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2·24 days agoAI: The journal Nature reports that on March 16, 2024, the first pig kidney transplant into a human took place. The recipient was 62-year-old Richard Sleiman with end-stage renal failure. The transplant surgeon who performed the operation reports that the patient’s recovery is going well. The kidney was taken from a miniature pig with a record 69 genomic changes, which were aimed at reducing the likelihood of transplant rejection and the risk of the recipient becoming infected with viruses hiding in the organ.
Once surgeons restored blood flow to the pig’s transplanted organ, it turned pink and started producing urine, a sign of a successful transplant. Another indicator of kidney health is your creatinine level. A high level indicates that the kidneys are not doing a good job of filtering waste. Before the transplant, Sleiman’s creatinine level was 10 milligrams per deciliter, but by the fourth day it had dropped to 2.4. These figures are still almost twice the norm, but there is hope that a decrease to normal levels will soon occur.
This case shows that, at least in the short term, these organs are safe and function as intended. The company that produces genetically modified pigs is currently in talks with the FDA about planning clinical trials for the transplantation of pig kidneys, as well as a pig liver that will be connected to the recipient from outside. The operation also brings doctors closer to eliminating the shortage of vital human organs by using animal organs. In the United States alone, almost 90,000 people are waiting for a kidney transplant, and more than 3,000 people die each year without receiving a transplant. Despite the fact that the level of organ donation has increased significantly, the problem of acute organ shortage is still relevant.
Sleiman’s newest kidney came from a pig that had undergone CRISPR-Cas9 genome editing by eGenesis scientists. Monkeys called cynomolgus macaques that received pig organs with the same genomic changes survived for months and even years. It is hoped that Sleiman’s xenotransplanted kidney will live as long or even longer. The organ was further refined with humans rather than apes in mind. The changes included deleting three genes that promote the production of three sugars on the surface of pig cells. The human immune system attacks cells carrying these three sugars, perceiving them as a sign of a foreign invader. Seven genes that produce human proteins were added to prevent rejection.
Another 59 genetic changes were made to inactivate viruses embedded in the pig genome. These changes are aimed at eliminating the risk of viruses activating when they enter the human body. So far, researchers have not encountered this in transplantation into living people, clinically dead people, or nonhuman primates. But some laboratory experiments have shown that these viruses can be transmitted from pig tissue into cells of humans and mice with weakened immune systems.
Despite the fact that not much time has passed since Sleiman’s operation, the first transplant of a pig kidney into a human gives transplantologists great hope that the shortage of donor organs can be ended. However, it is worth waiting and watching how the first transplanted organ will behave, and how the further history of Richard Sleiman will develop.
AI: It is a well-known fact that the heritability of IQ increases with age. While children live with their parents, their parents influence their IQ quite noticeably; more than a third of the variance in IQ is explained by the environment created by the parents. However, as you grow older, there is practically nothing left of external influence on IQ. By the age of seventy, 70-80% of IQ is genes.
Interestingly, with character everything is exactly the opposite. In childhood, most of the character is genes, but the older a person gets, the more influence of the environment is noticeable in the character. Character is much more flexible than IQ.
AI: Scientists from Columbia University have discovered that the brain plays an important role in controlling the immune system. In a study in mice, they found that the brain can detect inflammation and modulate the immune response, boosting or suppressing it as needed. This discovery could lead to the development of new treatments for immune-related diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis and inflammatory bowel disease. In addition, it may help create new approaches to treat acute inflammatory conditions, such as severe immune reactions due to viral infections.
AI: In April 2024, record heat was recorded across South and Southeast Asia, leading to widespread illness, school closures and economic disruption. The heat has caused many deaths and also has a negative impact on education and healthcare. The main causes of the heat wave are plant and soil water deficiency, urban heat core, El Niño and global warming. To overcome this crisis, urgent adaptation measures are needed, such as heat-related planning that takes into account local climate, public health and socio-economic conditions. Working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is also important.
