In Las Vegas hosts the annual m he International Exhibition Consumer Electronics Show Electronics, which come as the world's leading companies and startups to showcase new technological developments.

We have collected new products that seemed the most interesting to us.

1. Electric car from SONY

Sony surprised visitors by showing its own prototype electric car, called the Vision S.

Almost the entire front panel is a panoramic screen. Sensors that recognize the driver and passengers are built into the car. You can control the multimedia system using gestures.

2. Streaming service for smartphones

The streaming service Quibi (short for Quick Bites) talked about the upcoming launch and plans to release short programs. It will work exclusively on smartphones. Thanks to its own video optimization technology, it will be possible to look at the entire screen both horizontally and vertically.

The company plans to break films and programs into small segments of 7-10 minutes. It is assumed that the new service will primarily interest people spending a lot of time in public transport.

3. Assistant Robot

The Walker Robot, created by UBTECH Robotics, is the epitome of modern developments in the field of robotics and artificial intelligence. Representatives of the company claim that he is ready to serve people both at home and, for example, in a store.

With a height of 145 cm and a weight of 77 kg, the robot can grab and carry objects, maintain balance in difficult conditions for movement, and maintain communication.

4. Smart diapers

Soon, babies will be able to put on the Lumi smart diapers made by Pampers. With their help, parents will be able to know exactly the duration of the child’s sleep, the time of feeding and changing diapers. All information will be displayed in a special application.

5. Pillow for snoring

The Korean company Tenminds wants to solve the problem of snoring with the help of the Motion Pillow pillow, which automatically changes the tilt of the sleeping person’s head after hearing the sounds of snoring.

The device has many sensors that monitor the position of the head. The pillow will automatically inflate and deflate to change the sleeping position.

6. Toys for ladies

This year, sex toy manufacturers have returned to the exhibition. One of them - Dame Products - positions itself as a manufacturer of devices for women's sexual health. Most of the manufacturers participating in the exhibition of such products focus on women.

7. Heated razor

GilletteLabs revealed a new heated razor called the Heated Razor. Unlike many other devices presented at the exhibition, you could buy it right away. The gadget can heat up to 43 degrees or up to 50 degrees Celsius. The manufacturer claims that using the device imitates shaving with a hot towel.

8. Electric bike from a backpack

Smacircle LMT showed a folding bike for those who use public transport, but still have to walk some part of the path. The manufacturer claims that it is the smallest electric bike in the world for adults.

The bike is made of carbon fiber and can be folded into a regular backpack. It can accelerate to 32 km / h and drive on a single charge up to 21 km.

9. Self-cleaning cat tray

A tray for cats that knows how to clean itself, introduced iKuddle. The project was funded through crowdfunding and raised more than a million dollars.

The device starts to work after the cat leaves the tray. A smart system cleans the litter and sends it to a special package. The owner can start cleaning himself using the application on the phone.

10. Self-propelled seat

Segway showed a futuristic chair called the S-Pod, which can accelerate to 40 km / h and travel 70 km without recharging. In its appearance, it resembles capsules in which the characters of the WALL-I cartoon moved.

The device is controlled using the joystick on the right side of the case. Segway plans to start selling self-propelled seats in 2021.

11. Flexible screen speaker

The manufacturer of the flexible smartphone FlexPai, Royole, announced the “smart” speaker Mirage Smart Speaker. Its feature is a fully flexible 8-inch AMOLED touchscreen display with a resolution of 1440 × 1920 pixels.

The column also has a built-in 5-megapixel camera, two microphones, Amazon Alexa support and three speakers with a total power of 30 watts. It will go on sale this year at a price of $899.

Some experts say that buying products with a high protein content (and at a higher price) is like letting money down the toilet. Are they right?

How many proteins do we really need? Do they help to lose weight? And to whom do they help?

At the beginning of the twentieth century, Canadian Arctic explorer, ethnographer and writer Villalmur Stefansson decided to eat only meat for five years. Accordingly, his diet in those years consisted of approximately 80% of fats and 20% of proteins.

Twenty years later, in 1928, he repeated the experiment under the supervision of specialists from the famous New York hospital Bellevue, but limited himself to one year.

Stefansson wanted to refute the view that a person cannot survive on meat alone.

But in both experiments he quickly became ill if he ate for some time only lean meat.

He developed the so-called protein poisoning, which was called "rabbit depletion."

Symptoms disappeared when he changed his diet - he began to eat less protein and more fat.

After those experiments, living in New York City and consuming a typical American protein diet with an average protein content, Stefansson began to complain about poor health.

He returned to his diet - with a restriction of carbohydrates and a high content of fats and proteins - and lived on it until 83 years old.

One way or another, his first experiments are one of the few formal scientific proofs that a high-protein diet can be very harmful.

Despite the great popularity of protein nutritional supplements, many of us still do not know exactly how many proteins we need, how to consume them and what threatens them with a deficiency or excess in the body.

Squirrels in the foreground

Over the past twenty years, the level of obesity among the British has doubled, and many are beginning to more consciously approach to nutrition. We replace white bread with black and whole grains, and ordinary milk with skim.

In a marketing show about a healthy lifestyle, squirrels play a major role: supermarket shelves are full of protein bars, protein balls, and protein-enriched everyday foods from cereal flakes to soups.

In 2016, the global market for protein nutritional supplements was approximately $12.4 billion. Obviously, we were convinced that the more protein, the better.

And how many do they need?

However, some experts now say that buying products with a high protein content (and at a higher price) is a waste of money.

