Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Blog – Page 7

Could this VR experience change how you see the planet?

For many, constant bad news numbs our reaction to climate disasters. But research suggests that a new type of immersive storytelling about nature told through virtual reality (VR) can both build empathy and inspire us to act.

I’m crying into a VR headset. I’ve just watched a VR experience that tells the story of a young pangolin called Chestnut, as she struggles to survive in the Kalahari Desert. A vast, dusty landscape extends around me in all directions, and her armoured body seems vulnerable as she curls up, alone, to sleep. Her story is based on the life of a real pangolin that was tracked by scientists.

Chestnut hasn’t found enough to ants to eat, since insect numbers have dwindled due to climate change. Her sunny voice remains optimistic even as exhaustion takes over. In the final scenes, she dies, and I must clumsily lift my headset to dab my eyes.

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A recent study published in JAMA Oncology presents promising new data on a treatment regimen beneficial to patients with a subset of head and neck cancer known as oropharyngeal cancer. A rare malignancy that forms in the middle of the throat, oropharyngeal cancer can develop in the roof of the mouth, tonsils, the back of the throat, or the back of the tongue.

A history of human papillomavirus (HPV) presents a significant risk factor for developing oropharyngeal cancer, as about two-thirds of patients carry HPV DNA. Oncologists classify these cases as human papillomavirus−positive oropharyngeal cancer (HPV+ OPC). Compared to oropharyngeal cancers not associated with HPV, treatment regimens involving chemotherapy and radiation significantly prolong survival in HPV+ OPC. Despite the treatment efficacy associated with chemoradiotherapy, long-lasting toxicities associated with these treatments remain a clinical challenge.

In search of a treatment regimen that retains tumor control with limited side effects, a team of researchers from the University of Chicago designed a clinical trial to evaluate the response and toxicity associated with a treatment regimen involving chemotherapy and an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI), nivolumab. ICIs, the class of immunotherapies that block the interaction between proteins on immune cells that would dampen the immune response if engaged, have efficacy in treating several types of cancer, often with limited toxicity. In the current clinical trial, ICI and chemotherapy serve as a neoadjuvant, drugs given in hopes of shrinking a tumor prior to an additional treatment. Not all patients received the same treatment following the neoadjuvant administration of chemotherapy and ICI.

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Wayne State University researchers are using photoacoustic imaging to observe brain activity and, in the process, discovering more about how it responds to different types of learning and experiences.

The team’s findings were recently published in the journal Photoacoustics.

The study, “Use of pattern recognition in to identify neuronal ensembles in the prefrontal cortex of rats undergoing conditioned fear learning,” stemmed from a project by Wayne State University School of Medicine alumnus, James Matchynski, M.D., Ph.D., and was led by School of Medicine faculty members Shane Perrine, Ph.D., associate professor of psychiatry and behavioral neurosciences, and Alana Conti, Ph.D., professor of psychiatry and and director of the Translational Neuroscience Program. The team collaborated with colleagues in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Illinois Chicago.

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Learn how to build or just use Alex Ziskind’s LLM Hardware Calculator.

Understand what hardware you need for the model you want to run locally.

This M4 Max 16 MacBook Pro can handle some of the larger language models.

https://amzn.to/4kyog9V

Apple 2024 MacBook Pro Laptop with M4 Max, 14‑core CPU, 32‑core GPU: Built for Apple Intelligence, 16.2-inch Display, 36GB Unified Memory, 1TB SSD Storage; Silver with AppleCare+ (3 Years)https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51MOSiURIHL._AC_SX425_.jpg’:[425,425],’https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51MOSiURIHL._AC_SX522_.jpg’:[522,522],’https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51MOSiURIHL._AC_SX569_.jpg’:[569,569],’https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51MOSiURIHL._AC_SX385_.jpg’:[385,385],’https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51MOSiURIHL._AC_SX679_.jpg’:[679,679],’https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51MOSiURIHL._AC_SX466_.jpg’:[466,466],’https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/51MOSiURIHL._AC_SX342_.jpg’:[342,342]}/

Continue reading “Apple M4 Max chip” | >

A Brazilian study published in Nutrients suggests that fish oil may help reduce insulin resistance and improve glucose tolerance by influencing the body’s inflammatory response.

