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Friday, January 31, 2020

Eisai reports 9M results

Eisai (OTCPK:ESALF): 9M GAAP EPS of ¥255.55.
Revenue of ¥486.07B (+4.0% Y/Y)
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3536742-eisai-reports-9m-results

Facebook will remove coronavirus misinformation

Facebook (NASDAQ:FB) is taking the rare step of removing false claims about cures and prevention methods for the coronavirus, saying such content would violate its ban on misinformation leading to “physical harm.”
Hashtags used to spread misinformation on Instagram will be blocked or restricted, as well as alerts by users who share content about the disease that third-party fact-checkers deem false.
It’s an unusual move for Facebook, which generally limits the distribution of content containing health misinformation through restrictions on search results and advertising, but permits original posts to stay up.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3536708-facebook-will-remove-coronavirus-misinformation

Arcutis Biotherapeutics prices IPO

Arcutis Biotherapeutics (ARQT) has priced its initial public offering of 9.375M common shares at $17.00 per share, for gross proceeds of ~$159.4M.
The shares are expected to begin trading today on the Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Closing date is February 4.
Underwriters’ over-allotment is an additional 1,406,250 shares.
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3536715-arcutis-biotherapeutics-prices-initial-public-offering

Thursday, January 30, 2020

High and low exercise intensity found to influence brain function differently


High and low exercise intensity found to influence brain function differently
A new study shows for the first time that low and high exercise intensities differentially influence brain function. Using resting state functional magnetic resonance imaging (Rs-fMRI), a noninvasive technique that allows for studies on brain connectivity, researchers discovered that low-intensity exercise triggers brain networks involved in cognition control and attention processing, while high-intensity exercise primarily activates networks involved in affective/emotion processing. The results appear in a special issue of Brain Plasticity devoted to exercise and cognition.
“We believe that will have a major impact for unraveling body-brain interactions,” said lead investigators Angelika Schmitt, MSc, and Henning Boecker, MD, Functional Neuroimaging Group, Department of Radiology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany. “These novel methods allow us to ‘look’ directly into the brains of a group of athletes, and, maybe even more importantly, understand the dynamic changes in and function associated with the transition from a sedentary to a .
Twenty-five male athletes underwent individual assessments using an incremental treadmill test. On separate days they performed low- and bouts for 30 minutes. Before and after exercising, Rs-fMRI was used to examine functional connectivity of different brain regions that are linked to specific behavioral processes. Participants also completed a questionnaire to measure positive and negative mood before and after the exercise.
The behavioral data showed a significant increase in positive mood after both exercise intensities and no significant change in negative mood. The results of the Rs-fMRI tests showed that low-intensity exercise led to increased functional connectivity in networks associated with cognitive processing and attention. High-intensity exercise, on the other hand, led to increased functional connectivity in networks related to affective, emotional processes. High-intensity exercise also led to a decreased functional connectivity in networks associated with motor function.
The investigators note that this is the first study to report distinct effects of exercise intensity on specific functional networks within the brain at rest. Future research in this area will help provide neurobiological evidence about what type of exercise intensity is best suited for certain neurological or behavioral modulations and may pave the way for supportive clinical applications in patients or for enhancing brain functional plasticity.

Explore further
Somatic symptom disorder linked to changes in brain functional connectivity

More information: Angelika Schmitt et al. Modulation of Distinct Intrinsic Resting State Brain Networks by Acute Exercise Bouts of Differing Intensity, Brain Plasticity (2019). DOI: 10.3233/BPL-190081

