Day: 05/29/2015

Google’s Project Vault is a security system disguised as a microSD card

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The search giant’s new project aims to make phones more secure by loading a microSD card that serves as a security powerhouse..

Google wants to make your phone more secure, without having to change the way manufacturers make smartphones.

The company on Friday announced Project Vault, which packs a digital security system into a microSD card, which phones and computers usually recognize as a storage device. The company unveiled the service during Google’s I/O developer conference here.

“Project Vault is your digital mobile safe,” said Regina Dugan, who leads Google’s Advanced Technology and Projects group, or ATAP, which oversees the project. “Big security, small package.”

The Vault card is essentially a secure computer that protects the personal information of a phone’s owner. For example, it can encrypt, or scramble, chat messages from an app and provide extra levels of authentication, so your device knows that you are you. The card itself has a near-field communication, or NFC, chip for communicating with nearby devices and has 4 gigabytes of storage. It can be recognized by any OS — including Google’s Android software, Windows, and Apple’s OS X — but all the software is being run off the microSD card.

Google will first develop the technology for enterprise companies. The idea is that if it meets the high bar of big companies, it will meet the standards of consumers as well.

Both Web and mobile security are becoming increasingly vulnerable at a time when more and more consumers’ financial and other sensitive data is being stored in smartphone apps and online services. Hackers have conducted high-profile attacks on retailers like Target and have pilfered databases in the health care and financial industries, gleaning medical records, Social Security numbers and credit and bank info. And thanks to the leaks from whistleblower Edward Snowden, we now know the extent to which communications and online activity are activity monitored and stored by way of government surveillance.

The development of secure ways to communicate and store data is a priority for Google as more users flock to its free services like the Gmail email service, Chrome Web browser and Google Maps, all of which share data with Google to better inform its advertising products.

 

12 Powerful Lessons to Help You Forgive

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“He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.” ~ George Herbert

Let go of all the anger, all the toxicity and all the resentment that is poisoning your mind, body, soul and life and fill your heart with love. These 12 powerful lessons in forgiveness will help you do just that.

12 Powerful Lessons to Help You Forgive

1. Forgiveness is a gift you give to yourself.

“We have to remember, when we forgive we’re not doing it just for the other person, we’re doing it for our own good. When we hold on to unforgiveness and we live with grudges in our hearts, all we’re doing is building walls of separation.” ~ Joel Osteen

“All forgiveness is a gift to yourself.” ~A Course in Miracles

“Forgive all who have offended you, not for them, but for yourself.” ~ Harriet Nelson

2. Unforgiveness does more damage to you than to the person at whom you are angry.

“Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.” – Buddha

“Anger is an acid that can do more harm to the vessel in which it is stored than to anything on which it is poured.” – Mark Twain

3. To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.

“When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.” ~ Catherine Ponder

“To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.” – Louis B. Smedes

4. Forgiveness is the most powerful thing that you can do for your physiology and your spirituality.

“Forgiveness is the most powerful thing that you can do for your physiology and your spirituality. Yet, it remains one of the least attractive things to us, largely because our egos rule so unequivocally. To forgive is somehow associated with saying that it is all right, that we accept the evil deed. But this is not forgiveness. Forgiveness means that you fill yourself with love and you radiate that love outward and refuse to hang onto the venom or hatred that was engendered by the behaviors that caused the wounds.” ~Wayne Dyer

“Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim–letting go of the pain and transforming oneself from victim to survivor.” ~ C.R. Strahan

5. It takes a very strong person to forgive.

“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong.” ~ Mahatma Gandhi

“We think that forgiveness is weakness, but it’s absolutely not; it takes a very strong person to forgive.” ~ T. D. Jakes

“Only the brave know how to forgive. … A coward never forgave; it is not in his nature.” ~ Laurence Sterne

“The man who forgives is far stronger than the man who fights.” ~ Nathan Croall

6. There is no peace without forgiveness.

“Forgive, not because they deserve forgiveness, but because you deserve peace.” ~ Author Unknown

“Forgiveness is not always easy. At times, it feels more painful than the wound we suffered, to forgive the one that inflicted it. And yet, there is no peace without forgiveness.” ~ Marianne Williamson

7. Forgiveness is the final form of love.

“Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.” Mark Twain

“We must develop and maintain the capacity to forgive. He who is devoid of the power to forgive is devoid of the power to love. There is some good in the worst of us and some evil in the best of us. When we discover this, we are less prone to hate our enemies.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.

