Archive for September, 2019

Eight Chromebooks in total will now receive software updates until June, 2025 rather than the original 2022 Auto Update Expiration date.

New Chromebooks come with a guarantee from Google of regular automatic updates for Chrome OS, but only for 6.5 years, and only for the underlying hardware platform. However, some Chromebooks are having their life extended by three years.

Purchasing a Chromebook may be cheaper than a laptop, but it will have an end-of-life date built in due to Google's Auto Update Expiration (AUE) 6.5 year time limit. Chromebooks will continue to work after their AUE, but won't get updates anymore or receive technical support. If you purchase a Chromebook the day it laucnhes then you get updates for 6.5 years, however, buying an older model means you may only get two or three years of updates.

What makes the situation more complicated is the fact Google attaches the AUE to the hardware platform rather than individual Chromebooks. So if a manufacturer uses Chromebook hardware that's a couple of years old in a new Chromebook, the AUE will be two years shorter. Google even advises manufacturers to always choose the newest platform so as to ensure the longest support.

As Chrome Unboxed reports, some Chromebooks now have a life extension courtesy of Google. There's eight in total, all except one are made by Lenovo. They include:

All eight Chromebooks were due to reach their AUE in June, 2022, but Google has extended the date so they will now continue to receive updates to June, 2025. The one caveat to continued support being that it relies on third-party component suppliers continuing to work with Google to support the devices for the next five years.

With the extended support in place, it makes these Chromebooks look a lot more attractive for anyone after a cheap, internet-focused laptop. For example, the Lenovo S330 is a 14-inch 1080p Chromebook with 4GB of RAM and 64GB of storage for just $269.

We can only hope that this limited extension turns into a more general extension of the AUE for all hardware platforms. If Google could extend support to 10 years, then all Chromebooks would be much better value for money, even if you are buying a model that's a couple of years old.

Read the original:
Google Extends the Life of Some Chromebooks by 3 Years - PCMag

USCGC Polar Star (WAGB-10) off McMurdo Sound near McMurdo Station, a United States Antarctic research center in 2018. US Air Force Photo

WASHINGTON, D.C. For the next several years, the Coast Guards only heavy icebreaker will lead the annual Antarctic resupply mission as the service develops its new class of icebreaker.

Called the McMurdo Breakout, the Coast Guards heavy icebreaker, USCGCPolar Star (WAGB-10), starts the journey to Antarctica every year at the end of October or early November. Once there, Polar Star breaks a channel through the sea ice so resupply ships can reach McMurdo Station, the National Science Foundations 164-acre research facility perched on the volcanic Ross Island in the Ross Sea.

In about a week, Polar Star is expected to leave drydock in Vallejo, Calif., return to its homeport Seattle for some final preparations, then in about a month, depart for the McMurdo Breakout, Lt. Cmdr. Stephen Brickey, a Coast Guard spokesperson told USNI News.

Typically, the breakout involves a fuel ship and a container ship a lifeline arriving once a year with the material needed to keep the station and field research operating for the year, said Scot Arnold, a senior advisor for the National Science Foundations Office of Polar Programs. Arnold was speaking recently at the American Society of Naval Engineers Arctic Day 2019 conference.

The Polar Star, it clears a channel for the two ships, Arnold said. You have to have the heavy icebreaker there to clear ice. It can be up to a 70-mile channel.

When all turbines on Polar Star are running, the icebreaker is an incredible machine, said Capt. Michael Davanzo, the Coast Guards chief of Cutter Forces, at the Arctic Day conference. The problem with Polar Star is its more than 40 years old and a challenge to keep operational.

In April, the Coast Guard awarded the $745.9 million contract to build its first of three planned Polar Security Cutters, the new class of heavy icebreaker to replace Polar Star. The Coast Guard expects delivery of the first PSC in 2024.

With Polar Star, our goal is to keep the cutter running through the delivery of the second PSC and to do that we have to do a service life extension which we think will take three to five years, Davanzo said. We have to try to do without missing a mission down to Antarctica.

Weather conditions in Antarctica and the expense of sending ships to the bottom of the world give the Coast Guard and the National Science Founding one chance at making the annual resupply mission. The McMurdo Breakout is timed for the height of the Antarctic summer at the end of December when high temperatures barely rise above freezing, but the sea ice can be broken, Arnold said.

The fuel tanker arrives with close to 10 million gallons of a special fuel mixture designed for use in Antarctica. The container ship arrives with bulk goods such as food, scientific equipment, vehicles and other material.

This year, and for several more, the container ship will also deliver the construction material used to build a massive new $355 million research facility that will fold the activities performed in 104 buildings into a condensed campus of six main structures, Arnold said.

Aerial view of McMurdo Station, which sits along the shoreline of Ross Island, a volcanic island in the Ross Sea. National Science Foundation photo.

Called the Antarctica Infrastructure Modernization for Science project, work is starting now and is expected to finish in 2026. Weather conditions limit the construction season to between October and April. Then the long, frigid Antarctic night sets in, halting outside work.

Antarcticas weather conditions also create a logistics challenge for such a large construction project. With supplies arriving once a year, in the middle of the construction season, Arnold said builders have to collect supplies a year ahead.

Were collecting materials now for the 20 season. Theyll be put on a ship and delivered to Antarctica in January, Arnold said.

Without the Coast Guards heavy ice breaker, though, these supplies cant reach McMurdo station, which would severely delay the carefully timed build. As sections of the new facility are built, work will migrate into the new structure. Crews will then demolish older structures, which in some cases are standing in the way of the projects final sections.

Once the materials arrive, the builders only have enough time to unload the ships and move most of the material to a storage field. When the construction season ends in April, the team will start sorting and prepping next years building supplies.

It gets off-loaded then dumped because we dont have the space to go through everything nor the manpower, so it all goes to a central receiving field, he said.

When finished, the new McMurdo station will save the National Science Foundation millions of dollars in operations and maintenance costs while also improving the living and working conditions for staff, with a relatively open and flexible floorplan to accommodate future research projects, Arnold said.

Its basically taking our old facilities, which have been around, in some cases since the fifties, from what really represents more of an expeditionary type construction, and bringing it into the future, for the next 50 years, Arnold said.

Related

Link:
McMurdo Station Expansion Relies on Coast Guard Heavy Icebreaker - USNI News - USNI News

Petasites Japonicus is an herbaceous perennial plant which is also known as Japanese sweet coltsfoot and Japanese butterbur. Petasites Japonicus belongs to asteraceae family, primarily found in Japan, China, Korea and Europe. Petasites Japonicus was introduced to Western Europe by Japanese immigrants. The stalk of petasites japonicus is known as fuki, which is a rich source of potassium, manganese, copper, calcium, and vitamin. Now a days petasites japonicus extract has be used for the prevention of migraine and the treatment of allergic rhinitis. Petasites japonicus extract has anti- inflammable properties which instantly reduces inflammation caused by arthritis or immune response.

Market Segmentation:

Browse more detail information about this report visit at at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/petasites-japonicus-extract-market.html

Petasites Japonicus extract market is segmented on the basis of type, end-user, application, and region. On the basis of type the market is segmented into petasites japonicus leaf extract and petasites japonicus root extract. The demand for petasites japonicus extract is increasing as it offers many anti-oxidant properties as well as is a rich source of flavonoid. On the basis of end-user the market is segmented into industrial and retail. The retail segment is further sub-segmented into supermarkets/hypermarkets, convenience stores and online stores. It is expected that online store will hold a relatively higher share in the petasites japonicus extract market compared to other distribution channels. On the basis of application the petasites japonicus extract market is segmented into cosmetic industry, and pharmaceutical industry. Pharmaceutical industry is expected to hold the major market share in the forecast period.

Market Regional Outlook:

Regional segment for the market of petasites japonicus extract is divided into five different regions: North America, APAC, Europe, Latin America and MEA. Among these regions Asia Pacific is expected to be the major contributor of petasites japonicus extract market globally and is expected to dominant the market in the forecaster period. In Asia Pacific region countries such as China and Japan holds the key market for petasites japonicus extract. In Europe region countries such as Italy and Spain holds the key market for petasites japonicus extract. In terms of revenue Europe is expected to be the second leading contributor of the petasites japonicus extract market in the forecast period.

Request For Custom Research At https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=CR&rep_id=26534&source=atm

Market Drivers:

Petasites Japonicus extract has been popular from ancient times and increasing awareness among the consumers about the health benefits associated with petasites japonicus extract is expected to drive the market in the near future. Petasites japonicus extract offers various health benefits such as it enables to reduce pain and swelling (inflammation), helps in the treatment of wounds, enables to reduce common cold, as petasites is an antihistamine element, therefore it helps to prevent allergic reactions, helps to reduce headaches and reduce fever and also helps to control the blood sugar level of the body which is expected to bolster the growth of the petasites japonicus extract market. The demand for anti-aging cream is further expected to boost the petasites japonicus as antioxidants present in the root extract helps in preventing free radical damage of the body. Petasites japonicus extract is also known to cure dehydration, potassium and magnesium deficiency along with calcium deficiency in pregnant women. Furthermore, it contains flavonoid which keeps the level of bad cholesterol low, these factors are also expected to drive the Petasites Japonicus extract market during the forecast period.

Market Key Players:

Some of the key players in petasites japonicus market are Swanson, Planetary Herbals, Solaray, Life Extension, Vitacost, Hawaii Pharm LLC, Piping Rock Health Products, Linpharma, Inc and Source Naturals among others.

The report offers a comprehensive evaluation of the market. It does so via in-depth qualitative insights, historical data, and verifiable projections about market size. The projections featured in the report have been derived using proven research methodologies and assumptions. By doing so, the research report serves as a repository of analysis and information for every facet of the market, including but not limited to: Regional markets, technology, types, and applications. The study is a source of reliable data on: Market segments and sub-segments Market trends and dynamics Supply and demand Market size Current trends/opportunities/challenges Competitive landscape Technological breakthroughs Value chain and stakeholder analysis The regional analysis covers: North America (U.S. and Canada) Latin America (Mexico, Brazil, Peru, Chile, and others) Western Europe (Germany, U.K., France, Spain, Italy, Nordic countries, Belgium, Netherlands, and Luxembourg) Eastern Europe (Poland and Russia) Asia Pacific (China, India, Japan, ASEAN, Australia, and New Zealand) Middle East and Africa (GCC, Southern Africa, and North Africa) The report has been compiled through extensive primary research (through interviews, surveys, and observations of seasoned analysts) and secondary research (which entails reputable paid sources, trade journals, and industry body databases). The report also features a complete qualitative and quantitative assessment by analyzing data gathered from industry analysts and market participants across key points in the industrys value chain. A separate analysis of prevailing trends in the parent market, macro- and micro-economic indicators, and regulations and mandates is included under the purview of the study. By doing so, the report projects the attractiveness of each major segment over the forecast period. Highlights of the report: A complete backdrop analysis, which includes an assessment of the parent market Important changes in market dynamics Market segmentation up to the second or third level Historical, current, and projected size of the market from the standpoint of both value and volume Reporting and evaluation of recent industry developments Market shares and strategies of key players Emerging niche segments and regional markets An objective assessment of the trajectory of the market Recommendations to companies for strengthening their foothold in the market Note:Although care has been taken to maintain the highest levels of accuracy in TMRs reports, recent market/vendor-specific changes may take time to reflect in the analysis.

Request for TOC of This Report visit at https://www.transparencymarketresearch.com/sample/sample.php?flag=T&rep_id=26534&source=atm

Read the rest here:
Petasites Japonicus Extract Market boosting the growth Worldwide: Market dynamics and trends, efficiencies Forecast 2022 - Space Market Research

Bank of Nova Scotia grew its stake in Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE) by 7.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 128,998 shares of the industrial products companys stock after purchasing an additional 8,668 shares during the period. Bank of Nova Scotia owned about 0.08% of Sealed Air worth $5,519,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SEE. LSV Asset Management purchased a new stake in Sealed Air in the 1st quarter worth approximately $50,283,000. APG Asset Management N.V. boosted its position in Sealed Air by 173.0% in the 2nd quarter. APG Asset Management N.V. now owns 829,152 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $31,148,000 after purchasing an additional 525,381 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Sealed Air by 23.8% in the 2nd quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,408,334 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $60,249,000 after purchasing an additional 271,125 shares in the last quarter. AJO LP purchased a new stake in Sealed Air in the 1st quarter worth approximately $7,036,000. Finally, Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its position in Sealed Air by 287.5% in the 2nd quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp now owns 195,749 shares of the industrial products companys stock worth $8,374,000 after purchasing an additional 145,235 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 96.58% of the companys stock.

NYSE SEE opened at $41.37 on Monday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $41.56 and a 200 day moving average price of $43.47. Sealed Air Corp has a one year low of $30.22 and a one year high of $47.13. The company has a market cap of $6.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 16.55, a P/E/G ratio of 1.45 and a beta of 1.08.

Sealed Air (NYSE:SEE) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, August 2nd. The industrial products company reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.64 by $0.16. Sealed Air had a negative return on equity of 121.14% and a net margin of 7.84%. The firm had revenue of $1.16 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. The firms revenue was up .5% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts predict that Sealed Air Corp will post 2.78 EPS for the current fiscal year.

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 20th. Investors of record on Friday, September 6th were paid a $0.16 dividend. This represents a $0.64 annualized dividend and a yield of 1.55%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Thursday, September 5th. Sealed Airs dividend payout ratio is currently 25.60%.

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SEE. Wells Fargo & Co increased their target price on Sealed Air from $42.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a market perform rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. ValuEngine lowered Sealed Air from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 4th. KeyCorp reiterated a sell rating and set a $39.00 target price on shares of Sealed Air in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lowered Sealed Air from a buy rating to a neutral rating and set a $41.63 target price on the stock. in a research report on Friday, June 21st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and three have given a buy rating to the stock. The stock has an average rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $42.69.

Sealed Air Profile

Sealed Air Corporation provides food safety and security, and product protection solutions worldwide. It operates in two segments, Food Care and Product Care. The Food Care segment offers integrated packaging materials and equipment solutions to provide food safety, shelf life extension, and total cost optimization for perishable food processors in the fresh red meat, smoked and processed meats, poultry, and dairy markets under the Cryovac, Cryovac Grip & Tear, Cryovac Darfresh, Cryovac Mirabella, Simple Steps, and Optidure brands.

See Also: Insider Trading

Receive News & Ratings for Sealed Air Daily - Enter your email address below to receive a concise daily summary of the latest news and analysts' ratings for Sealed Air and related companies with MarketBeat.com's FREE daily email newsletter.

See the original post here:
Sealed Air Corp (NYSE:SEE) Shares Acquired by Bank of Nova Scotia - TechNewsObserver

Poland is rolling out Biogensspinal muscular atrophy (SMA) therapy Spinraza (nusinersen) at a faster pace than any country that has approved it, Polish experts say.

Since the first injection in May 2019, about 400 of the 830 patients in Polands SMA registry have either started taking Spinraza or been put on a waiting list to obtain it, according to Kacper Rucinski, president of Warsaw-basedFundacja SMA. A commission of top neurologists is steadily adding patients to the list after determining that they qualify for National Health Service coverage of the treatment.

Longtime SMA expert Anna Lusakowska, a doctor at the Warsaw Medical University Neurology Clinic, predicted that Polish patients who want Spinraza will eventually get the medicine.

However, not all 830 will opt for it, said Rucinski, who along with Lusakowska spoke with SMA News Today by phone. Some patients with the muscle-wasting disease are receiving Roches risdiplam or Novartis branaplam in clinical trials. They would likely stay with their current treatments once those two medications are approved by the Health Ministry and covered by the national health insurance program.

Spinraza is very expensive; both risdiplam and branaplam also will be, upon approval. The U.S. retail price of Spinraza is $750,000 for the first year and $375,000 in subsequent years, although Poland, like all members of the European Union, negotiated its own price with Biogen.

Spinraza first became available in 2017 to a few dozen Polish patients under Biogens expanded-access program. In December 2018 18 months after Spinraza received European Union approval Poland authorized its National Health Service to pay for it.

Hospitals in three of Polands 16 regions spearheaded Spinraza treatment in 2017. Lusakowskas hospital, in the Masovia region which includes Warsaw joined them last year.

Not only did most of the regions outside Warsaw have no experience with Spinraza; they had never even treated SMA patients before, said Lusakowska, who started Polands SMA registry in 2010.

About 120 of Polands SMA patients live in the Warsaw area. As a result, the neurology programs at Warsaw Medical University and Childrens Memorial Health Institute in Warsaw became leaders in treating the disease decades ago.

After the national health insurance program began covering Spinraza, Lusakowskas neurology department decided to administer the medicine to as many people with SMA as possible. Thats led to long hours for staffers, but also has allowed Lusakowskas team to develop a level of expertise solid enough to share with inexperienced practitioners in other regions.

Patients with severe curvature of the spine are a special challenge, even if they have had previous surgery to correct their scoliosis, she said.Radiologists at Lusakowskas clinic use a computerized tomography (CT) scanner to administer injections to individuals with badly curved spines. The scanner shows the best locations for injecting those with scoliosis.

Four months after Polands first non-early-access injection, all regions are offering Spinraza, although it hasnt been easy, Lusakowska said. The surge in Spinraza patients since May has overwhelmed neurological clinics, which in addition to SMA deal with strokes, epilepsy and many other nerve-related conditions.

