Post-Activity Stiffness and Psoriatic Arthritis

Post-Activity Stiffness and Psoriatic Arthritis
30 Oct

written by Vickie Wilkerson and published on our sister rheumatic community, Psoriatic-Arthritis.com.
Please do not take this as the standard stiffness all of us with psoriatic arthritis usually experience first thing in the mornings. I want to talk more about being active and then sitting down.  Let’s say you rest for an hour. What happens when you go to get up? Do you find your body is stiff? 
Stiffness and psoriatic arthritis
Lately, I have been experiencing post-activity stiffness it more and more. My psoriatic arthritis always lets me know when I am up doing something. My back is the first thing to let me know I am being more active than usual. After seven years of dealing with psoriatic arthritis, it has always been my biggest pain. I am always doing a sit-down, get up do something, back to sitting down, again and again like a vicious circle. It has really only been in the past several weeks that I am finding my body getting more stiff after I sit down.
 
 

Microsoft is investing $1 billion in Open AI to create brain-like machines

Microsoft is investing $1 billion in Open AI to create brain-like machines
29 Oct

The AI lab gets to throw Microsoft’s supercomputing and cloud computing muscle at its bid to build artificial general intelligence (AGI).
The news: Microsoft says OpenAI will help it jointly develop and train new AI technologies for its Azure cloud computing service. It will also work with it to develop new supercomputing hardware to try to achieve AGI—machines with the capacity to learn tasks the way human beings do. That’s a holy grail of AI that still remains (and may always remain) out of reach. OpenAI’s founders, which include Elon Musk and other tech leaders, reckon AGI could help solve longstanding challenges in areas that range from climate change to health care.
Show me the money: Since it was set up in 2015, OpenAI has developed AI that’s sought to defeat human players at games like Dota 2 and frighteningly effective language AI, among other things. It began as a nonprofit research lab with the mission of developing safe AGI, but AI models need mountains of data to crunch, and that requires huge amounts of expensive computing power. So earlier this year, OpenAI set up a new for-profit arm to help pay for its work. (OpenAI calls its model “capped profit” because investors can achieve a maximum of 100 times return on their investment. Still, not bad.)

Manage Anxiety & Stress

Manage Anxiety & Stress
23 Mar
Stress and Coping Content source: National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases (NCIRD), Division of Viral Diseases
The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) may be stressful for people. Fear and anxiety about a disease can be overwhelming and cause strong emotions in adults and children. Coping with stress will make you, the people you care about, and your community stronger.Everyone reacts differently to stressful situations.  How you respond to the outbreak can depend on your background, the things that make you different from other people, and  the community you live in. People who may respond more strongly to the stress of a crisis include
  • Older people and people with chronic diseases who are at higher risk for COVID-19
  • Children and teens
  • People who are helping with the response to COVID-19, like doctors and other health care providers, or first responders
  • People who have mental health conditions including problems with substance use

Obesity: The key role of a brain protein revealed

Obesity: The key role of a brain protein revealed
29 May
University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre
Regardless of how much you exercise or how balanced your diet is, controlling your weight is more brain-related than you might have thought. In a study published in the Journal of Clinical Investigation, researchers from the University of Montreal Hospital Research Centre (CRCHUM) show for the first time in mice that the acyl-CoA-binding protein, or ACBP, has a direct influence on the neurons that allow rodents and humans to maintain a healthy weight.
In April 2015, Thierry Alquier, a CRCHUM researcher and the lead author of this study, had already revealed, with his team, that this same protein allowed astrocytes, cells that support neuronal functions, to communicate variations in fatty acids and lipids in the blood to neurons. Thanks to this essential piece of information, the brain can adjust food intake and energy expenditure — and, ultimately, control its owner’s weight.

Training for first-time marathon ‘reverses’ aging of blood vessels

Training for first-time marathon ‘reverses’ aging of blood vessels
29 May
European Society of Cardiology
Study author Dr Anish Bhuva, a British Heart Foundation Fellow at University College London, UK, said: “Novice runners who trained for six months and completed their first marathon had a four-year reduction in arterial age and a 4 mmHg drop in systolic blood pressure. This is comparable to the effect of medication, and if maintained translates to approximately 10% lower risk of stroke over a lifetime.”
A hallmark of normal ageing is stiffening of the blood vessels, which increases the risk of stroke and heart disease even in healthy people. Compared to their peers, lifelong athletes have biologically younger blood vessels. This study investigated whether training for a marathon could modify aortic stiffness even in novice runners.
The study included 139 healthy first-time marathon runners aged 21-69 years who were advised to follow a first-time finisher training programme and ran an estimated 6-13 miles (10-20 km) a week for six months ahead of completing the 2016 or 2017 London Marathon.2,3

How sleep loss may contribute to adverse weight gain

How sleep loss may contribute to adverse weight gain
11 Sep
Source: Uppsala University
In a new study, researchers at Uppsala University now demonstrate that one night of sleep loss has a tissue-specific impact on the regulation of gene expression and metabolism in humans. This may explain how shift work and chronic sleep loss impairs our metabolism and adversely affects our body composition. The study is published in the scientific journal Science Advances Epidemiological studies have shown that the risk for obesity and type 2 diabetes is elevated in those who suffer from chronic sleep loss or who carry out shift work. Other studies have shown an association between disrupted sleep and adverse weight gain, in which fat accumulation is increased at the same time as the muscle mass is reduced .

 

Keto has many weight loss, health and performance benefits

Keto has many weight loss, health and performance benefits
11 Sep
ruled.me by Craig Clarke
What is the Keto Diet?
A ketogenic diet is a low carb, high fat diet that turns your body into a fat-burning machine. When insulin – the fat storing hormone – levels drop, you will feel the difference of an optimal body. Keto has many weight loss, health and performance benefits for type 2 diabetes, epilepsy, PCOS, metabolic syndrome, blood pressure, cholesterol, mental focus and numerous autoimmune diseases.
Keto restricts your intake of sugar and starchy foods, like pasta and bread. Instead, you’ll eat delicious real food with selective protein, healthy fats, and vegetables for nutrients. Ruled.me contains everything you need – what to eat, what to avoid, and exactly how to do it.

Osteoporosis Exercise for Strong Bones

Osteoporosis Exercise for Strong Bones
13 Jul
By National Osteoporosis Foundation
There are two types of osteoporosis exercises that are important for building and maintaining bone density: weight-bearing and muscle-strengtheningexercises.
Weight-bearing Exercises
These exercises include activities that make you move against gravity while staying upright. Weight-bearing exercises can be high-impact or low-impact.
High-impact weight-bearing exercises help build bones and keep them strong. If you have broken a bone due to osteoporosis or are at risk of breaking a bone, you may need to avoid high-impact exercises. If you’re not sure, you should check with your healthcare provider.