Groundbreaking Treatment for Severe COVID-19 Using Stem Cells It’s Like Smart Bomb Technology in the Lung – SciTechDaily

Umbilical cord-derived mesenchymal stem cells naturally migrate directly to the lung where they begin repair to COVID-19 damage. Credit: Dr. Camillo Ricordi

Study looked at treating severe COVID-19 with umbilical-cord derived mesenchymal stem cells.

University of Miami Miller School of Medicine researchers led a unique and groundbreaking randomized controlled trial showing umbilical cord derived mesenchymal stem cell infusions safely reduce risk of death and quicken time to recovery for the severest COVID-19 patients, according to results published inSTEM CELLS Translational Medicinein January 2021.

The studys senior author, Camillo Ricordi, M.D., director of the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) and Cell Transplant Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, said treating COVID-19 with mesenchymal stem cells makes sense.

The paper describes findings from 24 patients hospitalized at University of Miami Tower or Jackson Memorial Hospital with COVID-19 who developed severe acute respiratory distress syndrome. Each received two infusions given days apart of either mesenchymal stem cells or placebo.

It was a double-blind study. Doctors and patients didnt know what was infused, Dr. Ricordi said. Two infusions of 100 million stem cells were delivered within three days, for a total of 200 million cells in each subject in the treatment group.

Researchers found the treatment was safe, with no infusion-related serious adverse events.

Camillo Ricordi, M.D., director of the Diabetes Research Institute (DRI) and Cell Transplant Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Credit: University of Miami Health System

Patient survival at one month was 91% in the stem cell treated group versus 42% in the control group. Among patients younger than 85 years old, 100% of those treated with mesenchymal stem cells survived at one month.

Dr. Ricordi and colleagues also found time to recovery was faster among those in the treatment arm. More than half of patients treated with mesenchymal stem cell infusions recovered and went home from the hospital within two weeks after the last treatment. More than 80% of the treatment group recovered by day 30, versus less than 37% in the control group.

The umbilical cord contains progenitor stem cells, or mesenchymal stem cells, that can be expanded and provide therapeutic doses for over 10,000 patients from a single umbilical cord. Its a unique resource of cells that are under investigation for their possible use in cell therapy applications, anytime you have to modulate immune response or inflammatory response, he said. Weve been studying them with our collaborators in China for more than 10 years in Type 1 Diabetes, and there are currently over 260 clinical studies listed in clinicaltrials.gov for treatment of other autoimmune diseases.

Mesenchymal cells not only help correct immune and inflammatory responses that go awry, they also have antimicrobial activity and have been shown to promote tissue regeneration.

Our results confirm the powerful anti-inflammatory, immunomodulatory effect of UC-MSC. These cells have clearly inhibited the cytokine storm, a hallmark of severe COVID-19, said Giacomo Lanzoni, Ph.D, lead author of the paper and assistant research professor at the Diabetes Research Institute. The results are critically important not only for COVID-19 but also for other diseases characterized by aberrant and hyperinflammatory immune responses, such as autoimmune Type 1 Diabetes.

When given intravenously, mesenchymal stem cells migrate naturally to the lungs. Thats where therapy is needed in COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome, a dangerous complication associated with severe inflammation and fluid buildup in the lungs.

It seemed to me that these stem cells could be an ideal treatment option for severe COVID-19, said Dr. Ricordi, Stacy Joy Goodman Professor of Surgery, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, and professor of biomedical engineering, microbiology and immunology. It requires only an intravenous (IV) infusion, like a blood transfusion. Its like smart bomb technology in the lung to restore normal immune response and reverse life-threatening complications.

When the pandemic emerged, Dr. Ricordi asked collaborators in China if they had studied mesenchymal stem cell treatment in COVID-19 patients. In fact, they and Israeli researchers reported great success treating COVID-19 patients with the stem cells, in many cases with 100% of treated patients surviving and recovering faster than those without stem cell treatment.

But there was widespread skepticism about these initial results, because none of the studies had been randomized, where patients randomly received treatment or a control solution (placebo), to compare results in similar groups of patients.

We approached the FDA and they approved our proposed randomized controlled trial in one week, and we started as quickly as possible, Dr. Ricordi said.

Dr. Ricordi worked with several key collaborators at the Miller School, the University of Miami Health System, Jackson Health System, and collaborated with others in the U.S. and internationally, including Arnold I. Caplan, Ph.D., of Case Western Reserve University, who first described mesenchymal stem cells.

The next step is to study use of the stem cells in COVID-19 patients who have not yet become severely ill but are at risk of having to be intubated, to determine if the infusions prevent disease progression.

