The Rise and Fall of One Man’s Quest to Treat

 ewsUSA) – Over a number of years, 65-year-old Donald Summers went from having an occasional cough and clearing his throat, to increasingly frequent coughing attacks that produced mucus and exhaustion. It was aggravating and embarrassing. It also caused him to quit his job, yardwork and the long hikes he used to enjoy with his wife."I worked in a property maintenance job, and I just couldn’t do it anymore," Summers says. "I’d get into these coughing fits, and it just drained me. I didn’t have the strength."Several years ago, when his symptoms began to worsen, Summers saw a pulmonologist, who diagnosed chronic bronchitis. The disease affects an estimated 9 million people in the U.S. and is a type of chronic

obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Risk factors and symptomsChronic bronchitis can develop after exposure to cigarette smoke, vaping, airborne chemicals and other pollutants and irritants. In Summers’s case, he was a long-time smoker and previously worked in steel mills and around gasoline and other petroleum products.Patients with chronic bronchitis experience prolonged inflammation and excess mucus in the lung airways, causing a host of other potential symptoms and effects, including:

Welcome to The Future of Diagnostic Tests

(NewsUSA) – If you have a chronic or recurring infection, getting accurate results of diagnostic tests can make a big difference in your quality of care and quality of life. Patients with infections value the resolution that comes from accurate testing, diagnosis, and good treatment that MicroGenDX’s Next-Generation DNA Sequencing (NGS) enables.When a patient is infected, they will usually be prescribed an antibiotic or antifungal by their healthcare provider. These antimicrobials are often chosen based on culturing, growing the specimen in a petri dish. There are limitations to this 150-year-old technology that MicroGenDX is helping to solve.MicroGenDX uses DNA sequencing technology to identify all bacteria and fungi in a sample from an infected patient, no growth required. NGS detects many microbes that cultures often miss. This provides a patient’s physician with a more comprehensive result enabling appropriate and optimized therapy."Our mission at MicroGenDX is to improve clinical outcomes by offering clinicians and their patients the most informative and impactful microbial diagnostic tests that science can provide," says CEO Rick Martin. MicroGenDX makes a difference for patients like Kelsey, who struggled with a urinary tract infection so painful that it left her bedridden. When Kelsey finally received the correct antibiotic to treat her infection based on MicroGenDX test results, she was able to recover and return to a pain-free life."What makes MicroGenDX unique is our curated database of over 50,000 microbes, our improved turnaround time, our patient-friendly price point, and our clinical research data that strongly supports the clinical utility of Next-Generation Sequencing," Martin emphasizes.Next-Generation Sequencing (NGS) is a technology that allows for more specific identification of disease-causing organisms than the traditional cultures and polymerase chain reaction (PCR) genetic tests used by many labs. Although the technology itself is not new, MicroGenDX, which has been in business for 12 years, has made NGS possible for use in an everyday clinical setting. In the past, NGS technology was expensive and time-consuming. Today, NGS is used by a variety of major companies and research institutions, including NASA, through MicroGenDX, and MicroGenDX is helping to open the door for the use of NGS in clinical medicine.MicroGenDX provides results for diagnoses related to urinary tract infections (UTI), prostate infections, hip and knee infections, wound infections, sinus infections, lung infections and more. The company continues to conduct research to expand the evidence base for the technology, with more than 35 published clinical studies and more than 40 ongoing clinical trials.MicroGenDX’s NGS has a number of benefits over traditional culture and PCR labs:- Accuracy. The MicroGenDX test matches patient samples against its microbial database of 50,000 species for maximum accuracy in the NGS results.- Affordability. The MicroGenDX offers low rates for both qPCR and NGS to help clinicians and patients control costs without sacrificing quality.- Speed. MicroGenDX has the quickest turn around time of any NGS provider on the market at 3-5 business days for most NGS samples.- Variety. The MicroGenDX lab accepts a broad range of samples and can provide information on hard to culture and uncommon bacterial and fungal species, including Mycobacterium and Molds.- Antibiotic Resistance: MicroGenDX recognizes the threat that antimicrobial resistant organisms present to current medicine and the over 35,000 deaths a year it causes. The use of NGS allows for targeted antibiotic treatment that helps combat the growing issue of antibiotic resistance. MicroGenDX also detects the presence of 17 antibiotic resistance genes allowing clinicians to avoid ineffective treatments.Visit microgendx.com for more information about the company’s services, and check them out on social media via Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. 

Peanuts Pack a Tasty Protein Punch

(NewsUSA) – Now more than ever, health and wellness are on everyone’s mind. To support your immune system, it’s important to follow a healthy diet that includes vitamins, minerals, fiber and protein. One easy way to get plant-based protein is from peanuts and peanut butter.Peanuts are known as a superfood because they deliver significant nutritional value in a small amount. One serving of peanuts is an ounce or approximately 35 peanuts and a serving of peanut butter is two tablespoons. Just one serving of peanuts delivers seven grams of protein, 19 vitamins and minerals, fiber and heart-healthy fats."Studies conducted in the United States and around the world reveal that eating peanuts regularly helps prevent disease, improves life expectancy and delivers positive effects throughout the body," says Dr. Samara Sterling, a nutrition scientist and research director with The Peanut Institute."When you have foods such as peanuts and peanut butter that deliver plant protein, fiber and healthy fats, you’re making a smart choice that will keep you feeling full and help power you through the day," Dr. Sterling adds.Peanuts not only contribute vitamins and minerals, but they provide energy and help support muscle repair, she emphasizes.Peanuts can also be good for your mind as well as your body."When you break down the nutritional structure of peanuts, they have a unique combination of vitamins, minerals and bioactive compounds, including arginine, resveratrol, niacin, vitamin E and coumaric acids, that can contribute to cognition and mental health," explains Dr. Sterling.A study published in 2021 in the journal Clinical Nutrition suggests that peanut and peanut butter consumption may improve cognitive function and reduce stress, based on data from healthy young adults.Adding peanuts and peanut butter to your diet is easy.Visit peanutinstitute.com for more information and for breakfast, lunch, dinner, dessert and snack ideas.Meanwhile, check out this recipe for Peanut Butter Tart with Chocolate Crust and Strawberries:You need: