Tracker

Soooo....you're not a cheap date?

Bacterial ‘Syringe’ Could Lead to Brand New Cancer Therapies It should go without saying by now: You should get your shots. However, your traditional syringe only goes so far. Sometimes, it’s helpful to get an even more precise inoculation on a cellular level. This type of injection could help pave the way for new, more effective biomedical treatments like cancer and gene therapy. In a new study published Wednesday in the journal Nature, researchers developed a bacterial “syrigine” that’s capable of injecting proteins directly into cultured human and mouse cells. The technique utilizes the bacteria’s natural process of interacting with host cells to deliver a variety of different types of proteins into cells. The study’s authors, who hail from MIT, specifically modified a bacterial protein that’s more typically found targeting insects called the Photorhabdus virulence cassette (PVC), which is named for the bacterium Photorhabdus asymbiotica. While this bacteria is deadly for different species of insect larvae and used as a pesticide, it’s relatively harmless in humans. This latest study builds off of past research that found that PVCs can be used to target and deliver proteins into non-human cells. To develop the syringe, the researchers utilized AlphaFold, the powerful AI program from Google used to predict suitable protein structures. They then identified Photorhabdus—which typically targets insect cells—and re-engineered it in order to inject proteins into human cells in petri dishes. Kreitz et al. / Nature: “[We] demonstrated the application of PVCs as delivery tools in diverse contexts, such as in the specific killing of cancer cells or as mediators of genome editing, and we showed that the system operates as intended in insect cells, human cells, primary cells, and in live mice,” the authors wrote. They added that PVCs are a “versatile class of programmable protein delivery tools that are well-suited for use in a variety of applications ranging from biocontrol to human gene therapy.” To develop the syringe, the researchers utilized AlphaFold, the powerful AI program from Google used to predict suitable protein structures. They then identified Photorhabdus and re-engineered it in order to inject proteins into human cells in petri dishes. This suggests that it could one day be used to help deliver treatments directly into human cells. For example, proteins could be used as nanoscale carriers delivering antibodies into tumor cells. The beauty about PVCs is both how versatile and efficient it is. Not only can it be customized depending on the kind of cargo or treatment it’ll deliver, but the Nature study found that it can target human and mice cells with “efficiencies approaching 100 percent.”

Idaho Is About To Become The First State To Restrict Interstate Travel For Abortion -GETTY Idaho already has some of the most extreme abortion restrictions on the books, with nearly all abortions banned in the state and an affirmative defense law that essentially asserts any doctor who provides an abortion is guilty until proven innocent. And now Idaho Republicans have set their sights on hindering certain residents from traveling out of state to get an abortion. House Bill 242, which passed through the state House and is likely to move quickly through the Senate, seeks to limit minors’ ability to travel for abortion care without parental consent. The legislation would create a whole new crime — dubbed “abortion trafficking” — which is defined in the bill as an “adult who, with the intent to conceal an abortion from the parents or guardian of a pregnant, unemancipated minor, either procures an abortion … or obtains an abortion-inducing drug” for the minor. “Recruiting, harboring, or transporting the pregnant minor within this state commits the crime of abortion trafficking,” the legislation adds. Abortion trafficking would be a felony, and those found guilty would face two to five years in prison. The legislation also includes a statute allowing the Idaho attorney general to supersede any local prosecutor’s decision, pre-emptively thwarting any prosecutor who vows not to enforce such an extreme law. Since the bill would criminalize anyone transporting a pregnant minor within the state to get an abortion or to obtain medication abortion, it could apply to an aunt who drives a pregnant minor to the post office to pick up a package that includes abortion pills. Or it could target an older sibling who drives a pregnant minor to a friend’s house to self-manage an abortion at home. Either violation would carry a minimum sentence of two years in prison.

Elise Stefanik promised Trump an 'aggressive' House GOP response to Alvin Bragg: CNN A new CNN report details secret back channel talks between House Republicans and Donald Trump in which the former president exerts pressure on his congressional allies to do his bidding. According to CNN's sources, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) has emerged as House Republicans' point person for keeping Trump informed of their assorted investigations, and she recently promised the former president that the caucus would offer an "aggressive" response to Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg's potential indictment of him for his 2016 hush-money payments to adult film star Stormy Daniels.

Wanna bet?

This tragedy, and the apathetic response by many US voters underscores yet again the utter and enduring fanatical insanity that is endemic there and will inevitably doom them. All we can do is hope that we will not be collateral damage.

A truly heartbreaking face that will be ignored by the damned politicians who favour money over childrens' lives. Damn them. Damn them all to Hell.

Another team of Russians surrendered along with their armored vehicles for a reward. Under the cover of night, they went to the meeting place and handed over their armored vehicles to the Ukrainian Army.

For the atmosphere and the chance to get caught up in the gameday emotional avalanche of ecstasies and agonies.

No deep-fried Twinkies?

