The Gary Null Show - Walking Away From Wikipedia - 08.17.20

We are launching a campaign to reach out to the Foundation’s major benefactors and donors and to gratefully request that they discontinue their donations, grants and support to the WikiMedia Foundation. Our motive for taking this course of action has been a last resort because all other efforts and strategies to correct the falsities, inaccuracies and vengeful narrative about our professions have either failed or been ignored. The Foundation has refused to assume responsibility and to be held accountable for the abuse being perpetrated by individuals and groups promoting antagonistic ideologies against complementary and alternative medical therapies and its leading proponents. The consequence has been that the scientific reputations and efficacy of these therapies, and the careers of those practicing them are being seriously undermined and damaged. Based upon the evidence tt is our contention that this is intentional. While countless people around the world have benefitted from the breadth and scope of knowledge the encyclopedia provides, over the years it has come under growing criticism for its bias and lack of objectivity on many subjects that have a direct impact on people's health and well-being. In addition, the culture of harassment that occurs on Wikipedia editing pages, or Talk Pages, has become uncontrollable. In May, the Foundation finally addressed this systemic problem and announced it would begin to ban editors who are charged with abusive behavior towards other editors. Unfortunately this new ruling, as admirable as it is, ignores the volumes of misinformation and libelous language already found on the encyclopedia's pages. Starting around 2006, a group of volunteer Wikipedia editors and organizations that identify themselves as "Skeptics" recognized that the encyclopedia's "open source" and anonymity policies offered an enormous opportunity for them to propagandize their message of radical scientific materialism and could serve as a platform to discredit all forms of non-conventional therapies. This includes Chiropractic, acupuncture, homeopathy, naturopathy and botanical medicine, energy medicine and energy psychology, nutritional therapies, traditional Chinese medicine, India Ayurvedic medicine, quantum medicine, various modalities of massage and physical therapy, non-drug based supplements, etc. During the passage of years, the presence of and influence of Skeptic editors has increased exponentially. Distinct Skeptic groups, such as Guerilla Skepticism on Wikipedia and Quackwatch, now dominate and control a large swathe of Wikipedia entries that deal directly with CAM and the biographies of respectable, qualified practitioners and advocates of these natural medical disciplines. Categorically, these entries display extreme bias and a flagrant lack of objectivity that violates Wikipedia’s stated editorial standards such as neutrality. Renowned doctors who espouse a complementary approach to medicine and healing are commonly called "quacks" or "charlatans." CAM therapies are described as “pseudoscience” and/or “quackery”. Such derogatory terms are not permitted on creditable encyclopedias. Despite the volumes of peer-reviewed studies and articles cataloged in the National Institutes of Health's National Library of Medicine confirming the efficacy of these non-conventional therapies, Skeptic editors rely solely upon those studies that may be used for censure and defamation. Since Skeptics now control and monitor these heath subjects there is no opportunity for transparency and honest debate to correct gross errors. Skepticism’s assault against CAM therapies is contrary to contemporary trends in medicine. In 2019, the World Health Organization reported that “traditional and complementary medicine is an important and often underestimated health resource with many applications, especially for the prevention and management of lifestyle-related chronic diseases and in meeting the health needs of ageing populations.” Most prestigious American medical schools have a department for complementary and alternative medicine or include these subjects in their curriculum. A government survey estimates that 62 percent of US adults use some form of alternative medicine annually. On the other hand, Skeptic organizations have been publicly hostile to this trend and have made their animosity known on Wikipedia. Unlike other legitimate encyclopedias, such as the Encyclopedia Britannica and the Columbia Encyclopedia, there is no oversight or accountability for who can write content and edit on Wikipedia pages. Most Wikipedia editors are anonymous. Their identities and expertise on the subjects they edit are unknown. In the majority of the cases for alternative medicine's entries, senior and administrative editors have no medical-related background whatsoever. Over the years, voluminous complaints have been communicated and/or filed to the Foundation, including lawsuits, about the gross violations in Wikipedia’s editorial policies, misinformation and inflammatory and potentially libelous language. Sadly, such requests in almost all cases go unheeded. A conclusion may be drawn that the Foundation may support Skeptics’ ideological beliefs. There is some evidence that the Foundation, and/or some of its Board members, endorse Skeptics’ tenets and activities, including providing protection and privileges for them to carry out their agenda.
 
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The Gary Null Show- Google Lies -08.14.20

Avoiding Risky Health Behaviors Can Increase Lifespan by 7 Years
Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and University of Michigan, August 12, 2020 
Study shows that those who do not smoke, are not obese, and consume alcohol moderately can live 7 years longer than the general population - spending most of these extra years in good health.
A new study shows those who avoid risky health behaviors tend to live a long life. Perhaps more importantly, those extra years are characterized by good health. Examples of such “risky health behaviors” include smoking, consuming an excess of alcohol and eating to the point of reaching obesity. The study's results show avoiding such behaviors leads to an increased lifespan of seven years. The study's details were recently published in Health Affairs. Mikko Myrskyla, the Director of Germany's Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, and Neil Mehta, a University of Michigan professor, spearheaded the study.
The study examined data for over 14,000 individuals living in the United States. It determined those who never smoked and did not become obese lived between four and five years longer than the rest of the population. These additional years were not plagued by disabilities. It was also determined those who consumed alcohol in moderation enjoyed an extended lifespan of seven disability-free years. In fact, these individuals enjoyed a life expectancy beyond that of those living in Japan, a nation that is commonly considered to be the best example of how healthy living leads to an extended life.
Most people think advancements in medical technology are a primary determinant of lifespan and health. However, this study shows a healthy lifestyle can extend lifespan and improve health. The bottom line is those who avoid smoking and obesity while limiting alcohol consumption will enjoy considerable health and lifespan benefits.
This study is a trailblazer of sorts as it is the first to study the aggregate impact of numerous health behaviors on total life expectancy as well as one's odds for being afflicted by disabilities. Prior studies examined single health behaviors. Myrskyla and Mehta studied an array of behaviors to determine lifespan and level of health for those who avoided the most common behavioral risk factors.
The pair of researchers found smoking, obesity and consuming an excess of alcohol were tied to reduced life expectancy as well as an earlier occurrence of numerous disabilities. It was determined that smoking was tied to an early death yet not with an increase in the number of years in which people were plagued with disabilities. Obesity is tied to an extensive period of time in which people are plagued with disabilities. Excessive consumption of alcohol is tied to a reduced lifespan and a reduction in the number of years spent in good health.
The most surprising finding was the massive difference in the average lifespan between the groups that were most at risk and least at risk. Men who avoided obesity, did not smoke and only drank at moderation lived 11 years longer than those who smoked, drank in excess and were overweight. For women, the difference between these groups was 12 years. People will be happy to know the number of years in which one lives with physical limitations does not increase as he gains more years with a healthy way of life. Rather, a healthy way of life is linked to a solid increase in physically fit years. This means the years one gains through a healthy lifestyle are years characterized by good health.
This study's results show just how important it is for people to key in on prevention. Avoid the risky health behaviors noted above and the odds of a long and healthy life dramatically increase. Furthermore, policy interventions to target health behaviors might help significant portions of the population to enjoy the health benefits noted in the study.
 
UCalgary researchers discover the microbiome's role in attacking cancerous tumours
Findings show how our gut bacteria can enhance immunotherapy to battle different forms of cancer
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
 
Researchers with the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases at the Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) have discovered which gut bacteria help our immune system battle cancerous tumours and how they do it. The discovery may provide a new understanding of why immunotherapy, a treatment for cancer that helps amplify the body's immune response, works in some cases, but not others. The findings, published in Science, show combining immunotherapy with specific microbial therapy boosts the ability of the immune system to recognize and attack cancer cells in some melanoma, bladder and colorectal cancers. 
Dr. Kathy McCoy, PhD, is a leading expert on the body's relationship with the microbiome. She and her team are focused on harnessing the power of the microbiome to improve health and treat diseases. McCoy says to harness and direct that power scientists need to better understand the role bacteria play in regulating the immune system.
"Recent studies have provided strong evidence that gut microbiota can positively affect anti-tumour immunity and improve the effectiveness of immunotherapy in treating certain cancers, yet, how the bacteria were able to do this remained elusive, " says McCoy, director of the International Microbiome Centre at the University of Calgary and principal investigator on the study. "We've been able to build on that work by showing how certain bacteria enhance the ability of T-cells, the body's immunity soldiers that attack and destroy cancerous cells."
First, the researchers identified bacterial species that were associated with colorectal cancer tumours when treated with immunotherapy. Working with germ-free mice, they then introduced these specific bacteria along with immune checkpoint blockade, a type of cancer immunotherapy. Research revealed that specific bacteria were essential to the immunotherapy working. The tumours shrank, drastically. For those subjects that did not receive the beneficial bacteria, the immunotherapy had no effect.
"We found that these bacteria produce a small molecule, called inosine," says Dr. Lukas Mager, MD, PhD, senior postdoctoral researcher in the McCoy lab and first author on the study. "Inosine interacts directly with T-cells and together with immunotherapy, it improves the effectiveness of that treatment, in some cases destroying all the colorectal cancer cells."
The researchers then validated the findings in both bladder cancer and melanoma. The next step in this work will be to study the finding in humans. The three beneficial bacteria associated with the tumours in mice have also been found in cancers in humans. 
"Identifying how microbes improve immunotherapy is crucial to designing therapies with anti-cancer properties, which may include microbials," says McCoy. "The microbiome is an amazing collection of billions of bacteria that live within and around us everyday. We are in the early stage of fully understanding how we can use this new knowledge to improve efficacy and safety of anti-cancer therapy and improve cancer patient survival and well-being."
 