“You can’t forgive without loving. And I don’t mean sentimentality. I don’t mean mush. I mean having enough courage to stand up and say, ‘I forgive. I’m finished with it.” ~ Maya Angelou

“Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.” – Anonymous

8. To forgive is divine.

“To err is human, to forgive, divine.” ~ Alexander Pope

“Anger makes you smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.” ~ Cherie Carter-Scott

9. Forgiveness might not change the past, but it surely does enlarge the future.

“Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.” Paul Boese quotes

“The truth is, unless you let go, unless you forgive yourself, unless you forgive the situation, unless you realize that the situation is over, you cannot move forward.” ~ Steve Maraboli

10. Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.

“Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.” – George MacDonald

11. When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself.

“Keep in mind, hurting people often hurt other people as a result of their own pain. If somebody is rude and inconsiderate, you can almost be certain that they have some unresolved issues inside. They have some major problems, anger, resentment, or some heartache they are trying to cope with or overcome. The last thing they need is for you to make matters worse by responding angrily.” ~ Joel Osteen

“When another person makes you suffer, it is because he suffers deeply within himself, and his suffering is spilling over. He does not need punishment; he needs help. That’s the message he is sending.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

12. What hurts you, blesses you.

What hurts you, blesses you. Darkness is your candle.” ~ Rumi

“True forgiveness is when you can say, “Thank you for that experience.” ~ Oprah Winfrey

“What is a good man but a bad man’s teacher? What is a bad man but a good man’s job? If you don’t understand this, you will get lost, however intelligent you are. It is the great secret.” ~ Lao Tzu, Tao Te Ching

What do you think, is forgiveness an act of strength or of weakness? It takes a strong person to forgive or not? You can share your comment in the comment section below :)

Licorice overload may cause seizures

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Overconsumption of candies with licorice is associated with tonic clonic-seizures and hypertension in a case study.

The report involved a 10-year-old boy who was admitted to a hospital in Bologna, Italy following generalized tonic-clonic seizures. The boy had an elevated blood pressure. A brain magnetic resonance scan showed a localized vasogenic oedema. [Pediatric Neurology 2015;52:457-459

A follow-up examination offered the clue:  the boy’s teeth had black stains.  He later admitted to have consumed 20 licorice toffees per day in the past 4 months. This amounts to 2.88 mg/kg of glycyrrhizic acid, which gives licorice its sweet taste, and exceeds the WHO’s maximum recommendation of 2 mg/kg. This partly explained the reason for his hypertension, said the authors.

The risk of seizures from licorice is of particular concern in children with low body weight, they added. Licorice consumption is also linked to posterior reversible encephalopathy syndrome in children.

 

Future of search engines

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Tlexis, a new concept of search engine, aims to bring about a change .

Imagine a new search engine that would give you a peep into the websites of the search words instead of just links. It is this idea that budding entrepreneur Guru Thejus Arveti wants to bring out in his unique futuristic concept of a search engine called Tlexis. A third year engineering student of GITAM University, Guru Thejus developed this concept in a span of six months and has already filed a patent for it. So what exactly is his idea of this new search engine and how different is it from other search engines?

“Tlexis shows entire web pages as images rather than just suggesting links as search results. At present, unless you click the links you won’t know the content in the websites,” says Guru Thejus. For instance, if you are searching for ‘World Wonders’ in the search engine, Tlexis gives you a series of interactive images showing the content in the links even before you click on it. “Tlexis gathers all the information and summarises it from open information sources,” he adds.

