A novel therapy designed to clear toxic clumps of a protein thought to be responsible for Parkinson’s disease has shown promise in early clinical trials.

Produced by the US biotechnology company Vaxxinity, the immunotherapy candidate codenamed UB-312 is the first treatment shown to be capable of reducing concentrations of alpha-synuclein (α-syn) in cerebrospinal fluid, marking a significant step forward in slowing – or even halting – the disorder’s progress.

Though the results of the trial are yet to be published and peer reviewed, reports from company officials are optimistic, suggesting they’re onto something big.

Read it all.

"Analysis of the spinal fluid of those given UB-312 revealed a 20 percent drop in their usual α-syn aggregate levels, compared with a 3 percent decline in those who received a placebo."#Parkinsons#longcovid https://t.co/BAdtKw2Dj8

— Troy Roach (@Canal1point5) March 12, 2024

…often the wicked so devote themselves to the practice of sin that they succeed in doing more wickedness than they would have been able to learn from the bad example of reprobate sinners. For this reason the torment of greater punishment is inflicted on them, in that they, by their own initiative, sought out greater ways of sinning, for which they are to be punished. Consequently it is well said: “According to the multitude of his devices, so shall he suffer [a citation from Job 20:18]. For he would not find out new ways of sinning unless he sought them out, and he would not seek out such things unless he were anxious to do them deliberately. Therefore, in his punishment, this excess in devising wickedness is taken into account, and he receives proportionate punishment and retribution. And even though the suffering of the damned is infinite, nevertheless they receive greater punishments who, by their own desires, sought out many new ways of sinning.

–Gregory the Great (540-604), Book of Morals 15.18.22

"The Lord of men and of angels, has sent you His epistles for your life’s advantage – and yet you neglect to read them eagerly. Study them, I beg you, and meditate daily on the words of your Creator. Learn the heart of God in the words of God" – St. Gregory the Great pic.twitter.com/TUFmQ6bAVl

— Memento Mori (@TempusFugit4016) March 12, 2024

Almighty and merciful God, who didst raise up Gregory of Rome to be a servant of the servants of God, and didst inspire him to send missionaries to preach the Gospel to the English people: Preserve in thy Church the catholic and apostolic faith they taught, that thy people, being fruitful in every good work, may receive the crown of glory that fadeth not away; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.

Today the Episcopal Church celebrates Gregory the Great, Bishop and Theologian, 604

Image: Stained glass in the Church of the Good Shepherd, Rosemont, PA. Photo by Francis Helminski, Public domain via Wikimedia Commons pic.twitter.com/ls6cmHnLlN

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) March 12, 2024

Almighty God, who has taught us in thy holy Word that the law was given by Moses, but that grace and truth came by Jesus Christ: Grant that we, being not under the law but under grace, may live as children of that Jerusalem which is above, and rejoice in the freedom of our heavenly citizenship; through the same Jesus Christ our Lord.

–The Rev. James Mountain (1844-1933)

Grand Rising.
Good Tuesday lovely people in my phone.#TuesdayFeeling #sunrise #spring #StormHour #jefinuist #GoodVibesOnly #outerhebrides #Scotland pic.twitter.com/ULrwYyAefr

— DaliMach (@frenchscotjeff) March 12, 2024

The Lord reigns; let the earth rejoice; let the many coastlands be glad! Clouds and thick darkness are round about him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne. Fire goes before him, and burns up his adversaries round about. His lightnings lighten the world; the earth sees and trembles. The mountains melt like wax before the LORD, before the Lord of all the earth. The heavens proclaim his righteousness; and all the peoples behold his glory.

–Psalm 97:1-6

Grand Rising.
Good Tuesday lovely people in my phone.#TuesdayFeeling #sunrise #spring #StormHour #jefinuist #GoodVibesOnly #outerhebrides #Scotland pic.twitter.com/ULrwYyAefr

— DaliMach (@frenchscotjeff) March 12, 2024

Feelings of financial insecurity among Americans have reached their highest point in at least a decade.

