His plight tugged at the heartstrings of dog lovers all over the country when rescuers discovered an abandoned puppy who was suffering from almost 100 gun shot wounds

The dog was just about six months old when he was reported as a stray to Friends of Rescue in Derry and the charity volunteers were horrified to discover his coat was hiding severe injuries and starvation. They called him Darragh and started him on the road to recovery.

And today, almost two months on the Belgian shepherd has made a remarkable recovery is ready to find his forever home.

Read more: Could you manage your dog at your workplace?

A spokesperson for the charity said: "Our handsome Darragh is now fully recovered and ready to find his own family.

"Darragh was found cowering at the side of the road at only six months old unable to move. When we got him to safety we realised he was covered in wounds but under his heavy coat it was difficult to see.

"We had to shave him right down and then it was discovered that Darragh had been shot. There were more than 90 pellets in his body that we could clearly see in his X-ray and he has had a few surgeries since to remove the ones that could be safely reached.

"He was emaciated when he arrived, weighing just 12.8kg, but now weighing a fabulous 24kg he is looking so well - in fact he is well enough that he has been signed off by our vet as a healthy boy, so he is ready for adoption."

The team say Darragh is understandably shy and nervous about meeting new people and facing new experiences, but he comes round with patience and understanding as he has with his foster family.

And his new family will need to work with him to allow him to blossom at his own pace and work on his confidence with gentle reassurance and guidance

A spokesperson said: "Once he's comfortable you will see he is an absolute sweetheart and an absolute eejit. He loves curling up on the sofa when he's not trying to play with a toy or lick you to get a pet.

"Many people mistake Darragh for a Dutch shepherd because of his shorter hair, but he had been shaved and now its slowly growing back. Darragh is actually a Belgian shepherd so he will have long flowing hair and be stunning.

He doesnt like being alone, although crate trained he likes to know youre there, so no long working hours

He can live with cats

He will need a few meetings with any dog in the home

No kids under 10

Suzanne Fleming from the charity said: "His recovery is incredible and he is such a lovely boy. Darragh deserves a fantastic forever loving home and we hope to secure that for him as soon as possible. In the meantime he is in foster care where he is treated as family and loved 100%.

"Sadly he is not the only dog who needs out help and we are working at full capacity with vet bills mounting and the stream of animals in need of urgent care increasing daily.

"But while we continue to pick up after other peoples possessions we will always have to ask for help, so we hope you hear our plea. We simply cannot keep taking in any more animals without getting our vets bills down."

Darragh was found near stables close to Lenamore Rd, Co Derry. He was taken to a foster home for triage where his wounds were examined and then on to VetsForPets in Crescent Link, Derry, where he had about 90 lead pellets removed from his body, including 50 from around his neck.

Darragh's treatment and rehabilitation, feeding and medical costs were added to the most recent list of animals in need at Friends of rescue.

And dogs like Darragh need long term care, fostering and then a search for the right home to adopt him with costs rising daily.

Suzanne said: "Rescuing animals is heart breaking and it doesn't get easier. This poor pup was found lying alone near a stables in Co Derry, he had been left to die. Darragh didn't deserve this, no animal does. But he had no voice and so it's up to rescues like us to set in to protect the vulnerable, the ones who need us most and Darragh is the prime example of why we do what we do."

Darragh was discovered by a man who was out hacking on his horse, who spotted the dark bundle in the undergrowth and discovered it was a young dog who was lying motionless.

He called the Friends of Rescue for help and they discovered the dog had suffered around 100 injuries from lead pellet blasts.

Darragh's timeline

Suzanne said: We would also like to say a massive thank to everyone who has helped in any way towards Darragh's medical treatment, recovery and rehabilitation and to @filo for Darraghs Box of Love. To say he loved it was an understatement.

"Darragh is just one of the animals who has had extensive treatment in his time with us, and we cant continue our work without the generosity of the public.

If you would like to help Friends of rescue as they continue to help abused, abandoned and neglected animals, you can donate to them via Vets4Pets Crescent Link in person or via phone on 02871314420 or visit the charity's Paypal account by clicking here.

Read next:

Read the original here:
Shot with 90 pellets and abandoned, but today Derry dog Darragh is ready for loving home - Belfast Live

What can you say about dogs? There may not be enough words to describe the love they can bring into your home. Dogs can be your best friend and sometimes your only friend. They are there through all of your breakups and makeups and they love you unconditionally. Dogs are truly a member of the family.

What would you do if a member of your family went missing for days? Your son, daughter, brother, sister or your pup wandered off and was now gone? A New York State pooch did just that and you won't believe where he ended up.

According to the New York State Police, a 13 and a half year old Golden Retriever named Lilah disappeared recently in the town of Conklin. Lilah had been missing for several days and, as you could imagine, her owners were worried sick.

One day a call come in to New York State Police dispatch regarding a dog stuck in a culvert pipe, which is a drainage pipe that typically runs underground, perhaps under a roadway, driveway or train tracks. Could this be Lilah?

Photo by Crawford Passy on Unsplash

New York State Trooper "Jimmy Rasaphone out of Binghamton responded to the call with Trooper Ana Reynas to assess the scene. Turns out this dog was now pretty deep underground so the officers needed to act quickly. Trooper Rasaphone tied a rope to a dog leash and crawled into the dark pipe.

The Trooper eventually reached the dog and was able to attach the collar t the pooch and lead her out of the pipe and yes, it was Lilah! As you can see if the picture below, Lilah could use a bath but she has safely been returned to her owners. Nice work officers!

New York State Police

Does your loyal pup's breed make the list? Read on to see if you'll be bragging to the neighbors about your dog's intellectual prowess the next time you take your fur baby out for a walk. Don't worry: Even if your dog's breed doesn't land on the list, that doesn't mean he's not a good boy--some traits simply can't be measured.

To prepare yourself for a potential incident, always keep your vet's phone number handy, along with an after-hours clinic you can call in an emergency. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center also has a hotline you can call at (888) 426-4435 for advice.

