World travel organizations denounce Trump’s ban – Travel Weekly

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The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) each spoke out against President Trump's executive order banning travel from seven nations for 90 days.

The WTTC urged Trump to reconsider the travel ban on citizens of Iran, Syria, Yemen, Iraq, Somalia, Libya and Sudan.

"The [order] goes directly against the fundamental right of freedom to travel," said WTTC CEO David Scowsill in a statement, adding that the order had "created immense confusion among travelers and travel companies worldwide."

"Our sector is responsible for the livelihoods of millions worldwide," Scowsill said. "The U.S. has suffered in the past from similar isolationist policies. We urge the Trump administration to reconsider this ban."

Scowsill further stated that "suspending travel based only on a person's nationality or their origin is wrong" and that many travelers had been "unnecessarily disrupted, due to the unclear nature of the executive order, coupled with a lack of prior consultation and poor communication to airlines and border officials."

"Preventing 'aliens' from entering the U.S. for legitimate business or leisure purposes is misguided and counterproductive for the American economy," he said.

The UNWTO expressed "strong condemnation" of the travel ban.

"The travel ban, based on nationality, is contrary to the principles of freedom of travel and travel facilitation promoted by the international tourism community, and will hinder the immense benefits that the tourism sector brings in terms of economic growth and job creation to many countries, including the USA," UNWTO stated.

UNWTO Secretary-General Taleb Rifai further stated that "isolationism and blind discriminatory actions will not lead to increased security but rather to growing tensions and threats."

"Besides the direct impact, the image of a country which imposes travel bans in such a hostile way will surely be affected among visitors from all over the world and risk dumping travel demand to the USA," Rifai said.

IATA, the international trade group for commercial airlines, was also critical of the executive order. But unlike WTTC and UNWTO, IATA focused its attention on the quick fashion in which the travel ban was put in place, rather than on the policy itself. The action stranded hundreds of travelers in airports around the world.

"The [executive order] was issued without prior coordination or warning, causing confusion among both airlines and travelers," IATA said. "It also placed additional burdens on airlines to comply with unclear requirements, to bear implementation costs and to face potential penalties for noncompliance.

"We ask for early clarity from the U.S. administration on the current situation. Moreover, we urge all governments to provide sufficient advance coordination of changes in entry requirements so that travelers can clearly understand them and airlines can efficiently implement them."

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Trump suffers new travel ban setback – BBC News

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BBC News
Trump suffers new travel ban setback
BBC News
Iraq, one of the countries named in the ban, has praised the revocation of the travel ban as a "move in the right direction", Reuters reported. Iran has also responded to Judge Robart's ruling by saying it would allow a US wrestling team to compete in ...
Trump's travel ban continues its legal journeyCBC.ca
Why is Donald Trump's travel ban suspended? Legal updates and process, what happens nextExpress.co.uk
Trump ramps up criticism of judge after travel ban setbackBBC News
The Independent -Castanet.net -CNN
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Trump suffers new travel ban setback - BBC News

Federal appeals court decides to schedule a hearing on Trump travel order – Washington Post

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(Lee Powell/The Washington Post)

A federal appeals court will hear arguments Tuesday on whether to restore President Trumps controversial immigration order, marking a critical juncture for the presidents directive temporarily barring refugees and those from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

The hearing, which will be conducted by telephone, is to review an order by a lower court judge to put Trumps directive on hold.

It was scheduled just as Justice Department lawyers made their final written pitch to immediately restore the presidents order and as tech companies, law professors and former high-ranking national security officials joined a mushrooming legal campaign to keep the measure suspended.

Justice Department lawyers asserted that the executive order was a lawful exercise of the Presidents authority over the entry of aliens into the United States and the admission of refugees, and that U.S. District Judge James Robarts order to stop it was vastly overbroad.

The future of the temporary ban now lies with three judges on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit: William C. Canby Jr., who was appointed by President Carter; Judge Richard Clifton, who was appointed by President George W. Bush; and Judge Michelle Taryn Friedland, who was appointed by President Obama.

(Jayne Orenstein,Dalton Bennett,Natalie Jennings/The Washington Post)

The judges said each side would have 30 minutes to present their arguments beginning at 6 p.m. Eastern. It is unclear how soon a ruling could follow. The hearing will be live-streamed, the clerk of court said..

With the court case ongoing, those once stopped from coming to the United States have rushed to come into the country. The Department of Homeland Security said it was suspending all enforcement of Trumps directive after the federal judge in Seattle ordered it frozen, and many travelers have since been able to reunite with family here.

[Court document: Declaration of National Security Officials]

The broad legal issue is whether Trump exceeded his authority and violated the First Amendment and federal immigration law, and whether his executive order imposes irreparable harm on those it affects.

Either Justice Department lawyers representing the Trump administration, or the states of Washington and Minnesota which had successfully sued to put the ban on hold could ask the Supreme Court to intervene if they disagree with the appeals court decision. The Supreme Court, though, remains one justice short, and many see it as ideologically split 4-4. A tie would keep in place whatever the appeals court decides.

The rhetoric from both sides has been fierce. The states of Washington and Minnesota argued in a filing Monday that reinstating the ban would unleash chaos again by separating families, stranding our university students and faculty, and barring travel.

Justice Department lawyers countered that non-citizens outside the United States have no substantive right or basis for judicial review in the denial of a visa at all, and that, at most, the lower court judge should have limited his ruling to previously admitted aliens who are temporarily abroad now or who wish to travel and return to the United States in the future.

Federal immigration law undeniably gives the president broad authority to bar people from coming into the United States, saying that if he finds the entry of any aliens would be detrimental to the countrys interests, he can impose restrictions. Legal analysts have said those challenging the ban will face an uphill climb to overturn it.

[Court document: Amicus brief by tech companies]

Yet the opposition has been successful so far, and it is growing. On Monday, 10 former high-ranking diplomatic and national security officials; nearly 100 Silicon Valley tech companies; more than 280 law professors; a coalition of 16 state or district attorneys general, including those from D.C., Maryland and Virginia; and a host of civil liberties and other organizations formally lent their support to the legal bid to block Trumps order.

While it is not unusual for outside parties to weigh in on legal cases of such public interest, the breadth and depth of those lining up behind Washington and Minnesota is notable.

Former secretaries of state John F. Kerry and Madeleine Albright, along with former CIA director Leon Panetta, former CIA and National Security Agency Director Michael Hayden and other former top national security officials, attached their names to an affidavit declaring there was no national security purpose for a complete barring of people from the seven affected countries.

Since September 11, 2001, not a single terrorist attack in the United States has been perpetrated by aliens from the countries named in the Order, the group declared. Very few attacks on U.S. soil since September 11, 2001 have been traced to foreign nationals at all.

[Travelers from Iran board flights to the United States following stay, attorney says]

Apple, Facebook, Google, Microsoft, Netflix, Twitter, Uber and other companies asserted in a brief that Trumps order hinders the ability of American companies to attract great talent; increases costs imposed on business; makes it more difficult for American firms to compete in the international marketplace; and gives global enterprises a new, significant incentive to build operations and hire new employees outside the United States.

