- Woman who received pig kidney transplant and heart pump dies
- Popular weight-loss and diabetes medications linked to lower risk of some cancers, study finds
- Blackpink’s Jennie apologizes for vaping indoors after public backlash
- After her brother suffered a brain injury in a bike crash, this Olympic BMX rider has a new perspective on what success means
- Scientists edit the genes of gut bacteria in living mice
- If bird flu sparks a human pandemic, your past immunity could help
KMU Weekly: News around the World
Issue 129 - Jul. 15. 2024
Woman who received pig kidney transplant and heart pump dies
接受豬腎移植和心臟幫浦的婦女過世
Health
Lisa Pisano, the first person to receive a mechanical heart pump as well as a gene-edited pig kidney, died Sunday, according to NYU Langone Health, where she had the surgery. Pisano received the transplant on April 12, but the organ failed due to limited blood flow and was removed May 29. Her case was the first reported organ transplant in a person with a mechanical heart pump, NYU Langone said, the second known transplant of a gene-edited pig kidney into a living recipient and the first transplanted along with the animal’s thymus gland. Pisano was brave and altruistic, Dr. Robert Montgomery, director of the NYU Langone Transplant Institute, said in a statement Tuesday. She had said during a news conference after the procedure that even if the organ transplant didn’t work for her, it might for the next person. “At least somebody is going to benefit from it,” she said.
---from CNN
據接受手術的紐約大學蘭格尼健康中心稱，Lisa Pisano是第一個接受機械心臟泵和基因編輯豬腎的人，她於週日去世。 Pisano於4月12日接受了移植手術，但由於血液灌流不足，器官移植失敗，並於5月29日被摘除。 紐約大學蘭格尼分校表示，她的病例是第一例報告的帶有機械心臟泵的人的器官移植手術，這是已知的第二例將基因編輯的豬腎移植到活體受體中的案例，也是第一次利用動物胸腺移植的案例。 紐約大學蘭格尼移植研究所所長Robert Montgomery博士於週二在一份聲明中表示，Pisano是個勇敢且無私的人。 她在手術後的新聞發布會上表示，即使器官移植對她不起作用，也可能對下一個有效。 “至少有人會從中受益，”她說。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Popular weight-loss and diabetes medications linked to lower risk of some cancers, study finds
研究發現流行的減重和糖尿病藥物與降低某些癌症的風險有關
Health
Weekly injections of semaglutide medications like Ozempic significantly reduce the risk of serious kidney outcomes, major cardiovascular events and death among people who have type 2 diabetes and chronic kidney disease, according to a new study. But new research shows that weekly injections of semaglutide cut the risk of severe outcomes from diabetic kidney disease by about 24%. These severe outcomes – including significant loss of kidney function, kidney failure and death from kidney or cardiovascular causes – occurred 331 times among trial participants who were treated with semaglutide, compared with 410 events among those who received the placebo. When scaled by the number of years each person was in the trial, there were 5.8 events for every 100 years of follow-up among those taking semaglutide, compared with 7.5 events for every 100 years of follow-up among those who received the placebo.
---from CNN
一項新的研究表明，每週注射司美格魯肽藥物（如 Ozempic）可顯著降低第 2 型糖尿病和慢性腎病患者發生嚴重腎臟後果、重大心血管事件和死亡的風險。 但新研究表明，每週注射司美格魯肽可將糖尿病腎病變導致嚴重後果的風險降低約 24%。 這些嚴重後果——包括腎功能顯著喪失、腎衰竭以及因腎臟或心血管原因死亡——在接受司美格魯肽治療的試驗參與者中發生了331 次，而接受安慰劑治療的受試者中發生了410 次。以每個人參與試驗的年數來衡量，服用司美格魯肽的患者每追蹤 100 年就會發生 5.8 起事件，而服用安慰劑的患者每追蹤 100 年就會發生 7.5 起事件。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Blackpink’s Jennie apologizes for vaping indoors after public backlash
Blackpink 的 Jennie 在公眾強烈反對後為在室內吸電子煙道歉
Culture
Jennie Kim, a singer in the K-pop supergroup Blackpink, has apologized after a video of her vaping indoors sparked a backlash across South Korea. According to CNN affiliate JTBC news, the 28-year-old star uploaded a video to her personal YouTube channel that included footage of herself vaping in a room while getting her hair and make-up done. Stylists appear very close to her face as she breathes out. Though the footage was taken down from Kim’s channel, a clip of her vaping spread across the internet. She personally apologized to the staff on-site, Odd Atelier continued, adding that “we apologize to her fans who have been disappointed through this incident. We hope to prevent this from reoccurring in the future.” K-pop stars regularly face immense public scrutiny under the spotlight.