Yoga shown to improve anxiety, study shows
New York University School of Medicine, August 13, 2020
 
Yoga improves symptoms of generalized anxiety disorder, a condition with chronic nervousness and worry, suggesting the popular practice may be helpful in treating anxiety in some people.
Led by researchers at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, a new study found that yoga was significantly more effective for generalized anxiety disorder than standard education on stress management, but not effective as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT), the gold standard form of structured talk therapy that helps patients identify negative thinking for better responses to challenges. 
"Generalized anxiety disorder is a very common condition, yet many are not willing or able to access evidence-based treatments," says lead study author Naomi M. Simon, MD, a professor in the Department of Psychiatry at NYU Langone Health. "Our findings demonstrate that yoga, which is safe and widely available, can improve symptoms for some people with this disorder and could be a valuable tool in an overall treatment plan."
For the study, publishing online Aug. 12 in JAMA Psychiatry, 226 men and women with generalized anxiety disorder were randomly assigned to three groups - either CBT, Kundalini yoga, or stress-management education, a standardized control technique. 
After three months, both CBT and yoga were found to be significantly more effective for anxiety than stress management. Specifically, 54 percent of those who practiced yoga met response criteria for meaningfully improved symptoms compared to 33 percent in the stress-education group. Of those treated with CBT, 71 percent met these symptom improvement criteria. 
However, after six months of follow-up, the CBT response remained significantly better than stress education (the control therapy), while yoga was no longer significantly better, suggesting CBT may have more robust, longer-lasting anxiety-reducing effects.
Study Details
The study involved an evidence-based protocol for CBT treatment of generalized anxiety disorder, including psychoeducation, cognitive interventions (focused on identifying and adapting maladaptive thoughts and worrying), and muscle relaxation techniques. 
Kundalini yoga included physical postures, breathing techniques, relaxation exercises, yoga theory, and meditation/mindfulness practice. 
The stress-management education control group received lectures about the physiological, psychological and medical effects of stress, as well as the antianxiety effects of lifestyle behaviors, such as reducing alcohol and smoking, and the importance of exercise and a healthy diet. Homework consisted of listening to educational material about stress, nutrition, and lifestyle.
Each treatment was administered in groups of three to six participants, over weekly two-hour sessions for 12 weeks with 20 minutes of daily homework assigned.
Can Yoga Help Treat Anxiety?
According to researchers, generalized anxiety disorder is a common, impairing, and undertreated condition, currently affecting an estimated 6.8 million Americans. While most people feel anxious from time to time, it is considered a disorder when worrying becomes excessive and interferes with day-to-day life. CBT is considered the gold standard first-line treatment. Medications, including antidepressants and sometimes benzodiazepines, may also be used. Yet, not everyone is willing to take medication which can have adverse side effects and there are challenges with accessing CBT for many, including lack of access to trained therapists and long waitlists.
"Many people already seek complementary and alternative interventions, including yoga, to treat anxiety," says Dr. Simon. "This study suggests that at least short-term there is significant value for people with generalized anxiety disorder to give yoga a try to see if it works for them. Yoga is well-tolerated, easily accessible, and has a number of health benefits."
According to Dr. Simon, future research should aim to understand who is most likely to benefit from yoga for generalized anxiety disorder to help providers better personalize treatment recommendations.
"We need more options to treat anxiety because different people will respond to different interventions, and having more options can help overcome barriers to care," she says. "Having a range of effective treatments can increase the likelihood people with anxiety will be willing to engage in evidence-based care."
 
High omega 3 fatty acid intake associated with decreased risk of depressive symptoms in middle-aged women
Gachon University (S Korea), August 12, 2020
 
According to news originating from Gyeonggi Do, South Korea, the research stated, “Omega-3 fatty acid n-3FA intake is known to have a preventive effect on depressive symptoms in a general population.”
The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Gachon University: “This study assessed the effects of n-3 FA intake on depressive symptoms and brain function in middle-aged women. Depressive symptoms were screened using the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Center for Epidemiologic Studies-Depression scale (CES-D) assessment questionnaires, and n-3 FA intakes were assessed using semiquantitative food frequency questionnaire. We found that * * n* * -3 FA intakes were negatively associated with depressive symptoms in middle-aged women. Psychiatrists diagnosed the presence of depressive disorders using the 5th edition of the Mental Disorder Diagnosis and Statistics Manual (DSM-5). Resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rs-fMRI) was performed to investigate the association between n-3 FA intake and brain functional connectivity. Functional connectivity of the right middle frontal cortex (default mode network) and the right middle temporal pole (frontoparietal network) was positively associated with depressive symptom scores and negatively associated with n-3 FA intakes.”
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “In conclusion, high Omega-3 n-3 FA intake decreases the risk of depressive symptoms and modifies the brain functional connectivity in middle-aged women.”
 
Study: Medical marijuana associated with fewer hospitalizations for individuals with SCD
Obtaining medical marijuana also associated with an increase in use of edible cannabis products
Yale School of Medicine, August 13, 2020
 
Individuals with sickle cell disease (SCD) who receive medical marijuana to treat pain may require fewer visits to the hospital, according to a new study in Blood Advances. Adults with SCD who requested and obtained medical marijuana were admitted to the hospital less frequently than those who did not obtain it.
SCD is the most common inherited red blood cell disorder in the United States, affecting an estimated 100,000 people. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, SCD affects one out of every 365 Black or African American births and one out of every 16,300 Hispanic American births. SCD is characterized by abnormal, sickle-shaped red blood cells that can adhere to and block blood vessels, preventing oxygen from reaching the tissues. When this occurs, individuals living with SCD experience severe pain events which may drive them to seek emergency care. It is estimated that there are more than 100,000 SCD-related hospital stays in the United States each year.
There is a need for other options for management of pain so that individuals with SCD do not have to go through the time, hardship, and expense of hospitalization and can manage their symptoms at home. Previous studies have shown that cannabis and cannabinoid products can effectively treat chronic pain associated other conditions such as cancer. More controlled studies of marijuana for the treatment of pain in SCD are still needed.
"When we offered medical marijuana as an option to our patients with sickle cell disease, we found the majority of people who were interested were already using illicit marijuana to treat pain," said the study's lead author Susanna Curtis, MD, of the Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center. "Illicit marijuana is not regulated, so its quality and contents are not standardized. And particularly for people with sickle cell disease, many of whom identify as Black, we know that while Black and white people use marijuana at similar rates, Black people are four times more likely to be arrested for possession. We didn't want our patients using unsafe products or being arrested for trying to control the pain of their condition."
Dr. Curtis and her team examined data from 50 individuals with SCD at the Adult Sickle Cell Program at Yale New Haven Hospital who were certified for medical marijuana use. Of those certified, 29 obtained medical marijuana and 21 did not. Those who obtained medical marijuana visited the hospital less frequently on average over the following six months. Several patients even reduced their hospital admission rates by three, four, or five visits. Receiving medical marijuana was not associated with a change in emergency room or infusion center visits, total health care utilization, or opioid use. Researchers did not observe any change to hospitalization rates in individuals who did not obtain medical marijuana.
Dr. Curtis suggested a possible reason for the reduced hospitalization rates could be that medical marijuana helps individuals better tolerate their pain at home.
The researchers also sought to understand why many patients were unable to access medical marijuana, and why some continued to occasionally use illicit cannabis despite obtaining medical marijuana. In a survey, individuals who obtained medical marijuana reported that they felt it was safer than illicit marijuana and they felt it was effective at controlling their pain; however, they did also report barriers such as greater expense and difficulty of access.
Race and socioeconomic status may also be barriers for patients with SCD. "About 80% of our clinic population identifies as Black, and another 15% as Latinx, and unfortunately people of color who visit the hospital with pain are often not believed or accused of being drug-seeking. Medical marijuana is associated with significant stigma, and stigma is already a big part of the life of a person with sickle cell," said Dr. Curtis.
Cannabis and cannabinoid products also present legal and medical challenges. While 33 states have medical marijuana laws, only five of those states list SCD as a qualifying condition. Medical marijuana products vary greatly in their chemical content and forms of administration. In the study, patients who obtained medical marijuana were more likely to use edible products as opposed to inhaled products. Previous research suggests the pain-relieving effect of edible products has a slower onset but a longer duration than that of inhaled products. This variability between different products can cause difficulty for patients trying to manage their symptoms.
Dr. Curtis highlighted the need for further research to understand the efficacy, side effects, and drug interactions of various cannabis products on SCD treatment. "My patients are living with a very difficult disease that causes them a lot of pain. We need controlled trials to look at each product, and the effects of how it is taken, so that we can offer regulated, pharmaceutical-grade treatment options."
 
