DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Vaccines Didn’t Turn Back Mpox, Study Finds. People Did.
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Apoorva Mandavilli | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +2 min

Why It Matters: Vaccines often arrive too late to stamp out outbreaks. Public health messaging can “be really powerful to control epidemics, even as we’re waiting for things like vaccines to come,” he said. Some experts unrelated to the work were not convinced that behavioral change was largely responsible for stemming the outbreak. “Add in some vaccine-induced immunity in this group and a bit of behavior change, and it will be even more effective,” he said. “As we’ve seen with Covid, the behavioral change only lasts so long,” she said.

Persons: Miguel Paredes, Paredes, ”, Bill Hanage, Thomas Skinner, Virginia Pitzer, we’ve Organizations: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Food and Drug Administration, Vaccines, Harvard, of Public Health, Disease Control, Yale School of Public Health Locations: Seattle, North America, Chan, resurging

☆ Cancer Deaths Are Falling, but There May Be an Asterisk
▼ + stars: | 2024-01-17 | by ( Gina Kolata | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

The cancer society highlighted three chief factors in reduced cancer deaths: declines in smoking, early detection and greatly improved treatments. Breast cancer mortality is one area where treatment had a significant impact. That includes metastatic cancer, which counted for nearly 30 percent of the reduction in the breast cancer death rate. Breast cancer treatment has improved so much that it has become a bigger factor than screening in saving lives, said Ruth Etzioni, a biostatistician at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. “The biggest untold story in breast cancer is how much treatment has improved,” said Dr. H. Gilbert Welch, a cancer epidemiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital.

Persons: “, ”, Donald Berry, Sylvia K, Plevritis, Ruth Etzioni, Mette Kalager, H, Gilbert Welch Organizations: University of Texas, Anderson Cancer Center, Stanford University, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, University of Oslo, Oslo University Hospital, Brigham, Women’s

☆ AI is helping the healthcare industry and could transform the way patients get drugs and treatments
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-22 | by ( Nicholas Fearn | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +10 min

In the pharmaceutical industry, AI may one day accelerate new-drug development. In the foreseeable future, McClain expects the healthcare industry to use AI technology to design personalized medicines. Risks to considerWhile AI offers promise for the healthcare industry, there are also a variety of risks professionals using AI must consider and mitigate. Showalter said that a lack of "comprehensive regulations" can also make using AI technology in healthcare settings risky. With this in mind, he said, the medical industry must understand the "fundamentals of AI and its applications in healthcare."

Persons: —, Sean McClain, McClain, Tim Showalter, Showalter, it's, Fred, haven't, Surya Josyula, Josyula Organizations: Experts, Service, Northwestern Medicine, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, UW Medicine, University of California, Fujitsu, Aichi Cancer, Fujitsu Laboratories of America Locations: University of California San Diego, Nagoya, Japan, China, United States

Now "it's like 'plus-10' and then China," he added, with the latter down to providing half of Industry West's products and being trimmed more. China recorded its first-ever quarterly deficit in foreign direct investment in July-September, suggesting capital outflow pressure. But for the first time in the four decades since China opened up to foreign investments, executives are now also concerned about long-term growth prospects. Primavera Capital founder Fred Hu cites mounting macroeconomic uncertainty, a "murky capital market outlook," and lingering concerns over past regulatory crackdowns on high-growth industries such as technology and education. Despite the challenges, foreign investment flows are not unidirectional.

Persons: Jordan England, Nicholas Lardy, England, I'm, Li Qiang's, Li, Michael Hart, Noah Fraser, Fred Hu, Hu, Joe Cash, Ellen Zhang, Kane Wu, Eduardo Baptista, Don Durfee, Kripa Jayaram, Marius Zaharia, Jamie Freed Organizations: China, Reuters, Peterson Institute for International Economics, LONG, Conference Board, China International, Canada China Business Council, Reuters Graphics, Primavera Capital, Tech, Thomson Locations: China, BEIJING, HONG KONG, Southeast Asia, Eastern Europe, Mexico, England, Florida, Washington, Beijing, consultancies, U.S, Asia, Australia, Europe, Hong Kong

☆ Can Certain Foods Really Reduce Your Cancer Risk?
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-27 | by ( Nikki Campo | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: 1 min

On average, more than one in three people in the United States will develop cancer at some point in their lifetime, according to the American Cancer Society. And many of those cases, they say, can potentially be prevented, including by making changes to your diet. Scientists have a good idea of what foods you should avoid to reduce your risk of cancer, such as red and processed meats, “fast” or processed foods, alcohol and sugary drinks. But knowing what to eat isn’t always straightforward, said Johanna Lampe, a cancer prevention researcher at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle.

