Suppose you eat a 'perfectly balanced' day's worth of meals. It comes out at a certain amount of calories, like 2000k or something, and some of that is fat and some is protein and some is carbohydrates. I've understood that these nutrients will go into three main places; energy production via cellular respiration, energy storage in glycogen or lipids, and structural changes like making new proteins or cell membranes.
So, what is the breakdown between these different usages? What percentage of daily calorie intake goes to energy, and what percentage to storage and structure?
(I expect the answer will differ depending on how much physical exertion you do)

Sorry if this is a silly question, but I was wondering which metabolic pathways lymphocytes and venous endothelial cells typically use?
I'm assuming they use some sort of anaerobic pathway, but I was wondering what specific substrate(s) they typically use to make energy. I seem to remember reading something about vascular endothelial cells using nitric oxide as an energy source, but I wasn't sure about if that happens in the cytoplasm or mitochondria, if it's some type of gluconeogenesis, etc.
(Also if there's some sort of table or chart that lists different types of cells and their typical methods of cellular respiration, I'd really appreciate it )
This isn't for a class or something, biochemistry is just apparently my new special interest. (I've mostly been watching a lot of Andrey K videos on YT, but am definitely open to additional suggestions about where to learn more.)

So, I am using chatgpt for quick speed-run revisions by making these little notes.
I have this question: Describe the structure and function of carbohydrates
ChatGPT gives the answer: Structure:

1. Monosaccharides: These are the simplest carbohydrates, consisting of single sugar molecules. Monosaccharides are classified based on the number of carbon atoms they contain: trioses (3 carbons), tetroses (4 carbons), pentoses (5 carbons), hexoses (6 carbons), and so forth. The most common monosaccharides include glucose, fructose, and galactose. They exist in either linear or ring structures, with the ring form being the more stable configuration in aqueous solutions.
2. Disaccharides: Formed by the condensation reaction between two monosaccharide molecules, resulting in the formation of a glycosidic bond and the release of a water molecule. Common disaccharides include sucrose (glucose + fructose), lactose (glucose + galactose), and maltose (glucose + glucose).
3. Oligosaccharides: Short chains of monosaccharide units, typically containing 3 to 10 sugar residues. They are often found attached to proteins or lipids, forming glycoproteins or glycolipids, respectively, and play critical roles in cell-cell recognition and signaling processes.
4. Polysaccharides: Complex carbohydrates composed of long chains of monosaccharide units. Polysaccharides serve diverse functions depending on their structure and location:
   • Starch: A polysaccharide found in plants, consisting of glucose units arranged in two forms: amylose (a linear chain) and amylopectin (branched chains). Starch serves as a storage form of energy in plants.
   • Glycogen: The animal equivalent of starch, found primarily in the liver and muscles. It is highly branched and serves as a readily accessible energy reserve.
   • Cellulose: A structural polysaccharide found in the cell walls of plants, consisting of linear chains of glucose units linked by β-glycosidic bonds. Cellulose provides structural support and rigidity to plant cell walls and is indigestible by most animals due to the lack of cellulase enzymes.
   • Chitin: Another structural polysaccharide found in the exoskeletons of arthropods (e.g., insects, crustaceans) and the cell walls of fungi. It consists of repeating units of N-acetylglucosamine and provides strength and rigidity to these organisms.

Functions:

1. Energy Source: Carbohydrates serve as the primary energy source for cells. Glucose, derived from the breakdown of dietary carbohydrates, undergoes cellular respiration to produce ATP, the universal energy currency of cells.
2. Energy Storage: Excess glucose is converted into glycogen and stored primarily in the liver and muscles. When energy demand rises, glycogen can be broken down into glucose molecules and released into the bloodstream to maintain blood glucose levels.
3. Structural Support: Certain carbohydrates, such as cellulose in plant cell walls and chitin in the exoskeletons of arthropods, provide structural support and rigidity to cells and organisms.
4. Cellular Recognition: Carbohydrates are involved in cell-cell recognition processes, where specific carbohydrate moieties on cell surfaces interact with complementary molecules, such as lectins or antibodies, facilitating immune responses, tissue development, and communication between cells.
5. Dietary Fiber: Complex carbohydrates, such as cellulose and pectin found in plant cell walls, are indigestible by humans but play crucial roles in digestive health by promoting bowel regularity, preventing constipation, and reducing the risk of colorectal cancer and other gastrointestinal disorders.

How accurate and helpful would it be to the AP syllabus? I would love a quick response.

What are the most creative kekkei genkai that you have seen or come up with yourself that are not dojutsu or combinations of elements?
Now that I’ve seen a few ideas here’s one of my own:
-The Kekkei Genkai has no name, but the way it works is based on the combined processes of Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration. Essentially, the Kekkei Genkai allows the individuals to absorb solar energy and convert that energy into chakra through specialized organelles in their cells. This is a unique trait because it means the individuals with this Kekkei Genkai are stronger in the day than at night and if they want to be effective at night, they must rest during the day to conserve the additional chakra converted from solar energy.

My response for B:
B) PDC deficiency won't affect the amount of NADH produced by glycolysis but will decrease the amount of NADH produced by the Kreb's cycle. This is because glycolysis splits glucose into 2 pyruvate which PDC plays no role in but PDC deficiency decreases the formation of Acetyl CoA which would inhibit the Kreb's Cycle and thus its production of NADH.
Help idek if that's right I'm so cooked for the exam.