Recalling memories from a third-person perspective changes how our brain processes them
Remembering your past as an observer affects your memories, according to new study
University of Alberta, August 13, 2020
 
Adopting a third-person, observer point of view when recalling your past activates different parts of your brain than recalling a memory seen through your own eyes, according to a new paper.
"Our perspective when we remember changes which brain regions support memory and how these brain regions interact together," explained Peggy St Jacques, assistant professor in the Faculty of Science'sDepartment of Psychology and co-author on the paper. 
Specifically, the results show that recalling memories from an observer-like perspective, instead of through your own eyes, leads to greater interaction between the anterior hippocampus and the posterior medial network.
"These findings contribute to a growing body of research that show that retrieving memories is an active process that can bias and even distort our memories," added St Jacques.
"Adopting an observer-like perspective involves viewing the past in a novel way, which requires greater interaction among brain regions that support our ability to recall the details of a memory and to recreate mental images in our mind's eye."
Adopting an observer-like perspective may also serve a therapeutic purpose, explained St Jacques. "This may be an effective way of dealing with troubling memories by viewing the past from a distance and reducing the intensity of the emotions we feel." 
This work builds on St Jacques' previous research on visual perspective in memory, which found that the perspective from which we recall a memory can influence how we remember them over time.
 
 
Calcium-rich fermented foods preferred in improving bone and heart health, study says
Nattopharma (Norway), August 9, 2020
Calcium should come from healthy sources like fermented dairy products and leafy greens as a review outlines an approach to receiving an adequate intake while supporting bone and heart health.
The review paper, published in the latest edition of the Open Heart journal, stated that the majority of the US population did not consume the current recommended dietary allowance for calcium. This finding has also been echoed in Europe with studies identifying dietary calcium intake as low - 300 and 600 mg/day in women, and 350 and 700 mg/day in men. The review also found milk and dairy products the most readily available dietary sources of calcium that were preferred by the general population.
However, concerns as to these food’s long-term health effects were mentioned as milk, in particular was singled out as a promoter of inflammation and oxidation in adult humans. Despite this, the review detailed a series of steps that could help in building strong bones while maintaining soft and supple arteries.  These included obtaining calcium from dietary sources rather and ensuring that adequate animal protein intake is coupled with calcium intake of 1000 mg/day. Other measures included maintaining vitamin D levels in the normal range, and increasing intake of fruits and vegetables to alkalinise the system and promote bone health.
Other research has shown that calcium supplementation can play an important role in boosting levels, especially in areas where healthy diets are less common.
The average calcium requirement for young adults (18–24 years) is 860 mg/day as defined by the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA).
EFSA also define the safe upper limit for calcium intake in adults, including pregnant and lactating women, at 2,500 mg/day.
The findings that suggest milk as a less-than-ideal source of calcium will come as a surprise to many.
Indeed, the review acknowledged that "cow's milk, though rich in many nutrients, including calcium, has issues that render it less than ideal as a dietary staple for many adults."  These issues include milk’s d-galactose content, which has been linked to a high mortality rate and high fracture incidence.
Along with calcium’s direct benefits the paper also recognised its role in facilitating vitamin K-dependent pathways. Increased vitamin K2 intake has been associated with decreased arterial calcium deposition and the ability to reverse vascular calcification in animal models . The vitamin is most abundant in meat, especially liver, chicken and beef along with dairy products. The primary vegetarian source is Nattō, a Japanese soybean food fermented with the bacterial species Bacillus subtilis var. natto. 
“The only food that contains enough Vitamin K2 is the Japanese dish Natto,” explained Dr Hogne Vik, chief medical officer with Norwegian vitamin K2 supplier, NattoPharma, whose firm has responded to rising demand for vitamin K2-fortified supplements and foods in recent years.
 
Berry eaters may be at lower risk of diabetes: Meta-analysis
Zhejiang University (China), August 12, 2020
Data from almost 400,000 people suggests that consuming berries and the anthocyanins they contain may reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus by 15-18%.
Scientists from Zhejiang University in China reported that the potential benefits could be linked to the antioxidant properties of anthocyanins in berries and their regulation of inflammatory responses, as well as via pathways to reduce blood glucose and insulin resistance.
“T2DM [type 2 diabetes mellitus] and its associated complications cause serious medical and socioeconomic burdens. The findings from the present meta-analysis provide sufficient evidence that dietary intakes of anthocyanins and berries are associated with a lower risk of T2DM, respectively,” wrote the researchers in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition .
Booming berries
Consumer interest and demand for berries has grown rapidly in the US, driven by several factors, including the potential health benefits, improved quality and year-round availability,according to a 2012 article by Roberta Cook from UC Davis .
“The berry category recently became the number-one dollar category in fresh produce departments, with national supermarket sales (excluding club stores, supercenters, and some other formats) projected to surpass $5.3 billion annually by June 2011,” wrote Cook.
Many companies are also offering concentrated extracts from the products as dietary supplements, with brands such as Life Extension, Puritan’s Pride, and Swanson offering products.
Study details
An example of one of the many berry extract dietary supplement products commercially available to US consumers
The new study, said to be the first to “evaluate the association of dietary consumption of anthocyanins and berries with T2DM risk”, assessed data from three cohort studies looking at dietary anthocyanin intakes and diabetes risk (200,894 participants and 12,611 cases of diabetes documented) and five cohort studies looking at berry intake and diabetes risk (194,019 participants and 13,013 cases of diabetes).
Crunching the numbers indicated that dietary anthocyanin consumption was associated with a 15% reduction in the risk of T2DM, while berry intake was associated with an 18% reduction in risk.
For every 7.5 mg/day increment of dietary anthocyanin or 17 g/day increment in berry intake the risk of T2DM decreased by 5%, added the researchers.
Interestingly, there were some gender differences observed with the benefits from berry consumption observed for women and not men.
“More prospective studies in other regions and ethnic groups are warranted to further explore the associations of dietary anthocyanins and berries with T2DM risk,” wrote the researchers.
 
 
Scientists sound the alarm: Lockdowns may escalate the obesity epidemic
University of Copenhagen Health and Medical Sciences, August 13, 2020
 
Scientists sound the alarm: Lockdowns may escalate the obesity epidemic Emotional stress, economic anxiety, physical inactivity and social distance - locking down society to combat COVID-19 creates psychosocial insecurity that leads to obesity, warn three Danish researchers. Counter measures are needed if we are to keep the public both metabolically healthy and safe from the coronavirus
Rates of obesity may explode because of strategies to limit the spread of COVID-19, warn a trio of researchers at the University of Copenhagen and Aarhus University. Investment in obesity research will help inform counter strategies that people eating healthily, feeling happy and staying active, while also combatting COVID-19.
"We are concerned that policy makers do not fully understand how strategies such as lockdowns and business closures could fuel the rise of obesity - a chronic disease with severe health implications, but with few reliable treatment options," says Associate Professor Christoffer Clemmensen, from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR), at the University of Copenhagen.
Alone, inactive and hungry
In a letter published in the scientific journal Nature Reviews Endocrinology, Clemmensen and two co-authors outlined how COVID-19 containment strategies could increase rates of obesity.
Firstly, it is well documented that people with limited economic resources are more likely eat highly-processed and energy-rich food. These foods have been shown to stimulate people's appetites, so that they end up eating more calories than they need.
"It is likely that more people will turn to these forms of food, as more people lose their jobs and experience economic hardship," says co-author Professor Michael Bang Petersen, from the Department of Political Science at Aarhus University.
Secondly, physical distancing increases anxiety by limiting our ability to socially interact. Feelings of loneliness and isolation, combined with confinement within a home setting, can impact our food behavior and lead us to overeat. This effect is compounded by lower levels of physical activity, as people are urged to work from home and venture out as little as possible.
Stopping the virus and protecting metabolic health
Co-author Professor Thorkild I.A. Sørensen from CBMR at the University of Copenhagen, stresses that we still do not exactly understand how a person's mental health and economic status end up increasing a person's risk of developing obesity.
"We know that there are links between obesity and a person's class and mental health, but we don't exactly understand how they make an impact," says Sørensen.
More research is needed to uncover the cause and effect, but the three co-authors say the scientific expectations are clear: physical distancing and rising rates of unemployment should lead us to expect increased rates of obesity. 
Together they urge governments and decision makers to consider what impact COVID-19 containment strategies, such as lockdowns, will have on the public's metabolic health. With this in mind, counter strategies should be considered to ensure that the public remains healthy, happy and active - and also safe from the coronavirus.

