China to donate $500 million to WHO, stepping into gap left by U.S.
China has pledged to give $500 million to the World Health Organization as Beijing is set to replace the United States as the group's top state donor, expanding China's global influence in the wake of Washington's retreat from international cooperation.
Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong told the World Health Assembly (WHA) that his country was making the contribution to oppose 'unilateralism,' a trait Beijing often ascribes to Washington as relations between the two powers deteriorate.
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Medscape
8 hours ago
- Medscape
Crepidiastrum Denticulatum Extract
Crepidiastrum denticulatum , a member of the Asteraceae family that is also known as Youngia denticulatum , is traditionally consumed as a vegetable in Korea. The plant is known to confer antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity as well as protective effects. Air pollutants exact a toll on the skin, promoting the development of acne, atopic dermatitis, pigmentary changes, and wrinkles. C denticulatum is seen on skin cream labels as Pollux CD to help shield the skin against various stressors found in air pollution, including particulate matter, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons containing benzo[a]pyrene, heavy metals, and ultraviolet (UV) B radiation. C denticulatum is included in anti-aging skin care (and found in Zerafite Wrinkle Defense Barrier Cream) because it has been found to increase autophagy and decrease cellular senescence. This column focuses on the available evidence that supports the use of this natural extract in skin care. Leslie S. Baumann, MD Autophagy and Protection Against Skin Pollution In 2019, Yoon et al. screened numerous natural extracts to quantify their autophagy activation efficacy in cultured dermal fibroblasts, given the spate of evidence that autophagy activation can protect the skin from oxidation-induced cellular damage and signs of aging. Cells treated by C denticulatum extracts demonstrated the greatest autophagic vacuole development in the noncytotoxic range. The investigators reported that C denticulatum treatment yielded the phosphorylation of adenosine monophosphate kinase, although it did not suppress the mammalian target of rapamycin. They also assessed the anti-pollution activity of the extract using model substances, benzo[a]pyrene and cadmium chloride, with the C denticulatum extract treatment of the skin, particularly as anti-inflammatory, antipollution cosmetic agents. Anti-aging In 2020, Park et al. studied the influence of various UVB radiation levels on the development of the functional constituents of C denticulatum . They observed that none of the UVB levels (0, 0.1, 0.25, 0.5, 1.0, and 1.25 W m-2) conferred negative effects on shoot dry weight after 6 days of 6-h exposure. Shoot fresh weight was suppressed by the higher energy treatments (1.0 and 1.25 W m-2). Total carotenoid content was elevated by 0.1, 0.25, and 0.5 W m-2 energy levels. Antioxidant capacity, hydroxycinnamic acid content, and multiple sesquiterpenes were augmented on day 4 by 0.25 W m-2 treatment. The researchers determined that they had identified the potential of 0.25 W m-2 UVB to efficiently synthesize bioactive constituents of C denticulatum without suppressing growth. In a 2015 study, Kim et al. investigated the impact of various youngiaside extracts on extrinsic aging. In evaluating the molecular mechanisms of the extracts in UVB-irradiated HaCaT keratinocytes and human dermal fibroblasts, they found that the C denticulatum constituents reduced matrix metalloproteinase expression and production. Collagen expression and synthesis were also increased in human dermal fibroblasts. Furthermore, the investigators observed that the extracts significantly enhanced the antioxidant enzyme expression, thus down-regulating the reactive oxygen species generated by UVB exposure. Other notable results included decreased phosphorylation of I-kappa-B-alphaand IKK alpha/beta , suppressed nuclear factor kappa-B (NF kappa-B) p65 nuclear translocation, and robust inhibition of pro-inflammatory mediators. The investigators concluded that the tested substances found in C denticulatum have the potential to prevent and treat cutaneous aging. Animal Studies Indicate Protective Benefits In 2014, Ahn et al. found that an ethanol extract of C denticulatum significantly shielded retinal ganglion cells from eradication caused by optic nerve crush in a mouse model of glaucoma. They also determined that the primary active constituents of the herbal extract were the hydroxycinnamic acids chicoric acid and 3,5-dicaffeoylquinic acid, which have demonstrated the capacity to protect from retinal damage in multiple in vivo and in vitro studies. Later in 2014, Yoo et al. reported on the antioxidant and detoxifying activity of C denticulatum extracts. The researchers found that the botanical agent exerted hepatoprotective benefits against chronic alcohol-induced liver damage in rats. Specifically, rats treated with C denticulatum experienced substantial attenuation of fatty liver symptoms, with normalization of antioxidative capacity and lipid peroxidation of the liver. The functions of the antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase, catalase, glutathione reductase, and glutathione peroxidase were also restored through treatment with C denticulatum . More recently, in 2018, the oral administration of a C denticulatum extract was found to exert antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity in improving acute renal ischemia-reperfusion injury in mice. Conclusion
Politico
12 hours ago
- Politico
WHO sounds the alarm as US measles cases mount
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WHAT WE'RE READING House FDA appropriators advanced their fiscal 2026 spending measure Thursday for the agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, POLITICO's David Lim reports. Infectious disease and other medical experts fear HHS's changes to Covid-19 vaccine recommendations will make it more difficult to immunize people by complicating discussions with providers and likely leading to fewer places stocking them, Stat's Helen Branswell writes.
