Lifeboat Foundation

Reduced stress is linked to changes in the profile of plasma metabolites, a new study from the University of Eastern Finland shows. According to the researchers, the findings can shed light on the associations of psychological well-being with metabolism and the risk of disease. The study was published in Scientific Reports.

Psychological stress is known to be associated with obesity, low-grade inflammation and metabolic disorders, but the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. In the newly published study, the researchers used metabolite profiling to study whether improved psychological well-being is associated with measurable changes in metabolism. The study is a sub-study of Elixir, a large multi-center lifestyle intervention study conducted by the Universities of Helsinki, Eastern Finland and Jyväskylä, and the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health.

The study participants were obese individuals with perceived psychological stress symptoms at the onset of the study. They were divided into two groups: one group to undergo a psychological lifestyle intervention (60 individuals) and a control group (64 individuals). Both groups managed to lose weight, but reduced stress and improved psychological well-being were reported by the intervention group in particular. Using metabolomics techniques, the researchers performed an extensive analysis of fasting metabolites in all study participants at beginning of the study and again nine months later, after the intervention had ended. Stress and psychological well-being were assessed by surveys and heart rate variability measurements.

NASA announced Johnson’s death on Monday.

Johnson was part of NASA’s “Computer Pool,” a group of mathematicians whose data powered NASA’s first successful space missions. The group’s success largely hinged on the accomplishments of its black women members.

Johnson was among a group of black women mathematicians who helped power NASA’s space travel in the early 1960s when the agency was still segregated.

Research that investigates the mechanisms behind diamond formation, and uncovers new ways to produce synthetic forms of the unique stone, could mean big things, and not just for the coffers of jewelers around the world. A new type of artificial diamond developed by scientists at Stanford University sheds yet more light on this high-pressure production process, with a molecule found in crude oil and natural gas serving as their starting point.

Conventional diamonds take shape hundreds of miles beneath the Earth’s surface, under extreme heat and pressure that causes carbon to crystalize into the valuable stones. The ones we see above ground were shot upwards towards the surface through volcanic eruptions millions of years ago.

Scientists have spent decades tinkering with different ways to turn various materials into synthetic versions, with diamond giant De Beers even getting in on the act. These methods, however, have generally involved massive amounts of energy and require catalysts to trigger the transformation. The researchers at Stanford’s School of Earth, Energy & Environmental Sciences set out to find a simpler way of doing things.

Artificial intelligence can help doctors and patients with meningiomas make better treatment decisions, according to a new study.

Meningiomas are tumors that arise from the membranes surrounding the brain and spinal cord. They are the most common primary central nervous system tumor, with an incidence of 8.14 per 100,000 population.

While they generally have better outcomes than other brain tumors, there is a great deal of variability in aggressiveness. Being able to predict malignancy and accurately estimate survival is therefore incredibly important in deciding whether surgery is the best option for the patient.

Can you trust them?

The Defense Department announced five ethical principles it plans to live by as it develops and uses artificial intelligence.

Excerpts from Dr. David Sinclair appearances during 2019 and early 2020. The focus I highlight in this compilation is around the research in progress on aging, age-related diseases and biological age reversal.

Dr. Sinclair is a well-known geneticist, researcher and professor, first at MIT and since more than two decades ago, at Harvard University.

Continue reading “Dr. David Sinclair on aging and age reversal (compilation II on D. Sinclair by A. Grases)” »

Download PDF sample copy of this Study @ http://bit.ly/2Vpk6YP

#needles #HIV #shots #sex #corona

Only smart syringes that break after one use should be used for injections by 2020, the World Health Organization has announced.

Continue reading “How smart syringes, aimed at stopping HIV, work” »

Researchers in the UK claim to have developed a microfluidic chip that can rapidly tell whether someone has suffered a traumatic brain injury from a finger-prick blood sample. The optofluidic device detects a biomarker linked to brain injury, based on the way that it scatters light (Nat. Biomed. Eng. 10.1038/s41551-019‑0510-4).

An optofluidic device uses Raman spectroscopy to detect a biomarker in blood associated with traumatic brain injury.

For 20 years, researchers have studied how light rotates around a longitudinal axis parallel to the direction light travels. But could it move in other ways? After two years of research, and thanks to a sabbatical, University of Dayton researchers Andy Chong and Qiwen Zhan became the first to create a new “state of light”—showing it also can rotate around a transverse axis perpendicular to the direction light travels, like a cyclone.

Nature Photonics, an international publisher of top-quality, peer-reviewed research of light generation, manipulation and detection, published their findings Feb. 24.

“The sabbatical allowed us the time to fully concentrate on this research and was very instrumental in putting us in a position to make this discovery,” Chong said.