Tlexis is currently being incubated at the Sunrise Startup Village. It took six months for Guru Thejus to develop this. But right now, his biggest challenge is to raise funds in order to launch the product. “I am looking to raise Rs 3 crore and have pitched the idea before venture capital funds. Also, this concept will need higher internet bandwidth, which is another hurdle in India,” says the 21-year-old, who was one of the finalists at the Korea India International Startup Contest held last year. But this hasn’t deterred the young entrepreneur from dreaming big. His focus zone to launch the product will be Singapore. “Singapore has the highest household internet bandwidth in Asia with an average speed of 30 mbps. This makes it an attractive market to launch the new search engine,” he says.

To get an idea of the concept, check the YouTube video here.

While Guru Thejus embarks on the journey to launch his dream product of a new search engine, the entrepreneur in him knows that in order to be in the race, he needs multiple sources of income. Hence, he has developed other products simultaneously. The other product he is excited about is exploratory graphical analytics Windows software for marks management for schools. The concept is simple – the software gives a graphical report of a student’s performance with the help of bars and line graphs for better understanding of the overall performance. “Right now, I am in talks with a few schools in the city who have evinced interest in it,” he adds.

His latest innovation is a website called livelyoccasions.com which live streams any event or occasion in their website. So if you have a dear relative sitting at a corner of the globe who is unable to be physically present but wishes to attend your graduation programme or wedding ceremony, the website live telecasts the occasion.

Previously, Guru Thejus developed an SMS-based navigation system where any mobile user can get navigation directions on SMS without GPS and internet data package. The product is not functional right now as Tlexis hasn’t been able to collaborate with telecom operators yet.

MSG Side Effect, The Silent Killer Lurking in Your Kitchen Cabinets

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Although the US Food & Drug Administration (FDA) has categorized monosodium glutamate or MSG, a type of food additive, as generally safe for consumption, a lot of people have reported experiencing side effects after consuming food that contains MSG.  The additive is typically used to enhance the flavor of various packaged food products and in numerous meals served in restaurants.

MSG, first identified as a natural flavor enhancer in seaweed, is an neurotoxin that can overexcite your cells which can cause damage, or even cell death.  They man-made version that hit the food market consist out of almost 80 percent free glutamic acid and 20 percent sodium.

Glutamic acids works as a nerve stimulant which tricks your brain in believing that something tastes more savory or protein rich than it actually is.

MSG Symptom Complex

Some unwanted side effects of MSG were first reported and published way back in 1968.  These included heart palpitations, weakness, and numbness in the arms and around the nape area. Other symptoms have been reported since, and a heated debate is going on among medical professionals on the possible link to MSG.

The FASEB or the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology, as commissioned by the FDA, released its findings about possible effects of MSG. These included: experiencing a burning sensation at the back of the neck, chest, and forearms, facial tightness or pressure, heart palpitation, chest pain, nausea, headache, numbness starting from the nape and radiating down to the back and arms, warmth or tingling in the upper body, weakness, and drowsiness. Collectively, these symptoms are classified by the FASEB as the MSG symptom complex.

All types of MSG (the free glutamic acid that appears in food as a result of the manufacturing process) can lead to these reactions particularly in people who are sensitive to MSG. These include the MSG found in AuxiGro (a plant growth enhancer) and those found in various other fungicides and fertilizers that have previously been approved for use on growing crops that include the so-called “organic” crops.

Symptoms Resulting from MSG Side Effects or Reactions

Various independent studies have been conducted on the food additive, and majority show that the following symptoms can result from MSG side effects or reactions:

Circulatory – swelling.

Cardiac – atrial fibrillation, arrhythmia, rapid heartbeat, tachycardia, slow heartbeat, palpitations, angina, and extreme drop or rise in blood pressure.

Muscular – joint pains, flu-like aches, and stiffness.

Gastrointestinal – vomiting, nausea, diarrhea, rectal bleeding, stomach cramps, and bloating.

