Category Archives: Mind Building

Build a strong character

High-speed microscope captures fleeting brain signals

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Electrical and chemical signals flash through our brains constantly as we move through the world, but it would take a high-speed camera and a window into the brain to capture their fleeting paths.

University of California, Berkeley, investigators have now built such a camera: a microscope that can image the brain of an alert mouse 1,000 times a second, recording for the first time the passage of millisecond electrical pulses through neurons.

“This is really exciting, because we are now able to do something that people really weren’t able to do before,” said lead researcher Na Ji, a UC Berkeley associate professor of physics and of molecular and cell biology.

The new imaging technique combines two-photon fluorescence microscopy and all-optical laser scanning in a state-of-the-art microscope that can image a two-dimensional slice through the neocortex of the mouse brain up to 3,000 times per second. That’s fast enough to trace electrical signals flowing through brain circuits.

With this technique, neuroscientists like Ji can now clock electrical signals as they propagate through the brain and ultimately look for transmission problems associated with disease.

One key advantage of the technique is that it will allow neuroscientists to track the hundreds to tens of thousands of inputs any given brain cell receives from other brain cells, including those that don’t trigger the cell to fire. These sub-threshold inputs — either exciting or inhibiting the neuron — gradually add up to a crescendo that triggers the cell to fire an action potential, passing information along to other neurons.

From electrodes to fluorescence imaging

The typical method for recording electrical firing in the brain, via electrodes embedded in the tissue, detects only blips from a few neurons as the millisecond voltage changes pass by. The new technique can pinpoint the actual firing neuron and follow the path of the signal, millisecond by millisecond.

“In diseases, many things are happening, even before you can see neurons firing, like all the subthreshold events,” said Ji, a member of UC Berkeley’s Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute. “We’ve never looked at how a disease will change with subthreshold input. Now, we have a handle to address that.”

Ji and her colleagues reported the new imaging technique in the March issue of the journal Nature Methods. In the same issue, she and other colleagues also published a paper demonstrating a different technique for imaging calcium signaling over much of an entire hemisphere of the mouse brain at once, one that uses a wide-field-of-view “mesoscope” with two-photon imaging and Bessel focus scanning. Calcium concentrations are linked with voltage changes as signals are transmitted through the brain.

“This is the first time anyone has shown in three dimensions the neural activity of such a large volume of the brain at once, which is far beyond what electrodes can do,” Ji said. “Furthermore, our imaging approach gives us the ability to resolve the synapses of each neuron.”

Synapses are the spots where neurotransmitters are released by one neuron to excite or inhibit another.

One of Ji’s goals is to understand how neurons interact across large areas of the brain and eventually locate diseased circuits linked to brain disorders.

“In brain disorders, including neurodegenerative disease, it’s not just a single neuron or a few neurons that get sick,” Ji said. “So, if you really want to understand these illnesses, you want to be able to look at as many neurons as possible over different brain regions. With this method, we can get a much more global picture of what is happening in the brain.”

Two-photon microscopy

Ji and her colleagues are able to peer into the brain thanks to probes that can be pinned to specific types of cells and become fluorescent when the environment changes. To track voltage changes in neurons, for example, her team employed a sensor developed by co-author Michael Lin of Stanford University that becomes fluorescent when the cell membrane depolarizes as a voltage signal propagates along the cell membrane.

The researchers then illuminate these fluorescent probes with a two-photon laser, which makes them emit light, or fluoresce, if they have been activated. The emitted light is captured by a microscope and combined into a 2D image that shows the location of the voltage change or the presence of a specific chemical, such as the signaling ion, calcium.

By rapidly scanning the laser over the brain, much like a flashlight that gradually reveals the scene inside a darkened room, researchers are able to obtain images of a single, thin layer of the neocortex. The team was able to conduct 1,000 to 3,000 full 2D scans of a single brain layer every second by replacing one of the laser’s two rotating mirrors with an optical mirror — a technique called free-space angular-chirp-enhanced delay (FACED). FACED was developed by paper co-author Kevin Tsia at the University of Hong Kong.