Lusakowska began her neurology career as an SMA specialist in the mid-1990s, just asscientists were discovering the cause of SMA defects in the SMN1 gene.She and other SMA specialists hoped researchers would develop a therapy quickly.

I worked with SMA patients for 30 years before a treatment came, Lusakowska said. Its really wonderful that I can finally do something for them.

The first Spinraza injection is emotional for patient, family and doctor alike, she said.

Usually the patient cries, the mother cries they have been waiting such a long time for this, she said.

Lusakowska said she can deal with the expressions of joy, even if they include tears. Its harder when the emotion is the anguish of patients calling to complain that they have had to wait such a long time for Spinraza but are still not receiving it, she said.

Like most countries, Poland prioritizes Spinrazas roll-out by age and disease severity. Children younger than 3 years old withSMA type 1 the worst form of the disease get top priority because research has shown they can benefit the most.

Adults with advanced stages of SMA are believed to gain less from treatment, though the main focus of Lusakowskas clinic is adults. She and her colleagues are administering Spinraza to 35 people in their 20s and older with different types of SMA, and expect to treat 70 eventually.

The 35 include seven type 1 patients. Six began taking Spinraza in Belgium under the expanded-access program, but returned to Poland after the National Health Service agreed to cover the treatment costs. The clinic also treats several children above the age of 3.

Lusakowska said Spinraza benefits all her SMA patients. Some improvements are obvious to doctors, while others are not but patients say it is helping them. Within a year, her clinic will have enough month-to-month, muscle-strength comparison data for a scientific assessment of Spinrazas effectiveness.

Some improvements have been amazing, Lusakowska said. That is the case, for example, with a 4-year-old Polish girl with SMA type 2 who began taking Spinraza in France when she was a few months old. Doctors had diagnosed her SMA in the womb after her older brother developed type 2. He also receives Spinraza.

Her brother is improving all the time with Spinraza, Lusakowska said. He is not walking, but he is much stronger. But his sister, who began receiving Spinraza when she was 3 months old, is walking, jumping, dancing shes a normal girl.

Another heartening sign is that, thanks to Spinraza, some patients who had been on detachable ventilation devices 16 hours a day have been able to reduce that to 10 hours a day.

Similarly, some patients say their voices are becoming much stronger as Spinraza strengthens their larynx muscles, Lusakowska said.

She praised the Health Ministry for deciding to cover all SMA patients who want Spinraza, rather than restricting it only to those in certain categories.

We dont have to turn anyone away, she said. We can tell all our patients that maybe not this month, but next month, we can treat you.

Hal Foster is a veteran journalist at the Los Angeles Times and other news organizations in the United States and Japan, and a longtime journalism professor.In addition to the LA Times, he worked at the Portland Oregonian and the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, was executive editor of Pacific Stars & Stripes in Tokyo, and wrote about the war in Ukraine for USA Today.He has a Ph.D. in journalism from the University of North Carolina, and has taught in the United States, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, where he was a Fulbright scholar.

Total Posts: 85

Ana holds a PhD in Immunology from the University of Lisbon and worked as a postdoctoral researcher at Instituto de Medicina Molecular (iMM) in Lisbon, Portugal. She graduated with a BSc in Genetics from the University of Newcastle and received a Masters in Biomolecular Archaeology from the University of Manchester, England. After leaving the lab to pursue a career in Science Communication, she served as the Director of Science Communication at iMM.

View post:
Nearly Half of Poland's SMA Patients on Track to Get Spinraza, Experts Say - SMA News Today

Eugene Gene Gulish, Michael P. Dansack, Jr. and John S. Szuch will be among the honorees at the Distinguished Alumni & Athletic Hall of Fame Banquet Thursday, Oct. 3 from 6-10 p.m. at St. Michaels Centre, 4001 Navarre Ave., Oregon. Eugene Gene Gulish was born June 10, 1937, in Curtice, where his parents had a restaurant and small farm. When he graduated in 1955 from Clay High School, he was the first in his family to do so. He attended the University of Michigan, planning to be a high school biology teacher, but he decided hed rather teach at a university. He earned a Masters Degree in Embryology and a Doctor of Medicine Degree from The Ohio State University. He did his internship and residency at LA County-USC Medical Center, and a four-year orthopedic residency followed. It was during this time that he decided to enter private practice. Gulish was drafted into the Army as a Major and was sent to Fort Polk, Louisiana. He was an orthopedic surgeon while there, and operated on many wounded soldiers from the Vietnam War. He received the Army Commendation Medal upon his discharge in 1971. He started a private practice in Sebastopol, California. About this time, arthroscopic surgery was introduced. He performed the first total knee replacement north of San Francisco and the second total hip replacement. Gulish moved to Paris, Tennessee, in 1994 because they were in desperate need of an orthopedic surgeon. At age 82, he was still practicing three days a week. All of his children work in healthcare one is an orthopedic surgeon, two are physicians assistants, one works with autistic children, and one teaches marriage and family therapy on the college level. Early in his career, Gulish realized how much he enjoyed medical mission work. He has traveled many times to a mission hospital in Kolo Ndoto, Tanzania. In 2010, he traveled to Haiti to assist earthquake victims. He traveled to Nigeria on a medical mission trip to Nigeria in June. Michael P. Dansack, Jr., graduated from Clay High School in 1978, and went on to the University of Toledo College of Engineering, graduating in 1982 cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering. He subsequently graduated from the Toledo College of Law in 1985. He is a partner at the law firm of Gallon, Takacs, Boissoneault & Shaffer. He participates on a bi-weekly basis on 13abcs Ask the Expert segment, providing answers to viewers legal questions during the noon newscast. Dansack served on Oregon City Council from 1983-89, serving as president from 1984-89. He earned the distinction of being the youngest person in Oregons history to be elected as mayor at the age of 29. He served as mayor from 1989-93. He has been an elected member of the Educational Service Center of Lake Erie West Governing Board from February 2010 to the present, serving two years as board president. His community service also includes serving on the Toledo-Lucas County Library Board, the Lucas County Mental Health Board, the Harbor Behavioral Health Care Board of Trustees, the St. Charles Mercy Hospital Advisory Board of Trustees, the Oregonian Club, the Oregon Plan Commission, the Oregon Growth Corporation and Bethany House. He participated in several volunteer activities, including coaching from 1978-1985 for the Oregon Recreation Department and coaching for the Anthony Wayne Recreation Department. He was an announcer for the Clay High School Fighting Eagle Marching Band from September 1978-November 1988. Dansack provided pro bono legal services in 2000 to the Clay High School Athletic Boosters, Inc., including the incorporation of a non-profit corporate entity and application for a 501(c)(3). He also offered his services to the Oregonian Club Charitable Fund for the same services. His services in 1997 to the Clay High School Stadium Renovation Fund, Ind., included the creation of a non-profit corporate entity. John S. Szuch graduated from Clay High School in 1966. He earned a Bachelor of Business Administration and an MBA from The University of Toledo. He completed the University of Michigan Graduate School of Banking and Financial Services Program and is a graduate of the Sheshunoff banking programs. Szuch was employed in various lending and management positions at Trustcorp, Toledo from September 1973 through June 1988. As senior vice president of Trustcorp, he was responsible for the operation of the Metropolitan Banking Division. He was a co-founder, chairman and chief executive officer of Capital Bank, N.A., a $1 billion organization which opened for business in August 1989. Capital Bank merged into Fifth Third Bancorp on March 9, 2001 with a total transaction value of approximately $250 million. Formerly chairman of Fifth Third Bank of Northwestern Ohio, a $3 billion subsidiary of Fifth Third Bancorp, he is currently an executive officer and member of the board of directors of Signature Bank, N.A., a $800 million regional bank headquartered in Toledo. Szuch is a member of St. Johns Jesuit High School Foundation Board, chairman of their Technology Center Fund Campaign and chairman of their Setting the Pace capital fund drive. He was an Ernst and Young Entrepreneur of the Year in 1996, and received the University of Toledo Pacemaker Award in 2005. Szuch currently serves on the Trustee Committee of the University of Toledo Foundation and as the chairman of the Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority. He is also a trustee and member of the Finance Committee of the Toledo Symphony Orchestra, and a trustee and chairman of the Toledo Museum of Art Finance Committee. He serves as a trustee of Second Harvest Community Services of Northwest Ohio and a trustee and finance chairman of St. Ursula Academy.

See the original post:
Three to be honored as Distinguished Clay High School Alumni - Press Publications Inc.

Dariel Norris and Gene Pollard are competing for Position 2 of the King County Hospital District No. 4. The district comprises the cities of Snoqualmie, North Bend and Carnation, as well as unincorporated and rural areas nearby.

Norris has a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Washington and has the occupations of hospital registered nurse and small business owner. She has also served on the King County Parks Levy review board and the Snoqualmie Valley Community Network board.

Pollard has degrees from the University of California, Riverside and Occidental College. He also attended the Naval War College where he earned a diploma. Pollard is a retired foreign service officer, Navy commander, according to his candidate statement on the King County Auditors Office website.

Biggest health care problem facing Snoqualmie/the health care district?

Norris: I would say the ability to meet the specific health care needs of the local community. The 2016 Community Health Data Report identified the following issues for the Hospital district: access, cancer, heart and lung disease, mental health, smoking, substance abuse, diabetes, homelessness for adults and youth, all with serious health consequences.

Pollard: The major problem facing the district is the long-term indebtedness of $100 million, the greatest of any comparable hospital in the U.S. This didnt just happen overnight; it took years to accumulate. I attribute this to poor financial planning and incompetent policy making, especially by the hospital boards finance committee headed up by commissioners David Speikers and Dariel Norris. Committee meetings were briefly open to other commissioners and the public under former superintendent Tom Parker, who left a year ago to take a position with Mammoth Hospital in California. But now the committee has decided to again close its meetings, so financial decisions come to the board for rubber-stamping without dissenting opinion or transparent discussion.

How do we address this problem?

Norris: At present, the hospital district hasnt been able to reach out to the local community with supporting programs that aggressively address the above issues. Many who live in the district dont realize the hospital has clinics, physical therapy or an infusion program. Lab services as well as endoscopy and colonoscopies are available. We have an X-ray department with not only an Xx-ray machine but also MRI and CAT scan machines. In addition, we also have an infusion program. Even if your primary doctor isnt part of the Snoqualmie system, you can still have your test done close to home and have the results sent to your primary doctor. I believe the district needs to aggressively reach out to our local community, find ways to let them know what we have to offer. I would like to see programs such as nutrition classes from a dietitian or exercise classes from the physical therapy department. I would like the district to have support groups for those caring for family members with Alzheimers or dementia. I think day surgery and particularly orthopedics would be an asset for the community. Snoqualmie Valley Hospital has significant strengths. I sit on the quality committee. We get data that compares us with other local facilities. Based on the data we consistently do very well. If there is an issue, the staff addresses it immediately.

Pollard: Any organization $100 million in debt is in trouble by definition, especially where public money is involved. Whats needed is change change at the top in the finance committee, and in the position of the interim superintendent. The district needs to do a national search to identify a superintendent with prior success in hospital leadership, preferably including experience restoring financially-troubled hospitals. The district also needs greater transparency and accountability in district operations. For example, the proposal for a new hospital was pitched to the community on the basis that the old hospital would be sold for $30 million to the Snoqualmie Tribe and a new hospital would cost $38.6 million. That sounded reasonable, but then the district failed to demand payment when due. With $28.5 million still owed, the district discounted the sale price by half, thereby losing about $10 14 million. I voted against the discounting. Ive often been criticized for my No votes, but the fact is that if other commissioners had voted the way I have during my tenure, there would be no $100 million debt. Equally important to the success of this or any hospital is its communication with the public. The district is deficient. In fact, a local newspaper gave the hospital the grade of F in communicating with the public. Public information and advice on health issues have been missing, especially regarding preventative health. The public is uninformed about whats going at the hospital. They dont attend board meetings, held in the hospital basement, and there is essentially no media coverage. Importantly, the district needs to complete the Community Health Needs Assessment (CHNA) required by the Affordable Care Act and also by the IRS to justify the hospitals tax-exempt status. This is required every three years and must follow specific instructions. The districts 2016 CHNA was a quick and dirty copy of Overlake data and did not comply with the instructions. The 2019 CHNA is becoming overdue, which means the district will be out of compliance. An updated CHNA would assist the district in choosing and budgeting for health care priorities that would benefit the community.

In which direction do you foresee health care in the city/district moving?

Norris: Health care, in Snoqualmie and throughout the country, is struggling with payer models as well as a physician shortage which is growing daily. To meet the needs of Snoqualmie, we need to provide additional services. Services for the very young to the very old and everyone in between. The services need to be close to home and readily available.

Pollard: Because of the indebtedness, the district is now desperately seeking an affiliation, currently with Overlake Medical Center of Bellevue. Overlake is considering a short-term lease arrangement, perhaps five to seven years, which I dont consider viable. More importantly, I dont find Overlake to be a suitable partner. This is based on evaluations by national rating organizations, which dont list Overlake among the top six hospitals in the Puget Sound area. Its also based on my own experience as a patient at Overlake. The district has made many mistakes over the years (witness the debt). I feel that any decision to affiliate with Overlake, whereby this private hospital would take over all hospital operations, would be a historic mistake. It should be noted that Overlake would not bring one dime to the partnership, in contrast to the merger that occurred between Swedish Medical Center and Stevens Hospital in Edmunds. The Everett Herald reported that Swedish planned to invest as much as $90 million in that partnership over 10 years. In contrast, Snoqualmie would receive no funds from Overlake that might be used to help offset its long-term debt.

What are your budget priorities?

Norris: I was appointed to the finance committee six years ago. I was shocked to see some of the unnecessary extravagant expenditures. This is no longer the case. We have streamlined the executive staff. We have continued to budget with priorities in mind to reduce the debt while meeting the health care needs of the community. The present hospital was built with revenue bonds, not tax-backed dollars. The revenue bonds require a sizeable amount of cash on hand. Which we continue to maintain. The finance director suggested we invest those funds instead of letting them sit in the bank at a low interest rate. After a presentation, the chair of the finance committee, made a recommendation to invest those dollars. I believe this to be one of the most responsible choices and decisions the board of commissioners has made. We have also benchmarked as a way of discovering what is the best performance being achieved. This information can be used to identify gaps in an organizations processes in order to achieve a competitive advantage.

Pollard: My budget priority is to focus on austerity throughout the district. This includes looking at every position to make sure its really needed and properly compensated. I believe that some remain only because of the cronyism of prior administrations. A properly qualified new superintendent would be able to tighten things up and ensure the effective and economical operation of the district. Snoqualmie Valley Hospital and the Ridge Clinic belong to the taxpayers and residents of the district, not to hospital administrators or to the personal agendas of commissioners. Everyone associated with hospital governance and operations must remember they have a sacred trust to be good stewards of public funds.

Gene Pollard

Gene Pollard

View original post here:
Pollard and Norris in the race for Pos. 2 of the Public Hospital District 4 - Snoqualmie Valley Record

Dr. Mansour identifies two defining properties of stem cells: First, they can self-regenerate, meaning they divide and give rise to more regenerative cells of the same kind. Second, stem cells can mature or differentiate into specialized cells which carry out a specific function in the skin, muscle, or blood.

A major breakthrough in modern medicine revolves around the use of Umbilical Cord Stem cells. These powerful cells are injected into damaged tissues, ligaments, muscles and tendons, arthritic joints, or other tissues in an attempt to stimulate and accelerate healing.

Regenerative Medicine from Umbilical Cord Stem Cells in Macomb County

We were the first clinic in Michigan to offer umbilical cord stem cell injections as a holistic alternative to pain management and cell regeneration.

Dr. Mansour conducts monthly educational seminars and offers free one on one consultation, during which he reviews all imaging studies to determine if the patient is a candidate for stem cell therapy. For those who qualify, he offers a customized plan that is specific to each patient.

There is a wide range of conditions which may be treated with stem cells, including:

Joint Pain

Arthritis

Ligament Tears

Cartilage Tears

Meniscus Tears

Nerve Damage

Back Pain

And So Much More!

A Better Approach with Revolution Wellness

Are you suffering from constant discomfort, or diagnosed with a specific condition only to be told that medication or surgery are your only options? At Revolution Wellness, we believe otherwise. We use the innovative technology of stem cell therapy to treat discomfort and serious physical ailments.

Call our office today for more information about how we can get you on your way to living with less pain!

Read more:
Health Repair Damaged or Diseased Tissue with Stem Cell Injections 10:38 AM, Sep 28, 2019 - WXYZ

At 34, Noveel Pandya is an aspiring billionaire who has made it big right here in the UAE. Image Credit: Atiq Ur Rehman/Gulf News

Dubai: At 34, Noveel Pandya is a billionaire who has made it big right here in the UAE. While it would bealright to say he is more blessed than others his father, Narendra Pandya, ran an established business in the UAE before Noveel started Noveel is attempting to makea mark withhis own venture,Bioscience Clinic Middle East.

Senior Pandya runs a successful business House of Chemicals (HOC) - as a distributor of specialty and commodity chemicals for key suppliers especially in businesses such as oil drilling, refineries, gas plants, lubricant plants, water treatment for desalination plants and sewage treatment.

Pandya,Noveels father,also started another company BDH with an expertise in supply, installation, commissioning and maintenance of all laboratory equipment and furniture.

We are pretty much the turnkey laboratory projects expert, said Noveel, in an interview with Gulf News at his house in Emirates Hills.

