Germany’s VW, China’s BYD face off at Munich auto show


By AFP
September 8, 2025


Volkswagen CEO Oliver Blume at the IAA motor show in Munich - Copyright POOL/AFP Vyacheslav PROKOFYEV

Europe’s top car manufacturer Volkswagen presented a series of more affordable electric vehicles Monday as Chinese EV titan BYD said it would start producing a cut-price model on the continent.

The duelling announcements at the closely-watched Munich auto show highlight the fierce battle shaping up between Europe’s traditional automakers and fast-growing Chinese rivals.

VW — along with peers BMW and Mercedes-Benz from the long troubled German auto sector — are seeking to make up lost ground in the race for electric dominance.

Volkswagen unveiled four small EV models from its namesake VW brand, as well as its Cupra and Skoda marques.

With starting prices of around 25,000 euros ($29,000), lower than many current EVs made by European manufacturers, their commercial launch is set for next year.

But at a press event at the IAA Mobility show, which runs the whole of this week, CEO Oliver Blume conceded that VW faced a tough fight.

“The automotive industry, and especially the Volkswagen group, has never faced so many headwinds at the same time,” he said.

And he conceded that the situation in China, where VW has lost market share to local rivals, was highly competitive.

BYD “without a doubt is doing a great job there,” he said.


HUNGARY; EUROPES FIFTH COLUMN

– Resistance to EU ban –

BYD meanwhile announced that its Dolphin Surf electric compact car, already on sale in Europe since May for around 20,000 euros, will be produced from the end of 2025 in its new Hungarian factory.

“We are almost ready to build our cars in Europe, for Europe,” said the manufacturer’s executive vice president Stella Li.

Building its cars in Hungary, an European Union country, should help the Chinese manufacturer avoid hefty EU tariffs the bloc has slapped on Chinese-made EVs over what Brussels says are unfair state subsidies.

Germany’s top automakers have all suffered in recent times due to weak demand and fierce competition in key market China, where BYD and others have eroded their sales.

They have struggled with the shift to EVs as demand has proven weaker in Europe than many had anticipated and prices remain too high for many motorists.

Calls have meanwhile been growing for the EU to review a plan to end sales of new combustion engine vehicles by 2035 as part of efforts to tackle climate change.

Stellantis, whose brands include Jeep and Fiat, as well as BMW and Mercedes have all expressed scepticism or outright opposition to the plan.

Volkswagen’s Blume added his voice to the criticism on Monday, saying that it was “unrealistic” to aim for “100% electric mobility” in a decade.

“We need reality checks every year,” he said.

New Banksy artwork challenges UK’s protest crackdown

PROMPTLY CENSORED


By AFP
September 8, 2025


The new Banksy work at the Royal Courts of Justice was quickly covered up - Copyright POOL/AFP PETER DEJONG

British street artist Banksy on Monday took aim at the UK’s crackdown on protesters with a new work outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London, adding fuel to a free-speech row roiling the country.

The artist posted an image of the work, which features a judge wielding a gavel over a protester on the ground holding a blood-splattered placard, on his Instagram page.

The work has since been covered by black plastic sheets and two metal barriers.

It appeared after 890 people were arrested at a demonstration against a ban on the activist group Palestine Action in London on Saturday.

The artwork “powerfully depicts the brutality unleashed” by the government’s ban, said a spokesperson from the Defend Our Juries group that organised the protest.

“Since the dystopian ban came into force, over 1,600 people have been arrested under the Terrorism Act for holding cardboard signs with seven words ‘I oppose genocide. I support Palestine Action’,” the spokesperson added.

“When the law is used as a tool to crush civil liberties, it does not extinguish dissent — it strengthens it.”

Free speech has become a hot topic in the UK, with people from across the political spectrum complaining that the law is too heavy-handed.

The issue hit international headlines last week when comedy writer Graham Linehan was arrested for posts on X insulting transgender people.