And 16 attorneys general said, while their specific businesses and residents were different, all stand to face the concrete, immediate, and irreparable harms caused by the Executive Order.

Trump and his supporters have continued to press the case that the short-term stoppage on refugees and immigrants from Iraq, Iran, Syria, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen is necessary for national security reasons. He said Monday, during remarks at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, that, We need strong programs so that people that love us and want to love our country and will end up loving our country are allowed in, not people who want to destroy us and destroy our country.

On Twitter, he went so far as to suggest that if an attack were to happen, the judiciary would be to blame.

Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril, Trump wrote. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!

[Trump lashes out at so-called judge who temporarily blocked entry ban]

The president also dismissed as fake news polls showing opposition to the executive order and asserted that the public wants and needs border security and strong vetting.

Federal courts in New York, California and elsewhere already have blocked aspects of the ban from being implemented, although one federal judge in Massachusetts declared that he did not think that challengers had demonstrated that they had a high likelihood of success. The case before the 9th Circuit, though, is much broader than the others, because it stems from a federal judges outright halting of the ban.

Robert Barnes, Brian Murphy and John Wagner contributed to this report.

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Federal appeals court decides to schedule a hearing on Trump travel order - Washington Post

Trump travel ban: Seattle judge issues nationwide block – BBC News

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Trump travel ban: Seattle judge issues nationwide block
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A US judge in Seattle has issued a temporary nationwide block on President Donald Trump's ban on travellers from seven mainly Muslim nations. Federal Judge James Robart ruled against government lawyers' claims that US states did not have the standing ...
Trump travel ban: Airlines allow banned nationals after Seattle rulingBBC News

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Trump travel ban: Seattle judge issues nationwide block - BBC News

Family sells everything to travel around the world for two years – WGNO

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NEW ORLEANS (WGNO)-Heres an incredible journey. The Vrapi family will be traveling all around the world for approximately two years.

We came across their blog and YouTube called, When In Rome Travels, which will document their travels.

The family, mother Kaleigh, father, Engjell, and their three kids, were recently in New Orleans.

They contacted News with a Twist Reporter Kenny Lopez to tell him about their trip.

Their journey began in Montana, and they plan to travel all around the United States for the next five months.

They are traveling in an RV. After touring the United States, then they will head abroad for 15 months to Europe, Asia, and South America.

We used to own two restaurants, Kaleigh said.My husband is a chef and Im a sommelier. We have three kids, and were working so hard, we werent able to spend the quality time we wanted with our kids, so we decided to sell everything. We sold our house, our cars, our businesses, and are now traveling with our kids.

The family plans to explore as many restaurants and wineries as they can to broaden their culinary perspectives, but most important for them is the family time that they are sharing with each other.

For a link to their blog& YouTube channel, click HERE.

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Family sells everything to travel around the world for two years - WGNO

Travel ban lifted but for how long? Court must decide – News Sentinel

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WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawyers for Washington state and Minnesota are telling a federal appeals court that restoring President Donald Trump's ban on refugees and travelers from seven predominantly Muslim countries would "unleash chaos again."The filing with the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco came early Monday after the White House said it expected federal courts to reinstate the ban. Justice Department lawyers were expected to respond later in the day.Washington and Minnesota say their underlying lawsuit is strong and a nationwide temporary restraining order is appropriate. If the appellate court reinstates the ban, the states say the "ruling would reinstitute those harms, separating families, stranding our university students and faculty and barring travel."The rapid-fire legal maneuvers by the two states were accompanied by a declaration filed by John Kerry and Madeleine Albright, former secretaries of state, along with former national security officials under President Barack Obama. They said Trump's ban would disrupt lives and cripple U.S. counterterrorism partnerships around the world without making the nation safer. "It will aid ISIL's propaganda effort and serve its recruitment message by feeding into the narrative that the United States is at war with Islam," according to the six-page declaration filed in court."Blanket bans of certain countries or classes of people are beneath the dignity of the nation and Constitution that we each took oaths to protect," the declaration says.The technology industry also argued against the ban, contending it would harm their companies by making it more difficult to recruit employees. Tech giants like Apple and Google, along with Uber, filed their arguments with the court late Sunday.The government began unwinding the executive order over the weekend after James Robart, a federal judge in Seattle, put it on hold. Family members affected by the policy were reuniting with relatives at American airports on Monday.Two Yemeni brothers whose family has sued over the travel ban arrived at Dulles International Airport in Virginia, greeted by their father, and in Colorado, a college student who traveled to Libya to visit her sick mother and attend her father's funeral was back in Fort Collins on Monday. She was welcomed with flowers and balloons by her husband and children.The next opportunity for Trump's team to argue in favor of the ban will come in the form of a response to the Washington state and Minnesota filings. The 9th Circuit ordered the Justice Department to file its briefs by 6 p.m. EST Monday. It had already turned down a Justice request to set aside immediately a Seattle judge's ruling that put a temporary hold on the ban nationwide.That ruling last Friday prompted an ongoing Twitter rant by Trump, who dismissed U.S. District Court Judge James Robart as a "so-called judge" and his decision "ridiculous."Trump renewed his Twitter attacks against Robart on Sunday. "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!" He followed with another tweet saying he had instructed the Homeland Security Department to check people coming into the country but that "the courts are making the job very difficult!"The government had told the appeals court that the president alone has the power to decide who can enter or stay in the United States, an assertion that appeared to invoke the wider battle to come over illegal immigration.Congress "vests complete discretion" in the president to impose conditions on entry of foreigners to the United States, and that power is "largely immune from judicial control," according to the court filing.Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, predicted the appeals court would not have the last word. "I have no doubt that it will go to the Supreme Court, and probably some judgments will be made whether this president has exceed his authority or not," she said.In his ruling, Robart said it was not the court's job to "create policy or judge the wisdom of any particular policy promoted by the other two branches," but to make sure that an action taken by the government "comports with our country's laws."The Twitter attacks on Robart -- appointed by President George W. Bush -- prompted scolding from fellow Republicans as well as Democrats."We don't have so-called judges," said Sen. Ben Sasse, R-Neb. "We don't have so-called senators. We don't have so-called presidents. We have people from three different branches of government who take an oath to uphold and defend the Constitution."Trump's order applied to Iraq, Syria, Iran, Sudan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen -- Muslim-majority countries that the administration said raise terrorism concerns. The State Department said last week that as many as 60,000 foreigners from those seven countries had had their visas canceled. After Robart's decision, the department reversed course and said they could travel to the U.S. if they had a valid visa.The department also advised refugee aid agencies that refugees set to travel before Trump signed his order would now be allowed in.Feinstein spoke on Fox and Sasse was interviewed by ABC.____Associated Press writers Eugene Johnson and Martha Bellisle in Seattle, Matthew Barakat in Chantilly, Virginia and Colleen Slevin in Denver contributed to this report.

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Travel ban lifted but for how long? Court must decide - News Sentinel

Brand Trump and brand USA – Travel Weekly

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President Trump's executive order barring refugees from seven Muslim-majority nations has been debated over points of law and procedural clarity, has spurred appeals of conscience and international outrage and has led to dramatic events and confrontations in the nation's capital and courtrooms.

