#crowdfunding melanoma

[kckool]

Today is #GivingTuesday, a day that encourages people to do good.

I'm thankful for both the people I know and the anonymous donors who have contributed to my GoFundMe thus far.

It's not a lot of money and there are fees associated on my end, but every little bit helps, while I'm trying to get back on my feet.

I've started to pick up a little work and I'm trying to figure out what my next steps in life will be, both financially and geographically...

I only post about this once a week, because it has all been very humbling.

Anthem Healthcare reached out to me last week and said that they are still investigating my case, after I had to pay 100% out of pocket for my recent melanoma cancer surgery. The kicker was just being notified 24 hours prior to the procedure that they were no longer going to cover me after everything had been settled for several weeks.

I'm not expecting for justice here, but I had to at least try to fight the good fight.

You can read my entire cancer story on my GoFundMe, and I also have major oral surgery pending that I've had to put on hold, as both procedures are on the right side of my face.

Mostly, I'm happy to say that I am cancer-free for the 10th time in the last 30 years.

Thank you again for your continued support and for sharing my posts.

#melanoma #melanomawarrior #melanomasurvivor #skincancer #cancersurvivor #donate #donations #crowdfunding #fundraiser #fundraising #gofundme #gofundmedonations #support

[filaantrocrowdfunding]

Melanoma BRAF Awareness Day: Signs and Treatment

26th May is annually celebrated as Melanoma BRAF Awareness Day. It was started by Melanoma UK, an organization dedicated to raising awareness about Melanoma and supporting patients dealing with it.

According to National Cancer Institute, Melanoma is “Melanoma is a disease in which malignant (cancer) cells form in melanocytes (cells that color the skin).”

Meanwhile BRAF according to Aim at Melanoma Foundation is “a gene that tells your cells how to grow. A BRAF mutation is a change in a BRAF gene. That change in the gene can lead to an alteration in a protein that regulates cell growth which could allow the melanoma to grow more aggressively. Approximately half of the melanomas carry this mutation and are referred to as mutated, or BRAF-positive. Melanomas that do not carry the mutation are referred to as wild-type or BRAF-negative melanomas.”

The primary objective of this day is to increase awareness of Melanoma and its prevention through advocacy, education, and research. Other objectives include supporting conversations between patients and doctors, giving voice to people diagnosed with Melanoma, and empowering patients through information.

Melanoma is one of the most serious types of skin cancer. As per GLOBOCAN 2020, Melanoma is the 32nd most common type of cancer in India and saw 3,916 cases, out of which 2,296 met their demise.

Often, the first signs of melanomas are a change in the size of moles appearing on your body and/or the development of a new pigment or unusual growth on your skin. They can develop anywhere on your body but are usually found in areas exposed to the sun. In people with darker skin tones, Melanomas can be expected to develop in areas like the soles of the feet, the palm of your hands, or fingernail beds, but that is not always the case.

Moles with asymmetrical shapes, irregular borders, uneven distribution of colors, changing diameters, or regularly evolving are often associated with Melanoma. So it is often recommended to consult a doctor when you see a change in any of the moles appearing on your body. Swollen, Itchy, Sore, Rusty, or Bleeding moles are also signs of Melanoma.

If you are facing difficulties in your finances, there are various NGOs you can approach for monetary assistance. Here are some of the NGOs currently operating in India for cancer patients.

Melanoma can be deadly and dangerous. Hence, it is necessary to raise awareness about this disease, especially in India, where there needs to be more awareness when it comes to skin diseases. So, Please share this article with your friends and family. Patients can also start fundraising pages on Child Help Foundation and Filaantro.

Thank you for reading this article and we hope that you have found a new perspective when it comes to skin cancer.

[explicid]

a few days ago my dad wasn’t feeling good. he was having trouble using the left side of his body, feeling weak, and decided to go into the hospital center in Mt Shasta. From there, they did a CAT scan and found a tumor the size of a golf ball, bleeding, on his right frontal lobe. They took him in an ambulance to Mercy Medical where this morning at around 10 he went into brain surgery. The surgeon was able to remove what looks like all or most of the tumor. Amazing, great news, Thank You God. the bad part is that the golf size ball tumor was cancerous, Melanoma. My dad fought off Melanoma once already, about 8 years ago or so. He needs testing now to see if it has spread to other parts of his body and will most likely need radiation and chemo, again. I have faith that my dad will overcome this. My cousin has set up a GoFundMe to help with medical bills, I’ll attach the link. If you can’t donate, please pray. I love him so much

[loverubykerr-blog]

Digital Citizenship: Activism and Protest

Advances in technology specifically social media and communication has forever revolutionised the way protests and activist operate. Today we live in a society whereby we communicate more so online via social media platforms than we do by traditional face-to-face communication.

