A NASA engineer explains why Trump's plan to cut the space agency's climate science program is a lot harder than it ... Quartz Within weeks of the US election, president Donald Trump said he intended to scrap NASA's research on climate change, shifting those resourcesless than $2 billion of the agency's $19 billion budgetto its space program. Other Republicans have echoed ... Space weather activities need international cooperation, NASA scientist |
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WYDaily.com is your source for free news and information in Williamsburg, James City & York Counties.
The film Hidden Figures highlights the careers of three African-American NASA employees who overcame discrimination to help put Americans in space.
Nearly 50 years after Neil Armstrong took a giant leap for mankind, a NASA employee who once worked with the films real-life protagonists will be introducing the film at the Kimball Theatre.
According to Joe Straw, Public Relations Manager for the Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, the Kimball Theatre will host a viewing of Hidden Figures Wednesday, March 1 at 7 P.M. The film will be introduced by former NASA employee and current William and Mary research professor Joel Levine.
Levine said he was an employee of NASA for 41 years before retiring five years ago. He reached the role of Senior Research Scientist in the Science Directorate with NASA at the Langley Research Center, where the film takes place.
He said he worked firsthand with human computers as the women portrayed in the film were called who completed essential calculations for the space program in the age before electronic computers.
Clearly these computers women did a wonderful job in bringing the U.S. into the era of human space travel, Levine said. U.S. citizens got to the moon before Russia, and to a large extent this chapter of history was not known outside of NASA.If it were not for these [human] computers, we would not have done it even at that time.
Levine said the African American women portrayed in the film and many others not included in the script faced racial segregation and discrimination in the workplace.
As a result, their accomplishments and contributions went unrecognized until the release of Margot Lee Shetterlys book Hidden Figures, and the film of the same name.
Hidden Figures is a very important movie and its nice to have stories that are untold finally be revealed, said Marianne Johnston, Program Manager at the Kimball Theatre. Its really important for women to know their history. Hardly anyone knew that women worked for NASA. Its always been pushed to the side.
One of the human computers duties was analyzing data from wind tunnels, Levine said. It was also a responsibility that allowed them to prove their worth in the early stages of the space program.
Wind tunnels generate a fantastic amount of data. You can run a test for 10 minutes and get millions and millions of data points, Levine said. The male engineers were not interested in sitting down with this amazing amount of data, but the women had no problem doing this. They [NASA] found the women could take this data and do a much better job.
While Levine worked at Langley, he and his wife Arlene did not personally know all of the women portrayed in the film. However, he said that he and his wife did were close with Mary Jackson, who was a human computer and is featured in Hidden Figures.
Levine said Jackson was, Very friendly and outgoing, and very interested in helping her fellow employees, male and female and black and white. She was extremely helpful and always had a smile. She became the head of the Langley Research Center womens program and she asked my wife to join, and so my wife was on the panel.
Levine now works in the Department of Applied Sciences with the College of William and Mary, where he researches manned missions to Mars.
Were sending humans to Mars on the backs of what we learned from these women in the 50s, Levine said. Were basically using the same techniques that were developed by NASA and calculated by these [human] computers in the 60s. The people planning the mission to Mars were standing on the shoulders of these computers. Thats their legacy.
Before Wednesdays screening of the film,Levine said he will offer a brief introduction to the crowd. After the film, Levine will providea presentation and answer questions from the audience. He also said that he thoroughly enjoyed the moviehimself.
I saw the movie at New Town and the theater was packed, Levine said. At the end of the movie, people got up and applauded. Since then Ive asked probably 100 colleagues what happened when the movie ended, and they all said people got up and applauded. Its very uplifting the triumph of the human spirit.
Tickets are $8.50 and are available at Colonial Williamsburg ticketing locations including the Kimball Theatre box office, online at colonialwilliamsburg.com by calling 855-296-6627 toll-free or by visiting Colonial Williamsburg on Facebook and @colonialwmsburg on Twitter and Instagram. Tickets for the Films of Faith and Freedom series are also available via Fandango.com.
Colonial Williamsburg, Hidden Figures, Joel Levine, Kimball Theatre
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BGR | NASA just released 3D models and new photos of a massive supernova BGR To celebrate the 30th anniversary of the discovery of massive supernova called SN 1987A, NASA pointed the lens of the Hubble Space Telescope in its direction once again, snagging an updated photo, but that's not all the agency has to offer. NASA is ... The Dawn of a New Era for Supernova 1987a | NASA |
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NASA just released 3D models and new photos of a massive supernova - BGR
Last Wednesday, breaking news crossed the CNBC wire:
NASA discovered seven earth-shaped planets orbiting a red-dwarf star in our galaxy a mere forty light-years away. According to this article on NASA's site:
Scientists are pondering the possibilities after this week's announcement: the discovery of seven worlds orbiting a small, cool star some 40 light-years away, all of them in the ballpark of our home planet in terms of their heft (mass) and size (diameter). Three of the planets reside in the "habitable zone" around their star, TRAPPIST-1, where calculations suggest that conditions might be right for liquid water to exist on their surfaces-though follow-up observations are needed to be sure.
We were surprised that not much attention has been devoted to how this may impact the Fed's decision on whether or not to hike rates in the upcoming decade.
We believe that a nodal analysis will allow us to understand the Fed's optimal strategy. Let us review the alternatives.
Node A: there is sophisticated life on one or more of these planets, they are hostile, and they know about us. Now what would you rather call home: a puny old Dwarf star, or a beautiful yellow middle-aged reclusive star like ours?
This can only mean that they're on their way folks!! It's just a matter of time. If an interstellar war is at hand, the last thing this planet needs is to offer people an incentive to save for their future: we may not have one!
Source: Forbes
Node B: there is sophisticated life, they are hostile, but they don't know about us yet. We want their first impression of our planet to be one where interest rates do not thrive. After all, interest rates are themselves a statement about future growth prospects and the economy.
Source: Dr. Aswath Damodaran
Do we really want to go around advertising our beautiful high rates to any hostile group of M-Dwarf invaders? We argue no, and we are positive the Fed will agree.
Node C: sophisticated life that is peaceful, they know about us, but they are not on their way. We need to consider that we have a possible set of new friends and allies! Why aren't they rushing out to meet us? Duh! Their economy must be suffering. What if they too are experiencing 4.8% unemployment like we are?
Do we want to blast our new-found friends with a nasty dose of poisonous interest rates? We don't want any gamma exposure from our economy radiating into the new Macro 2 economy: lower for longer, at least until we know more about why they have not come to visit us.
Node D: what if they are coming right now to share their knowledge with us about how to cure cancer or live peacefully with artificially intelligent robots or introduce a new and exciting mud wrestling segment to all meetings between the president and the press?
Furthermore, what if their spaceship cannot withstand merely low (as opposed to ultra-low) interest rate atmospheres? Our very own economy seems not able to bare them for the last decade: imagine the disastrous effects of a noble race, steadily inching closer to us on a fragile spacecraft that can only safely operate in ultra-low-rate environments.
The Fed needs to ensure that options-adjusted spreads on CCC-and-below junk bonds stay absurdly tight, like this:
Node E: only simple life forms exist. In this case, their economy is likely very undeveloped. The last thing that these poor cousins of our prokaryotic and eukaryotic brethren need are higher rates. After all, just what is the labor force participation rate for single-celled organisms these days stateside (No Fed data available for this series: what are they hiding)?
Now, that would mean that their jobless claims have been under 300,000 for the last 103 weeks: just like here in the US!
Source: Bespoke Investment Group
If we cannot take higher rates here in our own country, then how can we expect this simpler economy to flourish into our future friends (or enemies: see nodes A or B)?
What if they have just recently elected a new leader who has "big league" plans for cutting taxes and introducing massive fiscal policy? Furthermore, what if the general mood among the other single-cell organisms is that this leader will absolutely succeed in his goals beyond any question or shadow of doubt (see lift-off on Feb 9 announcement):
SPY data by YCharts
What would you want under said scenario: a policy rate that is still below the very bottom rate of the last recession, or one that could potentially counteract any inflation that may be close at hand?
