Global RNA-interference (RNAi) Market Growth, Trends and Forecasts to 2025: Focus on Key Players Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Arrowhead, Quark…

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DUBLIN, Sept. 2, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The "RNA-interference (RNAi) Market - Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2020 - 2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

The RNA-interference (RNAi) market is expected to witness a CAGR of 10.12% during the forecast period. Certain factors that are driving the market growth include the increasing number of applications in molecular diagnostics, particularly in cancer and improving synthetic delivery carriers and chemical modifications to RNA.

Cancer diagnosis and treatment is currently undergoing a shift with the incorporation of RNAi techniques in personalized medicine and molecular diagnostics. The availability of high throughput techniques for the identification of altered cellular molecules and metabolites allows the use of RNAi techniques in various cancer diagnosis and targeting approaches. For diagnostic purposes, small interfering RNAs (siRNA) or microRNAs (miRNA) can be utilized. The commercial availability of siRNAs to silence virtually any gene in the human genome is dramatically accelerating the pace of molecular diagnosis and biomedical research. Thus, increasing the application of RNAi in molecular diagnosis and its viability as a therapeutic technique is expected to drive the growth of the RNAi market during the forecast period.

However, in recent years, there has been a decline in FDA drug approval rates. Getting FDA approval for a new drug has become extremely challenging. It approved less than half the number of new drugs in 2016 (19 so far) when compared to 2015 (45 total) and 2014 (41 total). Hence, despite the large investments, there has been a decline in the number of innovative drugs manufactured. FDA explains manufacturing standards and other complying issues as the major reasons for this declining trend. This can impede the growth of the RNAi therapeutics, especially since the miRNAs and siRNAs fall into the relatively new field of genetic medicine, wherein they may require more intensified clinical trials. The highly extensive clinical trials effectively result in low approval rates of drugs. This would mean that the stringent guidelines will be a major restraint for the growth of the market.

Key Market Trends

Oncology is Expected to Hold Significant Market Share in the Therapeutics Type

According to the World Health Organization, cancer is the second leading cause of death globally and is responsible for an estimated 9.6 million deaths in 2018. Globally, about 1 in 6 deaths is due to cancer. The number of new cases is expected to rise by about 70% over the next two decades.

Recent advancements, such as the development of small interfering RNA (siRNA) tolerant to nucleases and the development of non-viral vectors, such as cationic liposomes and nanoparticles, can overcome this obstacle and facilitate the clinical use of RNAi-based therapeutics in the treatment of cancer.

Substantial pipeline for cancer therapies by companies and institutes such as Enzon Pharmaceuticals (Santaris Pharma), University of Texas, OncoGenex, Isarna Therapeutics, Astrazeneca (Ionis Pharmaceuticals), and INSYS Therapeutics, Inc. are expected to drive the market. In addition, many companies have invested in R&D for nanocarriers to deliver oligonucleotides for cancer treatment, which is expected to contribute to the oncology verticle.

North America Dominates the Market and Expected to do the Same in the Forecast Period

The U.S. has a number of RNAi therapeutics that are in developmental pipelines. A number of biotechnology companies have made considerably high investments for RNAi therapeutic development. Big pharmaceutical developers have entered into collaboration agreements or licensing deals with a number of smaller firms in an attempt to capitalize on the expected growth in revenue that this market can have over the forecast period. For instance, AstraZeneca's agreement with Ionis pharmaceuticals is one of the big deals that are investing heavily into RNA-interference technology

Key Topics Covered:

1 INTRODUCTION

2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

4 MARKET DYNAMICS4.1 Market Overview4.2 Market Drivers4.2.1 Increasing Number of Applications in Molecular Diagnostics, Particularly in Cancer4.2.2 Improving Synthetic Delivery Carriers and Chemical Modifications to RNA4.3 Market Restraints4.3.1 Stringent FDA Regulations and Changing Reimbursement Environment4.3.2 Unstable Potentially Immunogenic Nature of RNA4.4 Porter's Five Forces Analysis4.4.1 Threat of New Entrants4.4.2 Bargaining Power of Buyers/Consumers4.4.3 Bargaining Power of Suppliers4.4.4 Threat of Substitute Products4.4.5 Intensity of Competitive Rivalry

5 MARKET SEGMENTATION5.1 Application5.2 Geography

6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE6.1 Company Profiles6.1.1 Alnylam Pharmaceuticals6.1.2 Arcturus Therapeutics6.1.3 Arrowhead6.1.4 Dicerna Pharmaceuticals6.1.5 Quark Pharmaceuticals Inc.6.1.6 Ionis Pharmaceuticals Inc.6.1.7 Merck & Co. Inc. (Sigma Aldrich)6.1.8 Silence Therapeutics PLC6.1.9 Qiagen NV6.1.10 Phio Pharmaceuticals Corp.6.1.11 Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc.

7 MARKET OPPORTUNITIES AND FUTURE TRENDS

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Global RNA-interference (RNAi) Market Growth, Trends and Forecasts to 2025: Focus on Key Players Alnylam Pharmaceuticals, Arrowhead, Quark...

Yale researchers find a cause and possible treatment for Fragile X – Yale News

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Yale scientists have discovered an underlying mechanism for Fragile X syndrome a leading cause of autism and the primary genetic driver of intellectual disability as well as a drug that reversed the underlying abnormality and autism-like behaviors in mice. Their research appears in the Sept. 3 edition of the journal Cell.

Fragile X, a genetic disorder linked to the X chromosome, leads to learning disabilities, cognitive impairment, and many features of autism, including social difficulties.Approximately one in 7,000 males and one in 11,000 females have the syndrome, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Fragile Xtypically becomes evident in children by age 2.

The new Yale study deepens basic understanding of the syndrome and demonstrates early promise for a previously unexplored avenue for treatment.

In the study, led by Dr. Elizabeth Ann Jonas, professor of internal medicine (endocrinology) and neuroscience, researchers focused on a protein called adenosine triphosphate synthase, which is present in nearly all cells in the body. It uses energy from food to generate adenosine triphosphate (ATP), a molecule that is a major energy source for cells.

In Fragile X syndrome, cells ATP-making function is abnormal, Jonas team found. Specifically, the cells mitochondria which process fuel to make ATP have a leaky inner membrane.

This leaky membrane is making the process of ATP production inefficient, said Jonas, who studies synapses, the junctions that help pass messages between the brain cells known as neurons. In Fragile X neurons, the synapses fail to mature during development. The synapses remain in an immature state and this seems to be related to their immature metabolism.

When a leak in the cells mitochondria short-circuits efficient functioning of the synapse, memory, learning and typical brain development are all compromised, Jonas said.

As part of the study, the Yale researchers tested a drug on mouse models with Fragile X to see if it would close the leaks and improve brain function. They found that Dexpramipexole, an ATP synthase modulator previously tested as a treatment for ALS, reversed two autistic-like behaviors in mice with Fragile X: excessive grooming and compulsive shredding of their nests.

Jonas said she is now interested in testing the effectiveness of this and other leak-closing drugs for improving learning. She has a separate study underway intended to ascertain the role of leaky membranes in memory formation. This could yield a pathway for treating Alzheimers disease as well as for Fragile X and autism.

Mitochondria are making ATP in synapses all throughout life, Jonas said. We think mitochondrial leak closure may be one of the first responses to neuronal activity when you form a memory and this could be required for the changes that lead to long-term memory formation.

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Yale researchers find a cause and possible treatment for Fragile X - Yale News

Fusion Genes Associated With More Aggressive Papillary Thyroid Cancer in Pediatric Patients – Targeted Oncology

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The most common genetic cause of alterations in pediatric patients with papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) were fusion genes, which were associated with more aggressive disease, according to a study published in Thyroid.

In this study, several novel rearrangements were identified, and the fusion genes seemed to be a molecular marker number one in this patient population.

Overall, the study included 93 pediatric patients who had undergone thyroid surgery between 2003 and 2019 at the Department of Ear, Nose, and Throat, Second Faculty Medicine, Charles University, and Motol University Hospital in Prague. The mean age of patients at diagnosis was 14.5 3.4 years, and the female to male ratio was 2.6 to 1. Eighty-two patients had a total thyroidectomy and 11 had a subtotal thyroidectomy, where 10 were completed to total thyroidectomy.

The mean tumor size was 22.1 13.7 mm, and the investigators noted that 17 patients had microcarcinoma. Twenty-six patients (29.9%) had PTC of classical variant, 20 (23.0%) had classical and follicular variant, 29 (33.3%) had follicular variant, 3 (3.4%) had solid variant, 3 (3.4%) had a mixture of classical/follicular/solid variant, 2 (2.3%) had diffuse sclerosing variant, 2 (2.3%) had columnar variant, 1 (1.1%) had tall cell variant, and 1 (1.1%) had case clear cell variant.

