NIH awards UT Southwestern researchers $4.4 million to study the genetic basis of vocal learning – UT Southwestern

DALLAS Oct. 5, 2021 A UT Southwestern research team has received the National Institutes of Healths prestigious Transformative Research Award to further their study of zebra finches to investigate the genetic basis of vocal imitation abilities.

Todd Roberts, Ph.D.

The award grants $4.4 million over five years to Todd Roberts, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Neuroscience, Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D., Professor and Chair of Neuroscience, and Kent Hamra, Ph.D., a Senior Research Associate in Obstetrics and Gynecology. Drs. Roberts and Takahashi are members of the Peter ODonnell Jr. Brain Institute.

TheTransformative Research Award is part of nearly$9 millionin prestigious NIH Directors Awards received by UT Southwestern researchers today from the NIH Common Funds High-Risk, High-Reward Program, which supports scientists pursuing highly innovative research with the potential to have a broad impact on biomedical, behavioral, or social sciences.

Joseph Takahashi, Ph.D.

Zebra finches are a vocal learning species that provide the only practical platform for systematically identifying the genes involved in this important social behavior. Like speech, zebra finch song is a culturally transmitted behavior learned via imitation, said Dr. Roberts, the principal investigator on this award. We think a forward genetic screen for mutations that affect vocal imitation, followed by the detailed genetic mapping and manipulations developed through this proposal, will identify genetic signatures for this polygenic trait.

The scientists are seeking to establish the first mutagenesis screen in a vocal learning species and the genetic tools to independently test the function of identified genes by developing novel transgenic zebra finches using germline gene targeting technologies. The research may shed new light on speech and language deficits associated with autism spectrum disorder.

Kent Hamra, Ph.D.

Previous research by Dr. Roberts, published in Science Advances, found that inactivating a gene closely associated with autism prevents songbirds from replicating their fathers songs.

UTSouthwestern ratesNo. 1 among global institutions in the health care sectorin the2021NatureIndexfor its published research, as well as among thetop 20 U.S. institutions overall for published research in life sciences journals.

Dr. Roberts is the Thomas O. Hicks Scholar in Medical Research. Dr. Takahashi holds the Loyd B. Sands Distinguished Chair in Neuroscience.

About UTSouthwestern Medical Center

UT Southwestern, one of the nations premier academic medical centers, integrates pioneering biomedical research with exceptional clinical care and education. The institutions faculty has received six Nobel Prizes, and includes 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 16 members of the National Academy of Medicine, and 14 Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigators. The full-time faculty of more than 2,800 is responsible for groundbreaking medical advances and is committed to translating science-driven research quickly to new clinical treatments. UTSouthwestern physicians provide care in about 80 specialties to more than 117,000 hospitalized patients, more than 360,000 emergency room cases, and oversee nearly 3 million outpatient visits a year.

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NIH awards UT Southwestern researchers $4.4 million to study the genetic basis of vocal learning - UT Southwestern

BrainStorm to Present at the 2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa – WWNY

Published: Oct. 4, 2021 at 6:00 AM EDT

NEW YORK, Oct. 4, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. (NASDAQ: BCLI), a leading developer of cellular therapies for neurodegenerative diseases, announced today that Stacy Lindborg, Ph.D., Executive Vice President and Head of Global Clinical Research, will deliver a presentation at the2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa, being held as a hybrid conferenceOctober 12-14, and October 19-20, 2021.

Dr. Lindborg's presentation highlights the expansion of Brainstorm's technology portfolio to include autologous and allogeneic product candidates, covering multiple neurological diseases. The most progressed clinical development program, which includes a completed phase 3 trial of NurOwn in ALS patients, remains the highest priority for Brainstorm. Brainstorm is committed to pursuing the best and most expeditious path forward to enable patients to access NurOwn.

Dr. Lindborg's presentation will be in the form of an on-demand webinar that will be available beginning October 12. Those who wish to listen to the presentation are required to registerhere. At the conclusion of the 2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa, a copy of the presentation will also be available in the "Investors and Media" section of the BrainStorm website underEvents and Presentations.

About the 2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa

The meeting will feature sessions and workshops covering a mix of commercialization topics related to the cell and gene therapy sector including the latest updates on market access and reimbursement schemes, international regulation harmonization, manufacturing and CMC challenges, investment opportunities for the sector, among others. There will be over 135 presentations by leading public and private companies, highlighting technical and clinical achievements over the past 12 months in the areas of cell therapy, gene therapy, gene editing, tissue engineering and broader regenerative medicine technologies.

The conference will be delivered in a hybrid format to allow for an in-person experience as well as a virtual participation option. The in-person conference will take place October 12-14 in Carlsbad, CA. Virtual registrants will have access to all content via livestream during program dates. Additionally, all content will be available on-demand within 24 hours of the live program time. Virtual partnering meetings will take place October 19-20 via Zoom.

About NurOwn

The NurOwntechnology platform (autologous MSC-NTF cells) represents a promising investigational therapeutic approach to targeting disease pathways important in neurodegenerative disorders. MSC-NTF cells are produced from autologous, bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that have been expanded and differentiated ex vivo. MSCs are converted into MSC-NTF cells by growing them under patented conditions that induce the cells to secrete high levels of neurotrophic factors (NTFs). Autologous MSC-NTF cells are designed to effectively deliver multiple NTFs and immunomodulatory cytokines directly to the site of damage to elicit a desired biological effect and ultimately slow or stabilize disease progression.

About BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.

BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc. is a leading developer of innovative autologous adult stem cell therapeutics for debilitating neurodegenerative diseases. The Company holds the rights to clinical development and commercialization of the NurOwntechnology platform used to produce autologous MSC-NTF cells through an exclusive, worldwide licensing agreement. Autologous MSC-NTF cells have received Orphan Drug designation status from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) for the treatment of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). BrainStorm has completed a Phase 3 pivotal trial in ALS (NCT03280056); this trial investigated the safety and efficacy of repeat-administration of autologous MSC-NTF cells and was supported by a grant from the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM CLIN2-0989). BrainStorm completed under an investigational new drug application a Phase 2 open-label multicenter trial (NCT03799718) of autologous MSC-NTF cells in progressive multiple sclerosis (MS) and was supported by a grant from the National MS Society (NMSS).

For more information, visit the company's website atwww.brainstorm-cell.com.

Safe-Harbor Statement

Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information, including statements regarding future NurOwnmanufacturing and clinical development plans, constitute "forward-looking statements" and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause BrainStorm Cell Therapeutics Inc.'s actual results to differ materially from those stated or implied by such forward-looking statements. Terms and phrases such as "may," "should," "would," "could," "will," "expect,""likely," "believe," "plan," "estimate," "predict," "potential," and similar terms and phrases are intended to identify these forward-looking statements. The potential risks and uncertainties include, without limitation, BrainStorm's need to raise additional capital, BrainStorm's ability to continue as a going concern, the prospects for regulatory approval of BrainStorm's NurOwntreatment candidate, the initiation, completion, and success of BrainStorm's product development programs and research, regulatory and personnel issues, development of a global market for our services, the ability to secure and maintain research institutions to conduct our clinical trials, the ability to generate significant revenue, the ability of BrainStorm's NurOwntreatment candidate to achieve broad acceptance as a treatment option for ALS or other neurodegenerative diseases, BrainStorm's ability to manufacture, or to use third parties to manufacture, and commercialize the NurOwntreatment candidate, obtaining patents that provide meaningful protection, competition and market developments, BrainStorm's ability to protect our intellectual property from infringement by third parties, heath reform legislation, demand for our services, currency exchange rates and product liability claims and litigation; and other factors detailed in BrainStorm's annual report on Form 10-K and quarterly reports on Form 10-Q available athttp://www.sec.gov. These factors should be considered carefully, and readers should not place undue reliance on BrainStorm's forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are based on the beliefs, expectations and opinions of management as of the date of this press release. We do not assume any obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect actual results or assumptions if circumstances or management's beliefs, expectations or opinions should change, unless otherwise required by law. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance or achievements.

ContactsInvestor Relations:Eric GoldsteinLifeSci Advisors, LLCPhone: +1 646.791.9729egoldstein@lifesciadvisors.com

Media:Paul TyahlaSmithSolvePhone: + 1.973.713.3768Paul.tyahla@smithsolve.com

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BrainStorm to Present at the 2021 Cell & Gene Meeting on the Mesa - WWNY

Sarepta Therapeutics Opens Genetic Therapies Center of Excellence in Columbus, Ohio – Stockhouse

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 04, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:SRPT), the leader in precision genetic medicine for rare diseases, today celebrated the grand opening of the Genetic Therapies Center of Excellence (GTCOE), its new research facility in Columbus, Ohio.

The 85,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility expands Sarepta’s research and development capabilities and footprint, which includes sites in Cambridge, Andover and Burlington, Mass. With more than 70 employees today and plans to double the number of employees by the end of 2022, the Center is focused on discovery, pre-clinical and clinical development supporting Sarepta’s pipeline of genetic medicines which includes RNA, gene therapy and gene editing programs. The Center also supports process development and optimization work that enables the transition from clinical-scale to commercial-scale manufacturing, a critical task facing companies developing gene therapies.

Advances in the science of genetic medicine are creating incredible opportunities to develop medicines with the potential to transform the lives of people with rare diseases. Sarepta’s Genetic Therapies Center of Excellence complements and enhances our existing research and development expertise and will play a central and strategic role in our future as the leader in precision genetic medicine,” said Doug Ingram, president and chief executive officer, Sarepta.

Among the guests joining the Sarepta team today for a dedication, ribbon-cutting ceremony and facility tours: The Honorable Jon Husted, Ohio’s Lieutenant Governor; Pat Furlong, president and chief executive officer, Parent Project Muscular Dystrophy (PPMD); Jessica Evans, assistant director, The Speak Foundation; local officials; and luminaries from Columbus’ growing biotechnology sector. At the event, Sarepta also announced a $20,000 donation to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio, with Dee Anders, chief executive officer and executive director, Ronald McDonald House Charities of Central Ohio, present to accept.

Sarepta has operated in Columbus since 2018 and we’re proud to be at the forefront of Columbus’ emergence as a leading hub for biotechnology committed to the local community and the patients and families we serve,” said Louise Rodino-Klapac, Ph.D., Sarepta’s Columbus-based executive vice president and chief scientific officer. Our growing presence in Ohio will help us strengthen our close working relationships with long-standing local partners such as Nationwide Children’s Hospital, while we work with the greatest urgency to advance our pipeline, further the science of genetic medicine and create an environment where future generations of scientific talent will thrive.”

Sarepta Therapeutics’ decision to expand in Ohio is the latest example that Ohio is a great state to grow a business,” said Lt. Governor Jon Husted. When we created the Columbus Innovation District last year, we were focused on cultivating the right environment in central Ohio to attract new investments and jobs in gene and cell therapy. This new facility is a victory, as it builds on our strategy, creating jobs and producing some of the most advanced research and development of precision genetic medicine, further solidifying Ohio as a leader in gene therapy.”

About Sarepta Therapeutics Sarepta is on an urgent mission: engineer precision genetic medicine for rare diseases that devastate lives and cut futures short. We hold leadership positions in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and limb-girdle muscular dystrophies (LGMDs), and we currently have more than 40 programs in various stages of development. Our vast pipeline is driven by our multi-platform Precision Genetic Medicine Engine in gene therapy, RNA and gene editing. For more information, please visit http://www.sarepta.com or follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram and Facebook.

Internet Posting of Information We routinely post information that may be important to investors in the 'For Investors' section of our website at http://www.sarepta.com. We encourage investors and potential investors to consult our website regularly for important information about us.

Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains "forward-looking statements." Any statements contained in this press release that are not statements of historical fact may be deemed to be forward-looking statements. Words such as "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," "intends," "potential," "possible" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements include statements regarding potential opportunities in the rare disease space; the potential transformative benefits of medicines in the rare disease space; our plans to double the number of employees in Columbus, Ohio by the end of 2022; and the potential for our growing presence in Ohio to help strengthen our close working relationships with long-standing local partners while we work with the greatest urgency to advance our pipeline, further the science of genetic medicine and create an environment where future generations of scientific talent will thrive.

These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements. Many of these risks and uncertainties are beyond our control. Known risk factors include, among others: we may not be able to execute on our business plans and goals, including meeting our expected or planned regulatory milestones and timelines, clinical development plans, and bringing our product candidates to market, due to a variety of reasons, many of which are outside of our control, including possible limitations on company financial and other resources, manufacturing limitations that may not be anticipated or resolved for in a timely manner, regulatory, court or agency decisions, such as decisions by the United States Patent and Trademark Office with respect to patents that cover our product candidates; the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic; and those risks identified under the heading Risk Factors” in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, and most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) as well as other SEC filings we make, which you are encouraged to review.

Any of the foregoing risks could materially and adversely affect the Company’s business, results of operations and the trading price of Sarepta’s common stock. For a detailed description of risks and uncertainties we face, we encourage you to review our SEC filings. We caution investors not to place considerable reliance on the forward-looking statements contained in this press release. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements based on events or circumstances after the date of this press release, except as required by law.

Source: Sarepta Therapeutics, Inc.

Investor Contact: Ian Estepan, 617-274-4052 iestepan@sarepta.com

Media Contact: Tracy Sorrentino, 617-301-8566 tsorrentino@sarepta.com

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Sarepta Therapeutics Opens Genetic Therapies Center of Excellence in Columbus, Ohio - Stockhouse

Clinical Data on GenSight Biologics’ LUMEVOQ and GS030 Gene Therapies to be Presented at 2021 ASRS, ESGCT and Several Investor and Industry Meetings…

PARIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Regulatory News:

GenSight Biologics (Euronext: SIGHT, ISIN: FR0013183985, PEA-PME eligible), a biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders, today announced that oral presentations on LUMEVOQ and GS030 will be featured at the 2021 ASRS and ESGCT meetings in October. Senior management will also attend and present at several investor and industry conferences in the same month.

