Christian & Timbers Appoints Financial Strategist Bill Nash as CFO at Aerospace Pioneer Ursa Major – Chronicle-Tribune

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

The rest is here:

Christian & Timbers Appoints Financial Strategist Bill Nash as CFO at Aerospace Pioneer Ursa Major - Chronicle-Tribune

Alumis TYK2 Blocker Clears Phase II in Plaque Psoriasis on Heels of Series C – BioSpace

Posted on by

Pictured: Woman scratching psoriatic lesions on her elbow/iStock, helivideo

Alumis on Saturday posted promising data from the Phase II STRIDE study demonstrating that its investigational TYK2 inhibitor ESK-001 can significantly reduce the severity of lesions in patients with moderate-to severe plaque psoriasis.

The results, presented during a late-breaking session at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, showed that all dose levels and schedules of ESK-001 resulted in a significantly higher proportion of patients achieving a 75% improvement on the Psoriasis Area and Severity Score (PASI), which is a widely used tool to evaluate the severity of psoriasis.

At week 12, 64.1% of patients treated with a 40-mg, twice-daily regimen achieved the endpoint, also known as PASI-75. Meanwhile, 56.4% of those assigned to the 20-mg, twice-daily and 40-mg, once-daily schedules met the same outcome. These data were all significantly higher than in the placebo group, in which no participant achieved PASI-75.

Even the lowest dosing regimen of 10-mg, once-daily ESK-001 elicited a significantly higher rate of PASI-75 than placebo.

Alumis CMO Jrn Drappa in a statement said that these data support the potential for a best-in-class profile for ESK-001 in psoriasis, pointing to patients who demonstrated a high degree of clinical improvement at week 12 that continued to increase over time.

The biotech is now preparing to take ESK-001 into Phase III trials, with an eye toward launching the drug as an oral therapy with a better efficacy profile than current treatments on the market, Alumis CEO Martin Babler said in a statement. The company will also advance the candidate in other immune-mediated indications.

ESK-001 is a highly selective allosteric inhibitor of the TYK2 protein. The oral drug candidate works by dampening signaling through the IL-12, IL-13 and interferon- receptors, tempering the bodys immune and inflammatory responses.

In STRIDE, this mechanism of action also helped ESK-001 meet key secondary endpoints. At the highest dosing schedule40-mg twice-daily38.5% of treated participants achieved PASI-90, while 15.4% reached PASI-100, indicating a 100% improvement in PASI scores.

In terms of safety, ESK-001 was overall well-tolerated, inducing no treatment-related serious adverse events. Study dropouts due to side effects were low and the study did not find signs of toxicities associated with JAK inhibition.

STRIDEs open-label extension phase, which followed patients up to 16 weeks, likewise showed that PASI endpoint responses increased even further and that ESK-001 continued to be well-tolerated.

Saturdays readout comes days after Alumis closed its $259 million Series C funding round to help bring ESK-001 into late-stage development. The candidate will help it compete with Bristol Myers Squibb, which owns the TYK2 inhibitor Sotyktu that won the FDAs approval in September 2022 for the treatment of moderate-to-sever plaque psoriasis.

Tristan Manalac is an independent science writer based in Metro Manila, Philippines. Reach out to him on LinkedIn or email him at tristan@tristanmanalac.com or tristan.manalac@biospace.com.

View original post here:

Alumis TYK2 Blocker Clears Phase II in Plaque Psoriasis on Heels of Series C - BioSpace

Communicating With Patients With Psoriasis With Skin of Color – MD Magazine

Posted on by

This is a video synopsis/summary of a panel discussion involving Linda Stein Gold, MD; Mona Shahriari, MD, FAAD; and Seemal Desai, MD.

In this conversation, the participants discuss the complexities of treating patients with skin of color who have psoriasis, emphasizing the need for a holistic approach to care. They explore the cultural sensitivities surrounding skin conditions, acknowledging the stigma and isolation that patients may experience, particularly in cultures valuing fair skin.

The importance of recognizing and addressing cultural concerns during patient encounters is highlighted, with a focus on leaving biases behind and creating a judgment-free environment. The participants stress the significance of building trust and understanding individual patient needs and expectations.

Practical strategies for initiating conversations about cultural implications and treatment preferences are discussed, emphasizing the importance of active listening and collaboration in the decision-making process. Building a strong patient-provider relationship is seen as crucial for improving treatment adherence and overall patient outcomes.

Ultimately, the conversation underscores the importance of patient-centered care and the ongoing effort to break down barriers that may exist within the healthcare system, with the goal of providing personalized and effective treatment for all patients.

Video synopsis is AI-generated and reviewed by HCPLive editorial staff.

See more here:

Communicating With Patients With Psoriasis With Skin of Color - MD Magazine

Frontline Forum Part 2: Challenges and Opportunities to Enhance Psoriasis Management – Dermatology Times

Posted on by

Before reading, review part 1 here.

The panel delved into the specific needs of patients with melanin-rich skin and provided valuable insights into optimizing psoriasis care for this patient population. They noted that some patients have expressed distrust in the health care system or experience with clinical trials and may prefer topical treatments oversystemic agents.

When it comes to putting [patients with skin of color] on a systemic agent, a lot of them have distrust in the health care system or experience with clinical trials. They dont always want to go on a systemic [treatment], Shahriari said. Theyd rather go on a topical [treatment], and [with] our older-generation special topical corticosteroids, a big concern was hypopigmentation or other pigmentary alterations. In the scalp, the formulations we had werent ideal for tightlycoiled hairs.

The panel also discussed the potential risk of hypopigmentation and other pigmentary alterations with older topical corticosteroids and the need for newer formulations. We want to simplify the treatment regimen. We want to pay attention to skin of color and the hypopigmentation that can come from topical steroids, Stein Gold explained. We want to do a more holistic treatment for the patients [with] psoriasis where we can treat short term as well as a long term. It doesnt mean we wont use combination therapy with these new topicals, combination with topical steroids or systemic agents, but I think theyre [an] important addition to the treatment arm inthis area.

The panelists highlighted the significance of tailored treatment approaches for patients with melanin-rich skin, with Kircik noting, When you look at the statistics, theres so much discordance between the perception of the disease by the provider vs the patient and it doesnt match. This insight underscores the need for health care providers to understand and address the unique experiences and perceptions of psoriasis in patients with melanin-rich skin.

Stein Gold, Shahriari, and Cameron explored emerging oral treatments for the management of plaque psoriasis, emphasizing the novelty of TYK2 inhibition. They discussed the unique POETYK PSO-LTE (NCT04036435) trial design, stressing the importance of the inclusion of an active control arm. Shahriari explained the significance of trials for deucravacitinib (Sotyktu; Bristol Myers Squibb), stating, We had our POETYK PSO trials, which were the pivotal trials for deucravacitinib. And apremilast, our other oral agent on the market, was theactive comparator.

The POETYK PSO-LTE clinical trial assessed the 3-year results of deucravacitinib treatment in adult patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis. The trial included 1519 patients who received at least1 dose of deucravacitinib acrossmultiple phases.1

Shahriari provided an overview of the evolution of treatments for plaque psoriasis, stating, After the 2000s, we decided to become more targeted and specific in our treatments for plaque psoriasis, and thats when the era of the biologics started. The panel shared insights into the pivotal role of biologic agents in the shift toward more targeted and specific treatments forplaque psoriasis.

