BP and Kosmos announce promising gas discovery offshore Mauritania – Offshore Technology

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BP and American offshore company Kosmos have announced a major gas discovery in the BirAllah area offshore Mauritania while conducting drilling as part of a joint venture.

According to Kosmos, their Orca-1 well, on a previously untested Albian play, exceeded the estimated yield as it encountered a 36 meters of net gas pay in beneficial quality reservoirs. In addition, the well extended the Cenomanian play fairway by 11 meters of net gas pay in a down-structure position relative to the original Marsouin-1 discovery well, which was drilled on the crest of the anticline.

Kosmos chairman and CEO Andrew G. Inglissaid: The Orca-1 well concludes a very strong year for exploration and appraisal in Mauritania and Senegal.

Orca-1, which we believe is the largest deepwater hydrocarbon discovery in the world so far this year, further demonstrates the world-scale quality of the Mauritania gas basin, he added.

The company also highlighted that Orcas location approximately 7.5 kilometers from the crest of the anticline proved the trap of the Orca prospect, which Kosmos estimates contains 13 trillion cubic feet of gas.

Kosmos believes that Orca-1 and Marsouin-1 have de-risked up to 50 TCF of GIIP from the Cenomanian and Albian plays in the BirAllah area enough to support a world-scale LNG project. In addition, a deeper, untested Aptian play has also been recognised within the area.

Partners in the BirAllah gas hub offshore Mauritania, include SMHPM, BP and Kosmos. According to the company the results continue the 100% success rate from nine wells targeting the inboard gas trend in Mauritania/Senegal.

Exploration and drilling activity in Mauritania has been increasing in the past few years with the main discovery in the area being the 15 Tcf Tortue field that straddles the maritime border of Mauritania and Senegal, which is expected to produce gas in 2022.

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wpd Closes Yunlin Offshore Wind Financing Syndication – Offshore WIND

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Offshore wind developer wpd group has confirmed the closing of the syndication for its EUR 2.5 billion Yunlin offshore wind financing in Taiwan.

The 640MW Yunlin offshore wind farm project, the largest offshore wind transaction financed in the Asia Pacific, reached financial close on 30 May.

wpd is very happy about the successful closing of the syndication on time which reflects increasing interest by Taiwanese banks, Bjoern Nullmeyer, CFO of wpd AG, said.

Both private and state-owned banks are participating as new lenders. Besides this, a growing number of unfunded risk participants are supporting project finance for offshore wind farms.

The initially mandated lead arrangers and underwriters, Taipei Fubon Commercial Bank, Crdit Agricole Corporate and Investment Bank, Deutsche Bank, Mizuho Bank, Standard Chartered Bank, and Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, were heading the syndication for Yunlin.

The Yunlin project is 73% owned by wpd and 27%owned bya Sojitz Corp-led consortium which includes Chugoku Electric Power Co. Inc., Chudenko Corporation, Shikoku Electric Power Co., Inc., and JXTG Nippon Oil & Energy Corporation.

The Yunlin wind farm will be built eight kilometers off the Taiwanese west coast and will consist of80 Siemens Gamesa turbines of the 8MW class.

wpd has also been awarded the 350MW Guanyin offshore wind project in Taipei and has already started the financing process. Interested parties on the debt and equity side have been approached with a solid project structure, the company said.

The Guanyin offshore wind farm project is planned two kilometers off the coast of the Taoyuan district in the north of the island state, with commissioning planned for 2021/2022.

The two projects will require a total debt financing of more than EUR 4 billion, wpd said.

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wpd Closes Yunlin Offshore Wind Financing Syndication - Offshore WIND

Energy And Agriculture Are Heading Offshore – OilPrice.com

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Milking cows at sea is only the beginning of what is fast becoming our Waterworld future. The bulk of our next-generation agriculture and energy is destined to be seaborne.

With 70 percent of the Earths surface covered with water, it was only a matter of timeand population growthbefore we began using this water for more than just fishing and transport. While we are still far from a Waterworld scenario, the number of inventions with floating in front of them is growing. And the latest invention that literally walks on water is something you might never expect.

Floating wind farms are already an ordinary sight in some parts of the world. So are floating solar farms. The biggest one in Europe just started operating in France earlier this month.

But now, the world is welcoming floating farms 2.0: the floating dairy farma world-firstin the Netherlands.

The aptly named Floating Farm has three levels, covering everything from feeding and rest for the cows to milking, manure and milk processing, and a store for the produce, complete with a visitors entrance. Almost every daily chore on this floating farm is automated, making it even more cutting-edge.

The energy supply is renewable, too, coming from a floating solar array, and the roof is designed as a rainwater collector. There is only one concession to the fact that cows are not, after all, amphibious: They have access to a land-based pasture onshore.

The amount of arable land is decreasing and the world population is growing so how can we produce enough healthy food in the future? says Minke van Wingerden, who developed the farm with her partner, Peter. She adds the idea came from Hurricane Sandy, which hit the States in 2012 while Peter was in New York.

Related: Floating Nuclear Power: Chernobyl On Ice Or The Future Of Energy?

The flooding was so bad, fresh food disappeared from New York stores in just two days, giving Minke and Peter the idea of producing locally, on the water, where there is no danger of, well, floods.

And its not just flood danger that disappears with floating farms. The amount of arable land globally is less than 40 percent, and the worlds population is growing fast. By 2050, it is forecast to reach 9.8 billion. Meanwhile, agricultural land, which includes both arable land and land with crops already grown on it, makes up 37.4 percent of the planets total land area.

Truth be told, this is more than what we had in the early 1960s, when agricultural land was less than 36 percent, but not a lot more. With a fast-growing population, chances are it will at some point start declining unless, of course, someone decides to completely deforest the planet to make space for citieshardly a possibility even for the most headstrong climate change skeptics.

So, with this sort of trend on the way, utilizing the 70 percent of water that cover the Earths surface makes perfect sense. In fact, floating farms are not a new discovery. In Bangladesh, people used to grow vegetables in the water a hundred years ago. Now, they have revived this method of agriculture and the results are rather promising.

Flood-proof, self-sufficient in energy, environmentally friendly: whats not to like about floating farms? Well, it seems that getting them from concept to commercialization takes quite a while.

The Rotterdam Floating Farm is not the only project that seeks to combine the benefits of nature with the ingenuity of humankind. A Spanish company, Forward Thinking Architecture, also has a floating farm project, but it has yet to build it.

The Smart Floating Farms concept touches all bases. It has three levels that can accommodate rainwater collectors, solar panelsor micro wind farms or wave energy convertersand greenhouses where plants are grown hydroponically. This means they are grown in a water solution rather than soil, with no seasonal limitations to crops. The concept farm also includes a fish farm.

According to Forward Thinking Architecture, the farm, which is modular, by the way, making it flexible for deployment, could produce 8,000 tons of vegetables annually. Related: Oil Production Paralyzed As Venezuela's Electricity Crisis Worsens

Thats certainly an impressive number, so why isnt it built yet? Perhaps, while a great concept, turning that into a real facility is on the costly side.

Yet another floating project suggests costs may sooner or later fall enough to make more of these farms a reality. The Oceanix City project, developed with the support of the UN Human Settlement program, features clusters of islands that while not just farms, would be self-sufficient in terms of food and water.

Sooner or later, some parts of the world will have no choice but to take to the water to grow their food. Cities expand and people leave farmlands for the city where there are more job opportunities. At the same time, demand for food is growing with the global population. Urban farming is a hot concept. Floating farming is likely to start getting hotter, too, especially in areas threatened by coastline erosion and a rising risk of flooding.

Thats one thing we can all do about climate change: prepare for its effects rather than complain about its causes without offering a solution to the problem. Advanced construction technologythink modular building of everythingand low-cost renewable energy are two of the tools in the toolbox that will build our future farms.

