Displaying posts published in

December 2019

Genomic Science Kept My Boys from Going Blind A rare disease almost took their eyesight, but before their world went dark, a medical miracle happened. By Kristin Papiro

https://www.wsj.com/articles/genomic-science-kept-my-boys-from-going-blind-11575063112?mod=opinion_lead_pos6

Nine years ago, my family attended a medical conference in Philadelphia for the genetically unblessed. My husband, Eddie, and I found kinship with the other parents there, born of shared purpose: We refused to accept the diagnosis that our child was going blind.

Not long after we brought my newborn son, Anthony, home from the hospital, we noticed his eyes kept darting to the nearest light. If left in a room alone, he couldn’t self-soothe unless we placed him beside a sunlit window out of which he would obsessively gaze. He was eventually diagnosed with Leber congenital amaurosis, or LCA, a rare retinal disease affecting one out of every 50,000 newborns.

If you think of your eye as a camera, LCA isn’t a problem with the lens; the camera itself is broken. The eye cannot properly transmit light and color to the brain. For Anthony, it was like viewing the world permanently through a pair of sunglasses. It was only a matter of time, the doctors agreed, before the lights went out completely.

In 2010 we had learned about promising animal research that was about to move into human clinical trials. At the conference we watched a presentation describing how scientists were injecting modified DNA into the eyes of dogs with LCA, stopping their vision loss. However, that research applied to only 8% of the patient population—those who had the RPE65 gene type.

We gathered in a breakout session with about 50 other parents after the presentation. A nice guy from a drug company went around the room, family by family, and chatted with us. Of all the LCA patients, he found only two kids with the lucky number 65 gene. One of them was ours.

Newsweek Fires Anti-Trump Reporter Behind False Thanksgiving Story By Michael van der Galien

https://pjmedia.com/trending/newsweek-fires-anti-trump-reporters-who-wrote-inaccurate-story-on-the-presidents-thanksgiving-plans/

Until today, Jessica Kwong was a political reporter for Newsweek. More specifically, it was her job to keep an eye on the Trump administration, the Trump family, and the 2020 race for president. This week, however, she was fired. The reason? On Thanksgiving Day, she published an article in which she claimed that the president and first lady planned to spend the holiday golfing, tweeting, “and more” some such. Sadly for her, President Trump secretly flew to Afghanistan, where he met the troops (and served them turkey).

After President Trump had landed, pro-Trump Twitter users rightfully went after her. One of her fiercest critics was First Son Donald Trump Jr. “The President spends his Thanksgiving with American troops deployed in Afghanistan, including serving them lunch,” he wrote on Twitter. “Meanwhile, over at the Fake News…”…..

That tweet was retweeted over 8,000 times, which was a sure sign that the story about the Newsweek hoax had gone viral.Afterward — and when even Kwong and her Newsweek friends couldn’t deny President Trump’s presence in Afghanistan any longer — the story was updated, as was Kwong’s tweet in which she shared the original article.

It was, she wrote, “an honest mistake.” It wasn’t nice, no, but it could happen to anyone. Or something.

Where Have All the Alphas Gone? By David Solway

https://pjmedia.com/news-and-politics/where-have-all-the-alphas-gone/

For some time now I have watched the immensely popular HGTV as a window on the culture—a large picture window letting in “lots of natural light,” as the rather silly and predictable house hunters are fond of saying—providing a cameo on the conventions of middle-class society. One notices, with few exceptions, that the wives tend to be voluble and bossy; they speak first, far more often, more insistently and more authoritatively. Their needs and desires are clearly predominant. The husbands, for their part, are mostly bland and subservient, almost leguminous in comparison, generally deferring to their wives with only the occasional mewl of protest.

One notes, too, the lack of genuine taste, the utter preoccupation with trivialities, and the cloying banality of conversation among the often obese participants. They are obviously hewing to script, but the ideas, habits, physical attributes, speech patterns, attitudes and expectations on display are close enough to the cultural norm to seem authentic. People recognize themselves and their aspirations in these TV episodes. Although the self-indulgence and broadly decorticate behavior one observes is certainly off-putting, the absence of gender parity, in favor of the wives, is perhaps the most conspicuous quality that affirms itself.

One might dismiss these observations as making too much of a mere reality TV show, but HGTV does let in a lot of natural light on a culture grown flaccid and critically disoriented. The ascendancy of the now-dominant, rule-giving female and the attendant decline of the proud and assertive male is the order of the day. The male essence is not a privilege but a fact of nature—that is, when nature is allowed to take its course. Yet, everywhere we look men are surrendering their right to be men—to be strong, confident, honest, unashamed and productive. I do not blame the vindictive and self-righteous feminists for the debacle. I blame the men who have allowed a social disaster to come to pass. We now see the gradual disappearance, or at least the alarming paucity, of alpha males in the social mix accompanied by the rising tide of beta males—apologists for their “toxic” nature, Michael Kimmel types— who are complicit with the feminist agenda.