Let's figure it out. Proteins are necessary for the growth and restoration of body cells. Protein food - meat, fish, eggs, dairy products and legumes - in the stomach is split into amino acids and absorbed by the small intestine; then the liver decides which amino acids the body needs. The rest are washed with urine.

Adults whose lifestyle is not particularly active are advised to consume approximately 0.75 g of protein per kilogram of body weight daily.

On average, it is 55 g for men and 45 g for women. They can be obtained from two servings (palm-sized) of foods such as meat, fish, tofu, nuts or legumes.

If there is not enough protein, a person may lose hair, a rash on the skin or lose weight due to loss of muscle mass.

But such side effects are very rare, mainly in those who suffer from eating disorders.

Proteins for Schwarzeneggers

For most of us, proteins are associated with bodybuilding. And there is.

Strength exercises lead to the breakdown of proteins in the muscles. To strengthen muscles, proteins must be renewed.

An amino acid called leucine plays a particularly important role in triggering protein synthesis.

Some experts even believe that if you don’t eat after training with protein-rich foods or special supplements, your muscles will not grow.

Supplement makers are advised to drink a protein shake after exercise - usually based on leucine-rich whey protein, a by-product of cheese production.

Consumers seem to agree. According to a report published in 2017 by research company Mintel, 27% of Britons consume sports nutrition products - such as protein bars and shakes.

This figure rises to 39% among those who exercise more than once a week.

But more than half (63%) of those who consume the mentioned foods cannot say for sure whether they are useful.

Does it help or not?

Studies of how protein supplements help build muscle show mixed results.

In particular, in 2014, scientists analyzed 36 scientific articles on this topic and concluded: protein supplements do not affect lean body mass and muscle strength during the first few weeks of strength training in people who have not previously been involved in sports.

Most people already get most of their recommended daily protein intake from regular foods.

Over time, when your workouts become more intense, supplements can actually help build muscle. However, the authors note that such changes have not been investigated in the long term.

Another study in 2012 says that protein “improves exercise performance, helps restore and increases lean body mass,” but it says: for best results, proteins should be consumed with fast carbohydrates.

Ordinary sweet bars?

And - attention! - if athletes and visitors to gyms benefit from a quick “infusion” of proteins into the body immediately after training, this does not mean that it is necessary to use supplements and shakes.

Most people get most of the recommended daily amount of protein from regular foods, says Kevin Tipton, a physical education teacher at the University of Stirling.

"No supplements are needed. It's a convenient way to get protein, but there's nothing you can’t get from regular food. Protein bars are ordinary sweet bars with a slightly high protein content."

Tipton adds that even for bodybuilders, whey protein and other similar substances are not as important as they are trying to give us.

“The focus is too biased on which supplements to use, but it’s actually more important to go to the gym and train. Other variables, such as sleep, diet and stress level, are also important,” he emphasizes.

Most experts agree with Tipton: Proteins are best obtained from food rather than supplements. But there are certain exceptions - in particular, athletes who find it difficult to achieve their daily goals in protein intake, said Graham Close, a physiology professor at the John Moores University of Liverpool.

"In my opinion, the needs of most of them exceed the recommended daily allowance, and there is evidence for this," he says. In this case, a cocktail may be useful.

Who else needs proteins?

What other demographic group will not prevent additional proteins? To old people. Because with age, we need more proteins to maintain the same muscle mass.

At the same time, older people tend to consume less protein, because their tastes often shift towards sweetness.

Emma Stevenson, a professor of physical education at the University of Newcastle, is trying to negotiate with food producers to increase the protein content of foods that older people often buy, like cookies.

“With age, we need to carefully maintain our muscle mass, because we become weak and less active,” she says.

Close argues that older people should increase their protein intake to 1.2 g per kilogram of body weight.

Can I overeat them?

Fortunately, consuming too many proteins is very difficult. Although the upper limit exists, it is "almost impossible" to achieve, Tipton said.

"Some nutritionists are concerned that a high-protein diet could harm the kidneys and bones, but there is very little evidence for this when it comes to healthy people."

You should not think that "high protein" automatically means healthy food

"Perhaps problems will arise if a person with a diseased kidney will eat a large amount of protein; but any bad consequences are very unlikely."

However, although the proteins themselves are not harmful, protein supplements often contain a significant amount of carbohydrates from the FODMAP group, and they, in turn, cause digestive disorders: bloating, flatulence, pain in the stomach.

Stevenson advises reading the labels on food additives, bars, and balls carefully.

"Often they are very high in calories and contain a huge amount of carbohydrates, often in the form of sugar. You should not think that" high protein content "automatically means healthy food," she says.

Do they help to lose weight?

Proteins have long been associated with weight loss; high-protein and low-carb diets (such as paleo diet or Atkins diet) promise to prolong the feeling of fullness.

People often fail to lose weight because they feel hungry and eat. As shown by studies using MRI, a high-protein breakfast helps to reduce appetite during the day.

There is ample evidence that protein satisfies hunger well, says Alex Johnstone of Aberdeen University. If you are trying to lose weight, it is more important to eat high-protein breakfasts (for example, toast with beans or a milkshake) than to take supplements.

But she does not defend the Atkins diet and found in her study that excluding carbohydrates from the diet negatively affects intestinal health (and we know that a healthy intestine is critical to many aspects of our health and well-being).

Johnstone recommends that overweight people maintain a diet high in protein and moderately high in carbohydrates: 30% protein, 40% carbohydrate, and 30% fat.

