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  • An Extradural Cervical Mass Mimicking Myofascial Neck Pain in an Elderly Female: A Case Report

    An Extradural Cervical Mass Mimicking Myofascial Neck Pain in an Elderly Female: A Case Report


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  • Stormzy ‘proud’ of his University of Cambridge students

    Stormzy ‘proud’ of his University of Cambridge students

    Mariam Issimdar

    BBC News, Cambridgeshire

    Louis Browne The rapper Stormzy with student Destiny, Drew and Dimario alongside him. They stand outside a brick building with shrubbery.Louis Browne

    Stormzy with his Cambridge University scholarship students; (from far left) Destiny Charles, Drew Chateau and Di’Mario Downer

    The music artist Stormzy said he was “really proud” of the 56 students he has helped financially to study at Cambridge University.

    Stormzy, whose real name is Michael Ebenazer Kwadjo Omari Owuo Jr, launched the Stormzy Scholarship in 2018, which funds black UK students to study at the university.

    The 32-year-old recently received an honorary Doctorate in Law from Cambridge for his programme.

    Speaking to the BBC’s One Show about the students, he said: “I’m just really proud of them. Hopefully in 10, 20, 30, 40 years I’ll hear a story about someone who cured this disease or someone who pioneered in this field, and they’re like, actually, they had the Stormzy scholarship all those years ago.”

    PA Media Stormzy is in the middle of a crowd, which is blurred, walking towards the camera. He is wearing a black T-shirt and suit jacket, and has a flat doctorate hat on and a pink and red gown. PA Media

    Stormzy was awarded an honorary Doctorate in Law at Cambridge University in June

    So far, 56 students have benefited from full tuition and maintenance support, backed by his #Merky Foundation and HSBC UK.

    When he launched the scheme, Stormzy said: “It’s so important for black students, especially, to be aware that it can 100% be an option to attend a university of this calibre.”

    When explaining why the scholarship programme was important to him, he said: “When I first done this scholarship I didn’t want to meet the students.

    “I didn’t want the students to feel like they owed me anything. But to actually sit down to talk to them, hear their stories, and you’re like, damn, this is real.

    “A lot of them say openly they wouldn’t have applied without the scholarship being there.”

    BBC One Show Rapper Stormzy wearing a long-sleeved black T-shirt sits in the grounds of Cambridge University, surrounded by flowers and shrubbery.BBC One Show

    Stormzy hopes the students he has supported will go on to make great changes to the world

    Destiny Charles, who recently completed her final year in human, social and political sciences at Cambridge University was supported by a Stormzy scholarship.

    She said the financial help has been immense: “I’ve had a lot of difficulties growing up. Finances, immigration, things just weren’t in our favour. My mum was unable to work, my dad passed away in 2021.”

    She said the scholarship helped “even the odds, so you can be on an even playing field with everyone else”.

    Not having to worry about money was also huge help for theology student Di’Mario Downer.

    He said: “I’m the eldest of five and my mum is a single parent, so I think if I didn’t have the support, I think a lot of the opportunities I’ve had in Cambridge would have been closed to me.

    “It’s enabled me to be a normal student and do what I’m here for, which is to study.”

    He said that Stormzy deciding to fund the scholarships showed the artist “cares about community, cares about giving back to where he came from and lifting others up too”.

    One of the first recipients of a scholarship, Drew Chateau, is now working as a solicitor.

    Her family struggled financially and they were often homeless. The idea of studying at Cambridge University had felt “like a place that was not for her”.

    She said of the financial support, “I think, if I didn’t have that, I question if I would have even manage to complete my university degree”.

    BBC One Show Abigail Akweley smiles and stands in a garden at Cambridge University. She wears a bright pink and green jacket.BBC One Show

    Stormzy’s mother Abigail Akweley said she was particularly proud of her son’s honorary degree

    Stormzy’s mother Abigail Akweley attended her son’s degree ceremony in June.

