were opposed to enhancing human beings ... They will go through safety and efficacy testing, but part of efficacy is making sure theyre robust and maybe they have to be as robust as Michael Phelps in order to do the job.

Xenotransplantation will raise ethical questions, of course, and genetically enhancing pigs might come uncomfortably close to the plot of Okja. These enhancements are hard to fathom for now because scientist dont yet know what genes to alter if they wanted to make, for example, super lungs. Its taken decades of research to pinpoint the handful of genes that could make pig organs simply compatible with humans. But the technical ability to make any editsor even dozens of edits at oncewith CRISPR is already here.

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20 bad habits that are lowering your sperm count – The San Diego Union-Tribune

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Sperm count is kind of a big deal right now in the United States. According to a recent and terrifying study published in the journalHuman Reproduction Update, sperm counts in the United States, Europe, Australia, and New Zealand are all plummeting.

And by plummeting, we mean plummeting. Sperm counts have decreased on average by over 50 percent.

For 20 Bad Habits That Are Lowering Your Sperm Count, click here.

The average cost of in vitro fertilization in the U.S. is currently about $11,000 to $12,000, and the prevalence of these procedures is equally concerning. More women are using in vitro methods of fertilization to get pregnant than ever before; this could in part be due to the high mortality rate of sperm making fertilization less likely through more natural methods.

There are many hypotheses out there about what men could do better to preserve their sperm. They range from reasonable to ridiculous - drinking Mountain Dew, for example, has no proven effect on your sperm at all. However, some sperm-massacring habits that at first sound ridiculous are not to be messed with.

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A New Gene Editing Technique Could Finally Allow Us to Treat ALS – Futurism

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In BriefResearchers from UC San Diego's School of Medicine have tested a modified CRISPR-Cas9 technique designed to target RNA instead of DNA. Rcas9 could potentially improve the lives of patients with ALS, Huntington's disease, or myotonic dystrophy by delaying the progression of their disorders.

The most efficient and effective gene-editing tool in use today is CRISPR-Cas9. Just this year, researchers have successfully used it fora wide variety of experiments, from modifying garden vegetables to encoding a GIF in bacterial DNA. Most recently, the tool was used to remove a genetic disease from a human embryo.

Although undeniably powerful, CRISPR-Cas9 does have its limitations; it can only target DNA. To extend its capabilities to includeRNA editing, researchers from the University of California San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicinedeveloped amodification of CRISPR, and theyre calling their toolRNA-targeting Cas9 (RCas9).

In a study published in Cell, the UCSD team tested their technique by correcting the kinds of molecular mistakes that cause people to develop microsatellite repeat expansion diseases, such ashereditary amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)and Huntingtons disease.

During standard CRISPR-CAs9 gene editing, a guide RNA is instructed to deliver a Cas9 enzyme to a specific DNA molecule. The researchers from UCSD instead instructed it to target an RNA molecule.

Tests conducted in the laboratory showed that RCas9 removed 95 percent ofproblem-causing RNA for myotonic dystrophy types 1 and 2, Huntingtons disease, and one type of ALS. The technique also reversed 93 percent of the dysfunctional RNA targets in the muscle cells of patients with myotonic dystrophy type 1, resulting in healthier cells.

This is exciting because were not only targeting the root cause of diseases for which there are no current therapies to delay progression, but weve re-engineered the CRISPR-Cas9 system in a way thats feasible to deliver it to specific tissues via a viral vector, senior author Gene Yeo, a cellular and molecular medicine professor at UCSD School of Medicine, explained in a press release.

Across the globe, an estimated 450,000 patients are said to be living with ALS. Roughly 30,000 of those are from the U.S. where 5,600 people are diagnosed with the diseases every year. The exact number of Huntingtons disease cases, however, isnt quite as easy to pin down. One estimate says that around 30,000 Americans display symptoms of it, while more than 200,000 are at risk.

Regardless of the exact numbers, these two neurological diseases clearly affect a significant number of people. This prevalence and the absence of a known curemakes the UCSD teams research all the more relevant. Even more exciting is the fact that the same kinds of RNA mutations targeted by this study are known to cause more than 20 other genetic diseases.

Our ability to program the RCas9 system to target different repeats, combined with low risk of off-target effects, is its major strength, co-first author of the study Ranjan Batra said in the UCSD press release.

However, the researchers do know that what theyve accomplished is just a first step. While RCas9 works in a lab, they still have to figure out how it will fare when tested in actual patients.

The main thing we dont know yet is whether or not the viral vectors that deliver RCas9 to cells would elicit an immune response, explained Yeo. Before this could be tested in humans, we would need to test it in animal models, determine potential toxicities, and evaluate long-term exposure.

Ultimately, while RCas9 couldnt exactly deliver a cure, it could potentially extend patients healthy years. For disease like ALS and Huntingtons, thats a good place to start.

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Walnuts Boost Good Gut Bacteria – Anti Aging News

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Recent study shows that walnuts increase the diversity of gut bacteriaand appear to act in much the same manner as prebiotcs.

Research Associate Professor of Physiology at LSU, Lauri Byerley, has determined the consumption of walnuts alters the composition of bacteria within the gut. This finding suggests a new manner in which walnuts might improve human health. The details of the finding were recently published online in The Journal of Nutritional Biochemistry.

About the Study

Dr. Byerley keyed in on walnuts as they are generally revered as a superfood. Walnuts are loaded with the omega-3 fatty acid known as alpha-linoleic acid. They also contain fiber and an abundance of antioxidants. Dr. Byerley's finding shows this superfood provides yet another benefit by promoting beneficial alterations to microbiota within the gut.

Dr. Byerley made use of a rodent model for the study. Her research team provided one group of mice with walnuts in addition to their regular food consumption. The other group continued consuming its normal diet without walnuts.

A Closer Look at the Finding

The researchteam measured the number and type of gut bacteria within the descending colon and compared the results. They determined there were two unique bacteria communities within the groups. The type and number of walnuts altered in the group of mice that consumed walnuts. Even the functional capacity of the bacteria changed in this group. As an example, the research team pinpointed a meaningful boost in Lactobacillus, a beneficial bacteria. The consumption of walnuts resulted in a significant increase in the diversity of bacteria within the gut. Other unrelated studies have tied low levels of bacterial diversity with a wide range of diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and even obesity.

Walnuts as a Prebiotic?

Dr. Byerley suggests walnuts might function as a prebiotic as they heightenthe level of numerous bacteria such as Lactobacillus that is usually associated with probiotics. Prebiotics are best defined as substances that catalyze the activity and number of helpful bacteria.

