sen

House, Senate strike a deal on economic development bill

Top Democrats on Tuesday evening filed a compromise economic development bill containing state support for the life sciences and climate technology industries, ticket sales regulations, a new live theater tax credit, educator diversity reforms and more.




sen

Match of the Day and BBC will miss Gary Lineker’s urbane presence – the feeling is not mutual

Gary Lineker is leaving ‘MOTD’ at the end of this season, after a glittering 25-year tenure as the host of the BBC’s flagship football show. Nick Hilton looks back at the pundit’s highs and lows, from predatory striker to top broadcaster and media mogul




sen

Spare Us, Senator Murphy

The Connecticut Democrat suddenly thinks Democrats need to listen to people outside their coalition.




sen

Discord leaker Jack Teixeira gets 15-year sentence for sharing classified documents

Massachusetts Air National Guard member Jack Teixeira received a 15-year sentence in federal prison for leaking classified military documents on Discord in a Boston federal court, according to The Washington Post.

Teixeira appeared before the court earlier today and asked the judge for leniency. He also issued a statement apologizing for “all of the harm that I’ve caused, to my friends, family and those overseas.”

Defense attorney Michael Bachrach also claimed that Teixeira was subjected to bullying in high school and his military unit as an adjudicating factor for his actions. Judge Indira Talwani didn’t buy the defense’s bullying claims stating that the Air Force has already disciplined 15 other members connected to Teixeira for not taking more actions “that might have stopped him from doing this.”

Teixeira shared classified military documents as far back as late 2022 on a Discord server dedicated to the pixelated sandbox game Minecraft. The leak included information about the Ukrainian and Russian troop movements and military equipment used in the war in Ukraine and Russia's attempts to obtain more weapons from Egypt and Turkey. The documents eventually found their way to other Discord servers as well as 4chan and Telegram.

FBI officials arrested Teixeira at his home in April of last year. Teixeira originally agreed to a plea deal with federal prosecutors in March that included a 16-year prison sentence for pleading guilty to six counts of willful retention and transmission of national defense information and violating the Espionage Act. If he stuck with his not guilty plea and received a guilty verdict, Teixeira faced a much steeper maximum prison term of 60 years.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cybersecurity/discord-leaker-jack-teixeira-gets-15-year-sentence-for-sharing-classified-documents-231319586.html?src=rss




sen

Un citoyen souverain qui se présente comme un «gentilhomme de la paix» encore coupable d’entrave

Amoury Lapointe a résisté à son arrestation lors d’une intervention de routine à laquelle il refusait de se soumettre dans son «véhicule diplomatique»




sen

Discrimination subventionnée: quand nos CPE et nos écoles trahissent la laïcité

On apprend aujourd’hui que certains CPE, subventionnés avec votre argent, pratiquent une discrimination scandaleuse dans l’accueil des enfants.




sen

Canada, prepare for the big squeeze. Trump will press on several sensitive fronts

Donald Trump's second term as U.S. president carries implications at home and abroad. That includes potentially wreaking havoc on global economies through the aggressive use of tariffs.




sen

Labour minister sends ports dispute to binding arbitration, orders end to lockouts

Labour Minister Steven MacKinnon has sent labour disputes at ports in Quebec and British Columbia to binding arbitration and has ordered people back to work after the disputes reached what he called a "total impasse."




sen

Le film «Monsieur Aznavour» présenté à Montréal samedi: une première «symbolique» pour le réalisateur Grand Corps Malade

Gros succès en France, le drame biographique est présenté samedi au Festival Cinemania.




sen

Ex-senator bids for leadership

Former Liberal senator Sean Edwards has continued to fuel speculation he is set to make a bid to enter state politics.




sen

Passengers in safe hands

Flying has never been safer for Australians on commercial aircraft, according to a new report from the ATSB.




sen

Culleton to fight Senate axing

Rod Culleton says he will remain a senator until he exhausts all ‘legal and constitutional avenues’.




sen

Jesse James represents Australia

Jesse James has a legendary moniker, and now the martial arts black belt is set to make his own name known on the world stage, representing Australia.