Now you might be concerned at Node E that a further delay in rates may cause inflationary pressure on their budding economy. No no: it's okay to let the economy overheat. This too can have some really great effects. No rate hike after all!
Naturally the Fed doesn't want to surprise these markets (or our own for that matter). After all, if surprising markets could do this to our markets in late August 2015:
what could it do to theirs?
On the other hand, the Fed should at least talk about higher rates. Certainly lots and lots of contradictory chatter would be nice.
Now, for awhile at least these simple organisms might believe the Fed that higher rates are around the corner. But sooner or later they will figure out the game theoretic structure of the Fed's problem, and realize that they never actually intend to raise rates:
Source: CME FedWatch Tool
Now we do have rising inflation here in the US: will our Fed be as aggressive in keeping core PCE rates close to 2% when they are above 2% as when they are below?
We wonder whether the Fed will adopt an ultra-hawkish rate stance if core PCE reaches, say, 2.3%. After all, 2% is the golden number.
If 1.7% PCE corresponds to 65bp-rates, then shouldn't 2.3% require something like 1,650bps? The Fed incessantly refers us back to the deflation of the 1930s; isn't price stability a two-theatre war?
How vigilant do you suspect they will be from protecting us from foes on the other side of the magic 2% line?
Node F: No life. We're too late (or too early)! Our former high rates already devastated the economy of our seven earth-sized friends. We may already have the reputation among other M-dwarf stars and their planets as a galactic rate braggart and bully.
In September 2015 the Fed did not raise rates because China's economy seemed to be flagging, with real GDP falling perilously below 7% per annum. Well certainly somewhere out there is an economy that may or may not be in trouble.
Analyst Conclusion:
The Milky Way galaxy is home to approximately 100 billion stars. According to NASA:
Red dwarf stars -- also called "M-dwarfs" -- outnumber others, including yellow stars like our sun, by a factor of three to one, comprising nearly 75 percent of the stars in our galaxy. They also last far longer. And their planets are proportionally larger compared to the small stars they orbit. That means small, rocky worlds orbiting the nearest red dwarfs will be primary targets for new, powerful telescopes coming online in the years ahead, both in space and on the ground.
In Game Theory, a "dominant strategy" is one where each player's choice is optimal given the choices of all other players.
The real lesson here is that in nodes A-F, the Fed knows not to hike. This is the very definition of a dominant strategy.
Given that our galaxy is home to 100 billion stars, it is quite likely that there are hosts of planets that could more or less be categorized in nodes A through F continuously!
This being the case, the message is that the Fed should never raise interest rates again. Interest rates can become the new "barbarous relic", something that loons crow about when they've downed too much whisky and are harkening back to the old days.
Gold is a relic of Julius Caesar and interest is an invention of Satan.
-December, 1921: Thomas Edison
See folks: you heard it from Mr. Edison himself! If interest is an invention of Satan, then the Fed is just doing the Lord's work by keeping short rates at comatose levels into perpetuity.
"Thy will be done, on Earth is it is on M-Dwarf TRAPPIST-1."
Finally we have sound leadership in the world's central banks that share the Edisonian perspective
Thank you for reading. We'd love to hear from you in the comments section below. Please consider following us.
Disclosure: I am/we are short SPY.
I wrote this article myself, and it expresses my own opinions. I am not receiving compensation for it (other than from Seeking Alpha). I have no business relationship with any company whose stock is mentioned in this article.
Additional disclosure: We actively trade the futures markets, potentially taking multiple positions on any given day, both long and short. It is our belief that the S&P 500 is meaningfully overvalued. As such, we typically carry a net short position using ES options and futures.
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NASA Discovers Seven Earth-Sized Planets: Fed Ought To Stay On Hold! - Seeking Alpha
NASA managers said Friday they hope to know within a month or so whether it might be feasible -- or advisable -- to put two astronauts on board the first test flight of a huge 322-foot-tall Space Launch System super booster scheduled for its maiden launch late next year.
The study, requested by the Trump administration, already is underway, but William Hill, deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters, said major technical challenges will need to be resolved, and the agency will need more money to make it happen.
Its going to take a significant amount of money, and money that will be required fairly quickly to implement what we need to do, he told reporters. So its a question of how we refine the funding levels and the phasing of the funding for the next three years and see where it comes out.
If the feasibility study doesnt pan out, he said, we still have a very exciting mission.
The current plan calls for launching a Block 1 SLS rocket in late 2018 -- Exploration Mission 1, or EM-1 -- to boost an unpiloted Orion capsule on a three-week flight beyond the moon and back to a high-speed re-entry and splashdown.
EM-2, featuring an astronaut crew, would be launched atop a Block 1B SLS rocket in the late 2021 timeframe. Unlike the EM-1 rocket, the Block 1B version of the SLS would feature a more powerful, human-rated exploration upper stage, or EUS.
An artists impression of a Space Launch System rocket boosting an Orion crew capsule toward space.
NASA
The long-range plan, with its roots in the Obama administration, is to use the SLS to send astronauts beyond the moon in the mid-2020s, first to rendezvous with a robotically retrieved asteroid, or chunk of an asteroid, and then to orbit Mars in the 2030s.
The long gap between the SLS initial test flight and the piloted EM-2 mission, driven in large part by NASAs budget and a variety of technical hurdles, has raised concerns in some quarters about maintaining public and congressional support in a program with years between flights and competing demands on agency funding.
President Trumps transition team asked NASA to look into the possibility of either moving EM-2 earlier or adding astronauts to EM-1. Hill said the latter option was more realistic than the former because of major infrastructure modifications that will be needed to support the larger Block 1B SLS.
But there are major technical challenges with speeding up Orion development for an earlier-than-panned human mission.
We know there are certain systems that needed to be added to EM-1 to add crew, said Bill Gerstenmaier, director of space operations at NASA Headquarters, including a life support system, a waste management system, operational cockpit displays and an operational abort system, all big-ticket items.
In addition, the interim upper stage used by the Block 1 SLS is not certified for human flights. While a similar stage has flown flawlessly atop Delta 4 rockets, additional tests would be required and procedures put in place to ensure crew safety if a malfunction occurs.
So we have a good, crisp list of all the things we would physically have to change from a hardware standpoint, Gerstenmaier said. Then we asked the team to take a look at what additional tests would be needed to add crew, what the additional risk would be, and then we also wanted the teams to talk about the benefits of having crew on the first flight.
An Orion capsule, attached to an interim upper stage, in Earth orbit.
NASA
The risk-benefit trade will be a crucial element of the review. NASAs Aerospace Advisory Panel met Thursday, and in a statement, chairwoman Patricia Sanders cautioned the agency not to pursue an early piloted mission without strong technical justification.
NASA should provide a compelling rationale, in terms of benefits gained in return for accepting additional risk, and fully and transparently acknowledge the tradeoffs being made, she said. If the benefits warrant assumption of additional risk, we expect NASA to clearly and openly articulate their decision process and rationale.
In a Feb. 17 memo to agency employees, acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot raised the possibility of adding astronauts to Exploration Mission-1.
I know the challenges associated with such a proposition, like reviewing the technical feasibility, additional resources needed, and clearly the extra work would require a different launch date, he wrote. That said, I also want to hear about the opportunities it could present to accelerate the effort of the first crewed flight and what it would take to accomplish that first step of pushing humans farther into space.
The SLS-Orion missions, coupled with those promised from record levels of private investment in space, will help put NASA and America in a position to ... ensure this nations world preeminence in exploring the cosmos, he wrote.
In its initial configuration, the SLS Block 1 rocket will be made up of two shuttle-heritage five-segment solid-fuel boosters provided by Orbital ATK and a huge first stage powered by four hydrogen-burning RS-25 space shuttle main engines built by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The Block 1 version features an interim upper stage derived from Boeings Delta 4 rocket powered by a single hydrogen-fueled Aerojet Rocketdyne RL-10B2 engine.
Even in its initial configuration, the giant SLS rocket will generate a ground-shaking 8.8 million pounds of thrust -- 15 percent more than NASAs legendary Saturn 5 moon rocket -- enough to boost the 5.75 million-pound rocket out of the dense lower atmosphere. Together with the second stage engine, the SLS Block 1 will be able to put 154,000 pounds into low-Earth orbit.
