Japanese elders focus on simple, consistent movements like daily walks (sampo), gentle stretching (like cobra pose), and functional strength exercises such as modified sumo squats (shiko) and isometric holds (wall squats) to maintain balance, mobility, and independence, often incorporating traditions like Radio Taiso for full-body engagement. Key principles include integrating movement into daily life, focusing on proper form over intensity, and using exercises that build core and leg strength crucial for preventing falls.

The second edition of The Consumer Goods Forum Health and Wellness Progress Report shows significant improvement has been made in the industry highlighting in 2014 more than:
22,500 products were developed or adapted by CGF members to support healthier diets
91 million consumers were reached through education programmes to help them make more informed decisions
47,000 school communities were partnered with to inform children about healthier diets and lifestyles

The report, which comprises feedback from 63 top consumer goods retailers and manufacturers, outlines how far CGF members have come with regards to implementation of its Health & Wellness Resolutions (“the Resolutions”) adopted in 2011. The CGF’s Resolutions commit members to support healthier diets and lifestyles, provide more information to consumers and help raise consumer awareness on health and wellbeing to inspire healthier lifestyles.

95% of members have already established policies and 97% activated programmes on at least one of the Resolutions; and a further 78% are already communicating publically about at least one. The CGF’s Health & Wellness Steering Committee is led by representatives of brands including Nestlé, L’Oréal, Coca Cola and Tesco.

Peter Freedman, Managing Director of the Consumer Goods Forum, commented: “Retailers and manufacturers have made a good start in helping consumers live healthier lives. But the scale of the challenge facing humanity keeps getting bigger. The Consumer Goods Forum is uniquely positioned to help our members rise to that challenge by working collaboratively together and helping drive positive actions globally.”

The findings comes as the CGF just launched an independent External Scientific Advisory Council (the “Council”), which will advise the CGF’s Health & Wellness practice and counsel on emerging issues and trends to accelerate achievement of the Resolutions. The Council will also support the CGF’s mission of empowering consumers worldwide to adopt healthier lifestyles through a culture of prevention and multi-stakeholder collaborations. The five Council members*, who are renowned experts and work on a voluntary basis from around the world, have been selected for their global perspective in matters relating to health and wellness including endocrinology, diabetes, paediatrics, medicine, marketing and communication.

The Consumer Goods Forum (“The CGF”) is a global, parity-based industry network that is driven by its members. It brings together the CEOs and senior management of some 400 retailers, manufacturers, service providers, and other stakeholders across 70 countries, and it reflects the diversity of the industry in geography, size, product category and format. Its member companies have combined sales of EUR 2.5 trillion and directly employ nearly 10 million people, with a further 90 million related jobs estimated along the value chain. It is governed by its Board of Directors, which comprises 50 manufacturer and retailer CEOs.

The CGF’s mission is, “Bringing together consumer goods manufacturers and retailers in pursuit of business practices for efficiency and positive change across our industry benefiting shoppers, consumers and the world without impeding competition”. It provides a unique global platform for the development of global industry processes and standards as well as sharing best practices. Its activities are organised around the following strategic priorities: Sustainability, Product Safety, Health & Wellness, and End-to-End Value Chain & Standards, each of which is central to better serving consumers.

The CGF’s success is driven by the active participation of its members who together develop and lead the implementation of best practices along the value chain. With its headquarters in Paris and regional offices in Washington, D.C. and Tokyo, the CGF serves its members throughout the world. For more information, please visit: www.theconsumergoodsforum.com.

The topics of the symposium included: colonoscopy, Barrett’s oesophagus, endoscopic stenting for benign and malignant disease, adenoma detection, histological diagnosis, endoscopic ultrasound and new endoscopic haemostatic therapies. The main focus for this year’s meeting was the clinical practice of colonoscopy. The most popular part of the conference was interactive transmission from the Westmead Endoscopy Unit. During the live telecasts anyone from gathered scientific community could see live operation and watch the procedure with questions and answers at that end of presentation.
The highlight of the second day was The Peter Gillespie Lecture on Screening and Prevention of the Colorectal Cancer with with Dr. Douglas K. Rex from Indiana University School of Medicine. Doug Rex has been an international leader in the movement to improve the quality of colonoscopy performance.

For more information visit Sydney International Endocscopy Symposium website.

Media Contact
Fiona Lee, ADIA Communications Officer
t: 1300 943 094 m: 0450 013 446

About Selvita
Selvita is the largest independent integrated drug discovery services provider in Central and Eastern Europe, based in Krakow, Poland. The company was established in 2007, and ever since its mission has been to serve our clients with a comprehensive panel of products and solutions targeted at lowering the cost of, and accelerating, the introduction of new drugs to the market. The company employs 170 people including 55 PhDs.
Drug discovery clients of Selvita include more than fifty large and medium-sized pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies from USA and Europe. Selvita is listed on the NewConnect market of the Warsaw Stock Exchange in Poland (SLV). Additional information about Selvita can be found on http://www.selvita.com/
For more information about the project or the company, please contact: selvita@selvita.com

About Chiesi Farmaceutici
Founded in 1935 in Parma, Italy, Chiesi Farmaceutici currently has 25 affiliates worldwide and markets its therapeutics in over 60 countries. Chiesi’s manufacturing plants in Parma, Blois (France) and Santana de Parnaiba (Brazil), and R&D centers in Parma, Paris, Rockville (USA) and Chippenham (UK) integrate their efforts to advance the Group’s pre-clinical, clinical and registration programs. At the end of 2012, the Chiesi Group’s total staff stood at over 3,800 people, more than 350 of whom are dedicated to R&D. The main areas of activity are in respiratory therapeutics and specialist medicine areas.