Chardan 5th Annual Genetic Medicines ConferenceOctober 4-5, 2021 VirtualBernard Gilly, Co-founder & Chief Executive Officer, will present on Monday October 4, 2021, at 8.00 am ET and the management team will host investor meetings during the conference.

A webcast of the fireside chat will be available at https://bit.ly/3zZOGsM for 90 days.

HealthTech Innovation Days (HTID)October 4-5, 2021 VirtualGenSight Biologics management team will host investor meetings during the conference.

2021 Advanced Therapies Congress LIVEOctober 5-6, 2021 ExCel, London (United Kingdom)Magali Taiel, MD, Chief Medical Officer, will present LUMEVOQ on Wednesday October 6, 2021, at 1.30 pm GMT.

2021 OIS @ ASRSOctober 7, 2021 San Antonio, Texas (United States) & VirtualMagali Taiel, MD, Chief Medical Officer, will present on Thursday October 7, 2021, at 9.09 am CDT.

39th Annual Scientific Meeting of the American Society of Retina Specialists (ASRS)October 8-12, 2021 San Antonio, Texas (United States)

Optogenetics in the Clinic: Safety and Efficacy Updates on the Phase I/II Clinical Trial PIONEER will be presented by Joseph Martel, MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, United States and Investigator in the PIONEER trial.

2021 ARM Cell & Gene Meeting on the MesaOctober 12-14, 2021 Carlsbad, California (United States) & VirtualMagali Taiel, MD, Chief Medical Officer, pre-recorded a Company presentation that will be available during the conference.

28th Annual Congress of the European Society of Gene & Cell Therapy (ESGCT)October 19-22, 2021 Virtual

The phase III REFLECT trial: Efficacy and safety of bilateral gene therapy for Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON) will be presented by Patrick Yu Wai Man, MD, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom and Investigator in the REFLECT trial.

Partial recovery of visual function in a blind patient after optogenetic therapy for non-syndromic Retinitis Pigmentosa will be presented by Jos-Alain Sahel, MD, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, United States and Co-founder of GenSight Biologics.

BIO-Europe 2021October 25-28, 2021 VirtualGenSight Biologics management team will host partnering meetings during the conference.

GenSight Biologics management team will also present at the following conferences:

Mitochondrial Diseases Conference 2021 by Mitocon // October 15-16, virtualAdvancing Gene Therapy 2021 // October 18-20, Boston, USA & virtual

About GenSight Biologics

GenSight Biologics S.A. is a clinical-stage biopharma company focused on developing and commercializing innovative gene therapies for retinal neurodegenerative diseases and central nervous system disorders. GenSight Biologics pipeline leverages two core technology platforms, the Mitochondrial Targeting Sequence (MTS) and optogenetics, to help preserve or restore vision in patients suffering from blinding retinal diseases. GenSight Biologics lead product candidate, LUMEVOQ (GS010; lenadogene nolparvovec), has been submitted for marketing approval in Europe for the treatment of Leber Hereditary Optic Neuropathy (LHON), a rare mitochondrial disease affecting primarily teens and young adults that leads to irreversible blindness. Using its gene therapy-based approach, GenSight Biologics product candidates are designed to be administered in a single treatment to each eye by intravitreal injection to offer patients a sustainable functional visual recovery.

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Clinical Data on GenSight Biologics' LUMEVOQ and GS030 Gene Therapies to be Presented at 2021 ASRS, ESGCT and Several Investor and Industry Meetings...

Construction of a Ferroptosis-Related Gene Signature for Predicting Su | IJGM – Dove Medical Press

Introduction

There are over 200,000 new cases diagnosed per year worldwide with skin cutaneous melanoma (SKCM), which is a very aggressive disease.1 Patients who have lived 5 years since the time of diagnosis of advanced melanoma have a 5-year over survival (OS) average of 1029%, and the total success rate of their form of chemotherapy is less than 20%.1,2 Though great efforts have been devoted to the management of advanced and metastatic SKCM, the treatment and management of it is far less effective.3 Ultraviolet radiation and hereditary predetermination are the major melanoma risk factors.4 Early detection and management of melanoma contribute to improved results as well as new treatments for even more severe stages of the disease. Mortality from melanoma has actually been remaining constant, with relatively little improvement over time, which emphasizes the significance of continuing studies on the molecular mechanisms of melanoma production and clinical goals.5

In the human body, iron is a necessary micronutrient for certain biological processes, for example, cell metabolism, cellular development, and proliferation.6 Iron homeostasis is precisely controlled by iron ingestion, systemic transport, and preservation inside the body.7 In tumor cells, alterations in iron metabolism may cause two-side impact: on the heme synthesis and sequestration, leading to the accumulation of free iron and depletion of hemoglobin.8 Although the majority of tumor cells have an elevated iron requirement, an adequate level in the body can encourage tumor growth and proliferation, iron accumulation above that range may trigger cell death, or cell death may result in membrane lipid peroxidation.9 Ferroptosis may be of use in the management of some cancers. Ferroptosis has gained popularity as a potential cancer cure after the first presentation in 2012.10 A number of experiments have concluded that ferroptosis plays a crucial function in cell death and in tumor inhibition.11 Additional studies have shown the importance of ferroptosis in diagnosis and prognosis,12 but During the formation and progression of the disease, key regulators and pathways of ferroptosis are still unclear.

The term tumor microenvironment refers to the immune cells that exist inside a tumor. TIME regulates iron synthesis and homeostasis in the body. Iron homeostasis is often maintained by Th1 cells, macrophages, etc. Further, it was discovered that immunoregulation and ferroptosis worked in concert in TIME.13 The activation of cytotoxicity in tumor cells reveals tumor antigens, enhancing the microenvironments immunogenicity and hence the treatments effectiveness and a separate research study discovered that activating CD8 T-cells can boost lipid peroxidation activity in the TIME against tumors, and the increased lipid peroxidation of the tumor cells aids the therapeutic action of immunotherapy.14,15

While there are a variety of SKCM signatures, ferroptosis studies are yet to be proven. Ferroptosis models, for the first time, are built from detailed gene expression, but representing the actual physiological status were developed for use in the SKCM population to predict the microenvironment of the patient in the patient cohort. It is possible that this approach may help with making treatment choices in the future.

A total of 460 SKCM RNA-seq data and accompanying clinical details were downloaded from TCGA database. RNA-seq data and SKCM clinical details for another 213 samples were extracted from Gene Expression Omnibus (GSE65904) database. TCGA and GEO data are freely accessible. Thus, the present study was excluded from ethics committees of the respective jurisdiction. The present study adheres to the TCGA and GEO guidelines.

For differentially expressed ferroptosis-related genes, a protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was discovered using the STRING database. For exploring the molecular interactions, the Cytoscape bioinformatics tool was used.

The search for ferroptosis-related genes of prognostic significance as part of the univariate Cox analysis of OS. By minimizing the chance of overfitting, LASSO method was used to build a predictive signature. The R package glmnet was performed for variable chosen and shrinkage. After that, multivariate regression was used to define the model with the lowest criterion score, that is goodness of fit metric.16 Afterward, the ferroptosis gene signature risk score was divided in conjunction with linear combination of the risk factor and the expression equation (). Risk score = 1 * gene1expression + 2 * gene2expression + 3 * gene3expression + + n * gene expression. Using the risk score algorithm, For each patient, a risk score was determined. To divide the patients into high-risk and low-risk categories, we used the median risk score level as a cutoff value. In this analysis, the KaplanMeier method was conducted to test the significance of variations in survival time between the high-risk and low-risk classes. The ROC curve (including 1-, 3-, and 5-year survival) was created to represent the ferroptosis-based signature using survivalROC R package to show sensitivity and specificity.

We used survival R package to complete the univariate and multivariate studies on gene signature related to ferroptosis and clinicopathologic characteristics in TCGA and GSE65904. Further, various properties were tested to determine whether the gene signature related to ferroptosis was correlated with clinicopathological factors.

In order to provide a quantitative method for predicting the survival risk for SKCM patients, the nomogram was developed by R package rms using a ferroptosis signature as well as quantitative data. In the meanwhile, calibration curves were drawn to provide an accurate estimate of predictive and test the accuracy of nomograms.

According to their calculated risk values, the SKCM samples were split into two groups (high and low risk groups). We used GSEA to differentiate between the two groups in order to discover and study the essential mechanism for KEGG pathways.17 The reference gene collection was c2.cp.kegg.v6.2.symbols.gmt, which was annotated.

In both datasets, CIBERSORT was used to measure the proportion of tumor infiltrating immune cells. Via the linear support vector principle, CIBERSORT is really effective at analyzing expression matrices of immune cell types.18 The association between 22 different types of tumor-infiltrating immune cells was investigated. An integrated study of Spearman coefficient and Wilcoxon-rank sum was performed to determine the relationship between the 22 tumor infiltrating immune cells.19 We evaluated the association between the risk score and the levels of expression levels of CTLA4, PD-1, and PD-L1, the three main immune checkpoint genes.

KaplanMeier study was performed using R packages survival and survminer. The survival package was used to analyze the Cox study. For ROC study, the R package survivalROC was used. Statistical significance is shown by a p-value < 0.05.

A total of 460 melanoma samples were obtained from the TCGA database. There were 213 individual samples from the validation dataset. Table S1 includes all the basic demographic information. Figure 1 represents the design of the present analysis.

Figure 1 Flowchart of this studys analysis protocol.

This research includes a total of 60 ferroptosis-related genes (Table S2). A PPI network was built to elucidate the interrelationships among these genes (Figure S1). We developed KaplanMeier curves from the TCGA database of ferroptosis-related genes to study OS. 10 genes were strongly related to patient outcome in the Log rank test (p < 0.05) among the 60 genes (Figure 2A). For the purpose of building a ferroptosis-related model, LASSO was applied to select the best optimal model (Figure 2B and C). 8 genes were found with the LASSO algorithms. Finally, a risk model was generated using a multivariate Cox regression analysis. The genes ALOX5 and CHAC1 have been found to be highly predictive (Figure 2D). After calculated the expression equation () The following equation is used to calculate the signatures risk value: risk score = (0.3258) x expression (ALOX5) + (0.1597) x expression (CHAC1). Among them, it was concluded that a protective effect was demonstrated for ALOX5 had coefficient <0 associated with long OS (Figure S2A). CHAC1 was associated with short OS and coefficient > 0 and considered as a high-risk factor (Figure S2B). Each patient in the TCGA and GEO cohorts was given a risk score, and they were divided into low and high risk categories.

Figure 2 The TCGA cohort was used to identify potential ferroptosis-related genes. (A) Univariate Cox regression study identifies prognostic factors. (B) LASSO coefficient distributions for the 10 ferroptosis-related possible prognostic genes. (C) Plots of the produced coefficient distributions for the logarithmic (lambda) series for parameter selection (lambda). (D) Multivariate Cox study was used to construct a ferroptosis-related gene signature in the TCGA cohort.

The risk scores were measured and the patients were divided into high- and low-risk categories based on the median level. (Figure 3A). In both TCGA and GSE65904, expression of ALOX5 was increased in conjunction with low risk, seen in heatmap (Figure 3B). The expression of CHAC1 was increased in conjunction with high risk in bot datasets. Patients in the TCGA population get a weaker OS as their risk level rises (Figure 3C). The mortality rate was also greater in the high-risk group, according to our findings (Figure 3D and E). Furthermore, for the prognostic classification of risk score, a ROC study was conducted. We looked at the prognosis prediction classification efficiency at 1, 3, and 5 years. For the survival rates of 1, 3, and 5 years in TCGA cohort, the prognostic signature had AUC values of 0.651, 0.638, and 0.622, respectively. At 1, 3, and 5 years, the AUC values in GEO dataset were 0.560, 0.636, and 0.557 (Figure 3F). Furthermore, for the prognostic classification of risk score, a ROC study was conducted. We looked at the prognosis prediction classification efficiency at 1, 3, and 5 years. For the survival rates of 1, 3, and 5 years in the TCGA cohort, the prognostic signature had AUC values of 0.651, 0.638, and 0.622, respectively. At 1, 3, and 5 years, the AUC values in the GEO dataset were 0.560, 0.636, and 0.557 (Figure 3F). These results showed that the developed prognostic tool has good sensitivity and specificity to estimate SKCM patients.We used immunohistochemistry findings from the Human Protein Atlas database to demonstrate that ALOX5 was significantly increased in normal skin tissue and CHAC1 was significantly increased in melanoma tissue to further establish the expression of two identified genes in the signature (Figure 4).

Figure 3 Ferroptosis-related gene signature has prognostic significance in SKCM both in TCGA and GEO datasets. (A) mRNA risk level distribution; (B) a heatmap of two ferroptosis-related genes in two groups from TCGA and GEO cohorts; (C) KaplanMeier study for patients classified as high or low risk based on their risk score; (D) patient survival status distribution in two groups. The dot reflects the patients condition, which is assessed as the risk score increases. (E) Mortality rates in two groups; (F) ROC curve regression in TCGA and GEO cohorts.

Figure 4 The expression of hub ferroptosis-related genes was tested using the HPA database in SKCM and normal tissue. (A) ALOX5 (B) CHAC1.

The signature models independence was determined using univariate and multivariate Cox regression analyses in clinical applications in the TCGA (Figure 5A) and GEO (Figure 5B) datasets. By using univariate Cox study, risk score was positively correlated with prognosis; however, by using multivariate Cox study, it indicated that the signature was an independent prognostic risk factor. Our results showed that the two-gene signature worked effectively in clinical practice.

