K-SEC Meeting Summary

December 7,2017

Here is a summary of the materials we read at the K-SEC meeting on December 4th, 2017.

Attendees (in ABC order):

Kanzawa, Kotake, Nishimura,Nishiwaki, Sekiguchi,

Shirashoji,Taruishi, Tomozawa, Tsurumoto, Umemura(Total of10)

B. Materials read:

Nishiwaki submitted two papers:

1.Coffee consumption and health: umbrella review of meta-analyses of multiple health outcomes, Accepted 16 October 2017, a report published by BMJ –Nishiwaki -

Objectives:To evaluate the existing evidence for associations between coffee consumption and multiple health outcomes. Design:Umbrella review of the evidence across meta-analyses of observational and interventional studies of coffee consumption and any health outcome. Eligibility criteria for selecting studies:Meta-analyses of both observational and interventional studies that examined the associations between coffee consumption and any health outcome in any adult population in all countries and all settings.

ConclusionCoffee consumption seems generally safe within usual levels of intake, with summary estimates indicating largest risk reduction for various health outcomes at three to four cups a day, and more likely to benefit health than harm. Robust randomised controlled trials are needed to understand whether the observed associations are causal. Importantly, outside of pregnancy, existing evidence suggests that coffee could be tested as an intervention without significant risk of causing harm. Women at increased risk of fracture should possibly be excluded.

2. Three cups of coffee a day 'may have health benefits'–Nishiwaki -

By Philippa Roxby Health reporter, BBC News, 23 November 2017

It found a lower risk of liver disease and some cancers in coffee drinkers, and a lower risk of dying from stroke - but researchers could not prove coffee was the cause.

The University of Southampton researchers collected data on the impact of coffee on all aspects of the human body, taking into account more than 200 studies - most of which were observational.

Commenting on the BMJ review, Eliseo Guallar, from the John Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, said there was still uncertainty about the effects of higher levels of coffee intake. But he added: "Moderate coffee consumption seems remarkably safe, and it can be incorporated as part of a healthy diet by most of the adult population."

3.The Great Pyramid of Giza is hiding a huge, unexplored space — and scientists used cosmic rays to find it-Umemura-

This article is from Business Insider2017Nov.2.

More than 4,500 years after their construction, the pyramids of Giza continue to hide deep and ancient secrets.

A team of more than three dozen researchers announced on Thursday that they had discovered a huge, unexplored void in the pharaoh Khufu's pyramid, also called the Great Pyramid — the largest of three main structures in Giza, Egypt.

What's more, the team used cosmic rays from deep space to see through millions of tons of rock, locate the void, and estimate its size. They've determined that the cavernous space is roughly 100 feet long — about the length of two semitrailers — and sits almost directly above the Grand Gallery, a towering passage that leads to Khufu's tomb.

"This void was hidden in the construction of the pyramid," Mehdi Tayoubi, a leader of the research effort, called ScanPyramids, told reporters on Wednesday. "It is not accessible, and we needed this new technique, at the right time, to identify it and to discover it."The research group published its findings Thursday in the journal Nature.

"A lot of people tried to dig some tunnels looking for chambers," said Tayoubi, who's also a founder of the HIP Institute, one of the organizations that designed the ScanPyramids mission. "But as far as I know, no one has tried to dig something in this area. There was no theory expecting to find something as big as the Grand Gallery here."

Where researchers found a void in the Great Pyramid of Giza using muons. The team previously discovered a smaller, passageway-like void on the pyramid's northern face.

Tayoubi and his colleagues say they're 99.9999% certain that the "big void" exists, and they assert that it's neither an anomaly in the data nor porous rock or loose rubble.

Mark Lehner, an archaeologist and Egyptologist at the Ancient Egypt Research Association, agrees with that conclusion. He served on an Egypt-based advisory committee that oversaw the ScanPyramids project but wasn't involved in the work.

"I don't think this is bulls---," he told Business Insider. "I put credence in the results, and I think they have indications of a large, empty space."

C. Role assignment for December 18th, 2017

Sekiguchi, Tomozawa