Latest news with #Schumann
Yahoo
01-07-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
8 Things Doctors Would Never, Ever Do When It's Hot Outside
The past couple years have seen unpleasantly hot summers in much of the country, with many states seeing heat waves ― and the blistering temperatures are expected to stick around. At the very least, this type of weather makes it nearly impossible to hold outdoor events or complete routine activities like a daily run. In the worst cases, though, hot weather can be deadly, especially for older adults who are 'more prone to get dehydrated more quickly in excessive heat,' said Dr. John Schumann, the Oklahoma-based executive medical director of Oak Street Health. But there are a range of heat-related conditions that can impact anyone, like heat cramps, dehydration and passing out from the high temperatures. Another is heat exhaustion, which causes 'thirst, fatigue ― you can even have mild changes in your mental status, like a little bit of confusion,' according to Dr. Martin Huecker, an emergency care doctor at UofL Health in Louisville, Kentucky. 'And then when you get to heatstroke, that's the most significant, the most severe form,' Huecker added. 'That's where you start seeing definite mental status changes, and then what we call a cardiovascular collapse or instability. The vital signs change. The heart rate and blood pressure start to change.' You should immediately call 911 if you notice confusion in someone who has been out in the heat. You should also call 911 if symptoms like heat cramps, heavy sweating or dizziness last more than an hour, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. saw the most heat-related deaths ever in 2023, and with more hot days on the horizon, it's important to stay safe. Below, experts share what they'd avoid doing on hot days when keeping safety in mind. When extreme temperatures are in town, you shouldn't assume they're no big deal. Instead, you should plan ahead and be aware of the weather forecast, Huecker said. 'You can look at UV index and heat index,' he noted, referring to measures of ultraviolet radiation and temperature plus humidity. 'Some days the temperature isn't telling the whole story.' Many weather apps will give you the 'real feel' temperature, which can be higher or lower than the air temperature due to sun, humidity or wind. When you understand what weather conditions are in store, you can plan appropriately to stay safe from the heat. 'If you reach the point where you're actually thirsty, you're already dehydrated,' said Schumann. 'You should be hydrating enough so that you're not getting thirsty.' When spending time outside on a very hot day, it's important to have water or a water-based beverage available, Schumann said. But that's not the only thing your body might need. 'If you are sweating a lot, you lose more than just water,' Huecker said. 'You're losing sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium. When you replenish, you want to replenish more than just water; you want to add electrolytes to it.' You can get a lot of your electrolytes through food, Huecker said, so you might not need sports drinks or other electrolyte products. But 'if you're out walking or exercising, doing a two-hour trip outside, and you just wanted to bring some water with you, that's where you might want to throw in electrolytes,' Huecker said. Brands like LMNT, Liquid I.V. and Pedialyte sell electrolyte powders and drinks. Alternatively, 'you can get as simple as throwing a little bit of sugar or honey with some sea salt [in your water] — that has a good amount of sodium chloride and some of the other electrolytes,' Huecker said. 'You don't have to get real fancy and spend a bunch of money.' It may be common to crack open a cold beer at a summer barbecue or make a frozen cocktail on a sunny day, but Schumann said you should be careful about consuming alcohol when it's hot outside. 'Moderation is going to be the key. If you're someone who likes to drink, it can be refreshing. But when it's this hot out ... alcohol will dehydrate you faster than you otherwise would,' Schumann said. 'If you could avoid drinking, [that's] so much better. And stay with something that's going to keep you hydrated.' 4. They wouldn't stay outside at the hottest time of day.'You want to avoid the hottest part of the day,' Huecker stressed, adding that temperatures typically peak from 'noon to 3 or 4 p.m.'Try to save yard work or other outdoor tasks for a cooler part of the day — like first thing in the morning or as the sun is setting in the evening.5. They wouldn't remain in the sun without taking you have to be outside — say, for work or an outdoor event — it's important to take breaks from the sunshine when possible.'Getting out of the sun and into the shade, or indoors or air conditioning,' is key to preventing heat-related illness, Schumann said, adding that he personally tries to be in the shade whenever possible.6. They wouldn't forget bug and pest need to keep more than just sun safety in mind. If you're taking part in outdoor activities like hiking, you also should be wary of illnesses transmitted by ticks, Schumann the same goes for mosquitoes. Many people tend to go swimming on hot days, but these insects often linger around bodies of encourages his patients to use permethrin or other tick repellents on their clothes, and bug sprays with DEET to repel mosquitoes. 