The Gary Null Show - 08.13.20

Lipoic acid supplements help some obese but otherwise healthy people lose weight
Oregon State University, August 12, 2020
 
A compound given as a dietary supplement to overweight but otherwise healthy people in a clinical trial caused many of the patients to slim down, research by Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University showed. 
The research, published in the Journal of Nutrition, analyzed the effects of 24 weeks of daily, 600-milligram doses of lipoic acid supplements on 31 people, with a similarly sized control group receiving a placebo.
"The data clearly showed a loss in body weight and body fat in people taking lipoic acid supplements," said Balz Frei, director emeritus of OSU's Linus Pauling Institute and one of the scientists on the study. "Particularly in women and in the heaviest participants."
Produced by both plants and animals, lipoic acid sets up shop in cells' mitochondria, where it's normally attached to proteins involved in energy and amino acid metabolism. A specialized, medium-chain fatty acid, it's unique in having two sulfur atoms at one end of the chain, allowing for the transfer of electrons from other sources.
The body generally produces enough lipoic acid to supply the enzymes whose proper function requires it. When taken as a dietary supplement, lipoic acid displays additional properties that might be unrelated to the function in the mitochondria. They include the stimulation of glucose metabolism, antioxidant defenses and anti-inflammatory responses - making it a possible complementary treatment for people with diabetes, heart disease and age-related cognitive decline.
"Scientists have been researching the potential health benefits of lipoic acid supplements for decades, including how it might enhance healthy aging and mitigate cardiovascular disease," said Alexander Michels, another Linus Pauling Institute scientist involved with the study. "In both rodent models and small-scale human clinical trials, researchers at the LPI have demonstrated the beneficial effects of lipoic acid on oxidative stress, lipid metabolism and circadian rhythm."
The OSU/OHSU project addressed two issues commonly ignored by previous human trials, said Tory Hagen, a professor of biochemistry and biophysics in the OSU College of Science and the study's corresponding author.
"Many existing clinical studies using lipoic acid have focused on volunteers with pre-existing conditions like diabetes, making it difficult to determine if lipoic acid supplements simply act as a disease treatment or have other beneficial health effects," said Hagen, principal investigator and Helen P. Rumbel Professor for Healthy Aging Research at the institute. "Another issue is the formulation of the supplement. Many previous studies have used the S form of lipoic acid, which is a product of industrial synthesis and not found in nature. We only used the R form of lipoic acid - the form found in the body naturally."
Contrary to what was expected by the researchers, decreased levels of triglycerides - a type of fat, or lipid, found in the blood - were not seen in all the participants taking lipoic acid. 
"The effect of lipoic acid supplements on blood lipids was limited," said Gerd Bobe, another LPI scientist who collaborated on the study. "But people who lost weight on lipoic acid also reduced their blood triglyceride levels - that effect was clear." 
Other effects of the lipoic acid supplements were measurable as well.
"By the end of the study, some markers of inflammation declined," Hagen said. "The findings also suggest that lipoic acid supplementation provides a mild reduction in oxidative stress. It is not a perfect panacea, but our results show that lipoic acid supplements can be beneficial."
Identifying which patients will benefit the most from lipoic acid supplementation, and how much they need, is important for both clinical and economic reasons, he added.
"Lipoic acid supplements are often quite expensive," he said. "So understanding how we can maximize benefits with smaller amounts of the supplement is something we are interested in pursuing."
 
Meditation-relaxation therapy may offer escape from the terror of sleep paralysis
Cambridge University, August 12, 2020
 
Sleep paralysis - a condition thought to explain a number of mysterious experiences including alleged cases of alien abduction and demonic night-time visits - could be treated using a technique of meditation-relaxation, suggests a pilot study published today.
Sleep paralysis is a state involving paralysis of the skeletal muscles that occurs at the onset of sleep or just before waking. While temporarily immobilised, the individual is acutely aware of their surroundings. People who experience the phenomenon often report being terrorised by dangerous bedroom intruders, often reaching for supernatural explanations such as ghosts, demons and even alien abduction. Unsurprisingly, it can be a terrifying experience.
As many as one in five people experiences sleep paralysis, which may be triggered by sleep deprivation, and is more frequent in psychiatric conditions like post-traumatic stress disorder. It is also common in narcolepsy, a sleep disorder involving excessive daytime sleepiness and sudden loss of muscle control. 
Despite the condition being known about for some time, to date there are no empirically-based treatments or published clinical trials for the condition. 
Today, in the journal Frontiers in Neurology, a team of researchers report a pilot study of meditation-relaxation therapy involving 10 patients with narcolepsy, all of whom experience sleep paralysis.
The therapy was originally developed by Dr Baland Jalal from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Cambridge. The current study was led by Dr Jalal and conducted in collaboration with Dr Giuseppe Plazzi's group at the Department of Biomedical and Neuromotor Sciences, University of Bologna/IRCCS Istituto delle Scienze Neurologiche di Bologna, Italy.
The therapy teaches patients to follow four steps during an episode:
 
1. Reappraisal of the meaning of the attack - reminding themselves that the experience is common, benign, and temporary, and that the hallucinations are a typical by-product of dreaming
2. Psychological and emotional distancing - reminding themselves that there is no reason to be afraid or worried and that fear and worry will only make the episode worse 
3. Inward focused-attention meditation - focusing their attention inward on an emotionally-involving, positive object (such as a memory of a loved one or event, a hymn/prayer, God)
4. Muscle relaxation - relaxing their muscles, avoiding controlling their breathing and under no circumstances attempting to move
 
Participants were instructed to keep a daily journal for four weeks to assess sleep paralysis occurrence, duration and emotions. Overall, among the 10 patients, two-thirds of cases (66%) reported hallucinations, often upon awakening from sleep (51%), and less frequently upon falling asleep (14%) as rated during the first four weeks.
After the four weeks, six participants completed mood/anxiety questionnaires and were taught the therapy techniques and instructed to rehearse these during ordinary wakefulness, twice a week for 15 min. The treatment lasted eight weeks. 
In the first four weeks of the study, participants in the meditation-relaxation group experienced sleep paralysis on average 14 times over 11 days. The reported disturbance caused by their sleep paralysis hallucinations was 7.3 (rated on a ten-point scale with higher scores indicating greater severity). 
In the final month of the therapy, the number of days with sleep paralysis fell to 5.5 (down 50%) and the total number of episodes fell to 6.5 (down 54%). There was also a notable tendency towards reductions in the disturbance caused by hallucinations with ratings dropping from 7.3 to 4.8.
A control group of four participants followed the same procedure, except participants engaged in deep breathing instead of the therapy - taking slow deep breaths, while repeatedly counting from one to ten. 
In the control group, the number of days with sleep paralysis (4.3 per month at the start) was unchanged, as well as their total number of episodes (4.5 per month initially). The disturbance caused by hallucinations was likewise unchanged (rated 4 during the first four weeks).
"Although our study only involved a small number of patients, we can be cautiously optimistic of its success," said Dr Jalal. "Meditation-relaxation therapy led to a dramatic fall in the number of times patients experienced sleep paralysis, and when they did, they tended to find the notoriously terrorising hallucinations less disturbing. Experiencing less of something as disturbing as sleep paralysis is a step in the right direction."
If the researchers are able to replicate their findings in a larger number of people - including those from the general population, not affected by narcolepsy - then this could offer a relatively simple treatment that could be delivered online or via a smartphone to help patients cope with the condition.
"I know first-hand how terrifying sleep paralysis can be, having experienced it many times myself," said Dr Jalal. "But for some people, the fear that it can instil in them can be extremely unpleasant, and going to bed, which should be a relaxing experience, can become fraught with terror. This is what motivated me to devise this intervention."
 
Why walking to work may be better for you than a casual stroll
Study finds people walk faster, report being healthier, when they walk with a purpose
Ohio State University, August 12, 2020
 
Walking with a purpose - especially walking to get to work - makes people walk faster and consider themselves to be healthier, a new study has found. 
The study, published online earlier this month in the Journal of Transport and Health, found that walking for different reasons yielded different levels of self-rated health. People who walked primarily to places like work and the grocery store from their homes, for example, reported better health than people who walked mostly for leisure.
"We found that walking for utilitarian purposes significantly improves your health, and that those types of walking trips are easier to bring into your daily routine," said Gulsah Akar, an associate professor of city and regional planning in The Ohio State University Knowlton School of Architecture.
"So, basically, both as city planners and as people, we should try to take the advantage of this as much as possible."
The study used data from the 2017 National Household Travel Survey, a U.S. dataset collected from April 2016 to May 2017. 
The researchers analyzed self-reported health assessments from 125,885 adults between the ages of 18 and 64. Those adults reported the number of minutes they spent walking for different purposes - from home to work, from home to shopping, from home to recreation activities and walking trips that did not start at their homes. 
And, the survey respondents ranked how healthy they were on a scale of 1 to 5. The dataset the researchers analyzed included more than 500,000 trips.
The researchers - Akar and Ohio State doctoral student Gilsu Pae - found that walking for any duration, for any purpose, increased how healthy a person felt. 
But they also found that an additional 10 minutes of walking per trip from home for work-based trips - say, from a person's house to the bus stop 10 minutes away - increased that person's odds of having a higher health score by 6 percent compared with people who walk for other reasons. People who walked from home for reasons not connected to work, shopping or recreation were 3 percent more likely to have a higher health score.
And, the researchers found, people who walked for work walked faster - on average, about 2.7 miles per hour - than people who walked for other reasons. People who walked for recreational purposes - say, an after-dinner stroll - walked, on average, about 2.55 miles per hour. 
The researchers also found that walking trips that begin at home are generally longer than walking trips that begin somewhere else. The team found that 64 percent of home-based walking trips last at least 10 minutes, while 50 percent of trips that begin elsewhere are at least that long.
Akar has studied the ways people travel for years, and said she was surprised to see that walking for different purposes led to a difference in how healthy people believed they were.
"I was thinking the differences would not be that significant, that walking is walking, and all forms of walking are helpful," she said. "And that is true, but walking for some purposes has significantly greater effect on our health than others."
Akar said the findings suggest that building activity into parts of a day that are otherwise sedentary - commuting by foot instead of by car, for example - can make a person feel healthier.
"That means going to a gym or a recreation center aren't the only ways to exercise," Akar said. "It's an opportunity to put active minutes into our daily schedules in an easy way."
 
