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FIA questions Imran Khan over ‘anti-state’ posts on X

ISLAMABAD:

The Cyber Crimes Wing of the Federal Investigation Agency’s (FIA) on Tuesday initiated an inquiry into the alleged use of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) founder Imran Khan’s social media account for spreading what officials called an ‘anti-state narrative’.

According to the sources, a three-member team of FIA cybercrime Islamabad, led by Ayaz Khan, visited Adiala Jail on Tuesday to question the PTI founder about his X handle.

Investigators asked who operated the account, where it was accessed from, and whether the PTI founder had authorised others to use it. They also pressed whether he was aware of the content posted from the account that was deemed ‘anti-state’.

“My X account, who uses it—I will not disclose,” the PTI founder reportedly told the team, according to sources.

Imran Khan is said to have demanded a written questionnaire from investigators and insisted he would only respond in the presence of his lawyers. The FIA team remained at Adiala Jail for more than an hour, sources added.

The former prime minister had denounced what he termed an ‘unconstitutional trial’ inside Adiala Jail and urged supporters to prepare for a mass rally in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P). Authorities described the post as ‘anti-state’ content, prompting fresh scrutiny into the use of his social media platforms.

In his statement, Khan said: “Over three hundred fabricated cases have been registered against me, all of which I am facing. I will emerge with justice from the courts without making any deal. Every form of oppression has been inflicted upon our party. My wife and I would be freed today if cases were decided on merit.”

He accused the government of violating human rights and restricting his access to basic facilities. “My books are withheld, and in eight months I was allowed to speak to my children only once. The judges in my cases hold no authority; they cannot conduct the trials independently,” he claimed.

Calling the proceedings against him unconstitutional, Khan said: “This oppressive system cannot endure for long. It is essential that all of you retweet posts from my account, in a clear message of unity and alignment.”

He also directed his party to announce a grand public rally in K-P, saying participants from across the country should gather “to stand together against the darkness that engulfs us.”

In another post on X, Imran criticised the government’s policy of expelling Afghans from Pakistan and the ongoing military operations in K-P, warning that such measures were costing lives. “Because of these policies, our own people are being martyred everywhere,” he said.

He urged that “lasting peace only comes through dialogue. This approach can never establish peace.” He added that “no operation can succeed without the cooperation of stakeholders, nor can any sustainable solution be found.”

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September 16, 2025
Emmy-winning ER drama ‘The Pitt’ shines a light on compassionate teaching

The Pitt, HBO Max’s Emmy-winning television medical drama, is a breakout hit.

Medical professionals and critics alike laud the show for its realistic portrayal of an emergency room.

That the show is also a master class in teaching has largely escaped notice.

As a critic and scholar who writes about representations of teachers in popular media,
I hadn’t expected to think about teaching when tuning in for a fictional show about Pittsburgh Trauma Medical Hospital.

Popular media: education and escape

Philosopher of education Adam Greteman and K.J. Burke, an expert in teacher education, highlight how popular media serves as an educational space. Lessons about schooling can appear as a pleasurable escape from reality, both reflecting and sometimes distorting the full scope of people’s lived experiences.

Television, film and even children’s picture books shape public perceptions of the teaching profession — and so does The Pitt.

Trailer for ‘The Pitt’

Dr. Michael “Robby” Robinavitch (Noah Wyle) mentors a team of nurses and doctors at a teaching hospital. The ER may not be a formal classroom, but what makes The Pitt so intriguing as a case study about education is its setting outside the classroom. Interns learn on the go in a hands-on setting with real-world consequences and problems.

While I cannot comment specifically about the show’s depictions of what may be needed for best-practice ER infrastructure and education, I’m interested in how the show offers compelling insights around what it means to teach with and through trauma that are relevant for education in schools and at post-secondary levels at large.

Read more:
Living to tell the story: Lawsuit accuses ER doctor of anti-Indigenous racism

The COVID-19 pandemic

The COVID-19 pandemic looms large in The Pitt, and flashbacks to one particularly awful day intrude into Dr. Robby’s mind throughout the episodes. Like doctors and nurses, educators were on the front lines during the pandemic.

A recent study highlights the pandemic’s lingering adverse effect on teacher recruitment and retention. Likewise, in a 2022 study, researchers in the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Colorado School of Medicine found that the stressors on K-12 educators led to burnout and other mental health challenges. Attending to the mental health of both students and teachers as part of, rather than outside of, teacher training is a start.

Read more:
Teachers lack resources to meet classroom needs, and absences shouldn’t surprise us

Stereotypes of male educators

To fully understand Dr. Robby, it is essential to recognize how his character transcends familiar stereotypes of male educators in popular culture. Familiar tropes include the buffoon (Mr. D. in the show of the same name), the burnout (the teacher in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off), the disciplinarian (the assistant principal in The Breakfast Club), the maverick (Dewey Finn in School of Rock, John Keating in Dead Poet’s Society), the villain (Severus Snape in Harry Potter) and the wise mentor (Albus Dumbledore in Harry Potter).

The Pitt’s Dr. Robby doesn’t fit neatly into any of these categories. Specifically, he embraces vulnerability and compassion that expand previous representations of teaching in popular culture.

Dr. Robby has more in common with characters like the teacher Justine Gandy in the 2025 film Weapons or Dan Dunne in the 2006 Half Nelson; deeply flawed, yet highly empathetic — super feelers who connect with the people they teach.

