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New psychedelic-like drugs: All treatment, no trip?

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

Since their creation decades ago, mind-altering drugs have remained as unchanged as bellbottoms, tie-dye and patchouli oil.Now — full of promise and peril — psychedelics are undergoing a makeover. Chemical neuroscientists, many based in Northern California, are redesigning the structures of psilocybin, ketamine, MDMA and other powerful drugs to concoct compounds that they hope will offer mental health benefits with fewer risks.With advanced tech tools and a deepened understanding of brain chemistry, scientists say the new drugs might succeed where conventional therapies have failed, treating post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, depression, addiction and other devastating mental health problems.“Our goal is to make medicines that are derived from psychedelics that are safer and gentler, more effective and more accessible,” said Matthew Baggott, former director of data science and engineering at Genentech, whose Palo Alto-based startup Tactogen has patented several nov...

Psychedelic drugs: Follow the money

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

The golden road to pharmaceutical riches can quickly become a rocky wilderness trail. Chemical compounds that hit a target in the lab often fall short in human studies.But biotech startups, academic scientists and investors say that research into psychedelic drugs starts with a major advantage: These substances are already known to work.The goal is simply to improve upon them – so they’re safer, more effective and faster-acting. Someday, perhaps, psychedelic-like drugs could treat mental illness for a fraction of what it costs to do therapy with conventional tools.REALTED: New psychedelic-like drugs: All treatment, no trip?Three drugs — MDMA, psilocybin, and ketamine — are the furthest along in clinical development for mental health disorders, according to Dr. Boris Heifets of the Stanford University School of Medicine.Investors are already betting tens of millions of dollars, sensing the opportunity to replace drugs like Prozac, Zoloft and other selective serotonin reup...

Intersection an upgrade for drivers, bicyclists but pedestrians less sure: Roadshow

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

Q: My family and I have lived near the Almaden Expressway-Camden Avenue intersection in San Jose for 30-plus years. A coming-of-age milestone for our three children was when they were allowed to cross that intersection without an adult (requiring that I trusted them to follow the rules!).That intersection was re-engineered this summer and is very nice. I see benefits for drivers and bicyclists, but not pedestrians. Before the redesign, there was a separate right-turn only lane and an island where the button for the walk/don’t walk signs livedNow it’s a straight shot all the way across the intersection and the walk/don’t walk buttons are on the sidewalk. Cars use a separate right-turn only lane and drivers are not visually reminded to look for pedestrians.If it were like this when my kids were growing up, I don’t know that I’d ever let them cross without an adult! I myself have forgotten to check at times and had some sort-of-close calls. I don’t k...

49ers-Cardinals preview: Brock Purdy has homecoming date Sunday in Arizona

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

SANTA CLARA – Party at Brock’s house!The NFC-leading 49ers are going to Arizona for their next game, in what will be Brock Purdy’s first NFL appearance in his home state.Purdy played for Perry High-Gilbert 45 miles southeast of State Farm Stadium, where he led Iowa State his junior year to a Fiesta Bowl win over Oregon on Jan. 2, 2021. The next day, that stadium hosted the 49ers’ 2020 season finale – against the Seattle Seahawks – to conclude their month-long residency in Arizona, after Santa Clara County’s banishment amid COVID concerns.The 49ers lost a Week 5 return in 2021, then bypassed Arizona last year to face the host Cardinals in Mexico City, where the Niners won 38-10. Purdy knelt in the victory formation for that game’s final two snaps, and, two weeks later, he replaced an injured Jimmy Garoppolo as the 49ers’ quarterback.Speaking of home fields, the 49ers (10-3) control their own destiny in securing the NFC playoffs’ No. 1 seed, a spot they moved into Sunday n...

PG&E customers face higher bills — again — after new company request

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

OAKLAND — PG&E customers face a fresh round of increases in monthly bills — yet again — because the utility seeks to win regulatory approval of early collections even before a key rate case is decided.The most recent request from PG&E sketches out a proposal for an eyebrow-raising $1.46 billion to cover the utility’s recent spending on wildfire mitigation, as well as to help the company stabilize its financial situation.Some people might deem higher PG&E monthly bills to be something of a familiar refrain.Just last Nov. 16, the state Public Utilities Commission approved a general rate case that authorizes PG&E to raise monthly bills by $32.62, a head-spinning jump of 12.8% over the current level of monthly bills. The increase will arrive on Jan. 1, 2024, right after the current holiday shopping season is in the books.Should the PUC approve this latest PG&E proposal for higher rates on an interim basis, monthly bills would jump on May 1, 20...

