India is all set to unveil its first integrated Ayurveda nursing degree as an add-on to Allopathy or conventional nursing programme in an effort to offer the best of integrated medicine benefits to patients. Offered to nurses trained in Allopathy, the Ayurveda component will be a year-long add-on training capsule with specific subjects and hands-on training.

The proposal, which is in the last phase of its approval with the Nursing Council of India, is expected to become a reality by this year-end.

The syllabus has been created by the All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), the apex tertiary care centre for Ayurveda in the country, said AIIA director Prof. Tanuja Nesari, who added that this will be a first of its kind programme which will be a breakthrough in integrative health care.

Giving details of the initiative Dr. Rajagopala S, medical superintendent, AIIA, said nursing care was one of the four important pillars of health care and the integrated knowledge of both the therapies would be an asset.

The syllabus has been prepared by top professionals in both allopathic and Ayurveda fields and the intake will be of nursing graduates who have finished their allopathic training. The syllabus has been submitted to the Nursing Council and the council has had several rounds of meetings on the issue, he said.

If all goes well we should be able to offer the course soon. Besides the AIIA, institutes that have the infrastructure and manpower to conduct the course will be offering this to students, he added.

Nursing superintendent at the AIIA Sindhu Rajesh said this would be a residency programme where students would take theory classes and work in hospital for hands-on training.

We are proposing a 80:20 ratio of practical and theory, she said, adding that the syllabus had been approved in-principle and the suggestions made by the council had been incorporated. The draft syllabus was now undergoing the approval process.

The notification for the course could come in by August-end if all goes well, said Ms. Rajesh.

India currently offers Ayurveda nursing for those having finished Class 12 with science subjects.

The courses being offered currently, both B.Sc programme and diploma, dont offer nurses trained in the Ayurvedic stream a licence and registration number, which allows them the flexibility to work in the national or international arena. Their university registration is not recognised by the Indian Nursing Council, said Ms. Rajesh.

She added that the Nursing Council wants rigorous training like that offered to allopathic nurses for those wanting to specialise in Ayurveda. This can be achieved by the add-on programme that we are offering. It also eliminates the lacunae of not being registered to work internationally. Also, for the integrated medical therapy that we offer to our patients allopathic training helps. The idea is to provide holistic and rigorous medical care for patients, said Ms. Rajesh.

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India all set to offer Ayurveda add-on nursing programme - The Hindu

Get to know Chiropractor Dr. Anthony Hardnett, who serves patients throughout the State of Maryland.

(ProNewsReport Editorial):- New York City, New York Jun 21, 2022 (Issuewire.com)An established chiropractor, Dr. Hardnett places his emphasis on treating the patient as a whole and finding the cause of the problem, not just the symptoms. He owns and operates the premier state-of-the-art Effective Chiropractic Health & Wellness Center in Maryland, and has an overwhelmingly high success rate in helping patients with their health concerns. He feels that offering the latest treatment options, efficient care plans and patient education are all keys to the patients ultimate success. In 11 short years, he has made his practice the premier state-of-the-art chiropractic health and wellness facility in Maryland.

Effective Chiropractic Health & Wellness Center has grown from a small, 2-person office to a staff of 16 with expanded services and providers to meet their patients needs. It provides a variety of services that make them a one-stop-shop for healthcare. And in an effort to further expand services, the doctor has now added a Medical Doctor and Nurse Practitioner establishing Effective Integrative Healthcare, LLC to provide more integrative services for the community. He also added another office in Prince Georges County to further expand the practices ability to reach and help more patients.

In regards to his educational background, Dr. Hardnett graduated with his Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Life University in 2007. He is board-certified in Integrative Medicine (BCIM), which is the practice of using multiple treatment options within traditional medicine and alternative medicine to help patients. He also has extensive post-doctorate education relating to MRI interpretation and treatment of disc-related injuries.

With an unwavering commitment to his specialty, the doctor has been recognized as a Diplomate of the College of Manipulative and Body-Based Practices (DMBBP), which enhances his knowledge of how manipulation of the spine can assist the body to heal, as well as a Diplomate of the American Academy of Medical Legal Professionals (DAAMLP).

Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine that mainly deals with the diagnosis and treatment of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine. A chiropractor uses spinal adjustments, manipulation, and other techniques to manage patients health concerns, including neck pain, back pain, headaches, vertigo, and a long list of other ailments and conditions. They aim to improve patients functionality and quality of life by properly aligning the bodys musculoskeletal structure and enabling the body to heal itself naturally, without the use of medication or surgery.

Learn More about Dr. Anthony Hardnett:Through his findatopdoc profile, https://www.findatopdoc.com/doctor/2610078-Anthony-Hardnett-Chiropractor, or through Effective Chiropractic Health & Wellness Center, https://www.eihmd.com/about-us/

About FindaTopDoc.comFindaTopDoc is a digital health information company that helps connect patients with local physicians and specialists who accept your insurance. Our goal is to help guide you on your journey towards optimal health by providing you with the know-how to make informed decisions for you and your family.

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Anthony Hardnett, DC, BCIM, DMBBP, DAAMLP, a Chiropractor with Effective Chiropractic Health Wellness Center - Pro News Report

MADRID, June 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Idoven, a pioneering health tech company advancing early detection and precision medicine of cardiovascular disease, today announced that it has raised $19.8 million in funding. The funding consists of a $12.9 million Series A round co-led by global software investor Insight Partners and Northzone with participation from Wayra.

The round is also supplemented by $6.9 million in grant and equity funding awarded by the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator. The new funding will be used to further develop the company's best-in-class AI platform to identify arrhythmias and cardiac abnormalities, as well as accelerate hiring to build on its mission to advance early diagnosis and precision medicine of cardiovascular diseases.

A prominent list of angel investors joined the round, including Ron Vianu, Founder and CEO of Covera Health; Brad Fluegel, Former SVP, Chief Healthcare Commercial Officer and Strategy Officer at Walgreens; and Vlad Lata, Founder and CEO of Avi Medical, among others. The round was also joined by existing angels, including Iker Casillas, captain of Spain's World Cup-winning football team and UNDP ambassador, and former senior executives from Amazon and Apple, Diego Piacentini and Sebastian Gunningham. This round follows a $2 million seed round raised 12 months ago from leading business angels, Wayra and the Accel Starter programme.

Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death and is expected to be a $1 trillion public health burden by 2035, based on a study by the American Heart Association1. Managing this public health challenge starts with early diagnosis, and the most ubiquitous point-of-care test to detect heart problems is the electrocardiogram (ECG). However, today's healthcare outdated systems are not sufficient to keep up with the demand for ECG interpretation. Over 1 million hours are spent by physicians just in Europe every day analysing patients' ECG data to diagnose arrhythmias and other heart conditions. Moreover, with the use of wearables and other biosensors rapidly accelerating, the healthcare industry requires new approaches to analyse data at unprecedented speed and scale. Idoven was born to solve this problem.

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Idoven's team of data scientists, engineers and cardiologists leverage a proprietary deep learning system applied to cardiology to develop the world's first cardiology-as-a-service platform powered by AI that augments a clinician's ability to identify, triage and diagnose patients at scale. The solution is cloud-based and hardware-agnostic, able to analyse ECGs of any duration and from any device, and is made available to customers via API. The algorithmsdetect heart conditions that affect over 90% of the global population.

Unlike other health technology companies using AI to detect heart problems that are proprietary to their own hardware, Idoven's technology is hardware agnostic. This ensures that Idoven's algorithms are trained on the most complete database of signals, from 1-lead smartwatch ECGs to 12-lead hospital ECGs and long-duration ambulatory ECGs. Interpreting all types of ECG data is critical for obtaining a complete and standardised picture of the patient's cardiac history at any moment during the patient journey.