    She said this achievement was “the greatest one. [It’s] Cambridge.”

    “If you see me crying, it’s tears of joy,” she added.

    When speaking about the doctorate, Stormzy said: “This is such a full circle from someone who wanted to go to Cambridge, ended up being a musician, and to work with the university, being recognised and honoured in this way, it’s like, it’s perfect.”

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  • Chronic Issues, Not Acute, Most Often Fatal

    Chronic Issues, Not Acute, Most Often Fatal

    Heart disease is still the top cause of death in the US, but the types of heart disease killing people are changing, a new analysis has found. While deaths from acute conditions such as heart attacks have declined, deaths from other types of heart disease such as heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, and arrhythmias have increased.

    And that has important implications for primary care physicians (PCPs), who will shoulder much of the burden for caring for these patients who can survive acute threats such as a heart attack but go on to need care for chronic cardiac conditions, sometimes for decades.

    The shift in practice is well known to Brent Smith, MD, a family medicine physician in Greenville, Mississippi, in practice for 14 years and a member of the board of directors for the American Academy of Family Practice.

    “When I came through training, we would catch hypertension and treat it, catch heart failure and treat it, catch diabetes and treat it,” he told Medscape Medical News.

    All that early diagnosis — along with better treatments — paid off and resulted in survival for patients who years ago would have died from a heart attack or other cardiac condition. However, now a growing number of patients have chronic cardiac conditions that need to be managed, and more of that management falls to the PCPs than in years past.

    “It’s a success story for the system as a whole and a success story in a lot of ways for specialty-driven intervention, but it’s creating a system where more and more is placed on our PCPs,” Smith said.

    And all this is happening, he said, when the US has a system that he termed “weak” on primary care, citing shortages as one factor. In 2022, there were more than 279,000 PCPs in the US, according to an analysis by the National Center for Health Workforce Analysis, but a projected shortage of 87,150 full-time equivalent PCPs is expected by 2037. And in 2024, 75 million Americans, or 22% of the population, lived in an area classified as a primary care health professional shortage area, with 13,075 additional physicians needed to eliminate the short fall.

    Analysis in Detail

    The new analysis tracked the age-adjusted rates of heart disease deaths among adults aged 25 years or older from 1970 to 2022, arriving at this scoresheet:

    • Death rates from heart disease, overall, have dropped 66%.
    • Deaths from heart attacks have declined by nearly 90%.
    • Heart disease death rates dropped substantially from 41% of all deaths in 1970 to just 24% in 2022.
    • In 1970, heart attacks killed more than half of people who died from heart disease. By 2022, less than a third of heart disease deaths were due to a heart attack.
    • At the same time, the age-adjusted death rate from heart failure, hypertensive heart disease, and arrhythmia increased by 81%. While those causes accounted for just 9% of all heart disease deaths in 1970, they were the cause of 47% of all heart disease deaths in 2022.
    • Deaths from arrhythmias increased the most — the age-adjusted death rate rose dramatically by 450%. (Even so, they accounted for only about 4% of all heart disease deaths in 2022.) The age-adjusted death rate from heart failure increased by 146%. And the death rate from hypertensive heart disease increased by 106%.

    The improved outlook is due to a variety of advances, such as coronary artery bypass grafting, coronary care units, improvements in techniques, such as cardiac imaging, better medical therapies, expedited care to open blocked arteries, and effective therapies to lower lipids.

    Brent Smith, MD

    That changing scenario translates to extreme challenges for the medical community, agreed Sara King, MD, the study’s first author and a second-year internal medicine resident at Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, California. Noting the rising mortality from the chronic heart conditions, she told Medscape Medical News: “Prevention and treatment of these conditions start at the primary care level, where clinicians can identify individuals with these conditions, help manage their risk factors and disease, refer them to cardiology for specialized care, and have continuity throughout their lifetime.” 

    Follow-up of the surviving patients isn’t the only task, she said. Continuing to identify those at high risk and managing their risk factors is also crucial at the primary care level, she said.

