ELECTION INTERFERENCE

 For years, the Democrats have been yammering about “election interference” by Russia that turned out to be either de minimis or entirely fabricated. Now, in a stunning display of hypocrisy, they are aggressively interfering in Israel’s internal politics.

Scott wrote here about the fact that the Biden Administration “obviously seeks to depose the government of Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu.” The administration has gone so far as to make public an alleged intelligence community assessment to the effect that Netanyahu is unpopular and his government is likely to fall.

Today, Chuck Schumer got into the act:

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer on Thursday called for new elections in Israel to replace Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

This is absolutely stunning. Since when is it the role of the Senate Majority Leader to tell another country–an ally–that they need to replace their government?

Netanyahu has “lost his way,” Schumer continued, “by allowing his political survival to take precedence over the best interests of Israel” and by indicating he isn’t interested in the formation of an independent Palestinian state, which has been a U.S. goal for decades.

But it is not a goal of Israel, not if it can’t be done without threatening Israeli security, which is certainly the case today. One might think that the Israeli people are the best judges of their security needs, not an American senator.

Schumer said that Netanyahu has aligned himself with “far-right extremists” like Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who he said are “pushing support for Israel worldwide to historic lows.”

There is some truth in that last comment, as anti-Semitism, in the transparent guise of anti-Zionism, has erupted across the Western world. One might therefore think that this is a good time for American leaders to express support for Israel, not try to bring about the overthrow of its government.

But we are not living in normal times.

The Israeli response has been restrained, no doubt in the interest of trying to hold the alliance together:

Let’s hope we have a more sensible administration in place as of January 2025.

https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2024/03/election-interference.php

Why Is Biden Helping Hamas?

 by Newt Gingrich

President Joe Biden’s recent foreign policy moves are baffling. By any rational standard, they are undermining Israel and helping Hamas.

When Biden was caught on an open microphone following his State of the Union Address telling Democrat Sen. Michael Bennet of Colorado that Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu were “going to have a come to Jesus meeting,” you have to wonder what he’s thinking.

It was a weird comment for two reasons. First, it is unlikely the leader of the Jewish state will have a “come to Jesus moment.” (Maybe a come to Moses or Abraham moment – but not a come to Jesus moment.) I have known Netanyahu since the 1980s. I am confident he was amused rather than intimidated by Biden’s comment.

Second, the American President cannot dictate to the Prime Minister of Israel. Israel is a sovereign country. Furthermore, its entire history has been a series of heroic victories in which it had to rely on its own courage and ingenuity to provide for its peoples’ security. The United States has historically been an ally of Israel (although in Suez Crisis of 1956, we intervened decisively against an Israeli victory). But the United States can only advise – it cannot dictate.

President Biden grandly announced that an Israeli occupation of the city of Rafah would cross a red line. Of course, we remember President Barack Obama’s famous red line about the Syrian use of chemical weapons, which disappeared the minute Syria used the chemical weapons.

Netanyahu responded clearly to Biden’s threat. He told Politico’s parent company, Axel Springer, “We’ll go there. We’re not going to leave… You know, I have a red line. You know what the red line is, that Oct. 7 doesn’t happen again.”

At that point, President Biden’s red line faded just like Obama’s. Biden said on MSNBC, “It is a red line, but I’m never going to leave Israel.”

Even Netanyahu's political opponents in Israel know invading Rafah is a requirement of lasting peace. Israeli War Cabinet member Benny Gantz explained, “Finishing the war without demilitarizing Rafah is like sending in firefighters to put out 80% of a fire.”

The case for totally destroying Hamas is overwhelming. Hamas’ official founding document calls for the complete destruction of Israel. One of its most important leaders said publicly, “not a single Jew will remain.” Hamas has run a terrorist state which stole enough construction materials from the people of Gaza to build 300 miles of tunnels (the stolen material was reportedly meant to build hospitals and homes).

Hamas has proven its willingness to use the people of Gaza as human shields behind which it protects its key leaders and military assets. The number of dead and wounded in Gaza since Oct. 7 has been a function of Hamas’ willingness to sacrifice its own people to build a humanitarian outcry against Israel.

Tragically, the Biden administration and much of the American news media accept the case set up by Hamas’ ruthlessness and focus their attention on the Israelis. The fact is: This is an urban war that Hamas started. In urban warfare, civilian deaths are unavoidable. The news media’s anti-Israel, antisemitic bias leads it to accept the Hamas propaganda.

