Many governments worldwide failing to protect press freedom – Star Tribune

Posted on May 13, 2024 by Dook Domini

Opinion editor's note: Star Tribune Opinion publishes a mix of national and local commentaries online and in print each day. To contribute, click here.

Since its United Nations declaration in 1993, every May 3, World Press Freedom Day, "acts as a reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom." Unfortunately, many of those same governments are restricting, not respecting, the right to a free press.

In fact, according to Reporters Without Borders, which the same day issued its annual World Press Freedom Index, "Press freedom around the world is being threatened by the very people who should be its guarantors political authorities." As evidence, it reported that of the five indicators it uses to compile its ranking, the political indicator had fallen the most.

"States and other political forces are playing a decreasing role in protecting press freedom," Anne Bocand, the organization's editorial director, stated in the report. "This disempowerment sometimes goes hand in hand with more hostile actions that undermine the role of journalists, or even instrumentalize the media through campaigns of harassment or disinformation."

The report is replete with examples from multiple regions, all of which have resonance anytime, but particularly in an election year or, more precisely, this year of elections, when a record number of people worldwide will vote. And if 2023s plebiscites presage this year, there's trouble ahead: Several elections in Latin America, according to the report, "were won by self-proclaimed predators of press freedom and media plurality, like Javier Milei in Argentina, who shut down the country's biggest news agency in a worrisome symbolic act." Accordingly, Argentina tumbled 26 places to 66th out of 180 nations ranked.

Elections in several African countries were "often accompanied by violence against journalists" in places like Nigeria (112th) and the Democratic Republic of Congo (123rd). In the increasing number of countries governed by military juntas like Niger (down 19 to 80th), Burkina Faso (down 28 to 86th) and Mali (down one to 114th), authorities "continue to tighten their grip on the media and obstruct journalists' work."

It's not just the Global South going south on press freedom. The scourge is seen in places like China (172nd), which along with others "have stepped up their control over social media and the internet, restricting access, blocking accounts, and suppressing messages carrying news and information." China, the world's worst jailer of journalists, "continues to exercise strict control over information channels, implementing censorship and surveillance policies to regulate online content and restrict the spread of information deemed to be sensitive or contrary to the party line."

And it goes beyond Beijing: Moscow, Tehran, Pyongyang and other Orwellian, authoritarian capitals cap most press freedoms as well. Worse yet, many repressive regimes are learning from one another, as revealed in "Annals of Autocracy," an extraordinary Washington Post package that won a well-deserved Pulitzer Prize for editorial writing on Monday for "a compelling and well-researched series on new technologies and the tactics authoritarian regimes use to repress dissent in the digital age, and how they can be fought."

Another Post opinion contributor, Vladimir Kara-Murza, knows the personal cost of resisting repression: The Russian opposition leader has been poisoned, allegedly by the Kremlin, and more recently sentenced to 25 years for speaking out against the war in Ukraine. His mind isn't imprisoned, however, as evidenced by his winning the Pulitzer in the commentary category "for passionate columns written under great personal risk from his prison cell, warning of the consequences of dissent in Vladimir Putin's Russia and insisting on a democratic future for his country."

International issues increasingly determining domestic politics in America were reflected in rewards for other news organizations, including the New York Times in the investigative reporting category "for a deeply reported series of stories revealing the stunning reach of migrant child labor across the United States and the corporate and governmental failures that perpetuate it." The Times also won in international reporting "for its wide-ranging and revelatory coverage of Hamas' lethal attack in southern Israel on October 7, Israel's intelligence failures and the Israeli military's sweeping, deadly response in Gaza."

That war was also the subject of the Breaking News Photography prize, awarded to Reuters, and a special citation was given to journalists and media workers covering the war. According to Reporters Without Borders, "More than 100 Palestinian reporters have been killed by the Israel Defense Forces, including at least 22 in their line of work."

The World Press Freedom Index warns that "in the absence of regulation, the use of generative AI in the arsenal of disinformation for political purposes is a concern." Even without such high-tech tools, disinformation operations were key to discredit Kyiv and Washington in Russians' eyes, as the Post's "Annals of Autocracy" series showed. Yet Moscow isn't the only offender: In 138 nations, the index indicated, "political actors in their countries were often involved in propaganda or disinformation campaigns."

Ominously, the U.S. isn't immune from these political actors, according to Barbara McQuade, author of "Attack from Within: How Disinformation is Sabotaging America."

