Jorge J. Castillo, MD, clinical director, Bing Center for Waldenström Macroglobulinemia, institute physician, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, associate professor, medicine, Harvard Medical School, discusses the efficacy of treatment with iopofosine I 131 (previously CLR 131) in patients with Waldenström macroglobulinemia.
Topline data from the phase 2 CLOVER WaM trial (NCT02952508) were shared on January 8, 2024, showing that the agent elicited an overall response rate (ORR) of 75.6% and a major response rate (MRR) of 61% (95% CI, 44.50%-75.80%; 2-sided P < .0001), meeting the trial’sprimary end point. Furthermore, the disease control rate was 100% and at a median follow-up of 8 months, the median duration of response (DOR) has not yet been reached. Notably, these data continue to support the 2020fast track designation of iopofosineI 131, which was granted by the FDA to patients with lymphoplasmacytic lymphoma/Waldenström macroglobulinemia.
The data presented on January 8th, 2024, exceeded expectations, Castillo begins. The ORR was also high, and the clinical benefits observed in these patients was substantial, he emphasizes. From a clinical research standpoint, these data support the continued evaluation of therapies to address unmet needs in Waldenström macroglobulinemia, particularly the lack of complete responses (CRs) seen in this disease, he emphasizes. Achieving CRs has been a challenge in Waldenström macroglobulinemia, contrasting with the efficacy of therapies for patients with other hematological conditions, in whom deep responses and minimal residual disease–negative treatment outcomes are more attainable, he states.
In the presented data, an 8% stringent CR rate with iopofosine I 131 was observed, a noteworthy development given that traditional treatments, such as chemotherapy, are the primary inducers of CRs in Waldenström macroglobulinemia clinical trials, Castillo expands.
The efficacy of the regimen is especially interesting considering the targeted patient population, which includes those previously exposed to rituximab (Rituxan)–containing regimens and BTK inhibitors, Castillo continues. This subset of patients has limited treatment options. In the trial, patients underwent a median of 4 prior treatments, according to Castillo. Notably, iopofosine I 131 demonstrated effectiveness in patients regardless of their mutational status, adding an intriguing dimension to this agent’s potential application in clinical practice, he concludes.
The five projects will further Instacart’s research on food as medicine programs. |Image courtesy of Instacart
Instacart is partnering with five higher education institutions to further its food as medicine efforts.
Meharry Medical College, The Ohio State University, the University of Kentucky, the University of Pennsylvania and researchers from the Duke Clinical Research Institute and the Louisiana Public Health Institute will work with Instacart on five different research projects.
Each project will allow the grocery delivery company to conduct new research to analyze the impact food as medicine programs have on health outcomes and costs for various population groups.
As part of the partnership with The Ohio State University, for example, researchers will study the impact of food as medicine interventions on Medicaid-enrolled patients with cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome. The team will use Instacart Health Fresh Funds (digital, category-specific food stipends) and Virtual Storefronts (a program that allows participants to shop from medically-tailored grocery lists created by registered dietitians) for the study.
“At Instacart, we believe in the power of food as medicine, and we are committed to using our unique technology and reach to support groundbreaking research on food as medicine programs,” Sarah Fleisch, senior director of policy research and development at Instacart, said in a statement. “We’re proud to partner with researchers at these leading academic institutions to uncover the evidence needed to scale food as medicine programs and ensure they reach more patients, families, and communities.”
Sensitive to feline allergens? Our GH Institute scientists were amazed by this game-changing formula that’s proven to decrease allergens on cat hair and dander in just a few weeks.
Purina Pro Plan Purina Pro Plan with Probiotics, High Protein Dry Cat Food, LIVECLEAR Chicken & Rice Formula – 16 lb. Bag
Purina Pro Plan Purina Pro Plan with Probiotics, High Protein Dry Cat Food, LIVECLEAR Chicken & Rice Formula – 16 lb. Bag
Credit: amazon
WHY IT EARNED THE GH SEAL
A perfect pet food choice for homes with animal lovers who are susceptible to cat allergens, Pro Plan LiveClear cat food is backed by 10 years of cutting-edge research and a dedication to ingredient integrity, animal welfare and safety. Plus, cats love the taste!
