WSSN Stories

A novel approach to treating type 2 diabetes under development at the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology uses tissue engineering to create muscle cells that absorb sugar at increased rates.

Diabetic mice treated in this manner displayed normal blood sugar levels for months after a single autograft procedure using their own enhanced muscle cells.

The tissue-engineering treatment is part of a research study led by professor Shulamit Levenberg and PhD Student Rita Beckerman from the Technion’s Stem Cell and Tissue Engineering Laboratory.

“By taking cells from the patient and treating them, we eliminate the risk of rejection,” Levenberg said.

Type 2 diabetes is caused by insulin resistance and cells’ reduced inability to absorb sugar, leading to increased blood-sugar levels. Its long-term complications include heart disease, strokes, retina damage, kidney failure and poor blood flow in the limbs.

Although this chronic and common disease can be treated by a combination of lifestyle changes, medication and insulin injections, ultimately it is associated with a 10-year reduction in life expectancy.

Currently, around 34 million Americans suffer from diabetes, mostly type 2. An effective treatment could significantly improve both quality of life and life expectancy. The same method could also be used to treat various enzyme deficiency disorders.

Researchers observed that the engineered muscle cells not only absorbed sugar correctly, improving blood-sugar levels, but also induced improved absorption in the mice’s other muscle cells.

After the procedure, the mice remained diabetes-free for four months — the entire period they remained under observation. Their blood-sugar levels remained lower, and they had reduced levels of fatty liver normally seen in type 2 diabetes.

Findings from the study, funded by Rina and Avner Schneur as part of the Rina and Avner Schneur Center for Diabetes Research, were recently published in Science Advances.

Other scientists participating in the study are from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev; The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto; and Ichan School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York City.

Other advances in the field by Israeli companies include LifeWave, a connected health solution that produces a device for treating diabetic wounds, and LabStyle Innovations, which was co-founded by Shiloh Ben Zeev. Its flagship product is MyDario, a compact glucose meter connected to mobile devices through a diabetes management app.

“It was the first time an iPhone was used as a medical device,” said Ben Zeev, whose business model was to sell test strips for the glucometer.

Although MyDario won awards for its revolutionary approach, ultimately what survived was the app rather than the device.

Produced in association with Israel21C.

There’s no way to overcome losing a decade of your life by being in prison. It’s even tougher when you were wrongfully convicted of a crime.

When Jarrett Adams was 17, he attended a college party that changed his life forever. An innocent make-out session led to Adams being accused of rape. An important statement from an eyewitness was withheld from the trial, and subsequently led to Adams being sentenced to 28 years in jail.

Eventually, with the assistance of the Wisconsin Innocence Project, the eyewitness statement was released, Adams’ conviction was reversed, and he was exonerated — but only after having already served 10 years of his sentence. Seeking to keep others from suffering the same fate, Adams set his sights on the other side of the legal system by becoming a top defense and civil rights attorney.

He is also an author, and his recently released book, “Redeeming Justice,” is testimony to his refusal to give up on himself. It points out the cracks in a flawed system and shows his commitment to fighting the very system that failed him.

During a recent conversation with Adams, Zenger got a detailed breakdown of what led to his sentence, why he felt compelled to write “Redeeming Justice,” and much more.

Percy Crawford interviewed Jarrett Adams for Zenger.

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Zenger: I can relate to your story, given the fact that in 1998 you were 17 years old, and I was 18 years old. The only difference is, I was playing high school football, and you were fighting for your freedom. You were falsely accused of rape — how did this situation come on you?

Adams: It was scary if you think about it because I often time tell people, I wasn’t in and out of juvie (juvenile centers), doing drive-by shootings or none of the stereotypical stuff that people would throw on us and say, this kid was bound to be a statistic. What we would do, me and my friends would get together and go party outside of the neighborhood because it was so damn dangerous. If you’re not getting shot or shot at by the dudes on the street, you’re getting pulled over and hoping you survive an encounter with the police in your neighborhood.

We got together and we would do this often. We would tell each other’s parents, “I’m going to spend the night at so-and-so’s house.” We would take off, go to these house parties, and we did that on this night like we did many nights. We went to a college party. The same things that we did was what everybody on campus was doing.

There were make-out sessions in every room, people were drinking and smoking. It was an embarrassing situation that this young lady’s roommate walked in on, but it was not criminal, man. We weren’t them kids. Who would be stupid enough to be the only three black dudes on the campus, go rape a white girl in a dorm full of white people, and allow the roommate to walk in, take a halftime break, and then come back and continue to rape? It never made sense.

