Heart attack risk increases 16-21% with use of common antacid

 

Recent studies show increased risk of heart attack for people who use proton pump inhibitors to control GERD and other excess-acid issues. Adults who use proton pump inhibitors are between 16 and 21 percent more likely to experience a heart attack than people who don't use the commonly prescribed antacid drugs, according to a massive new study by Houston Methodist and Stanford University scientists. An examination of 16 million clinical documents representing 2.9 million patients also showed that patients who use a different type of antacid drug called an H2 blocker have no increased heart attack risk. The findings, reported in PLOS ONE, follow a Circulation report in 2013 in which scientists showed how -- at a molecular level -- PPIs might cause long-term cardiovascular disease and increase a patient's heart attack risk. "Our earlier work identified that the PPIs can adversely affect the endothelium, the Teflon-like lining of the blood vessels," said John Cooke, M.D., Ph.D., a senior author of the PLOS ONE report. "That observation led us to hypothesize that anyone taking PPIs may be at greater risk for heart attack. Accordingly, in two large populations of patients, we asked what happened to people that were on PPIs versus other medications for the stomach." The PLOS ONE study's principal investigator was Stanford vascular medicine specialist Nicholas J. Leeper, M.D. In the present study, the researchers found a clear and significant association between exposure to PPIs and the occurrences of heart attack. "By looking at data from people who were given PPI drugs primarily for acid reflux and had no prior history of heart disease, our data-mining pipeline signals an association with a higher rate of heart attacks," said the PLOS ONE report's lead author, Nigam H. Shah, M.B.B.S., Ph.D., an assistant professor of biomedical informatics at Stanford, where the work was done. "Our results demonstrate that PPIs appear to be associated with elevated risk of heart attack in the general population, and H2 blockers show no such association." The estimated increase of heart attack risk ranges from 16 to 21 percent, because of uncertainty in the estimation process, Shah said. The FDA estimates about 1 in 14 Americans has used proton pump inhibitors. In 2009, PPIs were the third-most taken type of drug in the U.S., and are believed to account for $13 billion in annual global sales. Doctors prescribe PPIs to treat a wide range of disorders, including gastro-esophageal reflux disease, or GERD, infection by the ulcer-causing bacterium Helicobacter pylori, Zollinger-Ellison syndrome, and Barrett's esophagus. The drugs can also be purchased over the counter. PPIs come in a variety of slightly different chemical forms, always ending with the suffix "-prazole," for example, omeprazole or lansoprazole. Brand examples of PPIs are Nexium, Prilosec, and PrevAcid. H2 blockers are another type of antacid drug. They are not believed to be associated with increased risk of heart attack or cardiovascular disease. Examples of the drug are cimetidine and ranitidine. Brand examples of H2 blockers are Zantac and Tagamet. The researchers collected data from two repositories -- STRIDE (Stanford Translational Research Integrated Database Environment), which contains information about 1.8 million Stanford hospital and clinic patients, and a subset of information for 1.1 million patients from the Web-based electronic medical records company Practice Fusion, Inc. Both sources of patient information were anonymized before the researchers accessed the data. The group scanned the databases for patients who were prescribed proton pump inhibitors or other drugs, such as H2 blockers, and also looked to see if a given patient had a mention of having experienced a major cardiovascular event, such as myocardial infarction (heart attack), in their medical record. Patients who had used PPIs were found to be at 1.16-1.21-fold-increased risk of heart attack. Scrutiny of PPIs has only increased with time. Initially it was believed PPIs only posed a risk to a very narrow subset of patients -- those with coronary artery disease who were using the anti-platelet drug clopidogrel to prevent future heart attacks. "Investigators originally assumed this was due to a drug-drug interaction between these compounds, and the FDA went so far as to release a warning about their concomitant use," said Nicholas Leeper. A 2013 report to Circulation by several of the present report's coauthors, including Cooke, raised the possibility that PPIs could lead to cardiovascular disease in the general population. "This led us to use powerful 'big-data' approaches to try to determine whether PPIs might in fact be associated with risk in 'all comers,' Leeper said. "Our report raises concerns that these drugs -- which are available over the counter and are among the most commonly prescribed drugs in the world -- may not be as safe as we previously assumed." In the future, the researchers say they hope to conduct a large, prospective, randomized trial to determine whether PPIs are harmful to a broader population of patients. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by Houston Methodist. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: Nigam H. Shah, Paea LePendu, Anna Bauer-Mehren, Yohannes T. Ghebremariam, Srinivasan V. Iyer, Jake Marcus, Kevin T. Nead, John P. Cooke, Nicholas J. Leeper. Proton Pump Inhibitor Usage and the Risk of Myocardial Infarction in the General Population. PLOS ONE, 2015; 10 (6): e0124653 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0124653

