Get ready for the 5th Annual OXC - OHEL Xtreme Challenge Classic - Sunday, May 19, 2019 - which will be at the beautiful site of Camp Kaylie in Wurtsboro, NY! Women, men, families, groups and students – everyone, and of different abilities can be a part of this uniquely awesome and fun experience! Separate start times/waves for elite, men, women, teams, and families are available. You'll be doing something for YOU while at the same time raising funds for a great cause! Test your limits and run, climb, jump, crawl, and muscle your way through the Xtremely awesome 36 obstacle 5-mile or 1.5-mile obstacle course. Every participant will be challenging their body & testing their limits in support of children and adults with disabilities that face greater challenges every day.
At OHEL, we serve individuals that struggle every day with different life challenges. From acute crises to every day individual and family challenges, OHEL is there to support our community. OXC Classic is your chance to do something Xtreme and make an Xtreme difference in the lives of others! And also to attain impressive bragging rights, and to check something off your bucket list (if it's not on your list, it should be).
(K-8th Grade) $360 Parent or legal gaurdian must sign waiver Must be accompanied on the course by an adult. One parent per team of children below 8th grade is sufficient.
The OHEL Xtreme Challenge Classic is a charity event benefitting OHEL and Camp Kaylie's children and families. By registering, all participants agree to raise or donate $1000 (adult)/$750 (high school or college student)/$360 (child) by May 31, 2019.
OHEL is Xtremely excited about this CHALLENGING & UNIQUE event: OXC - OHEL XTREME CHALLENGE CLASSIC - a 36 obstacle, 5-mile and 1.5-mile obstacle course. We are a proud charity partner with TCS NYC Marathon, United Airlines NYC Half Marathon, TD Five Boro Bike Tour, Generosity Series 5k, and Over the Edge. Our participants' involvement and commitment to their physical training and fundraising efforts support children and adults with disabilities, foster children, children in our 3 domestic violence shelters, and the elderly.
OHEL Children's Home & Family Services exists to protect and strengthen individuals and families of all abilities, by meeting their diverse social service needs through programs of award-winning excellence. Consistently rated #1 in Foster Care in NYC, OHEL supersedes all professional and regulatory standards. Leveraging OHEL's experience and reputation, we seek to proactively identify community social challenges by pioneering new programs that elevate the lives of individuals and families every day.


text:
The Almanac
Today is Thursday, March 14, the 73rd day of 2002 with 292 to follow.
The moon is waxing, moving toward its first quarter.
The morning star is Mercury.
The evening stars are Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.
Those born on this date are under the sign of Pisces. They include Thomas Marshall, vice president under Woodrow Wilson, in 1854; railroad engineer and hero of the ballad Casey Jones, whose real name was John Luther Jones, in 1864; physicist Albert Einstein in 1879; bandleader Les Brown in 1912; cartoonist Hank Ketcham ("Dennis the Menace") in 1920 (age 81); astronaut Frank Borman in 1928 (age 73); actor Michael Caine and composer Quincy Jones, both in 1933 (age 68); comedian Billy Crystal in 1947 (age 54); and Prince Albert, heir to the throne of Monaco, in 1958 (age 43).
On this date in history:
In 1812, the U.S. government authorized issue of America's first war bonds, to pay for military equipment for use against the British.
In 1950, the FBI's "10 Most Wanted Fugitives" list made its debut.
In 1951, Seoul, South Korea, was recaptured by U.N. troops during the Korean War.
In 1964, Dallas nightclub owner Jack Ruby was convicted of murdering Lee Harvey Oswald, the assassin of President Kennedy. Ruby was sentenced to death but the conviction was overturned and he died of cancer while awaiting a new trial.
In 1985, the United States evacuated American officials from Lebanon, leaving only a small diplomatic presence in war-torn Beirut.
In 1989, the Bush administration announced it would ban imports of semi-automatic assault rifles indefinitely.
In 1991, scientists from around the world reported the discovery of the gene that triggers colon cancer.
Also in 1991, the emir of Kuwait returned to his country for the first time since the Iraq invasion.
In 1992, a U.S. aircraft carrier was sent to the Persian Gulf as U.N. officials pressed Iraq on the destruction of weapons in compliance with Security Council resolutions.
Also in 1992, researchers said a substance occurring naturally in broccoli helps the body fight off cancer-causing chemicals.
In 1994, Sen. Robert Packwood, R-Oregon, dropped a court battle to prevent a Senate panel from gaining access to his diaries. The committee was investigating allegations of sexual harassment and influence peddling.
In 1995, testifying at the O.J. Simpson murder trial, Los Angeles police Detective Mark Fuhrman denied allegations that he'd made racist statements.
In 1996, millionaire Steve Forbes withdrew from the presidential contest.
In 1997, President Clinton underwent knee surgery at Bethesda Naval Hospital in Maryland after injuring himself while visiting with golfer Greg Norman in Palm Beach, Fla.
Also in 1997, gangs seeking to oust Albanian President Sali Berisha took control of Tirane, the capital city, as unrest triggered by the collapse of pyramid investment funds the previous month continued.
In 2001, British Prime Minister Tony Blair ordered a step-up in the slaughter of livestock as the "foot-and-mouth" disease outbreak continued.
A thought for the day: Albert Einstein wrote, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Frank Borman
John Luther Jones
Sali Berisha
Thomas Marshall
Odd News // 3 days ago
Man misreads lottery ticket, then discovers $150,000 win
Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A North Carolina man said he at first misread a winning lottery ticket and thought he had only won $1,000, but it turned out he actually won $150,000.
Deer rescued with head stuck in bird feeder
Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A mule deer in Pine, Colo., was rescued by park rangers after getting its head jammed into a 10-pound plastic bird feeder.
Dog missing in stolen car returned after two weeks
Jan. 15 (UPI) -- A dog stolen in Denver on New Year's Day inside an unlocked car was returned to its owner after being missing for two weeks.
Cat reunited with owner after going missing during mudslides
Jan. 15 (UPI) -- Patches, a calico cat that went missing during the Southern California mudslides in January 2018, has been reunited with her owner.
Tower of London raven presumed dead after multi-week absence
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- The Tower of London said one of its ravens is feared dead, bringing it closer to a legend that would indicate the fall of the kingdom.
Florida wildlife officials rescue six trapped manatees
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Six trapped manatees were rescued at Pine island Conversation Area in Florida by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conversation Commission.
Venomous eastern brown snake found in family pool
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A deadly eastern brown snake was discovered swimming inside the overflow channel of a family's pool located in the suburb of Marino in Adelaide, Australia.
Man who forgot Bitcoin password accepts fate
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- Stefan Thomas, of San Francisco, says he has made peace with forgetting his Bitcoin password that would turn him into a multimillionaire.
Escaped cow allowed to live on animal farm
Jan. 14 (UPI) -- A young cow that was able to escape from a slaughterhouse is being allowed to live on an animal farm located near Salzburg, Austria.
Man wins his second $50,000 lottery prize in just over a year
Jan. 13 (UPI) -- A Maryland man visited state lottery headquarters to collect a $50,000 top prize from the Bonus Match 5 game for the second time in just over a year.
Website seeks 'professional binge watcher' to watch Netflix, eat pizza
Game warden uses marksmanship to rescue deer with locked antlers

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Q: go to other section in same page in angularjs ui.router environment First, I want to achieve go to sections on the same page. Traditionally I can do this by:
about

This approach is not work because my page implement ui router, when I defined href="#about", it detect as otherwise url, so will be redirect to wrong state.
From other source I get insight about multiple views in ui.router, so I designed config like this:
.state('landing', {
        url: '/',
        views: {
                ""                  : { templateUrl: "tpl/landing/index.html"},
                "header@landing"    : { templateUrl: "tpl/landing/header.html"},
                "about@landing"     : { templateUrl: "tpl/landing/about.html"},
                "contact@landing"   : { templateUrl: "tpl/landing/contact.html"},
                "section-a@landing" : { templateUrl: "tpl/landing/section-a.html"},
                "section-b@landing" : { templateUrl: "tpl/landing/section-b.html"},
                "services@landing"  : { templateUrl: "tpl/landing/services.html"},
                "footer@landing"    : { templateUrl: "tpl/landing/footer.html"}
        }
    })

Content of tpl/landing/index.html is:

In multi state ui.router we can go to other state by defined ui-sref="astate". How about in multiple views? how to go to other view in same state?

A: What you are trying to do can be solved using $anchorScroll. See here for more information: https://docs.angularjs.org/api/ng/service/$anchorScroll
In their example, you can see:

   Go to bottom
    You're at the bottom!

Then inside the gotoBottom() function they use:
$location.hash('bottom');

// call $anchorScroll()
$anchorScroll();

This will scroll to the div whose id is bottom. Hopefully that helps you.