[FIRST][LAST][NEXT]
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Captain Farva
Have I died? Am I dead? It was supposed to be a bright glowing flash then nothing right. The detonation had come but I was still standing here, My thoughts flowed slowly as if molasses, I felt Nyan's claw dug firmly into my fur. I took a breath, the air was clean, filtered, artificial. I felt lighter, stronger? No, it felt like I had just gotten onto a federation ship with galactic standard gravity. I shifted my weight, with each shift of my legs cool metal met my paw pads.
“Where are we?” Nyan Cried, burying himself in my arms. “How… How….?”
“I don’t know” I murmured.
I opened my eyes slowly, surprised they still worked, I thought myself blinded by the nuclear fire that filled my irises. We were in some sort of hangar, flanked by strange dark gray ships. They were monowing craft presumably designed for both spatial and atmospheric flight, topped with angular cockpits and weapons affixed to the bottom of their wings. A large doorway lay opened up to space. The atmosphere we were breathing was being held in by some kind of energy field. The size and shape of the doorway was familiar to me. It was the doorway to the hangars of the Daedalus, only the last time I had seen them was from the outside of the ship.
How were we here?
We were on the bridge, but now in this hangar bay?
Did someone move us?
The ship exploded, rescue would have been impossible.
Did our section survive?
“I don’t know” I fought for rational thought.
I felt like I had just stayed up for like 6 claws.
“No wait I had”
“What?” Nyan spoke softly, I had spoken that thought aloud.
Maybe the Daedalus was able to shield the bridge section somehow, Isolate the reactor from the rest of the ship.
I took a headcount of my dazed crew, many in shock, some took in their surroundings like I did, some sat there with blank expressions. Had we been more lucid, had we not already had just come out of a life or death scenario, I'm sure they would have stampeded.
I counted twice, losing track the first time.
When I finished the quick count I was dismayed, engineer Donu was gone, she must not have been saved, how could she have been, she was at the site of the detonation. I stared at the stars as I layed down flat in the middle of the hangar bay, cradling Nyans head in my arms, this was too strange.
The Adrenaline fueling me was gone. We were safe I think?
I was tired, my body craved only rest.
The blood on my head, the cuts and scrapes of my crew did not register anymore. Caldwell would take care of them I thought as my eyelids grew heavy. They had almost closed entirely, but I felt Nyan tense up. He kicked weakly. I opened my eyes to see the approaching figures of our saviors.
The Blurry figures approached, they spoke in frantic sounding growls.
“The med kits at the door!”
“Medics are on the way”
“Captain I can confirm, we have 16 confirmed rescues, I will report back shortly on their status over” a sharp electrical bleep followed his proclamation.
They were tall lanky upright beans. Bipedal I think I struggled to focus on their faces. They had a strange discoloration atop their heads, their eyes didn’t look quite right…..
I jolted upright, screaming. I crawled away, clutching Nyan tightly in my arm. The predators waved their arms above their heads to frighten me, whatever words their mad growls translated too did not penetrate my feared addled brain, I raised my sidearm and opened fire. The predators lept out of the way before I could fire the first shot. They took cover behind the fighters, their low hanging wings making excellent cover for their lithe forms. They were spread out, most of my crew had frozen, the rest who were lucid enough to stand were lost, surrounded, there was nowhere to flee, the predators had blocked the exit, and the only way out was into space.
The door to the hangar opened, further armored predators ran into the room, these were armed but one stood above the rest. I fired frantically into their formation, my shots going wide. While the rest had dove for cover, this one stood firm, he raised his arm, a strange device unfolded in his hand, a blue light shot forth and overtook my form. I felt a sharp pain overtake my body. Nyan screamed. Unconsciousness finally overtook my body.
Officer Report - Lieutenant Colonel John Shepard
CLEARANCE LEVEL 5
After awkwardly removing my hand from Teal'c’s shoulder, in the wake of a somewhat uneventful opening engagement, with a distinct lack of exciting ship rocking, I sat back and took in the sights. Our rail guns were firing off full blast, not seeming to do much to the enemies shields, nothing new there, but lucky for us their energy weapons, little piddly blue dots of space nonsense weren't really scratching our shields either.
I leaned over the Teal’c
“Why do we even bother with the railguns I mean their good enough against fighters but I feel like we've never onced used them effectively against anything that wasn't a dart”
“Goa'uld shields in the past have been quite resistant to our kinetic weaponry, Perhaps our missile armaments will be more effective, as in our home dimension” he responded quietly so as to not disrupt the action going on in the bridge ahead of us.
I looked on as Caldwell ordered some mark 8’s to be launched at the “Ark~sur?” craft. I think that's how it's pronounced. Anyways I still find it kind of weird how quickly and frequently we go to the nuclear option in this line of work. During my deployment in the regular air force, I have dropped plenty of ordinance in my time, but to utilize not just nuclear bombs but nuclear bombs powered up with weird space rocks. It never ceased to amaze, though I never really got a chance to sit back and properly admire the impressive explosion they delivered. Kind of like just now when all of our missiles were intercepted by enemy countershot.
This again! Really!
As the Arxur opened up on us with some additional armaments I leaned over to Hermiod and raised my voice for the captain to hear.
“Sir I know Hermiod won't be a fan of this strategy, but perhaps we can do what we did to wraith over Atlantis way back when, with the you know.. the teleporters”
I said the last part somewhat timidly, I could feel the death glares coming from Hermiod boring into the back of my skull.
What so wrong with using teleports as weapons, why give us the shields which are used for combat! if you're gonna get mad when we try to weaponize all the other stuff.
I was half expecting an argument from him but it seems like Hermiod and Caldwell have had discussed the matter beforehand. With a sigh Hermiod coldly replies.
“I can not transport the warhead onto the enemy craft but I can transport one directly to the precipice of their shields”
“That will do” captain Caldwell replied
“Contact the armory tell them to prep a mark eight, hammer down protocol, and standby in the designated beam out point” The order is relayed.
“Orders confirmed” a staticy voice buzzes up from the munitions locker.
“Smoke in the air!” the sensor office suddenly shouts “nine contacts projected target allied craft!”
“Take them out! all hardpoints!” Caldwell orders.
I watch as the guns swap to point defense mode, I don't think we have ever used them like this. I've seen footage of those badass seaRams we keep on our naval vessels back home but never once can I recall ever having missiles shot at us by anything alien. And honestly till now I didn't even stop and question if we could shoot down missiles.
Fortunately for Captain Farva and her crew we could, I craned my head slightly to see if we could pick off all of them, they were coming at us from all angles in a star pattern to fly around our ship, the angle split our fire making them harder to intercept, we nailed like six of them and the venlil got two of them with their own missiles, unfortunately one got through.
I cringed as the missiles hit its mark, remembering how shot up the ship looked when it dropped out of hyperspace originally. The sensor screen was littered with noise around the vessel as I assume debris was scattered into space by the hit.
Carter piped up.
“Sir we’re reading a drastic increase in the radiation levels from the friendly ship, It looks like whatever reactors issues they had, have been exasperated, radiation will reach lethal levels in minutes, we need to get them out of there”
Captain Caldwell looked in my direction ”Shepard, Teal’c get to the port hangar bay, you will meet up with the medical and security teams to process any survivors!”
“Got it!” I said and Teal’c gave his signature dignified nod, hands clasped behind his back.
“Radio ahead and signal the armory officer to expect us.”
I told the comms officer as we hurried out of the room.
“Damn I wanted to see that explosion!” I complained to Teal’c
“Have you not witnessed the utilization of nuclear weapons before Commander Shepard?”
“It's not the same, only some piddly Geni nukes, and most of our wraith kills I usually running away from so I don't get to get a good look at them to really take it in you know”
“I do not”
We made it to the armory without issue and without much follow up conversation and we were on our way to the hangar when we realized we had to book it because one of our rescuers started to shoot up the damn hangar bay!
When we got to the entrance there were two guards manning the door waiting for backup, alongside the medics who were likely thinking they were going to have to pull some overtime for this job.
Wasting no time we lined up by the two gunnery officers manning the door.
“Okay guys we get in there fan out, get to cover and show and give them a nice show of force, We are dealing with scared survivors so be quick and think on your feet, got it?” They nodded, and I began to count down with my fingers.
When we ran in we immediately began taking fire. As the little alien guy was shooting some blue lasers at us. On the bright side about half of my guys followed orders and got to cover. Teal’c on the other hand apparently had their number though. As he simply walked in raised his zat, did the cool cachink thing to his zat to power it up and iced the poor venlil who clearly wasn't thinking or aiming straight.
Looking at their abysmal shot grouping they clearly weren't doing much aiming, and it looks like they even had a child in their arms.
“Ouch poor kid” I said aloud, The rest of the Venlil aliens were a mess cut up and covered in what I guessed was orange blood. My blood pressure and any adrenaline response quickly faded. These guys were cleary scared shitless, I've seen a lot of scary sci fi bullshit in my career, and If it had just escaped my universes Arxur equivalent, been on a ship that was about to explode; a piece of debris bounces off the hangar bay oxygen shield; did explode, and then likely got teleported for the first time onto a vessel full of strange aliens twice my size I would be kind of scared too.
Some of them were frozen on the floor, kind of like our fainting goats back on the ranch. Hopefully they will come to like them as well. The rest recoiled not far though, their vision was like a horses, their focus hard to track but it looked like they were regarding the deck crew as well as me and the approaching guards and medics with equal concern.
I held up a hand to the approaching medics, I needed to calm them down first. They were scared but also cornered, fight or flight response dictated they could lash out if cornered.
I slowly approached them trying to make myself small. Keeping my hands where they could see them, I didn't have any means to speak with them, though someone said earlier that Rodney was coming down with Hermiod to get something set up.
I spoke as softly as I could manage ”I'm going to check to make sure these guys are okayed, the weapon my friend Teal’c here fired” I gestured to Teal’c who was being his usual intimidating self(not helping)”Is a really nice guy and the weapon he shot your friends with is designed to specifically not kill, they should only be stunned”
No visible reaction. I know they couldn't understand me but I hoped my calm voice and diplomatic demeanor would put them at ease.
Teal’c attempted a smile to appear friendly, but Teal'c's smile is scary enough to most humans so naturally the venlil collectively let out a terrified yelp.
Teal’c stopped.
With that setback I approached the now unconscious pair of venlil. I grabbed the alien sidearm and one of the security team members palmed it. I then proceeded to check them for signs of life, I tried to check their wrist for a pulse, my hand effortlessly encompassed their entire wrist, there was a vein there but I couldn't quite get a pulse out of it. I did notice how lovely soft their wool was. They would make lovely cuddle buddies if they weren't so distressingly injured.
I bent my head down toward the little one, my plan was to check for the breathing but the venlil didn't like this at all, I was met with what I assumed what venlil screaming. A few of them covered their eyes and folded their ears against their head.
Awhhhh…
“Hey Hey it's okay, I'm just checking for breath!” I mimed breathing to them taking exaggerated inhales and exhales while making gestures with my hands'' Breath, Breath ” I repeatedly tried to make them understand before gesturing to pair, and once again lowering my head, turning my head first so they understood I wasn't trying to bite them or anything.
I listened carefully, our crew knew to be quiet but I still heard some gentle sobbing coming from the alien crew. While the little one's breathing was faint, mercifully it was there, along with the larger ones as well.
“Okay It looks like they're still alive, but they're covered in open cuts and electrical burns, and alive doesn't alway mean is going to wake up” I scoop up the pair and turn around to hand them towards a medic.
As I did this a brown floof had sprung from their group and latched itself onto my leg, This one looked less injured and it was covered in brown fur with white speckles, It looked up at me with its singular right eye, Braying loudly, I couldn't make out what it was saying, but if I had to guess it was a pleading expression, as tears fell from it orange eyes.
Teal’c lined him up, looking like he was going to stun it, which would have the unfortunate consequence of stunning me as well.
Hand full I turned my body to shield the venlil from Teal’c. “Easy Teal'c, their unarmed, why don't we lower our weapons, we need them to trust us if we want them to let us treat them”
Teal’c thought for a moment but unable to come up with a better plan, powered down his zat, and the soldiers lowered their rifles as well.
I handed off the pair to the medic, and knelt down to eye level with the poor thing. I pried his little claws off my leg, and clasped them together in front of him. The poor thing was shaking up a storm. The only comparison my mind could draw was one of those BSPCA animal cruelty commercials. I gently rubbed his paw fur. I looked him in the eyes, he seemed to recoil at this so I closed them and whispered gently.
“Hey little guy I know you can’t understand me but it's going to be okay alright”
Having no real way to verbally assure him, and my nurturing instincts kicking in somewhat I swapped to the nuclear option. Pressing their frail frame against me I cradled them in my arms like I would an infant. Gently petting him softly between the ears. He tensed up something fierce when I initially grabbed him, and while he was still shaking I could feel some of the tension leave his form.
I glanced up at Teal’c, he gave me an accusing look.
It felt awkward and I was probably committing some kind of alien social faux paus but In my defense it seemed to do the trick. Releasing him, I gestured towards one of the medics asking for a first aid kit. I was no medic myself but hopefully basic first aid rules applied with the weird space goat sheep guys. The alien idled in front of me, his ears gesturing at odd angles, my guess to signify confusion. I would be confused too I suppose if an alien started getting handsy with me. I set the kit down in front of him, slowly opening it and pulling out everything I would need to treat him. Taking care to show him and every venlil there that it wasn't anything scary. I gestured to the cut on his right arm, I could tell they were trying to hide it from me. But I didn't want to force them to face me if I could avoid it. I gently put my hand behind their elbow, not so much grabbing them but guiding them into a position where I could see it. I took a wipe and began to clean the wound best I could, I was worried how they would react to the alcohol, they flinched a bit but seemed fine, It seemed like they were trying to act tough, but they had cried a little to much into my tactical vest to convincingly sell that illusion.
After I had patched him up, I urged him using hand signals to return to their little venlil huddle. They chattered among themselves in hushed voices, making repeated sideways glances to the most injured of their group. I began eyeing up the medics to see if I could grab maybe the physically smallest one, when a startled gasp erupted from the crowd. I looked past the medics and saw a disgruntled Rodney emerge from the door with an equally upset Hermiod.
Rodney is holding a box of a various cables and computer equipment, while Hermiod is struggling with a standard issue 2005 Dell XPS M170 Laptop which looks comically large in his hands (fucking google it it has like a single gigabyte of ram and a single 3 core 2.17ghz processor, and their fucking using it to hack alien space ships!!!!).
“Rodney, these audio sensors are damaged, they are not receiving input!”
“It’s called a microphone and its working just fine I used it earlier to take notes”
“The translation program is not receiving input”
“Well it might be struggling to run on windows”
“Rodney, I worked long and hard to make a usable software interface for the Asgard and S.G.C.s operating system. The program is running fine!”
“Here it is, someone plugged in a headset from earlier the input is set to the wrong device”
“Why does it not change to the correct device automatically”
“I Don't know, I don’t program these things!”
Engrossed in their work I was willing to bet their hourly shouting match would agitate our guests.
I approached the pair halfway between the venilil and the door speaking with a quiet but terse voice
“Rodney you need to keep it down, these guys are really spooked and were having to try very hard not to frighten them”
“WHAT” Rodney asks, completely too loudly.
He peaks around me and glances at the crowd, his eyes widen in panic. “Oh um are those the Venlil, I thought they would be you know.. more uhh. people looking“
“Their aliens, they look like what they look like, frankly it's weird that most of the aliens we meet look so much like humans. But forget that, is the translation program working or not cause we could really use that right now things are tense as hell over here.”
Hermiod responds “I believe that we are ready, the program is receiving audio input now we should be good to go”
“Yeh uh you guys should go ahead I think I'm going to go check on the drive systems.. Uuh good luck!” I grab Rodney
“Hold on what's gotten into you, we just met aliens from another dimension and you want to bail now?”
“I have a phobia of animals okay, I got kicked real bad by a goat when I was a kid”
“Well that explains a lot. Now stick around I might need your help to explain some technical aspects of this ship and figure out what happened to theirs, your the only one who’s qualified, and besides their not animals their aliens Rodney, do I need to have Woolsey put you through cultural sensitivity training”
Rodney looked on quite timidly at my rebuttal of his word choice.
I returned to the group of venlil, Rodney kept his distance but Hermiod walked up and set down the laptop. I helped arrange the microphone and speaker so we could get a clear copy on the venlil.
It was good that Hermiod was there now that I think about it. He was much smaller and had the physicality of a plate of wet spaghetti noodles. Nobody the size of the venlil with their size and claws could reasonably be afraid of the skinny 4 foot tall asgard right?
I was partially correct, I think the order of emotion was fear, confusion, and then slightly less fear as they got used to the idea of a strange new alien race.
Hermiod gave me the go ahead and I proceeded to make a proper first contact with this alien race.
“Hello there, My name is John Shepard of earth, we mean you no harm, do you understand me?”
The Brown speckled one from before that spoke up
“Uh… Yes we can understand you, we have translators, What have you done with the captain and Nyan?” His words took a moment to translate, the asgard translation program really putting the laptop through its paces. But the synthetic human voice was clear enough.
“Our medics are sending them off to the med bay to check on them, we have never used a zat on your kind before, you can relax tho a zat is the weapon my buddy Teal’c here used to knock out your captain, perfectly safe where we come from but we want to make sure we didn’t your friends any lasting brain damage.”
“You predators…. But..You have medicine?”
Predators?
“What makes you think that they were predators? Not that you're wrong it's just that well… were kind of just a bunch of funny looking space monkeys with drastically receding hairline, and the only thing they predate on is bananas, Is this predator thing why your scared of us, I for one promise we won't eat you or anything weird like that, Id take it since you're scared of us that must also mean your herbivores?”
The Venlil looked confused, his ears; his voice having translated as masculine; returning to that odd little one up one down thing he was doing earlier.
“You're trying to trick me predator, you want to lure us into your clutches!”
He said weakly.
“Ummmmm, well not to sound threatening but you're already in our ‘clutches’, and we are trying to help you, we can't hope to treat your wounds if you are panicked and trying to shoot up the place”.
“You just want to be healthy to make us into cattle! or slaves like the small predator!” The venlil screamed weekly, as new life seemed to pump through their veins at this line of accusation.
“Woah Woah Woah, I'm sorry but your response infers that those arxur guys use your kind as cattle!?”
I glanced towards Teal'c returning a rare look of horrified confusion.
“They actually like, lock you up and make you guys umm.. you know?”
“You can't fool us human with your feigned ignorance, we have encountered your race before, you keep cattle just like the arxur did, you know nothing but war and kill your own kind, you gas your own children, your bloodlust knows no bounds!”
We weren't from this galaxy but his accusations did not, not apply to our version of humanity. I didn’t exactly wake up today expecting to have my whole species essentially put on trial by a small alien space goat from another dimension, fortunately Hermiod came in to pull my ass out of the fire.
“My race the Asgard have been observing humanity for some time, we are familiar with the events in which you speak, this level of violence and sadism is not unheard of for developing sapient species, all species have their problematic outliers and the humans who perpetrated those action were an unfortunately powerful but small outlier. You should know that modern and even ancient humans have proven to conduct themselves with honor and selflessness in the best of times, and while I may have my personal gripes with some members of the species”
Hermiod gives Rodney the side eye.
“They have proven themselves to be a valuable ally to Asgard, in safeguarding both our home galaxy and many others as well. They have earned both our friendship and our trust”
Teal’c spoke up ”The members of the Tauri have proven themselves to be formidable allies to the free Jaffa people as well, helping to liberate my people from the dominion of a parasitic alien race known as the Goa’uld”
The Venlil looked stunned for a moment but quickly turned orange with rage. “Predatorshit! That's impossible. You claim to be from a different galaxy, that trip would take millennia! Not even the fastest federation vessels could even approach the necessary speeds to think a predator race could implement a vessel that…. ”
Hermiod cut him off while raising one of his little nub fingers ”I think we should also mention that we are not from this dimension and that events likely diverge from that of our home dimension, considering we have never encountered your kind or the arxur, any trends or preconceptions you may have from this galaxy may not pertain well to ours”
I could see this furthered venlil's confusion. This was going to take all day If I didn’t wrap this up. He was stressed and I could tell he was trying hard to rationalize what we just said, being a man from the late 90s, whose job it was to drop in on renaissance era villages on a weekly basis, I was no stranger to culture shock, so I know you have to skip on a lot of the little details sometimes and push to the heart of the issue.
“Alright listen here, I'm sure you have a lot of questions, which I will be happy to answer, but you clearly have bigger issues right now. Listen, your ship exploded, and like it or not you asked us to help, we helped and now you're stuck here with us. We are going to try and help you people but we are not entirely sure how to do that, we have never encountered venlil before, and our guys are going to need your help to treat your wounded. While you are here you are under our protection and we are not going to let any harm come to any of you. All we need from you is to let our guys take a look at you before you all bleed out in our hangar bay”
The venlil regarded both us and their crewmates, looking back taking in their state the energy drained from his form, He was obviously concerned about us humans, he ducked his head down to return to converse with the others, clearly conflicted and struggling to come to a decision, while earth was in this dimension everything else seemed very different, there was no arxur or venlil in our home dimension, but apparently the holocaust or some equivalent event was a universal constant, who knew.
Our point man venlil returned.
“We will agree to let you treat our wounded, but we also want to make sure that our captain and the child are okay”
One of the ships medics approached the microphone with a placating gesture
“Your bio chemistry is very alien to us, if you could have a medic accompany us to our medical bay; where your captain is located; we could work with our scientist there to work on chemical treatment options and surgical solutions if the need arises.”
“That's a great idea” I said, patting the medic on the back to congratulate his initiative ”Kill two birds with one stone!”
The Venlil did not like that allegory.
After Action Report - Venlil Colonial Defense Force
Subject : Chief Engineer Donu
16 cycles till retirement, 16 cycles and a trusted old former apprentice would cycle in from Venlil Prime to take up my position and complete Nyan's training. The Boys youthful exuberance was a refreshing change of pace from the board journeymen that made up the rest of my staff. While they struggled to stay awake, Nyan never ceased to stare in wide eyed awe as I regaled him with tale after tale of daring escapes, and jury rigged engines. He would sit mouth agape as I showed him tricks and workarounds that the pencil pushers back in venlil occupational health and safety would gawk at. He graced my ears with a happy amused whistle as I told him about all the trouble me and the captain would get up to playing pranks on our antagonistic Krakotl instructor back at the academy. And while I enjoyed his company, almost thinking of him as a son or grandchild, my back wasn’t what it used to be and my joints far from as flexible as they were in my 20s, I always strived to be at the forefront of engine design and innovation, to push the horizon, but it was starting to get away from me, it wasn't as exciting anymore, my colleagues wished to settle into comfortable positions, settle down have families and in time so did I. In my later years after my children had settled down and husband had passed away due to a degenerative neuron condition. I took this post at the request of my long time friend Farva. An excellent posting, someplace quiet, isolated, to spend my waning years.
I suppose it was not to be, When the ship's reactor was hit, I made sure to get the crew out, they still had their lives to live. Me, I was on the way out, and I had one last job to do. The Radiation gently warming me like Venlil Primes sun on a warm day. It would have been comforting had I not had even the most basic radiation safety info well drilled into my skull. I knew what would begin to happen soon.
I worked to reroute and seal the cooling fluid, the pipes burned even through the safety gloves as I scrambled to turn off valves and apply fast acting sealant to the piping that was salvageable. I breathed frantic breaths through the muzzle like a respirator that covered my snout. The air grew hotter, life support failing to keep up.
I needed to be quick to keep the engine from overheating no matter what. We were running and couldn’t stop. I knew the stakes. I didn't let the captain finish her sentence when she tried to explain. She needed every scrap of power I could coax front this machine. And I was going to deliver.
As the radiation irreparably damaged my body on the cellular level, I did everything I could to give a fighting chance to my crew. I shored up the coolant lines to keep the engine as cool as I could for as long as I could, the heat would compromise the housing more, further distortion would only allow more radiation to seep through. As the engine core grew hotter and hotter, the remaining heat sinks bucked and warped under the strain. I cycled the remaining heat sinks to give them time to cool, Nyan on the bridge diverted power away from non critical systems, but it would make little difference, the warp drive was the power hungriest system on this ship by a long shot.
The heat was starting to get to me, as the captain sent word of a last stand. so I transferred engine control and heat-sinc management to Nyans station on the bridge. Some combination of heat sickness and radiation poisoning was starting to hamper my awareness.
I slumped against the console, the heat overwhelming me, my body had nothing left to give.
“Be good Nyan, Take care of Farva for me”
The warning lights around me faded out, darkness overtook me, I was at death's door, I suppose it should have bothered me more, but all I could think about was how disappointed I was, that I couldn't see this one last voyage to its end.
Suddenly The alarms stopped.
I opened my eyes, perhaps to see what the afterlife looked like.
Through watery eyes there was an ocean of gray.
A strong pair of arms lifted me and deposited me onto a soft welcoming mattress.
Gentle appendages poked and prodded.
A concerned voice deep but caring rocked through my bones.
An orange light winked into being, gracing my blurred vision.
My body ached.
But the strange light relieved me of that burden.
A coughing fit racked my body.
Metallic blood coated my lips.
But a warm paw and a soft cloth delicately cleaned me of the jettisoned life essence.
My tired eyes strained to see.
Past the light to the caring angel who chose to ease me of my burdens.
The light was mounted to the center of a paw, delicate graspers splayed out like a star.
Focusing harder, a flat face revealed itself.
Its eyes set forward, a snarl graced their lips.
They screamed aggression, hunger, the mark of a killer.
But those eyes, those piercing blue eyes, they spoke to me.
They spoke of care, concern, compassion, a silent promise that everything was going to be okay.
A warm blanket hugged my body.
Fresh water soothed my tongue.
That voice.
“Hang in there little guy, you're doing great. You've been through a lot but you can rest now.”
Assured my mind.