A third of American adults in Northwestern Mutual’s 2024 Planning & Progress survey said they don’t feel financially secure. That’s up from 27% in 2023 and the highest measure going back to 2012.

“Despite the growing economy, Americans have had to endure one financial disruption after another over the last several years, and it’s hard to feel positive when you don’t know what’s around the corner,” said Christian Mitchell, the company’s chief customer officer, in a press release.

Read it all.

Feeling financially insecure is becoming way too common an emotion/a reality. After so many fin'l twists and turns since Covid, stability doesn't sound boring, it sounds like a luxury.https://t.co/52Hk65ETV1

— Suzanne Woolley (@WealthWatch) March 11, 2024

The Church of England in Lancashire has achieved an important milestone in developing its environmental credentials.

The Diocese of Blackburn has been awarded the Bronze status of the national A Rocha Eco Church programme, which encourages churches, schools and dioceses throughout the UK to take practical action in ‘caring for God’s Creation’.

The collective award follows individual bronze awards for Blackburn Cathedral; the Diocesan Offices in Blackburn and the Centre for Christian Discipleship and Prayer at Whalley Abbey, along with 15 parishes in their own right across Lancashire. A further three churches in the Diocese have already achieved silver status; while another 36 have registered and are working towards their bronze status.

Read it all.

Congratulations to @cofelancs on their Bronze Eco Diocese! #Ecochurchhttps://t.co/pECAWKNI6y

— Church of England Environment Programme (@CofEEnvironment) March 11, 2024

“In the past 10 years we have seen more than 17 mass kidnappings. It’s a bad record for any country and government, a total breakdown of the social contract,” regional security expert David Otto told CBS News over the weekend about the situation in Nigeria. “Most of the victims are women in these attacks, and when you attack women you have attacked society. The attacks of the last week — when 200-plus people are just taken — show after two decades of fighting insurgency, the government is still unable to protect society from terrorist groups.”

Otto spoke as the parents of more than 280 children voiced their anger over a mass abduction in Nigeria’s northern Kaduna state. The students, boys and girls between the ages of 8 and 15, were seized by armed men from the elementary and secondary schools in the town of Kuriga on Thursday.

The parents told local media outlets that bandits, as kidnap gangs in the region are commonly called, had taken their children and they implored Nigeria’s government to pay any ransom being demanded to secure their safe return.

Read it all.

However great an Anglican’s veneration for Aquinas might be, they will probably concur with Mascall that “I do not consider Thomas locutus, causa finita [Thomas has spoken, the case is closed] as the last judgement to be passed on any theological problem; though my approach might be summed up in the words, Thomas locutus, causa incepta [Thomas has spoken, the matter is begun].”

AQUINAS was a man of superhuman intelligence and insight. As Josef Pieper put it, his arguments have the interlocking architectural majesty of a Bach fugue. He offers both a summation and a fountainhead. But what makes him a saint — and, indeed, such a fine theologian — is his interest in God. Faith does not reach out to a proposition, he wrote, but to a reality. That gets to the heart of why so many people turn to Aquinas today: because he thought that theology was about God.

Seven hundred and fifty years after Thomas’s death, one of the distinctive characteristics of the Church in our time is that quite so many Christians — across so many Churches — would gladly echo the words of Pope Pius XI in 1923: “Just as it was said of old to the Egyptians in time of famine: ‘Go to Joseph’ [Genesis 41.55], so that they should receive a supply of corn to nourish their bodies, so to those who are now in quest of truth we say ‘Go to Thomas,’ that they may ask from him the food of solid doctrine of which he has an abundance to nourish their souls unto eternal life.”

Read it all.

"His sense of the pouring forth of creation, in glorious multiplicity, as an imitation of the Plenitude from whom all things spring, puts Aquinas in the top rank of Christian Platonists."https://t.co/DlpZWGG750

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 11, 2024

The death certificate for Ryan Bagwell, a 19-year-old from Mission, Texas, states that he died from a fentanyl overdose.