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaStackExchange


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A key feature of metabolic health is the ability to adapt upon dietary perturbations. Recently, it was shown that metabolic challenge tests in combination with the new generation biomarkers allow the simultaneous quantification of major metabolic health processes. Currently, applied challenge tests are largely non-standardized. A systematic review defined an optimal nutritional challenge test, the "PhenFlex test" (PFT). This study aimed to prove that PFT modulates all relevant processes governing metabolic health thereby allowing to distinguish subjects with different metabolic health status. Therefore, 20 healthy and 20 type 2 diabetic (T2D) male subjects were challenged both by PFT and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). During the 8-h response time course, 132 parameters were quantified that report on 26 metabolic processes distributed over 7 organs (gut, liver, adipose, pancreas, vasculature, muscle, kidney) and systemic stress.
In healthy subjects, 110 of the 132 parameters showed a time course response. Patients with T2D showed 18 parameters to be significantly different after overnight fasting compared to healthy subjects, while 58 parameters were different in the post-challenge time course after the PFT. This demonstrates the added value of PFT in distinguishing subjects with different health status. The OGTT and PFT response was highly comparable for glucose metabolism as identical amounts of glucose were present in both challenge tests. Yet the PFT reports on additional processes, including vasculature, systemic stress, and metabolic flexibility.
The PFT enables the quantification of all relevant metabolic processes involved in maintaining or regaining homeostasis of metabolic health. Studying both healthy subjects and subjects with impaired metabolic health showed that the PFT revealed new processes laying underneath health. This study provides the first evidence towards adopting the PFT as gold standard in nutrition research.
A key feature of health is the ability to adapt upon a large variety of perturbations [1, 2]. In the context of metabolic health, these perturbations primarily come from our diet. The quantification of the multitude of responses upon a metabolic meal tolerance test (carbohydrate, lipid, and protein) reveals detailed insight in mechanisms and organs involved in maintaining metabolic homeostasis  and is specified as "phenotypic flexibility" .
The use of emerging technologies like metabolic profiling and targeted proteomics in metabolic tolerance tests has allowed the development of a new generation of biomarkers  by the simultaneous quantification of multiple processes [3, 6–11]. The response to challenges may be used to derive biomarkers for maintenance of physiological function and ultimately as indicator for prevention of (metabolic) diseases. There is a strongly increasing interest in this type of biomarker in nutrition and health studies, demonstrating their use in uncovering early alterations in metabolism preceeding chronic diseases [9, 11–14]. Recently, it was shown that quantification of challenge response significantly contributes to demonstrating health effects of food and nutrition in dietary intervention studies [6, 7, 14–18]. A standardized optimal nutritional challenge test was defined after performance of a systematic literature review . In this literature review, modulation of 35 different physiological processes were being evaluated. This covered 61 studies that applied various metabolic challenge tests to quantify health and nutritional effects, with the objective to develop a standard in nutrition and health research . This challenge test was named the "PhenFlex test" (PFT).
The present study aimed to assess the ability of PFT to quantify flexibility of a multitude of processes, both in healthy and metabolically impaired subjects and therefore evaluated PFT response in 20 male volunteers with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) to 20 healthy male volunteers. Processes included gut hormone production, lipolysis and adipokine production, (re)absorption, urea cycle, endothelial integrity, protein/amino acid metabolism, muscle tissue injury control, core metabolism, lipoprotein production, hepatic tissue injury control, α- and β cell function, systemic insulin sensitivity, oxidative stress, and switch between carbohydrate and lipid oxidation. Our hypothesis was that the biomarker PFT response would identify the involvement of multiple processes in T2D which are not shown at fasting nor in healthy subjects. Finally, we compared PFT to an OGTT as a benchmark for glucose metabolism to investigate if similar responses would occur upon both challenges.
The study was conducted at the Centre of Human Drug Research (CHDR) in Leiden, The Netherlands. Study participants were recruited from the CHDR volunteer database and via study specific advertisements in local media and internet. The trial was retrospectively registered on 25 April 2017 with ID: ISRCTN27707180.
The study population consisted of two groups of 20 male participants aged 30–70 years. The first group consisted of 20 healthy male volunteers with a body mass index (BMI) between 20.0–25.0 kg/m2. The second group consisted of 20 male T2D subjects with a documented history of diabetes mellitus and use of prescription oral glucose-lowering drug(s). The T2D had a BMI of 25.1–34.9 kg/m2 and stopped antidiabetic medication 1 week prior to the first study day. All subjects reported to have regular Dutch eating habits. Excluded were subjects with uncontrolled hypertension (systolic blood pressure ≥ 150 mmHg and/or diastolic blood pressure of ≥ 95 mmHg), having a history of medical surgical events other than T2D that might significantly affect the study outcome, use of medication that might interfere with parameters to be measured with one of the challenge tests, smokers, active in sports for more than 6 h a week, reported unexplained weight loss or gain > 4 kg in the month prior to the pre-study screening, reported slimming or medically prescribed diet, or a reported food allergy or sensitivity. For the diabetic subjects, additional exclusion criteria were use of insulin and a fasting glucose of < 7 mM after stopping oral anti diabetic treatment for 1 week. The study was performed in compliance with good clinical practice.
The study was a explorative randomized cross-over study in two groups of 20 healthy male volunteers and 20 male T2D subjects (Fig. 1). The sample size was not determined by statistical power analysis but was based on the results of previous studies with a similar study design [6, 19–21]. To minimize the risk of bias and enhance the validity of statistical comparisons, we choose to only include male subjects in this explorative study. Both groups were given the PhenFlex test (PFT) drink or a glucose drink (OGTT) in the morning after an overnight fast (≥ 10 h) in randomized order on two different study days. The wash-out period between the two challenge tests was at least 2 days. The wash-out period was sufficient, which was statistically checked by comparing baseline biomarker concentrations within subjects. On study days before the first blood draw, a cannula was placed and blood samples were taken at t = 0 (fasting) and six time points (t = 0.5, t = 1, t = 2, t = 4, t = 6, and t = 8 h) after consumption of the challenge drinks. Subjects were not allowed to eat or drink until the last blood sampling, except from drinking water. In addition to the blood sampling, ventilated hood measurements were performed in subgroups of subjects. A subgroup of ten healthy and ten T2D underwent an indirect calorimetry measurement to assess the metabolic flexibility (QUARK).
Subjects were instructed to eat the same meal on the evening before each study day and to maintain their habitual life style and diet from the screening until the end of the study period, with the following restriction: no unusual exercise/physical activity, no intake of food supplements, NSAIDs, betablockers, statin, or paracetamol. Use of ACE-inhibitors and statins was allowed for the T2D during the study.
The PhenFlex test used a drink (the "PhenFlex drink") of 400 mL, which consisted of a mixture of 12.40% (w/w) palm olein, 17.25% (w/w) dextrose, 4.13% (w/w) Protifar (Nutricia), 0.10% (w/w) (vanilla flavor), 0.12% (w/w) trisodiumcitrate, 0.08% (w/w) sodiumhydroxide, and 66.12% (w/w) water. This resulted in a drink of 3950 kJ/950 kcal with a macronutrient composition of 60 g fat (of which 39% saturated fatty acids, 47% mono unsaturated fatty acids, 14% poly unsaturated fatty acids), 75 g glucose, and 20 g protein. The PhenFlex drink was food-grade produced using a production protocol with HACCP principles in the NIZO food research processing centre. The OGTT was a standard oral glucose tolerance test consisting of 75 g glucose in 300 mL water prepared by the LUMC hospital pharmacy. The drinks were stored in a refrigerator with restricted access at 2–8 °C until consumption. Both challenge drinks had to be consumed within 5 min.
Blood samples were collected in tubes containing clot activator for serum or in ice-chilled tubes containing Li-heparin or K2EDTA as anticoagulant for plasma and whole blood. DPP-IV inhibitor was added to K2EDTA tubes for glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) analyses and approtinin to tubes for glucose-related parameters. After centrifugation (for 15 min at approximately 2000 g at approximately 4 °C within 30 min after collection), plasma and serum samples were stored at ≤ − 20 °C for clinical chemistry and ≤ − 70 °C for all other parameters. The following parameters were measured using routine methodology in all serum samples: total cholesterol, HDL cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, free fatty acids (FFA), glucose, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT), alanine-aminotransferase (ALAT), aspartate-aminotransferase (ASAT), alkaline phosphatase (ALP), albumin, and creatinine. Plasma samples were analyzed for C-reactive protein (CRP), serum amyloid A (SAA), secreted intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (sICAM-1), secreted vascular adhesion molecule-1 (sVCAM-1) using a 4-plex Meso Scale Discovery (MSD, Rockville, Maryland, USA). Glucose-related parameters consisting of glucagon, glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), leptin, and insulin were measured in plasma using a different 4-plex MSD plate (MSD, Rockville, MD, USA). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (96-wells) were used to measure adiponectin, GIP, C-peptide, and glutathione ratio. Metabolic profiling was used for assessment of endogenous plasma metabolites by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GCMS) technology. In addition, fasting glycated hemoglobin A1c (HbA1c) (in whole blood) and fructosamine (in serum) were measured. All parameters were analyzed by TNO Triskelion BV.
Substrate oxidation was measured with the ventilated hood method (QUARK RMR, version 9.1, Cosmed, Rome, Italy) according to the manufacturer's instructions. This indirect calorimetry is based on measurement of gas exchange, to reflect energy expenditure and nutrient metabolism . The head of the patient is covered with a transparent plastic canopy hood, connected to a blower, generating a constant flow through the hood. Inhaled air enters from the surrounding environment (room air) and the exhaled O2 and CO2 content is measured for calculation of O2 consumption and CO2 production. The respiratory quotient (RQ) was assessed as the ratio of CO2 exhaled to the amount of oxygen consumed by the individual (RQ = VCO2/VO2). Before consumption of the challenge drink, a measurement of 20 min was performed, reflecting the fasting substrate oxidation of the subjects. Data of the first 5 min were discarded. From the subsequent period of 15 min, a 10-min reading was selected which reflected a steady state. After consumption of the challenge drink, substrate oxidation was measured continuously for 3 h. Data reflecting the most stable 10 min from the second half of every 30-min period were used to calculate substrate oxidation at t = 30, 60, 90, 120, 150, and 180 min.
Whole-body electrical resistance measurements were performed for assessing body composition using an InBody 720 body composition analyzer (InBody, Seoul, Korea). Bio-impedance was measured via resistance in broadband frequencies of 1 kHz–1 MHz and reactance in mean frequencies. Based on the data of the bio-impedance measurement, body composition was measured indirectly. Fat mass of the body was computed as body weight minus fat-free mass.