The character of Dr. Robby is a ‘super feeler.’ Noah Wyle accepts the award for outstanding lead actor in a drama series for ‘The Pitt’ during the Emmy Awards on Sept. 14, 2025, in Los Angeles.
(AP Photo/Chris Pizzello)

Compassionate teaching methods

Struggling with PTSD from the pandemic and the loss of his mentor, Dr. Robby suffers a panic attack in Episode 13. This background informs Dr. Robby’s compassionate teaching methods, which align with current calls for trauma-informed approaches in education.

Read more:
Hard choices put health workers at risk of mental anguish, PTSD during coronavirus

Dr. Robby leans into trauma on both a social (the pandemic and its aftermath; an epidemic of drug overdoses) and an individual level (the loss of his own mentor to COVID-19 under his watch) as the starting point for instruction.

After 15 years of university teaching, I, too, begin with the assumption that most students are merely holding it together for class as they deal with a range of experiences like personal depression, anxiety, grief and abuse, as well as collective distress about wildfires, war and increasing authoritarianism across the globe.

Cultural diversity

The Pitt’s diverse cast speaks multiple languages and brings different cultural perspectives to the ER. Dr. Robby’s ability to build on the differences of the interns, doctors and staff endorses equity and inclusion as essential to the art of teaching, especially as DEI initiatives are being dismantled or rebranded across North America.

While classrooms in the United States and Canada are increasingly ethnically and linguistically diverse, the teachers are not. The ER is stronger because of the differences that the interns bring.

Violence

In Episode 12, “6:00 p.m.,” a mass shooting at a music festival fills the hospital with victims who need to be triaged.

Not only in the U.S., but also in Canada, educational systems advise lockdown drills. The Aug. 27, 2025, Annunciation Catholic Church shooting in the U.S. is just one example of how teachers in the U.S. live with the reality and fear of threats from guns. Such threats are not as present across Canadian educational spaces, but still a reality.

And in both health care and schools, such stark eruptions point to wider systemic problems that need to be addressed across society, not only when they become crises.

Dr. Robby receives constant pressure to prioritize profits over patient care. Likewise, as post-secondary institutions struggle with financial constraints as they navigate the pandemic’s fallout, The Pitt teaches us that now, more than ever, we need to value face-to-face interaction.

Across disciplines, institutions need to provide supports for educators to shape emergent curricula co-built with and for the students who show up in our classrooms. Students need opportunities in their own communities to work side by side with an experienced mentor, like Dr. Robby, in hands-on, real-world spaces outside of the formal classroom.

The teacher we need

Dr. Robby is no John Keating of Dead Poets Society, and that’s a refreshing break from romanticized ideas about individual teachers saving the day.

The Pitt offers us instead a vulnerable yet compassionate male teacher with fears and flaws like his interns and patients. Dr. Robby is the teacher we all need right now.

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September 16, 2025
Lymphatic vessels found to undergo dramatic changes during kidney transplant rejection

Scientists have uncovered how lymphatic vessels – the kidney’s ‘plumbing system’ – undergo dramatic changes during chronic transplant rejection, becoming structurally disorganised and spreading to unusual parts of the kidney.

Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, University College London (UCL) and the University of Cambridge used single-cell sequencing combined with powerful 3D imaging to look at small lymphatic vessels in kidney tissue, comparing healthy kidneys with transplanted kidneys that had been rejected.

Published today (16 September) in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, the research sheds new light on a major unsolved challenge in kidney transplantation and could open the door to new treatments that help transplants last longer.

Kidney transplantation is the most common form of solid organ transplant worldwide. Although the short-term outcomes of kidney transplantation – within a year after surgery – are very good, the long-term outcomes are poorer. Within 10 years, and depending on what country patients are treated in, roughly 50 per cent of kidney grafts will fail.

Researchers know that a big component of why kidney transplant failure occurs is that the patient’s immune system attacks parts of the new kidney – such as the blood vessels within it. However, the role of the lymphatic vessels is far less understood. In healthy kidneys, lymphatic vessels act as the organ’s plumbing system – playing a vital role in draining excess fluid and helping to regulate immune activity. Therefore, the researchers sought to gain a deeper understanding of the lymphatic system during transplant rejection.

The team from the Sanger Institute, UCL and their collaborators used two different and powerful methods – single cell RNA sequencing and advanced 3D imaging. They studied samples from both healthy and transplant rejection patients. Single-cell sequencing allows scientists to study the activity of genes in individual cells, one at a time. The researchers did this on a very large scale to generate a huge amount of data. Then the team stained large chunks of kidney tissue whilst still intact and used a procedure to make it transparent. This 3D imaging helped validate the predictions from the single-cell genetic analysis.

The researchers found that during kidney transplant rejection, the lymphatic vessels within the transplant change their shape and organization. The vessels spread into deeper parts of the kidney known as the medulla, which normally has no lymphatic vessels within it. At the same time the cell junctions, which are protein anchors that connect cells, go from looking like loose buttons to tightening up like zippers. This is a change that in other contexts is associated with immune cells getting trapped and unable to escape.

Additionally, the researchers found that the balance of T cells inside and around the vessels was disrupted. These T cells released signals that made the vessels switch on molecules acting like “brakes” for the immune system, in an attempt to calm inflammation. However, this protective response was not enough, as other immune cells and antibodies were seen to be directly attacking the kidney. Strikingly, the vessels themselves were also carrying signs that they too were being targeted by the same harmful antibodies.

These findings challenge the view that lymphatic vessels are simply good or bad in transplant rejection. This study suggests that the lymphatic system is normally protective but impaired in transplant rejection as the findings show the vessels change in ways that could encourage rejection by altering their structure and fuelling immune responses. The results pave the way for research to focus on regenerating or protecting the lymphatic system in chronic kidney rejection.

