From The Orange County Register, By ANGELA RATZLAFF / STAFF WRITER
Jared Rabin displays the Hang-O-Matic, which will be featured on the Oxygen Network on March 30. Jared and his wife Karina developed the device which helps level framed artwork and other items in the home.BILL ALKOFER, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER
Amanda Moran is not a typical candidate for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), mainly because her parents did not have it. PKD, which is known for causing cysts to grow on the kidneys, is typically passed down genetically and it doesn’t skip generations. According to kidney.org, it is the number four cause of kidney failure, affecting an estimated 600,000 Americans. A genetic mutation caused Moran’s PKD, which resulted in elevated blood pressure and effected the levels of different chemicals and toxins in the body and how they were processed.
Appearing on a reality TV show can be life-changing. For Lake Forest couple Jared and Karina Rabin, landing a spot on Oxygen’s new “Quit Your Day Job” could be a lifesaver.
Jared, 36, and Karina, 37, will be featured during the series premiere today. Similar to the popular pitch show “Shark Tank” on ABC, the Oxygen show offers aspiring, young business owners the opportunity to pitch inventions and ideas to a panel of investors.
Jared Rabin created the Hang-O-Matic, a product that helps people install shelves, picture frames or artwork with ease.
While most startups on the show will vie for an investment deal and product recognition, for Karina, it could mean a longer life.
A costly transplant
Karina Rabin, who was born in Russia, suffers from polycystic kidney disease. It’s one of the most common life-threatening genetic diseases in the U.S., mostly affecting adults. When her kidney fails, Karina said, her only chance of survival would be a costly transplant.
“There’s no chemo; there’s no treatment for it,” said Karina, who has a 3-year-old son and a baby boy on the way. “There is a guarantee you are going to die, because your kidneys will fail.”
By sharing her story on the show, Karina is hopeful more people will become aware of PKD, which has a foundation dedicated to finding a cure and treatment for the condition.
The invention
Jared Rabin was a 20-year-old student at UC San Diego when he invented the Hang-O-Matic.
It was borne of his own frustration. While moving from dorm to dorm, he would use a piece of dental floss and a level to help him mark two exact points for nails.
Not long after filing a couple of patents and creating some prototypes for his creation, he met Karina.
“His parents gave us a snow globe that had their wedding anniversary on it,” Karina said. “I was hanging the shelf, and then we put the snow globe on it, and we watched it slide and crash. It shattered. The shelf was crooked.”
Jared broke out his prototype. Back then it was a zip tie with two nails on either end. The device helped them quickly and properly hang the shelf.
The couple went on to finalize the Hang-O-Matic design and launch it as a business. They ran into some bumps along the road, mostly in the form of scams and ripoffs. [Read more]
Amanda Moran, the orchestra director at J.C. Booth Middle School, recently received a kidney from her brother, Andrew.
Jared, 36, and Karina, 37, will be featured during the series premiere today. Similar to the popular pitch show “Shark Tank” on ABC, the Oxygen show offers aspiring, young business owners the opportunity to pitch inventions and ideas to a panel of investors.
Jared Rabin created the Hang-O-Matic, a product that helps people install shelves, picture frames or artwork with ease.
While most startups on the show will vie for an investment deal and product recognition, for Karina, it could mean a longer life.
A costly transplant
Karina Rabin, who was born in Russia, suffers from polycystic kidney disease. It’s one of the most common life-threatening genetic diseases in the U.S., mostly affecting adults. When her kidney fails, Karina said, her only chance of survival would be a costly transplant.
“There’s no chemo; there’s no treatment for it,” said Karina, who has a 3-year-old son and a baby boy on the way. “There is a guarantee you are going to die, because your kidneys will fail.”
By sharing her story on the show, Karina is hopeful more people will become aware of PKD, which has a foundation dedicated to finding a cure and treatment for the condition.
The invention
Jared Rabin was a 20-year-old student at UC San Diego when he invented the Hang-O-Matic.
It was borne of his own frustration. While moving from dorm to dorm, he would use a piece of dental floss and a level to help him mark two exact points for nails.
Not long after filing a couple of patents and creating some prototypes for his creation, he met Karina.
“His parents gave us a snow globe that had their wedding anniversary on it,” Karina said. “I was hanging the shelf, and then we put the snow globe on it, and we watched it slide and crash. It shattered. The shelf was crooked.”