A number of indexes related to insulin resistance, insulin secretion, and β cell function were calculated using previously published methods. The Hepatic Insulin Resistance Index (HIRI) was calculated as fasting insulin (mU/L) × fasting glucose (mg/dL) , and Muscle Insulin Sensitivity Index (MISI) was calculated as the rate of decay of plasma glucose concentration from its peak value to its nadir during the OGTT divided by the mean plasma insulin concentration . Adipocyte insulin resistance was calculated as fasting plasma insulin (mU/L) × fasting plasma non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) (mmol/L) .
Insulin sensitivity was calculated by two methods: the Matsuda Index (ISI) = 10,000/√ [(fasting insulin (mU/L) × fasting glucose (mg/dL)) × (mean OGTT insulin (mU/L) × (mean OGTT glucose (mg/dL)  and the Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance (HOMA-IR) = fasting insulin (mU/L) × fasting glucose (mmol/L)/22.5 .
β cell function was determined by two methods: first through calculation of the Disposition Index = ISI × (AUC0–30 Ins/AUC0–30 Glc), where AUC0–30 is the area under the curve between baseline and 30 min of the OGTT for insulin (mU/L) and glucose (mg/dL) measurements, respectively, calculated by the trapezoidal method . Secondly, by the homeostasis model assessment of beta cell function that estimates steady-state beta cell function (%B) (HOMA-B) = (20 × fasting insulin mU/L)/(fasting glucose (mmol/L) −3.5) . Insulin secretion was measured by the insulinogenic index (IGI): IGI = [30 min insulin − fasting insulin (mU/L)]/[30 min glucose − fasting glucose (mmol/L)] .
Statistical analyses were performed using the Statistical Analysis System software package version 8.2 (SAS Institute, Cary, NC, USA). Means and standard deviations were calculated for blood parameters and parameters regarding the substrate oxidation. Several area under the curve (AUC) parameters were calculated using the first measurement (t = 0) as reference (M1 method) exactly as described by Pellis et al. . ANOVA was applied with the interaction subject group × time as main effect. Time curves for healthy subjects were compared to time curves for T2D. In case of a significant interaction, the response in time upon the PFT or OGTT was investigated for both groups (healthy and T2D). In case of no significant interaction between healthy/T2D and time, the response in time upon the PFT/OGTT is equal for both groups. Main time and group effects were investigated to study overall time and group effects. The AUC measurements for healthy subjects were compared to the AUC measurements for T2D.
For all ANOVAs, plots of residuals versus the corresponding fitted values were inspected. If these plots revealed a residual variation that increases with the fitted value, the data were transformed by taking their natural logarithm. The transformation was performed on the original data set. If the absolute value of a residual exceeded three times the residual standard deviation, the corresponding data point was flagged as an outlier and was removed from the data set.
The null hypotheses (no effect) were rejected at the 0.05 level of probability (α = 0.05). P values (interactions between healthy/T2D and time, AUCtotal and T = 0) were collected into one table and corrected for testing multiple parameters by applying the Benjamini–Hochberg procedure for controlling the false discovery rate (FDR). The analysis of the other AUC characteristics (AUC+, AUC−, Tmin, Tmax, Cmin, Cmax) was used as additional support for the findings on AUCtotal. Biomarkers that had a significant interaction effect (time × group response) or a significant AUC effect had a differential response to the PFT or showed curve shape differences were referred to as the challenge response. Biomarkers that had a differential group effect had differential offset concentrations but the same shape of the challenge response curve over the time course was referred to as postprandial concentrations or postprandial levels response.
The same method was used as described in Pellis et al. to create groups of parameters exhibiting a similar response to the PFT . Hierarchical clustering was performed on the time profiles of all parameters with a significant time effect. For the hierarchical clustering, Pearson's correlation was used as the distance measure, and complete linkage was used to define the distance between clusters. The number of five clusters was chosen manually taking into account the difference in response and the number of plasma parameters. We aimed to define clusters clearly distinct in the type of response and containing at least four parameters.
The T2D were older (p < 0.0001; average age 58 years) and had higher BMI (p < 0.0001; 29 kg/m2) compared to the healthy subjects (average age 42 years and BMI 23 kg/m2) (Table 1). Fasting glucose levels were higher (p < 0.0001) in T2D (average of 10.2 mmol/L) compared to the healthy subjects (average of 5.4 mmol/L).
Statistical analysis revealed that 110 of 132 parameters responded significantly to PFT drink in healthy subjects (Additional file 1: Table S1, Fig. 2). These 110 significantly modulated plasma parameters were grouped into 5 discrete response time course clusters (Fig. 3). Cluster 1 was the biggest cluster represented by 37 out of 110 plasma parameters. These parameters increased during most of the 8 h time course. Cluster 2 represents 8 plasma parameters that mainly decreased during most of the time course of 8 h. Time profile cluster 3 represented the 31 plasma parameters that decreased upon PFT, with a subsequent recovery phase. Cluster 4 represented 8 plasma parameters with a classical absorption profile, reaching maximum concentrations around 4 h after PFT challenge, followed by a continued reduction towards baseline values at the final (8 h) time point. Cluster 5, represented by 26 plasma parameters has a similar profile to cluster 4, with the main difference that parameters in cluster 5 reached maximum values around 1 h and that minimum concentrations were reached at the final time point (8 h), which were below baseline values. The healthy physiological responses of main metabolic processes modulated by PFT are described in more detail below.
In response to the lipid load, the gut secretes the incretin GIP. GIP shows a temporary increase in response to PFT drink, with maximum concentrations 4 h postprandially (cluster 4), similar as to TG response profile. Also, GLP-1 showed a similar time profile as compared to GIP (cluster 4).
Plasma concentrations of both NEFA and glycerol increased after a lag time (cluster 1). Insulin, immediately released after PFT intake, suppresses fat mobilization for energy production. In the late (catabolic) phase of the 8-h time course, adipose tissue triglycerides are hydrolyzed by hormone-sensitive lipase for beta-oxidation, evidenced by the observed increased plasma levels of NEFA and glycerol. The various plasma free fatty acids either showed the same time cluster 1 response as NEFA or decreased plasma concentrations with subsequent recovery (cluster 3 response). Subsequently, also the plasma monoglycerides and diglycerides showed increased concentrations after a lag time (cluster 1).
Leptin, the hormone that regulates the amount of fat storage, is secreted when the amount of fat storage has reached a certain threshold. This adipokine showed increased concentrations in the late time frame of PFT response (cluster 1).
Measuring serum creatinine is the most commonly used indicator of renal function. Creatinine showed decreased concentrations in response to PFT (cluster 2).
Urea, which is formed in the urea cycle by deamination of amino acids in the liver, is a waste product excreted by the kidney in the urine. Also, urea showed decreased concentrations in response to PFT (cluster 2). Together, these observations suggest that glomerular filtration rate of kidneys increased in response to PFT.
The plasma total, HDL, and LDL cholesterol concentrations decreased in response to PFT with subsequent recovery (cluster 3). Also, the plasma adhesion markers sICAM and sVCAM showed the same response to PFT as compared to cholesterol parameters. Finally, SAA showed decreased concentrations in response to PFT (cluster 2). Together, this suggests that there was a temporarily reduced vascular response after PFT.
Most plasma amino acids showed a classic absorption profile in response to PFT (cluster 5). This is a rapid increase which returns to baseline within 4–5 h and with concentrations below fasting concentration at the final time point (8 h). Some of the amino acids, however, showed decreased concentrations in response to PFT (glycine and tryptophan, cluster 2).
The amino acid derivatives 3-methylhistidine and 1-methylhistidine together with creatinine that originate from muscle showed linear decreasing concentrations in response to PFT (cluster 2). Together, this suggests that muscle turns into an anabolic state after consumption of PFT.
The glycolysis intermediate pyruvate showed a classic absorption profile (cluster 5), similar to glucose and most amino acids. Glycerol-3-phosphate, an intermediate metabolite derived from glycolysis, accumulated in plasma (cluster 1 profile). Plasma lactate showed linear decreased concentrations (cluster 2). This suggests that ATP was mainly aerobically produced and that the process of oxidative phosphorylation may have reached its maximum capacity. The TCA cycle intermediates succinate, malate, and citrate showed temporarily decreased plasma concentrations in response to PFT (cluster 3), whereas alpha-ketoglutarate showed increased concentrations after a lag phase (cluster 1) in response to PFT.
Hepatic very low-density lipoprotein (VLDL) production (represented by free cholesterol and sphingomyelins) showed continuously increasing concentrations in response to PFT after a lag phase of about 2 h (cluster 1). Highest levels were reached at the final time point (8 h). After about 4 h maximum TG, plasma concentrations were reached (cluster 4), which were normalized at the final time point (8 h).
Similar cluster 1 responses were observed for liver integrity enzymes (ALAT, ASAT, GGT, ALP) and the process of ketogenesis (3-hydroxybutanoic acid, acetoacetate, 2-hydroxybutanoic acid).
PFT caused a temporary release of both C-peptide and insulin from the pancreatic beta cells into the circulation with maximum concentrations around 1 h (cluster 5).
Glucagon also showed a temporary release during PFT but at a later stage with maximum concentrations around 4 h (cluster 4).
PFT drink that contained 75 g of glucose (33 E%) caused a temporary increase in plasma concentrations of both glucose and fructose (cluster 5).
Several markers related to oxidative stress responded to PFT. The antioxidant uric acid showed temporarily increased concentrations (cluster 5), whereas the antioxidant vitamin E and mannose (ER stress) showed temporary reduced concentrations (cluster 3 response). Finally, erythronic acid, a molecule formed when N-acetyl-d-glucosamine is oxidized, showed temporarily increased concentrations in the late phase of the time course (cluster 4 response).
The RQ showed a significant increase in response to PFT drink with maximum reached at 2 h. RQ returned to fasting values at 150 min.
Levels of several biomarkers were significantly different in T2D as compared to healthy subjects at fasting (Table 2). A total of 18 out of 132 parameters were statistically different in T2D as compared to healthy subjects.
Markers related to insulin and glucose metabolism were significantly different between the T2D and healthy subjects at fasting such as increased glucose, insulin, and HbA1C. All fasting indexes (lower HOMA-B; higher HOMA-IR, HIRI, and AIR) were also different between the two subject groups. Other plasma metabolites related to glucose metabolism showed lower (1,5-anhydroglucitol, glycine) or higher (mannose, fructose, valine, leucine, 2-hydroxybutanoic acid) plasma concentrations in T2D.
Leptin concentrations were significantly higher in the T2D patients, suggesting higher adiposity, which was confirmed by a higher BMI in T2D.
Plasma concentrations of ALAT and GGT were found to be significantly elevated as compared to the healthy volunteers at fasting, suggesting reduced liver integrity in T2D.
Higher levels of CRP and sICAM were found, suggesting an inflammatory state in T2D.
A total of 58 out of 132 parameters showed a statistically different challenge effect in T2D as compared to healthy subjects (Fig. 4). Furthermore, four PFT-based indexes related to insulin sensitivity and β cell functioning (IGI, DI, ISI, and MISI) were also statistically different (Additional file 1: Table S1; Additional file 2: Figures S1 A–F). The responses of the phenotypic processes that were differentially modulated by PFT in T2D as compared to healthy controls are described in more detail below.