We have been depicted in such a way historically that it makes it easy for people to believe the most demonized thing that they can about a young black man — even if you’re faced with the reality of, “Hold on, this doesn’t make sense.” You never give the benefit of the doubt to the young black man. That’s how the system has been designed. My mom used to say all the time: “You can’t do what other kids do.” I never understood the depths of that, but what she was saying was, ain’t nobody giving you the benefit of the doubt when you’re a young African American kid. That’s what life was.

Zenger: The cops got involved; you were eventually arrested for this. At 17, you had to be scared to death.

Adams: It was scary… the real reason it was scary is this: I come from a household where you respect your elders, you don’t talk back, the same way you was raised down South. My people [are] from Jackson and Cleveland, Mississippi. I get home from this party, and about three weeks later, there is a card in my door telling me to come down to the police station, robbery/homicide. So, I call the guy, and I’m like, “You definitely got the wrong person.” And he was like, “No, you’re right. I want you to come on down and take a picture and clear your name. You’ve never been arrested before.”

I take my dumb ass down there listening to this dude. I’m 17 and he tricked me. Brother, listen to me when I tell you, and I know you’re going to feel me when I say this. I thought I had nothing to worry about because I was telling the truth. I was so naïve. I hadn’t had those experiences. As a result of that, it sent my life on a tailspin. That experience woke a sleeping legal giant.

This wasn’t one of those, there is an accusation made, and the police come and arrest me on the spot. No! That never happened. What saved our life is this, and this is why I encourage everyone to read the book because it gives you all the details of how it went down. And what’s important is this: After this young lady’s roomie walks in and they start arguing, we all go downstairs in the smoking area. We’re in the smoking area and that’s when we see all of the college students, and again, we’re the only black dudes there.

It saved our life, because there was a white student named Shawn Demain who had given them a statement the day after this false accusation like, “That’s not what happened. We saw the black dudes, they were up and down the stairs, they were all around.” They withheld that statement from us. We never got that statement from them to be able to use it. It changed the trajectory of everything. That statement is what led to the reversal of my conviction 10 years later.

Zenger: While in prison, you decided you didn’t want to just fight for your injustice but for others wrongfully incarcerated as well. You come out, you pass the bar and become a criminal defense attorney. Tell us about the aftermath of being released from prison.

Adams: It wasn’t an easy feat at all. There was so much life lost. Imagine screaming you’re innocent to the top of your lungs for a decade, and then finally, the courts agree. They overturned my conviction, expunged my record, but the damage was not expunged. I missed the cookouts, I missed the graduations, the birth of family members. You can’t replace that. You can’t replace sitting down and being introduced to the family members who were born while you were locked up, and they looking at you like, “Who is this?”

I vividly remember coming home and visiting people in nursing homes, I’m taking them to dialysis, I’m walking around the neighborhood, and I don’t see a pay phone. I remember getting on the bus with a handful of tokens, and they looking at me like a damn fool. The bus doesn’t take tokens no more.

I want you to highlight this as well:I wouldn’t be where I am right now without the encouragement of my family to get mental health care and to decompress. Let it out. That’s what a lot of our young kids need, and they’re not going to do it unless the people in front of them that they look up to are bold enough to talk about it and share their pain and story. I was angry, man. It wasn’t God-like. A fire within you is good, but you need to keep it in your belly; if not, it will consume you.

I had to learn how to keep the fire in my belly and to not let it consume me overall. Therapy just let me talk about it. You ever been going through something, and you got it out, whether you cried it out, talked it out, you have that relief. That’s exactly what mental health care is. Think about the cities down there in Louisiana and think about Illinois, think about what our babies see on a regular basis. You can’t tell me that ain’t stressful. If it is, it’s not post-nothing, it’s persistent traumatic stress syndrome. If it wasn’t for my family getting me to redirect my energy in a positive light, I probably would have tried to take a shortcut.

Zenger: I read where you said, when you came out of prison, your mom gave you a phone and the first time she texted you, you didn’t even know what a text message was.

Adams: Exactly! When the message came through, I had no clue what it was. Part of the reason I wanted them to put your call through… because my schedule crazy, but I wanted them to slide you in because I get a lot of reporters sticking mics in my face now. I can be sitting on the porch with you right now talking. That’s how comfortable you and I are vibin’ right now. It’s important that we tell each other’s stories as well.

Zenger: Not to give away too much of the book because it’s a must-read, but I have to ask you, do you feel the system is broken or intentionally flawed?

Adams: This is how I would explain it: The system is designed flawed. When we say it’s a broken system, there was an idea that was created around the criminal justice system, the reason why it was flawed is because the people who created it didn’t look like me, you, or any other ethnic person. I’ll give you an example. If you get accused of whatever it is you get accused of, and when you get accused of it, Percy gotta put up his house, or Jarrett gotta put up his land or property.