Palestinians: Victims of Islamic Delusion By Amil Imani

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2019/11/palestinians_victims_of_islamic_delusion.html

It is said that it is a crime to remain silent in the face of evil, deceit, and deception.  Robert Spencer, one of the foremost authorities of Islamic law, has succinctly spoken unwelcome and little recognized truths in his new fact-based book: The Palestinian Delusion: The Catastrophic History of the Middle East Peace Process.  Spencer has painstakingly separated fact from fiction.

The Israeli-Palestinian Arab conflict is one of the world’s longest and most tragic conflicts, without any end in sight.  It should be noted that hundreds, if not thousands, of books and articles have been written about this willful tragedy of enormous historical and human misunderstanding and errors.  Spencer has penned a book that is both timely and highly educational.

From Chapter One, “How Israel came to be,” to the book’s final chapter, “What is to be done?,” Spencer has backed up his reports with highly credible sources that leave no doubt in the mind of the reader about Israel’s right to exist.  He gives solid answers to questions such as Why don’t the Palestinians have their own country? Is it the fault of Israel? Of the Palestinians? Of both parties?

Republicans Will Live to Regret Joining Climate Alarmists By Gamaliel Isaac

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2019/11/republicans_will_live_to_regret_joining_climate_alarmists.html

Anxiety about global warming is skyrocketing in the Western world to the point one psychiatrist says, “I believe that everyone now has some climate anxiety.”  It’s no wonder.  Western leaders stoke the fires.  On November 28, 2019, the European parliament declared a global climate emergency.  Its members were responding in part to a children’s crusade to save the planet.  In March 2019, millions of children in over 120 countries skipped school to embark on what has become a series of “climate strikes.”  Young speakers raised alarming scenarios like what would happen when people without food and water “sought sanctuary and were faced with cages and guns instead.”

“Climate crisis” and “climate emergency” are replacing the neutral-sounding “climate change.”  Then there’s the threatening “extreme weather,” which has become a major focus as warming has stalled over the last two decades.  Climate alarmists blame rising, man-made CO2 emissions for supposedly ever more frequent and intense hurricanes, tornadoes, volcanic activity, drought, flooding, and snowstorms.  (Never mind that twenty years ago, David Viner, a senior research scientist of the climatic research unit of the University of East Anglia, predicted that “children just aren’t going to know what snow is.”)

 Tony Heller, a contributor to realclimatechange.com, made a video showing news clips of “extreme weather” from the 1930s, when carbon dioxide levels were low.  He narrated: “It was by far the hottest decade on record in the United States.  The deadliest flooding in human history occurred in China in the 1930s[.] … The worst droughts in U.S. history also occurred in the 1930s.  Eighty percent of the U.S. was in drought during July 85 years ago.  The heat and drought led to massive dust storms.  The U.S. also had some of its worst flooding on record during the 1930s. … The most intense hurricane in modern U.S. history occurred in 1935[.] … Climatologists simply omit the 1930s from their graphs.”

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi by Marilyn Penn

http://politicalmavens.com/index.php/topic/politics/

The Metropolitan Museum of Art was founded in 1870 and moved to its present location on Fifth Avenue ten years later. It has benefited from the work of many illustrious architects from the 19th century on – all adding to the elegance and majesty of America’s premiere neo-classical palace of Art. Its collections are priceless, ranging from ancient Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Assyrian, Chinese and many other cultures to contemporary painting and sculpture with an emphasis on international presentation of art in all its myriad forms.

Each season, the museum publishes a brochure called What’s On that features descriptions of the temporary exhibitions as well as gallery talks, tours, concerts, talks by the artists, conversations with curators and art historians It’s an excellent way to get acquainted with activities you might not know about and parts of the vast museum you might never have visited. It undoubtedly has an international mailing to members and patrons and perhaps an even broader audience online; as such it represents the grandeur and diversity of the museum itself.

