Cheng-Yi Lee, PhD.

There is a lot of lighting on nuclear icebreakers, because they simply have nowhere to put their energy. Itis necessary to maintain a certain level of load on the reactor ⚛️ As a result, nuclear icebreakers become real lighthouses in the world of endless night

Argentine investigators searching for the source of a deadly hantavirus outbreak on a cruise last month were trapping rodents in the forests surrounding the city of Ushuaia, with the aim of detecting the possible presence of the rat-borne virus. abcnews.link/gaZEEox

African Health Officials On Ebola: ‘This Is Too Much’ (Live Updates) go.forbes.com/pw8qYe

This is a Deutsche Bahn Class 612 tilting train in Germany. Modern tilting train technology was widely developed and tested from the 1960s onward to help trains handle curves more smoothly and quickly by leaning inward during turns, reducing the sideways forces felt by passengers. The technology is especially useful on winding and mountainous rail routes, where building entirely new high-speed lines would be difficult or expensive, and it is still actively used today on many rail networks. 📹kilistrains

A large 3-year study found that people who developed herpes zoster (shingles) after COVID-19 had an increased risk of certain neurological disorders, including Bell’s palsy, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and myasthenia gravis (MG). ➡️ Bell’s palsy risk increased early after shingles, while GBS and MG showed delayed increases emerging more than a year later. 1/

Can a common childhood virus worsen Long COVID? A new Yale study shows higher levels of salivary HHV-6 (Roseola virus) directly correlate with greater Long COVID severity, anxiety, & depression. Is HHV-6 viral reactivation the key? 👉buff.ly/M8lxlRP

Coffee compounds do not extract together. Acids and polyphenols come out first. Caffeine extracts steadily across the brewing window. Bitter compounds come last and keep coming. The brew time you pick is the dial that decides which mix ends up in the cup. The extraction order. The Specialty Coffee Association characterizes hot brew extraction in three phases, indexed to extraction yield (EY), the percentage of original coffee mass dissolved into the water. From 0 to roughly 14% EY, you pull mostly acids, including chlorogenic acids (CGA), citric, and malic. These are the bright, sour, polyphenol-rich compounds. From 14 to 20%, sugars and Maillard compounds dominate. Past 22%, bitter phenolics extract heavily. The SCA ideal target is 18 to 22% EY for a balanced cup. Two compounds matter most for health framing. Chlorogenic acid is the dominant polyphenol in coffee and the main carrier of its antioxidant activity. Caffeine is the dominant stimulant. They do not extract on the same schedule. Fuller and Rao (Sci Rep 2018) showed CGA reaches near-equilibrium quickly in cold extraction. SCA brewing theory and method-comparison studies (Angeloni et al., Food Res Int 2020) show CGA is mostly out early in hot brews, while caffeine continues to extract steadily across the brewing window. What that means for your cup. Pull a hot pour-over for one minute and you have most of the CGA but less than half the caffeine. Pull for four minutes (the SCA ideal) and you have most of both, with bitterness still low. Pull for eight minutes and you have all of the caffeine, the same CGA you already had at four minutes, and a flood of bitter phenolics. The relationship between time and polyphenols is not linear. CGA plateaus early. Bitterness keeps rising. A note on the numbers. The percentages on the cup bars are illustrative, not direct measurements from one head-to-head trial of one-, four-, and eight-minute pour-overs. They derive from the extraction curve, which reflects SCA brewing theory and the Fuller and Rao kinetic data. The story they convey, CGA extracts early and plateaus while bitterness extracts late, is well-supported. Exact numbers vary with grind, temperature, ratio, and bean. A note on degradation. Chlorogenic acid is not perfectly stable at brewing temperature. Prolonged heat can degrade some CGA, so very long hot brews may extract more but also break some down. The eight-minute cup ends up roughly even with the four-minute cup on CGA, not higher. The takeaway. If your goal is caffeine, a longer brew gets you more. If your goal is polyphenols without bitterness, stop closer to the SCA ideal window. Brewing past it adds bitter compounds, not more antioxidants. Same grounds, same water, same heat will give you very different drinks depending on when you stop. Angeloni et al., Food Res Int 2020 · Fuller and Rao, Sci Rep 2018 · Specialty Coffee Association extraction theory

Exercise is not improving your immune system. It is reprogramming it. Every training session mobilizes immune cells, inflammatory mediators, metabolites, and stress signals that reshape how the body detects threats, repairs tissue, and suppresses disease. Skeletal muscle functions as an endocrine organ. The biology of performance is immunological before it is physical.

