Podcasts about feinstein institute

Electricity plays an important role in our everyday lives, including allowing our bodies to communicate internally. But some research claims electricity may be used to diagnose and treat disease? Could electric pulses one day replace medications? We speak with experts about the growing field of bioelectric medicine and the evidence for electricity's healing abilities. Their comments may shock you. Guests: Sally Adee – Science journalist, author of “We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds" Samantha Payne – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at University of Guelph Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon and President of the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health *Originally aired June 5, 2023 Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Electricity plays an important role in our everyday lives, including allowing our bodies to communicate internally. But some research claims electricity may be used to diagnose and treat disease? Could electric pulses one day replace medications? We speak with experts about the growing field of bioelectric medicine and the evidence for electricity's healing abilities. Their comments may shock you. Guests: Sally Adee – Science journalist, author of “We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds" Samantha Payne – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at University of Guelph Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon and President of the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health *Originally aired June 5, 2023 Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Have we found a cure for paralysis?Chad Bouton is a bioengineer, researcher, scientist, and visionary who has committed his life to finding an end to paralysis. Mr. Bouton is a professor with the Feinstein Institute of Bioelectric Medicine, Vice President of Advanced Engineering with Northwell Health, and a professor of molecular medicine at the Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra Northwell. Mr. Bouton developed neural decoding methods that allowed the first paralyzed person with a brain implant to move again with their own thoughts.His work has been featured on 60 Minutes and TEDx and he holds over 70 patents worldwide. Additionally, Professor Bouton's work has been recognized in the United States Congress. He has won multiple awards surrounding the human brain and cancer detection.If you are interested in learning how AI will propel the medical industry forward, you are in the right place. This incredibly insightful conversation with Chad Bouton is inspirational and provides hope to the families all over the world who are praying for their loved ones to regain movement and feeling that has been lost as a result of serious injury.Sign up for the Some Future Day Newsletter here: https://marcbeckman.substack.com/Episode Links:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/chad-bouton-ba0825a/Neuvotion: https://www.neuvotion-inc.com/Bouton Lab: https://www.boutonlab.com/To join the conversation follow Marc Beckman here:YoutubeLinkedInTwitterInstagram

Joining us on Well Said is Dr. Steven Fishbane, Vice President of Northwell Health's Network Dialysis Services, Chief of Kidney Disease and Hypertension for Northwell Health and Professor at the Institute of Health System Science at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Dr. Fishbane will be exploring the nuances of kidney disease, including its causes, risk factors and treatment options.

Dr. Alex Spyropoulos (“Dr. Spy”) is a Professor of Medicine at the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine as well as System Director of Anticoagulation and Clinical Thrombosis Services for the multi-hospital Northwell Health System. In addition, Dr. Spy is a Professor of the Merinoff Center for Patient-Oriented Research as part of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. As a thrombologist, Dr. Spy studies blood clots. Many people worldwide are either at risk for blood clots or have existing clots. He focuses on venous thromboembolism primarily in the lungs and legs. These blood clots could cause morbidity or mortality, and many people are not familiar with the risks, common symptoms, or the situations in which clots may occur. Outside of work, Dr. Spy loves spending time with his wife and his young kids. Lately, they've been enjoying apple picking, hay rides, pumpkin carving, and apple carving. His other hobbies include sailing, snowboarding and mountain biking. He received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and he completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. Dr. Spy is a recipient of the Lovelace Clinic Foundation Excellence in Education Award, as well as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Chest Physicians, the International Academy of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Haemostasis, and the Royal College of Physicians in Canada. In this interview, he speaks with us about his life and science.