In the current Winter brochure, there is a description of the Great Hall Commission which consists of two monumental paintings by Kent Monkman, a Cree artist, which will be on view in the Great Hall from December to April. According to the brochure “Central to his work are themes of colonization, sexuality, loss, and resilience, and he often enlists his gender-fluid alter ego, Miss Chief Eagle Testickle, a time-traveling, shape-shifting, supernatural being, to challenge notions of history and indigenous peoples.” I’m not sure who wrote this but it sounds a lot like a sophomoric college student majoring in Gender Studies. In the Welcome article on the first page of the brochure, the new director of the Met, Max Hollein, had this to say about the artist: “His two monumental paintings are the latest in a series of contemporary commissions in which we invite artists to create new works inspired by the Met collection. Monkman’s themes of migrations and displacement, provocatively expressed with the help of his alter-ego, Miss Chief, disrupt our notions of history while recalling iconic American and European works.” You will notice that he left out Miss Chief’s name, a wise decision to overrule either the artist’s own words or those of his agent or the decision of a trendy-wannabe editor of What’s On.

In another location, The Museum of Sex for example, Monkman’s feeble attempt at humor or p.c. obedience might not stand out, but at the Met, it sounds as silly and crude as a child shouting curse words at church. It rings shallow and hollow under the rubric of the pinnacle of American Culture. Whoever allowed it to remain has cheapened the dignity of the Met and sadly, unlike an inappropriate comment that is spoken, this one will stand out in black print for five months. Sic transit gloria mundi………

GOOD NEWS FROM AMAZING ISRAEL FROM MICHAEL ORDMAN

While Americans have been celebrating thanksgiving, many millions globally can be thankful for the Israeli innovations and activities announced during the past week. They include medical treatments and diagnoses for cancer, Alzheimer’s, aneurysms and strokes. They include life-saving aid to Albania and Chad, increasing food supplies, combating bacteria infections and turning trash into building materials.

www.verygoodnewsisrael.blogspot.com 

 

ISRAEL’S MEDICAL ACHIEVEMENTS
 
Targeting chemo at tumors only. Scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem have developed a method that delivers chemotherapy drugs directly to malignant cells and bypasses healthy ones. Cancer cells emit the protein TRPV2 into which the scientists inserted a low dose of doxorubicin to destroy the tumor.
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/272339  
 
Nano-chips help treat Alzheimer’s. Neural growth factor proteins can limit damage from Alzheimer’s disease but are normally blocked by the Blood Brain Barrier. Scientists at Israel’s Technion Institute and Bar-Ilan University have developed nanoscale silicon chips that deliver these proteins directly to the target brain tissue.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Technion-Bar-Ilan-U-create-protein-administration-chip-for-Alzheimers-treatment-608747
 
Human radiation therapy trial successful. Good results of the first multi-center human trials of the Alpha Dart radiation therapy (see here) developed by Israel’s Alpha Tau. Over 78% of the skin cancer tumors were completely cured. Most of the patients had previously received other treatments that failed to kill the tumors.
https://www.alphatau.com/single-post/scc-clinical-study-results
https://www.redjournal.org/article/S0360-3016(19)34040-4/fulltext
 
VR system saves 2-year-old. As reported here previously, the Virtual Reality technology from Israel’s Surgical Theater is saving thousands of lives. Here is one example of two-year-old Ari whose deep brain tumor was removed, thanks to surgeons having practiced the delicate operation using the groundbreaking VR system.
https://www.today.com/video/virtual-reality-helps-surgeons-remove-tumor-from-2-year-old-s-brain-73526853582
 
Using AI to discover treatments. Israeli startup Pepticom uses AI (Artificial Intelligence) to discover new peptide-based candidates that could become the basis of the next big medical treatment. Pepticom was launched as a company by Yissum – the technology transfer arm of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
https://www.jpost.com/HEALTH-SCIENCE/Israeli-AI-start-up-Pepticom-receives-5m-in-Series-A-funding-605752
 
Assisted feeding. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Fidmi has received FDA approval for its low profile gastronomy system / enteral feeding device (see here). Its easily replaceable inner tube which can be changed by patients without the need to visit a doctor or nurse. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/fidmi-medical-receives-fda-regulatory-clearance-for-low-profile-enteral-feeding-device-300939572.html
 
Keeping the blood flowing. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s Perflow Medical has received the CE Mark (European approval) for its Cascade Agile device that helps surgeons repair ruptured intercranial aneurysms. Its unique net design enables continuous blood flow during cerebral aneurysm operations.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/perflow-medical-receives-ce-mark-approval-of-novel-cascade-agile-300941472.html   https://perflow.com/   https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6m-4gisRbiA
 
Detecting strokes across the US. (TY Atid-EDI) Since US giant Medtronic began marketing the AI brain scan analysis system from Israel’s Viz.ai (see here), it has been installed in 300 US hospitals. Viz.ai has just raised $50 million to help fund its fast growth.
https://en.globes.co.il/en/article-ai-stroke-diagnosis-co-vizai-raises-50m-1001304401  
 
