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  • Rubio meets China’s Wang amid trade tensions, says good chance of Trump-Xi talks – World

    Rubio meets China’s Wang amid trade tensions, says good chance of Trump-Xi talks – World

    United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Friday that he had “positive and constructive” talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, as the two major powers vied to push their agendas in Asia at a time of tension over Washington’s tariff offensive.

    The top US diplomat was in Malaysia on his first Asia trip since taking office, seeking to stress US commitment to the region at the East Asia Summit and the Regional Forum of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), where many countries were reeling from a raft of steep US tariffs announced by US President Donald Trump this week.

    Rubio had his first in-person talks with the Chinese foreign minister, which came after Beijing warned the US against reinstating hefty levies on its goods next month and threatened retaliation against nations that strike deals with the US to cut China out of supply chains.

    Wang has sharply criticised Washington during talks with Asian counterparts in Malaysia, calling the US tariffs “typical unilateral bullying behaviour”.

    But both sides described the bilateral meeting as positive and constructive and Rubio said the odds of Trump meeting Chinese President Xi Jinping were high.

    “We’re two big, powerful countries, and there are always going to be issues that we disagree on. I think there’s some areas of potential cooperation and I thought it was a very constructive, positive meeting, and a lot of work to do,” he told reporters.

    Rubio emphasised that his sitting down with Wang was not a negotiation, but rather about establishing a constructive baseline to continue talks.

    Asked about a possible Trump-Xi meeting, Rubio said both sides wanted to see it happen.

    “We have to build the right atmosphere and build … deliverables, so that a visit isn’t just a visit, but it actually has some takeaways from it that are concrete. But there’s a strong desire on both sides to do it.”

    China’s foreign ministry said Wang had emphasised that both countries should translate consensus reached by their leaders into policies and actions.

    “Both sides agreed that the meeting was positive, pragmatic and constructive,” it said.

    Trip overshadowed by tariffs

    Rubio’s visit is part of an effort to renew the US focus on the Indo-Pacific region and look beyond conflicts in the Middle East and Europe that have consumed much of the administration’s attention since Trump’s return to office in January.

    But that has been overshadowed by this week’s announcement of steep US tariffs on imports from many Asian countries and US allies, including 25 per cent targeting Japan, South Korea and Malaysia, 32pc for Indonesia, 36pc for Thailand and Cambodia and 40pc on goods from Myanmar and Laos.

    China, initially singled out with levies exceeding 100pc, has until August 12 to reach a deal with Washington to avoid Trump’s reinstating additional import curbs that were imposed during tit-for-tat tariff exchanges in April and May.

    Analysts said Rubio would use the trip to press the case that the US remains a better partner than China, Washington’s main strategic rival. Rubio met his counterparts from Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Indonesia today.

    Wang has rebuked the US in Kuala Lumpur, saying no country should support or agree with its tariffs, according to remarks released by Beijing today.

    He told Thailand’s foreign minister the tariffs had been abused and “undermined the free trade system, and interfered with the stability of the global production and supply chain”.

    During a meeting with his Cambodian counterpart, Wang said the US levies were an attempt to deprive Southeast Asian countries of their legitimate right to development.

    “We believe that Southeast Asian countries have the ability to cope with complex situations, adhere to principled positions, and safeguard their own interests,” he said.

    In a joint communique today, Asean foreign ministers expressed concern over rising global trade tensions and the need to diversify trade, calling for a transparent and fair multilateral trading system.

    Without mentioning the US, they said that unilateral tariffs were “counterproductive and risk exacerbating global economic fragmentation”.

    Indispensable partnership

    Rubio also met Russia’s Sergei Lavrov on Thursday and said he and Lavrov had shared some ideas on a new or different Russian approach to Ukraine.

    “I don’t want to oversell it, okay, but it was constructive,” he said today. “We’ll find out, but there are some things that we will potentially explore, and I relayed that to the president and our team last night.”

    Rubio also met Japan’s foreign minister and South Korea’s first vice foreign minister in Malaysia to discuss regional security and a strengthening of their “indispensable trilateral partnership”, the US State Department said in a statement.

    Asked about Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba’s remarks on Thursday that Tokyo needs to wean itself off its dependence on Washington, Rubio said it was not a comment to be viewed negatively.

    “We obviously have very strong commitments and an alliance with Japan. We continue to cooperate very closely with them,” he said.

