The 15-year study published in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) included over 12,000 residents from Delhi and Chennai. The researchers found a link between PM2.5 particles and increased risk of type 2 diabetes.

“This study has opened a new pandora’s box,” said Dr V. Mohan, one of the investigators and chairman, Dr Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre, and Madras Diabetes Research Foundation.

Dr Mohan said till now we have been thinking that the higher prevalence of diabetes in urban areas is due to increased obesity, less physical activity and an unhealthy diet with more carbohydrates, fat, and calories. But now, this new study shows that there could be yet another explanation for the higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes seen in urban areas”.

“For the first time, a large study in India shows that air pollution can also precipitate type 2 diabetes in those who are predisposed to it,” he said.

(This story originally appeared in Economicstimes.com on Nov 02, 2023)

According to him, PM2.5 particulate matter can produce respiratory diseases, including chronic obstructive lung disease, asthma, emphysema and probably even lung cancer. But the new revelation is that they can also act as endocrine disruptors, which means that they can disrupt the endocrine system.

“In the case of diabetes, they can lead to, number one, reduced insulin secretion from the pancreatic beta cells. They can also produce insulin resistance both in the liver and in the muscle. As we know, reduced insulin secretion and increased insulin resistance are the two primary pathophysiological defects in type 2 diabetes. Now, with both getting affected due to the endocrine disruptor effect of the PM2.5 particulate matter, it is not a surprise, therefore, that type 2 diabetes is now being linked to the air pollution," he said.

Dr V Mohan said the new finding is quite worrisome, however, it is also a sign of hope, he said. "This tells us that by controlling pollution, at least to some extent, the rising diabetes epidemic in India can be slowed down or arrested".

According to the recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) in collaboration with Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, the country has 101 million people living with diabetes and 136 million people are already in pre-diabetes stage.

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“It might seem like a small change. It might seem like, ‘Gosh, I get this extra time to sleep in,’ but it really can have detrimental effects, especially on our mood overall,” said Dr. Marri Horvat, a neurologist with the Cleveland Clinic.

Psychiatrists and sleep specialists agree that daylight saving is more than a shift in time.

“This is a very, very high number of people who actually say that the change in time will give them some depression, some discomfort, some uneasiness,” said Dr. Petros Levounis with the American Psychiatric Association.

Many Georgians are against it, and the state of Georgia actually passed a law that would stop the time change back in 2021. So why are we still changing our clocks twice a year? A federal law from 1966 requires the country use daylight saving time.

“We’re asking our bodies to make this change that we’re not giving the right input for, right? When it’s light outside we should be awake. When it’s dark, we should be going to sleep. We’re going against what our body is fundamentally meant for, so, it’s normal that this can be a difficult thing for people,” said Dr. Horvat.

Health experts say people can prepare their bodies for the time change by limiting caffeine and alcohol before bed, exercising, and spending more time outside, even as the daylight hours decrease.

Copyright 2023 WANF. All rights reserved.

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So, is sugar really as bad as it seems? Let’s look at the common stereotypes people have about eating sugar and see what’s true.

What is sugar?

Sugar is a type of carb, just like fiber and starch. Most often, the term refers to table sugar, which combines glucose and fructose to make sucrose. However, sugar is an umbrella term that encompasses other kinds, like ones naturally occurring in fruits and milk products. When any sugar is digested, the body breaks it down into glucose.

Is consuming sugar bad for you?

Saying that sugar is “bad” is a blanket, incorrect statement that is missing context.

Sugar has a poor reputation when it comes to health. It occurs naturally in all foods that contain carbohydrates, such as fruits and vegetables, grains, and dairy. Consuming whole foods like these is not a bad thing, as the plant foods contain fiber to help digest the sugars more steadily, as well as vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. A high intake of fruits, vegetables, and whole grains continues to show a reduction in chronic disease risk.

As with most things in nutrition, problems arise when there is an excess of any one food. The typical American diet is usually high in added sugar from snacks, cakes, cookies, sodas, and juices. It’s not the type of sugar found naturally in nutrient-dense plant foods. According to the American Heart Association, Americans eat 17 teaspoons of sugar on average every day. This is roughly two to three times over the recommended amount.

This distinction is always left out of the conversation when people say things like “sugar is evil.” There are lots of other flawed things the public says about sugar, including these three big “offenders”:

1. “Unrefined sugar is better for you.”

You may have heard that maple syrup, honey, turbinado, or coconut sugar are better alternatives are better for you than typical white, refined sugar.

Maple syrup and coconut sugar have a marginal amount of minerals that are retained, but they don’t contribute to your health picture in any significant capacity. When you choose coconut sugar to bake with over white, it’s still processed the same way as normal sugar would be in your body.

2. “Avoid sugar as much as possible.”

The idea that sugar is something to always be avoided is unnecessary as much as it is impractical. Even added sugar can be part of a healthy diet in the grand scheme of things as long as it isn’t eaten excessively. You shouldn’t feel like you’re going to ruin your health because you had one cupcake at work. This point also continues to miss the recurring point that sugar is in highly nutritious foods like fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and dairy.

3. “Sugar makes you fat.”

A caloric surplus is what leads to weight gain, period. Carbs have four calories per gram, while fat actually has nine calories per gram. Usually, foods that are high in added sugar are highly processed snacks, desserts, and drinks that have other things like fat and salt in them as well. The combination of ingredients in these foods makes them highly palatable and makes you more likely to overeat them.

Bottom Line

For decades, diet culture has pinned sugar as the root of all evil. That couldn’t be further from the truth.