    PCPs: Changing Conversation, More Coordination

    PCPs now need to coordinate more with cardiologists than in the past, Smith said. “We do more in conjunction with specialists than we ever did,” he said. With the growing pool of patients who need care, PCPs manage more of the patients now — patients they would have sent off to the specialists in the past, he said.
    “The underlying story of that study is, ‘Someone didn’t die when they were 40 because we intervened,” Smith said. However, part two of the story is that the patient is now living with the consequences of whatever would have previously killed them. And they need ongoing management for those conditions.

    Conversations with patients have changed. Smith cites congestive heart failure (CHF) as an example. He calls it the worst-sounding diagnosis because it understandably tends to scare patients. He tells them that while it’s the worst-named disease, “It does not reflect our current understanding of the process.” Then he explains to patients about treatment advances and what they must do to live a full, long live with CHF.

    Another common conversation, he said, is educating the patient who survived a heart attack but now has an underlying arrythmia. “Now we are managing that arrythmia for 30, 40, or 50 years. And that longer life requires more care.”

    The focus must shift to determine what the best therapy is now for the condition, he said, and to continue to do that, sometimes for decades, as treatments change and the diseases must continue to be managed and monitored.

    Cardiology Perspective

    The analysis is the good news, but also a wake-up call, according to Keith Churchwell, MD, the past president of the American Heart Association and adjunct associate professor of medicine at Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, Nashville, Tennessee.

    photo of Keith Churchwell
    Keith Churchwell, MD

    For the long-term management of chronic cardiac conditions, he urged a new mindset. “We sometimes think after interventions that patients are ‘cured.’ In actuality, there needs to be a re-doubling of efforts to address their risk profile and the cause of why the MI [myocardial infarction or other issue] occurred.”

    He urged PCPs to maintain close oversight of the heart disease patients in many areas — blood pressure, cholesterol management, weight, exercise habits, sleep, and diabetes.

    For instance, he said, “heart failure [progression] can be a very subtle thing that can creep up on both the physician and the patient,” worsened by other developments such as pneumonia or a urinary tract infection, he said.

    Emphasizing lifestyle management is crucial, Churchwell and King said. The American Heart Association has pioneered Life’s Essential 8, eight factors needed for optimal cardiovascular health.

    Guidelines, Guidelines, Guidelines

    Managing patients more closely, Smith and Churchwell said, depends on paying even closer attention to guidelines — from the American Heart Association, the American College of Cardiology, the American Diabetes Association, and the American Academy of Family Practice.

    Expect guidelines to be updated more frequently, even yearly, Churchwell predicted, to keep pace with new treatments and other advances, and to be easier to access.

    The focus must be on detecting conditions early and intervening early to reduce bad outcomes.

    “Physicians are going to have to be more willing to seek out the guidelines,” Smith said, rather than passively accepting them as they are issued. The question providers must ask, he said, is “What is the best therapy we can do for this condition?” He noted, too, that with guidelines issued by numerous organizations, there’s not always a consensus.

    “Not only do you need to be aware of the recommendations [regarding cardiac health], but you need to be aware of the differences between them and how you manage that.”

    How? Don’t depend on a sole recommendation source, he said. Read all the pertinent information. Don’t read just formal recommendations but also white papers, position papers, and medical resources that offer a collection of unbiased, peer-reviewed information.

    King, Churchwell, and Smith reported having no disclosures.

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  • A Large-Scale Image Repository for Automated Pavement Distress Analysis and Degradation Trend Prediction

    A Large-Scale Image Repository for Automated Pavement Distress Analysis and Degradation Trend Prediction

    Our dataset was meticulously planned through the deployment of logistics vehicles equipped with cameras, ensuring the capture of a variety of images under different environmental conditions and locations. These varying environmental conditions are primarily related to weather, especially the position and intensity of the sun. Changes in sunlight intensity, angle, and shadows alter the appearance of objects in images, affecting contrast, color, and texture. This dataset encompasses these diverse conditions, enabling it to represent real-life scenarios. To protect privacy while preserving the dataset’s efficacy for pavement distress detection, specific alterations have been implemented. This includes the use of advanced repair techniques and selective blurring to effectively anonymize identifiable features, ensuring that the resulting images remain highly relevant for analytical purposes.