For comparison: people without excess weight are recommended to consume an average of 15% protein, 55% carbohydrates and 30% fat.

Of course, you won’t lose weight if you increase your protein intake. An important key to success is eating chicken, other lean meat or fish.

Are there any risks and how to avoid them?

Studies also show that consuming large amounts of animal protein contributes to weight gain, while red meat increases the risk of cancer and heart disease.

However, there are useful non-meat proteins, for example, mycoprotein, a mushroom protein.

On its basis, a meat substitute under the Quorn brand was released in Britain - it contains a lot of not only proteins, but also fiber. Researchers are now studying how this unique combination affects satiety and insulin levels associated with type 2 diabetes.

One research group compared the mycoprotein diet to a chicken diet and found that those who ate Quorn had the same sugar control, but the pancreas was required to produce less insulin.

The risk of consuming excess protein is small. But it’s better not to be seduced by the effectiveness of overpriced foods that offer more protein than we need.

"Some products labeled as" high protein "are actually not, but are quite expensive," says Johnstone.

“Be that as it may, consuming more protein than you need is wasteful. It's like letting money down the toilet.”

We are constantly told about the benefits of diversity in nutrition, but we asked the opposite question: if we still had to survive by eating just one product, which one would help us last longer?

Man is not alive by bread alone - these winged words can be understood literally, because only a month after the start of such an experiment (eating only bread) you will certainly begin to scurvy.

The best diet is one that includes all the variety of foods so you don’t even have to think about whether you get all the necessary micronutrients, from vitamin C and iron to linoleic acid.

Even new-fangled diets, involving the use of only a few foods or the complete exclusion of certain foods from the diet, are usually diverse enough to provide the body with everything necessary.

However, imagine a situation (completely unbelievable) in which we would have to survive, eating only one product.

We probably would like to know which food is more nutritious, and is it possible, for example, to get all the useful substances only from potatoes, only bananas or only from avocados.

Only one thing is known for sure: meat, as well as most fruits and vegetables, will not work for this role.

In meat, there is neither fiber, nor the most important vitamins and minerals.

Fruits and vegetables, on the one hand, are rich in vitamins, but the trouble is they contain very little fat and protein, so even if they are in large quantities, we will not get enough of these nutrients.

In fact, in order to survive, we do not need so much. But this does not mean at all that we can painlessly give up everything in a row.

This means that for those who eat only very lean meat, including rabbit meat, "diarrhea develops within a week, accompanied by headache, weakness, and overall poor health."

Stefansson writes that these people can avoid death from malnutrition only if they include fatty foods in their diet.

In the book of John Krakauer, Into the Wild, it is suggested that it was rabbit hunger that could cause the sad fate of the American traveler Chris McCandless, leading him to death.

It is believed that if a person receives only protein with a small amount of fat and carbohydrates, his liver may simply not cope with an excess of protein.

Adhering to a strict mono-diet is harmful not only because of a lack of nutrients

Nutritionist Jenny Jackson of the University of Glasgow Caledonian believes that compared to meat and most other vegetables, potatoes in this situation are not at all such a bad option as they might seem.

Last year, she wrote an article about Australian Andrew Taylor, who only ate potatoes for a year to lose weight and get used to a healthy lifestyle. His experiment was widely reported in the media.

According to Jackson, from many other starchy foods, potatoes are distinguished by an unusually high content of protein and, as a result, a variety of amino acids.

However, for a person with the same weight as Taylor, even 3 kg of potatoes per day will not be enough to get the recommended amount of protein. In addition, potatoes are low in fat.

Despite the fact that Taylor also consumed sweet potatoes, rich in vitamins A and E, iron and calcium, Jackson notes that he still lacked B vitamins, zinc and other trace elements.

Nevertheless, Taylor managed to live this year without much loss and even noticeably lose weight.

It is worth noting that potatoes quite often become the subject of discussion when it comes to nutrition.

A few years ago, a reader of the Chicago Reader newspaper turned to the author of the column of tips with the question of whether it is possible to survive by eating only milk and potatoes.

He referred to the fact that before the "potato famine" in Ireland, the inhabitants of this country lived on almost one potato.

The journalist Cecil Adams, who was conducting this column at the time, said that he and his assistant made calculations and found that potatoes and milk in large quantities were able to provide the body with almost all the necessary substances, with the exception of molybdenum.

To make up for the lack of the latter, just eat a little oatmeal.

Jackson laughs at this. “So, after all, this is our diet - the diet of the Scots. That is exactly what we ate about a hundred years ago. Potatoes, milk and oatmeal, plus a little cabbage,” she says.

However, adhering to a strict mono-diet is harmful not only because of a lack of nutrients.

Our body is designed to avoid such situations (perhaps because in the end it leads to malnutrition and exhaustion).

The more different vegetables we eat, the better - but why this is so is still unclear

For this there is such a mechanism as sensory-specific saturation: the more specific foods you eat, the worse your body perceives it. But at the same time, he will not mind anything new.

“I call it the“ pudding effect, ”Jackson says.“ For example, you have a tight dinner and you can no longer swallow a bite. And then someone brings the pudding and you pounce on it with appetite.”

There is a danger that, day after day, eating the same product, at some point you simply cannot eat it in an amount sufficient to survive.

Just imagine that you have to eat three kilos of avocado a day.

Moreover, the assumption that adhering to a mono-diet instead of a varied diet can be without harm to health - provided that all vitamins and minerals are ingested, as well as a sufficient number of calories, only seems logical.