Dr. Marina Manuel Breysse, cardiologist, co-founder and CEO of Idoven said "Our AI software, Willem, has been learning cardiology for years and today, can help diagnose heart disease, anywhere and at any time, dramatically increasing our capacity to identify people in need of care. Our vision is to transform the way cardiovascular diseases are identified by augmenting the physician's decision making through integration of AI algorithms into the everyday clinical workflow. Deep learning algorithms can significantly improve the diagnostic accuracy of software found in existing ECG hardware, and create new prediction capabilities. Our technology is being used by leading medical device manufacturers and pharmaceutical companies to standardise at scale the analysis of ECGs. ECGs are used in virtually all clinical trials, to track patients' heart conditions in almost any medical specialty, as well as to monitor the safety of treatments with cardiac effects, particularly prevalent in cardiac and cancer treatments. We are excited to be at the very forefront of this movement in cardiovascular care to help doctors and patients all over the world."

One of the company's early backers, Iker Casillas, legendary Real Madrid goalkeeper and World Cup-winning Spain football team captain, refers to Idoven as "the AI that saved my life." After suffering a life-changing heart attack during training in 2019, Casillas and his foundation have teamed up with Idoven to promote the early detection and intervention of cardiovascular diseases, particularly among the most vulnerable groups like children with Down Syndrome and patients with congenital heart diseases or at high risk of sudden cardiac death.

Scott Barclay, Managing Director at Insight Partners said, "The future of medicine requires deeply validated artificial intelligence deployed via API to augment clinicians, and this is especially true in cardiology given the importance of heart health and the explosion of monitoring technology. Idoven has the chance to improve healthcare and save lives, at scale. This is the essence of the type of software-driven technology and empathy that Insight looks for in early healthcare investments."

Michiel Kotting, Partner at Northzone said, "In meeting the team at Idoven we were instantly struck with how big the impact of their work can be on global health. Starting with cardiologist-level accuracy in seconds and at scale for hospital ECGs, saving cost and avoiding delays, the database they are building up will enable potential heart problems to be spotted in advance on everyday fitness trackers. The unique skill set of a phenomenal team with deep backgrounds in cardiology, statistics, AI/ML and operations will enable this exciting future. We are incredibly proud and excited to join the team on this journey."

Through exclusive partnerships and research collaborations with world-class research institutions, Idoven has developed one of the world's largest ECG databases for AI development and scientific innovations. Among them is the pan-European MAESTRIA Consortium (Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence for Early Detection of Stroke and Atrial Fibrillation) that involves collaboration with 17 other leading European and US research centres, and industry partners to develop and validate the first European integrative diagnostic digital platform, starting with atrial fibrillation.

About IDOVEN

Idoven is a health technology company advancing early detection and precision medicine for cardiovascular diseases. Idoven's AI-powered platform, WillemTM, delivers substantial improvements to the speed, consistency and accuracy of electrocardiogram (ECG) interpretation and prediction. Its powerful, proprietary AI algorithms, which work with existing ECG devices, are also being applied to develop disease biomarkers towards patient identification, risk stratification and prognosis, as well as drug cardiac safety monitoring. Idoven partners with leading medical device and pharmaceutical companies on AI-driven innovations to develop a new standard of cardiovascular care. Idoven has been awarded with numerous distinctions for its AI technology in Europe and the US, including the prestigious European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator and Horizon 2020 (H2020) awards and the Healthy Longevity Catalyst Award from the US National Academy of Medicine. The company is backed by top tier investors including Insight Partners, Northzone and Wayra (Telefnica), the Accel Starters programme, leading business angels and EIT Health. For more information on Idoven, visit idoven.ai or follow us on LinkedIn @idoven.

About Insight Partners

Insight Partners is a global software investor partnering with high-growth technology, software, and Internet startup and ScaleUp companies that are driving transformative change in their industries. As of February 24, 2022, the closing of the firm's recent fundraise, Fund XII, brings Insight Partners' regulatory assets under management to over $90B. Insight Partners has invested in more than 600 companies worldwide and has seen over 55 portfolio companies achieve an IPO. Headquartered in New York City, Insight has offices in London, Tel Aviv, and Palo Alto. Insight's mission is to find, fund, and work successfully with visionary executives, providing them with practical, hands-on software expertise to foster long-term success. Insight Partners meets great software leaders where they are in their growth journey, from their first investment to IPO. For more information on Insight and all its investments, visit insightpartners.com or follow us on Twitter @insightpartners.

