Echosens Advocates for Increased Liver Health Awareness and Regular Screenings
PARIS, Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — As we approach October’s National Liver Health Awareness Month, Echosens, a manufacturer of non-invasive diagnostic technology, FibroScan®, is urgently calling attention to the importance of prioritizing liver health. The company underscores the significant role of regular liver screenings, particularly non-invasive ones, in detecting and preventing various liver diseases, such as Hepatitis, Fatty Liver Disease, Cirrhosis, and Liver Cancer. Echosens points out that public awareness and information about these diseases are currently insufficient, emphasizing the need for more education and awareness.
Over 844 million people worldwide are affected by liver diseases, as reported by the World Gastroenterology Organization. Often referred to as a “silent killer,” liver disease frequently remains unnoticed until it reaches advanced stages. However, early detection via regular screening can slow or even reverse progression.
Dr. Mazen Noureddin, transplant hepatologist at Houston Research Institute and Houston Methodist Hospital, stated, “Our primary objective is to amplify awareness about the significance of liver health. Routine screenings can pinpoint liver disease at an early stage when it is most manageable. As physicians and patients, we must shift our focus from late-stage treatment to early detection and prevention.”
This year’s focus is increasing awareness of liver disease and highlighting the recent changes in terminology for fatty liver disease, now referred to as steatotic liver disease (SLD). The terms nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) have been superseded by metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), respectively. The changes in naming conventions were meant to de-stigmatize liver disease and more accurately represent the connection to steatosis. This decision was reached following a multinational consensus involving 236 panelists from 56 countries, led by three major pan-national liver associations. More information and a complete list of name changes can be found here.
Dr. Phil Newsome, Director of NIHR Birmingham Biomedical Research Centre, UK, endorsed the new nomenclature. “We believe that this change in terminology will help to eliminate the stigma associated with liver disease and improve patient identification,” said Newsome. “We hope the new names will encourage more people to seek early screening for liver abnormalities, ultimately preventing more serious conditions such as end-stage liver disease.”
About Echosens Pioneer in its field, Echosens significantly changed the practice of liver assessment with FibroScan®, the non-invasive solution for comprehensive management of liver health. FibroScan® is recognized worldwide and validated by over 4,200 peer-reviewed publications and 180+ international guidelines. Echosens has made FibroScan® available in over 127 countries enabling millions of liver examinations worldwide. https://www.echosens.com/
Framework guides public health leaders in their work to promote well-being and reduce suicide
ARLINGTON, Va., Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The Association of State and Territorial Health Officials (ASTHO), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), and Mental Health America (MHA) today released a framework for public health leaders with effective strategies to improve mental health and prevent suicide for all people, in every community in the settings where they live, learn, work, and play.
Suicide is a leading cause of death and was responsible for over 48,000 deaths in 2021, according to the CDC. Rates of suicide increased by over 35% between 2000 and 2021, with the number of people who have contemplated or attempted suicide also increasing. Mental health concerns have also risen in recent years, with 44% of high school students reporting that they felt persistently sad or hopeless in 2021, and half of adults ages 18-24 reporting anxiety and depression symptoms in 2023.
Addressing mental health concerns and suicide prevention through a public health approach can prevent other negative outcomes, including chronic diseases, substance use, violence, and adverse childhood experiences. This framework is a step toward a more collective vision in which cross-sector partners are working together to build communities where all people can thrive.
“This new framework underscores the role public health agencies have with their partners in preventing suicide and improving mental well-being across the country,” says ASTHO CEO Michael Fraser, PhD. “Mental health is health. The framework will help public health leaders better communicate about community-wide efforts to promote well-being and prevent suicide, and ultimately, improve the health of everyone in their jurisdictions.”
“CDC’s mission is to protect people and save lives, and this includes addressing this country’s mental health and substance use disorder crisis,” said CDC Director Dr. Mandy Cohen. “CDC brings data, evidence and best practices to solving these crises, collaborating with our partners in reducing suicides and overdoses by focusing on prevention and community supports.”
The framework is rooted in the values of social and institutional equity, research-informed actions, community-led solutions, and multi-sector partnerships. Using feedback from focus groups and input from partners, ASTHO, CDC, MHA and CLASP have defined the role of public health across two categories: 1) promoting mental well-being by improving the essential conditions for health and 2) enhancing access to the supports and opportunities that provide care while reducing harm and isolation.
Leaders across many sectors, including community-based organizations, schools, medical and treatment providers, employment settings, and faith communities, should work in partnership to implement these strategies. The collective vision for the framework is that each community creates an environment for all people to find meaning, purpose, connection, and hope.