An SLS rocket is roughly as tall as the length of a football field.
NASA
NASA eventually plans to build a Block 2 version of the SLS featuring advanced strap-on boosters with a liftoff thrust of 9.2 million pounds.
Gerstenmaier said the agency was not under any political pressure to put astronauts aboard EM-1, saying this is something well go evaluate and ... well see what the results look like coming out the other side.
But it will not be easy. To convert the EM-1 Orion into a piloted version, life support and other critical systems will be required, along with extensive testing, adding to the missions price tag and inevitably delaying the flight. The flight would be limited to two astronauts on a free-return trajectory around the moon lasting eight to nine days.
Gerstenmaier said if the study shows the Orion spacecraft cannot be prepared for flight before the end of 2019 it likely would make more sense to stick with the original timeline and fly EM-1 uncrewed.
NASAs current deep space exploration program has its roots in presidential politics and agendas dating back to the shuttle Columbias destruction during re-entry in 2003.
In the wake of the disaster, the Bush administration directed NASA to finish the International Space Station and retire the shuttle by the end of the decade and to focus instead on building new rockets and spacecraft for a return to the moon in the early 2020s. Antarctica-style moon bases were envisioned as both a science initiative and as stepping stones to eventual flights to Mars.
NASA came up with the Constellation program and began designing a new Saturn 5-class super rocket to boost lunar modules and habitats to the moon, along with a smaller rocket to carry astronauts to low-Earth orbit. The crew capsule was called Orion and the plan was to link up with the lunar lander/habitat in Earth orbit and then head for the moon.
After the 2008 presidential campaign, President Obama ordered a review of NASAs human space program. A presidential panel concluded Constellation was over budget and unsustainable, suggesting instead that NASA adopt a flexible path architecture, bypassing the moon in favor of a manned flight to an asteroid and an eventual flight to orbit Mars.
The Obama administrations Office of Science and Technology Policy ultimately approved a two-tiered approach to human spaceflight. It retained the Constellation programs Orion capsule, built by Lockheed Martin, and ordered NASA to build a single large rocket -- what became the Space Launch System -- for deep space exploration.
At the same time, the agency has awarded contracts to Boeing and SpaceX to develop piloted spacecraft, on a commercial basis, to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The idea is to encourage private industry to develop low-Earth orbit while NASA focuses on deep space exploration.
More recently, the Obama administration specified an asteroid retrieval mission to robotically haul a small asteroid, or part of one, back to the vicinity of the moon for hands-on exploration by astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft. Such missions would set the stage for an Orion, attached to a habitation module of some sort, to make an eventual flight to orbit Mars or its moons.
NASA staged a successful uncrewed test flight of the Orion capsule using a Delta 4 rocket in December 2014. Known as Exploration Flight Test 1, or EFT-1, the heavily instrumented Orion capsule was boosted into an orbit with a high point of about 3,600 miles above the Earth. From there, the spacecraft plunged back to Earth, hitting the atmosphere at some 20,000 mph to test its heat shield and other safety systems.
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NASA studies adding crew to super rocket test flight - CBS News
COIMBATORE: The country's first business incubator for nanotechnology was inaugurated at the PSG College of Technology in Coimbatore on Monday. Adviser and head of the National Science and Technology Entrepreneurship Development Board (NSTEDB) H K Mittal inaugurated the centre.
"About 30% business ideas come from niche fields like biotechnology and nanotechnology. So, it is good to see a dedicated incubator for nanotechnology being set up in an educational institute, that too in an industrial city like Coimbatore," said Mittal.
PSG is also the only institution to have five technology business incubators in the country. "IIT-Bombay has three incubators," he said.
Set up with an investment of Rs 15 crore, 50% of the fund was provided by the department of science and technology, Government of India. "We are looking at a total of 33 incubatees in the next five years. And, we aim at developing 13 prototypes in four years," said the director of PSG Institute for Advanced Studies P Radhakrishnan. To start with, PSG is looking at roping in 10 incubatees, said the director of PSG- Science and Technology Entrepreneurial Park (PSG-STEP).
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PSG gets country's first nanotechnology business incubator - Times of India
DUBLIN--(BUSINESS WIRE)--
Research and Markets has announced the addition of the "The Global Market for Nanotechnology in Smart Textiles and Wearables" report to their offering.
The number and variety of smart textiles and wearable electronic devices has increased significantly in the past few years, as they offer significant enhancements to human comfort, health and well-being. Wearable low-power silicon electronics, light-emitting diodes (LEDs) fabricated on fabrics, textiles with integrated Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) and electronic devices such as smart glasses, watches and lenses have been widely investigated and commercialized (e.g. Google glass, Apple Watch).
There is increasing demand for wearable electronics from industries such as:
- Medical and healthcare monitoring and diagnostics
- Sportswear and fitness monitoring (bands)
- Consumer electronics such as smart watches, smart glasses and headsets
- Military GPS trackers, equipment (helmets) and wearable robots
- Smart apparel and footwear in fashion and sport
- Workplace safety and manufacturing
However, improvements in sensors, flexible & printable electronics and energy devices are necessary for wider implementation and nanomaterials and/or their hybrids are enabling the next phase convergence of textiles, electronics and informatics. They are opening the way for the integration of electronic components and sensors (e.g. heat and humidity) in high strength, flexible and electrically conductive textiles with energy storage and harvesting capabilities, biological functions, antimicrobial properties, and many other new functionalities.
The industry is now moving towards the development of electronic devices with flexible, thin, and large-area form factors. Electronic devices that are fabricated on flexible substrates for application in flexible displays, electronic paper, smart packages, skin-like sensors, wearable electronics, implantable medical implements etc. is a fast growing market. Their future development depends greatly on the exploitation of advanced materials.
Nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes (CNT), silver nanowires graphene and other 2D materials are viewed as key materials for the future development of wearable electronics for implementation in healthcare and fitness monitoring, electronic devices incorporated into clothing and smart skin' applications (printed graphene-based sensors integrated with other 2D materials for physiological monitoring).
Features of the Report:
- Market drivers and trends for smart textiles and wearables
- How nanomaterials are applied in smart textiles and wearables
- In-depth analysis of current state of the art and products in smart textiles and wearables
- Product developer profiles
- Market revenues for smart textiles and wearables across all markets
- Nanotech opportunity and market revenues
- Market challenges
Key Topics Covered:
1 Executive Summary
2 Research Methodology
3 Nanomaterials
4 Nanomaterials In Textiles
5 Wearable Sensors And Electronic Textiles
6 Medical And Healthcare Smart Textiles And Wearables
7 Smart Clothing And Apparel Including Sportswear
8 Wearable Energy Storage And Harvesting Devices
9 References
For more information about this report visit http://www.researchandmarkets.com/research/mqvts2/the_global_market
View source version on businesswire.com: http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20170227006043/en/
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Successful results of a University of Liverpool-led trial that utilized nanotechnology to improve drug therapies for HIV patients has been presented at the Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections (CROI) in Seattle, a leading annual conference of HIV research, clinical practice and progress.
The healthy volunteer trial, conducted by the collaborative nanomedicine research program led by pharmacologist Andrew Owen and materials chemist Steve Rannard, and in collaboration with the St Stephen's AIDS Trust at the Chelsea & Westminster Hospital in London, examined the use of nanotechnology to improve the delivery of drugs to HIV patients. The results were from two trials which are the first to use orally dosed nanomedicine to enable HIV therapy optimization.
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. Nanomedicine is the application of nanotechnology to the prevention and treatment of disease in the human body. By developing smaller pills that are better for patients and less expensive to manufacture, this evolving discipline has the potential to dramatically change medical science and is already having an impact in a number of clinically used therapies and diagnostics worldwide.
Currently, the treatment of HIV requires daily oral dosing of HIV drugs, and chronic oral dosing has significant complications that arise from the high pill burden experienced by many patients across populations with varying conditions leading to non-adherence to therapies.
Recent evaluation of HIV patient groups have shown a willingness to switch to nanomedicine alternatives if benefits can be shown. Research efforts by the Liverpool team have focused on the development of new oral therapies, using Solid Drug Nanoparticle (SDN) technology which can improve drug absorption into the body, reducing both the dose and the cost per dose and enabling existing healthcare budgets to treat more patients.
