Genetic variant linked to overactive inflammatory response – Medical Xpress

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February 28, 2017 Credit: Cardiff University

Researchers at Cardiff University have discovered that genetic variation is the reason why some immune systems overreact to viruses.

Previous research had already revealed that a gene called Ifitm3 influences how sensitive people are to the influenza virus, with a variant form of the gene making cells more susceptible to viral infection. The new research reveals that Ifitm3 also plays an important role in controlling the extent of the inflammatory response triggered by virus infection.

The study suggests that individuals with deficiencies in Ifitm3 may have an overactive immune response to viral infection and may therefore be helped by a combination of anti-inflammatory drugs in addition to medicine that directly targets the virus.

World-wide the frequency of the variant Ifitm3 gene is 1 in 400, although it is much more common in certain ethnicities.

Dr Ian Humphreys from Cardiff University's School of Medicine said: "Now we know that genetic make-up influences how the immune system copes with infections, not only by influencing how the body controls an infection but also by controlling how strongly the body's immune system reacts, we can design therapeutic strategies for individuals who are seriously ill with infections, which are tailored to the individual based on their genetic profile."

The data were collected using immune cells from mice with and without the variant form of Ifitm3, to observe how the immune system responds to a virus called cytomegalovirus. The results could also be relevant for other viral infections such as influenza epidemics/pandemics.

Explore further: Genetics of flu susceptibility: Researchers find gene that can transform mild influenza to a life-threatening disease

More information: Maria A. Stacey et al. The antiviral restriction factor IFN-induced transmembrane protein 3 prevents cytokine-driven CMV pathogenesis, Journal of Clinical Investigation (2017). DOI: 10.1172/JCI84889

Researchers at Cardiff University have discovered that genetic variation is the reason why some immune systems overreact to viruses.

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Awards and Honors Across Weill Cornell Medicine – Cornell Chronicle

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Dr. Iliyan Iliev, an assistant professor of immunology in medicine at Weill Cornell Medicine, has been awarded a one-year, $100,000 grant from the Kenneth Rainin Foundation to study the behavior of fungi in the immune system when patients with inflammatory bowel disease are administered a form of immunotherapy.

Dr. Iliev, who is also a scientist in the Jill Roberts Institute for Research in Inflammatory Bowel Disease, won the foundations 2016 Breakthrough Award for his study The Role of Mycobiota During Immunomodulatory Therapy for Inflammatory Bowel Disease. The foundation awarded Dr. Iliev an Innovator Award for the same study in 2015, and deemed his work worthy of further funding.

The Rainin Foundation provides early support to innovative ideas, like Dr. Ilievs, that have the potential to yield major insights into predicting and preventing inflammatory bowel disease. We are pleased to continue supporting Dr. Ilievs research and see how his findings will translate into meaningful health outcomes for people living with this disease, said Dr. Laura Wilson, director of health strategy and ventures for the Rainin Foundation.

The study is one of few that explores the composition and efficacy of fungal mycobiota while patients are administered immunosuppressive drugs.

There is a group of patients who have flares even though theyre on active immunosuppression therapy, Dr. Iliev said. So what are the triggers? Thats the question were thinking about.

While some fungi are harmful, others can be beneficial to the immune system, Dr. Iliev said. By investigating fungal behavior and identifying fungal population that might be involved in disease pathology, he hopes to bring greater clarity to the pathology of inflammatory bowel disease.

The Kenneth Rainin Foundation collaborates with creative thinkers in the arts, education and health sectors. Its health program supports novel, high-risk research and facilitates collaboration among researchers to enhance and accelerate discoveries in inflammatory bowel disease.

I went this past July to their Innovations Symposium, and it was outstanding, Dr. Iliev said. They invited people who really know the field and are able to make a difference, so Im very excited to work with them.

In addition to the Breakthrough Award, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation recently awarded Dr. Iliev and colleagues from Mount Sinai a $250,000 Synergy Award to examine the composition of the fungal community in babies born to mothers with inflammatory bowel disease. The investigators hope to better understand whether fungi can be transferred from mothers to babies and potentially contribute to disease later in life.

Dr. Lotfi Chouchane, a professor of genetic medicine and of microbiology and immunology, received a Regional Scientific Excellence Award from the UAE Genetic Diseases Association during the sixth International Genetic Disorders Conference on Oct. 22 in Dubai. Dr. Chouchane was recognized for his continued work on genetic disorders.

Dr. Byron Demopoulos, an associate professor of clinical medicine, on Nov. 19 won the Cayuga Medical Center-Weill Cornell Medicine Award from Cornell Community Relations for establishing a collaboration between Weill Cornell Medicine, Cayuga Medical Center and Ithaca-area physicians. Dr. Demopoulos won the award at the 2016 Town-Gown Awards in Ithaca.

Dr. Pamela Eliach, an assistant professor of medicine, on Oct. 6 was accepted into the 2017 Harvard Macy Institute Program for Educators in Health Professions. The program aims to enhance the professional development of physicians, basic scientists and other healthcare professionals as educators.

Dr. Melanie Ongchin, an assistance professor of surgery, was named a fellow of the American College of Surgeons during its convocation ceremony on Oct. 16 in Washington, D.C. The college is dedicated to improving the surgical care of patients and safeguarding standards of care in an optimal and ethical practice environment.

Dr. Heather Yeo, the Nanette Laitman Clinical Scholar in Healthcare Policy and Research/Clinical Evaluation and an assistant professor of surgery and of healthcare policy, won the James IV Traveling Scholar Award from the James IV Association of Surgeons. The association sponsors visiting fellowship opportunities for young surgeons from and to member countries. Dr. Yeos fellowship covers four weeks of travel over a two-year period and pays $15,000. She will travel to the United Kingdom, Australia, Hong Kong and possibly Japan to study treatment controversies of rectal cancer.

