Round Up: New Brains for old, Fungal resistance, do we need growth?

Could CRISPR Cas-9 Rebuild your brain? As the brain ages, cells and circuits die off. Hence the unprecedented rise of neurodegenerative diseases in our ageing populations. Hope that this could one day be treated comes from several sources. None more so than this new development in CRISPR Cas 9 gene editing, a much touted favourite on these pages, we admit. Here’s the inimitable Nature Briefings:

Reducing the activity of one particular gene in ageing mice rejuvenates brain stem cells, allowing them to proliferate and provide a supply of fresh neurons. Researchers used CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing to systematically disrupt 23,000 genes and test the effects on neural stem cells. Messing with one such gene, Slc2a4, reduced stem cells’ glucose intake and increased their power to proliferate in old animals, but didn’t affect the cells in young mice. The results provide crucial information for the design of cell therapies that might one day treat neurodegenerative conditions, says neuroscientist Saul Villeda.Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Nature paper

Fungal resistance: a growing problem. Regular readers of these illustrious pages could be forgiven for thinking we spend too much time on antibacterial resistance among bacteria, and not enough on fungi. We hope this very prescient article from The Conversation may go some way to correcting this imbalance

https://theconversation.com/antifungal-resistance-is-not-getting-nearly-as-much-attention-as-antibiotic-resistance-yet-the-risks-to-global-health-are-just-as-serious-239677?utm

Good Growth/Bad Growth The difference in utility between having a small family car, such as a Vauxhall Corsa, and no car at all, is very great indeed. The differences between having that same Corsa and a Rolls Royce are, we humbly submit, rather marginal. Unless you count the awe-inspiring status statement which the latter brings. Growth is good for raising people out of poverty. Yet for centuries it has been based on the production and consumption of status goods rather than useful ones. The complexities of this issue are so fiendish, that we have never known where to begin to understand it. But Larry Elliott of the Guardian makes a brave first try at untying the Gordian knot:

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/oct/20/degrowth-image-problem-solve-planet-climate

#veblen #growth #status #antimicrobial resistance #CRISPR Cas 9 #alzheimers #medicine #health

Round up: Stem Cells, Venezuela, allergies, goodbye to Old King Coal, and the second-most-famous Austrian of all time

stories that caught our eye

Adios, Venezuela, Stage Left : It has always been a conceit on the Left that somehow, whatever bad things we do, we are still somehow the exclusive guardians of the flame of human progress. Whereas the Right, poor dears, are steeped in superstition and ignorance. But Left-wing Governments, at least extreme ones, can do just as much damage to the scientific culture of their country as any Right-wing theocracy, as this piece form Nature Briefings makes clear

Some researchers in Venezuela fear that science in the country is “going down the drain”. The country’s economy has been in crisis and national science funding is proportionally smaller than in comparable countries, leaving research institutions and universities struggling to stay open. Young scientists have left in droves seeking out high-quality education or stable career prospects. And an ‘anti-NGO’ law now requires non-governmental organizations to share information about their funding with the Venezuelan government. Researchers, who sometimes look to NGOs for support, worry that this gives the government discretion to prosecute anyone whose motives it does not agree with.Nature | 6 min read

Every Breath you take: We hear a lot about microplastics in water and food. Now it seems we are breathing them in from the very air itself. And what’s really scary is that the risks of this are quite, quite uncharted, a bit like tobacco in 1924. Here’s Michael Richardson and Meiru Wang for The Conversation:

https://theconversation.com/breathing-may-introduce-microplastics-to-the-brain-new-study-239347?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Latest%20from%20The%20C

Stem Cells give hope for diabetics About twenty or so years ago, we had the privilege of a few words with one of the greatest scientific entrepreneurs of this generation. And he told us that Stem Cells were going to be in the in thing for the future. Proof of this foresight comes in this second piece from Nature Briefings

