Loneliness changes activity patterns in the human brain

Chronic social isolation manifests itself in a change in human brain activity and ensures a more lonely self-representation.

Loneliness and the feeling of social isolation are particularly widespread among young adults, people in their mid-50s and the elderly, according to a study published by the University of California in the journal International Psychogeriatrics. In the past few months, the Corona pandemic, which has forced many people to work in their home offices and social distancing, has also caused more loneliness in other age groups, which in severe cases can trigger mental suffering and health problems.

Scientists at Stanford University and Dartmouth College have therefore investigated whether the feeling of loneliness causes changes in the brain. According to their publication in the Journal of Neuroscience, they used functional magnetic resonance tomography (fMRI) to analyze the brain activity of 43 test subjects while they were thinking about their own characteristics and those of celebrities and close friends.

Different patterns of brain activity:

It was shown that the pattern of brain activity varies greatly depending on the caregiver of the thoughts. When thinking about yourself, different circuits are active than when thinking about friends or celebrities. The patterns of thinking about another person become more similar to the patterns of thinking about yourself, the stronger the perceived connection with that person. According to the study authors, "our subjective relationship with these people is crucial for neural representation."

Medial prefrontal cortex:

In all subjects, the medial prefrontal cortex, which is also responsible for a person's self-image, was the central circuit when thinking about himself or other people. However, there were differences between lonely and socially well-integrated subjects. As the researchers report, "the lone participants seemed to have a 'lone' self-representation in the prefrontal cortex." This was reflected in the fact that their activation pattern is more decoupled from other circuits than in socially well integrated people.

In addition, in lonely people, the neural patterns for close friends and oneself differ more. As Andrea Courtney explains, "most of us activate a very similar constellation when thinking about ourselves or our friends." However, this is not the case with lonely people.

According to Meghan Meyer, "it seems that the representation of oneself in the brain of lonely people is more decoupled from that of other people - this is in line with what lonely people feel." The researchers therefore state that "our brain is both information about social Categories as well as about the connection with ourselves. ”According to the study results, chronic social isolation leads to a more lonely self-representation. However, it is unclear whether these neuronal differences are effects or causes of loneliness in humans.

International Psychogeriatrics, doi: doi.org/10.1017/S1041610218002120

Journal of Neuroscience, doi: 10.1523 / JNEUROSCI.2826-19.2020

Organic electrolytes are intended to advance the energy transition

Organic instead of inorganic electrolytes could make the temporary storage of electricity more environmentally friendly. Lignin is a suitable raw material, electrically active plastics and salt as well.

The town of Alzenau in the far northwest of Bavaria is preparing to make a significant contribution to the success of the energy transition. A 200 kilowatt battery will start operating there in mid-2019. It is intended to store excess electricity so that it can be released without delay in times of lull.

If the powerful turbo-generators of nuclear and coal-fired power plants gradually cease to exist in the coming years, there will be no ready-to-use compensations for supply gaps in the power grid. The generators simply balance them out with their inertia - they run a tiny bit slower for a short time. However, when they are no longer available, other energy storage systems have to step in at lightning speed and supply energy. Batteries have the best cards so far to take this place.

200 KW battery with liquid electrolytes from lignin:

The size of the new electricity storage facility in Alzenau is by no means impressive. The power plant operator Steag in Essen, for example, operates six lithium-ion battery blocks with an output of 15 megawatts each. The fact that a redox flow battery is installed in Alzenau is also not a premiere. But this power storage works with liquid electrolytes that are made from lignin - a natural product that is in the order of millions of tons that is left over every year in paper production. To a certain extent, lignin is the glue that binds the cellulose fibers in the wood together so that massive logs are created. The lignin must be removed before the fibers can be finished into paper. It is usually burned.

Goal: Detach vanadium in electrolytes:

The company CMBlu in Alzenau has developed batteries and electrolytes. The latter are modified quinones, an important group of organic compounds made from lignin sulfonates. They are generated as waste in the manufacture of pulp.

Redox flow batteries typically use electrolytes that contain the relatively rare metal vanadium. A more environmentally friendly solution, where there are also no limitations due to a lack of raw materials, is the use of organic materials such as quinones or conductive plastics in a salt solution, such as Kemiwatt from Rennes in France or JenaBatteries, a spin-off from the University of Jena. While these companies are already selling energy storage, CMBlu is still at the beginning.

Premiere for lignin solution with 50 kilowatt hours:

Redox flow batteries consist of the central reaction chamber, two tanks for the electrolytes and two pumps that carry the liquids. When charging, electrons are transported from one electrolyte to the other. This happens in the reaction chamber, the heart of this battery. When discharging, the process is reversed so that electricity flows - in this case into the grid. The storage capacity of such a system, i.e. the amount of electricity that is buffered, largely depends on the size of the external tanks. CMBlu starts with small containers, so the arrangement can only deliver 50 kilowatt hours. The company claims that it is enough to optimize the system.

The automotive supplier Schaeffler, to which Continental also belongs, has been a partner of CMBlu since the end of 2018. His boss Peter Geigle sees three areas of application for his redox flow battery, also known as a river battery. First of all, there is the intermediate storage of wind and solar power, which is produced more and more frequently and in larger quantities at times when there are no customers. Large batteries can jump in at lightning speed if needed.