After a median follow-up was 72 months (range, 2-198), 11 (19.3%) patients had persistent or recurrent disease at least 1 year after surgery or patients who were in remission and later had a malignant object thyroid tissue formed. Sixteen (19.3%) patients only had biochemical evidence of persistent disease, while 56 (67.5%) remained in remission with no evidence of disease. One patient died due to advanced disease. Additionally, 10 patients were not classified because of short-term follow-up, 84 received radioactive iodine (RAI) treatment, and 8 did not receive RAI because of low-risk disease.

More than half (55.9%) of the patients had fusion genes, which included RET, NTRK1, NTRK3, ALK, BRAF, and MET. Additionally, 10 different types of RET fusions were observed in 26 patients, 4 types of NTRK3fusions in 14 patients, 1 ALK fusion in 6 patients, 2 types of NTRK1 fusions in 3 patients, 2 types of BRAFfusions in 2 patients, and 1 type of MET fusions in 1 patient. Overall, 20 types of fusion genes were identified in the study, 11 of which were interchromosomal and 9 were intrachromosomal rearrangements.

Investigators detected 2 co-existing RET fusions in 1 PTC nodule, which included ACBD5/RET fusion with juxtaposition of exon 11 of the ACBD5 gene and exon 12 of RET gene in the first and BBIP1/RET fusion with a juxtaposition of exon 1 of the BBIP1 gene and exon 8 of the RET gene. CCDC6/RET rearrangement was the most common fusion gene, which was observed in 13 patients (14%), while 1 of these patients had a novel isoform including a part of exon 9 of RET gene. Other rearrangements that were observed more commonly included ETV6/NTRK3 in 10 patients (10.8%), NCOA4/RET, and STRN/ALK both in 6 patients (6.5%) and RBPMS/NTRK3 found in 2 patients (2.2%). The remaining fusions were not recurrent.

BRAF fusions with partner genes, CUL1, and OPTN were reciprocal, and the IRF2BP2/NTRK1 fusion gene has 2 isoforms, 1 being a fusion of exon 1 and the second of exon 2 of the IRF2BP2 gene with exon 10 of the NTRK1 gene. Every isoform was found in a different patient, and no patients with fusion genes had a prior history of radiation exposure before their PTC diagnosis.

The investigators also compared the samples positive for the fusion gene to those that did not harbor this mutation. Positive samples were associated significantly with the mixture of classical and follicular types of PTC (P =.025), and the fusion-positive samples were also significantly associated with extrathyroidal extension (P <.001), higher T classification (P =.009), lymph node metastases (P <.001), distant metastases (P =.021), chronic lymphocytic thyroiditis (P =.001), and frequent occurrence of psammoma bodies (P =.004). Patients who were positive for the fusion gene has also received more frequent multiple doses of RAI therapy (P=.008). Borderline statistically significant associations were observed for features such as tumor size larger in fusion gene-positive tumors (P =.057), number of microcarcinomas higher in fusion gene-negative tumors (P=.052), and a higher number of patients who were not given RAI treatment (P =.058).

Samples that were positive for the fusion genes were different from each other as well, according to the fused oncogene involved. A statistical analysis was only able to be performed between RET and NTRK3 fusion gene-positive samples because of the low number of samples in the other fusion groups. RET fusions were significantly associated with lower mean age of patients at diagnosis (P =.035), lymph node metastases (P =.033), distant metastases (P =.020), and frequent occurrence of psammoma bodies (P =.006). The NTRK3fusions were significantly associated with follicular variant PTC (P =.013).

In RET fusion gene-positive group, 11 patients (42.3%) were of prepubertal age (up to age 12) compared with only 1 patient (7.1%) in the NTRK3 fusion-positive group (P =.021).

All patients with distant metastases (n = 10) had the genetic cause of PTC detected, which was HRAS Q61R point mutation in 1 patient, NCOA4/RET in 4, CCDC6/RET in 2, RASAL2/RET in 1, EML4/MET in 1, and co-occurrence of ACBD5/RET with BBIP1/RET in 1.

Point mutations in BRAF, HRAS, KRAS, NRAS, and TERT genes were assessed in all patients, in which 18 (19%) had the BRAF V600E mutation, and the HRAS Q61R and NRAS Q61K was found in 1 patient each. No mutations were found in the KRAS gene or in the promoter region of TERT. Patients with HRAS-positive PTC (n = 1) underwent radiation treatment for Hodgkins lymphoma. The co-occurrence of fusion gene and somatic point alternation was not identified in the study.

These findings demonstrated a point mutation or fusion gene was observed in 72 pediatric patients (77.4%) with PTC, and the oncogenic alteration was unidentified in 21 patients (22.6%). Most tumors were follicular variants of PTC and T1/T2 classification predominated the tumor samples in this study. No patients had experienced recurrence or persistence of structural disease, but 1 patient had biochemical persistence of their disease while almost all of the other patients remained in remission.

Overall, this study demonstrated that fusion genes occurred in 56% of pediatric patients with PTC, and point mutations in the BRAF and RAS genes were observed in 77% of patients. Patients who harbored a fusion gene had more aggressive forms of the disease, which included more frequent extrathyroidal extension, lymph node metastases, distant metastases, and consequently had received more doses of RAI than those without the fusion gene mutations.

Reference

Pekova B, Sykorova V, Dvorakova S, et al.RET, NTRK, ALK, BRAF,andMETfusions in a large cohort of pediatric papillary thyroid carcinomas.Thyroid.Published Online July 1, 2020. doi: 10.1089/thy.2019.0802

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‘Coming into their own’: FDA approval of liquid biopsy tests puts early, less invasive cancer detection in broader reach – USA TODAY

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In the past, in order to get tumor cells from a patient, a doctor had to do surgery or biopsy. Now a nurse draws blood from the arm, like what happens in a routine blood test. (Sept. 2017) Video Elephant

Cancer patients often have to endure months of anxiety and side effects before they can schedule a scan or painful biopsy to learn if their treatment is working.

Liquid biopsy tests, which have won federal approval in recent weeks, could make that process faster and less miserable.

The Food and Drug Administration approved Guardant360 CDxin early August for use in a range of solid tumors; Foundation Medicine's FoundationOne Liquid CDx, became available for widespread use as of late last month.

The tests aren't brand new, but the federal approvals will make them more accessible, as Medicare and more insurance companies cover the costs, which can run as much as $6,000.

"I think that liquid biopsies now are coming into their own," said Dr. Matthew Freedman, an oncologist and researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

The newly approved liquid biopsies can identify the genetic signature of tumors, which then can be used to match patients to treatments or research trials with experimental therapies.

Lung cancer patients who have certain genetic mutations in their tumors, for instance, can double or triple their life expectancy when given a drug targeted to those mutations.

Doctors can also use liquid biopsies a few weeks after starting treatment to see how a tumor is evolving, and perhaps gain insights into why a treatment isn't working, said Helmy Eltoukhy, CEO of Guardant Health, of Redwood City, California, which makes Guardant360 CDx.

"It's better care for patients at lower cost if you test appropriately," he said.

Today, many cancer patients, particularly those with hard-to-reach tumors, get one biopsy with all future treatment decisions based on that one sample. But tumors change over time. "There's almost no other area of medicine where you'd use an old clinical specimen to decide treatment," Eltoukhy said.

Because blood is so easy to access, a liquid biopsy can be done several times to see how the tumor evolves, he said. And patients who live far from an academic medical center can still get cutting-edge recommendations without traveling.

So-called liquid biopsies, recently approved by the FDA, may make it easier for oncologists to track their patients' cancers.(Photo: Guardant Health)

Liquid biopsies are generally seen as not as precise as more typical biopsies, where a needle is inserted directly into a solid tumor. "If one had a choice, the choice would be to look at the biopsies," said Dr. Bert Vogelstein, who has spent years developing liquid biopsy tests as a professor at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.

But with some cancers, it's not easy to access the tumor, or there's very little cancerous material that can be withdrawn or seen.

As a tumor begins to spread its tentacles,it's initially invisible on scans. And after successful surgery, there may be no obvious tumor, but residual disease could still be lurking.

Liquid biopsies can fill those crucial gaps.

Scientific advances in recent years have made it possible to identify cancer DNA in the bloodstream tiny needles in the haystack of the bloodstream.

This opens up a lot of possibilities for treatment and diagnosis, Vogelstein said.

Guardant Health is one of two companies that recently received approval for its liquid biopsy tests, intended to make it easier to track cancers.(Photo: Guardant Health)

In colon cancer, for instance, roughly half of Stage 3 patients who otherwise would die can be cured with so-called adjuvant therapy, Vogelstein said. But nearly everyone who has enough metastatic cancer to be visible on an X-ray will die from their disease. "You cure close to 0% with adjuvant therapy," he said.

Adjuvant therapy is terribly toxic, though, so doctors don't want to use it unless they believe the patient is likely to have metastatic disease.

"So, this is a decision that virtually every patient goes through: Should I undergo adjuvant therapy?" said Vogelstein.

Until now, they've only beenable to guess and play the odds. But early research suggests using liquid biopsy to identify if there's residual diseasecan help make that decision easier, Vogelstein said.

