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Any one who has ever tried to drop some unwanted weight over the years has probably tried and heard of countless tips and strange weight loss advice from drinking celery juice to replacing meals with so-called weight loss cookies, and most often these pointers are promoted by those without any actual health expertise.

It is true that there are pages and pages full of misguided weight loss advice out there that one really should avoid, but there are also a ton of legitimate tips that are science backed and expert approved suggestions such as picking a time to exercise and sticking with it as a study published in the journal Obesity found that exercising at a certain time every day consistently may help successful weight loss.

Another helpful tip is to choose nuts over heavily processed snacks as a report published in BMJ Nutrition, Prevention & Health found that eating up to one ounce of nuts each day is linked with less weight gain and lower odds of obesity.

JAMA Internal Medicine published a report suggesting that a weight loss counselor may be helpful in helping to trim waistlines, showing that those with type 2 diabetes utilizing such counseling sessions with group medical visits helped them to lose weight and lower their blood sugar levels.

Losing weight can be challenging and even though it may be daunting every effort made is worth the benefits when it comes to improving health. The Journal of the National Cancer Institute published a study showing that overweight women who lost weight after turning 50 years old lowered their risks of developing breast cancer.

Diabetic Medicine published a report suggesting that it may be possible to potentially put type 2 diabetes into remission, finding that among those with type 2 diabetes losing 10% or more of their body weight within the first 5 years of diagnosis was associated with better odds of putting the disease into remission. Additionally, according to the American Heart Association carrying extra weight increases the odds of heart disease and stroke.

Whether you only have a few pounds to drop or a lot to lose experts can offer science backed tips and pointers to effectively help you on your weight loss journey such as eating slowly, portion control, keeping a food diary, totally body movement, keeping a gratitude journal, meal prep, getting enough sleep, not skipping meals, staying hydrated, cutting calories, eating more whole foods, avoiding sweetened beverages, removing unhealthy food from your home, and eating breakfast among others.

Janet Zinn, a licensed clinical social worker and psychotherapist says: I have my clients learn how to choose foods they like, really taste each morsel going into their mouths, and chew deliberately. I advise them to chew slowly, swallow only when the food is all chewed up, and repeat. It takes time to know we're full. Eating slowly allows us to not only enjoy our food more, but gives us better cues of satiety.

Christine King, the founder and CEO of the health and wellness company YourBestFit suggests that if You bite it, you write it! Thats my rule, and numerous studies have shown the effectiveness of food journaling for weight loss. One of my clients went out of town for one week. She stopped journaling and gained 13 pounds. I promise that keeping a food journal helps!

Exercise anything that moves.Thats my mantra and I started this after I broke my back and was paralyzed from the waist down. Do it in bed, while seated, standing, or walking. Just move. People have a misconception that five minutes doesnt make a difference, but every minute makes a difference. (And research published in January 2014 in the journal Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases showed that physical activity is critical when it comes to actually keeping lost weight off.) King

Lauren Manganiello, RD, a nutrition counselor and fitness coach suggests that Our eating habits are usually connected to our emotions whether we realize it or not. When we're stressed, we tend to reach for sweets. I tell clients that by keeping a daily journal of things you're grateful for, youre better able to cope with the stress by acknowledging it rather than reaching for dessert.

According to Angela Lemond, RDN, a registered dietitian nutritionist: A lack of sleep increases your hunger hormone ghrelin and decreases your satisfaction hormone, leptin, which can contribute to weight gain. When we are sleep deprived, we crave more salty and sweet foods. Why? Because anytime you feel more intense hunger, your cravings for higher energy aka higher calorie foods intensify. We also know that the way we think and process our emotions is affected by inadequate sleep, so its easy to connect this with an impaired ability to make sound choices in many areas of life, including with food. If we flip the coin, we can safely assume that when we are well rested, we will make better choices. When it comes to eating, that would mean that we would eat when we are truly hungry, and eat just until satisfied. Our hormones are also going to be better balanced because our bodies got the time needed to sleep, repair, and refresh.

Dont skip meals. You may think that this is helping you to burn calories, but you may be damaging your metabolism. The proper way to skip a meal is to begin an intermittent fasting schedule, but skipping a meal and intermittent fasting are not the same thing. In general forgoing eating can have negative consequences for the body, while intermittent fasting helps to get cravings under control and is a scheduled mindful eating practice. Intermittent fasting may not be best for everyone. When a person skips a meal they tend to overeat at some point to make up for it. When you split up your meals to be consumed throughout the day, the body will use the nutrients from the food more efficiently. Most experts agree that you should be eating three balanced meals a day and a healthy snack.

Megan Casper, RDN, a nutrition counselor and the founder and CEO of Nourished Bite points out that: Research has found that people who drank two glasses of water before a meal lost more weight than people who didnt drink water before meals and they kept it off. This simple tip works in two ways. Thirst can mask itself as hunger, causing you to eat more. And water makes you feel fuller, causing you to eat less during a meal.

According to the USDA ChooseMyPlate.gov half of your plate at any given meal should be nutrient dense fruits/veggies. Perhaps aim to make a balanced plate consisting of half vegetables, a quarter whole grains, and a quarter lean protein. Additionally, the Cleveland Clinic suggests not to eat until you are full rather to the 80% point to help tame overeating. There is no need to be part of the finish the plate club, instead pack any extra food away. This is good advice for over eaters who are just learning how to fill their stomach without going overboard, aiming for 80% is a good gauge to help with this as it instructs you to stop eating when you are beginning to feel slightly full. Slowing down helps with overeating because it takes around 20 minutes for the stomach to digest food.

Theres a strong relationship between sugar-sweetened beverages and weight gain in adults. If you regularly have a sip of something sweet, consider this: Research has shown that reducing intake of sugar-sweetened beverages can result in meaningful weight loss, even if it's the only change you make. Replacing a 20-ounce soda with sparkling water every day would save more than 20,000 calories over a few months, which could translate into more than five pounds of weight loss! Brittany Markides, RDN, the founder of Choose Food in Austin, Texas.

Meals consumed away from home tend to be higher in calories and lower in nutrients. A study published in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that the average restaurant entre contains over 1,000 calories, and an entire days worth of sodium and fat. When dining out to save on those calories, try splitting the entre or asking to substitute extra green veggies or a salad for the starchy potato or rice.

When looking for a snack and in doubt, reach for a low calorie, fiber rich and nutrient dense vegetable or fruit. You can even make fruits/veggies the star of your meal, for example rather than a main dish of pasta, lessen the pasta amount and add in some broccoli, cauliflower, and zucchini, with some small amount of chicken, garlic and lemon zest. Try considering a few squares of organic dark chocolate with an orange for a sweet dessert. This way you can still enjoy a small amount of pasta and a sweet treat while still being satisfied without depriving yourself.

Most people eat with their eyes and like to see that full plate; using smaller plates, bowls, and cups will reduce the amount of food you consume, while at the same time allowing yourself to fill your dish up and keep you from feeling deprived. For example, an observational study showed that people who used a 9-inch plate versus a 10- or 12-inch plate ate up to 22 percent less. Size matters, research consistently shows that people will consume more food when they are offered larger portions, according to the Mayo Clinic. There are many apps that offer visual cues that can help you to gauge what a portion size is to help you get a better handle on what you are eating.

Don't feel like you need to overhaul your entire life starting immediately. Assess where you are currently and then figure out where youd like to be in the future. A great starting point for mostly sedentary people is to get a step counter and see how much you walk on a normal day. Then set a step goal slightly higher than the norm and strive for that, working your way up slowly to a goal of 10,000 steps per day. Esther Avant, an ACE-certified personal trainer in Kapolei, Hawaii.

Try to avoid if not eliminate highly processed foods from your diet. That does not mean your meals will now be bland, healthy whole food options are far from being boring. There are many exciting colours from the rainbow and flavours to experiment with that come in a variety of textures and tastes ranging from naturally sweet to savory which can easily be enhanced with a wide selection of herbs and spices.

At some point in your weight loss journey you may experience some setbacks, but please keep in mind that this is not failure. Rather think of these minor speed bumps as an opportunity to learn and grow from. Pick yourself up and start over. The only true failure is if you give up.

So you say that you cant exercise for very long. That will change, your endurance, coordination and flexibility will gradually improve. You say its taking too long. Well unfortunately, there is no magic pill, you will need to work for it, and it may take some time. Stick to the healthy lifestyle path to achieve your goals. Most importantly remember that you are well worth every effort and the benefits that you will experience with improved health. You CAN do it!

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Weight Loss Tips That Work - Anti Aging News

In late January, when hospitals in the United States confirmed the presence of the novel coronavirus, health workers knew to watch for precisely three symptoms: fever, cough, and shortness of breath. But as the number of infections climbed, the symptom list began to grow.

Some patients lost their sense of smell and taste. Some had nausea or diarrhea. Some had arrhythmias or even heart attacks. Some had damaged kidneys or livers. Some had headaches, blood clots, rashes, swelling, or strokes. Many had no symptoms at all.

By June, clinicians were swapping journal papers, news stories, and tweets describing more than three dozen ways that COVID-19, the disease the coronavirus causes, appears to manifest itself. Now researchers at UC San Francisco and around the world have begun taking a closer look at this dizzying array of symptoms to get at the diseases root causes. They are learning from people inside the hospital and out; people on the brink of death and only mildly sick; people newly exposed and recovered; people young and old, Black, brown, and white. And they are beginning to piece together the story of a virus unlike any known before.

Viruses lead a curious purgatorial existence of being neither fully alive nor dead. Enveloped in a protein cloak, a virus consists almost entirely of genetic material DNA or RNA, the blueprints for all of life. But it cant reproduce on its own. To survive, it must break into a cell and co-opt the cells gene-copying machinery.

The novel coronavirus, an RNA virus named SARS-CoV-2, has become notorious for its skill at breaking and entering human cells. Its tools of choice are the protein spikes protruding from its surface a feature that distinguishes all coronaviruses. The spikes of SARS-CoV-2 are the crme de la crme: By the luck of the evolutionary draw, they are able to easily grab hold of protein gates on human cells known as ACE2 receptors and, like jackknives, pry these gates open.

You can think of an ACE2 receptor like a docking site, says Faranak Fattahi, Ph.D., a UCSF Sandler Fellow. When the coronavirus pandemic hit San Francisco, Fattahi repurposed her laboratory to study this key receptor, which normally plays a role in regulating blood pressure. When the virus lands on it, she says, it initiates a molecular process that brings the virus inside the cell.

If youre exposed to SARS-CoV-2 say, from a cough or sneeze the virus will likely first encounter ACE2 receptors on cells in your nose or throat. But these receptors also populate your heart, gut, and other organs. Fattahis team has found evidence suggesting that male sex hormones such as testosterone may increase the number of ACE2 receptors that cells produce, which could help explainwhy SARS-CoV-2 seems to wreak greater havoc on men than on womenand why kids rarely get sick. The fewer ACE2 receptors, the less risk of infection thats the idea, she says, adding that this hypothesis for the diseases gender gap is only one of several.

Once inside a few initial host cells, the virus sets them to work churning out copies of itself. Within hours, thousands of new virus particles begin bursting forth, ready to infect more cells. Although SARS-CoV-2 is less deadly than the original SARS virus, which emerged in 2002, it replicates more rapidly. Also unlike SARS, which primarily infects the lungs, SARS-CoV-2 replicates throughout the airway, including in the nose and throat, making it highly contagious like the common cold.

However, infection with SARS-CoV-2 usually doesnt feel like a cold. Fewer than 20 percent of infected people who eventually show up at a hospital report having had a sore throat or runny nose. During the first few days of being infected, youre more likely to have a fever, dry cough or, peculiarly, lose your sense of smell or taste.

Most likely, though, you wont feel sick at all. When UCSF researchers tested people for SARS-CoV-2 in San Franciscos Mission District,53 percentof those infected never had any symptoms. Thats much higher than expected, saysMonica Gandhi, M.D., MPH, a UCSF professor of medicine with expertise in HIV. Surveys of outbreaks in nursing homes and prisons show similar or even higher numbers. If we did a mass testing campaign on 300 million Americans right now, I think the rate of asymptomatic infection would be somewhere between 50 percentand 80 percentof cases, Gandhi says. Millions of people may be spreading the virus without knowing it, she points out, making asymptomatic transmission theAchilles heelof efforts to control the pandemic and highlighting theimportance of universal masking.

The majority of people who have COVID-19 are out in the community, and they are either asymptomatic or only mildly ill, saysSulggi Lee, M.D., Ph.D., a UCSF assistant professor of medicine. When the coronavirus pandemic hit San Francisco in early March, Lee conceived a study to investigate why. She scrambled to assemble a team andprocure fundingand equipment. She borrowed a colleaguesmobile clinic a van outfitted with an exam table and a phlebotomy chair so that her team could drive around the city, collecting samples from infected people. Lee hopes data from the study, called CHIRP (COVID-19 Host Immune Response Pathogenesis), will show how peoples immune systems respond as SARS-CoV-2 starts to gain a foothold in their bodies.

A lot is riding on that initial response, she says. If Lee and her collaborators can figure out the biological processes that allow some infected people to stay relatively well, they can perhaps use that knowledge to prevent others from falling severely ill.

True to its name, SARS-CoV-2 (which stands for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) is first and foremost a bad respiratory virus. If your immune system doesnt defeat it at its landing site in your nose or throat, it will advance down your windpipe, infiltrating the cells lining your lungs branching air tubes. At the tubes ends, tiny air sacs called alveoli pass oxygen to your blood. As the virus multiplies, the alveoli may fill with fluid, shutting down this critical gas exchange. Your blood-oxygen level may drop and, typically about six days into an infection, you may start feeling short of breath.

What causes this mayhem? Some of it is definitely caused by the virus itself, saysMichael Matthay, M.D., a UCSF professor of medicine who has studied acute respiratory diseases for more than 30 years. Inevitably, a fast-replicating virus will kill or injure many of the lung cells it infects; the more cells it infects, the more ruin it will leave in its wake.

But SARS-CoV-2 doesnt appear to be a savage destroyer of cells. Although its too early to know for sure, the viruss fatality rate seems to be roughly 10 times that of the flu. You would think thats because its just a killing machine, saysMax Krummel, Ph.D., UCSFs Smith Professor of Experimental Pathology and chair of the Bakar ImmunoX initiative. So far, however, the science suggests otherwise.

One of the weirder things about this new coronavirus is it doesnt seem to be incredibly cytopathic, by which we mean cell-killing, Krummel says. Flu is really cytopathic; if you add it to human cells in a petri dish, the cells burst within 18 hours. But when UCSF researchers subjected human cells to SARS-CoV-2, many of the infected cells never perished. Its pretty compelling data that maybe were not dealing with a hugely aggressive virus, Krummel says.

The bigger provocation, he suspects, may be your own immune system. Like any pathogen, SARS-CoV-2 will trigger an immune attack within minutes of entering your body. This counterstrike is extraordinarily complex, involving many tactics, cells, and molecules. In a UCSF study called COMET (COVID-19 Multi-Phenotyping for Effective Therapies), Krummel and other scientists have been observing this immune warfare in more than 30 people admitted to UCSF hospitals with COVID-19 and other respiratory infections. What were doing is looking at patients blood, their genes, and the secretions from their noses and lungs, and were asking, Whats your army? Whats your response strategy?

Its pretty compelling data that maybe were not dealing with a hugely aggressive virus.Max Krummel, Ph.D.

An early analysis of COMET data, Krummel says, suggests that the immune systems of many hospitalized patients mobilize differently and more aggressively against SARS-CoV-2 than against influenza viruses, which cause the flu. Their lungs are ravaged, these data suggest, not by the virus alone but by the detritus of an immunological battle gone awry. This rogue immune response could explain why, around day 11 of a COVID-19 infection, patients often develop a severe pneumonia known as acute respiratory distress syndrome, or ARDS.

Ultimately, COMET seeks to find COVID-19 therapies that can rein in an overeager immune system in order to prevent or treat ARDS. But that feat wont be easy, saysCarolyn Calfee, M.D., MAS 09, an ARDS expert, UCSF professor of medicine, and co-leader of the study. Too much or the wrong kind of intervention, she explains, could cripple a persons immune system to the point where it cant clear an infection. Its a fine line between therapeutic and deleterious, Calfee says. Were trying to find that balance.

Typically, people who die from COVID-19 ARDS die around day 19. Reported rates of mortality have varied widely, with the highest rates being where the pandemic has hit hardest, overwhelming hospital resources and staff. At UCSF hospitals likely due to the citys early shelter-in-place orders, which prevented an initial surge of COVID-19 cases so far only 10 of 85critically ill patients have died.

The good news is that weve been doing clinical trials of best-care practices for ARDS since 1998, Matthay says. Thanks toresearch by him and others, for example, clinicians have long known which ventilator settings result in the fewest deaths and how to flip patients onto their stomachs a technique known as proning to best help them breathe. If public health measures can keep hospital admissions low so that frontline providers can make good use of the skills and knowledge they already have, we may find that we have less to fear from SARS-CoV-2 than we thought.

On the other hand, the virus behaves in ways that are still mysterious.

In April, Susan Parson, M.D., a Bay Area medical examiner, made a startling discovery. For nearly two months, officials had believed that the first people in the U.S. to die from COVID-19 had died of respiratory failure in Washington state in late February. At the time, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention limited testing to people who had respiratory symptoms and had recently traveled to China or otherwise been exposed to the virus. Those restrictions, however, turned out to be misguided.

As a medical examiner for Californias Santa Clara County, Parson had done a routine autopsy on a 57-year-old woman named Patricia Dowd, who had died suddenly at home on February 6. In Dowds tissues, Parson found the cause of her death: SARS-CoV-2. But the virus hadnt wrecked Dowds lungs. In fact, she had only mild pneumonia. Instead, SARS-CoV-2 had ruptured her heart.

Meanwhile, epidemiologists began learning that preexisting heart disease and related conditions put people at greater risk of suffering and dying from COVID-19. Were finding that many patients who have more severe forms of the illness are obese, they are diabetic, they are hypertensive, says cardiologistNisha Parikh, M.D., a UCSF associate professor who specializes in population health research. Such risk factors, she says, are unusual. Theyre not ones that really stood out in prior epidemics.

