Blood

Canadians have lots of reasons to be skeptical about increased defence spending

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Weapon, Pentagon, Face, Military, Politics, Armed, Terrorism, Intention, Climate change, GDP, Risk, Blood, Dust, City, ISIS, Jet fuel, Cryptocurrency, Tutoring, Pharmaceutical industry, Pension fund

The story is hardly surprising — the last time Canadians saw this level of spending was under Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government in 1990.

Key Points: 
  • The story is hardly surprising — the last time Canadians saw this level of spending was under Brian Mulroney’s Conservative government in 1990.
  • The report sparked a wave of recriminations over the poor state of Canada’s defence and security funding.
  • What if, instead of simply chastising Canadians, we spoke candidly about what may be entirely valid reasons for skepticism?

Threat inflation abounds

    • But when the dust settles and these claims are revealed to be suspect, it’s understandable why the Canadian public might be skeptical.
    • But at the collective level, they can cause a credibility deficit that hurts their ability to speak to the public.

Afghanistan’s lessons

    • With a considerable cost in blood and treasure, the Afghanistan mission is a bitter memory for many Canadians.
    • Despite these sacrifices, Canada never received the recognition it craved from NATO allies.
    • Now add to this a string of cringe-worthy procurement failures and utterly disgraceful sexual misconduct in the military.

Cost-of-living crisis

    • And now the average rent in Toronto, the country’s largest city, has crossed the $3,000 threshold.
    • The reality is that the cost-of-living crisis is a political juggernaut with no signs of abating.
    • We live in a country where the taxpayer is considered sacred and any even remotely questionable spending is considered profane.

Addressing what matters to Canadians

    • More than 500 Canadians died from the 2022 heat dome in British Columbia alone.
    • If politicians can’t speak to how Canadians actually feel and experience insecurity, citizens won’t listen to them on defence and security issues.
    • It means speaking to how Canadians actually feel and experience insecurity, rather than simply telling them what it means.

Clinical Study Result of Orelabrutinib in Patients with R/R MCL Published by Blood Advances

Retrieved on: 
Tuesday, May 2, 2023
Research, FDA, Clinical Trials, Biotechnology, General Health, Pharmaceutical, Health, Science, Oncology, Other Science, CT, IRC, Independent Review Committee, AE, Progression-free survival, Advanced Accelerator Applications, Mantle cell lymphoma, B cell, OS, BTK, Trial of the century, TTR, Incidence, Food and Drug Administration Amendments Act of 2007, Journal, Patient, American Society of Hematology, Hematology, CR, MCL, Hospital, Society, ORR, Food, Safety, Disease, Medical imaging, Pharmaceutical industry, Blood, Relapse

Blood Advances, part of leading hematology journal Blood, also a Journal of the American Society of Hematology, recently published the clinical study result of BTK (Bruton Tyrosine Kinase) inhibitor orelabrutinib in Relapsed or Refractory (r/r) Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) patients.

Key Points: 
  • Blood Advances, part of leading hematology journal Blood, also a Journal of the American Society of Hematology, recently published the clinical study result of BTK (Bruton Tyrosine Kinase) inhibitor orelabrutinib in Relapsed or Refractory (r/r) Mantle Cell Lymphoma (MCL) patients.
  • The journal concluded that orelabrutinib showed substantial efficacy and was well tolerated in patients with r/r MCL after long-term follow-up.
  • A total of 106 patients were enrolled in the study.
  • Professor Jun Zhu of Beijing Cancer Hospital said, “Orelabrutinib has shown potent activity in patients with r/r MCL and substantial improvement over early generation BTK inhibitor in response rates.

FDA Conditionally Approves First Drug for Anemia in Cats with Chronic Kidney Disease

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 1, 2023
Thrombosis, Mouth, Chronic kidney disease, Center for Veterinary Medicine, Veterinarian, Oxygen, Food, Bone marrow, Quality of life, Medicine, Cat, Vomiting, Nephritis, Blood transfusion, Euthanasia, Animal, Blood, Erythropoietin, Cancer, Amyloidosis, Viral, Kidney, Thrombus, FDA, Veterinary medicine, Death, CKD, Regulation of food and dietary supplements by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Disease, Glomerulonephritis, Dietary supplement, Pharmaceutical industry

SILVER SPRING, Md. , May 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved Varenzin-CA1 (molidustat oral suspension), the first drug for the control of nonregenerative anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in cats. Nonregenerative anemia can be a fatal condition because the cat's bone marrow is not able to produce enough red blood cells to replace the older or damaged red blood cells that are naturally removed from the blood, resulting in the inability for oxygen to be carried from the lungs throughout the body.

