Triumph Of Science Research Articles

The demise of the antibiotic pipeline: the Bayer case

Antibiotics, celebrated as symbols of scientific triumph and societal advancement, have played a critical role in combating infectious diseases. However, their overuse has inadvertently fueled the emergence of antibiotic resistance. The primary strategy to tackle the resistance has been to develop new antibiotics. However, since the 1980s, there has been a noticeable downturn in the development of new antibacterial drugs. This slump, often referred to as the ‘dry antibiotic pipeline’, was particularly prevalent during the 1990s and aligned with that; many major pharmaceutical companies exited the antibiotic field in the early 2000s. That is also the main timeframe this paper focuses on. This work analyzes the dry antibiotic pipeline as a historical phenomenon and sets the stage by outlining the narrative context and key actors involved. It then discusses critical elements such as the understanding of innovation, scientific advances, regulatory requirements for clinical trials, and commercial models. These elements were often considered factors explaining the difficulty of developing new antibiotics. Using the case of the pioneering German company Bayer, these elements are brought together to illustrate the complexity of the crisis in the research and development of antibiotics. The Bayer story provides new insights into the internal realities of the company and reveals a range of entangled and multilayered challenges, which ultimately resulted in Bayer abandoning its storied production of anti-infectives, particularly antibiotics, calling into question the common understanding of the dry antibiotic pipeline.

The Vast and Diverse World of the Science of Paranoid Schizophrenia, Scientific Vision of Cognitive Science and a Biomedical Science Perspective

The world of challenges in the field of medical science, biomedical science, health sciences and engineering are in the path of newer scientific and technological regeneration. In the similar vision, the science of psychology and psychiatry are also in the avenues of deep scientific ingenuity and scientific prowess. This is a case study of the author who is suffering from schizophrenia from November, 1993. Since October, 2012, he is diagnosed with glaucoma in his both eyes. Long years of agony, ardor, trials and tribulations have passed since then. This treatise deeply elucidates the strong ardor and mental health challenges faced by the author since November, 1993. Medical science, health science and technology needs to be revamped and re-envisioned as regards treatment and cure of this difficult mental health illness. The author deeply pronounces the needs of psychotherapy and counselling in the treatment and well-being of the patient. This article reiterates the revamping of the science of paranoid schizophrenia since this is an incurable ailment. Scientific rejuvenation and deep technological vision are the utmost needs of the hour. The field of biomedical sciences and biological engineering will truly open newer windows of scientific innovation and scientific triumph in decades to come. This article is a message to all sufferers of the ailment of schizophrenia and other bi-polar disorders. Surely a newer day and a newer dawn in medical science will emerge if discoveries and innovations moves towards positive directions in treatment and cure. Civilization and science will surely usher in a newer dawn in the science of psychiatry if there is an effective support system from doctors and psychologists across the globe. In the similar vision the domain of healthcare system across the world will witness newer scientific regeneration if researchers, scientists, students and policy makers takes affirmative steps and affirmative vision in the scientific research pursuit in psychological science in decades to come. Recent breakthroughs in cognitive science and neuroscience will surely usher in newer dimensions in treatment and cure of schizophrenia.

‘Now I Have Found Myself, and I Am Happy’: Marta Olmos, Sex Reassignment, the Media and Mexico on a Global Stage, 1952–7

AbstractIn May 1954, the story broke internationally of Marta Olmos, recipient of the first widely known, male-to-female sex reassignment conducted in Mexico. Her doctor, Rafael Sandoval Camacho, claimed that homosexuality could be cured and that, through transitions, queer Mexicans could be made into ‘socially useful’ citizens. While initially celebrated as a scientific triumph placing Mexico among elite nations, and receiving support from individuals close to the Ruiz Cortines administration, opinions soured as critics – physicians, politicians, cartoonists and clerics – condemned Marta for renouncing manhood through a fraudulent cure that threatened the binary sex/gender order underpinning Mexican nationalism. Sex reassignment, understood through foreigners including Christine Jorgensen and associated with ‘anti-social’ queer Mexicans, thus exemplified misplaced priorities during a period in which the state sought to ‘modernise patriarchy’. While self-affirming for Marta and permitted unofficially through state indifference, sex reassignment became seen as anti-Mexican. Thus, Marta's case illuminated how the state reconciled development with policing its patriarchal order.