The findings have implications for studies in other diseases, too, according to Dr. Ricordi.

Hyper-immune and hyper-inflammatory responses in autoimmune diseases might share a common thread with why some COVID-19 patients transition to severe forms of the disease and others dont.

Autoimmunity is a big challenge for healthcare, as is COVID-19. Autoimmunity affects 20% of the American population and includes over 100 disease conditions, of which Type 1 Diabetes can be considered just the tip of the iceberg. What we are learning is that there may be a common thread and risk factors that can predispose to both an autoimmune disease or to a severe reaction following viral infections, such as SARS-CoV-2, he said.

The DRI Cell Transplant Center is planning to create a large repository of mesenchymal stem cells that are ready to use and can be distributed to hospitals and centers in North America, he said.

These could be used not only for COVID-19 but also for clinical trials to treat autoimmune diseases, like Type 1 Diabetes, Dr. Ricordi said. If we could infuse these cells at the onset of Type 1 Diabetes, we might be able to block progression of autoimmunity in newly diagnosed subjects, and progression of complications in patients affected by the disease long-term. We are planning such a trial specifically for diabetes nephropathy, a kidney disease that is one of the major causes of dialysis and kidney transplantation. We are also planning to do a study on umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cell transplantation in combination with pancreatic islets to see if you can modulate the immune response to an islet transplant locally.

Funding by The Cure Alliance made launching the initial trial possible, while a $3 million grant from North Americas Building Trades Unions (NABTU) allowed Dr. Ricordi and colleagues to complete the clinical trial and expand research with mesenchymal stem cells.

North Americas Building Trades Unions (NABTU) has been a major supporter of the Diabetes Research Institute since 1984, when they started a campaign to fund, and build, our state-of-the-art research and treatment facility. NABTU has continued to support our work through the years, including our mesenchymal stem cell research that helped lead the way to this clinical trial, he said.

Reference: 5 January 2021, STEM CELLS Translational Medicine.

All the organizations funding the research are nonprofit entities, including the Barilla Group and Family, The Fondazione Silvio Tronchetti Provera, the Simkins Family Foundation and the Diabetes Research Institute Foundation. The National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences also provided funding.

Coauthors on the NEJM paper include: Giacomo Lanzoni, Ph.D., assistant research professor, DRI; Elina Linetsky, Ph.D., DRI director of quality assurance and regulatory affairs; Diego Correa, M.D., Ph.D., assistant professor (Research) Dept. of Orthopaedics and the DRI, adjunct assistant professor of biology at Case Western Reserve University; Shari Messinger Cayetano, Ph.D., associate professor of Public Health Sciences at the Miller School; Roger A. Alvarez, D.O., M.P.H., a pulmonologist with UHealth Pulmonary and Sleep Medicine; Antonio C Marttos, M.D., a UHealth general surgeon; Ana Alvarez Gil, DRI; Raffaella Poggioli, M.D., DRI; Phillip Ruiz, M.D., Ph.D., department of Surgery at the Miller School and the UHealth Anatomic Pathology department; Khemraj Hirani, M.Pharm., Ph.D., R.Ph., CCRP, CIP, RAC, M.B.A., director of regulatory affairs and quality assurance at the DRI; Crystal A. Bell, department of medicine at the Miller School; Halina Kusack, department of Medicine, Miller School; Lisa Rafkin, research assistant professor, DRI; Rodolfo Alejandro, M.D., professor of Medicine at the Miller School, co-director of the Cell Transplant Center, and director/attending physician of the Clinical Cell Transplant Program at the DRI; David Baidal, M.D., assistant professor of Medicine in the division of Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism at the Miller School and member of the DRIs Clinical Islet Transplant Program; Andrew Pastewski, M.D., Jackson Health System; Kunal Gawri, Miller School and University of Miami Health System; Dimitrios Kouroupis, postdoctoral research fellow at the Miller School; Clarissa Leero, DRI; Alejandro M.A. Mantero, Ph.D., lead research analyst, department of Health Sciences at the Miller School; Xiaojing Wang, DRI; Luis Roque, DRI; Burlett Masters, DRI; Norma S. Kenyon, Ph.D., deputy director and the Martin Kleiman professor of Surgery, Microbiology and Immunology and Biomedical Engineering at the DRI; Enrique Ginzburg, M.D., chief of Surgery at University of Miami Hospital and Trauma Medical Director at Jackson South Community Hospital; Xiumin Xu, DRI; Jianming Tan, M.D., Ph.D., Fuzhou General Hospital, Fujian, China; Arnold I. Caplan, Ph.D., professor of Biology at Case Western Reserve University; and Marilyn Glassberg, M.D., division chief of Pulmonary Medicine, Critical Care and Sleep Medicine at the University of Arizona College of Medicine.

