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Category Archives: Tennessee Stem Cells

Karen Hasty Named Among 2021 Super Women In Business by Memphis Business Journal – UTHSC News

Posted: June 6, 2021 at 2:31 am

Karen Hasty, PhD, a professor, researcher, and director of Basic Research in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery and Biomedical Engineering/Campbell Clinic in the College of Medicine at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center, has been named among the 2021 Super Women in Business by the Memphis Business Journal. The annual list honors women business leaders for their career accomplishments and work in the Memphis community.

I am thrilled to receive this honor, said Dr. Hasty, who holds the George Thomas Wilhelm Endowed Professorship in Orthopaedic Surgery. It allows me to have a new platform to bring attention to many philanthropic projects, while continuing to encourage young women to consider medical careers in orthopaedic surgery or in academia.

Dr. Hastys philanthropic efforts include establishing a summer internship for undergraduate women called the Kappa Delta Foundation Orthopaedic Research Internship, which encourages them to consider orthopaedic surgery as a career option. It provides stipends, housing, and research funding for selected participants. She has also served as the medical chair for the West Tennessee Board of the Arthritis Foundation since 2017.

Because of her professional appointment, Dr. Hasty holds a dual position with UTHSC and the Memphis VA Medical Center, where she does basic science research. Studying arthritis for more than four decades, her current studies focus on exploring new therapies to interrupt the disease progression and stimulate repair of joint destruction. Dr. Hastys research efforts have been funded by the VA, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Defense, and the Arthritis Foundation.

She is currently in a research collaboration with Revotek Co., Ltd., in the Memphis Institute of Regenerative Medicine (MIRM). The project titled, MIRM Project 3: Stem Cell-Enhanced Tissue Regeneration: Engineering of Vascularized Bone/Cartilage Graft from Adipose-Derived Stem Cells, will utilize Revoteks cell encapsulation technology of Biosynspheres and bioprinting for basic and translational research in stem cell regenerative medicine.

Dr. Hasty earned her Bachelor of Science degree in microbiology from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville and received her MS and PhD degrees in anatomy from UTHSC. She began working at the university in 1977, after a stint at Boston Childrens Hospital, where she studied hemoglobin A1c, a marker that determines long-term control of blood glucose in diabetes.

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GM pledges to be carbon neutral by 2040; Dingell applauds efforts – Dearborn Press and Guide

Posted: February 16, 2021 at 11:46 pm

U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell (D-12th District) was happy with GM's announcement that they would be completely carbon neutral within 20 years.

The company recently announced that they would hit that milestone by 2040.

(The) announcement from GM demonstrates that members of the auto industry are committed to tackling the global climate crisis and decarbonizing the transportation sector. We have had discussions for months with the auto industry, labor unions, and the environmental community on concrete actions like this that must be taken to reach carbon neutrality, Dingell said. We have a lot of work ahead of us. As we transition towards our electrified future, I will continue to engage with all stakeholders to create an electric vehicle infrastructure to support these efforts and help our domestic auto industry compete globally. Even as we celebrate this announcement, we need to keep our focus on creating jobs, confronting climate change, and the transformation of an innovative mobility industry.

In addition to GMs carbon goals, the company worked with the Environmental Defense Fund to develop a shared vision of an all-electric future and an aspiration to eliminate tailpipe emissions from new light-duty vehicles by 2035. GMs focus will be offering zero-emissions vehicles across a range of price points and working with all stakeholders, including EDF, to build out the necessary charging infrastructure and promote consumer acceptance while maintaining high quality jobs, which will all be needed to meet these ambitious goals.

General Motors is joining governments and companies around the globe working to establish a safer, greener and better world, said Mary Barra, GM Chairman and CEO. We encourage others to follow suit and make a significant impact on our industry and on the economy as a whole.

General Motors is committed to reaching carbon neutrality in its global products and operations by 2040, supported by a commitment to science-based targets. To reach its goals, GM plans to decarbonize its portfolio by transitioning to battery electric vehicles or other zero-emissions vehicle technology, sourcing renewable energy and leveraging minimal offsets or credits.

With this extraordinary step forward, GM is making it crystal clear that taking action to eliminate pollution from all new light-duty vehicles by 2035 is an essential element of any automakers business plan," said Environmental Defense Fund President Fred Krupp. "EDF and GM have had some important differences in the past, but this is a new day in America one where serious collaboration to achieve transportation electrification, science-based climate progress and equitably shared economic opportunity can move our nation forward.

The use of GMs products accounts for 75 percent of carbon emissions related to this commitment. GM will offer 30 all-electric models globally by mid-decade and 40 percent of the companys U.S. models offered will be battery electric vehicles by the end of 2025. GM is investing $27 billion in electric and autonomous vehicles in the next five years up from the $20 billion planned before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic.

This investment includes the continued development of GMs Ultium battery technology, updating facilities such as Factory ZERO in Michigan and Spring Hill Manufacturing in Tennessee to build electric vehicles from globally sourced parts and investing in new sites like Ultium Cells LLC in Ohio as well as manufacturing and STEM jobs.

