New guidelines have been released just before marathon and sport camps training is set to begin in the US; they represent an upgraded version that makes sure athletes keep their hydration levels under control.
Doctors warn about the health issues resulting from drinking excessive amounts of water – mainly reducing the sodium in the blood to the level that sportspersons can develop a condition called hyponatremia.
Just last year, exercise-associated hyponatremia (EAH) has killed two high school football players. If you want to make sure you still keep yourself hydrated, but you want to remain on the safe side, doctors recommend you drink water only when thirsty.
Drinking in advance – for whatever the reason, such as marathons – water drinking should still be kept at sensible levels. Dr. Tamara Hew-Butler from Oakland University is the senior author of the updated recommendations of the International Exercise-Associated Hyponatremia Consensus Development Conference report.
She explained that drinking water based on the needs prompted by the innate thirst mechanism is the best strategy, which helps athletes (and other people as well) thoroughly hydrated and limits excess drinking that can lead to hyponatremia.
Dr. Hew-Butler added that one of the most difficult things is re-educating the general public in light of the hazards presented by excessive drinking during exercise, especially because we have been taught for so long only about the dangers of dehydration.
Hyponatremia – the loss of blood sodium – affects plenty of body functions, such as normal function of the nervous system, healthy blood pressure and maintaining fluid balance in the organism. Even though it’s not always caused by drinking too much water, hyponatremia is sometimes referred to as “water intoxication.”
Symptoms of the disease include confusion, sezuires, severe headaches and convulsive vomiting. As most of the EAH fatalities have taken place in the US, Dr. Hew-Butler thinks the updated recommendations are especially welcomed, as the marathons and sports training camps will soon begin in the United States.
Since hydration is one of the most important factors contributing to an athlete’s performance, couches have often encouraged them to drink even if they haven’t gotten thirsty. What they don’t seem to take under consideration is that such a practice is dangerous, and has the potential of worsening performance.
And it’s not just athletes that need to be extremely careful of the dangers – heat waves are usually accompanied by people who give into excessive drinking; some of them, who don’t give it a second thought, can even die.
Most people think that the only effect would be getting bloated, but several incidents across the years have shown that excessive water drinking can be lethal. Re-educating the population is essential, because EAH deaths can be prevented, if only we would listen to our bodies’ needs.
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Earlier this year, an independent panel of experts has proposed some controversial advice for the updated set of recommendations of federal dietary guidelines: you can help the environment by eating less meat and more green.
But if House Republicans have a say in this, the recommendation may never reach the final form of the update. Two bills that are currently moving through the House Appropriations Committee specify that dietary guidelines should be restricted to referring to diet and nutrient intake.
By default, such a specification will ban the warning that red meat might contribute to climate change; therefore, the House Republicans are trying to protect and encourage its production.
According to Republican Rep. Tim Huelskamp of Kansas, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has no business imposing such anti-meant policies, as its intended purpose was to improve American health by offering “science-based comments on the relation of diet and nutrition.”
He also added that it wouldn’t be fair to spend taxpayer funds to promote an anti-agriculture agenda and impose the climate-change ideology even on the American diet. This is the first time the American dietary committee has even considered addressing the impact that food cultivation has on the environment.
But it was about time, as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization revealed that almost 15 percent of global greenhouse gas emissions are generated by livestock. Therefore, environmentalists wanted to warn Americans about the carbon footprint they’re leaving by consuming so much meat, and what they can do about it.
Environmentalists have been encouraged in their history-making attempts, as the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee has released a report earlier this year in line with their desires.
They mentioned it is healthier and less environmentally-damaging to follow a diet based on plant foods – vegetables, fruits, whole grains. They also recommended people keep their calorie-intake in check by consuming less animal-based foods.
But if the two bills on the requirement to stick to diet and nutrition in the American dietary guidelines will receive approval, environmentalists will be out of luck. With the support of the scientific community, some representatives, such as Democratic congresswoman Rosa DeLauro, are still trying to make their wish come true.
She gave an interview on Wednesday explaining that opponents of the green-eating recommendations argue that they want the dietary guidelines to be “science-based” but only when it fits their agenda. They shouldn’t get to pick which science facts they like and which they don’t.