The trial results confirmed the potential for a 50 percent dose reduction while maintaining therapeutic exposure, using a novel approach to formulation of two drugs: efavirenz (EFV) and, lopinavir (LPV). EFV is the current WHO-recommended preferred regimen, with 70% of adult patients on first-line taking an EFV-based HIV treatment regimen in low- and middle-income countries.
The trial is connected to the University's ongoing work as part of the multinational consortium OPTIMIZE, a global partnership working to accelerate access to simpler, safer and more affordable HIV treatment. Funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development, OPTIMIZE is led by the Wits Reproductive Health & HIV Institute in Johannesburg, South Africa, and includes the interdisciplinary Liverpool team, Columbia University, Mylan Laboratories and the Medicines Patent Pool (MPP). OPTIMIZE is supported by key partners including UNITAID and the South African Medical Research Council (SAMRC)
Benny Kottiri, USAID's Office of HIV/AIDS Research Division Chief, said: "The potential applications for HIV treatment are incredibly promising. By aligning efforts, these integrated investments offer the potential to reduce the doses required to control the HIV virus even further, resulting in real benefits globally. This would enable the costs of therapy to be reduced which is particularly beneficial for resource-limited countries where the burden of disease is highest."
Source: University of Liverpool
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New Nano Approach Could Cut Dose of Leading HIV Treatment in Half - Infection Control Today
An international team of researchers has used nano-engineering to speed up the charge and recharge cycle of compact, solid-state hydrogen storage materials.
Solid metal hydrides are seen as a potential fuel source for powering hydrogen vehicles, but are usually limited by slow hydrogen uptake and release. But scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), working with colleagues from Sandia National Laboratories, Thailands Mahidol University, and the National Institute of Standards and Technology, have developed a technique to overcome this.
The researchers found that nanoconfinement infiltrating the metal hydride within a matrix of another material such as carbon can have the effect of shortening the diffusion pathways for hydrogen, making the hydride a more efficient fuel source. Using a high-capacity lithium nitride (Li3N) hydrogen storage system under nanoconfinement, they also discovered that internal nano-interfaces could alter the phases produced when the material is cycled, further boosting performance. The research is reported in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces.
The key is to get rid of the undesirable intermediate phases, which slow down the materials performance as they are formed or consumed, said Brandon Wood, an LLNL materials scientist and lead author of the paper. If you can do that, then the storage capacity kinetics dramatically improve and the thermodynamic requirements to achieve full recharge become far more reasonable.
In this material, the nano-interfaces do just that, as long as the nanoconfined particles are small enough. Its really a new paradigm for hydrogen storage, since it means that the reactions can be changed by engineering internal microstructures.
According to the team, the discovery that interfaces can play a pivotal role in hydrogen storage materials is not hugely surprising, as engineers have been exploring the same phenomenon in battery electrodes for a few years.
There is a direct analogy between hydrogen storage reactions and solid-state reactions in battery electrode materials, said Tae Wook Heo, another LLNL co-author on the study. People have been thinking about the role of interfaces in batteries for some time, and our work suggests that some of the same strategies being pursued in the battery community could also be applied to hydrogen storage.
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Compact hydrogen storage gets a boost | The Engineer - The Engineer
February 27, 2017 A new bioinspired process developed at Tufts University combines top-down and bottom-up assembly to turn silk protein into materials that are easily programmable at the nano-, micro- and macro-scales; ultralight; and robust. This web of silk nano fibers was able to sustain a load 4,000 times its own weight. Credit: Silk Lab / Tufts University
Researchers at Tufts University's School of Engineering have developed a new bioinspired technique that transforms silk protein into complex materials that are easily programmable at the nano-, micro- and macro-scales as well as ultralight and robust. Among the varied structures generated was a web of silk nano fibers able to withstand a load 4,000 times its own weight. The research is published online in Nature Nanotechnology on February 27.
Structural proteins are nature's building blocks, forming materials that provide stiffness, structure and function in biological systems. A major obstacle to fabricating comparable synthetic materials is natural materials' hierarchical structure which confers unique properties from the molecular to the macro level. When scientists try to emulate this structure, they often find that control at one scale hinders control at other scales.
The Tufts researchers combined bottom-up self-assembly characteristic of natural materials with directed, top-down assembly to simultaneously control geometry at all scales, micro-mechanical constraints and solvent-removal dynamicsall of which determine biomaterial properties.
"We generated controllable, multi-scale materials that could be readily engineered with dopant agents. While silk is our main focus, we believe this approach is applicable to other biomaterials and composites and synthetic hydrogels," said corresponding author Fiorenzo Omenetto, Ph.D., Frank C. Doble Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering. Omenetto also has an appointment in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and in the Department of Physics within the School of Arts and Sciences.
With the new technique, centimeter-scale silicone molds were patterned with micro-scale features no thicker than a human hair. An aqueous fibroin protein gel derived from silkworm cocoons was injected into the molds and then mechanically stressed by contraction of the gel in the presence of water and ethanol and/or physical deformation of the entire mold. As the system dried, the silk protein's structure naturally transformed to a more robust beta-sheet crystal. The material's final shape and mechanical properties were precisely engineered by controlling the micro-scale mold pattern, gel contraction, mold deformation and silk dehydration.
"The final result of our process is a stable architecture of aligned nano fibers, similar to natural silk but offering us the opportunity to engineer functionality into the material," said first author Peter Tseng, Ph.D., postdoctoral scholar in Omenetto's Silk Lab at Tufts' School of Engineering.
In some of the experiments the Tufts researchers doped the silk gel with gold nanoparticles which were able to transport heat when exposed to light.
Tseng noted that webs spun by spiders are structurally dense rather than porous. "In contrast, our web structure is aerated, porous and ultra-light while also robust to human touch, which may enable every-day applications in the future," he said. A 2 to 3 cm diameter web weighing approximately 2.5 mg was able to support an 11 gram weight.
Explore further: Engineers create programmable silk-based materials with embedded, pre-designed functions
More information: Peter Tseng et al, Directed assembly of bio-inspired hierarchical materials with controlled nanofibrillar architectures, Nature Nanotechnology (2017). DOI: 10.1038/nnano.2017.4
Tufts University engineers have created a new format of solids made from silk protein that can be preprogrammed with biological, chemical, or optical functions, such as mechanical components that change color with strain, ...
Half of the world's fruit and vegetable crops are lost during the food supply chain, due mostly to premature deterioration of these perishable foods, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United ...
Tufts University biomedical engineers are using low-energy, ultrafast laser technology to make high-resolution, 3-D structures in silk protein hydrogels. The laser-based micropatterning represents a new approach to customized ...
Tougher than a bullet-proof vest yet synonymous with beauty and luxury, silk fibers are a masterpiece of nature whose remarkable properties have yet to be fully replicated in the laboratory.
(Phys.org) Tufts University engineers have demonstrated that it is possible to generate nanostructures from silk in an environmentally friendly process that uses water as a developing agent and standard fabrication techniques. ...
(Phys.org) -- Research published in the peer-review Journal of the Royal Society Interface on Wednesday presents a close look at the structure and physical properties of silkworm cocoons. The papers research efforts ...
Rice University researchers have modeled a nanoscale sandwich, the first in what they hope will become a molecular deli for materials scientists.
Triboelectric nanogenerators (TENG) convert mechanical energy harvested from the environment to electricity for powering small devices such as sensors or for recharging consumer electronics. Now, researchers have harnessed ...
Researchers at Tufts University's School of Engineering have developed a new bioinspired technique that transforms silk protein into complex materials that are easily programmable at the nano-, micro- and macro-scales as ...
Sometimes, you have to go small to win big. That is the approach a multilab, interdisciplinary team took in using nanoparticles and a novel nanoconfinement system to develop a method to change hydrogen storage properties. ...
A group of researchers at Waseda University has developed processes and materials for ultrathin stick-on electronic devices using elastomeric "nanosheet" film, achieving ease of production while also preserving high elasticity ...