According to Oxford Dictionaries, a ‘protester’ is ‘a person who publicly demonstrates opposition to something.’ While an ‘activist’ can be defined as ‘a person who campaigns to bring about political or social change.’ Many people have now questioned the meaning of activism, as true activism involves strong connections and a high potential of risk that social media does not allow which is now coining the term ‘clicktivism’.

According to The Sydney Morning Herald in 2017, the top five categories to gain support via online petitions were; criminal justice, animal -related issues, health, the environment and human rights.

Change.org is a hugely successful petition website that is used by millions of Australians as a means to protest online. A recent highly successful petition on the site was in 2015, when more than 172,000 people signed, Melbourne father Shane Raisher’s petition, who was lobbying to have the melanoma drug Keytruda placed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme in a bid to save his life and the thousands of others battling the disease. At $10,500 for a three-week does, he and wife Danielle could not afford to pay for the treatment of a disease he has fought for 14 years. The 32-year old died in March 2015. Later that year in June, then Prime Minister Tony Abbott agreed to list it on the PBS. With over 170,000 signatures it shows the true impact digital citizenship has when petitioning for serious causes such as this. Every time a petition is shared on Facebook, with the click of a button it can be shared with hundreds of friends, allowing a mass audience to be reached.

Online activism can be seen as a highly benefit way of expression an opinion due to the large scope that is able to be reached however, in some situations online activism can be hugely detrimental. This was seen in the 2012 murder and rape of 29-year-old Melbournian Jill Meagher.

On 21 September 2012, Jill went with co-workers from ABC Melbourne to a number of bars in the Brunswick area. Subsequently Jill could not be traced nor contacted via her mobile. Six days later Jill’s battered body was found in a make shift grave in Gisborne North.

In the days after she went missing, Jill’s family, friends and colleagues used Twitter and Facebook as a method to trace her. The Facebook page “Help Us Find Jill Meagher” received over 100,000 ‘likes’ in less than three days.

Adrian Ernest Bayley was charged with the murder and rape of Jill Meagher however, the outpouring of online hate regarding the horrific crime and the fact that he was out on bail during the time of the crime posed as a serious threat to the upcoming trial. Therefore, Victoria Police had no option but to delete any petition, page, or forum in order to reduce the effect it would have on his trial regarding an unbiased jury.  

The internet is now regarded as the most powerful tools, allowing individuals from around the world spark awareness on current issues and bring about social change. Online activism although it has many benefits does not count as true activism as does not involve any risk or sacrifice therefore promoting slacktivism.

References: 

 The Sydney Morning Herald, Australia’s most popular online petitions and crowdfunded projects, News, viewed 17 April 2018, <https://www.smh.com.au/technology/australias-most-popular-online-petitions-and-crowdfunded-projects-20180124-h0nqn3.html>

 Oxford Dictionaries, 2018, viewed 17 April 2018, <https://www.oxforddictionaries.com>

[ongames]

Can Psychedelic Drugs Treat Mental Illness? Scientists Need Your Help To Find Out.

To the federal government, psychedelic drugs like LSD, MDMA (also known as Ecstasy or Molly in its street forms), and psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms) are dangerous Schedule I substances with a high potential for abuse and no medical value.

But leading psychedelic researchers paint a much different picture ― one of fascinating compounds with the power to rewire the human brain and possibly revolutionize treatment for a number of debilitating mental health issues.

We’ve yet to find a conclusive answer that can prove either side right or wrong, though initial indications suggest it’s fair to be skeptical of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s view. Early clinical studies have produced promising results, convincing many that psychedelics are at least worthy of further research. But thanks to a grueling approval process and the widespread stigma attached to these drugs, the path to officially recognizing their potential medical benefits has been difficult.

A crowdfunding initiative launched Tuesday gives the public a chance to help accelerate this process by donating directly to psychedelic science.

The Fundamental campaign has partnered with experts in the field of psychedelic research in hopes of raising $2 million over the next four months. Donated money will be split between four areas. Two studies involve psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, with one focused on the treatment of end-of-life anxiety and the other on alcoholism. A third study is examining the use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The fourth is looking at the effects of LSD-microdosing therapies, which have been touted as a way to enhance mood, cognition, productivity and creativity.

New York real estate developer Rodrigo Niño is heading up Fundamental, drawing from his personal experience in the fields of both crowdfunding and psychedelic therapy.

In May 2011, Niño realized he had an unusual skin growth. He saw a doctor, and days later received a devastating diagnosis: At 41, Niño had stage 3 melanoma. His odds of survival were 1 in 3 over the next five years.