McQuade's comments came on Wednesday at an evening event titled "Countering Chaos: Navigating Election Disinformation" organized by the Minnesota Peace Initiative and the Committee on Foreign Relations Minnesota. It was held at Norway House, which was fitting, since Norway was once again the top-ranked country in the World Press Freedom Index, followed by neighboring nations Denmark and Sweden.

A former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Michigan and current University of Michigan professor of law who teaches a course in national security, McQuade authoritatively said that "during the years I've been involved in national security, I've seen the greatest threats to our national security evolve, from first Al-Qaeda, and then it was ISIS, and then it was China and Russia and cyber intrusions. And now I think the greatest threat to our national security is disinformation but coming from within our own country."

A "confluence of two events" are "really elevating the problem," McQuade said, naming social media and "our incredibly polarized electorate."

The consequence of this confluence is the "idea that people care more of [their] tribe than they care about the truth I think that is very dangerous to democracy," McQuade said, later adding: "Since World War II, it's been the foreign policy of the United States to lift up democracies around the world because we believe that democracies around the world make us safer. When other countries have democratic forms of government there are fewer wars, there are fewer refugee crises, and we have more and better trade partners. And so, when democracies are failing and backsliding, as we are seeing around the world, that is a threat to our own national security."

A "reminder to governments of the need to respect their commitment to press freedom" the United Nations' stated purpose of World Press Freedom Day is designed to bolster democracies, which in turn should deliver the benefits McQuade describes. But as Reporters Without Borders documents, states are failing. So the Fourth Estate must not.

Many governments worldwide failing to protect press freedom - Star Tribune

Casino Hubs: 5 Airports That Serve Major Centers Of The Gambling Sector – Simple Flying

Posted on May 13, 2024 by Dook Domini

Summary

Among all leisure destinations worldwide, few are as unique in their scope as gambling hubs, to which millions flock annually in search of luck at some of the world's largest casinos. As a result, passenger demand for these major centers for the gaming industry is extremely strong, and airlines are quick to compete on some of these lucrative routes.

The airlines serving gambling hubs often include a mix of low-cost leisure-focused carriers in addition to the long-haul legacy carriers one would expect. Equivalently, the large airports that serve as major gateways for these gaming areas are similarly massive and often service traffic from multiple continents.

Photo: Philip Pilosian | Shutterstock

Across the board, however, gambling hub airports have a uniquely large number of flights from leisure-oriented airlines and are less oriented toward business travelers. In this article, we will examine five of the world's largest gambling hub airports and what makes these facilities so special.

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Unarguably the world's largest gambling hub, Las Vegas attracts tens of millions of passengers annually from all corners of the world. The city is not only notable for the many casinos located across its famous strip, but is also host to a number of events and professional sporting teams. In 2024, the Super Bowl was held at the city's Allegiant Stadium, named for the popular hometown leisure airline.

Photo: ZikG | Shutterstock

The airport is among the busiest that serve any of the world's major gambling hubs and is, as one might expect, heavily bolstered by leisure-focused low-cost carriers. Nonetheless, there are a number of major international legacy carriers that also serve Las Vegas, such as KLM from Amsterdam Schiphol International Airport (AMS) and Virgin Atlantic from London Heathrow Airport (LHR).

In fact, passenger demand has been so overwhelming for Las Vegas that the city has begun the process of developing another airport. Nonetheless, this facility will not be operational until at least the mid-2030s.

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Atlantic City International Airport is a unique, small airport located in Southern New Jersey that serves not just the nearby gambling center of Atlantic City, but also the greater South Jersey region as a whole. The facility, which is also a joint operating base for the New Jersey Air National Guard, is also home to the 177th Fighter Wing's F-16 fighter jets.

Photo:Robin Guess | Shutterstock

The only commercial operator at the airport is, unsurprisingly, leisure-focused Spirit Airlines. Interestingly, however, is that the carrier serves a number of leisure destinations in the American Southeast from the facility, demonstrating a lack of interest in Atlantic City from major population centers.

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Located in Eastern Macau, this facility serves as the primary gateway to the largest gambling hub in Asia. The relatively small facility sees traffic from across the continent and serves as the primary hub for flag carrier Air Macau.