Why the Study Matters

The health of the human gut is one of the hottest areas of contemporary research. Scientists are finding that improved bacterial diversity might be tied to improved health outcomes. The research team determined that altering the gut microbe community through the incorporation of walnuts to one's diet provides a new means of enhancing health. It is also worth noting that the consumption of walnuts is also tied to decreased cardiovascular disease risk, better brain health and a slowing of tumor growth in animals.

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How Gene Editing And Pig Organs Can End The Human Transplant Shortage – Newsweek

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Each year, some 30,000 patients undergo transplant surgery to receive an organ from a donor. Transplant medicine saves lives, but not enough people are willing to donate. Patients cant rely on the generosity of fellow humans to replace a heart, kidney or lungs. According to the United Network for Organ Sharing (UNOS), one patient is added to the U.S. transplant waiting list every 10 minutes, and 20 people on the national list die each day.

For decades, scientists have been hoping to address the organ shortage in more innovative ways, namely by tweaking the innards of other mammals to make them compatible with humans. Successfulanimal-to-human transplants (also known as xenotransplantation) would create a sustainable organ supply.

Pigs are the strongest contender for xenotransplantation because they have organs similar in size and physiological function to those found in humans. But pig organs on their own arent suitable for transplant. Human immune systems would most definitely reject pig organs. But an even greater challenge is the risk of animal viruses infectinghumans. Pigs carry active porcine endogenous retrovirus, and it remains unclear whether these viruses could becommunicable or fatal in humans. PERV infection would be dangerous becausetransplant recipients are routinely put on immunosuppressant drugs that make it difficult to fight off any bacteria or viruses.

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If animal-to-human transplants can be achieved successfully, it would create a sustainable organ supply. Thanks to gene editing, this may be possible in the future. REUTERS

Nowa team of researchers affiliated with Harvard Medical School appear to have solved one of these problems. Not only have these scientistsmade a controversial possibilityanimal organs in humansmore likely, but theyve done so using a controversial technology: CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing.

Through gene editing, the team eliminated all traces of the PERV virus from the cell line and conducted in vitro fertilization. There are 25 strains of PERV, which is the only known active retrovirus found in pigs. In the study, published Thursday in the journal Science, biologist Luhan Yang and her team implanted the PERV-free embryos into surrogates. The fetuses did not become reinfected with the virus, and the newbornpiglets are the first animals born without PERV. Yangwho founded eGenesis a few years ago to harness advances in CRISPR-Cas9 for the worldwide organ shortagewill now monitor the animals for any long-term effects.

Im a strong believer that science can help us improve health care if we look holistically for a solution, says Yang, lead author on the paper and chief science officer of eGenesis, the biotechnology company funding advancements in the research. Because there are millions of patients who suffer from end-stage organ failure, their life could potentially be saved, or largely improved, by this potential organ resource.

CRISPR-Cas9, or CRISPR (pronounced crisper) for short, is an experimental biomedical technique. The technology utilizes snippets of certain bacteria that allow for selective modifications of DNA segments, such as changingthe misspellings of a gene that contributeto mutations. Since CRISPR was identified several years ago, scientists have been using it in the laboratory to alter the genetic codes of living organisms. The new technologyis already leading advances once considered the stuff of science fiction. In astudy published last week in Nature,scientistseliminated a genetic abnormality in a human embryo.

Yang has been determined tousegene editing to solve the organ shortage problemfor several years. In 2013, sheand her team published the first paper showing CRISPR could be used to accurately and effectively alter the immune system. In 2015, she eradicated 62 copies of the PERV virus from a pig cancer cell line, which she says is a world record for researchers using CRISPR. The next step, she says, is to tweak the porcine genome further to prove the organs can be compatible with the human immune system.

Resurrecting aScientific Vision

For decades, xenotransplantation research seemed impossibly dangerous and financially risky both for small biomedical companies and large pharmaceutical companies. In the early 2000s, Novartis stopped funding xenotransplantation research. The U.S. Food Administration, fearing a public health disaster, began placing regulations on research facilities, whichmade studies even more challenging. The projects were costly andtoo complicated, and animal rights activists frequentlytargeted the scientists. But CRISPR is reviving the area of research once again, says Yang.

Transgenic PERV-free pigs could provide a source for solid organs as well as islet cells, which are tiny cells scattered throughout the pancreas that secrete insulin. Some successful pilot studies looked at porcine islet cell transfusions as a potential treatment for diabetes.

Dixon Kaufman, president-elect of the American Society of Transplant Surgeons and a transplant surgeon at the University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, says its only a matter of timeprobably a few yearsbefore xenotransplant studies are open to patients. I think it is a realistic, almost palpable opportunity, he says. Anything that will improve safety, such as deleting this risk of the PERV infection, makes this more viable.

Kaufman thinks kidneys and pancreases will be the first solid animal organs transplanted into humans. Because these are non-vital organs, failure wouldnt necessarily lead to death. Patients who need a kidney could still receive dialysis, and those who need a pancreas could still access insulin.

These advances are a boon for transplant surgeons like Kaufman, who regularly have to tell patientsthey will probably die before a donated organ becomes available. He doesnt think a pig organ would be a hard sell to most of these patients, who are otherwise facing certain death.

The field is inherently sort of risky to begin with, and I think a lot of patients have already processed that, he says. I tell patientsin the grand designwe were not meant to swap body parts between ourselves.

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How Gene Editing And Pig Organs Can End The Human Transplant Shortage - Newsweek

Genes Advice | Pharmacogenomics

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Have you or a loved one ever had a bad reaction or unusual side effects when taking a medicine? Reading the long list of allergies, warnings, interactions and other possible complications on any prescription drug leaflet can be scary. Why is it that some drugs work great for some people but dont work well for others?

With 1,222 new drugs approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) between 1950 and 2008, there are many options on the market (Munos, 2009, Nature Reviews Drug Discovery).With so many options, finding the right medication can be a drawn-out process of trial and error for the patient and the provider. As a result, complications are becoming alarmingly common. In 2015, the FDA received nearly 1.3 million reports ofdrug interactions, a rate that more than doubled in six years. Deaths from severe allergic reactions are also on the rise. *How your body reacts to any given medicine will be different from that of your spouse, your cousin, your best friend, your next-door neighbor, and your favorite grocery checkout clerk. (Reactions may even differ with the over-the-counter-drugs like aspirin or dietary supplements that the very same checkout clerkrang up for you!)

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Genes Advice | Pharmacogenomics

Anatomy of a murder: the brutal killing of Jason Corbett – Independent.ie

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Molly Martens-Corbett and her father, Thomas Michael Martens, are now 72 hours into 20-year jail terms for the second-degree murder of Irish businessman Jason Corbett (39).

Their convictions were as much underpinned by what wasn't said in a North Carolina courthouse over the past four weeks as for what was revealed in evidence.