Electricity plays an important role in our everyday lives, including allowing our bodies to communicate internally. But some research claims electricity may be used to diagnose and treat disease? Could electric pulses one day replace medications? We speak with experts about the growing field of bioelectric medicine and the evidence for electricity's healing abilities. Their comments may shock you. Guests: Sally Adee – Science journalist, author of “We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds" Samantha Payne – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at University of Guelph Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon and President of the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Electricity plays an important role in our everyday lives, including allowing our bodies to communicate internally. But some research claims electricity may be used to diagnose and treat disease? Could electric pulses one day replace medications? We speak with experts about the growing field of bioelectric medicine and the evidence for electricity's healing abilities. Their comments may shock you. Guests: Sally Adee – Science journalist, author of “We Are Electric: Inside the 200-Year Hunt for Our Body's Bioelectric Code, and What the Future Holds" Samantha Payne – Assistant Professor of Biomedical Sciences at University of Guelph Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon and President of the Feinstein Institute at Northwell Health Featuring music by Dewey Dellay and Jun Miyake Big Picture Science is part of the Airwave Media podcast network. Please contact advertising@airwavemedia.com to inquire about advertising on Big Picture Science. You can get early access to ad-free versions of every episode by joining us on Patreon. Thanks for your support!   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Our very first guest, JoJo Platt, is a longtime consultant serving the neurotech community through the commercialization process. In this episode, JoJo discusses her eclectic background, views on leadership, the future of neurotech, and how good-natured "revenge" is one of her primary motivators.  Guest links: http://theplattassociates.com/ | https://www.joyventures.com/ | https://neurotechreports.com/ | https://skrapspodcast.com/  Charity supported: Polaris Project  Interested in being a guest on the show or have feedback to share? Email us at podcast@velentium.com.  PRODUCTION CREDITS Host: Lindsey Dinneen Editor: Tim Oliphant Producer: Velentium   SHOW TRANSCRIPT Episode 002 - JoJo Platt Lindsey Dinneen: Hi, I'm Lindsey with Velentium and I'm talking with MedTech industry leaders on how they change lives for a better world. Diane Bouis: The inventions and technologies are fascinating and so are the people who work with them. Frank Jaskulke: There was a period of time where I realized, fundamentally, my job was to go hang out with really smart people that are saving lives and then do work that would help them save more lives. Diane Bouis: I got into the business to save lives and it is incredibly motivating to work with people who are in that same business, saving or improving lives. Duane Mancini: What better industry than where I get to wake up every day and just save people's lives. Lindsey Dinneen: These are extraordinary people doing extraordinary work, and this is The Leading Difference. Hello and welcome to the Leading Difference Podcast. I'm your host, Lindsey, and I'm excited to introduce you to my guest today, Jojo Platt. Jojo is a longtime consultant serving the neurotech community through the commercialization process. She works with academic labs, neurotech startups, and others to advance neuro technologies into the hands of patients. Jojo is the US Partnership's lead for Joy Ventures. She works with Neurotech Reports, co-hosts the Skraps podcast, and serves on many organizing committees of the industry's most influential conferences and meetings. And I am so thrilled that she is joining me today. Welcome to the show, Jojo. Thanks for being here. JoJo Platt: Thank you for having me on. I'm really excited to be on the other side of the mic this time. Lindsey Dinneen: Oh yes, that's right. Please tell us a little bit about yourself and your background to get started, if you don't mind. JoJo Platt: Sure. I work specifically in the field of neurotechnology that's even more narrow than medical devices. I prefer to think of it as a different focus than just pure, broad speaking neuromodulation and I've been consulting to academic labs, startups, government offices, universities, kind of everybody in the neurotech space for about 15 years now, and a lot of people find it challenging to really fully understand what I do. So I keep it broad because I do a lot of different things. I like to think about all of the scientists and technologists who have spent their entire lives honing and perfecting their science and technology skills. And I come in on the other side of that and help them on the business side. So if they're ready to translate, if they're thinking about creating a spin out, if they wanna optimize their research for future licensing and spin out, there are things that can be done even at the academic level that can make a big difference into how technology or therapy commercialized. And I do everything except for accounting and housekeeping. Lindsey Dinneen: Amazing. So I am curious, do you mind delving a little bit more into how you help bridge the gap between a company or an individual who is looking to develop new technology? And what have you found is the most needed aspect of that sort of bridging the gap process or how do you feel that your consulting and your services are able to help these people? Because I know you're making a difference, but I'm curious as to what things you find are the most common, and where people can use that assistance from a different perspective? JoJo Platt: The field overall, especially the commercialization side of the equation is still relatively young. I know, spinal cord stimulators coming out Tom Mortimer's lab and all of that in the sixties and some of the cardiac pacemaker technologies, those have been around for a long time. But when you get into some of the neural interfaces, be it in the central or peripheral nervous system, those are on the newer side. So we still have a lot of technology founders or technical founders, or scientific founders, which is fantastic. There's nobody who knows the technology and the science better than these folks. But like I said before, they're classically trained on the science and technology side of things. So there are tons of resources out there that can help prepare them to be a CEO or a founding CEO. But they still need a lot of support and whether they find that they need help in making their business case as they're pitching for financing to VCs, helping them hone that pitch, whether it's in support of market research, helping them determine what's the best path to market sometimes. I primarily like to focus on FDA cleared or FDA approved devices and I definitely favor implanted devices over wearables, but there are definitely fantastic wearable technologies. That's all to say that direct to consumer is something I can appreciate and admire, but that's not an area of expertise for me. So I'll help them look at the regulatory pathways, reimbursement pathways. I either do that on my own or I also work very heavily with a team at Neurotech Reports, Jim Cavouto and Jeremy Koff, who both have excellent track records in Neurotech as well. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. That is wonderful. And so when you are helping these folks, these scientists-- I think we talked in a previous conversation about how sometimes the business aspect, like you said, you can learn a lot about how to be a CEO and there are certain things that maybe come a little bit easier than others, but in terms of, say the marketing side of things or how to translate the science into a more widely understood-- if you're going to explain it to your grandma kind of thing. You have a really interesting background that didn't necessarily start in the science field. Do you mind exploring a little bit about how that helps you translate between the two? JoJo Platt: Sure. I have a very long sort of meandering journey into a lot of different areas. I started out my first, I like to call it my first real job, my first office job was a one person of a two person accounting team at an internet backbone technology company. And that's to say, because this was in the mid to late nineties, it wasn't part of the dot com boom so much as it was, anytime you watch video on the internet, that call and response of the video packets that get delivered to you are still done even now, 25 years later on the internet backbone which is video delivery optimization. So we were basically solving how to stream video on the internet when the internet was operating at basically a 14 4k speed. So accounting, I thought that's what I wanted to do. That was my degree program at the time, and I was in school and working and being a single mom and all that. And we went through an IPO, which was an amazing learning experience, but it was a lot of work. I'd go to the office at six in the morning. Work till six at night. Go to class, go home, see my daughter, go back to work until about two o'clock in the morning and they go back at six and it burned me out. We were a startup and the hours were long, so, after the IPO I was processing some expense accounts and I kept seeing all of these marketing expense reports come in. I'm like, "you guys went to dinner where? You spent what? You did?" And I'm just like, "wait, let me get this straight: you're having this much fun and I'm sitting here behind a desk processing your expense reports." So I said, "this is over. I'm going over to marketing." And so I was still in school, so I changed my major and finished that up on the comm side of things. I don't tend to refer to what I do now as marketing or communications. Because it's only a part of what I do, and also because those words tend to scare a lot of scientists. They don't believe in self-promotion. And they just find the marketing and communication side of things, PR and that sort of thing, quite unsavory. So I don't talk about it in those terms, but that is a little bit about what I do and especially, my own, I guess you'd call it a brand. I don't know that it's brand so much, but it just happened. So yeah, from accounting to marketing, I went through the dot com bubble in the early two thousands with the community site that was the early competitor to MySpace and earlier than Facebook even. So we raised a lot of money. The founders burned through all of it. That crashed. I decided at one point I was gonna kinda have an early retirement 'cause I had done well with my IPO and then got bored. I've done consumer electronics, was working with a technology company trying to solve the whole Napster problem with copyright protection for music. And we were a finalist in the industry competition that was gonna lead to an industry standard of content protection. And then just a month or so before it was all finalized, iTunes came out with a 99 cents song, which between the lawsuit against Napster and an affordable easy, one click way to get music, that pretty well solved the problem for the most part. So that one went away.  then from there I ended up, this one's a really strange one. From there I ended up going and working at a nonprofit that had, before my arrival, they had fallen afoul with the IRS and it wasn't-- the nonprofit needed some closer management. For the most part it was doing okay. It was doing what it was supposed to be doing. For, again, for the most part, its problem was that the founder was a person of interest in his other business dealings. So IRS and the Department of Justice figured they were gonna "Capone" this guy. Basically go after him and get him for anything that they could, whether it was directly related to the insurance schemes that he was running or if they could get him some other way. So I jumped in, became the court appointed trustee for the foundation and helped the DOJ and the IRS Criminal Investigations Division actually put this guy in jail. So that was kind of, it was a little scary at times. But it was fun. And at the end of the day, I got to help give away 47 million dollars to a lot of different charities. And one of the things that we wanted to look at was sepsis research, because one of our board members, his daughter passed away very quickly and very unexpectedly from sepsis. So we wanted to support sepsis research. And found out that Kevin Tracy at the Feinstein Institute in New York was doing a lot of really exciting work in sepsis and I started helping them out on a consulting basis on some of the sepsis activities and then some Parkinson's research initiatives that they were working on. And as they were getting ready to launch the Center for Bioelectronic Medicine, they just kept pulling me on board for project after project and kept consulting on that helped them launch the center with some very good friends of mine. I'm glad to say it's still a very successful research entity and putting out amazing work. And we launched a journal by the same name. And part of my responsibilities there were to really understand and know the players in the field of neurotechnology and find out what they were working on and see if I couldn't help to facilitate collaborations, whether it was research or further down the road into the commercialization spectrum. And that's how I fell into neurotech. It's a very long, very circuitous, bumpy road. Lindsey Dinneen: Yes. But it's an amazing backstory and it has led you to a whole new chapter really, and new opportunities that you probably couldn't have imagined when you first were even in school. Thinking ahead, what's my life gonna look like? So that's... JoJo Platt: I'm still waiting to find out what it is I'm gonna do. Lindsey Dinneen: That's amazing. Yeah. Well, I'm curious, is there a particular moment that stands out to you because it clearly confirmed that this chapter was the right next step for you? I know you had mentioned the importance of working on the sepsis research and supporting that initiative and things like that. Obviously that was something that was important to you, but I'm curious, as you've continued along this path, is there just something that stands out where you thought, "yes, this is the right next chapter for me" and why? JoJo Platt: I don't think there was a single moment. I think somebody asked me a similar question at a conference earlier, I guess last fall, and, "Why are you doing this?" And, "What got you involved or what keeps you here?" And I think part of it is still really true. That part of it is revenge. Don't get me wrong, I went to a very excellent high school, but my science teachers saw in me a very, very strong lack of scientific ability. I didn't apply myself in my science classes and they all begged me never to take a science class again-- just get through this one and don't take any more science than is required. So I think the part that keeps me here most is that I'm not a scientist and I'm not a technologist. I've definitely learned a lot from everyone that I've had the good fortune of working with or seeing some of the amazing talks that I've seen over the last 15 years. But I can have an impact and not be a scientist or a technologist. And I think that inspiration keeps me going. And I'll be on stage with some of the world's most important neurotechnologists, and I always make sure and take a picture and then send it back to my science teachers and say, "See, I did okay". Lindsey Dinneen: I love it. JoJo Platt: Yeah. There might be a little spite there, but just, all good fun. Lindsey Dinneen: Good natured. JoJo Platt: Yes. Yes. Lindsey Dinneen: That is seriously amazing. I definitely have a little bit-- I'll put it this way-- I have enough rebel in me where if someone says that I can't do something, then I have to prove them wrong. JoJo Platt: Right. Lindsey Dinneen: It's just -- we're gonna figure out how to do this, might not come easily, but we'll figure it out. JoJo Platt: Yeah. And I don't think I would've gone out of my way to do that had I not stumbled into this field, but the fact that I'm here now, I'll leverage that a little bit. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Yeah. Amazing. Well, how would you define leadership? Or what does leadership mean to you? JoJo Platt: To me leadership is not so much telling people what to do, but making sure that your team is inspired to follow you. And I think that difference is one thing that's really important between a boss and a leader. Also why I don't have employees. I think that bringing on the right team members for the right problems and empowering them to do their jobs is probably, a pretty inspiring leadership principle. And the people who have that gift are people toward whom I gravitate, just sort of in, in my own personal fandom of that capacity. And when I see that I like to highlight that and foster that. But I think I know my own weaknesses, which are anything in the area where HR would have jurisdiction, I'm the worst nightmare. And I love being a collaborator, but being a leader is a gift that I think I'll let others take the helm for that one. Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, that is fair. I appreciate that perspective. Well, what is your best piece of advice for someone interested in obtaining either a leadership role within the med tech industry, or since you talked about being in more of a collaboration role or a collaborator role, what is your best piece of advice if someone's looking to do something similar to what you do in helping bridge this gap in helping assist these amazing people bring their ideas to reality? JoJo Platt: I think one of the greatest parts about the neurotech field is that we're still young enough that there are opportunities everywhere, and I know we're going into a bit of a shrinking right-sizing economic exercise, and that some of that will include some painful moments for a lot of people. But I think from my experience, it's better to correct than to crash. So I'm optimistic about where we are in that, and I think that we are truly at the point in the field where there's a legitimate reason to say, if your dream job in neurotechnology doesn't exist, go and create it. And I think this space is open to so many different areas of expertise. So we need people in finance and business management, administration, operations, systems management. And yes, marketing is actually starting to become a legitimate and respected division of a lot of different companies. So that's good to see. But you can really come from any field and contribute to neurotechnology. And one of the things that I see a lot are people who have a hybrid blend of expertise. So they might be neuroscientists by training who went through an MBA program or an MBA candidate who has strong engineering background. Those are the kinds of cross talented people that we're really gonna need. And I think we are seeing a lot more interest from the sort of traditional business categories of contributors to the point of we need more qualified CEOs in our field, and we need more people in finance that really understand what the technology implications are. A lot of my clients really are focused on and need regulatory and reimbursement experts. There's a need for people who have organizing backgrounds. For instance, next week in DC, Paradromics has been instrumental in putting together our BCI days going to talk on Capitol Hill about export controls on brain computer interfaces so that sort of organization and lobby expertise. So I think that if you have a passion in terms of what it is you want to do and you want to apply it to the field of neurotechnology, there are so many opportunities that didn't even exist even 24 months ago. So I think we're growing quickly and it's exciting to bring new people into the field and help accelerate and propel these fascinating and really potentially hugely impactful technologies. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. What do you see as being some of the most exciting trends in this field moving forward? JoJo Platt: Well, brain computer interface is definitely one. There are some really great players in the field. BlackRock Neurotech has been the leader in the field and out of the, I think we're-- I think we're right around 40 or 40 plus humans who have been implanted with brain computer interfaces. And well over 30 of those people have BlackRock technology implanted. But we're seeing some really great newcomers with novel ideas, novel technologies. Paradromics, who I previously mentioned, is one and Synchron has been getting a lot of attention for their vascular approach to a BCI. Precision Neuroscience just closed a big round last week. And Motif Neurotech is exciting. That's a new technology out of Rice and it's a minimally invasive brain computer interface. And their first indication is major depressive disorder. Inner Cosmos is going after the same indication with their minimally invasive approach. They're both exciting to watch. And I think BCI obviously gets so much more attention because of Elon Musk's involvement in the field. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, I am excited to also continue to learn about the new developments coming up. It is a crazy time. I joke about this a lot, " what a time to be alive." But seriously, it is so exciting to see what's coming up, what's possible these days just is amazing. It's mind blowing. So thank you for sharing some of your insights with that. JoJo Platt: My pleasure. It's a fine line. You wanna talk about the potential, but you also have to be reasonable in managing expectations, especially with a patient population that needs the therapy. Promising and underdelivering is something that everybody is very focused on maintaining that integrity. There was a talk couple weeks ago where the CFO of BlackRock Neurotech said, "we like to focus on the "art of the possible" and being sure that we're not over representing what is today possible and what will may eventually become possible." And I like that. That to me, is very responsible communications. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah, absolutely. So I'm curious, how do you prioritize your continued learning and growing as a leader, as someone of influence within your industry. How do you prioritize your continued growth? JoJo Platt: I've just been so lucky to meet and engage with so many really exciting researchers, whether they're on the science or technology side. And I'm at the point where a lot of what comes in front of me, people will send to me directly and they're like, "Hey, Jojo, this just came out." Or, "this is a publication that's coming out next week. Let's see if we can amplify it." So a lot of my sort of choices are spoon fed to me. And then that sends me down a rabbit hole. I mean, there's so much to discover. Anywhere you look it's out there. So I should be more strategic about it. If you have something that you think is really important that you think the community wants to know about, I do invite people to send it to me. And if I have a chance to amplify it and call attention to it in any small way, then I'm grateful for that opportunity. It helps me see different things that I might not otherwise. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. Well, and that's a great segue into, I'd love to learn a little bit about your podcast. Is that one of the tools that you use to amplify some of those things? Or is that completely separate? JoJo Platt: It's a little bit of both, so. Okay. The podcast is scraps with a "K," S-K-R-A-P-S, and that's because a lot of scientific exploration and inspiration comes at the bar talking to your colleagues and you write your idea on the back of a scrap of piece of paper. And the other reason it's called Skraps is cuz it's "spark" spelled backwards. Anyhow, my co-host for that is Arun Sridhar and he's the former head of Discovery at Galvani Bioelectronics. So he brings the scientific rigor to the podcast and I'm the cheeky monkey who gets to be a little sillier. But we've done a little bit of everything. It is a hobby for us and we like to highlight people that have inspired us in different ways. But we also are sure to try and make it fun. So we've done everything from human composting. Shortly after Covid hit, we had the graphic artist who did the rendering of the Covid molecule, the gray ball with the spikes that is everywhere, which was a fascinating story. She literally got woken up outta bed in the middle of the night in January 2020 and they said, "We've got something, you've gotta come down here and draw this for us." So that's an interesting thing. Okay? So I'm like, "You wanna just put me on speed dial next time you get one of those calls and tell me about it?" But we've done everything. They're incredible leaders in, in science and research. On the show we did a 10 part series on psychedelics in research. That was about a year and a half ago now. So that was at the vanguard of the psychedelic research revolution. So we did a pretty comprehensive history back to early human use all the way through the obvious fifties, sixties, seventies with MK Ultra and then what's happening in research today and how some of the people who are benefiting from psychedelics and psychedelic therapy. And then now we're in the middle of a series on the vagus nerve in neurotechnology. So we just do a little bit of everything, whether it's a topic or a person or a personality. We try and keep it fun. Lindsey Dinneen: I love that. That's awesome. Okay, well, for fun, imagine someone offered you a million dollars to teach a masterclass on anything you want-- doesn't have to even be in your industry. What would you choose to teach and why? JoJo Platt: Oh, that's a good one. I don't know that I would be qualified for that. I've always thought of myself more of a jack of all trades, master of none . I'm a boy scout. I'm prepared for anything, but I'm maybe not the master at any one thing. And I think that's what I love about so many of the people that I encounter, is that they've dedicated their whole educational career, their professional career to one particular thing and they can teach the master classes and I'll sit back and watch and then post about it. Lindsey Dinneen: What a fun answer. Okay. Well, do you think you could then teach a masterclass on how to be prepared for anything because you never know what will come your way? JoJo Platt: I do have my shortcuts, like when I really get in over my head with a neuroscientist, I can start talking about engineering, and same thing if I get in over my head in an engineering conversation, I'll switch over to neuroscience or something. And if I get really flustered, I'll just say "The mitochondria is the powerhouse of the cell!" and walk away. Lindsey Dinneen: Brilliant. JoJo Platt: So yeah, you always wanna have a couple catchphrases that'll get you into or out of any conversation. Lindsey Dinneen: All right. I like it. Yeah. I need to develop a few more of those, I think. What is the one thing you wish to be remembered for after you leave this world? JoJo Platt: I hope that when I'm gone that the people that I've known and had the privilege of being associated with, either professionally or personally, oftentimes both-- that they always knew that I was there if they needed help or if there was some way that I could contribute to their success, that would be the greatest highlight of my day. I'm not the one doing the hard stuff, so I'm here to help the people who are, and if that's how I'm remembered, I wouldn't hate that. Lindsey Dinneen: Yeah. I love that. Well, final question. What's one thing that makes you smile every time you see or think about it? JoJo Platt: But one of the things that, I find wonderful, full of wonder, fill me with wonder, are really the pieces of science that you don't realize, or mathematics or engineering that are all around you all the time, and if you know where to look or how to find them, you start to see. I have a fascination with Fibonaccis. So if you start to read and learn about the Fibonacci Sequence and how it's applied and where it's found in nature, where it applies in mathematics, how it affects what we view as aesthetically pleasing-- there's "The Great Wave of Kanagawa," which is a Fibonacci Sequence. It's an old Japanese block print that is perfectly aligned with the Fibonacci spiral. So things like that. Things that blur the line between mathematics and science and beauty. I think that's pretty inspiring. That makes me smile. Lindsey Dinneen: Oh, I love that. That's beautiful. Well, I just wanted to say thank you so much for joining us. Thank you for sharing about your background and all the fascinating things that you have done that have led you to where you are right now. And who knows what you're gonna do in the future, but it is so fun to hear about it. So thank you for being so open sharing all those wonderful things. And we are honored to be making a donation on your behalf as a thank you for your time today. It's going to Polaris Project, which was Jojo's choice, and that is a non-governmental organization that works to combat and prevent sex and labor trafficking in North America. So thank you for that, Jojo. Thank you so much again for your time. We wish you just the most continued success as you work to change lives for a better world. JoJo Platt: Thank you. Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it. Lindsey Dinneen: Of course. And thank you also to our listeners for tuning in, and if you're feeling as inspired as I am right now, I'd love it if you'd share this episode with a colleague or two, and we will catch you next time.  The Leading Difference podcast is brought to you by Velentium. Velentium is a contract design and manufacturing firm specializing in the development, production and post-market support of diagnostic and therapeutic active medical devices, including implantables and wearables for neuromodulation and other class three indications. Velentium's core competencies include electrical design, mechanical design, embedded software, mobile apps, contract manufacturing, embedded cybersecurity, OT cybersecurity, systems engineering, human factors and usability, and automated test systems. Velentium works with clients worldwide from startups seeking seed funding to established Fortune 100 companies. Visit velentium.com to explore your next step in medical device development.