That sounds good for people who have houses and property. When the people created the criminal justice system and all the things in it, they didn’t take into account people like me and you, our mothers and fathers. If they didn’t design it to equally protect us, it’s going to disproportionately impact us. That’s what’s going on. We don’t throw away the entire idea of cooking with gas just because it burned a steak. We go back in, we acknowledge it, and we fix it.

Zenger: What influenced you to write “Redeeming Justice?”

Adams: I send a shout-out to black women. I used to wonder, “Why the hell I have to always call you when I’m leaving out the house, or just a couple of blocks away, momma? Why I gotta call you when the streetlights coming on or you heard an ambulance? Why do you have to be so worried?” You know what, Percy, I will never ask that question again because I see why. The boys these black women give birth to that they pray become men are under direct threat, and the men that they love and conceive with are under direct threat. Nobody has been stronger than black women in history.

What I wanted to do was tip my cap to my mother and my two aunts. They remained and stood firm. Brother, you know how many family members get lost when you go through something like the joint. I could’ve written the book and clearly said, death to all the people involved, they’re racist, but that wasn’t going to accomplish my goal. I wanted to make sure I acknowledge the black women, the suffrage and the praying. I have had mothers come up to me in the airport and say, “Look, I just want to thank you because that scene you describe of your mother crying in the bathtub was me.”

Zenger: How does it make you feel to receive support from Allen Iverson, Larenz Tate and so many others on the book?

Adams: It means that the light is coming on. If you look back, it was more than Dr. [Martin Luther] King, it was more than Malcolm X and Harriet Tubman. Those are the names they told us about. But there were several other people who were on the front lines moving this thing along. I’m praying through people like A.I. and Larenz that folks understand I’m a part of that generational torch carrier, a person who is leading other people and preparing their hands to carry it the rest of the way. This is about duplication.

This isn’t about Jarrett Adams, this isn’t about the brand, this is about preparing the next hand to carry the torch. That’s what we have to do.

Edited by Matthew B. Hall and Judith Isacoff

A genomic study of Bronze Age mummies of the Uyghur region in western China revealed a genetically isolated but culturally cosmopolitan indigenous people linked to modern indigenous peoples of the Americas and Siberia.

Since the 1990s, hundreds of mummies naturally preserved in the dry climate of western China’s Tarim Basin have been discovered, with their somewhat Western appearance attracting international attention and conjecture.

The mummies, dating from 2000 B.C. to A.D. 200, were buried in boat-like coffins though they were in the desert. They wore felted and woven woolen clothing, herded cattle, sheep and goats and ate wheat, barley and millet, researchers say.

While some scholars speculated that they descend from migrating Yamnaya herders from Russia’s Black Sea region, others said they came from the oasis cultures of the Bactria-Margiana Archaeological Complex (BMAC), which has a strong genetic relationship to early farmers of the Iranian Plateau. BMAC refers to an early civilization (2000–1500 B.C.) that was centered in modern Turkmenistan and Tajikstan.

Researchers analyzed genomic data from 13 of the earliest Tarim Basin mummies, dated 2100 to 1700 B.C., and five mummies of the nearby Dzungarian Basin, dating 3000 to 2800 B.C., to better understand the populations that settled at the Xiaohe and Gumugou sites around 2000 B.C.

The analysis revealed that the Tarim Basin mummies were not newcomers but direct descendants of people of the preceding Pleistocene age who had mostly disappeared by the end of the last glacial era, about 11,700 years ago, when the current Holocene period began.

Dubbed Ancient North Eurasians (ANE), some of their genome survives among indigenous peoples of Siberia and the Americas. The mummies show no interbreeding with any other groups. The researchers determined that the mummies show evidence of being a previously unknown people who were genetically isolated long before settling in the Tarim Basin.

“Archeogeneticists have long searched for Holocene ANE populations in order to better understand the genetic history of Inner Eurasia. We have found one in the most unexpected place,” says Choongwon Jeong, a senior author of the study and a professor of Biological Sciences at Seoul National University.

The earliest people of Dzungarian Basin, however, descended from local populations and also from the Afanasievo herders who had strong genetic links to the Early Bronze Age Yamanya people. The ancestry of other pastoralists such as the Chemurchek, who spread northward to the Altai Mountains and Mongolia, was made clearer in the genome study.

The authors of the study, published in the journal Nature, believe their findings will transform the understanding of ancient Eurasians and their migration.