Exposed: xAI’s Grok app exposed public conversations

By Dr. Tim Sandle
EDITOR AT LARGE SCIENCE

DIGITAL JOURNAL

September 8, 2025

Grok, the artificial intelligence assistant, praised Nazi leader Adolf Hitler in a series of posts deemed anti-Semitic - Copyright AFP Lionel BONAVENTURE

More than 370,000 private conversations from xAI’s Grok app were exposed this week after a design flaw in its sharing feature made them searchable on Google and other search engines. The company’s ‘Share’ button created public URLs that were indexed by search crawlers, turning private chats into public records, according to reports.

What Happened

Grok’s Share button created public pages for conversations. Because those pages weren’t access-controlled or flagged “noindex,” search crawlers followed and indexed them, making ordinary chats (and, in some cases, attachments) discoverable to anyone. This mirrors the July 31st incident, where ChatGPT’s opt-in “discoverable” share links also ended up indexed, prompting OpenAI to disable the feature and coordinate removals.

Who is Most Exposed (and why)

Anyone who has used AI tools for personal or work-related tasks could be at risk. The most exposed groups include:

Employees using personal AI accounts are a major source of sensitive prompts and file uploads, especially source code.

Users who “shared a link to save or show a chat.” If a link is public and not noindexed, crawlers will likely find it; the impact extends beyond Google to Bing and DuckDuckGo.

Talking about the severity of the leaks, Anirudh Agarwal, CEO, OutreachX, says, “A share link is a publication, not a whisper. Once a crawler can reach it, you trigger distribution, not just disclosure; caches outlive your delete button. Set sane defaults (noindex and access controls), separate work from personal use, and keep a fast-removal playbook for Google and Bing.”

Agarwal provides some advice for impacted Digital Journal readers.

What to do now?
1) Check if Your Chats are Public (within 2 minutes)

Open an incognito window and search:
site:grok.com “unique phrase from your chat”

site:grok.x.ai “unique phrase from your chat”


Repeat this process on Bing and DuckDuckGo, saving each URL you find. (Reporters verified Grok share pages were being indexed this way.)
2) Delete the Conversation at the Source (inside X/Grok)X (Twitter) – Using your X settings, select “Privacy & Safety”

Select “Data sharing and personalization”
Select “Grok”
You will see “Delete Conversation History”
Confirm to “Delete your interactions, inputs, and results”

Grok mobile app (iOS/Android): Open Settings → Data control → Delete all Conversations → confirm.

Following these steps, your chats will be removed from their systems within 30 days.
3) Google’s Cleanup ProcessLog in to your Google account

Open the Refresh Outdated Content tool

Enter the URL of the page or image in the required format. (For an image request, you must file a separate request on every page where the image appears.)

Click Submit.
4) Do the Same for Bing/DuckDuckGoLog in to your Bing Webmaster Tools account.Go to their content removal page

In the Content URL input box, enter the exact URL you found in the Bing web results (by using Copy Shortcut/Copy Link Address functionality in your browser).

In the Removal type dropdown menu, select Remove page.

Click Submit

Submit the links via Bing Content Removal; because DuckDuckGo sources traditional links largely from Bing, this helps both.
5) ChatGPT (shared links & chat deletion)

On the web: Settings → Data controls → Shared links → Manage

In the modal, click the trash icon to delete a shared link or the chat itself. That invalidates it.

Deleting chats (web): Hover over a chat in the sidebar, click the three-dot menu (⋯), then choose Delete. Confirm when prompted.

On Android: Tap the menu (≡) in the top-left. Locate the chat, press and hold the title. Tap the red Delete option.

On iOS: Tap the menu (≡) in the top-left. Find the chat, press and hold its title. Tap Delete (red).
6) Prevent a Future LeakIn X → Privacy & safety → Grok, review data-sharing/training settings and avoid posting public share links. If sharing is necessary, prefer screenshots or redacted text.
Data Privacy vs. Chat leaks (Law vs. Outcome)
What Privacy Law Expects:Principles (GDPR Art. 5): Lawfulness, fairness, transparency; purpose limitation; data minimization; integrity/confidentiality.

