This is a summary of the book titled “Life Force – how new breakthroughs in precision medicine can transform the quality of your life and those you love” written by Tony Robbins and Peter Diamandis and published by Simon and Schuster, 2022. They offer anecdotes, research case studies and stories on how precision medicine changing people’s lives. New breakthroughs can not only be preventive, rejuvenative and supplemental but also defeat chronic illnesses. Together with a positive mindset, these hold the promise of increased longevity.

New technologies in rejuvenative medicine are revolutionizing healthcare by fighting disease and potentially reversing aging through the power of stem cells. Stem cells divide and renew themselves without limits, providing incredible healing powers. Clinical trials are ongoing to treat diseases like Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes, and heart and liver problems. Aging is a disease that can be curable through lifestyle changes and supplements. New medical technologies can create organs, edit genes, and make the body functionally younger. For example, Dr. Anthony Atala has been "printing" 3D human bladders for almost two decades, and genetically altered pig lungs to replace and outperform human lungs. CAR T-cell therapy stimulates the immune system, while Insightec is working on focused ultrasound therapy for Parkinson's disease. Gene therapy, such as CRISPR, can eliminate disease and cure it completely. Biosplice has made advances against eight common diseases, restoring the Wnt pathway to its youthful baseline through small-molecule medicines.

Evolving supplements and treatments can help individuals look and feel younger by increasing vitality and lengthening their health span. Peptides, metformin, hormone optimization therapy, NAD+ supplements, and nutraceutricals can help maintain youthfulness and health. Hair loss often accompanies aging, but companies like Harklinikken and TissUse are developing natural hair products to combat this issue. Stem-cell-based hair transplant treatments and cryofacials can also improve skin.

Diet, exercise, sleep, and lifestyle can also contribute to healthier living. A plant-based diet is optimal for health, while intermittent fasting helps avoid disease and stay youthful. Consistency in exercise and regular exercise can lead to significant results. Sleep is the foundation of health, and if adults get less than eight hours of sleep, the risk of serious medical problems increases. To improve sleep, evaluate sleep quality, stick to regular sleep and wake times, and limit alcohol and caffeine in the evening. If sleep-deprived, consult a doctor.

Precision medicine aims to combat various diseases such as heart disease, strokes, cancer, autoimmune diseases, diabetes, and Alzheimer's. Heart disease is the most common and fatal disease, and new treatments include stem cell-based therapies like Caladrius Biosciences' CD 34+ and Elevian's GDF11. Strokes are a significant cause of death, and companies are developing gloves, VR equipment, and magnetic stimulators to help patients recover.

Cancerous diseases, such as cancer, require early diagnosis and early detection. The GRAIL liquid biopsy blood test can screen for over 50 types of cancer, and scientists are working on treatments that stimulate the immune system to fight cancer.

Autoimmune diseases, such as Crohn's, multiple sclerosis, psoriasis, and rheumatoid arthritis, can be treated with electric stimulation of the vagus nerve and stem cell infusions. Anti-inflammatory diets and weight loss can also help manage these conditions.

Nutritional intervention is currently the best treatment for obesity, with weight loss potentially reversing Type 2 diabetes by regenerating beta cells.

Alzheimer's affects 50 million people worldwide and is a significant challenge for scientists. Innovative treatments include blood tests, drugs, plasma transfusions, an Alzheimer's vaccine, and psychedelic mushrooms like Lion's Mane. Natural measures like sleep, stress management, social interaction, exercise, a healthy diet, and continuous learning improve brain health. A positive mindset can extend the human life span beyond 120 years, and a positive attitude towards aging leads to longer lives and better health recoveries.

Previous book summaries: BookSummary49.docx

Summarizing Software: SummarizerCodeSnippets.docx.  

#codingexercise https://1drv.ms/w/s!Ashlm-Nw-wnWhOkS14mLp9stLWVW2w?e=KCiLey

 

Subarray Sum equals K

Given an array of integers nums and an integer k, return the total number of subarrays whose sum equals to k. 

A subarray is a contiguous non-empty sequence of elements within an array. 