You can think of lymphatic vessels as the kidney’s plumbing system – clearing away excess fluid, immune cells and inflammation. Until now, we have struggled to really understand what these vessels do in kidney transplantation because they are so difficult to study. Using new imaging techniques, we’ve shown that these vessels undergo dramatic changes during rejection and are themselves a target of the immune system.”

Dr. Daniyal Jafree, first author at the Wellcome Sanger Institute and clinician-scientist at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health

Professor David Long, co-senior author, Professor of Paediatric Nephrology at UCL Great Ormond Street Institute of Child Health and Deputy Theme Lead of the NIHR GOSH Biomedical Research Centre, said: “Our innovative methods have allowed us to clearly demonstrate the important role of lymphatic vessels in transplant rejection. By combining single-cell sequencing with advanced 3D imaging, we’ve made a significant step forward in kidney transplant research.”

Professor Menna Clatworthy, co-senior author and Professor of Translational Immunology at the University of Cambridge and the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said: “By uncovering how lymphatic vessels change at both the structural and molecular level, we now have a much clearer picture of the immune environment during transplant rejection. This could help us identify new therapeutic targets to preserve kidney transplants for longer.”

Source:

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

Journal reference:

Jafree, D. J., et al. (2025). Organ-specific features of human kidney lymphatics are disrupted in chronic transplant rejection. Journal of Clinical Investigation. doi.org/10.1172/jci168962

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September 16, 2025
We could see such a black hole explosion in the next 10 years, scientists find

A decade ago, the first gravitational waves confirmed that black holes collide. Telescopes soon revealed shadows of giants lurking at galaxy cores. The next frontier is stranger: tiny black holes from the first heartbeat of the universe. These primordial remnants might be far lighter than collapsed stars, and some could die today in brilliant bursts. A new study lays out how that could happen and why you might actually catch one with current telescopes.

Why small black holes can end with a bang

Black holes are not truly black. They glow faintly with Hawking radiation, a thermal trickle that gets hotter as mass drops. Think of temperature scaling roughly as one divided by mass. Stellar or supermassive holes stay cold and quiet for unimaginable ages. But a primordial black hole with the right mass can heat up, radiate faster, and run away to a final flash.

In the standard picture, the ones finishing now were born near 5.6 × 10^14 grams. Their integrated glow would add to the x-ray and gamma haze across the sky. That haze—the extragalactic gamma-ray background—severely restricts how many such objects can exist. The tightest bound allows only about 10^-10 of dark matter in those masses. Fold in realistic mass spreads, and you expect fewer than 0.01 final explosions per cubic parsec per year locally. With instruments able to see out only about a tenth of a parsec, you would wait about 100,000 years for a single burst. Not great odds.

This artist’s concept takes a fanciful approach to imagining small primordial black holes. In reality, such tiny black holes would have a difficult time forming the accretion disks that make them visible here. (CREDIT: NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center)

A simple twist: a hidden charge stalls the burn

The new work proposes a modest extension to physics. Add a “dark” version of electromagnetism and a very heavy “dark electron.” Now imagine some primordial black holes formed with a small dark charge—around a one-percent charge parameter in the examples. Early on, the hole radiates in the usual way and shrinks. But it cannot easily spit out those heavy dark electrons to neutralize itself. As mass drops, the charge-to-mass ratio rises toward an extremal limit, and the temperature plunges. Evaporation crawls.

This long, cool stall—called a quasiextremal phase—lets much lighter holes endure to the present. Over eons, the dark electric field near the horizon strengthens. Eventually, it becomes powerful enough to tear dark electron–positron pairs from the vacuum by a Schwinger-like process. The charge drains in a rush. Temperature spikes. The black hole dumps the last of its mass and explodes like a neutral one.

That three-act arc—early burn, long stall, late discharge—does two big things. It lowers the birth mass needed to be dying today and suppresses past photon output that would dark-charged primordial black hole explosion otherwise show up in the gamma background. More survivors now, less trouble then.

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What the numbers say

The study follows black hole mass, temperature, and charge using standard Hawking emission with graybody factors. It treats the dark photon as massless and the dark electron as very heavy. In a representative case, a hole born at 9.6 × 10^12 grams and carrying a 0.01 dark charge parameter would have vanished in about 10^4 years if neutral. With dark charge, it instead cools into near-extremality and lingers until roughly 10^10 years, when dark Schwinger pair production finally switches on and the last act begins.

Constraints from cosmology still matter. The authors check energy injection during big bang nucleosynthesis, late-time heating that affects the cosmic microwave background, and the extragalactic gamma-ray background across 1 MeV to 10^6 GeV. Using a power-law fit with an index near 2.6 to describe the observed gamma background, they translate allowed black hole fractions into present-day burst rates.

Real populations likely span masses, so the team adopts a log-normal distribution with width 0.3 and evolves it forward. The picture changes dramatically compared with the neutral case. Instead of a ceiling near 0.01 events per cubic parsec per year, the maximum allowed local rate can reach about 10^4 in parts of dark-sector parameter space. There is a trade-off: discharging later means a faster, shorter final burst, so each event yields fewer very-high-energy photons. The sweet spot—where many events still deliver enough TeV photons to see—lands near 1,000 per cubic parsec per year.

