Elon Musk Meeting With Advertisers, Begging Them Not to Leave Twitter

Advertisers are fleeing Twitter in droves now that Tesla CEO Elon Musk has taken over control. Now, he's trying to pick up the pieces and begging them to return.

Advertisers are fleeing Twitter in droves now that Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has taken over control.

Ever since officially closing the $44 billion deal, Musk has been busy gutting the company's executive suite and dissolving its board. Senior executives, as well as Twitter's advertising chief Sarah Personette, have departed as well.

After all, Musk has been very clear about his disdain for advertising for years now.

The resulting uncertainty has advertisers spooked — major advertising holding company IPG has already advised clients to pull out temporarily — and the billionaire CEO is in serious damage mode.

Now, Reuters reports, Musk is spending most of this week meeting with advertisers in New York, trying to reassure them that Twitter won't turn into a "free-for-all hellscape."

According to one of Reuters' sources, the meetings have been "very productive" — but plenty of other marketers are far from satisfied.

Advertisers are reportedly grilling Musk over his plans to address the rampant misinformation being spread on the platform, a trend that Musk himself has been actively contributing to since the acquisition.

And if he's succeeding in ameliorating advertisers in private, he's antagonizing them publicly. On Wednesday, Musk posted a poll asking users whether advertisers should support either "freedom of speech," or "political 'correctness'" — a type of false dichotomy that echoes the rhetoric of far-right conspiracy theorists and conservative pundits.

"Those type of provocations are not helping to calm the waters," an unnamed media buyer told Reuters.

Some are going public with the same sentiment.

"Unless Elon hires new leaders committed to keeping this 'free' platform safe from hate speech, it's not a platform brands can/should advertise on," Allie Wassum, global media director for the Nike-owned shoe brand Jordan, wrote in a LinkedIn post.

So far, Musk's plans for the social media platform remain strikingly muddy. In addition to the behind-the-scenes advertising plays, he's also announced that users will have to pay to retain their verification badge, though he's engaged in a comically public negotiation as to what the cost might be.

He's also hinted that previously banned users — former US president Donald Trump chief among them — might eventually get a chance to return, but only once "we have a clear process for doing so, which will take at least a few more weeks."

The move was seen by many as a way to wait out the impending midterm elections. After all, Twitter has played a huge role in disseminating misinformation and swaying elections in the past.

While advertisers are running for the hills, to Musk advertising is clearly only a small part of the picture — even though historically, social giants like Twitter have struggled to diversify their revenue sources much beyond display ads.

Musk nodded to that reality in a vague open letter posted last week.

"Low relevancy ads are spam, but highly relevant ads are actually content!" he wrote in the note, addressed to "Twitter advertisers."

Big picture, Twitter's operations are in free fall right now and Musk has yet to provide advertisers with a cohesive plan to pick up the pieces.

While he's hinted at the creation of a new content moderation council made up of both "people from all viewpoints" and "wildly divergent views," advertisers are clearly going to be thinking twice about continuing their business with Twitter.

With or without advertising, Twitter's finances are reportedly in a very deep hole. The billions of dollars Musk had to borrow to finance his mega acquisition will cost Twitter around $1 billion a year in interest alone.

The company also wasn't anywhere near profitable before Musk took over, losing hundreds of millions of dollars in a single quarter.

Whether that picture will change any time soon is as unclear as ever, especially in the face of a wintry economy.

But, of course, Musk has proved his critics wrong before. So anything's possible.

READ MORE: Advertisers begin to grill Elon Musk over Twitter 'free-for-all' [Reuters]

More on the saga: Elon Musk Pulling Engineers From Tesla Autopilot to Work on Twitter

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Elon Musk Meeting With Advertisers, Begging Them Not to Leave Twitter

US Gov to Crack Down on "Bossware" That Spies On Employees’ Computers

In the era of remote work, employers have turned to invasive

Spying @ Home

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic drove a wave of working from home, companies have been relentless in their efforts to digitally police and spy on remote employees by using what's known as "bossware." That's the pejorative name for software that tracks the websites an employee visits, screenshots their computer screens, and even records their faces and voices.

And now, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), an agency of the federal government, is looking to intervene.

"Close, constant surveillance and management through electronic means threaten employees' basic ability to exercise their rights," said NLRB general counsel Jennifer Abruzzo, in a Monday memo. "I plan to urge the Board to apply the Act to protect employees, to the greatest extent possible, from intrusive or abusive electronic monitoring and automated management practices."

Undoing Unions

In particular, Abruzzo is worried about how bossware could infringe on workers' rights to unionize. It's not hard to imagine how such invasive surveillance could be used to bust unionization. Even if the technology isn't explicitly deployed to impede organization efforts, the ominous presence of the surveillance on its own can be a looming deterrent, which Abruzzo argues is illegal.

And now is the perfect moment for the NLRB to step in. The use and abuse of worker surveillance tech in general — not just bossware — has been "growing by the minute," Mark Gaston Pearce, executive director of the Workers' Rights Institute at Georgetown Law School, told CBS.

"Employers are embracing technology because technology helps them run a more efficient business," Gaston explained. "… What comes with that is monitoring a lot of things that employers have no business doing."

Overbearing Overlord

In some ways, surveillance tech like bossware can be worse than having a nosy, actual human boss. Generally speaking, in a physical workplace employees have an understanding of how much privacy they have (unless they work at a place like Amazon or Walmart, that is).

But when bossware spies on you, who knows how much information an employer could be gathering — or even when they're looking in. And if it surveils an employee's personal computer, which more often than not contains plenty of personal information that a boss has no business seeing, that's especially invasive.

Which is why Abruzzo is pushing to require employers to disclose exactly how much they're tracking.

It's a stern message from the NLRB, but at the end of the day, it's just a memo. We'll have to wait and see how enforcing it pans out.

More on surveillance: Casinos to Use Facial Recognition to Keep "Problem Gamblers" Away

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US Gov to Crack Down on "Bossware" That Spies On Employees' Computers

China Plans to Send Monkeys to Space Station to Have Sex With Each Other

Chinese astronauts are reportedly planning to let monkeys loose on their brand-new space station to have them have sex with each other.

Chinese scientists are reportedly planning to send monkeys to its new Tiangong space station for experiments that will involve the animals mating and potentially reproducing, the South China Morning Post reports.

It's a fascinating and potentially controversial experiment that could have major implications for our efforts to colonize space: can mammals, let alone humans, successfully reproduce beyond the Earth?

According to the report, the experiment would take place in the station's largest capsule, called Wentian, inside two biological test cabinets that can be expanded.

After examining the behavior of smaller creatures, "some studies involving mice and macaques will be carried out to see how they grow or even reproduce in space," Zhang Lu, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing, said during a speech posted to social media earlier this week, as quoted by the SCMP.

"These experiments will help improve our understanding of an organism’s adaptation to microgravity and other space environments," he added.

Some simpler organisms, including nematodes and Japanese rice fish, have been observed reproducing in space.

But more complex life forms have struggled. In 2014, a Russian experiment to see whether geckos could produce offspring in space failed when all the critters died.

And the failure rate for mammals, so far, has been total. Soviet Union scientists got mice to mate during a space flight in 1979, but none of them gave birth after being returned to Earth.

In other words, getting monkeys to reproduce on board a space station will be anything but easy. For one, just dealing with living creatures in space can pose immense challenges. The astronauts will "need to feed them and deal with the waste," Kehkooi Kee, a professor with the school of medicine at Tsinghua University, told the SCMP.

Then there's the fact that astronauts will have to keep the macaques happy and comfortable, something that experts say will be challenging since long term confinement in the spartan environments of space habitats could cause immense stress for the simians.

And even if astronauts successfully set the mood for the monkeys, the physics of sex in space are predicted to be challenging.

"Firstly, just staying in close contact with each other under zero gravity is hard," Adam Watkins, an associate professor of reproductive physiology at University of Nottingham, wrote in a 2020 open letter highlighted by the SCMP. "Secondly, as astronauts experience lower blood pressure while in space, maintaining erections and arousal are more problematic than here on Earth."

