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apnews.com Pig kidney works a record 2 months in donated body, raising hope for animal-human transplants

For a history-making two months, a pig's kidney worked normally inside a brain-dead man. And while the dramatic experiment ended this week, it's raising hope for eventually testing pig kidneys in living patients.

Dozens of doctors and nurses silently lined the hospital hallway in tribute: For a history-making two months, a pig’s kidney worked normally inside the brain-dead man on the gurney rolling past them.

The dramatic experiment came to an end Wednesday as surgeons at NYU Langone Health removed the pig kidney and returned the donated body of Maurice “Mo” Miller to his family for cremation.

It marked the longest a genetically modified pig kidney has ever functioned inside a human, albeit a deceased one. And by pushing the boundaries of research with the dead, the scientists learned critical lessons they’re preparing to share with the Food and Drug Administration -– in hopes of eventually testing pig kidneys in the living.

“It’s a combination of excitement and relief,” Dr. Robert Montgomery, the transplant surgeon who led the experiment, told The Associated Press. “Two months is a lot to have a pig kidney in this good a condition. That gives you a lot of confidence” for next attempts.

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Vivek Ramaswamy’s policy proposals and how they would transform the U.S.
  • This nonsense might have a small chance if it was Reagan proposing it in 1980. But it's a different world.

    The longer he sticks around the worse the GOP looks to anyone with a brain.

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  • www.bloomberg.com Baby Boomers Are Overestimating Future Social Security Income

    The amount of pre-retirement earnings replaced by the government program will be less than many surveyed workers expect.

    Baby boomers anticipate that 47% of pre-retirement earnings will be replaced by Social Security, according to results of an annual survey from the Nationwide Retirement Institute. But the reality for someone making what the Social Security Administration considers the average wage in recent years, about $60,000, is more like 37%, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. And the percentage drops as household income rises.

    Alternate: https://archive.ph/Hx1PM

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    apnews.com A former principal of an Australian Jewish school sentenced to 15 years for child sex abuse

    A former principal of an Australian Jewish school has been sentenced to 15 years in prison after she was convicted of sexually abusing two students.

    Malka Leifer, 56, must serve at least 11 years and six months of the sentence before she can be considered for early release. As soon as she is released from a Victoria state prison, she will likely be deported to her native Israel.

    Leifer was principal of Melbourne’s ultra-Orthodox Adass Israel School when she abused two teenage sisters between 2004 and 2007.

    Alternate: https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/sisters-not-powerless-anymore-as-malka-leifer-jailed-for-sexual-abuse/mzdj034zh

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    apnews.com Philippine supply boats breach a Chinese coast guard blockade in the hotly contested South China Sea

    Two Philippine boats breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in a confrontation in the South China Sea to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino forces guarding a contested shoal.

    As a United States Navy plane circled overhead, two Philippine boats breached a Chinese coast guard blockade in a dangerous confrontation Tuesday in the disputed South China Sea to deliver food and other supplies to Filipino forces guarding a contested shoal.

    Two Philippine coast guard vessels escorting the supply boats, however, were blocked by at least four Chinese coast guard ships for about five hours in the tense standoff near Second Thomas Shoal.

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    www.nbcnews.com Truck purchases are driving up the average cost of car payments. Some buyers pay over $1,000 a month

    Large trucks are the third-largest vehicle sales segment in the U.S., after compact and midsize SUVs.

    More than 1 in 4 car shoppers in Texas and Wyoming have committed to paying more than $1,000 a month, and experts say it is due to the high volume of large truck purchases in those states, according to a report by auto site Edmunds.

    More than 1 in 5 shoppers in seven other states — Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota and Utah — are also forking over more than $1,000 for their vehicles each month.

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    www.cnn.com Extreme heat kills nearly 2 dozen cattle, forces evacuations from a nursing home and shuts down an ice cream parlor | CNN

    Nearly two dozen cattle died in Nebraska, more than 100 Missouri nursing home residents were evacuated and an ice cream shop in Iowa was forced to close as record-shattering heat engulfs more than 20 states.