The father and daughter, if they contemplate the dramatic and emotion-charged events of last Wednesday morning in Courtroom C of the Davidson County courts complex in Lexington, will probably wonder precisely where the murder trial hinged?

When did the jury of nine women and three men swing towards a second-degree murder conviction rather than believing the story of self-defence? Was it the dramatic forensic evidence of blood spatter expert Dr Stuart James?

The Florida-based expert, one of the world's leading authorities on blood spatter analysis, effectively recreated the last moments of the Limerick father-of-two's life in the early hours of August 2, 2015 in the bedroom of his luxury home.

He determined that Mr Corbett may very well have suffered the first of at least 12 horrific blows to his head while in or by his bed.

He also determined that Mr Corbett's head was repeatedly struck in a descending motion - in other words as he fell to the ground.

Dr James also found, from blood impact spatters, that Mr Corbett was struck while on the ground - and with his wife and father-in-law standing over him.

"There were little bits of Jason all over her," Assistant District Attorney Alan Martin would tell the trial. "That puts her in the thick of it. It is rock solid evidence. That puts her there."

Pathology evidence indicated Mr Corbett then sustained between one and four blows to the skull when he was already dead.

Or perhaps the 33-year-old former Knoxville model and swim coach, and her father, a retired FBI agent and counter-intelligence operative, will consider the remarkable forensic work at the Panther Creek Court scene of Lt Frank Young. He preserved the clothing worn by the duo at the scene - and he compiled a video and photographic record of the property hailed as "truly excellent" by Dr James.

Thanks to his photographic record of the blood-soaked bedroom, hallway and bathroom, Dr James was able to do his work.

But in truth, the father and daughter are probably much more likely to focus on what wasn't said in Courtroom C over the three weeks of harrowing evidence in the case.

Jury foreman Tom Aamland revealed that the jury were intrigued by a number of obvious issues that weren't clarified - particularly by the Martens version of precisely what happened in the master bedroom that night.

Just like Irish jurors, an instinctive sense of curiosity, allied to a healthy common sense perception of something out of the ordinary, flooded through the North Carolina jury.

What was the young Tennessee woman doing with a heavy and unsightly concrete garden paving brick on her nightstand table that night?

"We all wondered what it was doing there," Mr Aamland said after the trial finished. No explanation was ever offered to the trial.

But there were other unanswered questions.

How on Earth could a 39-year-old, six-foot and 16-stone man grab his wife by the throat and then get engaged in a life-and-death tussle with a 67-year-old retiree and not leave a single mark on either of them?

Martens-Corbett's clothing wasn't torn, there were no marks on her neck and a delicate filigree bracelet on her wrist wasn't bent, damaged or scratched despite the ordeal she just claimed she had just gone through.

In that death struggle which ended with Mr Corbett sustaining head injuries so savage they were compared to those in a severe car crash or a fall from a great height, how could Martens recall almost every single blow struck with a metal Louisville Slugger baseball bat and yet not have a single recollection of his son-in-law being struck by a brick?

That was despite the fact the brick was not only soaked in the Limerick man's blood but was also embedded with his hair fragments and tissue.

When it was lifted by forensic experts from the bedroom floor, it left its outline in blood on the carpet. Martens similarly hadn't a single mark on him - and his clothing was likewise intact and not torn. The questions for the jury just kept mounting.

How did the powerful sedative Trazedone end up in Mr Corbett's system when the medication was prescribed for his wife just two days earlier?

But perhaps most intriguing of all for the jurors was the single most glaring omission from the accounts of both the father and daughter - where was Sharon Martens, their wife and mother, during the violent and prolonged confrontation?

Read More: Killer sought to take place of children's mother, at the ultimate cost

Martens said he was awoken from sleep in the basement bedroom by the sounds of a scream coming from upstairs.

Before the counter-intelligence operative and lawyer had even testified to that fact in court, he had given a pre-trial interview outlining precisely the same sequence of events to ABC's '20/20' programme, one of the top shows in the US.

It was almost as if, in anticipating a negative outcome to the North Carolina trial, the father and daughter were attempting to lay the groundwork for public sympathy for a subsequent appeal.

Back on August 2, at 3am, Mrs Martens apparently never awoke and stayed firmly in the basement bedroom.

This was despite the "life or death fight" that the former FBI agent said he got engaged in upstairs with his son-in-law.

This included shouting and blows to the head which left Mr Corbett's blood spattered all over three separate rooms.

Throughout it all, Mrs Martens apparently never budged from the basement bedroom.

After Mr Corbett was left in a bloody pulp on his own bedroom floor, the father and daughter never called out to Mrs Martens for help or support.

She never ventured upstairs to see what had happened and neither Martens nor Martens-Corbett called on the mother-of-four to immediately call 911.

When Davidson County police officers arrived at the scene and brought the two children, Jack and Sarah, down from their bedrooms, Mrs Martens was still in the bedroom and in total ignorance of the horror that had unfolded upstairs just metres away from her.

"It just makes no sense," Mr Martin said.

"It is like she vanished from the face of the Earth in Tom Martens's testimony."

Mr Aamland revealed that jurors were clearly taken by aspects of the prosecution case.

This ranged from the forensic evidence to the powerful closing arguments of Mr Martin and Assistant District Attorney Greg Brown.

In concise reference to evidence from paramedics and the 911 dispatcher, Mr Brown told the jury they contended the father and daughter beat Mr Corbett into a bloodied pulp on the bedroom floor and then cruelly left him to die.

They delayed calling 911 to ensure he was dead - and then engaged in a charade of "fake" cardiac pulmonary resuscitation (CPR) efforts while a 911 dispatcher listened on the line.

Despite having allegedly performed 600 chest pumps between them on Mr Corbett's blood-soaked chest, there was no blood found on the palms of either the father or daughter.

Mr Martin went even further.

He said the jury could infer whether there had been an attempt to drug Mr Corbett with a fresh mint Mojito on the evening of August 1? There had also been multiple calls - more than half a dozen - made by Martens-Corbett to her parents as they made the four-hour drive from Knoxville for the unexpected visit to the Corbett home.

In evidence, Martens said he could not recall the phone calls from his daughter.

Mr Aamland revealed that, having been asked to consider a verdict by Judge David Lee at 3.22pm on Tuesday, the jurors were already unanimously agreed that first night that Martens was guilty of second-degree murder.

The jur
ors had indicated, in a preliminary vote, they were split 10-2 on whether Martens-Corbett was guilty of second-degree murder.

However by 11am the following day, the two dissenting jurors had reviewed the evidence and changed their minds.

At 11.25am, Mr Aamland confirmed to Judge Lee and a shocked courtroom that unanimous verdicts had been reached.

