Key Factors to Choose the Right Cloud-based Backup Service – CIOReview

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Cloud backup services are moving into everyday operations of an enterprise. Organizations must be cautious before selecting their cloud backup provider considering the fact that every single information of theirs has unique value and needs to be secured. It is important to make certain that the selected cloud provider handles the organizations backups and restores efficaciously without having any inconsistencies as they are not truly enterprise ready. Additionally, the seeding and data accumulation needs also have to be kept in mind to evaluate the available choice.

In the present epoch, cloud backup providers provide advanced capabilities such as application awareness, system-state recovery capabilities, bare-metal recovery capabilities, and the facility to backup open files. Along with these advancements, the providers are also delivering cloud storage capabilities within on-premise backup solutions. These novel cloud computing applications automatically create effective backup by making a copy of that backup to the cloud. As an effective case in point, one can consider Microsoft Azure, which enables cloud backup capabilities for virtual machines.

As there are numerous cloud backup providers in the market, it is imperative to gaze at their distinguishing capabilities and features offered by each of them. The ultimate objective is to decide which one of them will best suit the organizations needs and provide the finest backup strategy for their IT environment. Further, the parameters such as recovery time objectives (RTO) and recovery point objectives (RPO) should also be scrutinized in the deciding process.

Pilot tests should be carried out by setting up and testing with some trial accounts and performing backups before a particular cloud-based backup solution is taken onboard. Organizations have to be careful at this point of their choice and have to select properly as in certain cases, the cloud service providers are likely to highlight many features and capabilities while advertising, but still provide a below par experience when it comes to restoring data. It is also to be kept in mind that all the cloud backup provider's service capacity might not be fully compatible with the systems that the organization is looking forward to protect. One of the ways to ensure the safekeeping of cloud-to-cloud data backup is to encrypt data prior to transmission.

These two factors are those that organizations should not obliterate while choosing a cloud service provider. Data seeding denotes the swathe of creating initial backup in the cloud. Besides, it is also idealistic to be expecting to upload manifold terabytes of data across the Internet in a reasonable amount of time.

Data accumulation mentions the rate of data creation as juxtaposing to the speed at which the data can be uploaded to the cloud backup. This is also another factor that decides which provider has to be chosen. To illustrate, if an organization is creating 500GB of data every day and has the capability to upload only 300GB of data, the cloud backup strategy is inadequate to keep the tempo with the data growth.

As the technology is fast becoming an integral part of business, organizations must also look deeper into the additional storage capacity and other services that the provider will offer over time. Further, it is also necessary to find out whether the providers customize their solutions according to the growing needs of the organization.

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Key Factors to Choose the Right Cloud-based Backup Service - CIOReview

FaZe Rain Explains His Absence From YouTube – Dexerto

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FaZe Rain Explains His Absence From YouTube

Nordan FaZe Rain Shat speaks on his decrease in ad revenue on recent YouTube videos throughout his channel, and why he took a hiatus.

One of the owners of FaZe Clan, Rain discusses the fact thathis channel has been hit hard by a lack of revenue in recent months.

Multiple full-time YouTubers have expressed their discontent with the new way the platform handles revenue for potentially explicit content, and Rain has been plaguedwith the same issue.

He begins with the fact that his channel, one now with five million subscribers, has been making less than ten percent of what it originally had been.

Although he makes similar content to his roommates, Rain goes on to mention how he believes he is being treated unfairly by the platform.

Hows that going to make me feel? It makes me feel as if Im being mistreated or not being treated the same way. It makes me feel all these things and for what? For me being myself?

Continuing on, he assumes that he started to generate less revenue when he was uploading vape content, and quit using that genre for its potential adult oriented tag.

Later, he goes on to rant against the recent change in the YouTube platform. Rain originally loved being able to be himself while uploading videos, yet he believes the push for creators to fit into a character role has left a sour feeling for many in the community.

Fulfillment from having the ability to upload videos that he enjoys and provide for his family/ friends is his main drive and resents the fact that he may need to change his content in order to continue making money from uploading.

The full video can be found below, with his explanation beginning at the fourteen-minute mark.

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Now that he has found a new outlook on the situation, Rain believes that he has nowhere to go but up.

With his state of mind regained, motivation will become second nature again for the veteran content creator.

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FaZe Rain Explains His Absence From YouTube - Dexerto

Dirty Bones is debuting Instagram Kits to help you take the perfect #foodporn pic – Metro

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When youre out eating something truly glorious, you want to take a snap of it.

You want to upload it to Instagram for the world to see just how beautiful and delicious that meal was.

Unfortunately, your phone rarely makes food look as good as it did in real life. It looks flat, dull, ordinary even with a tonne of filters applied.

But not anymore at Dirty Bones.

Because the London restaurant is equipping customers with Instagram Kits to help them take the perfect #foodporn picture.

Their newest location has been designed with Instagram-friendly aesthetics in mind (think neon signs of classic IG slogans Keeping it real and Good vibes only) and the kits will be available to all diners.

So, whats included in these kits?

Youll be able to use a portable LED light, a multi-device charger, a clip-on wide-angle lens, a tripod and a selfie stick.

Theyre not the first restaurants to do this kind of thing but they are the first chain in the UK.

What effect this might have on the overall dining experience, who can say.

Maybe youll walk into Dirty Bones to complete silence as everyone busily constructs the perfect set around their rapidly cooling food.

You can now down your espresso in the form of a black ball of ice cream

Australia has its own annual Beer Can Regatta, obviously

12 cool kitchen gadgets to make cooking more fun

Or maybe it will just make us appreciate the effort and beauty of the stuff were about to eat making us more mindful of it.

But whatever the effect, prepare to see a load more envy-inducing, professional-looking brunch posts on your feed in the near future.

MORE: Smelling food has been linked to weight gain, so the end really is nigh

MORE: Where to enjoy Korean food and music in London

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Dirty Bones is debuting Instagram Kits to help you take the perfect #foodporn pic - Metro

Drug industry to challenge health service decision over medicine price limits – The Independent

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Hours of commuting may be mind-numbingly dull, but new research shows that it might also be having an adverse effect on both your health and performance at work. Longer commutes also appear to have a significant impact on mental wellbeing, with those commuting longer 33 per cent more likely to suffer from depression

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It is not possible to be overweight and healthy, a major new study has concluded. The study of 3.5 million Britons found that even metabolically healthy obese people are still at a higher risk of heart disease or a stroke than those with a normal weight range

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When you feel particularly exhausted, it can definitely feel like you are also lacking in brain capacity. Now, a new study has suggested this could be because chronic sleep deprivation can actually cause the brain to eat itself

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David Lloyd Gyms have launched a new health and fitness class which is essentially a bunch of people taking a nap for 45 minutes. The fitness group was spurred to launch the napercise class after research revealed 86 per cent of parents said they were fatigued. The class is therefore predominantly aimed at parents but you actually do not have to have children to take part

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Tobacco and alcohol companies could win more easily in court cases such as the recent battle over plain cigarette packaging if the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights is abandoned, a barrister and public health professor have said.

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A major new study into the side effects of the cholesterol-lowering medicine suggests common symptoms such as muscle pain and weakness are not caused by the drugs themselves

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New research has found that babies born to fathers under the age of 25 or over 51 are at higher risk of developing autism and other social disorders. The study, conducted by the Seaver Autism Center for Research and Treatment at Mount Sinai, found that these children are actually more advanced than their peers as infants, but then fall behind by the time they hit their teenage years.

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Commuters who swap their car or bus pass for a bike could cut their risk of developing heart disease and cancer by almost half, new research suggests but campaigners have warned there is still an urgent need to improve road conditions for cyclists. Cycling to work is linked to a lower risk of developing cancer by 45 per cent and cardiovascular disease by 46 per cent, according to a study of a quarter of a million people. Walking to work also brought health benefits, the University of Glasgow researchers found, but not to the same degree as cycling.

