December 31, 2015

Google Glass 2.0 to launch. 74 articles in PubMed on Glass 1.0, some of them rather curious - have a look

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Google Glass 1.0 (the first version available to consumers) was a failure in terms of social acceptance and commercial appeal. Yes, there are more than 70 articles in PubMed about Google Glass as of December 2015 but the device never got traction and most of publicity around it was decidedly negative. The second version aims to change that. Here is more information about Google Glass 2.0 from the WSJ:



Here is something not to try:

Texting while driving using Google Glass™: Promising but not distraction-free.
He J, Choi W, McCarley JS, Chaparro BS, Wang C.
Accid Anal Prev. 2015 Aug;81:218-29. doi: 10.1016/j.aap.2015.03.033. Epub 2015 May 26.

And of course, there is this:

Google Glass liability risks.
Frankel J.
Bull Am Coll Surg. 2015 Feb;100(2):39. No abstract available.

There are potential benefits, of course:

Do you see what I see? Insights from using google glass for disaster telemedicine triage.
Cicero MX, Walsh B, Solad Y, Whitfill T, Paesano G, Kim K, Baum CR, Cone DC.
Prehosp Disaster Med. 2015 Feb;30(1):4-8. doi: 10.1017/S1049023X1400140X. Epub 2015 Jan 9.

Whatever the future application of Google Glass is, there will always be allergies:

GlassAllergy: a Google Glass-based solution to empower patients with skin allergies.
Wiesner M, Pobiruchin M, Hetterich C, Pfeifer D.
Stud Health Technol Inform. 2014;205:548-52.

If you think people did not like to wear the digital glasses, how about a digital wig?

New Wearable Computers Move Ahead: Google Glass and Smart Wigs.
Klonoff DC.
J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2014 Jan 1;8(1):3-5. [Epub ahead of print] No abstract available.
PMID: 24876529

The question is still open:

Google Glass: a new dimension in surgical education or just another gimmick?
Waxman BP.
ANZ J Surg. 2014 Nov;84(11):810. Review. No abstract available.

References:

PubMed search on Google Glass
December 30, 2015

Lead Contamination of Tea - how much tea is safe to drink per day?

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There is a good explanation in the video below, by Dr. Greger:



Regarding lead contamination of tea from China, his recommendation is to drink no more than 3 cups of black tea per day.
December 21, 2015

Technology Rentals 101: How To Save Your Business Time And Money!

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Technology rentals are a great way to save you and your business a lot of time and money. Temporary, short-term technology rentals are the perfect solutions for your short-term needs. A lot of event professionals and business professionals are constantly going to trade shows, conventions, conferences, and seminars or hosting things like corporate training events or business meetings and all of these situations have a need for short-term technology rentals. But in order to know exactly what it means to rent technology, you need to hear about it from a professional.

Rentacomputer has been in the business of computer, technology, and AV rentals for over 25 years. However, even after all those years, there are still people who don't quite understand how renting technology works and how it can save you and your business time and money. Rentacomputer provides temporary business-to-business technology, such as computer rentals, office equipment rentals, and AV rentals for business events all over the United States, Western Europe, and Australia.

If that sounds interesting, and it should, you can read more about what Rentacomputer does and how it can benefit you and your business here!
December 21, 2015

Malaria - NHS video

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NHS Choices: Malaria is a parasitic infection spread by mosquitoes. This video explains how malaria is treated and what can be done to help prevent contracting the disease.
December 19, 2015

Genes are not really our genes. It is we who belong to them for a few decades

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From OHCM and Thomas Browne, Religio Medici, 1642: "We all labor against our own cure; for death is the cure of all diseases."

Most patients are told less than they want. Yet nothing you can say to your patient can ever be relied upon to tame death's mystery.

Death is nature's master stroke, albeit a cruel one, because it allows genotypes space to try on new phenotypes. Our bodies and minds are these perishable phenotypes.

The genes are not really our genes. It is we who belong to them for a few decades.

These are excerpts from the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine. Read more on page 6-7:



The OHCM mentions JS Bach's cantata in contemplation of death Ich habe genug (I've had enough):



December 17, 2015

Carbon monoxide - NHSChoices video

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NHSChoices: Carbon monoxide poisoning kills around 50 people a year in the UK. An expert explains how the gas affects the body, the symptoms it causes and how to treat it.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wh8tqEV9E2A
December 17, 2015

Deep Purple are 2016 Rock Hall of Fame Inductees

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From Rock Hall in Cleveland, Ohio:

If there were a “Mount Rushmore Of Hard Rock” it would only have three heads: Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath and Deep Purple.

Deep Purple combined outstanding musicianship with dozens of FM radio smashes. Three separate incarnations of the band have made spectacular albums culminating with Deep Purple In Rock, which along with Led Zeppelin II and Black Sabbath’s Paranoid created the genre of hard rock music. Deep Purple have sold over 100 million albums and their flagship track “Smoke On The Water” eclipses “Satisfaction,” “Born To Run” and “Smells Like Teen Spirit” as the Number One Greatest Guitar Riff Of All Time. It is the riff that inspired tens of millions of guitarists to pick up the instrument and only Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony gives it a run for the money as far as recognizability and badassed-ness.



Genius guitarist Ritchie Blackmore fused countless powerhouse riffs with a deep knowledge and appreciation of classical music. Keyboardist Jon Lord kept pace on the classical and rock fronts and cemented the guitar/keyboard axis that defined the band’s sound, and along with Zeppelin and Sabbath gave birth to an entire genre. Ian Gillian’s vocal range was unparalleled and the boiler room rhythm section of Roger Glover and Ian Paice cemented the classic lineup. Original vocalist Rod Evans and the David Coverdale/Glen Hughes lineups also created masterpieces of their own. Deep Purple are and were a band of supremely talented musicians and songwriters. Their groundbreaking albums and ear drum breaking live shows are the stuff of legend.

See more at: https://rockhall.com/inductees/nominees/2016-deep-purple/#sthash.h2T84QQO.dpuf

Congratulations to all fans and band members! I would like to think that Deep Purple being featured by University of Chicago helped at least a little bit with the Rock Hall of Fame induction... :)

Rock Star Doctors: What Physicians Can Learn from Musicians « Science Life Blog « University of Chicago Medicine

Thank you, Matt Wood @woodtang



Related reading:

Deep Purple's Ian Paice on Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction: 'At Last!'. Rolling Stone, 2015.
Read Lars Ulrich's Passionate Deep Purple Rock Hall Induction, 2016 http://buff.ly/1YzuBkc
December 02, 2015

HGST Debuts Ultrastar He10 10TB Helium-Filled Hard Drive

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I bet you never thought you would live to see the day we had 10TB hard drives did you? Well, helium-filled hard drives have finally reached this point by creating the first 10TB hard drives that use conventional recording methods.

