Colin Jackson health: Im in constant pain Athlete to undergo stem cell therapy to help – Express

Colin Ray Jackson, CBE, 54, is a Welsh former sprinter and hurdling Olympic silver medal champion. Colins world record for his 60 metres hurdles stood for an incredible 27 years. As with most athletes of his calibre, Colin suffers with ongoing injuries from his sports days and will be undergoing a treatment to reduce the pain which Mike Tyson recently underwent too.

In recent years, stem cell therapy has been hailed as a miracle cure for many conditions, from wrinkles to spinal repair.

A stem cell is an immature, basic cell that has not yet developed to become, say, a skin cell or a muscle cell or a nerve cell.

There are different types of stem cells that the body can use for different purposes.

There is evidence that stem cell treatments work by triggering damaged tissues in the body to repair themselves, often referred to as regenerative therapy.

In animal studies, stem cell treatments have shown promise for various diseases, including heart disease, Parkinsons disease and muscular dystrophy.

A study undertaken by Dr Timothy McGuine found that 34 percent of athletes involved in the one-year study were more likely to report a history of knee and hip injuries.

Additionally, he found that specialised athletes, such as those competing in the Olympic games, were twice as likely to sustain a gradual onset or repetitive use injuries than athletes who did not specialise.

Dr McGuine also found that these athletes who find themselves competing year-round, stressing the same muscles and movements, and predisposed to the symptoms of burnout are at higher risk of long-term injuries.

Many doctors and athletes use stem cell therapy to treat sports injuries, such as Achilles tendinopathy or damaged knee ligaments, said Sports Health.

The site continued: While increasing in popularity, stem cell therapy is not considered standard practice by sports medicine doctors and not covered by most insurance companies.

The process of collecting stem cells is often called harvesting. Physicians usually harvest stem cells from the patients fat, blood, or bone marrow.

Many physicians who use stem cell therapy hypothesize that, when placed into a certain environment, stem cells can transform to meet a certain need.

Other sports stars who underwent stem cell therapy for long-term injuries included Cristiano Ronaldo, Rafael Nadal and most recently Mike Tyson.

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Colin Jackson health: Im in constant pain Athlete to undergo stem cell therapy to help - Express

The Basics of MDS: Diagnosis and Staging – Curetoday.com

Myelodysplastic syndromes, known commonly as MDS, are a group of bone marrow diseases characterized by bone marrow failure, or an inadequate production of blood counts called cytopenia.

In a presentation at the CURE Educated Patient Leukemia Summit, Dr. Rami Komrokji, section head for Leukemia and MDS and Vice Chair of the Department of Malignant Hematology at Moffit Cancer Center, gave a run down on the diagnosis and staging process for MDS.

Diagnosing MDS

Komrokji explained that the myelo- prefix means bone marrow, and -dysplasia means abnormal-looking cells. When a patient has cytopenia, they may experience certain symptoms.

If patient is anemic, they will have shortness of breath, fatigue, palpitations, said Komrokji in an interview with CURE. If they have low platelets, they will have bleeding tendency, bruising. If they have low white blood cell counts, they will have maybe infections. So usually, either some of those symptoms will prompt blood testing, or on routine physical exam, the patients are found to have low blood counts. So that's usually the initial step.

Doctors will usually look into nutritional deficiencies such as B12, folate and ferritin, said Komrokji. Eventually, the patients will get a bone marrow aspirate and biopsy to diagnose their disease, which includes several parts.

There is the morphologic part, which means the pathologists are looking at the cells under a microscope, explained Komrokji. And then there is also some genetic testing. We look at cytogenetics nowadays, we look at gene mutations. So we put all of this information together to make the diagnosis.

The hematopathologist must see dysplasia, increased myeloblasts (immature cells known as blasts within the bone marrow) or certain cytogenetic abnormalities to make their diagnosis, Komrokji said.

Sometimes the diagnosis is straightforward, but sometimes it could be challenging, he added. It truly depends on an experienced hematopathologist to make the diagnosis.