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Groundbreaking Treatment for Severe COVID-19 Using Stem Cells It's Like Smart Bomb Technology in the Lung - SciTechDaily

New combo therapy offered against refractory T-cell lymphoma – Korea Biomedical Review

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Medical doctors wrestling with recurrent, non-reactive T-cell lymphoma, an intractable disease with no standard treatments, have recently got a green light.

A research team, led by Professor Yang Deok-hwan of the Department of Hematology at Chonnam National University Hwasun Hospital (CNUHH), said it has developed a new treatment method. For the first time in the world, they proved that the combined therapy of Copanlisib and Gemcitabine cell chemotherapeutic treatment showed high efficacy in treating the disease.

They conducted phase 1 and 2 clinical trials on 28 patients with P13K signal transduction inhibitor, Copanrai combining with Gemcitabine chemotherapy. The former inhibitor controls the P13K signal, and the latter suppresses the proliferation of malignant B cells, selectively blocking P13K subtypes.

Six other hospitals Seoul National University Hospital, Samsung Medical Center, Yonsei Severance Hospital, Chonbuk National University Hospital, Busan National University Hospital, and Kyungbuk National University Hospital also participated in the study.

Researchers found that 72 percent of patients showed favorable reactions to the treatment with minor adverse effects, and developed a new therapy that supplements old therapy using single P12K with the combined inhibitor treatment.

Recurring and non-reactive peripheral T-cell lymphoma is regarded as incurable cancer, which does not have a standardized treatment yet. In the past, salvage chemotherapy or hematopoietic stem cell transplants after high-dose chemotherapy were conducted to treat such disease after the first treatment failed; however, patients were non-reactive or lived for less than five months after the treatment.

The new method is receiving attention for using the next generation sequencing (NGS) approach to classify gene abnormalities or mutations in peripheral T-cell lymphoma in therapeutic and non-response groups.

We are conducting additional predictive systems for blood cancer patients using AI to research on developing prognosis prediction programs, Professor Yang said.

The study results will be published in the Annals of Oncology.

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New combo therapy offered against refractory T-cell lymphoma - Korea Biomedical Review

Are metabolic hormones the next frontier in cancer treatment? – MedCity News

Conceptual vector illustration. Human diseases. Stop cancer

Its now well established that obesity, visceral (belly) fat and type 2 diabetes (i.e., metabolic dysfunction) increase a persons risk for developing certain cancers. What is only beginning to be appreciated is that cancer patients that have underlying metabolic dysfunction have much worse outcomes and seriously increased mortality rates. This suggests that metabolic hormones play an important role in cancer progression, and could be valuable targets in cancer treatment.

A variety of chronic, adverse health issues are associated with metabolic dysfunction, including type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular diseases, Alzheimers, and most notably cancer. Metabolic dysfunction is linked with worse outcomes for at least 13 types of cancers and is associated with a 33% elevated risk of death from cancer in the US. Of all the various cancer types, some of the most common are highly sensitive to dysregulated metabolic hormones (insulin, leptin, adiponectin) and chronic inflammation stemming from overweight/obesity, pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome. An estimated 630,000 patients in the United States alone were diagnosed in 2014 with an obesity-related cancer, including breast, prostate, and colorectal cancers. Yet, only now are oncologists and researchers beginning to pay close attention to the profound influence systemic metabolic dysfunction has on cancer progression and patient outcomes.

The nexus of cancer and metabolic dysfunctionMetabolic dysfunction leads to dysregulated hormones that impact known oncogenic pathways causing tumors to grow faster with greater metastatic potential, and may even be implicated in cancer treatment resistance. The metabolic hormone insulin, as well as leptin and adiponectin (aka adipokines), signal through validated oncogenic pathways, including PI3K/Akt/mTOR, MAPK, ERK, JNK, Notch, and STAT3, and trigger deleterious downstream effects such as cell proliferation, migration, angiogenesis, stem cell protection, and metastatic potential. Ultimately, these downstream effects drive tumor growth and metastasis. Moreover, systemic metabolic dysfunction dysregulates the tumor immune microenvironment leading to immune suppression possibly rendering the tumor resistant to cancer treatment.

Sadly, you dont have to be overweight to have metabolic dysfunction. People who maintain a healthy weight according to their body mass index (or BMI) can still have systemic metabolic dysfunction, depending on how their body fat is distributed. These individuals are also at a higher risk of developing cancer, one major example of this being in post-menopausal women and breast cancer. Furthermore, cancer therapies themselves can induce metabolic dysfunction (e.g., hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, weight gain, insulin resistance) which can impact the patients quality of life and even lead to treatment failure.