Figure 5 In the TCGA and GEO cohorts, Independent prognostic factors for SKCM OS were discovered using univariate and multivariate studies. (AB) TCGA cohort (CD) GEO cohort.

We generated nomograms that combined both the ferroptosis-related signature and the typical clinicopathological factors centered on the TCGA cohort (Figure 6A) and GEO cohort (Figure 6E) to estimate OS risk of people with SKCM using a quantitative process. The nomograms had reasonable precision as an optimal model in both the TCGA dataset (Figure 6BD) and the GEO dataset, according to calibration plots (Figure 6FH).

Figure 6 (A) In the TCGA cohort, nomograms were shown to predict OS of SKCM patients based on age, stage, and risk score. (BD) TCGA cohort calibration curves after 1-, 3-, and 5 years. (E) In the GEO cohort, a nomogram dependent on stage and risk score was shown to estimate 1-, 3-, and 5-year OS of SKCM patients. (FH) GEO cohort 1-, 3-, and 5-year calibration curves.

We used GSEA to determine between high and low risk groups in terms of biological pathways. In TCGA and GEO cohorts, GSEA research showed the gene sets were greatly enriched in RNA polymerase and Aminoacyl tRNA biosynthesis. Oxidative phosphorylation was also shown to be enriched in the TCGA dataset, as was base excision repair in the GEO dataset (Figure 7).

Figure 7 GSEA enrichment between groups of low and high risk.

CIBERSORT was performed to better understand how the two-gene signature and the immune microenvironment interacted, and detailed comparisons with the risk score were created. Figure 8A shows the relative content distribution of 22 immune cells in TCGA cohort. Figure 8B shows in high-risk population, the concentrations of Macrophages M0 and Mast cells resting are higher than the other group. In the high-risk population, T cells CD4 memory resting, T cells CD8, T cells CD4 memory activated, and Macrophages M1 were lower than the other group. As seen in Figure 9, tumor-infiltrating immune cells are independent predictors of cancer survival. As a result, we evaluated whether ALOX5 expression is related to the amount of immune infiltration in SKCM. We examined the correlation between gene signatures (ALOX5 and CHAC1) and 24 immune cell subsets in SKCM and discovered that ALOX5 has a strong positive correlation with B cell memory, B cell naive, plasma cells, CD8 T cells, and T cells regulatory; however, ALOX5 has a robust negative correlation with macrophage M2, eosinophils, mast cells resting, and NK cells resting. Another analysis revealed that CHAC1 expression was substantially connected with the infiltration level of activated NK cells (R =0.15, p =0.007), T cell regulatory (R =0.11, p=0.022), and Eosinophils (R =0.11, p=0.022), but not with the infiltration level of T cell memory (R =0.21, p=0.0001).

Figure 8 Immune cell infiltration in SKCM patients: distribution and visualization (A) Description of 22 immune cell subtypes calculated compositions in TCGA. (B) In TCGA, 22 immune cell subtypes were compared between two groups.

Figure 9 Correlation between ALOX5, CHAC1 and infiltrating immune cells in SKCM patients.

The relationship between three immune checkpoint genes and risk score was studied in the TCGA and GEO cohorts. Low levels of PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA4 demonstrated weak survival, as seen in Figure 10A. In both the TCGA and GEO datasets, we discovered the low-risk population had higher levels of PD-L1, PD-1 and CTLA4 level than high-risk group, that risk score was significantly negatively linked with CTLA4, PD-L1, and PD-1 (Figure 10BD), suggesting the low-risk group was far more likely to provide an immune response to immunotherapy.

Figure 10 The risk score and the levels of PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA4 were linked in the TCGA and GEO cohorts. (A) KaplanMeier study for SKCM patients classified as high or low risk based on PD-1, PD-L1, and CTLA4 expression; (B) PD-1 expression in two groups and the correlation between PD-1 level and risk score; (C) PD-L1 expression in two groups and the correlation between PD-L1 level and risk score; (D) CTLA4 expression in two groups and the correlation between CTLA4 and risk score.

Melanoma is the most aggressive form of skin cancer, and its prevalence is on the increase across the world.20 While intense sporadic sun exposure is the most important risk factor for melanoma, other factors such as family background, genetic sensitivity, environmental factors, and immunosuppression often play a role.21 Since SKCM is a molecularly heterogeneous cancerous cancer, its molecular characteristics are linked to biological processes such as cell proliferation, microvascular infiltration, and distance metastasis, and they play a significant role in the prognosis of SKCM.22 As a consequence, Its critical to define important molecular markers that influence the prognosis of SKCM patients, allowing for better early diagnosis and treatment to improve SKCM clinical outcomes.

The improvement of high-throughput techniques developed has opened up the possibility of discovering new genes implicated in the onset and evolution of SKCM. Ferroptosis entails iron-dependent oxidation and is a mediated autophagic cell death process.23 Excessive intracellular iron storage is caused by disturbances in iron metabolism, which may lead to ferroptosis.24 Several genes influence ferroptosis. Previous research has shown that ferroptosis is an important method for killing SKCM cells, but the exact molecular modifications and mechanism of action remain unknown.

The aim of this research was to identify ferroptosis-related genes that were correlated with SKCM prognosis by analyzing SKCM-related RNA sequences obtained from high-throughput array technologies utilizing Cox proportional hazards regression and LASSO approaches. Previous studies identified several genes, lncRNAs and miRNAs as promising therapeutic biomarkers in SKCM.2527 However, the differentially expressed signatures were explored between the normal and tumor samples, or between the primary and metastatic tissues, and molecules associated with the progression of cancer were not taken into consideration. Our model is based on the construction of ferroptosis-related genes. We also compared the our model to other researchers such as Shou et al constructed a model based on hypoxic genes, but it did not work well in the validation set and there was no complete 1, 3 and 5 year predictive capability.28 Wu et al constructed a prediction model for SKCM, but the sample size of the validation set was too small to represent the accuracy of the model.29 Two genes (ALOX5, CHAC1) collaborated to create a prognosis model that accurately estimated the prognosis of patients with SKCM, according to our findings. Furthermore, differences in the underlying diseases of SKCM have no impact on the expression features of the two genes, meaning that the prognosis model should be used to determine prognosis in a wide range of SKCM patients. ALOX5 is a member of the arachidonic acid-derived family of proinflammatory lipid mediators. ALOX5 also plays an important role in lipid peroxidation mediation.30 ALOX5 has recently been discovered to play a key role in cell death processes such as apoptosis and ferroptosis.31 CHAC1 is a protein that belongs to the glutamylcyclotransferase family. Deglycination of the Notch receptor, which avoids receptor maturation and reduces Notch signaling, has been shown to facilitate neuronal differentiation by the encoded protein.32 This protein can also be involved in the unfolded protein reaction, glutathione control, and cellular oxidative equilibrium.33 CHAC1 was discovered to digest glutathione, converting it to 5-oxoproline and Cys-Glydipeptide, lowering intracellular GSH levels.34 Increased expression of CHAC1 in breast and ovarian cancer patients may mean a higher risk of cancer recurrence.35 Until now, the mechanism of ALOX5 and CHAC1 in SKCM has remained a mystery.

Since immune cell penetration is essential in tumors, In each SKCM specimen, CIBERSORT was also performed to measure proportional proportion of 22 different types of immune cells.36 According to some data, the interaction between the tumor and the microenvironment is important in the development of SKCM and the likelihood of responding to immunotherapies.37 As a result, we investigated whether a ferroptosis-related gene signature may be used to detect immune cell infiltration. The proportion of T cells CD4 memory resting, T cells CD8, and Macrophages M1 and T cells CD4 memory activated in low-risk group contributed more to immune response than the other group, according to our findings.

Immunotherapy has shone new light on the management of SKCM, with immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) emerging as a theoretically successful treatment option.38 Anti-tumor immunity could be boosted by targeting immune checkpoint molecules.39,40 The association between ferroptosis-related gene signature and ICI reactivity was used to forecast ICI reactivity. The low-risk population had higher levels of PD-L1, PD-1, and CTLA4 expression than the high-risk category. In SKCM patients, low PD-L1, PD-1, and CTLA4 expression are linked to a weak prognosis, indicating that a ferroptosis-related gene signature has the ability to identify immunogenic and ICI-responsive SKCM patients. The therapeutic selection of ICIs in clinical practice is theoretically based on the predictive ability of ferroptosis-related gene signature. Hopefully, this predictive approach can help to speed up the development of personalized cancer immunotherapy.

Additionally, in order to evaluate the prognostic significance of the new risk model, we performed the Log rank test and the ROC curve analysis to investigate the association between the model and clinical parameters.To improve the precision of prognostic prediction, we created and validated a nomogram by combining risk score, era, and level, which could help predict clinical outcomes in SKCM patients. By the use of AUC curves, we next interrogated whether the ferroptosis-related gene patterns could serve as an early predictor for the incidence of SKCM. Our model demonstrated an AUC of 0.651, 0.638, and 0.622 in the TCGA at 1, 3, and 5 years respectively. More specifically, these modern prognostic methods have the potential to not only increase prognostic prediction precision but also to estimate the real mortality risk of particular patients, which is critical in clinical practice. Combining our prognostic model with clinicopathological indications improved prediction sensitivity and specificity for 1-, 3-, and 3-year OS, resulting in better medical therapy. To sum up, our research results indicate that a two-gene prognostic model is a reliable tool for predicting the overall survival of SKCM; it may be useful for guiding therapeutic strategies to improve the clinical outcome of melanoma patients This research has a number of advantages. First, this signature has been thoroughly tested and analyzed through a variety of databases, demonstrating its robustness and durability. Second, an extensive and in-depth study was conducted on a variety of topics, including discussions on the relationship between ferroptosis-related gene signatures and immune cells, as well as immune checkpoints. Third, a nomogram for quantitative measurement was created, which is helpful for clinical promotion and implementation. Nonetheless, there are a few flaws in our study. As a result, further SKCM patients and validations are required to validate this signature in prospective studies. However, there were several limitations to this study. Firstly, it was based solely on the TCGA and GEO databases; so, the finding must be validated using large clinical samples. Furthermore, because this study is based on a retrospective analysis, a prospective study should be conducted to confirm the model. Thirdly, more research into the processes of ALOX5, CHAC1 in SKCM is needed.

Finally, we developed a ferroptosis-based gene signature that is strongly related to the immune microenvironment and can better predict survival and represent immunotherapy efficacy in SKCM patients. The ferroptosis-related gene signature may potentially offer an important method to fulfill the therapeutic criteria of SKCM therapy to some extent in the era of precision medicine.Ferroptosis is a type of cell death that varies from apoptosis in that the formation of iron-dependent lipid peroxides causes it.41 Much or insufficient ferroptosis is associated with a rising number of physiological and pathological processes, as well as dysregulated immune responses.42 Despite being mechanistically revealed in vitro,43,44 accumulating data suggest that ferroptosis may be involved in many pathogenic scenarios.45 Ferroptosis role in T cell immunity and cancer immunotherapy, however, is uncertain.

Immune checkpoint blockade medications are novel immunotherapies that selectively activate T cells innate ability to attack tumors.46 The important function of iron in tumor development is linked to its potential to modulate both innate and acquired immune responses, particularly in T cells and macrophages. Our findings revealed a strong positive correlation between gene signatures (ALOX5 and CHAC1) and 24 immune cell subsets in SKCM, with ALOX5 having a strong positive correlation with B cell memory, B cell naive, plasma cells, CD8 T cells, and T cells regulatory; however, ALOX5 has a robust negative correlation with macrophage M2, eosinophils, mast cells resting, and NK cells resting. CHAC1 expression was found to be significantly linked to the infiltration levels of activated NK cells, T cell regulatory cells, and Eosinophils, but not to the infiltration level of T cell memory cells, according to another study.

According to a recent study showed the specific makeup of the lymphatic environment may inhibit melanoma cells from undergoing ferroptosis, therefore boosting metastasis.47 The immune systems interaction with ferroptosis is still unknown. Macrophages have a critical function in iron metabolism regulation.48 ALOX5 was found to be involved in forming leukotriene B4 (LTB4), a pro-inflammatory lipid mediator that acts as a phagocyte chemoattractant in previous investigations.49,50 Researchers also suggested that melanomas ferroptosis cells release lipid mediators such LTB4 via ALOX5 to recruit macrophages to the ferroptosis cell location. Previous research has shown that immunotherapy-activated CD8 + T cells make tumors more susceptible to ferroptosis and, as a result, improve immunotherapy efficacy in melanoma patients.51 The era of immunity and iron has dawned in cancer treatment. A potential cancer treatment is ferroptosis-driven nanotherapeutics integrated with immunomodulation.52 Immunotherapy combined with radiotherapy has been shown to trigger ferroptosis and T-cell immunity in tumors. Thus, T cell-promoted tumor ferroptosis is a novel anti-tumor mechanism. Targeting tumor ferroptosis pathway constitutes a therapeutic approach in combination with checkpoint blockade.

In conclusion, we discovered two ferroptosis-related genes in the OS of SKCM with strong predictive capacity, and the prognostic model based on the two genes worked well. The ferroptosis-related gene signature may also reflect the immune microenvironment and the efficacy of immunotherapy in SKCM patients.

The authors report no conflicts of interest in this work.

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Construction of a Ferroptosis-Related Gene Signature for Predicting Su | IJGM - Dove Medical Press

Volleyball Sweeps to Close Out Bear Invitational – Sports News from Washington University in St. Louis

St. Louis, Mo., September 5, 2021 The Washington University in St. Louis volleyball team swept its final two games of the 2021 Bear Invitational on Saturday afternoon. The Bears are now 4-1 on the year.

In their first match of the day, the Bears defeated Lewis & Clark in straight sets (26-24, 28-26, 25-21). WashU went on to defeat No. 13 UT-Dallas, 3-1 (25-20, 25-18, 19-25, 25-22).

