Posts made by Amazoniac

Amazoniac

On retinaldehyde metabolism

Molecular weights:

Glucose: 180 g per 1 mol
Glyceral(dehyde): 90 g per 1 mol
Retinol: 290 g per 1 mol (290 μg per 1 μmol)

A person may consume 1 mol of glucose (180 g) in a day and complain of issues with retinol while ingesting 1 μmol (290 μg) of it.

Glucose is split at some stage of its oxidation:

1 glucose → 2 glyceral(dehyde 3-phosphate)

In the situation above, the body would have to process 2 mol of aldehydes in a day from glucose alone.

Glyceral dehydrogenase and retinal dehydrogenase depend on NAD+ for oxidation.

It's possible that the ratio of NAD+ to NADH affects the metabolism of poisons in disfavor of oxidation, but the body has enough NAD+ to metabolize..

2,000,000 μmol of glyceral

Yet not to metabolize..

1 μmol of retinal when needed?

Retinal dehydrogenase would have to be way down the priority rank to get its meager share of NAD+ only after other needs are met. It could have evolved strategically this way to function as a 'nutrostat' and become more active to produce (the regulatory) retinoic acids depending on nourishment state.

However, vitamin A is also involved in the induction of genes related to differentiation. It has to be functional in a phase that's marked by anabolism and likely higher levels of NAD(P)H. If its oxidation was heavily dependent on the oxidized:reduced ratio of NAD, it could be a problem.

If retinoic acids are short-lived and the poison A crowd assume to be stuck with retinal because of inability to process it due to NAD+ insufficiency, how would they explain the elevated level in inflammed tissues, found in the conditions that afflict them?

Interestingly, it's by impairing the conversion of retinal to retinoic acids that some researchers could get the immunosuppressive effect that the scaremongers seek to recreate with deprivation:

ALDH1A Inhibition Suppresses Colitis and Alters α4β7 Integrin Expression on Activated T Cells in Mdr1a−/− Mice

Retinal dehydrogenase can become saturated, but when its capacity is exceeded or when it's inactive, the body can rely on the generic aldehyde oxidase to metabolize retinal and prevent its accumulation, and it doesn't depend on NAD+. Therefore, NAD+ is important, but not essential for the conversion of retinal to retinoic acid.

Pharmacological inhibition of ALDH1A in mice decreases all-trans retinoic acid concentrations in a tissue specific manner

"Cytosolic enzymes appear to be responsible for the overwhelming majority of atRA formation from at-retinal [28–31]. The ALDH enzymes along with AOX and XOX are cytosolic soluble enzymes that form atRA from at-retinal [32, 33]. While ALDH enzymes are NAD(P)+ dependent, AOX and XOX do not require a pyridine nucleotide cofactor for their activity [17, 33], and the necessity of NAD(P)+ for the majority of atRA formation in the mouse liver was used to show that ALDH enzymes contribute to the majority of atRA formation [30]. An AOX inhibitor, pyridoxal, only inhibited approximately 5% of the atRA formation. Similarly, 80% of the atRA formation in human liver cytosol was NAD+ dependent and the overall contribution of AOX was approximately 10% [31]. Whether microsomal NADPH dependent enzymes such as cytochrome P450s contribute to in vivo atRA synthesis is poorly studied. This is mainly because the Km values for at-retinal with cytochrome P450 are nearly 70-fold higher than endogenous concentrations of at-retinal suggesting they most likely do not have a significant role in atRA biosynthesis [16, 24]. In contrast, the Km values for at-retinal with ALDH1A1-1A3 are low nanomolar [34]. The ALDH1A enzymes also catalyze the formation of atRA from at-retinal bound to cellular retinol binding protein 1 (CRBP1) which is expressed ubiquitously across the body [35–37]."

Aldehyde Oxidase Contributes to All-Trans-Retinoic Acid Biosynthesis in Human Liver

"This study unequivocally shows that AOX forms atRA from retinaldehyde and that in human liver ALDH1A1 and AOX contribute to atRA biosynthesis. Recombinant AOX exhibited about 6-fold higher Km and 1.6-fold higher CLint than ALDH1A1 for atRA formation, showing that ALDH1A1 is a high-affinity, low-capacity atRA synthesizing enzyme, whereas AOX is a low-affinity, high-capacity enzyme. According to the human protein atlas data base, AOX protein is expressed in the kidney, bladder, pancreas, endocrine tissues, and reproductive tissues. This suggests that AOX may contribute to atRA synthesis in the testis, among other tissues. However, studies in healthy mice have shown that AOX activity is not quantitatively significant in the mouse testis (Arnold et al., 2015a) but rather that AOX plays a role in testicular atRA synthesis in mice when ALDH1A activity is impaired (Beedle et al., 2019). This is in agreement with the findings in the human testis showing that ALDH1A1 and ALDH1A2 are responsible for >95% of atRA formation in this tissue (Arnold et al., 2015). In contrast to the testis, AOX appears to contribute about 50% of atRA biosynthesis in mouse liver (Arnold et al., 2015a). This suggests a tissue-specific role of AOX that likely depends on the expression levels of AOX and the complement of ALDH1A enzymes expressed in the different tissues. The results of this study support a similar role of AOX in atRA biosynthesis in human liver as in the mouse liver, with AOX contributing between 33% and 70% of atRA biosynthesis depending on retinaldehyde concentration."

"The reported total concentrations of retinaldehyde in the liver and adipose are 100–200 pmol/g (~150 nM) (Ziouzenkova et al., 2007; Kane et al., 2008). These concentrations are much below the Km toward AOX (1.5 mM) but similar to the Km toward ALDH1A1 (0.25 mM). Because of the difference in Km values for AOX and ALDH1A1, the predicted and observed fm values of retinaldehyde by AOX show a clear dependence on retinaldehyde concentration within the evaluated range of 20–2,000 nM retinaldehyde. As the concentration of retinaldehyde increases, fm,AOX increases due to the saturation of the high-affinity ALDH1A1."