Why targeting gene mutations isnt enoughCurrent cancer treatments tend to target specific mutations or dysregulated pathways in tumor cells with the goal of blocking cell proliferation and reducing tumor burden. However, as long as metabolic dysfunction is stimulating key oncogenic pathways, oncologists administering these treatments will be fighting a losing battle. Studies with diet and exercise suggest that standard treatments may be more effective if they are administered simultaneously with measures to reduce metabolic dysfunction in cancer patients. This approach addresses the disease on two fronts: molecularly targeted chemotherapeutics arrest cell proliferation and can shrink the tumor size, while restoring normal metabolic hormone levels relieves the external stimulation on oncogenic signaling pathways. Not only does this combination approach impede multiple cancer drivers at both the systemic and cellular levels, but it also improves patients quality of life by boosting their strength and possibly lessening side effects from treatment.

It is now more important than ever that standard cancer treatments account for the critical role that metabolic dysfunction plays in patients prognosis. Rates of obesity, pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes are on the rise worldwide, driven by poor diets, sedentary lifestyles, and even reduced activity during the Covid-19 pandemic. Furthermore, metabolic dysfunction and cancer are associated with aging, and retiring baby boomers make up a massive aging segment of our population. This growing population of aging individuals combined with an increase in metabolic dysfunction creates the perfect storm in which many more people are likely to develop highly aggressive forms of cancer in the coming years.

How to treat a cancer patient with metabolic dysfunction?When a person with metabolic dysfunction discovers they have cancer, they can work with an endocrinologist or dietician to develop healthier lifestyle habits, such as weight loss, better diabetes control, improved nutrition, and regular physical activity all of which help the patient better tolerate chemotherapy, and improve the treatment outcomes. However, sticking to a rigorous diet and exercise regimen can be challenging for patients, especially while they are undergoing chemotherapy. While adopting healthy habits should always be a goal, cancer patients could benefit from pharmacological options that treat systemic metabolic dysfunction more predictably and reliably to provide a complementary, one-two punch with standard of care cancer therapies so they have a better shot at working. Although there are no drugs on the market specifically targeting this population, the type 2 diabetes drug metformin has been clinically studied in this population, with mixed results.

Treating the patient, not just the cancerWeinbergs The Hallmarks of Cancer got it right a multi-faceted approach to treating cancer is the way forward. Metabo-oncology is the emerging area of research dedicated to understanding and developing treatments for cancers that are sensitive to metabolic dysfunction. A steadily-growing body of clinicians are speaking out on the role of metabolic dysfunction and its implications on cancer patient treatment and clinical outcomes.

Justin Brown PhD, assistant professor and director of the Cancer Metabolism Program at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Louisiana is a leader in the field researching how metabo-oncology principles can be put into clinical practice. From Dr. Browns perspective, the diagnosis of cancer triggers two reactions: on one hand, an individual becomes motivated to do everything in their power to maximize the probability for a good outcome; on the other hand, the diagnosis is overwhelming, stressful, and terrifying. Most patients experience some combination of both reactions, and this is where healthy lifestyle habits can be a powerful, enabling tool.

Dr. Brown believes that oncologists should provide the right information about lifestyle choices to the right patient at the right time. When a patient indicates that they are ready, physicians could then initiate a patient-centered discussion about the benefits of pursuing a healthy lifestyle. Once a patient decides they want to adopt a healthier lifestyle, doctors should put the patients in contact with experts (endocrinologists, dieticians) to help improve clinical success.

In reality, however, while oncologists and their patients generally recognize the importance of healthy lifestyle habits, in a 2019 survey conducted by the American Society of Clinical Oncology, oncologists only reported counselling patients about weight management, healthful eating, and physical activity about 40-60% of the time, due to a lack of training, limited referral options, and lack of third-party reimbursement for diet and exercise counseling.

Thats why treating cancer patients with concomitant metabolic dysfunction remains a major challenge for oncologists. The work of a key opinion leader in this field, Emily Gallagher, MD, PhD demonstrates this well. Dr. Gallagher is an endocrinologist at Mount Sinai in New York who specializes in treating cancer patients with metabolic dysfunction. When Dr. Gallagher treats her patients, she never takes a one-size-fits-all approach to addressing their metabolic issues. Instead, she considers the underlying medical reason patients were referred to her, the type of cancer they have, and the type of treatment they are receiving. She considers pre-existing conditions, like type 2 diabetes, current lifestyle, and disease symptoms when devising a treatment regimen that she believes will be most effective. She sets short-term and long-term goals for her patients and follows up regularly to help keep them on track, and encourages them to see a diabetes educator/dietitian to further encourage positive lifestyle changes.