The kilohertz imaging not only revealed millisecond changes in voltage, but also more slowly changing concentrations of calcium and glutamate, a neurotransmitter, as deep as 350 microns (one-third of a millimeter) from the brain’s surface.

To obtain rapid 3D images of the movement of calcium through neurons, she combined two-photon fluorescent microscopy with a different technique, Bessel focus scanning. To avoid time-consuming scans of every micron-thick layer of the neocortex, the excitation focus of the two-photon laser is shaped from a point to a small cylinder, like a pencil, about 100 microns in length. This pencil beam is then scanned at six different depths through the brain, and the fluorescent images are combined to create a 3D image. This allows more rapid scanning with little loss of information because in each pencil-like volume, typically only one neuron is active at any time. The mesoscope can image an area about 5 mm in diameter — nearly a quarter of one hemisphere of the mouse brain — and 650 microns deep, close to the full depth of the neocortex, which is involved in complex information processing.

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Researchers find brain cell that triggers tremor and how to control it

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Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine and the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute at Texas Children’s Hospital have improved our understanding of how tremor — the most common movement disorder — happens, opening the possibility of novel therapies for this condition.

Working with animal models, the researchers discovered that a particular brain cell type, known as the Purkinje cell, triggers tremor when its pattern of signaling to other neurons changes from a regular pattern to signaling in bursts. The altered signaling pattern returned to normal and the tremor stopped when the animals were treated with deep-brain stimulation directed at a group of cerebellar neurons that communicate with Purkinje cells. The study appears in the journal eLife.

“Tremor is an involuntary, rhythmic shaking movement in one or more parts of the body. Available treatments are not always effective and the development of novel therapies to help people with this condition has been limited in part by not knowing what cell types are involved,” said first author Amanda M. Brown, graduate student in the lab of Dr. Roy Sillitoe at Baylor. “In this study, we looked at the underlying brain activity that is associated with this condition in animal models and discovered that Purkinje cells in the cerebellum can trigger and propagate the signals for tremor.”

There are different categories of tremor. Some can be intermittent or constant and occur sporadically, or some can be associated with many other neurological disorders, such as Parkinson’s disease, ataxia or dystonia. Although tremor as a condition is not life-threatening, it can be disabling or make essential daily tasks, such as eating, drinking and walking, difficult.

Purkinje cells play an active role in tremor

Previous studies had hinted that having defective Purkinje cells in the cerebellum, a brain area involved in movement, balance and coordination and other functions, seemed to contribute to the generation of tremor. These findings led Brown and her colleagues to directly test this possibility.

First, they genetically removed the Purkinje cells’ ability to communicate with other cells in the mouse models, expecting that these mice would develop tremor.

“Surprisingly, we saw no tremor,” Brown said. “This told us that the activity, rather than loss of activity, of Purkinje cells was important for causing tremor. Purkinje cells had to be able to signal other brain cells for tremor to occur.”

But, what type of signal would trigger tremor?

To answer this question, Brown and her colleagues placed electrodes into the brain of mice and recorded the activity of Purkinje cells during tremor and at normal state.

“We found that at normal state, the signals Purkinje cells send to other brain cells follow a regular pattern of activity, but during tremor, the signals come in bursts,” Brown said.

Further experiments showed that it was this burst-like activity that triggered tremor. The experiments used a technique called optogenetics, which allows scientists to control brain activity with light. Brown and colleagues designed their optogenetics method to purposely make Purkinje cells signal in bursts. When the researchers triggered a burst-like activity, the animals had a tremor.

“By varying the frequency of the signal produced by Purkinje cells, we were able to vary the frequency of the tremor,” Brown said. “This suggests that the cerebellum may be involved in many different kinds of tremor disorders.”

