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UPDATING HEADLINE: AS U.S. FATAL OVERDOSES HIT A NATIONAL HIGH DURING PANDEMIC, SHATTERPROOF EXPANDS FREE TOOL TO MORE STATES TO HELP PEOPLE FIND TRUSTED AND HIGH-QUALITY ADDICTION TREATMENT

Shatterproof

Fatal drug overdoses have reached an all-time high in the U.S., with over 88,000 deaths occurring in the 12 months ending in October 2020 according to recent Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) data. To help those in need, Shatterproof, a nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the United States, is expanding and enhancing its free tool, ATLAS ®, to connect individuals with high-quality, appropriate addiction treatment. ATLAS is currently available in Delaware, Louisiana, Massachusetts, New York, North Carolina, and West Virginia. Shatterproof is excited to announce today that ATLAS is also expanding its reach to Florida, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania. “It is now more critical than ever, given the profound uptick in fatal overdoses and the impact that COVID-19 has had on addiction and mental health, that people are able to access a trusted, free resource when searching for quality substance use disorder treatment for themselves or a loved one,” says Jen Velez, Chief Impact Officer, Shatterproof. “Trust is everything. We know that it can be a confusing, scary time when someone is seeking help, and we want to ensure that the information available to find quality care is trusted, unbiased, and meets the person’s needs.” ATLAS identifies addiction treatment providers’ use of evidence-based best practices, and publicly displays this information to support those in need and their loved ones in navigating to appropriate, quality care. Individuals can search for and compare treatment options using criteria that are important to them – such as location, particular services offered, and insurance accepted. ATLAS also allows patients (or their family members acting as a proxy) to provide feedback on their treatment experience. The platform lists all authorized treatment providers in a state. The current ATLAS platform has many unique features: Facilities’ use of best practices measured against Shatterproof National Principles of Care, which are evidence-based standards derived from the landmark 2016 Surgeon General’s Report on Addiction as well as subject matter and other clinical experts; Display of feedback from patients and family members, updated daily; An Addiction Treatment Needs Assessment, created in collaboration with the subject matter expertise of the American Society of Addiction Medicine (ASAM) and OpenBeds, to help guide the search based on an individual’s needs and severity; Ability to search and filter using criteria such as location, services offered, and insurance provider. The ATLAS platform, www.TreatmentATLAS.org has seen more than 100,000 sessions since launch in July 2020 and will be updated over the coming months to enhance the experience of those seeking treatment. ATLAS 2021 enhancements include: Availability of all content in Spanish language Improved display of insurance information Integration of state resources into ATLAS Ability to search for facilities by name Updated educational content to increase readability. In addition, the platform also offers secure access to critical data for state policymakers, providers, and insurance payers to further drive improvements to the addiction treatment space, fueled by increased accountability and transparency: Addiction treatment providers can compare their quality data to that of their peers and use these metrics to inform internal quality improvement efforts. Metrics allow payers to assess the performance of providers to more easily align financial incentives to support quality care over quantity. State policymakers can use the data to better direct policy, access changes, and disseminate resources such as technical assistance to support providers. When the platform launches in Florida, New Jersey, Oklahoma, and Pennsylvania, it will feature all of these components, using facility-level data collected in each state. In the interim, the ATLAS team will be working with stakeholders and partners in each of the ten states to collect data from addiction treatment providers, analyze and validate these data using industry best practices, and disseminate technical assistance resources to providers. Shatterproof partnered with key thought leaders and subject matter experts in the addiction treatment space to create ATLAS. The platform is based on quality measurement system best practices and uses metrics developed via a multi-step process, culminating with a National Quality Forum (NQF) expert panel and public comment period. Shatterproof continues to revise and update the ATLAS measures displayed on the platform to ensure they reflect current evidence in the field. ATLAS is funded by Arnold Ventures; the Longwood Foundation; state partners: the Louisiana Department of Health, the Massachusetts Bureau of Substance Addiction Services, the New York State Office of Addiction Services and Supports, the Oklahoma Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services, the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, and the West Virginia Department of Health & Human Resources – Office of Drug Control Policy, and several national and state-based health care companies: Aetna, a CVS Health Company, Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, Cigna, GuideWell in partnership with New Directions Behavioral Health, Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, and UnitedHealth Group. About Shatterproof: Shatterproof is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to reversing the addiction crisis in the United States. Shatterproof harnesses the models of business, the rigor of science and the power of a national movement to create change and save lives through three pillars of work: revolutionizing the addiction treatment system, breaking down addiction-related stigmas and supporting and empowering our communities. To learn more visit www.Shatterproof.org. Contact Details Shatterproof Holly Jespersen +1 646-334-1024 hjespersen@shatterproof.org Company Website https://www.shatterproof.org/