Although studies proving the clinical usefulness of liquid biopsies have yet to be completed, he added, "Patients with positive liquid biopsies after surgery nearly always recur, and many that don't have positive liquid biopsy tests don't recur."

Dr. Neal Shore, medical director of the Carolina Urologic Research Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, said he uses liquid biopsies to help him find clinical trials for patients with advanced cancer.

One patient, who only wanted to be identified by his first name, Joel, has been on a clinical trial of a double-drug therapy for two years, after a liquid biopsy identified a genetic mutation in his advanced prostate cancer.

"He looks great," Shore said on a call with Joel and his wife Tracey. "He's done exceptionally well."

Joel said the treatment has been challenging at times. He has trouble swallowing some days, suffers from back pain, and the hormone therapy he still takes gives him hot flashes.

But his wife said his issues are largely manageable with Tylenol and heating pads. "For the most part, he feels pretty good," she said.

Shore, who treats patients with kidney, bladder and prostate cancers, said liquid biopsies are particularly useful when a tissue sample is old or unusable.

"It expands our treatment armamentarium," he said. "This is really exciting for me as a urologist."

The next step, said Cindy Perettie, CEO of Cambridge, Massachusetts-based Foundation Medicine, will be to use liquid biopsies early in the course of someone's treatment.

"We're really focused on taking it from the metastatic setting and moving it to the early setting," she said. "That's where we're going to have the opportunity to really impact (patients)."

Breast cancer patients on maintenance therapy with tamoxifen, for instance, usually have to wait five years to know if their cancer has advanced, she said, but a liquid biopsy could let them know much faster and more often.

"We can look every six months whether they've progressed or not," Perettie said.

Even further into the future, the real potential for liquid biopsies lies in early detection.

For kidney cancer, as well as many other tumors, the earlier the diagnosis, the better the chance of survival, said Freedman of Dana-Farber. He, along with colleagues including Dr. Toni Choueiri, showed in a paper published earlier this summerthey could identify kidney cancer cells in urine at all stages of disease.

If such tumors could be identified when they're just beginning, the prognosis for kidney cancer would vastly improve.

"You want to cure cancer. You don't cure it with third-line chemo. You want to cure it before it happens," Choueiri said.

Today, about 20% of cancers are diagnosed via screening tools like mammography, colonoscopies or stool-based tests. Add liquid biopsies and that figure could jump to 75%. "I think that will be possible within five years or so," said Vogelstein, who is involved in a company, Thrive Earlier Detection, based in Cambridge, Massachusetts, that is working on such a test.

The challenge: the smaller the tumor, the less DNA released from the cancer cells, so the harder it is to detect.

Metastatic cancers that have spread throughout the body might account for 5-10% of the DNA floating in the bloodstream; but DNA from very early tumors may make up just 1-in-10,000 or 1-in-100,000 DNA molecules in blood, Vogelstein said.

Studies have shown it's feasible to find these few needles in a haystackbut not whether it's useful to doctors or patients.

There is also a risk to using liquid biopsies as a screening tool for early tumors, Vogelstein warned. False positives telling people they have cancer when they don't could do a lot of harm.

And a liquid biopsy can only say there's a high likelihood someone has cancer somewhere and that further testing is warranted, he said. Sometimes, something might look like cancer on a CT scan, but it isn't.

"It is essential," he said, "to show that the benefits of early detection outweigh the risks."

Contact Karen Weintraub at kweintraub@usatoday.com

Health and patient safety coverage at USA TODAY is made possible in part by a grant from the Masimo Foundation for Ethics, Innovation and Competition in Healthcare. The Masimo Foundation does not provide editorial input.

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Existing Class of Drugs May Improve Neurological Function in Patients with Rare, Aggressive Genetic Disorder – Newswise

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Philadelphia, September 3, 2020 New findings from Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) show that some patients with a rare and aggressive form of leukodystrophy may benefit from receiving treatment with a class of targeted therapy drugs that could improve their neurological function. A correspondence about these findings was published today in the New England Journal of Medicine.

Aicardi-Goutires syndrome (AGS) is a rare genetic disorder and type of leukodystrophy that affects the brain and immune system. In patients with AGS, the bodys immune system turns on itself in a destructive way, targeting the brains white matter, causing most children with the disorder to experience mild to severe intellectual or physical impairments. Most children with AGS are unable to walk or talk and have multisystemic complications, including skin inflammation.

Prior studies have linked the activation of interferons signaling proteins that respond to various immune disruptions to exacerbated symptoms in AGS. Researchers at CHOP wanted to explore whether a class of small molecule inhibitor drugs called janus kinase (JAK) inhibitors could be used to block interferon activation in a way that helped these patients.

Because treatment options for AGS are limited and the symptoms that these patients experience are so severe, there is a need to explore a wide variety of options, said senior author Adeline Vanderver, MD, an attending physician in the Division of Neurology, Program Director of the Leukodystrophy Center, and Jacob A. Kamens Endowed Chair in Neurologic Disorders and Translational Neurotherapeutics at CHOP.

The study was conducted at CHOP with 35 international patients with genetically confirmed AGS. These patients received baricitinib, an oral JAK1 and JAK2 inhibitor, with doses based on each patients renal function, age and symptoms. Patients had their developmental histories evaluated from the onset of the disease to the end of the study, which ranged from 7.4 months to 41.5 months. The study team analyzed a variety of developmental milestones, including head control, sitting, rolling, smiling, babbling, and the use of single words and word combinations.

Before the patients in this study received treatment, 26 of the 35 had stable or declining neurologic function, and 9 of the 35 patients gained one or two of these developmental skills after disease onset. However, during the study, 20 patients met new milestones, and 12 patients gained between two to seven new skills. The improvements were typically observed within three months into the study and persisted. Children who received higher doses of the therapy appeared to achieve more of these milestones.

Some of the AGS patients who received baricitinib were at risk for developing thrombocytosis, leukopenia, and infection and therefore should be monitored closely while taking the drug.

Measuring neurologic improvements in these patients is a complex process, but the results of this study are encouraging, especially because we observed improvements even in patients with severe and long-standing disease, Vanderver said.

Eli Lilly provided the medication for the study and performed the safety laboratory tests. This work was supported by grants NINDS U01 NS106845 and NICHD U01HD082806 and the State of Pennsylvania, Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement Program, the J.A. Kamens Chair in Translational Neurotherapeutics from CHOP; grant KL2TR001879 from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the NIH, K23NS114113 the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke of the NIH, and K08-HL140129 from the Parker B. Francis Foundation; and funding from the Department of Pediatrics at CHOP.

Vanderver et al, Janus Kinase Inhibition in the AicardiGoutires Syndrome. N Engl J Med, online September 3, 2020. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2001362.

About Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia: Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia was founded in 1855 as the nations first pediatric hospital. Through its long-standing commitment to providing exceptional patient care, training new generations of pediatric healthcare professionals, and pioneering major research initiatives, Childrens Hospital has fostered many discoveries that have benefited children worldwide. Its pediatric research program is among the largest in the country. In addition, its unique family-centered care and public service programs have brought the 564-bed hospital recognition as a leading advocate for children and adolescents. For more information, visit http://www.chop.edu

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Existing Class of Drugs May Improve Neurological Function in Patients with Rare, Aggressive Genetic Disorder - Newswise

Hyperthyroidism is associated with breast cancer risk and mammographic and genetic risk predictors – 2 Minute Medicine

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Hyperthyroidism is associated with breast cancer risk and mammographic and genetic risk predictors

1. Hyperthyroidism was associated with a higher rate of breast cancer among women.

2. Risk was particularly elevated for those with toxic nodular goiter.

Evidence Rating Level: 2 (Good)

Breast cancer is the most common cancer among women across the world as well as the leading cause of death among women. While much is known about the roles of thyroid hormones in cell proliferation within breast tissue, less is known about the relationship between hyperthyroidism and mammographic features of breast tissue. This national cohort study of women over the age of 20 years in Sweden (n = 3,793,492) included individuals assessed between 2002 and 2011 and sought to investigate the odds ratios of hyperthyroidism based on mammographic and genetic risk predictors. Participants had a main diagnosis of hyperthyroidism and follow-ups ended at breast cancer diagnosis, death, emigration, or final follow-up. Another 68,598 participants joined the Karolinska Mammography Project for Risk Prediction of Breast Cancer (KARMA, 2002-2017) for genotyping, with blood samples being obtained from a subset of 11,991 women who did not have breast cancer when they joined. Findings suggested an increase in breast cancer among patients with hyperthyroidism (incidence rate ratio [IRR] = 1.23, 95% CI 1.12 to 1.36), which was higher for toxic nodular goiter (IRR = 1.38, 95% CI 1.16 to 1.63). Hyperthyroidism was also associated with lower breastfeeding duration, higher body mass index, and early age at first birth. Higher mammographic density was found in women with toxic nodular goiter compared to those without hyperthyroidism. Among those in the KARMA group, hyperthyroidism was associated with a higher polygenic risk score overall (OR = 1.98, 95% CI 1.04 to 3.43) and estrogen receptor-positive specific PRS (OR = 1.90, 95% CI 1.04 to 3.43). Overall, this study found that hyperthyroidism was associated with an increased risk of breast cancer, with particular risk being among those with toxic nodular goiter. Further studies may explore mammographic density and genetic variants of these conditions.