From Dr. Gallaghers perspective, when patients have metastatic cancer, their non-cancer background conditions often go under-treated. But, by ignoring systemic metabolic dysfunction, clinical oncologists may inadvertently be contributing to their patients disease progression. Therefore, its important that oncologists pay close attention to the metabolic health of their cancer patients and monitor for endocrine side effects (hyperglycemia, hyperinsulinemia, obesity/weight gain) induced by the cancer drugs they prescribe. This is why it makes sense to refer these patients to endocrinologists who may have already developed strategies to address these problems. Whats more, by having the oncology team reinforce the importance of systemic metabolic health, it communicates to the patients that their treatment strategy is being administered by a team of doctors using a whole-patient strategy.

While treating physicians know that obesity/systemic metabolic dysfunction leads to worse outcomes for their cancer patients, they face multiple challenges in addressing it: limited pharmacologic interventions that can effectively treat patients metabolic issues, lack of training in the methods endocrinologists use to address these issues, and no payer incentives to encourage better lifestyle choices. While we wait for effective pharmaceutical interventions that can reliably address these issues, anti-diabetic medications and diet and exercise will have to do. Addressing systemic metabolic dysfunction in cancer patients requires communication between diverse medical experts and scientific disciplines. Incorporating a multi-disciplined approach to treating cancer should help foster better clinical practices for cancer patients and improved outcomes for patients with cancers sensitive to metabolic hormones.

Photo: Main_sail, Getty Images

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Are metabolic hormones the next frontier in cancer treatment? - MedCity News

Hair Growth Treatment Secrets Bollywood Will Never Tell You About – Times of India

Hair loss just creeps on you; it often begins with finding a few strands on the pillow (hair fall) and accelerates to the hair hair everywhere (hair loss) situation before you have even had the chance to blink. The good news is that hair loss treatments have made a quantum leap from uncomfortable sweaty wigs, or hiding the scalp under a cap or a scarf, or going through painful hair transplants. Here are the top three hair growth treatment secrets and the best hair treatments in India that Bollywood is not telling you: Hair Transplant May Not be a One Time Process & May Have Issues Hair transplant is a surgical process, which essentially just uses hair from the healthy portion at the back of the scalp and translocates them on the balding area. The hair transplant procedure does not impact the hair loss process itself and one may have to undergo repeat sessions, as the hair loss continues. This almost always leads to thinning months to years post the hair transplant and hence may necessitate multiple repeat procedures. This makes the treatment invasive and expensive. Many top celebs have claimed to not having benefited from this costly and painful hair treatment process.

Apart from the side effects such as bleeding at the transplant site, crusting, facial edema, infection, swelling, headaches, and scarring at the graft site; recently there have been a few well reported cases globally, in which these procedures have even proven to be fatal.

PRP Therapy For Hair Fall Treatment Has Not Demonstrated Effective Results In Randomised Controlled Trials

The Platelet Rich Plasma therapy (PRP) is an outdated & clinically unproven clinical procedure that uses the natural growth factor present in the patients own blood to boost the scalp follicles. Patients blood is drawn and spun through a centrifuge to separate the rich plasma. PRP is injected in the deep layers of the scalp with the help of needles. The cost of each PRP session can be upward of 6000 to 12000.

The large variability in results of PRP is because there is no standardization in the injection and treatment method. While cosmetologists all over the world continue to use the PRP treatment in their clinics for their patients, surprisingly for something so ubiquitously used, the PRP treatment has never been patented nor have its results been demonstrated in Randomised Controlled Trials. PRP treatment may take up to 3 to 6 months to show minimal increase in hair density. Booster dose is also needed every six months to maintain the results. Side Effects

Tenderness, soreness on the injected area, tightness of scalp, headaches, scar tissue formation, and calcification of injected points are common side effects of the PRP treatment.

These are the new millenniums answer to traditional hair growth treatments. Safe, easy, and highly effective, non-surgical hair fall treatments like the novel QR 678 are the new favourites for hair fall control in Bollywood and Hollywood.

QR 678 is a USA patented, plant derived, natural hair rejuvenation therapy, that has proven to be very effective in the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in men and women, female pattern hair loss because of PCOS, alopecia caused because of chemotherapy, seborrheic dermatitis and alopecia areata.