But Noveels babyBioscience Clinic Middle East a center offering regenerative medicine and personalised autologous cell therapies brings him much pride and cheer. Premium services of the company include cryopreservation and expansion of cells used for anti-aging treatments, aesthetic and plastic surgery, wound care and for dermatological imperfections.

Starting from the bottom up

With a family-run business, it was perhaps a given for Noveel to become a businessman himself and run his fathers mantle.

But this was not achievedbefore he had to work his way up to the top.

In fact I started from bottom low. There was no way my father was going to have me take over peoples jobs in the company who had put in years of hard work. So there was a huge process of learning one that taught me humility and gratitude for the people who are part of our team, he said.

Noveels father came to work in the UAE in the early 70s. He said, From the stories I hear from him - there were many challenges and struggles he faced. In fact, lots of people who came with him to work in the UAE returned home.

It wasn't handed on a platter

Before jumping to the conclusion that he had it all easy,Noveel had to prove his capabilities just like any employee of the firm and had to work his way up the ladder.

There was no way my father was going to let me work above all those people who had put in so many years of service. From 2007 until 2011 it was all about learning and observation.

Take this: From the time Noveel completed his MBA in London in 2011 to join the family, he has helped the family business grow by a 100 per cent year on year.

Noveel said, BDH for example was making Dh35 million in 2007, but today, it is making over Dh140 million.

As for his own venture, there is massive potential for Bioscience Clinic Middle East as the stem cell venture business for the MENA region is tipped to be around $2 billion.

According to a report published in April 2019, the global stem cell market size is expected to reach $15.63 billion by 2025.

Today, we have little competition in the MENA region, so as you can see, there is a massive potential to grow.

Reverse-aging with stem cell therapy

Noveel said typically a client would reach out to a clinic to undergo a full scan and evaluation. A consultation with specialised doctors follows. Once the evaluation is done and the patient passes the test to become a candidate for the stem cell venture project, the doctor executes a plan to extract fat from the persons body.

This fat stores stem cells and we extract it from the fat. We have advanced technology in place to do the job for this. The stem cells derived are stored in vials and frozen, he explained.

The stem cells are multiplied to a couple of hundred million or sometimes a billion in order to produce the required volume.

Noveel said: When the stem cells are frozen they stop the ageing process of the cells. This means it effectively helps reverse-age a person. If someone at the age of 30 comes to us and asks us to freeze their cells. We do it. The person can always come back ten or 15 years later to rejuvenate their skin, hair or any part of their body.

"Just imagine at 45 or 50, this person wants to rejuvenate their skin. What we will do is inject their cells which were frozen when they were 30. When these cells are injected, they will leave the person with a skin looking as young as 30.

Stem cell therapy is said to be the most natural way to rejuvenate your skin, body and cells. The concept is called autologous which means it is your own cells which go into your body - not that of siblings or parents. Basically it is your own cells which are injected to the body and it is the most natural way to rejuvenate your body and skin.

How long does it take for the body to rejuvenate?

It depends on the body type, the persons lifestyle, food habits and more. This can take from a couple of weeks to a whole month. Remember, this is not an overnight fix. In fact treatments that come with overnight fixes can be very dangerous. Anything that has a drastic effect on your body is not good at all, explained Noveel.

We have seen fine lines or wrinkles disappearing in seven to 15 days after the cells were injected. The effect of the cell injected can last up to a year or over a year. But it all depends on the body type. Remember, your body can never reject your own cells it always accepts its cells.

Our clients are people from the age 18 and above. People who use alternative treatments come to us. I had a 63-year-old man come in from India saying they wanted their stem cells extracted.

Screening process

When a person comes there is a screening process that goes in. Upon successfully passing the screening process, other factors expel candidates like those who are typically heavy smokers or people with certain existing medical conditions.

If a client has a virus present in the body, that would drastically effect the quality of cells. If the quality of cells we get right in the beginning is poor the effect will not be desirable for them. Similarly, if the person is diagnosed with some STDs, certain terminal illness, we do not recommend them to store their cells.

Package cost

An initial package offered by Bioscience Clinic Middle East is close to Dh15,000 which includes a consultation, cell extraction, one year storage of stem cells and application. The application can be used anytime. One is not forced to use it immediately.

We are the only business in the region offering such services, Noveel claimed.

Business investment

Noveel said he invested 5 million euros in Bioscience Clinic Middle East.

This money went in for the facilitation of the lab, the treatment, and consultation, hiring skilled professionals and setting up class clean rooms for storing stem cells. Remember we are talking about a niche industry and a very niche product. The investment is for this.

Challenges as a millennial

There is a definite need to make an effort to be heard. Sometimes we are not taken seriously and that is the only challenge I see for myself today. But never give up. Keep dreaming and have the zest to grow. Patience is a virtue that we millennials need to build. Success does not come overnight. For example, my break-even did not happen for long. But I kept at my dreams and went after my goals. This is critical, Noveel said

Here is the original post:
Meet Noveel Pandya: Indian multi-millionaire whose stem cell venture project is the talk of town - Gulf News

When it comes to establishing a skincare routine, its not always straight forward. Long gone are the days of simply cleansing, toning and moisturising. We often hear words like peptides, retinol, vitamin C, acids and serums. But what do they all mean? But more importantly which product goes first?

One rule of thumb to guide you is to apply skincare products in order of their consistency, the thinnest first finishing with the thickest. But, its not just about knowing which order to apply them, its also important to know what products you need to use and how often to use them.

According to Dr Anita Sturnham, who specialises in dermatology, our skin has a 24-hour circadian rhythm, meaning that its anatomical and physiological needs change from AM to PM. In the day your skin needs protection from external factors like sunlight and pollution, in the evening its repairing itself. Which is why you need different products for different times of the day.

Its also important not to mix certain ingredients like exfoliating treatments and vitamin C together, otherwise they can counteract one and other.

Confused much?

To save you some serious head scratching, we have put together this clear, step by step guide on which order to apply your skincare products to take out the guess work for you.

AM routine:

As youve removed your makeup the night before, begin by using a light cleanser to clear the remnants of any skincare products or excess oils left on the skin. Your morning cleanser should be gentle, hydrating and non-abrasive.

Shop now Glossier Milky Jelly Cleanser, Glossier.com, 15

Shop now CeraVe SA Smoothing Cleanser, Feelunique.com, 12

Shop now L'Occitane Gel-To-Foam Cleanser, Debenhams.com, 19

Shop now La Roche-Posay Toleriane Dermo-Cleanser, Feelunique.com, 12.50

Next, use a water-based toner to help rebalance the skins PH levels and prepare your skin for your serum and moisturiser.

Shop now Dr Barbara Sturm Balancing Toner, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 45

Shop now Neal's Yard Rejuvenating Frankincense Toner, Feelunique.com, 20

Shop now Fresh Rose Deep Hydration Facial Toner, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 21

Shop now Caudale Beauty Elixir, Lookfantastic.com, 12

Follow by using an eye cream. Its important to use a separate eye cream because the skin around the eye area is a lot thinner and more sensitive than the rest of face. This is why its more prone to ageing over time, so using a hydrating eye cream rich in ingredients like hyaluronic acid and peptides help to boost collagen levels in the under eye area.

Shop now Vichy Minral 89 Eyes, Feelunique.com, 20

Shop now Clinique Moisture Surge Eye Concentrate, Lookfantastic.com, 27.50

Shop now Avne Soothing Eye Contour Cream, Lookfantastic.com, 9.50

Shop now Drunk Elephant C-Tango Multivitamin Eye Cream, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 54

Hyaluronic Acid is a key skincare ingredient which can be used by all skin types, according to Dr Sturnham: hyaluronic acid helps to provide structure to our cells and supports our skins hydration barriers. This extra hydration therefore helps to plump to the skin, minimising the appearance of fine lines.

In order to reap the maximum benefits, Dr Sturnham recommends applying hyaluronic acid in small layers throughout your morning and evening skincare routine, as well as using as a separate serum.

Shop now The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5, Lookfantastic.com, 5.90

Shop now SkinCeuticals H.A. Intensifier, Lookfantastic.com, 85

Shop now Evolve Organic Beauty Hyaluronic Serum, Feelunique.com, 12

Shop now The Inkey List Hyaluronic Acid, Feelunique.com, 5.99

A serum is designed to penetrate the deeper dermal layers of your skin and nourish it with a variety of skin protective ingredients. Layering serums can also be effective to adapt your skincare routine to your specific skin needs.

Dr Sturnham recommends layering serums that have these key ingredients to promote healthy skin throughout the day:

Vitamin C - Vitamin C is an essential nutrient rich ingredient that should be used daily in your skincare routine. Our skin has built in receptors for Vitamin C says Dr Sturnham, which is why it is key to ensure we get our daily skincare fix of it. Vitamin C has many benefits such as improving skin tone, protecting the skin against pollution and UV damage, boosting cell repair and giving the skin a radiant look.

Panthenol (Vitamin B5) - Panthenol otherwise known as Vitamin B5 is an ingredient that helps to soften and soothe the skin by helping (repetition of skin) protect against irritation and water loss.

Ferulic Acid - Ferulic Acid is an antioxidant which helps to boost the effects of other antioxidants used in serums. It also helps to reduce signs of ageing like fine lines and wrinkles.

Shop now Decree Peptide Veil +, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 115

Shop now Paula's Choice C15 Super Booster, Lookfantastic.com, 46

Shop now Medik8 Hydr8 B5, Facethefuture.com, 32

Shop now The Ordinary Vitamin C Suspension 23% + HA Spheres 2%, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 4.90

Once you have applied your serum and given it time to absorb into the skin, it is then time to apply a moisturiser. This helps to hydrate your skin throughout the day and creates a smooth base for makeup. Dr Sturnham recommends non pore-clogging ingredients like safflower, apricot kernel and squalene.

Shop now Kate Somerville Goat Milk, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 55

Shop now Clinique Dramatically Different Hydrating Jelly, Feelunique.com, 31

Shop now Glossier Priming Moisturiser, Glossier.com, 18

Finish by using an SPF (Sun Protection Factor) to protect your skin against UV damage. UV damage causes signs of premature ageing such as wrinkling and pigmentation. Experts recommend using an SPF30 or higher on your face to deliver optimum UV protection.

Shop now REN Clean Screen Mineral SPF 30, Lookfantastic.com, 30

Shop now Kiehl's Ultra Light Daily UV Defense, Feelunique.com, 28

Shop now Vichy Ideal Soleil Mattifying Face Fluid Dry Touch SPF30, Feelunique.com. 16.50

Shop now SkinCeuticals Ultra Facial Defense SPF50+, Lookfantastic.com, 37

PM routine

For your evening cleanser use something with more active ingredients that has an exfoliation to it and that is deep pore cleansing. If you are wearing makeup and SPF during the day, we recommend double cleansing: using a balm or oil based cleanser first to breakdown the makeup and excess oil and following with a gentle, hydrating gel cleanser.

Shop now Emma Hardie Amazing Face Moringa Cleansing Balm, Lookfantastic.com, 47

Shop now The Body Shop Oils of Life Cleansing Oil-in-Gel, Thebodyshop.com, 12

Shop now Decree Deep Cleanse, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 55

Shop now DHC Deep Cleansing Oil, Feelunique.com, 11

Once again follow with a toner to balance your skins PH levels and prep your skin for your serum and moisturiser. You can also opt to use an acid toner two to three times a week depending on your skin type. Look for ingredients like glycolic acid, lactic acid and mandelic acid which will exfoliate the skin and even texture.

Shop now Dr Dennis Gross Alpha Beta Ultra Gentle Daily Peel, Lookfantastic.com, 87

Shop now Pixi Glow Tonic, Lookfantastic.com, 18

Shop now Nip & Fab Glycolic Fix Daily Cleansing Pads, Lookfantastic.com, 12.95

Shop now Paula's Choice 2% BHA Liquid Exfoliant, Lookfantastic.com, 28

If you are really invested in fighting signs of ageing and those pesky fine lines, retinol is the way to go. Otherwise known as vitamin A, retinol is a rich ingredient which helps to fight signs of ageing at a deep cellular level. It helps to promote the production of collagen and elastin, reduce pore congestion, regulate the production of sebum and work against inflammation.

There are many options for retinol on the market, but Dr Sternham recommends using retinol into your skincare routine in the form of a serum. Look for words like: granactive Retinoid or hydroxypinacolone retinoate which are less harsh on the skin.

Use it in small doses every night after cleansing and toning before applying your moisturiser and built up gradually. Make sure that you always use an SPF in your morning routine, as retinol will make your skin more photosensitive.

Shop now Medik8 Crystal Retinal 1, Facethefuture.com, 39

Shop now Elizabeth Arden Retinol Ceramide Capsules, Lookfantastic.com, 42

Shop now Drunk Elephant A-Passioni Retinol Cream, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 62

Shop now Disciple Dreamy Skin, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 35

Like your AM routine, follow up with an eye cream to the orbital bone area. We recommend saving yourself some money and opting for the same one morning and night.

Add a serum to your PM skincare routine like you would before a moisturiser in the day. Dr Sturnham advises to look for ingredients that support your skins physiological needs at night. Pay attention to how your skin is feeling, is your skin dry? Is it showing signs of pigmentation? Is your skin feeling congested? Look for serums that will address the particular needs of your skin and that ideally have a variety of skin benefiting ingredients. Dr Sturnham recommends ingredients like alpha arbutin, hyaluronic acid and plant-based stem cells.

Shop now Kate Somerville KX Active Concentrates Ceramides & Omegas, Spacenk.com, 84

Shop now Bybi Supercharge Serum, Feelunique.com, 32

Shop now The Ordinary Alpha Arbutin 2& + HA, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 7

Shop now Glossier Super Bounce, Glossier.com, 24

For your evening moisturiser use one with a slightly richer, thicker consistency than you would during the day to hydrate dehydrated skin.

Shop now Trilogy Replenishing Night Cream, Lookfantastic.com, 32.50

Shop now Herbivore Moon Fruit Night Treatment, Cultbeauty.co.uk, 48

Shop now CeraVe Moisturising Lotion, Lookfantastic.com, 9

Always Remember

-Avoid using exfoliating or foaming cleansers followed by alcohol-based toners, as this will dry out skin, making it prone to sensitivity.

-Take your time to apply each product, allow each layer to absorb into the skin before applying the next one.

-Use your treatment products in order of their consistency from lightest to thickness.

-Avoid mixing water-based and oil-based products in your same skincare regime.

-Keep your cleansing routine simple on a daily basis and reserve the more intensive exfoliation routine for once a week.

-Avoid using intensive exfoliators with Vitamin C.

Follow Emily on Instagram.

Originally posted here:
This is the correct order to apply your skincare products - cosmopolitan.com

Scroll To See More Images

Its safe to say that we are in a total German state of mind lately. And now that Oktoberfest is here, we are more than appreciative of the delicious international fare the season always brings. However, wed be foolish not to reflect on the awesomeness that is German beauty brands this month, especially since it seems to be having a major moment in 2019.

And while you may be trying to picture just how G-Beauty could ever dethrone the beauty behemoth that is K-Beauty, Martina Joseph, CEO of German brand Dr. Hauschka USA, explains that the German beauty scene is here to stay, especially since it has a strong emphasis on high-quality products and standards. Germany has a brilliant reputation for quality products and quality standards, says Joseph. The consumer is recognizing the value proposition of clean ingredients, and are seeking clean, sustainable, and responsible products.

And clean beauty factor aside, theres no denying that G-beauty is also popular due to its kind international appeal. Besides, we all know how popular French girl beauty still is to this day. To help you say hallo to the best German beauty brands, we rounded up nine skincare and makeup companies worth keeping on your radar. From drugstore-favorites to luxurious brands worth investing in, check out our top brand picks just in time for Oktoberfest below.

Dr. Hauschka may have an impressive roster of celebrity fans (including starlets like Anne Hathaway and Julia Roberts) to brag about, but its definitely for good reason, as this German skin-care brand utilizes natural ingredients to help improve the performance of your skin.

And aside from the cleansing, moisturizing, and nighttime needs the brand offers, its worth mentioning that Dr. Hauschkas toning products are equally exceptional. Dr. Hauschkas original facial toner, for example, is nothing short of a skin-care superstar, as it utilizes a potent blend of anthyllis and witch hazel extracts to gently clarify the skin.

$37 at Dermstore

Created by German dermatologist Dr. Tim Golueke, this luxurious line of anti-aging products has already found some firm footing in the states, as its currently sold at retailers like Bergdorf Goodman. But, dont let its hefty price tag fool you into thinking its just another cash grab, as this revolutionary brand utilizes unique ingredient Royal Fern (an extremely moisturizing evergreen plant thats also resistant to environmental influences) to combat skin aging on all levels.

The brands anti-aging anti-aging serum definitely uses a special Royal Fern Complex (plus hyaluronic acid and vitamin C from Acerola cherry) to protect the skin against genetic and environmental stress, making it a must for those who are looking to add an anti-aging alternative to retinol to their routine.

$295 at Violet Grey

This German skin-care brand is definitely a clean beauty enthusiasts dream, as each product contains minimally processed ingredients that dont contain preservatives, solvents, and surfactants. And while we are very impressed by Less amazing line of hairbrushes, theres no denying that the brands skin-care essentials are a must-see.

The Less Face Oil for Dry Skin, is one of the products we cant stop talking about, as it utilizes a blend of avocado, jojoba, and apricot oils for supple and moisturized skin.