Clinicians, too, were seeing surprising numbers of COVID-19 patients develop heart problems muscle weakness, inflammation, arrhythmias, even heart attacks. Were not used to respiratory viruses having such dire consequences on the heart in such apparently high numbers, says cardiologistGregory Marcus, M.D., MAS 08, UCSFs Endowed Professor of Atrial Fibrillation Research. Many patients whose hearts acted up also had failing lungs. But others had no other symptoms or, like Dowd, only mild ones.

Since March, Marcus has co-led one of the largest community surveys to better understand the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and its myriad effects. The study, dubbed COVID-19 Citizen Science, has so far enrolled more than 27,000 people; anyone with a smartphonecan participate. Marcus plans to also start collecting data from wearable devices, including Fitbits and Zio patches, which wirelessly monitor heart rhythms. There may be large numbers of people who are suffering from cardiovascular effects of COVID-19 in the absence of other symptoms, Marcus says. Im worried were missing those cases.

It stands to reason that SARS-CoV-2 affects the heart. After all, heart cells are flush with ACE2 receptors, the viruss vital port of entry. And, indeed, laboratory experiments suggest that the virus can enter and replicate in cultured human heart cells, saysBruce Conklin, M.D., a professor of medicine and an expert in heart-disease genetics at UCSF and the Gladstone Institutes.

But Conklin doesnt think SARS-CoV-2 necessarily kills heart cells outright. Rather, in the process of copying itself, the virus steals pieces of the genetic instructions that tell the heart cells how to do their job. Its hauling away and hijacking stuff thats necessary for the heart to beat, he says. He is currently testing this hypothesis using human heart cells grown in cup-sized vesselsin the lab ofTodd McDevitt, Ph.D., a bioengineer at UCSF and the Gladstone Institutes.

Its also possible, however, that an infected persons own immune system may do the majority of the damage in the heart, as it appears to do in the lungs. The heart probably gets infected by a lot of other viruses, and they dont have a lethal effect, Conklin says. What makes this one different?

Graph with three bars. Bar at left has 80 percentat top and Non-Severe at bottom. Bar in middle has 15 percentat top and Severe at bottom Bar at right has 5 percentat top and Critical at bottom. Text below graph reads: Most symptomatic cases of COVID-19 are mild. To left of graph, small circle with the letter i in the middle opens to text reading: Graph Data: Wu et al., JAMA 2020. Livingston et al., JAMA 2020. Garg et al, MMWR 2020. Stoke et al., MMWR 2020. Left of graph: illustration of a coronavirus.

Toward the end of March, as San Francisco began to warm up, Sonia got cold feet. She put on wool socks and turned up her heater. Still, her feet felt frozen. Three days later, her soles turned splotchy purple. Red dots appeared on her toes. At night, her cold feet itched and burned. Walking hurt. And she was exhausted, napping through afternoon Zoom meetings. It was so bizarre, says Sonia, a San Francisco resident. A week later, her symptoms were gone.

Yes, COVID, wroteLindy Fox, M.D., a UCSF professor of dermatology, replying to an email describing Sonias case. Sonia wasnt surprised. Anyone, like her, whos been following news of the pandemic has probably heard about COVID toes, a painful or itchy skin rash that sometimes pops up in young adults with otherwise mild or asymptomatic cases of COVID-19. It looks like what we call pernio, or chilblains, Fox says, which is a pretty common phenomenon when somebody goes out in cold weather they start to get purple or pink bumps on their fingers or toes.

Many people with rashes like Sonias dont test positive for COVID-19, Fox says, which has made some clinicians skeptical of the connection; when patients have both, its just a coincidence, they believe. But Fox doesnt think so. For one thing, the time of year is wrong, she says. Pernio usually shows up in the dead of winter. Even more compelling, dermatologists around the world are getting crazy numbers of calls about it, Fox says. In the last three weeks, Ive had somewhere between 10 and 12 patients.Normally, I have four a year.

And its not just dermatologists who are adding their observations to COVID-19s ever-expanding symptom list. Gut specialists are finding that 20 percentto 40 percentof people with the disease experience diarrhea, nausea, or vomiting before other symptoms, says gastroenterologistMichael Kattah, M.D., Ph.D., a UCSF assistant professor. If you swallow virus particles, he says, theres a good chance they will infect cells lining your stomach, small intestine, or colon. As in the lungs and heart, these cells are studded with vulnerable ACE2 portals.

Especially disconcerting, Kattah says, is how long the virus seems to persist in the gut. About 50 percentof patients with COVID-19 have virus particles in their stools, often for weeks after their nose swabs test negative, he points out. Laboratory studies show that these particles are often still alive and can infect cells in a petri dish. Whether fecal transmission occurs between people, however, is an open question. If the answer is yes, people recovering from COVID-19 may need to stay quarantined even after they feel well, and the rest of us will need to be as meticulous about bathroom hygiene as weve become about handwashing and mask-wearing.

Other specialists are also raising flags. Neurologists worry about reports of COVID-19 patients with headaches, brain fog, loss of the sense of smell, dizziness, delirium, and, in rare cases, stroke. Nephrologists worry about kidney stress and failure. Hepatologists worry about liver injuries. Ophthalmologists worry about pink eye. Pediatricians, meanwhile, worry about a peculiarCOVID-related inflammatory syndrome thats showing up in kidsand young adults.

Theres a lot of smoke. We need to figure out where the fire is coming from.Michael Wilson, M.D.

Researchers are still sorting out the causes for this constellation of effects. If you come down with a particular symptom, is it because the virus is attacking your cells? Because your immune system is overreacting? Or just because youre very sick? In any severe illness, for example, the kidneys must work extra hard to filter waste and control nutrients and fluid; if overtaxed, they may begin to fail. Similarly, cognitive problems can result from increased blood toxins due to stressed kidneys or from low oxygen due to respiratory distress. Theres a lot of smoke, saysMichael Wilson, M.D. 07, MAS 16, the Rachleff Distinguished Professor at UCSFs Weill Institute for Neurosciences. We need to figure out where the fire is coming from.

Recently, theres been speculation that some of COVID-19s seemingly disparate symptoms may stem from trouble in the blood. Blood clots, for example, are showing up in cases of COVID-19 frequently enough for clinicians to take notice. Theres something unique about the coagulation system in these patients, says nephrologistKathleen Liu, M.D. 99, Ph.D. 97, MAS 07, a UCSF professor of medicine. In caring for COVID-19 patients on dialysis machines, shes been surprised to see blood clots block dialysis tubes more than usual. Clotted tubes are common, she says, but this is extreme.

That may be because, as growing evidence suggests, SARS-CoV-2 can infect cells in the walls of blood vessels that help regulate blood flow and coagulation, or clotting. If true, this behavior could explain some of the viruss weirder (and rarer) manifestations, such as heart attacks, strokes, and even COVID toes.

Our vasculature is a contiguous system, says cardiologist Parikh. Thus injury in one area, such as blood vessels in the lungs, can set off clotting cascades that affect multiple organs. Some of that trouble likely results from inflammation triggered by the immune system, she points out, although another culprit may be the bodys RAAS, or renin-angiotensin-aldosterone system, a hormone system that controls blood pressure and fluid balance. Because RAAS involves ACE2 receptors, Parikh suspects it may become disrupted when the virus infects cells through these receptors, thus triggering coagulation and other downstream effects. Her lab is now studying this system in COVID-19 patients to better understand how SARS-CoV-2 infection affects it.

Inevitably, some ailments may turn out to be red herrings. During a pandemic, when people are flocking to hospitals with infections, clinicians will also see a rise in other health problems, simply by the rules of statistics, points outS. Andrew Josephson, M.D., the Francheschi-Mitchell Professor, chair of UCSFs neurology department, and a member of the Weill Institute for Neurosciences. If the prevalence of infection is high, then almost any condition a broken leg, if you will you might conclude is associated with COVID-19.

As clinicians, we want to get information to our medical community and to the public as quickly as possible, Josephson says, but we have to be cautious about not making too big a deal of a little blip.

As with any infection, how long a bout of COVID-19 lastsvaries from person to person. If youre ill enough to need critical care, you can expect the disease to take at least a few weeks to run its course. In some cases, symptoms persist for months. For a typical milder case, though, you should feel better within a couple weeks.

At that point, the question foremost on your mind will be: Am I immune? There are now more than a dozen antibody tests on the market, but most are unreliable,according to UCSF research. And even the best tests cant tell you whether you have enough of the right kinds of antibodies to protect you against reinfection. There is a lot of hope and belief that well have an antibody test that actually informs us of immunity, but were not quite there yet, saysChaz Langelier, M.D., Ph.D., a UCSF assistant professor of medicine who is working to improve diagnostic tools for COVID-19.

What we have in the meantime are a lot of unknowns: If you do become immune to SARS-CoV-2, when and how does that occur? Will you gain immunity from a mild or asymptomatic case, as well as a severe one? How long will that immunity last?

The answers will have huge implications for social distancing and masking and for getting the economy back up and running, saysMichael Peluso, M.D., a clinical fellow who came to UCSF three years ago to help fight HIV. Now hes co-leadinga new study called LIINC(Long-term Impact of Infection with Novel Coronavirus), which is enrolling people who have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 and will follow them for two years. Besides illuminating changes in immunity over time, LIINC is investigating chronic effects of infection on the immune system, lungs, heart, brain, blood, and other parts of the body.

I hope people will recover and immunity will be protective and long-lasting, and that will be that, Peluso says.

Its what we all hope. We hope we will beat an infection swiftly or, better yet, avoid the virus until there is a vaccine. We hope that if we do fall gravely ill, we will be cared for by the best providers and tended to by people we love. The reality, as we already know, is more complicated. And even if COVID-19 doesnt batter our bodies, the pandemic will surely leave scars on our psyches, our livelihoods, our institutions, and our health that we are only beginning to fathom. In truth, we dont know how our cards will fall, as individuals or as a people. Only time and data will tell.

Read more:
We thought it was just a respiratory virus. We were wrong. - University of California

The objective of androgen deprivation therapy (ADT) in men with prostate cancer is to maintain very low levels of testosterone so that the hormone does not promote tumor growth. But a new analysis found that drugs commonly used to achieve this are administered later than the recommended 28-day regimen, and this late dosing was associated with ineffective suppression of testosterone.

"Evidence suggests achieving and sustaining T levels <20 mg/dL with ADT is desirable and correlates with improved disease-specific survival in patients with advanced prostate cancer," lead author David Crawford, MD, professor of urology, University of California, San Diego, and colleagues point out.

They looked at administration schedules for luteinizing hormone-releasing hormone (LHRH) agonists and found that they were frequently (84%) administered later than the recommended schedule of every 28 days. Nearly half of the late testosterone values for the extended month were greater than 20 ng/dl, and mean testosterone was almost double the castration level, they report.

"Considering the presumed clinical benefits of maintaining effective T suppression throughout the course of ADT, clinicians should administer treatments within approved dosing instructions, monitor T levels, and consider prescribing treatments with proven efficacy through the dosing interval to maintain T below castration levels," they emphasize.

The analysis was published in the Journal of Urology and was presented during the virtual American Urological Association 2020 annual meeting.

The study was done before the current pandemic, which canceled the in-person gathering of AUA 2020. Now, in the COVID-19 era, the interval between when men are scheduled for their next injection and when they actually get it may well be growing longer. Crawford says he recently saw one patient who waited 3 months before getting his next "monthly" injection.

For the review, Crawford and colleagues examined electronic health records (EHRs) and associated insurance claims for a total of 85,030 injections to evaluate the frequency of late dosing.

When the pivotal registration trials for LHRH agonist were done, a 1-month injection of an LHRH formulation was defined as every 28 days, and not 30 or 31 days as per calendar months.

The current analyses were done using 2 definitions of a month: a 28-day month with late dosing defined as injections given after day 28, and an "extended" month with late dosing defined as injections given after day 32, for products that are dosed once-monthly. The analyses also looked at products that are dosed once every 3-months, once every 4 months, and once every 6 months.

The team also evaluated how often testosterone exceeded the castration level of 20 ng/dL, as well as mean T levels and frequency of T tests and prostate specific antigen (PSA) tests taken by physicians prior to administering the injection.

Results showed that 84% of the 28-day dosing interval and 27% of the extended-month dosing administrations were late.

Furthermore, "when LHRH agonist dosing was late, both the proportion of T tests with T >20 ng/dL and mean T were higher compared to when the dosing was early or on-time," Crawford and colleagues point out.

For example, 43% of T values exceeded 20 ng/dL when injections were late compared to only 21% of T values when injections were given early or on time.

Furthermore, mean T values were 21 ng/dL when injections were given early or on time, but they rose to a mean of 79 ng/dL when injections were late.

Physicians were also far less likely to measure T levels at the time of administering the injections when compared to measuring PSA levels, the team found. T levels were assessed only 13% of the time, whereas PSA levels were assessed 83% of the time while administering LHRH injections.

"All of the package inserts say clinicians should measure T periodically when men are on these drugs, yet urologists don't do it most of the time. They are more interested in PSA because that is what the patient wants to know," Crawford commented in an interview with Medscape Medical News.

The thinking is that "so as long as the PSA is fine, everything else is fine too," he added.

That, however, is not necessarily the case.

As Crawford and his colleagues explain, rising PSA levels can reflect disease progression to castrate-resistant prostate cancer but they may also simply reflect late ADT dosing or other technical issues such as inappropriate dosing for a patient's body weight.

With a number of new therapies now available for castrate-resistant prostate cancer, it's important that physicians ensure that T levels remain below castration levels in order to not wrongly diagnose a man with castrate resistance disease as subsequent changes in management could be entirely inappropriate.

More of an issue, Crawford suggests, is that every time a patient receives an injection of an LHRH agonist, not only do his T levels flare, but so does his PSA.

Crawford suspects that levels of follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) are also going up in response to LHRH agonist injections.

"We know that hormone therapy is associated with a lot of side effects but the big one for us right now is cardiovascular, so you may be doing the patient a significant disservice by allowing these 'mini-flares' to occur with late injections," Crawford said.

As to why men are receiving their injections beyond recommended intervals, Crawford feels that many urologists are not taking the timing of dosing as seriously as they should.

"There may also be scheduling issues and patient compliance issues as well," he acknowledged.

Disturbingly, however, if a man does show up in a timely way for his next injection, "insurance companies may refuse to reimburse him unless he comes back on days 30 or 31," Crawford observed.

For men who are concerned about COVID-19 and reluctant to attend the clinic for the next injection, there are ways to deliver healthcare that can facilitate timely dosing.

For example, some big urology clinics are having men drive up to their parking lots and receive their next injection in the car, by appointment only of course. Some centers are trying out at home administration.

The other solution to the late dosing problem is to prescribe longer-acting depot formulations so men need less frequent infections.

"It is simply not acceptable to be giving drugs out of their indication and time frame for which they were approved, so people need to take this more seriously," Crawford said.

"We need to administer these drugs on time," he emphasized.

"We need to monitor T levels because some patients will still experience escapes even if they are getting the drug on time," Crawford explained, "and we now have evidence that when patients do have these T failures, this is reflected in rising PSA levels and that may be an indication of disease progression, which we clearly don't want to happen."

The study was funded by Tolmar. Crawford reports receiving fees from Tolmar and Ferring. The other study authors have disclosed no relevant financial relationships.

The American Urologist Association (AUA) 2020 Annual Meeting: Abstract MP37-18.

J Urol. Published online April 1, 2020. Abstract

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ADT for Prostate Cancer: Concern That Injections Often Given Late - Medscape

Audrey Fenske has always been a night owl. But even by her standards, the past few months have wreaked havoc on her sleep patterns.

Since March, when the COVID-19 pandemic upended most daily routines, Fenske, a program assistant with the Duke Career Center, has up woken up on many nights around 3 a.m., unable to fall back asleep.

Im a chronic over-thinker and over-worrier, Fenske said. So in the past when Ive woken up in the night, my thoughts tend to go to things Im worried bout. Id probably exaggerate things in my mind. But now there are so many serious things going on in the world, its much more stressful.

For many, the stress and anxiety brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic has made it harder to get a good nights sleep. While some data shows that Americans may be gettingslightly more sleep, likely due to the lack of a morning commute, other studies show that these uncertain times have increased insomnia in some populations byaround 20 percent.

Duke Clinical Psychologist Meg Danforth, who leads theDuke Behavioral Sleep MedicineClinic, said shes seen a spike in people seeking treatment for chronic insomnia, which is defined as an inability to fall, or stay, asleep, since the pandemic began.

It is a basic survival mechanism to not sleep well when were in danger, thats evolution, said Danforth, who pointed out the brain often unconsciously equates nighttime with danger. In a very real way, with COVID-19, were all in danger. So its really natural to not be sleeping well.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults getaround seven hoursof sleep per night. In addition to leaving you fatigued, irritable and unable to focus during the day, chronic insomnia can leave you at greater risk for developing depression and anxiety.

So if youre having trouble with sleep, here are a few things to consider.

For people facing sleep problems, Danforth recommends embracing three slight behavioral changes.

Avoid what she calls social jetlag, which is the effect irregular schedules can have on your internal clock.

Social jetlag happens when you keep different schedules on different days, especially on work days and days off, Danforth said. That creates a physical state thats really similar to jetlag, because your body clock is trying to tell time but it cant.

You can help your body establish a defined internal rhythm by keeping bedtimes, wake-up times, meals and exercise on a somewhat consistent schedule. Danforth pointed out that each of these activities sends signals to the brain, which regulates the bodys internal clock and can cue the release of melatonin, a hormone that can relax the body and help you get to sleep.

Secondly, Danforth said its important to protect the connection between your bed and sleep. By spending too much time watching television, staring at your phone or doing work in bed, you can send mixed signals to your body about the purpose of being in bed.

You want to make sure that your bed and bedroom creates a consistent cue for sleep, Danforth said. That means dont go to bed unless you feel like you can fall asleep quickly. If you go to bed before youre sleepy, youre just setting yourself up for failure.

Finally, try to install a buffer zone of at least 30 minutes before bedtime, during which you avoid things like bright or excessive light, worrying about work or watching intense television shows. If you can use the time to calm your mind and body, it can create better conditions for sleep.

Between pandemic worries, work stress and angst about the latest news headlines, theres no shortage of sources for negative emotions. And when youre trying to go to sleep, these factors stand in the way.

Thats why its important to begin the bedtime routine by finding a way to fill your mind with positive thoughts.