A woman with type 1 diabetes started producing her own insulin less than three months after a transplant of reprogrammed stem cells. This case represents the first successful treatment for the disease using stem cells from the recipient’s own body, which could avoid the need for immunosuppressants. She was injected with the equivalent of 1.5 million stem-cell-derived islets in June 2023. While promising, the woman’s cells must continue to produce insulin for up to five years before considering her ‘cured’, cautions endocrinologist Jay Skyler.Nature | 6 min read
Reference: Cell paper

Allergies Rising? One of the few good things about the Covid-19 pandemic was the rise to prominence of Professor Devi Sridhar, that most clear-sighted of thinkers. So when she says: “allergies are really on the rise, this is not just a sampling error”, we sit up and take notice. So should you, via her article for The Guardian.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/sep/30/food-allergies-children-england

Goodbye Coal and steel No one gloats at the loss of great workplaces and the terrible social changes their workers must now endure. And no one more than us, blissed-out children of the Enlightenment/Industrial Revolution can deny that coal and steel were really big steps forward in their day. But their comes a time both for individuals and societies when they really must move on, because it’s the future where reality lies. So Britain closes its last coal power station and blast furnaces. It is a brave step, and one day it will pay off.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/ckgn4gg5y2yo

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c8vdq6y56v0o

Mozart Rise and Fall of a genius few years ago we saw a rather nifty series called Rise of the Nazis. It was one of those drama documentaries where they mix a narrator over pictures of actors depicting real people, including such luminaries as Heinrich Himmler, Herman Goering and a certain Mr A. Hitler. It looks like the producers must have sat down and asked themselves; “Who’s the next most famous Austrian everyone’s heard of we can do?” No it wasn’t Arnold Schwarzenegger: instead they came up with this excellent series on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. We have always put him right up there in the top five or so musicians of All Time. So we loved it, and hope you will too Here’s a link which we hope works to the BBC i Player. Hasta la vista, baby!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episodes/m0021zdr/mozart-rise-of-a-genius#:~:text=Mozart:%20Rise%20of%20a%20Genius.%20Child%20prodigy,%20flawed

#allergies #microplastics #mozart #president maduro #venezuela #climate change #fossil fuels #stem cells #diabetes #medicine #health

A big thank you-and your tasks for the future

What have the Peoples’ Republic of China, The United States of America and Trinidad and Tobago got in common? Along with many countries in between, all have provided members of that select band of the intellectual top 0.01% of the population who read Learning, Science and Society. The elite section of the population who, as Gore Vidal once observed, have existed in every society since the dawn of civilisation, and will carry its benefits through, despite the savagery which surround us on all sides. Who would have thought a small newsblog valiantly managed from a run down office block near East Croydon Station would have had such reach and influence? (No it was not a rat in reception this morning, just a very large field vole)

You’ll notice the pictures at the far left and far right on this post. One depicts the Renaissance, the other, The Enlightenment. Let these two advancing periods of humanity be your watchword dearest readers. For, although it is forgotten now, both ages were filled with cruel and selfish tyrants at the Top, and ignorant, violent rabbles at the Bottom. Yet we plucky Middles came up with all the arts and sciences that made life worth living-and thereby gave the others somewhere to go on holiday. (Actually, we’d prefer it if they stuck to skiing and Benidorm, and left the art galleries to us.) So here, gentle readers is the task before you. Nurture and preserve the spirit of human progress if you can. But above all keep reading. And send us your comments

THE EDITORIAL BOARD

#Peoples Republic of China #United States of America #Trinidad and Tobago #Enlightenment #Renaissance

Switzerland: an economy is never expensive if you live there

A sometime correspondent* and contributor to these pages has sent us the following report, which we have transcribed somewhat into a language fit for a lettered readership:

