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Washington state proposes new 3D-printed gun controls with ‘blocking features’ and blueprint detection algorithm — proposal would carry sentences of five years in prison, $15,000 fine for violation

All three are explained in more detail in the bill, but arrive at broadly the same destination. This law, if approved, would prevent 3D printer brands from selling their wares in Washington State without stringent controls to prevent the printing of 3D firearms, or indeed parts that could be used to modify existing weapons.

According to the bill, violating this proposed law would be a class C felony, which means anyone found in violation of these terms could face up to five years in prison and a $15,000 fine.

Washington is not the first state to propose addressing 3D-printed firearms by way of legislation, and is unlikely to be the last. Earlier this month New York took steps to ban 3D-printed guns, proposing the mandating of 3D printer safeguards and cracking down on the sharing and possession of 3D files containing guns or gun components.

Wildfires trigger massive soil loss for decades, new global map shows

Wildfires are devastating events that destroy forests, burn homes and force people to leave their communities. They also have a profound impact on local ecosystems. But there is another problem that has been largely overlooked until now. When rain falls on the charred landscapes, it increases surface runoff and soil erosion that can last for decades, according to a new study published in Nature Geoscience.

On average, wildfires burn approximately 4 million square kilometers of land per year, an area equivalent to the size of the European Union. Despite this, there hasn’t been a global long-term assessment of how these fires affect soil erosion over time. So researchers from the European Commission’s Joint Research Center and the University of Basel, Switzerland, studied two decades’ worth of data to compile the world’s first global map of post-fire soil erosion.

The team used a sophisticated computer model called RUSLE (Revised Universal Soil Loss Equation), which they adapted for post-fire conditions to calculate how much soil moves based on factors such as vegetation cover and rainfall intensity. They combined this with satellite data of global wildfires from 2001 to 2019 and compared these areas with how the land looked before the flames took hold.

Even Antarctica Isn’t Safe: Microplastics Found Inside the Continent’s Only Insect

Microplastics have entered Antarctica’s soil ecosystem, subtly affecting its only native insect and revealing how far human pollution now reaches. An international team of scientists led by researchers at the University of Kentucky Martin-Gatton College of Agriculture, Food and Environment has di

Burden of Central Nervous System Cancer in the United States

While incidence rates for central nervous system cancer remained stable from 1990 to 2021, both mortality and disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs) declined. Disparities by geography, age, sex, and sociodemographic status highlight needs for targeted health policy reforms and resource redistribution.

Findings In this cross-sectional study, analysis of the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021 data on US CNS cancers revealed that although the incidence rate remained relatively stable, both disability-adjusted life-years and mortality rates declined. However, substantial disparities persisted across geographical location, age, sex, and sociodemographic profile.

Meaning The persistent disparity in CNS cancer burden highlights the urgent need to reevaluate public health policies and redistribute health care resources to better support marginalized and underserved populations.

Contaminating plasmid sequences and disrupted vector genomes in the liver following adeno-associated virus gene therapy

A valuable paper examining the presence of AAV manufacturing contaminants in a human patient’s liver. These results will hopefully be leveraged for improving the safety of gene therapies in the future.

Analyses of liver biopsies from a child with spinal muscular atrophy treated with adeno-associated virus gene therapy who developed hepatitis reveal contaminating manufacturing plasmids and disrupted vector genomes, possibly resulting from recombination events.

Altered Molecular Composition of a Specific Subset of Prefrontal Cortical Excitatory Synapses in Schizophrenia

JNeurosci: Lorincz et al. provide novel insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying excitatory synaptic dysfunction in schizophrenia.

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Abnormal excitatory synaptic transmission in the human prefrontal cortex has been implicated in the pathophysiology of schizophrenia based primarily on genetic evidence. However, changes in synaptic function cannot be predicted from altered gene expressions, but determining the amount, density, and subsynaptic distribution of synaptic proteins is the only reliable indirect readout of function. Detecting proteins in individual synapses of human postmortem tissues has been severely constrained by technical limitations. Here we overcome this limitation by optimizing a high-resolution, quantitative localization method to facilitate antigen recognition at excitatory synapses in postmortem brains of both sexes.

Widespread liver dysfunction in Down syndrome

Patients with detectable virus-specific T cells before checkpoint inhibitor therapy in PML demonstrated better survival rates and functional recovery than those without.

Question Are pretreatment JC virus-and/or BK virus-specific T cells in the blood associated with the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs) in progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML)?

Findings In this cohort study of 111 patients with PML treated with ICIs, those with detectable virus-specific T cells (n = 21) had significantly higher response rates and longer survival than both T cell–negative patients (n = 22) and those with unknown status (n = 68).

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