Developed, produced and marketed in India, QR 678 is a true Made in India product that has gained an international reputation in producing most effective, efficient results faster than any other surgical and non-surgical hair regrowth treatment known today.

To see how QR 678 works, See the below video-

The name QR 678 means Quick Response to a disease which earlier had no answer. The Esthetic Clinics Research & Development team have introduced this hair formulation in the commercial market after a decade of extensive research and studies. QR 678 has already been awarded a patent from USA and India and is FDA approved for commercial production as an effective hair fall treatment.

QR 678 contains a mix of six plant based essential growth factors that mimic those already present in the scalp. These hair growth factors combined with vitamins, minerals and growth peptides replenish the scalp follicles and increase the blood supply to the hair follicles leading to a healthier and denser hair growth.

How Does This Revolutionary Hair Loss Solution Work?

The balding areas of the scalp are identified and the QR 678 solution is administered by your doctor, to the scalp. The whole process takes a few minutes to complete and is almost painless. The sessions are repeated every month, for eight to twelve months.

The Results

QR 678 has been tested extensively on people from all over the world and all age groups to prove its efficacy. Over 12000+ patients have received the QR 678 treatment and it has clinically proven to cause more than 80% hair regrowth.

Clinical data published in top American peer reviewed Journals shows the following:

QR 678 has minimal risk, is nonsurgical, non-invasive, and a pocket friendly treatment that costs patients approximately 200 a day i.e. 6000 a month is required, to delay balding, reverse hair loss and keep a healthy mop of hair on the head, throughout life.

QR 678 hair loss treatment has almost no side effects and does not disturb the existing hair in any way. The Esthetic Clinics invented and started this therapy at its centers in Mumbai, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Bengaluru, Kolkata & Ahmedabad, but this treatment is now being used by the top plastic surgeons, cosmetologists and dermatologists globally in their patients.

Disclaimer: Content Produced by Global Cosmetic Surgery

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Hair Growth Treatment Secrets Bollywood Will Never Tell You About - Times of India

Limerick toddler to wait six months for trial cancer treatment after family raises over 400,000 – Extra.ie

A toddler from Co Limerick will have to wait six months to avail of trial cancer treatment in the US after his family raised over 400,000.

Three-year-old Theo Murnane, from Murroe, Co Limerick, has spent the majority of his short life to date undergoing cancer treatment, after he was diagnosed with neuroblastoma shortly after his first birthday.

In May 2018, Theo was diagnosed with Stage 4 neuroblastoma after it was discovered that a tumour had spread from the toddlers abdomen to his bones and scalp.

Since his devastating diagnosis, Theo has undergone multiple rounds of chemotherapy, a double stem cell transplant, 14 rounds of radiotherapy and six rounds of immunotherapy, as well as having the original tumour removed.

Thankfully, the Murnane family received positive news just before Christmas, as Theo finally got the all-clear after two-and-a-half years of gruelling treatment and numerous setbacks.

However, there is a strong possibility that the form of cancer Theo has defeated will return, leading the Murnane family to pin their hopes on trial treatment offered by the Memorial Sloan Kettering Hospital Cancer Centre in New York, which would seek to prevent cancer recurrence and to improve the toddlers chances of survival.

The Murnanes have raised an incredible 416,745 through the GoFundMe account Team Up for Theo, which was established by Theos mother Eleanor. However, the family was recently informed that Theo will not be able to begin treatment in New York until he has been cancer-free for six months.

Theo will undergo a major scan in May, and doctors in New York have recommended that the toddler travels to Barcelona, Spain, for treatment in the interim. On the Team Up for Theo page, Eleanor wrote: This is yet another big decision to make and we will have to weigh up all options and decide in the next week or so.

Eleanor added: As several people have said to me, maybe this is a blessing in disguise with everything going on in the world at the moment. Who knows.

Theos mother went on to thank those who have donated to the toddlers treatment fund to date, saying: Thanks to all of you the funds are in place for us to go, as soon as we get the go ahead.

I want to wish you all a very happy and healthy new year, and again thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your continued support.

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Limerick toddler to wait six months for trial cancer treatment after family raises over 400,000 - Extra.ie

West Lothian mum fighting for her life after back pain turned out to be terminal blood cancer – Edinburgh Live

A West Lothian mum has spoken about fighting for her life after her sciatica was diagnosed as blood cancer which had "hollowed out" her bones.

Judith Green, from West Lothian, had complained of back pain over the previous 10 years but was reassured by doctors that it was a trapped nerve which would heal itself.

But in April 2019 Judith woke up in the middle of the night screaming before vomitting blood, the Daily Record reports.

Doctors at St Johns Hospital in Livingston later diagnosed Judith with myeloma cancer which had left her kidneys functioning at just 15 per cent.