With Redox-Flow, e-cars are quickly charged:

This type of battery is also interesting for industry. It can cover peak loads, i.e. the short-term consumption of a particularly large amount of electricity. Obtained from the network, it is extremely expensive. And electric mobility will also benefit from this. The batteries should not be installed in cars, although electric cars with redox flow batteries can drive. Instead, they are used in quick-charging stations that easily deliver 350 kilowatts and charge vehicles quickly. The public power grid rarely offers such high performance. A redox flow battery collects electricity at times when no customer is docked, so that it can start at full power when needed. It is even possible to replace the used electrolyte liquid by tank truck - it can be charged externally.

Search for producing partners

“We don't want to produce anything ourselves. We are a research company that develops the technology to such an extent that it can be passed on to industrial companies, ”says Geigle. He has already signed contracts with customers who want to implement pilot projects over the next two years - including Schaeffler.

Diabetes - New sensor measures blood sugar levels without taking blood

A new glove with electromagnetic sensors measures blood sugar levels as accurately as conventional blood draw tests. In the future, the results should be permanently transferred to a smartphone in order to warn diabetics of changes at an early stage.

 Diabetics currently have to stick their fingers several times a day to check their blood sugar levels in order to get blood . The medicine already examined therefore for some time for new methods to eliminate the need for this unpleasant and repetitive procedure. Among other things, a contact lens was developed to measure the blood sugar concentration. However, none of the possible solutions is ready for the market.

Scientists American University of Beirut have now presented another non-invasive approach to determining blood sugar in the journal Science Advances . The team led by biomedical technician Jessica Hanna uses a combination of bendable sensors that can be integrated into clothing to permanently monitor changes in blood sugar. According to Hanna, "the sensors are more accurate and faster than previous devices."

Glove with a bracelet measures the blood sugar level:

To present their development, the researchers built a glove with a forearm bandage that contains flexible antennas as a prototype . These send out electromagnetic waves that penetrate the skin, muscles and fat layer to scan the underlying veins and arteries. The blood sugar level is determined by the fact that its concentration influences the electrical properties of the blood. Depending on the level of blood sugar, the electromagnetic waves reflected by the body differ in strength.

Blood sugar analysis possible in real time:

This measuring method is not new. So far, however, electromagnetic sensors have not been used to measure blood sugar because the results were too imprecise. The scientists have therefore changed the course of the antennas so that they run directly like the veins in the forearm and the palm of the hand. Compared to previous experiments, the accuracy of the results could be significantly increased.

In a clinical study with 21 healthy volunteers, the new system was able to analyze the blood sugar level in real time. This was proven by conventional sugar exposure tests, which were carried out in parallel to the electromagnetic blood sugar measurement.

Further studies are now to investigate whether the sensors in socks, necklaces or other items of clothing also provide accurate results. In practice, it should be used in conjunction with a smartphone that notifies the user of changes in blood sugar levels and records them for doctors. When the system will be launched is still unclear.

The DRL examines the physical distribution of droplets contaminated with viruses in trains and airplanes. The study thus provides the basis for further research, but does not provide any information about the contagion risk of mass mobility.

according to a study by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), can release up to 100,000 tiny liquid droplets with the new corona virus (SARS-COV-2) into the air , which remain there for up to 14 minutes. However , the study did not investigate the influence of different temperatures and air movements on the aerosol particles by an air conditioning system or a ventilation system.

Experiments by the German Aerospace Center (DLR), which will investigate how virus particles are distributed in airplanes and trains , could soon provide answers to these open questions . In this way, the scientists at DLR want to develop solutions for mobility during the corona pandemic and investigate whether mass mobility, as assumed, actually promotes the spread of the corona virus.

Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology:

The study is being carried out by scientists from the Göttingen DLR Institute of Aerodynamics and Flow Technology, which has been one of the world's leading research centers in the field of cabin air conditioning for aircraft and trains for years.

According to Prof. Andreas Dillmann, director of the institute, "the focus has so far been on passenger comfort and energy consumption for air conditioning." As Dillmann explains, "we can now use the scientific tools we have developed to research the spread of viruses in passenger cabins."

Open-plan compartment of a full train:

In the first part of the study, the researchers simulate a Covid-19-infected passenger who is in the open-plan compartment of a full train with six rows of seats. The computer simulation calculates the exhalation and possible cough to determine the distribution of viruses. A simulation of the cabin air flow is used, which the DLR had already created for other research purposes. The simulation also includes aerosol particles that atomize and evaporate in the air. According to the scientists, this process, in which strong shear forces cause the droplets to disintegrate, is comparable to the fuel injection in the engine.

The parameters of the different scenarios were taken from studies by the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA). Lung volumes between 1 and 1.5 liters and particle sizes between one and a few hundred micrometers are thus considered, which the simulation uses to calculate the distribution and range.

Train laboratory with 24 dummies:

In addition, the scientists simulate a similar scenario in an experiment in the generic train laboratory in Göttingen, for which 24 dolls with measuring devices were distributed as passenger dummies. The distribution is tested using a dummy that emits air with added droplets and a trace gas into its surroundings. The recording is carried out by both gas sensors and high-speed cameras, which document the distribution in the cabin air. In addition, a number of sensors record the particles and their concentration at different positions in the compartment.