sen

NCCE to add NCAHP representatives as part of Council meetings

The National Commission for Allied Health Professionals (NCAHP), constituted by the Union ministry of health and family welfare in the beginning of this year, will have its official representative in the National




sen

WITTMANN BATTENFELD presents latest technology at Compamed

WITTMANN BATTENFELD will present the latest solutions for time and cost optimisation in the production of parts with nano structures at Compamed, booth No. F03-1 in hall 8b.




sen

Waiver of Informed Consent - proposed changes in the 21st Century Cures Act

Adam Feuerstein points out - and expresses considerable alarm over - an overlooked clause in the 21st Century Cures Act:


In another tweet, he suggests that the act will "decimate" informed consent in drug trials. Subsequent responses and retweets  did nothing to clarify the situation, and if anything tended to spread, rather than address, Feuerstein's confusion.

Below is a quick recap of the current regulatory context and a real-life example of where the new wording may be helpful. In short, though, I think it's safe to say:


  1. Waiving informed consent is not new; it's already permitted under current regs
  2. The standards for obtaining a waiver of consent are stringent
  3. They may, in fact, be too stringent in a small number of situations
  4. The act may, in fact, be helpful in those situations
  5. Feuerstein may, in fact, need to chill out a little bit


(For the purposes of this discussion, I’m talking about drug trials, but I believe the device trial situation is parallel.)

Section 505(i) - the section this act proposes to amend - instructs the Secretary of Health and Human Services to propagate rules regarding clinical research. Subsection 4 addresses informed consent:

…the manufacturer, or the sponsor of the investigation, require[e] that experts using such drugs for investigational purposes certify to such manufacturer or sponsor that they will inform any human beings to whom such drugs, or any controls used in connection therewith, are being administered, or their representatives, that such drugs are being used for investigational purposes and will obtain the consent of such human beings or their representatives, except where it is not feasible or it is contrary to the best interests of such human beings.

[emphasis  mine]

Note that this section already recognizes situations where informed consent may be waived for practical or ethical reasons.

These rules were in fact promulgated under 45 CFR part 46, section 116. The relevant bit – as far as this conversation goes – regards circumstances under which informed consent might be fully or partially waived. Specifically, there are 4 criteria, all of which need to be met:

 (1) The research involves no more than minimal risk to the subjects;
 (2) The waiver or alteration will not adversely affect the rights and welfare of the subjects;
 (3) The research could not practicably be carried out without the waiver or alteration; and
 (4) Whenever appropriate, the subjects will be provided with additional pertinent information after participation.

In practice, this is an especially difficult set of criteria to meet for most studies. Criterion (1) rules out most “conventional” clinical trials, because the hallmarks of those trials (use of an investigational medicine, randomization of treatment, blinding of treatment allocation) are all deemed to be more than “minimal risk”. That leaves observational studies – but even many of these cannot clear the bar of criterion (3).

That word “practicably” is a doozy.

Here’s an all-too-real example from recent personal experience. A drug manufacturer wants to understand physicians’ rationales for performing a certain procedure. It seems – but there is little hard data – that a lot of physicians do not strictly follow guidelines on when to perform the procedure. So we devise a study: whenever the procedure is performed, we ask the physician to complete a quick form categorizing why they made their decision. We also ask him or her to transcribe a few pieces of data from the patient chart.

Even though the patients aren’t personally identifiable, the collection of medical data qualifies this as a clinical trial.

It’s a minimal risk trial, definitely: the trial doesn’t dictate at all what the doctor should do, it just asks him or her to record what they did and why, and supply a bit of medical context for the decision. All told, we estimated 15 minutes of physician time to complete the form.

The IRB monitoring the trial, however, denied our request for a waiver of informed consent, since it was “practicable” (not easy, but possible) to obtain informed consent from the patient.  Informed consent – even with a slimmed-down form – was going to take a minimum of 30 minutes, so the length of the physician’s involvement tripled. In addition, many physicians opted out of the trial because they felt that the informed consent process added unnecessary anxiety and alarm for their patients, and provided no corresponding benefit.

The end result was not surprising: the budget for the trial more than doubled, and enrollment was far below expectations.