The insulin and C-peptide PFT response was significantly different in T2D as compared to healthy subjects. A delayed insulin response was found with maximum concentrations at the 2-h time point in T2D, as compared to the 1-h time point in healthy subjects. For C-peptide, maximum concentrations were reached at the 4-h time point in T2D, as compared to the 2-h time point in healthy subjects. DI and IGI indicated a decreased β cell function, whereas the α cell of the pancreas secreted higher levels of the hormone glucagon in T2D. Subsequently, T2D had a higher glucose PFT response with higher maximum concentrations as well as decreased ISI, indicating reduced systemic insulin sensitivity in T2D. The gut hormone GLP-1, closely connected to glucose metabolism, showed higher maximum concentrations as well as a faster return to homeostatic levels in T2D as compared to healthy subjects.
The response to PFT revealed a diminished lipolysis rate and leptin response in T2D as compared to healthy subjects. A blunted NEFA and glycerol response was observed in T2D. The individual non-essential FFAs showed the same blunted response profiles (C12:0, C14:0, C16:0, C16:1, C17:0, C18:0, C18:1 and C18:2) in T2D, whereas this was not the case for the essential FFA (C20:4 and C22:6). No difference in response was observed for the essential FFA between T2D and healthy male volunteers.
A distinctly different response to PFT between T2D and healthy subjects was observed for most proteinogenic amino acids. This suggests a different protein metabolism between the two groups. Fourteen out of 19 proteinogenic amino acids showed a differential PFT response. T2D showed for all plasma BCAAs and derivatives a higher amplitude in response to PFT as compared to healthy subjects. Similar differences in PFT response profiles were observed for serine, lysine, threonine, glutamate, and tyrosine. Finally, alanine, asparagine, glutamine, cysteine, and phenylalanine also showed a differential PFT response in T2D as compared to healthy that differed from the above described amino acids.
Three metabolites that are intermediates of energy metabolism responded differently to PFT between T2D and healthy subjects. These were alpha-ketoglutarate, succinate, and pyruvate. Together, PFT response profiles from these metabolites suggest that T2D have a diminished carbohydrate metabolism shown by higher amplitudes for glycolysis and TCA cycle as compared to healthy subjects.
The ketone bodies 3-hydroxybutanoic acid and acetoacetate both involved in ketogenesis showed a reduced response in T2D as compared to healthy subjects. The minimum concentrations were reached at a later time point (4 vs. 2 h in healthy subjects) and the plasma increase at late time points is reduced, suggesting a diminished β-oxidation. Substrate oxidation measures showed that T2D have a significant lower RQ, indicating that T2D use a higher fat% and a lower carbohydrate% as an energy source compared to healthy subjects. The response to PFT revealed that ALAT and ASAT had a higher amplitude to PFT in T2D as compared to healthy subjects. Together these data further confirmed a reduced hepatic tissue injury control in T2D.
Finally, in response to PFT, several markers related to oxidative stress showed a differential response in T2D as compared to healthy subjects. Glutathione ratio and levels of ribose were significantly lower in T2D as compared to healthy subjects. The response of erythronic acid was found to be strikingly different between the two groups. Healthy subjects showed a clear response (cluster 4) to PFT, whereas this response was lacking in T2D. Finally, CRP levels, a biomarker representing the process of inflammation, were significantly higher upon PFT in T2D as compared to healthy subjects.
Similar glucose and insulin patterns were observed between the two subjects groups (Fig. 5a, b). Although, plasma glucose and insulin concentrations in T2D and plasma glucose in healthy subjects were higher in response to OGTT than in PFT. Indexes related to glucose metabolism that can be calculated from an OGTT were also calculated for PFT and compared (Table 3). DI, ISI, IGI, and MISI were all significantly different between healthy and T2D after both OGTT and PFT. Although the direction of change was the same for all indexes after OGTT and PFT, the absolute values for the indexes were different after the two challenges, especially for DI (6.31 for OGTT vs. 24.63 for PFT in healthy subjects). Furthermore, it was observed that healthy subjects had a remarkable higher standard deviation for the different indexes as compared to T2D.
The goal of this clinical study was to characterize PFT by assessing the healthy adaptive capacity of relevant metabolic processes as determined from the literature review . In other words, this study examined to what extent a series of biomarkers, representing the selected health related processes, are responsive to the PhenFlex challenge in our healthy volunteers.
Processes represented in Fig. 2 were found to be modulated by PFT during the 8 h time course except for chronic low-grade inflammation as measured by CRP. These findings, including a lack of response of CRP, are in accordance with what is described in the literature . Importantly, processes of endothelial integrity, represented by sVCAM-1, sICAM-1, SAA, total cholesterol, HDL, and LDL, showed a significant time effect in healthy male volunteers as well as markers related to hepatic tissue injuries such as GGT, ALP, ASAT, and ALAT. Also, most markers related to oxidative stress represented by uric acid, vitamin E, ribose, erythronic acid, and mannose showed a significant time response as well as metabolic flexibility (RQ). These processes are known to be augmented by a mixed meal challenge as compared to single macronutrient challenges such as OGTT and oral lipid tolerance test (OLTT) [3, 8]. Therefore, we conclude that PFT modulated phenotypic flexibility as expected in healthy individuals.
Five distinct response type profiles were identified (Fig. 3) to PFT, which was a comparable number of the six distinct postprandial time course profiles reported by Pellis et al.  in response to a mixed meal challenge. However, some differences can be observed between the biomarker responses in the two studies. For example, cluster 5 is a collection of markers such as glucose, insulin and most amino acids that are being represented into two distinct clusters in the Pellis study  that differ in the time that minimum values are being reached (4 and 6 h after postprandial challenge). The studies differ in the composition of the challenge tests and study set-up (4 h of fasting after a standardized breakfast vs. overnight fasting). This shows that it is important that a standardized nutritional challenge protocol is being developed in order to compare results between studies and for the interpretation of the challenge test response profiles.
The secondary objective was to investigate whether PFT and defined new biomarkers are useful to demonstrate reduced phenotypic flexibility in metabolically impaired subjects, in this case, T2D, as compared to healthy subjects. The phenotypic flexibility markers showed a more sensitive response than the fasting markers (Fig. 4, Additional file 1: Table S1 and Table 2), shown by 58 significantly different post-challenge time courses upon PFT as compared to 18 parameters that were significantly different at fasting. Based on challenging conditions, our results evidently confirmed that T2D is a systems disease with an impaired adaptive response of pancreas, liver, muscle, adipose, gut, systemic stress, vasculature and kidney (Fig. 4). This is in agreement with the acknowledgement of eight organs that are important players in the hyperglycemic phenotype of T2D . With the exception of brain insulin resistance, all other seven players that have an important role in this hyperglycemic phenotype were identified by looking at the phenotypic flexibility response. Besides the well-known interplay of muscle, liver and β cell, we were able to identify involvement of the fat cell (disturbed lipolysis), gastrointestinal tract (incretin deficiency/resistance), α cell (hyperglucagonemia), and kidney (increased glucose reabsorption) . Subsequently, we also identified "vasculature" as an important player in the phenotype of T2D, which is a widely accepted phenomenon . Furthermore, many of the metabolites that were found to be significantly different between T2D and healthy that were observed in our study are quite well known from metabolic profiling studies in diabetes . Amino acids, in particular, the branched-chain amino acids and glycine, carbohydrates including 1,5-anhydroglucitol and ketone bodies including alpha-hydroxybutyrate all have been identified as (predictive) biomarkers for T2D . Some of the observations, especially related to the gut such as incretins and amino acids absorption may be the consequence of delayed gastric emptying, which is occurring in 30–50% of T2D . A study limitation was that our T2D subjects were on average 16 years older as compared to the healthy subjects and therefore 'aging' may partly explain our observations. So far, the effect of aging on phenotypic flexibility has not been studied, so it has to be speculated to what degree this influenced our results. Probably aging deteriorates most health-related processes to a certain extent. Still, our study provides an accurate picture of metabolic dysregulation in diabetes pathology as we know it from literature, indicating the power and sensitivity of the phenotypic flexibility approach.
PFT was compared to OGTT, and although the amplitude and peak of both glucose as well as insulin was reduced in PFT, different insulin sensitivity indexes disclosed similar statistical differences. Based on these results we conclude that PFT can be used to study differences in glucose and insulin metabolism. The reduced glucose and insulin amplitude and delayed peak in response to PFT may be the result of delayed gastric emptying. Furthermore, healthy subjects had a remarkable higher heterogeneity for the different insulin sensitivity indexes both based on OGTT as well as on PhenFlex challenge. This was also checked for the other parameters quantified in this study, but not such differences were being observed for other markers between the two groups. When obvious differences in standard deviation were present, it was either in the healthy group of volunteers as well as in T2D. The current results may suggest that OGTT is more sensitive in the identification of insulin-related effects. The added value of PFT is that it augments processes of endothelial integrity, hepatic tissue injury, oxidative stress as well as metabolic flexibility which are important processes in the determination of metabolic health.
Taken together, PFT thus provides more accurate information on a broad spectrum of phenotypic flexibility processes. We, therefore, propose PFT as a standardized mixed meal tolerance test in metabolic and nutritional studies. The results suggest that PFT is applicable for examining health effects of a broad range of diets and dietary-ingredients and provides valuable additional information as compared to the oral glucose tolerance test.
We thank Femke Hoevenaars for the final editing of the manuscript. Furthermore, the critical advice and evaluation of results from the study by Christian Drevon, Hannelore Daniel, and Michael Müller are very much appreciated.
This research was sponsored by TNO roadmap Nutrition and Health and co-funded by Abbott Nutrition, Danisco-DuPont, DSM, FrieslandCampina, and Nestlé. Furthermore, the research was supported by the NutriTech project (financed by the European Commission in the 7th Framework Programme FP7, grant agreement no: 289,511). The funders of the study had no role in the study design, the data collection, analysis, and interpretation, or the preparation of the manuscript.
Details on the trial can be found at https://dashin.eu/interventionstudies/study/show/6598877. The datasets analyzed during the current study are also stored in this phenotype database repository and can be made available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
The authors' responsibilities were as follows: BvO, AFK, SW, MvE, AS, and JB designed the research. JHMS, GCB, JB, and CHDR conducted the research. RB performed the statistical analysis. LP and SW wrote the manuscript. BvO and JHMS reviewed the draft manuscript. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript and accepted the final responsibility for the manuscript.
All subjects gave written informed consent, and the study was approved by the Medical Ethics Committee of Leiden University Medical Centre (LUMC), The Netherlands. The study was conducted according to the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki and in accordance with the Dutch Medical Research in Human Subjects Act (WMO) and registered at the Central Committee for Medical Research under number: NL41396.058.12 and registered at ISRCTN registry with study ID ISRCTN27707180 (http://www.isrctn.com/ISRCTN27707180).
Rasmussen MH, Ho KK, Kjems L, Hilsted J. Serum growth hormone-binding protein in obesity: effect of a short-term, very low calorie diet and diet-induced weight loss. J. Clin. Endocrinol. Metab. [Internet]. 1996 [cited 2016 Dec 19];81:1519–24. Available from: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/8636361.