Aircraft cabins are closed systems:

Another computer simulation also examines the distribution of particles in aircraft. As part of the EU project ADVENT, an experiment will soon follow in a new aircraft laboratory in Göttingen.

Prof. Rolf Henke, Director of Aviation at DLR: “Aircraft cabins are self-contained systems and already have a high level of air pollution control. Our research into the spread of viruses in cabins should help protect passengers from infections and find answers to the question: How can flying be safe in the future? ”

No statement about the risk of infection:

The scientists note that their study will only provide information about the physical distribution of droplets contaminated with viruses. However, the study cannot answer how high the infectivity of these droplets and thus the risk of infection in trains and planes is. The possible influence of air filters, which are usually used in airplanes, cannot be determined from the study data.

According to the DLR researchers from Göttingen, the first results will follow in the coming weeks. However, according to the DRL, the implementation and evaluation of some experiments will take several months.

Artical reference:https://www.forschung-und-wissen.de/nachrichten/medizin/dlr-analysiert-sars-cov-2-verbreitung-in-flugzeugen-und-zuegen-13373876

A camera was developed in the USA that can shoot 70 trillion frames per second. The new technology is to be used primarily in biochemistry and in basic physics.

Pasadena (USA). If you were to be photographed and blinked by the new camera , the camera would take over a trillion pictures in this incredibly short moment. This example illustrates very well how fast the camera developed at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) really is.

Lihong Wang, professor of electrical and medical technology, and his team have developed an ultra-fast camera that can take up to 70 trillion images per second. This is so fast that it can even record light waves as they travel or molecules decay.

Laser pulses for one femtosecond

Wang describes the technology he and his team developed behind the camera as compressed ultra-fast spectral photography (CUSP). In the detailed description in the journal Nature Communications you can quickly see that the new camera is in many ways similar to older cameras developed by him. This includes, for example, a phase-sensitive device for compressed ultra-fast photography (pCUP), which can take a trillion pictures per second of transparent objects.

In the new CUSP process, a laser that emits ultrashort light pulses with a duration of only one billionth of a second (one femtosecond) is combined with an optical system and a very special type of camera. The optics break down the ultrashort laser pulses into even shorter pulses, whereby each of these even shorter pulses can generate an image in the camera.

Camera is to be used in biochemistry and basic physics:

According to his own statements, Wang can imagine using the new ultra-fast camera in areas such as basic physics, which he would like to miniaturize in the life sciences. "We envision applications in a variety of extremely fast phenomena, such as ultra-short light propagation, wave propagation, nuclear fusion, photon transport in clouds and biological tissues, and fluorescent decay of biomolecules," added Wang.

Artical reference:https://www.forschung-und-wissen.de/nachrichten/technik/kamera-macht-70-billionen-bilder-pro-sekunde-13373848

A new bio hybrid battery uses exolectrogenic microbes of the type Shewanella oneidensis to produce electricity.

Karlsruhe (Germany). A few years ago, science discovered so-called exolectrogenic microbes that generate electricity. Some of these bacteria even live in the human gut. Due to their anaerobic living conditions used exolektrogene microbes rather than oxygen metals to the released their metabolic reactions electrons received at. According to a study published by the University of Massachusetts Amherst in the journal Nature Nanotechnology , some microbes form bacterial threads whose conductivity is comparable to that of metals.

Researchers at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) have now presented a practical way in the scientific journal ACS Applied Materials & Interfaces to use these electro-microbes as biological electricity producers. For this purpose, the team around Yong Hu has developed a material in which the bacteria can grow and that the current they generate is effectively dissipated via electrodes.

Bacteria of the species Shewanella oneidensis

The bio-battery uses anaerobic bacteria of the species Shewanella oneidensis, which the scientists isolated in Lake Oneida in New York. Shewanella oneidensis can produce various elemental metals from heavy metal compounds, including uranium ,silver ,mercury,lead and iron. The bacteria release electrons to the metals via filamentous cell sites.

The new biohybrid construction consists of a liquid nutrient solution, which is a combination of nanostructures and biomolecules. Christof Niemeyer, co-author, explains that the scientists “have created a porous hydrogel that consists of carbon nanotubes and silica nanoparticles that are interwoven with each other through the DNA strands of the bacteria.”

Bacteria multiply in bio batteries

According to Johannes Gescher, co-author of the study, observations of the cultivation of the material show that "exoelectrogenic bacteria such as Shewanella oneidensis colonize the conductive scaffold, while other bacteria such as Escherichia coli only remain on the surface of the matrix." In the biohybrid According to the scientists, the battery has an electrochemical activity, which suggests that in the composite containing Shewanella, the bacteria extract metabolic electrons and transport them to the anode. The electron flow increases depending on the amount of bacteria present in the synthetic matrix.

Niemeyer states that this is the first description of such a complex and functional biohybrid material. According to him, the results indicate that possible applications of such materials could even go beyond microbial biosensors, bioreactors and fuel cell systems .

Artical reference: 

https://www.forschung-und-wissen.de/nachrichten/chemie/bakterien-erzeugen-strom-in-bio-batterie-13373853

Volvo is equipping the upcoming model generation with technology for autonomous driving from Luminar. The system should be able to take control on highways.