Most people would benefit from eating less added sugar than they are right now, but we have to be careful not to discourage the consumption of naturally occurring sugars that are found in some of the most nutrient-dense foods out there.

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They studied natural climate anomalies, including the so-called Little Ice Age. This cold period from the 15th to the mid-19th century led to poor harvests, famine and disease in Europe. Although the Little Ice Age is one of the most studied periods in recent history, the underlying climatic mechanisms remain controversial.

"Looking at recent, natural climate anomalies helps to understand the processes and mechanisms that human-induced global warming may trigger," says Dr. Anastasia Zhuravleva, lead author of the study. She was a Ph.D. student at GEOMAR and received the Annette Barthelt Prize for her dissertation in 2019. She then worked as a post-doctoral researcher at GEOMAR and Dalhousie University, where the study was completed.

"Researchers often consider an increase in sea ice extent and desalination in the subpolar North Atlantic as possible triggers for past cold periods, but processes in the tropical Atlantic appear to be equally important," says Dr. Zhuravleva.

"In fact, in contrast to the northern and mid-latitudes, there is little information on these recent climate events from the subtropical-tropical Atlantic and their impact on regions in the Northern Hemisphere," adds Dr. Henning Bauch, paleoclimatologist at AWI and GEOMAR, co-initiator and co-author of the study. "This is where our research comes in."

So, what happened in the tropical Atlantic during historical climate anomalies, and how might potential changes there have affected ocean circulation and climate much further north? To answer these questions, the team worked on a sediment profile from the southern Caribbean and reconstructed the salinity and temperature of the surface water over the last 1700 years. Among other things, the researchers determined the isotopic and elemental composition of the calcareous shells of plankton.

The results show a cooling of about 1°C during the Little Ice Age. "It is a significant temperature change for this region," says Dr. Mahyar Mohtadi, co-author of the study and head of the Low Latitude Climate Variability group at MARUM. "Particularly noteworthy is the occurrence of another pronounced cooling for the 8th-9th centuries. Colder temperatures in the otherwise warm tropical ocean led to lower regional rainfall, which coincided with severe droughts in the Yucatan Peninsula and the decline of the Classic Maya culture."

In addition, the researchers found that the cold climate anomalies in the subpolar North Atlantic and Europe were accompanied by weaker ocean circulation and increased salinity in the Caribbean. "Advection, or the movement of tropical salt to high northern latitudes, is essential for maintaining high surface densities in the subpolar North Atlantic. This is a prerequisite for the overall stability of the large-scale ocean circulation, including the transfer of warm Gulf Stream water, which is responsible for our mild temperatures in Europe," says Dr. Bauch.

The data on the historical past thus allow a reconstruction of the connection across the North Atlantic. Initial cooling can be caused by volcanic eruptions, low solar activity and feedbacks between sea ice and the ocean in the north. The new study provides evidence that a decrease in salt movement to high northern latitudes will amplify and prolong these climate events. Conversely, the slow movement of positive salinity anomalies from the tropics will eventually increase the density at the surface of the subpolar North Atlantic.

This may favor the northward transport of heat by ocean currents, resulting in milder temperatures over Europe and North America.

"Such a salinity feedback is known from models and has been assumed for the Little Ice Age. However, in the absence of tropical ocean data, these assumptions have been based on less direct precipitation records," says Dr. Zhuravleva.

There is evidence that the Gulf Stream is weakening and that human-induced warming is a likely cause. What is certain is that the consequences of this change will be global. The extent to which the different climate mechanisms interact has been an open question. This study now confirms that the south-north transport of salt is a key factor in the processes involved.

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This exquisite image of Lake Maracaibo in Venezuela was captured by one of the satellites from the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission – but its beautiful colours have a dirty origin.

From the north – where a narrow strait connects it to the Gulf of Venezuela – to the south, Lake Maracaibo is the largest natural body of water in South America, with a surface area of around 13,500 square kilometres. It is also one of the oldest on Earth, forming roughly 36 million years ago.

Funnelling in saltwater from the Caribbean Sea, the northern part of the lake appears quite briny compared with the fresher waters of the south brought in by rivers. In the bottom left of the image, which was taken in August but published in November, the Catatumbo river transports a brownish-yellow trail of sediment into the lake alongside fresh water.

Two cities flank the lake on both sides. To the west of the strait, the beige region is Maracaibo – Venezuela’s second largest city, known as its oil capital. Slightly below the strait to the east sits the city of Cabimas, another important oil-producing area.

It is contamination from these cities and other areas, in the form of oil leaks and sewage run-off, that gives the lake its vibrant jade-coloured swirls.

These are toxic blooms of blue-green algae, which have flourished in the pollution, posing a serious risk to the surrounding ecosystem and people who live around the lake. Scientists are keeping a close eye on pollution levels through the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission, allowing them to assess the threat to health and the environment.

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The study, conducted by researchers at Tulane University in New Orleans, used data on about 400,000 adults, taken from the UK Biobank study. This observational study followed the participants for nearly twelve years. In that time, around 13,000 developed type 2 diabetes.

In a press release, the principal investigator on the study said that “taking the saltshaker off the table can help prevent type 2 diabetes”. But is it really as simple as that?

For a start, this type of study, called an observational study, cannot prove that one thing causes another, only that one thing is related to another. (There could be other factors at play.) So it is not appropriate to say removing the saltshaker “can help prevent”.

My colleague Dan Green and I have previously criticised university press releases such as this as they can lead to misleading news stories. The Tulane study can only suggest an association between salt use and the risk of developing type 2 diabetes – nothing more.