With the set up of how vagus signalling was deduced by careful and meticulous experiments of Linda Watkins, who built on some amazing results from Hugo Besedovsky, we turn our attention to how the hypothesis moved from tackling acute inflammatory models (e.g. Sepsis) to chronic inflammatory models and disease conditions like Rheumatoid Arthritis. We are joined by Tony Arnold, ex-CEO of SetPoint Medical and Dr. Paul-Peter Tak who pioneered the clinical trials in Rheumatoid Arthritis and Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Also, we cover some shocking moral plaigiarism from Feinstein Institute and Dr. Kevin Tracey in managing their public image. We now know that he was not the single pioneer of the transition to Arthritis and IBD trials as the news media claims or potrays him to be. It actually had many people's hand, especially Paul-Peter Tak's. SKRAPS is your podcast, where we on your behalf explores unsaid, underappreciated and sometimes, untold stories of sparks of brilliance in science, technology and innovation. Show CreditsCreated & Produced by: Arun Sridhar & JoJo PlattEditing: Arun SridharSound design: Arun Sridhar & Swaminathan ThiruGnanaSambandamSound mixing and mastering: Swaminathan ThiruGnanaSambandamSocial Media: Twitter: @PodcastSkrapsLinkedIn: SKRAPSArun's Twitter FeedJoJo's Twitter FeedYou can help us fund the production costs by donating as little as $5 or £5 or in any currency of your choice as a one time or a recurring payment HERE

There is good news coming uterinekind! If you've listened to our earlier episodes you may remember learning about the ROSE Study for endometriosis. The study is done at the Feinstein Institute with friend of the show and endo expert, Dr. Christine Metz. Today we share the exciting information from their recently published findings and stay hopeful for the future of those with endometriosis. Please consider joining the study if interested!  Happy PCOS Awareness Month! We're continuing our focus on PCOS this week with our amazing guest, the founder of the PCOS Awareness Association, Megan Stewart. Megan shares her jaw-dropping story of living with PCOS, cervical cancer, and medical gaslighting. Starting at an extremely young age, Megan's severe symptoms had her missing weeks of school and doctors questioning if her pain was even real or in her head. When medical gaslighting goes this far, you know we need better care and information on our bodies! That's why PCOS Awareness month and the PCOS Awareness Associate exist, so you can stay informed and prevent these progressive diseases from affecting your life. Lastly, we end on a high note! Maybe billionaires aren't so bad! Listen in on how this billionaire gave his fortune away for us all. Thanks for listening, learning, and being you. And join us back here every Tuesday for all things uterus, in service to you, uterinekind.

 In today's episode, we're really excited to have a special guest, Dr. Chris Czura. He is a molecular immunologist who has been studying Vagus Nerve Stimulation for the past 20 years! Chris has also participated in other early-stage companies in bioelectronic, medicine, pharmaceuticals, and wearable and off-buddy diagnostics. He served as vice president of Scientific Affairs of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, overseeing all aspects of laboratory operations, and the annual budget for construction and renovation projects. Dr. Czura coordinated strategic plan development with the President and Board of Directors and represented the research portfolio to the senior leadership of Northwell Health.In today's episode, we are going to discuss his journey through the research realm in the vagus nerve, cholinergic, anti-inflammatory pathway, and all of the amazing “eureka” moments that kind of popped up throughout his journey. Rate and review before the next episode. If you want to know more about us and what we do, go to www.healthupgradepodcast.com.Contact info:Navaz HabibEmail: podcast@healthupgraded.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DrNavazHabib/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drnavazhabib/LinkedIn: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/drnavazhabibJP ErricoLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jp-errico-097629aa Chris CzuraLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cczura/ 

Well Said has invited Dr. Christine Metz and Dr. Carmen Rodriguez to discuss the nuances behind endometriosis including current research, treatments and how patients are living with disease today. Dr. Metz is a professor at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research and Dr. Rodriguez is clinical assistant professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the Zucker SOM at Hofstra/Northwell.

Duane Peters from the Lupus Foundation of America interviews Professor Ronald van Vollenhoven from the Amsterdam University Medical Centers in the Netherlands and Dr Cynthia Aranow from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York, USA. They discuss the efforts of the DORIS international task force to agree on a single definition of remission in systemic lupus erythematosus, which they hope will ensure that clinicians, patients and researchers in the field are all working towards the same outcome. Access the article: https://lupus.bmj.com/content/8/1/e000538

