Artificial Intelligence (AI)’s Biggest Impact on the U.S. Economy – Banyan Hill Publishing

Posted on by

I called it

The market is experiencing an inevitable pullback.

This comes after one of the strongest six-month rallies in the S&P 500 within the last 30 years.

Like I said last week, this pullback is due to a combination of geopolitical concerns in the Middle East, and fears that the Federal Reserve will take longer than expected to cut interest rates, thanks to inflation.

But think of this as a bull market correction, rather than a world-ending market event.

Im looking at the longer-term investing opportunities of artificial intelligence (AI), cryptocurrency, biotech and other massive mega trends that will bring us higher returns by the end of this decade.

So today, Amber and I are taking a closer look at the tech markets potential impact on the U.S. economy, an update on bitcoin (BTC) after its fourth halving and the biggest highlights from the eMerge Tech Expo, a conference I attended on Friday.

This expo not only showcased some of the most cutting-edge developments for ChatGPT and robotics

But also one of the biggest promises of AI, and its impact on the workforce

(Or read the transcript here.)

By the way

If youre interested in investing in artificial intelligence (AI), but you dont know where to start, subscribers of my Strategic Fortunes service have invested in my No. 1 AI stock for 2024.

Its a California-based chipmaking juggernaut that develops computer processors and related technologies for both businesses and consumer markets.

Its production of AI applications (and other parts of its business) has put this company at the center of some of the most innovative technologies being developed today.

Go here to learn more about this company.

Until next time,

Ian King Editor,Strategic Fortunes

Originally posted here:

Artificial Intelligence (AI)'s Biggest Impact on the U.S. Economy - Banyan Hill Publishing

Posted in Uncategorized

Jennifer Lopez’s Mecha Movie Is All About Learning to Love Artificial Intelligence – Gizmodo

Posted on by

Everyones a little freaked out about AI right nowthe ramifications of unregulated tech bro start up culture smashing into industries across the board, from journalism, to science, to entertainment, being turned upside down by the hot new trend. But together, Jennifer Lopez and Netflix boldly ask in Atlas the primordial question: what if learning to love AI got us a Titanfall movie with the names filed off?

The Best Things You Didnt Know Your Switch Could Do

This morning Netflix dropped a more in depth look at the frankly absurd combination of words that is the Jennifer Lopez mecha movie, Atlas. While the first trailer played up Lopezs character, the titular Atlasnot to be confused with the recently revived Boston Dynamics robot of the same nameand her abject horror at being plummeted onto an alien world via giant robot cockpits, the second lifts a few more layers around the film... which makes it feel less like a story about a first time mecha pilot, and more about how Jennifer Lopez should realize the concept of Not All Artificial Intelligences.

This look introduces us to Simu Lius baddy, an AI robot named Harlan designed to aid humanity but (shock, horror) turned against his organic masters. Now deeply distrustful of any artificial intelligence after her hunt for Harlan, Atlas finds herself forced to make compromises when she is forced to get into a giant mech suit on a mission gone wrongworking with its onboard intelligence, Smith, to learn the ways of beating the crap out of people with a giant robot.

As fun as it is to see Jennifer Lopez at the center of a movie that feels very inspired by the likes of Respawns beloved shooter seriesTitanfall in its mech design, the whole youve just gotta learn to love your Siri-adjacent robot friend! buddy cop vibe definitely feels a little weirdly timed as were on the crest of a general air of skepticism about the use of rudimentary image generators and LLMs in creative fields. But hey, maybe Jennifer Lopezs giant robot will punch things good enough this Memorial Day for us to put those concerns aside for a couple hours.

Atlas begins streaming on Netflix May 24.

Want more io9 news? Check out when to expect the latest Marvel, Star Wars, and Star Trek releases, whats next for the DC Universe on film and TV, and everything you need to know about the future of Doctor Who.

Read more:

Jennifer Lopez's Mecha Movie Is All About Learning to Love Artificial Intelligence - Gizmodo

Posted in Uncategorized

California Nurses Association demand patient safeguards against artificial intelligence technology – National Nurses United

Posted on by

Hundreds of concerned nurses from across the state to protest at Kaiser Permanentes San Francisco MedicalCenter

On Monday, April 22, hundreds of registered nurses and members of California Nurses Association (CNA) from across the state will hold a protest at Kaiser Permanente (KP)s San Francisco Medical Center to highlight their patient safety concerns about artificial intelligence (AI) technology and the hospital industrys rush to implement untested and unregulated AI.

It is deeply troubling to see Kaiser promote itself as a leader in AI in health care, when we know their use of these technologies comes at the expense of patient care, all in service of boosting profits, said Michelle Gutierrez Vo, a longtime registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente Fremont Medical Center and CNA president. Nurses are all for tech that enhances our skills and the patient care experience. But what we are witnessing in our hospitals is the degradation and devaluation of our nursing practice through the use of these untested technologies. As patient advocates, we are obligated to speak out. We demand that workers and unions be involved at every step of the development of data-driven technologies and be empowered to decide whether and how AI is deployed in the workplace.

The action coincides with the start of KP Internationals Integrated Care Experience conference. While the nurses are protesting at Kaiser, one of the earliest adopters of AI technology, other hospital systems are also busy implementing similar AI pilots and programs. CNA represents 24,000 nurses within the KP system.

I have been a Kaiser nurse for more than 40 years, and I promise you, union nurses will never stop fighting for a health care system that guarantees person-to-person, hands-on care for every patient, said Cathy Kennedy, a registered nurse at Kaiser Permanente Roseville Medical Center and a president of CNA. Human expertise and clinical judgment are the only ways to ensure safe, effective, and equitable nursing care. We know there is nothing inevitable about AIs advancement into health care. No patient should be a guinea pig and no nurse should be replaced by a robot.

California Nurses Association/National Nurses United is the largest and fastest-growing union and professional association of registered nurses in the nation with 100,000 members in more than 200 facilities throughout California and nearly 225,000 RNs nationwide.

Original post:

California Nurses Association demand patient safeguards against artificial intelligence technology - National Nurses United

Posted in Uncategorized

EMBs from the Western Balkans, local and international experts discuss the impact of Artificial Intelligence on Electoral … – International IDEA

Posted on by

The International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA) and the Rule of Law Centre of Finland (RoL Centre), in partnership with the Central Election Commission of Bosnia and Herzegovina, recently hosted a regional discussion on Artificial Intelligence and Elections.

Meeting in Sarajevo, Election Management Bodies (EMBs) from the Western Balkans, alongside esteemed academics, and representatives from civil society organizations exchanged views on how to utilize Artificial Intelligence to boost the integrity and public trust in elections.

The discussions highlighted both the opportunities and challenges stemming from the imminent spreading of AI tools in election campaigns and election management. The event explored the definition of AI, risks of disinformation in election campaigns, considerations on personal data protection, human rights and democracy, but also how AI can help EMBs to better implement electoral processes. This includes experience with AI in political finance oversight, such as that of the UK, and the use at different stages of election management, such as updates in voter lists.

Recognizing the trend in increased use of AI tools, discussants delved into implications for EMB capacities and human resources, regulation and the role of the EU as a standard setter in the field.

The event was organized in the framework of the "Integrity and Trust in Albanian Elections: Fostering Political Finance Transparency and the Safe Use of Information and Communication Technologies", co-implemented by International IDEA and the Rule of Law Centre of Finland.

Continued here:

EMBs from the Western Balkans, local and international experts discuss the impact of Artificial Intelligence on Electoral ... - International IDEA

Posted in Uncategorized

As Massachusetts leans in on artificial intelligence, AG waves a yellow flag Rhode Island Current – Rhode Island Current

Posted on by

BOSTON While the executive branch of state government touts the competitive advantage to investing energy and money into artificial intelligence across Massachusetts tech, government, health, and educational sectors, the states top prosecutor is sounding warnings about its risks.

Attorney General Andrea Campbell issued an advisory to AI developers, suppliers, and users on Tuesday, reminding them of their obligations under the states consumer protection laws.

AI has tremendous potential benefits to society, Campbells advisory said. It presents exciting opportunities to boost efficiencies and cost-savings in the marketplace, foster innovation and imagination, and spur economic growth.

However, she cautioned, AI systems have already been shown to pose serious risks to consumers, including bias, lack of transparency or explainability, implications for data privacy, and more. Despite these risks, businesses and consumers are rapidly adopting and using AI systems which now impact virtually all aspects of life.

Developers promise that their complex and opaque systems are accurate, fair, effective, and appropriate for certain uses, but Campbell notes that the systems are being deployed in ways that can deceive consumers and the public, citing chatbots used to perpetrate scams or of false computer-generated images and videos called deepfakes that mislead consumers and viewers about a participants identity. Misleading and potentially discriminatory results from these systems can run afoul of consumer protection laws, according to the advisory.

The advisory has echoes of a dynamic in the states enthusiastic embrace of gambling at the executive level, with Campbell cautioning against potential harmful impacts while staying shy of a full-throated objection to expansions like an online Lottery.

Gov. Maura Healey has touted applied artificial intelligence as a potential boon for the state, creating an artificial intelligence strategic task force through executive order in February. Healey is also seeking $100 million in her economic development bond bill the Mass Leads Act to create an Applied AI Hub in Massachusetts.

Massachusetts has the opportunity to be a global leader in Applied AI but its going to take us bringing together the brightest minds in tech, business, education, health care, and government. Thats exactly what this task force will do, Healey said in a statement accompanying the task force announcement. Members of the task force will collaborate on strategies that keep us ahead of the curve by leveraging AI and GenAI technology, which will bring significant benefit to our economy and communities across the state.

The executive order itself makes only glancing references to risks associated with AI, focusing mostly on the task forces role in identifying strategies for collaboration around AI and adoption across life sciences, finance, and higher education. The task force members will recommend strategies to facilitate public investment in AI and promoting AI-related job creation across the state, as well as recommending structures to promote responsible AI development and use for the state.

In conversation with Healey last month, tech journalist Kara Swisher offered a sharp critique of the enthusiastic embrace of AI hype, describing it as just marketing right now and comparing it to the crypto bubble and signs of a similar AI bubble are troubling other tech reporters. Tech companies are seeing the value in pushing whatever were pushing at the moment, and its exhausting, actually, Swisher said, adding that certain types of tasked algorithms like search tools are already commonplace, but the trend now is slapping an AI onto it and saying its AI. Its not.

Eventually, Swisher acknowledged, tech becomes cheaper and more capable at certain types of labor than people as in the case of mechanized farming and its up to officials like Healey to figure out how to balance new technology while protecting the people it impacts.

Mohamad Ali, chief operating officer of IBM Consulting, opined in CommonWealth Beacon that there need to be significant investments in an AI-capable workforce that prioritizes trust and transparency.

Artificial intelligence policy in Massachusetts, as in many states, is a hodgepodge crossing all branches of government. The executive branch is betting big that the technology can boost the states innovation economy, while the Legislature is weighing the risks of deepfakes in nonconsensual pornography and election communications.

Reliance on large language model styles of artificial intelligence melding the feel of a search algorithm with the promise of a competent researcher and writer has caused headaches for courts. Because several widely used AI tools use predictive text algorithms trained on existing work but not always limiting itself to it, large language model AI can hallucinate and fabricate facts and citations that dont exist.

In a February order in the troubling wrongful death and sexual abuse case filed against the Stoughton Police Department, Associate Justice Brian Davis sanctioned attorneys for their reliance on AI systems to prepare legal research and blindly file inaccurate information generated by the systems with the court. The AI hallucinations and the unchecked use of AI in legal filings are disturbing developments that are adversely affecting the practice of law in the Commonwealth and beyond, Davis wrote.

This article first appeared on CommonWealth Beacon and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX

SUBSCRIBE

Continue reading here:

As Massachusetts leans in on artificial intelligence, AG waves a yellow flag Rhode Island Current - Rhode Island Current

Posted in Uncategorized

All Arlecchino Ascension and Talent materials in Genshin Impact – Destructoid

Posted on by

If youve pulled Arlecchino, another 5-star banner added in Genshin Impact 4.6, youll want to Ascend her to max level as soon as possible to cash in on that Wish investment. The latest Pyro character will lead you on a hunt for Fatui-themed upgrades to make the most of her levels and Talent.

To perfect her build, heres every Ascension material youll need for Arlecchino and where to find it that includes requirements for her Talent boosts, too.

Arlecchino uses Fragments of a Golden Melody, which drop from the Legatus Golem world boss. You can find this world boss in the lost kingdom of Remuria, which you can access by following the World Quest that starts in the Fontanian island village of Petrichor.

Youll need 46 Fragments in total, which will take an average of 18 boss runs or about 720 Resin at World Level 8.

Arlecchino require Rainbow Roses, which grow around Fontaine. If you collect them with the Seed Dispensary gadget equipped, you can gather seeds to grow additional Rainbow Roses in your teapot.

You will need 168 Rainbow Roses to fully Ascend Arlecchino. Like other local specialties, Rainbow Roses respawn 48 hours after collecting them. There are only 81 Rainbow Roses in the overworld, so you may need to ask a friend if you can take theirs.

As a member of the Fatui, Arlecchino uses Fatui insignias to ascend. These drop from most Fatui enemies, including Cicin Mages, Pyro Agents, and all Skirmishers.

For maximum character levels, Arlecchino will need 18 Recruits Insignia, 30 Sergeants Insignia, and 36 Lieutenants Insignia. This doesnt include insignias needed for Talents.

Like other Pyro characters, Arlecchino uses red Agnidus Agates to Ascend. These do drop from her boss, the Legatus Golem, but they will come mixed with Geo gems. If youre short on Pyro gems, use Dust of Azoth to convert some from a different element.