Stopping tremor with deep brain stimulation

Currently, for individuals who have tremor that is not responding to drug treatment, deep-brain stimulation usually is recommended and typically directed to a brain region called the thalamus, which receives input from the cerebellum among other places. This treatment usually is helpful, Brown explained, but over time it can become less effective. The researchers were hoping to identify a new target location for treatment that could add benefits and potentially last longer.

The researchers set up an experimental system that enabled them to begin deep brain stimulation only when a mouse had a tremor. The results were exciting and encouraging. They showed that deep-brain stimulation of the cerebellum can successfully reduce tremor severity to normal levels.

“It was very exciting to see that cerebellar deep brain stimulation can stop the most severe tremors in mice,” said Sillitoe, corresponding author and associate professor of pathology and immunology and of neuroscience at Baylor and Texas Children’s. Sillitoe also is the co-director of the Development, Disease Models and Therapeutics Graduate Program at Baylor. “Although these findings are promising, there is still much work to do before we can bring this approach to the clinic.”

Other contributors to this work include Joshua J. White, Meike E. van der Heijden, Joy Zhou and Tao Lin.

This work was supported by Baylor College of Medicine, Texas Children’s Hospital, the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (grants F31NS101891, F31NS092264, R01NS089664 and R01NS100874), the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (U54HD083092) and a BCM IDDRC Project Development Award. Further support was provided by the Hamill Foundation, the Mrs. Clifford Elder White Graham Endowed Research Fund and the Bachmann-Strauss Dystonia and Parkinson Foundation, Inc.

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Health24.com | WATCH | Can you self-isolate your pet?

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The information on Health24 is for educational purposes only, and is not intended as medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. If you are experiencing symptoms or need health advice, please consult a healthcare professional. See additional information.

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Health24.com | What you need to know about the new coronavirus if you have asthma

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If you have asthma, you are among those at greatest risk in the coronavirus pandemic and must take precautions, the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) says.

It’s important to keep your asthma well-controlled, so continue your medications. No asthma medications – including inhaled corticosteroids and biologics – have been shown to increase the risk of picking up the Covid-19 virus, according to the ACAAI.

And, the group added, if you do get the virus, there’s no information that asthma medications will make your infection worse.

The ACAAI recommends contacting your allergist if you have any questions, have trouble breathing or your asthma symptoms become more severe.

Other people at higher risk from the coronavirus include the elderly, and people with immunodeficiency or other chronic conditions that weaken the immune system.

Keep control

For now, the ACAAI is advising those with asthma or who may have immunodeficiency to continue with treatments. Nebulizers should be used and cleaned properly. It’s important that your asthma remains well-controlled.

So far, 80% of coronavirus cases are mild and last for a limited time. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath.

The ACAAI is advising people to follow these US Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and Prevention recommendations:

  • Stay at least 2m away from people who are sick.
  • Don’t touch your eyes, nose or mouth.
  • Wash your hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds or use a hand sanitiser that contains at least 60% alcohol.
  • Use tissues to cover coughs and sneezes, then discard tissue immediately.
  • Clean/disinfect objects and surfaces that are touched often.
  • If you’re sick, stay at home.

READ | Coronavirus: What are the criteria for a suspected case?

READ | Yes, kids CAN still get coronavirus, but this is what you should know

READ | How long can coronavirus survive in the air and on surfaces; and why do you need to wash your hands?

Image credit: Getty Images

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Health24.com | How long can coronavirus survive in the air and on surfaces; and why do you need to wash your hands?

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Whenever we see images of the coronavirus pandemic in the news, we associate it with hazmat suits and people deep-cleaning healthcare settings and places where people might have been exposed to the virus.

By now we know that the new coronavirus, officially named SARS-CoV-2, but better known as the Covid-19 virus, is spread by droplets through coughing, sneezing, touching and talking, but researchers are still working hard to determine exactly why this virus is spreading so rapidly.

