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Would you be inclined to respond to such advertisements? What about those that guarantee severe diarrhea? How many stars would it take to make you consider adding STDs to your stay? Perhaps a substantial cash incentive might sway your decision?
Welcome to the peculiar realm of human challenge testing – arriving soon at a biosecure isolation facility nearby.
In response to the collective trauma of the coronavirus pandemic, researchers are increasingly enlisting healthy individuals to participate in trials that intentionally expose them to illness. Volunteers are now more willing than ever to contract diseases ranging from dysentery and cholera to gonorrhea.
As detailed on page 38, clinical trials offer a rapid and relatively affordable method for assessing vaccines and treatments while monitoring infection dynamics. Contrary to popular belief, the risks may not be as high as presumed. Trials, conducted under stringent medical oversight, will only proceed if effective therapies can quickly alleviate symptoms.
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Deliberately infecting healthy volunteers carries risks, and the ethical implications are complex. “
However, it’s not without its hazards, and the ethical landscape remains murky. Unlike patients with existing conditions who may opt for experimental therapies that could potentially cure them, challenge trials seek to induce illness with little or no immediate medical benefit, even if for a brief duration.
Moreover, we cannot always prevent potential long-term consequences. For example, some ethicists have expressed concerns regarding the manner in which British scientists conducted COVID-19 challenge trials during the pandemic, underscoring the risks of chronic symptoms associated with COVID-19.
Nonetheless, the pandemic has also underscored the significant positive impact and value of vaccines. Current data indicates that human challenge testing is safe, particularly for young, healthy individuals. These studies could hasten the development of new defenses against persistent epidemics such as malaria, Zika, and norovirus. The pressing question may be: How can we expand these efforts?
Creating effective HIV vaccines may necessitate intricate formulations containing various viral proteins. Presently, two trials utilizing potential mRNA components have shown encouraging outcomes. The aim is to leverage mRNA technology for administering vaccines as a single dose rather than requiring multiple injections.
Typically, vaccines feature the virus’s outer protein, prompting the immune system to react against it. However, developing HIV vaccines poses significant challenges due to the virus’s proteins being heavily coated with sugars, which makes it tough for the immune system to generate antibodies. There’s also considerable variation across strains; therefore, even if an individual’s immune system can produce effective antibodies, these may only target a specific variant of the virus.
Nevertheless, a few individuals generate broadly neutralizing antibodies that are effective across multiple strains. Research in animals suggests that vaccines incorporating sequences of HIV proteins in various configurations can reliably elicit this broadly protective response, according to William Schief at the Scripps Institute in California.
This method highlights the advantages of mRNA vaccine technology, as mRNAs can be developed swiftly and conveniently, Schief states. “That’s a significant benefit.”
A single mRNA vaccine could encode multiple viral proteins simultaneously and has the potential to produce them in the body at different intervals, he adds. This implies that the mRNA HIV vaccine could potentially be administered as a single dose, even though several boosters typically follow. “Ideally, I’d prefer to administer one vaccine, with some components being released later,” Schief explained.
Earlier this year, his team shared promising results from preliminary human trials of the initial primers developed to stimulate B cells. Currently, his team is evaluating one of the subsequent boosters in another small study.
When volunteers received mRNA instructions for HIV external proteins integrated into the cell membrane, 80% generated antibodies shown to block infection in laboratory tests.
In this study, these antibodies were specific to one strain. Researchers anticipate that when boosters are administered sequentially, each component will be produced within the body in the correct order.
However, both trials reported a higher incidence of volunteers experiencing hive reactions, which have persisted for years. This reaction hasn’t been seen in any other mRNA vaccine trials or in non-mRNA vaccines incorporating HIV proteins, Schief notes. There appears to be an unknown factor related to delivering HIV proteins via mRNA that leads to this side effect. “It remains a scientific mystery at this time,” he states.
“The uncertainty surrounding the cause of this adverse effect makes it challenging to mitigate,” notes Hildegund Ertl, a vaccine expert associated with a company currently under exploration, Pharma5 in Morocco.
Ertl concurs that mRNA technology enables rapid testing of vaccine components but believes that the optimal final product could be delivered through different types of vaccines, such as those using empty viral shells. These alternatives can be stored at room temperature, unlike others that may require freezing, she points out.
Currently, there’s a medication called renacapavir, which offers nearly complete protection from HIV infection with two injections a year. Nevertheless, Schief believes a vaccine is still necessary. “We’re all striving to achieve this as quickly as possible,” he states, but even with the advancements in mRNA technology, an approved HIV vaccine may still be decades away.
In directing this play, which commemorates the centenary of the trial, Buck emphasizes that leaders in Dayton are pursuing the same mission as their predecessors a hundred years ago.
“I’ve generated interest in this town, and I’m thrilled about the people here, positioning Dayton on the map,” Buck stated. “Perhaps we’re utilizing this narrative and trial to shine a spotlight on this unique location.”
Descendants
Jacob Smith, 23, only realized his connection to the iconic trials after delving into history. His great-great-grandmother’s brother was Walter White, the county’s school chief and a pivotal figure who brought the trial to Dayton.
