Podcasts about european committee

Last week, the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis convened a meeting in Dublin, Ireland, to dive deeper into what a new framework for describing MS might look like.   There's still a tremendous amount of work to be done here. But, considering that whatever language is eventually adopted will affect every person living with MS, I want to keep you fully informed on this important work. So I'm devoting this entire episode of the podcast to sharing conversations I had with three of the attendees at the meeting in Dublin.    First, you'll hear from Dr. Bruce Bebo, the National MS Society's Executive Vice President of Research. Then, you'll hear from Dr. Daniel Ontaneda, a neurologist specializing in MS at the Cleveland Clinic, and, finally, you'll hear from Kathy Smith, who's lived with MS for the past 20 years.   As you listen to these conversations, I think you'll hear three slightly different perspectives, but you'll also hear some of the broad concepts and ideas around which there was a high level of agreement at our meeting. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??! This Week: A meeting to discuss moving to a biologically based description of MS  :22 Dr. Bruce Bebo discusses how a new framework for describing MS could impact MS research and people living with MS  3:45 Dr. Daniel Ontaneda describes some of the shortcomings of the current MS course descriptors and discusses how a new framework for describing MS could impact   people living with MS  17:34 Kathy Smith explains how current MS course descriptors fail to fully capture her experience as someone living with MS, and explains how new course descriptors could benefit people living with MS  26:24 What's next in the work to develop new course descriptors for MS  35:20 Share this episode  35:44 Have you downloaded the free RealTalk MS app?  36:03 SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email: https://realtalkms.com/403 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: jon@realtalkms.com Phone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com RealTalk MS Episode 279: A New Framework for Researching, Diagnosing, and Treating MS with Professor Tanja Kuhlmann https://realtalkms.com/279 RealTalk MS Episode 280: How the Proposed Framework for Diagnosing and Treating MS Will Affect You with Dr. Tim Coetzee https://realtalkms.com/280 Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Devices https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200 Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Deviceshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk Give RealTalk MS a rating and review http://www.realtalkms.com/review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 403 Guests: Dr. Bruce Bebo, Dr. Daniel Ontaneda, Kathy Smith Privacy Policy

Today we had the pleasure of hosting Dr. Kostas Bakoyannis, Chair of the Committee on the Environment, Climate Change and Energy at the European Committee of the Regions. Kostas has served as a member of the Committee since 2020 and previously held elected roles as Mayor of Athens, Governor of Central Greece, and Mayor of Karpenisi. He brings nearly two decades of public service experience including roles at the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the European Parliament in Brussels, and the World Bank in Kosovo. We were thrilled to connect with Kostas for an insightful discussion on Europe's energy future, the pressures facing European industry, and how the EU is navigating today's complex geopolitical landscape. In our conversation, Kostas shares his perspective on Europe's environmental and energy policies and the challenge of balancing energy security with energy transition amidst rising geopolitical tensions. We discuss the impact of tariffs and trade relations, Europe's internal challenges regarding energy affordability, regulatory complexity, and bureaucracy, and Greece's more balanced and pragmatic energy policies. We explore the importance of interconnection and regional energy cooperation within Europe, as well as the broader geopolitical and economic implications of efforts to connect energy systems with Cyprus and Israel. Kostas offers insights into how average Greek and EU citizens experience energy and financial pressures, the limitations of EU communication, and the importance of preserving the U.S.-European alliance built after WWII. We examine how different EU countries are pursuing diverse energy mixes and the need for technological neutrality in policymaking. We touch on Europe's evolving strategy on industrial policy and tariffs, the urgency of presenting a united Western front in dealing with China, calls for increased European defense spending, and the seriousness of concurrent economic, national security, and ideological tensions. Kostas highlights Greece's economic transformation, the investment climate, lessons from local governance, the need for more flexible, innovation-friendly regulation within the EU, and more. It was a broad-based discussion and we're thankful to Kostas for sharing his time and unique insights. Mike Bradley opened by discussing that “Trumpatility” is alive and global fear is high! He noted that Trump's reciprocal tariffs are dominating global markets and that broader equity markets could still have additional downside. However, the time for panic was weeks ago when equity market volatility was low, not today, when fear is extremely high. On the broader equity market front, Trump's reciprocal tariffs haven't just affected U.S. equities (S&P 500 down 12% over last 5 trading days) but also global equity markets (down 8-12%) over the same timeframe. Investor fear is historically high with the S&P 500 Volatility Index (VIX) trading at ~55 today and as high as 60 on Monday (3rd highest VIX level of the last 30 years). The S&P 500 opened strongly on Tuesday (up 3.5%) before ending the day down just under 2.0%, which looks to be signaling that investors are “selling the bounce” rather than “buying the dip.” Investors seem inclined to “buy the dip” around the S&P's 200-day moving average of 4,675 (6-7% lower). On bonds, he pointed out that the 10yr bond yield trades at ~4.25%, which is a higher yield than it traded on Liberation Day, as traders sense the Fed could be conflicted between tariff induced price inflation and a tariff induced U.S. recession. March CPI & PPI reports due this week could influence Fed decisions, with a cooler-than-expected inflation reading possibly paving the way for interest rate cuts as early as the May 7th FOMC Meeting. In the oil market, WTI price has plunged ~$14/bbl (to $58/bbl) over the last five trading days and is now trading at Mar '21 price levels. The recent plunge in oil price was due not only to Trump

In the final episode of To Be Delicious, Anna considers the future of MSG in the UK. Drinks culture has an inherent playfulness and creativity that makes it the perfect experimentation lab for seeking out where MSG might go next. She meets two key figures in London (and the world!)'s bar scene to understand how they're using it as an ingredient, and how umami as a flavour presents itself in drinks. Ryan Chetiyawardana, whose goes by the moniker Mr Lyan, has bars that have reshaped cocktail culture in the UK and around the world, shares how his approach to bartending and recipe development within drinks makes space for savoury and umami flavours. And Cyan Wong, bartender and Schweppes brand ambassador, mixes a unique savoury cocktail for Anna and Lucy. Watch Ryan's new TV show, Mr Lyan's Taste Trips, where he travels the world exploring flavour through drinks on YouTube https://youtube.com/@mrlyanstastetrips?si=fyLXUMDnv8H2_8eS In To Be Delicious, Dr Anna Sulan Masing explores MSG - and more broadly umami - through the lens of East and South East Asian food heritage and diaspora food culture in the UK. From fritters to instant ramen, fermentation to takeaways, these five episodes open out the conversation around MSG and find a breadth of new ways for us to think about its usage within cooking, and its importance within cultural heritage. Credits: Hosted by @annasulan Produced by @dearlovelucy & @annasulan Original theme music by @midorijaeger Podcast artwork by @npl_illustration Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions. The series is completely editorially independent and was made possible, along with Anna's wider research, by support from the European Committee for Umami and Ajinomoto. Anna's book, Chinese and Any Other Asian: Exploring East and South East Asian Identity in Britain is out now! Order here. 

On umami in diaspora, from chicken salt to bay leaves. Dr Johnny Drain explains how garum is the root of many of our umami based sauces. Author and cook Kate Young prepares a classic Australian English mince on toast, with essential MSG. Chef Dara Klein reflects on how she's learned to find home everywhere, via the kitchen. Noby Leong considers adaptation and evolution in his family cooking. Plus chefs SongSoo Kim and Tim Anderson on some of the gastronomic and linguistic nuances of umami. In To Be Delicious, Dr Anna Sulan Masing explores MSG - and more broadly umami - through the lens of East and South East Asian food heritage and diaspora food culture in the UK. From fritters to instant ramen, fermentation to takeaways, these five episodes open out the conversation around MSG and find a breadth of new ways for us to think about its usage within cooking, and its importance within cultural heritage. Credits: Hosted by @annasulan Produced by @dearlovelucy & @annasulan Original theme music by @midorijaeger Podcast artwork by @npl_illustration Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions. The series is completely editorially independent and was made possible, along with Anna's wider research, by support from the European Committee for Umami and Ajinomoto. Anna's book, Chinese and Any Other Asian: Exploring East and South East Asian Identity in Britain is out now! Order here. 

Chinese takeaways are a national institution in the UK, and have also - for many years now - been the frontline where public understanding of MSG comes to a head. Angela Hui, whose book Takeaway has shone a light on life growing up behind the counter, and her mum, Jin Tian, spend a day with Lucy and Anna; showing them around their home town in South Wales, then Jin Tian's garden and home kitchen, while considering and dispelling the prevalent stereotypes around British Chinese takeaway food. Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter is out now in paperback, available from all good book shops. In To Be Delicious, Dr Anna Sulan Masing explores MSG - and more broadly umami - through the lens of East and South East Asian food heritage and diaspora food culture in the UK. From fritters to instant ramen, fermentation to takeaways, these five episodes open out the conversation around MSG and find a breadth of new ways for us to think about its usage within cooking, and its importance within cultural heritage. Credits: Hosted by @annasulan Produced by @dearlovelucy & @annasulan Original theme music by @midorijaeger Podcast artwork by @npl_illustration Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions. The series is completely editorially independent and was made possible, along with Anna's wider research, by support from the European Committee for Umami and Ajinomoto. Anna's book, Chinese and Any Other Asian: Exploring East and South East Asian Identity in Britain is out now! Order here. 

AKA infinite ways with a packet of instant noodles. Georgina Quach, a journalist and archivist, makes her personalised ramen for Anna and Lucy, and considers the importance of comfort in the food she makes, as well as how her Vietnamese heritage informs the savoury flavours she uses in her cooking. Chef and Chinese food creator Chin Taylor reflects on assumptions of how takeaway food is made and how they affect people's perceptions of the work that goes into it – and how MSG fits into this. Chef and author Tim Anderson talks about dashi, and fermentation expert and food scientist Dr Johnny Drain goes deeper on the science behind why umami is so important in a water-based cuisine like Japan's. And SongSoo Kim, head of sourcing and development at the restaurant group Super 8, talks about the complexity of umami. In To Be Delicious, Dr Anna Sulan Masing explores MSG - and more broadly umami - through the lens of East and South East Asian food heritage and diaspora food culture in the UK. From fritters to instant ramen, fermentation to takeaways, these five episodes open out the conversation around MSG and find a breadth of new ways for us to think about its usage within cooking, and its importance within cultural heritage. Credits: Hosted by @annasulan Produced by @dearlovelucy & @annasulan Original theme music by @midorijaeger Podcast artwork by @npl_illustration Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions. The series is completely editorially independent and was made possible, along with Anna's wider research, by support from the European Committee for Umami and Ajinomoto. Anna's book, Chinese and Any Other Asian: Exploring East and South East Asian Identity in Britain is out now! Order here. 

When we talk about myelin damage, most of us typically think of the brain. After all, that myelin is located in your central nervous system. But the inflammation that causes myelin damage may be triggered by activity that's taking place well south of your central nervous system, in your gut microbiome, the colony of trillions of bacteria and microorganisms that live in your intestines.  Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam joins me to help us understand what this gut-brain connection is all about, how that connection impacts MS, and what you can do to change the makeup of your gut microbiome. Dr. Mangalam is an Associate Professor of Pathology at the Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa, where his research is focused on studying the gut microbiome and the immune system in multiple sclerosis. We're also talking about the newly published guidance from the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS and the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation, recommending autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (aHSCT) for treating some cases of relapsing-remitting MS. We'll tell you about an experimental drug that may resolve MS-related vision issues through remyelination.  And we'll introduce you to this year's winner of the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??! This Week: The gut-brain connection (and what it means if you're liviing with MS)  :22 The European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS and the European Society for Blood and Marrow Transplantation issue a recommendation for stem cell therapy to treat relapsing-remitting MS  1:35 Researchers develop a drug that may resolve MS-related vision issues through remyelination  4:44 National MS Society names this year's winner of the Barancik Prize for Innovation in MS Research  7:23 Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam explains how (and why) the brain-gut connection impacts MS    11:14 Share this episode  35:38 Have you downloaded the free RealTalk MS app?  35:58 SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email: https://realtalkms.com/388 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: jon@realtalkms.com Phone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com RealTalk MS on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/@RealTalkMS Autologous Hematopoietic Stem Cell Transplantation for Treatment of Multiple Sclerosis and Neuromyelitis Optica Spectrum Disorder -- Recommendations from ECTRIMS and EBMT https://www.nature.com/articles/s41582-024-01050-x National MS Society Releases Recommendations for aHSCT-Bone Marrow Transplant for MS https://nationalmssociety.org/news-and-magazine/news/national-ms-society-releases-recommendations STUDY: Incomplete Remyelination Via Therapeutically Enhanced Oligodendrogenesis Is Sufficient to Recover Visual Cortical Functionhttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-56092-6 Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Devices https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200 Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Deviceshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk Give RealTalk MS a rating and review http://www.realtalkms.com/review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 388 Guest: Dr. Ashutosh Mangalam Privacy Policy

MiMi Aye, a Burmese chef and cookbook author, has used MSG in her cooking for as long as she can remember. While preparing a meal for Anna and Lucy, she reflects on her processes in the kitchen, and how a misinformed narrative around the ingredient has impacted her personally. Also featuring insight into umami from Dr Kumiko Ninomiya of the Umami Information Center, and reflections on MSG 20 years on from his original Observer Food Monthly article about it from investigative journalist Alex Renton. In To Be Delicious, Dr Anna Sulan Masing explores MSG - and more broadly umami - through the lens of East and South East Asian food heritage and diaspora food culture in the UK. From fritters to instant ramen, fermentation to takeaways, these five episodes open out the conversation around MSG and find a breadth of new ways for us to think about its usage within cooking, and its importance within cultural heritage. Credits: Hosted by @annasulan Produced by @dearlovelucy & @annasulan Original theme music by @midorijaeger Podcast artwork by @npl_illustration Additional music by Blue Dot Sessions. The series is completely editorially independent and was made possible, along with Anna's wider research, by support from the European Committee for Umami and Ajinomoto. Anna's book, Chinese and Any Other Asian: Exploring East and South East Asian Identity in Britain is out in February. Pre order now. 

The brand new Lecker mini series launches Friday 31st January. In To Be Delicious, Dr Anna Sulan Masing explores MSG - and more broadly umami - through the lens of East and South East Asian food heritage and diaspora food culture in the UK. From fritters to instant ramen, fermentation to takeaways, these five episodes open out the conversation around MSG and find a breadth of new ways for us to think about its usage within cooking, and its importance within cultural heritage. Credits: Hosted by @annasulan Produced by @dearlovelucy & @annasulan Original theme music by @midorijaeger Podcast artwork by @npl_illustration The series is completely editorially independent and was made possible, along with Anna's wider research, by support from the European Committee for Umami and Ajinomoto.

One of the most important MS research events every year is the annual European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS Scientific Congress, usually referred to by its acronym, ECTRIMS.    You've made our podcast episode that followed ECTRIMS the most downloaded episode of the year. So, this week, I'm revisiting the two conversations that I had immediately after the ECTRIMS conference ended. In what has become an annual tradition, it's my privilege to sit down with the National MS Society's Executive Vice-President of Research, Dr. Bruce Bebo, just minutes after the conclusion of ECTRIMS to get his first impressions of the news and presentations that caught his eye.   This year, I also wanted to bring you the perspective of someone who's living with MS, who attended ECTRIMS for the very first time.  So, less than an hour after the conference concluded, I had a conversation with Kristine Werner Ozug. (Full disclosure, Kristine is a member of the RealTalk MS team.) We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??! This Week: Revisiting ECTRIMS 2024   :22 Dr. Bruce Bebo shares the announcements and presentations that caught his eye at ECTRIMS  1:59 Kristine Werner Ozug shares a patient's perspective on attending the largest MS research conference in the world  14:07 Share this episode  26:54 Have you downloaded the free RealTalk MS app?  27:14 SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email: https://realtalkms.com/383 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: jon@realtalkms.com Phone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com RealTalk MS at ECTRIMS on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLATxgj1uHpxPOTklQKDkASWTEBoHXVGH1 Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Devices https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200 Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Deviceshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk Give RealTalk MS a rating and review http://www.realtalkms.com/review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 383 Guests: Dr. Bruce Bebo and Kristine Werner Ozug Privacy Policy

Welcome to the NeurologyLive® Mind Moments® podcast. Tune in to hear leaders in neurology sound off on topics that impact your clinical practice. In this special episode, we've compiled some of the most compelling conversations from Mind Moments podcast episodes throughout 2024. These discussions spotlight groundbreaking research and advancements in neurology that are propelling the field forward. The NeurologyLive team also explored the impact of several newly FDA-approved therapies, offering clinicians valuable insights into what these treatments mean for patient care and their practical use in the clinic. Featured in this week's episode, in order of appearance, are: Daniel Ontaneda, MD, PhD, a staff member of the Cleveland Clinic Mellen Center for Multiple Sclerosis, who gave an overview on the new 2024 McDonald criteria to diagnose multiple sclerosis (MS), which was presented at the 40th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS). Check out the full episode here: https://www.neurologylive.com/view/episode-125-understanding-major-changes-new-mcdonald-criteria-multiple-sclerosis Ian Kremer, executive director of the leaders Engaged on Alzheimer's Disease (LEAD) coalition, on the changing and exciting advances in Alzheimer disease therapeutics, as well as the discontinuation of aducanumab, the first approved antiamyloid therapy. Check out the full episode here: https://www.neurologylive.com/view/episode-113-lessons-learned-alzheimer-drug-development Andy Berkowski, MD, PhD, vice chair of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine's Practice Guidelines Task Force, discusses the newly revised guidelines for restless legs syndrome, including the latest updates in literature and changes to clinical care. Check out the full episode here: https://www.neurologylive.com/view/episode-129-implications-2024-aasm-guidelines-restless-legs-syndrome Sameea Husain-Wilson, DO, a movement disorder specialist at the Marcus Neuroscience Institute of Baptist Health, provided clinical perspective on the use of the Syn-One diagnostic test for patients with Parkinson disease.Check out the full episode here: https://www.neurologylive.com/view/episode-119-utilizing-the-syn-one-test-to-diagnose-parkinson-disease Jonathan Parker, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of neurosurgery at Mayo Clinic Arizona, spoke at the 2024 American Epilepsy Society Annual Meeting on cell therapy approaches for epilepsy, the challenges the clinical community faces, and the outlook for the future. Check out the full episode here: https://www.neurologylive.com/view/episode-130-promise-behind-cell-therapy-approaches-epilepsy Lawrence Robinson, MD, a senior scientist at Sunnybrook Research Institute, gives insight on educating the next generation of neuromuscular and electrodiagnostic (EDX) practitioners, and the major differences in how this generation of medical students learn relative to previous ones. Check out the full episode here: https://www.neurologylive.com/view/episode-127-adapting-neuromuscular-electrodiagnostic-medicine-education-modern-learners Want more Mind Moments episodes? Click here for all of NeurologyLive®'s podcast episodes. Episode Breakdown: 1:05 – Ontaneda on the incorporation of new biomarkers into the 2024 McDonald Criteria for multiple sclerosis. 7:35 – Kremer on the lessons learned from drug development, including antiamyloid treatments, and initial reaction to the discontinuation of aducanumab for AD.  10:30 – Berkowski on the outlook of treating and preventing restless legs syndrome going forward using the newly updated American Academy of Sleep Medicine treatment guidelines.  13:10 – Husain-Wilson on the function of the Syn-One test for Parkinson disease, its applicability, and how it may distinguish patients with PD from other synucleinopathies. 18:40 – Parker on the promise and thought process behind stem cell approaches for drug-resistant epilepsy, including the different types of cell methods being tested.  21:45 – Robinson on the distinct differences in learning styles based on generation, the importance of adaptive teaching, and the new approaches educators in neuromuscular and electrodiagnostic medicine can take.  Thanks for listening to the NeurologyLive® Mind Moments® podcast. To support the show, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. For more neurology news and expert-driven content, visit neurologylive.com.

Have you ever looked for a mentor or thought about becoming one? This week's show explores the benefits on both sides. Mentorship can help shape careers, foster inclusivity, and make a workplace less lonely by developing stronger connections across teams and experiences. Whether through formal programs or informal connections, mentorship creates opportunities, and nurtures growth on both sides. My guests are: - Sonata Louvigny - Patricia Souza - Inês Crisóstomo - Sylvia Rohde-Liebenau National Mentoring Day on 27 Oct was inaugurated at the Houses of Parliament in London, led by Chelsey Baker. In December 2023 the Official Journal of the EU published the Opinion of the European Committee of the Regions entitled “Mentoring: A Powerful and Meaningful Tool for the Europe of Tomorrow." (links below) 


 During this conversation we discuss how to find a mentor, build a trusting environment for effective listening and communication and setting outcome expectations. Two way Street Mentorship can also be effective for mentors themselves, to develop stronger bonds and ideas within their organisation and learn how to ask good questions of oneself along with the other. Inês Crisóstomo encourages people to reach out to someone you might admire professionally and ask for an ‘information interview' with them for about 15 minutes. “You are not alone” Mentoring can be viewed as a learning conversation: learning about oneself; creating space for reflection and supporting action planning. It also helps to equalise opportunities, to create frameworks that support professional development. Informal networks often serve men more than women for example. With over a decade in Science Management, Inês supports scientists to thrive in an ever-evolving research landscape. She coordinates the Mentoring Program sponsored by the Gender Equality Group at the University of Luxembourg and works as a mentor and coach. Her own background is a Ph.D. in Biology from ITQB-UNL (Instituto de Tecnologia Química e Biológica António Xavier ITQB NOVA, Lisboa), with research conducted at the Rockefeller University in New York, USA. She has worked at iMM (Lisboa, Portugal) and in the Vienna BioCenter (Austria). Inês knows how important mentorship can be in a research environment and is accredited by the MCAA (Marie Curie Alumni Association), EMCC, EMCC Luxembourg (European Mentoring and Coaching Council), and the CARE network (Career Advisors Supporting Researchers in Europe), fostering collaborations and knowledge sharing within global communities. Patricia Souza is the co-founder of WeSTEM+ (Women in Excel STEM) and a Leadership Development and Inclusion Consultant focused on creating more inclusive and equitable business environments. She is also the co-chair the Membership Stream for the NextGen chapter of Lead Network and a board member of the BeLux Chapter. Patricia believes in empowerment through guidance, and a build-up of confidence and leadership through a good mentor. However, she also states that mentorship is a two-way relationship with a ripple effect to the circles of influence for both participants. “It's about building a relationship that can change the trajectory of their life.” Sylvia Rohde-Liebenau is a leadership expert who worked in HR for many years, where she became involved with mentoring. Sylvia created the first ever mentoring programme at the European Investment Bank and later, together with Rita Knott, the Youth Mentoring Programme in Luxembourg. Today she works as an executive coach to leaders on all levels, with a focus on leadership presence, resilience, communication and impact. For organisations, Sylvia believes mentor programmes are fantastic (and cheap) L&D tools that cover several purposes, in particular: 1) fostering a cohesive organisational culture 2) passing organisation specific knowledge to newcomers and younger professionals, 3) creating networks 4) fostering a learning environment Mentors give back AND about learn about themselves. Mentees: “You get as much as you put in (it's not a free lunch)” Keys to successful mentoring include building trust and openness at the start; clear agreements and engagement from both sides; basic coaching skills for mentors. Sonata Louvigny is an EU project and program management leader, coach and mentor. Her starting point in mentoring was experiencing the negative impacts of mismanaged mentoring within her team. Sonata's master's thesis was on managing the mentoring process and to help various organisations develop effective mentoring programs aligned with their goals. She is a member of professional mentoring associations such as IMA and EMCC (European Mentoring and Coaching Council). She worked with EMCC Luxembourg, where her role was to oversee the accreditation process for coaches and mentors. Sonata warns that a mentor could be in a position of authority over the mentee, which is more common in traditional mentoring but not in developmental mentoring, and therefore professional guidelines are really important. Through her work she believes that mentoring is not just a hobby but requires specific competencies and skills. Effective mentors should be aware of the professional standards, continuously develop their capabilities, and, if they wish, seek accreditation to ensure they provide high-quality, impactful mentoring. How to find a mentor My guests suggest: - Identify people that inspire you. - Reach out to them - Join groups - Find peers - Take advantage of organisations that create mentorship programs (workplace, non-profit organisations, educational institutions, professional associations, government initiatives, and community organizations, among others). Links: Mentorship Platforms for anyone, for example: https://www.mentoring-club.com/ https://nationalmentoringday.org/history/timeline https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52023IR1537
 https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylvia-rohde-liebenau-phd-b51b0328/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/patriciasouza11/ http://we-stem.org/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/sonata-kucin/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/inescrisostomo/ https://www.linkedin.com/school/university-of-luxembourg/ University of Luxembourg (@uni.lu) • Instagram photos and videos

No mês de conscientização sobre o câncer de próstata, tudo o que precisamos entender para enfrentar junto com o nosso parceiro esse diagnóstico, abordando a saúde física masculina e a saúde sexual do casal.O que temos de última geração para enfrentar essa situação, que pode surgir em nossa maturidade?Com o Dr. Leonardo Seligra Lopes, urologista - andrologista, Título de Especialista pela Sociedade Brasileira de Urologia e AMBPós-Graduação em Andrologia e Reprodução Humana pela FMABCMestre e Doutorando em Ciências da Saúde pela FMABCFellow do European Committee of Sexual Medicine (UEMS/ESSM)Professor Assistente e Coordenador do Grupo de Medicina Sexual da Disciplina de Urologia do Centro Universitário FMABC (UROABC)Professor Membro do Departamento de Andrologia da ESU-SBUSecretário Geral da ABEMSS Gestão 2023-2024Membro da Diretoria Executiva da SLAMS 2023-2026Editor do Primeiro Tratado Brasileiro de Medicina e Saúde Sexual.Junto a ele, nossa querida ginecologista, Dra. Flavia Fairbanks MD, PhD, é Professora Associada de Obstetrícia, Ginecologia e Ciências Reprodutivas na University of Miami Miller School of Medicine. Com uma carreira de mais de duas décadas, ela é especializada em saúde sexual feminina, menopausa e condições ginecológicas complexas, como endometriose. Atualmente, a Dra. Fairbanks é Diretora do Programa de Saúde Sexual Feminina do UHealth Jackson System. Suas contribuições acadêmicas incluem papéis de liderança em sociedades científicas, como a Federação Brasileira de Ginecologia e Obstetrícia, além de participações frequentes em conferências internacionais sobre saúde da mulher. A pesquisa clínica e a prática da Dra. Fairbanks são focadas no avanço do cuidado em saúde sexual para mulheres, desde os anos reprodutivos até o pós-menopausa.Excelente Live sobre Câncer de Próstata e Vida Íntima do Casal Maduro …Obrigada@draflaviafairbanks@urologiaeandrologia#novembroazul#cancerdeprostata#maturidade#maturidadefeminina#mulheresmaduras#maturidadeemocional#sexualidadesaudavel#sexualidadeO Caminho do Encontro. Acompanhe, siga, compartilhe! Site: https://ocaminhodoencontro.com.br Instagram: @ocaminhodoencontro