PBH mass (blue), charge (red), and temperature (orange) evolution for mᴰ = 10¹⁰ GeV and eᴰ = 10⁻³ eˢᴹ. We also show τ_Schw (the lifetime of a Schwarzschild PBH of the same initial mass), t_CMB (the time of recombination), and t_universe (the age of the Universe today). (CREDIT: Physical Review Letters)

What HAWC and LHAASO could realistically catch

High-altitude gamma observatories already search for brief TeV bursts. HAWC has set a direct upper limit on neutral black hole explosions of about 3,400 per cubic parsec per year locally. LHAASO can push that direct limit to around 1,200 per cubic parsec per year. Those limits weaken in the dark-charged scenario because the final pops are shorter and dimmer at lower masses, which shrinks the search volume.

To estimate discovery chances, the team asks a practical question: out to what distance would at least ten photons above 10^3 GeV arrive from a single event? That defines the search volume. Multiply by the local rate and the observing time, and you get the expected count. A simple Poisson rule then gives the probability to see at least one. In the most promising slice of parameter space, both HAWC and LHAASO collect a meaningful chance over a decade of operation.

A bold claim from Amherst

The narrative aligns with a separate statement from University of Massachusetts Amherst, where the authors report the paper in Physical Review Letters. They argue that chances may be far better than once in 100,000 years. “We believe that there is up to a 90% chance of witnessing an exploding PBH in the next 10 years,” says Aidan Symons, a co-author and graduate student in physics at UMass Amherst. The pitch is straightforward: you already have the hardware; prepare the pipelines.

Indirect bounds on fPBH from BBN (red), CMB (blue), and the EGRB (gray) during the initial evaporation phase, and from both the CMB and EGRB (black) during the final explosion for three different benchmark points (A, B, and C). (CREDIT: Physical Review Letters)

The team underscores what a detection would prove. “We can see it with our current crop of telescopes, and because the only black holes that can explode today or in the near future are these PBHs, we know that if we see Hawking radiation, we are seeing an exploding PBH,” says Joaquim Iguaz Juan, a postdoctoral researcher in physics at UMass Amherst.

Andrea Thamm, assistant professor of physics at UMass Amherst, adds the basic logic: “The lighter a black hole is, the hotter it should be and the more particles it will emit. As PBHs evaporate, they become ever lighter, and so hotter, emitting even more radiation in a runaway process until explosion. It’s that Hawking radiation that our telescopes can detect.”

Their model uses a “dark-QED toy model,” essentially a copy of ordinary electromagnetism that includes a heavy dark electron. Michael Baker, also at UMass Amherst, explains the key twist. “We make a different assumption. We show that if a primordial black hole is formed with a small dark electric charge, then the toy model predicts that it should be temporarily stabilized before finally exploding.” He adds a measured note: “We’re not claiming that it’s absolutely going to happen this decade,” but the probability could be high. The message is to get ready.

How initial charge and parameters matter

You might wonder how realistic a small initial dark charge is. The study argues that results do not hinge on a single number. If the dark electron is very heavy, radiating it is hard. Accreting charge from the environment is slow for tiny horizons, and a cooled dark sector would leave few charges to swallow anyway. Even allowing a spread of initial charges, the predicted burst rate shifts only by a factor of order one, as long as typical charges sit near values that trigger today’s discharges.

Maximum burst rates consistent with the CMB and EGRB constraints for a log-normal mass distribution of PBHs with σₘ = 0.3 and QD*ᵢ = 0.01, along with the corresponding probability of an observation at HAWC (yellow) and LHAASO (magenta) with 10 years of data. (CREDIT: Physical Review Letters)

A useful rule of thumb emerges: the critical birth mass for a “today” explosion falls as the dark coupling divided by the dark electron mass squared, while it remains well below the neutral benchmark near 5.6 × 10^14 grams. Lower critical mass means more objects per unit dark matter, lifting present-day rates without wrecking cosmological bounds, because the quasiextremal plateau throttles past photon output.

Beyond one model

Other knobs could mimic the stall. Pushing spin toward the extremal limit, adding magnetic charge, or invoking extra dimensions might all slow evaporation in midlife and end in a late discharge. The details would differ, yet the core lesson stands: a long near-extremal pause reshapes both event rates and constraints.

The authors note edges where calculations grow fuzzy—very strong dark coupling where perturbation theory strains, or corners where standard approximations break. Those limits sit outside the broad region that drives the main predictions. Wider mass spreads still keep the headline result, provided the distribution does not pile up far above about 2 × 10^13 grams.

What it would mean if you see one

A single detection would do three things at once. It would show that primordial black holes exist. It would finally confirm Hawking radiation in the cosmos. And it would fingerprint every particle lighter than the black hole’s temperature, including new, weakly interacting species far beyond collider reach.

Even a null result, interpreted with this stall-and-discharge lens, would carve deep limits on dark couplings, dark electron masses, and early-universe formation paths.

Practical Implications of the Research:

Catching one of these explosions would confirm Hawking radiation, reveal primordial black holes, and inventory light particles in nature. The data could expose hints of dark sectors and sharpen dark matter ideas. Better constraints would guide models of the infant universe, particle physics, and black hole thermodynamics.

Observatories like HAWC and LHAASO can optimize burst searches now, refine time-window triggers, and coordinate with space telescopes. Even a non-detection after focused searches will narrow theory and focus instrument upgrades toward the most promising energies and timescales.

The work also motivates new burst classifiers for short TeV events and community alerts to coordinate rapid follow-ups across wavelengths.

Note: The article above provided above by The Brighter Side of News.