A new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine explores the viability of the Covid-19 virus on certain surfaces.

What the researchers tested

For the purpose of this study, the researchers from several institutions, including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the University of California, tested the viability of both the Covid-19 virus and the SARS virus on plastic, in aerosols, on stainless steel, copper and cardboard.

It showed that the Covid-19 virus was more stable on hard, none-porous surfaces such as plastic and stainless steel than on copper and cardboard. The virus was detected for up to 72 hours after exposure on plastic and stainless steel, even though it became a bit weaker and less infectious later on.

The Covid-19 virus remained viable in aerosols for three hours after exposure, but also showed a decline in potency. 

The research also showed that the Covid-19 virus was able to survive a little longer on all surfaces than the SARS virus, even though both viruses seemed a bit less contagious after a while.

What this means for your safety

Right now, you might not be able to control surfaces in public spaces, even though efforts are being made to sanitise as much as possible in our environment. This is why it’s vital to wash or sanitise your hands before touching your face and eyes.

What you can do

According to the WHO, there are a couple of things you can do to protect yourself, especially keeping in mind that the virus can remain viable on surfaces. They suggest the following:

  • Wash your hands meticulously for up to 20 seconds, especially after doing grocery shopping, touching public surfaces, going to the bathroom and before touching your face.
  • Listen to any governmental advice and practise self-isolation. This is not to spread panic, but simply to eliminate the spread of the virus in public areas.
  • Keep your distance from other people in public, especially in the queues and near counters in supermarkets. Respect the personal space of anyone working in shops.
  • Keep your own house clean when coming in from outside. Regularly wipe your kitchen and bathroom surfaces with a disinfectant cleaner.
  • Cover your mouth with a disposable tissue or a flexed elbow when you cough or sneeze. This will avoid droplets being spread onto surfaces through hands.
  • If you yourself are prone to coughing and sneezing and worried about spreading droplets, or if you are caring for someone who is sick, wear a protective mask around your mouth and nose. 

Image credit: iStock

Compiled by Marelize Wilke

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Health24.com | Another study finds the new coronavirus typically mild for kids

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New research adds to evidence that children infected with the new coronavirus have less severe symptoms than infected adults.

Researchers analysed the cases of 731 children in China with laboratory test-confirmed cases of the coronavirus and 1 412 children who were suspected of having the Covid-19 virus.

Most of those 2 143 cases were mild, and only one child died. Close to 6% of the children’s cases were severe or critical, compared with 18.5% of cases in adults.

The study was published online in the journal Pediatrics.

Different immune response?

It’s not clear why children with the Covid-19 virus tend not to become as ill as adults.

“There could be a number of reasons,” said Dr Bonnie Maldonado, chair of the AAP Committee on Infectious Diseases.

“It’s possible that the receptor for the virus may not be in the same configuration in children as adults. It’s possible that there were just more adults who were tested because that has been the focus,” said Maldonado, who was not involved with the latest study. “However, there have been other studies of pregnant women and children who did not have as severe disease.

“I suspect the immune response of children is different,” she said. “Their immune system is young and evolving.”

The coronavirus “especially seems to be sparing young children”, Maldonado noted.

The researchers also said their study provides strong evidence of person-to-person transmission of the coronavirus.

Studies needed asap

More than 90% of all the children in the study were asymptomatic or showed mild or common forms of illness – and about 13% of the children who tested positive for the virus didn’t have symptoms of illness, a rate that “almost certainly understates the true rate of asymptomatic infection, since many asymptomatic children are unlikely to be tested”, Dr Andrea Cruz and Dr Steven Zeichner wrote in an accompanying editorial.

Many questions need to be answered, according to Maldonado.

“Studies need to be done as soon as possible to understand the differential impact between adults and children, because that information could be helpful,” she said.

When people have symptoms of the disease, it might be possible to contain it faster, but it’s unknown if children with no symptoms of illness can spread the coronavirus to others, Maldonado said.