3D printing with metals achieved

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 9:25am University of Twente A copper micro-pillar with a height of 0.86 mm and a width of 0.005 mm. The pillar is formed from drops that had a diameter of 0.001 mm. With this technique, more complex shapes can also be printed. A team of researchers from the Univ. of Twente has found a way to 3D print structures of copper and gold, by stacking microscopically small metal droplets. These droplets are made by melting a thin metal film using a pulsed laser. Their work is published by Advanced Materials. 3D printing is a rapidly advancing field, that is sometimes referred to as the “new cornerstone of the manufacturing industry”. However, at present, 3D printing is mostly limited to plastics. If metals could be used for 3D printing as well, this would open a wide new range of possibilities. Metals conduct electricity and heat very well, and they're very robust. Therefore, 3D printing in metals would allow manufacturing of entirely new devices and components, such as small cooling elements or connections between stacked chips in smartphones. However, metals melt at a high temperature. This makes controlled deposition of metal droplets highly challenging. Thermally robust nozzles are required to process liquid metals, but these are hardly available. For small structures in particular (from 100 nm to 10 um) no good solutions for this problem existed yet. Researchers from FOM and the Univ. of Twente now made a major step towards high-resolution metal printing. They used laser light to melt copper and gold into micrometer-sized droplets and deposited these in a controlled manner. In this method, a pulsed laser is focused on a thin metal film that locally melts and deforms into a flying drop. The researchers then carefully position this drop onto a substrate. By repeating the process, a 3-D structure is made. For example, the researchers stacked thousands of drops to form micro-pillars with a height of 2 mm and a diameter of 5 um. They also printed vertical electrodes in a cavity, as well as lines of copper. In effect, virtually any shape can be printed by smartly choosing the location of the drop impact. High energy In this study, the researchers used a surprisingly high laser energy in comparison to earlier work, to increase the impact velocity of the metal droplets. When these fast droplets impact onto the substrate, they deform into a disk shape and solidify in that form. The disk shape is essential for a sturdy 3D print: It allows the researchers to firmly stack the droplets on top of each other. In previous attempts, physicists used low laser energies. This allowed them to print smaller drops, but the drops stayed spherical, which meant that a stack of solidified droplets was less stable. In their article, the researchers explain which speed is required to achieve the desired drop shape. They had previously predicted this speed for different laser energies and materials. This means that the results can be readily translated to other metals as well. One remaining problem is that the high laser energy also results in droplets landing on the substrate next to the desired location. At present this cannot be prevented. In future work the team will investigate this effect, to enable clean printing with metals, gels, pastas or extremely thick fluids. Source: University of Twente

Boron compounds for OLEDs

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 11:15am Goethe University. Frankfurt Image: GUMajor Customized organic molecules enable the production of lightweight, mechanically flexible electronic components that are perfectly adapted to individual applications are shown. advances in the field of organic electronics are currently revolutionizing previously silicon-dominated semiconductor technology. Customized organic molecules enable the production of lightweight, mechanically flexible electronic components that are perfectly adapted to individual applications. Chemists at the Goethe Univ. have now developed a new class of organic luminescent materials through the targeted introduction of boron atoms into the molecular structures. The compounds described in Angewandte Chemie feature an intensive blue fluorescence and are therefore of interest for use in organic light-emitting diodes (LED's). Carbon in the form of graphite conducts the electrical current in a similar way to a metal. In addition, its two-dimensional shape, the graphene layer, has extremely attractive optical and electronic properties. In graphene, the discoverers of which were awarded the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2010, countless benzene rings are fused to form a honeycomb structure. Sections of this structure, so-called nanographenes or Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), constitute an important basis of organic electronics. "For a long time, efforts were largely focused on affecting the properties of nanographenes by chemically manipulating their edges", according to Prof. Matthias Wagner of the Institute for Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry at the Goethe University. "However, in recent years, researchers have been increasingly capable of also modifying the inner structure by embedding foreign atoms in the carbon network. This is where boron assumes crucial significance." A comparison of the new boron-containing nanographenes with the analogous boron-free hydrocarbons verifies the fact that the boron atoms have a decisive impact on two key properties of an OLED luminophore: The fluorescence color shifts into the highly desirable blue spectral range and the capacity to transport electrons is substantially improved. To date, only limited use could be made of the full potential of boron-containing PAHs, since most of the exponents are sensitive to air and moisture. "This problem does not occur with our materials, which is important with regard to practical applications" explains Valentin Hertz, who synthesized the compounds within the scope of his doctoral dissertation. Hertz and Wagner anticipate that materials such as the graphene flakes they have developed will be particularly suitable for use in portable electronic devices. As film displays for future generations of smartphones and tablets, even large-scale screens could be rolled up or folded to save space when the devices are not in use.

Fast, accurate synchronization in the “blink” of an eye

 