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Awards and Honors Across Weill Cornell Medicine - Cornell Chronicle

Schizophrenia begins in the womb, study suggests – Medical News Today

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Researchers may be one step closer to determining the cause of schizophrenia, after uncovering an abnormal genetic process associated with the disease that begins in the womb.

By transforming skin cells from patients with schizophrenia into neuronal progenitor cells - cells that form neurons in early development - researchers identified an abnormal gene pathway called nuclear FGFR1 (nFGFR1) that impairs early brain development.

Senior study author Michal K. Stachowiak, Ph.D., of the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at the University at Buffalo in New York, and colleagues say that their findings may bring us closer to treatments that could prevent schizophrenia in utero.

The researchers recently reported their results in the journal Schizophrenia Research.

According to the National Institute of Mental Health, around 1.1 percent of adults in the United States have schizophrenia - a mental health disorder characterized by hallucinations, delusions, and abnormal thoughts.

While the exact causes of schizophrenia remain unclear, researchers have long known that the condition can run in families, suggesting a genetic origin. Furthermore, an increasing number of studies have uncovered genetic mutations associated with an increased risk of schizophrenia.

For their study, Stachowiak and colleagues sought to learn more about the genomic processes that occur in utero that might influence the risk of schizophrenia development.

To reach their findings, the researchers collected skin cells from four adults with schizophrenia and four adults without the disorder.

The skin cells were reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells, and these differentiated into neuronal progenitor cells. This enabled the team to assess the processes that occur during early brain development in people with schizophrenia.

The researchers pinpointed a dysregulated nFGFR1 pathway that targets and mutates numerous genes associated with schizophrenia. The team explains that just one of these gene mutations can impact brain development.

According to the authors, these findings provide proof of concept that schizophrenia may be caused by a dysregulated genomic pathway that influences the brain before birth.

"In the last 10 years, genetic investigations into schizophrenia have been plagued by an ever-increasing number of mutations found in patients with the disease. We show for the first time that there is, indeed, a common, dysregulated gene pathway at work here."

Michal K. Stachowiak, Ph.D.

Furthermore, the team says that these findings open the door to new schizophrenia treatments. For example, a drug could be administered to expectant mothers, whose offspring has a high risk of developing schizophrenia, that prevents processes related to the disease occurring in the developing fetus.

In future studies, the researchers plan to grow "mini brains" using the same processes used in the current study, with the aim of gaining a deeper understanding of how dysregulation of the nFGFR1 pathway influences early brain development, as well as to provide a model to test possible treatments.

Learn how B vitamins might improve symptoms of schizophrenia.

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Schizophrenia begins in the womb, study suggests - Medical News Today

Rare but fatal pediatric brain tumor may be stopped with new molecule – Medical News Today

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Researchers may have found a molecule that inhibits the growth of a rare but fatal tumor that occurs in children, called diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma.

Diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG) is a pediatric brain tumor that mainly affects children under 10 years of age.

Approximately 300 children - usually between 5 and 9 years old - are diagnosed with DIPG every year. DIPGs are located in the brain's pons - a brain region that controls many of the body's vital functions, including breathing and heart rate.

DIPGs are extremely aggressive and difficult to treat, so being diagnosed with the tumor typically results in death within a year.

New research, however, offers hope for treating DIPG. Scientists from Northwestern University in Evanston, IL, may have found a molecule that could stop the development of the tumor. The team was led by Ali Shilatifard, Robert Francis Furchgott professor of biochemistry and pediatrics, and chair of biochemistry and molecular genetics at Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine.

The new findings - published in the journal Nature Medicine - build on research that Shilatifard and colleagues have carried out in the past. Shilatifard and his team identified the pathway through which a genetic mutation causes cancer in a study published in the magazine Science, and a follow-up study - conducted in collaboration with Rintaro Hashizume and his team - used this knowledge to test the effects of pharmacological therapy on DIPG in mice.

The latter study inhibited the previously identified genetic pathway and successfully prolonged the life of mice by 20 days. The drug was administered through the mice's abdomen, but in this latest research, the team set out to investigate whether injecting the cells into the mice's brainstem would have more robust effects.

The scientists sampled tumor cell lines from an untreated patient and injected them into a mouse's brainstem, where it grew into a tumor. Subsequently, the scientists treated the mouse with a BET bromodomain inhibitor and went on to clinically monitor the tumor.

The BET bromodomain inhibitor has proven efficacious in several cancer models before.

In this study, by using the inhibitor, bromodomain proteins could no longer bind to the histone H3K27M - a mutant protein found in 80 percent of DIPG tumors. BET inhibitors stopped the proliferation of tumor cells, and forced them to differentiate into other cells instead. This successfully stopped tumor growth.

The study's first author, Andrea Piunti - a postdoctoral fellow in Shilatifard's laboratory in biochemistry and molecular genetics at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine - suggests that BET inhibitors should next be tested in a pediatric trial to treat DIPG, especially since the drugs are already being tested for pediatric leukemia.

"To the best of our knowledge, this is the most effective molecule so far in treating this tumor. Every other therapy that has been tried so far has failed."

Ali Shilatifard, senior author

The senior author also notes that the currently available radiation therapy is ineffective in treating DIPG; it only adds a few months to the patients' survival.

Shilatifard comments on the importance of Northwestern University for making this research possible:

"This work could not have been done anywhere in the world except Northwestern Medicine, because of all the scientists and physicians who have been recruited here during the past five years and how they work together to link basic scientific research to the clinic," Shilatifard says. "This discovery is the perfect example of how we take basic science discoveries and translate them to cure diseases at Northwestern Medicine."

Learn how childhood cancer treatment may hinder later-life sexual relationships.

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Rare but fatal pediatric brain tumor may be stopped with new molecule - Medical News Today

Explore More: Genetic Engineering – iptv.org

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Watch the full show online! Visit the Explore More Genetic Engineering video page...

Would you want to clone your pet? Would you change your child's eye color? Do you care if your strawberry contains a gene for fish?