---from CNN
韓國流行音樂超級組合 Blackpink 的歌手Jennie Kim， 在一段她在室內吸電子煙的視頻 ，引發韓國各地的強烈反對後道歉。 根據 CNN 附屬機構 JTBC 新聞報道，這位 28 歲的明星將一段影片上傳到她的個人 YouTube 頻道，其中包括她在房間裡一邊做頭髮和化妝一邊吸電子煙的鏡頭。當她呼氣時，造型師離她的臉非常近。儘管這段影片被從 Kim 的頻道中刪除，但她吸電子煙的影片卻在網路上傳播開來。 她親自向現場工作人員道歉，Odd Atelier 繼續說道，並補充說：「我們向因這起事件而感到失望的她的粉絲們道歉。我們希望今後不再發生這種情況。」 韓國流行音樂明星經常在聚光燈下面臨巨大的公眾審視。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
After her brother suffered a brain injury in a bike crash, this Olympic BMX rider has a new perspective on what success means
在她的兄弟在自行車事故中腦部受傷後，這位奧運小輪車車手對成功意味著什麼有了新的看法
Culture
BMX rider Saya Sakakibara is all too aware of the risks of her chosen profession. Her brother sustained a traumatic brain injury while racing, and Sakakibara has had two severe concussions, the second of which made her seriously consider quitting. The Australian was leading during one of the semifinals at the Tokyo Games in 2021, when a collision with another racer just before the finish line resulted in a “pretty bad concussion” that prematurely ended her Olympic debut. “I remember waking up and just being in disbelief,” Sakakibara told CNN Sport. A concussion happens after a “bump, blow, or jolt to the head” or “a hit to the body that causes the head and brain to move quickly back and forth,” according to guidance from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Another concussion in June 2022 in the middle of her World Cup campaign pushed Sakakibara towards breaking point. “When I was in Switzerland going through rehab, literally, I was like, ‘What’s the point? I’m going through so much pain right now and BMX has given me a lot of grief,’” said Sakakibara. “I didn’t feel like it’s worth the risk of having another concussion.” Despite admitting that fear plays a role while competing, Sakakibara, who is a two-time BMX World Cup winner, said the “feeling of unfinished business” persuaded her to carry on competing and that she “wouldn’t change anything” about her career. “Everything I did led me to this point,” she added.
---from CNN
BMX 車手Saya Sakakibara非常清楚她所選擇的職業的風險。 她的哥哥在比賽時遭受了腦外傷，而Sakakibara也曾兩次嚴重腦震盪，其中第二次讓她認真考慮退出。 這位澳洲人在2021 年東京奧運會的一場準決賽中處於領先地位，但在終點線前與另一名賽車手發生碰撞，導致“相當嚴重的腦震盪”，從而提前結束了她的奧運會首秀。 「我記得醒來時簡直不敢相信，」Sakakibara告訴美國有線電視新聞網體育頻道。 根據美國疾病管制與預防中心的指導意見，腦震盪是在「頭部受到撞擊、打擊或搖晃」或「身體受到撞擊導致頭部和大腦快速來回移動」之後發生的。 2022 年 6 月，Sakakibara在世界盃期間再次遭遇腦震盪，她的病情一度瀕臨崩潰。 「當我在瑞士接受復健治療時，從字面上看，我想，『這有什麼意義？我現在正在經歷很多痛苦，BMX給我帶來了很多悲傷，」Sakakibara說。 “我覺得不值得冒再次腦震蕩的風險。” 儘管承認恐懼在比賽中發揮了一定作用，但兩屆BMX世界盃冠軍Sakakibara表示，“未竟事業的感覺”說服了她繼續參加比賽，並且她對自己的職業生涯“不會做出任何改變” 。 「我所做的一切都讓我走到了這一步，」她補充道。
---摘錄翻譯自CNN
Scientists edit the genes of gut bacteria in living mice
科學家編輯活體小鼠腸道細菌的基因
Sciences
Scientists have designed a gene-editing tool that can modify bacterial populations in the gut microbiome of living mice. The tool — a type of ‘base editor’ — modified the target gene in more than 90% of an Escherichia coli colony inside the mouse gut without the tweaked gene making potentially harmful copies of itself. “We were dreaming of being able to do that,” says Xavier Duportet, a synthetic biologist who co-founded Eligo Bioscience, a biotechnology company in Paris. The findings were published today in Nature. Several research teams have attempted to make genetic tweaks to gut bacteria in mice, but achieving this inside the body has been challenging. Until now, base editors, which swap one nucleotide base with another — converting an A to a G, for example — without breaking the DNA double strand, have failed to modify enough of the target bacterial population to be effective. This is because the vectors they were delivered in only targeted receptors that are common in bacteria cultivated in the laboratory.