Recall using what methods the modern science of nutrition has developed. At the very beginning of the 20th century, scientists excluded certain nutrients from the diet of rats and monitored what they might get sick or die from.

For example, this is how we learned about the existence of vitamins. Such experiments can show what rats will die without, at least in the short term.

However, Jackson believes that with the help of such experiments it is impossible to identify some of the benefits of a varied diet, which are manifested over a longer period of time.

In addition, we must not forget that people are still different from rats.

After analyzing the existing epidemiological data, scientists came to the conclusion that the more different vegetables we eat, the better. But why this is so is still unclear.

For example, there is a possibility that people who do not eat green vegetables are, for some reason, more susceptible to cancer.

“We don’t know for sure what the consequences of the use of this or that product can lead to,” Jackson says.

"We can determine how much essential nutrients we need, but miss out on something important that we don’t even know about."

By reducing your diet to just one ingredient, you can save time and effort, but this is the shortest way to get sick... or just get bored.

“I beg you, go home!” The boss told me. “Everyone complains about you and does not want to get infected with your disgusting virus.”

To my assurances that this is just a cold and that I do not feel so bad, no one paid attention. I had to give up, otherwise I would be taken out of the news department under white hands.

Yes, I did not feel 100%, but I was sure that I was not so sick that I had to spend the whole day under the covers.

Forget about “Brexit”, nothing has split my friends, colleagues and friends in social networks so much as arguing about whether you cannot go to work if you sneeze?

Some said: "For God's sake, pull yourself together, it's just a cold!". Others agreed: "Yes, this is a difficult question." And others asked: "How dare you infect your colleagues! You are an egoist."

I came across a fork where labor laws, ethical principles and public health clash.

Good and bad colds

We face colds everywhere - in a tram, in a supermarket, in the playground. And even if you are not going to never leave the house at all, you will still get infected from someone from her.

Then I thought, why are so many worried then? After all, is this just normal in winter?

“The common cold is a viral disease, and different people react differently to it. Some people feel very bad when they catch a cold,” says Rachel Saff from the Institute for Personnel Development (CIPD).

"If you really feel bad, and your symptoms indicate that you will not be productive at work, then it is better to stay at home. So you will not spread your viruses at work," she continues.

Many viruses cause a cold, but the most common are rhinoviruses.

Professor Martin Marshall, head of the Royal College of General Practitioners, agrees that different people respond differently to colds.

But should we avoid colds at all costs? Don't these viruses strengthen our immune system?

Professor Peter Openshaw, former head of the British Society of Immunology, has been researching this issue for the past 25 years and says that a cold can be beneficial to the general health of the body, but not always.

It turned out that there is a good cold, and there is a bad cold.

“I’ve been trying all my life to figure out which of these viruses are beneficial. Because some of them seem to train the immune system,” he says.

But what about those with weakened immunity?

One of my colleagues told me: "When my mother became seriously ill with cancer, I started to have a pulmonary infection, which I got from a colleague, and I could not visit her for three weeks. I had to hire a nurse."

Although she admits that she could have been infected anywhere, she insists that sitting at a desk opposite a constantly sneezing person is far from the best option.

Professor Marshall. People with colds, especially those who work with sick people, children, and pregnant women, need to consider whether they should go to work sneezing and coughing.

Hayley Johnson, Slater and Gordon's labor law attorney, recalls that for patients suffering from cystic fibrosis who have recently undergone chemotherapy, the consequences of a cold can be extremely serious.

Has the attitude to colds changed in recent years?

Yes, it seems.

The CPID Institute notes that, according to surveys of personnel departments, the number of days people take sick leave on average fell to 5.9 per year, that is, to the lowest level in the last 19 years when the institute began to conduct such surveys.

83% of human resources workers report seeing people sick at work. 63% saw employees go to work, although they were on vacation.

Rachel Saff claims that it all depends on working conditions. "It is known that many people are already struggling with this. They understand that if they spend several days at home, they will expect even more work upon their return."

Haley Johnson says that in recent years, employers have become more closely monitoring the level of illness of their employees, especially when they often stay at home for several days.

In her opinion, companies are trying to reduce costs as much as possible, as a result of which each employee works for one and a half people.

Often, many people think that they simply have to go to work despite their illness.

Does it all depend on the employer?

"If someone has a cold, then we send them home," says Paul Knowles of Acoustic and Engineering Consultants Ltd.

“There are only six of us, and if three cannot work because of the common cold, it will be very difficult for us to fulfill customer orders,” he says.

Mike Cherry, chairman of the Small Business Federation (FSB), encourages small business employees not to be afraid to raise a health issue with their employer.

“9 out of 10 employers provide an opportunity to work in a flexible mode,” he said. “For example, if a person feels bad but is able to do something, it is often easier to let him work from home for the duration of his illness.”

The hardest thing is for freelancers and individual entrepreneurs, Cherry notes.

"The law on compulsory provision of free time does not apply to them, and they have a habit of working no matter what, whatever the consequences," he says.

Can I get fired for a cold?

"In the end, even if employees can get out of bed, this does not mean that they can work," notes Hayley Johnson. “Doctors give help without a problem even in cases where it would seem that we are talking about a patient with only a minor infection.”

"For 10 years of my work as a lawyer, I only once encountered a company that required a certificate in all cases. Almost all companies believe that if a sick person stays home for five days, then everything is in order and a certificate is needed only after this period," she says.

Hayley Johnson offers a simple approach - employers and employees must trust each other.