More than half of GMs capital spending and product development team will be devoted to electric and electric-autonomous vehicle programs. And in the coming years, GM plans to offer an EV for every customer, from crossovers and SUVs to trucks and sedans.

The company will also continue to increase fuel efficiency of its traditional internal combustion vehicles in accordance with regional fuel economy and greenhouse gas regulations. Some of these initiatives include fuel economy improvement technologies, such as Stop/Start, aerodynamic efficiency enhancements, downsized boosted engines, more efficient transmissions and other vehicle improvements, including mass reduction and lower rolling resistance tires.

To address emissions from its own operations, GM will source 100 percent renewable energy to power its U.S. sites by 2030 and global sites by 2035, which represents a five-year acceleration of the companys previously announced global goal. Today, GM is the 10th largest offtaker of renewable energy in the world and in 2020, the company received a 2020 Green Power Leadership Award from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

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Former NFL star Eddie George returns to Vero Beach for therapy, this time on shoulder – TCPalm

Posted: September 22, 2020 at 11:53 pm

Eddie George was in Vero Beach, Florida, on September 19, 2020, for a medical procedure and discussed the return of Big 10 football. Gannett Staff

VERO BEACH Stem cell and plasma therapy brought a former NFL player to Vero Beach to soothe his ailing knees a few years ago.

Now, he's just looking for a good night's sleep, all because of a nagging shoulder injury. And the same specialists in Vero said they could help him with that, too.

On Saturday, Eddie George, who was a Heisman Trophy winner at Ohio State University and one of the initial stars of the Tennessee Titans, made another trip to Regenerative Biologistics Institute in Vero Beach for treatment. The first time, in July 2018, was to help his knees.

"Walking was a chore,let alone trying to jog," said George, 47, who still lives in the Nashville area.

But now he's walking, swimming and doing enough exercise that he returned to the institute Saturday lighter than he was previously. George said he lost 20 pounds this year.

"My joints have been great," said the now 244-pound, 6-feet-3 former athlete. "I feel a lot better."

Former professional football player Eddie George shares a laugh with regenerative medicine specialists Jason Griffeth (left) and Brett Haake on Saturday, Sept. 19, 2020, as he prepares to receive stem cell and growth factor injections in both knees and right shoulder at Regenerative Biologics Institute in Vero Beach. "What the injections will do is decrease inflammation, decrease pain and increase functionality," said Haake, medical director for the institute. "We're focusing on longevity. We're focusing on optimizing someone's functionality and minimizing their morbidity. We focus on prevention and intervening disease states earlier rather than later." George suffered several injuries during his time playing football.(Photo: PATRICK DOVE/TCPALM)

What doesn't feel better is a shoulder injury he has had since his freshman year with the Ohio State Buckeyes. George chose to have a stem cell injection inhis shoulder Saturday.

"There's a piece missing from my right shoulder socket," George said. "The integrity of the joint there has been compromised. I don't have a lot of flexibility there. When I sleep at night, it gets aggravated and I have to constantly move to get adjusted."

RBI Medical Director Dr. Brett Haake also gave George more injections to his knees Saturday. George had surgery on one of them in March to remove bone spurs.

The institute isat 3755 Seventh Terrace, just north of the Cleveland Clinic Indian River Hospitalin Vero Beach. Clinical director Jason Griffeth said his office uses Regenmax Injection Therapy, which transfers stem cells from a person's abdomen to parts of the body where the patient is feeling pain.

The regenerative abilities of the stem cells repair the injured tissue in areas lacking those cells, said Griffeth, whose office opened in 2016.

"The stem cells areanti-inflammatory and very regenerative," Haake said.

More: SWV star Taj George gets stem cell treatment for knees in Vero Beach

George's R&B star wife, Tamara "Taj" George of the group SWV, also had the procedure done on her knees last year. She said years on stage have damaged her knees, but the stem cell therapy allows her to run now.

"I gained a little bit of weight during this quarantine, but I'm still able to run," she said in a phone call Saturday.

Eddie George is recommending the procedure to other athletes, active or retired.

"This can prolong their careers and their lifestyle after they're done playing," he said.

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In retirement, George runs a wealth management company and will be commenting on college football on ESPN's XM Satellite Radio station a few days a week, he said.

The institute recommends its therapy for arthritis, torn rotator cuffs, meniscus injuries and bursitis.

On the web: rbistemcell.com

More: Miami Dolphins to allow 13,000 fans to home opener vs. Bills at Hard Rock Stadium

LamaurStancilis the Treasure Coast regional economy reporter covering businessand industries, including retail, tourism and hospitality.Contact him at 321-987-7179 orlamaur.stancil@tcpalm.com and follow him at Lamaur Stancil on Facebook and @TCPalmLStancil on Twitter.

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Former NFL star Eddie George returns to Vero Beach for therapy, this time on shoulder - TCPalm

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US Performing Hysterectomies On Immigrants? – The Shadow League

Posted: September 22, 2020 at 11:53 pm

For years, African Americans have known that the U.S. government has deliberately used science and medicine to exploit, hurt, or experiment with people of color.