Example 1: 

Input: nums = [1,1,1], k = 2 

Output: 2 

Example 2: 

Input: nums = [1,2,3], k = 3 

Output: 2 

Constraints: 

·        1 <= nums.length <= 2 * 10⁴ 

·        -1000 <= nums[i] <= 1000 

·        -10⁷ <= k <= 10⁷ 

 

class Solution { 

    public int subarraySum(int[] nums, int k) { 

        if (nums == null || nums.length == 0) return -1; 

        int[] sums = new int[nums.length];    

        int sum = 0; 

        for (int i = 0; i < nums.length; i++){ 

            sum += nums[i]; 

            sums[i] = sum; 

        } 

        int count = 0; 

        for (int i = 0; i < nums.length; i++) { 

            for (int j = i; j < nums.length; j++) { 

                int current = nums[i] + (sums[j] - sums[i]); 

                if (current == k){ 

                    count += 1; 

                } 

            } 

        } 

        return count; 

    } 

} 

 

[1,3], k=1 => 1 

[1,3], k=3 => 1 

[1,3], k=4 => 1 

[2,2], k=4 => 1 

[2,2], k=2 => 2 

[2,0,2], k=2 => 4 

[0,0,1], k=1=> 3 

[0,1,0], k=1=> 2 

[0,1,1], k=1=> 3 

[1,0,0], k=1=> 3 

[1,0,1], k=1=> 4 

[1,1,0], k=1=> 2 

[1,1,1], k=1=> 3 

[-1,0,1], k=0 => 2 

[-1,1,0], k=0 => 3 

[1,0,-1], k=0 => 2 

[1,-1,0], k=0 => 3 

[0,-1,1], k=0 => 3 

[0,1,-1], k=0 => 3 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is a summary of the book titled “The Global Risks Report 2023” written by Sophie Heading and Saadia Zahidi who lead the work in this regard at the World Economic Forum. The book picks up the legacy of the receding COVID-19 epidemic, the rise in carbon emissions and the war in Ukraine and leads the discussion on the topic with the global inflation arising from these events. It includes a warning that not all economies and societies will bounce back from these compounding crises which  the book calls ‘polycrises’. Global risks include potential economic, population, and natural resource impacts. The most urgent crisis is rising living costs, climate change failure, irreversible ecosystem damage, societal polarization, COVID-19, financial warfare, debt crises, and potential polycrises. These risks pose significant threats to the world's health systems and economy.

The Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) surveyed respondents on five issues regarding short-term or long-term risks. The Executive Opinion Survey (EOS) included the views of over 12,000 business leaders. The cost of living is ranked as the world's most urgent crisis between 2023 and 2025, with the majority of respondents identifying it as a short-term risk. The report also highlights the failure to address climate change, which has been ranked high on the Global Risks Report for years. Carbon dioxide emissions and other climate change contributors are at record highs, and there is a scant chance of reaching the international goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C (2.7°F) by 2030.

Climate change is a global risk that is seen as the least prepared for, with 70% of GRPS respondents rating existing measures as 'ineffective' or 'highly ineffective'. Governments are under pressure to move towards clean, renewable energy, but some nations have spent billions on fossil fuel facilities. The slow transition away from fossil fuels will have consequences, including undermining human health and ecosystems, affecting agriculture, human migration, terrorism, and conflict in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Short-term risks like political polarization may unfold quickly, but they still raise implications for the future. Between 2023 and 2033, pivotal risks related to climate change and the natural order will manifest, with failure to adapt being the highest-ranked global risk. Preserving ecosystems and biodiversity requires mitigating climate change, reducing fossil fuel emissions, and introducing carbon renewal technologies.

The growing gap in values and equality is posing a threat to both autocratic and democratic systems, as economic and social divides translate into political ones. Political polarization, particularly in economically dominant countries, can lead to political paralysis and undermine collective problem-solving. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the risks of global public health systems, including antimicrobial resistance, infectious diseases, climate change-related chronic conditions, mental health crises, and anxiety over vaccinations. The receding pandemic has also led to increased work absences and healthcare system use, which are vulnerable to climate change impacts. With a growing and aging population, the demands on healthcare systems worldwide will become heavier, and a new pandemic or catastrophic weather event could push them to collapse. Public health agencies can improve healthcare systems by sharing information and resources, while governments can help people prevent disease by promoting healthy lifestyles, proper nutrition, and social connections.