Arlecchino will need 1 Agnidus Agate Sliver, 9 Fragments, 9 Chunks, and 6 Gemstones to fully Ascend.

Despite her Snezhnayan affiliation, Arlecchino uses Order Talent books from Fontaine. You can farm these from the Fontaine Talent domain on Wednesdays, Saturdays, and Sundays.

To level her Talents to 10/10/10, Arlecchino will need 9 brown books, 63 silver books, and 114 gold books. This translates to about 2,480 Resin, depending on your drop luck.

Fatui enemies can be found all over Teyvat. My favorite farming spots are the north side of Dragonspine and the northwest side of Seirai Island.

Fully leveling Arlecchinos Talents requires 18 Recruits Insignia, 66 Sergeants Insignia, and 93 Lieutenants Insignia. This doesnt include insignias needed for character Ascension.

Fading Candles drop from the new weekly boss in 4.6, The Knave. You can unlock this boss domain by completing Arlecchinos Story Quest, or you can quick-start the challenge from your Adventurers Handbook.

Arlecchino will need 18 Candles to fully level her Talents. This means around 8 weeks of farming, depending on your luck.

Continued here:

All Arlecchino Ascension and Talent materials in Genshin Impact - Destructoid

All Arlecchino Ascension Materials in Genshin Impact – The Escapist

Posted on by

After an incredibly powerful short movie and a ton of different promotional materials, The Knave is finally coming as playable in Genshin Impact. But before Arlecchino can display her true potential, youll need to farm for certain ascension materials first.

As a 5-star Pyro Polearm character, Arlecchino is far from being the first in this specific role. However, she brings some unique gameplay with her scythe-like attacks that sacrifice a portion of her HP. According to the official Genshin Impact Progression Calculator, this is what you need to level up her fully.

Arlecchino shares a lot of materials with her fellow Pyro Fatui and son Lyney. They even share the Rainbow Rose specialty for their ascension. The Insignia drops can all be obtained from various Fatui enemies across the map, so use the Adventurers Handbook to get their locations if you havent enough of these with you. However, her assigned World Boss is the Statue of Marble and Brass world boss, a new addition to the 4.6 version.

Related: Genshin Impacts New Metroidvania Web Event is Scratching My Hollow Knight Silksong Itch

More Fatui-related items here, so double down on farming those. Arlecchino uses the Order books from the Rhyming Rhythm domain in Fontaine to level up her talents, as well as the new items from her own Weekly Boss, The Knave. Sometimes you are your worst enemy, I guess. As of 4.1, players no longer need to advance through Story Quests to farm for bosses, so you can challenge her boss version from the get-go.

The hardest part is, without a doubt, getting enough Roses and Talent items, as these will take you most of your time/resin to accomplish. Not to mention the artifact grind for her build which is always a struggle, but very worth it in the end.

Here is the original post:

All Arlecchino Ascension Materials in Genshin Impact - The Escapist

Ascension health care system retracts nationwidebut not in Indy Indianapolis Business Journal – Indianapolis Business Journal

Posted on by

The six-story Women & Childrens Tower under construction on the hospitals West 86th Street campus will feature both private neonatal intensive care unit rooms and pediatric intensive care unit rooms. (IBJ photo/Eric Learned)

In the past five years, the nations largest Catholic health system, Ascension, has unloaded more than a dozen hospitals across the country, from New York to Alabama, as it restructures amid a growing tide of red ink.

In Indiana alone, it shut a critical-access hospital in Bedford, closed 11 immediate-care walk-in centers in central Indiana and shut down or repurposed five small neighborhood hospitals.

And theres no sign the sell-off is over.

Ascension continues selling spree, said a headline last month in Beckers Hospital Review, a trade news site, which added that the St. Louis-based system has more deals in the pipeline.

Ascension hastens exit out of Michigan, said a headline in Crains Detroit this month, after the health care system sold three hospitals in the northern part of the state to a large health system affiliated with the University of Michigan and set up a joint venture with another large system in the Detroit area.

Ascension, trying to dig itself out from a $3billion operating loss in fiscal year 2023, has not limited its sell-off to hospitals. It has also sold its interest in laboratory operations and a health insurance group.

So does Ascension plan to close or sell more Indiana assets?

In an unusual move for a national hospital system amid a major restructuring, Ascension disclosed part of its plans. It is not considering offloading or closing any more Indiana operations, an Ascension corporate spokeswoman told IBJ in an email.

The changes to our footprint in other parts of our national ministry are designed to ensure sustainable and favorable options for those communities, the email said. There are no plans to make any such changes to our Indiana ministry.

Several health care consultants said they would be shocked if Ascension sold a large number of properties in Indiana or exited the state altogether, as it has done elsewhere.

I wouldnt just be surprised. I would be totally aghast, said Ed Abel, retired director of health care practice at Indianapolis-based Blue & Co., an accounting and consulting firm. I would just say its never going to happen.

Thats because Indiana is one of the systems most profitable operations, delivering $192million in net income for the system for the fiscal year ending June 30, 2022, the most recent Indiana figures available. The same year, the system as a whole lost $879million from operations.

Translation: Indiana is a moneymaker for Ascension, helping it to fund a huge system that otherwise would be posting much larger losses.

So any further cost-cutting in Indiana would be relatively minor, some experts say.

In general, large health systems are constantly tweaking their portfolios, said David Blish, director of health care consulting for Katz Sapper & Miller, an Indianapolis-based accounting and consulting firm. I doubt Indiana Ascension will contract at a significant scale.

Ascension pointed to its flagship campus on West 86th Street, where construction continues on $325million worth of improvements, including a new brain and spine center, a new womens and childrens tower, and a new parking garage.

The company said the investments will help the companys operations here, known as Ascension St. Vincent Indiana, a premier destination for care in the Midwest.

Separately, Ascension St. Vincent this week issued invitations for a public celebration marking the 50th anniversary of the companys West 86th Street hospital. It said the event will take place 2-4 p.m. April 28 on top of the parking garage at the corner of Harcourt Drive and Katie Knox Drive.

The 50th anniversary of our 86th Street location gives us the opportunity to honor all of those who contributed to making the hospital what it is today as well as look forward to the future of health care, the invitation said.

The event will mark the 1974 move, when staff of St. Vincent and the U.S. Army Reserves transferred 102 patients from the hospitals Fall Creek campus (now part of Ivy Tech Community College) to a new campus on the northwest side of Indianapolis, which was then largely fields and forest.

Twenty-five years later, in 1999, Ascension bought St. Vincent for an undisclosed amount.

That marked the end of more than a century of independent ownership, since four nuns from the Daughters of Charity religious order arrived in Indianapolis in 1881 at the invitation of Catholic Bishop Francis Chatard and set up St. Vincent Infirmary in a house near Vermont and East streets.

Within a few years, the infirmary grew to 50 beds and changed its named to St. Vincent Hospital. It relocated twice before the move to West 86th Street. After decades of expansion, that campus now fills the better part of 20 square blocks between West 86th and West 79th streets.

Ascension said the six-story Women & Childrens Tower going up on the south side of the campus is designed to address the high level of maternal and infant mortality in Indianapolis. It will feature 109 private neonatal intensive care unit rooms along with an expanded pediatric intensive care unit. The tower is scheduled to be completed this year.

The four-story Brain and Spine Hospital is rising at the front of the campus and will include operating rooms, an intensive care unit, an intensive care step-down unit, and a residency training program. Ascension said it expects construction to be completed early next year.

The new projects, announced in 2021, represent one of the largest capital investments in decades for Ascension Indiana. It also gave the strong suggestion that the corporate parent was committed to the Indianapolis flagship, a major anchor on the busy West 86th Street commercial corridor.

So why is Ascension building here while unloading hospitals elsewhere and exiting some states altogether?

In many cases, the answer seems to be that Ascension is leaving where it cannot take advantage of a wide system of community hospitals in coordination with a top-tier hospital to handle complex cases.

In modern health care, hospital systems increasingly want a network of hospitals that can act as feeders for the major hospital in a large metropolitan area. And if they are a small player in a market that is dominated by a huge competitor, they have less chance to fill beds, negotiate favorable insurance plans and make money.

In Minnesota, the world-famous Mayo Clinic dominates the market with net patient revenue of $3.32billion in 2022far ahead of second place University of Minnesota Medical Center, which pulled in $1.68billion.

Who is ever going to beat the Mayo Clinic there? Abel said. Yes, theres a lot of competition up there. But theres a lot that have dropped out and said, Were never going to be as good as those guys.

Central Indiana has no single dominant player. Instead, there are four or five large players and a few dozen small players, mostly in the suburbs. And each system has a different claim to fame.

In the nine-county metropolitan area, Ascension St. Vincent has the most staffed beds, with 1,995, ahead of Indiana University Health (1,514), Community Health Network (1,124), Franciscan Health Network (563) and Eskenazi Health (333), according to IBJ research. (Those figures are from 2022, the most recent year available.)

Yet in the same year, Indiana University Health pulled in far more revenue across its statewide system, $8.1billion, than Ascension St. Vincent ($3.7billion) and Community Health ($3.1billion).

Statewide, Ascension owns 19 hospitals from Anderson to Brazil, including facilities in Carmel, Fishers, Indianapolis, Anderson and Kokomo.

In addition to being a large player, Ascension St. Vincent is performing well financially in central Indiana and has no reason to start offloading assets, Abel said.

Indiana is what I would call an aircraft carrier for Ascension, he said. They have a huge presence here, and theyre proud of it.

And Ascensions corporate leadership clearly has a soft spot for Indiana. The companys CEO, Joseph Impicciche, was raised in Crawfordsville and earned his bachelors at Wabash College. He went on to earn a law degree and a master of health administration degree from Indiana University. He practiced for more than a decade at Indianapolis law firm Hall Render Killian Heath & Lyman, which specializes in health care law.

Ascension declined to make Impicciche or any other senior leader available for an interview with IBJ.

Go here to see the original:

Ascension health care system retracts nationwidebut not in Indy Indianapolis Business Journal - Indianapolis Business Journal

A small factor makes a big impact on genome editing – EurekAlert

Posted on by

image:

Although the specificity of CRISPR-based gene-editing is highly accurate and versatile, the efficiency of installing those edits has been low. In this paper, the Adamson lab describes a more efficient prime editor. Illustration by Caitlin Sedwick for Princeton University.

Credit: Caitlin Sedwick for Princeton University

By Caitlin Sedwick for the Princeton University Department of Molecular Biology

Through years of engineering gene-editing systems, researchers have developed a suite of tools that enable the modification of genomes in living cells, akin to genome surgery. These tools, including ones based on a natural system known as CRISPR/Cas9, offer enormous potential for addressing unmet clinical needs, underscored by the recent FDA approval of the first CRISPR/Cas9-based therapy. A relatively new approach called prime editing enables gene-editing with exceptional accuracy and high versatility, but has a critical tradeoff: variable and often low efficiency of edit installation. In other words, while prime edits can be made with high precision and few unwanted byproducts, the approach also often fails to make those edits at reasonable frequencies. In a paper that appeared in print in the journal Nature on April 18th, 2024, Princeton scientists Jun Yan and Britt Adamson, along with several colleagues, describe a more efficient prime editor.

Prime editing systems minimally consist of two components: a modified version of the protein element of CRISPR/Cas9 and a ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecule called a pegRNA. These components work together in several coordinated steps: First, the pegRNA binds the protein and guides the resulting complex to a desired location in the genome. There, the protein nicks the DNA and, using a template sequence encoded on the pegRNA, reverse transcribes an edit into the genome nearby. In this way, prime editors write exact sequences into targeted DNA.

"Prime editing is such an incredibly powerful genome editing tool because it gives us more control over exactly how genomic sequences are changed, Adamson said.

At the outset of their study, Adamson and Yan, a graduate student in Adamsons research group and the Department of Molecular Biology, reasoned that unknown cellular processes may aid or hinder prime editing. To identify such processes, Yan laid out a conceptually simple plan: First, he would engineer a cell line that would emit green fluorescence when certain prime edits were installed. Then, he would systematically block expression of proteins normally expressed within those cells and measure editing-induced fluorescence to determine which of those proteins impact prime editing. By executing this plan, the team identified 36 cellular determinants of prime editing, only one of whichthe small RNA-binding protein Lapromoted editing.

Although promoting prime editing is obviously not a normal function of the La protein, our experiments showed that it can strongly facilitate the process, Yan said.

Within cells, La is known to bind specific sequences often found at the ends of nascent small RNA molecules and it protects those RNAs from degradation. The Princeton team recognized right away that the pegRNAs deployed in Yans first experiments likely contained those exact sequences, called polyuridine tracts, as they are a typical but often overlooked byproduct of pegRNA expression in cells. Subsequent experiments suggested that such pegRNAs inadvertently harness Las end-binding activity for protection and to promote prime editing.

Motivated by their results, the team asked if fusing the part of La that binds polyuridine tracts to a standard prime editing protein could boost prime editing efficiencies. They were thrilled to find that the resulting protein, which they call PE7, substantially enhanced intended prime editing efficiencies across conditions and, when using some prime editing systems, left the frequencies of unwanted byproducts very low. Their results quickly drew the attention of colleagues interested in using prime editing in primary human cells, including Daniel Bauer at Boston Childrens Hospital and Harvard Medical School and Alexander Marson at the University of California, San Francisco. Together with scientists from these labs, the team of researchers went on to demonstrate that PE7 can also enhance prime editing efficiencies in therapeutically relevant cell types, offering expanded promise for future clinical applications.