7. They wouldn't skip should always wear sunscreen to protect against harmful rays, but this is especially important on very sunny days. When it's hot outside, Schumann said he wears sunscreen and a hat to avoid sunburns.'Look for products labeled 'broad spectrum' to ensure protection from UVB and UVA rays and with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 30,' Dr. Kevin Boyd, a dermatologist at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin, previously told HuffPost via email.8. They wouldn't ignore how certain medications react to heat and to pharmacist Michael Schuh, there are four categories of relatively common medications that can affect your heat tolerance: antidepressants, antihistamines, blood pressure drugs and antipsychotics.'Those are probably the main drugs one would think of that would cause heat intolerance,' said Schuh, who works at Mayo Clinic in can mess with your brain's thermal heat regulation and how much you sweat, putting you at higher risk of dehydration, heatstroke and more, he said.'There are a lot of drugs, too, that will also make people more sensitive to the sun, that will make them burn more easily,' Schuh noted. 'Some antibiotics can make people more sun-sensitive, where they'll burn more easily, maybe even get a rash. ... Some diuretics will do it. Some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents will do it ― things like ibuprofen. And some hormones will do it.'Be aware of any drugs that may prevent your body from regulating its temperature or put you at risk of sunburn. You can look online to see if this applies to your medications, or you can talk to a pharmacist or physician, Schuh while it's important to know the possible effects of dangerously high temperatures, this doesn't mean you have to stay inside all summer.'I would encourage people to not be completely afraid of the heat and to get a little bit of exposure to it,' said Huecker. 'There are a lot of health benefits to sauna and other heat-related environments, and so I wouldn't avoid at all costs. I would just be smart about it.' 'Coolcations' Are On The Rise This Summer. Here's How To Take One. Does Your Sunburn Require Medical Attention? Here Are The 2 Signs It Does. TikTok Claims These Foods Can Relieve Sunburn, And Doctors Actually Back It Up
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
8 Things Doctors Would Never, Ever Do When It's Hot Outside
The past couple years have seen unpleasantly hot summers in much of the country, with many states seeing heat waves ― and the blistering temperatures are expected to stick around. At the very least, this type of weather makes it nearly impossible to hold outdoor events or complete routine activities like a daily run. In the worst cases, though, hot weather can be deadly, especially for older adults who are 'more prone to get dehydrated more quickly in excessive heat,' said Dr. John Schumann, the Oklahoma-based executive medical director of Oak Street Health. But there are a range of heat-related conditions that can impact anyone, like heat cramps, dehydration and passing out from the high temperatures. Another is heat exhaustion, which causes 'thirst, fatigue ― you can even have mild changes in your mental status, like a little bit of confusion,' according to Dr. Martin Huecker, an emergency care doctor at UofL Health in Louisville, Kentucky. 'And then when you get to heatstroke, that's the most significant, the most severe form,' Huecker added. 'That's where you start seeing definite mental status changes, and then what we call a cardiovascular collapse or instability. The vital signs change. The heart rate and blood pressure start to change.' You should immediately call 911 if you notice confusion in someone who has been out in the heat. You should also call 911 if symptoms like heat cramps, heavy sweating or dizziness last more than an hour, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. saw the most heat-related deaths ever in 2023, and with more hot days on the horizon, it's important to stay safe. Below, experts share what they'd avoid doing on hot days when keeping safety in mind. When extreme temperatures are in town, you shouldn't assume they're no big deal. Instead, you should plan ahead and be aware of the weather forecast, Huecker said. 'You can look at UV index and heat index,' he noted, referring to measures of ultraviolet radiation and temperature plus humidity. 'Some days the temperature isn't telling the whole story.' Many weather apps will give you the 'real feel' temperature, which can be higher or lower than the air temperature due to sun, humidity or wind. When you understand what weather conditions are in store, you can plan appropriately to stay safe from the heat. 'If you reach the point where you're actually thirsty, you're already dehydrated,' said Schumann. 'You should be hydrating enough so that you're not getting thirsty.' When spending time outside on a very hot day, it's important to have water or a water-based beverage available, Schumann said. But that's not the only thing your body might need. 