In this episode of Integrative Cancer Solutions, we are joined by Professor Dr. Sarper Diler, a distinguished medical doctor and oncologist, to discuss his unique approach to cancer treatment through integrative oncology. Prof. Diler shares his personal cancer journey, highlighting his battle with a large kidney tumor, treated through a combination of traditional surgery and alternative methods, including radical nephrectomy and the Gonzalez protocol.Key Discussion Points:Personalized Cancer Treatment: Prof. Diler emphasizes the importance of tailoring treatments to the individual, including the integration of pancreatic enzymes, specific diets, and detoxification. He shares insights into the Gonzalez protocol, which combines these elements to help support the body's natural healing processes.The Role of Pancreatic Enzymes: Drawing on historical and modern applications, Prof. Diler explains how pancreatic enzymes are used in cancer treatment and their significance in improving patient outcomes.Prof. Diler's Cancer Journey: From the moment he was diagnosed with a kidney tumor, Prof. Diler's experience shaped his transition from conventional oncology to integrative methods. His personal treatment approach, involving both surgery and alternative therapies, demonstrates the power of holistic cancer care.Belief and Compliance: One of the key takeaways from Prof. Diler's experience is the critical role of patient belief and adherence to the treatment protocol. He stresses that success with the Gonzalez protocol requires full commitment and belief in the process.Advancements in Cancer Treatment: Prof. Diler also touches on emerging technologies in cancer care, such as the potential for using wearable devices to deliver pancreatic enzymes, a field being researched at the Orbital Institute.Success Stories: Prof. Diler shares powerful testimonials of patients who have followed the Gonzalez protocol and experienced improved energy, mood, and quality of life.Action Items:Explore the Gonzalez Protocol website to learn more about integrative cancer treatments.Explore the Ovital Institute to learn moreConclusion:Dr. Diller's insights into integrative oncology offer hope and valuable knowledge for cancer patients and their families. Tune in to learn more about how personalized treatments can improve both quality of life and health outcomes.Be sure to visit the Karlfeldt Center website for more resources and information on future consultations.About Prof. Sarper Diler:He is the director of OVITAL Institute and serves as the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board for the Nicholas Gonzalez Foundation in the US. He is highly active in numerous international scientific and patient-focused groups and committees.His previous roles include serving as the President of Myeloma Patients Europe (MPE), as a member of the European Cancer Organization Patient Advisory Committee (ECCO-PAC), the European Cancer Concord (ECC), and as Secretary General and Board Member of the Lymphoma Association (LC).Prof. Diler is a certified International Stem Cell Transplant Coordinator (CHTC) at the American National Donor Program (NMDP) and a specialist in Cancer Diet, Microbiome, and Heart Rate Variability, with certifications from Colorado Boulder and Arizona Universities, respectively. As an Integrative Oncologist, he holds memberships with SIO and BSIO. Additionally, he is a certified homeopath through the European Committee for Homeopathy (ECH) and the London College of Homeopathy (LCH).He has authored over 200 scientific articles and currently offers unique services worldwide under the umbrella of OVITAL Institute and OVITAL International Consultancy. His work also includes running preclinical and clinical trials focused on Cancer, Autonomic Nervous System clinical interferences, Epigenetics, Gut-Heart-Brain axis coherence, and Quantum diagnostics and treatments.----Grab my book A Better Way to Treat Cancer: A Comprehensive Guide to Understanding, Preventing and Most Effectively Treating Our Biggest Health Threat - https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CM1KKD9X?ref_=pe_3052080_397514860 ----Integrative Cancer Solutions was created to instill hope and empowerment. Other people have been where you are right now and have already done the research for you. Listen to their stories and journeys and apply what they learned to achieve similar outcomes as they have, cancer remission and an even more fullness of life than before the diagnosis. Guests will discuss what therapies, supplements, and practitioners they relied on to beat cancer. Once diagnosed, time is of the essence. This podcast will dramatically reduce your learning curve as you search for your own solution to cancer. To learn more about the cutting-edge integrative cancer therapies Dr. Karlfeldt offer at his center, please visit www.TheKarlfeldtCenter.com

What do Doña Gracia, Glückel of Hameln, and Deborah Lipstadt have in common? They are all celebrated as iconic Jewish women in Dr. Aliza Lavie's incisive book, "Iconic Jewish Women". Dr. Lavie's book features 59 remarkable role models, highlighting the significance of women's voices and leadership in the Jewish community. In a compelling conversation guest-hosted by Dr. Alexandra Herzog, the national deputy director of AJC's Contemporary Jewish Life department, Lavie reflects on her grandmother's strength and her own experiences serving in the Israeli army and parliament. By showcasing the resilience and leadership of Jewish women throughout history—some stories well-known, others less recognized—Dr. Lavie emphasizes the need to confront the pervasive silence surrounding antisemitism. She urges us to learn from those who have paved the way, advocating for greater awareness and action against this global issue. *The views and opinions expressed by guests do not necessarily reflect the views or position of AJC. Listen – AJC Podcasts: The Forgotten Exodus: with Hen Mazzig, Einat Admony, and more. People of the Pod:  The Nova Music Festival Survivor Saved by an 88-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor Is Nasrallah's Death a Game-Changer? Matthew Levitt Breaks What's at Stake for Israel, Iran, and Hezbollah At the UN General Assembly: Jason Isaacson Highlights Israel's Challenges and the Fight Against Antisemitism Follow People of the Pod on your favorite podcast app, and learn more at AJC.org/PeopleofthePod You can reach us at: peopleofthepod@ajc.org If you've appreciated this episode, please be sure to tell your friends, and rate and review us on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. __ Transcript of Interview with Aliza Lavie: Manya Brachear Pashman: Former Israeli Knesset member, Aliza Lavie is the author of six books, including the award winning "A Jewish Women's Prayer Book". Her latest, "Iconic Jewish Women"–59 inspiring, courageous, revolutionary role models for young girls, introduces readers to amazing women from Queen Esther to Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg and others in between, many of whom have been overlooked, but offer inspiring tales.  My colleague, Alexandra Herzog, is the national deputy director of AJC's Contemporary Jewish life department, and another amazing woman. She is our guest host this week, and she had the honor of speaking with Dr. Lavie. Alexandra, the mic is yours. Alexandra Herzog:   It's an honor and great pleasure to welcome Dr. Aliza Lavie to People of the Pod today. She's the author of six books. I want to especially highlight the two latest ones, "A Jewish Women's Prayer Book," which won a National Jewish Book Award in 2008. And the latest one that we will be talking about today, "Iconic Jewish Women". In many ways, Aliza gives voice to women who have been forgotten from Jewish history, and for that, I and so many women are so very grateful.  Since this book is about women, I want to make sure we don't forget all the women who are still held hostage by Hamas in Gaza. Not just our women, but also the children and the men. May we bring them all back.  Okay, let's dive into the conversation. Aliza, welcome to People of the Pod. Aliza Lavie:   Thank you so much, Alexandra. Alexandra Herzog:   It's very interesting that you have focused much of your writing about and for women. Let's also remind our listeners that your academic and professional background show your very long standing interest in women's issues. During your time in the Knesset, you served as the chair of the Committee on the Status of Women and Gender Equality, and the chair of the Committee to Combat Women Trafficking and Prostitution. So let me ask you this. Why this interest? Where does it stem from?  Aliza Lavie:   I believe in equality, and we need to work for it. We need men and women together to build a society. My grandmother came from Afghanistan, together with her husband. It was 1920, many, many years ago. They came to Jerusalem as a Zionist before Israel was established and became part of Jerusalem. They built and established a Bukharian neighborhood in Jerusalem, very, very old neighborhood.  But my granny, she lost her husband years after, two, three years after. Suddenly, she found herself without a voice, without a language, and she raised nine children. At that time, it was the big war just before Israel was established. And my granny, my granny, knew all the halachic code and all the Torah by heart. And always I asked myself, who told her? Who gave her the information?  And more, I became, you know, part of the Israeli society, as an officer in the army, in the Israeli army, and later as a lecturer at the University, and later became a parliament member and activist in Israel. So I found myself asking questions without finding answers. And I say to myself, come on, be part of the tikkun, be part of changing the mood.  Not because it's women's issue or problems, it's because the society needs men and women together, otherwise the society will lose. And more we have our part and position in Israeli society, in the Jewish world, in all of the world, we will build a better world for all of us.  I can declare and give lectures about it, but the question is, what are you doing?  How have you become a part of this? So I find myself starting as a social activist and at that time, I had a 20 years TV show in the Israeli broadcasting. And I find myself asking questions, bringing more women to the TV show, and you have to see role models around you. And I found that we have a lot of answers, but we need to continue working.  Alexandra Herzog:  Iconic Jewish Women offers readers 59 role models. And you were just now talking about role models, the book was designed as a bat mitzvah gift for girls celebrating their Jewish coming of age. But it's really about discovering one's Jewish identity and Jewish heritage. What is particularly compelling to you about that, about also the Bat Mitzvah practice in general? Aliza Lavie:  I asked myself, what is going on? You know, the big roads in the streets, most of them named after men. How come there is not even one public place in Israel named after Golda Meir? How come? Why is that? And it's not only questions of awareness. It's a question of knowledge and position and role models.  And the more I become familiar with the fact that I'm not that familiar with my heritage, with my history as a Jewish woman, as an Israeli woman. And even though women from the Bible, what really we know about Deborah the Prophet, or Miriam, the prophet or Esther the queen. Okay, so all of us, and the girls especially wants to be Esther the queen with a nice dress. But Esther the queen, she became from beauty queen to a leader.  She was the one that told Mordechai, okay, you want me to go to the king without permission, so do something fast three days. And then it was a huge fight between still and old high. And what Mordechai told her, No, no, no, we can't fast three days. But she gave him the order, and she was the one that told him that we should do it, to have future. So suddenly, from a woman in the megila, she became the leader, and more than that, in the end, she wrote, remember me for the next generation. She knew that women in the future will need her knowledge, her help, her position, her role modeling.  So more of you became familiar with the presence that our mothers, the women that were here before us, gave to us, so you will become much stronger. And more than that, Alexandra, you can find your only voice in a world that we are living in a very, very challenging time, increasing antisemitism and political instability, a lack of leadership and growing disconnected from a tradition, and we in Israel, in the middle of a war, where a brave soul who took responsibility. Alexandra Herzog:  And I think that that's really a project that you did also in your previous book, Tefillat Nashim, A Jewish Women's Prayer Book, you explore Jewish identities through the rich tradition of women's prayers that is often absent from traditional historical or religious consciousness. Is Iconic Jewish Women, in some ways, also a project about restoring, reclaiming and recovering? Aliza Lavie:  You are so right. And thanks for this question. My previous book, when I first spoke, Tefillat Nashim, A Jewish Women's Prayer Book. Actually, it's a collection of prayers that were written by women. When I start my journey, my research, nobody believed and felt that Jewish women wrote prayers. More than that, some professors wrote, Jewish women? They didn't know how to write, or they didn't allow the, you know, by the spiritual leaders to write, and they didn't know Hebrew or other languages.  And always, when I find myself as a politician or social activist, in a position that I didn't know what to do, I thought: what other women did when you can't find answer yourself? You have to go and make your own research. And believe it or not, I found ancient prayers. Actually the most ancient one is from the 13th century written by Paula [dei Mansi], the daughter of Rabbi Abraham [Anau] in Milan, north of Italy.  And actually, Paula, she copied the book we are talking about before the printing press time, and only men were allowed to copy books, because you need knowledge. So when I found this prayer in the end of the book named Yehudah de Trani, and she copied it. In the end, she wrote a prayer in Hebrew. Who was Paula, who taught her Hebrew, who gave her the thinking that you can add prayer for good days, for redemption, for coming back to Israel. 13th century.  And what about us? What about our knowledge and level of Hebrew and the permission to write your own personal prayer. And we are talking 13th century, not our days. So a lot of understanding about our position. Sometimes we think that, you know, in our generation, everything is open, and we are brave people and I suggest that we need to be a little bit modest and bring back knowledge from the past with the tools of our days and continue to tell the story. Alexandra Herzog:  I was particularly intrigued, really, by the choice of women that you picked, as well, actually, as the organizing format of the book. The women are not in chronological order, but rather in alphabetical order.  So one of the things that I particularly love about the book is the fact that the reader is asked to actively engage with the content and to add their own stories to a vast historical network of political, scientific, activist, literary, and religious figures. What advice would you give to young women aspiring to make a difference in the world? Aliza Lavie:  First of all, think about your dream. About your dream, and don't hesitate. You can make it. You can make it. And find role models for your lives. You know, you ask, Why I put alphabetic? By the way, in Hebrew, it's 71 women, and I hope in the next book to add much more women or in the technological project that I'm working on, and I invite girls, women men, to add their voice and to use the tools that they are professional with.  Remind yourself that one of us can make a story in the TikTok, video about Doña Gracia. The richest Jewish woman in the 16th century. She was the one that took control during the Inquisition about her brothers and sister in Spain and Portugal. Who was she? And how come that, you know, she became back to her Hebrew name Chana, and what is all about her and why we are not that familiar with her? Take the opportunity during your Bat Mitzvah or family dinner to share a little bit or to ask people and to open a discussion and bringback, see something again new. Go out of your comfortable area and find and bring back and tell your friends and be ambassadors. Because it's not a history book. It's not a history book.  And another thing I want to mention why I chose these amazing women, they didn't plan to be famous. They were in the right time for and chose to be helpful for the Jewish people and the Israeli society. When they found, like Henrietta, Golda, other names in this book, that the people of Israel need them. Need their help, or no one did something to stop the issue or to be there. They were there. Alexandra Herzog:  And so you're basically inviting young women to really, by engaging also with all of those amazing role models. And by the way, I do think that the you know, the chronological–using an alphabetical order rather than a chronological order, actually adds a lot of dynamism, because it really creates a conversation across time periods between Queen Esther, Glückel of Hameln, Golda Meir, and Deborah Lipstadt. And so, you know, the person, the reader is really asked to add their voice to this amazing group of women that they can be a part of. And I think that that acts, that really adds a content and a component of leadership that they can take on into their own life. Aliza Lavie:  In the end, you can also find timeline of iconic Jewish women, because we not always remember and now which year and Hebrew years and the area, etc, etc. Alexandra Herzog:  And I love that. And so I was wondering, because the book really delves into Jewish identity across continents, across time periods, sewing together different pieces of our history as a people. And I would be remiss if I didn't connect the difficult time that we are in as a people since October 7 with the powerful examples of leadership we find in the book. And we are asked to look for, around us in our daily lives. What do you think makes the book even more important, at this particular time? Aliza Lavie:  We're very upset to find a lot of our colleagues in all over the world, in United Nation and in universities, colleagues. I represent the Israeli parliament in the European Council, and I worked very hard together with other colleagues in the committee of status of women in the European Committee. And suddenly, when you saw all this blaming, and the way that nobody believe in what's happening October the seventh, and what Hamas did to our brothers and sisters and the situation, and the way the world treats us. First of all, you feel that you become betrayed.  What is, what is going on? Why is that? First of all, the aims are laid out in the document of Hamas. But what about the democratic world? Why is that? And when you saw all of this, I think that first we have to put it in a frame that it's not the first time in our history. It's not the first time. So when you see the story of the Jewish people, and it's maybe a sign for us to understand who are we, where are we coming from, and to remember all the difficult time in Egypt. When Pharoh say to the people of Israel that you know should not have boys, the baby boys, and to kill them. And the fact that brave women, Miriam and her mother, Yocheved, they gave birth to the children, and they didn't pay attention to Pharaoh, and they took control about the future of the people of Israel the men didn't want. And by the way, thanks to them, to these women, the promise of redemption, got from God.  And later in the Inquisition, more women took responsibility, and we know it from all the testimonies and all the understanding, and women that didn't, didn't lost Judaism, didn't lost and and become Christian. And when you see the numbers, you see that more men became Christian, or left the women together with the children. And later in the Holocaust, we see, and now we are in our days, we see that women, men, of course, brave people around us, men and women, but I see what women did. Women that didn't have a choice. They took control. They protect the people. They protect the children. And when Noa Argamani came back from Gaza, thanks to our soldiers. But Noa Argamani, she was the leader of the soldiers that kidnapped from their basic and Noa, without any help, she was the one that support. And I can share with you a lot of examples of women that lost their children and are going every day to other families and widows to support, to hug, to give help. Alexandra Herzog:  The book was published, as you said, before, in both English and Hebrew. Of course, Hebrew and English are the languages spoken by the two largest Jewish communities in the world, Israel and the United States. So how do you think that a book like this can contribute to strengthening Jewish peoplehood and conversations in the Jewish world? Aliza Lavie:  So knowledge is a power, and let's start with our common history. Let's start with our common heritage. So this book invites you to start, to begin, to continue the conversation between yourself, between you and your spouse, or your family. Of course, your children. That you know what, to bring back the responsibility, parents to the family.  What's happened actually, that in ancient world, the family took responsibility to the Jewish education or belonging, and then later the communities, because when they saw what's happening in the families and later organizations, we can start, you know, discussion about your amazing organization that's taking the responsibility and think about new directions or legacy or tools to continue. This book is an invitation to, you know, maybe to grandmothers, to aunts, to teachers, to educators, to organizations, to take knowledge and inspiration from a book like this. Alexandra Herzog:  Thank you, Aliza. So in a post October 7 world where Jewish women worldwide have had to make their voices heard even more than usual, to denounce the sexual violence that occurred on October 7, the deafening silence of many women's organizations, how has that impacted the conversations you're having? Could you tell us a little bit about how women have been engaging with you about the book? Aliza Lavie:  When this book was established in Israel, it was before the war, but in Israel that time, it was not an easy time in between the people of Israel that start, you know, many, many voices, again, the government and again, the parliament and etc, etc. And we need to bring, you know, the peaceful and to understand that the enemy is out of us, and for the enemy, all the Jewish are the same. It doesn't matter if you are secular, religious, Orthodox, reconstruction, reform. For them, we had this experience. Remember? Yeah, we had it in the Holocaust. They count seven generations ahead. Your question is a wake up call, the answer is a wake up call for all of us, for all of us, the citizens, the governments, the Jewish people all over the world. And to start getting serious thinking about the day after. And even now, even now, when you ask yourself, how come that our brothers and sisters are still in Gaza, where is the Red Cross?  So you can blame Israel all the time about that we are not, you know, delivering food to Gaza. But you know what is going on in Gaza. And you know who took all the food, etc. The Hamas. And it's not going to women and children. And what about our people? Where are they? So hypocrisy, yes, tikkun olam, of course. But in between, in between, we need to understand that we Jewish people have to work together and to bring back knowledge from the past. It's not a history lesson. Alexandra Herzog:  Thank you so much. I love that we end on hope and a better future. So I'm going to keep these words as the last ones, and with the notion I'm going to add of: Bring Them Home. Thank you so much for joining us, Aliza, to People of the Pod. Aliza Lavie:  Thank you so much, Alexandra, for having me, and we'll pray for good days. Manya Brachear Pashman: If you missed last week's episode, be sure to tune in for my conversation with Nova music festival survivor Daniel Vaknin about the horrific events that unfolded on October 7, 2023 and the brave Holocaust survivor who kept him and a handful of others safe and alive that day.

Immunic Therapeutics CEO Dr Daniel Vitt joined Steve Darling from Proactive to discuss the company's participation at the European Committee for Treatment and Research on Multiple Sclerosis conference, ECTRIMS, the world's largest event dedicated to multiple sclerosis (MS) research. Dr. Vitt emphasized the significance of this event, where Immunic presented four research posters, including key data on vidofludimus calcium, the company's leading compound for MS treatment. "We have an advanced asset in multiple sclerosis in development," Dr. Vitt shared, underscoring the critical unmet medical needs in the field. He elaborated on important topics such as progression independent of relapse activity, which remains a challenging aspect of MS treatment. Immunic's innovative research focuses on the neuroprotective, inflammatory and anti-viral properties of vidofludimus calcium, which could offer new hope to patients with progressive and relapsing forms of the disease. In addition to showcasing their research, Dr. Vitt highlighted the networking opportunities provided by the conference, allowing Immunic to connect with key industry professionals and collaborators in the MS research community. These interactions are essential to advancing both the company's clinical efforts and its understanding of emerging trends in the field. #proactiveinvestors #immunictherapeutics #DanielVitt #MultipleSclerosis #MSResearch #nasdaq #imux #VidofludimusCalcium #Nurr1Activator #ProgressiveMS #RelapsingMS #Pharma #Biotech #MSDrugDevelopment. #MSResearch #Neuroprotection #ECTRIMS2024 #VidofludimusCalcium #Nurr1 #Neuroinflammation #Biotech #Pharmaceuticals #ClinicalResearch #PIRA #invest #investing #investment #investor #stockmarket #stocks #stock #stockmarketnews

The following episode has been produced by the European Academy of Neurology (EAN) in collaboration with the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), and has been published on both the EAN and ECTRIMS Podcast channels to ensure our joint communities have access to it. In this episode of eanCast: Weekly Neurology, host Melinda Magyari is joined by ECTRIMS Podcast host Brett Drummond to talk about the ECTRIMS-EAN Vaccination Consensus Statement with lead author Susana Otero of the Department of Preventive Medicine and Epidemiology, Vall d'Hebron Barcelona Hospital, Barcelona, Spain and the Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia (Cemcat). Read the full article here.

Guest: Mar Tintore, MD A special guest will be joining the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) 2024 annual meeting on opening day. To learn more about the impact ECTRIMS has had on multiple sclerosis patients over the last 40 years, tune in with Dr. Mar Tintoré, President of ECTRIMS and Clinical Coordinator of the Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia Cemcat at the Hospital Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona, Spain.

Guest: Mar Tintore, MD At this year's European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) conference, learn about a presentation on the new criteria for diagnosing multiple sclerosis (MS) patients with Dr. Mar Tintoré, President of ECTRIMS and Clinical Coordinator of the Multiple Sclerosis Centre of Catalonia Cemcat at the Hospital Vall d'Hebron in Barcelona, Spain.

