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Copyright: © Richard Jacobs
Tjasa Zajc, podcaster, entrepreneur, head of the "Faces of Digital Health" podcast, a podcast about digital health and healthcare systems technology adoption, talks about the current state of healthcare in developed and developing countries.
Zajc talks about her background and the troubling early medical condition that led her to dig deeper into learning about health. After her diagnosis with IBD, Inflammatory Bowel Disease (which in name covers many disorders that can generate chronic inflammation of the digestive tract), Zajc was compelled to learn more, eventually studying healthcare management and economics in order to better understand healthcare beyond the patient perspective.
Zajc talks about the modern healthcare experience in various countries and digital technology in healthcare, covering issues such as availability, chronic conditions, and financial expenses. She discusses private insurance versus public healthcare. She provides detailed information on retirement funds and the concept of saving money for health problems that could come later in life, as the issues relate to various cultures and countries. She explains healthcare models, and how people perceive healthcare solutions around the globe. Zajc explains how some countries have a serious lack of qualified medical personnel and thus access to healthcare is a problem in many corners of the globe. Zajc explains how some people have distrust of their own providers or doctors and may travel many miles to see doctors in larger hospital facilities.
The business developer entrepreneur and healthcare expert discusses her current work assisting pharmacies with drug management processes and hospital admittance procedures. She discusses how systems can be made more efficient by going digital, which can decrease some potential problems with medical records, drugs, etc.
In this podcast:
How digital technology could change healthcare for the better, if only…
Is private health insurance doing the best job it can to provide coverage for everyone?
The tough problem of scant medical access in some countries
Small, medium, large, soft, firm; when it comes to finding a pillow that works for us, these adjectives are pretty much all we have to work with. For this reason, it can be difficult if not impossible to find a pillow that properly supports your head, neck, and shoulders and retains its integrity over time. After years of dealing with this problem, serial entrepreneur Richard Jacobs decided to do something which had never been done before: design the world's first custom-tailored pillow that is both simple and sensical, as well as easy for a person to get.
No complicated measurements or calculations are necessary: all that's required is a picture or two of your upper body, which can be sent through The Good Night's Sleep Project app. From there, you can just sit back and wait for your custom-tailored pillow to arrive. With the use of AI computer vision, 14 measurements will be extracted from your photos and serve as a guideline for the creation of a pillow that's completely unique to you.
Tune in to learn about all the details and more, including:
Visit https://www.goodnightssleepproject.com/ to learn more and order one for yourself.
Associate Professor at Harvard Medical School, Director of Cell Biology at the Cancer Center at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, and Principal Investigator at Muthuswamy Lab, Senthil K. Muthuswamy, Ph.D. is working to better understand the molecular biology of cancer and the most effective method of treating it by creating organoids from patient tumors. When cultured under the proper conditions, a sample of tissue from a patient's tumor will grow into a 3D structure that resembles the patient's tumor.
Once that's been accomplished, the organoid can be used to determine which drugs will most effectively treat the specific tumor at hand. This approach addresses one of the main challenges to chemotherapy and targeted therapy, which is that not all patients will respond to the same drug in the same way—even if they have the same type of cancer. Dr. Muthuswamy's lab is currently working with breast and pancreatic tumors.
On today's episode, you will learn:
David Freedman, a co-founder and the founding CEO of NanoView Biosciences, discusses noninvasive diagnostics and extracellular vesicles.
Freedman was essential to NanoView's entry into the expanding extracellular vesicle market with the development and subsequent launch of the ExoView™ R100. He has been a successful entrepreneur for more than ten years, formerly as CTO of eHomes, and President of a computer services company. Freedman is interested in commercialization strategy and organizational build-out, product and services development, tech engineering, as well as automation. Freedman completed his Ph.D. and Postdoc in Electrical Engineering at Boston University.
NanoView Biosciences is at the leading edge of exosome discovery and they provide innovative solutions to detect and characterize extracellular vesicles. Freedman explains what extracellular vesicles are, for those who might not be familiar. As he states, extracellular vesicles are like the "Twitter of cells," in that they are tiny messengers, providing a means for cells to transmit biological information from one cell to another. He discusses the history of cell discovery and what current research is finding in terms of exosome discovery. Exosomes, in simplest terms, are membrane-bound extracellular vesicles produced in the endosomal compartment of a typical eukaryotic cell.
Freedman explains NanoView Biosciences' platform, which allows researchers to look at the outside and inside of the exosome. NanoView Biosciences' research looks at many different avenues for their tech to provide new answers. Freedman discusses how this important area of bioscience research can potentially provide more information on the mechanisms of cancer cells.
He explains how they analyze samples, discussing nanoparticle size and count, as well as biological activity, which can help companies that are developing liquid biopsies and new therapeutics. Continuing, Freedman discusses other noninvasive diagnostics and therapeutic development.
In this podcast:
The USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory was founded in 2005 with the goal of putting an undergraduate student designed and built rocket into space—which is defined as being at least 100 km or about 330,000 feet above Earth's surface. Just this past year, this goal was finally reached. On today's episode, Michael O'Neill and Laura Potterat, media lead and avionics lead at the lab, respectively, share their experiences as members of the team who finally made this happen, the challenges they faced along the way, and what the accomplishment means for their future work. By tuning in, you'll discover:
Check out uscrpl.com to learn more.