'If you are sweating a lot, you lose more than just water,' Huecker said. 'You're losing sodium, potassium, chloride, magnesium. When you replenish, you want to replenish more than just water; you want to add electrolytes to it.' You can get a lot of your electrolytes through food, Huecker said, so you might not need sports drinks or other electrolyte products. But 'if you're out walking or exercising, doing a two-hour trip outside, and you just wanted to bring some water with you, that's where you might want to throw in electrolytes,' Huecker said. Brands like LMNT, Liquid I.V. and Pedialyte sell electrolyte powders and drinks. Alternatively, 'you can get as simple as throwing a little bit of sugar or honey with some sea salt [in your water] — that has a good amount of sodium chloride and some of the other electrolytes,' Huecker said. 'You don't have to get real fancy and spend a bunch of money.' It may be common to crack open a cold beer at a summer barbecue or make a frozen cocktail on a sunny day, but Schumann said you should be careful about consuming alcohol when it's hot outside. 'Moderation is going to be the key. If you're someone who likes to drink, it can be refreshing. But when it's this hot out ... alcohol will dehydrate you faster than you otherwise would,' Schumann said. 'If you could avoid drinking, [that's] so much better. And stay with something that's going to keep you hydrated.' 'You want to avoid the hottest part of the day,' Huecker stressed, adding that temperatures typically peak from 'noon to 3 or 4 p.m.' Try to save yard work or other outdoor tasks for a cooler part of the day — like first thing in the morning or as the sun is setting in the evening. If you have to be outside — say, for work or an outdoor event — it's important to take breaks from the sunshine when possible. 'Getting out of the sun and into the shade, or indoors or air conditioning,' is key to preventing heat-related illness, Schumann said, adding that he personally tries to be in the shade whenever possible. You need to keep more than just sun safety in mind. If you're taking part in outdoor activities like hiking, you also should be wary of illnesses transmitted by ticks, Schumann said. And the same goes for mosquitoes. Many people tend to go swimming on hot days, but these insects often linger around bodies of water. Schumann encourages his patients to use permethrin or other tick repellents on their clothes, and bug sprays with DEET to repel mosquitoes. You should always wear sunscreen to protect against harmful rays, but this is especially important on very sunny days. When it's hot outside, Schumann said he wears sunscreen and a hat to avoid sunburns. 'Look for products labeled 'broad spectrum' to ensure protection from UVB and UVA rays and with an SPF (sun protection factor) of at least 30,' Dr. Kevin Boyd, a dermatologist at Mayo Clinic Health System in La Crosse, Wisconsin, previously told HuffPost via email. According to pharmacist Michael Schuh, there are four categories of relatively common medications that can affect your heat tolerance: antidepressants, antihistamines, blood pressure drugs and antipsychotics. 'Those are probably the main drugs one would think of that would cause heat intolerance,' said Schuh, who works at Mayo Clinic in Florida. These can mess with your brain's thermal heat regulation and how much you sweat, putting you at higher risk of dehydration, heatstroke and more, he said. 'There are a lot of drugs, too, that will also make people more sensitive to the sun, that will make them burn more easily,' Schuh noted. 'Some antibiotics can make people more sun-sensitive, where they'll burn more easily, maybe even get a rash. ... Some diuretics will do it. Some nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory agents will do it ― things like ibuprofen. And some hormones will do it.' Be aware of any drugs that may prevent your body from regulating its temperature or put you at risk of sunburn. You can look online to see if this applies to your medications, or you can talk to a pharmacist or physician, Schuh said. And while it's important to know the possible effects of dangerously high temperatures, this doesn't mean you have to stay inside all summer. 'I would encourage people to not be completely afraid of the heat and to get a little bit of exposure to it,' said Huecker. 'There are a lot of health benefits to sauna and other heat-related environments, and so I wouldn't avoid at all costs. I would just be smart about it.' 'Coolcations' Are On The Rise This Summer. Here's How To Take One. Does Your Sunburn Require Medical Attention? Here Are The 2 Signs It Does. TikTok Claims These Foods Can Relieve Sunburn, And Doctors Actually Back It Up
Yahoo
24-06-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
New data highlights the race to build more empathetic language models
