Thanks to TikTok and Instagram, peeking into someone's lifenitty-gritty food choices includedhas become absurdly routine. Trends like "what I eat in a day videos and mini meal breakdown vlogs allow us to see what our favorite influencers, home cooks, dietitians, and personal trainers eat on a daily basis. And considering the fact that the #WhatIEatInaDay hashtag on TikTok has over 11.2 billion views, its safe to say this trend is gaining traction.

Many creators of these short-form videos started out providing meal prep tips or recipe ideas for those in search of inspiration for new dishes to cook at home. But over time, what I eat in a day videos have become increasingly focused on providing nutritional guidance for viewers looking to improve their health through food or adopt an entirely new dietary lifestyle. "Sharing a photo or video of a recipe is one thing, but coupling that with nutrition advice is entirely another," says Christine Byrne, MPH, RD, a Raleigh-based dietitian who specializes in eating disorders and intuitive eating. While some creators choose to just film their food choices, others may layer on descriptive captions or voiceovers dictating the precise number of calories (or grams of protein, carbs, or fat) they consumed or how long one must exercise to 'work it off.' Other videos even appear as if they're going to show how to make a delicious-looking dish, and then cut to sharing how eating it can result in weight loss or be incorporated into an intermittent fasting regimen.

Indeed, what may start as a bit of voyeuristic intriguewho knew that my favorite professional chef loves eating Lucky Charms for breakfast? or I can't believe the most energetic Peloton instructor completely avoids caffeinecan turn sour the second you start to wonder if you, too, should adopt the eating habits of those you admire. And while there is certainly no harm in finding new recipes through social media or even being fascinated to see how an ultra-marathon runner fuels up before a race (Well+Good formerly had such a recurring series known as "Food Diaries," which focused on the eating habits of fitness professionals), relying on what I eat in a day videos to determine how you should be eating can cause you to dismiss your own nutritional needs and compare your food choices to others. "A simple recipe video can be a great way to share something you enjoy with others, but a recipe video with nutrition or diet advice attached is problematic because it becomes prescriptive'eat this if you want this result'and can be triggering," says Byrne. This, she adds, can easily lead to disordered eating.

Regulating your [food] intake based on what somebody else is eating can be harmful and make it difficult to honor your own bodys unique cues, says Isabel Vasquez, RD, LDN, an anti-diet registered dietitian at Your Latina Nutritionist. "The truth is that no one on Instagram [or any social media platform], even if that person is a dietitian or a doctor, understands your unique health situation. What's healthy for one person may not be healthy for another," agrees Byrne.

Here, three registered dietitians share their take on this growing trend, and share their thoughts on why these videos should not serve as nutritional guidance.

"Addressing your nutritional needs requires taking account of far more than just ingredients themselvesyour activity levels, health conditions, hydration levels, stressors, environment, and so much more all play a role in what your body needs," Vasquez explains. There's also your own personal taste preferences and cultural customs, which matter just as much as the nutritional makeup of a meal. "Relying on a short video for nutritional guidance often dismisses all of these important factors to be aware of."

Vasquez adds that using someone elses food choices as a means of determining what (and how much) you should be eating takes you away from connecting with your own body. Failing to take your unique nutritional situation and requirements into account may also worsen symptoms caused by digestive disorders, like irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), due to having different food triggers than other individuals. IBS food triggers can be different, so [uncritically] following someone elses food preferences fails to address your own situation as well as these triggers, adds Samina Qureshi, RD, LD, an intuitive eating registered dietitian and the founder of Wholesome Start, a telehealth nutrition coaching practice based in Houston, Texas. Healing, whether it be for IBS or strictly for your relationship with food, is a multifaceted process in which you have to think about other factors in your lifestyle that could be contributing to your digestive system or view on food.

Bottom line: Even if the person creating the videos experiences similar symptoms or is looking to accomplish a similar goal, your nutritional needs will most likely still be very different than theirs.

Getting an inside view of a persons food choices can breed comparison traps that leave you questioning your own decisions. Seeing a video clip [about someone else's eating habits] as short as 10 seconds can start to impact how you think about food, your body, and the choices you make, says Qureshi. Comparison truly is the thief of joy that can make you question everything you eat, as well as trigger disordered eating patterns.

Videos that fit within a very narrow moldwhich tends to be dominated by the eating habits of skinny white influencersmay also omit culturally relevant foods for communities of color, making it harder for members of these communities to view them as part of a balanced diet. Foods that carry history, tradition, and enjoyment can become quickly (and wrongfully) viewed as less-than due to the lack of representation. There is a significant lack of information out there about our cultural foods, which means many of my clients have to rebuild their relationships with their cultural foods. says Vasquez. [Cultural foods] are nutritionally valuable, and they also connect us to our families and our culture and that usually gets ignored or minimized in these videos.

Although the main intention of what I eat in a day videos is to highlight a persons meal choices throughout a 24-hour period, the opening scene often consists of a body shot of a thin and/or "fit" body. And because trim, toned bodies are perceived as healthier in American culture, viewers are primed to consider these people as healthy-eating authoritiesdespite the lack of schooling or extensive knowledge in dietetics. "When you take nutrition advice from an influencer, it's really hard to tell whether the advice is evidence-based or not," says Byrne. "An influencer might cite a study saying that X food helps with Y health issue, but who knows how rigorous or conclusive that study was? Plus, a single study doesn't make something evidence-based. An evidence-based recommendation is one that takes all studies on a particular topic into account."

Taking extreme, unhealthy, and unsubstantiated diet tips from anyoneespecially someone who is not a nutrition professionalcould easily cause a person to start fearing certain foods or having a disordered relationship with food, adds Qureshi.

Even if these videos advocate for intuitive eating, which calls for listening to (and responding to) your hunger cues and needs, they can still promote disordered eating. Intuitive eating is, in essence, all about breaking free from food "rules" and restrictions. It emphasizes nourishing yourself by tuning into what your body wants and needs to eat at any given moment. Rather than trying to follow a strict eating plan or co-opt an influencer's dietary habits, the goal is to be in touch with what your body is signaling physically, mentally, and emotionally at all times, and making food choices accordingly. Intuitive eating is designed to help people get out of the diet cycle and heal their relationship with food, rather than fixate on the food choices of another.

Theres a big difference between highlighting certain meals or approaches to nutrition for recipe inspiration and giving advice in the format of here's what I eat in a day.' The latter is basically a form of tracking, which is generally not supportive of intuitive eating, says Vasquez. To her point, even if a video host rallies against, say, counting calories, any form of closely monitoring one's own food intake (including the filming and breaking down of every morsel that went into one's mouth that day) is not considered intuitive eating. "Many of these videos are created by folks who have a disordered relationship with food. Someone who has a truly healthy relationship with food probably doesn't feel the need to post what they eat in a day, or to give unsolicited diet advice on social media," says Byrne. Again, comparison is the thief of joy, and it certainly goes against the healing ethos of intuitive eating.