His mother, Sandra Bagwell, says that is wrong.

On an April night in 2022, he swallowed one pill from a bottle of Percocet, a prescription painkiller that he and a friend bought earlier that day at a Mexican pharmacy just over the border. The next morning, his mother found him dead in his bedroom.

A federal law enforcement lab found that none of the pills from the bottle tested positive for Percocet. But they all tested positive for lethal quantities of fentanyl.

“Ryan was poisoned,” Mrs. Bagwell, an elementary-school reading specialist, said.

Read it all.

Overdose or Poisoning? A New Debate Over What to Call a Drug Death.: Grieving families want official records and popular discourse to move away from reflexive use of “overdose,” which they believe blames victims for their deaths. https://t.co/EE9BNjgr23

— Sophia Devetzi (@SophiaDevetzi) March 11, 2024

Gracious Father, whose blessed Son Jesus Christ came down from heaven to be the true bread which gives life to the world: Evermore give us this bread, that he may live in us, and we in him; who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

Bore da bawb…fel hyn ma’ dachre wythnos newi…enjoiwch eich diwrnod x

Good morning everyone…this is the way to start a new week…enjoy your day x pic.twitter.com/3d00oot3uj

— Aled Hall 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿 (@AledHall) March 11, 2024

I will sing of thy steadfast love, O LORD, for ever; with my mouth I will proclaim thy faithfulness to all generations. For thy steadfast love was established for ever, thy faithfulness is firm as the heavens.

–Psalm 89:1-2

Morning everyone hope you are well. What a difference a week makes, blue skies now turned to grey. The bridge at Chapel Stile crossing the Great Langdale Beck with the Langdale Pikes as a backdrop. Have a great day. #LakeDistrict @keswickbootco pic.twitter.com/GIPz0Vp9KL

— Rod Hutchinson (@lakesrhino) March 11, 2024

God of compassion,
whose Son Jesus Christ, the child of Mary,
shared the life of a home in Nazareth,
and on the cross drew the whole human family to himself:
strengthen us in our daily living
that in joy and in sorrow
we may know the power of your presence
to bind together and to heal;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.

A freshly-mown Radcliffe Square ready for spring 🌸 pic.twitter.com/Ga0bo2qu2L

— University of Oxford (@UniofOxford) March 10, 2024

I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us. For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the sons of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of him who subjected it in hope; because the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and obtain the glorious liberty of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning in travail together until now; and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait for adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies. For in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what he sees? But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.

–Romans 8:18-25

A gap through the trees…

and the magnificent view to the ruins of Strome Castle on the Loch Carron Sea Loch shoreline 🥰

What a beautiful Sunday wander 🐾👣#ThePhotoHour @VisitScotland #Scotland #loveukweather pic.twitter.com/hSwXNqNmEo

— Cloudymamma (@cloudymamma) March 10, 2024

Almighty God, who hast revealed to thy Church thine eternal Being of glorious majesty and perfect love as one God in Trinity of Persons: Give us grace that, like thy bishop Gregory of Nyssa, we may continue steadfast in the confession of this faith, and constant in our worship of thee, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, who livest and reignest now and for ever.

#OTD 9 March: feast of St Gregory of Nyssa, one of a large family of saints, including St Basil the Great and St Macrina. pic.twitter.com/uIwctvyUHX

— Caroline Murray (@Prof_hedgehog) March 9, 2024

O Almighty God, Who sittest upon the throne, make all things within us new this day. Renew our faith, and hope, and love; renew our wills, that we may serve Thee gladly and watchfully with all our powers; renew our delight in Thy truth and in Thy worship; renew our joy in Thee, our longing that all may know Thee, our desires and labours to serve others. And so take care of us Thy people, who embrace the Cross of Thy Son and desire to walk in the light and power of Thy Spirit, now and evermore.