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Ketamine helps patients with severe depression when nothing else works doctors say

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Scientists conducted the research on 71 car crash victims as they were waiting for treatment at one hospitals accident and emergency department. They asked half of the patients to briefly recall the incident and then play the classic computer game, the others were given a written activity to complete. The researchers, from Karolinska Institute in Sweden and the University of Oxford, found that the patients who had played Tetris reported fewer intrusive memories, commonly known as flashbacks, in the week that followed

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Major measles outbreaks are spreading across Europe despite the availability of a safe, effective vaccine, the World Health Organisation has warned. Anti-vaccine movements are believed to have contributed to low rates of immunisation against the highly contagious disease in countries such as Italy and Romania, which have both seen a recent spike in infections. Zsuzsanna Jakab, the WHOs regional director for Europe, said it was of particular concern that measles cases are climbing in Europe when they had been dropping for years

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Vaping has been given an emphatic thumbs up by health experts after the first long-term study of its effects in ex-smokers. After six months, people who switched from real to e-cigarettes had far fewer toxins and cancer-causing substances in their bodies than continual smokers, scientists found

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Millions of people are putting themselves at risk by cooking their rice incorrectly, scientists have warned. Recent experiments show a common method of cooking rice simply boiling it in a pan until the water has steamed out can expose those who eat it to traces of the poison arsenic, which contaminates rice while it is growing as a result of industrial toxins and pesticides

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An injectable contraceptive gel that acts as a reversible vasectomy is a step closer to being offered to men following successful trials on monkeys. Vasalgel is injected into the vas deferens, the small duct between the testicles and the urethra. It has so far been found to prevent 100 per cent of conceptions

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Women who work at night or do irregular shifts may experience a decline in fertility, a new study has found. Shift and night workers had fewer eggs capable of developing into healthy embryos than those who work regular daytime hours, according to researchers at Harvard University

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A major pressure group has issued a fresh warning about perilously high amounts of sugar in breakfast cereals, specifically those designed for children, and has said that levels have barely been cut at all in the last two and a half decades

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Scientists have made a monumental leap forward in the treatment of pancreatic cancer after discovering using two drugs together dramatically improved patients chances of living more than five years after diagnosis.

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The Japanese government has announced measures to limit the amount of overtime employees can do in an attempt to stop people literally working themselves to death. A fifth of Japans workforce are at risk of death by overwork, known as karoshi, as they work more than 80 hours of overtime each month, according to a government survey.

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The Food Standards Agency (FSA) has issued a public warning over the risks of acrylamide - a chemical compound that forms in some foods when they are cooked at high temperatures (above 120C).

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Cervical screening tests are a vital method of preventing cancer through the detection and treatment of abnormalities in the cervix, but new research shows that the number of women using this service has dropped to a 19 year low.

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The ConversationIt is well known that high blood pressure is a risk factor for dementia, so the results of a new study from the University of California, Irvine, are quite surprising. The researchers found that people who developed high blood pressure between the ages of 80-89 are less likely to develop Alzheimers disease (the most common form of dementia) over the next three years than people of the same age with normal blood pressure.

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The majority of antidepressants are ineffective and may be unsafe, for children and teenager with major depression, experts have warned. In what is the most comprehensive comparison of 14 commonly prescribed antidepressant drugs to date, researchers found that only one brand was more effective at relieving symptoms of depression than a placebo. Another popular drug, venlafaxine, was shown increase the risk users engaging in suicidal thoughts and attempts at suicide

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Scientists have taken a very positive step towards creating a universal vaccine against cancer that makes the bodys immune system attack tumours as if they were a virus, experts have said. Writing in Nature, an international team of researchers described how they had taken pieces of cancers genetic RNA code, put them into tiny nanoparticles of fat and then injected the mixture into the bloodstreams of three patients in the advanced stages of the disease. The patients' immune systems responded by producing "killer" T-cells designed to attack cancer. The vaccine was also found to be effective in fighting aggressively growing tumours in mice, according to researchers, who were led by Professor Ugur Sahin from Johannes Gutenberg University in Germany

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A compound found in green tea could improve the cognitive abilities of those with Downs syndrome, a team of scientists has discovered. Researchers found epigallocatechin gallate which is especially present in green tea but can also be found in white and black teas combined with cognitive stimulation, improved visual memory and led to more adaptive behaviour. Dr Rafael de la Torre, who led the year-long clinical trial along with Dr Mara Dierrssen, said: The results suggest that individuals who received treatment with the green tea compound, together with the cognitive stimulation protocol, had better scores in their cognitive capacities

Taking antidepressants during pregnancy could almost double the risk of a child being diagnosed with autism in the first years of life, a major study of nearly 150,000 pregnancies has suggested. Researchers have found a link between women in the later stages of pregnancy who were prescribed one of the most common types of antidepressant drugs, and autism diagnosed in children under seven years of age

Parents have been warned that giving children paracetamol-based medicines such as Calpol and Disprol too often could lead to serious health issues later in life. Leading paediatrician and professor of general paediatrics at University College London, Alastair Sutcliffe, said parents were overusing paracetamol to treat mild fevers. As a result, the risk of developing asthma, as well as kidney, heart and liver damage is heightened

Scientists have pinpointed how connections in the brain are destroyed in the early stages of Alzheimers disease, in a study which it is hoped will help in the development of treatments for the debilitating condition. At the early stages of the development of Alzheimers disease the synapses which connect the neurons in the brain are destroyed, according to researchers at the University of New South Wales, Australia. The synapses are vital for brain function, particularly learning and forming memories

The technology lets paralysed people feel actual sensations when touching objects including light taps on the mechanical finger and could be a huge breakthrough for prosthetics, according to its makers. The tool was used to let a 28-year-old man who has been paralysed for more than a decade. While prosthetics have previously been able to be controlled directly from the brain, it is the first time that signals have been successfully sent the other way

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Drug industry to challenge health service decision over medicine price limits - The Independent

West Africa’s fight to keep bad medicine off shelves – Medical Xpress

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July 11, 2017

As West Africa declares war on the market for expired and counterfeit medicines, start-ups are putting quality control in the hands of patients to stop them risking their lives trying to get well.

Not only can such drugs fail to treat the diseases they are bought to combat, experts say, but they may encourage resistance to antibiotics and even cause death as diseases continue to course unchecked through the body.

At an April meeting in Liberia, the 15-member Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) announced a region-wide investigation into the trafficking of expired and counterfeit drugs, and a public awareness campaign.

Traffickers in bad medicine prey on some of the world's poorest and most in need, who also face high costs for health care and often lack insurance, said Adama Kane, who founded the health start-up JokkoSante in Senegal to tackle the problem.

Perversely, piles of perfectly good medication go unused in Senegal, Kane noteda problem that JokkoSante tackles by organising the collection of unused drugs from people who are awarded points in exchange to obtain other medicines later.

Handing in asthma medication at an exchange point in a health centre in Passy, central Senegal, JokkoSante user Marie Gueye is one of those to benefit.

"My family and I no longer have problems getting medication. All we have to do is come here and collect the points," she told AFP.

Rewards

For Senegal's rural households, up to 73 percent of health-related expenses go on medication, according to JokkoSante research. Half the overall population has no health insurance coverage.

"Our app is used by hospitals, pharmacies and health centres," Kane said, adding it was still at the pilot stage with 1,500 users so far. People create an account and operate the points system all via their mobile phone.

For those too poor to buy drugs at all, JokkoSante has teamed up with large company sponsors, including phone operator Sonatel, who cover the cost of providing patients with free medicine.

Again, the system operates through a mobile app.

At Diamniadio children's hospital, near Senegal's capital, Dakar, Yacina Ba described the fear of coming to the end of the 50,000 CFA Francs ($85, 75 euros) she scraped together to buy treatment and medication for her sick six-month-old baby, finally begging a doctor for help.

"She had rashes all over her arms," Ba told AFP, explaining how the free treatment sponsorship scheme made all the difference.

'Most vulnerable people'

A health worker at the hospital, who asked not to be identified, conceded that a lack of specialists meant medics often over-prescribe medication to those able to pay.

This can lead to stockpiles of unused, expired drugs which may then fall into the wrong hands.

"Fake drugs are usually bought by the most vulnerable sections of society," said JokkoSante's Kane, who now oversees a small network of pharmacies using his platform, while the government considers a nationwide rollout.

The American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene estimated in 2015 that 122,000 children under five died due to taking poor-quality antimalarials in Sub-Saharan Africa, which, along with antibiotics as the two most in-demand, are the medicines most likely to be out-of-date or cheap copies.

China, India drive trafficking

Counterfeited drugs from China and India are awash in west African markets, according to the Paris-based International Institute of Research Against Counterfeit Medicines (IRACM).

And they are often indistinguishable from the genuine item, it warned.

A joint IRACM and World Customs Organization (WCO) seizure of medical supplies at 16 African ports late last year yielded no fewer than 113 million items of fake medication, 5,000 medical devices and even veterinary products.

Everything from fake cancer drugs to fake sutures for operations can be found in such hauls.