This is before considering the quality of the data itself.

The data used to assess salt use, was based on the simple question: “Do you add salt to your food?” (It specifically excluded salt added in cooking.)

The question the participants in the study answered only had the options: “never/rarely”, “sometimes”, “usually” or “always”. This means it is not possible to estimate from the answers how much salt might be associated with an increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Processed food is the biggest source

Normal salt intake in countries like the UK is about 8g or two teaspoons a day. But about three-quarters of this comes from processed foods. Most of the rest is added during cooking with very little added at the table.

The NHS advises that people should limit their daily salt intake to around 6g. Although people in the UK have reduced their salt intake over the last couple of decades, there is still a way to go.

Given that salt reduction is a public health goal, it is important to be able to quantify intake to see if there is potential for what is known as a “dose-response” effect. The data reported was unable to suggest if consuming 2g of salt a day added at the table increases the risk of developing type 2 diabetes more than consuming, say, 1g a day.

The researchers used other tests of salt intake, including an estimate of how much salt participants lost in their urine over 24 hours. This is the most accurate way to measure sodium or salt intake.

This approach also suggested that higher sodium in the urine was linked to a higher risk of developing type 2 diabetes. However, what participants ate was not considered at all in this analysis. So it is not clear if salt can be directly implicated in increasing a person’s risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

There is some evidence that increasing salt intake, as measured by sodium in urine may be linked to increased levels of the stress hormone cortisol. This has been linked to increased blood pressure and the reduced effectiveness of the hormone insulin.

Insulin normally controls blood glucose levels and is a key part of how type 2 diabetes develops. However, evidence for this mechanism has only been shown in rats.

Reducing salt is still a good idea

What we can be more sure about is that people with type 2 diabetes, who often also have high blood pressure tend to see their blood pressure improve when they consume less salt.

So the take-home message is: using less salt as part of a healthy diet, which is known to reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes, is a good idea.

This study did not show how much we need to reduce our salt intake by, it only suggested a weak association between adding salt to food and risk of developing type 2 diabetes. So it is better to focus on what is known to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes, which is to maintain a healthy weight, be physically active and eat a healthy diet.

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Background

Infertility affects about 17% of couples worldwide, with about 50% of the cases attributable to the male partner. While the cause of poor semen quality is yet to be thoroughly understood, various factors such as obesity, alcohol consumption, smoking, and stress are known to be associated with a reduced sperm count.

The alarming rise of the use of mobile phones and the consequent exposure to radiofrequency electromagnetic fields (RF-EMFs) is shown in experimental and observational studies to affect the reproductive health of males concerning sperm count, morphology, motility, and viability.

However, these studies are few and with various biases of concern. Therefore, researchers conducted a cross-sectional study examining the potential association between semen parameters, mobile phone use, and position when not in use in young Swiss men between 2005 and 2018.

About the study

In the present study, 5,605 men aged 18–22 years were surveyed across six centers in the country using questionnaires regarding their health and lifestyle as well as their parents’ preconception period. The men were also asked about the duration and frequency of mobile use (rarely, a few times per week, 1–5 times per day, 5–10 times per day, 10–20 times per day, >20 times per day) and the place where they kept the phone (in a jacket pocket, pant pocket, belt carrier, or elsewhere) when not in use.

A total of 2,866 men were physically examined for their genital anatomy, testicular volume, weight, and height, and they contributed semen samples to the study.. Semen analysis was performed based on guidelines of the World Health Organization (WHO) to determine the sperm concentration, TSC, motility, and morphology. Statistical analysis included the use of the Kruskal-Wallis test, Chi-square test, and adjusted logistic and linear regression models. Additionally, a sensitivity analysis was also performed by excluding the men with azoospermia (1%).

Results and discussion

It was found that men with a higher frequency of mobile usage were slightly younger (19 years) and had a higher body mass index (BMI = 22.8 kg/m2) as compared to men with a lower frequency of mobile use (BMI = 21 kg/m2, age 20 years). Interestingly, while 56.5% of the men used their mobile phones less than once per week between 2005 and 2007, this proportion reduced to 5% between 2015 and 2018.

Men using mobile phones at a high frequency (>20 times a day) showed a 21% reduction in sperm concentration and a 22% TSC decrease as compared to those who rarely (less than once per week) used mobile phones. Significant exposure-response trends were observed across the complete exposure range in this group of men. Moreover, these men also showed a higher risk of having a sperm concentration and TSC below the WHO reference value for fertile men. The likelihood of having a lower-than-WHO-reference sperm concentration was significantly higher in men using mobile phones 5–10 times a day than those who rarely used it in the day or week (adjusted odds ratio = 1.409). The results appeared unchanged even when men with azoospermia were excluded from the study. Interestingly, the association between sperm concentration and mobile phone use was shown to be stronger during 2005–2007 and progressively reduced in the periods 2008–2011 and 2012–2018. The semen volume, sperm morphology, and motility were not found to be associated with the frequency of mobile use.

About 85.7% of the included men were found to store their mobile phones in their pant pockets (when not in use). However, the semen quality parameters were not found to be affected by the position of the mobile phone when not in use.

This is the most extensive study evaluating the effect of mobile-phone-based RF-EMF exposure on semen quality. The results are further strengthened by the fact that the studied sample of men came from a general population with an unknown fertility status. However, there are a few limitations to the study. It did not evaluate the daily RF-EMF absorption and relied solely on self-reported data for surveying mobile usage. Also, the characteristics of the phone, such as its brand, number of applications, network quality, use of ear accessories, and output power, were not recorded.