CDC Director Mandy Cohen, MD, MPH, emphasized the importance of recognizing that mental health is health and that public health be a contributor in mental health promotion and suicide prevention at a Kennedy Forum event on Oct. 3. Learn more about the framework here.
If you or a loved one are experiencing mental health related distress, contact the 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. Available 24 hours. Call or text 988 or chat at 988lifeline.org.
ASTHO is the national nonprofit organization representing the public health agencies of the United States, the U.S. territories and Freely Associated States, and Washington, D.C., as well as the more than 100,000 public health professionals these agencies employ. ASTHO members, the chief health officials of these jurisdictions, are dedicated to formulating and influencing sound public health policy and to ensuring excellence in public health practice.
CDC works 24/7 protecting America’s health, safety and security. Whether diseases start at home or abroad, are curable or preventable, chronic or acute, or from human activity or deliberate attack, CDC responds to America’s most pressing health threats. CDC is headquartered in Atlanta and has experts located throughout the United States and the world.
The Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP) is a national, nonpartisan, anti-poverty organization advancing policy solutions for people with low incomes. Because poverty in America is inextricably tied to systemic racism, CLASP focuses its policy and advocacy efforts for economic and racial justice on addressing systemic racism as the primary cause of poverty for communities of color.
Mental Health America is the nation’s leading community-driven nonprofit dedicated to promoting mental health and well-being, resilience, recovery, and closing the mental health equity gap. Mental Health America’s work is driven by its commitment to promote mental health as a critical part of whole-person health, including prevention services for all; early identification and intervention for those at risk; and integrated care, services and supports for those who need them. Learn more atMHAnational.org.
SOURCE Association of State and Territorial Health Officials
EN Week has been celebrating emergency nurses since 1989
SCHAUMBURG, Ill., Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — The Emergency Nurses Association will honor emergency nurses during its annual Emergency Nurses Week celebrations. ENA welcomes the public to join the celebrations by sharing stories, appreciation and warm regards on social media throughout the week using #ENWeek. ENA brings back its annual EN Week 5K to further the honor and recognition of emergency nurses and the work they do every day.
Since 1989, the Emergency Nurses Association has recognized the second Wednesday in October as Emergency Nurses Day. In 2001, ENA expanded the celebration to a full week to shine a bigger light on emergency nurses.
“It is so important to have not just a day, but an entire week dedicated to appreciating emergency department nurses. These nurses go to work every day wanting to help people and better their community never expecting any thanks or recognition. Many times, they see people and families when they are unsure or scared and bring comfort and answers to them during that time,” said ENA President Terry Foster, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, CCRN, TCRN, FAEN. “The least we can do is dedicate a week to thank them for all that they do on a daily basis. Thank you to all ED nurses!”
WHEN: Oct. 8-14
WHERE: Social media; Emergency departments across the world
WHO: ENA President Terry Foster, MSN, RN, CEN, CPEN, CCRN, TCRN, FAEN (Contact ENA to schedule an interview)
Mars Veterinary Health, Banfield Pet Hospital announce $25,000 grant to spur innovation that will help ensure care is available to pets
VANCOUVER, Wash., Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Banfield Pet Hospital® – the nation’s leading provider of preventive veterinary care and part of the Mars Veterinary Health family of practices – today hosted its 22nd annual Pet Healthcare Industry Summit, where leaders convened to identify barriers and collaborate on innovative solutions around one of the most pressing issues impacting the profession: access to veterinary care and whether owners can obtain and pay for services and treatments for their pets. Mars Veterinary Health shared its most recently updated research showing that even with the new veterinary graduates expected over the next 10 years, a shortage of up to 24,000 companion-animal veterinarians will likely still exist by 2030.
Mony Iyer, President of Banfield Pet Hospital
Alea Harrison, Chief Medical Officer of Banfield Pet Hospital
Molly McAllister, Chief Medical Officer of Mars Veterinary Health
During Summit, leaders from across the veterinary industry and Mars Petcare ecosystem discussed challenges and opportunities to help chart a course towards a more sustainable future for veterinary medicine through innovations in education systems, team-based care, and technology.
Education systems “The veterinary landscape is changing rapidly, creating unique headwinds that call for a unified and thoughtful approach to ensure the profession can meet the needs of pets that deserve high-quality care,” said Molly McAllister, chief medical officer of Mars Veterinary Health. “Creating new, innovative education models is at the heart of this challenge. I’m encouraged by how the industry, academia and Mars ecosystem came together today to help move the profession in a positive direction.”
