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Noel Rose, Who Demonstrated Autoimmunity Exists, Dies at 92 – The Scientist

Posted: August 12, 2020 at 12:43 am

Noel Rose, an immunologist and microbiologist whose early experiments underpinned the molecular mechanisms of autoimmune disease, died of a stroke July 30. He was 92.

As a young medical student, Rose worked alongside his mentor, Ernest Witebsky of the University at Buffalo, studying organ-specific antigens. The prevailing hypothesis for the last half century had been that the body was incapable of producing antigens against itself, an idea known as horror autotoxicus. Witebskys own academic lineage stretched back to the ideas original progenitor, Paul Ehrlich, who had coined the term in the late 19th century.

But Rose showed that rabbits injected with their own thyroid-derived antigens mounted an immune response against the invading molecules that damaged or destroyed the animals thyroid. The body was indeed capable of attacking itself. The results were so outlandish that the first journals refused to publish the findings, and it took years of careful experimentation to finally topple the paradigm of horror autotoxicus.Over the next several decades, Rose would further characterize the genetic and environmental causes of autoimmune diseases, publishing more than 880 articles and book chapters on the subject, according to Johns Hopkins University.

In every aspect, [Rose] is the father of autoimmunity, George Tsokos, a professor of rheumatology at Harvard Medical School, told The Scientist in a profile of Rose this year. The man opened a whole chapter in the book of medicine.

Currently, there are more than 80 recognized autoimmune diseases, including lupus, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, and AIDS, that have sickened more than 20 million Americans. Speaking to The Washington Post in 1995, Rose called autoimmune diseases one of the big three, meaning cancer, heart disease, and autoimmune disease.

Rose was born December 3, 1927, in Stamford, Connecticut. His father, a physician who served during World War II, became a specialist in treating rheumatic fever, now considered to be an autoimmune disease, the Post reports.

Prior to his groundbreaking work, Rose frequently brushed up against the limitations of medical knowledge at the time. When he began his undergraduate degree at Yale University in the mid-1940s, he wanted to study microbiology, but he was only able to attend a handful of classes on the topic. Instead, he majored in zoology and took the electives in microbiology, which were taught by botanistsbacteria were largely thought to be plants at the time, The Scientist reported in June.

Rose decided to complete a PhD ahead of attending medical school. He joined the lab of microbiologist Harry Morton at the University of Pennsylvania in 1948, where he spent the next several years studying the flagella-like motor structures of Treponema pallidum, the bacterium that causes syphilis.

Next, Rose enrolled as a medical student at the University at Buffalo, where he would make many of his most important medical discoveries. It was here, working alongside Witebsky, that he first demonstrated autoimmunity in rabbits.

Rose extracted a protein called thyroglobulin from humans, horses, and pigs, treated it with a solution called Freunds adjuvant to induce an immune response, and injected it into rabbits. Even though the injected thyroglobulin was similar to the protein already in the rabbits body, the animals still produced protective antibodies. This was true even when the protein, primed by the adjuvant that induces an immune response, came from another rabbit, and most surprisingly, when the protein was extracted and re-injected into the same animal. When he looked at the thyroids of these rabbits, he found that they were often damaged, and sometimes destroyed, by the bodys own immune response.

After having their findings rejected during peer review, Witebsky and Rose turned to studying autoimmunity in humans, determined to replicate and refine their work. They focused on Hashimotos disease, a rare thyroid condition with no identifiable cause, showing that serum taken from patients developed the same type of antibodies when exposed to thyroglobulin that they had seen in rabbits. We went ahead and showed that this same destruction applies to humans and that you could induce a disease in an organ by immunizing it with a specific antigen of the same species, Rose had told The Scientist. And that was autoimmunity.

Having overturned the idea of horror autotoxicus, Rose says, the work came out of the walls, and he spent the next several decades furthering the study of autoimmune diseases. He graduated with his MD in 1964 and remained at the University at Buffalo. According to a memorial page by Johns Hopkins University, where his career would eventually take him, his lab at Buffalo was the first to show that the genes for the major histocompatibility complex, closely linked on human chromosome six, contain the primary genes that determine the risk for autoimmune diseases.

Rose moved his lab to Wayne State University in 1973, where he remained for almost a decade before finally accepting a position at Johns Hopkins in 1981 in the Bloomberg School of Public Health. There, Rose focused on environmental conditions that could trigger disease. In many diseases, Rose told The Scientist, genetics was always less than half the risk. We thought something from the environment must be involved.

His later work focused on myocarditis, an inflammation of the heart muscle, and Rose was still working up until his death. He found great promise in the advent of big data and using it to analyze hundreds or thousands and patients to identify the best possible treatments and preventives. What we want to do is avoid the train wreck from the beginning, and I think we can begin to do that, Rose told The Scientist. Thats what Im excited about.

Rose is survived by his wife of 69 years, Deborah, two sons, two daughters, 10 grandchildren, and five great-grandchildren.