Privacy by design & default (GDPR Art. 25): By default, only necessary personal data should be accessible, not open to an indefinite number of people.

Breach concept (GDPR Art. 4(12)): Includes unauthorised disclosure or access, even if accidental.

Erasure (GDPR Art. 17): people can request deletion “without undue delay.” (Search caches may require separate refresh/removal requests.)
How the Grok Case Contrasts:Public-by-URL ≠ Privacy-by-default: Crawlable share pages run against Art. 25’s expectation that personal data isn’t accessible to an indefinite audience by default.

Risk of unauthorized disclosure. If shared pages include personal data and become searchable, the situation aligns with the GDPR’s breach definition, even in the absence of “hacking.”

Deletion vs. search reality: Deleting chats is necessary but insufficient; caches/snippets often linger until you file Refresh Outdated Content (and, where relevant, Search Console Removals).
What next?

A single design flaw, public share links without index protection, turned private conversations into public records. The incidents prove that sensitive material routinely flows into AI tools, and the risk of exposure isn’t confined to one platform or search engine. The incidents underscore the need for companies and individuals to clean up exposed URLs, tighten sharing defaults, and document a response plan. With new EU AI Act obligations for general-purpose AI now in effect, the bar for privacy-respecting defaults in AI products is rising.

OpenAI backs AI-animated film for Cannes debut


By AFP
September 8, 2025


The production will blend AI technology with human work - Copyright AFP/File Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV

ChatGPT-maker OpenAI is backing the production of a feature-length animated film created largely with artificial intelligence tools, aiming to prove the technology can revolutionize Hollywood filmmaking with faster timelines and lower costs.

The movie, titled “Critterz,” follows woodland creatures on an adventure after their village is disrupted by a stranger, with producers hoping to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2026 before a global theatrical release, they said in statement on Monday.

The project has a budget of under $30 million and a production timeline of just nine months — a fraction of the typical $100-200 million cost and three-year development cycle for major animated features.

“Critterz” originated as a short film by Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI, who began developing the concept three years ago using the company’s DALL-E image generation tool.

Nelson has partnered with London-based Vertigo Films and Los Angeles studio Native Foreign to expand the project into a full-length feature.

“OpenAI can say what its tools do all day long, but it’s much more impactful if someone does it,” Nelson said in the news release. “That’s a much better case study than me building a demo.”

The production will blend AI technology with human work.

Artists will draw sketches that are fed into OpenAI’s tools, including GPT-5 and image-generating models, while human actors will voice the characters.

The script was written by some of the same writers behind the successful “Paddington in Peru.”

However the project comes amid intense legal battles between Hollywood studios and AI companies over intellectual property rights.

Major studios including Disney, Universal and Warner Bros. Discovery have filed copyright infringement lawsuits against AI firm Midjourney, alleging the company illegally trained its models on their characters.

The film is funded by Vertigo’s Paris-based parent company, Federation Studios, with about 30 contributors sharing profits through a specialized compensation model.

Critterz will not be the first animated feature film made with generative AI.

In 2024, “DreadClub: Vampire’s Verdict,” considered the first AI animated feature film and made with a budget of $405, was released, as well as “Where the Robots Grow.”

Those releases, as well as the original “Critterz” short film, received mixed reactions from viewers, with some critics questioning whether current AI technology can produce cinema-quality content that resonates emotionally with audiences.

New AI vaccine research programme launched in Oxford


By Dr. Tim Sandle
EDITOR AT LARGE SCIENCE

DIGITAL JOURNAL

September 8, 2025


A child receives a dose of polio vaccine during a door-to-door vaccination campaign in Karachi, Pakistan  on September 9 - Copyright AFP Rizwan TABASSUM

The University of Oxford has entered into partnership with the Ellison Institute of Technology (EIT) to use artificial intelligence for vaccine research. This is to the tune of £118 million in funding. The money will be used to launch an ambitious new programme of vaccine research.