US birth weights drop due to rise in cesarean births, inductions

U.S. birth weights have fallen significantly in recent decades due to soaring rates of cesarean deliveries and inductions which have shortened the average pregnancy by about a week, new CU Boulder research shows.
“Our data indicate that there has been a dramatic shift in in this country, it is resulting in birthweight decline, and it is almost entirely due to changes in obstetric practices,” said Ryan Masters, a social demographer with the Institute of Behavioral Science and senior author of the study published January 29 in the journal Demography.
Previous research has shown that, after decades of rising, weights began to fall in 1990, a trend that has puzzled scientists and alarmed well aware of the long-term adverse health effects that can arise from low birthweight.
Masters and lead author Andrea Tilstra, a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Sociology, set out to pinpoint what’s driving the trend, using records from the National Vital Statistics System.
They analyzed more than 23 million single births to healthy mothers from 1990 to 2013, using demographic techniques to plot: birthweight; week at which each birth occurred; and whether the baby was born via vaginal delivery, induced vaginal delivery, cesarean delivery, or induction and cesarean.
Then they ran a simulation to see what would have happened if cesarean and induction rates hadn’t increased.
“We found that the decline in birth would not have happened if it were not for the rapid increase in these obstetric interventions,” said Tilstra. “In fact, birth weights would have gone up.”
Medical interventions on rise
Among the study population, the incidence of cesarean deliveries grew from 25% in 1990 to 31.2% in 2013, with rates rising fastest among healthy women in weeks 37 to 39. Labor induction more than doubled from 12% of deliveries to 29%.
Meanwhile, the average length of pregnancy decreased from 40 weeks to 39 weeks, and overall births became increasingly concentrated between 37 and 39 weeks, with far fewer stretching into 42.
About 18% of births in 2013 would have happened later, via a vaginal delivery that was not induced, had they occurred in 1990. That matters, the researchers note, because a fetus can put on significant weight in the final weeks of pregnancy.
Over the 23 years, the average weight of a baby born in the United States declined 67 grams (about 2.4 oz). Had rates of interventions stayed level, the average birth weight would have risen by 12 grams.
“By intervening in the pregnancy instead of allowing it to reach its natural finality we are shifting when birth happens, and that can have public health consequences,” said Tilstra, noting that has been linked to poorer long-term health and lower educational attainment.
The authors stress that inductions and cesarean deliveries are, in many instances, medically necessary. But they raise concerns that the greatest rise in such interventions is among healthy women who are at full-term yet not overdue.
Because U.S. physicians have more latitude than in other areas of the world to determine whether a cesarean delivery is necessary, they suspect cultural and institutional factors, including at the hospital or insurance level, are driving the trend.
“The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidelines permit physicians and/or birth attendants a great deal of discretion in their decision to obstetrically intervene in a pregnancy, whereas the international guidelines form the World Health Organization use strong langue to discourage it,” they wrote.
Tilstra stresses that she is in no way telling clinicians not to perform cesarean deliveries or inductions or advising mothers to decline them. But she hopes her study offers new information that helps both practitioners and parents weigh costs and benefits.
“I hope it prompts physicians to take a step back and realize there can be broader public health impacts from these individual decisions, and I hope it reminds mothers that they have more autonomy in the birth process than they sometimes feel they do,” she said. “If something is not obviously medically necessary it is important to ask why it’s happening.”

Explore further
Outcomes of birth options after a previous cesarean section

More information: Andrea M. Tilstra et al, Worth the Weight? Recent Trends in Obstetric Practices, Gestational Age, and Birth Weight in the United States, Demography (2020). DOI: 10.1007/s13524-019-00843-w