"This work is a beautiful example of how deeply probing the inner workings of cells can lead to unexpected insights that may yield near-term biomedical impact, Bauer noted.

Citation: Jun Yan, Paul Oyler-Castrillo, Purnima Ravisankar, Carl C. Ward, Sbastien Levesque, Yangwode Jing, Danny Simpson, Anqi Zhao, Hui Li, Weihao Yan, Laine Goudy, Ralf Schmidt, Sabrina C. Solley, Luke A. Gilbert, Michelle M. Chan, Daniel E. Bauer, Alexander Marson, Lance R. Parsons & Britt Adamson.Improving prime editing with an endogenous small RNA-binding protein.Nature. 2024. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-024-07259-6

Funding for this work was provided by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) (R35GM138167, RM1HG009490, T32HG003284, DP2CA239597, UM1HG012660 [Princeton QCB training grant; NHGRI],and [T32GM007388 Princeton MOL training grant; NIGMS]); the Searle Scholars Program; thePrinceton Catalysis Initiative; CHDI Foundation; Princeton University; the Parker Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy (PICI); the Lloyd J. Old STAR award from the Cancer Research Institute (CRI); the Simons Foundation; the CRISPR Cures for Cancer Initiative; the Arc Institute; CRUK/NIH (OT2CA278665 and CGCATF-2021/100006); Pew-Stewart Scholars for Cancer Research award; the Doris Duke Foundation; the St Jude Childrens Research Hospital Collaborative Research Consortium; NHLBI (R01HL150669); the Fred Hutch Cooperative Center of Excellence in Hematology (U54 DK106829); the China Scholarship Council (CSC), based on the April 2015 Memorandum of Understanding between the CSC and Princeton University; the NCI (K00CA245718); and the Princeton University Flow Cytometry Resource Facility (NCI-CCSG P30CA072720-5921).

Experimental study

Improving prime editing with an endogenous small RNA-binding protein

3-Apr-2024

B.A. is an advisory board member with options for Arbor Biotechnologies and Tessera Therapeutics. B.A. holds equity in Celsius Therapeutics. L.A.G has filed patents on CRISPR tools and CRISPR functional genomics and is a co-founder of Chroma Medicine. A.M. is a co-founder of Arsenal Biosciences, Site Tx, Spotlight Therapeutics, and Survey Genomics, serves on the boards of directors at Site Tx, Spotlight Therapeutics and Survey Genomics, is a member of the scientific advisory boards of Arsenal Biosciences, Site Tx, Spotlight Therapeutics, Survey Genomics, NewLimit, Amgen, Tenaya, and Lightcast, owns stock in Arsenal Biosciences, Site Tx, Spotlight Therapeutics, NewLimit, Survey Genomics, PACT Pharma, Tenaya, and Lightcast, and has received fees from Arsenal Biosciences, Spotlight Therapeutics, Site Tx NewLimit, Survey Genomics, Gilead, 23andMe, PACT Pharma, Juno Therapeutics, Tenaya, Lightcast, Trizell, Vertex, Merck, Amgen, Genentech, AlphaSights, Rupert Case Management, Bernstein, GLG, ClearView Healthcare Partners, and ALDA. A.M. is an investor in and informal advisor to Offline Ventures and a client of EPIQ. The Marson Laboratory has received research support from Juno Therapeutics, Epinomics, Sanofi, GlaxoSmithKline, Gilead, and Anthem. C.C.W. and R.S. are co-founders of Site Tx. J.Y. and B.A. have filed a patent application on aspects of this work through Princeton University, and B.A. has previously filed other patents on CRISPR-based technologies. The remaining authors declare no competing interests.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

More:

A small factor makes a big impact on genome editing - EurekAlert

National Biosafety Authority urged to step up its communication efforts on GMOs – Myjoyonline

Posted on by

Fellow at the Genetic Engineering and Society (GES) Center of the North Carolina State University Joseph Opoku Gakpo is urging Ghanas National Biosafety Authority (NBA) to step up its communications efforts on genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

Speaking at a webinar organised by the Africa Genetic Biocontrol Consortium on "gaps, challenges, and innovations in science communication, he said recent media reports in which some stakeholders condemned the approval of 14 genetically engineered products in the country could have been avoided through proactive communication.

A report by the United States Department for Agriculture published last month disclosed the authority has approved 14 new GMOs including eight corn events and six soybean events.

The report drew backlash from some groups including the Peasant Farmers Association, Ghana Agricultural Workers Union, Ghana Journalists for Environment, Science, Health and Agriculture (GJESHA), and the Centre for Climate Change and Food Security (CCCFS), among others.

The Peasant Farmers Association warned its members will not accept any GMO seeds under the governments flagship Planting for Food and Jobs programme.

The authority subsequently clarified in a statement that the approval is for the GMOs to be imported for use as feed, food, and for processing, and not for local cultivation.

Mr. Gakpo questioned why the authority did not find it necessary to inform Ghanaians about the approval early in the year, and waited until a foreign entity told the story first.

The approval was in February. The USDA report was published on 20th March and has been making rounds on various social media platforms.

"It wasnt until April 14 before the NBA issued a statement clarifying what it had done. How will Ghanaians feel about hearing of this approval first from a foreign partner? he quizzed.

The NBA should have been the first to put a statement, at least on its website, explaining what exactly it had done and not have created a situation where other institutions had to tell their story for them, Mr Gakpo said.

So, there wasnt proactive communication. It was simply reactive communication. And even the reactive communication happened almost a month later. The authority needs to step up its communications efforts, he added.

Mr. Gakpo whose research at the GES Center focuses on how communication influences the deployment of agricultural biotechnologies noted the National Biosafety Act 2011 which governs the operations of the NBA urges it to prioritise proactive communication.

Section 4 (d) of Act 831 says one of the functions of the authority is to promote public awareness, participation and education concerning the activities of the authority under this Act he said.

Section 41(2) also says the Authority shall publish notices of final decisions concerning applications made under this Act in the Gazette and the electronic and print media, he explained.

Mr. Gakpo said the law passed by parliament recognises the important role of the media in helping disseminate information on genetic technologies and the authority must do more in that regard.

I am not saying the Biosafety Authority is shirking its responsibility to communicate. Because I have seen officials from the authorities do media interviews and other such communication activities.

"But I am only saying they need to do more. And they should particularly be proactive rather than always fighting back, he added.

Cecilia Lubanga who is a communication specialist at the Office of the Senate in Kenya also told the webinar the field of communicating science is changing quickly and actors in the industry need to be abreast with the latest developments.

Science communication is a rapidly evolving field, driven by advancements in technology, changes in societal attitudes, and the effective dissemination of complex scientific information to diverse audiences, she said.

DISCLAIMER: The Views, Comments, Opinions, Contributions and Statements made by Readers and Contributors on this platform do not necessarily represent the views or policy of Multimedia Group Limited.

Original post:

National Biosafety Authority urged to step up its communication efforts on GMOs - Myjoyonline

DNA Synthesis Market to hit USD 20.5 Bn by 2032, says Global Market Insights Inc. – GlobeNewswire

Posted on by

Selbyville, Delaware, April 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- DNA Synthesis Market size is expected to reach a remuneration of USD 20.5 billion by 2032. Rising advancements in biotechnology and genetic engineering across various research, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications will augment the industry growth.

Request for a sample of this research report @ https://www.gminsights.com/request-sample/detail/6000

With the rise of precision medicine and personalized healthcare, there is a growing need for custom-designed DNA sequences tailored to specific research objectives or patient requirements. For instance, in March 2024, global genomics solutions provider Integrated DNA Technologies (IDT) expanded its gene synthesis offerings by introducing a new custom vector onboarding tool. The advancing fields of synthetic biology and gene editing techniques, such as CRISPR-Cas9 have further propelled the demand for DNA synthesis, as researchers seek to engineer novel organisms and develop innovative therapies for various diseases.

Collaborations between academic institutions, biotechnology companies, and pharmaceutical firms are also facilitating the development of cutting-edge technologies and streamlined workflows in DNA synthesis. These partnerships foster innovation and knowledge exchange, driving advancements in the methodologies while expanding the repertoire of available synthetic DNA products. Furthermore, the increasing affordability and accessibility of DNA synthesis services, coupled with improvements in synthesis throughput and scalability are democratizing access to synthesized DNA for researchers worldwide.

Rising usage for diagnostics

DNA synthesis market share from the therapeutic application segment is slated to gain momentum through 2024-2032. This is driven by the increasing adoption of molecular diagnostics for disease detection and personalized treatment approaches. Custom-designed DNA sequences help in the development of molecular diagnostic tests, enabling precise detection of genetic mutations and biomarkers associated with various diseases. The advent of targeted therapies and gene editing technologies has also fueled the demand for synthesized DNA in therapeutic applications.

CRO segment to gain traction

The DNA synthesis market from the contract research organization (CRO) segment is expected to expand exponentially up to 2032. This is driven by specialized expertise and infrastructure for DNA synthesis services for catering to the diverse needs of pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic research institutions. These organizations possess state-of-the-art facilities equipped with high-throughput synthesis platforms and experienced scientific teams capable of delivering custom-designed DNA sequences with precision and efficiency. CROs also provide end-to-end solutions, including gene synthesis, cloning, and sequence verification, allowing clients to focus on their core research objectives while entrusting the synthesis process to specialized professionals.

Asia Pacific to emerge as a prominent industry

Asia Pacific DNA synthesis market is estimated to record significant valuation by 2032, attributed to the increasing investment in genomics research and biotechnology initiatives by governments and private enterprises across countries like China, Japan, and India. The rising prevalence of genetic disorders and infectious diseases in the region has spurred the demand for customized DNA sequences for diagnostic and therapeutic applications. Advancements in healthcare infrastructure and the growing adoption of precision medicine will further stimulate the regional industry growth.

Request for Report Customization @https://www.gminsights.com/roc/6000

DNA Synthesis Industry Players

Some of the prominent DNA synthesis market players include Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc., ELISA experts, Twist Bioscience, BOSTER antibody, Bioneer Corporation, ProteoGenix, Eton Bioscience, BIOMATIK, LGC Biosearch Technologies, ProMab Biotechnologies, IBA GmbH, Eurogentec, Eurofins Scientific, Quintara Biosciences OriGene Technologies, Inc., Integrated DNA Technologies, Inc.and GenScript Biotech Corporation.

These firms are focusing on partnership ventures and innovations to proliferate their product portfolio and customer base. To cite an instance, in August 2023, Genscript Biotech formed a strategic collaboration agreement with T-MAXIMUM Biotech to develop CAR-T cell therapy.

Partial Table of Contents (ToC) of the report:

Chapter 2Executive Summary

2.1 Global DNA synthesis market 360 synopsis, 2018 2032 2.1.1 Business trends 2.1.2 Regional trends 2.1.3 Service trends 2.1.4 Method trends 2.1.5 Application trends 2.1.6 End-use trends Chapter 3DNA Synthesis Industry Insights 3.1 Industry ecosystem analysis 3.2 Industry impact forces 3.2.1 Growth drivers 3.2.1.1Growing prevalence of diseases globally 3.2.1.2Rapid technology advancements in the field of synthetic biology 3.2.1.3Rising investments towards research and development(R&D) activities 3.2.2 Industry pitfalls & challenges 3.2.2.1Stringent government regulations and guidelines 3.2.2.2High cost, potential biosafety,biosecurity and ethical issues 3.3 Growth potential analysis 3.3.1 By service 3.3.2 By method 3.3.3 By application 3.3.4 By end use 3.4 COVID- 19 impact analysis 3.5 Regulatory landscape 3.5.1 U.S. 3.5.2 Europe 3.6 Porter's analysis 3.7 PESTEL analysis

Browse Our Reports Store - GMIPulse @ https://www.gminsights.com/gmipulse

About Global Market Insights

Global Market Insights Inc., headquartered in Delaware, U.S., is a global market research and consulting service provider, offering syndicated and custom research reports along with growth consulting services. Our business intelligence and industry research reports offer clients with penetrative insights and actionable market data specially designed and presented to aid strategic decision making. These exhaustive reports are designed via a proprietary research methodology and are available for key industries such as chemicals, advanced materials, technology, renewable energy, and biotechnology.

Read more here:

DNA Synthesis Market to hit USD 20.5 Bn by 2032, says Global Market Insights Inc. - GlobeNewswire

Man had rare Covid infection that lasted 613 days, showed extensive mutations – South China Morning Post

Posted on by

Researchers from the Netherlands have reported an extremely long Covid-19 infection in a man who died last year and warn of the emergence of more dangerous variants of the coronavirus.

The elderly man, who was immunocompromised due to previous illnesses, was admitted to a hospital in Amsterdam in February 2022 with a Covid-19 infection, according to a statement.

He was continuously positive for the coronavirus until his death in October 2023 for a total of 613 days.

Other cases of very long infections in people whose immune systems were unable to adequately fight the virus have previously been reported.

01:29

Like drinking milk tea: China launches worlds first inhalable Covid vaccine

Like drinking milk tea: China launches worlds first inhalable Covid vaccine

The researchers led by Magda Vergouwe from the University of Amsterdam plan to present the results at a congress of the European Society for Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases in Barcelona on April 27-30.

The case is also interesting for researchers because the coronavirus can change particularly strongly in such long-term infected people. This harbours the risk of variants of the virus emerging that can more easily overcome the immune systems of healthy people.

The researchers in the Netherlands repeatedly took samples from the man to analyse the genetic material of the coronavirus. They found a total of more than 50 mutations compared to the Omicron variant BA.1 that was circulating at the time, including those that would allow the virus to evade the immune defence.

Just 21 days after the man had received a certain anti-coronavirus drug, the virus also developed signs of resistance to it.