–Frederick B. Macnutt, The prayer manual for private devotions or public use on divers occasions: Compiled from all sources ancient, medieval, and modern (A.R. Mowbray, 1951)

Gorgeous day again – Sunrise – Ardvasar, Isle of Skye 09/03/24 #Scotland @angie_weather @ThePhotoHour @StormHour @VisitScotland pic.twitter.com/rVaCZMcVf6

— James MacInnes (@Macinnesplant) March 9, 2024

On the holy mount stands the city he founded; the LORD loves the gates of Zion more than all the dwelling places of Jacob. Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God.

–Psalm 87:1-3

Morning all and have a good saturday! I'm heading off to wakefield to an RPS members day which should be good, hopefully see some nice photos! Heres one from yesterday sort of sunset. cant believe i'd not noticed this angle before 🙂 pic.twitter.com/MIjR3JmBOS

— David Oxtaby (@Disc_light) March 9, 2024

t is 750 years since Thomas Aquinas died on March 7, 1274. Merely forty-nine at the time of his death and, despite a short writing career of only two decades, beset with many duties of teaching, preaching, and travel, his extant writings add up to more than eight million words—eight times those of Aristotle. These include his unfinished masterpiece, the Summa Theologica, at more than 1.5 million words. The Summa, as many have noted with chagrin, was written “to instruct beginners,” as when young children are given “milk to drink, not meat.”

Despite early condemnations of some of his teachings, Thomas was declared a Doctor of the Church in 1567, one of only thirty-seven—and not just any doctor, but the Common Doctor, capable of serving the entire Church and its unity around a common truth, the deposit of faith. Philosophers and theologians have repeatedly returned to him for clarity, insight, and creativity, since “among the Scholastic Doctors, the chief and master of all [is] Thomas Aquinas who, as Cajetan observes, because ‘he most venerated the ancient doctors of the Church, in a certain way seems to have inherited the intellect of all,’” or so claimed Leo XIII when indicating paths for “the restoration of Christian philosophy.”

Read it all.

On the 750th anniversary of the death of St Thomas Aquinas, Pope Francis praises the thinker's "fresh and valid insights about our globalised world, dominated by legal positivism and casuistry."

Read more: https://t.co/gXJWz1AyCb

— Vatican News (@VaticanNews) March 7, 2024

Scientists have identified a key protein in the development of Alzheimer’s disease which could prove critical in slowing or even halting the condition’s progress.

In tests on mice, a research team led by University of Colorado pharmacologist Tyler Martinez found that blocking a protein called murine double-minute 2 (Mdm2) stopped the destruction of the protrusions or ‘dendritic spines’ and junctions (synapses) that aid communication between brain cells.

This degeneration is triggered by the build-up of a substance called amyloid-beta, which has long been linked to clogging up the brain in people with Alzheimer’s. When Mdm2 was deactivated, amyloid-beta no longer had the same effect.

Read it all.

Blocking a Single Protein Could Prevent Nerve Damage Responsible For Alzheimer's https://t.co/k4zF5jT2Ly

— ScienceAlert (@ScienceAlert) March 7, 2024

Vast swaths of the United States are at risk of running short of power as electricity-hungry data centers and clean-technology factories proliferate around the country, leaving utilities and regulators grasping for credible plans to expand the nation’s creaking power grid.

In Georgia, demand for industrial power is surging to record highs, with the projection of new electricity use for the next decade now 17 times what it was only recently. Arizona Public Service, the largest utility in that state, is also struggling to keep up, projecting it will be out of transmission capacity before the end of the decade absent major upgrades.

Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned and under construction. Texas, where electricity shortages are already routine on hot summer days, faces the same dilemma.

Read it all.

Amid explosive demand, America is running out of power: "Northern Virginia needs the equivalent of several large nuclear power plants to serve all the new data centers planned & under construction" https://t.co/3xMbdmO7om pic.twitter.com/NbZFwDGgVB

— Jim Russell (@ProducerCities) March 8, 2024

War broke out in August and in September 1914 Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy wrote these words in his parish magazine:

“I cannot say too strongly that I believe every able-bodied man ought to volunteer for service anywhere. Here ought to be no shirking of that duty.”