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Home security is yet another field in which Google has spread its tentacles, and for which Nest Labs – Google’s home sensing department – is responsible. Nest Cam is their latest project, based on technology offered by Dropcam, a last-year acquisition.
It’s so much alike what Dropcam developed with its first generation, that the Nest Cam is basically an upgraded version. Very much so, as the new prototype has the ability to film footage at full 1080p high definition, better than Dropcam’s 720p.
Nest Cam is said to have improved capabilities of distinguishing between movements captured on video, which translates into sending more accurate alerts to users when they are away from home. Moreover, the design for Nest Cam is slimmer, its night vision has significantly improved and it comes with tripod mount.
Nest Labs’ latest baby will soon become available in seven countries, including some in Europe, but also in Canada and the U.S.
Having the possibility of reviewing what your Nest Cam recorded will be conditioned by buying a subscription. If users pay subscription fees of £8 and £24 per month, they get to keep the video for 10 and 30 days, respectively.
Along with the unveiling of the Nest Cam in a San Francisco event, Google also announced the second generation model for its Protect device, a “smoke alarm and carbon monoxide detector.” Nest guarantees this one will be even better at detecting fires with a better reaction time. The device will become available next month at the price of $99.
It was a very productive event for Nest, as the department also released a new mobile and desktop app that acts as a master remote control for all the Nest devices. Nest Cam comes as the third product of the company, after Nest Protect and Nest thermostat.
Nest’s products are part of a series of Internet connected devices that allows Google to collect even more data from its customers. Fortunately, the current policy requires the user to authorize Google before it can gather any potentially sensitive data.
According to Greg Hu, Nest’s leading product manager and director of its developer program, the user can opt out of this setting, but if they allow it, several third-party services alongside Google will be able to interact with Nest devices.
Nest was purchased by Google last year with more than $3 billion (£2 billion), eager to expand in the young market of the so called “smart home.” After Nest, home camera maker Dropcam was the next on the acquisition list, for which Nest paid $555 million.
Plenty of users already use Dropcam’s cameras – which can stream live over Wi-Fi – as vigilant eyes for when they are not at home.
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Mad cow disease and other ailments of the sort have become better understood by scientists as they investigated the dietary habits of a Papua New Guinea tribe, previously infamous for including human brain eating in their funerary rites.
A team from Papua New Guinea and British researchers have focused their attention on studying the members of the Fore tribe and found out their strange diet gave them an interesting upper hand.
As they used to eat human brains at their relatives’ funerals, the tribal population has become genetically resistant to kuru, a disease which is strikingly similar to the infamous mad cow disease. Their discovery might also help in the advancement of treatments for prion diseases – mental illnesses, dementia and Parkinson’s disease.
The world first found out about kuru after a medical officer working in New Guinea noticed that some of the people of the Fore tribe were victims of a mysterious and fatal disease. They would lose the ability to walk, followed by an inability to chew or swallow.
Eventually, these tribe members would lose a lot of weight and die. Kuru means “trembling in fear” and the disease would cause more than 2 percent of deaths per year. After extensive research, scientists discovered that some of the Fore funerary rites included some practices that sound at least strange for the occidental man.
At mortuary feasts, men who were related to the deceased would pay their respects by eating the flesh of the dead, while the women ate their brains. What they didn’t know is that a deadly molecule living in human brains can be fatal if eaten.
In the present, kuru has been joined by several other diseases caused by proteins called prions. These can reproduce and become contagious. Mad cow disease is probably the most well-known prion disease in contemporary times, which got its name after a breakout in cattle during the 1980s.
Mad cow disease ravaged and caused political turmoil all over Europe and beyond. By 1993, more than 120,000 animals had received this diagnose, which increased to 45 million cattle that needed to be put down in 1996.
Even though we can’t currently talk about a mad cow disease epidemic, there are still some local reports of animals dying of this ailment up until 2012.
Deformed prions, the proteins at the root of these diseases, are basically indestructible. Latest researches, however, show that genetic protection does indeed exist, but it also proves that – just like the Fore people – many more tribes used to see cannibalism as a universal practice.