Conclusion

Given the dramatic increase in mobile phone usage globally, this study's findings provide essential insights into the effect of increased RF-EMF exposure on male reproductive health. In the future, conducting prospective studies that accurately measure RF-EMF exposure could help understand the mechanism of action underlying these effects.

Journal reference:

Association between self-reported mobile phone use and the semen quality of young men. Rahban, Rita et al., Fertility and Sterility (2023), DOI: 10.1016/j.fertnstert.2023.09.009, https://www.fertstert.org/article/S0015-0282(23)01875-7/fulltext#articleInformation

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One might expect astronomers to have found all the near-Earth asteroids and comets already. But that’s not the case. Some lurk in orbital spots that are hard to see, because discovering them requires looking straight into the sun. One such object, dubbed Kamo’oalewa, evaded detection until seven years ago—and its origin has always been mysterious. Until now.

Astronomers first spotted Kamo’oalewa with a telescope atop the Haleakala volcano on Maui, in the Hawaiian Islands, and they gave it a Hawaiian moniker that means “oscillating celestial object.” It’s considered a “quasi-satellite” of the Earth, since from here it looks like a constant, if faint, companion, like a distant moon. But it’s actually soaring beyond our planet’s gravitational sphere of influence, and it orbits the sun, not the Earth.

Early on, University of Arizona astronomer Renu Malhotra suspected it didn’t come from the asteroid belt, the origin of most near-Earth objects. “From the properties of the orbit, we realized that it was different from other near-Earth asteroids, and it might potentially have a different source,” Malhotra says. Her team measured its light spectrum, which looked suspiciously similar to that of silicates found on the moon, and not on asteroids. They published those results in 2021.

They came up with a dramatic theory: that the tumbling 50-meter space rock was blasted off the moon thanks to an asteroid impact millions of years ago. Now, the team has figured out that Kamo’oalewa’s wobbling orbit is indeed consistent with that theory. They published their findings last week.

Malhotra and PhD student Jose Daniel Castro-Cisneros used numerical models to simulate the ways a hunk of moon rock could have been slammed into a space-bound trajectory. They modeled possible asteroid collisions with the moon’s surface that could have launched bits of regolith fast enough to reach escape velocity—meaning they wouldn’t fall back to the surface. Then they modeled those rocks’ subsequent orbits and assessed whether any ended up in a Kamo’oalewa-like path. Some do.

Such an investigation involves modeling a wide range of possible trajectories lunar fragments could take after being ejected by an impact. Malhotra and Castro-Cisneros find that an orbit like Kamo’oalewa’s is rare, but not impossible, arising in 0.8 percent of the scenarios they explored. That might seem unlikely, but those are better chances than those of the competing theory, which is that an asteroid hailing from the asteroid belt was gravitationally captured into this unstable orbit. Those odds, Castro-Cisneros says, are essentially nil.

Illustration: NASA

Their analysis looks convincing, says Andrew Rivkin, a planetary scientist at Johns Hopkins University’s Applied Physics Laboratory who studies the composition of asteroids and who was not involved in the paper. “Short of going and grabbing a piece, like NASA just did with Bennu, this is probably as close to conclusive as we get,” he says.  Rivkin emphasizes that Kamo’oalewa is an unusual object: Out of some 80,000 meteorites collected on Earth, only a few percent have come from the moon, and of the 1,382 meteorite falls observed and documented by people, none were lunar.

The researchers find that Kamo’oalewa has probably been hanging around for millions of years, not decades, like other objects in such orbits. But its orbit isn’t stable, thanks to the classic three-body problem, in which the chaotic gravitational influence of three bodies—the Earth, the sun, and Kamo’oalewa—will eventually nudge it so that it gets kicked out and flies away.

Their astronomical sleuthing continues, including examining lunar craters that have remained essentially undisturbed for eons. Small changes in the initial conditions of the models, such as the size of the asteroid that made the impact, where it hit the moon, and at what angle, have dramatic effects on an ejected lunar boulder’s trajectory. They infer a kilometer-sized asteroid made that critical crash, and they can make inferences about the impact too. “Based on the likely conditions to produce this kind of orbit, coming from the moon, that would require a crater millions of years old and tens of kilometers in size,” Castro-Cisneros says. It likely smashed into the trailing side of the moon, he says, and they’re now trying to pinpoint the precise crater that Kamo’oalewa launched from.

Kamo’oalewa’s lunar provenance also has implications for potentially hazardous Earth-bound asteroids that NASA and other organizations search the heavens for. It means people should also consider orbits originating from the moon, not just rocks flung out of the asteroid belt. NASA is scoping for asteroids 140 meters in diameter and larger, similar in size to the one the DART spacecraft smacked into to test deflection techniques. Near-Earth objects from ancient moon impacts would probably be 100 meters or smaller, Malhotra says, but those are nonetheless known as “city killers,” dangerous enough to cause widespread destruction if they were to strike the Earth.

That probably won’t be Kamo’oalewa’s fate, but Malhotra and Castro-Cisneros’ research shows that there are likely others out there like it somewhere.

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Lawrence Faucette, the 58-year-old patient with terminal heart disease who was the second person to receive a genetically engineered pig heart, died on October 30, according to a statement from the University of Maryland Medical Center in Baltimore, where the transplant was performed.

Faucette received the transplant on September 20 and lived for six weeks—less time than the first recipient, despite extra precautions by the Maryland team. Initially, Faucette made progress following his surgery. He was doing physical therapy, spending time with family members, and playing cards with his wife, according to the university. But in the days leading up to his death, his heart began to show signs of organ rejection; in other words, his immune system recognized the pig heart as foreign and attacked it. Rejection is also the biggest challenge with traditional transplants involving human organs.