Eating raw organic fruits and veggies helps boost your gut health
Graz University of Technology (Austria), August 12, 2020
 
 A study published in the journal Frontiers in Microbiology found that consuming organic produce promotes gut microbiome diversity.
Birgit Wassermann, the first author of the study and a researcher at the Graz University of Technology in Austria, explained that consuming raw fruits and vegetables is key to maintaining a diverse microbial community, which is essential for a healthy gut microbiome and a strong immune system.
But these foods don’t need to just be raw, they should also be organically produced. In their study, Wassermann and her colleagues found that while the production method didn’t affect the abundance of microbes found in the different tissues of apples, the microbes present in organically produced apples were more diverse than those harbored by conventionally produced ones.
Wassermann and her team chose to study apples because they are popular worldwide. In 2018 alone, about 83 million apples were grown, and production continues to grow today.
Organic vs conventional
Using genetic analysis and fluorescence microscopy, the researchers found that both conventional apples and organic apples had roughly the same amount of total bacteria (about 100 million per apple). While different parts of the fruit contained distinct microbial communities, apple pulp and seeds had the largest bacterial colonies. Apple peels were surprisingly less colonized.
The researchers also found that organic apples had a more diverse bacterial population than conventionally grown apples. Additionally, organic apples contained beneficial bacteria, such as the common probiotic, Lactobacillus.
On the other hand, conventional apples had a greater chance of containing potentially pathogenic bacteria like Escherichia and Shigella, both of which are linked to food poisoning symptoms like cramps and diarrhea.
According to Wassermann, the very diverse microbiome of organically grown apples can help fight human pathogens by outcompeting them. She explained that the microbial pool that organic apple trees are exposed to tends to be more diverse and more balanced, and this helps promote their health by bolstering their resistance to pathogens. (Related: Exploring the ”gut-heart” connection: Can heart failure be treated by boosting gut microbiota health?)
The difference between “organic” and “conventional” fruits
According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), organic is a label for foods that are grown in accordance with certain federal guidelines. These guidelines include factors like soil additives, pesticide use and how animals are raised.
On the other hand, conventional refers to modern, industrial agriculture that uses chemical fertilizers, pesticides and genetically modified organisms (GMOs).
Research suggests that organic produce has a similar nutritional profile to conventional produce, but the former helps reduce your exposure to pesticides and harmful bacteria.
When buying produce, consider other health factors like chronic conditions or pregnancy. To narrow down your search, start by learning about the fruits and vegetables that are more likely to be exposed to different kinds of pesticides.
 
 
Smiling can trick your mind into being more positive, study finds
University of South Australia, August 11, 2020
 
From Sinatra to Katy Perry, celebrities have long sung about the power of a smile—how it picks you up, changes your outlook, and generally makes you feel better. But is it all smoke and mirrors, or is there a scientific backing to the claim?
Groundbreaking research from the University of South Australia confirms that the act of smiling can trick your mind into being more positive, simply by moving your facial muscles.
With the world in crisis amid COVID-19, and alarming rises of anxiety and depression in Australia and around the world, the findings could not be more timely.
The study, published in Experimental Psychology, evaluated the impact of a covert smile on perception of face and body expressions. In both scenarios, a smile was induced by participants holding a pen between their teeth, forcing their facial muscles to replicate the movement of a smile.
The research found that facial muscular activity not only alters the recognition of facial expressions but also body expressions, with both generating more positive emotions.
Lead researcher and human and artificial cognition expert, UniSA's Dr. Fernando Marmolejo-Ramos says the finding has important insights for mental health.
"When your muscles say you're happy, you're more likely to see the world around you in a positive way," Dr. Marmolejo-Ramos says.
"In our research we found that when you forcefully practice smiling, it stimulates the amygdala—the emotional center of the brain—which releases neurotransmitters to encourage an emotionally positive state. For mental health, this has interesting implications. If we can trick the brain into perceiving stimuli as 'happy', then we can potentially use this mechanism to help boost mental health."
The study replicated findings from the "covert" smile experiment by evaluating how people interpret a range of facial expressions (spanning frowns to smiles) using the pen-in-teeth mechanism; it then extended this using point-light motion images (spanning sad walking videos to happy walking videos) as the visual stimuli.
Dr. Marmolejo-Ramos says there is a strong link between action and perception.
"In a nutshell, perceptual and motor systems are intertwined when we emotionally process stimuli," Dr. Marmolejo-Ramos says.
"A 'fake it 'til you make it' approach could have more credit than we expect."
 
Coriander is a potent weapon against antibiotic resistant bacteria
University of Beira Interior (Portugal) August 10, 2020
 
 
 
 
The problem of antibiotic resistant bacteria has been deemed a public health crisis, with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reporting that invasive MRSA – or methicillin-resistant S. aureus – infections affect 80,000 people globally a year, and claim over 11,000 lives. But, what the CDC will never tell you is how coriander can potentially save lives.
Researchers in Portugal now say that that the oil from coriander – a common kitchen spice – is quite toxic to a wide range of harmful bacteria, leading to hopes that it may be enlisted in the fight against MRSA and other pathogens.
Researchers at University of Beira Interior used flow cytometry to study the effects of coriander oil on 12 different disease-causing types of bacteria, including E. coli, Salmonella, B. cereus and MRSA. In the study, published in Journal of Medical Microbiology, the oil significantly inhibited bacterial growth – especially that of MRSA and E. coli.
Researchers found that the coriander oil worked by damaging the membrane around the bacterial cell, interfering with vital functions such as respiration and eventually causing cell death.
Linalool, a terpenoid responsible for coriander’s pleasant scent, is the main constituent, but the coriander oil outperformed linalool alone – showing that interactions between the components in coriander oil made it even more bactericidal.
Finally, the team found that coriander tended to perform better on Gram-negative bacteria such as E. coli and salmonella – as it could more easily disrupt their cell membranes.
Lead researcher Dr. Fernanda Domingues noted that using coriander in foods could help prevent bacterial spoilage and food-borne illnesses, and possibly function as a natural alternative to pharmaceutical antibiotics. The team called for further study to explore practical applications and delivery systems.
Coriander, scientifically known as Coriandrum sativum L. and also called cilantro and Chinese parsley, is an herb used in Mediterranean, Asian, Indian and Mexican cuisine, where it lends its spicy, bracing flavor to chutneys, pickles, sauces and salads.
A staple of folk and herbal medicine, coriander has pain-relieving, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial effects. The seeds have even been used for their mild relaxant, anxiety-easing and mood-elevating properties, and the diluted essential oil has been used to treat topical skin infections.
For this study, researchers used essential oil of coriander, but other research on coriander’s antimicrobial qualities has used other forms, such as freeze-dried powder. Coriander essential oil is one of the most widely-used in the world, and is already in use as a food additive.
The need to develop safe, non-chemical preservatives – and the need to find natural solutions for antibiotic resistant bacteria – mean that studies on natural, herbal substances such as coriander are a “research hotspot.”
Coriander has impressed researchers with its antimicrobial properties, and additional studies attest to that fact.
In a study published in International Journal of Food Nutrition and Safety, researchers found that a water extract of coriander had a very strong inhibitory effect on E. coli and B.subtilis. Many serotypes of E.coli can cause illness, and B. subtilis, while not a disease-causing pathogen, can contaminate food, and cause potatoes to rot.
Researchers found that the coriander extract worked best to inhibit bacteria when it was prepared in a concentration of 10 percent, with a pH of 6 and a salt concentration of 2 percent.
And, a 2015 study published in Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition showed that coriander seed oil exhibited antimicrobial activity against both Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria – along with some yeasts and fungi. Researchers expressed their belief in the successful development of a food preservation strategy featuring coriander oil.
MRSA continues to threaten lives, while food-borne illnesses affect up to 30 percent of the population of developed countries – yearly. The CDC reports that a type of infection called STEC – Shiga toxin-producing E. coli – strikes a whopping 265,000 people every year in the United States alone, causing symptoms of severe stomach cramps, vomiting and diarrhea.
And, finally, coriander seed oil – non-toxic, non-chemical, and packed with beneficial flavonoids – may very well be the food preservative and antibacterial agent of the future.
 