IRACM is working with MPs on drafting legislation to crack down on trafficking in west Africa, but two innovative companies have already taken the matter in hand.

Battling fakes

Sproxil, an anti-counterfeiting start-up established in 2009, works by attaching a scratch panel to drug packets.

Consumers can check their product is the real deal by sending an SMS verification code to the company, which confirms the authenticity.

In the last six years, the firm has had 50 million text messages from customers across Africa and India.

Ireti Oluwagbemi, its Nigeria-based spokeswoman, said fraudsters "target brands based on their market share", making household names the biggest targets.

There is plenty of money to be made. The global counterfeit drug market is currently worth around $85 billion, according to IRACM, and the proceeds drive organised crime.

Sproxil's clients include pharma giants such as GlaxoSmithKline and Novartis, firms which lose millions each year from pirated products carefully stamped with their branding.

"The consequences of ingesting these chemicals can range from discomfort to persistence of the disease it's supposed to be treating, to death," Oluwagbemi told AFP.

mPedigree, a Ghanaian start-up with a similar scratch card guarantee, has also been adopted as an industry-wide standard by the Pharmaceutical Society of Ghana, and records data on maps where fakes are appearing.

Explore further: Ivory Coast breaks up huge fake drugs market

2017 AFP

Ivory Coast authorities deployed dozens of police Wednesday to break up a fake drugs market in Abidjan estimated to supply nearly a third of all treatments sold in the country.

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West Africa's fight to keep bad medicine off shelves - Medical Xpress

Malaria drug protects fetuses from Zika infection – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

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Treatment prevents virus from crossing placenta to infect fetus, mouse study shows

Human placental cells (blue) infected with Zika virus (green) responded to the malaria drug chloroquine (left). The drug prevented the virus from growing, unlike the drug rapamycin, which prompted the virus to grow rapidly (right). Studying pregnant mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis found that Zika virus manipulates the bodys normal barrier to infection, and that hydroxychloroquine, a malaria drug related to chloroquine, interferes with this process, protecting the fetus from viral infection.

Devastating consequences of Zika virus infection are suffered in the womb, where the virus can cause brain damage and sometimes death.

Studying pregnant mice, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have learned that the Zika virus infects the fetus by manipulating the bodys normal barrier to infection. Moreover, they showed that a malaria drug that interferes with this process protects the fetus from viral infection. That drug already is approved for use in pregnant women for other medical purposes.

We found that the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine effectively blocks viral transmission to the fetus, said senior author Indira Mysorekar, PhD, an associate professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and of pathology and immunology. This drug already is used in pregnant women to treat malaria, and we suggest that it warrants evaluation in primates and women to diminish the risks of Zika infection and disease in developing fetuses.

The findings are published July 10 in The Journal of Experimental Medicine.

In late 2015, doctors in Brazil began to notice a surge in the number of babies born with microcephaly, or unusually small heads, an indicator of neurological damage. The epidemic soon was linked to the mosquito-borne Zika virus, which was spreading through the tropical parts of the Americas. Doctors advised pregnant women to avoid mosquito bites by wearing bug spray and long-sleeved clothing, but had little other advice to offer. There were, and still are, no drugs or vaccines approved for use in pregnant women to protect them or their fetuses from Zika infection.

The developing fetus is uniquely vulnerable to damage from infection, so the body mobilizes robust defenses to keep microbes from ever reaching the fetus in the first place. The placenta is the last line of defense. Mysorekar and others have shown that a process known as autophagy the cellular waste-disposal pathway by which cells grind up debris, unwanted organelles and invading microbes is an important part of the formidable placental barrier to infection. However, previous studies by Mysorekar and others have shown that Zika not only can invade the placenta, but multiply there.

To learn more about how Zika breaches the placenta, Mysorekar, postdoctoral fellow Bin Cao, PhD, and colleagues infected human placental cells with Zika virus. They found that exposure to the virus activated genes related to autophagy.

However, when the researchers treated the cells with drugs to ramp up the autophagy pathway, the number of cells infected with Zika virus increased. Drugs that suppressed autophagy resulted in fewer placental cells infected with Zika virus. In other words, the virus multiplied and spread more effectively when the researchers dialed up the barrier response, and performed more sluggishly when they dialed it down. The virus seemed to be doing a form of microbial martial arts, turning the bodys weapons to its own advantage.

Mysorekar and colleagues verified these findings using mice whose autophagy response was hobbled by low levels of a key autophagy protein. They infected two groups of pregnant mice with Zika: one in which the autophagy process was disrupted and the other in which it worked normally.

Five days after infection, the mothers with a weak autophagy response had about the same amount of virus in their bloodstreams as the mice with a normal response. However, in mice with a weak autophagy response, the researchers found 10 times fewer viruses in the placenta and the heads of the fetuses and less damage to the placentas.

It appears that Zika virus takes advantage of the autophagy process in the placenta to promote its survival and infection of placental cells, Cao said.

Since hydroxychloroquine suppresses the autophagy response, the researchers questioned whether it also could protect fetuses against Zika.

To find out, they repeated the mouse experiment using only mice with a normal autophagy response. Female mice at day nine of pregnancy were infected with Zika and then dosed with hydroxychloroquine or placebo every day for the next five days.

Following treatment, the researchers found significantly less virus in the fetuses and placentas from the mice that had received hydroxychloroquine. In addition, these placentas showed less damage and the fetuses regained normal growth. Both the untreated and the treated mothers had about the same amount of Zika virus in their bloodstreams, indicating that hydroxychloroquine was able to protect fetuses even when the virus was circulating through the mother.

Although hydroxychloroquine has been used safely in pregnant women for short periods of time, the researchers caution that further studies are needed before it can be used in pregnant women to fend off Zika. Pregnant women living in areas where Zika circulates may need to take the drug for the duration of their pregnancies, and the safety of hydroxychloroquine for long-term use is unknown.

We would urge caution but nevertheless feel our study provides new avenues for feasible therapeutic interventions, said Mysorekar, who is also co-director of the universitys Center for Reproductive Health Sciences. Our study suggests that an autophagy-based therapeutic intervention against Zika may be warranted in pregnant women infected with Zika virus.

Cao B, Parnell LA, Diamond MS, Mysorekar IU. Inhibition of autophagy limits vertical transmission of Zika virus in pregnant mice. The Journal of Experimental Medicine. July 10, 2017.

This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), grant number R01 HD091218; National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, grant numbers R01 AI073755 and R01 AI104972; the Burroughs Wellcome Fund through a Preventing Prematurity Initiative grant; and the March of Dimes, award number 21-FY13-28.

Washington University School of Medicines 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient-care institutions in the nation, currently ranked seventh in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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Malaria drug protects fetuses from Zika infection - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Sleep, Alzheimer’s link explained – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

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Poor sleep leads to increase in Alzheimer's proteins associated with cognitive decline

Research from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, and Stanford University shows that disrupting just one night of sleep in healthy, middle-aged adults causes an increase in a brain protein associated with Alzheimers disease. Further, a week of poor sleep leads to an increase in another brain protein that has been linked to brain damage in Alzheimers and other neurological diseases.

A good nights sleep refreshes body and mind, but a poor nights sleep can do just the opposite. A study from Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Radboud University Medical Centre in the Netherlands, and Stanford University has shown that disrupting just one night of sleep in healthy, middle-aged adults causes an increase in amyloid beta, a brain protein associated with Alzheimers disease. And a week of tossing and turning leads to an increase in another brain protein, tau, which has been linked to brain damage in Alzheimers and other neurological diseases.

We showed that poor sleep is associated with higher levels of two Alzheimers-associated proteins, said David M. Holtzman, MD, the Andrew B. and Gretchen P. Jones Professor, head of the Department of Neurology and the studys senior author. We think that perhaps chronic poor sleep during middle age may increase the risk of Alzheimers later in life.

These findings, published July 10 in the journal Brain, may help explain why poor sleep has been associated with the development of dementias such as Alzheimers.

More than 5 million Americans are living with Alzheimers disease, which is characterized by gradual memory loss and cognitive decline. The brains of people with Alzheimers are dotted with plaques of amyloid beta protein and tangles of tau protein, which together cause brain tissue to atrophy and die. There are no therapies that have been proven to prevent, slow or reverse the course of the disease.

