Moderna's influenza vaccine superior to licensed shot in study
Shares of the company were up 2.3% in premarket trading following the results.
Moderna said it plans to engage with regulators on filing submissions for the vaccine candidate, mRNA-1010.
(Reporting by Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Leroy Leo)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Khaleej Times
6 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
A loved one was diagnosed with dementia. Now what?
About four years ago, Madhavi Phadke, a philanthropy director in Westford, Mass., noticed her mother, Chanda Bhawalkar, was withdrawing. Ms. Bhawalkar had been an avid reader and talented cook who walked daily and regularly texted with her friends back home in Maharashtra, India. But in her late 70s, she began spending more time alone in her room and seemed aloof and often bored, Ms. Phadke said. She became agitated when visitors dropped by, a surprising response from someone who had always maintained a vibrant social life. At first, Ms Phadke thought these changes were just normal signs of aging, but as things got worse, she took her mother for a medical evaluation. About two years ago, Ms. Bhawalkar was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease. It gave Ms Phadke clarity, but also feelings of deep sadness and helplessness, she said. 'It's almost like today's going to be the best day for the rest of her life,' she remembered thinking. But she also wanted to 'make the most of what we can' with her mother's remaining time. It's difficult to know how to proceed when a family member is diagnosed with dementia. Clinicians suggest sorting out logistics early on: Appointing a trusted person to make medical decisions on the family member's behalf, planning future care and writing financial directives. But you also have to prepare for the emotional weight of watching a loved one lose pieces of themselves. 'It's the mental equivalent of death by a thousand paper cuts,' said Don Siegel, of Silver Spring, Md., whose wife, Bette, died in 2024 after several years with Lewy body dementia. Families are 'left with someone you can't recognize, except in very brief moments.' The New York Times asked dementia specialists and seven families who have faced the disease to share advice for moving forward after a diagnosis. Adapt to your loved one's new reality Accepting that a family member can no longer think clearly or remember things is among the biggest challenges. Families often try to reason or argue with loved ones because it's hard to go along with untrue facts and outlandish assertions, or they may be clinging to a false hope that correcting the person will help them recover their cognitive abilities, said Dr. James Noble, a dementia specialist at Columbia University Irving Medical Center and the author of 'Navigating Life with Dementia.' 'Not only does it not work, but it often backfires,' Dr Noble said: Arguing or getting frustrated with a dementia patient can make them anxious or agitated, which can hasten decline and make caregiving more difficult. It's 'far simpler for you and much better for your loved one if you adapt to their reality' by gently playing along with a delusion or forgiving their confusion, said Dr. Ipsit Vahia, the chief of geriatric psychiatry at McLean Hospital in Belmont, Mass., who treats Ms. Bhawalkar. Ms. Bhawalkar lives at home with her husband and Ms. Phadke. Every night, they follow a consistent routine, watching short music shows and the Indian version of 'Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?' since she can no longer keep up with movies. Instead of asking Ms. Bhawalkar open-ended questions, which can make her feel anxious, Ms. Phadke tells her mother about her day. 'We make these tweaks so that she feels like everything is normal, like her life is the same,' Ms. Phadke said. Ask the tough questions early on. As soon as possible after a diagnosis, families should talk to the dementia patient about how they want to live out their days, including their medical preferences for when the disease progresses, said Dr Christina Prather, the clinical director of the George Washington University Institute for Brain Health and Dementia, who treated Ms. Siegel. Questions can include what parts of their daily routine they'd like to preserve, whether they'd prefer to remain at home or move to an assisted living facility and if they're comfortable with life support, feeding tubes or prolonged hospital stays. Be a strong patient advocate Several families stressed that finding good medical care to manage dementia requires organization and persistence. Ms. Bhawalkar's original geriatrician had a brusque bedside manner that made her nervous, so