Not to mention Twitter feeds.

But it's worth noting that the first scenes of enforcement, confusion and protest occurred at airports, underscoring the deep connection the order has to what this industry has long championed: the right to travel.

The words "freely" and "securely" often follow "travel" in that phrase, and the apparent conflict that some people see between the two is at the heart of the contentiousness.

Following the order, it took travel industry organizations and companies a few days to react. Condemnation first came from the World Travel and Tourism Council, the Pacific Asia Travel Association and the United Nations World Tourism Organization.

None, notably, U.S.-based.

The Association of Corporate Travel Executives released a survey showing that about 40% of its members expressed concern about a reduction in international business travel. Subsequently, the Global Business Travel Association polled its members and found half opposed the ban, warning "the economy will certainly take a hit."

In the private sector, Lyft and TripAdvisor announced large donations to organizations supporting refugees, and Expedia declared its support for the Washington state lawsuit that, for the time being, has overturned the order.

The ban came two days after a different executive order to construct a border wall with Mexico. That became a topic on a panel at the New York Times Travel Show, during which Apple Leisure Group CEO Alex Zozaya expressed concern that by painting Mexico as an adversary, the president's followers would be less inclined to vacation there. Travel Leaders Group CEO Ninan Chacko's focus was on travel in the other direction, saying current events might make people in other countries less likely to visit the U.S.

In the event that the current lifting of the ban by courts is overturned on appeal, the idea of either a formal boycott or individuals simply choosing not to come to the U.S. isn't far-fetched. A journalism professor wrote an opinion piece for the Toronto Sun under the headline, "Time to boycott vacations to the U.S."

The U.S. Travel Association, the primary policy group that lobbies for U.S. inbound travel interests, has so far issued only cautious statements regarding its support for secure borders, without ever specifically endorsing or disputing the executive order. If Brand USA, the sole federally funded destination marketing organization, has issued a release regarding the executive orders, it didn't make it to my inbox.

The executive order that banned certain refugees also included a suspension of the Visa Interview Waiver Program in all countries. Should that suspension resume, it would be a roll back of a procedural win for U.S. Travel that has also made Brand USA's work to portray America as a welcoming country easier. Still, there is logic in these two organizations sitting on the sidelines for the moment. They may be reasoning that even if the courts eventually side with the president, the change may still indeed be temporary, so it wouldn't be prudent to risk a four-year rupture in lines of communications with the White House over what might be a four-month setback.

Although Brand Trump owes a lot to the travel industry -- hotels are a cornerstone of his business empire -- it would appear that in its early days, his administration is setting a course that is squarely at odds with (lowercase) brand USA.

The president and his supporters have been making the case that without border security, there is no security of any kind for the country, including business-as-usual tourism.

I don't think anybody would argue against a need for strong security; at issue is whether these specific steps are Constitutional, will increase security or are preferable to other approaches that do not upset potential visitors nor endanger U.S. jobs, another priority of the administration.

On the topic of jobs, a few reminders may be in order should the reputation of brand America continue to be called into question by executive orders and policy proposals: In 2015, the most recent year for which statistics are available, more than 15 million jobs were supported by travel. That year, $147.9 billion in tax revenue was collected as a result of industry activity, revenue that could help pay for proposed infrastructure programs.

Small businesses, which the president has repeatedly said he strongly supports, make up 84% of the U.S. travel industry. And travel's economic importance is nationwide -- it's one of the top 10 industries in 49 states and Washington, D.C.

Thanks to inbound international travel, the industry posts a $98 billion trade surplus. Mexico is our No. 2 source market; China, with whom tensions are rising, is No. 5, but is far and away the fastest growing.

The economic stakes are enormously high, which makes the confusion and threat to our image as a result of these two orders -- never mind antagonistic comments toward traditional allies -- distressing.

The U.S. has yet to regain the market share it enjoyed before the post-9/11 "Fortress America" mentality took hold. We've made great strides in recovering market share while still maintaining a level of security that has, for more than 15 years, during two administrations, prevented a terrorist attack resulting from immigration lapses.

No one would argue that continuous and vigilant updating of travel security measures aren't extremely important, but I cannot understand the logic behind policy positions that guarantee nothing yet risk millions of jobs and takes a posture that alienates those visitors whose very presence contributes to America's economic security.

The version of this column that appeared in today's print edition has been updated above to include events that occurred over the weekend.

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Brand Trump and brand USA - Travel Weekly

Transhuman: A New Documentary on People Who Want to Live Forever – The Libertarian Republic

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By: Elias J. Atienza

The transhumanist community is getting a new look at by News2Share founder and editor Ford Fischer. In a new documentary, Fischer wants to tell the story about the transhumanist movement and increase the understanding of their goals.

The transhumanist movement is decentralized, though they have made some strides into centralizing their political activities. Zoltan Istvan ran under the Transhumanist Party in the 2016 presidential election, though it is unknown how many votes he received since he was a write-in candidate and did not appear in on any state ballots.

But the most interesting part is the intersectionality between transhumanism and libertarianism. The transhumanist community often agrees with the libertarian side of personal freedom and the Transhumanist Party presidential candidate supported Johnsons push to be involved in the debates.

Below is an interview with Fischer on transhumanism and his documentary. If you would like to support Fischers effort in making the documentary, or support News2Sharein general, go to this link. The trailer is at the end of the article.

Transhuman is expected to come out in December.

Has been lightly edited for clarity.

TLR: What is Transhuman all about?

Transhuman will tell the story of the transhumanist movement. Transhumanists have a diverse set of goals, but theyre best summed up by three goals: Super wellbeing, super longevity, and super intelligence. All three goals seek to evolve humanity by using technology. Super wellbeing means amplifying the body with tech. For example, Ive filmed people inject RFID microchips into their body that serve basic functional purposes like opening their car door or unlocking their computer. More broadly, many people concerned with super wellbeing hope to make themselves cyborgs (part human, part machine). Many attempt to use tech to give themselves new senses or abilities, such as an implant that detects earthquakes anywhere on the planet and vibrates whenever one occurs, thus giving someone a sense of the earths movements. Gene editing is also a vital part of this mission. Super longevity is the goal of using tech to elongate life. They tend to see aging as a disease and something that should be cured. Through medicine or the replacement of vital organs with indefinitely functioning technologies, they hope to expand lifespan, possibly to the point where death becomes optional. Super intelligence is a bit more abstract, but deals with using technology to expand the capabilities of the mind and bridge between computers and the brain. In the extreme, the notion of singularity is something this trend explores. The film will attempt to uncover the largely underground movement of people beginning to perform experiments in this space, and discuss the political, philosophical, and socioeconomic implications of a transhumanist future.

TLR: What is libertarian about Transhuman?