This programme aims to be faster, smarter, and better able to respond to infectious disease outbreaks throughout the world, in terms of developing new vaccines to meet new disease challenges.

Conventional vaccine development processes typically span several years. This is because they are challenged by complex processes including antigen discovery, epitope prediction, adjuvant formulation, and rigorous clinical trial designs. Al can speed this process up.

The project will be led by the Oxford Vaccine Group. This is a new initiative based in the University’s CoI-AI (Correlates of Immunity-Artificial Intelligence) arena. The process will combine Oxford’s human challenge studies, immune science, and vaccine development with EITs Artificial Intelligence (AI) innovation technology. EIT’s activities include generative biology, clinical medicine, plant science, sustainable energy, and public policy. The computing capability is provided by Oracle.

The initial focus will seek to better understand how the body fights infection and how vaccines protect us. The research will explore how vaccines work at both a cellular and system-wide level, by studying infections in real time, in people, and using smart immunology tools and data to find the answers.

Specifically, the CoI-AI programme will study how the immune system responds to important microorganisms that cause serious infections and contribute to antibiotic resistance – such as Streptococcus pneumoniae, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli, – amongst others.

Such bacteria cause widespread illness but resist traditional vaccine approaches. Researchers will use human challenge models (where volunteers are safely exposed to bacteria under controlled conditions) and apply modern immunology and AI tools to pinpoint the immune responses that predict protection.

Professor Sir Andrew Pollard, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group explains further, noting: “This programme addresses one of the most urgent problems in infectious disease by helping us to understand immunity more deeply to develop innovative vaccines against deadly diseases that have so far evaded our attempts at prevention. By combining advanced immunology with artificial intelligence, and using human challenge models to study diseases, CoI-AI will provide the tools we need to tackle serious infections and reduce the growing threat of antibiotic resistance. This is a new frontier in vaccine science.”

 

New light-based chip boosts power efficiency of AI tasks 100 fold

Researchers have developed a silicon chip that uses light with electricity to perform convolution operations for AI, dramatically reducing energy use and increasing speed

SPIE--International Society for Optics and Photonics

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A newly developed silicon photonic chip turns light-encoded data into instant convolution results.

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Credit: H. Yang (University of Florida)

Artificial intelligence (AI) systems are increasingly central to technology, powering everything from facial recognition to language translation. But as AI models grow more complex, they consume vast amounts of electricity—posing challenges for energy efficiency and sustainability. A new chip developed by researchers at the University of Florida could help address this issue by using light, rather than just electricity, to perform one of AI’s most power-hungry tasks. Their research is reported in Advanced Photonics.

The chip is designed to carry out convolution operations, a core function in machine learning that enables AI systems to detect patterns in images, video, and text. These operations typically require significant computing power. By integrating optical components directly onto a silicon chip, the researchers have created a system that performs convolutions using laser light and microscopic lenses—dramatically reducing energy consumption and speeding up processing.

“Performing a key machine learning computation at near zero energy is a leap forward for future AI systems,” said study leader Volker J. Sorger, the Rhines Endowed Professor in Semiconductor Photonics at the University of Florida. “This is critical to keep scaling up AI capabilities in years to come.”

In tests, the prototype chip classified handwritten digits with about 98 percent accuracy, comparable to traditional electronic chips. The system uses two sets of miniature Fresnel lenses—flat, ultrathin versions of the lenses found in lighthouses—fabricated using standard semiconductor manufacturing techniques. These lenses are narrower than a human hair and are etched directly onto the chip.

To perform a convolution, machine learning data is first converted into laser light on the chip. The light passes through the Fresnel lenses, which carry out the mathematical transformation. The result is then converted back into a digital signal to complete the AI task.