"This also suggests that in the case of ALDH1A dysfunction (inhibition, downregulation, or genetic defect) or excess retinoid/vitamin A (saturation of ALDH1A1), AOX plays an important role in regulating hepatic vitamin A homeostasis. The relative contribution of AOX (30%–70%) to atRA biosynthesis is supported by the scaling of atRA formation from recombinant enzymes, the quantification of AOX and ALDH1A1 protein expression in the liver, the cofactor dependence of atRA formation, and the inhibition of atRA formation by selective ALDH1A and AOX inhibitors WIN18,446 and hydralazine. These tools developed in the current study allow differentiation of ALDH1A and AOX contributions to atRA formation and can be further applied to other critical retinoid responsive tissues, such as the skin, hematopoietic cells, and adipose tissue, to determine the enzymes contributing to atRA biosynthesis. Such information will be useful in predicting how inhibition or genetic variability in AOX and ALDH1A enzymes will affect retinoid homeostasis and signaling."

Two different enzymes are primarily responsible for retinoic acid synthesis in rabbit liver cytosol

Values aren't reliable.

The preferred route doesn't depend on molybdenum. The alternative route result in formation of hydrogen peroxide, but the amounts shouldn't be monstrous, although it could occur at susceptible sites.

Choline isn't used up in esterifying retinol

If retinal couldn't be oxidized by any means, it could be converted to retinol for temporary storage.

The enzymes involved in esterification are acyltransferases:

Lecithin:retinol acyltransferase (also high-affinity, low-capacity)
Acyl-CoA:retinol acyltransferase

Genetic Variations Associated with Vitamin A Status and Vitamin A Bioavailability

"LRAT uses fatty acids from intracellular membrane phospholipids, while DGAT1 and the other ARAT(s) use newly-absorbed fatty acids[.]"

Phosphatidylcholine functions as a fatty acid donor and retinol would be the acceptor (to yield retinyl palmitate, stearate, oleate..). What's being consumed is the fatty acid of a structural lipid, not its choline. After the reaction, the lost fatty acid of phosphatidylcholine can be replenished and the molecule will be renewed.

If a lack of choline is severe enough to compromise cell structure, the person has greater concerns than the esterification of retinol. And the body can switch to the alternative pathway.

Free retinol appears in circulation after meals with higher vitamin A doses, showing that the esterification process can be overwhelmed, but it can be prevented by avoiding equine amounts at once and by consuming extra fat with the meal to cooperate with the backup acyltransferase.

Amazoniac

Presentations

The principles in this section are not limited to presentations, they apply to different formats.

Slide Logic: The Emergence of Presentation Software and the Prehistory of PowerPoint | Computer History Museum

No fancy equipment is needed:

Narrated slides are quite informative. When done right, they don't remind people that they were prepared in presentation programs.

Abrupt transitions are unnatural and are one of the factors that remind the person of the dreaded slides. Smooth transitions of 1.5 second or so between changes help to address it: these are brief, but not rushed.

However, the effect is more useful than it seems. With smooth transitions, elements can be resized and rearranged, leaving it clear for watchers what's going on in the composition. Maybe it's an image that needs to magnified or pushed aside to make room for something else.

It's easier to guide the viewer through gradual changes and animation. One of the most illustrative channels on YouTube uses something similar most of the time:

The essence of calculus | 3Brown1Blue

Slidedocs | Nancy Duarte

Video or perish? An analysis of video abstract author guidelines

Indicators of progress are tricky. Your audience is likely to be in front of their personal device with access to this kind of information somewhere on the screen; it's easy for them track if they want to, there's no need to put it in evidence. The tendency is to make it subtle:

History of YouTube | Wikipedia

It's difficult for these indicators to be used properly, where they motivate people to stick for longer waiting for what's next. Oftentimes it's another distraction to compete for attention, and the mere anticipation conflicts with processing the current information. If your audience is calculating the time to finish, something is probably wrong, as they already grasped the length before starting.

Something similar applies to sections. Moderate sectioning offers an overview, but in excess it tends to promote skipping.

Cameras

For the submissive appeal, it's common to spot women who want to provocate in livestreams placing cameras above their heads; not leveled, let alone below.

Graphics

To avoid random color coices:

Free and Open-Source Diagramming Tools | Linux Ways
↳ Draw is a great app. It's available here as well.

Creating Animated GIF Images | LibreOffice (applies to PowerPoint and Keynote)

To not dump images and conflict backgrounds:

BioRender

Pricing

Advanced search

Some of them work in Google Scholar (very helpful) and elsewhere:

DuckDuckGo Search Syntax

List of academic databases and search engines | Wikipedia
↳ CORE

Privacy

Disroot
Brave Talk (to use with your ~~clients~~ victims)

Web Analytics

Research | Brave
↳ SpeedReader: Reader Mode Made Fast and Private

Ergonomics

"The industry standard height of office desks is 29 inches or 73 cm high for desks with a sitting design.

Regardless whether the desk is a standing or sitting desk, most office furniture is designed for people who are 6’ tall. Odd, since that’s not even the average height in the US!"

Ergonomics of Sitting with your Feet | Cathy White Ergonomics

Timed work sessions

Pomatez

Many of you are autonomous workers that don't have supervisors, and some self-imposed structure can help to create habits. From the routines shared early on, note how disciplined and consistent those authors are.

Work sessions with prefixed intervals seem impractical when we consider that our state changes and a flexible approach that adapts to fluctuations appears more fitting. I used to think this way, but I've overlooked the discipline component and how our physiology also tends to adjust to challenges. The body becomes good at what it's conditioned to do and the capacity can increase when boundaries are pushed. So, focus sessions with specified intervals have their merit.