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OpGen Group Company Ares Genetics Demonstrates Feasibility of CLIA-compliant Next Generation Sequencing Workflow for Identification of Bacterial…

Posted: August 12, 2020 at 12:43 am

Accurate identification of antibiotic resistance markers based on the ARESdb QIAGEN CLC Module leveraging Ares Genetics proprietary antibiotic resistance database

Pathogens correctly identified with 100% sensitivity and specificity, antibiotic resistance markers with >95% sensitivity and >99% specificity, respectively

Study paves the way for routine clinical diagnostic application of next-generation sequencing (NGS) in timely as well as accurate infectious disease testing and drug susceptibility prediction

VIENNA, Austria, and GAITHERSBURG, Md., Aug. 11, 2020 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Ares Genetics GmbH(Vienna, Austria; Ares Genetics), a subsidiary of OpGen, Inc. (Nasdaq: OPGN, OpGen), announced today the publication of a peer-reviewed study that demonstrates the feasibility of a highly accurate and reproducible sample-to-insight workflow for various clinical microbiology assays including the molecular identification of bacterial pathogens and their genetic markers of antibiotic resistance (Ref. 1).

The combined laboratory and bioinformatics workflow was developed following requirements of the U.S. Clinical Laboratory Improvement Act (CLIA) for laboratory-developed tests (LDTs). The bioinformatics analysis workflow leverages the QIAGEN CLC Microbial Genomics ARESdb Module for detection of antibiotic resistance (AMR) markers (Ref. 2). Powered by artificial intelligence, Ares Genetics ARESdb is a comprehensive, global and continuously updated proprietary knowledgebase on AMR markers and their diagnostic relevance. Under a license from Ares Genetics, the QIAGEN CLC Microbial Genomics ARESdb Module provides users information about diagnostic performance parameters for individual AMR markers at antibiotic compound resolution and thereby addresses a key limitation of public AMR databases (Ref. 3).

The workflow was validated in a study focused on particularly challenging and clinically prevalent multi-drug resistant ESKAPE pathogens (Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Enterobacter cloacae) including the WHO priority 1 pathogens (Ref. 4). In this study, the workflow demonstrated >99% repeatability, reproducibility, and accuracy. Pathogens were correctly identified with 100% sensitivity and specificity, AMR markers with >95% sensitivity and >99% specificity, respectively.

Dr. Andreas Posch, CEO of Ares Genetics and corresponding author of the study, commented, This study demonstrates that next-generation sequencing in combination with a standardized bioinformatics workflow and a curated interpretation database enables a wide array of clinical microbiology assays with the performance and quality that meet the high standards required for human diagnostic use. We are very pleased to reach this important milestone in our development of universal molecular diagnostic solutions for the timely detection of pathogens and accurate prediction of antibiotic susceptibility.

Ares Genetics currently offers NGS-based clinical microbiology assays for epidemiology, infection control and research via its AI-powered bioinformatics platform ares-genetics.cloud under the brand name ARESupa - Universal Pathogenome Assay. In a recently published multi-center study, Ares Genetics demonstrated that ares-genetics.cloud can also accurately predict antibiotic susceptibility based on complex DNA signatures that are interpreted by combining ARESdb with artificial intelligence (Ref. 5). The combination of high-resolution NGS and AI-powered data interpretation can enable accurate as well as comprehensive molecular antibiotic susceptibility testing and has the potential to provide information on antibiotic therapy response much faster than current culture-based approaches.

Dr. Andreas Posch added: Highly standardized laboratory workflows like the one we realized in this study, are an important prerequisite for fast and reliable molecular solutions for pathogen identification and antibiotic susceptibility prediction in the clinical routine. They allow locally performed NGS analysis for expeditious turnaround times and cloud-based AI-powered data interpretation for clinical decision support. This enables new business models combining traditional IVD instrument and reagent business with SaaS business and hence paves the way for digital diagnostic companies like Ares Genetics.

Microbial infections and antibiotic resistance have become major healthcare challenges with rapidly spreading antimicrobial resistance estimated to have caused 700,000 deaths globally in 2016, a number that is projected to dramatically increase to 10 million deaths annually by 2050 if no countermeasures are taken (Ref. 6). While on July 9th 2020, more than 20 leading biopharmaceutical companies announced the launch of the AMR Action Fund aiming to bring two to four new antibiotics to patients by 2030, a recent white paper by Ares Genetics highlights the urgent need for novel diagnostic approaches to allow for rapid identification of causative pathogens and their susceptibility to available antibiotic options, in order to guide appropriate treatment of patients while enabling prudent and informed use of existing or future new antibiotics (Ref. 7).

The studies by Ares Genetics were supported through funding provided by the Vienna Business Agency and the Austrian Research Promotion Agency.

References

About OpGen, Inc.

OpGen, Inc. (Gaithersburg, MD, USA) is a precision medicine company harnessing the power of molecular diagnostics and bioinformatics to help combat infectious disease. Along with subsidiaries, Curetis GmbH and Ares Genetics GmbH, we are developing and commercializing molecular microbiology solutions helping to guide clinicians with more rapid and actionable information about life threatening infections to improve patient outcomes, and decrease the spread of infections caused by multidrug-resistant microorganisms, or MDROs. OpGens product portfolio includes Unyvero, Acuitas AMR Gene Panel and Acuitas Lighthouse, and the ARES Technology Platform including ARESdb, using NGS technology and AI-powered bioinformatics solutions for antibiotic response prediction.

For more information, please visit http://www.opgen.com.