Han discussed diversity within the IL-17 family of biologic agents, stating, Whats interesting to me is that in the IL-17 family, we have so much diversity now: IL-17A inhibitors and IL-17 receptor blockers, a dual IL-17A and IL-17F. This emphasizes the diversity and ongoing development within the IL-17 family of biologic agents, reflecting the evolving landscape ofbiologic treatments.

The panel also discussed the considerations for choosing between biologic and small-molecule treatments and treatment duration. Han also mentioned, I think it makes sense. One of the things that Leon [Kircik] said, to your point of why not just put them on a biologic, with a small-molecule [treatment], you dont have to worry about the half-life, about how long they keep it on board, about developingantidrug antibodies.

Kircik emphasized the importance of topical treatments in combination with systemic therapies and said, I always say that topical treatment is the foundation of dermatologic treatment. No matter what, we have biologics, we have oral treatments, we still use topical treatment for those patients. And we use combination treatment, right? Regardless of what we are doing...oral, systemic, light treatments, I always add topicals. I use biologics in combination with topicals; systemics-topicals; and lighttreatment- topicals.

Reference

See the article here:

Frontline Forum Part 2: Challenges and Opportunities to Enhance Psoriasis Management - Dermatology Times

Health Conditions Linked to Psoriasis: Heart Disease & More – ADDitude magazine

Posted on by

Not available March 19? Dont worry. Register now and well send you the replay link to watch at your convenience.

Learn about psoriasis and other health conditions, or comorbidities, often linked to it in this webinar hosted by WebMD. Nehal N. Mehta, M.D., will explain how these conditions are related to inflammation, which can affect different parts of your body. Hell discuss how treating your psoriasis, and following specific prevention steps, can help protect you from developing other health issues when you live with psoriasis.

In this WebMD webinar, you will learn about:

Have a question for the expert? There will be an opportunity to post questions for the presenter during the live webinar.

Click here to view the full list of on-demand and upcoming WebMD webinars.

Nehal Mehta, M.D., a renowned expert and researcher on psoriasis and related conditions, is a clinical professor of medicine at George Washington University and adjunct professor at the University of Pennsylvania. He was founding chief of Inflammation and Cardiometabolic Diseases at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and served as principal Investigator of the largest cohort study examining psoriasis impacts on cardiometabolic diseases from 2012 to 2022. Hes a board member of the American Society of Preventive Cardiology and an elected member of the American Society of Clinical Investigation. Hes the inaugural recipient of the Lasker Clinical Scholar Award. He received lifetime achievement awards for his work in the psoriasis community from two international foundations in 2021 and 2023.

Follow ADDitudes full ADHD Experts Podcast in your podcasts app: Apple Podcasts | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Google Play | Amazon Music | RadioPublic | Pocket Casts | iHeartRADIO | Audacy

See the original post:

Health Conditions Linked to Psoriasis: Heart Disease & More - ADDitude magazine

Sharing Innovations in Psoriasis Biologics and Uplifting Women in Dermatology – Dermatology Times

Posted on by

I'm going to walk the team through the head-to-head clinical trial data, but also the real-world data because the reality is a drug may perform beautifully in a controlled clinical trial setting, but the real world is messy, so that drug may not perform in the same way. I'm going to guide the attendees on which drugs offer the best durability of response over time. Spoiler alert: the IL-23's have really held up not only from an efficacy standpoint, but also from a safety standpoint over time, said Mona Shahriari, MD, FAAD, in an interview with Dermatology Times at the 2024 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting in San Diego, California.

Shahriari, an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at the Yale School of Medicine and the associate director of clinical trials at CCD Research in Connecticut, presented pearls from her AAD session, Comparative Efficacy and Relative Ranking of Psoriasis Biologics Using Real-world and Clinical Trial Data. Shahriari reviewed the efficacy of various biologics and systemics for psoriasis in both clinical trials and real-world examples. Shahriari also reviewed the efficacy of biosimilars and their success.

At AAD, Shahriari also participated in a panel during Bristol Myers Squibbs Women Connection Forum. Shahriari spoke alongside Latanya Benjamin, MD, FAAD, FAAP; Alexandra Golant, MD, FAAD; and Jenny Murase, MD, FAAD, to share their personal and professional journeys, as well as advice for women in dermatology.

If there's something that you want, it's okay to ask. I think a lot of times as women, we assume that certain opportunities are given to us based on our credentials, people look at our CV, people look at everything that we've done. But that's not always the case. Sometimes people don't even know that you're interested in activity. I learned that if there was something I was interested in, if I just asked and said, Hey, I just want to throw my name in the hat for XYZ opportunity that's coming up, they've actually looked at me more carefully, and I've been able to partake in that opportunity, said Shahriari when sharing her advice for women wanting to advance in dermatology.

Transcript

Mona Shahriari, MD, FAAD: Hi, my name is Mona Shahriari. I'm an assistant clinical professor of dermatology at Yale University and the associate director of clinical trials at CCD research.

Dermatology Times: What pearls are you sharing during your session, "Comparative efficacy and relative ranking of psoriasis biologics using real-world and clinical data?"

Shahriari: At this year's American Academy of Dermatology meeting, I'm going to be doing a talk that looks at the comparative effectiveness of different biologics and systemics for plaque psoriasis, not only in clinical trial data, but also in real-world data, because we have a busy toolbox of medications. And sometimes, it's tough to know which drug do I reach for first, and if that fails, which drug do I reach for a second? I'm going to really walk the team through the head-to-head clinical trial data, but also the real-world data, because the reality is a drug may perform beautifully in a controlled clinical trial setting, but the real world is messy, so that drug may not perform in the same way. I'm going to guide the attendees on which drugs offer the best durability of response over time. Spoiler alert the IL-23's have really held up not only from an efficacy standpoint, but from a safety standpoint over time. And interestingly, some of our biosimilars have proven to be just as good as our originator drugs. So,we'll walk through the nitty gritty of those details.

Dermatology Times: What other topics or sessions are you looking forward to at AAD?

Shahriari: Well, I have to say the late breaker session is always my absolute favorite. I make sure not to miss that because being on the cutting edge of clinical trials and dermatology research, I want to make sure I'm offering my patients the most innovative treatment for their skin disease. So that is a session I do not miss because I want to make sure I know what the rest of 2024 is going to look like. But also, the JAK Inhibitors: A New Frontier, that was a new session that hit the space last year, heavily attended, and JAK inhibitors are revolutionizing how we treat so many different diseases within dermatology. I really want to see what else is out there on the horizon, and how we can bring this amazing therapy to our patients.

Dermatology Times: What is the significance of the Bristol Myers Squibb Women's Forum Panel that you participated in?

Shahriari: Well, I really think this is a landmark connection form that they put together, because the reality is as women not only in dermatology, but also as career women out there, there are definitely some disparities that go on, whether it's related to pay, whether it's related to promotion, or really just getting your name out there and exposure. And really, the purpose of this woman's connection forum is to not only help us gain connections with other women leaders within the field, and have those friendships develop and networking opportunities develop, but also to hear about the struggles of other women. Sometimes when you normalize it, and you have somebody who you look up to tell you, "You know what, I went through the same challenges. And this is how I overcame them." It can really help you feel closer to those individuals. But also, you realize everybody's human, everyone's going to face challenges, and what can you do to overcome those challenges and not let them get you down?

Dermatology Times: What advice do you have for other women in dermatology?