Some days we feel off, but a bit of persistence on the task sometimes is enough to overcome it. When it doesn't resolve, to maintain the habit, it's possible to switch to some activity that's less demanding, such as focusing on (re)organization and preparation rather than interpretation and composition.

There can be a pattern behind feeling off. Perhaps the meal before tasks that need concentration is too heavy or maybe your posture is defeatist. You can film yourself while working to spot some of these derailing factors.

Fatigue towards the end is expected, but the end can be reserved for lighter tasks, without changing the structured blocks.

When feasible, it's not a bad idea to experiment with splitting work sessions into two blocks: offline and online. If you can prepare the material in advance for the next day, it might allow you to have an early offline session with minimal external interference.

Exercise can have a residual effect for a period after it ends, helping to start sessions on the right foot and contribute to get into the state of 'flow'. If you feel stuck somewhere along the way, strategic pauses with movement can help, as we know it. However, a deity of mine is writing a book (a bible?) and we were discussing how authoring comes with conflicts and problems that need a solution. But until they're worked out, problems lead to tension, that can get physical, and it's better dissipated somehow to prevent its accumulation and spare concentration. It's not practical to get up on every discomfort, but it's possible to relieve the tension by doing some physical activity while working: walking at a low pace on a treadmill desk (speech-to-text if needed) or something simpler as bouncing your legs and chewing gum* when you notice signs of listlessness, until they pass.

When discipline and commitment are not an issue, you can try to hide every clock from your way, including the one on your desktop (that can be disabled), and set up an alarm to the end of your entire available window. The consequence is a temporary loss of sense of time, which contributes to immersive sessions, but without worries about missing future activities. Breaks in between are going to be intuitive.

*From our archive:

Miscellanea

How to start a journal and beat the academic publishing racket | Judith Johnson

My Noise (ambience)
Silent Mice | Logitech (there are more models)

Amazoniac

Below are links from private conversations that may help you authors tweak your workflows and deliver content with more clarity to your external audiences.

The topics are diverse and the approach is basic. The religion in them can be overlooked to extract what you find relevant. Conflicting information nearby can serve to offer different perspectives on a subject and you pick what suits you best. If you start to get too caught up in these aspects, reconsider if it's worth persisting because they're not essential to authoring valuable material.

However, details count in minimizing the effort that can go into making sense of the information, which applies to you in authoring and to your audience in processing the material. One of these details can be the difference between continuing and giving up earlier in demanding activities.

Your audience won't be in the same conditions as you. For example, you may prepare your material in a cozy environment when in a favorable mood, sipping tea, with two giant screens for the distribution of the content, but someone may arrive on this material under severe stress, exhausted, and reading it in captivity from a scratched phone.

Skim through the content and it's likely that you'll find at least something useful.

Text editors

In case you don't have a specific tool to organize your ideas already, any of the suggestions below should work well.

Procrastination With Note-Taking Apps | Sam Matla

Tools | Markdown Guide

↳ Obsidian (about)

Obsidian Plugins to Focus On Your Writing | Curtis Hale

↳ Zettlr

↳ IA Writer (shines on simplicity and has cool features: syntax highlighter and style checker)

Distraction-free Writing | Vegard Skjefstad

↳ Calmly Writer Online (customizable; to be used on-the-go)

(although it can get messy with large files)

Scrivener (some authors are fond of it and use it for everything, from journaling to writing articles and books)
Comparing Scrivener, Microsoft Word, and Obsidian | Danny Hatcher
I wrote an Entire Book with Free and Open-Source Software (LibreOffice) | Learn Linux

Worth the mention:

Other authors prefer complete freedom:

Open-source Free Infinite Canvas Apps and Libraries for Drawing, Note-taking, and Mind mapping Design | Medevel

Comparison of reference management software | Wikipedia

How to name files | Espirian

Properly Convert PDF to Excel | Leila Gharani
Layout-aware text extraction from full-text PDF of scientific articles
Okular (alternative to Acrobat Reader)

Writing (and grammar)

Yes, I'm not credible in this regard, but here we have some literates:

Writing in the Sciences | Kristin Sainani (highly recommended)
On Writing Well
The Elements of Style
Bird by Bird
Writing Tips | IA Writer
Do Writers Use an Outline When They Write?
Model Outlines Can Make Routine Writing Easier
A history of outlining: From papyrus to electrons
6 Story Outline Techniques for Writers | EM Welsh (for novelists, but relevant)
The Technical Writing Process: How to Produce steady high-quality content | Contentre

Transition Words | Tyndale University College

Refer to Kristin's course (above) to not overuse them.

To prevent any document that you publish from containing outdated contact information, it's possible to put your name next to a permanent link, directing to a profile that can be edited later with the recent information.

Derived from Mason Currey's Daily Rituals:

How Famous Writers Overcome Writer's Block and Reawaken Their Creativity

Maya Angelou’s “Just Write” Strategy

Writing is like any art or sport. Practice makes perfect. As we have seen, many authors argue that inspiration will only come if you push yourself to keep putting pen to paper each day.

The trick is not to overthink it. Write nonsense if you have to. But keep writing, no matter if you’re pleased with the final result or not.

Maya Angelou explained in the book Writers Dreaming:

“I suppose I do get ‘blocked’ sometimes but I don’t like to call it that. That seems to give it more power than I want it to have. What I try to do is write. I may write for two weeks ‘the cat sat on the mat, that is that, not a rat,’ you know. And it might be just the most boring and awful stuff. But I try. When I’m writing, I write. And then it’s as if the muse is convinced that I’m serious and says, ‘Okay. Okay. I’ll come.’”

Anthony Trollope’s “Timed Writing” Strategy

Similar to Maya Angelou’s “just write” strategy is Anthony Trollope’s “timed writing” strategy. One of the most successful novelists of the Victorian era, Trollope figured out a daily writing routine that had him churning out books with astounding speed. Over the course of 35 years, he wrote 47 novels as well as many short stories, nonfiction books, and plays.

