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Eight communities in Florida’s Collier and Lee counties become first to achieve Blue Zones Community certification in Southeast US

Eight communities in Florida’s Collier and Lee counties become first to achieve Blue Zones Community certification in Southeast US
PR Newswire
NAPLES, Fla., Jan. 31, 2023

Cities in Southwest Florida experience dramatic health and well-being gains s…

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Eight communities in Florida's Collier and Lee counties become first to achieve Blue Zones Community certification in Southeast US

PR Newswire

Cities in Southwest Florida experience dramatic health and well-being gains since implementing Blue Zones Project

NAPLES, Fla., Jan. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Blue Zones, LLC, and Sharecare (Nasdaq: SHCR) today announced that the Southwest Florida communities of Naples, Immokalee, Ave Maria, Bonita Springs, Estero, Golden Gate, East Naples, and Marco Island each have achieved Blue Zones Community® certification, marking the first places to earn the designation in Florida as well as the Southeast U.S. The certification recognizes the measurable success of Southwest Florida's well-being transformation through the implementation of Blue Zones Project®, a pioneering population health initiative that brings evidence-based best practices in built environment, policy, and social connection to participating communities.

Brought to Southwest Florida by NCH Healthcare System in 2015, the well-being improvement initiative has engaged local leaders, volunteers, and organizations to help residents move naturally, eat better, develop healthy social circles, and live with purpose in their communities. Each of the newly certified communities earned the designation by meeting and exceeding Blue Zones Project benchmarks in categories including resident and employer engagement rates, resident well-being scores, and community policies.

According to the Sharecare Community Well-Being Index, Southwest Florida's investment in well-being has contributed to measurable improvements and associated cost savings across its communities. The overall 2021 Index score aggregated for Southwest Florida's eight certified communities rose to 72.2 out of 100, a gain of 3.6 points since 2015. Each point increase in well-being score leads to an approximate 2% reduction in emergency room (ER) visits and hospital utilization, and an approximate 1% reduction in total healthcare costs. Overall well-being in the area also measures higher than both the state and nation, outpacing each by 8.2 points and 7.8 points respectively.

Additionally, as a result of the community-wide effort led by the local Blue Zones Project team:

  • Residents who report they are thriving in daily life rose 26.8% from 62.2% to 78.9% of the population;
  • Tobacco use is at an all-time low of 3.6% per capita;
  • 20.1% more residents are exercising regularly;
  • $190.2 million in avoided medical and lost productivity costs were gained over the seven years; and
  • $15.3 million in add-on grant funding was generated for the communities.

These impressive measures are the direct result of the participation of nearly 275,000 individuals and more than 800 organizations who implemented Project programs, activities, and best practices. More than 60 new community policies which were implemented as part of the Project have improved built environment infrastructure, food systems, and tobacco use across the region to support better health among residents.

"Southwest Florida's stunning results speak for themselves. Through the coordination and commitment of partners, residents, and organizations, the communities have achieved incredible well-being outcomes during challenging times," said Ben Leedle, CEO of Blue Zones and co-founder of Blue Zones Project. "The visionary leadership of NCH Healthcare System sets a healthcare industry standard by serving as a catalyst and trusted agent for building healthier communities."

Over the past several years, Blue Zones Project has been instrumental in helping partners in the area come together not only throughout the pandemic, but also during and in the wake of two major hurricanes. In these times of crisis, the Project focused on establishing initiatives to prepare individuals and organizations for adaptability, such as the creation of the Food Policy Council, a collaboration of over 60 partners representing different aspects of the food system. In addition to securing over $1.2 million in grants, the Council introduced an online platform to connect those with excess food – like grocery stores, restaurants, and clubs – with nearby emergency food providers who serve those in need. Since launching the initiative in Southwest Florida in 2021, nearly 310,000 pounds of food have been 'rescued' to help local residents. Blue Zones Project's partnerships with local organizations, such as the Food Policy Council, enabled better coordination and distribution of food after Hurricane Ian, as well as aided in the delivery of tetanus shots and emergency supplies in neighborhoods that experienced devastation.

"The determination demonstrated by the communities of Southwest Florida, particularly in the aftermath of Hurricane Ian, is proof positive of the impact that people can make when they rally around a focused and sustained commitment to community well-being," said Michael Acker, senior vice president of community and urban services at Sharecare. "Despite the loss and challenges many experienced, the region – thanks to the dedicated efforts of the local Project staff, sponsors, volunteers, and committee members – has established a strong foundation for population health that will yield positive results for years to come. We admire the grit, spirit, and dedication of Southwest Florida's residents, local employers, and community organizations, and look forward to the next phase of this work in partnership with NCH Healthcare System."