Martens-Corbett began sobbing before either she or her father were taken into custody for 15 minutes before Judge Lee dealt with sentencing.

"I'm really sorry, Mom - I wish he'd just killed me," she wept.

Her father, after 40 years in law enforcement, remained calm and impassive, assisting bailiffs and sheriffs by holding his hands directly out behind him so he could be handcuffed.

Read More: Jason asleep as Molly attacked, jurors believed

In the public gallery there were tears of two different kinds.

On the right side of the court, the Corbett family, their friends and supporters wept in relief.

Throughout, the family's dignified and courageous approach to the case impressed all who witnessed it.

Across the aisle, members of the Martens family sobbed uncontrollably. Some were visibly devastated by the verdicts.

Mrs Martens wept and had to be comforted by her brother, Federal employee and Afghanistan Reconstruction Executive official Michael Earnest.

Her son sobbed so much he had to hold his head in his hands in a bid to regain his composure.

Mr Aamland admitted it was difficult for the jury, too.

Five jurors wept openly as the verdict was handed down and, minutes later, once again as the father and daughter received minimum 20-year prison sentences.

When they were brought back into the court, the father and daughter were a study in contrasts.

Martens was impassive but clearly worried as to the upset of his daughter and wife.

Martens-Corbett was physically shaking with emotion.

When her father declined the opportunity to address the court, she spoke briefly in an address that was almost incoherent due to sobs and wails.

"I did not murder my husband," she cried. "My father did not murder my husband.

"The incidents of August 2 happened as they happened on a somewhat regular basis.

"The only difference is my father was there," she sobbed.

Minutes later, the duo were led out of Courtroom C in a phalanx of armed Davidson County bailiffs and sheriffs.

Just over two hours later, they had changed from their clothing - a simple blue dress and a smart dark suit - into prison issue clothing.

Both wore handcuffs tied to waist chains as they walked to the waiting prison truck for transfer to high security prisons in Raleigh.

In Martens's case it was to Central Prison, where he was placed in special protective custody given his law enforcement background.

In Martens-Corbett's case, it was to the North Carolina Correctional Institute for Women.

She arrived with a recommendation from Judge Lee that she receive whatever psychological and psychiatric supports she might require.

Before their prison van left Lexington, their legal teams confirmed they intended to lodge challenges to the convictions with the North Carolina Court of Appeals.

Mr Earnest, visibly shocked by the verdict, briefly spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.

"I just want to say, in my opinion, in my personal life this is the most atrocious miscarriage of justice I have ever been a part of," he said.

Outside the Davidson Courts complex, on Salem Street, just metres from Lexington Post Office, the Corbett family issued a public statement of thanks to the jury, the District Attorney's Office and the Davidson County Sheriff's Department.

Jason's sister, Tracey Lynch, spoke as she was greeted by a bank of TV crews and photographers.

Before they had even left the court building, the family were planning flights back home to the greater Limerick area.

After four weeks in the searing heat of a North Carolina summer, the rain of Ireland was something everyone was looking forward to.

Mrs Lynch, flanked by her sister Marilyn, said their family's priority now was providing a safe, happy and positive future for two children who lost both parents to tragedies before they were 10 years old.

"We want to create a good future for Jason's two children who he loved so much," she said.

Minutes earlier, Assistant District Attorney Alan Martin had summed up the mood of all who attended the gruelling trial which came to dominate headlines on both sides of the Atlantic.

"There is no joy, there is no triumph, there is no pride. There is just grief, grief and more grief," he said.

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Anatomy of a murder: the brutal killing of Jason Corbett - Independent.ie

Anatomy of a suddenly sick Obamacare insurer – CBS News

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Headlines have been screaming for months about big insurers such as Aetna (AET), United Healthcare (UNH) and Humana (HUM) pulling out of the Obamacare marketplaces because they couldn't make the exchange business profitable. As a result, dozens of counties throughout the country have been left with only one or no insurance choice on their exchange.

Against that backdrop, two smaller insurers that focus primarily on the Medicaid market -- Molina Healthcare (MOH) and Centene (CNC) -- were frequently noted as companies that can successfully navigate the uncertain and complicated exchange business. Many states looked to them and small regional or local insurers to help fill the increasing gaps the big names were leaving behind.

So it came as a bit of shock when Molina announced on Aug. 2 it would exit the exchanges in Wisconsin and Utah, scale back its exchange business in Washington state and leave the door open to pull out of other exchanges in the near future.

What's more, in marketplaces where it will continue to operate, Molina has submitted an average 55 percent premium increase to state regulators, partly due to the uncertainty over the future of federal cost sharing payments.

The news came amid Molina's report of a steep second-quarter earnings loss of $4.10 a share, compared to a 58 cent per share gain during the same period a year earlier. It also followed the ouster in May of Chief Executive Mario Molina and Chief Financial Officer John Molina, brothers who are sons of company founder David Molina. In the earnings report, Molina also announced a major restructuring, which includes about 1,500 layoffs, approximately 7 percent of its workforce.

Until all this bad news broke, Molina was one of the prime examples of an insurer that could actually make the exchanges work. (Centene still does and is expanding its exchange business.) Major insurers like Aetna and United Health, accustomed to the more stable employer-sponsored health insurance market, racked up losses in the exchange business in part because they were surprised by the large number of high-cost patients who signed up.

Molina's business focuseson administering Medicaid health plans for low-income and disabled patients. As a result, the company has experience with managing narrow networks of lower-cost health care providers. "The idea is to arbitrage low-reimbursement providers into exchanges where the competition is paying a lot more," explained Robert Laszewski, president of consulting firm Health Policy and Strategy Associates. "There's an opportunity for profit there."

Molina found it could compete for the no-frills end of the exchange market and enjoy a robust volumne of patient sign-ups. According to Laszewski's estimates, Molina had a track record of enrolling as much as 70 percent of eligible participants in the various markets it participated in. A pool that big offers enough healthy individuals to help stabilize risk, he added.

What went wrong?

According to Joseph White, interim CEO of Molina, the company became overwhelmed with its ACA business, including unexpected increases in medical costs and claims. "We did not adjust for growth in the ACA marketplace," White told analysts in a conference call last week. He explained that the company focused resources on existing processes and technologies instead of a full redesign that would have helped it better deal with ACA growth.

"That was a mistake," said White. "The marketplace shares fundamentals of the Medicaid market, but it's also very different," he added.

In addition, speculated Laszewski, as Molina expanded into new markets and became a more dominant player in others, it may have strayed from its core base of low-income customers, adding costs and risks it couldn't deal with.

"Every company has to analyze every market to make sure they're making money in every market," said Dan Mendelson, chief executive of Avalere Health. Say a plan with bad risk drops out of the market, he added. "You may get saddled with that risk as you pick up those customers."