Even more impressive, he did all this while working a demanding job as a post office inspector. His job required him to travel often and keep a busy schedule.

That meant that when he sat down to write, he needed to make sure he met his daily word count goal.

In his autobiography, he described the strategy that he used:

It had at this time become my custom, — and it still is my custom, though of late I have become a little lenient to myself, — to write with my watch before me, and to require from myself 250 words every quarter of an hour.

I have found that the 250 words have been forthcoming as regularly as my watch went…

This division of time allowed me to produce over ten pages of an ordinary novel volume a day, and if kept up through ten months, would have given as its results three novels of three volumes each in the year.

Trollope’s timed writing strategy was so amazingly effective because he committed to turning off all distractions during that time period. He forced himself to concentrate on only the ticking of the stopwatch and his words.

Neil Gaiman’s “Hibernation” Strategy

Sometimes strategies #1 and #2 don’t work. Maybe you’ve been working excitedly on your novel, but suddenly have absolutely no idea how the story should end. Or you’ve been writing a blog post, but can’t figure out how to write the conclusion.

Neil Gaiman offers this advice:

“Put it [your writing] aside for a few days, or longer, do other things, try not to think about it. Then sit down and read it (printouts are best I find, but that’s just me) as if you’ve never seen it before. Start at the beginning. Scribble on the manuscript as you go if you see anything you want to change. And often, when you get to the end you’ll be both enthusiastic about it and know what the next few words are. And you do it all one word at a time.”

John Steinbeck’s “Write to One Person” Strategy

If a bad case of perfectionism is causing your writer’s block, you might find this strategy helpful. In a 1962 letter to his friend Robert Wallsten, John Steinbeck advised,

Forget your generalized audience. In the first place, the nameless, faceless audience will scare you to death and in the second place, unlike the theater, it doesn’t exist. In writing, your audience is one single reader. I have found that sometimes it helps to pick out one person — a real person you know, or an imagined person and write to that one.

Indeed, it’s exhausting and intimidating (and often downright paralysing) to try to write a story or a blog post that will please everybody. There will inevitably be someone who doesn’t like the fantasy genre or the thriller genre or whatever type of story you are writing.

Instead, when you write to a single person, it gives you a sense of purpose and direction and will help you get your creative juices flowing. I also find it motivating since I am now eager to share my completed work with that person.

Ernest Hemingway’s “Hoarding” Strategy

If you’ve suffered from writer’s block but suddenly find all of that inspiration flooding into you again, don’t exhaust your resources! Always make sure to keep some inspiration in reserve.

Ernest Hemingway explained,

“The best way is always to stop when you are going good and when you know what will happen next. If you do that every day … you will never be stuck. Always stop while you are going good and don’t think about it or worry about it until you start to write the next day. That way your subconscious will work on it all the time. But if you think about it consciously or worry about it you will kill it and your brain will be tired before you start.”

Essentially, this strategy attempts to outmaneuver writer’s block. End your writing sessions mid-paragraph while you still have a clear idea of what you want to write next. That way you’ll maintain your momentum and avoid showing up to a blank page the next day with no idea how to move forward.

Toni Morrison’s “Writing Ritual” Strategy

Toni Morrison and many other writers emphasize the importance of writing rituals, a set sequence of actions that you perform before you sit down to write. It could be as simple as making a cup of tea or playing one of your favorite music CDs. A ritual helps you mentally prepare yourself to start writing.

Toni Morrison observed,

Recently I was talking to a writer who described something she did whenever she moved to her writing table. I don’t remember exactly what the gesture was — there is something on her desk that she touches before she hits the computer keyboard — but we began to talk about little rituals that one goes through before beginning to write.

I, at first, thought I didn’t have a ritual, but then I remembered that I always get up and make a cup of coffee while it is still dark — it must be dark — and then I drink the coffee and watch the light come. And she said, Well, that’s a ritual. And I realized that for me this ritual comprises my preparation to enter a space that I can only call nonsecular…

I tell my students one of the most important things they need to know is when they are their best, creatively. They need to ask themselves, What does the ideal room look like? Is there music? Is there silence? Is there chaos outside or is there serenity outside? What do I need in order to release my imagination?”

Hilary Mantel’s “Get Away From Your Desk” Strategy

If none of the previous strategies work, sometimes the best way to conquer writer’s block is to get away from your desk and clear your mind. Writer’s block often happens because your mind is overwhelmed by all of the thoughts about your daily life that are crowding your brain.

You need to create a space for your inspiration to fill.

Hilary Mantel offers this advice,

“If you get stuck, get away from your desk. Take a walk, take a bath, go to sleep, make a pie, draw, listen to music, meditate, exercise; whatever you do, don’t just stick there scowling at the problem. But don’t make telephone calls or go to a party; if you do, other people’s words will pour in where your lost words should be. Open a gap for them, create a space. Be patient.”

Pumped Up Kicks | Wikipedia

"Soon after Mark Foster formed Foster the People in 2009, he wrote and recorded "Pumped Up Kicks" in five hours while working as a commercial jingle writer at Mophonics in Los Angeles. On the day of recording, Foster debated between songwriting in the studio and going to the beach. He explained: "I really didn't have anything to do that day. I was standing there in the studio, and this thought came in my mind like, 'I'm going to write a song,'... and then I was like, 'I don't feel like writing. I don't want to write a song.' I was a block away from the beach, and it was a beautiful day. I kind of just wanted to just be lazy and go hang out at the beach or whatever. But I just forced myself to write a song... By that time the next day, the song was finished."

