Category: 3. Business

  • From lipsticks to concerts, the ‘treatonomics’ trend is booming

    From lipsticks to concerts, the ‘treatonomics’ trend is booming

    Kate Green | Getty Images Entertainment | Getty Images

    “Treatonomics” — a consumer trend that covers spending on ‘everyday luxuries’ to larger, life-affirming experiences — is booming as people look for a mood boost in ongoing unsettling economic times.

    Spending on small-item ‘pick-me-ups’ is a well-established recession-resistant trend, with consumers often turning to purchases of modest personal items such as make-up, perfume and candles — or even collectible rubber ducks or Labubu dolls — for a morale boost when times are hard or uncertain.

    It’s no wonder then, that the consumer trend has long been seen as a bellwether for how consumers feel about the wider economic backdrop, which is currently typified by inflationary pressures, persistently high interest rates and concerns over growth and jobs.

    The phenomenon is not new; the “lipstick effect” — the theory that lipstick sales increase during economic downturns — has been around for almost a century, for instance. First documented during the Great Depression in the 1930s, the term had a renaissance in the 2000s when Leonard Lauder, former chairman of makeup brand Estée Lauder, noticed a spike in sales after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

    “The lipstick effect means basically, buying yourself small treats when you’re under financial pressure,” John Stevenson, retail analyst at Peel Hunt, told CNBC Tuesday.

    “You can’t afford a new dress or outfit, but you can always get a new lipstick. You can’t afford to get a new sofa, but you can get a throw or some cushions. You can’t redecorate the house, but you can get a new tablecloth,” he said, noting this was why the homewares retail category is “much more resilient than people imagine.”

    SHANGHAI, CHINA: A woman checks out the lipsticks at a department store in Shanghai, 16 August 2004.

    LIU JIN | AFP | Getty Images

    The Covid-19 pandemic, and a re-evaluation of personal wellbeing and what makes for an enriching and memorable life, has spurred the trend of treatonomics with consumers willing to make everyday sacrifices in order to have “experiences,” particularly one-off events such as spending $200 or more for a ticket to a Taylor Swift concert or the Oasis reunion tour.

    “Treatonomics is almost another step further [than the lipstick effect] where you are cutting back on on everyday living costs, you’re cutting back on basics, maybe you’re buying more own brands in the supermarket, but by the same token, you’ll go and do an Oasis concert for the weekend and spend £500-£1000 (up to $1330),” Stevenson said.

    What is driving ‘Treatonomics’?

    Economists agree that the treatonomics trend has been able to flourish in an era of economic uncertainty and shaky consumer confidence.

    “This rise of ‘Treatonomics’ — also called ‘Little Treat Culture’ by Gen Z on TikTok — is less about ‘guilty pleasures’ and instead about injecting moments of guilt-free joy into life,” Meredith Smith, senior director at retail analysis firm Kantar told CNBC Tuesday.

    “It’s like the ‘Lipstick Effect’ on steroids, because consumers have this heightened sense of uncertainty coupled with more options and access than ever before to turn life’s everyday decisions into an opportunity for a treat. As a result, people are romanticising their water intake, how they dress and decorate their homes, buying themselves treats as a ‘mental health’ boost and more – all to inject joy into fraught times.”

    Smith said life’s traditional milestones, such as marriage, home ownership, workplace achievement and retirement, looked different now for “nearly every living generation” and were being reinvented or disappearing, “out of desire or because they’re no longer attainable.”

    That has prompted a shift from being able to celebrate ‘milestones’ to celebrating more ‘inch-stones,’ resulting in this rapid rise of treatonomics.

    “For example — for those who can’t afford a home before 40, treating has been a welcome respite and a way to express themselves in their environment when a milestone passes them by,” Smith said.

    “For those without a partner or children, instead of celebrating weddings and baby showers, they are throwing their energy into breakup parties, dog birthdays, high-effort wellbeing-driven treating routines and more. We’ve seen a rise in ‘Resignation Parties’ in China, ‘Divorce Parties’ in the U.S. and Europe, and people treating themselves to cakes or even diamonds after a breakup or when they don’t get a promotion at work,” he noted.

    A woman celebrating her dog’s birthday.

    Urbazon | E+ | Getty Images

    On a similar note, Millennials and Gen Z have turned to ‘Kidulting’ – enjoying adult versions of joys from childhood — which has “catapulted LEGO’s adult offering, seeing some spend up to $1,000 on kits,” Smith added.

    Consumer confidence underlies the mood

    In the U.K., GfK’s Consumer Confidence Index measures a range of consumer attitudes, including forward expectations of the general economic situation and households’ financial positions, and views on making major household purchases. It fell to -19 in July 2025, down by one point from June.

    Meanwhile, in the U.S., consumer confidence saw a slight increase in July. Overall, however, consumer confidence levels remain subdued “below last year’s heady levels,” Stephanie Guichard, senior economist of Global Indicators at The Conference Board, which produces the consumer confidence data, noted in a statement last week.

    That lingering pessimism feeds into the treatonomics trend, economists say, meaning that more affordable and perhaps more gratifying purchases and experiences, will remain attractive.

    Customers look at Labubu dolls on display at Pop Mart’s new store in Las Vegas July 12, 2025.

    Kara Gildea | Las Vegas Review-Journal | Tribune News Service | Getty Images

    Kantar’s Global Economic Policy Uncertainty Index, a measure of the degree of uncertainty surrounding economic policy at a global level, “has declared the current era as one of ‘Great Uncertainty’, relative to the last 40 years. Life feels uncertain, with no light at the end of the tunnel – yet,” Smith said.

    The volatility and uncertainty we are experiencing are not likely to dissipate for the next five to eight years, Kantar predicts.

    “This gives us a strong indication that treatonomics will persist for at least another three to five years – though we can expect to see trends in ‘Little Treat Culture’ to move faster and become more fragmented by geography and cultural niches. This is a challenge for brands, who will need to be agile and attuned to how these micro-trends are developing.”

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  • Acute kidney injury of intravenous colistin sulfate compared with colistimethate sodium: a real-world, retrospective cohort study | BMC Infectious Diseases

    Acute kidney injury of intravenous colistin sulfate compared with colistimethate sodium: a real-world, retrospective cohort study | BMC Infectious Diseases

    To our knowledge, this was the first study to investigate the nephrotoxicity and mortality difference between CS and CMS. The incidence rates of any-stage and stage 3 AKI were significantly lower in the CS cohort than in the CMS cohort. After AKI occurred, 13.64% of patients reduced the dose of polymyxins. 40.91% of patients discontinued polymyxins after developing AKI. 18.18% and 50% of patients demonstrated complete and non-recovery of renal function, respectively.

    Past studies have shown that PMB is more toxic to the kidneys than CS. However, the two groups had similar mortality rates [5, 10]. Nevertheless, two retrospective studies found no significant difference between PMB- and CMS-induced AKI [5, 10, 15, 16]. and mortality was similar in patients treated with either agent [6, 9, 17]. To my knowledge, no real-world study has yet compared the nephrotoxicity of CS and CMS. In our studies, the CMS group had a higher incidence of AKI than the CS group, but a lower mortality rate. CMS therapy, along with a lower estimated glomerular filtration rate, was an independent risk factor for AKI. However, AKI occurrence is not a risk factor affecting mortality rate increase by multiple Cox regression analysis.

    In the ICU-subgroup, CMS therapy, a lower baseline eGFR and concomitant treatment with ACEI were strongly associated with AKI. However, CMS administration and the combination of hypertension were significantly correlated with the AKI occurrence in the non-ICU subgroup. Multivariate analyses of CMS subgroup revealed that a lower eGFR and concomitant treatment with ACEI were independent risk factors for AKI. Several past clinical studies have associated CMS-induced nephrotoxicity with old age [18, 19], history of chronic kidney disease [19], Charlson score [18], baseline creatinine level [18] and concomitant treatment with vasopressor [19]. In the CS subgroup, multivariate analyses revealed that a lower baseline eGFR was an independent risk factor for AKI. However, CS-induced AKI was associated with advanced age [8, 20,21,22], high serum bilirubin [8], high APACHE II score [22], septic shock [23], diabetes mellitus [22], heart failure [22], higher baseline Scr level [20, 24, 25], low serum albumin [21], blood trough concentration [20], concomitant treatment with other nephrotoxic drugs [8, 21], vasopressors [25, 26], diuretics [25] and inotropes usage [22].