Learn more about what healthy intuitive eating looking likeaccording to a dietitianby checking out this video:

Despite what you may see online, body diversity naturally exists, points out Qureshi. Even if we all ate, drank, slept, and exercised in the same way as one another, we would still have people living in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, she says.

[Seeing a persons body in these videos] can be so problematic because its furthering this idea that your body should look a certain way and it is further promoting the thin ideal, agrees Vasquez. It ties your eating directly to how you look, even if its not explicit. The correlation between your body and the food you consume often dismisses uncontrollable factors (like genetics) and can leave you comparing your body to others, resulting in feelings of dissatisfaction or body shame.

Despite the harmful impacts of this trend, it is one that is most likely not going to disappear anytime soon. But there are different ways to reduce the chances of coming across this trend on social media, such as unfollowing or blocking accounts that feel triggering and following accounts that promote intuitive eating from an authentic space.

Vasquez also suggests simply spending less time on social media. And when you do open the apps, she recommends creating a safe space to process your emotions after being triggered to help. I would advise noticing what thoughts these videos bring up for you, she says. If youre having thoughts about how you should change your eating habits or shame about your body, then self-reflect on those, says Vasquez. Self-awareness can make it easier to reframe your thoughts in a more positive light, whether it be celebrating cultural foods or showing compassion towards yourself. Speaking to a counselor or therapist may also be beneficial for those feeling triggered.

On the other hand, if what I eat in a day videos are helpful ways for you to discover new dishes, then thats also okay. The underlying message is to find a balance between inspiration and determining (or shifting) what you assume own body needs based upon another person's food choices. Ask yourself how hungry you are, what access to food you have, when was the last time you ate, what foods will satisfy you now, and start thinking about your own needs, Qureshi says. The answers to these questions can help you treat your body with compassion and address your unique nutritional requirements.

Additionally, Byrne emphasizes the fact that food choices should not dictate your happiness or self-worth. "The underlying assumption that eating a certain food or following a certain diet will drastically change your life for the better is a huge red flag that I see with influencers who give nutrition advice," she says. "That is a massive oversimplification, and it's just not true. Our overall health, and how we feel from day to day, is about so much more than what we eat. In general, nutrition advice on social media doesn't honor the fact that health and wellbeing are about more than just food."

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Why Experts Affirm That What I Eat in a Day Videos Should Not Be Anyones Guide to Nutrition - Well+Good

Bryant Stamford| Special to Courier Journal

Our health care system is amazing, the best the world has ever seen. Is it perfect? No, of course not, nothing ever is, which means it can be improved. How so?

For starters, we need to recognize the greatest challenges confronting our health care system that can be improved and take steps to improve them. Unfortunately,we continually depend on medical science to keep us a step ahead, but thats like trying to remove water from a boat with a hole in the bottom. Its time for us to wake up, acknowledge the problem, and take meaningful steps in the right direction.

Lets begin with recognizing that despite our wealth and prosperity, or perhaps because of it, we Americans live sicker and die quicker than virtually every other industrialized society.

Why? Our lifestyle seems to have been crafted to promote chronic diseases, and we keep getting better at it. Look at the American diet, loaded with processed foods high in saturated fat and sugar. In addition, because food is plentiful and readily accessible, we eat far too much. Combine our horrible diet with a sedentary lifestyle and the result is a fat society.

How fat are we? Recent data indicates that 32.5% of Americans are overweight, 37.7% are obese, and 7.7% are morbidly obese (100 or more pounds above ideal body weight). In total, 77.9% of Americans have a weight problem.

How sedentary are we? The latest data indicates that 77% of adult Americans are sedentary, and only 23% of Americans get sufficient regular exercise. Minimal guidelines suggest at least 150 minutes per week (about 20 minutes daily) of moderate aerobic exercise (brisk walking), or 75 minutes per week of vigorous workout exercise, plus twice a week resistance training to sustain muscle mass.

Too much body fat and too little exercise is the perfect formula for promoting prediabetes (also called metabolic syndrome). Prediabetes precedes Type 2 diabetes (T2d, and its important to understand what this means, and the distinction between Type 1 diabetes (T1d) versus T2d.

When it comes to diabetes, in general, it simply means that you are not regulating your blood glucose (sugar) concentration effectively, leading to an accumulation of glucose in the blood. Too much blood glucose causes all sorts of health problems, including the destruction of tiny blood vessels leading to blindness and amputations, plus its a key risk factor for heart disease, stroke, and kidney failure.

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The problem of too much glucose in the blood can be caused in two different ways.

In T1d, the pancreas gland is not working properly to release insulin. Insulin is necessary to escort glucose into the cells, and without insulin, glucose remains in the blood. T1d typically is detected early in life, and the cause is an autoimmune disorder that destroys pancreas cells that produce insulin. Of all the diagnosed diabetics in the U.S., only about 5% (1.25 million) are T1d.

The vast majority of diabetics are T2d, with an estimated incidence of 34.2 million (10.5% of the U.S. population). Of these 34.2 million, only 26.9 million have been diagnosed, which means 7.3 million Americans have T2d and dont know it. T2d is caused by insulin resistance. This means that unlike Type 1 diabetes, the pancreas gland is doing its job to release an adequate amount of insulin, but the cells of the body are not responding.

While the number of Type 2 diabetics is alarming, it pales in comparison with the estimated 88 million (34.5% of adults in the U.S.) with pre-diabetes. Both pre-diabetes and T2d are caused by insulin resistance. The difference is that in T2d there is a more extreme resistance to insulin, resulting in a higher glucose concentration in the blood. If pre-diabetes is left untreated, odds are good it will eventually morph into T2d.

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When there is too much glucose in the blood, an excessive amount attaches to proteins, making it harder for proteins to repair themselves, leading ultimately to cellular destruction in small blood vessels and elsewhere. A diagnostic test for both prediabetes and T2d is the hemoglobin A1c test which determines the amount of glucose attached to the proteins in hemoglobin (the main component of red blood cells). This offers an easy and convenient way to gauge how much glucose-to-protein binding is occurring throughout the body.

A normal A1c level is below 5.7% (the lower the better), whereas levels of 5.7% to 6.4% indicate pre-diabetes. When A1c levels exceed 6.4% (extreme insulin resistance), the diagnosis is T2d.

Is the future incidence of T2d a threat to bankrupt our health care system? Hard to say, but it certainly will impose major stress. Diabetes is a very expensive disease to treat, costing on average more than double the medical cost per patient without diabetes. Worse, when you project into the future and see the 88 million prediabetics progressing toward T2d, the magnitude of the problem is obvious. Add to this the scary fact that pre-diabetes and T2d are showing up in progressively younger Americans.

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So, what can we do about this? Lets start with understanding the problem. Prediabetes and T2d are caused by insulin resistance, and the main factor driving insulin resistance is excess abdominal fat, specifically the visceral fat that lies beneath the layer of abdominal muscles and surrounding body organs.