As one would expect, transhumanists are often written off as bizarre. There are varying degrees, but most people would be skeptical or creeped out by the notion of people volunteering to put LED lights or RFID chips under their skin, for example. The transhumanists moral code that justifies all of their actions is the notion of radical self-ownership. I own my body, the transhumanist says, so I have the right to do with it whatever I want, no matter how weird you find it. They believe in the right to do what they want as long as it hurts nobody else. Sound familiar? This is essentially the non-aggression principle. Most transhumanists are on the very libertarian side of personal freedoms, and their political diversity is more broad when it comes to questions of economics. Should the government fund transhumanist science? Thats more disputable. But they are sure that no third party should step in their way. They also tend to be very skeptical of government or corporate interference in tech. An entire presentation dealt with the problems that could come out of governments claiming a right to search machines (think iPhone). If you had technology inseparably attached to your body, what if the state could hack or spy on it? These are the sorts of questions Ive already watched many in the body hacking community grapple with. The man whod go on to become the Transhumanist presidential candidate in 2016 (who is an advisor on the film) actually spent a night at Gary Johnsons house in an unsuccessful bid to be his VP candidate. Gary gave him an honest shot but ultimately decided against it.

TLR: Who is the leader of the transhuman movement?

The transhumanist movement is extremely decentralized, so theres no specific leader. However, recently the recently formed Transhumanist Party adds some centralization to the political conquest of transhumanists. Zoltan Istvan ran for president on their ticket and would be widely considered a leader. Gennady Stolyarov, author of Death is Wrong, is now the chairman of that party.

TLR: Does the Transhuman community want to start becoming more involved in politics?

The transhumanists are not necessarily members of the transhumanist party. In general, they tend to want more legitimacy. Right now, licensed doctors and surgeons are concerned about performing transhumanist experiments because of the possibility of the state retaliating (such as removing their license). The result is that transhumanist experiments rely on legal loopholes and black markets, which is not favorable for any movement trying to gain legitimacy. While its unlikely that well see Transhumanist Party candidates winning elections any time soon, their introduction into the political sphere, in intellectual alliance with the Libertarian Party on many issues, shows that theyre trying to come out of the shadows so to speak. I spoke to many people concerned about discrimination against cyborgs, government intrusion, and other potential political issues in their respective futurist projections.

TLR: What does it mean to be transhuman? Do these people want to live forever?

Being transhuman is simply to use technology to evolve somehow past conventional human experience. See the first answer. With regards to immortality, thats a goal for many of them, but it wouldnt be considered a failure not to. The goals are diverse.

TLR: What is the end goal for transhumanism?

As a deeply futurist movement always striving for the next level, Im not sure that there is an end goal. In general, transhumanists want to continue expanding the human bodys function. New senses or limbs or deep integration with computers are end goals, but nearly limitless. The end goal of longevity is indefinite lifespan, and the end goal of super intelligence is something like singularity, but transhumanism as a whole is inherently limitless in theory.

TLR: What do you hope this documentary accomplishes?

After researching the topic pretty extensively, Ive come to be convinced that transhumanism is going to be relevant in the next few decades, politically and in society. Right now, the issue is seen as so fringe that virtually nobody opposes it, but the cycle of new technology would show that when it becomes marginally popular, people will see it as blasphemous somehow. After that, it could enter the political arena, where the libertarians and liberals support the right to do it, and religious conservatives fight against it. Given the possibility of it becoming so relevant later yet it being so under-reported now, I think history will struggle to realize why it has such a poorly recorded history of the movements roots. I hope my film will not only be illuminating now, but also fill in the gap of an underreported crucial moment in history.

TLR: What do you think the libertarian community can learn from transhumanism?

Transhuman science is often in a legal gray area. It certainly hasnt been specifically approved, and it always bypasses the FDA and other agencies. Like Uber, transhumanists are living by the philosophy of acting now rather than waiting for permission. The institutions and the government wont participate or condone many of these things. The DIY transhumanist says I dont need permission. Thats a mentality a lot of libertarians could learn from.

Ford FischerGary JohnsonlibertarianismNews2ShareTranshumanistmZoltan Istvan

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Transhuman: A New Documentary on People Who Want to Live Forever - The Libertarian Republic

A Pulse on Fashion – NC State News

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Fashionistas are always looking for a dress that makes their hearts beat faster. But what about a dress that literally shows everyone else your racing pulse?

College of Textiles alumna Jazsalyn McNeils Pulse Dressboth visually stunning and technologically relevantincorporates LEDs that blink with the wearers heartbeat.McNeil talks about her dressand the broadening relationship between technology and fashion onFriday, Feb. 3, at 11 a.m.in the Teaching and Visualization Lab at Hunt Library.

McNeil worked with the NCSU Libraries Makerspace program on the dress, fusing art and design within the emerging fields of wearable technologies and interactive electronic textiles. The Makerspace helped her deploy biometric sensing and nanomaterials within her designs.

The talk is part of the NCSU Libraries Making Space series of public talks and workshops that raise awareness among women about access to tools and technology while lowering barriers to entry for first-time users of makerspaces.

McNeils work will also be on display for the entire month of February in the Hunt Librarys Apple Technology Showcase as part of Undergraduate Research in Action: The Pulse Dress, an interactive exhibition co-presented with the College of Textiles Nano-EXtended Textiles Research Group (NEXT). See the dress in action here.

Fashion and apparel are a part of our everyday lives, but they havent changed that much in the last few decades. Meanwhile technology is changing quickly all the time, McNeil says. With our phones, we escape reality, and were distracted from our environment. So I wanted to integrate technology in a way that could raise our awareness of ourselves and our environment.

Its not enough for me to just design something thats appealing. Im always searching for something with more purpose and meaning that we can integrate into our lives.

A member of NEXT, McNeil cites shows likeSpace Odyssey, movies likeThe Fifth Element and anime such as Ghost in the Shell as influences, more for their futuristic and transhuman ideas than for their literal costuming and visual design.

I was inspired by those topics, so it makes sense that that trickled down into the design and art that I produce.

McNeil currently works on projects for galleries and museums, as well as for apparel companies across the country.

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A Pulse on Fashion - NC State News

New supercomputer starts work in Cheyenne | Business | trib.com – Casper Star-Tribune Online

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One of the worlds most powerful supercomputers sprang into action last month in Wyomings capital city.

The National Center for Atmospheric Research launched the machine, named Cheyenne, to help researchers better understand the world we live in, according to a news release. Scientists across the nation will use Cheyenne currently the worlds 20th-fastest supercomputer to study a range of topics, from wildfires and earthquakes to wind.

Leaders hope the results of that research will lead to improvements in natural disaster protection and anticipation as well as strengthen long- and short-term weather and water forecasts. That could be good news for businesses and economic sectors that depend on that information, such as agriculture, energy, transportation and tourism.

Cheyenne will help us advance the knowledge needed for saving lives, protecting property, and enabling U.S. businesses to better compete in the global marketplace, Antonio J. Busalacchi, president of the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, said in the release. This system is turbocharging our science.

Some of the topics researchers hope to tackle using the machine include forecasting of long-range weather patterns, wind energy, space weather, extreme weather, climate engineering and smoke and the global climate, the release said.