Smith portrays Dudley Field Malone, Scope’s defense attorney, who delivered equally passionate and memorable speeches during the trial, in a manner reminiscent of Brian and Darrow. One of Smith’s favorite lines references the contentious nature of the courtroom battle.
“He essentially states, ‘There’s never a duel with the truth,’” Smith explained. “He argues, ‘It always prevails. It doesn’t conspire or require suspension of laws, governments, or ‘Mr. Brian’.”
Now a county archivist, Smith is eager to see visitors discover the original courthouse in Dayton, with its creaky, polished wooden floors, lofty windows, and impressive staircase leading up to the expansive courtroom on the second level.
“Like the lawyers before them, they could ascend to that circuit court and grip the railing, and back in 1925, the entire audience would have turned their gaze,” Smith noted.
“The Great General”
Larry Jones, who has been acting in community and local theatres since childhood, thought he knew the story of the Scope Trial following his performance in “The Wind Inheritance.”
He soon realized that renowned plays often embraced creative liberties, transforming into a commentary on something else that had captivated the nation at the time, such as McCarthyism.
Jones portrays Brian, a notable Christian orator and populist politician. He mentions that the most challenging aspect wasn’t memorizing Brian’s lengthy speeches, but rather responding to Darrow’s unexpected challenges that demand a defense of the literal truth of the Bible.
“I have to react instinctively and appear spontaneous each time,” Jones remarked. “Part of me thinks, ‘Oh, is that the right cue? Will I say the correct thing?’
Jones asserts that the audience will connect to the trial’s enduring narrative as it echoes into the next century. The discourse continues.
“Discussions about the same themes persist,” Jones explained. “What role should federal or state governments play in public education? What should or shouldn’t be allowed? How should parents guide their children’s education? Whether concerning evolution, literature, or numerous contemporary political issues, the debate remains alive.”
There Is No Conclusion
The trial’s outcome came as little surprise, with the jury swiftly deeming the scope guilty after mere minutes of deliberation. Nonetheless, the defense’s aim has always focused on establishing legal precedents in higher courts.
Today, Dayton embraces its historical significance during the annual trial celebration. Businesses promote “Monkey Trials,” and locals have adopted the phrase “Dayton has evolved.”
“We’re discarding very old tales, yet they feel refreshingly new,” Buck expressed. “It’s so, so very relevant now.”
The steam detector can identify traces of fentanyl and other substances in the air
Elizabeth Denis/Pacific Northwest National Institute
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection Agency is evaluating technology capable of detecting illegal substances in the air without any physical contact. This device aims to screen border objects quickly to combat the trafficking of drugs like fentanyl, a major contributor to the U.S. opioid crisis.
Detecting drugs and explosive compounds poses a challenge due to their release of relatively few molecules into the already vapor-laden air. To tackle this issue, the U.S. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) has spent over a decade developing an advanced system known as VaporID. This system can accurately identify certain substances from distances of 0.6 to 2.4 meters with sensitivity levels as low as a quarter of a part per trillion. This level of precision equates to locating a single coin in a stack of pennies that is 17 million times taller than Mount Everest.
Government scientists improved sensitivity by allowing molecules more time to create detectable chemical reactions through random collisions with other molecules. While most devices used for identifying unknown substances react to molecules within a few milliseconds, Robert Ewing at PNNL notes that “we created an atmospheric flow tube. This expands the reaction time to 2-3 seconds, which boosts sensitivity by three orders of magnitude.”
The technology has been integrated into a compact, microwave-sized device weighing 18 kilograms. Developed by California-based company Bayspec, this miniaturized machine is still less sensitive than the larger, fridge-sized version used at the PNNL lab. However, Bayspec’s CEO, William Yang, claims it is “more accurate and sensitive than a dog.”
In October 2024, researchers from Bayspec and PNNL tested the portable device at a Customs and Border Protection (CBP) facility in Nogales, Arizona. During separate trials, researchers swiped the surfaces of seized tablets and heated the swabs to generate steam for detection. “Both techniques yielded strong and reliable results,” says Christian Thoma of Bayspec.
The prototype is still under evaluation and requires further scientific data analysis, according to a CBP spokesperson.
Alex Krotulski of the Center for Forensic Research and Education, a nonprofit in Pennsylvania, comments, “We’ve encountered many devices that promise too much, so we’re cautious until they demonstrate efficacy through extensive research and assessments.”
There are already existing portable methods, such as x-rays, to uncover hidden drugs. Richard Crocombe, an independent consultant in Massachusetts, considers the new tool “another valuable addition to the arsenal,” but cautions that it “doesn’t fulfill all requirements.” A CBP spokesman acknowledged that while it could expedite drug testing in field labs, new devices may still require analysis by trained chemists.
These screening methods are also prone to false positives; “drug residues can be quite ubiquitous,” states Joseph Palamar at New York University. A related study indicated that most U.S. banknotes are contaminated. “If you happen to be near someone using fentanyl, the device could react positively based on trace amounts they might have on clothing or shoes. This raises concerns about innocent individuals being wrongly detained,” warns Chelsea Schauber at UCLA.
Preventing drugs from entering the country is just one piece of the larger strategy needed to address the opioid crisis, according to Schauber. This also calls for robust public health agencies, better access to healthcare, and comprehensive treatment options. She emphasizes that these resources are currently being diminished under the Trump administration. “To save lives, we need evidence-based, effective treatments that are more accessible than illegal drugs,” Schober concludes.