All living organisms need energy. This is a fundamental principle in biology: "All living organisms need energy to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments; metabolism is the set of the processes that makes energy available for cellular processes."
However, according to the laws of thermodynamics, energy cannot be created or destroyed but is transformed from one form to another. In the case of human life, if we eat a plant, energy is transformed from chemical energy from the plant and is use to sustain life. The energy is used for cellular respiration, which keeps us alive.
However, no energy transfer is completely efficient, and some energy is always lost in an unusable form, typically as heat or thermal energy. This loss of usable energy increases the entropy or disorder of the system.
Hence from all this we can conclude that it is usable energy that is necessary for life.
Life causes suffering and violence.
If usable energy is necessary for life and life causes suffering and violence, then by logical deduction, feeding usable energy to life causes suffering.
So one solution to reduce suffering is to divert usable energy away from life and instead convert it into unusable energy e.g. via combustion.
So for example, the sun provides radiant energy onto the planet. Plants convert this radiant energy to chemical energy. A human eats the plant and then proceeds to rape a child. Radiant energy from the sun is converted into suffering.
However, if the farm on which plants are grown were removed and replaced instead with solar panels and the electricity goes into an electric car or a bitcoin mining farm, the radiant energy is converted into either kinetic energy (the EV's movement) or thermal energy (dissipated from the bitcoin mining farm). An EV moving or thermal energy dissipating from a bitcoin mining farm does not cause any suffering. Hence by diverting usable radiant energy away from life and coverting it to unusable energy, we are reducing suffering.
All of us can contribute to depopulation by diverting usable energy away from life and converting it to unusable energy.

I recently had two miserable months with scabies, part of the European epidemic that’s going on right now (and has been observed to happen every 20-30 years). It kept coming back and I now realise that this was due to a combination of not knowing enough about the mite and not treating properly.
I have a background in academic research so I ended up paranoidly reading a huge amount of information over the course of the two months, including numerous academic journal articles with the latest evidence-based research on how scabies functions.
I’ve seen a lot of stress-fuelled spreading of misinformation and folklore on this sub and elsewhere online so I thought it might help if I made a summary of everything I’ve learnt so that you can get rid of scabies as quickly as possible if you have the misfortune of contracting it. I wish I had this information when I first contracted scabies. I recommend reading the whole thing, as I address various myths along the way. So here goes….

1. Symptoms and Diagnosis

1.1 Symptoms
The symptoms of scabies present as small itchy red dots and lines up to around 1 inch long on your skin. They’re usually concentrated on your hands but can appear basically anywhere on your body. As itchy red dots can be caused by a whole host of things, the more reliably diagnosable symptom is the lines, or “burrows”. They can sometimes look like small, partially healed cuts.
It should be noted that the first time in your life that you contract them, scabies mites can be living on your skin for up to 8 weeks without causing you to present symptoms because your body hasn’t developed a response to them yet. However, if you’ve had them before, symptoms usually occur within 1 week. Also, symptoms can take several weeks to heal after treatment.
You may experience large, itchy areas of skin, even if you don’t have visible symptoms on those areas. This itching may continue for several weeks after you have become clear of scabies. It is often worse at night.
You may also notice hard, red bumps on your skin, up to 1 inch in diameter. These are called nodules and they mostly occur on people with sensitive skin. It is where your skin has tried to essentially digest a dead mite that’s in your skin and it causes irritation. These can also last for several weeks after you’re cleared of live mites. (I experienced several of these on my thighs, under my left arm and on my scrotum (eugh) and still have them. At the time of writing, the first one that appeared has been there for about 1.5 months).
These last two symptoms are part of a phenomenon known as “post-scabies syndrome” or “postscabetic itch”.
1.2 Diagnosis
The only foolproof available diagnosis method is a “skin scrape”. This is where a sample of the skin on a symptomatic spot is taken and analysed under a microscope to see if living mites can be observed with a visual check. Therefore, without symptoms showing the doctor where to look, it’s not feasible to catch a mite wandering around on your skin. However, if a sexual partner or someone you live with has confirmed symptoms, you should operate under the assumption that you have scabies too.
Another method of diagnosis is the “ink test”. This is where a permanent marker is used to draw over the suspected symptom. Rubbing alcohol is then used to rub the ink off. If the symptoms are caused by scabies, the ink will be absorbed into the cavity caused by the scabies mite and will not rub off. This will leave either a dot of ink, or a line if a burrow has been found.
1.3 Flaws with Diagnosis Methods
1.3.1 Skin Scrape Method
It’s very difficult to diagnose scabies before symptoms begin, as skin scrapes must be conducted on a symptomatic area, because that shows where a mite is. It’s extremely unlikely that you would catch a mite from scraping a random bit of skin.
1.3.2 Ink Test Method
This method is not foolproof, as scratches and cuts can also have the same effect.
1.3.3 Testing Negative
There is no way to test whether you are “scabies negative”. A negative diagnosis can only really be achieved if you have been completely symptomless for 8 weeks after a possible infestation (meaning you never had it in the first place) or if you’ve stopped showing new symptoms for a couple of weeks after treatment. This is another truly horrible element to scabies.

2. The life cycle and behaviour of the scabies mite

2.1 What a Mite Looks Like
Scabies is a mite that can grow up to 0.5mm in size. It’s extremely unlikely you’ll be able to spot a mite crawling on the surface of your skin with the naked eye. However, it is possible to see them clearly under a magnifying glass or microscope. They can also sometimes be seen as a dark spot at the end of a burrow, especially if the ink test has been used. I personally managed to dig a mite, and possibly an egg, out of the end of a burrow with a pin and could see it walking around. I don’t recommend you do this because it’s generally not a good idea to dig around in your skin with a pin but yeah, it is possible to see them under the right conditions.
2.2 The Life Cycle of the Mite
When mites find their way onto your body, they crawl around looking for a mate. Once a male and female mite mate, the female will dig a burrow into your skin to lay eggs. While she does this, she defecates and slobbers around the burrow which causes an allergic reaction from your body - this, as well as the eggs, is what causes the itching. So the symptoms of scabies only start once fertilised females start digging burrows to lay eggs. It should be noted that the female scabies mite will NOT lay eggs in any other way. They do not lay eggs outside of the human body. They don’t lay eggs on upholstery. They don’t infest your pets. Some online sources will incorrectly suggest otherwise
Once the eggs are laid, it takes 3-4 days for the larvae to hatch. The larva then digs a new tiny burrow in the surface of the skin until it emerges as a nymph (which crawls around on the surface of the skin feeding on cellular tissue etc) and eventually matures into a mite. The maturation from egg to mite takes 10-15 days.
2.3 How Scabies Spreads
Usually, you will have around 10-15 mites on you when you’re infested. There is another type of scabies called Norwegian/crusted scabies where you can have hundreds of thousands of mites on you but this is very rare and you will absolutely know if you have this because you’ll get large crusty areas of skin. I’m not going to go into Norwegian scabies much here.
While there are scabies mites, nymphs and/or larvae on you, you are contagious. Scabies mites navigate towards hosts through heat detection and smell. Scabies is primarily spread through prolonged physical contact (sex, sleeping next to someone etc) and through living in the same space as someone (housemates, family etc). It’s very unlikely that scabies will be spread through a quick handshake or hug but it’s not out of the question.
Because you can’t become immune to scabies like you can with a virus or bacteria, it means that it can be passed back and forth between people very easily and consistently which is what makes it such a bastard to get rid of. At least with COVID, once you had it, the chances were it would go away within a couple of weeks and then you’d have some immunity for a while. Scabies is permanent if not treated and can be caught again at any time.
2.4 How Scabies is Affected by Its Environment
Scabies mites are very sensitive to temperature. Temperatures above 60C will kill them within 20 minutes and they will become immobile below 20C. Boiling water and steam will kill them instantly.
Scabies mites can sometimes leave the body and migrate onto other surfaces you come into contact with, especially bed sheets and clothes, but also upholstery etc. Generally, in a home, scabies mites can’t survive for longer than 72 hours away from a human host. However, some studies have found that below 20 degrees, they go into a sort of stasis and can survive for up to 2 weeks. The hotter and more humid their environment, the quicker their metabolism functions and the quicker they starve to death when away form a human host.
All of this will be important in the next section.