Even with all of these resources, however, the best cure for food poisoning is preventing it in the first place. To give you an idea of what human foods can be dangerous, Stacker has put together a slideshow of 30 common foods to avoid. Take a look to see if there are any that surprise you.

New York's official state dog, which was adopted in 2015, isn't a specific breed, but rather an occupation according to the law,

"The working dog shall be the official dog of the

state.For the purposes of this section, 'working dog' shall mean (see specific professions below):"

See original here:
NY State Trooper Tries to Save Dog Stuck In Pipe! How'd She Get There? - Q105.7

Global Viral Inactivation Market from 2022 to 2028 contains a detailed analysis of the current market status, market player, region, type, and application. The report provides an in-depth assessment of growth factors, market definition, manufacturers, market potential, and influencing trends to understand future demand and outlook for the global industry. The report presents an analysis of market size, share, and growth, trends, cost structure, statistical and comprehensive data of the global Viral Inactivation market. The report gives a clear picture of the current market situation. It includes historical and technological factors and valuates market size in terms of value and volume, in the market.

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Global Viral Inactivation Market 2021 Growth Opportunities and Competitive Landscape 2027 Danaher, Merck, Parker Hannifin, Sartorius Indian Defence...

Anita Kumar, MD, medical oncologist with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, led a session at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), on New Directions in Mantle Cell Lymphoma.

In the United States, about 4000 people per year are diagnosed with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL), a cancer that develops from malignant B-lymphocytes in an area of the lymph node known as the mantle zone.1

As Anita Kumar, MD, a medical oncologist with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center explained to lead off a session at the 2022 Annual Meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO), MCL is associated with chronic activation of the B-cell receptor complex. This, she said, has allowed for the development of Bruton tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitors, such as ibrutinib, as well as PI3 kinase inhibitors.

Many factors guide decisions on initial treatment after diagnosis, such as the patients age, fitness, and especially transplant eligibility. In recent years, the chemoimmunotherapy combination of bendamustine and rituximab has become the standard of care for patients who are not eligible for autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT).

However, mantle cell lymphoma is both clinically and biologically heterogeneous, Kumar said. And this really challenges the one-size-fits-all approach using chemoimmunotherapy across the board. We know this from our clinical practice.

Kumars talk on approaches for treatment-nave MCL anchored the ASCO session she chaired, New Directions for Mantle Cell Lymphoma in 2022. The June 6 session also featured talks by Toby Eyre, MBChB, MRCP, consultant hematologist at the Department of Hematology, University of Oxford, who discussed prognostic markers in MCL; and Chan Cheah, clinical professor of medicine, University of Western Australia. Cheah focused on novel therapies in relapsed/refractory settings, including the use of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy and bispecific antibodies to treat MCL.

Eyre offered an overview of current risk stratification of MCL patients, which highlighted the importance of the TP53 mutation as an extremely strong predictor of inferior overall survival (OS) in trials across several new therapeutic classes. Clinical factors can be useful, but not at the expense of testing for TP53 mutations, he said.

The use of the MCL International Prognositic Index (MIPI), combined with a measure of proliferation of the Ki-67 protein allows clinicians to group MCL patients into one of 4 risk categories for diagnostic, treatment, and clinical trial purposes, he said.

Kumar followed with a case for stratification, as she discussed the range of conditions among newly diagnosed MCL patients. There are patients with non-nodal leukemic MCL whose disease is indolent; often, these patients can be monitored for years. And on the other end of the spectrum, we see blastoid mantle cell lymphoma that's highly aggressive with high proliferation; oftentimes with evidence of chemoresistance and inferior survival, she said.

Investigators are learning more about the biology of these different presentations, Kumar said. More conventional MCL is associated with greater genomic instability and TP53 mutation, along with inferior OS. In addition, minimal residual disease assessment has allowed for novel treatment paradigms to be explored in mantle cell lymphoma, she said, as she reviewed studies that linked MRD status to remission duration. MRD, she said, has the potential as a surrogate end point, as a marker to predict relapse during surveillance or therapeutic resistance, and to potentially help doctors decide when treatment can cease or less treatment is needed.

A case in point: in the Cooperative Group Study EA4151, newly diagnosed transplant eligible patients are randomized after induction therapy to ASCT with rituximab maintenance or just rituximab.2 This is an exciting clinical trial design, because it leverages MRD assessment as a prognostic biomarker, and potentially in patients who achieve a deep molecular remission investigates whether we can omit upfront autologous stem cell transplant, she said.

As with other types of lymphoma, theres discussion whether to move newer targeted therapies and other non-chemotherapy treatments into earlier lines of treatment, where they might be more effective with fewer toxic effects. Kumar outlined this discussion in light of results from the SHINE trial, presented earlier at ASCO, which showed adding ibrutinib to bendamustine and rituximab offered a progression-free survival (PFS) benefit but no OS benefit.3

She said the Triangle study will examine 870 younger, fitter patients examine 3 arms: one with alternating regimens of well-known chemotherapy combinations followed by ASCT, one with ibrutinib added to one of the chemotherapy combinations followed by ASCT, and one with the chemotherapy combinations and ibrutinib only.4 Again, Kumar said, the trial may demonstrate an ability to achieve better outcomes without ASCT.

Chemotherapy-free combinations, including those that include BTK inhibitors, are a major area of study. Kumar reviewed these findings:

Concern about the cardiovascular effects of ibrutinib has led to trials with zanubrutinib, a second-generation BTK inhibitor. A 500-patient, phase 3 clinical trial of 2 different regimens of zanubrutinib with bendamustine vs zanubrutinib alone is under way.6

Triplet combinations are now being studied in MCL. Kumar reviewed the results for OASIS, which studied ibrutinib, obinutuzumab, and venetoclax in 15 mostly low-to-intermediate MIPI patients, of whom 2 had a TP53 mutation.7 The idea here is to leverage dual BTK and BCL2 inhibition, which is known to be synergistic in MCL, Kumar said. The PET complete response (CR) at 6 months was 86.6%; after a median follow-up of 14 months, 1-year PFS was 93%.

