autojoechen's comments

autojoechen | 4 years ago | on: Borax

From the toxicity section (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Borax#Toxicity) it seems like the concern is most about ingesting borax in large quantities or breathing in the dust. And also being cautious on potential health affects:

  Since people are already exposed to boric acid naturally through their diets and water, Health Canada advised that exposure from other sources should be reduced as much as possible, especially for children and pregnant women. The concern is not with any one product, but rather multiple exposures from a variety of sources.

autojoechen | 4 years ago | on: Benzene detected in many sunscreen products

Table 2 and 3 of product that have benzene detected starting on page 12: https://www.valisure.com/wp-content/uploads/Valisure-Citizen...

autojoechen | 4 years ago | on: Study in zebrafish examines how tumors alter whole-body metabolism

The article seems to be talking about two potentially unrelated effects - up-regulation of gluconeogenesis in the liver and BCAT1. The gluconeogenesis makes sense in the presence of glucose-hungry cells, the body would start making its own to stabilize blood sugar. I wonder what the signal mechanism is for the BCAT1 up-regulation?

autojoechen | 5 years ago | on: Thousands are monitoring police scanners during the George Floyd protests

Is there a text transcript feature for users who may want to search through the communications? I'm curious how well those speech-to-text tools work for the audio feeds.

autojoechen | 5 years ago | on: What Is Nix?

The issue is just fixed! https://github.com/NixOS/nix/pull/3212

autojoechen | 6 years ago | on: Vim rendered on a cube for no reason

I remember compiz! https://launchpad.net/compiz. Looks to be still actively maintained

autojoechen | 6 years ago | on: Taiwan's new 'electronic fence' for quarantines leads wave of virus monitoring

Their VP is also an epidemiologist by training, a public health researcher, and was the health minister during the SARS epidemic [0] so definitely seems like the right person in the right job at the right time.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chen_Chien-jen

autojoechen | 6 years ago | on: Italy is extending its coronavirus quarantine measures to the entire country

One of the ways the virus kills the patient is causing a cytokine storm [0][1]. And tocilizumab suppresses one of the cytokines in humans [2].

0: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/science/2020/02/here-is-w... 1: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cytokine_release_syndrome 2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tocilizumab

autojoechen | 6 years ago | on: Launch HN: Boost Biomes (YC S19) – Microbes for better crop yields, shelf life

Can you share any data on how the consortia works relative to existing products on the market?

autojoechen | 6 years ago | on: Teslabot: A virtual assistant for Tesla cars – Locate, lock and other features

Neat! I wish the website explains the features a bit more - #2 and #3 aren't mentioned at all on the home page.

autojoechen | 6 years ago | on: Teslabot: A virtual assistant for Tesla cars – Locate, lock and other features

Looks like they're using the SmartCar API (https://smartcar.com/tesla/). The app does most of the actions the API provides, but maybe the bot can help with aggregating data like previous locations or odometer readings?

autojoechen | 7 years ago | on: Intermittent fasting improve overall health and longevity

For those interested in contributing to research on intermittent fasting, UCSF is doing a study and is taking participants https://clinicaltrials.ucsf.edu/trial/NCT03393195

autojoechen | 7 years ago | on: Consumption of ‘Longevity’ Vitamins Could Prolong Healthy Aging, Scientist Says

In case anyone else is also going through the article for the list:

Vitamin K, Selenium, Vitamin D, Taurine, Ergothioneine, Pyrroloquinoline quinone, Queuine, Carotenoids, Lutein and Zeaxanthin, Lycopene, alpha and beta-Carotene, Astaxanthin