Seahawks Sign Pro-Bowl Kicker Sebastian Janikowski

 

Sebastian Janikowski
Image: nfl.com

The recipient of a doctor of medicine from Yale University, Michael Simons has served as a professor and researcher of cell biology at Yale since 2008. Beyond his work, Michael Simons is a passionate fan of the National Football League (NFL) Seattle Seahawks.

The Seahawks received below-average production from their kicker, Blair Walsh, last season. Walsh, who signed a one-year contract with the team during the 2017 offseason, made only 21 of a possible 29 field goals and missed vital attempts in losses against Arizona, Atlanta, and Washington.

Seattle wasted little time finding Walsh’s replacement when the team signed 26-year-old Jason Myers to an NFL futures contract in January. However, the former Jacksonville Jaguars kicker is not guaranteed to start for the Seahawks in 2018 – on April 13, the team announced the signing of Pro-Bowl kicker Sebastian Janikowski.

A former two-time All-American kicker at Florida State, Janikowski has the experience advantage over Myers. The 40-year-old Janikowski played 17 seasons with the Oakland Raiders prior to missing last year with a back injury.

Until last year, Janikowski shared the record for the longest field goal in NFL history (63 yards), and he currently holds the league record for made field goals beyond 50 yards (55). He has made 80.4 percent of his field goal attempts, while Myers has been successful on 81 percent of his attempts, albeit in a much smaller sample size.

Spot and React Appropriately to a Cardiac Arrest Emergency

American Heart Association
Image: heart.org

Cardiovascular physician Michael Simons earned his MD cum laude from Yale University School of Medicine. A professor at Yale, Michael Simons is a member of the American Heart Association (AHA).

AHA publishes guides to help people recognize and react appropriately when cardiac arrest strikes. Here’s how to know whether a person you are with has suffered cardiac arrest:

–Loss of responsiveness. The person suddenly cannot respond even if you tap his or her shoulder and ask for a response. If you do this and the person does not move, speak, or react in any way, there is definitely a problem.

–Poor breathing. If the person is not breathing properly or is gasping for breath, then he or she could be having a cardiac arrest.

Here’s what to do about it:

–Call 911. If you have a phone, call 911. If not, call for help and ask whoever responds to call 911.

–Give CPR. If the person is not breathing, proceed to administer CPR. Place your hands on the patient’s lower chest, one on top of the other, and push down 2 inches before coming back up. Repeat at least 100 times every minute until the person starts breathing or help arrives.

Clinical Research Versus Clinical Trials

 

Michael Simons, Yale
Image: medicine.yale.edu

A professor at Yale University, Michael Simons has undertaken extensive research in diverse areas of cardiovascular biology. In a career spanning more than three decades, Michael Simons has taken part in interdisciplinary clinical research programs and even led the first series of trials on therapeutic angiogenesis.

Clinical research and clinical trials sound similar but have unique categorizations. Clinical research is the study of health and illness. It involves human participants and helps translate research done in laboratories into new treatments or groundbreaking insights that benefit patients. There are several elements of clinical research, including treatment research, which evaluates new medications and therapies for treatment; prevention research, which investigates new ways of eliminating the risk of developing certain disorders; and diagnostic research, which investigates new ways of identifying particular disorders.

Clinical trials are the most well-known form of clinical research. They are used to test the safety and effectiveness of new medications or psychotherapies. These trials are conducted in four phases and usually take quite some time to complete. Each phase has a different number of participants, and different dosages of the drug are administered to determine a safe dose range, confirm safety, monitor treatment effectiveness, and identify potential side effects.

An Overview of the AAP/ASCI/APSA 2018 Joint Meeting

 

2018 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting
Image: the-asci.org

The chief of cardiology at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center from 2001-08, Dr. Michael Simons went on to accept the same position at Yale University School of Medicine in 2008. Supplementing his work at Yale, Dr. Michael Simons is a member of the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP).