    Performance of object detection algorithms using PaveTrack_OD

    Our dataset is employed for training and assessing the performance of seven predominant object detection algorithms, including Faster-RCNN15, YOLOv516, YOLOv817, YOLOX18, YOLOv1119, and RT-DETRv220. The performance of the models is evaluated using four critical metrics: precision, recall, mAP50, and FLOPS. These metrics collectively provide a multifaceted view of the model’s accuracy and efficiency in correctly identifying and classifying each category within the dataset. For the dataset collected in China, RT-DETRv2 showed excellent detection performance with mAP50 of 0.593. As shown in Table 3, YOLOv11 follows closely with an mAP50 of 0.569. These results underscore the efficacy of our dataset in conjunction with deep learning algorithms for the detection of pavement distresses.

    Table 3 Performance Comparison of Object Detection Methods (China Dataset).

    For the dataset collected in the United States, the models’ performances differ from those observed in the Chinese dataset due to variations in volume and distribution. As evidenced in Table 4, YOLOv8 achieves a mAP50 of 0.561, significantly outperforming other models. Faster-RCNN, despite being proposed several years ago as a classical object detection method, maintains the highest precision of 0.782 in this dataset.

    Table 4 Performance Comparison of Object Detection Methods (United States Dataset).

    Baseline methods and results for pavement distress matching and tracking using PaveTrack_PD

    For the second part of the dataset, we designed a three-step matching algorithm to filter a large number of pavement distresses, with the specific design as follows:

    Step 1 (GPS Clustering): This step involves collecting images from the same location. To overcome the potential offset in GPS data due to tall buildings, this study employs an improved K-means algorithm that incorporates a filtering mechanism for outlier data during the clustering process. This enhanced algorithm is better equipped to handle outliers in GPS data, thereby improving the accuracy and efficiency of clustering. By filtering out outliers, the algorithm can more accurately determine cluster centers, resulting in clustering results that more closely reflect actual conditions. Considering the positioning errors of GPS in urban environments with building obstacles and multi-lane roads, images within a range of 5 to 20 meters are clustered to facilitate matching at each location.

    Step 2 (Background Matching): To accurately identify and match images that are close in GPS coordinates but have visual content differences, we need to match different scenes based on the background features of the images. The SuperPoint algorithm is first used to detect keypoints and extract descriptors for the images to be matched. The extracted keypoints and descriptors are then input into the SuperGlue algorithm for matching. Through SuperGlue’s graph attention mechanism, the similarity between keypoints is learned, establishing reliable matching correspondences. Based on the matching results, the similarity between two images is evaluated to achieve scene matching.

    Step 3 (Adjacent Local Area Matching): The SuperGlue network provides pixel-wise matches between two images, while the image recognition algorithm draws bounding boxes for each image. If the pixels within two bounding boxes match, there is a duplicate pavement distress in both images. However, due to different shooting angles, unremarkable features, or unusual weather conditions, the same distress in two images may not share matching features. Repaired defects and potholes are easily matched due to their more pronounced features, but the original defects are not prominent throughout the image and are difficult to match directly using SuperGlue. To address this, we designed an algorithm that matches specific pavement distresses by comparing adjacent local areas within the images. Specifically, we can extract local areas around the distress and then use a feature matching algorithm to compare the similarity of these regions. By calculating the relative position and orientation of the local areas, we can determine whether the two distresses are the same. This method helps us accurately match defects in two images, even if their shapes and sizes differ.

    Pavement performance degradation can also be observed through a designed matching framework, which illustrates five common degradation scenarios.