“An employer can fire a subordinate if he is sure that he is lying. As an example, she described a hypothetical situation when a person called to say that he was ill and stayed at home, and then on social networks posted photos of himself drinking champagne in a bar.

But the fact that the vast majority of employers perceive as true the words of subordinates that they are sick, indicates a high level of trust on both sides.

So what do I understand?

Having examined all aspects of this problem, I came to the conclusion that I was lucky with work and that I should remember: the immunity of some people is lowered.

And if I picked up something contagious, maybe I should be kind to treat myself and others and work from home until everything goes well.

Scientists have discovered a curious evolutionary paradox: men who make an effort to look more attractive and athletic often jeopardize their ability to acquire offspring.

The use of steroids to maintain an athletic figure or anti-baldness can adversely affect fertility. This paradox is called Mossman-Pacey - after the scientists who first described it.

 “I drew attention to the appearance of some men who came to us with complaints about reproductive function: they were hefty, pumped up guys,” says Dr. James Mossman, now an employee of Brown University in the United States.

At that time, he was a graduate student in Sheffield and was working on a dissertation on the abuse of anabolic steroids.

“Such men often resort to steroids in order to build muscle and look like a superman,” the scientist says. “But in fact, they drive themselves into an evolutionary dead end, as their number of living sperm tends to zero.”

Anabolic steroids mimic the effects of the hormone testosterone in the male body, and therefore they are used to increase muscle mass in professional wrestlers.

“The irony is that men spend hours on exercise machines to find attractiveness in the eyes of women, but in fact their ability to conceive is only reduced,” adds Professor Allan Pacey from the University of Sheffield.

Anabolic steroids act on the pituitary gland, giving the impression that the seminal glands are too intense.

Therefore, the pituitary gland reduces the production of two hormones - follitropine FSH and the luteinizing hormone LH, which are most actively involved in sperm production.

Researchers note that a similar mechanism is observed in men who use drugs to combat baldness.

The drug finasteride changes the behavior of testosterone in the body and can reduce the rate of hair loss, however, side effects of its use include impotence and decreased fertility.

"This will surprise you, but I would say that up to 90% of men who take steroids become infertile," says Professor Pacey.

Dr. Mossman believes that these drugs that exploit male vanity actually lead to an evolutionary dead end, as they prevent gene transfer to the next generation.

In his opinion, such behavior, when the desire to attract the opposite sex jeopardizes the ability to reproduce, is unique in the animal world and is inherent only to man.

“The irony is ironic, but those men who have fertility problems need to seriously think about it,” says Professor Pacey.

“Clinics usually keep silent about this, and it doesn’t reach young people that this can be a problem. So a little useful information can save them from a lot of mental suffering afterwards,” the scientist concludes.

39-year-old Joe Daniels needs male blood, otherwise she will go blind. The reason is a rare autoimmune disease, Sjogren's syndrome. But in Britain there are not enough male donors.

Joe’s lacrimal glands become inflamed due to Sjogren’s syndrome and ulcers appear on the cornea.

To combat these symptoms, Joe instills a special serum in his eyes, which is made from the blood of men. Men's blood contains a lot of iron and is therefore ideally suited for serum, says Joe.

The body of women during pregnancy produces antibodies, due to which their blood becomes unsuitable for certain types of transfusion and in order to make a number of drugs from it. Joe's serum is one such drug.

However, there are not many male donors in Britain: last year, only 41% of new donors in Britain were male.

"In total darkness"

When Joe Daniels began to lose sight with frightening speed, her life turned upside down.

"My eyes began to itch, and then my vision deteriorated sharply and pain started," says Joe. “For four weeks I was in complete darkness, although before that my eyesight was normal.”

“What's worse, it started around Christmas, and I couldn't get medical attention quickly,” she says.

They searched for the medicine for a long time - several types of standard therapy did not help Daniels, and she already began to fear that she would lose her eyesight forever.

Then the doctors decided to try a non-standard solution: serum from male blood.

"Now I see only thanks to the men who donate blood for serum so that people like me bury it in my eyes every hour."

"If male donors cease to be enough, then this serum will become unavailable. And I will start to go blind again," she says.

Sjogren's syndrome affects glands of external secretion, mainly lacrimal and salivary.

Most often they suffer from women aged 40 to 60 years, although it is sometimes found in people of both sexes and any age. Today, a way to cure him has not yet been found.

Britain faced a shortage of male donors last year: for every 100 female male donors, there were only 70.

Men do not want to donate blood?

The National Health Service (NHS) wants this year to increase the proportion of men among donors by 26%.

“We need 68,000 men to start giving blood this year,” says NHS employee Mike Stredder.

"Male blood can be used in unique types of therapy, it can save lives, but male donors are too few. The point is not to get as many donors as possible, but to achieve the gender balance we need."

Over the past five years, in England the total number of donors has fallen by almost a quarter, while the number of female donors has fallen by only 6%.

People of high stature are more likely to develop cancer, say the results of a study in which more than a million people took part.

Previously, scientists have already made similar assumptions, a new report finally confirms them.

So, do tall people need to be alarmed?

Experts note that although the risks associated with growth have been identified, they are extremely low compared to factors such as, for example, smoking.

In addition, it is not yet completely clear how growth and increased risk of the disease are related. The most popular theory is that in the body of tall people there are more cells, which means that it is more likely that some of them will begin to transform into cancer cells.

"Tall people have a larger body surface, respectively, more melanocytes that can turn into melanomas," says John O'Neill, head of the research team at the Molecular Biology Laboratory.