$72 at Less

Seoul isnt the only authority on sheet masks now that this German skin-care brand has entered the fold, as it also delivers budget-friendly products that address all your skin woes. And sheet masks aside, Magicstripes has also unveiled some eye-raising products that have garnered media here in the United States. The brands eyelid lifting strips, for example, have been featured in outlets like Allure, making it something to see for yourself, should you be curious.

However, if sheet masks are practically your main squeeze, you really cant go wrong with this hyaluronic acid-infused product, as it leaves your skin feeling oh-so-hydrated in a matter of minutes.

$15.52 at MagicStripes

Combining revolutionary science with biological wisdom, this line of products was developed by German-born professor Augustinus Bader, who is globally recognized as one of the leading voices in regenerative medicine. And what makes this line of products unique is the innovative science behind it, as professor Bader studied how to perfect the skins healing process for up to 30 years. This same research ultimately led him to discover how to unlock the signals that trigger ones own stem cells.

Professor Bader initially applied his research to develop a special wound gel for severe burn victims. However, since the gel delivered remarkable results, it then inspired a full line of skin and body products to support the skins natural healing process. The anti-aging Augustinus Bader Body Cream is definitely one of the major highlights of this skin-care collection, as it drenches dehydrated skin in essential moisture.

$165 at Augustinus Bader

Hailing all the way from Frankfurt, this German beauty brand boasts an impressive line of high-quality brushes, palettes, lipsticks, and foundation products. However, you dont have to be based in Germany to score ZOEVA products, as the brands Authentik Skin Foundation is set to debut at Ulta later this month.

And unlike some drying foundations on this market, expect this rosehip oil-infused product to leave your skin feeling silky smooth upon application.

$28 at Ulta

NIVEA surprisingly has some strong German roots, as the brand was founded in 1882 by German physicist Paul Carl Beiserdorf. And while NIVEA products are definitely found abroad, youll love to know that they are pretty easy to find here in the states as well.

Drugstores like CVS and Walgreens, for example, actively carry Nivea products, making them an absolute must if you are looking to give your skin the TLC it deserves.But, if you are a newbie to the brand, we strongly recommend investing in the brands highly moisturizing cucumber body wash.

$6.49 at CVS

Founded by German aesthetics doctor, this sophisticated line of skin-care products (think creams, serums, and facial scrubs) has gained quite the celebrity fanbase. However, starpower isnt the only thing thats driving Dr. Barbara Sturms popularity onward and upward, as its innovative ingredient science is also worth buzzing about.

Apart of that science includes focusing on utilizing unique and powerful ingredients, as the brands full skincare range utilizes Purslane, an anti-aging powerhouse that helps calm down inflammation. If you are extra curious about adding Purslane to your routine, trust that Dr. Sturms new Skin Food supplement definitely uses this superstar ingredient (plus other skin-boosting antioxidants!) to help rehabilitate and protect your complexion.

$95 at Sephora

This affordable beauty brand also has some German roots, as its earliest origins stem back to 2004, when it was founded by Christina Oster-Daum. Flashforward to 2019, and its safe to say that Catrice has become nothing short of a global sensation, as its line of affordable makeup products can easily be found at American beauty retailers like Ulta.

Catrices HD Liquid Coverage Foundation surely is a product to consider if you are looking for affordable foundations, as it retails for just $10.99, and delivers long-lasting coverage.

$10.99 at Ulta

Our mission at STYLECASTER is to bring style to the people, and we only feature products we think youll love as much as we do. Please note that if you purchase something by clicking on a link within this story, we may receive a small commission of the sale.

Read more here:
German Beauty Brands to Try This Oktoberfest and Beyond - STYLECASTER

KEY POINTS

Although graft-versus-host disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, involvement of the central nervous system in this disease is uncommon.

In patients with a previous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation presenting with neurologic manifestations, central nervous system graft-versus-host disease should be on the differential diagnosis.

Diagnosis of central nervous system graft-versus-host disease relies on exclusion of other infectious, autoimmune, vascular, drug-related and paraneoplastic processes, along with compatible imaging and histopathologic findings.

The primary treatment of central nervous system graft-versus-host disease is immunosuppression with high-dose corticosteroids.

A 68-year-old man presented to the emergency department with a 1-week history of sudden-onset myoclonus of his right leg. His medical history included allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation for myelodysplastic syndrome performed 742 days earlier, type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension and dyslipidemia. The patient had undergone a 9/10 unrelated human leukocyte antigen (HLA) donor transplantation, and after transplantation, his myelodysplastic syndrome was in complete remission and he had complete donor engraftment. On presentation, he was receiving methotrexate (10 mg by mouth weekly) for large granular lymphocytosis and acyclovir (400 mg by mouth twice daily) for herpes simplex virus prophylaxis. A detailed neurologic examination on presentation showed a right-sided pyramidal distribution of weakness and a stimulus-sensitive, spontaneous positive myoclonus, present in the right leg more than the arm, and absent in the face. Deep tendon reflexes were brisk on the right side.

Given this patients history of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and relative immunosuppression with methotrexate, the differential diagnosis was broad and included central nervous system infections, central nervous system relapse of his primary malignancy, metabolic derangements, paraneoplastic process, microangiopathy, central nervous system vasculitis, toxicity related to immunosuppressive agents, and central nervous system graft-versus-host disease. On further history, it was noted that he received a reduced intensity conditioning transplantation with fludarabine, busulfan and total body irradiation of 200 Gy. His graft-versus-host disease prophylaxis was with anti-thymocyte globulin, and posttransplantation cyclophosphamide and cyclosporine.1

The patient was admitted to the internal medicine service, and neurology was consulted, given his neurologic findings. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) of the brain showed multiple scattered T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery hyperintense, non-enhancing, mildly expansile, cortical and subcortical lesions in both cerebral hemispheres, with no associated restricted diffusion (Figure 1AD).

Axial magnetic resonance imaging of the brain in a 68-year-old man with myoclonus after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Pretreatment (A) T2-weighted fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR), (B) T1-weighted postgadolinium, (C) diffusion-weighted and (D) apparent diffusion coefficient mapping images showing multiple scattered cortical and subcortical non-enhancing T2 and FLAIR hyperintense lesions (arrowheads) throughout the supratentorial brain. The lesions did not show restricted diffusion by diffusion-weighted imaging and apparent diffusion coefficient mapping. Posttreatment with corticosteroids, (E) T2-weighted FLAIR, (F) T1-weighted postgadolinium, (G) diffusion-weighted and (H) apparent diffusion coefficient mapping images show resolution of lesions.

Over the following days, the patient had a rapid neurologic deterioration. He became nonverbal, and his only preserved motor function was smooth pursuit eye movements. Given this rapid progressive encephalopathy, the patient was treated empirically for viral encephalitis with acyclovir (800 mg intravenously every 8 hours). Despite this treatment, the patients clinical condition did not improve. Lumbar puncture showed a protein level of 0.53 (normal 0.20.45) g/L, a glucose level of 3.7 (normal 2.54.5) mmol/L and no pleocytosis. Microbiological and molecular analysis did not show any evidence of causative infectious pathogens; the analysis included an extensive panel of bacterial, viral (EpsteinBarr virus, cytomegalovirus, polyomavirus, varicella zoster, herpes simplex, human herpesvirus 6, rubella, measles, West Nile virus and arbovirus), parasitic (toxoplasmosis), prion (CreutzfeldtJakob disease) and fungal (Cryptococcus) infections. Electroencephalography showed diffuse slow wave activity corresponding to nonspecific encephalopathy but did not show any epileptogenic focus. There was no evidence of malignant cells on cerebrospinal fluid cytopathology and flow cytometry. A vasculitis panel including cytoplasmic antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (c-ANCA), perinuclear ANCA (p-ANCA), antinuclear antibodies, anti-double stranded DNA, C3, and C4 was negative. Testing for antibodies for paraneoplastic syndrome was negative. Methotrexate-induced leukoencephalopathy, classically seen in patients receiving high-dose methotrexate, especially intrathecally, was included in the differential diagnosis. However, the patients MRI findings were inconsistent owing to sparing of the centrum semiovale, as well as a lack of restricted diffusion.2 Furthermore, his symptoms persisted despite discontinuation of methotrexate.

Given worsening of the patients clinical condition and radiographic findings despite 10 days of treatment with intravenous acyclovir, a brain biopsy of the left frontal parietal cortical lesion involving both grey and white matter was performed. This showed perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate (Figure 2A). Luxol fast blue stains showed the absence of demyelination (Figure 2B). There was evidence of microglial activation involving the neuropil and perivascular spaces, highlighted by CD163 immunostains (Figure 2C). A sparse CD3 positive T lymphocyte perivascular infiltrate was present, without direct infiltration of the vessel wall (Figure 2D). There were no CD20 positive B lymphocytes. The pathologic findings of perivascular infiltrate were consistent with literature reports of central nervous system graft-versus-host disease. Investigations looking for other sites of involvement including liver enzymes, cutaneous examination and endoscopy, although not exhaustive, did not show graft-versus-host disease of other organs.

Histopathologic images of the patients frontal cortex biopsy. (A) Hematoxylin and eosin staining showing sparse perivascular lymphocytic infiltrate in the white matter (arrowheads). (B) Luxol fast blue staining showing the absence of demyelination. (C) Perivascular activated microglia as shown by CD163 staining (arrowheads). (D) T lymphocytes infiltrating perivascular spaces (black arrowhead) and the neuropil (green arrowhead) as shown by CD3 staining. Scale bar = 200 m.

Even with this extensive workup, the patients diagnosis was unclear. It was imperative that infectious causes were considered and ruled out, which we had done. Given the patients clinical deterioration, a presumptive diagnosis of central nervous system graft-versus-host disease was made, and an empirical course of corticosteroid pulse was started (methylprednisolone 150 mg/d intravenously). Clinical improvement was rapid, and by day 3 of corticosteroid therapy, the patient was able to move his limbs and vocalize. He continued to improve and was ambulatory within 2 weeks of treatment. Repeat MRI showed resolution of many of the lesions (Figure 1EH). The patients dosage was subsequently tapered, and he was transitioned to maintenance prednisone (60 mg/d by mouth) and azathioprine (75 mg/d by mouth).

Unfortunately, recurrent infections developed while the patient was receiving immunosuppressive treatment. Three months later, as his prednisone was tapered, he again had a flare of neurologic symptoms, and MRI showed worsening of the lesions. The patients goals of care were changed to comfort measures, and he died 927 days after the transplantation and around 195 days after onset of the central nervous system symptoms.

Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is a life-saving treatment for many hematologic diseases. Graft-versus-host disease is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality after allogenic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.3 Between 30% and 50% of patients will develop graft-versus-host disease, whereby the donated tissue (the graft) recognizes the recipient (the host) as foreign and mounts a T cellmediated immune response.4 The clinical manifestations vary, as multiple organs can be affected.

Classification of graft-versus-host disease has traditionally been divided into acute and chronic, depending on the onset of symptoms within or beyond 100 days, respectively. However, recent criteria consider overlap syndromes with increased emphasis on clinical features rather than timing of symptom onset alone.5,6 Central nervous system graft-versus-host disease is a rare but emerging entity after allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, probably in part because the number of hematopoietic stem cell transplantations has risen.79

Although chronic graft-versus-host disease can affect any organ, the skin, gastrointestinal tract, liver, joints, fascia and lungs are most frequently affected. Signs and symptoms of graft-versus-host disease relate to the organs of involvement, including maculopapular rash, hyperbilirubinemia with jaundice, and abdominal pain with either nausea and vomiting or diarrhea.4 With such broad-ranging clinical features, diagnosis relies on the assessment of target organs by means of clinical, laboratory and pathological findings. Important risk factors include compatibility of recipient and donor, including degree of HLA mismatch, sex of donor and recipient, use of peripheral-blood stem cell grafts and the conditioning regimen used. Criteria from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) help in defining and stratifying chronic graft-versus-host disease.10 Because of the rarity of cases, central nervous system graft-versus-host disease is not defined in the NIH criteria.

Neurologic involvement (first documented nearly 3 decades ago11) is rare, and graft-versus-host disease afflicting both the central and peripheral nervous system has been described in the literature.79 Symptoms involving the central nervous system are often nonspecific and can include headaches, altered mental status, seizures and paresis.

In a recent case report and review, Ruggiu and colleagues reported a total of 39 presumed cases of central nervous system graft-versus-host disease, with a median patient age of 35 (range 0.6768) years and a median duration of symptomatic presentation of 385 (range 77320) days after transplant.8 In this case series, which is limited by a lack of histopathology in more than half of the patients, those presenting with central nervous system disease without other chronic features of graft-versus-host disease presented earlier and in most cases had a history of acute graft-versus-host disease.8

Our patient did not present with evidence of extracentral nervous system graft-versus-host disease. This may be owing to the newer conditioning regimen he was given, immunosuppression, or other underlying medical diagnoses and comorbidities. Our current lack of understanding of the clinical course of patients with central nervous system graft-versus-host disease highlights the importance of further research into identifying risk factors, developing better diagnostic tools and finding new strategies for prevention.

The diagnosis of central nervous system graft-versus-host disease is complicated by conflicting differential diagnoses that can be challenging to exclude, such as infection, drug and radiation toxicity, and primary disease metastasis. As such, a combination of microbiologic and laboratory studies, and radiographic and histopathologic findings are required for the workup.

Given these diagnostic challenges, the 2009 Consensus Conference on Clinical Practice in chronic graft-versus-host disease defined the neurologic manifestations of the disease.5 This definition included the following criteria: 1) occurrence with chronic graft-versus-host disease affecting other organs, 2) neurologic signs of central nervous system involvement without other explanation, 3) corresponding MRI brain abnormality, 4) abnormal cerebrospinal fluid findings, 5) brain biopsy or postmortem examination confirming graft-versus-host disease and 6) response to immunosuppressive therapy.5 Criteria 1 and 2 are considered mandatory requirements in the diagnosis of central nervous system graft-versus-host disease, whereas criteria 36 are facultative requirements. A definitive diagnosis can be made when all 6 criteria are met, and a possible diagnosis can be made when both mandatory criteria and at least 2 facultative requirements are met.

Our patient met all the criteria according to this consensus definition except the first (occurrence with chronic graft-versus-host disease affecting other organs). Interestingly, the case series by Ruggiu and colleagues showed that 28% of patients did not have extracentral nervous system features of chronic graft-versus-host disease, although most of these patients did have a history of extracentral nervous system acute graft-versus-host disease.8

Despite immunosuppressive treatment, central nervous system graft-versus-host disease portends a poor prognosis. Prior case series show that even though 70% of patients who received treatment with corticosteroids showed at least a partial response, only 18% of patients were alive at last follow-up.8

This case highlights the importance of the late central nervous system complications of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation, the challenges with diagnosis and the role of timely immunosuppressive therapy. Though concepts regarding central nervous system graft-versus-host disease continue to evolve, it is important to keep as a differential diagnosis in patients with noninfectious neurologic complications who have undergone hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

The authors acknowledge the contributions of Russell Yanofsky, Sunu Cyriac, David G. Munoz and Auro Viswabandya.

Competing interests: None declared.

This article has been peer reviewed.

The authors have obtained patient consent.

Contributors: The authors all contributed substantially to the conception of this work, including acquisition, analysis and interpretation of raw patient data in the form of clinical examination findings or laboratory investigations on the patient. All authors were substantially involved in drafting and editing the work, including substantial contributions in their respective areas of expertise and in review of the contributions of the other authors. All authors give their final approval of the version to be published and agree to be accountable for all aspects of this work.

The rest is here:
Central nervous system graft-versus-host disease in a 68-year-old man presenting with myoclonus - CMAJ

Greys Anatomy, NCIS, The Voice, and other top shows have been promoting their season premieres for the past few weeks. ABCs hit reality show Shark Tank kicks off Season 11 this Sunday, September 29, with the infamous Mr. Wonderful putting a little bait in the water for viewers.

This season is already gearing up to showcase competitive waters, with several new and returning guest sharks. Among them are three women who have launched massively successful businesses and are now making their first venture in the tank.

Anne Wojcicki, CEO andco-founder of 23andMe,graduated from Yale University and became a Wall Street analyst. The business owner left finance to start medical school before she co-founded her now highly successful genetics company.

Katrina Lake, founder andCEO of Stitch Fix, created her company in 2011 with the goal of providing consumers with an innovative way to find their ideal clothes,according to ABC News. She succeeded, where now more than 3 million people utilize her styling service.

Known for her powerful athleticism on the court, world-renowned tennis champ Sharapova is also a savvy business owner. Creating thepremium candy line Sugarpova, the tennis star is an advocate of women in business, investing in several female-owned companies and mentoring women entrepreneurs.

In addition to the fierce females in the tank,founder and executive of KIND Daniel Lubetzkywill also be joining the sharks, making his first appearance in the season premiere.

Millionaire investor and fixture on Shark Tank Kevin OLeary, also facetiously called Mr. Wonderful, has landed some of the shows most successful deals. Known for his brash demeanor and love of all things money related, OLeary is extremely selective with which entrepreneurs he will partner.

So its all the more tantalizing for his followers to see his latest tweet promoting the shows premiere. Were baaack kiddies! @ABCSharkTank premieres THIS SUNDAY, OLeary posted on Twitter. I cant tell you much, but I make what could be my favorite deal in Shark History in the first episode! You dont want to miss this. #noseriously#setyourPVR.

