Today's Headlines: July 19, 2018
Biological Agents & Infectious Diseases
More Dangerous Outbreaks Are Happening. Why Aren't We Worried About the Next Epidemic? (
Huffington Post) As the catastrophic Ebola outbreak killed 11,300 people and cost billions, the WHO worked to lay the groundwork to make sure an outbreak never again reached that level of global health security threat. As part of its overhaul in 2015, the international body set about identifying which diseases had the highest risk for causing a widespread public health emergency and little to no countermeasures to prevent their spread in order to catalyze funding for their prevention. Three years later, 6 of the 8 categories of disease highlighted in the WHO's "Blueprint priority diseases" list were in the midst of outbreaks--at the same time.
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Despite Detente, Sanctions on North Korea Fan TB Epidemic (
AP News) Dr. O Yong Il swings open a glass door with an orange biohazard sign and gestures to the machine he hoped would revolutionize his life's work. As chief of North Korea's tuberculosis laboratory, Dr. O saw it as a godsend. Tuberculosis is North Korea's biggest public health problem. With the American-made GeneXpert, his lab would be able to complete a TB test in two hours instead of two months.
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Government Affairs & National Security
Revealed: The New Structure for the Pentagon's Tech and Acquisition Offices (
Defense News) Pentagon leaders, already worried about the emerging technologies that will shape the next generation of war, have reorganized their leadership structure to emphasize quantum science, artificial intelligence and directed energy, Defense News has learned. The new effort is a major restructuring for the two Pentagon offices that determine how the Department of Defense buys and develops weapon systems.
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Bio Convergence and Soldier 2050 Conference Final Report (
Mad Scientists Laboratory) While the technology and concepts defining warfare have continuously and rapidly transformed, the primary actor in warfare--the human--has remained largely unchanged. Soldiers today may be physically larger, more thoroughly trained, and better equipped than their historical counterparts, but their capability and performance abilities remain very similar.
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Global Health Security
Countries Step Up to Tackle Antimicrobial Resistance (
WHO) Countries are making significant steps in tackling antimicrobial resistance, but serious gaps remain and require urgent action, according to a report released today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, World Organisation for Animal Health and the WHO.
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Medicine & Public Health
Congo's Ebola Outbreak is All but Over. Did an Experimental Vaccine Help? (
Science) An Ebola outbreak that erupted 8 May in a remote region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and then threatened to explode in a highly populated city appears to have been quelled. On 12 June, the last known person infected with the deadly hemorrhagic fever had recovered, twice testing negative for the virus. That started the 42-day clock for an official declaration, expected on 24 July, that the outbreak is over.
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Incipient and Subclinical Tuberculosis: A Clinical Review of Early Stages and Progression of Infection (
Clinical Microbiology Reviews) TB is the leading infectious cause of mortality worldwide, due in part to a limited understanding of its clinical pathogenic spectrum of infection and disease. Historically, scientific research, diagnostic testing, and drug treatment have focused on addressing one of two disease states: latent TB infection or active TB disease. Recent research has clearly demonstrated that human TB infection, from latent infection to active disease, exists within a continuous spectrum of metabolic bacterial activity and antagonistic immunological responses.
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Science & Technology
Genetically Modified Babies Given Go Ahead by UK Ethics Body (
The Guardian) The creation of babies whose DNA has been altered to give them what parents perceive to be the best chances in life has received a cautious green light in a landmark report from a leading UK ethics body. The Nuffield Council on Bioethics said that changing the DNA of a human embryo could be "morally permissible" if it was in the future child's interests and did not add to the kinds of inequalities that already divide society.
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Genetic Characterization & Pathogenic Potential of Avian H10 Viruses (
Avian Flu Diary) Among avian flu viruses, subtypes H5 and H7--due to their 20 year history of producing high human mortality--tend to garner the bulk of our attention. That said, there are a number of other 'second tier' avian viruses that pose a zoonotic threat. Best known, and discussed often in this blog due to its ability to easily reassort with other viruses, is LPAI H9N2.
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Genome Damage from CRISPR/Cas9 Gene Editing Higher Than Thoughts (
Global Biodefense) A new study published today in the journal
Nature Biotechnology reveals that CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing can cause greater genetic damage in cells than was previously thought. These results create safety implications for gene therapies using CRISPR/Cas9 in the future as the unexpected damage could lead to dangerous changes in some cells.
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See also:
Controlling an Organic Synthesis Robot with Machine Learning to Search for New Reactivity (
Nature) The discovery of chemical reactions is an inherently unpredictable and time-consuming process. An attractive alternative is to predict reactivity, although relevant approaches, such as computer-aided reaction design, are still in their infancy. Reaction prediction based on high-level quantum chemical methods is complex, even for simple molecules. Although machine learning is powerful for data analysis, its applications in chemistry are still being developed. Inspired by strategies based on chemists' intuition, we propose that a reaction system controlled by a machine learning algorithm may be able to explore the space of chemical reactions quickly, especially if trained by an expert.
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Asymptomatic Shedding of Respirator Virus Among an Ambulatory Population Access Seasons (
mSphere) Most observation of human respiratory virus carriage is derived from medical surveillance; however, the infections documented by this surveillance represent only a symptomatic fraction of the total infected population. As the role of asymptomatic infection in respiratory virus transmission is still largely unknown and rates of asymptomatic shedding are not well constrained, it is important to obtain more-precise estimates through alternative sampling methods.
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Other 21st Century Threats
Novichok Poisoning: Police Identify Skripal Suspects (
The Guardian) Police are believed to have identified the suspected perpetrators of the novichok attack on the Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter, Yulia. Detectives think several Russians were involved in the attack in Salisbury in March and are looking for more than one suspect, the Press Association reported.
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Elon Musk, DeepMind Founders, and Others Sign Pledge to Not Develop Lethal AI Weapon Systems (
The Verge) Tech leaders, including Elon Musk and the three co-founders of Google's AI subsidiary DeepMind, have signed a pledge promising to not develop "lethal autonomous weapons." It's the latest move from an unofficial and global coalition of researchers and executives that's opposed to the propagation of such technology. The pledge warns that weapon systems that use AI to "[select] and [engage] targets without human intervention" pose moral and pragmatic threats.
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Pentagon Plans to Publish Broad Artificial Intelligence Strategy 'Within Weeks' (
Nextgov) A top Defense Department tech official on Tuesday said the Pentagon is weeks away from publishing its first broad strategy for artificial intelligence. The department plans to release a report detailing its long-term plans for artificial intelligence "within weeks" as leaders increasingly stress the technology's potential to strengthen national security, said Thomas Michelli, the department's acting deputy chief information officer for cybersecurity.
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