Important Takeaways:
- A breakthrough for biomedical research promises new insight into immunotherapy development and disease modeling. Scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio have created a humanized mouse model with a human immune system and a human-like gut microbiome that is capable of mounting specific antibody responses.
- The aim of the multi-year project, which appears in the August 2024 issue of Nature Immunology, was to overcome limitations of currently available in vivo human models by creating a humanized mouse with a fully developed and functional human immune system.
- Mice are widely used in biological and biomedical research because they are small, easy to handle, share many immune elements and biological properties with humans and are easily genetically modified. Many of the more than 1,600 immune response mouse genes, however, are incongruent with their human equivalents, resulting in divergencies or deficiencies of mice as predictors of human immune responses. This made availability of a “humanized” mouse model that faithfully reproduces human immune responses a high priority.
- The first humanized mice were created in the 1980s to model human HIV infection and the human immune response to HIV.
- Casali’s team began with injecting immunodeficient NSG W41 mutant mice intracardiacally (left ventricle) with human stem cells they purified from umbilical cord blood. After a few weeks, once the graft has been established, the mice are hormonally conditioned with 17b-estradiol (E2), the most potent and abundant form of estrogen in the body. Hormonal conditioning by estrogen was prompted by previous research by Casali and others suggesting that estrogen boosts the survival of human stem cells, boosts B lymphocyte differentiation and production of antibodies to viruses and bacteria.
- The resulting humanized mice, called TruHuX (for truly human, or THX), possess a fully developed and fully functional human immune system, including lymph nodes, germinal centers, thymus human epithelial cells, human T and B lymphocytes, memory B lymphocytes, and plasma cells making highly specific antibody and autoantibodies identical to those of humans.
- “By critically leveraging estrogen activity to support human stem cell and human immune cell differentiation and antibody responses, THX mice provide a platform for human immune system studies, development of human vaccines and testing of therapeutics,” Casali said.
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Important Takeaways:
- According to a new study published in the Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B, these scientists have created solar-powered tissues that could revolutionize the production of lab-grown meat and organs.
- The cells driving the tissue are a plant-animal hybrid that can gain energy from sunlight in the same way that plants do, the researchers explain in the study. Both animals and plants derive energy using different methods. Plants use photosynthesis, while animals rely on mitochondria.
- Researchers hoped that they would be able to take plant cells and combine them with animal cells—in this case, cells taken from hamsters. The goal here was to isolate chloroplasts from plants and then cultivate them with the hamster cells so that they would become hybrid cells and hopefully grow into solar-powered tissue.
- The researchers believe this could help increase the potential growth of new organs and lab-grown meat, something scientists have been desperately trying to figure out for several years now.
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Important Takeaways:
- U.S. reporter Pamela Geller cited reports of “nearly 17,000 dead and 15,000 missing” and said she is receiving “hundreds of emails from people in Syria begging for help.”
- We, the Alawites on the Syrian coast, are facing extermination. Ethnic and religious cleansing is unfolding before the world’s silent eyes. They are burning our homes, slaughtering our families, and torturing our children. They rip out the eyes of our young, tear out their hearts, and leave their lifeless bodies as warnings.
- Foreign fighters, coming from all regions, are hunting us down. They are invading our homes, destroying our existence, and soon, they will reach us all. The world watches in silence because we are a minority—because we are deemed expendable.
- This is not war. This is annihilation.
- I beg you—grant us asylum, grant us protection before it is too late. We are running out of time. We will do whatever is asked of us, just let us live.
- According to Syrian journalist and human rights activist Nizar Nayouf, 15,000 Alawites have been executed. Nayouf claims the massacre had been planned since February 24:
- Nayouf claims the Syrian “Ministry of Defense” and the terrorist militia “distributed detailed digital maps to their faction leaders, marking Alawite, Christian, and Ismaili neighborhoods and villages in Syria’s coastal region, as well as the primary and secondary roads leading to them”
- Religious clerics affiliated with President Al-Jolani “delivered lectures to some faction leaders, instructing them on how to distinguish Alawites from others in the coastal region. They warned that Alawite men are circumcised, just like Sunni Muslims, making them harder to identify—even by dialect in some areas.”
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Important Takeaways:
- Incoming heavy rain from an atmospheric river-fueled storm that slammed into the West Coast early Wednesday is threatening mudslides and debris flows in Southern California and has already prompted evacuations in the Los Angeles area.
- But that’s not all this storm is capable of — its reach and impacts will only get more extreme as the week continues.
- The cross-country storm will strengthen into an unusually intense March powerhouse by the end of the week and will put millions at risk of wildfires, severe thunderstorms, tornadoes, powerful wind gusts and blizzard conditions.