Do you ever notice a little bit of blood on your toothbrush while brushing? This isn't uncommon, and most of us just "brush it off" you might say, but the truth is if your gums are bleeding, then you have a wound where bacteria is penetrating the tissue and entering your bloodstream, paving the way for systemic illness throughout your body. James Hyland, DDS, President and CEO of OraVital, discusses oral infections, how to eliminate them, and why traditional brushing and flossing isn't the solution. He also explains the science behind halitosis (also known as bad breath), why it can occur even in the healthiest of mouths, how to address it in your daily oral hygiene routine, and why failing to do so could lead to plaque formation in your brain—the hallmark of Lyme disease, syphilis, and Alzheimer's. On today's episode, you will learn about all of this and more, including:
Learn more by tuning in and visiting www.oravital.com.
Audrey Gaskins, Assistant Professor, Epidemiology at Emory University, delivers an interesting overview of normal sperm motility, causes of abnormal sperm morphology, and the various factors involved with fertility and semen quality.
Gaskins' extensive research has focused heavily upon the connections between environmental, dietary, and lifestyle factors with fertility and fecundity in women and men.
She has published on the many benefits of folic acid, exceeding levels well above the current recommendations, in regard to preventing anovulation and incident pregnancy loss as well as boosting the success probability of infertility treatment. She is currently working on an NIH grant that is primarily focused on extending her research to study the possible interactions between diet, air pollution, and fertility among groups of women.
Gaskins talks about semen quality in men, and some research has shown that male semen quality globally is on the decline, which is of course an area of concern for researchers. She talks about the possible factors that could play a role in the decline in sperm count, discussing lifestyle and environmental exposures, etc. She discusses fertility in detail, and her interests have driven her to study men because men have been understudied in this regard she states. She talks about DNA fragmentation and genetics, in regard to her studies.
The professor goes on to discuss how age plays a role and factors into their studies. She talks about semen samples that they study and how they collect information on important variables that could be determinants in studies. And Gaskins discusses seasonal impacts, and other possible pollutants, etc. that could impact semen quality.
In this podcast:
What environmental factors could impact semen quality?
Reasons that semen quality could be decreasing globally
Does age play a role in semen quality?
Most of know that the climate is changing, and it's changing rapidly--in ways that will continue to cause environmental degradation and extinction. Most of us also want to do something about it, but have a hard time seeing how we can really tackle such a big problem on the individual level. How can MY choices actually affect the future? After all, I can't just decide to ban deforestation or switch everything over to clean energy. What is it that I CAN do?
According to biologist, author, and environmental consultant Mary Ellen Harte, PhD, the answer lies in a solution that's just as important as protecting the forests and becoming global leaders in clean energy technology, but not talked about nearly as often: family planning. By preventing unintended pregnancies through free and effective family planning services, we can slow the growth of the population.
This approach will not only address the problem of climate-changing pollution, but also the relationship between population growth and stress, physical and psychological problems, and higher crime rates. In her work, Dr. Harte emphasizes the importance of environmental economics, and encourages people to seek out and vote for the political leaders who do the same.
On today's podcast, you will learn:
To learn more about how the environment is being affected by climate change, Dr. Harte recommends checking out The Daily Climate. To find a free online copy of the book she co-authored called Cool the Earth, follow this link http://www.cooltheearth.us/.
In this podcast, Jonathan Hull, Business Development Head at Thryve Inside (thryveinside.com), discusses probiotics weight loss, microbiome testing, the importance of gut health, and the latest evolution in microbiome products.
Hull talks about the early origins of Thryve, and explains how they grew from solely a microbiome testing company into a manufacturer of individualized probiotics designed for improving overall gut health. Hull describes the kinds of probiotics they offer, and how their offerings are based on testing results. As more people are discovering that GI health is an important key to overall health, new products are making their way to the marketplace, but it's important to know which ones are right for you. Hull continues his discussion on gut health by discussing many various gastrointestinal conditions and gut distress.
Hull expounds upon the latest evolution in microbiome products, and he explains how academic and business/industrial leaders alike are interested in expanding research of microbiome issues. Hull explains how the microbiome is incredibly influential with overall body health. Wrapping up, he discusses consumer-based genetic testing, and the ever-growing interest in microbiome issues.
In this podcast:
Dale R. Pfost, PhD, Director and Cofounder, Microbiome Therapeutics, delivers an interesting overview of microbiome therapeutics, prediabetes treatment, and more.
Dr. Pfost has more than 25 years of solid leadership experience in the biotechnology industry. He has held many important executive positions at numerous respected companies, and was the Chief Executive of six biotechnology companies, most recently as the founding CEO of MicroBiome Therapeutics. Dr. Pfost earned a BS degree from the University of California, Santa Barbara and his PhD in physics from Brown University.
Dr. Pfost explains the premise of his company, Microbiome Therapeutics. As he states, the field of the microbiome encompasses a wide range of human health issues. With the increase in popularity of probiotic foods, clearly there is a strong interest in improving gut health through diet. Dr. Pfost states that through his 30 years of experience in the biotechnology field, the microbiome arena is one of the richest and broadest paradigm shifts in biotechnology and health food in particular.
The biotechnology expert talks in depth about cells, probiotics, and the processes that take place in our lower guts. He discusses caloric intake and "the loop" as he calls it, delving into the repopulation that takes place in the gut, using prebiotics, etc. to help the microbes produce short chain fatty acids. Continuing, he talks about the gut hormones, and the connection between the gut and brain. Dr. Pfost explains how it is important to increase the production of good things, such as short chain fatty acids, while decreasing the production of the bad things—such as hydrogen, gas, methane, and sulfide.
Dr. Pfost discusses intermittent fasting, in its various forms. And as he explains, you're fasting not only yourself but the microbes as well. He discusses the keto diet and other nutritional aspects of various diets, and how they impact microbes.
In this podcast:
How prebiotics could help microbes produce short chain fatty acids
The benefits of probiotic foods
The connections between the gut and brain
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