This piece was reported by indicator, a publication focused on unearthing digital misinformation, in partnership with the Guardian.
Numerous YouTube channels have blended AI-generated visuals with misleading claims surrounding Sean “Diddy” Combs’s high-profile trial, attracting tens of millions of views and profiting from the spread of misinformation.
Data from YouTube reveals that 26 channels have garnered a staggering 705 million views from approximately 900 AI-influenced videos about Diddy over the last year.
These channels typically employ a standardized approach. Each video features an enticing title and AI-generated thumbnail that fabricates connections between celebrities and Diddy with outrageous claims, such as a celebrity’s testimony forcing them to engage in inappropriate acts or revealing shocking secrets about Diddy. Thumbnails regularly showcase well-known figures in courtroom settings alongside images of Diddy, with many featuring suggestive quotes designed to grab attention, including phrases like “f*cked me me me me me of me,” “ddy f*cked bieber life,” and “she sold him to Diddy.”
Channels indulging in Diddy’s “Slop,” a term for low-quality, AI-generated content, have previously demonstrated a penchant for disseminating false claims about various celebrities. Most of the 26 channels seem to be either repurposed or newly created, with at least 20 being eligible for advertising revenue.
Spreading sensational and erroneous “Diddy AI Slop” has become a quick avenue for monetization on YouTube. Wanner Aarts, managing numerous YouTube channels that employ AI-generated content, expressed his strategies for making money on the platform, noting his detachment from the Diddy trend.
“If someone asked, ‘How can I make $50,000 quickly?’ the first thing might be akin to dealing drugs, but the second option likely involves launching a Diddy channel,” Aarts (25) stated.
Fabricated Celebrity Involvement
The indicator analyzed hundreds of thumbnails and titles making false claims about celebrities including Brad Pitt, Will Smith, Justin Bieber, Oprah Winfrey, Eddie Murphy, Leonardo DiCaprio, Dwayne “Rock” Johnson, 50 Cent, Joe Logan, and numerous others. Notably, one channel, Fame Fuel, uploaded 20 consecutive videos featuring AI-generated thumbnails and misleading titles related to U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondy and Diddy.
Among the top-performing channels is Peeper, which has amassed over 74 million views since its inception in 2010, but pivoted to exclusively covering Diddy for at least the last eight months. Peeper boasts some of the most viral Diddy videos, including “Justin Bieber reveals Will Smith, Diddy and Clive Davis grooming him,” which alone attracted 2.3 million views. Peeper is currently being converted into a demo.
Channels named Secret Story, previously offering health advice in Vietnamese, shifted focus to Diddy content, while Hero Story transitioned from covering Ibrahim Traore, the military leader of Burkina Faso, to Diddy stories. A Brazilian channel that amassed millions from embroidery videos also pivoted to Diddy content just two weeks ago. A channel named Celebrity Topics earned over 1 million views across 11 Diddy videos in just three weeks, despite being created in early 2018 and appearing to have deleted prior videos. Both Secret Story and Hero Story were removed by YouTube following inquiries from the indicator, while Celebrity Topics has since undergone rebranding.
Shifting Focus to Diddy
For instance, around three weeks ago, the channel PAK GoV Update started releasing videos about Diddy, utilizing AI-generated thumbnails with fictitious quotes attributed to celebrities like Ausher and Jay-Z. One video labeled “Jay-Z breaks his silence on Diddy’s controversy,” included a tearful image of Jay-Z with the text “I Will Be Dod” superimposed.
The video achieved 113,000 views with nearly 30 minutes of AI-generated narration accompanied by clips from various TV news sources, lacking any new information from Jay-Z, who did not provide any of the attributed quotes.
The Pak Gov Update channel previously focused on Pakistan’s public pensions, generating modest views—its most popular being a poorly titled video about the pension system that garnered 18,000 views.
Monetizing Misinformation
Aarts commented that the strategy of exploiting Diddy Slop is both profitable and precarious. “Most of these channels are unlikely to endure,” he remarked, referencing the risk of being penalized for violating YouTube policies and potential legal actions from Diddy or other celebrities depicted in their thumbnails and videos.
Like PAK Gov Update, most videos uploaded by these channels predominantly utilize AI narration and fewer direct clips from news reports, often leaning on AI-generated images. The use of actual footage tends to skirt the boundaries of fair use.
The YouTube channel Pakreviews-F2Z has produced numerous fake videos surrounding the Diddy trial, disguised under the name Pak Gov Update. Photo: YouTube
AI Slop represents one of the many variations of Diddy-related content proliferating on YouTube. This niche appears to be expanding and proving lucrative. Similar Diddy-focused AI content has attracted engagement on Tiktok.
“We are fans of the world,” stated YouTube spokesperson Jack Maron in an email. Maron noted that the platform has removed 16 channels linked to this phenomena and confirmed that various channels, including Pak Gov Update, have faced similar actions.
The Diddy phenomenon exemplifies the convergence of two prominent trends within YouTube: automation and faceless channels.
YouTube Automation hinges on the premise that anyone can establish a prosperous YouTube venture through the right niche and low-cost content creation strategies, including topic discovery, idea brainstorming, or employing international editors to churn out content at an automated rate.