Forward-Looking Statements by OpGen

This press release includes statements regarding a validation study of next-generation sequencing based tests provided by OpGens subsidiary, Ares Genetics GmbH. These statements and other statements regarding OpGens future plans and goals constitute "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and are intended to qualify for the safe harbor from liability established by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that are often difficult to predict, are beyond our control, and which may cause results to differ materially from expectations. Factors that could cause our results to differ materially from those described include, but are not limited to, our ability to successfully, timely and cost-effectively develop, seek and obtain regulatory clearance for and commercialize our product and services offerings, the rate of adoption of our products and services by hospitals and other healthcare providers, the realization of expected benefits of our business combination transaction with Curetis GmbH, the success of our commercialization efforts, the impact of COVID-19 on the Companys operations, financial results, and commercialization efforts as well as on capital markets and general economic conditions, the effect on our business of existing and new regulatory requirements, and other economic and competitive factors. For a discussion of the most significant risks and uncertainties associated with OpGen's business, please review our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which are based on our expectations as of the date of this press release and speak only as of the date of this press release. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

OpGen Contact:Oliver SchachtCEOInvestorRelations@opgen.com

Press Contact:Matthew BretziusFischTank Marketing and PRmatt@fischtankpr.com

Investor Contact:Megan PaulEdison Groupmpaul@edisongroup.com

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Making sure patients, physicians know about the advances in treating female cancers – Norton Healthcare

Posted: August 12, 2020 at 12:43 am

Lynn Parker, M.D., gynecologic oncologist with Norton Cancer Institute, is on a mission. Shes doing whatever she can to spread the word: Theres a lot that can be done to prevent and treat female cancers.

What drives me is we can cure people; we can help people. What drives me every day is to see patients do well, said Dr. Parker, who trained at the world-renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas.

Rapid medical advances are improving the odds significantly for ovarian, uterine, cervical, endometrial and other cancers in the reproductive organs. Unfortunately, even some physicians may not know about many of the new treatments, according to Dr. Parker.

We can be very successful, she said. Its just a matter of making sure people are aware of the options they have and that our specialty exists. Its a really exciting time in gynecologic oncology. I dont want people to get misinformation that theres not something that can be done to help them when there is.

To that end, Dr. Parker is on the Communications Committee of the Society of Gynecologic Oncology, an international professional organization.

We try to get the word out, either through social media or websites, Dr. Parker said. To me its not only about getting the word to the patients but to the primary care doctors.

Dr. Parker recalled a patient who was told by her doctor to go home and get her affairs in order because nothing could be done. Dr. Parker saw the patient and started treatment.

She lived another six years. She had six years with her kids that she otherwise would not have had, Dr. Parker said.

As a gynecologic oncologist, Dr. Parker performs surgery and sees patients in the office.

Dr. Parker grew up in a small town in southern Illinois, the daughter of a dentist. Her grandparents lived close by, and she helped care for her grandfather, who had rapidly progressing rheumatoid arthritis.

I loved science. I loved caregiving. That was a way I could make an impact and help people, she said.

Dr. Parker completed a combined six-year undergraduate and medical degree at the University of Missouri-Kansas City before doing her medical residency at the University of Oklahoma, Oklahoma City. She then completed a fellowship in gynecology/oncology at MD Anderson.

Dr. Parker is passionate about keeping up with research and what the latest treatments can do for patients.

I have patients, in the old days, we would say you have nine to 12 months to live. Now I give them a new chemotherapy combination and the tumor goes away. To me thats very exciting, she said.

With more than 100 specialists at locations around Louisville and Southern Indiana, Norton Cancer Institute is the areas leading provider of cancer care.

(502) 629-HOPE (4673)

Other new treatments include immunotherapy, which uses a patients own immune system to fight cancer; PARP inhibitors, which kill cancer cells by stopping them from repairing themselves; and so-called VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor)

drugs like bevacizumab, which starve tumors by preventing them from forming new blood vessels.

Research also has shown that most cancers that were once thought to arise in the ovary have their origin in the fallopian tubes, according to Dr. Parker. That means cancers potentially can be prevented. For example, if a woman is having a hysterectomy for reasons other than cancer, the fallopian tubes also can be removed.

Genetic testing also is improving, which will help pinpoint which women are most at risk.

Now we can do very significant profile testing and potentially protect women from ever getting cancer, Dr. Parker said. I would love to go out of business for that reason.

Even with an eye on the latest research, Dr. Parker never loses sight of her patients.

My patients are amazing people, Dr. Parker said. Im very proud my patients feel at home when they come see us. So much of that is lost in modern medicine. To me its about making patients feel like theyre part of a team, part of a family.

Cancer is so overwhelming you want to know they can always reach you to talk to you. They can ask us all the questions they want. If I dont know the answer, I will find someone who does.

In medical school, Dr. Parker met her husband, John Parker, M.D., a neuropathologist who teaches medical students and neurosurgery residents at the University of Louisville School of Medicine. Together, they have a teenage daughter. In her free time, Dr. Lynn Parker likes spending time with her family and spending time outdoors.