3. Treating scabies

Getting rid of scabies has two main parts: medication and environmental decontamination. You need to poison all of the scabies on your body and kill all of the scabies that may have found their way onto surfaces in your home.
3.1 Medication
There are three medications that are most popular for treating for scabies: permethrin, malathion and ivermectin.
Permethrin
The first line of treatment for many countries is permethrin (5%) cream. This cream is applied over every inch of your body (however patients are sometimes advised that they don’t have to apply it above their neck) and left for 8-12 hours. It’s important that you apply the cream to cool dry skin. For example, if you shower or have a bath and then apply the cream soon after, your skin may absorb and metabolise it too quickly for it to be able to kill the mites. During this time you mustn’t shower and if you have to wash your hands, you need to reapply more cream to them a.s.a.p. Permethrin works by fucking with the mite’s nervous system and stopping it from being able to respire. Due to the widespread use (and crucially; misuse) of permethrin cream, there are some descriptions of permethrin resistance from scabies. Personally, I believe I may have experienced this, as there were times when burrows would continue to get longer and more inflamed over the course of 2 treatments, suggesting it didn’t kill the mite inside.
Malathion
The second option is malathion liquid. It’s used if permethrin isn’t effective or if you have skin conditions/types that are irritated by permethrin. This is also applied to the whole body on cool, dry skin. However this has to be left on for 24 hours. This is what I used to finally get rid of scabies.
Ivermectin
This medication comes in the form of a pill. It’s a last ditch method (at least in the UK where I'm from), as it’s pretty potent and can cause some nasty side effects like diarrhoea and general stomach upset. Usually it’s only prescribed for Norwegian/crusted scabies so it’s very unlikely you’ll be prescribed this.
3.1.1 Medication Resistance in Eggs
It should be noted that scabies eggs have some resistance to medications which means those which have been laid before you apply the medication may hatch some time after you’ve applied and washed off the cream, leaving live larvae on your skin.
Therefore, it is absolutely vital that you do two courses of treatment one week apart if you’ve shown symptoms.
It’s also best practice to do this even if you haven’t shown symptoms yet. The week’s delay between courses allows all of the eggs to hatch but doesn’t give the larvae/nymphs enough time to mature before being killed by the second course (see section 2.2). Sometimes permethrin cream says to wait 14 days between courses on the instructions included in the box but almost all other sources recommend 7 days. (I have no idea why the medication suggests 14 days, as this is enough time for an egg to hatch and the larvae to mature. It’s also a much longer amount of time to be miserable and isolating). Anyway, during these 7 days, you are probably still contagious so you should ensure you’re isolating yourself as much as possible during this time. Many online sources say that you are safe to go back to school/work 12 hours after the medication has been applied but this is misleading and caused me and my partner to keep reinfecting each other because we thought we were no longer contagious.
3.1.2 Alternative Medications
I’ve seen sulphur and various essential oils suggested as alternative treatments to scabies. Sulphur is the only alternative treatment that is a valid solution. However, because it's less potent, it needs to be applied multiple times a day for 3 days with each round of treatment which isn't as practical and is a lot more work.
3.1.3 Medication to Help With Postscabetic Itch and Nodules
Postscabetic itch is caused by an allergic reaction to mite faeces, saliva and eggs so anti-histamines can be prescribed to help alleviate this. Skin steroids like hydrocortisone can also be applied to nodules to speed up the healing process.
3.2 Decontaminating your home
3.2.1 Decontamination Methods
Because some mites may have moved onto your clothes or surfaces in your home, it’s important to decontaminate these things to make sure that the mites don’t end up crawling back onto you after you’ve washed the medication off. You have a few options here:

1. Washing in a washing machine at a temperature of at least 60C for at least 20 mins
2. Leaving in a plastic bag for at least 72 hours (I would recommend making sure the room it is in is very warm to make the mites starve quicker)
3. Using a steam cleaner
4. Vacuum cleaning

Some places suggest using permethrin spray or smoke bombs but there isn’t any strong evidence that this is effective, as the dose of permethrin a mite would get from this probably isn’t enough to kill it.
3.3 Action plan
If you live with other people, it’s very important that you all do the following steps on the same day.
So here’s how I managed to finally get rid of scabies:

1. My housemates and I set aside enough clothes for a week and put all of our other clothes in plastic bags in a spare room with a space heater to make it really warm in there. This meant we didn’t have enormous amounts of laundry to do.
2. We washed all of our bed sheets and clothes for the week
3. We applied the cream to our whole body and changed into new clothes
4. We vacuumed all the carpet in the house and steamed all the sofas and mattresses
5. The next day, we changed into new clean clothes and washed our bedsheets again in case some mites on us had managed to crawl off our bodies before being killed by the medication
6. We showered to wash off the medication. (Leaving it on for more than the recommended time isn’t more effective, it can just irritate your skin unnecessarily.)
7. During the 7 week interrim, I kept track of the pre-existing symptoms I had by drawing on them with a sharpie. This helped me identify any new symptoms that had developed and not get panicked by old symptoms which I had forgotten about.
8. We repeated this process 7 days later.

4. Conclusion

Scabies is a truly horrible and lonely experience to go through but it IS possible to get rid of it. The main takeaways I want you to get from this are:

1. You must always do two courses of treatment 7 days apart
2. During these 7 days you are contagious

If I had clocked these two facts earlier, I don’t think it would have taken me two months to finally leave the living hell that was scabies.
If you still suspect you have scabies after following section 3.3, I suggest either trying it all over again, or going to a doctor for a skin scrape.
Feel free to comment or message me for citations. I was going to reference the whole post but it became a massive chore trying to relocate the articles I’d read previously. I’d be happy to find them on a case-by-case basis though!
I hope this helps, let me know if you have any questions :)

• “Bezisterim” has been approved as the non-proprietary name for NE3107
  
• Data shows how bezisterim may be restoring homeostasis via specific genes associated with dementia, metabolism, and inflammation
  

CARSON CITY, Nev., April 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioVie Inc. (Nasdaq: BIVI), (“BioVie” or the “Company”), a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies to treat chronic debilitating conditions including neurological and neuro-degenerative disorders and liver disease, today announced that an oral presentation and poster revealing additional data on how bezisterim potentially restores homeostasis was presented at the 12 th Annual Alzheimer's & Parkinson's Drug Development Summit held in Boston, Massachusetts April 23-25.
The presentation Clinical Outcomes and Biomarker Findings from a Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial of Bezisterim in Subjects with Mild to Moderate Probable Alzheimer’s Disease was presented yesterday by Christopher Reading, PhD, BioVie’s Senior Vice President, Alzheimer’s Disease Program.
The data presented were based on further analysis of data generated from BioVie’s Phase 3 trial in Alzheimer’s disease (AD) that was unblinded at the end of 2023. The DNA methylation dataset assessed the extent of DNA methylation on roughly 965,000 individual sites where methyl groups can be attached to the patients’ DNA.
“We all age and get older – nothing can change that. But these data provide evidence that bezisterim may have the potential to help keep people healthier for a longer time as we age,” said Cuong Do, BioVie’s President and CEO. “BioVie believes that DNA methylation may not need to constantly increase as we age, and thus the progression of age-related disease may not be uni-directional. Bezisterim is believed to be the first drug candidate that has shown in clinical trials the ability to modulate the level of DNA methylation, and do so in a manner that’s correlated with disease. But we are only at the beginnings of exploring the full potential of this unique molecule and how it can help modulate the progression of age-related diseases.”
DNA methylation is a natural process where methyl groups are added to the surface of DNA, thereby interfering with the body’s natural process for decoding genetic information. DNA methylation accumulates as people age and can be affected by behavioral (diet, exercise) and environmental factors. Hypermethylation of DNA has been associated with a large number of diseases, including age-related cognitive impairment and dementia, Parkinson’s disease (PD), various forms of cancers, cardiovascular disease (CVD), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and respiratory disease, chronic kidney disease (CKD), inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), sepsis and many others. 1 Inflammation has been shown to be a driver of hypermethylation of DNA, 2 and the extent of DNA methylation can be measured by various “biological clocks.”
Newly presented data show that patients treated with bezisterim experienced an age deceleration advantage over patients treated with placebo on four biological clocks, in addition to previously published advantage on the SkinBlood Clock 3 (-3.68 years, p=0.017). Age deceleration is the difference between a person’s biological age as measured by various DNA methylation clocks and their actual age since birth. A lower value is preferable and suggests that the biological age is lower than the actual age. Bezisterim-treated patients saw -4.77 years advantage on the Inflammation Age Clock 4 (p=0.022), -5.0 years advantage on the Hannum Age Clock 5 (p=0.006), -1.92 years advantage on the GrimAge Clock 6 (p=0.068), and -3.71 years on the PhenoAge Clock 7 (p=0.081).
Bezisterim’s ability to reduce DNA methylation appears to target 21 specific genes identified thus far. Statistically significant correlations were found between DNA methylation levels for 15 genes and various clinical measures for bezisterim-treated patients whereas such relationship did not exist among placebo patients. This suggests that the DNA methylation levels among placebo patients accumulated to such an extent that they disrupted the natural linkage between the gene and the clinical measure, and that bezisterim was able to restore such homeostatic relationships. One example of this phenomenon involves the transmembrane protein 237 (TMEM237) gene, which is associated with neurodevelopment delays. Significant correlations were found between improvements in the DNA methylation levels for this gene and improvements in various clinical cognitive assessments among bezisterim-treated patients whereas no such correlations were seen among placebo patients.
Additionally, placebo patients saw statistically significant correlation between DNA methylation levels for 6 pro-inflammatory genes and clinical measures, while bezisterim-treated patients saw no correlations. This suggests that bezisterim disrupted the negative consequences of DNA methylation that promotes inflammation and restored homeostasis.
The impact of DNA methylation and bezisterim’s activity can also be seen at a cellular level. Myeloid lineage cells (monocytes, macrophages, astrocyte and microglia) exist in a continuum between two extremes of promoting inflammation and tissue destruction (M1 and A1 state) and anti-inflammatory, phagocytic and tissue repair (M2 and A2 state). Placebo patients saw a significant correlation between their Monocyte DNA Methylation Clock and the monocyte levels in their blood samples. No such correlation exists, however, for bezisterim-treated patients, suggesting that bezisterim’s impact on DNA methylation may be changing the monocyte DNA methylome from a pro-inflammatory to an anti-inflammatory state (M1 → M2 transition hypothesis).
The name “bezisterim” has been approved as the non-proprietary (generic) name for NE3107 by the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council and World Health Organization (WHO) International Nonproprietary Names (INN) expert committee.
About Bezisterim Bezisterim (NE3107) is being investigated for Alzheimer’s disease (AD) and Parkinson’s disease (PD). BioVie has conducted and reported efficacy data on its Phase 3 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, parallel-group, multicenter study to evaluate bezisterim in patients who have mild-to-moderate AD (NCT04669028). Results of a Phase 2 investigator-initiated trial (NCT05227820) showing bezisterim-treated patients experienced improved cognition and biomarker levels were presented at the Clinical Trials on Alzheimer’s Disease (CTAD) annual conference in December 2022. An estimated six million Americans suffer from AD. A Phase 2 study of bezisterim in PD (NCT05083260) has been completed, and data presented at the AD/PD™ 2023 International Conference on Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Diseases and related neurological disorders in Gothenburg, Sweden in March 2023 showed significant improvements in “morning on” symptoms and clinically meaningful improvement in motor control in patients treated with a combination of bezisterim and levodopa vs. patients treated with levodopa alone, and no drug-related adverse events.
About BioVie Inc. BioVie Inc. (NASDAQ: BIVI) is a clinical-stage company developing innovative drug therapies for the treatment of neurological and neurodegenerative disorders and advanced liver disease. In neurodegenerative disease, the Company’s drug candidate bezisterim inhibits inflammatory activation of ERK and NFkB (e.g., TNF signaling) that leads to neuroinflammation and insulin resistance, but not their homeostatic functions (e.g., insulin signaling and neuron growth and survival). Both are drivers of AD and PD. In liver disease, the Company’s Orphan drug candidate BIV201 (continuous infusion terlipressin), with U.S Food and Drug Administration (“FDA”) Fast Track status, is being evaluated and discussed with guidance received from the FDA regarding the design of Phase 3 clinical testing of BIV201 for the treatment of ascites due to chronic liver cirrhosis. The active agent is approved in the U.S. and in about 40 countries for related complications of advanced liver cirrhosis. For more information, visit http://www.bioviepharma.com/ .
Forward-Looking Statements This press release contains forward-looking statements, which may be identified by words such as "expect," "look forward to," "anticipate" "intend," "plan," "believe," "seek," "estimate," "will," "project" or words of similar meaning. Although BioVie Inc. believes such forward-looking statements are based on reasonable assumptions, it can give no assurance that its expectations will be attained. Actual results may vary materially from those expressed or implied by the statements herein due to the Company's ability to successfully raise sufficient capital on reasonable terms or at all, available cash on hand and contractual and statutory limitations that could impair our ability to pay future dividends, our ability to complete our pre-clinical or clinical studies and to obtain approval for our product candidates, our ability to successfully defend potential future litigation, changes in local or national economic conditions as well as various additional risks, many of which are now unknown and generally out of the Company's control, and which are detailed from time to time in reports filed by the Company with the SEC, including quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, reports on Form 8-K and annual reports on Form 10-K. BioVie Inc. does not undertake any duty to update any statements contained herein (including any forward-looking statements), except as required by law.
For Investor Relations Inquiries: Bruce Mackle Managing Director, LifeSci Advisors, LLC bmackle@lifesciadvisors.com
For Media Relations Inquiries: Melyssa Weible Managing Partner, Elixir Health Public Relations mweible@elixirhealthpr.com
1 Wang Z Nucleic Acids Research , 2020, Vol. 48, No. 5; Sugden K Neurology 2022;99:e1402-e1413; Tang X DOI: 10.1002/mds.29157; Tabaeia S Artificial Cells, Nanomedicine, and Biotechnology, 47:1, 2031-2041; Qiu W Am J Respir Crit Care Med Vol 185, Iss. 4, pp 373–381, Feb 15, 2012; Rysz C Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2022, 23(13), 7108; Kraiczy J Mucosal Immunology volume 9, pages 647–658 (2016); Rump K Sci Rep 9, 18511 (2019). 2 Stenvinkel P doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2007.01777. 3 The Skin Blood Clock predicts lifespan and many age-related conditions. Horvath Aging 2018 Jul 26;10(7):1758-1775. 4 The Inflammation Age Clock measures the extent of chronic inflammation and predicts the risk of developing age-related disorders. Sayed Nat Aging. 2021 Jul;1:598-615.. 5 The Hannum clock is another clock to measure the extent of DNA methylation. Hannum Mol Cell 24 Jan 2013, 6 The GrimAge clock predicts lifespan and links the extent of DNA methylation “grim events” such as death. McCrory J Gerontol A Biol Sci Med Sci. 2021 Apr 30;76(5):741-749. 7 The PhenoAge Clock predicts a variety of aging outcomes, including all-cause mortality, cancers, healthspan, physical functioning, and Alzheimer's disease. Levine Aging 2018 Apr 18;10(4):573-591.
Disclosure: RedChip Companies, Inc. research reports, company profiles and other investor relations materials, publications or presentations, including web content, are based on data obtained from sources we believe to be reliable but are not guaranteed as to accuracy and are not purported to be complete. As such, the information should not be construed as advice designed to meet the particular investment needs of any investor. Any opinions expressed in RedChip reports, company profiles, or other investor relations materials and presentations are subject to change. RedChip Companies and its affiliates may buy and sell shares of securities or options of the issuers mentioned on this website at any time.
The information contained herein is not intended to be used as the basis for investment decisions and should not be construed as advice intended to meet the particular investment needs of any investor. The information contained herein is not a representation or warranty and is not an offer or solicitation of an offer to buy or sell any security. To the fullest extent of the law, RedChip Companies, Inc., our specialists, advisors, and partners will not be liable to any person or entity for the quality, accuracy, completeness, reliability or timeliness of the information provided, or for any direct, indirect, consequential, incidental, special or punitive damages that may arise out of the use of information provided to any person or entity (including but not limited to lost profits, loss of opportunities, trading losses and damages that may result from any inaccuracy or incompleteness of this information).
Stock market investing is inherently risky. RedChip Companies is not responsible for any gains or losses that result from the opinions expressed on this website, in its research reports, company profiles or in other investor relations materials or presentations that it publishes electronically or in print.
We strongly encourage all investors to conduct their own research before making any investment decision. For more information on stock market investing, visit the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") at www.sec.gov.
BioVie (BIVI) is a client of RedChip Companies, Inc. BIVI agreed to pay RedChip Companies, Inc., a $7,500 monthly cash fee, beginning in March 2019, for 12 months of RedChip investor awareness services. The CEO of RedChip Companies owns 3,150 shares of BIVI.
Investor awareness services and programs are designed to help small-cap companies communicate their investment characteristics. RedChip investor awareness services include the preparation of a research profile(s), multimedia marketing, and other awareness services.
--
Follow RedChip Companies, Inc. https://facebook.com/redchipcompanies https://twitter.com/redchip https://youtube.com/redchip https://www.redchip.com
RedChip Companies, Inc. 431 E Horatio Ave, Suite #100, Maitland, FL 32751 Copyright © 2019 RedChip Companies, Inc. All rights reserved. Disclosure: https://www.redchip.com/legal/disclosures Unsubscribe: https://go.redchip.com/unsubscribe136741