An effective overall strategy for reversing prediabetes entails a short-term and long-term approach. Starting immediately, a brisk 20-30 minute walk is effective because it counteracts insulin resistance, making the cells of the body more insulin sensitive. But like a pill, the effects of exercise are acute and short-lived and must be renewed daily. In the long-term, take steps to reduce body fat, especially belly fat, to overcome insulin resistance.

And when prediabetes progresses to T2d, its important to know that the effects can possibly be reversed with the same short and long-term approach. However, if you ignore the problem for too long, it may not be reversible, so take action today.

Reach Bryant Stamford, a professor of kinesiology and integrative physiology at Hanover College, at stamford@hanover.edu.

See the rest here:
Will diabetes cripple our health care system? Maybe. Here's how to prevent the disease - Courier Journal

Do you ever go a bit red after exercising? Well, it turns out the same might be true for a certain type of bird!

New research shows that male crossbills grow redder feathers when they exercise harder.

Crossbills are a type of finch and have a beak - or bill - which is crossed over at the tip, giving them their name. This crossed bill is used to extract seeds from conifer cones.

Scientists from the Spanish National Research Council in Madrid have found a link between how hard a male crossbill has to work to fly, and how red his feathers are.

The bright colouring of some birds comes from things they eat in their diet - they take in special pigments from their food and use these to make the vibrant colours seen in their feathers.

For example, flamingos are born with grey feathers but the more they eat certain foods, the pinker their feathers get!

In an experiment to test this, between October 2019 and February 2020, scientists captured 295 male crossbills in central Spain, taking measurements of their colour, size and weight.

The researchers clipped some wing feathers from about half the crossbills to make flying more physically challenging.

When the team caught and checked the birds later on, they found that the birds with clipped wings had redder feathers.

This led the team to conclude that red feathers were partially a result of exercise and not just because of a bird's diet and foraging skills.

"We might conventionally assume that birds with impaired flight are 'lower quality', but here they are growing redder feathers," says Rebecca Koch at the University of Tulsa, Oklahoma, adding that study's approach is "breathing fresh life" into work on feather pigments.

Go here to see the original:
Crossbills: The bird that gets redder feathers, the more it exercises - BBC

In the majority of individuals, type 2 diabetes occurs related to metabolic syndrome, i.e., in the context of overweight/obesity, ectopic fat accumulation, metabolic inflammation, and insulin resistance [1]. However, alternative pathophysiologic processes, unrelated to metabolic syndrome, can also lead to this disease [1-4].

Historically, type 2 diabetes was viewed as irreversible and progressive. However, recent research showed the opposite, at least for type 2 diabetes related to metabolic syndrome. As first demonstrated after bariatric surgery, this disease subtype can be brought into remission by substantial weight loss [5,6]. As shown later, such weight loss can also be achieved through lifestyle intervention. The Counterpoint study, for example, demonstrated that short-term caloric restriction leads to rapid metabolic improvement in subjects with type 2 diabetes related to metabolic syndrome [7]. Furthermore, theDiRECT study applied a similar approach in a routine care setting. In that trial, a 46% remission rate of type 2 diabetes related to metabolic syndrome was achieved after 12months of a lifestyle intervention that started with a period of a very-low-calorie formula diet [8].

In the DiRECT study, remission of type 2 diabetes was defined asglycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c) of less than 48 mmol/mol (6.5%) in the absence of glucose-lowering medication. Reaching this target of partial remission in a large percentage of study participants was a great success. Nevertheless, this remission target falls short of normalization of plasma glucose in real life and thus of a state in which glucotoxicity and beta cell stress would be minimized. Such a normalized state, however, seems necessary for the long-term maintenance of metabolic health. In contrast, partial remission to a prediabetic state is probably set up for failure and rapid reoccurrence of type 2 diabetes [9].

Currently, different devices permit obtaining a real-life glucose profile. Some transmit data continuously, while others rely on intermittent scanning. All, however, measure subcutaneous, interstitial glucose levels in short intervals. These devices are already established as valuable tools to guide insulin therapy. They provide detailed insights into glycemia that go beyond the information obtained by punctual plasma glucose measurements or HbA1c [10]. Additionally, a normal range for real-life glucose profiles has now been established through the study of healthy populations [11].

Given this level of development of continuous monitoring, real-life glucose profiling could be an ideal tool to evaluate the extent of type 2 diabetes remission. In this pilot trial, we, therefore, attempted to provide proof of concept that complete remission of type 2 diabetes related to metabolic syndrome to the point of a normalized real-life glucose profile can be achieved.

The monocenter lifestyle intervention study PiREM (Pilot study for individualized REMission induction of type 2 diabetes) was conducted at the diabetes center of the University Hospital, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt (LMU) Munich, Germany. Participants were recruited between January and June 2020 through the local diabetes outpatient clinic as well as through advertisements on public transport and online diabetes information portals.

Eligible participants were 18 to 64 years old, had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes within the previous sixyears, suffered from metabolic syndrome, and were motivated to participate in the lifestyle intervention. The diabetes diagnosis had to be confirmed by an HbA1c 48 mmol/mol (6.5%) plus one elevated blood glucose value (fasting glucose 7.0 mmol/l, random blood glucose 11.1mmol/l, or 2-hour glucose in an oral glucose tolerance test 11.1 mmol/l). Furthermore, the glucose profile at baseline had to be diabetic (at least two time points with fasting sensor glucose 7mmol/l or any sensor glucose value 11.1 mmol/l).

Exclusion criteria were autoantibodies to glutamic acid decarboxylase 65 (GAD 65), tyrosine phosphatase 2 (IA-2)or zinc transporter 8 (ZnT8) >1.1 times the upper reference limit, fasting c-peptide<0.27 nmol/l, recent on-record estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 30 ml/min per 1.732 m2, current or planned pregnancy within the following 12 months, scheduled surgery within the following 12 months, myocardial infarction or stroke within the previous six months, known malignancy, severe or unstable heart failure ( New York Heart Association classII), previous bariatric surgery, hospital admission for depression within the previous 12months, substance abuse, or participation in another clinical trial. The current use of anti-diabetic medication, including insulin therapy, was not an exclusion criterion.

Written informed consent was obtained from all participants and the protocol was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitt (project number: 19-182). The study was preregistered at the German Clinical Trials Register (drks.de; study ID: DRKS00020453).

The study was designed as a single-arm pilot trial to test the feasibility of complete diabetes remission, defined as a normalized real-life glucose profile, after lifestyle intervention. The intervention period lasted six months. In one case, it was prolonged to nine months due to study interruption and in one case, it was concluded after five months due to personal reasons.

The primary study endpoint was the degree of improvement of glucose metabolism at the post-intervention visit. Complete remission was defined as normalization of the real-life glucose profile without glucose-lowering medication over at least five days (see below for further details). In case no real-life glucose profile could be obtained, an HbA1c value of less than 39 mmol/mol (5.7%) plus a fasting plasma glucose less than 5.6mmol/l without glucose-lowering medication were accepted as an alternative definition. However, this alternative definition of complete remission did not have to be applied.Partial remission was defined as an above-normal real-life glucose profile but an HbA1c in the prediabetic range of 39-47 mmol/mol (5.7-6.4%) without glucose-lowering medication.