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The global market for next generation breast cancer diagnostics and screening market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 13.12% over the forecast period…

Posted: August 12, 2020 at 12:43 am

NEW YORK, Aug. 11, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05949918/?utm_source=PRN

Market Report Coverage - Next Generation Breast Cancer Diagnostic and Screening

Market Segmentation

Product Type - BRCA tests, ER/PR tests, HER2 tests Technology- Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR), Immunohistochemistry (IHC), Fluorescence In-Situ Hybridization (FISH), Next-Generation Sequencing and Others Cancer Subtype - Luminal A, Luminal B, Triple negative/basal like, Human Epidermal Growth Factor (HER2) End User - Hospital associated lab, Cancer Research Institutes, Diagnostic Centers, and Other End Users

Regional Segmentation

North America U.S., Canada Europe Germany, France, Italy, U.K., Spain, and Rest-of-Europe Asia-Pacific China, Japan, India, Singapore, Australia, and Rest-of-Asia-Pacific (RoAPAC) Latin America Brazil, Mexico, and Rest-of-the-Latin America Rest-of-the-World

Growth Drivers

Increasing Prevalence of Breast Cancer, Globally Increase in Adoption of Personalized Medicine for the Screening and Diagnostics of Breast Cancer Growing Focus on Breast Cancer Biomarker for Effective Screening and Prognosis

Market Challenges

Uncertain Reimbursement Policies Pertaining to Breast Cancer Molecular Diagnostics Requirement of High Capital Investment Hindering Expansion Issues Related to Clinical Validity of Biomarker-based Tests

Market Opportunities

Massive Scope for Adoption of Breast Cancer Molecular Diagnostics in Emerging Nations Technological Advancements in the development of Next Generation Breast Cancer Diagnostics Increased Use of Breast Cancer Diagnostics for the Development of Therapeutics Drugs and Comprehensive Treatment Plan

Key Companies Profiled

Abbott Laboratories, F. Hoffmann-La Roche Ltd, Danaher Corporation, Invitae Corporation, Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., Biocept, Inc., Biotheranostics, Agendia N.V., Lucence Diagnostics Pte Ltd, Agilent Technologies, Inc., Myriad Genetics, Inc, Fulgent Genetics, Centogene N.V., and Ambry Genetics

Key Questions Answered in this Report: What are the major market drivers, challenges, and opportunities in the next generation breast cancer diagnosis and screening market? What is the potential impact of COVID-19 on the breast cancer diagnosis in terms of availability of resources such as physicians, laboratory staff and technological advancements? What are the noticeable drifts across various regional markets amidst the COVID-19 pandemic on the early stage screening of breast cancer? What is the current market demand along with future expected demand trend of Next generation breast cancer diagnostics services for various subtypes.? How the next generation diagnostics have helped genomic tests to become a prominent tool for breast cancer screening rather than an adjunct diagnostic tool? What are the key development strategies which are implemented by the major players in order to sustain in the competitive market? What are the key technologies that have been used by leading players in the market for the development of molecular diagnostic assays for early breast cancer screening and diagnosis?

How each segment of the market is expected to grow during the forecast period from 2020 to 2030 based on:o Technologyo Assay Typeo Breast Cancer Subtypeso Diagnostic Typeo End usero Region: Region includes North America, Europe, Asia-Pacific, Rest-of-the-World (ROW) Who are the leading players with significant offerings to the next generation breast cancer diagnosis and screening market? What is the expected market dominance for each of these leading players? Which companies are anticipated to be highly disruptive in the future and why?

Market OverviewOur healthcare experts have found next generation breast cancer diagnostics and screening market to be one of the most rapidly evolving markets and the global market for next generation breast cancer diagnostics and screening market is predicted to grow at a CAGR of 13.12% over the forecast period of 2020-2030. The market is driven by certain factors, which include the rising incidence of breast cancer patients inciting the development of rapid diagnostic assays, significant innovation resulting in market pull, shift from centralized to decentralized laboratories, and significant external funding for executing R&D exercises.

The market is favoured by the development of genomic-based assays for early diagnosis and prognosis of metastatic and recurrent breast cancers. The gradual increase in the prevalence of breast cancer patients, globally has furthered the breast cancer diagnostics market.

Furthermore, several diagnostic companies are focusing on the development of biomarker-diagnostics with higher sensitivity and low turn-around time to benefit the patients, providing diagnosis at an early stage.

Within the research report, the market is segmented on the basis of product type, application, technology, disease end users, and region. Each of these segments covers the snapshot of the market over the projected years, the inclination of the market revenue, underlying patterns, and trends by using analytics on the primary and secondary data obtained.

Competitive LandscapeThe exponential rise in the application of precision medicine on the global level has created a buzz among companies to invest in the development of rapid diagnostics providing information on genetic mutation and patients good candidate for adjuvant chemotherapy or hormonal therapy. Due to the diverse product portfolio and intense market penetration, Abbott Laboratories has been a pioneer in this field and been a significant competitor in this market.

Several other companies such as F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd, Myriad Genetics Inc., and Agendia, among others, have launched diagnostics assays for breast cancer, such as Foundation One CDx, EndoPredict, and Mammaprint, among others.

On the basis of region, North America holds the largest share of next generation breast cancer diagnostics and screening market due to improved healthcare infrastructure, rise in per capita income, and availability of state-of-the-art research laboratories and institutions in the region. Apart from this, Asia-Pacific region is anticipated to grow at the fastest CAGR during the forecast period.