“This is the first time anyone has put this type of optical computation on a chip and applied it to an AI neural network,” said Hangbo Yang, a research associate professor in Sorger’s group at UF and co-author of the study.

The team also demonstrated that the chip could process multiple data streams simultaneously by using lasers of different colors—a technique known as wavelength multiplexing. “We can have multiple wavelengths, or colors, of light passing through the lens at the same time,” Yang said. “That’s a key advantage of photonics.”

The research was conducted in collaboration with the Florida Semiconductor Institute, UCLA, and George Washington University. Sorger noted that chip manufacturers such as NVIDIA already use optical elements in some parts of their AI systems, which could make it easier to integrate this new technology.

“In the near future, chip-based optics will become a key part of every AI chip we use daily,” Sorger said. “And optical AI computing is next.”

For details, see the original Gold Open Access article by H. Yang et al., “Near-energy-free photonic Fourier transformation for convolution operation acceleration," Adv. Photon. 7(5), 056007 (2025), doi: 10.1117/1.AP.7.5.056007

  

pJTC Convolutional techniques. (a) Comparison of spatial convolution, Fourier electrical convolution, and Fourier optical convolution in terms of computational complexity. (b) Schematic of a JTC, demonstrating how it performs Fourier optical convolution by optically generating the Fourier transform of the combined input Signal and Kernel, detecting the intensity pattern, and producing the auto- and cross-correlation between Signal and Kernel. (c) Optical microscope image of the fabricated SiPh chiplet from AIM Photonics. (d) Comparison of the initial MNIST image (green line), the output after an ideal Fourier transform (blue line), the output after the actual on-chip lens Fourier transform (yellow line), and the calibrated output obtained from the actual on-chip lens after applying phase correction (pink line). (e) Confusion matrix shows the classification accuracy for 10,000 test MNIST images with 10 percent random temporal delay introduced in the input electrical signal, achieving total accuracy of 95.3 percent.

Credit

H. Yang et al., doi 10.1117/1.AP.7.5.056007

Journal

Advanced Photonics

DOI

10.1117/1.AP.7.5.056007 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Near-energy-free photonic Fourier transformation for convolution operation acceleration

Article Publication Date

8-Sep-2025

 

AI and climate change: How to reliably record greenhouse gas emissions

Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München

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An LMU team has developed a method for pulling data from corporate sustainability reports more accurately.

Large companies in the EU are legally required to report their greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. Yet pulling this information manually from long PDF sustainability reports is slow and error-prone. Many teams try to speed up the process with automation—for example by using Large Language Models (LLMs), AI systems that read text and produce answers.

Project coordinator and postdoctoral researcher at the Social Data Science and AI Lab (SODA Lab), Dr. Malte Schierholz urges caution though: “With automatic extraction methods, it’s easy to fully trust the LLM’s output and overlook measurement errors that occur frequently.” Because the trend of increased automation is promising but risky at the same time, the research group Greenhouse Gas Insights and Sustainability Tracking (GIST) set out to build a reliable point of reference for collecting emission data.

A gold standard for recording emissions data

In a paper published in Scientific Data, the group introduces a gold-standard benchmark dataset for extracting GHG emissions. The dataset is based on sustainability reports sampled from companies in the MSCI World Small Cap index and the German DAX. “The basic task was to extract GHG emissions values from PDF files into a table,” says Schierholz. “What first sounded straightforward turned out to be surprisingly complex.”

In a multi-stage process, sustainable finance experts from LMU and Deutsche Bundesbank worked with methodologists to define strict annotation rules, ran multiple rounds of extraction and verification, and convened expert discussion groups. “If you want a dataset that’s both accurate and allows for comparisons between companies, you need clear rules and plenty of feedback loops throughout the data annotation process,” says Jacob Beck, who led the annotation effort. “In the end, some ambiguous cases still required expert group discussion.”