Secondary endpoints were changes in body weight, BMI, waist and hip circumference, insulin resistance (calculated as homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR)), insulin secretory reserve, whole-body, liver and pancreatic fat, systolic and diastolic blood pressure, serum lipids (triglycerides, cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein (HDL), and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol), and changes in the prescribed medication.

The three main study visits were a screening visit, a pre-intervention visit, and a post-intervention visit that included measures of fasting plasma glucose, HbA1c, and serum lipids (triglycerides, cholesterol, HDL, and LDL cholesterol). Further, a real-life glucose profile, anthropometric measurements, MRI, and an arginine stimulation test were obtained during the pre- and post-intervention visits.

In weekly in-person visits during the first two weeks of the intervention, a study physician assessed the participants motivation, adherence to the diet, blood glucose profile, weight, exercise patterns, and possible side effects. After that, contacts were every other week in person or via telephone.

For participants with type 2 diabetes related to metabolic syndrome, all with a BMI25kg/m2, the lifestyle intervention started with a very-low-calorie formula diet (Optifast 800 or Optifast Professional, Nestl Health Science, Vevey, Switzerland, respectively; 815-865 kcal per day, distributed over five ratios of 163-173 kcal per day, 34-46%carbohydrates, 32-36% protein, 7-11% fat, and 5-7% fiber) for one to three months, depending on the individual progress. Only vegetables with negligible calorie content were permitted in addition to the formula diet. Participants were also advised to drink at least two liters of water or unsweetened tea per day to prevent constipation, which had been described previously in similar trials [8,12]. Further, participants were asked to monitor their plasma glucose and blood pressure. Glucose-lowering and blood pressure-lowering medications were reduced as indicated.

After a maximum period of three months, regular food was reintroduced, accompanied by regular nutrition counseling. The aim was to reach a maintenance diet that permitted further gradual weight loss or was at least isocaloric with an approximate composition of 25% carbohydrates,25%protein/fat, 40% vegetables, and 10% fruits [13]. Besides nutrition counseling, participants were coached regarding physical activity, exercise, psychology, and behavior change. To support physical activity, pedometers were distributed. The exercise target was at least 150minutes of moderate-intensity activity per week, preferably combined with muscle-strengthening activities [14].

Height, waistcircumference, and hip circumference were measured using a measuring tape to the nearest 0.5 cm. Body weight and body fat percentage were determined by bioelectrical impedance analysis (Tanita BC-418, Tanita Corporation, Tokyo, Japan). Resting systolic and diastolic blood pressures were obtained on both arms in a seated position and the mean out of two measurements on the arm with the higher systolic pressure was recorded.

Study participants were invited to participate in a whole-body MRI to determine pancreatic and hepatic fat levels via a low-fat fraction map technique (3 Tesla System, Ingenia or Achieva, Philips Health Care, Best, Netherlands). The MRI study protocol has been described in detail previously [15]. For two participants, baseline MRI data were missing due to scheduling conflicts.

Insulin secretory reserve was tested in an arginine stimulation test. The test protocol was adapted from Teuscher et al. [16] and Robertson [17]. Subjects with glucose-lowering medication were asked to pause their pharmacological treatment from the evening before testing. The stimulation test started after an overnight fast of at least eight hours. Fasting samples of plasma glucose and insulin were drawn, before a bolus of arginine (5g arginine HCl, given as a 0.29 mol/l solution; B. Braun Melsungen AG, Melsungen, Germany) was injected over 60seconds with time 0 set at the beginning of the injection. Further blood samples for insulin measurements were drawn at 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 8, 10, and 15 minutes. The acute insulin response to arginine (AIRArg) was calculated as the mean of the three highest insulin levels obtained within five minutes after the start of arginine injection minus the pre-stimulus insulin level [18,19].

To obtain a real-life glucose profile, a FreeStyle Libre 2 device (Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, CA, USA) was used for 2-14 days at a time. The sensor was inserted into the upper arm adipose tissue.

Interstitial glucose values were measured every minute and stored in the sensor memory every 15 minutes. For validation, occasional capillary plasma glucose measurements were implemented. Participants were advised to scan their sensor at least every eight hours to avoid losing any values stored in the sensors temporary memory. However, they were not supposed to use the sensor values to guide any lifestyle decisions.

A real-life glucose profile was obtained at least twice during the study, at the pre- and the post-intervention visit. An additional profile was obtained during the intervention period as needed to guide the intervention or to decide about medication.

Reference values for a normal real-life glucose profile have been published previously by Shahetal.[11]. According to this publication, we classified a profile as normal when glucose concentrations remained between 3.9 and 7.8 mmol/l at least 96% of the time. To display and analyze the real-life glucose profiles, we used the web-based diabetes management system LibreView (Abbott Diabetes Care, Alameda, CA, USA), and the glucose values were stored in the sensor memory every 15 minutes.

Plasma glucose was determined by the hexokinase method (Glucose HK Gen. 3, Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany), serum insulin by chemiluminescent immunoassay (DiaSorin LIAISON Systems, Saluggia, Italy), plasma HbA1c by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) (VARIANT II TURBO HbA1c Kit, Bio-Rad Laboratories, Hercules, CA, USA), and serum blood lipids (HDL cholesterol and triglycerides) by enzymatic caloric test (Roche Diagnostics, Mannheim, Germany). LDL cholesterol was calculated by the Friedewald equation. For antibody determination, enzyme immunoassays were conducted (ZnT8: Medizym Anti-ZnT8, Medipan GmbH, Dahlewitz/Berlin, Germany; GAD65: Anti-GAD-ELISA (IgG), Euroimmun Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG, Lbeck, Germany; IA-2: Anti-IA2-ELISA (IgG), Euroimmun Medizinische Labordiagnostika AG, Lbeck, Germany). The HOMA-IR was calculated from fasting samples according to Matthews et al. [20]: HOMA-IR =glucose0(mg/dl)*insulin0*(IU/ml)/405.

Due to the small group size, variables were treated as non-normally distributed and are presented as median (first quartile-third quartile). To compare pre- and post-intervention measurements, the Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used. Fishers exact test was used for the comparison of categorical variables between visits. Two-sided p-values < 0.05 were considered statistically significant. Statistical calculations were performed using the statistical software program IBM SPSS Statistics (IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, version 25.0, IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA). For graphic representation, GraphPad Prism was applied (GraphPad Prism version 6.0 for Mac, GraphPad Software, La Jolla, CA, USA).

Ten participants with type 2 diabetes related to metabolic syndrome were included in this study. The participants' median age was 52 (43-56) years, they had a median BMI of 33.1 (32.1-37.7) kg/m2, and the median time since diagnosis was 1.5 (1.1-5.3) years (Table 1).Of these 10 participants, seven completed the study. Two dropped out due to unwillingness to follow through with the nutritional program and one because of a long-term stay abroad.