With its new space station in nearly full operation, China isn't shying away from asking some big questions — but whether these experiments will play out as expected is anything but certain.

READ MORE: Chinese scientists plan monkey reproduction experiment in space station [South China Morning Post]

More on sex in space: Scientists Say We Really Have to Talk About Boning in Space

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China Plans to Send Monkeys to Space Station to Have Sex With Each Other

AOC Says Her Twitter Account Broke After She Made Fun of Elon Musk

Another day, another Elon Musk feud on Twitter — except now, he's the owner of the social network, and he's beefing with AOC.

Latest Feud

Another day, another Elon Musk feud on Twitter — except now, he's the owner of the social network, and he's beefing with a sitting member of Congress.

The whole thing started innocently enough earlier this week, when firebrand Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY, and better known by her initials, "AOC") subtweeted the website's new owner.

"Lmao at a billionaire earnestly trying to sell people on the idea that 'free speech' is actually a $8/mo subscription plan," the New York Democratic Socialist tweeted in a post that, upon Futurism's perusal, appeared to load only half the time.

Sweat Equity

Not one to be shown up, Musk later posted a screenshot of an AOC-branded sweatshirt from the congressperson's website, with its $58 price tag circled and an emoji belying the billionaire's alleged affront at the price.

In response, Ocasio-Cortez said she was proud her sweatshirts were made by union labor, and that the proceeds from their sales were going to fund educational support for needy kids. She later dug in further, noting that her account was "conveniently" not working and joking that Musk couldn't buy his way "out of insecurity."

Yo @elonmusk while I have your attention, why should people pay $8 just for their app to get bricked when they say something you don’t like?

This is what my app has looked like ever since my tweet upset you yesterday. What’s good? Doesn’t seem very free speechy to me ? pic.twitter.com/e3hcZ7T9up

— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) November 3, 2022

Bricked

To be clear, any suggestion that Musk personally had anything to do with any Twitter glitches on AOC's part would seem ludicrously petty. But then again, this is a guy who once hired a private detective to investigate a random critic.

Occam's razor, though, suggests that it was probably AOC's mega-viral tweet that broke the site's notoriously dodgy infrastructure. Of course, that's not a ringing endorsement of the site that Musk just acquired for the colossal sum of $44 billion.

More on Twitter: Twitter Working on Plan to Charge Users to Watch Videos

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AOC Says Her Twitter Account Broke After She Made Fun of Elon Musk

Huge Drone Swarm to Form Giant Advertisement Over NYC Skyline

Someone apparently thought it was a great idea to fly 500 drones over NYC as part of an ad experiment without much warning.

Droning On

Someone thinks it's a great idea to fly 500 drones over New York City to create a huge ad in the sky on Thursday evening. Because New Yorkers certainly don't have any historical reason to mistrust unknown aircraft over their skyline, right?

As Gothamist reports, the drone swarm is part of a "surreal takeover of New York City’s skyline" on behalf of — we shit you not — the mobile game Candy Crush.

Fernanda Romano, Candy Crush's chief marketing officer, told Gothamist that the stunt will "turn the sky into the largest screen on the planet" using the small, light-up drones.

Though this is not the first time the Manhattan skyline has been used as ad space — that distinction goes to the National Basketball Association and State Farm, which did a similar stunt this summer during the NBA draft — local lawmakers are ticked off about it nonetheless.

"I think it’s outrageous to be spoiling our city’s skyline for private profit," Brad Hoylman, a state senator that represents Manhattan's West Side in the NY Legislature, told the local news site. "It’s offensive to New Yorkers, to our local laws, to public safety, and to wildlife."

Freak Out

Indeed, as the NYC Audubon Society noted in a tweet, the Candy Crush crapshoot "could disrupt the flight patterns of thousands of birds flying through NYC, leading to collisions with buildings" as they migrate.

Beyond the harm this will do to birds and the annoyance it will undoubtedly cause the famously-grumpy people of New York, this stunt is also going down with very little warning, considering that Gothamist is one of the only news outlets even reporting on it ahead of time.

While most viewers will hopefully be able to figure out what's going on pretty quickly, the concept of seeing unknown aircraft above the skyline is a little too reminiscent of 9/11 for comfort — and if Candy Crush took that into consideration, they haven't let on.

So here's hoping this event shocks and awes Thursday night city-goers in a good way, and not in the way that makes them panic.

More drone warfare: Russia Accused of Pelting Ukraine Capital With "Kamikaze" Drones

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Chinese Spaceplane Releases Mystery Object Into Orbit

After launching into orbit three months ago, China's top-secret spaceplane has released a mysterious object, which is now circling the Earth behind it.

Spaceplane Buddy

After launching into orbit roughly three months ago, China's top-secret spaceplane has released a mysterious object, which is now circling the Earth behind it, SpaceNews reports.

There's very little we know about China's "reusable experimental spacecraft," except that it launched atop a Long March 2F rocket back in August. We don't know its purpose, what it looks like, or what cargo it was carrying during launch — but it's an intriguing development, nonetheless, for China's reusable launch platform.

Mysterious Object

The object was released between October 24 and October 31, according to tracking data being analyzed by the US Space Force's 18th pace Defense Squadron.

We can only hazard a guess as to what the mysterious object's purpose is. According to Harvard astronomer and space tracker Jonathan McDowell, it "may be a service module, possibly indicating an upcoming deorbit burn."

Based on the size and weight of payloads Long March rockets usually carry, China's mysterious spaceplane is likely similar to the Air Force's X-37B spaceplane, which is similarly shrouded in mystery and currently on its sixth mission.

We also don't know when the Chinese model will make its return back to Earth, but given recent activity at the Lop Nur base in Xinjiang suggests, it may land there in the near future, according to the report.

It's a puzzling new development for China's secretive spacecraft — but it does raise the possibility of a renewed interest in spaceplanes, a potentially affordable and reusable way to launch payloads into orbit.

More on the spaceplane: China Launches Mysterious "Reusable Test" Spacecraft

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Hackers Just Took Down One of the World’s Most Advanced Telescopes

ALMA is one of the largest and most advanced radio telescopes in the world. And for reasons still unknown to the public, hackers decided to take it down.

Observatory Offline

The Atacama Large Millimeter Array (ALMA) Observatory in Chile has been hit with a cyberattack that has taken its website offline and forced it to suspend all observations, authorities there said.

Even email services were limited in the aftermath, illustrating the broad impact of the hack.

Nested high up on a plateau in the Chilean Andes at over 16,000 feet above sea level, ALMA is one of the most powerful and advanced radio telescopes in the world. Notably, ALMA helped take the first image of a black hole in 2019, in a collaborative effort that linked radio observatories worldwide into forming the Event Horizon Telescope.

Thankfully, ALMA's impressive arsenal of 66 high-precision antennas, each nearly 40 feet in diameter, was not compromised, the observatory said, nor was any of the scientific data those instruments collected.

In High Places

What makes ALMA so invaluable is its specialty in observing the light of the cooler substances of the cosmos, namely gas and dust. That makes ALMA a prime candidate for documenting the fascinating formations of planets and stars when they first emerge amidst clouds of gas.

Since going fully operational in 2013, it's become the largest ground-based astronomical project in the world, according to the European Southern Observatory, ALMA's primary operators.

So ALMA going offline is a distressing development, especially to the thousands of astronomers worldwide that rely on its observations and the some 300 experts working onsite. Getting it up and running is obviously a top priority, but the observatory said in a followup tweet that "it is not yet possible to estimate a date for a return to regular activities."

As of now, there's no information available on who the hackers were, or exactly how they conducted the attack. Their motivations, too, remain a mystery.

More on ALMA: Astronomers Think They Found the Youngest Planet in the Galaxy

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Hackers Just Took Down One of the World's Most Advanced Telescopes

That "Research" About How Smartphones Are Causing Deformed Human Bodies Is SEO Spam, You Idiots

That

You know that "research" going around saying humans are going to evolve to have hunchbacks and claws because of the way we use our smartphones? Though our posture could certainly use some work, you'll be glad to know that it's just lazy spam intended to juice search engine results.