Explore More: Genetic Engineering tells you the story, gives you the facts, and then takes a closer look to help you unravel the core issues. Take a look at and interact with the content. Discuss what you learn with other people, form your own opinion on the subjects, but always keep an open mind.

As you go through this site, think about how genetic engineering is changing the way we live. This is a fascinating area that deserves our attention. Decisions and choices we make in our lifetime will affect how and why genetic engineering is used.

Investigate Explore More Teacher Resources WebQuests, Web links, lesson plans, teaching strategies, discussion questions, standards, and project goals help you leverage Explore More content to help student achievement and motivation. Get your students thinking with this useful collection of tools and tips! Find out more.

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Gene therapy to fight a blood cancer succeeds in major study – Fox News

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An experimental gene therapy that turns a patient's own blood cells into cancer killers worked in a major study, with more than one-third of very sick lymphoma patients showing no sign of disease six months after a single treatment, its maker said Tuesday.

In all, 82 percent of patients had their cancer shrink at least by half at some point in the study.

Its sponsor, California-based Kite Pharma, is racing Novartis AG to become the first to win approval of the treatment, called CAR-T cell therapy, in the U.S. It could become the nation's first approved gene therapy.

A hopeful sign: the number in complete remission at six months 36 percent is barely changed from partial results released after three months, suggesting this one-time treatment might give lasting benefits for those who do respond well.

"This seems extraordinary ... extremely encouraging," said one independent expert, Dr. Roy Herbst, cancer medicines chief at the Yale Cancer Center.

The worry has been how long Kite's treatment would last and its side effects, which he said seem manageable in the study. Follow-up beyond six months is still needed to see if the benefit wanes, Herbst said, but added, "this certainly is something I would want to have available."

The therapy is not without risk. Three of the 101 patients in the study died of causes unrelated to worsening of their cancer, and two of those deaths were deemed due to the treatment.

It was developed at the government's National Cancer Institute and then licensed to Kite. The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society helped sponsor the study.

Results were released by the company and have not been published or reviewed by other experts. Full results will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research conference in April.

The company plans to seek approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration by the end of March and in Europe later this year.

The treatment involves filtering a patient's blood to remove key immune system soldiers called T-cells, altering them in the lab to contain a gene that targets cancer, and giving them back intravenously. Doctors call it a "living drug" permanently altered cells that multiply in the body into an army to fight the disease.

Patients in the study had one of three types of non-Hodgkin lymphoma, a blood cancer, and had failed all other treatments. Median survival for such patients has been about six months.

Kite study patients seem to be living longer, but median survival isn't yet known. With nearly nine months of follow-up, more than half are still alive.

Six months after treatment, 41 percent still had a partial response (cancer shrunk at least in half) and 36 percent were in complete remission (no sign of disease).

"The numbers are fantastic," said Dr. Fred Locke, a blood cancer expert at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa who co-led the study and has been a paid adviser to Kite. "These are heavily treated patients who have no other options."

One of his patients, 43-year-old Dimas Padilla of Orlando, was driving when he got a call saying his cancer was worsening, chemotherapy was no longer working, and there was no match to enable a second try at a stem cell transplant.

"I actually needed to park ... I was thinking how am I going to tell this to my mother, my wife, my children," he said. But after CAR-T therapy last August, he saw his tumors "shrink like ice cubes" and is now in complete remission.

"They were able to save my life," Padilla said.

Of the study participants, 13 percent developed a dangerous condition where the immune system overreacts in fighting the cancer, but that rate is lower than in some other tests of CAR-T therapy. The rate fell during the study as doctors got better at detecting and treating it sooner.

Roughly a third of patients developed anemia or other blood-count-related problems, which Locke said were easily treated. And 28 percent had neurological problems such as sleepiness, confusion, tremor or difficulty speaking, but these typically lasted just a few days, Locke said.

"It's a safe treatment, certainly a lot safer than having progressive lymphoma," and comparable to combination chemotherapy in terms of side effects, said the cancer institute's Dr. Steven Rosenberg, who had no role in Kite's study. The first lymphoma patient Rosenberg treated this way, a Florida man, is still in remission seven years later.

There were no cases of swelling and fluid in the brain in this or any other study testing Kite's treatment, company officials said. That contrasts with Juno Therapeutics, which has had a CAR-T study put on hold twice after five patient deaths due to this problem.

Company officials would not say what the treatment might cost, but other types of immune system therapies have been very expensive. It's also being tested for some other types of blood cancer.

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Gene therapy to fight a blood cancer succeeds in major study - Fox News

Pfizer commits $4M to NC Biotechnology Center gene therapy … – WRAL Tech Wire

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Posted Feb. 28, 2017 at 3:39 p.m.

Published: 2017-02-28 15:39:55 Updated: 2017-02-28 15:39:55

By JIM SHAMP, NCBiotech Writer

Raleigh, N.C. The North Carolina Biotechnology Center has announced that Pfizer has committed to providing funding in the amount of $4 million which will enable the Center to establish and administer a multi-year academic fellowship program to help advance North Carolinas fast-growing expertise in gene therapy.

The new program, to be managed by NCBiotech, will support distinguished postdoctoral fellowships in North Carolina university research laboratories providing advanced scientific training in gene therapy-related research.

Absent or faulty proteins linked to genetic mutations cause numerous devastating diseases, making gene therapy an increasingly important treatment strategy.

Pfizers portfolio in North Carolina has grown in recent years. The company already operates a pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in the Lee County community of Sanford, and in August 2016, it acquired leading-edge gene therapy company Bamboo Therapeutics, Inc. in Chapel Hill.

With that acquisition, Pfizer gained the expertise of Bamboos world-renowned co-founder, R. Jude Samulski, Ph.D., director of the Gene Therapy Centerat the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. The deal also included an 11,000-square-foot facility for the highly specialized manufacturing of recombinant adeno-associated viral vectors.