At the end of the study, one participant reached complete remission, three achieved partial remission, and three displayed improved glucose control still in the diabetic range (Table 2 and Figure 1). Additionally, body weight, BMI, waist circumference, hip circumference, body fat percentage, and HbA1c decreased significantly in the whole group. Fasting plasma glucose, fasting insulin, HOMA-IR, liver fat, pancreas fat, systolic and diastolic blood pressures, triglycerides, and total cholesterol depicted non-significant downward trends. LDL and HDL cholesterol, as well as the AIRArg, remained unchanged (Table 3 and Figures2-5).

This pilot trial demonstrates that complete remission of type 2 diabetes related to metabolic syndrome to the point of a normalized real-life glucose profile is, in principle, possible through lifestyle intervention. However, this trial also illustrates that fully effective lifestyle change is difficult to achieve.

We consider the trial results a sufficient proof of concept for our hypothesis despite the fact that only one out of 10 participants reached the set remission target. This participant had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 1.4 years before study entry and had a baseline HbA1c of 51 mmol/mol (6.8 %) while taking metformin as glucose-lowering medication. Therefore, we believe that truly complete remission of established type 2 diabetes occurred in this case. Furthermore, three other trial participants reached partial remission with real-life glucose profiles in the normal range of 60-85% of the time.

As in previous studies, glycemic improvement in our trial was linked to weight loss,a reduction in hip and waist circumference, and whole-body, liver, and pancreas fat [7,21,22]. Due to the small sample size, not all of these changes were statistically significant, but the trends nevertheless appeared clear. Additionally, we observed other expected benefits of weight loss and lifestyle change, such as trends toward lower blood pressure and reduced serum triglycerides.

To avoid hyperglycemia after glucose administration, we conducted simple arginine stimulation tests to determine the insulin secretory reserve [18,19]. The median AIRArg remained stable over the study period, indicating unchanged stimulated insulin release. However, a more differentiated assessment of beta cell function may provide additional insights in future trials.

As in most lifestyle intervention trials, success in weight loss and glycemic improvement was variable between participants, despite intensive and individualized counseling [23]. This observation highlights the need for further improvements in intervention protocols for the induction of type 2 diabetes remission. We also want to reiterate that our findings and those of previous trials [7,8,21,24] only concern type 2 diabetes related to metabolic syndrome, not unrelated type 2 diabetes subtypes [1]. In those subtypes, remission by lifestyle change may be illusive or, at least, effective approaches have not been found yet.

The main limitation of our study was its small sample size. Nonetheless, we could demonstrate that complete remission of type 2 diabetes to the point of a normalized real-life glucose profile is possible in principle. Moreover, every participant completing our intervention improved his or her glycemic status and gained health benefits. Another limitation of our study was that we could not obtain baseline MRI data from two participants. Given the already small sample size, this missing data are probably responsible for the non-significant results regarding ectopic fat in the liver and pancreas despite the importance of these fat depots, which has been demonstrated in previous remission trials [7,21,22].

Excerpt from:
A Normalized Real-Life Glucose Profile After Diet-Induced Remission of Type 2 Diabetes: A Pilot Trial - Cureus

So let's have an open dialogue, how old do you think is comfortable to live til? Is 70, 80, or 90 an age you think would be good for you? Is 100 too much? What about 150? Yes, I said 150 years old.

According to a recent New York Post article, a new study says it may be possible soon for humans to live to 150! So if you are 75 years old you would only be middle-aged lol

Unsplash.com Denys Nevozhai

In The NY Post article, "Researchers atGERO.AIconcluded the absolute limit of the human lifespan to be between 100 and 150 they came to this conclusion by analyzing 70,000 participants up to age 85 based on their ability to fight disease, risk of heart conditions and cognitive impairment."

I am thinking as I write this article if I would want to live to 150, I must admit I'm a bit torn. I mean until now I looked at 100 as a big feat, but 150 just seems crazy, right?

I think I wonder what they think the quality of life would be for 150-year-olds because let's face it if everyone that old is living a miserable life, why would you want that? If I want to live another 96 years I want to enjoy it lol

The Post article sites developments in medicine as a key to a longer life for humans and that makes sense. Think 100 to 200 years ago our life span was a lot shorter than now, so as we move forward with medical technology our lives will be longer.

I am currently trying to be as healthy as I can be these days watching my diet, exercising, and getting good sleep hopefully, that helps and gets me to 125 maybe?

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Ocean County Do You Think You Want To Live To 150? - wobm.com

Every few years IBM brings out a new addition to its Z series mainframe family. From the information accompanying the release of the new enterprise system, IBM appears to be touting the new z16 machines ability to handle real time fraud detection for instant payments across the financial sector. It also offers an AI (artificial intelligence) accelerator, using IBMs Telum chip. This will certainly be good news for many financial institutes. For instance, speaking at a recent IBM-hosted roundtable, Steve Suarez, global head of innovation, finance & risk at HSBC, described how the bank was drowning in data. Suarez sees a need to have technology that can help the bank provide insights that actually benefit people.

What is interesting from the virtual z16 briefing Computer Weekly attended is IBMs focus on the new machines ability to protect against hackers using quantum computing to break the strong encryption that underpins financial transactions.

IBM distinguished engineer, Anne Dames said: Good technology can be used to do bad things. In other words, a quantum computer could be used to break the cryptographic keys that are used to encrypt data.

We are entering a new cryptographic era, she warns, adding that the IT industry needs to act now before there is an effective quantum computing based attack.

The worst case scenario IBM paints is where a successful hacking attack gains access to a large quantity of encrypted data. Since this data is encrypted, it is near impossible to decipher it in a realistic timescale. The US National Institute of Standards and Technology warns that if large-scale quantum computers are ever built, they will be able to break many of the public-key cryptosystems currently in use. This would seriously compromise the confidentiality and integrity of digital communications on the Internet and elsewhere. Nist is encouraging the IT sector to develop post-quantum cryptography and IBMs z16 is one of the first systems to claim it is quantum safe.

While this is clearly an important development and IBMs efforts should be applauded, one cant help worrying that IBM, Nist and the IT sector at large, are somehow missing the bigger picture. Breaking cryptography is one thing, but quantum computers have the potential to revolutionise drug development and the ability to create new chemical processes such as to reduce carbon emissions. The flip side is that these techniques may also be used to develop devastatingly effective, targeted chemical and biological weapons. As such, policy makers need to wake up to the risk, and track quantum computing in the same way that atomic, biological and chemical weapon materials are monitored.

The rest is here:

Quantum computing and the bigger picture - ComputerWeekly.com

Yales hub for quantum research will soon entangle the campus in the best possible sense in a full week of mind-bending science, artistry, and discussion devoted to the wonders of quantum research.

Quantum Week at Yale, organized by the Yale Quantum Institute (YQI), will feature a hackathon, a lab tour, a movie screening, a record launch party, hands-on computer programming, a superconductive jewelry display, and an assortment of quantum-related library and museum exhibits.