Fans of the show realize that any deal that ranks as a favorite of Mr. Wonderful means the potential to make big profits, though the Shark Tank investor is always aware of risk. Ive had many, many successes on Shark Tank and many, many failures, he told CNBC last year. Thats the nature of venture investing.

Last month, the millionaire business owner made news due to a boating crash involving him and his wife Linda on Lake Joseph in Ontario, Canada. Two people were killed and three injured.

Late Saturday night I was a passenger in a boat that had a tragic collision with another craft that had no navigation lights on and then fled the scene of the accident, OLeary said in a statement on August 28,according to Us Weekly. I am fully cooperating with authorities. Out of respect for the families who have lost loved ones and to fully support the ongoing investigation, I feel it is inappropriate to make further comments at this time. My thoughts are with all the families affected.

Earlier this week, Linda OLeary was charged with Careless Operation of a Vessel following an investigation by the Ontario Provincial Police, according to Entertainment Tonight. She is scheduled to appear in the Provincial Offences Court in Parry Sound, Ontario,on October 29.

Now that the authorities have concluded their thorough investigation, I have no further comment other than to say that our thoughts and prayers are with the friends and families of those who lost loved ones in this awful tragedy, a spokesperson for OLeary told Entertainment Tonight. Our hearts go out to them.

The outcome of the October court date is sure to be detailed in upcoming news headlines.

See original here:
'Shark Tank's' Kevin O'Leary Just Teased the Show's Season Premiere With This Interesting Tweet - Showbiz Cheat Sheet

Fordecades, it has been known that the mutations in the tumor suppressor genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 are associated with high risks of breast and ovarian cancer,but a new prospective cohort study provides the strongest evidence to date thatthese mutations are associated with the development of prostate cancer (PCa).

TheBRCA2 mutation appears to be morestrongly associated with PCa development than the BRCA1 mutation. In addition, the increased risk of PCa varies byfamily history of the malignancy and the location of the mutation within thegenes.

Ourstudy is unique in that we have recruited healthy men across the UK and Irelandwho have hereditary BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, and then followed themprospectively for up to 17 years to see if they would develop prostate cancer,said corresponding author Tommy Nyberg, a PhD candidate at the Centre forCancer Genetic Epidemiology at the University of Cambridge in the UK.

Thestudy, which was published in EuropeanUrology, included 376 male BRCA1 mutationcarriers and 447 male BRCA2 mutation carrierswho were identified in clinical genetics centers in the United Kingdom and Ireland.Of these, 16 BRCA1 and 26 BRCA2carriers were diagnosed with PCa during follow-up. Nyberg and his colleagues foundthat the risk of PCa is more strongly influenced by BRCA2 than BRCA1 mutations.The BRCA2 mutation is associated witha nearly 4.5-fold increased risk of PCa, whereas the BRCA1 mutation is associated with an approximately 2.4-foldincreased risk. This translates into estimated absolute lifetime risks fordeveloping prostate cancer of 60% for BRCA2and 29% for BRCA1 mutation carriers.We also found an association with more aggressive prostate cancer for men with BRCA2, but not BRCA1 mutations, Nyberg told Renal& Urology News.

Forthe men with BRCA1/2 mutations, therisk was greater for those from families where several family members had beendiagnosed with PCa than for those without such a family history. This probablyreflects the complex genetic landscape of prostate cancer susceptibility, withseveral genetic variants besides BRCA1/2mutations being known to influence the risk, Nyberg said.

Amongcarriers of the BRCA2 mutation, therisk of PCa increased nearly 1.7-fold with each relative diagnosed with PCa.Compared with the general population, BRCA2mutations in the so-called ovarian cancer cluster region (bounded by positionsc.2831 and c.6401) were associated with a nearly 2.5-fold higher incidence ofPCa, a lower risk increase than for mutations elsewhere in the BRCA2 gene. BRCA2 mutations outside this region were associated with a 5.9-foldrelative risk of PCa. Additionally, the BRCA2mutation was associated with a 5-fold increased incidence of Gleason score 7PCa and 3-fold increased incidence of Gleason 6 or less PCa. The mutation alsowas associated with almost 3.9-fold increased incidence of PCa mortality.

Isee the primary clinical application of our research as facilitating geneticcounseling and the early detection of prostate cancer, Nyberg said. Men whoare discovered to carry a hereditary BRCA2mutation, even if currently healthy, are at considerable risk of developingprostate cancer during their lifetime. A greater understanding of genetic riskvariants is continuously occurring, and consequently genetic counseling forprostate cancer is getting more and more accurate.

AnthonyV. DAmico, MD, PhD, Chief of the Division of Genitourinary Radiation Oncologyat Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Professor of Radiation Oncology at HarvardMedical School in Boston said drugs already are available that target BRCA2 mutations. Studies are needed inmen who harbor BRCA mutations to investigate whether these drugs such as PARPinhibitors and platnium based chemotherapy can reduce the risk of metastasisand death from prostate cancer, Dr DAmico said.

Moreover,the new findings support recommendations that men with a significant familyhistory for PCa, especially those with multiple first-degree relatives with PCa,undergo genetic testing for the BRCA2mutation and then to be seen by a genetics counselor to be considered for screening at an earlier age than recommendedin standard guidelines.

Themajor implication here is that men with BRCA2in particular are at a significantly increased risk of developing clinicallymeaningful prostate cancer, and this risk might be influenced by factors suchas family history and the type of mutation that is inherited, said Amar U.Kishan, MD, Assistant Professor of Radiation Oncology at the David GeffenSchool of Medicine of UCLA.

Althoughthe therapeutic implications of the new findings are unclear, it istheoretically possible that men with mutations in DNA repair genes may derivebenefit from drugs such as poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase (PARP) inhibitors, butthe data to support such a strategy are limited to patients with advanced,metastatic castration-resistant PCa. In this setting, olaparib and rucaparibare approved for men with BRCA1/2mutant-tumors, though these mutations can be either inherited or restricted tothe tumor, Dr Kishan said. Whether men with an inherited BRCA2 mutation, whodevelop an aggressive but early stage prostate cancer, would benefit from thistype of therapy, in combination with surgery or radiotherapy, is not known.Several studies are investigating this concept.

ToddMorgan, MD, Associate Professor of Urology and Chief of the Division ofUrologic Oncology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, said the new studyadds important data to help guide patient counseling and may allow for improvedearly detection strategies in men with BRCA1/2 mutations. At his institution, DrMorgan and his colleagues have implemented an early detection clinic for menwith BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutations, which is modeled after similar clinics for femalecarriers of these mutations (https://www.rogelcancercenter.org/cancer-genetics/prostate-cancer-risk-clinic).

Medicaloncologist David Wise, MD, PhD of NYU Langone Health in New York, said the newfindings may change the conversation for men carrying the BRCA2 germline mutation. Based on this study and others, newguidelines are needed to personalize prostate cancer screening for men carryingthe BRCA2 germline mutation. Clinicaltrials testing PARP inhibitors, already FDA approved for ovarian and breastcancer, are ongoing in BRCA2-associatedprostate cancer. Based on promising data from these clinical trials, the FDAhas granted breakthrough therapy status for two PARP inhibitors, rucaparib andolaparib, for men with castration-resistant prostate cancer, Dr Wise said.

Reference

NybergT, Frost D, Barrowdale D, et al. Prostate cancer risks for male BRCA1 andBRCA2 mutation carriers: A prospective cohort study [published online September5, 2019]. Eur Urol. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eururo.2019.08.025

View post:
Prospective Study Characterizes PCa Risk Linked to BRCA1, BRCA2 Mutations - Renal and Urology News

Three wolves found a new home at Isle Royale National Park a remote island cluster on Lake Superior by the Upper Peninsula bringing the islands wolf population to 17.

The goal of the Isle Royale wolf translocation effort is to have at least 20 new wolves moved to the island over a three to five year period. The park is in year two.

Last year, park officials translocated wolves from Minnesota and Ontario to repopulate the island.

Isle Royale National Park Public Information Officer Liz Valencia says this year seven wolves were caught in the Upper Peninsula for translocation, but only four were deemed fit for life on the island. Researchers conduct field tests while catching the wolves to determine if they are a good match, she says.

The four, two males and two females, were brought to the park during the week of Sept. 9, but one female died within the first few days on Isle Royale.

Valencia says the researchers wanted to bring in wolves from Michigan to widen the genetic pool on the island, which would help with the long-term sustainability of the population.

Once the wolves are on the island there is limited opportunity for wolves to come and go. And also limited opportunity to bring new genetics in, so they recommended bringing in wolves from a variety of different places, she says.

Researchers plan to study the wolves over the next few months with a focus on the social organization and reproduction of the wolves, Valenciasays.

The rest is here:
3 more wolves added to Isle Royale on Lake Superior - Interlochen

Seedstock producers might have one of the toughest jobs in the beef industry as theyre tasked with raising quality animals that can go down several different avenues. Whether it be into commercial herds or registered, the resulting animals need to be able to perform.

Several influencers sat down on a panel at the first Cattle U event in Dodge City, Kansas, at the United Wireless Arena July 31. Cattle U was sponsored by High Plains Journal. The seedstock panel included Glen Klippenstein of Missouri; Lee Leachman, Leachman Cattle of Colorado; Rick Pfortmiller, Neogen; Kelli Retallick, director of genetic services at Angus Genetics Inc.; and Tom Strahm, commercial marketing director for the American Gelbvieh Association. The panel was moderated by Lorna Marshall of Select Sires.

What are the top factors that you think influence bull purchases the most, today and in the next five years?

Journal photo byKylene Scott.

Strahm said a couple of traits come to mind for him.

Well, I think two of them would be calving ease and growth right now, he said.

Pfortmiller, who works for a genetics company, said choosing the most important traits depends on what the beef producer is going to do with their resulting calves.

As we interact with customers, we hear a couple of things, he said. One would depend on where theyre kind of coming from, in terms of their cowherd, what their focus is.

If the producer is strictly in the business to sell calves right off the cow, traits like longevity and docility rise to the top.

Docility is one that we get thats justified as more of our customers are getting a little longer in the tooth, Pfortmiller said. Then the other piece that I think is just all that is an increase of predictability. People are looking at any of the information thats coming in, and how can I reduce my risk?

Leachman said producers are paying attention to indexes that help predict profitability in the cattle.

Thats probably the No. 1 driver, maybe even more than any other component traits, Leachman said. They probably have gone to worrying less about how they get there, and more about how much profit they generate.

And that surprises Leachman, because if you look at the industry as a whole, yearling weight tends to be a big driver.

But in our model, its not a big driver, he said. Our customers are pretty much not worried about buying lower growth cattle, which I found surprising, and that we put more emphasis on explaining the difference between the maternal index and just went profitability from birth to weaning versus weaning to yearling, weaning to harvest.

What technology is going to be most applicable for commercial cow-calf producers in the next five years?

Pfortmiller is both a commercial producer and works in genomics and believes the holy grail is efficiencyand just not feedlot efficiency.

The notion of cow efficiency out there on the range, the things that I think were going to learn about animal behavior, and adaptability and all of that, Pfortmiller said.

However, theres not many good phenotypic databases out there with the genomic companies.

We get approached nearly every day by groups, small breeds, other groups wanting us to find a DNA test, he said.

Journal photo byKylene Scott.

But that requires a couple thousand phenotypic records of cows who are all the same age, raised the same way and raised in the same environment. Thats nearly impossible.

Strahm agrees. He knows of a commercial producer whos selected traits that are important to him and his production system and environment. He selected certain traits and had done a considerable amount of DNA testing, which he used to select replacements. His home-raised replacements go back into the herd and the others are fed out. The producer has a very extensive data set for his Balancer bulls and cows.

Recently, he took 10 years worth of data from feeding his own cattle, put it all on one grid to keep the value and price constant, Strahm said. And he increased the value of those cattle $300 per head for a 10-year period, and primarily focused on improving marbling, improving growth, and maximizing carcass growth.

Strahm was impressed he was able to market those cattle and get top dollar.

Then to be able to market those cattle in the end and keep everything in check, and take a balanced approach so that you can keep those replacement females in his herd, he said.

From Marshalls perspective at Select Sires, she thinks producers need to use the tools that are already available.

I think sometimes we leave a lot of money on the table, we dont pay attention to dollar values or selection indexes, or we dont pay attention to the EPDs, maybe as much as we should have, Marshall said. Im taking advantage of things even as simple as parentage testing.

In pastures with multiple potential sires and trying to avoid inbreeding, it gets hard to determine which bulls arent doing their job. Using a genetic test to determine exactly which animals are from each bull can be really valuable to the commercial producer.

When we think about things like Gene Max Advantage, and some of the other commercial heifer replacement tests that are out there, theres things out there right now that we can capitalize on, Marshall said. I know when we talked about the cost per test, $28, it seems like enough of an upfront cost test for your replacement females to find the best ones. But when we think about how much it costs to actually build that replacement female, right to get her into production, you know, $28 actually seems like a pretty incremental piece of cash.

Leachman sees the benefit of DNA tests to help predict which cows are going to stay in the herd for a long period of time.

If our DNA tests can predict that, thats something you should go home and use, because right now, you pick those heifers and there are differences in productivity, Leachman said.

There are tests that can help predict calf performance and weaning weights on the cows progeny, but its still hard to predict a cows longevity.

What we cant predict really well is whether theyre going to stay there and be there, Leachman said. I think we all know that when we go out in our herd, and we look at these 10-year-old cows that have had nine calves, that theyre making us money. We also know that when we go out after preg check, and we get rid of those young females that are open, they didnt make us money.

Leachman believes a tool is close that will help producers find out which heifers have a higher propensity to end up in the 10-year-old category instead of the open two and three and four.

I think that we need to be testing that tool and putting it to work, Leachman said.

What would be the most important thing a commercial cow-calf producer needs to look for in their seedstock provider?

Klippenstein shared a quote, in life, business, and politics its one third motion two-thirds promotion. And in order to succeed in the beef industry, one has to promote.

Otherwise, youd never get a chance, he said. Which is the most important thing to develop a positive reputation.

Klippenstein said he always aimed to raise good bulls that would make his customers money.

The sum total of all kinds of things that all of us, any one of us, who are in the cow business can do, if we want to, Klippenstein said.

In his time in the business, hes seen some magnificent herds from guys who just went through high school, but knew exactly what kind of cattle they wanted and spent time with the herds.

Now weve got all these tools, he said. Lets go to the people who have the reputation and understand the use of the tools and say this is what I want to do with my genetics with bulls I buy from you.

Pfortmiller said it comes down to one thingintegrity.

Find a seedstock supplier that is managing their cattle in a way that youre trying to manage them, he said. Theres all kinds of tools that you can use, but if you start with those two things youre going to be pointed in a pretty good direction.

In the future, Pfortmiller believes transparency will stay at the top of mind.

I think the technologies we hear aboutthe block chain and all of thatI think were going to have a greater opportunity to transfer that transparency to all the related parties.

Leachman echoed those sentiments, and believes the biggest thing cattle producers are going to have to deal with in the next three years, is something thats been lurking in the shadows for a while.

Maybe we dont think about it enough, but seems like the last time the dairy herd had to liquidate we had a significant disruption in the market, Leachman said.

With the alleged animal abuse videos coming from large dairies, Leachman thinks it will influence how consumers see beef producers even though the industries are different.

Were not dairies, but those videos are what people think about us, he said. Theyre coloring how they think we treat our animals. Its a big problem for us, because we are going to get judged by the rotten apples that are lying in the grass. And I think its a big risk right now.

He believes were dangerously close to seeing a massive reshuffle in the dairy industry, that could hurt the beef industry in the short run.

It could change the way calves are being raised on dairies and theyre precarious enough at this point that this would push a bunch of dairies out of business, Leachman said.

For Retallick, picking a seedstock supplier that aligns with breeding goals and objectives is vital.

If you are selling your calves and weaning and finding those seedstock producers that are really developing their bulls and aiming their genetic potential towards that specific environment versus are you retaining ownership on those animals through the feedlot and hanging them on the rail, she said. And really trying to approach your seedstock provider as a person who really aligns with your own personal goals.

Also create your own breeding objective first, then knowing where you want to go and create that plan.

I think one of the biggest things we have to do is stick with the plan, Retallick said. I see it in the seedstock industry more probably than in the commercial industry, but in the seedstock industry it seems like we can really chase things. We can chase the biggest number.

Cattle producers should stay disciplined and believes some of the most successful seedstock producers are the ones who have stuck to their goals and objectives for their operations.

It doesnt matter what your breeding goal or breeding objective is as long as its making you profit and its making your customers profit, she said. But make sure you have a breeding goal, and stay disciplined to it. Stick with it.

She said when incorporating genetic or tech tools, remain disciplined and carry through with themeven when the data doesnt show what a producer was wanting or expecting.

Then they dont reap the full benefits of something like that and so if you can remain consistent I think and disciplined, I think thats one of the biggest things we can kind of do in all segments of the industry, Retallick said.

See more here:
Influencers eye the future of seedstock industry | Livestock - High Plains Journal

'); } else { $(".fotorama-caption").addClass("remove_caption"); } }) .fotorama();

TONING is not real.

It is believed to be a process of exercise, which will result in a toned body a fit-looking body that is not excessively muscular.

This process is supposedly brought about by exercising the muscles, including those in trouble areas, with the expressed goal of not making them bigger but tighter and firmer.