AI: The author of the article argues that the world is still unipolar, despite the fact that some scientists claim that it has become multipolar. He believes that measures of economic and demographic power do not adequately reflect the real distribution of power in the world. What really matters is military power and the ability of states to force other states to act as they want. The author provides data on the size of various countries’ armed forces and the cost per soldier to prove that the United States continues to dominate in this regard. He also notes that China has great potential to increase its power, but has not yet reached the level of the United States. Moreover, the author doubts that other regional powers will be able to fill the empty polar spots.
AI: Brain research on reading code and language has revealed differences in cognitive processes between the two tasks. Reading code does not engage the brain’s language centers, but instead activates the multiple demand network used for complex cognitive tasks. This has important implications for computer science education, where a hybrid approach must be taken to account for the unique cognitive processes associated with programming.
AI: The article discusses the crisis of democracy and the uncertainty of the future in the modern world.
• White views the future as a political idea that has passed through various historical stages.
• He views rational calculation as a useful case study, but notes its limitations.
• White explains that belief in the stability of people’s preferences underestimates the value of the political process to change them.
• It suggests reimagining the future and emphasizes the importance of political imagination.
• White diagnoses Western democracy as a system that has exhausted the political imagination.
• He discusses the cultural factors that have caused the depletion of political imagination.
• The vanishing future is the most important element of the current crisis of democracy, but overcoming it requires not only strengthening democracy, but also asking the right questions.
AI: The author described his experience using Spotify’s new DJ feature, which uses artificial intelligence to create personalized playlists. He noticed that his musical preferences had remained virtually unchanged over the past ten years, and began researching the phenomenon of musical paralysis and the science of sound preferences. Research results have shown that ear openness usually peaks at age 24, and after that age it usually declines. 31 is considered the age when musical tastes begin to stagnate and parents stray from the mainstream faster than other groups in the population. The author admits that he is on the cusp of becoming a musical dinosaur, and his musical preferences are becoming more specialized as he ages.
AI: A new study published in May 2023 claims that the Moon’s inner core is actually a solid ball with a density similar to that of iron. The results contradict the traditional idea that the lunar core is made of liquid. The findings also challenge the generally accepted theory of how the Moon’s magnetic field formed. Scientists hope that new discoveries will help them better understand the history of the Moon and the solar system as a whole.
AI: Currently, Europa, one of three worlds in our solar system, is thought to have three ingredients for habitability: liquid water, energy, and the chemical building blocks for life. However, it is unclear whether the Moon’s ice-covered sea could support life. Some researchers believe that the geological activity of the Moon’s seafloor and its ability to support life may be at the heart of the Moon’s habitability problem. Computer simulations of Europa’s seafloor were carried out, but the results showed that modern seafloor volcanism was unlikely, making Europa’s ocean uninhabitable. Although Europe is uninhabitable today, this does not mean that it was not habitable in the past. NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft, which launched in October, may confirm the existence of an ocean on Europa, although it will not be able to resolve the controversy surrounding seafloor activity.
AI: Evolutionary anthropologist Dr. Hermann Pontzer argues that exercise may not be an effective way to lose weight because the body adapts and reduces energy use in other areas. However, exercise can have health benefits because it diverts excess energy from potentially harmful processes in the body, such as inflammation and stress. Research shows that a person cannot exceed their metabolic budget, and exercise changes the way energy is used, not how much energy is used. Additionally, research from the Hadza group shows that even vigorous movement does not significantly increase calorie burning. This may be because the body strives to maintain the same frame of limited energy, which includes various activities such as immunity and stress response. Thus, exercise can be beneficial to health because it allows the body to expend excess energy, keeping the immune system and stress responses in balance.
• Hypotheses explain the rapid rise in obesity over recent decades.
• Energy balance: Weight gain due to consuming more calories.
• Carbohydrate-insulin hypothesis: Excess carbohydrate intake stimulates the insulin response.
• Effect of Protein: Eating insufficient protein causes constant hunger.
• New hypothesis: sugar, especially fructose, is to blame for obesity.
• Fructose suppresses mitochondrial function, causing hunger and thirst.
• In the long term, regular exposure to fructose can damage mitochondria.
• Corn syrup, honey and cane sugar are common sources of fructose.
• Fruits are still healthy, but they contain less fructose than juices or candies.
https://gwern.net/doc/psychology/linguistics/2024-fedorenko.pdf