About Northzone

Northzone (northzone.com) is an early-stage venture capital fund built on experience spanning multiple economic and disruptive technology cycles and has over $1.7 billion under management. Founded in 1996 and with a team spread across three main hubs, New York, London and Stockholm, Northzone has to date raised nine funds and invested in more than 150 companies, including category-defining businesses like Spotify, iZettle, Avito, Kahoot!, Hopin, Klarna and Trustpilot.

1https://www.rti.org/news/cardiovascular-disease-costs-will-exceed-1-trillion-2035

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Idoven Raises $19.8 Million in Funding to Redefine Detection and Precision Medicine of Cardiovascular Diseases with AI - Yahoo Finance

Because cannabis sativa contains only a small amount of delta-8 THC, its typically manufactured in concentrated amounts from hemp-derived cannabidiol (CBD). While CBD doesnt have any intoxicating effects, delta-8 THC has similar psychoactive properties to delta-9 THC, although it is generally less potent than delta-9.

Delta-8 THC products are available in many forms, including gummies, chocolate and other candies, cookies, tinctures, vaping cartridges, infused drinks and even breakfast cereal.

Some manufacturers market delta-8 THC products as treatments or cures for medical conditions; however, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has neither evaluated nor approved these claims. In fact, in May 2022, the FDA issued warning letters to five manufacturers of delta-8 THC products for violating the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

The warning letters address misbranding, such as not providing adequate instructions for use, illegal marketing of products as treatments for medical conditions or other therapeutic uses and adding delta-8 THC to foods, such as gummies, chocolate and other consumables.

Chewy CBD Gummies

A container has a 30-count amount of gummies, with every individual serving containing a 10mg dose of pure, THC-free CBD isolate.

Learn More

Making general statements about whether using cannabis is good or bad doesnt paint an accurate picture of delta-8 THC or delta-9 THC, says Dave Gordon, M.D., a double-board certified integrative and functional medicine physician with expertise in cannabis therapeutics and advisory board member for Leaf411, an online resource for using cannabis safely and effectively.

To understand the risks and benefits of delta-8 THC or delta-9 THC, according to Dr. Gordon, consider:

With that said, potential benefits of delta-8 THC may include:

Like any compound, consuming more delta-8 THC than the body wants or needs can cause some short-term adverse effects, says Dr. Gordon. These negative side effects tend to depend on dosage, meaning they become more severe with increased consumption, he adds.

According to Dr. Gordon, short-term adverse effects of overconsuming delta-8 THC may include:

Generally, adverse effects resolve within a couple of hours with inhalation and within several hours of edible consumption, says Dr. Gordon.

Individuals with preexisting conditions may have risks that others do not, adds Dr. Gordon. In patients with high risk for (or already diagnosed) psychotic diseases, over-consuming delta-8 THC could increase frequency or severity of psychosis.

Consuming large amounts of delta-8 THC, especially when smoked, could precipitate heart damage or abnormal heart rhythms in those with significant underlying cardiovascular disease, says Dr. Gordon.

Additional risks associated with delta-8 THC consumption are linked to the product manufacturers themselves. According to the FDA, delta-8 THC products may contain potentially harmful chemicals or contaminants, including household chemicals used during the chemical synthesis process that yields delta-8 THC.

When weighing the potential risks of consuming delta-8 THC, its important to consider that the FDA hasnt evaluated or approved any delta-8 THC products for safe use. Delta-8 THC manufacturers may also market their products with unproven claims of health benefits that could put public health at risk.

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Delta-8 vs. Delta-9: What's The Difference? Forbes Health - Forbes

Advances in genetic technology have rapidly changed healthcare delivery in low- and middle-income countries. NGS utilization has decreased the time to diagnosis, increased the diagnostic rate, and provided valuable insight into the genotypephenotype correlation of IEI in a timely and cost-effective way28,29. IEI is not uncommon in India; however, their diagnosis is either missed or delayed due to a lack of awareness and a paucity of diagnostic facilities. There is an urgent need to increase testing capacity for early recognition, diagnosis, and management of IEI in our country30,31,32.