Jared broke out his prototype. Back then it was a zip tie with two nails on either end. The device helped them quickly and properly hang the shelf.
The couple went on to finalize the Hang-O-Matic design and launch it as a business. They ran into some bumps along the road, mostly in the form of scams and ripoffs. [Read more]
Out of the Blue
Amanda Moran, the orchestra director at J.C. Booth Middle School, recently received a kidney from her brother, Andrew.
Amanda Moran is not a typical candidate for Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD), mainly because her parents did not have it. PKD, which is known for causing cysts to grow on the kidneys, is typically passed down genetically and it doesn’t skip generations. According to kidney.org, it is the number four cause of kidney failure, affecting an estimated 600,000 Americans. A genetic mutation caused Moran’s PKD, which resulted in elevated blood pressure and effected the levels of different chemicals and toxins in the body and how they were processed.
“The biggest thing was how tired I was,” Moran, the orchestra director at J.C. Booth Middle School, said. “I’d go to the grocery store, or fold laundry, and I’d need to take a nap.”
After getting the diagnosis, Moran started doing research. Doctors said that she would likely need to go on dialysis within five years or get a kidney transplant. Two years ago, Moran went through the screening process with the Piedmont Transplant Center and was approved to get on the list. With nearly 5,000 people waiting for kidney transplants in Georgia alone, and an estimated wait time of 3-5 years, the center recommended letting family members, friends and colleagues know what she was going through in hopes of finding a living donor. Her sister and a friend both got themselves tested to see if they were potential matches, but Moran’s antibodies rejected theirs. In May of 2015, her younger brother, Andrew, got tested and their antibodies matched. Three months later, he donated a kidney to his big sister.
The donation of a live kidney can make a huge difference. It is estimated that a live kidney can last up to 20 years, whereas a kidney from a deceased donor will only last eight to ten years. Moran was also able to have the transplant done before she ever needed to go on dialysis. Her new kidney started working right away and both brother and sister were out of the hospital within a few days. The recovery process for Moran was painful and long, but within two months she felt better and noticed her energy levels were back to normal. She returned to teaching in November.
There was no special gift for her brother, whom she considers her hero, at Christmas, but she did get him a t-shirt with a message about being a kidney donor and he knows that she is eternally grateful. Her wish now is for people to become more informed about live organ donations.
“People hear about it and it scares them, but they should learn about it, get checked out and ask questions. The doctors won’t allow you to donate an organ if you’re not healthy enough physically, or mentally, to handle it,” Moran said. “There are not enough kidneys out there. There are people that need help. There is no better gift than to save someone’s life.”
To learn more about organ transplants and donations, visit piedmont.org/transplant.
From State Journal-Register, Springfield, IL, by David Bakke
Former couple doing fine after kidney transplant
Corey Having and Lindsey Leonhard. Dave Bakke/The State Journal-Register
After one false start, when transplant surgery had to be postponed due to a surgeon's illness, Corey Having has his new kidney, courtesy of a former girlfriend.
Both Corey and the donor, Lindsey Leonhard, sounded great when I talked to them by phone Thursday.
"I'm doing pretty well," says Lindsey, who will be off work as long as six weeks. "Everything with the surgery went really well. My kidney is taking well for Corey. I'm doing as well as can be expected."
Corey says his March 22 surgery at Springfield's Memorial Medical Center took about seven hours. It was about five hours in the OR for Lindsey.
"Everything's looking great," Corey says. "I went to the doctor Tuesday for the first time. Everything's on schedule."
Corey says the doctor found the toxin number in his blood stream is way down since the transplant. He will return to the doctor every Monday and Friday for the next two months.
He has polycystic kidney disease, which runs in his family. He was diagnosed at 14 and was undergoing dialysis every other day before the transplant. Eventually the tumors in his kidney grew so large that doctors told him a transplant was required.
Corey went on the national list of people waiting for kidney donors, but that could have taken as long as five years. But then Lindsey -- she and Corey dated for four years 10 years ago -- heard about his situation, was tested and found compatible as a donor.
After the transplant, the two had neighboring rooms at Memorial.
One of the reasons they agreed to tell their story was because they wanted to promote organ donation. It seems it already is having an effect.