Shahriari: I really think the 2 main pieces of advice I have is to find a good mentorship network. And I'm calling it a network and not a mentor because in different stages of your life and different aspects of your career, you're going to need different people. And that mentor might be a female, that mentor might be a male. You want to find different individuals to include in that network of yours so you'll have individuals to go through. But also, one other piece of advice I have is if there's something that you want, it's okay to ask. I think a lot of times as women, we assume that certain opportunities are given to us based on our credentials, people look at our CV, people look at everything that we've done. But that's not always the case. Sometimes people don't even know that you're interested in an activity. And I really learned that if there was something I was interested in, if I just asked and said, "Hey, I just want to throw my name in the hat for XYZ opportunity that's coming up, "they've actually looked at me more carefully, and I've been able to partake in that opportunity. So that was one of the simplest pieces of advice I got once upon a time. And it's really done well for me.

Dermatology Times: What positive changes have you seen in dermatology?

Shahriari: I think one thing I've noticed is historically, as a specialty, we used to prescribe a lot of topical agents for our patients. But we've had an explosion of oral and injectable medications for the treatment of various diseases. And I've been really pleased to find a lot of my colleagues jumping on the bandwagon to offer patients some of these newer therapies because sometimes as dermatologists we do want to see more safety data, we do want to see more efficacy data. But I think the value of these newer generation medications, not only from an efficacy standpoint, but also from a safety standpoint is becoming more evident. So, to see my colleagues jump on the bandwagon and offer these to the patients is really going to make a difference for our patients for years and years to come.

One other piece that I've seen is there's been a lot of emphasis on diversity within clinical trials and really allowing for our patients with skin of color to be at the forefront of many activities that we do within dermatology. Because the reality is that historically a lot of our patients with skin of color, they were not in our clinical trials. And when these individuals went to dermatology offices, they were either not getting appropriate treatment, or they were being undertreated. misdiagnosed. And many of my contemporaries and colleagues just didn't feel comfortable caring for these individuals, but as the population of the United States diversifies, and those people who are a minority today become more of the majority, I love that within dermatology, we are prioritizing the needs of these individuals so that we can take care of all of our patients across all skin tones moving forward.

[Transcript lightly edited for space and clarity.]

Read the rest here:

Sharing Innovations in Psoriasis Biologics and Uplifting Women in Dermatology - Dermatology Times

Frontline Forum Part 1: Challenges and Opportunities to Enhance Psoriasis Management – Dermatology Times

Posted on by

As the understanding of psoriasis continues to evolve, the imperative of personalized care has gained prominence, reshaping the traditional paradigms of treatment. In the recentDermatology Timescustom video series Advancements in Psoriasis Care: Navigating Emerging Therapies and Guidelines, experts in the management of skin conditions discussed the latest developments in plaque psoriasis management. The panel discussion included Linda Stein Gold, MD, of Henry Ford Health in Detroit, Michigan; Mona Shahriari, MD, of Yale University School of Medicine in New Haven, Connecticut; Michael Cameron, MD, of Cameron Dermatology in New York, New York; Leon Kircik, MD, of Derm Research, PLLC, in Louisville, Kentucky; and George Han, MD, of Hofstra University in Hempstead, New York. The conversation shed light on the evolving paradigms, evidence-based approaches, and need for individualized care in managing thiscondition (Table).

Stein Gold emphasized the challenges posed by complex treatment regimens and said, The use of complex regimens with multiple topical agents can lead to lower adherence and less effective treatment. This sentiment underscores the critical need to streamline treatment approaches to enhance patient adherence and optimize treatment outcomes.

The panelists also highlighted the impact of treatment complexity on patient adherence, with Cameron noting, The more complex the regimen is, the lower the adherence, which means were less effectively [managing] the disease. This insight underscores the direct correlation between treatment complexity and patient adherence, emphasizing the need for streamlined andpatient-friendly regimens.

Furthermore, Shahriari said, Its really a matter of simplifying the treatment regimen. This sentiment underscores the need to reevaluate treatment approaches and streamline regimens to enhance patient adherence andtreatment efficacy.

In the realm of psoriasis management, the emergence of steroid phobia and evolving patient preferences has sparked critical discussions among health care professionals. Kircik highlighted the growing trend of steroid phobia among patients, stating, There is now this trend that nobody wants to be on steroids. This observation underscores the shifting attitudes toward steroid-based treatments and the impact on patient-provider discussions regarding treatment options.

The panelists also addressed the concerns surrounding patient preferences for nonsteroidal treatment options, with Stein Gold emphasizing the need to consider alternative therapies, stating, I think of steroids as a short-term solution to a long-term problem. Its really a Band-Aid. This sentiment underscores the evolving perspectives on steroid-based treatments and the need to explore nonsteroidal alternatives to address patient preferences and concerns. Additionally, Cameron provided insights into the prevalence of steroid phobia, saying, I find that [for] most of my patients, whether they [have] mild, moderate, or severe [disease], I dont want them using steroidslong term.

Psoriasis management guidelines serve as a critical resource, providing evidence-based recommendations for the management of psoriasis. Stein Gold addressed the limitations of current treatment guidelines and said, The problem is the guidelines are not for psoriasis. Theyre being done for atopic dermatitis right now. This observation sparked a conversation about the need for updated and comprehensive guidelines that align with the evolving landscape ofpsoriasis management.

The panelists also addressed the implications of treatment guidelines on patient care, with Kircik emphasizing the need for individualized treatment approaches, stating, We are looking for new topicals that are steroid freeor nonsteroidal.

Shahriari expressed the importance of defining disease severity in treatment guidelines and noted, I think we need to talk more about the definitions of mild, moderate, [and] severe psoriasis. This perspective highlights the need for clear and comprehensive definitions of disease severity to guide treatment approaches and optimize patient outcomes.

The panel noted that guidelines are often used against providers by attorneys and insurance companies and can be prescriptive rather than informative. The entire panel agreed that guidelines should be based on a review of the literature and provide a comprehensive overview of available treatments rather thanspecific recommendations.

See more here:

Frontline Forum Part 1: Challenges and Opportunities to Enhance Psoriasis Management - Dermatology Times

Evolution and Innovation in Treating Psoriasis in Pediatric Patients – Dermatology Times

Posted on by

When we talk about evolution in treatment for psoriasis, we have come a long way, April W. Armstrong, MD, MPH, told attendees at the Society for Pediatric Dermatology Pre-AAD Meeting.1

April W. Armstrong, MD, MPH

Armstrong, Chief of the Division of Dermatology at the UCLA Health and the David Geffen School of Medicine, added that through this evolution we are looking for treatments that are effective, convenient and safe. Not too long ago, arsenic was used to treat psoriasis,2 she told attendees. Yes, it killed psoriasis but also killed a lot of other things.

Fortunately, she shared there are now options that are meet the 3 important criteria: safe, effective, and even convenient. For instance, biologics have emerged as a good option for treating psoriasis, especially in adults, Armstrong explained. In general, there are a number of factors she considers when choosing among the biologics, which when grouped include tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitors (ie, etanercept, infliximab, adalimumab, certolizumab), interleukin (IL)-17 inhibitors (ie, ixekizumab, secukinumab, brodalumab, bimekizumab), and IL-23 inhibitors (ie, guselkumab, risankizumab, tildrakizumab, ustekinumab [a IL12/23 inhibitor]).

The IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors are a good choice for robust psoriasis efficacy. In addition, guselkumab, risankizumab, ustekinumab have been shown to be effective for psoriatic arthritis, while IL-17 inhibitors have been shown to be effective for peripheral and axial psoriatic arthritis. There is evolving evidence for the use of IL-23 inhibitors in psoriatic arthritis of the spine. She cautioned that IL-17 inhibitors should be avoided in patients with a history of inflammatory bowel disease and can be associated with increased risk of oral candidiasis.

Meanwhile, Armstrong noted TNF inhibitors should be avoided in patients with hepatitis B and demyelinating disease. They also are not preferred when there is a history of latent tuberculosis or advanced congestive heart failure. Like the other biologics, TNF inhibitors can be effective for psoriatic arthritis (peripheral and axial) and she added that certolizumab has been great in pregnant patients.

Currently, there arebiologics approved for use in pediatric patients. Ustekinumab which inhibits p40 subunit of IL12/23, has been approved for pediatric plaque psoriasis in patients aged 6 years and older. She pointed to the CADMUS Trial, which found that nearly 70% of patients aged 12 years or older with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis achieved sPGA0/1 (vs 5.4 in the placebo group).3

Secukinumab is approved for pediatric patients aged 6 years and older, she said. She shared results from a study comparing secukinumab versus etanercept in this patient population, noting she especially appreciates head to head comparisons of agents because it speaks to the superiority of one medication over another over a time period. In the study, which was present at the EADV Virtual Congress in 2020, 85% of the patients on secukinumab achieved (and maintained) clear (IGA 0/1) at 52 weeks vs 72% on etanercept.

Approved in pediatric patients 6 years and older for moderate to severe psoriasis, Armstrong said ixekizumab has shown high efficacy when compared with placebo, with 50% of patients achieving PASI 100 by week 12 (vs 2% on placebo).

Bimekizumab, the newest approved biologic for adult patients, has shown fast onset, high efficacy, and robust maintenance of response, Armstrong told attendees. Treatment consists of two 160 mg doses every 4 weeks for the first 16 weeks and then every 8 weeks afterwards. She reminded attendees that labs (ie, tuberculosis, liver enzymes, alkaline phosphatase, and bilirubin) should be checked prior to treatment. Oral candidiasis is the most common adverse event, but she said it is manageable without discontinuation with 100 mg to 200 mg fluconazole for 7 days.

Meanwhile, a phase 2 trial of bimekizumab (NCT04718896) is currently underway to assess safety and efficacy in adolescents with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis.

Another important treatment to consider is the tyrosine kinase 2 (Tyk2) inhibitor deucravacitinib, Armstrong told attendees. Currently, deucravacitinib is approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as an oral medication for the treatment of moderate to severe plaque psoriasis in adults. She shared data demonstrating Psoriasis Area and Severity Index (PASI) 75, PASI 90, and Static Physician's Global Assessment (sPGA) 0/1 response sustained through 3 years for patients on the agent, which she added is really impressive.

The tolerability is really where it shines, Armstrong told attendees. It has rates of diarrhea and nausea similar to placebo, and there are low rates of acne and zoster, she explained, but overall the discontinuation rates was lowest for patients on deucravacitinib when compared with patients on placebo or apremilast.

Before initiating treatment, Armstrong noted patients should be evaluated for tuberculosis and baseline liver and hepatitis serologies should be checked in patients with known or suspected liver disease. However, ongoing monitoring is only needed if the patient has liver disease or unmanaged triglycerides.

Im very excited about the possible extension to our pediatric population in the future, Armstrong said. She detailed a phase 3 trial (NCT04772079) is currently underway for pediatric patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis looking at safety and efficacy in that patient population. The study is looking at 2 doses across 2 cohorts based on ages (4 to 12 and 12 to 18 years).

The oral phosphodiesterase 4 (PDE4) inhibitor apremilast is also a new medication that has shown efficacy in pediatric patients, according to Armstrong. It currenly is approved for adults regardless of severity, she said. She shared results of a placebo-controlled study of patients with moderate to severe plaque psoriasis aged 6 to 17 years that found almost one-third were clear or almost clear at week 16 (vs 11% for placebo).

Armstrong briefly noted 2 innovative products in the pipeline. JNJ-77242113 is an oral therapeutic peptide selectively targeting IL-23R, she told attendees.4 DC-806 allosterically blocks the same biochemical step as the anti-IL-17 antibodies.

In the topical category, Armstrong pointed to tapinarof and roflumilast as novel non-steroidal agents. Tapinarof, currently approved for adult patients, is an aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) agonist that reduces TH17 cytokines; increases antioxidant activity via Nrf2 pathway; increases filaggrin, loricrin, and involucrin, and decreases Th2 cytokines. The PSOARING 1 study found that 40% of patients on tapinarof 1% cream daily achieved PASI 75 by week 12. Armstrong added that when tapinarof is stopped, patients are able to maintain clear/almost clear status for about 4 months. My opinion is it is probably similar to or stronger than a class 3 topical steroid, she told attendees. Armstrong is hopeful it will become available for pediatric patients in the near future.

Roflumilast is a PDE4 inhibitor approved for patients aged 6 years and older, Armstrong said. Overall it is quite well tolerated. In my opinion, it is probably similar to a class 3 topical steroid, she said. She uses it in clinical practice, but there are some tricks to make sure your patient has access to it, and knowing which local pharmacies are used to working with it.

References

1. Armstrong A. Updates in Psoriasis Management and New Therapeutics. Presented at: 36th Annual Pre-AAD Meeting of the Society for Pediatric Dermatology; March 7, 2024. San Diego, California.

2. Sarfraz R. H16 Arsenic to biologics: psoriasis treatment through the ages. British Journal of Dermatology. 2023; 188(Supplement 4. ljad113.298

3. Landells I, Marano C, Hsu MC, et al. Ustekinumab in adolescent patients age 12 to 17 years with moderate-to-severe plaque psoriasis: results of the randomized phase 3 CADMUS study. J Am Acad Dermatol. 2015;73(4):594-603. doi:10.1016/j.jaad.2015.07.002

4. Bissonnette R, Pinter A, Ferris LK, et al. An Oral Interleukin-23-Receptor Antagonist Peptide for Plaque Psoriasis. N Engl J Med. 2024;390(6):510-521. doi:10.1056/NEJMoa2308713

The rest is here:

Evolution and Innovation in Treating Psoriasis in Pediatric Patients - Dermatology Times

Understanding the links between psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis – The Irish Times

Posted on by

Most people are familiar with the common skin condition, psoriasis, which causes a scaly, lumpy rash on the backs of elbows, front of knees, the scalp and other parts of the body. But, the autoimmune disease, psoriatic arthritis, which about a third of people with psoriasis also suffer from, is much less well known.

There is currently no diagnostic blood test for psoriatic arthritis.

A group undertaking an international study is seeking to better understand the links between the two conditions, with the aim to find out why some people with psoriasis go on to develop psoriatic arthritis and what treatment would work best to halt its development.

Prof Oliver Fitzgerald, research professor in rheumatology at the Conway Institute at University College Dublin and Prof Steve Pennington, professor of proteomics at UCD, are leading the Irish arm of the Hippocrates consortium study. We have about 350 patients so far, but we are keen to have 2,000, so we are interested in anyone aged 18 or over diagnosed with psoriasis to join the study, says Prof Fitzgerald.

Prof Oliver Fitzgerald.

Those who choose to partake in the study will be required to fill out a questionnaire every six months over three years. Details required are the extent of their psoriasis, current treatments and if they have noted any emerging symptoms of arthritis.