The ‘I' (intermediate susceptibility) in a EUCAST-guided antibiogram never meant impending resistance to your antibiotic. It was never meant to make you find the one ‘S' (invariably a carbapenem) and use it instead—even if many clinicians did. In this episode of Communicable, hosts Marc Bonten and Angela Huttner welcome Profs. Christian Giske (outgoing chair) and Sören Gatermann (newly elected chair) of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) to discuss its recent updates, including the new ‘susceptible dose dependent' (SDD) label, and to shed light on common misconceptions around the way it sets breakpoints. Breakpoints for Pseudomonas aeruginosa are discussed, as are intravenous fosfomycin's ‘disappearance' from the breakpoints table and EUCAST's new guidance on it. Episode peer-reviewed by Dr. Suzanne van Asten of Radboud University Medical Center.Literature:The European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST): https://www.eucast.org/EUCAST guidance on use of fosfomycin i.v. breakpoints:https://www.eucast.org/fileadmin/src/media/PDFs/EUCAST_files/Guidance_documents/Use_of_fosfomycin_iv_breakpoints_General_advice_20240528.pdfIn vitro synergy between fosfomycin and ceftazidime/avibactam: Kroemer, Martens, Decousser et al. Evaluation of in vitro pharmacodynamic drug interactions of ceftazidime/avibactam and fosfomycin in Escherichia coli. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2023 Oct 3;78(10):2524-2534. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkad264

Krzysztof Bozak, a Polish Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the Sejm joins Hearts of Oak to outline his political journey, beginning with his participation in a youth movement and the founding of the Confederation of Freedom and Independence Party.  Krzysztof lifts the veil on the Law and Justice Party's EU stance, economic policies, and immigration management.  He tells us of the significance of upholding conservative and nationalist values amidst mainstream narratives.  Krzysztof highlights his role in the Polish Parliament and his openness to collaborating with like-minded international entities. This interview offers deep insights into Polish politics, party distinctions, and the importance of ideological integrity in a changing political landscape. Krzysztof Bosak began his political career as an activist and spokesman for the organisation All-Polish Youth. In 2005, he became one of the youngest Polish MPs in history, elected as a candidate of the League of Polish Families, a conservative party, at the age of 23.  Krzysztof is now the leader of Confederation of Freedom and Independence Party, Member of Parliament and Deputy Speaker of the Sejm. Connect with Krzysztof... X/TWITTER               twitter.com/BosakKrzysztof    (English account)                                    twitter.com/krzysztofbosak Confederation of Freedom and Independence Party         WEBSITE                    konfederacja.pl X/TWITTER                https://konfederacja.pl/ Interview recorded  30.4.24 Connect with Hearts of Oak... X/TWITTER                twitter.com/HeartsofOakUK WEBSITE                    heartsofoak.org/ PODCASTS                heartsofoak.podbean.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA          heartsofoak.org/connect/ SHOP                          heartsofoak.org/shop/ TRANSCRIPT (Hearts of Oak) And I'm delighted to be joined by a member of the Polish Parliament, that is Krzysztof Bozak. Krzysztof, thank you for your time today. (Krzysztof Bosak) Thank you for the invitation and welcome everybody. Great to speak with you. I had the privilege of meeting you back, goodness, 18 months ago, I think, with Elisabeth Sabaditsch-Wolff , a good friend of both of ours. And you are a member of the Polish parliament and I'm looking forward to understanding a little bit about the Polish parliament setup. Each country is different but you are the president of the national movement and you're the leader of the confederation or confederation of Freedom and Independence Party, and you're the Deputy Speaker of the House, which is called the Sejm. And your a husband, father, you're a Christian, and I want to delve into all of those. But Krzysztof, you became a member of the Parliament back in 2005. You were very young back then. Tell me why you got involved in politics. How did that happen and how did you end up standing as a member of parliament and being elected? It's a long story. In fact, this time I was the youngest MP in this term and I started being involved in politics by a youth movement, a Catholic Eurosceptic and Catholic Nationalist youth movement. Since I was in high school. I was 17 or 18 years old when I joined. It was the time of the debate about joining the EU. All mainstream parties, mainstream medias, mainstream bishops, mainstream everything was in favour of joining EU. And a small minority of speakers and social leaders were against defending principles of independence, sovereignty, traditional values, and so on. And I was sure that they are right and I joined this movement, being against joining European Union at that time. I joined a youth movement, then in 2001 a conservative pro-family, pro-life Eurosceptic party was created. It was League of Polish Families. It was kind of coalition of very different right-wing conservative or Eurosceptic or nationalist groups. And four years later I became the youngest MP being elected from my home town and constituency. From the 10th place on the list. So I was not a leader of the list, I was on the 10th place and people elected me from this list as the only MP in this constituency. So it was a very big success and a very big surprise for many people. And it was short term, only two years, because this was a time of big political instability. We had two government changes. It was, let's say, right-wing government, many scandals, and after two years, earlier elections, and my political party didn't succeed. League of Polish Families disappeared from Polish politics. Law and Justice political party took everything, every right-wing voters. We were against, we were competitors of law and justice, competitors from the right. They were centre-right from our perspective. and after that for 12 years I was outside the Parliament involved in social movement and working in right-wing NGOs, in think tanks like Republican Foundation, defending the same values on the social level with my colleagues and people who didn't lose faith in being active and trying to create truly right-wing political movement. We tried many times different attempts to get into the Parliament we have 5% threshold and proportional system so it's quite hard if you do not have support from big business big media or big money and we succeed in 2019 I went back to Parliament this time as a co-leader of of Confederation, Freedom and Independence. It is a coalition now, coalition of three political parties, three political movements. My movement, national movement, still the same values, still the same political tradition. So national conservative Catholic tradition, national democratic tradition of Polish political independence movement, and we created this national movement as a new political party ten years before, in 2013. So for six years we were outside the parliament, and after that we made a coalition with conservative libertarians and traditionalists. So conservative libertarians were created by long-term defender of economic freedom and civil liberties. Janusz Korwin-Mikke, now he's not in his political party, he's pleaded, but he created this political party and now they have a younger leader, Sławomir Manczan from Next Generation, very popular young businessman and tax advisor and also a big defender of economic freedom and conservative values. So this is the second pillar first is national conservative Catholic second is let's say conservative libertarian and the third is citizens movement traditionalist movement of Jagger Brown is a quite popular right-wing movie a documentary movies director an artist and intellectual who who were involved in politics also a few years before, first being on anti-communist and right-wing position, and then shifting more to the right and building the coalition with us. So now we have Confederation as a coalition, or let's say umbrella party, coalition party, for these three different movements and many smaller groups who joined us. And we work collectively, we have collective leadership and we challenge law and justice from the right. We were in opposition during eight years of law and justice government. From our perspective they are not very conservative and they are, I know that sometimes media call them nationalists, but from our perspective they were a typical centre-right political party. And we made an alternative right party for Polish voters and now we even extended the number of voters who support us. So now we have 18 MPs and more than 7% in polls and now we fight to get into the European Parliament. Because for now there are only people from Law and Justice and their allies parties. And we believe that Polish voters deserve to have better representation in European Parliament. Built by truly critical to European Union politicians, not supporters of EU who change only some narrative, but they always vote in favour of you. Well, tell us about the... Because when I, as a Brit, maybe read the newspapers here in the UK, it would have talked to the Law and Justice Party as being an extreme right party. In a similar way, they mock Orbán in Hungary. But I'm curious to see where you fit in, Because when I went over and met with you, I begun to understand the Law and Justice Party were maybe not as wonderful as the West may think. So what makes the Confederation different than the Law and Justice Party? Yeah. It's a very complicated topic, but I think that it's easier to propose some metaphor or some example. So it's quite similar in my opinion like in the United States where you have mainstream Republicans and you have Trump supporters and for example Rand Paul or some people who are more nationalist-oriented. So, in Polish politics, law and justice is like mainstream republicans. They use some words, some phrases, some ideas of conservative or even pro-national right, but they use it intentionally rather for propaganda and they act like centre-right politicians. When they were in government in Poland, they even introduced many policies. We can say that these policies that they developed on social level or in economic policy, these are rather social democratic policy, not conservative or right-wing or not nationalist in any way. So, to go into the details, we criticise them because they supported European integration on the new level. First, many years ago, they supported Lisbon Treaty. They negotiated Lisbon Treaty being in government. Then their president signed the Lisbon Treaty. They made a propaganda with mainstream and center-left and leftists that the Lisbon Treaty is good for Poland. And we believe the opposite, that it was a disaster. Our situation is much worse in the EU under the Lisbon Treaty than before. Then, during the last eight years, they supported the European Green Deal and their Prime Minister accepted the European Green Deal in the European Council. Now farmers oppose, they even criticise in the current electoral campaign. They made a pledge that they will stop the European Green Deal, but they do not say that their prime minister accepted it on the European Council in 2019 then in 2020 their prime minister Morawiecki accepted fit for 55. So they increased the goal of reducing these emissions 15 percent percent more and they introduced many new policies in European union and it is all possible because they are accepted in European council on a 2020 meeting in fact prime minister Morawiecki also proposed us as a polish prime minister in Brazos creating new pan-European taxes it's completely It's completely against our Constitution, it's completely against our values. We believe that our phrase is that we need small taxes and only paid in Poland and they three or five new pan-European taxes and they accepted it and we paid this to Brussels, not to Warsaw and we have no influence on how this will be used, this money. Then they accepted European debt, we strongly opposed any idea of giving this right to Eurocrats in Brussels to introducing their own debt and building their own sources of income by that. And they, of course, accepted. Then they accepted also in 2020 a special pan-European COVID fund called Next Generation EU, even this phrase, next generation EU is evil and of course they accepted it and they made a campaign in Poland that it's a big success of Poland and that we will have billions of euros because of this success of Prime Minister Morawiecki and law and justice. And there was a small minority of their MPs who criticised this but they were silenced in the party and in the media and in fact from the perspective of Polish voters we were the only one independent voice in Parliament. I took part in this debate in Parliament and criticised this next, please check this by some search engines, what is this, next generation EU. This is not only a European debt program. It is paid by European taxes and by European debt for many years, but it's also a new attitude towards European funds. They accepted that we will have funds only under many new political conditions. So now we got some milestones, they call these milestones, and this is the list of tasks, of political tasks, and they program Polish policy by Polish so-called democratic government from Brussels without any base in constitution. We have more than 100 milestones and these are the conditions to get this money. So, we made a new debt. This is not our debt, this is the European debt. And to use this debt, we have conflict with EU for almost 3 or 4 years. And they now lecture us on every issue from this list of 100 milestones. And Prime Minister Morawiecki from the Law and Justice Party in the Polish parliament said that he is not ashamed of this deal because, for example, Italians have more than 400 milestones, tasks. So it's a nightmare from the perspective of somebody who is in favour of Polish independence and sovereign policy and democracy and even democracy in Poland. They made a secret agreement in Polish parliament with leftists to support this, because even in their own political camp, they call it United Right, which is false, because the right in Poland is not united. But they use this phrase united right and theywere afraid that not every MP will support this but because it was so controversial so they made a secret agreement with leftists. They took some leftist agenda in this deal and they made majority with leftists to push it through the parliament. Then they never discussed all this deal and this 100 milestones in parliament. We had never any debate on this issue. In fact, this negotiations were secret also against people in government. Not every member of government knew what they discussed in Brussels. Now we know this only from media. They never introduced this deal in parliament and explained what's going on. Then they accepted very, in my opinion, bad new rule called rule of law conditionality. So now without base in European treaties, Eurocrats in Brussels can lecture us what is rule of law. They can stop money for us. So these were some examples of their EU policy. There are many more, for example, their member of European Committee was in favour of European Green Deal. He even said that it's in line with political agenda on agriculture of law and justice. So they had a big conflict, of course, with EU on this rule of law. And in this conflict they it was completely complete disaster for Polish state because they started this conflict and then they missed everything because they never finished any reform of courts in Poland and they made even leftists stronger in Poland because they tried to make some compromise with Brussels. This compromise was never accepted by Brussels because it was not, let's say, 100% what Brussels wanted. But in fact we have a very big mess in courts and in law about courts and about independence of judiciary. And now after this conflict and these reforms never finished as I said the situation is worse than when it started worse on the sovereignty worse on the justice and the time that you need to wait in the court for the justice. And worse, from the perspective of the power of liberal lobby in judiciary and right-wing people who, trusted law and justice government are in a very bad situation now because they took some positions or some propositions, and now they are nowhere, in the middle of nowhere. It's a very sad story. Then we have economic policy. Their economic policy was, in fact, social democratic. So they raised taxes, they raised debts, they extended public spending. They tried to centralize every policy. They took money from local governments. they put this money to their national budget and they try to influence every policy by their political nominees and they work like, let's say, Maybe not autocratic, but it was a typical one-party government which tried to centralize and control everything. It's the opposite that I understand the pro-national policy or conservative policy. It was, in my opinion, it was elitist and even social democratic when you analyse. For example, they were strongly against home-schooling and against independent schools. They proposed some legislation to ban homes chooling. After some protests of conservatives and leftists united, they stepped back. But after protests in their party and outside and from many directions. But their first goal was to centralize everything under the government rule. And we said that it's stupid because they will not rule for forever and after them the left will come to the government and exactly this is what we have in Poland. Now we have center-left government, liberal and leftists, and the left took Ministry of Education, everything was centralized. And now they try to switch, oppose every institution and every policy that law and justice created. And we said that it will be so. And now we see the consequences of their stupid policy, which was not conservative, not Christian, not supporting any citizens' movement. They believed only in their political party and that's all. This is their philosophy. Then we have a very important issue for us in Poland, let's say, immigration. Law and Justice government was introduced in Poland, open borders policy. They were against illegal immigration and at the same time they opened borders. For biggest immigration, legal immigration in Poland since maybe 300 years. Last time that we have so big immigration was maybe in 16th or 17th century. Now we have millions of legal immigrants in Poland, the majority of them are Ukrainians, but there are also people from different Asian and especially Asian countries. They didn't want immigrants from Africa, but they invited people from Asia. They made, being anti-Russian party, they made a special easier way for Russian citizens to come to Poland, to be a part of our labor market. They opened our market for people from Belarus, from Central Asia, from Caucasus. Now Georgian immigrants are the biggest group when you analyze crimes in Poland, they are in the first place. When you analyse people who smuggle illegal immigrants, Ukrainians are in the first place. We have, it's strange, but there is no official statistics how many immigrants do we have in Poland. Nobody can count them, because these are millions and they opened borders for legal immigration, but they didn't build any administration to control the immigration. So, in fact, the best data that we have is not from the government, but from telecom operators, from big telecom business who can say how many people use different languages on their phones. So this is how we know. Or from banks, because these people from abroad open bank accounts. But it's not all. It's not started with the war in Ukraine. This is what I would like to underline. We had much more than a million Ukrainian people in Poland before the war. They were intentionally invited and government worked also on some agreements with some Asian countries to increase legal immigration to Poland. These were also Muslim countries. During the law and justice government, Muslim population in Poland increased, in my opinion, more than ten times. In fact, to be honest, it is still small, but they started this. So now we have information that a third mosque will be built in Warsaw, and the biggest one, of course, with the money from abroad, because they never, they always criticized any foreign influence, and they never proposed any legislation to stop the influence by money from abroad, for the politics, or for example, to found Islam, or Muslim movement in Poland. Then, when the war in Ukraine started, they opened borders for refugees and in fact not only for refugees but for everybody with Ukrainian passport because they made some legislation. Giving every privilege that Polish citizens have for everybody with Ukrainian passport, even for people who came here from Western Europe. It's strange, but it's true. They made a special amendment, because their first goal was always to encourage as many foreigners to live and work in Poland as it is possible. It has two reasons. First is that they believe in multicultural society. It is a part of, this is some branch of Polish pre-modern tradition, that we had a commonwealth with different nations and some of them are from this tradition and they believe that they can rebuild this commonwealth with different nations in encouraging these nations to build some community, not let's say Polish community, but they call it a Republican community, a new commonwealth of nations. From our perspective, it sounds very similar to globalist agenda, but they say, no, no, no, it's not a multiculturalism by globalists, This is our tradition of Polish multiculturalism. We as a national movement completely do not believe in this concept. We believe it's anachronic, pre-modern, and it didn't work. In fact, we had a commonwealth with different nations, but these nations don't want commonwealth with us. These nations like Belarusians, Lithuanians, Ukrainians, all of them wanted independent states. And it's normal, it's normal that every nation want to have their own independent states. So, some of law and justice politicians are people older age with their heads in the clouds, reading historical books and believing in some ideas, for example, from 17th, 16th or 18th century. And in my opinion they don't understand nothing from our times and especially they don't understand that mass immigration is a big threat for the society. In Poland this process started, especially in bigger cities. Warsaw under the Law and Justice government became much closer to London when we analysed the population. There are not many African people, but many people from Asia, as I said, and especially from Russia and Ukraine. The situation is changing very fast. They made a legislation and as I said, they gave every privilege, every policy for Polish citizens. They gave it also to the people with Ukrainian passports. And these are many millions of people who would like to live abroad. We are the only European nation that pays for everything. And, of course, we have nothing in exchange. We have some agenda towards Ukraine, but they did nothing from our agenda, and we gave everything. And this is what we're against because we believe that it's impossible for one country to have two nations on the payroll, and this is how it works now. Then you have also Ukraine and supporting Ukraine agenda. At the beginning of the war we were not against, because we believed that this horrible Russian attack, is a crime and is a threat, but after two years we see that their government gave all that we have to Ukraine and the result is still not clear and other European nations do not act this way. They negotiate some things for them. Americans are also not very fast to give everything what they have. And now, for example, our army do not have enough weapons because they gave new weapons from Polish army to Ukraine. And at the beginning they said that Americans or Germans will give us in change new equipment, all the equipment and the thing, but they didn't. So it's very hard being a Pole and seeing all of that. It's very hard not to be critical to law and justice and their government. In fact, we are not surprised. We know these people for many years. We know that during the debate about joining EU they were in the same camp as leftists, as centrists, progressives and all of them. In fact, they were never national or truly traditionalist or truly conservative right. They are a mix of people of different ideas and their leader of law and justice. It's not easy to understand this, being a foreigner, but to understand the situation you should know that the leader of law and justice Jaroslaw Kaczynski. He always were against Polish nationalist tradition. He is rather from the tradition of Polish patriotic socialism. We had some pre-war tradition from interwar period of Polish, let's say, Polish patriotic socialists and this is their first choice. They do not talk about this last decades because they know that people would like to vote right-wing party, not patriotic left-wing party. But the leader is rather from, let's say, centrist or centre-left patriotic republican tradition, the leader of law and justice. The members of the party are very mixed and very different. I would not say that every MP is bad. There are many probably MPs with good views but they vote bad or act bad being in government. I will give you one more or two more examples. For example, we had a very big debate in Poland about pro-life. Law and justice was always pro-life in declaration but when they got majority they did everything thing not to vote on pro-life bill so two times polish pro-life movement collected more than hundreds of thousands of signatures having majority so-called pro-life majority people had to collect hundreds of thousands of signatures to put citizens bill to parliament and they voted against. They voted against for two times, then we as right-wing MPs, some of their MPs and every MP from Confederation made written request to Constitutional Court and Constitutional Court with some nominees, right-wing nominees from Law and Justice waited few years to analyse this request, but after they analysed this, they made a judgement that it is against Polish constitution to kill unborn babies with some disabilities or health problems. And this is how the situation changed, not by the voting in parliament, And of course, people who are in favour of law and justice say that this was their secret plan to organise this this way. But I do not believe. In my opinion, it was rather by accident. They never wanted. And now their former prime minister Morawiecki said that he is against this sentence of the court, of constitutional court. That they should defend this. Yes. But they said that they are against because they are afraid of public opinion, people who like abortion, they want centrist voters and so on. So they do not defend, they controlled every media in Poland and they didn't defend this issue. Another example, their prime minister supported long-term EU LGBT strategy. Being prime minister voted in favour. Another example, their minister who was responsible for European funds sent a secret letter to local governments that if they want European funds they should cancel Anti-LGBT and pro-family statements. Many local councils made some statements that they are against LGBT propaganda in schools and they support normal family policy. It was then criticized by, of course, progressive media and some LGBT organizations, but there was nothing against citizens' rights. It was nothing against civil liberties or something. It was a declaration that we don't want propaganda in schools or something like that. And we know that they made this letter to local governments. We know that only from LGBT organizations because they published this, being proud that the so-called right-wing government is pushing the pressure with the EU to local governments to be not too much conservative. Yes, so it shows how they work and they say one thing and they do the opposite and it was always like that. We know we know these people for four decades So we are not surprised about normal polish voter don't know all of these facts because you need, hundreds of hours to follow every information and analyse everything to to gather these details and to understand what's going on and if you follow only mainstream media, even mainstream Catholic media in Poland. In progressive mainstream media, you had an attack on law and justice, that these are nationalists, they are xenophobic, they are anti-European, they want to go back to the Middle Ages or something like that. So people said, okay, these are good people, yes, they are very conservative. And if you listen to some right-wing media or Catholic media, They are true conservatives. They fight very hard, tough fights in the EU and so on. And you had nowhere to have the truth about how they rule, how they govern the country. Everybody analyzed only what they said. And their speeches were quite good. I can agree. For example, two days ago, I listened to the speech of their leader and to their convention about EU policy and I could take this and it could be my speech, yes, but it has nothing to do with their government, what they did in Brussels. This is the problem and I think it's a problem in many countries. It's a problem also in Hungary. Orban is also very pragmatic, yes, he's not a nationalist. And there's a problem in Italy with the Meloni government. It's not an independent agenda of independence. And in many other countries. So this is how it works. And this is why we believe that Polish politics deserve a truly right-wing party with truly conservative and truly pro-national and sovereign agenda and people who are against political correctness. This is what gathers us in Confederation. We are against political correctness. We don't want to be influenced in any way by anybody from mainstream. And we are proud that we are anti-mainstream. Of course, I had many debates in mainstream media, so I always go when they ask me and I always discuss. And I believe that my views are not radical or far-right or anything like that. But I don't want to give up my principles and my beliefs. I don't want, I would rather, I would like to be rather outside politics, like being 12 years outside the parliament, than joining this, let's say, fake right political parties and saying good speeches and voting bad things. I don't want that. Well, Krzysztof, thank you for giving us such an overview of Polish politics. And I wish that we had politicians like yourself in the UK with conviction, with beliefs that actually stood on a biblical principle on a lot of these issues. And I just the final thought is as deputy speaker, I mean, that is a that is a prestigious, important position. You must be Donald Tusk's kind of worst nightmare, that you stand for everything he is against. I'm sure it was difficult to actually get in that position, was it? I'm sure there was opposition. I know we only have a few minutes, but I'm just curious to know the opposition from people like Tusk to actually having you, a nationalist, a Christian, in that position. It's a little bit different, in my opinion. To understand the situation, you should know that the main line of political difference, is in Poland between Civic Platform and Donald Tusk as a leader, and Law and Justice and Jarosław Kaczyński as a leader. It's not, on some level of course it's a, let's say, ideological and political different, but they have many things in common. This is our, let's say, talking point, yes, that they are not so different on the level of agenda of political program. When you analyze their EU policy, they could exchange their ministers, and in fact, they're exchanged in these two political parties many members of cabinets. In fact, Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki before was an advisor to Donald Tusk. And there are many examples, I will not go into the detail because it's not so important. It is important to understand that it's a, let's say, ambition conflict between Kaczynski and Tusk. It's obvious that they hate each other. It started in 80s in the opposition movement. They have very bad opinion about each other, very bad. This is a true conflict, a true personal conflict. Both of them try to be pragmatic and in fact they are very pragmatic, very. But not on this one issue, not all about them themselves. This is their weak point that they become very emotional. So going back to the situation in the chamber and me as a deputy speaker Donald Tusk and don't care he don't care he hate yaroslav kaczynski and me I'm the guy from the different generation, in my opinion he do not believe in anything he is a pragmatic politician after so many years in politics. He was a liberal, he was a classic liberal in 80s, maybe early 90s. So on the level of defending economic freedom, I think he understands everything what we say. And he's a former classic liberal. Maybe he started on the same positions as Viktor Orban, but during years in politics, he lost belief probably in any principle. And now probably the only thing that he believes is pragmatism and power. Being in power and being pragmatic. This is how I understand him. So, in my opinion, he used left-wing politicians as tools. He gave them the platform, as you say in English, he gave them the platform, he gave them the space, even in government, he gave them a very important part of administration because he doesn't care. Not because he supports these ideas, he doesn't care. In my opinion, he personally believes that these are stupid people with stupid program but he didn't care. So he also didn't care about my views, in my opinion. Of course, some of his members in his political party care a lot and hate very conservative people. This is, let's say, a pro-abortion lobby in his party, very strong now, because his party started as centre-right party. It is interesting that Civic Platform, the party of Donald Tusk, started in 2001, all these three parties that I talked about, so League of Polish Families, Law and Justice and Civic Platform, all these political parties started in 2001 and entered the parliament. League of Polish Families after seven years was kicked out from parliament by voters unfortunately, but Law and Justice and Civic Platform stayed there and both Law and Justice Party and Civic Platform started as centre-right political parties very similar to each other, so similar that some politicians in 2001 didn't know which one to join so it was like a lottery or you had colleagues here so you go there you have colleagues here you go there it was a time of big changes in Polish politics so a civic platform the party of Donald Tusk started as a platform with principles of defending western civilization defending Christian values defending economic freedom defending some some conservative values maybe not everything but some and being pro-EU this was the starting point and after 20 years, they are centre-left political parties with very big pro-abortion, progressive lobby inside, former post-communist politicians, former leftist politicians inside, Green Party inside, because they built a civic coalition, they extended civic platform into civic coalition. And in this coalition, you have people who split it from the post-communist left, you have Green Party, you have some citizens' movement, and It's a central left spectrum. And Donald Tusk is a leader for everybody because now he tried to be pragmatic, not to be too close to any special views, yes? So for me it's completely not a problem. It's a problem with some MPs who are trying to be a little bit offensive or sometimes aggressive but I have my attitude which is always being very calm and polite to everybody no matter what are his views. I try to be polite and with respect to everybody this is I believe that how we should act in democratic politics and in Parliament and it works, because in fact even left-wing MPs or pro-abortion MPs have a good opinion about me as a deputy speaker, because I do not interrupt their speeches, I'm not nasty, counting their time. They could cooperate on this normal level with me, in my opinion, much better than, for example, with deputy speakers from law and justice, they were horrible, they were nasty, they were aggressive. They used their seat to, not to push their agenda, but to push their emotions against other people. So they were, there were attempts to push me from the seat, to kick me from the seat, the left put this request, but nobody voted in favor of this request, because nobody believed that it's a good decision to take this position from me and give it to anybody else. I think it's a result of maybe 20 years of my work in public debate and people know who I am, people know that I have my views, but people even who do not believe in my views, they respect that I didn't change them for many years, that I, in fact, in my opinion, many people from centre-left also respect me, that I didn't join law and justice. Because they have very bad opinion about law and justice, also about how they ruled when you analyse what they did with public money. Yes, this is another story, what they did with public money, how they used this for themselves. Their interests. Not very many bad stories. And we were not involved in all of that. So in my opinion, I have, I am lucky because I have a big respect. Of course, not everybody like me and especially not everybody like my views. But I have no reasons, I have no reason to say that I'm in a bad situation. Well, Krzysztof, I do appreciate your time. I'm so thankful to have you on. I know you've got great demands on your time being in that high profile position and being a high profile figure in the country. So thank you so much for giving us your time to explain to our UK and US audience a little bit about Polish politics. So thank you. Thank you very much for this invitation and this conversation and to finish this conversation with some good accent I would like to invite everybody who are true conservative people to come to Poland to meet us. We are very open to extend our international contacts. What I would like to say is that on the level of personal contacts. If some of you have some contacts with people from law and justice, it's not bad for us. As a normal people, we talk with each other normally in Parliament and outside Parliament. So we are critical to their leadership and to their prime minister, but taking normal MPs, we talk like normal people. And it is possible to have contacts with law and justice, for example, in European Parliament and with us in Poland or when we enter the European Parliament. So I would like to encourage everybody from truly right-wing movement to build contacts with Polish people, with Polish conservative organisations, political parties, editorial houses, NGOs, social movements. We have a big social movement, very many organizations and many good people. And please, come to Poland, have this contact, maybe also some people from the States. I believe that we should support each other. I always put some time and my energy to build this contact, so maybe some of my colleagues from abroad will watch this interview. I hope so. And me personally and our colleagues from Confederation, we are always very open to support every good people with good ideas to defend the principles that we believe, also conservative, traditional, Christian, Pro-freedom, pro-independence, and other good principles. So, this is my word and I believe that despite all these bad tendencies that we see in Western world, in Europe, we should have hope and we should defend good principles and good values, because this is our duty and this is how I believe, this is what we should do. So I have very big respect for every people who work in politics and on social level in countries that are less conservative than Poland, because I know how it feels when your country is going in the wrong direction. I talked with people from different countries and I know how it feels and I have big respect if you do a good job and give hope to your people, to your nations. Exactly. Well, thank you, Krzysztof, for your time. Greatly appreciate it. And I'm sure we will speak soon. Thank you very much.