Volvo is taking the next step towards autonomous driving. The cars of the next model generation are to be equipped with lidar systems .As the manufacturer reports, he has deepened the strategic partnership with the technology company Luminar from Silicon Valley, which is developing the corresponding sensors.The next generation of Volvo models, which will be based on the new modular product architecture "SPA 2" from 2022 , will therefore have the necessary hardware. The sensors working with laser pulses are integrated into the vehicle roof above the windscreen. They scan the surroundings in three dimensions and create a temporary map in real time . An internet connection is not necessary.

What can the system really do?

With the so-called "Highway Pilot", Volvo wants to enable autonomous driving on motorways , provided the legal framework permits. The extent to which technology can actually take control remained open at first.

Luminar's technology is said to provide navigation and the ability to detect obstacles and other objects that the camera and radar alone could not.

Henrik Green, Chief Technology Officer at Volvo Cars, is quoted in the release: "A Volvo will soon be able to drive autonomously on highways if the vehicle's technology decides that it is safe. At this point, the Volvo will take over responsibility for driving. The driver can relax and take his hands off the steering wheel . "

The software of the vehicles can be updated "over the air" with the necessary and other functions .

On the way to series production:

With the closer cooperation, Volvo and Luminar also want to achieve an increasing industrialization and validation of the lidar technology for series production.

This was the only way to achieve the economies of scale required to bring the technology to the automotive industry on a large scale.

Roche’s COVID-19 antibody test receives FDA Emergency Use Authorization and is available in markets accepting the CE mark

The serology test has a specificity greater than 99.8% and sensitivity of 100% (14 Days post-PCR confirmation) 

The high specificity of the test is crucial to determine reliably if a person has been exposed to the virus and if the patient has developed antibodies 

Roche will provide high double-digit millions of tests already in May for countries accepting the CE mark and in the U.S. under Emergency Use Authorization, further ramping up capacities

The test is available on Roche’s cobas e analysers which are widely available around the world

Basel, 03 May 2020 - Roche (SIX: RO, ROG; OTCQX: RHHBY) today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued an Emergency Use Authorization (EUA)1 for its new Elecsys® AntiSARS-CoV-2 antibody test. The test is designed to help determine if a patient has been exposed to the SARSCoV-2 virus and if the patient has developed antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Roche has already started shipping the new antibody test to leading laboratories globally and will ramp up production capacity to high double-digit millions per month to serve healthcare systems in countries accepting the CE mark2 as well as the U.S. 

“Thanks to the enormous efforts of our dedicated colleagues we are now able to deliver a high-quality antibody test in high quantities, so we can support healthcare systems around the world with an important tool to better manage the COVID-19 health crisis,” said Severin Schwan, CEO Roche Group. ”I am in particular pleased about the high specificity and sensitivity of our test, which is crucial to support health care systems around the world with a reliable tool to better manage the COVID-19 health crisis.” 

“Our best scientists have worked 24/7 over the last few weeks and months to develop a highly reliable antibody test to help fight this pandemic,” said Thomas Schinecker, CEO Roche Diagnostics. “Roche is committed to helping laboratories deliver fast, accurate, and reliable results to healthcare professionals and their patients.” 

Roche’s SARS-CoV2 antibody test, which has a specificity greater than 99.8% and 100% sensitivity3 (14 Days post-PCR confirmation), can help assess patients’ immune response to the virus. As more is understood about immunity to SARS-CoV-2, the test may help to assess who has built up immunity to the virus. 

With extensive global manufacturing capabilities, Roche will be able to deliver high double-digit millions of tests per month. Hospitals and reference laboratories can run the test on Roche’s cobas e analysers, which are widely available around the world.

For countries with specific regulatory requirements, local approval timelines apply. In addition there may be other country-specific regulations, such as import requirements, which will determine when the test becomes available locally. Roche will work closely with the respective regional representatives to ensure we appropriately support local registration efforts. 

About antibody testing :

An antibody test, also called a serology test, is used to determine whether a person might have gained immunity against a pathogen or not. The human body makes antibodies in response to many illnesses. In the current situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, antibody tests need to be able to specifically detect antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 with no cross-reactivity to other similar coronaviruses, which could generate a false positive result and thus wrongly indicate potential immunity. A false positive result happens when a person receives a positive test result, when they should have received a negative result. False positives are particularly critical when we do not know how many people in a given population have had COVID-19. As of 24 April 2020, no study has evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 confers immunity to subsequent infection by this virus in humans4 . 

About Elecsys Anti-SARS-CoV-2 serology test :

Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 is an immunoassay for the in-vitro qualitative detection of antibodies (including IgG) to Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in human serum and plasma. Through a blood sample, the test, which is based on an in-solution double-antigen sandwich format, can detect antibodies to the new coronavirus causing COVID-19, which could signal whether a person has already been infected and potentially developed immunity to the virus. Based on the measurement of a total of 5272 samples, the Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 assay has 99.81% specificity and shows no cross-reactivity to the four human coronaviruses causing common cold. This means it can lower the chance of false positives due to the detection of similar antibodies that may be present in an individual, but are specific for coronaviruses other than SARS-CoV-2. Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 detected antibodies with 100% sensitivity in samples taken 14 days after a PCR-confirmed infection. The importance of specificity and sensitivity of a particular test will be dependent on its purpose and disease prevalence within a given population. Hospitals and reference laboratories can run the test on Roche’s cobas e analysers, which are widely available around the world. These fully automated systems can provide SARS-CoV-2 test results in approximately 18 minutes for one single test, with a test throughput of up to 300 tests/hour, depending on the analyser. 

