Ray-Ban and Meta teamed up to unveil an artificially intelligent pair of sunglasses that can scan into the world around a person as they walk down a street, among many other bells and whistles.
“Not only are Meta’s AI tools fun and reliable but the glasses’ built-in cameras make it easier to take pictures and videos when I’m playing with my kids,” wrote tech columnist Joanna Stern.
A few of those other features on the smartphone-linked glasses include the ability to make calls, listen to music, and even live stream, need — or want — be.
Meta’s AI wearable sunglasses are a tech game changer, reviewers say.Meta
As for the stunning visuals, Stern tested the sunglasses and their subtle cameras at the tips of the glasses at an NYC pet adoption center. It was able to differentiate dog breeds, she noted.
“When I stared at an adorable puppy and asked what I should feed him, the Meta assistant replied, ‘A Great Dane puppy requires a high-quality, large-breed puppy food that is rich in protein, moderate in fat and contains appropriate vitamins and minerals.'”
Stern also compared the Meta Ray-Bans to two other pieces of hot, virtual assistant tech on the market.
The glasses can be interacted with and detect things about a user’s environment.Meta One wasthe Rabbit R1, a $200 Palm Pilot and iPod-hybrid-looking AI device, and the other was the$700 Humane AI Pin, which can be attached to clothes as a personal assistant with a camera.
Stern panned both in favor of the glasses, which “did a better job with contextual answers, too.”
“When I asked the Rabbit to play Taylor Swift’s latest album, it promptly played a song from 18 years ago! Plus, getting an answer from Humane and Rabbit can take so long there should be hold music.”
The stock price of Hims & Hers Health, Inc. plummeted 8% after the company’s CEO said he and other executives were “eager” to hire anti-Israel student protesters who’ve faced disciplinary actions from their universities.
The online sexual health and pharmaceutical company dropped from its opening price of $12.24 to $11.26 on Friday — just two days after Palestinian-American CEO Andrew Dudum said companies would be happy to have the protesters and encouraged them to apply to Hims and Hers.
Hims and Hers CEO Andrew Dudum offered to hire student protestersX / AndrewDudum
Hundreds more have been suspended or banned from campus activities for participating in the demonstrations.
“If you’re currently protesting against the genocide of the Palestinian people & for your university’s divestment from Israel, keep going. It’s working,” Dudum added.
“There are plenty of companies & CEOs eager to hire you, regardless of university discipline,” he added alongside the Hims job openings link.
The Post has reached out to Hims and Hers for comment on the sudden stock drop.
College students across the country have been demanding that their school’s divest their finances from countries associated with Israel as it continues its retaliatory offensive in Gaza.
Dudum, who founded Hims and Hers in 2017 and has family in Gaza and the West Bank, took on a markedly different tone from other CEOs who have derided or promised not hire student protesters.
Dudum said companies are “eager” student protesters at their companies.James Keivom
Palantir CEO Alex Karp blasted the protesters this week saying they should be shipped off to North Korea as part of an “exchange program” to give them perspective.
“We’re gonna do an exchange program sponsored by Karp. A couple months in North Korea, nice-tasting flavored bark. See how you feel about that,” the software boss said at the invite-only Hill and Valley Forum in Washington, DC, on Wednesday, where he was the featured speaker.
Bill Ackman, head of Pershing Square Capital Management, was among first to publicly declare he wouldn’t hire students from Harvard who signed a letter allegedly blaming Israel for Hamas’ violent Oct. 7 attack.
People who received more than one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine were more likely to contract COVID-19, according to a new study.
An analysis of data from Cleveland Clinic employees found that people who received two or more doses were at higher risk of COVID-19, Dr. Nabin Shrestha and his co-authors reported.
The risk of contracting COVID-19 was 1.5 times higher for those who received two doses, 1.95 times higher for those who received three doses, and 2.5 times higher for those who received three or more doses, the researchers found. The higher risk was compared to people who received zero or one dose of a vaccine.
Even after adjusting for variables, the elevated risk remained.
“The exact reason for this finding is not clear. It is possible that this may be related to the fact that vaccine-induced immunity is weaker and less durable than natural immunity. So, although somewhat protective in the short term, vaccination may increase risk of future infection,” the researchers said in the paper, which was released as a preprint.
Dr. Robert Malone, a vaccine researcher who was not involved in the paper, told The Epoch Times that the paper served as “another acknowledgment that the products are not effective or are at very low effectiveness and are contributing to negative effectiveness [down the line].”