I'm working on a project which involves an engineered creature that is designed to maintain activity for long periods of time without breathing. Longer than even diving animals like whales and penguins do. Think 6 hours to a day as opposed to 30 minutes to an hour that these divers can pull off.
One problem which I've run into is that, when you're holding your breath for this long, simply adding more heme group proteins to the blood and muscles won't work. They're great as a short-term storage of oxygen, don't get me wrong, but they only hold about a 1000th of their mass in O2 molecules. We need something better for a long-term solution.
So far, I've managed to come up with 3 potential candidates:

• Storing oxygen as a pressurized gas. This is the simplest solution, but it's also the one I'm least convinced could work. Even if you manage to make a strong enough organic pressure vessel (who knows, maybe you're using spider silk or something), gases take up way too much volume even when compressed. The system could end up bulky and extremely dangerous.
• Storing oxygen in chemical form as hydrogen peroxide. Hydrogen peroxide is a powerful oxidizer that is generated in trace amounts as a metabollic byproduct in all aerobic organisms. Some organisms, like the bombardier beetle, are able to produce it on purpose in specialized glands, in concentrations exceeding 30%. Hydrogen peroxide breaks down readily and releases half its weight in oxygen. It is, however, an unstable and dangerous chemical.
• Storing oxygen chemically as nitrate salts. Nitrate ions are produced by soil bacteria as part of the nitrogen cycle. They are used by plants as fertilizer and by the human body as an electrolyte. They are also an oxidizer compound that can be broken down to release oxygen. Some anaerobic organisms are able to use nitrates directly in their cellular respiration pathways instead of oxygen.

Of these three options, which seems more promising and/or more plausible for an engineered organism? Or better yet, is there an option I haven't considered here that could prove even more effective?

Aerobic exercise is physical exercise of low to high intensity that depends primarily on the aerobic energy-generating process.
Aerobic and refers to the use of oxygen to meet energy demands during exercise via aerobic metabolism.
Aerobic exercise is performed by repeating sequences of light-to-moderate intensity activities for extended periods of time.
Examples of cardiovascular or aerobic exercise are medium- to long-distance running or jogging, swimming, cycling, stair climbing and walking.
To reduce the risk of health issues, 2.5 hours of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise per week is recommended.
Doing an hour and a quarter a week (11 minutes/day) of exercise can reduce the risk of early death, cardiovascular disease, stroke, and cancer.
Solely aerobic exercise is low-intensity enough that all carbohydrates are aerobically turned into energy via mitochondrial ATP production.
Mitochondria are organelles that rely on oxygen for the metabolism of carbs, proteins, and fats.
Aerobic exercise causes a remodeling of mitochondrial cells within the tissues of the liver and heart.
Aerobic exercise comprises innumerable forms, performed at a moderate level of intensity over a relatively long period of time.
Running a long distance at a moderate pace is an aerobic exercise, but sprinting is not.
Activities with brief bursts of energetic movement within longer periods of casual movement may not be aerobic.
Aerobic dance classes, are designed specifically to improve aerobic capacity and fitness.
It is most common for aerobic exercises to involve the leg muscles, primarily or exclusively: exceptions-rowing .
Moderate activities
Swimming
Dancing
Hiking on flat ground
Bicycling at less than 10 miles per hour (16 km/h)
Moderate walking (about 3.5 miles per hour (5.6 km/h))
Downhill skiing
Tennis-doubles
Softball
Gardening
Light yard work
Jogging
Vigorous activities
Brisk walking (about 4.5 miles per hour (7.2 km/h))
Bicycling at more than 10 miles per hour (16 km/h)
Hiking uphill
Cross-country skiing
Stair climbing
Soccer
Jogging
Jumping rope
Tennis (singles)
Basketball
Heavy yard work
Aerobic exercise and fitness can be contrasted with anaerobic exercise, of which strength training and short-distance running are the most prominent examples.
The two types of exercise differ by the duration and intensity of muscular contractions involved, as well as by how energy is generated within the muscle.
Both aerobic and anaerobic exercise promote the secretion of myokines, with attendant benefits including growth of new tissue, tissue repair, and various anti-inflammatory functions, which in turn reduce the risk of developing various inflammatory diseases.
Myokine secretion in turn is dependent on the amount of muscle contracted, and the duration and intensity of contraction.
As such, both types of exercise produce endocrine benefits.
Anaerobic exercise is almost always accompanied by aerobic exercises because the less efficient anaerobic metabolism must supplement the aerobic system due to energy demands that exceed the aerobic system’s capacity.
During anaerobic exercise, the body must generate energy through other processes than aerobic metabolism.
These processes include glycolysis paired with lactic acid fermentation, and the phosphocreatine system to generate energy in the form of ATP.
Allowing 24 hours of recovery between aerobic and strength exercise leads to greater fitness.
The body preferentially utilizes certain fuel forms depending on the intensity of exercise to meet energy demands.
The two main fuel sources for aerobic exercise: fat in the form of adipose tissue and glycogen.
At lower intensity aerobic exercise, the body preferentially uses fat as its main fuel source for cellular respiration.
As exercise intensity increases the body preferentially uses glycogen stored in the muscles and liver or other carbohydrates, as it is a quicker source of energy.
Aerobic exercise at low or moderate intensity, and is not a very efficient way to lose fat in comparison to high intensity aerobic exercise.
Lipolysis, or the hydrolysis of triglyceride into fatty acids, not fat burning by the conversion of fatty acid to carbon dioxide explains the intensity-dependent fat mass reduction.
The size of adipose tissue is determined by the magnitude of nutrient competition from muscle and lungs for cell regeneration and energy replenishment after exercise.
The health benefits of regular aerobic exercise are:
Aerobic exercise increases the production of neurotrophic factors that promote growth or survival of neurons, such as brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF).
Long-term effects of aerobic exercise may include increased neuron growth, increased neurological activity and signaling of Fos and BDNF, improved stress coping, enhanced cognitive control of behavior, improved declarative, spatial, and working memory, and structural and functional improvements in brain structures and pathways associated with cognitive control and memory.
Aerobic exercise increases the production of neurotrophic factors-BDNF, IGF-1, VEGF, which mediate improvements in cognitive functions and various forms of memory by promoting blood vessel formation in the brain, adult neurogenesis, and other forms of neuroplasticity.
Engaging in moderate-high intensity aerobic exercise such as running, swimming, and cycling increases BDNF biosynthesis through myokine signaling, resulting in up to a threefold increase in blood plasma and BDNF levels; exercise intensity is positively correlated with the magnitude of increased BDNF biosynthesis and expression.
Consistent aerobic exercise over a period of several months induces marked clinically significant improvements in executive function, the cognitive control of behavior, and increases gray matter volume in multiple brain regions, particularly those that give rise to cognitive control.
Consistent aerobic exercise over a period of several months induces improvements in executive functions and increased gray matter volume in nearly all regions of the brain,, with the most marked increases occurring in brain regions that give rise to executive functions.
Aerobic exercise affects both self-esteem and overall well-being including sleep patterns, with consistent, long term participation.
Regular aerobic exercise may improve symptoms associated with central nervous system disorders and may be used as adjunct therapy.
Evidence exists that exercise treatment efficacy for major depressive disorder and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.
The brain structures that show the greatest improvements in gray matter volume in response to aerobic exercise are the prefrontal cortex and hippocampus; moderate improvements are seen in the anterior cingulate cortex, parietal cortex, cerebellum, caudate nucleus, and nucleus accumbens.
Aerobic exercise may improve mood, and slightly reduced depression
Aerobic exercise has both short and long term effects on mood and emotional states by promoting positive affect, inhibiting negative affect, and decreasing the biological response to acute psychological stress.
Aerobic exercise strengthens and enlarges the heart muscle, to improve its pumping efficiency and reduce the resting heart rate (aerobic conditioning).
May improve circulation efficiency and reduce blood pressure.
May help maintain independence in later life.
Increases the total number of red blood cells in the body, facilitating transport of oxygen.
Improves mental health, including reducing stress and lowering the incidence of depression, as well as increased cognitive capacity.
Reduces the risk for diabetes, and aerobic exercise does help lower Hb A1Clevels for type 2 diabetics.
Moderates the risk of death due to cardiovascular problems.
Promotes weight loss.
Reduces the risk of osteoporosis.
May improve episodic memory.
Risks and disadvantages of aerobic exercise:
Overuse injuries of the musculoskeletal system because of repetitive exercise, with young athletes particularly at risk.
Overtraining syndrome may lead to persistent dysfunction of a number of body systems.
High volumes of training with insufficient calorie intake puts athletes—particularly female ones—at risk for relatively deficient energy.
High-intensity interval training has been shown to provide similar benefits in a fraction of the time spent exercising per week.
Most authorities suggest at least twenty minutes of aerobic exercise be performed at least three times per week.
​
https://standardofcare.com/anaerobic-exercise-2/