This from the man who would, before long be writing this, “Waste”:

“Waste of Muscle, waste of Brain,
Waste of Patience, waste of Pain,
Waste of Manhood, waste of Health,
Waste of Beauty, waste of Wealth,
Waste of Blood, and waste of Tears,
Waste of Youth’s most precious years,
Waste of ways the Saints have trod,
Waste of glory, Waste of God–War!”

Read it all.

The Church of England also commemorates Geoffrey Studdert-Kennedy, Priest, Poet, 1929

Photo of a memorial to Rev Studdert-Kennedy in the Church of St Edmund-the-King, Lombard Street, City of London via https://t.co/NhBvBSw9Hf pic.twitter.com/OjfwZe4pWI

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) March 8, 2024

Glorious God, we give thanks for high and holy things as well as the common things of earth: Awaken us to recognize thy presence in each other and in all creation, so that we, like Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, may love and magnify thee as the holy, undivided Trinity; who liveth and reigneth one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

We give thanks for Geoffrey Studdert Kennedy, adopted son of Worcester, Woodbine Willie:
‘They gave me this name like their nature,
Compacted of laughter and tears,
A sweet that was born of the bitter,
A joke that was torn from the years
Of their travail and torture …’ pic.twitter.com/Kx12GFT88L

— John Inge (@BishopWorcester) March 8, 2024

Lord Christ, almighty Saviour, we cry to thee for aid against our strong enemy. O thou who art the Stronger than the strong, deliver us, we pray thee, from the evil one, and take sole possession of our hearts and minds; that filled with thy Spirit we may henceforth devote our lives to thy service, and therein find our perfect freedom; for the honour of thy great name.

It was really hazy at sunrise this morning and the colour in the sky lasted for a lot longer than normal even way after the sun had risen. This was about 30 minutes after sunrise in Glastonbury. pic.twitter.com/ekex4MQI8H

— Michelle Cowbourne (@Glastomichelle) March 8, 2024

And when evening came, the boat was out on the sea, and he was alone on the land. And he saw that they were making headway painfully, for the wind was against them. And about the fourth watch of the night he came to them, walking on the sea. He meant to pass by them, but when they saw him walking on the sea they thought it was a ghost, and cried out; for they all saw him, and were terrified. But immediately he spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; have no fear.” And he got into the boat with them and the wind ceased. And they were utterly astounded, for they did not understand about the loaves, but their hearts were hardened.
And when they had crossed over, they came to land at Gennes”²aret, and moored to the shore. And when they got out of the boat, immediately the people recognized him, and ran about the whole neighborhood and began to bring sick people on their pallets to any place where they heard he was. And wherever he came, in villages, cities, or country, they laid the sick in the market places, and besought him that they might touch even the fringe of his garment; and as many as touched it were made well.

–Mark 6:47-56

Beautiful early morning view from Downtown Charleston! pic.twitter.com/HtQQrK3xY5

— Joey Sovine Live 5 (@JoeySovine) March 8, 2024

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Revd John Dobson, is urging people in the diocese of Leeds to respond to an extended consultation on plans to build an annexe to the cathedral, which is said to be “bursting at the seams”…

Building plans for the renovation — Ripon Cathedral Renewed — have already been approved by Historic England and all the cathedral’s regulators, including the Fabric Advisory Commission. But about 2000 people have signed a petition opposing the annexe.

Ripon Cathedral was the first minster church since the Reformation to be given cathedral status, in 1836. Unlike those that came later, it was never adapted or extended in any way; consequently, it has no lavatories — the cathedral pays the council to keep open the public lavatories across the road in Minster Gardens — no safe space for choristers to change and rehearse, no refectory, no communal meeting space, and no storage space.

Read it all.