A different study from China recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that while infants can become infected with the coronavirus, their illness is milder than in older people and in those with chronic health problems.

Another Chinese study found that even though children infected with the coronavirus typically have only mild symptoms, they can shed the coronavirus long after they no longer have symptoms. The research was published in Nature Medicine.

WATCH | How coronavirus hijacks a body

READ | Yes, kids CAN still get coronavirus, but this is what you should know

READ | Babies are spared severe symptoms of the new coronavirus

Image credit: iStock

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Coronavirus: NHS staff ‘at risk’ over lack of protective gear

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Health workers feel like “cannon fodder” as they don’t have equipment to keep them safe from the virus.

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Coronavirus testing rolled out to Wales NHS staff

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Frontline health service workers will be screened as capacity for testing is increased.

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The Stun Setting

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Lately I’ve been feeling like we’re living through a particular Star Trek: The Next Generation episode.

No, not “Contagion” – that’s about a computer virus.

Not “Thine Own Self” either, but that’s a good guess.

I’m thinking of “The Ensigns of Command.”

That’s the episode where Data, the android character, must convince a bunch of stubborn colonists that they need to immediately pack up and leave the colony they worked so hard to build. The human colonists must leave because thanks to a treaty, the planet where they’ve built their colony now belongs to an alien race called the Sheliak.

The Sheliak are all business and are coming to colonize the planet themselves. While they were willing to negotiate a lengthy and complex treaty with the humans to procure the planet, they otherwise regard humanity as a lesser species and would have no qualms about wiping out any human stragglers they discover upon arrival. The colonists are absolutely no match for the Sheliak.

The Enterprise must begin evacuating the colonists ASAP, and Data is beamed down to the planet to help them start packing immediately.

However, the colonists are very resistant to the idea of leaving, especially their leader, Gosheven. That isn’t surprising since Data did show up out of the blue to basically say, “Surprise! Now you must pack up and leave!” The colonists had been living on the planet for many years and sacrificed a lot to establish their thriving colony.

Gosheven tries to reassure everyone that there’s nothing to fear and that they’ll all be fine. He denies that the Sheliak are a threat (which sounds very much like the idiocy of saying “it’s just the flu” in our current situation). Others join him in their firm stance against fear. But are they being brave? Or just stubbornly irrational?

Here’s a scene from that episode where Data is speaking to the colonists, trying to get creative in convincing them to leave. Everyone in this scene other than Data is a colonist.

DATA: You know of the Sheliak threat. Starfleet wishes to evacuate you for your own protection. Yet Gosheven has decided otherwise. That is his right, and I will not waste time trying to reverse that decision. I admire your conviction in the face of certain defeat. Though doomed, your effort will be valiant. And when you die, you will die for land and honor. Your children will understand that they are dying for a worthy cause. Long after the battle is over, their courage will be remembered and extolled.

ARD’RIAN: Remembered by who?

DATA: Yes, that is true. There will be no one left alive to remember.

GOSHEVEN: (applauding) A valiant try, android, but what a low opinion you must have of us.

DATA: I was simply attempting to describe your inevitable destruction in a manner that would have an emotional effect.

HARITATH: And he describes it pretty damned well.

GOSHEVEN: Are you ready to follow this machine? Give up without a fight? He says we’re going to lose, but I think that’s just his cowardice talking!

KENTOR: What if he’s right and you’re wrong? Shouldn’t we consider that possibility?

GOSHEVEN: This colony exists because generations gave their lives for it. Many people died before we found a way to adapt to the radiation. And many more died bringing water to the desert. My grandfather –

ARD’RIAN: Is buried on that mountain. Well, who’ll be left to bury you?

GOSHEVEN: Have you considered what this evacuation means? Everything we have, we abandon. Everything that we have built turns into dust. Everything that we have accomplished means nothing. Well, I say no. You elected me your leader. Follow me now. I don’t think our chances are as hopeless as he says. And I’m willing to stake our lives on it. Any objections? Good, because here we stand.