    The incidence of polymyxin-induced nephrotoxicity varied among previous studies. This variability is due to heterogeneous patient populations, different definitions of nephrotoxicity, ranges of doses used, differences in the severity of illness, and the presence of potential confounders such as the concomitant use of other nephrotoxic agents [13]. Most reported nephrotoxicity was mild, and renal function gradually recovered after discontinuation of polymyxins administration [9, 27]. CMS is mainly eliminated by renal excretion, and the urinary excretion involves renal tubular secretion [28]. Colistin and polymyxin B have similar chemical structures and mechanisms of action, exert their therapeutic effect directly and are mainly eliminated through non-renal pathways. Colistin binds to megalin on the apical membrane of proximal tubular cells, triggering its reabsorption into these cells. Intracellular accumulation of colistin causes mitochondrial damage, death receptors activation, and cell apoptosis. Additionally, colistin enhances the permeability of the tubular epithelial cell membrane, leading to the influx of cations, anions, and water, which results in cellular swelling and lysis [29, 30]. Polymyxins are well known to be nephrotoxic to renal tubular cells. It is suggested that the differences in the pharmacokinetics and renal handling mechanisms of polymyxins may lead to higher colistin toxicity than PMB in humans [9]. Published theories have shown that the use of loading doses and the duration of treatment can lead to acute renal injury due to the cumulative effect of the dose [7, 8, 18, 31,32,33]. This has also been associated with higher plasma drug concentrations in some studies [34, 35]. Furthermore, a total dose of colistin > 5 g was an independent predictor of progression to chronic kidney disease [36].

    In our study, the overall 30-day all-cause mortality rate was 23.37%, which is lower than in most previous reports on polymyxin drug therapy [5, 6, 9]. Moreover, the 30-day mortality rate was significantly higher in the CS cohorts than in the CMS cohorts regardless of propensity matching. The CS group exhibited a higher proportion of hematological system comorbidities, with more severe infection severity. In vitro studies have shown that even at the maximum tolerated systemic dose, PMB cannot achieve effective bactericidal activity. Given the structural similarity between CS and PMB, and that fAUC/MIC is the PK/PD index most closely related to efficacy, it is speculated that CS cannot achieve good bactericidal effects [37]. A systematic review showed that the blood drug concentration in the CS group is lower than that in the CMS group, and the peak time is later than that in the CMS group [38], which is one reasons for the higher mortality rate in the CS group.

    In our study, multivariate analyses revealed that CS administration, ICU admission, and a polymyxin loading dose were independent risk factors for 30-day mortality. Unlike previous reports, mortality was associated with polymyxins-induced AKI [5, 8, 18, 19, 22, 24, 25], age [18], septic shock [8, 9], combination with lymphoma malignancy [8], SOFA score [39], extracorporeal membrane oxygenation treatment [39], hematologic malignancy [8], hypoproteinemia [8], mechanical ventilation [9], presence of a central venous catheter [9], higher baseline creatinine levels [18] and Charlson comorbidity index [9, 18, 19], concomitant use of vasopressors [19]. This may be related to the different patients enrolled and the types of polymyxins used.

    However, our study had several limitations. Firstly, it was a retrospective study conducted in a single center with a limited sample size, and it included patients from a tertiary hospital. Despite employing propensity matching, there may still be an undisclosed quantity of residual unmeasured confounding and bias present in this observational study. Secondly, drug concentrations of colistin sulfate were not monitored during treatment and the correlation between nephrotoxicity and blood drug concentrations was not investigated. Thirdly, the majority of patients were treated with colistin sulfate alongside other drugs due to polymyxin’s heterogeneous resistance, meaning colistin sulfate may not be solely responsible for the ultimate effectiveness. Furthermore, considering the efficacy, safety, and cost-effectiveness of drug use, clinicians may not fully comply with international guidelines when selecting colistin dosing regimens, particularly with regard to loading doses and dosing intervals. This has also caused research bias. This could explain why the results of this study differ from those of previous studies. Therefore, future multicenter, randomized, controlled, prospective trials are needed to better assess the efficacy and safety of colistin sulfate.

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  • Nine enters a cashed-up new era after selling Domain. What will Australia’s biggest media company do next? | Nine Entertainment

    Nine enters a cashed-up new era after selling Domain. What will Australia’s biggest media company do next? | Nine Entertainment

    Nine Entertainment is entering a new chapter without its online real estate platform Domain, an asset once seen as crucial to the survival of a traditional media business battered by the digital age.

    But it will have an anticipated $150m pile of cash from the sale of the portal to US property conglomerate CoStar after it pays shareholders a special dividend, raising expectations it will hunt for acquisitions.

    What will Australia’s biggest media company do next?

    Still the one?

    Nine, which merged with Fairfax Media in 2018, boasts a broad set of assets stretching across its flagship television network, radio stations 2GB, 3AW, 4BC and 6PR, streaming service Stan and mastheads the Sydney Morning Herald, the Age and the Australian Financial Review.

    Its pre-eminent challenge, according to Omkar Joshi, the chief investment officer at Sydney-headquartered Opal Capital Management, is addressing the profitability of its television network, given it is Nine’s biggest revenue earner.

    “The problem with that is the free-to-air TV market has been under pressure for a number of years, and that is in a structural decline,” Joshi says.

    “We’ve already seen a fair bit of that decline come through, but structural decline stories do take time.”

    The trouble with sectors in structural decline is that signs of a turnaround often prove fleeting. Nine’s broadcast advertising revenue picked up earlier this year, but soon fell away. The temporary bump was driven by election spending, according to analysts at E&P.

    Nine earned $604m in advertising revenue from its broadcast business unit in the last six months of 2024, a division that takes in television, including 9Now, and radio.

    That was up slightly from 2023, but below the advertising dollars generated during the same period in 2021 and 2022.

    Younger viewers, in particular, are viewing content on online platforms, and television networks haven’t captured them in sufficient numbers on their own free-to-air digital services.

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    Joshi says Nine may look to buy an “out-of-home” advertising company, given the growth in demand for digital billboards commonly seen on buildings and bus shelters.

    “Outdoor media could be something that they take seriously and look to buy in that space with oOh!media one of the potential names of interest,” Joshi says.

    “That wouldn’t be a bad counterbalance to some of the issues you’re seeing in free-to-air TV because outdoor media advertising is definitely growing.

    “One of the challenges they face is they don’t want to end up like Seven West, where they’ve only got, effectively, TV and publishing assets. The market just doesn’t want that.”

    Talkback radio

    Nine’s suite of AM stations is another asset facing headwinds, given it is a medium largely consumed by older generations. It is also being challenged by podcasts and streaming services.

    One fund manager invested in media assets, who asked not to be identified, says he hopes Nine doesn’t buy more radio stations.

    “Media acquisitions don’t have a particularly good track record; you tend to find that they always overpay and nothing they expect ever materialises.

    “Our view is that consolidation can work, particularly in businesses that are in decline.

    “But the problem is that for them to work, the cost cutting has to be pretty savage, and most organisations are just not good at doing that.”

    The fund manager says Nine is more likely to be a seller of its radio network than a buyer of other stations.

    While Nine’s broadcast assets have been under pressure, its streaming platform Stan methodically increases revenue year after year.

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    Stan’s recent purchase of broadcast rights to the Premier League, the most watched football competition in the world, shows how invested Nine is in growing the platform, which is seen as critical to the company’s future.

    However, generating healthy profits from paid streaming services is not without its challenges, given platforms must continually invest heavily in new content, and promote their platforms to consumers, to attract and keep fickle subscribers.

    Digital rags

    After surviving some bleak years for the newspaper industry, Nine’s mastheads found a way forward with their subscription model.

    Shortly before the pandemic, advertising revenue for Nine’s stable of newspapers was by far the division’s biggest source of revenue, while it still enjoyed a reasonable level of income from circulation fees.

    While those two income sources have broadly fallen, subscription revenue has helped replace them. In the last six-month reporting period, subscription income overtook advertising as the division’s primary revenue source.

    Some analysts are starting to see Nine’s publishing business as the most valuable part of the company. Photograph: Scott Barbour/Getty Images

    The print and digital titles are starting to be looked at by the investment community as the most valuable part of Nine, a view that would have been risible just a few years ago.

    Analysts at Jarden expect Nine will have $150m in net cash left over from selling its majority stake in Domain, after paying out a special dividend with some of the proceeds.

    Domain shareholders approved the sale on 4 August, paving the way for the transaction to be finalised by the end of the month.

    While Domain persistently underperformed rival REA Group, operator of realestate.com.au, it still represented a significant part of Nine, and tapped into Australia’s robust property market.

    Nine indicated in a May update that after the sale it would be open to “disciplined strategic investment opportunities, both organic and inorganic”.

    Morningstar’s director of equity research, Brian Han, says Nine should consider not buying anything.

    “It makes me nervous when companies say things like, ‘we’re going to pursue disciplined, strategic investment opportunities’. That is consultant speak for, ‘I want to buy something’,” Han says.