Many companies do not provide sufficient documentation

Sustainable Finance researcher Dr. Andreas Dimmelmeier (GreenDIA consortium) was not surprised: “The hard-to-resolve cases stem not only from complex and partly inconsistent reporting protocols, but also from missing context and incomplete disclosures in company reports. Many companies in our sample did not disclose emissions according to established reporting and calculation frameworks.”

The team also observed that about half of the reports contained no usable greenhouse gas data at all. When emissions were reported, they most often referred to direct emissions and indirect emissions from energy consumption. Data on other indirect emissions, such as those arising in the supply chain or from travel and transport, was rarely complete.

The dataset—together with scripts and supplementary materials—offers a transparent, rigorously curated foundation for evaluating automated approaches to sustainability reporting. By making the assumptions and decisions explicit, it enables fair method comparisons and clearer communication of annotation uncertainty. The GIST group hopes this resource will help researchers and practitioners measure progress more honestly and close critical data gaps on the path to net zero.

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Journal

Scientific Data

DOI

10.1038/s41597-025-05664-8 

Article Title

Addressing data gaps in sustainability reporting: A benchmark dataset for greenhouse gas emission extraction

 

Artificial intelligence assessment indicates stress levels in farmed Amazonian fish

Brazilian researchers have developed a tool that can be used to improve animal welfare by assessing tambaqui fish based on the coloration of the lower half of their bodies. Brazil is the world’s largest producer of this species.

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo

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Above, a tambaqui fish fresh out of a normal breeding tank. Below, the same animal, more stressed and darker after 10 days in a 2,000-liter confinement tank 

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Credit: Celma Lemos/CAUNESP

In Brazil, a group led by researchers from São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Jaboticabal, in collaboration with the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation (EMBRAPA), has developed an artificial intelligence (AI) tool to assess the stress levels of tambaqui (Colossoma macropomum), the most widely produced native fish in Brazil. The study was published in the journal Aquaculture.

The results could impact both animal welfare and the selection of specimens that are more tolerant of the farming environment. Tambaqui is an Amazonian species primarily farmed in the northern states. Brazil is the world’s largest producer of the species, supplying 110,000 tons in 2022 (read more at agencia.fapesp.br/54533 and agencia.fapesp.br/38000). 

“First, we found that in stressful conditions, that is, in a more confined environment than normal, the fish became darker. Then, we saw that the addition of a stress-related hormone also altered the coloration of the scales. So we trained software with more than 3,000 images to arrive at a stress threshold that could guide fish farmers and genetic selection programs, as we saw that this is a heritable trait,” explains Diogo Hashimoto, a professor at the UNESP Aquaculture Center (CAUNESP) who coordinated the study.

Celma Lemos, a doctoral student at the institution, is the first author of the study. She is part of a project supported by FAPESP under an agreement with the Amazonas State Research Support Foundation (FAPEAM). 

To develop the tool, the researchers photographed 3,780 tambaqui from two populations: one from CAUNESP (1,280 individuals) and the other from EMBRAPA Fisheries and Aquaculture in Palmas, in the state of Tocantins (2,500 individuals), with the collaboration of the team coordinated by researcher Luciana Shiotsuki. 

Next, the lower half of the body was marked on each image for evaluation by the software. Contrast with the coloration of the upper part is common in fish and is probably an attribute of natural selection that has resulted in a kind of camouflage. This phenomenon, known as countershading, can be observed in sharks, for example, which have a lighter belly than their backs.

The researchers then trained a deep learning model to determine a threshold based on the ratio of black to white pixels in an image to indicate the degree of stress in the tambaqui.

Since the Tocantins specimens had been marked according to their ancestry, they were able to determine the extent to which the trait can be passed on. “We estimate that stress tolerance is a moderately to highly heritable trait. This is reflected in weight gain and disease tolerance, paving the way for generations with increasing well-being in a farming environment,” says Hashimoto.

Physiological mechanisms

Several fish species exhibit a change in coloration under stress, but this trait had not yet been proven in tambaqui. In species that become darker under stress, such as tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus), a stress-related hormone promotes the expansion of melanophores, which are cells that appear as small black spots to the naked eye.