Molina's bad news leaves exchange consumers with even less choice and more uncertainty than they were already facing in light of failed GOP efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare and the Trump administration's threats to discontinue support for the system.

As commitment deadlines for insurers approach, state insurance commissioners are working hard to convince them to stay in the exchanges and keep at least a bare minimum of coverage. In addition, small, local, often nonprofit players such as L.A. Care Health Plan are trying to fill gaps where they can, while heeding the lessons from Molina's recent mess.

Will these efforts be enough? Consumers may have to wait until open enrollment begins on Nov. 1 to find out.

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Anatomy of a suddenly sick Obamacare insurer - CBS News

Spoiler Room: Scoop on Blindspot, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Grey’s Anatomy, and more – EW.com (blog)

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Welcome to the Spoiler Room, a safe place for spoiler addicts to come on a weekly basis to learn whats coming next on their favorite shows and, hopefully, get a few of their own questions answered. If you want scoop on a specific show, send your questions to spoilerroom@ew.com.

Anything new to tease for season 3 of Blindspot? TonyIf youre wondering what has happened to the team over the last 18 months thats the exact amount of time that has passed when we pick back up with Jane and Weller answers will come very quickly this season. Youll see flashbacks, EP Martin Gero promises. We hope to fill in a lot of it right away in the first two or three minutes of the show. No fan of the show will want to miss the opening of the season that will endeavor to fill in a lot of what the hell is going on. Why did she run away? Are Jane and Weller married? All those questions will be answered in the first few minutes.

How long will Jake and Rosa be in jail on Brooklyn Nine-Nine? JessicaIf Boyle has his way, not long! Hes determined to make sure that his friends innocence is known to the rest of the world, Joe Lo Truglio tells me. So hes doing everything he can, hes tailing Hawkins and hes trying to take advantage of her making a mistake. But expect to find a very different Boyle in Jakes absence when the show returns. Theyve got a wonderful cold open to show his depression, which rivals and dare I say surpasses him breaking up with Vivian in the Matrix leather coat cold open.

Where is the new season of Greys Anatomy picking up? KarolineRight where we left off, so everyone is still reeling in the wake of the finale explosion. But it wont be long before theres a shakeup at Grey Sloan. Theres obviously some damage to the hospital, Kelly McCreary says. But it is, in true Greys Anatomy style, a completely surmountable obstacle, because we are superhuman doctors. It serves more as a metaphor of the transformation that the show is going to go through tonally. Its lighter this season. The hospital definitely is undergoing some changes in the form of a new crop of students coming in. Itll look a bit different in certain areas, and some relationships have come to an end or are blossoming, so repairing the damage is more of a metaphor.

Any Chicago P.D. news would be great. MarAntonio is back in Intelligence, as a case in the premiere reconnects him with his former family. The suspect that theyre going after, they hit a bump in the road and they need someone to come in that this guy has never seen and can do a great job undercover, and thats where Antonio comes in, Jon Seda tells me, teasing that Antonio will bump heads with Voight over certain new policies within Intelligence this year.

Will Kuasa crossing paths with Ray on Vixen be addressed on Legends of Tomorrow? ColemanYes, and his knowledge of Kuasa just may help the Legends version of Vixen. If you go back and look at Vixen season 2, I wouldnt exactly call her fighting alongside Ray, shes always been morally questionable, EP Marc Guggenheim says. But I think thats what makes it interesting as far as Amaya is concerned is that Ray, at the appropriate moment, will accurately tell her that there were moments where Kuasa was capable of selfless good, so I think that gives Amaya a little bit of hope.

Do you know anything more about Reginas alter-ego on Once Upon a Time? BradenBar owner Roni is very, very different from Regina, so prepare yourselves. Shes given up a little bit on life, Lana Parrilla tells me. She seems a little hopeless when we first meet her, and then Henry comes to town and things start to shift a little bit. But dont expect his arrival to immediately spark Reginas memories. No, theres nothing there, and I like that. Shes just asleep. Shes not quite in touch with all that stuff yet. A few more things need to happen before she starts getting that feeling. Although, she is inspired by a character, and it shifts her a bit, at the end of the first episode.

Anything on the Hawaii Five-0 team in season 8? ElizabethI hear theres going to be another new member of the team but its definitely not who (or what!) youre expecting. There is a story thats coming up, it actually was Alex OLoughlins idea, EP Peter Lenkov says. I wanted to do a story where the victim left in the wake of a tragedy was a dog who lost its owner. Its a very emotional, really great story. Its a dog thats a drug sniffing service dog that McGarrett ends up adopting. Its a really emotional journey, but it was his idea to keep the dog, and I thought that was a great one.

Hand over some Scandal scoop! DangerWaveWith Cyrus sliding into the White House as VP to Mellies POTUS, Jake will somewhat be sidelined but his continued role in the White House will put some pressure on the dynamic between Jake and Olivia. The interesting thing for Jake is that hes still the head of the NSA, but Olivia being Chief of Staff is sort of his boss, which is a position theyve never really find themselves in and a dynamic we have yet to explore, Scott Foley says. Its going to cause some waves in the water of love.

How will Gretchen be handling Jimmys disappearing act on Youre the Worst this season? MalloyNot well. Not well at all. Believe me, Gretchen does something so shocking in the premiere and enlists Lindsay to do it, too that you will have to remind yourself of the title of the show before you fall down a rabbit hole. And it only gets worse from there. Theres some weird sh that goes down, Aya Cash says. There are so many different kinds of bad, let me put it that way. Even so, Cash has hopes that Gretchen and Jimmy will eventually reconcile. I do because this show is about them and theyre going to have to figure it out, she says. I feel like were heading toward something positive. They start to work out how to be around each other and how to engage in a healthier way. But will she get payback on Jimmy for abandoning her? Yes, Cash says with a smirk.

Any scoop on the season finale of Shadowhunters? TaylorA. lot. happens. Youll find out whether weve seen the last of Jonathan within the finales first minute, but regardless of what happens there, theres still the matter of stopping Valentine. And lets just say that battle is filled with big decisions for Clary, none of which shell be able to take back, and the consequences of which will play heavily into next season. That cryptic enough?

This week in TV: TCA is finally over! You can read all the coverage from our incredibly hard-working TV team here.

Thats a wrap on this weeks Spoiler Room. Be sure to email your questions to spoilerroom@ew.com or tweet them to @NatalieAbrams.

Additional reporting by Samantha Highfill.

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Spoiler Room: Scoop on Blindspot, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Grey's Anatomy, and more - EW.com (blog)

Clarks Launches Next Generation of Comfort Shoes Inspired by Human Anatomy – Footwear News

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Clarks Originals Trigenic Evo for men.