Bai was correct in her complaint.
Hei had learned her Marionet ability, which allowed one to hijack the cultivation paths of weaker cultivators or those who put up no resistance.
The entire fight from start to finish had been orchestrated by Hei, and Bai was made to be a performer against her will.
Hei smiled while looking up at Bai's face, still in her arms.
He raised his hand up to caress her cheek.
As he let out his sigh, his hand fell to his side. He had completely 'lost consciousness'.
Bai had no choice but to smile at her brother's nonsense. She carried him back to his seat and waited for the announcement.
Everyone was left dumbfounded. At this point, they knew it was all an act.
Back in the stands, the representatives were discussing what just happened.
The representatives were less than impressed.
Tianlan, on the other hand, was grumbling about how Hei was biased towards Bai. Why couldn't he let him win?
Mei was jealous of Bai who was able to hold Hei in her arms.
Most of the audience just felt it was strange. They didn't know what was real and what was illusory. But they did know that they enjoyed whatever it was.
It was far better than the other matches they had seen, even though it was quite short.
The boys of the Fang Clan were different.
After witnessing the match, they all had bright eyes and stood up in horse stances.
The young ladies gave them odd looks.
After realising this, the boys sat back down.
Hei wanted to say something but he held himself back.
The young man on stage spoke up at that point.
The young man then started calling out names, starting with the body refining cultivators. No one really cared about these cultivators, it was as if they had no names.
After the body refining cultivators, the externalisation realm cultivators' names were called out.
Those body refining cultivators who weren't selected were depressed. They had been looking forward to joining a sect and making their parents proud.
A similar scene occurred for the externalisation realm cultivators, but interestingly enough, the Fang Clan juniors got many more offers than the others.
This trend continued into the internalisation realm participants.
Whenever a young man from the Fang Clan was called up, the same four sects would make offers. For the young ladies, all five sects made offers.
This was because the Radiant Jade Sect only accepted female disciples.
The picture for the Wu Clan was quite different. A lot of them didn't receive offers at all, and none of them except for Wu Ning got offers from more than two sects.
This painted a clear picture for them of who the number one clan in Spring Leaf City was.
What made it worse, was that they had discarded the very thing that allowed the Fang Clan to achieve all this. One man's trash was another man's treasure indeed.
The young ladies of the Fang Clan were quite disappointed that their names were called before Sage Tianlan's. This meant they could only hope he would go to the same sect as them.
They may have been vocal about their disappointment, but they all made serious choices for which sect would suit them best. They all knew that their chances with Tianlan weren't good to begin with. But one could hope.
When it came to Fang Ren's turn, she looked to the three before making her decision to join the Radiant Jade Sect.
Even though Hei had already told her that she no longer needed to accompany Bai, she couldn't forget the Myriad Kindness they had shown to her.
Her choice wasn't much of a concern to Hei. After all, he had found a perfectly good sister-in-law to protect Bai.
Fang Lian ended up following Ji Dian to the Violet River Sect and Fang Long chose the Blazing Flame Sect.
Fang Noname made an interesting choice… But it was quite difficult to notice him/her. Most people only remembered an indistinct grey fog as they thought of Fang Noname.
The time came for Tianlan's selection.
There was an awkward pause before the Shimmering Sword Sect made him an offer. His only offer.
He could have sworn they had said something about a coin toss, but it wasn't clear enough to be sure.
Then came Bai's turn, and her results were shocking.
Some would say shocking isn't the right word, but she received a grand total of  offer(s). And it was the Radiant Jade Sect who was basically giving all of the young ladies offers.
After Bai was Mei, which caused some confusion.
Everyone looked to Hei, who didn't seem to be concerned.
For Mei, all of the sects had made offers. All she needed to do was go up to the stage and choose one.
Mei turned to Hei before she stood up and spoke.
She pointed to Hei as she spoke.
Hearing this, the representatives had awkward faces.
Her aura started to leak out. Her colours started to change. Red became white as white became red. The audience could almost smell blood in her words.
Even the representatives became fearful as this was happening.
Mei was a pinnacle existence in this world. Even in the middle continent, there were not many spirit beasts that could stand up against her bloodline.
For these cultivators of the lower eastern continent, her aura was enough to separate their souls from their bodies.
As she was losing herself to her anger, Mei heard a calm voice, shortly followed by a hand on her shoulder, and she immediately returned to calm.
She turned to him and spoke.
Mei was going to say that she wanted to be with Hei, but he cut her off.
After saying these words, Hei could see conflict in Mei's eyes. He realised that he was asking her to go against her wishes.
He knew that he was biased towards Bai, and he was unashamed of this. But he didn't want to neglect one sister in favour of the other.
So, he decided to give Mei something in return.
He remembered how his walk through the city with Bai seemed to improve her mood, so he had the same idea for Mei.
Mei was very excited to hear these words.
Hei was going to correct her and break free from her hug, but he decided to let her have this much. It also didn't help that the other soul was basically doing cartwheels.
Seeing that Hei did not reject the title, Mei became even happier. She turned to the representatives and voiced her choice without even bothering to head down to the stage.
She then sat back down next to Hei, planning the things they would do on their trip when the time came.
Mei didn't seem bothered with the time delay as she continued in her planning.
He felt an odd sensation, so he turned to look at Bai and what he saw left him even more helpless.
Bai had been looking at him with aggrieved eyes, but she didn't say anything.
She knew he was doing this for her, but she would have also liked a trip.
Seeing this, Hei could only awkwardly cough.
Hei felt that this was somehow familiar, but he put the thought aside.
After the selections were over, the representatives had the successful participants report to their representatives. They would soon be leaving to go to their sects.
Bai and Mei were reluctant to part with Hei, but they were pulled by the collars and dragged over to the Radiant Jade Sect.
It was Tianlan who had dragged them away.
Even though the young ladies of the city gave him much of their attention, two of the most important women in his life only had eyes for Hei.
This resulted in a strange situation where Hei was jealous of Tianlan and Tianlan was also jealous of Hei.
After everyone had left, the matriarch turned to Hei and asked him what he would do now.
She was hoping he would choose to stay in the Fang Clan for a few more years.
Hei smiled as he spoke those last words.
Any solo adventure was bound to be chock-full of encounters with young ladies. If even one of them was a blue aura holder, he would have made a good harvest.
He was also interested in getting some butlers. But a delicate balance was required. He didn't want to invite any boys into the group, only to have Bai become interested in one of them.
That would truly be a calamity.
It would be better if he could pair up the butlers with the maids, leaving nothing for Bai to be interested in.
He then started speaking using his Qi, so others wouldn't overhear.
The matriarch nodded her head. This much was to be expected.
At that moment, Hei realised something.
The matriarch didn't react to Hei arbitrarily changing her family name to Shao. In fact, she had an inexplicable pride as she heard her name as part of the Shao Clan.
But she could also feel a weight behind it. She wouldn't allow herself to disappoint the family that changed her clan's future.
The matriarch was relieved to know that she wouldn't have to leave her clan behind for the time being. There were still many things she needed to do before she could leave.
Seeing that the matriarch had no complaints, Hei continued.
Most people would have considered Hei a fool to spout these words as if he actually believed them, but the matriarch was strangely confident that it would be as he had said.
Hei was quite pleased with the matriarch. Maybe she did deserve the head maid position after all.
He then clapped his hands, letting the sound enter the ears of everyone in the venue. He wanted quiet, so he could speak to the juniors.
He wanted them to remember that they were nothing much and that they should just be low key. After all, almost all of the Fang Clan's juniors were fodder characters.
Except for Fang Lian and possibly Fang Ren, who were closely tied to main characters, the rest of them would be mediocre at best.
He began the chant he had taught them during training.
The Fang Clan's juniors all shouted out in unison.
Hearing this, Hei was pleased, so he continued.
He had a special section for the boys.
Hei was starting to get into it as he raised his voice louder and started waving his arms as if he were conducting an orchestra.
Hei was fully into it now. This was the grand finale.
After the chant was finished, the audience watched in silence.
His siblings hid their faces in embarrassment.
Hei was pleased with the response. It seemed that everyone had taken his advice seriously. They were even willing to say these things in front of the audience.
He then spoke one last thing to the Fang Clan juniors.
There were no objections, so Hei prepared to make his exit.
He jumped into the air, and as he reached the centre stage, he entered his Dragon Knight mode.
Then, he pulled a dragon from his storages space and stood atop its head as it flapped its wings, flying just above the stage, at the height of the representatives' seats.
He pointed his lance at the old lady who was a representative of the Radiant Jade Sect.
He then released a suppressive aura and allowed two red glows to be visible through his helmet.
He paused for dramatic effect, as the dragon bore its fangs.
The old lady was frightened by Hei's aura, but she soon realised that it was all an illusion.
Coming to this realisation, she became enraged.
She was sure that once his little act was seen through, he would promptly get on his knees to apologise?
Hei was confused by this for a while before he understood.
He disengaged his Unlimited Chain Works and landed in the middle of the stage.
Seeing this, the old lady became more confident.
While they had been assuming that Hei was using illusions, it was only one of the possibilities. It was always possible that all of it was real.
But since he had backed down, she was confident that they were correct, and that this Shao Hei was just showboating.
Hei then looked up to the old lady.
Hearing Hei's tone, the old lady felt that something was wrong, but she continued in her authoritative tone.
Hearing these words, Fang Long felt sorry for the old lady. He had said the very same foolish words a while back.
Hei placed his hands behind his back and closed his eyes as he spoke.
This time the old lady decided not to speak.
This wasn't the attitude of a junior being reprimanded at all.
Hearing no response, Hei opened his eyes again, and when he did, the old lady felt a suppressive aura unlike any she had ever felt before. Even the sect leader hadn't made her feel so small.
With a completely relaxed voice, Hei spoke.
This sentence sent cold chills down the spines of the half-siblings.
The image of Hei's bloodied body was still clear in their minds. Those eyes that didn't show even the slightest weakness still haunted their dreams from time to time.
The contrast between the tone of his voice and the aura he was releasing made the old lady realise that she was only a speck of dust in Hei's world. A completely inconsequential existence.
She had been gravely mistaken in thinking that Hei had been using illusions before.
Her face paled as she struggled to respond.
Seeing this, Hei smiled and the suppressive aura disappeared.
He turned around, ready to disappear into thin air when he heard a young woman's voice.
Surprised at the voice he hadn't heard before, Hei turned around.
The source of the voice was the young woman sitting next to the old lady. She was also a representative of the Radiant Jade Sect.
Hei could see determination in her eyes.
And he was right. Having seen Hei's fearlessness, even to the extent of threatening a sect, she had made a choice.