Pfizer is one of several biopharmaceutical companies that have added high-profile gene therapy acquisitions, and several partnerships with biotechnology companies and leading academic institutions, to its R&D portfolio. Numerous other North Carolina scientists and companies are also making significant inroads into gene therapy, gene editing and related applications, many with NCBiotech support. For example, Samulski was recruited to UNC in 1993 as part of a $430,000 NCBiotech grant. Additionally, Bamboos former parent company received more than $700,000 in Biotech Center grants and loans.

Gene therapy advances require specific skills in addition to deep scientific knowledge. The fellowship program being established with Pfizers funding aims to boost that talent pipeline, with talent that has already proven to be exceptional in North Carolina. Such funding will enable NCBiotech to provide two-year fellowship support to postdoctoral scientists. The funding will afford the Center the ability to cover salaries, benefits, materials, professional development and travel for such postdoctoral scientists. The Center will encourage competitive applications from scientists interested in establishing research careers in gene therapy and related research activities.

The Biotech Center will also create and manage a related gene therapy Exchange Group. It will join some 25 other exchange groups designed to unite North Carolina-based academic and industry scientists with shared professional interests. The Gene Therapy EG will include these new postdoctoral fellows, their mentors, and others interested in the burgeoning gene therapy sector.

The field of gene therapy research has made tremendous strides in recent years, and we are pleased to be able to further enhance our leadership position in this area through this unique fellowship program, said Mikael Dolsten, M.D., Ph.D., president of worldwide research and development at Pfizer. We believe that gene therapy may hold the promise of bringing true disease modification for patients suffering from devastating diseases, and North Carolina is uniquely positioned to help us take advantage of collaborative opportunities that can develop the specialized talent well need.

Doug Edgeton, president and CEO of the Biotech Center, said he was deeply honored that Pfizer targeted North Carolina, and the Center, for the groundbreaking fellowship program.

Pfizer embraced the opportunity to work with us given weve proven for more than 30 years that we have the expertise and success metrics to maximize impact, said Edgeton. We not only have outstanding research institutions across our state, but we also have a well-respected culture of partnering and collaboration that allows us to be nimble and responsive. This is a wonderful example.

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BioMarin building gene therapy plant to support hemophilia A … – BioPharma-Reporter.com

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A Californian manufacturing facility to support clinical development of a haemophilia A gene therapy will be completed this year, says BioMarin.

Last year , BioMarin Pharmaceutical released proof-of-concept data to support BMN 270, a gene therapy candidate using an AAV-Factor VIII vector intended to treat patients deficient in the blood clotting protein Factor VIII.

And with plans to begin a Phase IIb study later this year, the firm has said it is constructing a facility in California to manufacture clinical batches.

Our new gene therapy manufacturing facility is expected to be completed by mid-year, enabling us to move the BMN 270 program forward, without constraints on materials needed for the Phase 2b registration enabling study in the third quarter, CEO Jean-Jacques Bienaim told investors on a call Friday.

Henry Fuchs, president of worldwide R&D, added making the investment in-house ensures has control of its supply chain for the upcoming trials, heading towards a commercial launch.

The facility design was recently reviewed with US health authorities and the feedback was consistent with our plans for construction and operational control. The approach laid out was well received and discussed in depth with industry, academic and health authority representatives.

Yet while the design of the facility gave consideration to the potential for use with other gene therapies in BioMarins pipeline, management did not want to get the cart before the horse, and wanted to await BMN 270s success before making any decisions, according to EVP Jeff Ajer.

The investment made in the site was not divulged, but capital expenditure for 2016 stood at $168m (159m), though this included the buildout of a manufacturing facility in Shanbally, Ireland , to support commercial supply of the firms enzyme replacement drug Vimizim (elosulfase alfa).

For the full year, the firm saw revenues of $1.12bn up 26% on 2015 though reported a net loss of $630m (up from $155m) attributed in part to higher operating expenses.

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BioMarin building gene therapy plant to support hemophilia A ... - BioPharma-Reporter.com

‘Strategic 4Sight’ collaboration to path Omaha’s future – KETV Omaha

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OMAHA, Neb.

The Greater Omaha Chamber, United Way of the Midlands and Urban League of Nebraska launched a collaboration Tuesday called Strategic 4Sight.

The three groups hired a futurist, Rebecca Ryan, with NEXT Generation Consulting out of Madison, Wisconsin. Through a series of workshops, Ryan will help identify where Omahas headed in the next 20 years and how to ensure a strong future in areas like economic growth, poverty and diversity.

Do some trend research. Try and figure out those things that are probably going to be happening over the next 20 years that will impact us as a community or impact the economy, David Brown, with the Greater Omaha Chamber, said. We have to figure out if those are really things that are going to be important to us and how were going to respond.

The three organizations hope by collaborating, theyll be able to put their minds together and focus on different issues.

"Some of them might fall in education, some of them might fall in race relations, some of them might fall in alleviating poverty, Brown said. So, areas where [the Greater Omaha Chamber doesnt] have mission, but United Way and Urban League do."

Ryan will present her findings in November. Before that happens, young professionals and community members are encouraged to attend workshops and give their input.

Ryan said Omaha is the first community to hire a resident futurist.

"We can be a receptive or a receiver of change, or we can be a causer of change, Brown said. I think this futurist piece enables us to kind of wake up in the morning and realize we're going to think about what's happening down the road. We're going to be prepared for it or we're going to cause it to happen."

The first workshop will focus on nonprofit leaders and is taking place at the Greater Omaha Chamber from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you wish to attend, you must register by contacting the chamber.

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'Strategic 4Sight' collaboration to path Omaha's future - KETV Omaha

New Boston Dynamics Robot is Terrifying Science Fiction Brought to Life – Futurism

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In Brief

Heres your first official look at Handle, Boston Dynamics newest robotic creation.

The robot stands a little over six feet tall and has four working limbs two front legs and a pair of hind wheels that allow it to stand upright. It can travel roughly 24 kilometers (15 miles) on a single charge and cancarry items up to about 45 kilograms (100 pounds) in weight.