June 08, 2021 10:02 AM Eastern Daylight Time

SCIENTISTS WORLDWIDE PLEDGE THEIR TRUST IN SCIENCE IN CELEBRATION OF THE INTERNATIONAL DAY OF LIGHT

International Day of Light Steering Committee

The UNESCO International Day of Light on May 16 th celebrated the worldwide campaign promoting the importance of science and the scientific process for society and sustainable development. The Trust Science pledge saw supporters of science worldwide join together to affirm their appreciation for science. Notable signatories include Nobel and Breakthrough laureates, UNESCO prizewinners, CEOs, representatives from scientific societies and academies, individual scientists and students from nearly 100 countries. “After a year in which we have seen science lead the global response to the coronavirus pandemic, we thought it was essential to highlight the importance of trusting its methods in guiding decisions,” said Steering Committee Chair John Dudley. “The pledge focuses particularly on science’s role in improving quality of life, a sentiment that clearly resonates around the world.” The International Day of Light recognizes the value of light science and technology and its role in providing clean energy, clean water, high-speed connectivity and medical treatments. The day was celebrated with events and hands-on activities in more than 55 countries. The International Day of Light also highlighted the achievements of a number of Champions of Science, individuals from all fields whose work is changing the world. “As a scientist, seeing this kind of support for the scientific process is inspiring,” said Neysha Lobo-Ploch, FBH Berlin, UVphotonics NT GmbH, Germany and LightDay 2021 champion. “I’m honored to have my work acknowledged in this way.” After its initial launch with the International Day of Light, the #TrustScience campaign will continue throughout 2021, and scientists worldwide will be organising targeted actions throughout the year. Dudley explains, “A central aim of this initiative has been to remind members of the scientific community that we share a responsibility to ensure that the public has confidence in science and its outcomes. It is up to us to explain how science works and why it can be trusted.” The Trust Science campaign is organized by the IEEE Photonics Society, SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, and The Optical Society (OSA), together with the International Day of Light Steering Committee. To sign the pledge and to learn more, please go to https://www.trust-science.org Contacts For questions about how you can engage with the campaign, please contact: info@trust-science.org For media inquiries, please contact: pr@trust-science.org Social media: please share using #TrustScience and #LightDay2021 Social media links: Facebook; Instagram; Twitter About the International Day of Light The International Day of Light (LightDay)is a worldwide initiative that provides an annual focal point for the continued appreciation of light and the role it plays in science, culture and art, education and sustainable development, and in fields as diverse as medicine, communications and energy. The International Day of Light is administered from the International Basic Science Programme (IBSP) of UNESCO by a Steering Committee that includes representatives from a broad range of international partners: the American Institute of Physics (AIP), the American Physical Society (APS), Bosca, the China International Optoelectronic Exhibition (CIOE), Chinese Optical Society (COS), the European Centres for Outreach in Photonics (ECOP), the European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC), the European Physical Society (EPS), the Illuminating Engineering Society (IES), the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP), the IEEE Photonics Society (IPS), the International Commission on Illumination (CIE), lightsources.org - the international network of accelerator based light sources, Light: Science and Applications, The Optical Society (OSA), Tampere University, SPIE, the International Society for Optics and Photonics, SESAME, Signify, Tampere University, Thorlabs, Transitions, the Université de Franche-Comté and Velux. For information about the International Day of Light, please visit www.lightday.org Contacts for IDL: John Dudley and Joseph Niemela Bethany Downer 2021 Steering Committee Chairs 2021 Communications Coordinator Email: contact@lightday.org Email: contact@lightday.org Media Contact for Trust Science: pr@trust-science.org About IEEE Photonics Society The IEEE Photonics Society is the professional home for a global network of scientists, engineers and allied professionals who advance laser, optoelectronics, and photonics technology. As a technical society representing the IEEE, it is a vital part of the world’s largest technical professional organization of more than 400,000 members dedicated to advancing technology for the benefit of humanity. Through its highly cited publications, conferences, technology standards, educational activities, and humanitarian initiatives, the IEEE Photonics Society provides its members in more than 160 countries the opportunity to grow professionally and stay on the forefront of transformational breakthroughs in photonics. PhotonicsSociety.org About SPIE SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics, was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. Serving more than 255,000 constituents from 183 countries, the not-for-profit society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth. SPIE annually organizes and sponsors approximately 25 major technical forums, exhibitions, and education programs in North America, Europe, Asia, and the South Pacific. In 2020, SPIE provided more than $5 million in support of education and outreach programs. www.spie.org About The Optical Society Founded in 1916, The Optical Society (OSA) is the leading professional organization for scientists, engineers, students and business leaders in light science and technology. The society serves over 432,000 customers and 22,000 members from more than 100 countries who fuel discoveries, shape real-life applications and accelerate achievements in the field. OSA provides quality research, inspired interactions and dedicated resources for its extensive global network of optics and photonics experts through world-renowned publications. For more information, visit osa.org. Contact Details pr@trust-science.org +1 703-907-0010 pr@trust-science.org Company Website https://www.trust-science.org

