fiat_lux

1 patient, T2 since mid-30s and now 59, had kidney transplant 2017 after end-stage diabetic nephropathy and fucked glucose control since 2019. The successful cells were endoderm stem cells from him cultivated by mice they injected with his PBMCs that they then made diabetic. So not from cadavers (except mouse cadaver i guess), which is the actual new part here. Intrahepatic implant, and cells from unrelated donor failed that were embedded at the same time. His personalised mouse-donor cells worked well enough to take him off insulin 3 months later.

Wu, J., Li, T., Guo, M. et al. Treating a type 2 diabetic patient with impaired pancreatic islet function by personalized endoderm stem cell-derived islet tissue. Cell Discov 10, 45 (2024).

It’s good news, but you’re entirely correct that the article missed the point entirely. Thanks for the crash course in islet cell therapy!

Looming? Sudan is past the looming stage. When do known verified atrocities reach “current reality” status?

I once looked at a job listing for something with very specialist technical knowledge in specific programming areas, for a Japanese company based in Tokyo (pre-covid so remote wasn’t really a thing yet). Pretty niche stuff and needed at least basic Japanese language skills too, so I assumed it would pay ok - even if it wasn’t good or great in comparison with jobs where i was.

After conversion it worked out to be around USD$40k a year, which is probably just over 1/3 of what it would pay at minimum elsewhere. More like 1/4 or less for Silicon Valley type locations, but the rent for a tiny Tokyo shoebox is about the same price even if food is a cheaper. There was no way I was applying for that.

It isn’t just about a weak yen, it’s much more about hugely underpaying people.

The world’s population is getting significantly sicker and we’re blaming the victims for “lifestyle diseases” as a way of dismissing the problem. But research needs money and time, so there will always be better and stronger evidence for money-making remedies instead of the slow and complex research into why people are increasingly experiencing disease.

We’re hurting ourselves, and each other, and because disabled people are excluded from huge parts of society, we’re also covering up the evidence. It’s only when we’re wounded that the reality is clear, but by then it’s too late - you’re just written off as someone who made bad choices.

Sounds like we had the same programmers. I feel you, Kairos.

Why would I give them a vote of confidence with my money so that they can use it to convince investors that they’re popular and they should pony up a billion dollars for Spez’s pay?

They’re relying on gullible people who think either Reddit is legitimately a good investment or gullible people who think they can beat the market and won’t be left holding the bag. I’m nobody’s bag holder, let alone Spez’s.

if I can quickly make a couple of bucks and then cash out, that might be worth it.

Said every gambler ever.

In Australia, it’s not too uncommon to hear people have conversations about how fucked the US system is. That’s partly a symptom of how intertwined my life is with the topic of medicine and healthcare systems though, I’m sure most people have far fewer discussions about those topics than I do.

Having said that, I have certainly said “Thank God I’m not in the US” and received emphatic agreement in conversations.

I’ve also had a doctor say “well at least you’re not in the US” to me during an appointment, after I expressed some displeasure at how much something was going to cost me - because i wasn’t considered a valid demographic for that specific drug to receive the subsidy.

Socialised medicine doesn’t mean free medicine, sadly. And our system has been run down by the ruling class attempting to emulate the US version’s money-churning machine.

The centerpoints of major waterways and roads are often the places with the most conflict, especially when it’s good fertile land that someone might want to live in. Different religious sects have had major presences in the region, some even established there - the first Christian Roman Emperor was born nearby. They’re also positioned directly in the path of many cultures, both ancient and modern, attempting to increase the size of their own Empires.

The land was built on conflict.

While humans continue to choose competition instead of collaboration with other slightly different humans, it will remain in conflict - much like other strategic arable accessible locations we see in the headlines.

Climate change will slowly increase the amount of land affected by conflict, when resource shortages become more severe from natural disasters; but the flashpoints are places like the Balkans.

I’m pleasantly surprised they didn’t start up again sooner. But, like, in the tiniest glimmer of silver lining kind of way.

Edit: tl;dr We all live in a shitty Civilization game but with less predictable players.

deleted by creator

In places that were invaded, resistance were thrown from the top of buildings after they were interrogated, their bodies were left there to be collected by whoever dared. At night all you could hear were their screams while they were being tortured in cellars by the Gestapo. Dissidents were hanged from lampposts in the main street and left as warnings. The concentration camps were often in the middle of the town, not placed at a distance to avoid offending the locals.

And the next generation in those places grew up right next to those concentration camps and mass graves. They were raised by physically and psychologically scarred people, in places that were not funded by the Marshall Plan reconstruction funds that even West Germany received. Decades later there was still rubble and half destroyed buildings.

I appreciate there is much trauma involved in losing any family, friends or community members to war, or to experiencing the bombs being dropped around you. But, I think the level of cruelty and fear experienced by invaded regions was next level. And I don’t think Germans generally understand the details of what life was like for the places that were occupied - but that is only my suspicion. I can’t understand how else the AfD could discuss deportations or receive such a huge proportion of the vote.

Neither Axis aligned country tesidents nor the invaded would cherish reliving it, but they have had and continue to have very very different experiences as a consequence of the war.

There’s nothing more human than killing each other to stop war, either.

The human species’ best creations have been through collaboration on new ideas and projects, but we keep going back to the old competitive methods that have clearly demonstrated that they don’t make good long term solutions. We just don’t learn.