Ms. Phadke sought out a new doctor. She chose Dr. Vahia in part because he spoke her mother's native Marathi language and addressed her respectfully, which calmed her down. To make the most of limited time with specialists, families should come to appointments with a list of questions they'd like to address, Dr. Prather suggested, and ask for a follow-up call if there's more to cover. It's also important to accept that doctors don't have all the answers, Dr. Prather said: How quickly dementia progresses depends mostly on its cause and the patient's condition — but its trajectory is not always easy to predict. Finding good long-term care also requires dogged advocacy. Ms. Siegel had always been good-natured and gentle, but as her dementia progressed she became more angry and often had to be physically restrained. After several years of caring for Ms. Siegel on his own, Mr. Siegel placed her in a senior living center that advertised as accommodating all forms of dementia. But it was ultimately unprepared for the violence and mania that came with her Lewy body. 'I had to micromanage the facility all the time,' he said. He later moved Ms. Siegel to a smaller facility, where she had much better care. Seek out support Dementia care typically lasts years after diagnosis, and caregivers have 'a long course' ahead of them, Dr. Noble said. It also tends to be psychologically stressful, as the caregiver watches their loved one slip away. Seeking emotional support from other dementia caregivers is critical, as is staying on top of your own medical needs, he said. 'No one understands what a caregiver goes through,' Mr. Siegel said. To help relieve stress, he eventually found a therapist specializing in caregiving and visited group therapy sessions. Savour the small, good moments Some families described dementia as progressing in steps — plateauing for months or even years before the patient experienced a sudden decline and another plateau. Others said their family members worsened more precipitously and unpredictably. 'Every part of the dementia journey is transient,' Dr Prather said. 'What you're experiencing now is going to change.' In the face of this uncertainty, families emphasised the importance of celebrating small wins and finding joy and humor wherever possible. Melanie Levy, who runs a fitness business in Sacramento, Calif., said her father, who lived alone and refused most help for his dementia, still enjoyed playing percussion and listening to records as he declined. Knowing he was 'hosting a jazz club in his living room,' even for people who weren't actually there, gave her 'joy and comfort' because it meant he didn't feel totally alone, she said. He also reconnected with some estranged family members because he'd forgotten his anger, she added. Mr. Siegel remembers Ms. Siegel teasing family and friends even late into her disease. In one moment of lucidity, she ribbed him for a pie he'd made a decade before, where he'd mistakenly swapped sugar for salt. 'You live for that moment,' Mr. Siegel recalled. 'In the nightmare, there were, in fact, moments of clarity and humor, and occasionally my wife would reappear.'
Khaleej Times
8 hours ago
- Khaleej Times
HSBC raises average gold price forecasts for 2025 and 2026
HSBC raised its 2025 average gold price forecast to $3,215 an ounce from $3,015 and its 2026 forecast to $3,125 from $2,915, citing elevated risks and government debt. Gold tends to perform well during periods of economic uncertainty and geopolitical tension, which lifted spot gold to a record high of $3,500.05 an ounce in late April. Spot gold was trading at $3,348.50/oz at 1146 GMT on Tuesday. "We anticipate a wide and volatile trading range of $3,600-3,100/oz for the rest of the year and year-end prices of $3,175/oz for 2025 and $3,025/oz for 2026," the bank said in a note on Tuesday. U.S. Senate Republicans on Monday evening were still trying to pass President Donald Trump's sweeping tax cut and spending bill despite divisions within the party about its expected $3.3 trillion hit to the nation's debt pile. Meanwhile, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent warned that countries could be notified of sharply higher tariffs as a July 9 deadline approaches. HSBC said that even if gold prices ease, levels above $3,000 an ounce have reinforced gold's role as a safe haven and effective portfolio diversifier. It noted that central bank gold purchases will moderate on further rallies above $3,300 and could increase should gold correct nearer to $3,000. On the physical front, the bank said further gold price gains above $3,500 could lead to reduced demand in the jewellery, coin and small bar markets, particularly in economies such as India and China.