Let's back up. Today the Daily Mail published a viral story about "how humans may look in the year 3000." Among its predictions: hunched backs, clawed hands, a second eyelid, a thicker skull and a smaller brain.

Sure, that's fascinating! The only problem? The Mail's only source is a post published a year ago by the renowned scientists at... uh... TollFreeForwarding.com, a site that sells, as its name suggests, virtual phone numbers.

If the idea that phone salespeople are purporting to be making predictions about human evolution didn't tip you off, this "research" doesn't seem very scientific at all. Instead, it more closely resembles what it actually is — a blog post written by some poor grunt, intended to get backlinks from sites like the Mail that'll juice TollFreeForwarding's position in search engine results.

To get those delicious backlinks, the top minds at TollFreeForwarding leveraged renders of a "future human" by a 3D model artist. The result of these efforts is "Mindy," a creepy-looking hunchback in black skinny jeans (which is how you can tell she's from a different era).

Grotesque model reveals what humans could look like in the year 3000 due to our reliance on technology

Full story: https://t.co/vQzyMZPNBv pic.twitter.com/vqBuYOBrcg

— Daily Mail Online (@MailOnline) November 3, 2022

"To fully realize the impact everyday tech has on us, we sourced scientific research and expert opinion on the subject," the TollFreeForwarding post reads, "before working with a 3D designer to create a future human whose body has physically changed due to consistent use of smartphones, laptops, and other tech."

Its sources, though, are dubious. Its authority on spinal development, for instance, is a "health and wellness expert" at a site that sells massage lotion. His highest academic achievement? A business degree.

We could go on and on about TollFreeForwarding's dismal sourcing — some of which looks suspiciously like even more SEO spam for entirely different clients — but you get the idea.

It's probably not surprising that the this gambit for clicks took off among dingbats on Twitter. What is somewhat disappointing is that it ended up on StudyFinds, a generally reliable blog about academic research. This time, though, for inscrutable reasons it treated this egregious SEO spam as a legitimate scientific study.

The site's readers, though, were quick to call it out, leading to a comically enormous editor's note appended to the story.

"Our content is intended to stir debate and conversation, and we always encourage our readers to discuss why or why not they agree with the findings," it reads in part. "If you heavily disagree with a report — please debunk to your delight in the comments below."

You heard them! Get debunking, people.

More conspiracy theories: If You Think Joe Rogan Is Credible, This Bizarre Clip of Him Yelling at a Scientist Will Probably Change Your Mind

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That "Research" About How Smartphones Are Causing Deformed Human Bodies Is SEO Spam, You Idiots

Jeff Bezos’ Housekeeper Says She Had to Climb Out the Window to Use the Bathroom

Jeff Bezos' ex- housekeeper is suing him for discrimination that led to her allegedly having to literally sneak out out of his house to use the bathroom.

Jeff Bezos' former housekeeper is suing the Amazon founder for workplace discrimination that she says forced her to literally climb out out the window of his house to use the bathroom.

In the suit, filed this week in a Washington state court, the former housekeeper claimed that she and Bezos' other household staff were not provided with legally-mandated eating or restroom breaks, and that because there was no "readily accessible bathroom" for them to use, they had to clamber out a laundry room window to get to one.

In the complaint, lawyers for the ex-housekeeper, who is described as having worked for wealthy families for nearly 20 years, wrote that household staff were initially allowed to use a small bathroom in the security room of Bezos' main house, but "this soon stopped... because it was decided that housekeepers using the bathroom was a breach of security protocol."

The suit also alleges that housekeepers in the billionaire's employ "frequently developed Urinary Tract Infections" that they believed was related to not being able to use the bathroom when they needed to at work.

"There was no breakroom for the housekeepers," the complaint adds. "Even though Plaintiff worked 10, 12, and sometimes 14 hours a day, there was no designated area for her to sit down and rest."

The housekeeper — who, like almost all of her coworkers, is Latino — was allegedly not aware that she was entitled to breaks for lunch or rest, and was only able to have a lunch break when Bezos or his family were not on the premises, the lawsuit alleges.

The Washington Post owner has denied his former housekeeper's claims of discrimination through an attorney.

"We have investigated the claims, and they lack merit," Harry Korrell, a Bezos attorney, told Insider of the suit. "[The former employee] made over six figures annually and was the lead housekeeper."

He added that the former housekeeper "was responsible for her own break and meal times, and there were several bathrooms and breakrooms available to her and other staff."

"The evidence will show that [the former housekeeper] was terminated for performance reasons," he continued. "She initially demanded over $9M, and when the company refused, she decided to file this suit."

As the suit was just filed and may well end in a settlement, it'll likely be a long time, if ever, before we find out what really happened at Bezos' house — but if we do, it'll be a fascinating peek behind the curtain at the home life of one of the world's most powerful and wealthy men.

More on billionaires: Tesla Morale Low As Workers Still Don't Have Desks, Face Increased Attendance Surveillance

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Why is the MNA-UMPNC saying Michigan Medicine nurses will receive no strike pay? – WSWS

Are you a nurse or health care worker at Michigan Medicine?Contact the WSWS Health Care Workers Newsletterusing the form at the end of this article. What are the main issues you face at your workplace? What do you think needs to be done? All submissions will be kept anonymous.

Nurses at Michigan Medicine are attending meetings across the Ann Arbor-based health care system this week to vote on what the Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) and its local affiliate, the University of Michigan Professional Nurse Council (UMPNC), is calling a work stoppage in protest of the universitys unfair labor practices.

There is widespread support for a walkout among the 6,200 Michigan Medicine nurses, who have been working without a contract since July 1. Nurses are locked in a struggle against intolerable working conditions at the fifth largest hospital in the state, which is run by the University of Michigan.

The top issue is unsafe and unsustainable workloads stemming from the refusal of the hospital to hire more nurses. Throughout the contract negotiations, hospital management has made it clear the new contract will not address the staffing shortage. Michigan Medicine has maintained it will not discuss staffing ratios as a mandatory bargaining issue because the subject is supposedly unrelated to employee safety.

As we have explained over the past four months, the MNA-UMPNC leadership is a primary obstacle to nurses at Michigan Medicine going on the offensive to fight for their rights. Since negotiations began in March, the union has told nurses that strike action by public employees is illegal, except in response to unfair labor practices.

Instead of preparing for a strike, the union organized protest events that appealed to the universitys Board of Regents to come to the aid of nurses. Nearly two months after the contract expired, and when it was obvious to everyone that the regents were firmly behind the attack of Michigan Medicine on the nurses, the MNA-UMPNC filed an unfair labor practice charge and called for a work stoppage vote.

Now, the MNA-UMPNC is putting up obstacles to actually implementing a vote by the rank and file to take strike action. For example, the union has said that after a yes vote by the nurses, it will give the hospital a 10-day notice before any walkout so it can prepare. This is under conditions, as wereported last week, where hospital management is recruiting replacement nurses to use as strikebreakers in the event of a walkout.

Moreover, in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the union website the MNA-UMPNC is telling nurses they will receive no strike pay if they go on strike to fight for their rights.

The following exchange appears:

Q: Would I be paid when participating in the work stoppage?

To which the union replies:

No. This protest is a sacrifice we need to make to demonstrate to the university that we will not tolerate unfair labor practices.

Nurses pay hundreds of dollars in union dues every year. Its their money.

What gives the union tops the right to decide that this money cannot be used to strengthen the fight of the rank and file for safe and tolerable working conditions for themselves and adequate staffing to ensure the safety of their patients?

Just ask yourself: Who benefits from bankrupting nurses compelled to strike against money-mad, ruthless employers? To ask the question is to answer it!

Are the bureaucrats who run the MNA and the Michigan AFL-CIO willing to forgo their ample salaries and sacrifice along with the nurses?

The Michigan Nurses Association has significant financial resources. According to filings submitted to the US Labor Department at the end of last year, the MNA has total assets of $23,170,482, including $8,374,552 in cash and $13,746,551 in investments. The filing says that in 2021 the MNA took in $7,372,106 in dues from 13,000 member nurses across the state.