The activities begin April 8 and run through April 14. A full list of events is available here.

Yales quantum scientists are at the very top of this field, said Florian Carle, YQI manager and coordinator for the event. We want to take some of the excitement we see in the labs and at YQI and share it with the rest of the campus.

Quantum science delves into the physical properties that explain the behavior of subatomic particles, atoms, and molecules. Over the past century, quantum research has transformed disciplines as diverse as physics, engineering, mathematics, chemistry, computer science, and materials science.

Over the past 20 years, Yale researchers have propelled quantum research, particularly in quantum information science and quantum computing, with a series of groundbreaking discoveries including the first demonstration of two-qubit algorithms with a superconducting quantum processor.

Yales research has led to unprecedented control over individual quantum objects, whether those objects are naturally occurring microscopic systems such as atoms, or macroscopic, human-made systems with engineered properties. Researchers say these advances may soon enable them to perform otherwise intractable computations, ensure privacy in communications, better understand and design novel states of matter, and develop new types of sensors and measurement devices.

This is the time when computer scientists, mathematicians, physicists, and engineers are all coming together, said Yongshan Ding, assistant professor of computer science, who will lead a programming workshop on April 14 that shows visitors including those without any experience with quantum computing how to play with quantum interference patterns.

People can just code away, Ding said. My vision is that by exposing people to these activities, we can build a quantum-native programming language. This is a new paradigm of computation, so were going to need new ways to program for it.

YQI has partnered with 18 Yale departments and centers to create 23 events for Quantum Week at Yale. One of the challenges in organizing the week, Carle explained, was developing an engaging mix of activities suited for both experienced researchers and quantum science novices.

To that end, the week is organized around four components: Understanding Quantum, Art & Quantum, Career and Entrepreneurship, and For Researchers.

The hands-on programming event, for example, comes under the Understanding Quantum banner. Other include an April 9-10 Quantum Coalition Hack, hosted by the Yale Undergraduate Quantum Computer Club; an April 11 tour of superconducting qubit laboratories; and a quantum-related exhibit of rare books at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library on April 11.

Were always looking for ways that our libraries can engage with the academic work going on at Yale, said Andrew Shimp, who consulted on Quantum Week events at Yale libraries. Shimp is Yales librarian for engineering, applied science, chemistry, and mathematics. One of the unique things a Yale library can offer is the chance to view rare collections that arent necessarily digitized yet.

The quantum exhibit at the Beinecke Library, for example, includes materials from quantum science pioneers such as Albert Einstein, Werner Heisenberg, and Max Planck. There is also an astronomy textbook, published in 1511, that includes the word quantum in its title. The title is Textus de Sphera Johannis de Sacrobosco: cum additione (quantum necessarium est) adiecta / Nouo commentario nuper edito ad vtilitate[m] studentiu[m] philosophice Parisien[em]. A brief English translation would be Sphere of Sacrobosco.

Under the Art & Quantum heading, there will be an April 8 screening of the 2013 indie thriller Coherence; a visual arts competition called Visualize Science hosted by Wright Lab on April 13; a launch party for Quantum Sound (a record project begun at YQI in 2018) on April 13; a display of Superconductive Jewelry throughout the week at YQI; a Quantum and the Arts exhibit all week at the Arts Library; an April 13 event hosted by the Yale Schwarzman Center devoted to historical preservation of technology ephemera, called Dumpster Diving: Historical Memory and Quantum Physics at Yale; and a new exhibit at the New Haven Museum, The Quantum Revolution, that opens April 13 and features drawings by former YQI artist in residence Martha Willette Lewis.

Carle is curator for the New Haven Museum exhibit. We wanted to show the evolution of quantum science at Yale, he said. It will take people from some of the first qubits in 1998 to Badger, the dilution refrigerator that ran the first two-qubit algorithms with a superconducting quantum processor in 2009.

Quantum computers require extremely cold temperatures near absolute zero in order to reduce operational errors.

The weeks Career and Entrepreneurship component will include a discussion of quantum startups hosted by The Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale (Tsai CITY) on April 12; a conversation with IBMs Mark Ritter on the global implications of quantum research, hosted by the Jackson Institute for Global Affairs on April 12; a session on how to access market research for major industry analysts, hosted by the Yale University Library, on April 12; and a series of panel discussions on how to join the quantum workforce.

Finally, the For Researchers component of Quantum Week at Yale will feature a quantum sensing workshop at Wright Lab on April 8; and an April 14 lecture by quantum researcher Nathan Wiebe of the University of Washington.

The final day for Quantum Week at Yale, April 14, also happens to be World Quantum Day, Carle said. Our hope is that by then, students all over campus will be aware of quantum work being done here and want to explore it themselves in some way.

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Quantum Week at Yale geared toward novices and experts alike - Yale News

California Polytechnic State University undergraduate students Alexander Knapen and Nayana Tiwari and graduate student Julian Rice had never programmed on quantum computers before. But after 50 hours at the 2022 MIT Interdisciplinary Quantum Hackathon, they had built an online quantum chat server that encrypts messages using quantum algorithms.

Knapen, Tiwari, and Rice had worked tirelessly on the chat server over an adrenaline-fueled weekend at the third annual iQuHACK (pronounced i-quack, like the duck in the hackathons logo). At iQuHACK, 400 people from 57 countries gathered virtually to design and build quantum computing projects from scratch. Participants had the chance to code on real quantum computers, a major highlight of the hackathon because so few are available today. In particular, hackers had free access to IonQs quantum computer (via Microsofts Azure Quantum service) and QuTechs Quantum Inspire platform.

Today, you can [easily] make an app [for phones or normal computers] and put it on the app store. Were not there yet for quantum computing, but events like this hackathon start to make it possible to think about greater accessibility to quantum computing applications, says Matthew Keesan, vice president of development at IonQ.

While all iQuHACK participants had access to quantum computers, they arrived at the hackathon with different levels of experience. Some hackers came in with experience programming quantum computers computers that use quantum mechanics to solve problems too difficult for normal "classical" computers, with applications such as stronger encryption methods for more secure messaging and complex molecular simulation for faster drug development but others, like Knapen, Tiwari, and Rice, needed to learn on-the-fly. Knowing this, the hackathons chair, MIT postdoc Carlos Errando Herranz, sought to make learning as easy as possible, empowering everyone to bring their ideas to life. We wanted people to learn first-hand that coding on quantum computers is not as hard as it sounds, he says.

This year's iQuHACK was hosted by the MIT Interdisciplinary Quantum Information Science and Engineering (iQuISE) program, a student-run group of MIT graduate students and postdocs. The organizing iQuHACK committee consisted of Carlos Errando Herranz, Shantanu Jha, Jawaher Almutlaq, Shoumik Chowdhury, Hamza Raniwala, Maddie Sutula, Eric Bersin, and Michael Walsh.

