Quote of the Day: “Forgiveness is the final form of love.” – Reinhold Niebuhr
Photo by: Melanie Stander
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
4 years ago today, the Taliban and representatives from the United States signed the Doha Agreement to end hostilities in Afghanistan, 18 years after the US had invaded the South Asian country. The treaty came after months and months of backchannel negotiations between the Pashtuns and the Afghan-American diplomat Zalmay Khalilzad, a special representative appointed for the task. READ a bit more about the end of decades of war… (2020)
Gardeners are playing a critical role in detecting invasive plants before it’s too late, according to a new study.
Along with detecting, gardeners are best positioned to act on the information by taking measures to prevent the spread of the plants they detect.
An online survey has revealed that even though gardeners aren’t scientists, they’re effective as a community in identifying ‘future invaders’—or ornamental plants that could become invasive species.
Recent research has put together a shortlist of these decorative plants that have the potential to spread out of control and can become harmful to the environment, economy, or human health.
The researchers from the University of Reading and the Royal Horticultural Society (RHS) studied survey answers from 558 gardeners on ornamentals that showed ‘invasive behavior’ in their gardens.
The results, published in the journal NeoBiota, identified 251 different plants as potential invaders that they believe need their invasive potential in Britain and Ireland assessed.
The shortlisted plants include, for example: Mexican fleabane (Erigeron karvinskianus);cypress spurge (Euphorbia cyparissias); chameleon plant (Houttuynia cordata); Himalayan honeysuckle (Leycesteria formosa); and purple top (Verbena bonariensis).
The researchers say that their findings highlight the critical role of gardeners in the early detection of invasive species.
“The simple yet structured scheme we developed was used to prioritize which of the around 70,000 ornamental plants available to buy in the UK could be future invaders,” said lead author Tomos Jones, a Ph.D. student at Reading University.
SIMILAR STORY IN THE US: Wash. D.C’s ‘Weed Warrior’ Volunteers Tackle ‘Mile-a-Minute’ Invasives to Save the Capital’s Trees
“This is crucial for focusing research efforts and resources, such as conducting formal risk assessments to explore the invasive potential of those shortlisted.”
The team encourages gardeners to get involved in helping identify future invaders through an ongoing project called Plant Alert, run by the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland and Coventry University.
“It’s important to remember that these shortlisted plants are not yet officially invasive, and that many non-native plants that occur in the wild present no threat to our native biodiversity,” said Dr. John David, RHS Head of Horticultural Taxonomy.
MORE GARDENING STORIES: 8 in 10 Youth Think Gardening is Cool, and Half Would Rather Visit a Garden Center Than a Nightclub
It’s a good point. Invasive species are uniquely disruptive, through no fault of their own, for their ability to exploit niches in a local ecosystem. The niche could be a certain height, for example, where no other native species grow to occupy, or it could be that a particular species grows extremely fast and monopolizes available sunlight.
It could involve the relationship between plant and pollinator, like in Italy where the North American black locust tree attracts disproportionate numbers of pollinators.
SHARE This Noble Mission With Greenthumbs Near You…
From Japan’s metropolitan heart comes the story of a young woman with a love for nature getting her paws in the door of a scientific career after identifying a taxidermied Japanese wolf gathering dust in a museum collection.
The Japanese wolf has been extinct for over a century, but for 10-year-old elementary schooler Hinako Komori, they epitomize her love and fascination with the natural side of her country.
Only four specimens of this subspecies exist in the entire world, and it was on a guided tour through the Tsukuba Research Departments of the National Museum of Nature and Science that young Hinako spotted a narrow-nosed canine with a bushy tail.
2 million specimens of the three visible kingdoms of life are held in the National Museum, and among all these she noticed the canine literally hiding in the shadows on a bottom shelf in a room on the 7th floor of the department.
Pausing, memorized features of the Japanese wolf from dozens of illustrations and antique photographs flashed through her mind. Asking the tour guide what the animal is, he replied that he really didn’t know.
But Hianko did—she was sure it was the same beast as the one at the Naturalis Biodiversity Center in Leiden, Netherlands, where one of the 4 Japanese wolf specimens is kept, or the more famously publicized one held at the National Museum.
Despite Nippon folklore elevating the wolf to the role of a benevolent spirit for their tendency to prey on animals that ruined farmers’ crops, the Japanese wolf (Canis lupus hodophilax) is believed to have gone extinct due to pressure from humans trying to protect livestock. Rabies, which had not been present on the island until the Meiji Period, also contributed to its decline.
Phylogenetic evidence indicates that the Japanese wolf was the last surviving wild member of the Pleistocene wolf lineage, and may have been the closest living relative to the first wolves ever domesticated by humans.
“When I came across that stuffed animal, I instantly fell into a state of excitement because it matched my image of a Japanese wolf,” Hinako, who is now 13 and attending junior high school, told Alex Martin at the Japan Times.
That day in the museum began a 3-year-long mission to study the specimen, labeled M831, that culminated in the publishing of a scientific paper, accepted by the Bulletin of the National Museum of Nature and Science.
MORE STORIES LIKE THIS: Teen Finds Whale Skull from 34 Million Years Ago While Fossil Hunting in Alabama
Hinako was a co-author alongside Sayaka Kobayashi, a researcher at the Yamashina Institute for Ornithology, and Shin-ichiro Kawada, a researcher at the National Museum’s Department of Zoology.
“In researching the Japanese wolf, I found that each taxidermy of the Japanese wolf is different, and that there are many questions that remain unanswered,” she told Martin.