Niño underwent a pair of procedures in the following months to remove cancerous growths, but he remained haunted by anxiety that the disease would kill him. In the summer of 2011, Niño traveled to the Peruvian Amazon, where he partook in a number of ayahuasca ceremonies over the next few weeks. He returned home completely changed.

“I got completely over my fear of dying,” Niño told HuffPost.

Although the ayahuasca felt like a miracle cure for his anxiety, Niño wasn’t sure if his newfound sense of calm was a placebo effect, or if the psychedelic jungle vine had actually altered his brain chemistry.

Back in New York, Niño met with Stephen Ross, director of addiction psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, who explained to him that psilocybin ― a psychoactive ingredient different from the one found in ayahuasca ― had begun to show promising results as a treatment for end-of-life anxiety. Over the next few years, Niño’s interest in the therapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs grew, as did the body of scientific research.

This past December, Ross and researchers at Johns Hopkins University published the results of two separate clinical trials on the effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy on patients with cancer-related anxiety and depression. All told, between 60 and 80 percent of the subjects showed clinically significant reductions in both psychological disorders after treatment. Patients reported that the benefits of a single dose of psilocybin along with therapy lasted up to seven months, with minimal side effects.

Now, Fundamental is hoping to provide Ross with the money to explore this preliminary research in the kind of large-scale trials necessary to better understand the therapeutic value of psilocybin.

“The problem with funding for psychedelic research is it’s incredibly hard to do,” Ross explains in a video for Fundamental. “The federal government will give approval through the [Food and Drug Administration] and the DEA, but the [National Institutes of Health] agencies don’t appear yet ready to fund psychedelic research.”

Fundamental is also raising money for research on the effects of psilocybin-assisted treatment on alcoholism, which Michael Bogenschutz at NYU Langone is heading up. Initial studies have shown promise, building on a rich history of anecdotal evidence that psychedelic drugs could help people battle addiction.

“If we had more funding, we could accelerate the rate of the research, we could accelerate potential discoveries and breakthroughs, and we could accelerate the rate at which these medicines may become available to alleviate human suffering,” Ross says in the video.

Part of the challenge in financing psychedelic research is that there’s no profit motive for large pharmaceutical companies, Niño says. These studies don’t focus on treating symptoms. Rather, they’re trying to address the root cause of mental illness by essentially disrupting the default mode network, or ego, of a person’s brain. In other words, they’re trying to eliminate the need for treatment, not offer an ongoing one.

“The problem is that these natural compounds sometimes require only two sessions to do what a lifetime of treatment wouldn’t do with traditional antidepressants,” Niño told HuffPost. “They don’t really make money, because they’re also in the public domain and they can’t be patented.”

But Niño hopes that Fundamental can help create a movement around the issue of psychedelic research and therapy.

“We’re trying to inspire people to realize that despite the fact this doesn’t make money, it’s something that must happen for the sake of everybody,” he said.

Fundamental has also partnered with Rick Doblin, executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which is beginning phase three clinical trials on MDMA as a treatment for PTSD. Phase three is the final step before a medication can officially be approved by the FDA as a prescription drug ― a goal MAPS is hoping to reach by 2021.

Early studies on MDMA and PTSD have produced impressive results, with one trial showing nearly 70 percent effectiveness in reducing symptoms after a handful of sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy.

For Fundamental’s fourth initiative, the campaign has joined forces with psychedelic pioneer Amanda Feilding to look into the science of microdosing with LSD ― a pursuit that’s become popular in recent years, especially in the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley.

Feilding is the founder and director of the Beckley Foundation, a think tank that advocates for psychedelic research. Her latest project seeks to gain a better understanding of how small amounts of LSD can affect human performance and brain function. Feilding’s study involves doing brain imaging on a small number of subjects while they engage in a variety of cognitive tasks. Participants will also play the ancient Chinese board game Go against a computer. Feilding hopes this will allow her to examine how LSD changes brain connectivity and contributes to enhanced creativity or problem-solving skills.

If all of this research seems a bit, well, out there, that’s not unreasonable. Niño says it’s fair to be skeptical and it’s critical to proceed with caution, which is exactly why rigorous scientific studies like these are needed.

“We think that psychedelics don’t create addiction based on the evidence, but we need to confirm it,” he said. “We think that it will help with depression and end-of-life anxiety and so on and so forth, but we need to scientifically confirm it as well.”

And though Niño suggested these studies could help break the stigma surrounding psychedelics, perhaps even putting them on the road to legalization, he said that was far beyond the scope of the Fundamental campaign.