Wed, 06/10/2015 - 9:41am University. of Southern California "Let's synchronize our watches." It's the classic line before a group goes out on a mission. We are all familiar with the concept of synchronized clocks—less known, but equally important, is that wireless devices need to be synchronized too. However, instead of requiring a precision of minutes, wireless devices have to make their clocks match within very small fractions of a second. This so-called "clock synchronization" is needed for a large range of purposes—from increasing cellphone coverage, to increasing data speed rates, to enabling precision localization in places where GPS is not available. Some of these activities require synchronization within "only" a millionth of a second, a requirement that has been achieved by a variety of methods. One nanosecond, a billionth of a second, is how long it takes light to travel over one foot through the air. It is at this focused level that researchers have competed to develop solutions to push synchronization to a billionth of a second, or what is known as "nanosecond accuracy." Synchronizing a whole network of wireless devices to such accuracy would enable a host of new possible applications, from precise localization to energy-efficient transmission for "internet of things" sensor networks. However, it is remarkably hard to achieve such a level of synchronization, especially when the clocks in the devices are low-cost (and thus not very precise). At the 2015 IEEE International Conference on Communications, Andreas Molisch, professor of electrical engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, will present the paper, "Experimental Demonstration of Nanosecond-Accuracy Wireless Network Synchronization," which he co-authored with Marcelo Segura and S. Niranjayan, former post-doctoral students at USC, and Hossein Hashemi, also professor of electrical engineering at USC Viterbi. The researchers experimentally demonstrate the first wireless network synchronized with nanosecond accuracy. Segura, Niranjayan, Hashemi and Molisch have developed a prototype, consisting of four nodes that synchronize to each other with an accuracy of approximately three nanoseconds. They also introduced a scalable protocol, which they call the "Blink" algorithm, that extends the same accuracy of the current small-size prototype (in this case, four wireless devices) to hundreds or even thousands of wireless devices. "Previous research has addressed precision synchronization, but, in the publically available literature, nanosecond accuracy was achieved only by connecting devices via cables, and only between few wireless devices. Even though GPS is widely used and is considered very precise, it does not easily provide this level of accuracy, and cannot be used in many indoor settings," Hashemi said. "Our group's "Blink" protocol will allow for wireless transmission over longer distances with less energy and stands to improve the overall efficiency of wireless networks," said Molisch. With this enhanced technology, the authors believe that applications such as coordinated signal jamming of enemy military receivers; extremely precise localization; coordinated navigation, tracking, and operation of UAVs; and distributed beam forming will all become realistic possibilities. While this work has considerable applications for the military, it also has indications for other instances in which increased precision is necessary such as communication among a group of driverless cars to share location information. Other possible applications include helping a person with limited sight navigate an indoor physical space, or providing a map for robots employed in the home or in industrial settings. Source: University. of Southern California

5 Surprising Ways That Stress Affects Your Brain

 