However, after devouring every last scrap of scientific literature and poring over reports written in the 19th century from hunters and keepers at the Ueno Zoo where the last two wolves were held, it is the authors’ belief that M831 is one of these two wolves, with the other being publicly displayed at the National Museum.
MORE PASSIONATE YOUNG PEOPLE: California Teen Passes the Bar Exam at 17– Now He’s a Practicing Attorney
How it fell into obscurity is not known, but during her research Hinako noticed a half-scraped off sticker on the base of the taxidermied specimen that had a different number, suggesting a lost storage record.
They can’t be 100% certain that M831 is one of two wolf pups brought to the Ueno Zoo from the Iwate Prefecture (another historical discovery of Hinako’s) because the taxidermied specimen lacks a skull. Nevertheless, co-author Kawada’s DNA analysis shows that there is more than a good chance that M831 is the real deal.
MORE JAPAN NEWS: Japanese Eels Found Living in Polluted River are Shining Example of Resilience
There’s also a chance that the specimen is a yamainu or “mountain dog” which was a local name for a wolf-dog hybrid.
“To be able to pick out from a room full of specimens one that appeared like a Japanese wolf, I think she has great talent for noticing things,” Mr. Kobayashi said of his teenage co-author.
As an important part of Japan’s natural history, the museum will undoubtedly be taking better care of the canine.
Read the full story from Alex Martin at the Japan Times.
SHARE This Passionate Young Woman’s Fascination With The Wolf…
When a woman was left an inheritance of $1 billion from her late husband, she used it to pay forward the tuition of students at a Bronx medical school.
The widow, Dr. Ruth Gottesman, was left the money by her late husband ‘Sandy’ Gottesman, who was an early investor in Berkshire Hathaway, and when her gift to the school was announced, the cheers—and tears—filled the auditorium of Albert Einstein Medical College.
Gottesman’s gift is the largest ever given to an American medical school, and one of the largest ever received by any American institute of higher learning.
“This donation radically revolutionizes our ability to continue attracting students who are committed to our mission, not just those who can afford it,” said Dean Yaron Tomer.
With this donation, all current fourth-year students will be reimbursed for their spring 2024 semester tuition, and effective August of this year, all students moving forward will receive free tuition.
“I am very thankful to my late husband, Sandy, for leaving these funds in my care, and l feel blessed to be given the great privilege of making this gift to such a worthy cause,” said Ruth Gottesman in a statement.
MORE PHILANTHROPY: Ocean Cleanup Nonprofit Gets $25Mil From Airbnb Co-Founder to Launch Massive Plastic Pollution Cleanup
Dr. Gottesman joined Einstein’s Children’s Evaluation and Rehabilitation Center (CERC) in 1968, and went on to become a Clinical Professor Emerita of Pediatrics.
At a time when learning problems were often unrecognized and misdiagnosed, she developed widely used screening, evaluation, and treatment modalities that have helped tens of thousands of children. In 1992, she started the Adult Literacy Program at CERC, the first of its kind, which is still in operation.
BILLIONAIRES COVERING STUDENT LOANS: Students Learn at Graduation the Snapchat Founder Paid Off Their College Debt With More Than $10 Million
In a note from her beloved Sandy, the investment house manager left a portfolio of Berkshire Hathaway stock and told her to do what she thought was best with the money.
In response, Dr. Gottesman hopes that from wherever Sandy is looking down, she hopes he approves of her choice.
Watch the moment the students heard the news…
SHARE This Incredible Act Of Philanthropy With Your Friends…
This is a new robotic exoskeleton manufactured in Italy that promises to improve the quality of life and mobility of disabled or injured people in a creative way.
The controls feature three modes of operation depending on the level of use the wearer has in his or her legs, and it’s made up of lightweight, interchangeable parts.
Developed through a partnership by the Italian Institute of Technology and the National Insurance Institute of Workplace Injuries, the exoskeleton is called the ‘Twin’ and was unveiled this Friday during a press conference held at the Museum of Science and Technology in Milan.
Battery-powered motors located at the knee and hip joints power normal motion based on three different modes, Walk mode, Retrain mode, and TwinCare mode.
Walk mode is for users who are paralyzed from the waist down, and moves their legs for them with adjustable gait and walk speeds.
OTHER BIONIC NEWS: A Paralyzed Man Walks Again Using Device that Connects His Thoughts to His Spinal Cord
Retrain mode is for users who have some control over their legs and need to build up strength and mobility. To accommodate this, the exoskeleton provides assistance when it feels motion, similar to electric pedal assistance on electric bicycles.
Lastly in TwinCare mode, the exoskeleton helps people who are injured in only one leg. Software onboard an Android tablet matches the movement and gait of a functional leg to the exoskeleton wrapped around the non-functional leg, ensuring the movements are even and balanced.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: ‘Wearable Muscles’ Restore Mobility in Those Who Have Trouble Moving Their Arms
In development since 2013, the Twin has a battery life of about 4 hours, and is made with lightweight aluminum alloy modules that can be disassembled for transport or if they need to be upgraded.
It’s still just a prototype, and crutches need to be used to help maintain balance, but it’s an inspiring sight to see such cutting edge technology being developed on behalf of the disabled.
WATCH the Twin in action below…
SHARE This Cutting Edge Work Dedicated To The Infortuni…
Quote of the Day: “For the mind disturbed, the still beauty of dawn is nature’s finest balm.” – Edwin Way Teale
Photo by: Tim Vrtiska, CC License
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
From Grand Rapids comes a story too magical to believe—of a mother’s love creating a medical miracle, and a woman who cared for a comatose daughter in silence for half a decade.
