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Winning Solution Will Accelerate the Development of Medicines, Food, Supplements, and Other Everyday Essentials Applicants Can Register Here Until April 5, 2024 NEW YORK, March 7, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Standard Industries, a global industrial company, along with its operating business W. R. Grace & Co., a leader in specialty chemicals and materials, today launched the Standard Industries Chemical Innovation Challenge: Advancing AI-Assisted Molecular Synthesis. Standard will award $1 million to an individual or team that best uses AI to transform the process in which fine chemicals—vital building blocks in products ranging from medicine to food to supplements—are made. This process, known as chemical retrosynthesis—when chemists start with a desired molecule and work backward to figure out the best pathway forward—is a time and resource consuming task, relying heavily on manual analysis and trial and error. AI and machine learning capabilities can streamline and optimize this process. Recognizing this opportunity, Standard is inviting companies, academics, and individuals from around the globe to create a machine-based platform that will enhance the efficiency, accuracy, and sustainability of chemical retrosynthesis, to benefit industries ranging from pharmaceuticals to materials science. In addition to the $1 million award, the winning team will have the opportunity to form a strategic partnership with Grace, a chemical industry leader that works with major pharmaceutical and other companies to supply the materials science expertise that takes products from small trials to large-scale commercial manufacturing. Interested applicants can visit this link for more details on the Challenge and the application process. "As a global industrial company, we invest in technologies that impact not just our digital lives, but the built physical world. AI and machine learning have the power to do just that by accelerating materials science and transforming the way we develop products essential to our everyday lives," said David Millstone and David Winter, Co-CEOs of Standard Industries. "We are excited to launch the Standard Industries Chemical Innovation Challenge and look forward to seeing how innovators around the world harness the power of computing to unlock new, more effective, and more efficient ways to solve real world problems." The Challenge will consist of three phases: Phase One. Teams will submit white papers detailing their computational approach to the problem, their proposed initial training dataset, and a description of the feasibility of their model. Phase Two. The top ten participants will advance to create ten or more test molecules and a basic interface for real-time evaluation, plus additional tests to showcase their tool's effectiveness. Phase Three. The three finalist teams will be given five or more challenge molecules, and will present the output for each molecule, defining the key transformations and the proposed synthesis of this transformation. An impartial panel of judges from academia and business with expertise and experience in organic synthesis, computationally-assisted synthesis and computational chemistry will oversee the competition and assess each team's solution. At the conclusion of the third phase, the judges will choose the winning team based on real world results of the finalists' predictive models. In addition to the $1 million winning prize awarded to the winner, the three semi-finalists will each receive $100,000 and up to ten teams that advance through the white paper development phase will each receive $10,000. In addition to its performance materials business led by Grace, Standard also applies innovative technologies to the building materials world. Standard Building Solutions, comprising GAF (North America's largest roofing and waterproofing manufacturer), GAF