He noted that the researchers did not study vaccine safety among the employee population. The COVID-19 vaccines can cause a number of side effects, including fatal heart inflammation, according to the literature and death records.
Earlier studies and data have also suggested that people with more vaccine doses are more susceptible to COVID-19 infection, including previouspapers from the Cleveland Clinic scientists and a study from Iceland.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), which has repeatedly declined requests to comment on outside research, recommends virtually all people aged 6 months and older receive one of the currently available COVID-19 vaccines, regardless of how many shots they’ve received, although a meeting later in May is set to discuss whether to update the vaccine formulations to improve protection.
CDC scientists said in a paper published in February in the agency’s weekly report that the latest version of the vaccines, a monovalent targeting the XBB.1.5 subvariant, provided 49 percent effectiveness between 60 and 119 days later when the JN.1 virus strain was dominant. Supplementary data, however, showed that people aged 50 and older who received the previous bivalent version were more susceptible to symptomatic infection.
Authors disclosed no conflicts of interest and acknowledged at least five limitations, including how they used a proxy for infection with JN.1.
Another study, released ahead of peer review in April, estimated the effectiveness of Pfizer’s updated vaccine as 32 percent against hospitalization from late 2023 through early 2024. The research was conducted by scientists from multiple institutions, including the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and Pfizer, many authors reported conflicts of interest, and some of the funding came from Pfizer.
People’s immune systems being trained to react to older virus strains at the expense of protection against newer variants is one theory for why the vaccinated might be more prone to infection.
“Multiple vaccine doses may have the effect of antibody-dependent enhancement or ‘original antigenic sin,’ which increase the infection response disproportionally to antibodies generated from the first vaccine dose, rather than from the current vaccine or the current infection, making the antibody response less effective,” Dr. Harvey Risch, professor emeritus of epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health, told The Epoch Times in an email after reviewing the paper.
Dr. Shrestha, who did not respond to a request for comment, and the Cleveland Clinic researchers aimed to analyze the effectiveness of the XBB.1.5 shots against JN.1, which displaced XBB.1.5 before the end of 2023.
To do so, they analyzed the incidence of COVID-19 among Cleveland Clinic employees from Dec. 31, 2023, to April 22, 2024.
Among approximately 47,500 employees included in the study, 838 tested positive for COVID-19 during that period.
Unadjusted data showed no difference between people who received one of the updated shots and people who didn’t, but after adjusting for age and other factors, the researchers estimated the shots provided 23 percent effectiveness against infection.
Federal and global guidelines consider vaccines ineffective if they provide under 50 percent shielding.
The number of severe illnesses among the study population was too small to estimate effectiveness against severe illness, the researchers said.
Listed limitations included the inability to separate symptomatic and asymptomatic infections. No conflicts of interest were reported and authors said they received no funding.
In a recent development, a House Committee subpoena has forced the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to reveal details of its parole program designed to allow entry for thousands of individuals from several nations.
The program, established in October 2022, was initially tailored to facilitate entry for Venezuelans who had American sponsors and passed a vetting process. However, the scope of the program rapidly expanded, encompassing individuals from Cuba, Haiti, and Nicaragua as well - eventually flying illegal aliens to more than 45 cities across the United States.
According to the DHS documents, between January and August 2023, the parole program allowed over 200,000 individuals to enter the United States. While the program did not cover the cost of flights for these individuals, it permitted them to enter the country and make travel arrangements independently. Among the program's participants, Florida emerged as a leading destination, with around 80% of the 200,000 choosing to settle in cities such as Miami, Tampa, and Fort Lauderdale. Other prominent destinations included New York, California, Texas, Nevada, and Georgia.
DHS Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas defended the program, stating that it provided "a safe and orderly way to reach the United States" and asserting, though without presenting specific evidence, that the program "resulted in a reduction in numbers of those nationalities." Mayorkas also highlighted its global relevance, noting its role in addressing "the unprecedented level of migration throughout our hemisphere" and suggesting that other countries might see it as a model to manage irregular migration.
That said, the documents revealed that at least 1.6 million applications were still pending as of October 2023. The program currently admits approximately 30,000 individuals per month, granting them work permits and authorizing them to live in the country for two years.
Congressman Mark Green (R-Tenn.), Chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, expressed strong criticism of the program, stating, "These documents expose the egregious lengths Secretary Mayorkas will go to ensure inadmissible aliens reach every corner of the country, from Orlando and Atlanta to Las Vegas and San Francisco." Green labeled the parole program "an unlawful sleight of hand" aimed at concealing the worsening border crisis from the American public.