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Wheredoesitcomefrom
Electrical Product - MK Electric > Home-GB > About Us > Sustainable Opportunities: Where does it come from?
Sustainable Opportunities...
Who made it?
What is it packaged in?
What will happen to it at the end of its life?
Sustainable Opportunities: Where does it come from?
74% of MK products are manufactured in the UK.
In the example of the MK Logic Plus 2 Gang Switch Socket Outlet for the UK market, it is estimated that the components and product travel a distance of 16 times less when manufactured in one of MK's UK facilities, compared to one produced in a Far Eastern facility. With over 70,000 less miles travelled from the UK manufactured socket there is a clear reduction in the products' carbon footprint when compared to one of its Far Eastern manufactured counterparts.
Where ever possible MK Electric manufacture within, or close to, a local market. This not only keeps the transportation of components and finished products to a minimum, but also allows us to react quickly to changes in the market requirements. Products come off the production line and are delivered direct to our UK warehouse within 24 hours. Far Eastern manufactured products can often spend over 3 months in transit, negating any opportunity for late changes in production to meet a specific market or customer demand.


(Newser) – Peter Tabichi is a science and math teacher in one of the poorest schools in Kenya, and he gives away the majority of his paycheck to help his community and students at the Keriko secondary school in Pwami. The 36-year-old Franciscan friar just got those funds back, and then some: He was awarded the Varkey Foundation's $1 million Global Teacher Prize, presented to him Sunday in Dubai by actor Hugh Jackman. Tabichi beat out 10,000 other nominees from nearly 180 countries around the world, the Guardian reports.
A genuinely beautiful story for a change .
This man is the epidemy of selflessness.
He's a mother of all teachers, what a great guy! The education is the most important paramount thing in every child's life. And his dedication for children education should be recognized by everybody and every institution of the world. Without proper education human beings behave like zombies without questioning everything in life and life-matters including the god biz.


I wanted to apologize for the lack of updates lately. I know a couple of you have requested features, but I have yet to post them. Most requests have been implemented and are ready to ship out. The only issue at the moment is I am having quite a bit of trouble getting the touch controls right for the 3d-graphing. Because of the popularity of this request, I am very hesitant to release sub-par version of this. I know that a sub-par version would be probably more welcome to you than the current lack of the feature entirely, but I know I have released poor updates in the past. I have been trying not to do this anymore. Please know that an update should be posted soon, even if I have to disable the touch controls for the time being.


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Q: Is there a cocoa touch property pages like table view form renderer viewcontroller? Is there any free or opensource property pages like form renderer for ios applications?
Or I missed something, and I can create these kind of objects with the base framework?
I want to render forms inside applications, not on the Settins menu.
Is there any built in way or any lib what do it for me or I must make the plist parseing and table cell lifecycle management.

A: Your question is a little vague, but I think what you want to do is have functionality like that available in the Settings app within your application. I have used InAppSettingsKit and been quite happy with the results. It's free and open source. I think they ask you to credit them, but it is not required.