Persons: Johanna Lampe Organizations: American Cancer Society, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center Locations: United States, Seattle

☆ Shanghai Industrial Investment: Another executive in China being investigated by corruption watchdog
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-21 | by ( Michelle Toh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Hong Kong CNN —Another business leader in China is being probed by the country’s anti-graft watchdog, in a sign of an ongoing crackdown in the world’s second largest economy. Zhou Jun, president of state-owned Shanghai Industrial Investment, is under investigation by the Shanghai Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection, a branch of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection (CCDI), according to a CCDI statement Monday. Shanghai Industrial Investment’s business spans infrastructure, property and pharmaceuticals. Just this month, the CCDI said it was investigating Zhang Hongli, a former senior executive vice president at the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China. That was followed by a report by Chinese state-owned media outlet Cover News that tech entrepreneur Chen Shaojie had become unreachable, citing unconfirmed reports that he was being investigated.

Persons: Zhou Jun, CCDI, Zhou, ”, Zhang Hongli, Chen Shaojie, Chen, Tencent, Fred Hu Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Shanghai Industrial Investment, Shanghai Municipal Commission, Central Commission, Shanghai Industrial, Industrial, Commercial Bank of China, CNN, International, Bloomberg, Primavera Capital Locations: China, Hong Kong, Shanghai

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' fund to support homeless families announced $117 million in new grants on Tuesday to organizations across the U.S. and Puerto Rico, which is a part of a $2 billion commitment Bezos made in 2018 to support homeless families and to run free preschools. That brings the amount granted by the Bezos Day 1 Families Fund to benefit homeless families to almost $640 million. The Salvation Army of Greater Charlotte received a second grant this year after first being awarded $5 million by the fund in 2018. The Bezos Day 1 Families Fund did not give a timeframe for when the pledged $2 billion would be distributed or what portion would go to homeless families. Last year, Bezos gave away $122.2 million and has pledged around $12.8 billion in charitable donations, according to The Chronicle of Philanthropy.

Persons: Jeff Bezos, Bezos, Lauren Sánchez, Deronda Metz, ” Metz, Amanda Andere, “, can’t, Andere, Sánchez, Jacklyn Bezos, Miguel, Fred, Dolly Parton, José Andrés, Van Jones Organizations: Fund, Salvation Army, Greater Charlotte, Girls, Urban Institute, National Coalition for, Homeless, Housing, Urban Development, Amazon, CNN, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Associated, Lilly Endowment Inc, AP Locations: Puerto Rico, Seattle, Maui

☆ On sidelines of APEC Summit, Xi Jinping vows to be a ‘partner and friend’ of the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-16 | by ( Nectar Gan | Juliana Liu | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

CNN —China is willing to be “a partner and a friend” of the United States, Chinese leader Xi Jinping told American business leaders in San Francisco on Wednesday, as he sought to court US businesses amid a decline in foreign investment in China. “China is willing to be a partner and friend of the United States,” he added. China is happy to see a confident, open and prosperous US,” Xi said. Xi recalled entering the US on that trip through San Fransisco, which he said formed his “first impression” of America. Under Xi, China has further expanded the scope of its anti-espionage law, raided US consultancy and due-diligence firms and detained executives in the name of national security, sending a chill through the foreign business community.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Xi, ” Xi, Tim Cook, Elon Musk, Joe Biden, ”, Biden, Dexter Roberts, Roberts, “, ’ “ Liu Dongshu, ” Liu, Fred Hu, ” Hu, China “ Organizations: CNN, Economic Cooperation, Apple, Tesla, US, China Business Council, National Committee, China Relations, Flying Tigers, Mansfield Center, University of Montana, City University of Hong, Primavera Capital Group, Bloomberg, Economy, China Locations: China, United States, San Francisco, Asia, Japan, Iowa, America, San Fransisco, City University of Hong Kong, Xi, Singapore