Previous studies by Holtzman, co-first author Yo-El Ju, MD, an assistant professor of neurology, and others have shown that poor sleep increases the risk of cognitive problems. People with sleep apnea, for example, a condition in which people repeatedly stop breathing at night, are at risk for developing mild cognitive impairment an average of 10 years earlier than people without the sleep disorder. Mild cognitive impairment is an early warning sign for Alzheimers disease.

But it wasnt clear how poor sleep damages the brain. To find out, the researchers Holtzman; Ju; co-first author and graduate student Sharon Ooms of Radboud; Jurgen Claassen, MD, PhD, of Radboud; Emmanuel Mignot, MD, PhD, of Stanford; and colleagues studied 17 healthy adults ages 35 to 65 with no sleep problems or cognitive impairments. Each participant wore an activity monitor on the wrist for up to two weeks that measured how much time they spent sleeping each night.

After five or more successive nights of wearing the monitor, each participant came to the School of Medicine to spend a night in a specially designed sleep room. The room is dark, soundproof, climate-controlled and just big enough for one; a perfect place for sleeping, even as the participants wore headphones over the ears and electrodes on the scalp to monitor brain waves.

Half the participants were randomly assigned to have their sleep disrupted during the night they spent in the sleep room. Every time their brain signals settled into the slow-wave pattern characteristic of deep, dreamless sleep, the researchers sent a series of beeps through the headphones, gradually getting louder, until the participants slow-wave patterns dissipated and they entered shallower sleep.

The next morning, the participants who had been beeped out of slow-wave sleep reported feeling tired and unrefreshed, even though they had slept just as long as usual and rarely recalled being awakened during the night. Each underwent a spinal tap so the researchers could measure the levels of amyloid beta and tau in the fluid surrounding the brain and spinal cord.

A month or more later, the process was repeated, except that those who had their sleep disrupted the first time were allowed to sleep through the night undisturbed, and those who had slept uninterrupted the first time were disturbed by beeps when they began to enter slow-wave sleep.

The researchers compared each participants amyloid beta and tau levels after the disrupted night to the levels after the uninterrupted night, and found a 10 percent increase in amyloid beta levels after a single night of interrupted sleep, but no corresponding increase in tau levels. However, participants whose activity monitors showed they had slept poorly at home for the week before the spinal tap showed a spike in levels of tau.

We were not surprised to find that tau levels didnt budge after just one night of disrupted sleep while amyloid levels did, because amyloid levels normally change more quickly than tau levels, Ju said. But we could see, when the participants had several bad nights in a row at home, that their tau levels had risen.

Slow-wave sleep is the deep sleep that people need to wake up feeling rested. Sleep apnea disrupts slow-wave sleep, so people with the disorder often wake up feeling unrefreshed, even after a full eight hours of shut-eye.

Slow-wave sleep is also the time when neurons rest and the brain clears away the molecular byproducts of mental activity that accumulate during the day, when the brain is busily thinking and working.

Ju thinks it is unlikely that a single night or even a week of poor sleep, miserable though it may be, has much effect on overall risk of developing Alzheimers disease. Amyloid beta and tau levels probably go back down the next time the person has a good nights sleep, she said.

The main concern is people who have chronic sleep problems, Ju said. I think that may lead to chronically elevated amyloid levels, which animal studies have shown lead to increased risk of amyloid plaques and Alzheimers.

Ju emphasized that her study was not designed to determine whether sleeping more or sleeping better reduce risk of Alzheimers but, she said, neither can hurt.

Many, many Americans are chronically sleep-deprived, and it negatively affects their health in many ways, Ju said. At this point, we cant say whether improving sleep will reduce your risk of developing Alzheimers. All we can really say is that bad sleep increases levels of some proteins that are associated with Alzheimers disease. But a good nights sleep is something you want to be striving for anyway.

Shown are brain waves during slow-wave sleep, measured as a study participant slept.

Ju Y-E, Ooms SJ, Sutphen C, Macauley SL, Zangrilli M, Jerome G, Fagan AM, Mignot E, Zempel JM, Claassen JAHR, Holtzman DM. Slow wave sleep disruption increases cerebrospinal fluid amyloid-beta levels. Brain. July 10, 2017.

This study was funded by the National Institutes of Health, grant numbers K23-NS089922, UL1RR024992 Sub-Award KL2-TR000450, P01NS074969, P01-AG026276, P01-NS074969, and P01-AG03991; the J.P.B Foundation; Alzheimer Nederland, grant number 15040; and the Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences, grant number UL1TR000448, from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences of the National Institutes of Health.

Washington University School of Medicines 2,100 employed and volunteer faculty physicians also are the medical staff of Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals. The School of Medicine is one of the leading medical research, teaching and patient-care institutions in the nation, currently ranked seventh in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. Through its affiliations with Barnes-Jewish and St. Louis Childrens hospitals, the School of Medicine is linked to BJC HealthCare.

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Sleep, Alzheimer's link explained - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Trump’s CDC Pick Peddled ‘Anti-Aging’ Medicine to Her Gynecologic Patients – New York Magazine

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Brenda Fitzgerald. Photo: Branden Camp/AP

On first glance, the most startling thing about Donald Trumps pick to lead the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention was its propriety: Brenda Fitzgerald is a trained obstetrician-gynecologist who worked for three decades in private practice before becoming Georgias public health commissioner in 2011. In her time in the post, Fitzgerald won the respect of her peers in other states, and they recently elected her president of the nonprofit group that represents Americas state and territorial public-health agencies. Her appointment was praised by Barack Obamas former CDC director Tom Frieden.

Fizgerald is a staunch believer in the mission of her agency, and has said that the private sector is incapable of performing its core functions. While she has longstanding ties to the Republican Party having twice run unsuccessfully for Congress she has proven willing to subordinate conservative orthodoxy to her convictions as a medical professional: In her first House run, Fitzgerald argued that decisions about abortion should be left to women and their doctors.

Finally, as the first female OB/GYN ever tapped to run the CDC, Fitzgerald brings a unique (and historically marginalized) perspective with her to the federal government.

All this makes her a bizarre addition to the Trump cabinet. Thus far, the president has evinced a deep commitment to stocking his administrations domestic agencies with appointees who are eithercomically unqualified for their assignments (Ben Carson), hostile to the very purpose of the department theyre meant to direct (Scott Pruitt, Betsy DeVos), or rich, white men who bring ethical baggage and/or flagrant conflicts of interest to their posts (Tom Price, Rex Tillerson, Wilbur Ross, Gary Cohn, etc.).

But fear not the fundamental laws of our political universe have not been rewritten. Once you read this dispatch from Forbess Rita Rubin, everything will fall back into place:

Dr. Brenda Fitzgerald, appointed Friday as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is a board-certified obstetrician/gynecologist who saw patients for 30 years in private practice.

Unlike any OB/GYN I know, Fitzgerald treated men as well as women. Thats because besides being board-certified in obstetrics and gynecology, she is a fellow in anti-aging medicine.

Among her credentialslisted on [her gynecological practices] website: board certification in Anti-Aging and Regenerative Medicine by theAmerican Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine. However, the American Board of Medical Specialties, made up of the specialty boards that certify physicians,doesnt recognize the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine(A4M), which promotes the use of intravenous nutritional therapy, bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) and pellet therapy, in which tiny pellets that contain hormones are placed under the skin.

[B]ioridiculous is how Dr. Nanette Santoro, chair of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Colorado School of Medicine, described the use of bio-identical hormones in a recent guest post on the North American Menopause Societys MenoPause blog. Santoro described a patient whose hair had fallen out because she had been rubbing testosterone cream into her skin every day and overdosed. Another patient, age 52, had estrogen levels higher than when she was pregnant, due to estrogen pellets that had been inserted under her skin months earlier.

Now, a snake-oil saleswoman fits perfectly into the Trump cabinet. The president and secretary of Housing and Urban Development have both dabbled in peddling scientifically dubious supplements, while the secretary of Education owes her fortune to one of the most successful pyramid schemes in world history.

Fitzgerald wasnt shy about her antiaging expertise, touting that rsum item in her bio on the Georgia Department of Public Health website. Further, her private practices old homepage included the following frequently asked questions.

What is anti-aging medicine?

It is a new specialty of medicine that studies the changes that occur in all of us as we age. It is dedicated to treating the cause of problems, not just the symptoms.

How do I know I am taking the right supplements?

We can now measure the vitamins, antioxidants, necessary fats and proteins in your cells with a simple blood test. If you like the supplements you are taking (Juice Plus, for example), we can tell you what you need to add.

Can you treat my husband?

I have taken additional training in male hormones so that I may treat male hormone deficiencies as well as female deficiencies.