Photo Credit: Gary Waters / Ikon Images / Getty Images We are all familiar with stress. This stress happens each and every day and comes in a wide variety of forms. It might be the stress of trying to juggle family, work, and school commitments. It might involve issues like health, money, and relationships. In each instance where we face a potential threat, our minds and bodies go into action, mobilizing to either deal with the issues (fight) or avoid the problem (flight). You have probably heard all about how bad stress is for your mind and body. It can lead to physical symptoms such as headaches and chest pain. It can produce mood problems such as anxiety or sadness. It can even lead to behavioral problems such as outbursts of anger or overeating. What you might not know is that stress can also have a serious impact on your brain. In the face of stress, your brain goes through a series of reactions – some good and some bad – designed to mobilize and protect itself from potential threats. Researchers have found that sometimes stress can help sharpen the mind and improve the ability to remember details about what is happening. In other cases, stress can produce a wide range of negative effects on the brain ranging from contributing to mental illness to actually shrinking the volume of the brain. Let’s take a closer look at five of the most surprising ways that stress affects your brain.   Chronic stress might make you more susceptible to mental illness. In a study published in Molecular Psychiatry, researchers found that chronic stress results in long-term changes in the brain. These changes, they suggest, might help explain why those who experience chronic stress are also more prone to mood and anxiety disorders later on in life. Researchers from the University of California - Berkeley performed a series of experiments looking at the impact of chronic stress on the brain. They discovered that such stress creates more myelin-producing cells, but fewer neurons than normal. The result of this disruption is an excess of myelin in certain areas of the brain, which interferes with the timing and balance of communication. In particular, the researchers looked at how stress impacted the brain's hippocampus. They suggest that stress might play a role in the development of mental disorders such as depression and various emotional disorders. Stress changes the structure of the brain. The results of experiments by researchers from the University of California – Berkeley revealed that chronic stress can lead to long-term changes in the structure and function of the brain. The brain is made up of neurons and support cells, known as "gray matter" responsible for higher-order thinking such as decision-making and problem-solving. But the brain also contains what is known as "white matter," which is made up of all the axons that connect with other regions of the brain to communicate information. White matter is so named due to the fatty, white sheath known as myelin that surrounds the axons that speeds up the electrical signals used to communicate information throughout the brain. The overproduction of myelin that the researchers observed due to the presence of chronic stress doesn't just result in a short-term change in the balance between white and gray matter – it can also lead to lasting changes in the brain's structure. Doctors and researchers have previously observed that people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder also have brain abnormalities including imbalances in gray and white matter.  Psychologist Daniela Kaufer, the researchers behind these ground-breaking experiments, suggests that not all stress impacts the brain and neural networks in the same way. Good stress, or the type of stress that helps you perform well in the face of a challenge, helps wire the brain in a positive way, leading to stronger networks and greater resilience. Chronic stress, on the other hand, can lead to an array of problems. "You’re creating a brain that’s either resilient or very vulnerable to mental disease, based on the patterning of white matter you get early in life," explained Kaufer Stress also kills brain cells. In a study conducted by researchers from the Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science, researchers discovered that a single socially-stress event could kill new neurons in the brain's hippocampus. The hippocampus is one of the regions of the brain heavily associated with memory, emotion, and learning. It is also one of the two areas of the brain where neurogenesis, or the formation of new brain cells, occurs throughout life. In experiments, the research team placed young rats in a cage with two older rats for a period of 20 minutes. The young rat was then subjected to aggression from the more mature residents of the cage. Later examination of the young rats found that they had cortisol levels up to six times higher than that of rats who had not experienced a stressful social encounter. Further examination revealed that while the young rats placed under stress had generated the same number of new neurons as those who had not experienced the stress, there was a marked reduction in the number of nerve cells a week later. In other words, while stress did not seem to influence the formation of new neurons, it did impact whether or not those cells survived. So stress can kills brain cells, but is there anything that can be done to minimize the damaging impact of stress? "The next step is to understand how stress reduced this survival," explained lead author Daniel Peterson, Ph.D. "We want to determine if anti-depressant medications might be able to keep these vulnerable new neurons alive." Stress shrinks the brain. Even among otherwise healthy people, stress can lead to shrinkage in areas of the brain associated with the regulation of emotions, metabolism, and memory. While people often associate negative outcomes to sudden, intense stress created by life-altering events (such as a natural disaster, car accident, death of a loved one), researchers actually suggest that it is the everyday stress that we all seem to face that, over time, can contribute to a wide range of mental disorders. In one study, researchers from Yale University looked at 100 health participants who provided information about the stressful events in their lives. The researchers observed that exposure to stress, even very recent stress, led smaller gray matter in the prefrontal cortex, a region of the brain linked to such things as self-control and emotions. Chronic, everyday stress appeared to have little impact on brain volume on its own, but may make people more vulnerable to brain shrinkage when they are faced with intense, traumatic stressors. “The accumulation of stressful life events may make it more challenging for these individuals to deal with future stress, particularly if the next demanding event requires effortful control, emotion regulation, or integrated social processing to overcome it,” explained the study’s lead author, Emily Ansell. Interestingly, the research team also discovered that different kinds of stress had varying effects on the brain. More recent stressful events, like losing a job or being in a car accident, tended to mostly influence emotional awareness. Traumatic events, like the death of a loved one or facing a serious illness, had a greater impact on mood centers. Stress can hurt your memory. If you've ever tried to remember the details of a stressful event, you are probably aware that sometimes stress can make events can be difficult to remember. Even relatively minor stress can have an immediate impact on your memory, such as struggling to remember where your car keys are or where you left your briefcase when you are late for work. One 2012 study found that chronic stress has a negative impact on what is known as spatial memory, or the ability to recall information the location of objects in the environment as well as spatial orientation. A 2014 study revealed that high levels of the stress hormone cortisol were connected to short-term memory declines in older rats. The overall impact of stress on memory hinges on a number of variables, one of which is timing. Numerous studies have demonstrated that when stress occurs immediately before learning, memory can actually be enhanced by aiding in memory consolidation. On the other hand, stress has been shown to impede memory retrieval. For example, researchers have repeatedly shown that exposure to stress right before a memory retention test leads to decreased performance in both human and animal subjects. While stress is certainly a part of life that cannot be avoided in many cases, researchers do believe that by understanding exactly how and why stress impacts the brain, they can gain insight into preventing or even undoing some of the damage stress brings. For example, some experts suggest that such research might play a role in the development of drugs designed to prevent the detrimental effects of stress on the brain. References Anderson, R. M., Birnie, A. K., Koblesky, N. K., Romig-Martin, S. A., & Radley, J. J. (2014). Adrenocortical status predicts the degree of age-related deficits in prefrontal structural plasticity and working memory. The Journal of Neuroscience, 34(25), 8387-8397; doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.1385-14.2014. Ansell, E. B., Rando, K., Tuit, K., Guarnaccia, J., & Sinha, R. (2012). Cumulative adversity and smaller gray matter volume in medial prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and insula regions. Biological Psychiatry, 72(1), 57-64. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2011.11.022. Chetty, S., et al. (2014). Stress and glucocorticoids promote oligodendrogenesis in the adult hippocampus. Molecular Psychiatry, 19, 1275-1283. doi:10.1038/mp.2013.190. Conrad, C. D. (2012). A critical review of chronic stress effects on spacial learning and memory. Progress in Neuro-Psychopharmacology and Biological Psychiatry, 34(5), 742-755. Hathaway, B. (2012, Jan. 9). Even in the healthy, stress causes brain to shrink, Yale study shows. YaleNews. Retrieved from http://news.yale.edu/2012/01/09/even-healthy-stress-causes-brain-shrink-yale-study-shows Sanders, R. (2014, Feb. 11). New evidence that chronic stress predisposes brain to mental illness. UC Berkely News Center. Retrieved from http://newscenter.berkeley.edu/2014/02/11/chronic-stress-predisposes-brain-to-mental-illness/ Society for Neuroscience. (2007, March 15). The day after a stressful event, rats lose brain cells. ScienceDaily. Retrieved from www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/03/070314093335.htm source : www.about.com

HGST's helium-filled HDD offers a world-first 10 TB of storage

 

HGST's Ultrastar Archive Ha10 is aimed at enterprise users We first caught wind of HGST's high capacity hard drives in 2012, when the company claimed it could boost storage capacities by 40 percent by replacing regular old air inside the drive enclosure with helium. The Western Digital subsidiary stayed the course, producing a helium-based 6 TB HDD in 2013 and 8 TB model in 2014, and has now continued the upward trend with the world's first 10 TB hard drive. Aimed squarely at enterprise and data centers, the Ultrastar Archive Ha10 is the company's latest take on a helium-based HDD. The apparent benefits of helium when it comes to HDD storage is its markedly lower density of around one-seventh that of regular air. This means less friction with internal moving parts, resulting in less power needed to drive the device and increased data density of the individual disks. HGST calls its version of this HelioSeal and has combined it with shingled magnetic recording (SMR), a hard drive technology that records data on overlapping rather than parallel tracks, much like roof shingles (hence the name). The company says this results in an industry-leading storage density, low power consumption and ever-reliable storage solution. However, since SMR requires the writing of entire tracks, the drive is suited for active archive duties rather than frequent update workloads. Further to its mammoth storage capacity, the 3.5-in drive is rated at two million hours mean time between failure (MTBF) and a 10-15 unrecoverable reduced bit error rate with 600k load-unload cycles. It comes in SATA 6 Gbps and SAS Gbps varieties and HGST claims a 20 percent improvement in Watts per TB over the preceding Ultrastar He8. To begin with, the Ultrastar Archive Ha10 will be available to cloud and OEM storage clients with the software capabilities to harness the density of the device. Source: HGST