- A level 2 of 4 risk of flooding rainfall is in place from Santa Barbara to Los Angeles, including areas scorched by the Palisades and Eaton fires, according to the Weather Prediction Center. The storm’s relatively quick pace could help limit widespread flooding in California, but recently burned areas remain at a higher risk for flooding and debris flows.
- Evacuation warnings were issued for other parts of Los Angeles County Tuesday due to the risk of debris flows from the Palisades, Eaton, Franklin and Kenneth burn scars, according to the county’s emergency alert service.
- Places in the mountains could see half a foot or more of snow, with a few inches also falling at lower elevations and potentially in some valleys.
- By late afternoon, widespread strong winds will begin from Nevada and Arizona to the Rockies with wind gusts of 40 to 50 mph possible – especially in mountainous terrain – as the storm starts to strengthen. These wind gusts, combined with rain and snow, could create hazardous travel conditions.
- More than 800 miles of the central US, from western Texas through Nebraska, are under a level 2 of 3 fire weather risk, according to the Storm Prediction Center. Any spark could turn into a wind-driven blaze in these conditions.
- [By Friday] Strong winds that could disrupt travel and damage power lines will whip across the central US, turning from breezy in the morning to fierce by the day’s end.
- Widespread gusts of 40 to 50 mph are likely by late afternoon, with stronger gusts past 65 mph possible from New Mexico and Texas through Oklahoma and Kansas.
- The thunderstorms will become more ferocious and expand by the late evening to pound potentially more than 900 miles of the Mississippi Valley – from Louisiana to Minnesota – into the overnight hours.
- Saturday: Severe thunderstorms, blizzard conditions hit the eastern US
- The intense cross-country storm will expand into more of the eastern US with severe thunderstorms and blizzard conditions.
- Severe thunderstorms could be ongoing in the early morning, especially in parts of the Ohio Valley.
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Important Takeaways:
- The largest active volcano in Washington state has been rocked by a series of earthquakes, putting experts on high alert.
- Mount Adams is a 12,000-foot-tall stratovolcano located in south-central Washington, about 55 miles southwest of the city of Yakima.
- This volcano is considered a ‘high threat’ due to its ability to trigger landslides, debris avalanches and mudflow that can travel up to 50 miles per hour down the slope, which would put thousands of people at risk.
- Although this volcano hasn’t erupted for about 1,000 years, ‘it will assuredly erupt again,’ US Geological Survey (USGS) experts say.
- But it’s impossible to say exactly when it will blow, which is why scientists have established monitoring stations around Mount Adams to track its seismic activity.
- But the biggest threat to people living near this volcano isn’t an explosive eruption.
- It’s actually avalanches, landslides and lahars, or muddy flows of rock, ash and ice that ‘surge downstream like rapidly flowing concrete’ and can occur during eruptive or non-eruptive periods, according to the USGS.
- ‘The ice-capped summit conceals large volumes of hydrothermally weakened rock, and future landslides of this weakened rock could generate far-traveled lahars,’ USGS officials wrote.
- In light of the recent earthquakes, scientists have installed three additional monitoring stations around the volcano to keep a closer eye on it.
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Important Takeaways:
- Not wasting any time, the Trump administration has revoked security clearances from a cadre of Biden-era officials, intelligence leaders, and legal figures accused of orchestrating political witch hunts and election interference against Donald Trump.
- The Trump administration, led by DNI Tulsi Gabbard, revoked security clearances for Biden-era officials, intelligence leaders, and legal figures accused of political witch hunts and election interference against Trump.
- Former President Biden is barred from receiving the President’s Daily Brief; affected individuals include Antony Blinken, Jake Sullivan, Letitia James, and signers of the Hunter Biden “disinformation” letter.
- The controversy stems from a 2020 letter dismissing Hunter Biden’s laptop as Russian disinformation, which suppressed the story before the election; Blinken is accused of orchestrating the debunked letter.
- Legal figures like Alvin Bragg and Andrew Weissmann, as well as Trump impeachment critics Mark Zaid and Norm Eisen, also had clearances revoked.
- The symbolic revocations aim to purge perceived corrupt actors, end “lawfare,” and restore trust in government institutions.
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Important Takeaways:
- The leader of Canada’s most populous province has followed through on a pledge to hike electricity prices for Americans in response to President Trump’s tariffs as residents of US border states New York, Minnesota and Michigan can expect to pay more for power.
- The Canadian province of Ontario raised electricity export prices by 25% for the three American states on Monday — marking a direct response to the escalating trade dispute between the two countries.
- Ontario Premier Doug Ford ordered the Independent Electricity System Operator, which oversees the province’s electricity market, to implement a $7-per-megawatt-per-hour fee on all power exports to the three states, Bloomberg News reported.
- Despite the aggressive stance, the actual impact on US consumers may be minimal.