June 08, 2021 09:58 AM Eastern Daylight Time

New Study from ZOE Shows Significant Inflammatory Responses After Meals

ZOE

Scientists at health science company ZOE and King’s College London today published novel research in the peer-reviewed American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. The study shows that acute and prolonged food-induced inflammation can increase the predicted risk of developing cardiometabolic diseases like cardiovascular disease. As the largest in-depth global study to look at postprandial inflammation, researchers found that inflammation, triggered by food, varies widely between individuals. Moreover, for the first time in a study of this scale, researchers were also able to identify the relative influence of blood sugar and blood fat levels on inflammation, demonstrating a stronger link with blood fat responses than blood sugar. These findings highlight the potential for personalized strategies to reduce chronic inflammation in preventative health. The facts on inflammation and food: Inflammation is a normal biological process caused by the immune system responding to injury. However, sustained long-term (chronic) inflammation is linked to many health conditions, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease Researchers measured levels of fat, sugar and inflammatory markers in the blood of 1,000 PREDICT participants who had eaten set meals at specific times, making this by far the largest study of the impact of food on postprandial inflammation in the world Most people experienced some level of inflammation after eating but the amount varied widely between people, depending on their unique biology. For the first time, this study shows that changes in the levels of fat in the bloodstream after eating have a greater influence on inflammation than blood sugar levels. This shows that only concentrating on a single measure like blood sugar or blood fat is not the right strategy for overall dietary advice There are several strategies that people can use to reduce food-induced inflammation Understanding your personal nutritional responses after eating can enable you to make food choices that will help reduce inflammation and better support your health Measuring inflammation after eating Led by Dr. Sarah Berry and her team at King’s College London and ZOE, in collaboration with Massachusetts General Hospital and additional researchers in the US, UK, Italy, Spain and Sweden, the PREDICT study invited 1,002 healthy adults taking part in the PREDICT research program to come into the team’s research clinic for a day. They were all given two standardized meals to eat, each containing precise amounts of fat, carbohydrate, fiber and protein: breakfast (a muffin and a milkshake) and lunch 4 hours later (a muffin). The researchers took blood samples from the participants before the breakfast meal and at nine points throughout the day. These were then analyzed to measure the levels of blood fat and sugar at the different timepoints, along with levels of two markers of inflammation, interleukin 6 (IL-6) and Glycoprotein acetylation (GlycA). While IL-6 has conventionally been used as a measure of inflammation, GlycA has recently emerged as a more robust marker. Higher levels of GlycA are also associated with a number of health conditions, including fatty liver, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and some cancers. Dr Sarah Berry from King’s College London, who led the study, explains, “Several small studies have previously tried to look at the relationship between food and inflammation, but the results have been inconsistent due in part to the challenges in measuring levels of inflammation after eating from blood samples. Thanks to recent advances in metabolic science, we were able to take advantage of a novel marker, GlycA, to gain new detailed insights into the connection between food and inflammation.” Additionally, the researchers also gathered detailed data on the participants’ health, including information about their typical diet, a stool sample for microbiome analysis, and a body fat scan. Individual inflammation responses after eating vary widely The researchers found that the levels of inflammation after eating varied widely between participants, including identical twins, even though everyone had exactly the same meals at the same intervals. For the first time in a study of this scale, the researchers were able to separate out the influence of blood sugar and blood fat levels on inflammation. While both unhealthy fat and sugar responses were associated with higher levels of inflammation after eating, blood fat was a stronger predictor of food-induced inflammation than blood sugar. People with more body fat and greater body mass index (BMI) were more likely to have higher levels of inflammation after eating, supporting current evidence that management of obesity will reduce chronic inflammatory burden. Levels of inflammation also tended to be higher in males than females, and in older participants than younger ones. How to control food-related inflammation Berry explains, “Experiencing inflammation after eating is a normal biological response, but prolonged, sustained periods of inflammation have been linked to health conditions such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease. If you have less healthy responses to fat or sugar, then it’s easier to overload your system after eating, leading to increased inflammation.” Based on these findings, Dr Berry recommends several strategies to help reduce the impact of inflammation after eating: Control unhealthy blood fat responses by choosing whole foods that are higher in fiber and lean protein, increasing your intake of healthy omega-3 fats from sources like fish, nuts and seeds, and reducing your overall body fat Control unhealthy blood sugar responses by choosing foods containing complex carbohydrates and fiber, such as whole grains, fruit and vegetables, and limiting sugary processed foods and sodas Reduce inflammation after eating by choosing foods that are high in ‘anti-inflammatory’ bioactive molecules such as polyphenols, found in colorful fruits and vegetables and other plant-based foods Understand your biology and choose foods that are less likely to cause unhealthy blood fat or sugar responses after eating Tim Spector, Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at King’s College London and scientific co-founder of ZOE, adds, “Previous results from our PREDICT study showed that the combination of microbes living in our guts, known as the gut microbiome, is closely linked to how we respond to food, particularly fat. We have also found that microbiome composition is strongly associated with GlycA levels, opening the door to reducing food-related inflammation and improving health by manipulating the microbiome.” To help bring this cutting-edge science to everyone, ZOE now offers an at-home test that measures blood fat, sugar and inflammation levels after eating, along with in-depth microbiome analysis, and provides personalized advice on the best foods to eat to support overall health. Professor Spector concludes, “Our PREDICT research program is the largest study of its kind in the world, and results like this mark important steps forward in unpacking the complex connection between diet, inflammation and health. Our mission at ZOE is to enable anyone to understand their own unique biology and make food choices that optimize their health through the latest advances in nutritional science.” Find out more about the ZOE at-home test and nutrition program at joinzoe.com. Notes and resources: Link to proof Read more about the PREDICT research program: joinzoe.com/post/what-is-predict Read more about how ZOE’s research uses standardized muffins to measure metabolic responses: joinzoe.com/post/muffin-metabolism-predict Read ZOE’s White Paper on inflammation, diet and health: joinzoe.com/whitepapers/dietary-inflammation Learn more about the science behind ZOE: joinzoe.com/whitepapers/overview ZOE’s previous research on the link between the gut microbiome and responses to food: joinzoe.com/post/nature-microbiome-discoveries Find out more about the ZOE at-home test and nutrition program at joinzoe.com ZOE is a healthcare science company helping people understand their body’s responses to food. By using machine learning combined with large scale human studies, ZOE is decoding the impact of nutrition on health. ZOE leads the PREDICT Studies and the COVID Symptom Study, which are the world’s largest community-powered research programs of their kind in nutrition and COVID-19 respectively. Located in London and Boston, ZOE was founded by Professor Tim Spector of King’s College London, data science leader Jonathan Wolf and entrepreneur George Hadjigeorgiou. ZOE was named one of the Deloitte Fast 50 Rising Stars in 2019 for the company’s contribution to science enabled by technology and machine learning. For more information on ZOE’s mission and science, visit joinzoe.com. Contact Details ZOE Fiana Tulip +1 817-691-3031 fiana@joinzoe.com Company Website https://www.joinzoe.com