Instead of using these resources to support struggles like the Michigan Medicine nurses contract battle, the union squanders it on six-figure salaries for its executives and staff members and to make campaign contributions to Democratic Party candidates who do nothing for hospital workers and then turn around and enforce anti-strike laws.

The top six officers of the MNA take in a combined annual income of nearly $800,000. This includes Executive Director Janella James, who received a total of $188,105 in 2021.

The union spends more than $2 million annually on employee compensation for a staff of more than 50 individuals.

One thing is for sure: These individuals are not fighting on the picket lines to help win nurses battles for decent pay and working conditions. The grand total of cash disbursements for strike benefits last year was ... $0.00.

Nevertheless, the MNA filing shows expenditures of $3,412,114 in 2021 for something called representational activities.

These figures demonstrate that the MNA, like the rest of the official labor movement, is a union in name only. It would be more accurate to describe it as a labor contracting business.

Michigan Medicine nurses should demand that the MNA-UMPNC provide strike benefits from the substantial financial resources of the union to make sure that the hospital is not able to starve them out on the picket line.

With more than $8 million in cash, the MNA has enough ready money to pay every nurse at Michigan Medicine more than $500 per week in strike benefits for more than two weeks. And that does not account for its millions more in investments.

In any event, it is the rank-and-file nurses who should be making the decisions about how most effectively to use their money.

To take forward the fight for strike pay and to advance demands that are in the interests of the nurses, a rank-and-file committee of nurses and other Michigan Medicine workers should be formed to take the struggle out of the hands of the union bureaucracy.

The WSWS Health Care Workers Newsletter suggests that nurses adopt the following demands:

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Why is the MNA-UMPNC saying Michigan Medicine nurses will receive no strike pay? - WSWS

Medicine on the Moon: Artemis I Launch Sets Stage for Medical Treatment in the Final Frontier – University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

The Apollo missions had a medical accessory kit containing medical supplies, medications and small medical equipment that included compression bandages, adhesive bandages and an oral thermometer and biomedical harness worn under the spacesuit that measures the astronaut's ECG and heart rhythm. What factors do you consider when determining the capabilities needed in a medical system on the moon?

The answer to this question is highly dependent on the particular details of the mission. We break the hazards of human spaceflight into five categories: distance from Earth, isolation and confinement, radiation, altered gravity fields, and hostile and closed environments. These hazards interact with one another to place astronauts at risk for a host of medical conditions. Some are medical conditions that we might see on the ground, like appendicitis, and others are unique to spaceflight, like spaceflight associated neuro-ocular syndrome.

The likelihood and consequences of these conditions are then driven by the duration of the mission, the design of the spacecraft or habitat, the types of activities the astronauts are undertaking, and the location of the mission, which impacts gravitational fields and medical evacuation time. We use large computational models that account for the mission characteristics to generate an initial estimate of the clinical capabilities needed, which are then refined and finalized by flight surgeons and other clinical experts.

The Artemis Medical System will need to integrate capabilities across Orion, Gateway and the Human Landing System. Flight surgeons at NASA are working to evaluate the total suite of diagnostic and treatment capabilities that makes the most sense based on the spacecraft and mission designs, including system limitations. Furthermore, work is underway to look at how astronauts and flight surgeons can record information generated by the medical system during the mission, and how that information can be transmitted back to Earth.

As we plan for future missions to the moon, we look to data from all prior human spaceflight experiences, but particularly Apollo, as that mission is most similar to future Artemis missions. We also have accumulated a wealth of knowledge from the International Space Station (ISS), where we have learned much more about the effects of spaceflight on the human body over 6- to 12- month-long missions.

There is an excellent report on the Biomedical Results of Apollo. As a simple example, prolonged wearing of a urine collection device on Apollo 13 led to a urinary tract infection, and potentially sepsis, in one astronaut. This has led to plans to include a toilet on both the Orion and Gateway program.

The ISS has provided invaluable knowledge about how the human body reacts to 6 to 12 months in space. This has helped us to identify common medical conditions that occur in space and learn how to treat them. This epidemiologic data helps to inform how we design medical systems for spacecraft. However, there are important differences between ISS and the moon.

The most obvious is that a lunar habitat will be on the surface of the moon, and astronauts will be working in approximately one-sixth of Earths gravity. Increased spacewalks on the moons surface may place astronauts at higher risk for traumatic injuries. They will also be exposed to lunar dust, which is certainly a contact irritant and may be an allergen. Medical evacuation times are also very different. From the ISS, the crew could be back to Earth on the order of hours to a day. Because of the distance to the moon and the orbit for the Gateway spacecraft, it could take up to two weeks to evacuate an injured astronaut back to Earth.

A big key to this question goes back to planned improvements for space suits. The space suits used by the Artemis program will allow greater joint mobility than prior space suits allowed. Prototypes of the next generation of surface exploration space suits have undergone testing using microgravity simulators (using a system called ARGOS as well as the Neutral Buoyancy Lab in the NASA pool facility) and with simulated planetary surfaces at NASA Johnson Space Center.

The Artemis Program involves missions of increasing duration and complexity over time. Artemis III, currently planned for the first moon landing, will have two astronauts on the surface for approximately one week. Determining the medical capabilities for a mission requires an understanding of the likelihood and consequence of specific medical conditions as well as the constraints of the spacecraft. Mass, in particular, is extremely limited. In the Apollo Program, the numbers of Band-Aids in the lunar module had to be reduced to help keep the vehicle within its mass constraint. And theres no free lunch more medications mean less fuel or fewer spare parts. Engineers use a process called trade space analysis to understand how trading a capability into or out of a system affects risk and constraints.

Astronaut health is closely monitored. NASA has a standard health screening program before, during and after missions. During the mission, diagnostic and treatment capabilities of a medical system are designed to address issues early. The spacecraft and suits are designed with layers of redundancy to minimize the chances of catastrophic system failures and to protect occupants from any dynamic forces present during launches and landings. Spacewalk objectives, tasks and equipment are also designed with safety in mind to reduce the chances of injury.

Given this, medical capability can be tailored. For example, a need to perform superficial procedures for minor injuries is more likely than needing to perform complex procedures during the mission.

The overall function of the spacecraft is necessary to support human health and performance, and to ensure that the design meets the requirements to support the human. We will be collecting data from Artemis I in multiple domains, including understanding the radiation environment with human-like mannequins, using microphones to capture the sound levels in the spacecraft throughout the mission, and also using accelerometers to understand the gravitational forces on the vehicle throughout launch and landing. The performance of the heat shield is a prime objective for the Artemis I mission to demonstrate that it will protect crew from the heat generated during reentry, which will be about half the temperature of the Suns surface.

We have a lot of experience with human health and performance in normal Earth gravity, and thanks to over 20 years of continuous human presence on the International Space Station, we also have a much better understanding of how the body reacts to prolonged weightlessness. We lack significant data on all the points in between. Artemis missions will have humans working on the surface of the moon, which is approximately one-sixth of Earths gravity, for months at a time. This gives us an additional data point between 0g and 1g to better understand how each of the bodys systems respond to different gravitational fields. The response might be linear, exponential, or level off at some point, and is likely different for each system. Artemis will help us to answer that question.

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Medicine on the Moon: Artemis I Launch Sets Stage for Medical Treatment in the Final Frontier - University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus

Welly Disrupts With Over-The-Counter Medicine And Dietary Supplements Free From Parabens, Talc & Synthetic Dyes – Yahoo Finance

Welly

Welly Medicine & Dietary Supplements

Welly Medicine and Dietary Supplements

Welly Medicine & Dietary Supplements

Welly's Full Assortment of Medicine and Dietary Supplements

MINNEAPOLIS, Aug. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Welly Health PBC, the brand that brings happiness and ease to healing, has expanded its offering to include over-the-counter Welly Medicine & Dietary Supplements within the Pain & Fever, Cough & Cold, Digestive, Sleep, Allergy, and Mood categories.

Welly Remedies are shifting the way we approach sick care to self-care by providing a holistic assortment of proactive and reactive health care products that are science-backed and free from the things you dont need synthetic dyes, artificial flavors, talc and parabens.