German with comically large number of Covid jabs 217 had no side effects

The man eventually died from a flare-up of one of his previous illnesses. As far as is known, he had not infected anyone with his mutated version of the coronavirus, also known under its scientific name Sars-CoV-2.

This case highlights the risk of new immune-evasive Sars-CoV-2 variants emerging in immunocompromised patients, the researchers are quoted as saying in the press release.

The extensive development of the virus in a single patient could lead to the emergence of unique variants, they warn.

It is important to closely monitor the evolution of the coronavirus in immunocompromised individuals. There is a risk that variants could emerge and spread in society that are less susceptible to the immune systems of healthy people, they added

Read the rest here:

Man had rare Covid infection that lasted 613 days, showed extensive mutations - South China Morning Post

COVID virus mutated in Dutch man, raising importance of proper immunocompromised care – Cosmos

Posted on by

Dutch medical scientists are warning about the risk of viruses mutating over long periods in infected immunocompromised people.

Forthcoming research from the group relates to a previously reported case of a 72-year-old Dutch man who was infected with the SARS-CoV-2 virus for a record 613 days before dieing from a blood disorder.

The research, which is not yet published or peer-reviewed, will this week be presented at a global congress of the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases.

They tracked the evolution of the virus within the mans system, while he was administered the antivirals sotrovimab, sarilumab and dexamethasone.

Samples taken between February 2022 and September 2023 noted more than 50 mutations in the viruss genetic sequence. Evidence of immune escape was also observed in the form of changes multiple changes to the virus spike protein.

During the period of infection, the virus evolved resistance to sotrovimab.

In their presentation, the 6 researchers will argue that immunocompromised patients need close monitoring, not only for their own health outcomes but also for signs of viral change that could spread beyond the patient.

They report that in this case the highly mutated, drug-resistant variant was not passed to anyone else.

This case underscores the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection in immunocompromised individuals as unique SARS-CoV-2 viral variants may emerge due to extensive intra-host evolution, the researchers write.

Though they note this is an extreme case, they report also monitoring other prolonged infections ranging from a month to 2 years in length.

Prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients are much more common compared to the general community, they say However, from the viewpoint of the general public, prolonged infections remain rare as the immunocompromised population is only a very small percentage of the total population.

Continue reading here:

COVID virus mutated in Dutch man, raising importance of proper immunocompromised care - Cosmos

Toxic: How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous – Albuquerque Journal

Posted on by

BEIJING (AP) The hunt for the origins of COVID-19 has gone dark in China, the victim of political infighting after a series of stalled and thwarted attempts to find the source of the virus that killed millions and paralyzed the world for months.

The Chinese government froze meaningful domestic and international efforts to trace the virus from the first weeks of the outbreak, despite statements supporting open scientific inquiry, an Associated Press investigation found. That pattern continues to this day, with labs closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country.

Javascript is required for you to be able to read premium content. Please enable it in your browser settings.

kAm%96 :?G6DE:82E:@? 5C6H @? E9@FD2?5D @7 A286D @7 F?5:D4=@D65 6>2:=D 2?5 5@4F>6?ED 2?5 5@K6?D @7 :?E6CG:6HD E92E D9@H65 E96 7C66K6 3682? 72C 62C=:6C E92? AC6G:@FD=J F49 2D :?E6C?2E:@?2= 7:?86CA@:?E:?8]k^Am

kAmpD 62C=J 2D y2?] e[ a_a_[ 962=E9 @77:4:2=D 😕 q6:;:?8 4=@D65 E96 =23 @7 2 r9:?6D6 D4:6?E:DE H9@ D6BF6?465 E96 G:CFD 2?5 32CC65 C6D62C496CD 7C@> H@C<:?8 H:E9 9:>]k^Am

kAm$4:6?E:DED H2C? E96 H:==7F= 3=:?5?6DD @G6C 4@C@?2G:CFD @C:8:?D =62G6D E96 H@C=5 GF=?6C23=6 E@ 2?@E96C @FE3C62<[ A@E6?E:2==J F?56C>:?:?8 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^A2?56>:4D>2C:@5C289:CH2?524@C@?2G:CFDA2?56>:44@G:5`hA2?56>:4h3d53`fc`3heb_hcfbe77`6ae_e3cbaeQmA2?56>:4 EC62EJ E2=^2CE:4=6^H9@C64@C5:?8DC6G62=2?2=JD:DA2?56>:47`727ha253_7_a5f3_ag35ad`hh55acaQm(@C=5 w62=E9 ~C82?:K2E:@?k^2m D6E E@ 4F=>:?2E6 😕 |2J]k^Am

kAmpE E96 962CE @7 E96 BF6DE:@? 😀 H96E96C E96 G:CFD ;F>A65 7C@> 2? 2?:>2= @C 42>6 7C@> 2 =23@C2E@CJ 244:56?E] p k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^4@G:5`hF?:E65DE2E6D:?E6==:86?4649:?2ab54356_36debgddefbh3dec646hf_afQm&]$] :?E6==:86?46 2?2=JD:Dk^2m D2JD E96C6 😀 :?DF77:4:6?E 6G:56?46 E@ AC@G6 6:E96C E96@CJ[ 3FE E96 5632E6 92D 7FCE96C E2:?E65 C6=2E:@?D 36EH66? E96 &]$] 2?5 r9:?2]k^Am

kAm&?=:<6 :? E96 &]$][ E96C6 :D G:CEF2==J ?@ AF3=:4 5632E6 :? r9:?2 23@FE H96E96C E96 G:CFD 42>6 7C@> ?2EFC6 @C 7C@> 2 =23 =62<] x? 724E[ E96C6 :D =:EE=6 AF3=:4 5:D4FDD:@? 2E 2== 23@FE E96 D@FC46 @7 E96 5:D62D6[ 7:CDE 56E64E65 :? E96 46?EC2= 4:EJ @7 (F92?]k^Am

kAmrCF4:2= :?:E:2= 677@CED H6C6 92>A6C65 3J 3FC62F4C2ED 😕 (F92? ECJ:?8 E@ 2G@:5 3=2>6 H9@ >:D=65 E96 46?EC2= 8@G6C?>6?Ej E96 46?EC2= 8@G6C?>6?E[ H9:49 >FKK=65 r9:?6D6 D4:6?E:DED 2?5 DF3;64E65 G:D:E:?8 (w~ @77:4:2=D E@ DE286>2?2865 E@FCDj 2?5 E96 &]}] 962=E9 286?4J :ED6=7[ H9:49 >2J 92G6 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^4@G:5`hF?:E65DE2E6D:?E6==:86?4649:?2ab54356_36debgddefbh3dec646hf_afQm4@>AC@>:D65k^2m 62C=J @AA@CEF?:E:6D E@ 82E96C 4C:E:42= :?7@C>2E:@? 😕 9@A6D E92E 3J A=242E:?8 r9:?2[ D4:6?E:DED 4@F=5 82:? >@C6 2446DD[ 244@C5:?8 E@ :?E6C?2= >2E6C:2=D @3E2:?65 3J p!]k^Am

kAmx? 2 72I65 DE2E6>6?E[ r9:?2VD u@C6:8? |:?:DECJ 5676?565 r9:?2D 92?5=:?8 @7 C6D62C49 :?E@ E96 @C:8:?D[ D2J:?8 E96 4@F?ECJ 😀 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^49:?24@G:5@C:8:?D=23=62<34_2a652ghg4aaa`h6dfha`24f__5c64Qm@A6? 2?5 EC2?DA2C6?Ek^2m[ D92C65 52E2 2?5 C6D62C49[ 2?5 >256 E96 8C62E6DE 4@?EC:3FE:@? E@ 8=@32= @C:8:?D C6D62C49] %96 }2E:@?2= w62=E9 r@>>:DD:@?[ r9:?2VD E@A >65:42= 2FE9@C:EJ[ D2:5 E96 4@F?ECJ :?G6DE65 9F86 >2?A@H6C[ >2E6C:2= 2?5 7:?2?4:2= C6D@FC46D 2?5 92D ?@E DE@AA65 =@@<:?8 7@C E96 @C:8:?D @7 E96 4@C@?2G:CFD]k^Am

kAmxE 4@F=5 92G6 A=2J65 @FE 5:776C6?E=J[ 2D D9@H? 3J E96 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^_37d45``e4ad_cgb2gabadbb5c`654ehQm@FE3C62< @7 $p#$k^2m[ 2 86?6E:4 C6=2E:G6 @7 r~'xs`h[ ?62C=J a_ J62CD 28@] r9:?2 :?:E:2==J 9:5 :?764E:@?D E96?[ 3FE (w~ 4@>A=2:?65 DH:7E=J 2?5 AF3=:4=J] &=E:>2E6=J[ q6:;:?8 7:C65 @77:4:2=D 2?5 >256 C67@C>D] %96 &]}] 286?4J D@@? 7@F?5 $p#$ =:<6=J ;F>A65 E@ 9F>2?D 7C@> 4:G6E 42ED 😕 D@FE96C? r9:?2 2?5 :?E6C?2E:@?2= D4:6?E:DED =2E6C 4@==23@C2E65 H:E9 E96:C r9:?6D6 4@F?E6CA2CED E@ A:? 5@H? 32ED 2D $p#$ ?2EFC2= C6D6CG@:C]k^Am

kAmqFE 5:776C6?E =6256CD @7 3@E9 r9:?2 2?5 (w~[ r9:?2D BF6DE 7@C 4@?EC@= @7 :ED C6D62C496CD[ 2?5 8=@32= E6?D:@?D 92G6 2== =65 E@ D:=6?46 H96? :E 4@>6D E@ D62C49:?8 7@C r~'xs`hD @C:8:?D] v@G6C?>6?ED 😕 pD:2 2C6 AC6DDFC:?8 D4:6?E:DED ?@E E@ =@@< 7@C E96 G:CFD 7@C 762C :E 4@F=5 36 EC2465 :?D:56 E96:C 3@C56CD]k^Am

kAmtG6? H:E9@FE E9@D6 4@>A=:42E:@?D[ 6IA6CED D2J :56?E:7J:?8 9@H @FE3C626 G:CFD6D 368:? DAC625:?8]k^Am

kAmxED 5:DEFC3:?8 9@H BF:4<=J E96 D62C49 7@C E96 @C:8:?D @7 Wr~'xs`hX 6D42=2E65 :?E@ A@=:E:4D[ D2:5 |2C< (@@=9@FD6[ 2 &?:G6CD:EJ @7 t5:?3FC89 @FE3C62< 6IA6CE] }@H E9:D BF6DE:@? >2J ?6G6C 36 567:?:E:G6=J 2?DH6C65]k^Am

k9amr{~&s$ ~u $tr#tr*k^9am

kAm$64C64J 4=@F5D E96 368:??:?8 @7 E96 @FE3C62<] tG6? E96 52E6 H96? r9:?6D6 2FE9@C:E:6D 7:CDE DE2CE65 D62C49:?8 7@C E96 @C:8:?D :D F?4=62C]k^Am

kAm%96 7:CDE AF3=:4=J 2C<6E H96C6 >2?J 62C=J r~'xs`h 42D6D DFC72465]k^Am

kAmw@H6G6C[ (w~ @77:4:2=D 962C5 @7 2? 62C=:6C :?DA64E:@? @7 E96 >2C<6E @? s64] ad[ a_`h[ 244@C5:?8 E@ 2 C64@C5:?8 @7 2 4@?7:56?E:2= (w~ >66E:?8 AC@G:565 E@ p! 3J 2? 2EE6?566] $F49 2 AC@36 92D ?6G6C 366? >6?E:@?65 AF3=:4=J 3J 6:E96C r9:?6D6 2FE9@C:E:6D @C (w~]k^Am

kAmx? E96 C64@C5:?8[ (w~D E@A 2?:>2= G:CFD 6IA6CE[ !6E6C q6? t>32C6<[ >6?E:@?65 E96 62C=:6C 52E6[ 56D4C:3:?8 :E 2D 2? :?E6C6DE:?8 56E2:=] w6 E@=5 4@==628F6D E92E @77:4:2=D H6C6 =@@<:?8 2E H92E H2D @? D2=6 :? E96 >2C<6E[ H96E96C 2== E96 G6?5@CD 92G6 =:46?D6D W2?5X :7 E96C6 H2D 2?J :==682= WH:=5=:76X EC256 92AA6?:?8 :? E96 >2C<6E]k^Am

kAmp 4@==628F6 2D<65 q6? t>32C6<[ H9@ :D ?@ =@?86C H:E9 (w~[ :7 E92E D66>65 F?FDF2=] w6 C6DA@?565 E92E :E H2D ?@E C@FE:?6[ 2?5 E92E E96 r9:?6D6 >FDE 92G6 925 D@>6 C62D@? E@ :?G6DE:82E6 E96 >2C<6E] (6== ECJ E@ 7:8FC6 @FE H92E 92AA6?65 2?5 H9J E96J 5:5 E92E]k^Am

kAmq6? t>32C6< 564=:?65 E@ 4@>>6?E] p?@E96C (w~ DE2776C 2E E96 v6?6G2 >66E:?8 😕 =2E6 y2?F2CJ a_a_ 4@?7:C>65 q6? t>32C6>6?ED]k^Am

kAm%96 pDD@4:2E65 !C6DD 4@F=5 ?@E 4@?7:C> E96 D62C49 :?56A6?56?E=J] xE C6>2:?D 2 >JDE6CJ :7 :E E@@< A=246[ H92E :?DA64E@CD 5:D4@G6C65[ @C H96E96C E96J D2>A=65 =:G6 2?:>2=D E92E >:89E A@:?E E@ 9@H r~'xs`h 6>6C865]k^Am