Reflecting on the lack of inspiration he felt when writing the song, Foster said, "I've heard a lot of other artists talk about this as well, like, 'I'm not inspired right now. I've got writer's block. I'm just not really feeling anything.' And I've felt that way, too, just not being inspired and wanting to wait for inspiration to come before I wrote. But I wasn't inspired when I wrote 'Pumped Up Kicks,' and that's what came out. So... it just solidified the notion that perspiration is more powerful than inspiration." Thinking that he was just recording a demo, he played all of the instruments on the song, and using the software Logic Pro, he arranged and edited the song himself. The demo is ultimately the version of the song that Foster released."

If you're curious to know the rigor that goes into writing a typical article of popular platforms, here it is:

Watch me write

Typography

Poor typographic choices result in early demotivation, make comprehension more difficult, and undermine reading endurance.

Short-form writers can get away with the neglect (when conscious, it had a purpose), but long-form writers should take them into consideration because of the cumulative effect. I have in mind those of you who write ~~articles~~ treatises (the 'reader mode' of browsers is unreliable) and ebooks.

As a readers or writers, this section deserves extra care to not lead you to pay more attention to appearances than the message conveyed in texts.

Summary of guidelines | Practical Typography (ignore what's pedantic)

How to See What Font a Website Is Using | Elegant Themes (method #1)
Tools | Identifont

Type Scale (for reasoned hierarchy)

Source Serif gets optical sizes | Adobe (excellent font family)
IA Writer fonts

Users of Brave browser might remember how longer the lines of their Reader Mode were. They changed the maximum width of the text field ("width") from 800 to 590 pixels.

Size Matters: Balancing Line Length And Font Size In Responsive Web Design

"65 characters (2.5 times the Roman alphabet) is often referred to as the perfect measure [for line length]. Derived from this number is the ideal range that all designers should strive for: 45 to 75 characters (including spaces and punctuation) per line for print. Many web designers (including me) apply that rule directly to the web. I’ve found, however, that we can reliably broaden the range to 45 to 85 characters (including spaces and punctuation) per line for web pages."

Readability: The Optimal Line Length | Baymard Inst.

"To ensure line lengths don’t exceed 80 characters, the CSS max-width property can be set using font-relative lengths of around 70ch or 34em (note that this value will need to be adjusted slightly up or down depending on the font used)."

Choose a comfortable measure | The Elements of Typographic Style Applied to the Web

"On average one character takes up 0.5 em[.]"

CSS Unit Guide: CSS em, rem, vh, vw, and more, Explained ('em' and 'ch' sections)

The 'ch' unit is erratic, 'em' is more consistent between fonts.

"In 2008, the Web Accessibility Initiative, a group that works to produce guidelines for web developers, introduced a widely accepted ratio for creating easy-to-read webpages.

To translate contrast, it uses a numerical model. If the text and background of a website are the same color, the ratio is 1:1. For black text on white background (or vice versa), the ratio is 21:1. The Initiative set 4.5:1 as the minimum ratio for clear type, while recommending a contrast of at least 7:1, to aid readers with impaired vision. The recommendation was designed as a suggested minimum contrast to designate the boundaries of legibility. Still, designers tend to treat it as as a starting point."

It's better to seek what's optimal rather than sufficient. You'll probably arrive on a ratio close to 15:1 through experimentation, but it depends on the font in question and its size.

If you own a website, knowing the basics of HTML and CSS can make it easier to customize it outside of theme options.

Also worth checking:

If you must justify text, details for hyphenation to avoid weird gaps can be found here.

Emotion & Design: Attractive Things Work Better

Amazoniac

If you think of it..

Polyphenols: toxins (Smith, 2023)
Carotenoids: toxins (Genereux & Smith, 2018)
Refined sugar: toxic (Smith, 2016)
Pectin: antidote (purges bile and purifies our soul) (Smith, 2023)

But Ray isn't fond of the latter:

"I discard most of the white material, my marmalade doesn’t gel. The high temperatures of pressure cookers cause tastes that I don’t like." (from an email exchange)

This leaves us with a destructive bomb that's better discarded too. #toxicbileapocalypse

Excess fructose could be problematic if not absorbed:

High Intake of Sugar and the Balance between Pro- and Anti-Inflammatory Gut Bacteria

"The observed microbial changes induced by high dietary sugar, i.e., reduced diversity, increased abundance of Proteobacteria and decreased abundance of Bacteroidetes [6], share common features with microbiota dysbiosis associated with metabolic disorders, inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) and other human disorders [1,3,7]. Excess monosaccharides that are not absorbed in the small intestine can favor organisms that can rapidly utilize simple carbohydrates, such as Proteobacteria, at the expense of other commensals, which are specialized in degrading complex carbohydrates and generally have slower growth rates [8]."

"Bacteroidetes and Firmicutes are the two most abundant bacterial phyla in healthy adult microbiota. Bacteroides, a predominant genus within Bacteroidetes, is well adapted to the competitive gut environment and utilization of complex plant- and host-derived polysaccharides [13,14]."

But as sucrose, it shouldn't be an issue. And the pectin would help to minimize the dependence on host's mucosal carbohydrates.

Small intestinal microbial dysbiosis underlies symptoms associated with functional gastrointestinal disorders

"Our pilot dietary intervention study showed that switching to a low fiber, high simple-sugar diet for a short period can trigger GI and systemic symptoms that improve upon resuming baseline diet. The correlation of decreased microbial diversity with increased duodenal permeability and appearance of symptoms suggests that this effect may be driven at least in part via gut microbiota. The deleterious effect of a low-fiber diet on microbial diversity and host function has been well described previously[31] and our findings support that notion. We found acetate and butyrate to be reduced with the low fiber, high simple-sugar diet. These microbial fermentation products are a key energy source for intestinal epithelial cells and play an important role in epithelial barrier integrity[32] and enteropathogen exclusion[33]."

The more unique a carbohydrate is, the more predictable it tends to be in selecting microbes that thrive on it, serving to replace undesirable ones. But carbohydrates with a generic structure can be erratic, and the reaction depends on the predisposition of the existing community.