Key Points: 
  • , May 1, 2023 /PRNewswire/ --Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration conditionally approved Varenzin-CA1 (molidustat oral suspension), the first drug for the control of nonregenerative anemia associated with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in cats.
  • CKD is a disease that requires day-to-day management in cats, and nonregenerative anemia is a complication that often contributes to death or euthanasia of affected cats due to poor quality of life.
  • Cats can develop CKD at any age, but it is frequently diagnosed in older cats.
  • The current treatments available for nonregenerative anemia in cats with CKD include blood transfusion, supplemental iron therapy and erythropoietin replacement.

No, you can't blame all your health issues on 'high cortisol'. Here's how the hormone works

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 1, 2023
Thyroid hormones, Depression, Diet, Gland, Life, Urine, Leptin, Anxiety, Sleep, Survival, Pancreas, Quality of life, Woman, Cortisol, Brain, Research, Cell, Appetite, Weight gain, Mindfulness, Wakefulness, Hormone, Insomnia, Crave, Blood, Meditation, Metabolism, Hypothalamus, Liver, Heart rate, Exercise, Saliva, Fatigue, Pig, Birth control, Pharmaceutical industry, Medical imaging

Maybe you’re fatigued and can’t concentrate, then wake up in the middle of the night.

Key Points: 
  • Maybe you’re fatigued and can’t concentrate, then wake up in the middle of the night.
  • The latest TikTok wellness trend would have you believe high cortisol levels are to blame.
  • But so do thyroid hormones, appetite hormones and sex hormones, as well as diet and physical activity.

Why is cortisol portrayed as bad?

    • Some of what is being blamed on cortisol are symptoms of chronic stress or depression – which makes sense, since these are linked.
    • This might make people think cortisol is bad for them, but this is not the case.

Cortisol is essential for a healthy stress response

    • In a healthy and normal stress response, cortisol rises quickly in response to the stress and then rapidly reduces back to baseline levels after the stress has passed.
    • Chronic stress can cause dysregulated cortisol secretion: when cortisol remains high even in the absence of an immediate stress.
    • It can take weeks for cortisol dysregulation to return to normal after chronic stress.

What’s the link with depression?

    • Our research team has shown that people with depression have, on average, higher cortisol than people who don’t have depression.
    • The symptoms described on TikTok as being due to high cortisol may be caused by stress, depression or anxiety.
    • Low cortisol can be caused by chronic stress and high cortisol during childhood or earlier in life.
    • This is why some people with depression, particularly those with a long history of depression, have low rather than high cortisol.

How do you know if your cortisol is too high or low?


    Despite claims on TikTok, we cannot tell whether our cortisol is in balance or high or low. The only way to know is to have your blood, urine or saliva analysed in a laboratory. This is not done routinely and would be a waste of resources. A doctor would only check this if they suspected you had a disorder of cortisol production, but these are rare. Besides, your cortisol levels vary considerably across different times of the day and night.

Cortisol affects your body clock

    • One of the most important roles of cortisol is in the circadian system of the body.
    • Cortisol communicates these signals from the brain to the rest of the body.

How can you maintain healthy cortisol levels?

    • You can try to maintain healthy levels of cortisol by addressing the underlying causes of cortisol dysregulation.
    • Exercise during the day and good sleeping habits also help to reduce chronic stress and high cortisol.

Power cuts and food safety: how to avoid illness during loadshedding 

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 1, 2023
Human, Temperature, Conversation, Food, Food safety, Survival, Table tennis rubber, Spine, Cell, Instinct, Hygiene, Ill, Nature, Time, Risk, Blood, Growth, System, Memory, Safety, Agriculture, Food preservation, Grocery store

South Africa has been grappling with power cuts for 15 years, which have worsened in recent years. The persistent power outages have disrupted every facet of life, including food safety. The Conversation Africa’s Ina Skosana spoke to food safety expert Lise Korsten about the impact of persistent power cuts on the food in our homes and the best ways to protect ourselves. How should we manage the food in our fridges?Loadshedding is forcing us to think about food safety and spoilage, our general behaviour in terms of food purchases, storage, managing our fridges, hygiene and the use of leftover food.

Key Points: 


South Africa has been grappling with power cuts for 15 years, which have worsened in recent years. The persistent power outages have disrupted every facet of life, including food safety. The Conversation Africa’s Ina Skosana spoke to food safety expert Lise Korsten about the impact of persistent power cuts on the food in our homes and the best ways to protect ourselves.

How should we manage the food in our fridges?