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  • MQM founder Altaf Hussain hospitalised after severe illness

    MQM founder Altaf Hussain hospitalised after severe illness

    Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder and leader Altaf Hussain lies on a hospital bed. — X@azizabadi
    • MQM’s Hussain admitted to hospital for further treatment.
    • Hussain suffering from “emotional stress,” says leader.
    • He was previously admitted to ICU back in 2021.

    LONDON: Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) founder and leader Altaf Hussain has been hospitalised at a North London hospital after developing several complications, including a “stress” on his heart.

    Hussain’s party officials told Geo News that Hussain was taken to the hospital on Thursday due to severe illness, where various tests were conducted.

    “The doctors decided to admit him to the hospital for further treatment,” said senior London-based MQM leader Mustafa Azizabadi.

    Qasim Ali Raza, Deputy Convener MQM Central Coordination Committee said on Friday: “Today, doctors at a local hospital in London examined Mr Altaf Hussain, prescribed various diagnostic tests including blood tests, ECG, CT scan, X-ray and ultrasound.

    Mr Altaf Hussain has long been suffering from severe emotional stress. Doctors also recommended a blood transfusion for his treatment and blood has been transfused.”

    Hussain was previously admitted to the intensive care unit of the same hospital after contracting Covid-19 in February 2021. He contracted Covid-19 twice in the same year but recovered.

    Sources said that Hussain was brought to the hospital after an injury on his feet didn’t heal for several days.

    The source said: “He’s a sugar patient. While he was dealing with this, he started feeling a lot of pressure on his heart, and his colleagues rushed him to the hospital. He is now stable.”


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  • Louis Vuitton says UK customer data stolen in cyber-attack | Cybercrime

    Louis Vuitton says UK customer data stolen in cyber-attack | Cybercrime

    Louis Vuitton has said the data of some UK customers has been stolen, as it became the latest retailer targeted by cyber hackers.

    The retailer, the leading brand of the French luxury group LVMH, said an unauthorised third party had accessed its UK operation’s systems and obtained information such as names, contact details and purchase history.

    The brand, which last week said its Korean operation had suffered a similar cyber-attack, told customers that no financial data such as bank details had been compromised.

    “While we have no evidence that your data has been misused to date, phishing attempts, fraud attempts, or unauthorised use of your information may occur,” the email said.

    The company said it had notified the relevant authorities, including the Information Commissioner’s Office.

    The hack took place on 2 July, according to Bloomberg, which first reported the breach. It is the third breach of LVMH’s systems in the last three months.

    As well as the two attacks on Louis Vuitton, LVMH’s second-largest fashion label, Christian Dior Couture, said in May that hackers had accessed some customer data.

    On Thursday, four people were arrested as part of an investigation into cyber-attacks on Marks & Spencer, the Co-op and Harrods.

    Those arrested were a 17-year-old British boy from the West Midlands, a 19-year-old Latvian man from the West Midlands, a 19-year-old British man from London and a 20-year-old British woman from Staffordshire.

    M&S was the first retailer to be attacked, in April, in an incident that forced the closure of its online store for nearly seven weeks. The Co-op was attacked in the same month and forced to shut down parts of its IT system.

    Harrods said on 1 May it had been targeted, and restricted internet access across its websites after attempts to gain unauthorised access to its systems.

    The arrests came days after the M&S chair, Archie Norman, told MPs that two other large British companies had been affected by unreported cyber-attacks in recent months, as he gave details of the “traumatic” attack on the retailer.

    Louis Vuitton has been approached for comment.

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  • A Closer Look at Issues With the Expanding Role of Precision Medicine in Cancer Management

    A Closer Look at Issues With the Expanding Role of Precision Medicine in Cancer Management

    It would be difficult for any objective observer of the current cancer management paradigm to suggest that precision medicine is not playing an important role in defining optimal therapeutic strategies for individual patients. Further, it is virtually certain that cancer drug development in the future will have a continued focus on obtaining detailed molecular data from the tumor/germline to assign specific treatments. Finally, it is highly likely that precision medicine will increasingly affect other aspects of cancer management, including the recommendation to employ specific prevention and screening strategies, or receive/avoid specific drugs based on germline profiles (pharmacogenomics).

    However, in the opinion of this commentator, there are aspects of the growth of precision cancer (“molecular”) medicine, two of which are highlighted here, that raise concerns deserving of additional discussion as this revolution in management moves forward.