---from Nature
科學家設計了一種基因編輯工具，可以修改活體小鼠腸道微生物組中的細菌族群。 該工具（一種「鹼基編輯器」）修改了小鼠腸道內 90% 以上的大腸桿菌菌落中的目標基因，而調整後的基因不會產生潛在有害的自身副本。 「我們曾夢想能夠做到這一點，」合成生物學家 Xavier Duportet 說，他是巴黎生物技術公司 Eligo Bioscience 的聯合創始人。研究結果今天發表在《自然》雜誌。 幾個研究小組試圖對小鼠腸道細菌進行基因調整，但在體內實現這一目標具有挑戰性。 到目前為止，鹼基編輯器將一個核苷酸鹼基與另一個核苷酸鹼基交換（例如將A 轉換為G）而不破壞DNA 雙股，但未能對足夠多的目標細菌群體進行有效修改。這是因為它們傳送的載體僅針對實驗室培養的細菌中常見的目標受體。
---摘錄翻譯自Nature
If bird flu sparks a human pandemic, your past immunity could help
如果禽流感引發人類大流行，您過去的免疫力可能會有所幫助
Sciences
As the H5N1 bird-flu virus spreads relentlessly in animals around the world, researchers seeking to understand how a human H5N1 pandemic might unfold have turned to a rich source of clues: data on the immune system’s response to influenza. Such information provides hints about who could be most vulnerable in an H5N1 pandemic. Previous research also suggests that, in a confrontation with the virus, our immune systems would not be starting from scratch — thanks to previous infections with, and vaccinations against, other forms of flu. But this immunity is unlikely to prevent H5N1 from inflicting serious damage to global health, if a pandemic were to begin. The H5N1 strain now running rampant began as a bird pathogen before branching out to mammals. Classified as a ‘highly pathogenic’ virus for its lethality in birds, it has killed millions of domestic and wild birds around the world since it first emerged in 1996. It has also spread to a growing list of mammal species, including seals and foxes, and has caused more than 460 human deaths since 2003. So far, the virus has not gained the ability to spread effectively between people, which has kept the potential for a pandemic at bay. But its repeated jumps from birds to mammals and evidence of transmission among mammals, such as elephant seals (Mirounga leonina), have alarmed researchers, who warn that the virus is gaining opportunities to become adept at spreading easily between people.
--from Nature
隨著 H5N1 禽流感病毒在世界各地的動物中不斷傳播，尋求解開人類 H5N1 流感大流行如何展開的研究人員轉向豐富的線索來源進行探討：有關免疫系統對流感反應的數據。 此類資訊提示了，誰在 H5N1 流感大流行中最容易受到傷害。先前的研究也表明，在與病毒的對抗中，我們的免疫系統不會從頭開始——這要歸功於先前感染過其他形式的流感，並接種了疫苗。但如果大流行開始，這種免疫力不太可能阻止 H5N1 對全球健康造成嚴重損害。 目前猖獗的 H5N1 病毒株最初是一種鳥類病原體，後來擴展到哺乳動物。由於對鳥類具有致命性，該病毒被歸類為「高致病性」病毒，自1996年首次出現以來，已導致世界各地數百萬隻家禽和野生鳥類死亡。越來越多的哺乳動物物種，包括海豹和狐狸，以及自2003年以來已造成460多人死亡。 到目前為止，該病毒尚未獲得在人與人之間有效傳播的能力，這限制了大流行的可能性。但它一再從鳥類傳播到哺乳動物，以及在象海豹(Mirounga leonina) 等哺乳動物之間傳播的證據，令研究人員感到震驚，他們警告說，這種病毒正在獲得機會在人與人之間輕鬆傳播。
--摘錄翻譯自Nature