Staging and Risk Stratification

Once a patient receives an MDS diagnosis, their doctor will go over risk stratification, or understanding what the risk of their disease is, which is what they consider staging, Komrokji said.

Now in MDS, its not like a lung cancer or colon cancer, he said. The disease does not spread around. The staging is based on the blood counts, on the percentage of those myeloblasts or immature cells (and) the chromosomal makeup of the cells. And nowadays, we sometimes also incorporate the presence of gene mis-happenings as well. So we get a lump score to estimate the risk.

Doctors typically use the International Prognostic Scoring System (IPSS) to categorize patients into one of five categories very low, low, intermediate, high and very high. The risk is the impact on survival and whether the disease will transform to leukemia, Komrokji explained. The disease risk must be known in order to tailor the patients treatment to them.

I always advise patients to see a specialized center in MDS, because obviously, those are not that common diseases, he said. A community oncologist could see a few (cases) per year, while an experienced center like in our place, we see like 15 to 20 per week.

Gene Mutations

Komrokji said that understanding gene mutations is an evolving field that is slowly becoming routine.

I advise all patients to inquire if theyve gotten genetic testing or not, he said. This sort of testing will help them understand any abnormalities. Doctors can look at a patients individual gene levels and detect for mutations, of which at least one was identified in 90% of patients with MDS.

Understanding the patients mutation(s) helps them tell whether there is a clonal hematopoiesis or mis-happening that occurred. It can also impact prognosis and allow them to further understand the disease risk.

And finally, some of them are targetable or important to follow through the treatment, said Komrokji. So patients should probably definitely have a genetic testing done. And sometimes after a treatment failure, we repeat it because we see other mutations that we could target with new drugs.

What Causes MDS?

In most cases, the cause of a patients MDS diagnosis is unknown.

We think it's phenomena of senescence or aging of those stem cells in the bone marrow that produces the blood, said Komrokji. Obviously, the process is very complicated. We have billions and billions of cells divide billions of times a day. So you know, as those cells age, mistakes can happen in them.

In most cases, he said, the mis-happenings which lead to the disease are random and at no fault of the patient. It is extremely rare for MDS to be inherited through familial genes.

There are, however, several known risk factors of MDS. If someone has history of another form of cancer and has received chemotherapy or radiation therapy, they may have possible stem cell damage and can develop MDS this is called therapy-related MDS. There has also been association of the disease with benzene exposure, chemical exposure and radiation exposure. Patients who have connective tissue diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and lupus are at a slightly higher risk of getting MDS due to inflammation in the body and certain medications used to treat those diseases.

I would say there's a lot of better understanding of the disease in the past several years, of genetic mutation testing and incorporating them in practice, Komrokji said. And I think, you know, there are a lot of new treatments on the horizon for patients; there are several clinical trials in advanced phase.

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Pharming Group reports financial results for the first half of 2021 – PRNewswire

Recovery continued into Q2 2021 as patient enrollment and product demand increases

LEIDEN, The Netherlands, Aug. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Pharming Group N.V. ("Pharming" or "the Company") (Euronext Amsterdam: PHARM/NASDAQ: PHAR) presents its preliminary (unaudited) financial report for the first six months of 2021 ended June 30, 2021.

Financial Summary

Amounts in US$m except per share data

H1 2021

H1 2020

% Change

Income Statement

Revenues

93.2

97.8

(5)%

Gross profit

83.8

86.9

(4)%

Operating profit

17.2

35.7

(52)%

Profit for the year

14.4

20.3

(29)%

Balance Sheet

Cash & marketable securities

189.8

173.8

9%

Share Information

Basic earnings per share (US$)

0.022

0.032

(31)%

Diluted earnings per share (US$)

0.019

0.028

(32)%

Financial highlights

Operational highlights

Post-period operational highlights

Chief Executive Officer, Sijmen de Vries, commented:

"As expected, revenue growth during Q2 2021 has continued to recover, following the impact of COVID-19 on Q1 2021, as underlying demand and patients benefiting from RUCONEST treatments for their HAE increases. We are confident this positive trend will continue for the remainder of the year and, supported by our strong cash position, will enable us to continue our planned investment in R&D and the ongoing preparations for the launch of leniolisib, which, subject to regulatory approval, is on track for the end of 2022 following the completion of patient enrollment in the potentially registration enabling study in APDS.

