Health care already cut to the core: Forward

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Says province needs to invest in the system to save money in the future

With the provinces finance officials ready to operate on the provincial deficit and with everythingon the table, one area that cannot sustain another fat-reduction surgery is the health-care system, says Registered Nurses Union president Debbie Forward.

Photo by Rhonda Hayward/The Telegram

Registered Nurses Union president Debbie Forward says theres no more room to cut in the health-care system.

After cutbacks in 2012, Forward said Tuesday, theres no more room to cut.

The system is working to the max, and people are working to the max, and Im hopeful they are not going to look (at health-care cuts). Health is a significant piece of the budget, but thats because health is an essential service and we need people to deliver health care.

Its not machines delivering it, its people physicians, registered nurses, other care providers, other allied health professionals, managers. All of those people are important to making sure the system functions as it should.

The provincial government is holding pre-budget consultations in the province. Oil prices have dropped sharply, the provincial debt is rising and Finance Minister Ross Wiseman has said there will likely be five more years of budget deficits before the government can return to a surplus budget.

Wiseman is asking people for suggestions about how the government can reduce the provincial deficit by either tax increases or cuts, or a combination of both, or by making government departments and agencies more efficient.

Forward says when it comes to the health-care system, the best way to save money is to invest in initiatives now that will save money in the future.

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Health care already cut to the core: Forward

Speaker: Health care solution requires all

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Feb. 25, 2015 @ 12:01 AM

HUNTINGTON - One small step forward.

That's what the Cabell-Huntington Health Department's new initiative, Regional Health Connect, hopes to help the community do as it pertains to improving the health of local people.

The group met for its second time on Tuesday at the health department's 7th Avenue facility, with representatives from various segments of the community sitting in to learn more details about where the community stands healthwise and weigh in on some solutions.

"We either seek to fix this problem or we pass it on to our children," said Tim Hazelett, administrator for the Cabell-Huntington Health Department.

Tuesday's presenter was health statistics guru David Campbell, chief executive officer of the West Virginia Health Improvement Institute and the Community Health Network of West Virginia.

He discussed everything from West Virginia's most prevalent health issues - obesity, smoking, high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, arthritis, lack of exercise - as well as the rise in health care costs, and the drivers and the distribution of health care costs. He also discussed the problems with health care delivery that drive up costs and some efforts being made by providers to rein in costs.

"We need a different model, a different way to deliver health care and a different way to engage people in their health," Campbell said.

The West Virginia Health Improvement Institute reports that 35 percent of West Virginia adults are relatively healthy with no ongoing health needs. Fifteen percent are relatively healthy now but at risk of developing a chronic condition, 25 percent have a chronic condition, 20 percent will have two to four chronic conditions, 4 percent have five or more chronic conditions and 1 percent has catastrophic illness.

While Appalachian culture leads to some predisposition to hypertension and other chronic conditions, other factors play a part, such as income and access to health care.

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Speaker: Health care solution requires all

New Commentary from Asymmetrex LLC Director Anticipates Forthcoming E-Book on Stem Cell Genetic Fidelity

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Boston, MA (PRWEB) February 25, 2015

Anyone familiar with the founding principles of Asymmetrex, LLC will appreciate the new editorial from its director and the collection of authors he assembled as Associate Editor for the Frontiers Research Topic, titled Stem Cell Genetic Fidelity. Both the introductory editorial and the individual articles are currently available online, ahead of issue in the form of the Frontiers e-book later this year.

Central to the stem cell mechanisms investigated and reviewed by the nine articles is the still controversial proposal of immortal strands in adult tissue stem cells. Based on the experimental observations of K. Gordon Lark in the 1960s, John Cairns predicted the existence of immortal strands of the DNA genetic material about a decade later.

In studies with cultured mouse tissues and plant root tips, Lark had noted that when some cells divided, they seemed to violate well-established genetic laws. These were the Mendelian laws of inheritance, name after Gregor Mendel, who laid their foundation. Each of the 46 human chromosomes has two complementary strands of DNA. One DNA strand is older than the other, because it was used as the template for copying the other. As a result of this inherent age difference in chromosome DNA strands, when the two DNA strands are split to make two new chromosomes before cell division to produce two new cells one chromosome in each of the 46 pairs of new chromosomes has the oldest DNA strand.