    Case 1 (Fig. 9) illustrates the onset of pavement distress, where, within a span of 20 days, the initially smooth pavement developed cracks. This demonstrates that distress does not accumulate gradually but occurs abruptly.

    Fig. 9

    Successful pavement distress matching case 1.

    Case 2 (Fig. 10) depicts a scenario where no significant deterioration occurred in the pavement. Over a four-month monitoring period, the crack at this location remained in its initial state.

    Fig. 10
    figure 10

    Successful pavement distress matching case 2.

    Case 3 (Fig. 11) showcases an instance of crack propagation, likely due to the combined effects of water infiltration and heavy vehicular loading. After four months, the length of the crack expanded to nearly double its original size.

    Fig. 11
    figure 11

    Successful pavement distress matching case 3.

    Case 4 (Fig. 12) presents a situation where a pothole was repaired. If the pothole becomes a repaired defect, it typically indicates that the road maintenance unit has intervened. This approach enables us to track changes in pavement damage status at high frequency, optimizing maintenance timing.

    Fig. 12
    figure 12

    Successful pavement distress matching case 4.

    Case 5 (Fig. 13) demonstrates the progression of a crack into a pothole, indicating that pavement distress is undergoing deterioration.

    Fig. 13
    figure 13

    Successful pavement distress matching case 5.

    Annotation validation

    The annotation process was a collaborative effort among team members, with images fairly distributed among the initial annotators. Dr. Liu Chenglong played a pivotal role in reviewing and refining these annotations to ensure accuracy. Following annotation, the images were anonymized and further processed using inpainting techniques to maintain the integrity of the dataset without compromising network performance.

    Influence of the inpainting process

    To evaluate the impact of our anonymization techniques on model performance, we conducted a comparative analysis. Initially, the model was trained using the original dataset without anonymization. The accuracy of the model was validated against different validation sets to establish a performance baseline. Subsequently, the same model was evaluated using the anonymized dataset, ensuring consistency in testing conditions. Notably, the comparative analysis revealed no significant differences in validation results between the anonymized and non-anonymized datasets. This finding indicates that our inpainting-based anonymization process does not impair the model’s ability to detect pavement distress, confirming the integrity of our data processing methodology.

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  • Microsoft’s August Security Update High-Risk Vulnerability Notice for Multiple Products – Security Boulevard

    1. Microsoft’s August Security Update High-Risk Vulnerability Notice for Multiple Products  Security Boulevard
    2. Microsoft Teams RCE Vulnerability Let Attackers Read, Write and Delete Messages  CyberSecurityNews
    3. Windows 10 KB5063709 prepares for extended updates, direct download .msu  windowslatest.com
    4. Microsoft’s Patch Tuesday gives sys admins a baker’s dozen  theregister.com
    5. Microsoft fixed 100+ security flaws in Windows and Office this month  PCWorld

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  • Georgia Hunter Bell: Olympic 1500m medallist considers world 800m bid alongside Keely Hodgkinson

    Georgia Hunter Bell: Olympic 1500m medallist considers world 800m bid alongside Keely Hodgkinson

    Georgia Hunter Bell remembers it well, not least the comically oversized vest.

    The feeling of knowing she was going to win her first ever track race as she passed everyone – girls and boys – on the final lap. Listening as her mum was told that 800m in two minutes and 39 seconds was “pretty good” for a 10-year-old.

    It all remains vivid, more than two decades later, as Britain’s Olympic 1500m bronze medallist weighs up the potential for completing a full-circle moment in pursuit of another global podium.

    The dilemma over whether to stick with the 1500m, switch focus to the 800m, or even attempt a rare double, continues to occupy her mind just four weeks before the World Championships begin in Tokyo.

    Hunter Bell’s exciting progress this season in the event which she originally showed great promise before she quit the sport for five years has teased the tantalising prospect of a showdown with training partner Keely Hodgkinson in a global final.