A key advancement in veterinary medical education discussed today at summit is Spectrum of Care or the idea that veterinary care exists along a continuum. Spectrum of Care asks a critical question: How do we educate veterinary professionals to see pets everywhere in a way that is inclusive of the diversity of pet owners that need to be seen, while also providing quality veterinary care?
Team-based care “Team-based care expands access to care for pets and their owners through more hours of coverage and shorter wait times, without added burden to hospital teams,” said Mony Iyer, president of Banfield Pet Hospital. “It also allows for more effective and efficient delivery of care, including increased client education. For hospital teams, it fosters a more positive work environment, leading to increased job satisfaction and retention.”
One example Banfield shared of bringing team-based care to life is its Certified Veterinary Technician (CVT) Appointments, which enable technicians to provide services under the direction and supervision of a veterinarian. Banfield has delivered 2.7 million CVT appointments since 2019, and found participating technicians are 12x more likely to stay with the practice.
Technology “Technological innovations have the potential to positively impact access to care by advancing fundamental areas of veterinary medicine, from prediction and prevention to monitoring, diagnosis, and treatment,” said Nefertiti Greene, president of Mars Science & Diagnostics. “Mars Petcare has a unique opportunity to lead the way in many of these areas, with a full diagnostic offering, one-of-a-kind cat and dog biobank, and commitment to sharing what we learn with the industry.”
Another example of how Mars encourages technology that advances pet health is by providing funding and mentorship to accelerate startups that are working to unlock access to care through artificial intelligence (AI)-based solutions.
What’s next: investing to advance access to care As the veterinary profession works to solve access-to-care challenges, Mars Veterinary Health and Banfield Pet Hospital announced at Summit a $25,000 grant to the Veterinary Innovation Council to help build a dynamic website or repository of information on what services, programs, and resources already exist within the access to care space.
“This new grant and resource will help veterinary professionals and pet owners more easily explore their options when providing and seeking care for pets,” said Alea Harrison, chief medical officer of Banfield Pet Hospital. “It’s part of Banfield and Mars’ ongoing commitment to leveraging our size and scale to invest and provide tools and resources that benefit the broader profession.”
At last year’s Summit, Mars Veterinary Health and the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA) announced a working group to deliver the Positive Pet Care Guide – a resource aimed at strengthening the relationship between veterinary teams and clients in support of providing the best possible care to pets. Since its release in April of this year, the Guide has been viewed more than 6,000 times, with hospital teams sharing the guide with clients on their websites and in their hospitals.
ABOUT MARS, INCORPORATED
Mars, Incorporated is driven by the belief that the world we want tomorrow starts with how we do business today. As a global, family-owned business, Mars is transforming, innovating, and evolving to make a positive impact on the world.
Across our diverse and expanding portfolio of quality confectionery, food, and pet care products and services, we employ 140,000+ dedicated Associates. With more than $47 billion in annual sales, we produce some of the world’s best-loved brands including Ben’s Original™, CESAR®, Cocoavia®, DOVE®, EXTRA®, KIND®, M&M’s®, SNICKERS®, PEDIGREE®, ROYAL CANIN®, and WHISKAS®. We are creating a better world for pets through our global network of pet hospitals and diagnostic services – including AniCura, BANFIELD™, BLUEPEARL™, Linnaeus and VCA™ – using cutting edge technology to develop breakthrough programs in genetic health screening and DNA testing.
About Banfield Pet Hospital® Banfield Pet Hospital was founded in Portland, Ore. in 1955 and today is a pioneer in preventive veterinary care with more than 1,000 general veterinary hospitals in 42 states, Washington D.C., Puerto Rico, and Mexico. More than 3,600 Banfield veterinarians are committed to providing high-quality veterinary care to over three million pets annually. Banfield collects data from each of these visits in the U.S.’s largest electronic veterinary health records system. Our goal is to be here for pets, people, and society. As part of the Mars Veterinary Health family of practices, Banfield is committed to its purpose — A BETTER WORLD FOR PETS® — because pets make a better world for us. Press seeking additional information are invited to call the Media Hotline: (888) 355-0595.
TEMPE, Ariz., Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Meta-DSP company Genius Monkey announced a partnership with StatSocial, an industry-leading social audience insights platform built to empower marketers and researchers to make more informed decisions. StatSocial leverages a comprehensive set of self-declared social audience data for a deeper understanding of consumer audiences, brand measurement, and social and influencer ROI.
StatSocial Data on Genius Monkey Dashboard (PRNewsfoto/Genius Monkey)
Genius Monkey Stat Social Integration (PRNewsfoto/Genius Monkey)
Genius Monkey – who has been paving the way in the programmatic attribution space for 10 years – continues to push for better ways to show ad lift, effectiveness, and audience insights in order to test and redeploy to converting audiences for maximized ROI. Under a multi-year partnership, Genius Monkey is integrating StatSocial to show a deeper relationship between the targeted audience and their interest affinities.