This establishes this triplet combination as a highly active treatment program in mantle cell lymphoma, and it was also demonstrated that this was well tolerated, she said. Of great interest, we see that this combination was active in patients who had a TP53 mutation as well as blastoid disease.

Kumar concluded with 2 other trials of interest to payers:

We really recommend enrollment in a clinical trial for patients who have a TP53 mutation, Kumar said. Insights into mantle cell lymphoma disease biology have improved our biologic risk stratification, and certainly identification of a TP53 mutation at time of initial diagnosis is of great importance.

References

See the rest here:
Challenging the One-Size-Fits-All Approach in Early MCL Treatment - AJMC.com Managed Markets Network

BRIGHTON A major expansion at the Oxford Recovery Center promises to offer children with autismsafe and controlled experiences in "real-world" situations.

Officials with the organization sayThe Village of ORC at the Oxford Recovery Center, the first such center in the United States,isdesigned to bring therapy and hands-on experience together for those who struggle with person-to-person interactions.

Founder and CEOTami Peterson said the objective is to create real-world scenarios for children and young adults so they will know how to behave when confronted withsimilar circumstances in everyday life.

"We created the real world environment the best we could," Peterson said."Kids with autism deserve the best and we really do believe that and practice that."

Peterson saidchildren with autism don't interpret the difference between real and fakesituations well, so it'sdifficult for them to pretend.

The organization hosted agrand opening on Saturday, June 11at 7030 Whitmore Lake Road.The $12-million, 35,000-square-foot building took more than a year to complete.

"I'll get emotional. I was in awe to be able to move into this building. I literally never thought we would use it. God says he always makes things more immeasurably beyond our belief. I say I dream small, God dreams big," Peterson said. "He gave me the vision. I never believed that this was planned. I get to watch people get their lives back every day and God chose me to do this. Clearly he does not choose people who are equipped he equips those he chooses."

The Village of ORC includes 12 functioning "retail stores," as well as a park featuring a road, curbs, sidewalks, benches, street lamps, stoplights, cross walks and an indoor playscape.

The 12 storesincludea grocery store, smoothie station, toy jungle, village caf, coffee house, pet store, Dino Dentistry, gift shop, a Huntington Bank ATM andhair salon. All proceedsgo towardthe Oxford Kids Foundation.

The retail stores are open to the public, and operated by people fromthe Creating Opportunities Maximizing Potential Achieving Successful Skillsprogram. According to Peterson, COMPASSis a six-month programfor young adults who have a degree or a diploma, are diagnosed with autismand are seeking employment.

Those adults enterthe program because theyare having trouble keeping jobsbecause of autism-associated behaviors. According to Peterson, only 8% of young adults with autism have meaningful employment. The COMPASS program allows individuals to self assess and work on goals.

"We can contrive scenarios in our different stores as they are spending time working in those stores," Peterson said.

Children in the Autism Recovery Through Synergy programparticipating in ABA therapy, such as speech, occupational and physical therapy, can work on their daily goals, too.

Goalsmay include such things asstanding in line at a grocery store,learning how to order their own food or getting their teeth cleaned at the dentist.

The stores can be used to practice executive functioning skills, intrapersonal skills and the opportunity to problem solve real world scenarios, according to Peterson.

Thepark provides a wayto teach children how to behavein a park, as well aswhat to do on a sidewalk or in a cross walk.

Other aspects of the expansion include a commercial kitchen where a trained chef will prepare lunches, multipletreatment rooms,a water room, and an art and music room.

The water room can help clients become desensitized to common sensory aversions like getting their hair or face wet. It can also simulate a thunderstorm to get clients comfortable with the sounds that come from storms.

In addition to treatment for autism-related issues, ORC offers physical, occupational and speech therapy, as well as, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, neurofeedback therapy and medical lab testing. They provide treatment for issues related to cerebral palsy, traumatic brain injury, stroke, Parkinson's and other conditions.

Peterson founded the center in 2008 after her daughter, JeAnnah Powell, responded well tohyperbaric oxygen therapy after contracting viral encephalitis in 2006 when she was 9.

The center was first located in 1,800-square-foot space in South Lyon. Additionally, they have a locationin Troy. The ORClater expanded into a 24,000-square-foot facility in Brighton in 2018.

Xander Salsitz, who performed as a saxophonist at the grand opening, has been a client and said he's benefited from the center.

In January 2012, at 8 years old, Salsitz was diagnosed with myelodysplastic syndrome, afull deletion of chromosome 7 in the bone marrow stem cell, which quickly led to complete bone marrow failure.

After two failed transplants, his family stumbled onto the hyperbaric oxygen therapy in South Lyon.

"We're very grateful and I did (hyperbaric oxygen treatments)over 760 times, I probably wouldn't be standing here today if it wasn't for Tami," he said.

Salsitz is set to bea freshman at the University of Michigan in the fall, where he will seeka bachelor's degree in music theory, focusing on jazz and contemporary improvisation.

ContactLivingston Daily reporterPatricia Alvord at palvord@livingstondaily.com about news coverage.

Here is the original post:
Oxford Recovery Center in Brighton reveals $12M expansion - Daily Press & Argus

This is the time of the year when most of us head outdoors for some sunshine and fresh air but did you know a poisonous plant is spreading across Arkansas like wildfire that is so toxic if you come in contact it could land you in the hospital or even kill you.

The flowering plant is known as hemlock one of the most poisonous plants in the world, according to the United States Department of Agriculture and it has been seen growing all over the state. You may often see these white flower pedal flowers growing in your backyard, nearby wooded areas, or along a fence line but don't let these flowers deceive you they are very toxic to humans and pets. For example, you could be cutting some bushes or brush around the house, or field, even brush against it on a hike and that could lead to some very serious health complications such as heart arrhythmias and could even slow down your heart rate, according to medical experts.