Add hydroponics and all youd need would be some seeds. And water. Lots of water.

By Irina Slav for Oilprice.com

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Offshore drilling opposition meets on Sanibel, supporters say no harm will come – Wink News

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SANIBEL ISLAND

Groups are fighting to stop the federal government from opening up the Gulf of Mexico to offshore drilling. They want to keep our environment safe, but supporters promise they wont do harm.

In hopes of keeping waters clean, folks gathered on Sanibel to learn more about offshore drilling Monday.

The federal offshore drilling is still in play, Said Hunter Miller, who is a Florida Gulf Coast campaign organizer with Oceana. Our beaches, our coastline, our tourism industry, our wildlife is still at risk.

Groups such as Oceana and Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation fear the Gulf Coast isnt in the clear when it comes to offshore drilling.

Its certainly important here where weve already experienced these traumatic events of the last year these terrible water quality events, said Ryan Orgera, the CEO of Sanibel-Captiva Conservation Foundation.

Florida Petroleum Council released a statement ensuring offshore drilling can be done successfully without harming the natural environment.

The U.S. with its strict environmental regulations and safety policies, coupled with industrys best practices and advanced technologies is better positioned than other nations to safely and responsibly develop its offshore energy, said David Mica, the executive director or Florida Petroleum Council in a statement.

Steven Schulz on Sanibel believes our country still has enough resources elsewhere before drilling would need to be done out in the Gulf.

I think we have enough oil reserves and get oil from other places that we dont have to do offshore drilling, Schulz said.

Oil and gas leases in the Gulf are slated to come up for sale in 2020.

There is a moratorium on drilling and exploration in the Eastern Gulf that will expire in 2022 unless its permanently extended.

The U.S. House of Representatives voted to permanently ban drilling in the eastern Gulf. Its now in the Senates hand.

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Offshore drilling opposition meets on Sanibel, supporters say no harm will come - Wink News

Questions that need to be answered on offshore wind – HeraldScotland

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"FLOATING wind farms to bring 230 million and thousands of Scots jobs to economy," claim Renewable UK and Scottish Renewables, adding that 33.6 billion worth of economic activity could be delivered, generated over the next 30 years ("Thousands of Scots jobs can be created by floating wind farms", The Herald, November 1). Seventeen thousand jobs could be created or supported.

Since the wind turbine hardware is manufactured in and imported from the Continent and, more especially, from China, where its manufacture generates vast amounts of greenhouse gases, along with more during installation, servicing and, eventually, demolition and disposal of the equipment, one must ask at least five questions:

1) Whence will come the huge monies and how much could go to Scotland?

2) Will the world's CO2 release be usefully spared?

3) If our greenhouse gases' output can be reduced by this approach, what evidence is there that the climate could benefit, from offsetting adverse changes?

4) Could surplus electricity be sold abroad?

5) Since the UK is responsible for only one-third of one per cent of the planet's manmade CO2 output, Scotland's a tenth of that, how useful could this proposed project be so as to help decarbonisation?

The great bulk of the Earth's greenhouse gases come from China, the United States, India and many more non carbon-curbing nations.

Our governments rightly stress the vital need for value for money, so very comprehensive and detailed auditing of scientific-electrical engineering assessments and also manpower prospects are essential before any further, rational decisions can taken on this vast proposed project.

Taxpayers should recall that promising statistics about any benefits from wind turbines and all renewables must be taken with a pinch, or more, of salt.

(Dr) Charles Wardrop, Perth.

* FRIDAY'S Agenda article ("Engineering will be key to solving net zero problems", The Herald, November 1) made reference to the Scottish Parliament's Scottish Parliaments climate change committee. This should have been the Westminster climate change committee. We apologise for this error.

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Questions that need to be answered on offshore wind - HeraldScotland

Pollux Properties, PACC Offshore call for trading halts – The Business Times

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Thu, Oct 31, 2019 - 3:47 PM

POLLUX Properties and PACC Offshore Services Holdings (POSH) have separately called for trading halts on Thursday, pending the release of announcements.

During the morning session, Pollux Properties shares more than doubled to seven Singapore cents as at 11.38am. Prior to the trading halt called at 1.01pm, the counter was trading at 70 per cent or 2.1 cents higher at 5.1 Singapore cents, compared with the previous day's close of three cents.

Pollux Properties on Tuesday released its first-quarter results for the period ended June 30, sinking into the red with a net loss of S$531,000, from a net profit of S$847,000 a year ago. This came on the back of a rise in its share of loss of a joint venture by S$1.10 million toS$1.2 million, which was mainly due to a delay in obtaining strata titlefor a project.

Loss per share stood at 0.02 Singapore cent, from earnings per share of 0.03 cent the year prior. Revenue was up 21 per cent to S$3.4 million, from S$2.8 million a year ago, due to higher rental income collected.

The shares of mainboard-listed POSH meanwhile climbed as much as 19.2 per cent to 13 Singapore cents as at 10.44am, compared with its Wednesday closing price of 10.9 cents.

Prior to calling for a trading halt at 12.30pm, the counter was up 16.6 per cent or 1.8 cents at 12.7 cents.

On Oct 24, the company disclosed that its joint venture (JV) company POSH Terasea Pte Ltd will be wound up by way of a creditors voluntary winding up. Posh has a 50 per cent stake in the JV.

Terasea a JV between Ezion and Seabridge Marine Services owns the other half of POSH Terasea.

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Pollux Properties, PACC Offshore call for trading halts - The Business Times

HMRC ‘doesn’t have time’ to investigate offshore account tip-offs – The Times

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So much information is flowing into HMRC that it relies on speculative letters to taxpayers

The tax office has been swamped with 5.7 million pieces of information about overseas bank accounts held by three million British citizens under the terms of a new international treaty, according to tax experts.

However, HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) does not have enough staff to investigate the information, according to the tax consultancy BDO, so is instead blitzing the people named with speculative letters asking them to send details of their financial affairs.

The information is coming from 100 countries under common reporting standards (CRS) agreed by the international Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. The standards are designed to stop tax evasion, or avoidance, by making governments aware of overseas money held by their citizens. HMRC says in its annual report that the

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HMRC 'doesn't have time' to investigate offshore account tip-offs - The Times

Murphy progressing Vietnam, Gulf of Mexico projects – Offshore Oil and Gas Magazine

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(Map courtesy Murphy Oil Corp.)

Offshore staff

EL DORADO, Arkansas The prime minister of Vietnam has approved Murphy Oil Corp.s outline development plan for the Lac Da Vang (LDV) field on block 15-1/05 in the Cuu Long basin, the company revealed in its 3Q results statement.

Front-end engineering design work (FEED) has started.

Analysis of the LDT-1X oil discovery well continues, and it has the potential to add bolt-on resources to the LDV field development, the company said.

Murphy subsidiary Murphy Cuu Long Bac Oil Co. Ltd. is the operator of block 15-1/05 and holds 40% working interest. Partners in the block include PetroVietnam Exploration and Production Co. with 35% carried interest and SK Innovation with a 25% interest.

The company received initial government approval on the production-sharing contract for block 15-2/17 and expects formal signing by the end of the year.

In the Gulf of Mexico, the company completed the Nearly Headless Nick well on Mississippi Canyon block 387, which will be tied back to the Delta House FPS, and completed a workover on a Medusa well in 3Q. First oil is expected from both wells in 4Q.

It also tied-in the new Dalmatian #2 well on Desoto Canyon block 4, as well as the non-operated Lucius #3 well on Keathley Canyon block 875.

In 4Q, the company expects to start a workover project at the Chinook #5 well on Walker Ridge block 425 and launch three-well rig campaign at Front Runner.

In August, Murphy successfully bid on Green Canyon block 522 in Lease Sale 253.

Murphy expects to award subsea engineering and construction contracts for the Khaleesi/Mormont field development in the near term. Pre-FEED work for the Samurai field is ongoing.