'For those who like the life nothing could be better': The Games Mistress in Interwar Britain During the Edwardian period the ‘sporting girl' was increasingly being framed as modern and aspirational. Intensive exercise programmes had been introduced at many British girls' schools and the physical education colleges were graduating substantial numbers of women gymnastics and games teachers, the demand for whom increased rapidly with an expansion in the playing of team sports. Some headmistresses placed greater importance upon the character of her games mistress than any other member of staff, because the games mistress interacted with girls in their more spontaneous and unguarded moments; ‘hers was the exceptional opportunity of helping them to play in a manner to show not merely proficiency in games, but character as well'. This connection to pupils was reflected in the literature that referred to ‘what a ripping games mistress they'd got', and to recollections of everyone having had a ‘crack' on the games mistress in their schooldays. Most of these women have left little trace in the historical record, but that should not dissuade the historian from making the effort to uncover their life courses. Combining evidence from a broad spectrum of key primary sources, including newspapers, the 1911 and 1921 censuses, college records, literature, girls' annuals, specialist periodicals, photographs, local and family histories, and the 1939 National Register, this paper illuminates some of the biographies and experiences of the women who led the development of sport and physical activity for girls both inside and outside the school environment, at national and at regional level. These narratives may lack evidence in parts, but they provide enough material to give us a picture of the lives of those involved and allow us to interrogate some of the stereotypes that have been assigned to the figure of the Inter War games mistress. Dave Day is Professor of Sports History at Manchester Metropolitan University where his research interests include the historical development of coaching and training practices as well as the life courses of nineteenth and twentieth century sports coaches. A significant feature of his research has been the pioneering of biographical techniques and the use of genealogical resources and he is continuing to explore new methodologies and sources for the creation of sports history. Dave's current research projects include exploring the transcultural transmission of coaching traditions across national borders, the gendered socialisation into sport through the medium of Victorian children's' periodicals, and the lives and experiences of women coaches in the first half of the twentieth century. He is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society, a Fellow of the European Committee for Sports History, past editor-in-chief of the Sport in History journal, and a past Chair of the British Society of Sports History.

Our guest this time is Dr. Pebble Kranz from the Rochester Center for Sexual Wellness. She is a Family Medicine doctor with a background in theater who now specializes in sexual medicine. Mentored by a beloved sex therapist, the late Gina Ogden, she has been trained in sexual medicine through the European Society of Sexual Medicine and became a Fellow of the European Committee on Sexual Medicine (FECSM) in 2018. Because one training program is never enough, she also has trained with the International Society for the Study of Women's Sexual Health (ISSWSH), the American Association of Sexuality Counselors Educators and Therapists (AASECT), and the World Professional Association on Transgender Health (WPATH) where she is pursuing certification in gender-affirming medical care. Dr. Kranz founded the Rochester Center for Sexual Wellness with her husband Dan Rosen, a sex therapist and supervisor in 2017. They see patients and clients of all genders and also do training for therapists interested in becoming sex therapists and sexuality counselors. Since 2021, she has been honored to serve on the board of the Scientific Network on Female Sexual Health and Cancer. Pebble talks with Sabitha and Jane about seeing her patients as whole people, exploring their life stories, asking what sex means to them in their own bodies, and enjoys teaching about so many areas of sexual health and wellness. If you're interested in more information about Pebble Kranz, please check out her page on the Rochester Center for Sexual Wellness website. If you want to catch up on other shows, just visit our website and please subscribe! We love our listeners and welcome your feedback, so if you love Our Better Half, please give us a 5-star rating and follow us on Facebook and Instagram. It really helps support our show! As always, thanks for listening!  

00:00 - Intro 00:24 - How did you make a decision about hosting Ukrainian civil society here, in the comittee? What was your opinion about helping Ukrainians from the start of the war? 02:58 - Do you see Ukraine as a member of the #EU? How is the EECS responding to this topic? 03:57 - Do you feel any intensifications of support of Ukrainian civil society? 04:38 - How do European Institutions help Ukrainian people in Brussels? What is the main idea of this help? 06:27 - What is the future of the resolutions in support of Ukraine that were adopted last year? Does it also involve blocked Russian assets? 07:40 - What were your expectations from your presidency? Was it distorted by what was constantly happening around? 09:16 - Has the approach of the European Committee towards citizens changed during the COVID period and what exactly has changed since then? 11:09 - Do the citizens of European Union have enough political power to put pressure on European Institutions for changing their decisions? 12:03 - Looking back at your past experience, would you like to make a difference in the past or even pursue a career other than becoming #EESC President? Is there anything you would do more if you had enough time? 14:12 - Are you traveling to meet other committee members? If not, what are the main reasons for your business trips? Are you doing this to see what the real situation is in other countries? 15:50 - What challenges did you face on your path to leadership? Were there any problems because you are a woman? 17:43 - Do you have any messages or wishes for Ukrainians? Would you like to inspire them for a future? 18:31 - What do you think about citizens involvement into making democracy package legitimate in terms of defending from foreign interference? Should the citizens being empowered for that? 21:23 - Do you plan to visit #Ukraine after the victory? 21:42 - What are your plans for the future as a member of committee?

Sean J. Pittock, MD, Director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Multiple Sclerosis and Autoimmune Neurology and of Mayo's Neuroimmunology Laboratory discusses the latest results from Phase III CHAMPION-NMOSD trial recently presented at European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) Congress. The results showed that treatment with ravulizumab-cwvz significantly reduced relapse risk in adults with anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody-positive (Ab+) neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).NMOSD is a rare central nervous disorder that primarily affects the spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms of NMOSD may include blindness in one or both eyes, weakness or paralysis of arms or legs, spasming, loss of sensation, uncontrollable vomiting and hiccups, and bladder/bowel problems due to spinal cord damage. Relapse is very common in persons with NMOSD and episodes can be severe enough to cause permanent disability.

Today we are joined by Dr Angela Wright, a BMS Advanced Menopause Specialist & Menopause Trainer who is particularly interested in improving sexual function and menopausal symptoms in women who have undergone cancer treatment.Angela talks about addressing the patient as a whole body, in a holistic way, incorporating mental and emotional health into a person's physical healing and recovery. As a Fellow of the European Committee of Sexual Medicine (FECSM), Angela is at the forefront of treatment options and talks about a new drug, currently not readily available everywhere but through some specialist doctors. It gives hope and knowledge that things are moving in the right direction.You can find Dr Wright here:https://spicedpearhealth.co.uk/https://www.instagram.com/spicedpearhealth/?hl=enAngela collaborates frequently with Maggie's centres: https://www.maggies.org/our-centres/maggies-cambridge/About Dani:The Menopause and Cancer Podcast is hosted by Dani Binnington, menopause guide, patients advocate for people in menopause after a cancer diagnosis, and founder of the online platform Healthy Whole Me. There is lots of information out there about the menopause but hardly any if you have had a cancer diagnosis as well. Many people say to me they have no idea what their options are, who to ask for help, and that they feel really isolated in their experiences. I started this podcast because there was nothing out there when I was thrown into surgical menopause at the age of 39, which followed on from my cancer diagnosis aged 33.Through the episodes, I want to create more awareness, share information from our fabulous guest experts, doctors and other specialists in the cancer and menopause field. And of course, I will share stories from the people in our community.So that together we can work towards a better menopause experience. For all of us.More educated, better informed and less alone.Connect with Dani:Instagram @healthywholeme Facebook: @healthywholeme Join Dani's private Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/menopauseandcancerchathubFor oodles of inspiration, healthy recipes, yoga classes and all round positivity go to her website: https://www.healthywholeme.com/

In this special episode, we speak to Beth Havinga, Managing Director of the European Edtech Alliance, and Rhys Spence, Head of Research at Brighteye Ventures, about the state of European Edtech. Both organizations have recently released fascinating reports about the state of Edtech:European Edtech Funding Report 2023 (Brighteye Ventures)European Edtech Map: Insights Report (European Edtech Alliance) European Edtech Map (European Edtech Alliance) Beth Havinga is the Managing Director of the European EdTech Alliance and the EdSAFE AI Alliance. Beth represents the EEA both in the EdTech Roundtable of the European Commission and UNESCO's Broadband Commission. Beth has considerable experience developing interoperability standards frameworks, and represents Germany as head delegate to the European Committee for Standardization of Interoperability for Learning Technologies and EdTech. In addition to creating her own consulting firm, Beth has taught in schools, managed education software and publishing houses, founded two startups, and worked in over 45 countries to develop digital structures and strategies.— Rhys Spence is Head of research at Brighteye Ventures. He researches geographic and product market trends, as well as supports the portfolio with business-related themes, including international expansion, marketing, HR, ESG and impact. Before Brighteye, he worked in UK education policy research, specialising in the early years and latterly edtech.

Some of you might remember that at the end of October, I was in Amsterdam, attending the 2022 ECTRIMS Congress. ECTRIMS is an acronym for the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, and their annual scientific congress is the largest MS research conference in the world. As the conference ended, I sat on some steps outside the conference center alongside the National MS Society's Executive Vice-President of Research, Dr. Bruce Bebo. And Dr. Bebo shared his initial impressions of some of the research that had been presented over the 3-day conference.  If you missed that episode of the podcast, you may want to listen to episode number 270 of RealTalk MS After having had a few weeks to consider all of the research that was presented at the ECTRIMS Congress, Dr. Bebo is back to share his final ECTRIMS research update, and talk about the rest of the research that caught his attention at the 2022 ECTRIMS Congress. You'll also meet the Co-Chair of the MS Society Southern California chapter's Emerging Leaders Board and this year's recipient of the Dorothy Corwin Spirit of Life Award, Kristen Karasek. Kristen was diagnosed with MS at the age of 24, but, as will become clear to you, she hasn't let MS get in her way. I think you'll find Kristen's positivity to be infectious. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??! This Week: Part Two of our 2022 ECTRIMS research roundup with Dr. Bruce Bebo  :22 My conversation with the Co-Chair of the MS Society Southern California Chapter's Emerging Leaders Board and Dorothy Corwin Spirit of Life recipient, Kristen Karasek  1:37 The National MS Society's Executive Vice-President of Research, Dr. Bruce Bebo, discusses the research that caught his attention at the largest MS research conference in the world  16:20 Share this episode  35:21 Download the free RealTalk MS app  35:41 SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email: https://realtalkms.com/276 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: jon@realtalkms.com Phone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com RealTalk MS Episode 270: From the 2022 ECTRIMS Congress with Dr. Bruce Bebo https://realtalkms.com/270 Take the iConquer MS Caregiver Survey https://realtalkms.com/caregiver Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Devices https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200 Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Deviceshttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk Give RealTalk MS a rating and review http://www.realtalkms.com/review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 276 Guests: Dr. Bruce Bebo, Kristen Karasek Tags: MS, MultipleSclerosis, MSResearch, MSSociety, RealTalkMS Privacy Policy

Sean J. Pittock, MD, Director of Mayo Clinic's Center for Multiple Sclerosis and Autoimmune Neurology and of Mayo's Neuroimmunology Laboratory discusses the latest results from Phase III CHAMPION-NMOSD trial recently presented at European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS) Congress. The results showed that treatment with ravulizumab-cwvz significantly reduced relapse risk in adults with anti-aquaporin-4 (AQP4) antibody-positive (Ab+) neuromyelitis optica spectrum disorder (NMOSD).NMOSD is a rare central nervous disorder that primarily affects the spinal cord and optic nerves. Symptoms of NMOSD may include blindness in one or both eyes, weakness or paralysis of arms or legs, spasming, loss of sensation, uncontrollable vomiting and hiccups, and bladder/bowel problems due to spinal cord damage. Relapse is very common in persons with NMOSD and episodes can be severe enough to cause permanent disability. As Dr. Pittock explains, the CHAMPION-NMOSD study is a global Phase III, open-label, multicenter trial evaluating the safety and efficacy of ravulizumab in adults with AQP4-Ab+ NMOSD (n-58). The data presented by Dr. Pittock at ECTRIMS showed that no relapses were observed in patients receiving ravulizumab, with a median treatment duration of 73 weeks. Further, 100% of patients receiving ravulizumab remained relapse-free at 48 weeks, compared to 63% of patients in the external placebo arm.To learn more about NMOSD and other rare neurologic disorders, visit checkrare.com/ neurology/

This panel discussion reflects on Ireland's six-month Presidency of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe, which ended on the 7th November 2022. Speakers: Deputy Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Bjørn Berge. Senator Fiona O'Loughlin, Head of Ireland's Delegation to the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. Professor Aoife Nolan, an Irish independent expert to the Council of Europe's European Committee of Social Rights

Welcome back to our Ibec Responds mini-series on COP27, where we provide timely updates and analysis on  the 27th annual Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.  In this episode we are joined by Aidan Sweeney, Ibec Head of Enterprise and Regulatory Affairs, and Councillor Allison Gilliland, Dublin City Councillor and COP27 Delegate with the European Committee of the Regions. Together they discuss the involvement of cities and regions in the climate talks.  Thank you for listening. To explore all of Ibec's podcast offering, visit here.

Guests featured in this episode: Mykola Gnatovskyy, a renowned Ukrainian legal scholar who was recently elected to serve as judge at the European Court of Human Rights. Before taking up this very prestigious nine-year appointment at the ECHR, Mykola was a professor at the Institute of International Relations, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. He also advised the Ukrainian Minister for Foreign Affairs on international criminal justice, and was a member of the International Expert Board on Crimes Committed during Armed Conflict at the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine.From 2015 until 2021, Mykola served three consecutive terms as President of the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.In March of this 2022, he was one of the original signatories, together with Ukraine's Minister of Foreign Affairs and the former British Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, calling for the establishment of a special tribunal to investigate Russia for the crime of aggression against Ukraine. GLOSSARY:What is the International Criminal Court?(01:58 or p.1 in the transcript)International Criminal Court (ICC): permanent judicial body established by the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (1998) to investigate, prosecute, and try individuals accused of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity and to impose prison sentences upon individuals who are found guilty of such crimes. On July 1, 2002, after the requisite number of countries (60) ratified the agreement, the court began sittings. It is headquartered in the Netherlands at The Hague: source What is the War in Ukraine?(04:32 or p.2 in the transcript)In early November 2021 Russia began building up military forces along the borders of Ukraine, for the second time in a year. Over 100,000 Russian military personnel and assets were deployed in Crimea and in the Voronezh, Kursk and Bryansk regions of western Russia. Further Russian forces were deployed to Belarus for a series of exercises close to the Ukrainian border and Russian naval assets from the Baltic and Northern fleets deployed for exercises in the Black Sea. Tensions escalated following a US intelligence assessment in December 2021, which suggested that Russia could be planning an invasion of Ukraine in early 2022. On 24 February 2022 Russia launched military action in Ukraine, with forces crossing into the country from Belarus in the north, Russia in the east and Crimea in the south. Russia's actions came just days after President Putin officially recognized the self-declared independence of the Donetsk People's Republic (DPR) and Luhansk People's Republic (LPR), the regions of eastern Ukraine that are under the control of Russian-backed separatist forces, and deployed “peacekeeping” forces to the region: source What is the massacre in Eastern Anatolia?(07:18 or p.2 in the transcript)Massacre in Eastern Anatolia, also known as Armenian Genocide: campaign of deportation and mass killing conducted against the Armenian subjects of the Ottoman Empire by the Young Turk government during World War I (1914–18). Armenians charge that the campaign was a deliberate attempt to destroy the Armenian people and, thus, an act of genocide. The Turkish government has resisted calls to recognize it as such, contending that, although atrocities took place, there was no official policy of extermination implemented against the Armenian people as a group: source What is the Wagner Group?(17:02 or p.5 in the transcript)Wagner Group: a network of businesses and groups of mercenaries that have been linked by overlaps in ownership and logistics networks. Entities making up the network have been described in sanctions designations by the U.S. Treasury as being involved in a wide range of activities, including working to suppress pro-democracy protests, spreading disinformation, mining for gold and diamonds, and engaging in paramilitary activity. The group, such as it is, first appeared in Ukraine in 2014, where it assisted the Russian military in the annexation of Crimea. Since then, paramilitaries and businesses have branched out to Syria—where they have fought in support of embattled President Bashar al-Assad while securing a foothold in the country's energy sector—as well as to Libya, Sudan, Madagascar, Mozambique, and the Central African Republic: source What is the occupation of Crimea and Eastern Ukraine?(31:38 or p. 8 in the transcript)The Crisis in Crimea and Eastern Ukraine: on 22 February 2014, President Yanukovych disappeared from Ukraine and a new government was installed by the Ukrainian parliament. Later that month unidentified military figures, widely thought in the West to be Russian personnel (this was later confirmed), surrounded the airports in Crimea, a majority-Russian peninsula in Ukraine and the Crimean autonomous assembly was taken over by pro-Russian forces. In March 2014 a declaration of independence was issued by the assembly and a subsequent referendum on union with Russia was held. Since then, Russia has maintained its control over Crimea and supported pro-Russian separatist forces who also took control of parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions of eastern Ukraine (the Donbas) in 2014. Fighting between Russian-supported separatists and Ukrainian government forces has continued in the Donbas for the last eight years despite the negotiation of the Minsk Agreements in 2014/2015 which called for a ceasefire, the withdrawal of all foreign armed groups and constitutional reform recognizing the special status of Donetsk and Luhansk: source  Democracy in Question? is brought to you by:• Central European University: CEU• The Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: AHCD• The Podcast Company: Novel Follow us on social media!• Central European University: @CEU• Albert Hirschman Centre on Democracy in Geneva: @AHDCentreSubscribe to the show. If you enjoyed what you listened to, you can support us by leaving a review and sharing our podcast in your networks! 

Lately, there's been a lot of talk about smart cities and intelligent buildings, so what defines a smart city and makes it different from a regular city? Why do we need smart cities? What makes smart cities successful? In this episode, Dr. Esmat Zaidan answers these questions and dives into smart cities! Dr. Esmat Zaidan is an associate professor in Public Policy at the College of Public Policy, Hamad Bin Khalifa University. She has twenty years of progressive experience in academic institutions (University of Waterloo, United Arab Emirates University, and Qatar University) and in international development organizations such as the World Bank, the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD), and the European Committee. She has solid interdisciplinary scholarly work and activities; her research focuses on social and cultural, development, smart cities and societies, sustainable development policy and planning, smart transformation, and the actions of communities and demand-side in the transition to sustainability. In her publications, she integrates Artificial Intelligence (AI), Geographic Information Systems (GIS) techniques, spatial statistics, forecasting models, and future predictions for policy analysis, particularly in the State of Qatar and the gulf. She published a wide range of articles (more than 48) in top-tier ISI/Scopus journals (70% of her publication are in Q1 journals) with Springer Nature, Elsevier, Sage, Routledge, and Taylor & Francis.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dr Angela Wright is an experienced GP and Clinical Sexologist, with a special interest in women's health. She's a British Menopause Society Accredited Advanced Menopause Specialist and consults in an NHS Menopause Clinic in Hull focusing on menopause, PMDD and sexual dysfunction.She studied as a Clinical Sexologist with the Contemporary Institute of Clinical Sexology in Cambridge. Following this, was accepted to attend the ESSM Advanced School of Sexual Medicine in Budapest and went on to pass the FECSM exam (Fellow of the European Committee of Sexual Medicine). She is also now part of the CICS Faculty, teaching the biomedical and menopause parts of the course.Her dual training means she understands both the medical, and the psychosexual approaches to sex and sexuality; enabling her to provide a holistic approach to sexual dysfunction in men and women, with particular expertise in HRT and non-hormonal menopause management. She is also trained in providing CBT for Menopause.She has recently launched a private clinic www.spicedpearhealth.co.uk partnering with Dr Angela Sharma, who has a similar holistic approach to the individual and a particular interest in sexual dysfunction. They have brought the approach which their NHS patients value so much to a bigger audience, and are also committed to increasing the wider access of women to education about menopause and their sexuality through probono work with organisations such as Maggies, who work with women who may struggle to access these skills. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today to speak about it with us, we welcome Ulrika Landergren, member of Kungsbacka Municipal Council in Sweden and chair of the Commission for Natural Resources (NAT) at the European Committee of the Regions'.

Episode 14 episode of Food for Europe is dedicated to the new EU Organic Awards which will acknowledge different actors of the organic value chain- launch date for applications March 25 – and many of the issues surrounding organic production and consumption. Key speaker is Commissioner for Agriculture, Janusz Wojciechowski, who is joined by the awards partners and leading organic producers:Barbara Altmann (Rapunzel, German organic manufacturer and supplier), Kurt Sannen (Belgian organic livestock farmer and chair of the farmers' interest group of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements, IFOAM), Lone Andersen (Danish organic dairy farmer and a vice-President of the agriculture umbrella body COPA-COGECA), together with Peter Schmidt (President of the European Economic and Social Committee's Agriculture, Rural Development and the Environment section), and Uroš Brežan (Mayor of the small Slovenian town of Tolmin and representing the European Committee of the Regions).

The Committee for the Prevention of Torture of the Council of Europe, or CPT, is the supervisory body established by the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Its most distinctive feature is that it can inspect places of detention in member states with the aim to strengthen the protection of persons who were deprived of their liberty. As its first President, Nino was a driving force behind the Committee's institutionalisation, and played a major role in prompting States to publish the Committee's (otherwise confidential) reports. We get a glimpse of what inspections were like through Nino's voice, as he was dictating the report of an inspection to his secretary. Then we hear how Nino continued to be attentive to conditions of detention as he was President of the Yugoslavia Tribunal, this time through the voice of his legal officer at the time, the late John Jones. The co-hosts discuss the Committee's powers and its role in inducing states to comply with their international obligations with Antonio Marchesi, who at the time of Nino's election as CPT President was writing his PhD on torture under Nino's supervision and then became President of Amnesty International Italy. Andrew Clapham reads an excerpt explaining why Nino chose to take part in the Committee's work, and more generally to take an active role in the protection of human rights.LinksEuropean Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or PunishmentJohn Jones tells the story of Nino inspecting the cells at the UN Detention Unit in The Hague (video from the tribute to Nino organised by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon in 2011, “Walking the Road he Paved”, Antonio Cassese 1937-2011) Antonio Cassese, Human Rights in a Changing WorldFollow and contact us at:https://cassese-initiative.org/https://twitter.com/cassese_initiathttps://www.facebook.com/casseseinitiative/http://info@cassese-initiative.org/Credits for the production go to Janet Anderson, Stephanie van den Berg and Ilaria Molinari. The logo for this podcast has been designed by https://delrossostudio.com/