Beetles wear a body armor that should weigh them downthink medieval knights and turtles. In fact, those hard shells protecting delicate wings are surprisingly light, allowing even flight.
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Bioinspired process makes materials light, robust, programmable at ... - Phys.Org
A team of engineering students has a cancer-fighting idea up its sleeve and the sleeve is nanoscale.
The idea is based on a new cutting-edge research tool called DNA origami in which scientists literally fold the molecules of life into two- and three-dimensional shapes. The UC San Diego team plans to compete in Harvard's BIOMOD 2017 competition a molecular design competition for undergraduates.
Researchers have already proven that DNA origami works by folding the genetic material into shapes such as stars, smiley faces and even a bunny. However, the UC San Diego students are not folding DNA for aesthetics alone. They are breaking the double-stranded DNA formations found in nature to create molecular structures in which they hope to hide cancer drugs like a Trojan horse.
The studentsare incorporating folic acid a protein that is upregulated in cancer cells into the DNA to target the cargo to cancer cells.
Researchers all over the world are exploring the applications of DNA origami in fields like therapeutics and bioelectronics. Were applying it to targeted drug delivery, said Raina Borum, a fourth year nanoengineering major and the team lead for the project.
The team chose to design a sleevethink Christmas stockingto carry the hidden cargo. But the shape isnt what makes the design unique.
Whats really unique about our project is that we are incorporating folic acida protein that is upregulated in cancer cellsinto the sleeve of DNA to target the cargo to the cancer cell, said Borum. Folic acid is a protein that scientists look for when determining the presence of cancer. The further along a cancer is, the higher the density of the folic acid receptor on the cell surface.
The students believe that by weaving folic acid into the DNA sleeve, the cargo will be taken up exclusively by cancer cells. And, since DNA is a naturally occurring substance in cells, it wont be rejected.
Because double-stranded DNA is made up of complementary nucleic acid base pairs, scientists have figured out how to deliberately position small staple strands of DNA alongside a longer scaffold strand and cause it to self-assemble into two- and three-dimensional nanostructures.
Knowing that DNA is negatively charged, the students hypothesize that it will bind tightly to a positively charged nanoparticle incorporating the cancer drug.
The team is competing in BIOMOD, a molecular design competition hosted by Harvard that has generated impressive results in the past. Previous winners have used DNA, RNA, and proteins as building blocks to create autonomous robots, molecular computers, and prototypes for nanoscale therapeutics.
The UC San Diego teams goals are just as big, if not bigger.
Alejandro Alva, a fourth year nanoengineering major, joined the team because of complications with his scoliosis surgery. During the summer between my sophomore and junior year of high school, I underwent a scoliosis repair surgery. The surgery left me with nerve damage and two spinal cord injuries. I became determined to change this for future generations and wanted to push myself to study a newer and more cutting-edge field of engineering. I hope to one day invent ways to make surgeries less invasive and ease the replacement of lungs or other organs. I joined this team in order to get exposure to the field of nanomedicine and begin my journey to better the lives of others.
For Borum, the project has been a highlight of her time at UC San Diego.
Being a part of this team has been incredibly empowering, she said. Im surrounded by students with polished communication skills and extensive backgrounds in medical and nanoscale engineering. To now call them my friends is even more special.
And for another student on the team, it means keeping a promise.
I made a promise to my mom when I came here that I would help cure diseases, said Hamid Razavi, a transfer student from Iran majoring in nanoengineering who is also on the team. When I heard about this project, I knew I could keep that promise.
The team also consists of second year bioengineering studentKyo Johnny Koo, and fourth year nanoengineering students Zandra Rojo and Quyen Hoang.
UC San Diego NanoEngineering professor Yi Chen is a faculty mentor. Another mentor is former nanoengineering professor Sadik Esener, who is now director of the Center for Early Detection Research at the OHSU Knight Cancer Institute.
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Engineering undergrads use DNA origami to target cancer - University of California
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (NYSE:TSM), the largest pure-play contract chip manufacturer, reportedly said (per DigiTimes) that it intends to begin "risk production" of chips using its 5-nanometer technology in the "first half of 2019."
It usually takes about a year from risk-production start to mass-production start, so if TSMC achieves this timeline, it should begin volume production of chips using its 5-nanometer technology in the first half of 2020.
Image source: Intel.
What does this mean for TSMC investors and customers? Let's take a closer look.
Chip manufacturers have historically tried to advance their respective manufacturing technologies at a regular pace prescribed by what is commonly referred to as Moore's Law.
According to this "law," the number of transistors (chips are made up of millions, if not billions, of transistors these days) that can be crammed into a given chip area doubles roughly every 24-months.
Since TSMC plans to begin mass production on its 7-nanometer technology in the first half of 2018, mass production of its 5-nanometer technology -- which should deliver a doubling of transistor density compared to its 7-nanometer technology -- the company is essentially following Moore's Law (something that's becoming much more difficult to do these days).
TSMC needs to be able to deliver new manufacturing technologies at a rapid pace to satisfy the needs of its major customers. These newer technologies allow the company's customers to cram in more features and functionality all while improving power efficiency -- a clear win for performance/power sensitive applications like high-end smartphone and data center processors.
TSMC has said in the past that it aims to continue to grow its market share with each successive manufacturing technology; if the company can deliver on its stated timeline for 5-nanometer tech, then it should offer industry-leading chip density with this technology.
Investors must keep an eye on what TSMC's key rivals in the contract chip manufacturing business --Samsung (NASDAQOTH:SSNLF) and GlobalFoundries -- ultimately manage to deliver, but it seems to me that TSMC is right on track to continue to have compelling enough technology to maintain or grow market share in advanced technologies.
In the past, chipmakers have run into difficulties transitioning to newer manufacturing technologies -- this stuff is getting harder with each successive generation. As good as TSMC's recent track record has been vis-a-vis technology transitions, there's always going to be some level of execution risk here.
Fortunately, TSMC tends to be very transparent with its investors, offering regular technology development and manufacturing ramp updates on its quarterly earnings calls. So, if there are any issues/delays, then I would expect TSMC to disclose those to investors in a timely fashion.
For what it's worth, given the immense pressure that TSMC likely faces to keep Apple happy, I think that the odds are extremely good that we will see iPhone models launched in 2020 that will be powered by chips manufactured in TSMC's 5-nanometer technology.
Ashraf Eassa has no position in any stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool owns shares of and recommends Apple. The Motley Fool has the following options: long January 2018 $90 calls on Apple and short January 2018 $95 calls on Apple. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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Taiwan Semiconductor Mfg. Co. Ltd. Says 5-Nano Tech to Enter Risk Production in 2019 - Motley Fool
NewsFeb 27, 2017 | Original Story from the Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC)
Small bubbles frequently form on membranes of cells and are taken up into their interior. The process involves EHD proteins, a focus of research by Prof. Oliver Daumke of the MDC. He and his team have now shed light on how these proteins assemble on the surface of a cell and reshape its membrane.
Fairground entertainers can transform simple balloons into elaborate figures with just a few twists. They do this by pinching off sections of the balloons surface a method similar to that used by cells to create small bubbles known as vesicles for the transport of molecules. Vesicles are used to take up nutrients and play an important role in the transmission of neural signals.
Molecular machines reshape the membrane
EHD proteins are one type of molecular machine responsible for the creation of vesicles. These proteins bind themselves to the inside of a cell membrane, where they form long chains and ring-like structures. The rings then invaginate the membrane, contract like a drawstring, and, finally, detach the vesicle from the surface of the cell.
Oliver Daumke of the Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine in the Helmholtz Association (MDC) is investigating the function and spatial structure of these EHD proteins. In an earlier study, he and his team analyzed the three-dimensional structure of EHDs in an inactive form i.e. not bound to the membrane. Until now, scientists did not know how EHD proteins become activated, attach to the membrane and shape it into tubular structures. The protein flips open to reveal specialized regions
Together with international colleagues, Daumke and his PhD student Arthur Alves de Melo have now published an article in the current issue of the scientific journal PNAS that describes the active form of this molecular EHD machine that which occurs when it comes into contact with the membrane. Comparing the active and inactive protein structures, they discovered that EHD molecules flip open when they bind to the membrane, exposing specialized regions. One of these regions allows them to organize in extended chains and ring-like structures. Another region reorients toward the membrane and anchors the molecular machines on the cell surface.