    • Loadshedding is forcing us to think about food safety and spoilage, our general behaviour in terms of food purchases, storage, managing our fridges, hygiene and the use of leftover food.
    • Keeping too much food in fridges increases the potential risk of food-borne illness given our current energy crises.
    • In short, households need to better manage the food in fridges and keep as little of it as possible.

What’s the best way to avoid illness?


    Keep your fridge – and kitchen – clean. Doing so will reduce the potential of organisms that can proliferate in these environments and cause illnesses, such as food poisoning. There are a few basic ways to maintain hygiene:
    • If it’s an older fridge and the rubber seals are broken or the door doesn’t close properly, temperature fluctuations will more likely occur.
    • A good rule is also to keep your fridge closed during loadshedding and pack more higher risk items towards the back where less temperature fluctuations will occur.
    • The door of the fridge is a higher risk area because of higher temperature fluctuations.

Why does fridge temperature matter?

    • Environmental conditions – such as fluctuating temperatures – will influence how many organisms are present at a certain point in time and can multiply.
    • This temperature range is often called the “danger zone” in food safety.
    • Leaving food outside the fridge is, therefore, risky behaviour since you do not know if food is contaminated with any pathogens or if general spoilage can occur.
    • Others increase in number over time when temperatures fluctuate, making food temperature management important.

Is it safe to eat leftovers?

    • It’s interesting to mention a study where waste pickers were asked how they know when food is safe to eat.
    • These instincts are important and are in a way a survival skill, so be stringent when keeping leftover food.
    • This is important in a country where a very high percentage of people go to bed hungry every night.

So what to do?


    We all have time constraints, with the majority of people getting home late at night and having to rapidly prepare a healthy, safe meal. So plan meal portions, preparation and serving times around loadshedding, and manage the food in the fridge more wisely.

Salarius Pharmaceuticals Reports No Adverse Safety Signals from Two Good Laboratory Practice Toxicology Studies with its Targeted Protein Degrader SP-3164

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 1, 2023
GLP, Good laboratory practice, Laboratory, Investigational New Drug, Patient, Blood, Lymphoma, Cancer, Toxicology, FDA, Regulation of tobacco by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, IND, Food, Safety, Pharmaceutical industry, Salinicola salarius

HOUSTON, May 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Salarius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLRX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company using protein inhibition and protein degradation to develop cancer therapies for patients in need of new treatment options, announces the completion of two Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) toxicology studies with its targeted protein degrader SP-3164, with no unexpected safety findings during the course of either study.

Key Points: 
  • HOUSTON, May 01, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Salarius Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: SLRX), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company using protein inhibition and protein degradation to develop cancer therapies for patients in need of new treatment options, announces the completion of two Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) toxicology studies with its targeted protein degrader SP-3164, with no unexpected safety findings during the course of either study.
  • These GLP toxicology reports will be included in the Investigational New Drug (IND) application the company plans to submit to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the second quarter of 2023.
  • “We are encouraged by the successful completion of these GLP toxicology studies, which represents another significant milestone in the development of SP-3164.
  • Based on preclinical research completed to date, we believe SP-3164 has potential to address several types of lymphomas and other cancers both as monotherapy and in combination with approved standard of care therapies,” said David Arthur, president and chief executive officer of Salarius.

Eurosets and Estor announce a strategic partnership for the exclusive distribution of Polymyxin B hemoperfusion therapy in France, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxemburg and Austria

Retrieved on: 
Friday, April 28, 2023
Partnership, ECMO, Polymyxin, Literature, Polymyxin B, Patient, ECLS, Blood, Pharmaceutical industry, Hospital, Medical device, Euroset

This strategic alliance between Eurosets and Estor will further contribute to the advancement of Polymyxin B hemoperfusion therapy, both in the area of post-cardiac surgery and in the general intensive care itself, so that Polymyxin B hemoperfusion can be available to a larger patient population in Europe.

Key Points: 
  • This strategic alliance between Eurosets and Estor will further contribute to the advancement of Polymyxin B hemoperfusion therapy, both in the area of post-cardiac surgery and in the general intensive care itself, so that Polymyxin B hemoperfusion can be available to a larger patient population in Europe.
  • Polymyxin B hemoperfusion is the reference complementary therapy for neutralizing endotoxin in human blood, combining the unique properties of Polymyxin B and blood purification therapy.
  • More than 250,000 patients have been treated with Polymyxin B hemoperfusion therapy worldwide and more than 400 peer-reviewed articles are available in the literature.
  • “This strategic alliance between Eurosets and Estor represents a milestone that will contribute further to Polymyxin B hemoperfusion advancement in post-cardiac surgery and general intensive care for the benefit of patients in Europe,” said Dr. Mattia Corrado Bellaviti, CEO Estor.