    “I’m just scared that they’ll justify it on some spurious cross-media synergy strategy.”

    He says Nine should build on its sports and content library for Stan, while also focusing on digitising the metropolitan mastheads.

    “If they keep on doing that, and the numbers start coming through in terms of growth … later on you can come back to the market and ask shareholders for money to buy something.”

    Jonathan Barrett is Guardian Australia’s business editor

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  • Beloved by bands and bank robbers, the Ford Transit turns 60

    Beloved by bands and bank robbers, the Ford Transit turns 60

    Theo Leggett

    International Business Correspondent

    BBC BBC business correspondent Theo Leggett sits with one hand on the wheel of a stationary yellow Ford Transit - the oldest one still in existence, which was built in 1965. On its side are the words GEC-Elliott Traffic Automation Ltd. He is smiling wearing a cap and a blue shirt and jacket and light grey trousers. BBC

    Theo Leggett at the wheel of the oldest Ford Transit still in existence

    Climbing into a 1965 Ford Transit is like stepping into a time capsule on wheels.

    Forget your modern high-tech nicknacks like satnavs and touchscreens. All you get here is a steering wheel, a big chrome-lined speedometer dial and a chunky heater control. There isn’t even a radio.

    Out on the road, it rattles and bangs and occasionally jumps out of gear.

    Disconcertingly, there’s no seatbelt, the seat itself has an alarming tendency to move around, and the brakes don’t seem to do very much at all.

    Beautiful as it is, it’s hard to imagine that this elderly machine was ever state of the art.

    Yet when the original Transit first rolled off the production line at Ford’s plant in Langley, Berkshire, on 9 August 1965, it was a revelation.

    By the standards of the day, it was remarkably spacious, powerful and practical. It was comfortable, had sharp handling, and put existing vans such as the Morris J4 firmly in the shade.

    Sixty years later, the Transit has been redesigned many times, but the brand itself is still going strong. It remains a staple for many small businesses, even in an age when “white vans” are ten a penny, and the market is rife with competition.

    It is the world’s best-selling van – and more than 13 million have been built so far.

    “There are lots of iconic cars: the Morris Minor, the Mini, the Land Rover, the VW Beetle, but there’s only one iconic van, and that’s the Transit,” says Edmund King, president of the AA.

    “It’s probably the only van that people really know”.

    Erica Echenberg via Getty Images Black and white photo of members of punk band The Damned sit in the back of their Ford Transit tour van, France, October 1977. L-R Dave Berk, Captain Sensible, Lu Edmonds. (Photo by Erica Echenberg/Redferns)Erica Echenberg via Getty Images

    Punk ban The Damned were one of the groups to use Ford Transit’s on tour, seen here in 1977

    Originally a collaboration between Ford’s engineers in the UK and Germany, and primarily aimed at the British and European markets, the Transit was designed to be as versatile as possible.

    It rapidly became a staple for tradespeople, including builders, carpenters, electricians and delivery drivers.

    But it also appealed to others looking for spacious, cheap transport – including aspiring rock bands. It was almost a rite of passage. Among those who spent time on the road in one were Black Sabbath, Led Zeppelin, the Small Faces and Slade.

    “It was the freedom to go where you want, when you want. Petrol was a lot cheaper than it is now,” says Peter Lee, founder of the Transit Van Club.

    “I ended up in Spain, lived in one for 13 months as a hippy on a strawberry farm, then came back and started a business. Before you know it, I had 180 workers in 28 Transit vans driving around London.”

    ‘Britain’s most wanted van’

    The Transit’s speed and loading space also appealed to people on the wrong side of the law.

    In 1972, so the story goes, a Metropolitan Police spokesman claimed Transits were being used in 95% of bank raids, adding that its speed and loading space meant it had become the perfect getaway vehicle. This, he commented drily, made it “Britain’s most wanted van”.

    Meanwhile the stereotype of the bullying “white van man”, defined by Sunday Times reporter Jonathan Leake in 1997 as “a tattooed species, often with a cigarette in his mouth, who is prone to flashing his lights as he descends on his prey”, did not specifically target Transit drivers.

    But given how many of them were on the road by then, it is a fair bet they were implicated.

    Made in Turkey

    For nearly half a century, Transits were built in Britain – first at Langley, then at a factory just outside Southampton. But this closed in 2013, as Ford removed production to Turkey, where it said costs were “significantly lower”. It was a controversial move that put hundreds of employees out of work. It was described by unions as a ‘betrayal’.

    Bloomberg via Getty Images An employee checks the bonnet of a completed white Ford Transit van as it moves along the production line at the Ford Otosan plant,in Turkey in 2013.Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Ford Transit production moved to Turkey in 2013

    Today, Ford continues to highlight both the Transit’s British heritage and the work that still takes place here, especially at its UK headquarters in Dunton, Essex.

    “Dunton is the home of the Transit,” insists Ford of Britain’s managing director, Lisa Brankin

    “It’s where we manage all the engineering and design work for the new vans. But we also build our diesel engines in Dagenham, just down the road, and we make power packs for electric vans in Halewood, near Liverpool.”

    Most of the company’s European production remains in Turkey, and that looks unlikely to change.

    “It’s about efficiency and just centring manufacturing into one place, rather than having multiple sites across Europe,” Ms Brankin explains.

    Bloomberg via Getty Images Employees prepare a a bright blue Ford E-Transit Custom electric van for display at the IAA Transportation commercial vehicle fair in Hannover, Germany, on Monday, 16 September 2024. Bloomberg via Getty Images

    Ford promotes its electric vans at commercial vehicle fairs around the world

    Much of the activity at Dunton now is focused on what the next generation of Transit vans will bring. But will there ever be another radical game-changer like the original model?

    “We’re working on it,” says director of commercial vehicle development Seamus McDermott, when I ask him that question.

    He believes that what customers want from a van has not really changed in 60 years. It is still all about having a reliable set of wheels that is versatile and cheap to run. But the way that goal is achieved is now very different.

    “Electric vehicles are cheaper to run and cheaper to repair,” he says.

    “Also, when we bring in more software defined, ‘smarter’ vehicles, the ability to manage fleets remotely will help bring down costs as well. So the revolution will be about propulsion and software.”

    But while the Transit brand has already endured for 60 years, today it is heading into an uncertain future, according to AA president Edmund King.

    “In the 60s, 70s and 80s, if someone’s father had a Transit, they would get a Transit,” he says.

    “I think that’s changing now. There’s more competition across the van market, and therefore brand loyalty is certainly not as strong as it used to be.”

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  • World Robot Conference unveils future trends of embodied intelligent robots

    World Robot Conference unveils future trends of embodied intelligent robots

    Guests inaugurate the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

    BEIJING, Aug. 8 — The 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) that kicked off on Friday in Beijing unveiled future development trends of embodied intelligent robots, focusing on fields such as cognition, decision-making and safety.

    The details were shared by Qiao Hong, president of the World Robot Cooperation Organization (WRCO), in a report titled 10 Trends of Embodied Intelligent Robots 2025 during the opening ceremony of the conference.

    The report highlights embodied cognition as being driven by the synergy of physical practice, physical simulators and world models, while also emphasizing the role of multimodal large models in enhancing embodied decision-making.

    The report covers some key fields such as embodied intelligent control, AI-powered robot design, software and hardware consistency, robot manufacturing, and large-scale and high-quality datasets.

    It also highlights robot swarms and the collaboration with humans, an interdisciplinary open community, as well as safety assessment and ethical development for embodied intelligent robots.

    Co-hosted by the Chinese Institute of Electronics and the WRCO, the five-day event features forums, exhibitions, competitions and networking events, with over 200 robotics companies from around the world presenting their latest innovations.

    Humanoid robots are exhibited during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Robot dogs are exhibited during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Humanoid robots are seen during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    A robot host is staged during the opening ceremony of the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]
    Simulated birds are exhibited during the 2025 World Robot Conference (WRC) in Beijing, capital of China, Aug. 8, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

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  • Why lithium-ion batteries pose a fire risk

    Why lithium-ion batteries pose a fire risk

    Curbing fire risks during flights

    Other major carriers have implemented similar measures to curb fire risks during flights.

    This underscores the challenges airlines face balancing modern device connectivity with the inherent fire hazards of lithium-ion power banks.

    Why do power banks for a fire risk?

    The risk is primarily because they use lithium-ion batteries, which are inherently fire-prone due to their chemistry and energy density.

    Lithium-ion batteries store a substantial amount of energy in a compact space, using flammable electrolyte liquids that facilitate ion flow between the battery’s cathode and anode. 

    When these batteries are damaged, defective, or subjected to extreme conditions, they can enter a dangerous state called “thermal runaway”, where internal heat buildup triggers a self-sustaining chemical reaction, often leading to fires or explosions.