 
Exercise can improve mental health
McGill University (Quebec), August 10, ,2020
One in four men in the world suffer from mental health issues. More men than women die from mental health issues. Dr. Farhan Khawajawho holds a Ph.D in Neuroscience from Mcgill University has said that regular fitness routines can help reduce the number of people whosuffer from long term mental health issues and can save lives.
Dr. Farhan Khawaja has launched a campaign to make men aware of how important regular fitness is to their mental health and well-being. The fitness experts have said regular exercise can help deal with stress and reduce mental health problems.
According to a recent report, more than 450 million people in the world suffer from mental health issues. In the UK more than 16 million people suffer from stress and mental health problems, in the USA that figure stands at 46.6 million. The World Health Organization has said that one in four men suffer from mental health problems and men are more likely than women to lose their life to this rising killer disease. Dr. Farah Khawaja who has called for more to be done to help men who suffer from stress and depression, and mental health problems want more men to turn to exercise to beat this rising problem.
"Exercise and going to the gym and running in the park is not just about losing weight, it can also help with people's well-being. Regular fitness can be a very highly effective way of dealing with stress, anxiety, and depression. It is the perfect way to help a person to fight the negative feelings they have," explained Dr. Farhan Khawaja.
In 2019, 6507 deaths were recorded due to suicide, in the USA 129 people take their own life due to mental health problems. Those figures show the importance of why more needs to be done according to Dr. Farhan Khawaja.
It is not just Dr. Farhan Khawaja who has said that regular exercise can help fight depression, stress, and anxiety, scientists have also written many reports on the subject. They have said they have found through studies that exercise can reduce the levels of tension a person may feel and can help elevate and stabilize mood, improve sleep patterns, and improve a person's self-esteem. According to one scientist report, even five minutes of aerobic exercise can have a positive impact on someone suffering from anxiety and stress.
"We want to see more people exercise. They don't have to join an expensive gym; they can do exercise in the home or at the park. Through regular exercise it can help boost a person's overall mood and well-being," explained Dr. Farhan Khawaja.
Dr. Farhan Khawajabelieves that if more people spent just ten minutes a day exercising, it could help reduce the number of people who suffer from stress.
 
 
Study shows how food preservatives may disrupt human hormones and promote obesity
Cedars-Sinai  Medicine Institute, August 9, 2020 
 
Can chemicals that are added to breakfast cereals and other everyday products make you obese? Growing evidence from animal experiments suggests the answer may be "yes." But confirming these findings in humans has faced formidable obstacles - until now.
A new study published today in Nature Communications details how Cedars-Sinai investigators developed a novel platform and protocol for testing the effects of chemicals known as endocrine disruptors on humans.
The three chemicals tested in this study are abundant in modern life. Butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) is an antioxidant commonly added to breakfast cereals and other foods to protect nutrients and keep fats from turning rancid; perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a polymer found in some cookware, carpeting and other products; and tributyltin (TBT) is a compound in paints that can make its way into water and accumulate in seafood.
The investigators used hormone-producing tissues grown from human stem cells to demonstrate how chronic exposure to these chemicals can interfere with signals sent from the digestive system to the brain that let people know when they are "full" during meals. When this signaling system breaks down, people often may continue eating, causing them to gain weight.
"We discovered that each of these chemicals damaged hormones that communicate between the gut and the brain," said Dhruv Sareen, PhD, assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences and director of the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Core Facility at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute. "When we tested the three together, the combined stress was more robust."
Of the three chemicals tested, BHT produced some of the strongest detrimental effects, Sareen said.
While other scientists have shown these compounds can disrupt hormone systems in laboratory animals, the new study is the first to use human pluripotent stem cells and tissues to document how the compounds may disrupt hormones that are critical to gut-to-brain signaling and preventing obesity in people, Sareen said.
"This is a landmark study that substantially improves our understanding of how endocrine disruptors may damage human hormonal systems and contribute to the obesity epidemic in the U.S.," said Clive Svendsen, PhD, director of the institute and the Kerry and Simone Vickar Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Regenerative Medicine. More than one-third of U.S. adults are considered to be obese, according to federal statistics.
The new testing system developed for the study has the potential to provide a much-needed, safe and cost-effective method that can be used to evaluate the health effects of thousands of existing and new chemicals in the environment, the investigators say.
For their experiments, Sareen and his team first obtained blood samples from adults, and then, by introducing reprogramming genes, converted the cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. Then, using these stem cells, the investigators grew human epithelium tissue, which lines the gut, and neuronal tissues of the brain's hypothalamus region, which regulates appetite and metabolism.
The investigators then exposed the tissues to BHT, PFOA and TBT, one by one and also in combination, and observed what happened inside the cells. They found that the chemicals disrupted networks that prepare signaling hormones to maintain their structure and be transported out of the cells, thus making them ineffective. The chemicals also damaged mitochondria - cellular structures that convert food and oxygen into energy and drive the body's metabolism.
Because the chemical damage occurred in early-stage "young" cells, the findings suggest that a defective hormone system potentially could impact a pregnant mother as well as her fetus in the womb, Sareen said. While other scientists have found, in animal studies, that effects of endocrine disruptors can be passed down to future generations, this process has not been proved to occur in humans, he explained.
More than 80,000 chemicals are registered for use in the U.S. in everyday items such as foods, personal care products, household cleaners and lawn-care products, according to the National Toxicology Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While the program states on its website that relatively few chemicals are thought to pose a significant risk to human health, it also states: "We do not know the effects of many of these chemicals on our health."
Cost and ethical issues, including the health risk of exposing human subjects to possibly harmful substances, are among the barriers to testing the safety of many chemicals. As a result, numerous widely used compounds remain unevaluated in humans for their health effects, especially to the hormone system.
"By testing these chemicals on actual human tissues in the lab, we potentially could make these evaluations easier to conduct and more cost-effective," Sareen said.

The Gary Null Show - 08.12.20

The Gary Null Show is here to inform you on the best news in health, healing, the environment. In this episode Gary Null goes over Biden's announcement of running mate Kamala Harris
If you would like to sign up for the new PRN Newsletter provide your email to Prnstudio@gmail.com
 

The Gary Null Show - The Moral Panic of the Woke Generation - 08.11.20

t is one thing to show a man that he is in error and another to put him intouch with truth… No man’s knowledge can go beyond his experience” – John Locke (Essays Concerning Human Understanding)
 
Locke was not alone in questioning what we believe to be true knowledge, and pointing out the consequences of failing to discern falsehoods from reality. In fact Locke was in excellent company.  Due to the scientific revolution that inspired several generations of deep thinkers, naturalists and philosophers, including Rousseau, Kant, Spinoza, Darwin, Bacon and Voltaire, the Age of Enlightenment or Age of Reason dominated the intellectual world of ideas for nearly two centuries. 
 
Locke’s statements are important because today there is a new generation that has been indoctrinated by the shortcomings of scientific materialism originally launched during the Age of Reason. It was intended to bring forth a new purity, an idyllic perfectionism of thought and beliefs founded alone upon objective inquiry. Now, we are observing a juvenile revolution in the ideas of identity politics, wokeness and a passionate micro-aggression that derives hedonist pleasure in ridicule and insult. One of its more lofty goals is to end free speech as we know it – except for those who are woke.. Other goals are to institute a faux collectivism and to abolish meritocracy or social rewards earned through effort and achievement. 
 
Important voices of critical thought – Noam Chomsky, Henry Giroux, Jordan Peterson, to name a few, have been warning us for a decade that this day was rapidly approaching. However, since there are no dynamic leaders in the youth’s woke moment of Maoist-style cleansing and purging wrong-views, wrong attitudes and wrong beliefs, most of us in the older generations wrongly assume it would be a passing phase. But it wasn’t.  
 
In fact, the consequences of this unleashed furor, evidence by an absence of self-reflection or critical thought, has been channeled into a mob rule of dissent and abuse.  In the street gatherings of protest, and across the social media, it is virtually unstoppable at this moment. No one is challenging them, neither the mainstream media nor the majority of academia. Rather, corporate leaders and persuasive forces in the democratic institutions are coming to their aid. Therefore, it proceeds under the cover of a silent political power to sustain its energy.
On the other hand, today’s youth have every reason to feel disenchanted and to suffer rampant existential angst, the emptiness of not feeling a deeper sense of purpose and meaning in the world at large.  American neoliberal culture’s and our educational system’s singled-minded attention on science and technology -- which in themselves are amoral disciplines -- and rote memorization and testing has resulted in two decades of youth becoming essentially illiterate in the humanities, critical evaluation and reflective inquiry.  It is also the most irreligious generation in American history. Without the skills of introspective thought to develop a sense of genuine well-being and true happiness, or what Plato called eudomonia as opposed to hedonia, (the pursuit of temporary or transient pleasures), our nation has tossed our youth to the rabid dogs of the social Darwinian rat race for survival. 
 
Therefore, it is not surprising that suicides among today’s teens and twenty-somethings have risen 47 percent during the past two decades.  Sadly the casualty rate is actually higher when we consider there are 36 percent more people living in their 20s today than there were at the turn of the century. Thirty-two percent of youth through their 20s have clinical anxiety disorders, 1 in 9 suffer from depression and almost 14 percent have ADHD.  Although the medical community would like us to believe these are either inherited or biological conditions attributable to brain chemical inbalance, there is absolutely no scientific consensusproving there is a causal relationship between brain function and mental states.  Certainly there are correlate relationships; but correlation is not causation.  The latter is solely a belief, an assumption, without any conclusive and confirming data. The causes are therefore elsewhere and likely to found in our dysfunctional society and the complete breakdown of traditional ethical structures and universal values.
 
In 1972, South African sociologist Stanley Cohen proposed the Moral Panic Theory, an irrational widespread fear that threatens one’s sense of values, safety and cohesion to one’s “tribal” identity.  This moral panic, Cohen observes, is bolstered by the injustices of the ruling elite and its mouthpieces in the media. It also centers around those who society marginalizes and based upon “ethnicity, class, sexuality, nationality and religion.” Ashley Grossman, writing for ThoughtCo, makes the point that ultimately, those in power will most benefit from moral panics “since they lead to increased control of the population and the reinforcement of the authority of those in charge.” The panic aroused in the leaders of Black Lives Matter and their allies, provides the government or state “to enact legislation and laws that would seem illegitimate without the perceived threat at the center of the moral panic.” 
 