June 08, 2021 08:34 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Haystack Analytics attracts investment, powering tech teams globally and addresses developer burnout

Stockwood Strategy

Engineering insights tool Haystack Analytics, backed by Y Combinator, today announced it has secured a US$1.2m funding round which included participation from Founders Club, Y Combinator, Soma Capital, Entrepreneur First and investors Dan Siroker and Blaine Vess. Founded in 2020 by Julian Colina and Kan Yilmaz, Haystack helps build elite developer teams by providing engineering metrics and alerts proven to drive performance. Haystack improves developer productivity and software quality. Through their integration with GitHub, Haystack is able to provide live data insights that illustrate the entire delivery process from commit to deploy, being able to highlight bottlenecks like code review and team productivity. Using this feedback loop, Haystack users have increased production deployments by 58% and achieved 70% faster cycle times on average. In less than 12 months since launch, Haystack is being used by more than 7,000 developers at tech teams in GoDaddy, Microsoft, The Economist, Indiegogo and Truebill among others as revenues have increased by an average of 36% month on month. Julian Colina, CEO and co-founder of Haystack Analytics commented: “Tech teams and engineers around the world are key assets to any company and shipping software is the heartbeat and competitive advantage they seek. The efforts of developers are at the heart of processes, products and, effectively, the bottom line. Until now, it was difficult for CTOs and engineering managers to objectively know what their roadblocks are or have insights into resourcing levels. Haystack gives visibility by providing metrics and alerts to make sure nothing continues to be stuck. We are helping developers to ship faster and improve their satisfaction”. Research 1 has shown that elite performing engineering organisations are twice as likely to achieve their organisational goals and achieve a 50% higher growth rate over 3 years. It isn't just business objectives that do better, employees of elite performers are almost twice as likely to recommend their team as a great place to work. “Companies with strong technology teams are outperforming those which don't. Technology teams which follow DevOps best practice are less likely to see developers being burnt out, whilst allowing new product ideas to be experimented faster and shipping business value more reliably” added Julian Colina. The funding advances Haystack’s commitment to building intuitive one-click dashboards and alerts using GitHub data. Haystack plans to expand its offering to a greater range of data sources whilst providing an ever greater variety of user-friendly alerts and insights. As companies move to hybrid office/home working environments, Haystack provides insights that teams need to experiment with their workflows to prevent developer burnout whilst shipping faster. “Our mission is to bring the competitive advantage data-driven engineering teams like Google have to everyone. We help teams track their delivery process and optimization opportunities instead of relying solely on gut feelings - resulting in 70% faster delivery on average. It’s been an incredible 12 months and we are well set to achieve much more in the next year” concluded Julian Colina. Ends 1 DevOps Research and Assessment, State of DevOps report About Haystack Analytics Haystack was founded in 2020 by Julian Colin and Kan Yilmaz for tech teams to learn more about roadblocks to their work, improve productivity and importantly identify burnout issues with developers. Haystack helps build elite developer teams by providing engineering metrics and alerts proven to drive performance, improve developer productivity and software quality. Through their integration with GitHub, Haystack is able to provide live data insights that illustrate the entire delivery process from commit to deploy, being able to highlight bottlenecks like code review and team productivity. Using this feedback loop, Haystack users have increased production deployments by 58% and achieved 70% faster cycle times on average. Contact Details Haystack Analytics Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 bilal@usehaystack.io Company Website https://www.usehaystack.io/