Offshore Brazil, the company bid on blocks 505, 575 and 637 in the Sergipe-Alagoas basin, increasing total gross acreage in the basin to 1.7 million acres across nine total blocks. The company holds a 20% working interest with ExxonMobils Brazilian subsidiary at 50% as operator and Enauta Energia S.A. holding 30%.

Finally, the company farmed into blocks POT-W-857, POT-W-863 and POT-W-865 in the Potiguar basin. The company holds 30% and, operator Wintershall Dea holds 70%.

11/01/2019

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Nate Diaz Rips USADA After Being Cleared of Doping Violation: ‘It’s a Conspiracy’ – Bleacher Report

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Nate Diaz affirmed he will fight Jorge Masvidal at UFC 244 on Saturday after all the drama over a positive test for trace amounts of a banned substance.

"I thought it was all made up and a bunch of bulls--t anyway," Diaz said Monday, per ESPN's Marc Raimondi. "It's behind us. Now, we can move on."

Diaz also questioned the findings of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, calling it a "conspiracy":

"Diaz said he does not believe what USADA is saying about atypical findings and a tainted supplement. He said he has continued taking the same supplements he has always taken -- raw, organic, vegan supplements from Whole Foods. The UFC said Friday that the supplement that tested positive for LGD-4033 was an organic, vegan, plant-based, daily multivitamin."

Diaz first raised doubt over his bout with Masvidal when he shared a statement (warning: post contains profanity) on Twitter saying he was informed of a test that showed "elevated levels that they say may be from some tainted supplements."

He claimed he had only been using natural food supplements in preparation for UFC 244, adding he was considering not fighting at all because he was "not gonna have my name tainted as a cheater."

According to Raimondi and colleague Ariel Helwani, Diaz was flagged for a selective androgen receptor modulator, but USADA hadn't yet placed him on a provisional suspension. That left the door open for him to step inside the Octagon at Madison Square Garden.

Diaz was ultimately vindicated when USADA and UFC officially cleared him. Jeff Novitzky, the UFC's senior vice president of athlete health and performance, confirmed he had taken a contaminated multivitamin, which led to the flagged test sample.

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Nate Diaz Rips USADA After Being Cleared of Doping Violation: 'It's a Conspiracy' - Bleacher Report

Vitamin D deficiency: The sign in your eye that could signal you are lacking the vitamin – Express

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Vitamin D is created by the body from direct sunlight on the skin when outdoors, so people must make sure they get enough exposure to the sun to top up the vitamin. Certain groups are at risk of running a vitamin D deficiency, however, which can cause a number of bodily changes.

It is well understood that lacking the nutrient can lead to bone deformities such as rickets in children, and bone pain caused by a condition called osteomalacia in adults.

In addition to bone problems, evidence published in the International Journal of Rheumatic Diseases also revealed a strong association between low levels of the vitamin and dry eyes.

According to Mayo Clinic, dry eyes is a common condition that occurs when your tears aren't able to provide adequate lubrication for your eyes, which can cause discomfort, such as a stinging or burning sensation.

The study researchers hypothesised that the link to vitamin D levels is attributed to its anti-inflammatory properties - tear gland damage from inflammation is one of common causes of dry eyes.

In addition, the researchers proposed that vitamin D may help prevent dry eyes by inducing cathelicidin, an anti-microbial protein that can be produced by cells in the eyes and heal eye wounds.

In order to test this hypothesis, researchers compared the prevalence and symptom severity of dry eyes between 50 vitamin D deficient (levels less than 20 ng/ml or 50 nmol/l) women and 48 vitamin D sufficient (levels greater than or equal to 20 ng/ml or 50 nmol/l) women.

The researchers only included pre-menopausal women, since postmenopausal hormonal changes have been found to be associated with dry eye.

READ MOREVitamin B12 deficiency symptoms: The warning sign in your hands you could be lacking B12

Foods which contain vitamin D include:

As most of these foods are animal products, its harder to get vitamin D from food if you are vegan or vegetarian.

As most of these foods are animal products, its harder to get vitamin D from food if you are vegan or vegetarian, notes the NHS but calcium - the key mineral found in vitamin D - can be found in other foods.

These include:

Vitamin D can also be taken in supplement form, and the Department of Health recommends that you take a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year if you:

It added: If you have dark skin for example you have an African, African-Caribbean or south Asian background you may also not get enough vitamin D from sunlight.

You should consider taking a daily supplement containing 10 micrograms of vitamin D throughout the year.

The NHS advises against taking too many vitamin D supplements a long period of time as this can cause too much calcium to build up in the body.

This can weaken the bones and damage the kidneys and the heart, so if you choose to take vitamin D supplements, 10 micrograms a day will be enough for most people, says the health body.

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Vitamin D deficiency: The sign in your eye that could signal you are lacking the vitamin - Express

Should the federal government regulate vaping? – AAMC

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Editors note: The opinions expressed by the author do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the AAMC or its members.

Recent statistics on electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS), popularly known as vaping devices or e-cigarettes, are frightening. The most recent data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) indicate that a quarter of U.S. high school seniors report having vaped in the previous month. The health consequences of a generation of teenagers addicted to nicotine could be devastating, and if thats not bad enough, more than a thousand recent cases of severe acute lung injury and at least 26 deaths have now been associated with the use of vaping products.

According to the CDC, as of October 15, 2019, among the 849 patients for whom data are available (out of a total of 1,479 reported U.S. cases of vaping-related lung injury), 78% reported using vape products that contained THC and just under one-third reported using THC vape products exclusively. Meanwhile, 58% reported using vapes that contained nicotine and 10% reported using nicotine vapes exclusively. Because of the overlap between the groups using THC and nicotine vape products, it is unclear whether these cases involved only commercially available products, as opposed to black market components. The situation has already become severe enough to merit its own name: E-cigarette or Vaping Associated Lung Injury (EVALI).

Many people have asked me about my views on vaping. My thoughts on this topic, gathered below, encompass a history of interaction with tobacco products both as an academic clinician and during an intense stint as Commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). I hope these reflections will be useful to the many concerned people who are now considering what should be done in the face of an emerging public health problem.

Lately, Ive been thinking about these issues every time I walk by the statue of James Buchanan Buck Duke in front of the Duke Chapel on the grounds of the university where barring a handful of years devoted to completing a residency and to serving at the FDA Ive spent the last half century. J.B. Duke, the benefactor of Duke University, made his initial fortune by developing a scalable approach to manufacturing and distributing cigarettes. When he took over the family business at age 28, the industry was transitioning from producing tobacco for hand-rolled cigarettes to the industrial manufacture (and aggressive marketing) of mass-produced tobacco products. Within 5 years, the American Tobacco Company was producing and distributing half of all American-made cigarettes and had established a global conglomerate of multiple kinds of tobacco products. It became such a dominant enterprise that the Supreme Court dissolved it in a 1911 antitrust action, and the Dukes went on to more constructive enterprises, developing extensive textile companies and investing in hydroelectric power generation to create what would become Duke Power. The rest of the devastating tobacco epidemic is history a history inextricably entwined with the founding of Duke University.

Fast-forwarding to 2004, I find myself at Oxford University, sitting at the head table at a celebration for the renowned epidemiologist Sir Richard Doll. Sir Richard, then over 90 years old and still working, had led what is arguably the most important study of the lethal effects of tobacco, the British Doctors Study. He and his colleagues followed an entire cohort of British doctors until all of them died truly a study with 100% follow-up. In the end, there was a 10-year difference in life expectancy between doctors who smoked and those who didnt. This was literally the smoking gun for the fact that smoking causes premature death, heart disease, and cancer in addition to a host of other health problems. It would, however, take decades to translate this epidemiological breakthrough into partially effective public policy.