The demilitarization of weapons and the increasing mistrust among countries and regions have led to a re-prioritization of states' military forces, potentially fracturing international relations and opening an arms race. The development of sophisticated, high-tech weapons could open new avenues of "asymmetric warfare" in the hands of rogue states or actors. A complex process of achieving useful arms control agreements will be required.

An increasing debt crisis threatens economies with instability, as countries may be unable to sustain high levels of debt under normal economic conditions. The risk of default is higher for lower-income countries, and wealthy countries may intervene, increasing geopolitical tensions. Debt crises also have a deleterious impact on investment, with advanced economies becoming more vulnerable to political polarization and conflict.

This book uses the term ‘Polycrises’ to refer to a group of related global risks that compound and develop effects greater than their individual parts and these may be common in the future. Two crucial features of such a polycrisis are the extent to which nations can properly match their resources' supply and demand, and the severity of climate change's impact on specific resources.

Previous book summaries: BookSummary47.docx

Summarizing Software: SummarizerCodeSnippets.docx.  

#codingexercise https://1drv.ms/w/s!Ashlm-Nw-wnWhOhrXTvbOPnD2OOyCg?e=P76lF3

 

This article describes how to rename a storage account in the Azure public cloud. Renames although not common arise occasionally as erstwhile resources are repurposed or have mistakes to be corrected. For example, use of prefixes and suffixes in storage account might change with repurposing or retargeting a different environment. One cannot rename an Azure storage account from the portal or any other way. If a different name were to be used for an existing storage account, a new one  would need to be created with the desired name and then the data moved and any associated configurations made to the new account. Connection strings or settings of any dependent resources may need to be updated as well.

Some additional information that might be helpful are:

• The new name for your storage account must be unique across Azure and follow certain naming restrictions.
• Renaming the storage account name can have benefits such as consistency, clarity, and accurate tracking of your storage usage.
• Renaming the storage account name can also have implications for the resources associated with it, so one should be careful and test the changes before deleting the old account.

Data transfer can be facilitated with a cloud service like Azure Data Factory or a downloadable tool like AzCopy. Azure Data Factory is a cloud-based data integration service provided by Microsoft Azure. It allows users to create, schedule, and orchestrate data pipelines that move and transform data from various sources to different destinations. Azure Data Factory supports data movement between on-premises systems, cloud-based systems, and hybrid environments. It also provides capabilities for data transformation, data orchestration, monitoring, and management of data pipelines. With Azure Data Factory, users can easily automate and manage their data integration and data transformation processes in a scalable and reliable manner.

Azure Data Factory can be used to copy data between various data stores and services, such as:

1. Copying data between Azure storage accounts: Azure Data Factory can transfer data between different Azure storage accounts, such as Azure Blob storage, Azure Data Lake Storage, and Azure File Storage.
2. Copying data between on-premises and Azure: Azure Data Factory supports copying data between on-premises data sources, such as SQL Server or Oracle databases, and Azure data stores. This allows organizations to move data from their on-premises infrastructure to the cloud.
3. Copying data between cloud-based data sources: Azure Data Factory can transfer data between various cloud-based data sources, including Azure SQL Database, Azure Synapse Analytics (formerly SQL Data Warehouse), and other Azure services.
4. Copying data between cross-cloud platforms: Azure Data Factory enables data transfer between different cloud platforms, such as Azure and AWS or Azure and Google Cloud Platform. This allows organizations to integrate and consolidate data from multiple cloud providers.
5. Copying data with transformations: Azure Data Factory supports data transformations during the copying process. It allows you to apply transformations, such as filtering, aggregating, or joining data, before transferring it to the destination.
6. Incremental data copying: Azure Data Factory can perform incremental data copying, where only the changed or new data is transferred, rather than copying the entire dataset. This helps optimize the data transfer process and reduce costs.
7. Fault-tolerant retryable data transfer: Azure Data Factory can overcome rate limits encountered with the source and destination by repeatedly performing the requests and provides ways for the end-user to determine various actions on well-known errors encountered during data transfer pertaining to the type of data at the source.