June 07, 2021 11:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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Global investors back fintech KTrade - the ‘Robinhood’ of Pakistan

Stockwood Strategy

Leading Pakistani fintech stock trading app KTrade today announced it has raised $4.5m in a funding round from a range of global investors and institutions led by Hong Kong-based TTB Partners, and HOF Capital from New York. German fintech investor Christian Angermayer, the Managing Partner of German bank Berenberg David Mortlock, and leading Pakistani business families also participated in the round. KTrade is the fintech retail trading app created by KASB Securities, the leading stock brokerage in Pakistan. KTrade provides easy access to financial markets for retail investors much like its global peers such as XP in Brazil, Zerodha and Groww in India, Tiger in China, Flatex in Germany and Robinhood in the US. Since launching in 2019, KTrade has over 200,000 users and aims to reach 10 million Pakistani’s at home and abroad by 2023 to invest in stocks, bonds, commodities and mutual funds through its mobile platform. The Karachi Stock Exchange Index (KSE100) has rallied by 19% per annum over the past 20 years despite regular market cycles. The volumes have increased by 7x over the last 18 months driven by regulatory reforms and increase in retail investor participation. Retail investors now account for over 65% of overall trading volume compared to around 45% 24 months ago. KTrade aims to provide users quick and easy accessibility to this investment opportunity. Ali Farid led the creation of KTrade. He was previously the CFO of UK listed fintech company SafeCharge (acquired by Nuvei) and a Partner at Autonomous Research (acquired by Alliance Bernstein) in London. Ali is a Rhodes Scholar and has been a top ranked Technology Analyst in Europe since 2013. Ali Farid, Co-founder of KTrade commented: “People in Pakistan have traditionally turned to gold or real estate when they consider investment options. However, as the regulatory approach, authority and credibility of the Karachi Stock Exchange has grown, more people are getting comfortable with stock market investing. This is an exciting trend but accessibility to these markets remains a hurdle for millions. KTrade will enable this mobile-first population to participate in the investment opportunity. By connecting these people to companies we can drive capital trapped in unproductive assets into the formal economy which would eventually drive a virtuous cycle of economic growth and higher investments”. Pakistan is emerging on the radar of global investors as the next Indonesia. A large, young and growing middle class and high smartphone penetration have created ideal conditions for technology led disruption. KASB’s aim is to provide retail savers access to financial education, information and financial products and to help them make better financial decisions. “Most people in Pakistan lack access to formal financial products and their savings in real estate or gold offer inferior returns, are inefficient and have high transactional costs. We aim to democratise access to the capital markets and enable them to make stock market investments. The strong demand for KTrade shows that the market is ready for this transformation. Other regional and emerging markets have seen similar evolution led by successful fintech companies” added Ali Farid. “Pakistan and South Asia have some of the most exciting market dynamics and demographics globally, and KTrade is well positioned to take advantage of the democratisation of finance in the region” said Jonathan Bond, Managing Partner TTB Partners who were lead investors in the funding round. “We are delighted to be investing in the latest round of funding for KASB, and to support Ali and his first-class team on their continued journey. We have been extremely impressed by what KASB has built over the past few years, both from a tech perspective and from the educational overlay to investing, which the company has embraced. In particular, we believe that in KTrade, the company has a stellar solution to expanding stock market participation across Pakistan” added Jonathan Bond. About KASB Securities KASB is the leading stock brokerage in Pakistan. It is a member of the Pakistan Stock Exchange and Pakistan Mercantile Exchange and regulated by the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan. KASB’s mission is to democratise investments by giving people in Pakistan easy access to financial information, education and products. It operates KASB Varsity, an online MOOC, and KTrade, the leading stock trading application in Pakistan. KASB’s goal is to channel capital to financial markets by broadening the breadth of the capital markets. Further information visit: https://kasb.com or follow the company on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or Instagram and through YouTube. Contact Details Stockwood Strategy Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://kasb.com/ktrade/

June 07, 2021 07:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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American Kidney Fund Commends Maryland General Assembly, Governor Hogan for Signing Living Organ Donor Protections into Law