All one has to do is recall the early 1900s, where during the twilight of nights, African-American bodies were stolen for use as medical cadavers from the Freedmans Cemetery Project in Dallas, Texas or the 1932 Tuskegee Syphilis Study where Black men were injected with the disease without knowledge.

Take it back to the 60s, when the hospital stole Henrietta Lacks cervical cells and have profited from selling them for research around the world, leading to remarkable advancements in stem cell studies.

Or in 2017, only three years ago when a judge in Tennessee offered to reduce peoples sentences by 30-days if they underwent a permanent birth control procedure: vasectomies for men, or a 4-year birth control implant (Nexplanon) for women. The state coerced inmates into sterilization, prompting the American Civil Liberties Union to say that such a gesture violates the fundamental constitutional right to reproductive autonomy.

State governments have long used sterilization as a method to control populations, targeting people of specific races and ethnicities, the poor, handicapped or diseased, and criminals. According to the Talk Poverty, that tens of thousands over the last 80 years have been impacted by such laws including 148 female inmates in California who had tubal ligations done to them without consent between 2006 and 2010. This study was done bythe Center for Investigative Reporting.

Recently, thanks to a whistleblower, news that immigrant women are receiving hysterectomies through coercion (and some without full knowledge of the procedures) while in the custody of President Trumps ICE detention center in Georgia have made the headlines. Democrats are now pushing for a federal investigation.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, Congressional Hispanic Caucus Chairman Joaquin Castro, and Senators Corey Booker and Richard Blumenthal all are speaking out and blasting the Department of Homeland Security hoping they will tell their inspector general to take action.

If true, the appalling conditions described in the whistleblower complaint including allegations of mass hysterectomies being performed on vulnerable immigrant women are a staggering abuse of human rights, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated. This profoundly disturbing situation recalls some of the darkest moments of our nations history, from the exploitation of Henrietta Lacks, to the horror of the Tuskegee Syphilis Study, to the forced sterilizations of Black women that Fannie Lou Hamer and so many others underwent and fought.

They were alerted by Dawn Wooten, an African American nurse who is currently represented by theGovernment Accountability Project, saw everything with her own eyes. She believes that she was demoted because she asked too many questions about testing detained immigrants for COVID-19 and warning officers when detained immigrants they are in contact with have tested positive.

When I met all these women who had had surgeries, I thought this was like an experimental concentration camp, Wooten told Project South. It was like theyre experimenting with our bodies.

Wooten claims to have spoken to five women who received hysterectomies between October and December 2019, saying that many reacted confused when explaining why they had one done.

She singled out one doctor calling him the uterus collector because of the number of hysterectomies he performs. Everybody he sees, hes taking all their uteruses out or hes taken their tubes out.

Dr. Ada Rivera, medical director of the ICE Health Service Corps, says that she will cooperate with the investigation and that to her knowledge only two women were referred for hysterectomies from the facility over the last two years.

Jamille Fields Allsbrook, director of womens health and rights at the center, said in a statement, The United States has a long and sordid history of reproductive coercion and forced sterilization, particularly targeting Black, Latina, and Native American women as well as women with disabilities and incarcerated women.

She continued, These racist, eugenicist practices are often sanctioned by U.S. law, which to this day allows for the sterilization of anyone deemed unfit.

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Sunway University’s Collaboration with Harvard Medical School Makes Advances in Potential Cancer Treatment using Gene Therapy – Yahoo Finance

Posted: August 26, 2020 at 7:58 pm

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia, Aug. 26, 2020 /PRNewswire/ --Sunway University's Professor Jeff Tan Kuan Onn of the Department of Biological Sciences and Professor Poh Chit Laa from the Centre for Virus and Vaccine Research, along with their research collaborators from Harvard Medical School's Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics and Imaging (USA) as well as University of Tennessee Health Science Centre (USA) have completed a study that has demonstrated the efficacy of molecular gene therapy as a new strategy for cancer treatment.

The research could potentially contribute to shorter treatment time for cancers, reduce treatment costs and minimise the adverse effects of current chemo-drugs in cancer patients such as susceptibilities toward microbial infections, hair-loss and other side effects of chemo-drugs that drastically affect the quality of life of cancer patients undergoing therapy.

Principal Investigator Professor Jeff Tan explained, "Currently, chemo-drugs are relatively ineffective against cancer cells that have developed drug-resistance resulting in the need for high doses of chemo-drugs or a combination of chemo-drugs to be administered to patients with cancer cells. Chemo-drug resistant cancer cells also can spread quickly and that drastically reduce the survival rate of cancer patients".

"Our research utilises molecular gene therapy which is the introduction of genetic materials into cancer cells to promote the sensitivity of cancer cells to chemo-drugs. By genetically engineering the cancer cells, we find that we can induce the cancer cells to produce activated pro-death and tumour suppressor proteins that cause cell death and growth arrests in cancer cells. The weakened cancer cells can then be killed relatively easily by the administration of chemo-drugs in smaller doses. Ultimately, the research could contribute to increasing the survival rates of cancer patients undergoing cancer treatments," he added.