Other symptoms include nausea, vomiting, convulsions, trembling, and in some cases muscle paralysis all of which could land you in the ER if not taken seriously. The alkaloids could trigger impulse transmission to your muscles leading to respiratory failure and killing you. It doesn't take long for the toxins to take effect, normally around 10 minutes or longer.

If you think you have come in contact with hemlock, call your doctor or medical professional immediately.

Poison hemlock belongs to the same plant family as carrots, parsnips, fennel, and dill. The plant can grow from 2-to 10 feet tall and the entire plant is poisonous.

Poison Hemlock also has a dark past as mentioned in this video.

To prepare yourself for a potential incident, always keep your vet's phone number handy, along with an after-hours clinic you can call in an emergency. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center also has a hotline you can call at (888) 426-4435 for advice.

Even with all of these resources, however, the best cure for food poisoning is preventing it in the first place. To give you an idea of what human foods can be dangerous, Stacker has put together a slideshow of 30 common foods to avoid. Take a look to see if there are any that surprise you.

Read more:
Poison Plant Spreading in Arkansas That Could Kill You - kkyr.com

From heart transplants to implantable devices, BHF-funded science has helped to develop innovations that once seems like science fiction. Heres a preview of what the future of medicine might bring next.

Around one in every 200 newborn babies has a heart problem that needs surgery or another procedure. Professor John Simpson and his team at Evelina London Childrens Hospital and Kings College London are using a BHF grant to work on a virtual reality technology to improve these procedures.

He explains: We look at detailed scan images of an individuals heart in order to decide what is the right procedure, at the right time, with the minimum risk.

In the last couple of decades, weve gone from 2D to 3D images. But youre still looking at them on a flat screen. Even 3D printed models of hearts are not perfect you have to break it to see the structures inside. Also, the 3D models show the heart at one moment in time. But the living heart is dynamic; it beats, and the valves open and close.

With his teams new technology, information from heart scans routinely taken in hospitals can be turned into a virtual, beating heart. With the headset on, and joystick in your hand, the virtual heart is right in front of you. You can zoom in and out, see it from every angle and look inside, says Dr Natasha Stephenson, Professor Simpsons fellow researcher.

In a previous study, surgeons used the technology to review operations that had already taken place. They found that, compared to traditional 3D imaging, it gave them a better understanding of the patients heart and would have helped them better plan the surgeries. Now the team are working towards testing this technology to plan real procedures, which they hope to do in the next two years.

This technology allows surgeons to understand what theyll actually face in the operation, says Professor Simpson. You can put a virtual device into the virtual heart and see which will be the best device. Or even share the imaging with companies that can make bespoke devices to fit the individuals heart. We hope this will mean better repairs, fewer complications, shorter hospital stays and better long-term outcomes.

These virtual reality images can also be used to show patients what the issues are with their heart, or used to train doctors.

While Professor Simpsons focus is on congenital heart diseases, he says, In the long term, this technology could also help better visualise the problems of adults with other types of heart disease.

Sign up to our fortnightly Heart Matters newsletter to receive healthy recipes, new activity ideas, and expert tips for managing your health. Joining is free and takes two minutes.

After a heart attack, some heart muscle cells can die off, which can lead to heart failure. Dr Nicola Smart is trying to answer questions that might one day help us to help hearts regrow themselves.

From studies in mice, we know a couple of days after birth, the heart can fully regenerate. A week after birth, it loses that ability, explains Dr Smart.

To repair itself, the heart needs to grow new blood vessels, as well as new muscle. In adults, there is some growth of blood vessels, but it happens slowly and inefficiently.

She and her team at the University of Oxford are studying how different types of cells in different parts of the heart send signals to each other, helping the heart to grow new blood vessels. Through a technique called single-cell RNA-sequencing, she is seeing which of the genes involved in this process are switched off (not expressed) in adults.

Single-cell RNA-sequencing has completely changed our level of understanding. It used to be that we could only look at overall gene expression changes in a heart. That could tell you nothing about how different cells were responding to a heart attack. Now we see which genes are being expressed in each cell, we know even the same types of cells will respond differently in different parts of the heart.

Dr Smart says were just at the start of understanding how this new knowledge might lead to treatments in future. Regrowing heart muscle and blood vessels is only one part. Other teams are looking at how to limit scarring and how to work with the immune system, which also influences the hearts ability to regenerate. But if we can bring together all these ideas, we could develop a combination therapy to stimulate the heart to regenerate, and that could prevent more people developing heart failure.

Scarring is part of the bodys healing process. But it can cause problems. After a heart attack, too much scarring can stop the heart working well and cause heart failure.

MRI scansare currently used to look at scars that have already formed in peoples hearts. Now BHF-funded research is developing a cutting-edge technique so doctors can track scarring as it happens.

Professor Marc Dweck and his team at the University of Edinburgh are using PET scanning, a type of very detailed scan that can show how your bodys cells are working. Were using a new tracer a special chemical, which attaches to cells that cause scarring. The tracer sends a signal that we can detect on the scan.

Right now, we dont have a clear idea of when scarring occurs following a heart attack. In people who develop heart failure, do they have too much scarring activity or is it that scarring doesnt turn off at the right time?

His team will try to find the answers by studying people whove recently had heart attacks, as well as people who have old scarring from previous heart attacks, and healthy people.

Understanding how scarring develops may help us predict who will make a good recovery after a heart attack and who will need more treatment to prevent heart failure, explains Professor Dweck. Were talking precision medicine: with better scanning, we can tailor the right treatment to the right patient.

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH) is a rare but serious condition, which causes high blood pressure in the arteries of the lungs. It can lead to heart failure and can sometimes be fatal. Currently there is no cure. BHF-funded researcher Alex Ainscough, at Imperial College London, is developing a new way to look for treatments.

He's created a pulmonary artery on a chip, in which the innermost layers of the artery walls are recreated inside a silicone rubber microchip just 1mm wide (the same size as the small arteries that are first affected in PAH).

In traditional research, you look at one type of cell, but in our bodies different cell types interact with each other, explains Dr Ainscough. We are trying to make it as representative of the human body as possible.

By running liquid through the chip, he can mimic the flow of blood in the body, which has a big impact on the cells. He explains: When you grow cells in a petri dish for research, its like theyre in the calm of a lake; but in the body, they are being subjected to forces like a fast-flowing stream.

He created a model of a diseased artery by using stem cells from people with PAH to create a pulmonary artery on a chip, which led to him discovering a previously unknown way in which PAH develops.

As well as being used as an investigative tool to understand how PAH happens, the pulmonary artery on a chip is being used to try out potential treatments. Dr Ainscough is working with a pharmaceutical company to test some of their existing drugs, as well as new drugs that are in development to treat PAH.

He predicts that in future, organ-on-a-chip models will help make treatments cheaper and quicker to develop. These models more closely match conditions in people compared to traditional petri dish research, so it will be faster to identify promising drugs before moving to clinical trials.

Theres also potential to use these for more personalised medicine. You could use stem cells from a particular person to create a microchip model to see how theyll react to a specific drug before giving it to them.

Most babies having surgery for heart defects will need repairs using additional materials such as patches, valves or tubes. These products are either made from animal tissue or synthetic material: they wont grow with the child and will become scar tissue and gradually deteriorate.

Massimo Caputo, BHF Professor of Congenital Heart Surgery at the University of Bristol, explains: This means a child might need surgery weeks after theyre born, again after a year or two, then after another five years, and carry on having repeated surgeries all their lives.

Each surgery can cause more scarring, which can cause problems like heart failureor abnormal heart rhythms. Theres also the mental stress of going through these operations. For years, patients and parents have said to me, Why cant we have a valve that lasts forever?

Thanks to one of our research grants, Professor Caputo is developing a kind of living tissue, made partly from stem cells, that will grow with the child. Hes currently in the process of securing regulatory approval and the first tests in patients should start in two to three years.

This living tissue could reduce the need for multiple surgeries, in adults as well as children. If you have a valve replacement from animal tissue, this will wear down and you will need to replace it after 10 years. Even if youre in your 50s or 60s, that could mean multiple surgeries. The tissue Im working on could be applied to adult surgery too, says Professor Caputo.

Another benefit is that this tissue could be less likely to be rejected by the body: A patients own stem cells could be used to produce the tissue, so that the immune system recognises it and doesnt reject it.

Published 10 June 2022

Continued here:
From sci-fi to reality: a peek into the future of medicine - British Heart Foundation

Wildlife trafficking, which is the illegal trade of wild animals and plants, either as dead or live specimens, or their parts, has a huge negative effect on the worlds environments, biodiversity, economies, governance, and health. It is a form of transnational organised crime that spans across many countries and involves poaching, smuggling, and illegal collection or capture, of protected wildlife.

According to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), wildlife trafficking is the fourth largest form of transnational organised crime (after smuggling of drugs, human trafficking, and counterfeiting) worth anestimated 15 billion per annum.

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Despite being a part of theCITES(Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of wild fauna and flora), India is currently one among thetop 20 countriesfor wildlife trafficking, and among thetop 10 for wildlife trafficking by air. Due to its megadiverse nature (India has 8% of the worlds wildlife), and dense human population (which makes tracing illegal goods very difficult once they have entered domestic markets), India serves as both, a source, as well as a transit country for illegal wildlife and wildlife products.

Added to this, several other factors have made the fight against the illegal wildlife trade increasingly difficult. Amongst these are the porous international borders with China, Myanmar, and other Southeast Asian countries, agrowing aviation marketand thefast-expanding airport sector, and theuse of social media as online marketplacesby wildlife traffickers.

Furthermore, smugglers of exotic wildlife species in India have even resorted tomisusing the Voluntary Disclosure Schemeissued by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC) in 2020. Theschemeaimed to regulate the growing market of exotic animals in India which boomed after the complete ban on trade in Indian species by allowing Indians to declare the possession of exotic wild species without any documentation before March 15, 2021.

Besides these reasons, there are majorlacunae in lawsthat pertain to the ownership of exotic animals in India. People caught transporting exotic wildlife species can be charged with the crime only if it can be proven that they crossed an international border illegally with those animals. Once inside India, there are no policies or laws that regulate the ownership of exotic species. The Wildlife Protection Law only applies to Indian wildlife, says Sanjeev Pednekar, founder of Prani,an education centre and pet sanctuaryfor rescued birds and animals in the outskirts of Bengaluru.

Since India is not only a major source, but also a transit, and destination country for trafficked wildlife and wildlife products, a large number of species are illegally transported out of and into the country. According to theSmuggling in India report 202021, the DRIs (Directorate of Revenue Intelligence) most common wildlife and wildlife products that were seized from being smuggled out of India are ivory, turtles and tortoises (especially the Indian star tortoise), and red sandalwood (red sanders orlalchandan). Lately, there has been a decline in rhino horn trading from India; however, the country is fast becoming a major hub forpangolin poaching and trafficking. The trade in tiger parts also seems to becontinuing unabated.

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In addition, ornamental fish such as theChanna barca or snakehead(endemic to the upper Brahmaputra basin) and thezebra loach(in the Western Ghats) are being fished to extinction in their natural habitats to feed the international trade in live aquarium fish. Along with these, wildlife trafficking has expanded to include trade in body parts ofgolden jackals,Asiatic black bears,leopards(for tantric uses and traditional medicines) andmongooses(for mongoose hair paintbrushes).

According to the Trade Records Analysis of Flora and Fauna in Commerce (TRAFFIC)Runway to Extinction reportpublished in 2020, although the trafficking of Indian star tortoises out of India is declining, the smuggling of red eared slider turtles is on the rise. Instances of exotic animals such as kangaroos, marmosets, tamarins, and birds such as macaws and parrots being transported across India areon the rise. The latest in this string of reports rolled in during March and April 2022, with videos of dehydrated and sickkangaroos rescued in West Bengal.

Apart from the illegal import and export of wildlife and wildlife products, India also has a roaring domestic market for wildlife meat and body parts for traditional medicine, including those offreshwater turtles,lorises, andfrogs.