American Kidney Fund

The American Kidney Fund (AKF) commends Maryland governor Larry Hogan for signing HB 10/SB 48, which offers additional protections for living organ donors in the state, into law. This important legislation will help living organ donors cover out-of-pocket expenses associated with their lifesaving organ donation. HB 10/SB 48 increases the amount of tax credits living organ donors can claim for unreimbursed expenses from $7,500 to $10,000, and expands the definition of qualified expenses to include childcare, eldercare and medication costs. “Governor Hogan’s signature on this bill is significant in supporting living organ donors and removing the barriers to living organ donation in Maryland,” said LaVarne A. Burton, AKF President and CEO. “We applaud the governor and the Maryland General Assembly for expanding tax credits for Marylanders, who should be encouraged to become living donors, not face hurdles that keep them from potentially saving someone’s life.” AKF worked closely with Delegate Karen Young and Senator Ron Young to move these bills through the Maryland General Assembly. AKF has a robust public policy agenda that includes making more kidney transplants possible and is leading a nationwide effort to pass living donor protections both at the state and federal level. Since 2019, 17 states have signed into law living donor legislation spearheaded by AKF. With a B grade on AKF’s 2021 State of the States: Living Donor Protection Report Card, Maryland is one of the leaders in the nation when it comes to protecting living organ donors. This bill improves upon and strengthens the state’s existing law to provide tax credits to living donors. Tax credits for living organ donors is one of the seven types of legislation states can enact to provide protections for living organ donors and encourage living donations that is measured by AKF’s Report Card. In the absence of federal legislation to protect living donors, there is an uneven patchwork of protections across the nation, with some states providing no protections at all. The overall grade average for the United States is a D. Most transplanted organs are from deceased donors, but patients may also receive organs from living donors. Living donation offers an alternative for individuals awaiting transplantation from a deceased donor and increases the existing organ supply. Transplants from living donors generally have fewer complications than deceased-donor transplants and a longer survival of the donor organ. There are more than 107,000 Americans on the organ transplant waiting list and nearly 93,000 of them, or 86%, are waiting for a kidney. Of the 23,644 kidney transplants performed in the U.S. in 2020, just 5,234 were made possible by living organ donors. In Maryland, 77 of 389 kidney transplants in 2020 were from living donors. AKF provides long-term financial assistance that makes transplants and post-transplant care possible for low-income dialysis patients. In 2020, AKF grants helped 1,615 people nationwide receive kidney transplants—7% of all kidney transplants performed in the United States last year. AKF’s program helps post-transplant patients for their full insurance plan year, ensuring continuity of care. About the American Kidney Fund The American Kidney Fund (AKF) fights kidney disease on all fronts as the nation’s leading kidney nonprofit. AKF works on behalf of the 37 million Americans living with kidney disease, and the millions more at risk, with an unmatched scope of programs that support people wherever they are in their fight against kidney disease—from prevention through transplant. With programs that address early detection, disease management, financial assistance, clinical research, innovation and advocacy, no kidney organization impacts more lives than AKF. AKF is one of the nation’s top-rated nonprofits, investing 97 cents of every donated dollar in programs, and holds the highest 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator and the Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar. For more information, please visit KidneyFund.org, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 11921 Rockville Pike, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 2085 Contact Details Ben Shannon Work: +1 202-559-2813 Mobile: +19193603039 AKF@jpa.com Company Website http://www.kidneyfund.org/