Co-Investigator Professor Poh Chit Laa said that the effectiveness of the strategy has been demonstrated in mice implanted with human breast cancer cells. "In the mice that weretreated with the gene therapy, the tumours obtained from the treated mice showed significant tumour cell death and the tumours were 20 times smaller and 32 times lighter in volume and weight, respectively, when compared to the tumours obtained from the untreated mice. The results indicated that the gene therapy was able to shrink the tumours significantly, even without treatment with chemo-drugs. Small doses of market-available anti-cancer drugs could then be used to kill the cancer cells effectively. We hope to see our research contribute to better survival rates of cancer patients, and minimise the side-affects associated with anti-cancer drugs," said Professor Poh.

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"We are currently working on investigations to optimise the delivery of the gene therapy and anti-cancer drugs to human tumours with hopes that this will result in tangible clinical outcomes," said Professor Jeff Tan.

The research project was recently published in the peer-review Journal of Cancer Research and Clinical Oncology. Collaborators for the research include Lee Yong Hoi, Pang Siew Wai and Samson Eugin Simon from the Department of Biological Sciences, Sunway University; Esther Revai Lechtich and Khalid Shah, of the Center for Stem Cell Therapeutics and Imaging, Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School (USA); Suriyan Ponnusamy and Ramesh Narayanan from the Department of Medicine, Centre of Cancer Drug Discovery, College of Medicine, University of Tennessee Health Science Centre (USA).

The research is a result of a collaboration agreement between Harvard Medical School and Sunway University aimed at developing new cancer therapies targeting drug resistant cancer cells. In 2016, Professor Jeff Tan visited Harvard University on the Jeffrey Cheah Travel Grant which enabled him to better understand how cancer research projects are conducted as well as examining experimental models used to study cancer biology at Harvard University, Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH), a hospital affiliated with Harvard Medical School, and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

To read the jointly published article: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00432-020-03231-9

Photo - https://photos.prnasia.com/prnh/20200825/2898392-1

SOURCE Sunway University

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Non-Profit Offers Free Stem Cell Therapy to Veterans – Pain News Network

Posted: March 28, 2020 at 6:43 am

By A. Rahman Ford, PNN Columnist

No group is more worthy of the revolutionary benefits of stem cell therapy than Americas military veterans. While the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) thinks the field is in its infancy and much more research is needed before stem cells are offered as treatment, brave practitioners are stepping forward to help veterans NOW.

Dr. Joseph Kanan and his staff at the Tullahoma Chiropractic Center are providing free stem cell therapy for veterans who suffer from chronic pain. Kanan in partnership with Veterans in Pain recently performed his first pro bono procedure on a veteran named Ryan, who has severe hip pain. Stem cell injections into Ryans hip, which are not covered by insurance, normally would have cost $6,500. Ryan got them for free.

I think veterans do a lot for our country and there are very few doctors that are performing medical procedures like this, Kanan told The Tullahoma News. We were very glad to be able to do this for him.

Kanan says his Tennessee clinic performs stem cell therapy for veterans twice a month and has had good results so far. One patient was able to avoid a knee replacement and reported consistent improvement one year after the procedure. Patients can expect to experience 10 percent improvement every month for 10 months.

Veterans in Pain is a non-profit that connects military veterans with civilian physicians who provide free regenerative medicine treatments for chronic pain. VIP has provided $250,000 worth of services since 2019.

VIP founder and president Micaela Bensko is herself a stem cell therapy recipient. She spent years in a wheelchair after an accident in her driveway left her with severe spine damage that led to arachnoiditis, a chronic inflammation of spinal nerves. A friend suggested stem cell therapy, which inspired Bensko to establish VIP as a resource for veterans.

Veterans in Pain connects each veteran with a volunteer physician in their area. If one cannot be located, the cost of transportation and accommodations are covered for treatments, as they were for Ryan. Veterans associated with VIP visit schools, organizations and corporations sharing their story of recovery. Most of VIPs funding is provided by small individual donations, grants and grassroots fundraising.

According to the National Institutes of Health, nearly two-thirds of veterans report having chronic pain, with about 9% having severe pain. Chronic pain among veterans is closely associated with mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, poor sleep and substance abuse disorders. Many veterans suffer from more than one condition.

Because of red tape and a shortage of pain management specialists at the VA, many veterans suffering from chronic pain are left devoid of proper diagnosis and treatment, causing many to self-medicate or search for answers on their own.Chronic pain can lead to substance abuse, a common and growing trend among veterans. A 2017 study found that 30% of military suicides were preceded by alcohol or drug abuse.

The dire plight of military veterans suffering from chronic pain is yet another compelling reason for the FDA to loosen its regulation of stem cell therapy. Our heroes are counting on it.

A. Rahman Ford, PhD, is a lawyer and research professional. He is a graduate of Rutgers University and the Howard University School of Law, where he served as Editor-in-Chief of the Howard Law Journal. Rahman lives with chronic inflammation in his digestive tract and is unable to eat solid food. He has received stem cell treatmentin China.