We have been diagnosing patients with IEI at our centre for the past 25years. However, services for molecular diagnosis for IEI both in government and commercial sectors have not been available in India until 2016. For molecular diagnosis of IEI, we established academic collaboration with Service Hmatologie, Immunologie et de Cytogntique, Hpital de Bictre, Le Kremlin Bictre, at France in the year 2007. Later, we established collaboration with institutes at Japan (National Defense Medical College, Saitama) and Hong Kong (Department of Paediatric and Adolescent Medicine, University of Hong Kong) in the years 2008 and 2010, respectively. This has facilitated molecular diagnosis for many of our patients with IEI. Our centre was designated as Centre for Advanced Research in diagnosis and treatment for primary immunodeficiency diseases by the Indian Council of Medical Research, Government of India, in 2015. Until 2016, tests available for diagnosis of IEI at our centre include immunoglobulin estimation, NBT, and flow cytometry for several surface and intracellular proteins10. With the increase in patients diagnosed with IEI in the last few years, we felt the need to establish molecular analysis at our centre4. We initiated Sanger sequencing for BTK, CYBB, and WAS genes in our centre in 2016 (Fig.1).

Commercial laboratories in India came up with facilities (targeted exome) for molecular diagnosis of IEI in 2016. Costs incurred for sequencing in commercial laboratories were exorbitant (USD 400500) in 2016 that later reduced in the subsequent years (USD 200 currently). The introduction of targeted NGS for IEI in 2018 at our centre has enabled us to offer this diagnostic modality to many of our patients who could not afford the costs of commercial testing. We have also been able to diagnose more IEIs each year and at a much faster pace than in previous years. The cost of targeted genetic sequencing at our setup is USD 83 per sample. This is much less than the costs incurred at commercial laboratories in India33. In addition, infants less than one year are covered under the JSSK (Janani Sishu Suraksha Karyakram) scheme of the Government of India. They are entitled to avail of NGS free of cost. Our Institute also provides free diagnostic services to patients from low-income groups who cannot afford the NGS charges, and charges are minimal for those who can afford this facility.

We have worked upon and improvised the standard protocol of NGS to suit our setup. We made some ingenious modifications to the recommended protocol to reduce the cost per sample and accommodate more patient samples in each run. Towards this end, we have successfully used half the recommended volume of reagents (however, concentration remained the same) at each successive step by starting with an initial DNA volume of 2.5L instead of 5L. So, a larger number of patient samples could be accommodated in each run. We have effectively run 42 patient samples with a 24-reaction reagent kit for 24 samples.

NGS sample preparation is a tedious and labour-intensive process requiring focus and concentration at each successive step34,35. After chip-loading and sequencing, we did not get results for two runs. On both these occasions, instead of repeating from the start, we started after the library quantification step as we were sure about the quality of the library preparation. So, restarting with the template preparation step instead of beginning from the start in the case of a failed run could be a helpful strategy if we are sure about the quality of library preparation.

We describe preliminary results of targeted NGS in 121 patients with different forms of IEIs diagnosed and managed at our centre. Our variant pick-up rate of 63.6% is much higher than previous studies- 25% by Yska et al. in 2019 and 29% by Vorsteveld et al. in 202128,36. The pick-up rate of variants in other studies were 16%7 (Gallo et al., Italy, 2016), 14% (Kojima et al., Japan, 2016)37, 2.1% (Sun et al., China in a cohort of infants)38, 28.6% (Cifaldi et al., Italy, 2020)18 and 42.4% (Arunachalam et al., India, 2020)33.

There are several reasons for a higher diagnostic yield in our study. Careful patient selection with a high pre-test probability based on clinical manifestations and preliminary immunological investigations was done. Patients with a high likelihood of having a pathogenic variant in one of 44 genes included in the gene panel are sorted out in consultation with clinicians trained in immunology and have broad experience in caring and managing patients with IEI. Currently more than 400 genes are implicated in various IEI. However, we selected 44 genes based on the most common diseases we encounter at our centre and also since we aimed to provide genetic diagnosis to maximum number of patients at an affordable cost. A large panel although more desirable would be costlier to design and in addition fewer samples would be accommodated in each run. Samples of patients who are very likely to have genetic variants in the genes included in the panel were included based on clinical history and initial immunological investigations. Patients with IEI not clearly delineated upon initial immunological investigations are referred for a clinical exome or whole-exome analysis. This analysis is outsourced to commercial laboratories providing these services at an affordable cost.