Western Digital subsidiary HGST has created the Ultrastar He10 which, interestingly enough, is not the first 10B helium drive. HGST created the first real 10TB hard drive back in the summer. However, this new drive is the only helium drive that has 10TB and uses perpendicular magnetic recording (PMR), the standard recording technology for hard drives over the last 10 years.

The first 10TB drive from HGST used shingled magnetic recording (SMR). SMR uses magnetic tracks that overlap to increase capacity. The downside here is that there is very little guard space between the tracks, which makes rewriting data much more difficult and longer as adjacent tracks may need to be rewritten as well. That is why SMR is better-suited for cold storage as opposed to routine recording.

PMR has some negatives too. The problem with PMR is that is is coming to the limits of its potential capacity. Regardless, HGST has pulled off something quite amazing by stuffing seven platters into a standard 1-inch drive. Helium drives from other companies, like Seagate, top out at 8TB. Both Seagate and HGST have been putting money into new technology known as heat-assisted magnetic recording, which allows for a much higher capacity and is better suited for everyday use though these hard drives won't start showing up until next year at the earliest.


Just like with the earlier helium drives from HGST, the Ultrastar He10 is being marketed at enterprise and server use and will have a price tag of around $800. Compared to air, helium isn't as dense which means that there will be less of a drag on the moving parts of the drive. This decreased friction when combined with hermetic seals that keep out contaminants and humidity allow these drives to run at cooler temperatures than a standard HDD. This will also reduce your energy costs. This makes them perfect for use in servers though the direct impact on consumers will be minimal. Regardless, the larger capacity could benefit the cloud services that we are relying on more and more.

Content originally published here

Sharing this story on social media? Use these hashtags! #WesternDigital #HGST #UltrastarHe10 #HardDrives
November 27, 2015

Good communication makes our work interesting, richer and deeper

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Good communication makes our work interesting, richer and deeper. But empathy may dry up over time, hence the need to refresh/recharge periodically.

The most open question is "How are you?" The direction a patient chooses offers valuable information during this first "golden" minute in which you are silent.

Share management plans: "What can we do about this"? Unless you become patient-centered, your patient may never be satisfied with you, or fully cooperative.

Every hospital has a department of reflection. It exists in your mind, don't forget to visit there from time to time.

These are excerpts from the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine. Read more on page 4, Asking questions:



Here is the famous Cleveland Clinic video "Empathy: The Human Connection to Patient Care: Patient care is more than just healing -- it's building a connection that encompasses mind, body and soul. If you could stand in someone else's shoes . . . hear what they hear. See what they see. Feel what they feel. Would you treat them differently?"



November 18, 2015

The Fastest Desktop PC Ever

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In the words of LT Pete "Maverick" Mitchell, "I feel the need....the need for speed!" Well, at least that's what Intel is feeling as it just announced that it will be putting its absurd 72-core Knight's Landing supercomputer chip into production. However, that isn't even the most exciting part. The most exciting part is that the Knight's Landing, which is Intel's fastest chip to date, will be going into desktop workstations that will contain enough computational power to make Doc Brown's overloaded speakers look like a kids karaoke machine.

PC World recently reported that the company is planning on shipping a "limited number of workstations" that will come equipped with the super-fast supercomputer chip in the first half of 2016. As a result PC makers will have the ability to adopt Intel's supercomputer silicon in desktop models on a greater scale, according to Intel's Charles Wuischpard. I don't know about you, but I'm not sure I can handle a chip like this being in something that is sitting in my room or my office. But then again the power is very alluring.

The main question that is going to be on everyone's mind is, of course, what kind of specs we can expect from the Knight's Landing chip. This chip differs from the ones currently in your desktop in the fact that this supercomputer processor puts all of its cores onto a single piece of silicon. Then, all of these processors are bundled up with 16GB of on-package MCDRAM memory into a PCI-E add-in card. This is very similar to the ridiculous Nvidia GPUs that are currently being installed on supercomputers around the world.


Once you have all of this packed together and installed inside your computer you are left with a piece of hardware that is capable of computing single-precision calculations at a rate of 8 teraflops, or double-precision calculations at over 3 teraflops. PC World also noted that this chip will be used by the United States Department of Energy inside of its 9,300-core Cori supercomputer and, in addition to that, Intel has also claimed that 50 different manufacturers will ship systems that use this chip in time.

In the meantime the desktop workstations, which are essentially jacked up versions of the CAD, graphics and film editing computers that are used in offices where money is as abundant as air, will be made available to researchers who are interested in using a supercomputer but are otherwise unable to gain access to one. The idea is that these individuals will be able to develop and test code on the workstation before shipping it out, error-free, to a supercomputer somewhere in the future. I highly doubt that you will be getting something like this in your iMac anytime soon, though Intel is, at the very least, attempting to put this chip into the hands of people that would otherwise have no access to such a device.

Content originally published here

Sharing this story on social media? Use these hashtags! #Intel #KnightsLanding #Supercomputer
November 09, 2015

App uses a network of smartphones to help research cancer: your phone crunches numbers while your sleep

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The company DreamLab says will allow users to "donate" their smartphone's processing power while their owners are sleeping:

"Cancer affects so many of the people we love. But what if you could help by speeding up cancer research, simply by going to bed. Researchers are hindered by limited access to supercomputers. So that’s where you and the DreamLab app come in. It’s a free to purchase app* that uses the processing power of your idle phone to solve a piece of the cancer research puzzle. If just 1,000 people used the app, cancer puzzles would be solved 30 times faster."

http://www.vodafone.com.au/aboutvodafone/vodafoneaustraliafoundation/dreamlab



"When a phone is plugged in and fully charged, it is sent a tiny genetic sequencing task by Australia's Garvan Institute of Medical Research to solve. When it is completed, the data is sent back to the Garvan Institute, which can use it as part of their research.

Users can select what project they want to contribute to, whether it is breast cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer and prostate cancer. According to Vodafone, 1,000 smartphones using the app can speed up research by 30 times.

While the service can use a significant amount of data, users can choose limits of 250MB, 500MB and 1GB to send, with the data free for Vodafone Australia customers, or available to send over WiFi."

References:

Vodafone app turns your smartphone into a powerful cancer research machine - Telegraph http://buff.ly/1iNFvnr
App creates 'smartphone supercomputer' to cure cancer http://buff.ly/1NZgbpD
DreamLab - Android Apps on Google Play http://buff.ly/1kkrhfm
November 04, 2015

Microsoft Reveals End-Of-Sales Date For Windows 7 And Windows 8.1 Devices

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By now most Windows users have upgraded to Windows 10. However, some people are still using Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 while others are looking to buy a new laptop, desktop or tablet with Windows 8.1 or 7 pre-installed. If you are one of these people then you have less than a year to do so as Microsoft has just announced that it will be discontinuing both Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.