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CAR T Cells to Go? Outpatient Therapy Can Be Safe – Medscape

Posted: March 1, 2020 at 8:44 am

ORLANDO, Florida Chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy can be safely delivered in the outpatient setting, which could make the life-extending treatment available to patients who don't have access to a major teaching hospital or treatment center, contend investigators who analyzed data from three clinical trials.

Looking at outcomes for patients with large B-cell lymphomas (LBCL) who were treated with the CAR T-cell construct lisocabtagene maraleucel (liso-cel) in the outpatient setting at both university-based and nonacademic medical centers in three clinical trials, Carlos Bachier, MD, from the Sarah Cannon Blood Cancer Network in Nashville, Tennessee, and colleagues found that the incidences of severe adverse events were relatively low and manageable.

"Outpatient administration of liso-cel and subsequent monitoring were successfully implemented in multiple clinical trials at both university and nonuniversity sites," he said here at the Transplantation and Cellular Therapy annual meeting.

Dr Carlos Bachier

The need to monitor and treat serious side effects from CAR T therapy, such as the cytokine release syndrome (CRS) and neurologic toxicities, has previously limited the therapy to major treatment centers with extensive resources. Yet most patients in the US with relapsed or refractory large B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma are treated at nonacademic centers where cancer therapies are typically delivered in outpatient infusion centers, Bachier said.

"Infusion and monitoring of patients receiving CAR T-cell therapy in the outpatient setting can lead to wider utilization and improved access," he said.

To get a better idea of the safety and efficacy of CAR T-cell therapy in the outpatient setting, Bachier and colleagues examined outcomes from the phase 1 TRANSCEND NHL 001 trial of liso-cel in one or two doses for a variety of aggressive lymphoma histologies, conducted in both university-based and nonuniversity centers; the phase 2 TRANSCEND-OUTREACH trial of outpatient liso-cel therapy after two or more prior lines of therapy against various lymphomas and lymphoproliferative disorders, conducted in nonuniversity centers; and the phase 2 TRANSCEND-PILOT-017006, testing liso-cel in patients with LBCL relapsed or refractory after a single line of immunochemotherapy who were ineligible for either high-dose chemotherapy or stem cell transplant. This trial was conducted in both university and nonuniversity settings.

In OUTREACH and PILOT, liso-cel was administered at a dose of 100 x 106 CAR-positive T cells; in TRANSCEND, it was given at doses of 50, 100, or150 x 106.

To qualify for outpatient administration and monitoring, both university centers and nonuniversity specialty oncology centers had to have at least hematopoietic stem cell therapy (HSCT) or phase 1 trial capability, an outpatient infusion center or inpatient infusion unit with same-day discharge; an affiliated aphereseis center; and a multidisciplinary medical team that can coordinate care between inpatient and outpatient settings, have standard operating procedures for outpatient monitoring and admissions when necessary, and an oncologist on call at all times.

In addition, each center had to have one designated hospital for care of CAR T-cell recipients with staff trained to manage typical CAR T-cell toxicities and a ready supply of tocilizumab (Actemra, Genentech) for treating CRS.

For their part, patients needed to have caregiver support and stay within 1 hour travel of the treatment center for the first 30 days after infusions, had to commit to returning to the site for immediate medical evaluation as necessary, and had to be educated about the early signs and symptoms of CRS and neurologic toxicities.

The analysis included data on 44 patients with a median age of 62 years (range 24 to 82), including 25 enrolled in TRANSCEND, 13 in OUTREACH, and 6 in PILOT. Eighteen patients were age 65 or older, 12 had high tumor burden, and 6 had lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) levels of 500 U/L or higher.

Treatment-related adverse events (TEAEs) occurring in at least 25% of outpatients were similar to those among all patients in TRANSCEND, with the most frequent grade 3 or 4 events being neutropenia, anemia, and thrombocytopenia. There were no treatment-related deaths among those monitored as outpatients.

CRS of any grade occurred in 12 of 25 outpatients (48%) in TRANSCEND, in 5 of 13 (38%) in OUTREACH, and in none of the 6 outpatients in PILOT. Grade 3 or 4 CRS was seen in 1 outpatient in TRANSCEND, but in none of the other patients in the other two trials.

Grade 3 or 4 neurologic events occurred in two outpatients in TRANSCEND, but were not seen in any outpatients in OUTREACH or PILOT.

Three patients in TRANSCEND and two in OUTREACH received either tocilizumab or corticosteroids for CRS, and five patients in TRANSCEND received corticosteroids for neurologic adverse events. Prolonged grade 3 or greater cytopenias were seen in three patients in TRANSCEND, five in OUTREACH, and one in PILOT.

The median onset of CRS was 5 days, and the median onset of neurologic toxicities was 8 days among all outpatients, and was similar to combined inpatient and outpatient population in TRANSCEND. The median duration of the events 6 days for CRS, 16 days for neurologic events was also similar to that seen in TRANSCEND.

Of the 44 patients from all three trials, 24 (55%) were hospitalized after liso-cel administration, for a median of 6.5 days (range 2-23). The median time to hospitalization was 5 days. One third of the hospitalizations were for either CRS or neurologic events. There were 2 cases of ICU admissions after liso-cel administration, for a median ICU stay of 4 days.