Catalent announced two new RP Scherer Softgel offerings to help develop more molecules into better treatments for patients. The first, OptiGel LockTM, is designed to prevent the abuse of prescription pain medications, and the deliberate misuse of consumer pseudoephedrine products. Developed in response to regulatory demands for alternative technologies that might deter abuse, this new softgel delivery technology incorporates several levels of deterrent into a single formulation designed to prevent extraction of the active substance.

Also new is OptiGel BioTM, which may enable certain macromolecules to be delivered orally and overcome permeability and stability challenges in a more easily administered form than injection. OptiGel Bio may improve the permeability of large molecule APIs, while also enabling targeted delivery to be achieved via an enteric coating. This protective coating eliminates degradation of the encapsulated formulation in the stomach. Patient advantages may include reduced dosing complexity, improved safety and better adherence.

Finally, OptiGel MiniTM technology enables the creation of capsules that are approximately 30% smaller and yet accommodate the same amount of active ingredients as conventional softgel capsules, providing a substantial benefit over many prescription and consumer health products and making them easier for the patient or consumer to swallow. Following the recent introduction of OptiShell™ technology, to provide solutions for complex semi-solid lipid-based formulations, Catalent continues to innovate by delivering advanced drug delivery technologies, bioavailability solutions and versatile and proven softgel technologies.

In addition, Catalent announced two new technologies under its proprietary Zydis® Oral Fast Dissolve Technology platform. Zydis BioTM may help deliver large molecules such as proteins, peptides, viral vaccines and allergens in a patient preferred oral fast dissolve format in as little as three seconds. Zydis NanoTM technology is designed to improve bioavailability of compounds in a fast dissolve format.

Catalent will also be discussing new OSDrC® OptiDose™ advanced tableting technology for multiple release profiled (pulsatile, immediate release and extended release ) and combination products at CPhI, as well as its next generation antibody drug conjugation (ADC) technology for Biologics – SMARTag™.

“These innovations underline Catalent’s commitment to constantly bringing new products to market faster, with the ultimate goal of providing better treatments to patients, in the most effective manner,” commented Kurt Nielsen, Senior Vice President, Catalent R&D. “Whether deterring substance abuse, providing an alternative to injection, or improving compliance and adherence, our new technologies deliver significant benefits to developers, marketers and end users.”

About Catalent

Catalent Pharma Solutions is the global leader in development solutions and advanced drug delivery technologies, providing world-wide clinical and commercial supply capabilities for drugs, biologics and consumer health products. With over 75 years serving the industry, Catalent has proven expertise in bringing more customer products to market faster, enhancing product performance and ensuring reliable product supply. Catalent employs approximately 8,500 people, including over 1,000 scientists, at nearly 30 facilities across 5 continents and generates more than $1.7 billion in annual revenue. Catalent is headquartered in Somerset, N.J. For more information, visit www.catalent.com

A concise overview was published as the Summary for Policymakers on 27 September 2013. The level of confidence in each finding was rated on a confidence scale, qualitatively from very low to very high and, where possible, quantitatively from exceptionally unlikely to virtually certain (determined based on statistical analysis and expert judgement). The principal findings were:

Warming of the atmosphere and ocean system, and associated impacts such as sea level change have certainly occurred since 1950. Many of these metrics have changed at rates unprecedented in the historical record.
It is likely that 1983—2013 was the warmest 30-year period for 1400 years.
It is virtually certain the upper ocean warmed from 1971 to 2010.
Ocean warming accounts for 90% of the energy accumulation between 1971 and 2010.
Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets have been losing mass in the last two decades.
Mean 1901—2010 sea level rise was stated as 19 ± 2 cm.
Arctic sea ice and Northern Hemisphere spring snow cover have continued to decrease in extent.
Concentration of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere have increased to levels unprecedented on earth in 800,000 years. The rate of increase over the 20th century is the greatest known for 22,000 years (very high confidence).
Total radiative forcing of the earth system, relative to 1750, is positive and the most significant driver is the increase in CO2’s atmospheric concentration.
It is extremely likely human influence has been the dominant cause of observed warming since 1950, the level of confidence having increased since the fourth report.
Continued emissions will lead to further warming and changes in the climate system.

Molecular Medicine Congress 2013, Frankfurt, Germany from 3-4 September 2013

Written by Darius Peczek