Courtesy of brand

Clarks Originals is taking comfort to new extremes with todays launch online of the Trigenic Evo.The style follows its predecessor, the Trigenic Flex.

The ergonomic mens and womens style, retailing for $180, is designed on an asymmetric last with elastic fastenings that mirror the foot tendons for support and density footbed for enhanced comfort. A lightweight three-part outsole features a linear map of the human gait cycle that visually emphasizes the high impact/stress areas of the foot.

The brand will also be debuting the style at Philadelphia retailer Ubiq as part of a three-month in store pop-up through October. Visitors to the store tonight will also get a preview of ongoing store activations that will take place over the three months.

Monthly, a panel series inspired by Clarks The World Needs Originals campaign innovators who rewrite rules will feature local influential creatives. They include photographers in August, musicians in September and artists in October, who will speak to the importance of originality.

Tonights guests will also have exclusive access to the first drop in a 12-pin series in collaboration with Ubiq and Pintrill, which feature key Clarks Originals designs and themes/icons of Philadelphia that are set to drop on a weekly basis over the course of the pop-up.

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Iconic British Brand Clarks Brings Manufacturing Back Home

How Cole Haan Is Creating State-of-the-Art, High-Tech Comfort Shoes

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Clarks Launches Next Generation of Comfort Shoes Inspired by Human Anatomy - Footwear News

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI) Just Flashed an Extremely Rare ‘Hold’ Signal – StockNewsGazette

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Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI) fell by -9.43% during last session from $79.50 to $72.00 and has now fallen 10 consecutive sessions. The price has fallen in 9 of the last 10 days and is down by -25.5% over the same course of time. Volume has increased during last session by 0.81 million shares, but on a weak note. This is may be an early warning and the risk will be increased slightly for the next couple of days. In total, 1.48 M shares exchanged hands for about $106.35 million.

Inside PBYIs Recent Trend

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI) has broken the very wide and strong rising short-term trend down. This signalize a slower rising rate, but may also be an early warning about a possible trend shift. Due to trend being broken there will now be resistance at the bottom line of the trend at $90.08. A reaction back to this level may hold a second chance to get out before further falls.

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. Technical Signals

PBYI has witnessed its long term and short term MA triggering a sell signal. Many traders watch for long-term averages to cross above short-term averages to signal the beginning of a downtrend. Upon corrections, the price will meet resistance from the averages between $82.49 and $88.81. A buy signal will be generated if it crosses above any of these levels. Its pivot point high generated sell signal on Friday July 28, 2017, which calls for additional declines until the stock forms a new pivot point low, as this could be a buying opportunity. Volume up and price depreciating is getting our attention as this movement is seen as bearish sign.

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (NASDAQ:PBYI) Support And Resistance Levels

In case of pullback, the next support the price will capture from accumulated volume will not be far away from current price at $57.80. In case of gains, the next resistance from accumulated volume will not be far away from todays level at $74.95, $78.05 and $83.65.

It seems to be cursed by the accumulated volume as it meets no support below current level and favorable trading conditions around $ will drag the stock lower. Accumulated volume is going to prevent the price from rising further at $74.95 and this action will lead the price to take a temporary pause or stay muted for a few days.

Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI) Risk Assessment

A volatility based measure Bollinger Bands suggests this stock poses high risk. In the most recent session, the stock price hovered around $8.15 between high and low, or 11.43%. The average volatility for the past week stood at 5.62%.

Puma Biotechnology Inc is overbought on RSI14 (13). Some stocks may go long and hard while being overbought on RSI, but overbought increases the general risk as higher volatility could be expected, and at some level the stock will have a reaction back to gain new strength.

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Puma Biotechnology, Inc. (PBYI) Just Flashed an Extremely Rare 'Hold' Signal - StockNewsGazette

Impossible Burger blowback: Will irrational fears of biotechnology block introduction of sustainable foods? – Genetic Literacy Project

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Two entities that seem like they should be on the same page a coalition of environmental groups and a plant-based food company are at odds.

And the flash point is a veggie burger.

Impossible Foods is facing scrutiny about the safety of a key ingredient in its trademark Impossible Burger, commonly known as the veggie burger that bleeds.

The controversy arose when theNew York Timespublished an article highlightingcorrespondencebetween the FDA and Impossible Foods that environmental groups say indicates that the protein had not met the agencys approval before going to market about a year ago.

Currently our FDA, EPA and USDA regulations are falling behind the very quickly moving development of new technologies, and one of the ways that our regulatory agencies are falling behind is they are not assessing the process of genetically engineering these ingredients, said Dana Perls of Friends of the Earth, one of the groups that raised concerns about Impossible Foods safety testing.

[Read the GLPs profile on Friends of the Earth.]

[The companys CEO and founder, Patrick Brown] said the groups objections are more about the use of biotechnology than the product itself.

The vast majority of their effort is an antiscience, anti-GMO crusade, Brown said. Their strategy has tended to be to try to effectively take down any company that is using biotechnology by whatever means they can come up with.

[Editors note: Below is a letter by Impossible Burger CEO and founder Patrick Brown, republished in full with permission from the company.]

The New York Times published an Aug. 8 article falsely implying that Impossible Foods is trying to evade US Food and Drug Administration regulations and putting consumers at risk by selling a product (the Impossible Burger) containing soy leghemoglobin. The article was chock full of factual errors and misrepresentations and was instigated by an extremist anti-science group with the deliberate intention of damaging our reputation.

Heres the truth:

The greatest threat the world faces today is the enormously destructive impact that our use of animals as a food technology has on climate, water, wildlife and biodiversity, global food security and political stability. Although little known to the public and almost completely ignored by the news media, this threat is well recognized by environmental and climate scientists and organizations including the UN Environmental Program, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Union of Concerned Scientists, among many others. The problem is not going to be solved by asking that people give up, or even reduce, consumption of the animal-derived foods they love; the demand for meat, fish and dairy foods is growing even faster than the human population. Nothing is more important to the planet our children and future generations will inherit, or their quality of life, than finding a solution to this dilemma.

Thats why I founded Impossible Foods. Our singular mission is to enable the world to continue to enjoy the foods they love and increasingly demand, without catastrophic damage to the environment. Our strategy was simple: invent a better way to transform plants into delicious, nutritious, safe and affordable meat, fish and dairy foods that consumers love. Then let consumers choose. If we do our job right, the market will take care of the rest. Commitment to the health, nutrition and safety of our customers is an inseparable part of our mission; its at the heart of why we exist, embedded in our ethos and everything we do.

With support from investors who understand and believe in our mission, we built a team of scientists who have worked tirelessly on this problem, understanding meat what underlies its flavor, texture and all its physical properties far better than it was ever understood. One of many discoveries they made, perhaps the most important, is that a molecule called heme is what makes meat taste like meat. Without heme, you cant make meat that will satisfy the billions of people who love meat.