Energy (solar roofing), BMI (Europe's largest manufacturer in the combined pitched and flat roofing market), Schiedel, SGI, and Siplast, is collectively the largest roofing and waterproofing company in the world. About Standard Industries Standard Industries is a privately-held global industrial company operating in over 80 countries with over 20,000 employees and annual revenue of over $11 billion. The Standard ecosystem spans a broad array of holdings, technologies and investments—including both public and private companies from early to late-stage—as well as world-class building solutions, performance materials, logistics, real estate and next-generation solar technology. Throughout its history, Standard has leveraged its deep industry expertise and vision to create outsize value across its businesses, which today include operating companies GAF, BMI, Grace, GAF Energy, Siplast, SGI, Schiedel, and Standard Logistics, as well as Standard Investments and Winter Properties. Among other innovations, GAF Energy is the largest solar roofing producer in the world and its new Timberline Solar product is the world's first nailable solar shingle. About Grace Built on talent, technology, and trust, Grace, a Standard Industries company, is a global leader in specialty chemicals. The company's two industry-leading business segments—Catalyst Technologies and Materials Technologies—provide innovative products, technologies, and services that enhance the products and processes of our customers around the world. With approximately 4,500 employees, Grace operates and/or sells to customers in more than 100 countries. More information about Grace is available at g race.com. GRACE® is a registered trademark in the United States and/or other countries of W. R. Grace & Co.-Conn. Media Contact: Beth Kseniak Head of External Communications, Standard Industries [email protected] SOURCE Standard Industries

BMI OrganBank™ is developing novel organ perfusion systems with potential to greatly reduce the waitlist for lifesaving organ transplants. Partnership includes early access to BMI technologies, collaboration on product design, clinical studies, clinical integration pilots and an undisclosed capital arrangement. CHARLOTTE, N.C., Feb. 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Atrium Health's Division of Abdominal Transplant, Carolinas Medical Center (DAT Atrium), LifeShare Carolinas, one of nation's leading Organ Procurement Organizations, and BMI OrganBank, a developer of organ perfusion systems based in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, announced today that their organizations have partnered to develop and launch the nation's first Organ Banking technology, which will greatly expand the possibilities for organ preservation and reconditioning. DAT Atrium is part of the nation's fifth largest Integrated Delivery Network. The initial focus of the collaboration will be kidney transplantation. Millions of registered organ donors die every year, but relatively few have their kidneys recovered and transplanted. As a result, over 90,000 Americans are on the waiting list for lifesaving kidney transplants. This imbalance in supply and demand could be addressed by the greater use of kidneys from older donors and donors after circulatory death (DCD). With current organ preservation approaches, which use cold temperatures, these kidneys are vulnerable to significant injury during the period before transplantation, leading to increased rates of organ transplant failure. As such, clinicians and patients are reluctant to utilize these kidneys. To improve the preservation and acceptance of these kidneys, BMI OrganBank has developed a unique room temperature oxygenated perfusion platform which has shown great promise for extending preservation times and improving post-transplant outcomes. With this partnership, DAT Atrium and LifeShare Carolinas will be the first clinical organizations