WashU vs. Lewis & Clark

First-year Jasmine Sells finished with a team-high 10 kills on the day while junior Alaina Bohrer and senior Michaela Bach each had nine. Sophomore Chloe Emch had 28 assists and Bohrer also had 17 digs on the day.

The first set was close from the start, as the Bears and Pioneers traded points and eventually tied it up at six points. Lewis & Clark then scored three-straight to take a 9-6 advantage and went up by as many as six points later in the set, 16-10.

The Bears then rallied to score six-straight points, including kills from Julie Keener and Paris Nix, as well as two aces from Keener.

The set was tied five more times at 18, 20, 22, 23 and 24. Ultimately, it was sells that broke the final tie with a kill and the Bears won on a Pioneers' error.

The second set opened up with back-to-back points for Lewis & Clark on kills from Izzy Willis and Kelsey Parker.

The Bears went up five points, 9-4, after scoring four-straight which including a kill and a block from Nix. A kill from Sells put WashU up 11-7 before the Pioneers scored four straight to tie it up, 11 all.

The set would go on to be tied nine more times after competitive back-and-forth action between the two teams. The Bears had two set-point opportunities, but the Pioneers tied it up again each time.

Finally, back-to-back kills from Nix gave the Bears the 28-26 set victory to go up 2-0 in the match.

WashU came out to score the first four points of the third set behind kills from Caitlin Lorenz and Bohrer and two aces from Elise Gilroy. The Bears opened up the lead to 8-2 before the Pioneers scored three-straight points.

Lewis & Clark eventually pulled with one point, 20-19, on a kill from Willis. Bach then answered with a kill for the Bears and Gilroy notched another ace.

Back-to-back kills from Willis brought the Pioneers within one point again, but the Bears scored three-straight, including kills from Bohrer and Bach, to win the set and the match.

WashU vs. UT-Dallas

Against the Comets, Bohrer led with a team-high 15 kills as well as 13 digs. Sells added 11 kills on the day while Taryn Gurbach had a team-high 16 digs. Emch finished with a team-high 29 assists.

The Bears took their first multi-point lead of the match early, scoring four-straight to go up 5-1. Bohrer and Nix both had kills in the run.

UT-Dallas, however, went on a 5-0 run of its own, tying things up, 6-6.

Following four-straight points, which included three kills from Bohrer, WashU pulled ahead 19-13 in the set. The Comets came within three at the end of the match, as a kill from Jaryn Towery cut the lead to 21-19.

The Bears notched three-straight points including an ace from Jordan Sandberg and a block from Emch and Lorenz before closing it out following an attacking error from UT-Dallas.

WashU took a lead early in the second set, going up 5-2 following back-to-back kills from Bohrer.

UT-Dallas, however, went on to score four of the next five points to tie it up 6-6.

There would be four more ties at seven, eight, nine and 10 before the Bears broke open a small-four point lead, 14-10, which included kills from Lorenz and Bach.

Another four-point run behind two kills from Bohrer and a kill from Nix pushed WashU's edge to 20-12.

The Comets pulled with six points, 24-18, before Bach closed out the set with a kill to put the Bears up, 2-0.

Like the sets before it, the third proved to be close. It was tied four times early on before WashU put up four points in a row to take an 8-5 edge. The set was then tied four more times before UT-Dallas took the lead which it would hold until the end.

The Comets scored the final five points of the set to win it and force a fourth set.

The Bears opened up the fourth and final set with three points which included two aces from Emch. Although it wasn't always a large one, the Bears never relinquished the lead throughout the set.

Back-to-back kills from the Comets cut the lead to just one point, 8-7 but the Bears continued to put pressure on and eventually built up the lead to 15-9 following two kills from Abby Li and an attacking error from UT-Dallas.

At the end of the set, the Comets cut it down to just one point again, 23-22. Back-to-back kills from Sells closed the set and the match, avoiding a fifth set.

WashU is back in action on Friday, Sept. 10 and Saturday, Sept. 11 at the East-to-West Battle hosted by Cal Lutheran. The Bears start the tournament with matches against Saint Benedict and Claremont-Mudd-Scripps on Friday and close it out with the host school, Cal Lutheran, on Saturday.

All-Tournament Team

Alaina Bohrer, WashU

Izzy Willis, Lewis & Clark

Brooke Palmer, Centre

Allison Owen, UT-Dallas

Jordan Witzel, Eau Claire

Lauren Borik, Webster

Cathleen Flannery, Carroll

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Volleyball Sweeps to Close Out Bear Invitational - Sports News from Washington University in St. Louis

Comet will hit Earth ‘in 10 to 15 years’ and ‘bring second coming of Jesus’ – Daily Star

A comet will collide with Earth and cause total devastation within the "next 10 to 15 years", as foretold in the Book of Revelation, according to a bible scholar.

David Hareen told the Daily Star that there's evidence that the Earth has suffered many more close encounters with comets than most astronomers believe, and that that one of these comets is set to return within the next decade or so, bringing the End of the World as we know it and paving the way for the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.

David bases his theory on his lifelong study of the Bible, saying that regular encounters with comets caused many of the most dramatic incidents in the Old Testament including The Flood, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and the Great Plagues of Egypt.

His book The High Sign details the evidence for these cometary impacts, and he says there are at leats two regular visitors a smaller object with a 54-year orbit and a larger, more devastating threat which crosses the Earths orbit roughly every 2,000 years.

He told the Daily Star that its this larger, more infrequent visitor thats likely to herald the end of days.

I think it will be the 2,000-year comet, he said, which evidence indicates was present when a terrified Adam and Eve were driven out of Eden, around 4,000 B.C."

David claims the object reappeared in our skies around 2,000 BC, around the time of Jesuss ministry on Earth.

He doesnt think it was the star seen by the Three Wise Men when Jesus was born, but he suspects it could have responsible for the earthquakes and worldwide darkness for three hours reported after his crucifixion.

And he claims the object is due another visit.

He told us: The final timeframe would be soon perhaps but not for sure within the next 10 or 15 years.

Jesus said no one, including himself, would know exactly when he would return. This of course, would be the last event, ending with many unbelievers left to face the final fiery deluge comets are explosive as witness the Jupiter event in 1994.

David believes that Christians will be will be airlifted to heaven shortly before the final massive impact.

Among the many sensational claims in Davids book is that extraterrestrial creatures can be present in these comets and in some cases dropped, still living, on Earth as the planet passes through the comets tail.

Discussing the third plague visited on Egypt described in the book of Exodus, he writes: The third plague has been identified by some translators as lice, by others as gnats. The Hebrew word ken is used in the Bible only to identify the insects that generated this plague, nowhere else.

He speculates that the Egyptians would have been capable of dealing with any stinging insects that were common in their general geographical area but that these unprecedented bugs could have come from the stars.

The text describing this plague states that these insects emerged from the dust of the land, he writes.

If this dust was introduced into Egypt by the tail of a comet, the insects emerging from it would have been unknown to the Egyptians. Had they been lice or gnats, the healing ointments of the Egyptians would have been effective.

But these ointments had no effect on the insects that emerged from the dust, and some Egyptians died after being stung.

These deadly insects were unfamiliar to the Egyptians as should be expected of creatures with extraterrestrial origin.

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David says that the fact that weve recorded comparatively few extraterrestrial impacts over the past few centuries is no reason rot be complacent.

He cites the devastating Wisconsin fire of 1871 in which thousands are thought to have died.

He writes: The main body of the [comet fragment crashed into one of the Great Lakes on October 7, 1871 and peripheral fragments and debris, including small pieces of frozen methane, acetylene, and other highly combustible chemicals, exploded from the friction of entering the Earths atmosphere and ignited the Chicago fire and dozens of other fires that burned simultaneously in Wisconsin and Michigan.

Its important to note that the vast majority of astronomers disagree with Davids claims. But if, as he said, the next massive comet impact is due in the next decade or so, we shouldnt have long to wait to see if hes right.

Interestingly, a previously undiscovered 62-mile wide object now named Comet C/2014 UN271 was spotted entering the Solar System in June this year.

Peter Vere, an astronomer at the Harvard & Smithsonian Centre for Astrophysics excitedly says: "We will have practically 20 years to study it.

Lets hope it doesnt get too close.

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Comet will hit Earth 'in 10 to 15 years' and 'bring second coming of Jesus' - Daily Star

Jonesville takes advantage of turnovers and fourth down stops to beat Hillsdale 22-6 – The Hillsdale Daily News

JONESVILLE

It was a stifling 85 degree humidity Friday night over in Jonesville to kick off the MHSAA fall football season for 2021. The Hillsdale Daily News traveled out to watch the game as the first Game of the Week for the season.Check out the full photo gallery from the game here.

With the new playoff rules regarding 11-player football teams in all eight divisions of the MHSAA, both Hillsdale and Jonesville were looking at this cross-county rivalry game as a must win. With the new rules, there's a new emphasis on playoff points for teams this season. The MHSAA has stated that there will no longer be automatic playoff qualifiers for six-win teams. Teams get in based on playoff points, which puts an emphasis on strength of schedule and quality wins.

Lucky for Hillsdale and Jonesville, their opening series game that has been going on since 2014 was the perfect opportunity for both teams to win a quality game and get a head start on playoff points before they started their conference regular season. The LCAA-affiliated Hillsdale Hornets, led by head coach Marc Lemerand, headed into the matchup having won every game of the opening series since it's start. Last year's game wasn't played due to the pandemic. The Big 8-affiliated Jonesville Comets, led by head coach Frank Keller, headed into the game with a talented core group of players whom many had their first experience playing for a district championship last season.

Both teams were playoff teams last year, and the expectations were high both both teams and their fanbases. Car loads of Jonesville and Hornets fans came out to watch their favorite teams play on Kickoff Friday. The Jonesville student section was out in full force Friday night, keeping in tradition with the terrific turnouts from the basketball season earlier this year.

Things would start out far worse for the Hornets than they were anticipating. A muffed punt opportunity on fourth down gave the Comets great field position on the Hornets side of the field. Jonesville would take advantage early and punch in a score right away. From there on out, the Jonesville Comets would control the line of scrimmage, and take advantage of mismatches on the perimeter and use the air game to spread out the Hornet defense. Junior Quarterback Cowen Keller would find connections with receivers Curtis Knapp and Brady Wright. Both receivers would catch three passes and score a touchdown for the Hornets.

The dominating defensive performance for the Comets was led by Christian Adams and Breaden Trine who both had eight tackles. Offensively, Cowen Keller had eight carries for 40 yards. Keller also went 6-15 for 161 yards and two touchdowns. Curtis Knapp had three catches for 85 yards and a touchdown. Brady Wright had three catches for 77 yards and one touchdown.

The score was 16-6 at halftime. Both teams would head into the locker room hoping for a different outcome and adjustments to start the third quarter. What transpired in the second half was probably not what both teams had wished for. For the Comets, they would be able to score one more touchdown in the opening minutes of the third quarter. Comet running back Dominic Aponte had a 50+ yard breakaway touchdown with around 10 minutes to go. Aponte would rush for a total 10 carries for 93 yards. It was the last time Jonesville would score as Hillsdale would make defensive adjustments and take away the Comets offense for the rest of the game.

For Hillsdale, the offense couldn't get going on the ground or through passing. The Hornets had 10 minutes in the third quarter to answer the Comets, but could not capitalize on great field position and amazing special teams work. Shane Martinez would have several great punts (net 35 average yards) to pin back Jonesville in during the game. Hillsdale would only have 121 total yards of offense to Jonesville's 268.

Hillsdale running back Jordan Barnes would lead the Hornet rushing attack with 15 carries for 38 yards. Barnes also had four catches for 29 yards and a touchdown. Jack Bowles would throw 5-12 for 33 yards with one touchdown and one interception. Defensively, Stephen Petersen had seven tackles; two for a loss. Jordan Barnes had five tackles. Emmett Woodcox would have the Hornets lone sack of the game, and would also have a rumble recovery.

As the game neared the fourth quarter, Hillsdale would have two key fourth down offensive attempts. Jonesville was able to stop both of these late drives. A combination of missed opportunities and turnovers plagued the Hornets all night. It is something coach Lemerand hopes the team will improve upon during practice this week. However, he is proud of the way his kids fought during the game, and continued to fight in the second half.

"We had too many mistakes out there, but the kids tried hard." said Coach Lemerand."We got caught a little flat footed to start the game. Trying to dig out of that was tough. I'm proud of our kid's effort. Our execution was not great, so we have to get better at that."

Jonesville's second half offense couldn't keep up their first half momentum. The team made mistakes, but it's something that they will try and work on according to coach Frank Keller.

"Hillsdale is a very good team," said coach Keller. "They take everything away from you, and they did it again in the second half. It was our first game, we made a lot of mistakes up front and we have a lot of work to do, but great job by our kids today."

Jonesville's student section rushed the field after the game as the rest of the fans celebrated. The players and student section were celebrating what was the team's first win against Hillsdale since starting the opening season series in 2014. It was a special moment for the team and the community, but for coach Keller it's just one of many games the team has to win to accomplish their season goals.

"It feels great," said coach Keller."We always want to beat Hillsdale, but we need to win every game out here. There's no more six games and your in."

For Jonesville, they will be on the road in week two to take on the Homer Trojans on Thursday, September 2nd at 7:00 pm. The Trojans lost their first game against Michigan Center 0-39. However, the Trojans are always a rival opponent in the Big 8 for Jonesville.

"Homer is always skilled and athletic," said coach Keller."They have an aggressive defense, and they'll be a tough team."

For the Hornets, they will look to win their first game of the season on the road against Berrien Springs. Berrien Springs is another playoff team from last season who just defeated a good Benton Harbor squad 26-6. It will be another tough test for Coach Lemerand and the Hornets, but the team will look to come back home with a major non-conference victory that will help get the Hornets their first playoff points of the season.

