Todd S

Gordo, I can confirm that plugging the USB connection from the CompCooler UniVest into an Apple 5 V charger instead of the 7.4 V battery still works for running the water circulation pump.

Thanks Dean for your detailed review of the water-cooled CompCooler UniVest. This influenced me to get a beige one (what was available at the time in M/L size) a couple of weeks ago. It was delivered by Amazon from vendor CompCooler for $219. My order also included the spare 3 L reservoir, which cost an additional $42.99. I agree with you that this product is well made. I've found it very comfortable to wear in the house all evening on hot days. I've also worn it on a couple of weekends so far when experimenting with Nordic Walking on San Francisco Bay trails on hot days -- and found that it helps to reduce fatigue by keeping front and back upper torso cool.

For the last couple of weeks, I've been experimenting with using simple pursed lip inspiration during the rising portion of 10 or 15 Jefferson Curls performed just before going to bed. This is very relaxing, And I think that it should increase spinal flexibility while strengthening associated small muscles that support the spine. The use of pursed lips to constrain the inspiration helps to slow the down movement -- and I'm guessing that it might provide the same benefits as the advertised gadgets. [You can look up Jefferson Curls. I want to emphasize that they be done correctly. Always keep the bar close to the body, only moving out at the bottom to get past the feet. The upward movement should reverse the downward movement, keeping the bar close to the body. Start with no weight on the bar or rod -- building up slowly over many months or years to as much as half body weight or even body weight.]

Mechanism -- FYI, I would likely attend another CR Conference organized by David and Robert with relevant scientific speakers. I've been at all the past such conferences except the one in Atlanta, which didn't appeal to me partly because it appeared to be a minor attachment to a Gerontology conference and because of timing considerations unique to me. I live in the San Francisco Bay Area. I'll be vacationing in the Adirondack mountains of New York state during the time of the "Ending Age-Related Diseases, NYC: 7/11 - 7/12" conference, but I wouldn't take the time from my vacation with family to travel elsewhere during that time.

Thanks Dean for bringing this topic up again. More than a year ago I paused use of my vibration machine (during early morning supported handstand) along with pausing all handstand progressions due to a shoulder injury that was not likely caused by handstand work. I think the injury was caused by inappropriate execution of a thoracic bridge progression step. That is, I was doing a "twisting bear" transition into more of a "table" rather than the correct "bridge" positioning of the shoulders. Connective tissue recovery takes a long time. After a lengthy recovery period -- including adoption of exercises in consultation with a physical therapist -- I have recently restarted supported handstand training -- with no recurrence of pain. The vibration machine is still where it was -- and I expect to begin using it again soon. --Todd S

Thanks Michael. The Dreem looks interesting. [There is also a Philips SmartSleep headband with some similar functionality to at least part of that of the Dreem.] In the links I didn't see anything addressing potential EMF risk from an ARM computer on the forehead overnight -- other than that WiFi and Bluetooth are disabled then. On the web site, it is interesting to look under Support at the Technical help pages. There are 13 responses to issues apparently brought up by users.

Dean -- FYI, I've now also ordered the Yahoo fit TICKR from eBay. Delivery is projected to be the end of September. [This is my second ever eBay purchase. The first was the vibration platform that you talked about -- see https://www.crsociety.org/topic/11697-whole-body-vibration-therapy-for-bone-health/?do=findComment&comment=16514 -- and that I continue to enjoy briefly standing on and doing a supported handstand on every morning.] I'm willing to contribute my future HRV data if it seems that it might be useful information. Todd

Dean, The beans had a salt content of 135 or 140 mg per 1/2 cup serving. Yes, I used the whipping attachment -- on both of the electric mixers. I didn't measure the time, but it was probably too short -- i.e., somewhat less than the 1/2 hour or so that I see you used. I also think that I needed to use a larger quantity of further reduced aquafaba for the mixing to work better. Todd