ALL: Aye, We stand with you.

(The men slap Gosheven on the back, the women look worried)

DATA: Then here you die.

This episode reminds me of what we’ve seen in many people’s response to the coronavirus. We’ve seen it in Italy. We’ve seen it in Spain. We’ve seen it in France – throughout the week leading right up to the moment the French went into full lockdown yesterday morning.

And of course we’re still seeing it in the USA now.

How well does this approach work?

Let’s check a first-hand report from a doctor in Bergamo, a city in Northern Italy:

The results of the swabs now come one after the other: positive, positive, positive. Suddenly the emergency room is collapsing. Emergency provisions are issued: help is needed in the emergency room.

…

Exams, radiology always with the same sentence: bilateral interstitial pneumonia. All to be hospitalized. Someone already to intubate goes to intensive care. For others, however, it is late. Intensive care becomes saturated, and where intensive care ends, more are created.

…

And every reorganization of beds, wards, staff, work shifts and tasks is constantly reviewed day after day to try to give everything and even more. Those wards that previously looked like ghosts are now saturated, ready to try to give their best for the sick, but exhausted. The staff is exhausted. I saw fatigue on faces that didn’t know what it was despite the already grueling workloads they had. I have seen people still stop beyond the times they used to stop already, for overtime that was now habitual. I saw solidarity from all of us, who never failed to go to our internist colleagues to ask “what can I do for you now?” or “leave alone that shelter that I think of it.” Doctors who move beds and transfer patients, nurses with tears in their eyes because we are unable to save everyone and the vital signs of several patients at the same time reveal an already marked destiny. There are no more shifts, schedules.

…

Social life is suspended for us. I have been separated for a few months, and I assure you that I always have everything possible to constantly see my son even on disassembly days at night, without sleeping and postponing sleep until when I am without him, but for almost 2 weeks I have voluntarily seen neither my son nor my family members for fear of infecting them and in turn, infect an elderly grandmother or relatives with other health problems. I’m happy with some photos of my son that I regard between tears and a few video calls. So be patient too, you can’t go to the theater, museums or gym. Try to have mercy on that myriad of older people you could exterminate. It is not your fault, I know, but of those who put it in your head that you are exaggerating and even this testimony may seem like an exaggeration for those who are far from the epidemic, but please, listen to us, try to leave the house only for the essential things. Do not go en masse to stock up in supermarkets: it is the worst thing because you concentrate and the risk of contacts with infected people who do not know they are higher.

…

Oh yes, thanks to the shortage of certain devices, I and many other colleagues are certainly exposed despite all the means of protection we have. Some of us have already become infected despite the protocols. Some infected colleagues in turn have infected family members and some of their family members already struggle between life and death. We are where your fears could make you stay away. Try to make sure you stay away.

Source: Corriere della Sera (translated from Italian)

That was from March 7, when the death toll in Italy was 230. Fast forward just 11 days to today, and now there are about 3000 dead – 475 of them just in the past 24 hours. In that same time they went from about 5800 reported infections to about 36,000 now. And this is still speeding up.

Soon this will be the situation in Southern Italy too. France and Spain are quickly following suit. More countries are following just days behind.

Of the nearly 36,000 reported infections in Italy, more than 2600 are medical personnel. A number of doctors have already died from this virus while trying to save other people’s lives.

This is a glimpse of what we’re about to see in the USA shortly. Very likely by the end of the month, we can expect hundreds if not thousands of medical personnel to get infected as well, even as they work to exhaustion trying to treat people. And that will still just be the tip of the iceberg with so much more to follow. We are nowhere near the peak yet. In fact, we’re not at Base Camp yet. (Incidentally, Mount Everest is closed too.)

A full lockdown in the USA is inevitable – I’d say almost a certainty before month’s end at the rate things are going. The sooner we reach that point, the better. All 50 states have infected people now, with West Virginia being the last holdout to join.