Handle applies dynamics similar to those found in its quadruped and biped predecessors from Boston Dynamics. Unlike those, though, it only has 10 actuated joints, which makes it less complex, yet it is also more robust, with the same jointed movement ability as humans.

The addition of wheels allows Handle to move very efficiently across virtually all flat surfaces. Because it has both legs and wheels, the robot essentially has the best of both worldsand can go and move anywhere with ease. It can even carry heavier objects with better stability.

Earlier, a leaked video from Boston Dynamics gave us a glimpse of what Handle could do by demonstrating its impressive flexibility and balance. But its nothing compared to what was just revealedin their official demonstration.

While its an impressive display of technological advancement, seeing all we have achieved in the field of robotics in the form of this robot may also leave you withunsettling feeling that humans have just created something that is simultaneouslycool and slightly terrifying.

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India Just Broke a World Record With Its New Solar Farm – Futurism

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This is good news not just for Indias future energy security but also for its peoples short-term energy needs.

The plant was built in only eight months, comprises 2.5 million individual solar modules and cost $679m to build. It is estimated that it will produce enough electricity to power about 150,000 homes at full capacity.

Installed solar capacity and cost in India. Image: Bridge to India

A signatory of the Paris Agreement, India is forecast to meet its renewable energy commitments three years early and exceed them by nearly half. The country is aiming to generate nearly 60% of its electricity from non-fossil sources by 2027.

Solar is a particular focus: it makes up only 16% of renewable energy capacity now but is set to contribute over half of the renewables target by 2022: 100 gigawatts of 175 GW. Large installations will be key to achieving this, and the government is planning 33 solar parks in 21 states, with a capacity of at least 500 megawatts each.

Prioritizing solar is not just an investment in the future, though. India is one of the worlds fastest growing economies, and its energy use has doubled since 2000, according to the International Energy Agency.

Last year, the country declared that it had a power surplus for the first time ever, though The Hindu reported that 300 million people still dont have access to electricity and power cuts continue to be rampant. The issue, it appears, is that capacity remains unused in the grid because some state power companies simply cannot afford to buy sufficient electricity.

The Indian government has recently launched an energy blueprint, and raised its investment target for solar energy to $100 billion in an attempt to address both these near-term issues as well as securing its energy supply far into the future.

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Bill Gates: The World Isn’t Ready for Universal Basic Income – Futurism

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Income for All

In theory, a universal basic income (UBI) would be great. Under such a system, all citizens of a country are entitled to an unconditional amount of money on top of income they already generate through other means. It could spur productivity, improve health, alleviate poverty, reduce crime, raise education, and improve quality of life. Its also especially relevant, given the reality of automation taking over more and more jobs.

UBIs potential has prompted several nations to study and test its viability. Among the pioneers are Finland, which just started implementing a UBI program that gives 2,000 randomly selected citizens $587 tax-free per month; India, which proposed the system as a solution to job loss caused by increased automation; and Canada, which saw leaders of four political parties unanimously support the decision to establish a program that will guarantee income.

Its all going well so far, but until the trials are able to deliver definitive results showing UBIs effectiveness, we are left to ponder the many questions surrounding it.For instance, how much income should be distributed? Should it be limited to the minimum needed, similar to welfare state programs? Would a higher amount be more effective? Would UBI prompt people to lose their motivation to work? Is it enough of a response to address job displacement caused by automation? Can countries around the world afford it?

The urgency that most UBI advocates feel, given the current state of the economy and realities of job displacement, isnt shared by Bill Gates. While the co-chair of the Gates Foundation isnt exactly opposed to the concept, he doesnt think the program is ready for public implementation just yet.

Over time, countries will be rich enough to do this. However, we still have a lot of work that should be done helping older people, helping kids with special needs, having more adults helping in education, said Gates during a recent AMA on Reddit.

While others worry about impending employee displacement in the age of automation, Gates believes that technology will open more opportunities for countries, allowing them to raise money that could be used to finance sectors that need people in the jobs he mentioned. Governments can use this added income as an opportunity to train the unemployed to fill new roles in the job market.

Gatesalso added during his AMA that countries arent financially equipped to finance a stable UBI program. Even the U.S. isnt rich enough to allow people not to work. Someday we will be, but until then, things like the Earned Income Tax Credit will help increase the demand for labor.

The Microsoft co-foundercould be right and now may not be the right time for a UBI, but thanks to the countries giving it a shot, we should know for sure rather soon.

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Lawmaker prayer group focuses on religious freedom – The Tennessean

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State lawmakers have a new prayer group they can join, the Tennessee Legislative Prayer Caucus. Holly Meyer / The Tennessean

Members of the Tennessee Prayer Caucus pray during their meeting at the office of Rep. Kevin Brooks.(Photo: Joe Buglewicz / For The Tennessean)Buy Photo

With their heads bowed, a small group of state lawmakers stood in a loose circle in the middle of a legislative committee room as their colleague, Rep. Mark Pody, led them in prayer.

"We want to invite the holy spirit here, father, to the Capitol. On the floor today, that the words that are said, father, that there's no mean-spiritedness. Father, that we could just focus on you," said Pody, a Wilson County Republican.

Those who gathered on a recent Thursday morning in Legislative Plaza are members of a relatively new prayer group for lawmakers, the Tennessee Legislative Prayer Caucus. It's focused on preserving religious liberty and upholding the country's Judeo-Christian values, its website says.

Pody alluded to that purpose as he continued his prayer.

"Father, across this great nation, Lord, there is, your word's coming under attack as it has throughout the centuries. We just pray for a rising up and revival across this country."

It's about prayer, not partisanship or advocating for legislation, Podysaid. The prayer group is open to all lawmakers regardless of party, he said. In addition to Pody, the group's leadership includes at least three more Republicans and one Democrat.

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"We're just going to stay focused on prayer in general and our religious freedom that way," Pody said.

The prayer groupstarted quietly about halfway throughlast year'slegislative session with just afewlawmakers, but they decided to expand it this year and raised its public profile,hoping more legislators would attend their weekly meetings, Pody said.