This week, please join Guest Host Mercedes Carnethon and Author Brendon Neuen as they discuss the article "Sodium-Glucose Cotransporter 2 Inhibitors and Risk of Hyperkalemia in People With Type 2 Diabetes: A Meta-Analysis of Individual Participant Data from Randomized, Controlled Trials." Dr. Carolyn Lam: Welcome to Circulation on the Run, your weekly podcast summary and backstage pass to the journal and its editors. We're your co-hosts. I'm Dr. Carolyn Lam, Associate Editor from the National Heart Center and Duke National University of Singapore. Dr. Greg Hundley: And I'm Dr. Greg Hundley, Associate Editor, Director of the Pauley Heart Center at VCU Health in Richmond, Virginia. Dr. Carolyn Lam: Greg, this week's feature paper is on one of my favorite topics, SGLT2 inhibitors. And this time, looking at their association with the risk of hyperkalemia in people with type-two diabetes. Now this is something we've all been waiting to look at. It's a meta-analysis of individual participant data from randomized controlled trials, so a very important, clinically applicable discussion coming right up. But first, I'm actually going to talk to you about text messages. Dr. Greg Hundley: Wow, Carolyn. I can't wait to hear about this article. Dr. Carolyn Lam: Well, specifically the TEXTMEDS randomized clinical trial, which is our first paper today. It is a trial that examined the effectiveness of text-message delivered cardiac education and support on medication adherence following an acute coronary syndrome. Dr. Carolyn Lam: This is from Dr. Clara Chow from University of Sydney and her colleagues, who performed a single blind multi-center randomized controlled trial of post-ACS patients across 18 rural and urban centers and three time zones in Australia. The control group received usual care, and the intervention group additionally received multiple motivational and supportive weekly text messages on medications, and healthy lifestyle, with the opportunity for two-way communication. Dr. Greg Hundley: Wow, Carolyn. So text messaging to facilitate medication adherence. I can't wait to hear. So what did they find? Dr. Carolyn Lam: I think the design, it's such a neat study. However, the study found no significant impact on the primary outcome of medication adherence at six and 12 months, nor on LDL cholesterol or blood pressure. Dr. Carolyn Lam: However, intervention participants were more likely to achieve a normal body mass index and to eat guideline-recommended servings of fruit and vegetables. Qualitative analysis demonstrated a high level of acceptability, utility in being a unified source of information, high program engagement, and emotional support, especially during times of uncertainty. Dr. Greg Hundley: Interesting, Carolyn. Sounds like an impact on diet, so what did we learn from this study? Dr. Carolyn Lam: Well, customized and personalized text message-based prevention programs are indeed a scalable and low-cost means of delivering consistent education and support to patients following hospitalization for ACS. So this study shows it's feasible. The lack of impact, however, on medical adherence, though with better adherence to healthy lifestyle practices, suggests that maybe external factors, such as cost, may strongly influence medical adherence. These need to be addressed, in addition to education programs, to improve medical adherence. But all of this is discussed in a beautiful editorial entitled, "Opportunities and Challenges of Mobile Health Tools to Promote Health Behaviors" by Drs. Sharma and Avram. Dr. Greg Hundley: Very nice. Carolyn, what a great summary. Well, my paper comes to us from Professor Mario Delmar from New York University School of Medicine, and Carolyn, exercise training as well as catecholaminergic stimulation increases the incidence of arrhythmic events in patients affected with arrhythmogenic right ventricular cardiomyopathy or ARVC, and this correlates with plakophilin-2 mutations. Now, Carolyn, separate data show that reduced abundance of plakophilin-2 leads to dysregulation of intracellular calcium homeostasis, and Carolyn, these authors studied the relation between exercise and or catecholaminergic stimulation, intracellular calcium homeostasis, and arrhythmogenesis in plakophilin-2 deficient murine hearts. Dr. Carolyn Lam: Ooh. So what were the effects? Dr. Greg Hundley: Right, Carolyn. For training, the mice underwent 75 minutes of treadmill running once per day, five days each week, for six weeks. And the authors observed that exercise disproportionately affected calcium intracellular homeostasis in plakifilin-2 deficient hearts, in a manner facilitated by stimulation of intracellular, beta-adrenergic receptors or hyper-phosphorylation of phospholamban. Dr. Greg Hundley: Now these cellular changes created a pro-arrhythmogenic state that can be mitigated by plakophilin receptor blockade. Additionally, Carolyn, these authors' data unveiled an arrhythmogenic mechanism for exercise-induced or catecholaminergic life-threatening arrhythmias in the setting of a deficit in plakophilin-2. They suggest that membrane-permeable beta blockers are potentially more efficient for ARVC patients. Dr. Greg Hundley: And also they highlight the potential for ryanodine-receptor channel blockers as treatment for the control of heart rhythm in this population at risk, and propose that plakophilin dependent and phospholamban-dependent, ARVC-related arrhythmias have a common mechanism. Dr. Carolyn Lam: Wow, thanks again, Greg. That was really, really a nice explanation. Well, for this next original paper, it looks at the question of the association between major bleeding and non-major clinically relevant bleeding, with subsequent mortality in hospitalized patients, and authors did this by exploring this relationship in the MAGELLAN and MARINER trials of extended thrombo-prophylaxis in hospitalized medical patients. Dr. Greg Hundley: Wow. Carolyn. I can't quite remember, and maybe for our listeners, remind us of the design of the MAGELLAN and the MARINER trials. Dr. Carolyn Lam: These trials evaluated, whether rivaroxaban compared with enoxaparin or placebo, could prevent venous thromboembolism without increased bleeding. The authors, led by Dr. Spyropoulos from the Feinstein Institute of Medical Research in New York, hypothesized that patients with major bleeding, but not those with non-major clinically relevant bleeding, would be at an increased risk of all-cause mortality. So Greg, would you like to guess what they found? Dr. Greg Hundley: Oh, Carolyn, you've put me on the spot here. I'm not sure. Dr. Carolyn Lam: Maybe just, did the authors get it right or wrong? Just.... Dr. Greg Hundley: I'm saying, they got it right. Dr. Carolyn Lam: Oh, always clever. They found that compared to patients with no bleeding, the risk of all-cause mortality for patient with non-major clinically relevant bleeding was not increased in MARINER, but was increased in MAGELLAN. Major bleeding, however, was associated with a higher incidence of all-cause mortality in both studies, while trivial bleeding was not associated with mortality in either study. These results really inform the risk benefit calculus of extended thromboprophylaxis in medically ill patients. Dr. Greg Hundley: Wow. Carolyn, great presentation. We've got some other articles in this issue. And let me tell you about two that I have. First is a Research Letter from Professor Frankel entitled "Trends in Opioid Use after Cardiac-Implantable Electronic Device Procedures in the United States, between the years of 2004 and 2020." And Tracy Hampton, from the National Association of Science Writers, presents some very recent news in the world of cardiology. Dr. Carolyn Lam: Nice. Well, there's an exchange of letters as well between Drs. Yang and Nagareddy regarding the article "Retention of NLP3 Inflammasome-Primed Neutrophils in the Bone Marrow is Essential for Myocardial Infarction-Induced Granulopoiesis." And finally, in the Editor's Page, a nice piece from Drs. Joe Hill, Darren McGuire, and James de Lemos on “Circulation: Best Papers, 2021.” Gosh, really, really nice issue. Now let's go on, though, to the feature discussion, yeah? Dr. Greg Hundley: You bet. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: Welcome to this episode of Circulation on the Run podcast. My name is Mercedes Carnethon, one of the associate editors, and I'm a professor of preventive medicine at the Northwestern University Feinberg school of Medicine. I'm really excited today to have a guest with us. Dr. Brendon Neuen, who has shared with us his really outstanding research on SGLT2 inhibitors and the risk of hyperkalemia in people with type-two diabetes, a meta-analysis. So welcome to our podcast today, Brendon. Dr. Brendon Neuen: Thanks very much for having me Mercedes. It's a real pleasure to be here. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: Well, thank you for joining us. We're really pleased that you chose Circulation to share with us your really important findings. Can you tell us a little bit about the rationale for your study and how you carried out your work? Dr. Brendon Neuen: Yeah, absolutely. So we know that in people with diabetes and people with CKD, hyperkalemia is a common occurrence, and it's a problem for two reasons as you'd be aware. Firstly, it is associated with cardiac dysrhythmias and secondly, perhaps at least as importantly, it limits the optimal use of treatments that reduce kidney disease progression and heart failure events. So that is, agents that block the renin angiotensin aldosterone system. Dr. Brendon Neuen: We now know, and we've got robust evidence from large outcome trials, that SGLT2 inhibitors reduce the risk of heart failure and kidney disease progression in people with and without diabetes, but we haven't really, up and until now, systematically evaluated their effect on potassium outcomes, particularly hyperkalemia. And so we set out to assess whether these agents affect serum potassium levels and alter the risk of hyperkalemia as well as hypokalemia. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: Thank you. That sounds like a really excellent and well needed study, given how much we've heard within the field about the benefits of SGLT2 inhibitors. It's nice to see a careful evaluation of what some of the considerations are in their use. So tell us a little bit about how you carried out this study and what you ultimately found. Dr. Brendon Neuen: What we did was, we identified clinical trials that enrolled people with type two diabetes at high cardiovascular risk or with chronic kidney disease. And what we did is, we approached the investigators of each of these trials and asked them to collaborate on a large meta-analysis using individual participant data. Dr. Brendon Neuen: What that allowed us to do was, then, standardize across all of the trials of different outcome definitions, and allowed us to assess the effective SGLT2 inhibitors on a primary outcome of time to first serum potassium greater than or equal to six, defined as serious hyperkalemia, as well as hypokalemia, investigator-reported hyperkalemia events, and a range of other potassium-related outcomes in a broad population, including people with chronic kidney disease, people with heart failure, and people using different concomitant medications, such as diuretics and MRAs in the background. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: So thank you, Brendon, for the explanation of the use of the meta-analytic design and the entry criteria of type-two diabetes and chronic kidney disease. Can you tell us, what were the outcomes across these studies? Dr. Brendon Neuen: The primary outcome we evaluated was time to first serious hyperkalemia, defined as a serum potassium greater than or equal to six, as well as a range of other potassium-related outcomes, including investigator reported hyperkalemia, change in potassium over time, as well as hypokalemia, defined as a serum potassium less than 3.5. Dr. Brendon Neuen: What we found was that overall SGLT2 inhibitors reduce the risk of serious hyperkalemia by about 16%. And that effect was consistent across the agents within the class, and across different subpopulations and trials. This effect was supported by a 20% risk reduction in investigator-reported hyperemia events and importantly, there was no difference in risk of hypokalemia, that is a serum potassium less than 3.5, between SGLT2-treated and placebo-treated participants. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: Thank you for that summary. You know, one of the very impressive aspects of this clinical trial is certainly the size and the number of participants. Brendon, I was really struck by your description of the consistency of findings across the subgroups. And in particular, when I reviewed the findings in the paper, I noticed that serious hyperkalemia was higher in those with poorer kidney function. Did you find that surprising? Dr. Brendon Neuen: From clinical practice, we know that one of the major determinants of hyperkalemia risk is kidney function. It's a major problem that we run into in people with more advanced CKD. And what that means is that for people with more advanced chronic kidney disease, who are at high risk of hyperkalemia, the absolute benefits of SGLT2 inhibition on hyperkalemia risk are likely greater in these individuals, because they're at high risk of this outcome. Dr. Brendon Neuen: Other patients who might be at increased risk of hyperkalemia include those with heart failure or those taking mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists at baseline. And so you'd expect that if the relative effects are consistent across many subgroups, then the absolute risk reductions are likely to be larger in people taking MRAs or people with more advanced CKD. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: Thank you so much for summarizing the importance of these findings and what they mean for our clinical audience. It's wonderful to have this sort of information from a meta-analysis because it allows us large sample sizes, where we can do things like you describe, such as describing subgroup effects. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: It also presents us with very robust evidence that can be taken into clinical practice for our clinical audience to use. Based on what you found, how do you anticipate that these findings can be used by our clinicians? Dr. Brendon Neuen: Well, thanks, Mercedes. I think the reduction in risk of hyperkalemia that is observed in these data suggests that SGLT2 inhibitors might enable better use of other proven therapies that reduce cardio-renal risk in people with chronic kidney disease and people with heart failure. We all know that in treating these high risk patients, hyperkalemia is a problem. And by reducing the risk of hyperkalemia with SGLT2 inhibitors, it might enable better use of renin angiotensin system blockade and mineralocorticoid receptor antagonists in people with chronic kidney disease and heart failure. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: So you've provided a really excellent overall summary of the impact of these finding for clinical practice and the possible next steps. I wanted to end on a note of asking you what surprised you about these findings that might lead to further future investigations. Dr. Brendon Neuen: Thanks, Mercedes. I think that's a really interesting question. What was somewhat surprising, but also reassuring, was the consistency of the treatment effect on hyperkalemia, regardless of how we defined it, whether that was defined based on investigator-reported hyperkalemia events or central laboratory-measured serum, potassium levels, the treatment effect was very consistent. And I think that gives us some confidence about the robustness of these findings and their application to clinical practice. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: Well, thank you so much, Brendon. I have really enjoyed this discussion with you today and this really important paper that is describing an important safety outcome for SGLT2 inhibitors in patients with type two diabetes. And again, I really want to thank you for sharing your excellent work with us here at Circulation. I anticipate that our readership, when they leave this podcast and pick up their journals, will be thrilled to read about all of the details about the excellent work that you and your team have carried out. So thank you very much for joining us today. Dr. Brendon Neuen: Thanks very much for having me, Mercedes. It was a real pleasure. Dr. Mercedes Carnethon: Thank you, and thank you again to our audience for joining us for this episode of Circulation on the Run. Speaker 5: This program is copyright of the American Heart Association, 2022. The opinions expressed by speakers in this podcast are their own and not necessarily those of the editors or of the American Heart Association. For more, please visit ahajournals.org.

JoJo started her career within accounting and communications before going on to find her current niche of Neurotechnology and Bioelectronic Medicine, where she has helped establish strategic partnerships and build teams in this emerging field through her own company Platt & Associates and The Feinstein Institute. Over the years she has built a strong network of people in neuroscience, biology, engineering, data science, imaging and many more allowing her to become a thought leader within this space and recently go on to co-create a podcast, Skrapz, where she explores the stories of science and innovation of other leaders in the field. On this episode she discusses the use of psychedelics for therapy and neural research, how she went from a career in accounting, communications, real estate and now in the Neurotech and Bioelectronics space, why she continues to be active on social media and the opportunities this has brought her way, what she has learn from interviewing thought leaders on her podcast, areas in the industry considered to be contentious, how pharmaceutical companies are responding to bioelectronic medicine and her joy for exploring new subjects and travel. Get in touch with JoJo Platt - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jojoplatt/ or visit her company website http://theplattassociates.com/ and her podcast page https://skrapspodcast.com/ Get in touch with Karandeep Badwal - https://www.linkedin.com/in/karandeepbadwal/ Follow Karandeep on YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/c/QRAMedical Subscribe to the Podcast

Well Said has invited Dr. Karina Davidson, Senior Vice President of Research at Northwell Health, Professor of Behavioral Medicine at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and head of the Center for Personalized Health at the Feinstein Institute to discuss personalized medicine, unique health strategies and plans created on an individual basis.