Happy 2022 and welcome to the premiere episode of Living Well with MS. We are thrilled to launch the 4th season of our podcast with a very special episode celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Overcoming MS charity. What better way to mark the occasion, and the start of a hopeful new year, than an in-depth conversation with OMS CEO Grazina Berry. Since assuming leadership of the organization almost 18 months ago, Grazina has led a transformation that has been focused on strengthening Overcoming MS's ties with its community, health care professionals, and the MS community at large. In this episode, we will learn about the exciting changes that lie ahead as OMS cements its place as the world's leading MS lifestyle charity.   Bio:   Grazina Berry joined Overcoming MS in July 2020 as CEO. She has had an extensive career, as a senior and board executive, in the public and not-for-profit sectors.      Grazina is passionate, driven and committed to making a positive difference to the lives of all communities and helping OMS achieve its vision – that every person with MS is empowered to take control of their lives, is making informed lifestyle choices and can lead a full and healthy life.     Over the last year and a half, Grazina has been working tirelessly with the OMS community, the team, trustees, and partner organizations to implement OMS's new strategy, focused on informing, supporting and empowering people with MS and their families to lead healthy lives. A collaborator at heart, Grazina is a firm believer in working in partnership with people with MS, their families, professionals, and other MS focused organizations, so we can learn from one another, adapt to the ever-changing and complex world around us, and create long-lasting impact, together.   Intro:   Happy 2022 and welcome to the premiere of the 4th season of Living Well with MS, the podcast from the world's leading MS healthy lifestyle charity. This is our season opener and 77th episode to date, and to mark the occasion we are proud to welcome back the Chief Executive of Overcoming MS, Grazina Berry. Thanks for being on the program again, Grazina.   Questions:   Our 4th season is just one of the milestones that Overcoming MS is marking this year. Most notably, it is the organization's 10th anniversary. What kind of birthday party are you planning to celebrate a decade of helping people with MS live healthier and better lives? In your view, how has OMS evolved over the past decade? As CEO, what are some of the key initiatives that you're introducing or have introduced to align with the organization's 10-year anniversary? And in the vein, what might be some of the specific banner projects OMS will be rolling out this year? If OMS was a person and disposed to making new year's resolutions, what would its resolutions be? How have you seen the MS landscape, and more broadly the holistic health and healthy lifestyle space, change over the years? Has it evolved for the better, worse, or neutral? How has OMS kept pace with some of the changes in the MS landscape you've noted? What are your most important considerations in leading OMS into its next decade? What are some of the challenges you feel lie ahead? How do you feel OMS has changed as the result of the deeply impacted, particularly from the physical and mental health perspectives, post-Covid world? How do you feel OMS is making deeper inroads into its community, strengthening its ties with them as well as their ties with each other? If there is one thing you can choose to etch as OMS's legacy for the next decade, what would it be? And finally, what are you personally most excited about for the year ahead?   Links:   About Grazina Berry About Overcoming MS OMS 2021-23 Strategy New! OMS Advocacy   Coming up next:   Please join us on January 24 for the season premiere of Living Well with MS Coffee Break, our podcast series dedicated to the voices and stories of our diverse global community. In Coffee Break #27, meet Vickie Hadge, the Ambassador of the OMS Circle in Connecticut. Vickie is an avid plant-based foodie and speaks about her experiences living well with chronic illness on YouTube. We hope you can drop in and get to know her!   Don't miss out:   Subscribe to this podcast and never miss an episode. You can catch any episode of Living Well with MS here or on your favorite podcast listening app. For your convenience, a full episode transcript is also available on all platforms within 48 hours of each episode's premiere. If you like our program, don't be shy and leave a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you tune into the show. And feel free to share your comments and suggestions for future guests and episode topics by emailing podcast@overcomingms.org.   S4E46 Transcript Happy 10th Anniversary, OMS! A Look at What Lies Ahead with OMS CEO Grazina Berry   Geoff Allix (1s): Welcome to Living Well with MS, the podcast from Overcoming MS, a healthy lifestyle charity celebrating its 10th year of serving the MS community. I'm your host, Geoff Allix. The goal of our organization and this podcast is to inform, support, and empower people with MS to lead full and happy lives. We're excited you could join us for this new episode. Make sure to check out this episode's show notes for more information and useful links. You can find these on our website at www.overcomingms.org/podcast or on whichever podcast platform you used to tune in to our program. If you enjoy the show, please spread the word about us on your social media channels or leave a review wherever you tune in to our podcast.   Geoff Allix (47s): Have questions or ideas to share? Email us at podcast@overcomingms.org or you can reach out to me directly on Twitter @GeoffAllix. We'd love to hear from you. Finally, don't forget to subscribe to Living Well with MS on your favorite podcast platform so you never miss an episode. Now, let's meet our guest for this episode. Happy 2022, and welcome to the premiere episode of Living Well with MS. We're thrilled to launch the fourth season of our podcast with a very special episode, celebrating the 10th anniversary of the Overcoming MS charity. What better way to mark the occasion and start on a hopeful new year than an in-depth conversation with OMS CEO, Grazina Berry.   Geoff Allix (1m 32s): Since assuming leadership of the organization almost 18 months ago, Grazina has led a transformation that has focused on strengthening Overcoming MS's ties with its community, health care professionals, and the MS community at large. In this episode, we will learn about the exciting changes that lie ahead as OMS cements its place as the world's leading MS lifestyle charity. Welcome to the premiere of the fourth season of the Living Well with MS podcast from the world's leading MS Healthy lifestyle charity. This is our season opener and 77th episode to date. To mark the occasion, we are proud to welcome back the Chief Executive of Overcoming MS, Grazina Berry. Thanks for being on the program again, Grazina.   Grazina Berry (2m 12s): Hi, Geoff. Thank you for having me back. I must have got something right the first time as you invited me to come back again.   Geoff Allix (2m 22s): I'm glad to have you back. Our fourth season is just one of the milestones Overcoming MS is marking this year, and the biggest one, most notable is the organization's 10th anniversary. What kind of birthday party are you planning to celebrate a decade of helping people with MS live healthier and better lives? Probably would be socially distanced in the UK.   Grazina Berry (2m 52s): That's fine. Definitely. Well, first of all, congrats to you, Geoff, as well, being the podcast host for our fourth season. That's a celebration as well.   Geoff Allix (3m 5s): I can't believe it's been this long.   Grazina Berry (3m 8s): I know, but indeed, bearing in mind all the upheaval and uncertainty around us, especially over the last two years, I think we could all do with a little party, couldn't we? The thing about the 10th, 10 is such a big number, isn't it? If I imagined this party, it would have to be one that is really filled with fun, pride, enjoyment, lots of reflections over the standout moments, maybe a few tears here and there, giggles, raise a glass or two, and I think to do the anniversary and all the achievements of the organization over the last 10 years justice.   Grazina Berry (3m 52s): We should probably have done parties. I think that's doable by technology, isn't it? We'd like to celebrate with our community who've helped us get to where we are and we'll be looking to unveil the plans in the new year, wanting that to be an element of surprise as well. The listeners and you, Geoff, will just have to watch the space.   Geoff Allix (4m 16s): In your view, what's happened in the last 10 years? How has OMS evolved over the past decade?   Grazina Berry (4m 26s): Wow, that is a massive question, really. I think to answer it in the best possible way, to do all the achievements justice, I think we should try and jump into that time machine, go back to the beginning, and reflect on some of those standout moments of which the very first one has to be 2012. The fundamental starting point when the charity began, established by the amazing Linda Bloom, working very closely with Professor George Jelinek and Gary McMahon, the CEO at the time. That was the humble beginning in Australia.   Grazina Berry (5m 8s): Then in 2013, the charity started distributing the OMS books for free in the UK and held the very first UK conference. I suppose these kinds of events focused on information, very much marked the next couple of years, 2014 in particular. 2014 is worth a bit of a pause as well because we started funding open-access research projects at the neuroepidemiology unit at the University of Melbourne. Then 2015 and 2016 were also really, really important because we began to define our focus internationally.   Grazina Berry (5m 52s): We registered as a charity in Australia in the US in 2015. We really went all out organizing residential retreats. Geoff, I believe you've been to one of these immersive, multi-day experiences connecting people with one another, beginning to build communities, but also informing them about the OMS program.   Geoff Allix (6m 20s): Yes, I did. A quite transformative thing going to an OMS retreat, but, obviously, they had to stop because of COVID. Also, I'm guessing there are issues with scalability as well.   Grazina Berry (6m 32s): Yes, absolutely.   Geoff Allix (6m 33s): It's not going to be for thousands of people at each one.   Grazina Berry (6m 36s): Unfortunately. I wish they could be, but alas, they can't. However, perhaps later, when we come to talking about plans for the future, I can share with you some of the ideas that we're actively developing and pursuing for reimagining those important events. Back into the time machine, in 2016, I wanted to mention as well because OMS went to the US to raise awareness of the organization and the program, visiting three cities, Boston, New York, and Los Angeles. Then 2017 and 2018, again, quite a lot of events.   Grazina Berry (7m 15s): There was one in Northern Ireland. There were a few retreats in Wales, actually, and Australia. Very importantly, that's the year when we launched Overcoming MS Circles. Twenty, I believe. We had 20 in 2018, and these are volunteer-led community support groups. Really important in terms of grassroots activism in those early days, but also connecting people. 2019, another memorable year. UK conference in Edinburgh followed by a high-profile event at the House of Commons in London, and importantly, Geoff, the much-loved podcast began.   Grazina Berry (8m 12s): 2019, a really important year. Then we went into turmoil, complex year, I would say. 2020, of course, the pandemic hit. We started to change program and the organization with Gary stepping down and my arrival. Then 2021, again, the pandemic isn't over and it's still causing havoc, but that's the year that marked our new three-year strategy publication in March and growth in our community to 94 circles that we have today, our online platform, but also growing the strength of our community voice.   Grazina Berry (8m 57s): Really, going back to your question, Geoff, about evolution, I think you'll notice that the charity started by the immense focus on raising awareness, spreading the word, about the pioneering work of Professor Jelinek. A lot of effort went into high-profile raising events. We then started working more deeply with people through retreats, and as you said, from your own personal experience, impacting them really profoundly, but the numbers were quite small, and they were pretty costly to deliver. Gradually, we've started to think about scale and how technology could help us reach more people.   Grazina Berry (9m 41s): My arrival, as I reflect on it, marked a crossroads point at the charity. I led a broad review exercise speaking with the community, trustees, and the founders, of course, the team, lots of other MS organizations, partners, healthcare professionals, looking at whatever data we could really get hold of. Where is MS prevalence heading, for example, and then sadly it's heading north, isn't it? It's rising. Through all of this, we realized three really important things. One was that awareness alone is not enough to enable or motivate people to change their lifestyle by adopting the OMS program to the extent that those changes really stick and do so at scale.   Grazina Berry (10m 30s): We also realized that we need to hold people's hands and support them to become much more attuned to what they need in the contexts in which they live. A one size fits all approach really would not work. Third, we cannot achieve impact at scale by doing it alone. We need to work with healthcare professionals and other organizations. As a result of all this evaluation, the new strategy came to be that has begun that shift to combine awareness alongside some fundamental organizational developments really across our four goals - inform, support, empower, and collaborate.   Geoff Allix (11m 18s): You hinted that there are some new things in the pipeline. Is there anything you could give us a hint of? What are some of the key initiatives you're introducing? Could you give us a hint at some of the banner projects that might be rolled out this year?   Grazina Berry (11m 38s): Yes, it's going to be a bumper year, Geoff. I can assure you of that. Of course, marked with celebrating the events throughout the year, so perhaps not a big bang. This is the term of a birthday party. Lots of things happening throughout the year and we will be unveiling some really exciting initiatives, and possibly those virtual parties. I can mention a few things without spoiling the surprise that I know the team would be happy for me to share. I think, really importantly, we'll be celebrating the publication of the OMS Handbook in February.   Grazina Berry (12m 18s): This is the new book co-edited by Professor George Jelinek, Dr. Sandra Neate and Dr. Michelle Donaghy with multiple authors adding their voices. Please pre-order your copy not to miss out. You can do it now. We'll also be refreshing our brand with very generous pro bono support from the fantastic team at JMA in Australia. Geoff, thank you for your contributions to helping us review the brand alongside other ambassadors. This has been a really insightful exercise to do. One of the reasons why we are refreshing is that we aligned ourselves much more closely to our values being inclusive, empowering, community-focused, evidence-based, collaborative, and dynamic, but of course, none of us are naive to expect that brand alone would help us to achieve that.   Grazina Berry (13m 12s): This is important because we wish to present a really professional front to our broader audiences, including and especially, healthcare professionals. We will also be ramping up our advocacy initiatives and our work with healthcare professionals. We will be updating our existing information resources and developing new ones, as well as beginning campaigns. We will be looking to bring back events. I know we've got so many people in our community who are really, really excited about this and need more face-to-face interactions. We are hoping to trial a new immersive experience of supporting people with MS.   Grazina Berry (13m 59s): Taking what was wonderful from the retreats, combining a face-to-face workshop with digital resources to inform, support, and empower people to embrace fully the OMS program. We also want to really boost our community engagement and support our ambassadors and circles by investing in additional resources. We will be rolling out, as a bit of a spin-off, a webinar program that is with Dr. Aaron Boster, having piloted the first episode recently, and that's been incredibly well-received. We were absolutely overwhelmed with questions that people had.   Grazina Berry (14m 45s): We want to launch webinars series alongside the more mainstream webinars series. Also importantly, we'll be starting to tangibly shape our plans in the US. As you can see, Geoff, there is lots and lots to keep us very busy in 2022.   Geoff Allix (15m 7s): All right. If OMS was a person and it made new year's resolutions, what would the OMS' resolutions for the new year be?   Grazina Berry (15m 15s): I don't know. This is interesting because personally, I tend not to make resolutions, but if I put myself out of this mix, I think probably the most important one would be, be kind to yourself, make more time to listen to your body, look after your body and mind, make time for you. I think all of us are so guilty of not doing that, but alongside this, I think what's really key as well is to show empathy to others, welcome people to the community, openly, supportively, and without judgment.   Grazina Berry (15m 56s): Finally, I would say stick with it. The path of multiple sclerosis is so uncertain for many people but knowing that you're doing all that you can to live well, may that be your driving force, and especially when you have those darker moments, which are probably inevitable, especially in the world that we live in, where uncertainty just keeps on giving and keeps on challenging us.   Geoff Allix (16m 29s): Over time, how have you seen the MS landscape change specifically and also the focus on healthy lifestyle? In a broader sense, bringing a healthy lifestyle, holistic health, how have you seen that change over the years? Did that improve, get worse, or stay the same?   Grazina Berry (16m 48s): Goodness, that is another huge question. What I would like to do is just latch onto that number 10, which is peppering our conversation today and, again, reflecting a little bit. Ten years ago, I was working in a mental health organization, a fantastic organization called Richmond Fellowship, that provides a really wide range of community-based mental health services. What I was seeing back then, and we actively practiced, was seeing each individual that came through the door of our services, we saw them as a whole, not a label or a diagnosis.   Grazina Berry (17m 31s): We took the time to really understand them so that we could address the cause of their distress and mental health challenges. Peer support was already widely used to enable people to help each other, essentially by sharing their experiences, and the mind-body connection was at the forefront. This is 10 years ago. I saw a very similar picture then when I moved to rare illness, cancer space, and other disease areas, actually. We could see already, especially high disease, diabetes, and others.   Grazina Berry (18m 11s): They were all embracing a healthy lifestyle, and more broadly actually, the World Health Organization had been championing a more realistic, personal health management, with encouraging clinicians to look at physical, mental, emotional, and social elements for years. There's been a lot of very positive development happening for years. When I landed in neurology, in multiple sclerosis, I thought actually, Neurology MS Services does have some catching up to do here, but saying that, I think the tide has really been turning and 2015, the throwback to Overcoming MS, that was an interesting year, as we talked earlier, around our international expansion.   Grazina Berry (18m 57s): 2015 was also a very interesting year here in the UK. It was interesting because there was this really significant shift happening in the thinking about the treatment of people with MS, so professors from England, alongside a number of international experts, led a really significant research project called Brain Health, Time Matters in MS.   Grazina Berry (19m 37s): That examined the various impacts on the MS personal economy. They also explored current practices and diagnosis, treatment, and what the barriers to accessing these might be. The study then emphasized the need for a much faster diagnosis of disease activity. One of the standard recommendations was to start treatment early with disease-modifying treatment, and, I really want to emphasize, lifestyle measures whilst ensuring that decisions about the treatment are shared between the patient and condition. If we look at the National Health Service in the UK now, this long-term plan really supports preventive practice and personalized holistic care that Overcoming MS is all about.   Grazina Berry (20m 31s): What we've got now, we've got health and wellbeing coaches, we've got social workers, care coordinators. We can really see that things are changing for the better, and this is incredibly helpful for our cause, Overcoming MS. We need to be able to harness all these positive developments and align ourselves more closely with the changing healthcare systems. We've got this fantastic OMS program, which provides a very practical framework to enable people with MS to effectively self-manage the condition and take control. I think this really taps that prevention agenda.   Grazina Berry (21m 12s): We need to really begin to own this space as an organization, as a charity.   Geoff Allix (21m 23s): How has OMS kept pace with the changes that you've seen in the MS landscape?   Grazina Berry (21m 30s): Yes, so mentioning Brain Health, Time Matter in MS, there was a campaign launched on the back of it. Overcoming MS signed up to support that initiative alongside other MS organizations. That group of organizations is really vast. It's not just those MS charities in the UK that we all know about, but also other organizations internationally, the National MS Society in the US and others. We've also acknowledged, as an organization, the need to engage with and influence healthcare systems. That's very much in our new strategy, new plans.   Grazina Berry (22m 11s): We joined the Neurological Alliance in 2020 so that we could be part of a collective group of organizations focused on influencing policy, sharing best practices, learning from each other. We've also connected with neurologists, MS nurses, and other MS charities through the MS Academy here in England. We've contributed, very recently, to a piece of work that explored co-morbidity, so those other illnesses that people with MS are quite likely to have.   Grazina Berry (22m 51s): For example, depression, diabetes, hypertension, and others. We've also looked at inpatient admissions, especially emergency admissions to hospitals, and the associated costs in patients with MS based on that socioeconomic status across four very specific geographical areas or integrated care systems in England. All this work resulted in a poster called the Wellbeing Gap, One Size MS Service Does Not Fit All. This was presented at the most recent Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS, ECTRIMS, as it's known across the sector. We're really trying to keep pace with all these developments more than ever before, recognizing that we cannot achieve our ambitions of the end game without tapping the healthcare system and working with others.   Geoff Allix (23m 47s): We look back over the last 10 years, but if you look forward, what do you think are some of the important considerations leading OMS into the next decade?   Grazina Berry (24m 5s): Wow. We have just stopped talking of the last 10 years now. I wonder what's next. A great question. The first, most important consideration has to be all about people, Geoff, and actually, it's quite an internal consideration, the team, the Overcoming MS team and our volunteers. I'm really fortunate to be working with a group of people who really care about work, who are resilient and passionate. It's going to be so important to make sure that they also feel supported and empowered to do their work, building connections with our community, and really taking pride in what we achieve.   Grazina Berry (24m 48s): It'll also be really important to make sure that they're able to keep hold of that intrinsic motivation that keeps them going. Really articulately described by a guy called Sharath Jeevan in his book called Intrinsic that I can't recommend highly enough for people. Another important consideration would be not being afraid to try new things, projects, approaches, not being afraid to change course, but also, being brave about making tough choices and walking away from things that perhaps don't work so well and just do not have the impact that we seek. Saying that, it will be really key for us to be more vocal and clear about our unique selling point, our USP, being the OMS program, and making sure that it also keeps pace with research developments.   Grazina Berry (25m 43s): We will be establishing a new research advisory group, which is a very exciting development. This group will be led by Dr. Aaron Boster, a neurologist from the US who has that research and healthcare brief. The final consideration, but I'm sure there'll be many more, that being an open-minded organization that really welcomes and embraces new opportunities, tries out partnering with others, and collaborating more, especially with other MS organizations and healthcare systems. This will be very exciting as we begin to focus on expanding and scaling in other geographies, particularly the US, but really exploring those areas where the MS problem is the biggest because they need programs such as ours the most.   Geoff Allix (26m 38s): What challenges do you see lying ahead in the future?   Grazina Berry (26m 44s): Indeed. It's not going to be a breeze, is it? To do all these things and especially really crack and tap into healthcare systems, I think there'll be quite a few. Again, because I think the world is so uncertain, there'll be so many changes happening. We'll just have to make sure we are fleet of foot and we're nimble, able to really respond well. The first one I would single out is the fact that community needs and expectations will continue to change and evolve in line with the world that's around us. That's always moving, never stopping. We need to be really responsive to their needs. This will be both a challenge and an opportunity, of course, because we can then try new ideas and ways of working while also retaining our core and what we're about.   Grazina Berry (27m 40s): Another challenge linked to this will be digital fatigue. Technology, as we know, is a really powerful tool. It enabled us, as a charity, to carry on our virtual outreach through the pandemic, but it won't work or be accessible for everyone. We need to make sure that we develop face-to-face opportunities as well. Being a small charity with lots of ambition, we are so mindful that fundraising remains challenging and will continue being so because there are so many great causes out there, and especially in the MS space, competing for the same pots of money, the evidence of our impact as a charity will be really, really important.   Grazina Berry (28m 27s): Another key challenge is, of course, the pandemic. You probably picked me up on this, Geoff, if I didn't mention the pandemic. I think the pandemic, amongst many other challenges, has really deepened inequalities, those pre-existing inequalities leading to greater unemployment, swelling waiting lists for treatments made those socio-economic circumstances in which people live much more challenging. Well, this really stresses the need for our work, to champion the OMS program, which gives people the tools to live well with MS. As an organization, we need to be so much more attuned to the world around us.   Grazina Berry (29m 7s): This is not easy for a small organization with global reach and global ambitions, and alongside this, and very much linked to the pandemic, but we probably all know that healthcare systems have been struggling, not just in the UK, but also in the US and in other areas before the pandemic, but especially now, we can really see how stressed those systems are with massive waiting lists, backlogs of cases, staff burnout. This is a challenge for us as we try to ramp up engagement with influencing healthcare professionals. It really emphasizes the need for us to develop programs that help relieve those stresses.   Grazina Berry (29m 53s): We have to come up with some very practical solutions that, for example, that the National Health Service can adopt fairly easily. Again, a tough challenge, but I think, game on.   Geoff Allix (30m 9s): How do you feel OMS is connecting, making inroads with the community, and strengthening its ties with the community and the community ties with each other?   Grazina Berry (30m 23s): I think that's a really great question because the community is clearly at the forefront of everything that we do and why we exist as a charity. I would really like to mention and plug a little bit, our very first community engagement survey that we conducted over the summer in August 2021. I want to thank everyone who took the time to answer its 61 questions. It wasn't a slim survey. It was pretty comprehensive, but that survey has given us so many insights into the lives of people with MS and how OMS can support them better. It told us, for example, that 54% of people with MS will not be discussing a healthy lifestyle with their physician.   Grazina Berry (31m 7s): While this may be a result of lots of reasons, we talked about some of them earlier, including the gap in the neurologist curriculum around healthy lifestyle approaches and holistic care, shortages, lack of time, but now more than ever, people need support and advice about stress management, healthy diet, great amounts of vitamin D. This survey is really important for us because it's helping us build a much better understanding of who our community are, where they live, how they interact with the OMS program in real life, what are some of those barriers to changing their diets, moving more, and what can they expect from us as a charity?   Grazina Berry (31m 50s): We are in a really good position, I feel, to improve what we do aligned with our community needs - what they need and what they want. I think what we're also doing is we're building much stronger foundations and grassroots levels through our circles program and we'll look to grow. Again, let's throwback to 2018, we had 20 circles. We now have 94 in 26 countries worldwide. We have 100 ambassadors to lead these really important community peer support groups, and alongside, we also need to offer our volunteer ambassadors the support that they need.   Grazina Berry (32m 35s): That's really important. Our grassroots advocacy initiative that I mentioned earlier, we started with brilliant leadership by Professor Helen Rees Leahy and Allie Marwick, our advocacy trustees. It's really crucial too to strengthen connections between individuals and across the community, but also, and really importantly, with healthcare professionals so that people with MS can feel confident to really adopt healthy lifestyles. People can raise the need for healthy lifestyle conversations with health care professionals during appointments, so I believe we're making great progress, but there's a lot more work that we need to do, which is great.   Grazina Berry (33m 18s): That's why we're here.   Geoff Allix (33m 23s): If there's one thing that you could put down as OMS's legacy for the next decade, what would that key thing be?   Grazina Berry (33m 31s): Gosh, I always struggle with those questions. I say pinpoint one thing, because there's never just one thing. I'm going to try and say three things, Geoff, if I may.   Geoff Allix (33m 42s): Okay, fair enough.   Grazina Berry (33m 44s): Three things. Well, I think the main one, maybe, it sums up, the head of all the others, is we make it into the mainstream. We are definitely there alongside medical treatments, and we are recommended to every person being diagnosed with MS. Finally, we are regarded as the thought and practice leaders in healthy lifestyle in a massive space. I think these would be really key things for us to get to, this end-game scenario for the next decade.   Geoff Allix (34m 23s): Yes. It would be fantastic if people, by default, heard about lifestyle when they're having that first conversation with a neurologist.   Grazina Berry (34m 34s): Absolutely.   Geoff Allix (34m 34s): It shouldn't be something some people find out about.   Grazina Berry (34m 38s): Google at the moment.   Geoff Allix (34m 38s): Yes. Well, there's a difference between the digital divide. I think most people who are following OMS are tech-savvy enough. They have access to computers, but if it was more widely available and it isn't in some places. In some places, some neurologists hand out brochures for OMS, but that's certainly not widespread.   Grazina Berry (35m 3s): They do. It's not wide, but I think you're absolutely right to mention that, Geoff, because actually, some people will be handed the OMS book. Just reflecting a little bit on some of the achievements this year, we've actually presented to hospitals here to teams of MS nurses and neurologists. As a result of that, we've had this bumper order for free OMS books so they can then hand out to their patients at the point of diagnosis or in following appointments, which I thought was incredibly encouraging, certainly, as we prepared for 2022.   Grazina Berry (35m 43s): What we also know through the survey that we've just talked about is that, I believe, in only 8% of cases, the OMS program will be discussed by the healthcare professionals and recommended, signposting people to us. Only 8%, which, okay, is a low number, but for me, that is a huge opportunity to really shift that number over the next year.   Geoff Allix (36m 8s): I would say, when I was diagnosed in 2015, at the time, it wasn't 8%, then I wouldn't have thought. I think it's gone up to 8% so it's heading in the right direction at this. That's a good thing.   Grazina Berry (36m 27s): Definitely, thank you.   Geoff Allix (36m 28s): Finally, what would you personally be most excited about for the year ahead?   Grazina Berry (36m 34s): Lots of things to be excited about for 2022, alongside those 10th birthday parties that we'll all be looking forward to. I'm really excited about getting out there and building deeper connections with the MS community. Of course, I have to caveat that pandemic allowing, restrictions allowing, but still absolutely build those deeper, meaningful connections with our community groups. I'm also really excited about leading our healthcare professionals' engagement plans to fruition. Actually, it feels like, with the bigger and more diverse board of trustees that we now have, with a full team in place, we'll be in such a great position to achieve our plans in 2022.   Grazina Berry (37m 21s): More about this, people can hear when they tune into our upcoming webinars in January.   Geoff Allix (37m 28s): I would absolutely encourage people, not just listening to podcasts, there are so many more resources, the webinar. There are huge amounts of content and resources on the Overcoming MS website and it's well worth having a look around if you haven't done so recently. It's really expanded the content there. It's huge now. With that, thank you very much for joining us for the start of 2022 and hopefully another successful 10 years.   Grazina Berry (38m 1s): My absolute pleasure, Geoff. Thank you so much. Also, thank you for being one of our committed ambassadors, community members who keep supporting OMS as they adopt the OMS program. Thank you for the opportunity to share those plans, talk about the challenges, reflect on your achievements, and really look forward. I'm wishing everyone a healthy, enjoyable, and much brighter 2022.   Geoff Allix (38m 31s): Thank you for listening to this episode of Living Well with MS. Please check out this episode's show notes at www.overcomingms.org/podcast. You'll find all sorts of useful links and bonus information there. Do you have questions about this episode or ideas about future ones? Email us at podcast@overcomingms.org. We'd love to hear from you. You can also subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform, so you never miss an episode. Living Well with MS is kindly supported by a grant from the Happy Charitable Trust. If you'd like to support the Overcoming MS Charity and help keep our podcast advertising-free, you can donate online at www.overcomingms.org/donate. To learn more about Overcoming MS and its array of free content and programs, including webinars, recipes, exercise guides, OMS Circles, our global network of community support groups, and more, please visit our website at www.overcomingms.org. While you are there, don't forget to register for our monthly e-newsletter so you can be informed about the podcast and other news and updates from Overcoming MS. Thanks again for tuning in and see you next time.  