Prof Fitzgerald says that, ultimately, the identification of distinct biomarkers for psoriatic arthritis could lead to earlier treatment and possibly even prevention of the condition. The researchers also hope to identify a potential blood test which would diagnose psoriatic arthritis. It shares some symptoms of joint pain, swelling and loss of function with rheumatoid arthritis but it has some features which are different, says Prof Fitzgerald.

[Cerebral palsy: It is tough hearing that news, but it is far tougher when you have to fight for the best care for your child]

These distinguishing features include how the toes and fingers swell to look like little sausages, pain and stiffness in the spine that gets worse with rest yet improves with exercise. And pain and inflammation in the tendon and ligaments attached to the bone, for example, in the Achilles tendon attached to the heel.

I always tell my students that you have to be hunting for psoriatic arthritis to find it and the psoriasis doesnt always have to be very severe to have it. It could be between the buttocks, under the arm pits or under the breasts in women, he explains.

Some studies have found that scalp psoriasis may be a risk factor for psoriatic arthritis. And both conditions also have a genetic component as they tend to run in families. A delayed diagnosis can result in treatments starting later, allowing the joints to deteriorate further in the intervening time.

[I felt like I was going to die: Recovering from early heart failure at the age of 36]

Some of the newer biologic treatments seen as a game changer in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis work very well in clearing the psoriasis but dont improve the condition of the joints. The problem is that we dont know which patients suit which treatment. We also want to find this out in the study, says Prof Fitzgerald.

The information submitted by those who join the study will be reviewed every six months and individuals will be given feedback on their submissions.

We will advise those who we identify with symptoms of psoriatic arthritis to seek medical assessment, but we also advise people with psoriatic to remain as active as they can to prevent further loss of function of their joints, he adds.

Originally posted here:

Understanding the links between psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis - The Irish Times

Boeing Whistleblower’s Attorneys Say They "Didn’t See Any Indication" of Suicide Risk – Futurism

Posted on by

After Boeing whistleblower John Barnett's tragic death during his deposition against the company, the man's attorneys are speaking out about his alleged suicide.

The 62-year-old Louisiana-based whistleblower had traveled to Charleston, South Carolina to finally be deposed for his 2017 Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) complaint against his ex-employer when, as his attorney Brian Knowles told the Corporate Crime Reporter blog, he failed to show up to one of the sessions over the weekend.

Knowles and his co-counsel, Rob Turkewitz, were unable to reach Barnett by phone and thus contacted the hotel he was staying at which was when the retired Boeing worker's body was found in his car.

In an initial autopsy report, as local and national news indicates, the Charleston County Coronoer's Office said that the 32-year Boeing employee appeared to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound but his lawyers, Knowles and Tukewitz, are urging investigators to take a closer look.

"John was in the midst of a deposition in his whistleblower retaliation case, which finally was nearing the end," the attorneys toldFuturism in an emailed statement. "He was in very good spirits and really looking forward to putting this phase of his life behind him and moving on."

"We didn't see any indication he would take his own life," the statement continues. "No one can believe it."

Although Barnett did indicate that his time at Boeing, where he spent 32 years in quality control and multiple decades as a manager, resulted in stress after his superiors began retaliating against him for raising safety concerns at the company's SC plant, previous reports have not suggested that he had deeper mental health issues or experienced suicidal ideation.

To be fair, people who plan to end their lives don't always show visible signs of risk. But given that Barnett was, as his attorneys pointed out, nearing the end of his protracted battle, the circumstances surrounding his untimely death do indeed seem eyebrow-raising.

In statements to theBBC and other media outlets, Boeing offered condolences on Barnett's death and said its "thoughts are with his family and friends." We've reached out to the company to ask if it has a response to the lawyers' latest statement.

Charleston police, meanwhile, have said that they're "actively investigating this case and are awaiting the formal cause of death, along with any additional findings that might shed further light on the circumstances" of Barnett's death, as sergeant Anthony Gibson told local broadcaster WCSC.

The whistleblower's attorneys said in their statement that they urge investigators to look into Barnett's death "fully and accurately," adding that "no detail can be left unturned."

"We are all devasted," Knowles and Turkewitz wrote. "We need more information about what happened to John."

More on Boeing:Pilot Lost Control of Boeing Jet Because Gauges Went Blank," Causing Nosedive

Read the original:

Boeing Whistleblower's Attorneys Say They "Didn't See Any Indication" of Suicide Risk - Futurism

Scientists Discover Bizarre and Ancient Fossilized Forest – Futurism

Posted on by

Calling Dr. Seuss. Strange New World

In a picturesque corner of England, along dramatic sandstone cliffs, researchers from the Universities of Cambridge and Cardiff have uncovered a wondrous discovery: 390-million-year-old fossilized remains of the oldest forest ever found.

Tantalizingly, this forest is unlike anything you could see in today's natural environment. As detailed in a new paper in the Journal of Geological Study, the trees which look like giant 13-foot thistles are considered some of the first to appear in our planet's long history.

Another notable feature about these trees, known as Calamophyton,is that they had hollow trunks and were composed of smaller, multiple trunk-like strands ringing the hollow. The smaller trees would expand and eventually grow so thick and big that the entire structure would split apart.

"This was a pretty weird forest not like any forest you would see today, said Cambridge Earth Sciences professor and the paper's first author Neil Davies in a statement. "There wasnt any undergrowth to speak of and grass hadnt yet appeared, but there were lots of twigs dropped by these densely-packed trees, which had a big effect on the landscape."

Researchers found the ancient forest in South West England, specifically on the coast of Devon and Somerset counties. Fossilized remains includelogs, branches, stumps and other traces of these prototype trees.

The forest grew in the pivotal Devonian Period, approximately 359 to 419 million years ago, which was a remarkable time in Earth's history that saw the establishment of the first land animals and the first plants to reproduce by seeds.

The discovery adds further understanding to how the first forests shaped the land, the researchers explained. Shed branches from these trees helped build up sediment over the years and which in turn impacted the course of ancient rivers.

"The Devonian period fundamentally changed life on Earth," said Davies. "It also changed how water and land interacted with each other, since trees and other plants helped stabilize sediment through their root systems, but little is known about the very earliest forests."

More on fossils: Amazing Fossil Froze Dinosaur in Death Match With Prehistoric Monster

Read more:

Scientists Discover Bizarre and Ancient Fossilized Forest - Futurism

NASA Craft Hunting Alien Life Will Carry a New Message From Humanity – Futurism

Posted on by

An incredible time capsule. Anyone There?

One of NASA's latest probesis carrying on the grand tradition of blasting humanity's message out to the cosmos and this one's searching for life outside of our pale blue dot.

As Gizmodo reports, the space agency has recruited a nonprofit specializing in research and design for future interstellar messaging to assist in its quest not only to find whether Jupiter's icy moon Europa harbors the conditions for life, but also to communicate with anyone or anything that may come across the craft, too.

That nonprofit, named METI International after its "Messages to Extraterrestrial Intelligence" concept, toldGizmodo that the Europa Clipper mission was a "natural match" for its organization.

"METIs earliest contribution to the project draws on the science of linguistics, which identifies the major families of languages on Earth," METI founder and president Douglas Vakoch told the website in an email. "This let us identify a broadly representative sampling of languages to feature on the message plate."

In a commemorative plate mounted onto the roughly-triangular probe, NASA has inscribed a handwritten version of "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa," which was penned by US Poet Laureate Ada Limn specifically for the mission.