After the kuru outbreak in the 1950s, human brains became a no-no for all the tribes in New Guinea. Slowly, the disease began to disappear.
Image Source: International Funeral News
Phantom, the six-month-old baby koala refused to leave his mother alone during the surgical intervention.
Internet users have all had their hearts melted after watching the loving photos of a koala bear and his mom. The baby koala stays by his mother during surgery even though vet experts have tried to separate them.
The picture of the tiny koala bear has first emerged on the Internet on Thursday morning. Those who have had the opportunity of seeing the image have all declared that the photo has managed to capture an instance of unconditional true love.
The six-month-old koala baby, Phantom, and his mom, Lizzy have been brought to the hospital after being hit by a car. After investigating their medical condition, doctors were able to state that Phantom was in a good condition. Unfortunately, his mother has been severely wounded and needed to undergo an immediate surgical intervention to have her lung treated. Her face has also been severely wounded during the car incident.
Doctors were deeply impressed to see the koala bear react as they have tried to remove him from the back of his mother. The tiny bear clung even tighter to his mother’s neck as vets tried to separate them, so they simply had to leave him there as the surgery went on.
Medical experts have later on explained that this behavior is in fact very common among koala bears. These animals are incredibly social, but they usually develop stronger bonds with their mothers and their own offsprings. This is the reason why Phantom refused to let his mother alone as veterinarians performed the medical intervention.
After the surgical intervention, physicians have told the press that the koala bear is outside any other threats and that her condition has been stabilized. Lizzy has been treated within the Australia Hospital which was founded by famous “Crocodile Hunter” Steve Irwin.
Steve Irwin was known due to the numerous expeditions he has conducted in order to study and sometimes save the lives of extinct crocodiles. He lost his life in 2006 after being stung by a stingray during a televised show.
Lizzi and her baby Phantom, will remain in the Australian Zoo Wildlife Hospital for the following period. Doctors will closely supervise their physical condition in order to determine whether their state has been improved or not.
Image Source: yimg.com
Weapon violence causes kids to victimize themselves.
Recent medical findings point to the alarming fact that one in four kids is affected by weapons violence and could later on develop depression and other psychological affections. The study, which was conducted by Professor Kimberly J. Mitchell of the University of New Hampshire, after several young patients have admitted to having been traumatized by weapons.
Scientists at the University of Hampshire compared the rates of their young patients suffering from depressions with the violent incidents they have been involved in during their childhood years. Results have shown that there could be a strong connection between the two, so researchers decided to further investigate the matter.
Mitchell and his colleagues have interviewed 2 million children aged 2 to 17 using the Juvenile Victimization Questionnaire. The research group was made out of approximately 51% boys, 57% of them being Caucasian.
Before starting the test, researchers have first categorized weapons according to the degree of violence they suggest. Thus, they have discovered that the most dangerous and lethal weapons are considered to be the guns and the knives. However, significant physical injuries may also be suffered during stick or rock fights.
Based on the answers provided by the respondents during the 55-minute long test, children who have been victimized with the help of the dangerous weapons have been the most affected. 13.2% of these kids were more likely to wear guns and to develop victimization behaviors (8.4%). 3.5% of them have experienced trauma during the past year as a result of the weapon attacks that they have been the victims of.
Statistics have further showed that victimization may vary by gender as boys are more sensitive to weapon attacks than girls. As a matter of fact, 23.9% of the interviewed boys victimized themselves, whereas only 18.4% of the girls reported victimization. Scientists have concluded by saying that victimization is more common among older respondents with lower social economic resources, particularly those belonging to the African-American race.
Professor Kimberly J. Mitchell has clearly stated that violence has an extremely negative influence on all people, but children are the most affected as they are usually very easy to impress. He further outlined the fact that the current research focused on the trauma that children experience and not on the negative behavioral conducts that violence determines.
The research group hopes the study will be taken into account by regulators when adopting new rules related to weapon carrying permissions. Moreover, the findings could serve as a ground for the reconsideration of the gun safety practices.
The findings of the research were published in the journal MedPage Today. Similar endeavors were carried out in the past to determine the extent to which teen bullying can cause depressions in adult life.