About Roche :

Roche is a global pioneer in pharmaceuticals and diagnostics focused on advancing science to improve people’s lives. The combined strengths of pharmaceuticals and diagnostics under one roof have made Roche the leader in personalised healthcare – a strategy that aims to fit the right treatment to each patient in the best way possible. 

Roche is the world’s largest biotech company, with truly differentiated medicines in oncology, immunology, 3/3 infectious diseases, ophthalmology and diseases of the central nervous system. Roche is also the world leader in in vitro diagnostics and tissue-based cancer diagnostics, and a frontrunner in diabetes management.

Founded in 1896, Roche continues to search for better ways to prevent, diagnose and treat diseases and make a sustainable contribution to society. The company also aims to improve patient access to medical innovations by working with all relevant stakeholders. More than thirty medicines developed by Roche are included in the World Health Organization Model Lists of Essential Medicines, among them life-saving antibiotics, antimalarials and cancer medicines. Moreover, for the eleventh consecutive year, Roche has been recognised as one of the most sustainable companies in the Pharmaceuticals Industry by the Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI). 

The Roche Group, headquartered in Basel, Switzerland, is active in over 100 countries and in 2019 employed about 98,000 people worldwide. In 2019, Roche invested CHF 11.7 billion in R&D and posted sales of CHF 61.5 billion. Genentech, in the United States, is a wholly owned member of the Roche Group. Roche is the majority shareholder in Chugai Pharmaceutical, Japan.

All trademarks used or mentioned in this release are protected by law. 

References:

 [1] The Emergency Use Authorisation (EUA) authority allows FDA to help strengthen the nation’s public health protections against CBRN threats by facilitating the availability and use of medical countermeasures needed during public health emergencies https://www.fda.gov/home

 [2] CE-IVD marking is granted through completion of a comprehensive technical validation and self declaration under the European Directive for In Vitro Diagnostic Medical Devices. 

[3] Full specifications of Roche’s Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibody test and immunoassay systems, including throughput, can be found on our diagnostics.roche website 

[4] https://www.who.int/news-room/commentaries/detail/immunity-passports-in-the-context-of-covid-19 Roche Group Media Relations Phone: +41 61 688 8888 / e-mail: media.relations@roche.com - Nicolas Dunant (Head) - Patrick Barth - Daniel Grotzky - Karsten Kleine - Nathalie Meetz - Barbara von Schnurbein

Reference:https://ml-eu.globenewswire.com/Resource/Download/ae18f85f-08bb-40ae-b143-0ead2ebb1258

Time is ticking: until there is a vaccine against Covid-19, the world is trying to control the further spread of the coronavirus. The US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson is also working flat out on its own vaccine.

It should be there in early 2021, the vaccine that the whole world is eagerly awaiting. According to Johnson & Johnson, the drug should be ready for widespread use by then. The test series will begin with people in September. Overall, Johnson & Johnson plans to produce more than a billion units of the Covid-19 vaccine.

"The world is facing an urgent public health crisis and we are committed to doing our part to make a Covid-19 vaccine available and affordable worldwide as soon as possible," said Alex Gorsky, Chief Executive Officer of Johnson & Johnson.

The pharmaceutical company is cooperating with Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for research on the vaccine. Together, they are investing $ 1 billion to develop a coronavirus vaccine. Clinical phase 1 in humans is scheduled to begin in September 2020 at the latest. After filing with regulatory agencies, the first batches of vaccines may be available for emergencies early next year. This is an extremely accelerated time frame compared to common vaccine developments. Typically, the process of vaccine development spans numerous research stages, which can take anywhere from 5 to 7 years.

Johnson & Johnson vaccine platform:

The US company uses its validated vaccine platform and is also ready to provide resources such as personnel and infrastructure worldwide to successfully bring the vaccine to the healthcare market, the company said. Johnson & Johnson is also expanding production capacity in the United States and other countries. This should ensure the rapid production and worldwide delivery of more than a billion cans.

Johnson & Johnson is one of the world's largest healthcare companies. For this reason, the group also feels obliged to ensure the health of people around the world. Johnson & Johnson's global team of experts is at an unprecedented level. The company began researching potential vaccine candidates back in January 2020.

Covid-19 vaccine candidate was identified:

Based on previous research, the pharmaceutical giant identified a leading Covid-19 vaccine candidate. This now goes into the first production. Johnson & Johnson has been investing billions of dollars in antiviral drugs for more than 20 years. Covid-19 belongs to a group of viruses called coronavirus that attack the respiratory system. There is currently no treatment for the virus.