For more information on both the Hornet'sand Comets'' seasons ahead, check out our in depth looks at both teams' schedules this year at hillsdale.net.

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Jonesville takes advantage of turnovers and fourth down stops to beat Hillsdale 22-6 - The Hillsdale Daily News

Pope Francis Says That He Hopes Cardinal Becciu is Innocent of Charges in Vatican Finance Trial – National Catholic Register

VATICAN CITY Pope Francis addressed the Vatican financial scandals in a sit-down radio interview that aired Wednesday, saying he hoped that Cardinal Angelo Becciu would be found innocent.

I hope with all my heart that he is innocent. Besides, he was a collaborator of mine and helped me a lot. He is a person whom I have a certain esteem as a person, that is to say that my wish is that he turns out well. In any case, justice will decide, the Pope told Carlos Herrera, a journalist at Spains COPE radio station.

Cardinal Becciu is one of 10 defendants in the Vaticans largest trial for financial crimes in the modern era, after the Pope changed the norms to allow cardinals to be tried by lay judges. Cardinal Becciu is accused of embezzlement and abuse of office, but vehemently denies any wrongdoing.

In the 90-minute interview, his first since undergoing colon surgery, Pope Francis spoke about the recent restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass, the withdrawal of U.S. forces from Afghanistan, the Vatican-China deal, euthanasia, and abortion.

I am not afraid of transparency or the truth. Sometimes it hurts, and a lot, but the truth is what sets us free, the Pope said when asked about corruption at the Vatican.

Lets hope that these steps we are taking in Vatican justice will help to make these events happen less and less Yes, you used the word corruption and, in this case, obviously, at least at first sight, it seems that there is corruption, he said.

COPE.

The Pope also addressed clerical sexual abuse and questioned why governments were not making greater efforts to eliminate child pornography.

Abusing a boy to film an act of child pornography is demonic. It cannot be explained without the presence of the devil, the Pope said.

I sometimes wonder how certain governments allow the production of child pornography. Let them not say they dont know. Nowadays, with the intelligence services, everything is known. A government knows who in its country produces child pornography. For me this is one of the most monstrous things I have ever seen, he said.

Pope Francis also praised Cardinal Sen OMalley of Boston for his work in establishing the Pontifical Commission for the Protection of Minors.

I would like to pay tribute to a man who began to speak about this with courage, even though he was a thorn in the side of the organization, long before the organization was created on this subject, and that is Cardinal OMalley. It fell to him to settle the matter in Boston and it was not easy.

Restrictions on the Traditional Latin Mass

Pope Francis described the publication of Summorum Pontificum, a 2007 apostolic letter lifting restrictions on the celebration of Mass according to the 1962 Missal, as one of the most beautiful and human pastoral things of Benedict XVI, who is a man of exquisite humanity.

Then the subject was studied and based on that, the concern that appeared the most was that something that was done to help pastorally those who have lived a previous experience was being transformed into ideology. So we had to react with clear norms, the Pope said, explaining why he issued the motu proprio Traditionis custodes in July curbing celebrations of the Traditional Latin Mass.

Because it seemed to be fashionable in some places that young priests would say oh, no, I want and maybe they dont know Latin, they don't know what it means, he said.

Pope Francis said that he saw the need for pastoral care to be taken with some good limits.

For example, that the proclamation of the Word be in a language that everyone understands; otherwise it would be like laughing at the Word of God. Little things. But yes, the limit is very clear, he said.

Withdrawal from Afghanistan

When asked about the withdrawal of the United States and its allies from Afghanistan, the Pope said that all eventualities were not taken into account.

Pope Francis said that he was touched by something German Chancellor Angela Merkel said on the subject in Moscow on Aug. 20, but his paraphrased quotation was actually of words spoken by Russian President Vladimir Putin, according to AP.

It is necessary to stop the irresponsible policy of enforcing its own values on others and attempts to build democracy in other countries based on outside models without taking into account historic, ethnic and religious issues and fully ignoring other peoples traditions, Pope Francis said.

Concise and conclusive. I think this says a lot; and everyone can interpret it as they wish. But there I felt a wisdom in hearing this woman say this.

The Pope also said that the Vatican Secretariat of State was helping or at least offering to help with the situation in Afghanistan.

[Vatican Secretary of State] Cardinal Parolin is really the best diplomat I have ever met, the Pope added.

The Vatican-China Deal

Discussing the provisional agreement between the Holy See and China, first signed in 2018 and renewed in 2020, the Pope said: China is not easy, but I am convinced that we should not give up dialogue. You can be deceived in dialogue, you can make mistakes, all that... but it is the way. Closed-mindedness is never the way.

He continued: What has been achieved so far in China was at least dialogue ... some concrete things like the appointment of new bishops, slowly ... But these are also steps that can be questionable and the results on one side or the other.

The Pope added that Cardinal Agostino Casaroli, the Vatican Secretary of State for the first 10 years of John Paul IIs pontificate, was a model of Vatican diplomacy and spoke highly of his book, The Martyrdom of Patience.

Today, somehow we have to follow these paths of dialogue step by step in the most conflictive situations. My experience in dialogue with Islam, for example, with the Grand Imam Al-Tayyeb was very positive in this, and I am very grateful to him, he said, referring to the Grand Imam of al-Azhar in Egypt, with whom the Pope signed a declaration on human fraternity in 2019.

Euthanasia and Abortion

In the interview, the Pope also strongly defended the Churchs opposition to euthanasia and abortion.

We are living in a throwaway culture. What is useless is discarded. Old people are disposable material: they are a nuisance. Not all of them, but in the collective unconscious of the throwaway culture, the old... the most terminally ill, too; the unwanted children, too, and they are sent to the sender before they are born, he commented.

What the Church asks is to help people to die with dignity. This has always been done, he said.

And with regard to the case of abortion I say this: any embryology manual given to a medical student in medical school says that by the third week of conception, sometimes before the mother realizes [that she is pregnant], all the organs in the embryo are already outlined, even the DNA. It is a life. A human life. Some say, It's not a person. It is a human life.

The Pope then posed a question: Is it licit to eliminate a human life to solve a problem, is it fair to eliminate a human life to solve a problem?

Polite Devils

Asked about the devil, a theme that the Pope has often addressed since his election in 2013, Francis highlighted the danger of what he called polite devils.

The devil runs around everywhere, but I'm most afraid of the polite devils. Those who ring your doorbell, who ask your permission, who enter your house, who make friends, he said.

But Jesus never talked about that? Yes, he did when he says this: when the unclean spirit comes out of a man, when someone is converted or changes his life, he goes and starts to walk around, in arid places, he gets bored, and after a while he says Im going back to see how it is, and he sees the house all tidy, all changed. Then he looks for seven people worse than him and enters with a different attitude, he said.

That is why I say that the worst are the polite devils, those who ring the doorbell. The naivety of this person lets him in and the end of that man is worse than the beginning, says the Lord. I dread the polite devils. They are the worst, and one is very much fooled.

Not Watching Television

Pope Francis also told the story behind why he has not watched much television in the past 30 years.

I made a promise on July 16, 1990. I felt that the Lord was asking me to do so, because we were in community watching something that ended up tawdry, unpleasant, bad. I felt bad, he said.

It was the night of July 15. And the next day, in prayer, I promised the Lord not to watch it.

The Pope added that he does still tune in for important events, such as when a president takes office or when there is a plane crash.

But I am not addicted to it, he said.

His Recent Colon Surgery

Pope Francis said that life had returned to normal since undergoing a colon surgery on July 4 that required him to remain hospitalized for 11 days.

It is the second time in my life that a nurse has saved my life, the Pope said.

He saved my life. He told me: You have to have surgery. There were other opinions: Better with antibiotics but the nurse explained it to me very well. He is a nurse from here, from our health service, from the Vatican hospital. He has been here for thirty years, a very experienced man, he said.

Italian media identified the nurse as Massimiliano Strappetti, who has worked in the Vatican since 2002, after eight years serving in the intensive care unit at Romes Gemelli Hospital.

The Pope explained that his surgery had been pre-scheduled and that he has been eating regularly now after some weeks of recovery.

Now I can eat everything, which was not possible before with the diverticula. I can eat everything. I still have the post-operative medications, because the brain has to register that it has 33 centimeters [12 inches] less intestine.

The Pope also addressed the recent rumors about his resignation, saying that he had no idea about the rumors until someone told him.

I read only one newspaper here in the morning, the newspaper of Rome I read it quickly and that's it And I do receive the report about some of the news of the day, but I found out much later, a few days later, that there was something about me resigning, he said.

Whenever a Pope is ill, there is always a breeze, or a hurricane, of conclave.

Continued here:

Pope Francis Says That He Hopes Cardinal Becciu is Innocent of Charges in Vatican Finance Trial - National Catholic Register

‘Greyhound racing industry is on notice’: Grant Robertson says the sport risks closure without welfare changes – Stuff.co.nz

Deputy Prime Minister Grant Robertson has delivered a dramatic message to the greyhound racing industry improve animal welfare and transparency or risk closure.

Robertson, who also holds the Minister for Racing portfolio, has put the industry on notice following a review of animal welfare and safety within the industry conducted, by Sir Bruce Robertson QC.

His report makes it clear the social licence to operate the sport of greyhound racing is under challenge, Grant Robertson said.

He concluded that if Greyhound Racing New Zealand (GRNZ) wants to secure its future it must demonstrate the decency of the industry, but it has made its job harder by unnecessarily obfuscating information and pushing back against those with an interest.

READ MORE:* Greyhound trainer fined $350 for hitting winning dog* Chle Swarbrick: Greyhound racing is cruel, and we must end it now* Greyhound Zipping Sarah wins race - while on methamphetamine* Review into greyhound racing and welfare launched by Racing Minister Grant Robertson* Dead dogs: 1447 greyhounds known to be euthanised in four years, report reveals

I want to be clear today the greyhound racing industry is on notice: either make the improvements needed or risk closure, he said.

ROBERT KITCHIN/Stuff

Grant Robertson has put the greyhound racing industry on notice.

Sir Bruce Robertson said in his report that GRNZs own data from, 2017 to August 1 2021, reveals 923 dogs have been euthanised with no reason given for 462 of the deaths.

The data gives medical euthanasia reasons, that did not occur at a racetrack, as 57 deaths due to aggression, 119 deaths because of illness and 285 deaths attributed to accident or injury.

No reason was given for the remaining 462 medical euthanasia deaths.

The report added the number of greyhounds euthanised has reduced significantly over the last four years, from an annual total of 348 down to 103 in the current year to date (7 months).

GRNZ has said it shares the Governments determination to ensure animal care is its top priority.

WARWICK SMITH/STUFF/Stuff

Sir Bruce Robertsons report accused the GRNZ of unnecessarily obfuscating information.

But in a statement released to Stuff, GRNZ strongly denies Grant Robertsons accusations of unnecessarily obfuscating information.

We must take issue with one aspect of the Ministers Statement we have provided an extensive and full submission and in no way have sought to obfuscate in any aspect of the review or any other information we have been asked to provide, a statement from GRNZ said.

WARWICK SMITH/STUFF

Greyhound owners get together to show how lovely the breed can be off the track. (Video first published June 2019)

The Robertson report said: GRNZ has made its job harder by unnecessarily obfuscating information and pushing back against those with an interest.

Arguably GRNZ has data to support its stances on the issues raised in this report but is seen as unwilling to share this, Sir Bruce Robertson said in his conclusion.

Following the reports findings, Grant Robertson has asked for three fundamental issues to be addressed, with a deadline of the end of next year.

They are data recording, transparency of all activities and animal welfare generally.

He has asked the newly formed Racing Integrity Board, which replaced the now-defunct Racing Integrity Unit, to identify a specific set of indicators over each of the three points that will be used to assess the industrys progress and report back to him before the end of 2022.

GRNZ supported that stance.

GRNZ wishes to provide a categorical assurance of our determination to work with the Minister, the RIB and the communities we serve to ensure high standards of animal care and access to verified and transparent data, its statement read.

Robyn Edie/Stuff

Greyhounds are loaded into the boxes for a race at the Ascot Park Raceway

GRNZ submitted a 28-page submission for Sir Bruce Robertsons report that remains publicly available on its website.

It has significant detail in its submission that, it claims, to show euthanasia statistics dropping significantly and rehoming numbers booming.

Grant Robertson announced the current review in April this year, claiming he was not satisfied with the industry's work on animal welfare following the 2017 Hansen Report, undertaken by former High Court judge Rodney Hansen QC.

The report revealed 1447 greyhounds had been euthanised between the 2013/14 and 2016/17 seasons but alarmingly, there were also 1271 dogs who are unaccounted for.

Sir Bruce Robertsons report said there has been an obvious effort by GRNZ to reduce the reliance on euthanasia when dealing with injured dogs, or dogs that are difficult to rehome since 2017.

But some submitters to his review had claimed there was an implicit no euthanasia policy to make the figures look better and that was negatively impacting the welfare of greyhounds.

His report suggested some submitters believed dogs were being kept alive despite catastrophic injuries or being permanently housed in kennels to avoid becoming an euthanasia statistic.

Sir Bruce Robertson said it is difficult to access accurate information regarding injuries, euthanasia, rehoming numbers, population projection, whelped puppies, and health statistics.

Publicly available statistics are often vague and limited to general euthanasia and injury statistics, his report said.

Until there is a change regarding that transparency and communication, there will be suspicion and distrust, and a rational robust and reliable assessment cannot be made.

GRNZs statement claims it is now matching the number of dogs rehomed with those bred annually and figures of that are available in its submission.

New Zealand animal rights organisation, SAFE, saw the review as pressure mounting for a ban on greyhound racing.