With this work, Daumkes team has now described two steps in the operation of EHDs. To understand the complete operating cycle and thus the full function of these molecular EHD machines, we must now analyze various other states, he says. That is a task for the coming years.
Reference: Melo, A. A., Hegde, B. G., Shah, C., Larsson, E., Isas, J. M., Kunz, S., Daumke, O. (2017). Structural insights into the activation mechanism of dynamin-like EHD ATPases. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. doi:10.1073/pnas.1614075114
This article has been republished frommaterialsprovided bythe Max Delbrck Center for Molecular Medicine. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.
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Transhumanism is one of those technologies that boggles most peoples minds. Do not be mistaken in thinking this has anything to do with being transgender, as transhumanists seek to improve their human capacities beyond what is assumed to be possible. They do so by using top-of-the-line technologies, rather than gadgets or other electronics. Most of these technologies go by unnoticed, which is why we have compiled a brief list below.
Some people may have heard of this technology before. Cryonics is a high-fidelity preservation of the human body after death. The primary reason why anyone would enter a cryogenic sleep is to anticipate a potential future revival. This technology has been widely available for some time, albeit it is rather on the expensive side. Through cryonics, it is feasible to stop cells from decaying. Moreover, the process requires no electricity to do so.
Tampering with the human bodys genes sounds rather risky, but significant advancements have been made in recent years. Gene therapy effectively replaces bad genes with good ones, which allows us to manipulate our genetic code. Scientists have discovered a way to remove genes coding for specific metabolic proteins, ensuring the host remains slim and fit at all times.
Anti-aging therapy is heavily influenced by gene therapy as well and it is believed scientists will eventually reach the longevity escape velocity soon. As a result, humans may become subject to indefinite lifespans. Whether or not that is a positive development, remains to be seen, though.
Introducing cyber enhancements to the human body remains a very risky business to this very day. Implants and other electronics can address a lot of problems our bodies are faced with. Cybernetics are designed in such a way they will be invisible to the casual observer, as they reside beneath the hosts skin. Most current bio modifications are all external, as we have covered in a previous article. Cybernetic systems will improve our everyday experience and even boost the economy as humans will be able to do more work in less time.
While a lot of people are concerned over what the future will bring in terms of robotics, self-replicating robots may be the least of our concerns right now. Replacing manual labor with robots doing the task for us seems like a no-brainer, albeit it will cause some job losses. Self-replicating robots, on the other hand, would be quite beneficial. For example, they can turn uninhabitable areas into living spaces, clean up waste generated by us humans, or even pave the way for human colonization of space.
As creepy as this concept may sound at first, mind uploading or nonbiological intelligence can be quite valuable to our society. Implementing cognitive processing on anything that is not human would be a massive breakthrough. The general public is not too keen of this concept, even though our minds are by far our greatest assets. Synthetic brains are not impossible to achieve by any means, although a lot of research is required before this can become a reality.
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Top 5 Transhumanist Technologies With Major Implications - The Merkle
moneytips.com , KSDK 8:35 AM. CST February 27, 2017
Was your Social Security claim denied by the Social Security Administration (SSA)? It is your right to appeal the decision, and now you have an even easier method of doing so. As of December 10, 2016, the SSA allows you to file an appeal online for both medical and non-medical issues to dispute adverse actions or denials of a claim. (Non-medical appeals cover issues such as disputes over Medicare premium rates and cases of overpayment.)
The online appeals process extends to recipients living outside the US. Prior to the online process, appeal options were limited and often impractical for those in other countries.
The SSA online appeal site walks you through the appeal process in a user-friendly fashion. The initial menu allows you to choose between medical decisions or non-medical decisions, as well as allowing you to resume a medical appeal that you had already started.
Before you begin the online appeal process, make sure that you have the necessary supporting documents (forms, medical reports, written statements, and legal documents) to process your appeal. Further information on required documents may be found on the SSA website.
Generally, supporting documents may be uploaded through the website, so make sure you have all of your documents in a suitable electronic form for uploading. However, SSA only accepts original or certified copies of some documents; those will need to be mailed into the SSA (or brought into the SSA office if you prefer but in that case why bother with an online appeal?).
SSA estimates that medical appeals should take from 40 to 60 minutes assuming a suitable Internet connection. Non-medical appeals should take less time, approximately 25 minutes.
The online site for non-medical appeals saves answers automatically as you proceed through the process, but you cannot exit the application and come back to complete it later. The medical appeal site also saves answers automatically, but it does allow you to take a break and return to an appeal that has been saved in progress.
The SSA will contact you if there are any questions or updates regarding your appeal. If you have a personal appointed representative for your SSA claim, make sure that his or her contact information is also included with your submitted information.
You can check the status of your appeal from the submissions page at any time. A simple click of a button will direct you to My Social Security, where you can log in to your personal page (or create one if you do not already have one established).
Keep in mind that the same time limits apply to online submissions as they do to other methods. Generally, you have sixty days from the date of receipt of the letter that informs you about the decision. The SSA assumes that you received the letter within five days of the date on the letter. If you received it later than five days beyond the letter date, keep that limitation in mind.
For any other questions regarding the general appeal process, refer to the Social Security Publication "Your Right To Question The Decision Made On Your Claim".
You still have the traditional options of appealing by phone or in person at your nearest Social Security Administration office, if you prefer. We hope you don't have to dispute a Social Security claim at all, but if you do, at least you have choices on the method to use.
Read our article on what you need to get the Social Security benefits you deserve to learn more about the four levels of appeal and the supporting documents you need to submit for your case to be re-evaluated.
This article was provided by our partners at moneytips.com.
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New York Times | A Facebook-Style Shift in How Science Is Shared New York Times That is what Ijad Madisch, who founded the social network ResearchGate with three partners in 2008, had in mind when he ditched his budding scientific research career in Massachusetts to return home to Germany to build his start-up in Berlin's fast ... |
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A Facebook-Style Shift in How Science Is Shared - New York Times
Technology never stands still, both in invention and execution. One of the newest trends is also one of the most misleading because of the term: Serverless computing. The term suggests that no back-end servers are used when that is not at all the case. It just means servers are no longer your concern.
The first wave of the move away from servers is well underway with the move from on-premises hardware in company data centers toward renting compute capacity from Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) vendors like Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure.
The promise was straightforward and simple: developers can rent capacity as needed and shut it down when they are done. They can "spin up" a virtual server on AWS or Azure in just a few minutes, with the defined amount of CPU cores, memory, storage, and necessary software, as opposed to waiting weeks to order a server and install it in the company data center.
This has helped speed up development, reduce headaches, and save some money. This took a lot of the load off the IT department, but developers still had the task of setting up the virtual server on AWS/Azure/whatever provider, and they may not always know the best way to configure the server.
Enter serverless computing, the next step in the move to IaaS. With serverless computing, rather than allocating virtual machines and deploying code to them, the development team just uploads its code, called functions because they perform a single function, and lets the PaaS vendor figure out how to best deploy and run those functions.
The benefits are huge, says Torsten Volk, managing research Director with Enterprise Management Associates, an IT consultancy. "Coders dont have to worry about scalability and high availability, you only pay for the time your code runs, instead of reserving EC2 resources for an ongoing time period, and setup is almost instant. Create code and give it a try," he said.
Jim Sherhart, product marketing manager for AWS at Amazon, says there are four major benefits to going serverless: 1) There are no servers to provision or manage. You just bring your code. 2) Automatic scaling. Amazon's Lambda serverless service scales your application by running code in response to each trigger 3) Availability is taken care of by Lambda. 4) You only pay for what you use. You dont pay when your code isnt executing.
Peter Horadan, CTO and executive vice president of engineering at tax software firm Avalara, said the cost savings are a big deal. "People overprovision for machinery on AWS. In serverless, that's 100% gone. You dont preallocate any resources to run your function. You upload it and say when this event happens, run my function. If it happens once a day, it runs it once a day and that's all you pay for," he said
Getting completely out of the business of preallocating resources has yielded ten-fold to 100-fold savings in costs, he said. "And you get out of the hard work of thinking about what resources do you need. They have auto scaling systems. You just dont think about it you just upload your code and don't have to think about how to scale it," said Horadan.