In our earlier pipeline, we initiated enrollment of patients in a multi-center Phase IIb clinical trial of rhC1INH for the prevention of acute kidney injury after myocardial infarction. In addition, post period, we delivered on one of our strategic objectives to strengthen our longer-term HAE pipeline, through a collaboration with Orchard Therapeutics, to develop and commercialize the pre-clinical ex-vivo autologous hematopoietic stem cell therapy product OTL-105, which has the potential to become a curative treatment for HAE. We remain focused on the positive progress against our three-pillar strategy of sales, R&D and acquisitive growth."

Outlook

For the remainder of 2021, we expect:

No further specific financial guidance for 2021 is provided.

About Pharming Group N.V.

Pharming Group N.V. is a global, commercial stage biopharmaceutical company developing innovative protein replacement therapies and precision medicines for the treatment of rare diseases and unmet medical needs.

The flagship of our portfolio is our recombinant human C1 esterase inhibitor (rhC1INH) franchise. C1INH is a naturally occurring protein that down regulates the complement and contact cascades in order to control inflammation in affected tissues.

Our lead product, RUCONEST, is the first and only plasma-free rhC1INH protein replacement therapy. It is approved for the treatment of acute hereditary angioedema (HAE) attacks. We are commercializing RUCONEST in the United States, the European Union and the United Kingdom through our own sales and marketing organization, and the rest of the world through our distribution network.

In addition, we are investigating the clinical efficacy of rhC1INH in the treatment of further indications, including pre-eclampsia, acute kidney injury and severe pneumonia as a result of COVID-19 infections.

We are also studying our oral precision medicine, leniolisib (a phosphoinositide 3-kinase delta, or PI3K delta, inhibitor), for the treatment of activated PI3K delta syndrome, or APDS, in a registration enabling Phase 2/3 study in the United States and Europe.

Furthermore, we are leveraging our transgenic manufacturing technology to develop next-generation protein replacement therapies, most notably for Pompe disease, which is currently in preclinical development.

Forward-looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements, including with respect to timing and progress of Pharming's preclinical studies and clinical trials of its product candidates, Pharming's clinical and commercial prospects, Pharming's ability to overcome the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic to the conduct of its business, and Pharming's expectations regarding its projected working capital requirements and cash resources, which statements are subject to a number of risks, uncertainties and assumptions, including, but not limited to the scope, progress and expansion of Pharming's clinical trials and ramifications for the cost thereof; and clinical, scientific, regulatory and technical developments. In light of these risks and uncertainties, and other risks and uncertainties that are described in Pharming's 2020 Annual Report and the Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020 filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the events and circumstances discussed in such forward-looking statements may not occur, and Pharming's actual results could differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied thereby. Any forward-looking statements speak only as of the date of this press release and are based on information available to Pharming as of the date of this release.

Inside Information

This press release relates to the disclosure of information that qualifies, or may have qualified, as inside information within the meaning of Article 7(1) of the EU Market Abuse Regulation.

For further public information, contact:Pharming Group, Leiden, The NetherlandsSijmen de Vries, CEO: T: +31 71 524 7400 Susanne Embleton, Investor Relations Manager: T: +31 71 524 7400 E: [emailprotected]

FTI Consulting, London, UKVictoria Foster Mitchell/Alex Shaw T: +44 203 727 1000

LifeSpring Life Sciences Communication, Amsterdam, The NetherlandsLeon Melens T: +31 6 53 81 64 27 E: [emailprotected]

Conference call dial-in informationThursday August 5, 2021 13:00CET/07:00ETPlease note, the Company will only take questions from dial-in attendees.