Countries Covered North America U.S. Canada Europe Germany U.K. France Italy Spain Rest-of-Europe Asia-Pacific China Japan India Australia Singapore Rest-of-APAC Latin America Brazil Mexico Rest-of-Latin America Rest-of-the-World

Read the full report: https://www.reportlinker.com/p05949918/?utm_source=PRN

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T cells, B cells and the range of the human bodys immune response A simple decoder – ThePrint

Posted: August 10, 2020 at 8:49 pm

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New Delhi: Human immunity and its components have never been the topic of such breathless discussion for such a long time. But then, there has never been a time like the Covid-19 pandemic.

Between serological surveys (that check the level of antibodies against the SARS-CoV-2 virus in blood), rapid antigen tests (that test for the part of the virus that kickstarts immune mechanisms) and the quest for vaccines, the immune system is very much in.

That is also why lymphocytes (a class of white blood cells), especially the ones known as T-cells are the flavour of the season. They are probably the single most important component of the immune system; though given the perfectly synchronised working of the defence mechanism of the body, it may be a little unfair to designate any one as more important than the another.

T-cells play a plethora of roles in immunity as killer cells that can attack an infected cell and kill it along with the infecting agent, and as suppressor cells that modulate the level of functioning of other lymphocytes. They also have a starring role in the production of antibodies, a function performed by the other variant of lymphocytes called the B cells.

Latest research in Nature shows that presence of T-cells from earlier encounters with coronaviruses could have an important role to play in the bodys immune response, and therefore, a better understanding of it is crucial for the development of a vaccine.

The published data discussed here indicate that patients with severe COVID-19 can have either insufficient or excessive T cell responses. It is possible, therefore, that disease might occur in different patients at either end of this immune response spectrum, in one case from virus-mediated pathology and in the other case from T cell-driven immunopathology.

However, it is unclear why some patients respond too little and some patients too much, and whether the strength of the T cell response in the peripheral blood reflects the T cell response intensity in the respiratory tract and other SARS-CoV-2-infected organs, wrote the researchers from the University of Pennsylvania. They called for more research on the topic.

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Turns out, antibodies may or may not last, but T-cells are the new superheroes with the potential to possibly save the planet.

Also read: T Cells the unsung immune warriors that takeover after coronavirus antibodies wane

Immunity is of two kinds innate and acquired.

The defence mechanisms that the body is born with is known an innate immunity. This includes something as simple as the ability of the skin to prevent inner, more vulnerable tissues, from coming in contact with the external environment.

Acquired immunity, as the name suggests, is something that develops over time through exposure to pathogens or disease causing agents like virus and bacteria. Acquired immunity kicks in either through antibodies (this is known as humoral immunity) or through cells programmed to destroy invading organisms by causing the dissolution of the very cells that have been infected.

White blood cells (WBC) play a crucial role in immunity. There are five different kinds of WBCs eosinophil, basophil, neutrophil, monocyte and lymphocyte. Among these, the most important are lymphocytes, which include the T lymphocytes and the B lymphocytes. However, the others also have important roles to play as supporting cast. For the present discussion, we are concentrating on lymphocytes.

Also read: Immunity boosters are a myth why you shouldnt believe claims that promise to fight Covid

Structurally, under a microscope, very little differentiates a T-lymphocyte from a B lymphocyte. Both varieties are formed in the bone marrow from stem cells, get trained in different organs and then lodge themselves in the lymph nodes from where they are deployed when the occasion arises.

The training is important. It teaches the cells not to start attacking the bodys own cells. T-cells get trained antenatally (during pregnancy) and for some time after that in the thymus, a small gland present between the lungs only till puberty. B cells are trained in the foetal liver and bone marrow.

When a pathogen invades, specific chemicals unique to it (often proteins or complex carbohydrates) activate the bodys immune system. This activator, which is a unique feature of the invading pathogen, is the antigen. This is what the rapid antigen test looks for.

When an antigen has been detected, the T-cells troop out of the lymph node in an activated form and travel to the affected areas to take on the infection. The activated cells, called the Killer T cells, attach themselves to the membrane of the infected cell and with help of cytotoxic chemicals, kill the cell and destroy the invader with it. This is cell-mediated immunity. It is the basis of what happens when transplanted organs are rejected.

The thymus training teaches T-cells to ignore the antigens that are present within the body and not attack them. When that lesson is forgotten, because of genetic or environmental reasons, an autoimmune disorder is triggered.

Antigens set in motion a different pathway in the B lymphocytes. These enlarge and start duplicating very rapidly to form many clones, all of which, on maturity, start producing antibodies. The whole process happens very fast.

Antibodies are protein molecules that are present in the plasma, the matrix of the blood in which the cells float. Not all T-cells though turn into cytotoxic killers. Some become what are known as helper T cells, to go and further activate B lymphocytes to produce antibodies. In fact, without these helper cells, the antibody output is not quite sufficient to combat the invading particle.

Antibodies can directly kill the invader using a number of different mechanisms at their disposal. They can also activate a set of proteins present in the blood plasma that in turn can attack the invader using their own pathways.

Once the infection has been tackled, some of the B lymphocytes are tucked away with information about how this was done. These are memory cells that remain dormant until the next invasion happens. These ensure that when an infection recurs, the response is expedited, magnified and is longer lasting. This is the principle behind vaccination to teach the body to identify and combat a pathogen so that when a future infection happens, the response is stronger.