“This is not an invitation to do illicit drugs of any sort,” Niño said. “This is an invitation to collectively back up the researchers who are finding out whether this has potential or not, as the evidence is showing it does on a preliminary basis.”

Fundamental is collecting money through the website CrowdRise. Donations will be deposited into an account controlled by a third-party group, Charity Aid Foundations of America. When the campaign closes on Sept. 9, the money will be distributed as grants among the different research programs.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

Can Psychedelic Drugs Treat Mental Illness? Scientists Need Your Help To Find Out. published first on http://ift.tt/2lnpciY

[yes-dal456]

Can Psychedelic Drugs Treat Mental Illness? Scientists Need Your Help To Find Out.

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To the federal government, psychedelic drugs like LSD, MDMA (also known as Ecstasy or Molly in its street forms), and psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms) are dangerous Schedule I substances with a high potential for abuse and no medical value.

But leading psychedelic researchers paint a much different picture ― one of fascinating compounds with the power to rewire the human brain and possibly revolutionize treatment for a number of debilitating mental health issues.

We’ve yet to find a conclusive answer that can prove either side right or wrong, though initial indications suggest it’s fair to be skeptical of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s view. Early clinical studies have produced promising results, convincing many that psychedelics are at least worthy of further research. But thanks to a grueling approval process and the widespread stigma attached to these drugs, the path to officially recognizing their potential medical benefits has been difficult.

A crowdfunding initiative launched Tuesday gives the public a chance to help accelerate this process by donating directly to psychedelic science.

The Fundamental campaign has partnered with experts in the field of psychedelic research in hopes of raising $2 million over the next four months. Donated money will be split between four areas. Two studies involve psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, with one focused on the treatment of end-of-life anxiety and the other on alcoholism. A third study is examining the use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The fourth is looking at the effects of LSD-microdosing therapies, which have been touted as a way to enhance mood, cognition, productivity and creativity.

New York real estate developer Rodrigo Niño is heading up Fundamental, drawing from his personal experience in the fields of both crowdfunding and psychedelic therapy.

In May 2011, Niño realized he had an unusual skin growth. He saw a doctor, and days later received a devastating diagnosis: At 41, Niño had stage 3 melanoma. His odds of survival were 1 in 3 over the next five years.

Niño underwent a pair of procedures in the following months to remove cancerous growths, but he remained haunted by anxiety that the disease would kill him. In the summer of 2011, Niño traveled to the Peruvian Amazon, where he partook in a number of ayahuasca ceremonies over the next few weeks. He returned home completely changed.

“I got completely over my fear of dying,” Niño told HuffPost.

Although the ayahuasca felt like a miracle cure for his anxiety, Niño wasn’t sure if his newfound sense of calm was a placebo effect, or if the psychedelic jungle vine had actually altered his brain chemistry.

Back in New York, Niño met with Stephen Ross, director of addiction psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, who explained to him that psilocybin ― a psychoactive ingredient different from the one found in ayahuasca ― had begun to show promising results as a treatment for end-of-life anxiety. Over the next few years, Niño’s interest in the therapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs grew, as did the body of scientific research.

This past December, Ross and researchers at Johns Hopkins University published the results of two separate clinical trials on the effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy on patients with cancer-related anxiety and depression. All told, between 60 and 80 percent of the subjects showed clinically significant reductions in both psychological disorders after treatment. Patients reported that the benefits of a single dose of psilocybin along with therapy lasted up to seven months, with minimal side effects.

Now, Fundamental is hoping to provide Ross with the money to explore this preliminary research in the kind of large-scale trials necessary to better understand the therapeutic value of psilocybin.

“The problem with funding for psychedelic research is it’s incredibly hard to do,” Ross explains in a video for Fundamental. “The federal government will give approval through the [Food and Drug Administration] and the DEA, but the [National Institutes of Health] agencies don’t appear yet ready to fund psychedelic research.”

Fundamental is also raising money for research on the effects of psilocybin-assisted treatment on alcoholism, which Michael Bogenschutz at NYU Langone is heading up. Initial studies have shown promise, building on a rich history of anecdotal evidence that psychedelic drugs could help people battle addiction.

“If we had more funding, we could accelerate the rate of the research, we could accelerate potential discoveries and breakthroughs, and we could accelerate the rate at which these medicines may become available to alleviate human suffering,” Ross says in the video.

Part of the challenge in financing psychedelic research is that there’s no profit motive for large pharmaceutical companies, Niño says. These studies don’t focus on treating symptoms. Rather, they’re trying to address the root cause of mental illness by essentially disrupting the default mode network, or ego, of a person’s brain. In other words, they’re trying to eliminate the need for treatment, not offer an ongoing one.