Mendels laws maintain that each new sister cell should randomly get a similar number of chromosomes with the oldest DNA strands. But Cairns hypothesized that adult tissue stem cells had a mechanism to ignore Mendels laws. Instead, one of the two cells produced by an asymmetric stem cell division retained all, and only, the chromosomes with the oldest DNA strands. Cairns called these immortal strands. By continuously retaining the same complete set of oldest template DNA strands, Cairns envisioned that tissue stem cells could significantly reduce their rate of accumulation of carcinogenic mutations, which primarily occur by chance when DNA is being copied.

Cairns presented his concept of immortal strands in tissue stem cells in a 1975 report to account for a large discrepancy that he had noted between human cancer rates and human cell mutation rates. He estimated that human cancer rates, though still undesirable, fell far short of expectations based on generally known rates of human cell mutation.

Whereas some scientists continue to view Cairns immortal strand hypothesis as folly, others consider it genius. In the last decade, progress in evidence for immortal strands in stem cells of diverse animal tissues and animal species accelerated greatly. However, little progress has occurred in defining their role in normal tissue stem cells or diseases like cancer.

In his new editorial, Sherley reveals that he is firmly in the camp that views the immortal strand hypothesis as genius. Before founding Asymmetrex, as a laboratory head in two different independent research institutes Fox Chase Cancer Center and Boston Biomedical Research Institute and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology he developed new tools and approaches for investigating immortal strand functions, which are now a focus for commercial development in the new company. Immortal strands and cellular factors associated with them have significant potential to provide specific biomarkers for tissue stem cells. There is a significant unmet need for such invaluable tools in stem cell research, drug development, and regenerative medicine.

About Asymmetrex (http://asymmetrex.com/)

Asymmetrex, LLC is a Massachusetts life sciences company with a focus on developing technologies to advance stem cell medicine. Asymmetrexs founder and director, James L. Sherley, M.D., Ph.D. is an internationally recognized expert on the unique properties of adult tissue stem cells. The companys patent portfolio contains biotechnologies that solve the two main technical problems production and quantification that have stood in the way of successful commercialization of human adult tissue stem cells for regenerative medicine and drug development. In addition, the portfolio includes novel technologies for isolating cancer stem cells and producing induced pluripotent stem cells for disease research purposes. Currently, Asymmetrexs focus is employing its technological advantages to develop facile methods for monitoring adult stem cell number and function in clinically important human tissues.

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New Commentary from Asymmetrex LLC Director Anticipates Forthcoming E-Book on Stem Cell Genetic Fidelity

Regulating genome-edited crops that aren't GMOs

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15 minutes ago This is a figure depicting four regulatory models for genome-edited crops. Credit: Araki, M. and Ishii, T./Trends in Plant Science 2015

A survey of rice, wheat, barley, fruit, and vegetable crops found that most mutants created by advanced genetic engineering techniques may be out of the scope of current genetically modified organism (GMO) regulations. In a review of these findings, published in the February 25 issue of the Cell Press journal Trends in Plant Science, two bioethicists from Hokkaido University propose new regulatory models for genome-edited crops and declare a call to action for clarifying the social issues associated with such genetically engineered crops.

"Modern genome editing technology has allowed for far more efficient gene modification, potentially impacting future agriculture," says Tetsuya Ishii, PhD, of Hokkaido University's Office of Health and Safety. "However, genome editing raises a regulatory issue by creating indistinct boundaries in GMO regulations because the advanced genetic engineering can, without introducing new genetic material, make a gene modification which is similar to a naturally occurring mutation."

Under current regulations, a GMO is a living organism that has been altered by a novel combination of genetic material, including the introduction of a transgene. Advanced genetic engineering technologies, including ZFN, TALEN, and CRISPR/Cas9, raise regulatory issues because they don't require transgenes to make alterations to the genome. They can simply pluck out a short DNA sequence or add a mutation to an existing gene.

"Genome editing technology is advancing rapidly; therefore it is timely to review the regulatory system for plant breeding by genome editing," says Dr. Ishii. "Moreover, we need to clarify the differences between older genetic engineering techniques and modern genome editing, and shed light on various issues towards social acceptance of genome edited crops."