Cheyenne, the fastest supercomputer in the Mountain West, can handle more than three times the amount of scientific computing that its predecessor, Yellowstone, could do, according to the release, and is three times more energy-efficient as well. It lives in the NCAR-Wyoming Supercomputing Center, which opened in 2012. Since then, more than 2,200 scientists from more than 300 universities and labs have harnessed its power.

The supercomputer was named to thank the people of Cheyenne for their support of the center as well as to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Wyomings capital city, which was founded in 1867.

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New supercomputer starts work in Cheyenne | Business | trib.com - Casper Star-Tribune Online

Nvidia’s new graphics card turns your PC into a ‘supercomputer’ – TechRadar

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Over at Solidworks in Los Angeles, Nvidia has revealed a crop of new Pascal-based Quadro graphics cards led by the GP100, which the company claims will effectively grant supercomputing capabilities to a desktop workstation PC.

The Quadro GP100 is certainly a very tasty piece of hardware aimed at the likes of deep learning, engineering and simulation workloads, as well as VR content creation. Based on the SPECviewperf 12 benchmark, it boasts no less than (up to) double the performance of the firms previous-generation solution.

It also comes with 16GB of HBM2 (high-bandwidth) memory and NVLink allows for a pair of the GPUs to be combined for 32GB of HBM2 on tap in a single PC.

To throw some more juicy numbers at you, the GP100 offers unprecedented double precision performance, Nvidia notes, tipping up over 5TFlops which is nearly triple the speed of the Quadro K6000.

Nvidia says that single precision (FP32) performance is 10 TFlops, doubled to 20 TFlops when in half precision (FP16) mode.

The Quadro GP100 is joined by five other offerings, namely the P4000, P2000, P1000, P600 and P400, which boast different levels of power depending on what you need (although only the flagship GP100 has HBM2 video memory on board).

The company also said that its new Pascal-based Quadro cards are capable of rendering photorealistic images over 18 times faster than an Intel Xeon E5 2697 V3 (2.6GHz) processor with 14 cores (thats 720p footage with Iray).

The launch of this host of cards follows the release of the Quadro P6000 and P5000 last summer.

These powerful new GPUs will be available from as soon as next month, although the exact pricing is still to be confirmed. Obviously enough, the beefy GP100 is likely to carry a very weighty price tag.

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Nvidia's new graphics card turns your PC into a 'supercomputer' - TechRadar

Quantum supercomputer could ‘change life completely’ – RT

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Physicists have produced the first-ever blueprints for a large-scale quantum computer that could herald a technological revolution in computing.

If the industrial blueprint works, it could see the first super-fast quantum machine being built within a decade at a cost of tens of millions of pounds.

Quantum computers have long been seen as the next stage in computing technology. Scientists believe this next generation machine could be many millions of times faster than contemporary computers.

An international team the University of Sussex published the new blueprint in the academic journal Science Advances.

For many years, people said that it was completely impossible to construct an actual quantum computer. With our work we have not only shown that it can be done but now we are delivering a nuts and bolts construction plan to build an actual large-scale machine, lead scientist Winfried Hensinger said in a statement.

The revolutionary potential of quantum computers lies in their ability to work at the atomic level, where an atom can mysteriously exist in two different places at the same time.

This means a qubit the quantum version of a traditional bit of computer information can be both 1 and 0 at the same time. At the moment, a bit can only be 1 or 0.

Scientists believe a computer system that operates on this level can perform many more multiple calculations at one time.

Previous attempts at building a quantum machine have been limited to a computing capability of 10 or 15 qubits, but now physicists claim to have come up with a way around this restriction.

Whereas scientists had previously used fibre optic connections to connect individual computer modules, the new invention uses electric fields to push ions from one module to another.

A modular design is absolutely critical in order to realize a quantum computer with truly phenomenal processing power, Hensinger told the BBC.

The new machine is not going to be cheap, however, with a starting cost of 1-2 million ($1.25-2.5 million), which could balloon to tens of millions.

But the cost could be worth it once the new supercomputers get to work solving societys most difficult and complex problems.

The availability of a universal quantum computer may have a fundamental impact on society as a whole, Hensinger said in a statement.

Without doubt it is still challenging to build a large-scale machine, but now is the time to translate academic excellence into actual application building on the UKs strengths in this ground-breaking technology. I am very excited to work with industry and government to make this happen.

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Quantum supercomputer could 'change life completely' - RT

Who will win the Super Bowl: predictions from NFL experts, a ‘Super Computer,’ and a Magic 8-Ball – The Verge

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Remember the Twilight Zone episode A Most Unusual Camera, about a couple who rob an antique store and find themselves in possession of a camera that can predict the future? Personally I dont think its cool for criminals to find such a neat gizmo (even if it eventually kills them all (spoilers)). But the story had a moral: If you can see into the future, you should use your knowledge to gamble and get rich, because life is short and you will inevitably fall out a window in an unexpected and ironic fashion.

Come to think of it, the internet is a little bit like that camera. There are dozens of ways its near-infinite collection of data could make a logical prediction of the future. With that in mind, Ive taken the liberty of compiling as much internet-sourced material as possible to prophesize the outcome of this years Super Bowl the New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons and turn what I have in my savings account into a small fortune.

So here, in no particular order, are various Super Bowl winner predictions from around the internet.

5. A Yahoo Answers post from 8 months ago, while not the most reliable source, is nonetheless comprehensive, and a voice of the people. Lets hear it:

Unfortunately none of these teams are playing in the Super Bowl. Yahoo has been DQed.

6. Following the Yahoo Answers lead, I asked several online Magic 8 Balls, Will Barry Sanders win the Super Bowl? because the question must be posed in a yes or no format. The results were what can only be described as a mixed bag:

7. Then I texted the Q&A chat service Cha Cha, which shut down operations last year. This proved less useful than the Magic 8 Ball.

8. This online crystal ball replied, Maybe, if you do nothing. If your hands are tied, this is a possibility. But the only way to make your future definite is to untie your hands and seize the day!

9. Lastly, I attempted to contact several online psychics for answers, but they kept asking for my credit card information, and you already know Im not a gambler.

In summation, it seems like the most likely winners of Super Bowl LI are either the Atlanta Falcons or the New England Patriots. But its impossible to entirely rule out a Barry Sanders comeback.

In 2015, SB Nation reported that the amount of money spent gambling on the game annually was in the billions. Gambling on the Super Bowl is like robbing an antique store: It seems like a good idea at first, but as any antique thief will tell you, Dont rob that antique store, the old man has gun!

And yet millions of you will do it anyway (gamble on the Super Bowl that is) so you might as well stock the odds in your favor with these missives from the future. Surely one of them is right.

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Who will win the Super Bowl: predictions from NFL experts, a 'Super Computer,' and a Magic 8-Ball - The Verge

Engineering thyroid cells from stem cells may lead to new therapies – Medical News Today

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Scientists have found a way to efficiently engineer new thyroid cells from stem cells. The discovery, performed in mice, is the first step toward engineering new human thyroid cells in order to better study and treat thyroid diseases.

A report on the work - led by Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) in Massachusetts - is published in the journal Stem Cell Reports.