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September 16, 2025
Gemini tops the App Store thanks to new AI image model, Nano Banana

Gemini’s mobile adoption has been soaring since the August launch of its Nano Banana image editor model, which has received positive reviews, particularly from users who say they can now more easily perform complex edits and create realistic images. The app has climbed to the top of global app stores’ charts and has seen a 45% month-over-month increase in downloads in the month of September so far, according to new data provided by app intelligence firm Appfigures.

Though the month is only half over, Gemini’s app has already gained 12.6 million downloads in September, up from 8.7 million in August.

Before this month, Gemini had only gotten as high as No. 3 on the U.S. App Store on January 28, 2025.

Shortly after Nano Banana’s release, Gemini reached the No. 2 spot on the U.S. App Store on September 8. It then became the No. 1 app on September 12, where it has remained, after knocking OpenAI’s ChatGPT down to No. 2. No other dedicated AI apps are in the top 10 on the App Store at this time.

Gemini also became one of the top five iPhone apps overall in 108 countries globally, Appfigures’ data indicates.

On Google Play, Gemini jumped from the No. 26 overall top app in the U.S. on September 8 to become the No. 2 app as of Monday. However, despite Android being Google’s own platform, ChatGPT remains in the top spot as of the time of writing.

Google has been touting Gemini’s growth, as more mainstream users have been trying out the new image editing features. For instance, Google Gemini and Google Labs VP Josh Woodward shared on X on September 8 that the app had gained 23 million first-time users since the Nano Banana model launched, and those users had shared over 500 million images.

The app’s rapid growth is also driving increases in consumer spending.

Of the $6.3 million Gemini generated this year on iOS devices, $1.6 million was from the month of August, with much of that coming in after the Nano Banana model’s release. That’s up 1,291% from January’s figure of $115,000, Appfigures estimates.

The app is also on track to at least match August’s number if not surpass it in September, as Gemini has pulled in $792,000 so far this month — roughly half of August’s total.

This year, Gemini’s app has been downloaded 103.7 million times, and has seen 185.4 million downloads to date since its launch on Android in February 2024 and its expansion to iOS later that year.

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September 16, 2025
Gemini overtakes ChatGPT on App Store, as its Nano Banana AI model drives downloads up 45%

Gemini’s mobile adoption has been soaring since the August launch of its Nano Banana image editor model, which has received positive reviews, particularly from users who say they can now more easily perform complex edits and create realistic images. The app has climbed to the top of global app stores’ charts and has seen a 45% month-over-month increase in downloads in the month of September so far, according to new data provided by app intelligence firm Appfigures.

Though the month is only half over, Gemini’s app has already gained 12.6 million downloads in September, up from 8.7 million in August.

Before this month, Gemini had only gotten as high as No. 3 on the U.S. App Store on January 28, 2025.

Shortly after Nano Banana’s release, Gemini reached the No. 2 spot on the U.S. App Store on September 8. It then became the No. 1 app on September 12, where it has remained, after knocking OpenAI’s ChatGPT down to No. 2. No other dedicated AI apps are in the top 10 on the App Store at this time.

Gemini also became one of the top five iPhone apps overall in 108 countries globally, Appfigures’ data indicates.

On Google Play, Gemini jumped from the No. 26 overall top app in the U.S. on September 8 to become the No. 2 app as of Monday. However, despite Android being Google’s own platform, ChatGPT remains in the top spot as of the time of writing.

Google has been touting Gemini’s growth, as more mainstream users have been trying out the new image editing features. For instance, Google Gemini and Google Labs VP Josh Woodward shared on X on September 8 that the app had gained 23 million first-time users since the Nano Banana model launched, and those users had shared over 500 million images.

The app’s rapid growth is also driving increases in consumer spending.

Of the $6.3 million Gemini generated this year on iOS devices, $1.6 million was from the month of August, with much of that coming in after the Nano Banana model’s release. That’s up 1,291% from January’s figure of $115,000, Appfigures estimates.

The app is also on track to at least match August’s number if not surpass it in September, as Gemini has pulled in $792,000 so far this month — roughly half of August’s total.

This year, Gemini’s app has been downloaded 103.7 million times, and has seen 185.4 million downloads to date since its launch on Android in February 2024 and its expansion to iOS later that year.

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September 16, 2025
Colgate Agrees To Show Safe Toothpaste Amounts For Kids After Legal Pressure – Colgate-Palmolive (NYSE:CL)

Attorney General Ken Paxton has reached an agreement with Colgate-Palmolive Company CL, addressing concerns over misleading toothpaste packaging and advertising aimed at children.

The agreement announced on Monday requires the company to update its marketing for fluoride toothpaste products intended for kids under six, ensuring that images on packaging and promotions show only a “pea-sized” amount of toothpaste.

The investigation began after Paxton raised concerns that toothpaste brands were depicting excessive amounts of toothpaste. He argues that the imagery potentially encourages unsafe use among young children.

Colgate subsequently agreed to change its packaging and marketing for its Colgate, Tom’s of Maine, and hello brands.

These changes will be implemented wherever images of toothpaste on a toothbrush are shown.

Also Read: Colgate-Palmolive’s Outlook Remains Cautious As Restructuring Plans Take Shape

The written instructions on Colgate’s product labels, which align with FDA guidelines, will remain unchanged. However, starting Nov. 1, the new visual guidelines will be rolled out online first, followed by updates to physical packaging.

These revisions will reflect age-appropriate toothpaste amounts that are consistent with safety recommendations.

In May, Paxton issued Civil Investigative Demands (CIDs) to Colgate-Palmolive and Procter & Gamble Co PG—the maker of Crest fluoride toothpaste—over allegedly misleading and unsafe marketing of their toothpaste products to parents and children.

