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‘Green Gold' Review: How the Avocado Grew on Us

‘Green Gold' Review: How the Avocado Grew on Us

An odd quirk of the avocado, Persea americana to botanists, is the clockwork performed by its blossoms. They undergo a complicated sequence of opening, closing and reopening that keeps each flower's male and female sex organs from operating on the same day. Among two large categories of cultivated strains, group A trees bear flowers that are functionally female in the morning and male the next afternoon. Meanwhile, group B's flowers are female in the afternoon and male the next morning.
Unreliable pollination had long baffled commercial avocado growers until, on May 5, 1923, the botanist A.B. Stout had the game-changing idea of setting up cameras in a California orchard. His photographs solved the mystery by capturing the discrepancy between A and B's blossoming schedules, thus suggesting the wisdom of planting trees from both groups in close proximity.
The lesson doesn't seem to have great priority in today's industrial-scale avocado production, at least as depicted by Sarah Allaback and Monique F. Parsons in 'Green Gold,' a trenchant chronicle of the fruit's commercial and cultural exploitation from the late 19th century to the present. The authors' enlightening picture draws on a wide range of material—plant pathology studies, avocado-association yearbooks, Super Bowl commercials, leading figures' field notes and more.
The book broadly centers on two 'mother trees' while saluting 'the people who nurtured them, for money and love.' In 1911 Carl Schmidt, an American investigator scouting for avocado specimens in Mexico, observed a tree bearing splendid crops near Atlixco in Puebla state. He was sufficiently impressed to take cuttings from the tree and bring them back for grafting in an Altadena, Calif., nursery, where the strain received the varietal name El Fuerte (Spanish for 'the Strong One').

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CancerVax Targets Liver Cancers to Further Showcase Flexibility of Its Universal Platform

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28bio Announces Nexon™ Neurotechnology Platform Powered by Engineered Human Brains
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Everest Medicines Presents Positive Results in Preliminary Analysis of Phase 1b/2a Clinical Trial of Novel BTK Inhibitor EVER001 at the 62nd Congress of the European Renal Association
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Everest Medicines Presents Positive Results in Preliminary Analysis of Phase 1b/2a Clinical Trial of Novel BTK Inhibitor EVER001 at the 62nd Congress of the European Renal Association