This episode is a conversation with Professor Keith Morton of the Public and Community Service Department about his recent book “Getting Out: Youth Gangs, Violence, and Positive Change” published in 2019 by University of Massachusetts Press.  The book recounts Dr. Morton's experience with an innovative youth program in the Smith Hill neighborhood of Providence Rhode Island aimed at reducing so called “gang violence” in the community.  Morton co-lead the program between 2007 and 2015 along with staff of Providence's Institute for the Study and Practice of Nonviolence.  The book not only recounts Keith's experiences but offers a profound reflection on how we conceptualize the violence of urban youth, the nature of youth gangs, and how a “youth positive” approach can support youth survival and growth despite contact with gang violence.   Professor Morton has been Associate Director and Director of the Feinstein Institute for Public Service at Providence College.  He currently chairs the department of Public and Community Service Studies.  Morton is largely responsible for development of the Feinstein Institute's ties with the Smith Hill neighborhood which adjoins the Providence College campus forging a unique and productive campus- community collaboration that continues to today.  Along with his recent book, Keith has published extensively on service-learning pedagogy, campus-community relations, and non-violence.  He has been recognized with many awards over the course of his career including the National Society for Experiential Education Distinguished Scholar Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016and, quite relevant to today's conversation, the Smith Hill MVP Award of the Smith Hill Community Development Corporation in 2017. 

Well Said has invited Dr. Safiya Richardson, Co-Chair of the Department of Medicine’s Racial Equity Task Force and an Assistant Professor at the Institute of Health Innovations and Outcomes Research at the Feinstein Institute and Zucker School of Medicine to discuss and celebrate the integral role that Black Americans have played in our nation’s history as we take a look at the history of medical racism in the United States.

Dr. Preetesh Jain, Assistant Professor, Department of Lymphoma/Myeloma, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, discusses new CALQUENCE® (acalabrutinib) data presented at ASH 2020 demonstrating long-term efficacy and tolerability at three years for patients with mantle cell lymphoma (MCL). Preetesh Jain MBBS, MD, DM, PhD is an Asst. Prof. in the Department of lymphoma and myeloma at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Ctr., Houston, TX USA. Dr. Jain has received his medical degree from India and completed at 3 year residency and 3 year medical oncology fellowship at Tata Memorial Hospital in Mumbai India. Dr. Jain moved to US in 2008, completed his PhD in molecular medicine at Feinstein Institute for medical research on IL-17 in CLL micro-environment. He then completed a 2 year clinical fellowship and leukemia Department at University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. Then he repeated a 3 year residency in internal medicine at University of Texas Houston, then he repeated a three-year medical oncology fellowship in UT M.D. Anderson Cancer Center. He is focused on working in the field of Mantle cell lymphoma, focusing on high risk MCL, and developing newer clinical trials and translational research studies.

Dr. John Boockvar is a neurosurgeon and Vice Chair of the Department of Neurosurgery at Lenox Hill Hospital in NY, which is featured in a Netflix-original docuseries called “Lenox Hill” (released June 2020). He is also a professor of neurosurgery and otolaryngology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. He has an extensive list of awards, lectures, papers, and research accomplishments. Currently, he is a co-principal investigator of ongoing clinical trials testing a new delivery method of targeted drug treatment for common types of brain cancer. Prior to joining the Northwell in 2014, Dr. Boockvar was a professor of neurosurgery and neuroscience, the co-director of the brain and spine tumor program at the Weill Cornell Medical College, and a neurosurgeon at New York Presbyterian Hospital. In 2014, the Feinstein Institute opened a research center, of which Dr. Boockvar is the co-director. In this role, he heads the neuro-oncology research program. The Feinstein Institute focuses on helping startup companies test ideas to treat or diagnose brain tumors. He has also conducted basic research to study cancer stem cells in the context of brain tumors, as well as methods using neural stem cells to treat brain disorders. Dr. Boockvar is passionately committed to offering patients proven and better therapy. Episode produced by: Emily Hagen, Rasa Valiauga www.medicuspodcast.com | medicuspodcast@gmail.com | Donate: http://bit.ly/MedicusDonate

Robert Barrosa, Senior Director of Sales, Business Development & Marketing for Electrify America gives us the details on their simplified charging station payment system: Plug & Charge. We also talk to Theodoros Zanos, Head of the Neural & Data Science Lab at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, who is researching an AI tool for vital-sign monitoring of hospital patients. Plus, Yezin Al-Qaysi, the CEO of Canadian company VYZR Technologies, discusses their new hazmat helmet, which provides full head and chest coverage to protect healthcare workers. Isabel Wang, co-founder of the Bridging Tech Charitable Fund, shares their mission to provide equitable access to education for those studying throughout the pandemic.    Find out more information from our guests here: bridgingtech.org vyzrtech.com feinstein.northwell.edu electrifyamerica.com You can also find both AmberMac and Michael B on Twitter.

Catch up on the Providence College Summer Anti-Racism Series on the Providence College Podcast.   Kat Kerwin of the Providence City Council and Eugene Monteiro, executive director of the Mt. Hope Neighborhood Association and investigator for the Providence External Review Authority discussed policing, race, and the opportunity for change during their Anti-Racism Summer Series presentation in August. Kerwin and Monteiro  focused on the intersections of policing and race in our local community of Providence and across the nation. Carlene Fonseca of the Feinstein Institute for Public Service and Dr. Keith Morton, professor of public and community service studies, served as moderators.Subscribe to the Providence College Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Play, and YouTube.  Visit Providence College on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, Snapchat, and LinkedIn.  

Dr. Stavros Zanos is an Assistant Professor at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. In his Translational Neurophysiology lab, they develop methods and techniques to interface with, stimulate and record the vagus nerve to understand how it controls physiological functions, with the end goal of developing therapies for diseases. In this episode, Dr. Stavros Zanos discusses his recent publication regarding anodal blocking in the vagus nerve.    Top three takeaways: The selectivity capability between afferent and efferent fibers will be used to create better therapies using vagus nerve stimulation.  The vagotomy technique proved to be useful when assessing the characteristics of the fibers as afferent or efferent.   A major challenge of this project was recording the effects of the vagus nerve stimulation due to their complexity.    [0:00] Ladan introduces the episode and the guest, Dr. Stavros Zanos.    [2:10] Dr. Zanos tells how his experiences led him to the Feinstein Institute.    [4:10] His focus has been on engineering implants, understanding the physiological effects of bioelectronic therapies, and testing animal models to be able to create chronic implants for testing therapies.   [7:00] The anodal block technique used in their publication is a way of biasing the activation of afferent and efferent fibers to effectively treat different diseases.   [9:30] At the lowest intensity of stimuli, the larger fibers get engaged first; as you increase the intensity, smaller fibers are able to be engaged.    [13:30] Judging by the physiological changes that occurred during a vagotomy, afferent and efferent fibers are indexed.    [16:00] Dr. Zanos cautions researchers to always evaluate the translatability of their devices from animals to humans.    [18:00] Another major focus of the lab is to develop chronic implants in animals, understand how to make them last longer, and then judge how the interface changes over time.    [20:30] By increasing the intensity of stimulation, there is a greater amount of potentials going in one direction and blockage of the other potentials.   [24:10]  The cycle of innovation when it comes to medical devices ranges between five to 10 years.   

HEALTHY LIFESTYLE with Host Lori Anne Casdia with Guests Dr. Wasif Saif is Deputy Physician-in-Chief and Director of Medical Oncology at Northwell Health Cancer Institute, a Professor of Medical Oncology at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and a Professor at the Center for Health Innovations and Outcomes Research of The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research; and Dr. Benjamin Schwartz named the Regional Director of Obstetrics & Gynecology for the Northwell Heath Eastern Region as well as the Chairman of the Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology at Northwell Health's Southside Hospital.A lively discussion with Dr. Saif of Advances in treatment of Pancreatic Cancer, Screenings of Pancreatic Cancer in High-Risk Patients and Genetic Mutations and Treatment.A wonderful converstion with Dr. Schwartz on how we manage to care for OB/GYN patients during COVID. What care will look like after COVID. A beautiful not to miss warming story about a baby born by C Section while mom was on a ventilator and their new Urban Zen program designed by Donna Karen. www.Northwell.edu Quotes: "We treat cancer patients, Not cancer." "It takes a village to get to the next level of success. Combining science and learning from our patients."Dr. Saif's personal philosophy "When dealing with a patient with cancer ...Do the right thing. Don't look at the outcome""The entire staff was there as the mom that was on a ventilator left the hospital with her newborn son..."Please email us at HealthyLifestylewithLA@gmail.com and follow us on social media @healthylifestylewithLAOur Goal at Healthy Lifestyle is to inspire, educate and empower you to fulfilling a healthy, emotional, spiritual and physical life, so you can feel empowered to live the life you have always wanted and dreamed. We are here to lift each other up with encouragement and positivity. To serve one another.ABOUT Lori Anne De Iulio CasdiaBusiness & Marketing Strategist, Law of Attraction Practitioner & Master Mindset MentorFounder of LDC StrategiesFounder of Strategies By DesignFounder of Monarch LuminariesFounder of Strategies for Success ProgramMotivational Speaker/Inspirational SpeakerEmcee/ModeratorMaster Mindset MentorLaw of Attraction PractitionerHost of HEALTHY LIFESTYLE (LI News Radio/I Heart Radio/InTune/Sound Cloud/YouTube)Publisher/Owner of Port Lifestyle MagazineCo-host For Podcast Out-Loud Out-FrontPerformer/VocalistColumnist for LIBNCertified Herbalist & AromatherapistAwarded the 50 Top Most Influential Women in 2018Lori Anne’s personal philosophy is “We are all here to serve others and lift each other up. Be the best you because everybody else is taken.”Links Website: LDCStrategies.comLDC Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/LDCStrategies/Strategies By Design Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Strategiesby...Healthy Lifestyle with Lori Anne Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HealThyLifes...Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/healthy_lif...You can also Listen to Healthy Lifestyle with Lori Anne on your favorite app: I Heart Media | iTunes (Apple Podcasts) | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Spreaker | Sound Cloud | TuneIn | YouTube

