Daily Archives: July 25, 2022

No DLC has been confirmed for Horizon Forbidden West yet, but speculation that it might be in development has started after one of Aloys motion capture actresses,Peggy Vrijens, confirmed she was back in the studio for more mocap work. More evidence appeared after the actress also met up with Louis Van Beek, who provides voices for the game.

Peggy Vrijens was the actress who did a lot of the motion capture for Aloy during the action scenes in Horizon Forbidden West while Ashly Burch did the cutscenes and an anonymous stuntwoman did the most intense stunts. In an Instagram post (thanks Reddit), Vrijens revealed she was back doing motion capture, and when her only listed credits are for Horizon Forbidden West, fans started speculating DLC may be on the way. In another post (thanks GamesRadar), the actress revealed she had met up with Louis Van Beek, who provided Walla voices for the game, around the same time.

Many have speculated DLC would be released for Horizon Forbidden West, having found areas off the edge of the map that they suspect would make perfect locations. Theres a ruined fortress at the edge of the map to the east of Plainsong, as well as a strange unused area of water to the south of Latopolis. Of course, theres also the possibility the pair are doing some work for the upcoming VR game Horizon: Call of the Mountain. Aloy is not the protagonist in this game but is still promised to be making an appearance. Whatever it is, hopefully we find out soon enough.

In other news, the rumors about a battle royale standalone game set in the world of Tom Clancys The Division may just be about The Division Heartland. Elsewhere, reports claim the smaller game delayed alongside Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora is Assassins Creed Rift.

More here:

Horizon Forbidden West DLC Reportedly in Progress as Actress Heads Into MoCap - PlayStation LifeStyle

While Pavel Zacha filed for arbitration earlier this month, it appears that theres a good chance that his case wont come to a hearing. The centers agent Darren Ferris of Quartexx told Steve Conroy of the Boston Herald that a new deal for his client should be completed in short order.

Boston acquired the 25-year-old from New Jersey just hours before free agency opened up earlier this month in exchange for Erik Haula. Zacha hasnt been able to live up to his draft billing as the sixth-overall selection in 2015 but he has shown improvement over the last couple of seasons and is coming off a year that saw him collect 15 goals and 21 assists in 70 games with New Jersey; his 36 points were a career-high.

That was good enough for Boston to acquire and qualify him at a $3M cost although that number is likely going to go higher on his next contract. Zacha is in his final season of RFA eligibility since he already has six seasons of service time under his belt so it stands to reason that the sides are working on a multi-year agreement at this point which would at least give them a bit of depth down the middle.

It would also give them the cost certainty needed to move forward with the rest of their offseason planning. The Bruins have stated their interest in re-signing Patrice Bergeron if the soon-to-be 37-year-old is open to returning for a 19th NHL season. Theyve also been in talks with David Krejci about bringing him back to North America. But until Zachas deal gets done, GM Don Sweeney wont know what exactly he has left in cap space.

Either way, it wont be much. CapFriendly currently projects Boston to have $4.758M in cap room, the bulk of which will go to Zacha. Not surprisingly, Sweeney acknowledged earlier this month that if Bergeron and Krejci return, it will need to be on a low-salary deal with performance bonuses. They will likely need to clear out a contract as well, even with several veterans (Brad Marchand, Charlie McAvoy, and Matt Grzelcyk) likely to start the year on LTIR. Ferris also told Conroy that theres lots going on so a Zacha contract may be the domino that gets things going on the rest of their offseason moves.

Read more:

Bruins and Pavel Zacha making progress on contract talks - Yardbarker

The New England Journal of Medicine reported an important finding in 2019 from a Yale-led clinical trial: for the first time, researchers showed that a drug, teplizumab, could delay the development of type 1 diabetes by two years.

Kevan Herold, MD, C.N.H. Long Professor of Immunology and professor of medicine (endocrinology), and the principal investigator of the trial, said teplizumab likely will be FDA-approved in mid-November for people who are at high risk of diabetes, not only those with a family history of the disease. Once approved, all children should be screened for diabetes risk so that those at high risk will have a chance to prevent or at least delay the disease, Herold said.

