perhaps the spuds call sign …

• An Air Force pilot has made history by becoming one of the first Air Force service members to fly a supersonic aircraft while pregnant.

• Maj Lauren Olme, assistant director of operations for the 77th Weapons Squadron at Dyess Air Force Base near Abilene, Texas, flew a B-1 Lancer, a supersonic bomber. Olme's child has also become "one of the first babies in the Department of Defense to clock 9.2 hours in a supersonic aircraft," according to an Air Force press release.

• "I can't overexpress how amazing it is that pregnant women now have the opportunity to fly in all types of aircraft," Lauren Olme said in a statement. "It's a very personal decision that [my husband] Mark and I made together because there are risks involved in flying the B-1 while pregnant but after conferring with Air Force and civilian medical doctors, we felt comfortable with me flying for a few weeks."

• The Air Force clarified its policy last year and removed some restrictions for pregnant Air Force members. Air Force members can now "voluntarily request to fly during pregnancy" and do not need a waiver "to fly in the second trimester with an uncomplicated pregnancy in a non-ejection seat aircraft if all flight safety criteria are met."

• "All pregnant aircrew are authorized to apply for a waiver regardless of trimester, aircraft or flight profile," the Air Force stated in an April 2022 news release.

• "These changes are a significant step in the right direction to empowering every member of our team to serve to their full potential," Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall said in a statement at the time. "The Department of the Air Force’s most important asset is our people. We are focused on eliminating barriers that hamper the ability to attract and retain the most talented individuals who want to serve."

• A new study on work-life balance says flexible schedules and shorter work weeks can lead to more productive, healthy and loyal workers.

• The report released Friday by the International Labour Organization says giving workers flexibility in terms of where and when they work can be win-win for both employees and businesses.

• The United Nations agency says flexible work schedules can improve workers’ job satisfaction, performance and commitment to an organization – reducing recruitment costs and increasing productivity.

• Meanwhile, the study found that employers who enforce strict work arrangements or schedules such as a 9-to-5 office workweek, could see productivity and job performance drop, and turnover and absenteeism increase.

• “Better work-life balance is associated with a multitude of benefits for employees,” the report said, noting that the benefits include improved psychological and physical health of employees, increased job satisfaction and greater feelings of job security.

• A survey by recruitment firm Robert Half conducted in late November asked nearly 800 LinkedIn users about what topped their work goals for new year.

• The No. 1 response was work-life balance, with 39 per cent of respondents saying it topped their work wish list, followed by 28 per cent who said remote work options were the most important.

correct. Hydroprocessed Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA),

a great way to promote fun way to read.

• The aviation industry has set itself the ambitious target of reducing its carbon emissions to zero by 2050. A raw material that was previously considered kitchen waste could provide it with a realistic chance of achieving this goal.

• The reason for the sudden demand is that used cooking oil can now be used to produce sustainable aviation fuel, or SAF. About a third of the 400,000 tons collected in Japan in the past year was used for fuel for planes and other vehicles.

• SAF is the aviation industry's term for fuel derived from non-fossil sources. Used cooking oil is the main substance used for production, but research is underway to identify other viable waste sources.

• the aviation industry increasingly sees SAF as its saving grace. Estimates suggest that replacing conventional jet fuel with SAF would reduce industry-wide emissions by approximately 80 percent.

• EU policy promoting SAF means the fuel is predominately used in Europe. But a major plant is now under construction in Singapore that would have an annual production capacity of one million tons, about five times the current global total of 200,000.

• Earlier this year, a range of prominent Japanese companies formed Act For Sky, an organization dedicated to producing and promoting SAF. Members include major carriers All Nippon Airways and Japan Airlines, as well as firms not in the aviation industry, such as Itochu, Idemitsu Kosan, and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries.

• One of the group's key focuses is procuring used cooking oil. It has compiled a list of businesses willing to cooperate, including major fast-food restaurants, frozen food producers, sushi chains, and hotels.

• Three Act For Sky members, JGC, Cosmo Oil and REVO International are leading the group's efforts to produce SAF domestically. They are currently building a plant in Sakai City, Osaka, that will have a production target of approximately 30,000 tons in three years. It's a relatively small amount but it's just the first of many such projects planned in Japan.

• Nishimura Yuki, a JGC executive involved in Act For Sky, says establishing a domestic production base is crucial to ensuring the sustainability of the overall SAF project.

yes, from what i understand, a small vent is situated at the top of the igloo, plus bec it’s dome-shaped what little ice melt will flow down the side.

• After serving 23 years in prison and being released earlier this year, Adnan Syed has been hired by Georgetown University. Syed began work as a program associate for the school's Prisons and Justice Initiative (PJI), which offers educational programs and training for incarcerated individuals.

