Most nuclear data measurements are performed at accelerators large enough to occupy a geologic formation a kilometer wide. But a portable device that can reveal the composition of materials quickly on-site would greatly benefit cases such as in archaeology and nuclear arms treaty verification. Research published this week in AIP Advances used computational simulations to show that with the right geometric adjustments, it is possible to perform accurate neutron resonance transmission analysis in a device just 5 meters long.

  I am looking for someone who can help me find and clear out excess data on one of my...

You may recall in the early days of the pandemic, that pharma giant Gilead Sciences -- which has been accused of price gouging and (just last year!) charging exorbitant prices on drug breakthroughs developed with US taxpayer funds -- was able to sneak through an orphan works designation for its drug remdesevir for COVID-19 treatment. As we pointed out, everything about this was insane, given that orphan works designations, which give extra monopoly rights to the holders (beyond patent exclusivity), are meant for diseases that don't impact a large population. Gilead used a loophole: since the ceiling for infected people to qualify for orphan drug status is 200,000, Gilead got in its application bright and early, before there were 200,000 confirmed cases (we currently have over 1.3 million). After the story went, er... viral, Gilead agreed to drop the orphan status, realizing the bad publicity it was receiving.

After a brief dalliance with chloroquine, remdesivir has suddenly been back in demand as the new hotness of possible COVID-19 treatments. Still, a close reading of the research might give one pause. There have been multiple conflicting studies, and Gilead's own messaging has been a mess.

On April 23, 2020, news of the study’s failure began to circulate. It seems that the World Health Organization (WHO) had posted a draft report about the trial on their clinical trials database, which indicated that the scientists terminated the study prematurely due to high levels of adverse side effects.

The WHO withdrew the report, and the researchers published their results in The Lancet on April 29, 2020.

The number of people who experienced adverse side effects was roughly similar between those receiving remdesivir and those receiving a placebo. In 18 participants, the researchers stopped the drug treatment due to adverse reactions.

But then...

However, also on April 29, 2020, the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) announced that their NIH trial showed that remdesivir treatment led to faster recovery in hospital patients with COVID-19, compared with placebo treatment.

“Preliminary results indicate that patients who received remdesivir had a 31% faster time to recovery than those who received placebo,” according to the press release. “Specifically, the median time to recovery was 11 days for patients treated with remdesivir compared with 15 days for those who received placebo.”

The mortality rate in the remdesivir treatment group was 8%, compared with 11.6% in the placebo group, indicating that the drug could improve a person’s chances of survival. These data were close to achieving statistical significance.

And then...

“In addition, there is another Chinese trial, also stopped because the numbers of new patients with COVID-19 had fallen in China so they were unable to recruit, which has not yet published its data,” Prof. Evans continues. “There are other trials where remdesivir is compared with non-remdesivir treatments currently [being] done and results from some of these should appear soon.”

Gilead also put out its own press release about another clinical trial, which seems more focused on determining the optimal length of remdesivir treatment. Suffice it to say, there's still a lot of conflicting data and no clear information on whether or not remdesevir actually helps.

Still, that hasn't stopped people from trying to figure out just how much Gilead will price gouge going forward:

The Institute for Clinical and Economic Review (ICER), which assesses effectiveness of drugs to determine appropriate prices, suggested a maximum price of $4,500 per 10-day treatment course based on the preliminary evidence of how much patients benefited in a clinical trial. Consumer advocacy group Public Citizen on Monday said remdesivir should be priced at $1 per day of treatment, since “that is more than the cost of manufacturing at scale with a reasonable profit to Gilead.”

Some Wall Street investors expect Gilead to come in at $4,000 per patient or higher to make a profit above remdesivir’s development cost, which Gilead estimates at about $1 billion.

So... we've got a range of $10 to $4,500 on a treatment that we don't yet know works, and which may or may not save lives. But, given that we're in the midst of a giant debate concerning things like "reopening the economy" -- something that can really only be done if the public is not afraid of dying (or at least becoming deathly ill) -- the value to the overall economy seems much greater than whatever amount Gilead wants to charge. It seems the right thing to do -- again, if it's shown that remdesevir actually helps -- is to just hand over a bunch of money to Gilead, say "thank you very much" and get the drug distributed as widely as possible. Though, again, it should be noted that a decent chunk of the research around remdesevir was not done or paid for by Gilead, but (yet again) via public funds to public universities, which did the necessary research. The idea that it's Gilead that should get to reap massive rewards for that seems sketchy at best. But the absolute worst outcome is one in which Gilead sticks to its standard operating procedure and prices the drug in a way that millions of Americans can't afford it, and it leads to a prolonging/expanding of the pandemic.