As Richard Goldberg wrote, “Biden should draw red lines for Hamas not for Israel.”

Biden’s proposal for Israel to stay out of Rafah would effectively create a sanctuary city for Hamas terrorists. It would be an irrational act which guaranteed the survival of those whose goal is the complete destruction of Israel. The conflict would remain endless.

When Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and the Iranian Parliament chant, “Death to America, Death to Israel.” They mean it. We know because the Ayatollah went on national television and pledged to the Iranian people that these words were not a slogan – but a policy.

The seriousness of Hamas’ desire to destroy Israel is captured in its map-making. As Louis Rene Beres wrote in jurist.org on Dec. 23, 2023:

“Unhidden, both the Arab world and Iran still have only a 'One-State Solution' for the 'Israel Problem.' It is a 'solution' that eliminates Israel altogether, a physical solution, a 'Final Solution.' Even today, official Arab maps of 'Palestine' (PNA and Hamas) show the prospective Arab State comprising all of the West Bank (Judea/Samaria), all of Gaza and all of Israel. They knowingly exclude any references to a Jewish population and list 'holy sites' of Christians and Muslims only."

President Biden should be firmly on the side of Israel and civilization – and against Hamas’ barbarism, terrorism, and genocide.

Sadly, he is failing that test.

https://www.realclearpolicy.com/articles/2024/03/15/why_is_president_biden_helping_hamas_1018648.html

Gold Beans All the Rage With China’s Gen Z as Deflation Bites

 With China’s deflation at its worst in 15 years, a volatile stock market and bank interest rates too low for her liking, 18-year-old Tina Hong is placing her financial security in gold beans.

Weighing as little as one gram, the beans — and other forms of gold jewelry — are increasingly viewed as the safest investment bet for young Chinese in an era of economic uncertainty. It’s part of a larger consumer trend for all things gold — from bullion to beans and bracelets — that has gripped the mainland.

“It’s basically impossible to lose money from buying gold,” reasoned Hong, a college freshman studying computer science in Fujian province who in January began buying gold beans because of their relatively low cost of about 600 yuan ($83) per gram. She has more than two grams of the beans and will continue buying them as long as costs are lower than international gold prices, she said.

Branded as an investment entry point for young consumers, the beans, which come in glass jars, are the latest hot-selling items in Chinese jewelry stores. Generation Z consumers — buffeted by high youth unemployment and the nation’s slide into deflation — are now among the top consumers of gold accessories in the world’s second-largest economy, according to the 2023 China Jewelry Consumer Trends Report by Chow Tai Fook Jewelery Group Ltd. The attraction of gold comes as people pull back on shopping amid months of disappointing growth.

China Gold Rush

A lack of faith in traditional investments has fueled this new China gold rush.

The nation’s stock market has seen declines after reopening from the pandemic, with one of its key benchmarks dropping to levels last seen in 2018. The country’s middle class is bearing the brunt of a property downturn — while the central bank has lowered a key interest rate four times since December 2021, eating into the return on wealth management products.

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/gold-beans-rage-china-gen-000000851.html

"Time To Bud Light Them": Tyson Firing Blue-Collar Workers, Replacing With Illegals

 Calls for a boycott are intensifying on X following Tyson Foods' announcement earlier this week to shutter a pork processing facility in Perry, Iowa. This move will eliminate 1,276 blue-collar jobs. At the same time, the mega food processor has expressed interest in hiring tens of thousands of illegals. 

"While this decision was not easy, it emphasizes our focus to optimize the efficiency of our operations to best serve our customers," a Tyson spokesperson said in a statement to Food Dive. 

Perhaps the optimization part of the supply chain is better explained by Garrett Dolan, who leads Tyson's efforts to eliminate employment barriers such as immigration status, told Bloomberg, "We would like to employ another 42,000 [migrants] if we could find them." 

Or explained by Charlie Kirk... 

The idea that Tyson is firing hardworking Americans while attempting to exploit cheap labor from illegals enraged X users. Many of them called for a boycott of all Tyson's brands. 

And it begins. 

https://www.zerohedge.com/political/time-bud-light-them-tyson-foods-firing-blue-collar-workers-replacing-them-illegals

Why T cells lose energy in solid tumors

 T cells are often called "assassins" or "killers" because they can orchestrate and carry out missions to hunt down bacteria, viruses, and cancer cells throughout the body. Mighty as they may be, recent research has shown that once T cells infiltrate the environment of a solid tumor, they lose the energy needed to combat the cancer.