There is already an automated corona quick test:

The result should be there after just two and a half hours - Bosch Healthcare Solutions and the Northern Irish company Randox Laboratories have presented a quick test for Covid-19, which should be available in Germany from April. Anyone who has symptoms currently has to wait about a day or two in Germany before experiencing the result. Bosch has changed that with the new rapid test. The Covid 19 rapid test is intended for medical facilities and could be used in doctor's offices, hospitals and health centers.

Chips for financial transactions or ID documents are subject to strict security requirements. The Dresden location of the contract manufacturer Globalfoundries has now been certified according to the latest international standard.

The Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) has certified the Dresden site of the chip maker Globalfoundries according to the latest international common criteria standard ISO 15408, CC version 3.1. In a “virtual ceremony”, the certificate was presented yesterday by Arne Schönbohm, the president of the BSI, and Minister Oliver Schenk, the head of the Saxon State Chancellery, to Thomas Morgenstern, senior vice president and managing director of Globalfoundries (GF) in Dresden.

The certificate can now be used in the Dresden chip factory to manufacture components for the public sector or for industries that require a high degree of security and integrity in the production process. Specifically, these can be chips for financial transactions, for smart cards, digital ID cards or similar products and applications.

Investments in the millions:

GF Dresden claims to have invested a single-digit million amount in the past two years to bring its security and IT systems to the highest level.

The Dutch semiconductor company NXP was the driving force behind the certification process at the Dresden GF plant. The Dresden plant, together with the GF locations in Singapore and the United States, is now accredited according to the highest industrial, customer and government criteria for safe manufacturing under the so-called GF-Shield program.

The need for secure chip solutions is growing:

"The BSI has certified that all of our systems and processes meet the highest standards of the international ISO standard Common Criteria," said Thomas Morgenstern, head of the Dresden GF site. "This is an important milestone that enables us to address new and demanding markets." Microchips are becoming more and more ubiquitous in everyday life and in the economies, and the need for secure and trustworthy chip solutions is increasing to the same extent. Morgenstern: “We are very happy about our new opportunity to make a further contribution to hardware security 'made by GF in Dresden'. We want to be the most trustworthy and secure foundry partner for our customers. ”

As a foundry, GF produces chips for semiconductor companies without their own factories. With around 3,200 highly qualified specialists and a total area of ​​more than 52,000 m 2 of clean room, GFD sees itself as the leader in Europe.

Security in the Internet of Things:

The new processor is also used by the British processor specialist ARM, whose chip architectures can be found in many mobile products. a. for the Internet of Things (IoT). "To be able to scale successfully, information security is critical in every phase of the cellular IoT manufacturing chain, from chip design to deployment," said Vincent Korstanje, vice president and general manager, connectivity at ARM. GF certification extends the ability to produce safe, connected products cost-effectively. With GF process technology, new applications can be developed quickly while taking the highest possible information security into account.

An important signal for the Dresden location:

"The successful certification of global foundries by the BSI is further evidence of the diverse range of services offered by the microelectronics location in Dresden," said Oliver Schenk, Minister of State and Head of the Saxon State Chancellery. Not only Globalfoundries customers benefit from the new security certification - it also strengthens the “Silicon Saxony” digital ecosystem. Schenk: "Right now we are feeling very intensely how important we have to give European sovereignty over technology in order to be somewhat independent from distant suppliers." The Minister of State, on behalf of the Saxon companies, was pleased that the BSI with its newly founded company Branch office in Freital near Dresden is now also available as a partner in the Free State.

Artical reference: VDI

A study with RNA vaccines is starting in Germany. They can be quickly produced in large quantities and lead to a good immune response. What other strategies are scientists pursuing against Corona?

The number of new infections with the Sars-Cov-2 coronavirus continues to decline, according to the Robert Koch Institute in Berlin. But researchers warn of false security. As long as there is no vaccine, further waves of infection are conceivable. This is known from the so-called "Spanish flu". Between 1918 and 1920 it raged in several phases of different degrees.

To avoid this, numerous laboratories around the world are working on vaccines. The Paul Ehrlich Institute in Langen has now given the green light for a combined phase 1 and phase 2 study to investigate RNA vaccines in healthy people. RNA stands for ribonucleic acids, i.e. molecules that carry genetic information.

Combine clinical studies from phases 1 and 2

Background: vaccines are first tested in animal experiments. If there are no concerns, follow phase 1 studies with a small number of subjects. This is all about security. The aim of phase 2 is to find the ideal dose of a vaccine. Attention is increasingly paid to side effects. Phase 3 then includes a larger number of participants. This can be several hundred to a thousand people. Ideally, it provides evidence of the desired effect and provides data for marketing authorizations.

In order to save time in the face of the pandemic, phases 1 and 2 are now combined. Scientists are investigating several RNA vaccines from the Mainz-based biotechnology company BioNTech in 200 healthy volunteers between the ages of 18 and 55 (phase 1). After a waiting period, other people are included who also belong to risk groups (phase 2).


RNA vaccines: Immunologically relevant proteins are created in the body

Different RNA vaccines are used. The molecules carry genetic information about all or part of the spike protein. These proteins are located on the outside of the corona virus shell and look like the spikes of a crown. They gave their names to pathogens. It is now known that spike proteins are required for the virus to infect cells at all.