Also read:An Oxford immunologist breaks down how the universitys vaccine works against Covid-19

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Are very long-lived trees immortal and what can they teach humans? – ABC News

Posted: August 10, 2020 at 8:49 pm

While humans are all too familiar with the ravages of getting older, many trees seem to handle ageing a lot better.

Certain trees can live for thousands of years and appear to be immortal.

But not everyone is convinced these old timers can escape death due to old age.

Regardless, could humans with their relatively puny lifespans have something to learn from these ancient trees? Some scientists think so.

Establishing how old the oldest living tree is depends a bit on which plants are in the running for the title.

You could argue that Australia's Wollemi pine, which has been cloning itself for more than 60 million years, deserves the title. But that's kind of cheating because this involves multiple stems growing from the one rootstock.

This is why the oldest tree in the world is generally regarded as a single-stemmed bristlecone pine called Pinus longaeva.

This species can live to around 5,000 years and does well where most other plants cannot even grow in rocky, dry, high-altitude areas in the United States.

What's amazing is that scientists have not so far been able to show that getting older directly affects the health of such millennial trees, plant biologist Sergi Munne-Bosch from the University of Barcelona says.

It's because of this, some have suggested these trees are essentially immortal.

But in a recent article, Professor Munne-Bosch argues that it's likely even ancient trees could die from old age assuming something else doesn't kill them first.

He emphasises that there's a difference between ageing, which is about how long an organism has lived, and age-related deterioration, which is referred to as senescence.

"Just because we can't track senescence in long-lived trees doesn't mean they are immortal."

Professor Munne-Bosch points to recent research on centuries-old Ginkgo biloba trees that found no evidence of senescence.

The study was the first to look for evidence of age-related changes in cells of the cambium, a layer just beneath the bark that contains cells that can produce new tissue throughout the plant's life.

It confirmed the long-lived trees, which in this case were up to 667 years old, were just as healthy as younger ones says Professor Munne-Bosch.

"They grow very well, they produce seeds, they produce flowers, so they are healthy."

He points out that even though a 667-year-old tree seems old when compared to a human, it is relatively young for a ginkgo.

"This species can live for more than two millennia."

Professor Munne-Bosch argues that the ginkgo researchers' data shows that older trees had thinner vascular tissue and that this hints at possible age-related deterioration that would be more obvious in even older trees.

Yet despite this deterioration, he says these trees are more likely to die from insects, disease, fire, drought or loggers, than old age.

"For a species that can live for millennia, aging is not really a problem in evolutionary terms because they are much more likely to die of something else."

The problem is there are so few of these long-lived trees that it's hard to get the data to know for certain whether they can die of old age.

"We cannot prove it either way," Professor Munne-Bosch says, adding that age-related deterioration is likely to happen in these trees at such a different pace compared to in humans.

"For a Ginkgo biloba, six centuries is not as physiologically relevant as it is to us."

Brenda Casper, a professor of biology at the University of Pennsylvania says it's not clear that the changes found in the older Ginkgo biloba trees were necessarily detrimental to the tree.

But she agrees the low number of millennial trees makes it hard to study their longevity.

"It's difficult to find statistical evidence for senescence."

Even if there were enough trees, she says some of the age-related deterioration may be hard to detect, or we may not know what to look for.

"It's not just internal physiology per se but it's the interaction of the tree with its environment."

For example, she says it would be hard to measure whether age had made a tree more susceptible to disease, or less structurally sound so it's more likely to fall over in a windstorm.

Even if the jury is out on whether millennial trees are immortal, some experts say their longevity could be inspirational for medical research.

Professor Munne-Bosch says such trees can draw on a bag of tricks to help them "postpone death".

First is having a simple body plan with modular-like branches and roots. This means they can compartmentalise any damaged or dead roots or branches and work around them.

"They can lose part of leaves or roots and continue to be healthy..

And he says although 95 per cent of the trunk of a tree might be dead, the living cambium just beneath the bark is "one of the secrets of longevity" in trees.

Millennial trees have used the combination of these features to their best advantage and Professor Munne-Bosch says these tricks are providing a model for scientists researching the negative effects of ageing.

"Imagine if we could regenerate our lungs or circulatory system every year, we would be much healthier than we are."

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Professor of biomedical engineering at the University of New South Wales, Melissa Knothe Tate is one researcher who is inspired by millennial trees.

"They have units and if one unit breaks you can replace it with another unit."

Only a small percentage of an individual long-lived tree may be alive, but she argues it's all about survival of the cells that are able to regenerate the tree.

"Those that survive best, survive longest."

"Millennial trees are the best survivors because they've seen a lot."

While a tree and a human might seem worlds apart, Professor Knothe Tate sees the similarities, pointing to the role of stem cells in maintaining bones in humans.

She says cells add new layers to bone, like tree rings, to increase girth and when bone is injured, stem cells quickly help repair it.

"We're constantly renewing our bones and trees do something similar."

Professor Knothe Tate says she is using stem cells and new biomaterials that emulate tree cambium, to create replacement tissue in the lab, and has several patents for the work.

"I think about plants a lot when I'm up in the mountains and amongst the trees."

Professor Knothe Tate, who draws on her training in philosophy, biology and mechanical engineering for her work, sees other similarities that can inspire research.

For example, she likens the human brain to the network of roots and branches that helps a tree remain resilient if one part is damaged, another part can sometimes take up the slack.