While a mid-size airline by Asian flag carrier standards, Air Macau does operate flights from the facility to over a dozen destinations across China and Southeast Asia. Most major Asian airlines operate nonstop flights from their hubs to this popular gambling destination, but the airport does lack service from major European, American, or Middle Eastern airlines.

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Arguably, the largest gambling hub in Europe is in the city-state of Monaco, where the legendary casino of Monte Carlo is located. The small nation, however, lacks a proper airport due to its small size and, as a result, relies heavily on nearby Nice Airport to serve as its primary gateway.

Due to its nearby proximity, a number of airlines operate nonstop services to Nice and market the nearby gambling destination. Many carriers also offer helicopter transfers to Monaco, notably including Emirates, which recently announced new connections via helicopter operator Blade.

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The second-largest airport in Nevada, RNO serves the greater Lake Tahoe area, and offers flights to dozens of destinations across the United States from all major airlines. The city, which is home to casinos, is a popular gambling destination nestled amid a picturesque alpine lake.

Photo: EQRoy | Shutterstock

The airport offers services to most major destinations in the Western United States, with a few nonstop flights to East Coast transportation gateways. For example, JetBlue operates seasonal service to the airport from its primary hub at John F Kennedy International Airport.

It is also important to note that not all traffic to RNO is driven by the gambling industry. The airport, like many others in the alpine west of the United States, serves a number of world-class ski resorts in the area.

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Casino Hubs: 5 Airports That Serve Major Centers Of The Gambling Sector - Simple Flying

RCB routs Liberty to advance in sectionals | West Virginia High School Sports | wvnews.com – WV News

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Dook Domini

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United Arab Emirates United Kingdom of Great Britain & N. Ireland Uruguay, Eastern Republic of Uzbekistan Vanuatu Venezuela, Bolivarian Republic of Viet Nam, Socialist Republic of Wallis and Futuna Islands Western Sahara Yemen Zambia, Republic of Zimbabwe

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RCB routs Liberty to advance in sectionals | West Virginia High School Sports | wvnews.com - WV News

Planetarium event at Liberty High School provides out-of-this-world lesson for students – WV News

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Dook Domini

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Planetarium event at Liberty High School provides out-of-this-world lesson for students - WV News

What to Know About the ‘FLiRT’ Variants of COVID-19 – TIME

Posted on May 2, 2024 by Dook Domini

The COVID-19 lull in the U.S. may soon come to an end, as a new family of SARS-CoV-2 variantsnicknamed FLiRT variantsbegins to spread nationwide.

These variants are distant Omicron relatives that spun out from JN.1, the variant behind the surge in cases this past winter. Theyve been dubbed FLiRT variants based on the technical names for their mutations, one of which includes the letters F and L, and another of which includes the letters R and T.

Within the FLiRT family, one variant in particular has risen to prominence: KP.2, which accounted for about 25% of new sequenced cases during the two weeks ending Apr. 27, according to data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Other FLiRT variants, including KP.1.1, have not become as widespread in the U.S. yet.

Researchers are still learning about the FLiRT variants, and many questions remain about how quickly theyll spread, whether theyll cause disease thats more or less severe than what weve seen previously, and how well vaccines will stand up to them. Heres what we know so far.

Despite KP.2's rise in the U.S., its too soon to tell whether the FLiRT family will be responsible for a major surge in cases, says Dr. Eric Topol, executive vice president at Scripps Research, who wrote about the FLiRT variants in a recent edition of his newsletter. For now, the amount of SARS-CoV-2 virus in U.S. wastewater remains minimal, according to the CDC, and hospitalizations and deaths have also continued to decline steadily since their recent peaks in January. At the global level, case counts rose from early to mid-April, but remain far lower than they were a few months ago.

KP.2 and its relatives will likely cause an uptick in cases, but my hunch is it wont be a big wave, Topol says. It might be a wavelet. Thats because people who were recently infected by the JN.1 variant seem to have some protection against reinfection, Topol says, and the virus hasnt mutated enough to become wildly different from previous strains. A recent study from researchers in Japan, which was posted online before being peer-reviewed, also found that KP.2 is less infectious than JN.1.

Vaccines still provide good protection against COVID-19-related hospitalization and death. But two preliminary studiesthe one from Japan and another from researchers in China, which was also posted online before being peer-reviewedsuggest the FLiRT variants may be better at dodging immune protection from vaccines than JN.1 was.