"I found out from Corey's mother," says Lindsey, "that they found out one of his relatives has this polycystic disease. They weren't aware of the living donor option."
They are now, and it appears one of the family members will qualify as a living kidney donor.
To that end, this is from the National Kidney Foundation: As of January, there were 121,678 people waiting for lifesaving organ transplants in the U.S. Of these, 100,791 await kidney transplants.
The median wait time for an individual’s first kidney transplant is 3.6 years and can vary depending on health, compatibility and availability of organs.
In 2014, 17,107 kidney transplants took place in the U.S. Of these, 11,570 came from deceased donors and 5,537 came from living donors.
On average, more than 3,000 new patients are added to the kidney waiting list each month.
In 2014, 4,761 patients died while waiting for a kidney transplant. Another 3,668 people became too sick to receive a kidney transplant.
In short, there are a whole lot of Coreys out there and a shortage of Lindseys.
PKD Research
From EconoTimes
Palladio Biosciences, Inc. Named “Best in Show” at Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels 1st Pitch Philadelphia Event
Mid-Atlantic Bio Angels (MABA) announces today that Palladio Biosciences, Inc. was voted as “Best in Show” at MABA's 1st Pitch Life Science, which took place on March 17, 2016 at the Cira Center in Philadelphia. Palladio Biosciences is a Newtown, PA-based drug development company developing novel disease-modifying drugs for the treatment of Polycystic Kidney Disease, an inherited genetic disease which causes a progressive decline in kidney function.
“Having been chosen as ‘Best in Show’ is encouraging in that knowledgeable investors see promise in our science and unique approach to a shortened approval pathway, extended market exclusivity and the clear need of our drugs for this underserved market,” said Lorenzo Pellegrini, Ph.D., founder and CEO of Palladio Biosciences. “We were delighted by the depth of knowledge of the audience and would like to thank the panel for the quality of their helpful feedback. We believe that we may be able to provide renewed hope to a patient population that has been waiting for too long for effective therapies.”
"While the company is in its early stages, our panel was impressed by the sophistication of both management and Palladio’s approach. The safety and efficacy data for analogue drugs was compelling and clearly establishes acceptable safety and proof of concept, without minimizing potential issues. A well-deserved win," said panelist Bernard Rudnick, co-founder of Mid Atlantic Bio Angels and a Managing Partner of Capgenic Advisors in Delaware.
“Palladio effectively conveyed the scientific evidence supporting their therapeutic hypothesis, as well as the market opportunity,” said Stephen Goodman, another co-founder and a partner at Pryor Cashman LLP in New York City. “The company has laid an excellent foundation for future growth and investment.”
1st Pitch Life Science (http://www.1stpitchlifescience.com) has been organized by MABA, a life science investor group, to encourage and educate aspiring life science entrepreneurs who know they may be too early to seek investment but want the opportunity to practice their pitch and to receive constructive criticism from experienced and knowledgeable professionals.
About Palladio Biosciences
Palladio Biosciences is a specialty pharma company dedicated to the treatment of orphan diseases of the kidney, with specific emphasis on autosomal dominant and autosomal recessive Polycystic Kidney Disease. Given the complexity of these diseases, the company aims to deploy a multi-pronged approach to provide much needed relief to patients suffering from these devastating diseases. In particular, the company targets initiation of registration Phase 3 studies for its lead drug for autosomal dominant Polycystic Kidney Disease in 9 ‐ 12 months.
From Oregon Live, By Lynne Terry
Dr. Sharon Anderson, Oregon Health & Science University
The group picked Dr. Sharon Anderson to receive its David Hume award, which is given to a top scientist in the field of kidney and urologic diseases. Anderson chairs the Department of Medicine at Oregon Health & Science University and previously served as chief of medical service at the VA Portland Health Care System.
She's a professor and researcher, specializing in the progression of chronic kidney disease, a statement said. Her research has helped other scientists better understand diabetic nephropathy, polycystic kidney disease and the aging kidney, the statement said.
She's the second woman to be chosen for the award.
"For research, there are many things that are exciting right now," Anderson said in a statement. "The current focus on personalized medicine offers an unprecedented opportunity to learn more about why people with different ages, gender, ethnicity, or genetic background may be more susceptible to kidney disease, and how we might intervene to modify those risk factors. "
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