The probe follows increasing scientific evidence that excessive fluoride exposure may harm children’s health. Notably, an August 2024 meta-analysis by the National Toxicology Program linked fluoride exposure to lower IQ levels in children.

Price Action: CL stock is down 0.73% at $81.53 at the last check on Tuesday.

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September 16, 2025
T-DXd Shows Real-World Efficacy in HER2+ and HER2-Low/Zero Breast Cancer Brain Metastases
Fam-trastuzumab deruxtecan-nxki (T-DXd; Enhertu) demonstrated durable systemic and intracranial activity in patients with breast cancer brain metastases (BCBM), including those with HER2-positive, HER2-low, and HER2-zero disease, according to findings from a retrospective real-world analysis.¹

At a median follow-up of 13 months (95% CI, 9.1-16.9), patients with HER2-positive disease (n = 58) achieved a median progression-free survival (PFS) of 11.0 months (95% CI, 7.0-14.9) and a median overall survival (OS) of 46.0 months (95% CI, 21.8-70.2). The 12-month PFS and OS rates were 42.9% (95% CI, 29.4%-62.7%) and 88.7% (95% CI, 79.7%-98.8%), respectively. The median intracranial PFS (IC-PFS) was 13.0 months (95% CI, 10.0%-16.0%), and the 12-month IC-PFS rate was 52.6% (95% CI, 38.2%-72.3%).

At a median follow-up of 10 months (95% CI, 4.5-15.5) in the HER2-low/zero cohort (n = 30), the median PFS and OS were 4.0 months (95% CI, 2.5-5.5) and 26.0 months (95% CI, 13.7-not evaluable), respectively. The respective 12-month PFS and OS rates were 26.0% (95% CI, 12.9%-52.3%) and 55.6% (95% CI, 39.5%-78.2%). The median CNS PFS was 5 months (95% CI, 3.2–6.8), and the 12-month IC-PFS rate was 44.6 (95% CI, 26.4%-75.4%)

“The present study showed a substantial and durable intracranial efficacy of T-DXd in breast cancer brain metastases with both HER2-positive and low/zero expression, stable and active disease, and patients with significant symptoms and leptomeningeal disease, thus providing valuable insights for routine practice,” lead study author Qingru Zhou, MD, of the Department of Medical Oncology at Sun Yat-Sen University Cancer Center in Guangzhou, China, and colleagues wrote in a publication of the data.

Real-World Study Design and Enrollment Criteria

In the United States, T-DXd has been approved by the FDA in the following breast cancer indications:²

For adult patients with unresectable or metastatic HER2-positive (immunohistochemistry [IHC] 3+ or in situ hybridization [ISH]+) breast cancer who have received a prior anti-HER2-based regimen either in the metastatic setting, or in the neoadjuvant or adjuvant setting and have developed disease recurrence during or within six months of completing therapy.

For adult patients with unresectable or metastatic hormone receptor (HR)–positive, HER2-low (IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH–) or HER2-ultralow (IHC 0 with membrane staining) breast cancer, as determined by an FDA-approved test, that has progressed on one or more endocrine therapies in the metastatic setting.

For adult patients with HER2-low (IHC 1+ or IHC 2+/ISH–) breast cancer, as determined by an FDA-approved test, who have received a prior chemotherapy in the metastatic setting; or developed disease recurrence during or within 6 months of completing adjuvant chemotherapy.

This multicenter, retrospective, real-world study was conducted to evaluate the efficacy and safety of T-DXd in patients with breast cancer brain metastases, including those with HER2-positive, HER2-low, and HER2-zero disease, as well as patients with stable or active brain metastases, neurological symptoms, or leptomeningeal disease.¹ Eligible patients were treated between January 2020 and July 2024.

Inclusion criteria required patients to have histologically confirmed breast cancer; brain metastases confirmed by MRI; and either HER2-positive disease (IHC 3+ or IHC 2+/ISH+) or HER2-low/zero disease (IHC 0, 1+, or 2+/ISH–). Patients needed to receive at least one cycle of T-DXd, either as monotherapy or in combination with other agents, and have available clinical data.

Data were collected retrospectively from hospital information systems, including demographics, clinical symptoms, tumor characteristics, prior therapies, laboratory testing, and imaging studies. Patients with active brain metastases were defined as those with newly diagnosed, untreated brain metastases or central nervous system disease progression following local or systemic therapy.

The primary efficacy end points included PFS, IC-PFS, OS, objective response rate (ORR), disease control rate (DCR), and intracranial ORR (IC-ORR).

Additional Data

Among evaluable patients with HER2-positive disease (n = 46), the confirmed ORR was 65.2% (95% CI, 49.7%-78.2%), and the disease control rate (DCR) was 91.3% (95% CI, 78.3%-97.2%); complete response (CR) was observed in 6.7% of patients. The IC-ORR and IC-DCR were 61.0% (95% CI, 44.5%-75.4%) and 90.2% (95% CI, 75.9%-96.8%) per RECIST 1.1 criteria, respectively; these respective rates were 59.5% (95% CI, 43.4%-74.0%) and 88.1% (95% CI, 73.6%-95.5%) by RANO-BM criteria.

For patients with HER2-low/zero disease evaluable for response (overall, n = 21; intracranial, n = 18), the ORR was 33.3% (95% CI, 15.5%-56.9%), and the DCR was 66.7% (95% CI, 43.1%-84.5%), with no CRs observed. The IC-ORR was 44.4% (95% CI, 22.4%-68.7%), and the IC-DCR was 88.9% (95% CI, 64.0%-98.1%) by both RECIST 1.1 and RANO-BM criteria. Notably, among 3 patients with HER2-zero disease, 1 achieved a partial response, 1 achieved stable disease, and 1 patient experienced progressive intracranial disease.