They welcomed country music artist Ricky Skaggs for thefirst meeting of the new legislativesession in January.While the star power helped draw a standing-room only crowd, Pody saidthey will try to keep the prayer group for lawmakers only.

Prayer at the Capitol

While weekly attendance varies, nearly 30 lawmakers, largely Republicans,are listed as members on the prayer caucus' website. Rep. Brenda Gilmore, D-Nashville, is among them. She did not attend the Feb. 9 prayer caucus, but said in a telephone interview that shejoined the group because she believes prayer has a role in solving issues facing Tennesseans, including poverty and criminal justice problems.

I recognize in order for us to make a difference in Tennesseans lives, really affect real change in the quality of life, its going to take prayer and its going to take all of us working together, Gilmore said. God is not partisan.

God is not partisan.

The prayer caucus isnt the only prayer or devotionalgroup at the state Capitol. Andlawmakers are within their rights to use prayer groups to exercise their freedom of religion, said Kent Syler, a political science professor at Middle Tennessee State University.

It becomes a problem if they start to try to blur the line between church and state and it also becomes a problem if they seek to use their office to promote one religion over another, Syler said.

Pody, and other members of the caucus, have said thats not theintention of the prayer group.

But Cody made clear that he doesn't set aside his Christian beliefs while performing his duties as a lawmaker, and he said his constituents are well aware of that. He's sponsored bills on religion-tinged issues, including legislation that would definemarriage as strictly between one man and one woman.

"There is no separation for me. Everything I do is going to be based on scripture. How I vote is going to be based on my biblical values as well as the Constitution, but I believe that my biblical values are the first things that I would turn to," Pody said.

The group is tied to the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation, a Virginia-based nonprofit that describes itself as neither partisan nor political. The foundation's website says it protects religious freedom and challenges "anti-faith trends impacting legislative, legal and cultural issues" through a national network of citizens and leaders.

The foundation's platform focuses on conservative religious issues, including keeping prayer in public schools and advocating for states to pass their own religious freedom restoration acts. It also is a big advocate for the national "In God We Trust" motto. Lea Carawan, the Congressional Prayer Caucus Foundation's executive director, was not available for comment.

"When you look at the Congressional Prayer Caucus'website there is certainly a theme of Christianity under attack," Syler said.

One of the foundation's initiatives is to establish state legislative prayer caucuses, which are modeled after the Congressional Prayer Caucus formed in 2005. Lawmakers in more than 20 states have formed prayer caucuses, the foundation's website says. Secular groups, including the Freedom From Religion Foundation and the American Humanist Association, have voiced opposition to the national and state caucuses in the past.

Pody said thenational foundation reached out to him to start the prayer group at the state house.Hethinks the national network is a plus for the state prayer group, and he used the preservation of"In God We Trust" as an example.

"Across the nation, it seems that people are saying we can't even have the word God in anything we're doing in our government buildings," Pody said. "It is on our money, 'In God We Trust.' It is passed at the capitol in Washington both the house and the senate, reaffirming that 'In God We Trust' is our national motto. We want to make sure we keep that in each of the states as well."

State lawmakers often communicate with legislators in other states, Syler said. Frequently, policies or other mechanisms on a wide variety of issues are tried in one state and then introduced in Tennessee, he said.

The wider spread the prayer caucuses are the more impact they can have on both the desire to get like-minded legislators together to exercise their religious freedoms and it can also help them push an agenda more effectively should they go down that path, Syler said.

The small group that gathered for the prayer group s Feb. 9 meeting prayed together for about 10 minutes. A chorus of "amen" followed a brief silence. But before the lawmakers rushed off to tackle the days business, Rep. Terri Lynn Weaver led them through a few bars of a well-known hymn.

Then sings my soul my savior God to thee. How great thou art. How great though art."

Reach Holly Meyer at hmeyer@tennessean.com or 615-259-8241 and on Twitter @HollyAMeyer.

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Ramjas College and Gurmehar Kaur row: Debate rages on freedom of speech a day after social media backlash – Firstpost

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A day after Lady Shri Ram College student Gurmehar Kaur pulled out of thecampaign against violent clashes at Ramjas College following social media backlash, former cricketer Virendra Sehwag took to Twitter on Wednesday to clarify his position on the ongoing row.

Sehwag, whose tweet on Gurmehartriggered an outrage on social media, claimed that his tweet "plain fun" and was not intended to target Gurmehar.

Sehwag had earlier tweeted a picture of him in a style similar to Gurmehar's video with a placard that read: "I didn't score two triple centuries, my bat did."

Meanwhile, cricketer Gautam Gambhir came out in support of Gurmehar on Wednesday saying that freedom of expression is absolute and equal for all.

Not to be outdone, BJP minister Anil Vij from Haryana told ANIthat those supporting Gurmehar were pro-Pakistan and should, therefore, be thrown out of India.

A war of words erupted betweenthe BJP and the Congress and the Left parties amid hundreds ofuniversity students and teachers taking out a protest marchagainst Akhil Bhartiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) on Tuesday. Here's a look at all that was said about the clashes on the Delhi University campus on Tuesday.

Gurmehar Kaur pulls out of campaign

After receiving rape threats, 20-year-old Gurmehar decided to distance herself from the students' campaign on Tuesday. Gurmehar, in a series of tweets, said that she would not be participating in the AISA march but encouraged everyone to go attend it in huge numbers.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju

Union minister Kiren Rijiju on Tuesday said his remark on who was "polluting" the mind of an Army martyr's daughter was aimed at "the Leftists" and clarified that she was free to express her views. Rijiju's comment came a day after he questioned whether someone was polluting Gurmehar's mind thatdrew flak from the Opposition.

"I stand by my comments. Anybody who tweets on social media platform should be careful. But anyone with a contrary view should be allowed to speak. Gurmehar is a young girl and she should be allowed to speak her mind," he told reporters. "When I said somebody is polluting her (Gurmehar's) mind, I meant the Leftists," he said.