"With Welly, we have a successful model of consumer-driven innovation. We want to become the leader in health for Millennials by offering solutions that help people get back to a well-lived life, says Welly Co-Founder Eric Ryan. With this expansion into Welly Remedies, we want to be the one-stop for well care by offering complete healthcare solutions that are fun and easy to shop.

Welly Remedies are available now at Target and on getwelly.com.

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About WellyWelly was created by Eric Ryan, the serial entrepreneur behind eco-friendly household brand Method and dietary supplement brand, OLLY. The brand is now sold in more than 44,000 stores, including Target, Walmart, CVS, Rite Aid, Kroger, Meijer, Stop & Shop, Hy-Vee, Amazon and more.

For more information, visit http://www.GetWelly.com and follow the social conversation on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook - @getwelly #getwelly #bewelly.

PR Contact:Natalie Krause, SHADOW PR: nkrause@weareshadow.comMadison Wool, SHADOW PR: mwool@weareshadow.com

Photos accompanying this announcement are available at:https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/4551e09d-7749-4bdb-a27e-c30dcbb36be9https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/c9c50458-511d-4388-8f5d-828b396b476e

A video accompanying this announcement is available at:https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/affddf0a-0a28-4dbf-a4a3-f6593fde0c09

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Welly Disrupts With Over-The-Counter Medicine And Dietary Supplements Free From Parabens, Talc & Synthetic Dyes - Yahoo Finance

How Medicine’s Fixation on the Sex Binary Harms Intersex People – Scientific American

In the summer of 1996 a small group of people met in northern California to share their experiences with intersex variations. One participant, Heidi Walcutt, said that doctors surgically reduced her clitoris as a young child to more closely approximate a normal female appearance.

This resulted in nerve damage that would blunt sexual sensation later in life, as well as stigma that made Walcutt feel at times like hiding in the closet and at other times intensely angry. Others in the group similarly reported shame, confusion and anger resulting from their medical treatment.

The encounter was archived in a documentary created by the Intersex Society of North America, which was founded just three years earlier by an activist using the name Cheryl Chase, whose experience paralleled that of Walcutt. (Chases name is now Bo Laurent.)

Intersex is an umbrella term for variations in reproductive or sexual anatomy that may appear in a persons chromosomes, genitals or internal organs, and it has been estimated to include about 1.7 percent of the population. There are more than 30 medical terms for different combinations of sex traits that fall outside of the typical male and female paths of development.

In the second episode of Scientific Americans documentary series A Question of Sex, we look at how people with sex variations are challenging longstanding notions of the sex binary in medicine.

In a survey conducted in 2020 by the Center for American Progress, nine in 10 LGBTQ+ intersex individuals reported some level of poor physical health. Of the majority who reported experiencing discrimination in the year prior, more than four in five said it had affected their financial well-being.

While international human rights groups widely condemn medically unnecessary intersex surgeries on minors, science has been slow to follow.

Genital surgeries on intersex youth first became commonplace in the 1950s, when a psychologist at Johns Hopkins University argued that a baby with genitals that looked neither clearly male nor female should be assigned a sex in early age and that their body should be altered to match. If a penis or a clitoris was deemed too small or large, respectively, it was shaved down.

There are life-threatening conditions in which genital surgery is required for infants and children. But normalizing their genital appearance to match a sex assigned in early age isnt medically necessary and is still largely up to doctors and parents. Advocates have long argued that the decision should instead be delayed until individuals are old enough to give informed consent.

Sean Saifa Wall is an intersex activist and researcher who was born with an intersex variation called androgen insensitivity syndrome, which occurs when a person who has XY chromosomes is resistant to hormones called androgens.

At age 13, Wall underwent a surgery to remove his internal testes, which at the time were thought to carry a risk of cancer. He told Scientific American that, not long after, he and his mom attended a consultation with the same doctor for another cosmetic procedure that involved shaving down his clitoris and creating a cavity inside of him.

There are so many assumptions made: that I would want a vagina, that I would want to be in a heterosexual relationship, that I would even identify as a woman.

Arlene Baratz is a physician who had to rethink what she was taught in medical school when she learned that her two daughters were born with intersex variations. She notes that the stigmatizing push to treat genital differences doesnt square with how science thinks about other traits that naturally vary in the population.

I think we know through science that there is a spectrum of variation for just about everything, including sex traits, Baratz says. And people with intersex bodies show us that because their bodies exist on a spectrum of difference. I think the issue is that people want to think about gender as a binary.

As a result, she explains, most research on surgery focuses on cosmetic outcomes. Theyll report that theyre able to put something in the vagina that they create, Baratz says. And being able to put something in there of a certain size, they say the surgery was a success but then no information about, when that person goes on to want to be a sexual person, how thats working out for them.

One of Baratzs daughters is now a psychiatrist who focuses on the mental health of LGBTQI people. In 2020 the two co-authored a study reflecting the need for more community-based research on the mental health of intersex people.

In July 2020, after years of activism by Wall, Baratz and others, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Childrens Hospital of Chicago became the first in the country to say it would stop performing medically unnecessary surgeries on intersex infants and children.

Hospitals in other cities have since followed suit. And in 2021 New York City passed a bill to educate doctors, parents and guardians of intersex children on the potential harms of genital surgery.

After all, the fixation on a sex binary in science, Wall points out, doesnt occur in a vacuum.

I think for people asking the question Is your child a boy or a girl? I would really challenge them to just take a moment and ask, Why? Why is it so important? Are you just happy to have a baby? Are you just happy to start a family? I think those are quality-of-life questions that often get overlooked or missed in this conversation.

This article was supported by the Economic Hardship Reporting Project.

Scientific American documentaries are shot on Blackmagic Design cameras.

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How Medicine's Fixation on the Sex Binary Harms Intersex People - Scientific American

Gradalis Announces Publication in Nature Communications Medicine Identifying Survival Predicting Biomarker in Patients with Ovarian Cancer Treated…

Gradalis, Inc.

DALLAS, Aug. 29, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Gradalis Inc. announced a peer-reviewed publication today in the Nature portfolio journal, Communications Medicine, in which several biomarkers were evaluated for their potential to predict survival following Vigil (Gemogenovatucel-T) treatment. The publication entitled ENTPD1 as a Predictive Marker of Treatment Response to Gemogenovatucel-T as Maintenance Therapy in Newly Diagnosed Ovarian Cancer, features results from VITAL, a Phase 2b randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of Vigil in patients with newly diagnosed ovarian cancer. The analysis indicates that pretreatment expression levels of the ENTPD1 gene may be a significant predictor of overall survival (OS) and recurrence-free survival (RFS) following Vigil therapy. Vigil is a novel, personalized cellular immunotherapy platform that is designed to decloak the full repertoire of a patients tumor antigens, reactivate the immune system, and summon key effector cells to deliver a durable clinical response. In VITAL, Vigil showed a positive trend in RFS in the overall population and a significant improvement in RFS and OS in newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients with BRCAwt and HRP molecular profiles. This finding may allow for a more refined targeting of patients who will benefit from Vigil therapy.

The ENTPD1 gene, also referred to as CD39, is a protein coding gene that functions as a limiting step in the adenosine metabolic pathway found in immunosuppressive tumor microenvironments. ENTPD1 gene directed signaling is involved in a wide range of cancers.In the analysis, a high level of RNA expression by the ENTPD1 gene (High ENTPD1) was prospectively defined as greater than the median value, hence representing 50% of patients. High ENTPD1 was associated with improved RFS and OS following Vigil maintenance treatment in frontline ovarian cancer patients. The analysis was conducted in collaboration with the University of South Alabama.

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While the use of predictive biomarkers to identify populations most likely to benefit from immunotherapy has expanded and evolved, attempts to use this approach in the treatment of ovarian cancer have thus far been underwhelming, said Rodney Rocconi, M.D., Professor, Obstetrics and Gynecology at University of Alabama at Birmingham and study investigator. The Phase 2b VITAL trial demonstrated statistically significant improvement in RFS and OS when Vigil was used as a frontline maintenance therapy in patients with BRCAwt as well as HRP subtype advanced ovarian cancer. These exciting data and the identification of ENTPD1 as a biomarker that is predictive of response to Vigil, independent of BRCAwt and HRP status, represent a promising step forward with the potential to provide meaningful benefits for ovarian cancer patients.