When I assumed the post of FDA Deputy Commissioner in 2015 I had no knowledge of the complexity of regulating a product that harms peoples health but is liked by a large proportion of the population, supported by a tradition of lethally effective lawyering, and heavily subsidized by an industry with deep pockets and a significant political constituency.

As a cardiac intensivist and clinical cardiologist, for decades I witnessed firsthand the ravages of tobacco products in the patients cared for by our cardiac team. In the early 1980s cardiac care units were packed with middle-aged men with acute myocardial infarction, and sudden death was depressingly common. I didnt think much about nicotine addiction, other than noticing how difficult it was to stop smoking despite various aids and medications. When I assumed the post of FDA Deputy Commissioner in 2015, I thought the agency was poised to continue contributing to the noticeable decline in the use of tobacco products that had taken place in recent decades. I had no knowledge of the complexity of regulating a product that harms peoples health but is liked by a large proportion of the population (many of whom are addicted to it), supported by a tradition of lethally effective lawyering, and heavily subsidized by an industry with deep pockets and a significant political constituency.

There is a widespread misconception that the FDA has been regulating tobacco products since the time that a young FDA commissioner, David Kessler, MD, confronted the tobacco industry in the 1990s. Kessler and his colleagues used their authority to uncover documents revealing the tobacco industrys efforts to obfuscate evidence of harm from their products and to optimize the addictive activity of nicotine on the brain in secret human and animal studies. They also found that tobacco companies were using an old-fashioned method of gene editing breeding plants from seeds that were irradiated to create mutations that would increase nicotine content.

Kesslers argument in 1996 hinged on the assertion that nicotine was a drug and therefore should fall under the FDAs jurisdiction. After a long journey through the lower courts, the case went to the Supreme Court, which ruled against the FDA by a 5-4 vote. The courts majority held that the control of products that were neither safe nor effective for health did not fall under the federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act from which the FDA derives its regulatory authority. At the same time, the FDA was pushing for better regulation of dietary supplements to empower the agency to evaluate the safety and efficacy of food supplements prior to marketing. The public health lost on both counts, as we now have a supplement industry worth almost $200 billion that promotes health claims with no evidentiary standard, and the tobacco industry successfully used the courts to block the FDA from regulating tobacco.

Although Kesslers leadership exposed the egregious misdeeds of the tobacco industry, it was not until the election of President Barack Obama in 2008 that Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA), which specifically assigned authority for the regulation of tobacco products to the FDA on the premise that adults had the freedom to choose to use tobacco products but minors should not be exposed to an addictive substance.

The FDA then started a new center, the Center for Tobacco Products (CTP), whose current director, Mitch Zeller, JD, cut his teeth as part of Kesslers team. In addition to specifying how tobacco products would be regulated, the CTP which was essentially a startup within a decades-old organization developed an enforcement approach and undertook a major research effort supported by hundreds of millions of dollars in funding derived from user fees assessed to the regulated industry. Among the many interesting elements of the TCA was a provision that prohibited the FDA from outlawing tobacco altogether, and a stipulation that the nicotine concentration of the leaf could not be reduced to zero, although it could be lowered based on scientific evidence. One particularly positive outcome of this regulation was the allocation of substantial funding to support desperately needed research on tobacco product toxicity and the epidemiology of the use of tobacco products in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health.

It was not until the election of President Barack Obama in 2008 that Congress passed the Family Smoking Prevention and Tobacco Control Act (TCA), which specifically assigned authority for the regulation of tobacco products to the FDA on the premise that adults had the freedom to choose to use tobacco products but minors should not be exposed to an addictive substance.

A recurring societal theme that has shaped the regulation of tobacco is the ambiguous view that our society holds about addictive substances. For example, alcohol, marijuana, opioids, amphetamines, and tobacco have major differences, but they share a risk of either addiction or extraordinary dependence with repetitive use. Alcohol is legal, but prohibited for youth in state regulation. Marijuana until recently was uniformly illegal, but is now legal in many states for medical use and in a moderate number of states for recreational use, although it remains illegal under federal law. Amphetamine derivatives are contained in many over-the-counter and prescription medications, but methamphetamine is illegal and its use is growing rapidly again as opioids become more difficult to obtain. Opioids are prescribed legally, but they are illegal for consumer use. The result of this mix of legal and illegal use of addictive substances is that our jails are full of drug users who have committed nonviolent crimes, significant premature death and disability is tolerated, and there are enormous disparities in enforcement as functions of wealth, race, and power. The compromise embodied in the TCA, in which the FDA is enjoined to regulate tobacco without eliminating its use, reflects this ambiguous American view of individual freedom versus the risk posed by addictive and dangerous substances.

However, to fully understand the history of tobacco regulation since the passage of the TCA, one also needs a basic understanding of how federal laws are interpreted and implemented. In essence, once Congress enacts a law, that law must then be interpreted, and federal rules provide binding instructions on how a law is interpreted by the relevant federal agencies. Guidances are nonbinding recommendations that describe tactical approaches to implementing a law as interpreted within the context of the rules. Before a rule can be enacted, a proposed rule must be posted for a period of public comment and written responses made to each comment. Rules with significant economic impact require evaluation of the potential societal economic impact on the United States, a task performed by a little-known cadre of health economists employed by the relevant agency (the FDA has several dozen health economists) and checked and revised by the Office of Management and Budget. Before a rule is finalized, it goes up and down the chain of the executive branch of government and a formal notice-and-comment process requires public posting of the proposed rule and a formal response to every comment.

In order to regulate a tobacco product, the FDA had to write a rule that would specify which products it deemed to be subject to the TCA. The law immediately deemed cigarettes, cigarette tobacco, smokeless tobacco, and hand-rolled tobacco as subject to the TCA, and required the FDA to stipulate what other tobacco products it would regulate. Thus, in order to regulate cigars, e-cigarettes, and hookah and vaping products, the FDA had to write a rule that was processed through the formal notice-and-comment rule-making process. The shorthand for this effort is deeming regulation.

At every step of the way, attempts to regulate tobacco and related products have been contested and undermined by the tobacco industry, whose relationship with regulators stands in stark contrast to that of medical product industries and the FDA. The FDAs mission statement identifies ensuring public safety as its primary mission, but also encompasses the promotion of innovation under the premise that approved or cleared products will improve longevity, function, or quality of life. The question at the heart of the agencys relation with the tobacco industry is, essentially, what can be done with regulation to limit the number of people killed or disabled by tobacco products?

An important facet of this story concerns the FDAs battle with the tobacco industry over advertising. Because of the modern interpretation of the First Amendment, companies essentially have the same rights of free speech as those enjoyed by individuals, and any government interference with that speech requires definitive evidence of an overriding societal interest. Prior to my tenure at the FDA, the agency suffered a legal defeat when a panel of judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia ruled that the graphic warnings (essentially, pictures of people experiencing the dire health consequences of tobacco use) that the FDA sought to mandate on tobacco product packaging infringed on the First Amendment rights of tobacco companies. This ruling came despite definitive research demonstrating that the use of such warnings was associated with significant reductions in smoking behavior in controlled studies that almost certainly would have led to a reduction in death and disability. Since that defeat, the agency has continued to gather evidence about the effectiveness of this approach and once again is poised to issue a rule requiring the placement of graphic warnings on tobacco packaging.

The question at the heart of the agencys relation with the tobacco industry is, essentially, what can be done with regulation to limit the number of people killed or disabled by tobacco products?

An additional key background issue concerns the economics of tobacco and tobacco products. My own introduction to these issues occurred during a clandestine breakfast meeting with a famous demographer and epidemiologist who had conducted a 1990s version of a big data analysis. This persons conclusions: tobacco produced economic benefit not only because it created jobs, but also because it reduced longevity after retirement. In other words, people who die from tobacco-related diseases often die from sudden cardiac death, myocardial infarction, stroke, or lung cancer all of which are associated with relatively short intervals of disability.