    The first question relates to the societal value of the specific focus of precision medicine on the biological and pathological effects of molecular abnormalities within the tumor/germline of individuals with or at risk of developing cancer vs an alternative far more global public health perspective on reducing the burden of malignant disease.

    Clearly, this issue has multiple components, including the priority given to research funding and to the level of financial support provided at the federal, state, and local levels to public health strategies for cancer prevention and early detection.

    Although one can certainly make the argument that there should be no irreconcilable conflict between the goals of molecular-based and population-based approaches to cancer control, an objective assessment of both the current health and cancer care landscapes would provide a strong dissent to this conclusion, with the realistic requirement for society to thoughtfully prioritize both limited financial and personnel resources.

    In addition, one might reasonably suggest that as a greater proportion of cancer-associated health care dollars is allocated to expensive precision medicine therapeutic strategies, there will likely be less available for public/ population-based approaches more focused on prevention. One can only imagine, for example, the financial burden on third-party payment (including government sources) associated with such novel approaches as CRISPR-based personalized antineoplastic agents.1

    The thoughtful but provocative words of James Tabery, author of the recently published book Tyranny of the Gene: Personalized Medicine and Its Threat to Public Health, emphasize a perspective worthy of additional discussion2:

    “My thesis is that there have been and remain powerful financial, political, technological, and scientific forces that are driving this embrace of personalized medicine and promoting the idea of medicine as something genetic while simultaneously impeding the study of environmental determinants of wellness and disease. Genes have become far easier to study than environments. Probing DNA has benefitted from technical developments that have eluded environmental health research, and medical genetic research has been subject to less partisan politicization than environmental health research. The result of all this is a biomedical research industry that is now prioritizing the study of genetic causes of health and illness not because those causes play a particularly large role in health outcomes but because those causes are faster, cheaper, more profitable, and more politically palatable than the environmental alternative.”

    Importantly, others have reached similar conclusions regarding the status and complexities of critically relevant public health initiatives in this country.3 Societal support for such strategies, including continued efforts to reduce all forms of tobacco use, human papillomavirus vaccination, demonstrated effective cancer screenings, and obesity management, simply cannot be overstated.

    In summary, caution is advised that the situation highlighted above not become a competition, but rather effective complementary approaches to the cancer problem and that essential public health strategies never become a casualty of the precision medicine revolution. There is much to consider, and further discussion is warranted.

    Returning to the demonstrated remarkable success of precision cancer medicine in favorably affecting the survival of individual patients with advanced cancers, we observe a different but equally perplexing issue: that of the observed less than optimal utilization of essential molecular diagnostics (including next-generation sequencing [NGS]) in noninvestigative clinical practice.

    Consider for a moment the realistic potential for widespread standard-of- care utilization of NGS testing in routine oncology care, as demonstrated in a recent report of a health organization “pathologist-directed protocol system-wide [platform], where somatic testing was performed immediately at the time of diagnosis for all patients with advanced solid tumor[s].”4

    Approximately half of all patients in this analysis were found to have had “at least one actionable genomic biomarker-driven–approved and/or guideline-recommended targeted or immunotherapy,” with a similar percentage being potentially eligible for a molecular-based clinical trial. Further, for those individuals with at least 6 months of follow-up, 52% had been treated with either immunotherapy or a targeted therapeutic. Finally, while recognizing the critical fact that this was a heterogeneous population and the data were not generated from a randomized trial, individuals treated with a molecularly based targeted therapeutic experienced improved overall survival (P < .001) compared with those managed with chemotherapy alone. However, it must be noted that in this experience, “testing was also performed under the research protocol at no cost, to remove potential reimbursement-related barriers….”

    So, the critical question to be asked here is: How many of the individuals able to benefit from the results of the molecular analysis would have been denied this opportunity if the required third-party payment for NGS testing had been denied or was insufficient for the procedure to be undertaken?