• Syed was convicted of the 1999 killing of his ex-girlfriend, Hae Min Lee, which became a high profile case years later when it was covered on the "Serial" podcast. Syed maintained his innocence and was exonerated this year when Baltimore State's Attorney Marilyn Mosby announced all charges brought against him were to be dropped, saying new tests revealed a "DNA mixture of multiple contributors" on Lee's shoes and that Syed's DNA was excluded.

• Syed, now 41, began his new role at Georgetown on Dec. 12, the school announced this week. In his role he will support the PJI program, which includes a Making an Exoneree class, that has students reinvestigate wrongful convictions. The students work to bring innocent people home from prison and create short documentaries about cases.

• "To go from prison to being a Georgetown student and then to actually be on campus on a pathway to work for Georgetown at the Prisons and Justice Initiative, it's a full circle moment," Syed said in a statement. "PJI changed my life. It changed my family's life. Hopefully I can have the same kind of impact on others."

in another article reported that the gunman is a retired train conductor who had prior police arrest record, for attacking migrants but later subsequently released.(source: the guardian)

Yes, it needs to be acknowledged, not just by individuals but also by the federal government, for healing to happen.

something similar to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the past and present hurts and crimes committed against all indigenous groups.

it is true that it also affects many of the Native American/Alaskan Native women across the States. there is a systemic disparity

• Native Hawaiian women and girls experience disproportionate levels of violence, inequities that have long been insufficiently addressed, new research shows.

• In particular, sexual exploitation remains a serious issue, with 43% of sex trafficking cases involving Native Hawaiian girls trafficked in Waikīkī, O‘ahu, according to a report from the Hawaii State Commission on the Status of Women, a statewide government agency.

• A law enforcement operation targeting child sex trafficking showed that 38% of people arrested through the effort and accused of soliciting sex online from a 13-year-old were military personnel.

• “We have over two dozen arrests out of just a handful of operations of active-duty military personnel. … What that also indicates to me is that the predation that involves soldiers preying on children appears to be widespread,” said Khara Jabola-Carolus, a co-chair of the Missing and Murdered Native Hawaiian Women and Girls Task Force, which released the report. “That should be shocking and alarming and cause for urgency.”

• researchers compiled and examined data about a number of issues across state and community agencies in Hawaii, including domestic and sexual violence and exploitation. It found that the average profile of a missing child report processed through the state’s Missing Child Center Hawaii is 15 years old, female, Native Hawaiian and missing from O‘ahu. In the past two years, Native Hawaiians made up 84% of the 37 cases publicly reported through missing children’s center.

• In looking at other inequities, the report found that more than one-third of adults who experience physical violence by intimate partners in Hawaii are Indigenous, according to 2013 statistics. And 16.5% of all high school students in the state who reported having been sexually abused by anyone in the last 12 months were Native Hawaiian females, higher than among females of any other racial group, the report said, citing 2019 data.

• Jabola-Carolus said many in the Indigenous community have long called for the armed forces to leave the islands. Research has shown the negative impact military presence in the area has had on Indigenous communities, from health to economics.

• “It’s time for the Department of Defense and Congress to revisit Base Realignment and Closure in Hawaii,” Jabola-Carolus said.

• Inequities for Native women and girls are also intertwined with the failures of those with legislative power to recognize such Native Hawaiian issues, the report said. The Violence Against Women Act increased funding for domestic violence and sexual assault services, but services allocated to specifically help Native Hawaiian survivors of gender-based violence were inadvertently excluded from the funding. Legislation introduced by Sen. Mazie Hirono, D-Hawaii, last month would rectify that.

• data continues to be limited, researchers wrote. And to comprehend the full scale and severity of the violence against Native Hawaiian women and girls, better data collection that centers on “key experts” — including survivors with lived experience, social workers and therapists — is needed, the report said.

Image credit: Senior Scrappy/IG (David Platt)

not my cat. but find this catto pretty interesting. it seems he has vitiligo. he started out as a black cat and overtime his fur transformed into this amazing speckled pattern.

BBRBZ, not because these have yet to be published means they don't merit an audience or platform.

fyi, the two studies will be presented this week Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting. perhaps the authors prefer to first unveil their work within their Society then later to the greater public.

yup - offers instant relief to pain/inflammation but perhaps must not be given for long term use if the risk outweighs the benefit of the treatment.

only that in comparison w steroid shots, “hyaluronic acid injections were associated with slower progression of the disease relative to a control group.” (in the 2nd study 26 patients were given the HA and their corresponding MRI scan showed less severe cartilage deterioration vs those in steroid grp)

as i understand the two studies will be presented this week Radiological Society of North America’s annual meeting.

Ma’s version of low key/ flying under the radar.

it is possible. experts outside of the study says too early to determine causation bec in OA a lot of factors come into play and as you say YMMV. a more extensive (bigger sample lot and longer period) would help ascertain these recent findings.