Positive emotions undo the stress response, said Carrie Adair, assistant director for theDuke Center for Healthcare Safety and Quality.If youre lying in bed and thinking about all the stressors you have coming at you tomorrow, your heart rate goes up, your respiration increases. But when we experience positive emotions, it actually relaxes all of those processes.

Adair and her colleagues study the science of stress and provideresources, includingone toolto improve sleep,for increasing resilience and reducing the risk of burnout. She said trouble sleeping is one of the first things brought up by people who are struggling with stress. Likewise, improved sleep is often the first sign that peoples ability to deal with stress is improving.

A tool thats proven useful for people looking reach a more positive mental space at the end of the day is 3 Good Things.

Developed as part of a study and now available to anyone over the age of 18, the3 Good Thingsprogram spans 15 days and asks participants to list three pleasant experiences from that day. With text message reminders and a short questionnaire, the requirements to take part are low. But Adair said the effect of spending mental energy dwelling on happy moments can be great.

Asking you to reflect on events that you might not have taken much notice of during the day can help reduce the effect of stress, Adair said. If you do it within two hours of sleep onset, that actually gives you better likelihood of better sleep and longer sleep.

According Danforth, most sleep problems only last a short time and often disappear when the stressful situation that brought them on clears up. But chronic insomnia occurs when someone has frequent trouble falling asleep or staying asleep for a period of longer than three months.

Why that matters is that once chronic insomnia takes root, it often lasts longer than the external stressors that may have caused it.

With COVID-19, were now four-plus months into this, Danforth said. So if people started sleeping poorly back in March, and theyre still sleeping poorly in July, all of a sudden, they become at more risk for having that sleep problem stick around even once, God willing, we come out on the other side of this.

When facing chronic insomnia, experts recommend seeking treatment. Duke has multiple places that treat sleep problems, including theDuke Sleep Disorders Clinic, which uses a nightlong evaluation to diagnose sleep apnea.

TheDuke Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic, part ofDuke Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, uses Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Insomnia (CBT-i), an eight-week program - which is available via telemedicine that addresses the underlying causes of a sleep disorder.

Danforth also recommends the freeCBT-I Coach mobile app, which was developed for military veterans. Available forAppleandAndroiddevices it can help create healthy sleeping habits.

If youre having sleep problems in the short run, it will probably get better, Danforth said. But if youre having chronic sleep problems, remember that it is treatable.

Doyou have some sleep tips? Join the conversation on our Facebook story.

Is there something youd like for us to cover? Send ideas, shout-outs and photographshereor writeworking@duke.edu.

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3 Ways to Improve Your Sleep During COVID-19 - Duke Today

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Viking Therapeutics(NASDAQ:VKTX)Q22020 Earnings CallJul 29, 2020, 4:30 p.m. ET

Operator

Welcome to the Viking Therapeutics 2020 second-quarter financial results conference call. [Operator instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded today, July 29, 2020. I would now like to turn the conference over to Viking's manager of investor relations, Stephanie Diaz. Please go ahead, Stephanie.

Stephanie Diaz -- Manager of Investor Relations

Hello, and thank you all for participating in today's call. Joining me today is Brian Lian, Viking's president and CEO; and Greg Zante, senior vice president of finance. Before we begin, I'd like to caution that comments made during this conference call today, July 29, 2020, will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, concerning the current beliefs of the company, which involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ from these statements and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any statement made today.

I encourage you to review all of the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning these and other matters. I'll now turn the call over to Brian Lian for his initial comments. Brian?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Stephanie, and thanks to everyone listening on the webcast or by phone. Today, we'll provide an overview of our second-quarter 2020 financial results, as well as an update on recent progress and developments related to our pipeline programs and operations. I'll begin by reviewing the status of our ongoing Phase 2b VOYAGE study. As a reminder, this trial is evaluating our small molecule thyroid hormone beta receptor agonist VK2809, in patients with biopsy-confirmed nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and fibrosis.

Enrollment in the trial continues. And despite the ongoing pandemic, more sites are open today for patients screening and enrollment, and fewer sites are reporting operational disruptions compared with two months ago. We currently anticipate completion of enrollment in this study in the first half of 2021. I'll provide more color on VOYAGE in a few minutes.

During the quarter, we also made great progress with our second small molecule thyroid receptor beta agonist, VK0214, which we're developing as a potential treatment for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. We're pleased to report that we recently filed an IND with the FDA to initiate the first-in-human studies of this important molecule. We plan to initiate these studies following clearance of the IND. I'll provide additional detail on our development activities after we review our second-quarter financial results.

With that, I'll turn the call over to Greg Zante, Viking's senior vice president of finance. Greg?

Greg Zante -- Senior Vice President of Finance

Thanks, Brian. In conjunction with my comments, I'd like to recommend that participants refer to Viking's Form 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which we expect to file later today for additional details. I'll now go over our financial results for the second quarter and first six months ended June 30, 2020. I'll first go over the second-quarter results.

Our research and development expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2020 were $7.8 million, compared to $7.3 million for the same period in 2019. The increase was primarily due to increased expenses related to our clinical studies, manufacturing for our drug candidates, salaries and benefits, and stock-based compensation, partially offset by decreased expenses related to preclinical studies and services provided by third party consultants. Our general and administrative expenses for the three months ended June 30, 2020 were $2.8 million, compared to $2.2 million for the same period in 2019. The increase was primarily due to increased expenses related to stock-based compensation, legal expenses, and insurance expenses, partially offset by decreased expenses related to services provided by third-party consultants and travel.

For the three months ended June 30, 2020, Viking reported a net loss of $9.6 million or $0.13 per share, compared to a net loss of $7.7 million or $0.11 per share in the corresponding period of 2019. The increase in net loss and net loss per share for the three months ended June 30, 2020, was primarily due to the increases in research and development and general and administrative expenses noted previously, as well as decreased interest income due to the decline in interest rates throughout the second quarter of 2020 as compared to prevailing interest rates during the second quarter of 2019. I'll now go over our results for the first six months of 2020. Our research and development expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2020 were $15.8 million, compared to $11.8 million for the same period in 2019.

The increase was primarily due to increased expenses related to our clinical studies, manufacturing for our drug candidates, salaries and benefits, and stock-based compensation, partially offset by decreased expenses related to services provided by third-party consultants and preclinical studies. Our general and administrative expenses for the six months ended June 30, 2020 were $5.8 million, compared to $4.5 million for the same period in 2019. The increase was primarily due to increased expenses related to stock-based compensation, legal expenses, and insurance expenses, partially offset by decreased expenses related to services provided by third-party consultants, professional fees, and travel. For the six months ended June 30, 2020, Viking reported a net loss of $19.3 million or $0.27 per share, compared to a net loss of $12.6 million or $0.18 per share in the corresponding period in 2019.

The increase in net loss and net loss per share for the six months ended June 30, 2020 was primarily due to the increases in research and development and general and administrative expenses noted previously, as well as decreased interest income due to the decline in interest rates throughout the first half of 2020 as compared to prevailing interest rates during the first half of 2019. Turning to the balance sheet. At June 30, 2020, Viking held cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments totaling $263 million and had 72,758,342 shares of common stock outstanding. This concludes my financial review, and I'll now turn the call back over to Brian.

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Greg. I'll now provide an update on our recent development activities, beginning with our lead program, VK2809, for the treatment of NASH. As a reminder, VK2809 is an orally available small molecule agonist of the thyroid homeowner receptor that possesses selectivity for liver tissue, as well as the beta receptor subtype, suggesting promising therapeutic potential in a range of metabolic disorders, including NASH. As we previously discussed, in a 12-week Phase 2 trial in patients with hypercholesterolemia and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, VK2809 produced statistically significant reductions in liver fat content, as well as improvements in LDL cholesterol, meeting the study's primary and secondary efficacy endpoints.

On exploratory efficacy measures, evaluating other plasma lipids such as triglycerides, apolipoprotein B and lipoprotein A, treatment with VK2809 also resulted in significant reductions. Importantly, the study showed VK2809 to possess an encouraging safety and tolerability profile with no serious adverse events reported among patients receiving VK2809 or placebo. The initial data from this study were highlighted at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, or AASLD, in 2018. Additional data, including efficacy at the low dose of 5 milligrams daily, were presented at the international liver conference, or EASL, in 2019.

As we indicated on our last quarterly call, further results from this study have been selected for oral presentation at the upcoming 2020 EASL meeting, which will be held in a virtual format from August 27 through August 29. The VK2809 presentation will occur on Friday, August 28. In our view, the data obtained thus far suggests that VK2809 possesses several differentiating characteristics relative to the current NASH development landscape. In addition to the potent reductions observed in liver fat, which we believe suggests promise for improvement in other histologic features, VK2809's broader efficacy on lipid measures suggest additional potential cardiometabolic benefits for patients with NASH.

The compound's oral route of administration, liver-targeted mode of action and encouraging safety and tolerability to date combined to place it among the most promising development programs in the NASH landscape today. Given the encouraging findings from the 12-week Phase 2 study, last year, we initiated a 52-week Phase 2b study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of VK2809 in patients with biopsy-confirmed NASH and fibrosis. This study, which we've called the VOYAGE study, is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter trial designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of VK2809 in the setting of NASH. The study is targeting enrollment of approximately 340 patients across five treatment arms, including 1 milligram daily, 2.5 milligrams daily, 5 milligrams every other day, 10 milligrams every other day and placebo.

The target population includes patients with F2 and F3 fibrosis, as well as up to 25% with F1 fibrosis. F1 patients must possess additional risk factors to be eligible for enrollment. The primary endpoint of the study will evaluate the relative change in liver fat content as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction from baseline to week 12, in subjects treated with VK2809 as compared to subjects receiving placebo. Secondary objectives include evaluation of histologic changes assessed by hepatic biopsy after 52 weeks of therapy.

We are currently enrolling patients in this study in the United States, and we remain on track to open sites outside the U.S. later this quarter. As we reported in our last quarterly update, we continue to closely monitor site activities in the context of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. To reiterate an important comment from our last update, we have never paused enrollment in this study or indicated to our sites that we plan to defer any activities required for trial execution.

Since our last update, we're encouraged that sites continue to loosen many of the restrictions put in place earlier in the pandemic. We have more sites open for in-person and virtual patient engagement today than in prior months and anticipate further expansion of site activities in the coming months. In addition, we're pleased to report that dosing in this study has now exceeded six months and we look forward to completion of the planned 52-week treatment window that will enable the evaluation of VK2809 safety and efficacy on histologic endpoints in NASH. With respect to further expansion of clinical sites, we remain on track to open sites outside the U.S.

later this year in both the third and fourth quarters and continue to target over 80 sites globally. As we've previously indicated, we continue to anticipate completion of enrollment in VOYAGE in the first half of next year. I would now like to provide an update on our VK0214 program. Like VK2809, VK0214 is an orally available small molecule thyroid hormone receptor agonist that possesses selectivity for the beta receptor subtype.

We are developing VK0214 as a potential treatment for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy or X-ALD. X-ALD is a serious degenerative neuromuscular disease for which no pharmacologic treatment exists. The disease is caused by a defect in a peroxisome transporter called ABCD1. This defect can result in increased plasma and tissue levels of very long-chain fatty acids, which are believed to contribute to the cerebral and motor neuron toxicities that are characteristic of the disease.

The thyroid beta receptor is an important potential target for therapeutic intervention in X-ALD because is believed to play a role in very long-chain fatty acid metabolism. Data from in vivo models have demonstrated that treatment with VK0214 produces reductions in very long-chain fatty acids in both plasma and tissue. These encouraging findings suggest potential benefit in the setting of X-ALD and we're eager to move VK0214 into the clinic. To this end, we are pleased to report that we recently filed an IND for VK0214 to initiate the clinical development of this important program.

Following clearance of the IND, we plan to initiate the first in-human studies of VK0214, to be followed by initiation of a proof-of-concept study in patients with X-ALD. We will provide more details on trial design upon study initiation. As we advance both VK2809 and VK0214, we continue to carefully manage our cash resources and maintain a strong financial position. As Greg stated earlier, we ended the second quarter with approximately $263 million in cash, which we currently expect will provide sufficient runway to achieve a number of the key clinical milestones that we believe will drive value creation in the future.

In conclusion, we continue to make exciting progress with both our VK2809 and VK0214 programs. With respect to our Phase 2b VOYAGE trial, evaluating VK2809 in patients with biopsy-confirmed NASH and fibrosis, we've increased the number of sites that are open and actively enrolling and look forward to adding new sites, both within and outside the U.S. in the coming months. We're also happy to report that we passed the six-month dosing milestone and continue to treat subjects for the planned 52-week trial duration.

We currently anticipate completion of enrollment in the first half of 2021. With respect to VK0214 for the treatment of X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy, we recently filed an IND for this program, and we expect to initiate clinical development in the third quarter. Finally, during the second quarter, we continued to carefully manage our cash to ensure that we have the resources to optimally advance our key programs through their critical milestones. This concludes our prepared comments for today.

Thanks again for joining us. And now, we'll open the call for questions. Operator?

Operator

[Operator instructions] The first question comes from John -- Joon Lee, excuse me, of SunTrust. Please go ahead.

Joon Lee -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Hi. Good afternoon and thanks for taking my questions. Brian, did I hear correctly that in your VOYAGE study, you have passed the six-month threshold? And you are now going beyond that in treating patients?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Hi, Joon. Yes, that's correct.

Joon Lee -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Great. So that pretty much puts the question at rest. OK. That's great to hear.

And then the other question I have is one of your peer companies, Intercept, received a disciplining CRL last month without an AdCom. And then the FDA stated that they did not believe the risk-benefit justified approval. What are your thoughts on that CRL? And how does this, if at all, change your development plans for 2809?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Thanks, Joon. It's really a complicated question. And I don't have a lot of insight on the nature of the CRL or any discussions Intercept may or may not have had with the FDA.

As far as our plans, our plans are unchanged. So we're going to complete the VOYAGE study and read those data out and then plan for a Phase 3 trial. And currently, the guidance is unchanged with the registration endpoints. So we are not altering our strategy at all.

We look forward to completing the VOYAGE study. That's the main focus right now.

Joon Lee -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

In your view, if you look -- as you look at the profile of 2809 and compare that with OCA, what can you point to as a source of conviction that this 2809 won't be as nearly as a concern when it comes to review process down the line?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. Well, it's a -- they're a little bit apples to oranges. It's a different mechanism with obeticholic acid. They did a longer, larger study.

We're focused now on a Phase 2b study. We're looking at both the registration endpoints as secondary endpoints at 12 months. But it's tough to make that comparison just because they're just different molecules targeting different receptors and different mechanisms.

Joon Lee -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Yeah. Understand. And then the last question is, when you report the additional data at EASL next month, what should we be focusing on?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yes. We'll report data from the 16-week visit in that study. And then we'll also report data from some of the subsets of patients. Patients with higher BMI, higher baseline ALT, that sort of thing.

So I think it's an interesting data set. So we look forward to presenting it.

Joon Lee -- SunTrust Robinson Humphrey -- Analyst

Great. Looking forward to it. And congrats and thanks so much.

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks a lot, Joon.

Operator

The next question comes from Michael Morabito of Chardan Capital Markets. Please go ahead.

Michael Morabito -- Chardan Capital Markets -- Analyst

Hi, guys. Thanks for taking the questions. I was wondering if you could go into any more detail on the ex U.S. sites that you plan to open.

You said about 80 sites globally. Do you know, once all is said and done, how many of those will be ex U.S. versus in the U.S.? And what do you think the mix of U.S. versus non-U.S.

patients will be by the time the study is finished?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. The mix should be about three to one, at least, maybe closer to four to one, but at least three to one. And we had originally targeted around 12 ex U.S., and we'll be potentially moving that up closer to 15. But that's sort of the broad mix there, primarily U.S.

but a little tranche of ex-U.S. as well.

Michael Morabito -- Chardan Capital Markets -- Analyst

And so when you enroll patients in the ex U.S. sites, do you expect the U.S. versus ex-U.S. next to be relatively equal in all five arms of the study?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

I would expect so. Well, obviously, there are more U.S. sites, so we'll have more patients from the U.S. in the study.

But yes, it should be well balanced in that regard. It's a randomized study.

Michael Morabito -- Chardan Capital Markets -- Analyst

OK. And some of your competitors have hinted that they may be able to run registrational trials at -- with an endpoint of less than 52 weeks based on some of their data. From the data that you've seen today, do you think that there's any chance that you would be able to run a trial that would be shorter than a 52-week Phase 3?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

So it's a good question. We don't know. We haven't generated any data longer than 12 weeks. We have the 16-week data from the follow-up visit, but the patients only received 12 weeks of therapy.

So we'll make that determination once we have our 12-month data in hand, but it's just hard to answer right now.

Michael Morabito -- Chardan Capital Markets -- Analyst

OK. Thanks for taking the question.

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Thanks, Michael.

Operator

The next question comes from Matt Luchini of BMO Capital. Please go ahead.

Matt Luchini -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Hi. Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my question. And congrats on the progress. So it sounds like from an enrollment -- VOYAGE enrollment perspective, you're pretty optimistic on how things are progressing.

And so I'm just wondering, is the gating factor in terms of your enrollment guidance more actually on the ex U.S. side? Or is it still pulling enough patients through on the U.S. side? And then secondarily, while I appreciate that it's somewhat a moot point given that we passed the six-month mark. Can you just maybe comment, did the FDA actually come back and sort of bless VOYAGE to continue dosing? Or was it more a continuation of the no-news-is-good-news commentary that we saw last quarter? Thank you.

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

Yeah. Thanks, Matt. So on the second question, there was never any requirement that we check in with the FDA at six months. The trial that was cleared to proceed was a 52-week trial, and we were requested to submit our 12-month tox data at some time frame before any subject reach that six-month threshold.

So there wasn't any sort of a check in or OK or anything from the FDA. We didn't receive one. We didn't expect one, and there was never one outlined for us. With respect to enrollment, the modeling that we do for completion enrollment, it encompasses the time to get the U.S.

and ex-U.S. sites onboard. And then we have enrollment assumptions in each of those sites and model it out from there. So it's a combination of U.S.

and ex-U.S., and they're both going to be important contributors. But bulk of the contribution will come from U.S. patients, at least that's our expectation today.

Matt Luchini -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

OK. And just given all the -- in terms of the initial PDFF data, should we be expecting that closer to, say, the tail end of the first half? Or do you think, really, it's a second-half event? Or is it still too early to say?