A ferritin-based COVID-19 nanoparticle vaccine that elicits robust, durable, broad-spectrum neutralizing antisera in non-human primates

While the rapid development of COVID-19 vaccines has been a scientific triumph, the need remains for a globally available vaccine that provides longer-lasting immunity against present and future SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs). Here, we describe DCFHP, a ferritin-based, protein-nanoparticle vaccine candidate that, when formulated with aluminum hydroxide as the sole adjuvant (DCFHP-alum), elicits potent and durable neutralizing antisera in non-human primates against known VOCs, including Omicron BQ.1, as well as against SARS-CoV-1. Following a booster ~one year after the initial immunization, DCFHP-alum elicits a robust anamnestic response. To enable global accessibility, we generated a cell line that can enable production of thousands of vaccine doses per liter of cell culture and show that DCFHP-alum maintains potency for at least 14 days at temperatures exceeding standard room temperature. DCFHP-alum has potential as a once-yearly (or less frequent) booster vaccine, and as a primary vaccine for pediatric use including in infants.

(Re-)defining “animal magnetism”: the mesmerism investigations of 1784

Une historiographie plus ancienne a appréhendé les enquêtes de 1784 sur le « magnétisme animal » comme le triomphe scientifique de la méthode expérimentale. Cet article va réévaluer la portée et l’impact de ces enquêtes et défendre l’idée que les membres des commissions ont altéré le sens de « magnétisme animal » pour convenir à leurs propres objectifs et intérêts. Plus spécifiquement, je vais montrer comment leurs expériences ont traduit leurs interprétations propres du sens, de la définition et de la fonction thérapeutique du magnétisme animal, et comment ces interprétations étaient constamment réévaluées et redéfinies. En premier lieu, je vais discuter de la manière dont les membres des commissions ont fait des sensations les effets visibles principaux du magnétisme. En deuxième lieu, je vais montrer comment les expériences ont appliqué des critères de démarcation sociale aux sensibilités des sujets. En troisième lieu, je vais présenter comment ils ont amélioré la définition de leurs protocoles pour s’assurer de la crédibilité de leur hypothèse selon laquelle l’imagination produisait les sensations magnétiques. Enfin, je vais expliquer comment ils ont redéfini en convulsions les « crises » magnétiques, afin de saper la légitimité de la thérapie.

“Le domaine du Cant et du Puff ”: Villiers, Anti-Americanism, and the French Edisonades

Abstract This essay builds on recent scholarship on romans d’anticipation and the popular press to read French Edisonades by Auguste Villiers de l’Isle-Adam (L’Ève future, Contes cruels), Alphonse Allais (“La Vérité sur l’exposition de Chicago,” “Supériorité de la vie américaine sur la nôtre,” etc.), and Gustave Le Rouge and Gustave Guitton (La Conspiration des milliardaires) as marking a fundamental anxiety about France’s slipping world-power status in the face of America’s industrial and economic ascendancy. In these fin de siècle technological fictions, the American inventor emerges as an ambivalent figure hovering between scientific genius and hucksterish humbuggery. The real-life rivalry between Thomas Alva Edison and Charles Cros over the 1878 invention of the phonograph led to satiric forms of resistance to the United States as a land of vulgar mercantile utilitarianism threatening to decenter Paris as the cultural capital of the nineteenth century. Although evolving drafts of Villiers’s metaphysical novel seem to highlight the divine creative potential of “le ‘Sorcier de Menlo Park,’” L’Ève future retains less idealistic references to Edison’s commercial side as a Barnum-like businessman from America. Meanwhile, Le Rouge and Guitton’s fantasy of French scientific triumph over American millionaires counters the troubling lure of technical wonder and speculative energy from the land of the almighty dollar.