The first day of iQuHACK brought participants up to speed with the nuts-and-bolts of quantum computing. Hackers could attend tutorials on how to use the IonQ/Microsoft and Quantum Inspire platforms and also drop into office hours for help with setting up the necessary software tools. Later, when the hackathon was in full swing, participants could seek guidance on their projects from experienced quantum computing professionals in industry and academia, who served as hackathon mentors. The most intimidating thing is to get something working, Knapen says of the online quantum chat server, But once we had an idea of what we wanted to do, it was pretty easy to get the code written and up and running.

The chat server project, called Keytanglement, ran on the Quantum Inspire platform, the first publicly available quantum computing platform in Europe. We can actually see it running live on the platform, says Richard Versluis, system architect of the Quantum Inspire. When you go to their website and execute on your telephone what they did, you see the [chat servers encryption] job being submitted, [the Quantum Inspire] running the [encryption] algorithms, then [the results] going back to the web server.

Hackers with more quantum computing experience also took advantage of their access to quantum computers. One team of five Yale University undergraduate students spent the weekend delving into the nitty-gritty details of how quantum computers implement quantum code. In quantum hardware development, looking at how various [operations] can be implemented is such an active field of study, says Alex Deters, one of the Yale University team members. Often, a direct translation between quantum code and hardware is not possible, resulting in errors in the results. These error rates depend on the specific hardware being used.

Knowing that we would be working with [quantum computers, we thought] it would be great to benchmark the hardware[s error rates], Deters says. To do this, the team built a benchmarking tool, reminiscent of standard computer science tools, that can provide the error rates for any quantum computer and help find the most accurate quantum algorithms for the specific hardware. The tool, called Quantum RX, ran successfully on the Quantum Inspire platform and provided very valuable feedback, Versluis says.

Despite being a virtual event, iQuHACK created a strong sense of community, bringing together quantum computing enthusiasts from around the world. Many hackers capitalized on the virtual format, forming teams with members scattered across multiple countries. Frederik Hardervig, an undergraduate student studying in Germany this semester, had participated in iQuHACK last year as a one-person team and was extremely eager to assemble a multi-person team this year.

As soon as I saw [participants] Tomasz [Kazulak] and Danai [Bili] write in the looking-for-a-team [Slack channel] and say they were from Europe, I wrote them and was like can we team please? Hardervig says. At the time, Kazulak was in Poland and Bili was in England. The three of them then rounded out their team with two more members, Caspian Chahrom, who was in Switzerland, and Sneha Shakya, who was in the United States. It was cool to meet people from around the world who are doing the same thing, Chahrom says.

Together, the five newly acquainted hackers collaborated remotely and built a new Tetris game on the IonQ/Microsoft platform. The game, called QuanTris, works similarly to Tetris, but with a quantum twist the falling blocks are governed by the rules of quantum mechanics. Through QuanTris, the hackers hoped to teach players quantum computing concepts in a fun way.

With 75 projects being built at the hackathon, the IonQ/Microsoft and Quantum Inspire platforms were heavily used. Both platforms included quantum computers as well as quantum simulators, where people could test their code or play with ideas that required greater computing ability than the hardware could currently provide. For the IonQ/Microsoft platform, which made one quantum computer available, the demand was amazing, Keesan says. We ran something like 50,000 simulations and 1,000 quantum programs during the hackathon. For the Quantum Inspire platform, two quantum computers were available, each using a different quantum technology. All our systems kept running for the full weekend, Versluis says, even with tens of people accessing the system at the same time.

In addition to working on their hackathon projects, participants could attend talks by quantum computing experts to get a broader view of the field today. Professor Mikhail Lukin of Harvard University gave iQuHACK 2022s keynote talk, providing historical and technical background on quantum computing. Professor Paola Capellaro of MIT then kicked off the hacking portion of iQuHACK with opening remarks on future directions in quantum computing applications. Experts across industry also gave a series of technical talks, presenting updates on their companies efforts in quantum computing. I learned a lot about the current state of the art and [where] the field is moving, says Hieu Dinh, an MIT undergraduate. (Dinh was part of a team of MIT undergraduates who had built a quantum version of Tic Tac Toe, called Qic Qac Qoe, at the hackathon.)

The iQuHACK 2022 tutorials, talks, and other quantum computing resources, including participants projects from this year and last year, are publicly available on the hackathons Twitch streaming channel and website. As Errando Herranz winds down his tenure as iQuHACKs chair, he encourages anyone interested in quantum computing to use these resources to start learning now, especially if theyre looking to participate in the hackathon next year.

With quantum, when youre learning in the classroom, youre handed everything. This hackathon is the first time we were able to generate an idea and actually implement it, Tiwari of the Keytanglement project says. Im excited to take that [experience] and continue working on projects [in quantum computing].

In addition to the three major platform sponsors, IonQ, Microsoft, and QuTech, the hackathon was sponsored by Google Quantum AI, IBM Q, HRL Laboratories, Zapata Computing, Zurich Instruments, QuEra Computing Inc., qBraid, MIT, the Research Laboratory of Electronics at MIT, the MIT Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, and the MIT Center for Quantum Engineering.

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Bringing together the next generation of quantum coders - MIT News

The Pentagon in Arlington, Va., as seen on Sept. 17, 2021. (Stefani Reynolds/Bloomberg)

The U.S. Department of Defense's outgoing chief data officer called for the Pentagon to make urgent investments to defend against potential espionage from quantum computers -- nascent technology that could one day break the encryption that protects American secrets.

In his first interview since leaving his post last month, David Spirk, who spent two years in his role, told Bloomberg News that the Pentagon needs to speed up efforts to counter adversaries who are developing military tools supported by advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and eventually quantum science.

Quantum computing may prove far more able than existing technology to solve mathematical problems at exponentially faster speeds. That could enable operators to unscramble the algorithms that underpin encryption protocols, unlocking an array of sensitive data.

"I don't think that there's enough senior leaders getting their heads around the implications of quantum," Spirk said. "Like AI, I think that's a new wave of compute that when it arrives is going to be a pretty shocking moment to industry and government alike."

"We have to pick up pace because we have competitors who are also attempting to accelerate," he added.

Spirk's comments come amid warnings that U.S. adversaries, particularly China, are aggressively pursuing advanced technologies that could radically accelerate the pace of modern warfare. China is investing in AI and quantum sciences as part of its plan to become an innovation superpower, according to the Pentagon's latest annual report to Congress on China's military power. China is "at or near the lead on numerous science fields," including AI and quantum, it said.

The National Security Agency, meanwhile, said last year that the adversarial use of a quantum computer "could be devastating" to the U.S. and its national security systems. The NSA said it could take 20 years or more to roll out new post-quantum cryptography that would resist such code-cracking.

Tim Gorman, a spokesperson at the Pentagon, said the Department of Defense was taking post-quantum cryptography seriously and coordinating with Congress and across government agencies. He added there was "a significant effort" underway.

A January presidential memo further charged agencies with establishing a timeline for transitioning to quantum resistant cryptography.

