“CAR-T therapies have since entered phase I and II clinical trials for autoimmune conditions including systemic sclerosis, myositis and rheumatoid arthritis. Phase III trials are also under way for lupus and myasthenia gravis”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-025-03885-w

“people in CAR-T-cell therapy trials for rheumatoid arthritis and lupus seem to be ‘cured’.”

Reasons for optimism. Major progress in last 2-3y.

Bypassing the gene editing roadblock: “vast majority of the 400 million people in this world with genetic diseases suffer from diseases too rare for companies to be able to recoup the costs of drug development”

https://archive.ph/20251119164735/https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/19/health/gene-editing-rare-diseases.html#selection-857.337-857.507

“he receives many heart-rending emails from anguished patients with genetic diseases or their families, and he doesn’t want them to expect widespread solutions anytime soon.”

Because of redundant systems, disorders from single gene mutations are relatively rare but still require custom edits. One day we custom edits will cost far less than today, but most with disease will be dead by then. Bypassing stop codons is a fairly desperate measure but may become viable sooner.

MindNode 2025.7 reunites with Finder: “Desktop or any folder in Finder or the Files app. MindNode will automatically create an Alias that opens the document instantly”

https://mindnode.com/post/mindnode-2025-7

Mindnode switched a few years from a traditional file based approach to an “app-managed local data cache”. That meant MindNode projects could not be represented in finder and it made local backup/restore very clumsy. 2025.7 mitigates the first of those problems. I’m still on MindNode Classic but now I have to think about migrating.

“Chris Buskirk of the Rockbridge Network, a secretive organization funded by tech leaders to create a network that will permit the MAGA movement to outlive Trump”

https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/november-16-2025-190

Their dream is a really dumb version of Singapore — on a vastly larger scale and without Singapore’s odd socialist streak.

“a majority of people would prefer to live in a world where a child does not have to sell her body to older men in order to save enough money to get braces on her teeth.”

Fibromyalgia: genetics study claims primary brain disorder also associated with Long COVID.

https://www.medicalrepublic.com.au/fibromyalgia-finally-gets-a-genetic-fingerprint/121461

“The strongest genetic signal emerged from a variant in the HTT gene, which also causes Huntington’s disease when mutated. Another key player, GPR52, regulates HTT and is already being explored as a drug target for Huntington’s. Other implicated genes, including CAMKV, DCC, DRD2, MDGA2 and CELF4, have established roles in brain development, neuronal signalling and pain processing.”

Fibromyalgia has long been thought of as a brain disorder. The question is whether the environmental trigger is viral infection/immune response.