Developmental psychologists should adopt citizen science to improve generalization and reproducibility.

Widespread failures of replication and generalization are, ironically, a scientific triumph, in that they confirm the fundamental metascientific theory that underlies our field. Generalizable and replicable findings require testing large numbers of subjects from a wide range of demographics with a large, randomly-sampled stimulus set, and using a variety of experimental parameters. Because few studies accomplish any of this, meta-scientists predict that findings will frequently fail to replicate or generalize. We argue that to be more robust and replicable, developmental psychology needs to find a mechanism for collecting data at greater scale and from more diverse populations. Luckily, this mechanism already exists: Citizen science, in which large numbers of uncompensated volunteers provide data. While best-known for its contributions to astronomy and ecology, citizen science has also produced major findings in neuroscience and psychology, and increasingly in developmental psychology. We provide examples, address practical challenges, discuss limitations, and compare to other methods of obtaining large datasets. Ultimately, we argue that the range of studies where it makes sense *not* to use citizen science is steadily dwindling.

Brain Gate Technology

Brain Gate overpasses the gap between the brain and the computer. It is a mind-to-movement system that allows a quadriplegic person to command a computer using only his/her thoughts. Brain computer interface technology, used in Brain gate technology, is a brain implant system that came into existence by bio tech company called cyberkinectics in conjunction with the Department of Neuroscience at Brown University. It is found that people with long established, severe paralysis can generate signals in the area of the brain responsible for voluntary movement and these signals can be detected, recorded, routed out of the brain to a computer and transformed into actions enabling a paralyzed patient to perform basic tasks. It is none less than a scientific triumph that brain these signals can be reconnected, thereby allowing the patient to make movements of their limbs just by thinking about it. A fascinating goal which motivates one to work upon this technology is to enable naturally controlled movements of paralyzed limbs. The research done on Brain Gate is yet very limited as the system is still under trial and hence, this paper gathers information through several contributions provided and assembles them to form a single point of reference.

Pills to end the pandemic

At this time last year, COVID-19 vaccines were becoming available in the US and parts of Europe—a scientific triumph that had the world wondering if the pandemic would soon be behind us. But a year later, those vaccines aren’t widely available in many parts of the world, and even in places where they are plentiful, some people refuse them. Meanwhile, the highly contagious Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, caused cases to spike, and a troubling new Omicron variant (see page 6) has been detected around the world. In mid-November, more than 1,000 people still died daily from COVID-19 in the US alone. As we head into a third pandemic year, many are pinning their hopes on a new tool for bringing the virus under control : pills. Oral antiviral candidates from Merck & Co. and Pfizer performed well in clinical trials and, if approved, could soon

A pandemic anniversary: 40 years of HIV/AIDS

A pandemic anniversary: 40 years of HIV/AIDS

SARS-CoV-2 vaccines: a triumph of science and collaboration.

Roughly 1 year after the first case of COVID-19 was identified and less than 1 year after the sequencing of SARS-CoV-2, multiple SARS-CoV-2 vaccines with demonstrated safety and efficacy in phase III clinical trials are available. The most promising vaccines have targeted the surface glycoprotein (S-protein) of SARS-CoV-2 and achieved an approximate 85%–95% reduction in the risk of symptomatic COVID-19, while retaining excellent safety profiles and modest side effects in the phase III clinical trials. The mRNA, replication-incompetent viral vector, and protein subunit vaccine technologies have all been successfully employed. Some novel SARS-CoV-2 variants evade but do not appear to fully overcome the potent immunity induced by these vaccines. Emerging real-world effectiveness data add evidence for protection from severe COVID-19. This is an impressive first demonstration of the effectiveness of the mRNA vaccine and vector vaccine platforms. The success of SARS-CoV-2 vaccine development should be credited to open science, industry partnerships, harmonization of clinical trials, and the altruism of study participants. The manufacturing and distribution of the emergency use–authorized SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are ongoing challenges. What remains now is to ensure broad and equitable global vaccination against COVID-19.