• More than 32 million U.S. adults suffer from the condition, which most often affects the hands, the hips and the knees. There is no cure, but the discomfort is sometimes treated with corticosteroid shots. Hyaluronic acid injections are also used, although they’re less likely to be covered by insurance.

• Two new unpublished studies suggest that patients who got corticosteroid shots saw their knee arthritis advance more quickly than those who didn’t.

• Both studies assessed patients from the Osteoarthritis Initiative, a yearslong observational research project involving nearly 5,000 people with knee osteoarthritis. Darbandi’s research analyzed X-rays from 50 patients who got corticosteroid shots, 50 who got hyaluronic acid and another 50 in a control group. The scans, collected annually for four years, revealed worse arthritis progression among participants injected with corticosteroids compared to the other two groups.

• “Knowing (faster deterioration in those using steroids) that helps patients make a more informed choice about if they want an injection and, if they do, which injection they might prefer,” said Dr. Upasana Bharadwaj, a postdoctoral researcher in UCSF’s radiology and biomedical imaging department who co-authored the study.

• Dr. Jonathan Samuels, a rheumatologist at NYU Langone Health, said it’s tough to determine causation in studies like the two new ones, because many factors can influence the progression of arthritis and no two patients are the same.

• Dr. Jason Kim, vice president of osteoarthritis research programs at the Arthritis Foundation, said he’d want to see studies with a “much higher sample size over a longer period of time” before considering possible causal links.

• Bharadwaj and Darbandi agreed that more research is needed, as are peer reviews for their studies.

• Bharadwaj noted that her team did try to control for the possibility that people who got steroid shots were simply more likely to engage in activities that furthered the progression of their arthritis afterward. To do so, they selected participants who had maintained similar activity levels throughout the study period.

• Darbandi offered a few caveats to keep in mind alongside the findings. One, he said, is that the results don’t necessarily indicate the severity of symptoms patients experienced. Just because imaging shows more arthritis progression doesn’t mean a patient feels more pain. And second, he said, the results shouldn’t lead people to avoid corticosteroid shots in all situations.

nope. just hopeful that those in authority will put the welfare of the public will be place above those of profit

edit: added word public

here’s to hoping there will be an oversight that the public will not be gouge with exhorbitant cost. fingers crossed

• A "game-changing" immunotherapy drug proven to delay the development of type 1 diabetes has been approved by regulators in the USA.

• Experts say teplizumab marks a "new era" in treatment, tackling the root cause of the condition for the first time, rather than just the symptoms.

• It works by reprogramming the immune system to stop it mistakenly attacking pancreatic cells which produce insulin.

• In 2019, a trial showed the drug delayed some people at high risk of the condition from developing it for an average of three years.

• Experts say this delay can be very significant, particularly for young people who would not have to take daily insulin or monitor their sugars as intensively for that period of time.

• They suggest people could also spend more years with their blood sugars in a healthy range, offering more time to be protected from the complications of high blood sugars such as kidney or eye disease.

• edit added: The monoclonal antibody teplizumab, which will be marketed under the brand name Tzield, from ProventionBio and Sanofi is given through intravenous infusion. The drug is approved for people who don’t have any symptoms of the disease and may not know they’re on the road to getting it.

well, the ever increasing drug resistance of these gram neg bacteria are becoming more problematic. hopefully with this findings, the drug makers can readjust their anti-biotic design bearing in mind the OM/OMP configurations.

• A new study published in the journal Science Advances sheds light on how Gram-negative bacteria like E. coli construct their outer membrane to resemble body armour, which has far-reaching implications for the development of antibiotics.

• They undertook a microscopic examination of the outer membrane of E. coli to understand the molecular basis for the protection it affords against many classes of antibiotics. E. coli causes infections such as pneumonia, UTIs and sepsis that are notoriously difficult to treat due to multidrug resistance.

• The outer membrane is composed of two types of lipids that stack on top of each other, an unusual arrangement, responsible for making the membrane resistant to antibiotics. the outer membrane contains numerous proteins which the bacterium relies on to acquire nutrients and excrete waste products.

• By tagging the outer face of proteins within the outer membrane with photoreactive chemicals, they found that not only was each protein surrounded by a ring of stacked lipids but that these lipids were shared with neighbouring membrane proteins.

• Even more surprising was the finding that the resulting network of promiscuous protein-lipid-protein complexes spans the entire bacterial surface and embedded within it hexagonal lattices reminiscent of those used to strengthen protective body armour.

• Professor Kleanthous explains. ‘Every protein appears connected to every other protein in the membrane by a network of lipids, creating cellular armour plating that researchers will need to take account of in future antibiotic design.’

true. shark skin is abrasive and coarse, like sand paper (not the fine grit ones). no wonder other fish use this predator to scrape off their ectoparasites. the fish help each other out.