Short Takes – 8-22-24

“Worrisome” research findings of a common industrial chemical’s harmful effects. D.NewsWise.com article. Pull quote: “The findings, published as the cover article in the May 2024 issue of the journal Toxics, their paper, “Environmentally Relevant Concentrations of Triphenyl Phosphate (TPhP) Impact Development in Zebrafish,” send a clarion call for more research, Williams says. “We know that TPhP is a ubiquitous environmental contaminant that many organisms, including humans, are exposed to. Now we know that it is likely a developmental toxicant at environmentally relevant levels. That’s worrisome. It’s critical to understand the implications of that exposure.””

Predetermined Change Control Plans for Medical Devices; Draft Guidance for Industry and Food and Drug Administration Staff; Availability. Federal Register FDA draft guidance availability notice. “The Food and Drug Administration (FDA or Agency) is announcing the availability of the draft guidance entitled “Predetermined Change Control Plans for Medical Devices.” [link added] A predetermined change control plan (PCCP) is the documentation describing what modifications will be made to a device and how the modifications will be assessed. This draft guidance provides FDA's current thinking on a policy for PCCPs and recommendations on the information to include in a PCCP in a marketing submission for a device. This draft guidance is not final nor is it for implementation at this time.” Includes discussions about the applicability to software changes.

How we could turn plastic waste into food. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “Research into edible microorganisms dates back at least 60 years, but the body of evidence is decidedly small. (One review estimated that since 1961, an average of seven papers have been published per year.) Still, researchers in the field say there are good reasons for countries to consider microbes as a food source. Among other things, they are rich in protein, wrote Sang Yup Lee, a bioengineer and senior vice president for research at Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, in an email to Undark. Lee and others have noted that growing microbes requires less land and water than conventional agriculture. Therefore, they might prove to be a more sustainable source of nutrition, particularly as the human population grows.” Protein supplements for long-term space missions?

We finally have a definition for open-source AI. TechnologyReview. Com article. Pull quote: “According to the group, an open-source AI system can be used for any purpose without securing permission, and researchers should be able to inspect its components and study how the system works. It should also be possible to modify the system for any purpose—including to change its output—and to share it with others to use, with or without modifications, for any purpose. In addition, the standard attempts to define a level of transparency for a given model’s training data, source code, and weights.