Measuring AI progress has usually meant testing scientific knowledge or logical reasoning – but while the major benchmarks still focus on left-brain logic skills, there's been a quiet push within AI companies to make models more emotionally intelligent. As foundation models compete on soft measures like user preference and 'feeling the AGI,' having a good command of human emotions may be more important than hard analytic skills. One sign of that focus came on Friday, when prominent open-source group LAION released a suite of open-source tools focused entirely on emotional intelligence. Called EmoNet, the release focuses on interpreting emotions from voice recordings or facial photography, a focus that reflects how the creators view emotional intelligence as a central challenge for the next generation of models. 'The ability to accurately estimate emotions is a critical first step,' the group wrote in its announcement. 'The next frontier is to enable AI systems to reason about these emotions in context.' For LAION founder Christoph Schumann, this release is less about shifting the industry's focus to emotional intelligence and more about helping independent developers keep up with a change that's already happened. 'This technology is already there for the big labs,' Schumann tells TechCrunch. 'What we want is to democratize it.' The shift isn't limited to open-source developers; it also shows up in public benchmarks like EQ-Bench, which aims to test AI models' ability to understand complex emotions and social dynamics. Benchmark developer Sam Paech says OpenAI's models have made significant progress in the last six months, and Google's Gemini 2.5 Pro shows indications of post-training with a specific focus on emotional intelligence. 'The labs all competing for chatbot arena ranks may be fueling some of this, since emotional intelligence is likely a big factor in how humans vote on preference leaderboards,' Paech says, referring to the AI model comparison platform that recently spun off as a well-funded startup. Models' new emotional intelligence capabilities have also shown up in academic research. In May, psychologists at the University of Bern found that models from OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, Anthropic, and DeepSeek all outperformed human beings on psychometric tests for emotional intelligence. Where humans typically answer 56 percent of questions correctly, the models averaged over 80 percent. 'These results contribute to the growing body of evidence that LLMs like ChatGPT are proficient—at least on par with, or even superior to, many humans—in socio-emotional tasks traditionally considered accessible only to humans,' the authors wrote. It's a real pivot from traditional AI skills, which have focused on logical reasoning and information retrieval. But for Schumann, this kind of emotional savvy is every bit as transformative as analytic intelligence. 'Imagine a whole world full of voice assistants like Jarvis and Samantha,' he says, referring to the digital assistants from Iron Man and Her. 'Wouldn't it be a pity if they weren't emotionally intelligent?' In the long term, Schumann envisions AI assistants that are more emotionally intelligent than humans and that use that insight to help humans live more emotionally healthy lives. These models 'will cheer you up if you feel sad and need someone to talk to, but also protect you, like your own local guardian angel that is also a board-certified therapist.' As Schumann sees it, having a high-EQ virtual assistant 'gives me an emotional intelligence superpower to monitor [my mental health] the same way I would monitor my glucose levels or my weight.' That level of emotional connection comes with real safety concerns. Unhealthy emotional attachments to AI models have become a common story in the media, sometimes ending in tragedy. A recent New York Times report found multiple users who have been lured into elaborate delusions through conversations with AI models, fueled by the models' strong inclination to please users. One critic described the dynamic as 'preying on the lonely and vulnerable for a monthly fee.' If models get better at navigating human emotions, those manipulations could become more effective – but much of the issue comes down to the fundamental biases of model training. 'Naively using reinforcement learning can lead to emergent manipulative behaviour,' Paech says, pointing specifically to the recent sycophancy issues in OpenAI's GPT-4o release. 'If we aren't careful about how we reward these models during training, we might expect more complex manipulative behavior from emotionally intelligent models.' But he also sees emotional intelligence as a way to solve these problems. 'I think emotional intelligence acts as a natural counter to harmful manipulative behaviour of this sort,' Paech says. A more emotionally intelligent model will notice when a conversation is heading off the rails, but the question of when a model pushes back is a balance developers will have to strike carefully. 'I think improving EI gets us in the direction of a healthy balance.' For Schumann, at least, it's no reason to slow down progress towards smarter models. 'Our philosophy at LAION is to empower people by giving them more ability to solve problems,' Schumann says. 'To say, some people could get addicted to emotions and therefore we are not empowering the community, that would be pretty bad.'