At the University of Maryland Medical Center and elsewhere, researchers have been studying the possibility of transplanting animal organs into people—known as xenotransplantation—as a way to ease the human organ shortage. In the United States, more than 103,000 people are on the national transplant waiting list, and 17 people die each day waiting for an organ. Because donor organs are a scarce resource, doctors want to select patients for transplants who are likely to survive the transplant and go on to do well after surgery.

Faucette was in end-stage heart failure when he first came to the University of Maryland Medical Center on September 14. His heart stopped, and he required resuscitation, but he was deemed ineligible for a traditional heart transplant because he was too sick. A day later, the US Food and Drug Administration granted an emergency authorization for him to receive a genetically engineered pig heart in the hope of extending his life. Faucette consented to the procedure after being fully informed of the risks, according to the university.

During the first month of Faucette’s recovery, the pig heart performed well without any initial evidence of rejection. Faucette was even working toward regaining his ability to walk.

“We intend to conduct an extensive analysis to identify factors that can be prevented in future transplants,” said Muhammad Mohiuddin, who oversees the university’s xenotransplantation program, in the statement.

The first person to receive a genetically engineered pig heart, David Bennett, survived for two months after undergoing the groundbreaking procedure in January 2022. He died of sudden heart failure. The Maryland team concluded that Bennett’s poor health before the transplant and a pig virus found in his transplant heart may have contributed to his death.

When speaking with WIRED in December, Bartley Griffith, the surgeon who conducted both transplants, said, “We believe we can avoid some of the pitfalls that we had with David because he did so well for so very long.”

The donor pigs used in both surgeries were bred with 10 genetic edits to make their organs more compatible with the human body. Three genes involved in immune rejection were knocked out, while six human genes responsible for immune acceptance were added. The last edit involved removing a gene to prevent excessive growth of the pig heart tissue.

With Faucette’s surgery, the Maryland team was taking new steps to screen the donor pig heart for viruses. They were also using a novel antibody therapy, along with conventional anti-rejection drugs, to prevent Faucette’s body from damaging or rejecting the organ. Transplant experts who were not involved with Faucette’s surgery told WIRED in September that they were optimistic about his outcome.

This year, researchers at New York University and the University of Alabama at Birmingham have carried out short-term experiments involving genetically engineered pig organs in brain-dead people. The groups hope to launch trials in living patients soon, but Faucette’s death may be a setback for the prospect of xenotransplantation.

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"Fried rice syndrome" refers to food poisoning from a bacterium called Bacillus cereus, which becomes a risk when cooked food is left at room temperature for too long.

The 20-year-old college student died after reportedly eating spaghetti that he cooked, left out of the fridge, and then reheated and ate five days later.

Although death is rare, B. cereus can cause gastrointestinal illness if food isn't stored properly. Here's what to know and how to protect yourself.

@drjoe_md
Fried Rice Syndrome is a type of food poisoning caused by the bacteria Bacillus cereus, often associated with improperly stored or reheated fried rice dishes. What's the longest you've left out food that should have been refrigerated but still ate it? I want to know! #foodpoisoning #leftovers #pastalover #friedrice #healthydiet

♬ original sound - Dr. Joe, M.D. 🩺

What is 'fried rice syndrome'?

Baccilus cereus is a common bacterium found all over the environment. It begins to cause problems if it gets into certain foods that are cooked and not stored properly.

Starchy foods like rice and pasta are often the culprits. But it can also affect other foods, like cooked vegetables and meat dishes.

Certain bacteria can produce toxins. The longer food that should be refrigerated is stored at room temperature, the more likely it is these toxins will grow.

B. cereus is problematic because it has a trick up its sleeve that other bacteria don't have. It produces a type of cell called a spore, which is very resistant to heating. So while heating leftovers to a high temperature may kill other types of bacteria, it might not have the same effect if the food is contaminated with B. cereus.

These spores are essentially dormant, but if given the right temperature and conditions, they can grow and become active. From here, they begin to produce the toxins that make us unwell.

What are the symptoms?

The symptoms of infection with B. cereus include diarrhoea and vomiting. In fact, there are two types of B. cereus infection: one is normally associated with diarrhoea, and the other with vomiting.

Illness tends to resolve in a few days, but people who are vulnerable, such as children or those with underlying conditions, may be more likely to need medical attention.

Because the symptoms are similar to those of other gastrointestinal illnesses, and because people will often get gastro and not seek medical attention, we don't have firm numbers for how often B. cereus occurs. But if there's an outbreak of food poisoning (linked to an event, for example) the cause may be investigated and the data recorded.

We do know B. cereus is not the most common cause of gastro. Other bugs such as E. coli, Salmonella and Campylobacter are probably more common, along with viral causes of gastro, such as norovirus.

That said, it's still worth doing what you can to protect against B. cereus.

How can people protect themselves?

Leftovers should be hot when they need to be hot, and cold when they need to be cold. It's all about minimising the time they spend in the danger zone (at which toxins can grow). This danger zone is anything above the temperature of your fridge, and below 60°C, which is the temperature to which you should reheat your food.

After cooking a meal, if you're going to keep some of it to eat over the following days, refrigerate the leftovers promptly. There's no need to wait for the food to cool.

Also, if you can, break a large batch up into smaller portions. When you put something in the fridge, it takes time for the cold to penetrate the mass of the food, so smaller portions will help with this. This will also minimise the times you're taking the food out of the fridge.