Representative democracy is in crisis. Public confidence in the accountability of democratic representation has experienced a steady decline, both within and outside the EU. For many citizens, political actors are distant figures and legislative processes appear too complex to follow and control. However, grassroots participatory democracy initiatives have mushroomed across Europe. This phenomenon speaks to a more promising reality. We have discussed it with a Research from Croatia, Iva Paska, a sociologist and lecturer at the University of the North in Croatia and Vincent Chauvet, Mayor of Autun, in central France and member of the European Committee of the Regions. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Rorshok's weekly ten-minute update of stuff happening in Spain. The European Committee for the Prevention of Torture calls on Spain to address the alleged ill-treatment in prisons, scientists who speak about COVID-19 harassed and threatened, receiving the second dose of the vaccine after getting over the virus, assisted reproduction treatment extended to single women, trans men and lesbians, nurseries free of charge to kids from the age of two to three, African migrants cause a plane to divert to Mallorca and flee into Spain, two baby pandas born in the Madrid Zoo have to be named, Guardia Civil allowed to have visible tattoos and much more. https://www.20minutos.es/noticia/4884023/0/las-mujeres-solas-lesbianas-o-trans-podran-opt ar-a-tratamientos-de-reproduccion-asistida-desde-manana/?autoref=true (To read more about the new amendment to the existing regulation in assisted reproduction, follow the link here.)   Thanks for tuning in!  We want to know why you are listening, how you found us, and your life story! Thoughts? Recommendations? Important stuff we missed we might have missed, or topics you want us to cover? Things we got wrong, in your humble opinion?  Email us at podcast@rorshok.com. Like what you hear? Subscribe, share, and tell your buds.

Embrace your inner nerd with host and CBJF scientific advisor Chelsey (PhD immunologist) as she reviews the emerging science and hot topics recently shared at the virtual European Committee for the Treatment and Research in MS (ECTRIMS). This is a major scientific meeting where clinicians and scientists in the field of central nervous system (CNS) diseases/disorders meet to share their recent data and findings with each other. Chelsey breaks down 4 buckets of NMOSD-related research topics: NMOSD- and MOG-associated disorders: overlaps and distinctions Unraveling complexities of NMOSDData updates on currently FDA-approved NMOSD treatmentsNeurodegeneration and demyelination in the CNS: Potential treatment targets in neuroregenerative processes

Patient empowerment is a hot topic in many areas of medicine. Particularly so for diseases that are more complex to manage, and present with symptoms that aren't immediately obvious and which vary greatly among individuals.Multiple sclerosis (MS) is one such disease. An estimated 2,500,000 people in the world have MS, a condition which can cause a broad range of symptoms and affect multiple parts of the body.Given that each person with the condition is affected in a different way, patient empowerment is a key aspect of delivering a high quality of care to patients, a fact which was clear from research presented at the recent European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis congress - ECTRIMS for short.In Episode 6 of The Pharma Letter Podcast, we are joined by Nidia Afonso, EMEA compound market access lead at Janssen, and part of a team which presented significant new data on patient empowerment at the event.

Just a couple of weeks ago, 9,000 MS research scientists and clinicians from 100 countries gathered virtually for the annual meeting of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis, otherwise known as ECTRIMS. The largest MS research conference in the world lived up to its name, featuring 200 speakers and 1,700 research abstracts. In what has become an annual RealTalk MS tradition, Dr. Bruce Bebo, the Executive Vice President of Research at the National MS Society, joins us to share his thoughts about the research presented at ECTRIMS that will lead to treatments designed to stop MS progression, restore lost function, and end MS forever. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS??! SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email:  https://realtalkms.com/218 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: jon@realtalkms.com Phone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com National MS Society COVID-19 Vaccine Guidance for People Living with MS https://www.nationalmssociety.org/coronavirus-covid-19-information/multiple-sclerosis-and-coronavirus/covid-19-vaccine-guidance National MS Society Third COVID-19 Vaccine Dose Guidance for People Living with MS https://www.nationalmssociety.org/About-the-Society/News/Additional-COVID-19-Vaccine-Dose-(Booster)-and-MS The MS Caregiver Conundrum Podcast https://mscaregiverconundrum.com Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group https://facebook.com/groups/realtalkms Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/realtalk-ms/id1436917200 Download the RealTalk MS App for Androidhttps://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=tv.wizzard.android.realtalk Give RealTalk MS a rating and review http://www.realtalkms.com/review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 218 Guests: Dr. Bruce Bebo and Dr. AJ Joshi Tags: MS, MultipleSclerosis, MSResearch, MSSociety,  ECTRIMS2021, RealTalkMS Privacy Policy

The Spring 2021 trainees of the European Committee of the Regions could not conclude their Y-Factor project on the European Year of Rail without a special episode on the Connecting Europe Express in Brussels, and the European Youth Event in Strasbourg.  When the Connecting Europe Express train arrived in Brussels after crossing multiple European countries and dozens of cities, we were joined by Mr Josef Doppelbauer, the Executive Director of the European Union Agency for Railways, to reflect on the challenges and potentials of the railway sector in the near future. We were also pleased to be joined by CoR member Mr Pascal Smet, serving as Secretary of State of the Brussels-Capital Region, who reflected with us on sustainable urban mobility with specific examples from the city of Brussels.  After the Connecting Europe Express, we headed to Strasbourg to give a workshop, Getting on (train-)track, at the European Youth Event, where we were joined by Erasmus by Train, and virtually by the European Year of Rail Rapporteur, MEP Anna Deparnay Grunenberg (DE, Greens/EFA), MEP Mr Javi Lopez Fernandez (ES, S&D), and CoR member Mr Kieran McCarthy (IE, EA).  Hear all about it in this special episode!  See you in the many stops and stations around Europe!  

Welcome to the NeurologyLive Mind Moments podcast. Tune in to hear leaders in neurology sound off on topics that impact your clinical practice. In this episode, we spoke with Stephen Krieger, MD, professor of neurology, Icahn School of Medicine, and staff neurologist, Corinne Goldsmith Dickinson Center for MS, Mount Sinai. Krieger discussed the development of his topographical model of MS and how it has been leveraged to this point as a clinical tool, as well as offered insight into a recently initiated effort with it that he presented at the 37th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS), which was held virtually October 13-15, 2021. Episode Breakdown: 1:15 – Background on the topographical model and its development 6:00 – Current utilization of the model and its insight into the MS disease course thus far 11:10 – The potential for the model to impact clinical care 13:05 – Neurology News Minute 15:15 – Topographical model-informed data in early MS and ECTRIMS presentation recap 21:10 – The need for better and improved tools to measure disease progression 25:00 – The future use of the topographical model of MS and closing thoughts The stories featured in this week's Neurology News Minute, which will give you quick updates on the following developments in neurology, are further detailed here: ANVS401 Demonstrates Safety, Improves Parkinson Disease Motor Function Gantenerumab Gets Breakthrough Designation for Alzheimer Following Significant Amyloid Reduction NDA Review for FT218 in Narcolepsy Still Ongoing, FDA Announces Thanks for listening to the NeurologyLive Mind Moments podcast. To support the show, be sure to rate, review, and subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts. For more neurology news and expert-driven content, visit neurologylive.com.

In today's episode, we are talking with Dr. Anand Patel about men's sexual health, a topic which is often overlooked and not spoken about nearly enough until it's too late. Anand qualified in 2000 at King's College London. He is a GP partner in a London GP practice after attending his GP training in Mid Sussex and was one of the first doctors in the UK to gain the Fellowship of the European Committee of Sexual Medicine in 2012. The only accreditation in the field recognized in Europe and sees patients with sexual problems alongside his general practice.Support this show http://supporter.acast.com/fitterhealthierdad. Our GDPR privacy policy was updated on August 8, 2022. Visit acast.com/privacy for more information.

Nowadays, most Erasmus students take the plane to travel to and from their Erasmus locations since in most cases it is cheaper and faster than train and organizations like the Erasmus Student Network keep collaborating with airlines like Ryanair. The non-profit organization Erasmus by Train was founded in 2020 with the aim of reverting this trend. The organization, composed of around 20 German students, is appealing to the European Commission to provide each Erasmus student with a free Interrail ticket.      Tatjana Söding, student of MS in Human Ecology at Lund University and member of Erasmus by Train, joins this 8th and last episode of Next Stop to tell us more about the initiative. She stresses that “when taking the time to travel to and from your exchange location by train, the journey itself becomes part of the exchange experience."    To conclude, we, the Spring 2021 trainees of the European Committee of the Regions, would like to thank you, all our listeners, for joining us in this journey around the EU railway world and we would like to encourage you to engage in the European Year of the Rail initiatives such as the Connecting Europe Express, which will start next September in Lisbon.  This is the Last Stop. Please get off the train and visit us soon again!

For this new edition of "a regional view" in the frame of our partnership with the European Committee of the Regions, we are talking to Gunars Ansins, vice-mayor of Liepaja city council (Latvia). Mr. Ansins is also a Member of the European Committee of regions, representing the group Renew Europe. During the last plenary session of the European Committee of the Regions, Gunars Ansins has presented an opinion untitled “powering a climate-neutral economy : an EU Strategy for Energy System Integration”. The EU Strategy for Energy System Integration has been published by the European Commission in July 2020 and aims to establish a new system in Europe for the production and consumption of energy that would contribute to reach the European Green Deal’s objectives of climate neutrality. During this interview, Mr. Ansins calls for a stronger cooperation between the territories in order to transfer more easily renewable energy from regions with considerable resources, and to reduce the dependance to foreign energy sources (such as oil and gas), in order to improve a fully European energy system, able to reach the European Green Deal objectives. How can the EU store energy more efficiently and in a more sustainable way ? What would be the impact of Nord Stream 2 pipeline on the EU energy system ? What will be the next steps for this strategy and its concrete realisation ? Interview réalisée en anglais par Romain L'Hostis

Pour cette nouvelle émission en partenariat avec le Comité européen des régions, nous recevons Daniela Ballico, maire de la commune de Ciampino (Italie) et membre du Comité européen des régions au sein du groupe ECR (European Conservatives and Reformists). A ce titre, elle a participé à la 144e session plénière du Comité européen des régions, et est la rapporteuse d’un projet d’opinion intitulé “Stratégie en faveur des droits des personnes handicapées”. Elle nous en dit plus dans cette interview réalisée en italien par Sofia Pavanini (Doublage: Elisa Rullaud/Sofia Pavanini). © photo: European Committee of the Regions, CC BY-NC-SA 2.0, via Flickr

A new standard from the European Committee for Standardisation aims to prevent doping substances in sports nutrition products.  On 22 February 2021, Specialised Nutrition Europe (SNE) welcomed the first EU-wide standard to address the presence of doping substances in sports nutrition and food supplements—the https://www.cencenelec.eu/news/brief_news/Pages/TN-2021-010.aspx (CEN “Dietary supplements and sports foods free of doping substances") standard. Aurélie Perrichet, Executive Director at SNE, joined us to discuss this new standard and what it means for the nutraceutical industry. Tune in to hear more about:  The importance of the new CEN standard to the nutraceutical industry What requirements and changes companies based in the EU should pay close attention to in order to keep in compliance with the CEN standard How the CEN standard affects the lives of consumers, athletes, and sportspeople How the CEN standard differs from others in the global market  Click https://www.cencenelec.eu/news/publications/Publications/MakingEuropeanStandards.pdf (here) for further information on the process for CEN standard—designed to be revised at least every five years. 

European standards are written in the same way as national standards. And participation in European standards development is arranged by the National Standards Body of each country via their membership of their European counterparts, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC).In this episode Matthew speaks to Elena Santiago Cid, Director General of CEN and CENELEC, about the history, role and impact of these two standards organizations.#bsiedpod. education@bsigroup.com. bsigroup.com/education.

Episode 13. European standards are written in the same way as national standards. Participation in European standards development is arranged by the National Standards Body of each country via their membership of their European counterparts, the European Committee for Standardization (CEN) and the European Committee for Electrotechnical Standardization (CENELEC). In this episode we hear from Elena Santiago Cid, Director General of CEN and CENELEC, about the history, role and impact of these two standards organizations. The BSI EDUCATION PODCAST is hosted by Matthew Chiles - Educational Development Manager at BSI, and Alan Sellers - Senior Compliance Manager at Dyson and Chair of BSI’s Young Professionals Advisory Panel. For more information on the themes raised in this episode go to: www.cencenelec.eu https://tinyurl.com/y334hg58 And for more information on BSI Education go to: www.bsigroup.com/education. Get in touch with the podcast at education@bsigroup.com and share us on social media using #bsiedpod.

Tiit Terik has been Chairman of the Tallinn City Council since 2019, having first been elected to the Council in 2009. Previously a member of the Estonian Parliament and a City District Governor of two legislative districts, he serves as Chairman of the Board of the Association of Estonian Cities and Municipalities, Vice President of the Council of European Municipalities and Regions, and is a member of the European Committee of the Regions.

This past weekend, 8,000 MS research scientists and clinicians gathered virtually for the joint meeting of the Americas Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis and the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis. Known as ECTRIMS, this year's conference was appropriately re-branded as MSVirtual2020.   We're talking about great presentations on the MS prodrome (and we'll explain what that is and why it's important), when it might be time to discontinue MS disease-modifying therapies, some encouraging progressive MS clinical trial results, the new number for global MS prevalence, and more!   We have a lot to talk about. Welcome to MSVirtual2020! The MS Prodrome  :56 When is it appropriate to discontinue disease-modifying therapy in MS?    4:18 Study shows Masitinib slows disability progression in progressive MS  6:49 Multiple Sclerosis International Federation announces the Atlas of MS, with Clare Walton  9:08 Study shows disease-modifying therapy may delay disability progression and time until people with primary progressive MS need a wheelchair  20:55 Study analyzes benefits of Wahls Diet & Swank Diet  22:47 Atara BioTherapeutics shares initial data from its ATA-188 cell therapy clinical trial, with Dr. AJ Joshi  24:07 Share this episode  40:17 SHARE THIS EPISODE OF REALTALK MS Just copy this link & paste it into your text or email: https://realtalkms.com/MSVirtual2020 ADD YOUR VOICE TO THE CONVERSATION I've always thought about the RealTalk MS podcast as a conversation. And this is your opportunity to join the conversation by sharing your feedback, questions, and suggestions for topics that we can discuss in future podcast episodes. Please shoot me an email or call the RealTalk MS Listener Hotline and share your thoughts! Email: jon@realtalkms.comPhone: (310) 526-2283 And don't forget to join us in the RealTalk MS Facebook group! LINKS If your podcast app doesn't allow you to click on these links, you'll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com Give RealTalk MS a Rating and Review National MS Society's Ask An MS Expert Video Replay What You Need to Know About Coronavirus (COVID-19) Join the RealTalk MS Facebook Group Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Give RealTalk MS a Rating and Review Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Bonus Episode:  Guests: Clare Walton, Dr. AJ Joshi Tags: MS, MultipleSclerosis, MSResearch, MSSociety, MSVirtual2020, RealTalkMS Privacy Policy

Today was a much anticipated day with the launch of the Hold Still exhibition going live, with the support of Queen Elizabeth. Queen Mathilde and Crown Princess Mary both participated in the WHO session for the European Committee. King Felipe and Queen Letizia were able to continue with their agenda. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

Next week we'll be returning to business as usual but for now it's the finale of our mini-series on parenthood. This week we welcome doctor and sexual function specialist, Janine David to speak to us about sex and sexuality in pregnancy. Janine is a GP working in Wales who specialises in Men and Women's sexual health. She developed an interest in sexual health in 2013 and, like Anand, is a Fellow of the European Committee of Sexual Medicine (FECSM). This is the highest qualification you can achieve in this field and she is the only active GP in Wales to hold this.Janine has a diploma in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and is a member of the British, European and International Societies of Sexual Medicine (BSSM, ESSM & ISSM).Janine is a regular speaker on the national and international stage and is actively involved in clinical research as well as being a mother and so we are thrilled to have her join us on The Pleasure Podcast to talk about sex and sexuality in pregnancy!We discuss medical training and recognise the gaps that don't aid us in supporting pregnant women, let alone talk about sex with them. Janine slays myths about sex in pregnancy and shares how important intimacy between couples is: we need to recognise how we remain sexual beings before, during and after pregnancy even if the actual delivery can shock men's perspectives of their partner's genitals!We speak practically about the importance of masturbation, how to make sex more comfortable in the later stages and how sadly semen isn't going to stimulate labour, but orgasms serve to keep you together.It's a frank and fun conversation about relishing the changes in pregnant bodies, maintaining intimacy and retaining your sexual identity.Learn more about Janine's clinics here.*We would love to hear from you: email us at hello@thepleasurepodcast.com or tweet us @ThePleasurePod.Please do rate, review, and share the podcast, it helps other people find us.*Social Media:Janine David: @DrJanineDavidNaomi Sheldon: @NaomiSheldon1Anand Patel: @therealdranandFollow us at @ThePleasurePod and visit us at www.thepleasurepodcast.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

In the latest EU Confidential, ex-NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen weighs in on the future of European defense and the global artificial intelligence race. We also catch up with the new president of the European Committee of the Regions, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, on the biggest battle in town — over the EU's long-term budget. Our podcast panel discusses the political demise of Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer, leader of the ruling Christian Democrats and Angela Merkel's presumed successor as chancellor. Why did it happen and who will now take pole position in the race to replace Merkel? We also debate EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell's critical comments on youth climate activists, and look ahead to this week's Munich Security Conference. Look out for a special edition of the podcast on Sunday as the conference of world leaders, military chiefs and policy wonks wraps up.

Go online to PeerView.com/UYU860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. In this activity, an expert in neurology discusses new and late-breaking data on current and emerging treatments for multiple sclerosis from the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2019). Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Employ recently presented data related to approved disease-modifying therapies when treating patients with multiple sclerosis, Examine new data on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of emerging disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Recognize the potential clinical utility of investigational disease-modifying therapies in the future management of multiple sclerosis

Go online to PeerView.com/UYU860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. In this activity, an expert in neurology discusses new and late-breaking data on current and emerging treatments for multiple sclerosis from the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2019). Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Employ recently presented data related to approved disease-modifying therapies when treating patients with multiple sclerosis, Examine new data on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of emerging disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Recognize the potential clinical utility of investigational disease-modifying therapies in the future management of multiple sclerosis

Go online to PeerView.com/UYU860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. In this activity, an expert in neurology discusses new and late-breaking data on current and emerging treatments for multiple sclerosis from the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2019). Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Employ recently presented data related to approved disease-modifying therapies when treating patients with multiple sclerosis, Examine new data on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of emerging disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Recognize the potential clinical utility of investigational disease-modifying therapies in the future management of multiple sclerosis

Go online to PeerView.com/UYU860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. In this activity, an expert in neurology discusses new and late-breaking data on current and emerging treatments for multiple sclerosis from the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2019). Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Employ recently presented data related to approved disease-modifying therapies when treating patients with multiple sclerosis, Examine new data on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of emerging disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Recognize the potential clinical utility of investigational disease-modifying therapies in the future management of multiple sclerosis

Go online to PeerView.com/UYU860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. In this activity, an expert in neurology discusses new and late-breaking data on current and emerging treatments for multiple sclerosis from the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2019). Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Employ recently presented data related to approved disease-modifying therapies when treating patients with multiple sclerosis, Examine new data on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of emerging disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Recognize the potential clinical utility of investigational disease-modifying therapies in the future management of multiple sclerosis

Go online to PeerView.com/UYU860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. In this activity, an expert in neurology discusses new and late-breaking data on current and emerging treatments for multiple sclerosis from the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2019). Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Employ recently presented data related to approved disease-modifying therapies when treating patients with multiple sclerosis, Examine new data on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of emerging disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Recognize the potential clinical utility of investigational disease-modifying therapies in the future management of multiple sclerosis

Go online to PeerView.com/UYU860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. In this activity, an expert in neurology discusses new and late-breaking data on current and emerging treatments for multiple sclerosis from the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2019). Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Employ recently presented data related to approved disease-modifying therapies when treating patients with multiple sclerosis, Examine new data on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of emerging disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Recognize the potential clinical utility of investigational disease-modifying therapies in the future management of multiple sclerosis

Go online to PeerView.com/UYU860 to view the activity, download slides and practice aids, and complete the post-test to earn credit. In this activity, an expert in neurology discusses new and late-breaking data on current and emerging treatments for multiple sclerosis from the 35th Congress of the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis (ECTRIMS 2019). Upon completion of this activity, participants should be better able to: Employ recently presented data related to approved disease-modifying therapies when treating patients with multiple sclerosis, Examine new data on the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of emerging disease-modifying therapies for the treatment of multiple sclerosis, Recognize the potential clinical utility of investigational disease-modifying therapies in the future management of multiple sclerosis

This is a special episode of RightsUp, which takes Sandy Fredman’s new book, Comparative Human Rights Law, as a starting point for global conversation around the role of law, lawyers, courts, and judges in forwarding human rights in different contexts. Each episode will delve into the overarching themes of the book and highlight some specific examples from different jurisdictions -- on issues such as capital punishment, abortion, the right to housing, health, and education, and the right to freedom of speech and religion. In this discussion, Sandy speaks with Colm O'Cinneide, a professor of human rights law at UCL, who also served on the member of the European Committee on Social Rights of the Council of Europe. They discuss the intersections between socio-economic rights and civil/political rights in the context of Europe. Guests: Sandra Fredman and Colm O'Cinneide Produced by: Kira Allmann Music by: Rosemary Allmann

This is a special episode of RightsUp, which takes Sandy Fredman’s new book, Comparative Human Rights Law, as a starting point for global conversation around the role of law, lawyers, courts, and judges in forwarding human rights in different contexts. Each episode will delve into the overarching themes of the book and highlight some specific examples from different jurisdictions -- on issues such as capital punishment, abortion, the right to housing, health, and education, and the right to freedom of speech and religion. In this discussion, Sandy speaks with Colm O'Cinneide, a professor of human rights law at UCL, who also served on the member of the European Committee on Social Rights of the Council of Europe. They discuss the intersections between socio-economic rights and civil/political rights in the context of Europe. Guests: Sandra Fredman and Colm O'Cinneide Produced by: Kira Allmann Music by: Rosemary Allmann

On 19 September, the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Committee of the Regions organised a conference and exhibition entitled "The EU Speaks your Language" to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Regulation 1/58 and International Translation Day. Please join us for a webcast on 27 November to hear Anna Redstedt, Deputy Director of Translation, and Suzanna Matvejevic, Head of the Croatian unit, tell more about the event which was co-organised byt the Translation Directorate and the Communication Department. They will explain how the two committees' joint translation service operates to support their members' needs, the specific time constraints that they face and the original language workflow, designed to ensure maximum productivity from fewer resources.