A research team led by Jessica Thaxton, Ph.D., MsCR, associate professor of cell biology and physiology and co-leader of the Cancer Cell Biology Program at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center, aimed to understand why T cells do not sustain energy in tumors.

Using their expertise in tumor immunity and metabolism, the Thaxton Lab, led by Katie Hurst, MPH, and 4th year graduate student Ellie Hunt, found that a metabolic enzyme called Acetyl-CoA Carboxylase (ACC) causes T cells to store fat rather than burning fat for energy.

"Our discovery fills a long-standing gap in knowledge regarding why T cells in solid tumors don't appropriately generate energy," said Thaxton. "We inhibited the expression of ACC in mouse cancer models, and we observed that T cells were able to persist much better in solid tumors."

The new findings and immunotherapeutic strategies, which were published in Cell Metabolism, could be used to make multiple types of T-cell therapies more effective for patients, possibly encompassing both checkpoint and chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies.

In the field of cancer immunotherapy, it has long been known that T cells are not able to create their cellular energy, called adenosine triphosphate or ATP, when they are inside a solid tumor.

In 2019, Thaxton's lab studied a T cell with optimal antitumor function. In a publication in Cancer Immunology Research, Hurst and Thaxton used a proteomics screen to identify enzymes associated with the optimal antitumor metabolism of these T cells. Through this screen, the two discovered that ACC expression may limit the ability of T cells to make ATP in tumors. ACC, a key molecule that is involved in many metabolic pathways, blocks cells from breaking down fat and using it as fuel for energy in mitochondria.

"Acetyl-CoA carboxylase can drive the balance between storing lipids versus breaking down those lipids and feeding them into the citric acid cycle for energy," said Thaxton. "If ACC is flipped 'on', cells generally store lipid. If ACC is 'off', cells tend to use the lipid in their mitochondria to make ATP."

Using Hunt's expertise in confocal imaging, the research team was able to observe lipid stores in T cells isolated from multiple types of cancers. The observation, as well as other experiments, confirmed the team's hypothesis that T cells were storing lipids instead of breaking them down.

Thaxton's team then used CRISPR Cas9-mediated gene deletion to see what would happen if they "deleted" ACC from the picture. There was a rapid reduction in the amount of lipid storage in T cells, and the team was able to visualize fat relocating to the mitochondria to be used to generate energy.

Thaxton now hypothesizes that T cells may need a "delicate balance" of lipids to persist in solid tumors with a certain amount of lipid dedicated to cancer cell assassination and low levels of fats being maintained in stores.

The latest findings could prove to be useful in enhancing chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapies. This cutting-edge technology takes T cells out of cancer patients, modifies them in the lab to hunt down tumor cells, and then re-infuses the cells to fight the patient's cancer. Preliminary data from Thaxton's lab demonstrates that even the manufactured T cells contain excess lipid stores.

The lab is starting to look at patient samples to understand how researchers can possibly flip the ACC metabolic switch directly in patient tumors, negating the need to take out and reinfuse cells back into the body. But researchers must first determine how this could affect other immune cell populations in the body, such as macrophages.

More information: Elizabeth G. Hunt et al, Acetyl-CoA carboxylase obstructs CD8+ T cell lipid utilization in the tumor microenvironment, Cell Metabolism (2024). DOI: 10.1016/j.cmet.2024.02.009

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-gain-insight-cells-energy-solid.html

Nasal spray may reduce severity of sleep apnea

 Australian researchers have discovered that a bedtime nasal spray has the potential to reduce the severity of sleep apnea in people and lower their blood pressure.

The new research published in The Journal of Heart and Circulatory Physiology offers hope to millions of people around the world affected by sleep apnea, a common and debilitating chronic respiratory condition.

"Obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) is a sleep disorder where the muscles in the back of the throat relax and the upper airway narrows or collapses, restricting oxygen intake and causing people to wake repeatedly throughout the night," says Professor Danny Eckert, College of Medicine and Public Health.

"It has been linked to a variety of medical conditions including cardiovascular disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, anxiety and depression.

"Treatment options are limited and while continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machines are a proven treatment for OSA, around 50% of people struggle to tolerate them," he says.

The aim of the study was to determine the effects of a new potassium channel blocker nasal spray on OSA severity and to investigate the potential influence of different breathing approaches such as restricted 'nasal only' breathing and the physiological characteristics of those who had a favorable response.