    The pair will go head-to-head over 800m at next week’s Lausanne Diamond League, after which Hunter Bell will make her decision.

    Before then, the 31-year-old contests a 1500m in Silesia on Saturday, where, in the 800m, Hodgkinson will race for the first time since being crowned Olympic champion in that event 12 months ago following an injury-disrupted year.

    “This year will be the first time that it might be close,” Hunter Bell tells BBC Sport, as she looks ahead to competing against Hodgkinson.

    “We do a lot of training together, we obviously are very good friends and we have a great team vibe, so I think at the moment we’re just taking it day-by-day.

    “It will be interesting, if we both make the world final and we both have a chance of doing well, how we manage [the situation].

    “But, at the end of the day, if Great Britain could win two medals out of three, and [our training group] M11 could go one-two, that would just be the coolest thing ever.

    “We’re all excited about the opportunity, rather than seeing it as anything negative.”

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  • Meet Min.: Bold, minimalist swimwear brand from 2 lifelong friends

    Meet Min.: Bold, minimalist swimwear brand from 2 lifelong friends

    Min. Swimwear is the product of a dream shared by two friends who first met in high school. Founded by Begüm Tabak Sınav and Sabina Hamzayeva, the brand reflects not only their long-standing friendship but also their complementary skills and shared ambition.

    Sınav, who holds a degree in fashion design, brings a creative vision to the brand’s collections, infusing each piece with her distinctive perspective. Hamzayeva, on the other hand, leverages her background in business and marketing to steer the strategic direction of the company.

    The two met in Istanbul’s Nişantaşı, where they shared their inspiring journey from friends to business partners. Sabina explains: “We founded the brand in 2023, so we’ve been in the industry for two years and completed two seasons. Begüm and I go way back – we graduated from Fine Arts High School, from the painting department. After that, life took us down very different paths. Begüm continued with fashion design education, while I started out in banking, insurance and business. Over time, I shifted toward marketing. Begüm always dreamed of starting her own brand, and eventually, we decided to make that dream a reality together. We asked ourselves, ‘Why don’t we combine our strengths?’ It was during a period when we were both taking a brief break from our careers, contemplating what to do next. That’s when we decided to launch Min. Swimwear during a casual conversation.”

    Challenges in production

    Designing swimwear, especially bikinis and one-pieces and finding the right audience is notoriously difficult. When asked why they chose such a challenging niche, Sınav responds: “That has always been my dream as a designer. For years, I kept telling myself that if I ever created something, it would be swimwear. I shared this dream with Sabina. Of course, as anyone familiar with the industry would guess, we struggled with production. Drawing and imagining designs is one thing, but finding the right fabric and workshop was tough. As a young brand, we began with small production runs. Established manufacturers didn’t want to work with such low quantities. Some who agreed couldn’t handle our designs. It was challenging. But in the end, we found a workshop where we could produce pieces that we were truly happy with.”

    Despite being a young label, Min. Swimwear has already established a distinct identity and appeals to a specific audience. Their designs are sold through social media, their own website and platforms like Hipicon.

    When asked about the common fear among young designers – that many never reach their second season – Begüm, the brand’s creative director, shares: “Our brand has found its audience. We were lucky, I think. We selected very distinctive cuts and models that have become our signature. We attracted attention, and people who wanted to wear bold, statement pieces bought from us. Next year, we plan to expand both our size range and product categories. We’ll be adding beautiful tunics to the collection, along with more styles. After surviving these first two challenging years, our goal now is to grow and expand further.”

    International ambitions

    When asked whether starting a brand from scratch was financially taxing, Sınav says: “Production was, of course, the biggest expense. Beyond that, we relied mostly on people we know. We didn’t spend a huge budget to launch the brand. We managed everything internally and received assistance from people around us for the brand’s photo shoots and catering. Our main goal was to reduce costs wherever possible.”