That isnt good, Topol says, especially since many people who got the most recent boosterroughly 30% of adults in the U.S. got it last fall, meaning their protection has begun to wane.

In an Apr. 26 statement, the World Health Organization recommended basing future vaccine formulations on the JN.1 lineage, since it seems the virus will continue to evolve from that variant. The most recent booster was based on an older strain, XBB.1.5.

The virus continues to evolve, but public-health advice remains the same: stay up-to-date on vaccines, test before gatherings, stay home when you're ill, and consider masking and avoiding crowded indoor areas, especially when lots of COVID-19 is going around.

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What to Know About the 'FLiRT' Variants of COVID-19 - TIME

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

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

image:

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

Credit: Caitlin Sedwick for Princeton University

By Caitlin Sedwick for the Princeton University Department of Molecular Biology

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Experimental study

Improving prime editing with an endogenous small RNA-binding protein

3-Apr-2024

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

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

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

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

Rising usage for diagnostics

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

CRO segment to gain traction

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

Asia Pacific to emerge as a prominent industry

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

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DNA Synthesis Industry Players

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

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

Partial Table of Contents (ToC) of the report:

Chapter 2Executive Summary

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

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About Global Market Insights

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

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

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

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

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

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

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

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

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

Takeaways from AP report on how the search for the coronavirus origins turned toxic – Idaho Press

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

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Takeaways from AP report on how the search for the coronavirus origins turned toxic - Idaho Press

Measles is more contagious than the coronavirus. And it’s back. – Columbia Missourian

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

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Measles is more contagious than the coronavirus. And it's back. - Columbia Missourian

COVID-19 Virus Outbreak Hong Kong | | smdailyjournal.com – San Mateo Daily Journal

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

The Chinese government froze meaningful efforts to trace the origins of the coronavirus pandemic, despite publicly declaring that it supported an open scientific inquiry, an Associated Press investigation has found. The AP drew on thousands of pages of undisclosed emails and documents, leaked recordings and dozens of interviews that showed the freeze began far earlier than previously known in the first weeks of the outbreak and involved political and scientific infighting in China as much as international finger-pointing. That pattern continues to this day, with labs closed, collaborations shattered, foreign scientists forced out and Chinese researchers barred from leaving the country.

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COVID-19 Virus Outbreak Hong Kong | | smdailyjournal.com - San Mateo Daily Journal

Europe’s A.I. ‘Champion’ Sets Sights on Tech Giants in U.S. – The New York Times

Posted on April 24, 2024 by Dook Domini

Arthur Mensch, tall and lean with a flop of unkempt hair, arrived for a speech last month at a sprawling tech hub in Paris wearing jeans and carrying a bicycle helmet. He had an unassuming look for a person European officials are counting on to help propel the region into a high-stakes match with the United States and China over artificial intelligence.

Mr. Mensch, 31, is the chief executive and a founder of Mistral, considered by many to be one of the most promising challengers to OpenAI and Google. You have become the poster child for A.I. in France, Matt Clifford, a British investor, told him onstage.

A lot is riding on Mr. Mensch, whose company has shot into the spotlight just a year after he founded it in Paris with two college friends. As Europe scrambles to get a foothold in the A.I. revolution, the French government has singled out Mistral as its best hope to create a standard-bearer, and has lobbied European Union policymakers to help ensure the firms success.

Artificial intelligence will be built rapidly into the global economy in the coming decade, and policymakers and business leaders in Europe fear that growth and competitiveness will suffer if the region does not keep up. Behind their worries is a conviction that A.I. should not be dominated by tech giants, like Microsoft and Google, that might forge global standards at odds with the culture and politics of other countries. At stake is the bigger question of which artificial intelligence models will wind up influencing the world, and how they should be regulated.

The issue with not having a European champion is that the road map gets set by the United States, said Mr. Mensch, who just 18 months ago was working as an engineer at Googles DeepMind lab in Paris, building A.I. models. His co-founders, Timothe Lacroix and Guillaume Lample, also in their 30s, held similar positions at Meta.

In an interview at Mistrals spartan, whitewashed offices facing the Canal Saint-Martin in Paris, Mr. Mensch said it wasnt safe to trust U.S. tech giants to set ground rules for a powerful new technology that would affect millions of lives.