NGS has facilitated the early diagnosis of patients with IEI in situations where flow cytometry was either not conclusive or did not match the clinical presentation. For instance, patient 56 was clinically suspected of having an autosomal recessive hyper-IgM was found to have biallelic variants in the ATM gene. Hence, relying solely on typical manifestations of the IEI may not be ideal, and a rapid genetic diagnosis is indispensable39.

There have also been instances when the initial analysis on the Ion Reporter did not reveal a pathogenic variant. In patient 8 with clinically suspected XLA, no pathogenic variant was detected at initial analysis. There was a strong clinical suspicion of XLA in this case; we manually visualized the data on Integrative Genomics Viewer (IGV). We found a large deletion of exon-10, 11 and 12 in the BTK gene (Fig.2)40. Similarly, in another patient with suspected CGD (Pt.27), a large deletion was found in the CYBA gene, which was missed by the ion reporter software but was detected on manual reanalysis and visualization on the IGV. Patient 42 had an indel in IL2RG gene. In patient 42, analysis by the Ion reporter software revealed two IL2RG variants in close proximity, which was confusing. However, upon visualization of the BAM file on IGV, we realized that it was an indel (insertion of 3 nucleotides and deletion of 8 nucleotides) which was misinterpreted as two variants by the ion Reporter software.

Large deletion of Exon- 10 to 12 in BTK gene on Integrative Genome Viewer.

Hence, manual data visualization on IGV and manual analysis of annotated vcf files instead of relying on variants detected by initial analysis by software is crucial. We have been able to detect these variants in these cases using this strategy.

Detection of genetic variants in genes with known pseudogene is another problem that we encountered in our patient cohort. We faced this difficulty in patients with autosomal recessive CGD due to NCF1 gene defect. The targeted NGS panel systematically missed the most common pathogenic variant in NCF1, i.e., deletion of two nucleotides at the start of Exon-2. NCF1 gene has two flanking pseudogenes (NCF1)41. We assume that the amplicon designed for exon-2 of the NCF1 gene was unable to bind to its target, and thus, there was no amplification of this region, resulting in no reads for exon-2 in these patients. We performed a gene scan in 3 patients who had no reads in Exon-2 of the NCF1 gene to check for this variant and confirmed NCF1 GT deletion in all 3 of these patients (Fig.3A,B).

(A) IGV snapshot showing no reads from Exon-2 of NCF1 gene in 2 patients with AR-CGD (B) Gene Scan for Exon 2 NCF1 gene from control and an AR-CGD patient with no reads from exon 2 of NCF1 gene.

We have also been able to offer prenatal services to many patients. Patient 40 was clinically suspected of having SCID but had expired before a genetic defect could be established. His mother was pregnant at this time, and the period of gestation was 13weeks. We were able to identify a splice-site variant in the IL2RG gene in this family with X-linked SCID, and the mother was offered prenatal diagnosis by chorionic villous sampling. Molecular confirmation of diagnosis helped the family to get timely antenatal testing and appropriate genetic counselling. For some patients, especially SCID, rapid diagnosis through targeted NGS has saved lives, or genetic counselling has prevented an affected child in the subsequent pregnancy.

Pt 76 was the mother of a deceased child suspected to have X-linked Hyper-IgM, but a genetic diagnosis could not be established during the childs life. Targeted NGS revealed a synonymous variant in exon 1 of the CD40LG gene proximal to donor splice-site. In-silico prediction for this variant was found to be damaging by Mutation Taster2. Synonymous variants involving canonical splice-sites can also be pathogenic and should not be filtered out.

Genetic findings were beneficial in providing genetic counselling to affected families, carrier screening, and prenatal diagnosis. Moreover, genetic information is required for devising appropriate transplantation related strategies. Genetic findings were also crucial in deciding the treatment modalities in a few cases. Cases harbouring defects leading to antibody deficiencies were placed on regular replacement intravenous immunoglobulin therapy.

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Utility of targeted next generation sequencing for inborn errors of immunity at a tertiary care centre in North India | Scientific Reports -...