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A new study published in the journal Nature reports results of the first-in-human phase 1 clinical trials of a novel immunotherapy approach for solid tumors expressing glypican-3 (GPC3). Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and Texas Children’s Cancer Center led the study, which tested chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells enhanced with the protein interleukin-15 (IL-15).

CAR T cells have shown limited efficacy in patients with solid cancers, despite dramatic success in some hematologic malignancies. Preclinical studies showed that the addition of IL-15, which helps T cells survive and multiply, could improve the performance of CAR T cell-based immunotherapies.

In these trials, researchers tested GPC3-specific CAR T cells co-expressing IL-15 in adults with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (NCT02905188) and children with GPC3 expressing solid tumors, including HCC (NCT02932956). The first patient cohorts received GPC3-CAR T cells alone. The GPC3-CAR T cells were found to be safe, with peak cell expansion at two-weeks post-infusion; however, no objective antitumor responses were observed.

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Clay minerals are a major constituent of the Earth’s surface and are mainly found in the sediments of lakes, rivers and oceans. The properties of clay and claystone depend on how the tiny sediment particles are orientated. Using the European Synchrotron particle accelerator in Grenoble (France), a research team from the Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg (MLU) has succeeded for the first time in observing in detail how some of the processes work.

The study was published in the journal Communications Earth & Environment and provides researchers with insights into the structure and properties of sediments.

The formation of clay-rich sediments is difficult to study. “Sedimentation occurs, for example, on the hard-to-reach seafloor over a very long period of time. In addition, clay particles are only a few micrometers or less in size. As a result, conventional microscopy methods are not suitable for the observation of clay particles during sedimentation,” explains Dr. Rebecca Kühn, a geoscientist at MLU, lead researcher of the study.

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The Feynman Lectures on Physics, Volume I: https://www.feynmanlectures.caltech.edu/I_toc.html.

“In this chapter, we shall discuss one of the most far-reaching generalizations of the human mind. While we are admiring the human mind, we should take some time off to stand in awe of a nature that could follow with such completeness and generality such an elegantly simple principle as the law of gravitation. What is this law of gravitation? ”

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In a new Nature Communications study, scientists have developed a novel method for artificial cells to interact with their external environment without the need for complex modification processes.

This method could open new frontiers in , , and cell processes.

Biological cells are protected by a membrane, made of phospholipids, which modulates interactions with the outside environment. Recreating this in is challenging, requiring manual external modification of the membrane.

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DEADLINE APPROACHING! The NEH program is accepting applications through Dec. 11, 2024. For more information, visit.

For organizations in areas affected by Hurricane Helene in FL, GA, SC, NC, VA and TN, optional prospectuses will be accepted until Oct 16th. The prospectus must use the Prospectus Template.

The Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence program aims to support a more holistic understanding of artificial intelligence (AI) in the modern world through the creation of new humanities research centers on artificial intelligence at eligible institutions. Centers must focus their scholarly activities on exploring the ethical, legal, or societal implications of AI.

Continue reading “Humanities Research Centers on Artificial Intelligence” | >

When NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew by Uranus in 1986, it provided scientists’ first—and, so far, only—close glimpse of this strange, sideways-rotating outer planet. Alongside the discovery of new moons and rings, baffling new mysteries confronted scientists. The energized particles around the planet defied their understanding of how magnetic fields work to trap particle radiation, and Uranus earned a reputation as an outlier in our solar system.

Now, new research analyzing the data collected during that flyby 38 years ago has found that the source of that particular mystery is a cosmic coincidence. It turns out that in the days just before Voyager 2’s flyby, the planet had been affected by an unusual kind of space weather that squashed the planet’s magnetic field, dramatically compressing Uranus’s magnetosphere.

“If Voyager 2 had arrived just a few days earlier, it would have observed a completely different magnetosphere at Uranus,” said Jamie Jasinski of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and lead author of the new work published in Nature Astronomy. “The spacecraft saw Uranus in conditions that only occur about 4% of the time.”

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“An Unscientific American” discusses the resignation of Laura Helmuth from her position as editor-in-chief at Scientific American. The author, Michael Shermer, argues that her departure exemplifies the risks of blending facts with ideology in scientific communication.

Helmuth faced backlash after posting controversial remarks on social media regarding political views, which led to public criticism and her eventual resignation. Shermer reflects on how the magazine’s editorial direction has shifted towards progressive ideology, suggesting this has compromised its scientific integrity. He notes that had Helmuth made disparaging comments about liberal viewpoints, her outcome would likely have been more severe.

The article critiques Scientific American for endorsing positions on gender and race that Shermer sees as ideologically driven rather than based on scientific evidence. He expresses concern that such ideological capture within scientific publications can distort facts and undermine credibility.

For more details, you can read the full article here.

Continue reading “The Scientific American Goes Woke + Laura Helmuth’s Resignation. By Michael Shermer” | >

Researchers have linked a specific type of body fat to the abnormal proteins in the brain that are hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease up to 20 years before the earliest symptoms of dementia appear, according to a study being presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA).

The researchers emphasize that lifestyle modifications targeted at reducing this fat could influence the development of Alzheimer’s disease.

“This crucial result was discovered because we investigated Alzheimer’s disease pathology as early as midlife—in the 40s and 50s—when the disease pathology is at its earliest stages, and potential modifications like weight loss and reducing visceral fat are more effective as a means of preventing or delaying the onset of the disease,” said lead study author Mahsa Dolatshahi, M.D., M.P.H., post-doctoral research associate at Mallinckrodt Institute of Radiology (MIR) at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Missouri.

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