With AI, it has become simpler than ever to embark on a faceless automation journey. Aarts indicated that anyone can generate scripts using ChatGPT or analogous language models, create images and thumbnails via MidJourney or similar software, utilize Google Veo 3 for video assembly, and implement AI voice-over using tools like ElevenLabs. He further mentioned that he often hires freelancers from the Philippines or other regions for video editing tasks.
“AI has democratized opportunities for budget-conscious individuals to engage in YouTube automation,” Aarts stated, highlighting it can cost under $10 per video. He reported earnings exceeding $130,000 from over 45 channels.
Muhammad Salman Abazai, who oversees As a Venture, a Pakistani firm offering video editing and YouTube channel management services, commented that Diddy video content has emerged as a “legitimate niche” on YouTube, showcasing successful Diddy videos created by his team.
“This endeavor has proven fruitful for us, as it has significantly boosted our subscriber count,” he noted.
NV Historia shifted focus following the viral response to a Diddy-themed video titled “A minute ago: No one expected Dwayne Johnson to say this in court about Diddy,” featuring AI-generated images of Johnson and Diddy in court along with disturbing visuals of alleged incidents. The thumbnail showcased the quote “He gave me it.”
Johnson has neither testified nor had any connection to allegations against Diddy. This video has gathered over 200,000 views. Following this, NV Historia managed another video linking Oprah Winfrey and other celebrities to Diddy, which earned 45,000 views. Subsequently, the channel committed entirely to Diddy content and has since been removed by YouTube.
A French channel, Starbuzzfr, was launched in May and appears to exclusively publish Diddy-related content, deploying AI-generated thumbnails and narration to spin fabricated narratives, such as Brad Pitt’s supposed testimony against Diddy, claiming he experienced abuse by the mogul. Starbuzzfr notably utilizes sexualized AI-generated imagery featuring Diddy and celebrities like Pitt. As of this writing, the channel remains monetized.
Aarts noted that the general sentiment within the YouTube automation community respects anyone who manages to monetize their content.
“I applaud those who navigate this successfully,” he remarked.
Facebook’s pro-meta platform is currently on trial in Washington, accused by US antitrust enforcement officials of unlawfully creating a social media monopoly by overspending when trying to secure the deal.
Over a decade ago, the acquisition was made with the intention of eliminating potential competitors that could challenge Facebook’s dominant position as a social media platform for connecting with friends and family, according to the Federal Trade Commission. The lawsuit was filed in 2020 during the first term of Donald Trump.
The FTC is seeking to compel Meta to restructure or divest parts of its business, including Instagram and WhatsApp. This trial marks the first significant test for the FTC under the second Trump administration, following an investigation initiated during Trump’s initial term.
Meta’s Chief Legal Officer, Jennifer Newsted, described the incident as a hindrance to technology investment in a blog post on Sunday.
Newsted writes, “It is absurd that the FTC is attempting to dismantle a prominent American company while the administration works to protect China-owned TikTok.”
This situation poses a serious threat to Meta’s existence. It provides a real indication of how aggressively the new Trump administration will pursue its promises to challenge major technology companies, especially considering that Instagram generates approximately half of US advertising revenue.
Losing Instagram would be a significant blow to Meta, according to Jasmine Enberg, a top analyst at market research firm Emarketer.
Enberg stated, “Losing Instagram would also greatly impact future user and revenue growth prospects. Instagram is currently Meta’s primary revenue generator, accounting for 50.5% of the company’s ad revenue in 2025. Instagram has filled the void left by Facebook in terms of user engagement, particularly among younger users.”
Meta has been actively engaging with Trump since his election. Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has made multiple visits to the White House recently. Zuckerberg also purchased a new $23 million home in DC to allow him to focus more on policy issues related to American technology leadership while Meta continues its work.
A company spokesperson said, “This allows Mark to spend more time as Meta continues to work on policy issues related to American technology leadership.” The company has contributed $1 million to Trump’s initial committee and has sought to persuade the president to settle the lawsuit against Meta.
FTC spokesman Joe Simonson commented, “The FTC under Trump Vance was not prepared for this trial.”
Zuckerberg will face questions about an email that suggested acquiring Instagram as a strategy to neutralize potential competitors and expressed concerns that WhatsApp, an encrypted messaging service, could evolve into a social network.
Meta argues that the purchases of Instagram and WhatsApp in 2014 benefited users, and Zuckerberg’s previous statements are no longer relevant in the face of fierce competition from TikTok, YouTube, and Apple’s messaging apps.
The central focus of this case is how users engage with social media platforms and whether they consider the services to be interchangeable. Meta points to increased traffic on Instagram and Facebook during TikTok’s brief hiatus in the US in January, as indicated in court records.
The FTC contends that Meta holds a monopoly on the platform used for social sharing. Snapchat and Mewe from Snap are major competitors in the US market.
Mike Prucks, Vice President of Research at Forrester, believes that the trial could have far-reaching implications for the social media industry.
Proulx stated, “The outcome of this trial, combined with the uncertainty surrounding TikTok’s future, could reshape the core of the social media market. Meta is no longer the dominant force. We haven’t seen this level of disruption since 2006-2011 during the early days of social media. We may witness a resurgence of new social media startups attempting to establish a new order in the social media landscape.”
