DDT

• DMI, a global leader in end-to-end managed mobility services, has partnered with Dynamic Solutions Technology to form a joint venture, Dynamic Digital Transformation (DDT), which has been awarded a contract by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to support and manage the bureau’s enterprise mobility management services (EMMS).
• DMI will also deliver reporting and dashboarding capabilities that will increase visibility, tracking and transparency to reduce costs, improve productivity and increase security for the bureau.
• We are proud to apply our expertise being at the crossroads of the public and private sectors to continue being a valued partner to the OCC,” said Amy Rall, president of DMI's federal group.
• At the forefront of supporting mobile devices, DMI has delivered hundreds of successful implementations with a footprint in over 78 countries and more than four million mobile devices under management.

• HONG KONG, March 11, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Global Sources announced today that the Global Sources Hong Kong shows will take place at the AsiaWorld-Expo in Hong Kong from 11 to 30 April, 2024, catering to the demands of the global sourcing industry.
• The show is expected to draw more than 100,000 professional buyers from various parts of the globe.
• This showcase presents a variety of electronic components, semi-finished batteries, power supply equipment, connectors, and product application solutions.
• It also integrates a wide array of upstream products from the semiconductor sector to establish a complete ecosystem within the electronics industry.

• Under the program, Deliberate AI’s assessment tool for anxiety and depression, the AI-generated Clinical Outcome Assessment or AI-COA™, will receive support to become a qualified drug development tool (DDT).
• During clinical trials, it augments human clinical assessments with its AI algorithm, to improve precision and reliability.
• “The FDA's recognition - including Deliberate’s AI-COA™ in this program - heralds a new epoch in developing and monitoring treatments for Depression and Anxiety," said Marc Aafjes, Founder & CEO of Deliberate AI.
• "Its pioneering approach and inclusion into the ISTAND program marks a new era in the efficacy measurement of depression therapies."

• But until now, no data existed for our killer whales in the North Atlantic, including those in Eastern Canada and the Canadian Arctic.
• The accumulation of these synthetic contaminants is also creating health risks for the killer whales.

Forever chemicals

• In the last century, these chemicals were mass produced and used in a wide range of applications, such as industrial processes or agriculture.
• But research conducted in Sweden in the late 1960s revealed that these chemicals accumulate in living organisms and persist in the environment.
• The chemicals bind to fats and increase in concentration as they move up the food web, impacting dolphins and whales the most.

A gradient of contamination

• Our study, focusing on 160 killer whales, reveals a concerning pattern of PCB contamination accross the North Atlantic.
• The concentrations vary significantly across the North Atlantic, ranging from a staggering 100 mg/kg in the Western North Atlantic, to around 50 mg/kg in the mid-North Atlantic.

You are what you eat

• Killer whales that primarily feed on fish tend to have lower contaminant levels.
• On the other hand, those with diets focused on marine mammals, particularly seals and toothed whales, show higher levels of contaminants.
• Risk assessments suggest that killer whales in the Western North Atlantic, and specific areas of the Eastern North Atlantic where they have mixed diets, face higher risks, directly linked to what they eat.

Disappearing sea ice

• Killer whales’ large dorsal fin has traditionally prevented them from navigating dense sea ice.
• But the melting of sea ice has allowed killer whales to access a new habitat with new prey species.

Maternal transfer means females are less contaminated

• Male killer whales appear to be more contaminated than their female counterparts, thanks to the transfer of contaminants from adult females to their offspring during gestation and lactation.
• As she feeds her young ones, she may pass on as much as 70 per cent of these stored contaminants.

Urgent action

• In response to these findings, urgent action is needed to protect North Atlantic killer whales and their ecosystems.
• The 2001 United Nations treaty’s objective to phase out and destroy PCBs by 2028 is slipping out of reach.

Chemical pollution has been identified as one of the nine global threats to wildlife, as well as human health in modern times. It is time to give our planet — and killer whales — the relief they need by reducing existing contaminants through concrete actions.
Anaïs Remili does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.