Forbes
13 hours ago
- Forbes
Food Safety Depends On Every Link In The Supply Chain
Colorful fish and vegetables can be purchased at a public market. For communities to be nourished, their food supply must be safe to eat. This sounds obvious, but it's worth repeating, because every year, about 1 in 10 people worldwide (or about 600 million people) become sick from contaminated food, and 420,000 lose their lives. About 125,000 of those deaths annually are children under 5 years old—a disproportionate tragedy that comes at the expense of our future. And in low- and mid-income countries, US$110 billion is lost every year in productivity and medical expenses resulting from unsafe food, per World Health Organization (WHO) data. Addressing food safety is truly crucial not just to our lives but to our livelihoods, our economic success, and the well-being of every aspect of the food system. World Food Safety Day, on June 7, is a perfect opportunity for everyone around the globe to recommit to ensuring a safe food supply for all. 'Food safety is not just about preventing harm,' says Markus Lipp, Senior Food Safety Officer at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization. 'It is about creating confidence and trust in the food we eat, in the systems that protect us, that protect food safety and in the institutions that serve the public good for safe food.' So how do we ensure the future of food is safe? First: Food safety is not isolated—every link along the food chain must prioritize safety. Food safety begins on fields and farms, with healthy soils and positive growing practices, and continues through processing, transportation, cooking, and serving. This whole-system approach can be truly transformative. In fact, many of the 200+ diseases 'that we know can be carried by food are preventable and sometimes even eradicable,' says Luz María De Regil, Director of the Department of Nutrition and Food Safety at WHO. Second: We can't just respond to challenges that currently exist; we have to be prepared to face unprecedented and complex challenges to food safety as the climate crisis worsens. According to the WHO, the changing climate will affect the persistence and occurrence of bacteria, viruses, parasites, harmful algae, and fungi—and the vectors that spread them. 'We're going to have emerging pathogens coming in, especially given that the climate is changing…microbes like hot, humid, wet environments,' said Barbara Kowalcyk, an Associate Professor at the Milken Institute School of Public Health. Third: Perhaps most urgently, we need to champion evidence-based policymaking and global cooperation. This year's World Food Safety Day highlights this, focusing particularly on the 'essential role of science in ensuring food safety and enabling informed decision-making.' Now more than ever, we need to devote more resources to scientific progress, international collaboration, and solid regulatory frameworks—not less. But recent cuts to research funding and staff in the United States by the Trump-Vance Administration, including in food safety inspection labs, are having concerning ripple effects across the globe. Foodborne illness outbreaks could become harder to detect and contain, leading to more people in more widespread areas getting sick, experts warn. In addition, the dismantling of the U. S. Agency for international Development (USAID) shuttered several Feed the Future Innovation Labs, which brought university research to countries including Kenya, Nepal, Nigeria, Bangladesh, Ethiopia, Ghana, and Guatemala to design and implement food safety interventions in poultry production, post-harvest crop storage, farmers markets, households, and more. So this World Food Safety Day, WHO's calls to action encourage all of us—policymakers, business leaders, and eaters—to step up. Communities can find ways to apply the WHO's Global Strategy for Food Safety 2022-2030, to ensure that all people, everywhere, consume safe and healthy food. And initiatives like the GAIN's EatSafe program and the Codex Alimentarius Commission, which aims to standardize evidence-based food safety protocols in ways that respect local culture, offer models to learn from. I often think of something Abdou Tenkouano told me last year. At that time he was the Executive Director of CORAF, an organization in West and Central Africa that uses agriculture to build community resilience, and now he's Director General at icipe, which uses insect science to tackle food security, health, and environmental challenges in Africa. 'This is a global village,' he said. 'We are all interconnected, interdependent, interlinked.' And when it comes to food, we all have a responsibility to keep one another safe.