US District Judge James Boasberg ruled in November that the FTC had sufficient evidence to proceed, but the agency faces tough questions about the viability of its claims as the trial progresses.
Former FTC Chairman Lina Khan stated that Meta relied on “buy-and-bury techniques” when acquiring companies like Instagram and WhatsApp. If Meta could not outperform its competitors, it either acquired them or restricted access to Facebook’s network and features. The case revolves around the principles of “free and fair competition,” Khan explained in an interview with NBC.
Khan emphasized, “There is no expiration date on the illegality of these transactions. I believe the entire social networking ecosystem would look different today if Facebook had not been allowed to acquire these companies.”
The trial is set to continue in July. If the FTC prevails, it will need to demonstrate in a second attempt how measures such as divesting Instagram and WhatsApp can restore competition.
Losing Instagram, in particular, could have dire consequences for Meta’s revenue.
Although Meta has not disclosed app-specific revenue figures, Emarketer’s forecast in December suggests that Instagram is expected to generate $37.13 billion this year.
While WhatsApp currently contributes only a small portion to Meta’s overall revenue, it is the company’s primary app in terms of enhancing efforts to monetize tools such as daily users and chatbots. Zuckerberg believes that a “business messaging” service like this will drive the company’s future growth.
A United States judge denied a request for a preliminary injunction on Tuesday to halt the transition to an open commercial model, but agreed to hear the case this autumn.
Yvonne Gonzalez Rogers, a US District Judge in Oakland, California, stated that the tech billionaire did not meet the “high burden necessary for a temporary injunction” to stop the conversion to openness.
Nevertheless, Rogers expressed the importance of quickly resolving the lawsuit, considering “the potential for crisis and harm if conversion takes place unlawfully.”
Elon Musk and Openai, co-founded as a nonprofit in 2015 but left before it gained momentum, have been embroiled in a year-long legal dispute. CEOs of Tesla and X (formerly Twitter) have accused Openai of deviating from its original goal of developing artificial intelligence for the betterment of humanity, rather than corporate profits.
Openai and its CEO, Sam Altman, have denied these allegations. The lawsuit revolves around the shift to a for-profit model for chat developers, with Altman citing the need for more capital and competitiveness in the costly AI industry.
Openai welcomed the judge’s ruling, stating that Musk’s lawsuit, who launched rival startup Xai in 2023, was always about competition. Microsoft, the primary supporter of Openai, did not provide a comment.
Musk’s lawyer, Marc Toberoff, commended the judge for promising a swift trial on the core claims of the case. Toberoff emphasized the importance of ensuring Altman utilizes Musk’s charitable contributions for the benefit of the masses, not personal gain.
The ruling comes after Altman rejected a $97.4 million acquisition offer from a consortium led by Musk, claiming Openai is not for sale and accusing Musk of attempting to hinder its competitors.
Softbank Group is reportedly discussing leading a funding round of up to $400 million for Openai, valuing the company at $300 million. This surpasses the $75 billion valuation discussed by Xai in a recent fundraising round.
Personalized mRNA vaccines, including those for pancreatic cancer treatment, are currently in phase 1 of clinical trials. The research was recently published in Nature.
Pancreatic cancer has one of the lowest survival rates among cancer types, with less than 13% of patients surviving beyond five years after diagnosis. The disease is often diagnosed at an advanced stage, with nearly 90% of cases already progressing when detected.
Pancreatic cancer cells have a high tendency to spread rapidly to other parts of the body, usually after the primary tumor has grown large. Symptoms typically only appear in late stages, and there are currently no routine screening methods like mammograms or colonoscopies for this cancer.
Effective treatments for pancreatic cancer are limited, with survival rates remaining around 10% despite the best available therapies. The development of personalized mRNA vaccines for cancer treatment aims to change this narrative.
Before the widespread use of mRNA vaccines for Covid-19, researchers were exploring their potential for cancer treatment. These vaccines work by training the immune system to identify and attack cancer cells, essentially turning the body’s immune response into a cancer-fighting mechanism. Current research is focused on melanoma, colorectal cancer, and other solid tumors.
The success of mRNA cancer vaccines relies on generating a robust response from T cells, a type of immune cell that recognizes and fights off intruders. These T cells need to be durable and capable of detecting and eliminating cancer cells, including those in pancreatic cancer which present unique challenges due to limited mutation targets.
A recent clinical trial evaluated the efficacy of an mRNA vaccine in pancreatic cancer patients who had undergone surgery to remove the tumor. Results showed that the vaccine elicited a response in half of the participants, generating tumor-targeting T cells that persisted for years. This promising outcome underscores the potential of mRNA vaccines in improving outcomes for pancreatic cancer patients.
The study also highlighted the need for further research to determine the long-term impact of these vaccines on patient outcomes. The development of ready-made mRNA vaccines that target common mutations in pancreatic cancer tumors is another area of ongoing investigation, offering a more standardized approach to treatment.
Overall, early findings suggest that mRNA vaccines hold promise in enhancing the body’s immune response against pancreatic cancer, offering hope for improved survival rates and outcomes in the future.