This week, the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis is hosting the ECTRIMS 2018 Congress in Berlin, Germany. It's the largest MS conference in the world. And you can look forward to special episodes of RealTalk MS direct from ECTRIMS, on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, October 10th, 11th, and 12th!   You'll get the news, hear the interviews, and you'll be the first to  get the research updates and announcements as they're being made at the largest MS conference in the world. And if you have the RealTalk MS app (available free at the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store), you'll have access to exclusive bonus content from ECTRIMS that will only be available in the app. (HINT: The ECTRIMS  bonus content starts with this episode!) #ECTRIMS2018 gets underway tomorrow. Today, we're talking about the first-of-its-kind patient-focused drug development collaboration between the Accelerated Cure Project for MS and EMD Serono. We'll tell you about the $12 million dollar commitment that the National MS Society just made to support 40 different MS research projects. We'll let you know where to download the new assistive technology app that Google just released that enables you to operate your Android phone (and all the apps!) completely hands-free. And we'll tell you how and why you want to let your Senator know to vote YES on Senate Joint Resolution 63. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS? ___________ RealTalk MS Will Be in Berlin All Week for ECTRIMS 2018  :18 Download the RealTalk MS App & Access Exclusive Bonus Content from ECTRIMS  2:33 Accelerated Cure Project & EMD Serono Announce First-of-its-kind Drug Development Collaboration  3:23 MS Society Commits $12 Million to Fund 40 MS Research Projects  5:53 Study: Which MS Symptoms Are Most Common & Which Are Most Treated?  7:14 Google Releases Google Voice Access  8:34 Take Action: Why You Want to Tell Your Senator to Vote YES on Senate Joint Resolution 63  10:39 Special RealTalk MS Episodes from ECTRIMS This Week  15:29 ___________ LINKSIf your podcast app doesn’t show these links, you’ll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Download the RealTalk MS App for Android ECTRIMS 2018 iConquer MS MS Society Commits $12 Million to Fund 40 MS Research Projects Symptomatology and Symptomatic Treatment in Multiple Sclerosis: Results from a Nationwide MS Registry Download Google Voice Access Senate Joint Resolution 63 U.S. Capitol Switchboard -- (202) 224-3121   Give RealTalk MS a Rating & Review ___________ Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 56 Hosted By: Jon Strum Tags: MS, MultipleSclerosis, MSSociety, ECTRIMS2018, MSActivist, RealTalkMS

A lot of people visit the RealTalk MS website to listen to each podcast episode. I wanted to make that easier to do, so last week I released the RealTalk MS app for iOS or Android smartphones and tablets.   The app will always have the latest episode of RealTalk MS cued up and ready for you to listen to, and it also lets me share all kinds of bonus content with you. Head to the Apple App Store to download the iOS version of the app, or the Google Play Store to download the Android version of the app. It's the best way to stay connected to the podcast!   And speaking of staying connected to the podcast, next week, the European Committee for Treatment and Research in Multiple Sclerosis is hosting the ECTRIMS 2018 Congress in Berlin, Germany. It's the largest MS conference in the world. I'll be there, and you can look forward to special episodes of RealTalk MS, next Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, October 10th, 11th, and 12th!   You'll get the news, hear the interviews, and you'll be the first to  get the research updates and announcements as they're being made at the largest MS conference in the world. And if you have the RealTalk MS app, you might even find some exclusive content from ECTRIMS that will only be available in the app. So next week, connect with the RealTalk MS podcast, and I'll do my best to connect you to ECTRIMS 2018. My guest on this week's podcast is Victoria Reese, the founder of the We Are Illmatic campaign. Earlier this year, I had an opportunity to talk with Victoria about the concept of inclusion in the MS community, and how the We Are Illmatic campaign is out to change the face of MS. We're also talking about a research review that reminds us how very bad smoking is for people living with MS, and the results of a 10-year study in the UK about the cost-effectiveness and clinical effectiveness of 4 MS disease modifying therapies. We'll give you the details behind the congressional funding for the National Neurological Conditions Surveillance System in the U.S. And if you're African-American and living with MS, we'll tell you about how you can participate in an MS genetics study being conducted by  UCSF. We have a lot to talk about! Are you ready for RealTalk MS? ___________ Download the RealTalk MS App!  1:26 RealTalk MS Will Be in Berlin for ECTRIMS 2018  2:27 MS Society UK Publishes Research Review on Smoking & MS  4:10 10-Year Study in UK Shows MS DMT Effective for RRMS  6:25 U.S. Congress Funds National Neurological Surveillance System  9:18 UCSF Recruiting African-Americans for MS Genetic Study  13:09 Interview with Victoria Reese  16:56 ___________ LINKSIf your podcast app doesn’t show these links, you’ll find them in the show notes in the RealTalk MS app or at www.RealTalkMS.com Download the RealTalk MS App for iOS Download the RealTalk MS App for Android Link Between Smoking & MS Clearer Than Ever Helpline@mssociety.org.uk (For questions about smoking & MS) Assessing the Long-Term Effectiveness of Interferon-beta and Glatiramer Acetate in Multiple Sclerosis: Final 10-Year Results from the UK Multiple Sclerosis Risk-Sharing Scheme Patient Groups Applaud Spending Bill That Funds Important Neuro Data System UCSF African-American MS Genetic Study Intake Survey msdb@ucsf.edu (For questions about UCSF African-American MS Genetic Study) We Are Illmatic     Give RealTalk MS a Rating & Review ___________ Follow RealTalk MS on Twitter, @RealTalkMS_jon, and subscribe to our newsletter at our website, RealTalkMS.com. RealTalk MS Episode 55 Hosted By: Jon Strum Guests: Victoria Reese Tags: MS, MultipleSclerosis, weareillmatic, ECTRIMS2018, MSSocietyUK, MSActivist, UCSF, RealTalkMS

Episode 17 of POLITICO's EU Confidential podcast features back-to-back interviews with Karl-Heinz Lambertz, president of the European Committee of the Regions, and George Kaminis, the center-left mayor Athens. Theresa May — Not dead yet: We start by getting out of the Brexit weeds in a conversation with Paul Taylor, POLITICO's Europe-at-large columnist. Taylor takes us through the debate in London following Theresa May's refusal to say whether she would vote for Brexit today, and argues that the British prime minister is weakened, but not going anywhere. Next up, says Taylor: a Cabinet reshuffle, followed by strategically timed concessions to the EU. Grassroots Europe: Karl-Heinz Lambertz, head of the EU's Committee of the Regions — one of its newer and lesser-known institutions — talks to us about what he thinks needs to happen with the €350 billion the EU spends on regional subsidies in its current long-term budget. Lambertz, who this week hosted Donald Tusk's keynote speech on Brexit and Catalonia, and for years headed Belgium's German-speaking region, explains what it takes to negotiate a settlement between a national government and its restless regions. Athens on a collision course with left-wing Greek government: Mayor George Kaminis explains why he finds it hard to work with Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras and why his version of economic reform is a "fairytale." Kaminis pitches himself as a reformer who can be better trusted with EU money and Greek tax money than Greece's left-wing government. "Cities have performed much better than governments" on asylum and other migration issues, said Kaminis, who wants to be the center-left candidate for prime minister in elections expected in 2018 or 2019. For our EU WTF moments of the week, we head to Romania and Austria ... What came first, the chicken or the tax?: Varujan Vosganian, a former Romanian finance minister, argued that Romania will never have a strong welfare so long as poor Romanians keep denying the state high tax revenue by keeping their own chickens and making their own jam instead of buying such products from stores and paying value-added tax. Austria's burqa ban ensnared a shark and bicyclists: Our panelists Lina Aburous and Harry Cooper discuss how to cope with the unintended effects of lawmaking.

About This Week's Guest Anna Maria Darmanin Anna Maria is an entrepreneur, a policy adviser, a sailor, a University lecturer where she teaches Intercultural Communication. A Maltese, who lives in different places at different times of the year: Belgium, Canary Islands, Sicily, and Malta. Her three tips to become more culturally competent are: Listen, listen, listen; and this is more than hearing. What is the other saying? Do you truly understand what the other actually means? If not, ask. Be more aware of your own culture. Your own culture colours how you see the others. As the Chinese saying goes: "When you and I look at the same river, we both see a different one". Respect the differences you face when communicating interculturally. Interview Links Links that are mentioned in this episode: LinkedIn Twitter Facebook Build Your Cultural Competence In the Culture Matters podcast, we interview real people with real stories. Every other week there is a guest with broad international experience and lots of cultural insights. I interview real people with real stories. To subscribe directly using iTunes or Stitcher, Click here, or here (or click any of the images below). How To Get In Touch With Culture Matters I'd love for you to get in touch. There are a couple of ways you can do this: Via this website: Just use the “Ask Your Question” tab on the right of the screen and leave a voicemail Email me at chris.smit@culturematters.com Send me a Tweet: @chrissmit Finally Thank you so much for taking the time to read this far, and to listen to my Podcast. I hope you will be back for the next episode of the Culture Matters Podcast!

[intro music]  Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Fifty-Nine of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller. In our previous podcast, you heard about a group of leading MS researchers and clinicians calling for a big change in improving care for people with MS. The new report, called Brain Health – Time Matters in MS, makes the case for a therapeutic strategy to minimize disease activity. The report advises early diagnosis and treatment, and regular monitoring of disease activity. The report urges patients, physicians, health care payers, and policy makers to support the goal of life-long brain health. In this podcast, another one of the report authors, Dr. Helmut Butzkueven, talks about what the new treatment target means for patients and their doctors in the real world. This is one of our extra podcasts from the big MS meeting in Barcelona talking about ways that evidence from research can be translated now into better MS outcomes But first, here are some new items in the MS Discovery Forum. Every week, MSDF lists the latest scientific papers on MS and related disorders, with links to the abstracts on PubMed. Of more than 110 new studies published last week, we selected three as editor’s picks. MS has been traditionally viewed as a T cell–driven disease, but a new paper from Canadian researchers introduces another villain—a rogue type of B cell in people with MS that may fuel inflammation in two ways. This may be why general B cell depletion seems to work so well in MS and may lead to more targeted treatments. In a new twist on dietary fat and autoimmune disease, German researchers report that certain fats work through gut microbes to exert both good and bad effects. In mice, they found certain fats were protective against inflammatory fats. They have moved on to testing in healthy humans and hope to study the impact in people with MS. A cost-effectiveness study from Spain says do not judge a drug by its price alone. Glatiramer acetate may be more expensive than interferon-beta, but fewer relapses and reduced spasticity may make it more cost effective. Interesting, but you can be sure this fuller economic look will not be the last word on drug costs. [transition music] And now to our interview with Dr. Helmut Butzkueven, who directs the MS services at the Royal Melbourne Hospital and the Box Hill Hospital in Melbourne, Australia. We spoke with him at the recent European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS, or ECTRIMS, meeting in Barcelona about the Brain Health report that was launched at the meeting. The main thrust of the report – aimed at the broad MS community – is that time matters in MS. The report lays out several goals to maximize brain health over the lifetime. A critical one is early intervention. Interviewee – Helmut Butzkueven We know that early disease activity sets up long-term problems. However, early disease activity is often relatively silent to the eye. It’s not silent to the eye of the MRI machine and other monitoring tools that we have. So we would like clinicians and patients, not actually just in early disease, but starting right from the start to have a proactive monitoring approach to jointly assess their disease activity and take action if things are not going well. Interviewer – Dan Keller How much of an emergency is it? If someone finds out they have a cancer diagnosis, they rush to a surgeon, oftentimes. If they find out they have high cholesterol, they might take a year or two to decide to get on a statin. So what’s the time frame we’re talking about here? Dr. Butzkueven I think the appropriate time frame to think about is months, actually. We think that an MRI scan should be performed approximately every 12 months to assess disease activity, to assess how your current treatment is performing. So it’s not seconds or minutes; thankfully, multiple sclerosis isn’t exactly like an acute stroke or a heart attack. But it’s also not a time, particularly early in the disease when you could be setting up these kind of strategies, to just leave people be. We need to, when we first see patients, articulate our monitoring goals. MSDF And how quickly should someone, when they’re referred and there’s a putative diagnosis, get that scan initially? Dr. Butzkueven As soon as possible. I mean, scans are crucial, obviously, for diagnosis – accurate diagnosis, as well as for setting up the monitoring phase, because the first scan can then be compared to the next scan, and so on. MSDF What other goals are there for treatment and management? Dr. Butzkueven The key things that we want to really focus on, apart from what we’ve already discussed which is early diagnosis and articulating a treatment and monitoring plan to maximize brain health, is a joint approach. So for people with MS and doctors to both be empowered to jointly manage the disease. So this includes, of course, increasing consultation time, giving people time to discuss their MS with their managing team. I think this kind of move away from paternalistic medicine, to empowering patients to be part of the management process to self-manage is hugely important. That’s just in step with the modern world. The other thing is more indirect. Across the world, we face huge differences in access to disease-modifying drugs. Some of us living in the United States and Australia in Germany, Switzerland are luckier than others. And we really need to provide evidence to government that disease-modifying drugs are worth funding. MSDF Or else what happens? Dr. Butzkueven Else people, and ultimately governments, incur the costs of markedly worse disability. MSDF To empower patients takes certain knowledge and, I suppose, permissions or rapport with the physician. And to empower the physician, I suppose, takes knowledge, evidence, consult. So are these two different things? Do they move in parallel, but they require different activity? Dr. Butzkueven Yes, they do. Of course they do. To some extent, changing practice in an interaction can come from either side of the interacting party, but certainly patients, on the whole, probably need to be more demanding. They need to have access to evidence, and I’m going to say something controversial, to actually help assess the clinical care that they are receiving. So people should say, for example, if this report, the evidence suggests that perhaps we should be doing something else. What do you think? Physicians, as I said, need to be strongly encouraged to have a priori a specific plan. If you were someone with MS, and we saw you for the first time in our clinic, we should be telling you what the goals are. We should be telling you what our scheme of monitoring is going to be to maximize your outcome, to maximize your brain health. MSDF What kind of a role can longitudinal databases play in changing policy? Dr. Butzkueven They’re really the only source of long-term data. MS is a disease which you’re going to have for decades, once you’re diagnosed with it, and it likely will cause you and your government very significant costs over that time. But those costs can only be measured if we measure those outcomes, and the only way to really measure them is longitudinally. So databases embedded in the real-world healthcare collecting just a minimum of information on as many MS patients as possible can be enormously powerful, doing the sums in the first place, actually understanding how much disability there is; how much can be prevented with appropriate treatment strategies; and, dare I say it, how much money government could save. MSDF MRIs are now a powerful tool. Other medical specialties have had all sorts of invasive measures in the past. You could take biopsies of skin, breast, prostate, liver. You never had an assessment tool this powerful, but now this one is fairly noninvasive. It’s completely noninvasive. What can it tell you? I mean, people look for lesions, but there’s much more to be derived. Dr. Butzkueven Yes, of course. Lesions is still a key outcome, but the other thing is brain shrinkage – brain atrophy. So we, increasingly, understand that people who are experiencing significant brain loss – brain tissue loss – early in their MS will do worse, in the long-term. So here we have another target for monitoring. And people might say, well, I do an MRI scan, but there are no lesion changes reported. There’s no volume changes reported. But this world is changing rapidly. Image recognition analysis tools are advancing very quickly. I predict, within two or three years, routine MRI will actually spit out these metrics for us. At the moment, a lot of reporting, unfortunately, in the world is still what we would call qualitative rather than quantitative. But we’re going to start seeing those numbers, and we need to be ready to act on them. MSDF How much faster does the brain, in an MS patient without treatment, atrophy or lose volume compared to an age-matched control? Dr. Butzkueven So this is a question that I can answer in two ways, I think, to illustrate the concept. I could say it’s five to seven times faster. What I’m talking about there is averages, medians if you like. What I should be saying is that it could be anything. Your trajectory, as an MS patient, could be exactly within the normal range, I mean, sadly – particularly over the age of 30 – all of us lose a bit of brain volume a year: 0.3%, 0.4%. In MS, that could be your trajectory, and that would be fantastic. On the other hand, you could the person losing 3%, 4% – 10 times, 15 times normal. And we could pick that within a year or two, and that is the time to intervene, not when that ultimately results five, six, ten years later in progressive disease. MSDF You’ve made the analogy of managing MS to a new car and its warranty. Can you tell me about that? Dr. Butzkueven I was really just trying to say that plans for keeping things well, keeping things in shape, are quite prominent in society. So this analogy is simple. You buy a new car. What you get with it is a service book. The service book gives you a plan for managing your car. At 6 months, there’ll be a little tire change, oil change; 12 months there’ll be a major service, and so on. And the thing is, as a customer, I mean, you buy the car. It’s already there. It’s the same thing. We want clinicians and patients to demand and to deliver a plan. This is how we’re going monitor your MS to maximize the health of your brain. MSDF So this is your 6 month service. This is your 12 month service. Dr. Butzkueven Exactly. So, for example, in might be we will see you every 6 months, and we’ll do a neurological examination. We might do a particular cognitive test. We will do a repeat MRI scan, ideally on the same machine, once a year. We will be looking for the following: we will take action if things are going badly. If things are going well, then we’re reassured. But we need people with MS to demand this, and we need clinicians to deliver these plans. MSDF I don’t mean to make light of the situation of having the disease, but I think people respond well to something they already know, like a service plan. Dr. Butzkueven Yes, sure. I guess that’s why I’m using that analogy. Maybe we should say we need a service plan for MS. MSDF Is there anything we’ve missed or important to add? Dr. Butzkueven Nothing. We’ve covered the key recommendations of the report: access to early diagnosis, consideration of early treatment, a service plan, empowerment of people with MS to actually have accurate information, and being empowered in shared decision-making, and finally, the health economics situation, powered by clinicians – more and more clinicians – collecting long-term outcomes data on people with MS. MSDF And the Brain Health report is freely available, and we will link to it. I appreciate it. Thank you. Dr. Butzkueven It’s a pleasure. Thank you for talking with me. [transition music] MSDF Thank you for listening to Episode Fifty-Nine of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery. This podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Carol Cruzan Morton. Heather McDonald curated the MSDF drug database updates. Msdiscovery.org is part of the nonprofit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Hollie Schmidt is Vice President of Scientific Operations. Msdiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances. We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org. For Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, I'm Dan Keller. [outro music]

[intro music] Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode 58 of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller. A group of people are calling for a big change in improving care for people with MS. There may be no cure for MS yet, but there are a lot of ways to improve their outcomes. In this podcast, one of the ringleaders, Dr. Gavin Giovannoni, talks about a new push to use long-term brain health as a goal in MS treatment. The new report, called Brain Health, makes the point that time matters in MS. The authors draw on more than 300 research studies to show evidence that brain tissue can be preserved with early and effective treatment, and regular monitoring of disease activity. The report urges patients, physicians, health care payers, and policy makers to support the goal of life-long brain health. This podcast gives you the main take-home points from the Brain Health initiative, launched at the recent MS meeting in Barcelona, Spain. We will have extra podcasts for you in the coming weeks about other ways that evidence from research can be translated now into better MS outcomes. But first, here are some new items in the MS Discovery Forum. In the discussion section, a team of graduate students wants to hear from people with MS and their families. The team is from Santa Clara University, located in the heart of Silicon Valley in California. They have a class project to design a software product to assist people impacted by MS. Help them out by completing their survey. Coming up on our meetings and events list is next week’s World Congress of Neurology in Santiago, Chile. MSDF will be there gathering new podcast interviews. If you, too, will be at the conference and would like to meet with us – or if you’re interested in being interviewed about your research for a future podcast – please email us at editor@msdiscovery.org. The meeting list includes many specialty conferences and seminars of all the different kinds of scientific expertise that goes into understanding MS, from immunology to myelin biology, genetics, and brain and spinal cord imaging. Please add your meetings, workshops, and seminars. This is just one of the ways that MSDF shares information across the many different specialty areas to advance treatments for MS. Help us by adding other MS-research-related events. It’s free to post. Our Drug-Development Pipeline contains 44 investigational and approved agents for MS. Last week, we added results from one new trial, we updated subject matter from four other trials, and we added eight other pieces of information to the database. One update summarizes findings gathered from a 15-year follow-up visit for participants in the PRISMS interferon beta-1a trial. [transition music] And now to our interview with Dr. Gavin Giovannoni, head of neurology at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry in the U.K. We spoke with him at the recent European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS, or ECTRIMS, meeting in Barcelona about the Brain Health report that was launched at the meeting. The main thrust of the report – aimed at a broad audience of MS community members – is that time matters in MS. Interviewer – Dan Keller In terms of the Brain Health report, can you give me a broad overview of what the intent was and what you hope to accomplish? Interviewee – Gavin Giovannoni I mean, the real issue is to try to raise awareness and use it as a platform for trying to get policy changed. And the target audience is just the MS community, as well as health care providers, payers, politicians, etc. And one of the things we’re beginning to realize now as we have more effective therapies, and we begin to learn more about MS, is that we are compromising the health of our patients by not treating them quickly enough or manage them quickly enough. I mean, there are large delays in patients being diagnosed, getting access to treatment, and when they’re on treatment, they’re not being monitored actively. And there’s now emerging data that if you’re on a therapy, and you’ve got ongoing disease activity, you don’t do very well in the long-term. So the idea is to try and encourage people to treat to a target, monitor, and escalate rapidly. So it’s really trying not to waste time, too, essentially. And we borrow the term, “Time is Brain” from “Time Matters” from the stroke, where we know that, you know, every minute counts. And we would like to get the attitude across to people who are treating MS that every week, every month counts. MSDF At the initial diagnosis, how quickly should things move along, scanning, treatment? Dr. Giovannoni I mean, we’ve got guidelines within our socialist healthcare system, the NHS, to get the diagnostic phase over with in a four-week period. If you’ve got the disease, it’s very anxiety-inducing, the whole process. In reality, you’d like to get it over with in days. And then you need to start the counseling and education process. And I think you can’t rush people onto therapy within days because the holistic approach is people got to understand their disease, the implications of the illness, the prognosis. They’ve got to come to terms with it as well before you can actually start discussing the implications of therapy, which may be life-long. So I’m not talking about this is like stroke – you have that thirteen minutes – I think you need to try and shorten the whole process and be active about it, not be passive. Most clinicians in the world now just monitor their patients clinically. They don’t monitor them with MRI scans. They just wait for them to break through. Sometimes they accept minor relapses as just being part of the disease, and I think now that we’ve got more effective therapies, we shouldn’t be accepting any breakthrough activity. We should be escalating people to more effective therapies. And the data is becoming really strong that active disease, in the form of relapses or MRI activity, does portend a poor prognosis, so you want to switch it off. MSDF The report laid out some specific goals. Can you delineate some of those? Dr. Giovannoni The main goal is speeding up the whole process, so a rapid diagnosis, rapid initiation of treatment, monitoring, rapid escalation or possibly even flipping the pyramid – if they’ve got a bad prognostic profile, give the more effective therapies. Also, collect data so by monitoring, you hopefully will change behavior. And then the other thing that’s hidden is the cost effectiveness of these treatments. So, we need to make systems available to provide these drugs at cost effective prices, particularly in countries that are resource poor. It’s fine talking about North America and Europe – relatively wealthy areas of the world – where we have insurance systems to pay for these expensive new emerging therapies. But if you just to any of the developing countries, people with the disease don’t have access to disease-modifying treatments. We’re just letting the disease run its natural course, and I find that very upsetting. There’s a whole literature and emerging dataset on brain health from, mainly, the dementia – Alzheimer's field – and some of it’s applicable to MS: getting patients to stop smoking; they must exercise regularly, try to avoid drugs that affect cognition, avoid excessive alcohol, sleep properly. Comorbidities must be managed actively. By that I mean hypertension, diabetes, etc. So there’s all that lifestyle, comorbidity issues that also need to be focused on. It’s basically making neurologists and healthcare professionals aware that there’s more to the brain in MS than just inflammation. We need to think of it holistically and take it seriously. MSDF What do you see as some of the barriers to implementing all these things that you’re recommending? Dr. Giovannoni The barriers I wish I could answer it easily. I mean, we know that there’s slow adoption of innovation. Certain fields are more slow at adopting innovation than others, and I think neurologists, intrinsically, are quite conservative. And up until we had therapies in MS, we were just diagnosticians and giving prognoses. Now that we’ve got treatments, we need to adapt to the fact that we’ve got therapies that can make a difference to people with MS. So the slow adoption is attitude, culture, and regulatory hurdles. There’s cost hurdles. Health insurance companies don’t pay for our monitoring, in large parts of the world, so you’re going to have to fight with them to be able to monitor with MRI scans. Patients themselves – try and nudge them to stop smoking and eat properly and exercise. It’s easier said than done. I mean, this is a global population issue, and you know, why should people with MS be any different to the general population. So it’s not easy. We need to think creatively about how we get this done. MSDF But it sounds like nihilism should be passé, if in the past, all you could do was diagnose and hope for the best. Now that’s really not the situation. Dr. Giovannoni Yes, but I think there’s another form of nihilism. And so in the past, we had therapeutic nihilism where we didn’t give any therapies. I think we’ve got a form of subliminal nihilism in the sense; we put people on less effective therapies. We’re not monitoring them, but their disease remains active. I call it smoldering MS. Unless we monitor with sensitive MRI techniques, possibly other monitoring, we’re not picking up the smoldering MS. And so I think we’re potentially leaving a whole generation of people with smoldering MS to obviously a better outcome than they would have had with no therapy, but not as good an outcome if they would be as connected to more effective therapies. So that the subliminal nihilism, I just thought about that term, it kind of captures what I’m trying to, because, you know, what we see affects behavior. If we don’t see it, we don’t change our behavior. So part of this report is to make people observe, measure, monitor. And if they see activity, hopefully, it’ll change their behavior. MSDF In so many specialties, people say, well, I don’t treat lab values. I don’t treat images. I treat patients. But in this case, it seems like you do intervene when there is an imaging change. Dr. Giovannoni Yes, because we now have data, so this has got to be evidence-driven. And we’re not saying every recommendation in the policy report’s got unclad evidence about it. There is some weakness in the evidence base, but we think the evidence base is strong enough to make the recommendations. And we’ve actually put into the report that where there isn’t enough evidence, we need to generate more evidence. And to be honest with you, we need a population study comparing people managed with routine care versus patients treated to target with rapid escalation. MSBase has kind of done that without the MRI monitoring, because they don’t have MRI data in their database. They’re just looking at the clinical, letting people break through with relapses versus relapse-free, in those that are rendered activity-free clinically, do much, much better. And I think that tells us that if we were using MRI, it will even be better. So at least we know that MRI activity is a surrogate for relapses. And there’s also scientific principle. We know, under the microscope, inflammatory lesions are not benign. They’re associated with transected axons, neuronal loss, etc. So it’s hard to deny the scientific principle of allowing lesions to continue to be active. To me it makes no biological sense. And this is not new. We’re just stealing the ideas from rheumatology and nephrology. They treat to target. They try and suppress inflammation as much as possible, and they’ve had incredible success. And they didn’t do it from an evidence base; they did it from a scientific principle. And, as they collected their data in registries, they confirmed what the science showed. Long-term follow-up with these patients has shown that if you treat to target in rheumatoid arthritis and with rapid escalation, you protect joints. And joint replacements now in rheumatoid patients has plummeted by more than 80 percent. I think our metric will have to be walking sticks and wheelchairs. We’ll see the use of walking sticks and wheelchairs plummet. Maybe employment – that’s the other thing we’re trying to highlight is most of the early disability in MS is not physical, it’s cognitive. And the early unemployment rates that occur before people become physically disabled are driven by cognitive problems which manifest as cognitive fatigue. So, you know, what we’re trying to do is also shift people’s attention away from just physical disability and think about cognition, which is an early disability. And hopefully, if we can treat people as early as possible, we’ll protect their cognition and allow them to continue working. So maybe the metric should be employment, as one of the metrics. MSDF So many reports in all areas come out and they’re sort of one-shot deals. Do you have a plan for giving this thing legs so that it’s not just buried once it came out? Dr. Giovannoni Yes, so we’ve got a whole lot of initiatives following on this. We’ve put together a grant application package. We’ve got a dissemination plan, both at a regional and international level. We’ll also want it connected to audit tools, so provide some audit tools where you can actually audit—measure—what we’re trying to achieve and, hopefully, use that as a quality metric. We think we if can start measuring, people will change their behavior. We also want to create an audit tool for people with MS to audit their own service. So in other words, they will go in and say, am I being monitored? How am I being monitored, just clinically or with MRI? And ask the right questions, and, hopefully, activating patients to ask their clinicians to be monitored may also change behavior. We don’t want it to be a name and shame type thing. We want it to be a positive thing, by measuring, we’ll change behavior, so that’s what we want to do. The only thing, though, it can’t be done quickly. We need to get buy in from the whole community, so we’ll have to have an engagement program to get there. Get a competition going, international competition where people can provide creative ideas to try and help with viral dissemination. So get an infographic or a movie or a play or a book or a poem, something that can go viral. And then we’re going to, hopefully, have funding to update the report. We are going to have a very active website where people can download the report. And we’re going to try and create content around Brain Health. Another thing we’re going to be doing is looking for funding to translate it into other languages. We’ve already had requests from several non-English speaking nations for translations. So the Dutch want it translated. South America wants it in Spanish. We’ve had a request from the Japanese, Russians. And so if we can get it translated, we’re probably not going to get the whole document translated. We’re going to make executive summaries, one for patient focused, one for clinicians, one for policy makers. And we’ll, hopefully, get those translated into multiple languages. MSDF MSDF will put the link on the site so that people can access it in English now. Is there anything to add or we’ve missed? Dr. Giovannoni I think we’ve got to start changing the behavior of neurologists in the sense that we need to make them think of their responsibility for looking after people with MS’s brains. We tend to focus on making them relapse free. If we actually shifted the target away from being relapse free but maintaining brain health, so these people can age as normally as possible – we’re not trying to say that people with MS will age normally, but we need our brains for when we get older. So if they start taking responsibility for the holistic management of MS, I think we’ll get the momentum going where people will be much more actively managing MS. [transition music] MSDF Thank you for listening to Episode 58 of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery. This podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Carol Cruzan Morton. Heather McDonald curated the MSDF drug database updates. Msdiscovery.org is part of the nonprofit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Hollie Schmidt is Vice President of Scientific Operations. MSdiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances. We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org. For Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, I'm Dan Keller. [outro music]