According to the Microsoft Windows Lifecycle Fact Sheet, October 31st, 2016 is marked as the "end of sales for PCs with Windows 8.1 or Windows 7 pre-installed. After October 31st, 2016 the only option for customers will be to purchase new computers with Windows 10 installed. The only exception to this will be businesses with license agreements that entitle them to choose which version of Windows they wish to have pre-installed.

This deadline will be putting a lot of pressure on consumers who have become quite attached to Windows 7 and may be very apprehensive to upgrading to Windows 10 if they buy a new computer. However, this is a logical and necessary step for Microsoft in its goal of having more than 1 billion Windows 10 devices powered up. This also goes along with the company's message that Windows 10 is capable of bringing together desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones with apps that can run across every platform.

What Windows 7 users don't really realize is that this is actually really good for them. Microsoft usually sets the end-of-date for each version of Windows two years after the release of a new operating system. This means that the cutoff date for Windows 7 should have been October of 2014, which was two years after the launch of Windows 8. However, the severe lack of consumer demand for Windows 8 insisted that Microsoft keep the operating system around a while longer. Windows 8, if you remember, was Microsoft's attempt at making a touch-friendly operating system, though it transitioned horribly onto non-touch devices and was highly panned by users.


If you want to continue using Windows 7 on your existing PC or laptop then you don't have to worry. Microsoft has announced that extended technical support will be available until January 14, 2020, meaning that you will be able to continue receiving patches, bug fixes, and other updates. This support is also offered to Windows 8.1 users, though it is extended to January 23rd, 2023.

Despite these deadlines, Microsoft is still heavily pushing Windows 10 to users. The new operating system, which came to users at the end of July of this year, is available as a free upgrade to users of Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 for the first year of its existence. Microsoft keeps sneaking in pop-ups on the regular to remind users that Windows 10 is available. Microsoft also classified Windows 10 as an "optional update" and, as early as next year, expects to change that to a "recommended update" according to Windows and Devices Group Executive Vice President terry Myerson.

I have been using Windows 10 since it launched and it's really good. It takes the best things from Windows 7 and puts them in a modern format with new features and apps that really do bring all of your devices together. In addition to that, non-touchscreen users don't feel like they've been given second billing to touchscreen users, something that Windows 8 seemed to do. If you are looking for a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 computer or laptop, you better move quick because this time next year that won't be an option.

Content originally published here
Sharing this story on Social Media? Use these hashtags! #Microsoft #Windows10
November 02, 2015

Western Digital Is Buying SanDisk For $19 Billion

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Western Digital recently announced that it is buying up data storage vendor SanDisk for $19 billion in cash and stocks. This merger is coming at a time when the IT industry is evolving at breakneck speeds and companies are looking for new ways to get in on trends like wearable tech, the Internet of Things, and cloud computing. As a result, there has been a wave of mergers and acquisitions along with an increase of investment activity in the data storage market.

Western Digital's acquisition of SanDisk comes right after the market's biggest acquisition ever, when Dell purchased EMC for $67 billion. That deal hit news outlets last week and, in addition, storage semiconductor maker PMC-Sierra has also received a number of bids to take it over while Unisplendor, who is owned by China's Tsinghua, agreed to buy 15% of Western Digital for $3.78 billion. Western Digital focuses mainly on hard disk drives (HDD) though it is facing an evolution in IT that is pushing companies towards addressing a changing set of requirements for both client and enterprise end customers.

Enterprises no longer have to rely entirely on tape drives for backups and hard drives for primary data. However, the do have to deal with higher speed requirements that come with applications like online transaction processing and big data analytics. Solid-state drives (SSD) are a vital piece of multi-faceted storage infrastructures whereas flash memory devices simply sit under DRAM as top-tier storage. Western Digital and SanDisk are both based in California and they are both heavily involved in different segments of the consumer data storage market. Western Digital offers desktop NAS drives while SanDisk operates as a leader in flash-based thumb drives and memory expansion cards.

Earlier in the year, SanDisk, which is also known for its SSDs for desktops and laptops, announced its very first lineup of pocket-sized, high-capacity external drives. This buyout of SanDisk gives Western Digital an instant position in the global, non-volatile NAND flash memory market, according to Research Vice President of IDC Jeff Janukowicz. "Additionally, the NAND industry is at an infection point as it transitions from planar to 3D technology and access to that technology was a key piece of the deal," Janukowicz stated. "Now, WD is positioned to address a much larger footprint in the storage industry."


Western Digital noted during its announcement of the deal that the combination will "enable it to vertically integrate into NAND, securing long-term access to solid state technology at lower cost." SanDisk as 27 years of experience in the NAND flash memory industry and recently announced a deal with Toshiba to manufacture the world's densest 3D NAND, which is a 48-layer, 32GB chip that offers twice the capacity of the next densest memory. Also during the announcement Western Digital also noted the 15-year partnership between SanDisk and Toshiba and stated that it expects that relationship to be "ongoing". According to the company, "The joint venture provides stable NAND supply at scale through a time-tested business model and extends across NVM technologies such as 3D NAND."

According to Gregory Wong, an Analyst with Forward Insights, this deal between Western Digital and SanDisk will allow WD to enter the consumer SSD and enterprise SATA SSD market. "WD wants SanDisk for the access to the flash. Their PC HDD business is declining due to the weak PC market but also because SSDs are encroaching that space," Wong added. "Without access to NAND flash at cost, it would've increasingly been difficult to compete with NAND players in the enterprise space."

Content originally published here

Sharing this story on Social Media? Use these hashtags! #WesternDigital #SanDisk #HDD #SDD
October 23, 2015

Did You Know About These Built-In Battery Saving Modes In Windows 10?

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In case you didn't know, Windows 10 has a lot of neat little things built-in that allow you to save your battery life for longer. Sure there is the traditional power options menu that allows you to pick how long your computer should stay awake when you're not using it, but that's boring. What's cool is the new battery saver feature that switches off things like push notifications (Yes we know, your PC operating system has push notifications because Windows 10 was designed with mobile devices in mind too, get over it). So what do you need to know about these new battery settings?

The Power & Sleep menu, which can be accessed by going to Settings > System > Power > Sleep, isn't anything new. From this menu, you can choose how long your computer can be idle before it automatically shuts off the screen or goes into Sleep Mode. In addition to that, you can also customize it to do so when your computer is plugged in or running solely on battery power. There are also Additional Power Settings that you can click on, which opens up the Power Options menu in the Control Panel. From here you can edit your power plans, choose what happens when you close your laptop lid, or decide whether or not you need a password to unlock your computer when it wakes up from Sleep Mode.

A new feature with Windows 10 is Batter Saver. This is a battery-saving power mode that has been specifically optimized for Windows 10. This means that it can do things like limit background app activity and push notifications. This mode is very similar to ones that you would find on mobile devices, like smartphones or tablets. In addition to this, Batter Saver will automatically turn on when your laptop drops below 20% battery life though you can turn that off manually by going to Settings > System > Battery Saver and turning it off.