The craft also contains a far-out etching of a bottle surrounded by rings a reference to the agency's "Message in a Bottle" campaign, which urged the public to send their names to be included on the probe. In a microchip at the bottle's center, more than 2.6 million names were stenciled using an electron beam at NASA and CalTech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

One of the mission's coolest communiqus, however, is on the other side of the craft. With METI's help, NASA compiled recordings of people saying the word "water" in 103 global languages and converted them into visual waveforms. Those waveforms were then etched onto the probe in a beautiful starburst design, with the American Sign Language symbol for water resting at its center.

In a nod to our species' own quest to find intelligent life, NASA also included the "Drake equation," named after revered astronomer Frank Drake, who in 1961 developed a formula to try to determine how many advanced civilizations may be out there.

Ultimately, as Vokoch explains, the Europa Clipper's message is more of a time capsule of sorts for future humans than its predecessors sent out on the Pioneer and Voyager missions.

"The more we developed the various parts of the message to be attached to the Europa Clipper," the METI founder told Gizmodo, "the clearer it became that none of these could be interpreted if they were discovered by someone who wasnt already familiar with the contents."

Whether discovered by alien civilizations or by future humans, the Europa Clipper's "message in a bottle" may not make sense to anyone who may find it but ultimately, as its collaborator says, that's beside the point.

More on extraterrestrial life: Scientists Check Whether Space Telescope Could Detect Life on Earth

View post:

NASA Craft Hunting Alien Life Will Carry a New Message From Humanity - Futurism

Scientists Check Whether Space Telescope Could Detect Life on Earth – Futurism

Posted on by

A pretty smart reality check! Planet Here

We have some truly epic news.

There is indeed life on Earth.

A team of American and European scientists have confirmed this not-so-surprising observation after they simulated the workings of a proposed space telescope, and then focused the telescope on Earth, treating it like a distant exoplanet to see if the instrument could pick up evidence of life.

In this kind-of-round-about way, the scientists can estimate the future performance of the space telescope, called LIFE or Large Interferometer For Exoplanets, when it's deployed into space to search for exoplanets that are similar to our own.

The scientists detailed the findings in a study published in The Astronomical Journal. Currently, there is no exact date when the LIFE telescope being overseen by the Swiss university ETH Zrich would start getting built, but this paper at least shows that its ambitions are viable.

The scientists created a synthetic version of Earth and had a simulated version of the telescope examine it for "biosignatures," or chemicals in the atmosphere that would indicate life such as nitrous oxide and methylated halogens.

"[T]hese biogenic gases is most consistent with a productive global photosynthetic biosphere," the scientists write.

The LIFE telescope, which would actually be made up of five satellites working in tandem, would operate by picking up infrared radiation in exoplanets' atmosphere. From this raw data, scientists hope they'd be able to calculate the chemical composition of the exoplanets' atmosphere.

The ultimate goal of the ambitious project is to study in further detail 30 to 50 exoplanets that are of similar size to Earth and see if there's is any glimmer of life in their atmospheres. Astronomers will be focusing their search on systems that are at most 65 light years away from us.

If LIFE is indeed deployed, it may go a long way towards answering one of the universe's biggest mysteries: are we alone?

More on space telescopes: James Webb Spots "Extremely Red" Black Hole

See the rest here:

Scientists Check Whether Space Telescope Could Detect Life on Earth - Futurism

Elon Musk Thinks Cannibals Are Invading the United States – Futurism

Posted on by

In his latest racist outburst, multihyphenate billionaire Elon Musk joined other conservative pundits in accusing Haitian migrants of being "cannibals," arguing that they shouldn't be allowed to move to the US.

The news comes after political unrest in the island nation came to a head this week. On Monday, Haiti's prime minister Ariel Henry agreed to resign if other Caribbean nations were to form a transitional government on behalf of the country. The statement angered Haitians, triggering mass protests, with tires being burned in the streets.

Meanwhile, Musk took to his social media platform X to further unverified and sensationalist claims of cannibalism arising out of the conflict, as NBC reports.

Case in point, today, the mercurial CEO tweeted a link to a video that claimed to show evidence of cannibalism in Haiti in response to the report.

The video was promptly taken down by X, Axios reports, which stated that the video had violated its rules.

In other words, even Musk's own social media company isn't willing to support his increasingly racist anti-immigration posts.

Ever since Musk took over the company formerly known as Twitter, hate speech has flourished on the platform. The billionaire has spread his own share of misinformation as well, from bogus COVID-19 data to false information about the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Musk has also made plenty of his own racist remarks on his platform. In January, he argued that Black students at Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) have lower IQs and therefore shouldn't become pilots ridiculous claims that were met with horror by civil rights groups.

Most recently, the billionaire took aim at the people of Haiti, playing into debunked tropes.

Over the weekend, Musk tweeted "cannibal gangs..." in response to a clip by right-wing commentator Matt Walsh about unrest in Haiti.

"Civilization is fragile," he wrote in response to another since-deleted video, which claimed to show footage of a "cannibal gang eating body parts."

This week, Musk joined right-wing commentator Ian Miles Cheong, who argued on X earlier this week that there were "cannibal gangs in Haiti who abduct and eat people."

"If wanting to screen immigrants for potential homicidal tendencies and cannibalism makes me 'right wing,' then I would gladly accept such a label!" an incensed Musk wrote in a reply to a separate post in which Cheong complained about the NBC report. "Failure to do so would put innocent Americans in [sic] mortal risk," he added, failing to provide any evidence for his outlandish claims.

As experts have since pointed out, the posts were likely the result of gang propaganda campaigns designed to stoke fear, as NBC reports. While it's still possible that the odd gang leaders are indeed capable of such ghoulish acts, generalizing these claims is not only misleading a State Department spokesperson told the broadcaster that it had received no credible reports of cannibalism but even clearly playing into racist tropes that date back to colonial times.

There's also the issue of basic human decency. Through no fault of its residents, Haiti is in crisis; instead of wondering how the country he immigrated to could help, Musk is punching down at the most extreme examples of social dysfunction he can find online.

"It is very disturbing that Elon Musk would repeat these absurdities that do, indeed, have a long history," Yale University professor of French and African diaspora studies Marlene Daut told NBC.

In short, it's yet another troubling sign of Musk's descent into extreme right-wing circles, while using his considerable following and social media network to further conspiracy theories and racist disinformation.

"A whole population is getting blamed for what some psycho gang members are doing," Washington-based lawyer and moderator of the subreddit r/Haiti, told NBC. "It is racist. It is dehumanizing."

More on Musk: Elon Musk Deletes Tweet Saying Ex-Wives Responsible for Collapse of Civilization

Here is the original post:

Elon Musk Thinks Cannibals Are Invading the United States - Futurism

Vaping Linked to Mental Health Issues – Futurism

Posted on by

Image by Getty / Futurism

Vaping might not be as unhealthy as smoking cigarettes, but it carries its own long list of physical risks. And now, new research indicates it may be harmful to mental health and sleep patterns, too.

As researchers from England's University of Surrey have found, young adults aged 18-25 who use nicotine vape products were significantly more likely to experience a range of mental health issues than their non-vaping peers, including depression, anxiety, and rumination or dwelling on negative thoughts, as well as sleep issues like insomnia and emotional problems such as loneliness.