The full text of the article can be found here: https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-022-00163-y. Key findings in the paper include:

High ENTPD1 expression predicts response to Vigil versus placebo regardless of HR status: At 40 months elapsed, median RFS was not yet reached in the Vigil treated group (n=23) vs. 8.1 months in the placebo group (n=23), p=0.00007; at 40 months elapsed, median OS was not yet reached in the Vigil treated group vs. 41.4 months in the placebo group, p=0.013.

High ENTPD1 expression with HRP status: RFS and OS were further improved in Vigil patients with tumors demonstrating High ENTPD1 and HRP status compared to the placebo group. Median RFS of 21.1 months was observed in the Vigil treated group (n=11) vs. 5.6 months in the placebo group (n=9), HR=0.18, p=0.004; at 40 months elapsed, median OS was not yet reached in the Vigil treated group vs. 27 months in the placebo group, HR=0.23, p=0.025.

John Nemunaitis, M.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Gradalis commented, ENTPD1 is recognized to be an important gene in cancer development and progression. ENTPD1 has been identified as playing a role in numerous other solid tumor indications, including melanoma, lung cancer and colorectal cancer. There has been growing interest and support from large pharmaceutical companies for the development of drugs targeting the ENTPD1/CD39 axis. The findings published today further underscore the clinical utility of biomarker approaches to predict survival differences across BRCAwt and HRP positive ovarian cancer patients treated with Vigil. We plan to further validate these findings in the Vigil registrational program and hope to use such a biomarker-based patient selection strategy to expand the potential of Vigil across a variety of cancers.

Mr. Steven Engle, Chief Executive Officer of Gradalis added, In 2003, Gradalis founders including our CSO, Dr. Nemunaitis, had the foresight to explore more effective solutions to treat cancer, including approaches that leveraged the patients immune system to target the entire tumor. Based on multiple clinical studies, Gradalis has developed Vigil, an oncology treatment that is designed to decloak the full repertoire of a patients tumor antigens, reactivate the immune system, and summon key effector cells to deliver a durable clinical response. When combined, this powerful trifecta of anti-cancer activity has the potential to eliminate elusive metastatic cells and thus improve survival, as shown in our Phase 2 clinical studies in ovarian cancer.

Mr. Engle continued, Importantly, Vigil activates the patients immune system without disrupting its natural state of balance. As a result, multiple clinical trials have demonstrated that Vigil is well tolerated and has an encouraging safety profile compared to currently approved standard of care treatment options. Taken together, we believe Vigil has the potential to become a game-changing therapeutic approach in oncology. If validated in a planned Phase 3 trial, the ENTPD1 finding may be applicable to multiple cancer tumor types, providing the potential to explore new opportunities to maximize the therapeutic benefit of Vigil.

About Ovarian Cancer and Molecular ProfilesEvery year, an estimated 22,000 patients are diagnosed with ovarian cancer in the U.S. and 14,000 patients die. The biomarker analysis in the VITAL Phase 2b trial focused on patients with ovarian cancer who had the BRCA wildtype (BRCAwt) gene and whose tumors had the homologous recombination proficient (HRP) molecular profile. Patients with the BRCAwt molecular profile have less than a 35% chance of surviving ovarian cancer at five years following diagnosis. BRCAwt is found in over 75% of patients with ovarian cancer and in 90% or more of several other tumor types. Patients with the HRP molecular profile have less than a 30% chance of surviving ovarian cancer at five years following diagnosis. HRP is found in over 40% of patients with ovarian cancer and in 80% or more of several other tumor types, including skin, colorectal and cervical cancers.

BRCA genesproduceproteinsthat help repair damaged DNA and are sometimes calledtumor suppressor genes. There are two types of BRCA genes: BRCA wildtype (BRCAwt) and BRCA mutated (BRCAmt) gene. In tumors of patients with the BRCAwt gene, mutations that lead to the generation of novel neoantigens on the cell membrane of each cell are less likely to occur. As a result, it is easier for the immune system to identify and target the tumor cells. In patients with the BRCAmt gene, mutations are more likely to lead to the generation of different neoantigens on the cell membrane of each new tumor cell making it more difficult for the immune system to identify and target the tumor cells. Vigil uses the patients immune system to target the tumor, so it is not surprising that Vigil would work better in patients with the BRCAwt gene. Similarly, tumors with the HRP molecular profile are more likely to maintain intact DNA repair pathways, and therefore are also more likely to respond to Vigil therapy.

About VigilVigil is a novel, plasmid engineered, autologous tumor cell immunotherapy platform designed to achieve a trifecta of immune anticancer activity using a unique bi-shRNA DNA based technology and the patients own tumor tissue. The trifecta of systemic activity involves knock down of TGF1 and TGF2 which function as tumor suppressor cytokines, increased GM-CSF expression to enhance local immune function and presentation of the patients clonal neoantigen epitopes via use of autologous cancer tissue. By utilizing the patient's own tumor as the antigen source, Vigil is designed to elicit an immune response that is specifically targeted and broadly relevant to each patient's unique clonal tumor neoantigens. Vigil therapy has been well tolerated in Phase 1, 2a and 2b clinical studies.

In VITAL, a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled Phase 2b trial (NCT02346747), Vigil showed a positive trend in the primary endpoint of recurrence free survival (RFS) in the overall population and a statistically significant improvement in RFS and overall survival (OS), with a median time of three years to date, in a pre-planned subgroup analysis of Stage III/IV newly diagnosed ovarian cancer patients with the BRCAwt molecular profile. In patients with tumors of the HRP type, significant additional improvement was seen in RFS and OS.

Additionally, Phase 1 results in an all-comer clinical trial have shown positive signals of activity in 19 tumor types and some patients treated with Vigil remain in the trial 48 months later. The company is preparing to initiate a clinical trial intended for product registration in patients with the HRP subtype ovarian cancer.

About Gradalis, Inc.Founded in 2003, Gradalis is a privately held, late-stage clinical biotechnology company developing a personalized immunotherapy called Vigil, that has been tested in multiple studies in ovarian and other cancer tumor types. Based on its Phase 2b clinical trial results, the company is preparing to initiate a Phase 3 trial intended for product registration of Vigil in patients with ovarian cancer. Vigil is the first cellular immunotherapy to demonstrate survival benefits in a randomized controlled trial of patients with solid tumors. The results of the companys Phase 2b trial have been published in Lancet Oncology and presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology. Vigil is being studied in other womens cancer types and has shown positive results in combination with checkpoint inhibitors

Gradalis Vigil platform uses the patients immune system to target the entire tumor. Based on multiple clinical studies, Gradalis has developed an oncology platform that is designed to decloak the full repertoire of a patients tumor antigens, reactivate the immune system, and summon key effector cells to deliver a durable clinical response. When combined, these are a powerful Trifecta of anti-cancer activities, potentially eliminating even the elusive metastatic cells, and as shown in Phase 2 clinical studies in ovarian cancer, a potential gamechanger in oncology. Our clinical trials have also demonstrated that Gradalis platform is better tolerated compared to standard cancer treatments since Vigil uses the patients immune system operating within its natural state of balance rather than in an artificial overdrive as with some technologies. Vigil utilizes proprietary bi-shRNA technology that has been proven to silence multiple genes in a variety of cancers and has the potential to be used in other diseases.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, including, without limitation, statements regarding the success, cost, and timing of our product development activities and clinical trials, our plans to research, develop, and commercialize our product candidates, and our plans to submit regulatory filings and obtain regulatory approval of our product candidates. These forward-looking statements are based on Gradalis current expectations and assumptions. Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes in circumstances that may differ materially from those contemplated by the forward-looking statements, which are neither statements of historical fact nor guarantees or assurances of future performance. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include but are not limited to: (a) the timing, costs, and outcomes of our clinical trials and preclinical studies, (b) the timing and likelihood of regulatory filings and approvals for our product candidates, and (c) the potential market size for our product candidates. These forward-looking statements speak only as of the date made and, other than as required by law, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements. This press release does not constitute an offer to sell, or a solicitation of an offer to buy, any securities.