to have access to this technology. They will take a leadership role in adapting the technology to clinical settings. Dr. Dionisios Vrochides, Chief of Transplant Oncology Section and Vice Chairman of the Department of Surgery at Atrium Health Division of Abdominal Surgery stated, "This technology has potential to fill important needs of our organ procurement and transplant teams to make more use of donor organs that have been entrusted to us and to improve transplant outcomes. We are excited to help bring it into the clinic." Carrie DiMarzio, CEO of BMI OrganBank, added, "Atrium's Carolinas Medical Center abdominal transplant team is widely admired across the nation, and we are delighted to have partners of this caliber join our efforts to bring this lifesaving innovation to patients who have been waitlisted for organs." The partnership will span product development, clinical studies, clinical integration pilots and educational initiatives and includes an undisclosed capital arrangement. About BMI OrganBank™ BMI OrganBank develops novel perfusion systems that can preserve and recondition organs and tissues. BMI has research facilities in the Innovation Accelerator at the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, NC and in Research Triangle Park, NC. BMI OrganBank has multiple medical devices in development that use its patented and proprietary technologies. Its first product to launch will be the OrganBank Transport device, which was developed in partnership with Duke University researchers at the Duke Ex-Vivo Organ Laboratory (DEVOL). BMI is currently conducting a seed funding round. To learn more, visit bmiorganbank.com. About Division of Abdominal Transplant at Carolinas Medical Center, at Atrium Health The Division of Abdominal Transplant, Carolinas Medical Center, is part of Atrium Health Transplant Center, one of the busiest transplant centers in North Carolina, performing nearly 200 organ transplants every year. It is one of just six in the US with its own hospital-based organ procurement program, which has resulted in shorter average wait times for organs for their patients. Atrium Health is a nationally recognized leader in shaping health outcomes through innovative research, education and compassionate patient care. Based in Charlotte, North Carolina, Atrium Health is an integrated, nonprofit health system with more than 70,000 teammates serving patients at 40 hospitals and more than 1,400 care locations. Atrium Health is part of Advocate Health, the fifth-largest nonprofit health system in the United States, which was created from the combination with Advocate Aurora Health. It provides care under the Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist name in the Winston-Salem, North Carolina, region, as well as Atrium Health Navicent and Atrium Health Floyd in Georgia and Alabama. Atrium Health is renowned for its top-ranked pediatric, cancer and heart care, as well as organ transplants, burn treatments and specialized musculoskeletal programs. A recognized leader in experiential medical education and groundbreaking research, Wake Forest University School of Medicine is the academic core of the system, including Wake Forest Innovations, which is advancing new medical technologies and biomedical discoveries. With a commitment to every community it serves, Atrium Health seeks to improve health, elevate hope and advance healing – for all, providing $2.46 billion last year in free and uncompensated care and other community benefits. About LifeShare Carolinas LifeShare Carolinas serves more than three million people across southwestern North Carolina with headquarters Charlotte, NC. LifeShare Carolinas is a Tier 1 organ procurement organization, ranking in the top 25% of organ procurement organizations in the 2022 Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) Annual Report. LifeShare Carolinas is proud to fulfill its mission of giving hope, life, and healing across 23 counties and is grateful to the donors and their families who make this meaningful mission possible. To learn more, visit lifesharecarolinas.org. SOURCE BMI OrganBank