Hey 👋🏼
As an immediate preface - this is going to be a long one, a poorly formatted one, and I apologize for that.
I've been diving into some fascinating discussions about osmium after seeing it within all of the bodies so far.
Its been mentioned in just about every thread that osmium is the densest naturally occurring element, and to me that stood out as something of importance.
I decided to take a stab at exploring its potential applications in both technology and biomedicine focusing on its properties, assuming these are actually meant to be implants.
I want to walk y’all through why I believe osmium could be a game-changer and explore some visionary ideas that might seem straight out of a sci-fi novel today but could be North Star goals for tomorrow.
Osmium being densest naturally occurring element could be advantageous for signal transmission in certain contexts. Its high density means it has a large number of atoms per unit volume (literally the most), which could potentially allow for densely packed signal pathways.
In theory, due to its remarkable density and ability to conduct, electricity, there’s a potential use for osmium in nanoscale devices for ultra-dense data storage and high-speed computing, perhaps even pushing the boundaries into quantum computing (more below).
For optimal signals, osmium could excel in applications where signal integrity and reliability are crucial, such as high-frequency communication systems or precision sensors. Its high density could also make it resistant to external interference.
Conceptually, and again, this is a guess - if we could manipulate osmium on the atomic level, we could "print" or "mold" it into specific shapes tailored to the desired signal transmission pathways.
This would require precise control over the arrangement of osmium atoms, which is obviously farrrrr beyond our technological capabilities but could be achievable in the future with advancements in nanotechnology and atomic manipulation techniques.
I think the really cool shit comes in when you assume these same properties can be utilized within a biological implant.
Given the diversity and unique locations of the implants, I made an assumption that each one has a different intent/purpose. Stemming off of that though branch, I pondered if osmium implants were meant not only enhance neural functions, akin to projects like Neuralink, but also improve sensory and metabolic processes.
One could make an assumption if you have the tech for one, you have the tech for the other. I. Theory, these implants could lead to not only cognitive enhancements, but superior sensory perceptions (like night vision or ultra-sensitive hearing), and more efficient energy production within our own bodies.
I took a stab at plugging in some of these findings into an LLM, this is what it came back with, which I found fascinating.
“ Neural Enhancement: Similar to Neuralink, osmium implants could interface directly with the brain, enhancing cognitive abilities, memory storage, and information processing. The dense structure of osmium could potentially facilitate faster neural signal transmission, leading to quicker reaction times and enhanced decision-making abilities.
Sensory Augmentation: Osmium implants could be integrated into sensory organs, such as the eyes or ears, to enhance sensory perception. For example, osmium-based implants in the eyes could provide superior night vision or enhanced color perception, while implants in the ears could enable ultra-sensitive hearing or the ability to detect subtle changes in sound frequencies.
Biomechanical Integration: Osmium implants could be designed to seamlessly integrate with biological tissues, forming a symbiotic relationship with the body. This could involve osmium-based structures that mimic the properties of natural tissues, providing enhanced strength, durability, and flexibility.
Metabolic Enhancement: Osmium implants could interact with biological processes to optimize metabolism and energy production. By leveraging osmium's unique chemical properties, these implants could enhance the efficiency of cellular respiration, leading to increased energy levels and improved overall health.
Pheromone Signal Interpretation: Osmium implants could be engineered to interpret and respond to pheromone signals, allowing for enhanced communication and social interaction. By analyzing pheromone cues, individuals with osmium implants could gain deeper insights into the emotions, intentions, and social dynamics of those around them.
Efficiency Replacement: Osmium implants could serve as replacements for inefficient biological structures, such as aging organs or damaged tissues. By integrating osmium-based materials into the body, these implants could restore functionality and improve overall health and longevity.
Regenerative Medicine: Osmium implants could play a role in regenerative medicine by promoting tissue repair and regeneration. Osmium-based scaffolds could provide a supportive structure for growing new tissues, accelerating the healing process and restoring function to injured or diseased areas of the body.
Quantum Computing and Osmium: Building on the idea of using osmium for high-density data storage and high-speed computing, we can extend this to quantum computing. Osmium's dense atomic structure might be explored for developing quantum bits (qubits) that could operate under different conditions compared to more traditional materials like silicon or diamond. The manipulation of osmium at the atomic level could potentially create more stable qubits, which are crucial for the advancement of quantum technology.
Biocompatibility and Longevity: While the discussion mentioned osmium implants enhancing biological functions, it's also important to consider the long-term biocompatibility of osmium. This includes how osmium interacts with biological tissues over prolonged periods and under various physiological conditions. Understanding and enhancing the biocompatibility of osmium would be essential, particularly in reducing any potential toxicity or immune response, which could make or break its applicability in medical implants.
Osmium and Energy Harvesting: In the context of biomechanical integration, osmium's properties could be exploited in energy harvesting applications within the body. For instance, osmium-based materials could be used to convert mechanical energy from bodily movements or heat energy from body heat into electrical energy. This could power implanted medical devices, reducing or eliminating the need for external power sources or batteries.
Enhanced Molecular Sensing: Extending the idea of pheromone signal interpretation, osmium could be utilized to create highly sensitive molecular sensors within the body. These sensors could detect a wide range of biomarkers, providing real-time monitoring of health conditions. For example, osmium-based sensors could detect changes in blood chemistry, signaling the onset of a disease before more conventional symptoms appear.
Advanced Fabrication Techniques: While the concept of "printing" or "molding" osmium at the atomic level was mentioned, it’s worth exploring specific techniques that might be developed to achieve this, such as electron beam lithography or atomic layer deposition tailored for osmium. These techniques would be crucial for fabricating the intricate structures needed for the envisioned applications.
These are speculative ideas that push the boundaries of current scientific understanding, but they illustrate the potential of osmium-based implants to revolutionize human capabilities and redefine the relationship between biology and technology.
”
Anywho, I thought it was fascinating, and some of these concepts seem like they could actually stick given a sophisticated enough understanding :)
It’s alll food for thought but something I’d love to hear your thoughts on.
Edit: There's some people in the comments saying osmium is a rumor and that there's no source. I don't know why they're doing that, but they're wrong, here are (some of) your sources, they've been mentioned in the comments by other and I'm putting them up here for you.

https://m.jpost.com/omg/article-775733

https://m.economictimes.com/news/new-updates/1000-year-alien-bodies-with-three-fingers-metal-implants-displayed-in-mexico/articleshow/103636174.cms

Source: https://strangeuniver.se/posts/nazca-mummies-highlights-from-mexicos-second-congressional-hearing but you can find other places where the letter is hosted

In the rapidly changing world of online cryptocurrency casinos, Hugewin online casino uses security mechanisms to ensure the dependability and security of its gaming products. Gamers can rely on the game's robust architecture, which is designed to protect sensitive financial and personal data. Thanks to HugeWin's encryption and fraud detection technologies, gamers may also play in a safe environment without worrying about their safety. Play in a lively atmosphere at Hugewin online casino, where strategy, thrills, and real money wins come together to provide players with an amazing gaming experience and loads of bonuses.
One of the systems that makes positive all of its video games adhere to strict legal guidelines is HugeWin.com, which operates below tremendous gaming licenses. The on line casino game is assured to follow strict recommendations for impartiality and transparency with this license, and it'll be constantly observed and tested. each spherical is closely monitored via the government, so participants may be certain that the regulations are independent.
HugeWin is dedicated to providing the first-rate cellular gaming revel in, so customers can be positive they are able to enjoy their favourite live on line casino video games even when they're on the street. Hugewin's commitment to cell compatibility, which satisfies the demands of modern-day gamers who searching for accessibility and flexibility of their gaming reviews, is a sizeable function of its provider services. players can take part in real-time casino movement at any time and from any area thanks to the platform's correct cellular adaption. This optimization ensures the security and pleasant of the games on any tool. You ought to expect features like clean gameplay, easy navigation, and on the spot access to a large choice of stay casino games which might be ideal for smaller screens with out sacrificing the appeal of stay gaming.
HugeWin provides discounts on games, deposit bonuses, and tournaments in addition to a one hundred% welcome bonus. additionally, it offers a fifteen% each day compensation on misplaced on line casino video games and a 5% each day reward on sports. explore the Hugewin world to learn how novelty, entertainment, equity, and sizable bonuses will come collectively to supply every spin within the destiny of on-line casino gaming. Suck on a poem by way of Hugewin. there is extra to playing video video games than just having fun. For online gaming, we are establishing new benchmarks for satisfactory.
Hugewin.com
https://coinmarketcap.com/currencies/Hugewin/

Once upon a time, when I was a teenager, I read a slightly strange science-fiction book; I remember it quite vaguely now, even if rather fondly. Haven't got the slightest what the title was and who the author was, nor what exactly the plot was all about... but I do remember a lot of minor details about it. ChatGPT wasn't able to pinpoint it using the description below - I've tried - and I kinda have low hopes here, but still - might be worth a try.
So, the things I remember:

• Humanity has colonized quite a number of other planets.
• There was one planet that had a population descended from some African nation, which called itself the New Old-Nation-Names (something like "New Zulus", though it wasn't the word "Zulu", it was something else - can't remember what). The origin of this nation-state/nation-planet was at one point described: once upon a time, back on Earth, they split from the (very traditionalist) remainder of their people and chose to settle on a newly colonized planet. They hadn't exactly abandoned their old traditions, yet they had put a lot of intentional effort into reimagining them, adapting them to the modern era, which created some rather odd customs.
• Back on Earth they had a custom of youth traveling places as a part of a passing-into-adulthood ritual, exploring the world. They reimagined it as youth on their new planet getting a government-funded one-year-long trip around the colonized galaxy. I think this custom had a name, though I can't remember it.
• I'm rather certain that the book was originally written in English, but I've read it in Polish, so it certainly had a Polish translation.
• The book had a general feel of old American science-fiction, from the 60s, 70s, or 80s. Can't promise that it was written in that timespan, but it certainly had the right vibe.
• One chapter of the book, closer to the end than to the beginning, had a poem at the very beginning, describing the beauty of life - "life" as in "the biological phenomenon of life", not necessarily human life. As I've mentioned above, I read a Polish translation of the book, and I'm not quite sure how exact the translation of the poem was... but it started with something like "blessed be the mother cell, from which all things began" (meaning the first biological one-cellular organism ever) and, later, it had a phrase like "from water to the stars in a trillion generations" (meaning from water of the original ocean to the human colonization of space). I strongly remember considering this poem to be very beautiful, though I can't recall more than that. (I've been like ten when I read it, and now I'm thirty, so it's been some years, damn it.)

That's all I remember, and it's not that much... but I kinda hope at least the weird neo-African tradition and the poem are singular enough details for someone to recognize the bloody novel. Been kinda yearning to read it again for a good few years now, ever since I randomly remembered it, but failed to find even a hint of what it might have been called.