Rather than host their own annual meetings, the ASCI and AAP, in addition to the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA), partner each year to host the preeminent annual gathering of physician-scientists. The 2018 AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting is scheduled from April 20 to 22 at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park in Chicago, Illinois, and includes a diverse range of medical presentations, directors meetings, and award presentations.

The event kicks off with an APSA business meeting on the morning of April 20 and is followed by a presentation on selective autophagy and age-related diseases with guest speakers Ana Maria Cuervo, MD, PhD, and Levi Garraway, MD, PhD. The first day also includes discussions on aging and healthy living, AAP and ASCI new member presentations, and the announcement of the ASCI Harrington Prize, which is given annually to physician-scientists whose research and discoveries have great potential for clinical application. Last year’s honor was jointly awarded to Daniel J. Drucker, MD, Joel F. Habener, MD, and Jens J. Holst, MD, DMSc, for their work in translating their discovery of incretin hormones into crucial therapies for metabolic diseases. Additionally, the three-day annual meeting includes panels on topics such as team-based science and work and life balance.

Causes of Restenosis

 

Restenosis
Image: webmd.com

Accomplished medical researcher Michael Simons serves as a tenured professor at the Yale School of Medicine. Throughout his career, Yale professor Michael Simons has largely focused his work on cardiovascular biology.

When patients have a narrowed or blocked blood vessel, they often undergo an angioplasty and have a stent inserted to improve blood flow. However, the vessel can sometimes become narrowed or blocked again, a problem called restenosis.

Roughly 40 to 50 percent of patients who receive a stent experience restenosis, often within three to 12 months of the initial procedure. Restenosis is usually caused by abnormal tissue growth where the stent was placed.

When stents are added to a blood vessel, the body produces cells along the endothelium, the lining of the arterial wall. These cells grow around the stent struts and help hold it in place. In some cases, scar tissue forms below this healthy tissue, resulting in a thick artery lining that obstructs blood flow.

Restenosis may also result from recurrent atherosclerosis. Typically, this doesn’t happen until at least a year after the initial surgery. Restenosis caused by atherosclerosis is much rarer than restenosis resulting from tissue growth.

The Annual AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting

AAP/ASCI/APSA Joint Meeting
Image: joinmeeting.org

For more than three decades, Michael Simons has been working in medicine. A graduate of the Yale School of Medicine, Dr. Simons has spent many years teaching and studying medical topics such as cardiovascular biology. Michael Simons has been welcomed into several professional organizations, including the Association of American Physicians (AAP).

Since 1885, the AAP has been committed to promoting physician-led research in all fields relating to health and medicine. As part of this mission, the AAP hosts a joint annual meeting with the American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) and the American Physician Scientists Association (APSA).

The meeting gives physician-scientists the opportunity to present and hear new discoveries in the field and collaborate with one another. The 2018 AAP/ASCI/APSA joint meeting is scheduled for April 20-22 at the Fairmont Chicago Millennium Park in Illinois. For more information, visit www.the-asci.org.

How the Jackson-Vanik Amendment Rescued Russian Jews

 

Michael Simons, Yale
Image: medicine.yale.edu

Dr. Michael Simons is the founding director of Yale University School of Medicine’s Cardiovascular Research Center and Yale’s R.W. Berliner Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology. His extensive professional background includes authoring numerous articles in peer-reviewed journals and medical textbooks, as well as lecturing around the world. Born in the former Soviet Union, Dr. Michael Simons is a naturalized United States citizen who emigrated in the 1970s as one of the Russian Jews welcomed to the country under the Jackson-Vanik Amendment.

An amendment to the Trade Act of 1974, the Jackson-Vanik Amendment was signed into law by Pres. Gerald R. Ford the following year. It was designed to address the human rights situation in the Soviet Union, which had all but forbidden the emigration of its Jewish citizens. The “refuseniks” were subject to routine persecution in their homeland.

After Sen. Jacob Javits of New York proposed tying trade with the Soviet Union to the issue of Jewish emigration, Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, along with Reps. Charles Vanik and Wilbur Mills, put their names to the Congressional bill. As passed, the amendment stated that any non-market economy nation would need to permit free emigration across its borders in exchange for enjoying a normalized trading relationship with the United States.