International wildlife trafficking into and out of India mainly occurs through two routes one, through the long international border along the Northeast, and the other, through airports. The 2018 TRAFFIC reportIn Plane Sightnotes that trafficking in rhino horns, tiger parts, and pangolin scales is especially rampant in the Indo-Nepal, and Indo-Myanmar-China borders, with Northeast Indian cities such as Dimapur, Guwahati and Imphal being used a transit sites. Trafficking of birds and reptiles along the India-Bangladesh border is also rampant. Most recently, the Dooars region in northern West Bengal, specifically, the town of Jalpaiguri, made news as an emerging transit point for trafficking of exotic animals and birds.

Thetrafficking of reptiles, specifically turtles and tortoises, into and out of India is especially rampant, with Chennai and Mumbai airports being major hubs for this activity. The Indian star tortoise, which is the most trafficked reptile in the world, is supplied from trade hubs in Karnataka,Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, and Tamil Nadu, to Thailand, Singapore, and Malaysia, primarily by air. Seizure data from the website Reducing Opportunities for Unlawful Trade of Endangered Species (ROUTES) shows that more than 54% of the trafficked animals were inchecked-in luggageand about 11% inair cargo. The top Indian cities where such airport seizures happen include Chennai, Kolkata, Mumbai, and Delhi, with reptile seizures being especially high in Chennai airport.

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Wildlife trafficking in India is driven by many factors. The foremost of these is the demand for raw material like red sandalwood and ivory (used in manufacturing luxury products), and animal parts particularly rhinoceros horn and tiger parts for traditional medicine. TheWorld Wildlife Crime Report 2020states that although global markets for rhino horn and ivory have fallen consistently since 2011, new market demands such as those for pangolin scales and European glass eels have emerged. In Assam, because ofintense hunting of pangolins by local tribes, which eat the meat and sell the scales, this once-abundant animal is now relatively rare. The traditional medicine markets in China and Vietnam are major consumers of pangolin scales, rhino horns, and the skin and body parts of various big cats, birds, Asiatic black bears, musk deer, wolves, and jackals.

Another factor that drives wildlife trafficking is the demand for meat many animals such as theBengal slow loris,softshell turtles from Uttar Pradesh, deer, antelope, wild cattle, and even sea cucumbers are mainly trafficked for consumption.

The third major driving factor for wildlife trafficking in India lies in thegrowing demand for exotic pets,especially birdslike cockatoos, macaws, and grey parrots. In addition many Indianbirds,fish, andreptilesare in great demand in global pet markets. What is even more shocking, is that zoos may also be involved in illegally buying exotic animals, as per a recent caseinvolving Indore zoo and its connection to kangaroosbeing transported from a farm in Mizoram.

The wildlife trade not only depletes environments of their natural inhabitants, but is also responsible foradded threats like the spread of invasive species and emergence of new zoonoses. The three factors in combination can leadto whole ecosystem collapsesand major disease outbreaks. Some of the most virulent viral diseases including Ebola, Marburg virus disease, SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), and the most recent pandemic COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease-19) have all arisen in areas where close human-wildlife contact occurred such as inwet markets.

Wildlife trafficking in India is rapidly wiping out populations of tigers, elephants, rhinos, pangolins, star tortoises, and many other native species. Simultaneously, invasive species like thered eared slider turtles(which are popular pets) andsuckermouth sailfin catfish(a common aquarium fish) are destroying natural habitats.

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The DRI, which is in the forefront of thebattle against smuggling, has teamed up with the Indian Customs as a part of theGreen Customs initiativeof the World Customs Organisation, to counter wildlife trafficking into and out of India. To combat the rising use of air transport in wildlife trafficking,a suite of toolsto help law enforcement agencies in India battle wildlife smuggling have been developed by TRAFFIC, along with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), World Wildlife Fund-India (WWF-India), and theWildlife Crime Control Bureau(WCCB).

Apart from this, the International Air Transport Association (IATA) also has ashort 20-minute training moduleto help spread awareness on wildlife trafficking through air transport. Airport authorities in Bengaluru have even set up aforest cellto tackle wildlife smuggling. TheCounter Wildlife Trafficking program, run by the Wildlife Conservation Society-India, conducts training and sensitisation workshops for state forest departments, police forces, customs officials, border security force units, and even the judiciary, on conducting crime scene investigations and promoting inter-agency collaborations.

In addition to all these initiatives, the WCCB hasbegun profiling criminalsin a real-time database and will soon network with neighbouring countries (Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, and Myanmar) to stem transboundary wildlife crime.

Molecular biology tools, includingDNA testingand bioinformatics are also being used in wildlife forensics to identify thepoint of origin of trafficked animal products. In addition, citizen science initiatives,dog squads, and various DNAdatabasesandreference librariesare being used to monitor animal populations susceptible to poaching and the wildlife trade. India alsodestroys seized wildlife productsto send out a strong anti-poaching message.

However, despite these efforts wildlife trafficking in India is still rampant. Indias CITES membership as well asits strong laws(Wildlife Protection Act, 1972) prohibiting the trade of over 1,800 species of native plants, animals, and their products are ineffective in tackling wildlife trafficking as these laws/advisories are often poorly communicated and enforced. In addition, wildlife experts say that India needsstronger laws to deal with exotic speciesthat have been smuggled into the country, which is a huge lacuna that is exploited by smugglers to feed the exotic pet trade.

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Most often, when exotic live animals that have been smuggled into India are seized, they are sent to rescue centres or sanctuaries. Since zoos are usually meant to showcase Indian native wildlife, they often do not have adequate quarantine centres or appropriate enclosures to properly manage seized exotic animals.

Sanjeevs sanctuary, Prani, currently houses many exotics iguanas, monitor lizards, red-eared sliders, and emus to name a few. Nearly 90% of the exotic birds that we have at Prani, along with our iguanas, were given up by people who could no longer care for them. Sometimes, we also rescue animals meant for slaughter, such as our emus, says Sanjeev. In addition, Prani also has also been working/volunteering with the airport authorities in Bengaluru, the Forest Department, and the Animal Welfare Board of India, who often hand over seized animals to us. One memorable instance that stands out in my mind was when we had to care for over a hundred tiny Hamilton turtles one of the most endangered species of turtles in the world that were seized at the Kempegowda International Airport, he adds.

