8chan/8kun QResearch Posts (2)
#20476170 at 2024-02-25 21:01:34 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #25116: Goldmine Edition
>>20476166
During a surgical rotation, her ears perked up when she heard another medical student talk about what Harrison was up to at UCSF and arranged to shadow him for a month. After his car broke down, MacKenzie drove him to hospitals all across the Bay Area, scrubbing into cases and handing him instruments. Studying his movements day after day as he repaired a hole in a developing diaphragm or rerouted a faulty fetal urinary tract, she felt that familiar thrill of refinement through repetition.
In fetal surgery, the slightest squeeze or tilt of a scalpel can be the difference between life and death. It wasn't a piano concerto, but learning to apply just the right amount of pressure with this finger or rotate one's wrist an imperceptible couple of degrees - that was a type of craft she knew how to perfect.
Her talent, even then, was obvious to Harrison. "I thought she would be a star," he told STAT. "But no one else did."
Back then, he explained, surgeons were all cut from a particular cloth. Decisive. Athletic. Macho. All ego and sinew, and nearly all of them, men. MacKenzie, in contrast, came across as eager but awkward, which Harrison took as evidence of her keen intelligence. He thought she would make a brilliant researcher. So he was surprised when she moved to Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston for a surgery residency. "In those days, it was not common for even a bright young woman to go into surgery," he said. "That was a big deal."
In Boston, she continued to surprise the surgeons around her. Like when she nabbed a fellowship spot in the lab of Alan Flake at Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. He was doing headline-grabbing stuff. A few years before she arrived, his team had published a breakthrough report; they had cured a child with X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency, or "bubble boy" disease, before birth by injecting the mother with infusions of blood stem cells from the father. The cells settled into the developing fetus' bone marrow, eventually giving rise to a normal immune system.
After this early success, though, Flake and his colleagues struggled to use stem cell transplants to treat other types of diseases. They turned to the newly invented tools of gene therapy - engineered viruses that could slip a stretch of DNA into human cells. Kathy High, a pioneering hematologist whose efforts would lead to the first approved gene therapy, worked out of a lab just a few floors below Flake's. MacKenzie began research injecting fetal mice with copies of the healthy hemophilia gene, packaged inside viruses produced by High and another collaborator, Jim Wilson at the University of Pennsylvania.
But during her first year there, tragedy struck. A young man named Jesse Gelsinger was injected with a large dose of some of those gene-shuttling viruses designed in Wilson's lab in an attempt to treat his rare metabolic disease. His body's immune system responded to the viral invasion with lethal force. Four days after being treated, Gelsinger died. Lawsuits and investigations followed. The gene therapy center Wilson ran at Penn was disbanded, and he received a five-year ban from conducting clinical trials. High and Flake and other researchers carried on, but money and industry interest dried up.
While all that was going on, MacKenzie was busy starting a family in addition to her career as a fetal surgeon. She'd set a goal of using her time in Philadelphia to get married, have a child, and finally fix her teeth, which had been crooked since childhood. "I didn't care if it happened in any conventional order," she said. "I just needed to get it done." In the spring of 2000, her braces came off, the same week she and John MacKenzie, whom she'd met in medical school, were wed. Two months later, she found herself pregnant with her oldest daughter, Emma.
They spent the next few years juggling parenthood with more training - fetal surgery for her, pediatric radiology for him. In 2007, when they all moved to the Bay Area (Steinway included) for MacKenzie to start a lab and perform surgeries in the hospital's fetal treatment center, gene therapy wasn't on her research agenda. Instead, she returned to the mystery of the disappointing in utero stem cell transplants. Like when a pesky passage of notes still don't sound quite right, she felt the itch to figure out why the transplants didn't work more broadly.
In collaboration with Flake's lab, she hypothesized that the problem was that the stem cells always came from the male parent, because nobody had wanted to harvest bone marrow from a pregnant woman. Studies they did in mice showed that cells from the mother trafficked into the fetus and rejected the transplants that came from fathers. That suggested an obvious solution: use maternal cells instead.
