Chinese Genetic Experiment May Lead To Army Of Radiation-Resistant Super Soldiers

 Reports out of China continue to confirm that scientists there are still seeking to push through barriers with Frankenstein-like experimentation on genes with an eye toward the manipulation of human DNA - any and all ethical considerations be damned. What could go wrong? 

The Hong-based South China Morning Post has a doozy of a headline out this week based on a breakthrough announcement by a team of scientists linked to the Chinese military, working in Beijing: "Chinese team behind extreme animal gene experiment says it may lead to super soldiers who survive nuclear fallout."

The project was first unveiled in the Chinese-language journal, Military Medical Sciences, and has been gaining more and more media attention and interest within the scientific community, but is also raising serious ethical quandaries, despite the experiment being defended by its overseers as "totally legal".

According to details, the military scientists say they've successfully "inserted a gene from the microscopic water bear into human embryonic stem cells and significantly increased these cells’ resistance to radiation."

"They said success in this unprecedented experiment could lead to super-tough soldiers who could survive nuclear fallout," SCMP writes. The initiative involved the experimental introduction into human DNA (utilizing embryonic cells) of a key gene found the water bear. The gene in question gives the microscopic creature rare resistance to radiation and other extreme environmental effects.

Scientists have long considered that water bears, also known as tardigrades, may hold genetic secrets which could one day be key to human survival and longevity. The eight-legged tiny animal which is smaller than a millimeter in length, has been described as follows:

Tardigrades are tiny, cute and virtually indestructible. The microscopic animals are able to survive in a pot of boiling water, at the bottom of a deep-sea trench or even in the cold, dark vacuum of space. In August, an Israeli spacecraft carrying tardigrades as part of a scientific experiment crashed on the moon, and scientists believe they may have survived.

Having isolated the Tardigrade's gene capable of producing shieldlike proteins which can protect against radiation and other harms, the Chinese team said it "found a way to introduce this gene into human DNA using CRISPR/Cas9, a gene-editing tool now available in most bio-labs," according to the SCMP review of the experiment.

"In their laboratory experiment, nearly 90 per cent of the human embryonic cells carrying the water bear gene survived a lethal exposure to X-ray radiation, according to the team led by professor Yue Wen with the radiation biotechnology laboratory at the Academy of Military Sciences, Beijing," the report continues.

Image source: Tass

But the team acknowledges some huge 'unknowns'...

Adding an alien gene from the water bear into human embryonic cells could lead to harmful mutations, or even kill the cells because of the genetic gap between the two species, a risk Yue’s team was aware of, according to their paper.

The shielding proteins are "unique to the water bears. The immunity response after cross-species expression is unknown, and it can lead to some safety issues", they wrote.

They envision possible future application of their genetic manipulation technique centered on water bear experiments in cases related to treating acute radiation sickness for first-responders, military personnel, or anyone near a nuclear fallout zone. They also foresee the era of the future 'super soldier' and genetically altered humans capable of surviving nuclear apocalypse.

https://www.zerohedge.com/medical/chinese-team-behind-dangerous-human-animal-gene-manipulation-says-it-could-lead-radiation

Cookie lovers warned to stop eating raw dough amid salmonella outbreak: CDC

 Got dough?

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention urged consumers to stop eating raw cookie dough after a national salmonella outbreak hospitalized three people.

“Flour doesn’t look like a raw food, but most flour is raw,” the CDC cautioned in a report updated Thursday.

The agency’s report explained that raw, or unbaked, flour used to make baked goods such as cookies could be contaminated with salmonella germs, a type of bacteria that causes foodborne illness and leads to the patient experiencing fever, chills, vomiting, cramps and an upset stomach.

When the flour is cooked or baked in an oven, the germs are killed by the high temperatures — but consuming uncooked dough could result in food poisoning in both children and adults.

Raw flour is not processed to remove germs that could be present, meaning uncooked flour could contain harmful bacteria until baked.

Getty Images/iStockphoto

The Mayo Clinic notes that eggs, also typically found in cookie dough, can be contaminated with bacteria, as can various raw meats and seafood, fruits, vegetables and unpasteurized dairy products.

The current outbreak has caused 12 reported illnesses across 11 states as officials attempt to find the source of the contamination.

The CDC reported that the illnesses occurred between December 2022 and February 2023.

“The true number of sick people in this outbreak is likely much higher than the number reported, and the outbreak may not be limited to the states with known illnesses,” the CDC noted, cautioning that it takes three to four weeks to determine if an illness stems from an outbreak. “This is because many people recover without medical care and are not tested for salmonella.“

Other foods — such as eggs, seafood, meat, vegetables and fruit — could become contaminated with E. coli or salmonella.