This concept is a physiological impossibility. The idea that muscle will become tight and less jiggly is not how muscles develop.

Muscles will not become firmer in your day-to-day life because of a few exercises. The development of muscles have a few variances, which are perceivable:

Bigger or smaller through hypertrophy (growth) or hypotrophy (shrinkage);

Stronger or weaker;

More conditioned (accommodate for shorter recovery time, greater endurance ability and speed) or less conditioned;

More effective stretching or shortening.

Toning was born out of the fear expressed by women, that although they didn't want to have unwanted jiggling, they did not want to become muscular and manly-looking, or lift heavy weights either.

Gym owners, exercise instructors, trainers, and coaches assured these women that they could tighten their muscles without making them bulky, by using lighter weights, body weight, bands with light to medium resistance, higher repetitions, and at times incorporating more movement, perhaps aerobic or dance.

The facts

Flexed muscle is firm. Relaxed muscle, being mostly water, is jiggly. Fat is jiggly, tight skin is tight, and stretched out or weakly elastic skin is loose. Finally, bone is rigid.

So ultimately it comes down to what you are made of between your bones and skin and the elasticity of your skin.

If you have little body fat:

And have never stretched out your skin, your body will appear tight (non-jiggly, toned), even if you have very little muscle;

And large muscles and your skin is tight, you will appear tight;

But have stretched skin and little muscle, you will appear jiggly and loose.

If you have excess body fat and have damaged the connection between your skin and your muscle's fascia (the sheet of connective tissue which acts like a glue between skin and muscle) then:

If your skin is still elastic and tight, you may not appear jiggly;

If your muscles are smaller, you may appear more jiggly;

If your muscles are larger, you will appear less loose and jiggly.

If you are losing fat, lessening the fat under the skin:

Less muscle will naturally mean less utilised volume between the skin and more, resulting in a loose jiggly appearance;

Increased muscle will be needed to occupy as much of that space left from the loss of fat to avoid a loose jiggly appearance and feel.

Take-away message

a. Little muscle, little body fat but stretched skin, you will appear jiggly and loose.

b. Excess fat, less muscle, you will appear more jiggly.

c. Larger muscles, less jiggly (this is why tummy tucks are often the only solution for the waist. Often, a lot of fat is lost, but the muscles of the waist do not grow and occupy a much greater relative volume.

When losing fat, increased muscle will be needed to occupy as much of that space left to avoid a loose jiggly appearance and feel.

More facts

The only solutions to avoid jigglyness are:

1. Tighter skin, which only youth, genetics and surgery can significantly provide. Do not waste time and money believing that products will help.

2. More subcutaneous fat: Worst solution ever fated to be a long-term disaster.

3. More muscle: A solution filled with a world of benefits.

There is only one effective way to significantly increase muscle and this is through progressive resistance training. You have to activate the muscle under tension, resulting in (perfectly natural) microscopic tears, which will heal with nutrition and rest, resulting in muscle hypertrophy (growth).

It is proven that this is most effectively attained with resistance, which the individual will consider heavy. So heavy, in fact, that instead of dancing or hopping around with the weight, they may only be able to accomplish three to 10, perhaps 12 repetitions, essentially training like a body-builder, as, of course, that is what is needed for muscle building.

Do not fear, if your goal is to avoid a manly, bulky appearance, rest easy. That appearance takes more time and dedication than you can likely find, and often still, only with the use of anabolic steroids.

If you are a female, you can rest even easier, that bulky look requires a level of testosterone that the very great majority of women can never have.

So, as hard as you try, at best you will simply look the way one should athletic, healthy and fit.

Fitz-George Rattray is the director of Intekai Academy, which is focused on helping people live a healthy lifestyle through nutrition and weight management. If you are interested in losing weight or living a healthier lifestyle, give them a call at 876-863-5923, or visit their website at intekaiacademy.org.

Now you can read the Jamaica Observer ePaper anytime, anywhere. The Jamaica Observer ePaper is available to you at home or at work, and is the same edition as the printed copy available at http://bit.ly/epaperlive

See the rest here:
That toning myth - Jamaica Observer

The idea of paying a company hundreds of thousands of dollars to freeze your body or brain in the hope that they will one day bring you back to life initially may seem farcical.

The mere fact that this notion has featured in several movies and television shows suggests this is make-believe, something that would probably not happen in real life.

Who could forget that fantastic scene from Austin Powers when doctors successfully thaw out Mike Myers so that he can live in another era?

Well, this is no movie. And no joke.

And interestingly, Alcor CEO Max More isn't bothered by cryonics being trivialised for entertainment.

"I don't think it stigmatises it, I think it actually makes it seem more plausible," More says when I asked him about this at his Arizona Headquarters.

He shares the building with about 170 frozen bodies and brains all suspended upside down in liquid nitrogen-filled vats.

As I walked through the room where all these cryopreserved people are, it feels eerie and weird, quite frankly.

But there are more than 1250 Alcor members who've signed up for the same fate from all over the world Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan, Mexico, Portugal, the UK, the US, Italy, Israel and more.

These members all have the choice of freezing their whole body for about A$300,000 or just their brain for A$118,000.

That is, needless to say, a lot of cash to hand over for a service the company can't even promise will eventuate.

"There's no guarantee but it seems like it's worth a shot," More says.

Alcor founder Linda Chamberlain explains that members sign a nine-page consent form.

"We tell people everything that could possibly go wrong and that's extremely important because what we are doing is still experimental and people need to know that," she says.

"The Alcor Life Extension Foundation is the world leader in cryonics, cryonics research, and cryonics technology," their website reads.

"Cryonics is the practice of using ultra-cold temperature to preserve a human body with the intent of restoring good health when the technology becomes available to do so."

The hope or as they prefer to call it, "probability" is that one day science will have been developed that is capable of reviving frozen patients.

They would come back to life as the same person, with the same DNA.

I was wildly sceptical about this upon arriving at their Scottsdale building in the hot desert of Arizona.

I was worried members may be vulnerable to handing over thousands of dollars on false promises.

But it was quickly evident that those running this business whole-heartedly believe the plausibility of cryonics recreating life in the future.

The reality is not many people can afford to become a member and embark on such a thing.

But, if you were a millionaire, even if you thought this was questionable, what have you got to lose? When you're dead, you're dead.

Or are you? That's the question.

Even the masterminds behind this concept don't have the answer. Hence the consent form.

Continued here:
Inside the lab where frozen bodies wait for a second lease on life - 9News

The House Science, Space and Technology Committee said it is drafting its own nuclear energy bill, which two people familiar with the matter said will imperil passage of the Nuclear Energy Leadership Act in its current form. But people in talks with the committee say that it is likely to draw heavily from the premier advanced nuclear energy legislation in Congress.

House Science Committee majority staff said in an email Thursday that the committee is still in the process of drafting its legislation. Our bill wont be identical to NELA, but we expect it will comprehensively authorize and guide DOE nuclear energy R&D activities, the committee staff said.

Jeremy Harrell, managing director of policy at the conservative energy nonprofit ClearPath, said the science committees move does not necessarily extend the timeline or complicate passage of much of NELA, which would call on the federal government to establish a 10-year national strategy for nuclear energy and to demonstrate multiple advanced nuclear reactor concepts over the next several years, among other things.

He said the committee appears supportive of NELAs reactor demonstrations provision, for example, through which the Energy Department would need to demonstrate between four and seven advanced nuclear reactor designs by the end of 2035.

I think when push comes to shove, Science and Tech wants to make sure that they have their own bill within their circuit, Harrell said. Theyve got their own ideas; theyre not going to just take something from Lisa Murkowski, the Alaska lawmaker who chairs the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee and sponsored the bill in the Senate.

Science moving forward with its own bill means that another vehicle will need to be found to enact an industry-favored provision of NELA to extend the federal power purchase agreement length from 10 to 40 years for nuclear, since the provision falls outside the committees jurisdiction.

I cannot envision any legislation on power purchase agreements coming out of the House any time soon, said a person familiar with the matter, who said there has been no sign from Energy and Commerce that they intend to work on power purchase agreement legislation.

The person, who said the plan appears for the committee to circulate a working draft of the bill to stakeholders before Thanksgiving, said that the science panel is considering including some language on high-assay low-enriched uranium fuel which multiple advanced reactors would require to operate from NELA as well as from the McNerney-Flores HALEU bill that recently passed the House.

The House Science measure, which is intended to lie under the panels sole jurisdiction, means that movement on NELA in the House is now more unlikely, according to two people familiar with the developments.

Alyse Huffman, the committees American Nuclear Society Glenn T. Seaborg congressional fellow, is the lead author of the new legislation. It remains unclear whether the panels nuclear bill will be folded into a broader energy package out of the committee.

In a brief interview Friday morning, House Science EnergySubcommittee Chairman Conor Lamb (D-Pa.) said the committee is considering a possible parallel to the Senate version of NELA, while somewhat separately considering legislation for advanced nuclear research in areas such as the national labs and ARPA-E program. He did not yet have a sense of when the committees legislation might come out and said that talks were ongoing with House Science Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas).

Were looking at things for life extension of the existing plants, which is important, Lamb added, as NELA instead focuses on newer reactor concepts.

It is not yet clear whether the House Energy and Commerce Committee will take separate action on NELA. The bill has also been referred to the House Armed Services and Oversight and Reform committees.

The only thing Im aware of is the positive news that Representative Clyburn is very interested in advancing it, Rep. Elaine Luria (D-Va.) said in a brief interview Friday morning, referring to the Democratic representative from South Carolina. Luria introduced NELA in the House on June 18. Were working with his staff to help that happen.

Lamb said Luria had asked him to champion NELA within the science committee.

An Energy and Commerce Committee spokesperson said in an email Friday that there have been staff-level conversations between it, Luria and others.

David Blee, chief executive of the U.S. Nuclear Industry Council, cautioned that NELA has not yet passed the Senate a difficult feat in the current political climate.

Harrell said that the current expectation is that senators will try to pass NELA as part of a larger energy package, with potential floor time in January or February.

Blee said that the preference is usually to have it as part of a package, since both parties want action across the energy and environmental space, and the House will likely want balancing legislation for renewables and other energy sources if it moves on a nuclear bill.

To the extent the House Science panel comes up with that recipe, thats helpful, Blee added.

Even if NELAs provisions are not enactedquickly, there are promising signs from the Senate that bolstering federal support and development of advanced nuclear technologies is a priority. The Senate Energy and Water appropriations subcommittee, led by NELA co-sponsor Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), has slated key funding for provisions within NELA without cutting other federal nuclear energy R&D efforts, as had been feared. Harrell said the House is also likely to be supportive of nuclear energy funding.

But a lot remains up in the air on the budget and appropriationsas a whole, and it remains useful to pass legislation authorizing the provisions of NELA outright, said Harrell, especially since the demonstration portion runs through 2035.

We think its critical that were demonstrating new technologies in that time frame, Harrell said. Otherwise, nuclears going to get left behind.

Read the original post:
Path Shifts for Advanced Nuclear Legislation in the House - Morning Consult

Growing emphasis on the food safety and longer shelf life has played an important role in the development of ingredients that aid in food preservation. These ingredients vary from simple water content to salt or sugar to chemicals like antioxidants and are used to prevent growth of microorganisms, thereby delaying the spoilage process. In terms of origin, food safety and shelf life extension ingredients can be synthetic or natural in nature.

Food preserving ingredients have been an integral part of kitchen aisles in the form of lemon, ginger, vinegar, spices, salt and sugar. Their traditional utilization was replaced by synthetic ingredients with increasing commercialization of the food industry in past decades. However, with the dissemination of knowledge related to harmful effects of synthetic ingredients, currently, the industry is witnessing a prominent shift toward natural ingredients for food safety and shelf life extension.

Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market Notable Developments In January 2019, Kemin, a global nutritional ingredient company launched NaturCEASE Dry, a new clean-label and natural food safety solution. The product is a combination of natural plant extract and buffered vinegar for the use in the preservation of processed meat products. Researchers from the Penn State University studied a class of Alkylresorcinils (AR) found in grain plants such as barley, rye and wheat. Scientists revealed that these compounds can act as food preservative owing to their antioxidant and mold and bacteria prevention properties. The European Court of Auditors (ECA) announced publication of the report 'Chemical hazards in our food: EU food safety policy protects us but face challenges on 15 January 2019. The conclusion of the report focuses on updating current EU legal framework and implementing and enforcing new issues that compromise consumer protection from chemical hazard in food.

Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market Dynamics

Clean-Label Trend Fuels Synthetic to Natural Transition in Food Ingredient Landscape

Browse more detail information about this report at https://www.tmrresearch.com/shelf-life-extension-ingredients-market

Naturally sourced ingredients have gained significant traction as consumer preference for natural products continues to surge. In terms of effectiveness, natural preservatives are superior in delivering greater protection and longer shelf life. As they work with equivalent efficiency and are healthful in nature, adoption of naturally sourced ingredients is increasing consistently as compared to the synthetic options.

Natural ingredients such as antimicrobials or antioxidants have additional potential health benefits also. Well aware of the increasing consumer demand for natural food products that are without artificial ingredients, manufacturers in the food ingredient market are introducing bio-based or naturally sourced food safety ingredients.

Frozen Foods Drive Demand for Specialized Food Safety Ingredients

Ranging from salads to sauces or ready meals to rice, a plethora of food products are available in frozen forms. As the demand for fresh and frozen foods increase across the globe, food manufacturers are seeking innovative ways to introduce novel food safety ingredients to extend the shelf life of frozen foods.

Manufacturers in the food safety and shelf life extension ingredient market are introducing ingredients specific to refrigerated products. Along with providing safety, these ingredients are label friendly and help in reducing sodium content while enhancing consumers sensory experience.

Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market Regional Outlook

Download Brochure of This Market Report at https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=B&rep_id=4578&source=atm

North America presents lucrative opportunities for the Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market on the back of buoyancy in regions the food and beverage industry and presence of leading F&B companies.

The market is likely to witness increasing opportunities in the developing countries of Asia pacific. These countries are witnessing huge demand for frozen foods, RTD food and beverages and processed food, thereby presenting higher potential for the market in the future.

Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market Segmentation

The Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market is segmented into following,

Based on type, Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market can be segmented in, Natural Synthetic

Based in function, Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market can be segmented in, Anti-oxidant Anti-microbial Others

Based on application, Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market can be segmented in, Dairy Products Snacks Meat & Poultry Products Beverages Bakery Products Others

Request For Discount On this Market Report at https://www.tmrresearch.com/sample/sample?flag=D&rep_id=4578&source=atm

See the rest here:
Shelf Life Extension Ingredients Market To Grow in the Coming Years, New Research explores Factors Responsible - NewsStoner

Fall is one of the biggest seasons for publishers, so there are always lots of new books to get excited about. But how many of these books exist outside of the white, cisgender, heterosexual norm? The answer continues to be, not enough.

However, there are still a lot of compelling titles being released over the next few months from LGBTQIA+ writers for those of us who seek broader representation in literature. Theres a sports anthology that bursts with poetry and a decolonization narrative; there are memoirs about aging; short stories; novels that take place in Uruguay and Portland, Oregon,and Brooklyn, New York; new books from debut authors and old favorites of the queer literary canon. Its an exciting time for queer readers: Although we have a long way to go toward diversifying the publishing industry, more of our stories are being given space to be told. Here are some highlights coming up.

Elissa Altman, Motherland(Ballantine, 8/6)

Elissa Altman is the author of two previous memoirs, including Poor Mans Feast: A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking, born of her James Beard Award-winning blog of the same name. In this new memoir, Altman explores her codependent relationship with her mother, a glamorous Manhattan singer named Rita. Growing up, Elissa didnt fit her mothers high-femme standards of makeup, dresses, and generally keeping up appearances. Her identity as a lesbian was also a source of tension between them. As an adult, Elissa moved to New England, where she lived with her wife, Susan, forging her own identity away from her mother. But when Rita hasa fall that results in physical disability, Elissa finds herself taking care of her mother again and coming to terms with the reality of caring for an aging parent. With poignant and often very funny prose, Motherland makes for a wonderful addition to the narrow canon of stories about queer women caring for their aging mothers. Another great memoir in this vein is Cherre Moragas Native Country of the Heart (FSG, 2019).

Want more Rewire.News? Get the facts, direct to your inbox.

SIGN UP

Kimberly King Parsons, Black Light (Vintage, 8/13)

If you pay attention to best-of book lists, Black Light has probably come across your radar.The prose in this debut short-story collection is richly detailed in describing both the characterswho are weird, flawed, and so humanand the settings theyre in; its lyricism feels like a delicate dance and a gut-punch at once. The book isnt marketed as queer, but there is a lot of queer content here; Parsons is particularly strong in writing about the complicated intimacies between teenage girls.

Carolina de Robertis, Cantoras (Knopf, 9/3)

The new novel from the author of The Gods of Tango (which also features a protagonist who explores their fluid gender and sexuality), Cantoras begins in 1970s Uruguay as five young queer women come together on an island for a getaway. Over the course of about 40 years, it follows their lives together and apart, including under the Uruguayan dictatorship during the 70s and early 80s. This is another multi character-driven epic, both painful and beautiful to read, with vivid prose. Also, it has one of the best opening paragraphs this reviewer has seen in a while.