In the fall of 2017, after a decade of research to tease out those details, they launched the world's first clinical trial of a fetal stem cell therapy.
p3
#3753064 at 2018-11-06 05:21:08 (UTC+1)
Q Research General #4767: Amazing Grace Edition
Resignations in the news today:
City Councellor Pat Wallace Retires
https://www.kamloopsmatters.com/local-news/pat-wallace-offers-six-tips-trends-and-thoughts-for-new-councillors-and-kamloops-1110453
HSE chief right to resign over Cervical Check scandal, says Simon Harris
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/tony-o-brien-hse-chief-right-to-resign-over-cervical-check-scandal-says-simon-harris-after-weak-slur-th88zj82k
Former Okaloosa deputy fired by FHP
https://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/20181105/former-okaloosa-deputy-fired-by-fhp
BUCHAREST DOPING LAB OFFICIALS FIRED OVER POSITIVE TEST COVER-UPS
https://swimswam.com/bucharest-doping-lab-officials-fired-over-positive-test-cover-ups/
M1 CEO Karen Kooi retiring next month
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/m1-ceo-karen-kooi-retiring-next-month
Eight Cong Leaders Resign, Support Lapang
http://www.theshillongtimes.com/2018/11/06/eight-cong-leaders-resign-support-lapang/
Hydro-Québec chair and vice-chair resign
https://theprovince.com/news/local-news/hydro-quebec-chair-and-vice-chair-resign/wcm/162992a8-9fcd-4d5f-aaea-a591ebbf5667
Citi Appoints John Dugan To Succeed Retiring Chairman Michael O'Neill
https://www.nasdaq.com/article/citi-appoints-john-dugan-to-succeed-retiring-chairman-michael-oneill-20181105-00751
Fowler police officer fired after arrest for beating up four women
https://abc30.com/fowler-police-officer-fired-after-arrest-for-beating-up-four-women/4624432/
Leicester Police Chief James Hurley to resign Dec. 30
https://www.telegram.com/news/20181105/leicester-police-chief-james-hurley-to-resign-dec-30
Greek TV bosses resign
https://advanced-television.com/2018/11/05/greek-tv-bosses-resign/
Crosspoint Community Church pastor in Oconomowoc abruptly resigns after 26 years
https://www.jsonline.com/story/communities/lake-country/news/oconomowoc/2018/11/05/longtime-pastor-oconomowoc-resigns-after-26-years/1856956002/
Sexual misconduct allegations led to Jim Wilson's resignation
https://globalnews.ca/news/4630597/Jim-Wilson-resignation-ontario-politics/
Ritzo retiring after 47yrs as lawyer
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/20181105/ritzo-retiring-after-47-years-as-lawyer
Peterborough Labour councillors dramatically resign after 'being bullied for calling out anti-Semitism'
https://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/politics/peterborough-labour-councillors-dramatically-resign-after-being-bullied-for-calling-out-anti-semitism-1-8694242
Head of Wellesley Department of Public Works retiring
http://wellesley.wickedlocal.com/news/20181105/head-of-wellesley-department-of-public-works-retiring
Longtime GM Edwards retiring from Milwaukee Public Radio
https://www.bizjournals.com/milwaukee/news/2018/11/05/longtime-gm-edwards-retiring-from-milwaukee-public.html
8chan/8kun QResearch AUSTRALIA Posts (2)
#14538978 at 2021-09-08 06:38:51 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #18 - Talisman Sabre: MAGIC SWORD Edition
Details of vaccine passport trial revealed amid plan to get Sydneysiders back into pubs
Sydney residents in certain suburbs could be the first allowed back to the pub, but they will need to show one crucial document.
Catie McLeod and Erin Lyons - September 8, 2021
Sydneysiders could be allowed back at pubs and restaurants next month as fresh details about vaccine passports have been revealed.
A two-week trial will likely take place before the technology is rolled out.
Customer Service Minister Victor Dominello said the rollout relied on the availability of federal data but once NSW had that information, the trial could start early next month.
"We can then start doing a two-week pilot, we haven't worked out where they will be yet, for the first two weeks of October," he told 2GB host Jim Wilson.
"Around that time, we should be hitting the 70 per cent (vaccination) mark."
The passport would be available inside the Service NSW app, and Mr Dominello said it was essential authorities made it simple to access.
"It's basically what the industry is calling for," he said.
"Imagine if you're 18 or 19 and you go a pub and you need to show your ID, and then you have to check-in, and then you have to show them your vaccine certificate, by the time you actually get your first beer you've been waiting 20 minutes.
"That's why pubs, clubs, major venues or airlines are saying, 'make it simple'. If you make it easy for the people using it, they will use it."
He said the idea would be for people to get their vaccine certificate from the federal government and pull it across to the Service NSW app.
Fully vaccinated residents in some parts of Sydney will soon be able to have a drink at a pub as part of the trial.
The scheme will be trialled early next month before it is rolled out across the state once vaccine targets are met.