“These findings add to our understanding of the eastward dispersal of Yamnaya ancestry and the scenarios under which admixture occurred when they first met the populations of Inner Asia,” said study co-author Chao Ning of Peking University.

“Despite being genetically isolated, the Bronze Age peoples of the Tarim Basin were remarkably culturally cosmopolitan — they built their cuisine around wheat and dairy from the West Asia, millet from East Asia and medicinal plants like Ephedra from Central Asia,” said co-author Christina Warinner of Harvard University.

Edited by Richard Pretorius and Kristen Butler

Canelo Alvarez rose two weight classes in November 2019 to challenge then-WBO 175-pound titleholder Sergey Kovalev, vowing to become a four-division champion.

The Mexican superstar did so sensationally, knocking the “Crusher” literally to his knees, senseless, out cold and sagging against ring ropes that held him up. It was a bitter end to a match for a highly unpopular fighter.

“It was nice to see Canelo do us all a favor and hit Kovalev so hard that he banished him from the stratosphere of being a world-class fighter at the elite level,” said boxing analyst Ray Flores of Premier Boxing Champions, TGB Promotions and Triller.

“That was a vicious and apropos clock cleaning of Kovalev, who, in my opinion, is a bad guy based on his track record. At some point, someone may test Canelo, but on that night, it was like, ‘This guy is done being an elite fighter’ because Canelo’s blowing everybody out of the water.”

It has been nearly two years since Kovalev was pummeled by Alvarez, who is predicting an early knockout of undefeated Caleb Plant during their unification bout on Nov. 6 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. Alvarez, 31, is determined to become the first undisputed 168-pound champion from Mexico by adding Plant’s IBF crown to his WBA/WBC/WBO versions.

“I’m sticking with my prediction of a knockout before round eight,” said Alvarez, also a winner of titles at 154, 160 and 175 pounds. “The first couple of rounds will be difficult, but as the fight progresses, I am going to be able to get him out of there.”

Alvarez (56-1-2, 38 KOs), whose bout against Plant (21-0, 12 KOs) will be his fourth fight in 11 months, is hoping to vanquish an undefeated rival for the eighth time in his career at the MGM Grand. Plant, 29, will battle Alvarez, 31, on Showtime Pay Per View (9 p.m. ET).

“This is the most important fight in Canelo’s career. As a prizefighter there is nothing bigger than unifying a division,” said Alvarez’s manager and trainer, Eddy Reynoso.

“That’s why we’re training so hard. Our focus is to make sure we show everyone that Mexican boxing is No. 1. If we’re able to get this victory and unify the division, we will really be making a big mark in the sport.”

Alvarez is 14-0-1 (8 KOs) since a majority decision loss to Floyd Mayweather Jr. in September 2013, a bout that dethroned the then-23-year-old as WBA/WBC junior middleweight champion.

“Canelo” (Cinnamon for his red hair) is rocketing toward the legendary status of countrymen such as three-division champions Julio Cesar Chavez and Marco Antonio Barrera, four-division title winners Juan Manuel Marquez and Erik Morales and long-reigning Salvador Sanchez and Ruben Olivares.

“Canelo’s speed and power against Kovalev was impressive, further showing his progression since the fight with Mayweather. I rank him top five behind Chavez, Olivares and Salvador Sanchez, maybe right there with Marquez, Barrera, Morales and Carlos Zarate,” said Showtime boxing commentator Raul Marquez, a former junior middleweight champion.

“Canelo has matured, developing into a much better fighter. He’s stocky, strong, has a big back, legs, and that’s where his natural power comes from. His balance allows him to leverage his punches, maximize his power, particularly on his body shots, by transferring his weight back and forth from one side to the other.”

That cerebral prowess and two-fisted punching power teams with an impressive resume, which makes Alvarez the sport’s best pound-for-pound boxer, according to Flores.

“Canelo is precise, economical and we’re starting to see more wrinkles in his game as he grows exponentially in the footwork, head movement, feints and the way he parries shots,” Flores said. “Oh, and by the way, he hits like a Mack truck, which makes him the most complete fighter we’ve seen in a long time. Canelo’s the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world, and it’s not even close.”

At a pre-bout press conference last month, Alvarez and Plant wound up trading blows during their staredown. Goaded by a push from Alvarez, Plant swung and missed. Alvarez landed on Plant. A brief scuffle ensued before the men were separated, with Plant being cut over one of his eyes.

“I’ve never been involved in anything like what happened at the first press conference between me and Caleb,” Alvarez said. “I delivered the message I had to at our press conference. I don’t have to say anything else to Plant. I’m just going to prepare to face him in the ring on Nov. 6.”