Which leads to two questions:

1.       Did the informed consent appreciably help a single patient in the trial? Very arguably, no. Consenting to being “in” the trial made zero difference in the patients’ care, added time to their stay in the clinic, and possibly added to their anxiety.
2.       Was less knowledge collected as a result? Absolutely, yes. The sponsor could have run two studies for the same cost. Instead, they ultimately reduced the power of the trial in order to cut losses.


Bottom line, it appears that the modifications proposed in the 21st Century Cures Act really only targets trials like the one in the example. The language clearly retains criteria 1 and 2 of the current HHS regs, which are the most important from a patient safety perspective, but cuts down the “practicability” requirement, potentially permitting high quality studies to be run with less time and cost.

Ultimately, it looks like a very small, but positive, change to the current rules.

The rest of the act appears to be a mash-up of some very good and some very bad (or at least not fully thought out) ideas. However, this clause should not be cause for alarm.




sen

Kumpulan Game Slot Gacor Dengan Persentase RTP Tertinggi Hari Ini

Dalam dunia perjudian online yang terus berkembang, pencarian para pemain untuk menemukan peluang terbaik dalam meraih kemenangan mengarah pada fenomena populer: kumpulan game slot gacor dengan persentase RTP tertinggi hari…

The post Kumpulan Game Slot Gacor Dengan Persentase RTP Tertinggi Hari Ini appeared first on Biosimilarnews.




sen

Tiny Biosensor Unlocks the Secrets of Sweat



Sweat: We all do it. It plays an essential role in controlling body temperature by cooling the skin through evaporation. But it can also carry salts and other molecules out of the body in the process. In medieval Europe, people would lick babies; if the skin was salty, they knew that serious illness was likely. (We now know that salty skin can be an indicator for cystic fibrosis.)

Scientists continue to study how the materials in sweat can reveal details about an individual’s health, but often they must rely on gathering samples from subjects during strenuous exercise in order to get samples that are sufficiently large for analysis.

Now researchers in China have developed a wearable sensor system that can collect and process small amounts of sweat while providing continuous detection. They have named the design a “skin-interfaced intelligent graphene nanoelectronic” patch, or SIGN for short. The researchers, who described their work in a paper published in Advanced Functional Materials, did not respond to IEEE Spectrum’s interview requests.

The SIGN sensor patch relies on three separate components to accomplish its task. First, the sweat must be transported from the skin into microfluidic chambers. Next, a special membrane removes impurities from the fluid. Finally, this liquid is delivered to a bioreceptor that can be tuned to detect different metabolites.

The transport system relies on a combination of hydrophilic (water-attracting) and hydrophobic (water-repelling) materials. This system can move aqueous solutions along microchannels, even against gravity. This makes it possible to transport small samples with precision, regardless of the device’s orientation.

The fluid is transported to a Janus membrane, where impurities are blocked. This means that the sample that reaches the sensor is more likely to produce accurate results.

Finally, the purified sweat arrives at a flexible biosensor. This graphene sensor is activated by enzymes designed to detect the desired biomarker. The result is a transistor that can accurately measure the amount of the biomarker in the sample.

At its center, the system has a membrane that removes impurities from sweat and a biosensor that detects biomarkers.Harbin Institute of Technology/Shenyang Aerospace University

One interesting feature of the SIGN patch is that it can provide continuous measurements. The researchers tested the device through multiple cycles of samples with known concentrations of a target biomarker, and it was about as accurate after five cycles as it was after just one. This result suggests that it could be worn over an extended period without having to be replaced.

Continuous measurements can provide useful longitudinal data. However, Tess Skyrme, a senior technology analyst at the research firm IDTechEx, points out that continuous devices can have very different sampling rates. “Overall, the right balance of efficient, comfortable, and granular data collection is necessary to disrupt the market,” she says, noting that devices also need to optimize “battery life, calibration, and data accuracy.”

The researchers have focused on lactate—a metabolite that can be used to assess a person’s levels of exercise and fatigue—as the initial biomarker to be detected. This function is of particular interest to athletes, but it can also be used to monitor the health status of workers in jobs that require strenuous physical activity, especially in hazardous or extreme working conditions.