Keir Starmer this week unveiled a 50-point plan to make Britain a world leader in artificial intelligence and boost the economy by up to £47bn a year over 10 years. This multi-billion pound investment aims to increase AI computing power under public control by 20 times by 2030 and is thought to be a game-changer for businesses and public organizations. Reactions to this announcement have been mixed, as it is by no means clear whether the much-touted potential of AI will translate into the level of economic benefits predicted. While many fear the technology will lead to widespread layoffs, proposals to make it easy for AI companies to data mine artwork for free will boost the value and growth of the creative industries. Some are concerned about destruction.
Despite these concerns, for many in the business world, the AI revolution has already arrived and is transforming industries. So how are you deploying technology to improve productivity, and where do you hope to see further benefits in the future?
Airlines are increasingly leveraging AI for the complex logistics of managing large aircraft and thousands of crew members in unpredictable skies. AI is used across Ryanair’s operations to optimize revenue, schedules, and ‘tail allocation’, selecting the best aircraft for each flight. BA also uses this feature at Heathrow to select gates depending on the number of connecting passengers on arriving flights.
EasyJet said it has embedded AI throughout its new Luton control room and that its predictive technology is now improving aircraft inventory levels and redesigning maintenance regimes to proactively avoid breakdowns. Meanwhile, the low-cost carrier’s Jetstream tools help with the brain-tugging task of quickly repositioning crews and aircraft with minimal disruption and maximum efficiency when problems occur. Gwyn Topham
One of the concerns raised about Starmer’s AI expansion plans is that the energy-intensive data centers required to run the program could exceed the UK’s electricity grid capacity. But some argue that the technology could actually accelerate the clean power revolution by solving the problem of how future energy systems will operate.
Power grids must increasingly adapt to real-time fluctuations in thousands of renewable energy sources and consider new technologies such as electric vehicle batteries that can not only draw power from the grid but also re-release it as needed.
Google was one of the early adopters of the digital energy approach. The company’s AI subsidiary, DeepMind, developed neural networks in 2019 to improve the accuracy of power generation predictions for renewable energy power plants. By more accurately forecasting generation and demand, they were able to balance consumption and even sell some of their power back to the grid. Google says this increases the financial value of wind power by 20%.
Meanwhile, in the UK, energy provider Octopus Energy is leveraging the advanced data and machine learning capabilities of the Kraken operating system to help customers access electricity at cheaper and greener times through time-of-use pricing. I’m doing it. Using electricity during off-peak hours often lowers electricity bills by 40%, reducing the need to invest in new fossil fuels and expensive grid expansion projects. Gillian Ambrose
Big pharma and small AI-focused biotech companies are using this technology to accelerate drug development and reduce costs and failure rates. Drug development typically takes at least 10 years, and 90% of drugs that undergo clinical trials on volunteers fail.
AI can help design smarter clinical trials by selecting patients most likely to respond to treatment. According to a recent analysis by Boston Consulting Group, 75 AI-generated drugs have entered clinical trials since 2015, and 67 of them were still in clinical trials last year.
The treatment for a deadly lung disease called idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is attracting attention as the world’s first fully AI-generating drug, and is currently in late-stage trials. developed By Massachusetts-based Insilico Medicine, Inc. used AI to generate 30,000 novel small molecules and narrowed them down to the six most promising drugs and leading candidates. Meanwhile, AstraZeneca, the UK’s largest pharmaceutical company, said more than 85% of its small molecule drug pipeline is “AI-assisted”.
Ministers are considering opening up NHS databases to private companies so that anonymized patient data can be used to develop new drugs and diagnostic tools. But privacy activists oppose such a move because even anonymized data can be manipulated to identify patients. Julia Cole
(retail)
There has been a lot of talk over the past six months about the rise of AI in operations, as retailers look for ways to increase efficiency amid rising labor costs. For example, Sainsbury’s is using AI-enabled predictive tools to ensure the right amount of product is on the shelves in different stores as part of a £1 billion cost-cutting plan. Marks & Spencer uses AI to help create online product descriptions and advise shoppers on clothing choices based on body shape and style preferences as part of efforts to increase online sales.
Tesco CEO Ken Murphy said AI was already widely used in purchasing decisions, adding that the technology meant that customer interactions would be “truly powered by AI in almost every aspect of the business.” “This is a level that will be strengthened and promoted,” he added. He uses this to analyze data from shoppers’ loyalty cards to provide insights into “shopper interactions”, such as how to save money or take care of your health by buying (or not buying too much) certain products. It suggested it could provide “inspiration and ideas relevant to the family.” Sarah Butler
AI-enhanced efficiencies that automate the simplest tasks for call handlers have the potential to transform productivity and service levels in the public sector. Adolfo Hernandez insists CEO of outsourcing group Capita.
For example, by drawing on past interactions with customers, you no longer have to go beyond old conventions. Behind the scenes, the program can connect council services together, allowing planning applications departments and building services to work together. Or listen in the background to transcribe and summarize your calls to save time taking notes.
Capita has deployed its ‘Agent Suite’ product to two of its clients. early signs, it saysshows a 20% reduction in average call handling time, a 25% reduction in post-call management, and a 15-30% increase in calls resolved on the first interaction. Nils Pratley
Approximately 3% of all carbon emissions come from shipping
green oak/shutterstock
A container ship with a total length of 240 meters. sounion trader recently completed testing its onboard carbon capture system while cruising around the Persian Gulf. The ship has space to hold tons of carbon dioxide, joining a small but growing number of ships seeking to reduce their impact on climate change by capturing and storing carbon dioxide emissions onboard. is difficult to find.