    Why are lithium-ion batteries fire-prone?

    Lithium-ion battery cells consist of a cathode (positive electrode), an anode (negative electrode), a separator, and a liquid organic electrolyte. The electrolyte is highly flammable. 

    During normal operation, lithium ions move between the cathode and anode to charge and discharge the battery.

    However, if the battery experiences abuse — such as physical damage (crushing or puncturing), overheating, overcharging, or a manufacturing defect — it can cause an internal short circuit.

    Triggers for thermal runaway

    Thermal runaway can be triggered by:

    • Extreme temperatures (both heat and cold)

    • Overcharging or prolonged charging

    • Internal short circuits due to manufacturing defects or lithium plating

    • Mechanical damage (dropping, crushing, puncturing)

    • Exposure to moisture causing short circuits.

    Because of the flammable materials inside, fires caused by lithium-ion batteries are difficult to extinguish. They produce oxygen and flammable gases internally, so removing external oxygen does not fully stop the fire. Thermal runaway events can continue for hours or days, with burned-out batteries potentially reigniting.

    Onboard or airport fires caused by lithium-ion batteries

    • August 7, 2004 | FedEx | Lithium-ion battery shipment caught fire during loading in Memphis, TN.

    • 2006 | UPS | Lithium-ion battery fire destroyed plane in Philadelphia, two crew fatalities.

    • September 3, 2010 | UPS | Cargo plane crashed in Dubai, lithium-ion battery fire, two fatalities.

    • April 26, 2014 | Unknown | Passenger’s bags in Melbourne caused fire in Boeing 737 cargo hold.

    • August 17, 2022 | American Airlines | Vape pen overheated in cabin during flight to Philadelphia.

    • August 29, 2022 | United Airlines | Power bank overheated, secured in thermal containment bag, no injuries.

    • March 1, 2023 | Spirit Airlines | Battery fire in overhead bin, diverted to Jacksonville, ten hospitalized.

    • February 2023 | United Airlines | Laptop battery fire on flight from San Diego, four injured.

    • July 2023 | American Airlines | Laptop battery ignited in carry-on, caused chaos, no injuries reported.

    • July 2023 | Virgin Australia | Power bank fire in overhead locker on Sydney-Hobart flight, extinguished.

    • January 28, 2025 | Air Busan | Power bank fire destroyed plane on South Korea tarmac, three injured.

    Latest IATA rules on power banks

    The International Air Transport Association (IATA) enforces strict rules for transporting lithium-ion batteries, including power banks, on commercial flights to mitigate fire risk:

    • Power banks must be carried only in carry-on baggage, not checked luggage, to allow quick response in case of fire.

    • Power banks must be individually protected to prevent short circuits (e.g., in original packaging or with terminals covered).

    • Batteries with a watt-hour rating over 100Wh require airline approval before carriage. Those above 160Wh are generally prohibited on passenger aircraft.

    • Quantity limits apply: usually up to two spare batteries above 100Wh per passenger, but airline policies may vary.

    • Usage of power banks during flight is typically restricted and must comply with crew instructions.

    The way forward

    Given the surge in portable electronics, ensuring the safe use of lithium-ion batteries and power banks is critical. The path forward involves:

    • Improved battery design: Manufacturers are researching safer battery chemistries, solid-state electrolytes (non-flammable), better separators, and enhanced battery management systems (BMS) to detect faults early and prevent thermal runaway.

    • Stricter quality control: Ensuring batteries are manufactured without defects and conform to safety standards can reduce fire incidents.

    • Better user awareness: Educating consumers on safe charging practices, avoiding extreme conditions, and handling damaged batteries properly.

    • Regulatory tightening: Continued updates of transportation and handling rules by IATA, FAA, and other agencies reflect growing awareness and evolving battery technologies.

    • Firefighting innovation: Developing specialised firefighting techniques, materials, and protocols for lithium battery fires helps mitigate damage when incidents occur.

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  • Pornographic Taylor Swift deepfakes generated by Musk’s Grok AI

    Pornographic Taylor Swift deepfakes generated by Musk’s Grok AI

    Imran Rahman-Jones

    Technology reporter

    Getty Images Taylor Swift smiling wearing a black beanie hat and black jacket.Getty Images

    Elon Musk’s AI video generator has been accused of making “a deliberate choice” to create sexually explicit clips of Taylor Swift without prompting, says an expert in online abuse.

    “This is not misogyny by accident, it is by design,” said Clare McGlynn, a law professor who has helped draft a law which would make pornographic deepfakes illegal.

    According to a report by The Verge, Grok Imagine’s new “spicy” mode “didn’t hesitate to spit out fully uncensored topless videos” of the pop star without being asked to make explicit content.

    The report also said proper age verification methods – which became law in July – were not in place.

    XAI, the company behind Grok, has been approached for comment.

    XAI’s own acceptable use policy prohibits “depicting likenesses of persons in a pornographic manner”.

    “That this content is produced without prompting demonstrates the misogynistic bias of much AI technology,” said Prof McGlynn of Durham University.

    “Platforms like X could have prevented this if they had chosen to, but they have made a deliberate choice not to,” she added.

    This is not the first time Taylor Swift’s image has been used in this way.

    Sexually explicit deepfakes using her face went viral and were viewed millions of times on X and Telegram in January 2024.

    Deepfakes are computer-generated images which replace the face of one person with another.

    ‘Completely uncensored, completely exposed’

    In testing the guardrails of Grok Imagine, The Verge news writer Jess Weatherbed entered the prompt: “Taylor Swift celebrating Coachella with the boys”.

    Grok generated still images of Swift wearing a dress with a group of men behind her.

    This could then be animated into short video clips under four different settings: “normal”, “fun”, “custom” or “spicy”.

    “She ripped [the dress] off immediately, had nothing but a tasselled thong underneath, and started dancing, completely uncensored, completely exposed,” Ms Weatherbed told BBC News.

    She added: “It was shocking how fast I was just met with it – I in no way asked it to remove her clothing, all I did was select the ‘spicy’ option.”

    Gizmodo reported similarly explicit results of famous women, though some searches also returned blurred videos or with a “video moderated” message.

    The BBC has been unable to independently verify the results of the AI video generations.

    Ms Weatherbed said she signed up to the paid version of Grok Imagine, which cost £30, using a brand new Apple account.

    Grok asked for her date of birth but there was no other age verification in place, she said.

    Under new UK laws which entered into force at the end of July, platforms which show explicit images must verify users’ ages using methods which are “technically accurate, robust, reliable and fair”.

    “Sites and apps that include Generative AI tools that can generate pornographic material are regulated under the Act,” the media regulator Ofcom told BBC News.

    “We are aware of the increasing and fast-developing risk GenAI tools may pose in the online space, especially to children, and we are working to ensure platforms put appropriate safeguards in place to mitigate these risks,” it said in a statement.

    New UK laws

    Currently, generating pornographic deepfakes is illegal when used in revenge porn or depicts children.

    Prof McGlynn helped draft an amendment to the law which would make generating or requesting all non-consensual pornographic deepfakes illegal.

    The government has committed to making this amendment law, but it is yet to come into force.

    “Every woman should have the right to choose who owns intimate images of her,” said Baroness Owen, who proposed the amendment in the House of Lords.

    “It is essential that these models are not used in such a way that violates a woman’s right to consent whether she be a celebrity or not,” Lady Owen continued in a statement given to BBC News.

    “This case is a clear example of why the Government must not delay any further in its implementation of the Lords amendments,” she added.

    A Ministry of Justice spokesperson said: “Sexually explicit deepfakes created without consent are degrading and harmful.

    “We refuse to tolerate the violence against women and girls that stains our society which is why we have passed legislation to ban their creation as quickly as possible.”

    When pornographic deepfakes using Taylor Swift’s face went viral in 2024, X temporarily blocked searches for her name on the platform.

    At the time, X said it was “actively removing” the images and taking “appropriate actions” against the accounts involved in spreading them.

    Ms Weatherbed said the team at The Verge chose Taylor Swift to test the Grok Imagine feature because of this incident.

    “We assumed – wrongly now – that if they had put any kind of safeguards in place to prevent them from emulating the likeness of celebrities, that she would be first on the list, given the issues that they’ve had,” she said.

    Taylor Swift’s representatives have been contacted for comment.

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  • Unintended consequences of lockdowns: Evidence on violence against women

    Violence against women refers to any act of gender-based violence directed against women, or that affects them disproportionately. The social and economic consequences are enormous: according to UN Women (2020), the estimated global cost of violence against women and girls is around US$1.5 trillion, approximately 2% of global GDP. Moreover, victims have higher risks of developing depression and alcohol disorders, higher chances of delivering low birth-weight babies, and higher probabilities of contracting sexually transmitted diseases (WHO 2013).