However, there are many other factors affecting a person’s growth and his predisposition to cancer: the level of hormones in the body, other diseases that have been transmitted, the availability of key nutrients at a young age, and others.

The author of the report, Dr. Leonard Nanni, said that the risks identified by the study are individual and depend on the exact growth of a person.

"If among women of average height, 50 out of 500 people develop cancer on average, then among those who are 178 cm tall, this proportion increases to 60 out of 500. And for women with 188 centimeters, the figure is already 67 out of 500," the scientist says.

At the same time, he adds that smoking puts a person’s life in danger to a much greater extent. According to him, even among the so-called lung smokers (about three cigarettes a day), the risk of lung cancer increases six times. That is, it is no longer 50 out of 500 people, but 300 out of 500.

What conclusion have scientists come to?

Based on the fact that the average height of men is 170 cm and women is 160 cm, scientists have found that every additional 10 centimeters of growth increase the risk of developing oncology by 10%.

The report, published by the Royal Scientific Society, also included the results of previous studies that examined 23 types of cancerous tumors in residents of the UK, USA, South Korea, Austria, Norway and Sweden.

In each selected study, at least 10 thousand cases of cancer among men and women should have been studied.

4 of the 18 types of cancerous tumors in both sexes had no effect on patient growth. These are tumors of the pancreas, esophagus, stomach and oral cavity / pharynx.

Of the tumors in the field of gynecology, only cervical cancer is in no way associated with the growth of a woman.

Is it all that bad?

An interesting fact: US President Donald Trump and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau are 187 cm tall. Growth is only one of the factors determining a person’s predisposition to cancer, and, according to scientists, far from the most important. In addition, a person does not have the power to manage his growth, in contrast to the risks inherent in his lifestyle, for example, being overweight.

The only way to try to protect yourself from cancer is a healthy lifestyle, scientists say.

Professor Tim Cole from University College London believes that tall people should not worry too much about the latest discovery.

“High growth offers many advantages. People who earn a lot of money are usually tall. World leaders are also often tall – a lot is in their favor. Therefore, one negative point is not so scary,” the scientist believes.

What do tall people think about opening?

Stuart Logan, head of Britain’s Tall People’s Club, believes scientists have come up with the wrong parameters.

His club was founded in 1991 and has about 250 members from the UK and Northern Ireland.

"In our opinion, the average height of very many men is 1 meter 90 centimeters, and women - 177-180 cm. It would be more useful if, in working on their reports, researchers turned to organizations like ours and involved our representatives," says Logan

"Such reports are useless. They can make catchy headlines, but they have little real data. The annoyance is a little annoying: on the one hand, it is known that high growth reduces the risks of diabetes, stroke and heart disease, and they immediately tell us that we risk more than others get cancer, "explains the head of the Club of Tall People.

Have there been cases when you are frantically trying to remember someone's name, fact or place - and simply cannot do it?

We often hear that with age, memory deteriorates and the same thing happens with other cognitive functions of the brain like logical thinking.

However, do not worry. There are a number of ways that can help “change wiring” in your brain and improve its performance.

1. Exercise

As it turns out, the brain really grows from a regular load on the body.

In particular, synapses, the contact points of neurons, increase in size. There are more cells in the brain, and new connections arise between them.

A healthy heart provides the brain with a large amount of oxygen and glucose, and also detoxifies.

And if you're lucky enough to work out in the fresh air, a portion of the vitamin D we need so much is added to this.

Try to introduce an element of novelty into physical exercises: perform them in different places and in different companies. Then the forming cells will have more chances to connect into the correct chain.

For example, if you like to delve into the ground, select a site where you can meet new people while you are doing what you love.

The main thing is to enjoy what you do. This helps to increase the effectiveness of exercises, including for the brain.

2. Load memory in motion

The effectiveness of this method is proven and well known to the actors: if you try to remember something new on the go, information is more likely to settle in your head.

Next time, rehearsing a performance in public, try to do it on the go or in dance.

3. Charge your brain with the right food.

The brain absorbs approximately 20% of all sugar and energy consumed by the body and is highly dependent on the level of glucose in the blood.

When sugar gets out of control, the brain protests - and you feel it.

When we eat delicious food, dopamine is released into the pleasure center in the brain. Therefore, we like delicious food.

However, positive emotions are needed not only to the brain, but also to the stomach.

About 100 trillion microbes are registered in the human digestive system, and their balance is extremely important for the health of the brain associated with the digestive system of the complex neural chain.

Moreover, the stomach is often called the "second brain." A varied and healthy diet is what the stomach microorganisms need to live happily. And with them - your brain.

Brain cells are made from fats, so fats cannot be completely excluded from the diet. The fatty acids found in nuts, avocados and fish (as well as turmeric and rosemary) are very good for producing new brain cells.

By the way, eating at the company is also beneficial - it helps the brain consolidate the effect of the absorption of wholesome food.

4. Give the brain a break

Moderate stress is needed - this helps us mobilize in times of danger. Stress provokes the production of the hormone cortisol, which, when injected into the blood in short “bursts,” helps us focus.

However, a prolonged sense of anxiety and high levels of stress are toxic to the brain.

Therefore, it is extremely important to learn to “disconnect” from time to time in order to give a respite to this part of the brain. By turning it off, you are actually training another area.

There is a special network in the brain that gives us the ability to dream, and is also important for strengthening memory.

So the next time you are caught in the clouds while you work, explain that you were doing critical exercises for the brain.