“The problem is that these natural compounds sometimes require only two sessions to do what a lifetime of treatment wouldn’t do with traditional antidepressants,” Niño told HuffPost. “They don’t really make money, because they’re also in the public domain and they can’t be patented.”

But Niño hopes that Fundamental can help create a movement around the issue of psychedelic research and therapy.

“We’re trying to inspire people to realize that despite the fact this doesn’t make money, it’s something that must happen for the sake of everybody,” he said.

Fundamental has also partnered with Rick Doblin, executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which is beginning phase three clinical trials on MDMA as a treatment for PTSD. Phase three is the final step before a medication can officially be approved by the FDA as a prescription drug ― a goal MAPS is hoping to reach by 2021.

Early studies on MDMA and PTSD have produced impressive results, with one trial showing nearly 70 percent effectiveness in reducing symptoms after a handful of sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy.

For Fundamental’s fourth initiative, the campaign has joined forces with psychedelic pioneer Amanda Feilding to look into the science of microdosing with LSD ― a pursuit that’s become popular in recent years, especially in the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley.

Feilding is the founder and director of the Beckley Foundation, a think tank that advocates for psychedelic research. Her latest project seeks to gain a better understanding of how small amounts of LSD can affect human performance and brain function. Feilding’s study involves doing brain imaging on a small number of subjects while they engage in a variety of cognitive tasks. Participants will also play the ancient Chinese board game Go against a computer. Feilding hopes this will allow her to examine how LSD changes brain connectivity and contributes to enhanced creativity or problem-solving skills.

If all of this research seems a bit, well, out there, that’s not unreasonable. Niño says it’s fair to be skeptical and it’s critical to proceed with caution, which is exactly why rigorous scientific studies like these are needed.

“We think that psychedelics don’t create addiction based on the evidence, but we need to confirm it,” he said. “We think that it will help with depression and end-of-life anxiety and so on and so forth, but we need to scientifically confirm it as well.”

And though Niño suggested these studies could help break the stigma surrounding psychedelics, perhaps even putting them on the road to legalization, he said that was far beyond the scope of the Fundamental campaign.

“This is not an invitation to do illicit drugs of any sort,” Niño said. “This is an invitation to collectively back up the researchers who are finding out whether this has potential or not, as the evidence is showing it does on a preliminary basis.”

Fundamental is collecting money through the website CrowdRise. Donations will be deposited into an account controlled by a third-party group, Charity Aid Foundations of America. When the campaign closes on Sept. 9, the money will be distributed as grants among the different research programs.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from http://ift.tt/2q3CgzS from Blogger http://ift.tt/2q43cyN

[realestate63141]

Can Psychedelic Drugs Treat Mental Illness? Scientists Need Your Help To Find Out.

To the federal government, psychedelic drugs like LSD, MDMA (also known as Ecstasy or Molly in its street forms), and psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms) are dangerous Schedule I substances with a high potential for abuse and no medical value.

But leading psychedelic researchers paint a much different picture ― one of fascinating compounds with the power to rewire the human brain and possibly revolutionize treatment for a number of debilitating mental health issues.

We’ve yet to find a conclusive answer that can prove either side right or wrong, though initial indications suggest it’s fair to be skeptical of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s view. Early clinical studies have produced promising results, convincing many that psychedelics are at least worthy of further research. But thanks to a grueling approval process and the widespread stigma attached to these drugs, the path to officially recognizing their potential medical benefits has been difficult.

A crowdfunding initiative launched Tuesday gives the public a chance to help accelerate this process by donating directly to psychedelic science.

The Fundamental campaign has partnered with experts in the field of psychedelic research in hopes of raising $2 million over the next four months. Donated money will be split between four areas. Two studies involve psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, with one focused on the treatment of end-of-life anxiety and the other on alcoholism. A third study is examining the use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The fourth is looking at the effects of LSD-microdosing therapies, which have been touted as a way to enhance mood, cognition, productivity and creativity.

New York real estate developer Rodrigo Niño is heading up Fundamental, drawing from his personal experience in the fields of both crowdfunding and psychedelic therapy.

In May 2011, Niño realized he had an unusual skin growth. He saw a doctor, and days later received a devastating diagnosis: At 41, Niño had stage 3 melanoma. His odds of survival were 1 in 3 over the next five years.

Niño underwent a pair of procedures in the following months to remove cancerous growths, but he remained haunted by anxiety that the disease would kill him. In the summer of 2011, Niño traveled to the Peruvian Amazon, where he partook in a number of ayahuasca ceremonies over the next few weeks. He returned home completely changed.

“I got completely over my fear of dying,” Niño told HuffPost.

