Tag Archives: heightened

Bank of England Cautions About Heightened Risks of AI Bubble Burst

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The Bank of England has issued a warning regarding the growing risk of “sudden corrections” in global markets, raising alarms about the inflated valuations of significant AI technology firms.

Policymakers expressed that a loss of credibility by the Federal Reserve among global investors could result in a potential “sharp re-risk of US dollar assets,” especially as Donald Trump is continuously criticizing the US Central Bank and undermining its independence.

The persistent excitement and positivity surrounding AI technology have driven valuations higher in recent months, with companies like OpenAI valued at $500 million (£37.2 billion), a stark contrast to $157 billion last October. Another entity, Humanity, has nearly tripled in value from $600 billion in March to $170 billion last month.

Nevertheless, the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee (FPC) warned on Wednesday that: “The risk of sudden market corrections is on the rise.”

“Many indicators suggest that stock market valuations, particularly for tech firms focused on artificial intelligence, are escalating. This makes the stock market highly vulnerable should expectations regarding AI’s impact become overly pessimistic.”

Investors admitted that they have not fully considered these potential risks, cautioning that if any materialize, “a sudden correction could happen,” leading to financial strain for families and businesses alike. The FPC emphasized: “As an open economy with a pivotal financial center, the risk of a global shock affecting the UK financial system is significant.”

Confidence in the AI boom has been shaken recently by research from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, which revealed that 95% of organizations have gained no returns on their investments in generative AI.

This has sparked worries that stock market valuations may decline if investors become disillusioned with AI technology’s advancement or adoption. The FPC noted this could lead to a reassessment of current expected future revenues.

“The substantial bottlenecks to AI advancement, arising from issues related to power, data, or commodity supply chains, as well as conceptual breakthroughs that alter the necessary AI infrastructure for developing and utilizing powerful AI models, can negatively affect valuations, especially for companies reliant on high levels of AI infrastructure investment where expected revenues are projected.”

The committee further remarked that ongoing threats from the Trump administration towards the US Federal Reserve jeopardize financial stability.

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“In the US, there is ongoing discussion regarding the Federal Reserve’s independence. A sudden or significant shift in the perception of the Federal Reserve’s reliability could result in a rapid re-risking of US dollar assets, including the US sovereign debt market, leading to increased volatility, risk premiums, and global uncertainty.”

They noted that this concern would compound the effects of Trump’s trade war, which the FPC asserted has “not yet fully materialized.”

Source: www.theguardian.com

Big animals face heightened cancer risk, yet enhanced defenses have emerged

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African elephants have extra copies of genes that help resist cancer

Neil Aldridge/Nature Picture Library/Aramie

Larger animals live longer and have more cells, and are expected to be at a higher risk of developing cancer. A comprehensive analysis of 263 species suggests that this is true, but also finds that some large animals have evolved ways of reducing risk.

“We provide the first empirical evidence that there is a link between body size and cancer prevalence, meaning that larger species increase cancer than smaller species. “I say it. George Butler University College London.

The results are in contrast to previous studies found. There is no link between weight and cancer rate. But many of these were related to just a few dozen species, Butler says.

To gain a broader view, Butler and his colleagues analyzed data on the size and cancer rates of 79 bird species, 90 mammal species, 63 reptiles and 31 amphibians. The data comes from previous studies by other researchers who sifted through autopsy records that record whether a breeding animal stored in a place like Zoos or an aquarium had cancer when it died. .

The team found that smaller animals were slightly more likely to have cancer than fewer animals at the time of death. Each 1% increase in body weight was associated with an average increase of 0.1% in cancer rates between birds and mammals. Because body mass data were not available in reptiles and amphibians, the team used body length and found that it was associated with an average increase in cancer rate of 0.003% for every 1% increase.

Butler and his team say their discoveries will challenge a long-standing idea known as the Pete Paradox. on the other hand, Veragolbunova At the University of Rochester in New York, the weak correlation still needs explanation.

“The increased risk they see is very, very minor and not proportional to their body size,” she says. “If you take small animals like mice and humans are 100 times larger, or elephants are 100 times larger, the difference in cancer rates is not 100 times higher in humans and 1000 times higher in elephants.”