Despite you know what, little evidence of a rush to new racks

Equinix has posted its Q1 FY2020 results for the period ending March 31st, along with some interesting insights into how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted data centre consumption.…

Parents, kids: Fear not the silica gel pack. Sure it says DO NOT EAT and THROW AWAY. But you should only follow one of those rules.    Instead, save the packs and use them a whole lot of ways: Place them on the car dashboard by the windshield to keep it from fogging up.   […]

Arterial cardiovascular events are the leading cause of death in patients with JAK2V617F myeloproliferative neoplasms (MPNs). However, their mechanisms are poorly understood. The high prevalence of myocardial infarction without significant coronary stenosis or atherosclerosis in patients with MPNs suggests that vascular function is altered. The consequences of JAK2V617F mutation on vascular reactivity are unknown. We observe here increased responses to vasoconstrictors in arteries from Jak2V617F mice resulting from a disturbed endothelial NO pathway and increased endothelial oxidative stress. This response was reproduced in WT mice by circulating microvesicles isolated from patients carrying JAK2V617F and by erythrocyte-derived microvesicles from transgenic mice. Microvesicles of other cellular origins had no effect. This effect was observed ex vivo on isolated aortas, but also in vivo on femoral arteries. Proteomic analysis of microvesicles derived from JAK2V617F erythrocytes identified increased expression of myeloperoxidase as the likely mechanism accounting for their effect. Myeloperoxidase inhibition in microvesicles derived from JAK2V617F erythrocytes suppressed their effect on oxidative stress. Antioxidants such as simvastatin and N-acetyl cysteine improved arterial dysfunction in Jak2V617F mice. In conclusion, JAK2V617F MPNs are characterized by exacerbated vasoconstrictor responses resulting from increased endothelial oxidative stress caused by circulating erythrocyte-derived microvesicles. Simvastatin appears to be a promising therapeutic strategy in this setting.

Facioscapulohumeral muscular dystrophy (FSHD) results from expression of the full-length double homeobox 4 (DUX4-FL) retrogene in skeletal muscle. However, even in cases of severe FSHD the presence of DUX4 is barely detectable. In this issue of the JCI, Bosnakovski et al. used an inducible, muscle-specific human DUX4 to reproduce the low-level, sporadic DUX4 expression of human FSHD muscle as well the myopathology seen in human FSHD disease. Notably, dysregulated fibroadipogenic progenitors accumulated in affected muscles, thus providing a mechanism for the replacement of muscle by fibrosis and fat.

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is an autoimmune fibrotic disease whose pathogenesis is poorly understood and lacks effective therapies. We undertook quantitative analyses of T cell infiltrates in the skin of 35 untreated patients with early diffuse SSc and here show that CD4+ cytotoxic T cells and CD8+ T cells contribute prominently to these infiltrates. We also observed an accumulation of apoptotic cells in SSc tissues, suggesting that recurring cell death may contribute to tissue damage and remodeling in this fibrotic disease. HLA-DR–expressing endothelial cells were frequent targets of apoptosis in SSc, consistent with the prominent vasculopathy seen in patients with this disease. A circulating effector population of cytotoxic CD4+ T cells, which exhibited signatures of enhanced metabolic activity, was clonally expanded in patients with systemic sclerosis. These data suggest that cytotoxic T cells may induce the apoptotic death of endothelial and other cells in systemic sclerosis. Cell loss driven by immune cells may be followed by overly exuberant tissue repair processes that lead to fibrosis and tissue dysfunction.

IBM Security, Packet Clearing House (PCH) and The Global Cyber Alliance (GCA) today launched a free service designed to give consumers and businesses added privacy and security protection as they access the internet. The new Quad9 Domain Name System (DNS) service helps protect users from accessing millions of malicious internet sites known to steal personal information, infect users with ransomware and malware, or conduct fraudulent activity.

IBM y Grupo Cleber anunciaron hoy que el importante conglomerado automotriz con sede en Monterrey obtuvo una visión integral y regional de su negocio con soluciones de analítica de IBM.

After some discussion with the applied math research groups here at UCLA (in particular the groups led by Andrea Bertozzi and Deanna Needell), one of the members of these groups, Chris Strohmeier, has produced a proposal for a Polymath project to crowdsource in a single repository (a) a collection of public data sets relating to […]

• 2 bananas, sliced and frozen ($.60)
• 1/2 cup almond milk ($.40)
• 2 tablespoons raw cacao powder or cocoa powder
• pinch salt
• few drops of stevia, if more sweetness is desired

• 1/4 cup melted coconut oil ($.80)
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder or cocoa powder ($.80)
• 1/4 cup finely ground coconut palm sugar ($.80)
• pinch salt 
• 2 tablespoons chopped pistachios ($.40)