BREAKTHROUGH INNOVATION. LiveClear is coated with a specific protein, derived from eggs,that carries antibodiesfor a common allergen found in cat saliva (Fel d 1). This allergen is transferred to fur when cats lick themselves while grooming. When cats eat LiveClear, the antibodies bind to the allergen and neutralize it —before it gets on their fur.
FAST-ACTING, LONG-TERM RESULTS. In a clinical study of 105 cats, 97% showed a reduction in allergens on hair and dander, with an average decrease of 47% during week three. GH’s consumer study echoed these benefits. “Brody loves to be right in my face, and that was easier to deal with these past few weeks,” raved one tester.
IMPRESSIVE NUTRITION. In GH tests, 94% of at-home users were impressed by the added nutrients in the formula, which include omega-6 fattyacids, probiotics, vitamins and minerals. “My cats seem to be thriving on the new food,”said a tester. “I’ll definitely look for it in the store when I need more cat food.”
PICKY-EATER FRIENDLY. Many testers noted that the food did not upset their cats’ stomachs, and 89% of them reported that their cats enjoyed eating the food.“Kitty loved it. He’s superpicky, and I was surprised that he didn’t turn up his nose a tit,” said one. “This is my go-to cat food now,” said another.
Birnur (she/her) led the Beauty, Health and Sustainability Lab at the Good Housekeeping Institute from 2007 to 2023. In addition to overseeing product testing and GH Seal applications, she conducted our annual Beauty Awards selection process and was an active leader in GH’s green initiatives, including the Sustainable Innovation Awards and Raise the Green Bar Summit. In addition to earning M.Eng. and Ph.D. degrees in chemical engineering, she also has a professional certificate in sustainability management from Columbia University.
WEDNESDAY, Jan. 31, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Flourishing-Life-Of-Wish Virtual Reality Therapy (FLOW-VRT)-Relaxation, which has a special focus on relaxation, outperforms traditional relaxation for patients in palliative care, according to a study published online Jan. 31 in Frontiers in Virtual Reality.
Olive Kit Ling Woo, from the University of Hong Kong, and colleagues presented a structured, personalized, and innovative psychological intervention, FLOW-VRT, which makes use of VRT for symptom management. FLOW-VRT-Relaxation was designed for patients in need of palliative care to enhance end-of-life coping through personalized VR relaxation. The efficacy of FLOW-VRT-Relaxation was examined by comparing it to traditional relaxation practice in palliative care in a randomized trial involving 128 participants.
The researchers found that the symptoms of distress, physical or emotional in nature, which patients in palliative care have to endure, were significantly reduced following a FLOW-VRT-Relaxation session.
“Here we show that relaxation assisted by virtual reality outperforms traditional relaxation therapy in terms of physical and psychological symptom management in palliative care,” Woo said in a statement.
If you own one of the relatively few residential properties designed by modern-day starchitects, it’s a big deal. Not only because of the designer’s status as one of the world’s most influential contemporary contributors to the built environment, but because in many parts of the world, most homes aren’t truly designed at all. It’s assumed that as little as 2% of residences around the world are spearheaded by an architect. So if you get any architect to artfully craft a home for you, it’s a pretty exciting experience—one that only grows if it’s a legendary designer too.
While many of today’s starchitects have solidified their names through towering contributions to global skylines, striking concert halls, world-class hotels, and other projects of the like, many also have a small—but mighty—portfolio of private residences. No surprise that they’re pretty astonishing places. Below, AD visits six residential properties designed by modern-day starchitects around the world.
AI streamlines process. AI simplifies digital advertising tasks, enhancing campaign asset selection.
Conversational experience. Google’s Gemini AI facilitates ad creation with chat-based interface, improving workflow.
Emerging trends noted. Increased emphasis on image quality in ads correlates with higher conversion rates.