Heme is an iron-containing molecule thats essential for life on Earth. Its found in every living organism. Its the magic molecule that enables the cells in our bodies and in every living being on Earth to benefit from the oxygen in our atmosphere. Its the molecule that carries oxygen in our blood, makes our blood red and our lips pink. Because its in every plant and animal, humans have been eating heme every day since the first human walked on Earth. The reason that animal tissues (meat) tastes like meat and unlike any vegetable, is that animal tissues contain hundreds to thousands-fold more heme than plant tissues.

To accomplish our essential mission, we needed to find a safe way to produce heme without using animals. We used yeast cells, into which we introduced a plant gene encoding a protein called soy leghemoglobin thats naturally found in the roots of soy plants. The heme in the Impossible Burger is atom-for-atom identical to the heme found in meat, fish, plants and other foods. Soy leghemoglobin carries the heme molecule in the same way a very similar protein, myoglobin, carries heme in muscle tissue (meat). Myoglobin is just one of the thousands of different heme proteins we all consume safely in our diets every day.

The health and safety of our customers is our first priority. The foods in our diet and the molecules and ingredients they contain are by default presumed to be safe, but only a minuscule fraction have ever been scientifically tested for their safety. Although there was never a reason to suspect that soy leghemoglobin would pose any more risk than myoglobin, or any of the new proteins we encounter in our diet all the time, we started four years ago to do a deep scientific study of its safety, including any potential for toxicity or allergenicity. The data we collected and our analyses were documented and reviewed by three independent food-safety experts in toxicology, allergenicity and yeast. In 2014, this expert panel unanimously concluded based on all the evidence that the protein is generally recognized as safe (GRAS) for human consumption. This is the approach followed by thousands of food companies to meet the FDA requirement that foods be generally recognized as safe. But we did more.

There is no legal or regulatory requirement that a companys finding of GRAS be submitted to the FDA for review. And its frequently not done. In fact, a total of only 709 have been submitted since the GRAS Notification system was put in place almost 20 years ago in 1998. But we did it because we recognize and respect the value of the FDA as guardian of the safety of the American food supply, one of the safest in the world.

We wanted the FDA to review our GRAS determination, to have the added benefit of their expertise, and to assure consumers that our testing of leghemoglobin has passed the most rigorous scrutiny. After submitting our GRAS determination, the FDA reviewed it, and had some questions. To address them, we conducted additional tests. And the tests turned out just as we expected: no adverse effects in rats consuming leghemoglobin every day for a month at levels more than 200 times what an average American would consume if all the ground beef in their diet were the Impossible Burger, and very low risk of allergenicity. A panel of the worlds leading experts in food safety and allergenicity has reviewed the new data, as well as the data originally submitted.

The expert panel has again unanimously concluded that soy leghemoglobin is safe; it is GRAS.

Impossible Foods has always worked constructively with the FDA, whose role as guardian of food safety for the nation we deeply respect. We will be submitting the additional data, along with the expert panels analysis of it, to the FDA this month. And FDA will make Impossible Foodss submission hundreds of pages of safety and allergenicity test results and the expert analysis of those results publicly available on its web site soon thereafter. In addition, in an abundance of caution, we clearly label our product as containing potential allergens: wheat and soy also in compliance with federal regulations. Finally, restaurants where the Impossible Burger is sold also comply with federal regulations about labeling.

Impossible Foods is proud of the safety of its first product, the Impossible Burger, and is committed to the health and safety of our customers. Thats why weve gone far beyond merely complying with food safety regulations, and we always will. I am confident in saying that the Impossible Burger is the safest and most thoroughly safety-tested burger in history. In striking contrast, the alternative, animal-derived burger is one of the least safe and most inadequately tested foods on the market.

And were committed to solving the most urgent threat the world faces today: the use of animals in the food system. Since the small-scale launch of the Impossible Burger, with just 50,000 lbs sold to date (10 billion lbs of ground beef were sold in the same time period), and working with our great restaurant partners, the Impossible Burger has already had an outsized impact: weve had an overwhelmingly positive response from consumers, and weve reduced greenhouse gases emissions by the equivalent of removing 246 American cars from the road for a year, reduced the land footprint of meat production by an area half the size of New Yorks Central Park, saved as much fresh water as 50,000 average Americans drink in a year, and saved more than 100 cows from slaughter. We cant solve this problem unless people love our burger.

Impossible Foods intends to be the most open and transparent company in the world. We welcome every opportunity to answer questions from the public and media, and share our answers on our social media channels. Before deciding how you feel about Impossible Foods or the Impossible Burger, read our story and then decide for yourself.

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Impossible Burger blowback: Will irrational fears of biotechnology block introduction of sustainable foods? - Genetic Literacy Project

Add-On Turns Smartphones into Tricorders – ENGINEERING.com

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An interdisciplinary team of researchers has developed technology that enables a smartphone to perform lab-grade medical diagnostic tests that typically require large, expensive instruments.

Costing only $550 USD, the spectral transmission-reflectance-intensity (TRI)-Analyzer was spearheaded by bioengineering and electrical and computer engineering professor Brian Cunningham at the University of Illinois. The device attaches to a smartphone and analyzes patient blood, urine, or saliva samples as reliably as clinic-based instruments that cost thousands of dollars.

"Our TRI Analyzer is like the Swiss Army knife of biosensing," said Cunningham. "It's capable of performing the three most common types of tests in medical diagnostics, so in practice, thousands of already-developed tests could be adapted to it."

In a recently published paper, Cunningham's team used the TRI Analyzer to perform two commercially available assaysa test to detect a biomarker associated with pre-term birth in pregnant women and the PKU test for newborns to indirectly detect an enzyme essential for normal growth and development. Their tests results were comparable to those acquired with clinic-grade spectrometer instrumentation.

"The TRI Analyzer is more of a portable laboratory than a specialized device," said Kenny Long, an MD/PhD student and lead author of the research study.

Among the many diagnostic tests that can be adapted to their point-of-care smartphone format, Long said, is an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), which detects and measures a wide variety of proteins and antibodies in blood and is commonly used for a wide range of health diagnostics tests.

The system is capable of detecting the output of any test that uses a liquid that changes color, or a liquid that generates light output (such as from fluorescent dyes).

The TRI Analyzer operates by converting the smartphone camera into a high-performance spectrometer. Specifically, the analyzer illuminates a sample fluid with the phone's internal white LED flash or with an inexpensive external green laser diode.

The light from the sample is collected in an optical fiber and guided through a diffraction grating into the phone's rear-facing internal camera. These optical components are all arranged within a 3D-printed plastic cradle.