Getty Images/iStockphoto
Upon further investigation, CDC researchers found that the bacteria making people ill were “closely related genetically,” meaning that the patients could have been eating the same contaminated foods.

“Most people reported eating raw dough or batter made with flour before they got sick,” the agency said.

On Thursday, Consumer Reports listed flour as one of the top 10 foods most likely to cause food poisoning.

The CDC has warned those with a sweet tooth to refrain from eating raw cookie dough before.

Multiple reports in the past have linked foodborne illness outbreaks, such as those caused by E. coli, to the consumption of raw flour.

The CDC said they are investigating the root of the problem, attempting to single out a single brand of flour or source.

Getty Images/iStockphot

Popular food brands have recalled products over concerns of contamination.

In 2019, General Mills removed its flour from store shelves over fears its product could contain salmonella.

At home, thorough handwashing after handling raw dough and the proper baking of batter can prevent foodborne illness, as can washing any bowls or utensils that come in contact with the raw flour.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/31/cookie-lovers-warned-to-stop-eating-raw-dough-amid-salmonella-outbreak-cdc/

FDNY set to increase NYC ambulance prices by 54% to $1,385

 The FDNY has signed off on a more than 50% hike for basic ambulance rides.

The bump, from $900 to $1,385, or 54%, goes into effect May 1, according to city records.

It also raised the charge per mile for hospital trips to $20, up from $15.

Advanced life supports emergency transports would see smaller increases.

The fire department proposed the increase in February, citing inflation and increased salaries for EMS workers.

The FDNY approved the proposed rates that were announced in February.

The increase from $900 to $1,385 — or 54% — will go into effect May 1.

Paul Martinka

The fire department proposed the increase in February, citing inflation and increased salaries for EMS workers.

Robert Miller

A few dozen New Yorkers weighed in on the change, calling the increase “unwarranted,” according to the public notice released Friday.

The FDNY countered the complaints, saying the increase would be covered by insurance and would help offset the burden of a round-the-clock 911 system.

The department also noted it offers programs to low-income people to help offset ambulance bills.

https://nypost.com/2023/03/31/fdny-set-to-increase-nyc-ambulance-prices-by-54/

AI experts disown Musk-backed campaign citing their research

 Four artificial intelligence experts have expressed concern after their work was cited in an open letter – co-signed by Elon Musk – demanding an urgent pause in research.

The letter, dated March 22 and with more than 1,800 signatures by Friday, called for a six-month circuit-breaker in the development of systems "more powerful" than Microsoft-backed OpenAI's new GPT-4, which can hold human-like conversation, compose songs and summarise lengthy documents.

Since GPT-4's predecessor ChatGPT was released last year, rival companies have rushed to launch similar products.

The open letter says AI systems with "human-competitive intelligence" pose profound risks to humanity, citing 12 pieces of research from experts including university academics as well as current and former employees of OpenAI, Google and its subsidiary DeepMind.

Civil society groups in the U.S. and EU have since pressed lawmakers to rein in OpenAI's research. OpenAI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Critics have accused the Future of Life Institute (FLI), the organisation behind the letter which is primarily funded by the Musk Foundation, of prioritising imagined apocalyptic scenarios over more immediate concerns about AI, such as racist or sexist biases being programmed into the machines.

Among the research cited was "On the Dangers of Stochastic Parrots", a well-known paper co-authored by Margaret Mitchell, who previously oversaw ethical AI research at Google.

Mitchell, now chief ethical scientist at AI firm Hugging Face, criticised the letter, telling Reuters it was unclear what counted as "more powerful than GPT4".

"By treating a lot of questionable ideas as a given, the letter asserts a set of priorities and a narrative on AI that benefits the supporters of FLI," she said. "Ignoring active harms right now is a privilege that some of us don't have."

Her co-authors Timnit Gebru and Emily M. Bender criticised the letter on Twitter, with the latter branding some of its claims "unhinged".

FLI president Max Tegmark told Reuters the campaign was not an attempt to hinder OpenAI’s corporate advantage.

"It's quite hilarious. I've seen people say, 'Elon Musk is trying to slow down the competition,'" he said, adding that Musk had no role in drafting the letter. "This is not about one company."

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Shiri Dori-Hacohen, an assistant professor at the University of Connecticut, also took issue with her work being mentioned in the letter. She last year co-authored a research paper arguing the widespread use of AI already posed serious risks.

Her research argued the present-day use of AI systems could influence decision-making in relation to climate change, nuclear war, and other existential threats.