Jennifer Flewellen was 35 when, according to a feature on Good Morning America, she was put into a medically induced coma after crashing her car into a pole. Flewellen had just dropped her three boys off at school, but began to feel light-headed on the way home.
Placed on life-support at a large hospital, nurses were certain she would never recover, and though there are no hard or fast rules for when a person wakes up from a coma, by day 2, physicians were encouraging Flewellen’s mother, Peggy Means, to take her off life-support.
“I remember one respiratory nurse, she told me, ‘Well, you know, she’ll only get worse,’ and I told her, ‘Don’t you ever say that to me again, and never say it around my daughter,'” Means told GMA. “I’d say, ‘It’s very easy to be negative, but we have no room for negativity.'”
Weeks turned to months, which turned into years, but Means’ love for her daughter kept her strong and faithful through the long hours of silence. Means did as much as was possible and then some—transferring her to different care centers, battling with insurance to keep covering the treatment, arguing with hospital administrators, all the while working full time as an industrial sewer, and pampering the unconscious Jennifer with all kinds of TLC.
Means would give her daughter “spa days” even though Flewellen was unresponsive to all stimuli. She would wheel her around the hospital talking to her as if she were awake; recounting the progress of her three sons in school. Visting her nearly every day, this continued for 5 long years, through the pandemic and out the other side.
Then, one day, the truly unthinkable happened. Five years after the fateful crash, Means was sitting with her daughter in a sunny spot outside the hospital telling jokes. Flewellen laughed. Means could hardly believe it.
MORE INCREDIBLE STORIES OF RECOVERY: After Taking Vitamin B2 Baby Becomes Solitary Case of Recovery from Rare Genetic Disease
“I started to wheel her up to the building,” Means said, being scared at first, “and then I thought, she’s laughing, so I stopped and got my phone out.”
After all that time, what Means believed all along with all her heart was true: her daughter was still in there.
“I would ask her questions about the boys and stuff, and she couldn’t she couldn’t speak even a sound, but she could shake her head yes and no,” Means recalled. “I said, ‘Jen, am I your dad,’ and she made a face like, ‘no.’ And then I’d ask about the boys, I’d mix up their names, like one middle name to another one.'”
Flewellen was answering the questions correctly, so Means immediately organized speech therapy.
MORE HEROIC MOMS: ‘Mother Theresa of Vietnam’ Overcame Decades of Homelessness to Help Hundreds of Orphans
And that was the beginning of the end—Flewellen was indeed still there, and as the weeks went by, more and more of her was reemerging, like a butterfly breaking loose of its cocoon.
GMA says that just 2 to 3% of people left in a vegetative state for that long will ever wake up, but Means is ensuring her daughter will be able to do more than that. She organized occupational, speech, and physical therapy. She has organized surgeries to loosen the rigor mortis-like tension that had set into her joints so she can regain movement.
At Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Center in Grand Rapids, Michigan, one doctor said that the case study is so rare that Means is basically driving scientific discovery. No one can say for certain how much faculty Flewellen will recover, because the instance is just too rare. But because the answer isn’t known, Means is driving forward with all the love and determination that kept her going through the unresponsive years.
READ ALSO: Man Paralyzed from the Neck Down from Rare Disease Makes Incredible Recovery, Now Back at the Gym
Eventually, Jennifer Flewellen, at age 41, and a new grandmother to a 1-year-old granddaughter, left Mary Free Bed and came home to stay with Means—herself newly retired. Flewellen’s oldest son moved in with the two to help out.
The road to recovery is long—and no one knows where the end will be—but mother and daughter carry on with a mantra given by a nurse practitioner who once told Means that ‘you have to dream it, then you have to believe it.’
WATCH the incredible true story below from GMA…
SHARE This Example Of The Power Of A Mother’s Love On Social Media…
By screening billions of human antibodies, scientists may have taken the first steps towards developing a universal antivenom for snakebites. Their screen identified one which counteracts a protein in venom found in a variety of snakes including king cobras and black mambas.
Researchers at Scripps Research Institute then found that the antibody protected mice against this variety of snake venom, and the scientists published their work in the journal Science Translational Medicine.
Everyone knows that hospitals in snake-prone areas carry antivenom which reverses the toxicity of snake bites, but it’s not a very developed or sophisticated field of medicine.
Existing antivenoms involve extracting antibodies from animals which, through exposure therapy, have developed an immunity to the venom of a particular snake.
Obviously though, this provides protection against one single snake species, but in rural communities across the tropics in low and middle-income countries, there may be several snake species that humans come in contact with.
“This antibody works against one of the major toxins found across numerous snake species that contribute to tens of thousands of deaths every year,” says senior author Joseph Jardine, PhD, assistant professor of immunology and microbiology at Scripps Research. “This could be incredibly valuable for people in low and middle-income countries that have the largest burden of deaths and injuries from snakebites.”
Scripps has been ranked several times as first in the United States, and second in the world, for biomedical discoveries, and their faculty includes multiple Nobel laureates.
Like almost all animals, snakes attack humans when they are cornered, surprised, or trying to escape. Nearly all snakes eat rodents, and rural communities often practice agriculture, an environment where rodents thrive. This, unfortunately, puts humans in close proximity to snakes on the hunt for rodents, and leads to death and amputation across Asia, South America, Africa, and Australia.
In the new work, the researchers isolated and compared venom proteins from a variety of elapids—a major group of venomous snakes including mambas, cobras, and kraits. They found that a type of protein called three-finger toxins (3FTx), present in all elapid snakes, contained small sections that looked similar across different species.