kAmp s64] ad[ a_`h[ :?DA64E:@? H@F=5 92G6 4@>6 H96? (F92? 2FE9@C:E:6D H6C6 2H2C6 @7 E96 >JDE6C:@FD 5:D62D6] %96 52J 367@C6[ 2 =@42= 5@4E@C D6?E 2 D2>A=6 7C@> k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^HHH]?43:]?=>]?:9]8@G^A>4^2CE:4=6D^!|rf`cfafd^Qm2? :== >2C<6E G6?5@C E@ 86E D6BF6?465k^2m E92E EFC?65 @FE E@ 4@?E2:? r~'xs`h] r92EE6C 23@FE E96 F?@?:2 H2D DAC625:?8 😕 (F92?D >65:42= 4:C4=6D[ 244@C5:?8 E@ @?6 5@4E@C 2?5 2 C6=2E:G6 @7 2?@E96C H9@ 564=:?65 E@ 36 :56?E:7:65[ 762C:?8 C6A6C4FDD:@?D]k^Am

kAmp D4:6?E:DE 😕 r9:?2 H96? E96 @FE3C62< @44FCC65 D2:5 E96J 962C5 @7 2 s64] ad :?DA64E:@? 7C@> 4@==23@C2E:?8 G:C@=@8:DED 😕 E96 4@F?ECJ] %96J 564=:?65 E@ 36 ?2>65 @FE @7 762C @7 C6EC:3FE:@?]k^Am

kAm(w~ D2:5 😕 2? 6>2:= E92E :E H2D ?@E 2H2C6 @7 E96 s64] ad :?G6DE:82E:@?] xE 😀 ?@E :?4=F565 😕 E96 &]}] 962=E9 286?4JD @77:4:2= k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^HHH]H9@]:?E^6>6C86?4:6D^5:D62D6D^?@G6=4@C@?2G:CFDa_`h^:?E6C24E:G6E:>6=:?6Qmr~'xs`h E:>6=:?6k^2m]k^Am

kAm(96? r9:?2 rsr C6D62C496CD 7C@> q6:;:?8 2CC:G65 @? y2?] ` E@ 4@==64E D2>A=6D 2E E96 >2C<6E[ :E 925 366? @C56C65 D9FE 2?5 H2D 2=C625J 36:?8 5:D:?764E65[ 56DEC@J:?8 4C:E:42= :?7@C>2E:@? 23@FE E96 G:CFD] v2@ uF[ E96? 9625 @7 E96 r9:?2 rsr[ >6?E:@?65 :E E@ 2? p>6C:42? 4@==23@C2E@C]k^Am

kAmw:D 4@>A=2:?E H96? x >6E 9:> H2D E92E 2== E96 2?:>2=D H6C6 8@?6[ D2:5 r@=F>3:2 &?:G6CD:EJ 6A:56>:@=@8:DE x2? {:A<:?]k^Am

kAm#@36CE v2CCJ[ H9@ DEF5:6D G:CFD6D 2E %F=2?6 &?:G6CD:EJ[ D2:5 2 s64] ad AC@36 H@F=5 36 9F86=J D:8?:7:42?E[ 8:G6? H92E 😀

kAmq6:?8 23=6 E@ DH23 :E 5:C64E=J 7C@> E96 2?:>2= :ED6=7 H@F=5 36 AC6EEJ 4@?G:?4:?8 2?5 ?@3@5J H@F=5 36 2C8F:?8 23@FE E96 @C:8:?D @7 r~'xs`h[ 96 D2:5]k^Am

kAmqFE A6C92AD =@42= @77:4:2=D D:>A=J 762C65 7@C E96:C ;@3D[ H:E9 >6>@C:6D @7 7:C:?8D 27E6C E96 a__b $p#$ @FE3C62< DE:== G:G:5[ D2:5 #2J *:A[ E96 7@F?5:?8 9625 @7 E96 &]$] r6?E6CD 7@C s:D62D6 r@?EC@= 2?5 !C6G6?E:@? @FEA@DE :? r9:?2]k^Am

kAm%96J H6C6 ECJ:?8 E@ D2G6 E96:C D<:?[ 9:56 E96 6G:56?46[ *:A D2:5]k^Am

kAm%96 (F92? 8@G6C?>6?E 5:5 ?@E C6DA@?5 E@ 2 72I65 C6BF6DE 7@C 4@>>6?E]k^Am

kAmp?@E96C 62C=J G:4E:> H2D +92?8 *@?8K96?[ E96 7:CDE D4:6?E:DE E@ AF3=:D9 2 D6BF6?46 @7 E96 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^`deddc`73`b3e2a7_4gf`6_626_a35f5QmG:CFDk^2m] p 52J 27E6C 96 HC@E6 2 >6>@ FC8:?8 962=E9 2FE9@C:E:6D E@ 24E:@?[ r9:?2D E@A 962=E9 @77:4:2= @C56C65 +92?8D =23 4=@D65]k^Am

kAm%96J FD65 E96:C @77:4:2= A@H6C 282:?DE >6 2?5 @FC 4@==628F6D[ +92?8 HC@E6 😕 2? 6>2:= AC@G:565 E@ p! 3J t5H2C5 w@=>6D[ 2? pFDEC2=:2? G:C@=@8:DE]k^Am

kAm~? y2?] a_[ a_a_[ 2 (w~ 56=682E:@? 2CC:G65 😕 (F92? 7@C 2 EH@52J >:DD:@?] r9:?2 5:5 ?@E 2AAC@G6 2 G:D:E E@ E96 >2C<6E[ 3FE E96J DE@AA65 3J 2 r9:?2 rsr =23 E@ 6I2>:?6 :?764E:@? AC6G6?E:@? 2?5 4@?EC@=AC@465FC6D[ 244@C5:?8 E@ 2? :?E6C?2= (w~ EC2G6= C6A@CE] (w~D E96?r9:?2 C6AC6D6?E2E:G6[ sC] v2F56? v2=62[ E@=5 4@==628F6D 😕 2 AC:G2E6 >66E:?8 E92E :?BF:C:6D 23@FE r~'xs`hD @C:8:?D H6?E F?2?DH6C65]k^Am

kAmqJ E96?[ k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^3hg`62fcc66a2ad7gh4d233_6g4`6ha7Qm>2?J r9:?6D6 H6C6 2?8CJ 2E E96:C 8@G6C?>6?Ek^2m] p>@?8 r9:?6D6 5@4E@CD 2?5 D4:6?E:DED[ E96 D6?D6 8C6H E92E k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^G:CFD@FE3C62<962=E92AE@A?6HD:?E6C?2E:@?2=?6HD49:?24=2>AD5@H?eg2h6`3h`56c774`ee245e_`a5ga4a7hQmq6:;:?8k^2m H2D 9F?E:?8 7@C D@>6@?6 E@ 3=2>6]k^Am

kAm%96C6 2C6 2 76H 425C6D H9@ 92G6 A6C7@C>65 A@@C=J[ r9:?6D6 =6256C ): y:?A:?8 D2:5 😕 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^H63]2C49:G6]@C8^H63^a_ab_a`d_h_`bd^9EEADi^^HHH]8@G]4?^I:?H6?^a_a__a^ac^4@?E6?E0dcgad_a]9E>QmF?FDF2==J 92CD9 4@>>6?ED 😕 u63CF2CJk^2m] $@>6 52C6 ?@E E2<6 C6DA@?D:3:=:EJ[ H2:E E:>:5=J 7@C @C56CD 7C@> 23@G6[ 2?5 5@?E >@G6 H:E9@FE 36:?8 AFD965]k^Am

kAm%96 8@G6C?>6?E @A6?65 :?G6DE:82E:@?D :?E@ E@A 962=E9 @77:4:2=D[ 244@C5:?8 E@ EH@ 7@C>6C 2?5 4FCC6?E r9:?2 rsr DE277 2?5 E9C66 @E96CD 72>:=:2C H:E9 E96 >2EE6C] w62=E9 @77:4:2=D H6C6 6?4@FC2865 E@ C6A@CE 4@==628F6D H9@ >:D92?5=65 E96 @FE3C62< E@ r@>>F?:DE !2CEJ 5:D4:A=:?2CJ 3@5:6D[ 244@C5:?8 E@ EH@ @7 E96 A6@A=6]k^Am

kAm$@>6 A6@A=6 3@E9 :?D:56 2?5 @FED:56 r9:?2 DA64F=2E65 23@FE 2 =23@C2E@CJ =62<] %9@D6 DFDA:4:@FD :?4=F565 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^HHH]J@FEF36]4@>^H2E49nGlJEvx<4r9f%gU2>AjEl`DQmC:89EH:?8 p>6C:42? A@=:E:4:2?Dk^2m[ 3FE 2=D@ C6D62C496CD 4=@D6 E@ (w~]k^Am

kAm%96 7@4FD EFC?65 E@ E96 (F92? x?DE:EFE6 @7 ':C@=@8J[ 2 9:89=6G6= =23 E92E 6IA6C:>6?E65 H:E9 D@>6 @7 E96 H@C=5D >@DE 52?86C@FD G:CFD6D]k^Am

kAmx? 62C=J u63CF2CJ a_a_[ D@>6 @7 E96 (6DED =625:?8 D4:6?E:DED[ 962565 3J sC] y6C6>J u2CC2C[ E96? 2E qC:E2:?D (6==4@>6 %CFDE[ 2?5 sC] p?E9@?J u2F4:[ E96? 5:C64E@C @7 E96 &]$] }2E:@?2= x?DE:EFE6D @7 w62=E9[ 32?565 E@86E96C E@ 2DD6DD E96 @C:8:?D @7 E96 G:CFD 😕 42==D[ 2 $=24< 492??6= 2?5 6>2:=D]k^Am

kAm%96J 5C27E65 2 A2A6C DF886DE:?8 2 ?2EFC2= 6G@=FE:@?[ 3FE 6G6? 2>@?8 E96>D6=G6D[ E96J 4@F=5 ?@E 28C66 @? E96 =:<6=:6DE D46?2C:@] $@>6 H6C6 2=2C>65 3J 762EFC6D E96J E9@F89E >:89E :?5:42E6 E:?<6C:?8]k^Am

kAm%96C6 92G6 W366?X DF886DE:@?D E92E E96 G:CFD 6D42A65 7C@> E96 (F92? =23[ w@=>6D[ E96 pFDEC2=:2? G:C@=@8:DE[ H9@ 36=:6G65 E96 G:CFD @C:8:?2E65 😕 ?2EFC6[ HC@E6 😕 2 u63] f[ a_a_[ 6>2:=] x 5@ 2 =@E @7 H@C< :? r9:?2[ 2?5 x 42? W2DDFC6X J@F E92E 2 =@E @7 A6@A=6 E96C6 36=:6G6 E96J 2C6 36:?8 =:65 E@]k^Am

kAmp>6C:42? D4:6?E:DED 4=@D6 E@ C6D62C496CD 2E E96 (F92? x?DE:EFE6 @7 ':C@=@8J H2C?65 4@F?E6CA2CED E96C6 E@ AC6A2C6]k^Am

kAmy2>6D {6sF4[ 9625 @7 2 %6I2D =23[ 6>2:=65 9:D (F92? 4@==628F6 @? u63] h[ a_a_[ D2J:?8 965 2=C625J 366? 2AAC@24965 3J &]$] @77:4:2=D] r=62C=J 255C6DD:?8 E9:D H:== 36 6DD6?E:2=[ H:E9 2?J <:?5 @7 5@4F>6?E2E:@? J@F >:89E 92G6[ 96 HC@E6]k^Am

kAm%96 r9:?6D6 8@G6C?>6?E H2D 4@?5F4E:?8 :ED @H? D64C6E :?G6DE:82E:@? :?E@ E96 (F92? x?DE:EFE6] v2@[ E96 E96?9625 @7 E96 r9:?2 rsr[ 2?5 2?@E96C r9:?6D6 962=E9 6IA6CE C6G62=65 :ED 6I:DE6?46 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^65:E:@?]4??]4@>^a_a_^_d^`e^2D:2^K9@?8?2?D92?4@C@?2G:CFD:?E=9?<^:?56I]9E>=Qm:? :?E6CG:6HD >@?E9D 2?5 J62CD =2E6Ck^2m] q@E9 D2:5 E96 :?G6DE:82E:@? 7@F?5 ?@ 6G:56?46 @7 HC@?85@:?8[ H9:49 w@=>6D[ E96 pFDEC2=:2? G:C@=@8:DE[ 2=D@ 962C5 7C@> 2?@E96C 4@?E24E 😕 r9:?2] qFE v2@ D2:5 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^HHH]334]4@>^?6HD^H@C=52D:2edf_gfceQm6G6? 96 925?VE D66? 7FCE96C 56E2:=Dk^2m[ 2?5 D@>6 6IA6CED DFDA64E E96J >2J ?6G6C 36 C6=62D65]k^Am

kAm(w~ DE2CE65 ?68@E:2E:@?D H:E9 r9:?2 7@C 2 7FCE96C G:D:E H:E9 E96 G:CFD @C:8:?D 😕 >:?5[ 3FE :E H2D r9:?2D u@C6:8? |:?:DECJ E92E 564:565 E96 E6C>D]k^Am