Carley Moore, The Not Wives (Feminist Press, 9/10)

In this debut novel, Carley Moore (author of the essay collection 16 Pills) transports the reader right into the heart of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Brimming with details that will bring anyone who remembers the early 2010s right back to that era (from fashion, to the way people talked about politics and queerness), this story follows a sprawling cast of characters, almost all of whom are queer: the protagonist, Stevie, her young daughter Sasha, her friends Mel and Jenny, a young runaway named Johanna, and a number of others. Moore deftly captures the atmosphere of Zuccotti Park as well as the political atmosphere around the movement, which spurred people all over the world to renew discussions about class, race, gender, and social structures.

Gabby Rivera, Juliet Takes a Breath (Penguin Teen re-release, 9/19)

This debut novel from Gabby Riverawho also wrote Marvels Americawas originally published in 2016. An instant queer YA classic, it is now getting the wide distribution it deserves with a reprint from Penguin Teen. It follows maybe one of the best characters ever written, Juliet Milagros Palante, a young queer Latinx woman from the Bronx who spends a summer interning for fictional white feminist icon author Harlowe Brisbane in Portland, Oregon. The ways in which Juliet grapples with coming out, unlearning colonialist and white supremacist ideas, and discovering her own values give this novel teeth. But the real joy of this story is Juliet herself, a character whose self-doubt is rivaled by her self-confidence; whose big heart and book-nerd brain envelop the reader; and whose relationships with the fascinating characters around her make for one of this falls most satisfying reads.

Jacqueline Woodson, Red at the Bone (Riverhead, 9/17)

Jaqueline Woodson is an award-winning author of many YA novels, including Another Brooklyn and Brown Girl Dreaming. Shes now bringing her signature spare and poetic prose to this adult novel set in Brooklyn. The book opens with the seemingly lighthearted scene of 16-year-old Melodys coming-of-age ceremony, which happens to the orchestral tunes of Prince. From there, the story moves back and forth in time, spanning the events faced by three generations of Melodys family. Red at the Bone has one explicitly queer character, but isnt really about being queer. In that way, its a beautiful example of queerness being a part of everyday life, in families and friendships. The book touches on class, gender, sexuality, age, race in the United Statesall within a tender story of love in its many forms. Its a perfect one- or two-sitting read for a crisp fall day, one that will stay with you long after its over.

Jeanette Winterson, Frankissstein (Grove Atlantic, 10/1)

Jeanette Winterson is well-known to many queer readers from her prolific work, notably Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit, Written on the Body, The Passion, and Why Be Happy When You Can Be Normal? Her latest novel delivers a reinterpretation of Mary Shelleys Frankenstein. Multiple Frankensteins are being produced and experimented with in this novel:Shelley is creating her novel in the fictionalized chapters about her; scientist Victor Stein is creating an AI in the very near future, while trans nonbinary scientist Ry is falling in love with him; a creepy foundation in Arizona called Alcor Life Extension is scheming to create live humans from body parts; and a man named Ron Lord is creating the next generation of sex dolls. Its a wacky ride about what it means to be human and what it means to be alive, and it will not disappoint Winterson fans.

Natalie Daz & Hannah Ensor, eds., Bodies Built for Game (University of Nebraska Press, 10/1)

You might recognize Natalie Dazname from her professional basketball career, or her poetry collection When My Brother Was an Aztec (shes also got one forthcoming in March called Postcolonial Love Poem); and Hannah Ensors from her collection Love Dream With Television or her recent Lambda Literary 2019 Judith A. Markowitz Award for Emerging Writers win. But if you dont, rest assured that they are a dream team for bringing together this unique and innovative anthology of sports writing. With an array of writers (including Danez Smith, Fatimah Asghar, and Hanif Abdurraqib, among others), this book picks apart the meaning of sport from the perspective of people who are not cis straight white men. From participation in sports (team or otherwise) to sports fandom; from analyzing the metaphor of sport to examining modern sports oppressive, exploitative, and colonialist roots; from exploring the intersections of identity (including gender and sexuality) and sports to grappling with the corporeal demands of athletics; his anthology breaks all kinds of barriers. And although it includes essay, fiction, and creative nonfiction, the book centers poetry as the dominant form, which is unusual for sports anthologies. This is definitely a must-read before that NFL game on Thanksgiving Day.

Edie Windsor and Joshua Lyon, A Wild and Precious Life (St. Martins, 10/8)

Edie Windsors case against the United States led to the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that overturned the Defense of Marriage Act. This, in turn,paved the way for Obergefell v. Hodges, which legalized marriage equality nationwide in 2015. But Windsor was more than these headlines, and more than her constant presence at rallies and protests. This memoir, begun by Windsor and completed by her co-writer Joshua Lyon after her death in 2017, chronicles her life beginning with her childhood in Philadelphia and moving through her young adulthood in 1950s Greenwich Village, her life with her partner of 44 years, Thea Spyer, and her fascinating rise in the ranks of computing at IBM. Windsor was a queer woman who believed in her right to take up space and be seen, which makes for an uplifting and inspiring story in which Lyons does an excellent job of making sure Windsors stirring and joyful voice shines through.

Jaquira Daz, Ordinary Girls (Algonquin, 10/29)

Every once in a while a truly electric debut memoir comes along, and this fall, Ordinary Girls is it. As a young person, Dazlife was upended many times by physical and emotional violence. Longing for family and sometimes finding itin her sister, her grandmother, her friendsDaz writes her story in a musical prose that plays with future and past tense, putting the reader in the narrators shoes as she navigates unreliable memories and unknown futures. Daz narrative starts in Puerto Rico, goes to Miami Beach, into schools and juvenile detention centers, into stronger-than-blood relationships with friends, lovers and family; it goes into the navy, into familial legacy and colonial history. Its the story of an ordinary girl; its the story of all of the extraordinary girls. Daz is a skilled writer who strongly layers micro details with the macro structures of identity, white supremacy, colonialism, and brown, queer, and femme resilience and resistance.

Cyrus Grace Dunham, A Year Without a Name (Little, Brown, 10/15)

A Year Without a Name, an honest account of one persons journey with gender, identity, and mental illness, is Cyrus Grace Dunhams snapshot of a recent two-year span in which they become a changing adult in a changing world. Its a quick read, but punchynearly every sentence is sharp, full of importance, at once deeply intellectual and ethereal. Dunham navigates how confusing gender is: how useless it can be while also existing as an essential facet of identity. Theyre extremely self-aware, which at times feels like more of a burden than a gift. Dunham stays true to their unfinished story by packing a lot of meaning into just 176 pages but never reaching concrete conclusions. But the concrete would be antithetical to the story; Dunham lives in the truth that all of us are unfinished, forever growing and learning. This in itself is a very queer frame of thought.

Carmen Maria Machado, In the Dream House (Graywolf, 11/5)

Carmen Maria Machado became everyones gay aunt, thank goodness, when she Mary Poppinsd into our hearts with her genre-bending, brutal, gorgeous, queer, wild debut story collection, Her Body and Other Parties, in 2017. Her debut memoir, In The Dream House, is a firecracker of a follow-upa story that is as scary as it is playful, as intellectual as it is emotional, as personal as it is universal. Its the story of Machados relationship with an abusive partner and how it, along with her upbringing and beliefs imposed by society, affected her growth as a person. It brings to the page something that is sorely lacking in mainstream literature: the reality of abuse in queer relationships, especially lesbian ones. Machado uses her characteristic wit and fearlessness to shed light on love, terror, history, culture, narrative structure, and representation from multiple angles. Its a must-read, haunting story for the dark months ahead.

Tommy Pico, Feed (Tin House, 11/5)

The final installment of Tommy Picos Teebs tetrology (preceeded by IRL, Nature Poem, and Junk), this collection from the superstar queer Indigenous writer-hero returns us to the character of Teebs, a kind of alter-ego. Like his previous volumes, Feed is full of irreverent humor, razor-sharp stanzas, and stream-of-consciousness philosophy. Pico explores uncertainty and seasonality, the horror and ubiquity of todays headlines, friendship and dating, food and aliens, and of course, a few signature dick jokes. Nothing is quite like the experience of reading Picos workits a simultaneously heady and grounding adventure.

Here is the original post:
13 Books by LGBTQ Writers to Read This Fall - Rewire.News

This story from the Australian Aviation archives comes from October 2012, when Ellis Taylor wrote about the Bombardier Dash 8 operations in Australia.

A Skippers Dash 8-300. (Paul Sadler)

Since the late 1980s, the Bombardier Dash8 has been a staple of regional aviation in Australia, with various iterations of the turboprop in service across the country.

Today, the 84 Dash 8 aircraft registered in the country serve a number of regional communities, both on scheduled services and in charters, while some have also been modified for special missions.

Those form part of a global fleet of over 1,000 Dash 8s of all types which fly in practically every corner of the globe.

Development of the aircraft started in the late 1970s when De Havilland Canada (DHC) found there to be large demand for a 30-40 seat commuter aircraft. Part of that requirement was to replace the venerable Fokker F27 Friendship, while it also provided a step up from smaller 19seat regional aircraft such as the Fairchild Metroliner.

It also followed the technically successful but sales-challenged Dash 7. That aircraft, which featured four turboprops and a capacity for 50 passengers, was legendary for its short takeoff and landing (STOL) abilities, capable of operating from airstrips as small as 610m.

At the time, it was envisioned that networks of STOL-ports could be established across Europe and North America close to major city centres.

However, the Dash 7 was a relative sales flop, with only 113 produced. While the STOL capabilities were impressive, many commuter airlines in North America and other markets simply did not require it. The higher fuel and maintenance costs of the four engines also made it uneconomical against other types.

That led to the development of the Dash8-100, which made its first flight in 1983 and entered service in 1984.

Powered by two Pratt & Whitney Canada PW120 turboprops driving four-bladed propellers, the Dash 8 promised the capability of carrying up to 39 passengers in an airliner-style cabin. And although it did not have the STOL capability of the Dash7, the aircrafts high wing and still respectable landing performance made it well suited to the regional environment.

The aircraft quickly became a success in the market, with many sold to a range of operators around the world.

Over time, DHC also added tweaks to the 100 series Dash 8. In 1990, it introduced the -101 which had additional headroom in the cabin and introduced PW120A engines. This was followed in 1992 with the -106 variant which introduced more powerful PW121 engines capable of producing 1,605kW (2,150shp) of power, and improved the aircrafts climb and short field performance.

Following the early success of the Dash8 in the 37-seat category, DHC pressed ahead in 1986 with plans to stretch the basic airframe and create a variant capable of accommodating 50 passengers.

That resulted in the launch of the Dash8300, which featured a 3.43m stretch to the fuselage with a stretch to the basic airframe to accommodate 50 seats and more powerful PW123 turboprops.

The first Dash 8-300 made its first flight in May 1987, with first delivery in May 1989.

The underside of a Skippers Dash 8-300. (Les Bushell)

As with the -100 series before it, DHC would launch improved variants of the -300, utilising different engine combinations to deliver more performance. The -311 was introduced in 1990 with new PW123A engines and a revised interior, while the -300A allowed for increased payload.

Then in 1992 DHC announced plans to add further enhancements to the basic -100 design that became the -200 series. Using the same fuselage and wing design as the -100, this variant introduced PW123 engines as used on the -300 series, giving it better range and performance in hot and high conditions. The type entered service in 1995, and most of the 105 produced remain in service today.

A Skytrans Dash 8 Q300 at Sydney Airport in August 2013. (Rob Finlayson)

For a number of years, Dash 8 production and development continued on while DHC underwent a series of changes. In 1986 the company was sold by the Canadian government to Boeing, which later tried to use it to win a significant aircraft order from Air Canada. Following the loss of that competition to Airbus, Boeing immediately put the company up for sale, and in 1992 it was sold to transport conglomerate Bombardier.

Despite the changes in ownership during the late 1980s and early 1990s, DHC/Bombardier continued to work on further developments to the Dash 8. This included the addition of an ingenious active noise and vibration suppression system being added across the lineup in 1996, and resulted in the Q designations being added to aircraft after that.

In total, Bombardier delivered 299 Dash8-100s, 105 Q200s and 267 Q300s before production of those types ceased in 2009 due to the backlog for the models being filled, and production switching solely to the 74-seat Q400.

A file image of a QantasLink Q200 at Mt Hotham. (Australian Aviation archive)

Q400

As with the -300/Q300 before it, the Q400 was largely based on the basic Dash8 design but with a further stretch. That necessitated a number of modifications to the aircrafts tail and wings.

The other major change was to the engines, with the model introducing the PW150A engines capable of producing 3,781kW (5,071shp) and driving six-bladed Dowty composite propellers. These engines also introduced full authority digital engine control (FADEC) to the Dash 8.

In the cockpit, Bombardier added a Thales digital avionics suite, making the cockpit more aligned to modern airliners than the previous Dash 8 models.

The Q400 also introduced two entry doors at the forward and aft ends of the aircraft, while earlier Dash 8s only featured front access doors.

The aircraft had its first flight in January 1998, with Canadian certification awarded in 1999. The first delivery to launch customer SAS Commuter occurred in January 2000.

The Q400 is able to cruise at 360kt, putting it closer towards the speeds of regional jets. Added to that, the aircraft has a ceiling of 27,000ft, allowing it to fly higher than other regional turboprops.

Despite those capabilities, the Q400s reputation became tarnished in 2007 following a series of landing gear failures in Europe. Launch customer SAS even publicly stated that it would dispose of its fleet as a result of the accidents, but the airline later ordered more aircraft after reaching an agreement on compensation with Bombardier.

A file image of an Air Niugini Q400. (Australian Aviation archive)

The Q400 has also had some troubles locally with landing gear issues. Following a manufacturer-mandated inspection in August 2010, QantasLink was forced to ground five Q400s temporarily to replace certain parts of the landing gear after cracks were found.

While it has been the mainstay of production for a number of years, Bombardier has more recently transitioned across to solely produce the upgraded Q400 NextGen.

Compared to the standard Q400, the NextGen has an updated cabin with improved lighting, larger overhead bins and revised windows, while it has also delivered some improvements in maintenance costs and fuel burn.

Last year Bombardier announced that it would offer a two-class configuration on the Q400 NextGen which would also be offered as a retrofit for existing Q400 operators. United Express is the first carrier to operate a Q400 with the three-abreast business class configuration.

Despite the general turn back towards operating turboprops over regional jets, the Q400 has lagged in the sales race, with the rival ATR 72 stealing a number of orders.

On a global scale, the Q400s sales success has been somewhat muted until recently. A number of larger competitions saw orders go to the rival ATR 72, which some analysts say has a lower acquisition price and lower fuel burn.

Nevertheless, Bombardier has recently had significant orders from Canadian carrier WestJet and Polands EuroLot, which have helped to boost its backlog to 54 aircraft.

QantasLink Q400 named Darling Downs at Wellcamp Airport. (Wellcamp)

Local operations

With regional services such a large part of Australias aviation network, it was inevitable that the Dash 8 would have a long career flying in southern skies.

Eastern Australia Airlines received its first Dash 8-100 in 1988. That was followed in 1998 by the arrival of Sunstate Airlines first -200 series aircraft. Sunstate later took delivery of its first Q300 in January 2000, while the Q400 was added to its fleet from January 2006.

Today QantasLink operates 27 Q400s, 16 Q300s and five Dash 8-200s, with one Q400 still to be delivered. The aircraft now operate in almost all states, with routes ranging from Sydney-Canberra right up to the much longer Cairns-Port Moresby sector. The -200 series aircraft are also used to maintain the link between Sydney and Lord Howe Island.

A QantasLink Q300. (Australian Aviation archive)

QantasLink disposed of its last -100 series aircraft in 2010, with most of them joining the other major Dash 8 operators, Cairns-based Skytrans and Perth-based Skippers Aviation.

Skytrans now operates 11 Dash 8-100s and three Dash 8-300s, while Skippers has a fleet of four Dash 8-100s and six Dash8-300s.

Both operators primarily use the aircraft on mining charter services, where the aircrafts range and hot and high capabilities have been especially valued, as well as its ability to operate from unpaved airstrips when serving remote mine sites. The carriers also use them on their limited regular public transport (RPT) networks to remote centres to great effect.

For Skippers, adding the -300 to its fleet has allowed it to ride the resources boom, with the aircraft allowing for bigger shift changes at some of the mines it flies to. Similarly, the aircraft has also given it the option to up-gauge some of its RPT services in WA to meet demand.

Cobham Aviation Services has also been a longtime Dash 8 operator, having leased in -100 and -300 series aircraft to meet the needs of its resource charter clients.

Cobhams Surveillance Australia is also a notable Dash 8 operator, flying six Dash8-200s and four Dash 8-300s, which have been modified to carry a specialised sensor system and larger fuel tanks to enable it to carry out maritime surveillance missions on behalf of Customs.

A file image of a Dash 8 aircraft operated by Cobham conducting aerial surveillance. (Cobham Aviation Services)

Across the Tasman, now-defunct carriers Ansett New Zealand and Origin Pacific operated Dash 8-100s and -300s.

Air New Zealand also ordered Q300s to replace the Saab 340s operated by Air Nelson. The first one was delivered in Montreal in July 2005 and today the airline operates 23.

The Air New Zealand order was something of a coup for Bombardier at the time, especially as one of the carriers other regional subsidiaries, Mount Cook Airline, already operated ATR 72s.

Further north, Dash 8s have been long-term residents of Papua New Guinea, having been flown for many years by AirNiugini and Airlines PNG, providing vital internal connections and also flying between Port Moresby and Cairns.