WHO declares global virus emergency after deadliest day for China

The World Health Organization on Thursday declared a global emergency over the deadly coronavirus spreading from China, after the Asian giant reported its biggest single-day jump in the death toll.
The UN health agency based in Geneva had initially downplayed the threat posed by the disease, which has now killed 170 people in China, but revised its risk assessment after crisis talks.
“Our greatest concern is the potential for the to spread to countries with weaker health systems,” WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told a briefing in Geneva.
“We must all act together now to limit further spread… We can only stop it together.”
Tedros nevertheless said travel and trade restrictions with China were unnecessary to stem the spread of the virus, which has spread to more than 15 other countries across the globe.
Many countries have already urged their citizens not to visit China, while some have banned entry for travellers from the central Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus first surfaced.
The US reported its first case of a person catching the virus from another person on American soil—a man in Chicago who contracted the illness from his wife, who had travelled to Wuhan.
Airlines began cancelling flights servicing China on Wednesday, and more followed suit on Thursday.
Israel barred all flights from China, while Russia said it was closing its far eastern border with China over the outbreak.
More than 6,000 tourists were temporarily put under lockdown aboard a cruise ship at an Italian port after two Chinese passengers were isolated over fears they could be carrying the virus. They later tested negative for the illness.
Deadliest day
Beijing has taken extreme steps to stop the spread of the virus, including effectively quarantining more than 50 million people in Wuhan and surrounding Hubei province.
The government on Thursday reported 38 new deaths in the preceding 24 hours, the highest one-day total since the virus was detected late last year.
All but one of the new deaths were in Hubei.
The number of confirmed new cases also grew steadily to 7,711, the National Health Commission said. Another 81,000 people were under observation for possible infection.
The pathogen is believed to have emerged in a market that sold wild game, and spread during a Lunar New Year holiday season in which hundreds of millions of Chinese travel at home or abroad.
‘Truly new situation’
Thousands of foreigners have been trapped in Wuhan since it was sealed off last week.
Beijing and Shanghai were quiet as countless people followed advice to stay indoors, or at least wear masks when venturing out.
Japan and the United States on Wednesday became the first countries to organise airlifts from Wuhan for their citizens. A second US flight is planned in the coming days.
Britain was planning an evacuation of around 200 of its citizens early Friday, after receiving the necessary clearance from Beijing.
A French plane was also due to leave Wuhan on Friday, according to an AFP journalist at the scene.
Australia and New Zealand were among others organising similar operations.
Tokyo on Thursday reported that three people who were aboard the first evacuation flight had tested positive for the virus after landing back in Japan.
Two of the three infected passengers showed no symptoms, underscoring the difficulty detecting the coronavirus.
Compounding fears, Japan was allowing the arrivals—more than 400 have been repatriated after a second flight on Thursday—to “self-quarantine”.
In contrast, other countries organising evacuations said they were all planning to quarantine.
Take action
The virus is similar to the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) pathogen. That outbreak also began in China and eventually killed nearly 800 people worldwide in 2002-03.
Major airlines that have suspended or reduced service to China include British Airways, German flag carrier Lufthansa, American Airlines, KLM and United.
Chinese efforts to halt the virus have included the suspension of classes nationwide and an extension of the Lunar New Year holiday.
All football matches across the country also will be postponed, the Chinese Football Association said, including games in the top-tier Chinese Super League.
“The whole world needs to take action,” Michael Ryan, head of the WHO Health Emergencies Programme, told reporters in Geneva.
Economic worries
World stock markets tumbled again Thursday on fears that trouble in the “world’s factory” would upset global supply chains and dent profits.
Toyota, IKEA, Starbucks, Tesla, McDonald’s and tech giant Foxconn were among the corporate giants temporarily freezing production or closing large numbers of outlets in China.
Volkswagen announced Thursday its China joint-venture plants would not start production again before February 9.
US Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said the coronavirus posed a fresh risk to the world economy.
Throughout China, signs of paranoia multiplied, with residents of some Beijing residential compounds erecting makeshift barriers to their premises.
In one of many similar photos posted online, a man wearing a surgical mask and brandishing a traditional martial arts weapon squatted on a barricade outside a Chinese village, near a sign saying: “Outsiders forbidden from entering”.
The crisis has caused food prices to spike, and the central government on Thursday blamed this partly on overzealous preventive measures, issuing a directive banning any roadblocks or other hindrances to food shipments.