kAm$4:6?E:DED H6C6 D:56=:?65 2?5 A@=:E:4:2?D E@@< 4@?EC@=] r9:?2 C67FD65 2 G:D2 7@C q6? t>32C6<[ E96? (w~D E@A 2?:>2= G:CFD 6IA6CE] %96 :E:?6C2CJ 5C@AA65 ?62C=J 2== :E6>D =:?<65 E@ 2? @C:8:?D D62C49[ 244@C5:?8 E@ 5C27E 286?52D 7@C E96 EC:A @3E2:?65 3J E96 p!] p?5 v2@[ E96 E96?9625 @7 E96 r9:?2 rsr H9@ :D 2=D@ 2 C6DA64E65 D4:6?E:DE E2D<65 H:E9 :?G6DE:82E:?8 E96 @C:8:?D[ H2D =67E @77 E96 D4965F=6]k^Am

kAmx?DE625[ {:2?8 (2??:2?[ 2 A@=:E:4:2? 😕 E96 r@>>F?:DE !2CEJ 9:6C2C49J[ E@@< 492C86 @7 E96 :?E6C?2E:@?2= 56=682E:@?] {:2?8 :D 2? 6A:56>:@=@8:DE 4=@D6 E@ E@A r9:?6D6 @77:4:2=D 2?5 r9:?2VD u@C6:8? |:?:DECJ k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^K6C@4@G:56I:E49:?2C6@A6?:?8:?G6DE:82E:@?_d6`37e5`c6b3ff256ae3f`h_hb24cb3QmH9@ 😀 H:56=J D66? 2D AFD9:?8 E96 A2CEJ =:?6[ ?@E D4:6?46324<65 A@=:4:6Dk^2m[ 244@C5:?8 E@ ?:?6 A6@A=6 72>:=:2C H:E9 E96 D:EF2E:@? H9@ 564=:?65 E@ 36 :56?E:7:65 E@ DA62< @? 2 D6?D:E:G6 DF3;64E]k^Am

kAm{:2?8 CF=65 😕 72G@C @7 D9FEE:?8 E96 (F92? >2C<6E 2E E96 368:??:?8 @7 E96 @FE3C62<[ 244@C5:?8 E@ k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^H63]2C49:G6]@C8^H63^a_aa_e`fabb`cd^9EEAi^^64@?@>J]42:;:?8]4@>]4?^a_a_``ad^cf`fdbg]D9E>=Qm2 r9:?6D6 >65:2 :?E6CG:6H H:E9 2 E@A r9:?2 rsr @77:4:2= E92E H2D =2E6C 56=6E65k^2m] $:8?:7:42?E=J[ :E H2D {:2?8 H9@ AC@>@E65 2? k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^A2?56>:4D36:;:?88=@32=EC2564@C@?2G:CFDA2?56>:449:?2agef`5ehade5gc__`2cf`gfe2e34c_ffQm:>A=2FD:3=6 E96@CJ E92E E96 G:CFD 42>6 7C@> 4@?E2>:?2E65 7C@K6? 7@@5k^2m :>A@CE65 :?E@ r9:?2] {:2?8 5:5 ?@E C6DA@?5 E@ 2? 6>2:=65 C6BF6DE 7@C 4@>>6?E]k^Am

kAm|@DE @7 E96 (w~ 56=682E:@? H2D ?@E 2==@H65 E@ 8@ E@ (F92?[ H9:49 H2D F?56C =@4<5@H?] %96 76H H9@ 5:5 =62C?65 =:EE=6] %96J 282:? 925 ?@ 2446DD E@ E96 (F92? x?DE:EFE6 @7 ':C@=@8J @C E96 H:=5=:76 >2C<6E 2?5 @3E2:?65 @?=J D42?E 56E2:=D 23@FE r9:?2 rsr 677@CED E@ EC246 E96 4@C@?2G:CFD E96C6]k^Am

kAm~? E96 EC2:?[ {:2?8 =@33:65 E96 G:D:E:?8 (w~ D4:6?E:DED E@ AC2:D6 r9:?2D 962=E9 C6DA@?D6 😕 E96:C AF3=:4 C6A@CE] sC] qCF46 pJ=H2C5[ 2 D6?:@C 25G:D6C E@ (w~ s:C64E@Cv6?6C2= %65C@D p592?@> v963C6J6DFD[ D2H :E 2D E96 36DE H2J E@ >66E r9:?2D ?665 7@C 2 DEC@?8 2DD6DD>6?E @7 :ED C6DA@?D6]k^Am

kAm%96 ?6H D64E:@? H2D D@ 7=2EE6C:?8 E92E 4@==628F6D 6>2:=65 pJ=H2C5 E@ DF886DE 96 5:2= :E 324< 2 3:E]k^Am

kAmxE 😀 C6>2C<23=6 9@H >F49 6[ C625 E96 7:?2= C6A@CE[ H9:49 H2D C6G:6H65 3J r9:?2D E@A 962=E9 @77:4:2= 367@C6 :E H6?E E@ %65C@D]k^Am

kAmpD 4C:E:4:D> @7 r9:?2 8C6H[ E96 r9:?6D6 8@G6C?>6?E 567=64E65 3=2>6] x?DE625 @7 7:C:?8 962=E9 @77:4:2=D[ E96J 564=2C65 E96:C G:CFD C6DA@?D6 2 DF446DD 2?5 4=@D65 :?G6DE:82E:@?D :?E@ E96 @77:4:2=D H:E9 76H ;@3 =@DD6D]k^Am

kAm%96C6 H6C6 ?@ C62= C67@C>D[ 3642FD6 5@:?8 C67@C>D >62?D 25>:EE:?8 72F=E[ D2:5 2 AF3=:4 962=E9 6IA6CE 😕 4@?E24E H:E9 r9:?6D6 962=E9 @77:4:2=D H9@ 2D<65 ?@E E@ 36 :56?E:7:65 3642FD6 @7 E96 D6?D:E:G:EJ @7 E96 >2EE6C]k^Am

kAmx? =2E6 u63CF2CJ a_a_[ E96 :?E6C?2E:@?2==J C6DA64E65 5@4E@C +9@?8 }2?D92? k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^H63]2C49:G6]@C8^H63^a_aa_d`_abaecf^9EEADi^^>]49:?2?6HD]4@>^H2A^56E2:=^KHDA^D9^a_a_^_aaf^h`_eb_a]D9E>=Qm2AA62C65 2E 2 ?6HD 4@?76C6?46k^2m 2?5 D2:5 E92E E96 6A:56>:4 7:CDE 2AA62C65 😕 r9:?2[ 3FE :E 5:5 ?@E ?646DD2C:=J @C:8:?2E6 😕 r9:?2]k^Am

kAms2JD =2E6C[ r9:?6D6 =6256C ): k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^F?:E65?2E:@?D4@C@?2G:CFDA2?56>:449:?2@?=J@?2A32EDac73254dg466b2c_342a557f2`c5ahddQm@C56C65 ?6H 4@?EC@=D @? G:CFD C6D62C49k^2m] p =62<65 5:C64E:G6 7C@> r9:?2D !F3=:4:EJ s6A2CE>6?E @C56C65 >65:2 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^49:?25:8:E2=E:>6D]?6E^a_a_^`a^>:?:ECF65:2CJ>2C49`_a_a_E:36E:?56A6?56?464@G:5C6?EC6=:67H9:DE=63=@H6C6A:56>:4EC2?D>:DD:@?2?5EC62E>6?ED^Qm?@E E@ C6A@CE @? E96 G:CFD @C:8:?D H:E9@FE A6C>:DD:@?k^2m[ 2?5 2 AF3=:4 (6r92E 244@F?E C6A@DE65 2? 6DD2J 4=2:>:?8 E96 &]$] >:=:E2CJ 4C62E65 r~'xs`h 2E 2 u@CE s6EC:4< =23 2?5 DAC625 :E E@ r9:?2 5FC:?8 2 a_`h 2E9=6E:4 4@>A6E:E:@? 😕 (F92?] s2JD =2E6C[ 2 r9:?6D6 u@C6:8? |:?:DECJ DA@<6DA6CD@? k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^EH:EE6C]4@>^K=;d`f^DE2EFD^`abg```ghggag_eegabnC670DC4lEHDC4TdtE7HQmC6A62E65 E96 244FD2E:@?k^2m]k^Am

kAm%96 72=D6 4=2:>D 6?C2865 &]$] !C6D:56?E s@?2=5 %CF>A[ H9@ 3682? AF3=:4=J 3=2>:?8 r9:?2 7@C E96 @FE3C62<[ k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^5@?2=5ECF>A2AE@A?6HD2D:24C:>6G:CFD@FE3C62<2f4abb7_3b3453fa4_e442eaf`32ef`bQm42==:?8 r~'xs`h E96 r9:?2 G:CFD 2?5 E96

kAmr9:?6D6 @77:4:2=D E@=5 (w~ E92E 3=@@5 E6DED @? =23 H@C<6CD 2E E96 (F92? x?DE:EFE6 @7 ':C@=@8J H6C6 ?682E:G6[ DF886DE:?8 r~'xs`h H2D?E E96 C6DF=E @7 2 =23 244:56?E E96C6] qFE H96? (w~ AC6DD65 7@C 2? :?56A6?56?E 2F5:E[ r9:?6D6 @77:4:2=D 32=<65 2?5 56>2?565 (w~ :?G6DE:82E6 E96 &]$] 2?5 @E96C 4@F?EC:6D 2D H6==]k^Am

kAmqJ 3=2>:?8 E96 &]$][ q6:;:?8 5:G6CE65 3=2>6] k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^A2?56>:4D36:;:?8@?=J@?2A6A:56>:4D>65:2`aa3fb6`bc3fg_h`h44`g_g7b7e7`e6gQmxE H2D 67764E:G6 😕 r9:?2k^2m[ H96C6 >2?J r9:?6D6 H6C6 FAD6E 3J k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^86?6C2=?6HD5@>6DE:4?6HD5@>6DE:4?6HDc5adfbg23chdhf5_56`d`fbgb2h`_g5aQmC24:2==J 492C865 4C:E:4:D>k^2m] qFE @FED:56 r9:?2[ :E 7F6=65 DA64F=2E:@? @7 2 =23 =62< 4@G6CFA]k^Am

kAmqJ E96 E:>6 (w~ =65 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^H9@E62>2CC:G6DHF92?G:CFD@C:8:?D53b6h254372g_`5b6gafc4`hfe62d745Qm2?@E96C G:D:E E@ (F92?k^2m 😕 y2?F2CJ a_a`[ 2 J62C :?E@ E96 A2?56>:4[ E96 2E>@DA96C6 H2D E@I:4]k^Am

kAm{:2?8[ E96 r9:?6D6 962=E9 @77:4:2= 😕 492C86 @7 EH@ 62C=:6C (w~ G:D:ED[ 4@?E:?F65 E@ AC@>@E6 E96 BF6DE:@?23=6 E96@CJ E92E E96 G:CFD H2D D9:AA65 :?E@ r9:?2 @? 7C@K6? 7@@5] w6 DFAAC6DD65 :?7@C>2E:@? DF886DE:?8 :E 4@F=5 92G6 4@>6 7C@> 2?:>2=D 2E E96 (F92? >2C<6E[ @C82?:K:?8 >2C<6E H@C<6CD E@ E6== (w~ 6IA6CED ?@ =:G6 H:=5=:76 H2D D@=5 2?5 4FEE:?8 C646?E A9@E@D @7 H:=5=:76 2E E96 >2C<6E 7C@> E96 7:?2= C6A@CE] %96C6 H2D 962GJ A@=:E:42= D4CFE:?J[ H:E9 ?F>6C@FD r9:?6D6 @77:4:2=D H9@ H6C6?E D4:6?E:DED @C 962=E9 @77:46CD AC6D6?E 2E >66E:?8D]k^Am

kAms6DA:E6 2 =24< @7 5:C64E 2446DD[ E96 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^H9@C6A@CE2?:>2=DD@FC464@G:5`h4@C@?2G:CFDg2gbh4`fh4bb_4de72ce2feb3fage2f7Qm(w~ E62> 4@?4=F565k^2m E92E 2 =23 =62< H2D 6IEC6>6=J F?=:<6=J] $@ :E H2D :?7FC:2E:?8 E@ r9:?6D6 @77:4:2=D H96? (w~ 49:67 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^;@63:56?H@C=5?6HD962=E9D4:6?464@C@?2G:CFDA2?56>:44_4dhc7h_e_7efe4_62cg4a5`4eh5264Qm%65C@Dk^2m D2:5 :E H2D k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^;@63:56?H@C=5?6HD962=E9D4:6?464@C@?2G:CFDA2?56>:44_4dhc7h_e_7efe4_62cg4a5`4eh5264QmAC6>2EFC6k^2m E@ CF=6 @FE E96 =23 =62< E96@CJ[ D2J:?8 DF49 =23 244:56?ED H6C6 4@>>@?[ 2?5 AC6DD65 r9:?2 E@ 36 >@C6 EC2?DA2C6?E]k^Am

kAmr9:?2 E@=5 (w~ 2?J 7FEFC6 >:DD:@?D E@ 7:?5 r~'xs`h @C:8:?D D9@F=5 36 6=D6H96C6[ 244@C5:?8 E@ 2 =6EE6C @3E2:?65 3J p!] $:?46 E96?[ 8=@32= 4@@A6C2E:@? @? E96 :DDF6 92D 8C@F?5 E@ 2 92=Ej 2? :?56A6?56?E 8C@FA 4@?G6?65 3J (w~ E@ :?G6DE:82E6 E96 @C:8:?D @7 r~'xs`h 😕 a_a` 92D 366? DEJ>:65 3J E96 =24< @7 4@@A6C2E:@? 7C@> r9:?2 2?5 @E96C :DDF6D]k^Am