The vaccine contains genetic data for the blueprint of these proteins. After spraying, cells begin to use this information to produce spike proteins without causing a disease. These proteins build up a protective immune response against Sars-Cov-2.

Some advantages of the RNA vaccine are known today from laboratory data and from animal experiments. These can be quickly produced in large quantities. You do not need high safety precautions and living material like in the production of flu vaccines in chicken eggs. In addition, RNA vaccines lead to a strong immune response. And last but not least, the tolerance of this vaccine is good.


Further approaches take time

So far there are no RNA vaccines on the market. Manufacturers are breaking new ground here. At the same time, other companies are examining established vaccine development structures. However, these strategies cost more time.

With live vaccines, patients receive small amounts of a coronavirus. This pathogen is derived from circulating Sars-Cov-2 pathogens. However, it was manipulated in such a way that illnesses no longer occur. Well-known examples of live vaccines are the vaccine against mumps, measles, rubella or varicella (chickenpox).


Chemically killed viruses also generate an immune response if they carry biologically active proteins on the surface: a principle known from flu viruses. The possibility of injecting only immunologically relevant fragments of the virus is also being researched. In both cases, infections do not occur.

Vector-based vaccines are an innovative strategy. They are made from viruses that are harmless to humans. These include the modified Measles Virus Ankara (MVA), the Vesicular Stomatitis Virus (VSV) or the Adenovirus (Ad). In the next step, parts of the Sars-Cov-2 genome are brought into this vector. It produces the associated protein in the body, for example the spike protein. The human immune system reacts to this. There are no approved vaccines based on this principle.
When does the vaccine come?

Manufacturers expect to produce the first RNA vaccines in six to 18 months. The level of uncertainty is great because it is not yet known how much a patient needs for the immune system to build up the necessary protection.

But that won't be enough. After all, all people worldwide should be vaccinated. No company will handle this alone; Cooperation is required. And Klaus Reinhardt, President of the German Medical Association, is calling for suitable concepts for staggered distribution to be developed now.

Artical:Ingenieur

Electromobility and medical technology are among the most important revenue generators for the German laser industry in the coming years. At least that is the current forecast of the VDMA. It was presented at the "Laser World of Photonics" trade fair in Munich.

Photo: trumpf
The copper elements installed in the Stators of electric motors can first be de-coated by laser and then welded precisely.

The corresponding development was faster than expected. "In our automotive sector, 20% of sales already come from electromobility," said Christian Schmitz, Managing Director of Trumpf Laser- und Systemtechnik GmbH and at the same time Chairman of the Working Group "Laser and Laser Systems for material processing" in the VDMA.

Schmitz spoke at the annual press conference of the working group of an expected "exponential growth" in e-mobility. This is particularly beneficial for laser technology, since meaningful mass production is only possible with it. In concrete terms, this is primarily concerned with the components that are new to the electric car, such as the battery, electric drive and high-performance electronics.

"A focus in the field of electromobility is technologies for welding highly conductive materials such as copper, copper alloys and aluminium," says Schmitz. For example, Trumpf relies on the specially developed green laser, which has been optimised for use in industrial environments, especially for the welding of copper materials. Especially in battery technology, the manufacturing process is increasingly being followed by consistent process monitoring for consistent quality management. Within the narrow process windows, more and more artificial intelligence is also being used.

Christoph Ullmann, Managing Director of Laserline GmbH and Vice-Chairman of the Working Group, also sees "new potential" for blue diode lasers. Among other things, they enable the melting of copper material in heat conduction mode, which results in splash-free, smooth seams even with very thin materials. Due to the high seam quality, the process is also very suitable for applications in electrical engineering, especially in the production of components in power electronics, where the joining points must be particularly temperature-resistant, says Ullmann. In the competition of technologies, it is now a matter of finding the optimal application.

The working group also sees growth opportunities in the biophotonics and medical technology market. According to Thomas Merk, Executive Vice President Industrial Lasers and Systems ILS at Coherent Munich and Vice Chairman of the VDMA Working Group, developments in biophotonics are becoming increasingly important. One of its most important tasks is, for example, to maintain the health of a globally ageing society or to combat chronic diseases. With the use of optical technologies, it is now crucial to find new cost-effective and effective solutions for diagnostics and treatment and to meet trends such as personalised medicine, explained the machine builder.

One example is laser-assisted flow cytometry. It allows the analysis of cells using fluorescent dyes. Depending on the structure, shape, and coloring of the cell, different effects are created from which the properties of the cell are derived. The quantified and highly analytical recording of cells and their interactions is a prerequisite for their functional understanding. This understanding, in turn, makes it possible to break new ground in transplantation and oncology.

DNA cytometry enables significantly faster analysis by detecting individual tumor cells and provides the prerequisite for personalized medicine in cancer therapy.

Gerhard Hein, Managing Director of the Working Group (AG) Laser in the VDMA, presented the latest figures on the laser industry in Germany. As a result, the manufacturers represented in the AG have increased the production value of laser production plants at the German site to € 1.06 billion. This applies to plants with CO2, solid-state and diode direct lasers and corresponds to an increase of around 13%. Order intake in 2018 was €1.31 billion, roughly the same as the previous year's level. A whopping 82% of orders came from abroad.