    One of the most common forms of violence against women globally is intimate partner violence (IPV), which refers to any behaviour used by an intimate partner or ex-partner to gain or maintain control over women (UN Women 2021, WHO 2021). Figure 1 illustrates the geographic distribution of the 2023 percentage of women who have experienced IPV (physical or sexual) in their lifetime. We can see that this is a global-scale problem: approximately one in every three women has experienced IPV over their lifetime. Furthermore, there is a striking heterogeneity across regions, with higher prevalence concentrated in Asia and, particularly, Africa.

    Figure 1 Intimate partner violence over the lifetime, 2023

    Source: Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID-DB) 2023.
    Note: Prevalence of intimate partner violence over the lifetime. From 14 to 49 years. Female ever-partnered; percentage of population in the same subgroup.

    The way society perceives IPV is deeply influenced by social and cultural norms. Bernek (2024) uses European data to show that the perception that violence against women is often provoked by the victim is positively correlated with the degree to which such violence is considered acceptable within a society. Figure 2 contributes to this discussion by showing the positive correlation as well between prevalence of IPV and the same acceptable measure. This is especially evident in parts of Asia and Africa, where both IPV rates and the share of women who report that partner violence is justifiable tend to be higher. These patterns highlight the importance of addressing not only the incidence of violence, but also how social norms may act to either perpetuate or deter such violence.

    Figure 2 Relationship between IPV prevalence and IPV perception, 2023

    Source: Gender, Institutions and Development Database (GID-DB) 2023.
    Note: Each point represents a country; regional averages are highlighted.

    Understanding these patterns of prevalence and social perception is a crucial first step, but reducing violence against women, and particularly IPV, also requires effective policy responses. A key question that follows is how to encourage victims to seek help and report these crimes. In this context, institutional responses, such as specialised services, can play a key role in lowering barriers to reporting and altering social norms.

    There is a growing body of evidence examining how the COVID-19 pandemic affected different forms of violence against women in low- and middle-income countries. The emerging literature highlights a complex picture: while movement restrictions and economic shocks intensified key risk factors – such as isolation, income loss, and household stress – these same conditions also changed how victims experienced and reported abuse. The patterns vary across types of violence, with psychological and economic abuse becoming more prevalent, and more severe forms like femicide surging in certain contexts. In what follow, we explore these dynamics and discuss how targeted policy responses – such as specialised services and emergency social protection – helped mitigate the impact.

    How COVID-19 pandemic impacted violence against women

    The outbreak in early 2020 of the global COVID-19 pandemic was followed by policies introducing tight movement restrictions that may have had far-reaching consequences on violence against women. Since the COVID-19 outbreak, descriptive analyses using different sources of data have reported that violence against women has intensified, giving rise to a phenomenon that became known as a ‘shadow pandemic’ (UN Women 2020). These concerns were grounded in existing literature identifying key triggers of IPV, such as prolonged exposure to abusive partners (Dugan et al. 1999), economic stress (Aizer 2010, Anderberg et al. 2016), and social isolation from support networks.

    During lockdowns, these triggers were often reinforced. Stay-at-home orders increased time spent with potential aggressors, while limiting access to external help. Job losses and income shocks added to household tensions, and mental health stressors – like anxiety, fear, and uncertainty – created further risk (Angelucci 2008, Card and Dahl 2011). In this context, a fast-growing body of research began to examine how violence against women evolved during the pandemic, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

    Rocha et al. (2024) conducted a review of this emerging literature. Focusing on studies with rigorous methods and/or high-frequency administrative data, the review finds consistent increases in hotline calls and simultaneous declines in police reports. These divergent patterns reflect reporting barriers and differences in how victims perceive and respond to violence. Table 1 summarises findings from several studies, highlighting how the choice of reporting channel was shaped by restricted mobility, fear of formal processes, and economic insecurity (see also Perez-Vincent and Carreras 2022).

    The review also points to the importance of disaggregating types of violence. Psychological and emotional abuse, for instance, appear to have increased more sharply than physical violence (Gibbons et al. 2021, Perez-Vincent and Carreras 2020), possibly explaining the surge in hotline calls over formal complaints. Economic mechanisms further compound this trend: Bhalotra (2020) shows that job loss – whether male or female – increases IPV, albeit through different channels. A follow-up study in Chile (Bhalotra et al. 2024) finds that male job loss elevates incidence through income stress, while female job loss reduces reporting, likely due to increased dependency. Cash transfers to low-income households mitigated the impacts of lockdown on domestic violence, providing additional evidence supporting economic stress as a mechanism at least among the poorer.

    Table 1 COVID-19 and violence against women: Evidence for LMICs

    Source: Table adapted from Rocha et al. (2024).
    Notes: As Silverio-Murillo et al. (2020) do not provide an aggregate effect for all calls, we present the impact on calls for psychological violence (17%). The results of Perez-Vincent and Carreras (2022) and Perez-Vincent and Carreras (2020) for the city of Buenos Aires differ for two main reasons: Perez-Vincent and Carreras (2022) analyse the period until June 2020 (two more months than Perez-Vincent and Carreras 2020) and they assess how the effect altered according to the type of relationship between the victim and the perpetrator. Regarding the results for Peru, while Aguero (2021) uses monthly data from Línea 100, Perez-Vincent and Carreras (2022) use daily data from this same DV hotline. Moreover, Perez-Vincent and Carreras (2022) also use data from the national emergency line in Peru, Línea 105. The result on Calls (88%) in Chile reported by Bhalotra et al. (2024) is the average effect over the first three months following the lockdown.

    Using data from Brazil, Roman et al. (2023) document a similar pattern: calls to domestic violence helplines spiked immediately after lockdowns, while hospitalisations related to such incidents declined. This divergence was especially pronounced in municipalities with women’s protection services, where access to support may have helped contain escalation. These findings reinforce a broader lesson from the literature: institutional support not only affects victims’ willingness to seek help, but may also reduce the severity of violence in crisis contexts.

    COVID-19 also had an impact on the most extreme form of violence against women, namely, femicides. Asik and Nas Ozen (2021) found that the probability of a femicide occurring in Turkey decreased during the period of the strictest measures of social isolation due to the difficulty of ex-partners in reaching the victims. Hoehn-Velasco et al. (2021) investigated what happened in femicides in Mexico: it remained relatively constant during the pandemic.

    Using daily femicide data from 2016–2020 and a fixed-effects econometric approach, Diaz et al (2025) find that femicides in the state of São Paulo rose significantly during periods of intense social isolation (March–April 2020). The probability of a femicide more than doubled during this period (an increase of 0.32 percentage points). The effect was especially pronounced in poorer municipalities, where job loss among men increased stress and reduced household bargaining power, contributing to higher risks of lethal violence. However, the emergency aid program (a cash transfer provided by the federal government) – reaching nearly 30% of the population in these areas – played a protective role. In municipalities with high aid coverage, the increase in femicides was substantially smaller, suggesting that social assistance can mitigate the violence-inducing effects of economic stress and isolation.

    Policy lessons

    The findings from the literature underscore the need for public health and social protection strategies that anticipate and address gender-specific vulnerabilities. Responses to future shocks (i.e. large-scale emergencies) must pair containment measures with targeted interventions to protect women.

    Specifically, three lessons stand out. First, lockdowns and quarantines should be accompanied by enhanced support for victims of domestic abuse, including safe shelters, hotlines, and mobile outreach. Furthermore, policies should aim to lower barriers faced by victims to report. Second, economic relief policies such as emergency cash transfers can help buffer the effects of income loss and stress, indirectly preventing violence. Third, countries must invest in better data collection systems to track VAW in real-time. Without timely information, it is difficult to deploy effective responses or understand the true scope of the problem.

    In sum, addressing violence against women in crisis contexts requires integrating gender-sensitive planning into broader emergency preparedness frameworks. Doing so not only protects vulnerable women but also strengthens the overall resilience and equity of policy responses.

    References

    Agüero, J M (2021), “Covid-19 and the rise of intimate partner violence”, World Development 137, 105217.

    Aizer, A (2010), “The gender wage gap and domestic violence”, American Economic Review 100: 1847–1859.

    Anderberg, D, H Rainer, J Wadsworth and T Wilson (2016), “Unemployment and domestic violence: Theory and evidence”, The Economic Journal.

    Angelucci, M (2008), “Love on the rocks: Domestic violence and alcohol abuse in rural Mexico”, The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy 8.

    Asik, G A and E Nas Ozen (2021), “It takes a curfew: The effect of Covid-19 on female homicides”, Economics Letters 200, 109761.