The anticipated pot of gold from AI lies in any conversational experience that simplifies tasks on a particular platform, with digital ads being especially ripe for streamlining and simplification. Marketers are confronted with a plethora of asset choices, each designed to entice customers to make purchases, ranging from a new watch to an insurance plan. The pressing question now is how conversational AI can enhance the process of choosing campaign assets. Let’s take a look at the impact of Google’s Gemini AI model on Google Ads.
Google aims to tackle this challenge in digital advertising by introducing a conversational experience in Google Ads. This feature marks the first application of Google’s Gemini AI model specifically for Google Ads.
Google aims to tackle this challenge in digital advertising by introducing a conversational experience in Google Ads.IB Photography on Adobe Stock Photos
The conversational AI experience enhances the creation of search campaigns through a chat-based interface. Marketers start by selecting a landing page.
How It Works
Then, Google AI analyzes the page, summarizing its content and generating relevant keywords. It also crafts ad headlines, descriptions, images and other assets. This process results in a campaign primed for review and modification. Before deployment, the AI can also provide additional suggestions.
The conversational AI experience for Google Ads will feature images watermarked with SynthID, a system that embeds an invisible watermark. These images will also carry open standard metadata, indicating their AI-generated origin.
AI Insights As Needed
In short, the conversational AI experience allows advertisers to use chat to generate relevant ad content from a landing page URL, with an AI assistant on hand to provide insights as needed. By improving the campaign selection process, Google has streamlined keyword and asset selection for a quicker workflow. This also enables advertising teams to easily approve assets before campaigns go live online.
Google initially announced the integration of AI into Google Ads at the company’s Google Marketing Live event last May. Since then, Google has been actively working to incorporate the Gemini AI model into its platforms, including Bard. The company is keen to demonstrate how Gemini can assist in various use cases encountered by marketers.
The AI Paradigm Shift
The AI feature signifies a paradigm shift in the features that augment the use cases for using ads. Historically, Google has concentrated on adding features that emphasize media elements on the screen, like the introduction of lead forms in 2019. However, images have now emerged as a crucial factor in enticing customers to click on their online searches, significantly influencing conversion behavior. This trend can be chalked up to consumer segments increasingly engaging with video reels on their preferred platforms.
Google acknowledged this trend in its research. On its blog about the conversational experience for Google Ads, the company detailed its testing outcomes with a select group of advertisers. Google noted, “We observed that it helps them build higher quality Search campaigns with less effort.” The blog post explained further, “One of the ways we measure this is with a metric called Ad Strength that looks at the relevance, quality, and diversity of your ad copy…” Through its research, Google found a correlation between improved image quality and increased conversion rates.
More Digital Ad Features With AI Expected as Advertising Spend Remains Competitive
Google’s introduction of a new AI feature for digital ads coincides with a period of overall flat ad spending in 2023. As reported by Media Post, citing 2023 data from Guideline’s spend tracker, there was a notable decrease in ad spending during the first quarter. However, a recovery in the following quarters led to a slight overall increase of 0.5% in ad spend compared to the previous year.
An Increasingly Competitive Market for Ad Dollars
Ad campaigns remain in vogue, yet the data suggests a trend of slow spending growth, indicating an increasingly competitive ad market for marketers’ budgets. In addition to traditional online platforms such as social media and search engines, marketers now contend with an expanding variety of retail platforms competing for their advertising dollars. Many of these platforms both collaborate and compete with traditional choices. This evolving market landscape is pressuring industry leaders like Google to innovate solutions that not only cater to advertisers’ workflows but also enhance the options available on their platforms.
AI Solutions
This also implies that the market offerings for advertisers are set to become more intricate. Brand managers will be in search of solutions that most effectively streamline their workflow from these varied choices. AI features, such as those offered by Google, are poised to become these sought-after solutions.
The Next AI Steps in Digital Ad Campaign Management
The AI-driven conversational experience is currently available in beta to advertisers in the US and UK. Plans for a global rollout are underway, initially focusing on English-speaking territories, followed by regions with a diverse range of languages.