"Potassium channel blockers are a class of drugs that block the potassium channel in the central nervous system. When used in a nasal spray, the blockers have the potential to increase the activity of the muscles that keep the upper airway open and reduce the likelihood of the throat collapsing during sleep," says lead author Dr. Amal Osman

Using a randomized, blind trial, 10 people with OSA were given either the potassium blocker nasal spray, a placebo nasal spray or the potassium nasal spray in combination with restricted 'nasal only' breathing.

Seven out of the 10 people responded to the potassium channel blocker nasal spray showing a reduction in the frequency of upper airway collapsing episodes during sleep and lower blood pressure the next morning. The use of the spray with restricted 'nasal only' breathing did not improve quality of sleep in this trial.

"What we have discovered is that the nasal spray application of the potassium channel blocker that we tested is safe, well tolerated. Those who had a physiological improvement in their airway function during sleep also had between 25–45% reductions in markers of their OSA severity including improved oxygen levels as well as a reduction in their blood pressure the next day," says Dr. Osman.

"These insights provide a potential pathway for development of new therapeutic solutions for those people with OSA who are unable to tolerate CPAP machines and/or upper airway surgery, and those with a desire for alternatives to existing therapies," says Professor Eckert.

"Right now, there are no approved drugs for treating OSA, but through these findings and future research we are getting closer to developing new and effective drugs that are safe and easy to use," says Professor Eckert.

More information: Amal M. Osman et al, A novel TASK channel antagonist nasal spray reduces sleep apnea severity in physiological responders: a randomized, blinded, trial, American Journal of Physiology-Heart and Circulatory Physiology (2024). DOI: 10.1152/ajpheart.00541.2023

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-nasal-spray-severity-apnea.html

Key metabolic process responsible for rapid immune responses

 Researchers from Children's Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) identified a key metabolite in cells that helps direct immune responses and explains at a single cell level why immune cells that most efficiently recognize pathogens, vaccines, or diseased cells grow and divide faster than other cells.

The findings also indicate that a better understanding of this metabolite and its role in immune response could improve the design of immunotherapies and create longer-lived responses against different types of cancer as well as enhance vaccine strategies. The findings were published online by the journal Science Immunology in a paper titled "Single-cell NAD(H) levels predict clonal lymphocyte expansion dynamics."

Antigens are foreign substances that our immune system recognizes and responds to by producing more T and B cells. These cells each have unique receptors that recognize specific antigens and can respond appropriately, and they can "remember" and respond similarly when exposed to the same antigen again.

How well a T or B cell sees its antigen is known as its affinity. This fundamental concept of immunology is how vaccines work. When those T and B cells encounter a pathogen, the body needs the ones that recognize their antigen the best, with high affinity, to divide more quickly to produce more daughter cells and "attack" the invader.

However, the underlying mechanisms as to why high affinity immune cells respond more efficiently have remained a mystery for researchers. After seeing an antigen, the chemistry inside T and B cells needs to change to allow them to properly respond. The researchers in this study wanted to look at metabolism to understand what causes high affinity cells to know that they need to divide more quickly to respond appropriately.

"We wanted to see if specific metabolites were sensitive to T cell receptor affinity and controlled T cell expansion during immune responses," said senior study author Will Bailis, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at CHOP and the Perelman School of Medicine of the University of Pennsylvania.

The researchers identified nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) as a key, affinity-dependent component of T cell receptor metabolic reprogramming during the early stages of a T cell activation.

Using flow cytometry, the researchers could look at NAD in single cells immediately after activation and show how it dictates the number of times T cells can divide in the future. Therefore, researchers could essentially predict how T cells behave and how many times they divide based on how much NAD they started with.

Additionally, the researchers found that manipulating how much NAD a cell was allowed to make could control when that cell went from a resting state to wanting to divide, suggesting that the metabolite could be used to improve response in certain T cell-driven therapies or vaccines.

"We believe this work shows how single cell differences in metabolism are a key reason why similar cells sometimes display strikingly different behaviors and that this may provide insight into underlying processes that drive disease and dysfunction that cannot simply be explained by gene regulation or signaling," Bailis said.

"With more work, we also believe that this information could potentially be used to improve vaccine strategies and the response and durability of cell-based therapies used to treat cancer and other diseases."

More information: Will Bailis, Single-cell NAD(H) levels predict clonal lymphocyte expansion dynamics, Science Immunology (2024). DOI: 10.1126/sciimmunol.adj7238. www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciimmunol.adj7238

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2024-03-key-metabolic-responsible-rapid-immune.html