kAmr9:?6D6 D4:6?E:DED 2C6 DE:== F?56C 962GJ AC6DDFC6[ 244@C5:?8 E@ `_ C6D62C496CD 2?5 962=E9@77:4:2=D] #6D62C496CD H9@ AF3=:D965 A2A6CD @? E96 4@C@?2G:CFD C2? :?E@ EC@F3=6 H:E9 r9:?6D6 2FE9@C:E:6D] ~E96CD H6C6 32CC65 7C@> EC2G6= 23C@25 7@C 4@?76C6?46D 2?5 (w~ >66E:?8D] v2@[ E96 E96?5:C64E@C @7 E96 r9:?2 rsr[ H2D :?G6DE:82E65 27E6C k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^4@C@?2G:CFDA2?56>:4962=E97hg5fbcfe2`2chca42ddag72d5777f_7Qm&]$] !C6D:56?E y@6 q:56? @C56C65 2 C6G:6Hk^2m @7 r~'xs`h 52E2[ 2?5 282:? 27E6C 8:G:?8 :?E6CG:6HD @? E96 G:CFD @C:8:?D]k^Am

kAm}6H 6G:56?46 😀 EC62E65 H:E9 DFDA:4:@?] x? |2C49 a_ab[ D4:6?E:DED 2??@F?465 E92E 86?6E:4 >2E6C:2= 4@==64E65 7C@> E96 >2C<6E D9@H65 k2 9C67lQ9EEADi^^2A?6HD]4@>^2CE:4=6^4@G:5G:CFD@C:8:?D4@C@?2G:CFD=23=62:I65 H:E9 r~'xs`h 😕 62C=J a_a_[ 52E2 E92E (w~ D2:5 D9@F=5 92G6 366? AF3=:4=J D92C65 J62CD 367@C6] %96 7:?5:?8D H6C6 A@DE65[ E96? C6>@G65 3J r9:?6D6 C6D62C496CD H:E9 =:EE=6 6IA=2?2E:@?]k^Am

kAm%96 9625 @7 E96 r9:?2 rsr x?DE:EFE6 @7 ':C2= s:D62D6 H2D 7@C465 E@ C6E:C6 @G6C E96 C6=62D6 @7 E96 >2C<6E 52E2[ 244@C5:?8 E@ 2 7@C>6C r9:?2 rsr @77:4:2= H9@ 564=:?65 E@ 36 ?2>65 E@ DA62< @? 2 D6?D:E:G6 E@A:4]k^Am

kAmxE 92D E@ 5@ H:E9 E96 @C:8:?D[ D@ E96JC6 DE:== H@CC:65[ E96 7@C>6C @77:4:2= D2:5] x7 J@F ECJ 2?5 86E E@ E96 3@EE@> @7 :E[ H92E :7 :E EFC?D @FE E@ 36 7C@> r9:?2nk^Am

kAm~E96C D4:6?E:DED ?@E6 E92E 2?J 2?:>2= 7C@> H9:49 E96 G:CFD >2J 92G6 @C:8:?2==J ;F>A65 92D =@?8 D:?46 5:D2AA62C65]k^Am

kAm%96C6 H2D 2 492?46 7@C r9:?2 E@ 4@@A6C2E6 H:E9 (w~ 2?5 5@ D@>6 2?:>2= D2>A=:?8 DEF5:6D E92E >:89E 92G6 2?DH6C65 E96 BF6DE:@?[ D2:5 %F=2?6 &?:G6CD:EJD v2CCJ] %96 EC2:= E@ 7:?5 E96 D@FC46 92D ?@H 8@?6 4@=5]k^Am

k9C ^m

kAmr96?8 C6A@CE65 7C@> v6?6G2]k^Am

Go here to see the original:

Toxic: How the search for the origins of COVID-19 turned politically poisonous - Albuquerque Journal

UNM research analyzes government intervention and COVID-19 pandemic – UNM Newsroom

Posted on by

While theres a strong determination worldwide to return to a new normal in a post-COVID world, the pandemic is nearly impossible to forget. A large amount of data also provides insight we may not want to move past just yethow we handled it.

UNM Political Science Associate Professor and Chair Jami Nelson-Nuez is evaluating COVID policies in a research paper titled, Non-pharmaceutical interventions to combat COVID-19 in the Americas described through daily sub-national data, published

Jami Nelson-Nuez

recently in the journal, Scientific Data, a Nature publication. Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, she and an international team of researchers investigated the impact of Latin American governments' actions and plans.

Like in the U.S., politics at national, state and local levels influenced decisions on COVID-19 mitigation around the world impacting cases, deaths, hospitalizations, jobs and education. Nelson-Nuez specifically looked at the cause and effect of policies and politics in Bolivia through months of data.

Bolivia is a really interesting case because they have a system that's mainly decentralized creating a lot of variation across different regions. Our main focus was looking at the effects of policies and how they evolved, Nelson-Nuez said. We were extremely productive on the project and our work shed light on the political intersection of the pandemic in Bolivia and how that spoke to what was happening in several other countries.

This tied into what was going on in the United States. It was a deeply political time in our country.These political patterns were reflected across several countries, making for an interesting comparative study. UNM Political Science Associate Professor Jami Nelson-Nuez

The pandemic occurred at a time of upheaval in national politics in Bolivia. After an already tumultuous fall 2019 election, Bolivias transitional government lacked legitimacy and the country was deeply divided.

There was a conflict that had been bubbling for a while. The country was in a moment of crisis of contested leadership. It was interesting to follow how the dynamics of the pandemic in Bolivia were shaped by these political complexities throughout the country, Nelson-Nuez said.

When the elections were postponed a second time, tens of thousands of Bolivians across the country rushed to the streets and protested for months. Part of those protests in some places included creating blockades so that medical equipment couldn't get through.

Bolivia has always been an outlier when it comes to protest. Its people have always been highly mobilized and able to overcome those collective action problems to mount significant protests, Nelson-Nuez said. There's a history in Bolivia of people marching for days to the central government and then occupying the streets in the capital.

With that unrest,non-pharmaceutical interventions(NPIs) were few and far between. A large governmental response given the challenge of already weak state capacity in health services made it difficult to make and enforce coherent policies.

The central government was trying to figure out how to steer the ship for the whole country, while regional and local actors were contesting these decisions, Nelson-Nuez said. The politics and the dynamics of multi-level governance can render local communities very vulnerable to these types of events.

Even with the NPIs and guidance issued over time, it was too little too late. The hospital system fully collapsed in the summer of 2020.

Additionally, given the state of leadership, although some NPIs were issued, there needed to be more public trust to abide by government policies and enable governments to make and enforce policies.Her colleagues found similar results in other Latin American countries.

Underlying disparities in health are political. Underneath health realities are important political factors, and if we ignore those, we really don't understand how and why pandemics are occurring or why health disparities are emerging in the way that they are, Nelson-Nuez said.

Nelson-Nuez says this research is one of many ways public health and politics are intertwined.

Sometimes people don't understand political science. As a discipline, we study power, which means we study resources and the distribution of those resources, Nelson-Nuez said. Health is a resource, and access to services is a resource. We can see political factors across the world that shape the ability of diseases to spread and how deadline global health emergencies can be.

Read this article:

UNM research analyzes government intervention and COVID-19 pandemic - UNM Newsroom

General Information About At-Home OTC COVID-19 Diagnostic Tests – FDA.gov

Posted on by

Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough, Inc.: BinaxNOW COVID-19 Ag Card Home Test

Abbott Diagnostics Scarborough, Inc.: BinaxNOW COVID-19 Antigen Self Test

Access Bio, Inc.: CareStart COVID-19 Antigen Home Test

Alternate brand name:

ACON Laboratories, Inc: Flowflex COVID-19 Antigen Home Test

Alternate brand name:

Aptitude Medical Systems Inc.: Metrix COVID-19 Test

Celltrion USA, Inc.: Celltrion DiaTrust COVID-19 Ag Home Test

CorDx, Inc. CorDx TyFast Flu A/B & COVID-19 At Home Multiplex Rapid Test

CTK Biotech, Inc.: ImmuView COVID-19 Antigen Home Test

Cue Health Inc.: Cue COVID-19 Test for Home and Over The Counter (OTC) Use

Ellume Limited: Ellume COVID-19 Home Test

Genabio Diagnostics Inc.: Genabio COVID-19 Rapid Self-Test Kit

iHealth Labs, Inc.: iHealth COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test

Alternate brand name:

InBios International Inc: SCoV-2 Ag Detect Rapid Self-Test

Immunostics Inc.: Swab-N-Go Home Test COVID-19 Ag

PfizerInc: Lucira CHECK-IT COVID-19 Test Kit

Maxim Biomedical, Inc.: MaximBio ClearDetect COVID-19 Antigen Home Test

Mologic, Inc.: COVI-Go SARS-CoV-2 Ag Self-Test

OraSure Technologies, Inc.: InteliSwab COVID-19 Rapid Test

OSANG LLC: OHC COVID-19 Antigen Self Test

Alternate brand name:

OSANG LLC: QuickFinder COVID-19/Flu Antigen Self Test

PHASE Scientific International, Ltd.: INDICAID COVID-19 Rapid Antigen At-Home Test

Quidel Corporation: QuickVue At-Home OTC COVID-19 Test

Alternative Brand Names:

SD Biosensor, Inc.: Pilot COVID-19 At-Home Test

FDA Safety Communication - Recall of Certain Lots

Siemens Healthineers: CLINITEST Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test

Watmind USA: Speedy Swab Rapid COVID-19 Antigen Self-Test

Xiamen Boson Biotech Co., Ltd.: Rapid SARS-CoV-2 Antigen Test Card

SEKISUI Diagnostics, LLC.: OSOM COVID-19 Antigen Home Test

Beijing Hotgen Biotech Co., Ltd.: Hotgen COVID-19 Antigen Home Test

CorDX, Inc.: CorDx COVID-19 Ag Test

Azure Biotech Inc.: Fastep COVID-19 Antigen Home Test

Oceanit Foundry LLC: ASSURE-100 Rapid COVID-19

Advin Biotech Inc.: Advin COVID-19 Antigen Test @Home

GenBody Inc.: GenBody COVID-19 Ag Home Test

Azure Biotech, Inc.: Azure FaStep COVID-19 Antigen Pen Home Test

Pfizer Inc.: Lucira by Pfizer COVID-19 & Flu Home Test

Princeton BioMeditech Corp: Status COVID-19 Antigen Rapid Test for Home Use

Nano-Ditech Corporation: Nano-Check COVID-19 Antigen At-Home Test

BioTeke USA, LLC: Bio-Self COVID-19 Antigen Home Test

3EO Health, Inc.: 3EO Health COVID-19 Test

SEKISUI Diagnostics, LLC: OSOM Flu SARS-CoV-2 Combo Home Test

Read the rest here:

General Information About At-Home OTC COVID-19 Diagnostic Tests - FDA.gov

Man dies after 613-day COVID-19 infection that underwent 50 mutations – Scripps News

Posted on by

A new reportby Dutch scientists revealed a very peculiar case: On Feb. 2022, a 72-year-old man with a compromised immune system was admitted to Amsterdam University Medical Center with aCOVID-19infection. The virus in his body proceeded to evolve over the course of 613 days, leading to a highly mutated variant that ultimately killed him.

According to the study, the man, whose identity was not disclosed, suffered from a blood disorder. Despite receiving multiple doses of the SARS-CoV-2 vaccine, his compromised immune system made him unable to generate a detectable antibody response, allowing the virus to continue to evolve into a "novel immune-evasive variant" that had mutated over 50 times. The man died from his underlying blood disorder after fighting COVID for nearly two years, the scientists from the University of Amsterdams Centre for Experimental and Molecular Medicine stated.

This case underscores the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections in immunocompromised individuals as unique SARS-CoV-2 viral variants may emerge due to extensive intra-host evolution," the study authors stated ina press release. "We emphasize the importance of continuing genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised individuals with persistent infections given the potential public health threat of possibly introducing viral escape variants into the community.

While the study notes there have been cases in which people have tested positive for COVID-19 for hundreds of days, this case is the longest reported by far. Furthermore, researchers say the rare variant found in this patient hasn't been reported in anyone else, but emphasize the need for more study to protect the public from potential new variants.

The researchers say they plan to further present this study at the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases Global Congress in Barcelona, Spain, startingthis weekend.

The rest is here:

Man dies after 613-day COVID-19 infection that underwent 50 mutations - Scripps News

Criminal Prosecutions Of Illegal Immigrants Stopped When Coronavirus Hit. They Never Resumed – The Daily Wire

Posted on by

President Joe Biden has largely given up on criminally prosecuting illegal immigrants for crossing the border, with the number of prosecutions of serious immigration offenses lower during every year of the Biden administration than any year of the Trump or Obama administrations, a Daily Wire analysis of newly-released data shows.

The prosecutions have screeched to a virtual halt under Biden. In 2018, the Department of Justice charged 84,000 people with illegal entry, a misdemeanor. The total number charged with this misdemeanor during the entire three-year period from 2021 to 2023 was 11,000, according to a Daily Wire analysis of Department Of Justice data only 4% of the old rate.

Illegals who re-enter the country after they have already been deported once are committing a felony. In 2019, the DOJ charged 27,000 people with that crime. In 2023, the number was about half that, at 14,000. This comes as the number of illegal crossings has skyrocketed, making the decrease even more striking.

The apparent decision to rely on, at best, civil deportation proceedings instead of bringing criminal charges particularly in more egregious cases such as those who re-enter the country after already having been deported contradicts Bidens claim that he needs new authorities from Congress in order to secure the border.