[intro music] Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Fifty-Seven of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller. This week’s podcast comes to you from last week’s big MS meeting in Barcelona, Spain, with an interview with Dr. Timothy Vollmer, who gives his take on the early results of a large Phase 3 study of ocrelizumab for primary progressive MS. The experimental drug blocks circulating B cells. We will have several extra meeting-related podcasts for you in the next two weeks. In the next one, Dr. Gavin Giovannoni talks about a new push to use long term brain health as a goal in MS treatment. And Dr. Vollmer will return in the coming weeks to discuss the Denver treatment experience with another B cell blocking drug, rituximab. But first, here are some new items in the MS Discovery Forum. Every week MSDF lists the latest scientific papers related to MS with links to the abstracts on PubMed. Of nearly 100 new studies published last week, we selected three as editor’s picks. Two of our editor’s picks come from a larger collection on MS in JAMA Neurology. One study reports on an equivalence clinical trial comparing a generic glatiramer acetate, Synthon, with Copaxone, the branded glatiramer acetate, for relapsing remitting MS. A global team of investigators found equivalent efficacy, safety, and tolerability in the randomized, controlled trial. The findings provide reassurance about well-made generics for patients and neurologists, say other researchers in an editorial. But the whole idea of generics is to make a dent in the skyrocketing costs of MS drugs, and the generic is priced at $63,000 a year instead of $65,000 and $74,000 for the two versions of the branded drug. Another paper in the same JAMA Neurology checked to see what the vitamin D levels of nearly 1500 people treated with interferon beta-1B might say about the course of their disease. Higher vitamin D levels were associated with fewer new active lesions in the mostly white, mostly female patients with relapsing remitting MS, but there was no correlation with clinical disability or brain atrophy. Our third editor’s pick is a paper investigating the cancer risk from cladribine compared to other MS disease modifying treatments. A large Phase 3 study showed the experimental drug to be highly effective in relapsing remitting MS, with nearly half of patients showing no evidence of disease activity after two years and two courses of the treatment. But it was refused a license by the European Medicines Agency in 2013. Now, based on their new meta-analysis of eleven studies, the authors say they cannot confirm nor deny a cancer risk, and that cladribine should be investigated further as an MS therapy. Our drug development pipeline contains 44 investigational and approved agents for MS. Last week, we added results from two new trials, we updated information from 16 other trials, and we added 20 other pieces of information. Trial updates include findings about ocrelizumab’s ability to reduce relapses and minocycline’s capacity to reduce the risk of conversion to MS after an initial demyelinating event. [transition music] And now to our interview with Dr. Timothy Vollmer, Professor of Neurology and Medical Director of the Rocky Mountain MS Center at the University of Colorado in Denver. When we met at the European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS, or ECTRIMS, meeting in Barcelona, Dr. Vollmer laid out how results of the ORATORIO trial of ocrelizumab shed light on two hypotheses of what goes wrong in primary progressive MS, and which one is most likely. Interviewee – Timothy Vollmer There currently are two hypotheses for what drives primary progressive disease. One is that it’s like relapsing disease, and it’s driven by inflammation. And the other one is that it’s a noninflammatory disease that’s being driven by neurodegeneration and has a separate biology. Now that we have positive results from the ORATORIO study, which is a study of ocrelizumab which is an anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody that deletes B lymphocytes from circulation, given that this is the very first time we’ve ever succeeded, it’s telling us very important thing, and that is: inflammation does drive primary progressive MS. And the other important message from here is that this study studied a significantly younger patient population with primary progressive MS than all the other studies. The mean age was around 44. The reason that’s important is because, epidemiologically, we see a decrease in inflammatory activity as a function of age, and older patients often don’t express any evidence of that. And so far, in all the primary progressive studies, especially the OLYMPUS trial, those patient populations don’t respond to anything. So it’s telling us that we can treat primary progressive MS, but you’ve got to start early. Interviewer – Dan Keller That seems to be the message overall in MS, in general, though. Dr. Vollmer Yes it is. And the reason is, is because MS results in an accelerated brain volume loss, and brain volume loss is going to translate into disability, at some point, for almost everybody. Maintaining brain volume so that you can age normally late in life is a critical goal, not just in MS, but in other neurological diseases. MSDF Does that brain volume loss or other changes in the brain relate to really the onset of the progressive phase? Dr. Vollmer The answer is yes and no. From a statistical standpoint, it’s very hard to sort of identify a specific point in the process of brain volume loss that you can say, okay, they’re going to transition into progressive disease. That’s probably due to the fact that the mechanisms that underlie reserve capacity in brains may vary a little bit from patient to patient, and that they have different capacity to compensate for this injury. The other complication is that MS, as a multifocal disease, is not necessarily distributed evenly throughout the nervous system, though. In some patients, they have a relatively small amount of disease, but it’s in the neck, and they’re still highly disabled. And because of that very complicated pattern for it, it is hard just to use one global measure to predict how patients are going to be from a disability standpoint. MSDF Do the results of the ORATORIO study give us more confidence in pursuing the B cell as an important effector in MS? Dr. Vollmer Absolutely. The converging data, now, both in progressive forms and in relapsing forms, says the B cell is playing a critical role. There are CD20-positive T cells, and so there’s still some discussion whether the drug may be having an effect on those, but in the most recent reports, it does decrease those with first administration, but then they recover very quickly. And at subsequent administrations of the anti-CD20, they’re not deleted. So that pattern suggests to me it’s not an effect on T cells, it’s an effect on B cells which remain suppressed for months after a single injection. MSDF CD20 is on B cells but, as I understand, not on plasmablasts or plasma cells. So what is the relative contribution of B cell biology versus just antibody? Dr. Vollmer A major difference is that plasmablasts and plasma cells are not very good antigen presenting cells. Whereas, B cells, if they can engage the antigen that their B cell receptor is targeted for, become extremely effective antigen presenting cells: the most effective antigen presenting cells in the body. And they can be about ten thousand times more effective that dendritic cells or macrophages. So that’s why I think that, given the fact that the most effective therapies we’ve currently studied right now are all B cell based therapies, I think it’s telling us is that the B cell is playing that critical role, and most likely, that is in both cytokine release and in antigen presentation in the brain. MSDF From the ORATORIO study, what more do you want to see? The data is just coming out, and they’re going to do a bunch of analyses. What sort of things should they be looking at? Dr. Vollmer Well, they have a number of other clinical measures, and I believe they also have some patient reported outcomes, so I’d be very interested to see if the patients actually perceive a benefit as measured by those PROs. They have the timed twenty-five foot walk out, which they reached and was statistically significant. They had sustained disability progression at both three and six months which was statistically significant. And they reported brain volume loss was decreased in the ocrelizumab treated patients and was statistically significant. We would like to know more about the inflammatory markers in the patients and the correlation between having baseline evidence of disease activity, such as a gadolinium enhancing lesion, and the probability of response to therapy. MSDF What about the time course of response to the therapy? It seems like it’s more rapid than you would expect if an insult sometime in the past led to what you see today. But the ocrelizumab results seem to be on a faster track than that. Dr. Vollmer Well, the reason I believe that is, is because, as I said before, they really pushed down the median age in their population to much younger patients. And again, in long term studies that have looked at gadolinium enhancing disease activity, we do see it in primary progressive disease. So it’s not true, in my view, that primary progressive MS patients have a different MRI pattern. In studies that actually controlled for observer bias, where the neurologist didn’t have a chance to look with an MRI scan, but made the decision whether it was progressive or not progressive disease based on clinical history, which is the only way that we really can do it, then the previously reported biases of having nonspecific noninflammatory MRIs disappears. And that paper was published about six years ago. So, I think that we have a lot of built in biases, as a field, when you think about MS, and, unfortunately, those biases are often not supported by objective data. And yet, they do make their way into the literature, mainly because they don’t control for age. And when comparing progressive patients, relapsing patients, or primary progressive patients to relapsing patients the fundamental difference is progressive patients tend to be 10 to 15 years older on average than the relapsing patients they’re comparing them to. And it’s that age difference that explains most of the differences that people talk about. It’s not the fact they have a different form of the disease. MSDF Anything else to add on this that we’ve missed? Dr. Vollmer As I said, we need to get subset analysis out of the ORATORIO study to see just which age group and demographic the patients really got the most benefit. My suspicion is we’re going to again find it’s the younger patients that show the biggest effect, again emphasizing that starting early in the disease with therapy is a key issue. And, again, I think it’s going to argue that you need to use highly effective therapies as early as possible, in order to get the best effect. MSDF Very good, thank you. Dr. Vollmer Thank you. [transition music] MSDF Thank you for listening to Episode Fifty-Seven of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery. This podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Carol Cruzan Morton. Heather McDonald curated the MSDF drug database updates. Msdicovery.org is part of the nonprofit Accelerated Cure Project for multiple sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Holly Schmidt is Vice President of Scientific Operations. Msdiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances. We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send a comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org. For Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, I’m Dan Keller. [outro music]  

Transcript [intro music] Host – Dan Keller Hello, and welcome to Episode Fifty-Six of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, the podcast of the MS Discovery Forum. I’m your host, Dan Keller. This week’s podcast features an interview with Dr. Gavin Giovannoni who discusses the first experimental drug to show some benefit in a progressive form of multiple sclerosis in a major trial. The drug is ocrelizumab, and the trial is called ORATORIO. But first, here are some new items in the MS Discovery Forum. The ocrelizumab findings were the big news at last week’s large international MS meeting in Barcelona, Spain. Our Research Roundup highlights other breaking stories from the meeting. Stay tuned for more in the days to come. We’ll be rolling out in-depth stories on some research themes we followed at the meeting. And we will have some extra meeting-related podcasts for you in the next two weeks. Every week, MSDF lists the latest scientific papers related to MS, with links to the abstracts on PubMed. Of 138 new studies published last week, we selected three as editor’s picks. In one study, a British team found a new reason why remyelination fails in disease. When damaged axons lose their myelin sheath, as in multiple sclerosis, they strike up a conversation with immature myelin-making cells. The axons reach out with new synapses to order the cells to grow up and make new myelin. If axons can’t call for help, as also may happen in MS, the myelin-making cells cannot respond. The team made their discovery in rat brains. They also found new synapses and telltale signaling molecules in postmortem brain lesion samples from people with MS. In another paper, a Spanish group looked at other factors that may block the brain’s ability to repair itself after inflammatory damage. A pair of molecules, known as semaphorins, may block myelin-making cells from coming to the rescue of damaged axons. The findings come from human tissue samples and may hold promise as targets for future treatment. Our third editor’s pick paper looks at factors influencing the intention to exercise and the execution of exercise among people with multiple sclerosis. A Danish team did an extensive review of rehabilitation and sports medicine literature. They found that health professionals can help on both fronts. Our Drug-Development Pipeline contains 44 investigational and approved agents for MS. Last week, we added two new findings from clinical trials, we updated information from another trial, and we added 10 other pieces of information to the database. The drugs with important additions are alemtuzumab, dalfampridine, fingolimod, glatiramer acetate, idebenone, natalizumab, and teriflunomide. One update summarizes the finding that fingolimod induces the expression of neuroprotective factors by human astrocytes. [transition music] And now to our interview with Dr. Gavin Giovannoni, head of neurology at Barts and The London School of Medicine and Dentistry in the U.K. We spoke with him at the recent European Committee for Treatment and Research in MS, or ECTRIMS, meeting in Barcelona about the Brain Health report that was launched at the meeting and about the ORATORIO trial of ocrelizumab in primary progressive MS. We'll cover the Brain Health report in future podcasts with him and other authors of the report. But today, Dr. Giovannoni lays out the methodology of ORATORIO, which may explain some of the very good reduction in disease progression, observed in this trial for the first time in primary progressive MS. Interviewer – Dan Keller In the ORATORIO trial, what was the aim, and I guess what's the big outcome? Interviewee – Gavin Giovannoni Well, the ORATORIO trial is essentially a phase III trial of depleting anti-CD20 monoclonal antibody called ocrelizumab in primary-progressive MS. As you're aware, almost every trial done in primary-progressive MS has been negative. And then the motivation behind the ocrelizumab trial was based on the rituximab trial; ocrelizumab is a follow-on and rituximab is more humanized, so that should come with fewer side effects like infusion reactions and anti-drug antibodies. In that rituximab trial, there was a subgroup of the population that responded. These were people that are younger and had MRI activity. So when we designed the ocrelizumab ORATORIO trial, we tried to enrich the study for young people and people that were more active, more enhancing lesions, and we did that. So the population is younger, and the proportion of patients with gadolinium-enhancing lesions at baseline was about a quarter of them. And we also made sure that all the patients had an abnormal CSF spinal fluid. The reason for that is in the Copaxone glatiramer acetate trial, patients who didn't have an abnormal CSF behaved very differently to those with an abnormal CSF, so we wanted to make sure that we had a homogeneous population. And we made sure they had oligoclonal bands or raised IgG in the spinal fluid simply because we we're trying to target a B cell response; so those that are CSF-negative may not be responsive to a B cell therapy. Lots of features of this trial that we try to wait to make it positive, so we're really, really excited about the results, that people on ocrelizumab had an approximately 25% reduction in confirmed disease progression on EDSS compared to patients on placebo. And it was an event-driven, so the trial wasn't designed to be a fixed time point, it was designed as soon as you got enough events; it was like an adaptive trial, so it was quite cleverly designed in that regard. So it's great news. Now whether the trial was positive because ocrelizumab is a more effective therapy than the others, or because it's targeting something special like the B cell, at the moment is not known. The only way we're going to find that out is if we do another primary-progressive trial with another highly effective therapy and see what happens there. But this is fantastic news for people with progressive MS. If you follow any patient forums or blogs or whatever, the most frustrated, depressed group is the primary-progressive patients; they've been neglected for years, decades. I think that's the big news, we now will have a therapy which we can offer them. The one unknown, though, is maybe this result has been driven by a particular subgroup, and I think the regulators and the payers will want to get that data from us. Because if it is driven by a particular subgroup, they may limit the license and the payment for that particular subgroup, the responder group. And so I can't talk to that yet, because most of the subgroup and post-hoc analyses haven't been done. But potentially maybe like the rituximab trial, there will be a proportion of the patients that have characteristic features that are more responsive to the drug, and drive the trial results compared to the other group. And if that is the case, then it's still good news regardless. MSDF As it stands now, it seems like the indication would be for people with abnormal CSF, oligoclonal bands, or elevated IgG. Is there any thought that this drug may work possibly by the same mechanism even if you're not seeing abnormal CSF? Dr. Giovannoni The spinal fluid tests aren't 100% perfect, so there are people who will have false-negative results. But I've always been a big proponent of the hypothesis that the oligoclonal response in the spinal fluid is something key to this disease. We see that response in infectious diseases like neurosyphilis, measles, rubella panencephalitis, herpes; it's really a signature of its common to infectious diseases, which is why I'm still a supporter of the hypothesis that MS may be an infectious disease. You do find that in a few other autoimmune diseases, particularly the paraneoplastic plastic syndromes, that it's a signature of an intrathecal B cell response. And this drug targets B cells. One thing it doesn't target, though, it's the long-lived plasma cell, and so CD20 actually stops being expressed, even on plasmablasts, so as soon as you go from the mature B cell to plasmablast to plasma cells, you don't deplete those with anti-CD20. So we know from rituximab data that the oligoclonal bands persist, so we need longer punctures, you don't get rid of those. But until we have long-term followup, we don't know. Maybe drugs that target the plasmablast and the plasma cell will be more effective than rituximab. We don't have any of those drugs available in MS yet. There's one that's being developed, it's anti-CD19; CD19 gets expressed onto the plasmablast and some plasma cells, and there are some specific markers for plasma cells. But if you gave those to people with MS, you'd probably deplete them of their antibody-producing cells and make them a gamma globulin anemic. Then you'd have to probably then start supplementing with gamma globulin, so it gets quite complicated. But at the moment, the drug will be licensed, I think, for continuous use every 6 months; it won't be induction therapy. Some of the data would suggest you could potentially use it as induction therapy, so, you know, do 2 years and then wait and see if the disease comes back. But the way the drug's been developed at the moment is for continuous maintenance use. There are some concerns; can you continue to use it in the B cell depletion forever? And that's going to have to be answered with the open-label extension studies. MSDF Since plasma cells persist and oligoclonal bands persist, if I understood you correctly, do you think that the pathology is mediated through antibody, or this depletion of B cells is acting in a different way, that the B cells are interacting either with T cells or on their own doing something? Dr. Giovannoni I mean, there is pretty good evidence from the pathology literature that antibodies are very important in MS. So whether or not you accept it, there is pathological classifications of the top 1 to 4. And there is antibody and complement activation in MS lesions, and there is emerging evidence that so-called grey matter lesions and subpial lesions on the surface are particularly driven by antibody and complement. So I do think they are pathogenic. And so you may get rid of the focal inflammatory lesions that appear to be T cell-driven, whereas the cortical subpial lesions may be antibody-driven. So you may be getting rid of one pathology and not all the pathologies, which is why I remain a little bit skeptical still about whether or not this anti-CD20-depleting antibody will be effective in the long-term. So we may need additional treatment to target plasma cells. And what you've got to ask yourself really is what's driving those oligoclonal bands. We know they are highly selected, so they're not just there. They're oligoclonal, they've undergone selection by hypermutation, so there's some antigen driving them. They respond to something, and we just haven't been able to find out what they respond to. They are pathogenic, and if we do find the cause of MS, that will almost certainly begins to cause the disease. An analogy would be herpes encephalitis; if somebody's had a herpes infection, then you take those oligoclonal bands out and you absorb them against the antigen from herpes, you remove almost all the antibodies. So they are antigen-specific in the infectious space. We've tried for years to find out what those bands react against in MS, and we haven't found it. There's several groups still working on it, and I would encourage them to continue working it, because that may be where the action is. MSDF The ORATORIO data was only begun to be analyzed very recently. You had mentioned that you were going to be doing subgroup analyses. Are there other analyses yet to come? Dr. Giovannoni I mean, the headline results are probably in main secondary outcomes, and there's less of tertiary outcomes. We need to do subgroup analyses trying to look at brain atrophy, the time course of the progressions. I'm very interested in second progressions, because I have this theory that early progressions in progressive disease is not driven by inflammation that occurs in this epoch, it's in the past; so inflammation a year or two ago is driving progression now. And so when you design these progressive trials, a large number of people progress early. And I think it's nothing to do with the trials because it's happened before the trial. So what you then need to do is look at progressions in the future to see if they flatline or stabilize. So there's lots of luck. I think we need to play around with the data, look at the first and second confirmed progressions, incorporate the brain MRI activity as the confounder. There's lots to do, tons to do. But it's good news. The excitement about those analyses are generated because you've got a positive result. MSDF Picking up on this idea that what you see today is the result of an insult that happened sometime before, what is the time course that you see using ocrelizumab in terms of benefit; is it so rapid that it questions whether what you said is what's operating? Dr. Giovannoni Yes, it's too rapid. When you see the survival curves, they go flat very early, so this is actually saying something else which is really surprising me, which is why I think some of the activity may be driven by an anti-inflammatory, because we know that anti-inflammatory drugs have an effect quite quickly. So that's why I'm suspicious that the positive result is driven by an inflammatory core of patients, and those with the more neurodegenerative or previous inflammation are unlikely to respond. That's my worry with the drug. But let's see what their subgroup analyses show. MSDF Anything we've missed or important to add on that? Dr. Giovannoni What I want to mention to people with the disease is they shouldn't overhype expectations. The simple reason is when you've got progressive disease you've already lost reserve, so that's why you're progressing. So in early relapsing disease, you make recovery from attacks because you've got ability to recover, a reserve. And so early on you stabilize or improve, and later on you slow down progression. So I'm trying to tell people with the disease if you do go into this therapy, don't expect to improve or get better. You're much more likely to progress more slowly, which you won't notice. It's hard in an individual to say they're progressing more slowly, or you'll plateau out and stabilize. I think that must be the expectation, rather than improvement. And I think we need to manage those expectations, that people may not at a personal level find a big dramatic response in terms of their disability on the drug. MSDF But this sounds like – getting back to the discussion of the Brain Health report – where you should diagnosis and treat rather quickly. At least now if someone comes in with primary-progressive, there may be at some point something to do from the start. Dr. Giovannoni Yeah. Well, it's like with any neurodegenerative disease, the sooner you treat the more you've got to protect, and the later you treat the less you've got to protect. So this would be a call to get primary-progressive disease diagnosed as soon as possible and treat as soon as possible. And if you look at the diagnostic delay in primary-progressive disease, it's probably worse than relapsing disease. People often go years before being diagnosed. So we're going to have to sharpen up the referral pathways and the diagnostic pathways in primary-progressive disease to get that timeless brain concept across there, too. [transition music] Thank you for listening to Episode Fifty-Six of Multiple Sclerosis Discovery. This podcast was produced by the MS Discovery Forum, MSDF, the premier source of independent news and information on MS research. MSDF’s executive editor is Carol Cruzan Morton. Heather McDonald curated the MSDF drug database updates. Msdiscovery.org is part of the nonprofit Accelerated Cure Project for Multiple Sclerosis. Robert McBurney is our President and CEO, and Hollie Schmidt is Vice President of Scientific Operations. MSDiscovery.org aims to focus attention on what is known and not yet known about the causes of MS and related conditions, their pathological mechanisms, and potential ways to intervene. By communicating this information in a way that builds bridges among different disciplines, we hope to open new routes toward significant clinical advances. We’re interested in your opinions. Please join the discussion on one of our online forums or send comments, criticisms, and suggestions to editor@msdiscovery.org. For Multiple Sclerosis Discovery, I'm Dan Keller. [outro music]

COMPAS Seminar Series Trinity 2014- Borders of the welfare state: Exploring the tensions between migration enforcement and welfare state entitlements he European Social Charter (ESC) is the socio-economic 'sister' instrument of the ECHR. The text of the ESC contains a comprehensive list of social rights, which are generally binding on the vast majority of European states, and its provisions have exerted a considerable influence over the development of national and EU legal standards (including the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights). However, a tension exists between the universal nature of these rights and the limited personal scope of the ESC, which in general exempts irregular migrants from its scope of protection. The European Committee on Social Rights (ECSR), the body which interprets the ESC, has tried to bridge this tension by setting out a minimum floor of social protection which should apply to all irregular migrants, in decision such as Defence of Children International v Netherlands. However, states have resisted this interpretation of the ESC, and it remains to be seen whether this minimum floor of basic social rights protection will become an effective means of guaranteeing irregular migrants access to essential services across Europe.

Welcome to episode 322 of the Sexology Podcast! Today I am delighted to be speaking with Dr. Stefan Buntrock. In this episode, we discuss prostate orgasms and stimulation, the sex toys available to reach a prostate orgasm, and we also analyze the g-spot and female ejaculation.  Dr. Stefan Buntrock is a board-certified urologist in Göttingen, Germany. He is a Fellow of the European Board of Urology (FEBU) and received European certification as a sexologist and Fellow of the European Committee of Sexual Medicine (FECSM).  For many years as chief physician at the Klinik am Kurpark, one of the largest German rehabilitation clinics for urology, he treated many patients after radical surgical interventions on the prostate and bladder.   In this episode, you will hear:   How Dr. Stefan became interested in this line of work Looking at the research for men reaching orgasm through prostate stimulation  Analyzing sex toys and vibrators for men  Understanding the g spot; Does it exist? How does it work? Is the g spot linked to female ejaculation? Understanding what a prostate massage is  Looking at the the types of stimulation that can cause a prostate orgasm  How this area is very mis-understood by the wider public  9 Foreplay Ideas https://drmoali.clickfunnels.com/free-foreplay-checklist51618558  Instagram https://www.instagram.com/sexologypodcast   Podcast Produced by Pete Bailey - http://petebailey.net/audio  Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

On 19 May 2022, Mariya Gabriel, European Commissioner for Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, Apostolos Tzitzikostas, President of the European Committee of the Regions (CoR), and Emil Boc, Mayor of Cluj-Napoca, gave a joint press conference following their meeting with key regional actors from politics, the innovation sector and academia to pay tribute to the Transylvania region and its "Cluj Way", Cluj-Napoca being highly regarded as a city that combines knowledge economy and citizens' participation. On this occasion, they also opened the Innowave Summit Cluj, one of the most important high-tech and innovation focused conferences in Southeast Europe.This video shows their entire joint press conference in Cluj-Napoca, Romania.