Dean, Okay, I'll "bite". I appreciate your providing details of "Chilled Vegan Sweet Bean Macarons". I already had a can of fava beans and recently purchased a can of black beans. I opened them both, poured off the liquid into a separate container, and mixed the beans together for adding a few spoonfuls to my microwave-steamed veggies pot that I usually have for dinner -- and to correspondingly reduce my consumption of "chicken strips" as a protein source. Since today was a holiday, I had time to try your recipe. I'm not certain that I sufficiently extracted the maximum amount of aquafaba from the beans, but it initially seemed as though I had enough to work with. I reduced the liquid in a fry pan on the stove. I dug out my Kitchen Aid high-end mixer (that I purchased in the early '70s to make some peanut butter cookies, but have used only a few times since then) and my Bamix hand-held mixer (that I purchased 10 years ago but haven't used much). Using both of these gadgets, I didn't succeed in getting the fluffy texture that you did. I added cocoa powder and 3 drops of saturated solution of sucralose. I spooned the (slightly airy) results onto a cookie sheet and put the sheet in the freezer. I tried them a few hours later. The flavor is good! And the "melt in the mouth" is pleasant. I assume that if I continued to experiment with this I would be able to reproduce the fluffy texture that you described. But for me personally, I don't currently think I would bother to put the effort into it for something like this that probaby doesn't provide a significant additional nutrititional benefit. [i pretty much knew beforehand that this would be my conclusion -- but, hey, at least I tried it -- and reported on it.] [i typically don't cook with recipes. I normally only use a microwave oven -- and a stovetop burner for frying eggs sometimes for breakfast. I don't even bother to make salads, but I do eat most of a heart of romaine lettuce as part of breakfast. And leafy greens like red chard, kale, and spinach are part of my microwaved-steamed veggies at dinner.] [i should note that about 13 years ago -- during a period of about 18 months when I had more free time -- I experimented with many variations of "binging brownies". At some point I decided that it was more efficient to just eat a variety of simpler foods that require much less preparation time.] Todd

Dean, I had also thought of the cold-water swimming clubs (such as the local Dolphin Club), but my thinking is that the "pool" of potential subjects that are exposed daily to cold would be at least two orders of magnitude greater in the homeless population. Although there are likely many homeless folks without serious addiction or psychiatric issues, I agree that it would probably be a lot more complicated to select subjects from that pool. Todd

Dean, For a researcher wanting to study cold exposure effects on humans, might the homeless population provide a suitable source of subjects? Sleeping on the streets of San Francisco, for example, could already have provided plenty of cold exposure over a long period of time. Todd

Dean, I don't think you fully acknowledged Al's comment -- which was about something that I had also noticed, but originally decided not to comment on. Dean wrote: But the graphical abstract did not appear to show exactly what you stated. Specifically, the column for (BCAAs?) Leucine/Isoleucine/Valine had an '=' in the FGF21 row. I'm not certain why you didn't correct your original statement before moving on to Luigi's new paper in your reply post. [Feel free to correct the original statement and delete this comment if you like.] Todd

Dean, Your protocol sounds fine to me. I'm still only doing daily morning (supported) handstands for about a minute on strong mode with speed 10 (as I described previously). I haven't yet figured out where to fit upright vibration sessions into my daily schedule. From the studies that have been posted, there are two particular things that I think would be interesting to reproduce. One is that the vibration transmission through the body decreases as the speed (frequency) is increased. The other is that the magnitude of vibration at a body part is amplified when vibrated at (or near?) the resonant frequency of the body part. You and I have in the past mostly done measurements at just speed settings of 10 and 20. I'm guessing that measurements taken at speeds of 4,8,12,16,20 -- in both Soft and Strong modes -- might provide enough data points to see the those things that I wanted to reproduce. This evening I used masking tape to fasten my phone to the vibration plate. I then stood on the plate (but not on the phone) -- to standardize with bodyweight applied -- to get some 'base' (at the plate) measurements at those five speeds both in Soft and Strong modes. I have the results but will wait until I have more data (for comparison) to post them. I'm thinking of somehow strapping my phone to my hip -- maybe with an elastic band of some sort -- to get something to compare with the 'base' data. Currently this is more of interest to me than further measurements at the jaw. Todd