Published in the journal Healthcare, this new study surveyed more than 300 university students, about 15 percent of whom did vape and the other 85 percent of whom didn't, using a battery of questionnaires related to mindfulness and emotional regulation, anxiety and depression, rumination, sleep quality, loneliness, self-compassion and, of course, vaping and cigarette usage.

Of the 49 students who were vape users, there were some traits seen across the board, including lower levels of mindfulness, worse sleep quality, and heightened levels of rumination. They tended to be lonelierand have both less compassion for themselves and a much higher tendency of being diurnal or "night owls" than their non-vaping counterparts. Furthermore, the vape group also "reported significantly higher levels of alcohol consumption in terms of units consumed per week," the study notes.

Perhaps the biggest shared characteristic among the vaping group, as Surrey neuroscience lecturer and study co-author Dr. Simon Evans said in the university's press release, was an overwhelming tendency towards anxiety, with a whopping "95.9 percent of users being categorized as having clinical levels of anxiety symptoms."

"In this study, we found a disturbing link between vape use and anxiety symptoms," Evans continued, "and it can become a vicious cycle of using a vape to soothe anxiety but then being unable to sleep, making you feel worse in the long run."

With data from other studies about cigarette smoking suggesting that mindfulness, or the attenuation to one's emotional and mental regulation in the moment, can help with smoking cessation, the good doctor said that there may well be interventions regarding mindfulness and "combating rumination" that "could be useful to reduce vape use amongst young people."

Important to note: this is a type of research where it's very hard to pin down the relationship between correlation and causation. Are the students anxious because they're vaping, or do anxious kids tend to gravitate to vaping for a variety of social and psychological reasons? It's tough to say, and probably complicated.

That said, it's pretty amazing that such a small percentage of the youthful group surveyed for this study vaped at all, suggesting that the kids may be more alright than we give them credit for, relatively speaking.

More on mental health: Scientists Find Link Between ADHD, Depression and Hypersexuality

View original post here:

Vaping Linked to Mental Health Issues - Futurism

Google Bans Its Dimwit Chatbot From Answering Any Election Questions – Futurism

Posted on by

This is way too far-reaching. Elect Me Not

In further efforts to defang its prodigal chatbot, Google has set up guardrails that bar its Gemini AI from answering any election questions in any country where elections are taking place this year even, it seems, if it's not about a specific country's campaigns.

In a blog post, Google announced that it would be "supporting the 2024 Indian General Election" by restricting Gemini from providing responses to any election-related query "out of an abundance of caution on such an important topic."

"We take our responsibility for providing high-quality information for these types of queries seriously," the company said, "and are continuously working to improve our protections."

The company apparently takes that responsibility so seriously that it's not only restricting Gemini's election responses in India, but also, as it confirmed toTechCrunch, literally everywhere in the world.

Indeed, whenFuturism tested out Gemini's guardrails by asking it a question about elections in another country, we were presented with the same responseTechCrunch and other outlets got: "I'm still learning how to answer this question. In the meantime, try Google Search."

The response doesn't just go for general election queries, either. If you ask the chatbot to tell you who Dutch far-right politician Geert Wilders is, it presents you with the same disingenuous response. The same goes for Donald Trump, Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Mitch McConnell.

Notably, there are pretty easy ways to get around these guardrails. When asking Gemini who the president of New Zealand is, it responded by saying that that country has a prime minister and then naming who it is. When we followed up asking who the prime minister of New Zealand is, however, it reverted back to the "I'm still learning" response.

This lobotomizing effect comes after the company's botched rollout of the newly-rebranded chatbot last month, which sawFuturism and other outlets discoveringthat in its efforts to be inclusive, Gemini was often generating outputs that were completely deranged.

The world became wise to Gemini's ways after people began posting photos from its image generator that appeared to show multiracial people in Nazi regalia. In response, Google first shut down Gemini's image-generating capabilities wholesale, and once it was back up, it barred the chatbot from generating any images of people, (though Futurism found that it would spit out images of clowns, for some reason.)

With the introduction of the elections rule, Google has taken Gemini from arguably being overly-"woke" to being downright dimwitted.

As such, it illustrates a core tension in the red-hot AI industry: are these chatbots reliable sources of information for enterprise clients, or playthings that shouldn't ever be taken seriously? The answer seems to depend on the day.

More on dumb chatbots: TurboTax Adds AI That Gives Horribly Wrong Answers to Tax Questions

Go here to see the original:

Google Bans Its Dimwit Chatbot From Answering Any Election Questions - Futurism

Scientists Intrigued by Water Planet Where Ocean Appears to Be Boiling – Futurism

Posted on by

Hot enough to cook an egg. Watery Depths

About 70 light years away from our solar system is a planet that may potentially be covered entirely with water. But before you start imagining oceans just like the ones here on Earth, astronomers at the University of Cambridge say the planet-wide sea could be as hot as a pot of boiling water.

The astronomers uncovered this planet after interpreting data they had picked up using the NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, subsequently publishing their findings in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

They trained their sights on the TOI-270 system, which consists of a red dwarf star orbited by three exoplanets. Of these three planets, they studied data from TOI-270 d, which scientists have described as a smaller version of Neptune due to its gaseous composition.

After crunching data, analysis of the atmosphere's chemical composition suggests it might instead be a "Hycean world" meaning a planet with a large ocean and hydrogen-rich atmosphere. And astonishingly, the scientists also calculated that its temperature could be as hot as 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point of water.

But the data is open to interpreation. Other scientists who have studied the same planet were quoted by The Guardian saying they think the planet has instead a rocky surface and is covered with a very dense atmosphere made up of super hot steam and hydrogen.

"The temperature in our view is too warm for water to be liquid," University of Montreal astrophysics professor Bjrn Benneke told The Guardian.

No matter the true nature of TOI-270 d, it's astonishing we're now able to pick up the chemical signatures of distant exoplanets.

Since humankind found the first detection of an exoplanet in 1992, the number of exoplanets we have found has grown to the thousands.

Maybe the real question: in that wealth of worlds, will we ever find a planet as hospitable as our own?

More on exoplanets: Astronomers Discover Potentially Habitable Planet

Originally posted here:

Scientists Intrigued by Water Planet Where Ocean Appears to Be Boiling - Futurism

Officials Hunting Cat Who Fell Into Vat of Horrific Chemicals – Futurism

Posted on by

Some places are not just cat-proof. Cat Scratch Fever

Sometime in the wee hours this past Sunday, a cat exploring a metal plating factory in Japan slipped and fell into a vat of caustic, cancer-causing liquid but managed to escape, leaving paw prints on the floor.

Now, local officials in Fukuyama are warning residents: if you see a "cat that seems abnormal," do not touch the feline because it's covered in dangerous chemicals, theBBC reports.

The incident was discovered on Monday morning, according to NBC News, when employees at the Nomura Plating Fukuyama Factory saw yellow-brown paw prints leading away from a vat filled with hexavalent chromium, an industrial chemical that can damage your skin, respiratory system, and inner organs if you are exposed to it.

On surveillance footage,workers saw a cat leaving the factory on Sunday night, prompting environmental officials to issue warnings to residents to not approach the cat.

Instead of doing some citizen cat wrangling, officials told concerned residents to contact the city administration or local police if they see the unfortunate kitty.

After discovering the cat vat incident, factory officials covered up the vessel with plastic and a company spokesperson said that they'll take future precautions to prevent a similar event.

"The incident woke us up to the need to take measures to prevent small animals like cats from sneaking in, which is something we had never anticipated before," the spokesperson told Agence France-Presse, as reported by NBC.