Walters: Newsom was originally right about California bullet train

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

Nearly five years ago, just after becoming governor of California, Gavin Newsom came close to telling the truth about the state’s misconceived, poorly managed and underfinanced bullet train project.“But let’s be real,” Newsom told the Legislature. “The current project, as planned, would cost too much and respectfully take too long. There’s been too little oversight and not enough transparency.“Right now, there simply isn’t a path to get from Sacramento to San Diego, let alone from San Francisco to L.A.,” Newsom said. “I wish there were. However, we do have the capacity to complete a high-speed rail link between Merced and Bakersfield.”News media logically inferred that Newsom wanted to shrink what had been envisioned as a statewide system to a starter line in the San Joaquin Valley. But he quickly blamed journalists for misconstruing his remarks after receiving heat from the project’s stakeholders, particularly construction unions.A half-decade later, what Newsom said in 2019 is sti...

U.S. Navy serviceman sentenced to 6 years in prison for deadly DUI crash

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

(BCN) -- A U.S. Navy serviceman was sentenced to six years in state prison on Monday for a deadly DUI crash in Monterey last May, according to prosecutors.U.S. Navy Petty Officer Christopher Witherspoon, 25, killed Seaside resident Luis Hernandez, 69, in a collision on state Highway 1 on May 6, the Monterey County District Attorney's Office said in a statement. Charges against Khazar Momeni discharged following DUI bust Around 3:45 a.m. that day, Witherspoon was driving a Toyota Camry sedan on Highway 1, just north of the interchange with Highway 68 in Monterey. At the same time, Hernandez was driving a Mitsubishi Mirage compact car on the southbound lanes. Due to his intoxication, Witherspoon failed to realize he was driving on the wrong side of the highway and crashed into Hernandez's car head-on, investigation had showed.Hernandez, who was on his way to work, was declared dead on scene.Witherspoon was contacted by officers, who noted that he smelled like alcohol and appeared to...

US consumer inflation eased slightly in November as gas prices fell, though some costs kept surging

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. inflation ticked down again last month, with cheaper gas helping further lighten the weight of consumer price increases in the United States. At the same time, the latest data on consumer inflation showed that prices in some areas — services such as restaurants, used cars and auto insurance — continued to rise uncomfortably fast.Tuesday’s report from the Labor Department said the consumer price index rose just 0.1% from October to November. Compared with a year earlier, prices were up 3.1% in November, down from a 3.2% year-over-year rise in October.Core prices, which exclude volatile food and energy costs, rose 0.3% from October to November, slightly faster than the 0.2% increase the previous month. Measured from a year ago, core prices rose 4%, the same as in October. The Federal Reserve considers core prices to be a better guide to the future path of inflation.The mixed picture in Tuesday’s inflation report will likely keep the Fed on track to leave its ben...

US consumer inflation eased in November as gas prices fell, signaling a further cooling of most price pressures

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

WASHINGTON (AP) — US consumer inflation eased in November as gas prices fell, signaling a further cooling of most price pressures.Source

Camellias don’t deserve their reputation as garden divas

Published Sat, 22 Feb 2025 12:04:52 GMT

Camellias, known as “the queens of the winter flowers,” have for some reason been saddled with an unfair reputation as being difficult. Yes, they are susceptible to fungal diseases and scale insect infestations, but so are many other plants. And it’s true they don’t like salt spray or abrupt changes in temperature or irrigation, but neither do I.Far from being divas, these long-blooming, fragrant shrubs in the tea family have few requirements: They should be planted in rich, fertile, well-draining soil that’s kept moist but never soggy, and fed once a year, right after blooming, with a fertilizer formulated for acid-loving plants.Top-dressing with an inch or so of compost every year will provide a beneficial boost of nutrients, but gardeners should refrain from over-fertilizing or planting them under large trees that might outcompete them for resources.Major pruning isn’t usually necessary but, if warranted, should be done immediately after flowering. Remove old, dead stems and bran...