To demonstrate this effect in tambaqui, the researchers collected scales from six individuals of the Jaboticabal population and immersed them in two solutions. One solution contained a neutral substance and α-MSH (a version of the melanocyte-stimulating hormone), and the other contained only the neutral substance. After 30 minutes, the researchers observed that the scales bathed in the hormone solution were darker, with expanded melanocytes.

In another experiment, six tambaqui were removed from their normal 200-square-meter breeding tanks. They were photographed and then divided into three much smaller, round reservoirs. Each reservoir had a capacity of 2,000 liters and measured 85 centimeters in height and 1.66 meters in diameter. After ten days, the fish were photographed again, revealing a difference in coloration that confirmed the species becomes darker when stressed.

“The AI tool can be used to monitor the stress of farmed fish at a time when animal welfare is increasingly demanded. By simply evaluating photos of the animals, it would be possible to obtain this measurement and improve practices when necessary, such as reducing the number of individuals per tank, for example,” says the researcher.

About São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP)
The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) is a public institution with the mission of supporting scientific research in all fields of knowledge by awarding scholarships, fellowships and grants to investigators linked with higher education and research institutions in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. FAPESP is aware that the very best research can only be done by working with the best researchers internationally. Therefore, it has established partnerships with funding agencies, higher education, private companies, and research organizations in other countries known for the quality of their research and has been encouraging scientists funded by its grants to further develop their international collaboration. You can learn more about FAPESP at www.fapesp.br/en and visit FAPESP news agency at www.agencia.fapesp.br/en to keep updated with the latest scientific breakthroughs FAPESP helps achieve through its many programs, awards and research centers. You may also subscribe to FAPESP news agency at http://agencia.fapesp.br/subscribe. 

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Journal

Aquaculture

DOI

10.1016/j.aquaculture.2025.742848 

Article Title

Deep learning approach for genetic selection of stress response in the Amazon fish Colossoma macropomum

 

Pre-conception radiation exposure from CT scans increases risk for miscarriage and birth defects

American College of Physicians

Below please find summaries of new articles that will be published in the next issue of Annals of Internal Medicine. The summaries are not intended to substitute for the full articles as a source of information. This information is under strict embargo and by taking it into possession, media representatives are committing to the terms of the embargo not only on their own behalf, but also on behalf of the organization they represent.   
----------------------------    

1. Pre-conception radiation exposure from CT scans increases risk for miscarriage and birth defects

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-24-03479

Editorial: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-25-03528

URL goes live when the embargo lifts             

A population-based cohort study evaluated the risk for spontaneous pregnancy loss and congenital anomalies in offspring of women exposed to computed tomography (CT) ionizing radiation before conception. The study found that exposure to CT imaging prior to conception may be associated with higher risks for spontaneous pregnancy loss and congenital anomalies. The findings suggest that alternative imaging methods to CT should be considered in young women when appropriate. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine. 

 

Researchers from Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Canada and colleagues studied data from 5,142,339 recognized pregnancies and 3,451,968 live births in Ontario, Canada between 1 April 1992 and 31 March 2023 among women aged 16 to 45 years. The primary exposure was the cumulative number of CT scans up to 4 weeks before estimated date of conception, and the secondary exposure was the number of CT scans limited to the abdomen, pelvis, lumbar spine, or sacral spine up to 4 weeks before the estimated date of conception. Outcomes were spontaneous pregnancy loss (miscarriage, ectopic pregnancy, or stillbirth) among recognized pregnancies and congenital anomalies diagnosed within the first year of life among live births. Of 5,142,339 women with recognized pregnancies, 687,692 had a CT scan before conception. Of all recognized pregnancies, 10.4% ended in spontaneous pregnancy loss, including 468,092 miscarriages, 47,228 ectopic pregnancies, and 19,845 stillbirths. Relative to those without a prior CT scan (101 per 1000 recognized pregnancies), the rate of spontaneous pregnancy loss increased to 117 per 1000 in those with 1 CT scan, 130 per 1000 with 2 CT scans, and 142 per 1000 with 3 or more CT scans. The absolute rates of pregnancy loss were slightly higher when limited to CT imaging of abdomen, pelvis, and lower spine. Among those with a CT scan, the risk for spontaneous pregnancy loss gradually increased as the timing of the most recent CT scan became closer to the estimated conception date. Relative to those without a prior CT scan (62 per 1000 live birth pregnancies), the rate of congenital anomaly increased to 84 per 1000 in those with 1 CT scan, 96 per 1000 with 2 CT scans, and 105 per 1000 with 3 or more CT scans. These findings suggest exposure to radiation from CT imaging before conception increases the risks of pregnancy loss and congenital anomalies. The results can inform clinical practice and guidelines on radiologic imaging in women of reproductive age.