In all, 45% of outpatients did not require hospitalization, and there was no increase in ICU admissions compared with inpatients, Bachier pointed out.

The overall response rate was 80%, with a complete response rate of 55%, similar to that seen in TRANSCEND, he said.

In an interview with Medscape Medical News seeking objective commentary on the findings, Yago Nieto, MD, from the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, said that he would be comfortable with CAR T-cell therapy in the outpatient setting, provided that several key components of care are in place.

"It requires an organized effort to be able to see those patients in an outpatient clinic weekdays and weekends, having every contingency discussed beforehand, including for ICU team members to admit patients into the ICU if necessary which is unusual, particularly with liso-cel but it has to be all worked out in advance in a multidisciplinary effort," he said.

Nieto comoderated the session where the data were presented, but was not involved in the study.

Comoderator Mazyar Shadman, MD, MPH, from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington, who was not involved in the study, told Medscape that his center treats patients with CAR T therapy in the outpatient setting.

"But it's important to know that when you talk about outpatient care, it's not your outpatient clinic where you see patients once a week," he said. "These are intensive outpatient centers. We have a team that's just outpatient, but we see these patients on a daily basis, we have dedicated nurses and practitioners, and we have labs and immunotherapy services for getting results quickly."

"I feel comfortable giving CAR T therapy to a patient in this setting," he added, "but not to a patient being treated in the middle of nowhere."

The study was funded by Juno Therapeutics, a Bristol-Myers Squibb company. Bachier disclosed advisory board activities for various companies, not including Juno or BMS. Nieto disclosed research funding and consultancy for various companies not including the sponsors of this study. Shadman disclosed research funding, honoraria, and consultancy with various companies not including Juno or BMS.

Transplantation & Cellular Therapy Meetings of ASTCT and CIBMTR 2020: Abstract29. Presented February 19, 2020.

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Breakthrough, Non-Invasive Treatment Called Axol Therapy For Erectile Dysfunction And Enhanced Sexual Performance Now Available At Colorado Urology -…

Posted: March 1, 2020 at 8:44 am

DENVER, Feb. 24, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- The men's sexual health specialists at Colorado Urology now offer an exciting new treatment option for men living with erectile dysfunction (ED) called Axol Softwave Therapy. This safe and non-invasive treatment option is helping many men with ED achieve spontaneous and natural erections without the help of medications. The therapy can also be used to enhance a man's sexual performance.

About 5 in 10 men experience erectile dysfunction (ED) at some point in their lives. First-line therapies often include oral medication to help men achieve an erection. Now, Axol Therapy is providing a safe and effective alternative.

This non-invasive procedure uses gentle full-spectrum, low-intensity sound waves that stimulate revascularization, a process in which new blood vessels form. Axol Therapy promotes improved blood flow to the penis, reduces inflammation, and stimulates the migration of the body's stem cells for long-term healing. The new treatment is helping men to achieve natural erections without ED medications, pumps, injections, or penile implants.

Learn about Axol Softwave Therapy at Colorado Urology: https://www.coloradouro.com/specialties/axol-softwave-therapy/.

Axol Therapy How it Works

Axol Therapy is a modern approach to healing the body by using four types of energy: Heat, Electrohydraulic, Acoustic, and Light (HEAL). Unfocused acoustic waves are delivered to the shaft of the penis using a treatment wand that features a patented unfocused electrohydraulic acoustic wave.

The pulsed acoustic waves are delivered through the skin into the tissue to open and repair aging blood vessels, stimulate new blood vessel growth, restore blood flow, and improve erectile quality. Axol Therapy typically takes only 20 minutes, once a week, for a total of six sessions in the physician's office.

How Well Does Axol Therapy Work?

For men who are the right candidates, Axol Therapy is a safe and effective option without the side effects often experienced with oral medications. Most patients can get the quality, rigid erections they once had with Axol Therapy's gentle acoustic pulse treatment within just six office visits. Incremental improvement in erectile function may be seen after just a few sessions.

Restoring Vitality and Quality of Life

There are a number of significant benefits to Axol Therapy. For men who are candidates for this treatment option, a future without erectile dysfunction is perhaps the biggest one. The restoration of a man's vitality and spontaneous active sex life are also major benefits of this exciting new treatment.

Learn more about Axol Softwave Therapy, the benefits, and how to schedule a consultation. Visit https://www.coloradouro.com/specialties/axol-softwave-therapy/or call 888-401-7149.

About Colorado Urology

Colorado Urology, an affiliate of United Urology Group, is Eastern Colorado's premier urology practice, which was formed when Advanced Urology, Alpine Urology, and Foothills Urology became one urology group in April 2019. The group provides a broad array of urologic services, and its integrated approach to urologic care provides patients with access to experienced specialists, a comprehensive support team of healthcare professionals, innovative diagnostic tools, and highly advanced treatments and therapies. Colorado Urology operates 12 medical offices throughout the Denver metro and Boulder area, has 18 urologists, 9 advanced practice providers, and more than 130 employees.