Dial-in details:

Netherlands (Local) 085 888 7233

United Kingdom 0800 640 6441

United Kingdom (Local) 020 3936 2999

All other locations +44 20 3936 2999

Access code: 914296

Webcast Link:https://webcast.openbriefing.com/pharming-aug21/

Pharming Group N.V.Condensed Consolidated Interim Financial Statements in US Dollars (unaudited)For the period ended 30 June 2021

Appendix: Main condensed consolidated Interim Financial Statements reported in Euros

(This appendix is not part of the Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements)

CONDENSED CONSOLIDATED STATEMENT OF PROFIT AND LOSS

For the 6-month period ended 30 June

Amounts in $ '000

notes

HY2021

HY 2020

Revenues

7

93,237

97,827

Costs of sales

8

(9,487)

(10,885)

Gross profit

83,750

86,942

Other income

1,354

525

Research and development

(24,206)

(17,658)

General and administrative

(15,060)

(9,846)

Marketing and sales

(28,686)

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Pharming Group reports financial results for the first half of 2021 - PRNewswire

Blood donation clinic will honour life of Jocelyn McGlynn – Chatham Daily News

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A blood donation clinic is being held Aug. 10 in Chatham to honour the life and memory of the late Jocelyn McGlynn, whose courageous battle with leukemia inspired many to register to become stem cell donors.

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A blood donation clinic is being held Aug. 10 in Chatham to honour the life and memory of the late Jocelyn McGlynn, whose courageous battle with leukemia inspired many to register to become stem cell donors.

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McGlynn, who was a medical science student at Western University in London with dreams of becoming a doctor, became an advocate for stem cell and blood donations while she battled leukemia, which took her life on Aug. 15, 2020, at age 23.

McGlynn was first diagnoses in the fall of 2018 when she went to see doctors for what appeared to be a cold she could not shake. This was the beginning of a tough medical battle that included multiple rounds of chemotherapy, radiation and two bone marrow transplants.

Joc was selfless and strong, caring and courageous, wonderful and wise, said McGlynns mother, Jacqueline McGlynn, about her daughter becoming a vocal champion for those fighting similar medical battles.

She loved to live and did not want others to suffer as she did.

During her own fight, Jocelyn McGlynn continued to encourage stem cell and blood donations, which included taking part in Walk the Night for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society of Canada and creating awareness videos for Blood Sweat Spin and Canadian Blood Services.

McGlynn used her creative talents to envision and bring to reality her Lets All Go Get Swabbed music video. She wrote the lyrics, played every note, directed, edited and starred in the video while recovering from chemotherapy.

People can help continue McGlynns efforts by scheduling an appointment for the upcoming blood donor clinic being held Tuesday at the Chatham YMCA from noon to 7 p.m. Donations can be booked online at blood.ca, through the GiveBlood App or by calling 1-888 2 DONATE (236-6283).

A single donation of blood is equal to one unit of blood, and a leukemia patient can require up to eight units of blood per week, stated the release.

As McGlynn wrote: Everybody join the team, theres a cure in your bloodstream.

Maureen Macfarlane, event co-ordinator with Canadian Blood Services, said there is an increased need for blood donations as hospital procedures, which were previously on hold during the COVID-19 pandemic, are being scheduled.

Another blood donor clinic is also being held in Chatham on Aug. 31 from 1 p.m. to 7 p.m. at the Retro Suites Hotel.

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Symptoms of seizures: Early signs, post-seizure, and more – Medical News Today

A person having a seizure may experience muscle spasms, blink rapidly, fall to the ground, or lose consciousness. They will require medical diagnosis of and treatment for the underlying cause of seizures.

Seizures may occur as a side effect of a health condition that originates from the brain, such as epilepsy.

Nonepileptic seizures may occur as well. These vary in type and may affect individuals with curable or reversible health conditions.

Other catalysts for seizures include:

This article will discuss in further detail the symptoms and types of seizures, their causes, the aftereffects, and more.

Sometimes, people will experience certain sensations, called an aura, prior to a seizure. These symptoms result from electrical changes in the brain that occur when the seizure starts.

They act as a warning that a seizure will happen. Yet the exact symptoms will depend on which part of the brain the seizure starts in.

According to John Hopkins Medicine, an aura typically occurs before a focal seizure, especially a complex focal seizure. The most common aura involves feelings such as:

People may also experience visual changes, hearing abnormalities, or changes in their sense of smell prior to having a seizure.