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Europe's A.I. 'Champion' Sets Sights on Tech Giants in U.S. - The New York Times

Argentina’s populist president meets billionaire Elon Musk in Texas and a bromance is born – Idaho Press

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

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Argentina's populist president meets billionaire Elon Musk in Texas and a bromance is born - Idaho Press

SpaceX’s giant Starship will be 500 feet tall for Mars missions, Elon Musk says (video) – Space.com

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

SpaceX's Starship, the largest rocket in the world, will get even bigger as the company continues to target Mars missions in the future.

Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, told employees on April 4 that Starship will eventually be as tall as 500 feet (150 meters), roughly 20% higher than the massive system aboard the Super Heavy rocket right now.

What's more, advances in reusability will have each launch cost roughly $3 million each, Musk predicted; that's less than a third of what a (much smaller) Falcon 1 rocket launch cost in 2004 when inflation is taken into account. (The figure two decades ago was $5.9 million, according to NBC, which is roughly $9.5 million in 2024 dollars.)

"These are sort of unthinkable numbers," Musk said in the Starship update, released publicly April 6, roughly one month after the third and last test flight to date. "Nobody ever thought that this was possible, but we're not breaking any physics to achieve this. So this is within the bounds, without breaking physics. We can do this."

Related: SpaceX fires up huge Super Heavy booster ahead of 4th Starship test flight (photos, video)

Musk tends to deliver Starship updates at least once a year to highlight progress the company is making toward its long-term plans of settling Mars. Indeed, the last year has seen three Starship launches, so there has been progress made recently. Musk didn't, however, address delays in launching Starship that have contributed to pushing back the launch date for the first moon landing under the NASA-led Artemis program.

SpaceX was named the vendor for the Artemis 3 landing mission that, until recently, was set for 2025. In January, NASA elected to hold the launch date another year, to 2026, due to a range of technical issues. Aside from Starship not being ready the agency wants many successful launches before approving it for astronaut flights Artemis 3 was also delayed due to slow progress on spacesuits and problems with the mission's Orion spacecraft, among other factors.

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However, Musk's words about Artemis, to employees, focused on Starship's future capabilities: orbiting the Earth and refilling its tanks, both of which have yet to be proven on its three test flights.

"This will ... be very important for the Artemis program for the NASA to get back to the moon," Musk said of those capabilities. He also envisions a "Moon Base Alpha" that would include ships "specialized for going to and from the moon", meaning there would be no heat shield or flaps due to the lack of atmosphere.

Related: NASA celebrates SpaceX Starship's 3rd test flight, but more work needed ahead of Artemis moon missions

Musk's 45-minute speech touched on the usual themes for his Red Planet updates, focusing on how to send a lot of cargo out there for eventual settlers. He noted that would take thousands of launches to do; for perspective, Musk said the company has completed 327 successful Falcon series launches and about 80 percent of those had reused boosters (a key factor in reducing cost.)

SpaceX is by far the most active launching entity on Earth, and Musk forecasts the company will send roughly 90 percent of orbital mass aloft this year compared to China's 6 percent (the second-largest entity.)

Starship's next and fourth spaceflight attempt, expected to take place in May, aims to have the first stage of Super Heavy land "on essentially a virtual tower" in the Gulf of Mexico, Musk said. Once the company safely gets that done, they will consider using the launching area at Starbase, in south Texas, for future landings as soon as Flight 5. (Musk pegged the chances of success on Flight 4 at 80% or 90%.)

Musk also wants to perform two splashdowns of the upper stage of Starship in a row, in a controlled fashion, before sending it to Starbase on a future flight. "We do not want to rain debris over Mexico or the U.S.," he said. "My guess is probably next year when we will be able to reuse Starship."

Overall, Musk plans for multiple Starship launches to take place this year, and suggests SpaceX will build an additional six spacecraft by the end of 2024. A new rocket factory for the company should be available in 2025, which would make production even faster.

Future versions of Starship will include a "Starship 2" to send 100 tons of payload to low-Earth orbit and the 500-foot "Starship 3" for 200 or more tons. Bigger vehicles, Musk stressed, will mean fewer (four or five) refueling missions in low Earth orbit to get a Starship ready for the journey to Mars someday.

Of these milestones, Musk said it would be "very much a success-oriented schedule." His speech did not mention the Federal Aviation Administration, which must approve each one of the launches, nor ongoing criticism of the environmental impact of Starship on the ecologically sensitive area near Starbase.