"Were not surprised by the findings. They confirm what weve been saying all along," SAFE spokesperson Will Appelbe said.

"This is a good first step, but anything other than a total ban on greyhound racing continues to put dogs at risk."

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'Greyhound racing industry is on notice': Grant Robertson says the sport risks closure without welfare changes - Stuff.co.nz

University of Nottingham ‘cancels’ Catholic priest over way views expressed – Nottinghamshire Live

A Nottingham priest has been blocked from becoming a university chaplain due to the way he 'expressed' his opinions around abortion and euthanasia.

Father David Palmer, serving in the diocese of Nottingham parish of St Mary's, has openly expressed his views via his personal Twitter account - saying that he believed assisted dying is "killing the vulnerable."

University of Nottingham said it is not concerned about Father Palmer's views but the manner in which they have been expressed.

It hoped to continue its 90-year tradition of providing Catholic chaplaincy.

The university has received a backlash from the Catholic community in Nottingham on social media who have rallied to the defence of Father Palmer.

Another Catholic Priest with the diocese of Nottingham, and former University of Nottingham chaplain, Father Jonathan Whitby-Smith tweeted in defence of Father Palmer and his opinions.

His said: "University of Nottingham took issue with Father David Palmer saying euthanasia is killing the vulnerable and abortion is the slaughter of innocents. As a Catholic I believe the same. So why did Notts Uni recognise me as Lay Catholic Chaplin 2010-12? Would they recognise me now? What's changed?"

A spokesperson for the Diocese of Nottingham said: The Diocese of Nottinghams first priority is sacramental provision for students and staff and as a result of discussions between the Bishop and the university, it has been agreed that Fr David will continue to offer Sunday Mass at the university, which is an essential part of the Catholic faith.

The Catholic Church is renowned for its commitment to social justice throughout its history. It is not surprising then that Catholics across the Diocese of Nottingham and beyond have a natural concern for the protection and dignity of all human beings, which includes offering practical support for women facing crisis pregnancies and care for their unborn children.

Following the news that he had been 'cancelled' as chaplain, Father Palmer tweeted: "Let's be honest.. we will never be accepted.. so we need to fight for the faith. To compromise is to surrender.. they don't want us."

The university have said that they welcome the views and values of Nottingham's chaplains.

The priest will continue to attend the university as a guest speaker for Sunday Mass, but his original predecessor will remain the university's recognised chaplain.

A spokesperson for University of Nottingham said: "The University of Nottingham values Catholic chaplaincy very highly as part of our multi-faith approach where dedicated chaplains provide invaluable support to staff and students of each faith.

"A University should be a place for the robust exchange of views and debate over ideas, and we have no issue with the expression of faith in robust terms - indeed we would expect any chaplain to hold their faith as primary.

"Our concern was not in relation to Father Davids views themselves, or the tenets of the Catholic faith which we fully respect, but the manner in which these views have been expressed in the context of our diverse community of people of many faiths.

"We are therefore grateful to the Bishop of Nottingham for his solution that the current chaplain remains the recognised chaplain and that Father David will attend the University campus each week to celebrate Sunday mass for staff and students.

"We are continuing a constructive dialogue with the diocese to ensure that staff and students of Catholic faith are fully supported under this arrangement.

"The University remains totally committed to continuing our 90-year tradition of providing Catholic chaplaincy."

Father David Palmer was approached for comment.

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University of Nottingham 'cancels' Catholic priest over way views expressed - Nottinghamshire Live

A COVID paradox: No right to live with your own risks but free to choose death – Sydney Morning Herald

That is not my experience. In the last weeks of my fathers life, the aggressive cancer spread to his brain, rendering him unable to read. At that point, with the cancer eating away at his mind, life was no longer bearable for him. He would have liked to have ended it, as he had long contemplated and researched. The pain of not being able to give him quietus on his own terms has never left me. Others have had worse and more traumatic experiences, watching their loved ones choke on their own faeces. For those who value dignity and autonomy, the progress of many diseases is especially cruel.

People are cruel too, though, and often venal. Another senior medico friend, who slyly calls himself a fundamentalist Asclepiad tells me of an experience he had as a medical student, when a woman asked him to put her mother down. Philosophically minded, as his suggested pseudonym suggests, he reflects on how this insight into human callousness shaped him: I am conscious that although we have more shiny things and vaccines, we still have the same brains our ancestors had 100,000 years ago, which motivate our desires and preferences. I would bear that in mind when considering why the Ancient Greek Asclepiads expressly forbade euthanasia, knowing about mission creep.

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That is also the concern that former prime minister Paul Keating has expressed. If there are doctors prepared to bend the rules now, there will be doctors prepared to bend the rules under the new system. Beyond that, once termination of life is authorised the threshold is crossed. From that point it is much easier to liberalise the conditions governing the law. And liberalised they will be.

It is hard to escape that concern in reading Greenwichs revised 2021 bill. As much as I want to honour the memory of my father by supporting the right to die with dignity, it is easy to see how the conservative processes outlined could become desensitised routines. Much as the routines of lockdown have desensitised us to the shattering lives of individuals.

Australia needs to talk about death and the impulse to prolong life at all costs. We need to talk about the right to live and die with dignity. It is not an easy discussion. COVID makes it a bad time, but maybe the very best to have this conversation.

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A COVID paradox: No right to live with your own risks but free to choose death - Sydney Morning Herald

Arrest in ill-treatment of 18 dogs – Shelter Island Reporter – Shelter Island Reporter

Shelter Island Police arrested Stephanie J. Bucalo, 64, at 6:48 p.m. on Aug. 31, charging her with 18 counts of animal cruelty, torturing and injuring animals and failure to provide proper sustenance.

The charges were brought under the New York State Agricultural & Markets Law. Eighteen additional counts were made against Ms. Bucalo under the Town Code for having unlicensed dogs.

Police reported that the 18 dogs were subjected to urine and feces [and] severe untreated medical conditions requiring euthanasia.

Ms. Bucalo was processed at Police Department headquarters and released. Shes due to appear at Justice Hall on Sept. 3.

As reported in an earlier Reporter story, police had gone to Ms. Bucalos North Ferry Road residence on Aug. 27.

Det. Sgt. Jack Thilberg said that the Town executed a court-ordered search warrant on the residence and the dogs were seized under the warrant for Shelter Island Town Code and New York State Agricultural and Markets Law violations.

The house has been the subject of complaints from neighbors for years about multiple dogs barking and howling at all hours of the day and night. It was shuttered by the Shelter Island Police and Building departments Aug. 27, and the 18 dogs were removed and put into shelters.

The Towns building inspector determined the residence to be unsafe on Aug. 27 for entry and put up placards saying the residence was not to be occupied.

According to police reports, the animals were transported by the Town Highway Department to three shelters on Long Island, to be examined and treated as needed.

Det. Sgt. Thilberg noted that the Town Code states that the life, health or well-being of any person or animal, or upon a showing that a dog or dogs have been charged with three or more violations of this chapter within 30 days any Court of competent jurisdiction may grant access onto and in to private property for the purpose of investigating or seizing any dog or dogs in violation of this chapter.

And there had been three summonses for barking dogs within the past 30 days.

Two years ago, residents packed a Town Board meeting to air complaints about hearing barking, howling, yelping, whining constantly for years at the North Ferry Road residence.

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Arrest in ill-treatment of 18 dogs - Shelter Island Reporter - Shelter Island Reporter

Is Google getting worse? Increased advertising and algorithm changes may make it harder to find what you’re looking for – The Conversation AU

Over the past 25 years, the name Google has become synonymous with the idea of searching for anything online. In much the same way to Hoover means to use a vacuum cleaner, dictionaries have recognised to Google as meaning to undertake an online search using any available service.

Former competitors such as AltaVista and AskJeeves are long dead, and existing alternatives such as Bing and DuckDuckGo currently pose little threat to Googles dominance. But shifting our web searching habits to a single supplier has significant risks.

Google also dominates in the web browser market (almost two-thirds of browsers are Chrome) and web advertising (Google Ads has an estimated 29% share of all digital advertising in 2021). This combination of browser, search and advertising has drawn considerable interest from competition and antitrust regulators around the world.

Leaving aside the commercial interests, is Google actually delivering when we Google? Are the search results (which clearly influence the content we consume) giving us the answers we want?

More than 80% of Alphabets revenue comes from Google advertising. At the same time, around 85% of the worlds search engine activity goes through Google.

Clearly there is significant commercial advantage in selling advertising while at the same time controlling the results of most web searches undertaken around the globe.

This can be seen clearly in search results. Studies have shown internet users are less and less prepared to scroll down the page or spend less time on content below the fold (the limit of content on your screen). This makes the space at the top of the search results more and more valuable.

In the example below, you might have to scroll three screens down before you find actual search results rather than paid promotions.

While Google (and indeed many users) might argue that the results are still helpful and save time, its clear the design of the page and the prominence given to paid adverts will influence behaviour. All of this is reinforced by the use of a pay-per-click advertising model which is founded on enticing users to click on adverts.

Googles influence expands beyond web search results. More than 2 billion people use the Google-owned YouTube each month (just counting logged-in users), and it is often considered the number one platform for online advertising.

Although YouTube is as ubiquitous to video-sharing as Google is to search, YouTube users have an option to avoid ads: paying for a premium subscription. However, only a minuscule fraction of users take the paid option.

The complexity (and expectations) of search engines has increased over their lifetime, in line with our dependence on technology.

For example, someone trying to explore a tourist destination may be tempted to search What should I do to visit the Simpsons Gap.

The Google search result will show a number of results, but from the user perspective the information is distributed across multiple sites. To obtain the desired information users need to visit a number of websites.

Google is working on bringing this information together. The search engine now uses sophisticated natural language processing software called BERT, developed in 2018, that tries to identify the intention behind a search, rather than simply searching strings of text. AskJeeves tried something similar in 1997, but the technology is now more advanced.

BERT will soon be succeeded by MUM (Multitask Unified Model), which tries to go a step further and understand the context of a search and provide more refined answers. Google claims MUM may be 1000 times more powerful than BERT, and be able to provide the kind of advice a human expert might for questions without a direct answer.

Given the market share and influence Google has in our daily lives, it might seem impossible to think of alternatives. However, Google is not the only show in town. Microsofts Bing search engine has a modest level of popularity in the United States, although it will struggle to escape the Microsoft brand.

Another option that claims to be free from ads and ensure user privacy, DuckDuckGo, has seen a growing level of interest - perhaps helped through association with the TOR browser project.

While Google may be dominating with its search engine service, it also covers artificial intelligence, healthcare, autonomous vehicles, cloud computing services, computing devices and a plethora of home automation devices. Even if we can move away from Googles grasp in our web browsing activities, there is a whole new range of future challenges for consumers on the horizon.

Read more: Robot take the wheel: Waymo has launched a self-driving taxi service

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Is Google getting worse? Increased advertising and algorithm changes may make it harder to find what you're looking for - The Conversation AU

UC Davis Health’s partnership in telegenomics improves accessibility to genetic medicine with telemedicine robots – The Aggie – The Aggie

Telemedicine robots allow for genetic consultations around the clock virtually

Now more than ever, telemedicine has been the epitome of health care since the pandemic struck. Fears surrounding the coronavirus and inconvenient commutes have made an in-person visit to the doctor unappealing. However, long before the pandemic, UC Davis Health entered a partnership with Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center in Carmichael, working together on telemedicine to enhance accessibility to all patients.

Dr. Katherine Rauen, emeritus in the Division of Genomic Medicine and a professor in the Department of Pediatrics at UC Davis Health, explained the significance of TeleGenomics and why UC Davis is at the forefront of telemedicine.

UC Davis has a really big catchment, meaning that the patients that we see go all the way up to the Oregon border, go all the way inland, and we actually have a lot of patients from Reno and Nevada, Rauen said. And our catchment goes all the way down through the central Valley. So geographically, we have a huge catchment and there are a lot of patients that the drive is very long for them; they may not have the transportation that they need to get to the UC Davis Medical Center and so telemedicine was the answer and it still is the answer.

Despite the field of genomic medicine being housed under the Department of Pediatrics, Rauen further explained why this field actually extends beyond just pediatric patients.

We transcend all age groups, so even though were housed within the Department of Pediatrics, we see newborn children to adults in their 70s or 80s, or whoever wants to come and see us, Rauen said. Genomic medicine is a family affair. And what impacts you genetically impacts other family members, it could potentially impact other family members as well. We are a product of our genes, and our genes come from the previous generation, so it makes us who we are.

The fields wide encompassing range of patients and UC Davis large catchment led to the development and usage of state-of-the-art telemedicine robots. These robots equipped with high resolution cameras allow UC Davis genetics specialists to conduct virtual yet thorough examinations for patients all the way at the Dignity Health Mercy San Juan Medical Center around the clock.

There have been several studies that have been done that show that, yes, this is a robust way to see patients because the robots have gotten so advanced that I can see freckles and moles on somebodys skin; I can see the palmar creases on the patient, Rauen said.

Many patients call in for a variety of reasons regarding a genomic medicine issue. This is where these telemedicine robots that have made healthcare accessible to patients distant from UC Davis Medical Center around the clock come in.

The consultations are requested for a variety of reasons. For example, when a child born at Methodist Hospital or Mercy San Juan has multiple congenital anomalies, such as heart or skeletal defects, isnt eating properly, or has features that are consistent with Down syndrome, according to a recent UC Davis Health press release.

Dr. Joseph Shen, a clinical geneticist trained in molecular biology and molecular genetics at the UC Davis Medical Center, described how the pandemic had affected TeleGenomics for both physicians and patients.

Some technologies can be slow to adopt or people are old school and dont want to change and things like that, but I think that [the pandemic] really accelerated it forward to use it more and more, Shen said. From a practical standpoint, when doing a genetics evaluation, we are very thorough with how were examining the body; were looking for little physical clues up and down, [which] is best served if youre doing that in person. But Ive seen run-throughs with these robot systems with the intricate amount of detail that were able to zoom in on as if we were doing these examinations in-person.