 

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Gabby Macrina at gmacrina@acponline.org. To contact corresponding author Camille Simard, MD, MSc please email camille.simard@mcgill.ca.

----------------------------    

2. Ryan White HIV/AIDS program cuts could trigger a substantial spike in infections by 2030

Abstract: https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/ANNALS-25-01737

URL goes live when the embargo lifts             

A simulation study estimated the impact of disruptions of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program in 31 U.S. cities. The study found that both indefinite and temporary disruptions to Ryan White services could sharply increase HIV incidence, with more severe effects in cities in Medicaid nonexpansion states. The results illustrate the value Ryan White programs in preventing the spread of HIV and show how even brief interruptions in services have serious impacts at the municipal level. The study is published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

 

Researchers from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health and colleagues used a mathematical simulation model, informed by data from surveys, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Ryan White programs, to estimate the impact of indefinite and temporary disruptions of the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Program in 31 U.S. cities with high disease burden of HIV. They simulated four scenarios for each city examined: the “continuation” scenario where Ryan White services continue at current levels and viral suppression continues its current trajectory; the “cessation” scenario where Ryan White services stop in July 2025 and viral suppression among Ryan White clients decreases and never recovers; the “brief interruption” scenario where Ryan White services stop in July 2025, suppression among Ryan White clients begins to improve in January 2027, and suppression recovers to prior levels by December 2027; and the “prolonged interruption” scenario where Ryan White services stop in July 2025 and suppression among Ryan White clients recovers from January 2029 to December 2029. The primary outcome was the projected excess incident HIV infections from 2025 to 2030 that would be incurred by either cessation or interruption of Ryan White services versus continuation. The researchers found that after a halt to Ryan White services in July 2025, average viral suppression across all cities was projected to decrease from 74% (95% CrI, 72% to 75%) in 2025 to 49% (95% CrI, 27% to 68%) in 2026. In the cessation scenario, they projected 75,436 additional infections (95% CrI, 19,251 to 134,175 infections) across all 31 cities from 2025 to 2030, an excess of 49% (95% CrI, 12% to 86%), occurring disproportionately among adults younger than 25 years. This excess varied widely across cities, with cities in Medicaid nonexpansion states experiencing more infections than those in expansion states. In the brief interruption and prolonged interruption scenarios, they project an 19% (95% CrI, 5% to 33%) and 38% (95% CrI, 10% to 66%) more infections, respectively. The findings highlight the critical public health value of services provided through the Ryan White HIV/AIDS program. 

 

Media contacts: For an embargoed PDF, please contact Gabby Macrina at gmacrina@acponline.org. To contact corresponding author Anthony T. Fojo, MD, MHS please email Michel Morris at melben1@jhmi.edu.

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Journal

Annals of Internal Medicine

DOI

10.7326/ANNALS-24-03479 

Method of Research

News article

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

Exposure to computed tomography before pregnancy and risk of pregnancy loss and congenital anomalies: A population-based cohort study

Article Publication Date

9-Sep-2025