Literature – which is art married to thought, and realization untainted by reality – seems to me the end towards which all human effort would have to strive, if it were truly human and not just a welling up of our animal self. To express something is to conserve its virtue and take away its terror. Fields are greener in their description than in their actual greenness. Flowers, if described with phrases that define them in the air of the imagination, will have colours with a durability not found in cellular life.
What moves lives. What is said endures. There’s nothing in life that’s less real for having been well described. Small-minded critics point out that such-and-such poem, with its protracted cadences, in the end says merely that it’s a nice day. But to say it’s a nice day is difficult, and the nice day itself passes on. It’s up to us to conserve the nice day in a wordy, florid memory, sprinkling new flowers and new stars over the fields and skies of the empty, fleeting outer world.
Everything is what we are, and everything will be, for those who come after us in the diversity of time, what we will have intensely imagined – what we, that is, by embodying our imagination, will have actually been. The grand, tarnished panorama of History amounts, as I see it, to a flow of interpretations, a confused consensus of unreliable eyewitness accounts. The novelist is all of us, and we narrate whenever we see, because seeing is complex like everything.

I was thinking about alien races for my setting, and one of my ideas was a world in which single-cellular life never developed photosynthesis, thus the planet never became oxygen rich and the complex life use a different form of respiration to survive. As far as I know, the introduction of oxygen into the Earth's atmosphere killed a large percentage of simple life because oxygen was toxic to those organisms (correct me if I'm wrong), which is what inspired me to make this sort of planetary ecosystem that humans would die in because of the lack of oxygen, whereas organisms from this planet would die on Earth because of the presence of oxygen, which I thought was interesting. But I thought about how it happened on Earth with how photosynthesizing lifeforms allowed for other lifeforms, such as the later animals, to respire easily, ensuring a cycle of carbon dioxide to oxygen and oxygen to carbon dioxide again and again through photosynthesis and respiration. I don't know if there could be an equivalent process with something like nitrogen, since I'm not familiar with the nitty gritty of how it all works.
I greatly appreciate any and all advice/feedback people can give for my setting; I just want to have a basic understanding of how alternative respiration cycles could work without oxygen.

In order to understand Genesis, we need to talk about LOVELESS.
Why do we want to understand Genesis? Because he's a thread of the overall Compilation of VII that hasn't yet shown up in the Remake project in a meaningful way, and it feels likely he may become relevant in FF7R3 as a surprise twist on the story.
Let's review what we know so far. And yeah, it's... it's a LOT.
deep breath

CRISIS CORE

Quick review, Genesis and Angeal are the results of Project G, another branch of the JENOVA Project, where Project S created Sephiroth. The plot of Crisis Core (the FF7 prequel starring Zack) focuses on Genesis seeking a cure for his cellular degradation, Angeal struggling with the knowledge of his true nature, and sets up Sephiroth's downfall in Nibelheim.

• Throughout the game, Genesis CONSTANTLY quotes from the poem LOVELESS, and whenever he's asked to explain what he means, he laughs it off by saying that there are many different interpretations of the work.
• But since Crisis Core is the only game Genesis features in, it's the only source of knowledge about Genesis, which means we need to study LOVELESS in order to get any information about him.

During the game, Genesis first characterizes himself as the Hero, Angeal as the Prisoner, and Sephiroth as the Wanderer. His “gift of the goddess” that he seeks is the cure for his degradation, which puts him in conflict with Angeal (who wants to help Genesis but doesn’t know how, and who struggles with his nature as a monster) and Sephiroth (who has the solution for Genesis but doesn’t know it, until Genesis accuses him of being the perfect monster, which drives Sephiroth insane).
By the end of the game, he casts Zack as the Prisoner, but after Zack defeats him, Genesis realizes that ZACK is the Hero, while Genesis himself is the Prisoner, and Angeal is (for some reason) the Wanderer. Ultimately, the conclusion is that Zack completes the reenactment of LOVELESS for Genesis, as Zack bears Angeal's (the Prisoner's) pride and Sephiroth's (the Wanderer's) cells, both of which are characterized as the gift of the goddess, for into a reunion for the benefit of the Hero (Genesis). Meanwhile, the “actual” gift of the goddess is the Goddess materia that cures Genesis of his degradation.

• Keep this in mind: the key detail of Zack's romance with Aerith in CC echoes the narrative role of the Prisoner, who in the course of his imprisonment falls in love with a woman but must be parted from her. Genesis himself may or may not know about this.
• Another final note: Crisis Core is a prequel to FF7, and critically, at the end of the game, Genesis survives everything that happens and is extracted by Weiss and Nero before being taken to DEEPGROUND. The story for the FF7 sequel Dirge of Cerberus shows Genesis returning the favor for Weiss at the end of the game, which demonstrates that Genesis is alive and in the background during the main events of FF7. Which is one of the reasons why the "G Edition" of LOVELESS is probably Genesis himself providing an interpretation of the play while he cools his jets in DEEPGROUND.

FF7 REBIRTH (LOVELESS “G Edition”)

The opera begins with the image of humanity struggling, chaotic, aimless. The Goddess descends from the sky with her wings outstretched, visiting her blessing upon the people, and they begin to dance around her in harmony as she alights upon the ground and dances among them. (“When the end of days is come / the Goddess alights from heav’ns above / ‘Pon those Her blessing She doth Bestow / True happiness but they shall know”)

• It seems significant that when the Goddess lands, her wings disappear, and at that point, aside from her gold accessories she appears as human as the other dancers.

The three companions appear, at first unified, but then spinning away from one another and seemingly locked in combat with each other.

• In the spotlight scene where the three companions first appear, the red-cloaked hero (“The Hero”) first fights the blue-cloaked hero (“The Prisoner”) and appears to get run through.
• Cut to a scene before Guardia where the Goddess holds the Hero’s hand as two groups of dancers pull them apart from one another. (“One’s life cut short…”)
• Back in the spotlight scene, the Prisoner and the white-cloaked hero (“The Wanderer”) duel one another, only for the Wanderer to lose.
• Cut back to the Goddess, cradling the Wanderer in her arms, his eyes closed in death. (“...one slain…”)
• Back in the spotlight, the Prisoner’s sword falls from his hands as he appears to be in pain, and then he too falls to the ground, only to be embraced by the Goddess. She dances, and he rises again, dancing with her before Guardia. (“...naught but a prisoner doth remain…”)

We transition to the "audience participation" portion of the play:

1. The Jester introduces the city of Guardia, depicted as a mechanical city covered in gears and gold, which sets the stage for the coming story.
2. Alphreid is the Prisoner (who, based on the story we just saw, was separated from the Hero and was forced to slay the Wanderer in a duel, only to be imprisoned).
3. Princess Rosa frees Alphreid, and aids him in his battle against the Dragon King Varvados and Garm the Hellhound.
4. Defeated, Varvados taunts Alphreid one last time before disappearing with Garm.
5. Alphreid and Rosa stand before Guardia as it burns, destroyed by the battle. Rosa laments that Alphreid must leave, but Alphreid expresses his faith that he will return and find her, though she need not promise to wait. Which transitions into the show’s final number where Aerith, as Rosa, sings “No Promises To Keep.”

COMPARISON

Here is the text from Crisis Core:

Prologue
When the war of the beasts brings about the world's end
The goddess descends from the sky
Wings of light and dark spread afar
She guides us to bliss, her gift everlasting
Act I
Infinite in mystery is the gift of the Goddess
We seek it thus, and take to the sky
Ripples form on the water's surface
The wandering soul knows no rest
Three friends go into battle.
One is captured
One flies away
The one that is left becomes a hero.
Act II
Dreams of the morrow hath the shattered soul
Pride is lost
Wings stripped away, the end is nigh
There is no hate, only joy
For you are beloved by the goddess
Hero of the dawn, Healer of worlds
Act III
My friend, do you fly away now?
To a world that abhors you and I?
All that awaits you is a somber morrow
No matter where the winds may blow
My soul, corrupted by vengeance
Hath endured torment, to find the end of the journey
In my own salvation
And your eternal slumber
Act IV
My friend, the fates are cruel
There are no dreams, no honor remains
The arrow has left the bow of the goddess
My friend, your desire
Is the bringer of life, the gift of the goddess
Legend shall speak
Of sacrifice at world's end
The wind sails over the water's surface
Quietly, but surely
Act V
Even if the morrow is barren of promises
Nothing shall forestall my return
To become the dew that quenches the land
To spare the sands, the seas, the skies
I offer thee this silent sacrifice

And here is the text from FF7 Rebirth, roughly aligned with the acts they appear to take place in. And yeah, the version in Rebirth doesn't have enough content to align it with the Prologue and five acts of the CC version.

Prologue
When the end of days is come,
The Goddess alights from heav’ns above
‘Pon those Her blessing She doth Bestow
True happiness but they shall know
Act I To claim Her boon, a valiant three
Sally forth, heroes they would be
One’s life cut short, another slain
Naught but a prisoner doth remain
Act II Bereft of his wings, he falls from grace
Yet venerated is he in Her embrace
Act III
Now, though the cruel world hath forsaken us all
Will our hero ne’ertheless stand tall?

It's also important to note that I don't speak Latin (assuming that the operatic portion of the G Edition in Rebirth is in Latin) and while it may be simply how the opera is sung, it feels like there are a lot more lyrics that aren't actually translated in the subtitles. Anyone who has some knowledge on this would be very helpful, so sound off in the comments.

ANALYSIS

The G Edition, if we take it as Genesis refining his earlier interpretation of the poem further:

• Guardia, a gilded technological wonder that is nonetheless a blight upon the world, is a pretty on-the-nose representation of Midgar.
• Genesis again casts Zack as Alphreid the Prisoner, who set out to seek the gift of the goddess with his friends but was fated to be separated from them both.
  • The fact that Cloud plays the role of Zack/Alphreid is a cheeky reference to Cloud casting himself in Zack’s actual role during the Nibelheim mission. The blue cloak and black armor encapsulate Zack, Cloud, and Angeal’s respective color palettes.
• Genesis casts himself as the Hero (the red cloak evokes Genesis’ red garb) whose life is cut short, mourned first by the Goddess.
  • This is a metaphor for Genesis’ degradation being caused by Sephiroth and Angeal as an accident, but also lowkey demonstrates Genesis' drama kid tendencies when he puts himself in a prominent but tragic role.
• He casts Sephiroth as the Wanderer (the white cloak evokes Sephiroth’s distinctive grey mane) who duels the Prisoner for unknown reasons.
  • This is a metaphor for Zack’s duel against Sephiroth at Nibelheim, though in this scenario, Zack wins, while the Goddess coming upon a dead Wanderer mirrors Tifa finding the dead body of her father.
  • While it's not something that comes up in the course of the stage production, the fact that Sephiroth rises again to menace the world long after he's supposedly killed makes me think that the Wanderer, despite appearing to die, returns later in the story of LOVELESS.
• In showing the Prisoner collapsing, the story suggests that it is not battle that defeats the Prisoner, but something else (though exactly what is never made clear). It’s only through the intervention of the Goddess that the Prisoner survives.
  • This could be interpreted as a metaphor for the Goddess materia saving Genesis by stopping his degradation.
  • The element where the Prisoner appears to be in pain also evokes Cloud's headaches and hallucinations throughout the game.
  • In a sense, the part where aspects of the Prisoner appear to still represent Genesis rather than Zack/Angeal is another hint that he's kinda having his cake and eating it too, because he's convinced that he's the beloved of the Goddess.
• All of this is what leads into the second half of the play, where the Prisoner makes his escape with the aid of the Princess.
  • The roles of Varvados and Garm feel completely disconnected from everything else we know about LOVELESS, but the idea that they're part of a particular vignette in the larger epic (namely whoever it is that puts the Prisoner in prison) isn't a heavy lift, and they serve their roles as temporary villains well. (Real-world mythological collections like the Ulster Cycle contain multiple different stories that have their own casts of characters and might not have a strong central throughline, but take place in a shared space.)
  • Alphreid as the Prisoner and Rosa as the Princess are also new in that they give names to character concepts that never appeared to have them in CC or elsewhere, but it's also easy to interpret that they are the Prisoner and his love interest who are forced to part when the Prisoner returns to his quest for his friends and the gift of the goddess.
• The Goddess and the Princess appear to be distinct characters. At the very least, when Varvados challenges Alphreid at the end about what he'll find "at journey's end," he raises the question about whether Alphreid will succeed in getting the blessing of the Goddess... and if the Goddess and the Princess were the same character, that line feels like it would be out of place.
  • Both Cid in the original FF7 and Kunsel in CC have an exchange where they talk about the finale of the show. I'm not sure who says it, but one (or both of them) say that the lead character has a sister who is the one that exchanges the final lines with the hero. Given how romantic the relationship between Rosa and Alphreid is characterized in the G Edition, that seems like maybe it could be a mistranslation?