Image: PD

2020 2 Minute Medicine, Inc. All rights reserved. No works may be reproduced without expressed written consent from 2 Minute Medicine, Inc. Inquire about licensing here. No article should be construed as medical advice and is not intended as such by the authors or by 2 Minute Medicine, Inc.

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Genomic analysis reveals insights on virulent, emerging foodborne pathogen – UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff – University at Buffalo…

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Foodborne pathogens are very common and usually benign, but certain virulent strains of pathogens can result in severe disease and even death. Distinguishing specific strains of pathogens can help scientists better understand them and develop biomarkers to help detect them in patients, expediting diagnosis and treatment.

UB researchers have now completed the genomic analysis of a specific strain of Shiga-toxin E. coli (STEC) that can cause severe disease outbreaks and is increasingly common. The research could play a role in expanding the understanding of STEC infections and, potentially, in developing vaccines against them.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, STEC are estimated to cause more than 265,000 infections per yearin the U.S., and are associated with more than 3,600 hospitalizations and approximately 30 deaths.

Published in BMC Genomics last month, the paper describes the genomic analysis completed on a unique STEC strain isolated from an otherwise healthy 2 -year-old child living in Davidson County, Tennessee. The pathogen caused severe illness, including hemolytic uremic syndrome, a condition that destroys red blood cells, lowers platelets and blocks blood vessels in kidneys, resulting in anemia and kidney damage.

The child survived but was hospitalized for a month and sustained severe complications affecting multiple organ systems, including her lungs, heart, kidney, brain, circulatory system and gastrointestinal tract.

The Shiga-toxin producing E. coli she was infected with is a non-0157 STEC. While the pathogens classified as 0157 STEC infections generally are more common and result in more severe disease, the number of emerging, non-0157 STEC pathogens has been on the increase. Some lead to severe disease, creating a growing public health concern, according to the UB researchers.

The paper states that there are more than 400 of these non-0157 STEC strains, and more than a quarter are reported to cause gastrointestinal disease, often presenting first as bloody diarrhea with hemolytic uremic syndrome and if untreated, in rare cases, death.

The specific pathogen the child was infected with was a STEC 0145:H25. Since genomic studies on emerging non-0157 STEC are limited, our studies are significant because they reveal the genetic makeup of emergent STEC 0145:H25 in comparison with other STEC strains, says Oscar G. Gmez-Duarte, corresponding author on the paper, associate professor and chief of the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases in the Department of Pediatrics, Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, and a pediatrician with UBMD Pediatrics.

The findings reveal how this emerging STEC causes severe disease and that it may be as virulent, or even more virulent, than more common STEC strains, leading to severe and even deadly disease in susceptible hosts, he says. It also provides information on how this potentially preventable infection continues to affect vulnerable individuals.

A key finding of the study, he says, was that this 0145:H25 serotype leads to particularly severe infection. Moreover, in addition to carrying virulence genes present in 0157 STEC, it has additional genes and new potential virulence genes as compared to other non-0157 strains that have been studied. These findings deserve further analysis to understand the pathogenesis of these emergent STEC infections, Gmez-Duarte says.

The analysis was conducted through a collaboration between the Department of Pediatrics researchers and colleagues at UBs New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and LifeSciences, whose expertise in bioinformatics and whole genome sequencing analysis allowed the team to uncover the genetic information critical to understanding where these strains are derived from and how they may be traced to unique reservoirs, such as contaminated food products or infected livestock.

Gmez-Duarte is an expert in infectious gastrointestinal diseases and diarrhea in children. He established a global health research program, the International Enteric Vaccines Research Program (IEVRP), dedicated to studying the epidemiology, pathogenesis and vaccine development of childhood gastrointestinal infections within the U.S. and abroad. He has also conducted vaccine development research for pediatric infectious diseases.

UB co-authors are Julio Guerra of the Department of Pediatrics and Jonathan E. Bard and Donald Yergeau of the Genomics and Bioinformatics Core of UBs NYS Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences. Chengxian Zhang and Natasha Halasa of Vanderbilt University are also co-authors.

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Genomic analysis reveals insights on virulent, emerging foodborne pathogen - UB Now: News and views for UB faculty and staff - University at Buffalo...

New HIV Gene Therapy, CAR-T Treatments Could be on the Horizon for Patients – BioSpace

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Could gene therapy provide a solution to HIV? A new research project aims to find out.

The National Institutes of Health(NIH) has backed researchers at the University of Southern California and the Fred Hutchison Cancer Center with a five-year, $14.6 million grant to develop a gene therapy that could potentially control HIV without the need for daily medications. Most HIV patients take a well-regimented cocktail of medications each day to control the virus. This therapy could change that. According to an announcement from the Keck School of Medicine at USC, the goal will be to develop a therapy that prepares patients for a stem cell transplantation using their own cells with little to no toxicity, engineers their own stem cells to fight HIV and stimulates those cells to quickly produce new and engineered immune cells once they're reintroduced into the patient. The hematopoietic stem cell transplants, also known as bone marrow transplants, have been used to treat some blood cancers. The idea is to infuse an HIV patient withhealthy donor blood stem cells that can grow into any type of blood or immune cell.

The gene therapy strategy has been inspired by three cases where leukemia patients who also had HIV received blood stem cell transplants from donors who also carried a mutation that confers immunity to HIV. The mutation was in the CCR5 gene, which encodes a receptor that HIV uses to infect immune cells and is present in about 1 percent of the population, USC said.

The program will engineer blood cells to remove CCR5 from a patient's own stem cells.That will be combined with other genetic changes so that the progeny of engineered stem cells will release antibodies and antibody-like molecules that block HIV.

In addition to the potential gene therapy treatment, researchers are also assessing whether or not CAR-T treatments will benefit HIV patients. Researchers from Harvard University developed a Dual CAR T-cell immunotherapy that can potentially help fight HIV infection. First reported by Drug Target Review, the HIV-specific CAR-T cell is being developed to not only target and eliminated HIV-infected cells, but also reproduce in vivo to enable the patients to fight off the infection. HIVs primary target it T cells, which are part of the bodys natural immune response.

Todd Allen, a professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, said the Dual CAR-T cell immunotherapy has so far provided a strong, long-lasting response against HIV-infection while being resistant to the virus itself.

According to the report, theDual CAR T cell was developed through the engineering of two CARs into a single T cell. Each of the CARs contained a CD4 protein that allowed it to target HIV-infected cells and a costimulatory domain, which signaled the CAR T cell to increase its immune functions. As DTR reported, the first CAR contained the 4-1BB co-stimulatory domain, which stimulates cell proliferation and persistence, while the second has the CD28 co-stimulatory domain, which increases its ability to kill infected cells.

To protect the CAR-T cells from HIV, the team added the protein C34-CXCR4, which prevents HIV from attaching to and infecting cells. When that was added, the researchers found in animal models that the treatment was long-lived, replicated in response to HIV infection, killed infected cells effectively and was partially resistant to HIV infection.

Still, other researchers are looking to those rare individuals who are infected with HIV but somehow on their own are able to suppress the virus without the need for any treatment. Researchers have sought to replicate what this small percentage of patients can naturally do in other patients who require those daily regimens of medications. Through the sequencing of the genetic material of those rare individuals, researchers made an interesting discovery.

The team discovered large numbers of intact viral sequences in the elite controllers chromosomes. But in this group, the genetic material was restricted to inactive regions, where DNA is not transcribed into RNA to make proteins, MedNewsToday reported.

Now the race is on to determine how this can be replicated and used to treat the nearly 38 million people across the globe who have been diagnosed with HIV.

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New HIV Gene Therapy, CAR-T Treatments Could be on the Horizon for Patients - BioSpace

Health history platform launches to trace genetic conditions | Digital Healthcare – Healthcare Global – Healthcare News, Magazine and Website

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A new platform that can help identify individuals who are at high risk of hereditary diseases has launched.

Developed by FamHis Inc, FamGenix is a free patient mobile app that is being released worldwide, following a soft launch last November for patients, and the release of the provider portal for clinicians last month. Servers have so far been launched in the US and Europe, and are planned for Canada and Australia in October.

The platform facilitates a telemedicine-based approach to gathering family health histories, aiming to save time and improving accuracy. The concept behind FamGenix is that patients are in control of their own data. They are able to communicate with family members through a feature called FamShare, allowing a secure exchange of data to provide an accurate family history.

Each family member can control their own health record and privacy settings. Important health information, like genetic test results, can be easily shared with other family members via the app, facilitating the process of family tracing for genetic conditions.