The TRI Analyzer can simultaneously measure multiple samples by using a microfluidic cartridge that slides through an opening in the back of the cradle. This ability to analyze multiple samples quickly and reliably makes the Analyzer suitable for patients who lack convenient access to a clinic or hospital with diagnostic test facilities or for patients with urgent health situations requiring rapid results.

"Our Analyzer can scan many tests in a sequence by swiping the cartridge past the readout head, in a similar manner to the way magnetic strip credit cards are swiped," said Long.

In addition to its applications in health diagnostics, Cunningham said the TRI Analyzer can also be applied to point-of use applications that include animal health, environmental monitoring, drug testing, manufacturing quality control, and food safety. The patented technology is available for license.

For more smartphone modifications, find out how the T3D Smartphone 3D Printer Could Democratize 3D Printing.

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Add-On Turns Smartphones into Tricorders - ENGINEERING.com

Mizzou medical school will produce more doctors to address shortage – STLtoday.com

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Not all enrollment trends at the University of Missouri-Columbia are down the medical school has increased its class size by one-third this year.

The expansion, to a class of 128 from 96, is aimed at addressing a looming physician shortage created by an aging population. Most of Missouri is considered to have a shortage of health professionals, particularly rural parts of the state. The state needs an additional 367 doctors to accommodate its population, according to Kaiser Family Foundation data.

In 2006, the Association of American Medical Colleges recommended medical schools increase their enrollments by 30 percent in the following decade. The same year, St. Louis University increased the number of first-year students to 175 from 150, making it the largest medical school in the state.

Washington Universitys medical school enrollment has stayed between 120 and 124 students per class. There are no plans to increase the size of the class, which is partly influenced by the number of faculty and available space, according to the dean of admissions.

Mizzou started looking at expanding its class size soon after the 2006 recommendations, said Weldon Webb, an associate dean.

Were the No. 1 provider of practicing physicians in Missouri, so if somebody was going to increase, it should probably be Columbia, he said.

The expansion of the medical school includes a new $42.5 million classroom and laboratory building on the Columbia campus. A clinical campus opened last year in Springfield where some third- and fourth-year students train, aided by a partnership with CoxHealth and Mercy hospitals. About 44 percent of the medical schools students stay in Missouri after graduation, Webb said.

The growth of the medical school contrasts with undergraduate enrollment in Columbia, which dropped by about 14 percent this fall. The incoming class of about 4,000 freshmen is the smallest in nearly 20 years.

Reports of racism and a lack of diversity at Mizzou contributed to the drop in undergraduate enrollment and have also caused troubles for the medical school.

The medical schools credentials are at risk if it doesnt train more minority doctors, according to a 2016 report from the Liaison Committee on Medical Education, the accrediting organization for U.S. medical schools. The committee previously cited the school for its lack of diversity in 2001 and 2008.

The committees most recent recommendations give the school until 2018 to increase the number of black, Hispanic and Native American medical students, among other requirements.

Last year, less than 4 percent of Mizzous medical students belonged to one of the three underrepresented minority groups, according to national data. In the incoming class, 9 percent of students identify as black, Hispanic or Native American, school officials said.

The increased diversity of the incoming class tops St. Louis University, where 7 percent of medical students are in the three minority groups. The accrediting body placed SLUs medical school on a two-year probation in February in part for its problems recruiting and retaining low-income and first-generation students.

Washington Universitys rate of underrepresented minority medical students is 9 percent. University of Missouri-Kansas City has the states most diverse medical student body, with 12 percent.

Ebony Page of St. Louis joined Mizzous class of 2021 because of the medical schools growth and the opportunities to work in underserved communities after graduation, she said.

For me, growing up in the inner city and knowing the health disparities, a lot of it has to do with access to care, said Page, 27. To see the shortage firsthand made it important to go to an institution where it was important to them.

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Mizzou medical school will produce more doctors to address shortage - STLtoday.com

High school chemistry lessons coming to Rock Creek Park – Washington Post

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By Mandy McLaren By Mandy McLaren August 11 at 2:28 PM

Not all chemistry is learned in a lab. Sometimes answers are found by wading into a creek.

That is one of the lessons Montgomery County hopes to impart on local high school students by transforming a portion of Rock Creek Park and its surroundings into a hands-on chemistry classroom this school year.

The program, announced Thursday, will reach 1,500 students over the next three years, according to the county.

Starting this fall, students at John F. Kennedy High School in Silver Spring will become citizen scientists, monitoring water quality in the Rock Creek watershed an area that spans 60 square miles of the county. Students will collect and analyze water samples from the park and their local community.

Instead of teaching about the watershed within the classroom with pen and paper, students can actually go outside right in their schoolyard and study creeks and streams firsthand, said Diane Lill, director of education at the Audubon Naturalist Society, based in Chevy Chase, which will help facilitate the program.

Bethesda-based Veverka Family Foundation is giving $1million to the National Park Foundation to fund various science education programs. The new one in Rock Creek Park will receive $100,000 of that funding.

Under the training of chemistry teachers, local environmental experts and park rangers, Montgomery students will create a database of water-quality measurements. Students will then analyze their findings to identify areas in need of attention. The absence of certain organisms, for example, could indicate pollution, Lill said.

Montgomery officials say they will expand the three-week program to Northwood and Albert Einstein high schools in 2018-2019 and to Wheaton and Montgomery Blair high schools the following year. Their goal is to eventually integrate the curriculum into chemistry classrooms countywide.

The program comes as the county is developing lessons based on state science standards adopted in 2013. Under the standards, students are expected to approach environmental challenges with content knowledge and critical thinking skills.

Students will also need a strong foundation in chemistry to do well on Marylands science assessment, school officials say. By 2021, students will need to achieve a passing score on the test to graduate from high school.

Laurie Jenkins, Montgomerys supervisor of environmental education, said the district will review course passage rates and test data to measure the success of the outdoor education program. She said she also hopes students will graduate from high school more engaged in their roles as stewards of the local environment.

These students are going to become the citizens of the U.S. who will vote to shape environmental policy, she said.

The program, called Citizen Science 2.0 in National Parks, will also take place at Cabrillo National Monument in San Diego, Cuyahoga Valley National Park in northeast Ohio and the Great Smoky Mountains National Park in North Carolina and Tennessee.

Mary Jo Veverka, president of the Veverka Family Foundation, said her first meaningful exposure to the countrys national parks came during college when she worked at Yellowstone National Park.

With her donation, Veverka said she wants to give more students the opportunity to experience the countrys natural beauty and to recognize their impact on the environment. The Bethesda resident also hopes to join students in the field.

It was important for me as well to be able to connect with kids that I can see going to school every day, right in my back yard, she said.

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High school chemistry lessons coming to Rock Creek Park - Washington Post