The Dean of Ripon, the Very Revd John Dobson, is urging people in the diocese of Leeds to respond to an extended consultation on plans to build an annexe to the cathedral, which is said to be “bursting at the seams” https://t.co/ner0Tgxd03

— Church Times (@ChurchTimes) March 7, 2024

The 2024 Convention of the Anglican Diocese of South Carolina, which will be held March 8-9, promises to be a joyful event of worshiping our Lord, fellowshipping in His name, and carrying out efficient and productive Kingdom work. The Church of the Cross, Bluffton is again extending their spectacular hospitality on their Cross Schools Campus. The Convention will open on Friday with Holy Eucharist and the Bishop’s Address at 4:00 p.m. in The Chapel, followed by dinner at 6:00 p.m. and a must-see video presentation.

Registration for the business section of the gathering will begin at 7:30 on Saturday morning, and a continental breakfast will be provided. Members of the Diocesan Youth Commission will open the business meeting with Morning Prayer at 9:00 a.m., after which Bishop Edgar will conduct the meeting. The aim is to end at noon. Participants will be provided with a boxed lunch, which they can eat on the grounds or take with them as they depart.

You may find the convention agenda there.

Your Prayers Sought for the #Anglican Diocese of #SouthCarolina’s Convention March 8-9 https://t.co/hxHncqL0dD #parishministry #churchmeetings #21stc pic.twitter.com/P2Jjg7Gg0R

— Kendall Harmon (@KendallHarmon6) March 7, 2024

A new study of sea-level rise using detailed data on changes to land elevation found that current scientific models may not accurately capture vulnerabilities in 32 coastal cities in the United States.

The analysis, published Wednesday in Nature, uses satellite imagery to detect sinking and rising land to help paint a more precise picture of exposure to flooding both today and in the future.

Nearly 40 percent of Americans live along the coasts, where subsidence, or sinking land, can add significantly to the threat of sea-level rise. While the Gulf Coast experiences many of the most severe cases of subsidence — parts of Galveston, Texas, and Grand Isle, La., are slumping into the ocean faster than global average sea levels are rising — the trend can be found all along the United States shoreline.

Read it all.

A new study of sinking and rising land along American coasts offers a more specific understanding of potential flooding in 32 cities. https://t.co/ZNU2vVYeDr

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 7, 2024

Two scientists at Canada’s high-security infectious disease laboratory – Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng – provided confidential scientific information to China and were fired after a probe concluded she posed “a realistic and credible threat to Canada’s economic security” and it was discovered they engaged in clandestine meetings with Chinese officials, documents tabled in the House of Commons reveal.

Dr. Qiu, who worked at the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg, was dishonest when confronted with her actions, making “blanket denials” and “half-truths, and personally benefited from the arrangement,” the documents state, noting that she repeatedly lied to the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and “refused to admit to any involvement in various PRC [People’s Republic of China] programs.”

The two infectious-disease scientists were escorted out of the National Microbiology Laboratory in Winnipeg in July, 2019, and later had their security clearances revoked. They were fired in January, 2021. Their whereabouts are not known.

Read it all.

Censored documents about Winnipeg scientists reveal threat to Canada’s security. Two scientists at Canada’s high-security infectious disease laboratory – Xiangguo Qiu and her husband, Keding Cheng – provided confidential information to China. ⁦ https://t.co/H8VviJnRfx pic.twitter.com/Vk7EAMXjSR

— Bruce Hale (@hale_bruce) March 1, 2024

O God, the King of Saints, who didst strengthen thy servants Perpetua, Felicity, and their companions to make a good confession and encourage one another in the time of trial: Grant that we who cherish their blessed memory may share their pure and steadfast faith and win with them the palm of victory; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who liveth and reigneth with thee and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today the Church of England celebrates Perpetua, Felicity and their Companions, Martyrs at Carthage, 203

Image: Martyrdom of Perpetua, Felicitas, Revocatus, Saturninus & Secundulus, from the Menologion of Basil II, c. 1000 AD. Public domain, via Wikimedia pic.twitter.com/Ms4X1Zb8qa

— The Anglican Church in St Petersburg (@anglicanspb) March 7, 2024