1. Place all fudgesicle ingredients into  blender and puree until very smooth. Add more almond milk or water if needed to facilitate blending. 
2. Pour into popsicle molds and freeze for several hours until fully frozen. 
3. Prepare the chocolate shell coating. 
4. Place all the chocolate shell coating ingredients into a small bowl and stir well until smooth.
5. Remove the fidgesicles from the freezer and pop them out of their molds.
6. Dip the fudgescicles into the hard chocolate shell, or drizzle it over them to coat. 
7. Just heating the coconut oil up enough to melt it and not any warmer will yield the best results. If needed, gently remelt the chocolate hard shell. 
8. Add a sprinkle of chopped pistachios or other chopped nut, if desired. Cacao nibs also work well.
9. Any leftovers can be wrapped and stored in the freezer for a week or so.

We need to go greener!

I was recently looking around online looking for a new site to transfer an old blog of mine when I came across a site called Circlepad. Circlepad if you never heard of this site is a website builder that lets you easily and quickly create a website in minutes. What I like about this particular site is that you don’t need any programming experience, everything is click and drag.

Earlier this year I warned that The Ocean Cleanup would catch and kill floating marine life. This week they announced they’re collecting plastic, and their picture…

The spread of coronavirus has shaken the economy with mass layoffs and increased uncertainty. As a result more and more Americans are finding themselves in mounting debt. In 2018, the American household debt reached an all-time high at $13.21 trillion across 300 million people. But for those with a diagnosable mental illness, debt has an even more detrimental impact.  One in four adults will experience a mental health event at some point in their life. The relationship between debt and […]

The post How to Break the Cycle of Debt and Mental Health appeared first on The Simple Dollar.

Even if Fabuloso is the staple of your cleaning routine, there are probably a few tricks you didn't know you could try. READ MORE...

An interview with Viv Clelland, winner of the ’The untold story’ award at the Scottish Social Services Awards 2019. She is a support worker for looked after young people and families in East Ayrshire. 

Viv lived in a Kilmarnock children’s home from the age of 11 years until she was 17. She began her career doing a bit of everything: cleaning, working in bars, as well as volunteering for a horse riding school for disabled young people.

In 2000, she became a volunteer parent coach with Kilmarnock Harriers, which led to her being approached to volunteer with East Ayrshire Council. By 2006, she was employed as Sports Motivator – working in a variety of community coaching & children’s house sessions for the council.

As Viv developed, the job developed and her role became more focused on working with looked after and accommodated young people, based within the play and early intervention team. Her skills have also supported work in HMP Kilmarnock and with vulnerable families. 

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

An interview with Peter Macleod, Chief Executive of the Care Inspectorate and Chair of Iriss.

Peter graduated from Robert Gordon University with a degree in social sciences and a qualification in social work and began a career as a social worker in Glasgow in 1987.

In 1996 he joined Renfrewshire council as an area manager, responsible for adult, children’s and criminal justice social work, and in early 2007 was appointed head of children’s services and criminal justice for social work and the community health partnership.

In 2015, he was appointed Renfrewshire’s first director of a new children’s services directorate, bringing together children’s social work, education and criminal justice services.

He sits on the boards of MacMillan Cancer Support TCAT Programme and Scottish Government’s Re-aligning Children’s Services programme.

In his own words, he says, "I am ambitious for social care; I want people in Scotland to experience transformational, world-class care that makes a real and positive difference to their lives."

Transcript of episode

Music Credit: Make your dream a reality by Scott Holmes.

Creative Commons has joined forces with other legal experts and leading scientists to offer a simple way for universities, companies, and other holders of intellectual property rights to support the development of medicines, test kits, vaccines, and other scientific discoveries related to COVID-19 for the duration of the pandemic. The Open COVID Pledge grants the … Read More "Open COVID Pledge: Removing Obstacles to Sharing IP in the Fight Against COVID-19"

The post Open COVID Pledge: Removing Obstacles to Sharing IP in the Fight Against COVID-19 appeared first on Creative Commons.

THE CALVIN CYCLE stage of photosynthesis that requires dark. Problem?

This is a paper produced as part of the PROP2 (Practitioner Research: Outcomes and Partnership) programme, a partnership between the Centre for Research on Families and Relationships (CRFR) at the University of Edinburgh and IRISS that was about health and social care in Scotland. This paper was written by Raymond Brennan from ENABLE Scotland who participated in the PROP2 programme. This research is an attempt to understand the difficulties people with learning disabilities face around friendships and relationships. Recent evidence produced in the ‘Keys to Life’ highlights the impact social isolation has on people with learning disabilities. This research is concerned with the experiences parents and children have when choosing their options of schooling, and if the ‘Circle of Friends’ approach would make the option of mainstream school less daunting.