If you find it difficult to disconnect from the outside world. try techniques like meditation that help reduce the release of stress hormones to acceptable levels.

5. Set new challenges

In order to properly unleash the brain, you need to throw him tasks that he had not encountered before.

Start learning a foreign language or go in for art - this will help keep your brain in shape.

Or fight with family or friends in an online game. This is not only an exercise for the brain, but also social interaction, which only benefits him.

6. Turn on the music

There is evidence that music stimulates the brain in a very special way.

At the encephalogram, the brain of a person listening to or performing a piece of music is almost entirely active.

Music can improve a person’s ability to know as a whole, and, for example, with dementia, musical memory disappears one of the last.

Don't know how to play the guitar or the piano? It doesn’t matter - sing in a choir or buy a ticket for a concert of your favorite band.

7. Get ready for exams in a dream

If you memorized or learned something new during the day, a neural connection between the individual cells forms in your brain. When you fall asleep, this connection intensifies - and what you have learned is remembered.

Suppose a person needs to remember a list of things to do for the future. If he re-reads the list before going to bed, in the morning he will remember the list better than in the evening after reading it in the morning of the same day.

Therefore, if you are preparing for the exam, scroll through the answers to the questions in your head when you are already falling asleep.

For the same reason, it’s better not to recall the trouble that happened to you at night. This can “drive” it into memory and strengthen the negative emotions associated with it.

And don't watch horror movies at night! It is better to concentrate on the pleasant events that happened during the day.

8. Learn to wake up properly

That sleep is good is no secret to anyone. Less than five hours - and your thinking becomes somewhat dull. More than ten - and it’s as if you got off the plane after a long flight.

But to function in full force during the day, it is not enough to sleep enough - you need to wake up correctly.

Ideally, you should sleep in a dark room and wake up gradually, along with daylight.

Light penetrates closed eyelids and “cock” the brain, which improves control over the production of cortisol. The amount of this hormone at the time of awakening affects the way the brain functions throughout the day.

Set a “smart” alarm clock that gradually increases lighting and helps you wake up naturally. If you sleep soundly, you should not forget about the traditional sound signal: just to not oversleep!

Here are some easy-to-learn tips that could help you make healthier food choices.

Eating too much is a dangerous and growing problem: worldwide, more than 1.9 billion adults are overweight and obesity has tripled in the world since 1975, according to the World Health Organization.

But researchers at Yale University in the United States say that changing the way we think about food could improve our diets and help us fight weight gain.

We tell you the four techniques that they tested and how effective they found them.

1. Before a meal, think negatively about unhealthy foods

Can you make yourself less likely to want unhealthy foods?

In the study, people were asked to observe some food for only six seconds, but during that time they focused on the negative aspects of the food.

Not only in how unhealthy that food was but also in anything else they didn't like, including its taste or texture.

When those people then rated their cravings, they had decreased by 20% compared to a group of people who had not done this exercise.

Reducing cravings may be important, because studies have found that the desire to eat unhealthy foods predicts people's eating habits and weight.

2. Before a meal, think positively about healthy foods

Healthy foods were more attractive after the experiments.

The next thing the scientists did was to turn the experiment around and they asked people to spend the same amount of time thinking positively about healthy foods.

This also had a significant impact, as people's cravings for these types of foods increased by 14%.

Therefore, concentrating for a short period of time may make it more likely that you eat foods that are good for you.

3. Train your brain in advance to avoid unhealthy foods

Can you prepare in advance to make healthier food choices?

Yale University scientists also analyzed whether it is possible to prepare in advance to make better decisions.

They asked the volunteers who will hear an adverse impact on junk food and then spent 15 minutes thinking about the harmful effects of some healthy foods.

This involved looking at photos of unhealthy foods while thinking about the negative consequences of eating them.

Later, when asked to choose between healthy and unhealthy foods, they were 7.6% more likely to choose the best option.

4. Train your brain in advance to want healthy food

People ingested fewer calories after training their brain.

Again, the researchers tried to reverse the experiment to see if people were more likely to choose the healthy ones.

Volunteers read about the benefits of healthy foods and saw photos of them, while thinking about those positive effects.

This also had an effect, since people were 5.4% more likely to choose healthy foods later.

Depending on the exercise alone to lose weight is not effective.

The percentages may seem small, but when people who participated in the training chose their meals, they ate an average of 107 calories menu you.

An average person would have to run for 10 minutes to burn a similar amount of energy.

Hedy Kober, the lead author of the study and an associate professor of psychiatry and psychology at Yale, said: "This effect is as great as that of many current treatments to combat obesity, but it is obtained after a brief training."

"Even if you make a good decision a day, that can eventually result in the loss of many pounds," Kober added.

Using regular diets, approximately 70% of people recover all the weight they lost within three to five years.

Therefore, any new technique like this, which can help moderately reduce calorie intake, could be valuable.

Nobody likes to be ill. We all dream of having strong immunity and good health. Can immunity be strengthened and what can weaken it?

Immunity is the art of discrimination and tolerance. Discrimination and destruction of the harmful - infections and tumors, and tolerance to the non-harmful - our own tissues, food and non-pathogenic microbes, for example.

The immune system is organs and cells that differ in roles. And immunity is the result of the coordinated work of the immune system, a huge corporation in which there are several main offices, many departments, a network of training centers, police and special forces. And good bonuses for dedicated employees. Therefore, you cannot talk about immunity, as about something uniform and monotonous.