"As parts of the brain are injured or die, it's remarkable what functionality we can retain,

"If we knew which of the brain's networks were essential for certain functions, we may be able to grow them."

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Professor Knothe Tate also set up a science education project for girls that explores the parallels between the biomechanics of trees and bones. It was inspired by her observation of how huge trees sway like a blade of grass in the wind.

She has high hopes for the potential of regenerative medicine research that draws on knowledge from other disciplines like plant biology to extend human life.

"We can then start to think about making ourselves immortal."

Plant biologist Professor Munne-Bosch is also enthusiastic.

"The future of medicine is very similar to what has evolved in millennial trees."

But while regenerating tissues will help humans live much longer, he doubts we will ever be immortal.

"It won't be forever, because we are more likely to die of something else, whether it be an accident or a pandemic."

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Letters to the Editor: July 9, 2020 | Opinion – Sonoma West

Posted: July 9, 2020 at 3:54 pm

Masks as medicine

Editor: We have the medicine we need to slow the coronavirus. As we wait for COVID-19 vaccine and drug therapies, we have powerful tools to reduce the transmission of coronavirus. Washing hands, social distancing and mask wearing all slow the spread of the virus.

While we normally do not think of physical barriers and actions as preventative medicine, these are the tools we have available today. These are simple, effective, affordable and accessible tools in slowing the spread of coronavirus. They do not have side effects and have limited environmental impacts. They are being employed at a global level to slow the virus.

Economic research has shown that a national mask mandate would save 5% of the GDP. To support our economy, keep our schools open and maintain quality health care, wash hands, wear a mask and social distance. The pandemic has had a significant, long term economic and social impact on all Americans. The pandemic has left millions of Americans unemployed and reduced state and local budgets which will cause cuts in social, medical and infrastructure programs. The pandemic has closed schools, increasing the burden on working parents and compromising the education of American children.

Let's not amplify these economic and social costs. Use the tools available today to save money, jobs and lives tomorrow.

Kate Haug

Sebastopol

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Primary care should be a top Medicaid priority, think tank says – ModernHealthcare.com

Posted: July 9, 2020 at 3:54 pm

Congress should make primary care a top priority for the Medicaid program, the nonpartisan Bipartisan Policy Center said in a report Monday.

The group called on Congress to support a comprehensive framework to improve primary care by directing HHS to help states share best practices and innovations and measure and report "spending on primary care as a percentage of total healthcare spending." In addition, Congress should fully fund the Primary Care Extension Program.

Lawmakers should also boost access to insurance coverage by allowing states to expand Medicaid. States could follow traditional expansion to adults making up to 138% of the federal poverty level and receive 100% matching federal funds, eventually phasing down to 90%. Or they could expand Medicaid coverage to people making 100% of the federal poverty level and receive 88% matching federal funds if they do it within two years.

Likewise, Congress should allow states to automatically enroll eligible people in Medicaid, Children's Health Insurance Program or marketplace subsidies. States would only be permitted to enroll people in marketplace subsidies if the subsidies fully covered an individual's premium costs. BPC also recommended creating a new option for states to sign up eligible adults in 12 months of continuous Medicaid coverage, preventing coverage lapses and reducing reporting for enrollees.

Congress should also mandate fee-for-service Medicaid to cover preventative care services with no cost-sharing to make sure beneficiaries aren't discouraged from seeking high-value care.

"Access to primary care can help individuals live longer and help avoid or delay the onset of costly chronic conditions such as diabetes, heart disease and cancer," according to the report. "Access to primary care can also help reduce more expensive care, including hospitalizations and emergency department visits."

Hemi Tewarson, director of the National Governors Association's health division, said during a panel discussion that she's concerned states won't have enough resources to invest in primary care because of the downward pressure on state budgets caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, which could have long-term ramifications on the U.S. healthcare system.

The Bipartisan Policy Center also recommended boosting Medicaid's matching federal funds to 100% for primary care services for five years if states pay for them at the Medicare rate. According to the report, higher reimbursements for primary care services would ensure enough primary care providers to deliver care to Medicaid enrollees.

Likewise, HHS should delay any changes to network adequacy requirements for Medicaid managed care organizations until the Medicaid and CHIP Payment and Access Commission develops data-driven access standards. According to the report, Congress should order HHS to regulate network adequacy for Medicaid MCOs "based on the new data-driven standard."

The Bipartisan Policy Center recommended several other actions to increase the primary care workforce, including increased federal coordination of workforce development efforts and more visa waivers for foreign medical graduates.

The report also includes a wide range of recommendations to address racial, ethnic and economic disparities in Medicaid. They include blocking implementation of the June rule eliminating nondiscrimination regulations, requiring HHS to issue guidance to states about how to pay community health workers to address chronic conditions and empowering HHS to approve Medicaid coverage of non-medical services to address the social determinants of health.

Congress created the Primary Care Extension Program under the Affordable Care Act to improve primary care quality, but it never funded the program. According to the legislation, it was supposed to transform primary care by educating "providers about preventive medicine, health promotion, chronic disease management, mental and behavioral health services, and evidence-based and evidence-informed therapies and techniques."

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The collision of fast-paced digital industry with healthcare – Med-Tech Innovation

Posted: July 9, 2020 at 3:54 pm

Cyndi Williams, CEO and founder at Quin, discusses why the digital and healthcare industries need to combine forcesto harness the full potential health apps have to offer.