In response to perceived poor handling of the border crisis, Mayorkas faced impeachment by the House of Representatives in February. This marked the second impeachment of a Cabinet secretary in U.S. history, and the first in nearly 150 years. However, the Senate's Democratic majority ultimately voted to end the trial without proceeding to a vote on conviction or acquittal, following repeated delays.
The disclosure of the DHS parole program documents has reignited debate over U.S. immigration policy and the handling of migration at the southern border, reflecting persistent tensions on these issues at both the national and international levels.
Attorneys general representing half of the country on May 1 sued President Joe Biden’s administration over a new rule requiring criminal background checks for all gun sales, including private sales.
Lawsuits in Florida, Texas, and Arkansas are asking the courts to block a rule from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) that redefines “engaged in the business” of dealing in firearms.
Under the new rule, almost every transfer of firearm ownership would require at least one party to have a Federal Firearms License and perform a criminal background check, including private sales.
U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland signed the new rule on April 10, and it goes into effect on May 10.
According to the 466-page rule, the only requirement for determining whether a person is engaged in the business of selling guns is whether the person is trading to “predominately earn a profit.” Previously, the defining characteristic was whether the dealer worked to earn a “livelihood.”
The new definition is in the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act (BSCA), signed into law on June 25, 2022.
In the Florida case, Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida.
According to the lawsuit Ms. Moody filed on May 1, the act was passed to balance gun owners’ rights against public safety concerns.
In the filing, Ms. Moody wrote that the BSCA’s sponsors assured voters that the law clarified that dealers were only those who earned their livelihood from selling guns. Ms. Moody claims that President Biden is stretching the language of the act to fit his political agenda.
“Sensing an opportunity, the Biden Administration now seeks to exploit the minor changes to federal law enacted in the BSCA to implement President Biden’s preferred policies by executive fiat,” Ms. Moody wrote.
The other two lawsuits—filed in the Northern District of Texas and Eastern District of Arkansas—also decry the change as an unconstitutional infringement on Americans’ Second Amendment rights and an illegal attempt to circumvent the U.S. Congress and enact “universal background checks.”
President Biden has called for expanding the criminal background check requirement since his election in 2020.
Each suit asks its respective court to block the rule’s enforcement and find that it violates the U.S. Constitution and the Administrative Procedures Act.
ATF spokesperson Kristina Mastropasqua said the agency had no comment on the lawsuits.
The White House did not respond to requests from The Epoch Times for comment on this story.
A researcher simulates a check done for the National Instant Criminal Background Check System (NICS) at the FBI’s criminal justice center in Bridgeport, W.Va., on Nov. 18, 2014. (Matt Stroud/AP Photo)
The attorneys general say they are defending their constituents’ rights.
“This lawsuit is just the latest instance of me and my colleagues in other states having to remind the President that he must follow the law,” Arkansas Attorney General Tim Griffin wrote in a press release on May 1.
Mr. Griffin joined Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach in the largest suit, representing 21 states. They say the new rule completely reverses decades of legal precedence that protected the right of private parties to buy, sell, or trade firearms without government intrusion.
“Defendants’ claim of authority to implement this scheme dramatically upends both our constitutional traditions and the federal firearms licensing regime Congress designed,” the lawsuit states.
In addition to Kansas and Arkansas, the plaintiffs in the Arkansas lawsuit include Iowa, Montana, Alabama, Alaska, Georgia, Indiana, Idaho, Kentucky, Missouri, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wyoming.
Private citizens Phillip Journey, Allen Black, Donald Maxey, and the Chisholm Trail Antique Gun Association joined the lawsuit as plaintiffs.
They are suing Mr. Garland, ATF Director Steven Dettelbach, the U.S. Department of Justice, and the ATF.
Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody speaks at a press conference in Brandon, Fla. Nov. 18, 2021. (Jann Falkenstern, The Epoch Times)
“This rule is blatantly unconstitutional. We are suing to defend the Second Amendment rights of all Americans,” Mr. Kobach wrote in a press release on his state website.
In Texas, four states, four Second Amendment Advocacy groups, and one individual are challenging the rule in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas in Amarillo.
That lawsuit was filed on May 1 by the states of Texas, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Utah, along with Gun Owners of America Inc., the Gun Owners’ Foundation, the Tennessee Firearms Association, the Virginia Citizens Defense League, and Jefferey W. Tormey.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton issued a press release calling the new rule an affront to the Constitution.