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The presentation includes longer-term data collected from some patients (10 patients in the low-dose cohort completed 52 weeks of follow-up, and 10 patients in the high-dose cohort completed 24 weeks of treatment). Preliminary results showed that EVER001 was well-tolerated and effective in patients with pMN. These results support the potential of EVER001 as a treatment for proteinuric autoimmune glomerular diseases. The trial results, based on data analysis as of December 17th, 2024, demonstrated that EVER001 was generally safe and well tolerated, with the most common TRAEs being Grade 1-2. No clinically significant adverse events commonly associated with covalent irreversible BTK inhibitors, such as bleeding, arrhythmia, severe infections, or severe liver function impairment were observed. Compared to baseline, the least squares (LS) geometric mean levels of anti-PLA2R autoantibodies decreased by 62.1% in the low-dose cohort and 87.3% in the high-dose cohort at week 12. The reductions in both cohorts reached approximately 93% at week 24. 76.9% of patients in the low-dose cohort and 81.8% in the high-dose cohort achieved immunological complete remission at week 24. For 24-hour proteinuria, the LS geometric mean decreased by 78.0% from baseline in the low-dose cohort at week 36 and the reduction was maintained for 16 weeks after the end of treatment. At week 36, 69.2% of patients in the low-dose group achieved clinical remission. In the high-dose cohort, proteinuria had already decreased by 70.1% at week 24, with 80.0% of patients achieving clinical remission. Patients in both cohorts maintained stable renal function during the treatment period. "As a next-generation BTK inhibitor, EVER001 offers key advantages, including covalent reversibility, high selectivity, strong target-binding affinity, and reduced off-target toxicity. These attributes highlight its substantial potential in the treatment of pMN." Professor Minghui Zhao, leading principal investigator of EVER001 and an influential nephrologist at Peking University First Hospital, said: "Preliminary results from the Phase 1b/2a clinical trial of EVER001, presented at the 62nd ERA Congress, demonstrate that EVER001 induced rapid reductions in anti-PLA2R autoantibodies and proteinuria observed across both low- dose and high-dose cohorts. The treatment exhibits a favorable safety and tolerability profile. Currently, no drug has been approved globally for the treatment of pMN. Traditional immunosuppressive therapies carry a high risk of relapse following discontinuation, and many are associated with adverse effects. We therefore hope that new treatment options will become available to offer patients safer and more effective therapies." "To date, no drug has been approved globally for the treatment of pMN. As a potential best-in-class therapy, EVER001 holds promise to offer more treatment options for over 10 million patients worldwide affected by pMN, IgA nephropathy (IgAN), minimal change disease (MCD), focal segmental glomerulosclerosis (FSGS), and lupus nephritis (LN)." Rogers Yongqing Luo, Chief Executive Officer of Everest Medicines, said: "We are very pleased to see that the positive results in the preliminary analysis of our Phase 1b/2a clinical proof-of-concept trial of EVER001 were presented for the first time at an international academic conference. These preliminary results, disclosed at the 62nd ERA Congress, demonstrated that this next-generation covalent reversible BTK inhibitor was well-tolerated and effective in patients with pMN. Moving forward, we will continue to drive the global clinical development of EVER001, to meet patients' urgent clinical needs." pMN is a common pathological type of nephrotic syndrome in adults, and its prevalence in China has been increasing, ranking second only to IgA nephropathy[1]. There are approximately 2 million patients with pMN in China, and nearly 220,000 patients in the United States, Europe and Japan. There are no approved drugs for this indication worldwide. The current treatment goal is to improve remission rates, reduce high relapse rates, and minimize the risk of chronic toxicity caused by currently available treatments. More than one-third of pMN patients still progress to end-stage renal disease under current standards of care. This Phase 1b/2a clinical trial was approved by the Center for Drug Evaluation of the National Medical Products Administration in September 2022 to evaluate the safety, efficacy, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of EVER001 in Chinese patients with glomerular diseases characterized by proteinuria. About EVER001 EVER001 (previously known as XNW1011) is a next-generation covalent reversible Bruton's tyrosine kinase (BTK) inhibitor in development globally for the treatment of renal diseases. BTK is an essential component of the B-cell receptor signaling pathways that regulate the survival, activation, proliferation, and differentiation of B lymphocytes. Targeting BTK with small molecule inhibitors has been demonstrated to be an effective treatment option for B-cell lymphomas and autoimmune diseases. Under an exclusive licensing agreement with Sinovent Pharmaceuticals and SinoMab BioScience, Everest owns global rights to develop, produce and commercialize EVER001 for the treatment of renal diseases. About Everest Medicines Everest Medicines is a biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering, developing, manufacturing and commercializing transformative pharmaceutical products and vaccines that address critical unmet medical needs for patients in Asian markets. The management team of Everest Medicines has deep expertise and an extensive track record from both leading global pharmaceutical companies and local Chinese pharmaceutical companies in high-quality discovery, clinical development, regulatory affairs, CMC, business development and operations. Everest Medicines has built a portfolio of potentially global first-in-class or best-in-class molecules in the company's core therapeutic areas of renal diseases, infectious diseases and autoimmune disorders. For more information, please visit its website at Forward-Looking Statements: This news release may make statements that constitute forward-looking statements, including descriptions regarding the intent, belief or current expectations of the Company or its officers with respect to the business operations and financial condition of the Company, which can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "confident" and similar statements. Such forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and involve risks and uncertainties, or other factors, some of which are beyond the control of the Company and are unforeseeable. Therefore, the actual results may differ from those in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and assumptions, such as future changes and developments in our business, competitive environment, political, economic, legal and social conditions. The Company or any of its affiliates, directors, officers, advisors or representatives has no obligation and does not undertake to revise forward-looking statements to reflect new information, future events or circumstances after the date of this news release, except as required by law. References: 1. Expert consensus on the application of rituximab in the treatment of membranous nephropathy, Chin J Intern Med, March 2022, Vol. 61, No. 3. View original content: SOURCE Everest Medicines Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data

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