Gizmag: Injectable nanoparticles maintain normal blood-sugar levels for up to 10 days.

Fascinating technology featured in Gizmag & posted by someone HERE.

The nano-network that releases insulin in response to changes in blood sugar

"The injectable nano-network is made up of a mixture that contains nanoparticles with a solid core or insulin, modified dextran (which is commonly used to reduce blood viscosity), and glucose oxidase enzymes. When exposed to high levels of glucose, the enzymes convert glucose into gluconic acid, which breaks down the modified dextran to release the insulin. The gluconic acid and dextran, which are biocompatible, dissolve in the body, while the insulin brings the glucose levels under control.

The nanoparticles are given a positively or negatively charged biocompatible coating so that when they are mixed together, they are attracted to each other to form a “nano-network.” The positively charged coatings are made of chitosan, a material found in shrimp shells that has also found applications in self-healing car paint, while the negatively charged coatings are made of alginate, a material normally found in seaweed."

Wow! Cool bananas!

When the only tool in the box is a hammer...

Everything that needs fixing looks like a nail.

What are the action and reaction forces when a hammer hits a nail?

People with diabetes mellitus are issued with blood glucose meters - and nothing else.

For people with type 1 diabetes, that's fine. They lack insulin, so they have to inject insulin in the right amounts & types to keep their blood glucose levels within reasonable limits. Applying Bernstein's Law of small numbers by reducing glycaemic load to a minimum keeps blood glucose levels within reasonable limits (between 3 & 7mmol/L) most of the time. See also The problem with Diabetes.

For people with type 2 diabetes and a fat belly (~85% of type 2 diabetics), that's not fine. Their disease is a disease of chronic excess fuel intake relative to fuel oxidation, causing dyseverythingaemia (hyperglycaemia, hypercholesterolaemia, hypoHDL-cholesterolaemia, hyperNEFAaemia, hypertriglyceridaemia, hyperuricaemia, etc). People who have type 2 diabetes don't have only postprandial hyperglycaemia - they also have postprandial hypertriglyceridaemia. See Postprandial lipoprotein clearance in type 2 diabetes: fenofibrate effects.

However, because the only tool in their box is a blood glucose meter, their disease looks like a disease of hyperglycaemia only. Applying Bernstein's Law of small numbers by reducing carbohydrate intake to a minimum keeps blood glucose levels within reasonable limits, but makes everything else worse if energy from carbohydrates is replaced by energy from fats.

Only if energy from carbohydrates is reduced AND energy from fats isn't increased to compensate (i.e. eat a LCLF PSMF or Modified PSMF), does carbohydrate restriction help people with type 2 diabetes.

Cybernetic Serendipity.

I went to this exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in 1968.

Featuring Bruce Lacey’s ROSA BOSOM with MATE

I remember being pinned against a wall by Bruce Lacey’s ROSA BOSOM with MATE, as I was so short, the robot didn't detect my presence. Happy days! See also http://cyberneticserendipity.net/

The above reminiscence is a ploy to talk about serendipity, or happy accident. See Role of chance in scientific discoveries, and List of discoveries influenced by chance circumstances. Aspartame & saccharin get a mention for being discovered by the accidental tasting of chemicals. But there's more!

According to Sucralose: "Sucralose was discovered in 1976 by scientists from Tate & Lyle, working with researchers Leslie Hough and Shashikant Phadnis at Queen Elizabeth College (now part of King's College London). While researching ways to use sucrose and its synthetic derivatives, Phadnis was told to test a chlorinated sugar compound. Phadnis thought Hough asked him to 'taste' it, so he did. He found the compound to be exceptionally sweet."

Sodium Cyclamate was also discovered by accident. "Cyclamate was discovered in 1937 at the University of Illinois by graduate student Michael Sveda. Sveda was working in the lab on the synthesis of anti-fever medication. He put his cigarette down on the lab bench, and, when he put it back in his mouth, he discovered the sweet taste of cyclamate." Smoking in the lab? Naughty, naughty!

Acesulfame potassium was...yeah you guessed! "After accidentally dipping his fingers into the chemicals that he was working with, Clauss licked them to pick up a piece of paper."

So, be careful out there...but not too careful!

Good criticism, bad criticism.

Yes. I know it's an axe (slang name for guitar). Blame Google Image Search!

From http://scottberkun.com/essays/35-how-to-give-and-receive-criticism/

I wondered from where "Mr Messiah" got his arguments against Vitamin D and calcium supplementation reduces cancer risk: results of a randomized trial. They came from Vitamin D and Cancer Prevention: Strengths and Limits of the Evidence.

"Randomized clinical trials designed to investigate the effects of vitamin D intake on bone health have suggested that higher vitamin D intakes may reduce the risk of cancer. One study involved nearly 1,200 healthy postmenopausal women who took daily supplements of calcium (1,400 mg or 1,500 mg) and vitamin D (25 μg vitamin D, or 1,100 IU―a relatively large dose) or a placebo for 4 years. The women who took the supplements had a 60 percent lower overall incidence of cancer (6); however, the study did not include a vitamin D-only group. Moreover, the primary outcome of the study was fracture incidence; it was not designed to measure cancer incidence. This limits the ability to draw conclusions about the effect of vitamin D intake on cancer risk."