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SC asks Centre to frame policy for "reasonable accommodation" of transgenders in jobs
A bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli said it was of the view that the Centre, in consultation with the national council which has been provided for in the law, should make an appropriate policy framework in terms of which reasonable accommodation can be provided for transgenders in seeking employment.
The bench said the union government must take a lead on this behalf and clearly provide guidance to all other entities including the state governments and establishments covered by the Act.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday directed the Centre to make an appropriate policy framework to provide "reasonable accommodation" to transgender people in employment in the establishments covered under the 2019 law enacted for their protection. The top court said the transgender persons (protection of rights) Act, 2019, which was brought into force with effect from January 10, 2020 marked a "watershed" in the evolution of the rights of such people. The law was for protecting the rights of transgender people, their welfare and other connected matters, it said.
The court issued the direction in an interim order on a plea of a transgender, who had undergone a sex change surgery in 2014, challenging then national carrier Air India's decision to deny her a job as a cabin crew member.
It said, "The enactment by Parliament marks a watershed in the evolution of the rights of transgender persons. The provisions of the Act need to be implemented in letter and spirit by formulating an appropriate policy."
"Under section 16 of the Act, the national council has been constituted by notification dated August 21, 2020. The union government shall adopt suitable measures after collaborating with the national council and place the considered position of policy on record of these proceedings," the bench said and posted the matter for further hearing in the first week of December.
It directed that the department of personnel and training (DOPT) and Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment will consult all the stakeholders on the issue.
At the outset, the court referred to various provisions of the Act and said under section 8, an obligation has been cast on the appropriate governments to secure the full and effective participation of transgender persons and their inclusion in the society.
It said under section 9, no establishment shall discriminate against any transgender person in any matter related to employment including but not limited to recruitment, promotion and other related issues.
"Every establishment under section 10 is required to comply with the provision of the Act," the bench said, while noting that the petitioner has sought employment as a member of the cabin crew of Air India pursuant to an advertisement of July 10, 2017. It noted the advertisement was for the recruitment of female cabin crew.
"The issues, which have been raised in the petition consent to the claim of the petitioner for employment in Air India in pursuant to the above advertisement. The petition, however, raised wider issues with regard to the formulation of appropriate policies by the government on the one hand and the implementation of the provisions of the enactment by all establishments to give effect to the guarantee of non-discrimination embodied in sections 3 and section 9," it said.
Senior advocate KV Vishwanathan and advocate Fauzia Shakil appearing for Air India, which has now been privatised, said the rejection of the petitioner was not due to the fact that she was a transgender but because she did not meet the criteria of qualifying marks.
Additional Solicitor General Sanjay Jain, appeared for the Centre and said he will assist the court in coming to a pragmatic solution.
In 2017, the top court had issued notice and sought responses from Air India and the Civil Aviation Ministry to the plea of the transgender, who claimed that to pursue her dreams she had worked for 13 months in Sutherland Global Services in the airline sector and even at Air India's customer support, both domestic and international, in Chennai.
Born in Tamil Nadu in 1989, she said she graduated in engineering in 2010.
She underwent a gender reassignment surgery to turn into a woman in April 2014 and this information was published in the state government gazette.
She said she had learnt about an advertisement on July 10, 2017 by Air India for the post of a female cabin crew for its Northern Region office in Delhi on a fixed term engagement basis for an initial period of five years.
She applied in the female category as she had undergone a successful sex reassignment surgery in Bangkok.
She said she got the call letter, appeared for various tests and undertook four attempts, but was not short-listed for the post in question even though she fared well in the tests.
In her petition, she said she could not get short-listed as she was a transgender and the vacancies in the cabin crew were earmarked only for women.
She said despite representations to the Prime Minister's Office and the Ministry of Civil Aviation there was no redress. She had sought the court's direction to Air India and the ministry for consideration of her candidature.
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As a civilian living in Berlin, Horst Sinske endured air raids day and night. Read his description of life on the ground, his thoughts of the British and American bombers, and his harrowing tale of surviving a direct hit.
Q: I'd like to ask you about your experiences with the night attacks. What is your memory of the big British night attacks? How should one imagine that, if one doesn't already have an image of it?
We experienced the day and night attacks very differently. At night it was more or less difficult because we were all so tired. We were overtired, exhausted. We were startled up by the sirens and ran down the stairs into the cellar — there, where the family stayed in the house in Kreuzberg — and spent almost all of the night attacks down there. It was usually the case that the air-raid protection attendant (and my father was one such attendant) went through the streets and checked the houses and then waited for a direct bombing attack. And at first one was just so surprised at how quiet the city became. One can hardly imagine it. It was an absolute stillness. One had the impression that not even a bird was flying.
One whispered, "Quiet! Be quiet, be quiet!" One was already imagining the sounds of motors, though they weren't even there to be heard yet. But the first thing that one did eventually hear was in fact the sound of the motor, and then the sound of the defense fire from the German flak [aircraft defense cannon] set in. And then one immediately went into the cellar, since at night you couldn't be sure about the direction from which the planes were flying. And then below, the anxious questions, "will they bomb us?" Again one couldn't answer that. At most you could only know you were the target area if one saw three of these target indicator lights, these "Christmas trees." And it wasn't possible in the narrow street. Everyone expected bombs to fall.
And then this peculiar noise: every bomb made a different noise as it fell. You have to imagine that some were like the rushing of water, while others had the tone of rolling peas. We all knew that every bomb, every shot that one actually heard would not hit you. But that was no reassurance, because we also knew that the bomb you didn'thear could be the one that got you.
So the beginning of the attack was always the most suspenseful, and it was usually the case that we ran below. Then we all heard the noises that came from the exploding bombs and the German flak, and the defense fire was just as loud [as the bombs]. We waited in our air-raid shelter, which didn't yet have a steel door, that didn't fit. And we always had the din of combat in our room.
Q: Can you describe more specifically the noises? How should one imagine that?
When these hard attacks came, which were in the area, then one couldn't even hear oneself speak. And strangely we always bent over — that didn't actually make sense, but nonetheless we did that. And the really, especially unpleasant thing was that the hard attacks caused the ground to vibrate, and when you stood up, you immediately moved for the handlebar, and strangely one had the impression of getting smaller. So you'd always try to sit down, but if at all possible then on a wooden chair and not a metal one, which would have passed on the vibrations. We took wood and nailed it as boards to the walls so that we could put our feet up during these hard attacks. That part was scary.
Q. Were there things that weren't said — such as, "Is this our last day today?" Was it already basically normal? How can one live with it, especially at the age that you were?
Q. Were your nerves on edge?
Q. When you came out of your cellar, can you remember what the scenery looked like? How should one imagine that?
At first, one looked up. And looked at the roof, since some bombs were lighter and didn't fall through deeply and instead remained hanging on the roof. It was possible to overlook them. The construction of the roof was also checked after every attack, sometimes even also before the all-clear sign came. And then: the next few corners to the left and to the right — it was mostly very dark, but for example my grandmother lived three blocks away, and so we went to go check on her, to see in the street whether everything was still standing. Sometimes one walked 3-4 kilometers, to relatives. Telephones like we have today were as good as not available. None of us had a land line. Mostly only [certain] workforces had one, for example someone in our circle was a taxi driver, and that business had a phone. But the individual person had no land line telephone.
Q. And was much destroyed? Did you see it?
We could, practically speaking, watch the fact that as of 1944, the city was getting smaller — one can actually say that. And of course these heavy bombs that the English dragged here, with their high-speed aircrafts, were very feared. When it was convenient, they could destroy 4, or I even knew of a case of 6 [buildings] in one hit, by sucking off the front of the building. The roofs of these buildings all fell on top of each other. And then of course one wondered whether there was anyone between these roofs? The furniture and everything else had been suctioned out. The roofs lay on top of each other. One of these heavy hits is still recognizable in outline in the [Büdeckerstraße].
Q. Did you see victims?
Yes, we looked into these [roofs] because we wondered. And because, at the time, we all still had the Hitler Youth uniform on, we were all immediately obligated to get involved. We could open the cellar doors, and could see that people sat on their chairs, but were dead from the suction.
Q. And you as a boy had to open the cover?
Yes, everyone who came by and who was in the condition to pick and to shovel — those were our tools, the pick and the shovel, not heavy — had to work for a few hours. And of course we thought about the fact that we could be the next ones bombed that very night.
Q. Earlier you said that the American and British attacks were very different. Could you describe the Americans? How should one imagine February 3rd?
The daytime attacks on the 3rd and the 26th of February were incomparable to the ones before. We didn't know that 2,000 planes were underway. But we saw the first lines of attack and thought, this will have no end. Shortly after that we heard a noise. And in particular on the Frankfurterallee, with a surrounding area of maybe 500 meters radius — from there one could describe the attack. Nothing was standing there anymore. Not a single house. What exploded there sufficed to level a whole piece of the city. When we came out of the cellar, the houses lying against each other between the sidewalk and the road were indistinguishable, and in the middle there was a heap of stones, you can imagine it that way. A few places were burning, little fires, and everything else was just collapsed. One couldn't see much farther because of the dust.
Q. And what did you do then? Did you walk through the area, or what should one imagine?
On February 3rd we tried immediately to run back home. To go over the various streets, and the bridge, and the Spree River is a march by foot of about 40 minutes. One always looked for a wide street under the assumption that parts of the ruins yet to fall could still hit you. And in this case that meant that we had to run through the [Gugenderstraße], but could already see that duds and timed detonators were lying there. And so we tried to take the [Roxannenstraße], but it was burning on both sides.
Then all of a sudden my father's shoulder, his coat, started to burn. "Just take it off, take it off!" And it burned on the ground, so he trampled it with his feet, so that the coat was out but now his shoes were on fire, until we realized that we had to strip them off. The burning mass was otherwise inextinguishable. Thank God, though, they weren't burned through. So then we went back to the [Gugenderstraße] and it was already organized such that duds or timed detonators were covered with paper or rags. Covered, that is, by concentration camp workers, in their uniform but also in plain clothes. One hoped that when a timed detonator exploded, these rags and piles of newspaper would mitigate the effect of the splinters. We went by one really closely, and I could have touched it. It was another one of those moments in which the sweat runs down your back. Many people didn't admit that, but I can't understand how one couldn't be anxious to walk by such bombs. But nothing happened.
The Warschau Bridge was already very damaged, though not from February 3rd. We could cross the rails and reach the street level again at the train station building, and we could walk over the Spree — the Oberbaum Bridge is well known as the most beautiful bridge in Berlin, and at the time it wasn't damaged yet. Then we reached our apartment and it wasn't damaged. My mother and my brother were there.
But on this day, before noon, there was this very large attack, and now working from memory, shortly before 8:00pm the flyer alarm went out, again 11:00pm a flyer alarm, and then at 3:00am, the bombers. So we couldn't sleep anymore.
Q. Is that more than one can bear? Or did you also get used to that?
One can't think clearly anymore. And my father's work was technically difficult and dangerous, and he was extremely exhausted. Being bombed out didn't mean that one didn't have to go work. For an adult that still mean a 12-hour shift. And for us, and 8-hour shift as apprentices.
Q. What did you make, what kind of work was it?
We made tools/instruments. I was an apprentice to a tool maker, and did, among other things, cutting and stamping, metal working, but also polishing, in order to finish tools on the lathe. So the company made precision stamping parts, from swivel plates to complete circuit breakers for the aviation industry. For the last production we worked with the U-Bahn from Warschau to Tempfelhof. But we didn't know that.
Q. So it was all production crucial to war.
Q. What kind of workers were there? Were they forced laborers or other Hitler-Youths like yourself, or how should one imagine that? After all most men were at war.