That impact may continue to grow, as Musk said it would take roughly 10 launches a day to send hundreds of vehicles to Mars every two years (when the planet is closest) to make a long-term settlement feasible. As for the number of Mars-bound people, that would be roughly a million folks, he said that matches predictions he made at least as far back as 2017. Musk also says he wants to get the settlement going "in 20 years." He said the same thing in 2011.

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SpaceX's giant Starship will be 500 feet tall for Mars missions, Elon Musk says (video) - Space.com

NASA is seeking a faster, cheaper way to bring Mars samples to Earth – News-Press Now

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

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NASA seeks faster, cheaper way to bring Mars rocks to Earth – The Elkhart Truth

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

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This Week in Launch: A lonely SpaceX week – Space Explored

Posted on April 16, 2024 by Dook Domini

Image: Jared Locke / Space Explored

This week were only seeing three launches, all of which are from SpaceX and two of those are for Starlink missions out of Florida. About what we expect from a company doing the majority of Earths launch capability.

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Continuing their three week streak of launching three or more Falcon 9s a week, SpaceX once again has three rockets scheduled to launch this week. For what Ive seen, they are the only company currently attempting any launches in the next seven days.

A rare quiet week from China it is I guess.

The first mission will be a commercial flight for DigitalGlobe with two of its next generation Worldview Legion spacecrafts. Because of the light weight of these two spacecraft, the booster will be return to LZ-4 after launching.

Following this mission well be back to the status quo of Starlink flights from Florida. The most annoying part of all of this is that SpaceX is seemingly skipping over Starlink Group 6-50. Every manifest Ive looked at shows them launching 6-51 and -52 this weekend continuing on with -53.

Its not uncommon for Starlink missions to fly out of order, but this is the first Ive noticed them skipping a number entirely. What does this mean? Nothing, maybe, probably nothing.

Anyways, these three missions will bring SpaceX up to 42 total launches for 2024 and will continue to push that launch rate in the right direction to meet its 148 launch goal.

While I was traveling a few weeks ago, Elon Musk gave an update on SpaceXs goal to make life multi-planetary with its Starship rocket down at Starbase. While there wasnt a whole lot new, there were some things worth mentioning.

In case you were wondering, the state of SpaceXs martian colony goal is strong with Musk restating how important it is that humanity has a backup. Hes hoping in the next 20 years SpaceX will be able to launch regular missions to the Red Planet, hoping eventually make it self sustaining and independent from Earth.

To do this, SpaceX will need to get Starship operational and upgrade it. A Starship 2 version is already well talked about and construction of those ships is underway. Starship 2 will see slight extensions in its propellent tanks and various other improvements SpaceX has learned launching its first generation Starship rockets.

Starship 3 is where things will get crazy, drastically expanding the length of its tanks to be more than 500 feet tall. However, Musk states that more increases could come to Starship 3 depending on how Starship 2 does.

So if youre looking at Starship and thinking how can this get any bigger? Well, it can, and it probably will.

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This Week in Launch: A lonely SpaceX week - Space Explored

GGRAsia Over 425k visitor entries to Macau in Ching Ming period – GGRAsia

Posted on April 8, 2024 by Dook Domini

Apr 08, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Macau, Top of the deck

The number of tourist arrivals to Macau during a four-day period encompassing the Ching Ming Festival, stood at above 425,428, according to data released by the citys Public Security Police. The local authorities did not provide any year-on-year comparison.

On the day of the Ching Ming Festival this year April 4 Macau recorded a total of 136,363 visitor arrivals. In Macau, mainland China, and Hong Kong, that day also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day in English is a public holiday. The timing for it is calculated under the lunar calendar.

The mainland takes some additional days as public holiday during the period. There, the authorities had designated this years Ching Ming holiday period as running from April 4 (a Thursday) to April 6 (a Saturday) inclusive.

During the four days from April 4 to April 7 inclusive, Macau received an average of 106,357 visitors per day.

That was slightly above the daily average of 100,000 visitor arrivals observed during the four-day Easter period, from Friday (March 29) to Monday (April 1) inclusive. The aggregate of Macau arrivals for the March 29 to April 1 period inclusive was 406,329.

Regionally, Easter Monday is only a public holiday in Hong Kong, while Easter Friday is a holiday in Hong Kong and Macau. The Easter season is not a break period on the Chinese mainland.

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GGRAsia Over 425k visitor entries to Macau in Ching Ming period – GGRAsia