Therapeutic Solutions International Launches VasoSome Vascular Inc Based on Successful Treatment of Aortic Aneurysms using Patent Pending Exosome Therapy

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 1, 2023
Biotechnology, Pharmaceutical, Health, Stem Cells, Nanoparticle, Aneurysm, Aorta, Woman, Head, TSOI, Regenerative medicine, Investigational New Drug, Patent, Blood, Biology, Growth, Exosome, FDA, Fatality, IND, Aortic aneurysm, Medical imaging, Pharmaceutical industry

Therapeutic Solutions International (TSOI) announced formation of a new spin-off company, VasoSome Vascular Inc, focused on treating the “living timebomb” condition of aortic aneurysms using stem cell derived exosomes.

Key Points: 
  • Therapeutic Solutions International (TSOI) announced formation of a new spin-off company, VasoSome Vascular Inc, focused on treating the “living timebomb” condition of aortic aneurysms using stem cell derived exosomes.
  • An aortic aneurysm is a balloon-like bulge in the aorta that in many cases continues to grow.
  • The results announced today, for which a patent was filed, demonstrate administration of stem cell derived exosomes suppress growth of aortic aneurysms in an animal model.
  • The basis of VasoSome Vascular is to utilize stem cell exosomes to stabilize and possibly even reverse growth of aortic aneurysms,” said Dr. James Veltmeyer, Chief Medical Officer of Therapeutic Solutions International.

ImmunoTek Plasma Opens New Location in Baton Rouge

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 1, 2023
Medical Supplies, Health, Hospitals, General Health, Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, Plasma, Shock, Burn, Plasmapheresis, Patient, Coagulopathy, Blood, Medical device

ImmunoTek Bio Centers opens its 80th and newest ImmunoTek Plasma location in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.

Key Points: 
  • ImmunoTek Bio Centers opens its 80th and newest ImmunoTek Plasma location in Baton Rouge on Tuesday, May 2, 2023.
  • As the world's largest independent blood and plasma donation center operator, ImmunoTek invites the Baton Rouge community to visit the state-of-the-art facility to learn more about plasma donations and how they can positively impact others.
  • Scientists cannot synthesize blood-plasma, so centers like the new ImmunoTek Plasma in Baton Rouge are vital to keeping up with the worldwide demand for plasma.
  • "ImmunoTek is proud to be an integral part of the Baton Rouge community where its employees and plasma donors live and work.

Athersys to Participate in The Cellular Therapies and Transfusion Medicine in Trauma and Critical Care Conference

Retrieved on: 
Monday, May 1, 2023
Science, Neurology, Stem Cells, Biotechnology, Research, Pharmaceutical, Health, Clinical Trials, San Francisco, Critical care, University, Novel Therapeutic Targets for Antiarrhythmic Drugs, AABB, Critical, Colorado State University, Stroke, University of California, San Francisco, TBI, Regenerative medicine, DOD, DARPA, Patient, Blood, Transfusion medicine, FDA, SCI, Therapy, BARDA, NIH, Pharmaceutical industry, Medical device, Trauma, Polytrauma

Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX), a regenerative medicine company developing MultiStem® (invimestrocel) cell therapy for critical care indications, announced today their participation in the Cellular Therapeutics in Trauma and Critical Care’s (CTTACC) conference, “Cellular Therapies and Transfusion Medicine in Trauma and Critical Care,” from May 8-11, 2023 in Scottsdale, Arizona.

Key Points: 
  • Athersys, Inc. (NASDAQ: ATHX), a regenerative medicine company developing MultiStem® (invimestrocel) cell therapy for critical care indications, announced today their participation in the Cellular Therapeutics in Trauma and Critical Care’s (CTTACC) conference, “Cellular Therapies and Transfusion Medicine in Trauma and Critical Care,” from May 8-11, 2023 in Scottsdale, Arizona.
  • Presented by the University of California San Francisco and Colorado State University, this conference is the fifth in a series of conferences supporting the development and translation of novel therapies in trauma and critical care medicine, a field with limited therapeutic options.
  • This conference will bring together the expertise and input of cell therapy companies, clinicians, basic scientists, industry, FDA, NIH, AABB, DARPA, BARDA and DOD representatives to discuss current research and existing barriers in the translation of these novel therapies in trauma and critical care medicine.
  • Dr. Willie Mays, Executive Vice President and Head of Regenerative Medicine and Neuroscience Programs, has been invited to participate in this conference.