Each day we’re seeing different cities and states making bigger and bigger sacrifices while the virus makes even bigger gains. We’re progressively locking down, and as fast as it seems, we should actually be moving even faster.

Yesterday night the Governor of Nevada announced the closing of all casinos, hotels, bars, and more statewide, joining schools which were shuttered on Monday. The Las Vegas Strip has gone dark. And yet as extreme as this seems, especially for a city that runs on 42 million tourists per year, it’s still just another intermediate step among more to be taken.

When a full lockdown does happen, and it will, it will likely endure for at least two months, and realistically we may be looking at well into the summer or beyond.

Some are projecting as long as 18 months of this kind of disruption (which may involve full and partial lockdowns), as there may be multiple waves of the virus.

When you see businesses announce they’re shutting down for 2-3 weeks, don’t believe that for a second. As I noted in Sunday’s post: This Will Not Be Over Quickly. When I wrote that post, the U.S. death total from the virus was 63 with 3300 reported infections. Three days later we’re at 8300+ infections and 133 deaths, so both numbers have more than doubled. And this is going to speed up significantly in the days and weeks ahead.

Meanwhile many people are still going out partying and gathering in large groups, such as was reported at the Clearwater Beach in Florida yesterday. Under the current circumstances and given what we see happening elsewhere, this behavior means more painful deaths for many more people, including the deaths of doctors and nurses trying to save lives. Not shutting down sizable human gatherings is ludicrous at this point. The sooner we take action, the more lives will be saved.

Let’s return to our Star Trek episode to see how Data eventually convinces the colonists to leave for their own good.

After his other attempts to convince the colonists to leave fail, Data goes to the colony’s pumping station for their aqueduct, which is the colony’s only source of water. He pulls out his phaser, first using the stun setting and then using a higher setting after he says his first line in this scene.

(The elders are on a raised platform to the side, and four security guards are in front of the pool. Data fires at them)

DATA: Stop. That was the stun setting. This is not.

(There’s a big bang, then energy is seen racing up the pipeline to the mountain)

DATA: I can reduce this pumping station to a pile of debris, but I trust my point is clear. I am one android with a single weapon. There are hundreds of Sheliak on the way and their weapons are far more powerful. They may not offer you a target. They can obliterate you from orbit. You will die never having seen the faces of your killers. The choice is yours.

KENTOR: There are other places, other challenges.

(The security guards recover from their stuns)

GOSHEVEN: I really was willing to stay here and die for this.

DATA: I know that. This is just a thing, and things can be replaced. Lives cannot.

That approach worked. The colonists, including Gosheven, finally agreed to evacuate. So they lived.

Data is an android programmed for politeness and manners. He’s one of the kindest and gentlest characters on the show. He’s willing to accept and befriend everyone as they are, like an android version of Mister Rogers.

And of course Data is very rational, so he starts by greeting the colonists warmly and offering them a rational explanation about what’s happening and why they need to evacuate – a sensible place to begin.

When that doesn’t work, he appeals to their emotions since he knows something about human psychology too.

And when that doesn’t work, he pulls out his weapon but still uses the stun setting initially. Now having good reason to conclude that this too will be insufficient, he quickly bumps it to a higher setting and demonstrates at that level as well. And then he immediately threatens to bump it higher still, to a setting which would effectively destroy something the colonists have been trying to protect. Fortunately he doesn’t seriously hurt anyone, but he does keep escalating until he finally succeeds. Moreover, he accelerates the pacing of his escalations to match the increasing urgency of the situation.

This is a rational approach, isn’t it? For a mission that’s important enough, keep escalating until you succeed, even if you must stretch your character to do so. Data had to stretch his character to succeed in his mission, yet he was able to do so while still honoring his rational core.

And we must continue to do the same. When the stun setting is ineffective, ratchet up your efforts more to help get people off the streets and to stay the fuck home.