Sanjeev ruefully admits that he often takes in red eared sliders out of fear that people will abandon them in local lakes and ponds, where these terrapins can destroy the ecosystem and kill off native species. Since theCITES rulesdo not usually allow for reintroduction of exotic species to their natural habitats (except under very stringent circumstances), humane euthanasia or a lifetime of captive care are the only ways to deal with smuggled exotics.

Since most people will not even entertain the idea of euthanasia, most exotics are usually condemned to life in captivity. And so many of the exotic species smuggled into India such as capuchins, marmosets, and wallabies, which fetch good sums when sold are returned to the pet market, while others, like the red eared sliders are either given up to rescue centres or subject to uncontrolled releases, he adds.

Also read: Heres why ADHD can make it harder to keep eating habits in check

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Heres what makes India a major hub for wildlife trafficking - EastMojo

A couple of 'restaurant' shows have come to Loveland in the last year, and now it seems as though another one is here to do their thing.

It was in October of 2021, that 'Restaurant Impossible' came to Loveland to help out Casa Real. They did make improvements, though not everyone was keen on what they did.

It's fun when a television show comes to your hometown to film. I grew up in Loveland, and still get giddy when these stories come out. 'OOH! A TV star is coming to Loveland! Cool!' How many different cities/towns do these shows go to, all the time, and face 'yocals' like me? It must be in the hundreds.

Downtown Loveland's The Ball Joint was on The Cooking Channel's 'Food Paradise' in February of 2022, and really gave them a shot in the arm. Publicity, in the form of being on TV, does go a long way. The Ball Joint, however, was just showcasing their unique menu, they weren't getting advice or a renovation.

This new visit sounds like advice and a renovation.

It sounds like Jon Taffer and the gang at Bar Rescue are coming into to help out a long time eatery.I've eaten there, had drinks there, many times. It's a very friendly place with good food. CJ's Patio Grill.

I checked out there Facebook page when I got the lead, and they are indeed closing for a few days.

CJ's-Patio-Grill-Closed

I went over to CJ's on the morning of June 7, 2022. The parking lot had about a dozen parking spaces blocked off around the perimeter of the lot, and a some staffers were seated outside. A staffer saw me walking up to take a photo; we had a discussion:

We're closed.

I heard that Bar Rescue is coming, is that true?

I can't say... Non-Disclosure Agreement...

Here we are with another 'NDA' for the Fort Collins area.Interesting, no? I hope that things aren't in terrible shape for CJ's; I've seen Bar Rescue, and when Jon comes to your place, he's going to get in somebody's face, probably yours.

In the end, it's going to be great to get in there and see that they changed. I have a few ideas on what they might do, design wise. Hopefully, everybody walks away happy, with little tears shed.

CJ's-Patio-Grill-Loveland

As Loveland looks at 2022, let's look at 22 things the city could use.

Some of these joints have been gone for decades; a few, not that long.

To prepare yourself for a potential incident, always keep your vet's phone number handy, along with an after-hours clinic you can call in an emergency. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center also has a hotline you can call at (888) 426-4435 for advice.

Even with all of these resources, however, the best cure for food poisoning is preventing it in the first place. To give you an idea of what human foods can be dangerous, Stacker has put together a slideshow of 30 common foods to avoid. Take a look to see if there are any that surprise you.

Go here to read the rest:
Has Another Restaurant Show Come to Loveland to Make People Cry? - Retro 102.5

ABSTRACTS 7518, 7509, 8009

Promising clinical results with cellular therapies for patients with blood cancers highlight advances being presented by researchers from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center at the 2022 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting.

These findings include long-term outcomes of patients receiving an infusion of brexucabtagene autoleucel (KTE-X19) for mantle cell lymphoma, efficacy of gamma delta CAR T therapy for aggressive B-cell lymphoma and responses of umbilical cord blood-derived expanded natural killer cells when given together with combination therapy before stem cell transplant.

CAR T cell therapy shows durable responses after three years for patients with mantle cell lymphoma (Abstract 7518)Three-year follow-up data from the Phase II ZUMA-2 trial showed a long-term survival benefit and low disease relapse potential with one infusion of the anti-CD19 chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell therapy brexucabtagene autoleucel (KTE-X19) in patients with relapsed or refractory (R/R) mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Principal investigator Michael Wang, M.D., professor of Lymphoma and Myeloma, presented results from the trial, and study results were published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology.

The updated results include all 68 patients treated with KTE-X19 on the trial with an additional two years of follow-up. After 35.6 months median follow-up, the overall response rate was 91%, with a 68% complete response rate. The median duration of response was 28.2 months, with 25 of 68 treated patients still in ongoing response at data cutoff.

This represents the longest follow-up of CAR T cell therapy in patients with mantle cell lymphoma to date, Wang said. It is encouraging to see this therapy induced durable long-term responses and a low relapse rate for these patients.

All patients had R/R disease after receiving up to five therapies, and all had received previous Brutons tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor therapy. BTK inhibitors have greatly improved outcomes in R/R MCL, yet patients who have subsequent disease progression are likely to have poor outcomes, with median overall survival of just six to 10 months. Few patients in this category qualify to proceed to an allogeneic stem cell transplant.

Response and survival benefits were positive regardless of the prior BTK inhibitor type. Ongoing effectiveness trended lower in patients with prior acalabrutinib exposure. More investigation is needed to determine the mechanism behind these differences. The findings support future study of CD19-directed CAR T cell therapy in patients with high-risk MCL in earlier treatment lines.

The researchers also evaluated minimal residual disease (MRD) as an exploratory endpoint using next-generation sequencing on 29 patients. Of those, 24 were MRD-negative at one month, and 15 of 19 with available data were MRD-negative at six months. Circulating tumor DNA analysis of MRD at three and six months was predictive of disease relapse.