The condition, which usually affects men over 60, is incurable, doctors told Judith, but there was hope her life could be extended with treatment.

After undergoing a stem cell transplant in January, Judith was left devastated when medics said the cancer had returned just seven months later.

But the former waitress has said she will keep fighting as she urged people to register as potential stem cell donors.

She explained: Ill never forget the look on my partner Stevens face when the doctor said those words - youve got cancer and it's incurable.

His eyes just went massive and he had a terrified look on his face.

I remember thinking but its just a sore back. I had never heard of myeloma before I got diagnosed with it.

When you tell people, they think its melanoma - skin cancer - but its not.

Even now, I dont even fully understand exactly what it is - I just take it a day at a time. But I wasnt expecting the news to be so drastic, so quickly into this journey.

I 100 per cent thought I was going to hospital that day because I had sciatica. With myeloma, it eats away at your bone marrow.

My ribs were sore but I brushed it off thinking it was my new bra digging in. When my back hurt, I thought it was the new car seat causing it.

But in reality, I had almost no bone marrow. It was 90% cancerous cells. I just made excuse after excuse but looking back I now realise that it was all part of it.

My kidneys were only working at 15 per cent which explained why I was so thirsty.

Doctors immediately started Judith on a course of chemotherapy and steroids before attempting to harvest some of her remaining bone marrow.

The first attempt was unsuccessful but the next managed to gather enough cells to provide at least three more transplants.

The cells were then frozen before she received the first transplant in January. It's hoped this could extend her life by 18 months.

But a blood test in August revealed that the myeloma had returned a lot quicker than expected meaning she now has to undergo a second transplant from a mystery donor.

She explained: I cried constantly for the first six weeks after being diagnosed. When I got home, I was too scared to go to sleep in case I never woke up.

We always knew that the myeloma would come back and I would need to go back on chemo and to get another transplant.

But we thought that it would be six months of chemo followed by around 18 months of each transplant working so all in I had another six years with my family.

We were excited for that because theres always treatments coming out. I got my first transplant on January 11 and everything was great.

I was doing so well on paper and my cancer number was going right now and I was feeling great.

But then all of sudden, they came back and said I had an infection in my hickman line.

They then discovered that I had sepsis but also MRSA - all while having no immune system and blood cancer. I was the sickest I had ever been. It was horrific.

They were hoping I would make it 18 months post transplant but they discovered in August that the cancer had returned and it had only worked for seven months.

Thats when we found out that they wouldnt be able to use my own cells again because it wasnt worth putting me through all that again.

So now Ill be going back on chemo in January and getting a transplant from a worldwide donor. Thankfully the transplant team has already found a match for me on the system.

Im really lucky that theres a match out there for me. But there are so many others, who are a lot sicker than I am, that dont have theirs yet.

The reason I wanted to speak out is to raise awareness of myeloma and stem cell donation.

You really could be giving someone a second chance at life by spitting into a tube. Back in the day it was a bone marrow transplant but now its stem cells.

Its no different from giving blood. I would just ask everyone to go have a look into it and see if they want to or are able to register.

Judith, who lives with her two sons and partner Steven, 46, added: I may not be able to do some of the things I did before like go to the cinema with the boys but Im still here.

To receive one WhatsApp message a day with Edinburgh Live's headlines, as well as breaking news alerts, text NEWS to 07899067815. Then add the number to your contacts as 'Edinburgh Live'.

And I hope to be here long enough to see my grandkids. I know Ill keep fighting after that to see them grow up then. But for now, its just taking each day as it comes.

Those aged under 30 can find out more about stem cell donation by visiting Anthony Nolan here. People over 30can visit DKMS by clicking here.

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West Lothian mum fighting for her life after back pain turned out to be terminal blood cancer - Edinburgh Live

MorphoSys and Incyte Announce the Acceptance of the Swissmedic Marketing Authorization Application for Tafasitamab – Yahoo Finance UK