You can also tinker with Battery Saver mode. By going to the Battery Saver menu, click Battery Saver Settings to bring up the settings menu. From here you can adjust the point at which Batter Saver mode automatically kicks on from a range of 5% to 100% battery life. You can also choose whether or not to allow push notifications or lower screen brightness in Battery Saver mode or add app exceptions. Apps that you want to exclude from Battery Saver mode will be able to run in the background and send push notifications at all times.

The main Battery Saver menu allows you to see how much of your battery life is being used by different apps, simply click Battery Use to see. This will help you determine which apps to disable in Battery Saver mode, which is extremely useful. You can turn off the apps that drain the most battery life and not even worry about the ones that don't use any at all.

If you find yourself always needing to be connected when you're using your laptop and you can't figure out why your Windows 10 device is using so much power, consider going into some of these settings and tinkering around with things. You might be surprised at how much more efficient your battery usage will become and how much longer your laptop will last without having to be plugged in.

Content originally published here
October 18, 2015

How to avoid doctor dependency

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How to avoid doctor dependency:

Buy stuff over the counter
Take advice from grandma
Use self-made remedies, e.g. lemon and honey or sensible complementary therapies
Team up with people with the same condition for mutual support
Augment your own mental health and resilience
Rest or exercise
Eat a sensible diet

These are excerpts from the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine:



Reply to comment below:

Yes, the OHCM is great. It's probably one of the most valuable medical textbooks I have ever encountered, It pays off to re-read it from time, at least with every new edition. I have recommended it to residents and students here in the US but Pocket Medicine and other handbooks are more popular here.
October 17, 2015

"Don't go so fast: we're in a hurry!"

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"Don't go so fast: we're in a hurry!" -- Talleyrand to his coachman. Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord (1754–1838) was a French bishop, politician and diplomat. Due to a lame leg, he was not able to pursue the military career that had originally been foreseen for him by his family. Instead he studied theology. Unique in his own age and a phenomenon in any, Charles-Maurice, Prince de Talleyrand, was a statesman of outstanding ability and extraordinary contradictions. He was a world-class rogue who held high office in five successive regimes.

---

From OHCM: "We aim to encourage the doctor to enjoy his patients: in doing so we believe he will prosper in the practice of medicine."

Aim to:

- reassure
- treat
- refer
- palliate

These are excerpts from the Oxford Handbook of Clinical Medicine:



References:

Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://buff.ly/1LfmuUV
Amazon.com: Talleyrand (9780802137678): Duff Cooper: Books http://buff.ly/1Lfmvs5
October 12, 2015

HP Envy 34 All-In-One Has Brilliant 34-Inch Curved Display

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HP has just released its newest all-in-one PC, the beautiful Enfy 34. This computer offers something unique, however, that other all-in-ones do not and that is a 34-inch curved panel. This is definitely a fancy computer to look at and, as a result, isn't cheap.


HP has added Intel's latest 6th-generation Skylake CPU and the screen itself is an IPS display, allowing for wide viewing angles. The screen also comes with a 3440 x 1440 resolution as well as 4.9 million pixels and a 21:9 aspect ratio. According to HP, the Envy 34's display offers 99% of the sRGB color gamut and also has Technicolor certification.

As far as CPU options are concerned, the Envy 34 comes with a Core i5 or Core i7 Skylake dual-core with integrated graphics standard. If this isn't quite good enough for you then you can always opt for the GeFOrce GTX 960A. Nvidia typically special OEM versions of its GPUs, which generally means that this version will be a bit slower than the consumer model.

In terms of RAM storage there is included 8GB or 16GB of DDR4 with storage options ranging from 128GB SSDs to as much as 2TB hard drives and hybrid drives. Naturally, the lower specs come with the base priced model of the Envy 34, which in this case will run you $1,800 USD.


If the Envy 34 seems a bit too big for you liking, the you will be happy to know that HP is also offering 27-inch and 24-inch models, known as the Envy 27 and Envy 24, respectively. Both of these versions mirror the internal hardware of the Envy 34, with the Skylake Core i5 and Core i7 chips as well as similar RAM and storage options. However, on these devices HP is giving consumers the option of AMD Radeon R7 or Radeon R9 graphics.

In addition to that, the panels on the Envy 27 and Envy 24 are flat, instead of curved. Both are Technicolor certified and have resolutions from standard 1080x1920 HD up to Ultra HD 4K. The Envy 24 starts at $1,000 with the Envy 27 starting at $1,200.

As far as all-in-ones are concerned, the Envy 34 from HP is definitely one of the best looking. What it's got underneath the hood is nothing to shake a stick at either. Solid RAM, solid storage space, solid processor, and a solid graphics card(s) are sure to make this all-in-one be at the top of many a computer lover's list.


October 06, 2015

Amazon Looking To Cut Prices And Launch A High-Speed Database

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Amazon is getting ready to host its annual AWS re:Invent tech conference next week in Las Vegas, with plans of talking to customers about its popular Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing that the online retailer provides. However, there is one product rumored to be announced at the event and that is a new, super-fast "in-memory" database, according to Merrill Lynch's Justin Post. According to Post, "Amazon may announce new database products like in-memory databases or higher performance database services like Aurora (MySQL)."

An in-memory database runs in your computer's memory instead of using computer storage. In addition to that, it is also capable of processing unspeakable amounts of data at nearly instantaneous speeds, according to the description from Oracle chairman Larry Ellison on Oracle's version of this very same product. the in-memory option is one of the key ways that Oracle is convincing its customers to upgrade to its latest database, Oracle 12c.

Another big name in this industry is SAP. SAP is trying to slowly wean its business software customers off of Oracle's database and onto its own in-memory alternative, known as Hana. SAP has wagered its entire company on the Hana database, according to SAP's chairman. In addition to that, Amazon already offers a plethora of ways to run in-memory databases on its cloud as well as a variety of its own databases.


Amazon has stated that it is working on more databases. In a job listing for a database developer the company said, "These are exciting times in our space - we are growing fast, but still at an early stage and working on ambitious new initiatives where an engineer at any level can have significant technical and business impact." Should Amazon introduce a new in-memory database, it won't be good news for either Oracle or SAP.

Databases are what an entire company's operations depend on. As a result, companies don't switch them out very often or very easily. However, database vendors are also known for some pretty wicked measures to get money out of their customers. As more and more businesses jump into cloud computing, a lot of them wouldn't mind finding less-expensive database alternatives. What are these less-expensive alternatives? Amazon.

Amazon is constantly cutting prices and, as of July, it has cut AWS prices 49 times and just announced another price cut for its storage service. Amazon is also due for even more cost cuts as rumors are circulating that the company will announce them at the AWS re:Invent tech conference.