Dr. Kevin Tracey is the president and CEO of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. He is very well-known and well-cited for his seminal research within the field of neuromodulation, particularly as it relates to the immune response. In this episode, he discusses the current progress being made in the field of bioelectronic medicine, as well as how it compares to pharmaceutical treatments. Top three takeaways: The power in bioelectronic medicine is in the fact that rather than sending out a drug into the body and hoping it affects the target area, the target is identified and the device is designed and manufactured around it. Since testing in mice is an important precursor to human clinical trials, the field of bioelectronic medicine has been greatly slowed down by the lack of available tools for device implantation in mice. The field of bioelectronic medicine is in its early stages with regard to clinical testing; as such, its efficacy relative to pharmaceutical approaches is not yet fully understood. [0:00] Ladan introduces the episode and the guest, Dr. Kevin Tracey [2:00] Tracey discusses his background in research in bioelectronic medicine and neuromodulation in the immune system [6:00] What’s so powerful about bioelectronic medicine is that it’s scalable, replicable, and generates testable hypotheses. The device is designed around the target. [9:00] Side effects are the main limiting factor for drugs. With devices, the side effects are easier to understand and manage since a specific nerve and region are targeted, as opposed to drugs, which have a systemic effect. [12:30] Tracey co-founded SetPoint Medical with Dr. Shaw Warren, and it was founded to establish a mechanism to test the idea of harnessing the inflammatory reflex in human clinical trials [16:45] When stimulating the vagus nerve, several fibers are stimulated. Despite this, controlling the amount of current delivered through stimulation can control which organs (such as the heart or spleen) are affected. [20:30] The field of bioelectronic medicine has been slowed down by the absence of available tools that can be used for mice [23:45] Bioelectronic medicine is still in its early stages and is new in terms of clinical testing and adoption; at this point, we don’t fully know its efficacy relative to pharmaceuticals [27:00] One study found that patients who have not responded to drugs or to vagus nerve stimulation did respond when a combination of the two was used [31:00] The advantage of targeting close to the organ is more localized stimulation, but the disadvantage is that some of these organs are difficult to access [34:00] The mission of the Feinstein Institute for Bioelectronic Medicine is to produce the necessary knowledge in bioelectronic medicine to cure disease [37:00] The new labs the Feinstein Institute is building are investigating the neural control of drug targets, neural information processing, sensory and motor signals to nerves, and previously unrecognized neurons that control aspects of the immune response

Dr. Naomi I. Maria beautifully recounts her childhood experiences and how this shaped her to embrace her truth. She is a passionate and dedicated Immunologist from the small Dutch Caribbean island of Curaçao. Dr. Naomi I. Maria’s academic training and research experience has provided her with a broad background in multiple biological disciplines including molecular biology, pharmacology, immunology and rheumatology, with specific training in clinical autoimmunity. She completed her B.Sc. and Masters of Science in the Netherlands. Currently, Naomi is a Postdoctoral Research Associate at The Feinstein Institute in New York City. You can find Dr. Naomi I. Maria's work here: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomi-maria-ph-d-69206761/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/omhz/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/dr_Omhz You can find Naomi Haile's work here: Website: www.naomihaile.com Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/naomiahaile/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/naomihail/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/naomiathaile

JoJo Platt is the founder of Behind the Bench, a Neurotech News outlet, as well as a Platt & Associates where she consulted for places like Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. In this episode, she discusses how she developed her network and formed Behind the Bench, as well as recruiting in the field of bioelectronic medicine and what it takes to get hired. Top three takeaways: Platt’s mission is to help promote and coalesce the field of bioelectronic medicine within the greater field of neurotechnology eventually led her to gain a large network, and to create Behind the Bench as a platform to publish research information and get to know researchers better Getting recruited for a desired job is mostly about your skill set and abilities, rather than how well known you are or how much you post on Twitter If you want a position in a lab, it is best to personally reach out to the P.I., but make sure that you are a match for the job based on your skill set [0:00] Ladan introduces the episode and the guest, JoJo Platt [0:30] Platt discusses her background and new project involving Behind the Bench [4:00] Platt discusses her role as a strategic development consultant at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research as well as some of her achievements [6:30] Platt discusses recruiting neurotech consulting clients and learning important names in the field of bioelectronic medicine [9:00] Having a good set of skills is more important than writing a lot or being well-known in the field [10:30] If you want a research position, reach out to P.I. personally, but also make sure that you are truly a fit for the position based on your skills and experiences [13:00] Getting the right person and the right fit takes work, but it pays off in the end  

Postpartum depression or PPD is a common complication of childbearing that impacts more than a million women per year. Like so many mental health conditions, PPD can be hard to spot and is clouded by a sense of shame and stigma that keeps women from seeking the support they need. It’s why healthcare providers and educators like our guests are working to improve access to care, and to develop new treatments for PPD. Our experts for this episode include: Kristina Deligiannidis, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Obstetrics & Gynecology at Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell, Associate Professor and Director of Women’s Behavioral Health at Zucker Hillside Hospital, and Associate Professor at the Center for Psychiatric Neuroscience at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research; and Mary Banahan, MS, PA-C, Assistant Professor, Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies and advocate for the Postpartum Resource Center of NY.

Over the past decade, genetic testing has moved beyond the setting of the research laboratory and is routinely offered in specialized medical genetics clinics and physician offices to identify the genetic cause of disease and predisposition to a genetic condition. There are also direct to consumer DNA testing kits that can reveal information regarding ancestry, risk to specific diseases, and even paternity. How is genetic testing using these commercial genetic kits different from genetic testing done at the clinic or doctor’s office? How useful are the results? We’ll discuss these issues and more on our program with guest expert: Dorota Gruber, DHSc, MS, assistant professor of pediatrics and cardiology, Zucker School of Medicine, assistant chief of pediatric cardiogenomics, Cohen Children’s Medical Center, and assistant investigator, pediatric human genetics at the Robert S. Boas Center for Genomics and Human Genetics at the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Resources: Medical Genetics and Human Genomics, Northwell Health 516-918-4800 Center for Cancer Prevention and Wellness, Northwell Health 516-918-4800 Cardiogenomics Program – Pediatrics 516-918-4800; Adults 516-562-4100 or email cardiogenomics@northwell.edu National Society of Genetic Counseling – to find GC near you https://www.nsgc.org/ Genetic Alliance National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD) https://rarediseases.org/organizations/genetic-alliance/ Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008-National Human Genome Research Institute https://www.genome.gov/24519851/genetic-information-nondiscrimination-act-of-2008 Genetics Home Reference-NIH U.S. National Library of Medicine https://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/ GeneReviews® – NCBI Bookshelf https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK1116/

Dr Carolyn Lam:                Welcome to Circulation on the Run, your weekly podcast summary and backstage pass to the journal and its editors. I'm Dr Carolyn Lam, associate editor from the National Heart Center and Duke National University of Singapore.                                                 FDG-PET CT was recently introduced as a new tool for the diagnosis of prosthetic valve endocarditis. However, can we improve on its diagnostic performance? Well, to learn more you have to listen to the upcoming featured discussion, right after these summaries.                                                 Our first original paper this week describes a potential novel therapy for hypertension. In this study from first author Dr Hu, corresponding author Dr Soong, from Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine National University of Singapore, authors showed that galectin-1 is a key regulator for proteasomal degradation of CaV 1.2 channels. L-type CaV 1.2 channels are known to play crucial roles in the regulation of blood pressure. In a series of elegant in vitro and in vivo experiments, the authors showed that galectin-1 promotes CaV 1.2 degradation by replacing CaV-beta and thereby, exposing specific glycines for polyubiquitination. This mechanistic understanding provided the basis for targeting CaV 1.2 galectin-1 interaction and demonstrated the modulatory role that galectin plays in regulating blood pressure. The study, therefore, offers a potential novel approach for the therapeutic management of hypertension.                                                 Direct oral anticoagulants or DOACs, are surpassing warfarin as the anticoagulant of choice for stroke prevention in non-valvular atrial fibrillation. However, DOACs outcomes in elective peri-procedural settings have not been well elucidated and remain a source of concern for clinicians.                                                 The next paper in today's issue was a meta-analysis designed to evaluate the peri-procedural safety and ethicacy of DOACs versus warfarin. For author Dr Nazha, corresponding author Dr Spyropoulos, from the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Northwell Health at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York, reviewed the literature for data from phase three randomized controlled trials comparing DOACs with warfarin in the peri-procedural period among patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation. Sub study from four trials were included namely RE-LY, ROCKET-AF, ARISTOTLE, and ENGAGE-AF. The short-term safety and ethicacy of DOACs and warfarin were not different in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation peri-procedurally. Under an uninterrupted anticoagulation strategy, DOACs were associated with a 38% lower risk of major bleeds compared to warfarin.                                                 The next paper presents results from the Sarcomeric Human Cardiomyopathy Registry or SHARE, which combined longitudinal data sets curated by eight international hypertrophic cardiomyopathy specialty centers to provide a better understanding of the factors that contribute to heterogeneous outcomes in lifetime disease burden in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. First and corresponding author Dr Ho from Brigham and Women's Hospital and colleagues analyzed longitudinal clinical information on 4,591 patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. By examining the data set spanning more than 24,000 patient-years, the mortality of patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was shown to be 3-fold higher than the general population at similar ages. The lifetime cumulative morbidity of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy was considerable, particularly for patients diagnosed before age 40 years and patients with sarcomere mutations. Atrial fibrillation and heart failure were the dominant components of disease burden. Thus, young age of diagnosis and the presence of sarcomere mutations are powerful predictors of adverse outcomes in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. These findings highlight the need for close surveillance throughout life and the need to develop disease-modifying therapies.                                                 The final original paper this week provides molecular insights into atherosclerosis and it shows that defective base excision repair of oxidative DNA damage in vascular smooth muscle cells promotes atherosclerosis. Now, we know that atherosclerotic blocks demonstrate extensive accumulation of oxidative DNA damage, predominantly as 8-oxoguanine lesions. In today's paper, first author Dr Shah, corresponding author Dr Bennett from University of Cambridge and colleagues studied levels of 8-oxoguanine and its regulatory enzymes in human atherosclerosis. They found that human plaque vascular smooth muscle cells showed defective nuclear 8-oxoguanine repair, associated with reduced acetylation of the base excision repair enzyme 8-oxoguanine-DNA-glycosylase-1. Furthermore, correcting the base excision repair defect in vascular smooth muscle cells alone markedly reduced plaque formation, thus indicating that endogenous levels of oxidative DNA damage in vascular smooth muscle cells promoted plaque development.                                                 And that brings us to the end of this week's summaries. Now for our feature discussion.                                                 Prosthetic valve endocarditis is a life-threatening complication. However, making a timely diagnosis of prosthetic valve endocarditis before the occurrence of severe complications is really difficult. Now, FDG-PET CT has recently been introduced as a new tool for the diagnosis of prosthetic valve endocarditis. However, previous studies reported only modest diagnostic accuracy and may have been hampered by confounders. But today's study, our feature study in Circulation, addresses this issue. We have none other than the corresponding author, Dr Ricardo Budde from Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and our dear associate editor, Dr Victoria Delgado, who is in Leiden University Medical Center, also in the Netherlands.                                                 So please tell us, how does your study help us address this issue of the accuracy of FDG-PET CT Dr Ricardo Budde:           What we actually did is that of course endocarditis is a relatively rare disease, so we had six hospitals in the Netherlands that collaborated on this study and in each of the hospitals we searched for PET CT scans that were performed in patients with a prosthetic heart valve, either because they were suspected of having endocarditis, or if they were meant for other purposes, for example oncological follow-up. Then we grouped all those CT scans together, interpreted the PET CTs anew by dedicated interpreters, and then compared the findings with the actual diagnosis in the patient, which of course is always difficult in endocarditis because to make the diagnosis is difficult. So, also, one year follow-up period was included in that to be absolutely certain whether the patient had endocarditis or not. By taking this whole cohort of patients, we were able to determine the diagnostic accuracy of PET CT, as well as by using a logistics model, identify confounders which influence the diagnostic accuracy of PET CT.                                                 I think the study that we did addresses several important aspects and the way it helps physicians in actually interpreting and implementing PET CT to diagnose endocarditis is two-fold. First of all, we identified confounders that have to be taken into account when interpreting and using the PET CT. For instance, low inflammatory activity at the time of imaging and the use of surgical adhesive during a prosthetic heart valve implantation are confounders which should be taken into account when interpreting the PET CT. Furthermore, the guidelines have always insisted on not to use or use it very cautiously PET CT within the first three months after prosthetic heart valve implantation. However, we showed that actually this period after implantation does not necessarily have to be taken into account as also a good diagnostic accuracy can be obtained within the first three months after implantation. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Ricardo, that's wonderfully put. I don't do a CT, PET CT, routinely. In fact, I am echocardiologist and it used to be that infective endocarditis was diagnosed with echo. So Victoria, tell us, how does echo stand now with this information? Dr Victoria Delgado:        That's a very good question but I think the guidelines set a very clear figure of how the diagnostic workup of patients with prosthetic valve endocarditis should be performed. An echocardiography is the first imaging technique. The point is that transthoracic echocardiography in patients with suspicion of prosthetic valve endocarditis is very challenging. In terms of ideal, echocardiography is probably the best imaging technique to do first to evaluate whether it is endocarditis or not. It's difficult, we have to take into account that for a specific prosthetic valve, particularly mechanical, the shadowing can make that we don't see the [inaudible 00:10:22] and sometimes it's difficult, particularly in the early phase immediately after implantation, all the inflammation can be confounder for presence of endocarditis. In those cases, I think that this study provides additional and important data highlighting which are the confounders when you use PET CT to evaluate depressions of endocarditis. I think that, when you take into account those confounders, the accuracy of this technique is very good in order to make or help in the diagnosis of these patients. So, echocardiography, I think that will remain as our first imaging technique to rule out [inaudible 00:11:10] we can see but in those cases where the diagnosis is not confirm or rule out with transthoracic and transesophageal echocardiography this study provides additional data and important data showing that PET CT is a valuable complementary imaging diagnostic test for these patients. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Ricardo, would you agree with that because I think your study also emphasized that perhaps FDG-PET CT should be implemented early in the diagnostic workup to prevent the negative confounding effect of the low inflammatory activity? So how do we put this all together? Dr Ricardo Budde:           Well actually, I agree with Dr Delgado that echocardiography is and should be the first-line test that you do if you have a patient that has a suspicion of endocarditis. I mean, the advantages of echocardiography are many and it's non-invasive, it's bedside-available if needed, it's patient-friendly, and it provides a huge amount of information so you should always start with echocardiography. However, sometimes it can be difficult by echocardiography, for the reasons just explained by Dr Delgado, and I think then PET CT should be considered. And when you want to do a PET CT, then you should do it early within the diagnostic workup.                                                 Actually, in the article, one of the figures is a flow chart which we provide, and it provides information on how we think PET CT can best be implemented in the workup of endocarditis. In this flow chart we also start with doing an echocardiography and also, importantly, consult the endocarditis time to make initial classification of whether it's a rejected, possible, or definite prosthetic heart valve endocarditis. After that, you can follow the flow chart and see when you can best implement PET CT, in our opinion. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Indeed Ricardo, I am so glad you brought up this figure and listeners, you have to take a look at it. I can imagine that everybody will be using this and discussing it and how to incorporate this in the workflow. And indeed you do start with either transthoracic or transesophageal echo and blood cultures, so thank you for clarifying that.                                                 Now, for our clinicians out there, are there any situations you may be telling us to be a little more careful? Could you put it simply for us when it comes to the FDG-PET? Dr Ricardo Budde:           You mean when not to perform a PET CT? Dr Carolyn Lam:                Yeah, or when we have to be really careful about inaccuracies. Dr Ricardo Budde:           I think, of course, the confounders that we indicate in the article, especially if bioglue has been used by the surgeon during the initial surgery. We know that bioglue can be seen on a PET CT as a false positive uptake of FDG and it's also important to note that this is a phenomenon that can persist for a very long time after a valve implantation. It could be for years, so especially that I think is a very important confounder to take into account and be careful when you interpret PET CT or use the PET CT and always read the original surgical report if it is available to obtain this information. Dr Carolyn Lam:                That's wonderful advice. Victoria, do you have anything to add? Dr Victoria Delgado:        No, I think that Dr Budde explained perfectly this figure that is key in the article and also how to evaluate patients with suspected endocarditis of prosthetic valve. One thing that sometimes we forget is starting from the first step that is a good clinical history which includes also a good evaluation of previous history and, if possible, what has been done in the patient. I think that this key information to understand the findings on the echocardiography, transthoracic or transesophageal, and the subsequent investigations that you are going to perform. Either CT which is considered, for example, when you have a definitive prosthetic valve endocarditis and you want to rule out potential complications such as abscess, for example, and if you perform a PET CT or other imaging modalities that then also indicate the presence of infection like, for example, [inaudible 00:15:26] leukocytes with PET, for example. Dr Carolyn Lam:                And I just want to end up with one little point. Ricardo, how about the fact that part of your results don't corroborate the ESC guideline recommendations that they say you have to avoid FDG-PET in the recently implanted prosthetic valve. How do you feel it's going to play out for clinicians? Dr Ricardo Budde:           Well, I think the 2015 ESC guidelines on endocarditis are a very important document. One must take into account that the inclusion of PET CT in the ESC guidelines was a major step, and some might say that it was a little premature to include the use of PET CT because the number of data that was out there were still relatively limited. I think it's something that we are learning along the way. Now that we are using PET CT more often we are more aware of what we do to findings that we get and also the findings that we have within specific timeframes after the implantation of a prosthetic heart valve. One of the things that I think is desperately needed also at the moment is to have a prospective study where we would do PET CT in patients after implantation of a prosthetic heart valve that do not show any signs of endocarditis where we do PET CT just to determine these normal uptake values. I think that would be a major contribution to the whole learning experience that we're currently having with implementing PET CT within prosthetic heart valve endocarditis. Dr Carolyn Lam:                Indeed, and Ricardo your paper has added significantly to our understanding. Readers, remember, it's Figure 6 of our feature paper this week. It is a beautiful figure. Pick it up, take a look. In the meantime just thank you so much Ricardo and Victoria for joining me today.                                                 Listeners, don't forget to tune in again next week.  