    There are a number of reasons for the failure of clinicians to obtain somatic and germline molecular testing despite strong evidence of its clinical utility,5,6 including the absence of adequate decision-support tools, and concern for payment of these relatively expensive tests must surely be high on the list of physician concerns. The potential tragedy associated with the failure to identify a clinically relevant molecular abnormality that may result in effective treatment with the increasing number of regulatory-approved tumor-agnostic antineoplastic therapeutics is a concern that cannot be overstated.7

    References

    1. Ledford H. CRISPR cancer trial success paves the way for personalized treatments. Nature. 2022;611(7936):433-434. doi:10.1038/d41586-022-03676-7
    2. Tabery J. Tyranny of the Gene: Personalized Medicine and Its Threat to Public Health. Alfred A. Knopf; 2023.
    3. Fineberg HV. Setting public health priorities in the United States. JAMA. 2025;333(12):1025-1027.doi:10.1001/jama.2025.0485
    4. Dowdell AK, Meng RC, Vita A, et al. Widespread adoption of precision anticancer therapies after implementation of pathologist-directed comprehensive genomic profiling across a large US health
      system. JCO Oncol Pract. 2024;20(11):1523-1532. doi:10.1200/OP.24.00226
    5. Hage Chehade C, Jo Y, Gebrael G, et al. Trends and disparities in next-generation sequencing in metastatic prostate and urothelial cancers. JAMA Netw Open. 2024;7(7):e2423186. doi:10.1001/
      jamanetworkopen.2024.23186
    6. Klatte DCF, Starr JS, Clift KE, et al. Utilization and outcomes of multigene panel testing in patients with pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma. JCO Oncol Pract.2024;20(8):1081-1090. doi:10.1200/23.00447
    7. Gouda MA, Nelson BE, Buschhorn L, Wahida A, Subbiah V. Tumor-agnostic precision medicine from the AACR GENIE database: clinical implications. Clin Cancer Res. 2023;29(15):2753-2760.doi:10.1158/1078-0432.CCR-23-0090

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  • NASA mission to deflect Dimorphos asteroid resulted in very unexpected findings

    NASA are constantly working on a number of projects and missions, though some take more precedent than others.

    One of these important missions took place three years ago, when the space organisation decided to slam a spaceship into an asteroid to alter its course.

    It ultimately was successful, with NASA correctly predicting that it is possible to redirect celestial objects.

    The asteroid known as Dimorphos was approximately the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza, and the impact caused massive boulders to fly off, which were around one to seven metres in size.

    But in a new study published in The Planetary Science Journal, scientists have delved into the lasting impact of pushing these boulders into different directions.

    Apparently, it could lead to complications in other asteroid deflection missions carried out by other world space organisations.

    The final images of Dimorphos before the DART mission (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

    The final images of Dimorphos before the DART mission (JIM WATSON/AFP via Getty Images)

    What did the paper find?

    The paper, published by a large research team headed up by Tony L. Farnham, acknowledges that ‘full accounting of the total momentum in all directions’ must be carried out, but added that the ‘ejecta cone spreads out sideways’ and in the direction of the spacecraft.

    Analysing the locations of 104 boulders that were imaged by the Light Italian Cubesat for Imaging of Asteroids (LICIACube), following the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART), they found that boulders shot away at speeds of up to 116 miles per hour at impact.

    Redirecting the asteroid was anticipated, but the direction of the boulders was not as expected.

    Writing about the results in the paper, the team explained: “A significant component of the momentum, possibly several times that contributing to the β factor, was carried out perpendicular to Dimorphos’s velocity vector.

    “To fully understand the impact’s effect on Dimorphos’s orbit, it is necessary to explore the spatial distribution of the debris field and use it to ascertain the net momentum of all its components,” they detailed.

    Debris of the asteroid was predominantly found in two clusters (Jim Watson/Getty)

    Debris of the asteroid was predominantly found in two clusters (Jim Watson/Getty)

    ‘Something unknown’ has occurred

    Lead author Farnham said they noticed that the boulders weren’t in random positions in space.

    The research scientist at University of Maryland’s Department of Astronomy explained in a statement that they were instead ‘clusters in two pretty distinct groups’, with no material elsewhere.

    He added: “Which means that something unknown is at work here.”

    70 percent of ejected objects were found in these debris clusters, which are headed south at high speeds, as they are suspected to be the remains of large boulders that shattered with DART’s solar panels.

    Jessica Sunshine, another author and a professor of astronomy and geology at UMD, explained: “DART’s solar panels likely hit two big boulders, called Atabaque and Bodhran, on the asteroid,

    “Evidence suggests that the southern cluster of ejected material is probably made up of fragments from Atabaque, a 3.3-meter-radius boulder.”