The realized export of laser systems rose to € 950 million (+23 %), with growth mainly due to the export of equipment with solid-state lasers.

The picture is not so positive for laser beam sources: the production value only reached the €429 million mark, which is a decrease of 4%. New orders amounted to only € 418 million, which is 12% less than in 2017. This is due to a significant decrease in international orders. However, the share of external demand in the total volume of orders was still around 70%. Exports increased by almost 2% in 2018 to € 318 million.

Hein continued to be optimistic when looking to the future. There is a sustained "technology push", especially for short-pulse applications and highly flexible systems. In addition, there is an increasing transfer from research to industrial application. From the point of view of the working group, the diversity of the beam sources remains and is even increasing. In addition, additive manufacturing, which is often laser-based, is further developing towards series production.

Report publish: VDI

Olymp the fast calculator:

Hardware becomes more energy-efficient and increasingly supports methods of artificial intelligence. This makes it possible to simulate increasingly complex and, above all, faster simulations of complex processes.

Hazel Hen: The system at the highest performance center in Stuttgart is 95% loaded by customer orders. (Photo: Boris Lehrner for HLRS )

The Top500 list of the most powerful supercomputers is still the benchmark for success in high-performance computing (HPC). The list, created twice a year, is based on a performance benchmark called Linpack. In the meantime, however, there are also other benchmarks, such as the HPCG benchmark, which is based on typical storage operations of commercial software, or Green500, where the computing power per watt is consumed.

The fastest technological advances in the field of computing accelerators play an important role in the top group in the latter segment: graphics processors (GPUs), which facilitate the parallel processing of data and at the same time have lower power consumption than conventional processors. The manufacturer Nvidia is the driving force behind the GPU market. The Tesla-P100-GPU and processors from Intel have given the Swiss supercomputer "Piz Daint" the necessary power to reach the top three (see box).

However, this acceleration must also be reflected in the field of lines between processors, GPUs, and memory. For two years now, Intel's Omni-Path Architecture (OPA) has enjoyed great popularity. It offers high data throughput of 100 Gbit / s on the PCIe bus, low latency and low power consumption in compatible devices. This success points to a growing problem of high-performance technology: pure computing is now usually fast enough, but the connection between the individual components, which is still based on the standards Ethernet and Infiniband, is lagging behind. The PCIe bus 3.0 has not been renewed for many years, only since June 2017 there are new specifications.They should allow up to 128 Gbit / s in full-duplex mode.

The search for energy-saving computer architectures in the various national and university HPC projects has one reason: the enormous energy consumption that future systems will have. Exceptional computing power on the exaflops scale means trillion computing operations per second and high cooling requirements. The industry calls this goal an exascale. "Such systems have an energy requirement of 20 MW to 30 MW", explains Klaus Gottschalk, HPC expert at IBM Germany. This need is already covered today, but at an unacceptable cost. Gottschalk sees therefore an Exascale architecture only from the year 2020 or even only 2023 come.

Michael Resch, Head of the Stuttgart High-Performance Calculation Center (HLRS) and Chairman of the Gauss Center for Supercomputing, does not see any meaning in the Exascale race. Its Cray-XC40 supercomputer "Hazel Hen" delivers 7,42 Petaflops top performers, but the industry and business customers who use the computer wants a real performance, which is currently about 1 Petaflops. Reliability and availability are as important as pure computing performance, according to Resch. In addition, numerous raking projects are carried out simultaneously and in parallel. "Chinese supercomputers are only 15% to 20% loaded according to Chinese data," Resch said at the International Supercomputing Conference in Frankfurt / M. find out."Our Hazel Hen is about 95% loaded all the time."

HPC has a wealth of application fields. At the HLRS, this is primarily the material science. But also the meteorologists profit. For example, in order to better prosecute storms or predict the occurrence of storms, experts in the USA use methods of artificial intelligence (AI). A new model for global weather forecasting is being developed by the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR), the National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) and the IBM subsidiary Weather.com. Data volumes of up to 1 petabyte are processed in the main memory using appropriate algorithms and models. The goal is to make predictions more accurate in smaller and smaller regions. The simulation of global climate change can also be realized with these methods,

Nvidia has developed its new V100-GPU especially for applications of the AI. First specimens were handed over to 15 AI research facilities last week. These include the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence (DFKI) and the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems.The GPU has 21 billion transistors. At Princeton University, nuclear fusion researchers want to use these chips to achieve their accuracy for predicting plasma disturbances of up to 95%. Also the demand of the industry for AI is high, Eg for calculations and simulations in the search for raw materials such as oil and gas.

While the hardware can make significant progress, the software must also keep up. Not every application is suitable for every HPC environment, since the prerequisite is always the parallel processing of data in a computing cluster. HPC has been growing since 2015 with the analysis of Big Data to HPDA (High Performance Data Analytics). At HPDA, the use of AI algorithms is now essential. With regard to this field, Cray presented an Analytics software for Cray-XC supercomputers at the ISC conference with Urika-XC.

The suite includes tools for graph analysis, AI technology, and big-data analysis. "This allows analysis and AI workloads to be run parallel to scientific modeling and simulations, eliminating the time and cost for data migration between systems," says the manufacturer. The solution is already used on the Swiss system Piz Daint, but also on the HLRS.