With telemedicine shaping the health field, there were inevitably doubts of how a virtual visit lacks the same effectiveness compared to an in-person visit. However, Rauen described how in the past few years, these robots have facilitated genomic consultations virtually with just as much value as in-person consultations.

We have gotten very positive feedback on [telemedicine robots], and it was just like we were right there talking with them, so it makes a huge difference to have a face-to-face interaction, and they looked at it as if it were face-to-face, Rauen said. It does feel on our end as though we were present with the family. So to me, having done this a couple of decades and looking back on it, its like I really was there at the bedside.

Written by: Brandon Nguyen science@theaggie.org

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UC Davis Health's partnership in telegenomics improves accessibility to genetic medicine with telemedicine robots - The Aggie - The Aggie

Could gene therapies be used to cure more people with HIV? – aidsmap

Medical science is starting to license and use drugs and procedures that change the genetic code inside the bodys cells, and to correct the bad code that can give rise to conditions such as cancer and the auto-immune diseases. Since HIV is a disease that results from a virus inserting such a piece of bad code into our genes, such therapies could be used to snip out that code and effect a cure.

This was what attendees at last months International AIDS Society Conference on HIV Science (IAS 2021) heard at the workshop on curing HIV. The workshop opened with two introductory talks by Professor Hans-Peter Kiem, the chair of gene therapy at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle in the US (the Fred Hutch) and, in a joint presentation, by the Fred Hutchs Dr Jennifer Adair and Dr Cissy Kityo of the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) in Kampala, Uganda.

The latter talk was a sign of acknowledgement that, while the prospects for genetic medicine are brighter than ever before, their expense and sophistication do not fit well with the global epidemiology of HIV, which mainly affects the worlds poorest and most disadvantaged communities. Despite this, Fred Hutch and JCRC have embarked upon a joint research programme to develop within the next few years a genetic therapy treatment for HIV that could be realistically scaled up for use in lower-income settings.

A unit of heredity, that determines a specific feature of the shape of a living organism. This genetic element is a sequence of DNA (or RNA, for viruses), located in a very specific place (locus) of a chromosome.

A type of experimental treatment in which foreign genetic material (DNA or RNA) is inserted into a person's cells to prevent or fight disease.

To eliminate a disease or a condition in an individual, or to fully restore health. A cure for HIV infection is one of the ultimate long-term goals of research today. It refers to a strategy or strategies that would eliminate HIV from a persons body, or permanently control the virus and render it unable to cause disease. A sterilising cure would completely eliminate the virus. A functional cure would suppress HIV viral load, keeping it below the level of detection without the use of ART. The virus would not be eliminated from the body but would be effectively controlled and prevented from causing any illness.

The body's mechanisms for fighting infections and eradicating dysfunctional cells.

In cell biology, a structure on the surface of a cell (or inside a cell) that selectively receives and binds to a specific substance. There are many receptors. CD4 T cells are called that way because they have a protein called CD4 on their surface. Before entering (infecting) a CD4 T cell (that will become a host cell), HIV binds to the CD4 receptor and its coreceptor.

HIV cure research pioneer Dr Paula Cannon of the University of Southern California, chairing the session, said: After several decades of effort and false starts, gene therapies now hold out promise for diseases that were previously untreatable.

Hans-Peter Kiem acknowledged the pivotal role of community advocacy in supporting cure research, noting that his project, defeatHIV, was one of the first beneficiaries of a grant from the Martin Delaney Collaboratories, named after the celebrated US treatment activist who died in 2009.

The other factor that gave impetus to HIV cure research was, of course, the announcement that someone had been cured: Timothy Ray Brown, whose HIV elimination was first announced in 2008 and who came forward publicly in 2010. He died in 2019 from the leukaemia whose treatment led to his HIV cure but by then had had 13 years of post-HIV life. He had survived long enough to talk with Adam Castillejo, the second person cured of HIV, and encourage him to come forward too.

Timothy and Adams stories showed that HIV could be cured, and with a crude form of gene therapy too: cancer patients, they were both given bone marrow transplants from donors whose T-cells lacked the gene for the CCR5 receptor, which is necessary for nearly all HIV infection.

But there have only been two cures for two reasons: firstly, bone marrow transplant is itself a very risky procedure involving deleting and replacing the entire immune system of already sick patients. In 2014 Browns doctor, Gero Hutter, reported that Timothy Ray Brown was only one of out of eight patients on whom the procedure had been tried, but that all the others had died.

Secondly, compatible bone marrow donors are hard to come by as it is, and restricting them to the 1% or so of people who lack the CCR5 receptor, all of them of northern European ancestry, means very few people could benefit from this approach. Attempting transplant with T-cells that do not lack CCR5, in the hope that replacing the immune system with cells from a person without cancer will also get rid of their HIV anyway, has produced temporary periods of undetectable HIV off therapy, but the virus has always come back.

(People like Brown and Castillejo, whose HIV infection was cured by medical intervention, need to be distinguished from people who seem to have spontaneously cured themselves, such as Loreen Willenberg: such people are of course of great interest to cure researchers, but the trick is to make it happen consistently in other people.)

Brown and Castillejos cures, as transplants, were so-called allogenic, meaning that the HIV-resistant cells came from another person. Better would be autogenic transplants, in which immune system cells are taken from a person with HIV, genetically altered in the lab dish to make them resistant to HIV, and then re-introduced. This type of procedure written about for aidsmap as long ago as 2011 by treatment advocate Matt Sharp, who underwent one.

The repertoire of gene therapies is not restricted to CCR5 deletion. Gene therapy is immensely versatile, and could be used in a number of ways.

Instead of using gene therapy to make cells resistant to HIV, it could directly repair defective genes in cells by means of cut-and-paste technology such as CRISPR/Cas9. This is already being used in trials for some genetic conditions such as cystic fibrosis and sickle-cell anaemia. Given that HIV-infected cells are also defective in the sense that they contain lengths of foreign DNA that shouldnt be there, they are amenable to the same molecular editing. Early trials have produced promising results but the challenge, as it has been in a lot of gene therapy, is to ensure that the cells containing DNA are almost entirely eliminated.

One way of doing this is not to delete the HIV DNA from infected cells but to preferentially kill off the cells themselves by creating so-called chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cells. These are T-lymphocytes whose genes have been modified so that their usual receptors such as CD4 or CD8 have been replaced with receptors attuned very specifically to antigens (foreign or unusual proteins) displayed by infected cells and cancer cells. A couple of CAR cell therapies are already licensed for cancers; the problem with HIV is that the reservoir cells do not display immune-stimulating antigens on their surfaces. This means that CAR T-cells would have to be used alongside drugs such as PD-1 inhibitors that stop the cells retreating into their quiescent reservoir phase, an approach demonstrated at IAS 2021.

A couple of other approaches could be used to produce either vaccines or cures. One is to engineer B-cells so they produce broadly neutralising antibodies. A way of tweaking them to do this, called germline targeting, is covered was also discussed at IAS 2021, but if we manage to generate B-cells that can do this, we could then in theory directly edit their genes to make them do the same thing.

"Timothy Ray Brown and Adam Castillejo were both given bone marrow transplants from donors whose T-cells lacked the gene for the CCR5 receptor."

The other way is to induce cells to make viral antigens or virus-like particles that the immune system then reacts to. Scientists have been working on this technique for 20 years and it triumphed last year when the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines against the SARS-CoV-2 virus had over 90% success in suppressing symptomatic COVID-19. These vaccines are not genetic engineering in the sense of altering the genome of cells; rather, they introduce a product of the genetic activation in cells, the messenger RNA that is produced when genes are read and which is sent out into the rest of the cell to tell it to make proteins.

However because HIV is more variable and less immunogenic than SARS-CoV-2, the vaccine induced by the RNA would have to be something that looked much more like a whole virus than just the bare spike protein induced by the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines. If there was such a vaccine could be used both therapeutically as well as in prevention, by stimulating an immune reaction to activated HIV-infected cells. Moderna have announced they will now resume the HIV vaccine research they were working on when COVID-19 hit.

The problem with all these more gentle procedures is that it has proved difficult to replace all the HIV-susceptible cells with the HIV-resistant or HIV-sensitised ones: although engraftment takes place, meaning that the autologous cells are not rejected by the body and are able to establish a population for some time (in some animal experiments, replacing as much as 90% of the native immune cells), eventually the unaltered immune cells tend to win out because the introduced cells lack the deep reservoir of replenishing cells.

Kiem said that the way scientists have been trying to get round this is to only select and alter so-called haematopoeic stem cells (HSCs). These rare and long-lived cells, found in the bone marrow, are the replenishing reservoir of the immune system. They differentiate when they reproduce and give rise to all the immune cells that do different things: CD4 and CD8 T-lymphocytes, B-cells that make antibodies, macrophages that engulf pathogens, dendritic cells, monocytes, natural killer cells, and others.

Altering HSCs genetically so that they are able to fight HIV in one way or another could in theory give rise to a persistent, HIV-resistant immune system. They could in theory lie in wait and be ready to produce effector cells of various types. They would be ready when a new HIV infection comes along (if used as a vaccine) or when HIV viral rebound happens and there is detectable virus in the body (if used as part of a cure). If a person with CAR-engineered stem cells could have repeated cycles of treatment interruption, their HIV reservoir could in theory slowly be deleted.

"Gene therapies are astonishingly expensive."

As mentioned above, although genetic medicine shows enormous promise, the complexity and expense of its techniques means that at present it is unlikely to benefit most people who really need it.

Hans-Peter Kiem said that currently about 60 million people have conditions that could benefit from gene therapy. The vast majority of these either have HIV (37 million) or haemoglobinopathies blood-malformation diseases such as sickle-cell anaemia and thalassaemia that are also concentrated in the lower-income world (20 million).

Dr Jennifer Adair, one of the first researchers to have proposed collaboration on gene therapies for HIV with African institutes, said that gene therapies have already been licensed for conditions such as thalassaemia, spinal muscular atrophy, T-cell lymphoma and a form of early-onset blindness.

But they are astonishingly expensive. The worlds most expensive drug tag goes, depending on which source you read, either to Zynteglo, a genetic medicine correcting malformed beta-haemoglobin and licensed in the US for thalassaemia, or Zolgensma, a drug licensed in Europe and given to children to correct the defective gene that results in spinal muscular atrophy.

Both cost about 1.8 million for a single dose. The price is not just due to the cost of the complex engineering used to make them, but because they are used to treat rare diseases and so have a small market.

At present the technology need to engineer autogenic genetically engineered cells is, if anything, even more expensive and complex than that needed to introduce allogenic cells. It can involve in the region of ten staff and a workspace of 50 square metres per patient. Recently a so-called gene therapy in a box has been made available that can reduce the area needed to produce autogenic genetically-engineered cells from 50 to less than one square metre, and the staff need to one or two, But what is really needed is genetic engineering in a shot; a therapy similar to a vector or RNA vaccine that can be introduced as an injection and produces the genetic changes needed within the body.

Undaunted by the challenges, the US National Institutes of Health are collaborating with the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation to work on a combined programme of HIV and sickle-cell-anaemia genetic therapy (given that something that works for one could be adapted to work with the other).

And the Fred Hutchinson Center has teamed up with the Joint Clinical Research Centre in Uganda with the very ambitious goal of making a genetic therapy that would be at least ready for human testing within two years in an African setting, and that could be scaled up to be economical for Africa if successful.

Dr Cissy Kityo of JCRC in Uganda told the conference that as of 2020, there were 373 trials of gene therapy products registered, of which 35 were in phase III efficacy trials. The global budget for regenerative medicine, which includes genetic therapy and related techniques, was $19.9 billion, having jumped by 30% since the previous year. The US Food and Drug Administration projects that based on the current rate of progress and the development pipeline, they may be licensing around 100 gene-therapy products a year by 2025.

This branch of medicine is no longer exotic, she said. Now steps have to be taken to trial gene therapies in the people who needed them most, and to turn the exotic into the affordable, she added.

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Could gene therapies be used to cure more people with HIV? - aidsmap

What to expect at the FDA’s two-day meeting on gene therapy safety – BioPharma Dive

Over the past several years, drugmakers have inundated the Food and Drug Administration with scores of applications to begin clinical trials of experimental gene therapies for a wide array of inherited diseases.

The wave of submissions reflects a research boom that's brought two gene therapies to market in the U.S. and numerous others into later stages of testing. Awash in funding, new gene therapy biotechs have proliferated and, with them, a pipeline that by one count now exceeds 300 would-be treatments.

Yet, while gene therapy has made huge strides since its emergence in the late 1980s, many scientific questions remain, particularly now that more and more patients are being treated in clinical trials.

To help answer some of those questions, the FDA has asked a panel of gene therapy experts to evaluate an array of safety risks to the complex and cutting-edge treatments.

The meeting, which will be held virtually Thursday and Friday, could help the agency set new guardrails for running gene therapy trials and for monitoring participants afterwards. And for a field that's advancing quickly, the discussion could serve as a reminder of the risks of treatments often characterized by their potential for dramatic benefit.

Here's what to expect:

The FDA is focusing the discussion on the safety risks presented by one of the more commonly studied types of gene therapy, namely treatments delivered by a harmless virus called adeno-associated virus, or AAV.

AAVs are a popular tool for shuttling functional copies of genes into the cells that need them. Luxturna, a blindness treatment developed by Spark Therapeutics that became the first gene therapy approved in the U.S., uses AAV, as does Zolgensma, a therapy for spinal muscular atrophy sold by Novartis. Many other gene therapies that are still in testing do as well.