Azure Data Factory provides a flexible and scalable platform for copying data between different data sources, both within Azure and across other cloud platforms. When the transfer of data is entirely between Azure cloud resources, the Azure integration runtime can be used and the data transfer is extremely fast because it goes over the Microsoft backbone network. The latency is very low for this network.

 

 

This is a summary of the book titled “The Global Risks Report 2023” written by Sophie Heading and Saadia Zahidi who lead the work in this regard at the World Economic Forum. The book picks up the legacy of the receding COVID-19 epidemic, the rise in carbon emissions and the war in Ukraine and leads the discussion on the topic with the global inflation arising from these events. It includes a warning that not all economies and societies will bounce back from these compounding crises which  the book calls ‘polycrises’. Global risks include potential economic, population, and natural resource impacts. The most urgent crisis is rising living costs, climate change failure, irreversible ecosystem damage, societal polarization, COVID-19, financial warfare, debt crises, and potential polycrises. These risks pose significant threats to the world's health systems and economy.

The Global Risks Perception Survey (GRPS) surveyed respondents on five issues regarding short-term or long-term risks. The Executive Opinion Survey (EOS) included the views of over 12,000 business leaders. The cost of living is ranked as the world's most urgent crisis between 2023 and 2025, with the majority of respondents identifying it as a short-term risk. The report also highlights the failure to address climate change, which has been ranked high on the Global Risks Report for years. Carbon dioxide emissions and other climate change contributors are at record highs, and there is a scant chance of reaching the international goal of limiting temperature rise to 1.5°C (2.7°F) by 2030.

Climate change is a global risk that is seen as the least prepared for, with 70% of GRPS respondents rating existing measures as 'ineffective' or 'highly ineffective'. Governments are under pressure to move towards clean, renewable energy, but some nations have spent billions on fossil fuel facilities. The slow transition away from fossil fuels will have consequences, including undermining human health and ecosystems, affecting agriculture, human migration, terrorism, and conflict in Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. Short-term risks like political polarization may unfold quickly, but they still raise implications for the future. Between 2023 and 2033, pivotal risks related to climate change and the natural order will manifest, with failure to adapt being the highest-ranked global risk. Preserving ecosystems and biodiversity requires mitigating climate change, reducing fossil fuel emissions, and introducing carbon renewal technologies.

The growing gap in values and equality is posing a threat to both autocratic and democratic systems, as economic and social divides translate into political ones. Political polarization, particularly in economically dominant countries, can lead to political paralysis and undermine collective problem-solving. The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the risks of global public health systems, including antimicrobial resistance, infectious diseases, climate change-related chronic conditions, mental health crises, and anxiety over vaccinations. The receding pandemic has also led to increased work absences and healthcare system use, which are vulnerable to climate change impacts. With a growing and aging population, the demands on healthcare systems worldwide will become heavier, and a new pandemic or catastrophic weather event could push them to collapse. Public health agencies can improve healthcare systems by sharing information and resources, while governments can help people prevent disease by promoting healthy lifestyles, proper nutrition, and social connections.

The demilitarization of weapons and the increasing mistrust among countries and regions have led to a re-prioritization of states' military forces, potentially fracturing international relations and opening an arms race. The development of sophisticated, high-tech weapons could open new avenues of "asymmetric warfare" in the hands of rogue states or actors. A complex process of achieving useful arms control agreements will be required.

An increasing debt crisis threatens economies with instability, as countries may be unable to sustain high levels of debt under normal economic conditions. The risk of default is higher for lower-income countries, and wealthy countries may intervene, increasing geopolitical tensions. Debt crises also have a deleterious impact on investment, with advanced economies becoming more vulnerable to political polarization and conflict.

This book uses the term ‘Polycrises’ to refer to a group of related global risks that compound and develop effects greater than their individual parts and these may be common in the future. Two crucial features of such a polycrisis are the extent to which nations can properly match their resources' supply and demand, and the severity of climate change's impact on specific resources.

Previous book summaries: BookSummary47.docx

Summarizing Software: SummarizerCodeSnippets.docx.