This race to cut costs has generated a pretty catchy name: The Race to Zero. This means that, at some point, some cloud providers will cut prices so low that they will be giving them away for free. Google, earlier this year, actually went ahead and did that with its free Photo app and even threw in free unlimited storage too.

While Amazon delves deeper into database services and continues to cut costs along the way, enterprises may be very happy to give this new database a try.

Content originally published here
Sharing this story on Social Media? Use these hashtags! #Amazon #AWS #Oracle #SAP #InMemoryDatabase
October 05, 2015

AA: 2015 Nobel Prize in Physiology/Medicine goes to discoverers of antimicrobials Artemisinin and Avermectin

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From DW:

Youyou Tu, the chief professor at the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, began her work with traditional herbal remedies in the 1960s.

Focussing on plant Artemisia annua, Tu extracted the active Artemisin ingredient found in plants, then purified it. Tests conducted by the now 84-year-old showed her trials had “unprecedented potency” in treating Malaria, which infects close to 200 million people every year. The infection leaves more than 450,000 people dead globally annually, with most of the victims being children.

The other 2015 Nobel prize was for another antimicrobial therapy with an "A", Avermectin.

Nobel Medicine Prize 2015 - Announcement And Explanation:



Read more here:
http://buff.ly/1VALadf
Nobel Prize for anti-parasite drug discoveries - BBC News http://buff.ly/1M6DTkL

Full video is below (42 minutes):

October 01, 2015

70,000 Ways to Get Sick or Die - the switch to ICD-10 in US

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From the WSJ: Under a new system, the number of diagnostic codes doctors must use to get paid is expanding from 14,000 to 70,000, including codes for ailments such as "underdosing of caffeine" (video):



Here are some of the new codes:

- Z63.1: “Problems in relationship with in-laws”
- V91.07XA: “Burn due to water skis on fire.”

At the end of the day, this code probably applies to the majority of healthcare administrators in the US today:

F43.22: “Adjustment disorder with anxiety.”

References:

There Are Now Officially 70,000 Ways to Get Sick or Die. Bloomberg, 2015.
http://goo.gl/NMJsab


September 14, 2015

Microsoft Gives You The Windows 10 Upgrade Whether You Want It Or Not!

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Microsoft recently confirmed that it has been pre-loading Windows 10 installation bits onto devices whose owners have not "reserved" a copy of the operating system, let alone showed any interest in it at all. Naturally, this has upset some users of Windows 7 and Windows 8.1 with many complaining that the unsolicited downloads have caused them to exceed data caps from their internet service providers or seized storage space without their consent.


Microsoft released a statement acknowledging the downloads stating, "For those who have chosen to receive automatic updates through Windows Update, we help customers prepare their devices for Windows 10 by downloading the files necessary for future installation. This results in a better upgrade experience and ensures the customer's device has the latest software. This is an industry practice that reduces the time for installation and ensures device readiness."

If a Windows 7 or Windows 8.1 user has Windows Update set to the default option, which was recommended by Microsoft, that allows the operating system to download and install security and other bug patches automatically in the background then Microsoft will push the Windows 10 upgrade files to the drive.

This upgrade can range from over 3GB to almost 6GB and is placed in the hidden "$Windows.~BT" folder. This folder has long been a destination for Windows upgrades and the Windows 10 upgrade will remain here until the user expresses an interest in installing the operating system...at least that's what we hope.

Microsoft has been pre-loading the Windows 10 upgrade on systems since the end of July, though it was believed that the practice was limited to PCs whose users had accepted Microsoft's free offer and reserved a copy of the operating system through an app the company automatically installed back in the spring and early summer on nearly every single PC running Windows 7 Home and Windows 8.1 Home, and on many PCs running Windows 7 Professional and Windows 8.1 Professional.

Once the Windows 10 upgrade was downloaded to the device, the user was notified via the app that installation was ready. But this new scheme is completely different in the fact that the bits are downloaded to the PC, regardless of the fact that the user has not asked for the upgrade whatsoever. What's not surprising is the people who noticed this first were the ones with data caps mandated by their internet service providers, especially those who relied on cellular connection to the internet.


There is a particularly long thread on Slashdot that has several commenters claiming that they had exceeded their caps because Microsoft downloaded this massive update to their devices without their approval. One comment reads, "I had to travel recently, so I took a laptop with clean Windows 8.1 Pro install. At my destination, I purchased a SIM (they only had 1GB data packages) and put it into the 3G/Wi-Fi router I carry. I powered the laptop, connected to Internet via said router, checked a few things, then went away for a few hours. When I got back to the apartment, my data package (and Internet connectivity) was killed because Microsoft idiots decided to start downloading Windows 10 even though I have explicitly closed/rejected all the offers."

Other users did not appreciate the unwanted upgrade that landed on their limited storage space. Anyone with a 128GB SSD would be very unhappy if 5% of their storage capacity was suddenly occupied without their approval. Others wondered whether Microsoft would take the next logical step by either giving users notifications telling them to apply the installed upgrade or make the move of triggering the download automatically.

If they triggered the download automatically it wouldn't be much different from what they've already done with those users who accepted the free upgrade and reserved a copy. It is also possible that a lot of users on the receiving end of the notifications would approve of the upgrade or even appreciate the fact they didn't have to wait a long time for the download to complete. However, if Microsoft downloaded the update without consent (again) then the people may very well grab their torches and pitchforks.

Content originally published here

Sharing this story on Social Media? Use these hashstags! #Microsoft #Windows10 #WindowsUpdate
September 08, 2015

IBM Creates A Limitless Linux

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With significant drivers expanding the mission critical applications in the industry, it's no surprise that Linux is the fastest growing operating system in the business. Speed, agility, a unified development environment and cost are all factors to this success. In addition to that, Linux's quality has advanced in recent years with mobile driving an increased focus on this platform. IBM has a lot of eggs in this basket, pushing its z Systems platform to take advantage of this trend and provide the strongest large scale offering around. IBM is convinced that they can expand their capability by taking Linux to new heights and are doing so by announcing the expansion of their coverage. Customers have begun wanting IBM to take Linux and give it the same focus as the company's most capable systems, and that's exactly what IBM is doing.

IBM's LinuxOne Portfolio is designed to provide a selection of Linux distribution of its choosing and with the scale and support you would expect from IBM's most powerful systems, like the z System. In addition to that, there are two other offerings, both of which are named after penguins. These two systems are known as the LinuxONE Emperor and the LinuxONE Rockhopper. Emperor is the premier offering, providing the greatest flexibility and scalability along with performance and trust for business-critical Linux applications. Emperor also has the greatest capacity range and no top end, meaning it can be expanded whenever and however you need to. Rockhopper is the entry system that starts much smaller than Emperor and provides a solution for a smaller company or unit.