The Union Minister of State for Home said if there was any threat to Kaur, it should be dealt with sternly. "But someone is playing politics over the issue," he said. He went on to describe Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal as an "anarchist", and said that he was siding with some students who were creating turmoil in Delhi University. The minister asked the Congress to stay away from the universities as they have "no ideology".

Shashi Tharoor

Shashi Tharoor also came out in support of Gurmehar. Congress leader and author took to Facebook to share his "brief reflections on Sehwag's picture tweet responding to the words of Gurmehar Kaur". He said, "I am disappointed that my cricket hero Virender Sehwag chose to enter the wholly politicised debate over Gurmehar Kaurs words by saying 'I didnt score two triple centuries, my bat did'."

Javed Akhtar

Veteran lyricist Javed Akhtar on Tuesday hit out at Rijiju for his remark against Gurmehar Kaur, calling it "grossly biased".

Mr minister , you have condemned the left by falsely accusing them for celebrating soldiers killing n not a word about AVBP. Grossly biased Javed Akhtar (@Javedakhtarjadu) February 28, 2017

He also took a dig at Sehwag and wrestler Yogeshwar Dutt, who trolled Kaur after her campaign "I am not afraid of ABVP" went viral.

"I don't (know) about her but Mr Minister I know who is polluting your mind," the 71-year-old lyricist added.

Robert Vadra

Robert Vadra on Tuesday tweeted saying, "Way to go Gurmehar Kaur, for taking on the fascists."

AICC general secretary Janardan Dwivedi

Talking about politicisation of the recent events at Ramjas College, senior Congress leader Janardan Dwivedi on Tuesday said students movements these days were "pre-planned" and not "self-inspired".

Students clash with police at Ramjas College in Delhi. File photo. PTI

Expressing concern over deteriorating atmosphere on college campuses across the country, he said it was not just the question of freedom of expression but more serious issue was the future of the coming generations.

"Today, the atmosphere in educational institutions in the country is being vitiated in the same manner as that in the society, which is being divided on caste and communal lines... It is not the question of only freedom of expression. It is also the question of academic atmosphere in educational institutions and the future of our coming generations as well as the larger interests of the nation that need to be kept in mind," he said.

Kanhaiya Kumar and Umar Khalid react

JNU students' leader Umar Khalid on Tuesday said, "Sehwag played for BCCI, he does not represent India. The thousands of students and teachers who came out in Delhi University today, they represent India a vision of a New India based on equality, justice and freedom!"

"The moment you write anything against Sangh (RSS) on social media, trolls surround you like bees from all sides. But when it comes to coming out on the streets, ABVP can at most muster up 150-200 people in support of their fascist ideology," he added

Kanhaiya Kumar, who had also joined the protests against ABVP demanded "non-violence" on campuses.

Vidya Balan speaks for freedom of expression

On the Gurmehar Kaur row, actress Vidya Balan on Wednesday said,"I don't want to say much about this. I think what we really need to do is respect people's freedom of expression. 'He said something she said something', all are right in their places. But I don't want to add anything more, everyone has the right to express what they feel."

(With inputs from agencies)

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‘Assault on freedom of expression’: Die Welt journalist’s arrest in Turkey condemned – The Guardian

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The arrest of Deniz Ycel is the latest in a broad crackdown on the media in Turkey after Julys failed coup. Photograph: Karlheinz Schindler/AFP/Getty Images

Opposition officials and human rights groups have condemned the arrest in Turkey of a German newspaper correspondent as an assault on freedom of expression and attempt at intimidating foreign press in the country.

Deniz Ycel, a Turkish-German journalist for Die Welt, was formally arrested on the order of a Turkish judge on Monday pending a trial on charges of propaganda and incitement to hatred. He has been held since 14 February.

Germanys foreign ministry summoned the Turkish ambassador to Berlin on Tuesday, with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, having described the arrest decision as bitter and disappointing.

Turkey now has the dubious honour of being the worlds biggest jailer of journalists, and free media in the country is in its death throes, said John Dalhuisen of Amnesty International. We are urging the Turkish authorities to release Deniz Ycel and all other journalists in pre-trial detention immediately and unconditionally, and to cease this assault on freedom of expression and dissident voices. Journalism is not a crime the media blackout in Turkey must end now.

Ycel was arrested after reporting on the hacking of the private emails of Berat Albayrak, Turkeys energy minister and the son-in-law of the countrys president, Recep Tayyip Erdoan.

The court also accused him of propaganda on behalf of the Kurdistan Workers party (PKK), a designated terror group fighting an insurgency against the Turkish state, partly because of an interview he conducted two years ago with Cemil Bayk, one of the PKKs founders.

The journalists arrest was the latest in a broad crackdown on the media in Turkey after a failed coup last July. But it was the first time a German journalist was arrested in what was interpreted as an attempt to intimidate the foreign press reporting from inside the country.

This verdict is a message to foreign journalists and journalists who are reporting from Turkey to international media outlets, said Sezgin Tanrkulu, a MP with the opposition Republican Peoples party (CHP) who is monitoring the lawsuit against Ycel.

The CHP said there were now 152 journalists in custody in Turkey including Ycel, and that 173 media organisations had been closed down since the attempted coup, including magazines, newspapers, radio stations, news agencies and websites. More than 2,500 journalists have been laid off because of the closures and 800 journalists have had their press cards cancelled by the authorities, according to Bar Yarkada, a CHP MP who monitors the trials of journalists.

The Turkish authorities argue the broad purge, which has affected tens of thousands of civil servants, police and military officials, judges, academics and journalists, is a necessary measure to eliminate security threats after the failed coup. But critics say it has gone far beyond that purpose and that it aims to stifle dissent in the country.

In April, Turkey is heading to the polls to vote in a referendum on a presidential system that will give broad powers to Erdoan.