    The brand name, Min., also draws attention. Sınav explains, “Min comes from the word ‘minimalist.’ Our designs are as simple as possible, with a strong emphasis on quality and detail. Currently, the collection comprises 12 pieces – four models, each available in three colors. It’s a memorable and straightforward brand.”

    Looking to the future, they say: “We plan to increase our platform partnerships and start selling internationally. We would love to have our own showroom someday.”

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  • Mystery of the “Little Red Dots” May Finally Be Solved

    Mystery of the “Little Red Dots” May Finally Be Solved

    The James Webb Space Telescope has revealed many wonders of the early universe, but few discoveries have puzzled astronomers more than some mysterious “little red dots.” These tiny, brilliant galaxies appear scattered across deep space images like cosmic breadcrumbs, challenging everything scientists thought they knew about how galaxies formed in the early universe.

    These faint, compact objects were completely undetected before the James Webb Space Telescope and represent what lead researcher Fabio Pacucci calls “arguably the most surprising discovery by JWST to date.” The little red dots are visible from when the universe was just one billion years old, appearing about one-tenth the size of typical galaxies yet shining unusually bright.

    Schematic of the James Webb Space Telescope (Credit : NASA)

    The team at Harvard & Smithsonian’s Center for Astrophysics believe they’ve cracked the code. In a new study by astronomers Pacucci and Abraham Loeb they propose that these strange objects formed inside extremely rare, slowly spinning dark matter structures. Their distinctive red colour suggests they’re either shrouded in dust or packed with older stars. But here’s where things get really puzzling, the source of their incredible light output eludes us. If it comes from black holes, then those black holes would be impossibly massive for such tiny galaxies. If it comes from stars alone, the galaxies would be so densely packed that the physics seems impossible.

    Rather than focus on what makes the dots glow, Pacucci and Loeb asked a different question; how did such strange objects form in the first place? Their answer involves the invisible scaffolding that shapes our universe, dark matter halos.

    Simulated dark matter halo Simulated dark matter halo

    Think of dark matter halos like the spinning mechanism of a fairground swing ride. Much like the swings ride at a fairground, the faster the halo spins, the further out the swings stretch, causing the galaxy forming at its center to expand; likewise, a slow spin keeps the swings’ radius smaller.

    The researchers discovered that little red dots likely formed in dark matter halos spinning so slowly they represent less than one percent of all halos in the universe. These low spin halos would naturally create extremely compact galaxies in a hypothesis that elegantly explains several mysteries about the little red dots.

    Since only one percent of dark matter halos spin this slowly, compact galaxies would be equally rare and this nicely matches what astronomers observe. The theory also explains their peculiar timing with the dots appearing only during a brief billion year window because as the universe aged and expanded, dark matter halos naturally gained more spin, making it nearly impossible to form such compact structures later on. Finally, the brightness puzzle makes sense because low spin halos tend to concentrate mass in the center, creating ideal conditions for a black hole to rapidly accrete matter or for stars to form at extraordinary rates.

    “Our work is a step toward understanding these mysterious objects. They might help us understand how the first black holes formed and co-evolved with galaxies in the early universe.” – Fabio Pacucci from Harvard & Smithsonian’s Center for Astrophysics

    While this theory doesn’t definitively settle whether the dots are powered by stars or supermassive black holes, it provides the first compelling framework for understanding how these strange objects could exist at all. The research suggests these compact galaxies created ideal conditions for rapid growth, whether through explosive star formation or voracious black hole feeding.

    As astronomers continue studying these wonderful natural time capsules, the little red dots may unlock secrets about the universe’s most formative period, when the first stars ignited and the first black holes began their billion year growth spurts that would eventually shape the universe we see today.

    Source : New Theory May Explain Mysterious “Little Red Dots” in the Early Universe

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  • Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray stars Momina Iqbal and Junaid Khan in the lead roles. The show started out with a bang and fans were in love with the strong and negative character of Dureshehwar. She has been winning since the very start. She has destroyed everything and everyone and she is not stopping even after nearly 50 episodes. It was entertaining at the start but fans have different thoughts now.