Alvarez earned his first crown in March 2011 by unanimous decision over Matthew Hatton, dominating nearly every minute for the WBC’s vacant 154-pound title and improving to 36-0-1 (26 KOs).

Alvarez made six title defenses before falling to Mayweather, capped by a unanimous decision unification victory over southpaw Austin Trout in April 2013. The victory added Trout’s WBA crown to Alvarez’s WBC title. Alvarez earned his second crown in as many divisions via unanimous decision that dethroned Puerto Rican four-division title winner Miguel Cotto (November 2015) as WBC middleweight champion.

Alvarez earned his third crown in as many divisions in December 2018, his four-knockdown, third-round TKO of WBA “regular” 168-pound champion Rocky Fielding coming against a fighter who entered at 27-1, 15 KOs).

“I don’t want to compare myself to great Mexican champions of the past, but this [Caleb Plant] fight is very important for my country of Mexico. This is one of the most important fights of my life,” Alvarez said. “I’m taking it very seriously, and a win means a lot to me. I just want to go out and make my own history. In the end, I want to be considered one of the best along with the legends who came before me.”

Another major triumph was Alvarez’s majority decision unification victory over then-undefeated WBA/WBC titleholder Gennady Golovkin (September 2018) in a rematch of their draw in September 2017.

“Canelo” also owns unanimous decisions over three-division champion and two-time Oscar De La Hoya-conqueror “Sugar” Shane Mosley (May 2012), former champion Chavez (May 2017), ex-titleholders Daniel Jacobs (May 2019) and Callum Smith (December 2020), and a split-decision over left-handed Cuban two-division champion Erislandy Lara (July 2014).

Alvarez’s knockouts of former champions include a sixth-round stoppage of Carlos Baldomir (September 2010), a one-knockdown, fifth-round TKO of Kermit Cintron (November 2011), a 10th-round TKO of Alfredo Angulo (March 2014), a sixth-round knockout of Amir Khan (May 2016) and a three-knockdown, ninth-round KO of Liam Smith (September 2016).

The Smith siblings were unbeaten before falling to Alvarez, Liam, 33, at 23-0-1 (13 KOs), and Callum, 31, at 27-0 (19 KOs).

Alvarez last fought in May, winning by eighth-round stoppage of southpaw Billy Joe Saunders, who entered at 30-0 (14 KOs). Alvarez added Saunders’ WBO title to the WBA and WBC belts he already owned.

“It’s unreal when you look at his resume and consider the guys that he’s beaten, which is unreal,” said Flores, also mentioning a third-round TKO of left-handed title challenger James Kirkland in May 2015.

“I never thought that anyone could mean what Chavez has meant to Mexican fight fans, but Canelo is so young and has a desire to really claim his legacy, being so adamant about being undisputed.”

Canelo Alvarez’s Top 15 victories

1) Gennady Golovkin (MD 12, Sept. 15, 2018)

2) Sergey Kovalev (KO 11, Nov. 2, 2019)

3) Miguel Cotto (UD 12, Nov. 21, 2015)

4) Shane Mosley (UD 12, May 5, 2012)

5) Erislandy Lara (SD 12, July 12, 2014)

6) Daniel Jacobs (UD 12, May 4, 2019)

7) Austin Trout (UD 12, April 20, 2013))

8) Rocky Fielding (TKO 3, Dec. 15, 2018)

9) Julio Cesar Chavez Jr (UD 12, May 6, 2017)

10) Billy Joe Saunders (RTD 8, May 8, 2021)

11) Amir Khan (KO 6, May 7, 2016)

12) Callum Smith (UD 12, Dec. 19, 2020)

13) Liam Smith (KO 9, Sept. 17, 2016)

14) Matthew Hilton (UD 12, March 5, 2011)

15) Carlos Baldomir (KO 6 Sept. 18, 2010)

Canelo Alvarez’s Top 10 Knockouts

1) Sergey Kovalev (KO 11, Nov. 2, 2019)

2) Rocky Fielding (TKO 3, Dec. 15, 2018)

3) Billy Joe Saunders (RTD 8, May 8, 2021)

4) Amir Khan (KO 6, May 7, 2016)

5) Liam Smith (KO 9, Sept. 17, 2016)

6) Carlos Baldomir (KO 6 Sept. 18, 2010)

7) Alfredo Angulo (TKO 10, March 8, 2014)

8) James Kirkland (KO 3, May 9, 2015)

9) Kermit Cintron (TKO 5, Nov. 26, 2011)

10) Josesito Lopez (KO 5, Sept. 15, 2012)

Edited by Stan Chrapowicki and Matthew B. Hall