"In many ways, serverless is a natural evolution of PaaS. Serverless offers a fully managed platform that frees developers from the need to worry about servers and allow developers to focus on the application and not the machines running it. Serverless enables developers to build applications quicker and easier as well as takes care of a lot of the operational and management work," said Yochay Kiriaty, principle program manager for Azure Functions at Microsoft.
But there are a few downsides. It's a different way of coding and not all runtimes are available on AWS. There is not yet a well-integrated means for easy debugging, and security needs to be evaluated, said Volk.
Horadan said serverless is great for a simple task like processing a Web page or an image. That's a simple function. The whole idea behind serverless is it's a discrete piece of software functionality that does something fairly small in response to an event.
That means it can't handle anything complex. "For today, it's for simple tasks only. It really works well with small tasks. A large program with lots of functions linked together is more difficult to use, but those are problems people are figuring out with tooling," he said.
Craig Lowery, research director at Gartner, said in a research paper that function Platform-as-a-Service (fPaaS), which is where serverless computing fits, is still nascent and lacking in complete tooling and best practices for streamlined, repeatable and successful software development activities.
"Although current fPaaS implementations are lacking, the value of the model has been clearly demonstrated, maps naturally to microservice software architecture, and is on a trajectory of growth and increased adoption," he added. Gartner projects that by 2020, organizations making the most effective use of public cloud infrastructure as a service (IaaS) will use a combination of VMs, containers and fPaaS.
With that in mind, Microsoft's Kiriaty said the beauty of serverless is that it really is for any developer. "We created Azure Functions with that in mind, supporting popular developer languages including F#, PowerShell, PHP, Python, CMD, BAT and Bash. Its not about who shouldnt use serverless but instead considering the right use cases for the task at hand," he said.
His competitor at Amazon agrees. "Serverless architectures are suitable for a range of applications. There is no single use case or industry where customers would not see the benefits it offers," said Sherhart.
In the near future, Horadan thinks improved tooling will be the next big step forward for serverless. "Today you can only upload small pieces of functionality. If one calls another you have to wire them together. In a traditional program, the compiler would do it. And there's also the issue of which versions of the function are being called. So it's really tooling, and it's a solvable problem. I expect to see a lot of these problems get solved over time," he said.
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If you drink more alcohol than you want to or should, you're not alone. A nationwide survey by the National Institutes of Health found that 28 percent of adults in the U.S. are heavy drinkers or drink more than is recommended.
Yet, most heavy drinkers don't get the help they need.
"The biggest problem we have in the field is that less than 10 percent of individuals with an alcohol use disorder get any treatment whatsoever," says George Koob, director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.
Part of the challenge, researchers say, is that many drinkers don't realize that a medicine long used to help people addicted to opioids quit their drug habit can help alcoholics and other heavy drinkers cut back, too.
"I thought my only option was AA," John tells NPR. We've agreed to use only his middle name; disclosing his trouble with alcohol publicly, he says, would jeopardize his business.
He's a 47-year-old professional who says he started out as a social drinker a few beers with his softball team after a game. But he sank into a deep depression after several deaths in his family, and sought "solace in the bottle," he says.
"I wanted to numb my thoughts," says John.
He'd often start with hard liquor in the morning, John says, and it wasn't uncommon to have eight drinks or more before the end of the day.
He worked from home, so he was able to mask the problem for a while. But eventually his wife confronted him.
"She had come home and I was rushing to hide a glass and she was furious with me," he recalls. "Just absolutely furious."
He went to see Paula DeSanto, a therapist and director of Minnesota Alternatives, in Spring Lake Park, Minn. The center provides outpatient mental health and substance use treatment services.
"I would say John's story is not unique," DeSanto tells us. "A lot of people are reluctant."
Sometimes, traditional treatments such as residential rehab or a 12-step program like Alcoholics Anonymous "can [lead to] a significant disruption in their lives," she explains. "There's stigma, shame and embarrassment."
DeSanto suggested a different approach to John. To help work through the loss and grief he was feeling, counseling can help, she told him. She also recommended he try naltrexone, a prescription drug.
"Naltrexone is an effective medication for the treatment of alcohol use disorders," says Koob. He points to a recent meta-analysis published in the journal Addiction that concluded that naltrexone helped reduce heavy drinking and cravings for alcohol.
The analysis included data from 64 clinical trials in which people were given either the medication or a placebo pill to test the effectiveness of the treatment. The analysis also found that another drug, acamprosate, is effective at helping people who have already stopped drinking to maintain abstinence, perhaps partly by easing the physical and emotional cravings experienced by heavy drinkers who quit.
So, how does naltrexone work? The drug seems to curb the euphoric and sedative effects of opiates in the brain. Alcohol is known to activate some of the same receptors in the brain that opioids do, and studies find that by tempering the pleasure from alcohol, naltrexone can help people drink less.
"It blunts the effects of alcohol," says Koob. "People [who use naltrexone] will say they have a drink, and it's not doing much for them."
That was exactly John's experience. After taking the naltrexone pill, he didn't get the buzz he was used to getting, so didn't want to keep drinking. "I actually didn't feel the alcohol's effects," he says. "It was startling."
It's now been about five months since he started taking the medication. He has not stopped drinking completely, but says he has cut way back.
"This is helping me," John says. "I can go out with friends and not worry that I'm going to end up inebriated or sloppy."
According to the findings of a recent review, both naltrexone and acamprosate, are safe, cost-effective and efficacious. But they are substantially underused, according to the review.
Many physicians are "unaware that there are medications to treat alcohol use disorders," says Koob. His institute is stepping up efforts to work with the medical community on that front, he says, and is also touting Rethinking Drinking, a website aimed at consumers that offers the latest research-based information on a range of treatment options.
Any health care provider who is licensed to prescribe medicine can prescribe naltrexone not just mental health professionals or addiction specialists. As as long ago as 1997, a published study showed that treatment of alcohol dependence with naltrexone by primary care doctors can be effective; follow-up research has confirmed that the primary care approach not only works, but makes treatment much more accessible.
According to the NIAAA, "patients can now receive effective alcohol treatment from their primary care doctors or mental health practitioners by combining the newer medications with a series of brief office visits for support."
Naltrexone is certainly not a cure-all, researchers say. And it won't help everyone who has a drinking problem especially if the disorder is severe.
"I use these medications as an adjunct to therapy, and group [sessions] and 12-step meetings" says Dr. Jeffrey Hsu, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins University who is certified in addiction medicine. He says that when used alone the medicines are only modestly effective.
But there's good evidence that the combination of counseling and drugs such as naltrexone can help people cut back on drinking, or move toward abstinence.
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A Medicine That Blunts Opioids Can Help Problem Drinkers, Too ... - NPR
(Reuters Health) - Women are less likely than men to gain sponsorship from their mentors in academic medicine, a survey of National Institutes of Health (NIH) grant recipients suggests.
"The best way to summarize the distinction between mentorship and sponsorship is as follows: a mentor talks with you; a sponsor talks about you, Dr. Reshma Jagsi from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, told Reuters Health in an email.
The new findings, she said, "suggest that differences in sponsorship may help explain some of the sex differences we see in the outcomes of careers in (medicine).
Jagsi and colleagues surveyed 995 researchers who had won NIH Mentored Career Development grants and who remained in academic medicine, to determine if sponsorship differs among men and women.
More men (77 percent) than women (71 percent) reported any sponsorship experience, as well as specific sponsorship opportunities, the research team reported in JAMA Internal Medicine.
Sponsorship was significantly associated with success: 73 percent of men and 59 percent of women who reported sponsorship were successful, compared with 58 percent of men and 49 percent of women who did not report sponsorship.
We need to recognize the importance of sponsorship in developing the future leaders of academic medicine, Jagsi said. Those in positions to serve as sponsors should actively consider all promising young faculty with whom they interact, and not necessarily just those who remind them of themselves or come to mind most quickly.