With 25 years in the industry, Ive seen firsthand the benefits of an accurate family health history and the effect it has on decision making for healthcare providers and their patients, said Michael Brammer, Founder and CEO of FamHis, Inc.

But the idea that its something to address only when patients are facing a health crisis, is short-sighted. FamGenix is much more than a simple screening tool and is the first of its kind to empower patients to own and maintain their own family health history, indefinitely. Preventative healthcare is the future of medicine and it begins with family history.

Healthcare providers can review the patient data, and the system screens patients to identify those who are high-risk - in other words, who meet criteria for further genetic counseling or testing.

Standard or custom questionnaires help to identify any condition (not just cancer) or other data needed for clinical or research purposes. There is also a white-label option for healthcare providers who want to brand the app as their own in the app stores. FamHis has signed their first white-label license with a prestigious cancer center and has pilots planned in several countries.

The app is available for download from the App Store and Google Play, while healthcare professionals can access a free trial.

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Health history platform launches to trace genetic conditions | Digital Healthcare - Healthcare Global - Healthcare News, Magazine and Website

CONFLICT OF NATIONS Brings Real-Time Strategic Modern Combat to iOS and Android Today – Gamasutra

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[This unedited press release is made available courtesy of Gamasutra and its partnership with notable game PR-related resource GamesPress.]

Hamburg, Germany 4 September 2020. Strategy game development studio Dorado Games and their publisher Bytro Labs are proud to launch Conflict of Nations: WW3 for iOS and Android mobile devices.

Conflict of Nations: WW3 is a free-to-play Long Term Strategy (LTS) game where modern global warfare is waged in real-time between up to 100 players in campaigns spanning days and weeks. Already a hit game on the PC enjoyed by over 1.8 million players, Conflict of Nations can now be played natively on iOS and Android, allowing PC and mobile strategy fans to battle it out in massively-multiplayer warfare scenarios spanning the modern globe.

In Conflict of Nations, players take command of a real-world nation in a struggle for global domination. Units traverse the world map in real time, often taking hours to fulfill their assigned missions and objectives, allowing players to frequently re-visit their running campaigns, taking daily tactical decisions while sending their troops into battle. Each nation must be carefully managed and developed: researching new units, building infrastructure, managing the economy and engaging in diplomacy with other players are essential tools to winning World War III.

Were thrilled to welcome mobile players to Conflict of Nations, says Simon Dotschuweit, Dorado Games Studio Head Whether youre a veteran of countless campaigns or this is your first day on the battlefield, Conflict of Nations is now more accessible than ever before. Use the same account across PC or mobile and youll never be far from the battlefield.

Play Conflict of Nations: WW3 on iOS and Android, join the fight via HTML5 web browser at conflictnations.com, or download and play on Steam.

See the Conflict of Nations mobile launch trailer here, and follow Conflict of Nations on Twitter and Facebook.

Press Contact

[emailprotected]

About Dorado

Dorado Games is a video game development studio dedicated to creating digital online games with a focus on deep strategy, appealing to players from all over the world. Founded in Malta in 2011 by a team of game industry veterans whose resumes include Battlestar Online, Eve Online, Codename Panzers and Civilization, the studio is composed of 20+ developers from seven different nations. Released games include Gladiators Online and Conflict of Nations with nearly 2 million registered users. Like their sister company Bytro Labs with whom the latest game was closely developed, Dorado Games is a member of Swedish Stillfront Group AB.

About Bytro

Bytro Labs GmbH is an owner-managed company which develops and publishes technically sophisticated, browser-based and mobile online games including Call of War 1942, Conflict of Nations: World War III (jointly developed with sister company, Dorado Games), Supremacy 1914 and Supremacy 1. Bytros games have been played by over 10 million registered users and are available in 15 different languages. Bytro, part of the Sweden-based global group of gaming studios, Stillfront since 2013, was founded in 2009 by Felix Faber, Tobias Kringe and Christopher Lrken and is based in Hamburg, Germany.

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The Honorable Dr. Dale Layman, Founder of Robowatch, LLC, is Recognized as the 2020 Humanitarian of the Year by Top 100 Registry, Inc. – IT News…

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PR.com2020-09-03

Joliet, IL, September 03, 2020 --(PR.com)-- The Honorable Dr. Dale Pierre Layman, A.S., B.S., M.S., Ed.S., Ph.D. #1, Ph.D. #2, Grand Ph.D. in Medicine, MOIF, FABI, DG, DDG, LPIBA, IOM, AdVMed, AGE, is the Founder and President of Robowatch, L.L.C. (www.robowatch.info.) Robowatch is an international non-profit group aiming to keep a watchful human eye on the fast-moving developments occurring in the fields of robotics, computing, and Artificial Intelligence (A.I.) industries. As the first person in his family to attend college in 1968, he earned an Associate of Science (A.S.) in Life Science from Lake Michigan College. The same year, he won a Michigan Public Junior College Transfer Scholarship to the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. In 1971, he received an Interdepartmental B.S. with Distinction, in Anthropology - Zoology, from the University of Michigan. From 1971 to 1972, Dr. Layman served as a Histological Technician in the Department of Neuropathology at the University of Michigan Medical School. From 1972 to 1974, he attended the U of M Medical School, Physiology department, and was a Teaching Fellow of Human Physiology. He completed his M.S. in Physiology from the University of Michigan in 1974.

From 1974 to 1975, Dr. Layman served as an Instructor in the Biology Department at Lake Superior State College. In 1975, he became a full-time, permanent Instructor in the Natural Science Department of Joliet Junior College (J.J.C.) and taught Human Anatomy, Physiology, and Medical Terminology to Nursing & Allied Health students. Appointed to the Governing Board of Text & Academic Authors, he authored several textbooks, including but not limited to the Terminology of Anatomy & Physiology and Anatomy Demystified. In 2003, Dr. Layman wrote the Foreword to the Concise Encyclopedia of Robotics, Stan Gibilisco.

As a renowned scholar and book author, Dr. Layman proposed The Faculty Ranking Initiative in the State of Illinois to increase the credibility of faculty members in the States two-year colleges, which will help with research grants or publications. In 1994, the State of Illinois accepted this proposal. J.J.C. adapted the change in 2000, and Dr. Layman taught full-time from 1975 until his retirement in 2007. He returned and taught part-time from 2008 to 2010. Dr. Layman received an Ed.S. (Educational Specialist) in Physiology and Health Science from Ball State University in 1979. Then, in 1986, Dr. Layman received his first Ph.D. from the University of Illinois, in Health and Safety Studies. In 2003, Dr. Layman received a second Ph.D. and a Grand Ph.D. in Medicine, from the Academie Europeenne D Informatisation (A.E.I.) and the World Information Distributed University (WIDU). He is the first American to receive the Grand Doctor of Philosophy in Medicine.

In 1999, Dr. Layman delivered a groundbreaking speech at the National Convention of Text and Academic Authors, Park City, Utah. Here, he first publicly explained his unique concept: Compu-Think, a contraction for computer-like modes or ways of human thinking. This reflects the dire need for humans to develop more computer-like modes or ways of Natural Human thinking. This concept has important practical applications to Human Health and Well-being. In 2000, Dr. Layman gave several major talks and received top-level awards. In May of 2000, he participated in a two-week faculty exchange program with Professor Harrie van Liebergen of the Health Care Division of Koning Willem I College, Netherlands.

In 2001, after attending an open lecture on neural implants at the University of Reading, England, Dr. Layman created Robowatch. The London Diplomatic Academy published several articles about his work, such as Robowatch (2001) and Robowatch 2002: Mankind at the Brink (2002). The article Half-human and half-computer, Andrej Kikelj (2003) discussed the far-flung implications of Dr. Laymans work. Using the base of half-human, half-computer, Dr. Layman coined the name of a new disease, Psychosomatic Technophilic, which translates as an abnormal love or attraction for technology [that replaces] the body and mind. Notably, Dr. Layman was cited several times in the article Transhumanism, (Wikipedia, 2009). Further in 2009, several debates about Transhumanism were published in Wikipedia, and they identified Dr. Layman as an anti-transhumanist who first coined the phrase, Terminator argument.

In 2018, Dr. Layman was featured in the cover of Pro-Files Magazine, 8th Edition, by Marquis Whos Who. He was the Executive Spotlight in Robotics, Computers and Artificial Intelligence, in the 2018 Edition of the Top 101 Industry Experts, by Worldwide Publishing. He also appeared on the cover of the July 2018 issue of T.I.P. (Top Industry Professionals) magazine, the International Association of Top Professionals. Dr. Layman was also the recipient of the prestigious Albert Nelson Marquis Lifetime Achievement Award (2017-2018). Ever a Lifelong Student and taking classes for the past few years at J.J.C., Dr. Layman was recently inducted (2019) to his second formal induction into the worlds largest honor society for community college students, Phi Theta Kappa.

Contact Information:

Top 100 Registry Inc.