Myth number 1. Stress weakens the immune system

At first, stress has almost no effect on the body, then it weakens it, and after that the immune system gets used to the stress response.

Acute stress does not affect innate immunity - the one that takes infection first and is always with us. Acquired, it is a specific immunity, reacts to acute stress with a certain weakening.

Stress of medium duration suppresses cellular immunity. We can fight tumors or virus-infected cells. But our ability to form antibodies remains unchanged. Antibodies are blood proteins that specifically neutralize viruses, toxins and facilitate the destruction of bacteria.

Chronic stress very badly affects our body as a whole. However, the immune system learns to live with it and not lose reactivity. Long-term exposure to stress hormones causes cells of the immune system to secrete receptors for them and become insensitive.

Scientists warn that stress is terrible for the immune system primarily by changing habits - lack of sleep, alcohol and poor nutrition.

Myth number 2. Swimming in an ice hole or pouring ice-cold water improves health

The most useful thing is to accustom yourself to the cold and fresh air.

A one-time swim at Baptism is also an acute stress. Hormones help adapt to low temperatures, but the immune system works as before.

Regular dousing or bathing in ice water enhances the "pro-inflammatory background" and activates some links of innate immunity. On the one hand, it’s good. And on the other hand, we don’t need inflammation for no reason.

Why, then, do people feel better if they are tempered?

Cold accustoms our peripheral nervous system and vessels to quickly and correctly respond to temperature changes. As a result, we better tolerate the cold and create worse conditions for the reproduction of rhinoviruses - pathogens of the common cold and some acute respiratory infections.

Myth number 3. To improve health, you need to take immunomodulators and vitamins.

Immunomodulators should be taken only by prescription.

With a question about the use of immunomodulators, we turned to a specialist. Here is what a renowned immunologist says: “According to international protocols, immunomodulators can only be used in certain serious conditions. These are autoimmune diseases, AIDS, oncology, and organ transplantation.”

According to her, the immune system consists of three main stages of protection, which, in turn, contain thousands of substances. Interfering with this extremely complex mechanism is inappropriate. The work of all components of the immune response is regulated independently. With the right lifestyle and a balanced diet, immunity will adjust its work itself.

Thus, the use of immunomodulators to strengthen the immune system looks like an attempt to pour gas into a modern electric car," says the immunologist.

Multivitamins or the usual high doses of vitamin C are unlikely to improve immunity. The role of vitamin C in improving the immune response and fighting infections has not been clinically proven. The benefits of multivitamins for the immune system and other health indicators are also not proven. And an excess of vitamins A, D and E is even toxic.

Myth number 4. Antibiotics weaken the immune system

Antibiotics are sometimes necessary, and immunity weakens the wrong treatment protocol.

Antibiotics are needed for the specific and effective destruction of a bacterial infection. If the doctor prescribed a course of antibiotics, and before that determined the sensitivity of bacteria to them, you should drink everything.

Why is it sometimes bad after antibiotic treatment, and women often develop candidiasis?

Antibiotics can destroy not only bad bacteria, but also the normal flora we need. Its significant death frees up space for opportunistic microorganisms, for example, fungi. Therefore, according to treatment protocols, antibiotics should be prescribed with antifungal drugs, says immunologist.

Myth number 5. Breastfeeding and development of the child in nature protects children from diseases

Breastfeeding and non-sterile growth conditions of the baby are really good for the immune system. But this is not enough to stop any disease.

From birth, the child has nonspecific immunity and inherits a fraction of the mother’s immunity, namely the same antibodies. They pass through the placenta and are in the composition of breast milk.

But antibodies do not last long, their number is limited, and this is only one of the components of the immune system. Therefore, subsequently, the child must develop his own specific immunity.

It has been proven that children who grew up on farms during the first year of life or played with pets were less likely to suffer from allergies. Dogs bring a lot of street dirt into the house, with which the child's immune system is introduced. The presence of a cat in the house significantly reduces the chances of developing asthma in genetically predisposed children.

However, in order to well resist infectious diseases, you should familiarize yourself with them - get sick or get vaccinated. Otherwise, the immune system cannot learn to recognize and stop them in advance.

Myth No. 6. Washing hands, especially with antibacterial soap, protects us from disease.

Hand washing effectively prevents the spread of numerous infections. But antibacterial soap does more harm than good.

The Centers of Disease Control (CDC, USA) advises washing hands with soap to prevent bacteria and viruses from reaching the skin of the face, eyes and body. Handwashing is considered an effective preventative against flu and intestinal infections.

However, antibacterial substances, soap or antiseptics are harmful. Firstly, they will destroy the normal flora of the skin. Secondly, bacteria quickly get used, and therefore, the regular use of hand antiseptics will remove resistant bacteria on the skin. Finally, the common antiseptic triclosan is harmful to human health: it weakens the immune system and disrupts the synthesis of hormones.

What is an effective means of enhancing immunity?

The immune system does not need to be artificially stimulated. Its excessive activity is manifested not in resistance to infections, but in the appearance of allergies and autoimmune diseases.

A full sleep gives us the hormone melatonin, which promotes good recovery and supports the health of the immune system.

The consumption of vegetables, fruits and oils provides us with vitamins, antioxidants and plant fibers. All this prevents inflammation, supplies the immune system with the necessary vitamins and minerals, and promotes intestinal health.

Exercise effectively reduces the harmful processes of inflammation in the body, with rheumatoid arthritis, for example, and returns the immune system to a healthy course.

The most useful for the immune system are not expensive drugs, but free things.