Why did you become interested in anti-aging medicine?

I got older! The life expectancy for women in 1900 was 48. The majority of women never reached the hormone depleted state of menopause just 100 years ago. Now most of us can expect to live half of our lives without natural optimal hormone production.

The Food and Drug Administration has warned that it has no evidence that the bio-identical hormones central to anti-aging medicine are safer or more effective than other hormone products.

All that said, even with her scientifically dubious side-hustle, Fitzgerald is still among the most defensible appointments Trump has made. Whatever her unorthodox views on the virtues of antiaging hormone therapy, she does have a significant body of experience in managing public health. It seems likely that the former will have more bearing on her capacity to combat the threat that Ebola, Zika, antibiotic-resistant bacteria, and other infectious diseases pose to the country and globe.

Which is to say: At least we arent relying on Ben Carson to coordinate the federal governments response to the next pandemic.

More concerning than Trumps appointment of Fitzgerald is his administrations proposal to cut the CDCs budget by $1.2 billion.

Heres hoping that bubonic plague doesnt emerge from melting Siberian ice anytime soon.

The first rule of Tautology Club is the first rule of Tautology Club.

Protesters promised to greet him if he made his official state visit.

An unedited Q&A with the prominent climatologist, who took issue with New Yorks latest cover story for being overly doomist.

The Kremlin-linked lawyer who met with Donald Trump Jr. claims that he was desperate for dirt on Clinton but she had none to give.

Hua Haifeng was investigating factories where the First Daughters shoes were made before his arrest.

In their desire to see Trump banished, theyve embraced some unusual bedfellows, like Benjamin Wittes.

It involves a beauty pageant, a Russian pop star, and Trumps decades-old dream of building in Moscow.

Sources say before meeting with a Kremlin-connected lawyer, he was told the dirt she had on Hillary Clinton was part of a larger Russian effort.

The pro-Trump local-news giant has tripled the number of Boris Epshteyn segments that all its affiliates must air each week.

He could tap McConnells favorite Luther Strange or Hannitys favorite Mo Brooks. Theocrat Roy Moores in the mix, too.

Alan Futerfas is a criminal attorney whos worked with some high-profile defendants.

The rookie right-fielder doesnt just hit a lot of home runs, he hits them a long way.

Go ahead and put this on loop.

After that deal fell through, the presidents son-in-law pushed for the U.S. to support the Saudis blockade of Qatar.

Maybe its not a coincidence that he was chosen by the party that almost put Sarah Palin in the White House.

Were going to have to do something that we probably never dreamed wed do.

The brutal, months-long offensive has finally liberated Iraqs second-largest city after three years of ISIS control.

Before going into public health, Brenda Fitzgerald sold (scientifically dubious) anti-aging hormone treatments to patients.

Lots of crowds and some new routes for regional commuters but things have been worse.

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Trump's CDC Pick Peddled 'Anti-Aging' Medicine to Her Gynecologic Patients - New York Magazine

County coaches hit the links for annual Sports Medicine South and Gwinnett Touchdown Club Fellowship Golf … – Gwinnett Prep Sports

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SNELLVILLE The Georgia High School Associations summer dead period ended Monday, yet dozens of Gwinnett County football coaches waited one more day before returning to summer workouts.

Thats because the eighth-annual Sports Medicine South and Gwinnett Touchdown Club Fellowship Golf Tournament took place Monday at Summit Chase Country Club.

The tournament featured 27 foursomes made up of four coaches from the majority of Gwinnett schools, a group of retired Gwinnett coaches (Dave Hunter, Kevin Maloof, Tally Johnson and Charlie Jordan) and a handful of tournament corporate sponsors with scoring at each hole mercifully capped at par to keep up the pace of play.

The money raised by the annual event goes toward the Linda Jones $1,000 scholarships handed out to each school in December at the Rivalries of Gwinnett All-Star Game. In total, Sports Medicine Souths event has now given away over $150,000 in scholarships to local football players, according to founder Dr. Gary Levengood.

Monday also served as an opportunity for new South Gwinnett head coach Steve Davenport to get acquainted with his county peers. Davenport is one of eight new head coaches in Gwinnett this fall, but one of the few who came from outside the county lines without any previous Gwinnett ties.

A lot of the guys I already knew, but the camaraderie was outstanding, Davenport said. Obviously you like to get out and play a little bit of golf, but the camaraderie and being amongst your fellow coaches is really special. Its an opportunity to meet each other and talk to each other outside of competition with each other. Its outstanding.

Im excited about the opportunity to be in Gwinnett. I understand the competitive nature that Ive entered, but apart form all of that, Im really excited about being a part of a group of guys that really care for, not only the game of football, but care for each other as well.

The true winners of the tournament each year are determined not by the scorecards, but during the luncheon raffle once play is finished.

Levengood and Sports Medicine South gave away prizes to the coaches that included iPads, hunting and fishing trips and Atlanta Braves tickets. Only head coaches were up for this years top prizes of a big screen 4K television and a Big Green Egg grill.

Parkview head coach Eric Godfree took home the TV for the second straight year, while Meadowcreeks Jason Carrera won the Big Green Egg.

Now teams will turn their attention to something more than just door prizes with the season only a month away.

This is the exciting time now, Davenport said. Obviously weve got to get prepared and everybody starts the season with tremendous expectations. It was good to get away, but Im looking forward to getting back with the guys.

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County coaches hit the links for annual Sports Medicine South and Gwinnett Touchdown Club Fellowship Golf ... - Gwinnett Prep Sports

Charlie Gard and the Age of Do Harm Medicine – National Catholic Register (blog)

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Blogs | Jul. 11, 2017

An interview with Wesley J. Smith of the Discovery Institutes Center on Human Exceptionalism.

For most parents, the Charlie Gard casethe 11-month-old baby in the U.K. who has been refused experimental treatment that could prolong his lifeis cut and dry. Fit parents are the ones to make informed decisions regarding their childs health. Watching what is unfolding with Charlie and his parents has provoked a number of questions about medical kidnapping, doctors refusing care, parental rights, and why Charlie cant seek treatment elsewhere or go home to die in the peace of his home?

To answer these questions, I consulted via phone with the author of Culture of Death: The Age of Do Harm Medicine,Wesley J. Smith, who is a lawyer and a senior fellow at the Discovery Institutes Center on Human Exceptionalism and a consultant to the Patients Rights Council.

Why wouldnt you call what is happening to Charlie Gard a medical kidnapping considering the hospital wont let his parents transfer or take him home to die?

I think that the language is too provocative. This is a very sensitive thing. I use strong language, but I dont want to use overly provocative language. Kidnapping is a crime; this is not a crime. In fact, its more disturbing because it appears to be done under the rule of law.

I call [what happened to Charlie] a bioethical aggression, By which I mean that the value beliefs of mainstream Bioethics and the medical intelligentsia are being imposed on people who have a more traditional sanctity of life value system. The quality of life ethic is now aggressive. Its not just these doctors saying, This is against my ethics to keep this baby alive because I dont think this is right for the baby. Theyre saying that the parents dont have a right to make a different choice, and thats an aggressive act. It is expanding the power of Bioethics, doctors, and courts, into areas of intimate decision making and family life where they do not belong

Why do you think the hospital wont let Charlie have treatment elsewhere?

Disputes between doctors and families about treatment options are not unusual and occasionally they end up in court. Whatisunusual in this case is that Charlies parents are not being allowed to transfer his care to other doctors in a different hospital or to take the child home.

Its very disturbing these parents are being deprived of fundamental parental rights. I understand that in the UK the law is different. My understanding is that the best interests of the child are supposed to come first in every circumstance, particularly in the medical context. that gives doctors more power than our laws here. But when you have this kind of dispute about whats in the best interest of this little babywhich is a subject questionabsent a finding that the parents are unsuited to make decisions, it seems to me thattheyshould have the right to make this kind of ultimately decision about their own child. As the people most intimately involved with Charlie and as his parents, they should have the authority over the childnot hospital and not the court.

Until the courts rule that someone else should be Charlies decision maker, I dont understand how a transfer to different doctors or his discharge home can be stopped. There are two conflicting moral values at work here. The mainstream view in Bioethics has discarded the sanctity of human life. They judge value based on a quality of life ethic, and if the quality of life is too low, the predominate view is that it in the best interestsand in some cases, of societyfor the very ill or disabled patient to die.

Charlies parents obviously disagree; that until every option for care has been exhausted, it is in the best interests for Charlie to be alive. I think they said, As long as he is fighting, we will fight.