    Nearly two dozen cattle died in Nebraska, more than 100 Missouri nursing home residents were evacuated and an ice cream shop in Iowa was forced to close as record-shattering heat engulfs more than 20 states.

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    The Brady Bunch

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    www.bbc.com Andrew Tate prosecution files reveal graphic claims of coercion ahead of trial

    Romanian prosecutors' files, seen by BBC, allegedly show the influencer coercing women into sex acts.

    Warning: This lengthy article contains disturbing language and details of graphic evidence.

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    www.aljazeera.com Russia’s General Surovikin dismissed as head of aerospace forces: Reports

    Surovikin, former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since the Wagner mutiny in June.

    Surovikin, former commander of Russian forces in Ukraine, has not been seen in public since the mutiny by Wagner mercenaries in June.

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    www.bbc.com Pakistan cable car: Relieve as all passengers brought to safety

    In a slow and dangerous operation, eight people are rescued by helicopter and zip line.

    All eight people who were stuck in a cable car dangling hundreds of metres above a ravine in Pakistan's north-west for many hours have now been rescued.

    In a slow and dangerous operation, a military helicopter rescued one child, while teams on the ground recovered the rest of the group after dark.

    They were helped to safety along a zip line, with a huge crowd on top of the hillside celebrating their rescue.

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    apnews.com Trump says he will surrender Thursday on Georgia charges tied to efforts to overturn 2020 election

    Former President Donald Trump says he will surrender to authorities in Georgia on Thursday to face charges in the case accusing him of illegally scheming to overturn his 2020 election loss.

    It will be Trump’s fourth arrest since April, when he became the first former president in U.S. history to face indictment. Since then, Trump, who remains the leading candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, has had what has seemed like an endless procession of bookings and arraignments in jurisdictions across the country. His appearances in New York, Florida and Washington, D.C., have drawn enormous media attention, with news helicopters tracking his every move.

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    Anyone interested in moderating this community?
  • I could help out with moderation, but I don't know enough about Lemmy to be a head mod.

    I'm interested in PF and would like to see this community grow.

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  • www.politico.eu Springtime for Europe’s fascists

    You haven’t seen this movie before. This time Germany’s sharp lurch to the right is the phenomenon to watch.

    It’s one thing for Finland or Belgium (the Flemish separatist Vlaams Belang party heads the polls) to veer onto a far-right rail. When it begins to happen in Germany, however, it’s time to start plotting an escape route.

    Over the past year, support for the anti-immigrant, pro-Russian Alternative for Germany party (AfD) has nearly doubled to more than 20 percent in POLITICO’s Poll of Polls, a record.

    The party is now in second place, just five percentage points behind the center-right Christian Democrats. Over the summer, the AfD has also succeeded in widening its lead over the Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s Social Democrats.

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    www.theguardian.com ‘Orphaned by decree’: Italy’s same-sex parents react to losing their rights

    Rightwing PM Giorgia Meloni has demanded councils register only biological parents on birth certificates, leaving partners in legal limbo

    Rightwing PM Giorgia Meloni has demanded councils register only biological parents on birth certificates, leaving partners in legal limbo

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    www.cbsnews.com FDA approves first RSV vaccine for pregnancy to protect newborns

    Expectant parents could soon have another new option this fall to protect their newborns from RSV, the most common cause of hospitalization in American infants.

    Expectant parents could soon have another new option this fall to protect their newborns from RSV, or respiratory syncytial virus, the most common cause of hospitalization in American infants, after the Food and Drug Administration announced Monday that it has widened its approval for Pfizer's Abrysvo vaccine to include expectant mothers.

    Pregnant women would receive immunity from the shot during pregnancy then pass that along to their baby before birth, offering protection in the infant's earliest months of life.

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    Do you use a credit card? Why or why not?
  • I use credit cards for almost all purchases.

    As long as you pay it off completely monthly, even modest perks make it an easy choice.