Any delay in the onset of a chronic disease is valuable, Herold said. If youre eight years old, and you delay diabetes by two years or longer, thats a long time, he said. Kids become more mature. Theyre better able manage the disease.

The teplizumab trial is just one example of how Yale School of Medicine is a leader in the study and treatment of diabetes. At the Yale Diabetes Research Center, founded in 1993, researchers work to better understand type 1 and type 2 diabetes. At the Yale Diabetes Center, founded in 1994, physicians translate that knowledge into patient treatments.

An estimated 34.2 million people in the U.S., or 10.5% of the population, have diabetes. Characterized by abnormally high blood sugar levels, diabetes occurs when the body cannot make or becomes resistant to insulin, which the bodys cells need to take in and store blood sugar, called glucose. To manage their blood sugar, people with diabetes must take insulin and watch what they eat. Complications of type 1 and type 2 diabetes can include cardiovascular disease, as well as eye, foot, and kidney problems.

Preventing type 1 diabetes

The Yale Diabetes Research Center, funded by the National Institutes of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), is one of 16 NIDDK-funded diabetes research hubs nationwide. Researchers investigate type 1 and type 2 diabetes in children and adults and gestational diabetes. They also study the immunobiology of diabetes, cell and vascular biology, and obesity. The center is the site of 23 NIH-funded diabetes clinical trials.

In people with type 1 diabetes, the body mounts an autoimmune attack against the pancreas cells that produce insulin. Teplizumab is an antibody that counteracts that response and will be the first drug that prevents an autoimmune disease. Were very excited about that, said Herold, co-director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center.

In Herolds trial, 76 participants who were at high risk for type 1 diabetes and had diabetic relatives, were randomly assigned to take teplizumab or a placebo for two weeks. They took periodic glucose tolerance tests until they developed diabetes, or the trial ended. By the trials end, 57% of participants who received teplizumab were diabetes free, compared with 28% of those who received the placebo.

The results of the trial represent a paradigm shift for autoimmune research, Herold said. If diabetes can be prevented, perhaps other autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis or multiple sclerosis, can be, too. Herold is hopeful that researchers can begin to shift the way we think about these widespread diseases and find people who are going to develop them and stop the disease before it actually happens.

Insulin Resistance in type 2 Diabetes

Gerald I. Shulman, MD, PhD, MACP, MACE, George R. Cowgill Professor of Medicine (endocrinology) and professor of cellular and molecular physiology, and co-director of the Yale Diabetes Research Center, has spent the past 30 years investigating what causes insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes.

Shulman and colleagues began investigating these findings using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR), combined with stable isotopes as a noninvasive way to trace metabolic flux in an organ-specific fashion in humans and transgenic rodents. They found insulin resistance in muscle could be attributed to reduced insulin-stimulated glucose transport and that people with insulin resistance have fat stored in places in their body, such as the liver and muscle, where fat is normally not stored.

Its really not how much fat a person has that drives insulin resistance, its where the fat is stored, Shulman explained. When fat is stored ectopically, in liver and skeletal muscle, thats what drives insulin resistance and leads to the development of metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes. The most striking example are patients with lipodystrophy. They have virtually no fat but are profoundly insulin-resistant due to fat accumulation in their liver and muscle cells. When we treat them with leptin, the fat in these organs disappears and their insulin resistance and diabetes resolves.

As reported in a 2007 paper in the journal PNAS, a study led by Kitt Petersen, MD, professor of medicine (endocrinology), found that in lean people with insulin resistance -- but who did not yet have diabetes -- the liver accumulated unusually large amounts of fat. The study also found that fat built up in the blood of insulin-resistant subjects, setting the stage for cardiovascular disease. In 2022, Petersen published a paper in JCI Insight that showed that even lower liver fat content than previously believed is associated with insulin resistance and increased cardiometabolic risks.