Although the ayahuasca felt like a miracle cure for his anxiety, Niño wasn’t sure if his newfound sense of calm was a placebo effect, or if the psychedelic jungle vine had actually altered his brain chemistry.

Back in New York, Niño met with Stephen Ross, director of addiction psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, who explained to him that psilocybin ― a psychoactive ingredient different from the one found in ayahuasca ― had begun to show promising results as a treatment for end-of-life anxiety. Over the next few years, Niño’s interest in the therapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs grew, as did the body of scientific research.

This past December, Ross and researchers at Johns Hopkins University published the results of two separate clinical trials on the effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy on patients with cancer-related anxiety and depression. All told, between 60 and 80 percent of the subjects showed clinically significant reductions in both psychological disorders after treatment. Patients reported that the benefits of a single dose of psilocybin along with therapy lasted up to seven months, with minimal side effects.

Now, Fundamental is hoping to provide Ross with the money to explore this preliminary research in the kind of large-scale trials necessary to better understand the therapeutic value of psilocybin.

“The problem with funding for psychedelic research is it’s incredibly hard to do,” Ross explains in a video for Fundamental. “The federal government will give approval through the [Food and Drug Administration] and the DEA, but the [National Institutes of Health] agencies don’t appear yet ready to fund psychedelic research.”

Fundamental is also raising money for research on the effects of psilocybin-assisted treatment on alcoholism, which Michael Bogenschutz at NYU Langone is heading up. Initial studies have shown promise, building on a rich history of anecdotal evidence that psychedelic drugs could help people battle addiction.

“If we had more funding, we could accelerate the rate of the research, we could accelerate potential discoveries and breakthroughs, and we could accelerate the rate at which these medicines may become available to alleviate human suffering,” Ross says in the video.

Part of the challenge in financing psychedelic research is that there’s no profit motive for large pharmaceutical companies, Niño says. These studies don’t focus on treating symptoms. Rather, they’re trying to address the root cause of mental illness by essentially disrupting the default mode network, or ego, of a person’s brain. In other words, they’re trying to eliminate the need for treatment, not offer an ongoing one.

“The problem is that these natural compounds sometimes require only two sessions to do what a lifetime of treatment wouldn’t do with traditional antidepressants,” Niño told HuffPost. “They don’t really make money, because they’re also in the public domain and they can’t be patented.”

But Niño hopes that Fundamental can help create a movement around the issue of psychedelic research and therapy.

“We’re trying to inspire people to realize that despite the fact this doesn’t make money, it’s something that must happen for the sake of everybody,” he said.

Fundamental has also partnered with Rick Doblin, executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which is beginning phase three clinical trials on MDMA as a treatment for PTSD. Phase three is the final step before a medication can officially be approved by the FDA as a prescription drug ― a goal MAPS is hoping to reach by 2021.

Early studies on MDMA and PTSD have produced impressive results, with one trial showing nearly 70 percent effectiveness in reducing symptoms after a handful of sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy.

For Fundamental’s fourth initiative, the campaign has joined forces with psychedelic pioneer Amanda Feilding to look into the science of microdosing with LSD ― a pursuit that’s become popular in recent years, especially in the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley.

Feilding is the founder and director of the Beckley Foundation, a think tank that advocates for psychedelic research. Her latest project seeks to gain a better understanding of how small amounts of LSD can affect human performance and brain function. Feilding’s study involves doing brain imaging on a small number of subjects while they engage in a variety of cognitive tasks. Participants will also play the ancient Chinese board game Go against a computer. Feilding hopes this will allow her to examine how LSD changes brain connectivity and contributes to enhanced creativity or problem-solving skills.

If all of this research seems a bit, well, out there, that’s not unreasonable. Niño says it’s fair to be skeptical and it’s critical to proceed with caution, which is exactly why rigorous scientific studies like these are needed.

“We think that psychedelics don’t create addiction based on the evidence, but we need to confirm it,” he said. “We think that it will help with depression and end-of-life anxiety and so on and so forth, but we need to scientifically confirm it as well.”

And though Niño suggested these studies could help break the stigma surrounding psychedelics, perhaps even putting them on the road to legalization, he said that was far beyond the scope of the Fundamental campaign.

“This is not an invitation to do illicit drugs of any sort,” Niño said. “This is an invitation to collectively back up the researchers who are finding out whether this has potential or not, as the evidence is showing it does on a preliminary basis.”

Fundamental is collecting money through the website CrowdRise. Donations will be deposited into an account controlled by a third-party group, Charity Aid Foundations of America. When the campaign closes on Sept. 9, the money will be distributed as grants among the different research programs.