“We're miniaturizing systems that were designed for huge power plants,” he says. Louja Wen Seabound, a UK-based startup that is helping test run Sounion Trader.
Shipping accounts for approximately 3% of global CO2 emissions. To reduce it, shippers are using cleaner fuels, painting their hulls with foam to improve fuel efficiency, and even going back to sail. However, short-term options for achieving the industry's commitment to net-zero emissions by 2050 are limited.
Another possibility is to capture ship emissions. keep on board, but faces major obstacles. One is to provide energy to recharge the chemical adsorbents used to absorb CO2. tristan smith Researchers at University College London say some existing systems increase fuel use by a third just to capture half of the CO2 emissions.
The system, and the carbon it captures, also takes up space on the ship that would normally be used for valuable cargo. “Space is an issue,” he says. jasper ross At the Dutch research institute TNO. “Especially when you're talking about long voyages.” About three tonnes of CO2 is produced for every tonne of fuel burned. George Malupas At the Cyprus Marine and Maritime Institute. Once captured and stored, the added mass can affect the ship's stability and reduce fuel efficiency.
Wen said Seabound's small-scale tests captured about 1 tonne of CO2 per day. Although this is only a fraction of the ship's overall emissions, a full-scale system could capture as much as 95 percent of the ship's CO2, she says.
To save energy, Seabound moves some of its processes onshore. On ships, the exhaust air passes through a calcium oxide adsorbent and reacts with CO2 to form solid calcium carbonate pebbles. The company will then wait to refill the adsorbent until the pebbles are offloaded at the port for permanent storage. The tradeoff is space. Seabound's approach means the ship must carry tanks of sorbent with every ton of her CO2 captured. Still, Wen said the company aims to retrofit 1,000 ships for carbon capture by 2030.
Dutch company Value Maritime has taken a similar approach, using liquid amine adsorbents to capture carbon dioxide and refill it offshore. Yvette van der Sonmen Value Maritime says 26 ships are currently using its system in parallel with existing sulfur pollution scrubbers to capture up to 40 percent of CO2 in their exhaust, but the process is still being managed by third parties. Not certified by She said the company sells some of the captured CO2 to greenhouses to use as fertilizer for plants, but much of it remains in tanks at the port.
Such systems may now look attractive for reducing emissions, Smith says. However, the rapid scale-up of cleaner transportation fuels could quickly make them obsolete unless very high recovery rates can be achieved at sufficiently low costs. “The shipping industry currently has a very short window to decarbonize, because it has been very slow to start decarbonizing,” he says.
People with type 2 diabetes who lose weight while participating in clinical trials appear to be significantly more likely to have their symptoms reversed than those who lose weight outside of such studies.
Treatments such as insulin injections can help people with type 2 diabetes maintain healthy blood sugar levels. However, if you are overweight or obese, your symptoms may improve when you lose weight.
In fact, less than 10 percent of people with type 2 diabetes who lose weight outside of these trials actually lose weight, even when followed for several years. Wu Hongjian At the Chinese University of Hong Kong. In exams, this number can be closer to 90%.
These discrepancies may be due to sometimes different definitions of what it means to reverse type 2 diabetes, as well as the support and different interventions that often accompany participation in clinical trials. he says.
To better understand this, Dr. Wu and colleagues looked at more than 37,000 people in Hong Kong aged 18 to 75 who were diagnosed with type 2 diabetes between 2000 and 2017, about half of whom were women. ) was studied.
Each participant was followed for an average of just under eight years, and the researchers looked at how their weight changed in the year after diagnosis and whether their symptoms improved during the study period.
The researchers measured glycated hemoglobin (HbA1c) levels, which reflect the participants’ blood sugar status over several months. To reverse type 2 diabetes, also called remission, Generally defined as an HbA1c of less than 6.5 percent. When measured at least 3 months after stopping treatment. The researchers were investigating whether these levels occurred during her two consecutive tests conducted six months apart.
The research team only measured the participants’ weight one year after diagnosis, at which point 2% were in remission and half had gained weight, Wu said.
By the end of the study, 6% were in remission at some point, Wu said. About two-thirds of these people needed diabetes medication to get their symptoms back under control within three years.
However, by simply recording participants’ weight one year after diagnosis, the researchers were not able to determine whether the participants continued to gain weight or whether other factors, such as gaining weight at a particular time, could account for some of the weight. We do not know whether it brought participants out of remission. Fat that accumulates around the waist and certain internal organs.
In contrast, one small clinical trial found that up to 86% of type 2 diabetics who lost at least 15 kg went into remission within 1 year. People participating in such studies often benefit from professional dietary management, physical exercise programs, moral support, regular monitoring, feedback, reminders and encouragement, Wu says.
But even people who participate in the control groups of some clinical trials and don’t undergo intensive weight loss programs have higher remission rates than what was seen in Wu’s team’s study.