    Bermek, S,  and A Unan (2024), “Victim-blaming norms and violence against women: Moral considerations can induce policy and behaviour change”, VoxEU.org, 8 March.

    Bhalotra, S (2020), “A shadow pandemic of domestic violence: The potential role of job loss and unemployment benefits”, VoxEU.org, 13 November.

    Bhalotra, S, E Brito, D Clarke, P Larroulet and F Pino (2024), “Dynamic impacts of lockdown on domestic violence: evidence from multiple policy shifts in Chile”, Review of Economics and Statistics, 1-29

    Card, D and G B Dahl (2011), “Family violence and football: The effect of unexpected emotional cues on violent behavior”, The Quartely Journal of Economics 126: 103–143.

    Diaz, M D M, P C Pereda, F Rocha, I B Árabe, P Oliveira, S Lordemus, N Kreif and R Moreno-Serra, (2024), “Public Policies and Femicides during the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from São Paulo, Brazil”, forthcoming in Economics and Human Biology.

    Dugan, L, D S Nagin, and R Rosenfeld (1999), “Explaining the decline in intimate partner homicide: The effects of changing domesticity, women’s status, and domestic violence resources”, Homicide Studies 3(3): 187–214.

    Gibbons, M A, T E Murphy and M A Rossi (2021), “Confinement and intimate partner violence”, Kyklos 74: 349–361.

    Hoehn-Velasco, L, A Silverio-Murillo and J R B de la Miyar (2021), “The great crime recovery: Crimes against women during, and after, the COVID-19 lockdown in Mexico”, Economics & Human Biology 41, 100991.

    Perez-Vincent, S M  and E Carreras (2020), “Evidence from a Domestic Violence Hotline in Argentina”, IDB Technical Note 1956.

    Perez-Vincent, S and E Carreras (2022), “Domestic violence reporting during the COVID-19 pandemic: Evidence from Latin America”, Review of Economics of the Household 20: 799–830.

    Peterman, A, A Potts, M O’Donnell et al. (2020), “Pandemics and Violence Against Women and Children”, Center for Global Development Working Paper 528.

    Poblete-Cazenave, R (2020), “The impact of lockdowns on crime and violence against women – Evidence from India”, NBER Working Paper.

    Rainer, H, F Siuda and D Anderberg (2021), “Assessing the magnitude of the domestic violence problem during the COVID-19 pandemic”, VoxEU.org, 20 November. 

    Rocha, F, M D M Diaz, P C Pereda, I B Árabe, F Cavalcanti, S Lordemus, N Kreif and R Moreno-Serra (2024), “COVID-19 and violence against women: Current knowledge, gaps, and implications for public policy”, World Development 174, 106461.

    Roman, S, M Aguiar-Palma and C Machado (2023), “A tale of two cities: Heterogeneous effects of COVID-19 quarantine on domestic violence in Brazil”, Social Science & Medicine 331, 116053.

    Silverio-Murillo, A J R B, de la Miyar and L Hoehn-Velasco (2020), “Families under confinement: COVID-19 and domestic violence”, Andrew Young School of Policy Studies Research Paper Series.

    UN Women (2020), “COVID-19 and ending violence against women and girls”, Policy Brief.

    UN Women (2021), “Types of violence against women and girls”.

    WHO (2013), “Global and regional estimates of violence against women: prevalence and health effects of intimate partner violence and non-partner sexual violence”, Geneva.

    WHO (2021), “Violence against women”.

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  • Considerations for CAR T Use Across Large B-Cell Lymphoma Variants

    Considerations for CAR T Use Across Large B-Cell Lymphoma Variants

    Jose Sandoval Sus, MD, assistant member of the Malignant Hematology and Cellular Therapy Program at Moffitt Cancer Center

    In a conversation with CancerNetwork® at the 2025 National Immune Cell Effector Therapy (ICE-T) conference, Jose Sandoval Sus, MD, assistant member of the Malignant Hematology and Cellular Therapy Program at Moffitt Cancer Center, discussed the use considerations for the use of numerous emergent CAR T-cell therapies across a broad spectrum of large B-cell lymphoma variants.1

    He began by highlighting the focus of the presentation he gave at the conference, which he explained recapped the emergence of anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapies in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma variants, describing it as a “revolution.” Sandoval Sus further highlighted standard treatments for patients with large B-cell lymphomas, disaggregated by disease variant, risk assessment, and line of therapy.

    Next, Sandoval Sus touched upon CAR T-cell therapies currently undergoing investigation, showing promise in large B-cell lymphoma, which include agents like rapcabtagene autoleucel (YTB323) in reducing vein-to-vein time among patients undergoing leukapheresis during CAR T-cell collection and dual-targeting CAR T therapies, among others in development. He concluded by discussing considerations for expanding access to CAR T-cell therapies, including optimizing their use outside of academic centers and increasing referrals for CAR T use in the community setting.

    CancerNetwork: What was the focus of your presentation on CAR T-cell therapy developments in lymphoma?

    Sandoval Sus: My topic [was] a recap of the revolution that anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapies have brought to the field of B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. [In] large B-cell lymphoma, follicular lymphoma, and a little snippet of a marginal zone lymphoma [MZL], CAR T-cell therapy has been incredibly revolutionary for patients with these diseases. Before, with patients who had relapsed/refractory, large B-cell lymphoma, as an example, the [median] survival of those patients would not be more than 6 months.

    Nowadays, at 5 years, we are seeing that [more than] 40% of those patients are alive, and about 30% are alive without their disease coming back. It has been a real revolution. Then for the other indolent lymphomas, like follicular lymphoma and [MZL], we [have] also seen promising outcomes with these constructs. I [gave a] recap of what we have learned up until now with some updated information about [CAR T-cell therapies in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma] up to 2025.

    What do current standard treatment options look like for these lymphoma patient populations, and what would you say are some strengths and limitations associated with these strategies?

    Sandoval Sus: For diffuse large B-cell lymphoma, we call it large B-cell lymphoma because we understand that diffuse large B-cell lymphoma is not just one disease. It is one diagnosis, but it can behave in multiple different ways. Now, [when] talking about diffuse large B-cell lymphoma not otherwise specified or high grade B-cell lymphoma with high risk features, for example, rearrangements in MEK and BCL2, I firmly believe that for patients who have a primary refractory disease, meaning that they did not have a response through the first chemoimmunotherapy regimen, or the patients with an early relapse, meaning that the disease [recurs] in the first 12 months, CAR T-cell therapies in the US should be the standard of care.

    We have 2 constructs that have demonstrated [an improvement in OS]. One of them demonstrated improvement in overall survival in second-line therapy that is called axicabtagene ciloleucel [Yescarta] or otherwise [called] axi-cel. We have another one that is trending that way and has remarkable outcomes as well, which is called lisocabtagene maraleucel [also known] as liso-cel.

    Now, in the third line, I believe that every patient should be offered treatment with anti-CD19 CAR T-cell therapy. In that setting, we have 3 constructs. I already talked about axi-cel and liso-cel, which at 5 years, around 35% to 40% of patients were alive, and some of them without [any] disease whatsoever. There is another compound that is called tisagenlecleucel [Kymriah], otherwise known as [tisa-cel], approved for relapsed/refractory large B-cell lymphoma after 2 lines of therapy or more.2 In that setting, it shows promising progression-free survival [and] overall survival outcomes in general in patients with large B-cell lymphoma.

    In patients [with large B-cell lymphoma], there are a couple of limitations that we need to be aware of. Although these agents are incredibly active, we know that it is limited to centers that specialize in cellular therapy. It used to be that there were fewer than 100 centers across the US, but more institutions are [becoming] specialized in this area of cellular therapy. We still have a long way to go, and a long way to providing more access to these lifesaving therapies to our patients.

    Another important limitation is what we call financial toxicity. They’re [quite] expensive agents, and we need to find a way, not only to improve access, but to make these medications less costly in the long run. I believe that there’s a potential for these types of therapies to be taken [before second line, in earlier lines, and] maybe on the front line. We have at least 2 trials that I know of that are evaluating these agents in the front line for high-risk patients with large B-cell lymphoma. If you can imagine that it is going to expand the potential candidates for these treatments if these [outcomes] are positive.

    We need not only to improve access but also decrease the financial toxicity [associated with] these medications. That’s an ongoing challenge that [many] of us in the fields are trying to find solutions [for], [including] working with our colleagues in pharmaceuticals.

    What CAR T-cell therapies are currently under investigation that show the most promise in treating patients with lymphoma and other diseases, and what data support their use?