In their study, Dr. Ishii and a member of his research staff, Motoko Araki, present four regulatory models in order to resolve the indistinct regulatory boundaries that genome editing has created in GMO regulations. They propose that the most stringent regulation (in which most of the mutants are subject to the regulations, whereas only a portion of deletion and insertion mutants fall outside the regulations) should be initially adopted and gradually relaxed because the cultivation and food consumption of genome-edited crops is likely to increase in the near future.

While policy-level discussions about the regulations of genome-edited organisms are slowly taking place around the world, according to Dr. Ishii, his study will serve as a basis for the conversation with regulatory agencies in the world as well as the Japanese Ministry of the Environment.

Explore further: Coming soon: Genetically edited fruit?

Recent advances that allow the precise editing of genomes now raise the possibility that fruit and other crops might be genetically improved without the need to introduce foreign genes, according to researchers writing in ...

One of the most exciting scientific advances made in recent years is CRISPRthe ability to precisely edit the genome of cells. However, although this method has incredible potential, the process is extremely inefficient. ...

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Regulating genome-edited crops that aren't GMOs

'Gene Therapy Cardiovascular Insight: Pipeline Assessment, Market Trend, Technology and Competitive Landscape'

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Albany, NewYork (PRWEB) February 25, 2015

Researchmoz.us announces the latest addition to its growing database of analytical market research reports. The new report, titled Gene Therapy Cardiovascular Insight: Pipeline Assessment, Market Trend, Technology and Competitive Landscape, looks into the value chain of gene therapy and its association with cardiovascular treatments.

The report goes over the fundamentals of gene therapy in brief, explaining its biological mechanism and providing some historic background to better understand the growing influence of gene therapy in the healthcare sector and more particularly in the application of cardiovascular gene therapy. It also covers some of the jargon of the gene therapy sector for better comprehension of the detailed discussion of pipeline products.

Read Full Report With TOC at http://www.researchmoz.us/gene-therapy-cardiovascular-insight-pipeline-assessment-market-trend-technology-and-competitive-landscape-report.html

The report goes on to describe the determinant conditions in the cardiovascular gene therapy market, including the competitive landscape of the market and a detailed examination of the potential impact of market drivers and restraining factors. It describes the major products currently dominating the cardiovascular gene therapy market as well as the most potentially influential products and therapies in the pipeline. The analysis of the major pipeline products includes an evaluation of the competitive landscape concerning the products in questionthe market players developing them and the impact they could have on the markets competitive hierarchy.

The report elaborates upon the product description and technological background of the cardiovascular gene therapy in question, as well as the corporate aspect of it such as development partners and licensors and collaborators, and the stage of development which the product currently occupies.

The publication also includes a detailed overview of the pre-clinical and clinical outcomes of gene therapies and various biochemical aspects of the therapy such as the vector used in the procedure, the gene targeted by the therapy and localization, and an in-depth explanation of the mechanism by which the therapy operates. The report also covers dormant and discontinued products, which helps gain an understanding of what the market isnt ready for, or wasnt ready for at the time of the discontinuation. The pipeline cardiovascular gene therapies covered in the report include Gendicine, Rexin G, and Glybera.

Through the detailed analysis of all aspects related to the cardiovascular gene therapy market, the report provides in-depth insights on which to base winning market strategies.

In all, the report covers more than 25 cardiovascular gene therapy products from more than 20 manufacturers. The companies use 8 distinct technological support systems that have their own set of strengths and weaknesses, which are profiled in the report. As far as vectors are concerned, 50% of the total vectors studies are non-viral vectors, 46% are viral vectors, while a minuscule 4% are RNAi therapeutics.

All Latest Market Research Report at http://www.researchmoz.us/latest-report.html

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'Gene Therapy Cardiovascular Insight: Pipeline Assessment, Market Trend, Technology and Competitive Landscape'

Django Django Make Art Out of Buildings in Their 'First Light' Video

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February 25 2015, 9:39 AM ET

Give Django Django points for commitment to and execution of a concept. Their Daniel Swan-directed video for "First Light," the lead single from the upcoming Born Under Saturn, is hardly the most eventful of clips the video is little more than a series of pan-outs on sleek, glass-heavy buildings, which reflect the incoming sunlight and occasionally make visible heat waves but it's certainly one of the more striking visuals you'll see for a song this week, almost Chris Cunningham-esque in its cold, hypnotizing futurism. If nothing else, it proves that old Ron Swanson truism about art: Anything is anything. Watch the video above.