Gradalis ContactMark Early(214) 442-8161mearly@gradalisinc.com

LifeSci Advisors ContactJoyce Allaire+1 (617) 435-6602jallaire@lifesciadvisors.com

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Gradalis Announces Publication in Nature Communications Medicine Identifying Survival Predicting Biomarker in Patients with Ovarian Cancer Treated...

Modeling personalized medicine for neurocritical illness – The Source – Washington University in St. Louis – Washington University in St. Louis

Precision medicine, which considers the unique characteristics of individuals to provide the most effective treatment, has been a goal of health care providers for decades. Now, it is a goal for helping those with critical neurological illnesses, such as stroke, traumatic brain injury and spine trauma, to track and predict secondary injury, such as seizures, and create new treatments.

ShiNung Ching, associate professor of electrical and systems engineering at the McKelvey School of Engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, along with Rejean M. Guerriero, DO, and Terrance Kummer, MD, PhD, both associate professors of neurology at Washington University School of Medicine, plan to develop a model to detect and track critical neurological illnesses with nearly $1 million over four years from the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The grant is part of the Smart and Connected Health in the Era of Artificial Intelligence and Advanced Data Science program, a joint initiative between the NIH and the National Science Foundation. The goal is to predict active interventions and therapies that could potentially prevent these secondary injuries, which can have lifelong implications.

To do so, they will develop a method to track and predict when circuits in the brain undergo unexpected changes in individuals, both with neurocritical illnesses and without, by using data from electroencephalographic (EEG) and other noninvasive recordings of the brain.

Read more on the engineering website.

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Modeling personalized medicine for neurocritical illness - The Source - Washington University in St. Louis - Washington University in St. Louis

Newsworthy from the School of Medicine, Week of Aug 19 – Aug 25 | Newsroom – UNC Health and UNC School of Medicine

The below clickable headlines link directly to outside media outlets, which featured UNC School of Medicine faculty during the past week, starting Friday August 19, 2022.

Big changes are needed to turn the tide of North Carolinas mental health crisis, health leaders say Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody (Honest Columnist)

Other Viruses Offer Hints Toward the Mystery of Long COVID Dr. Richard Boucher (WebMD)

What is postpartum depression? Dr. Alison Stuebe (UNICEF)

On Air Today: Back to School and COVID-19 Dr. David Weber (Chapelboro)

F.D.A. Clears Path for Hearing Aids to Be Sold Over the Counter Jonathan Oberlander (The New York Times)

Dr. Cristy Page is helping to create an inclusive work environment at the UNC School of Medicine. See how shes doing it. Dr. Cristy Page (Beckers Hospital Review)

New mental health data show unsustainable burden on NC hospitals Dr. Samantha Meltzer-Brody (WRAL)

As NC schools start back, make sure kids are caught up on routine immunizations, doctors urge Dr. David Weber (CBS17)

Burkett on treatment options for endometrial cancer Dr. Wesley Burkett (NewsBeezer)

What Happens If You Dont Treat Swimmers Ear? Dr. Christine DeMason (MSN.com)

Understanding self-harm and how to help someone struggling Dr. Rebecca Taylor (WRAL)

Wake County shifts to new way of injecting monkeypox vaccine Dr. David Wohl (WNCN)

UNC Healths Hospital at Home Program Wins Innovation Award Dr. Meera Udayakumar (Healthcare Innovation)

White House strategy for monkeypox vaccines causing chaos out in the field Dr. David Wohl (POLITICO)

UNC Health hospital-at-home program honored for innovation Dr. Meera Udayakumar (Beckers Hospital Review)

Common molecular tool for DNA labeling has surprising anti-cancer properties Dr. Aziz Sancar (The Science Advisory Board)

Child contracts monkeypox in Mecklenburg County just as school starts back for many Dr. David Wohl (WRAL)

Fact check: Are more vaccinated people now dying of COVID-19 than unvaccinated? Dr. David Weber (CBS17)

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Newsworthy from the School of Medicine, Week of Aug 19 - Aug 25 | Newsroom - UNC Health and UNC School of Medicine

How In The World Do You Get Your Pets To Take Medicine? – kkyr.com

How do you get your pets to take their medicine? That was the question we asked on the Power 95-9 Facebook page and your answers were awesome.

I am a big dog person and we currently have two boxers. When it comes to giving them pills they are pretty smart and will spit them out when they are given the pills in a piece of bread. Here are the guilty dogos now.

Wes Spicher Townsquare Media

Now when it comes to our listeners they had some pretty good things for me to try the next time my two need meds. Check out some of these suggestions.

Power 95-9 Facebook

These suggestions are great and they remind me of my former co-worker Mimi. She loved all her dogs and the pill pocket was her choice when it came to giving out the meds to her dogs. I have tried using some weiners but the pills were so big I couldn't;t keep them in the Weiner they kept falling out. Maybe a pill pocket could work for my two silly boys.

But when it came to suggestions cheese was the big winner.

Power 95-9 Facebook

I really like what Jaymie had to say about the cheese and how she uses small pieces to feed them before giving the meds. I have tried peanut butter but they are so weird about that stuff. The first time I gave them peanut butter they actually spit it out. Now they like it enough that I may try that too if the cheese doesn't work.

Thank you for all of the suggestions. The next time my two boys have to take pills I will be trying the cheese for sure. And unfortunately this winter my big dog Haus will be taking pills. He has some upper respiratory stuff he gets with all of that cold air.

To prepare yourself for a potential incident, always keep your vet's phone number handy, along with an after-hours clinic you can call in an emergency. The ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center also has a hotline you can call at (888) 426-4435 for advice.

Even with all of these resources, however, the best cure for food poisoning is preventing it in the first place. To give you an idea of what human foods can be dangerous, Stacker has put together a slideshow of 30 common foods to avoid. Take a look to see if there are any that surprise you.

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How In The World Do You Get Your Pets To Take Medicine? - kkyr.com

Breakingviews – Powell gives markets tough medicine they needed – Reuters

Federal Reserve Board Chairman Jerome Powell speaks during a news conference following a two-day meeting of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) in Washington, U.S., July 27, 2022.

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WASHINGTON, Aug 26 (Reuters Breakingviews) - Jerome Powell chose not to mince words at this years Jackson Hole central bank summit. The U.S. Federal Reserve chair on Friday said the central bank would do what it takes to tame inflation, even if its painful for the economy. Thats a tough message that investors, who have been searching for dovishness, needed to hear. Theyre not the only ones he has to convince.

In a speech half as long as the one he gave last year, Powell said the Feds fight against price surges will take some time, which could slow job growth. But thats necessary, he argued, to bring prices down. Curbing rate hikes prematurely would be a mistake. That last part was clearly directed at investors. In July, even as the Fed raised rates by 75 basis points, markets rose after Powell said the pace of tightening would slow at some point. On Friday when his speech was released, the S&P 500 index fell slightly.

Now consumers and businesses need to get the message too. While American spending on goods and services slowed in July, consumption has been resilient. Retail sales unexpectedly rose 0.6% last month on an inflation-adjusted basis as declining gasoline prices left more money for other things.

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Thats a problem for the Fed. The personal consumption expenditures index, the Feds preferred measure of inflation, rose at a slower 6.3% year-over-year in July and fell 0.1% from June. While consumers own projections of inflation are declining, according to a New York Fed survey, that may not hold if spending, and corporate hiring, stays as strong as it has been lately. Powells claim that inflation expectations are well anchored is backed by surveys, but its also something thats hard to measure definitively, and can change quickly.

When Powell took on leadership of the central bank in 2018, he vowed to speak in plain English to make the institution more accessible to ordinary people. He is doing that. But his success in fighting inflation will depend on whether the message hits home outside of the world of finance and markets.

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(The author is a Reuters Breakingviews columnist. The opinions expressed are her own.)

CONTEXT NEWS

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said on Aug. 26 that the U.S. central bank will work to bring inflation down until the job is done. He made his comments during the annual Jackson Hole, Wyoming central bank conference.

The theme for the 2022 gathering, hosted by the Kansas City Federal Reserve Bank, is "Reassessing Constraints on the Economy and Policy."