In addition, 3FTx proteins are considered highly toxic and are responsible for whole-body paralysis, making them an ideal therapeutic target.
With the goal of discovering an antibody to block 3FTx, the researchers created an innovative platform that put the genes for 16 different 3FTx into mammalian cells, which then produced the toxins in the lab. The team then turned to a library of more than fifty billion different human antibodies and tested which ones bound to the 3FTx protein.
Among the 30 antibodies identified in that screen, one stood out as having the strongest interactions across all the toxin variants: an antibody called 95Mat5.
“We were able to zoom in on the very small percentage of antibodies that were cross-reactive for all these different toxins,” says Irene Khalek, a Scripps Research scientist and first author of the new paper. “This was only possible because of the platform we developed to screen our antibody library against multiple toxins in parallel.”
CURES FOR LOW-INCOME COUNTRIES: Cape Verde Becomes the First African Country in 50 Years to Eradicate Malaria
Jardine, Khalek, and their colleagues tested the effect of 95Mat5 on mice injected with toxins from the many-banded krait, Indian spitting cobra, black mamba and king cobra. In all cases, mice who simultaneously received an injection of 95Mat5 were not only protected from death, but also paralysis.
When the researchers studied exactly how 95Mat5 was so effective at blocking the 3FTx variants, they discovered that the antibody mimicked the structure of the human protein that 3FTx usually binds to.
While 95Mat5 is effective against the venom of all elapids, it does not block the venom of vipers—the second group of venomous snakes, to which almost all poisonous snakes in the United States belong to.
OTHER INNOVATIVE CURES: Cures and Prevention For Some of the Worst Diseases Come From a Surprising Ally – Our Sewers
Jardine’s group is now pursuing broadly neutralizing antibodies against another elapid toxin, as well as two viper toxins. They suspect that combining 95Mat5 with these other antibodies could provide broad coverage against many—or all—snake venoms.
“We think that a cocktail of these four antibodies could potentially work as a universal antivenom against any medically relevant snake in the world,” says Khalek.
SHARE This True Breakthrough In Antivenom With Your Friends…
It’s not a cure for ALS or cancer, but the pharmacists who just developed a “game-changer” treatment for frostbite deserve plenty of congratulations nonetheless.
On February 14th, the FDA approved Aurlumyn (iloprost) injection to treat severe frostbite in adults to reduce the risk of finger or toe amputation.
Frostbite can occur in several stages, and severe frostbite occurs when both the skin and underlying tissue are frozen and blood flow is stopped, sometimes requiring amputation. Iloprost, the active ingredient in Aurlumyn, is a vasodilator (a drug that opens blood vessels) and prevents blood from clotting.
“This approval provides patients with the first-ever treatment option for severe frostbite,” said Norman Stockbridge, M.D., Ph.D., director of the Division of Cardiology and Nephrology in the FDA’s Center for Drug Evaluation and Research. “Having this new option provides physicians with a tool that will help prevent the life-changing amputation of one’s frostbitten fingers or toes.”
Cold is often described as being like a “vice” or as having a “grip” in so small part because once a human’s hands or feet are frostbitten, it’s a bit like a hostage situation. One can’t simply immerse them in nice hot water, because if the ice crystals forming in the blood and tissues are warmed too fast, they will burst, causing intense pain, swelling, tissue damage, and internal bleeding.
However, warm blood from the body’s core can’t arrive at the frostbitten extremities due to the presence of frozen blood and tissue, and the only option is to slowly rewarm the frostbitten area with body heat, but even this may not be able to reverse the damage.
MORE USEFUL DRUGS: FDA Approves the First New Cystic Fibrosis Treatment in Decades
“It’s a game-changer, in my opinion,” Dr. Peter Hackett, a professor of medicine at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus who specializes in high-altitude and wilderness medicine, told CNN. “It’s a major step forward in frostbite treatment in the United States.”
Existing clot-bursting medications come with high risks of causing internal hemorrhaging, and CNN reports them as being effective for only around 24 hours post-frostbite.
MORE NEWS FOR MOUNTAINEERS: Himalayan Mountaintops Visible for the First Time in 30 Years as Air Pollution Continues to Plummet in India
Canada, Nepal, and Europe have been using iloprost to treat frostbite for years, as it is generally safe, and effective even 3 days after frostbite has set in.
A small clinical trial showed that no frostbitten participants required amputation compared to 60% in those receiving only other medications.
SHARE This New Drug For An Old Disease With Your Friends…
‘Panda Diplomacy’ is back in action in San Diego as Chinese conservationists and the California zoo signed an agreement that could see giant pandas return for the viewing public as soon as the end of summer.
When China began sending giant pandas alongside diplomatic liaisons, it didn’t just help stabilize relations with contentious neighbors and competitor nations, it contributed immensely to the understanding of these beautiful creatures.
With zookeepers all over the world studying different aspects of panda biology and ethnology, the last 40 years have seen the ability to captively breed and raise pandas improve exponentially.
At the moment, the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance (SDZWA) has already signed an agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association, and is filing permits with the US Fish and Wildlife Service to welcome two new giant pandas to their zoo.
The partnership this time around will include research on disease prevention and habitat protection, with a fee paid by SDZWA for the opportunity to host the pandas going directly to giant panda conservation in China.
“We are humbled by the potential opportunity of continuing our collaborative conservation efforts to secure the future for giant pandas,” said Dr. Megan Owen, Vice President of Conservation Science at SDZWA.
Panda lovers rejoiced when, at the first face-to-face meeting between presidents Biden and Xi Jinping in over a year, promises to reduce tensions arrived alongside hints that pandas may return to zoos in San Diego and Washington D.C.