This Is How to Vaccinate the World: We can manufacture and distribute enough doses to protect humanity from COVID-19

In a triumph of science, the first two large-scale trials to report the effectiveness of vaccines against SARS-CoV-2—the deadly, highly contagious virus that causes COVID-19—were both great successes right out of the gate. In November, the pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and the much younger biotech company Moderna both reported that their vaccines were about 95 percent effective in preventing cases of COVID-19. The news came just 10 months after the virus was first isolated and sequenced in a lab in China.

Rickets of our time: modern diagnosis and treatment

Rickets is a disease that has been known to mankind for several decades. Overcoming this public health problem was a triumph of science and public policy in the 20th century, but over the course of several decades rickets sharply returned as a result of cultural, environmental and political factors. Vitamin D plays a fundamental role in the regulation of calcium and phosphorus homeostasis, and, consequently, in the development of rickets. In addition to these classic skeletal effects, recent studies have shown that vitamin D has other significant extracellular effects that can complicate the course of the disease and have long-term effects on children’s health. Vitamin D sufficiency in children has been defined as serum 25(OH) D levels of over 30 ng/ml, insufficiency as 21-30 ng/ml, deficiency as less than 20 ng/ml. The upper limit of the reference range is 100 nmol/L, as levels above may be associated with vitamin D toxicity in children. Serum 1.25(OH)2D should not be used for the assessment of vitamin D status. Natural sources of vitamin D are very limited, therefore, its use in the form of nutritional supplements is the primary mean of preventing and treating rickets. The recommended drug for the prevention and treatment of vitamin D deficiency is cholecalciferol (D3). Colecalciferol is recommended to be given at a dose of 1000 IU/day to all children aged 1 to 6 months regardless of the type of feeding or the season of the year to prevent vitamin D deficiency. This article presents modern ways of preventing, diagnosing and treating rickets.

От Энциклопедии до Википедии: трансформация социальной структуры знания в эпоху постмодерна

<span>Со времен Дидро до эпохи модерна энциклопедия как литературный жанр и социальный феномен была олицетворением торжества науки. Появление и развитие Википедии ознаменовало серьезные трансформации в социальной структуре знания о мире и принципах его структурирования. В эпоху постмодерна изменились представления об авторе справочных изданий, энциклопедичности как качестве личности, истинности публикуемых материалов. Эти изменения вызваны нарастающим объемом информации, диверсификацией и специализацией научного знания, осознанием неизбежности классового подхода (в широком смысле этого термина) к оценке различных явлений и пониманием ограничений науки как единственно верного и полезного способа познания реальности. В статье рассматривается процесс изменения социальной роли энциклопедии в современном мире. В частности, показано, что в какой-то момент она превратилась из кладезя мудрости в товар пассивного спроса и предмета для подарка. Сделан вывод о невозможности в современных условиях заменить Википедию традиционной энциклопедией, даже если на такой проект будут выделены громадные ресурсы.</span>

Le Langage des sources dans ‘Les Trois Villes’ d’Émile Zola: la dialectique de la foi et de la raison. Par Marie Lapière