The thyroid is a gland in the middle of the lower neck. Although only small, it produces hormones that reach every cell, organ, and tissue to help control metabolism - the rate at which the body makes energy from nutrients and oxygen.

Thyroid diseases are common conditions in which the gland is either overactive and produces too much hormone (hyperthyroidism), or underactive and produces too little (hypothyroidism).

It is thought that around 20 million people in the United States are living with some form of thyroid disease, the causes of which are largely unknown.

Most thyroid disorders are chronic or life-long conditions that can be managed with medical attention. However, approximately 60 percent of cases are undiagnosed.

Undiagnosed thyroid diseases can lead to serious conditions, such as cardiovascular diseases, infertility, and osteoporosis.

Stem cells are cells that have the potential to mature into many different cell types. Particular patterns of genetic switches and signals direct the maturing stem cells toward their individual fates.

Fast facts about hyperthyroidism

Learn more about hyperthyroidism

In their study, the researchers found a way to coax genetically modified embryonic stem cells from mice to develop into thyroid cells.

They discovered that there is a "window of opportunity" for doing this efficiently that occurs during cell development.

As they guided the laboratory-cultured embryonic stem cells through various stages of development, the researchers switched a gene called Nkx2-1 on and off for short periods.

They discovered a small timeframe during which the Nkx2-1 gene is switched on that converts the majority of the stem cells into thyroid cells.

Researchers believe that the discovery is the first step toward an effective human stem cell protocol for creating research models and new treatments for thyroid diseases. The principle may also apply to other cell types, they add.

In their paper, they note that stem cells hold great promise as a way to mass produce differentiated cells for research. However, a major roadblock to achieving high yields has been "the poor or variable differentiation efficiency of many differentiation protocols."

"This method resulted in high yield of our target cell type, thyroid cells, but it may be applicable for the derivation of other clinically relevant cell types such as lung cells, insulin-producing cells, liver cells, etc."

Senior author Prof. Laertis Ikonomou, BUSM

Learn how scientists used stem cells to restore testosterone.

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Experimental Stem Cell Therapy Stops Multiple Sclerosis In Its … – Vocativ

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The prognosis for people affected by multiple sclerosis (MS), a degenerative autoimmune disorder that decimates the central nervous system, is a bleak one. The disease oftenbegins with a sudden burst of neurological symptoms like muscle spasms, vision problems, and trouble walking, then progresses differently, depending on which form of MS someone has. But eventually, nearly everyone with the disease comesto the point of being unable to move, breathe, or live independently. And sufferers on average live anywhere from five to ten years less than the general public.

Currently, the best medications we have available do little more than slow MS down, or tamp down peoples symptoms. But an experimental therapy continues to provide the first glimmers of something ground-breaking an actual way to stop one form of the disease in its tracks, and maybe even reverse some of the damage already done.

In this months Neurology, researchers detailed the final five-year-old results of a small clinical trial called HALT-MS. Twenty-four volunteers with MS who hadnt responded to conventional drugs were first given a powerful form of chemotherapy, high-dose immunosuppressive therapy (HDIT), that wiped out their immune system. Then they were given a transplant of their own stem cells taken out earlier, known as autologous hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). These purified cells, the researchers theorized, would seed a new generation of uncorrupted white blood cells and reset the immune system, freezing MS in its place.

For the most part thats exactly what the combination HDIT/HCT therapy did. Nearly 70 percent of patients, five years in, have experienced no signs of the disease progressing. They havent had a relapse of symptoms, become more disabled, or had new brain lesions show up in imaging exams. Some have actually improved physically in the years since the treatment. And even those not in complete remission appear to be suffering less than before. Importantly, though the treatment isnt free of side-effects, there havent been severe ones. There were three deaths seen during the trial, all of whom experienced worsening MS, but none were attributed to the treatment.

The volunteers all had relapsing-remitting MS, the most common form, in which symptoms come and go with little rhyme or reason.

The evidence at this time is encouraging, but it isnt definitive, study author Dr. Linda Griffith, a researcher at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), which sponsored the study, told Vocativ.

As Vocativ has previously reported, this isnt the first trial to find similar success rates for HDIT/HCT, though it does come with its own dangers. Patients can die from it, and like all kinds of chemotherapy, the deliberate weakening of the immune system often leads to more infections. It also doesnt seem to be as effective for more advanced types of MS, when the disease has stopped causing active inflammation, said Griffith. And while it could be promising for people in the earliest stages of MS, the research needed to promote it as a first-line treatment isnt there yet either, she added.

For now, the only trials of HDIT/HCT have been small and isolated. And though the effects of it when successful seem to extend as far out as 13 years later, its too early to call it a full-on cure. We still dont have a clear grasp of why MS happens in the first place, but its thought that multiple triggers like infections and unlucky genetics combine to increase peoples risk. So even if resetting someones immune system does treat MS completely, its plausible that some percentage of patients could fall victim to it again down the road, Griffith explained. We just dont know enough right now.

But Griffith is hopeful that larger, randomized studies will be underway within the next year or so. And if those prove to be as successful as the HALT-MS trial and others, the therapy could someday soon lead to a light at the end of tunnel for the millions of MS sufferers alive today.

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BioTime Acquires Retinal Repair Cell Therapy from UPMC – Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News

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Regenerative medicine company BioTime expanded its ophthalmology portfolio through the acquisition of global rights to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centers (UPMC) stem cell-derived retinal repair platform IP. The cell therapy technology, developed in partnership with BioTime, generates 3-D retinal tissue from human pluripotent stem cells for use as implants to repair retinas in patients with advanced retinal degradation. The licensing deal has been made through UPMCs Innovation Institute.

We anticipate that this technology, co-developed with the UPMC lab for retinal repair and epigenetics, will allow us to generate three-dimensional laminated human retinal tissue in a controlled manufacturing process," said Michael D. West, Ph.D., co-CEO of BioTime. "This could lead to vision restoration treatments for a variety of blinding retinal degenerative diseases, particularly retinitis pigmentosa, macular degeneration, and diabetic retinopathy, among other diseases and conditions.

BioTime has developed its PureStem pluripotent stem cell technology for generating cell therapies against a range of degenerative diseases. The firms clinical pipeline includes cell therapies for human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)-related lipoatrophy, macular degeneration, leukemia, and spinal cord injury. The lead program, against HIV-related lipatrophy, is undergoing pivotal clinical trials. Preclinical programs are in development against non-small-cell lung cancer and orthopedics. BioTime is separately developing its HyStem hydrogel technology for culturing and delivering therapeutic cells. Its majority-owned OncoCyte subsidiary is leveraging stem cell expertise to develop noninvasive gene expression-based cancer diagnostics.

At the start of 2017, BioTime and its majority-owned subsidiary Cell Cure Neurosciences established a 8600-ft2 cGMP cell therapy manufacturing facility in Jerusalem.

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The next weapon against brain cancer may be human skin – The Verge

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Human skin can be morphed into genetically modified, cancer-killing brain stem cells, according to a new study. This latest advance has only been tested in mice but eventually, its possible that it could be translated into a personalized treatment for people with a deadly form of brain cancer.