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Dublin, Jan. 05, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The "Advanced Distribution Management System Market - Growth, Trends, Forecasts (2020 - 2025)" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering. The advanced distribution management system market is expected to grow at a CAGR of 16.43% during the forecast period. Increasing renewable energy demand across the world, the surging requirements for better customer service and utility efficiency, and rapid development of the smart grid are some major factors driving the growth of an advanced distribution management system market.Key Market TrendsAdvanced Metering Infrastructure (AMI) Will Experience Significant Growth and Drive the Market Advanced metering infrastructure (AMI) is an integrated system of smart meters, communications networks, and data management systems that enables two-way communication between utilities and customers. It automatically and remotely measures electricity used, connects and disconnect service, identify and isolate outages, and monitor voltage.It is combined with customer technologies, such as in-home displays and programmable communicating thermostats, and enables utilities to offer new time-based rate programs and incentives that encourage customers to reduce peak demand and manage energy consumption and costs.Increasing investment in advanced metering infrastructure to reduce the cost from remote billing and metering services is expected to compel the market. According to the CenterPoint Energy report, the cost saving of more than USD 61 million was recorded from 2012-2014, and tamper detection functions of AMI alone prevented revenue losses exceeding USD 450,000 in 2012 and USD 130,000 in 2014.Additionally, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is investing to support grid modernization through research, development, demonstration, analysis, and technology transfer activities. It released a Grid Modernization Multi-Year Program Plan (MPP) to achieve a modern, secure, sustainable, and reliable grid which is supported by the Grid Modernization Lab Consortium, a multi-year collaboration among 14 DOE national laboratories and regional networks, that assist it in developing and implementing the activities of the MYPP, and it is expected to drive the AMI market in the United States. North America is Expected to Experience Significant Growth North America is expected to dominate the market throughout the forecast period due to rapid technological advancements and penetration of supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA) in various sectors, stringent government regulations mandating the deployment of an advanced distributed management system to reduce electric loss and cost and increasing smart cities projects which are expected to drive the growth in North America.Due to the growing demand for enhanced power quality, data security, and resiliency to natural disasters and other threats which interrupt the supply of power, most of the companies are deploying innovative ADMS systems. For instance, in February 2020, Open Systems International, Inc. launched a new business unit, AfterNext Solutions, to provide utilities with integrated hardware and software solutions. It's newest offering, Tina (Thermo Intelligent Network Appliance), a secure, intelligent thermostat that connects utilities directly to consumers and also informs incentive programs, time-of-day pricing, green energy profile, and other prosumer programs which drives them to reduce their electricity usage in peak hours.The recent COVID-19 outbreak has temporarily slowed the demand for advanced distribution management systems as most of the infrastructure projects are delayed in order to contain the spread of the virus. For instance, in May 2020, Google's Sidewalk Labs has abandoned its plan to build a high-tech neighborhood on Toronto's waterfront, Quayside project, due to unprecedented economic uncertainty. Key Topics Covered: 1 INTRODUCTION2 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY3 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY4 MARKET DYNAMICS4.1 Market Overview4.2 Market Drivers4.2.1 Rapid Adoption Of Smart Grid Technology4.2.2 Rising Energy Demand And Efficient Distribution Management System4.2.3 Increasing Investment in Infrastructure Construction in Emerging Economies4.3 Market Restraints4.3.1 Higher Initial Investment4.4 Market Opportunities4.5 Industry Attractiveness - Porter's Five Forces Analysis4.6 Impact of COVID-19 on the Market5 MARKET SEGMENTATION5.1 Offering5.2 System Type5.2.1 Distribution Management System (DMS)5.2.2 Automated Meter Reading/Advanced Metering Infrastructure (AMR/AMI)5.2.3 Distributed Energy Resources Management Systems (DERMS)5.2.4 Energy Management Systems (EMS)5.2.5 Customer Information Systems (CIS)5.2.6 Meter Data Management Systems (MDMS)5.3 End-user Verticals5.3.1 Energy & Utilities5.3.2 IT and Telecommunications5.3.3 Manufacturing5.3.4 Defense and Government5.3.5 Infrastructure5.3.6 Transportation & Logistics5.3.7 Others End-user Verticals5.4 Geography6 COMPETITIVE LANDSCAPE ABB GroupGeneral Electric CompanySiemens AGAdvanced Control SystemsSchneider Electric SESurvalent TechnologyETAP/Operation Technology,Inc.S&C Electric CompanyCapgemini ConsultingOpen Systems International, IncAlstom S.A. 7 FUTURE OUTLOOK OF THE MARKET For more information about this report visit https://www.researchandmarkets.com/r/a6t9jt About ResearchAndMarkets.com ResearchAndMarkets.com is the world's leading source for international market research reports and market data. We provide you with the latest data on international and regional markets, key industries, the top companies, new products and the latest trends. Research and Markets also offers Custom Research services providing focused, comprehensive and tailored research. CONTACT: CONTACT: ResearchAndMarkets.com Laura Wood, Senior Press Manager press@researchandmarkets.com For E.S.T Office Hours Call 1-917-300-0470 For U.S./CAN Toll Free Call 1-800-526-8630 For GMT Office Hours Call +353-1-416-8900

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