Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
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Category: health

A small device that contains human cells in a 3D matrix represents a giant leap in the ability of scientists to test how those cells respond to stresses, drugs and genetic changes. About the size of a thumb drive, the devices are known as tissue chips or organs on chips.

A series of investigations to test tissue chips in microgravity aboard the International Space Station is planned through a collaboration between the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences (NCATS) at the National Institutes for Health (NIH) and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) in partnership with NASA. The Tissue Chips in Space initiative seeks to better understand the role of microgravity on human health and disease and to translate that understanding to improved human health on Earth.

“Spaceflight causes many significant changes in the human body,” said Liz Warren, associate program scientist at CASIS. “We expect tissue chips in space to behave much like an astronaut’s body, experiencing the same kind of rapid change.”

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The economic toll of this superbug crisis is huge: In the United States alone the health-care costs dealing with antimicrobial resistance could reach $65 billion by 2050, according to the OECD report. That is more than the flu, HIV and tuberculosis. If projections are correct, resistance to backup antibiotics will be 70 percent higher in 2030 compared to 2005 in OECD countries. In the same period, resistance to third-line treatments will double across EU countries.

A new report released Wednesday from the OECD estimates that antimicrobial resistant infection is on track to kill 30,000 Americans per year by 2050. The OECD is calling on the US and other rich countries to implement 5 simple reforms to save lives.

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LSD changes the communication patterns between regions of the brain, a new study by researchers of the University of Zurich and Yale University shows. The study also provides insights into how mental health disorders develop and how these could be treated.

The researchers used brain imaging technology to examine the effects of LSD on the brains of healthy study participants. The data suggests that LSD triggers a reduction in the communication between the brain regions that are responsible for planning and decision making. At the same time, LSD increases the connectivity in brain networks associated with sensory functions and movement.

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Your perceptions of your parents directly affects your physical health and wellness, according to new research. And regardless if they are true, you might be stuck with them for life.

“There are things that happen to us in life that can alter our perceptions of the past, but it’s not always the objective—or what actually happened—that really affects us,” says lead author William Chopik, psychology professor at Michigan State University.

“What really impacts adults is how we psychologically interpret things and create memories. In short: our memories of our childhood predicted health and depression even though they may not even be based in reality,” Chopik says.

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Expert Panel Host: Dr Brian Clement
Conference Held at Adelphi University 2013.
(A podcast version of this video is available on iTunes.)

• Brian Clement — Learn how to transform your lifestyle from toxic and self-destructive to healthful and self-affirming, and experience renewed energy and vitality that will last a lifetime.

• Hippocrates Institute director, Brian Clement shows how the Hippocrates LifeForce program implements the use of raw living foods to help people maintain a healthful weight and stimulate natural immune defenses for other chronic illnesses.

• Discover how to develop the positive frame of mind that supports good health, learn how to make the transition to eating raw living foods at home, while dining out, and when traveling.

• Learn how you can make informed decisions about the products you buy, and to disentangle yourself from unhealthy products.

• Our bodies: High levels of hormone-disrupting chemicals from cosmetics, flame-retardants from clothing and furniture, even long-banned substances like DDT and lead, are consistently showing up in human blood samples.

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The data show such births in the U.S. and EU are predominantly to unmarried couples living together rather than to single mothers, the report says. The data suggest that societal and religious norms about marriage, childbearing and women in the workforce have changed, said Kelly Jones, the director for the Center on the Economics of Reproductive Health at the Institute for Women’s Policy Research.

Births outside marriage have skyrocketed in developed nations, according to a report from the United Nations.

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A new study puts a fresh spin on what it means to “go with your gut.” The findings, published in Nature, suggest that gut bacteria may control movement in fruit flies and identify the neurons involved in this response. The study was supported by the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), part of the National Institutes of Health.

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If you haven’t heard, universities around the world are offering their courses online for free (or at least partially free). These courses are collectively called MOOCs or Massive Open Online Courses.

In the past six years or so, over 800 universities have created more than 10,000 of these MOOCs. And I’ve been keeping track of these MOOCs the entire time over at Class Central, ever since they rose to prominence.

In the past four months alone, 190 universities have announced 600 such free online courses. I’ve compiled a list of them and categorized them according to the following subjects: Computer Science, Mathematics, Programming, Data Science, Humanities, Social Sciences, Education & Teaching, Health & Medicine, Business, Personal Development, Engineering, Art & Design, and finally Science.

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