In recent years, China has declined to renew loan agreements with zoos in D.C., Tennessee, and San Diego as a result of perceived antagonism by Washington, and the only place in the US where giant pandas could be seen was Atlanta.
MORE GOOD DIPLOMACY: China Sends Expert Team to Taiwan to Help Care for Sick Panda (Video)
But seeing as giant pandas swear allegiance to no nation, history has shown that collaboration between SDZWA and Chinese research partners has contributed to critically important and far-reaching discoveries as well as scientific contributions that have played a meaningful role in China’s efforts to bring the iconic and beloved giant panda back from the brink of extinction.
These have included critical findings on giant panda reproductive behavior and physiology. Female pandas are receptive to mating just 48-72 hours every year, and it was the San Diego Zoo that conducted the first successful artificial insemination of a giant panda outside China—with longtime San Diego Zoo resident Bai Yun. The cub that was born this way—Hua Mei, survived to adulthood and reproduced 12 times before being sent back to China.
Advances have also included data on nutritional requirements, habitat needs, and genetic research. The efforts include developing a giant panda milk formula and other neonatal conservation techniques that dramatically increased survival rates for nursery-reared cubs from 5% to 95%.
NEWS FROM ZOOS: Doctors Called in for Rare Emergency C-Section on Gorilla in the Zoo–and the Baby Pics Are Incredible
“Pandas in our care and in the care of Chinese colleagues at conservation facilities play an important role as assurance against extinction and loss of genetic diversity in their native habitats, as well as a source population for reintroductions,” said Dr. Owen. “Our partnership over the decades has served as a powerful example of how—when we work together—we can achieve what was once thought to be impossible.”
The IUCN Red List updated the giant panda to “Vulnerable” down from “Endangered” after such conservation efforts increased their populations from 1,000 to 1,800.
SHARE This Great News For Zoogoers And Panda Lovers…
Quote of the Day: “Happiness depends more upon the internal frame of a persons own mind—than on the externals in the world.” – George Washington (1787) Source: MountVernon.org
Photo by: Irudayam (CC license)
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
A large-scale clinical trial of treatment strategies for Crohn’s disease has shown that offering early advanced therapy to all patients straight after diagnosis can drastically improve outcomes, including by reducing the number of people requiring urgent abdominal surgery for treatment of their disease tenfold.
Crohn’s disease is a life-long condition characterized by inflammation of the digestive tract. Even at its mildest, it can cause symptoms that have a major impact on quality of life including stomach pain, diarrhea, weight loss, and fatigue. It often comes stepwise with conditions like inflammatory bowel disease or ulcerative colitis.
The Cambridge-led research involved 386 patients with newly diagnosed active Crohn’s disease and found that use of the drug infliximab straight after diagnosis showed dramatic results.
Infliximab works by blocking an inflammatory cytokine, the proteins that cause acute inflammatory reactions like swelling, called TNF-alpha, which is found in nearly every disease known to man.
Historical concerns about the cost and side effects of infliximab mean it’s currently only offered when patients experience regular flare-ups that don’t respond to less potent treatments.
To see if this drug was rightly overlooked the researchers conducted a trial in which two groups were assigned either the current UK treatment plan or immediate use of infliximab as soon as possible after diagnosis.
The results, published in The Lancet Gastroenterology and Hepatology, were dramatic with 80% of people receiving the immediate infliximab therapy having both symptoms and inflammatory markers controlled throughout the course of the entire year compared to only 15% of people receiving the usual UK treatment plan.
Two-thirds of patients in the infliximab group had no ulcers seen on their endoscopy camera test at the end of the trial, something known as endoscopic remission and associated with decreased risk of later complications in Crohn’s disease.
Most previous clinical trials of therapies are considered successful if one-third or even less of patients achieve endoscopic remission.
“As soon as a patient is diagnosed with Crohn’s disease, the clock is ticking—and has likely been ticking for some time—in terms of damage happening to the bowel, so there’s a need to start on an advanced therapy such as infliximab as soon as possible,” said Dr. Nuru Noor, of Cambridge’s Department of Medicine.
“We’ve shown that by treating earlier, we can achieve better outcomes for patients than have previously been reported.”
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: After Taking Vitamin B2 Baby Becomes Solitary Case of Recovery from Rare Genetic Disease
As well as these findings, patients in this group also had higher quality of life scores, less use of steroid medication, and lower number of hospitalizations.
Strikingly, while around one in 20 patients in the conventional treatment arm of the trial required urgent abdominal surgery for their Crohn’s disease, only one in 193 receiving the new approach required the same.
ALSO CHECK OUT: Exciting Clinical Trials of New Stem Cell Injection Treatment Shows Promise for Halting Multiple Sclerosis
The researchers also note that there was no difference in risk of serious infection between treatment strategies, suggesting that infliximab straight after diagnosis was well tolerated, contrary to previous concerns about its safety.
These concerns, says 28-year-old Toby Moore, a paitent in the study who was diagnosed with Crohn’s at age 10, were what prevented him from being given infliximab at any time other than during bad and sudden flare-ups, a decision which he says caused him years of additional suffering and complication.
In terms of financial concerns, the drug has fallen considerably from around £15,000 to around £3,000 per patient per year.
“Up until now, the view has been ‘why would you use a more expensive treatment strategy and potentially over-treat people if there’s a chance they might do fine anyway?’” said Professor Miles Parkes, Director of the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Research Center.