Criminal cases against illegal immigrants essentially ceased in April 2020 when courts closed due to the coronavirus pandemic. In March 2020, 4,000 illegals were charged with entry and 2,000 with felony reentry; by April those numbers were only 671 and 960. Criminal cases for illegal entry remained essentially nonexistent during the coronavirus-lockdown period of the rest of 2020, at 13 cases in December, while felony illegal reentry charges were at half their earlier levels.

Joe Biden took office in January 2021, and the coronavirus pandemic receded. Yet criminal enforcement of immigration laws never returned.

In December 2023, the most recent month with data, a mere 708 people were charged with illegal entry and 1,236 with felony reentry. Compare that to December 2018, when those numbers were nearly 7,000 and 2,000, respectively.

The peak of criminal enforcement during the Trump administration came in June 2018, when the numbers were 9,500 and 2,237. Border apprehensions decreased, which the administration argued showed that its efforts were working as a deterrent. By comparison, the current record-low prosecution of illegal border crossing comes as crossings are at all-time highs.

The change is not simply an expected difference between Republican and Democrat administrations. Rather, Biden has taken a more lenient posture towards illegals than Barack Obama, the Democrat president for whom he served as vice president.

Though detailed data only goes back to 2019, the Executive Office of US Attorneys released annual statistics last month that make it possible to track a longer period. That data shows cases prosecuted by the Department of Justice pursuant to a referral by the Department of Homeland Security, though it doesnt include most misdemeanor illegal-entry charges. They show that the number of illegals charged with serious immigration crimes in each year of the Biden administration was lower than any year since at least 2009.

Neither the Department of Homeland Security nor the Department of Justice responded to requests for comment.

In 2011, the Obama administration brought 37,000 serious cases referred by DHS almost twice as many as Biden did last year. But after he won re-election to a second term, he lowered that number every year, ending at 27,000 in 2016.

The Trump administration took a few years to get back to the levels of Obamas first term, reaching 36,607 cases in 2019 but never actually surpassing Obamas peak, according to the DOJ data covering serious immigration crimes.

But it smashed records when it came to misdemeanor charges for illegal first-time entry. Although the criminal charge is less serious, it captures a significantly larger number of people.

In FY 2018, more than 68,400 defendants were charged with misdemeanor illegal entry. This is the highest number of such defendants charged since EOUSA started to track this category and an almost 86 percent increase from the previous year. This total is also more than 4 percent higher than the previous record of over 65,500 defendants set in FY 2013, the Trump administration said in a 2018 press release.

Gene Hamilton, who served in the DOJ during the Trump administration and now works as general counsel for America First Legal, which is helmed by Trump immigration czar Stephen Miller, told The Daily Wire that crossing the border illegally is a crime, prosecutable in criminal court, but the Biden administration has chosen to treat it like a traffic ticket, causing word to get out in Latin America that there is little reason not to try to come to the United States.

Given the number of illegal aliens crossing the border, you should be seeing all-time records for prosecutions for crossing the border illegally, but youre not, Hamilton said. They have removed a deterrent. The ultimate thing that matters to people is whether they make it into the country and are released and they call home and tell their family. If people know they could be criminally prosecuted, it acts as a deterrent and reduces the number of people who come in the first place.

Debate about immigration has rarely discussed the criminal figures, instead focusing on the number of civil deportation proceedings, which in the Biden administration have stacked up into a record backlog. But criminal charges, with the prospect of punishment instead of merely turning them away, can be filed for illegal entry, illegal reentry, alien smuggling, and immigration fraud.

While the Trump administration sought to create a deterrent by emphasizing prosecutions of misdemeanor, first-time border crossings, Biden has departed from historical norms by rarely prosecuting even those who commit felony re-entryrecidivist criminals who have shown that a gentle approach did not work.

In a report on fiscal year 2022 data, the United States Sentencing Commission said that illegal reentry prosecutions had decreased by 34% since 2018. It said that 97.6% of illegal reentry offenders were men, their average age was 39, and many had extensive criminal histories. It said 99.3% of convicts are sentenced to prison, for an average of 13 months.

See original here:

Criminal Prosecutions Of Illegal Immigrants Stopped When Coronavirus Hit. They Never Resumed - The Daily Wire

The Longest Case of COVID-19 Lasted 613 Days – Healthnews.com

Posted on by

For most, COVID-19 symptoms last for a few weeks before passing. New research from the Netherlands finds a patient suffered from the respiratory virus for nearly two years before his death.

A Dutch man with a poor immune system lived with a high-mutated novel variant of COVID-19 for 613 days, according to the University of Amsterdams Centre for Experimental and Molecular Medicine (CEMM). The case is known as the longest bout of COVID-19.

Healthy patients diagnosed with COVID-19 typically recover from mild cases of the virus within a few weeks. However, immunocompromised individuals may develop a persistent infection with increased adverse effects that can evolve such as the Omicron variant, which originated in a patient with a weakened immune system.

A European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases release says the study led by Magda Vergouwe of the CEMM describes a male patient who was admitted to the Amsterdam University Medical Center in February 2022 due to COVID-19. He was infected with the Omicron SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.1.17.

The patient suffered from myelodysplastic and myeloproliferative overlap syndrome due to a stem cell transplant. In myelodysplastic diseases, immature blood cells in bone barrow do not mature and become healthy blood cells. Meanwhile, myeloproliferative diseases result in a total number of blood cells slow increasing.

This case underscores the risk of persistent SARS-CoV-2 infections in immunocompromised individuals as unique SARS-CoV-2 viral variants may emerge due to extensive intra-host evolution, study authors said. We emphasise the importance of continuing genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 evolution in immunocompromised individuals with persistent infections given the potential public health threat of possibly introducing viral escape variants into the community.

The 72-year-old patient had previously received multiple COVID-19 vaccinations. He was treated with multiple antibody medications without any response and within 21 days, the man developed a mutation that resisted sotrovimab, one of the antibody medications. In the full genome sequencing of the virus that persisted for 613 days, researchers uncovered it had undergone 50 genetic code mutations.

The ESCMID Global release says study authors note there must be a balance between protecting the masses from new variants and providing care for these terminally ill patients. Also, scientists emphasize while there is an increased chance of novel variants in those with weakened immune systems, it is not the case for each patient.

The duration of SARS-CoV-2 infection in this described case is extreme, but prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients are much more common compared to the general community. Further work by our team includes describing a cohort of prolonged infections in immunocompromised patients from our hospital with infection durations varying between 1 month and 2 years.

The complete research of this unique COVID-19 case will be presented at the ESCMID Global Congress in Barcelona which runs from April 27-30.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) updated its COVID-19 guidelines in March, no longer recommending isolation following a positive test. Those who are infected should wear a high-quality mask or respirator when around others, monitor symptoms, and contact a healthcare provider for possible treatments. The CDC reported 6,406 COVID-19 hospitalizations last week, a 13.8% drop.

However, COVID-19 can still be a threat to those with weak immune systems like the 72-year-old Dutch man. The CDC highlights those who are immunocompromised have lesser defenses against infections. Those six months and older who are moderately to severely immunocompromised are recommended to receive at least one dose of the updated 2023-24 COVID-19 vaccine.

The CDC says people with weakened immune symptoms may reach out to their healthcare provider for possible antiviral medications. Recovering from COVID-19 for immunocompromised patients may take longer than the normal few weeks

More here:

The Longest Case of COVID-19 Lasted 613 Days - Healthnews.com

Takeaways from AP report on how the search for the coronavirus origins turned toxic – goskagit.com

Posted on by

State Alabama Alaska Arizona Arkansas California Colorado Connecticut Delaware Florida Georgia Hawaii Idaho Illinois Indiana Iowa Kansas Kentucky Louisiana Maine Maryland Massachusetts Michigan Minnesota Mississippi Missouri Montana Nebraska Nevada New Hampshire New Jersey New Mexico New York North Carolina North Dakota Ohio Oklahoma Oregon Pennsylvania Rhode Island South Carolina South Dakota Tennessee Texas Utah Vermont Virginia Washington Washington D.C. West Virginia Wisconsin Wyoming Puerto Rico US Virgin Islands Armed Forces Americas Armed Forces Pacific Armed Forces Europe Northern Mariana Islands Marshall Islands American Samoa Federated States of Micronesia Guam Palau Alberta, Canada British Columbia, Canada Manitoba, Canada New Brunswick, Canada Newfoundland, Canada Nova Scotia, Canada Northwest Territories, Canada Nunavut, Canada Ontario, Canada Prince Edward Island, Canada Quebec, Canada Saskatchewan, Canada Yukon Territory, Canada

Zip Code

Country United States of America US Virgin Islands United States Minor Outlying Islands Canada Mexico, United Mexican States Bahamas, Commonwealth of the Cuba, Republic of Dominican Republic Haiti, Republic of Jamaica Afghanistan Albania, People's Socialist Republic of Algeria, People's Democratic Republic of American Samoa Andorra, Principality of Angola, Republic of Anguilla Antarctica (the territory South of 60 deg S) Antigua and Barbuda Argentina, Argentine Republic Armenia Aruba Australia, Commonwealth of Austria, Republic of Azerbaijan, Republic of Bahrain, Kingdom of Bangladesh, People's Republic of Barbados Belarus Belgium, Kingdom of Belize Benin, People's Republic of Bermuda Bhutan, Kingdom of Bolivia, Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana, Republic of Bouvet Island (Bouvetoya) Brazil, Federative Republic of British Indian Ocean Territory (Chagos Archipelago) British Virgin Islands Brunei Darussalam Bulgaria, People's Republic of Burkina Faso Burundi, Republic of Cambodia, Kingdom of Cameroon, United Republic of Cape Verde, Republic of Cayman Islands Central African Republic Chad, Republic of Chile, Republic of China, People's Republic of Christmas Island Cocos (Keeling) Islands Colombia, Republic of Comoros, Union of the Congo, Democratic Republic of Congo, People's Republic of Cook Islands Costa Rica, Republic of Cote D'Ivoire, Ivory Coast, Republic of the Cyprus, Republic of Czech Republic Denmark, Kingdom of Djibouti, Republic of Dominica, Commonwealth of Ecuador, Republic of Egypt, Arab Republic of El Salvador, Republic of Equatorial Guinea, Republic of Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Islands Falkland Islands (Malvinas) Fiji, Republic of the Fiji Islands Finland, Republic of France, French Republic French Guiana French Polynesia French Southern Territories Gabon, Gabonese Republic Gambia, Republic of the Georgia Germany Ghana, Republic of Gibraltar Greece, Hellenic Republic Greenland Grenada Guadaloupe Guam Guatemala, Republic of Guinea, Revolutionary People's Rep'c of Guinea-Bissau, Republic of Guyana, Republic of Heard and McDonald Islands Holy See (Vatican City State) Honduras, Republic of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China Hrvatska (Croatia) Hungary, Hungarian People's Republic Iceland, Republic of India, Republic of Indonesia, Republic of Iran, Islamic Republic of Iraq, Republic of Ireland Israel, State of Italy, Italian Republic Japan Jordan, Hashemite Kingdom of Kazakhstan, Republic of Kenya, Republic of Kiribati, Republic of Korea, Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Republic of Kuwait, State of Kyrgyz Republic Lao People's Democratic Republic Latvia Lebanon, Lebanese Republic Lesotho, Kingdom of Liberia, Republic of Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Liechtenstein, Principality of Lithuania Luxembourg, Grand Duchy of Macao, Special Administrative Region of China Macedonia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Madagascar, Republic of Malawi, Republic of Malaysia Maldives, Republic of Mali, Republic of Malta, Republic of Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania, Islamic Republic of Mauritius Mayotte Micronesia, Federated States of Moldova, Republic of Monaco, Principality of Mongolia, Mongolian People's Republic Montserrat Morocco, Kingdom of Mozambique, People's Republic of Myanmar Namibia Nauru, Republic of Nepal, Kingdom of Netherlands Antilles Netherlands, Kingdom of the New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua, Republic of Niger, Republic of the Nigeria, Federal Republic of Niue, Republic of Norfolk Island Northern Mariana Islands Norway, Kingdom of Oman, Sultanate of Pakistan, Islamic Republic of Palau Palestinian Territory, Occupied Panama, Republic of Papua New Guinea Paraguay, Republic of Peru, Republic of Philippines, Republic of the Pitcairn Island Poland, Polish People's Republic Portugal, Portuguese Republic Puerto Rico Qatar, State of Reunion Romania, Socialist Republic of Russian Federation Rwanda, Rwandese Republic Samoa, Independent State of San Marino, Republic of Sao Tome and Principe, Democratic Republic of Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of Senegal, Republic of Serbia and Montenegro Seychelles, Republic of Sierra Leone, Republic of Singapore, Republic of Slovakia (Slovak Republic) Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia, Somali Republic South Africa, Republic of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands Spain, Spanish State Sri Lanka, Democratic Socialist Republic of St. Helena St. Kitts and Nevis St. Lucia St. Pierre and Miquelon St. Vincent and the Grenadines Sudan, Democratic Republic of the Suriname, Republic of Svalbard & Jan Mayen Islands Swaziland, Kingdom of Sweden, Kingdom of Switzerland, Swiss Confederation Syrian Arab Republic Taiwan, Province of China Tajikistan Tanzania, United Republic of Thailand, Kingdom of Timor-Leste, Democratic Republic of Togo, Togolese Republic Tokelau (Tokelau Islands) Tonga, Kingdom of Trinidad and Tobago, Republic of Tunisia, Republic of Turkey, Republic of Turkmenistan Turks and Caicos Islands Tuvalu Uganda, Republic of Ukraine United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe

Follow this link:

Takeaways from AP report on how the search for the coronavirus origins turned toxic - goskagit.com