As a general guide, you can follow the two hour/four hour rule. So if something has been out of the fridge for up to two hours, it's safe to put it back. If it's been out for longer, consume it then and then throw away the leftovers. If it's been out for longer than four hours, it starts to become a risk.

The common adage of food safety applies here: if in doubt, throw it out.

It's also worth keeping in mind the general principles of food hygiene. Before preparing food, wash your hands. Use clean utensils, and don't cross-contaminate cooked food with raw food.

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The statement is published in the Journal of Clinical Sleep Medicine.

It is the position of the AASM that the United States should eliminate seasonal time changes in favor of permanent standard time, which aligns best with human circadian biology. According to the statement, evidence supports the distinct benefits of standard time for health and safety, while also underscoring the potential harms that result from seasonal time changes to and from daylight saving time.

"By causing the human body clock to be misaligned with the natural environment, daylight saving time increases risks to our physical health, mental well-being, and public safety," said lead author Dr. M. Adeel Rishi, who is chair of the AASM Public Safety Committee and a pulmonary, sleep medicine, and critical care specialist at Indiana University Health in Indianapolis. "Permanent standard time is the optimal choice for health and safety."

The original position statement published by the AASM in 2020 stated that current evidence best supports the adoption of year-round standard time. Based on a growing body of evidence, the updated position statement emphasizes that daylight saving time should be replaced by permanent standard time. This position is supported by similar statements adopted by other organizations including the Society for Research on Biological Rhythms, National Sleep Foundation, Sleep Research Society, and American Medical Association.

"Permanent standard time helps synchronize the body clock with the rising and setting of the sun," said Dr. James A. Rowley, president of the AASM. "This natural synchrony is optimal for healthy sleep, and sleep is essential for health, mood, performance, and safety."

The position statement was developed by the AASM Public Safety Committee and based on a review of existing literature. It was approved by the AASM board of directors and endorsed by 20 medical, scientific, and advocacy organizations:

• American Academy of Cardiovascular Sleep Medicine
• American Academy of Dental Sleep Medicine
• American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery
• American Association of Sleep Technologists
• American College of Chest Physicians (CHEST)
• American College of Lifestyle Medicine
• American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery
• American Thoracic Society
• Dakota Sleep Society
• Michigan Academy of Sleep Medicine
• Montana Sleep Society
• National PTA
• National Safety Council
• National Sleep Foundation
• Sleep Research Society
• Society for Research on Biological Rhythms
• Society of Anesthesia and Sleep Medicine
• Society of Behavioral Sleep Medicine
• Southern Sleep Society
• World Sleep Society

Most of the U.S. will return to standard time when daylight saving time ends Sunday, Nov. 5.

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In a new study, first published online Oct. 30 in Group & Organization Management, an international group of researchers, led by Stevens Institute of Technology and University of Illinois Chicago, offer a novel explanation of the cognitive factors through which abusive leadership degrades employee performance—and helps explain why some employees are more vulnerable than others to the negative impact of abusive bosses.

"Thankfully, abusive supervision isn't too common, but when it happens it leaves employees far less likely to take the initiative and work to improve business practices," said Howie Xu, an author of the study and an assistant professor of management at Stevens. "We wanted to understand the cognitive factors behind that effect—and ask how companies can shield their employees from the negative impact of bad bosses."

Xu's team surveyed employees and supervisors from 42 different South Korean companies, along with hundreds of US students, to explore the ways in which abusive supervision impacts "taking-charge" behavior by employees. Subjects were then ranked according to whether they actively seek positive opportunities for promotion and advancement or take a more preventative approach that prioritizes safety and job security.

"We theorized that both the drive to obtain rewards (promotion, bonuses) and the drive to avoid punishments (maintain job security) would shape the way employees respond to abusive bosses," Xu explained.

But that's not what Xu and his team found. Rather, they found that employees who prioritize career advancement are strongly affected by abusive leadership while employees who prioritized job security remained just as likely to take charge after experiencing abusive supervision. Employees who prioritize advancement tend to hunker down and reduce taking-charge behavior after experiencing abusive supervision.

"That's a very surprising finding," Xu said. "We found clear evidence that the signal from abusive leadership is much more salient to employees who care about advancement than it is to employees who care about security."

One possible explanation, Xu explained, is that ambitious employees may perceive an abusive boss as having direct control over whether they will receive bonuses or opportunities for promotion. By contrast, bad bosses may be seen as having less direct control over firing decisions, which often require ratification by HR teams or more senior managers.

That's an important finding, because it suggests that organizations seeking to mitigate the impact of bad leadership should focus on empowering employees and making them feel valued and appreciated, rather than simply reassuring them their jobs are safe. "If a leader slips into abusive behavior, our research suggests that they should not only apologize, but also work to reassure employees of their value to the organization," Xu said.

Unexpectedly, the variation in employee response to abusive supervision was broadly constant across both the Korean and US populations. "We think of these countries as culturally distinct, but there was no real difference in how employees responded to abusive bosses," Xu said. "That might reflect the effect of globalization—or might be a sign that this is a universal trait that exists across many different cultures."

Researchers from Texas Tech University, Hunan University and Seoul National University also contributed to the paper.

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You can now add this to my list of things I wish were a thing when I was going to school: Google is now making Search and Lens even more helpful when it comes to solving word, geometry, and physics problems. Additionally you will be able to explore interactive 3D diagrams of biology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy topics.