MORE AUTO-IMMUNE DISCOVERIES: Marathoner Runner Stopped By Lupus is Racing Again Thanks to Amazing Treatment for Autoimmune Disorder
“We now know we can prevent the majority of adverse outcomes, including the need for urgent surgery, by providing a treatment strategy that is safe and becoming increasingly affordable.”
The Cambridge scientists add that while there are other anti-TNF drugs, such as adalimumab, that work in a similar manner to infliximab and are significantly cheaper, more research is required to understand if it would be as clinically effective.
The team believes that their findings are the start of a new treatment path for people suffering with Crohn’s, which may help them spend less time in hospital and more time living life.
SHARE This Immediately With Anyone You Know With Crohn’s Disease…
Clackamas County in Oregon, one of two counties into which Portland extends, has reduced the rate of homelessness by 65% from 2019 to 2023, a number that officials say reflects a more comprehensive strategy.
According to Clackamas County’s quarterly report on the Supportive Housing Services (SHS) outcomes, the county has rehoused 314 people in six months.
429 people and 223 homeless households were placed in permanent supportive housing, exceeding the stated goal for the period by 20.
“[J]ust over the last couple of months, we’ve placed 30 households in the Rapid Rehousing program through the support of housing services,” said Melissa Erlbaum, executive director of Clackamas Women’s Services. “We’re doing amazing work and partnership with the county.”
According to KATU News, officials also said in the report that SHS prevented 1,369 people, and 591 households from being evicted, which they added is one of the chief strategies for reducing the number of homeless on the street; provide assistance to people on the precipice of homelessness.
UNWINDING HOMELESS KNOTS: Texas Tiny Home Community Thrives With 2,000 Neighbors: Easing Homelessness in Austin
“We work hard to reduce and prevent homelessness early on before it even happens, with rental assistance, and we make sure that we have the resources and the assets up and running to give people housing when they need it,” Ben West, Clackamas County commissioner, told KATU News.
The permanent supportive housing is another component of the approach detailed in the report, and offers the combination of a permanent personal space with the social services necessary to help those who have experienced homelessness to stabilize things.
SHARE This Positive Step In The Right Direction For Portland…
After a nail-biting descent, a commercial space company became the first in history to conduct the soft landing of a spacecraft on the Moon after their Odysseus lander touched down at 5:24 p.m. CST on February 22nd.
Landing in the area called Malapert A in the South Pole region of the Moon, the Houston-based Intuitive Machines carried a payload for NASA as part of their CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative, marking the first time NASA has returned to the Moon since the Apollo missions over 50 years ago.
Carrying six NASA science research and technology demonstrations, among other customer payloads, all NASA science instruments completed transit checkouts en route to the Moon.
“For the first time in more than half a century, America returned to the Moon. Congratulations to Intuitive Machines for placing the lunar lander Odysseus carrying NASA scientific instruments to a place no person or machine has gone before, the lunar South Pole,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson.
“This feat from Intuitive Machines, SpaceX, and NASA demonstrates the promise of American leadership in space and the power of commercial partnerships under NASA’s CLPS initiative.”
A NASA precision landing technology demonstration also provided critical last-minute assistance to ensure a soft landing. As part of NASA’s Artemis campaign, the lunar delivery is in the region where NASA will send astronauts to search for water and other lunar resources later this decade.
The payload is all about future use and occupation of the Moon, and consists of some pretty important pieces of technology.
The Lunar Node 1 Navigation Demonstrator is NASA’s attempt to pioneer a Global Positioning System (GPS) for the Moon, and uses positional data from spacecraft, ground stations, or rovers to provide navigation data for landers and astronauts. Similarly, a collection of eight retroreflectors left near the landing site will also provide precision laser guidance and ranging to incoming landers for decades to come.
INDIA’S SOFT MOOND LANDING: India Becomes Fourth Nation to Touch Down on the Moon In Mission to Study its South Pole
“In daring to confront one of humanity’s greatest challenges, Intuitive Machines created an entire lunar program that has ventured farther than any American mission to land on the Moon in over 50 years,” said Steve Altemus, CEO of Intuitive Machines. “This humbling moment reminds us that pursuing the extraordinary requires both boldness and resilience.”
It wasn’t all science and government that touched down on the Moon on Friday; this was a commercial payload after all. Among other things were included some sculptures by artist Jeff Koons, and a sample of Colombia Sportswear’s “Omni-Heat” insulative fabric as part of a test to see how well it can contain heat.
MORE SPACE ACHIEVEMENTS: NASA Celebrates World First: Smashing a Spacecraft into an Asteroid to Practice Saving Humanity
A private-private-public partnership seemed poised to make it to the Moon first when the Pittsburgh-based space company Astrobotic launched its Peregrine lunar lander on the inaugural flight of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket.
Unfortunately, a crippling fuel leak saw the upper-stage rocket and the capsule steered into a controlled destruction in the atmosphere.
CELEBRATE This Triumph Of American Industry With Your Friends…
In a hospital in the Argentine city of Cordoba, a wonderful and obvious initiative is giving babies a more natural environment when they are born into circumstances that are anything but.
Placed in an incubator, with mother and father absent due to work, substance abuse, incarceration, injury, or death, a team of volunteer “huggers” take 2-hour shifts holding babies in their arms to benefit their growth so they aren’t left too long in the machine.
Neither a mother nor a father needs to read the established scientific literature that holding babies speeds their neurological development, helps them gain weight, acclimatize to the world, and sleep more soundly: they would know it instinctively upon holding their newborn.
Hearing them sigh, seeing their hands unclench, and seeing their skin turn from beet-red to a more natural color, is sign enough for most humans to understand the baby is benefiting from the human contact.