Not all experts are convinced that biomarkers in sweat can provide accurate health data. Jason Heikenfeld, director of the Novel Device Lab at the University of Cincinnati, has pivoted his research on wearable biosensing from sweat to the interstitial fluid between blood vessels and cells. “Sweat glucose and lactate are way inferior to measures that can be made in interstitial fluid with devices like glucose monitors,” he tells Spectrum.

The researchers also developed a package to house the sensor. It’s designed to minimize power consumption, using a low-power microcontroller, and it includes a Bluetooth communications chip to transmit data wirelessly from the SIGN patch. The initial design provides for 2 hours of continuous use without charging, or up to 20 hours in standby mode.




sen

Microneedle Glucose Sensors Keep Monitoring Skin-Deep



For people with diabetes, glucose monitors are a valuable tool to monitor their blood sugar. The current generation of these biosensors detect glucose levels with thin, metallic filaments inserted in subcutaneous tissue, the deepest layer of the skin where most body fat is stored.

Medical technology company Biolinq is developing a new type of glucose sensor that doesn’t go deeper than the dermis, the middle layer of skin that sits above the subcutaneous tissue. The company’s “intradermal” biosensors take advantage of metabolic activity in shallower layers of skin, using an array of electrochemical microsensors to measure glucose—and other chemicals in the body—just beneath the skin’s surface.

Biolinq just concluded a pivotal clinical trial earlier this month, according to CEO Rich Yang, and the company plans to submit the device to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for approval at the end of the year. In April, Biolinq received US $58 million in funding to support the completion of its clinical trials and subsequent submission to the FDA.

Biolinq’s glucose sensor is “the world’s first intradermal sensor that is completely autonomous,” Yang says. While other glucose monitors require a smartphone or other reader to collect and display the data, Biolinq’s includes an LED display to show when the user’s glucose is within a healthy range (indicated by a blue light) or above that range (yellow light). “We’re providing real-time feedback for people who otherwise could not see or feel their symptoms,” Yang says. (In addition to this real-time feedback, the user can also load long-term data onto a smartphone by placing it next to the sensor, like Abbott’s FreeStyle Libre, another glucose monitor.)

More than 2,000 microsensor components are etched onto each 200-millimeter silicon wafer used to manufacture the biosensors.Biolinq

Biolinq’s hope is that its approach could lead to sustainable changes in behavior on the part of the individual using the sensor. The device is intentionally placed on the upper forearm to be in plain sight, so users can receive immediate feedback without manually checking a reader. “If you drink a glass of orange juice or soda, you’ll see this go from blue to yellow,” Yang explains. That could help users better understand how their actions—such as drinking a sugary beverage—change their blood sugar and take steps to reduce that effect.

Biolinq’s device consists of an array of microneedles etched onto a silicon wafer using semiconductor manufacturing. (Other glucose sensors’ filaments are inserted with an introducer needle.) Each chip has a small 2-millimeter by 2-millimeter footprint and contains seven independent microneedles, which are coated with membranes through a process similar to electroplating in jewelry making. One challenge the industry has faced is ensuring that microsensors do not break at this small scale. The key engineering insight Biolinq introduced, Yang says, was using semiconductor manufacturing to build the biosensors. Importantly, he says, silicon “is harder than titanium and steel at this scale.”

Miniaturization allows for sensing closer to the surface of the skin, where there is a high level of metabolic activity. That makes the shallow depth ideal for monitoring glucose, as well as other important biomarkers, Yang says. Due to this versatility, combined with the use of a sensor array, the device in development can also monitor lactate, an important indicator of muscle fatigue. With the addition of a third data point, ketones (which are produced when the body burns fat), Biolinq aims to “essentially have a metabolic panel on one chip,” Yang says.

Using an array of sensors also creates redundancy, improving the reliability of the device if one sensor fails or becomes less accurate. Glucose monitors tend to drift over the course of wear, but with multiple sensors, Yang says that drift can be better managed.

One downside to the autonomous display is the drain on battery life, Yang says. The battery life limits the biosensor’s wear time to 5 days in the first-generation device. Biolinq aims to extend that to 10 days of continuous wear in its second generation, which is currently in development, by using a custom chip optimized for low-power consumption rather than off-the-shelf components.