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

I think it's early to say. We'll report it as soon as we have it, but it's early to say. We have some -- a pretty broad window in there, and that reflects a lot of the uncertainty in the current clinical environment. But I don't think we're going to narrow it down today.

Matt Luchini -- BMO Capital Markets -- Analyst

Understood. Just thought I would ask. Thanks for taking the questions.

Brian Lian -- President and Chief Executive Officer

See the article here:
Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) Q2 2020 Earnings Call Transcript - Motley Fool

San Diego Jul 30, 2020 (Thomson StreetEvents) -- Edited Transcript of Viking Therapeutics Inc earnings conference call or presentation Wednesday, July 29, 2020 at 8:30:00pm GMT

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director

* Gregory S. Zante

Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - SVP of Finance

Laidlaw & Company (UK) Ltd., Research Division - MD of Healthcare Research & Senior Biotechnology Analyst

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division - Executive Director & Senior Analyst

* Matthew W. Luchini

B. Riley FBR, Inc., Research Division - Research Analyst

Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division - Senior Research Analyst of Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals

ROTH Capital Partners, LLC, Research Division - MD, Senior Research Analyst & Head of Pharmaceuticals Research

Vida Strategic Partners Inc. - President & CEO

Welcome to the Viking Therapeutics 2020 Second Quarter Financial Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions). As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded today, July 29, 2020.

I would now like to turn the conference over to Viking's Manager of Investor Relations, Stephanie Diaz. Please go ahead, Stephanie.

Stephanie Diaz, Vida Strategic Partners Inc. - President & CEO [2]

Hello, and thank you, all, for participating in today's call. Joining me today is Brian Lian, Viking's President and CEO; and Greg Zante, Senior Vice President of Finance.

Before we begin, I'd like to caution that comments made during this conference call today, July 29, 2020, will contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Securities Act of 1933, concerning the current beliefs of the company, which involve a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ from these statements and the company undertakes no obligation to revise or update any statement made today. I encourage you to review all of the company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission concerning these and other matters.

I'll now turn the call over to Brian Lian for his initial comments. Brian?

Brian Lian, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director [3]

Thanks, Stephanie, and thanks to everyone listening on the webcast or by phone. Today, we'll provide an overview of our second quarter 2020 financial results as well as an update on recent progress and developments related to our pipeline programs and operations. I'll begin by reviewing the status of our ongoing Phase IIb VOYAGE study. As a reminder, this trial is evaluating our small molecule thyroid hormone beta receptor agonist VK2809, in patients with biopsy-confirmed nonalcoholic steatohepatitis and fibrosis. Enrollment in the trial continues. And despite the ongoing pandemic, more sites are open today for patients screening and enrollment, and fewer sites are reporting operational disruptions compared with 2 months ago. We currently anticipate completion of enrollment in this study in the first half of 2021. I'll provide more color on VOYAGE in a few minutes.

During the quarter, we also made great progress with our second small molecule thyroid receptor beta agonist, VK0214, which we're developing as a potential treatment for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy. We're pleased to report that we recently filed an IND with the FDA to initiate the first-in-human studies of this important molecule. We plan to initiate these studies following clearance of the IND.

I'll provide additional detail on our development activities after we review our second quarter financial results. For that, I'll turn the call over to Greg Zante, Viking's Senior Vice President of Finance. Greg?

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Gregory S. Zante, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - SVP of Finance [4]

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Thanks, Brian. In conjunction with my comments, I'd like to recommend that participants refer to Viking's Form 10-Q filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which we expect to file later today for additional details.

I'll now go over our financial results for the second quarter and first 6 months ended June 30, 2020. I'll first go over the second quarter results. Our research and development expenses for the 3 months ended June 30, 2020, were $7.8 million compared to $7.3 million for the same period in 2019. The increase was primarily due to increased expenses related to our clinical studies, manufacturing for our drug candidates, salaries and benefits and stock-based compensation, partially offset by decreased expenses related to preclinical studies and services provided by third party consultants. Our general and administrative expenses for the 3 months ended June 30, 2020, were $2.8 million compared to $2.2 million for the same period in 2019. The increase was primarily due to increased expenses related to stock-based compensation, legal expenses and insurance expenses, partially offset by decreased expenses related to services provided by third-party consultants and travel. For the 3 months ended June 30, 2020, Viking reported a net loss of $9.6 million or $0.13 per share compared to a net loss of $7.7 million or $0.11 per share in the corresponding period of 2019. The increase in net loss and net loss per share for the 3 months ended June 30, 2020, was primarily due to the increases in research and development and general and administrative expenses noted previously,as well as decreased interest income due to the decline in interest rates throughout the second quarter of 2020 as compared to prevailing interest rates during the second quarter of 2019.

I'll now go over our results for the first 6 months of 2020. Our research and development expenses for the 6 months ended June 30, 2020, were $15.8 million compared to $11.8 million for the same period in 2019. The increase was primarily due to increased expenses related to our clinical studies, manufacturing for our drug candidates, salaries and benefits and stock-based compensation, partially offset by decreased expenses related to services provided by third-party consultants and preclinical studies. Our general and administrative expenses for the 6 months ended June 30, 2020, were $5.8 million compared to $4.5 million for the same period in 2019. The increase was primarily due to increased expenses related to stock-based compensation, legal expenses and insurance expenses, partially offset by decreased expenses related to services provided by third party consultants, professional fees and travel. For the 6 months ended June 30, 2020, Viking reported a net loss of $19.3 million or $0.27 per share compared to a net loss of $12.6 million or $0.18 per share in the corresponding period in 2019. The increase in net loss and net loss per share for the 6 months ended June 30, 2020, was primarily due to the increases in research and development and general and administrative expenses noted previously as well as decreased interest income due to the decline in interest rates throughout the first half of 2020, as compared to prevailing interest rates during the first half of 2019.

Turning to the balance sheet. At June 30, 2020, Viking held cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments totaling $263 million, and had 72,758,342 shares of common stock outstanding. This concludes my financial review, and I'll now turn the call back over to Brian.

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Brian Lian, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director [5]

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Thanks, Greg. I'll now provide an update on our recent development activities, beginning with our lead program, VK2809 for the treatment of NASH. As a reminder, VK2809 is an orally available small molecule agonist of the thyroid homeowner receptor that possesses selectivity for liver tissue as well as the beta receptor subtype, suggesting promising therapeutic potential in a range of metabolic disorders, including NASH. As we previously discussed, in a 12-week Phase II trial in patients with hypercholesterolemia and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, VK2809 produced statistically significant reductions in liver fat content as well as improvements in LDL cholesterol, meeting the study's primary and secondary efficacy endpoints. On exploratory efficacy measures, evaluating other plasma lipids such as triglycerides, apolipoprotein B and lipoprotein A, treatment with VK2809 also resulted in significant reductions. Importantly, the study showed VK2809 to possess an encouraging safety and tolerability profile with no serious adverse events reported among patients receiving VK2809 or placebo. The initial data from this study were highlighted at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases, or AASLD, in 2018. Additional data, including efficacy at the low dose of 5 milligrams daily, were presented at the international liver conference, or EASL, in 2019. As we indicated on our last quarterly call, further results from this study have been selected for oral presentation at the upcoming 2020 EASL meeting, which will be held in a virtual format from August 27 through August 29. The VK2809 presentation will occur on Friday, August 28. In our view, the data obtained thus far suggests that VK2809 possesses several differentiating characteristics relative to the current NASH development landscape. In addition to the potent reductions observed in liver fat, which we believe suggests promise for improvement in other histologic features, VK2809's broader efficacy on lipid measures suggest additional potential cardiometabolic benefits for patients with NASH. The compound's oral route of administration, liver-targeted mode of action and encouraging safety and tolerability to date combined to place it among the most promising development programs in the NASH landscape today.

Given the encouraging findings from the 12-week Phase II study, last year, we initiated a 52-week Phase IIb study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of VK2809 in patients with biopsy-confirmed NASH and fibrosis. This study, which we've called the VOYAGE study, is a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled multicenter trial designed to assess the efficacy, safety and tolerability of VK2809 in the setting of NASH. The study is targeting enrollment of approximately 340 patients across 5 treatment arms, including 1 milligram daily, 2.5 milligrams daily, 5 milligrams every other day, 10 milligrams every other day and placebo. The target population includes patients with F2 and F3 fibrosis as well as up to 25% with F1 fibrosis. F1 patients must possess additional risk factors to be eligible for enrollment. The primary endpoint of the study will evaluate the relative change in liver fat content as assessed by magnetic resonance imaging proton density fat fraction from baseline to week 12, in subjects treated with VK2809 as compared to subjects receiving placebo. Secondary objectives include evaluation of histologic changes assessed by hepatic biopsy after 52 weeks of therapy.

We are currently enrolling patients in this study in the United States, and we remain on track to open sites outside the U.S. later this quarter. As we reported in our last quarterly update, we continue to closely monitor site activities in the context of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. To reiterate an important comment from our last update, we have never paused enrollment in this study or indicated to our sites that we plan to defer any activities required for trial execution. Since our last update, we're encouraged that sites continue to loosen many of the restrictions put in place earlier in the pandemic. We have more sites open for in-person and virtual patient engagement today than in prior months and anticipate further expansion of site activities in the coming months. In addition, we're pleased to report that dosing in this study has now exceeded 6 months and we look forward to completion of the planned 52-week treatment window that will enable the evaluation of VK2809 safety and efficacy on histologic endpoints in NASH. With respect to further expansion of clinical sites, we remain on track to open sites outside the U.S. later this year in both the third and fourth quarters, and continue to target over 80 sites globally. As we've previously indicated, we continue to anticipate completion of enrollment in VOYAGE in the first half of next year.

I would now like to provide an update on our VK0214 program. Like VK2809, VK0214 is an orally available small molecule thyroid hormone receptor agonist that possesses selectivity for the beta receptor subtype. We are developing VK0214 as a potential treatment for X-linked adrenoleukodystrophy, or X-ALD. X-ALD is a serious degenerative neuromuscular disease for which no pharmacologic treatment exists. The disease is caused by a defect in a peroxisome transporter called ABCD1. This defect can result in increased plasma and tissue levels of very long-chain fatty acids, which are believed to contribute to the cerebral and motor neuron toxicities that are characteristic of the disease. The thyroid beta receptor is an important potential target for therapeutic intervention in X-ALD because is believed to play a role in very long-chain fatty acid metabolism. Data from in vivo models have demonstrated that treatment with VK0214 produces reductions in very long-chain fatty acids in both plasma and tissue. These encouraging findings suggest potential benefit in the setting of X-ALD and we're eager to move VK0214 into the clinic. To this end, we are pleased to report that we recently filed an IND for VK0214 to initiate the clinical development of this important program. Following clearance of the IND, we plan to initiate the first in-human studies of VK0214, to be followed by initiation of a proof-of-concept study in patients with X-ALD. We will provide more details on trial design upon study initiation.

As we advance both VK2809 and VK0214, we continue to carefully manage our cash resources and maintain a strong financial position. As Greg stated earlier, we ended the second quarter with approximately $263 million in cash, which we currently expect will provide sufficient runway to achieve a number of the key clinical milestones that we believe will drive value creation in the future.

In conclusion, we continue to make exciting progress with both our VK2809 and VK0214 programs. With respect to our Phase IIb VOYAGE trial, evaluating VK2809 in patients with biopsy-confirmed NASH and fibrosis, we've increased the number of sites that are open and actively enrolling and look forward to adding new sites, both within and outside the U.S. in the coming months. We're also happy to report that we passed the 6-month dosing milestone and continue to treat subjects for the planned 52-week trial duration. We currently anticipate completion of enrollment in the first half of 2021. With respect to VK0214 for the treatment of X-linked Adrenoleukodystrophy, we recently filed an IND for this program, and we expect to initiate clinical development in the third quarter. Finally, during the second quarter, we continued to carefully manage our cash to ensure that we have the resources to optimally advance our key programs through their critical milestones.

This concludes our prepared comments for today. Thanks again for joining us. And now we'll open the call for questions. Operator?

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Questions and Answers

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Operator [1]

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(Operator Instructions) The first question comes from Joon Lee of SunTrust.

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Joon So Lee, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division - VP [2]

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Brian, did I hear correctly that in your VOYAGE study, you have passed the 6-month threshold? And you are now going beyond that in treating patients?

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Brian Lian, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director [3]

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Joon, yes, that's correct.

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Joon So Lee, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division - VP [4]

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Great. So that pretty much puts the question at rest. Okay. That's great to hear. And then the other question I have is one of your peer companies, Intercept, received a disciplining CRL last month without an AdCom. And then the FDA stated that they did not believe the risk-benefit justified approval, what are your thoughts on that CRL? And how does this, if at all, change your development plans for 2809?

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Brian Lian, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director [5]

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Yes. Thanks, Joon, it's really a complicated question. And I don't have a lot of insight on the nature of the CRL or any discussions Intercept may or may not have had with the FDA. As far as our plans, our plans are unchanged. So we're going to complete the VOYAGE study and read those data out and then plan for a Phase III trial. And currently, the guidance is unchanged with the registration endpoints. So we are not altering our strategy at all. We look forward to completing the VOYAGE study. That's the main focus right now.

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Joon So Lee, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division - VP [6]

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In your view, if you look -- as you look at the profile of 2809 and compare that with OCA, what can you point to as a source of conviction that this 2809 won't be as nearly as a concern when it comes to review process down the line?

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Brian Lian, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director [7]

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Yes. Well, it's -- they're a little bit apples to oranges. It's a different mechanism with obeticholic acid. They did a longer, larger study. We're focused now on a Phase IIb study. We're looking at both the registration endpoints as secondary endpoints at 12 months. But it's tough to make that comparison just because they're just different molecules targeting different receptors and different mechanisms.

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Joon So Lee, SunTrust Robinson Humphrey, Inc., Research Division - VP [8]

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Yes. Understand. And then the last question is, when you report the additional data at EASL next month, what should we be focusing on?

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Brian Lian, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director [9]

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Yes. We'll report data from the 16-week visit in that study. And then we'll also report data from some of the subsets of patients. Patients with higher BMI, higher baseline ALT, that sort of thing. So I think it's an interesting data set. So it's -- we look forward to presenting it.

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Operator [10]

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The next question comes from Michael Morabito of Chardan Capital Markets.

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Michael Vincent Morabito, Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division - Senior Research Analyst of Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals [11]

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I was wondering if you could go into any more detail on the ex U.S. sites that you plan to open. You said about 80 sites globally. Do you know, once all is said and done, how many of those will be ex U.S. versus in the U.S.? And what do you think the mix of U.S. versus non-U. S. patients will be by the time the study is finished?

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Brian Lian, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director [12]

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Yes. The mix should be about 3:1 at least, maybe closer to 4:1, but at least 3:1. And we had originally targeted around 12 ex U.S., and we'll be potentially moving that up to -- closer to 15, but that's sort of the broad mix there. Primarily U.S., but a little tranche of ex U.S. as well.

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Michael Vincent Morabito, Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division - Senior Research Analyst of Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals [13]

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And so when you enroll patients in the ex U.S. sites, do you expect the U.S. versus ex U.S. next to be relatively equal in all 5 arms of the study?

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Brian Lian, Viking Therapeutics, Inc. - President, CEO & Director [14]

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I would expect so. Well, the -- obviously, there are more U.S. sites so we'll have more patients from the U.S. in the study. But yes, it should be well balanced in that regard. It's a randomized study.

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Michael Vincent Morabito, Chardan Capital Markets, LLC, Research Division - Senior Research Analyst of Biotechnology and Pharmaceuticals [15]

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Okay. And some of your competitors have hinted that they may be able to run registrational trials at -- with an endpoint of less than 52 weeks based on some of their data. From the data that you've seen today, do you think that there's any chance that you would be able to run a trial that would be shorter than a 52-week Phase III?

Excerpt from:
Edited Transcript of VKTX.OQ earnings conference call or presentation 29-Jul-20 8:30pm GMT - Yahoo Finance

There are many benefits of plant-based eating. But is it safe to exclude meat when youve got a whole-grain bun in the oven? Registered dietitian Julia Zumpano, RD, shares her tips for being a pro at pregnancy while still being pro-plants.

Cleveland Clinic is a non-profit academic medical center. Advertising on our site helps support our mission. We do not endorse non-Cleveland Clinic products or services.Policy

Vegetarian diets are nutritional powerhouses because they are:

The tricky part of eating vegetarian while youre pregnant, explains Zumpano, is that your protein needs increase during those months.

Zumpano says the average pregnant woman needs 71 to 75 grams of protein a day during pregnancy. That number can be even higher due to a number of factors, including if youre carrying multiples. If you want to eat vegetarian during pregnancy, its best to see a dietitian for a personal assessment to know your specific protein needs.

Its definitely doable to eat vegetarian while pregnant I did it myself but you need to plan your meals around protein to ensure youre getting enough, which may also include protein supplements.

A vegetarian diet typically cuts out meat, but there is a lot of grey. Some vegetarian diets include eggs and dairy. A vegan diet has no meat, dairy or eggs. A pescatarian diet is plant-based but includes fish. Is one type better during pregnancy?

If someone is open to less restrictive eating during pregnancy, I try to guide them that way because it can be easier to fill the nutritional requirements, says Zumpano. For example, if someone is vegan but open to dairy during pregnancy, I would encourage that shift so they can get their protein and calcium needs met by food sources.

If youre set on a vegan pregnancy or dont want to adjust your eating habits, youre still good. Youll just need to use a supplement or a vegetarian product like tofu to meet the nutritional needs of you and your baby.

All pregnant women, whether or not they eat meat, need to take a quality prenatal vitamin. If the vitamin doesnt contain enough calcium or folate, you may need additional supplementation.

A high-variety diet can help you meet your nutritional requirements in pregnancy:

There are also some foods you should avoid:

If you want to ensure complete nutrition during a vegetarian pregnancy, its best to plan ahead. Zumpano recommends making a list of the fruits, veggies, proteins and grains youre willing to eat and then planning your meals around them.

Probably the hardest time to successfully eat vegetarian is during the first three months of pregnancy, says Zumpano. If you have morning sickness or nausea, food may not taste good. Or you dont feel like eating for fear it will all come back up. It can be almost impossible to eat a complete diet in this situation.