    Scientists behind the paper have highlighted the importance behind doing more research before future missions (Nicholas Forder/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

    Scientists behind the paper have highlighted the importance behind doing more research before future missions (Nicholas Forder/Future Publishing via Getty Images)

    Significant alteration of the asteroid’s course

    It was found that the boulders made by the impact had over three times the momentum of the spacecraft that impacted the boulders.

    The mission mat have tilted Dimorphos’ orbital plane by up to one degree, which would have sent it tumbling through space, as Sunshine spoke about the importance of ‘subtleties’ like this in the future, especially with asteroids headed for Earth.

    “You can think of it as a cosmic pool game. We might miss the pocket if we don’t consider all the variables,” she highlighted.

    Sunshine spoke about the complicated dynamics involved with these missions.

    The deputy principal investigator on NASA’s Deep Impact mission, she added: “Here, we see that DART hit a surface that was rocky and full of large boulders, resulting in chaotic and filamentary structures in its ejecta patterns.

    “Comparing these two missions side-by-side gives us this insight into how different types of celestial bodies respond to impacts, which is crucial to ensuring that a planetary defense mission is successful.”

    The team say that more analysis the momentum of the surface boulders is required to better inform them on future events, as Farnham spoke of the changes in physics that must be considered.

    This will have to wait, as the European Space Agency are launching their Hera mission, which will arrive at the asteroid in 2026 to take a deeper look at the impact.

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  • This 19-year-old’s space company just raised millions to keep satellites connected 24/7

    This 19-year-old’s space company just raised millions to keep satellites connected 24/7

    Apolink, a Y Combinator-backed space-tech startup founded by a 19-year-old Indian-origin entrepreneur, has raised $4.3 million in an “oversubscribed” seed round at a $45 million post-money valuation to build a real-time connectivity network for satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO).

    The startup is tackling a persistent problem in space communications. Satellites frequently go offline during parts of their orbit due to dead zones — periods when they are not in the line of sight of a ground station. While relay satellites and global ground station networks help reduce this downtime, they only provide partial solutions.

    That gap has become critical as the space industry evolves. For years, NASA relied on its Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) system to maintain near-continuous contact with satellites in geostationary orbit. But in 2022, the agency announced it would gradually phase out TDRS and transition to commercial providers for satellite communications. Most of these commercial systems still focus on geostationary or medium Earth orbits. Apolink, formerly known as Bifrost Orbital, aims to change that by providing 24/7 connectivity to LEO satellites — with each orbital ring designed to handle 256 users at 9.6kbps.

    “LEO has its own advantages,” said Apolink founder Onkar Singh Batra in an exclusive interview. “It’s much closer than geostationary orbit, which means closing the link between the customer satellite and our constellation is way easier… that’s where you make the power requirements limited, and that’s where the compatibility comes in as well.”

    Apolink’s approach stems from Batra’s early recognition of this connectivity challenge. At the age of 14 in 2020, he developed an interest in space. In 2022, when he was in 12th grade at a defense school in the northern Indian city of Jammu, he created a satellite system named InQube, which emerged as India’s first open source satellite. He also taught space ecosystems to engineering students as a guest professor at IIT Jammu between 2022-23.

    Apolink team, with founder Onkar Singh Batra second from Left Image Credits:Apolink

    While working on his first satellite system, Batra recognized the satellite connectivity problem and noticed that existing solutions did not provide backward compatibility, requiring specific hardware to enable network access in orbit.

    According to Batra, the issue remains because all other inter-satellite links (ISLs) lack interoperability and are not compliant with the Space Development Agency’s requirements.

    “We solve this [through] our hybrid-RF optical architecture and no user terminal, hardware-independent approach,” he stated.

    Some startups have tried to address dark zones by building new ground stations. However, Batra noted that ground stations are “very cumbersome to work with and can’t guarantee a 24/7 link.”

    “The maximum you can afford is a reliable continuous link to the ground during the window,” he said.

    Founded in 2024, the Palo Alto-based startup plans to solve the problem with a constellation of 32 satellites that include lasers and radios to enable connectivity even for satellites that lack specific hardware.

    Apolink, which literally means Apogee-plus-link, aims to offer almost 99% uptime and 10-15 seconds of latency. The latency will be further reduced to 2-3 seconds once the network is established.