For this reason, the Provincial Maternity Hospital of Córdoba welcomes 50 volunteer huggers to spend time hugging prematurely born babies or those whose mothers are absent. The team consists of 49 women and 1 man (go on son!), but 200 applicants are on the waiting list.
“I want [the babies] to be certain that, since they were born, they’ve been loved and accepted. It’s amazing how [valiant] they are, they have such a desire to live,” said Irma Castro, a retired public teacher and volunteer hugger.
Nancy Sánchez Zanón, head of the Maternity Neonatology Department, told El Pais that 1,500 of the 5,200 babies born in their hospital every year require a stay period in the NICU, and about 15% of these need to be hugged for one reason or another.
Zanón’s colleague Ana María Rognone adds that they replicated a similar program at a hospital in Buenos Aires that partnered with UNICEF, but the whole concept came from an infant cuddling program originating in Canada among babies whose mothers were addicted to heroin.
SUPPORTING THE CHILDREN: New ‘Wall of Hope’ in Children’s Hospital Neonatal Ward Helps Families Stay Strong
When babies are hugged, they stop consuming their own energy—the women explain—a survival mechanism for situations when they have to be put down for one reason or another. If this state is left to continue for too long, the infant begins to diminish, but when held in the arms of another, able to feel the warmth of human skin and the beating of a human heart, this survival mechanism is turned off. They typically sigh, relax, and their bodies can start growing again.
“[This contact] promotes neurodevelopment, protection, care, and growth,” explains Zanón. “[A child] is less stressed, because they’re in someone’s arms… they can regulate their temperature more easily… are less prone to sleep apnea, and gain weight faster compared to if they weren’t linked to anyone.”
MORE NEWS LIKE THIS: Lullabies Can Actually Improve the Health of Premature Babies in Hospital –And Their Family’s Health Too
Many of the volunteers, El Pais writes, are mothers themselves, and they admit that the love they give the hospital infants through their hugging is of a different sort. It’s deeply fulfilling and rewarding, but in a different way than what they experienced with their own babies.
It’s part of the hospital’s overall focus on human-centered neonatal care, and a beautiful reminder of the power of love and humanity in a situation when the baby is surrounded by technology and strangers.
SHARE This Heartwarming Example Of Holistic Medicine With Your Friends…
Quote of the Day: “Little minds are tamed and subdued by misfortune; but great minds rise above them.” – Washington Irving
Photo by: Paul Longhurst
With a new inspirational quote every day, atop the perfect photo—collected and archived on our Quotes page—why not bookmark GNN.org for a daily uplift?
He found it in a dusty bin on the floor of a used bookstore, where he grabbed three books for 45 cents.
One was an ultra-rare proof copy of the first ever Harry Potter story which he kept on his bookshelf for 30 years, without looking at it—and now it’s set to fetch $20,000 at auction.
He scooped up the copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone—which had a plain white and yellow cover—back in 1997.
The edition is such an early version, it even gets the author’s name wrong, attributing it to J A Rowling and Joanne Rowling—instead of J K Rowling.
The ‘Uncorrected Proof Copy’ was one of only 200 printed by Bloomsbury, and marked the start of the Harry Potter phenomenon.
“In 1997, when I was 26, I lived in Crystal Palace in London,” said the 52-year-old seller. “I didn’t have much money but I always liked to treat myself to a browse in second-hand bookshops on Saturday mornings.
“I dropped into one of my usual haunts looking for some Agatha Christies. Piles of books were all jumbled up in baskets on the floor. The Harry Potter book was among the piles of Agatha Christie, Dorothy Sayers, Ngaio Marsh, etc.
“I bought it as a throw-in with a couple of other titles. I don’t think I even looked at it properly to tell the truth. Since then, it’s followed me round to China, Taiwan, the UK, and now Italy being packed and unpacked—without being read.”
When his kids were turning into Harry Potter movie fans, he went looking for it.
The book will now go under the hammer tomorrow (Feb 26) in Staffordshire, England, at Hansons Auctioneers, with a guide price of between $15,000-$20,000 (£12k-£16k).
The father is now happy that nobody in his household ever read the book, because it preserved the copy in its present condition.
“There are four kids (from 12 to 25) who always, unfortunately—or fortunately in this case—preferred the films.”
“I was scrolling on the internet one night when a story popped up about the incredible prices achieved for Potter books, so I decided to contact someone to see whether my book might be valuable.”
Hansons book expert Jim Spencer has only ever come across one other book like it, which sold at auction last year for almost $24,000 (£18,750).
Jim said, “This book has a story all its own. It’s lived all over the world and cost pennies.
“I am not sure how this one ended up in a London second-hand book shop but you have to remember this was before the first Potter book had even been printed.
“This is the very first appearance in print of the first Potter novel. The title page mistakenly states the author’s name as as ‘J A Rowling’ instead of J K Rowling and, on the other side, ‘Joanne Rowling’.
The fortunate owner is now more than happy to pass it along to another book patron.
“Finding it when I did was just a massive piece of well-timed luck for which I will always be grateful—and more than a tad surprised.”
SHARE THE COOL Story With Book & Harry Potter Lovers on Social Media…
A big cost and concern for many seniors in the U.S. is the price of prescription drugs and other healthcare expenses—and this year, thanks to The Inflation Reduction Act, their costs may go down dramatically, especially for patients fighting cancer or heart disease.
I learned about the new benefits because my ‘Medicare birthday’ is coming up in a couple months when I turn 65. I was shocked that there were so many positive changes being made, which I never heard about on the news.