Both of the systems allow you to choose your distribution, hypervisor, runtime, management tools, your choice of databases, and your choice of analytics. There are other coverages on hypervisors as well, including PR/SM. z/VM, and KVM. Languages include Python, Pearl, COBOL, Java, and Node.js. On the management side, we have WAVE, IBM Cloud Manager, OpenStack, Docker, Chef, Puppet, and VMware vRealize Automation. In terms of databases, there's Oracle, DB2LUW, Maria DB, MongoDB, and PostgreSQL with analytics include Hadoop, Big Insights, DB@BLU, and Spark. The range of offerings is also pretty good, including single platform, multi-platform, on premise, off premise, and multiple mixed cloud environments with a common toolset.


When it comes to pricing, things are pretty flexible. There's a Pay-Per-Use model with no upfront payment needed, a fixed monthly or quarterly payment, and variable costing that scales based on usage. A second pricing model uses a 36-month fixed lease with a 36-month usage contact and a right to return after 1 year. The final payment style is a Pre-Core rental model that allows you to order what you need when you need it, add licenses as needed, decrease licenses as needed or cancel with a 30-day notice.

Scale out and up supports up to 8 thousand virtual servers in a single system along with tens of thousands of containers, tens of thousands of concurrent users, and the ability to run test, development, and production in a single system. There is a significant focus on speed here as IBM has included its fastest processor, biggest I/O pipe, up to 10TB of memory, and 4 levels of cache, all of which brings you a sub-second end user response time at full load. The platform is designed to run at 100% utilization and to spin containers and virtual servers in a matter of minutes, automatically provide physical resources as needed in seconds via automatic resources provisioning and reallocation.

IBM testing has shown that it can handle up to 30 billion RESTful web interactions per day with up to 350,000 database read and writes per second. This is twice the performance of competitors for any NoSQL database, along with the longest single DB node. This assists in avoiding costs, complexity, and overhead of sharding.

This is Linux without limits. The Open Mainframe Project is a key element in the effort and it is being pushed forward by the Linux foundation in order to drive capabilities and growth. IBM is showing a commitment to driving this project with a lot of funding and company resources. This includes IBM Linux Technology Centers, Open Source Community Contributions, Academic Initiative and Training Programs, and open access to Mainframe community clouds. Members of this project include CA, CompuWare, BMC, Marris College, and the University of Washington.

IBM is pulling out all the stops here and this is definitely one of the most significant moves by the company in the past 10 years. IBM is enabling its centers worldwide to port, test, and benchmark key applications with free access to the Mainframe Community Cloud for developers and students across a plethora of top-tier universities. IBM definitely sees its future tied closely to Linux and a score of students coming from educational institutions and is focused on ever more mobile, flexible, applications.

Content originally published here
Sharing this story on Social Media? Use these hashtags! #IBM #Linux #LimitlessLinux #LinuxONERockhopper LinuxONEEmperor
September 04, 2015

Extroverts and neurotics tend to use Facebook and WhatsApp more

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From a recent study:

20% of smartphone behavior can be accounted for by WhatsApp usage, and females use it 13 minutes longer than males.

Extroversion is of high importance in understanding WhatsApp usage, extroverts use it longer vs introverts.

High neurotics tend to use Facebook more as it facilitates communication without face-to-face interaction.

On the other hand, conscientiousness is inversely correlated with WhatsApp usage. Conscientious humans handle their digital consumption better and are less prone to Internet addiction.

Are you conscientious? Conscientious humans can be described as punctual, and diligently follow their daily routines.



Status updates. Image source: WeBlogCartoons, Creative Commons license.

In related research, there was no good news for science uses of social media:

I Like, I Cite? Do Facebook Likes Predict the Impact of Scientific Work? http://buff.ly/1LPj4Io - Not really.

Impact of Social Media on Dissemination and Implementation of Clinical Practice Guidelines: Zero http://buff.ly/1LPj5fH

References:

Smartphone usage in the 21st century: who is active on WhatsApp? Christian Montag et al. BMC Res Notes. 2015; 8: 331.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4522968/

September 01, 2015

Healthcare social media #HCSM - top articles

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Here are my suggestions for some of the top articles related to healthcare social media (#HCSM) in the past 4-8 weeks:

Integration of Social Media in Emergency Medicine Residency Curriculum - Annals of Emergency Medicine http://buff.ly/1CcfgM9

Collaborative Economy Honeycomb http://bit.ly/1zoBreN - Not many companies in healthcare/wellness...

Risks in Using Social Media to Spot Signs of Mental Distress - NYTimes http://nyti.ms/1xYFumq -- NIH committed $11 million to support studies into using Twitter and Facebook to better understand substance abuse. Classification algorithm predicts whether a person was vulnerable to depression, from their Twitter posts, 70% accurate. “We could compute the unhappiest places in the United States,” Dr. Horvitz said. Social media analysis might also eventually be used to identify patterns of post-traumatic stress disorder immediately after events like tsunamis or terrorist attacks. “You can see the prospect of watching a news story break and using these tools to map the pulse of society.”
ike Twitter and Facebook to better understand, prevent and treat substance abuse.

20 Blogging Tips for Writing a Successful Blog http://buff.ly/16Xsu5q

Facebook can leave you with FOMO (fear of missing out) or even MOMO (mystery of missing out)? http://bit.ly/13Pj0aj

The selfie trend has increased plastic surgery in the US. Almost all the smartphones launched in 2014 have special functions to take selfies. The #selfie trend spins money for businesses - all new phones have selfie-friendly front cameras and apps. Selfie stick, a must have gadget http://buff.ly/13JzPDm

An evidence-based review: Distracted driver http://buff.ly/1xCGg5U

Learn to Embrace the Digital Detox - WSJ guide. Digital Detox: Participants trade smartphones for smarter life choices: exercise, art and face-to-face conversation. People don’t think they are addicted to technology because it’s so ingrained in our everyday life. “People don’t often recognize the effect their behavior has on them and those around them" http://buff.ly/1BqNc6D

Good to know for all us here: No increased stress from heavier social media use: survey | Reuters http://buff.ly/1Busk21

Student class standing, Facebook use, and academic performance = "it's complicated" relationship status http://buff.ly/15ujBiH

Establishing an International Consensus on Quality of Emergency Medicine and Critical Care Blogs and Podcasts http://buff.ly/1NCDSHn

Emergency Medicine Journal Club on Twitter: free, asynchronous way to engage a worldwide audience http://buff.ly/1aOsUfX

"A personal reflection on social media in medicine: I stand, no wiser than before" http://buff.ly/1IMgpNg -- “On your death bed, what do you think your biggest regret will be? … that you didn’t TWEET ENOUGH?”

The articles were selected from Twitter @DrVes and RSS subscriptions. Please feel free to send suggestions for articles to clinicalcases at gmail.com and you will receive an acknowledgement in the next edition of this publication.



Cycle of Online Information and Physician Education (click here to enlarge the image).