To avoid having soda crackers as your primary food source, Zumpano recommends:

Youll likely find it easier to meet all your nutritional needs in trimesters two and three (when you dont feel like retching all day). But you can use these tips at all points in your pregnancy to ensure your baby gets the best nutrition for a healthy start in life

These recipes can help you get started in developing a nutritionally complete eating plan:

Originally posted here:
Can You Safely Have a Vegetarian Pregnancy? Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic - Health Essentials from Cleveland Clinic

By: Lifestyle Desk | New Delhi | Published: July 7, 2020 6:33:51 pm Rowling wrote a long tread defending herself. (Photo: JK Rowling/Facebook)

It will probably be a while for JK Rowling to extricate herself from the growing controversy she finds herself embroiled in. Recently, the Harry Potter author faced fresh heat on one of her tweets that suggested transgender hormone therapy is a variant of conversion therapy for young gay people..

It all started when a Twitter user made a claim that the author had allegedly liked a tweet that compared prescribed hormones to antidepressants. Soon, Rowling wrote a long tread defending herself and went to write, Ive ignored fake tweets attributed to me and RTed widely. Ive ignored porn tweeted at children on a thread about their art. Ive ignored death and rape threats. Im not going to ignore this. When you lie about what I believe about mental health medication and when you misrepresent the views of a trans woman for whom I feel nothing but admiration and solidarity, you cross a line.

She added, Ive written and spoken about my own mental health challenges, which include OCD, depression and anxiety. I did so recently in my essay TERF Wars. Ive taken anti-depressants in the past and they helped me. Many health professionals are concerned that young people struggling with their mental health are being shunted towards hormones and surgery when this may not be in their best interests. Many, myself included, believe we are watching a new kind of conversion therapy for young gay people, who are being set on a lifelong path of medicalisation that may result in the loss of their fertility and/or full sexual function. Adding to this, she shared links to support her tweets, giving instances. The long-term health risks of cross-sex hormones have been now been tracked over a lengthy period. These side-effects are often minimised or denied by trans activists.

Soon, people began expressing their anger. JK Rowling is now openly advocating for conversion therapy for trans kids. As a survivor of an extreme form of homebrew conversion therapy, I say *once again* without reservation that she is a danger to children, wrote one, while another said: JK Rowling comparing transitioning to conversion therapy is a great example of how conspiratorial and anti-science the TERF mindset is.

The Indian Express is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay updated with the latest headlines

For all the latest Books And Literature News, download Indian Express App.

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See the rest here:
JK Rowling faces backlash for likening transgender hormone replacement to gay conversion therapy - The Indian Express

Kanye West has denounced a US parenting organisation that has been promoted by his wife Kim Kardashian, as a conspiracy.

The 43-year-old rapper spoke out in his first interview since declaring his plans to run for the Presidency and hit out at Planned Parenthood.

The organisation says it provides essential health care services like STD testing and treatment, birth control, well-woman exams, cancer screening and prevention, abortion, hormone therapy and infertility services.

Kanye has denounced it as 'the devil's work' as he claims he is "following the word of the bible" despite wife Kim's support of Planned Parenthood and her pro-choice views.

Speaking to Forbes about his 2020 presidential campaign, Kanye revealed that he was running for office because he had received a message from God as the born again Christian set out some of his thoughts.

One of his main claims was that Planned Parenthood was the work of "white supremacists" which has prompted a swift response from the organisation.

Kanye said: I am pro-life because Im following the word of the bible. Planned Parenthoods have been placed inside cities by white supremacists to do the Devils work.

Planned Parenthoods Director of Black Leadership and Engagement, Nia Martin-Robinson, hit back at Kanye's remarks in a statement.

She said: "Black women are free to make our own decisions about our bodies and pregnancies, and want and deserve to have access to the best medical care available.

Any insinuation that abortion is Black genocide is offensive and infantilising.

"The real threat to Black communities safety, health, and lives stems from lack of access to quality, affordable health care, police violence and the criminalisation of reproductive health care by anti-abortion opposition.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians fans will recall that Kim was joined by her sisters Khloe and Kourtney at a Planned Parenthood clinic for a visit in 2017.

Kim publicly voiced her support at the time on Instagram, sharing a photo of them at one of the clinics, captioning it with: "My sisters and I visited Planned Parenthood recently and learned that the House of Representatives forced through a bill that strips health care coverage from millions of people and raises health care costs, including Planned Parenthood patients.

They are such an amazing place that provides so much to so many! #istandwithpp.

Do you have a story to sell? Get in touch with us at webcelebs@trinitymirror.com or call us direct 0207 29 33033.

Continue reading here:
Kanye West sparks fury saying Planned Parenthood 'carries out the devil's work' - Mirror Online

Ah, there it is again hunger, causing your tummy to grumble and your mind to drift away from the task in front of you. "Didn't I just have lunch an hour ago?" you might ask yourself as you make your fifth trip to peer into the fridge again. Hunger is natural and is supposed to be self-regulated; these days, everyone on talk shows and on Instagram seem to be talking about "intuitive" eating or listening to your body's needs, especially when you feel hungry. We bet you know when you've crossed a line, though, and "snacking" turns into an unintentional fourth or fifth meal. If you constantly feel hungry no matter what you're eating, it's time to think about what you're putting on the plate.

Sometimes, an unchecked increase in appetite can be explained by other health conditions or life situations (such as breast feeding), or even by medications you take. But more often, there may be other choices you're making during the day that might unintentionally add fuel to your endless appetite. Below, with the help of a holistic panel of health experts assembled by Good Housekeeping, we explore some of the reasons you may be feeling hungry all of the time and how to fix them, starting right now.

Believe it or not, sometimes our body processes thirst in the same way that it processes hangry pangs, and you could be mistaking thirst for hunger. Stefani Sassos, MS, RDN, CDN, the Good Housekeeping Institute's registered dietitian, explains that how much water you drink directly influences how "satiated" (full!) you feel during the day. "My biggest tip is not to wait until you're 'thirsty' to grab some water chances are that you're already dehydrated if you're feeling thirst or dry mouth," Sassos says, adding that most women need to consume at least 72 ounces of water each day (but that formula may depend on your size and activity level). "Set a schedule for yourself to space out your water intake throughout the day and make it a priority." Plus, upping how much water you're drinking on average may be a boon for weight loss if you're dieting or exercising, as Sassos links being properly hydrated to active metabolic rates throughout the day.

How do you know if you're actually thirsty and not truly hungry in the moment? Try drinking a glass or two of water before you decide if it's time to eat again, and wait a few minutes. "You'll be able to gauge whether you're truly hungry or just thirsty," Sassos says.

Meaning, you may be missing out on a much-needed meal (like breakfast!) when you're burning through a bunch of energy during the day or, you're mindlessly eating when you're simply bored on the couch. Comprehensive research establishing the link between hunger and physical activity is lacking, but as Sassos points out, limited research suggests that exercise may trick your body into suppressing appetite during a workout (your body temperature may have something to do with that phenomena). If you're not eating wholesome meals before or after prolonged activity cycling, running, swimming, lifting weights, as examples you may be setting yourself up for intense hunger pangs later in the day. "You need proper nutrition to help repair your muscle," Sasso says, adding that she'll actively pad her meals with nutritious picks to "complement" her workout session.

Conversely, you may be engaging in distracted or mindless eating when you're sedentary (think: on the couch, at your desk, or in the car). "If you're sedentary most of the day and not doing much, boredom can certainly entice you to eat more," Sassos says. "If you just ate and know you should feel full, but are bored and want to eat more, consider distracting yourself pick up a book, or actually get up and exercise! If I know I'm just bored and not hungry, I'll hold a plank for a minute and that craving will go away."

Fiber is that magical ingredient that makes a meal feel really filling as opposed to something that doesn't really satisfy you after you've finished eating, explains Julie Benard, M.D., a board-certified pediatric obesity medicine specialist and a pediatrician within the University of Missouri Health Care system. "A diet low in fiber can cause frequent hunger, as fiber is broken down slowly by our gastrointestinal tract, which leads to more stable blood sugar levels and therefore less feelings of hunger," she says.

You should be aiming to eat your way through 25g of fiber throughout the day, Sassos says. But you don't have to painstakingly count at first: Load up on meals that are highly fibrous, that incorporate things like avocados, beans, or most nuts as the main attraction. You should feel the results soon thereafter: "High-fiber foods may actually take longer to chew, are slower to digest, and promote satiety," Sassos says.

Dr. Benard and Sassos don't want you to believe all carbs are bad: Whole grains, fruits, and vegetables all contain naturally occurring carbohydrates, and they are definitely pillars of any healthy diet. Refined carbohydrates, however, should be enjoyed occasionally. White breads, pasta, and pastries, among many other items that are also high in saturated fats and sugar, cause a spike in insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar. "We get an initial burst of energy and satiety from these starchy and sugary treats, but then insulin causes our body to burn through that sugar quickly," Dr. Benard explains. "This leads to subsequent rapid declines in blood sugar that trigger our feelings of hunger once again."

Photo credit: Getty Images

Sugar is a carbohydrate too, and it's often the main ingredient in refined carbohydrates alongside classic desserts that you're thinking of right now. You probably are sick to death of hearing about that afternoon "sugar crash," when your blood sugar plummets after eating something very sweet, which later causes you to reach for even more food to help you get your blood sugar back up again. But did you know that repeatedly working your way through this cycle may cause lasting damage? Sugar and refined carbohydrates play into constant elevated blood sugar that can lead to insulin resistance, when your body can't use glucose from your blood for energy (a form of prediabetes), Sassos says.

"Interestingly enough, insulin shares similarities with leptin a hormone that helps to regulate appetite and weight control," she explains. "Lepin and insulin actually directly regulate each other, and in the case of insulin resistance, this will cancel out the 'appetite-control' effect and can lead to a vicious hunger cycle." Sugar is naturally found in nutritious items like fruits, but if you can identify snacks in your daily rotation that are high in added sugars or processed carbs, those are some of the first items you should cut back on.

If you're new to trying out a vegetarian or vegan diet, this could be especially true. And protein doesn't just mean red meat! It includes lean fish, poultry, and plant-based items like tofu or lentils. "A diet low in protein can also lead to frequent feelings of hunger, even though one may be consuming a higher amount of calories," Dr. Benard says.

She explains that a hormone called ghrelin is the hormone responsible for our hunger pangs at the molecular level, and is released when the stomach is empty. Our stomach is stretched in the process of eating, thus decreasing the levels of ghrelin released, but "what we're eating can determine how long our ghrelin levels stay low," Dr. Benard says. "Protein is the most effective nutrient at keeping ghrelin low for longer periods of time, especially compared to carbohydrates." Science!

Which is why you may always fall prey to a post-lunch (or dinner) snack later on. "A lot of people will tell me they're 'being good' with their nutrition up until the afternoon, where cravings hit and they just fall off the wagon," Sassos explains. "When I go to analyze their 'good' mornings, it's usually just low-calorie! Restricting yourself early in the day actually may set you up for failure as the day progresses."

There's been a lot of debate around skipping breakfast recently, and some dieters swear by restricting their meals to certain hours of the day (often referred to as intermittent fasting). Regardless of when you choose to eat your first meal of the day, it should be full of nourishing items alongside plenty of water, Sassos recommends. "Im a fan of bulking up that breakfast and lunch meal with lean protein, healthy fiber, and tons of vegetables to keep you full for hours," she says. "Eating fiber in the morning can help to control afternoon cravings, and I like to look at it as making an investment to help you have a successful day."

Feeling hungry might be a side effect of purposefully not feeding yourself because you feel that you've "lost control," says David Schlundt, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Vanderbilt University and a member of the university's Diabetes Research and Training Center. "Food provides some temporary relief from negative emotion, but hunger is rarely the trigger for emotional eating It's a problem when people impose unrealistically strict dietary rules on themselves," he says.

For example, if you believe that you shouldn't eat breakfast because it'll make you gain weight, then you will likely feel hungry when you skip it and then break other self-imposed dietary rules. "An example might be that you believe donuts are bad, but when you're hungry and there's a donut in the break room, you pick up two when no one is looking," Schlundt explains. "This becomes a problem not because you took in calories your body was telling you to do that but because the perceived rule violation is a negative experience leading to guilt, self-blame, and abstinence violation. This is the extended loss of control that occurs as a result of your self-defined dietary violation."

This behavior can lead you to be extremely restrictive in what you eat, when you eat, or how much you eat later on, Schlundt says, all factors that can influence your appetite.

Photo credit: Mike Garten

Ah, yet another way that sleep can impact our daily lives. Not getting enough rest at night may inadvertently affect how much you're eating throughout the day, especially if you're frequently getting less than 7 hours of sleep. "Feeling sleep deprived can do a number on our will power, as we then tend to not make the best nutrition choices," Dr. Benard says, like easy ready-to-eat items containing refined carbs and sugar. "On a hormonal level, some studies also suggest that a lack of sleep may be associated with lower levels of leptin our 'feeling full' hormone and higher levels of ghrelin the hungry hormone."

These hormones may be at the heart of why sleep deprivation has been associated with excessive weight gain over a longer period, Sassos says. A landmark study published in the American Journal of Epidemiology followed 60,000 women over 16 years while recording their sleep habits and dietary functions alongside other lifestyle aspects; it noted that women who slept 5 hours or less per night had a 15% higher risk of becoming obese, and were 30% more likely to gain 30 pounds in the same time frame compared to women who slept 7 hours each night.

All to say: You should be doing everything in your power to establish better sleep hygiene, and work on creating a better-for-you bedtime routine.

"I like to categorize cravings by whether they're coming from above the neck or below the neck," Sassos explains. "Above the neck cravings are emotional, often come on suddenly, and aren't satisfied even if you do eat a full meal. They may trigger feelings of shame and guilt, and you may feel like you have no control over your food choices."

On the flip side, then, "below the neck" cravings are actually a sign of physical hunger that you shouldn't ignore, Sassos says. "These cravings build gradually, and many food options sound appealing. Once you're sensibly full, the cravings go away. Below the neck cravings aren't associated with any feelings of guilt or anger, but rather you feel satisfied or even relieved after eating that particular item or meal."

Stress has a terrible way of impacting much of our lives, including how much we eat; the flight-or-fight response associated with stress can lead to an increase in hunger later on (the Cleveland Clinic even lists hunger a side effect of stress). But more seriously, Schlundt says that a severe, sustained change in appetite is one of the main symptoms of major depressive disorder. "There are two types of people: Those who eat more when depressed, and those who lose interest in food when depressed," he adds. "Eating more when depressed may be more complicated than just increased hunger. It is probably some degree of loss of control over behavior rather than hunger alone."

If mealtimes have become an unstable part of your day and feel that it might be due to anxiety, depression, or emotional trauma, you should consider seeking out professional help. The American Psychological Association's Psychologist Locator tool can help you find a licensed therapist in your area that takes your insurance.

Underlying conditions like these can be the source of your insatiable appetite, but this is probably the least likely explanation for feeling hungry all the time. "Increased hunger can certainly be a sign of diabetes, alongside increased thirst or frequent urination," Dr. Benard says. "It also could be a sign of hyperthyroidism, which goes hand in hand with an increased heart rate, feeling jittery, or losing weight without trying There are rarely genetic changes that can lead to insatiable hunger as well."

If you feel like you've exhausted the suggestions on this list to no avail, it's time to schedule a checkup with your healthcare provider, where you can address your diet and other aspects of your hunger in depth. Your appetite may be caused by a condition that's beyond your control and could require qualified attention.

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Health Experts Weigh In on the Real Reason You're Always Feeling Hungry - Yahoo Canada Shine On

A simple test of a womans hair could tell women how many eggs they have left by judging levels of a key fertility hormone, scientists say.

US and Spanish researchers found biologically relevant levels of anti-Mllerian hormone (AMH) an indicator of ovarian reserves in womens hair samples.

AMH is a hormone produced by the cells within a womans ovaries and gives an indication of her egg reserves and subsequent fertility.

The hormone is incorporated into the matrix of hair before it reaches the surface of the skin.

Levels of AMH from the hair correlated with levels from blood samples, which is currently the most common method of measuring the hormone.

But taking AHM readings from the hair would be less invasive than a blood sample and a more appropriate representation of hormone levels, according to scientists.

Testing can be done without visiting a clinic, such as by sending a hair sample through the post, which makes this type of test cheaper and available to a broader range of women.

The role of AMH as a measure of ovarian reserve in predicting response to ovarian stimulation for IVF now seems beyond question, researchers add.

Hair is a medium that can accumulate biomarkers over several weeks, while serum is an acute matrix representing only current levels, said Sarthak Sawarkar at US health tech firm MedAnswers, who presented his research online at the 36th Annual Meeting of the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology.

While hormone levels in blood can fluctuate rapidly in response to stimuli, hormone levels measured in hair would represent an accumulation over several weeks.

A measurement using a hair sample is more likely to reflect the average hormone levels in an individual.

AMH has become a key marker in the assessment of how women may respond to fertility treatment.

The hormone is produced by small cells surrounding each egg as it develops in the ovary.

Studies have not correlated AMH levels to a reliable chance of live birth, nor to forecasting the time of menopause.

However, AMH measurement has become an intrinsic marker in assessing how a patient will respond to ovarian stimulation for IVF as a normal responder, poor responder (with few eggs), or over-responder (with many eggs and a risk of ovarian hyperstimulation syndrome).

Currently, AMH is presently measured in serum taken from a blood sample drawn intravenously, but readings taken this way represent just a snapshot of a moment in time and are relatively invasive to complete.

To learn more about the potential of AMH readings taken from the hair, researchers collected hair and blood samples 152 women from whom hair were during hospital visits.

AMH was also measured in blood samples from the same subjects, as well as an ultrasound count of developing follicles in the ovary a method known as antral follicle count (AFC).

Biologically relevant AMH levels were successfully detected in the hair samples, which declined with patient age, as expected by the team.

AMH levels from hair strongly correlated with levels as determined by both serum in the blood and AFC.

The hair test was also able to detect a wide range of AMH levels within individuals from a similar age cohort, suggesting a greater accuracy than from a single blood sample.

Hormones accumulate in hair shafts over a period of months, while hormone levels in serum can change over the course of hours, they found, meaning the hair test may be a more reliable measurement.

Hormone levels are also assessed non-invasively, which reduces testing stress and offers a less expensive assay.