At the time, this rather cold-blooded argument seemed solid from a purely economic perspective. Nevertheless, I couldnt help feeling that like most people, when I reached retirement age, I would like to enjoy those extra years after my normal working life. At the time I had not heard of the concept of lost consumer surplus, a term used in economics to measure the difference between what consumers are willing to pay for a good or service and the market equilibrium price.

When I arrived at the FDA, I was fascinated to learn that this concept had become a hot-button issue in the economic evaluation of tobacco policy, with a group of economists arguing that the loss of consumer surplus offsets a very high proportion of the economic benefit of reducing the use of tobacco products. Notably, the arguments rationale assumes an individual consumer making a free and informed choice, but that is a big assumption when the individual in question is addicted to a substance (in this case, nicotine) and has been subjected to a protracted and sophisticated campaign of misleading messaging. I raise this issue not to debate a complicated economic concept but to point out that what appears obvious to a medical or public health professional can look different to people from other vantage points.

Discussing policies related to vaping products would be difficult without this background. In Part 2 of this piece, I will give my personal perspective on the complex issue of regulating vaping products.

Robert M. Califf, MD, MACC, is Vice Chancellor for Health Data Science, Director of Duke Forge, and the Donald F. Fortin Professor of Cardiology at Duke University School of Medicine. He sits on the corporate board for Cytokinetics and is board chair for the People-Centered Research Foundation. He is also employed as an advisor by Verily Life Sciences (Alphabet).

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Should the federal government regulate vaping? - AAMC

Turmeric: what are the benefits and is it good for you? – The Irish Times

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Have you noticed lattes, ice cream and smoothies with a tawny hue? That could be a sign of a not-so-secret ingredient: turmeric. The botanical is omnipresent in health food aisles, in the form of pills and powders.

Turmeric, native to South Asia, is one of the fastest-growing dietary supplements. In 2018, products racked up an estimated 300 million in sales in the United States, a more than sevenfold increase from a decade earlier, according to a report from Nutrition Business Journal.

Brightening up the pantries of many homes in India, the spice is interwoven into daily life, the cuisine, and cultural and healing traditions. A member of the ginger family, it has been used in ayurvedic medicine for thousands of years. Apply turmeric to wounds, and its believed to fight infection. Mix it with milk, and the mind calms. Tint the entrance of new homes with a paste to welcome prosperity.

Turmeric is auspicious and one of the most important herbs, said Anupama Kizhakkeveettil, a board member of the National Ayurvedic Medical Association.

Sliced open, or dried into a spice, the Curcuma longa plant imparts its amber colour and earthy, bitter flavour to food like curry. The active ingredient captured in many turmeric supplements is curcumin. Curcumin, along with the other curcuminoid compounds, compose only about 3 per cent of the dried spice.

And bottles will often say turmeric on the front but list curcumin in the ingredients.

Turmeric is hailed for helping a host of conditions: high cholesterol, hay fever, depression, gingivitis, premenstrual syndrome and even hangovers. In ayurvedic medicine, it is believed to act as an anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-parasitic, and has long been used to help with diabetes, pain, rheumatism, osteoarthritis, memory and skin conditions like eczema.

We use it for so many different conditions, its a time-tested herb, Kizhakkeveettil said. Unfortunately, our science doesnt fit into complete randomised controlled trials. That is alternative medicines biggest challenge.

Researchers sought to answer this by sifting through the available literature. In a 2017 paper in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry, they concluded its fools gold. There are claims that it can cure everything, said Kathryn Nelson, a research assistant professor at the University of Minnesota and the studys lead author. To me, that is a red flag.

Dr Amit Garg, a professor of medicine at Western University in London, Ontario, knew about turmerics medicinal use because of his Indian heritage. He knew first hand of its rich cultural significance too: on his wedding day, his relatives rubbed the spice all over him because it is believed to be cleansing.

After seeing the effectiveness of curcumin, in smaller studies, Garg and his colleagues decided to test it on a larger scale in hopes it would make elective aortic surgery safer by reducing the risk of complications, which include heart attacks, kidney injury and death. In the randomised clinical trial that followed, about half of the 606 patients were administered 2,000 milligrams of curcumin eight times over for four days, while the others were given a placebo. It was a bit disappointing, but we couldnt demonstrate any benefit used in this setting, Garg said of the study, published last year in the Canadian Medical Association Journal.

In fact, there is not enough reliable evidence in humans to recommend turmeric or curcumin for any condition, according to the US National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health. Turmeric became a nutritional golden child partly because of its promise in laboratory studies cellular and animal. Some research indicates that both turmeric and curcumin, the active ingredient in turmeric supplements, have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, anti-bacterial, anti-viral and anti-parasitic activity. But this has mostly been demonstrated in laboratory studies, and, in many cases, the benefits of preclinical research isnt observed in clinical trials.

According to Natural Medicines, a database that provides monographs for dietary supplements, herbal medicines, and complementary and integrative therapies, while some clinical evidence shows that curcumin might be beneficial for depression, hay fever, hyperlipidemia, ulcerative colitis, osteoarthritis and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, its still too early to recommend the compound for any of these conditions.

And Natural Medicines has found there isnt enough good scientific evidence to rate turmeric or curcumins use for memory, diabetes, fatigue, rheumatoid arthritis, gingivitis, joint pain, PMS, eczema or hangovers.

Physicians say more research is needed. Dr Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry and biobehavioral sciences at the David Geffen School of Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, who studies curcumins effect on memory, sees a lot of therapeutic potential. He also states that existing research demonstrates curcumins biological effects.

What may be affecting curcumins efficacy, doctors say, is that it is poorly absorbed from the gastrointestinal tract. In Indian cooking, turmeric is usually heated in a fat, like oil, which can increase absorption. Certain supplement manufacturers are also taking steps to improve this curcumins bioavailability by combining the compound with other components. For instance, a chemical found in black pepper called piperine is sometimes added to curcumin supplements in proprietary blends to increase its absorption.

Researching curcumin can be challenging because some blends have better bioavailability than others, and varying amounts of the active ingredient. If you did the study over and over again but used slightly different preparations, you would probably have different results, said Dr Janet Funk, a professor of medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine, who studies curcumins effect on bone.

Still, even if absorption improved, curcumin would not have any biological effects, Nelson contends. Turmeric may still have health benefits, she said, but they just may be from another compound or combination of compounds.

Consuming it by mouth is safe, up to 2g of turmeric daily for a year, and 4g daily of curcumin for a month, according to Natural Medicines. Turmeric aficionados who also use it as a face mask can relax too; the database indicates it is most likely safe to apply to the skin.

Doctors recommend that patients tell a physician they are taking turmeric. High doses of turmeric and its isolated constituents can have some rather unpleasant side effects, including diarrhea and nausea. Curcumin may also interact with anti-coagulants and anti-platelets, antacids, and drugs used for chemotherapy and to control blood pressure. While the spice is considered safe in food, therapeutic doses should be avoided during pregnancy.

The US Food and Drug Administration does not test dietary supplements such as turmeric for safety and effectiveness but announced this year that it would improve oversight of the growing industry.

One study published in 2018 in Molecular Nutrition & Food Research, found that the cheaper the turmeric product, the more likely it was to have chemical compounds suggestive of synthetic curcumin; and products with turmeric root were more likely to have higher lead levels. One sample exceeded recommended limits for lead.

How about all those turmeric lattes? Doctorssay that sprinkling a little bit of the bitter spice into frothed milk doesnt have proven health benefits. But that doesnt mean it isnt delicious.

As for Garg, he is not closing the bottle cap on curcumin. To wit: he is in the middle of a randomised study with a different preparation and dosing to see if curcumin prevents the progression of kidney disease. There are still many promising things about curcumin and turmeric, he said. I remain open-minded. New York Times

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Turmeric: what are the benefits and is it good for you? - The Irish Times

Class in session: Health food workshops in demand, says store owner – SooToday.com

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Two years ago, when Shonna Saari took ownership of the Country Way Health Food Store on Brock Street, she had a new vision in mind to build community through health literacy and education.