The Bitter Pith Myth | American's Test Kitchen

"Despite its reputation, the cottony white layer of pith on citrus fruits (grapefruit excepted) isn’t bitter. In fact, it’s completely flavorless. (It’s true—slice off a piece and try it for yourself.) And the zest tastes only subtly bitter.

So why does your homemade lemonade sometimes turn out bitter?

It happens when the pith and zest are abraded together, as they often are when preparing citrus-based drinks: Acid and enzymes convert the peel's flavorless compounds into new ones with pronounced bitterness.

If you aren’t going to be rubbing the two substances together, don’t worry about leaving some pith on your zest. But if you are, as in our Lemonade Concentrate recipe, we recommend using a vegetable peeler to harvest the zest with minimal pith. This zest will impart just enough bitter flavor to add complexity, but not enough to obscure the drink’s sweet-sour balance.

Amazoniac

Psyllium Fiber Supplements Review | ConsumerLab

"ConsumerLab.com's tests of the quality of psyllium products revealed that 5 out of 8 were contaminated with excessive amounts of lead — as much as 11 micrograms per 5 grams of psyllium husk (22 times the daily amount permitted in California without a warning label). Lead was found in all products, but those with the least contained only 0.4 to 0.6 mcg per 5 gram serving. One product had an unusually high amount of filth in the form of insect parts."

Amazoniac

@thyroidchor27

The greatest effects came from variations that included blue light (on the right side) and it would be minimal with heat lamps.

Ultraviolent light also affects nitric oxide levels. Based on what's shown above, the typical durations recommended for sunlight exposure would fall within the length needed to level out the effect from red light.

Red or infrared before blue light didn't lessen the impact of blue in isolation, but afterwards they did. It's only helpful that exposing the skin to longer wavelengths before ultraviolence can minimize damage:

Infrared and Skin: Friend or Foe

Amazoniac

Impressive skills and hammer-like fingers:

Amazoniac

Wavelength- and irradiance-dependent changes in intracellular nitric oxide level

"Due to NO being an extremely potent signaling molecule,[50–52] we have conducted an in-depth in vitro analysis of NO levels and potential downstream effects following exposure to one or more wavelengths of light."

Exposures were:

Individual: single wavelength
Serial: wavelength 1 (top of bar) followed by wavelength 2 (bottom of bar)
Simultaneous (combo): wavelength 1 with wavelength 2

"[..]various wavelengths of light potentially modulate NO levels by different mechanisms, and likely different chromophores. Specifically, although red and green individually resulted in the same overall percent increase in NO levels, one was not necessarily capable of substituting for the other. This implies that a full dose of red or green is required for a maximum effect, and that they operate by different mechanisms to drive NO release or production. It is possible that some of these results, particularly the apparent interference of 635 and 532 nm, could be due to different biphasic dose–responses relative to irradiance. If this were the case, two simultaneous exposures at 400±8.9 μW/cm2 would not necessarily be expected to add up to one exposure of 800±17.9 μW/cm2. However, given this effect was also observed in the split green–red and red–green exposures, and 1.44±0.03 J/cm2 was observed to result in half of the NO release of 2.88±0.06 J/cm2 with individual wavelength [~~Fig. 2(a)~~], the lack of interchangeability remains surprising."

"Even more striking, NIR and blue seem to complement each other when exposed simultaneously, and NIR exposure seems to potentiate the effect of a subsequent blue exposure. Thus, it would seem that to enhance a blue exposure, an NIR wavelength must be present at the beginning of the overall exposure duration. In contrast, blue does not have the same effect on a subsequent NIR exposure, which provides further evidence that different wavelengths are functioning by different mechanisms and chromophores."

"An additional byproduct of this analysis is that we have demonstrated that endogenous NO levels can be modulated in finely tuned 2% to 5% increments between 10% and 50% above baseline, utilizing exposures of different combinations of wavelengths [Fig. 4(e)]. Statistically, all of these wavelength combinations produce significantly higher levels of DAF-FM fluoresce relative to their unexposed controls. This will potentially enable novel NO-dose–response experiments to be conducted, notably without the use of NO-donor molecules, which are often light sensitive and thus particularly unsuited for probing mechanisms of PBM.[70]"

Those were 'immediate postexposure percent changes'. Over time it went as follows:

"Our focus here was on the 635-nm red exposures because, even though 447-nm light induced more NO in our cells, the red light is more representative of traditional PBM exposures."

"[..]with all examined irradiances, 50% or more of the total increase occurs between 15 and 30 min of the exposure, and there is no significant change in NO levels before this point. This suggests that there may be an irradiance-independent delay before NO increases are observed."

Amazoniac

Apples concentrate these compounds in the peel, but they have enough flesh mass to make up for it.

Apples and Apple By-Products: Antioxidant Properties and Food Applications

"About 13% of the weight of the fresh apple fruit [about 150 g] is constituted by the peels, which are obtained from fresh-cut fruit and apple pie and sauce manufacturing [16]."

Mass:

Peel 1:7 flesh

Polyphenols (fatty):

Peel 2:1 flesh

Polyphenols (aqueous):

Peel 4:1 flesh

But the profile of polyphenols in the peel must be more germicidal.

If you're after a few compounds in specific and enjoy apples prepared in different ways, cooking might degrade pesticides to a greater extent than the toxins that you want to keep. As an example, your bearic acid has high thermal stability, which can be compared to that of prevalent pesticides in apples (although ingredients may become unstable in the presence of others). Cooking also solubilizes their pectin.