Over the next two years, the Project will continue to collaborate with community partners with a focus on well-being sustainment. With the utilization of Sharecare's measurement resources, opportunities and needs across the covered area will be identified to apply targeted resources to support at-risk populations. The community also will continue to implement local policies that support food access, reduce tobacco use, and improve the built environment, and build upon existing infrastructure in the places where people spend time – such as worksites, schools, restaurants, grocery stores, and faith communities.

"At NCH Healthcare System, our mission is to help everyone in our communities live longer, happier, and healthier lives," said Paul Hiltz, CEO of NCH Healthcare System. "We brought Blue Zones Project to Southwest Florida in 2015 with the goal of decreasing chronic disease rates and helping residents live longer lives in better health. Through the expansion of the initiative over the past seven years, we've seen a measurable reduction in chronic health risks and increased well-being across the community, which is a direct reflection of our residents' strength and their will to improve despite the myriad of challenges they may face."

For more information about the Blue Zones Project in Southwest Florida, visit southwestflorida.bluezonesproject.com.

About Blue Zones Project

Blue Zones Project® is a community-led well-being improvement initiative designed to make healthy choices easier through permanent changes to a city's environment, policy, and social networks. Blue Zones Project is based on research by Dan Buettner, a National Geographic Fellow and New York Times best-selling author who identified five cultures of the world—or blue zones —with the highest concentration of people living to 100 years or older. Blue Zones Project incorporates Buettner's findings and works with cities to implement policies and programs which will move a community toward optimal health and well-being. Currently, more than 70 communities across North America have joined Blue Zones Project, impacting more than 4.5 million citizens. The population health solution includes two Health Districts in California; 15 cities in Iowa; Albert Lea, Minnesota; the city of Fort Worth, Texas; Corry, Pennsylvania; Brevard, North Carolina; and communities in Southwest Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, Oklahoma, Oregon, and Wisconsin. Blue Zones Project is a partnership between Blue Zones, LLC, and Sharecare, Inc. For more information, visit bluezonesproject.com.

Contact:
Jen Martin Hall
EVP of Communications, Sharecare
jen@sharecare.com

Naomi Imatome-Yun, Blue Zones
naomi@bluezones.com
917-952-8534

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Analyst revamps MicroStrategy stock price target after Bitcoin buy

Here’s what could happen to MicroStrategy shares next.

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How does Michael Saylor feel about bitcoin? We'll let him tell you in his own words.

"Bitcoin is a swarm of cyberhornets serving the goddess of wisdom, feeding on the fire of truth, exponentially growing ever smarter, faster, and stronger behind a wall of encrypted energy," the executive chairman and co-founder of MicroStrategy  (MSTR)  once said.

Too subtle? Still not sure how the former CEO of the software intelligence company feels about the world's largest cryptocurrency? 

Maybe this will help.

"Bitcoin is a bank in cyberspace, run by incorruptible software, offering a global, affordable, simple and secure savings account to billions of people that don't have the option or desire to run their own hedge fund," Saylor said.

Okay, so the guy really likes bitcoin. And on March 19, the first day of spring, MicroStrategy took a bigger bite out of bitcoin when the company said it had bought 9,245 bitcoins for $623 million between March 11 and March 18.

MicroStrategy said it a completed a $603.75 million convertible debt offering — its second in a week — to raise money to buy bitcoin.

The company now holds about $13.5 billion of bitcoin, which adds up to more than 1% of the 21 million bitcoin that will ever exist, according to CoinDesk.

An analyst adjusts his price target for MicroStrategy

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Committed to developing bitcoin network

MicroStrategy said in a regulatory filing that it had paid roughly $7.53 billion for its bitcoin stash, an average of $35,160 per coin.

The company's stock fell on Tuesday, while bitcoin posted its biggest single-day loss since November 2022. MicroStrategy was off slightly to $1,416 at last check on Wednesday and bitcoin was up 2.3% to $63.607.

Related: Analyst unveils Nvidia stock price 'line in the sand'

Phong Le, MicroStrategy’s president and CEO, told analysts during the company’s Feb. 6 fourth-quarter-earnings call that "we remain highly committed to our bitcoin strategy with a long-term focus.."

"We consider MicroStrategy to be the world's first bitcoin development company," he said. "We are a publicly traded operating company committed to the continued development of the bitcoin network through activities in the financial markets, advocacy, and technology innovation."

MicroStrategy earned $4.96 a share in the quarter, beating the FactSet consensus of a loss of 64 cents, and light years beyond the year-ago loss of $21.93 a share.

Revenue totaled $124.5 million, compared with FactSet's call for $133 million and the year-earlier tally of $132.6 million.

During the call, Saylor told analysts that "2024 is the year of birth of bitcoin as an institutional-grade asset class."

MicroStrategy, he said, completed the first 15 years of the bitcoin life cycle, back when it was largely unregulated and misunderstood. 