CONCLUSION

So... what all have we learned from this?
Mainly that Genesis is a little shit and I don't think anyone aside from GACKT is going to be happy to see him come back in 7R3, but I also think that if they DON'T deliver on him (to the same extent that 7R1 delivered on DEEPGROUND and Weiss/Nero to reference Dirge of Cerberus) then it's going to be a dangling thread from a game that feels like it should have resolved all the dangling threads.
Anyway, the main reason I wanted to collect all this information here is to try and centralize discussion and crowdsource some analysis from people who've been looking at the LOVELESS stuff since Crisis Core came out and still have no idea wtf is going on. So LAY ON!

As the title say, I've developed an ability for my MC Liam Radcliffe The 3rd and I would really appreciate some help with plugging up any holes I might've missed. First some context;
Liam is the youngest son of the Radcliffe family which is the 2nd richest family in the world. He is a trust fund baby type character. He is very arrogant, he's never had to struggle for anything in his life and is overall privileged. That said however, he is very determined and has a lot of mental fortitude. He has a very keen eye and is a quick learner which helps him alot in his job as a rookie agent of B.E.A.R.S, an agency that investigates and combats superpowered criminals.
Here's a little about my power system; The story takes place in the near future. During world War 1 a meteor entered earth's atmosphere where it burned up and spilt into smaller pieces. The pieces landed in several different locations across the glove. These locations would soon be known as "hotspots". At the crash sites, a new, crystal - like element was discovered. This element was called Dynecium. Dynecium has the ability to awaken a latent gene in some humans who came into contact with it that activated one special ability, often linked to the person's personality, within those individuals. By the time the story picks up, 40% of the world's population consists of E.Ps (short for enhanced person's) which is the name given to super powered humans. The powers are unique to each individual. Even two pyrokinetics, though possessing the same ability, would find that they work unique compared to each other. There are however universal rules when it comes to the abilities. All abilities stem from a unique mutation in one's DNA and all abilities have an activation prerequisite that range from, for example, a character might have the ability to control fire, but only if there's fire present to a character might have the ability to read minds but only if he's eating a sour candy.
Liam was born with a unique physiology. Instead of blood, his body runs on Hemogen D, a specialized substance that serves as both his circulatory fluid and the catalyst for his extraordinary ability. This unique substance flows through his veins, carrying essential nutrients, oxygen, and the latent potential for manifestation. When Liam activates his power, he commands his body's clay-like cells to take humanoid shapes, manifesting as life-size helpers that he can direct and control outside his body.
Activation Prerequisite: To activate his ability, Liam must consciously manipulate his Hemogen D, initiating a process akin to cellular transmutation. By focusing his willpower and drawing a small amount of the substance from within himself, he triggers a cascade of biochemical reactions that transform his clay-like cells into fully-formed helpers (helpers are like crimson faceless humanoid clay constructs). The amount of substance drawn dictates the number and size of helpers he can summon, with larger or more complex constructs requiring a greater metabolic expenditure. Under optimal conditions, where Liam has sufficient rest, energy reserves, and mental focus, he can reach the following maximum cap for creating helpers:

1. Basic Helpers: Liam can summon up to 250 basic helpers simultaneously. These helpers are versatile and can perform a wide range of tasks, from reconnaissance and surveillance to providing support in combat situations.
   
2. Specialized Constructs: Liam can create up to 50 specialized constructs at a time. These constructs possess additional features or abilities, such as wings for enhanced mobility, reinforced defensive capabilities, or specialized weaponry tailored to specific tasks or scenarios.
   
3. Bulwarks: Liam has the ability to summon 2 reinforced defensive bulwarks. These constructs are larger and more durable than his basic helpers, capable of providing formidable defensive barriers and absorbing significant amounts of damage in combat.
   
4. Colossus: As the pinnacle of his ability, Liam can summon one colossal humanoid construct. This amalgamated helper combines the strength and abilities of multiple individuals, rivaling the size and power of the Hulk himself. The colossus serves as a powerful ally in combat, capable of matching the strength and resilience of even the most formidable opponents.
   

So if Liam has 500 basic constructs on the field and he wants to create 1 specialized construct, he will have to sacrifice 5 of the basic constructs leaving him with 495 basic constructs and 1 specialized one.
Limitations:

1. Physiological Strain: Utilizing his ability places a significant metabolic strain on Liam's body, as he must redirect and manipulate his Hemogen D to form his helpers. This process taxes his cellular respiration and metabolic pathways, potentially leading to fatigue, metabolic imbalances, or other physiological complications if he overexerts himself.
   
2. Finite Resources: While Liam's body continually produces Hemogen D, there is a finite reservoir available for him to utilize. Summoning helpers consumes a portion of this reservoir, gradually depleting his internal supply over time. To replenish his reserves, he must rest and allow his body to regenerate the substance, restricting the frequency and duration of his ability's use.
   
3. Vulnerability to Trauma: Since Liam's ability requires him to draw upon his own internal resources, any injury or trauma he sustains can directly impact his ability to summon and control helpers. Severe injuries may disrupt the flow of Hemogen D or impair his ability to manipulate it effectively, rendering him unable to utilize his powers until he has sufficiently recovered.
   

Applications:

1. Defensive Constructs: Liam can summon helpers to create defensive barriers, shields, or armor to protect himself and others from harm. By shaping his clay-like cells into resilient forms, he can provide versatile and adaptable defenses tailored to specific threats or environments.
   
2. Offensive Maneuvers: In combat situations, Liam can utilize his helpers to launch coordinated attacks, restrain opponents, or engage in hand-to-hand combat. By imbuing his constructs with strength and agility, he can overwhelm adversaries with a combination of brute force and strategic coordination.
   
3. Utility Functions: Beyond combat, Liam's helpers serve a variety of utility functions, such as reconnaissance, surveillance, or assisting in medical procedures.
   

There's more info I could add but I don't want this to read like a novel. Thanks in advance.

One common objection to a diet based primarily on meat is that this will contribute to imminent climate catastrophe—climate change, global warming, increased greenhouse gas emissions, etc, usually followed up with the supposedly “axiomatic” claim that it's entirely unethical to kill animals for food alone, and it’s not sustainable. However, these objections seem to be based on a lack of understanding of the effects of monocrop agriculture on the environment, regenerative farming, the cruel reality of nature, and the GHG hypothesis itself.
The global warming argument states that greenhouse gasses, which are gasses in the earth’s atmosphere that consist of 3 molecules (water, carbon dioxide, methane) that store heat and warm the earth, due to human activities, have started to rapidly accumulate more and more, causing large increases in the Earth’s temperature, which, eventually, will lead to the deaths of millions upon millions of people due to heat shocks and hyperthermic events. In order to stop this, they say that human beings need to cut down on fossil fuel use, cut down on animal farming activity due to the amount of methane cows produce, make room for monocrop farming, among other things. Let’s say this theory is true—for now. Is agriculture really better for the environment than cattle raising in terms of greenhouse gas emissions?
According to the EPA’s report in 2015, beef as a whole represented only 1.9% of the total greenhouse gas emissions that year, which is much less than plant agriculture, transportation and industry, and electricity generation. Besides, people seem to completely fail to understand that methane emissions from livestock are also part of the carbon cycle and don't increase the amount of carbon in the atmosphere.
https://www.goodmeat.com.au/environmental-sustainability/biogenic-carbon-cycle/
Methane produced by ruminants goes into the atmosphere and is broken down to carbon dioxide after about 12 years.
The atmospheric carbon dioxide is then used by plants during their cellular respiration to make carbohydrates, and the cows eat those plants, releasing methane, and the cycle continues. Methane represents about 11% of the greenhouse gasses in our atmosphere - https://www.epa.gov/ghgemissions/overview-greenhouse-gases - and the majority of that methane comes from coal mining, natural gas usage, the breakdown of trash in landfills, and natural sources like wetlands and termites.
https://www.nature.com/articles/nature05132
The reality is that mono-crop agriculture, which is utilized to grow the majority of plant foods today, depletes organic matter by exposing deeper layers of the Earth to oxidation during tilling.
https://foodprint.org/issues/how-industrial-agriculture-affects-our-soil/
This damages natural ecosystems and further depletes the soil of the nutrients needed for proper plant growth. The amount of carbon dioxide that plants sequester from the atmosphere and use to produce the energy they need to exist will increase in soil that is healthy and nutrient-rich.
Monocrop farming depletes the soil of these nutrients, which results in less carbon dioxide being absorbed and more carbon dioxide being released into the atmosphere. Ruminant animals add organic matter to the soil, which improves soil quality, enables plants to sequester more carbon dioxide, creating a carbon-negative environment. Of all the greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, the loss of the soil is responsible for many of them - https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0009281916300551 - since the Industrial Revolution due to the fact that soil can hold more carbon than is in the entire atmosphere at this moment; there are about 7.82 gigatonnes in the atmosphere, and the soil can hold 3-4x that with photosynthesis from the plants.
There was a study done in 2006 that concluded that 18% of all GHG emissions were from livestock, but the study factored in feed, transportation, and processing as well, which vastly skewed the results. At the end of the day, placing cattle on nutrient depleted land actually restores the soil and leads to a carbon negative environment, not the opposite.
Additionally, the pharmaceutical sector alone makes significant contributions to GHG emissions. Instead of switching from a meat-based diet to a plant-based one, there are global estimates that people have applied to a dollar figure and have shown that based on pharmaceutical expenditure on the average adult with Type 2 Diabetes, if they were to stop taking their medication, they would reduce their carbon footprint by 29% - https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0157014 - and we know how effective a low to no carb diet is at putting diabetes into remission.
https://www.doctorkiltz.com/the-harvard-carnivore-diet-study/
Our ancestors were careful not to over-hunt or destroy the ecosystems due to the damage this causes to the earth in the long run. This doesn’t mean don’t hunt at all, and don’t eat animals at all. As can be inferred, this would be more negative to the environment than anything positive.

Introduction:
Ancient China stands as a testament to the ingenuity and sophistication of human civilization, with a rich legacy of technological innovations, philosophical insights, and cultural achievements. Amidst the vibrant tapestry of Chinese history, the study of ATP (adenosine triphosphate) and cellular respiration offers a fascinating lens through which to explore ancient Chinese perspectives on energy, health, and vitality. This essay delves into the intersection of ancient China and the dynamics of ATP & respiration, uncovering the historical roots of our understanding of energy metabolism.
Ancient Chinese Perspectives on Vital Energy:
In ancient China, the concept of vital energy, known as "qi" or "chi," formed the cornerstone of traditional Chinese medicine and philosophy. Qi was believed to flow through the body along meridians, governing the balance and harmony of the body, mind, and spirit. Practices such as acupuncture, qigong, and herbal medicine were developed to regulate and enhance the flow of qi, promoting health, longevity, and spiritual well-being.
While ancient Chinese scholars did not possess knowledge of ATP or cellular respiration in the modern scientific sense, their insights into the importance of energy balance and circulation offer parallels to contemporary understanding. The cultivation of qi through diet, exercise, and meditation reflects an intuitive recognition of the body's need for energy to sustain life and maintain optimal functioning.
Historical Contributions to Health and Wellness:
The ancient Chinese civilization made significant contributions to the understanding and cultivation of physical and mental well-being, laying the foundation for holistic approaches to health and healing. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, a seminal text dating back to the 3rd century BCE, elucidates principles of yin and yang, five elements, and the interplay of qi within the body.
Herbal remedies such as ginseng, astragalus, and ginkgo biloba were used to nourish vital energy and support metabolic functions, aligning with modern scientific findings on the bioactive compounds found in medicinal plants. Additionally, practices such as tai chi and qigong, characterized by gentle movements, breath control, and mindfulness, promote circulation of qi and enhance physical vitality, echoing the principles of cellular respiration and energy metabolism.
Exploring ATP & Respiration Through Ancient Wisdom:
While ancient Chinese scholars did not possess knowledge of ATP or cellular respiration in the biochemical sense, their insights into the dynamics of energy flow and vitality offer intriguing parallels to contemporary scientific understanding. ATP, often referred to as the "energy currency" of the cell, fuels cellular processes through the hydrolysis of its phosphate bonds, releasing energy for biological work.
​
The process of cellular respiration, encompassing glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and oxidative phosphorylation, generates ATP through the oxidation of glucose and other organic molecules. This metabolic pathway mirrors the ancient Chinese concept of transforming qi derived from food and breath into usable energy for the body's physiological functions.
Conclusion:
The study of ATP & respiration provides a bridge between ancient wisdom and modern science, revealing the interconnectedness of human health, energy metabolism, and cultural perspectives on vitality. Through exploring ancient Chinese perspectives on vital energy and wellness, we gain insights into the holistic principles that underpin both traditional medicine and contemporary biomedicine.
As we continue to unravel the mysteries of energy metabolism and cellular physiology, we can draw inspiration from the timeless wisdom of ancient civilizations, honoring their legacies while advancing our understanding of the fundamental processes that sustain life. By embracing a holistic approach to health that integrates body, mind, and spirit, we can cultivate vitality and well-being in harmony with the natural rhythms of the universe.