The study builds on an earlier discovery that brain stem cells have a weird affinity for cancers. So researchers, led by Shawn Hingtgen, a professor at University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, created genetically engineered brain stem cells out of human skin. Then they armed the stem cells with drugs to squirt directly onto the tumors of mice that had been given a human form of brain cancer. The treatment shrank the tumors and extended survival of the mice, according to results recently published in the journal Science Translational Medicine.

The treatment shrank the tumors and extended survival

Usually we think about stem cell therapy in the context of rebuilding or regrowing a broken body part like a spinal cord. But if they could be modified to become cancer-fighting homing missiles, it would give patients with a deadly and incurable brain cancer called glioblastoma a better chance at survival. Glioblastomas typically affect adults, and are highly fatal because they send out a web of cancerous threads. Even when the main mass is removed, those threads remain despite chemotherapy and radiation treatment. This cancer has caused a number of high-profile deaths including Senator Edward (Ted) Kennedy in 2009, and possibly Beau Biden more recently. Approximately 12,000 new cases of glioblastoma are estimated to be diagnosed in 2017.

We really have no drugs, no new treatment options in years to even decades, Hingtgen says. [We] just really want to create new therapy that can stand a chance against this disease.

But theres a problem: brain stem cells arent exactly easy to get. Brain stem cells, more properly known as neural stem cells, hang out in the walls of the brains irrigation canals areas filled with cerebrospinal fluid, called ventricles. They generate the cells of the nervous system, like neurons and glial cells, throughout our lives.

They could be modified to become cancer-fighting homing missiles

A research group at the City of Hope in California conducted a clinical trial to make sure it was safe to treat glioblastoma patients with genetically engineered neural stem cells. But they used a neural stem cell line that theyd obtained from fetal tissue. Since the stem cells werent the patients own, people who were genetically more likely to reject the cells couldnt receive the treatment at all. For the people who could, treatment with the neural stem cells turned out to be relatively safe although at this phase of clinical trials, it hasnt been particularly effective.

More personalized treatments have been held up by the challenge of getting enough stem cells out of the patients own brains, which is virtually impossible, says stem cell scientist Frank Marini at the Wake Forest School of Medicine, who was not involved in this study. You cant really generate a bank of neural stem cells from anybody because you have to go in and resect the brain.

So instead, Hingtgen and his colleagues figured out a way to generate neural stem cells from skin which in the future, could let them make neural stem cells personalized to each patient. For this study, though, Hingtgen and his colleagues extracted the skin cells from chunks of human flesh leftover as surgical waste. That really is the magic piece here, Marini says. Now, all of a sudden we have a neural stem cell that can be used as a tumor-homing vehicle.

That really is the magic piece here.

Using a disarmed virus to infect the cells with a cocktail of new genes, the researchers morphed the skin cells into something in between a skin cell and a neural stem cell. People have turned skin cells back into a more generalized type of stem cell before. But then turning those basic stem cells into stem cells for a certain organ like the brain takes another couple of steps, which takes more time. Thats something that people with glioblastoma dont have.

The breakthrough here is that Hingtgens team figured out how to go straight from skin cells to something resembling a neural stem cell in just four days. The researchers then genetically engineered these induced neural stem cells to arm them with one of two different weapons: One group was equipped with an enzyme that could convert an anti-fungal drug into chemotherapy, right at the cancers location. The other was armed with a protein that binds to the cancer cells and makes them commit suicide in an orderly process called apoptosis.

The researchers tested these engineered neural stem cells in mice that had been injected with human glioblastoma cells, which multiplied out of control to create a human cancer in a mouse body. Both of the weaponized stem cell groups were able to significantly shrink the tumors and keep the mice alive by about an extra 30 days (for scale, mice usually live an average of two years).

Were working as fast as we can.

But injecting the cells directly into the tumor doesnt really reflect how the therapy would be used in humans. Its more likely that a person with glioblastoma would get the bulk of the tumor surgically removed. Then, the idea is that these neural stem cells, generated from the patients own skin, will be inserted into the hole left in the brain. So, the researchers tried this out in mice, and the tumors that regrew after surgery were more than three times smaller in the mice treated with the neural stem cells.

Its a promising start, but it could take a few years still before its in the clinic, Hingtgen says. He and his colleagues started a company called Falcon Therapeutics to drive this new therapy forward. Were working as fast as we can, Hingtgen says. We probably cant help the patients today. Hopefully in a year or two, well be able to help those patients.

One of the things theyll have to figure out first is whether the neural stem cells can travel the much bigger distances in human brains, and whether theyll be able to eliminate every remaining cancer cell. The caveats on this are that, of course, its a mouse study, and whether or not that directly converts to humans is unclear, Marini says. Still, he adds, Theres a very high probability in this case.

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The next weapon against brain cancer may be human skin - The Verge

From Down syndrome to ‘near normal’? New Delhi clinic makes stem cell claims that worry experts – National Post

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A New Delhi clinic that has claimed to help paralyzed Canadians walk again by injecting them with stem cells now says it can use the same treatment to make children with Down syndrome almost near normal.

Nutech Mediworld says it has treated up to 16 newborns, toddlers and older children with Down syndrome. According to its medical director, Geeta Shroff, we have seen that patients actually start improving clinically they become almost at par for their age.

Canadian experts say the bold claim risks raising false expectations and public confusion, much like the now-discredited Liberation therapy for multiple sclerosis, and that its playing off the over-hyped belief stem cells have the potential to cure almost anything.

Its also the latest controversy over stem cell tourism, and the growing number of clinics worldwide marketing pricey, unregulated and unproven treatments.

Nutech Mediworld charges US$5,000 to $6,000 per week for its stem cell-based therapies. The clinic says it has treated such incurable conditions as spinal cord injury and cerebral palsy. Around 20 Canadians have sought treatment at the clinic for paralyzing spinal cord injuries, spending upwards of $US48,000 each. Shroff says some of her patients have regained the ability to walk with walkers.

More recently, she began working with Down syndrome, one of the most common chromosomal disorders worldwide.

Most cases are caused by a random error in cell division. The child ends up with three copies of chromosome 21, instead of the usual two.

That extra copy causes abnormal neuronal development and changes in the central nervous system, Shroff says, leading to persistent developmental delays.

Human embryonic stem cells injected into a childs muscles and bloodstreamcan regenerate and repair that damaged brain, she says. They also work at the genetic level, she claims.

In a single case published last year, Shroff reported treating a two-month-old baby boy in September 2014 diagnosed with Down syndrome at birth. The infant had delayed milestones, lack of speech, subnormal understanding and subnormal motor skills, she wrote.

After two stem cell therapy sessions, the baby started babbling and crawling, she reported. He had improved muscle tone. He was social and was able to recognize near ones.

The child became almost as near normal as possible cognitively

The child became almost as near normal as possible cognitively, Shroff told the Post in an interview. Today, hes talking; hes walking. He was at par with normal children on analysis.

The former infertility specialist uses embryonic stem cells developed from a single fertilized egg donated by an IVF patient 17 years ago. According to Shroff, We have witnessed no adverse events at all.