“Yet again, Joe Biden is weaponizing the federal bureaucracy to rip up the Constitution and destroy our citizens’ Second Amendment rights,” Mr. Paxton’s statement reads.
Gun Owners of America Eric Pratt said allowing the rule to stand would send a dangerous message to other government agencies. In the press release, Mr. Pratt wrote that the rule must be struck down entirely.
“Anything less would further encourage this tyrannical administration to continue weaponizing vague statutes into policies that are meant to further harass and intimidate gun owners and dealers at every turn.”
Although artificial intelligence (AI) applications are increasingly prevalent in the healthcare sector each year, investment in digital health slowed down in Europe in 2023, according to investment firm Karista. In 2023, health tech mostly comprised biotechnology companies (32%), medical devices (24%), and digital health (23%), according to France Biotech.
Consequently, the average amount raised in European funding rounds decreased, reaching an average of 10 million euros compared with 20 million euros in 2022. The largest funding rounds were secured by robotic surgery: CMR Surgical raised 152 million euros; Distalmotion, 138 million euros; and Moon Surgical, 51 million euros.
Pharmaceutical Tech Rising
While funding amounts declined, the number of investors increased by 23%. In all, 217 funds invested in European e-health in 2023 compared with 168 in 2022. European funds are investing in France (24%), the United Kingdom (21.7%), and Germany (18.1%). "The pharmatech sector, driven by the rise of AI in 2023, is also growing, both in terms of investments (20%) and collaborations and acquisitions by the pharmaceutical industry. We observe amounts exceeding 100 million (Aqemia, Owkin for collaborations; Lunaphore, Olink for acquisitions)," noted Karista. Despite a somewhat disappointing year in 2023, Karista also identified 55 major e-health investors that have invested in more than 10 companies.
Uncertain Macroeconomics
In its 2023 report on healthcare technology, FranceBiotech echoed Karista's assessment that 2023 was not the best of the last 3 years for the sector. "Given a more uncertain macroeconomic context in 2023 and refinancing difficulties for some companies, the year saw a higher number of judicial liquidations compared with 2019 and 2020. Thus, 39 companies underwent judicial liquidation, with a net balance of 20 new companies," the company wrote.
Fifteen Thousand Jobs
In 2023, the sector represented a turnover of 1.4 billion euros and more than 15,000 direct jobs. Employment in the sector has increased by 40% over the past 3 years. Despite a challenging context in 2023, three quarters of the companies hired new employees, with an average of six new employees per company. Nevertheless, 11% of companies laid off employees. This rate rose to 17% among digital health companies.
Remote Monitoring
The year 2023 was also marked by the reimbursement of remote monitoring, and remote monitoring solutions were the product category with the highest growth, with an increase of four points compared with 2022 (14%). Computer-assisted diagnostics also represented 14% of products in digital health, followed by telemedicine solutions, data analysis (10%), and care coordination software (9%). In biotechnology, however, "half of the pipeline products focus on three main therapeutic areas: Oncology (25%), infectious diseases (13%), and the CNS (13%)," according to France Biotech. In the field of medical technology, surgery (15%), oncology (10%), and neurology (9%) dominated the market.
"The number of people affected by diabetic neuropathy has more than tripled worldwide since 1990, reaching 206 million in 2021," said Liane Ong, PhD, lead research scientist at the University of Washington in Seattle and coauthor of the 2021 Global Burden of Disease, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study.
According to the literature, 25%-30% of individuals with diabetic peripheral neuropathy have neuropathic pain. Not surprisingly, pain progresses with age. Over the 26 years of follow-up of the Epidemiology of Diabetes Interventions and Complications study, the observational follow-up of the DCCT trial (1982-1993), the prevalence of neuropathic pain (Q2: "Have you ever felt burning sensations in your legs and/or feet?" and/or Q6: "Does it hurt when bed covers touch your skin?") increased from 8.5% to 19.8%. The rate of a Michigan Neuropathy Screening Instrument score higher than 2 increased from 22.9% to 43.5%.
"The monofilament has taken an excessive place in screening," said Hartemann, who described the pathophysiology of neuropathic pain at the congress. "It has long been believed that sensory neuropathy affected small fibers and that painful neuropathy affected large fibers. However, this distinction no longer holds true because there can be involvement of both types of fibers in both types of neuropathy." Indeed, there are two forms of nerve suffering in peripheral neuropathy: Firstly, the loss of fibers leading to loss of function (so-called "sensory" neuropathy), and secondly, neuropathy with hyperactivity of fibers, hyperexcitability that constitutes a gain of function. This hyperactivity involves dysfunctional ion channels with spontaneous, iterative, untimely activation at the peripheral level with repercussions at the spinal junctions.