Pesticide Use and Degradation Strategies: Food Safety, Challenges and Perspectives
Current strategies for the reduction of pesticide residues in food products

Amazoniac

Profiling of faecal water and urine metabolites among Papua New Guinea highlanders believed to be adapted to low protein intake

Role of urea in intestinal barrier dysfunction and disruption of epithelial tight junction in CKD

"The rise in urea concentration in the intra-cellular and extra-cellular fluid compartments results in its heavy influx into the gastro-intestinal tract (7). Within the intestinal lumen urea is hydrolyzed by microbial urease forming large quantities of ammonia [CO(NH2)2 +H2O → CO2+2NH3] which is readily converted to ammonium hydroxide [NH3 + H2O → NH4OH] (8,9). Ammonium hydroxide, in turn, leads to a modest rise in the luminal fluid's pH, causes mucosal irritation and promotes enterocolitis [10,11]. Based on these observations we hypothesize that ammonium hydroxide generated from hydrolysis of urea by microbial urease in the intestinal lumen of uremic patients may contribute to the epithelial barrier dysfunction and erosion of the TJ protein constituents."

"The present study revealed that at clinically-relevant concentrations, urea significantly lowered the TER [Transepithelial Electrical Resistance] in the tight junction-forming polarized human colonic epithelial cell monolayer in vitro. The effect of urea was dramatically amplified by urease which was used to simulate the effect of urease-possessing microbial species in the colon. These observations illustrate the potential contribution of influx of urea into the intestinal tract in the pathogenesis of the uremia-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction in the uremic patients. The observed fall in the TER was accompanied by and was largely due to the urea-concentration-dependent depletion of occludin, claudin 1, and ZO1 which are the key protein constituents of the epithelial TJ. The erosive effect of urea on the measured TJ proteins was greatly intensified in the presence of urease leading to near complete depletion of ZO1 and occludin and severe reduction in claudin 1 abundance."

"As noted above, accumulation of urea in the intra- and extra-cellular fluid compartments in patients and animals with advanced CKD results in its heavy influx into the gastro-intestinal tract via passive diffusion and incorporation in the glandular secretions (7–9). As noted earlier within the intestinal lumen urea is hydrolyzed spontaneously and by microbial urease forming large quantities of ammonia [8,9]. Ammonia is, in turn, converted to ammonium hydroxide which is a caustic base capable of causing cytotoxicity and tissue damage. Recent studies conducted by our group have shown marked changes in the composition of microbial flora in humans and animals with advanced CKD [21]. Five of the 10 microbial families which were most abundant in the CKD patients possessed functional urease [2,21]. Thus massive influx of urea into the gastrointestinal tract together with the dominance of urease-possessing bacteria in the uremic individuals, work in concert to promote formation of ammonia and ammonium hydroxide in the intestinal tract [8,9]. This can account for the dramatic impairment of the barrier function and destruction of TJ apparatus observed in the present in vitro experiments designed to simulate the effect of uremia in vivo."

Amazoniac

And yet, people try to find the bright side of it through associations:

Friend and foe: factors influencing the movement of the bacterium Helicobacter pylori along the parasitism–mutualism continuum

"Despite well-documented carcinogenic properties, H. pylori infection is pervasive both through time and across space. It is therefore possible that the bacterium confers a benefit to its host under some circumstances and is therefore maintained in the human population. Some evidence for such a benefit exists (Table 1); it has been suggested that H. pylori confers protection against tuberculosis (TB) through induction of antagonistic interferons for the causative agent, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, and that it plays a role in reducing the risk of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC), gastroesophageal reflux disease, stroke, lung cancer, asthma, allergies, and irritable bowel disease (Blaser 1999; Ahmed et al. 2009; Luther et al. 2010; Perry et al. 2010; Plottel and Blaser 2011; Walker and Talley 2014). Antibacterial activity against other virulent bacterial species has also been documented, showing a preventative effect against diarrheal diseases and an augmented enteral and systemic response to Vibrio cholerae, the causative agent of the disease cholera (Blaser and Berg 2001; Cohen et al. 2012; but see Clemens et al. 1995; Shahinian et al. 2000)."

Amazoniac

@Regina said in New "Mission" of RPF:

@Amazoniac Yes. It would be a defilement. And would track a pattern of behaviour.

Hi, Regina!

The posts so far had some of the mannerisms, with the exception of the first. But it was a period when our lion was in panic and sleep-deprived as this space was created. The same discount goes for the avatar image, that's a careless cropping of a screenshot.

Occasional appearances could serve to throw people into a loop and prevent them from detaching from the forum. It's similar to breaking up with a partner and the person making sure to attend to the same activities on purpose, attempting to fuel resentment and leave you stuck in your thoughts. It's why I don't discard the possibility of our feline being around.

@risingfire said in New "Mission" of RPF:

@Amazoniac good to see you here. I think you would have to ask Georgi directly as I can't speak for the man. He is a man that likes to experiment. He may be channeling WIlliam Blake in "the true method of knowledge is experiment."

@risingfire, it's good to re-encounter the community too. In this thread alone, there's you, yerrag, Regina, Razvan, ilovethesea, @Luke, @Truth, and 'mister' @ThinPicking.

I asked because he could've explained the experiment on Twitter or elsewhere.

@ilovethesea said in New "Mission" of RPF:

Well I’ve just been banned. I asked why not rename the forum or start a new forum... said I found it insulting to Ray to claim to be “improving” on his life’s work when forum members have only a fraction of his experience. Then I said something about being unsure about the new religious overtones and how I wondered if there was a financial incentive for keeping things going under his name.

No answer, just a ban.

I was very respectful but he won’t even tolerate anyone who disagrees now? I’ve never even had a warning at that place and I’ve been there for 10 years.

Hi. I remember you. If you felt defenseless and dispirited, that's what these gratuitous bans are for. They're meant to passivize and screen for docile members who are willing to obey. Without nullifying yourself or complying with abuses, you're happily discarded as problematic and unfit to be herded. It might be the first time that Kvothe was able to express his opinion without being pulverized.