Visual – difficulty in focusing, blurred vision, and pressure around the eyes.

Neurological – mood swings, depression, anxiety, mental confusion, disorientation, panic attacks, behavioral problems in kids, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorder, sleepiness, lethargy, insomnia, seizures, paralysis or numbness, sciatica, shakes and chills, slurred speech, and shuddering.

Respiratory – shortness of breath, asthma, tightness in the chest, runny nose, chest pain, and sneezing.

Skin – rash, hives (internal, external or both), partial or temporary paralysis, mouth lesions, tingling or numbness of the skin, extreme dryness in the mouth, flushing, tongue swelling, face swelling, and bags under eyes.

Genital / Urological – prostate swelling, frequent bladder pain, vaginal spotting, vaginal swelling, nocturia, and frequent urination.

Side Effect Onset and Duration

The potential side effects that form part of the MSG symptom complex are expected to come anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes after MSG consumption, and are expected to disappear on their own in less than 2 hours. In the few instances when bouts of asthma were directly linked to the consumption of MSG-laden food, the symptoms were noted within 1 to 12 hours after consumption of the additive.

Although there were limited studies on people with chronic cases of hives, results showed that skin reactions were triggered within 1 hour to 1 day.  The affected participants were apparently MSG-sensitive.

Make Sure to Read Food Labels

With all these possible side effects I think it’s clear MSG should be avoided, even if the FDA claims it to be alright. Eliminating MSG from your diet may be one of the hardest things to do as it is hiding everywhere and many alias names are used for the same substance.

Here’s a list of common ingredients that always contain MSG:

  • Autolyzed yeast
  • Yeast Extract
  • Yeast Nutrient
  • Monopotassium Glutamate
  • Monosodium Glutamate
  • Glutamic Acid
  • Gelatin
  • Textured Protein
  • Hydrolyzed Protein
  • Calcium Caseinate
  • Sodium Caseinate
  • Yeast food

Also scan labels for these ingredients as MSG is often added or created during processing

  • Flavor, flavorings, seasonings or all phrases containing one of these words
  • Soy sauce
  • Stock, broth
  • Protease
  • Carrageenan
  • Malt extract
  • Matlodextrin
  • Worcestershire sauce
  • Pectin
  • Kombu extract
  • Powdered milk
  • Barley malt
  • Enzymes
  • Anything enzyme modified
  • Corn starch
  • Soy Protein or soy protein isolate
  • Anything ultra-pasteurized
  • Anything protein fortified

The best way to avoid MSG is to avoid all processed food and opt for a clean, whole food diet. One last little tip. Add plenty of vitamin C rich foods and ginger to your diet. They have shown powerful protective effects against MSG.

 

Memory shape alloy can be bent 10 million times and still snaps back

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A combined team of researchers from the University of Kiel in Germany and the University of Maryland in the U.S. has created a shape memory alloy that is able to be bent and snap back to its original form up to ten million times. In their paper published in the journal Science, the team describes how they came up with the alloy and why they believe it could have a wide variety of uses. Richard James of the University of Minnesota offers a Perspective piece on the work done by the team in the same journal issue.

Memory alloys got their name by the unique property of being able to be bent and returning to their original shape automatically. Such metals can have their shape altered by subjecting them to physical bending, or by heating them. Up till now, no such alloy was able to snap back after being subjected to bending more than a few thousand times—scientists would like to bump that number up significantly because it would allow for creating devices that are more durable—artificial aortic valves, for example, or as a replacement for liquids in refrigerating devices. But despite a lot of effort, no one had been able to find a way to make that happen.

The researchers with the team readily acknowledge that their find was largely luck, they were tinkering with different mixtures, in this case, adding a little bit of cobalt to an already existing alloy made of nickel, copper and titanium. The resulting alloy surprised them during initial testing. Because such an alloy had never been created, neither had a means for testing its durability—they had to come up with two types of testing devices, one to repeatedly bend and allow for release, very quickly and another for heating and cooling. Both types of tests wound up having to run for weeks to reach the ten million mark.