Doctors operating on the front lines of the fight against Ebola in Congo, already grappling with shortages of basic supplies, are now also having to deal with attacks on their facilities and fleeing patients reut.rs/42Ur0Ha

“Trump admin shutting key US researchers out of global virus response talks,” documents and sources reveal. This is deeply alarming, especially during a time of multiple global health crises. #Ebola is a PHEIC and requires rapid global coordination, data sharing, and scientific collaboration. Preventing US scientists and public health experts from engaging with international partners will only hinder outbreak response, delay critical decisions, and make all of us less safe. All Americans should be outraged that politics is interfering with the ability of experts to work together during dangerous outbreaks that are affecting millions

🚨This may already be the world’s most dangerous #Ebola outbreak since West Africa 2014 — and Africa CDC fear the cases could reach 2000-7500 cases within 100 days. @AfricaCDC projections warn the current #Bundibugyo Ebola outbreak in DRC & Uganda could reach 2k–7.5k cases (central =3.4k) by day 100 if control efforts fail, according to the Ministerial Briefing on Ebola Outbreak Situation in Africa on 25 May. Even more alarming: there is currently no licensed vaccine or targeted treatment for this Ebola Bundibugyo. Why this outbreak is so worrying👇 • The outbreak was officially declared only after 246 suspected cases and 64 deaths had already occurred. • Cases are spreading in conflict zones with weak healthcare and porous borders. • At least 11 African countries are now considered high-risk for importation/spread. • Community mistrust and misinformation are disrupting surveillance and safe burials. • Africa CDC says at least US$319 million is urgently needed for response operations. @WHO and Africa CDC stress this outbreak is still containable — but only if the world moves faster now, before transmission expands further across borders. This is not just a regional issue. It is a test of whether the world learned anything from the last pandemic. 🌍🦠 #Ebola #Bundibugyo #DRC #Uganda #AfricaCDC #GlobalHealth #PandemicPreparedness

#H5N1 [This is a really excellent article on the dangers of H5N1. It begins with a detailed outline of the teen in B.C.’s 🇨🇦ordeal with the virus.]⬇️⬇️⬇️ ➡️ The Next Pandemic May Already Be Brewing - Bird flu has crossed into cows, infected humans, and spread across continents. Experts are deeply uneasy By Renée Pellerin thewalrus.ca/the-next-pande…

Here's a Table summarizing the personalized vaccines that rev up the immune system vs refractory cancers. Another one vs metastatic melanoma (with ~50% cure rate at 5 years) will be out soon.

North Carolina reported a large increase in COVID hospital admissions for the prior reporting week. The shaded area is incomplete.

Apple cider vinegar has built an entire wellness category on a real effect attributed to the wrong ingredient. The glucose-lowering data is genuine. The apple has nothing to do with it. The acetic acid is what does the work, and any vinegar at the same concentration produces the same effect. The original Johnston et al. study (Diabetes Care 2004) gave insulin-resistant and type 2 diabetic adults a vinegar drink before a meal containing 87 g of carbohydrates and saw postprandial glucose drop 64% in the insulin-resistant group and 19% in the diabetic group. The sample was small (n=29 crossover) but the effect size was large. Ostman et al. (Eur J Clin Nutr 2005) ran the dose-response experiment. They served white bread with vinegar at three levels of acetic acid (18, 23, and 28 mmol) to healthy adults. Both glucose and insulin responses fell as acetic acid content rose. The effect tracked the acetic acid content, not the vinegar volume. The 2017 meta-analysis by Shishehbor et al. (Diabetes Res Clin Pract) pooled the controlled trials. Vinegar consumption with a meal reduced postprandial glucose AUC (SMD -0.60, 95% CI -1.08 to -0.11) and insulin AUC (SMD -1.30, 95% CI -1.98 to -0.62). The effect is consistent and the magnitude is meaningful. The mechanism is well-characterized. Liljeberg and Bjorck (Eur J Clin Nutr 1998) showed in healthy adults that adding vinegar to a starch meal delayed gastric emptying and that this delay tracked with the improved glycemic response. Slower emptying means slower carbohydrate delivery to the small intestine, which flattens the glucose curve. A secondary mechanism is inhibition of disaccharidase activity by acetate at the brush border. Neither depends on the source of the acetic acid. The longer-term data is much weaker. Johnston et al. (Food Funct 2020) ran an 8-week trial of daily red wine vinegar in 45 adults at risk for metabolic complications. Fasting glucose and insulin sensitivity improved significantly, but body mass, waist circumference, and visceral fat did not change. The viral "ACV for weight loss" claim has thin support. Two practical implications. First, if you want the postprandial effect, you need liquid vinegar at roughly 1 to 2 tablespoons. The dose has to deliver around 750 to 1500 mg of acetic acid. White, red wine, rice, and apple cider vinegars all work. Second, the gummies and tablets are a problem. Johnston et al. (J Nutr Metab 2022) tested commercial vinegar tablets head-to-head against liquid vinegar and found the tablets failed to lower postprandial glucose to the same degree. The mother, the fermentation, the apple, the brand. None of it is the active ingredient. The acetic acid is. Johnston et al., Diabetes Care 2004 · Liljeberg and Bjorck, Eur J Clin Nutr 1998 · Ostman et al., Eur J Clin Nutr 2005 · Shishehbor et al., Diabetes Res Clin Pract 2017 · Johnston et al., Food Funct 2020 · Johnston et al., J Nutr Metab 2022