Jo Jo Platt is the President and Cofounder of Platt & Associates, Inc., and Strategic Relations Consultant for the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Top 3 Takeaways Bioelectronic Medicine treatments have a number of distinct advantages over drug-based treatments from both medical...

Bob Salter talks with Bettie Steinberg, Chief Scientific Officer for the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. 

Chad Bouton is the Center Head and Director of Bioelectronic Medicine (BEM) at the Feinstein Institute, the world’s leading research institute for this field. As an undergraduate student at Iowa State University (ISU), Bouton focused on electrical engineering. While in...

I think one of my favorite posters during SfN was with Theo Zanos and the work at the Feinstein Institute involving the vagus nerve. They were able to read insulin, glucose, and cytokyne signals going from the body to the brain. This is the first step in bioelectronic medicine, being able to read and write the information coming from the body. In this interview, we talk about the specifics in being able to read what the body is telling the brain.

Dr. Alex Spyropoulos (“Dr. Spy”) is a Professor of Medicine at the Hofstra Northwell School of Medicine as well as System Director of Anticoagulation and Clinical Thrombosis Services for the multi-hospital Northwell Health System. In addition, Dr. Spy is a Professor of the Merinoff Center for Patient-Oriented Research as part of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. Dr. Spy loves spending time with his wife and his young kids. Lately, they’ve been enjoying apple picking, hay rides, pumpkin carving, and apple carving. His other hobbies include sailing, snowboarding and mountain biking. As a thrombologist, Dr. Spy studies blood clots. Many people worldwide are either at risk for blood clots or have existing clots. He focuses on venous thromboembolism primarily in the lungs and legs. These blood clots could cause morbidity or mortality, and many people are not familiar with the risks, common symptoms, or the situations in which clots may occur. He received his MD from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, and he completed his internship and residency in internal medicine at the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center. Dr. Spy is a recipient of the Lovelace Clinic Foundation Excellence in Education Award, as well as a Fellow of the American College of Physicians, the American College of Chest Physicians, the International Academy of Clinical and Applied Thrombosis/Haemostasis, and the Royal College of Physicians in Canada. In this interview, he speaks with us about his life and science.

Dr Harbi Sohal is a rising star in the field of Neural Implants. He recently won the Forbes 30 under 30 for scientists. At 29, he has also recently become an Assistant Professor at the Feinstein Institute in New York. He has worked with previous guests Dr Andrew Jackson and Dr Ed Boyden and is now working with Dr Chad Bouton. He is working on all the big things in this field: Glial scarring reduction, optogenetics, and bioelectronic medicine.   Dr Sohal also generously provided his Feedly subscriptions. Feedly is an RSS feed which delivers daily news to you on the news in the Neural Implant field.  Hopefully this is easy to download, otherwise, send me an email at neuralimplantpodcast@gmail.com and I can send it to you

In this episode of the Providence College Podcast, David O'Connor '14 shares how his family, and the loss of his father at a young age, shaped his focus on community service and faith. O'Connor has helped people in need all over the globe through Habitat for Humanity, Providence College's Father Smith Fellowship, and Global Service Learning courses through PC's Feinstein Institute for Public Service, with the help of international travel grants from Santander Bank. . O'Connor is currently working with Habitat for Humanity and the International Institute of Rhode Island while earning his master's degree in theology and ministry at Boston College. O'Connor also discusses his new venture, JaamRek, which supports the St. Martin de Porres Development Project run by Dominicans in South Africa. Learn more about the fundraiser at https://www.facebook.com/events/1590348190999360/?ti=icl.

Attention: if you had technical problems listening, please delete and re-download this episode. We apologize for the inconvenience. In this episode, we are joined by Dr. Rick Battistoni, professor of political science and of public and community service studies and director of the Feinstein Institute for Public Service. Battistoni discusses his work with his Philanthropy course, the power of philanthropy, and how his students make an impact on society through public service.

Joshua Giraldo '08 was recently inducted into the Feinstein Institute for Public Service Hall of Heroes. In this episode, he discusses his longtime goal to positively impact his home of Central Falls, R.I. Starting when he was at PC, he has focused on improving lives through education — as a teacher in Providence and Central Falls, and through local government.