However, the researchers also have found that diet and exercise can combat both ectopic fat storage and insulin resistance. A 2011 PNAS article from Shulmans group found that in lean, insulin-resistant but non-diabetic people, 45 minutes of leg exercise led skeletal muscle to respond to insulin again and decreased liver fat storage after a meal. In a 2005 study led by Petersen and published in the journal Diabetes, obese, diabetic patients who lost about 10% of their body weight saw their diabetes and insulin resistance go away and their liver fat return to normal levels.

Shulmans group has elucidated the molecular basis for lipid-induced insulin resistance in liver, skeletal muscle, and white adipose tissues, which has led to several new drugs for NAFLD/NASH and type 2 diabetes. One of these new drugs rids the liver of its excess fat. The drug, a controlled-release mitochondrial protonophore (CRMP), revs up the mitochondria in the liver, causing them to burn more fat. Studies have shown that CRMP can totally reverse these conditions, and CRMP is undergoing IND enabling studies.

Improving Diabetes Treatments

The increased risk of cardiovascular problems for diabetes patients remains even when patients control their blood sugar, said Silvio Inzucchi, MD, professor of medicine (endocrinology) and medical director of the Yale Diabetes Center.

Even though it's intuitive to think that good control of diabetes could mitigate those complications, that actually does not end up to be so, Inzucchi said. It's been a little bit of a conundrum as to why, if you fix the major underlying problem with diabetes, can't you decrease the rates of these complications. This has been one of my interest areas for many years.

Two relatively new classes of type 2 diabetes drugs can mitigate cardiovascular symptoms while helping control blood sugar. In 2015, Inzucchi and colleagues reported in the New England Journal of Medicine that type 2 diabetes patients randomly assigned to the type 2 diabetes drug empagliflozin had a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular causes than those assigned to the placebo. Empagliflozin, which the FDA approved in 2014, is an SGLT2 inhibitor. SGLT2 inhibitors reduce blood sugar by causing the kidneys to release more glucose into the urine. The drug also decreases the risk of kidney problems, Inzucchi said.

A different class of type 2 diabetes drug, the GLP-1 receptor agonists, has also been associated with reductions in cardiovascular complications as well as significant weight loss, Inzucchi said. GLP-1 receptor agonists stimulate the body to produce more insulin but also do several other things like reducing appetite, leading to weight loss. William Tamborlane, MD, professor of pediatrics (endocrinology), led the study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2019, leading to the pediatric indication of one such GLP-1 receptor agonist, liraglutide, for youth with type 2 diabetes.

Between those two drug classes, we now have solid evidence that these medications can not only lower the glucose to help with diabetes control, but also prevent heart complications of diabetes, Inzucchi said. With these multi-functional drugs, clinicians at the Yale Diabetes Center can tailor diabetes treatment regimens to patients needs, Inzucchi added. Thats been a real sea change in our field.

Additionally, a novel GIP/GLP-1 receptor agonist, tirzepatide, was recently shown to be extremely effective for weight loss. People with obesity treated with tirzepatide lost about 52 pounds on average, according to results of a study that were published in the New England Journal of Medicine. Ania Jastreboff, MD, PhD, associate professor of medicine (endocrinology) and pediatrics (pediatric endocrinology), was the lead author of the study.

Advances in Technology

Diabetes used to be a disease of daily shots: fingersticks to check blood sugar, then injections of insulin. But according to Inzucchi, the toolkit he and his colleagues have for helping type 1 and type 2 diabetes patients has expanded in recent years.