Is it rational to continue using the stun setting if it isn’t working quickly enough?

Is it rational to avoid stretching our characters due to fear of criticism or social pushback, knowing by sticking to our comfort zones and refusing to go any higher, we sentence more people to death – including more medical personnel who will soon give their lives trying to save others?

Or is it rational to ratchet up our actions towards the stun setting and beyond until we achieve what’s needed?

If you’ve been trying to help people behave more rationally during this time, yet they’re still behaving irrationally, ratchet up your efforts and attitude, just as Data had to do to accomplish his mission.

This isn’t the time to get stuck at your personal stun setting. This is the time to do what it takes to save more lives and reduce suffering because the actions you take now can and will make a difference.

And lastly…

CLOSE THE BEACH, YOU FUCKING IDIOTS!!!

#closethebeachyoufuckingidiots

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Health24.com | Coronavirus and the gym: Should you stay away?

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Gyms and fitness clubs are believed to be fertile ground for germs, with communities of bacteria living on equipment. Could this include the new coronavirus?

Dr Norman Swan, a physician and Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) journalist, says that gyms are “high risk” locations for the Covid-19 virus to spread, mainly because of the humidity.

In an ABC podcast, Swan mentions that, according to Chinese data, gyms are one of the high prevalence areas.

“It doesn’t mean you should stop going to the gym, but you have to be super careful. So, you have to wipe down; you’ve got to make sure you have alcohol there; use hand sanitiser…

“I’m still going to the gym, but I’m wiping down before, and after, using hand sanitiser – I’m not taking any chances,” said Swan.

Outdoor exercise

Head of Medical Virology at Stellenbosch University and the National Health Laboratory Services (NHLS) at Tygerberg, Professor Wolfgang Preiser told Health24 that sweat may or may not be an issue.

“Heavy breathing produces respiratory secretions, rooms are closed, there is an air conditioner – these are good conditions for such agents to spread. Train and exercise outdoors and keep a 2m distance from others, and all is fine.

“The heat in the sauna may not facilitate transmission, but the time before and after one showers, changes, chats – all of which are social activities in a gym – is best curtailed if one wants to stop the spread,” said Preiser.

Hygiene and etiquette

When it comes to protecting yourself, Preiser said that regarding lifestyle changes, there are a few areas where one cannot go wrong:

“Get your flu shot this year (asap); wash your hands regularly, with water and soap (no fancy stuff); while out and about, use hand sanitiser with an alcohol content of over 60%, cough and sneeze into your arm and not onto people or into your hands, and turn away.

“This will help protect against all sorts of viruses etc., including the new one,” added Preiser.

When it comes to practising good hygiene at gym, make sure you sanitise equipment before and after use. Invest in your own gym or yoga mat, and use your own gym towel. 

Try to not touch the mouthpiece of your water bottle and wash your gym clothes before you train again, along with spraying your gym bag with a disinfectant spray.

When it comes to using the locker rooms, always wear shoes to avoid picking up fungal infections, such as athlete’s foot. Get out of your damp gym clothing and get showered and into fresh clothing as soon as possible.

Social distancing

President Cyril Ramaphosa pleaded with the nation to change their behaviour, as challenging as it may be, and stressed that the measures are aimed at curbing the spread of infections.

He mentioned that a number of ports will be shut down, and that non-essential domestic travel is discouraged. He also added that we need to limit contact with groups of people.

“While we appreciate the economic, religious, and cultural significance of social and community gatherings, the coronavirus is spread through contact between persons,” said Ramaphosa.

The cabinet encouraged social distancing and decided on additional measures, including the prohibition of gatherings of more than 100 people like events government would have arranged for days like Human Rights Day. Schools will also be closing from Wednesday, 18 March until after the Easter Weekend (10 to 13 April 2020). 

READ | Avoid germs at the gym to protect your skin

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Image credit: Getty Images

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