Looking out for New AI Tools
Meanwhile, marketers should remain vigilant for other platforms introducing AI tools that enhance their workflow. Considering Microsoft’s investment in and integration of ChatGPT into Bing, they are likely to closely follow Google’s strides in incorporating Gemini into its Google Ads offerings. Additionally, marketers shouldn’t overlook major retailers such as Walmart and Amazon, who have launched their own advertising platforms.
The Ultimate Measure
Regardless of emerging competitive strategies, the ultimate measure for marketers will be the enhancement of conversion metrics within analytics reporting. The challenge lies in achieving this improvement while judiciously managing advertising budgets. It remains to be seen which player will emerge as the frontrunner in the conversational AI and advertising heap.
Our understanding of the blue economy’s growth and impact on the ocean is limited by a lack of accessible data. However, a new studyhas provided a global view of previously unmapped industrial use of the ocean and how it is changing. The open data and technology used in this research, when combined with insights generated from Vessel Viewer–an innovative tool that can enhance fisheries control and strengthen risk assessments across the public and private sectors–mark the beginning of a new era in ocean management.
Join experts from Global Fishing Watch to hear how machine learning and satellite imagery are being harnessed to create unprecedented views of large vessel traffic and offshore infrastructure—and how these insights can be used to enable due diligence and drive greater transparency and management of seafood supply chains.
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The move away from usernames and passwords continues to gather pace with another company seemingly on the way to allowing people to start using passkeys when securing their PlayStation Network accounts.
The PlayStation Network accounts are currently protected via an email and password system with 2FA support also included to help ensure that people keep their accounts safe and sound. Sony has published a new webpage on its website detailing how passkeys work while there is also an option for activating a passkey for a user’s account as well. However, there have been mixed responses as to whether the feature currently works or not and there has been some suggestion that a bigger PSN security announcement could come soon.
Passkeys are a new way to secure accounts using biometrics rather than passwords that have to be remembered or saved in a password manager. People tend to use the same passwords over and over which is a bad security practice and one that puts accounts at risk. By removing the need to choose a password, passkeys are more secure as a result.
Unlocking an account with a passkey is done so via biometrics like Face ID or Touch ID on iPhones, iPads, and Macs and facial or fingerprint recognition on Android and Windows devices.
Passkeys are steadily being added to more and more services and apps as people start to move away from the traditional usernames and password setup that the internet has been using for decades. Quite when Sony will enable the new passkey support has yet to be confirmed, however.
It’s not every day you come across savings massive enough to make all other Super Bowl TV deals jealous, but Best Buy is doing just that with the TCL S5 4K Smart TV. In fact, the savings aren’t the only massive part of the deal, as the it’s the 98-inch model that’s seeing a discount, which is perfect to gather around for the coming Super Bowl. The deal is worth a savings of $3,000. It drops the price of the TCL 98-inch S5 from $5,000 to an impressive sale price of just $2,000. Free delivery is included with a purchase.
Why you should buy the TCL 98-inch S5 4K LED Smart TV
Whether you’re building a home theater from scratch or want to upgrade to watch the Super Bowl this year, the 98-inch model of the TCL S5 4K LED Smart TV should be at the top of your list of considerations. It’s capable of producing a massive, high quality 4K image that competes with what you’ll find in the best TVs. That image comes via an LED display that offers superior brightness and high color contrast. It utilizes directly-lit backlighting that offers good light uniformity and makes the TV work well in any room.
And because this is a smart TV, it comes with easy, built-in access to streaming content. This includes access to the Super Bowl, but also to things like the best movies on Hulu. This TV utilizes the Google TV for its smarts, which brings your favorite movies, shows, and live TV together all in one place. Additional smart features include the ability to control the TV using voice commands. The TCL S5 4K TV is compatible with Amazon Alexa and Google Assistant, and it can also pair with any of the best wireless headphones that have Bluetooth connectivity in order to create a private listening experience.