For type 1 diabetes, I think the major advancement has been the technology, Inzucchi said. In 2016, for example, the FDA approved a device that measures patients blood sugar levels every five minutes through a continuous glucose monitor and sends the information to a pump that delivers insulin accordingly. The system, called a hybrid closed loop insulin delivery system because the person with diabetes still needs to take a bolus of insulin before a meal, is connected to patients 24/7 and allows for more physiologic insulin delivery, Inzucchi said. Stuart Weinzimer, MD, professor (pediatric endocrinology and diabetes) and the interim chief of pediatric endocrinology, led the Yale site of the trial that led to this devices approval. Tamborlane, chief of pediatric endocrinology for over 37 years, guided pioneering studies in the development of insulin pump therapy, continuous glucose monitors, and automated insulin delivery systems. Weinzimer also has conducted longitudinal studies characterizing the effects of diabetes on brain development in youth with type 1 diabetes.

Pediatric Partners

Jennifer Sherr, MD, PhD, professor in pediatrics (endocrinology), Michelle Van Name, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics (endocrinology), and Laura Marie Nally, MD, assistant professor of pediatrics and of pediatric endocrinology and diabetes, are national leaders in helping youth with type 1 diabetes to manage this chronic medical condition. They have conducted continued work on new automated insulin delivery systems and new treatments for type 1 diabetes. Sonia Caprio, MD, professor of pediatrics (endocrinology), has studied obesity and type 2 diabetes for 25 years, and her work has brought the magnitude of the childhood obesity problem to national attention. Stephanie Samuels, MD, instructor of pediatrics has also focused her work on the care of youth with type 2 diabetes.

Continue reading here:

Diabetes Treatment and Research at Yale: 30 Years of Progress - Yale School of Medicine

GettyTre'Davious White looks on before a Buffalo Bills game.

TreDavious White is steadily progressing toward his return with the Buffalo Bills, even if that exact date remains uncertain.

As the Bills started training camp on Sunday, head coach Sean McDermott offered an update on the All-Pro cornerbacks recovery. White went down with an ACL tear in a Thanksgiving night win over the New Orleans Saints, missing the remainder of the season and continuing to rehab through the offseason.

McDermott offered a positive update on Whites progress, though did not reveal how much longer was left or whether White could be back for the teams September 8 season opener against the Los Angeles Rams.

As the Bills opened camp at St. John Fisher University on Sunday, White was on the physically unable to perform list. McDermott said that White was making good progress on his return.

Hes on schedule, McDermott said. He looks really good. Hes working his tail off. And Tre is a consummate pro. So that has not changed. Were excited to get him back when we can get him back.

McDermott would not go into further details, but did praise White for his dedication.

Hes on schedule with what the trainers are telling me hes on schedule, McDermott said. I think hes got a great look in his eye. I know what hes working back towards. And really other than that, thats all I can say.

Whites hard work in coming back had already caught the attention of his teammates. All-Pro safety Micah Hyde praised White back in June, predicting that hell come back even better than before.

I dont think anybody understands what hes been doing in the dark. That boyhes been working. Ive been fortunate enough to see some of the stuff hes been doing. Hes working. Hes working his a off. I know Ill put every single penny I have on TreDavious coming back a better player, Hyde saidvia video conference. Im that confident in him.

While the timeline for an ACL recovery can vary, most athletes take close to a full year to be able to return. That would put Whites return somewhere around or after the midpoint of the season, creating a big opportunity for the teams top draft pick.

The Bills traded up to snag Florida cornerback Kaiir Elam with the No. 23 overall pick, and the team is already placing some big expectations on the 20-year-old. Defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier praised his work, saying Elam will be placed in a big role right away.

We need Kaiir to step up and play well for us early, Frazier saidvia video conference.

Elam didnt seem fazed by the expectations, saying in May that hes excited to be able to contribute and not feeling the pressure.

Theres no pressure, Elam said. Football is football. I go out there, listen to my coaches, make plays and have fun. At the end of the day, help this team win, thats the most important thing.

READ NEXT: Former Bills QB Ryan Fitzpatrick Goes Shirtless at Frigid Playoff Win

Here is the original post:

Bills Give Major Update on Progress of Tre White's Rehab - Heavy.com

In the annals of womens sports iconography in the United States, not many images hold greater space in the minds of a generation than Brandi Chastain, jersey off, screaming on her knees in triumph after scoring the game-winning penalty kick for the U.S. womens national team at the 1999 World Cup. That moment etched the teams second star, one they wouldnt add to for another 16 years, and it continues to loom large over the storied program.