    Companies, including Amazon’s Kuiper and SpaceX’s Starlink, are also building inter-satellite links to address connectivity issues for satellite customers. However, Batra said that most players with multipurpose constellations do not dedicate them to virtual relays, resulting in limited bandwidth available for customers. They also require customers to have an optical terminal installed on their site for connectivity.

    “Other ISL players focus on Ku/Ka-band and use optical terminals for EO image downlink, and we don’t,” he told TechCrunch.

    The startup has its own FCC license, eliminating the need for customers to fulfill additional licensing requirements. Furthermore, it produces satellite components, including lasers and radios, in-house to ensure they are compatible with its algorithms.

    In Q2 2026, Apolink aims to launch its initial demo mission via a SpaceX rideshare. The mission will feature a 3U technology demonstration satellite, LinkONE/IPoS, designed to confirm the backward-compatible radio-frequency relay in low Earth orbit, Batra said.

    A second demo is expected in June 2027, featuring two satellites. In 2028, the startup will roll out its commercial constellation, with the entire constellation of 32 satellites expected to be launched in 2029.

    Despite being in the early stages, the startup has already secured more than $140 million in letters of intent from companies in the Earth observation, communication, and spatial data sectors, including Astro Digital, Hubble Network, and Star Catcher Industries.

    Its new seed round was backed by Y Combinator, 468 Capital, Unshackled Ventures, Rebel Fund, Maiora Ventures, and several angel investors, including Laura Crabtree (CEO of Epsilon3), Benjamin Bryant (co-founder of Pebble Tech), and Kanav Kariya (president of Jump Crypto).

    Apolink operates with a core team of four (each with more than five years of industry experience and from companies including Maxar, Audacy, and Astra), located within a 4,000-square-foot R&D facility. The company currently focuses on spacecraft integration and testing and is working with early partners to validate its system in orbit.

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  • Dentons – Page not found


    Leaving Dentons

    Beijing Dacheng Law Offices, LLP (“大成”) is an independent law firm, and not a member or affiliate of Dentons. 大成 is a partnership law firm organized under the laws of the People’s Republic of China, and is Dentons’ Preferred Law Firm in China, with offices in more than 40 locations throughout China. Dentons Group (a Swiss Verein) (“Dentons”) is a separate international law firm with members and affiliates in more than 160 locations around the world, including Hong Kong SAR, China. For more information, please see dacheng.com/legal-notices or dentons.com/legal-notices.

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  • New wristband offers real-time insights for diabetes and heart health

    New wristband offers real-time insights for diabetes and heart health

    Wristband monitors diabetes and heart health in real time: ©An-Yi Chang

    A flexible new wristband developed by engineers at the University of California San Diego could improve how people with diabetes manage their health by continuously monitoring glucose and key cardiovascular signals in real time. The technology, published in Nature Biomedical Engineering, combines painless microneedle sampling with ultrasonic and ECG sensors in a single wearable device.

    The device samples interstitial fluid beneath the skin using a replaceable microneedle array, allowing for real-time monitoring of glucose, alcohol, and lactate. Simultaneously, it uses an ultrasonic sensor to measure blood pressure and arterial stiffness, while ECG sensors track heart rate. These metrics offer a more comprehensive view of health than traditional glucose monitors alone.

    “Comprehensive and effective management of diabetes requires more than just a single glucose reading,” said An-Yi Chang, co-first author and postdoctoral researcher in the Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering at UC San Diego. “By tracking glucose, lactate, alcohol and cardiovascular signals in real time, this pain-free wristband can help people better understand their health and enable early action to reduce diabetes risk.”

    The project was a collaboration between the labs of professors Joseph Wang and Sheng Xu. Wang’s team focuses on chemical biomarker detection, while Xu’s group specializes in wearable ultrasound devices. Their joint effort created a platform that integrates metabolic and cardiovascular monitoring for round-the-clock insights.

    The wristband’s readings have shown strong alignment with standard commercial devices, including glucose meters, breathalyzers and lactate monitors. Researchers plan to expand its functionality and eventually power it through sweat or sunlight while integrating AI to analyze personal health trends.

    A new era in diabetes wearables

    The UC San Diego wristband reflects a growing trend in the health care sector: next-generation wearables that go far beyond step counts and heart rate. As chronic disease management increasingly moves outside clinical settings, researchers and companies alike are racing to develop smart, continuous monitoring tools tailored for real-world use.