David Lerner

855-785-2514

Contact via Email

http://www.top100registry.com

Read the full story here: https://www.pr.com/press-release/820338

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The Honorable Dr. Dale Layman, Founder of Robowatch, LLC, is Recognized as the 2020 Humanitarian of the Year by Top 100 Registry, Inc. - IT News...

SPIRIT MATTERS: In matters of the spirit, spirituality matters – LaSalle News Tribune

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Regular and longtime readers of this space have probably figured out by now there is at least one thing in my life I am passionate about.

Spirituality.

Admittedly, this term can be confusing for many, and create all kinds of misunderstandings. When the question arises whether someone is spiritual or religious, many people see it in dualistic terms like you must be one or the other, but you cant be both.

This is just not true.

In fact, after reading about and studying spirituality for 25 years, I would propose that before religion comes into ones life, one is already, by birthright, a spiritual person.

Although it has been attributed to various people over the years, Pierre Teilhard de Chardin is credited with originating this statement: We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spiritual beings having a human experience.

This implies, that just by being born, each human is a spiritual being. Indeed, some would include in that spiritual being category, all living things animals, plants, trees

Before I sat down at the keyboard this week, I looked up the term spirituality to try to get a grasp on a generally accepted definition of what it means to be spiritual.

There are, of course, many factors that go into determining this, but probably the most basic answer is this, which appeared when I googled the word. This definition is from Oxford Languages:

the quality of being concerned with the human spirit or soul as opposed to material or physical things.

I might elaborate on that just a bit, to say that spirituality is an effort to find meaning, in ones own life, in others lives, in the world around them, and in the events that take place in their lives.

Another description of what it means to be a spiritual person came from an article on HuffPost in 2015. This one is more detailed than the above definition, but overall (and as in anything, there are exceptions), this definition better encapsulates what it means to be spiritual in these days in which we live:

Being a spiritual person is synonymous with being a person whose highest priority is to be loving to yourself and others. A spiritual person cares about people, animals and the planet. A spiritual person knows that we are all One, and consciously attempts to honor this Oneness. A spiritual person is a kind person.

Now, in reading this definition, we can see that it does not preclude spiritual people from also being religious. For some people, they dont have a spiritual awakening for years, even though they have practiced a religion for their entire life. In fact, most world religions, in one way or another, teach the highest priority of human life is to be loving to yourself and others.

As we all know, not all religious peoples lives reflect this, however. In fact, sadly, religions can be divisive, when seen as the be all and end all of existence.

Anyway, the reason I decided to write about this topic this week, is because I was thinking about 2020 and what an unusually, pardon my language, hellish year it has been. Honestly, humanity has been blindsided this year in more ways than we ever thought possible, at least in modern times. At least that is how it seems to those of us living it out. Now.

And I know for almost everyone scratch that everyone, adjusting to these new realities has been mentally, emotionally, physically and spiritually challenging scratch that word challenging exhausting.

I know and have heard of many people with heightened anxiety and other mental health issues that are directly related to the extreme uncertainty we live with now.

Each day we awaken, we wonder what life is going to throw at us today.

It cannot possibly get any worse than it is already, we think.

But then it does.

So as someone who is passionate about spirituality, I look at it this way:

In many ways, there is not a lot we can do hands-on, at least not immediately, to resolve the circumstances we find ourselves in. Many of them, especially those more medically related, take time to research and find solutions to.

Others which are more systemically related with deep, thick, sprawling roots must be addressed with much dialogue and mutual respect. No easy answers here.

At the foundation of all these attempts to find a solution, however, is the need for each one of us to tap into that spiritual side of us, that is our birthright.

For months, millions of people have been at home, afraid to go out into public; many of them elderly with few family or friends to check on them.

Others have watched helplessly as nearly 200,000 Americans have succumbed to Covid-19, or complications from the virus. They have watched as dear family and friends have died painful, awful deaths, alone in a hospital room, without anyone even being able to physically touch their skin, or say goodbye. They have grieved their losses relatively alone, without the human support they so desperately need.

Hostilities related to all kinds of situations have boiled up and exploded in recent months, and only seem to be getting worse with each passing day.

As I write this today, I do so without, GOD FORBID, any intention of stirring up yet another political debate. Life is not all about politics. It is about so much more than that.

That is where this idea of spirituality comes in.

I believe that these terrible months we have all endured, if looked at in a positive light, have been an opportunity for every single one of us to get in touch with that spiritual side with which we were born.

That doesnt mean necessarily going to church. Many people cant go to church right now.

It is something more basic than that.

It is getting in touch with a loving Reality that undergirds all the pain and alienation so many of us feel from life, from each other, from ourselves

It is sitting still, quiet, and reaching out to that loving Reality to try to find out more about that Reality, and to find some way to make sense of it all.

Not that we will make sense of it all.

I have found in my life that when we go looking for answers as to why something happened, we might as well be beating our heads against a wall.

We just cannot be assured we will get an answer as to why something happened.

But

We can find meaning in it.often after much time has elapsed.

We can find ways to get grounded in this loving Reality that is eternal the beginning and the end of all things.

We can find ways to acknowledge that we are not isolated beingswe are connected to one another in ways we cannot imagine or explain.

And what happens to one of us, impacts the rest of us.

We can find ways to be the spiritual beings we are.those whose highest priority is to be loving to ourselves and others.those who care about people, animals and the planet.those who know that we are all One, and consciously attempt to honor this Oneness.

those who are kind

SPIRIT MATTERSis a weekly column that examines spirituality in The Times' readership area. Contact Jerrilyn Zavada at jzblue33@yahoo.com to share how you engage your spirit in your life and in your community.

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Science And Spirituality Sing Together – Wisconsin Public Radio News

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Science and spirituality have often been portrayed as opposites or enemies, but for singer-songwriter Peter Mayer, they are intimately connected. His music has been described as spiritual or mystical, but, he said in a recent interview, "If I would think of myself as a mystic, I would also think of myself as a mystic who is very respectful and interested in science. That is, the ways that science has taught us to determine what actually is true."

The Minnesota musician recently took part in a phone interview with me for "Simply Folk." The coronavirus pandemic may have caused us to physically distance, but we were still able to connect and share conversation and music together.

Among the songs that Mayer shared during the interview was a track off his latest album, "Catching Rain." The song, "Come Back," was inspired by a story shared by Albert White Hat, a member of the Lakota Nation who was a teacher of and activist for the preservation of the Lakota language and traditional culture.

"(White Hat) talked about an experience that he had standing in front of a tree one time in his life and having this kind of mystical experience," Mayer recounted. "And the tree saying, 'Come back. Come back to me.' The tree representing nature, the natural world."

"We modern humans have found ways to sort of disconnect, at least psychologically and well in other ways, too, with the natural world," said Mayer. "And I think, ultimately, we do that at our own detriment, not only spiritually, but also just in terms of making good decisions about how to be on this planet and how to create a future on this planet."

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At a time in our world when science is as important as ever to helping humanity deal with the pandemic, Mayer sees the need for both science and spirituality. "The problem with mystics," he said, "is that we can imagine anything." Science brings that balance to verify what is true and not true in our physical world.

At the same time, science needs spirituality and the poets to help people connect to that truth.

"What I am interested in is the things that we've found to be true about reality and how to use our imaginations and our sort of spiritual practices to connect us to those things, because," he commented, "I think that science isn't always very good at it. It can tell us a story about the world, about reality, but it doesn't always help us to come to terms with it spiritually and at the heart level."

Science and spirituality have been connected for Mayer from a young age, as they both describe the world in which we live.

"Ive always been interested, ever since I was a kid," Mayer said, "(in) what is the nature of reality. Whats the bigger picture that were a part of? And nowadays, Ive come to really believe that the bigger picture is the world that we have discovered through science, the universe itself. And so how do we relate to that? Thats what Im interested in."

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Science And Spirituality Sing Together - Wisconsin Public Radio News

Guiding Light: Spirituality and morality – Free Press Journal

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-- Rajyogi Brahmakumar Nikunj ji

Looking at newspapers of major metro cities, it is clearly evident that attacks on the aged have increased enormously in the last couple of years. In most of these cases, culprits have been their long-trusted domestic help who robbed them of their life's savings and did not spare them either. There is no surprise that such incidents get media attention for a while but little comes out of it in the long term. Thus it looks as if the culprits are free to move around and the victims have nowhere to go.

Under such a scary scenario, there is not only growing distrust in the government and the law and order machinery but also lack of faith in interpersonal relationships. The need of the hour is to lay equal emphasis on developing a culture which produces human beings of benign conduct. In the above cases, greed for money led the people to perform immoral acts, and as such cases continue to rise, there is a coldness that has set into the system, which callously ignores the victims pleas. This does amount to a breach of the law, but it begins with a breach of morality. Unfortunately, no one dares to talk of morality these days, for those who do are accused of 'moral policing'.