Transforming Puzzles. Mixtures of the phases possible under the cofactor conditions that have been achieved in a real material by Chluba et al. These structures have zero energy and no stress. The domains in these microstructures are easily rearranged and likely contribute to the exceptional repeatability of the alloy discovered by Chluba et al. Credit: Xian Chen and Richard James

It is not yet clear why the new alloy has such super bending properties, but the researchers suspect that it has to do with its ability to switch from one crystalline form to another, and then of course, back again without suffering from molecular knots, which for most introduce imperfections, which lead to failure.


ABSTRACT
Functional shape memory alloys need to operate reversibly and repeatedly. Quantitative measures of reversibility include the relative volume change of the participating phases and compatibility matrices for twinning. But no similar argument is known for repeatability. This is especially crucial for many future applications, such as artificial heart valves or elastocaloric cooling, in which more than 10 million transformation cycles will be required. We report on the discovery of an ultralow-fatigue shape memory alloy film system based on TiNiCu that allows at least 10 million transformation cycles. We found that these films contain Ti2Cu precipitates embedded in the base alloy that serve as sentinels to ensure complete and reproducible transformation in the course of each memory cycle.

Physiologic Characterization of the Chronic Bronchitis Phenotype in GOLD Grade IB COPD

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BACKGROUND:  Smokers with persistent cough and sputum production (chronic bronchitis [CB]) represent a distinct clinical phenotype, consistently linked to negative clinical outcomes. However, the mechanistic link between physiologic impairment, dyspnea, and exercise intolerance in CB has not been studied, particularly in those with mild airway obstruction. We, therefore, compared physiologic abnormalities during rest and exercise in CB to those in patients without symptoms of mucus hypersecretion (non-CB) but with similar mild airway obstruction.

 

METHODS:  Twenty patients with CB (≥ 3 months cough/sputum in 2 successive years), 20 patients without CB but with GOLD (Global Initiative for Chronic Obstructive Lung Disease) grade IB COPD, and 20 age- and sex-matched healthy control subjects underwent detailed physiologic testing, including tests of small airway function and a symptom-limited incremental cycle exercise test.

RESULTS:  Patients with CB (mean ± SD postbronchodilator FEV1, 93% ± 12% predicted) had greater chronic activity-related dyspnea, poorer health-related quality of life, and reduced habitual physical activity compared with patients without CB and control subjects (all P < .05). The degree of peripheral airway dysfunction and pulmonary gas trapping was comparable in both patient groups. Peak oxygen uptake was similarly reduced in patients with CB and those without compared with control subjects (% predicted ± SD, 70 ± 26, 71 ± 29 and 106 ± 43, respectively), but those with CB had higher exertional dyspnea ratings and greater respiratory mechanical constraints at a standardized work rate than patients without CB (P < .05).

CONCLUSIONS:  Patients with CB reported greater chronic dyspnea and activity restriction than patients without CB and with similar mild airway obstruction. The CB group had greater dynamic respiratory mechanical impairment and dyspnea during exercise than patients without CB, which may help explain some differences in important patient-centered outcomes between the groups.

Google introduces virtual reality system with GoPro .

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Action camera maker GoPro and Google introduced a virtual reality system using 16 cameras and Google software, sending GoPro shares up nearly 7% on Thursday.

GoPro’s helmet-and body-mounted video cameras are popular with adventure sports enthusiasts, and the new GoPro system will use Google’s new Jump technology to help create a 360 degree view.

Google showed off the GoPro system at its developer conference in San Francisco. It did not say when the system will go on sale.

Google also announced a new Photos app that helps users store and organize their images. Set to be released on Thursday, the app will let users back up and store unlimited photos and videos for free, said Anil Sabharwal, Google’s director of product management.

The app also makes it easy for users to post their photos through social media and messaging services such as Twitter and WhatsApp.

“We firmly believe you should be able to share photos and videos any way you want,” Sabharwal said.