Also, she said, "junior faculty who hope one day to lead the field should recognize the importance of cultivating sponsors who are willing to risk their own reputations to give them visible opportunities to demonstrate their abilities."
Dr. Rita F. Redberg from University of California, San Francisco, who coauthored an editorial related to this report, told Reuters Health by email, I was most surprised that both women and men mentors are less likely to sponsor woman mentees than man mentees. To me, this drives home how pervasive and how deeply our differential treatment of the sexes is ingrained. I am sure this difference was not conscious or intentional by the mentors, but a problem for women nonetheless.
I hope that articles like these that raise the consciousness about disparities in opportunities and treatment by sex will be an important step towards changing the behaviors, she said. The article certainly has had an impact on me, and I have been actively working to promote opportunities for women in medicine for more than 20 years without specifically thinking of this sponsorship issue.
Dr. Anne K. Monroe from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine in Baltimore earlier reported on the gender disparity in top leadership positions in academic medicine. She told Reuters Health by email, "These sponsorship opportunities are associated with academic success, and its important to promote equity in achieving success. Thankfully, it is possible to increase sponsorship, which can potentially lead to meaningful advances for women in academic medicine.
She suggested three possibilities for change: 1) Bring transparency to the selection process for leadership positions . . . and give all interested parties the opportunity to apply. 2) Develop systems so that (senior people meet with junior people) to determine types of opportunities that are of interest . . . (and) then sponsor them for those roles. 3) Formally recognize sponsorship . . . the Department of Medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine now awards an annual Sponsorship Award for demonstrating commitment to supporting and advancing women faculty and fellows by acting as a sponsor.
If you are senior faculty member in an influential role, i.e., someone who controls resources and makes leadership decisions, you have the power to shape the gender and racial makeup of leadership positions in your institution, Dr. Monroe said. For junior faculty, recognize the types of opportunities that support your professional advancement and ask to be sponsored for them.
SOURCE: bit.ly/2kQElNY and bit.ly/2lJEVfA JAMA Internal Medicine, online February 20, 2017.
ZURICH Roche is starting a second late-stage trial of investigational Alzheimer's drug crenezumab that it is developing with Swiss biotech AC Immune, shrugging off failures of similar drugs against the memory-robbing disease.
The world's top agricultural traders and biotechnology firms are finding novel ways to make fish oil substitutes from grains and algae as they seek to cash in on consumer health fads that have led to a scarcity of the fatty acids commonly found in fish.
WASHINGTON The top Democrat in the U.S. Senate predicted on Monday that Republicans would fall short of their stated goal of repealing former Democratic President Barack Obama's signature healthcare law.
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Gender disparity in academic medicine sponsorship | Reuters - Reuters
If you want to sell an idea an opponent is helpful, especially if what youre selling cannot stand on its own merit. For example, homeopathy creator Samuel Hahnemann had trouble proving his provings offered anything beyond a placebo response. Given his reservations against the medical industrymany complaints were crediblehe dubbed any treatment offered by the conventional system allopathic.
Unfortunately for Hahnemann his philosophythe less of an active ingredient remains the more powerful a remedy is (once you reach 13c on the homeopathic scale there is no longer any active ingredient left)is nonsense. While today homeopaths still use allopathic as a derogatory sleight against mainstream medicine, theyre only shadowboxing an invisible enemy.
Alternative medicine, which includes homeopathy as well as vitamin and supplement companies and a number of other therapeutic modalities, is a $34 billion a year industry. While these companies enjoy the fruits of loose, and in many cases non-existent, regulations, their argument against allopaths is not the cry of the oppressed, but the desperate pleas of businesses concerned with their bottom lines.
Medicine is medicine. As pediatrician Paul Offit writes,
Theres no such thing as conventional or alternative or complementary or integrative or holistic medicine. Theres only medicine that works and medicine that does not.
This does not stop the irrational stream of unproven (or disproven) therapies arising from the holistic and wellness sphere. While pharmaceuticals and the companies producing them have their own problems, the rigorous standards of multiple trials, years of development and research, and millions of dollars spent are absent in the vitamin aisle of Whole Foods.
Yet many pharmaceuticals are based on similar or even the same botanical substances. At a public hearing on homeopathic product regulation on April 20, 2015, Adriane Fugh-Berman, an associate professor in Georgetowns Department of Pharmacology and Physiology, points out that homeopathic remedies can contain snake venom, heavy metals, controlled substances, [and] glandular extracts that would be considered dangerous if subject to federal regulation.
She points out that Guna Interleukin 12 is labeled for usage as a pain reliever and anti-inflammatory agent for autoimmune disorders. The remedy contains ingredients usually placed under intense scrutiny when used by pharmaceutical companies, but since the producer, Guna Interleukin Remedies, sidesteps regulation by utilizing the homeopathic loophole, consumers are ingesting potentially dangerous dosages.
When I asked the FDA why this oversight exists, press officer Lyndsay Meyer referred me to her agencys regulations, which refer to the unique nature of these drug products. Thanks to an amendment in 1983, homeopathic drugs are exempt from the requirement for laboratory determination of identity and strength of each active ingredient prior to release for distribution.
Hahnemann believed the less of a substance in the remedy, the stronger it is. Thus a partially diluted proving is not that strong while one containing no active ingredients is very powerful. Problem is, active ingredients matter. A recent report notes that one homeopathic teething pill resulted in more than 370 adverse reactions in children over a ten-year period.
This supposedly weak remedy is labeled 6X, meaning some of the active ingredients remains. One ingredient, Belladonna, is diluted at 12X (still active in mixture), which has a series of side effects, including GI infections and blockage, increased high blood pressure, and increased fever.
As Offit reports, 50 percent of Americans use alternative medicines while 10 percent give it to their children. While the FTC stepped in last year to plug a regulatory hole in homeopathic labeling, the legalese used by vitamin and supplement makers is confusing to consumers who read the large type on bottles and think their flu symptoms will be alleviated or, worse, that chelation cures cancer.
As health and wellness are wrapped into the fitness industry the science is only getting more confused. Just yesterday I walked by a center in Santa Monica that offers aerial silk and yoga classes, massage therapy, and IV vitamin drips. For $175 an hour you can have high doses of vitamin C, zinc, and lysine pumped into your bloodstream after Pilates, even though elevated levels of all three of those substances can cause numerous gastro-intestinal problems. Distrust in one doctor should not imply blind faith in another.
While supplements, vitamins, and superfoods are touted as cancer-fighting, antioxidant-boosting wonder drugs, the science is less enthusiastic. Offit writes,
Studies have now shown that people who take large quantities of vitamins and dietary supplements with antioxidant activity are more likely to have cancer and heart disease and die sooner.
Hahnemann helped inspire a holism movement championing Hippocratic philosophy during an important transition in medical history. The emergence of biochemistry, neuroscience, germ theory, disease specification, and molecular genetics made the invisible world visible. Widespread usage of antibiotics and vaccines offered humans an evolutionary thrust forward in biological knowledge. Suddenly a hostile planet became that much less daunting.
Yet a growing suspicion of corporate and political interests in the sixties inspired a new wave of holism thats gaining strength a half-century later. Were right to be wary of corporate agendas and political mismanagement when it comes to healthcare. Still, this does not excuse an entire industry pimping products with little to no scientific backing thats taking advantage of regulatory loopholes.
The reality is the most basic advicemove often and diversely; eat a balanced, whole foods dietis boring in an age of immediate gratification. People would rather sprint with a wonder-pill than put their head down for a marathon, and too many charlatans are stepping in to pretend theyve developed that pill.
As Offit concludes, theres a problem when we celebrate Suzanne Somersa saleswoman and industry unto herselfwhile only occasionally acknowledging the groundbreaking work of Siddhartha Mukherjee, a biological scientist, physician, and Pulitzer Prize-winning author. There are many incredible men and woman devoted to finding medicine that works. The alternative is suffering, something many companies and hucksters willfully champion at a time when we can all use less of it.
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Derek's next book,Whole Motion: Training Your Brain and Body For Optimal Health, will be published on 7/4/17 by Carrel/Skyhorse Publishing. He is based in Los Angeles. Stay in touch onFacebookandTwitter.
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