Tiny particles mimic the body's pancreas cells to combat type 1 diabetes

 

The researchers now plan to test the nanoparticle approach in human cells in vitro (Credit: Shutterstock) The destruction of the pancreatic cells that leads to type 1 diabetes arises when the body's own immune cells identify them as foreign targets and begin to attack them. But a new technique using tiny particles to mimic the form and function of the pancreatic cells is showing promise in halting the onset of the condition. The work undertaken by scientists from the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute and Catalan Institute for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Spain explores the potential for a type 1 diabetes vaccine. To start out with, the team developed an immunotherapy technique where the body's immune cells are extracted, modified and then re-injected. This is similar to a method used in promising rheumatoid arthritis research we covered last week, but it has major drawbacks in that it is both expensive and complicated. The researchers say they have now come up with a more practical method that yields the same results in mice. It concerns liposomes that feature an external fat membrane much like a regular cell. These measure 0.5 to one micron in diameter. The liposomes are made in the laboratory and designed to replicate the dying beta cells in the pancreas, which characterize type 1 diabetes. By introducing them to the body, the researchers found that they were effective in stopping the immune cells from destroying the beta cells and rendered the body able to tolerate their presence. Buoyed by the success in testing the technique in mice, the researchers now plan to run tests in human cells in vitro. From there, they hope to continue on to human trials and eventually work towards a cure for the disease by combining the approach with regenerative therapies. The research is to be published in the journal PLOS ONE. Source: Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona

15 Cool Things You Can Do On The Internet For Free

 

There's a whole lot of stuff available online, yet most of us still spend our time scrolling Facebook incessantly, present company included. To whack you out of that self placed inertia, here's a list of cool stuff you can totally use for free online. 

Some of it is useful, while some of it is just fun. Regardless, here's a list of cool stuff you can do online for free!

 

1. Make some sick beats at Patatap

They even have matching visuals to complement the sounds. Jam out with your friends for a guaranteed good time!

Source - howcast

 

2. Learn any course you can imagine at Coursera

Learn from literally thousands of options, a lot of which are free. Knowledge is power after all, especially unnecessary knowledge!

Source - dogster

 

3. Read hilarious online comics like Dr. Mc Ninja

Or go on to comic prospector and find something else you like (But if you don't like Dr.McNinja then you suck)

Source - cloudfront

 

4. Photoshop pictures online using Pixlr

No need to sign up or anything, just go on and manipulate your photos and make your friends look fat.It's a classic!

Source - filecluster

 

5. Play hi quality games at BigPoint

Just make sure you have an unlimited internet plan, otherwise you're screwed.

Source - gamesnips

 

6. Send files upto 1GB for free from Pando

That's HUGE!

Source - betanews

 

7. Learn how to make pretty much anything at VideoJug

Learn to make cool cakes or candles or dirty toys or whatever.

Source - onelittleproject

 

8. Learn to read body language and detect lies at Blifaloo

There's no sure shot way to tell if a person is lying, but you can always pretend that there is and get them to tell the truth anyway!

Source - salon

 

9. Get free tech support at Techguy

If you're having problems with your computer, this free volunteer site will sort you out. Forget your stupid computer guy who only shows up when you're not at home!

Source - zen cart

 

10. Find free wifi spots worldwide at WifiFreeSpot

It even lists some clinics in Delhi with free Wi-Fi! Now I can just pretend to have a migraine and get free internet woohoo!

Source - politic365

 

11. Send an anonymous email with 10MinuteMail

The email address disappears after ten seconds, so you go scot-free while your nemesis finally accepts that you are the better human.

Source - timeninja

 

12. Learn any language in the world at Duolingo

With a little patience, you can be spewing French pickup lines and Spanish cuss words interchangeably. Very useful. 

Source - valuewalk

 

13. Watch from hundreds of documentaries at DocumentaryHeaven

It's got Kubrick on the home page, which basically convinced me that this site is legit. They've got loads of free documentaries ripe for the picking!

Source - planocritico

 

14. Learn killer magic tricks at GoodTricks

Everybody loves magic, so if you want to be the next David Blaine (Do you really?), then head on over here and start levitating or whatever.

Source - megnetudeconsulting

 

15. Torrent websites for everything else!

Just don't download anything illegal! *smirk*

Source - betanews

Early support vital for success in breastfeeding

 