Unfortunately, our entire country, not just the demonstrators of Black Lives Matter and Antifa has entered a Moral Panic phase: the vitriolic propaganda in both parties, the greed and opportunism of the oligarchic and corporate elite, QAnon and the Alt-Right, the Woke-Left and of course the mainstream media. And the pandemic is only adding to this corrosive environment of social breakdown. 
Repeatedly woke students are demanding their schools and colleges assure they are safe from ideas and philosophies that challenge their fragile comfort zones. Teachers and professors who students feel are challenging their illusions to knowledge and self-identity, either real or imagined, are being ostracized with calls for administrative dismissal. How many academicians are forced to remain silent to avoid the consequences of the new woke Inquisition? Such student actions are indicative of their frail sense of self-worth and existential angst; yet we must look at modern parental upbringing and our culture’s leading elders, as noted by Jonathan Haidt, to diagnose the causal factors for this psychological catastrophe of two entire generations.  
 
Consequently, when collective panic has reached a threshold, Cohen’s theory might explain the sudden eruption of irrational behavior entangled in the Black Lives Matter and Antifa demonstrations, the burning of police facilities, toppling and destroying statues, public shaming and humiliation and widespread looting, violence and roguery. And it is equally endemic to the reactionary maleficence of white supremacists and militias. Occupying several blocks in Seattle, with armed militias, extorting store owners and engaging in a frenzy of bullying does not portend a peaceful transition to a more virtuous society. 
 
So when a new book emerges, White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo, and becomes the holy grail of woke truths, we are lectured that what will not be tolerated is any deviation or heresy from the new norm it espouses. The author’s central theme is that if you have the misfortune of being born with the wrong genes into the wrong family, with the wrong skin color, you are a racist and will be such for the remainder of your days.  Hence every White person is condemned with a defective moniker blazed across their forehead. And since meritocracy likewise is damned, all achievements are accounted for as having the privilege of being Caucasian.  Your attempt to defend yourself and profess your free speech is a testament of your heresy. No apology or act of humility can save you. It is a life sentence without parole for good behavior. 
 
White Fragility will now be taught in many schools, with the full cooperation of teacher unions and school administrators. Resistance will be a subversive act and an admission of your racism. It is critical to observe this may be heading towards a new paradigm of Orwellian social control. 
 
Yet there is barely a shred of credible scientific evidence to support DiAngelo’s hypothesis that can be readily deconstructed and debunked.  It is a flawed opinion, and a dangerous one at that.  Worse, its long-reaching conclusions could advocate for a repressive regime of scientism that Nobel laureate Bertrand Russell warned about.  Russell warned that “collective passions” have a penchant to inflame “hatred and rivalry directed towards other groups.” He was acutely aware that “science is no substitute for virtue; the heart is as necessary for the good life as the head.” And DiAnglo’s screed falls into the dark abysmal waters of genetic determinism that gave rise to racist fascism. Russell further warned that this distorted over-reliance on faux science could be “a curse to mankind.”  
 
Perhaps, during its Icarus moment, wokeness will self-destruct under its own rashness and the internal fire of its undiscerning ardor.  What carnage it leaves in its wake remains to be seen. 
 
Yet there is nothing new or original in the cultural rebellion we are witnessing. This game has been played out before in previous acts striving for an adolescent and unreachable social perfection.  It will have its blowback.  In his Principia Mathematica, Isaac Newton observed that for every action there is an equally opposing reaction. However, we have yet to witness how it will boomerang. But we will.  In the meantime, a new class of wannabe priests is emerging within the woke movement, a priesthood David Hume warned about in his Essays, Moral, Political and Literary, which will in turn be an adversary to liberty.
 
Consider the backlash after Harpers magazine published a Letter on Justice and Open Debate that warned of “a new set of moral attitudes and political commitments that tend to weaken our norms of open debate and toleration of differences in favor of ideological conformity.”  Signed by over 160 brilliant minds, academicians and authors – liberal and conservative -- including Noam Chomsky, Jonathan Haidt, Susannah Heschel, Steven Pinker, Gloria Steinem, etc, the letter gives a stark warning of the unwelcomed consequences of the new culture of censorship that the demonstration’s leaders are ushering into the nation at large. The woke now demand retribution against its signers, in effect shutting down the nation’s 200-plus years of free speech, the right to disagree and public discourse.
 
Have those rebelling in the streets and casting out of society those who disagree with them considered earlier precedents for their actions? It was the Spanish Inquisition.  In principle, how many today are in effect labeled heretics and “witches” because they have spoken publicly in favor of free speech and to oppose censorship? May not the woke movement in turn become the harbinger of a new Inquisition, a new platform of economic and social persecution by the powerful and wealthy waiting in the corridors after the cult of woke fizzles out?  
 
The causal problems to our terrified culture is of course far deeper and has been identified and analyzed repeatedly in the writings of Chris Hedges and Henry Giroux.  Our nation thrives on victimizing others, best exemplified by Trump’s example.  Now the once victims of the woke generation, erupting from the simmering of their silent angst and meaninglessness are determined to be the new victimizers. 
 
What is the end game when a populist uprising demands by disillusioned and psychologically traumatized youth at the mercy of capitalism’s parasitical march to claim more victims gets the upper hand. The movement has now evolved beyond its original demands for racial justice for the Black community who have been discriminated against by our institutions, particularly law enforcement and the private prison system. Now it is rapidly morphing into a massive autonomous cult of divisiveness and self-righteousness without a moral backbone that recognizes the essential values of forgiveness, reconciliation, and cooperative engagement for preserving a sane and productive culture that benefits all. 
 
It is highly unlikely the demonstrations and revolt will slow down. More probable, it will be permitted to increase in order to further destabilize society to enable more repressive and draconian laws to criminalize thought-crimes and actions. Eventually, American democracy will be in name only. The plutocrats want it that way. Only then will the populace wake up and realize that the forces of power metastasized throughout the nation while the media kept us distracted and entertained.

The Gary Null Show - 08.10.20

The Gary Null Show is here to inform you on the best news in health, healing, the environment. 
If you would like to sign up for the new PRN Newsletter provide your email to Prnstudio@gmail.com
 
Professor Sunetra Gupta: the epidemic is on its way out
Brendan O'Neill: The danger of the 'chattering class'
Link confirmed between healthy diet and prostate cancer prevention
University of Calgary, August 6, 2020
 
The Canadian Cancer Society estimates that more than 23,000 Canadians will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2020. Among other risk factors, more and more studies point to diet as a major factor in the development of prostate cancer, as it is for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and obesity. Using data from a study conducted in Montreal between 2005 and 2012, a research team led by Professor Marie-Elise Parent of Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) has shown a link between diet and prostate cancer in the article “Dietary Patterns Are Associated with Risk of Prostate Cancer in a Population-Based Case-Control Study in Montreal, Canada”, published in Nutrients in June.
Three main dietary profiles analyzed
INRS PhD student Karine Trudeau, the lead author of the study, based her analysis on three main dietary profiles: healthy diet, salty Western diet including alcohol, and sugar-rich Western diet with beverages. The first profile leans heavily towards fruits, vegetables, and plant proteins like tofu and nuts. The salty Western diet with alcohol includes more meat and beverages such as beer and wine. The third profile is rich in pasta, pizza, desserts, and sugary carbonated drinks. The study took age, ethnicity, education, family history, and date of last prostate cancer screening into account.
Marie-Elise Parent and Karine Trudeau found a link between a healthy diet and a lower risk of prostate cancer. Conversely, a Western diet with sweets and beverages was associated with a higher risk and seemed to be a factor in more aggressive forms of cancer. The study did not show any clear link between a Western diet with salt and alcohol and the risk of developing the disease.
Moving away from the typical approach used in epidemiological studies, which involves looking at one nutrient or food group at a time, the researchers collected data from a broader dietary profile. “It’s not easy to isolate the effect of a single nutrient,” explained Ms. Trudeau. “For example, foods rich in vitamin C, such as citrus fruits, promote iron absorption. Calcium is often found in dairy products, which also contain vitamin D. Our more targeted approach takes this synergy into account to produce more meaningful results that public health authorities can use to formulate recommendations. Rather than counting on one miracle food, people should look at their overall diet.”
“For a long time we’ve suspected that diet might play a role in the development of prostate cancer, but it was very hard to pinpoint the specific factors at play,” said Professor Parent. “This study is significant because it looks at dietary habits as a whole. We’ve uncovered evidence that, we hope, can be used to develop prevention strategies for prostate cancer, the most common cancer among men in Canadaand many other countries.”
 