There are more than 300,000 health-related apps available from leading app stores worldwide a number which has more than doubled in the past five years. In line with this astonishing growth, the number of digital health apps has also doubled since 2015, and is expected to be worth over $100 billion by 2023.

Whereas the traditional medical R&D process is incredibly expensive and time-consuming, app development offers an exciting alternative. Although the smartphone may never supersede medical devices, it is nonetheless an invaluable repository of lifestyle and behavioural data with immense promise for improving insights, outcomes and patient quality of life.

However, the exponential rise of mobile health apps (mHealth apps) now faces several significant obstacles from the rising cost of development to institutional reluctance and limitations to integration and interoperability.

Its time for a paradigm shift

As the populations of developed countries continue to skew older, chronic conditions become increasingly common and the shortage of healthcare workers continues, the requirement for further innovation in the industry also increases. The medical industry is built upon innovations that improve life expectancy, quality of life, and offer diagnostic and treatment options. mHealth apps offer the potential to not only assist with these, but also aid in improving healthcare costs and efficiency.

Medical health apps augment existing systems to enable earlier interventions, greater patient autonomy and significant improvements to quality of life. In the long term, this represents a paradigm shift from crisis intervention to patient-led preventative medicine.

Consumer interest is already here

While there is some resistance to this movement in the medical industry, healthcare consumers overwhelmingly support the increased use of digital technology. In a recent survey in the US, 75% of consumers reported that technology already played an important role in managing their health, while the number of healthcare consumers using mHealth apps jumped by 32% between 2014 and 2018, according to Accenture.

Accentures research also found that the 88% were comfortable sharing data gathered by wearable health devices with a medical professional, offering an early example of the beneficial interplay between digital monitoring and conventional medicine.

Changing life for people with diabetes

Diabetes is one such condition where mHealth apps can be hugely beneficial to an individuals lifestyle management. People with diabetes constantly make decisions that directly affect their physical health and attempt to balance dozens of interconnected factors that determine the appropriate insulin dose. For this reason, the mHealth App Economics 2017 study listed diabetes among the top three areas with the greatest market potential for digital health solutions, but market penetration has been limited. There is still a lot of potential for innovators who are willing to dig deep and understand more about how mHealth apps can positively influence the lives of people with diabetes.

For instance, many people with diabetes use continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) which already sync data to their phone. Combining this data with the other data that smartphones often collect sleep, steps, exercise, and even diet, weight and menstruation, if the person uses other apps to track these could produce significantly smarter and more personal dosage diagnosis for insulin.

The upcoming app Quin is an example of the next generation of intelligent, smartphone-based medical health apps. The app synthesises the users data to help them make informed, independent decisions on insulin dosing and lifestyle management based on previous experiences and day-to-day habits.

An exciting road ahead if we choose to take it

The proliferation of medical health apps represents truly personalised medicine, as patients phones passively log data in real-time and use their computational power to turn that raw information into actionable insights. From diagnosis to prevention and treatment, these affordable, scalable and ever-improving mobile health apps represent a revolution in medicine that will improve the quality of all our lives.

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WHO sees first results from COVID drug trials within two weeks – Reuters

Posted: July 9, 2020 at 3:54 pm

GENEVA/LONDON (Reuters) - The World Health Organization (WHO) should soon get results from clinical trials it is conducting of drugs that might be effective in treating COVID-19 patients, its Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said on Friday.

World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus attend a news conference organized by Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus, at the WHO headquarters in Geneva Switzerland July 3, 2020. Fabrice Coffrini/Pool via REUTERS

Nearly 5,500 patients in 39 countries have so far been recruited into the Solidarity trial, he told a news briefing, referring to clinical studies the U.N. agency is conducting.

We expect interim results within the next two weeks.

The Solidarity Trial started out in five parts looking at possible treatment approaches to COVID-19: standard care; remdesivir; the anti-malaria drug touted by U.S. President Donald Trump, hydroxychloroquine; the HIV drugs lopinavir/ritonavir; and lopanivir/ritonavir combined with interferon.

Earlier this month, it stopped the arm testing hydroxychloroquine, after studies indicated it showed no benefit in those who have the disease, but more work is still needed to see whether it may be effective as a preventative medicine.

Mike Ryan, head of the WHOs emergencies programme, said it would be unwise to predict when a vaccine could be ready against COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has killed more than half a million people.

While a vaccine candidate might show its effectiveness by years end, the question was how soon it could be mass produced, he told the U.N. journalists association ACANU in Geneva.

There is no proven vaccine against the disease now, while 18 potential candidates are being tested on humans.

WHO officials defended their response to the virus that emerged in China last year, saying they had been driven by the science as it developed. Ryan said what he regretted was that global supply chains had broken, depriving medical staff of protective equipment.

I regret that there wasnt fair, accessible access to COVID tools. I regret that some countries had more than others, and I regret that front-line workers died because of (that), he said.

He urged countries to get on with identifying new clusters of cases, tracking down infected people and isolating them to help break the transmission chain.

People who sit around coffee tables and speculate and talk (about transmission) dont achieve anything. People who go after the virus achieve things, he said.

Editing by Michael Shields and Andrew Cawthorne

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