Image Source: The Atlantic
Climate change deniers have had it pretty rough in the past week. It started with a very well documented paper that crushed all claims that climate models have been overestimating the rate and amount of heat increasing the Earth’s temperature.
Many fundamental flaws were found in that claim, which hasn’t surprised the public that much. However, the unlucky streak for climate change deniers was already starting, as another paper has seen the press on the issue of the global warming “hiatus” or “pause” heavily popularized in the recent past.
The original theory – supported by the usual suspects – claimed the global surface temperatures have seen a significant drop ever since 1998, resulting in a definitive stop of warming.
There are several problems with this claim, the most significant one being that fact that 1998 was one of the warmest years, so much that it registered outside the grids for the normal temperatures. Therefore, beginning any kind of measurement with this year is clearly unfair – there cannot be any cherry-picking when it comes to such important issues.
Another flaw in the original theory is that you can’t just take a few years and consider them enough to establish a trend. This is especially difficult to do when Earth’s average temperature is so inconsistent, going up and down all the time.
Thirdly, climate change deniers have used the planet’s surface temperatures in their measurements, which can be awfully misleading, as large amounts of heat goes into the deep waters of the ocean.
The new research digs even deeper, showing that, in the long run, the Earth’s warming hasn’t slowed at all. They did this by comparing the warming which occurred from 1950-1999 to the one from 2000-2014 – the difference was almost indistinguishable, from 0.113° C warming per decade to 0.116°C per decade.
Researchers combating the climate change deniers’ theory had to apply a few corrections on the original measurements, mostly on how sea surface temperatures were taken; there was plenty of room for miscalculation of data as the method has changed over time.
Understanding how the new methods are more accurate allows scientists to apply corrections on old data as well, as they go back and re-examine. Even though deniers will try to ignore the new information that shows no “hiatus” has been happening, the scientific data is becoming clearer than ever.
Global warming is scarily real and there hasn’t been any slowing down in the last two decades. People trying to tell you otherwise are just trying to protect their own interest. And that’s something you shouldn’t be interested in.
Image Source: Nicholas Goodden Photography
Google has launched a new user privacy and security settings hub.
In attempt to make online information safer, Google’s user privacy and security settings get revised, the search giant informed through a press release on early Monday morning. The change comes as a response to the new Android app permissions that the search giant introduced during its Google I/O 2015 event last week.
Google’s Product Manager for Account Controls and Settings, Guemmy Kim, announced in an interview on Monday that privacy and security settings have been reorganized to facilitate users’ access and control. The Product Manager told the press that this measure was necessary as much of users’ personal data is on the Internet.
There haven’t been many changes that have been operated on Google’ security system; Kim reassured users that they will benefit of the same services. The only aspect that has suffered modifications is the online platform where users can select the type of privacy they want for their accounts.
The new hub is simply called ‘My Account’ and it contains all privacy-related sections divided into three major categories. The first category encompasses sign-in and security features where users can change their account password and establish third-parties’ access to their personal data.
The ‘personal info and privacy’ category contains the search and YouTube history of the user. Certain features in this category enable Google customers to delete their search history and to choose whether they want Google to remember the pages they visit or not.
Finally, the third category contains all the features related to ‘account preferences’. As online users might expect, they can access this category whenever they want to modify language settings or to delete one of their Google accounts, such as Google Plus, Gmail addresses or YouTube channels.
All the aforementioned security options have been available for users in the past, as well. The only difference now, is that Google customers can quickly and easily access them by simply entering the ‘My Account’ hub.
By revising its user privacy and security settings, Google hopes it can prevent the recent criticism that has been brought against it by EU citizens. The American company has been criticized because it does not provide proper protection for EU accounts within the countries they have been created. Google’s Product Manager, Guemmy Kim hopes these issues will be solved with the introduction of the new security hub.
Recently, Google has paid close attention to the measures that the developing firm can adopt to prevent security flaws. They have, thus, carried out a study showing that most answers to security questions are biased and suggesting people new techniques they can use for the improvement of their online accounts protection.
Image Source: CBS Img
Preview of Nintendo’s kids-prone game Splatoon.