Zawya
8 hours ago
- Zawya
CyCraft Launches XecGuard: LLM Firewall for Trustworthy AI
TAIPEI, TAIWAN - Media OutReach Newswire - 1 July 2025 - CyCraft, a leading AI cybersecurity firm, today announced the global launch of XecGuard, the industry's first plug-and-play LoRA security module purpose-built to defend Large Language Models (LLMs). XecGuard's introduction marks a pivotal moment for secure, trustworthy AI, addressing the critical security challenges posed by the rapid adoption of LLMs. Trustworthy AI Matters The transformative power of Large Language Models (LLMs) brings significant security uncertainty, requiring enterprises to urgently safeguard their AI models from malicious attacks like prompt injection, prompt extraction, and jailbreak attempts. Historically, AI security has been an "optional add-on" rather than a fundamental feature, leaving valuable AI and data exposed. This oversight can compromise sensitive data, undermine service stability, and erode customer trust. CyCraft emphasizes that "AI security must be a standard feature—not an optional add-on," believing it's paramount for delivering stable and trustworthy intelligent services. The Imminent Need for Proactive AI Defense The need for immediate and effective AI security is more critical than ever before. As AI becomes increasingly embedded in core business operations, the attack surface expands exponentially, making proactive defenses an absolute necessity. CyCraft has leveraged its extensive "battle-tested expertise across critical domains—including government, finance, and high-tech manufacturing" to precisely address these emerging AI-specific threats. The development of XecGuard signifies a shift from "using AI to tackle cybersecurity challenges" to now "using AI to protect AI" , ensuring that security and resilience are embedded from day one. "AI security must be a standard feature—not an optional add-on," stated Benson Wu, CEO, highlighting XecGuard's resilience and integration of experience from defending critical sectors. Jeremy Chiu, CTO and Co-Founder, emphasized, "In the past, we used AI to tackle cybersecurity challenges; now, we're using AI to protect AI," adding that XecGuard enables enterprises to confidently adopt AI and deliver trustworthy services. PK Tsung, CISO, concluded, "With XecGuard, we're empowering enterprises to embed security and resilience from day one" as part of their vision for the world's most advanced AI security platform. CyCraft's Solution: XecGuard Empowers Secure AI Deployment CyCraft leads with the global launch of XecGuard, the industry's first plug-and-play LoRA security module purpose-built to defend LLMs. XecGuard provides robust protection against prompt injection, prompt extraction, and jailbreak attacks, ensuring enterprise-grade resilience for AI models. Its seamless deployment allows instant integration with any LLM without architectural modification, delivering powerful autonomous defense out of the box. XecGuard is available as a SaaS, an OpenAI-compatible LLM firewall on your cloud (e.g., AWS or Cloudflare Workers AI), or an embedded firewall for on-premises, NVIDIA-powered custom LLM servers. Rigorously validated on major open-source models like Llama 3B, Qwen3 4B, Gemma3 4B, and DeepSeek 8B, it consistently improves security resilience while preserving core performance, enabling even small models to achieve protection comparable to large commercial-grade systems. Real-world validation through collaboration with APMIC, an NVIDIA partner, integrated XecGuard into the F1 open-source model, demonstrating an average 17.3% improvement in overall security defense scores and up to 30.1% in specific attack scenarios via LLM Red Teaming exercises. With XecGuard and the Safety LLM service, CyCraft delivers enterprise-grade AI security, accelerating the adoption of resilient and trustworthy AI across industries, empowering organizations to deploy AI securely, protect sensitive data, and drive innovation with confidence. To learn more about how XecGuard can protect your LLMs and to request a demo, visit: Hashtag: #CyCraft #LLMFirewall #AISecurity The issuer is solely responsible for the content of this announcement. About CyCraft Technology CyCraft is a leading AI-driven cybersecurity company in the Asia-Pacific region. Trusted by hundreds of organizations in defense, finance, and semiconductor industries, our AI is designed to prevent, preempt, and protect against cyber threats. Our expertise has been recognized by top-tier institutions like Gartner and IDC and showcased at prestigious global conferences, including Black Hat, DEFCON, EMNLP, and Code Blue. CyCraft Technology