Thousands of Americans on Medicare have been paying more than $14,000 a year for blood cancer drugs, more than $10,000 a year for ovarian cancer drugs, and more than $9,000 a year for breast cancer drugs, for instance.
That all changed beginning in 2023, after the Biden administration capped out-of-pocket prescriptions at $3,500—no matter what drugs were needed. And this year, in 2024, the cap for all Medicare out-of-pocket prescriptions went down to a maximum of $2,000.
“The American people won, and Big Pharma lost,” said President Biden in September 2022, after the legislation passed. “It’s going to be a godsend to many families.”
Another crucial medical necessity, the shingles vaccine, which many seniors skip because of the cost, is now free. Shingles is a painful rash with blisters, that can be followed by chronic pain, and other complications, for which there is no cure
In 2022, more than 2 million seniors paid between $100 and $200 for that vaccine, but starting last year, Medicare prescription drug plans dropped the cost for shots down to zero.
Another victory for consumers over Big Pharma affects anyone of any age who struggles with diabetes. The cost of life-saving insulin was capped at $35 a month.
Medicare is also lowering the costs of the premium for Part B—which covers outpatient visits to your doctors. 15 million Americans will save an average of $800 per year on health insurance costs, according to the US Department of Health and Human Services.
Last year, for the first time in history, Medicare began using the leverage power of its large patient pool to negotiate fair prices for drugs. Medicare is no longer accepting whatever drug prices that pharmaceutical companies demand.
Negotiations began on ten of the most widely used and expensive drugs.
Among the ten drugs selected for Medicare drug price negotiation were Eliquis, used by 3.7 million Americans and Jardiance and Xarelto, each used by over a million people. The ten drugs account for the highest total spending in Medicare Part D prescription plans.
Bringing down prescription drug costs doesn’t just save seniors money. Paying lower prices for those drugs will also reduce the federal budget deficits by hundreds of billions of dollars.
MORE PRICE CUTS: U.S. Allows Hearing Aids to Be Sold Over-the-Counter, Saving Americans Thousands
The government is able to pay for these benefits by making sure the biggest corporations in America are paying their fair share of federal taxes.
In 2020, for instance, dozens of American companies on the Fortune 500 list who made $40 billion in profit paid zero in federal taxes.
Starting in 2023, U.S. corporations are required to pay a minimum corporate tax of 15 percent. The Inflation Reduction Act created the CAMT, which imposed the 15% minimum tax on the adjusted financial statement income of any corporation with average income that exceeds $1 billion.
For years, Americans have decried the rising costs of health care—but in the last three years, there are plenty of positive developments.
SHARE THE FANTASTIC NEWS With Seniors and Family on Social Media—to Help Them Realize Their Savings…
The Kenya Wildlife Service celebrated the successful transfer of 21 eastern black rhinos to establish a new viable breeding population for the species that was on the brink of extinction decades ago.
In an 18-day exercise executed by highly trained capture and veterinary experts, the Loisaba Conservancy received the 21 rhinos from three different locations, becoming the 17th sanctuary in Kenya where the mammoth animals can roam and intermingle.
“It’s incredibly exciting to be part of the resettlement of rhinos to a landscape where they’ve been absent for 50 years,” said Tom Silvester, CEO of Loisaba Conservancy.
Kenya had 20,000 black rhinos in the 1970s before poachers decimated them for their horns. By the time the Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) was established in 1989, rhino numbers had declined to below 400.
Since then, Kenya’s eastern black rhinos have made a remarkable comeback and today there are an estimated 1,004 individuals.
Kenya is a stronghold of the eastern sub species of black rhino, hosting approximately 80 percent of the entire world’s surviving population.
“Surpassing the milestone of 1,000 rhinos within four decades is a significant accomplishment,” said Munira Bashir, Director of The Nature Conservancy in Kenya.
The reintroduction this month of these 21 animals this month is a great milestone in Kenya’s rhino recovery action plan, and was made possible by support from The Nature Conservancy, San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance, other partners—and the three reserves from where the 21 rhinos originated, Nairobi National Park, Ol Pejeta Conservancy and Lewa Conservancy.
“In the recent past, one of the main causes of mortality of rhinos has been territorial fights due to limited space in sanctuaries which has also led to suppressed growth rates due,” explained Dr. Erustus Kanga, the Director General of Kenya Wildlife Service. “I am elated to be associated with this momentous effort to secure more space for this cornerstone species.”
RHINO GOOD NEWS: Specially-Trained Dogs Have Saved 45 Rhinos From Poachers in South Africa—And Counting
Meanwhile, southern white rhinos continue to thrive in Kenya, having increased from 50 individuals that were imported from South Africa in the eighties and nineties to reach the current population of 971 individuals.
Kenya is also playing a critical role in efforts to save the northern white rhino from extinction, as it is host to the only remaining two females of the species left in the world. The international BioRescue project has developed thirty embryos awaiting implantation into surrogate females within the closely-related subspecies of southern white rhino.
“The return of black rhinos to Loisaba, 50 years after the last known individual here was killed by poachers in the 1970s, is a demonstration of how impactful partnerships between governments and conservation NGOs can be for restoring, managing, and protecting our natural world,” said Dr. Max Graham, CEO and Founder of Space for Giants, one of the project partners.
ALSO: Zero Rhinos Poached in Kenya 3 Years Ago – Better Policing is One of the Keys
“And, of course, the return of black rhinos here gives all of us one of the most precious commodities of all: hope.”
SHARE THE HOPE By Reposting the Story on Social Media…