Diagnosing narrowing of the arteries. (TY Atid-EDI) Israel’s MedHub is developing AutocathFFR – an automated system that detects stenoses (narrowing) in the coronary arteries surrounding the heart. It has just commenced a pivotal multi-center clinical trial to test the system’s effectiveness.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/medhubs-ai-powered-solutions-are-disrupting-cardiology-300942834.html   https://www.medhub-ai.com/
 
Fighting MRSA resistance. (TY Atid-EDI) As reported (here) previously, Israel’s Biomica is developing microbiome therapies for antibiotic resistant bacteria. It is now partnering with the Weizmann Institute to develop a selective treatment against MRSA – antibiotic resistant strains of Staphylococcus aureus infection.
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/biomica-to-collaborate-with-weizmann-institute-of-science-to-develop-a-selective-treatment-against-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria-300943752.html
https://www.biomicamed.com/

MILLENIALS AND “ANONYMOUS”

https://canadafreepress.com/article/millennials-americas-5th-column

Millenials…America’s Fifth Column? By Ray DiLorenzo

I’m aware that not every Millennial is a nut job. There are a multitude serving our country overseas, in responsible positions, right here, helping to right the ship of state, and large numbers of millennials just working by the rules to make a life for themselves. But, we are in trouble, big trouble, and we had better deal with it.

Millennials were born between 1981 – 1996. That makes them between 23 and 38 years old. They have been well indoctrinated in the Marxist religion disguised as liberalism since early grade school. Millennials look upon socialism as a giant IOU, advantage them, with little or no detriment. The more government, the better.

https://spectator.us/farce-anonymous-trump-official/

The farce of the ‘Anonymous’ Trump official
Roger Kimball

Remember ‘Anonymous’? He — or, of course, she (or ‘zhe’ or ‘they’, etc.) — was the person who, back in September 2018, wrote an anonymous op-ed for our former paper of record, ‘I Am Part of the Resistance Inside the Trump Administration.’

‘Anonymous’ claimed to be a ‘senior Trump administration official’. He took to the pages of the official fish-wrap because he didn’t approve of President Trump. He and ‘like-minded colleagues…have vowed to thwart parts of his agenda’. Indeed, according to ‘Anonymous’, ‘many of the senior officials in [Trump’s] own administration are working diligently from within to frustrate parts of his agenda.’

“Dependency – A Form of Subjugation? Sydney Williams

http://swtotd.blogspot.com/

Slavery is the worst kind of bondage where the individual has no rights and is treated as chattel. It disappeared in the United States with the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863: “…that all persons held as slave are, and henceforward shall be free.” However, enfranchisement came slowly. It was not until the 19th Amendment was ratified on August 18, 1920 that women were able to vote. And it was only on August 6, 1965 that President Lyndon Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act of 1965, which enforced the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution that had been adopted in 1870. It would be another year before poll taxes – a uniform tax on all individuals regardless of financial means, the payment of which was required in order to register to vote – would be declared unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court in Harper v. Virginia State Board of Elections.

 

Nevertheless, there are other forms of dependency, not as cruel or degrading as slavery but nonetheless demeaning and inhibiting, like addiction to drugs, alcohol or even social media. And there are forms of dependency that chain individuals to a business, a movement or a state. It is dependency on the state, and all that entails, that concerns this essay.

The elected Washington politician who served because he or she wanted to improve the condition of his or her constituents is a species at risk of extinction. Certainly, there are exceptions, but they have become rare, as the benefits of power, fame and money have grown more ubiquitous for those who serve in Congress. Also, among endangered species is the individual who once traveled to Washington, accepting less pay and longer hours, because he was on a noble enterprise to help fellow citizens. But, with an expanded administrative state, he has become a supercilious, egocentric bureaucrat seeking the monetary and retirement benefits now due a public sector worker.

ISIS claims responsibility for London Bridge attack

https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/nov/30/isis-claims-responsibility-london-bridge-attack/?utm_source=onesignal&utm_campaign=pushnotify&utm_medium=push

The Islamic State officially claimed responsibility for Friday’s terror attack in London.

A statement Saturday from its news agency Amaq was translated and posted to Twitter by Rukmini Callimachi of the New York Times.

Attacker Usman Khan — who recently was released from prison after serving six years for plotting to blow up the London Stock Exchange — was acting in its name, the terror group said.

Khan “carried out the attack in response to calls to target the nationals of Coalition countries,” the ISIS statement said.

Two people were stabbed to death and several others injured before police shot Khan dead on the London Bridge.