About United Urology Group

United Urology Group is a national management services organization whose member groups of urology practices include: Arizona Urology Specialists with locations across the greater Phoenix area; Chesapeake Urology, with offices located throughout Maryland and Delaware; Tennessee Urology, based in Knoxville, TN; and Colorado Urology, located in the greater Denver, Boulder and Front Range areas. United Urology Group members' collective staff today number more than 1,400 employees, including 150 physicians. United Urology's vision is to support the creation of a national network of urology affiliates, which will enable urologists to better meet the needs of their patients and provide the highest level of urological care.

Media Contact:

Patricia Schnably, Senior Vice President, Marketing & Communications United Urology Group25 Crossroads Drive, Suite 306, Owings Mills, MD 21117443-738-8107 [emailprotected]

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Alberta baby Mighty Hudson home after gene therapy: hes cured – Global News

Posted: January 24, 2020 at 12:48 am

The first six months of his young life have been a roller-coaster but Mighty Hudson Cowie is back home in Alberta after an experimental gene therapy procedure in Tennessee was successful.

Its been so long since weve got to see our family, our friends, Hudsons dad Ian said. Even just to be able to show him off to everybody. Weve spent the last six months seeing how amazing of a little guy he is.

Now we finally get to share that with everybody.

Hudson was diagnosed with Severe Combined Immunodeficiency (SCID) within days of his birth on June 23. The condition, known to many as Bubble Boy Disease, prevents his body from fighting illnesses. Essentially, he didnt have an immune system.

READ MORE:Hundreds attend donor drive for Mighty Hudson, Alberta baby with rare immune disease

In August, Hudson was accepted into a gene therapy program at St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis. A medical team removed some of his bone marrow cells and replaced the faulty gene with a corrected one. The cells were placed back into his body through an IV.

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They took his own bone marrow out in his bone marrow, hes got hematopoietic stem cells. They were able to take those cells and modify them to create a product, a repaired version of those cells, and then give them back to him, Ian told Global News on Monday.

Medicine is amazing. We took a chance on science and were so glad that we did. Its amazing what theyre able to do.

Ian and his wife Hayley were weighing two options for their little boy: using donor cells or a revamped version of Hudsons own cells. They decided on the second, which meant a trial at St. Judes.

We weighed the pros and cons of both options and for us, [and] personally, we decided that gene therapy seemed like the safer way to go, Ian said.

It didnt rely on a donor, it was the new up-and-coming medicine, the existing results for gene therapy were already incredibly promising and then, as an added bonus, it had substantially less chemotherapy requirements.

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WATCH: (Sept. 9, 2019) A Morinville baby with a rare disorder received a life-changing procedure in the U.S. Hudson Cowies parents give Su-Ling Goh an update on therapy for his immune system.

It honestly sounded too good to be true, Hayley added.

With bone marrow transplant, we heard of graft versus host disease, where its somebody elses cells and they can reject them. With gene therapy, having his own cells, he wasnt going to reject them because his body already knows them.

A few months after the transplant, they started to see results: Hudsons first T-cells, a type of white blood cell thats a key component of the immune system.

From three months, it exploded. At four months, it was even more T-cells. The growth was exponential, Ian said.

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I think thats the thing every doctor hopes to get to say to their patients one day: Hes cured. And the day that we left Memphis, she said that. She said: Hes cured.

We squealed like little schoolgirls. It was very exciting.

Hudsons immune system right now can be compared to that of a newborn baby.

As hes introduced to small bugs, itll just keep growing and growing and be normal, Hayley explained.

There are still unknowns, but the family is very hopeful.

He was Patient 12 on the trial and from what we were informed, everyone on the trial has done tremendously well, Ian said.

I just think its amazing, Hayley added. Its amazing that we were the first ones who got on newborn screening and that this trial was even available for us. It just seems that everything completely lined up.

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I feel like everything has just fallen into place to get him cured.

The treatment is just amazing. Our doctors are brilliant, its just all incredible and hes doing great.

Hudson was one of the first babies to be screened for SCID through a new program. Since SCID was added in May 2019, the Alberta Health Services Newborn Metabolic Screening Program has screened over 34,000 newborns and has diagnosed four cases of SCID.

While very much welcome, being home is still a big change for the Cowies.

Im still processing, even now, Hayley said. Its nice to go see people but we were in isolation for so long that it doesnt just flip all of a sudden. I know were still really protective and we can hear a cough from miles away.

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It was surreal to leave but I feel like Im still dreaming a little bit.

They havent attempted any big outings yet especially given its flu season but they have been able to go to some family dinners.

Its an adjustment for sure, but a good adjustment, Hayley said. He loves people Hes always just smiling and playful hes just happy.

The Cowies will be back in Tennessee for one day for a checkup this weekend. Hudson will have another checkup with the St. Judes team next month. Hell have followups at least once a year until hes 10 years old.

2020 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.

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Year in Review: The Top Science Stories of 2019 – WTTW News

Posted: January 5, 2020 at 4:11 am

2019 has seen some astonishing scientific breakthroughs, from the creation of the first ever image of a black hole a feat once thought impossible to the use of DNA splicing technology to treat sickle cell disease.