Most people dismiss morality by saying that it differs from person to person; so who draws the line between right and wrong? It is possible to dissolve this difference by understanding spirituality as it is based on the truth that every human being is intrinsically virtuous and possesses qualities of wisdom, purity, peace, love and truth. So any act that goes against these fundamental qualities amounts to immorality and disturbs the social fabric. And so, to cleanse society of crime, there is a need to foster a culture of spirituality.

Spirituality adds dignity to how people look at each other. There is a need to use the latest technology, media and government channels to empower people to recognise their own goodness so that they obey laws themselves, and even if some people err, others in the society respond to the victims' appeals with greater responsibility and humanity. Such a culture would then be able to create harmony deep within people where laws cannot reach and promise inner security that fences and guards cannot provide.

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Guiding Light: Spirituality and morality - Free Press Journal

Faith Matters: We are coming into an era of spiritual awakening – New Haven Register

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Faith Matters: We are coming into an era of spiritual awakening

From the book of Romans 13:8, it reads, Owe no one anything, except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. We are witnessing challenging times across this country and around the world. The treatment of people of color is different than others. We have witnessed a 17-year-old carry a weapon into a demonstration, wounding one person and killing two others and was able to drive home to Illinois. There are two systems of justice operating.

Where is the boldness in our collective outrage for wrongdoing regardless of the source? Where is our collective sense of a type of justice that can be equally dispensed? Where is the individual awareness that the law set forth by God is more powerful than that prescribed by humans?

There is a spiritual awakening taking place. Answers to many of the questions above are coming from our youth. Even though some of the violence is originating with young ones, so are the solutions. We are witnessing an era where new voices and new courage is stepping forward to change the tide. There is clearly a new awakening.

It seems that another black man is being murdered almost daily. The formula is the same where one can see the pattern. It is usually an unarmed black man being subdued or restrained and subsequently being shot by an officer. This is by no means intended to point fingers at officers, it is intended to more directly point to the narratives that have been driving us all down the wrong paths for far too long. We have all been subjected to narratives that when operationalized, victimizes us all in one way or another.

At the same time, we are coming into an era of a spiritual awakening. First there must be an acknowledgment that in many ways we have all be asleep or simply not paying attention to our collective complicity. There is an awakening taking place where the resistors are fighting back harder and the allies are standing bolder. What is very interesting in all of this is that the rhetoric stoking the flames of hate is becoming more clear for what it is. It is becoming easier to see where different paths of dialogue will lead to different outcomes and results.

We are coming into an era of spiritual awakening. There is new leadership emerging with new messages of hope that do not sound like messages we have heard for many years. In some cases, it requires a bit of assistance to appreciate and embrace the level of hope that comes through in many of the messages. We are learning to see multiracial and generational and gender collaborations where that was not the case in the past. This is part of the new spiritual awakening.

These are truly challenging times and at the same time, one has to ask under what better conditions to demonstrate and elevate the beliefs in persons of faith? What better environment could there be for the unfoldment of a new consciousness? We have to realize that it was our old thinking that has gotten us here and it will take something new to move this culture into the future. There is a new level of awareness presenting itself which can not be denied.

This has to be a time of a spiritual awakening. We have nowhere to go but up. Putting all of the challenges of this year on the table, we are left with the opportunity to search out that which gives us hope. If we simply wallow in the presenting problems we will most certainly become overwhelmed with by the challenges before us.

Regardless of your faith tradition, go to the source of your faith. If you have no faith tradition, consider the source of your power or what might empower you and gives you hope. And for those who appreciate words from the Bible, consider the words that started this essay with words about the law. Owe no one anything except to love one another, for the one who loves another has fulfilled the law. This is the law that is calling upon everyone to abide by this law and that is what it truly means to experience your spiritual awakening.

The Rev. Dr. Leon Bailey is pastor of The Church of Bethlehem in Milford.

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Faith Matters: We are coming into an era of spiritual awakening - New Haven Register

Spiritual Resiliency Trips in the Holy Land – kacc.nrmc.amedd.army.mil

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JORDAN 09.01.2020 --

With its historic sites, other-worldly landscapes, and beautiful weather, the Kingdom of Jordan is a popular location for U.S. service members to be stationed overseas.

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, however, opportunities for service members to explore Jordan have been limited. Preventing the spread of the virus to protect the force has remained a priority.

As Jordan has demonstrated a phenomenal response to COVID-19, some restrictions have eased. Jordan has maintained one of the lowest number of confirmed cases per capita among all countries in the world through its comprehensive screening and quarantine measures. Now, with the proper safety measures in place, units have been able to arrange controlled day trips to boost morale among their service members.

Among these are Spiritual Resiliency Trips led by U.S. Army Chaplain (Maj.) Adam Kawaguchi and Staff Sgt. William Baker of Area Support Group-Jordan. Their trips bring service members to religious sites described in the Bible and other religious texts.

Throughout time, Jordan has been the location of numerous events of religious significance. The importance of these sites is quickly impressed upon service members once they see them in person, according to Kawaguchi.

Weve done five trips so far for 26 Soldiers in the month of August, said Kawaguchi, who is mobilized in support of ASG-J with the 301st Maneuver Enhancement Brigade of Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington. Most of the feedback has been extremely positive. Some people have been profusely grateful after what they say has been a particularly difficult year."

"Its a great opportunity for Soldiers to learn about the dynamic history of the Middle East and how it impacts the modern world," added Col. Derek Ulehla, the Commander of ASG-J.

In a recent trip, Kawaguchi and Baker led individuals to the Baptism Site of Jesus Christ and Mount Nebo. At the Baptism Site, service members enjoyed an intimate walkthrough with an official tour guide from Jordans Baptism Site Commission.

Pilgrims and tourists have visited these sites in unprecedented low numbers during the pandemic. Visiting service members have been fortunate to enjoy the sites in the absence of crowds, and have been happy to help support the local economy of a valued U.S. ally.

Many of the Jordan sites are very close to original condition, said Kawaguchi. We're very impressed that the Kingdom of Jordan has been so proactive in their COVID response to allow us these opportunities.

Kawaguchi and Baker will continue to lead SRTs through the fall as long as COVID-19 cases in Jordan remain controlled.

The U.S. military is in Jordan to partner with the Jordan Armed Forces to meet common security objectives in the region. Jordan is one of the U.S.s closest allies in the world.

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Spiritual Resiliency Trips in the Holy Land - kacc.nrmc.amedd.army.mil

Uzbek TV Urges Battle Against ‘Spiritual Viruses’ (Homosexuality And Feminism) Threatening The Nation – Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty

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Uzbek state television has launched an attack on feminism and homosexuality, saying they don't belong in the predominantly Muslim Central Asian country.

In the 90-minute live program known as Munosabat (Attitude), the station -- which serves as a mouthpiece for the government -- targeted a social-media flash mob held by young Uzbek women who were protesting violence against women and domestic abuse.

The flash mob was organized in July after a 17-year-old girl was physically assaulted by a man as she walked her dog in a Ferghana city park. Police are investigating the incident.

The program's presenter, Quddus Azamov, and six guests -- three of them from the Defense Ministry -- failed to condemn the attack on the girl. Instead, they criticized the slogans used by the flash mob and the Western-style clothes worn by the women in it, unanimously describing them as a "shameful" display.

The women in the flash mob posted photos on social media of themselves holding banners with slogans such as "A Woman isn't an incubator"; "My body, my own business"; "A daughter-in-law is not a maid"; and "My shorts aren't an invitation to catcall."

The guests on the TV program were infuriated by the slogans, calling them a dangerous trend that leads to women not wanting to have children or respect their in-laws.

In traditional Uzbek families, new daughters-in-law are expected to do most of the family's housework and to bear children.

"The women should see it as being a maid of their own future...because they set an example for their own children," said Omonbek Botayorov, the head of the Defense Ministry's Department for Spirituality and Enlightenment and a guest on the program.

Fellow guest Jamila Shermuhammedova from the Marifat (Enlightenment) society said feminism was being taken to a new level that will ultimately undermine the man's traditional role in the family.

Some Uzbek women "no longer want to breastfeed their babies" and "even hire babysitters" instead of raising their children themselves, she said.

Shermuhammedova and others criticized the women for holding banners written in Russian as yet another sign of young Uzbeks' disrespect for their own mother tongue and culture in general.

They also agreed that one banner -- "My body, my own business" -- literally meant "selling one's body" and therefore promoted prostitution.

How To Spot Homosexuals

While the main focus of the program was to attack the flash mob, the guests also warned against the dangers of same-sex marriages and gender-reassignment surgery, with some transgender people "having already come to Russia."

They urged young Uzbeks not to fall under the influence of homosexuals and to not copy -- intentionally or inadvertently "gay people's fashion."

According to the TV guests, gay men display styles that signal their sexual orientation. For example, they wear very short or no socks and shave the hair on their temples. "This is how gay people in Europe recognize each other," said Mansur Musaev, an official from the Department of Spirituality and Enlightenment.

Shermuhammedova boasted that she had once shamed two young Uzbek twins who had such a hairstyle. She said she stopped them -- complete strangers -- on the street and asked if they knew "what their hairstyles meant."