Twenty-three years later, Chastain believes that victory set the USWNT on a path toward excellence, serving as one chapter in a long history of a team that always seeks to rise and meet the moment in front of them.

While theres never a bad time to commemorate a cornerstone of womens sports history, this year has thrown into sharp focus just how important the push for progress has been in the years since Chastain kicked the USWNT to glory.

We had an excellent balance, she says now of the 99 team. And I think its that kind of humility and grace and awareness, that if every company could have that, they would be Fortune 500. I know the significance and the depth of the well of resources that are women, and womens soccer players specifically. Its undeniable.

Just Womens Sports first conversation with the former defender came not long after the womens national team had settled its equal pay lawsuit with U.S. Soccer; by the second conversation, the USWNT had signed a historic CBA, the country had celebrated 50 years of Title IX, and the Supreme Court had struck down Roe v. Wade, which made access to abortion a constitutional right for nearly 50 years. To call the past few months an emotional rollercoaster for womens rights would be an understatement.

Within all of these historic moments, Chastain feels that the public has gained a better understanding of who the USWNT was in 1999, and what the players hope to be now. Recently, Julie Foudy, Mia Hamm and Abby Wambach participated in a roundtable for ESPNs Title IX documentary 37 words. Goalkeeper Briana Scurry, whose penalty save against China made Chastains winning moment possible, has come out with both a memoir and a documentary this summer to great acclaim.

In 2022, the movement the USWNT kicked off in 1999 is finally getting the widespread appreciation it deserved. Conversations around the team also appear to be more representative of what it took to transform a corner of the sports world with just one kick.

Part of the national team, if you play for the womens soccer team, part of your mandate is to raise the bar for equal pay, and the other part is obviously to play brilliant soccer and win everything, Scurry told Just Womens Sports in June. Those are two really high standards to hold.

External forces surrounding the team, however, havent always lived up to the moment. Even after the USWNT achieved prominence in 99, the needle never moved quite fast enough, and the players watched as the rest of the world moved on.

Youre winning big tournaments like the World Cup, and yet youre anonymous, Chastain says. You know that you need to continue to push forward, and you feel that your own group is not taking you as seriously or holding your value the same as they hold someone elses.

The players and coaching staff were the glue that held the team together during the years when it felt like nobody else cared. Chastain still speaks glowingly of Tony DiCicco, who led the team to the 96 Olympic gold medal and 99 World Cup title with a coaching style that was firm but kind, gentle but with high expectations.

I had some great coaches, great role models. They didnt always look like me, but they cared about the space a lot, they were willing to be in a space that was not traditionally that cool, she says. They wanted each one of the players to blossom into the best player that they could be.

Chastain also remembers the mental and emotional burden that fell on the players, the extent of which many are only beginning to speak about now.

The shoulders of Mia [Hamm] and Michelle [Akers], in particular, before anything really got traction, they carried the most weight, she says. And they may have carried the most significant weight.

The public didnt always get to see the team as people first, but merely what they represented to the larger cause. The patchwork that made up the quilt, I think, is really phenomenal, Chastain says. We had such a wonderful array of people, and we loved each other. And we competed hard.

The fight for relevance and equal pay took a toll on the whole group, and the marked progress this year comes with a mixture of gratitude and exhaustion. In a way, this years CBA marked both the long-anticipated closing of a chapter and the ushering in of a new era that will present its own challenges.

Ive said many times that I will have the conversation, and Im happy to have the conversation about equal pay, Chastain says. I will keep fighting and keep working and keep talking about it, but its exhausting.

