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News That Matters

06/02/2023 ---- 11/02/2023

Artificial Intelligence, commonly referred to as AI, refers to the development of computer systems that can perform tasks typically requiring human intelligence, such as visual perception, speech recognition, decision-making, and language translation. It has been a field of study and research for several decades. In recent years, it has experienced a surge in popularity and advancements. It is widely believed that AI is the next revolution for humanity, with the potential to revolutionize virtually every industry and aspect of our lives. AI is already being applied in numerous fields, including healthcare, finance, retail, transportation, and manufacturing. In healthcare, AI improves patient outcomes by analyzing large amounts of medical data, enabling doctors to make more accurate diagnoses. In finance, AI is used to identify fraud and make investment decisions. In retail, AI personalizes customer experiences and optimizes supply chains. In transportation, AI improves traffic flow and makes autonomous vehicles a reality.

2023 will be a pivotal year for the development of AI as more and more companies adopt this technology to improve their operations and gain a competitive edge. OpenAI, a leading AI research institute in this field, has made significant advancements. OpenAI has released ChatGPT, a large language model, as an essential step towards advancing the field of AI and making it more accessible to the public. Since the release of this public model through the OpenAI website, Microsoft has decided to invest 1.5 billion dollars. It seeks to integrate it into the upcoming software products. Google, on the other hand, in early February invested 300 million dollars in artificial intelligence start-up Anthropic, making it the latest tech giant to throw its money and computing power behind a new generation of companies trying to claim a place in the booming field of “generative AI”. Anthropic was formed in 2021 when a group of researchers led by Dario Amodei left OpenAI after a disagreement over the company’s direction.

Today AI is a rapidly growing field that has the potential to transform the way we live and work. The advancements made in AI in recent years have been nothing short of remarkable, and 2023 promises to be a year of even more remarkable progress. It is today clear that the future of AI is bright, and we are only scratching the surface of its potential.

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Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) occurs when bacteria, viruses, fungi and parasites change over time and no longer respond to medicines making infections more complicated to treat and increasing the risk of disease spread, severe illness and death. Antimicrobials, including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals and antiparasitics, are medicines used to treat infections in humans, animals and plants. As a result of drug resistance, antibiotics and other antimicrobial medications become ineffective, and infections become increasingly difficult or impossible to treat. The emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens that have acquired new resistance mechanisms, leading to antimicrobial resistance, continue to threaten our ability to treat common infections. In general, it is through the intensive use of antibiotics that microbes evolve to become resistant. Especially alarming is the rapid global spread of multi- and pan-resistant bacteria (also known as "superbugs") that cause infections that are not treatable with existing antimicrobial medicines such as antibiotics. On top of this growing issue, the clinical pipeline of new antimicrobials is "dry". In 2019, the World Health Organization (WHO) identified 32 antibiotics in clinical development that address the WHO list of priority pathogens, of which only six were classified as innovative.

A significant contribution to antimicrobial resistance is the use of antibiotics in animal farming. Although antibiotics can be necessary to treat infections in livestock, they are often used to speed up animal growth and prevent diseases among animals in crowded, unsanitary conditions. Researchers struggle to calculate the antibiotics used in particular countries because most do not publicly release their agricultural-antibiotic usage data. Many release the data to the World Organization for Animal Health (WOAH), which groups countries' antibiotics data into continents - so that is all that researchers can see. However, around 40% of countries do not report antibiotic use. Two epidemiologists at the Swiss federal institute of technology (ETH) analysed antibiotic usage in animal farming by collecting data from individual governments, farm surveys and scientific articles that reported veterinary use of antibiotics. They cross-referenced these with data on farm-animal populations worldwide and on antibiotic sales from the 42 countries that reported those data publicly. The team calculated that antibiotic use in Africa is probably twice what WOAH writes, and use in Asia is 50% higher than reported. China is currently using more antibiotics in farming than any other country. Pakistan will experience the highest use growth between 2020 and 2030. The researchers also estimate that antibiotic use will grow the fastest in Africa, rising by 25% between 2020 and 2030 owing to increased demand for meat products. Making usage data more publicly accessible could lead to increased accountability for countries and agricultural producers that do not use antibiotics responsibly.

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A powerful earthquake hit Southern Turkey and Northern Syria in the early hours of Monday morning. According to the Turkish and Syrian authorities, thousands of people have been injured, and hundreds have been found dead. The 7.8 magnitude heartquake struck near the city of Gaziantep, near the border with Syria. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said on Twitter that "search and rescue teams were immediately dispatched" to the areas hit by the quake. Residents have been helping rescue workers to pull survivors among the debris. To complicate the intervention, ice and snow are covering roads. The earthquake's impact was so huge that tremors could be felt in Lebanon, Cyprus, and Egypt. In Damascus, buildings shook, and many people rushed onto the streets in fear. In a briefing, Turkey's vice president said that around 1,700 buildings had collapsed. Syria's state media also reported that some buildings had collapsed in Aleppo and the central city of Hama. Authorities confirmed that this is, so far, the most powerful earthquake on record in the region. However, heartquakes are not new in the zone: in 2011 and 1999, two more were hit with a power magnitude of 7.1 and 7.6, respectively. The reaction from international leaders was prompt in offering assistance to Turkey and Syria. Germany, the US, the EU and all NATO members expressed complete solidarity and are now coordinating interventions with President Erdogan.

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