"The next 15 years, I would expect, will be a regulated, institutional, high-growth period of bitcoin, very, very different in many ways from the last 15 years," Saylor said.

Crypto's dark days

"Bitcoin itself is performing well for a number of reasons, but one reason is because it represents the digital transformation of capital," he added.

Of course, life with bitcoin wasn't always sunshine and roses. 

More Wall Street Analysts:

We take you back now to those less-than-thrilling days yesteryear, when covid-19 was on the rampage and the price of bitcoin fell 30% from March 8 to March 12 2020.

By the end of 2021, bitcoin had fallen nearly 30%. And 2023 saw the cryptocurrency sector wracked with bankruptcy and scandal, with the likes of FTX CEO Sam Bankman-Fried being convicted of fraud, conspiracy, and money laundering. 

SBF, as he has been known, is scheduled to be sentenced in Manhattan federal court on March 28. He faces a long stretch.

But bitcoin rose about 160% in 2023 and hit a record $73,750 on March 14.

Saylor recently said that his high hopes for bitcoin this year stemmed largely from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission approving spot bitcoin ETFs and the upcoming bitcoin halving, where when bitcoin's mining reward is split in half.

MicroStrategy is the first bitcoin development company, Saylor told analysts, but perhaps not for long. 

"We've published our playbook, and we're showing other companies how to do it," he said.

TD Cowen analyst Lance Vitanza cited MicroStrategy's latest bitcoin acquisition when he adjusted his price target for the company's shares on March 20.

The analyst cut the investment firm's price target on MicroStrategy to $1,450 from $1,560 and affirmed an outperform rating on the shares. 

He says the shares remain an attractive vehicle for investors looking to gain bitcoin exposure.

Related: Veteran fund manager picks favorite stocks for 2024

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FoxO6-mediated ApoC3 upregulation promotes hepatic steatosis and hyperlipidemia in aged rats fed a high-fat diet

“This discovery unveils a potential novel molecular target for therapeutic strategies against hepatic steatosis during the aging process […]” Credit:…

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“This discovery unveils a potential novel molecular target for therapeutic strategies against hepatic steatosis during the aging process […]”

Credit: 2024 Kim et al.

“This discovery unveils a potential novel molecular target for therapeutic strategies against hepatic steatosis during the aging process […]”

BUFFALO, NY- March 20, 2024 – A new research paper was published in Aging (listed by MEDLINE/PubMed as “Aging (Albany NY)” and “Aging-US” by Web of Science) Volume 16, Issue 5, entitled, “FoxO6-mediated ApoC3 upregulation promotes hepatic steatosis and hyperlipidemia in aged rats fed a high-fat diet.”

FoxO6, an identified factor, induces hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis during aging by activating hepatic lipoprotein secretion and lipogenesis leading to increased ApoC3 concentrations in the bloodstream. However, the intricate mechanisms underlying hepatic steatosis induced by elevated FoxO6 under hyperglycemic conditions remain intricate and require further elucidation.

In this new study, researchers Dae Hyun Kim, Seulah Lee, Sang Gyun Noh, Jaewon Lee, and Hae Young Chung from Pusan National University aimed to delineate the regulatory pathway involving ApoC3 controlled by FoxO6 and its resultant functional impacts.

“[…] we employed a spectrum of models including liver cell cultures, aged rats subjected to HFD, transgenic mice overexpressing FoxO6 (FoxO6-Tg), and FoxO6 knockout mice (FoxO6-KO).”

Their findings indicate that FoxO6 triggered ApoC3-driven lipid accumulation in the livers of aged rats on an HFD and in FoxO6-Tg, consequently leading to hepatic steatosis and hyperglycemia. Conversely, the absence of FoxO6 attenuated the expression of genes involved in lipogenesis, resulting in diminished hepatic lipid accumulation and mitigated hyperlipidemia in murine models. Additionally, the upregulation of FoxO6 due to elevated glucose levels led to increased ApoC3 expression, consequently instigating cellular triglyceride mediated lipid accumulation. The transcriptional activation of FoxO6 induced by both the HFD and high glucose levels resulted in hepatic steatosis by upregulating ApoC3 and genes associated with gluconeogenesis in aged rats and liver cell cultures.

“Our conclusions indicate that the upregulation of ApoC3 by FoxO6 promotes the development of hyperlipidemia, hyperglycemia, and hepatic steatosis in vivo, and in vitro. Taken together, our findings underscore the significance of FoxO6 in driving hyperlipidemia and hepatic steatosis specifically under hyperglycemic states by enhancing the expression of ApoC3 in aged rats.”
 