After years of silence, Nintendo has suddenly surprised its fans with an unexpected launching. In an attempt to spice up the game industry, Nintendo launches kids-prone shooting game Splatoon on Wednesday morning.
The famous game developer has spent the past years creating new versions of its popular games, such, as Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros. These small makeovers have proven sufficient for the company, but some fans have been disappointed as the company failed to offer the same entertaining platforms as competing game developers.
There are still many improvements that Nintendo’s games need to undergo and many online platforms to be launched in order for the company to regain its long-lost reputation as one of the best producers of online entertainment projects. The recent endeavor that the enterprise has carried out has nevertheless brought Nintendo closer to success.
Nintendo has launched a kids-prone shooting game, Splatoon that may be played even by some of the least talented players in the world. The game presupposes that teams of four compete against each other by shooting ink at their opponents. The term ‘shooting’ may not be the best word for this game as competitors may aim at everything coming up their way (even the floor) and they would still get points.
As a matter of fact, the purpose of the shooting competition is not that of eliminating your opponents, but rather of covering the entire content of your display with your team’s ink. Each individual team is assigned a different color at the beginning of the game; thus, the team that splashes more ink is the winner of the competition.
The characters of the game are incredibly creative if we were to compare them with previous Nintendo characters. The design of the game is incredibly realistic as it successfully reproduces human traits and movements. The half human, half squid nature of the Splatoon characters enables players to swim through ink and refill their weapons, when swimming through their team’s ink.
There is a wide array of movements that characters can perform and the game was purposefully designed to ensure rapid actions and direction shifts. Although the game has been recently launched, testers did not complain of possible glitches and errors hindering the development of the game. There are, also many weapons and tools that players may choose for their characters, including clothes and accessories.
Nintendo did not provide any other details in relation to the recently launched game. However, analysts have graded the project as perfect for kids because it does not display any violent content and it does not instigate to harmful behavior.
The game developer plans to release frequent updates for its Splatoon game allowing players to select new weapons and stages for their ink-based battles. In August, Nintendo will release a new battle mode and the upgrade will be free.
Image Source: Forbes
In a recent study based on 555 respondents, researchers took a hard look at the science behind Facebook status posts, in an attempt to find what drives some people to predominantly talk about the hype of the last night’s party and others to share with their friends a short review of the book they just finished reading.
It was no surprise that among the Facebook users who exhibit a more extroverted personality, updates about their active social life and posts about their accomplishments were rather frequent. In their need to be in constant connection with others (in this case, their Facebook “friends”), extroverts are motivated to post about whatever goes on in their lives.
Narcissists – medically diagnosable or not – are part of this group. They use Facebook as a tool to satisfy their attention-seeking and validation, and scientists discovered their status updates are usually about accomplishments, new diets or exercise routines. A selfie or two in the gym’s mirror are not uncommon.
UK researchers published their results in the journal of Personality and Individual Differences, explaining that narcissists who constantly offer updates on their accomplishments usually receive more “likes” and comments.
At the same time, Facebook users who are sociable and exhibit high levels of openness have a tendency of joining conversations on intellectual topics. They see Facebook for what it is: a place for sharing information.
Researchers also noticed that people who struggled with a lower self-esteem were more likely to offer updates with and about their romantic partners; honest people, on the other hand, have a higher proneness to talk about their children.
Having low-esteem and displaying it through self-disclosure on Facebook is more likely to be perceived as an undesirable trait to have, but these users believe in the advantage of using Facebook for their needs rather than try and solve their issues in person. Their status updates are usually more negative, which means other people might see them as less likable.
However, the results of the study should be taken with a grain of salt, as the researchers from Brunel University in the UK said they might be altered by the fact that data was self-reported.
This means some narcissists, for example, may boost the number of likes and comments they receive to updates; low-esteem users might do the same, though, for fearing they might be pathetic if they reported the actual numbers.
There is also the problem of the authenticity of likes – it is not uncommon that people may hit the “like” button on a friend’s achievement-related updates only out of support, when in fact they disapprove of such displays.
Even so, your Facebook updates say a lot about who you are and how you perceive yourself as a human being. And make no mistake, your friends can see it, too.
Image Source: The Fox