This study is very interesting as it suggests AMH can be reliably measured from hair samples as opposed to the standard approach of a blood test, Tim Child, medical director at Oxford Fertility, told the Times.

The AMH level in hair is more likely to be averaged-out over a time period rather than the more instant level in a blood sample.

The question is whether the hair AMH levels correlate to the ovarian response and therefore numbers of eggs collected during an IVF cycle this is not examined in this study.

If the correlation is poor then hair samples will be of no benefit.

If the correlation is as good as, or perhaps even better than with blood AMH, then this technique promises to further simplify the fertility treatment process for women and will be an exciting development.

The results have been presented by PhD student Sarthak Sawarkar, working in the laboratory of Professor Manel Lopez-Bejar in Barcelona, with collaborators from MedAnswers.

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Simple hair test 'could tell women how many eggs they have left' - Brinkwire

The Global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment Market report provides a comprehensive analysis of the major market players in the regional and global regions. The Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment market report provides an in-depth analysis of the market growth aspects, opportunities, status, size in terms of value and volume, and market segmentation along with the market revenue. The research report on global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment market offers a detailed overview of the regional as well as local market. In addition, the report also studies market outlook and status of the global and major regions on the basis of product, application, and key market players. Furthermore, the Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment market report offers a complete analysis of the global market, and the report also comprises an extensive study of application and product type with the comprehensive regional scenario. With the objective to offer a complete market overview the Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment report includes regional competitive landscape for the number of major market service providers.

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Major companies of this report:

Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Bio-Cancer Treatment International LimitedBiogen IncBoryung Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd.Bristol-Myers Squibb CompanyCantex Pharmaceuticals, Inc.Capricor Therapeutics, Inc.Cell Source, Inc.Cell2B S.A.CellECT Bio, Inc.Cleveland BioLabs, Inc.Compugen Ltd.Cynata Therapeutics LimitedCytodyn Inc.Dompe Farmaceutici S.p.A.Dr. Falk Pharma GmbHEscape Therapeutics, Inc.F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd.Fate Therapeutics, Inc.Generon (Shanghai) Corporation Ltd.Gilead Sciences, Inc.GlaxoSmithKline PlcIdera Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

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Segmentation by Type:

AzathioprineAdrenocorticotropic HormoneCyclophosphamideCyclosporine AOthers

Segmentation by Application:

HospitalClinicOthers

The Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment market report offers a comprehensive study of the technological growth outlook over time to know the market growth rates. This report also gives a better understanding about the substantial product components as well as their future. The Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment market report evaluates the Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment market, major issues, production procedures, and their solutions to meet the consumer requirements.

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Global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment Market Report 2020, Size, Share, Business Plan, Growth Opportunities, Top Players, Application,...

There is no greater feeling than that of being a parent. This is what most parents say when you ask them how they feel about being parents, and we fully agree with them. Because the joy of bringing life into this world is completely overwhelming. The joy of becoming parents, for couples suffering from infertility problems, is above everything in this world. For us (me and my wife) to undergo this experience was a very long journey on a tough road, full of pain, stress, worry, and tensions.

After we got married in Sept 2013, my wife was suffering from some infertility problem so we couldnt conceive naturally. It is after the 10th month of our marriage the most difficult phase of our life started when people in our neighborhood, friends and relatives stared, asking queries, especially womenfolk; as it is common in our culture people start asking Kehn Chusa, meaning if they have conceived. You hear this talk just after only a few months of marriage. The infertile couples like us face so many problems, a mental harassment. Same is the case with us. We got treatment from leading gynaecologists and infertility specialists of the valley, who prescribed every kind of test, scan, hormone therapy, laparoscopy, HSG, and loads of medicines. One day we used to visit clinic and the next day to some peer baba. On the one hand doctors looted us in lacks, on the other hand peer babas in thousands. This took a heavy toll on our bodies. It consumed us physically, mentally and psychologically. We lost our precious assets, health deteriorated, money wasted, and our valuable time consumed in it. But all in vain.

God is great. We never lost hope and our prayers were accepted. When, on one day I came across an advertisement in a newspaper about Dr. Manika Khanna from Delhi, a leading IVF Specialist. We visited for appointment to Karan Nagar, Srinagar, and after consultations we decided to accept her advice to visit Delhi for IVF Treatment. That visit changed our life for good. In our first attempt we conceived (Gaudium IVF Hospital Delhi). Manika Madam came like an angel in our life. She and her dedicated team including names like Dr. Meetu, Dr. Nikita, staff nurses like Minni sister etc. work very hard to bring happiness in childless families. I am thankful to almighty Allah who sent an angel in the form of Manika madam and her team Gaudium, for providing us life changing experience. At the same time I am thankful to dear Ishfaq Shaheen who belongs to Srinagar branch of Gaudium who guided me and all such couples like us throughout this successful journey.

At last I would like to advice all such couples, dont waste your hard earned money and your precious time. Consult some authentic specialist, and then leave it to God.

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Infertility, and the stress thereof - Greater Kashmir

Endometriosis Therapies Market 2020: Inclusive Insight

Los Angeles, United States, July 2020: The Endometriosis Therapies on the Move market has been garnering remarkable momentum in the recent years. The steadily escalating demand due to improving purchasing power is projected to bode well for the market. Report Hives latest publication, Titled [Endometriosis Therapies on the Move Market Research Report 2020], offers an insightful take on the drivers and restraints present in the market. It assesses the historical data pertaining to the Endometriosis Therapies on the Move market and compares it to the current market trends to give the readers a detailed analysis of the trajectory of the market. A team subject-matter experts have provided the readers a qualitative and quantitative data about the market and the various elements associated with it. Additionally, this report encompasses an accurate competitive analysis of major market players and their strategies during the projection timeline.

The research study includes the latest updates about the COVID-19 impact on the Endometriosis Therapies on the Move sector. The outbreak has broadly influenced the global economic landscape. The report contains a complete breakdown of the current situation in the ever-evolving business sector and estimates the aftereffects of the outbreak on the overall economy. Key players in this market are AbbVie, Eli Lilly, AstraZeneca, Bayer, Astellas Pharma, Meditrina Pharmaceuticals, Pfizer, Neurocrine Biosciences, Takeda Pharmaceutical

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There are 10 Chapters to deeply display the Endometriosis Therapies market:

Chapter 1, is executive summary of Endometriosis Therapies Market; Chapter 2, is definition and segment of Endometriosis Therapies; Chapter 3, to show info and data comparison of Endometriosis Therapies Players; Chapter 4, to explain the industry chain of Endometriosis Therapies; Chapter 5, to show comparison of regions and courtiers(or sub-regions); Chapter 6, to show competition and trade situation of Endometriosis Therapies Market; Chapter 7, to show comparison of applications; Chapter 8, to show comparison of types; Chapter 9, to show investment of Endometriosis Therapies Market; Chapter 10, to forecast Endometriosis Therapies market in the next years.

Global Endometriosis Therapies Market is estimated to reach xxx million USD in 2020 and projected to grow at the CAGR of xx% during 2020-2026. According to the latest report added to the online repository of Report Hive Research the Endometriosis Therapies market has witnessed an unprecedented growth till 2020. The report also emphasizes the initiatives undertaken by the companies operating in the market including product innovation, product launches, and technological development to help their organization offer more effective products in the market. It also studies notable business events, including corporate deals, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, partnerships, product launches, and brand promotions.

COVID-19 Impact on Endometriosis Therapies Market

This study specially analyses the impact of Covid-19 outbreak on the Endometriosis Therapies Market, covering the supply chain analysis, impact assessment to the Endometriosis Therapies Market size growth rate in several scenarios, and the measures to be undertaken by Endometriosis Therapies Market companies in response to the COVID-19 epidemic.

Competitive Landscape:

The competitive analysis of major market players is another notable feature of the Endometriosis Therapies Market industry report; it identifies direct or indirect competitors in the market.

Key parameters which define the Competitive Landscape of the Endometriosis Therapies Market:

Revenue and Market Share by Player Production and Share by Player Average Price by Player Base Distribution, Sales Area and Product Type by Player Concentration Rate Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Manufacturing Base

While segmentation has been provided to list down various facets of the Endometriosis Therapies market, analysis methods such as S.T.E.E.P.L.E., S.W.O.T., Regression analysis, etc. have been utilized to study the underlying factors of the market. Summarization of various aspects consisted of the report has also been encompassed.

Analysis of Global Endometriosis Therapies Market: By Type

Hormonal Contraceptives, Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone (Gn-RH) Agonists , Progestin Therapy, Aromatase Inhibitors

Analysis of Global Endometriosis Therapies Market: By Application

Hospital, Clinic, Other

Endometriosis Therapies Market: Regional analysis includes:

North America (United States, Canada and Mexico) Europe (Germany, France, UK, Russia and Italy) Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, Korea, India and Southeast Asia) South America (Brazil, Argentina, etc.) Middle East & Africa (Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa)

Our exploration specialists acutely ascertain the significant aspects of the global Endometriosis Therapies market report. It also provides an in-depth valuation in regards to the future advancements relying on the past data and present circumstance of Endometriosis Therapies market situation. In this Endometriosis Therapies report, we have investigated the principals, players in the market, geological regions, product type, and market end-client applications. The global Endometriosis Therapies report comprises of primary and secondary data which is exemplified in the form of pie outlines, Endometriosis Therapies tables, analytical figures, and reference diagrams. The Endometriosis Therapies report is presented in an efficient way that involves basic dialect, basic Endometriosis Therapies outline, agreements, and certain facts as per solace and comprehension.

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Some of the Major Highlights of TOC covers:

1 Study Coverage1.1 Endometriosis Therapies Product Introduction1.2 Market Segments1.3 Key Endometriosis Therapies Manufacturers Covered: Ranking by Revenue1.4 Market 21.4.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Growth Rate 21.4.2 Hormonal Contraceptives, Gonadotropin-releasing Hormone (Gn-RH) Agonists , Progestin Therapy, Aromatase Inhibitors1.5 Market 31.5.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Growth Rate 31.5.2 Hospital, Clinic, Other1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered

2 Executive Summary2.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Size, Estimates and Forecasts2.1.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Revenue 2015-20262.1.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies Sales 2015-20262.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies, Market Size by Producing Regions: 2015 VS 2020 VS 20262.2.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Retrospective Market Scenario in Sales by Region: 2015-20202.2.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies Retrospective Market Scenario in Revenue by Region: 2015-2020

3 Global Endometriosis Therapies Competitor Landscape by Players3.1 Endometriosis Therapies Sales by Manufacturers3.1.1 Endometriosis Therapies Sales by Manufacturers (2015-2020)3.1.2 Endometriosis Therapies Sales Market Share by Manufacturers (2015-2020)3.2 Endometriosis Therapies Revenue by Manufacturers3.2.1 Endometriosis Therapies Revenue by Manufacturers (2015-2020)3.2.2 Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Share by Manufacturers (2015-2020)3.2.3 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Concentration Ratio (CR5 and HHI) (2015-2020)3.2.4 Global Top 10 and Top 5 Companies by Endometriosis Therapies Revenue in 20193.2.5 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Share by Company Type (Tier 1, Tier 2 and Tier 3)3.3 Endometriosis Therapies Price by Manufacturers3.4 Endometriosis Therapies Manufacturing Base Distribution, Product Types3.4.1 Endometriosis Therapies Manufacturers Manufacturing Base Distribution, Headquarters3.4.2 Manufacturers Endometriosis Therapies Product Type3.4.3 Date of International Manufacturers Enter into Endometriosis Therapies Market3.5 Manufacturers Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans

4 Market Size 2 (2015-2026)4.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Size 2 (2015-2020)4.1.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Sales 2 (2015-2020)4.1.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies Revenue 2 (2015-2020)4.1.3 Endometriosis Therapies Average Selling Price (ASP) 2 (2015-2026)4.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast 2 (2021-2026)4.2.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Sales Forecast 2 (2021-2026)4.2.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Forecast 2 (2021-2026)4.2.3 Endometriosis Therapies Average Selling Price (ASP) Forecast 2 (2021-2026)4.3 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Share by Price Tier (2015-2020): Low-End, Mid-Range and High-End

5 Market Size 3 (2015-2026)5.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Market Size 3 (2015-2020)5.1.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Sales 3 (2015-2020)5.1.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies Revenue 3 (2015-2020)5.1.3 Endometriosis Therapies Price 3 (2015-2020)5.2 Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast 3 (2021-2026)5.2.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Sales Forecast 3 (2021-2026)5.2.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Forecast 3 (2021-2026)5.2.3 Global Endometriosis Therapies Price Forecast 3 (2021-2026)

6 North America6.1 North America Endometriosis Therapies by Country6.1.1 North America Endometriosis Therapies Sales by Country6.1.2 North America Endometriosis Therapies Revenue by Country6.1.3 United States6.1.4 Canada6.1.5 Mexico6.2 North America Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 26.3 North America Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 3

7 Europe7.1 Europe Endometriosis Therapies by Country7.1.1 Europe Endometriosis Therapies Sales by Country7.1.2 Europe Endometriosis Therapies Revenue by Country7.1.3 Germany7.1.4 France7.1.5 UK7.1.6 Italy7.1.7 Russia7.2 Europe Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 27.3 Europe Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 3

8 Asia Pacific8.1 Asia Pacific Endometriosis Therapies by Region8.1.1 Asia Pacific Endometriosis Therapies Sales by Region8.1.2 Asia Pacific Endometriosis Therapies Revenue by Region8.1.3 China8.1.4 Japan8.1.5 South Korea8.1.6 India8.1.7 Australia8.1.8 Indonesia8.1.9 Thailand8.1.10 Malaysia8.1.11 Philippines8.1.12 Vietnam8.2 Asia Pacific Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 28.3 Asia Pacific Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 3

9 Latin America9.1 Latin America Endometriosis Therapies by Country9.1.1 Latin America Endometriosis Therapies Sales by Country9.1.2 Latin America Endometriosis Therapies Revenue by Country9.1.3 Brazil9.2 Central & South America Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 29.3 Central & South America Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 3

10 Middle East and Africa10.1 Middle East and Africa Endometriosis Therapies by Country10.1.1 Middle East and Africa Endometriosis Therapies Sales by Country10.1.2 Middle East and Africa Endometriosis Therapies Revenue by Country10.1.3 Turkey10.1.4 GCC Countries10.1.5 Egypt10.1.6 South Africa10.2 Middle East and Africa Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 210.3 Middle East and Africa Endometriosis Therapies Market Facts & Figures 3

11 Company Profiles11.1 Company111.1.1 Company1 Corporation Information11.1.2 Company1 Description and Business Overview11.1.3 Company1 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin (2015-2020)11.1.4 Company1 Endometriosis Therapies Products Offered11.1.5 Company1 Related Developments11.2 Company211.2.1 Company2 Corporation Information11.2.2 Company2 Description and Business Overview11.2.3 Company2 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin (2015-2020)11.2.4 Company2 Endometriosis Therapies Products Offered11.2.5 Company2 Related Developments11.3 Company311.3.1 Company3 Corporation Information11.3.2 Company3 Description and Business Overview11.3.3 Company3 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin (2015-2020)11.3.4 Company3 Endometriosis Therapies Products Offered11.3.5 Company3 Related Developments11.4 Company411.4.1 Company4 Corporation Information11.4.2 Company4 Description and Business Overview11.4.3 Company4 Sales, Revenue and Gross Margin (2015-2020)11.4.4 Company4 Endometriosis Therapies Products Offered11.4.5 Company4 Related Developments

12 Future Forecast by Regions (Countries) (2021-2026)12.1 Endometriosis Therapies Market Estimates and Projections by Region12.1.1 Global Endometriosis Therapies Sales Forecast by Regions 2021-202612.1.2 Global Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Forecast by Regions 2021-202612.2 North America Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast (2021-2026)12.2.1 North America: Endometriosis Therapies Sales Forecast (2021-2026)12.2.2 North America: Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Forecast (2021-2026)12.2.3 North America: Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast by Country (2021-2026)12.3 Europe Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast (2021-2026)12.3.1 Europe: Endometriosis Therapies Sales Forecast (2021-2026)12.3.2 Europe: Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Forecast (2021-2026)12.3.3 Europe: Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast by Country (2021-2026)12.4 Asia Pacific Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast (2021-2026)12.4.1 Asia Pacific: Endometriosis Therapies Sales Forecast (2021-2026)12.4.2 Asia Pacific: Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Forecast (2021-2026)12.4.3 Asia Pacific: Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast by Region (2021-2026)12.5 Latin America Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast (2021-2026)12.5.1 Latin America: Endometriosis Therapies Sales Forecast (2021-2026)12.5.2 Latin America: Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Forecast (2021-2026)12.5.3 Latin America: Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast by Country (2021-2026)12.6 Middle East and Africa Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast (2021-2026)12.6.1 Middle East and Africa: Endometriosis Therapies Sales Forecast (2021-2026)12.6.2 Middle East and Africa: Endometriosis Therapies Revenue Forecast (2021-2026)12.6.3 Middle East and Africa: Endometriosis Therapies Market Size Forecast by Country (2021-2026)

13 Market Opportunities, Challenges, Risks and Influences Factors Analysis13.1 Market Opportunities and Drivers13.2 Market Challenges13.3 Market Risks/Restraints13.4 Porters Five Forces Analysis13.5 Primary Interviews with Key Endometriosis Therapies Players (Opinion Leaders)

14 Value Chain and Sales Channels Analysis14.1 Value Chain Analysis14.2 Endometriosis Therapies Customers14.3 Sales Channels Analysis14.3.1 Sales Channels14.3.2 Distributors

15 Research Findings and Conclusion

16 Appendix16.1 Research Methodology16.1.1 Methodology/Research Approach16.1.2 Data Source16.2 Author Details16.3 Disclaimer

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COVID-19 Impact on Endometriosis Therapies Market Trends, Key Players, Overview, Competitive Breakdown and Regional Forecast by 2026 - Owned

Grard Karsenty was a young scientist trying to make a name for himself in the early 1990s when he first stumbled upon a finding that would go on to transform our understanding of bone, and the role it plays in our body.

Karsenty had become interested in osteocalcin, one of the most abundant proteins in bone. He suspected that it played a crucial role in bone remodelling the process by which our bones continuously remove and create new tissue which enables us to grow during childhood and adolescence, and also recover from injuries.

