Japanthanks.com August 8, Olympics Closing Ceremony - Why Bach Can't lose by announcing suspension of summer olympics until covid slayed

Thursday, March 7, 2024

 Washington, DC: The Leap From Animals to Humans: Where Infectious Diseases Start

event Thursday, February 22, 2024
schedule 6.00pm - 8.00pm EST
location_on
The Cosmos Club
2121 Massachusetts Ave NW
Washington, D.C 20008
United States
Past event
You are invited to join Cambridge in America and Professor Clare Bryant in Washington, D.C on February 22, 2024. 
Open to: 
Alumni and guests

You are invited to a special evening with Professor Clare Bryant, Professor of Innate Immunity on Thursday, February 22 at 6pm.

COVID, Ebola, HIV, Tuberculosis and influenza are all zoonosis – infectious diseases that jumped from non-human animals to humans. Join Professor Bryant as she outlines a new approach to study the origins of these pathogens that focuses on infectious and inflammatory disease, bridges biological, medical and physical sciences, and integrates the social and anthropological sciences, climate change science and biodiversity.

Following the lecture there will be a brief Q & A and time to connect with fellow Cambridge alumni over drinks and canapes.


Cambridge Centre for Zoonotic Research: a commercial approach underpinned by outstanding research

Zoonotic diseases are of critical importance to humans. All pandemics/epidemics of significant public health concern have been zoonoses, the most recent and devastating being the global Covid-19 pandemic. Other familiar pathogens, such as HIV, TB, influenza and Ebola are all zoonoses. These diseases have a major cost to human life and continue to affect populations worldwide. Climate change will have a profound effect on the opportunities for pathogen spillover to the human population. We need to understand where the pathogens come from, how they spread, how they evolve, how they hide in animals, how they jump species, the immune responses they cause in humans and animals, how to predict the most likely pathogens to cause a pandemic, how we can detect/diagnose them and how to prevent or reduce the impact of an outbreak to prevent it becoming a pandemic.  A new, sustainable approach is needed.

Vision of the Centre

We propose to establish a forward-thinking interdisciplinary Centre for Research in Zoonoses at the University of Cambridge in association with Queens’ College.

The goals of the proposed Centre are:

  • To build a sustainable centre of diverse multi-disciplinary outstanding scientist-entrepreneurs supported by world leading experts
  • To disrupt conventional research approaches to zoonotic infectious disease by providing rapidly translatable solutions underpinned by the social, economic and political reality.

The vision of the proposed Centre is:

  • To build a multi-disciplinary unit focusing on infectious and inflammatory disease that bridges biological, medical and physical sciences integrating the social and anthropological sciences, climate change science and biodiversity
  • To integrate entrepreneurship, translational science and spin out ventures to ensure investment, financial return on investment and sustainable funding, in line with the UK’s industrial strategy
  • Work in partnership with global surveillance centres and key biodiversity centres

Wednesday, March 6, 2024

chat with gemini on alphafold 2 and biotech ai

 

Do you know of any open source research going on in uk using alphafold2. This seems to be the greatest data gift from AI but its in a technical area so seems to get far less celebration than other ai

More specifically there is quite a lot of education on ai going on arounf uk Turing institute; i am wondering if anyone who works for Turing institute has a mandate or interest to ask how do we make sure alphafold2 is maximised for public advances

So there are various health foundations in uk - i think they used to be led by paul nuse - do any of those occur to you as likely advancers of alphafold2 uses

Do you know if the crick institute or any of the royal socieieties (eg royal society of medicinne) are helping to popularise what alphafold2 reseach can best advance in next 3 years or so

Is there a list of labs deep mind has formed in uk where the intention is at least partly societal as opposed to business advances of alpafold2

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Gemini may display inaccurate info, includi

Tuesday, January 9, 2024

J&J's 100% dismal world?

thks bloomberg latest update 

 Johnson & Johnson has tentatively agreed to pay about $700 million to resolve an investigation by more than 40 US states into claims that it wrongfully marketed its talc-based baby powder by not warning about possible health risks, according to people familiar with the deal.

The settlement would avert potential lawsuits alleging that J&J hid any links between the talc in its powder and various cancers, according to the people, who asked not to be named because the pact isn’t yet public. They said J&J and representatives for state attorneys general are still hammering out the specific terms of the accord but have reached an agreement on the approximate total amount.

The settlement is part of J&J’s strategy to corral a growing number of suits accusing it of concealing baby powder’s health risks after two failed attempts to use the bankruptcy courts to impose a settlement on former users. The decade-long litigation, plus the prospect of potential future cancer suits, has limited J&J’s stock price, analysts have said.

Shares of J&J fell slightly as trading began Monday morning in New York, but closed with a 0.25% gain at $161.53. The stock fell 11% last year.

$9 Billion Offer

The New Brunswick, New Jersey-based company had offered to settle all current and future baby powder claims for $9 billion in the bankruptcy filing of one of its units. As part of that offer, it said last year it set aside $400 million to resolve US states’ consumer protection claims. The company agreed to increase the payout after both sides met with a mediator in December, the people said.

J&J spokeswoman Clare Boyle had no immediate comment on the settlement Monday. Kylie Mason, a spokesperson for Florida AG Ashley Moody, said the multi-state investigation is ongoing and “no settlement agreements have been reached.” Representatives of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton didn’t respond to a phone call and email seeking comment. Moody and Paxton have been leading the probe and the settlement talks, the people said.

So far, only Mississippi and New Mexico have filed lawsuits against J&J over the marketing. But J&J said in an October securities filing that 42 states and the District of Columbia had launched “a joint investigation into the company’s marketing of its talcum powder products.” Attorneys general of states from Arizona to North Carolina had issued demands for information from J&J.

The pact doesn’t cover the suits by Mississippi and New Mexico, which want to negotiate higher settlements since they have already begun litigating, the people said. Mississippi, for example, wants J&J punished for selling more than 6 million bottles of baby powder in the state without a cancer warning over almost 50 years starting in 1974, according to court filings. That could result in about $6 billion in damages if a judge hands down a $1,000-per-bottle fine under the state’s law.

Broad Exposure

J&J, the world’s largest maker of health care products, has legal exposure far beyond the states’ claims. It faces more than 50,000 suits alleging that to protect one of its best-known products, it concealed that asbestos in its talc-based powders posed a cancer risk. Most of those claims are over women who got ovarian cancer, but others involved mesothelioma, a cancer tied to asbestos exposure.

J&J maintains that its talc-based products don’t cause cancer and that it has marketed its baby powder appropriately for more than a century. The company has won a number of cases in court and had other suits dismissed before trial.

Former baby powder users contend that J&J executives knew since the early 1970s that the product contained trace amounts of asbestos. Since 2014 at least a dozen juries have awarded a total of more than $6.5 billion in damages to consumers blaming the powders for their cancers, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News. Some of those awards later were reduced or thrown out on appeal.

The company pulled its talc-based powders off the market in the US and Canada in 2020, citing slipping sales. J&J replaced talc with a cornstarch-based version of the product and vowed to remove all its baby powders containing talcum powder worldwide by the end of last year.

The consolidated federal case is In Re Johnson & Johnson Talcum Powder Products Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, 16-md-2738, US District Court, District of New Jersey (Trenton).

    — With assistance from Nacha Cattan