This Super Bowl deal on the 98-inch TCL S5 4K Smart TV is a tough one to beat. You can add it to your entertainment hub for $2,000, which is a savings of $3,000 from its regular price of $5,000. Free delivery is included, and in many areas you can pick it up today at your nearest Best Buy.
Interconnected smart devices continuously exchange data, solve problems, and simplify everyday life. In fact, over 120 devices connect to the internet every second — and no matter your profession, you’ve probably interacted with at least one already today. One such device is an IoT intercom.
While you might not expect a building intercom to be connected to the Internet of Things, an IoT intercom creates a secure and seamless property access experience. Read on to discover what an IoT intercom is and how it creates a better living and working experience for staff and tenants.
What is an IoT intercom?
An IoT intercom uses the internet to enhance its functions. IoT intercoms improve the communication capabilities of traditional analog intercoms while adding new, innovative features.
IoT intercoms use the internet. Because of this, they share a few similarities with another type of intercom system: IP intercoms. However, IoT intercoms use a larger breadth of the internet. For example, an IP intercom might only use the internet to allow visitors and tenants to communicate wirelessly. On the other hand, IoT intercoms have the sensors and processing power to take full advantage of everything the internet has to offer.
As a result, an IoT intercom’s internet connection means that users can connect to it from anywhere. So, if you live or work in a building with an IoT intercom, you can grant access to somebody, even if you aren’t in the building yourself.
Further, the speed at which data flows through the internet means that IoT intercoms also support flawless audio communication. Plus, the most robust IoT intercoms offer video communications as well. Some even offer a mobile app that lets you use your smartphone with the IoT video intercom system.
Benefits of an IoT intercom
Intercoms that use the Internet of Things are designed to make tenants’ lives easier.
Here are some of the many benefits of an IoT intercom:
Enhanced security. Property staff can track door release events to boost security and give their tenants peace of mind.
Easy video and audio communication. IoT intercoms are connected to the internet, which makes them very fast. Because of this, IoT intercoms can facilitate video and audio communication between staff, tenants, and guests.
Robust integrations. IoT intercoms can integrate with property management software and other smart access solutions. As a result, even if your IoT intercom is from a different brand than your property’s other access control devices, such as keypads and smart locks, you can control them all from one central hub instead of needing to monitor several.
Elevator connections. You can connect an IoT intercom with your elevator to empower tenants to unlock key-fobbed elevators from their smartphones, enabling property-wide access control.
How do tenants use IoT intercoms?
Thanks to the strong connection between IoT intercoms and the internet, it’s easy for everyone to use IoT intercoms!
Tenants can view who’s requesting access via the IoT intercom video camera, allowing them to visually verify the identity of guests. Similarly, property staff can use IoT intercoms to grant remote access to delivery couriers, property service providers, and maintenance workers. So, if there’s a late-night maintenance emergency, they don’t have to travel to the property to grant access.
Alternatively, guests can use an IoT intercom to request access from tenants or staff. And because an IoT intercom facilitates remote access, tenants don’t need to be present to grant entry. This means visitors, like service providers, can gain access even when the tenant isn’t present.
How real estate professionals can use the Internet of Things
Real estate professionals like property owners, managers, and developers can use the Internet of Things by investing in proptech (property technology). Proptech systems that are powered by the Internet of Things improve the tenant’s living and working experiences in new ways.
Many IoT devices are developed with smart homes and smart properties in mind. For example, temperature sensors can detect when a room is occupied. Then, with that information, the sensors can determine whether that room needs air conditioning.
However, many IoT devices created for properties weren’t built to address the primary challenge faced by property managers and owners: ensuring seamless yet secure property access. However, IoT intercoms are! So, by investing in an IoT intercom, managers can use the Internet of Things to create a smart visitor management system and solve one of the hardest and most prevalent problems.
If you want an intercom system that makes your renters’ lives easier and puts a world of new information at your fingertips, consider an IoT intercom. Countless others have used the power of the internet to transform the way they do business. Invest in an IoT solution and make the future work for you.