☆ Covid-19 has changed and so has our immunity. Here’s how to think about risk from the virus now
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-28 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +19 min

So if people are less likely to be hospitalized or die from a Covid-19 infection now, has the danger passed? Through genetic bad luck, some people may just be at higher risk of serious reactions to Covid-19 infections, and they probably wouldn’t know it. Researchers defined it as any new or continuing symptoms more than 90 days after a Covid-19 infection. Based on his experience treating long Covid patients, Griffin said that the percentage reported in the Australian paper seems high. Earlier in the pandemic, pediatric infectious disease specialists were on the lookout for a rare complication of Covid-19 infection in kids called multisystem inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C.MIS-C starts two to six weeks after a Covid-19 infection.

Persons: CNN —, we’ve, aren’t, Good, ”, Megan Ranney, Covid, ” Ranney, that’s, Evusheld, haven’t, you’ve, they’re, They’re, Mandy Cohen, It’s, –, Jesse Bloom, Daniel Griffin, it’s ‘, Griffin, “, Peter Chin, Chin, Hong, Nathaniel Hendrix, Hendrix, it’s, hasn’t, she’s, Kristin Englund, shouldn’t, Dr, Sanjay Gupta, “ It’s, Ellie Murray, ” Murray Organizations: CNN, US Centers for Disease Control, Yale School of Public Health, Covid, National Institutes of Health, FDA, US Department of Health, Human Services, CDC, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, HHS, Columbia University, University of California, Census Bureau, Nature Medicine, American Board of Family Medicine, Nature, Veterans Affairs, Cleveland Clinic, CNN Health, Boston University School of Public Health Locations: South Africa, Botswana, United States, China, Seattle, Israel, Denmark, United Kingdom, Portugal, US, Switzerland, Thailand, Australia, San Francisco, Ohio

☆ China had almost 2 million excess deaths after the end of ‘zero-Covid,’ U.S. study finds
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-26 | by ( Jennifer Jett | Cheng Cheng | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +3 min

There were almost 2 million excess deaths in the two months after China lifted its "zero-Covid" restrictions, a U.S. study found, contradicting official figures from Beijing that have been criticized as too low. Researchers estimate there were 1.87 million excess deaths from all causes among people 30 years and older from December 2022 to January, according to the study from the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle published Thursday. "Our study of excess deaths related to the lifting of the zero-Covid policy in China sets an empirically derived benchmark estimate," the researchers wrote. The way the study estimates data is not "scientifically rigorous," but it is nonetheless an "objective" and "beneficial" attempt, Jin added. Jin said the actual data could be a few percentage points lower or higher than the study estimates.

Persons: Fred, Jan, Zhanwei Du, Lauren Ancel Meyers, Jin Dong, Jin Organizations: Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, University of Hong, University of Texas, Baidu Locations: China, U.S, Beijing, Seattle, Tibet, University of Hong Kong, Austin

☆ Nearly 2 million excess deaths followed China's sudden end of COVID curbs - study
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-25 | by ( Bernard Orr | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

The study by the federally funded Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle was taken from a sample of mortality data published by some universities in China and internet searches. It found an estimated 1.87 million excess deaths from all causes occurred among people over 30 years of age between December 2022 and January 2023, and were observed in all provinces in mainland China except Tibet. In the study, researchers performed statistical analysis using information from published obituaries and data from searches on Baidu, a popular Chinese internet search engine. "Our study of excess deaths related to the lifting of the zero-COVID policy in China sets an empirically derived benchmark estimate. The World Health Organization says there have been 121,628 COVID deaths in China, out of a total global toll of almost 7 million.

Persons: Thomas Peter, cremations, China's, COVID, Bernard Orr, Lincoln Organizations: REUTERS, Rights, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Baidu, Health Commission, Global, World Health Organization, National Bureau of Disease Control, Prevention, Global Times, Thomson Locations: Beijing, China, Rights BEIJING, U.S, Seattle, Tibet

☆ US CDC tracks new lineage of virus that causes COVID
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Deena Beasley | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

The lineage is named BA.2.86, and has been detected in the United States, Denmark and Israel, the CDC said in a post on messaging platform X. "As we learn more about BA.2.86, CDC's advice on protecting yourself from COVID-19 remains the same," the agency said. The WHO said that, so far, only a few sequences of the variant have been reported from a handful of countries. The new lineage, which has 36 mutations from the currently-dominant XXB.1.5 COVID variant "harkens back to an earlier branch" of the virus, explained Dr. S. Wesley Long, medical director of diagnostic microbiology at Houston Methodist. https://slides.com/jbloom/new_2nd_gen_ba2_variant?ftag=YHF4eb9d17#/12The Omicron subvariant XBB.1.5 is the strain targeted by vaccines in upcoming COVID booster shots.

