Lifeboat Foundation

For many years now, China has been the world’s factory. Even in 2,020 as other economies struggled with the effects of the pandemic, China’s manufacturing output was $3.854 trillion, up from the previous year, accounting for nearly a third of the global market.

But if you are still thinking of China’s factories as sweatshops, it’s probably time to change your perception. The Chinese economic recovery from its short-lived pandemic blip has been boosted by its world-beating adoption of artificial intelligence (AI). After overtaking the U.S. in 2,014 China now has a significant lead over the rest of the world in AI patent applications. In academia, China recently surpassed the U.S. in the number of both AI research publications and journal citations. Commercial applications are flourishing: a new wave of automation and AI infusion is crashing across a swath of sectors, combining software, hardware and robotics.

As a society, we have experienced three distinct industrial revolutions: steam power, electricity and information technology. I believe AI is the engine fueling the fourth industrial revolution globally, digitizing and automating everywhere. China is at the forefront in manifesting this unprecedented change.

U.S. government commits to purchase approximately 1.7 million courses of Molnupiravir upon issuance of Emergency Use Authorization or approval by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

KENILWORTH, N.J. 0 June 17 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Merck (NYSE: MRK), known as MSD outside the United States and Canada 0 today announced it has entered into a procurement agreement with the United States government for Molnupiravir (MK-4482). Molnupiravir is currently being evaluated in a Phase 3 clinical trial, the MOVe-OUT study, for the treatment of non-hospitalized patients with laboratory-confirmed COVID-19 and at least one risk factor associated with poor disease outcomes. MSD is developing Molnupiravir in collaboration with Ridgeback Biotherapeutics.

“MSD is pleased to collaborate with the U.S. government on this new agreement that will provide Americans with COVID-19 access to molnupiravir – an investigational oral therapy being studied for outpatient use early in the course of disease – if it is authorized or approved,” said Rob Davis 0 president, MSD. “In addition to this agreement with the U.S. government, we are actively engaged in numerous efforts to make molnupiravir available globally to fulfill MSD’s commitment to widespread access.”

The covid-19 pandemic has reinforced humanity’s dependence on modern tech, but the same tools that enable remote working are also being used to spread disinformation and perpetuate cybercrime. Ambivalence towards technology is nothing new.

Read more of our coverage of Science & technology: https://econ.st/3CdkVa5

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Circa 2019

To figure out how the body changes over time, researchers are increasingly looking to understand epigenetics, the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself. This scientific endeavor extends to teeth as well.

Yang Chai, associate dean of research at the Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry of USC, reported in a recent article how he and colleagues discovered that epigenetic regulation can control tooth root patterning and development.

Continue reading “This new discovery could allow dentists to regenerate the roots of teeth” »

In a new study, researchers have shown that antibiotic cycling — which involves doctors switching between antibiotics to overcome antibiotic resistance — may be an ineffective and unsustainable strategy.

New research sheds light on the potential limitations of ‘antibiotic cycling’ as a way of combatting antibiotic resistance.

Researchers at the Stanford Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine have discovered how changes in aging skeletal stem cells may be an underlying cause of poor fracture healing, osteoporosis and various blood disorders as well as generalized inflammation and aging (sometimes called “inflamm-aging”) of cells and systems throughout the body. However, the researchers are also discovering how they might reinvigorate aging skeletal stem cell so that they start acting younger again, potentially reversing these changes.

“Skeletal stem cells give rise to bone, cartilage, and special cells that provide a niche or nursery for blood and immune stem cells to develop,” said Charles Chan, PhD, a member of the institute and an assistant professor in the Department of Surgery, Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, and Immunology. “So if aged skeletal stem cells are not performing well, they can contribute to a wide variety of the disorders that we find in older people.”

The Research was published in the journal Nature. Chan and professor Michael Longaker, MD, are senior authors on the paper. Longaker is the Dean P. and Louise Mitchell Professor in the School of Medicine and a member of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine. Postdoctoral fellow Thomas Ambrosi, PhD is a co-first author along with former medical student Owen Marecic, MD and former postdoctoral fellow Adrian McArdle, MD, PhD.

Hematopoietic stem cells—the precursors to blood cells—have been notoriously difficult to grow in a dish, a critical tool in basic research. Scientists at University of California San Diego School of Medicine have identified the underlying issue and developed a method to keep cultured cells healthy. These findings, they say, are positive news for patients seeking stem cell transplants—and may hint at a new way to ward off aging.

The findings will be published in the August 12 2021 online issue of Cell Stem Cell.

In bone marrow transplants, hematopoietic stem cells are infused intravenously to reestablish blood production in patients whose bone marrow or immune system is damaged. The procedure is used to treat diseases such as leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia and immune deficiency disorders. However, donor stem cells are not always available for patients who need them.

Steroid-based inhalers deliver life-saving medication for millions of asthma sufferers, providing relief and the ability to simply breathe. Unfortunately, inhalers do not work for all patients, and with rates on the rise for a disease that leads to hundreds of thousands of deaths world-wide each year, new asthma treatments and strategies are needed.

A team of UConn researchers—including Assistant Professor of Chemistry in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Jessica Rouge and Associate Professor of Pathobiology in the College of Agriculture, Health, and Natural Resources Steven Szczepanek—are collaborating to develop novel asthma therapeutics using gene-silencing nanocapsules in a bid to help patients who aren’t benefiting from existing treatments. Their research was published in ACS Nano.

“When treating asthma, many people think of small molecule anti-inflammatory medications as the way to go, but there are plenty of patients who have asthma who do not respond to corticosteroids,” says Rouge. “There’s an unmet need for creating different therapeutics that can suppress asthma for this group of people.”

A 21st Century Mystery School — “Creating New Paradigms In Wellness And Wisdom Never Seen Before, And Never More Needed Than Now” — Dr. Dennis McKenna, Founder, McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy.

Dr. Dennis McKenna is an American ethnopharmacologist, research pharmacognosist, lecturer, author, and Founder of the McKenna Academy of Natural Philosophy (www.mckenna.academy).

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