Between late March and early June 1891, the journalist Jules Huret published a series of interviews with contemporary writers, as part of his ‘Enquête sur l’évolution littéraire’. To these he posed the same leading questions: Was naturalism ill? Or dead, even? What, then, would replace it? While many bemoaned naturalism’s dogged positivism, looking instead to the rise of symbolism and the psychological novel, Zola himself responded to Huret by suggesting that naturalism might be opened up, its theories loosened, so as to provide ‘une peinture de la vérité plus large, plus complexe’ (p. 18). Just one month after Huret’s survey had appeared in book form (Enquête sur l’évolution littéraire (Paris: Charpentier, 1891)), Zola set down his first notes on what was to be his second novel cycle: Les Trois Villes, comprising Lourdes (1894), Rome (1896), and Paris (1898). In these, Zola took up the task he had set himself, confronting head on the Catholic revival at the fin de siècle, and the purported ‘bankruptcy’ of science, declared by the likes of Ferdinand Brunetière. Marie Lapière’s book reconstructs these intellectual and ideological struggles with admirable clarity and rigour, her aim being to restore to each novel of Zola’s trilogy a precise sense of its engagement with contemporary discourses and debates on matters of belief, socialism, anarchism, the divine, justice, and reason. By foregrounding the sources on which Zola drew in his preparation and writing (Jean-Martin Charcot, Gustave Boissarie, Francesco Nitti, Gabriel Tarde, entre autres), Lapière tracks in close detail — across his reading notes, preparatory dossiers, and finished novels — ‘le processus d’un Zola lecteur à un Zola créateur’ (p. 24), a dynamic which is shown to entail assimilation, reformulation, and often deconstruction. In an extension of the ‘roman expérimental’ that Zola theorized at the height of naturalism’s cultural dominance, Lapière coins the term ‘romans-expérience’ (p. 365) to describe the author’s method — namely, the trilogy’s halting tests of dogma and faith, which are centred around Zola’s doubting priest Pierre Froment, and the triumph of science over Catholicism that it ultimately rehearses. In turn, one of the significant virtues of this book is the close attention it devotes to the experimental interrogations and hesitations that attenuate the gradual hardening of Zola’s own convictions. In this respect, Lapière’s study represents a rich and nuanced contribution to what has, in recent years, become a significant corpus of genetic criticism on Zola. At times, however, the reader will feel that this substantial tome would have benefited from some tighter editing. The curious inclusion of article titles and publication details in the body of the text weighs down Lapière’s otherwise readable prose; and principal points are relayed with a certain redondance that mimics Zola’s own in these later novels. Those readers eager to delve deeper into Zola’s penultimate, and relatively understudied, cycle will, however, find much to appreciate in Lapière’s detailed, resourceful, and thorough presentation, which includes biographical notes on key contemporary figures, and summaries of the most relevant works and articles in Zola’s library.

PENDIDIKAN DALAM PERSPEKTIF KRITIS-EMANSIPATORIS (Telaah terhadap Kurikulum dan Metode Pembelajaran)

The modern era is a time of development of the positivism philosophy. Modern world life is based on the paradigm of positivism thinking. The paradigm of positivism thinking believes that all science is mathematical which is characterized by objective, measurable, scientific, rational and universal thinking patterns. These four ways of thinking have brought modern civilization to the triumph of science. On the other side, a civilization based on the modern paradigm experiences various kinds of humanitarian problems. The paradigm of modern thinking is not suitable when it is associated with social problems including the education. Jurgen habermas, a Frankfurt school figure, offers solutions to overcome social problems that cannot be overcome by modern paradigms. Habermas developed a critical theory that had been put forward by the previous generation of Frankfrut figures. The theory he offered was a critical theory of emancipation and a theory of communicative action. Emancipatory critical theory and communicative action theory are able to answer problems in the world of education that cannot be answered by the positivistic thinking paradigm.

Топика волшебной сказки в сюжетной структуре пьесы В. Зазубрина «Подкоп»

The article provides a structural analysis of the «forgotten» play by V. Zazubrin “Undermining”. This is the final work of the writer, created in the mid-1930s. The plot is organized around the conflict between the “archaists and innovators” from medicine. Its compliance to the normative parameters of the socialist-realism canon is shown, following which leads to the same type of the Soviet plot as such. Similar plot type, which is formed as a result of typical actions of the heroes, correlates with the model of a fairy-tale, where there is also a predetermination of the actions of the characters. In dramaturgy, these properties are most distinct. The plot of the Zazubrin’s play moves from the failures of the hero-innovator, his accusations of sabotage by colleagues of the older generation and the ban on further experimentation – to a scientific triumph and wedding. This corresponds to the functions of a fairy-tale plot, such as “shortage”, the struggle of the hero and the antagonist, violation of the prohibition, solving a difficult task, marriage and “reigning”. The analysis leads to the conclusion: the schematic behavior of the hero, his subordination to the plot within the boundaries of a given canon leads to a decrease in the artistic level of the play, depriving its content of the occasionality that is characteristic of Zazubrin’s early work.