#ebola ⚠️[These are Italian aid workers who were working in Uganda near the DRC border.] ⚠️ ➡️ 🇺🇬 🇮🇹 Italy: Ebola in Milan: Two Suspected Cases— Special Health Protocol Activated at Sacco Hospital for a Man and a Woman from Como Returning from Uganda. Results Expected by Evening. - The individuals in question are ➡️ two Italian aid workers who spent three months in Uganda. Their ➡️ symptoms include: high fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and neurological symptoms for the woman; and a slight fever elevation and intestinal issues for the man. - Diagnostic testing is currently underway. - At the Sacco Hospital in Milan—a facility specializing in infectious diseases—a special protocol has been activated for two patients suspected of being at risk for Ebola. The alert was triggered at dawn in Lurate Caccivio and Bulgarograsso, in the Como area, regarding two individuals who had arrived in these municipalities. - Both had landed at Malpensa Airport at 5:50 a.m. on Sunday on a flight from Addis Ababa. - The patients are a 31-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman. Returning from Uganda, ➡️ both presented symptoms that could be indicative of an Ebola infection. - The ➡️ results of the tests they underwent are expected to arrive by this evening. - As explained by Guido Bertolaso, Lombardy Region’s Councilor for Welfare, ➡️ the two individuals are Italian aid workers who spent three months with Comboni missionaries in Uganda,➡️ in a region bordering the Congo—the country where an Ebola epidemic has broken out. - The two individuals, who belong to different families, ➡️ returned to Italy alongside five other people and went back to their homes in the Como area (specifically in Bulgarograsso and Lurate Caccivio). - ➡️ During the night, they began to manifest their first symptoms: high fever, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and neurological symptoms in her case; a slight rise in temperature and intestinal issues in his. - ➡️ These signs could suggest malaria—the 33-year-old woman’s daughter contracted the disease while in Africa—but, at this stage, they do not allow for the exclusion of the Ebola virus. "The daughter actually developed malaria during their stay in Uganda. Therefore, there is a precedent within the immediate family that leads us to believe this could be the cause of such severe symptoms in this woman," stated Bertolaso. - ➡️Transported in two separate ambulances, the aid workers were taken to Sacco Hospital for diagnostic testing and admitted to isolation wards. - It remains a possibility that ➡️ the woman, whose condition is more serious, may require admission to the ➡️ intensive care unit. - ➡️ Meanwhile, a precautionary isolation protocol has also been activated for their family members: they must remain at home pending the results of the tests. - The Regional Department of Welfare is in contact with the Ministry of Health, which has already retrieved the flight details for both aid workers. - ➡️ Should a case of Ebola be confirmed, the patient would be transferred to the Spallanzani Hospital in Rome—currently ➡️ the only facility equipped to handle such a situation. - Furthermore, ➡️ close contacts—as Ebola is transmitted via bodily fluids—would be required to observe a mandatory isolation period of 21 days, corresponding to the incubation period of the disease. - "If this turns out to be a genuine case, we will have to be extremely vigilant," explained Bertolaso. "I know Ebola well, having lived in Sierra Leone for three months during the most severe Ebola epidemic in human history; I am fully aware that it can pose an extremely serious health threat—yet, to do so, it requires a specific set of climatic and social conditions that, fortunately, we do not have here in Italy." By Sara milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronac…

Deep sleep may be one of the brain’s most powerful anti-anxiety tools. Researchers identified a sleep-active circuit linking the parafacial zone, parabrachial nucleus, and BNST that suppresses stress-related signaling during slow-wave sleep and prevents anxiety-like behavior. #SleepScience #Neuroscience #MentalHealth sciencedirect.com/science/articl…

Higher education must rethink assessment practices in response to the growing integrity challenges posed by generative #AI, argue the authors of a new #SciencePolicyForum. scim.ag/49fG3Pc

Multivalent mRNA vaccine platform with compatible antigens conferred broad-spectrum protection against orthoebolaviruses’ exposure | PNAS pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn…+

Daily Ebola update: - Cases: 1,018 (+8) - Deaths: 234 (+3)