June 03, 2021 05:15 PM Eastern Daylight Time

News Release

New Research Seeks to Crack the Code of Coral Reef Heat Resilience

Paul G. Allen Family Foundation

The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation today announced a suite of new grants supporting the next phase of groundbreaking research to identify naturally heat tolerant corals, accelerate corals’ evolution processes, improve restoration methods, and ultimately slow the decline of coral reefs. Coral reefs sustain more than a quarter of all marine life and drive $2.7 trillion dollars in economic benefits such as tourism and food each year. Climate change, however, is rapidly accelerating their path toward extinction, threatening the safety, livelihood, and food security of almost one billion people across the globe. “The rapid decline of coral reefs in the face of climate change makes finding adaptation techniques essential if corals are to survive,” said Jody Allen, co-founder and chair of the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. “These grants build on the foundation’s longstanding commitment to coral reefs and support of applicable, scalable solutions to protect them. We are at a critical juncture with coral reefs facing extinction and the world must continue to invest in actionable research that ensures their preservation and long-term survival.” Coral reefs are among the most diverse and valuable ecosystems on the planet, but are facing extinction at a more accelerated rate than any other ecosystem on Earth. As a result of climate change, half of the world’s coral reefs have died in the last 50 years, and without drastic intervention to reduce carbon dioxide emissions, all will die by the end of this century under the current climate warming trajectory. By merging the latest advances in biomedical science, technology, and coral reef ecology, grantees will help corals survive while the world deals with the climate crisis. This suite of new research grants will provide field-deployable solutions to accelerate the natural evolution and identification of heat tolerant corals, and the scaling up of restoration strategies. The following research teams are receiving immediate support for their work. Professor Christian Voolstra at Konstanz University of Germany and a global academic team from Old Dominion University, Institute for Systems Biology, Australian Institute of Marine Science, and Pennsylvania State University are searching for corals with natural resilience to climate change, or “super corals,” so they can be prioritized for conservation and restoration efforts and studied to understand what makes a coral reef more heat tolerant. Professor Madeleine van Oppen and team at the Australian Institute of Marine Science are adapting the single-cell algae within corals to withstand greater temperatures and speed their natural evolutionary process. This grant will help bring their work from the lab to the field. Dr. Crawford Drury and team at the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, University of Hawaii, use selective breeding of corals to pursue additional methods of speeding their natural evolutionary processes. They will determine if reproduction of known thermally tolerant corals can produce high-temperature-tolerant offspring. Professor Peter Harrison and team at Southern Cross University, Australia are focused on enhancing the survival rate of juvenile corals to restore reefs. They will use this funding to scale up the restoration of degraded coral reefs by clearing reefs of seaweed and settling the coral larvae both on the reef and in new settlement designs. The foundation’s $7.2 million will support grantees to build on their successful initial research and enter into phase two, turning innovative ideas into scalable, sustainable solutions for coral reefs. This new suite of research grants is designed with a three-year timeline and focuses on applied solutions that can be deployed in the field by 2024. The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has long supported the work of those preserving and protecting coral reefs from the impacts of climate change. In 2014, the Paul G. Allen Ocean Challenge awarded $4.3 million to van Oppen and Dr. Ruth Gates at the University of Hawaii to support their research, considered radical at the time, to assist the evolution of coral reef thermotolerance. The foundation is also a founding partner of the Global Fund for Coral Reefs, a blended finance mechanism that uses public and philanthropic funding to catalyze private investment in coral reef conservation and restoration. In addition to the foundation’s support of corals, in 2017 Paul G. Allen and Jody Allen’s private investment and management firm Vulcan Inc. partnered with Arizona State University, Planet Labs, National Geographic, and University of Queensland to launch the Allen Coral Atlas. The first of its kind global coral reef mapping and monitoring system provides a comprehensive and unprecedented level of high-resolution, comparable, and up-to-date data about the world’s reefs, and will complete its mapping mission this fall. Fact sheet and images for download available here. About Paul G. Allen Family Foundation For more than three decades the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation has focused on changing the trajectory of some of the world's toughest problems. Founded by philanthropists Jody Allen and the late Paul G. Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, the foundation initially invested in community needs across the Pacific Northwest with a focus on regional arts, underserved populations, and the environment. Today, the foundation supports a global portfolio of frontline partners working to preserve ocean health, protect wildlife, combat climate change, and strengthen communities. Contact Details Paul G. Allen Family Foundation +1 206-342-2230 press@pgafamilyfoundation.org Company Website https://www.pgafamilyfoundation.org/

June 02, 2021 07:02 AM Pacific Daylight Time

LambdaTest rallies global investors raising US$16m Series B funding as it rapidly scales