-- This feed and its contents are the property of The Huffington Post, and use is subject to our terms. It may be used for personal consumption, but may not be distributed on a website.

from DIYS http://ift.tt/2qsmTBI

[imreviewblog]

Can Psychedelic Drugs Treat Mental Illness? Scientists Need Your Help To Find Out.

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To the federal government, psychedelic drugs like LSD, MDMA (also known as Ecstasy or Molly in its street forms), and psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in mushrooms) are dangerous Schedule I substances with a high potential for abuse and no medical value.

But leading psychedelic researchers paint a much different picture ― one of fascinating compounds with the power to rewire the human brain and possibly revolutionize treatment for a number of debilitating mental health issues.

We’ve yet to find a conclusive answer that can prove either side right or wrong, though initial indications suggest it’s fair to be skeptical of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration’s view. Early clinical studies have produced promising results, convincing many that psychedelics are at least worthy of further research. But thanks to a grueling approval process and the widespread stigma attached to these drugs, the path to officially recognizing their potential medical benefits has been difficult.

A crowdfunding initiative launched Tuesday gives the public a chance to help accelerate this process by donating directly to psychedelic science.

The Fundamental campaign has partnered with experts in the field of psychedelic research in hopes of raising $2 million over the next four months. Donated money will be split between four areas. Two studies involve psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy, with one focused on the treatment of end-of-life anxiety and the other on alcoholism. A third study is examining the use of MDMA-assisted psychotherapy to treat post-traumatic stress disorder. The fourth is looking at the effects of LSD-microdosing therapies, which have been touted as a way to enhance mood, cognition, productivity and creativity.

New York real estate developer Rodrigo Niño is heading up Fundamental, drawing from his personal experience in the fields of both crowdfunding and psychedelic therapy.

In May 2011, Niño realized he had an unusual skin growth. He saw a doctor, and days later received a devastating diagnosis: At 41, Niño had stage 3 melanoma. His odds of survival were 1 in 3 over the next five years.

Niño underwent a pair of procedures in the following months to remove cancerous growths, but he remained haunted by anxiety that the disease would kill him. In the summer of 2011, Niño traveled to the Peruvian Amazon, where he partook in a number of ayahuasca ceremonies over the next few weeks. He returned home completely changed.

“I got completely over my fear of dying,” Niño told HuffPost.

Although the ayahuasca felt like a miracle cure for his anxiety, Niño wasn’t sure if his newfound sense of calm was a placebo effect, or if the psychedelic jungle vine had actually altered his brain chemistry.

Back in New York, Niño met with Stephen Ross, director of addiction psychiatry at NYU Langone Medical Center, who explained to him that psilocybin ― a psychoactive ingredient different from the one found in ayahuasca ― had begun to show promising results as a treatment for end-of-life anxiety. Over the next few years, Niño’s interest in the therapeutic applications of psychedelic drugs grew, as did the body of scientific research.

This past December, Ross and researchers at Johns Hopkins University published the results of two separate clinical trials on the effects of psilocybin-assisted psychotherapy on patients with cancer-related anxiety and depression. All told, between 60 and 80 percent of the subjects showed clinically significant reductions in both psychological disorders after treatment. Patients reported that the benefits of a single dose of psilocybin along with therapy lasted up to seven months, with minimal side effects.

Now, Fundamental is hoping to provide Ross with the money to explore this preliminary research in the kind of large-scale trials necessary to better understand the therapeutic value of psilocybin.

“The problem with funding for psychedelic research is it’s incredibly hard to do,” Ross explains in a video for Fundamental. “The federal government will give approval through the [Food and Drug Administration] and the DEA, but the [National Institutes of Health] agencies don’t appear yet ready to fund psychedelic research.”

Fundamental is also raising money for research on the effects of psilocybin-assisted treatment on alcoholism, which Michael Bogenschutz at NYU Langone is heading up. Initial studies have shown promise, building on a rich history of anecdotal evidence that psychedelic drugs could help people battle addiction.

“If we had more funding, we could accelerate the rate of the research, we could accelerate potential discoveries and breakthroughs, and we could accelerate the rate at which these medicines may become available to alleviate human suffering,” Ross says in the video.

Part of the challenge in financing psychedelic research is that there’s no profit motive for large pharmaceutical companies, Niño says. These studies don’t focus on treating symptoms. Rather, they’re trying to address the root cause of mental illness by essentially disrupting the default mode network, or ego, of a person’s brain. In other words, they’re trying to eliminate the need for treatment, not offer an ongoing one.

“The problem is that these natural compounds sometimes require only two sessions to do what a lifetime of treatment wouldn’t do with traditional antidepressants,” Niño told HuffPost. “They don’t really make money, because they’re also in the public domain and they can’t be patented.”