Most women understand the benefits of breastfeeding their infants, but there are physical and emotional roadblocks that can make it a challenge for moms. During the first weeks of a baby's life it is vital for mom to be able to focus on caring for herself and nursing her infant. "One of the biggest issues for new moms is exhaustion," said Kimi Suh, MD, family medicine physician at Loyola University Health System and assistant professor in the Department of Family Medicine at Loyola University Chicago Stritch School of Medicine. "Moms are already sore and tired from being post-partum and it can be exhausting and difficult to feed the baby on demand at all hours." Breastfeeding is a learning process for both mom and baby and requires patience and practice. While in the hospital, moms should take advantage of resources such as lactation consultants who are readily available to assist with establishing good breastfeeding practices and offer advice on common problems, such as trouble latching on. "I often tell my new moms don't wait to ask for help. Getting the right latch is vital and can be difficult. Having someone with experience there to guide you can make all the difference," said Suh. Though everyone is excited to meet the newest arrival, the early days after delivery are extremely important for a mom and baby who are breastfeeding. Moms need to be able to practice feeding and not worry about anything else, including visitors. "Visitors can wait. Use these early days to become confident in breastfeeding. While in the hospital use the time to practice nursing and get some help from experts to feel comfortable without worrying about privacy," said Suh. According to Suh one of the most important components for a breastfeeding mom is a strong support team. Many people may be disappointed that mom is breastfeeding because they are hoping to have the fun of feeding the baby with a bottle themselves, but there are a lot of other important ways friends and loved ones can be a part of caring for the baby while supporting mom. Suh suggests supporters: • Get up with mom in the middle of the night and see how to be of help or just to keep her company • Change diapers • Keep breastfeeding mom's water glass full • Prepare a snack or a meal she can eat while feeding the baby • Do chores such as laundry, cleaning the house or grocery shopping • If there are other children help, keep them happy and busy "Emotional support is extremely important to help a mom breastfeed successfully. Because they are the only ones who can provide the baby with nutrition, moms can feel solely responsible if the baby is upset or something isn't going right. They can get frustrated and feel they are doing something wrong, and even feel like they should give up on breastfeeding. It's important to remind mom what a great job she's doing," Suh said. Too often moms are worried about their weight or feel like they have to immediately jump into being the primary caretaker. Suh says these first few weeks need to be about making mom as happy and comfortable as possible. "There may not be a lot of sleep, but if mom wants chocolate, mom can have chocolate," said Suh. "Keeping mom less stressed not only helps her emotional health, but also improves the quality and quantity of the milk she produces. Breastfeeding moms need to take it one day at a time. If something doesn't seem right, she should try not to get stressed out. Instead, she can reach out to her medical provider or lactation consultant, who is there to support her."

Social media helps young adults quit smoking

 

Young adults who use social media to quit smoking are twice as successful in their efforts as those who use a more traditional method, according to new research from the University of Waterloo. The study, published last week in Nicotine & Tobacco Research, compared the success of the social media-based campaign Break It Off with Smokers' Helpline, a telephone hotline for young adults looking to quit smoking. After three months in the program, 32 per cent of smokers who used Break It Off apps and web tools had quit smoking, compared to 14 per cent of their peers who used the telephone-based support. "These finding suggest that the creators of public health campaigns need to evaluate how they use social media channels and social networks to improve health, especially with regards to younger demographics," said Bruce Baskerville, a senior scientist at the Propel Centre for Population Health Impact at Waterloo, who led the study. In Canada, young adults aged 19 to 29 have the highest rate of smoking, but they report low use of traditional cessation services, such as helplines. Young adults make up the largest demographic of social media users, with 91 per cent using Facebook and one-third actively engaged in microblogging sites, such as Twitter. "Traditional cessation services can have limited reach and this reduced visibility lessens their impact in a digital era," said Baskerville. "Because they are such heavy users of social media, these platforms provide an alternative and successful way of reaching smokers who are less likely to relate to other cessation programs." The Canadian Cancer Society launched Break It Off in January 2012 to engage young adults in smoking cessation through an interactive website and social media. The campaign, which compares quitting smoking with ending a romantic relationship, provides users with an interactive website and smartphone app to encourage smoking cessation. Story Source: The above story is based on materials provided by University of Waterloo. Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. Journal Reference: N. B. Baskerville, S. Azagba, C. Norman, K. McKeown, K. S. Brown. Effect of a Digital Social Media Campaign on Young Adult Smoking Cessation. Nicotine & Tobacco Research, 2015; DOI: 10.1093/ntr/ntv119

CSIRO's Lab 22: Kickstarting a 3D printing revolution in titanium

 