It suggests that larger species have evolved more ways to protect themselves, Golbunova says.

Indeed, by using evolutionary trees to infer evolutionary rates of animal body size, the team said that if the size increases more rapidly during evolution, birds and mammal species of similar sizes can be We found it to provide better protection against cancer.

Previous studies have identified genetic adaptations in elephants and whales, protecting against cancer by improving DNA repair and preventing broken cells from dividing.

A deeper understanding of how some animals resist cancer can lead to new treatments for people, says Golbunova. “In these cancer-resistant animals, there are specific biological pathways of different fine-tuning, for example, targeting these pathways and then killing cancer cells more efficiently, or perhaps killing cancer cells. You can even prevent cancer from occurring,” she says.

“As these mechanisms have been tested over millions of years in the course of evolution, they are likely to become highly promising drugs,” she says.

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Source: www.newscientist.com

Teens’ asthma risk may be heightened by E-cigarettes

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A Texas A&M University study shows that e-cigarettes increase the risk of asthma in young nonsmokers, identifies associated risk factors, and calls for public health measures to reduce e-cigarette use among young people. There is.

This study highlights the urgent need to develop approaches to address the rising prevalence of e-cigarette uptake and its negative health effects.

A recent study from the Texas A&M University School of Public Health found that e-cigarettes may increase the risk of asthma in young people who do not smoke traditional tobacco products.

The use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) among adolescents has increased dramatically over the past few years. Although e-cigarettes contain fewer toxins than regular cigarettes, they still contain a cocktail of harmful chemicals that increase the risk of respiratory illness.

Research results on e-cigarettes and asthma

In this new study published in preventive medicine, researchers analyzed data from a national survey of young people to determine whether there was a link between e-cigarettes and asthma. Researchers also sought to identify factors that may be associated with e-cigarette use among adolescents.

The research team used data from the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System, a national health dataset set up by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to track health behaviors and outcomes in children and youth. The study used data collected between 2015 and 2019, including information on e-cigarette use. The analysis included data from more than 3,000 youth ages 13 to 17 in Texas and more than 32,000 youth in the United States for comparison.

The survey asked respondents whether they had ever used e-cigarettes, how many days in the past 30 days they had used e-cigarettes, and whether a health care professional had ever told them they had asthma. The study includes information on respondents’ gender, age, race, ethnicity, body mass index (BMI), and presence or absence of symptoms of depression. The analysis also includes data on the use of other substances, including traditional cigarettes, alcohol, and illicit drugs.

Correlation and risk factors

This study confirmed the association between e-cigarette use and asthma in young people who have never smoked traditional tobacco products. This indicates that e-cigarettes increase the risk of asthma independently of the use of traditional tobacco products in young people.

Researchers also found evidence that some demographic factors, behaviors associated with drug use, and the presence of depressive symptoms were associated with e-cigarette use. Young people who used traditional cigarettes, alcohol, and other substances were more likely to use e-cigarettes, as were depressed subjects.

Additionally, Hispanic youth in Texas were significantly less likely to have used e-cigarettes than non-Hispanic white youth. However, researchers found that there were no notable differences between races and ethnicities in the United States as a whole. Further research is needed to identify factors that may be associated with decreased e-cigarette use among Hispanic youth in Texas.

Recommendations and conclusions

“Increasing knowledge about the harmful effects of e-cigarette use, introducing stricter regulations, and promoting alternative coping mechanisms for mental health are potential interventions to reduce e-cigarette use.” “Yes,” said Dr. Taehyung Lo, lead author of the study.

Given the burden of asthma and the increasing use of e-cigarettes among adolescents, researchers hope these findings will help inform public health efforts to reduce e-cigarette use. ing.

Reference: “The Association between E-Cigarette Use and Asthma in U.S. Youth: Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance System 2015-2019,” by Taehyun Roh, Kido Uyamasi, Anisha Aggarwal, Alexander Obeng, and Jenny Carrillo, September 2023. Four days, preventive medicine.
DOI: 10.1016/j.ypmed.2023.107695

Source: scitechdaily.com