Month: July 2024

Copenhagen (AFP) – Thailand’s Kunlavut Vitidsarn spilt blood, sweat and finally tears as he became badminton world champion after an attritional 19-21, 21-18, 21-7 victory over Japan’s Kodai Naraoka in Copenhagen. Issued on: 28/08/2023 – 05:12Modified: 28/08/2023 – 05:10 2 min Advertising Read more The 22-year-old world number three, who was runner-up a year ago, is the first Thai to win the men’s singles title at the World Championships. World number four Naraoka, also 22, put Kunlavut through an excruciating match of marathon rallies that lasted 109 minutes on Sunday — one of the longest men’s singles matches ever. Kunlavut’s blood had to be wiped off the court several times as he threw himself around to keep the shuttle alive in a series of lengthy rallies. “I’m very happy, this has been a dream for me since I was a child,” said an emotional Kunlavut. Kunlavut Vitidsarn has his wounds patched as his blood is mopped from the court during the badminton men’s singles final © Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix/AFP “When I was young I’d promised my coach that I would get the gold medal. He passed away and I dedicate this gold medal to him. “I had three targets when I was young — Olympic Games, world championships and All England (championships). Now I have achieved one of those, so two are left.” It was the second longest world championships men’s singles final, eclipsed only by the 124-minute epic between China’s Sun Jun and Denmark’s Peter Rasmussen in the inaugural world championships in 1977. “I needed to be prepared for a long match with Kodai,” added Kunlavut. “We know each other’s game because we have played since our junior days. You have to be very patient with him and it was very tiring, so I didn’t have any energy left to celebrate.” South Korea’s world number one An Se-young enjoyed a more straightforward march to the women’s singles title when she beat Spain’s Carolina Marin 21-12, 21-10 in the final. The top seed, who becomes South Korea’s first women’s world champion in the 46-year history of the event, sped to the title in just 42 minutes. An Se-Young of South Korea celebrates becoming world champion © Mads Claus Rasmussen / Ritzau Scanpix/AFP “I am the champion. I am so happy today,” An said. “I think I played well today because I enjoyed myself out there. I had so much fun.” © 2023 AFP

LEXINGTON, Ky. (Aug. 28, 2023) — University of Kentucky students, faculty and staff can start the school year off on the right foot by donating blood and saving local lives. Kentucky Blood Center will be on the University of Kentucky campus Aug. 28 to Sept. 1 to collect lifesaving blood products for more than 70 Kentucky hospitals, including UK HealthCare. Monday through Friday, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., KBC will be stationed in Ballroom A at the Gatton Student Center. Additionally, for students on the south side of campus, KBC will have a bloodmobile outside the William T. Young Library on Monday from 4 to 8 p.m. All donors will be thanked for their time and donation with a free “Give Local” T-shirt, a $5 Starbucks gift card and a One Hour Bounce Back Card from Main Event. A Bounce Back Card is good for 60 minutes of free arcade play at Main Event. Donors can schedule their appointment in advance at kybloodcenter.org/uk-back2school-drive-2023 or call 800-775-2522. Appointments are preferred but walk-ins are welcome. A single donation – which takes less than an hour from registration to refreshment – can save up to three lives, serving as a lifesaver for patients with cancer, life support for trauma victims, a vital supplement for organ transplants and surgeries, a resource for fighting diseases, and so much more. One in four people will need a blood transfusion in their lifetime. Kentucky Blood Center is the exclusive provider of lifesaving blood for UK Healthcare. Blood donors must be at least 17 years old (16 with parental consent), weigh at least 110 pounds, be in general good health, show a photo I.D. and meet additional requirements. Sixteen-year-old donors must have a signed parental permission slip, which can be found at kybloodcenter.org. About Kentucky Blood Center Celebrating 55 years of saving lives in Kentucky, KBC is the largest independent, full-service, nonprofit blood center in Kentucky. Licensed by the FDA, KBC’s sole purpose is to collect, process and distribute blood for patients in Kentucky. KBC provides services in 90 Kentucky counties and has donor centers in Lexington, Louisville, Frankfort, Pikeville, Somerset and the Tri-County area.