By just typing in your math problem into Search, you can now take advantage of Google's new advanced math solver. Don't know how you can even type in that intricate equation? No problem, because you can opt to instead use Lens to take a picture of it from your textbook or worksheet using Lens. Not only with Google solve it for you, but will actually teach you how to do it with step-by-step instructions.

Another new feature is the ability to get help with word problems and geometry problems by using Google's language models. Word problems can be particularly difficult for students, but Google Search can now solve them and throw in interactive diagrams and animations in the process.

Finally, Google Search is now launching interactive 3D diagrams of biology, chemistry, physics, and astronomy topics. These diagrams allow users to explore complex scientific concepts in a more interactive and engaging way. For example, users can rotate and zoom in on 3D diagrams of molecules, cells, and planets.

These new features are a significant step forward for Google Search, as they make it easier for people to find the information they need about math and science. Additionally, they are designed to help students get some extra help getting some assignments done in a more interactive and engaging way.

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World Thrift Day is observed on October 31 to promote saving money and developing a sense of financial prudence. We’re taught to save for a rainy day, as we grow up from being the owners of a piggy bank to the possessors of a bank account. It so happens that our vast universe’s scheme of operations also has an economical character. That is, our universe is thrifty as well.

Physicists generally attribute this to the principle of least action. Action in physics is defined by the change in energy of a system over time. The conservation laws in physics follow from the principle of least action. They imply that all energy is conserved, as is the total momentum. Nothing is deleted or destroyed, only conserved. All the phenomena that happen, from the subatomic world to the galaxies, follow the path of least action.

The word ‘least’ here doesn’t mean minimality. Instead, it means that a physical system between any two points in space-time evolves along a path that minimises or maximises the action depending on the outcome of the process.

The basic idea is that nature has a certain purpose to fulfil and thus follows an economical path. This is one of the most profound and far-reaching ideas in physics. You can see it by observing a stream. The moving water adapts to the hard rocks and soft soil that come its way and doesn’t insist on moving in a straight line. Similarly, light bends when moving from one medium to another by changing its velocity (refraction).

From the motion of planets around the sun to a ball thrown in the air, bodies go for the path that minimises the action involving their energy. Such selection happens naturally, without any ‘planning’. Water vapour is perfectly aerodynamic in the air but when it falls as rain, they do so as elongated spheres spreading out as little as possible to avoid increasing their surface tension.

The principle of least action is also useful in metaphysics and philosophy. How does nature know to optimise its performance through minimum effort? Scholars continue to debate the answers to this question. Even in formal terms, physicists are yet to understand this principle empirically – through experiment – and wield it only as a mathematical tool or to derive a suitable equation of motion.

But this is wonderful, too: presuming nature’s thrift has yielded bounties in the study of fluid mechanics, thermodynamics, string theory, classical electrodynamics, quantum field theory, and Morse theory in mathematics.

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The recommended amount of dietary fiber is 14 grams for every 1,000 calories per day, or about 25 grams for women and 38 grams for men each day, according to the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.

The amount of fiber your body needs may vary depending on your energy needs. It also can depend on certain health conditions you may have.

Why you might need more fiber in your diet

Constipation, hemorrhoids, high cholesterol and diabetes are some of the health conditions for which your health care team might advise you to increase your fiber intake:

In particular, a high-fiber diet:

• Normalizes bowel movements. Dietary fiber increases the weight and size of your stool and softens it. A bulky stool is easier to pass, decreasing your chance of constipation. If you have loose, watery stools, fiber may help to solidify the stool because it absorbs water and adds bulk to the stool.

• Helps maintain bowel health. A high-fiber diet may lower your risk of developing hemorrhoids and small pouches in your colon (diverticular disease). Studies have also found that a high-fiber diet likely lowers the risk of colorectal cancer. Some fiber is fermented in the colon. Researchers are looking at how this may play a role in preventing colon diseases.

• Lowers cholesterol levels. Soluble fiber found in beans, oats, flaxseed and oat bran may help lower total blood cholesterol levels by lowering low-density lipoprotein, or "bad," cholesterol levels. Studies also have shown that high-fiber foods may have other heart-health benefits, such as reducing blood pressure and inflammation.

• Helps control blood sugar levels. In people with diabetes, fiber—particularly soluble fiber—can slow the absorption of sugar and help improve blood sugar levels. A healthy diet that includes insoluble fiber also may reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

• Aids in achieving healthy weight. High-fiber foods tend to be more filling than low-fiber foods, so you're likely to eat less and stay satisfied longer eating high-fiber foods. And high-fiber foods tend to take longer to eat and are less "energy dense," which means they have fewer calories for the same volume of food.

• Helps you live longer. Studies suggest that increasing your dietary fiber intake—especially cereal fiber—is associated with a reduced risk of dying from cardiovascular disease and all cancers.

Why you might need less fiber in your diet

Some of the reasons your health care team might recommend a low-fiber diet include:

• You have narrowing of the bowel. This may be due to a tumor or an inflammatory disease, such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

• You have had bowel surgery.

• You are having treatment that damages or irritates your digestive system. For example, radiation can cause irritation.

Eating a low-fiber diet will limit your bowel movements. It may help reduce diarrhea or other symptoms, such as stomach pain. After a short time, you may be able to slowly introduce fiber into your diet again.

Because a low-fiber diet limits what you can eat, it can be difficult to meet your nutritional needs. You should follow a low-fiber diet only as long as directed by your health care team.

If you must continue eating this diet for a longer time, consult a registered dietitian. A dietitian can help make sure you are meeting all your nutritional needs.