Thanks for standing up to Nazis. It gives those of us who had family experience the horrors wrought by fascists in WW2 hope that Germans haven’t been won over again by the same poisonous ideas.

The word “fossil” could have made an appearance in this article title, and yet it is noticeably and somewhat misleadingly absent.

It seems to me that if we’re talking about addressing starvation, war and political instability, then allowing the demographic who largely are responsible for food production and family health to lead and participate in a single (probably 1 hour long weekly) conversation on TV about those issues might be a key step to better understanding the core problems facing them and increasing democracy by ensuring 50% of the population is heard. Problems can’t be properly addressed until they are accurately identified, and missing 50% of the the population’s voices about problems won’t help.

Also, for just 6 people to address a huge communication gap on a national scale in multiple media formats that can reach a population that is largely illiterate? That sounds like a hugely impactful and solid strategy for organizing important community projects and initiatives that increase stability.

What specific projects would you suggest to these 6 women that address the problems you have identified and make a larger positive impact than their current efforts?

Is it possible that people with lived experience might have a better knowledge of their needs and the next steps in fixing their own problems than you?

More important things to worry about than journalism on issues that affect (at least half) the entire population? Issues that have never been acknowledged institutionally due to women being denied employment and education? In a country that ranks fourth lowest for gender equality globally, maternal and infant mortality rates? Do you really think Somali women have nothing to add to these conversations that hasn’t already been covered?

Adding to this: Bilan’s self introduction video (1 min 41 sec, hardcoded English subtitles). Sorry, no transcript for those who rely on real text. I wanted to watch this but I was left with no information in the article on how or if English speakers even could.

The entire Western media’s approach to African nation reporting also enrages me. The continual insistence of media (especially UK based) on choosing photos to remind us that black Africans are poor and “backwards” is shameful racism. It’s no wonder that African nations are distancing themselves economically and ideologically from the West when their colonizers allies’ media machines continue to treat them this way.

“Before the war, I used to play with my friends,” he said. “I can’t play because of my injury. I can’t play, and I don’t have friends, and I don’t have anything.”

Acquired disability is a problem that will exponentially increase with climate change and industrial pollution. Wildfires create smoke that triggers heart and lung problems. War creates amputations and trauma. Drought increases food prices and creates malnutrition. Floods spread malaria and infection and other poisons. The stress on the body from any of those can in turn trigger other underlying health conditions and other genetic inefficiencies.

If we don’t stop spending all our resources on killing each other and start spending them on helping each other, more people won’t have anything. Just like this 12 year old child.

5 months ago, mod, Removed Post Reddit is dangerous. The admins are out of control. Humanity needs a viable alternative. – Blog covering the Reddit admins retaliating against me, reason: rule 4

I thought I recognised your name. I happen to be experimenting with my own gut-brain axis, so I recall skimming your project.

Here’s the problem.

Reddit will not act on people insulting your personal project unless they consider it a legal, financial or reputational risk not to do so.

Lawyers will not take on your case unless they think there is a solid chance of financial or reputational gain beyond the standard hourly fee. They are telling you in the most professional way possible that they see no merit in spending their time on your theory’s reputation. My suspicion is that they feel your… zeal and passion for your theory is bordering on fanatical. They don’t want to work with fanatics.

Without substantial and demonstrable effects on your finances, what you are left with is just some low level insults on the internet, and one or more relatively anonymous individuals who know that trolling you will get them the reaction they desire. If you continue to react like this, they will continue to try to get a reaction from you.

These concepts have been explained to you previously.

I understand that you believe you have found answers that have previously been ignored by medicine. I know how that feels. But research is already being done in this area and will take time to bear fruit.

Additionally, continuing to post your site as a response to threads that lightly touch on adjacent topics does not do much more than highlight you as a self-promoting spammer who might be fun to troll. It also does not endear you to admins or mods, let alone anyone who might positively engage with the topic. Threads like this let trolls know their efforts to annoy you are working extremely well. Using your real name to do so just makes it much easier for them to harass you.

I do not like victim blaming, but I hope you are able to reflect on how your reactions and inability to let minor insults slide might be compromising your ability to have your project and theories taken more seriously and treated with respect. If you are very serious about legal recourse, then regrettably you need to monetize your project and accurately document negative effects caused by specific people.

Funny that the Pope loves the rule of law when the Vatican refuses to cooperate in international lawsuits against them, which they can easily do because they can deny warrants as a sovereign entity.

Return the Nazi loot, Vatican. Then maybe you can look a little less hypocritical when asking others to cooperate in international justice systems.

“Most of Israeli society will say: ‘Why not? It’s a nice place, let’s make the desert bloom, it doesn’t come at anyone’s expense’.”

Extremists Jews have become what they swore to destroy. The holocaust was the core justification for the creation of Israel, and while I never expected peace in the Middle East, I didn’t expect them to start committing the same atrocities within living memory while using the same fertile land propaganda metaphors.

The UN fucked up hard when it formed the country and the Security Council voting system needs to be reformed based on this awful lesson. The world is less safe than ever, and nuclear weapon proliferation is accelerating rapidly, so the UN SC is just not achieving their own goals either.

This is what a failing civilization and species looks like and I’m not enjoying being on the sinking ship. Happy new year.