Genius Monkey COO, Travis Champ, had this to say about the partnership announcement:
“Audience insights and the ability to learn and optimize has always been a primary focus here at Genius Monkey. However, extracting that data from every DSP and network can limit the amount of data points you are able to collect on any individual, giving you only a vague knowledge of their true persona and personality.” Champ continued “On top of this, Google Analytics persona and demographic data is notoriously not the most accurate. That is why Genius Monkey sought out an integration with StatSocial through Genius Monkey’s identity graph in order to map household devices and data points to billions of social media platform profiles. This integration allows the Genius Monkey platform to learn more about what users that are being targeted are truly interested in, who they are, and have the ability to use those insights to further optimize our platform users’ campaigns.”
The StatSocial integration will allow Genius Monkey to:
Analyze current customer base to identify and compare niche audience segments, and create new consumer audiences within the platform for valuable insights that will guide future go-to-market decisions
Deploy powerful always-on tracking to better understand exposed and engaged social audiences, further improving our ability to measure campaign impact and brand awareness
Expand survey and panel data to include over 85,000 new customer attributes such as passions, interests, preferred media, and much more
Enrich respondent profiles with social affinity data, allowing us to be more flexible and launch on-the-fly analyses to incredibly niche sample audiences
Jeremy Hudgens, CRO of Genius Monkey, had this to say: “One of the most important things to us at Genius Monkey is showing continued value to our platform users. We have been listening to user input and the request for more audience insights and have delivered just that through this StatSocial partnership. We are very excited to put these data sets to work and continue ROI optimization while providing users with more knowledge on their customer base.”
CORNELIUS, N.C., Oct. 4, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Aderis Energy, LLC proudly announces the successful implementation and testing of their Aderis Acuity PPC™, meeting Duke Energy’s Reactive Capability and Control Verification (RCCV) requirements. Derived from the IEEE 1547-2018 Standards for Interconnection and Interoperability of Distributed Resources, these requirements mandate that smaller distribution interconnected generators support real-time operational requirements previously only placed on larger transmission interconnected generators.
Necessary to support the integration of renewable energy and storage resources into the grid and align with grid modernization efforts, these requirements also create financial burdens due to smaller project budgets and technical barriers for implementation and final commissioning by developers and EPCs.
Unique in the market, the Aderis Acuity PPC™ is tailored to meet the challenges associated with deployment on small scale projects. The unique tiered pricing model for the product is based on both project capacity and functional requirements – delivering an affordable, project-specific solution to meet modern regulations. Another advantage of the Aderis Acuity™ platform is its flexibility to provide a single solution for monitoring, SCADA, PPC, and EMS functionality through simple software upgrades, future-proofing renewable generators for emerging market opportunities.
The Aderis Acuity PPC™ is a special set of real-time power plant control functions that are deployed as an extension of Aderis Energy’s mature monitoring and control offering Aderis Acuity™. The user-configurable device monitoring, alarm management, and real-time web-based graphical environment lower the technical implementation hurdles required by legacy platforms.
Brad Micallef, President & COO of Aderis Energy, shared, “With our system, you don’t need custom engineering solutions. Configuration-based, Acuity is the perfect foundation for the Aderis Acuity PPC™ power plant controller, enabling turnkey and supportable solutions for projects of any scale.”
Aderis Energy’s focus on enabling the successful deployment of renewable energy is not limited to software. They provide support for utilities’ witness testing and reporting requirements, removing barriers for owners to achieve commercial operation.
“We are committed to the success of our customers through the entire business process, from initial consultation to completion,” explained Adam Foodman, CEO of Aderis Energy. “The complex nature of controls integration, regulatory requirements, and equipment diversity require professional partnerships between suppliers and customers that extend beyond a simple commercial transaction.”
As the clean energy transition continues to accelerate and evolve, the need for more advanced operational models will be required to enable greater market participation and revenue opportunities. Aderis Energy is committed to supporting customer project deployment to maximize commercial operations and lower the cost of ownership through resilient, sustainable, and innovative solutions.
About Aderis Energy, LLC: A leading provider of advanced energy solutions, specializing in power plant control systems, interconnection equipment, intelligent weather stations, and renewable energy integration solutions. Supported by a team of industry specialists, Aderis Energy develops innovative technologies that optimize power generation, enhance grid stability, and drive the rapid deployment and reliable operation of renewable energy solutions.