The company has collected nearly 1 million hours of human performance data, along with comparators including commercial glucose monitors and venous blood samples, Yang says. Biolinq aims to gain FDA approval first for use in people with type 2 diabetes not using insulin and later expand to other medical indications.

This article appears in the August 2024 print issue as “Glucose Monitor Takes Page From Chipmaking.”




sen

Origami Helps Implant Sensors in Bio-Printed Tissue



In the United States alone, more than 100,000 people currently need a lifesaving organ transplant. Instead of waiting for donors, one way to solve this crisis in the future is to assemble replacement organs with bio-printing—3D printing that uses inks containing living cells. Scientists in Israel have found that origami techniques could help fold sensors into bio-printed materials to help determine whether they are behaving safely and properly.

Although bio-printing something as complex as a human organ is still a distant possibility, there are a host of near-term applications for the technique. For example, in drug research, scientists can bio-print living, three-dimensional tissues with which to examine the effects of various compounds.

Ideally, researchers would like to embed sensors within bio-printed items to keep track of how well they are behaving. However, the three-dimensional nature of bio-printed objects makes it difficult to lodge sensors within them in a way that can monitor every part of the structures.

“It will, hopefully in the future, allow us to monitor and assess 3D biostructures before we would like to transplant them.” —Ben Maoz, Tel Aviv University

Now scientists have developed a 3D platform inspired by origami that can help embed sensors in bio-printed objects in precise locations. “It will, hopefully in the future, allow us to monitor and assess 3D biostructures before we would like to transplant them,” says Ben Maoz, a professor of biomedical engineering at Tel Aviv University in Israel.

The new platform is a silicone rubber device that can fold around a bio-printed structure. The prototype holds a commercial array of 3D electrodes to capture electrical signals. It also possesses other electrodes that can measure electrical resistance, which can reveal how permeable cells are to various medications. A custom 3D software model can tailor the design of the origami and all the electrodes so that the sensors can be placed in specific locations in the bio-printed object.

The scientists tested their device on bio-printed clumps of brain cells. The research team also grew a layer of cells onto the origami that mimicked the blood-brain barrier, a cell layer that protects the brain from undesirable substances that the body’s blood might be carrying. By folding this combination of origami and cells onto the bio-printed structures, Maoz and his colleagues were able to monitor neural activity within the brain cells and see how their synthetic blood-brain barrier might interfere with medications intended to treat brain diseases.

Maoz says the new device can incorporate many types of sensors beyond electrodes, such as temperature or acidity sensors. It can also incorporate flowing liquid to supply oxygen and nutrients to cells, the researchers note.

Currently, this device “will mainly be used for research and not for clinical use,” Maoz says. Still, it could “significantly contribute to drug development—assessing drugs that are relevant to the brain.”

The researchers say they can use their origami device with any type of 3D tissue. For example, Maoz says they can use it on bio-printed structures made from patient cells “to help with personalized medicine and drug development.”

The origami platform could also help embed devices that can modify bio-printed objects. For instance, many artificially grown tissues function better if they are placed under the kinds of physical stresses they might normally experience within the body, and the origami platform could integrate gadgets that can exert such mechanical forces on bio-printed structures. “This can assist in accelerating tissue maturation, which might be relevant to clinical applications,” Maoz says.

The scientists detailed their findings in the 26 June issue of Advanced Science.




sen

Through Early Discussions About Elder Care, Doctors Can Empower Seniors to Age in Place

The vast majority of older adults want to age at home. To support that goal, doctors should encourage them to consider their care options — long before they need assistance.