Program host Azamov, meanwhile, said he found it difficult to "even pronounce the dirty word 'lesbian.'"

'Fight Before It's Too Late'

The TV guests suggested taking certain measures to fight the threats of the cultural and spiritual "virus" that they claimed were more dangerous to Uzbekistan than the COVID-19 pandemic.

The flash mob and feminist campaigns were organized by certain forces from abroad, the guests insisted. "There are invisible, powerful forces behind it," they warned, without naming any person, group, or country.

Shermuhammedova and Botayorov repeatedly spoke about the need to adopt an unspecified "law" to fight these threats to Uzbek society, mentality, and moral values. Shermuhammedova also called for the "monitoring of families" to ensure parents are meeting their responsibilities in raising their children.

They all said that it was a "historic moment" to fight these threats before they ultimately destroy society. "If we don't stop it, our future will be ruined. Our children will no longer listen to us, they will tell us, 'I'm a grown-up person now,'" veteran actor Yodgor Sadiev said.

"We still have time," he said. "We must preserve our Uzbek traditions, our nation's wisdom."

While the Munosabat program resulted in some angry criticism on social media sites, it appears that the majority of Uzbeks remain wary of the "cultural influence" of the West.

Uzbek society remains very strictly family-oriented, with traditional, well-defined roles for men and women.

Uzbek women enjoy equal rights to work and study, but at home are expected to adhere to their traditional role of obeying their husbands and in-laws, doing housework, and taking care of the children.

In Uzbekistan, homosexuality among men is still defined in the legal code as a criminal offense punishable by up to three years in prison.

Same-sex relations among women are not mentioned in the law.

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Uzbek TV Urges Battle Against 'Spiritual Viruses' (Homosexuality And Feminism) Threatening The Nation - Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty

Harvest Moon spiritual meaning: What does the September Full Moon mean for you? – Express

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Tomorrows Full Moon falls arrives in Aquarius.

Auarius energy is focused on the collective.

As a result it is all about our roles within friendships, social groups, and our communities.

Because it is the final Full Moon before the seasons change, it is seen as an opportunity to harvest everything we can before we embrace into the new season.

You may well feel this way about something or someone at this time.

Another aspect might be responsible for getting you so worked-up this Sunday.

Mercury in Virgo Opposes Neptune and it is therefore little wonder you are unable to accurately articulate your thoughts.

They are all befuddled, muddled, lost amid dreams and delusions.

Your mind is under a romantic spell and theres no waking it up especially at the tail end of the weekend.

Let your brain recuperate and note your dreams as they could provide the solution.

The Venus-Pluto motto can be summarised as if I cant find love, then I guess Ill hate.

This is because feeling nothing is the worst experience of them all.

Tonights Aquarius Moon maintains its cool-minded presence amid all this madness due to the influence of Aquarius.

And so theres hope for some rational decisions yet.

Aquarius is actually considered to be one of the less rational star signs.

However, you can trust Aquarius to express their views in a calm, scientific manner.

This is something everyone can get on board with.

As the Moons Sextiles Asteroid Chiron and squares Uranus, things sit on a precarious edge.

But this is only for a moment, so perhaps it is an opportunity to try a new approach.

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Harvest Moon spiritual meaning: What does the September Full Moon mean for you? - Express

Spiritually Speaking: Lets hear it for our teachers – Wicked Local Norwood

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The best teachers are those who show you where to look but dont tell you what to see.

--Alexandra K. Trenfor

I am who I am this day because of the teachers God blessed me with in this life.

Teachers: who opened my mind and heart to new knowledge. Teachers: who brought out of me talents that I did not even realize I possessed. Teachers: who saw something in me I could not see myself. Teachers: who with patient love, reminded me that I was so much more than I might I think I was, at any given moment.

I often get this way in late August, wistful and a bit nostalgic, as I remember all those first days of school, from childhood into young adulthood; as I recall the many teachers who taught me. Even though its been more than 30 years since I sat in a school classroom or studied for a degree, when early September hits, I long for the heady mix of anticipation and anxiety that always marks the return to education.

I can still smell those pink erasers from elementary school. Can still feel the newness of an unmarked notebook, all those blank pages just waiting to be filled up. Can still remember the excitement I felt when, on the very first day of class, my new teacher walked in the door. What would I learn from them? How would the study of this new subject change me? Just what would this new teacher be like?

And this September!?

Man, do I feel for all the teachers in the COVID world we now live in. For them, the beginning of a new semester or term in the fall of 2020 is filled with so many unknowns and so much at stake and so much worry and so many questions. Can I teach again in a physical classroom and be safe and healthy? Will the young people in my care thrive in virtual learning or will they stumble? Will parents be supportive and encouraging or critical and discouraging? Will the administration have my back or will I be out there, all alone? Am I appreciated?

Heres an idea: lets actually thank the teachers in our lives this day, the brave and dedicated women and men who teach our sons and daughters, who taught us; the ones whom we trust with our nations most precious resource: children and youth. Right now, they may have about the toughest job in this world.

So, thank you Miss Carol, my kindergarten teacher. Even though on graduation day I still could not tell time by the half-hour or tie my shoes by myself, your care and patience made my very first days in the classroom fun.

Thank you Miss Richards, my high school French teacher. How did you put up with me!? Je ne sais pas (I do not know) was the only phrase I seemed to learn in your class, along with ferme la fenetre (close the window) and la pomme de terre (potato). I goofed around as a cover for how much the French language perplexed me and yet you never raised your voice, and even helped me squeak by with a C.

Thank you Professor Beck: I didnt know how much I needed to be an Old Testament major in graduate school until you opened the pages of that ancient text and made it come alive for me, with how much you loved and honored the sacred word. You are still with me in every sermon I preach.

Which teacher do you need to thank this day? Who was the teacher that inspired you? Loved you and believed in you, like no one else? Who is the teacher that helped your child realize their potential? Who was the font of knowledge, the educator, that made you want to learn, sparked in you a passion for a subject or an idea or a career?

Teachers and good teaching matters. Teachers, the best ones, shape souls and minds and hearts. In my faith tradition the one title, the most honored title, reserved for Jesus was rhabbouni, which in the ancient Aramaic tongue, simply means teacher.

So, to my teacher friends this new school year: to Jill the kindergarten teacher, and Jen the preschool teacher, and Kelley the preschool director, and Alison the high school librarian, and Adam, who teaches the blind and Maria, who works with autistic children: I am praying for you and rooting for you and thanking God for you, and for all that you do. For all that teachers do, every single day.

Thank you. Thank you! And Miss Richards? Merci beaucoup!!

The Rev. John F. Hudson is senior pastor of the Pilgrim Church, United Church of Christ, in Sherborn (pilgrimsherborn.org). If you have a word or idea youd like defined in a future column or have comments, please send them to pastorjohn@pilgrimsherborn.org or in care of The Press (Dover-Sherborn@wickedlocal.com).

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Spiritually Speaking: Lets hear it for our teachers - Wicked Local Norwood

Cardinal Parolin says there’s a spiritual harmony between Francis and Benedict XVI – La Croix International

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In book preface, the Vatican's Secretary of State emphasizes the "natural continuity of the papal magisterium" between the current pope and his retired predecessor

Pope Francis and Benedict XVI at the Vatican on December 22, 2018. (Photo by VATICAN MEDIA/EPA/MAXPPP)

Contrary to what some say or want to believe, a newly published book in Italian insists there is no fundamental opposition between Pope Francis and his still living predecessor, Benedict XVI.

Una sola Chiesa (Just One Church) was released Sept. 1 by Rizzoli Publishing. It compares numerous excerpts from the two men's papal teachings to show their profound convergence.

Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Holy See's Secretary of State since October 2013, has written a preface to the new book in which he argues that there is a "spiritual harmony" between Benedict and Francis, despite "the difference in their styles of communication".

Beyond the contrasts in the two men's "pastoral style", the cardinal argues that there is a "natural continuity of papal magisterium" in their teachings.

Parolin points out that this continuity is all the more special because it has "a unique character: the presence of a pope emeritus in prayer at the side of his successor".

He says this unique situation is reinforced by the "strong mutual affection" between the two popes, which allows for an "intimate and profound closeness".

The Italian cardinal especially notes Benedict's "extraordinary manifestation of tenderness" towards Francis, when in 2016 he said to him, "your goodness is the place where I live and feel protected".

On several occasions since the papal transition in 2013, both Pope Francis, 83, and Benedict, 93, have refuted rumors of any dissension between them.

The retired pope in 2018 dispelled the "senseless prejudice" of those who see "the figure of Pope Francis as opposed to mine".

There is an "interior continuity between the two pontificates, even with all the differences in style and temperament," Benedict insisted at the time.

Francis has repeatedly confided that he considers his predecessor to be akin to a "grandfather in the home".

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Cardinal Parolin says there's a spiritual harmony between Francis and Benedict XVI - La Croix International