The quality of life ethic ethic turns medicine on its head because the quintessentialpurpose of medicine has been to help keep people alivewhen thats what they want. under the Bioethics view, that may not be true. Indeed, in this case life itself is being declared a harm to Charlie because he is so ill. That is why we are beginning to see more cases involving injustices such as this.

Why do you think the hospital wont let the Charlie go home to die?

Because they think that its in Charlies best interest to diethey believe that. The doctors believe that by taking him, the parents are going to cause needless suffering for the child.

I think its [also] an issue of control and whose values are to rule in these very difficult cases. What the courts are saying is that doctors values should overrule the parents. I want to remind you that this is the United Kingdom where they may have different laws than here in the United States.

Its a slippery slope though. If they can do this to Charlie, then whos next?

Thats the whole problem with what I call futile care,which is a bioethics view that permits doctors to refuse wantedemphasize wantedlife extending treatment that the patient or his family wants. And this bioethics meme also brings in the question of costs. A lot of this is not only about the quality of life; its about saving resources. Futile care impositions of the kind being imposed on Charlie dont just involve sick babies, but also to varying degrees to very ill, disabled, and elderly people.

Part of the issue is saving resources. [] I once asked a futile care supporter, Youre not going to save enough money in these kinds of futile cases to really make a dent. What comes next? This personthis is in my bookCulture of Deathresponded, Then we should have the right to refuse marginally beneficial care. Then I said, Give me an example. He said, An 80-year-old woman who wants a mammogram.

Once the principal is established that doctors can refuse wanted efficacious interventions based ontheirvalues or the cost of care, its going to spread from these very difficult end of life cases into more commonplace circumstances.

Do you think hospitals have too much power over patientseven in United States?

In some places, yes. For example, Texas has a law that allows a hospital bioethics committee to determine that wanted life-extending treatment should be withdrawn. Once that determination has been made, the patient or family have only 10 days to find an alternative source of care before the treatment will be stopped.

And thats a real problem because it introduces coercion into healthcare. It subverts trust. These bioethics committees can serve a tremendously important function in helping mediate disputes and helping people work through difficult conundrums, but they should never be made quasi-judicial bodies with decision-making power. Thats not their job. It can lead to tremendous injustices and denies people due process of law.

I hope legislatures will pass laws limiting medical futility or futile care, and ensure that such disputes that do occur should be within the court systemwith the right of appeal, with the right of publicity, with the right of cross-examination, and so forth. The burden of proof should be on the hospital and doctors who want to interfere with family decision making and want to deny treatment that is working.

Remember, in futile care disputes, treatments are not being taken away because they dont work; theyre being taken away because theydowork. The life support is being removed from Charlie precisely because its keeping him alive. Its actually not futile because its providing the result that his parents want and perceive as a benefit. In a sense, what is being declared futile is the patient. Thats what so dangerous here. You are talking about efficacious treatmentthat at one time would have been thought of as not electivethat is going to be removed because it works. That is a tremendously perilous line to cross. Bluntly stated, the attitude is that the patients life is futile because its not worth living based on pain and suffering, the costs of care, or whatever it might be.

What if the care is against the doctors ethics?

When these disputes occurand i am not saying they cant be in good faiththe life-sustaining treatments should be maintained as long as it takes for another caregiver to be found. I am certainly not against a doctor saying, Look, this is against my ethics; I think that we are drawing this out in a way that is unduly burdensome to the patient, and I cant sleep at night because I think this person is suffering. The doctor shouldnt be able to say, So, I am stopping care. Instead, the doctor should say, Please find another doctor to take over this case. The care should be maintained until another doctor is found. This is not elective treatment.

And this is where bioethics committees, chaplains, and others can help find common ground between families, patients, and doctors who are in disagreement. For example, there might be an agreement to give a patient more time to improve before deciding to remove life support. Or, an agreement can be reached to, say, not provide antibiotics to treat an infection, but to maintain life support.

Whats really ironic is some of the same bioethicists who say choice and autonomy should rule on assisted suicide, then say that choice has its limits when it comes to wanted treatment that doctors dont want to provide because it violates their values. Well, their values are not the issue here.

Were you disturbed by what the letter Vatican initially put out?

Yes, I am not Catholic, but I understand and deeply respect Catholic moral teaching. [] The idea of deciding that continuing treatment will cause undue burden or suffering that doesnt match the benefitthats part of Catholic moral teaching. But the people who possess the decision-makingare the patients and thefamily, not doctors and government. What I found disturbing about that was they were taking that very valuable Catholic moral teaching and expanding into an area whereother peopleget to make that choice. If its a religious doctrine, which is when the Vatican releases a statement; its a religious choice. That statement at least implied that religious choices about the extent of medical treatments can be made by the doctors; thats not what the doctors are there for. I was very happy that Pope Francis said, Wait a minute.

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Charlie Gard and the Age of Do Harm Medicine - National Catholic Register (blog)

The Future of Manufacturing a Medicine in America – Morning Consult

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Whenever biopharmaceutical experts and policymakers discuss medical innovation, they seem to focus only on drug discovery and development and access. While these aspects of innovation are critical to ensuring patients have safe and effective treatments, they dont provide a complete picture of the biopharmaceutical innovation model and the total investment needed to get the right medicine to the right patient at the right time. Whats missing? An understanding of the role of biopharmaceutical manufacturing and the need for a supportive policy environment in order to ensure the United States maintains its place as the leader in discovering, developing and delivering innovative medicines.

In the past decade, manufacturing has become an even more complex element of the biopharmaceutical innovation ecosystem as there have been several paradigm shifts in clinical treatments and pharmacology that make drug manufacturing significantly more challenging. First, therapeutic innovations previously developed to treat millions of patients the so-called blockbuster medicines have been replaced by the precision medicine model. This model integrates genetic information to help researchers understand which particular subgroup of patients will most likely benefit from a specific treatment. This scientific progress is leading to the development of medicines targeted for much smaller patient populations. Thus, biopharmaceutical companies now need to manufacture smaller batches and incorporate shorter production lines into their manufacturing process, which means they need to be more nimble and think beyond just efficiency to ensure production levels match the new innovative landscape in their manufacturing practices.

Second, diseases today are more often managed with medicines administered through intricate delivery systems. Complex therapies deliver important drugs directly to the site of the disease by bypassing traditional modes of delivery through oral intake. So now manufacturers have to think about how to make both the delivery device as well as the medicine.

Third, certain diseases are managed or prevented through biologics or vaccines. Unlike synthesized medicines which are made by combining specific chemical ingredients in a laboratory environment, these therapies are derived from living cell lines which cannot be fully characterized by traditional methods in a lab. For biologics and vaccines, the final product is influenced by the manufacturing process as the product is the process. An example of a therapy that requires this type of manufacturing complexity is a breakthrough vaccine for pneumococcal diseases. You may wonder what does it take to manufacture a single dose of that vaccine? It takes no less than 2.5 years, the collaboration of 1,700 researchers, engineers and other manufacturing experts, more than 400 raw materials and 678 quality tests in 581 steps to produce a single dose. Any minute deficiency in this long and laborious manufacturing process and/or ingredient integrity could possibly lead to failure.

Beyond better health, the benefit of manufacturing excellence is also captured in the economic value it generates for local communities in states all across the country. In the United States alone, there are close to 300,000 biopharmaceutical manufacturing jobs, with an average salary of close to $100,000 annually. This average salary is in the top 2 percent of all manufacturing jobs in the U.S. Pfizer currently has 17 manufacturing sites in 11 states and Puerto Rico that employ more than 12,000 people, and has invested $2 billion in these sites over the past five years. Estimates put Pfizers contribution to both direct and indirect jobs in the U.S. at 51,000.

The Pfizer facilities are not only responsible for manufacturing safe and innovative medicines, but some of the sites also produce active product ingredients. The API is the actual substance or raw material used to produce the medicine that patients consume. In fact, the Pfizer facility in Kalamazoo, Mich., is so cost-efficient that it manufactures APIs for methylprednisolone that Pfizer then sells to manufacturers in China and India, something not commonly observed in other traditional manufacturing sectors.