The treatment was well tolerated, as reported in previous studies with this therapy. Only 3% of treatment-emergent adverse events (AE) of interest occurred since the primary report. The most frequent Grade 3 AE was neutropenia.

The study was funded by Kite Pharma, a Gilead Company. Wang has received research support and has served on the advisory board and as a consultant for Kite Pharma. A complete list of collaborating authors can be found within the abstract here.

Allogeneic gamma delta CAR T cell therapy displayed encouraging efficacy in B-cell lymphoma (Abstract 7509)In the Phase 1 GLEAN trial of ADI-001, an anti-CD20 CAR-engineered allogeneic gamma delta T cell product, the treatment was well tolerated and showed continued efficacy in patients with R/R aggressive B-cell lymphoma. Results from the ongoing trial were presented by Sattva Neelapu, M.D., professor ofLymphoma and Myeloma.

The first-in-human trial enrolled ten patients and eight were evaluable and monitored for at least 28 days. The median age was 62 years and patients received a median of 4 prior therapies. At Day 28, the overall response rate (ORR) and complete response (CR) rate based upon PET/CT was 75%. The ORR and CR rate was 80% at dose levels two and three combined. The ORR and CR rate in CAR-T relapsed patients was 100%.

The responses to ADI-001 in this population of heavily pre-treated and refractory lymphoma patients, including in those with prior CD19 CAR T cell therapy, is very promising, Neelapu said. These results suggest the potential for off-the-shelf gamma delta CAR T cell therapy to be an effective treatment possibility for patients with B-cell lymphoma.

While autologous CD19-targeted CAR T cell therapy has been effective in R/R large B-cell lymphoma, there remains a need for alternative cell-based therapies. This study uses a subset of T cells, known as gamma delta 1 T cells, isolated from the peripheral blood of donors as the basis for CAR T cell therapy.

Gamma delta 1 T cells are desirable because they are able to combine both innate and adaptive mechanisms to recognize and kill malignant cells, and high levels of these cells in hematologic and solid tumors are associated with improved clinical outcomes. ADI-001 expresses major histocompatibility complex (MHC)-independent gamma delta T cell receptors, therefore lowering the risk of graft versus host disease (GvHD) without the need for gene editing.

The median age on the study was 62 years, and patients had received a median of 4 prior therapies. The treatment was well tolerated with most related events being grade 1 or 2. There were two cases of cytokine release syndrome and one case of immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome. There were no reported cases of GvHD or dose-limiting toxicity.

Enrollment in the trial is ongoing and a potentially pivotal program is planned.

The study was funded by Adicet Bio, Inc. Neelapu has received research support and has served on the advisory board and as a consultant for Adicet Bio and has intellectual property related to cell therapy. A complete list of collaborating authors can be found within the abstract here.

Expanded NK cells combined with chemoimmunotherapy achieved durable responses in multiple myeloma (Abstract 8009)Results from the expansion phase of a Phase II clinical trial demonstrated that umbilical cord blood-derived expanded natural killer (NK) cells combined with chemotherapy and immunotherapies achieved durable responses in patients with multiple myeloma. Results from the completed clinical trial were presented by Samer Srour M.D., assistant professor of Stem Cell Transplantation & Cellular Therapy.

Thirty patients on the trial received NK cells plus elotuzumab (an immunotherapy monoclonal antibody), lenalidomide (an immunomodulatory drug) and high-dose melphalan chemotherapy before autologous stem cell transplant (ASCT).

At three months post-transplant, 97% of patients achieved at least a very good partial response (VGPR), including 76% with a complete response or stringent complete response, while 75% were minimal residual disease (MRD)-negative. At a median follow-up of 26 months, only four patients had progressed. At two years, the progression-free survival rate was 83% and the overall survival rate was 97%.

Patients with high-risk multiple myeloma have more options to treat their disease than previous years, but they continue to have poor outcomes, Srour said. These results indicate excellent hematologic and minimal residual disease responses and improved survival for these patients, suggesting this approach could provide an additional treatment opportunity.

NK cells are white blood cells that monitor the body for virus-infected and cancerous cells. MD Anderson researchers pioneered the approach to isolate and expand NK cells from umbilical cord blood to be used as cellular therapies. Lenalidomide enhances NK cell function and antibody-mediated cell toxicity against tumor targets. Preclinical data showed that lab-expanded NK cells demonstrated higher elotuzumab-mediated cytotoxicity against myeloma targets than non-expanded cells, and that the addition of elotuzumab to lenalidomide amplified the cord blood-NK cell antibody-dependent cellular cytotoxicity against a commonly used cell line to evaluate novel therapies for multiple myeloma (MM1.S) targets.

The study enrolled 30 patients with high-risk multiple myeloma, with a median age of 63. Twenty-nine patients (97%) had Revised Multiple Myeloma International Staging System (R-ISS) stages 2/3, 40% had 2 high-risk genetic abnormalities, and 23% had deletions or mutations of TP53. The primary endpoints were best response rate (VGPR) and MRD three months after ASCT.

Before the ASCT, stem cells are taken from the patient and stored. After treatment with the immunotherapy and chemotherapy drugs, stem cells are then returned to the patient to replace the blood-forming cells that were destroyed by the chemotherapy.

The treatment was well tolerated, with no unexpected serious adverse effects attributable to NK cells noted. The investigators plan to launch a randomized clinical trial to further explore this treatment combination for patients with high-risk multiple myeloma.

This study was supported with funding from the High-Risk Multiple Myeloma Moon Shot, part of MD Andersons Moon Shots Program, a collaborative effort to accelerate the development of scientific discoveries into clinical advances that save patients lives. The research also was supported by Celgene, a Bristol Myers Squibb company.

Srour has no conflicts of interest. A complete list of collaborating authors can be found within the abstract here.

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MD Anderson researchers present cellular therapy advances at the 2022 ASCO Annual Meeting - EurekAlert