“Recently, my wife and I travelled through the republic of Switzerland, which was notable for many things. The cleanliness and order of all we saw, especially the city of Zurich. The split second precision of the trains and other means of transport. And the eye-wateringly expensive nature of food and drink. We were offered a bottle of the house red for £54, and it went up from there. Food was similarly exorbitant. Yet as soon as we crossed the border into Italy, the change in tone was remarkable. Trains were suddenly, and reassuringly, late at all times. But we could afford to eat once more” (they shared a delicious pizza-ed)

So what is going on? There are several lessons for us students of economics here. Firstly, you can run a high price, high paid economy rather well. Which renders all this talk about austerity and cuts rather irrelevant. Because an economy will not feel expensive to those who live in it , provided they use its currency. It will feel different to visitors from poorer countries, because their currencies will not fit with the prices on offer in the high wage economy. Secondly, if you want great services, they are perfectly possible- if you are prepared to pay for them. That these may be both a source of national pride and economic efficiency becomes a quod erat demonstrandum. Thirdly, that a cult of paying starvation wages is both inefficient and self-defeating. And finally-if you want a really good pizza, you still have to go to Italy.

We wish we could afford even that!

#switzerland #italy #price #income #keynes #friedman #economics

*_{for both legal and security reasons. we have been requested to keep the identity our correspondent anonymous}

There is nothing like a Dame……Sally Davies on Antibiotic Resistance

Way back in the last decade, when most of us were just waking up to the threat of microbial resistance to antibiotics, one person had been campaigning indefatigably for years. She was, and is Dame Sally Davies, former Chief Medical Officer of the UK, and a formidable intellect. Together with Professor Colin Garner , she was one of the moving spirits in promoting awareness, bringing in the great and the good, and generally getting us all moving.

So it is with unbridled honour and humility that we reproduce her latest article, for the Guardian news site, on the eve of the UN conference on the subject in New York. It’s a great state-of-play, this-is where-we-are now summary from some one who really does know. And it’s a quick easy read, which is more than you can say for some of the publications we hyperlink on these pages!

Yes, the situation is far from resolved. But without Dame Sally and the early pioneers, there probably wouldn’t have been such a conference at all. Or any of the other progress we have made in this last ten years or so. Thank you, great woman. Many people will one day owe their lives to you.

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/sep/24/the-world-is-facing-an-antibiotic-emergency-a-data-led-plan-of-action-is-needed-now

[2]https://www.gov.uk/government/people/sally-davies

#amr #antibitic resistance #dame sally davies #health #medicine #microbiology

UK Riots: is Capitalism eating itself by the tail?

The jury’s been out on the UK summer riots. But now it’s back. And the verdict is grim. The causes are clear, and demonstrable. Most of the rioters were not outside agitators. They were locals. And the places local to them are rotten with deprivation, bad health and unemployment. The findings are laid out for all to see in this pooled report from Guardian writers. [1] Their findings make grim reading for everyone, of whatever political persuasion. But sackcloth and ashes most of all are reserved for those who believe the antique slogans about untrammelled free markets, economic liberalisation, risk takers and free movement of goods and people being best for society.

Because what they forgot to tell us was that there are far more losers than winners in such a set-up. That whole communities would whither away into stagnation and despair. In such circumstances people do not make rational, considered judgements. They just get angry and resentful. Is it so surprising some of them riot? A free market purist would argue that nothing is more capitalist than immigration. Who takes more risks than an immigrant, by tearing up their roots and starting again in a new country? But clearly the natives don’t take such an objective view. Their riots are a sign of something much deeper.

Across the world, a massive reaction to the free movement of people has begun. Naturally, it extends to goods and services, as trade tariffs rise again, and local sourcing is everywhere preferred. Powerful demographic forces are making sure that free movement, markets and migration are coming to an end. The very forces unleashed by liberalism have ensured their own demise.

We at LSS do not believe that communism or faith-based economics are the answer. This is a Whig website, not a socialist one. We think the answer lies in a different model of Capitalism, In the next blog or two we will make suggestions as to what these may look like. These suggestions will be tentative, and humble. But unless we learn to think in different ways, and soon, even the educated will end up joining the others in final despair.