If a person notices any of these symptoms, they may want to keep track of them. Recording details of symptoms and when they happen can help a doctor diagnose and treat seizures.

Symptoms can vary depending on the type of seizure an adult has, but they may include:

Seizures may last a few minutes. However, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) encourage people to call 911 if:

Babies can also have seizures. However, a person may have more difficulty recognizing them because a babys healthy, typical responses may look similar to symptoms of a seizure.

Newborns commonly jerk, twitch, or contort their faces into grimacing expressions. So, a person can easily mistake these movements for seizures or not recognize them as seizure symptoms at all.

Seizure symptoms may include any or all of the following:

According to the University of Chicago Medicine, seizures are particularly likely if a baby repeats the same movements for approximately the same duration at the same time of day, usually when waking up or going to sleep. For babies prone to seizures, symptoms commonly occur every day.

In general, research suggest that genetics play an important role in whether a baby will experience seizures.

According to a 2018 research review, one-third of children with febrile seizures have a family history of seizures. The risk of a baby having febrile seizures is around 20% with an affected sibling and 33% with affected parents.

After a seizure, a person may experience a variety of effects that may persist for several minutes or even hours.

According to the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, people may feel tired, weak, and confused after a seizure has ended. Other common symptoms include headaches or pain in the muscles that contracted during the seizure.

The specific aftereffects that a person experiences can help a healthcare professional determine which part of the brain seizure originated in.

One example is Todds paralysis, a temporary paralysis in part of the body due to the area of the brain the seizure originated in. If the seizure stemmed from the temporal lobe, a person is more likely to experience language or behavioral changes.

According to the CDC, two main types of seizures exist: focal onset and generalized onset.

Generalized seizures affect both sides of the brain, and they include absence seizures and tonic-clonic seizures. These types of seizures produce many common seizure symptoms, such as:

Focal seizures, or partial seizures, originate in just one area of the brain. Subcategories of focal seizures include:

People with epilepsy may experience all these types of seizures.

Psychogenic nonepileptic seizures may also occur, due to psychological distress. Though these are not epileptic seizures, they have similar symptoms.

These symptoms include:

Research suggests the most common cause is a conversion disorder. This occurs when a person has the symptoms of a health condition without an actual underlying condition or injury.

Nerve cells in the brain send electrical signals to communicate. Any change to this electrical activity can cause seizures. Factors that can cause abnormal electrical activity include:

According to a 2021 article, genetics play a role in whether a person will experience epilepsy. The article also lists other potential causes for seizures:

With a treatable underlying cause, such as hypoglycemia, seizures are not likely to reoccur after treatment.

For epilepsy specifically, the CDC states that the condition is most likely to develop in children under age 2 and adults over age 65.

Not every seizure is an emergency, and while they can be fatal, the CDC states that most people can live safely with seizures. Seizures may turn life threatening if:

Although very rare, sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP) does occur. This refers to deaths that have no other cause than the seizure itself.

SUDEP is the cause of death in roughly 1.16 out of every 1,000 people with epilepsy.

If a person experiences a seizure for the first time, they will need prompt medical attention. A doctor can then diagnose the underlying cause and suggest appropriate treatment.

If a person experiences subsequent, more severe seizures, they should also seek medical help. A doctor can analyze patterns, discuss any aftereffects, and reevaluate treatment to help reduce the severity of seizures.

People who experience seizures may find it helpful to record the details of each episode to report to their doctor.

If people witness someone having a seizure, they will need to call 911 for any seizure that lasts longer than 5 minutes, according to the CDC, or if any injury occurs during the seizure.

Seizures may be epileptic or nonepileptic, and they stem from a disruption in nerve cell activity in different parts of the brain. Seizures typically last for only a few minutes at a time.

A person may experience various symptoms before, during, and after a seizure.

Tracking specific symptoms of a seizure may help a doctor diagnose or adjust treatment for seizures. Learning to recognize the warning signs of a seizure can also help people get into a safe space before a seizure occurs.

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