Persons: Wesley Long, Jesse Bloom, Fred Hutch, Dr, Long, Shivani Tanna, Himani Sarkar, Simon Cameron, Moore Organizations: Science, Trinity College, Reuters, U.S . Centers for Disease Control, CDC, World Health Organization, WHO, Houston Methodist, Fred Hutch Cancer Center, Thomson Locations: Dublin, Wuhan, United States, Denmark, Israel, Bengaluru

☆ Scientists race to understand highly mutated coronavirus variant spotted in four countries, including the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-08-18 | by ( Brenda Goodman | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —A highly mutated new variant of the virus that causes Covid-19 has countries on alert as scientists scramble to understand how far it has spread and how well our immunity will defend against it. The World Health Organization designated BA.2.86 a “variant under monitoring” on Thursday, a designation that encourages countries to track and report the sequences they find. SSI scientists stressed that it’s still too early to say anything about the severity or contagiousness of the new variant. Get CNN Health's weekly newsletter Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. The XBB descendant EG.5 is currently the dominant variant in the US, causing an estimated 20% of all new Covid-19 cases in this country.

Persons: Jesse Bloom, ” Bloom, ”, Morten Rasmussen, Mandy Cohen, we’ve, “, ” Cohen, Dr, Sanjay Gupta Organizations: CNN, Omicron, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, World Health Organization, EG, WHO, Statens Serum Institut, US Centers for Disease Control, UK’s Health Security Agency, CNN Health, University of Michigan, White House Locations: Seattle, Israel, Denmark, United States, United Kingdom

☆ After growing GM corn for decades, some US farmers open to Mexican restrictions
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-06 | by ( Tom Polansek | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

"I'm all for free and fair trade," said Fred Huddlestun, who grows GM corn and soybeans in Yale, Illinois. Supporters of the policy say GM corn can contaminate Mexico's age-old native varieties and have questioned its impact on human health. NCGA said GM corn is safe and it will fight all illegal trade barriers for farmers. But many would consider growing more non-GM corn, if the price were right. "You need to make it worth my while," said Illinois farmer Dave Kestel, who grows GM corn and sells seed for Corteva.

☆ Radioligand therapy, a 'game-changer' for cancer treatment, forces manufacturers to race against a ticking clock
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-11 | by ( Ashley Capoot | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +12 min

Ash from the eruption disrupted flights across Europe — including a time-sensitive shipment of experimental radioligand therapy that Sartor was expecting from Norway. Radioligand therapy, also called radionuclide or radiopharmaceutical therapy, is a targeted form of cancer treatment that delivers radiation directly to cancer cells. Once the radioactivity decays, it can no longer kill the cancer cells as effectively, which means radioligand therapy has a limited window of viability. Expensive to produce and ship fastNuclear medicine has been used to treat cancer for decades, and radioligand therapy itself is not new. In 2008, he traveled to a medical conference in Toronto where he heard about radioligand therapy for the first time.

The only HIV vaccine in a late-stage trial has failed, researchers announced Wednesday, dealing a significant blow to the effort to control the global HIV epidemic and adding to a decadeslong roster of failed attempts. “I don’t think that people should give up on the field of the HIV vaccine,” Fauci said. Fauci said that a critical limitation of the Mosaico vaccine was that it elicited what are known as non-neutralizing — as opposed to neutralizing — antibodies against HIV. As with the Thai trial, the hope is to channel research findings into future HIV vaccine development. To prove a vaccine works, researchers must recruit participants who remain at substantial risk of HIV over time.

The country spent big on quarantine and testing facilities over the past three years rather than bolstering hospitals and clinics and training medical staff, these people said. "There is no transition time for the medical system to prepare for this," said Zuofeng Zhang, professor of epidemiology at the University of California, Los Angeles. The failure to boost vaccination rates among the vulnerable could imperil China's health system, more than a dozen experts said. The death of a 23-year-old medical student in Chengdu on Dec. 14 fueled public ire at the strain on China's health system. Chen Jiming, a researcher at China's Foshan University, said there was every chance that China's medical system could cope now that the country has ended quarantine for asymptomatic and mild cases.