The governor of Tennessee called for prayers without mentioning the mass shooting, so as to not offend the gun-nuts. However, Marjorie Taylor-Green had a pithy suggestion: Marjorie Taylor Greene Wants Biden To Give Up Secret Service Protection After Nashville School Shooting Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) called President Biden a fool and demanded that his Secret Service protection be given up after the Nashville school shooting. Rep. Greene’s solution to the nation’s epidemic of mass shootings is to give even more people easier access to guns. Greene attacked Biden for the existence of gun-free school zones because if there is one policy move that would definitely increase gun violence at schools it would be to end the gun-free school zone designation. How does taking away Biden’s Secret Service protection prevent mass shootings? It doesn’t, but it does create a distraction to take away from the record that Greene and Republicans have of making it easier for mass shooters to kill more people through increasing the availability of deadly firearms to all. https://www.politicususa.com/2023/03/27/marjorie-taylor-greene-biden-nashville.html

Prigozhin continues to blackmail the Kremlin for weapons, publishing daily footage compromising Putin's special operation and, above all, that everything is going according to plan. Today: Krasnodar Cemetery.

The insurance companies are gonna have a lot of fun trying to sort that out.

Agreed that there is ongoing, massive regression going on in the USA. There is nothing good in that country's future. The lunatics are now in charge of the asylum.

Trump Is Also Trying To Intimidate Jurors And Judges Former President Donald Trump is trying to intimidate more than just the various prosecutors who might be readying indictments against him, but also the jurors and judges, according to a former Southern District of New York Criminal Division Deputy Chief. “If the case is charged, there will be jurors and judge to hear the case,” former SDNY Criminal Division Deputy Chief Kristy Greenberg noted on Ali Velshi’s MBNBC show. “He’s trying to intimidate everyone associated with this case.” Greenberg also went on to explain that these many investigations into Donald Trump are examples of the system working because they show the law being applied without fear or favor. The FBI is indeed investigating a death threat after the Manhattan DA received a letter threatening to kill him with white powder, reading “ALVIN: I AM GOING TO KILL YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!” The letter came from Orlando, Florida. Trump’s intimidation tactics have been getting him into enough hot water that his lawyer claimed that he quickly deleted the photo of himself with a bat next to a photo of Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg. “I think that was an ill-advised post that one of his social media people put up and he quickly took down when he realized the rhetoric and the photo that was attached to it,” Trump’s lawyer Joe Tacopina said on Meet the Press. Except that Trump left that threat up for at least a day because it was posted on Thursday and we got a screengrab of it still up 21 hours later on Friday morning at 10:22 AM. 21 hours is more than enough time to realize the photo was a problem since it was making headline news for that entire 24 hours. For example, this is enough time for a news organization to get into trouble if anything in their article isn’t accurate, so it is more than enough time for Trump to realize that the photo he shared is a clear threat.

Israeli Unions Launch Workers Strike, Upping Pressure On Netanyahu TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Workers from a range of sectors in Israel launched a nationwide strike on Monday, threatening to paralyze the economy as they joined a surging protest movement against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plan to overhaul the judiciary. Departing flights from the country’s main international airport were grounded, large mall chains and universities shut their doors, and Israel’s largest trade union group called for its 800,000 members — in health, transit, banking and other fields — to stop work. Local governments were expected to close the preschools they run and cut other services, and the main doctors union announced its members would also walk off the job. The growing resistance to Netanyahu’s plan came hours after tens of thousands of people burst into the streets around the country in a spontaneous show of anger at the prime minister’s decision to fire his defense minister after he called for a pause to the overhaul. Chanting “the country is on fire,” they lit bonfires on Tel Aviv’s main highway, closing the thoroughfare and many others throughout the country for hours.

CRAZIER AND CRAZIER...... QAnon now believes a body double replaced Senator John Fetterman Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), still recovering from the effects of a stroke he suffered on the campaign trail last year, publicly announced last month that he was admitting himself to Walter Reed Hospital to be treated for severe depression. After more than a month of psychiatric treatment, Fetterman is preparing to be discharged and return to full-time work in the Senate. But far-right QAnon conspiracy theorists aren't buying it. According to VICE News on Monday, a bizarre theory spread across the internet over the weekend, fanned by a handful of influential extreme-right voices, that Fetterman has been replaced by a body double. "The entire basis of the conspiracy theory is the comparison of two photos of Fetterman that the conspiracists claim are not of the same person — even though both are very obviously both of the Pennsylvania senator," reported David Gilbert. "Body double conspiracies are a common trope in conspiracist circles: In recent years QAnon believers have claimed that President Joe Biden, Queen Elizabeth, and the Pope have been replaced by body doubles, all in an attempt to undermine the leaders’ credibility and boost the belief that the world is really run by a secret cabal of elites and the faceless 'deep state.'" https://www.alternet.org/qanon-body-double-john-fetterman/

The multiplicity of sports likely has much to do with that overall, but well-run, competitive teams will always do well, whereas poorly-run, uncompetitive teams will often struggle in attendance. The Bombers and Argos are two examples that readily come to mind.

Wow. He must really be racked up. Too bad for him.

The interesting thing here is that the resistance to televising all the games was the fear/certainty that attendance would drop. Hasn't turned out that way at all.

I wouldn't credit Bibi with too many smarts, either. He id facing corruption charges (accepting bribes) but has refused to step down until the charges are resolved. He is also in bed with very hard-line Zionists who believe that Israel should be solely for Jews, and further, that absorbing all Palestinian property into Israel with the aim of expelling them is what God wants. When religion and politics enmesh, things always go badly.