Among the efforts underway to bolster defenses against quantum-based attacks, the National Institute of Standards and Technology, known as NIST, is seeking to select new quantum-proof encryption algorithms from seven finalists shortly as part of a global competition.

Jonathan Katz, computer science professor at the University of Maryland who submitted a "post-quantum algorithm" to the NIST competition, said the stakes in the NIST competition were high: an algorithm that later proved vulnerable would be "a disaster." Once a choice is made, the U.S. Department of Defense faces a huge task in upgrading all its software and hardware that features algorithms, he said, adding that included not only servers and laptops but also parts of submarines, tanks, helicopters and weapons systems.

Experts generally assess large-scale quantum computing may be 15 to 20 years away if it is ever even developed, but the Pentagon's Defense Advanced Research Agency, or DARPA, launched a project this February to explore the possibility that a breakthrough could be developed "much sooner."

Joe Altepeter, who manages DARPA's new quantum project, told Bloomberg there was a lot of "hype" over industry claims about the arrival of quantum computing, with several "hardware miracles" still standing in the way. Some of the smartest physicists he knew were divided over whether useful quantum computing would ever exist, Altepeter said, adding that the risk was such that it was important to develop resilient systems.

Spirk said the Pentagon needs to start preparing "now," arguing military applications for quantum computing could be only five to 10 years away. The Pentagon needed to work at the same speed as commercial vendors that are already exploring ways to use quantum-resistant cryptography to safeguard financial and health-care sectors, he said.

If the U.S. doesn't make the right investments in defensive quantum today, "then our concepts around encryption, data security and cybersecurity will be obsolete because the computers will break our cryptography," Spirk said. He added that all the encrypted data that adversaries have already gathered would also risk exposure.

Spirk, a former U.S. Marine, became the first chief data officer at Special Operations Command before he joined the Pentagon. He said he left the chief data officer post after a two-year commitment to rejoin his family in Florida. The departure follows last year's resignation of the U.S. Air Force's first chief software officer, Nicolas Chaillan, who previously told the Financial Times that the U.S. was losing the AI race to China.

Original post:

Pentagon's outgoing data boss warns of quantum cyber threats - Stars and Stripes

Setting limits can be liberating

In the discussions about work-life, there is plenty of focus on saying no. Setting boundaries, imposing limits and restricting activities seem like logical responses to the too-fast, too-much, too-demanding reality that many people face.

But there are some important new ways to look at why you would say no andon the contrarywhy you should say an enthusiastic yes to other pursuits. In fact, your choices about where to invest and where to divest are important to your career.

An important starting point is to consider when you will want to engage, get involved and participate. Rather than having a world view which starts by shutting down opportunities, it will be more powerful to focus on all you have to contribute and the places you want to plug into your community.

People want to work with colleagues who are enthusiastic and embracing of possibility. In addition, you will feel more rewarded when youre deeply involved in projects you care about. All of these are reasons to lean in with energy and passion.

But saying no is critical to your sanity as well. You want to be a person who sets smart limits, but isnt limited. You want to be selective about where you contribute, but also enthusiastically engaged. You want to be respected as someone who manages your energy, but is also energetic. Of course no one will balance these perfectly, but keeping them in mind can help your career blossom.

Surprisingly, saying, no is a path to finding these balances and to saying, yes enthusiastically. Heres how to think about setting limits in new ways.

For work-life satisfaction and fulfillment, people must come to terms with their limited hours and years. The wheel in which you keep running is fueled by the mistaken belief that if you just go a little faster and work a little harder you can do it all. It is the misguided perception that if you just manage your time a bit more efficiently you can squeeze it all in.

But this is crazy-making. You cannot do it all, and the paradox of efficient time management is that while you may be leveraging every last second of your day, or optimizing your calendar, youll be reducing your personal fulfillment.

The alternative is to embrace your limits. Even though there will always be tremendous demands on your time, you cannot do it all. And this is a good thing. When you realize your time is limited, you can be more selective about how you spend it. Decide on whats most important to you and lean into those activities. Say yes when something is aligned with your passion or your goals. Say no when its not.

People who succeed in their careers tend to be those who have strong brands. They are known for a certain type of expertise or a well of talent in a particular area. When you are clear about who you are and what you do well, and the areas in which youre developing, you will be building your career because people will know you through your choices and actions. Youll say yes to what youre good at and the direction of your growth. And youll say no to everything else. Youll be legible and easy to readsomeone others can understand and count on.

Rewarding careers are the result of current success, but also the result of staying on a journey toward continued development. Choose when to say no and when to say yes by keeping the bigger picture in mind.

Choose to engage when you know an activity is a step on the path to your goals or aligned with your purpose. Give yourself permission to back away when a request lacks alignment with where youre headed. For example, you agree to manage the budget for your association, because you know you can add value and because the work will help you develop your analytical skills. On the other hand, you turn down the opportunity to procure supplies for the neighborhood picnic because while you love your cul-de-sac friends, its not aligned with other priorities, and you know you cant do it all. You will grow your career by developing your skills and growing your talents, so when choosing to engageor notuse this as one a criterion.

Choosing well helps you truly invest.

Growing your career hinges on your relationships and the quality and depth of the rapport you build with others. Making good choices about where you engage is a fundamental part of the relationships through which your career can progress.

Consider the people with whom you want to build connections, and engage in the activities which foster these. Say yes to the opportunity at work in which you will collaborate with people in marketing, because you want to build your marketing acumen and because you want to make a contribution. Choose not to invest your energy when you have less to contribute to a community, or when you have less to learn from them. You value all your colleagues and have a thirst to learn from everyone, of course, but remind yourself that you cant build meaningful relationships with unlimited numbers of people.

Also ensure youre able to spend the time which is necessary to nurture great relationships. Research has demonstrated true friendships are built over about 60 hours. While you may not have to invest quite this much in a strong relationship with a work colleague, your choices for where you engage should allow for real investment of time. If you choose to engage in too much, youll always be flitting from one activity to the next and youll miss the opportunity for the conversation before the call or the reflection time after the meeting.

Emerging from the pandemic, there is a renewed emphasis on the quality of relationships, and on building depth, not just on growing your number of LinkedIn connections. People will help you in your career when they feel they know and understand you, and when they have felt valued by you. And these are only possible when youve been able to invest time and energy in the relationship. Say no to doing it all, so you can truly engage with people and build depth, not just breadth, in your network.

Developing your career requires you to be committed and energetic. People want to work with those who are enthusiastic and passionate about their pursuits. When you make conscious choices about taking something on, your investment will contribute to your credibility.

If you say yes too frequently, you wont really be committing to anything because your focus will be scattered and you wont be able to do anything to your fullest potential. Instead, by choosing when to disengage, youll be able to fully immerse yourself in what you care most aboutand those with whom youre working will appreciate your full contribution on your chosen activities.

Knowing you cant do it all will help you determine what you can and should do. Your own self awareness should power your choices to say no and they will help you flourish in your career.

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Know When To Say No: 3 Ways Saying No Can Build Your Career - Forbes