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray is now at a point where Dureshehwar has been a clear winner while all the other characters have zero IQ. Her father also died and she is now going to get her brother divorced. The toxicity is not stopping and fans are over it. They want this stretching to stop and the toxicity to end.

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    This is what is happening:

    Fans have a lot to say about this constant toxicity in the show. One user said, “This drama needs to end. It is so toxic.” Another added, “This is so much Star Plus.” One said, “I only watch promos now. This is too toxic.” This is what people think:

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

    Do Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers PatienceDo Kinaray Episode 48 – Toxicity Tests Viewers Patience

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  • Weight loss before IVF could increase chance of pregnancy 

    Weight loss before IVF could increase chance of pregnancy 

    Women with obesity who participate in weight loss programmes before the beginning of in vitro fertilisation (IVF) are almost 50 per cent more likely to conceive naturally than those given little or no weight loss support, a major review of evidence has found.

    Analysis of 12 international trials involving nearly 2,000 women revealed weight-loss interventions not only helped women with obesity conceive, but also increased the odds of any pregnancy, natural or through IVF by 21 per cent.

    The findings, published in the Annals of Internal Medicine, come as the NHS restricts access to funded IVF for women with a Body Mass Index (BMI) over 30. Researchers say providing structured weight loss programmes could not only enable more women to be eligible for NHS-funded IVF but may also significantly increase their chances of conceiving naturally.

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    Led by the University of Oxford, the review analysed 12 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) of women with obesity who were offered a weight-loss intervention before planned IVF, across five electronic databases up until May 2025. Researchers identified seven of the RCTs as having a high risk of bias due to poor study design, which may affect the reliability of the data in these studies.

    The interventions ranged from diet and exercise programmes to weight loss medications such as orlistat and older GLP-1 agonists, earlier versions of the drug class that now include Ozempic and Wegovy.

    Women lost an average of 4kg more

    Women in the intervention groups lost an average of 4kg more than those in the comparison groups. The review shows pre-IVF weight-loss programmes were linked to higher overall pregnancy rates, including a 47 per cent increase in natural conception. There was no clear evidence that weight-loss interventions improved pregnancy rates from IVF alone and they had no impact on miscarriage rates.

    Dr Moscho Michalopoulou, lead author from Oxford’s Nuffield Department of Primary Care Health Sciences, said the findings offer hope to women with obesity who currently face the double challenge of higher rates of infertility and potential exclusion from NHS-funded IVF.

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    He explained: ‘Our findings suggest that offering structured weight loss support could improve the chance of conceiving naturally, which may avoid the need for IVF treatment. Programmes that help women achieve greater weight losses have the potential to help more women achieve a successful outcome, and should be tested in larger high-quality trials.’

    Improving equity of access to fertility treatment

    While the review provides the best evidence to date of the benefits of weight loss for conception, the researchers emphasise that the small sample size and bias in some studies highlight the need for more extensive trials to confirm the results, particularly the effect on live births. This effect remains unclear but the pooled data suggest weight loss interventions could increase live birth rates by 15 per cent. When the researchers restricted the analysis to low-energy diet replacement programmes, which led to greater weight loss, this correlated with an increase in live births.

    Dr Michalopoulou added: ‘We need efficient, evidence-based pathways that give them the best chance of success. Our work suggests that for many women with obesity, an intensive supported weight loss programme could help them to conceive naturally or make it possible to access IVF services.’

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    Associate Professor Nerys Astbury, from the University of Oxford, noted: ‘This isn’t just about improving pregnancy rates – it’s about improving equity of access to fertility treatment. We know that people from more deprived areas and those from certain ethnic backgrounds are more likely to live with obesity. Policymakers should consider whether integrating structured weight loss support into fertility services could improve outcomes for patients, while potentially reducing overall costs by increasing the number of women who conceive naturally.’

     

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