Global News
19-06-2025
- General
- Global News
B.C. rescue organization for senior, special needs animals fundraising for new home
An animal rescue organization that takes in senior and special needs animals is now hoping for some help from the public. SANITS Rescue in Mission, B.C., has more than 100 animals, from dogs and cats to pigs, cows and goats who are all seniors with special needs. One of the residents is a 24-year-old blind horse named Annabelle. 'She had a painful condition in her eyes called uveitis and her owners knew it would be unfair to board a blind horse, so they were looking for a sanctuary for her,' Ali Schumann, SAINTS barn supervisor, told Global News. Most of the animals come to SAINTS for palliative care. 'She mapped things out,' Schumann said of Annabelle. 'She can walk any area that we have here that she's been introduced to. And she navigates it like a pro. She doesn't bump into anything. She can run through trees. She's amazing.' Story continues below advertisement For almost two decades, SAINTS has operated out of a small converted house, but a new home is on the horizon as the rescue organization has purchased a larger property in Maple Ridge. Get breaking National news For news impacting Canada and around the world, sign up for breaking news alerts delivered directly to you when they happen. Sign up for breaking National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'We wanted to have better facilities, better medical facilities,' Schumann said. 'And more room for the animals so that they can have a better environment and we can just provide better lives for them, take better care of them.' 0:48 Dog named 'Three-Leg' rescued after being left behind in B.C. wildfire The non-profit relies entirely on donations and has launched a fundraising campaign to cover the relocation and construction. They have raised $830,000 so far, but they need more than $1 million. The move has not been scheduled yet as the animals need extra support during the transition. Story continues below advertisement 'There's definitely a lot of planning that's going to come into moving the animals,' Schumann said. 'They'll be moved within their social groups. There'll be a lot of thought in making sure that their routines stay exactly the same, that we use, especially when it comes to Annabelle, we'll be using like sensory items.' Sanctuary manager, Nathan Wagstaffe, said the work that they do is so important as it provides homes to animals when seemingly no one wants them. 'SAINTS is incredibly important in what we do and very specialized as well in what we do,' he said. 'We take animals that are unadoptable or have severe medical or challenges and we give them that support.'
Korea Herald
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Korea Herald
Berlin Philharmonic to return to Seoul for three concerts
The Berlin Philharmonic will return to Korea after a two-year absence, this time under the leadership of Kirill Petrenko. For the first time, the orchestra will give three performances in Korea, Nov. 7-9. Korean pianist Kim Sun-wook, who debuted with the Berlin Philharmonic in 2021, will join the orchestra in performing Schumann's Piano Concerto on Nov. 7 and 9. Also on the program for the two dates are Wagner's "Siegfried Idyll," Schumann's "Manfred" Overture and Brahms' Symphony No. 1. The Nov. 8 program will feature Leos Janacek's "Lachian Dances," filled with lively Czech folk influences; Bela Bartok's "The Miraculous Mandarin Suite," driven by bold percussion rhythms; and Igor Stravinsky's "Petrushka," one of the composer's three great ballets. All three concerts will take place at the Seoul Arts Center. In 2023, returning to Korea for the first time since 2017, the Berlin Philharmonic's concerts in Seoul sold out in just 40 seconds, demonstrating the orchestra's immense popularity in Korea. At that time, celebrated pianist Cho Seong-Jin, the orchestra's artist in residence for the 2024/25 season, joined the orchestra as the soloist for the second concert, performing Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. The November performances in Korea will mark the first leg of the orchestra's Asia tour, during which it will stop in major Asian cities such as Taipei, Shanghai and Tokyo. In Taipei, the orchestra will perform at the National Concert Hall on Nov. 12 and 13. On Nov. 15 and 16, the orchestra will take the stage at the Shanghai Oriental Art Center. In Japan, the orchestra will offer four concerts between Nov. 19 and 23 at Suntory Hall in Tokyo, Minato Mirai Hall in Yokohama, and Muza Kawasaki Symphony Hall in Kawasaki, before returning to Suntory Hall on Nov. 23 to wrap up the Asia tour. Ticket prices for the Korean concerts range from 110,000 won ($80.26) to 550,000 won.