Baldur’s Gate 3 is populated by a great many NPCs. Some are friends, some are foes, and some are of uncertain allegiance. One character you’ll encounter is Araj Oblodra, who expresses an interest in taking your blood. But is it a wise idea to let her? If you’re wondering whether you should let Araj Oblodra take your blood in Baldur’s Gate 3, here’s the answer. The Advantages and Disadvantages of Letting Araj Oblodra Take Your Blood in BG3 Araj Oblodra is an NPC you meet in Moonrise Towers and is probably a Drow. Why probably? Because there’s something a little off about her, and she could be something else entirely. Killing her doesn’t reveal anything, but even if she’s not technically undead, she’s not your run-of-the-mill dark elf. Should that make you suspicious? Absolutely. But the good news is there’s no disadvantage from giving her your character’s blood. And the advantage is that you’ll get a potion, an Elixir, in return. Each of these has unique effects depending on the race that donated. How to Give Her Your Blood Donating blood is pretty simple. Just go up to her and she’ll talk about wanting your blood. Follow that conversation and say yes to giving her your blood. She’ll give you an Elixir in return. You can only do that once, as she’ll turn you down if you try again. But if you switch to another character and speak to her you’ll, again, be able to trade blood for another Elixir. It’s worth doing this for each member of your party, even characters at your camp you’ve never used. Just fast travel to your camp, get them to join you, and have them donate. Even though the Elixirs come from a specific race’s blood, eg Elixir of Tiefling Vice, they can be used by any character. Should You Force Astarion to Drink Araj Oblodra’s Blood in BG3 Araj will, after you’ve donated blood for the first time, offer you another deal. If Astarion drinks her blood, she’ll give you a powerful potion, one that has a permanent effect. The potion, as you later discover if you go ahead with the deal, raises the drinker’s strength by two. This is a permanent change. Elixirs last until you have a long rest, but the potion you get for this deal lasts forever and can be drunk by anyone. What’s the catch? Simply that Astarion doesn’t want to drink her blood, and you’ll have to talk him into it. There’s no persuasion roll involved. You can just tell him to do it and he will. But if you do force him to drink her blood, you’ll get disapproval points from Astarion. Conversely, if you tell him you respect his choice, you get approval points. So really, it’s up to you. Are you willing to lose some of Astarion’s respect in return for two extra strength points? There are no other negative effects. Astarion remarks that her blood tastes disgusting, fetid, and corrupted, but it doesn’t damage him physically. There’s also a little extra dialogue later, but it won’t absolutely ruin whatever relationship the two of you have. Araj’s initial demeanor suggests being bitten has always been a fantasy, but that may be a smokescreen. She briefly talks about using the bite to brew something up, making use of whatever Astarion’s bite introduced into her veins. But I haven’t yet seen if Baldur’s Gate 3 address that. So, there are no major drawbacks to letting Araj Oblodra take your blood in Baldur’s Gate 3, but going further will incur Astarion’s disapproval. If you have other questions about the game, make sure to look through our full set of guides for more answers.

Researchers at the University of Florida College of Medicine have uncovered how common age-related changes in the blood system can exacerbate certain colon cancers. Their findings also suggest how these effects may be therapeutically targeted to reduce tumor growth and improve patient survival. Their new study is published in the Journal of Experimental Medicine in an article titled, “Hematopoietic-specific heterozygous loss of Dnmt3a exacerbates colitis-associated colon cancer.” As we age, the hematopoietic stem cells that reside in the bone marrow and give rise to all of the body’s different blood cells gradually acquire mutations in their DNA. Most of these mutations have no effect, but some can enhance a particular stem cell’s ability to survive and proliferate, resulting in large numbers of blood cells that carry the same mutation, which is known as clonal hematopoiesis. Clonal hematopoiesis is even more frequently seen in patients with many other types of cancer outside of the blood system and is associated with faster tumor progression and shorter survival times. “However, whether the presence of clonal hematopoiesis causes the aggressive phenotype of unrelated solid tumors has not been vigorously addressed,” said Olga A. Guryanova, MD, PhD, now an associate professor at the University of Florida College of Medicine and a member of the University of Florida Health Cancer Center, who led the new JEM study. “Clonal hematopoiesis (CH) is defined as clonal expansion of mutant hematopoietic stem cells absent diagnosis of a hematologic malignancy,” wrote the researchers. “Presence of CH in solid tumor patients, including colon cancer, correlates with shorter survival. We hypothesized that bone marrow–derived cells with heterozygous loss-of-function mutations of DNMT3A, the most common genetic alteration in CH, contribute to the pathogenesis of colon cancer. In a mouse model that combines colitis-associated colon cancer (CAC) with experimental CH driven by Dnmt3a+/Δ, we found higher tumor penetrance and increased tumor burden compared with controls.” Compared with normal mice (top), colonoscopies detect more, and larger, tumors in the intestines of mice with clonal hematopoiesis (bottom). [© 2023 Feng et al. Originally published in Journal of Experimental Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1084/jem.20230011] Guryanova and colleagues decided to investigate the role of clonal hematopoiesis in colitis-associated colon cancer (CAC). Inflammatory bowel disease, including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, is a well-known risk factor for colon cancer, and clonal hematopoiesis is prevalent in both IBD and colon cancer patients. The team generated mice with clonal hematopoiesis by transplanting them with blood stem cells lacking one copy of Dnmt3a, the most frequently mutated gene in clonal hematopoiesis patients. The team observed that CAC occurred more frequently, and developed more rapidly, in mice with clonal hematopoiesis, resulting in larger tumors with a worse histopathology. The researchers determined that one way clonal hematopoiesis promotes the development of CAC is by increasing the number of blood vessels that supply the intestinal tumors with the nutrients and oxygen they need to grow. Blocking the formation of these extra blood vessels with axitinib, a drug approved by the FDA to treat advanced kidney cancer, inhibited the growth of CAC tumors in mice with clonal hematopoiesis. “Our results show that alterations in Dnmt3a in bone marrow stem cells can have profound impact on the development of CAC through multiple mechanisms, some of which may be therapeutically targetable,” Guryanova said. “Our findings, for the first time, solidify the causal relationship between clonal hematopoiesis and the severity of solid tumors and identify potential therapeutic strategies.”