To make biopharmaceutical manufacturing a centerpiece of U.S. economic growth, policymakers need to address a few policy hurdles. First, they need to reform the U.S. tax code to encourage companies to further invest in U.S. pharmaceutical manufacturing. Next, the Food and Drug Administration ought to forge a proactive partnership with industry to develop practical regulatory solutions to advance and encourage domestic biopharmaceutical manufacturing expertise while protecting world-class quality control and good manufacturing processes. Lastly, the federal government needs to ensure appropriate and timely implementation of Section 3016 of the 21st Century Cures Act, which allows the FDA to issue grants to further the study of continuous manufacturing of drugs and biologics.

In an effort to get important medicines to patients in need, biopharmaceutical companies discover, develop, manage access and manufacture medicines. The innovation cycle is not complete if a company is not able to appropriately navigate the complicated yet crucial manufacturing process. A pro-active, supportive policy environment is the linchpin to ensuring the United States remains at the forefront of biopharmaceutical innovation and manufacturing.

Robert Popovian is the vice president of Pfizer U.S. Government Relations. He has two decades of experience in the biopharmaceutical health care industry and has published and presented extensively on the impact of pharmaceuticals and health care policies on health care costs and clinical outcomes.

Morning Consult welcomes op-ed submissions on policy, politics and business strategy in our coverage areas. Updated submission guidelines can be foundhere.

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The Future of Manufacturing a Medicine in America - Morning Consult

Medical school develops pedestrian and driver safety program – Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

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July 11, 2017

A comprehensive pedestrian and driver safety program is being developed by the Operations and Facilities Management Department at Washington University School of Medicine.

The program, initiated in the spring of 2017, will address pedestrian and vehicular safety needs on campus; provide education on the topic; and encourage more walking.

In preparation for the program, the school completed a campus mobility plan in 2015, and a traffic and safety consultant completed a crosswalk study this summer that focused on Taylor, Duncan, McKinley and Scott avenues. As a result of the campus mobility plan, the pedestrian link was added to support pedestrian flow and remove pedestrian traffic from Taylor Avenue.

The school next plans to hire a firm to design improvements for traffic areas that present special challenges. Some of these solutions might include adding speed bumps, raised crosswalks, new signage and new fencing.

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Medical school develops pedestrian and driver safety program - Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis

Liberty Bridge contractor to pay $5.8 million for fire repair costs – Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

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Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Liberty Bridge contractor to pay $5.8 million for fire repair costs
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
But the contractor will avoid more than $3 million in penalties for the bridge being closed for 24 days by changing its work schedule to eliminate other traffic restrictions during the project, including a two-week period this summer when traffic would ...

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Liberty Bridge contractor to pay $5.8 million for fire repair costs - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Tata Steel Sells UK Pipe Mills to Liberty House – New York Times

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"The sale is also an important step towards developing a more sustainable future for the rest of our UK business."

In February, Tata signed a 100 million pound deal to sell its speciality steel business to Liberty House, saving 1,700 jobs, mostly in South Yorkshire, northern England.

Under Tuesday's deal, Tata retained ownership of a tube mill in Hartlepool that is supplied with steel coils from the European steel assets that it wants to retain and merge with Thyssenkrupp.

Tata, whose UK business is centred on the steelworks in Port Talbot, Wales, said it will invest 1 million pounds in the Hartlepool tube mill, which employs 270 people.

Privately-owned Liberty, which plans to list some of its businesses in 2018, has been snapping up distressed steel assets in Britain and around the world, including in the United States and Australia.

"This step will inspire investments not only in Hartlepool but also in our upstream plate mill at Dalzell (Scotland), and potentially ... at Whyalla in Australia in due course, to give us a fully-integrated world class capability to supply pipeline projects," Liberty's Executive Chairman Sanjeev Gupta.

The Hartlepool pipe mills make heavy-duty steel pipe for the oil and gas sector.

Liberty, which operates together with energy and commodities business SIMEC under the $9.4 billion Gupta Family Group (GFG) Alliance, said it is in talks to secure a support package to recruit more staff for the pipe mills business.

Gupta's Liberty House is one of the largest industrial employers in the UK with a workforce of nearly 5,000 people. Following Tuesday's deal, Tata remains the largest UK steelmaker with a workforce of 8,500 people.

The UK steel sector is emerging from a crisis that saw some 5,000 jobs, a fifth of the workforce, axed in 2015/16. It is estimated that for every steel job saved, four jobs are retained in related industries.

Gupta first hit the headlines last year when he offered to rescue all the distressed UK steel plants owned by Tata, but the Indian group eventually decided against selling its entire UK business in favour of a tie-up with Thyssenkrupp.

(Editing by David Evans)

Originally posted here:

Tata Steel Sells UK Pipe Mills to Liberty House - New York Times

Tuesday’s Houston Matters: Defining Religious Liberty, And The City’s Business Plan Competition (July 11, 2017) – Houston Public Media

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What exactly does religious liberty mean both in the eyes of the law and in practice? Houston Matters talks it over with a law professor and some religious leaders.

Houston Matters gets underway today at noon on 88.7FM or listen online. Join the discussion at 713-440-8870,talk@houstonmatters.orgor @HoustonMatters.

Religious liberty is one of many rights enumerated in the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, though it never seems quite so simple as make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or [prohibit] the free exercise thereof. What exactly does religious liberty mean from a legal standpoint and how has it been interpreted by courts?To discuss that, we talk with Josh Blackman from South Texas College of Law Houston. Then, to get some perspectives from actual religious leaders on what religious liberty means to them, we talk with Rev. Laura Mayo of Covenant Church, and Mustafaa Carroll, with theCouncil of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Also this hour, we learn more about Liftoff Houston, a business plan competition the City of Houston is holding,a new book called Mexican American Baseball in Houston and Southeast Texas, andMichael Hagerty visits atraveling exhibit on the subject of the death penalty.

Audio from todays show will available after 3 p.m. CT.We also offer a free daily, downloadable podcast here, on iTunes, Stitcher and various other podcasting apps.

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Tuesday's Houston Matters: Defining Religious Liberty, And The City's Business Plan Competition (July 11, 2017) - Houston Public Media

Top-ranked Assumption ends West Liberty’s postseason run – Muscatine Journal

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DAVENPORT, Iowa All Dave Reynolds could do was tip his cap.

After home postseason wins over Davis County and West Burlington, the West Liberty softball team ran into a giant buzzsaw Monday night.

Class 3A top-ranked Davenport Assumption pieced together 17 hits and limited West Liberty to just three in a 10-0 regional final victory at the St. Vincent Athletic Complex.

"That is a great team," West Liberty's head coach said. "They clearly had the better bats, better pitching and better defense. We've got to aspire to be a team like that."

West Liberty (22-14) hung around for the first couple of innings. In fact, Haylee Lehman led off with a double.

Lehman, though, was stranded there after Nicole Timmons recorded back-to-back strikeouts and a ground out.

"It would have been big if we had gotten a run early to put pressure on them," Lehman said.

Lehman had two of West Liberty's three hits, both coming off Timmons.

"I just went up with confidence and I knew she threw a rise ball," Lehman said. "You've either got to stay in the back of the box and lay off or hit it in the front of the box. I saw it coming early, kept my hands high and tried to stay on top of the ball."

West Liberty just couldn't string anything else together against Timmons or reliever Hannah Kelley. The Comets struck out 14 times.

"We don't see many riseballs and quality changeups like that," Reynolds said. "They just play against better teams all season long in that 5A conference."

Assumption, which has won 41 consecutive games, goes to the state tournament in Fort Dodge next week as the top seed in 3A.

After not scoring in the first two innings, the Knights scored three times in the third inning. Eighth grader Olivia Wardlow laced a two-out single back up the middle to plate the initial run.

Kelley, Emma Valainis and Carlie Sammon followed with singles.

Then in the fourth inning, Assumption (41-1) added five more hits, three coming from the bottom of the order, to extend the lead to 7-0.

"We know our offense can come through anywhere in our lineup," shortstop Nicole Yoder said after a three-hit game. "It gives us a lot of confidence and helps us stay up during the game."

West Liberty pitcher Emma Martin worked into the fourth inning before Macy Akers relieved her. Akers pitched a scoreless fifth and sixth before Assumption pounced for three more runs in the seventh.

Defeat aside, Lehman said this season was a step in the right direction for the Comets.

"This will help with our confidence next year," she said. "We've done it and now we know we can do it again."

Reynolds said for West Liberty to clear that next hurdle and get to the state tournament for the first time in program history, it starts with more offseason commitment.

"We've got to convince the girls to play more ball year-round," he said. "A lot of these quality programs have kids playing 200 or 300 games before they get to the high school game.

"Plus, we've got to get our numbers up."