CSIRO Lab 22: making millions of dollars' worth of 3D printing equipment available to local business (Credit: Loz Blain/Gizmag) Image Gallery (35 images) Australia is the world's largest producer of titanium at the moment, and it's sitting on the world's second-largest titanium reserves. But with virtually no local industry processing this strong, lightweight metal or manufacturing with it, the country is sending a massive amount of potential value overseas. Put it this way – if Australia exports unrefined titanium at its current rate, reserves will be depleted in 90 years. But if the country harnessed the full value of processed titanium, it could achieve the same export earnings for some 9,000 years. Australia's federal scientific research organization, the CSIRO, is looking for ways to kick-start a local titanium manufacturing industry and develop some of that value, and one of the most promising sectors for titanium manufacturing is in 3D printing. "Titanium is a difficult material to machine, it really eats through tooling and it's a very reactive metal, so it can be quite dangerous if you get hot spots while machining it," says CSIRO's Research Group Leader in Additive Manufacturing, Alexandra Kingsbury. "So it's difficult to machine, but it's weldable, so that makes it appropriate for these [3D printing] machines." Concept Laser M2 machine - higher fidelity than the Arcam machine, but it takes longer to print CSIRO has made a substantial commitment to 3D printing research, with an AUD$6 million plus investment in its Lab 22 additive manufacture facility. You might remember Lab 22 as one of the partners in the world's first 3D-printed jet engine. Under Kingsbury's leadership, Lab 22 is now operating four million-dollar machines, some of which have never been installed in the southern hemisphere before. These include an electron-beam melting Arcam machine, a bonded sand printer and a cold-spray plasma giken robot arm that fires cold titanium particles at a substrate surface hard enough to splatter on and bond. Lab 22's Alexandra Kingsbury with the group's Cold Spray Plasma Giken machine, mounted on a robot arm And while these machines will primarily be used for research, the team has decided to take a very direct role in developing local manufacturing companies in their downtime. "We don't utilise and run these machines flat stick 100 percent of the time on research," says Kingsbury, "Research programs are expensive, materials are expensive, you don't run the machines unless you've got funding for it. There's some latent capacity there that we can allow companies in to access." Thus, Lab 22 has taken on four initial tier two manufacturing partners – local businesses with interest in developing their 3D printing capabilities. The first two are 3D printing outsourcers Keech3D and MadeForMe. "These guys, you send them a file and they'll get it printed for you," says Kingsbury, "This service bureau model's already up and running in plastics – it can definitely happen in metals too, and that's what these two companies are doing." The third is Nezkot Precision Tooling, which does a lot of specialist work for aerospace and defense, and the final partner is Bastion Cycles, which is incorporating 3D-printed titanium pieces as the joints in its ultra-lightweight bicycle frames. Bastion Cycles demo bicycle, featuring 3D-printed frame joints Kingsbury says Lab 22 is an opportunity for these companies to be guided by CSIRO's expertise through the difficult learning curve of additive manufacture. "It's not quite as plug and play as the hype might have you believe. There's a lot of expertise that you need to do this properly. Sometimes you want a surface to be really smooth, even mirror finish. Sometimes you want it to be rough – this is an acetabular cup for a hip replacement, you want the surface to be rough because the bone's gonna adhere to it better. It's about working out what works better for your product. Do you want to do really fast printing, and then a bit of extra machining, or would you prefer to do a slower print and less machining, or even no machining, could you get away without machining at all? These are the subtle trade-offs that people need to consider when they start using the technology." One of the keys is knowing where 3D printing can actually give you a business advantage at this stage of the game. "Don't print something you can make traditionally, it's not going to give you a business case. But what will is if you're increasing your complexity and light-weighting your parts, if you wanted to customize something, or do low runs without making new tooling – that's where you'll get value out of this technology." Voxeljet VX1000 sand printer - the first of its kind in the Southern hempsphere. It prints sand particles, held together with a bonding agent, and can also be used for ceramics and other powders. Voxeljet VX1000 sand printer - printed sand casting mold These four businesses represent a modest beginning. As CSIRO's own research into titanium processing and printing techniques progresses, Lab 22 will expand with more machines and additional capabilities, opening up more latent capacity for more tier two partners. And of course, the ultimate goal with these businesses is that they'll have enough success with the technology to go away and invest in printers of their own – an outcome that would be good for Australia and for the CSIRO team. "There's a few exceptions," says Kingsbury, "but in real true R&D land, we work with global customers, there's really no industry here to service yet. We'd like to see people in Australia, in Melbourne manufacturing using the machines. I think the not-so-secret evil plan there is that they'll need R&D work too in the future – perhaps they'll come back to us." Lab 22 is an impressive facility with cutting-edge equipment and facilities, and goals no less than sparking a manufacturing revolution. We wish Alexandra and the team every success. More information: CSIRO Lab 22

Road legal turbine motorcycle breaks three world records

 