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Django Django Make Art Out of Buildings in Their 'First Light' Video

Freedom Aviation Moves Forward After Lynchburg City Council Vote

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Lynchburg, VA - Freedom Aviation's work to complete their merge with Virginia Aviation has cleared a huge hurdle.

By a 6-1 vote, Lynchburg City Council last night approved a measure that allows Liberty University-owner Freedom to negotiate a lease to become the sole Fixed Base Operator for Lynchburg Airport, providing services such as repairs and fueling.

Airport Commission members expressed concern that the lack of competition would drive up prices and limit service.

Freedom President Dave Young countered that a city run FBO would be a bad move for the City.

"Of the 66 airports in Virginia, the two thirds that are managed by municipality FBO's are small airports, and the main reason that occurs is because there is no profit motive there for a private entity," says Dave Young, president of Freedom Aviation.

Council will review the new lease later this year before giving full approval.

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Freedom Aviation Moves Forward After Lynchburg City Council Vote

Freedom Jam notes waiting to waft through winds

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The logo Freedom JamNo Bread perfectly sums up the spirit behind a festival which is all about playing your thing---everything else be damned!

Though the Freedom Jam movement was birthed in Bengaluru, its offshoot versions in this city have not just provided a platform for the performance and enjoyment of diverse genres of music whether it was jazz, blues, pop, hip-hop, honky-tonk or soul and funk, but greatly helped build the tourism appeal of the place.

After a break of a couple of years, the 12th edition of Freedom Jam returns to the city and will be staged over three days from February 27 with a variety of music by performers from the backyard, Chennai, Bengaluru.

The Freedom Jam gigs were seeded in Bengaluru in 1996 when Siddhartha Patnaik, who grew up in Puducherrys libertarian environment, and a few of his like-minded friends, got together to facilitate a performing space for rock bands in India.

In those days, the benchmark for quality was all about how well you did covers a dead-on copy. For instance, a Santana cover would be perfect if the musician timed the moment he would point the guitar away from the body to gain feedback. There was hardly any space for people who did original work, said Siddhartha, who had already formed a band Bajaa.

Though the maiden event hosted at Bengalurus Ravindra Kalakshetra with a handful of bands, the more important takeaway was that the Freedom Jam got entrenched as a tradition. Alongside the annual Freedom Jam gigs, the music enthusiasts also initiated a tradition of Sunday Jams for budding musicians. These jam sessions of open-ended playing have featured bands like Avial that went to make a name for themselves in the circuit. At one point, the Freedom Jam became big enough an event to attract patronage from MTV and Levis, says Siddhartha.

However, even after tasting corporate support, Freedom Jam remained true to its founding concept of providing a stage where artistes offer their performances without any fees and retaining their artistic freedom to express themselves without commercial constraints, while the audience enjoys the music for free.

This celebration of indie music later struck roots in Goa and Chennai. The venues have been flexible too---audiences have grooved to musicians playing by the seaside in Puducherry, in a shady raintree grove in Chennai or even under a large banyan tree in Goa.

Puducherry is no stranger to an international music culture. For well over a century, the former French enclave had been a hub for classical musicianship---the city must have the one of the highest number of Trinity College fellowships.

If you look back to the 1970s, this city had a vibrant live music scene, says Mathew Samuel, musician and former secretary of Tourism here.

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Freedom Jam notes waiting to waft through winds

'Samson and Delilah' Uncovers Another Side of the Staple Singers

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staples singers

February 25 2015, 10:46 AM ET

To coincide with the 50th anniversary of the Staple Singers' live record, Legacy Recordings is reissuing Freedom Highway Complete, which features nearly thirty minutes of previously unreleased material, including the recently premiered "View the Holy City." Alongside sermons and gospel standards, one standout track is a cover of Blind Willie Johnson's "Samson and Delilah." In the context of the Selma-Montgomery freedom marches and the rampant police brutality that ensued, the song takes on an angry and rallying tone. The call-and-response chorus repeats: "If I had my way / I'd tear this building down." Alongside gospel classics like "We Shall Overcome" and "When The Saints Come Marching In," the album serves as an important musical document in civil rights history.