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2024/sep/25/local-left-behind-prey-to-populist-politics-data-2024-uk-rioters

#economics #politics #racism #milton friedman #jm keynes #uk riots #populism

Progress on antimicrobial resistance-it’s not all about new drugs

We’ve been in the habit of making clarion calls for new research on anti-microbial drugs here for donkey’s years now. Even reported, where we could, on promising new results. Progress has been slow, we admit. But if you lift your head up and look at the bigger picture, there’s quite a lot of stuff we could be doing to ward off the fateful day when every bacterium becomes resistant. And once again, it’s that excellent website Nature Briefings which suggests some simple, common sense steps people can take now to keep them safe. Particularly in poorer countries, where the stupidities of the world economic order have combined to make cash a little tight. They’ve put up two blocks today, with links, and they’re well worth a read.

HOW TO SAVE MILLIONS OF LIVES Last week, we learnt that more than 39 million people could die from antibiotic-resistant infections by 2050. But it doesn’t have to be that way, argues epidemiologist Ramanan Laxminarayan — if we make sure that people in low- and middle-income countries get the appropriate antibiotics they need. “Even a fairly modest global investment — in the range of hundreds of millions of US dollars — to help prevent bacterial infections and improve access to relatively inexpensive antibiotics could avert millions of deaths,” he writes.Nature | 5 min read
Reference: The Lancet report

STRAIGHTFORWARD SOLUTIONS TO AMR Better sanitation, improved infection control practices at health-care facilities and increased vaccination are among the solutions proposed by four specialists — from Bangladesh, Brazil, Nigeria and the Middle East — who spoke to Nature ahead of a United Nations meeting on antimicrobial resistance (AMR). For example, microbiologist Iruka Okeke says that access to clean water and toilets in Nigeria could reduce gastric infections and AMR simultaneously, yielding an estimated return of US$5 or more for every $1 spent.Nature | 10 min read

We always like it when brisk, cheap solutions, using existing ideas and technology make a real difference. We hope you do too, gentle readers.

#antibiotics #drug resistant micro-organisms #health #sanitation #clean water

Resistance -it’s not just bacteria, it’s evolution in action

Platodesu2013Plattentiere Kunstformen der Natur (1904) by Library of Congress is licensed under CC-CC0 1.0

Old hands on the LSS blog may be forgiven for thinking antibiotic resistance is all about bacteria, and that it all goes in in hospital with lots of medical folk in white coats and humming machines that do funny things with graphs, and all that sort of thing.

Well, it’s about a lot more than that. It isn’t just bacteria that are resistant to our drugs. Down on the farm, there’s a whole class of creatures called Playtyhelminths (aka flatworms) that can do untold damage to sheep, for example. For years their ravages have been controlled by drugs. Now theses pesky creatures are showing strong resistance to these drugs, And to make matters worse, these drugs are getting into nature from the sheep pastures, and starting to wreak havoc there. It’s a lose-lose situation. And we, that is to say humanity, are the losers.[1]

Why is this happening? It’s Natural Selection in action. The flatworms in the sheep guts are animals like any other. Expose them to a threat, (antagonistic drugs) and most will die. But a very few will carry resistant genes, thrown up by random mutation. They and their offspring will survive, and multiply. Mightily. Just like all those bacteria do with the drugs we send against them. The point is resistance is just an evolutionary response. It will happen everywhere at all times. The trick is to stay ahead of it. And the way to do that is to spend a little more on science and research labs. To plan to educate more people with the scientific habit of mind, where we suspend judgement and become open to evidence. And listen a little less to the kind of unreasoning. emotion driven story telling that pollutes so much of the Information Sphere. Some hope.