Watching the USWNTs youth movement blossom after the Tokyo Olympics last summer, Chastain has the perspective of both a former player and a current coach. She has been a volunteer assistant coach for the Santa Clara Broncos, her alma mater, since 2010. Chastains husband, Jerry Smith, has run the womens soccer program since 1987. Her experience on the other side of the equation has allowed her to evaluate the team with the same gentle but firm approach she got from her own coaches.

Chastain eschews the binary of old school versus new school (Id like to understand the definition of a modern player, she says with a smile), but she sees conversations about technology, outside expectations and player approaches as part of the natural evolution. While no one wants to go back to the days when womens soccer teams had to fight for facilities, staffing and other basic support structures, Chastain hopes that a level of discipline remains. Moving goals, setting up cones, working toward something bigger as a team she doesnt want that element to disappear even as the sport evolves.

I feel like I want the players to feel the ownership piece forever, not [just] for this team, but forever, because they own it, Chastain says of the USWNT. Theyre a part of the legacy of womens soccer, and they have to own that.

The external pressures on young players are mounting at the highest levels, as social media and name, image and likeness opportunities turn athletes into small businesses long before they even graduate college. With progress come expectations, Chastain says, and its all about how you meet the moment mentally.

External forces can really create chaos, and they can create problems if the group or the people are not prepared to handle them, she says, underlining the need for strong veteran leadership to help maintain a culture that feeds on a desire for progress.

On the field, Chastain has enjoyed the increased emphasis on versatility. Shes a big fan of rising USWNT star Catarina Macarios game, and how she both manipulates pressure from opponents and creates chances with her elite skills on and off the ball.

As the global talent pool deepens with each major tournament cycle, Chastain respects the difficult roster balance the current team is trying to strike. Having traveled to Monterrey, Mexico to watch the U.S. win the Concacaf championship Monday night in person, she recognizes how much work the USWNT has to do between now and the 2023 World Cup.

Its not an easy process, Chastain says. Just trying to decide what pathway to finding out who the best, most cohesive unit is, is not easy. I listen to the comments and I have my own, too. I just know how difficult it is.

The sport has changed in obvious ways since her playing days, becoming both faster and more technical. Chastain would have relished the opportunity to play that style in her prime. She references the four moments of soccer when a team is in possession, losing possession, out of possession or regaining possession.

Modern players [are] asked to be all things in all four moments of the game, really being asked for defenders to be attackers, attackers to be defenders, and in transition, we all have to be both of those things, she says. I would have liked to have been challenged to do a little bit more, maybe have our team be a little bit more sophisticated in that way.

Chastain, 53, sees the tactical aspect of coaching as the next step forward, as access to different styles has never been easier to obtain.

Her affinity for quick adjustments on the pitch echoes her guidance for the USWNT as they continue to push for progress off the field. While the team has achieved major wins in recent years, shes keenly aware of how quickly things can slip backwards if you let your guard down.

If you look at the state of the world, you dont get too close to anything. Because if you get too comfortable, the next thing you know, someones trying to pull the rug out from under you, Chastain says.

Its like in a game, you make a play, you dont get to spend time thinking about that play good or bad. You have to move forward, and you have to be ready for the next play.

Perhaps it makes sense then that theres no young player Chastain is harder on than her former self. With the hindsight of years of work paying off, and many of them in anonymity, she wishes she had known from the very beginning that she, with the same fierceness of her triumphant World Cup celebration, was up for the challenge. She hopes this next generation of players have the desire to overcome their own fears, too.

Now I look back, and Im like, God, you were so soft, Brandi. It wasnt that hard. It was challenging, but if you had just told yourself from the beginning, when you were scared, that you could do it yeah, you would have been fine.

Editors Note: This story is a part of the Just Womens Sports inaugural Legends Collection. Check out our stories on the other legends, Sheryl Swoopes and Billie Jean King.

Claire Watkins is a contributing writer at Just Womens Sports covering soccer and the NWSL. Follow her on Twitter @ScoutRipley.

Here is the original post:

Brandi Chastain and the never-ending push for progress - Just Women's Sports