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  • www.theguardian.com Row over restaurant ‘wealth screening’ boils over in French resort of St-Tropez

    Mayor threatens sanctions over reported practices of large minimum spends and selecting diners by size of previous bills

    The Nice Matin newspaper quoted unnamed insiders as saying that some restaurants in St-Tropez, a favoured summer haunt of celebrities and the international jet set for more than half a century, had taken to checking customers’ names against their database and refusing reservations if a previous visit was not felt to have resulted in a big enough bill – or tip.

    An increasingly common technique was to say there was availability, but at a price. “They’ll say: ‘Sure, we have a table at €5,000. Is that OK?’” a customer said. Another cited a minimum spend of €1,500 a head.

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    The summertime gas price spike has been driven by a combination of easing recession fears, production cuts by Russia and Saudi Arabia and extreme heat that has knocked offline some refinery activity.

    The historic heatwaves could cause even more trouble by potentially setting the stage for powerful hurricanes.

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    www.nbcnews.com GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy says Trump should drop out of the 2024 presidential race

    The Louisiana Republican said he thinks the charges related to the former president’s mishandling of classified documents after he left office are “almost a slam dunk."

    The Louisiana Republican said he thinks the charges related to the former president’s mishandling of classified documents after he left office are “almost a slam dunk."

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    Five people are confirmed dead in the Tampa Bay area due to a rare, flesh-eating bacteria in the waters.

    According to Florida Health, Vibrio vulnificus is a bacterium that naturally occurs in warm, brackish seawater and requires salt.

    3 deaths attributed to the bacteria were also reported in New York and Connecticut. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/vibrio-vulnificus-3-dead-rare-bacterial-infection-new-york-connecticut/

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    www.leaguescup.com Messi vs. Mukhtar: The First Superstar Battle of the Messi in MLS Era | LeaguesCup.com

    Following Lionel Messi’s MLS debut in Leagues Cup 2023, a graphic came up on the screen that was a wink and nod to the fact that Messi was now in a new league: “The Argentinian Mukhtar.”

    Messi may be coming into the final on an absolute tear (nine goals and an assist in six matches) but the defending Major League Soccer MVP, Hany Mukhtar, has been playing at an elite level for his team as well (two goals and six assists in six matches).

    The two players may not have to come into direct contact much on the pitch, but their gravitational pulls as the most dangerous attacks for their teams will largely determine who ultimately wins on Saturday night.

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    Credit Card Balances Hit New Peak - One Trillion

    www.nytimes.com Credit Card Balances Hit New Peak

    Debt rose to more than $1 trillion in the second quarter, a report found — a sign of financial strain for some, even before student loan payments resume.

    Americans’ credit card balances rose briskly in the second quarter, hitting a sobering milestone of more than $1 trillion, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York reported this month. Credit cards are the most prevalent type of household debt, New York Fed researchers wrote in a blog post, and saw the biggest increase of all debt types. More than two-thirds of Americans had a credit card in the second quarter, up from 59 percent roughly a decade earlier, the researchers found. And, they noted, card balances were more than 16 percent higher in the second three months of this year compared with a year earlier.

    Alternate: https://archive.ph/5bdz1 (NYT)

    Alternate: https://www.forbes.com/advisor/credit-cards/credit-card-debt-hits-new-high/

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    Mortgage rates soar to their highest level in 21 years
  • Below 4% is a huge win. I bought my house in 2007 at 6.5%. Refinanced after the financial meltdown at 5% then again in 2012 at 3.25%.

    It's been an absolute gift to build equity with such a low rate, but I'm also lucky that I didn't have to move.

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    How to curb unnecessary consumer impulses?
  • If you're impulse buying crap online, I find keeping items in the shopping cart for a day or so gives me time to think before pulling the trigger. If it's an emergency that's one thing, but most of the time it can wait.

    Also I find budgetting apps to be really helpful in curbing unnecessary spending.

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    401(k) millionaires are on the rise after taking a hit last year. Boomers are leading the way
  • It's not just boomers.

    Young savers have done especially well. Gen Z saw a 66% increase in average 401(k) balances compared to a year ago, while millennials saw a 24.5% increase. Average Gen X balances were up 14.5%, and baby boomers saw an average increase of 6.3% compared to a year ago.

    Source from Fidelity (PDF)

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