Yes, most men were at war. There were also factories with women in particular. Where total war had been called for, other people were obligated to work. We had a Dutchman, a Ukrainian, a few Frenchmen, but no workers from the Eastern territories. Only the leadership positions were still held by Germans. Or the experts who maintained the machinery. The production itself was almost exclusively done by women.
Q. And they had the same rights in the bunker as you.
Yes. In this operation we all stayed at the same table. We ate in the same cafeteria, and also ate the same food. We didn't think to create allotments of food. And on February 3rd we were all in the same room. The former cafeteria was our air-raid shelter. And it was a location that I didn't think was very good. When airplanes attacked out of the west, they flew directly towards us. But one couldn't change that. That's how the operation was arranged in this cellar room, and somehow it was also logical that the cafeteria be the air-raid shelter.
Q. How was it on February 26th?
The 26th of February was for us the most eventful attack. And by "us" I mean my family. The 26th was a Monday, and I was at trade school in the Friedrichstraße 183. We ran into the school building through totally open doors. Every room had a radio so that one could follow whether an attack was looming for Berlin. The weather was appropriate for it, and from the radio report we heard that the planes were already in approach. But it was also the case that, when such a large group of airplanes came towards us from the north, an attack wouldn't necessarily happen. They could fly over Berlin, but they could also come back again from the south. At any rate on the 26th it was clear. In 20 minutes the pre-alarm was sounded, and when a pre-alarm went off that meant we could leave the school. The teachers were relieved to have fewer people in the air-raid shelter, since they were responsible for it.
If I was a bit lucky, I could usually make it from the Friedrichsstraße to the Frankfurtallee in 20 minutes. That meant that one didn't have to get into the U-Bahn at Friedrichstraße if the train were already gone, since the chance was already missed then. So I went along the Friedrichsstraße to the S-Bahn and drove until Alexanderplatz, where I learned from other people that it was now a full-alarm. But any students in the lower levels of the trains were supposed to leave the center of Berlin, since one had the impression that the outskirts of Berlin were probably not going to be destroyed, and so the train drove east.
I was in the last coach, and all seats were taken and people stood at the doors — like we see today. In a few minutes I could reach the Memlerstraße in what is today the Weberwiese station. That was my goal, but it was actually a coincidence that there was enough power to get there. At one stop we saw that the electricity for the opposite direction was already out. The emergency lights were on in the train station, and I immediately got out and ran east, since it was clear to me that this was no air-raid shelter — I knew how thin the ceiling was. Both trains remained full, and the other people naturally did not get out. And the station platform was also full of people with their little suitcases, their little chairs, so that I had to press myself through the crowd. Already on the eastern staircase I heard the defense fire of the German flak. And then the decision to run. Over the sidewalk I would come to my father and his air-raid shelter, or, I could stay inside. As I already said, it's not easy to decide whether one really is the target of an attack. But I knew that whatever the German flak shot out would come back down, and so I ran slowly. It was generally understood that, once a direct attack really got going, the doors to the air-raid shelter would no longer be opened, and I knew that. And when I reached it, indeed the doors were shut. It was a moment that one never forgets.
But it so happened that below there was a group of people clearing away stones and rubble, since before as well as after attacks, houses would cave in. One of them opened the door for me and let me in, and then the door was shut — and now comes something that when I tell of it, people looked at me in astonishment. But it really did happen as I describe. I ran down the stairs, and my father was in the back, and we just nodded to each other and then happened to look at the ceiling. There were hanging these ball-shaped lamps (older people know of them — they were made of porcelain), and I could see that the ceiling was bent. But we didn't hear anything. None of us heard anything.
One bomb exploded at a distance in the ruins, but as a result this porcelain was strewn like flour. Not in large pieces like one would usually imagine, but rather really like flour. And I could see the eye of the bulb, and the filament of the bulb, which in the dark room one could follow to the ground like a snake falling to the earth. Nobody could take the explosions in anymore. In a few seconds I heard my father call "light!" and he had a little map, but you could only see a meter with it. The room was so full of lime powder, which was coming off the ceiling and the walls, so that one could only see as far as a car's headlights in thick fog, in other words not very far. And there was a deathly stillness. Even then, no panic. Then quite quietly one heard the women speaking, whispering, and I stood in front of a group of French prisoners of war, which wasn't very pleasant for me, but they were also very still. They didn't crow or triumph. They wanted to survive too.
But those were the first waves of the attack. Upon the second attack a firebomb broke right through the former glass roof in our room. By this time, they had refined them (80 million were produced and dropped on us), so that they already had a small explosive charge. And that meant that one didn't trust oneself to got up to them and put them out, like one used to do, without problem, with sand. But our cook, our Italian cook, tipped a bucket of sand over on top of it and extinguished it in the room. There was a smell, but it did not go off.
We had light bulbs and wanted light; as an apprentice I was directly approached about it. Then, in this moment, a high-explosive bomb hit us directly outside, and we didn't even see it coming. The room was illuminated for a moment as clear as day, and the air pressure suctioned only against the opposite wall. The light bulbs were still on a shelf and I could reach them to make light. The room was buried about a meter, and there, on top of this pile of rubble, there was a child's change purse [cries], and a little piece of cloth, and we thought that someone must have been buried. The French also came and moved the rubble to the side, but we found no one. Apparently a child had run along after me when I ran from the U-Bahn to the air-raid shelter. And I didn't see the child. But in this minute, in this decisive minute that I ran down the steps, the child didn't make it. And that means that the child was gone forever, and that the parents would never know where their child was.
Q. And what happened next — did you leave soon?
It took a moment before the next attack. And then again, and again. When we came out, it looked outside like… well, it's very hard to understand. One rarely saw pictures like it. A few buildings still stood. We thought that the ceiling had been loaded with rubble, and that's why it was bent, but that was not actually the case. In fact the bombs in the first and second floors exploded, and only the air pressure had sufficed to pull the ceiling down. If it had caught fire seconds later, it would have fallen through.
Well then we had to make our way back home. But the destruction on the 26th of February was, in this part of the city, considerably worse than it was on the 3rd. As one went along by foot it became clear that Kreuzberg was still standing. That nothing happened was very relieving, and we met my mother and brother.
Q. But first you passed by the U-Bahn, or the station that you had arrived in.
Yes. We stood there for a while, and not a single person came out of the U-Bahn. Nobody really wanted to go in, but we had to check. When one looked over, you could see that three bombs had exploded in the hall at intervals of 57 and 70 meters. The fourth bomb on the steps was a timed detonator, where I had only shortly before exited the station. Of course there was no more light in the train station, but by these bombings there was light enough that one could see that both trains — their upright walls lay horizontally exactly at the height of the top edge of the platform. And in the middle of the middle-most hit, it had hit the platform, and under the platform there was a sewage pipe that ran to the east, and it was red with blood.
And it was very still in the city after these attacks. We listened, and it was absolutely still. In that case your help wasn't really needed. So we trotted back, and reached the sidewalk, and the place where I had left the steps, and there was a fire truck and four men inside. They said, "you don't have to go down, we were already down there and we can't help anyway. No one is alive." But I looked and saw a metal sheet and I said to them, "no look, someone could be under here, we can still help," and they reacted very admirably to me — either their nerves were spent, or they simply thought, just let the poor boy howl.
At any rate it was the case that our workplace was not destroyed, and so the next morning we had to go back to work.
Q. How many people were there? Did you see? Were there dozens, hundreds?
In the train station? Well one could say that 80 to 100 people could fit in the U-Bahn, and there were eight coaches, and the platform was full of people, it's hard to guess. We heard the call of an unknown woman, whose grandparents had died there, and she claimed that they took 200 dead from the platform, and those that were in the coaches, they couldn't count.
Q. Did they bury it?
Yes, the next day the platform was not yet cleaned out, but two or three days later — the woman also confirmed this — the concentration camp inmates did it. Up above stood trucks on the Frankfurterallee, and they took the dead away. These people brought the corpses out quickly, the dead Berliners. And they threw them on the ruins, and the mountain got higher and higher, in the end it was two meters high. They were just thrown onto it.
Q. And how did you respond? Did you just bury your feelings? What does one do? You were 15 years old.
Normally one tried to remember that one could have been there oneself. At first, without end. Otherwise I think, we just didn't stay outside very long, we had to go back down again and keep working.
Q. So you kept working.
Yes. Next morning. And we thought, we go up, there could be another.
Q. But the moment that it passed must have been deliverance?
Yes. Certainly there were also moments when one's nerves were so spent one thought, 'we have to go to the bunkers.' But at night we tried only twice, maybe three times to go to the East Train Station, that was the only bunker that we could reach, and there one felt safer. But the return trip was just as dangerous, or almost as dangerous, as the time during the bombing raid. Given that the way back through the dark city was only lit by bombs, i.e., the illuminated sky, you could walk in the wrong direction, and fall into bomb pits where a timed detonator was. And I heard about people who walked under the live power lines of the S-Bahn cables that were hanging there, and they were killed. Because they could see so little in the dark. And that's all aside from the fact that my father was an air-raid protection attendant, and so he couldn't come and stayed at home. We would be separated. One feels safer when with family, although maybe it's not actually a help in an emergency situation, I don't know.
Q. Were Americans different in your eyes after the attacks of the 3rd and 26th of February?
We were surprised. We thought that one couldn't escalate things any further on the 3rd, but that they did actually escalate things as far as they did, and then gave the impression that they really were turning Berlin into a desert — we didn't think that, before.
Q. Did it make a difference — Brits, Americans?
In their effect, no. We knew that the English did not count, as we said. That they simply dropped their bombs. But then as of 1945, we had that impression of the Americans, that they were the same way. Though one can perhaps imagine that one can't fly above and hit a direct target from such a height. They were flying higher and higher, all the way to 8,000 meters. Can one hit targets from that height with the means available then? We didn't think so.
Q. Which prospect was worse: that the Russians would take over Berlin, or that the Americans and Brits would continue air bombing it?
As far as nerves are concerned, probably the air bombings were harder to take. If the Red Army had taken over Berlin, then that would have to mean that it was all over. Although we didn't know what was to come — aside from the fact that we knew Kreuzberg came away ok. We were probably taken over by Zhukov's elite troops.
Q. Were Party organizations at all present after these attacks?
Surprisingly, yes. As an example, there was the train station, Osthafen, which doesn't exist anymore. It was a complete train station. Because its feet, its supports had been suctioned away by an aerial mine, the entire train station fell down into the street. Then we thought — it's war and we won't be able to drive anywhere anymore, we'll have to go by foot. Yet within a week it was erected again by hand. With press nips at every meter, and supported with wood. It was a damaged spot that attracted a lot of attention, because at the time (and today) it was next to the Kühlhaus, where American music was played.
Q. So the state was strongly engaged.
Yes, and German professionals who helped with the work.
Q. And as far as provisions are concerned?
We always received what was on the trolleys. All the way to the last day. I can remember that we had no problems. And I wanted to tell this story. This damaged spot near the Kühlhaus — the entire western façade, western gable had been sucked away by a bomb explosion, and fell over, and one meter away everyone stood before the provisions. The butter, geese, meat, egg cartons. All of it remained standing under this eight-story house. The façade was suctioned away, and then flung away, and everyone stood in front and stared at the groceries. And at that moment of course the Kühlhaus was out of operation, and there wasn't any room elsewhere. So we thought, what are we going to do. But they pulled it all back and set up the wall again in a frenzied hurry. One can hardly imagine something being finished so quickly today.
Q. And did no one try to help himself to anything? It was guarded, right?
Yes. And nobody trusted himself to take something away or steal something. That didn't even occur to people. Furniture stood for days on the street, and nobody went near it. I don't know of it ever happening.
Q. How did you react, when you heard that Hitler died and the war was over?
At the time we were once again in the air-raid shelter, and heard the news through the "people's receiver" radio: that Hitler had fallen during the defense of Berlin. But we didn't exactly believe that, and especially the older people did not believe it. As a 15-year-old I couldn't decide — maybe he fought, maybe not. But the older people did not accept it.
Q. And did that release any emotions?
No. We were all so apathetic. One had the impression that it would come to pass eventually — eventually, he had to die.
Q. But any other feelings?
Down in the air-raid shelter, no. In that moment one looked up yet again to the roof, and then thought: when does the Red Army come?