Stockwood Strategy

Cloud-based browser testing platform LambdaTest today announced it has secured US$16 million in Series B funding led by Sequoia Capital India. Telstra Ventures, MENA region investor Wamda Capital and a leading sovereign wealth fund also joined the series B round. Founded in 2017 by Asad Khan and Jay Singh, San Francisco-based LambdaTest is a cloud-based testing infrastructure company that allows users to seamlessly test their websites’ and apps’ look, feel and performance on over 2,000 different browsers and by operating systems and device combinations. The proliferation of devices and browsers has made it increasingly complex for developers to test their websites and apps. LambdaTest solves this problem by enabling developers to run a variety of tests through their cloud-based platform, spotlight concerns, share immediately with teams and remedy issues quickly. LambdaTest exists to support the developer community to identify defects in code much earlier in the release cycle. These defects present one of the biggest challenges and costs facing businesses. Indeed, the cost of fixing these defects once in production and release is 30x higher than addressing earlier in the development cycle. Since its launch, LambdaTest has attracted over 500,000 developers in 132 countries who have performed more than 20 million tests. Customers include SMEs and Fortune 500 companies such as Xerox, Cisco, Microsoft, Deloitte, Media.net, Coca Cola, Trepp, SurveyMonkey, Capgemini, HBR, 23andme and Dashlane. Asad Khan, CEO of LambdaTest commented: “Companies are increasingly competing on customer experience 1 and as such are releasing software updates faster, more frequently to remain relevant. In doing so, there is a greater demand for continuous testing to ensure quality releases in the production environment. In just six short months since the series A round in 2020, LambdaTest has doubled revenues and increased customer numbers by 20%. In that time headcount has doubled in size from 70 people pre-Series A to 150 today across the engineering, sales, and customer success teams. Harshjit Sethi, Principal at Sequoia India commented: “As every company is becoming a software company and deployment cycles are shrinking, testing is becoming an increasingly important part of the software development cycle. Additionally testing is now happening earlier and earlier in the development cycle as part of the ‘Shift Left’ movement that companies like LambdaTest are enabling. Operating in a USD 35 billion market for testing software and services, LambdaTest has emerged as the go-to platform for its users in browser testing, evident from its best-in-class ratings across review sites. Sequoia Capital India is excited to continue partnering with the LambdaTest team as they execute on their vision of building an end-to-end testing system for developers to enable companies to release more reliable software faster.” The number of software tests run by developers has almost doubled from 12m to over 20m in six months at LambdaTest. As developers shift to cloud-based testing, this number will grow exponentially. This trend has been accelerated by the adoption of the Shift Left approach, as more developers are testing code early before they ship to the testing cycles. “LambdaTest’s vision is to empower 23 million developers and testers worldwide with a powerful, comprehensive and secure continuous quality test platform. Our upcoming product lines will enable tech teams to ship high quality code seamlessly boosting their release velocity” added Asad Khan. Steve Schmidt, General Partner at Telstra Ventures commented: “We have an opportunity to build a very large scale and independent testing company with a modern approach to software development and that’s very exciting. Lambdatest has already signed several customers in Australia without having any local presence and we look forward to helping them build out a local APAC team to meet this demand”. The funding advances LambdaTest’s commitment to scaling the testing ecosystem and building next-generation cloud infrastructure for users. To this end, LambdaTest is broadening its reach with the tester community by engaging with developers as it launches a suite of products in 2021 designed for them to perform tests on scale. “We’ve had an exciting period of growth and there is more to come as we expand our platform capabilities and go deeper in global markets. This funding round validates our efforts in building a robust cloud testing platform that is truly resonating with the testing and developer community globally. We pride ourselves in delivering a highly reliable, stable and secure infrastructure for them to achieve success. This success is born out in the numbers as our customers have been able to increase release velocity by over 60% and half the time to market” concluded Asad Khan. About LambdaTest LambdaTest is a cloud testing infrastructure company that allows users to run both manual and automated tests on their websites and webapps across 2000+ different browsers, browser versions and operating system environments. The platform has been used to perform over 20 million tests in just three years, and is now being used by over 500,000 users across 132 different countries. Contact Details LambdaTest Bilal Mahmood +44 7714 007257 b.mahmood@stockwoodstrategy.com Company Website https://www.theeditldn.com/

June 02, 2021 05:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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American Kidney Fund Receives Support from Bayer to Expand Kidney Disease Education Among U.S. Veterans

American Kidney Fund

The American Kidney Fund (AKF) today announced support from Bayer for AKF’s effort to educate military veterans about the central role their kidneys play in their overall health and the importance of early detection to prevent or slow the progression of kidney disease. Bayer’s collaboration supports AKF’s existing partnership with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) Veterans Health Administration to increase awareness of kidney disease among U.S. veterans and to support veterans who have been diagnosed with kidney disease. “About 500,000 U.S. veterans have kidney disease, and that number continues to trend upward by 6% each year, as it has for the past five years,” said LaVarne A. Burton, AKF president and CEO. “We are grateful for Bayer’s support of our work to reach out to veterans—a population that faces higher rates of kidney disease compared to the general public.” "A major risk factor for chronic kidney disease is type 2 diabetes and many veterans living with type 2 diabetes do not realize they are at risk," said Amit Sharma, M.D., FACP, FASN, FNKF, Vice President of Medical Affairs, Cardiovascular & Renal Division, Bayer. “Bayer is proud to support AKF’s work to educate America’s veterans on kidney disease risk factors, early detection and disease management, to help all veterans living with kidney disease live healthier lives.” Kidney disease is the fastest growing noncommunicable disease in the U.S., yet 90% of Americans, including veterans, with the early stages of kidney disease are unaware they have it because there are typically no symptoms until the later stages. Diabetes and hypertension cause 75% of all new cases of kidney disease. About the American Kidney Fund The American Kidney Fund (AKF) fights kidney disease on all fronts as the nation’s leading kidney nonprofit. AKF works on behalf of the 37 million Americans living with kidney disease, and the millions more at risk, with an unmatched scope of programs that support people wherever they are in their fight against kidney disease—from prevention through transplant. With programs that address early detection, disease management, financial assistance, clinical research, innovation and advocacy, no kidney organization impacts more lives than AKF. AKF is one of the nation’s top-rated nonprofits, investing 97 cents of every donated dollar in programs, and holds the highest 4-Star rating from Charity Navigator and the Platinum Seal of Transparency from GuideStar. For more information, please visit KidneyFund.org, or connect with us on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn. 11921 Rockville Pike, Suite 300, Rockville, MD 20852 Contact Details Ben Shannon Work: +1 202-559-2813 Mobile: +19193603039 AKF@jpa.com Company Website https://www.kidneyfund.org

May 27, 2021 09:00 AM Eastern Daylight Time

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