Intending to study this, he conducted a genetic knockout experiment, removing the gene responsible for osteocalcin from mice. However to his dismay, his mutant mice did not appear to have any obvious bone defects at all. For him, it was initially a total failure, says Mathieu Ferron, a former student of Karsenty who now heads a research lab studying bone biology at ICRM in Montreal. In those days it was super-expensive to do modification in the mouse genome.

But then Karsenty noticed something unexpected. While their bones had developed normally, the mice appeared to be both noticeably fat and cognitively impaired.

Mice that dont have osteocalcin have increased circulating glucose, and they tend to look a bit stupid, says Ferron. It may sound silly to say this, but they dont learn very well, they appear kind of depressed. But it took Karsenty and his team some time to understand how a protein in bone could be affecting these functions. They were initially a bit surprised and terrified as it didnt really make any sense to them.

Almost 15 years later, Karsenty would publish the first of a series of landmark papers that would revolutionise our perspective on bone and the skeleton in general. We used to view our skeleton as primarily a mechanical structure whose main role is to serve as a scaffold for the rest of the body. But our bones are very much live organs, which we now believe play a role in regulating a whole range of vital bodily processes ranging from memory to appetite, muscle health, fertility, metabolism and many others.

The idea that bone is just a simple organ thats separated from everything else as a mineralised tissue, and that doesnt communicate thats changed, says Thomas Clemens, professor of orthopaedic surgery at the Johns Hopkins Center for Musculoskeletal Research. Karsenty has ushered in the idea that bone is involved in communicating with other tissues in the body that wasnt really understood or investigated before.

We now know that bones communicate by participating in a network of signals to other organs through producing their own hormones, proteins that circulate in the blood. Karsentys mice eventually led him to realise that osteocalcin was in fact one such hormone, and understanding its links to regulating so many of these functions could have future implications in terms of public health interventions.

The idea that bone could produce a hormone affecting metabolism or even your liver initially came as a bit of a shock, says Ferron. People did not expect that. But other scientists have since replicated the results, and even discovered new hormones also produced by bones. Its opened up a completely new field in bone research.

As we age, all of us inevitably lose bone. Research shows that humans reach peak bone mass in their 20s; from then onwards, it is a slow decline that can eventually lead to frailty and diseases such as osteoporosis in old age.

Over the past decade, new findings have suggested that this reduction in bone mass may also be linked to the weakening of muscles referred to in medical terms as sarcopenia as well as the memory and cognitive problems that many of us experience as we grow older. This appears to be connected to the levels of osteocalcin in the blood, through its role as a master regulator, influencing many other hormonal processes in the body.

People who are very active tend to have less of a cognitive decline with age than sedentary people

Osteocalcin acts in muscle to increase the ability to produce ATP, the fuel that allows us to exercise, says Karsenty. In the brain, it regulates the secretion of most neurotransmitters that are needed to have memory. The circulating levels of osteocalcin declines in humans around mid-life, which is roughly the time when these physiological functions, such as memory and the ability to exercise, begin to decline.

But intriguingly in recent years, Karsenty has conducted a series of experiments in which he has shown that by increasing the levels of osteocalcin in older mice through injections, you can actually reverse many of these age-related ailments.

Osteocalcin seems to be able to reverse manifestations of ageing in the brain and in muscle, he says. What is remarkable is that if you give osteocalcin to old mice, you restore memory and you restore the ability to exercise to the levels seen in a young mouse. That makes it potentially extremely attractive from a medical point of view.

Scientists have also found that for humans, one way of naturally maintaining the levels of this hormone in the blood, even as we age, is through exercise, something that makes intuitive sense, as physical activity has long been known to have anti-ageing properties. Ferron is hoping that these findings can be used to support public health messages regarding the importance of staying active through middle age and later life.

If you exercise regularly, then it stimulates your bone to make more osteocalcin, and that will have these beneficial effects on muscle and brain, he says. From epidemiological studies, we know that people who are very active tend to have less of a cognitive decline with age than sedentary people. With time, maybe people will be more aware of this connection, and think of their bone health as being just as important as other aspects of staying healthy.

Ongoing research in this area also suggests that exercising more during the teenage years and early adulthood can continue to have a protective effect on bone and other aspects of health much later in life.

I think this could reinforce the message that its important for people to be active during adolescence and early adult years, Ferron says. This means they reach a higher peak bone mass, which will protect them from age-related problems linked to osteocalcin decline.

Osteocalcin is not the only bone hormone to have caught the attention of scientists, however. At the Mayo Clinic, Sundeep Khosla has been studying a hormone called DPP4, which is made by cells on the outer layers of bone, called osteoclasts, and appears to play a role in how bone regulates blood sugar.

Khosla is particularly interested in this hormone because the drug denosumab which is clinically prescribed to osteoporosis patients to try and slow down the rate of bone loss seems to have a positive effect on DPP4 as well. In a study of osteoporosis patients taking denosumab published earlier this year, he noticed that those also suffering from diabetes experienced an improvement in their symptoms.

This shows that maybe this drug can treat both osteoporosis and diabetes at the same time, says Khosla. Were now looking to follow up on these observations and test this through a randomised control trial.

However, osteocalcin, with its potential to prevent many aspects of age-related decline, remains the major topic of interest in bone research. Given that so many people ignore public health guidelines regarding exercise in 2017, the British Heart Foundation reported that around 20 million adults in the UK are insufficiently active Karsenty is working on a means of artificially increasing the levels of osteocalcin in the blood and has even filed a patent on using it to treat cognitive disorders.

This is not easy, but what we are hoping to do is to deliver osteocalcin perhaps through developing a molecule which regulates osteocalcin, he says. Were exploring various ways of doing this, but the idea would be eventually to have something which could be used to treat age-related diseases such as sarcopenia and memory decline. This is really going to profit the elderly the most, but anyone with a decline in muscle function, because of a hip fracture or another condition, could also benefit from this treatment.

Ferron says that such a treatment would differ from current medications designed to improve bone health in osteoporosis, as they only work by blocking bone loss. A drug targeting osteocalcin would aim to achieve wider health benefits through stimulating bone gain.

However, there are still plenty of hurdles to overcome. For example, simply injecting a form of osteocalcin is unlikely to be sufficient to achieve a therapeutic benefit in humans.

Treatments like that tend to be more costly and more difficult as protein injections dont have a very long half life, says Ferron. My lab is developing a stabilised form of osteocalcin so it can stay longer in the body, but the best solution would be to have some sort of small pharmacological molecules that could be put in a pill to target the receptor of osteocalcin to stimulate its activity. So thats the idea I see for the future.

But Karsentys findings have also led scientists to ponder a somewhat profound question: how did bones develop the ability to produce hormones such as osteocalcin in the first place?

The scientist himself believes that the answer lies deep in our evolutionary past. I think that evolution has invented osteocalcin as a survival hormone, he says. Because to escape predators, you need your bones to be able to signal to your muscles to run, which is mediated by osteocalcin. To survive, you also need to remember where to find food or where a predator was an hour ago, and such memory processes are regulated by osteocalcin. More and more, we think that it evolved as a hormone to help animals escape danger.

More:
Does the key to anti-ageing lie in our bones? - The Guardian

Studies have shown that the menopausal transition, particularly perimenopause and early post-menopause, is correlated with an increased risk of depression due to changing hormone levels. Indeed, the2018 guidelines for perimenopausal depression, published in Menopause, the journal of the North American Menopause Society (NAMS), state that:

A new Turkish study published July 1, 2020, in Menopause has confirmed a correlation between the menopausal transition and depression, and an association between certain risk factors and depressive episodes after menopause. The research team looked at 485 post-menopausal Turkish women ages 35 to 78 to assess the frequency of depressive symptoms, the biological, social, and psychological variables involved, and levels of the fear of death. The researchers noted that 41 percent of participants reported experiencing some type of depression. The team has theorized that this percentage is misleadingly low because of the younger age of the participants (average age of 56.3 years).

RELATED: Coping With Hot Flashes and Other Menopausal Symptoms: What 9 Celebrities Said

The psychosocial and biological variables that the team discovered to be correlated with the risk of developing depressive symptoms are:

The major point here is that women who are under a lot of stress, have major life events, have poor health already, and particularly a history of depression are the ones at higher risk, saysStephanie Faubion, MD, the medical director of NAMS. She adds, We know that the biggest risk factor for developing depression in midlife is a previous history of depression.

RELATED:10 Ways to Beat Menopausal Belly Fat

There was no confirmation of a relationship between depression and the fear of death.

The findings of this study involving post-menopausal Turkish women are consistent with existing literature and emphasize the high prevalence of depressive symptoms in midlife women, particularly those with a history of depression or anxiety, chronic health conditions, and psychosocial factors such as major stressful life events. Women and the clinicians who care for them need to be aware that the menopause transition is a period of vulnerability in terms of mood, Dr. Faubion said in a press release regarding the study July 1.

RELATED:Stress and Anxiety Sabotage Personal Wellness, Women Say

Faubion, who is also the Penny and Bill George Director of the Mayo Clinic's Center for Women's Health,warns that this study just looked at a group of women who came into the clinic. All were post-menopausal, but we dont know where those women were in the menopause transition, whether they were early or many years after, which could skew the results, she said in a subsequent interview with Everyday Health.

RELATED: Sexual Dysfunction in Some Women Can Occur Years Before Menopause

This study reinforces the fact that we should be monitoring women for mood issues during midlife because we can do something about it, says Faubion, noting that treatment with an antidepressant is considered first-line therapy for major depression, regardless of when it occurs. But sometimes just dealing with the symptoms of menopause (night sweats, hot flashes, sleep disruption) is enough to improve mood, andhormone therapy (HT) may also have a direct impact on depressive symptoms that occur during the menopause transition and in early post-menopause.

RELATED: 12 Women Over Age 60 Who Inspire Wellness and Living Your Best Life

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Menopause and Depression Are Strongly Linked - Everyday Health

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'I thought there had to be a lump' Reading man describes his battle against breast cancer - The Wokingham Paper

A special thank you to Kathleen Dickson and Dr. John Bergeron for pointing out that yes, indeed, there are also many women who have made and continue to make significant contributions to health. We have added their additions below, but this list is by no means complete.

From open heart surgery to child-resistant containers, prestigious awards and bombs (not that kind), Canada has a long history of Canadians whose ideas and inventions have played huge roles in defining this nations healthcare.

DNA and cancer

Nada Jabado at McGill affiliated Childrens Hospital is a pioneer in pediatric cancer and her discovery of the role of what is known as the epigenome that marks the DNA in our genes in cancer. She is a leader in innovation in Health research and recognized for her leadership in the application of discoveries to address brain tumours in children.

Insulin

Perhaps the most famous health innovation to come out of Canada, if such a thing can be measured. The arrival of insulin has saved countless lives since its creation in 1922 when Frederick Banting and Charles Best isolated and extracted insulin from the pancreas of dogs. Their Nobel Prize arrived swiftly thereafter in 1923.

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28 cool health things that started with a Canadian - Regina Leader-Post

IVF is expensive! Here's a break-down of all the costs associated with the fertility process, which explains why it's so pricey in the first place.

Infertility is a tough emotional and physical experience and a record number of families are using Invitro Fertilization (IVF) to have babies. A report by Pew Research Center suggests that the number of assisted reproductive technology (ART) births in the UShas gone up threefold since 1996. Moreover, one in three American adults has used or knows someone who has sought after some form of fertility treatment. That is 12.7% of women aged 15-49, as stated by the CDC. IVF is the most popular form of ART treatment which apparently, is more expensive in the United States than anywhere else.

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Have you ever wondered how embryos are created in the lab? ( ): Using Standard IVF means to place both gametes, previously treated to facilitate this process, together in a petri dish. We let nature do its part and spermatozoon will run to the oocyte in the culture media drops and, if everything goes well, one day later we will have a zygote (the single cell made by the fusion of both gametes). ( ): With this process, we take every spermatozoon one by one, after a proper process, and we physically inject it inside the oocyte emulating thus the natural process. If everything goes well, one day later we will have the zygote. This zygote with only one cell will start cleavage and will increase its cell number day by day. Thus, on the day 2 of the embryo, we expect to have, average, 2-4 cells, on the 3rd day, average, 6-12, on day 4 cells should start compacting and become a new structure called Morula and fifth day, we should have a blastocyst. Feel free to ask additional questions and check our webpage - http://www.geomedicalart.com #ivfjourney #ivf #invitro #invitrofertilization #fertility #fertilityjourney #embryo #health #georgia

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IVF is a fertility treatment that uses a female's eggs and a male's sperm. The process involves combining the extracted egg and retrieved sperm in a laboratory dish. The mixture forms an embryo in a process called insemination, and the fertilized is then transferred to your uterus, three to five days after fertilization.

This ART technique is applied to treat infertility patients who have male factor infertility, unexplained sterility, blocked or injured fallopian tubes, ovulation illnesses, and couples with genetic disorders.

RELATED: Paid Surrogacy Is Illegal In Canada - What Other Fertility Options Are There?

Figures from Advanced Fertility Care shows that live birth success rates in the US for each IVF round is 54.9% for patients below 35 years. The percentage decreases as a person gets older, with patients below 40 years having a success rate of 21.2% and those above 42 years achieving zero live births.

In the United States, the average cost for one IVF round is $12,000 without including the cost of medication. However, the cost varies and may be as high as $15,000 or as low as $10,000. Likewise, the cost of the medication ranges between excesses of $3,000 andas low as$1,500. Thus, on average, a patient can spend up to $20,000 for one IVF cycle, and up to $60,000 for three full IVF cycles.

The treatment is quite pricy primarily because the process involves many stages of preparation before, and after the treatment that tallies up over time. Patients pay for the IVF procedure itself, in addition to regular consultations, hormone medications, and the prospect of having to undergo more than one IVF cycle.

Many factors determine the cost of IVF, which includes the patients age, medical history, and the type of procedure. The costs from the procedure are determined by the injectables, specialist care, egg and sperm retrieval, genetic testing, insemination, storing and caring for the fertilized egg (embryo), and so on. Additionally, a patients personal choices can affect the cost as well. For instance, if a person has a low pain threshold, there will be an extra cost for getting sedated or anesthetized for egg retrieval.

On the whole, finances are a big consideration when it comes to IVF, which takes 10 t0 12 days of medication, and an additional five days to grow the embryo and placing it inside the uterus. The most expensive part of IVF is when a couple opts for a pregnancy carrier. If you add the legal and agency fees, IVF costs, and reimbursement to the pregnancy carrier, the cost can vary from a low of $50,000 to a high of $100,000.

Resorting to an IVF can look like too big a step, but there are ways you can save money on IVF.

Do A Mini-IVF.The bulk of expenses for IVF treatments go to the injectables used to stimulate the growth of an egg. This medication can be very pricy, but there is a way of doing IVF with fewer meds through Mini-IVF, short for minimal stimulation IVF. Although Mini-IVF has not caught on in America, it is a procedure that reduces IVF treatment costs by using much fewer injectables. However, this method is not recommended for everyone as it could lessen the chances of success for some. Therefore, seek guidance from a clinic that specializes in the procedure if you choose Mini-IVF treatment.

Thorough Financial Planning.How much money will you need? Get detailed information concerning every aspect of the treatment and cost. You will need to know what is factored into the total cost and what is not counted in. Then, begin saving months before, and read your insurance plan to see if you are eligible for partial coverage.

Choosing An IVF Clinic.Find the clinic that will provide the treatment you need at a price you can afford. Likewise, find a clinic that offers exceptional treatment packages with guarantees and great success rates, to avoid having to undergo more than one IVF round.

NEXT:Celebrities You Didn't Know Had Fertility Issues

Sources: webmd.com, cnyfertility.com, creatingafamily.org, medicalexpress.com.

Shawn Johnson Blames Past Drug Use & Eating Disorder For Her Miscarriage

I have been a writer since 2012, and have enjoyed the journey thus far. When I am not busy writing like there's no tomorrow, I enjoy spending time with my three daughters and watching Netflix.

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Where Is Your Money Really Going During IVF? | BabyGaga - BabyGaga

Researchers have identified the source of a damaging immune reaction to acute psychological stress. The study revealed that proteins secreted in brown fat cells are responsible for triggering an inflammatory response to severe stress.

Cortisol is the primary hormone that is released during the bodys fight or flight stress response. It is a powerful anti-inflammatory hormone that reduces inflammation and regulates sugar and metabolism for the effective management of stress.

Since stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline are designed to suppress the immune system and reduce inflammation, experts have struggled to understand why stress tends to escalate inflammatory issues like autoimmune diseases and rheumatoid arthritis.

In the clinic, we have all seen super-stressful events that make inflammatory disease worse, and that never made sense to us, said study co-author Dr. Andrew Wang of Yale University.

The scientists pinpointed an immune system cell, the cytokine interleukin-6 (IL-6), that triggers inflammation when the body is faced with psychological stress. Previous research has shown that IL-6, which is typically secreted in response to infections, plays a role in autoimmune diseases, cancer, obesity, diabetes, depression, and anxiety.

The researchers turned their attention to the relationship between IL-6 and stress after they observed elevated levels of the proteins in mice during a stressful procedure.

In a series of experiments with mice, the researchers found that IL-6 was induced by stress and worsened inflammatory responses. They were surprised to discover that IL-6 was secreted in brown fat cells, which are most notably involved in regulating metabolism and body temperature.

The team demonstrated that when signals from the brain to brown fat cells were blocked, stressful conditions had no effect on inflammatory responses.

The researchers identified an additional role of IL-6 in the bodys reaction to stress it helps prepare the body to increase glucose production in anticipation of threats.

Even after the metabolic production of glucose and the release of cortisol and adrenaline, IL-6 levels secreted by brown fat cells are at their peak. The researchers said this may explain why stress can trigger inflammation despite the presence of immune-suppressing hormones.

When IL-6 production was blocked in mice, they were less agitated when placed in a stressful environment. The experts suspect IL-6 may play a role in mental health disorders such as depression and anxiety.

According to Dr. Wang, many symptoms of depression such as loss of appetite and sex drive mimic those caused by infections like the flu. These so-called sickness behaviors can be triggered by IL-6.

Drugs that are designed to treat autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis block the activity of IL-6. Preliminary findings suggest these drugs may help alleviate symptoms of depression, noted the researchers.

There is an ever-growing literature on the role of IL-6 outside of immunity, said study co-author Reina Desrouleaux. Our work is exciting because it contributes to shortening that gap of knowledge.