    One of the biggest recent advancements is the ability to measure multiple biomarkers simultaneously. Traditional continuous glucose monitors have already transformed diabetes care, but their scope is limited to blood sugar. Adding alcohol and lactate levels provides important context about behavior, diet, and exertion, while cardiovascular indicators like arterial stiffness and blood pressure reveal longer-term health risks often invisible to glucose data alone.

    What sets newer devices apart is the integration of sensors once thought too bulky or complex for wearables—such as ultrasonic arrays and microneedles. Innovations in materials science and miniaturization are making it possible to incorporate hospital-grade diagnostics into discreet, user-friendly formats.

    The use of artificial intelligence is also on the horizon. Future devices may analyze trends across thousands of data points collected every day, alerting users to early signs of heart disease, insulin resistance or poor recovery from exercise. Combined with telemedicine, these insights could help providers customize treatment or intervene before a crisis occurs.

    As devices like UC San Diego’s wristband advance toward commercial viability, the healthcare sector is likely to see a surge in multi-sensor platforms that empower individuals to take more proactive roles in managing complex, chronic conditions like diabetes.

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  • Best Buys to reduce risks, prevent NCDs and promote health – PAHO/WHO

    Best Buys to reduce risks, prevent NCDs and promote health – PAHO/WHO

    Register here

    Join us on Friday, July 25, 2025, at 11:00 am (EDT) on the webinar Best Buys to reduce risks, prevent NCDs and promote health, to facilitate the exchange of experiences in NCD prevention and learning among countries in the region, identifying successful strategies that integrate health promotion and intersectoral action to address the social determinants related to tobacco use, diet, physical activity, and alcohol. 

    Objectives of the webinar

    • To make visible and recognize good practices that contribute to reducing the main risk factors for NCDs, through cost-effective, sustainable and adaptable interventions to the local context. 

    • Promote the adoption of evidence-based policies for the reduction of NCD risk factors, which articulate public health interventions with public policies from other sectors for the prevention of NCDs. 

    • Promote the use of the Good Practices in Public Health Portal as a tool for peer-to-peer learning, technical cooperation, and informed decision-making in the design and implementation of public health interventions.

    HOW TO PARTICIPATE

    Agenda

    Coming soon!

    Background

    Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, cancer and chronic respiratory diseases – represent the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the Region of the Americas. Their growing burden poses significant challenges for health systems, especially in contexts of inequity and limited access to quality services. 

    The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has developed various strategies to address this problem, including the “Better Care for NCDs” initiative, which promotes a comprehensive approach from Primary Health Care (PHC). These actions are aligned with the commitments made by Member States at the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) high-level meetings on NCDs, and seek to accelerate progress towards more resilient, equitable, and people-centered health systems. 

    This webinar is the first in a series organized by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) to promote the exchange of experiences and good practices in the prevention, comprehensive management, and surveillance of noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) in the Region of the Americas.  

    In this first session, focused on the prevention of NCDs, some of the Good Practices selected and validated by PAHO at the regional level, available on the Portal of Good Practices in Public Health, will be presented. These initiatives, implemented in different countries, have proven effective in tobacco control, promoting healthy eating, encouraging physical activity, and reducing harmful alcohol consumption through the application of cost-effective interventions (Best Buys) and the promotion of multisectoral action strategies. 

    Time in other cities

    • 10:00 a.m. – Los Angeles, Vancouver
    • 11:00 a.m. – Belmopan, Guatemala City, Managua, Mexico City, San José (CR), San Salvador, Tegucigalpa
    • 12:00 p.m. – Bogotá, Panama City, Kingston, Lima, Quito
    • 1:00 pm. – Bridgetown, Caracas, Georgetown, Havana, La Paz, Port of Spain, Port-au-Prince, Nassau, Ottawa, San Juan, Santiago, Santo Domingo, Washington D.C.,
    • 2:00 p.m. – Asunción, Buenos Aires, Brasilia, Montevideo, Paramaribo
    • 7:00 p.m. – Geneva, Madrid

    For other cities, please check the local time on this link.

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  • NVIDIA Unveils Helix Parallelism Enabling 32x Faster AI Inference with Multi-Million Token Contexts

    NVIDIA Unveils Helix Parallelism Enabling 32x Faster AI Inference with Multi-Million Token Contexts







    NVIDIA Unveils Helix Parallelism Enabling 32x Faster AI Inference with Multi-Million Token Contexts – StorageReview.com






































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