CREDIT We got this story by watching an episode of the popular BBC television programme Countryfile. [2] Not quite our normal cup of tea, you might think? Well, its amazing how their light, cheerful style gives you an in to some much deeper issues. Worth the odd watch, we say.

[1]https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-024-45027-2

[2]https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m002398g

#flatworms #sheep #agriculture #platyhelminths #antibiotic resistance

Two stories from Nature show AI is moving very fast indeed

Is AI going to be a game-changer in science? We mean really, really, the way X-ray crystallography transformed our understanding of matter, or Carbon-14 techniques kickstarted a revolution in dating? Never get too carried away: but two stories from Nature Briefings suggest that it will soon be telling us things which we never guessed before. And so we present them unadorned, so you can judge for yourselves, gentle readers. There are a couple of good hyperlinks, which could be worth a quick delve in to if you have more time than a single cup of coffee.

Alpha Fold reveals how Viruses evolved Protein structures predicted by AI models have revealed some twists in the evolution of flaviviruses — a group that includes hepatitis C, dengue and Zika viruses. Researchers used DeepMind’s AlphaFold2 and Meta’s ESMFold to generate more than 33,000 predicted structures for proteins from 458 flavivirus species. They already uncovered some surprises. For example, the hepatitis C virus infects cells using an entry system similar to one seen in the pestiviruses — a group that includes animal pathogens like swine fever. Another big surprise was the discovery that some flaviviruses have an enzyme that seems to have been stolen from bacteria.Nature | 5 min read
Reference: Nature paper

Zeta class computer six years out Work to develop a supercomputer that could out-pace the world’s current fastest by 1,000 times is officially underway. Expected to cost the Japanese government around US$775 million, the Fugaku Next machine should be online by 2030. The world’s fastest current supercomputer functions in the realm of one quintillion (1017) calculations per second, or exaFLOPS. Fugaku Next is expected to operate in the realm of zetaFLOPS, 1,000 times that speed.Popular Mechanics | 3 min read

We await your responses with anticipation.

#AI #supercomputer #biochemistry #alphafold #virus #protein #nucleic acid

Antibiotic Resistance: Acute danger for the old

Photo by Andrea Piacquadio on Pexels.com

As if the threat from cancer, dementia and heart disease wasn’t enough, the world’s older inhabitants face a new danger. It’s our old friend antibiotic resistance-and it’s growing fast. That’s according to Kat Lay of the Guardian,[1] who has produced a fascinating review of the work of the Global Research on Antimicrobial Resistance Project.[2.3} They looked at data from 204 countries from 1990 to 2021, and have projected their findings forwards into the 2050s.

Young people will suffer from the problem it’s true. But their overall death rate from infections has been falling, partly from the success of things like improved hygiene and vaccination problems. It’s among the elderly that the situation gets bleak. Their death rates from antibiotic resistant organisms have skyrocketed by 80% over the last three decades. The authors estiamte by 2050 this demographic will be suffering 1.3 million deaths per year directly from resistant organism infections. And the resistance will be implicated, at least in part in a further 8.2 million annual deaths. Readers of LSS will observe, wearily, that every one of them will be avoidable.

So, what to say after all these years of blogging? After reporting on the work of so many fine researchers, and thanking so many fine journalists like Kat, and all her colleagues who labour tirelessly to keep this problem on the public eye? The fact that people are more aware of all this than when we started back in ’15 is something. And there have been signs of progress, as we have sometimes noted here. Keep people aware, readers. If you see a journalist who has raised it, try to find a way to thank them. Keep giving money to the charities who are trying to do something about it.[4] And, as with many things-don’t stop hoping

[1]https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2024/sep/16/health-superbugs-antimicrobial-resistance-amr-39m-deaths-infections-bacteria-gram-study

[2]https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01867-1/fulltext

[3]https://www.tropicalmedicine.ox.ac.uk/gram

[4]https://www.antibioticresearch.org.uk/

#antibiotic resistance #medicine #health #hospital #2050