August 31, 2015

New Solid-State Batteries From Samsung/MIT Could "Last A Lifetime"

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Batteries. We need them for almost everything we use. They're in our laptops, our smartphones, our video game controllers, our remotes, and anything we use that is now wireless. But the one thing wrong with batteries in today's world is that they are finite. Eventually, they will run out of power and there's not a whole lot we can do about that. Or is there?

Researchers have recently developed a new material for a basic battery component that, according to them, will allow almost any battery indefinite power storage. This new material, known as a solid electrolyte, could increase battery life as well as battery storage capacity and safety as liquid electrolytes are the leading cause of battery fires.

The standard lithium-ion batteries that we use today use a liquid electrolyte. This liquid electrolyte is an organic solvent that has been known to overheat and cause fires in things like cars, commercial airliners and even smartphones. With a solid electrolyte, there is absolutely no safety problem whatsoever.

According to Gerbrand Ceder, a professor of materials science and engineering at MIT and one of the main researchers on the project, "You could throw it against the wall, drive a nail through it - there's nothing there to burn." In addition to that, a solid-state electrolyte will have virtually no degradation, which means that such batteries could last through "hundreds of thousands of cycles," Ceder continued.

Organic electrolytes also have limited electrochemical stability, which means that they lose their ability to produce an electrical charge over time. In addition to MIT, scientists from the Samsung Advanced Institute of Technology, the University of California at San Diego and the University of Maryland also conducted research on the project.


The findings were published in the peer-reviewed journal Nature Materials and the researchers described the solid-state electrolytes as an improvement over the current lithium-ion batteries we are using today. Electrolytes are one of three main components in a battery along with anode and cathode terminals.

The electrolyte component of the battery separates the battery's positive cathode and negative anode terminals while allowing the flow of ions between terminals. A chemical reaction then takes place between the two terminals, producing an electric current.

Previous problems with solid electrolytes are that they were incapable of conducting ions fast enough to be efficient energy, producers. The team of researchers from MIT and Samsung say that they have overcome that problem. Another advantage of a solid-state lithium-ion battery is that it can perform under very cold temperatures with Ceder calling this breakthrough "a real game-changer" that creates an "almost perfect battery".

Content originally published here
Sharing this story on Social Media? Use these hashtags! #MIT #Samsung #Batteries #SolidStateBatteries
August 31, 2015

Acer's Aspire Z3-710 All-In-One Gets Windows 10

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On Monday, Acer announced that its 23.8-inch Aspire Z3-710 Series of all-in-one desktop PCs are saving you some time by shipping with Windows 10. so you won't have to do the free upgrade from Windows 8.1.

The Z3-710-UR55 at $750 and Z3-710-UR54 at $900 will be the two models that ship with Windows 10. The Z3-710-UR55 comes with an Intell Core i3-4170T dual-core processor clocked at 3.2GHz with 3MB of cache, 6GB of DDR3L RAM, 1TB hard drive, DVD writer, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 + LE, 1080p webcam, three USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, GbE LAN, and stereo speakers.

The Z3-710-UR53 has a Core i5-4590T quad-core processor clocked at 2GHz with 6MB of cache and 8GB of RAM. If you're just using general purpose computing chores, it might not be worth the additional $150 as you only get 2GB of additional RAM. Even with the processor being an upgrade in cores and cache, it really is a downgrade in clock speed.

Looking for a Quote on a Desktop Rental for Your Business Event? Rentacomputer has a full range of Desktop Rentals for your event! Our short-term rentals are available in over 1,500 cities nationwide!

Acer says that both systems come with a slim 1.4-inch chassis with a display that can tilt from 5 to 25 degrees using only two fingers. If these don't sound as appealing to you, Acer still offers the Z3-710-UR59, which is a Windows 8.1 model, only at $700. It has an Intel Pentium G3260T dual-core clocked at 2.9GHz, 4GB of RAM, and 1TB HDD. All of the systems sound pretty cool and the fact that they are All-in-Ones is a definite bonus. You just need to find which one bests suits your needs.

Content originally published here

Sharing this story on Social Media? Use these hashtags! #Acer #Aspire #AllinOne
August 29, 2015

"Bio-detection" dogs in trial to be used for prostate cancer sniffing

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Many urologists agree that the PSA test for detecting prostate cancer is often unreliable, but it remains widely used because there are no other relatively inexpensive tests. Researchers in Britain say this method may soon be replaced with dogs trained to sniff out the type of cancer that, according to the American Cancer Society, affects one in every 7 men. VOA’s George Putic reports:



It takes 6 months to train a dog to detect prostate cancer. According to the report, trained dogs can detect prostate tumors in urine in 93 percent of cases.

"These dogs have the ability to screen hundreds of samples in a day; it's something they find very easy, they enjoy their work. To them it's a hunt game - they find the cancer."

The alternative, "electronic nose" sensitivity is well below the one of a dog. A dog can find 1 part per trillion. An electronic nose is unable to find anything below 1 per million.

References:

Cancer sniffing dogs to aid British doctors. Reuters. http://buff.ly/1PWNrOL
August 28, 2015

All about hair loss (alopecia) - Deutsche Welle expert interview

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Dr. Andreas Finner (Trichomed Praxis Berlin) talks about what everyone can do to keep a full head of hair and about the best methods for treating hair loss:



Today's Hair-Loss Treatments: Drugs

Minoxidil shampoo

Patients can buy an OTC shampoo with an ingredient called minoxidil. Minoxidil (Rogaine) fights androgenic alopecia in both men and women. It's still not entirely clear how minoxidil works. Used properly -- twice a day, massaged deep into the scalp -- it slows new hair loss. Two-thirds of men do get acceptable hair growth. "It is not something a bald person would use, but someone starting to go bald would use it. The goal is to maintain the hair you have."

An example from Amazon:



Propecia pill

Propecia (finasteride) works only for men. It keeps the male sex hormone testosterone from forming its DHT by-product. Many men use both minoxidil shampoo and Propecia pill for maximum effect.

Today's Hair-Loss Treatments: Surgery

Surgeons can transplant hair follicles from the sides and back of the head to the top of the head.

Future Hair-Loss Treatments

- "Hair cloning" although a more accurate name is hair duplication. Follicular stem cells are packaged into follicle-inducing implants.

- Gene therapy. A gene called sonic hedgehog can convert resting hair into growing hair.

Sonic the Hedgehog animation character from Amazon:



References:

Future Hair-Loss Treatments Promise What's not Hair Today will Be Hair Tomorrow. WebMD.
August 26, 2015

Hidradenitis Suppurativa

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Hidradenitis suppurativa, also known as acne inversa, is a chronic skin disease characterized by recurrent boil-like lumps (nodules) under the skin. Hidradenitis suppurativa was once thought to be a rare condition because only the most severe cases were reported. However, recent studies have shown that the condition affects at least 1 in 100 people when milder cases are also considered.