One person data point: I find that taking 50,000 IU twice per month keeps me at a good level -- for example, 41.6 ng/mL on 02/25/2016. I've been using the BIO-TECH D3-50, 100 (dry powder) capsules for many years -- if I recall correctly, based on a recommendation from "Rodney" as a reasonable non-prescription online source. This is the only supplement that I've been taking for quite a while now. [My doctor mentioned some think that up to 60 ng/mL might be good for preventing osteoporosis.] Todd

Dean, I think you misread my post. My inital and later tests did not differ in the reported resonant frequencies. In both sets of tests, the "Soft 10" setting resulted in 30 Hz -- and the "Strong 10" setting resulted in 26 Hz. For the later set of tests, I didn't didn't use a speed of 20 at all. I wrote, "I was planning to do additional tests at speed setting 20, but I think that the results here for speed setting 10 are probably sufficient for now." This was identified as "Strong 10", not "Strong 20". h10p 26/7.8 X 0.3 Y 0.8 Z 7.8 Strong 10 plate upright I'm still not certain about the accuracy of the Magnitude values. And we haven't run enough experiments yet to determine consistency of the reported results. And remember that PMC 3688642 said, "This recommendation is mainly based on exposures in the range of 4 h to 8 h...". It seems to me that this is probably mostly due to occupational exposure. The same source also says "“Shorter durations should be treated with extreme caution.” But is there evidence of problems with shorter durations? As I've described before, I'm currently just using the vibration plate for about a one minute supported handstand every morning -- using the "Strong 10" setting -- and periodically moving between slightly planched, proper stacked handstand, and slightly bridged. I use "Strong 10" not because "Strong 20" is difficult or dangerous, but because the latter is less convenient. Before kicking up (quite vertically because of space limitations) into a handstand, the unloaded vibration plate on "Strong 20" is very noisy and jumping around so much that it doesn't always stay in place. For this reason, "Strong 10" seems more convenient. I intend to continue this usage for now. As I've also described before, I hang from my ankles for about a minute before moving to the vibration plate to do the morning handstand. While hanging upside down, I for about 5 seconds at a time alternate hands using one hand to stretch the fingers and wrist back at 90 degrees on the other hand. This is to prep my wrist for the subsequent handstand. I haven't yet started spending upright time on the vibration plate, but I intend to do so -- maybe at some other time of the day. I'll probably use the "Strong 20" setting, since bodyweight on the vibration platform eliminates the noise and hopping around issues that are present with an unloaded plate. The reason I plan to spend upright time on the vibration plate in the future is because it is far more likely (than when inverted) to stimulate the hip bones. I want to use straight legs when upright because I want the maximum transmission of vibration to the hips (as also noted below). I'm only using the vibration plate in order to get the presumed benefits of vibration on the body. But using shock absorbers, staying away from the outer edges of the plate, and bending the limbs -- all reduce the transmission of the vibration to the body -- and I don't see the need for them myself at this point. For example, I want to use straight legs when upright because I want the maximum transmission of vibration to the hips. If you want less vibration on the body, it seems that you could just use a lower speed setting and/or the Soft mode instead of the Strong mode. [i currently use thin workout gloves on the vibration plate only because the surface seems somewhat smooth and I don't want my hands to unintentionally slip.] The main thing I was initially concerned about was transmission of excess vibration to the brain. With the experience that we have so far -- of order of magnitude less vibration being transmitted to the jaw -- I'm not currently concerned about it. And I'm not planning to ever do a headstand on the vibration plate. With regard to your question about the hands, I'm not currently concerned. I haven't experienced any problem thus far. I should point out that in the gym as part of my warmup I spend a significant amount of time doing both stretching and strengthening exercises for the hands and wrists. [i got these routines from the Handstand One course from gymnasticbodies.com] I have "small bones" (inherited from my Mother, I think) -- and I consider it very important to always work on maintaining or improving wrist mobility and strength. Todd