Recently Donald Trump tweeted the word "TREASON?" in light of the New York Times op ed that was published on Wednesday. The article was supposedly written by someone within the Trump Administration, calling themselves part of the "resistance." 

After Trump's "treason" tweet, people on Twitter began making their own amusing parodies, which you can read below!

Humans are guilty of having less than rational thoughts. We do it all the time. We might assume the worst is going to happen or jump to conclusions before we have all the information. Cognitive restructuring helps people become aware of their irrational thoughts so that they can correct them and replace them with more [...]Read More...

Lots of gaming headphone deals for those brave enough to go into stores.
These are the deals:

30% Off Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Aero Wireless headset for PC (Expires April 4th)

30% Off Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Pro Wired PC Gaming headset (Expires April 4th)

40% Off Turtle Beach Battle Buds In-ear Gaming headset (Expires April 4th)

15% Off Turtle Beach Stealth 600 Headset All Varieties (Expires April 4th)

30% Off ROCCAT Kone Aimo Owl-Eye Mouse Black & White (Expires April 4th)

30% Off ROCCAT Sense Aimo Mousepad for PC Gaming (Expires April 4th)

25% Off ROCCAT Vulcan Aimo Keyboard Black & White/Silver (Expires April 18th)

10% Off My Arcade Gamestation Assorted Items (Expires April 22nd)

30% Off Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Pro Wired PC Gaming Headset (Expires April 25th)

30% Off Turtle Beach Elite Atlas Aero Wireless Headset for PC (Expires April 25th)

25% Off ROCCAT Vulcan Aimo Keyboard Black & White/Silver (Expires April 25th)

25% Off ROCCAT Kain Aimo Wireless Mouse Black & White (Expires April 25th)

25% Off ROCCAT Kain Aimo Mouse Black & White (Expires April 25th)

10% Off My Arcade Gamestation Assorted Items (Expires April 22nd)

25% Off ROCCAT Kain 102 Aimo Mouse PC Gaming, White (Expires April 25th)

The sun offers plenty of brainteasers: Right now, for instance, it's sporting magnetic knots formed by two different cycles — simultaneously.

Sometimes, being disruptive is fashionable. As for Archivist, a sustainable clothing company, its business plan counts on being disruptive in the name of fashion and corporate responsibility. With this mission, Archivist has found a unique yet luxurious inspiration for a new line of tailored shirts — hotel sheets.[...]

The 2020 Coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic has created a new normal for much of the population — a daily routine that now means moving from the bedroom to the living room instead of battling a commute and logging hours in an office building. With the kids tackling remote learning and you working from home, the carbon dioxide to oxygen ratio under your roof is likely different than it was just a few months ago. After all, there’s no doubt that an increase in the number of people at home affects the overall indoor air quality (IAQ) within the space. With that in[...]

Washington-based architect and designer Michael Mannhard has unveiled designs for BladeYARD, a proposal for a Burning Man 2021 installation built from recycled wind turbine blades. Created as a visual warning of the effects of climate change and shortsighted solutions, the installation mimics a large-scale ruin with parts of the blades submerged in the sands of Nevada’s Black Rock Desert.[...]

Raised in the countryside of South West England, creative artist Emma Aitchison has developed a jewelry line inspired by and respectful to nature. Furthermore, Aitchison wanted her unique designs to act as a symbol for environmental awareness and to provoke conversations about protecting vital resources on the planet.[...]

In an effort to find a balance between protecting the significant investment in our cellular devices and protecting the planet, LifeProof has developed a phone case that sources materials diverted from the ocean and simultaneously supports organizations directly involved in providing safe water, protecting ocean life and maintaining river habitat. [...]

Creating furniture is an age-old art form that has incorporated standard materials such as aluminum, wood and rattan. However, one artist has perfected a way to use another prolific material, cardboard, into furniture designs, and he'll show you how to use it too. [...]

By Dan Duddy  Published: May 06th, 2020 

About a month ago, we had yet another health worry with Butter Bib (a/k/a Zen). Since then she has bounced back and is in fine form, still going up and down the stairs, and also going up and down the little plastic steps we have by our bed. Now that the weather is colder, I... Continue Reading →

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Led by Princeton’s Cristian Galbiati, a massive international team worked to design, test and finalize the Mechanical Ventilator Milano (MVM), a low-cost ventilator designed to ease device shortages caused by COVID-19.

Sustainable-finance expert and Princeton alumna Marilyn Waite of the Hewlett Foundation speaks to “All for Earth” about mobilizing $1 trillion to fight climate change.   

WASHINGTON (April 29, 2020) —  Today, the U.S.

Environmental News  FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

WASHINGTON (April 30, 2020) — The U.S.