The post Through Early Discussions About Elder Care, Doctors Can Empower Seniors to Age in Place appeared first on MedCity News.




sen

Researchers Explore How the Human Body Senses Temperature

As winter arrives and daylight hours decrease, it gets easier to hit the snooze button and stay in bed. It turns out that there’s a scientific reason behind this phenomenon that helps to explain why people struggle to adjust their internal clocks—also known as circadian rhythm or sleep-wake cycle—when the weather turns colder.




sen

Standard Technology Presents Opportunities for Medical Record Data Extraction

Technology has revolutionized the way people live their lives. Individuals can use smartphones to access their bank account, shop from almost any store, and connect with friends and family around the globe. In fact, these personal devices have tethered communities together during the coronavirus pandemic, allowing many people to maintain much of their lives remotely.




sen

U.S. confident of safety of nuclear weapons, despite al-Qaeda presence



  • The India Cables

sen

242073: Action request for senior level engagement on terrorism finance

Cutting off the flow of funds to terrorist organizations and achieving stability in Af/Pak are top U.S. priorities.




sen

Amb. Djerejian Analyzes Sen. Schumer's Comments on Netanyahu

MEI Senior Fellow Edward Djerejian discusses Sen. Schumer’s call for Israeli elections, what a ground operation in Rafah could mean for US policy, and whether a two-state solution is still viable on ABC News Live.





sen

It Doesn’t Make Sense: Why US Tariffs on Chinese Cleantech Risk the Green Transition

Global demand for renewable energy is surging so why make solar panels, wind turbines and EVs dearer for western consumers?





sen

CrissCross Expands Representative Payee Services to Serve as a National Resource for Qualified Beneficiaries - CrissCross Representative Payee Services

CrissCross Representative Payee Services





sen

PNC Christmas Price Index Up A Tame One Percent In 2014; Is This The Year True Loves Make The Splurge? - Presenting The Great Carol Comeback.

Presenting The Great Carol Comeback.





sen

C�r�monie de remise du Prix Happy City : AG2R LA MONDIALE, Nexity, Sodexo et SUEZ environnement r�compensent les meilleures initiatives en faveur du bien-�tre citoyen - Interview Jean Jou

Interview Jean Jouzel, Pr�sident du jury







sen

Onelink by First Alert� Brings Common Sense to the Smart Home Revolution - Onelink by First Alert

The new HomeKit-enabled Onelink by First Alert� Wi-Fi Smoke + Carbon Monoxide (CO) Alarm pairs First Alert�s legacy of safety and innovation with Apple�s revolutionary HomeKit technology.





sen

The National WWII Museum Presents New Permanent Exhibit Road to Tokyo: Pacific Theater Galleries - National WWII Museum Opens Road to Tokyo

Gary Sinise and nearly 100 WWII veterans mark the opening to the newest exhibit at the National WWII Museum. Road to Tokyo: Pacific Theater Galleries, retraces the grueling trail that led from Pearl Harbor to Tokyo Bay. Through personal narratives, artifacts and oral histories, the exhibit tells the story of the American spirit that carried the day.




sen

2016 Rare Life Award Presented to Hershel "Woody" Williams - �Woody� Williams Wins Rare Life Award

�Woody� Williams Wins Rare Life Award






sen

President George H.W. Bush Joins Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) to Present First-Ever George H.W. Bush Vamos A Pescarâ„¢ Education Fund Grants - Broll footage and soundbites from a Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundat

Broll footage and soundbites from a Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) event at the George Bush Presidential Library on Thursday, April 14, 2016, in College Station, Texas. RBFF is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to increase participation in recreational angling and boating, thereby protecting and restoring the nation�s aquatic natural resources.




sen

Troy Carter's Atom Factory Set to Welcome Second Cohort to Smashd Labs in Fall 2016 for Startups That Can Influence Culture - Atom Factory Presents: Smashd Labs Season 2

SMASHD Labs Season 2 is a 10-week accelerator program based out of Los Angeles talent firm Atom Factory. We are inviting companies at the intersection of entertainment, technology, and culture to work alongside our team to accelerate their growth. Join us and our roster of world-class mentors for a masterclass in hustle.






sen

New Study Shows Inner-City Asthma Care Program Reduces Student Absenteeism by up to 20 Percent - Building Bridges for Asthma Care

Building Bridges for Asthma Care is a GSK-funded school-based collaboration that addresses the risk of asthma-related absenteeism and its impact on academic achievement for inner city students.




sen

Whole You Celebrates The Senses And Encourages People To Live A Life Without Limitations - Video of legally-blind photographer living his Whole Day

Video of legally-blind photographer living his Whole Day, as he captures a celebration of senses and movement