Available on Apple’s iOS system, Google’s Android system and the web, the app automatically organizes photos by the people, places and things depicted and also helps users create collages and movies.

Google shares were nearly unchanged, down 7 cents to $554.18, while GoPro shares rose 6.6% to $56.81.

Harvard Scientists Urge You to Stop Drinking Milk

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Vegans may have had it right all along; while raw, organic milk offers numerous health benefits, a Harvard researcher and pediatrician argues that conventional milk and dairy products alike are a detriment to your health – thanks to added health-compromising sweeteners. The age-old saying that drinking milk is one of the keys to good health received a strong rebuttal from Harvard pediatrician David Ludwig who argues that dairy products with added sweeteners are a detriment to one’s health. Drinking reduced-fat milk inadvertently encourages the consumption of added sugars. There have been countless pieces of research concluding the ill effects of sugar-sweetened beverages and the over-consumption of sugar has been tied to obesity, diabetes, inflammatory-related pain, and much more. Ludwig’s recommendation: less is more, and some people might be better off drinking no milk at all. Humans, like cows, get all the calcium they need from a plant-based diet. If you are concerned about daily calcium intake, there are many alternatives to milk. Ludwig says: “we can get plenty of calcium from a whole range of foods. On a gram for gram basis, cooked kale has more calcium than milk. Sardines, nuts seeds beans, green leafy vegetables are all sources of calcium.”

watch the video discussion. URL: https://youtu.be/SBBFTpTMUbc

Do you Know What Will Happen if You Drink Coconut Water For 7 Days .

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Does coconut water have a magical effect as everyone claims? You have probably heard about coconut oil and the numerous benefits it offers. Now, you will read about the biggest advantages of coconut water of which you have probably not heard before.
You probably did not know that coconut water has a practical compatible structure with the blood plasma in human bloodstream. Moreover, coconut water was used in armed conflicts in the past as a replacement for blood and numerous lives were saved in long and exhausting battles.
Nowadays, coconut water is used all around the globe. You can find it in numerous markets which offer you the chance to use the beneficial advantages of this unbelievable fruit. Coconut water does not taste very pleasantly, but this should not be the reason to avoid one of the best detoxification waters in the world.

What happens when you drink this water?

When you consume coconut water you strengthen your immune system and you eliminate the bacteria which cause urinary tract infections, gonorrhea, gum diseases and viruses which cause cold, infection diseases and typhus.
It will not only increase your energy, but it will also increase the production of thyroid gland hormones. This water is also very good for people who suffer from kidney diseases since it reacts as a natural diuretic. It will cleanse the urinary tract and the bladder canals.  It will remove the toxins from the body and ‘’crash’’ the kidney stones.  Coconut water is good for digestion due to the high level of fibber which it contains. If you drink it regularly it will eliminate the gastric acid. You can drink it in big amounts, since it has low levels of fat. You will lose weight, thanks to water’s ability for keeping you sated and meanwhile it lowers the appetite.
If you have acne, oily or dry skin, all you need to do is to soak a cotton wool in the coconut water and apply it to the skin. It will clean and freshen up the skin, and most importantly, it will keep the pores open. If you mix the water with olive oil, you can cleanse your organism. This mixture can remove bowel parasites.
According to experts, you can solve several health problems during pregnancy with the help of coconut water. Drink one cup of coconut water every morning and you will balance the electrolytes whose misbalance can lead to hypertension, also known as high blood pressure.
If you drink alcohol during the night you will probably have headache in the morning. So, the next time when you exaggerate with alcohol, you will remember this ‘’savior’’ if you want to get rid of the headache. Additionally, it will also compensate for the lost fluids and you will overcome the nausea which is often related with hangover.
If you want your skin to be hydrated and radiant during the entire day, one cup of coconut water will be enough. Also, after several exhausting physical activities, you can drink coconut water and you will regain energy. It will refresh you and leave a positive influence on each body part.
Increase of energy, strong immune system, protection from bacteria and infections, weight loss… What more can you wish for?