What Is The 75 Hard Challenge? Benefits, Rules And More

While there may be pros to a challenge like 75 Hard, some experts are cautious of the cons.

“The good with 75 Hard comes along with the potential [of] habit formation and confidence with completing the program,” says certified strength and conditioning specialist Jake Boly. “If you can continually remind yourself that little things add up, then I see the benefit of the program assisting with one’s ability to build better habits, which can carry over post–program completion.”

However, beware of pendulum swings after the 75 days have passed, he says. “Whenever you make a dramatic lifestyle change like doing 75 Hard, you run the risk of losing sight of the bigger picture regarding moderation,” he adds.

75 Hard could be a good program for someone who’s already active but probably isn’t suitable for beginners, says certified personal trainer and nutrition coach Stephanie Thomas. “The daily list of activities and tasks to be completed can feel daunting for someone who is just getting into fitness,” she says. Thomas recommends starting with one or two goals at a time and adding more as those goals are attained.

Dr. Haapanen agrees that certain people may find 75 Hard to be just the thing they need to kickstart healthy habits. However, she thinks there are superior options for most people based on her approach. “I prefer baby steps in life change behaviors,” she says. “In my practice, I aim to help my humans be 1% better every day. I find this [strategy] to be more sustainable, realistic and fun.”

Ag Innovation Challenge

The Farm Bureau Ag Innovation Challenge is a national business competition that showcases U.S. startups developing innovative solutions that address challenges facing America’s farmers, ranchers and rural communities. The Challenge was the first national business competition of its kind focused exclusively on rural entrepreneurs.

Now in their tenth year, the American Farm Bureau Federation in partnership with Farm Credit, are looking to identify the top entrepreneurs who are addressing both traditional challenges farmers face on their operation, such as access to labor, optimizing yield and reducing operating costs, to entrepreneurs who are addressing new challenges facing farmers and rural communities.

Farm Bureau will award $165,000 in startup funds to ten businesses, culminating at a live pitch competition and networking event at the AFBF Convention in January 2024 in Salt Lake City, UT. The Ag Innovation Challenge Winner will be awarded $50,000 in startup funds provided by our sponsors.

The future of agriculture will rely on innovative solutions to the challenges we face. The Ag Innovation Challenge helps entrepreneurs grow their ideas into products that support farmers and ranchers in their mission to provide the food, fuel and fiber we all rely on.

- Zippy Duvall, AFBF President

Ten startup businesses, selected by Farm Bureau and the Farm Credit Rural Investment and Innovation Workgroup, will compete at the AFBF Convention in January 2024 as semi-finalists. These ten businesses will be awarded $10,000 each.

The ten semi-finalist teams will compete at the AFBF Convention on Friday, Jan. 19, to advance to the final round where the four finalist teams will receive an additional $5,000 for a total of $15,000. The final four teams will compete live in front of Farm Bureau members, investors and industry representatives to win:

Farm Credit supports rural communities and agriculture with reliable, consistent credit and financial services, today and tomorrow. Our nationwide network of customer-owned financial institutions provides loans and related financial services to U.S. farmers and ranchers, farmer-owned cooperatives, rural homebuyers, agribusinesses and rural infrastructure providers.

Providing much-needed capital to Rural Business Investment Companies (RBICs) and other rural entities, mentoring rural entrepreneurs and fostering innovation in rural America are other ways Farm Credit fulfills its mission to support vibrant rural communities. That is why Farm Credit is pleased to be the American Farm Bureau Federation’s premier partner on the Ag Innovation Challenge.

For more information, visit www.FarmCredit.com.

Plasmodium falciparum Malaria Vaccines in Development

Several options for improvement of RTS,S-based vaccines are being investigated. Sequential immunization schedules with RTS,S/AS02 combined to prior PfCSP DNA vaccination[89,130] or CS-expressing adenovirus 35[85] or followed by CS-expressing live MVA[131] have been investigated. A multistage, multiantigen recombinant vaccine based on RTS,S and MSP-1 from the 3D7 strain is under evaluation at WRAIR.[119]

The Molecular Immunology unit of the Swiss Tropical Institute in cooperation with Pevion Biotech Ltd and the Institute for Organic Chemistry (University of Zürich, Switzerland) is developing a candidate malaria vaccine based on synthetic peptides displayed on the surface of reconstituted influenza virosomes. This new antigen-delivery system is based on phospho-lipid-anchored antigenic peptides mixed with nonbounded phospholipids and influenza surface glycoproteins, creating virus-like particles, supposed to be strong inducers of B- and T-cell immunity.[132] The aim of this formulation is to be able to include several antigenic peptides and develop a multiantigen, multistage vaccine. Presently, two virosome formulations,both including a synthetic peptide mimicking an important part of the native protein, one comprising a CS-like sequence (PEV 301)[133] the other an AMA1 like sequence (PEV 302),[134] were taken to clinical evaluation. A Phase I clinical trial was conducted at the University Hospital of Basel, followed by a Phase IIa trial at the Centre for Clinical Vaccinology and Tropical Medicine, at Oxford University, UK. A rapid age de-escalation Phase Ib study will be conducted in Mali.[154,155]

The Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC) has developed vaccine candidates based on a replication-deficient adenovirus derived from wild-type serotype 5 through several gene deletions that encode P. falciparum genes from the 3D7 strain. One construct expresses CS, another AMA1. A Phase I/IIa trial is ongoing in the USA. Volunteers seronegative for adenovirus serotype 5 will receive each construct individually or combined. Vaccine protection against experimental sporozoite challenge will be evaluated.[154]

Investigators from the Papua New Guinea Institute of Medical Research and the Australian Cooperative Research Center for Vaccine Technology in Queensland, the Walter and Eliza Hall Research Institute and the Swiss Tropical Institute have developed a vaccine candidate combining MSP-1, MSP-2 and the ring-stage infected erythrocyte surface antigen (RESA) adjuvanted with Montanide. In a small Phase IIa challenge study, this candidate vaccine failed to induce a reduction or delay in parasitemia, but in a subsequent Phase I/IIb trial in children in Papua New Guinea, it showed a reduction in parasite density in some vaccinees compared with controls[135] but the selective pressure was restricted to parasites expressing the 3D7 allelic form of MSP-2.[136] To date, this was the first successful blood-stage vaccine to show some vaccine efficacy. Future vaccine candidates will include the opposite dimorphic form of MSP-2, FC27.

A chimeric molecule called PfCP-2.9, including MSP1-19 and the C-terminal region of AMA1, expressed in P. Pastoris, and formulated with Montanide ISA 720, is in development in China. Anti-PfCP-2.9 sera from immunized animals inhibited in vitro growth of two P. falciparum parasite strains. A Phase I clinical trial is ongoing with support from the MVI and the WHO.[137]

The Statens Serum Institute (SSI) in Denmark has developed, with EMVI support, a malaria vaccine candidate based on a recombinant hybrid including the 85-213 sequence of glutamate-rich protein (GLURP) and the C-terminal part of MSP-3, expressed in Lactococcus lactis.[138] GLURP is expressed both at the pre-erythrocytic and erythrocytic stages of infection. A Phase I trial using the GLURP vaccine candidate segment showed the induction of antibodies that exert in vitro a dose-dependent inhibition of parasite growth in the presence of monocytes.[139] Adult trials with the combination vaccine ca-ndidate adjuvanted with aluminum hydroxide are ongoing. An EMVI-supported Phase Ia trial is ongoing in Tuebingen, Germany, and an AMANET-supported Phase Ib trial is ongoing in Lambaréné, Gabon.[154]