While the store has been in operation for a total of 42 years, Saari has used her ownership to heighten the stores profile and its passion for hosting health seminars had attracted attention.

For the first two years, we really just worked on establishing ourselves as a business, says Saari. But during the past six months, weve been able to focusmuch more on our workshops.

These have included partnering with an arthritis support group, who asked holistic nutritionist (and store employee) Sophie Storozuk to present on reducing joint pain through nutritional supplements.

The store has also partnered with Marilyn Dennis Show regular Karlene Karst. The author of This Kitchen Is For Dancing was invited by Saari to come to give two separate talks at Quattro an event that drew 100 participants locally.

The first talk was on healthy fats and the most recent one was on a variety of topics, like easy ways to incorporate healthy foods into your everyday routine, says Saari.

But the Country Way also draws on its local expertise. Brittany Nicholson, a holistic nutritionist and store employee, will be offering a Do It Yourself Kombucha Night on Nov. 28.

Kombucha, a fermented tea, has become famous for its rich antioxidant dose and probiotic composition and is offered for free to shoppers who come in to browse at the store.

Now local agencies have come to the Country Way to request seminars. The next one coming up is a presentation we are doing in partnership with Women in Crisis, says Saari. They approached us to do an educational workshop on supplements, teas, and other health offerings that help with stress reduction and inflammation problems.

Saari says she will be bringing samples from the store for women to try.

One unique item Saari plans on bringing is the little known chaga mushroom. Annanda Chaga, a Sault-owned business, has been distributing the product for a few years now in various forms from chaga mushroom chunks to powders to tinctures. The mushroom, which grows on the side of birch trees, is a powerful anti-oxidant that helps a variety of ailments.

Everything that I have in the store has been certified through Health Canada, says Saari. Chaga is one of a few products shell be introducing to the residents of Women in Crisis.

Supporting local businesses is truly my passion and I feature products from over 30 local vendors in the store, says Saari.

Local honey, maple syrup, bone broth, sauekraut, local beef, local bison, and even local pottery are just a few products in the store.

We also welcome those new to health and wellness to the store to ask questions, says Saari. Thats what health literacy is all about.

We're looking for ideas! Know about a new health and wellness trendthat should be featured in this column? Let us know atnews@sootoday.com

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Class in session: Health food workshops in demand, says store owner - SooToday.com

My time in The Vamps was overshadowed by my eating disorder – Metro.co.uk

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For each of the career highlights that I remember, theres a mountain of dread that hangs underneath (Picture: Mike Lewis Photography/Redferns)

If the average persons career was a line graph, there would be several stand-out moments that jut up above the line.

We all know them: the time you impressed the boss by solving something others couldnt, the time you handed in that project you toiled over, the work social where someone drank too much.

I wont begin to try and convince you that my career, as a member of The Vamps, is the norm, but bear with me. Like everyone else, Ive been lucky enough to experience especially memorable moments over the years including releasing five top 10 singles and a number one album, and being the first band to headline Londons O2 Arena five years in a row.

But for me, those stand-out moments were completely overshadowed by an eating disorder.

In the thousands of interviews weve had since 2011, we frequently get asked if any of us have any major regrets. Typically, I tend to brush this off with something playful and hollow; something like not trying to date half of LA, or forgetting to pack my toothbrush when we toured with Taylor Swift.

The truth? I regret running, pretending, denying that I had a problem with food. For each of those career highlights that I remember, theres a mountain of dread that hangs underneath. The line chart is merely a series of peaks disguising a darker reality beneath the surface.

To the public, the pictures printed in the press when we celebrated our number one album in 2016 looked like success. Champagne, posh London hotel, laughter. The Vamps boys were on top of the world.

Looking back now kills me, because I can finally see just how wasted that whole period was for me. I might have physically been there but my mind wasnt it was echoing around empty corridors in my head, questioning whether I could get to the gym later to burn off the extra alcoholic calories, or better yet, whether I could skip the celebratory dinner with the record label to shave off an extra 1000.

I may as well have not even been in The Vamps then. I was a shell of my former self: short-tempered, bad mannered, and shallow. I was obsessed with myself, critiquing every angle in the mirror, judging my happiness on whether my arms looked toned enough on a given morning.

Ironically, I was so transfixed on myself that I failed to register how much I was neglecting my overall wellbeing. I added creatine powder to lifting weights and came up with happiness as the answer. I couldnt have been more wrong.

Happiness is not obsessing over food and supplements from the moment you wake up; its not spending two hours a day in the gym in the hope to be accepted. It took me a long time to realise that the genuine key to happiness is accepting yourself.

Happiness is not obsessing over food and supplements from the moment you wake up

It took me 24 years to recognise that spiralling around a vicious cycle of food and lifting weights was never going to result in genuine satisfaction. I could always lift more and eat less, and Id still find myself staring disappointedly staring into a mirror.

Acknowledging the flaws in severe dieting and obsessive work-out plans was fundamental to my recovery. Sure, I can still enjoy eating healthily and going to the gym, but I have to constantly remain conscious of when that obsession begins creeping in again which it so frequently does.

Ultimately, I see this issue as an addiction, and it must therefore be viewed with the appropriate seriousness.

I realised recently that I fell into a slightly obscure category of society. Primarily, Im a musician. However, in the wonderfully weird world of social media, I find myself approaching 2020 with approximately 3,000,000 followers. That apparently makes me influential. Like my mental health, I ignored the importance of this for years.

Vocalising my emotions caused an immediate ripple across my social channels, spurring me to research male mental health.

I was shocked, particularly with the statistics around men and eating disorders. The fact that 45 per cent of men in the UK are dissatisfied with their body image and that 17 per cent of men in the UK are on an extreme diet because of this is staggering.

Actively addressing my own situation was the only way I was eventually able to break out of my self-perpetuating rut. Communication was the key for me, and thats why Im so keen to partner with TOMs and The Mix.

Together were launching the Body and Soul Club, a digital community where young people can talk about healthy approaches to body image and masculinity.

We must campaign for change, and encourage more men to air their struggles.

If you suspect you, a family member or friend has an eating disorder, contact Beat on 0808 801 0677 or at help@beateatingdisorders.org.uk, for information and advice on the best way to get appropriate treatment

The Mix offers essential support for under-25s, covering a broad spectrum of issues including drug abuse, homelessness, and mental health. Get in touch with them here.

Find out how you can get involved in the Body and Soul Club here.

MORE: Yes, men get eating disorders my brother died from his

MORE: How can social media have a less toxic effect on our body image and mental health?

MORE: Kids will keep developing eating disorders until we address our relationship with food

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My time in The Vamps was overshadowed by my eating disorder - Metro.co.uk

Nano-Motors Find Tilt-Illating Solution to Move Against the Current – SciTechDaily

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Nano-motors of micron-meter size, made of platinum and gold, propel themselves against a flow (big arrows on channel walls) that contains hydrogen peroxide. Random thermal jiggling from the fluid molecules disturbs the motors motion, but the long-gold motors (pullers) still maintains a relatively straight trajectory because its steeper tilt helps it align more easily against the flow and hence move upstream. Credit: Dr. Yan-Peng Liu

Going upstream, and against a current, involves a front-first downward tilt and then moving along a surface, shows new research by a team of scientists, which created nano-motors to uncover this effective means of locomotion under such conditions. Its findings and the creation of these tiny motors offer new insights into the nature of movement in fluids and have implications for engineering.

These nano-motors not only helped us better understand the nature of moving against flows at the tiny scales we cant easily see, but also could be the first step in developing smart material and robotic systems in the microscopic world, says Jun Zhang, a professor of physics and mathematics at New York University and a co-author of the paper, which was published on October 25, 2019, in the journal Physical Review Letters.