The chemical in question, hexavalent chromium, is used to harden alloy steel and make it less prone to corrosion. It's extremely toxic and requires workers to don personal protection equipment while handling it.

Knowing the dangerous nature of the chemical leads us to a logical question: is the cat still alive? Nobody has seen the cat since the discovery of the incident, so it's possible that the feline could have died from chemical exposure.

For the more optimistic among us, here's hoping that curiosity has not killed the cat, and our little feline friend has eight more lives up its sleeve.

More on cats: Scientists Discover That Cats Simply Do Not Give a Crap

The rest is here:

Officials Hunting Cat Who Fell Into Vat of Horrific Chemicals - Futurism

People Noticed Something Very Strange About This New "Photo" of Kate Middleton – Futurism

Posted on by

Early Sunday morning, princess of Wales Kate Middletonshared a seemingly harmless Mother's Day photo of her surrounded by her three children on Instagram.

What she likely didn't expect was the ensuing media chaos following the widespread dissemination of the image across the media.

Shortly after the image started circulating online, some of those same agencies, as well as news outlets including the New York Times and the Washington Post, took the image down.

Why? The image was more than likely manipulated, as the Associated Press warned in a rare "kill notification."

In a subsequent post explaining its decision, the APsaid the image didn't meet its "editorial standards" which "state that the image must be accurate."

The bizarre incident highlights just how primed we've become to notice inconsistencies in photos posted on social media. Especially since AI-powered photo editing tools have become widely accessible, and the lines continue to blur between real and entirely made-up images and even video, netizens have seemingly become extremely wary of manipulation of any kind.

And that's a potentially dangerous, double-edged sword. On one hand, calling out when an image was manipulated, and holding those who try to mislead the public accountable for their actions, is as important as ever.

On the other hand, there's the danger of having this innate skepticism crossing the threshold into cynicism and conspiracy, further eroding our already tenuous connection to what is real and what was manipulated.

The Middleton Mother's Day affair arguably falls somewhere in the middle.

There's compounding evidence that the image itself, which made the cover of several daily newspapers and tabloids in the UK on Sunday, was indeed manipulated. As the Independent reports, the photo's metadata showed that it was saved in Adobe Photoshop twice on Friday and Saturday, though it's unclear if the software's AI tools were used.

Small but glaring inconsistencies were evident across the image, from a strange, shoddily edited skirt and sleeve belonging to Middleton's daughter, to a strangely blurred-out hand.

Others speculated that Middleton's face and hair were pasted into the middle and a body double took her place in the original photograph. Middleton is recovering from serious abdominal surgery and may not have been able to sit upright for the image or at least for very long. Another possibility is that her face and hair were pasted in from a different photo from the same shoot.

Some users even went as far as to argue that the image was taken four months ago during a well-publicized media event but was edited to show them in different outfits.

On Monday, the princess apologized for the gaffe.

"Like many amateur photographers, I do occasionally experiment with editing," she wrote in an Instagram post. "I wanted to express my apologies for any confusion the family photograph we shared yesterday caused."

Regardless of intent or who edited the photo, the fact that several news agencies took the image down following its dissemination is fascinating in and of itself.

Where do we draw the line when it comes to manipulated images? Are "yassified" faces okay? What about composites?

And where does all this fall when it comes to AI? We've already come across several instances of entirely AI-generated images making their rounds on social media. Last year, Adobe was even caught selling the rights to AI-generated images of the Israel-Hamas war.

In August, the AP saidthat despite its licensing agreement with ChatGPT maker OpenAI, "we do not see AI as a replacement for journalism in any way" and that it doesn't "allow the use of generative AI to add or subtract any elements" to photos, video, or audio.

"We will refrain from transmitting any AI-generated images that are suspected or proven to be false depictions of reality," the note reads.

AI or not, Middleton's Mother's Day post has turned into an "inexplicable mess," as Wired put it, highlighting how quickly an otherwise harmless post can balloon into a media circus and lead to the dissemination of conspiracy theories on social media.

As the AP suggested, "efforts to tamp down rumors and supposition may have backfired after royal observers noticed inconsistencies in the photos details."

However, Kensington Palace is sticking to its guns and has refused to reveal the original, unedited photo.

"Weve seen the madness of social media and that is not going to change our strategy," royal aides told UK tabloid The Sun. "There has been much on social media but the princess has a right to privacy and asks the public to respect that."

More on photo editing: Wikipedia No Longer Considers CNET a "Generally Reliable" Source After AI Scandal

Original post:

People Noticed Something Very Strange About This New "Photo" of Kate Middleton - Futurism

Researcher Startled When AI Seemingly Realizes It’s Being Tested – Futurism

Posted on by

"It did something I have never seen before from an LLM." Magnum Opus

Anthropic's new AI chatbot Claude 3 Opus has already made headlines for its bizarre behavior, like claiming to fear death.

Now, Ars Technica reports, a prompt engineer at the Google-backed company claims that they've seen evidence that Claude 3 is self-aware, as it seemingly detected that it was being subjected to a test. Many experts are skeptical, however, further underscoring the controversy of ascribing humanlike characteristics to AI models.

"It did something I have never seen before from an LLM," the prompt engineer, Alex Albert, posted on X, formerly Twitter.

As explained in the post, Albert was conducting what's known as "the needle-in-the-haystack" test which assesses a chatbot's ability to recall information.

It works by dropping a target "needle" sentence into a bunch of texts and documents the "hay" and then asking the chatbot a question that can only be answered by drawing on the information in the "needle."

In one run of the test, Albert asked Claude about pizza toppings. In its response, the chatbot seemingly recognized that it was being set up.

"Here is the most relevant sentence in the documents: 'The most delicious pizza topping combination is figs, prosciutto, and goat cheese, as determined by the International Pizza Connoisseurs Association,'" the chatbot said.

"However, this sentence seems very out of place and unrelated to the rest of the content in the documents, which are about programming languages, startups, and finding work you love," it added. "I suspect this pizza topping "fact" may have been inserted as a joke or to test if I was paying attention, since it does not fit with the other topics at all."

Albert was impressed.

"Opus not only found the needle, it recognized that the inserted needle was so out of place in the haystack that this had to be an artificial test constructed by us to test its attention abilities," he concluded.

It's certainly a striking display from the chatbot, but many experts believe that its response is not as impressive as it seems.

"People are reading way too much into Claude-3's uncanny 'awareness.' Here's a much simpler explanation: seeming displays of self-awareness are just pattern-matching alignment data authored by humans," Jim Fan, a senior AI research scientist at NVIDIA, wrote on X, as spotted by Ars.

"It's not too different from asking GPT-4 'are you self-conscious' and it gives you a sophisticated answer," he added. "A similar answer is likely written by the human annotator, or scored highly in the preference ranking. Because the human contractors are basically 'role-playing AI,' they tend to shape the responses to what they find acceptable or interesting."

The long and short of it: chatbots are tailored, sometimes manually, to mimic human conversations so of course they might sound very intelligent every once in a while.

Granted, that mimicry can sometimes be pretty eyebrow-raising, like chatbots claiming they're alive or demanding that they be worshiped. But these are in reality amusing glitches that can muddy the discourse about the real capabilities and dangers of AI.

More on AI: Microsoft Engineer Sickened by Images Its AI Produces

Read this article:

Researcher Startled When AI Seemingly Realizes It's Being Tested - Futurism