☆ Merck could keep its patent edge by shifting Keytruda cancer drug to a simple shot
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-02 | by ( Michael Erman | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +7 min

If successful, Merck could begin marketing the new formulation within a few years, a top Merck executive told Reuters. "The clock for that patent would start ticking from the time we would get that patent approved." Drug patents have a guaranteed term of exclusivity for 20 years after receiving a patent under U.S. law, but sometimes the companies are able to add additional patents that extend their exclusivity. Merck's patents on the subcutaneous version of Keytruda could protect that formulation until at least 2040, according to Tahir Amin, co-founder of drug patents watchdog group Initiative for Medicines, Access & Knowledge (I-MAK). Northwell's Mulloy said moving patients to subcutaneous versions of drugs also opens up spots in infusion centers for additional patients.

☆ HIV vaccine candidate induces immune response in early clinical trial
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-01 | by ( Jacqueline Howard | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —An experimental HIV vaccine has been found to induce broadly neutralizing antibodies among a small group of volunteers in a Phase 1 study. “We know that broadly neutralizing antibodies are a potentially effective strategy to prevent HIV,” del Rio said. “However, the incorporation of many different shots into an HIV vaccine regimen is unappealing. More than 20 HIV vaccine clinical trials are ongoing around the world, according to the International AIDS Vaccine Initiative. But having an HIV vaccine available would make protection against the virus more accessible, he said.

☆ Many blue chip Chinese tech stocks are 'so depressed' and 'dirt cheap,' says investment firm
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-15 | by ( ) www.cnbc.com time to read: 1 min

Share Share Article via Facebook Share Article via Twitter Share Article via LinkedIn Share Article via EmailMany blue chip Chinese tech stocks are 'so depressed' and 'dirt cheap,' says investment firmFred Hu of Primavera Capital says there's "deep value" in many of those stocks.

☆ Amazon healthcare salaries revealed: See how much bioengineering and health-data roles earn as the tech giant pushes into medicine and prepares to buy One Medical
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-25 | by ( Katherine Long | Diamond Naga Siu | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Amazon hired many positions in healthcare informatics last quarter, according to H-1B visa filings. The new positions include nursing-informatics specialists, who typically manage patient data, and medical laboratory technicians. But the end of Amazon Care, which failed to gain as much traction as Amazon had hoped, coincides with an expansion of Amazon's healthcare ambitions. The company announced plans in July to purchase the One Medical chain of medical clinics for $3.9 billion. Data-privacy activists have registered concerns about the company's planned acquisition of One Medical, which would give Amazon control of huge amounts of patient data.

☆ Billionaire investor Vinod Khosla lays out why changing how primary care is paid for could disrupt healthcare
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-24 | by ( Sarah Braner | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

On Thursday, the billionaire investor Vinod Khosla spoke about reducing costs in healthcare. Vinod Khosla thinks the best way to disrupt healthcare is to change how it's paid for at the primary-care level. The billionaire investor and founder of Khosla Ventures said he thought that in the next decade, primary care should cost as little as $1 to $5 per visit. "If you change the definition of primary care from what is today's primary care, or urgent care mostly, to a much-broader definition where your hypertension is managed in primary care, where your diabetes is managed in primary care, you will see that take over and affect the core total cost of care downstream," he said. For instance, a company like Oak Street Health can operate primary care at a loss because it makes money if its patients stay healthy.

☆ Amazon salaries revealed: See how much engineers, data scientists and thousands of other employees at the e-commerce and cloud giant make
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-03 | by ( Diamond Naga Siu | Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

We analyzed thousands of H-1B visa applications to get a sense of how much Amazon pays employees. Amazon surprised employees earlier this year when it announced big raises, more than doubling its base salary cap and boosting salary ranges for many roles. A good deal of the value of those new compensation packages was tied to Amazon stock, which has plunged more than 30% in the past six months. Insider combed data from the office, which authorizes hiring non-US employees, then publicly releases the data. Here's a breakdown of what Amazon pays many other employees.

Search resuls for: "Fred Hu"

23 mentions found