But Niño hopes that Fundamental can help create a movement around the issue of psychedelic research and therapy.

“We’re trying to inspire people to realize that despite the fact this doesn’t make money, it’s something that must happen for the sake of everybody,” he said.

Fundamental has also partnered with Rick Doblin, executive director of the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies, which is beginning phase three clinical trials on MDMA as a treatment for PTSD. Phase three is the final step before a medication can officially be approved by the FDA as a prescription drug ― a goal MAPS is hoping to reach by 2021.

Early studies on MDMA and PTSD have produced impressive results, with one trial showing nearly 70 percent effectiveness in reducing symptoms after a handful of sessions of MDMA-assisted therapy.

For Fundamental’s fourth initiative, the campaign has joined forces with psychedelic pioneer Amanda Feilding to look into the science of microdosing with LSD ― a pursuit that’s become popular in recent years, especially in the fast-paced world of Silicon Valley.

Feilding is the founder and director of the Beckley Foundation, a think tank that advocates for psychedelic research. Her latest project seeks to gain a better understanding of how small amounts of LSD can affect human performance and brain function. Feilding’s study involves doing brain imaging on a small number of subjects while they engage in a variety of cognitive tasks. Participants will also play the ancient Chinese board game Go against a computer. Feilding hopes this will allow her to examine how LSD changes brain connectivity and contributes to enhanced creativity or problem-solving skills.

If all of this research seems a bit, well, out there, that’s not unreasonable. Niño says it’s fair to be skeptical and it’s critical to proceed with caution, which is exactly why rigorous scientific studies like these are needed.

“We think that psychedelics don’t create addiction based on the evidence, but we need to confirm it,” he said. “We think that it will help with depression and end-of-life anxiety and so on and so forth, but we need to scientifically confirm it as well.”

And though Niño suggested these studies could help break the stigma surrounding psychedelics, perhaps even putting them on the road to legalization, he said that was far beyond the scope of the Fundamental campaign.

“This is not an invitation to do illicit drugs of any sort,” Niño said. “This is an invitation to collectively back up the researchers who are finding out whether this has potential or not, as the evidence is showing it does on a preliminary basis.”

Fundamental is collecting money through the website CrowdRise. Donations will be deposited into an account controlled by a third-party group, Charity Aid Foundations of America. When the campaign closes on Sept. 9, the money will be distributed as grants among the different research programs.

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from Healthy Living - The Huffington Post http://huff.to/2q3KFTb

[skinteam]

Crowdfunding - a view from the trenches

It’s day 5 of our crowdfunding campaign and the tension in the office is palpable. 

As I write this, we have £169k pledged of our £450k round meaning we’re doing well. But I also know that success comes with momentum and our next goal is to get up to £225k within the next 5 days. If we can do that, we’ll be on the hot list and get further exposure and improve our chances of closing the round.

Thinking back on our decision to raise a round through Crowdcube and I have to say we were a little naive. The amount of work on both sides to put together a campaign is very significant, not least because every claim needs to proven during due diligence. 

I had to take one of my team off the site because getting her transcript from University of Cambridge was taking too long and we couldn’t prove she’d been there otherwise!

For all the pain, the Crowdcube team have been great and protecting the integrity of the information benefits everyone. Investors can trust what they read, start ups can really compete on the quality of their work and Crowdcube can make sure that their sourced deals are the best out there.

Back to Day 5 though. The support of the 48 investors who believe in what we’re trying to do has been great. To think there are 48 people (so far!) who have chosen to spend their hard earned money on trying to beat melanoma with us makes me very proud.

Momentum is our word of the day, time to get shouting from the rooftops!

[kckool]

I could use your help reaching my fundraising goal. Every single share and donation makes a difference.

In honor of #MelanomaMonday, I want to extend a heartfelt thank you to those who have donated via my GoFundMe, Venmo, and Cash App.

Although Aflac came through with very little on my claim, I am still awaiting a verdict from Anthem Healthcare. My post on LinkedIn alerted the executive offices, and they are currently investigating why I was refused coverage for my recent melanoma cancer surgery just 24 hours before the procedure.

After having to pay 100% out of pocket, I submitted my own post-surgery claim, wrote a personal letter to Anthem, and filed an appeal with the insurance.

Despite it all, I'm happy to say that I am cancer-free for the 10th time in the last 30 years. This battle has not been an easy one, but somehow I'm still standing.

I've decided my new name is "10-Time Cancer Slayer Wacker"!

Any and all donations are much appreciated during this time, as I work to rebuild my life both personally and professionally.

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