HR status further influenced outcomes within this subgroup. Patients with HR-positive/HER2-low or zero disease (n = 19) had longer PFS and IC-PFS compared with those with HR-negative/HER2-low or zero disease (n = 11), with a median PFS of 10.0 vs 3.0 months (P < .001). The median IC-PFS was not reached vs 4.0 months, respectively (P = .06).

LMD Cohort Findings

In the leptomeningeal disease subgroup (n = 16), efficacy outcomes differed by HER2expression. Among the 10 patients with HER2-positive disease, the median IC-PFS was 16.0 months (95% CI, 8.4-23.7), with a 12-month IC-PFS rate of 72.0% (95% CI, 44.4%-100%). In contrast, the 6 patients with HER2-low/zero disease had a median IC-PFS of 5 months (95% CI, 3.4-6.6), and a 12-month IC-PFS rate of 27.8% (95% CI, 5.4-%-100%). One patient with HR-negative/HER2-low disease experienced a PFS of 4 months. Median OS had not been reached for either HER2-positive or HER2-low/zero subgroups at the time of data cutoff.

Additionally, 7 of the 16 patients in this subgroup received T-DXd in combination with bevacizumab (Avastin). However, no statistically significant improvement in IC-PFS was observed with combination therapy compared with T-DXd monotherapy (P = .58).

Safety Findings

In this real-world cohort, treatment discontinuation due to adverse effects (AEs) occurred in 7 patients (8.0%), with financial toxicity representing the leading cause (n = 4; 4.6%). The most frequently reported treatment-emergent AEs (TEAEs) were fatigue (45.9%), loss of appetite (25.2%), and nausea (11.4%).

Grade 3 or higher TEAEs were primarily hematologic, including neutropenia in 6 patients (6.9%) and thrombocytopenia in 4 patients (4.6%). Interstitial lung disease (ILD) was observed in 7 patients (8.0%); of these, 2 patients (2.3%) experienced grade 3 ILD requiring treatment discontinuation.

No new safety signals were identified, and the overall safety profile of T-DXd in this real-world population was consistent with prior clinical experience.

References

Zhou Q, Li Y, He N, et al. Efficacy and safety of T-DXd in HER2-positive and low/zero metastatic breast cancer brain metastases: a retrospective multicenter real-world study. Cancer Sci. Published online September 11, 2025. doi:10.1111/cas.70181

Enhertu. Prescribing information. Daiichi Sankyo. Updated January 2025. Accessed September 15, 2025. https://daiichisankyo.us/prescribing-information-portlet/getPIContent?productName=Enhertu&inline=true
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September 16, 2025
India hammer Maldives to begin their SAFF U17 Championship title defense

The Blue Colts scored six goals in the opener to register their first three points in the group stage.

The India U17 men’s national team began their SAFF U17 Championship 2025 title defence in an emphatic fashion as they cruised to a 6-0 demolition of Maldives in their opening Group B encounter at the Racecourse International Stadium in Colombo, Sri Lanka, on Tuesday, September 16, 2025.

The Blue Colts were clinical and commanding from the first whistle as they sliced through the Maldives defence at will and announced their championship intent with a fluid, attacking performance.

Dallalmuon Gangte struck twice, while Hrishikesh Charan Manavathi, Kamgouhao Doungel, Wangkheirakpam Gunleiba, and Aazim Parveez Najar joined the scoresheet in what was a complete performance at both ends of the pitch.

Early assault from India

The match was barely settling when India seized control. Bibiano Fernandes’ side played with high press and kept possession with confident passing patterns. They also constantly switched flanks to pull the Maldives defence out of shape, with Wangkheirakpam Gunleiba in particular proving unplayable on the left wing. His pace and intelligent crossing repeatedly carved open spaces in the final third.

India took the lead in the 12th minute. Wangkheirakpam darted past his marker, cut inside and whipped in a delightful ball. Manavathi cleverly dummied the cross, deceiving the Maldives goalkeeper completely and leaving Gangte with a simple conversion into an empty net.

India doubled their advantage in the 29th minute. It was again Wangkheirakpam creating the havoc, blazing down the left and squaring a low ball for Manavathi, who muscled past Ibrahim Avsam Abdulla to steer in the second.

Maldives offered little in response. Aside from speculative attempts from Aakif Bin Mohammed and Aidh Mohammed Jaweez, the islanders were second best in every department.

Ruthless Blue Colts

The Blue Colts continued their rout in the second half too and extended their lead further in the 49th minute. After being teed up by Denny Singh Wangkhem, Wangkheirakpam provided his third assist of the match with a cross across the face of the Maldives goal and Doungel powered his shot into the roof of the net.

Wangkheirakpam then crowned his stellar performance with a goal of his own in the 58th minute. After Wangkhem stole the ball high up the pitch, he released Wangkheirakpam, who left his defender in the dust before unleashing a thunderous left-footed strike into the far corner.

Maldives’ composure disintegrated under constant waves of Indian attacks and, in the 68th minute, the harassed Avsam Abdulla brought down Rahan Ahmed in the box. Gangte stepped up from the spot and confidently slotted home his second of the match, making it 5-0.

But India weren’t done. With four minutes remaining, Azlaan Shah floated in a teasing cross from the right which substitute Aazim Parveez Najar met with a precise header, rounding off the rout in the 86th minute.

