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We don’t normally spend a lot of time writing about IBM mainframes, but these big iron systems drive a lot of transactions in the world – transactions flush with demographics and context that will feed into AI models – and will be doing native and integrated AI processing for the applications that push those applications. …

IBM Will Catch A Piece Of The GenAI Wave With Next-Gen Systems was written by Timothy Prickett Morgan at The Next Platform.

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez appear to have differing opinions on what steps need to be taken to sell their $68 million Beverly Hills mansion - which still sits on the market.

Essex RSPCA centres and Danaher Animal Home have plenty of pets that are looking to find new owners

Talented photographers have shared their favourite pictures take in mid Essex this week.

A charity has received a grant of £3,500 from the District Council's £1m Cost of Living Fund.

Essex RSPCA centres and Danaher Animal Home have plenty of pets that are looking to find new owners

Wipro was forced to pause an active SAP project due to client’s jitters

India’s big four IT services players are all concerned that the USA’s new tariffs regime may see some of their customers spend less on tech – but later spend more to cope with whatever changes are needed to compete in a changed global trade system.…

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Business Insider: There is some microplastics in normal, healthy arteries," Dr. Ross Clark, a University of New Mexico medical researcher who led the study, told Business Insider before he presented his findings at the meeting of the American Heart Association in Baltimore on Tuesday. "But the amount that's there when they become diseased -- and become diseased with symptoms -- is really, really different," Clark said. Clark and his team measured microplastics and nanoplastics in the dangerous, fatty plaque that can build up in arteries, block blood flow, and cause strokes or heart attacks. Compared to the walls of healthy plaque-free arteries, plaque buildup had 16 times more plastic -- just in the people who didn't have symptoms. In people who had experienced stroke, mini-stroke, or vision loss, the plaque had 51 times more plastic. [...] To investigate why, Clark studied samples from 48 people's carotid arteries -- the pair of superhighways in your neck that channel blood to your brain. The difference in plastic quantities surprised him, but his team found another concerning trend, too. Cells in the plaque with lots of plastic showed different gene activity than those with low plastic. In the high-plastic environment, one group of immune cells had switched off a gene that's associated with turning off inflammation. Clark's team also found genetic differences in a group of stem cells thought to help prevent heart attacks and strokes by reducing inflammation and stabilizing plaque. "Could it be that microplastics are somehow altering their gene expression?" Clark said. He added that there's "lots more research needed to fully establish that, but at least it gives us a hint as to where to look." Ross, who specializes in the genetic mechanisms behind disease, agreed that more research is needed, but added that she thinks "these plastics are doing something with these plaques." Tracking microplastics in the human body is a new scientific endeavor as of the last couple years. It's not perfect. Clark's team heated the plaque samples to more than 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit to vaporize plastic polymers and break them down into smaller organic molecules, which can be identified and measured by their mass and other properties. Unfortunately, the lipids in plaque can break down into chemicals that look very similar to polyethylene, the most common plastic found in everything from plastic bags to car parts. "Because we know about this problem, we've taken a lot of steps to remove those lipids and confirm their removal, so that we're sure we're measuring polyethylene," Clark said. Still, he added, "it's a big limitation, and it should be acknowledged that these types of methodologies are continuously improving." "Almost all of what we know about microplastics in the human body, no matter where you look, can be summed up as: It's there, and we need to study further as to what it's doing, if anything," Clark said.

Read more of this story at Slashdot.

Free parking in Wickford is set to return after councillors vote through alternative funding at a heated area committee meeting.

The new jacket is on sale now in all Primark stores

Raymond McCourt, 59, murdered Khalil Mahmood, a newsagent, by shooting him in the head in 1993 - the public have been advised not to approach him.

A bungling drug dealer has been jailed amid a major police operation after being nabbed by cops while running away in his untied dressing gown.

Shane Warne's eldest child Brooke appears to have given Elizabeth Hurley's new romance with Billy Ray Cyrus her seal of approval.

Barack infamously attended both Jimmy Carter's funeral and Trump's inauguration, which took place just weeks apart in January, solo.

Former policewoman Nerys Lloyd, 39, organised the weekend paddleboard outing on the Cleddau River in Haverfordwest, Pembrokeshire, which ended in tragedy.

Joshua Bainbridge was responding to yelling at a rural property in Victoria, Australia when he witness Stuart Lee, 65, pouring petrol over his father, Colin, 66, on March 14, 2023.

China is considering building a nuclear plant on the moon to power the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) it is planning with Russia, a presentation by a senior official

The Israeli government has forced its representatives around the world to rescind condolences for the passing of Pope Francis. 

The Liberal Democrats have called for stricter measures to be put into place when it comes to 'headphone dodgers', as they believe most passengers are too frightened to speak out.

The CVE system nearly dying shows that someone has lost the plot

Opinion  We almost lost the Common Vulnerabilities and Exposures (CVE) database system, but that's only the tip of the iceberg of what President Trump and company are doing to US cybersecurity efforts.…