作为目前最为主流的肥胖指标，BMI——体重除以身高的平方，一直被认为是表征我们健康水平的一个重要，这个参数简单易用，既不需要识别体型，也不需要用弱电流流遍你的全身，马上可以告诉你，你的体重是否超重、超轻？然而，不知你是否和我有一样的疑问：BMI，一个简单的身高体重公式，忽视人体的肌肉、脂肪含量、分布等等等重要特征，真的可以成为家喻户晓的肥胖标准吗？它又是如何获得今天的地位的呢？BMI：源于一个数学家的执念BMI (Body Mass Index)，身高体重指数，它的出现，并非需求所致，最早的BMI源于一个热爱用准确数字去勾勒我们的社会的数学家、统计学家、社会学家和天文学家凯特莱（Adolphe Quetelet）。凯特莱是比利时人，用数字去勾勒整个社会人群是他的挚爱。他曾经致力于用变量来了解整个社会的犯罪率、结婚率或自杀率等现象背后的统计规律，凯特莱努力的成果中，有一项仍然被广泛地继承了下来，成了他最持久的遗产，那就是BMI。在当年，凯特莱并非用这个指数来测量人胖不胖，他关心的是“普通人” （l'homme moyen，即：the average man）的特征。那是一个代表着人群平均水平的人，为了找到这个人，凯特莱需要一个身高体重的关系，来拟合高斯曲线——毕竟，凯特莱深信，正态高斯分布是整个自然界的典型分布，大规模人口研究得出的人类身体特征肯定是符合高斯分布的。到了1832年，凯特莱终于找到了这个量，他指出，除了出生后和青春期的突发性生长外，体重的增长与身高的平方成正比，因而，这个数值又称为凯特莱指数（Quetelet index）。 凯特莱，图源：Belgium post凯特莱找到了BMI也许更多地是出于他对数字的“洁癖”，并没有想到什么样的直接应用场景，但将近一个世纪之后，保险公司们找到了。保险公司注意到，投保人的理赔数量会随着肥胖增加，因而迫切希望能够量化这一指标。1940年代，美国大都会保险功能公司的副总裁、统计学家都柏林（Louis I. Dublin）甚至根据给定身高记录的平均体重，制定了一个正常体重表，用来参考。 二战后，肥胖成为医学日益关注的焦点，寻找一个合适的量化指标变得尤为迫切。人们逐渐发现，成年人的体重与身高平方成正比，这正与一个多世纪前凯特莱的定义类似。1972 年，明尼苏达大学胆固醇和心脏病生理学研究员凯斯（Ancel Keys）参考了都柏林的量表，证实了凯特莱指数的有效性，并将其命名为BMI。到1985年，美国国立卫生研究院和世界卫生组织采用了BMI。到21世纪，BMI已广泛应用于临床，各种医疗保险和医疗补助服务中心纷纷采用了BMI作为护理质量的衡量标准。BMI准确吗？BMI的优秀之处在于，它让人类的胖与瘦有了量化指标。BMI在25-29.9之间属于“超重”，30以上属于肥胖；BMI高于35表明一个人“严重肥胖”，高于40则属于“肥胖症”或“病态肥胖”。另一方面，低于18.5的BMI值通常也被认为是明显不健康的，15通常被视为“饥饿”的上限，经过多次争论，BMI18成为了2006年米兰时装周上模特可接受的最低值。需要肥胖量化指标的人们抓住了BMI如同抓住了一根救命稻草，然而BMI准确吗？医生们发现，BMI的公式有着显然易见的缺陷。拥有等重的肌肉和脂肪的一样高的两个人，他们的BMI是相同的，但肥胖体量和分布情况却可以很不一样。比如：一个拳击手或是健身教练可能会拥有一个较常人更高的BMI，那是源于他们良好的肌肉脂肪比。更为麻烦的是，个体之外，年龄、性别和种族的差异都会导致BMI的不同，BMI的统一标准对某些族群会失效，这也一直是BMI备受争议的原因。根据世卫组织的数据（如下图），东亚人群的BMI相对还是比较低的，然而相同的指标却并不意味着相同的健康标准。 以糖尿病为例，与欧洲人相比，东亚人的BMI较低，但却更容易患上II型糖尿病。一个BMI为23的欧洲人通常被认为很健康，但是BMI为23的东亚人却可能患有糖尿病。这主要因为哪在相同的BMI人群中，东亚人的体脂量更大，且更倾向于内脏肥胖。东亚糖尿病患者发病年龄也较小，患肾脏并发症的风险也更高。其他心脑血管疾病与BMI的关系面临着着相同的问题。针对BMI的一系列偏差和问题，许多反对BMI的研究随之兴起，激烈的讨论出现在《自然》、《营养学》、《英国全科医学》等等相关领域顶尖的学术期刊上。从2022年开始，先是一位医学博士直接在社交媒体中直斥“BMI是垃圾”；然后，一场美国国立卫生研究院举行的虚拟视频会议，主题直接就开始了讨论“超越BMI：探索肥胖的异质性”。而到了2023年4月，《自然医学》杂志上刊登了一份使用各种血液测量值和蛋白质代谢物以及临床数据来预测BMI的报告，进一步证明了BMI在人群水平上虽然有用，却“过于粗糙”，“存在局限性”，“无法捕捉各种异质的代谢健康状态”……除了BMI，我们还可以用什么？健康专家们推倒了BMI，却并非只破不立。随着旧的肥胖标准被推翻，新的测量系统被提了出来，试图重新定义和诊断肥胖。比如，加拿大临床实践指南在2020年就列入了一套新的肥胖诊断系统EOSS（Edmonton Obesity Staging System）该系统通过代谢危险因素、药物使用情况、相关生理功能、和心理情况将肥胖分为五个阶段。但是，既然已经有新的更好的办法，为什么BMI依然且仍在广为流传呢？BMI最大的优点在于简洁，一个小学水平的数学公式，就可以判断肥胖的基本情况，是个自测的好帮手。此外，BMI也易于作为一个基准指标，配合其他指标使用，例如：NHS（英国健康服务）、梅奥（Mayo Clinic）等还建议道，测量完BMI之后可以再测量一下腰围，以确定肚子周围是否有太多的脂肪；如果腰围超过一半的身高，那么则有肥胖的风险。当然，目前看来，也许，因为目前尚未有一套准确且方便实用的方法来测量肥胖，我们还将有不短的一段时间必须以BMI作为肥胖的主要标准，目前的大部分肥胖患者的评估方法都会倾向于以BMI作为起点。不过，随着评估人类的身体脂肪分布变得越来越方便和廉价，也许有一天，我们真的可以全面地抛弃BMI，但不是现在。现在我们所要做的也许是，使用BMI这个标准的时候，需要了解它的不足，希望这一点有助于缓解你在BMI阴影下的焦虑。参考文献：[1]Desrosières, A. (1998). The politics of large numbers: A history of statistical reasoning. Harvard University Press; translated by Camille Naish.[2]Garabed Eknoyan, Adolphe Quetelet (1796–1874)—the average man and indices of obesity, Nephrology Dialysis Transplantation, Volume 23, Issue 1, January 2008, Pages 47–51.[3]McKenzie, P. "Why BMI is flawed—and how to redefine obesity." Nature 622.7982 (2023): 232-233.[4]Ma, R. C., & Chan, J. C. (2013). Type 2 diabetes in East Asians: similarities and differences with populations in Europe and the United States. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences, 1281(1), 64-91.[5]Bray, G. A. (2023). Beyond BMI. Nutrients, 15(10), 2254.Canning, K. L., Brown, R. E., Wharton, S., Sharma, A. M., & Kuk, J. L. (2015). Edmonton obesity staging system prevalence and association with weight loss in a publicly funded referral-based obesity clinic. Journal of Obesity, 2015.[6] Kengo Watanabe, Tomasz Wilmanski. etc. Multiomic signatures of body mass index identify heterogeneous health phenotypes and responses to a lifestyle intervention， Nature Medicine，20 March 2023封面图来源：123rf点击阅读原文，查看更多精彩内容