Stream "Samson and Delilah" below, and look for Freedom Highway Complete when it sees release on March 3.

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'Samson and Delilah' Uncovers Another Side of the Staple Singers

Creating IVF babies with DNA of three people legalised in UK

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Children conceived after mitochondrial donation would have nuclear DNA determining individual traits such as facial features and personality from its two parents, plus a tiny amount of mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) from an anonymous woman donor. Photograph: Getty Images

The UK has become the first country in the world to legalise the creation of IVF babies using DNA from three people.

The first baby conceived after mitochondrial donation techniques may be born as early as next year after peers in the House of Lords voted against a move to block a planned law change by 280 votes to 48, a majority of 232.

Research has shown that mitochondrial donation could potentially help almost 2,500 women of reproductive age in the UK who are at risk of transmitting harmful DNA mutations in the mitochondria.

But opponents, including church leaders and pro-life groups, have warned that the change has been brought about too hastily and marked the start of a slippery slope towards designer babies and eugenics.

On Tuesday night peers rejected an attempt to delay the legislation by Tory former cabinet minister John Gummer, now Lord Deben, before voting overwhelmingly in favour of the change to the law after several hours of debate.

The move to amend the 2008 Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which forbids IVF treatments that affect inherited germline DNA in eggs and sperm, was carried by 382 votes to 128 in the Commons earlier this month.

Mitochondrial disease

Prime minister David Cameron, Labour leader Ed Miliband and deputy prime minister Nick Clegg exercised their free vote to support the decision.

A department of health spokeswoman said: Parliaments decision will bring hope to hundreds of families affected by mitochondrial disease. We are proud to be the first country to allow these revolutionary techniques. For the first time ever, women who carry severe mitochondrial disease will have the opportunity to have healthy babies without the fear of passing on devastating genetic disorders.

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Creating IVF babies with DNA of three people legalised in UK

Software ecosystem – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Software Ecosystem is a book written by David G. Messerschmitt and Clemens Szyperski that explains the essence and effects of a "software ecosystem", defined as a set of businesses functioning as a unit and interacting with a shared market for software and services, together with relationships among them. These relationships are frequently underpinned by a common technological platform and operate through the exchange of information, resources, and artifacts.[1][2][3][4][5]

In the context of software analysis, the term software ecosystem is defined by Lungu [6] as a collection of software systems, which are developed and co-evolve in the same environment. The environment can be organizational (a company), social (an open-source community), or technical (the Ruby ecosystem). The ecosystem metaphor is used in order to denote an analysis which takes into account multiple software systems. The most frequent of such analyses is static analysis of the source code of the component systems of the ecosystem.

Richard Stallman argues that software has nothing in common with an ecosystem which is a natural system of combined physical and biological components of a natural environment. "It is a mistake to describe the free software community, or any human community, as an "ecosystem", because that word implies the absence of (1) intention and (2) ethics."[7]

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Software ecosystem - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Health advisories lifted for 3 Hillsborough Beaches, issued for 1

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Health advisories were lifted Wednesday for three Hillsborough County beaches and issued for one based on criteria for bacteria levels recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency.

Based on sampling done this week, a health advisory issued on Feb. 18 was lifted for Cypress Point Beach, Bahia Beach and Picnic Island Beach.

I new advisory was issued for Davis Island because samples were above thresholds for enterococci bacteria. Another sample will be taken on March 2.

The beach should be considered unsafe for swimming, according to the Hillsborough County Health Department.

The health department has been conducting coastal quality monitoring at nine sites once every two weeks since August 2000 and weekly since August 2002 through the states Healthy Beaches Monitoring Program.

Enterococci bacteria is typically found in the intestinal tracts of humans and animals and may cause human disease, infections, or rashes. It is an indication of fecal pollution, which may come from stormwater runoff, pets and wildlife, and human sewage, the department said.

For more information, visit http://www.floridahealth.gov/environmental-health/beach-water-quality/index.html.

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Health advisories lifted for 3 Hillsborough Beaches, issued for 1