Madmax streetfighter turbine motorcycle on a record breaking attempt Image Gallery (16 images) Imagine a Rolls Royce helicopter turbine that produces a scorching 542 hp and over 450 lb-ft of torque strapped to a bare naked motorcycle, a streetfighter. This is what Madmax Race Team brought to Elvington, UK for the Straightliners Speed Record event, leaving with three new official world records. And the best part is that it’s completely road legal – headlights, horn, indicators and all. Remember the Y2K turbine motorcycle that Marine Turbine Technologies (MTT) had built back in 1998? In its heyday this motorcycle created a lot of buzz due to its unique character and insane performance, ending up on every motorcycle magazine’s cover and, of course, in Jay Leno’s garage. The last one was built in 2005, before MTT turned its focus to designing turbine-powered fracking pumps for the new booming branch of the oil industry and losing actual interest for the motorcycle that generated so much publicity for its creators. It was around that time that Maxicorp founder, Zef Eisenberg, visited MTT’s headquarters in Louisiana to discuss the continuation of the turbine motorcycle project. After an agreement was met, Maxicorp’s Autosport Division would take over the development of the next turbine bike generation. The last Y2K motorcycle was shipped to the UK, where it was taken apart to begin the development process. During the following years, the project evolved into building a completely new prototype as the original design was deemed too outdated. Starting with the power source, the discontinued Rolls Royce 250-C18 turbine from the original Y2K had to be replaced with the C18’s successor, the 250-C20B. This meant a giant leap from 240 hp (179 kW) to more than 400 hp (298 kW) in standard form, which was a lot more than the Y2K’s gear could handle. The frame had to be redesigned and strengthened. As the motorcycle is not thrust powered but wheel driven, the gearbox is apparently a vital part and the Toyota two-speed gearbox used in the Y2K had by now become totally obsolete. The development team designed and fabricated a brand new single speed gearbox with a multi plate carbon dry clutch. Most spindles and flywheels, originally made from aluminum alloy, were replaced with stronger and lighter one-off titanium parts, and the original Harley-Davidson wheels gave way to BST carbon fiber rims. For the front suspension system the weapon of choice was a racing superbike pair of inverted Marzocchi 50 mm forks, allowing for two 320 mm discs with six-pot ISR brake calipers. The engine management was assigned to a Motec ECU using custom software, developed in house with data logging capabilities and several built-in safety features. The list of changes and improvements made to the motorcycle became so long that in the end only some parts of the frame remain as proof that the starting point once was the Y2K turbine motorcycle – and even these are soon to be replaced. The cost of this project was estimated at around £200,000 (US$308,000) last year and since then it continues to evolve. Although originally the motorcycle was designed with aerodynamic carbon fairings, the team ultimately decided to go for a naked, streetfighter look, allowing for the turbine and all the technology used to be on full display. As soon as it was completed, Eisenberg created the Madmax Race Team and decided to take his creation for a try at breaking some speed records. In May 2014 at the Elvington Airfield in Yorkshire, UK, the fully-faired race bike, sponsored by Tag Heuer, broke the British Land speed record with a one way speed of 214 mph (344.4 km/h). In August 2014 in streetfighter form it set a new world record of 224.9 mph (361.9 km/h) over a mile from a standing start, which was ratified by the Auto-Cycle Union (ACU), the Speed Record Club and the Timing Association. The plan for this year was to return to Elvington for some more record breaking. This posed several problems that the team had to overcome. First of all they needed more power. The streetfighter bike has a drag coefficient of around 0.9 – as opposed to the much sleeker 0.35 of the fully-faired race bike. After some careful calculations, they realized that in order to increase the top speed from 224.9 mph to the target of 231.7 (372.8 km/h), they had to come up with an additional 100 hp (75 kW)! This was achieved with a lot of hard work and a special addition to the engine fuel system: a water/methanol injection system. Using a mix of 30 percent methanol and 70 percent water, a special order pump injects 1.4 liters (0.36 US gal) into the turbine inlet every 10 seconds at a pressure exceeding 200 psi. Holding enough for just 20 seconds, the team estimated this additional boost should cut it. The Madmax turbine streetfighter that turned up at Elvington was by now producing an estimated 542 peak horsepower (404 kW), with a torque of at least 450 lb-ft (610 Nm) at maximum rpm. These performance figures are not 100 percent accurate because the motorcycle proved to be too brutal for any dyno to handle. The latest attempt was on May 13, on a Dynojet 250 equipped with an Eddy Brake system. The bike was strapped down with 150 kg (331 lb) of force on each side in a bid to achieve maximum traction for the 240/40-18 rear wheel. Despite every measure taken, at around 80 percent throttle the rear wheel started to spin on the dyno’s 750 kg (1,653 lb) grooved steel roller. That would be the inescapable result of too much torque. When the bike’s ECU calculated a perceived acceleration from 190 to 240 mph (306 to 386 km/h) in just one second at the rear wheel, it shut down the turbine as it was designed to do as a safety precaution. Mind you, this happened before using the water/methanol boost! As of May 17, Madmax’s turbine streetfighter, at the hands of Zef Eisenberg, is the proud holder of three world records and one British national record: World’s fastest Turbine Motorcycle – 1 mile (one way): 233.7 mph (376.1 km/h) World’s fastest Streetfighter – 1 mile (one way): 231.6 mph (372.7 km/h) World's fastest flying quarter mile for Turbine Motorcycle: 3.91 sec Britain’s fastest Naked Motorcycle (Official ACU two way average): 225.6 mph (363.1 km/h) All these were achieved in road legal trim, as the motorcycle is registered for road use. The bike competed at the Elvington event using normal diesel fuel and road legal DOT tires. In fact, Eisenberg has ridden it to almost every event it has attended, reaching as far as the Helitech 2014 show in Amsterdam, Holland. That’d be 1,200 miles (1,930 km) from the team’s base in Guernsey, UK, travelling and handling road bends smoothly while doing 7.2 mpg (32.9 l/100 km) on pump diesel. The C20B turbine is equipped with a titanium retainer ring ensuring that the turbine blades will not become lethal projectiles in the case of a failure. There is also a system that prevents flames from coming out of the exhaust pipes – Jay Leno had admitted in an old interview that, while idling at a red light on his Y2K bike, he could smell the bumper of a car behind him melting from his exhaust’s heat, before he took off in a hurry. There is no commercial future for this turbine motorcycle, as Maxicorp believes that it’s simply too powerful for most riders. Yet, the company’s website does leave a small window of opportunity declaring that, “we may be tempted to build one for those that can demonstrate they have sufficient money and expertise in handling such a bike for special occasions or ideally for those that want to add possibly the most extreme bike ever made to their current collection of automotive exotica”. Have you seen this Mr. Leno?   Source: Madmax Race Team

Hotel or a Floatel?

 

 

Hotel or a Floatel?

Posted: 08 Jun 2015 01:59 AM PDT

Or maybe even a Boatel! Geddit?? Anywho… Here’s something right out of a billionaire private island getaway. The Floating Catamaran Hotel is by far the classiest crib to boast of buoyancy. Each apartment comprises a pretty large hall, a gallery, salon, bathroom, sleeping/leisure area and a storage area. Not to mention the killer view of the waters you get from your balcony. Each single apartment unit can be connected by a floating platform to a Central Floating Unit, which can independently house a reception, event hall, cafe/restaurant, staff quarters, and offices. How cool is that! And I don’t think I mentioned this enough… IT FLOATS!