Click Here Or On Above Image To Reach Our ExpertsBioelectronics The Future of MedicineBioelectronic medicine is a scientific discipline that brings together molecular biology, neurophysiology, neurotechnology and analytics to develop nerve-stimulating technologies to regulate the molecular targets underlying disease. This approach promises to deliver therapies superior to pharmaceuticals in terms of efficacy, safety, and cost, without significant side effects.At the core of bioelectronic medicine is the electrical signal used by the nervous system to communicate information. Virtually every cell of the body is directly or indirectly controlled by these neural signals. Bioelectronic medicine technologies can record, stimulate, and block neural signaling. Bioelectronic medicine will change the way we treat diseases, injuries and conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis, Crohn's disease, diabetes, paralysis, bleeding, and even cancer.The functions and organ systems of our body are, to a significant extent, controlled by electrical signals that travel along the nerves. Bioelectronic medicines will aim to control biological processes and treat disease by modulating these electrical impulses.They will be miniaturized devices that connect to specific groups of neurons or their nerve fibres and modulate the electrical signaling patterns, to restore the healthy states of targeted organs and functions.Imagine a world where we treated deadly diseases with electricity instead of pills or chemo.We might not be as far from this reality as you think.Normally, our nervous systems send signals to our tissues and organs to suppress inflammation, a phenomenon known as the inflammatory reflex. But sometimes, this system gets out of whack, and can even result in diseases like rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel disease.Traditionally, doctors have treated these diseases using drugs designed to suppress inflammation, such as infliximab (trade name Remicade) oradalimumab (Humira). But these drugs are expensive. Plus, they don't work for everyone, often come with nasty side effects, and sometimes, although rarely, they can even kill.Now, some researchers have found a way to deliver electrical stimulation to just the right areas to stop chronic inflammation in its tracks — a therapy they're calling bioelectronic medicine.-------------------Related Article:Achieving Optimum Health By Understanding Biological Frequencies:  Nikola Tesla Said, "If You Could Eliminate Certain Outside Frequencies That Interfered In Our Bodies, We Would Have Greater Resistance Toward Disease". PRO-DTECH II FREQUENCY DETECTOR(Buy/Rent/Layaway)An Accidental DiscoveryLike many great ideas in science, this one came as an accident. Neurosurgeon Kevin Tracey, the president and CEO of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in Manhasset, New York, and his colleagues were studying a chemical that blocked inflammation in the brain, when they found it also decreased inflammation in the spleen and other organs. CELLPHONE DETECTOR (PROFESSIONAL)(Buy/Rent/Layaway)At the time, "we didn't understand how the brain could be communicating with the immune system," Tracey told reporters.PRO-DTECH III FREQUENCY DETECTOR(Buy/Rent/Layaway)As it turns out, the body has an inflammatory reflex that controls how we respond to injury or infection.PRO-DTECH III FREQUENCY DETECTOR(Buy/Rent/Layaway)The Inflammatory ReflexWhen the body senses an infection or injury, the brain is notified via the vagus nerve, which relays information from the heart, lungs, and other abdominal organs.But it's a two-way street: The brain also sends electrical signals via the vagus nerve to the organs, tamping down the production of inflammatory molecules.PRO-DTECH III FREQUENCY DETECTOR(Buy/Rent/Layaway)Tracey and his colleagues have found a way to restore those signals, by implanting tiny electronic devices that can deliver targeted electrical shocks to the vagus nerve.The electrical therapy is already being tested for some diseases.WIRELESS/WIRED HIDDENCAMERA FINDER III(Buy/Rent/Layaway)A company Tracey founded, called Set Point Medical, has conducted clinical trials of this technology in Europe for treating rheumatoid arthritis, and the results have been promising. PRO-DTECH IV FREQUENCY DETECTOR(Buy/Rent/Layaway)But is the stimulation treating the cause of the disease, or merely the symptoms? Possibly both, though we will only know after more studies, Tracey said.ElectRxResearch like Tracey's has inspired broader interest in bioelectronic medicine.Wireless Camera Finder(Buy/Rent/Layaway)The US military's research and development branch, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), launched a program in fall of last year called ElectRx to fund research on electrical treatments for various diseases.MAGNETIC, ELECTRIC, RADIO ANDMICROWAVE DETECTOR(Buy/Rent/Layaway)The ElectRx program aims to make it easier to deliver the electrical stimulation in a way that is both minimally invasive and precisely targeted, Doug Weber, a DARPA program manager and bioengineer at the University of Pittsburgh, told Business Insider.COUNTERSURVEILLANCE PROBE / MONITOR(Buy/Rent/Layaway)This type of therapy still has a long way to go before it's widely used. Today's therapeutic devices are pretty blunt, consisting of large electrodes that stimulate an entire nerve, when you may only want to target a small fraction of nerve fibers."We want to be able to identify specifically those fibers for therapeutic benefit, and have the technology to target those fibers directly," said Weber.PRO-DTECH FREQUENCY DETECTOR(Buy/Rent/Layaway)Beyond funding devices that would treat disease, DARPA said they also plans to fund projects designed to constantly monitor the body and potentially detect disease if and when it starts.Last month, DARPA selected the ElectRx proposals it plans to fund, and is in the process of finalizing the contracts. The program will officially kick off in October, Weber said.RF SIGNAL DETECTOR ( FREQUENCY COUNTER)(Buy/Rent/Layaway)Your questions and comments are greatly appreciated.Monty Henry, Owner (function () { var articleId = fyre.conv.load.makeArticleId(null); fyre.conv.load({}, [{ el: 'livefyre-comments', network: "livefyre.com", siteId: "345939", articleId: articleId, signed: false, collectionMeta: { articleId: articleId, url: fyre.conv.load.makeCollectionUrl(), } }], function() {}); }()); Additional Resources: * Prevention and Detection of Electronic Harassment and Surveillance* 

Electricity is so 19th century. Most of the uses for it were established by the 1920s. So there's nothing innovative left to do, right? That's not the opinion of the Nobel committee that awarded its 2014 physics prize to scientists who invented the blue LED. Find out why this LED hue of blue was worthy of our most prestigious science prize … how some bacteria actually breathe rust … and a plan to cure disease by zapping our nervous system with electric pulses. Guests: Siddha Pimputkar – Postdoctoral researcher in the Materials Department of the Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center under Shuji Nakamura, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara Jeff Gralnick – Associate professor of microbiology at the University of Minnesota Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon and president of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York First released December 2014. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

ENCORE  Electricity is so 19th century. Most of the uses for it were established by the 1920s. So there’s nothing innovative left to do, right? That’s not the opinion of the Nobel committee that awarded its 2014 physics prize to scientists who invented the blue LED. Find out why this LED hue of blue was worthy of our most prestigious science prize … how some bacteria actually breathe rust … and a plan to cure disease by zapping our nervous system with electric pulses. Guests: Siddha Pimputkar – Postdoctoral researcher in the Materials Department of the Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center under Shuji Nakamura, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara Jeff Gralnick – Associate professor of microbiology at the University of Minnesota Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon and president of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York First released December 2014.

FRIDAY, AUGUST 14, 2015: 2:00 PM EST Tonight we have a very special show with Dr. Andrew Feigin, Professor of Neurology and Director of the Huntington’s Disease Center at North Shore University Hospital and the Director of the Laboratory of Experimental Therapeutics for Movement Disorders at The Feinstein Institute for Medical Research of the North Shore – LIJ Health System in Manhasset, NY.  Dr. Feigin has been involved in HD clinical research for 20 years; he participated in the Venezuela HD project for 10 years beginning in 1993. We will be talking about the new clinical trial called SIGNAL. Tune into a vey exciting new clinical trial using a new approach - a monoclonal antibody called VX15.

This week, Apple sets record profits, cable nixes FCC broadband guidelines, is YouTube screwing indie musicians?, 3D printing that saves lives... and much much more. What We're Playing With Andy: Parks And Recreation: "Gryzzlbox" Dwayne: DLD Conference Video - Four Horsemen Tosin: Intel RealSense, Lenovo Yoga Tablet 2 Headlines Apple posts the biggest quarterly profit in history; Apple Watch to Ship in April Apple targets for Apple Watch battery life revealed, A5-caliber CPU inside Cable industry opposes 25Mbps broadband definition Sheriffs pressure Google to disable Waze feature that warns when police are near Audible Book of the Week The Art of Deception: Controlling the Human Element of Security by Kevin Mitnick Sign up at AudibleTrial.com/TheDrillDown Music Break: Tetrishead by Zoë Keating Hot Topic: Twitter launches group DMs, plus video capture and sharing Google Wireless Service Will Challenge Status Quo Music artists who refuse YouTube's aggressive Music Key terms lose all YouTube monetization options What should I do about Youtube? by Zoë Keating Sony is killing its awful music service and bringing Spotify to PlayStation Music Break: Optimist by Zoë Keating Final Word: Using 3D Printing, MakerBot and Feinstein Institute for Medical Research Create Cartilage to Repair Tracheal Damage The Drill Down Videos of the Week Tesla P85D Insane Mode Launch Reactions Watch the first ever video of a laser beam moving through thin air Subscribe! The Drill Down on iTunes (Subscribe now!) Add us on Stitcher! The Drill Down on Facebook The Drill Down on Twitter Geeks Of Doom's The Drill Down is a roundtable-style audio podcast where we discuss the most important issues of the week, in tech and on the web and how they affect us all. Hosts are Geeks of Doom contributor Andrew Sorcini (Mr. BabyMan), marketing research analyst Dwayne De Freitas, and Box tech consultant Tosin Onafowokan. Occasionally joining them is Startup Digest CTO Christopher Burnor.

Electricity is so 19th century. Most of the uses for it were established by the 1920s. So there's nothing innovative left to do, right? That's not the opinion of the Nobel committee that awarded its 2014 physics prize to scientists who invented the blue LED. Find out why this LED hue of blue was worthy of our most prestigious science prize … how some bacteria actually breathe rust … and a plan to cure disease by zapping our nervous system with electric pulses. Guests: •  Siddha Pimputkar – Postdoctoral researcher in the Materials Department of the Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center under Shuji Nakamura, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara •  Jeff Gralnick – Associate professor of microbiology at the University of Minnesota •  Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon and president of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Electricity is so 19th century. Most of the uses for it were established by the 1920s. So there’s nothing innovative left to do, right? That’s not the opinion of the Nobel committee that awarded its 2014 physics prize to scientists who invented the blue LED. Find out why this LED hue of blue was worthy of our most prestigious science prize … how some bacteria actually breathe rust … and a plan to cure disease by zapping our nervous system with electric pulses. Guests: •   Siddha Pimputkar – Postdoctoral researcher in the Materials Department of the Solid State Lighting and Energy Electronics Center under Shuji Nakamura, winner of the 2014 Nobel Prize in Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara •   Jeff Gralnick – Associate professor of microbiology at the University of Minnesota •   Kevin Tracey – Neurosurgeon and president of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research in New York

Many people are living with chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions in which the body attacks itself. Although drug treatments have improved over recent years they do not work for everyone and can have serious side effects. Now researchers such as neurologist Dr Kevin Tracey of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and rheumatologist Professor Paul-Peter Tak of Amsterdam University, are trying a new approach to improving the lives of these patients. They are firing electrical pulses along the vagus nerve, a major nerve that connects the brain with all the organs. The technology to do this has been around for some decades as stimulating the vagus nerve has been used to help people who have epilepsy that isn't controlled with drugs since the 1990s. Gaia Vince talks to these pioneers of this new field of research. And she hears how there may be ways of improving the tone of the vagal nerve using meditation.

Many people are living with chronic diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and inflammatory bowel conditions in which the body attacks itself. Although drug treatments have improved over recent years they do not work for everyone and can have serious side effects. Now researchers such as neurologist Dr Kevin Tracey of the Feinstein Institute for Medical Research, and rheumatologist professor Paul-Peter Tak of Amsterdam University, are trying a new approach to improving the lives of these patients. They are firing electrical pulses along the vagus nerve, a major nerve that connects the brain with all the organs. The technology to do this has been around for some decades as stimulating the vagus nerve has been used to help people who have epilepsy that is not controlled with drugs since the 1990s. Gaia Vince talks to these pioineers of this new field of research. And, she hears how there may be ways of improving the tone of the vagal nerve using meditation. (Image: Vagus Nerve Stimulation. Credit: Getty Images)

Peder Olofsson blev forskare i New York. Han ägnar sig åt hur nerver kan styra vårt immunförsvar. Ett nytt forskningsfält med stora möjligheter. Han jobbade tidigare som narkosläkare på Karolinska universitetssjukhuset i Solna. Nu forskar han i New York vid Feinstein Institute. Där finns den starkaste gruppen inom det nya forskningsområdet kring den antiinflammatoriska reflexen. Det handlar om hur kroppens längsta nerv kan styra immunförsvaret. Men han har också andra intressen, som musik och att återvinna burkar i ett arkivskåp! Reporter Annika Östman annika.ostman@sverigesradio.se