- Electricity prices on US spot markets, where power is bought and sold in real-time, fluctuate based on supply and demand.
- With multiple sources available, American buyers are not obligated to purchase from Ontario, meaning they may be able to source cheaper electricity from alternative suppliers.
- New York imported about 4.4% of its total electricity from Canada in 2023, according to Bloomberg calculations using data from the state’s grid operator.
- Minnesota and Michigan relied on Canadian imports even less, according to the Midcontinent Independent System Operator (MISO), which manages the power grid across much of the Midwest.
- “In 2024, less than 1% of MISO’s total energy was supplied via Canadian imports and less than half of that came from Ontario”
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Important Takeaways:
- The United States is condemning the murder of religious minorities in Syria, as reports circulate online that more than a thousand innocent civilians have been killed by Islamic terrorists.
- On X, Senator Marco Rubio condemned the violence, saying, “The United States stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities.”
- In recent days, graphic videos of the alleged killing of Christians in western Syria have emerged.
- According to the Iraqi Christian Foundation, which advocates for Christians and other religious minorities in the Middle East, the death toll is 1,800. It alleges that entire villages are being slaughtered
- The attacks marked the worst violence Syria has seen since Assad’s ouster.
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Important Takeaways:
- For 14 years, Syria has been engulfed in a civil war. Until three months ago, dictator Bashar al-Assad controlled the government, but he was overthrown by the Jihadist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), an al-Qaeda affiliated terrorist organization.
- While Assad had many faults he did protect the Christian minority in Syria. However, as noted by commentator Tucker Carlson, as the civil war progressed, “The percentage of Christians in Syria went from ten percent to two percent.”
- His removal was celebrated by neocons in this country, the same ones who worked to overthrow Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi. While both were brutal dictators, their removal led to even worse results. Today, Iraq is a strong ally of Iran, the world’s foremost benefactor of terrorism, while Libya has been splintered into regions controlled by rival Jihadist organizations.
- On Thursday, predictable revenge killings started in coastal areas of Syria, such as the town of Baniyas, still loyal to Assad. According to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, over 1,000 people were killed, including 745 innocent civilians.
- Throughout the region, innocent civilians were killed by Sunni Muslim gunmen affiliated with the HTS government. The victims included Christians and “members of Assad’s minority Alawite sect.” Christian holy sites were also desecrated.
- He said the Jihadist murderers “asked residents for their IDs to check their religion and their sect before killing them. He said the gunmen also . . . stole cars and robbed homes.” To avoid the “executions,” some Alawites fled to Lebanon, while others took refuge at a Russian airbase in Hmeimim, Syria.
- In response to the carnage, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that our country “stands with Syria’s religious and ethnic minorities, including its Christian, Druze, Alawite, and Kurdish communities.” He called for a full investigation by Syrian authorities. France also expressed its “deep concern” about the massacre and called for an independent investigation to “shed full light on these crimes.”
- Unfortunately, much of the international community has been silent about these atrocities. Even worse, the European Union (EU) exonerated the Jihadist government for the massacre. In their statement, the EU condemned “the recent attacks, reportedly by pro-Assad elements, on interim government forces in the coastal areas of Syria and all violence against civilians.” CBN News
- The new U.S. Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard, who predicted these problems in Syria was accused of being a Russian spy for meeting with Assad in 2017
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Important Takeaways:
- In an era where grocery prices fluctuate and people crave a deeper connection to their food and land, homesteading is making a major comeback.
- Across the country, more and more people are taking steps toward growing their own food, raising small livestock and embracing self-sufficiency.
- While gardens are often the first step for many homesteaders, chickens are not far behind. Raising a small flock is one of the easiest ways to take control of part of one’s food supply, providing fresh eggs daily and even a little entertainment in the process.
- When most people think of cattle farming, they picture large ranches with hundreds of head of cattle. However, small-scale cattle keeping is becoming increasingly common, with families choosing to raise just a few cows for personal beef or dairy consumption.
- Others have opted to keep a milk cow, providing their families with fresh dairy products while reducing their reliance on store-bought milk. With milk prices continuing to climb, having a single cow can be an economical and healthier alternative.
- For Jenkins, Holloway and plenty of others, homesteading isn’t just a phase, it’s a lifestyle shift. Rising food costs, concerns over food safety and a desire to be more in control of their own resources are all factors keeping people invested in the movement.
- …once people get a taste of homegrown food, it’s hard to go back.
- For those who aren’t ready to jump in with both feet, starting small is key: A couple of tomato plants, a small herb garden or even just a backyard chicken or two can be enough to get started on the homesteading journey.
- One thing is for sure — the Ozarks are fertile ground for this growing movement, and more and more people are choosing to embrace the homesteading way of life.
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