Read the full paper: DOI: https://doi.org/10.18632/aging.205610 

Corresponding Author: Hae Young Chung

Corresponding Email: hyjung@pusan.ac.kr 

Keywords: HFD-feeding, aging, forkhead transcription factor O6, ApoC3, lipid accumulation, hepatic steatosis

Click here to sign up for free Altmetric alerts about this article.

 

About Aging:

Aging publishes research papers in all fields of aging research including but not limited, aging from yeast to mammals, cellular senescence, age-related diseases such as cancer and Alzheimer’s diseases and their prevention and treatment, anti-aging strategies and drug development and especially the role of signal transduction pathways such as mTOR in aging and potential approaches to modulate these signaling pathways to extend lifespan. The journal aims to promote treatment of age-related diseases by slowing down aging, validation of anti-aging drugs by treating age-related diseases, prevention of cancer by inhibiting aging. Cancer and COVID-19 are age-related diseases.

Aging is indexed by PubMed/Medline (abbreviated as “Aging (Albany NY)”), PubMed Central, Web of Science: Science Citation Index Expanded (abbreviated as “Aging‐US” and listed in the Cell Biology and Geriatrics & Gerontology categories), Scopus (abbreviated as “Aging” and listed in the Cell Biology and Aging categories), Biological Abstracts, BIOSIS Previews, EMBASE, META (Chan Zuckerberg Initiative) (2018-2022), and Dimensions (Digital Science).

Please visit our website at www.Aging-US.com​​ and connect with us:

  • Facebook
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Click here to subscribe to Aging publication updates.

For media inquiries, please contact media@impactjournals.com.

 

Aging (Aging-US) Journal Office

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ARPA-H appoints Etta Pisano to lead its Advancing Clinical Trials Readiness Initiative

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has appointed Etta D. Pisano, MD, FACR, senior portfolio lead, to build the agency’s clinical…

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The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has appointed Etta D. Pisano, MD, FACR, senior portfolio lead, to build the agency’s clinical trial portfolio and lead the ARPA-H Advancing Clinical Trials Readiness Initiative under ARPA-H Resilient Systems Mission Office Director Jennifer Roberts.

Credit: N/A

The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) has appointed Etta D. Pisano, MD, FACR, senior portfolio lead, to build the agency’s clinical trial portfolio and lead the ARPA-H Advancing Clinical Trials Readiness Initiative under ARPA-H Resilient Systems Mission Office Director Jennifer Roberts.

The first radiologist to be appointed to such a role, Dr. Pisano is an internationally recognized expert in women’s health, breast cancer research, and the use of artificial intelligence in medical imaging applications.

“I am honored to be working for ARPA-H to identify and promote research that can improve healthcare quality, efficacy and delivery, and to improve patient care and access to clinical trials for all Americans, including women, rural residents, and the underserved,” said Dr. Pisano.

Dr. Pisano will continue to serve as study chair of the large-scale Tomosynthesis Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (TMIST) for the ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN). TMIST is led by ECOG-ACRIN with funding from the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. She will also continue to serve as the American College of Radiology® (ACR®) Chief Research Officer (CRO). Dr. Pisano previously served as the principal investigator of the landmark Digital Mammographic Imaging Screening Trial (DMIST).

The TMIST breast cancer screening study is among the fastest growing National Cancer Institute (NCI) trials of the COVID-19 era. Under Dr. Pisano’s leadership, TMIST is assembling one of the most diverse cancer screening trial populations ever. Approximately 21% of TMIST U.S. participants are Black—more than double the average rate for Black participation in NCI-funded clinical trials (9%).

With ARPA-H, Dr. Pisano will work to build underserved and minority participation in clinical trials—including identifying and onboarding rural facilities and those outside of large academic medical centers—such as emerging retail healthcare sites. 

These duties are also very consistent with the missions of ECOG-ACRIN and ACR, which include promoting the exploration and identification of next-generation technologies that can benefit patients and providers.

“This is a great opportunity for Etta, and I’m excited about the impact she will make on our approach to clinical trials,” said Mitchell D. Schnall, MD, PhD, group co-chair of ECOG-ACRIN.

About ECOG-ACRIN

The ECOG-ACRIN Cancer Research Group (ECOG-ACRIN) is an expansive membership-based scientific organization that designs and conducts cancer research involving adults who have or are at risk of developing cancer. The Group comprises nearly 1400 member institutions and 21,000 research professionals in the United States and around the world. ECOG-ACRIN is known for advancing precision medicine and biomarker research through its leadership of major national clinical trials integrating cutting-edge genomic approaches. Member researchers and advocates collaborate across more than 40 scientific committees to design studies spanning the cancer care spectrum, from early detection to management of advanced disease. ECOG-ACRIN is funded primarily by the National Cancer Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health. Visit ecog-acrin.org, and follow us on X @eaonc, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Media Contact: Diane Dragaud, Director of Communications, communications@ecog-acrin.org.


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