From discoveries in ageing research to therapeutics for healthy ageing.

For several decades, understanding ageing and the processes that limit lifespan have challenged biologists. Thirty years ago, the biologyof ageing gained unprecedented scientific credibility through the identification of gene variants that extend the lifespan of multicellular model organisms. Here we summarize the milestones that mark this scientific triumph, discuss different ageing pathways and processes, and suggest that ageing research is entering a new era that has unique medical, commercial and societal implications. We argue that this era marks an inflection point, not only in ageing research but also for all biological research that affects the human healthspan.

Sund aldring og forebyggende medicin

Forebyggende medicinering for at reducere risikoen for hjertekarsygdom er for mange ældre danskere blevet en integreret del af hverdagen. Med udgangspunkt i udviklinger omkring blodtrykssænkende medicin fra 1950 og frem undersøger denne artikel, hvilke videnskabelige, økonomiske og politiske forandringer der har bidraget til at gøre forebyggende medicinering til en del af vores aldring, som langt hen af vejen tages for givet. Analysen trækker på medicinsk historiske og samfundsvidenskabelige publikationer, offentligt tilgængelige rapporter og statistik samt interviews med danske blodtryksforskere og ledere i lægemiddelvirksomheder. Analysen demonstrerer, hvordan ændringer i forståelsen af fænomenet blodtryksforhøjelse blandt medicinske forskere spillede sammen med ændringer i lægemiddelmarkedet, som yderligere blev hjulpet på vej af velfærdsstatslig regulering i kølvandet på 2. verdenskrig. Samlet peger analysen på, at det er forsimplet at forstå den stigende udbredelse af forebyggende medicin enten som videnskabens triumf eller ’medikalisering’ af alderdommen drevet frem af kapitalinteresser. Derimod er det væsentligt at forstå hvilke mulighedsrum, der skabes i samspillet mellem markedskræfter, forskningsambitioner og offentlig regulering, og hvordan det udnyttes af forskellige aktører i et felt.

Prepress Sund aldring og forebyggende medicin

Forebyggende medicinering for at reducere risikoen for hjertekarsygdom er for mange ældre danskere blevet en integreret del af hverdagen. Med udgangspunkt i udviklinger omkring blodtrykssænkende medicin fra 1950 og frem undersøger denne artikel, hvilke videnskabelige, økonomiske og politiske forandringer der har bidraget til at gøre forebyggende medicinering til en del af vores aldring, som langt hen af vejen tages for givet. Analysen trækker på medicinsk historiske og samfundsvidenskabelige publikationer, offentligt tilgængelige rapporter og statistik samt interviews med danske blodtryksforskere og ledere i lægemiddelvirksomheder. Analysen demonstrerer, hvordan ændringer i forståelsen af fænomenet blodtryksforhøjelse blandt medicinske forskere spillede sammen med ændringer i lægemiddelmarkedet, som yderligere blev hjulpet på vej af velfærdsstatslig regulering i kølvandet på 2. verdenskrig. Samlet peger analysen på, at det er forsimplet at forstå den stigende udbredelse af forebyggende medicin enten som videnskabens triumf eller ’medikalisering’ af alderdommen drevet frem af kapitalinteresser. Derimod er det væsentligt at forstå hvilke mulighedsrum, der skabes i samspillet mellem markedskræfter, forskningsambitioner og offentlig regulering, og hvordan det udnyttes af forskellige aktører i et felt.