Even so, Reynolds admitted his opponent Monday was just too good.

"I think Assumption will win it all," he said. "They're well-coached and do everything right."

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Top-ranked Assumption ends West Liberty's postseason run - Muscatine Journal

Liberty Twp. trustees continue fire chief search – Hamilton Journal News

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LIBERTY TWP.

The Liberty Twp. trustees are going back to square one in their search for a new fire chief after one candidate turned down their job offer and another dropped out of the applicant pool.

Trustee Tom Farrell said he is not happy with the job the Ohio Fire Chiefs Association did in finding suitable candidates so the township will continue its search solo.

Im not happy. Im not sure that they did anything wrong, but the point is you hire someone to bring you these top candidates and they are the leaders in their field, you expect them to bring you the top candidates, Farrell said. We didnt get that.

The township paid the OFCA $12,150 to search and screen 19 candidates who applied, only two were internal candidates.

Fire Chief Paul Stumpf announced his retirement last September and gave the trustees a year to find his replacement.

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Liberty Twp. trustees continue fire chief search - Hamilton Journal News

Embracing Libertarianism Will Make You a Better American – Being Libertarian

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There are so many reasons to be a Libertarian in this day and age. In a nation where Republicans and Democrats each advocate for big government in their own ways, the Libertarian Party is the one true representation of pure liberty.

Libertarians promote freedom, capitalism, private property rights, and more. Likewise, Libertarians oppose unnecessary wars, statism, taxes, and the like.

People who subscribe to libertarianism believe each American is entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, so long as they do not infringe upon the rights of others. Espousing libertarianism will help the citizens of this nation cherish the values that America was originally founded on.

According to the Free Republic, one of the core creeds of our Founding Fathers stated that life and liberty are secure only as long as the rights of property are secure.

In essence, property rights are as follows: Americans reserve the rights to create and use goods, earn income from their productions, and distribute the goods to others if they so choose. This is a critical component of capitalism.

Detractors of capitalism assert that it is an unfair system which favors the wealthy and privileged. In reality, capitalism favors individuals who are able to produce marketable goods and services. Capitalism has engendered many Americans to escape the crippling bonds of poverty.

Libertarians are staunch defenders of a capitalist society because we realize the importance and necessity of Americans being able to engender their own wealth and success as opposed to receiving crippling government handouts.

Contrary to what many radical liberals preach, nobody is entitled to someone elses income. Becoming a libertarian opens ones eyes to all of the existing possibilities and opportunities available to those who are willing to work hard.

Just as libertarians embrace property rights, liberty, and capitalism, we also vehemently oppose destructive and anti-American forces such as wars, statism, and crippling taxes. These toxic influences are direct extensions of big government.

As stated on the foreign policy page of the Libertarian Partys official website, Libertarians aspire for America to steer clear of war. In doing so, countless fatalities and injuries will be prevented.

Quite frankly, a plethora of wars are preventable and many politicians enter them due to matters like ego.

If the United States is attacked, this nation reserves the right to defend ourselves, but if not, our leaders have no business antagonizing other countries. Imagine if everyone applied this train of thought in their daily lives. The promotion of peacefulness and individualism embodies libertarianism.

Statism and taxation are additional forces that libertarians oppose due to their devastating impacts on Americans. In essence, the state is a part of the government. From the time of its conception, the government was always meant to be controlled by the people of this nation, not vice versa. Also, taxation is merely an offshoot of statism.

Those in favor of taxation often claim that this practice is the only way in which our roads could be built or maintained. These people underestimate the power of self-interest, which Libertarian Prepper accurately pinpointed.

Business owners, shipping companies, and other free market forces will voluntary pitch in to ensure the upkeep of our roads. Additionally, roads maintained out of self-interest would most likely not be plagued with pot holes and other hazards.

Taxation is unnecessary and it steals hard earned proceeds from working Americans.

Whether or not one chooses to embrace libertarianism is entirely up to the individual. However, the decision to subscribe to a liberty minded ideology will provide a more productive worldview, encourage the pursuit of success, and prevent unnecessary conflicts.

Becoming a libertarian emboldens each and every person to embrace individualism and ultimately realize that pure liberty is what America was originally founded on.

Gabrielle Seunagal is an intelligent, witty, and iconic libertarian. She is very proud to be self-employed and happily works full time as a freelance writer. In her spare time, Gabrielle loves to read, travel, eat out, and go on adventures. You can follow her on Twitter @ClassySnobbb.

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Embracing Libertarianism Will Make You a Better American - Being Libertarian

Law requiring more signatures for Libertarian candidates remains – Arizona Daily Sun

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PHOENIX A federal judge has rebuffed a bid by the Libertarian Party to kill an Arizona law even its sponsors concede was designed to make it harder for minor party candidates to get on the general election ballot.

Judge David Campbell acknowledged Monday the 2015 law sharply increases the number of signatures that Libertarian candidates need to qualify for ballot status. In some cases, the difference is more than 20 times the old requirement.

The result was that only one Libertarian candidate qualified for the ballot in 2016, and none made it to the general election. By contrast, there were 25 in 2004, 19 in 2008 and 18 in 2012.

But Campbell said the new hurdle is not unconstitutionally burdensome. And the judge accepted the arguments that the higher signature requirements ensure that candidates who reach the November ballot have some threshold of support.

But Libertarian Party Chairman Michael Kielsky said the judge ignored not just the higher burden but the games that the Republican-controlled legislature played in making 2015 the change for their own political purposes.

The Republicans set out to get the Libertarians off the ballot and the Republicans succeeded, Kielsky said. And now, Judge Campbell has said, That's OK.

Kielsky is not just spouting party rhetoric.

In pushing for the change, GOP lawmakers made no secret they do not want Libertarian Party candidates in the race, contending that a vote for a Libertarian is a vote that would otherwise go to a Republican. As proof, some cited the 2012 congressional race.

Republican Jonathan Paton lost the CD 1 race to Democrat Ann Kirkpatrick by 9,180 votes. But Libertarian Kim Allen picked up 15,227 votes votes that Rep. J.D. Mesnard, R-Chandler, argued during floor debate likely would have gone to Paton.

And in CD 9, Democrat Kyrsten Sinema defeated Republican Vernon Parker by 10,251 votes, with Libertarian Powell Gammill tallying 16,620.

And if the point was lost, Mesnard made the issue more personal for colleagues, warning them that they, too, could find themselves aced out of a seat if they don't change the signature requirements.

I can't believe we wouldn't see the benefit of this, he said during a floor speech.

The way the legislature accomplished this was to change the rules.

Prior to 2015, would-be candidates qualified for the ballot by getting the signatures of one-half of one percent of all party members within a given area. So for a Republican seeking statewide office, that translated out to 5,660 signatures.

The new formula changed that to one-quarter of a percent but for all people who could sign a candidate's petition. That adds political independents, who outnumber Democrats and are running neck-in-neck with Republicans, to the equation.

Under the new formula, a Republican statewide candidate in 2016 needed 5,790 signatures.

But the effect on minor parties is more profound,

Using that pre-2016 formula, a Libertarian could run for statewide office with petitions bearing just 134 names, one-half percent of all those registered with the party. But the new formula, which takes into account all the independents, required a Libertarian trying to get on a statewide ballot to get 3,023 signatures.

To put that in perspective, that is closed to 12 percent of all registered Libertarians. By contrast, the statewide burden for a GOP candidate, based on the number of registered Republicans, remains close to that one-half of one percent of all adherents.

It's B.S., Kielsky said. It's completely perverse.

But Campbell said there is nothing unconstitutional about the higher requirement to limit the field to bona fide candidates who had some chance of actually winning.

If a candidate was not required to show any threshold of support through votes or petition signatures, she could win her primary and reach the general ballot with no significant modicum of support at all, Campbell continued. And in the case of Libertarians, who often run unopposed in their party's primary, a candidate could win a spot on the general election ballot with only one vote in such a primary.

Anyway, the judge said, Libertarian candidates can now seek out support to get on the ballot from independents, a pool totaling more than one million voters in Arizona.

Kielsky said that misses the point.

That means we have to appeal to things that the independents care about but not necessarily the Libertarians care about to be a Libertarian candidate, he said. The distinction of being a Libertarian is diluted, if not lost.

And Kielsky called the requirement for a modicum of support a red herring. He said if Libertarians were not picking up significant votes, the GOP-controlled legislature would not have changed the law to keep them off the ballot.

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Law requiring more signatures for Libertarian candidates remains - Arizona Daily Sun