While this effect of movement has long been known, our work offers a comprehensive explanation for it, which enhances our understanding of this widespread dynamic, adds co-author Michael Shelley, a professor at NYUs Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences.

The researchers, who also included Quentin Brosseau, a postdoctoral fellow at NYUs Courant Institute and the papers first author, focused on a previously discovered phenomenon, rheotaxismovement involving a change of direction to head upstream or into a current.

However, detailed explanations for rheotaxis had been lacking. To fully understand this process, the scientists created nano-motors composed of two metalsplatinum and gold (Pt/Au). Shelley, Zhang, also a professor at NYU Shanghai, and their colleagues had previously created a more basic version of these nano-motors, which are less than the width of a human hair.

Fabricated in the Molecular Design Institute in NYUs Department of Chemistry, the motors described in the Physical Review Letters paper were more advanced; the researchers varied the proportions of these metals in order to vary their movementin some models, the composition was evenly split while others had a 3:1 gold-to-platinum ratio or a 3:1 platinum-to-gold make-up.

Fueled chemically by a hydrogen peroxide dilution when placed in water, the nano-motors could swimwith the platinum end always serving as the head. However, these motors had different tilts, which differed depending on their make-up. Those composed primarily of gold were labeled pullers while those largely made up of platinum were called pushers. The pullers tended to move with their tails up (a pronounced tilt) while the pushers remained relatively flat.

This difference was significant when it came to moving against currents.

When the tilt is large (pullers), the tail is more exposed to an oncoming flow, which catches the tail and turns the motor aroundsimilar to the way wind turns a weather vane. Consequently, the motors front faces the flow, after which the motor continues forward, now moving against the current. By contrast, if the motor is not tilted (pushers), a current cannot catch its tail and spin it around to move against this flowand, as a result, it is unlikely to respond to an oncoming flow.

This synthetic system mimics natural micro-organisms, such as E. coli in flow, and offers a means for predicting their pathways through the human body, observes Brosseau. It is key to understand contamination processes and engineer smart material for targeted drug delivery.

###

Reference: Relating Rheotaxis and Hydrodynamic Actuation using Asymmetric Gold-Platinum Phoretic Rods by Quentin Brosseau, Florencio Balboa Usabiaga, Enkeleida Lushi, Yang Wu, Leif Ristroph, Jun Zhang, Michael Ward and Michael J. Shelley, 25 October 2019, Physical Review Letters.DOI: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.123.178004

The papers other authors included Michael Ward, a professor in NYUs Department of Chemistry, Florencio Balboa Usabiaga of the Flatiron Institute, Enkeleida Lushi of the New Jersey Institute of Technology, Yang Wu, a doctoral candidate in NYUs Department of Chemistry, and Leif Ristroph, an associate professor at NYUs Courant Institute.

This work was supported by the MRSEC Program of the National Science Foundation (DMR-1420073) and also by additional NSF grants (DMS-1463962 and DMS-1620331).

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Nano-Motors Find Tilt-Illating Solution to Move Against the Current - SciTechDaily

Doheny and UCLA Stein Eye Institutes Welcome Kaustabh Ghosh, PhD, to the Scientific and Clinical Research Faculty – P&T Community

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LOS ANGELES, Oct. 31, 2019 /PRNewswire/ --Doheny and UCLA Stein Eye Institutes proudly welcome Kaustabh Ghosh, PhD, to the scientific faculty as Associate Professor in basic science at the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine. Dr. Ghosh is distinguished as an interdisciplinary researcher with expertise in the fields of vascular inflammation, mechanobiology, bioengineering, and nanomedicine.

"I am tremendously proud and honored to begin this position at Doheny-UCLA," says Dr. Ghosh. "I entered the field of biomedical research from an engineering background, which perhaps gave me a new perspective to see things differently. As a biomedical engineer, it allowed me to think about diseases in a way that a typical biomedical researcher and clinician may not."

Dr. Ghosh states that also as a vascular biologist, one such perspective he was able to successfully introduce was the importance of "stiffness" of blood vessels in disease pathogenesis.

"Doheny will be the ideal place for me to realize the true translational potential for my work as it offers strength and resources in ophthalmic imaging," shares Dr. Ghosh. "Doheny also provides the perfect balance between basic science and clinical research."

He adds, "I look forward to developing strong, collaborative relationships with members of Doheny-UCLA engineering, biomedical sciences and clinical infrastructure. Our goal will be to discover effective treatment strategies from a multidisciplinary approach especially in the area of investigating the role of chronic vascular inflammation, a major determinant of various debilitating conditions including macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy."

Dr. Ghosh was most recently Associate Professor of Bioengineering at University of California, Riverside (UCR) as well as Participating Faculty in the Division of Biomedical Sciences, Stem Cell Center and the Program in Cell, Molecular and Developmental Biology. The Ghosh Research Group at UCR focused on leveraging the principles of mechanobiology to examine and treat inflammationmediated vascular degeneration associated with diabetic retinopathy and agerelated macular degeneration, the leading causes of vision loss in the diabetic and aging population. In 2016, these studies were supported by two R01 grants from the National Eye Institute (NEI), and a macular degeneration grant from the BrightFocus Foundation. Dr. Ghosh has received numerous awards during his research career, including the Hellman Fellowship and the NIH Postdoctoral Training Grant, and has published 24 peer-reviewed papers in highly-regarded journals that include PNAS, The FASEB Journal, Science, and Nano Letters, among others.

In 2011, prior to joining UCR, Dr. Ghosh was a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of Donald Ingber, MD, PhD, part of the Vascular Biology Program at Boston Children's Hospital and Harvard Medical School. In 2006, Dr. Ghosh received his PhD in Biomedical Engineering from Stony Brook University, New York. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Chemical Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Warangal, India in 2001.

Dr. Ghosh's dedication to collaborative research and team building is evident in his numerous and illustrious achievements. His distinguished scientific leadership demonstrates an excellence that will contribute greatly to Doheny Eye Institute's research programs.

About Doheny Eye InstituteFor over 70 years, Doheny Eye Institute has been at the forefront of vision science. From seeking new ways to free blockages that prevent fluid drainage in glaucoma, to replacing retinal cells in age-related macular degeneration, to providing colleagues worldwide with standardized analyses of anatomical changes in the eyes of patients, Doheny clinicianscientists and researchers are changing how people see and also how they think about the future of vision. Please visit doheny.org for more information.

Doheny Eye Institute and UCLA Stein Eye Institute have joined forces to offer the best inpatient care, vision research and education. This affiliation combines the strength, reputation and distinction of two of the nation's top eye institutions to advance vision research, education and patient care in Southern California.

CONTACT INFORMATIONMedia Contact:Matthew RabinDirect: (323) 342-7101Email: mrabin@doheny.org

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Doheny and UCLA Stein Eye Institutes Welcome Kaustabh Ghosh, PhD, to the Scientific and Clinical Research Faculty - P&T Community

Japanese ‘Supercar’ Made From Recycled Wood Has A Top Speed Of 20 Kmph – Mashable India

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The automobile industry has taken a shift towards developing hybrid and electric vehicles (EVs) in recent years. A complete shift to EVs might not be happening anytime soon but Japan is on the fast track to make automobile manufacturing more eco-friendly.

Japan has developed a concept car fashioned mostly from wood. Unveiled at the Tokyo Motor Show 2019, the Nano Cellulose Vehicle (NCV) is a car concept developed by a consortium of companies and universities established by the Japanese Ministry Of Environment in 2016. The idea of a wooden car might seem something straight out of The Flintstones but the NCV concept is much more modern.

According to Carscoops, the car is made using Cellulose Nano Fibre (CNF) - a fibre material made from wood, agricultural waste, and other organic materials. CNF is one-fifth the weight of steel but is five times stronger than the most widely used engineering material. The use of CNF in most of the bodywork and part of the tub makes the car half as light as traditional cars.