Air New Zealand Q300 ZK-NEP at Wellington. (Gary Hollier)

Future Developments

Despite the earliest model Dash 8s now having been out of production for three years, demand for the -100, -200 and -300 series remains high and overall plenty of life remains in the fleet, particularly with the manufacturer continuing to support the oldest aircraft still flying.

Bombardier announced in 2009 that it would extend the life of the -100 series out to 120,000 cycles from the previous 80,000 cycles through an Extended Service Program.

The company says that on current usage trends the effective life of the aircraft could be extended for up to 12 years.

One operator Australian Aviation spoke to said that the life extension had meant that the values of Dash 8-100s had increased and that it was getting hard to find aircraft available. As a result, some operators with a requirement for more aircraft are moving up to the larger -300 which are easier to source on the global market.

Another problem for Dash 8 operators has been the lack of new aircraft in the market, especially in the 37-seat category.

The Q400 introduced a Thales digital avionics suite. (Bombardier)

Further support is coming from Fokker Services, which last year signed an agreement with Bombardier to provide spares and logistical services to Dash 8 operators. The service builds on its ABACUS program which helps to support legacy Fokker types.

At the same time, Bombardier has also given every indication that it plans to further extend the Dash 8 design up into a new 90-seat aircraft in future.

In 2007 Bombardier started talking of a Q400X, which would use the basic airframe but feature a stronger wing and upgraded engines and would be aimed at operating on short but dense regional routes. Originally, the manufacturer had indicated that the Q400X could be developed to enter service as early as 2013.

The Q400X talk has also prompted ATR to closely examine a larger aircraft, with the two manufacturers playing a game of cat and mouse over the last few years.

More recently engine manufacturers General Electric and Pratt & Whitney have indicated that they are working on developing more powerful turboprops for both Bombardier and ATR.

However, this year Bombardier has cooled on attacking the 90-seat market, with recent comments from its marketing team indicating that any move on that segment would likely come after 2016.

In the meantime though, the Dash 8 looks set to continue its legacy in Australia of being a flexible and hardy regional workhorse.

VIDEO: A look at a QantasLink Dash 8 Q200 taking off from Lord Howe Island Airport from the wiiwheel64 YouTube channel, which highlights the excellent field performance of the aircraft.

Postscript: In November 2018, Bombardier announced the sale of the Q400 program, as well as all assets, intellectual property and type certificates associated with the out-of-production Dash 8 series, to Longview Aviation Capital. It established a new company with a famous name De Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd for manufacturing the Q400 turboprop.

This story first appeared in the October 2012 edition of Australian Aviation. To read more stories like this, subscribe here.

Continue reading here:
From the archives: Regional workhorse: Bombardier Dash 8 in Australia - Australian Aviation

From the time of the Babylonian Exile, Jews have been spread far and wide, carrying with us mementos of our ancient past in our blood, spit and the microscopic double helix of our DNA. Among the best tools the Chosen People have for finding a link to antiquity is bleeding-edge technology that analyzes our genes and while that tech is new, its largely confirmed a familiar story of shared roots in the Middle East.

Through advancements in mapping the human genome and the study of traditionally diseases like Tay-Sachs, scientists and historians are closer than ever before to learning where the Jewish people originated, and where we ended up.

The science involved in genetic study of Jews has advanced immensely since its early days, when physical anthropologists Joseph Jacobs and Maurice Fishberg studied outward markers like stature, head size and pigmentation, said Harry Ostrer, the director of Genetic and Genomic Testing at Montefiore Medical Center and the author of Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People (2012). Working in the late 19th and early 20th Century, when Fishberg published The Jews: A Study of Race and Environment (1911), his and Jacobs primitive research which had a troubling analogue in the measurements used by Nazi race science was surpassed by a new effort that emerged, fittingly, in Mandatory Palestine.

After moving to Palestine in the 1930s, Chaim Sheba and other physician investigators observed that the Jewish communities flocking to the land from across the globe did not much resemble each other. Sheba and colleagues believed these differences ought to be studied. This work culminated in 1961, when Sheba and geneticist Elisabeth Goldschmidt held the Conference on Human Population Genetics in Jerusalem.

By the 1970s, studies using blood groups conducted by researchers like Arthur Mourant and Batsheva Bonne-Tamir advanced our understanding of Jewish common ancestry, as did studies in the 1990s focused on matrilineal mitochondrial DNA and patrilineal Y chromosomes. But it wasnt until Jewish genomes, an individuals entire genetic code, started being analyzed in the 2000s, following the breakthroughs of the Human Genome Projects push to map all human genes, that this knowledge became less abstract.

Before genome-wide analyses, There was a real lack of precision, Ostrer told the Forward over the phone. The Y chromosomal and mitochondrial studies supported the idea, for instance, for European Jews, that they had both Middle Eastern and European origins. But it just wasnt with the degree of accuracy or precision that happened when the genome-wide studies were done.

Ostrers initiative, the Jewish HapMap Project, is one of a number of studies propelled by advancements in genomic technology, which can now determine the order 20,000 genes (and 3 billion nucleotide base pairs) at one time in around one to two months. In recent years, these efforts have yielded insights into the inter-connectedness of the Jewish people.

Part of why that research is so fascinating is its telling us about aspects of Jewish history that are not recorded in texts or reflected in archaeology, said Steven Weitzman, the Ella Darivoff director of the Katz Center of Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania and the author of The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age (2017).

Weitzman, who collaborated with Stanford geneticists in his research, noted a few early landmark studies that seemed to confirm traditional narratives, that link Jewish Diasporic communities to common tribal ancestors in modern day Israel. One of the earliest, from 1997, was a Y-chromosomal analysis of Kohanim, which indicated a common male ancestor some 3,000 years ago.

That doesnt mean that ancestor is Aaron as Jewish tradition would indicate and its since been challenged but it was really striking that they could see reflected in the genetic code of these people that they did share a common male ancestor somewhere thousands of years ago.

Since the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, more ambitious studies have been mounted, Weitzman said, including Doron Behars 2010 attempt to draw a genome-wide map of the Jewish people a goal shared by Ostrers HapMap Project by sampling DNA from 14 global communities. The study found that many of the communities differed genetically from their non-Jewish neighbors and had roots in the Middle East. While that tracks with conventional history, other research, such as a 2013 study by Martin B. Richards, concluded that the matrilineal line of Ashkenazic Jewish descent has its roots in native European women. Behar, who, with Karl Skorecki, had concluded years earlier that 40% of Ashkenazi Jews can trace their origins to four women of Middle Eastern extraction, disagreedwith this assessment.

[Genetics] doesnt necessarily corroborate the traditional Jewish understanding, Weitzman said, but it often does. And thats why some people are a little skeptical. Its been reaffirming a very conservative understanding of Jewish history.

While the majority of scientists and historians support the view that Jews originated in the Middle East, there are vocal skeptics, notably Israeli geneticist Eran Elhaik and Israeli historian Shlomo Sand. Sand and Elhaik subscribe to the Khazar Hypothesis, popularized by author Arthur Koestler, which argues that Ashkenazi Jews are descended from a Turkic people called the Khazars, who converted. Ostrer and the broader scientific community have dismissed this theory, and Elhaiks specific research, as agenda-driven science. Weitzman agrees that the theory presents a weak argument and has been used to discredit Jews and Zionism by distancing Ashkenazim from claims to a Middle Eastern homeland.

The preponderance of evidence, based on a number of studies, indicates a conventional view of Jewish diaspora, Ostrer claims. Jews appear to have migrated east along the Silk Road and across the Arabian Sea and westward into Europe and Northern Africa by way of the Greek and Roman empires. These migrants intermingled with locals sometimes converting them to the faith along the way. Despite this dispersion, Jews remained largely endogamous, marrying within our ethnic group, relative to native populations.

The same endogamy has historically resulted in genetic diseases, which, by medical necessity, have made Jewish genes among the most studied. While Ostrer cautions that some consumer-available genetic tests can be deceptive, appearing to indicate closer kinship between Jews who share deep ancestral lines, he maintains that the testing for potential disease carriers has improved tremendously with companies like JScreen, Invitae and Myriad.

Currently, those with Sephardic and Mizrahi backgrounds (roughly 10% of American Jews) dont have the advantage of seeing that heritage listed in most popular genetic testing service results. But these populations are sufficiently studied by geneticists and often analysis of these groups can lead to interesting places. Recently, disease mutations like BRCA 1 and 2 and hereditary ovarian and breast cancer typically found in Jews have been surfacing among Latino populations in the United States.

In a 2011 paper, Ostrer and his colleague Christopher Velez argued that these genetic predispositions were carried to the New World by Converso Jews in the late 15th century. New research from 2018 appeared to confirm this, finding that a wide swath of Latin Americans have ancestry from newly-converted Christians.

Overall, DNA testing and studies have enriched the Jewish historical record beyond potsherds and texts dating back to the Greek and Roman period. But while these science-based tools are often less ambiguous than previous historical documents, they have not been embraced by all historians. The reason, ironically enough, is recent history.

Theres a lot of resistance to [genetic research] within the field of Jewish studies, Weitzman said. A lot of people remember or have in mind the role of race science in Nazism. So the idea that Jewish scholars would look in any way to genetics to understand Jewish identity or Jewish history and origins can make people concerned.

PJ Grisar is the Forwards culture fellow. He can be reached at Grisar@Forward.com.

This story "How Genetics Paint A Picture Of The Jewish Past" was written by PJ Grisar.

Continued here:
How Genetics Paint A Picture Of The Jewish Past - Forward

The mechanism isnt clear but abnormalities on the Y chromosome are in the frame

Poor sperm function (male infertility) causes nearly half of all infertility. The observation that poor sperm function is commonly associated with developmental genitourinary defects such as cryptorchidism suggests that male infertility could be a risk marker for later disease. Unfortunately, we know little about the natural history of male infertility beyond reproductive life, owing to historical social stigma experienced by affected men. Studies shedding light on the future health of infertile men should be welcomed, and in the linked paper (doi:10.1136/bmj.l5214) Al-Jebari and colleagues report analyses of registry data from the whole population of Sweden over 20 years. Their results provide the strongest evidence to date that risk of prostate cancer may be increased in infertile men. Importantly though, a causal relation cannot be assumed.1

Al-Jebari and colleagues included 1.2 million men in Sweden who fathered a first born child during the study period, either spontaneously (97% of men) or following one of the two leading assisted reproductive technologiesintra-cytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI) and in vitro fertilisation (IVF). The study found that men becoming fathers through IVF and ICSI had a significantly higher risk of prostate cancer than men who fathered children naturally. The risk of early onset prostate cancer (diagnosed before age 55 years) was particularly high for men fathering children through ICSI, a technology used for men with the most severe forms of infertility.

The use of ICSI and IVF as proxies for poor sperm function is reasonable in a population study of this size, although it has obvious limitations; IVF is often given to couples with infertile female partners and male partners with entirely normal sperm function. Men who had assisted reproduction were older and educated for longer than fathers conceiving naturally. In view of that, the researchers adjusted for both paternal age and education level in their analysis. Furthermore, to prevent bias, men with previous cancer or testosterone replacement were excluded.

Previous studies have also observed an association between male infertility and subsequent prostate cancer.23 A population based study of 22562 infertile men reported that men with male infertility were 2.6 times more likely to develop a high grade prostate cancer than were their age matched controls.3 More recent observational research found a correlation between lower semen quality and worse scores on an index of general health. Cancer diagnoses were included in the index.4 The evidence is not entirely consistent, however. Some studies do not support an association between infertility and risk of prostate cancer.56 Others have concluded that men never fathering children actually have a reduced risk compared with men with at least one child,78910 although the absence of children is a poor surrogate for infertility.

These authors acknowledge the limitations of their study.1 Firstly, the study did not include infertile men who were unable to father children. These men might be expected to have a higher risk of prostate cancer than infertile men who managed to father children. Secondly, the mean age at follow-up was 45 years, so these findings are unlikely to quantify risk of prostate cancer over a lifetime. Lastly, the incidence of prostate specific antigen testing in population groups might have provided direct evidence that infertile men were not subjected to enhanced cancer screening.

How male infertility could be linked biologically to risk of prostate cancer is not yet clear. Possibilities include a genetic association between microdeletions in the Y chromosome, which are known to cause severe male infertility, and genes on the same chromosome known to be associated with prostate cancer.11 Mutations in DNA repair genes and epigenetic and environmental modulators have also been suggested to link male infertility and prostate cancer.1213

Middle aged men are often interested in their risk of prostate cancer; age, family history, and Afro-Caribbean ethnicity are major risk factors. However, screening is controversial owing to lack of survival benefit and the harms from overdiagnosis and overtreatment that can follow a positive screening test.14 In the absence of a plausible mechanism of action or proof of causation, justifying screening for prostate cancer in all infertile men is difficult. However, further research on the possible future complications of male infertility would be welcomed by patients and will help clinicians to counsel all infertile men about their future health.

We are grateful to our patient representative, James Tyerman, for providing valuable comments on the manuscript.

Visit link:
Male infertility linked to risk of prostate cancer - The BMJ

Zambia, a country in southeast Africa, has approximately 1,200 lions, one of the largest lion populations on the continent. More than 40% of the U-shaped country is protected land, with over 120,000 square miles of national parks, sanctuaries and game management areas for lions to roam.

Zambian lions are split into two subpopulations, with one in the Greater Kafue Ecosystem in the west and the other in the Luangwa Valley Ecosystem in the east. Between these two geographically different regions lies Lusaka, Zambias largest city, which is surrounded by farmland.

People had assumed that the two groups of lions did not even could not mix. After all, theyre separated by a geographical barrier: the two regions feature different habitats, with the east an offshoot of the Great Rift Valley system and the west part of the southern savannas. The lions are also separated by whats called an anthropogenic barrier: a big city that lacks wildlife protection, making it seemingly unsuitable for lions.

So my colleagues and I were surprised when we found that a small number of lions are in fact moving across the area in between presumed to be uninhabitable by lions. These sneaky lions and their mating habits are causing the high levels of genetic diversity we found in the entire Zambian lion population.

Working with the Zambian Wildlife Authority, biologist Paula White collected hundreds of biological samples from lions across Zambia between 2004 and 2012. Eventually a box of this hair, skin, bone and tissue, meticulously packaged and labeled with collection notes and sampling locations, arrived at my lab at Texas A&M University.

Our goal was to investigate genetic diversity and the movement of various genes across Zambia by extracting and analyzing DNA from the lion samples.

From 409 lions found inside and outside of protected lands, I looked at two kinds of genes, mitochondrial and nuclear. You inherit mitochondrial DNA only from your mom, while you inherit nuclear DNA from both of your parents. Because of these differences, mitochondrial and nuclear genes can tell different genetic stories that, when combined, paint a more complete picture of how a population behaves.

My mitochondrial analysis verified that, genetically, there are two isolated subpopulations of lions in Zambia, one in the east and one in the west. However, by also looking at the nuclear genes, we found evidence that small numbers of lions are moving across the unsuitable habitat. Including nuclear genes provided a more complex picture that tells us not only which lions were moving but also where.

The amount of variation from alternate forms of genes found within a population is known as genetic diversity. Genetic diversity is important for a wildlife population because more genetic options give animals a greater chance for adaptation in a changing environment. Genetic diversity can also tell biologists about ways a population can fluctuate.

To a geneticist, migration, also referred to as gene flow, is the movement of genes from one geographical place to another. Mitochondrial DNA, inherited from the mother, can only tell researchers where genes from mom have been.

In the lion mating system, males travel long distances to find new prides, while females remain in or close to the pride they were born in. So, for the lion, its primarily males that are responsible for the movement of genes between prides. This male-mediated gene flow explains the lack of gene flow seen in mitochondrial genes compared to that of nuclear genes female lions arent making the journey, but they do mate with new males who come from far away.

Male-mediated gene flow has helped keep the lions of Zambia genetically healthy, increasing genetic diversity by introducing new genes to new areas as male lions move between subpopulations. The eastern and western subpopulations each have high levels of genetic diversity; since only a few lions move between the groups each generation, the subpopulations stay genetically distinct.

My colleagues and I were also able to determine where the lions are moving based on which individuals are more genetically similar to each other. Lions in the North and South Luangwa National Parks, part of the eastern subpopulation, appear completely separated from the western subpopulation. Gene flow is occurring through the southern regions of the eastern subpopulation.

Lions are most likely traveling a route between the Lower Zambezi National Park and eastern corridor to the Kafue National Park in the west, possibly along the Kafue River. We cant tell which way theyre moving, but by looking at where lions are more closely related, we can see where genes are being moved.

Human-lion conflict is a big issue in Zambia, particularly outside of protected land. If lions were moving across human dominated areas, youd think theyd be seen and reported. But these lions are sneaking through virtually undetected until we look at their genes.

As a large, charismatic carnivore, lion research and conservation influences many other species that share their habitat.

Wildlife managers can use these findings to help with lion conservation and other wildlife management in and around Zambia. Now that we generally know where lions are moving, managers can focus on these areas to find the actual route the big cats are taking and work to maintain or even increase how many lions can move across these areas. One of the ways of doing this is by creating more protected land, like corridors, to better connect suitable habitat.

[ Youre smart and curious about the world. So are The Conversations authors and editors. You can read us daily by subscribing to our newsletter. ]

Link:
Sneaky lions in Zambia are moving across areas thought uninhabitable for them - The Conversation - US