Funded by FAPESP, the study was conducted on rats that, while not obese, exhibited a condition resembling type 2 diabetes—a disorder marked by high blood sugar levels due to diminished insulin effectiveness.

As the authors explain, supplementation with omega-3 fatty acids such as those present in fish oil has been prescribed for individuals with cardiovascular problems and type 2 diabetes, but the effects of these nutrients on insulin resistance without obesity are poorly understood.

Fish oil supplementation modified the profile of defense cells, shifting them from a pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory state, effectively reversing a condition resembling type 2 diabetes.

A Brazilian study published in Nutrients suggests that fish oil may help reduce insulin.

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas, crucial for regulating blood glucose levels. It helps cells in the body absorb glucose from the bloodstream and convert it into energy or store it for future use. Insulin production and action are essential for maintaining stable blood sugar levels. In people with diabetes, the body either does not produce enough insulin (Type 1 diabetes) or cannot effectively use the insulin it does produce (Type 2 diabetes), leading to elevated levels of glucose in the blood. This can cause various health complications over time, including heart disease, kidney damage, and nerve dysfunction. Insulin therapy, where insulin is administered through injections or an insulin pump, is a common treatment for managing diabetes, particularly Type 1. The discovery of insulin in 1921 by Frederick Banting and Charles Best was a landmark in medical science, transforming diabetes from a fatal disease to a manageable condition.

Continue reading “Diabetes Breakthrough: Fish Oil May Reverse Insulin Resistance” | >

We all encounter gels in daily life – from the soft, sticky substances you put in your hair, to the jelly-like components in various foodstuffs. While human skin shares gel-like characteristics, it has unique qualities that are very hard to replicate. It combines high stiffness with flexibility, and it has remarkable self-healing capabilities, often healing completely within 24 hours after injury.

Until now, artificial gels have either managed to replicate this high stiffness or natural skin’s self-healing properties, but not both. Now, a team of researchers from Aalto University and the University of Bayreuth are the first to develop a hydrogel with a unique structure that overcomes earlier limitations, opening the door to applications such as drug delivery, wound healing, soft robotics sensors and artificial skin.

In the breakthrough study, the researchers added exceptionally large and ultra-thin specific clay nanosheets to hydrogels, which are typically soft and squishy. The result is a highly ordered structure with densely entangled polymers between nanosheets, not only improving the mechanical properties of the hydrogel but also allowing the material to self-heal.

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When Bluesky CEO Jay Graber took the SXSW stage this week, she managed to make fun of Mark Zuckerberg without mentioning Meta at all. Her black T-shirt was emblazoned with black text stretching across the chest and sleeves, similar to the style of a T-shirt that the billionaire founder wore at an event last year. Graber’s shirt declared in Latin, Mundus sine Caesaribus. Or, “a world without Caesars.”

On Bluesky, users expressed such excitement over Graber’s T-shirt that the platform decided to sell replicas to raise money for its developer ecosystem.

The $40 shirt, available in sizes S – XL, sold out in roughly 30 minutes.

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Proteins are long molecules that must fold into complex three-dimensional structures to perform their cellular functions. This folding process occasionally goes awry, resulting in misfolded proteins that, if not corrected, can potentially lead to disease. Now, a new study has described a potential mechanism that could help explain why some proteins refold in a different pattern than expected.

The researchers, led by chemists at Penn State, found that a type of misfolding, in which the proteins incorrectly intertwine their segments, can occur and create a barrier to the normal folding process. Correcting this misfold requires high-energy or extensive unfolding, which slows the folding process, leading to the unexpected pattern first observed in the 1990s.

“Misfolded proteins can malfunction and lead to disease,” said Ed O’Brien, professor of chemistry in the Eberly College of Science, a co-hire of the Institute for Computational and Data Sciences at Penn State, and leader of the research team. “So, understanding the mechanisms involved in the folding process can potentially help researchers prevent or develop treatments for diseases caused by misfolding.”

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