1) The women who took the supplements had a 60 percent lower overall incidence of cancer. Yeah, so? The following result was ignored: When analysis was confined to cancers diagnosed after the first 12 mo, RR for the Ca+D group fell to 0.232 (CI: 0.09, 0.60; P&lt: 0.005). The women who took the supplements had a 77 percent lower overall incidence of cancer, if they didn't already have cancer. Incomplete data dismissed.

2) The study did not include a vitamin D-only group. Yeah, so? It was looking at the effect of Ca+D on cancer risk, not D only. Ca+D greatly reduced cancer risk. Argument dismissed.

3) Moreover, the primary outcome of the study was fracture incidence; it was not designed to measure cancer incidence. Yeah, so? It measured cancer incidence. There's a little clue in the title of the study. Argument dismissed.

4) This limits the ability to draw conclusions about the effect of vitamin D intake on cancer risk. See 1), 2) and 3). Argument dismissed.

Do you get the feeling that someone, somewhere is more interested in collecting loadsa money than trying to reduce cancer risk?

A new skill and whoops there goes another rotator cuff.

I bought this last Thursday...

Yes, I am using a sofa as a guitar stand!

Last Sunday, I took it to an open mic night and played it - very slowly! So far, I've learned the following chords:- C, Dm, Em, F, G & Am. As my fingertips are like cushions (big & soft), I have to finger chords as triads, with my fingers coming down onto the strings nearly vertically, to minimise the area of my fingerprint. Dm is particularly difficult for me. I'm going to learn the CAGED system, so that I can play any chord using any pattern.

Due to the sunny weather, I've been putting the soft top down on my MX-5. Unfortunately, I've been raising it from the driver's seat position. I forgot that this puts enormous strain on my left shoulder. The pain in my left shoulder when I woke this morning reminded me to not do that again!

I see stupid people - Part One: Live to take the p*ss.

This is a take on I See Weak People – Part Three: Live to add, not subtract.

Dunning-Kruger strikes again!

George Henderson recently said in a comment to flip:- "If you're one of the sensible ones, as Nigel seems to think you might be, it's easy to see why he won't post on "that" blog again.
Myself, I wonder how Nigel does it. Everywhere he goes he seems to start a fight these days. We are thinking of locking him inside when we go out in future."

How do I do it? Simples! I make sure that my brain is properly nourished with Vitamin D3 for razor-sharp wit & biting sarcasm, EPA & DHA for stable mood and Magnesium to stay cool, calm and collected when all around me are behaving like complete and utter tosspots & twats (UK usages and not meant affectionately!).

Metabolic Inflexibility: What it really means.

Here's a picture from Metabolic Flexibility and Insulin Resistance.

The Metabolically-Inflexible (MI) & Insulin Resistance

Here's another picture.

Fig 2. ● = Metabolically-Flexible (MF). ○ = Metabolically-Inflexible (MI).

Salient points:
1) Excess serum FFA a.k.a. NEFA is bad.
2) Respiratory Quotient (RQ) a.k.a. Respiratory Exchange Ratio (RER) changes due to dietary changes are more sluggish in the MI than in the MF.
3) Under Insulin Clamp conditions, RQ/RER is lower in the MI than in the MF, due to impairment of glucose oxidation and non-oxidative glucose disposal.

I have posted this because of Danny Roddy's post Is Supplemental Magnesium A Surrogate For Thyroid Hormone? , which leads onto A Bioenergetic View of High-Fat Diets.

In the first article, Danny Roddy writes:-
"Additionally, taking magnesium while actively engaging in a diet or lifestyle that reduces the respiratory quotient (e.g., high-fat diet, light deficiency, excessive exercise) seems pretty silly. For example, as a rule, diabetics have a reduced respiratory quotient (Simonson DC, et al. 1988), tend to have higher levels of free fatty acids or NEFA (Kahn SE, 2006), and are often deficient in magnesium (De Valk HW, 1999)."

The second sentence (diabetics have a reduced respiratory quotient...and are often deficient in magnesium) seems to contradict the first sentence (...taking magnesium while actively engaging in a diet or lifestyle that reduces the respiratory quotient seems pretty silly).

Simonson DC, et al. 1988 is Oxidative and non-oxidative glucose metabolism in non-obese type 2 (non-insulin-dependent) diabetic patients.
"In conclusion, during the postabsorptive state and under conditions of euglycaemic hyperinsulinaemia, impairment of glucose oxidation and non-oxidative glucose disposal both contribute to the insulin resistance observed in normal weight Type 2 diabetic patients. Since lipid oxidation was normal in this group of diabetic patients, excessive non-esterified fatty acid oxidation cannot explain the defects in glucose disposal."

Impaired glucose oxidation with normal lipid oxidation lowers RQ/RER. Therefore, lower RQ/RER must be bad, right? Wrong. From the above study:-
"...euglycaemic insulin clamp studies were performed..."
Remember Salient point 3)? Simonson DC, et al. 1988 is an insulin clamp study, the results of which don't apply to free-living people (who aren't insulin clamped).

See also Determinants of the variability in respiratory exchange ratio at rest and during exercise in trained athletes. RER/RQ increases & decreases with increases & decreases in exercise intensity. This is Metabolic Flexibility (MF). Sorry, Danny.