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This Halloween, when you grab a candy bar, pay attention to the wrapper. In the United States, a "nutrition facts" label has been required for all packaged foods since 1994, giving the serving size and the amount of sugar, protein, fat, and sodium the food contains. But the most interesting bit is the metric for energy, which is listed as "calories." What does energy really mean when it comes to candy?

Flavors of Energy

In physics, the concept of energy helps us keep track of different types of interactions. We say energy is “conserved” for all interactions, meaning that if you calculate the total energy before and after something happens, that value will be constant.

During these interactions, energy can change from one type to another. I like to think of these types as “flavors” of energy. There's the energy of a moving object, a flavor we call kinetic energy. There's energy stored in the gravitational field, a flavor we call gravitational potential energy. There's energy stored in the interaction between two charged particles, or electric potential energy. And of course when things get hot, there's an increase in thermal energy.

All types of energy are interchangeable. How do you change energy from one flavor to another? I mean, we do this every day when we brew a pot of coffee. When current—electrical energy—runs through a wire, that wire gets hot. You can use this heat to increase the temperature of water. (That’s thermal energy.) We can calculate the electrical energy by measuring the electrical current and voltage across the wire. This will be equal to the change in the thermal energy of the water.

There's also a connection between mechanical energy and thermal energy. Imagine that you have a tank of water and you want to use some spinning paddles to stir it. Your paddle system has three parts: the paddles at the bottom, a length of rope in the middle, and a heavy weight that slides along the rope from top to bottom. As gravity pulls the weight down along the rope, the paddles spin and push the water. This causes the water to move, but the frictional interaction also heats the water up. The change in the gravitational potential energy of the weight as it moves down the rope is equal to the change in thermal energy of the water. Energy from motion has turned into heat energy.

The Joule, the Calorie, and the (Other) Calorie

In physics, our preferred unit for energy is the joule. Historically, the value of 1 joule could be defined as the energy that a force of 1 newton produces when moved 1 meter. A joule is also equal to the electrical energy from a current of 1 amp and voltage of 1 volt for one second.

It can be difficult to get a feel for this unit, so try this simple experiment: Take a textbook and put it on the floor. Now pick it up and put it on a table. Since the book moved up, it gained more gravitational potential energy. The energy increase is approximately 10 joules. (The actual value depends on the height of the table and the mass of the book.)

The calorie is another unit of energy. It comes from the thermodynamic side of energy, so it has to do with changes in temperature. The value of a calorie is equal to the energy required to raise 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius.

Of course, energy is still energy. If you use an electrical current to heat 1 gram of water by 1 degree C, it would take 4.184 joules. So a calorie is equal to 4.184 joules—there's your unit conversion.

Let's say a candy bar’s packaging says it has 200 calories. That seems like a reasonable value, but I have some bad news for you. A candy bar actually has 200,000 calories, not 200. The metrics on food packages are given in kilocalories, so it's actually one-thousandth of the energy the food contains. To prevent confusion, we sometimes call these "food calories," as distinct from “chemistry calories.” Other people capitalize “Calorie” to signify the food version.

Now let’s say you wanted to work off the 200,000 calories in this candy bar by doing pull-ups. With each pull-up, your muscles use energy to lift your body and increase your gravitational potential energy. Using a rough estimate of a body mass of 70 kilograms and a lift height of 60 centimeters, we get a change in energy of about 412 joules (right around 100 chemistry calories, or just a 10th of a food calorie) to do each pull-up.

Of course, the human body isn’t perfectly efficient, so it takes much more food energy to pull up your weight. If you assume an efficiency of 10 percent, then a person would actually burn about 1,000 chemistry calories per pull-up. That means you would need to do 200 pull-ups to make up for the 200,000 calories in that one candy bar. Is that worth it? Maybe it is.

How to Measure the Energy in a Candy Bar

Suppose I make a brand-new physics-based candy bar called the Newton Nougat Crunch. Before it goes on the market, I need to determine how many calories it contains. One way to measure the energy content in food is with a bomb calorimeter. Yes, that is a real thing. Here's a picture of an older version of this device. (I like the older ones—they have more character.)

Photograph: Rhett Allain

On the right is a metal container. This is the bomb part—the device itself doesn't explode, but it does combust whatever’s inside of it. Inside this canister, I will place a small piece of the new candy bar. If I can find the energy contained in just this small part, then I can extrapolate to find the total energy.

The bomb is then sealed and filled with oxygen. An ignition source starts a combustion reaction with the oxygen, essentially burning the candy. Of course, this reaction gets hot. Now if I can measure the change in thermal energy of the reaction, I can calculate the amount of energy in the candy.

To measure this change in thermal energy, I put the bomb in a bath of water. After the reaction, both the bomb and the water will increase in temperature, which can be measured with a thermometer. If you know the thermal properties of water (we do) and of the metal bomb container (again, yes), then the change in temperature can be used to calculate the change in thermal energy. That energy is the energy contained in the little bit of candy. Convert that to weird food calorie units, and that’s how you get the value that goes on the package.

Let’s say heating up a gram-sized piece of Newton Nougat Crunch raises 2 kilograms of water by 1 degree Celsius. That means that each 1-gram piece of Newton Nougat Crunch is 2 kilocalories. If the whole candy bar is 50 grams, then it will contain 100 food calories. (That’s pretty low for a real candy bar, but this is special physics candy.)

There's actually another way to get this calorie measurement. If you know the calorie values of all the ingredients—like the amount of sugar and milk and whatever else goes into it—you can just calculate the total based on the amount of each ingredient you used. Personally, I think the bomb calorimeter is cooler.

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