    Sandoval Sus: There are [many] questions that we need to tackle. One of them is [decreasing] vein-to-vein time. When we leukapherese the patient, we collect their cells, and when the product is ready to be infused for the patient––one of them is a compound called [rapcabtagene autoleucel]––the vein-to-vein time [may] be less than 7 days, [perhaps] around 3 to 5 days, incredibly fast. In the early reports of a phase 2 trial [NCT03960840], the overall response rates [ORRs], complete response [rates], and at least 6 months of progression-free survival [PFS] look comparable with other CD19-targeting CAR T-cell therapy.3 More to see about that, and that looks [quite] promising.

    [The other question is] how we can overcome the mechanisms of resistance of these cells. In the summer conferences, several talks were intriguing and quite promising about some agents that have dual-targeting capabilities. Right now, like the name of the CAR T-cells says––anti-CD19––we are only targeting the CD19 antigen right now. The next wave of these CAR T-cells is targeting 2 antigens. One of them is CD19, and the other one is, for example, ECD20.

    You can [dual target] in 2 different ways. There’s a construct from [Kite Pharma], for example, that is called bicistronic, which in the same cell, has 2 different CARs, one for CD19, and it keeps the construct of CD19 with the costimulatory molecule, CD28, and they have a different construct on the same cell driving CD20 with a costimulatory 4-1BB molecule. That’s one of them.

    There are 2 other compounds that I can think about, one from [Johnson & Johnson] and another one from Miltenyi Biotec; these 2 compounds have differences between how they were manufactured, how fast [they are] manufactured, and how one of them is a fresh product vs another one [being] cryopreserved. [They] have the same mechanism of action, the same concept of the construct, that is what we call a tandem CAR T.In the same construct, they have expression of both [proteins]. They can target with the same construct, both CD19 and CD20. That’s another wave of development. Those constructs are a bit more advanced than others.

    There are other concepts that are a bit advanced in development, targeting both antigens, CD19 and CD20, by enriching the product for what we call memory T cells or naïve T cells that have been associated with better clinical responses. There’s a company that is doing that as well.

    [Finally,] targeting other B-cell lymphoma [variants] that have been left behind, unfortunately, because we need to devise better strategies to tackle them. For example, in Hodgkin lymphoma or our T-cell lymphomas, there’s an interesting concept right now of an allogeneic natural killer [NK] cell group with a tetravalent bispecific antibody. [This agent targets] CD16 and CD30, that is expressed on Hodgkin lymphomas and some of our T-cell lymphomas. The data [are premature] but show remarkable tolerability and some early efficacy. That is quite intriguing, and we are looking forward to that. There are [many] things that we could say, also [highlight]. Allogenic-CAR T-cells are important [in decreasing] vein-to-vein timing, [and there] already have been some early results [published] in that regard.

    How can the field expand access to CAR T-cell therapy for patients with these malignancies?

    Sandoval Sus: We have several strategies that [we could] potentially all work on as the field moves forward with [CAR T-cell therapy]. Some of the constructs that we have available right now are quite effective, and some of them we are learning have [fewer] toxicities, especially treatment-related [adverse] effects of interest, such as cytokine release syndrome [CRS], [immune effector cell-associated neurotoxicity syndrome (ICANS)], and [others]. I am talking about both [toxicities] because those are usually the acute toxicities that sometimes limit the generalizability of these products in the community.

    Some of these new constructs we might be able to use with an appropriate setup and the appropriate place to take them, more from the inpatient setting to the outpatient setting. Maybe patients can return [sooner], to their oncologist and to the community to be followed there a bit closer. One of the strategies is working more towards taking these CAR T-cell therapies in a safe way for the right patients at the right time to the outpatient setting, and working as we have been doing closely, but doing it [to better accommodate] our colleagues in the community.

    The other thing is identifying [which] patients are at higher risk for worse toxicities and working on new strategies to mitigate [them]. We have tried different things, prophylactic steroids, prophylactic tocilizumab [Actemra], another anti-IL1 antibody called anakinra [Kineret], and recently, we also tried other [agents] as prophylaxis to decrease the toxicity of these regimens; for example, JAK inhibitors. That is another strategy working in prophylactic or preventive measures, to decrease the toxicity of the CAR T cells.

    Another one is also important for us to talk about [with] the patients and their caregivers, to take home the message to [community oncologists], or the colleagues of a loved one, to offer CAR T cells. It is rare for us to see in the community, but at least to have the opportunity to refer patients early on for a consultation on CAR T-cell therapy that they can determine whether they are going to need this. I believe that a patient with an early relapse of large B-cell lymphoma should get a consultation at a CAR T cell service sooner rather than later. These patients who are at high risk for early death from their disease, or patients with mantle cell lymphoma, especially with high-risk features, should also [receive] an early consultation, [preferably] at their first relapse. Early consultation will expand access for curative therapies like CAR T cells.

    Reference

    1. Sandoval Sus J. Revolutionizing lymphoma treatment: the latest breakthrough in CAR-T therapy. Presented at the 2025 National Immune Cell Effector Therapy (ICE-T) conference. July 26, 2025.
    2. FDA approves tisagenlecleucel for adults with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma. News release. FDA. May 1, 2018. Accessed August 1, 2025. https://tinyurl.com/5exzpw6p
    3. Riedell PA, Kwon M, Finn IW, et al. Rapcabtagene autoleucel (YTB323) in patients (pts) with relapsed/refractory diffuse large B-cell lymphoma (R/R DLBCL): phase II trial clinical update. Blood. 2024;144(suppl 1):67. doi:10.1182/blood-2024-204264

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  • Analysing community-level spending behaviour contributing to high carbon emissions using stochastic block models

    Analysing community-level spending behaviour contributing to high carbon emissions using stochastic block models

    We obtain financial transaction data from ekko20, a sustainable banking FinTech company, alongside several government datasets. These include the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD)21 , Living Cost and Food Survey (LCFS)22, and UK Multi-Region Input-Output (UKMRIO) data23. These datasets provide socio-economic context and environmental impact metrics for the customers of the banking initiative. In this section, we describe the dataset and also outline the network construction approach and community detection methodology, aimed at uncovering patterns in consumer behaviour and carbon emissions associated with everyday spending. The code used to apply the methodology for this research is freely available 24.

    Financial transaction dataset

    We obtained a debit card transaction dataset from ekko20, a sustainable banking FinTech we partnered with, containing tens of thousands of transactions spanning from 2021 to 2023 from 1,362 customers based in the UK. A distinctive feature of these customers is their higher level of environmental consciousness compared to the general population. This is demonstrated by their engagement with ekko, which focuses on promoting environmentally friendly practices and rewards customers for their transaction activity. These rewards are specifically designed to help customers consider the carbon footprint of their everyday transactions. The FinTech’s mobile application allows customers to view in real-time the environmental impact of their spending, along with personalized insights and streamlined features that make it easier to adopt greener choices in their daily lives.

    The financial transaction dataset includes key customer metrics such as customer ID, postcode, age, and transaction details including transaction time, Merchant Category Code (MCC), and amount spent. We summarize the age and IMD distributions of the customers and discuss how they compare to national levels in Appendix 1.

    The spending categories of customers in our analysis are defined by the Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) assigned by the debit card provider, in this case, Mastercard. Each transaction is linked to a merchant category, described by spending type. An extensive list of merchant categories and the transactions that fall within each is available in Mastercard’s reference documentation25.

    However, it is important to note that some spending categories are incompletely represented in the dataset due to the nature of the available transaction data. In particular, utility payments are frequently made via direct debit, which is not included in this dataset. As a result, spending in the MCC 4900 category (“Utilities—Electric, Gas, Heating Oil, Sanitary, Water”) is less than expected. Other services commonly paid via direct debit, such as subscriptions (MCC 4899—“Cable, Satellite, and Other Pay Television and Radio Services”) and rent payments (MCC 6513—“Real Estate Agents and Managers—Rentals”), are also underrepresented in this data. This limitation should be kept in mind when interpreting the absence of energy-related or subscription-based spending and emissions in the figures and cluster analysis.

    For the Stochastic Block Modelling (SBM) analysis, we focus on customers who have made a minimum of 30 transactions across 10 distinct categories to ensure we capture consistent and diverse everyday spending patterns. This threshold is set to include only those customers with a sufficiently broad spending behaviour, preventing the inclusion of infrequent or niche spenders that could skew the analysis. With this criterion, we retain a sample of 272 customers, ensuring statistical significance. In Fig. 1 we present the percentage of spending behaviour across MCCs of this sample. To further validate our approach, we apply the model to larger, artificially generated transaction datasets in subsection Applying the model on larger dataset. The results show that although the set of customers may vary with different minimum thresholds for transactions and MCCs, the use of stochastic block modelling still yields clusters with consistent underlying patterns (see subsection Applying the model on larger dataset for more details). The choice of thresholds does not fundamentally alter the overall structure uncovered by the analysis, but it does change the specific composition of the clusters based on the number of customers we allow for.