Over the course of the two days, the panel will discuss the cancer risk posed by AAV gene therapy, as well as toxicity to the liver and brain that's been observed in animal testing and in humans.

FDA officials and researchers from top academic centers will present on each safety concern, after which the panel will debate how best to assess that risk and whether it can be prevented or mitigated by better treatment or study design.

The roster of speakers is headlined by Jim Wilson, a star gene therapy researcher with the University of Pennsylvania. Wilson led the gene therapy trial that resulted in the 1999 death of study volunteer Jesse Gelsinger. Since that tragedy, however, he's become a pioneer in the development of AAV vectors, forming multiple biotechs like RegenxBio and Passage Bio in the process.

But as use of AAV vectors has become more widespread and developers test higher and higher doses, Wilson has also been a voice of caution. A paper his group at UPenn published three years ago described liver and nerve damage in animal experiments, a finding his team used to call for researchers to do more monitoring. Wilson will deliver two separate presentations at the meeting, respectively focused on liver or neurological side effects in preclinical studies.

The meeting will feature talks from other gene therapy researchers and investigators as well. Ronald Crystal, the chair of genetic medicine at Weill Cornell who has worked on gene therapy since 1987, will discuss the use of AAV vectors in the brain. Lindsey George, a Children's Hospital of Philadelphia investigator involved in multiple hemophilia gene therapy trials, will talk about liver toxicity observed in human studies.

Only one industry representative, from Novartis, will present to the panel. That talk will center around three cases of a rare clotting syndrome that were observed in post-marketing surveillance of Zolgensma last year. A warning alerting doctors of the potentially serious side effect, known as thrombotic microangiopathy, is now in Zolgensma's prescribing information.

Safety concerns have dogged gene therapy ever since a series of setbacks two decades ago temporarily halted research and chilled further investment. Improved delivery tools, such as AAV, have helped address some of those concerns, and AAVs are now used in dozens of clinical trials.

But as the use of AAVswidened, more serious side effects have been reported, reviving safety questions and grabbing the attention of regulators.

The FDA cited recent research, for instance, that found roughly a third of AAV gene therapy trials had a "treatment-emergent serious adverse event."

Some of those have led to tragic results, or to significant patient concerns. In a clinical trial of an Audentes Therapeutics gene therapy for a rare neuromuscular disease, liver-related side effects lead to the death of three patients. Immune-related side effects have occurred in testing of Duchenne muscular dystrophy gene therapies from Solid Biosciences and Pfizer as well as of a vision loss treatment from Adverum Biotechnologies.

A participant in a study of a UniQure gene therapy for hemophilia, meanwhile, was diagnosed with liver cancer, though the biotech later concluded its gene therapy was "highly unlikely" to be the cause.

Worrisome findings have been found in animal tests with AAV vectors as well, which, taken together, has led to "questions about causality and risk mitigation," the FDA said.

Advisory committee meetings are just that. The FDA uses them as a sounding board for issues it's wrestling with, but it's not required to follow the advice given by the assembled experts.

In gene therapy, though, the FDA and drugmakers are both learning as they go. The agency has firmed up its thinking on a number of topics, finalizing a slate of six guidance documents early last year, but it's still developing the rules of the road.

The questions the FDA posed to its advisers cover a lot of ground and many are open-ended. But they give clues to the direction the agency is thinking.

Several of the questions ask the experts whether the FDA should set an upper limit on the size of gene therapy doses due to the risk of serious brain and liver toxicity, both of which have been associated with higher doses in several instances.

With liver toxicity, the FDA wants to know if there are patient factors other than weight that should be considered when determining a dose, a line of inquiry that could impact how clinical trials are run.

Other questions suggest the FDA is particularly interested in whether animal studies could be better designed to assess the risk of cancer or liver damage before testing in humans starts.

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What to expect at the FDA's two-day meeting on gene therapy safety - BioPharma Dive

Global DNA Sequencing Report 2021: There is a Move Toward a More Consumer-Focused Model – Yahoo Finance

DUBLIN, Sept. 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- The "Global DNA Sequencing: Research, Applied and Clinical Markets" report has been added to ResearchAndMarkets.com's offering.

Research and Markets Logo

The report's scope covers sequencing technologies, industries, applications, patents, initiatives and companies. The markets for sequencing services and products are given for the years 2020, 2021 and 2026.

This report reviews the leading sequencing technologies and describes why genetic variation is essential in clinical testing. It then discusses some of the important research initiatives that impact sequencing applications. The main market driving forces for sequencing services and products are listed and discussed.

The DNA sequencing industry has achieved notable growth from its beginnings to become a vital sector in the life sciences industry.

Sequencing plays a central role in many life science megatrends, including synthetic biology, precision medicine, population and consumer genomics; tissue-agnostic drugs; liquid biopsy; blockchain technologies, gene editing and a shift toward consumerism. These major trends favor rising sequencing adoption and growth in the future.

For example, in clinical diagnostics, there is a move toward a more consumer-focused model. This will propel the demand for genomics technologies as consumers will want to better understand the role that genetic variations and genes have in their future health outcomes.

Significant developments in the research space include the growth of large-scale sequencing initiatives and support for sequencing by major governmental funding agencies.

Major developments in the applied space include the proliferation of population-scale sequencing projects around the globe, the use of sequencing by biopharma for the selection of patients for clinical trials of precision medicines and an increase in synthetic biology and agriculture applications.

Population-scale sequencing projects have various positive effects on the sequencing market. These projects give insight into how genetic variation contributes to disease diagnosis, risk prediction and treatment; advance knowledge about genetic variation within and across populations; and facilitate the development of new sequencing tools and analysis methods.

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Significant developments in the clinical space include the launch and fast growth of NIPT, companion diagnostics for tissue-agnostic drugs and for drug development, and a growing installed base of sequencing instruments for genetic testing. Important clinical sequencing applications include reproductive health, oncology, rare and undiagnosed diseases, and transplant medicine.

Genomics (including sequencing) is a key medical technology. Once the human genome had been sequenced, medical researchers were able to start identifying disease-causing variations in the genetic code. Drugs could then be targeted to specific genes, offering tailored treatments.

This also opened up a market opportunity in clinical trials to select a subgroup of patients who will respond to the drug. As a result, drugs that may have failed clinical trials due to side effects among a general population could make their way through the trials with a genetically targeted subgroup.

For market estimates, data is provided for 2020 as the base year and for 2021, and it is forecast through year-end 2026. Estimated values used are based on product manufacturers' and service providers' total revenues. Projected and forecasted revenue values are in constant U.S. dollars that have not been adjusted for inflation.

Report Includes:

Analyses of the global market trends, with data from 2020, estimates for 2021, and projections of compound annual growth rates (CAGRs) through 2026

Estimation of the market size and market forecast for DNA sequencing industry, and corresponding market share analysis by delivered format, product type, end use segment, application, disease category, and geography

Highlights of key market dynamics (DROs) for DNA sequencing, regulatory scenario, and impact of COVID-19 on the progress of this market

Discussion of market opportunities for DNA sequencing, industry structure, applications and business considerations of sequencing technologies, along with ongoing dramatic changes in the structure of MedTech industry

Review of the leading next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, emerging applications, and penetration of DNA sequencing-based diagnostics and research initiatives affecting the marketplace

Patent analysis for novel sequencing technologies, latest developments, clinical trials, and potential markets for future developments

Insight into the sequencing industry activities including major acquisitions and strategic alliances, competitive benchmarking of key sequencing industry participants and their growth strategies

Market share analysis of the key companies of the industry and their detailed company profiles including Agilent Technologies, Becton, Dickinson and Co., Bio-Rad, Danaher Corp., Illumina Inc., Merck KGaA, Roche, and Thermo Fisher

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic

Introduction

Impact on MedTech

Elective and Noncritical Procedures

Shift in Manufacturing

Regulatory Delays, Clinical Trials and Product Launches

Supply Chain Disruptions

Impact of COVID-19 on DNA Sequencing

Company Profiles

Admera Health

Adaptive Biotechnologies Inc.

Agilent Technologies Inc.

Ambry Genetics

Asuragen Inc.

Athena Diagnostics Inc.

Baylor Genetics

Becton, Dickinson And Co.

Berry Genomics Co. Ltd.

Bgi Shenzhen

Biodesix Inc.

Bio-Rad Laboratories Inc.

Caredx Inc.

Caris Life Sciences

Cegat Gmbh

Cellmax Life

Centogene Ag

Coopersurgical Inc.

Cygnus Biosciences Co. Ltd.

Danaher Corp.

Darui Biotechnology Co. Ltd.

Devyser Ab

Diacarta Inc.

Dna Electronics

Electronic Biosciences

Epic Sciences Inc.

Eurofins Scientific

Fry Laboratories Llc

Genapsys Inc.

Gendx Bv

Gene By Gene Ltd.

Genomatix Software Gmbh

Genome Profiling Llc

Golden Helix

Grandomics Biosciences Co. Ltd.

Guardant Health Inc.

Helix Opco Llc

Histogenetics Llc

Htg Molecular Diagnostics Inc.

Illumina Inc.

Inex Innovations Exchange Pte. Ltd.

Inivata Ltd.

Interpace Diagnostics Llc

Invivoscribe Inc.

Irepertoire Inc.

Kew Inc.

Laboratory Corp. Of America Inc.

Macrogen Inc.

Mdxhealth Inc.

Merck Kgaa

Myriad Genetics Inc.

Natera Inc.

Neogenomics Laboratories

New England Biolabs

Ngenebio Co., Ltd.

Novogene Co. Ltd.

Nugen Technologies Inc.

Omniseq Corp.

Oxford Nanopore Technologies Ltd.

Pacific Biosciences Of California Inc.

Paradigm Diagnostics Inc.

Parseq Lab Co. Ltd.

Perkinelmer Inc.

Personal Genome Diagnostics Inc.

Personalis Inc.

Predicine Inc.

Preventiongenetics Inc.

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Global DNA Sequencing Report 2021: There is a Move Toward a More Consumer-Focused Model - Yahoo Finance

Agathos Biologics Receives $900,000 from the North Dakota Bioscience Innovation Grant Program – Yahoo Finance

FARGO, N.D., August 30, 2021--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Agathos Biologics, a biotechnology company developing transformational science within a strong ethical and moral framework, today announced the company has been awarded $900,000 from the North Dakota Department of Agriculture Bioscience Innovation Grant (BIG) Program. Agriculture Commissioner Doug Goehring announced that nine grants have been awarded totaling $4.9 million to foster the growth of the bioscience industry in North Dakota. "Advances in bioscience have already transformed many sectors including agriculture and medicine," Goehring said. "These grants will help North Dakota stay on the forefront of bioscience innovation."

Agathos Biologics project funded by ND BIG will focus on challenges that limit patient access to advanced genetic medicines that can significantly impact quality of lifecost, availability, and ethical concerns. Company scientists will create new materials and methods for research and biomanufacturing and use them for drug development, which will address unmet medical needs and increase the availability of genetic medicines to more patients. The company will make these products and services available to the broader biotechnology industry through direct sales and licensing, partnerships, and collaborations.

"We are honored to receive this support from the State of North Dakota and thank the Commissioner and the Committee for their work on behalf of the citizens of the state," said James Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Agathos Biologics. "We founded the company in North Dakota because its business-friendly environment, skilled workforce, and growing biotechnology ecosystem make it an ideal place to expand the company and achieve our goal to develop genetic medicine products and services that positively impact human health and are ethically acceptable to all."

About Agathos Biologics

Agathos Biologics is a biotechnology company pursuing transformational science in biomanufacturing, biologic payload delivery, and cell and gene therapy. Discoveries in bioprocessing and genetic characterization and control have created an abundance of scientific possibilities that can help us all lead better lives. Our mission as the good science company is to create breakthrough products and services within a strong ethical and moral framework that benefits everyone. We believe in science that serves and have a relentless focus on serving our clients, employees, and society. For more information, please visit http://www.agathos.bio.

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Contacts

James BrownCEO701-415-3395james.brown@agatho.bio

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Agathos Biologics Receives $900,000 from the North Dakota Bioscience Innovation Grant Program - Yahoo Finance

An ethical analysis of divergent clinical approaches to the application of genetic testing for autism and s… – Physician’s Weekly

Genetic testing to identify genetic syndromes and copy number variants (CNVs) via whole genome platforms such as chromosome microarray (CMA) or exome sequencing (ES) is routinely performed clinically, and is considered by a variety of organizations and societies to be a first-tier test for individuals with developmental delay (DD), intellectual disability (ID), or autism spectrum disorder (ASD). However, in the context of schizophrenia, though CNVs can have a large effect on risk, genetic testing is not typically a part of routine clinical care, and no clinical practice guidelines recommend testing. This raises the question of whether CNV testing should be similarly performed for individuals with schizophrenia. Here we consider this proposition in light of the history of genetic testing for ID/DD and ASD, and through the application of an ethical analysis designed to enable robust, accountable and justifiable decision-making. Using a systematic framework and application of relevant bioethical principles (beneficence, non-maleficence, autonomy, and justice), our examination highlights that while CNV testing for the indication of ID has considerable benefits, there is currently insufficient evidence to suggest that overall, the potential harms are outweighed by the potential benefits of CNV testing for the sole indications of schizophrenia or ASD. However, although the application of CNV tests for children with ASD or schizophrenia without ID/DD is, strictly speaking, off-label use, there may be clinical utility and benefits substantive enough to outweigh the harms. Research is needed to clarify the harms and benefits of testing in pediatric and adult contexts. Given that genetic counseling has demonstrated benefits for schizophrenia, and has the potential to mitigate many of the potential harms from genetic testing, any decisions to implement genetic testing for schizophrenia should involve high-quality evidence-based genetic counseling. 2021. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature.

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An ethical analysis of divergent clinical approaches to the application of genetic testing for autism and s... - Physician's Weekly