In 1975, only about 13,000 Soviet Jews were able to emigrate. Four years later, more than 50,000 successfully left for new lives in the West and Israel, where they continue to contribute their education, dedication, and talents.

An Early History of the Arsenal-Tottenham Rivalry

 

Arsenal and Tottenham
Image: bleacherreport.com

The R.W. Berliner Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology at the Yale University School of Medicine, Dr. Michael Simons graduated cum laude from Yale in the 1980s. His distinguished work as a physician and researcher focuses on cardiovascular conditions. In his free time, Dr. Michael Simons is interested in sports, and is a devoted follower of the Arsenal football club.

The club’s origins date back to 1886, when a group of workers at the Woolwich Arsenal Armament Factory banded together as a team. They originally called themselves the Dial Square, in reference to a sundial emblem on one of the Woolwich factories. They later become the Royal Arsenal. From the beginning, the Arsenal, or the Gunners, played in donated red shirts, giving rise to the cry, “Come on, you Reds!”

The Arsenal’s most famous rival, the blue-and-white-clad Tottenham Hotspur–known to fans simply as the Spurs–also enjoy a long history, having formed in 1882. Since 1950, the Gunners and the Spurs have faced off in the same league for every season but one.

The first match, a friendly one, between the Arsenal and Tottenham, took place in November 1887, when the Arsenal were still based in Plumstead. In 1909, the two clubs really faced off as rivals for the first time, with the Arsenal winning 1-0.

The heat turned up in 1913, when the Arsenal relocated to Highbury in North London. Now only a few miles apart, the two clubs began the fiery rivalry that continues to this day.

Three Essential Photography Accessories for Beginners

Photography
Image: photographytalk.com

Since 2008, Dr. Michael Simons has served as the RW Berliner Professor of Medicine and Cell Biology at the Yale University School of Medicine. Outside of Dr. Michael Simons’ work at Yale, he spends much of his free time pursuing his photography hobby.

While all you really need to get started in photography is a decent camera, there are a plethora of accessories and attachments that can both make your photos pop and make your life as a photographer easier. Here are three essential accessories a beginner may overlook.

1. Polarized Filter: While you can add many filters in postproduction with photo editing software, there are some things software cannot replicate, like a quality polarized filter. These filters help cut down on glare from shiny objects and surfaces, while also reducing haze and darkening bright skies.

2. Storage: Most DSLR cameras save photos onto SD cards, which range in capacity from two gigabytes to hundreds. Even if your camera came with an SD card, chances are a higher-capacity card would prove useful, especially if you shoot in the RAW format, which produces high-quality images but takes up a fair amount of space.

3. External Flash: Even with high-end cameras, the built-in flash often leaves plenty to be desired. Consider foregoing it altogether and opting instead for an external flash, to help you shoot quality photos in low-light or nighttime settings.

Study Expands Understanding of Atherosclerosis and Inflammation

 

Atherosclerosis and Inflammation
Image: nature.com

A researcher focused on cardiovascular biology, Michael Simons, MD, serves as professor at the Yale School of Medicine and the founding director of the Yale Cardiovascular Research Center. As detailed in “Endothelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EndMT) drives atherosclerosis progression,” Dr. Michael Simons’ laboratory was involved in a vital advance in our understanding of atherosclerosis (Journal of Clinical Investigation, October 2015).

The paper examines EndMT and its key regulator FGF receptor 1 (FGFR1), as well as the still not fully developed molecular mechanisms that influence the progression and development of atherosclerotic lesions. These lesions are related to disturbed blood flow and other biomechanical forces impacting the vascular tree, with common factors including diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and smoking.

The study links EndMT with a number of inflammation-associated conditions, from myocardial infarction to portal hypertension. In addition, it finds a strong correlation between endothelial FGFR1 expression declines and the extent to which EndMT is present in atherosclerotic lesions. The study may be important in finding pathways toward the reduction of inflammation and thus the development of novel antiatherosclerotic therapies.