Loss and Gain of Function
The loss of function (sensory neuropathy) corresponds to a rarefaction of large (> 30 m/s) and small (3-30 m/s for thinly myelinated and < 3 m/s for unmyelinated) nerve fibers. "When you look for this loss of function in large fibers, that's where you'll find the abolition of osteotendinous reflexes, decreased vibration and proprioception perception, sensitivity to touch and pressure," said Hartemann. This is what the 10-g monofilament test explores: A light contact between touch and pressure. The rarefaction of small fibers leads to decreased pain sensitivity (as gauged by the needle test), perception of heat and cold, and sensitivity to pressure, which seems to be shared between large and small fibers.
Moreover, painful neuropathy (gain of function) concerns not just small fibers as previously thought because hyperexcitability "can come from large fibers," said Hartemann. Thus, patients describe a sensation that the foot is caught in a vice, as well as mechanical allodynia (rubbing of sheets or with cotton). Hyperexcitability of the small fibers causes the well-known symptoms of pricking, painful cold (the sensation of walking barefoot on snow), burning, itching, thermal allodynia, hyperalgesia, and electric shocks.
The spine sustains a loss of inhibitory pain function. Hyperexcitability has repercussions in the brain in the form of increased depression, anxiety, and sleep disturbances secondary to pain. The frequency and duration of these disturbances, however, exceed what is observed with chronic pain of similar intensity but of another origin, with an amplification by a peripheral-spinal-central vicious circle.
Whether neuropathy begins with hyperactivity of fibers or loss of function is unclear. The percentage of patients presenting one of the neuropathies, the other, or both depends on the population and the tools used. In one study involving 232 patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes (74%), with an average age of 63 years and neuropathy confirmed by EMG or biopsy, researchers found deafferentation in 54%, "irritable nociceptors" in 15%, and both in 31%.
EMG When in Doubt
The diagnosis of fiber rarefaction (ie, sensory neuropathy) is essentially clinical. EMG may present anomalies only if the loss of function affects large fibers. Therefore, without anomalies on the EMG, it is possible to incorrectly conclude the absence of diabetic neuropathy, although there is targeted involvement of small fibers.
Skin biopsy at the ankle, revealing rarefaction of small fibers in the epidermis and dermis, is used in clinical research to phenotype patients. Confocal corneal microscopy (indirect vision of small fiber loss) has not yet been standardized.
The diagnosis of hyperactivity (excitability) is also clinical. EMG, skin biopsy, and confocal corneal microscopy may be normal and, therefore, useless for positive diagnosis. "We must refer our patients to pain centers so that they are phenotyped and receive the most appropriate treatment for the type of pain," said Hartemann. Recognizing diabetic neuropathy is crucial, especially in patients with diabetes, who may suffer from various pains, especially in the lower limbs.
For this purpose, the DN4 screening questionnaire has been revalidated by several teams in diabetic neuropathy. A score > 4 suggests diabetic neuropathy with a sensitivity of 83% and a specificity of 90%.
A study published in 2013 in which Hartmann participated found that 14% of patients with type 1 diabetes and 24% of patients with type 2 diabetes had diabetic neuropathy. About 70% had consulted a clinician for pain, but only 38% had received appropriate treatment.
Certain characteristics may raise doubts about the diagnosis of diabetic neuropathy, including the speed of onset, symmetry, severe motor deficit, or proximal involvement, which require referral to a neurologist.
Concomitant diagnoses may include radiculopathy associated with cervical, dorsal, and lumbar regions. In these cases, EMG and MRI are relevant. Other etiologies to consider are poststroke neuropathy, Parkinson's disease, chemotherapy, knee osteoarthritis, and peripheral arterial disease.
Neuropathy is characterized by microangiopathy, which results from damage to the microvessels that innervate the nerves. But neuropathy has multiple risk factors, including glycemia and metabolic syndrome, overweight, cardiovascular diseases, dyslipidemia, hypertension, and smoking. "It even begins in type 2 prediabetes," said Hartemann. Therefore, there is an effect of chronic hyperglycemia (microangiopathy on endoneurial capillaries) as well as axonal insulin resistance related to the same risk factors as for muscles. There is axonal mitochondrial dysfunction, oxidative stress, and endoplasmic reticulum stress.