SEE ALSO: Jaguar Designed An Electric Sportscar Just For Gran Turismo

The goal behind the cars development to be environment-friendly is apparent, as the production process will have the least carbon emissions in the car manufacturing industry. E1izabeth Blackstock of Jalopnik puts the manufacturing process in better words by stating that manufacturing is basically just recycling on a massive scale.

he wooden car really looks the supercar part. The exterior design with butterfly doors and sharp-cut angles look like something youd see on a Lamborghini or Pagani. But he interior has a more traditional Japanese aesthetic, with white kimono-esque seats, a steering wheel covered with the hilt of a katana, an actual wooden dashboard, and a golden flower pattern running throughout.

Although the car might look like its ready to zip through the curves of Autobah, it currently only maxes out at a top speed of 12mph (20kmph) since its powered by hydrogen fuel cells. We can only hope that the NCVs power train in the future would allow for speeds befitting of its supercar semblance.

SEE ALSO: CEO Elon Musk Says Plaid Will Be Faster Than Ludicrous Speed

Image Credit: Kankyosho (Ministry of the Environment, Japan)

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Japanese 'Supercar' Made From Recycled Wood Has A Top Speed Of 20 Kmph - Mashable India

Preparation And Antibacterial Effects Of Carboxymethyl Chitosan-Modifi | IJN – Dove Medical Press

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Jin Zhang, Chuan-Zhen Ye, Ze-Yu Liu, Qian Yang, Yong Ye

Department of Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, Peoples Republic of China

Correspondence: Yong YeDepartment of Pharmaceutical Engineering, School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou 510640, Peoples Republic of ChinaTel +86-20-87110234Email yeyong@scut.edu.cn

Background: Bacterial resistance to antibiotics is a persistent and intractable problem. The sapogenin isolated from the seeds of Camellia oleifera can inhibit antibiotic-resistant bacteria after structural modification.Purpose: This study aims to improve sapogenins antibacterial activity and avoid bacterial resistance based on nano-preparation with photo responsiveness.Methods: The liposome shell material of carboxymethyl chitosan-phosphatidyl ethanolamine (CMC-PE) was prepared using amidation reaction, and photo-responsive cationic (PCC) liposomes containing Camellia sapogenin derivative (CSD) and photosensitizer pheophorbide-a were prepared by film dispersion method. Encapsulation efficiency, drug loading, zeta potential, particle size distribution, morphology and stability of the PCC liposomes were determined by HPLC, particle size analyzer, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and fluorescence microscopy. Photo-responsive release of CSD in the PCC liposomes was determined by laser (0.5 mW/cm2) at 665 nm. Antibacterial activity of the PCC liposomes with or without irradiation was analyzed by MIC50, MBC, MBIC50, and bacterial morphology to evaluate the antibacterial effects on amoxicillin resistant Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus.Results: Size distribution, zeta potential, encapsulation efficiency and drug loading of the PCC liposomes were 189.23 2.12 nm, 18.80 1.57 mV, 83.52 1.53% and 2.83 0.05%, respectively. The PCC liposomes had higher storage stability and gastrointestinal stability, and no obvious hemolytic toxicity to rabbit red blood cells and no cytotoxicity after incubation with Hela cells. The photosensitizer pheophorbide-a was uniformly dispersed in the phospholipid layer of the PCC liposomes and increased the CSD release after irradiation. The PCC liposomes could bind to bacteria and impaired their morphology and structure, and had significant bactericidal effect on amoxicillin resistant E. coli and S. aureus.Conclusion: The photo-responsive PCC liposomes are efficient antibacterial agents for avoidance of bacterial resistance against antibiotics.

Keywords: Camellia sapogenin derivative, photo-responsive cationic liposomes, carboxymethyl chitosan, antibacterial effects, antibiotic substitutes

This work is published and licensed by Dove Medical Press Limited. The full terms of this license are available at https://www.dovepress.com/terms.php and incorporate the Creative Commons Attribution - Non Commercial (unported, v3.0) License.By accessing the work you hereby accept the Terms. Non-commercial uses of the work are permitted without any further permission from Dove Medical Press Limited, provided the work is properly attributed. For permission for commercial use of this work, please see paragraphs 4.2 and 5 of our Terms.

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Nano Gps Chip Market to Witness Increased Revenue Growth Owing to Rapid Increase in Demand – Health News Office

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The Wrist and Hand MRI Equipment Market research report added by Market Study Report, LLC, provides a succinct analysis on the recent market trends. In addition, the report offers a thorough abstract on the statistics, market estimates and revenue forecasts, which further highlights its position in the industry, in tandem with the growth strategies adopted by leading industry players.

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The Wrist and Hand MRI Equipment market report Elucidated with regards to the regional landscape of the industry:

The geographical reach of the Wrist and Hand MRI Equipment market has been meticulously segmented into United States, China, Europe, Japan, Southeast Asia & India, according to the report.

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The competitive expanse of this business has been flawlessly categorized into companies such as

Analog DevicesMicrochip Technology Inc.Sony CorporationMaxim IntegratedAdafruit IndustriesTexas Instruments IncorporatedAsahi Kasei Microdevices Co., .Intersil Americas LLCNational InstrumentsDiligent Inc

Segment by RegionsNorth AmericaEuropeChinaJapanSoutheast AsiaIndia

Segment by TypeDisplay ADCDelta-sigma ADCPipelined ADCDual slope ADC

Segment by ApplicationIT and telecommunicationIndustrialConsumer electronicsAutomotive

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The Wrist and Hand MRI Equipment market research study conscientiously mentions a separate section that enumerates details with regards to major parameters like the price fads of key raw material and industrial chain analysis, not to mention, details about the suppliers of the raw material. That said, it is pivotal to mention that the Wrist and Hand MRI Equipment market report also expounds an analysis of the industry distribution chain, further advancing on aspects such as important distributors and the customer pool.

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Nano Gps Chip Market to Witness Increased Revenue Growth Owing to Rapid Increase in Demand - Health News Office

Charlie Hall Chase Entries Wetherby 2019 | Reigning champ Definitly Red heads Charlie Hall entries – Timeform

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Last year's winner Definitly Red will face a maximum of 11 rivals when he defends his crown in the bet365 Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby.

Brian Ellison's stable stalwart got the better of the Paul Nicholls-trained Black Corton by two lengths in the West Yorkshire highlight 12 months ago - and the pair look set to renew rivalry on Saturday.

Ellison will be buoyed by the fantastic recent form of his jumping string, with Forest Bihan's big-race triumph in Sunday's Old Roan Chase at Aintree the trainer's eighth winner from his last nine runners under National Hunt rules.

Black Corton - last seen filling the runner-up spot under a big weight in the Galway Plate - is out to provide Nicholls with a fourth Charlie Hall success following the back-to-back wins of See More Business (1999 and 2000) and the victory of Silviniaco Conti (2012).

Nigel Twiston-Davies has not entered the 2017 Charlie Hall hero Bristol De Mai, but could saddle recent Chepstow winner Ballyoptic. The Naunton handler has also won this prestigious event with Tipping Tim (1992), Young Hustler (1994) and Ollie Magern (2005 and 2007).

Warren Greatrex is expected to send star mare La Bague Au Roi from Lambourn, while Jessica Harrington's Jett could bid to become the first Irish-trained winner since Sackville in 2001.

Aso (Venetia Williams), Atlanta Ablaze (Henry Daly), Double Shuffle (Tom George), Elegant Escape (Colin Tizzard), Molly The Dolly (Dan Skelton), Top Ville Ben (Phil Kirby) and Vinndication (Kim Bailey) are the other contenders.

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Charlie Hall Chase Entries Wetherby 2019 | Reigning champ Definitly Red heads Charlie Hall entries - Timeform