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'Assault on freedom of expression': Die Welt journalist's arrest in Turkey condemned - The Guardian

Follow the Path of the Freedom Riders in This Interactive Map – Smithsonian

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By Rebeca Coleman

smithsonian.com February 28, 2017 12:16PM

Even though the Civil War marked the end of slavery, African-Americans fought for equal rights throughout the century that followed. In the post-Reconstruction era, Jim Crow laws arose and the American South became a region of two segregated societies whites and African Americans. Attempts to tear down this system in the courts bore little to no fruit. In 1896, the Supreme Court ruled in Plessy v. Ferguson that separate but equal accommodations in public places were legal, enshrining a public policy that stayed on the books for decades.

The decision in Brown v. Board of Education that overturned Plessy marked one of the first major victories of the ever-growing Civil Rights Movement. That decision was followed by the Interstate Commerce Commissions (ICC) decision to ban segregation on interstate bus travel and then in 1960, the Court ruled that the terminals and waiting areas themselves, including restaurants, could not be segregated. The ICC however, neglected to truly enforce its own rules and jurisdiction.

In 1961, a group of black and white individuals decided to take their frustration with the permanence of segregation, and the federal governments disinterest in putting an end to the discrimination, to a further level. They decided to test the limits of Jim Crow laws by riding two buses together into the Deep South. Two groups, the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) sponsored the Freedom Riders on their nonviolent protests of Southern segregation.

On May 4, 13 CORE and SNCC members embarked on their Freedom Ride through the American South with plans to engage in nonviolent protest and ensure that desegregation in public locales was being enforced. Many were seasoned protesters; some had even been arrested before. The overall goal was increasing awareness and decreasing segregation.

Their story, as told in the map above is one of resilience and perseverance. Some of the names are recognizable, including Martin Luther King, Robert Kennedy, and John Lewis, while some of the Riders themselves, such as Diane Nash and Henry Thomas, are lesser-known. Facing threats from the Ku Klux Klan and Bull Connor, these protestors played a crucial part in bringing the cruelties of the Jim Crow South to a national audience.

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Follow the Path of the Freedom Riders in This Interactive Map - Smithsonian

Cyborg Roses Could Be Used To Grow Computer Systems … – IFLScience

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Imagine you could inject a special, electrically conductive fluid into a rose, which then spreads out through the plant and grows into it. Imagine creating an entire garden or forest of cyborg plants that act as a gigantic, biological computer network.

Well, imagine no more scientists from Swedens Linkping University have successfully managed to perform the former, while looking forward to the latter in the future.

As reported in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, a roses veins its xylem were filled with ETE-S, a conductive solution that spontaneously forms wires through its stems, leaves, and petals. The roses own biochemical processes act as the catalyst for the proliferation of the gel, with no external stimulus required.

This circuitry integrates itself between the cell walls and the plasma membranes, all without disrupting the normal biological workings of the plant.

A very basic version of this was achieved by the same team in 2015. However, back then, the fluid, PEDOT, did not spread autonomously, and it had to be woven into place by hand a tricky procedure, to be sure. This time around, the conductive network had completely embedded itself within the rose in just two days all by itself.

By placing gold electrodes into the rose, the team managed to create a fully functioning transistor. The plant tissue itself is such a good insulator that at no point did the circuit short itself out.

The new cyborg rose supercapacitor. Thor Balkhed/Linkping University

We have been able to charge the rose repeatedly, for hundreds of times without any loss on the performance of the device, lead author Eleni Stavrinidou, Assistant Professor at Linkping Universitys Laboratory of Organic Electronics, said in a statement. The levels of energy storage we have achieved are of the same order of magnitude as those in supercapacitors.

Just like a conventional capacitor or transistor forms part of an electronic system within a computer, this e-Plant will form a similar component in a biological-technological hybrid system. Entire new forms of sensors and circuitry could be built out of this type of cyborg vegetation.

It may be difficult to think of a use for circuitry that grows organically at the moment, but it presents us with an incredible new canvas with which to transform the world in ways we can yet only begin to imagine.

Admittedly, this cyborg rose is a cutting of one, meaning it was dying or dead by the time the circuitry had permeated through it. The next step, the team note, will be to attempt to infuse a living rose with ETE-S and see if it remains alive afterwards.

If this is shown to work, then prepare yourself for a future where you can essentially plant computers in your backyard.

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Cyborg Roses Could Be Used To Grow Computer Systems ... - IFLScience

A new story arc begins in Cyborg #10, check out a preview here – Flickering Myth (blog)

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A new story arc begins in Cyborg #10, check out a preview here
Flickering Myth (blog)
LORD OF THE RATS part one! Cyborg's gone to ground following the crippling malfunction of his tech at the hands of the corrupted S.T.A.R. Labs. Desperate to find his prey, the techno-villain posing as Vic Stone's father conspires with the Lord of ...

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A new story arc begins in Cyborg #10, check out a preview here - Flickering Myth (blog)

How to Find Those Perfect Clean Croatian Beaches – Total Croatia News

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The pristine Adriatic was in the news again recently with the Dalmatian coast named among the top 10 cleanest bodies of water in the world, as TCN reported on February 27, 2017, but how to find your perfect Croatian beach online?

It is the jewel of Croatian tourism, whose thousands of idyllic bays, coves and beaches all along its expansive coast and more than a thousand islands, are washed constantly by the lapping waves of the Adriatic Sea.

But how to find your idyllic Croatian beach before you travel, check the annual water temperature, as well as its cleanliness, and other functions?

A very useful - and user-friendly - guide to all the main beaches in Croatia is available online and in English, with updated reports on individual beach inspections from May to September. With Google Earth maps, it is possible to pinpoint your perfect spot as you plan your holiday, while checking out the air and sea temperature for a particular time of year in 2016, as well as the ability to search for beaches by location.

And with the water quality rated 'excellent' in 93% of Croatia's beaches, it is little wonder that some of the world's cleanest water awaits...

Start your search for your ideal Croatian beach in 2016 here.

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How to Find Those Perfect Clean Croatian Beaches - Total Croatia News