India U17: Manashjyoti Barua (GK), Maldino Singh Yumnam (Md Aimen Bin ), Shubham Poonia, Konthoujam Korou Meitei (Indra Rana Magar 59′), Thangoumang Touthang, Kamgouhao Doungel (Azlaan Shah Kh 55′), Dallalmuon Gangte, Houlungou Mate, Hrishikesh Charan Manavathi (Rahan Ahmed 55′), Wangkheirakpam Gunleiba (Aazim Parveez Najar 84′), Denny Singh Wangkhem (C)

When will India play their next game in the SAFF U17 Championship 2025?

The Blue Colts will face Bhutan next on September 19, 2025.

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September 16, 2025
Brain shunt surgery improves walking and quality of life in older adults with hydrocephalus

Implanting a brain shunt in older people diagnosed with idiopathic normal pressure hydrocephalus (iNPH) is effective in improving their symptoms, a randomized, double-blinded, multi-center patient trial shows.

This condition is associated with an enlargement of the brain’s ventricles, the spaces where fluid to cushion the brain and spine is produced and stored. The disorder is manifested by slow gait and balance issues that increase the risk for falls, as well as difficulty thinking, memory loss, and urinary incontinence.

“If there’s one thing this study does, it resolves a controversy that’s been around for many, many years,” said Dr. Michael A. Williams, professor of neurology and neurological surgery at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle, and one of the lead authors of the study. The other lead authors are Dr. Mark G. Luciano of Johns Hopkins University, who is the principal investigator for the study, and Dr. Mark G. Hamilton of University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada.

There’ve been a lot of physicians who doubt that the disorder exists or that treatment with the surgical implantation of a shunt is either effective or safe. Our trial puts that to rest. Our hope is that now, more neurologists, more neurosurgeons, more doctors will entertain the possibility of iNPH as a diagnosis for their patients, take them through appropriate diagnostic steps and treat them when hydrocephalus is found.”

Dr. Michael A. Williams, professor of neurology and neurological surgery, University of Washington School of Medicine

The first set of results comparing treatment and placebo groups were published today, Sept. 16, in the New England Journal of Medicine and simultaneously presented at the 150^th annual meeting of the American Neurological Association in Baltimore.

The symptoms are often not attributed to normal pressure hydrocephalus, because such troubles are common in older people and could be due to many other factors. Consequently, the condition is hard to diagnose. However, if hydrocephalus significantly contributes to such symptoms, then treating it can make a big difference in patients’ lives, according to these latest findings.

The average age of people with the condition is 75 years, and the older the population, the more likely they are to have normal pressure hydrocephalus. It affects about 1.5% of the population of people in their 70’s, and as much as 7% of those in their 80’s. The condition is diagnosed through a series of tests that include symptom evaluation, MRI brain scans, and in-hospital evaluations of response to removing some spinal fluid.

Williams noted, however, that at best maybe only 5% to 10% of patients diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus get treatment.

The Placebo-Controlled Efficacy in Idiopathic Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus Shunting (PENS) study participants, all of whom had a confirmed diagnosis, had a shunt surgically placed under general anesthesia.

The shunt is an internal drainage system. A valve goes under the skin at the side of or back of the head. A small tube from the valve is inserted into a brain ventricle, and a second tube is guided from the valve under the skin to the abdomen, where the excess cerebral fluid can drain.

The shunt used in the study can be turned on or off, and the flow adjusted, with a magnetic device placed over the valve on the scalp. Half of participants had their shunts turned on, and half had them turned off. Neither the patients nor those evaluating them knew which option they had.

In comparing the two groups, the researchers found that patients with an open shunt increased their gait velocity by more than 0.2 meter per second or double the minimum clinically meaningful difference of 0.1 meter per second. Moreover, 80% of them passed that threshold. In the group of patients with closed shunts, gait speed did not improve.

“There was very clearly a difference between the two groups on this measurement,” Williams said. In addition, those with closed shunts reported more falls than did those with open shunts.

The patients were surveyed about their quality of life and ability to perform everyday activities. Those rose in the treated group and stayed the same or diminished in the placebo group.

At the conclusion of this portion of the trial, the researchers turned on the placebo group’s shunts. Both groups continue to be evaluated. Additional long-term outcomes from the study are still pending, such as whether the improvements were sustained and whether MRI brain imaging can be correlated with symptom reduction.

The first phase of the study used only screening methods to check for cognitive impairment. As the study continues, researchers will use more complete assessments with neuropsychology testing. This will provide information on the range of impairments and whether they get better with treatment.

Dr. Nikolas Dasher, a neuropsychologist in the Department of Rehabilitation Medicine at UW Medicine, played a key role in assessing the efficacy of shunting for this study.

Twenty-one medical centers participated in the trial. One was in Sweden; the rest were located across the United States and Canada. Ninety-nine participants were enrolled.”If our study has influence, we should see an increase in the number of people who are being found to have iNPH and who are getting treated,” Williams said. “That’s going to be a lot of improvement for the elderly population. There should be some reduction in healthcare costs associated with that as well.”

The study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (U01NS122764) and Trial Innovation Network of the National Institutes of Health (U24TR001597 and U24TR004440).

Source:

University of Washington School of Medicine/UW Medicine

Journal reference:

Luciano, M. G., et al. (2025) A Randomized Trial of Shunting for Idiopathic Normal-Pressure Hydrocephalus. New England Journal of Medicine. doi.org/10.1056/NEJMoa2503109

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September 16, 2025