It's understood the trial will take place in a part of Sydney with low virus case numbers and a high vaccination rate, which at this stage is much of the northern beaches.
NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian has promised to restore freedoms to fully vaccinated residents once the state hits its 70 per cent double dose target, which is forecast for about October 18.
More than 40 per cent of NSW residents are now fully vaccinated and more than 70 per cent have received their first dose of a vaccine.
Australian Hotels Association NSW director John Green said it made sense for the trial to be in an area that was "manageable".
"It's reasonable in the circumstances to assume that a system like this should be tested. We've previously worked with Service NSW n terms of checking the QR codes but also digital drivers licences," he said.
"We've been in constant contact with the NSW government since March last year. In relation to the trial that will be a matter that will hopefully be resolved in the next few days."
The AHA has been campaigning for people to get vaccinated against Covid-19 in a push to reopen the hospitality industry as soon as possible.
"If we're talking about reopening venues for vaccinated patrons using vaccinated staff in mid October, then people need to get vaccinated now," Mr Green said.
Ms Berejiklian is forging ahead with plans to begin reopening the state when vaccine targets are reached and has told businesses to be "dusting off your Covid safety plans, making sure your employees are vaccinated" ahead of mid-October.
"That is certainly the date we're working towards. Initially it was the end of October, but because everybody is coming forward at the rates we're seeing people come forward, that could be as early as the middle of October," she said last week.
https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/health/health-problems/plan-to-get-sydneysiders-back-to-pubs-with-vaccine-passport-trial/news-story/cc659bb9892e337a55e342884de92f15
#10411490 at 2020-08-25 08:15:19 (UTC+1)
Q Research AUSTRALIA #9 - Welcome to the Digital Battlefield Edition
ASIO issues alert to universities over China links
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Australia's spy agency has warned universities about the risk to national security from Chinese government recruitment programs, including the Thousand Talents Plan, and has alerted them as recently as May to the potential for collaboration to turn into espionage.
ASIO gave private briefings to universities urging them to strengthen their disclosure regimes and making them aware of the risks of foreign talent recruitment programs including technology transfer, security sources said.
The revelations come as the deputy chairman of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, Labor MP Anthony Byrne, supported a demand by his Liberal colleague and committee chairman Andrew Hastie for an "urgent" inquiry into the Thousand Talents Plan.
Mr Byrne said the inquiry should take place through the parliamentary committee in order to obtain classified briefings from Australian and US agencies.
An investigation by The Australian revealed dozens of researchers at universities across the country had been recruited by the Thousand Talents Plan, which in some cases pays hundreds of thousands of dollars to academics and provides other lucrative perks. In exchange, academics are bound by contract terms that can include a requirement to assign intellectual property to Chinese universities.
Mr Byrne said: "The report in The Australian would alarm any Australian concerned about our national sovereignty.
"It would appear that Australian universities have turned a blind eye to (their) own academics selling their knowledge to a foreign power through a program that the FBI have identified as a national security and economic espionage threat. This is totally unacceptable."
As a result of The Australian's investigation, Education Minister Dan Tehan revealed on Monday night that his department would in coming weeks brief two powerful parliamentary committees on the issue.
"I am working to ensure Australia's higher education sector has strong protections against foreign interference," Mr Tehan said.
"In the coming weeks, the Department of Education, Skills and Employment will be providing in camera briefings on the government's work to strengthen protections against foreign interference to the Senate Standing Committees on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade ... and the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security."
The Australian has learned that ASIO briefed universities on warning signs relating to academics who had been recruited by the Chinese government and also expressed concerns about some specific academics.
ASIO confirmed the briefings on the Thousand Talents Plan and similar programs in a rare statement.
"ASIO regularly engages with Australian universities, tertiary institutions and academia on national security issues," a spokesperson said. "The details of those discussions are sensitive and it would be inappropriate to comment further.
"As is longstanding practice, ASIO does not comment on the specific details of intelligence matters, or individuals." Pressure is mounting on the Morrison government to hold an inquiry into foreign interference. Mr Tehan and Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton both declined to comment on whether they supported the push.
Politicians who lent their support to calls for an inquiry included Dave Sharma, Tim Wilson, Jim Wilson, Sarah Henderson, Claire Chandler, Amanda Stoker, Alex Antic, Eric Abetz, George Christensen, Concetta Fierravanti-Wells, Bob Katter and Labor's Kimerbley Kitching, who chairs the Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade.
Some politicians, including Mr Christensen, have raised the matter directly with Scott Morrison and Mr Tehan.
(continued)