As the year comes to an end, three of our regular science contributors Daniel Holz of the University of Chicago, Rabiah Mayas of the Museum of Science and Industry and Mark Hammergren of the Adler Planetarium share what they regard as the most significant science stories of the year.

Here are the stories they selected.

Daniel Hotz: First ever image of a black hole

Using the Event Horizon Telescope, scientists obtained an image of the black hole at the center of galaxy M87, outlined by emission from hot gas swirling around it under the influence of strong gravity near its event horizon. (Credits: Event Horizon Telescope collaboration et al.)

In April, an international astronomical team called the Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration produced an image of a black hole for the first time.

Because not even light can escape from the immense gravity well that is a black hole, the idea of imaging a one was once thought impossible. Holz explained that the image the Event Horizon Telescope team produced is actually of super-heated matter about to fall into the black hole.

We are not looking at the black hole itself, what we are doing is seeing stuff fall into the black hole and that stuff gets very, very hot superheated because of the strong gravity and then it glows, said Holz. And what we are seeing is that glow but in the center nothing is glowing and thats because theres a black hole there.

Mayas noted the years of hard work and international collaboration that created what has already become an iconic image. The team used telescopes around the world to, in effect, create one huge telescope the size of the Earth to create the image.

There were scientists and engineers and astronomers from across the globe that came together to generate this image, said Mayas. The shear technology and the instrumentation and the collaboration that led to that is another example of what a career in STEM can look like for young people.

Rabiah Mayas: Gene-edited cells used to treat sickle cell disease

Researchers at the Sarah Cannon Research Institute in Nashville, Tennessee, announced in November that they had used genetically edited cells to treat sickle cell disease a painful and until now incurable condition that impacts millions of people in the United States and around the world.

Doctors used cells from a patients bone marrow that had been modified using CRISPR cas9 gene-splicing technology and reintroduced the cells back into the patients body.

CRISPR cas9 is something that was identified in bacteria as part of a bacterias natural immunity, said Mayas. The way that CRISPR works is that it looks for specific regions of DNA so the genetic information in the cells of many organisms and recognizes the particular sequence. And cas9 is an enzyme that can cut it. So it cuts the DNA, makes a break, and then your cell can put those ends back together.

CRISPR in this case was used to genetically modify the version of hemoglobin which is the protein that is malformed in Sickle Cell and turn it into a different form that is functional, said Mayas.

Within a month, those cells were producing healthy hemoglobin.

Mark Hammergren: Artemis moon mission

NASA is returning to the moon much sooner than it originally planned.

At the direction of President Donald Trump, NASA has been asked to accelerate its Artemis mission and return humans to the moons surface by 2024. The original Artemis schedule would have put humans back on the moon by 2028.

President Trump and his administration have proposed accelerating this return to the moon and came out and said we are going to land humans on the moon a man and a woman on the moon by 2024. And that is the directive given to NASA, said Hammergren. Regardless of what you think of these plans this is a directive to NASA that NASA has to follow.

Mayas noted that although the Artemis mission is to the moon, it is also regarded as a way to answer key questions and test and prove technology that could one day take humans to Mars.

What does it mean to spend time on another solar body? What does it mean to look for water and develop systems on a place that is not Earth in preparation for Mars?

All: Climate change

Activists on the evening of Monday, Oct. 7, 2019 closed down the streets in front of Chicago City Hall and the James R. Thompson Center as they called on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Gov. J.B. Pritzker to declare a climate emergency. (WTTW News)

Climate change is the defining challenge of our time, according to United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.

Guterres noted in an introduction to the latest report of the UNs Science Advisory Group, released in September, that the climate is already changing and highlights the far-reaching and dangerous impacts that will unfold for generations to come.

All three of our scientific contributors believe that climate change is one of the top science stories of the year.

I think young people have been telling us for years that they have been concerned about climate change, said Mayas. Young people from indigenous cultures around the world, from black and other marginalized communities in this country and elsewhere have been screaming for a while about climate change in part because we know from data that certain communities suffer the consequences of climate change more than others.

Hammergren said that as a planetary scientist we have to consider the Earth as a system as a whole and that he had seen directly the increase in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere in his astronomical observations.

Holz noted the evidence for global warming was overwhelming at this point.

The last few years have shown just look at the news the wildfires, the storms, the rising sea levels its just this whole parade of disasters. And this is just the beginning, said Holz. I fear for the future.

But Holz also noted that its not yet too late to try and address some of the worst impacts of climate change, particularly as young people around the world have rallied around this issue.

Its not too late, we can all get involved theres lots of things to do and the fact that young people are rising up. It really impacts them the most and we should listen to them, said Holz. Its somewhat embarrassing that we have to have the young, the next generation, to hold us to task.

Related stories:

Field Museums New Meteorite Contains Stardust That Predates the Solar System

Astronomers Take First-Ever Picture of a Black Hole

Climate Simulations Are Mostly Accurate, Study Finds

Climate Activists: The Oceans Are Rising, And So Are We

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