She told Reuters: "AI does not need to reach human-level intelligence to exacerbate those risks."

"There are non-existential risks that are really, really important, but don't receive the same kind of Hollywood-level attention."

Asked to comment on the criticism, FLI's Tegmark said both short-term and long-term risks of AI should be taken seriously.

"If we cite someone, it just means we claim they're endorsing that sentence. It doesn't mean they're endorsing the letter, or we endorse everything they think," he told Reuters.

Dan Hendrycks, director of the California-based Center for AI Safety, who was also cited in the letter, stood by its contents, telling Reuters it was sensible to consider black swan events - those which appear unlikely, but would have devastating consequences.

The open letter also warned that generative AI tools could be used to flood the internet with "propaganda and untruth".

Dori-Hacohen said it was "pretty rich" for Musk to have signed it, citing a reported rise in misinformation on Twitter following his acquisition of the platform, documented by civil society group Common Cause and others.

Twitter will soon launch a new fee structure for access to its research data, potentially hindering research on the subject.

"That has directly impacted my lab's work, and that done by others studying mis- and disinformation," Dori-Hacohen said. "We're operating with one hand tied behind our back."

Musk and Twitter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/ai-experts-disown-musk-backed-135551446.html

Bellerophon Clinical Program Update and Full-Year 2022 Financial Results

 

• Completed Enrollment in INOpulse® REBUILD Phase 3 trial; Pivotal Top-line Data Expected in Mid-2023
• Signed License Agreement with Baylor BioSciences to Commercialize INOpulse® in Greater China

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/bellerophon-provides-clinical-program-update-and-reports-full-year-2022-financial-results/

Prothena Preclinical Data Backs Next-Generation Anti-Amyloid Beta Antibody

 

• Data from oral presentation adds to growing body of evidence supporting the profile of PRX012, which is designed to target all aggregated forms of amyloid beta with high binding potency
• Demonstrated 20-fold higher affinity to amyloid beta soluble protofibrils when compared to lecanemab
• Clears pyroglutamate-modified amyloid beta at lower concentrations when compared to donanemab

 

Prothena Corporation plc  (NASDAQ:PRTA), a late-stage clinical biotechnology company with a robust pipeline of investigational therapeutics built on protein dysregulation expertise, today announced new preclinical data from its PRX012 program, a potential best-in-class anti-amyloid beta (Aβ) product candidate in development for the treatment of Alzheimer’s disease, at the 2023 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases and related neurological disorders (AD/PD) in Gothenburg, Sweden.

To build a more in-depth understanding of the profile of PRX012 and its potential as a best-in-class anti-Aβ treatment for Alzheimer’s disease, two preclinical studies presented in an oral presentation at AD/PD 2023 compare a PRX012-surrogate^* (PRX012s) to approved and investigational molecules. Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR) was used to compare PRX012s to lecanemab⁺ and showed that PRX012s had approximately 20-fold higher affinity to Aβ protofibrils as compared to lecanemab when tested under the same conditions. This result was largely driven by a slower binding dissociation rate of PRX012s versus lecanemab.

The second study, an ex vivo study using post-mortem Alzheimer’s disease brain tissue, was designed to test the ability of PRX012s to clear pyroglutamate-modified Aβ deposited in plaques. Study results showed that lower concentrations of PRX012s induced more potent and robust clearance of pyroglutamate-modified Aβ as compared to donanemab⁺. In the experiment, microglia simultaneously phagocytosed non-pyroglutamate-modified Aβ and pyroglutamate-modified Aβ in the presence of PRX012s, indicating that high opsonization efficiency of plaques by PRX012s was sufficient to clear both forms of Aβ.

“These new preclinical data add to the scientific rationale of the PRX012 program, which has the potential to deliver a next-generation Alzheimer’s disease treatment and enable a more convenient administration for patients and caregivers,” said Wagner Zago, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer at Prothena. “With more than 55 million people worldwide estimated to be living with Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, the timely delivery of improved disease modifying treatments is critical for these patients and their families. Prothena is committed to delivering a patient-centric, best-in-class Aβ-targeting antibody with the potential to robustly and safely deplete Aβ plaques.”

These data add to the growing body of evidence supporting the profile of PRX012, which is designed to target all aggregated forms of Aβ with high binding potency. The data further support the ongoing clinical development of PRX012 as a potential best-in-class treatment for Alzheimer’s disease that could enable improved access and more convenient administration for patients and caregivers.

https://www.biospace.com/article/releases/prothena-presents-new-preclinical-data-supporting-best-in-class-profile-of-prx012-a-next-generation-anti-amyloid-beta-antibody-at-ad-pd-2023/