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Editing by John Foley and Sharon Lam

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

Opinions expressed are those of the author. They do not reflect the views of Reuters News, which, under the Trust Principles, is committed to integrity, independence, and freedom from bias.

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Breakingviews - Powell gives markets tough medicine they needed - Reuters

Medical Students Share the Significance of Receiving Their White Coats – University of Missouri School of Medicine

A white coat has been the most common symbol of the medical profession for more than a century. Students from the University of Missouri School of Medicine class of 2026 took their first steps toward becoming physicians during a White Coat Ceremony on July 29, 2022.

We invited five students from the Class of 2026 to share what their white coats mean to them.

As my class and I started orientation and began learning about each others unique motivations for becoming physicians, it was clear that our common goal is to provide top-quality care for our patients. The environment created by the faculty and staff made us even more excited to begin this journey. Ending the week with the white coat ceremony felt surrealfor many of us as we each spent years of hard work to get here. As we took the oath of Geneva wearing our white coats for the first time, it set in that I was finally joining the medicalprofession. This moment was a very humbling and honorable experience as I pledged my life to the service of humanity.

For me, receiving my white coat was a remarkable moment as I became one step closer to my dreams. As a first-generation American from a Middle Eastern immigrant family, the journey to medicalschool itself was difficult. All medical students face challenges as we come from diverse backgrounds, different economic statuses and experience unique life events that shape our futures. When I visited Iraq, I wasalways aware of the lack of physicians and medicalresources. This opened my eyes to the underserved communities here in the United States as well and is where my dream of becoming a physician in underserved communities began.I want to be a physician who is committed to serving the community I work in and is dedicated to providing quality, patient-centered care regardless of a patients background.I feel honored to be a part of the University of Missouri School of Medicine, as they emphasize working with underserved populations, understanding the community we serve, and providing patient-centered care to each patient.Although the medicalschool journey is difficult, I am excited to take this next step toward my dream and Im grateful to be supported by my family and mentors. I hope my journey can serve as motivation for other underrepresented students to follow their dreams, no matter how difficult they seem.

Donning the white coat feels like a continuation and a new beginning, all at the same time, in the city I have grown to love so much. I will wear this coat with pride as I close the chapter on my undergraduate and post-grad years, and begin a new one through medical school, all while continuing my dedication to the Columbia community.

Im so grateful for my Mizzou undergraduate experience and every single person who has poured into my development and learning to lead me to where I am today. From my involvement with Tour Team, Homecoming, and Summer Welcome, to my academic and extracurricular mentors, my friends and biggest supporters, fellow researchers at Missouri Orthopaedic Institute, and many other community members and groups. While there were many difficulties along the way, there was also much to be celebrated. I would be remiss if I didnt acknowledge all of my educators along the way: from my elementary teachers that fueled my curiosity about the world, to my middle school teachers who cultivated my passion for learning and helped me refine my interests to my high school teachers who pushed me academically and encouraged me to be a leader.

To me, Mizzou is so much more than just a school- it is belonging. I hope to continue my involvement now in the school of medicine and to cultivate a sense of belonging among my class and through my efforts as a physician. Im committed to my education and being a lifelong learner for both the betterment of myself and the practice of medicine. Im grateful that so many people have invested in me and my education and now, in turn, I will give back to my patients and medical research.

The MU School of Medicine cares deeply about shaping medical students into patient-centered physicians. Standing next to 127 future physicians was such a surreal moment, knowing we have all overcome obstacles to be standing together and that we can rely on each other for support over these next four years. My love of medicine and my community made completing two grueling application cycles, taking the MCAT twice, and navigating applying during the COVID-19 pandemic all worthwhile. Without Mizzou and everyone that has touched my life, I wouldnt be where I am today. This is the first place I feel like I can truly be myself and I want to extend that feeling to others in my class and in service to my patients. Im proud to be a gay doctor and hope to extend the sentiment of being seen and heard to all my patients, no matter their identity or their background. I know that the medical school instructors and mentors will continue to encourage and teach me, just as educators before them, and for future classes of medical students.

As I worked in health care over my gap years, I realized how rare it was to see multiple African American physicians in a healthcare setting. I was often the only Black person involved in a patients healthcare experience. This was significant because a couple of patients expressed how comfortable they felt seeing another person belonging to a minority group participate in their care experience. My passion for representation and diversification within medicine are the reasons I am a medical student today. I also have passions for health literacy, health equity and interest in resolving health disparities in underrepresented communities. As I listened to Dr. Gause deliver the keynote speech, I was inspired. I realized my white coat means I am presented with the opportunity to break down barriers as a Black physician and can contribute to a more equitable healthcare system.

Before medical school, I had the pleasure of working with physicians who demonstrated utmost empathy and commitment to their patients. This week during orientation, we had small group discussions amongst my class regarding the kind of physicians we wanted to be. I had a few ideas from observing traits I wanted to exemplify in the physicians I worked for. However, my classmates presented many great ideas of qualities of physicians that I hadnt even considered. As I reflected on their statements, I realized that as I begin medical school this is a new beginning full of potential. I am learning what it means to provide patient-centered care, to collaborate with others and to be a role model for young Black girls with similar dreams. Throughout medical school, I want to challenge myself to become that type of physician who encompasses all of these key characteristics.

Samantha Metzger, a fourth-year MU medical student, also spoke at our ceremony and expressed how it is a privilege to wear our white coats and I could not agree more. When the white coat was placed on my shoulders, I felt a shift and was overwhelmed with emotion. This journey was no longer about me, as I will soon be entrusted with the honor and responsibility of caring for patients. I am proud, grateful and humbled to be able to have this role in patient care. Lastly, this coat is a reminder that although I am capable of making my dreams a reality, I could not do so without the support of my faith, family and friends.

The journey to my white coat was rooted in perseverance, passion and dedication to my future craft. I am the first in my family to graduate from college in the United States. My mother and father immigrated from Venezuela and Cuba when I was young in hopes of a better future for my brother and me. My parents made significant sacrifices to put me in a position to be successful. They worked very hard to make sure I had all the resources to actualize my dreams. I am forever indebted to them for what they have done for me. This white coat is a reminder of all the people that have helped me get to this point. I am so grateful for the family, friends, mentors, and professors that pushed me to be a better student, and more importantly, a better person. It truly takes a village. I wear this coat for them and the patients that I will serve.

I am excited to begin this new chapter of my life here at the University of Missouri. My experience here so far has been amazing. The faculty are passionate and dedicated to making my classmates and I the best physicians we can be. The staff is highly supportive and always looking out for us. My class is diverse and it is composed of some of the most dedicated, compassionate people Ive ever met. The facilities offered here at MU are world-class and constantly improving. MU fosters an environment that will allow me to reach my maximum potential as a future physician.

My goal is simple: I want to be the best physician I can be to take care of my future patients. The school of medicine will help me on this path to becoming a compassionate, knowledgeable physician.

When I put on my white coat for the first time, it became clear to me the coat draped over my shoulders represented the conclusion of one journey and the emergence of another. Throughout orientation week, my classmates and I had the opportunity to not only reflect on our own path to medicine but also discuss each others journeys considering the key characteristics of a physician outlined by the University of Missouri School of Medicine. This reflective exercise helped me understand that although my classmates and I arrived at the same destination, the journey to our white coats was unique for each of us. The compilation of each one of our journeys to MU Med is what makes our class of aspiring physicians special. Although each of our journeys has been different, we are unified by our white coats. This is a garment that symbolizes the humanism and compassion we as future physicians must express to each of our patients.

My own journey to medicine was heavily influenced by being able to witness the empathy and compassion shared between a physician and a patient. Understanding the impact a patient-centered physician can make in the progression of health in not only an individual but also a community fueled my determination to become a doctor. The constant support of my family and friends gave me the confidence to push through challenging times and their continued support will be paramount in this next phase of my life as a medical student. As I prepare to start this new journey, I look forward to building relationships with my fellow classmates, teachers and most importantly my future patients.

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Medical Students Share the Significance of Receiving Their White Coats - University of Missouri School of Medicine