But to each of you who have been banned, it's remarkable that you're here among us to recount the experience. You can now brag to your friends and Animal Planet that you're survivors of a lion attack. You can even build a new career on this, traveling the world as a motivational speakers.

Amazoniac

@TexugoDoMel, when we think that they've dodged toxins and escaped misfortune because their sweet potatoes are purple and low in macabrotenoids, the same detective reappears to add that polyphenols are toxins too. I'm not making this up.

Amazoniac

Effect of Cooking on the Soluble and Insoluble Oxalate Content of Some New Zealand Foods

The difference after cooking is due to losses in preparation, and soluble oxalates are easier to leach. If the person doesn't mind wasting nutrients, boiling the food and discarding the water should reduce the exposure.

But what stands out is how insoluble oxalate predominates in foods, which is harder to absorb and prone to excretion. Taking extra calcium with the meal helps to form the insoluble calcium oxalate.

Calcium oxalate is (molar mass basis):

1/3 calcium
2/3 oxalate

As the stomach is emptied and the meal alkalinized, oxalic acid becomes charged and can complex with calcium. From the above, to complex with oxalate (and ignoring other interactions), calcium must be present in a solution in at least half of the soluble oxalate content.

Soluble oxalate (mg) × 1/2 → Calcium (mg)

Even though the absorption of calcium is on average 2/3 of what's ingested, its absorption occurs after pancreatic alkalinization. At that stage of digestion, most of the calcium available in the meal can serve to complex with oxalate and not much is needed. Some calcium is also secreted into the duodenum along with sodium hydrocarbonate.

If a food has 100 mg of soluble oxalate, 50 mg of calcium may be enough to take care of it and can be considered to be wasted. The fraction of absorbable calcium will be the leftover of their reaction.

Amazoniac

Differences in the distribution of iodine and iodide in the Sprague-Dawley rat

"At 2 hr, substantially higher concentrations of radioactivity [125I throughout the experiment] are retained in the stomach wall and contents of fed animals administered I2 compared to I-. This suggests that I2 reacted with the components of the diet present such that it retarded I absorption. It is notable that uptake of I2 into the thyroid was affected to a greater degree than peripheral distribution as measured in the skin."

"Total urinary and fecal levels of radioactivity over the entire 72-hr period were basically equivalent indicating that overall absorption was similar in both I- and I2-treated animals. However, the retention of I in the thyroid was greater at 72 hr in both fed and fasted animals treated with I- compared to I2. This further supports the notion that a significant fraction of radioactivity in the blood of animals administered I2 is present in a form other than I- for an extended period."

"By-products are formed in the gastrointestinal tract after chlorine is administered orally (Mink et al., 1983). Many of the by-products result from the chlorination of endogenous compounds such as amino acids (Pereira et al., 1973) peptides (Ayotte and Gray, 1985) proteins (Scully and Bempong, 1983), lipids (Ghanbari et al., 1982) and purine and pyrimidine bases (Hoyano et al.. 1973). Although less reactive than chlorine, iodine is probably still capable of reacting with some of these same compounds in the gastrointestinal tract to form a variety of iodinated compounds. Iodine is known to react with histidine, tyrosyl, and sulthydryl moieties. Harrington et al. (1985) have documented that chlorine dioxide activates I- in the diet to a species (presumably I2) that is capable of iodinating organic material in the gastrointestinal tract."

"Based on results in this paper, we propose that distributional differences between I2 and I- are the result of reactions of I2 with endogenous organic chemicals in the gastrointestinal tract. These reactions would be expected to render I2 less available for uptake into the thyroid, which actively transports I-, in an energy-requiring process, from the blood into the thyroid gland (Ingbar, 1985). Further work is necessary to isolate and identify iodinated by-products produced in the gastrointestinal tract and to determine whether they present an unacceptable risk to humans consuming iodinated drinking water."

Amazoniac

Hi, Brad. Thanks for the offer.

I mentioned because the sepia changes were applied to the default theme and I think that it has room for improvement. In case you remain open to suggestions, here they are:

The browned paper is from oxidized cellulose (and you can even have something akin to age-pigment). Since this degradation of paper tends to be worse at the extremities, why not preserve the newspaper aspect inside and darken only the borders?

.skin-cerulean
{
	--bs-body-bg: #f7f7f7;
	box-shadow: 0 0 48px #c3bcb5 inset;

	or (as below)..
	box-shadow: 0 0 48px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2) inset;
}

.skin-cerulean .topic
{
	--bs-body-bg: #f7f7f7;
}

.skin-cerulean .navbar.bg-light
{
	background-color: #f7f7f7;
	box-shadow: 0 1px 4px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
}

blockquote
{
	box-shadow: 0 0 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
	margin-left: 8px;
	margin-right: 8px;
}

.img-fluid [?]
{
	box-shadow: 0 0 8px rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.2);
	margin-left: 8px;
	margin-right: 8px;
}

Current:

Suggested:

Amazoniac

@Kvothe

People have different reactions to threat. Some will try to befriend a competitor, blend into the circle and then attempt to destabilize it somehow.

Amazoniac

@brad

I would favor off-white tones (such as #f5f5f5) for background, if any (to leave it simple and avoid wrapping of images). Yellow tones make the website mellow and bioanergetic.

Those newspapers that you used as reference were probably not printed in such tone, but white or gray and black.

Amazoniac

Hi, @Lejeboca!

If the silicon form is meant to complex with aluminium and stay in the gut for excretion, it won't serve for repletion.

Amazoniac

@Charlie

Hi, lion.

Assuming that this is not a fake account, you’re probably not here to pollute somebody else’s platform in the same way that you wouldn’t want yours to be polluted.

As someone experienced with forums, what are the 12 most valuable tips (one per year of experience) that you have to offer Brad for his space to thrive? I know that you’ll read this message, so try to be sincere, original and constructive.

@yerrag! It's good to re-encounter you.