The study is published in the journal Cell.

By Chrissy Sexton, Earth.com Staff Writer

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Inflammatory response to stress linked to brown fat cells Earth.com - Earth.com

Weve all woken up covered in sweat at one point or another, especially on hot summer nights. But, if youve tried lowering your air conditioner, removing heavy blankets or adding a fan to your bedroom and you still wake up drenched, you might have night sweatsand it could signal a health issue that should be addressed sooner rather than later.

Night sweats, sometimes called nighttime hot flashes, dont mean you get hot while youre sleeping every now and then. Theyre repetitive, extreme and disrupt sleep, says Amy Zack, a family medicine physician at the Cleveland Clinic.

Its sort of a conventional name for an experience in which folks wake up soaked in sweat, she says. Its not just feeling hot, maybe if a room is hot or its warm outside, but rather sort of a drenching sweat that requires changing clothes, maybe changing bedclothes, as well.

Night sweats can be caused by a number of factors. If you have night sweats that disrupt your sleep, Zack says you need to talk to your doctor to rule out anything serious. Whenever we hear about somebody having soaking night sweats, it definitely requires a range of questions to determine what might be causing that, she says. Sleep disruption has a really big impact on all aspects of life.

Here are 10 possible causes of night sweats in women:

Common causes of night sweats for women are menopause and perimenopause, the stage leading up to menopause, when ovarian functions and menstrual cycles start to fluctuate, Zack says. Thats caused by hormonal fluctuation in the body, she explains. Its believed to affect the vascular system and result in a flushing and heat on the skin. When that happens, the body sweats to cool the skin down.

Night sweats and hot flashes during menopause can be treated with prescription medications and herbal supplements, such as ginseng or evening primrose oil.

Related:Kate Walsh on Menopause and What She Would Tell Her Younger Self

Night sweats can be a sign of a serious infection says Peter Bidey, vice chair of the Department of Family Medicine and assistant professor of family medicine at the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine.

Some of the infections that notoriously go along with night sweats are tuberculosis and HIV, he says, adding that endocarditis, an infection of the heart tissue, and osteomyelitis, infections of the bone, can also cause night sweats.

In these cases, treating the illness or infection may help night sweats go away.

Some cancers, like leukemia and Non-Hodgkins lymphoma, cause night sweats, Bidey says. And, night sweats can be an early sign of cancer, so its a good idea to visit your doctor for some tests.

Night sweats may also be a side effect of cancer treatments, including surgery, radiation therapy, hormone therapy, chemotherapy and some medications, according to the National Cancer Institute.

Anxiety, stress and depression, though mental health conditions, also impact the body physically, including raising the heart rate. Anytime you raise the heart rate can cause a feeling of anxiety, jitteriness, restlessness, and that can definitely make you feel sweaty, Zack says.

But, anxiety might not always cause the soaking night sweats that come with other conditions, she says.

Related:9 Ways to Keep Anxiety at Bay

Night sweats may be a side effect of certain medications, Bidey explains. Antidepressants, medications used to treat diabetes and hormone therapy drugs commonly have night sweats as a side effect.

For people with drug addiction, especially opioids, night sweats might also accompany drug withdrawal, Bidey adds.

Hyperthyroidism, or an overactive thyroid, causes excessive sweating, and sometimes night sweats.

Its generally less likely to be exclusively at night, Zack explains. It can change the body temperature and result in changes in metabolic rate that can cause sweating.

Treating the thyroid condition will usually help alleviate night sweats.

Any hormonal change may cause night sweats, especially for women, Zack says. That could include menopause, pregnancy, premenstrual syndrome or other hormonal shift.

Low testosterone in men may be another cause of night sweats.

Drinking alcohol raises your body temperature and can cause skin flushing. So, when you drink too much before bed, you may have night sweats. It disrupts sleep as well, Zack says. If you suspect your night sweats are alcohol-related, she suggests embracing a healthy lifestyle which includes healthy eating, exercise, and avoiding alcohol close to bedtime.

Related:What Does Recovery Mean Regarding Alcohol?

Night sweats are often a symptom of sleep apnea, the condition causing you to stop breathing while asleep (often several times a night), Bidey says.

Excessive sweating at night occurs three times more frequently in people with untreated obstructive sleep apnea, according to a 2013 study published in BMJ Open.

For people with hyperhidrosis, a condition that causes excessive sweating, night sweats are common.Its not only happening at night, though, Bidey says. Theyre overproducing sweat in certain areas of their body, sometimes their whole body. It happens during the day, too.

Medications, as well as some antiperspirants, Botox injections, laser treatment and iontophoresis are common treatments for hyperhidrosis, according to the International Hyperhidrosis Society.

The occasional sweaty night probably isnt cause for concern. Wearing loose-fitting clothing, opening a window, sleeping next to a fan, and avoiding alcohol, caffeine or spicy foods before bed will help, Bidey says.

But, if night sweats occur regularly and are so extreme that your clothing and bedclothes are soaked through, he suggests visiting your doctor.

Celebrity interviews, recipes and health tips delivered to yourinbox.

You dont want to chalk up night sweats to just being menopause or things along those lines, Bidey says. You want to take a deeper delve into it if necessary, which is where you want to bring in your primary care provider. Sometimes you could be missing a small cue or something, and it could be something thats more serious or underlying as a whole.

Stress, too, could be making you sweat more. Read more about how to stop stress sweating.

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What Causes Night Sweats? Causes of Night Sweats In Women - Parade

The research report on global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment Market is a comprehensive guide for new market entrants. The report provides the market history of each product retailed by the company. It also provides a history of product types, technology and volume during the forecast period. The growth rate, challenges and obstacles are also explained in the Global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment study report. The report highlights the rate of development of the strategies, products and technologies used in the production, manufacture and marketing of the product.

The following Top manufacturers are evaluated in this report: Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bio-Cancer Treatment International Limited, Biogen Inc, Boryung Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., Bristol-Myers Squibb Company, Cantex Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Capricor Therapeutics, Inc., Cell Source, Inc., Cell2B S.A., CellECT Bio, Inc., Cleveland BioLabs, Inc., Compugen Ltd., Cynata Therapeutics Limited, Cytodyn Inc., Dompe Farmaceutici S.p.A., Dr. Falk Pharma GmbH, Escape Therapeutics, Inc., F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd., Fate Therapeutics, Inc., Generon (Shanghai) Corporation Ltd., Gilead Sciences, Inc., GlaxoSmithKline Plc, Idera Pharmaceuticals, Inc., & amp; More.

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Product Type CoverageAzathioprineAdrenocorticotropic HormoneCyclophosphamideCyclosporine AOthersApplication CoverageHospitalClinicOthers

Some of the main geographic regions included in this report are: 1. North America (United States and Canada and rest of North America)2. Europe (Germany, France, Italy and the rest of Europe)3. Asia-Pacific (China, Japan, India, South Korea and the rest of Asia-Pacific)4. LAMEA (Brazil, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, South Africa and the rest of LAMEA)

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The Global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment Market report analyzes the production of goods, supply, sales and the current state of the market in detail. In addition, the report examines the market share of production and sales of products, as well as capacity, production capacity, sales trends, cost analysis and revenue generation. Several other factors such as import / export status, industrial statistics, supply and demand ratio, gross margin and the structure of the industrial chain were also studied in the Global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment Reports.

The main questions answered in the report are:

What is the estimated market size of the Global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment market? What are the effective growth drivers in the global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment market? Who are the main manufacturers on the world market for Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment? What are the opportunities, risks, obstacles and challenges of the global Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment? What are the sales, revenues and price analysis of the main manufacturers on the world market? Who are the main traders, distributors and resellers on the world market ?

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To conclude, the Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment report mentions the key geographies, the market landscapes as well as the product price, revenues, volume, production, supply, demand, rate of market growth and forecasts etc. This report also provides a SWOT analysis, an investment feasibility analysis and a return on investment. analysis.

Contact us Jay MatthewsDirect: +1 513 549 5911 (U.S.)+44 203 318 2846 (U.K.)Email: [emailprotected]

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Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment The market is booming worldwide | Bellicum Pharmaceuticals, Inc., Bio-Cancer Treatment International...

Liz Satterfield has a ritual for every time she returns home after leaving the house. Diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer in 2016, the Kirkland, Washington resident recently learned that the cancer that had spread to her brain in 2018 was still growing. Throughout the pandemic, shes had to visit the hospital at least once every three weeks, often more frequently, for treatments to control her disease.

I have a pair of shoes in a paper bag that I keep in the trunk of my car or a rack in the garage. I only wear those shoes when Im going in to get treatment, she says. When I come home, I strip in the garage and put everything right in the wash. I dont enter the house with anything that I was wearing at the cancer center. Its the way Im able to control what I can control in this situation, and gave my partner and me some peace of mind.

While COVID-19 has upended everyones life, the novel coronavirus impact on cancer patients is especially disruptive. Any infectious disease that taxes the immune system is high on their must-avoid listespecially for those getting chemotherapy or radiation treatments, both of which can weaken natural defenses. So that leaves cancer patients caught in the middle of two terrifying diseases.

Nearly 17 million people in the U.S. are living with cancer, many of whom, like Satterfield, are currently being treated for their disease, and forced to make these difficult calculations weighing their risk of cancer against their risk of getting COVID-19. Studies of cancer patients who become infected suggest that their death rate is higherranging from 13% to 28%than those without cancer (though these numbers continue to change as more data become available).

That risk could have a lasting impact on cancer rates and deaths in coming years. Between existing cancer patients who are concerned about the risk of COVID-19 and either delay or skip treatments, and those who have not yet been diagnosed but are reluctant to see their doctor for possible cancer symptoms, experts say both death rates and new cases may creep up. There have been people who are scared to death to even come near the cancer center, says Dr. Leslie Busby, a partner at Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers.

A crude forecast of how the pandemic might affect deaths from just breast and colon cancers alone conducted by researchers at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) predicts 10,000 additional deaths from these two cancers on top of an expected 1 million over the next decade, based on the assumption that screenings are stopped for only six months. That model does not account for people who have not yet been diagnosed and are delaying seeing their doctorsand as a result, may not be diagnosed until their cancers are more advanced and harder to treat. We dont know what the level of disruption to care is going to be, but I think it has already been quite significant, and will last a while longer, says Dr. Ned Sharpless, director of the NCI, who commissioned the prediction.

He notes that increases in incidence and deaths from cancer due to COVID-19 may also be hidden, complicated by the fact that incidence, for example, may even dip for a while if fewer people are getting screening and fewer cancers are actually detected. Mortality may also be confounded by the fact that most cancer deaths are among older patients, and older patients are also at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 complications, so the pandemic could cause total cancer deaths to actually decrease tempoerarily.

Given those confounders, and the fact that many cancers take years to develop, it wont be clear exactly how COVID-19 has affected cancer rates and deaths for many years yet.

When you think of cancer care, there is very little that is elective, says Dr. Robert Keenan, chief medical officer and vice president of quality at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Fl. Patients get chemotherapy as an intravenous infusion, which needs to be dosed and administered under medical care, and radiation treatments require calibrated doses from certified technicians in hospitals. And once patients have started chemotherapy or radiation regimens, they usually undergo treatment for several weeks, with each cycle building on the last to give them the best chance of wearing the cancer down and stopping malignant cells from growing and spreading.

As the pandemic began to surge, cancer doctors typically evaluated each of their patients to decide whether they needed to come in for their treatments or whether they could safely put off the chemotherapy infusion or radiation session for a week or more. Nancy Fleming, a former hospital pharmacist who was diagnosed with small cell lung cancer in 2019 after surviving breast cancer in 2003, receives an infusion of an immunotherapy drug once a month at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, Mass. When cases of COVID-19 surged in Boston in April, her oncologist, Dr. Jacob Sands, suggested she put off one of her infusions by a week. He says he made these types of decisions on a case-by-case basis, depending on how well each individual patient was doing and how well-controlled their cancer was. For somebody who has ongoing disease control, where everything is stable, and they had been on therapy for more than a year, those were cases where we would discuss delaying treatment by a week, two weeks or even three weeks, Sands says.

Convincing them to continue their treatments wasnt easy, however. There was a lot of virtual and telephonic hand-holding, says Keenan. We tried to put in place measures to create an environment that let patients know that [the cancer center] was as safe a place as any to come in for their treatment. At many hospitals and cancer centers, patients and staff have been screening patients and staff for fever and COVID-19 symptoms, and many restricted visitors from coming with the patients for their treatments. Any care that could be provided virtually was moved to video or telemedicine, which cut down on the density of people. At Moffitt, Keenan says, clinic visits dropped by 40% to 50%, and patient appointments were scheduled to avoid pile ups waiting rooms. At Dana Farber, Sands says Patients were essentially able to get right into a private room when they showed up and we were able to completely isolate people so they were not sitting next to each other in the waiting room.

Such cues are critical to putting cancer patients at ease, agrees Busby, who asked non-essential staff to work from home. These practices helped to both lower the risk of spreading COVID-19 and sent signals to our patients that we were doing the best we can to protect their health, he says. Discussing these precautions helped to convince some wary patients to continue their treatments.

One such policy, however, was harder for patients to accept. Many cancer centers stopped allowing visitors to come with patients during their treatment appointments, which can stretch for several hours since the chemotherapy infusions themselves typically take at least 30 minutes. Its such a comfort to have family there, says Fleming. When you are a patient, when you are ill, its sometimes hard for you to absorb everything you are hearing. Its always good to have an advocate with you.

For breast cancer patients, there were other options as well. At the University of North Carolina Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, Dr. Lisa Carey says the pandemic changed the therapies she offered her patients. At the beginning of the pandemic, for the patients whose cancers were hormone sensitive, I put them on anti-estrogen [pills] so we could tread water and keep an eye on the tumor for a couple months, while we waited for the [COVID-19] dust to settle before exposing them to an unknown level of danger of coming into the hospital for chemotherapy infusions, she says. The oral treatment, normally given before or with chemotherapy for maximum effectiveness, allowed the patients to treat their cancer and not compromise their care while avoiding exposure to the risks of COVID-19 in the hospital. The truth is, those things we did to protect them seemed to work, Carey says.

Protecting patients from getting exposed to the virus also guides some of her decisions around how to provide chemotherapy. If I have a choice between a [chemotherapy] drug that is given every week and a similar one that is given every three weeks, I now routinely use the one thats given every three weeks, she says. Even if there are a few more side effects, if it reduces the number of times a patient has to come in, then this is a conversation Im having with them.

Similar adjustments are possible for radiation treatment in some cases. Normally, radiation therapy is broken up into smaller, daily fractions in order to preserve the healthy tissue around cancers from the toxic effects of single blast. For breast cancer patients, recent, albeit early studies that followed patients for five years, suggested that significantly shorter courses of treatmentgiven over five days compared to 30, for examplecould be equally as effective in controlling the cancer. Typically we wouldnt embrace [such early results] in daily practice as quickly as we did except for the pandemic, says Dr. Reshma Jagsi, deputy chair of radiation oncology at the University of Michigan. But some patients were willing to take the risk of not having long term evidence on the safety and trust the five year data which was certainly compelling and intriguing.

For the most part, cancer patients have understood the importance of continuing their treatment and of balancing their risk of cancer against their risk of getting COVID-19. In fact, says Busby, its not so much our patients we worry about but the patients who are not ours yet. Most hospitals canceled routine cancer screening appointments for things like mammograms and colonoscopies, which are essential for detecting cancer early. And many people who might have potential cancer symptoms and arent diagnosed yet, arent going to the doctor because of COVID-19 fears. If thats the caseand only data on cancer rates in the coming months and years will provide the answerits possible that both the number of new cancer cases and their severity will increase as a result of the pandemic.

My concern is for the patients who have not yet been diagnosed with cancer; for those patients who delayed their screening; for patients who put off being examined for certain symptoms, says Jagsi. Those patients will be diagnosed at later stages and I do have great concern there that will change cancer-related treatment outcomes. In recent years, advances in screening have helped doctors more regularly diagnose patients at earlier stages where their disease is still treatable and curable, Jagsi notes. I fear that some COVID-19-related delays may compromise some of the advances we have seen.

How deeply COVID-19 will cut into those gains wont be clear until more data on new cancer cases becomes available in coming months. But most experts agree that its hard to imagine that the pandemic would contribute to a better situation; its going to have to be worse, says Carey.

In the meantime, patients are learning to accept the adjustments they need to make to ensure their treatments continue with as little disruption and in the safest way possible. Satterfield has had two COVID-19 tests because the chemotherapy she receives gives her a runny nose, cough and diarrheaall symptoms of COVID-19 that are flagged when she is screened before entering the cancer center for her treatments. But shes okay with that, and understands why its needed. For her, the most challenging part is emotional. With any terminal illness, its thereI think, is this the way the world is going to be when I die? Is this how I see the end of my life? But Im feeling better than I have in recent memory. As much as my health status doesnt sound great, I feel great. And Im thankful for that.

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Coronavirus Could Upend Cancer Trends in the U.S. - TIME

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Top key Players Impacting the Growth of the Bone Marrow Transplant Rejection Treatment Market 2020 | COVID19 Impact Analysis Bellicum Pharmaceuticals,...

There are dozens of potential coronavirus treatments in development or undergoing tests.

One intravenous (IV) treatment touted by Dr. Anthony Fauci of the White House coronavirus task force is remdesivir, made by Gilead Sciences.

Gilead has now announced pricing for its drug: $520 per vial, which adds up to $3,120 per patient for a six vial course of treatment.

The price to those "outside of private insurance" will be $390 per vial, Gilead says, or $2,340.

According to Reuters:

Analysts at Royal Bank of Canada said they saw revenue potential of $2.3 billion from the drug in 2020, helping offset more than $1 billion in development and distribution costs.

In contrast, the malaria drug hydroxychloroquine can cost pennies per dose and is being studied not only to treat coronavirus, but also to prevent it.

A media campaign controversialized hydroxycholorquine after President Trump repeatedly said the drug could be a game changer if it proves to be effective against coronavirus.

Studies have produced mixed results when it comes to both hydroxycholorquine and remdesivir.

A third drug, dexamethasone, is also being tested to use against coronavirus, as are numerous other medicines.

More results of various studies are expected by summer's end.

Read more by clicking the link here.

https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/933097?src=mk

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The high cost of the IV drug remdesivir for coronavirus: $3120 - Sharyl Attkisson