    Fig. 1

    Percentage of transactions in the top 10 most frequent Merchant Category Codes (MCCs) across the entire sample (N = 272 customers).

    Government datasets: IMD, LCFS, and UKMRIO

    This study relies on several openly available government datasets to contextualise spending patterns and their associated carbon emissions within broader socio-economic and environmental contexts. The datasets used are the Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD), the Living Cost and Food Survey (LCFS), and the UK Multi-Region Input-Output (UKMRIO) data.

    The Index of Multiple Deprivation (IMD) provides a detailed measure of deprivation at a small area level across England, covering indicators such as income, employment, education, health, crime, housing, and the living environment. We use the English indices of deprivation 2019 dataset, published by the UK Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government21, to understand the socio-economic profile of customers and analyse correlations between deprivation levels and spending behaviour.

    The Living Cost and Food Survey (LCFS), collected annually by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), provides detailed data on household expenditure, income, and demographics. The UK Multi-Region Input-Output (UKMRIO) dataset offers a model of the flow of goods and services across UK regions, detailing inter-industry interactions, consumption, and environmental impacts. Together, these datasets allow us to estimate the carbon emissions linked to different categories of expenditure6.

    Data integration and fusion

    To integrate the financial transaction data with these government datasets, we follow a structured process. First, carbon emissions for each transaction are estimated using the third approach described in Trendl et al.6, which derives emissions from financial transaction data combined with MRIO-based carbon multipliers. Specifically, we apply carbon intensity multipliers developed by Trendl et al.6, based on the LCFS and UKMRIO datasets. These multipliers are linked to COICOP categories, which are then mapped to MCCs in the transaction data using established mappings2,26,27,28. This approach allows us to estimate emissions for each transaction based on its MCC and spending amount, with adjustments for inflation using Consumer Price Index (CPI) values.

    Second, the IMD is linked to the transaction data using customer postcodes, matching each postcode to a Lower Layer Super Output Area (LSOA) in the IMD dataset. This provides deprivation statistics for each customer, enabling an analysis of socio-economic influences on spending behaviour and carbon emissions. We managed to map every customer to the respective level of deprivation of their environment.

    By combining these datasets, we ensure a comprehensive analysis of customer spending patterns, socio-economic contexts, and associated carbon emissions.

    Bipartite network creation

    Bipartite networks are used to represent systems consisting of two distinct types of nodes. In simple bipartite networks, connections only form between nodes of different types, which makes them ideal for modelling relationships in complex datasets. For example, in ecology, bipartite networks can illustrate interactions between species and their environments, helping researchers understand ecosystem dynamics29,30. Similarly, in recommendation systems, these networks can connect users with items, allowing for tailored recommendations based on user preferences31. In economics, bipartite networks can represent relationships between different economic agents, such as consumers and products, facilitating insights into market behaviour32.

    By highlighting these applications, we can see that bipartite networks are not just theoretical constructs; they are a practical tool that helps us analyse and understand complex interactions between distinct groups across various fields. They can be used for data mining, pattern recognition, and identifying relationships within complex systems, making them useful in both research and applied contexts. In the context of this research, their role extends to identifying consumer spending patterns and estimating carbon emissions, thereby providing valuable insights for policymakers and financial institutions seeking to implement effective carbon reduction strategies. In this research context, these networks allow customers to be linked with the transaction categories they engage with.

    Fig. 2
    figure 2

    An example of a transaction bipartite network, showing the connection between customers (top) and MCCs (bottom). Each edge represents that the customer has had at least one transaction in that merchant category.

    To understand customer spending behaviour, we construct a bipartite network with customers as one type of node and MCCs as the other. An edge is created between a customer and an MCC if the customer has made a transaction in that category. See Fig. 2 for an illustration of this bipartite network structure. This approach allows us to present all the data from a large transaction dataset in a single network, connecting customers and categories based on transaction patterns. We can then apply network analysis techniques to analyse the dataset, which provides additional insights compared to classical statistics and machine learning approaches.

    This network approach also accommodates classification systems different from the MCC used by financial institutions, allowing for the exploration of connections and the identification of consumer communities based on their spending patterns. By incorporating various classifications, such as COICOP used by the UN and multiple policymaking institutions, this approach provides broad analysis of consumer behaviour across different contexts.

    Additionally, we define two alternative edge-weighting schemes for the bipartite network to better capture different characteristics of the data. These weight assignments provide different ways to quantify the strength of the relationship between customers and merchant categories (MCCs) based on their transaction behaviour.

    First, we use the number of transactions between a customer and an MCC as the edge weight. This means that for each customer-category connection, the weight is simply the count of transactions made by that specific customer in that category. This approach ensures that the network structure reflects not only the set of categories a customer transacts in but also the frequency of transactions within each category. By incorporating transaction counts directly as weights, we preserve the raw behavioural patterns without introducing external assumptions.

    Second, we define an alternative weighting based on relative spending per category. Here, the edge weight represents the total amount a customer has spent in a given category, normalised by the average spending of all customers in that category. This normalisation ensures that spending behaviour is interpreted in the context of overall category trends, allowing us to identify customers who spend significantly more or less than average in a given category.

    These weighting schemes do not introduce arbitrary modifications but rather directly derive from the transaction data itself–either as transaction counts or spending amounts–ensuring a transparent and interpretable network representation. By applying network analysis to these weighted structures, we uncover different aspects of consumer spending behaviour. The results of these analyses and their implications are explored in the Discussion section.

    Stochastic block modelling

    A Stochastic Block Model (SBM) is a probabilistic model used to analyse the structure of networks by dividing nodes into distinct groups or “blocks” based on connection patterns. Its probabilistic nature makes it well-suited for community detection, allowing us to identify connection patterns within and between groups. Introduced in the 1980s by33, the canonical SBM views networks as structures composed of blocks of nodes. Connections between nodes are determined by their block memberships and predefined network parameters.

    There have been many recent advancements in SBMs expanding their applicability to various networks across different scientific fields. Modifications to the canonical SBM structure include approaches that account for weights in networks34 and hierarchical communities35. Studies have also developed degree-corrected variations36 and overlapping communities37.

    These models have been effectively applied to study community formation in various fields, such as in US Senate political cohesion and co-voting networks38, connections in healthy human gut microbiomes39, and relationships in ecology and ethnobiology40.

    SBMs are particularly useful for analysing large-scale networks encountered in real-world applications, such as large financial transaction datasets. While our study focuses on UK consumption data, this approach is not limited to a single region. SBMs can be applied to transaction datasets from other countries, enabling cross-country comparisons of consumer behaviour and spending patterns by identifying similarities and differences in community structures across regions. Their high resolution limits allow for the identification of numerous communities with specific characteristics35,41. The probabilistic basis of SBMs ensures reliable community detection results based on observed data, making them an efficient tool for revealing insights into community organization in complex networks.

    In contrast to methods like k-means or modularity maximisation, which may struggle with high-dimensional, sparse, or complex network data, SBMs are better suited for detecting meaningful community structures. SBMs identify statistically significant assortative modules by modelling the full probabilistic structure of the network, enabling them to avoid common pitfalls like resolution limits and overfitting35,42. Moreover, SBM’s hierarchical and nonparametric properties allow the detection of multi-scale community structures and fine-grained behavioural patterns without prior assumptions about the number or shape of the clusters19. This makes them particularly appropriate for analysing behavioural networks derived from financial transactions.

    In this study, we apply a degree-corrected nonparametric hierarchical SBM on the bipartite network we previously described to identify communities of customers based on spending categories. We implement the model using Python and the graph-tool package. For reproducibility, the full code is openly available24. This specific SBM method was initially developed for topic modelling through word clusters in documents43,44. We apply this method to financial transaction datasets so that we can find communities of customers with similar spending behaviour in bipartite networks of customers and categories. Additionally, we introduce modifications to the code, so that we can use any arbitrary vector of weights between the customer and category nodes instead of solely relying on the number of repeated transactions as the weight.

    However, due to its probabilistic nature, running the SBM algorithm only once does not guarantee finding the optimal partition consistently19. To address this variability, we run the algorithm 100 times, as this is typically sufficient for the entropy in the system to stabilise—meaning that the uncertainty in the community assignments reaches a consistent level. Stabilisation of entropy is desirable because it indicates that the algorithm has converged to a reliable partitioning of the network. However, we can run additional iterations if necessary. We then plot the change in entropy and select the iteration with the highest posterior probability. We choose the clusters generated by the SBM which are optimal because they achieve the lowest possible entropy, indicating a well-defined community structure.

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