The Down syndrome treatments, reported by New Scientist, have raised skepticism and alarm. Its not at all clear what cells shes actually putting in patients, says renowned developmental biologist Janet Rossant, senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children Research Institute in Toronto.

By just putting them into the bloodstream theres no way to imagine they could contribute to the right tissues.

Embryonic stem cells can also form teratomas benign tumours and masses composed of lung cells, tufts of hair, teeth, bone and other tissues.

The gold standard for any therapy would be a clinical trial comparing treated with untreated children and vetted through proper regulatory systems that clearly she is not going through, Rossant says.

The Ottawa Hospitals Dr. Duncan Stewart, who is leading the first trial in the world of a genetically enhanced stem cell therapy for heart attack, says theres a remote chance embryonic stem cells could help with Down syndrome. But its a stretch. The injected cells would also likely be rejected and die off with days, he believes. If the cells are disappearing within days, how are they working?

This is a very vulnerable population Theyre very vulnerable to people who are selling hope and have no basis for it

This is a very vulnerable population, Stewart adds. Theyre very vulnerable to people who are selling hope and have no basis for it.

But stem cells have taken on almost mystical appeal.

Theyve become a pop culture phenomenon, says healthy policy expert Timothy Caulfield, of the University of Alberta. The field itself is guilty of making breathless announcements about breakthroughs and cutting edge, he says. And people can market that kind of language.

This kind of nonsense doesnt help.

Email: jskirkey@postmedia.com | Twitter:

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Clinic claims it has used stem cells to treat Down’s syndrome | New … – New Scientist

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Downs: an extra chromosome 21

Department of Clinical Cytogenetics, Addenbrookes Hospital/Science Photo Library

By Andy Coghlan

A CLINIC claims it has used stem cells to treat Downs syndrome in up to 14 people. As far as we know, its the first time that stem cells have been used to treat Downs syndrome, says Jyoti Titus, manager at Nutech Mediworld clinic in New Delhi, India.

The announcement has set alarm bells ringing. Its not clear to independent stem cell or Downs experts how stem cells which can form many types of tissue might treat Downs, a genetic disorder caused by having an extra chromosome. The use of these cells does not make biological sense and may place the babies at considerable risk of side effects,says John Rasko of the International Society for Cellular Therapy.

Clinically proven stem cell therapies are only just starting to become available. The first off-the-shelf stem cell treatment to gain regulatory approval was launched in Japan last year, and prevents transplanted organs from attacking their recipients. A number of research teams are putting other experimental stem cell therapies through stringent clinical trials.

But hundreds of clinics worldwide already offer stem cell treatments unvetted by regulatory authorities. A patent held by the clinics medical director, Geeta Shroff, from 2007 suggests that the cells offered by Nutech Mediworld could be helpful for over 70 types of conditions, from Downs syndrome to Alzheimers disease, and even vegetative states.

The use of stem cells doesnt make sense and may place the babies at considerable risk

Most treatments for children with Downs syndrome centre on support including speech and behavioural therapies. But in a study published last year Shroff, reported that a baby with Downs syndrome developed better understanding, improved limb muscle tone, and the ability to recognise his relatives after receiving stem cells (Journal of Medical Cases, doi.org/bx3v).

Theres no comparison to similar individuals with Downs syndrome, and no indication this therapy had any effect whatsoever, so the author has no basis at all for saying the injections were beneficial, says Elizabeth Fisher at University College London.

But since no other treatment was given, it is evident that the childs improvements were due to stem cell treatment, says Titus. He started babbling and crawling, and his facial features underwent a change. The boy, who lives in Singapore, is now 3 years old. He continues to develop age-appropriate skills, says Titus.

Shroffs study says she injected the cells, developed from a donated embryo, into his blood, back muscles and under his skin, as well as giving them as a nasal spray. Stem cells have an innate ability to repair and regenerate, and that is how the babys condition improved, says Titus.

Theres no obvious way in which this treatment would have worked, says Victor Tybulewicz at the Francis Crick Institute in London. To have any effect, neural stem cells would need to be injected into the brain, he says.

The author appears to have no idea of where [the cells] are going, or what theyre doing, says Fisher. Its even worse now we know theyve treated 14 patients, not just one.

Titus says that the way the cells were developed means recipients dont need immunosuppressants. But Tybulewicz disagrees. I expect the most likely outcome of the injections would have been that they were recognised as foreign and eliminated by the immune system, he says. More details of the biological impact of the stem cells will be revealed in a study that has been submitted for publication, says Titus.

Nutech Mediworld isnt the only clinic offering stem cells. An analysis led by Rasko last year identified 417 unique websites advertising stem cell treatments directly to patients. Of these, 187 were linked to 215 clinics in the US. Thirty-five websites were linked to organisations in India.

Although India introduced national guidelines on clinical stem cell research and treatments a decade ago, these are not legally binding.

This article appeared in print under the headline Clinic claims stem cells treat Downs syndrome

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Spiritual therapy eyed as possible treatment for PTSD – Crux: Covering all things Catholic

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AUGUSTA Doctors in Augusta are exploring the idea of using spiritual therapy to treat veterans suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder.

Such veterans are often treated with medication and psychotherapy, the Augusta Chronicle reported. But a research survey at Charlie Norwood VA Medical Center in Augusta aims to find out whether spiritual therapy might be of interest as well.

Dr. Nagy Youssef, an associate professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Health Behavior at Augusta University who often treats PTSD, is conducting the survey through the VA.

Patients are often treated with medication, which can help reduce nightmares and flashbacks, and with psychotherapy to address the trauma, the Augusta newspaper reported.

But about a third of those patients dont respond to either approach, Youssef said. And those approaches do not address spirituality, he said.

None of this addresses moral injury and inner conflict, Youssef said. Somebody goes to combat, seeing friends being killed and killing others. Spirituality can be affected. It might go against their moral beliefs. Thats hard to reconcile when they come back.

The research is being done in conjunction with the Durham, North Carolina VA and Duke University.

Youssef was part of a large group that helped to put together manuals on every major religion that might be incorporated into therapy.

The survey will not only ask about PTSD symptoms but about what role if any spirituality plays in the life of that veteran and gauge the interest in having that therapy available, he said.

Youssef is hoping to get about 125 veterans to take the survey by March and has already recruited about 40 or so. The hope in the future would be for a randomized control trial to compare current psychotherapy approaches with one that incorporates the spiritual element, he said. The therapy, he said, would be voluntary and incorporate the patients own religion and religious texts.

For a Christian, for instance, it would be including verses from the Bible about forgiveness and that will help to relieve inner tension, Youssef said.

There may also be things that spiritual therapy can offer them that other treatment methods cannot, he said.

Some patients have feelings that God will never forgive me, that I am going to Hell no matter what I do, Youssef said. That cannot be addressed by therapy or medication. That means bringing them evidence, from the Bible or the Torah, whatever their religion is, that there is forgiveness. There is always a second chance.

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Spiritual therapy eyed as possible treatment for PTSD - Crux: Covering all things Catholic