Explore further
Deadliest day for China in virus fight as global fears mount

Tasting no-calorie sweetener may affect insulin response on glucose tolerance test

Artificial sweeteners such as sucralose provide the seductive taste of sweetness without the calories contained in sugar—a seeming win-win for people who need to control their blood sugar and insulin levels or weight.
However, simply tasting or consuming may affect and insulin levels on tolerance tests, scientists at the University of Illinois found in a new study.
The findings suggest that despite having no calories, sucralose may have metabolic effects in some users, said M. Yanina Pepino, a professor of food science and at the U. of I., who led the research.
“The most important take-home message is that in itself may have an impact on carbohydrate metabolism and glucose control,” Pepino said. “Even though the sample population in our study was small, the findings add to a body of evidence that suggests sweetness should be consumed in moderation, regardless of the calories.”
The study included 10 people of healthy weight and 11 people with obesity; none of the participants had diabetes or were regular users of .
The participants underwent three oral glucose tolerance tests on separate days spaced about a week apart. Prior to one test they consumed distilled water; prior to another, sucralose; and prior to a third test they tasted but did not swallow sucralose.
They performed one of these actions 10 minutes before drinking a solution containing 75 grams of glucose.
The amount of sucralose—48 milligrams—that the study participants ingested provides a level of sweetness equivalent to that in a typical diet soda, Pepino said.
At each visit, a catheter was inserted into a radial artery to obtain blood samples at regular intervals during the hour before and five hours after the participants drank the glucose. The scientists measured participants’ blood concentrations of sucralose, insulin, glucose and other hormones.
Sucralose had differing effects depending on whether participants ingested it or only tasted it and whether they had obesity, the researchers found.
When people of healthy weight swallowed the sucralose, their blood insulin levels decreased modestly during the first hour, and their insulin sensitivity increased by about 50%, said graduate student Clara Salame, who co-wrote the study.
However, when people with obesity swallowed the sucralose, their insulin levels increased significantly more than when they drank water or when they tasted the sucralose but spit it out.
“While insulin responses to either tasting or swallowing the sucralose were similar in those of normal weight, those responses were very different in people with obesity,” Pepino said. “Therefore, we hypothesize that some post-ingestive effects of sucralose may occur only in people with obesity.
“However, our study included people who were not habitual consumers of artificial sweeteners, and further studies are needed to explore what happens with this acute effect of sucralose after long-term use.”
Pepino cautioned that since the various artificial sweeteners have very different chemical structures and the body may handle them differently—some are broken down in the stomach while others remain unabsorbed in the intestine—the findings on post-ingestive effects may be unique to sucralose.
However, since all artificial sweeteners activate the sweet taste receptors in the mouth, the metabolic effects associated with sweetness may be more generalizable, she said.
Pepino said she had expected that tasting sucralose and spitting it out would have similar effects to consuming water; thus, she was surprised to discover that participants’ were affected by taste alone.
“Interestingly, we found that in both groups of people—those with obesity and those of normal weight—there was a reduction in response to the glucose tolerance test when they just tasted sweetness before drinking the glucose solution. It was the most surprising finding, and we are following up on that in a new study,” Pepino said.
“What our data suggest is that there are mechanisms that we don’t understand clearly about how the human body regulates glucose and the potential of tasting something sweet beyond providing a sense of pleasure,” Pepino said.
U. of I. alumnus Alexander D. Nichol was the lead author of the paper. Kristina I. Rother of the National Institutes of Health was a co-author.
The American Diabetes Association, the National Institutes of Health and the intramural research program of the NIH’s National Institute of Diabetes, Digestive and Kidney Diseases provided funding for the research.
The study was published recently in the journal Nutrients.

Explore further
Artificial sweeteners may do more than sweeten

More information: Alexander D. Nichol et al. Effects of Sucralose Ingestion versus Sucralose Taste on Metabolic Responses to an Oral Glucose Tolerance Test in Participants with Normal Weight and Obesity: A Randomized Crossover Trial, Nutrients (2019). DOI: 10.3390/nu12010029