There are three levels in the management of hidradenitis suppurativa:

- topical options
- systemic options
- surgical methods including laser therapy

Dr. Christian Baum, a Mayo Clinic dermatologist, takes a look at a chronic skin condition called hidradenitis suppurativa: overview of the condition and treatment possibilities.



References:

Hidradenitis suppurativa: a review of cause and treatment. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2011 Apr;24(2):118-23. doi: 10.1097/QCO.0b013e3283428d07.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21192260

Hidradenitis suppurativa. NIH http://buff.ly/1Jiligz
August 12, 2015

Most Popular Programming Languages State by State

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When it comes to programming languages, most people probably can't name more than 2. Popular answers to this question typically include languages like C++ or JavaScript, but there is a whole host of other languages out there for people to use. And just because you've never heard of one doesn't mean that it isn't the most popular programming language on the other side of the country.

Silicon Valley may be the hotbed of new and exciting tech, but most programmers and developers are working hard in other industries, like big business. A recent programmer Q&A from the site Experts Exchange delved deep into its own data to determine what exactly the most popular programming languages are in the United States.

The survey took a look at who was asking questions about which programming languages, which was one of the factors in determining which states used which programming languages. In addition to that, users who were qualified "Experts" on the site seemed to favor PHP heavily.

If you look at the data and simply go off of the number of questions asked then it's clear to see that Microsoft's .NET programming language is seeing increased use. However, most people in the business are not surprised by these results.

PHP is a script language that is pretty much the standard with web developers, despite the fact that a lot of programmers don't seem to like all that much. Going along with that, .NET is a Microsoft standard that isn't exactly the most talked about but it is a good entrance for coders who are just getting started with learning to build apps around Microsoft platforms, platforms which are widely used in the business world.

What this data also does is show those in the Silicon Valley that the popularity of the newest programming languages is insignificant when compared to the driving force of existing options. Some of the more trendy languages, like Ruby on Rails and Swift, don't even appear on the list.

So what are the most popular programming languages in the country? Here's the list:

  • ASP
  • Cold Fusion
  • C++
  • C#
  • Delphi
  • Java
  • JavaJ2EE
  • JavaScript
  • .NET
  • PHP
  • Powershell
  • Python
  • Shell
  • SQL
  • VisualBasic

Just to note, West Virginia and North Dakota didn't return any significant data....coders must not exist there.

Content originally published here
August 11, 2015

Carpal tunnel syndrome animation

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NHSChoices: Carpal tunnel syndrome (CTS) is a condition that causes pain, numbness and a burning or tingling sensation in the hand and fingers. Watch this animation and find out what the carpal tunnel is and what causes CTS.

http://youtu.be/F3VryalTK14
August 06, 2015

"Gluten sensitivity" may be caused by FODMAPs in everyday foods: Fructose in fruit, Lactose in milk, Galactans in beans, Polyols in chewing gum

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FODMAPs is an acronym for fermentable oligosaccharides, disaccharides, monosaccharides and polyols. FODMAPs are sugars that draw water into the intestinal tract. They may be poorly digested or absorbed, and become fodder for colonic bacteria that produce gas and can cause abdominal distress.

FODMAPs are FLF-GP:

- Fructose: A sugar found in many fruits (hence the name), for example, apples, pears, watermelon, mangoes, grapes, blueberries, tomatoes and tomato concentrate, and all dried fruits; vegetables like sugar-snap peas, sweet peppers and pickles; honey; agave; and jams, dressings and drinks made with high-fructose corn syrup.

- Lactose: Sugar in milk from cows, goats and sheep, present in ice cream, soft cheeses, sour cream and custard.

- Fructans: Soluble fiber found in bananas, garlic, onions, leeks, artichokes, asparagus, beets, wheat and rye.

- Galactans: Complex sugars prominent in dried peas and beans, soybeans, soy milk, broccoli, cabbage and brussels sprouts.

- Polyols: Sugar alcohols (sweeteners) isomalt, mannitol, sorbitol and xylitol, present in stone fruits like avocado, cherries, peaches, plums and apricots.

People with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) or gluten sensitivity often find that their symptoms lessen or disappear when avoiding foods rich in FODMAPs; however, it can take 6-8 weeks on a low-FODMAPs diet to see a significant improvement.

References:

When Gluten Sensitivity Isn't Celiac Disease - NYTimes.com http://nyti.ms/1EmXFDl
Celiac disease and nonceliac gluten sensitivity - 2017 review in Annals of Allergy, Asthma & Immunology http://buff.ly/2pI2x61
July 21, 2015

Ankylosing spondylitis (AS) - NHSChoices video

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NHSChoices: Ankylosing spondylitis is a type of arthritis that affects parts of the spine. In this video, an expert describes the long-term effects of the condition, its most common symptoms and the different treatments available.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cYuwDkykoA
July 14, 2015

What happens when someone gets heat stroke? TED-Ed video

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Have you ever suffered from exertional heat stroke? This condition is caused by intense activity in the heat and is one of the top three killers of athletes and soldiers in training. Douglas J. Casa explains heat stroke's tremendous effects on the human body and details an action plan in case it ever happens to someone you know.

Lesson by Douglas J. Casa, animation by Cinematic.

July 10, 2015

Google Looking For Redemption With Google Glass For Enterprise

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I guess the Science Fiction-esque future that Google Glass suggested in its ads is a little bit further ahead of us than Google realized. Google Glasses were all but a huge consumer flop. The general public just wasn't ready for goofy-looking, augmented reality glasses.

But that doesn't mean this product is dead, at least not yet. According to a recent FCC filing discovery, 9to5Google revealed the next version of Google Glass. This edition will be geared towards applications that are used in the enterprise space, leaving out the novelty consumer-oriented functions that were featured in the first "Explorer Edition".

The "Enterprise Edition" Google Glass is said to sport a larger prism display for a better augmented experience. This serves as an attempt to minimize eye strain many early glass users complained about.

Additionally the Enterprise Edition will drop the Texas Instruments processor for an Intel Atom processor which will be faster and have better battery life than existing Android Wear smartwatches.

While the Explorer Edition often overheated or ran out of batteries, Enterprise Edition promises to run cooler, even with the additional external battery pack Google is experimenting with.


The last thing cited in the report was a super-fast 802.11ac Wi-Fi with dual-band support for 2.4GHz and 5GHz wireless channels, meaning even faster video streaming.

Google's decision to shift their Glass strategy towards enterprise customers is a huge, but intelligent shift. Yes, Google, assisting with specialized medical, law enforcement, or even business applications seems more important than letting consumers play virtual reality games.

Content originally published here
July 02, 2015

Bedbugs - National Geographic video

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An army of these can attack a person 500 times in one night:



How To Get Rid of Bed Bugs - The Home Depot video:

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