That may be because, outside of clinical trials, doctors are often reluctant to advise patients with type 2 diabetes to stop treatment, he says. This likely also has to do with differences in how remission is defined, Wu said, since trials often require only one HbA1c measurement in a healthy patient.
Scientists have developed a promising treatment for sepsis, and clinical trials using sodium ascorbate, a vitamin C preparation, have shown effective results. The treatment has progressed into extensive clinical trials across Australia and demonstrated significant improvements in sepsis patients, including improved kidney function and reduced dependence on other drugs. This breakthrough, the result of decades of research, brings hope to a disease that is the leading cause of death in intensive care units around the world.
Flory Institute researchers, in collaboration with hospital intensivists, have demonstrated that sodium ascorbate, a pH-balanced formulation of vitamin C, is effective in treating sepsis.
Researchers at the Florey Institute have demonstrated that the formulation they have developed reduces deadly sepsis, and the next phase of clinical trials is set to begin across Australia next month.
Promising results from early clinical trial conducted at Melbourne’s Austin Hospital published in journal Critical carehave shown that sodium ascorbate, a pH-balanced formulation of vitamin C, is effective in treating sepsis.
Lead researcher Associate Professor Yugish Lankadeva said sepsis is notoriously difficult to treat and is often fatal.
LR Florey Professor Clive May, Austin Health Intensivist Professor Rinaldo Bellomo and Florey Associate Professor Yugish Rankadeva discovered that sodium ascorbate can be used to treat sepsis.Credit: Flory
Challenges in sepsis treatment
“Sepsis accounts for 35 to 50 percent of all hospital deaths. It is when the immune system is unable to fight the underlying infection, causing a life-threatening drop in blood pressure, multiple organ failure, and death. ,” said Associate Professor Lankadeva. In our clinical trial at Austin Hospital, sodium ascorbate was administered into patients’ bloodstreams, resulting in promising improvements in multiple organs. ”
Associate Professor Lankadeva, Florey’s research director for Systems Neuroscience, said of the next steps: $4.9 million government-funded research project Delivered in intensive care units in Adelaide, Melbourne, Perth, Brisbane, Alice Springs and Sydney.
“We will recruit 300 adult sepsis patients who will receive either our formulation or a placebo in addition to their usual hospital care. These results will provide additional data to determine the efficacy of the formulation. It will help in collection,” said Associate Professor Lankadeva.
Flory scientists have created a special formulation of sodium ascorbate to treat sepsis.Credit: Flory
Insights into previous trials
Professor Rinaldo Bellomo, director of intensive care research at Austin Hospital, said the first part of the trial at his department involved 30 adult sepsis patients between October 2020 and November 2022.
While in intensive care in the hospital, half of the patients were randomly assigned to receive sodium ascorbate, and the other half received a placebo.
This study found that patients with sepsis treated with sodium ascorbate:
Signs that more urine is produced and kidney function has improved
Less need for noradrenaline, a drug used clinically to restore blood pressure
He showed signs of improved function in multiple organs.
“Sepsis is the number one cause of death in intensive care units in Australia and around the world,” Professor Bellomo said. “In many cases, the disease progresses so rapidly that by the time patients reach us, they are already seriously ill. It will be a huge change.”
Decades of research bear fruit
Professor Clive May, Florey Senior Research Fellow on the project, has been researching how sepsis causes organ failure, particularly damage to the brain and kidneys, for more than 20 years.
“By showing decreased oxygen levels in the tissues of sepsis, we found that sodium ascorbate was a possible treatment.
“We have seen dramatic results in preclinical studies, where extremely high doses of sodium ascorbate caused complete recovery within just three hours with no side effects. It’s heartening to see that it’s paying off and bringing treatments into the hands of patients,” said Professor Clive May.
Surviving sepsis: The patient’s perspective
Longtime Flory staffer Brett Purcell serves as the consumer representative for the MEGASCORES research program, providing a valuable perspective from sepsis survivors.
“In 2011 I was taken to the hospital by ambulance with high fever and delirium. I was suffering from the early stages of sepsis. My condition gradually worsened and I was transferred to a larger hospital after 12 days. By that time My heart was severely infected and I was in septic shock. Six months ago I had a successful aortic valve replacement. Unfortunately the valve was infected.
“The surgical team repaired the damage in a six-hour operation, but my condition deteriorated to critical condition. I was told it would be an hour. It was the good decision-making of the surgical team and ICU intensivist that saved me. I was put on life support with an ECMO machine and dialysis, and my symptoms rapidly worsened. Improved.
“After almost eight weeks in the hospital, I’m home. I’m really lucky to be alive and hope this new research using sodium ascorbate is less invasive, faster, and extremely effective in fighting sepsis.” We hope to provide hospitals with a new and effective life-saving tool.”
Reference: “Ultra-dose sodium ascorbate: pilot, single-dose, physiological effects, double-blind, randomized, controlled trial” Fumitaka Yanase, Sofia Spano, Akinori Maeda, Anis Chaba, Thummaporn Naorungroj, Connie Pei Chen Ow , Yugeesh R. Rankadeva, Clive N. May, Ashenafi H. Betley, Darius JR Lane, Glenn M. Eastwood, Mark P. Plummer, Rinaldo Bellomo, October 12, 2023. Critical care. DOI: 10.1186/s13054-023-04644-x
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