Compounds in 'monster' radish could help tame cardiovascular disease
American Chemical Society, August 9, 2020
Step aside carrots, onions and broccoli. The newest heart-healthy vegetable could be a gigantic, record-setting radish. In a study appearing in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, scientists report that compounds found in the Sakurajima Daikon, or "monster," radish could help protect coronary blood vessels and potentially prevent heart disease and stroke. The finding could lead to the discovery of similar substances in other vegetables and perhaps lead to new drug treatments.
Grown for centuries in Japan, the Sakurajima Daikon is one of the Earth's most massive vegetables. In 2003, the Guinness Book of World Records certified a Sakurajima weighing nearly 69 pounds as the world's heaviest radish. Radishes are good sources of antioxidants and reportedly can reduce high blood pressure and the threat of clots, a pair of risk factors for heart attack and stroke. But to date, no studies have directly compared the heart-health benefits of the Sakurajima Daikon to other radishes. To address this knowledge gap, Katsuko Kajiya and colleagues sought to find out what effects this radish would have on nitric oxide production, a key regulator of coronary blood vessel function, and to determine its underlying mechanisms.
The researchers exposed human and pig vascular endothelial cells to extracts from Sakurajima Daikon and smaller radishes. Using fluorescence microscopy and other analytical techniques, the research team found the Sakurajima Daikon radish induced more nitric oxide production in these vascular cells than a smaller Japanese radish. They also identified trigonelline, a plant hormone, as the active component in Sakurajima Daikon that appears to promote a cascade of changes in coronary blood vessels resulting improved nitric oxide production.
 
Placebos prove powerful even when people know they're taking one
Michigan State University, August 7, 2020
 
How much of a treatment is mind over matter? It is well documented that people often feel better after taking a treatment without active ingredients simply because they believe it's real -- known as the placebo effect.
A team of researchers from Michigan State University, University of Michigan and Dartmouth College is the first to demonstrate that placebos reduce brain markers of emotional distress even when people know they are taking one.
Now, evidence shows that even if people are aware that their treatment is not "real" -- known as nondeceptive placebos -- believing that it can heal can lead to changes in how the brain reacts to emotional information.
"Just think: What if someone took a side-effect free sugar pill twice a day after going through a short convincing video on the power of placebos and experienced reduced stress as a result?", said Darwin Guevarra, MSU postdoctoral fellow and the study's lead author. "These results raise that possibility."
The new findings, published in the most recent edition of the journal Nature Communications, tested how effective nondeceptive placebos -- or, when a person knows they are receiving a placebo -- are for reducing emotional brain activity. 
"Placebos are all about 'mind over matter," said Jason Moser, co-author of the study and professor of psychology at MSU. "Nondeceptive placebos were born so that you could possibly use them in routine practice. So rather than prescribing a host of medications to help a patient, you could give them a placebo, tell them it can help them and chances are -- if they believe it can, then it will."
To test nondeceptive placebos, the researchers showed two separate groups of people a series of emotional images across two experiments. The nondeceptive placebo group members read about placebo effects and were asked to inhale a saline solution nasal spray. They were told that the nasal spray was a placebo that contained no active ingredients but would help reduce their negative feelings if they believed it would. The comparison control group members also inhaled the same saline solution spray, but were told that the spray improved the clarity of the physiological readings the researchers were recording.
The first experiment found that the nondeceptive placebos reduced participants' self-reported emotional distress. Importantly, the second study showed that nondeceptive placebos reduced electrical brain activity reflecting how much distress someone feels to emotional events, and the reduction in emotional brain activity occurred within just a couple of seconds.
"These findings provide initial support that nondeceptive placebos are not merely a product of response bias - telling the experimenter what they want to hear -- but represent genuine psychobiological effects," said Ethan Kross, co-author of the study and a professor of psychology and management at the University of Michigan.
 
 
Greater coffee intake associated with decreased depressive symptoms among older Japanese women
Nakamura Gakuen University (Japan), August 5, 2020
 
According to news reporting originating from Fukuoka, Japan, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Depression in elderly people is a major global concern around the world. Epidemiological evidence of the association of beverages with depressive symptoms has received research attention; however, epidemiological studies on the association of coffee and green tea consumption with depressive symptoms among the elderly population are limited.”
Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Nakamura Gakuen University, “The objective of this study is to cross-sectionally examine the association of depressive symptoms with the intake of coffee, green tea, and caffeine and to verify the antidepressant effect of caffeine. The subjects were 1,992 women aged 65-94 years. Intakes of coffee, green tea, and caffeine, as well as depressive symptoms, were assessed with a validated brief dietary history questionnaire (BDHQ) and the Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), respectively. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to calculate odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (as) for depressive symptoms with adjustments for potential confounders. Coffee intake was associated with a lower prevalence of depressive symptoms, the ORs of which for the 4th versus the 1st quartiles of intake was 0.64 (95% CI, 0.46-0.88, P for trend = 0.01) in a fully adjusted model. Caffeine intake was marginally associated with depressive symptoms, but the association was not statistically significant (OR 0.75; 95% CL 0,55-1,02. P for trend = 0.058). The result suggests that the inverse association of coffee intake with depressive symptoms might be associated with not only caffeine intake but also some other substances in coffee or factors related to coffee intake.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Because of the cross-sectional design of the present study, longitudinal studies are required to confirm the present finding.”
 
 
Sugary drinks and disease: Chugging 2 sodas per day increases your risk of premature death
University College Dublin (Ireland), August 8, 2020
 
On top of raising blood sugar and contributing to abdominal fat, European researchers found that soda can also lead to an earlier death.
Published in JAMA Internal Medicine, the study demonstrates that daily consumption of two or more sodas – diet or not – and other sweetened drinks corresponds to a 17 percent increase in the risk of premature death from all causes.
The “bitter truth” of soda consumption: premature death
To examine the relationship between soda consumption and the risk of all-cause and cause-specific mortality, the researchers studied 451,743 individuals living in 10 European countries, including Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom.
The participants were from the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EIPC) study, one of the largest ongoing cohort studies on diet and its relation to cancer and other chronic diseases. None of the participants have any chronic conditions.
The team studied their soda consumption for an average of 16 years. During that period, a total of 41,693 participants died from all causes, eleven percent of whom reported drinking at least two sodas daily, while nine percent reported drinking not more than one per month.
The participants who drank two or more glasses of soda also had a higher risk of death from heart conditions. Meanwhile, those who reported consuming other beverages sweetened with either sugar or artificial sweeteners had a greater risk of death from digestive diseases.
Participants who drank diet soda weren’t off the hook either. The team reported that those who drank diet sodas also had a greater risk of earlier death from cardiovascular disease(CVD).
Taken together, these findings indicate that the consumption of soda, diet soda and other sweetened beverages is linked to premature death from all causes, including CVD and digestive diseases.
The researchers noted that their study supports public health campaigns aimed at limiting the consumption of sodas and other sugar-laden drinks.
 
 
 
Fisetin derivative shows promise against Alzheimer disease in mice
Salk Institute, August 5 2020. 
 
he September 2020 issue of Redox Biology published the finding of Salk Institute researchers of an ability for a compound derived from fisetin, a flavonoid occurring in many plants, to reverse memory loss in a mouse model of Alzheimer disease. The compound, known as CMS121, which was synthesized by Pamela Maher and colleagues, was recently demonstrated to slow brain cell aging.
"This was a more rigorous test of how well this compound would work in a therapeutic setting than our previous studies on it," commented Dr Maher. "Based on the success of this study, we're now beginning to pursue clinical trials."
In the current research, normal mice and mice that were genetically modified to develop Alzheimer disease were given CMS121 starting at nine months of age. Untreated Alzheimer mice and normal mice served as controls. At 12 months, memory and behavior tests revealed that treated Alzheimer mice performed as well as control mice and that Alzheimer mice that did not receive CMS121 performed worse. 
An increase in lipid peroxidation was observed in brains cells of untreated Alzheimer mice in comparison with Alzheimer mice that received CMS121. "That not only confirmed that lipid peroxidation is altered in Alzheimer's, but that this drug is actually normalizing those changes," remarked first author Gamze Ates. 
It was further determined that CMS121 lowered levels of the lipid-producing molecule fatty acid synthetase (FASN). Brain samples from human Alzheimer patients revealed that greater amounts of FASN were present in comparison with cognitively healthy patients, suggesting that FASN could be a drug target for Alzheimer disease. 
"There has been a big struggle in the field right now to find targets to go after," Dr Maher stated. "So, identifying a new target in an unbiased way like this is really exciting and opens lots of doors."
 
 
REM sleep tunes eating behavior
University of Bern (Germany),  August 7, 2020
 
Despite our broad understanding of the different brain regions activated during rapid-eye-movement sleep, little is known about what this activity serves for. Researchers at the University of Bern and the Inselspital have now discovered that the activation of neurons in the hypothalamus during REM sleep regulates eating behaviour: suppressing this activity in mice decreases appetite.
While we are asleep, we transition between different phases of sleep each of which may contribute differently to us feeling rested. During (rapid eye movement) REM sleep, a peculiar sleep stage also called paradoxical sleep during which most dreaming occurs, specific brain circuits show very high electrical activity, yet the function of this sleep-specific activity remains unclear. 
Among the brain regions that show strong activation during REM sleep are areas that regulate memory functions or emotion, for instance. The lateral hypothalamus, a tiny, evolutionarily well conserved brain structure in all mammals also shows high activity during REM sleep. In the awake animals, neurons from this brain region orchestrate appetite and the consumption of food and they are involved in the regulation of motivated behaviours and addiction.
In a new study, researchers headed by Prof. Dr. Antoine Adamantidis at the University of Bern set out to investigate the function of the activity of hypothalamic neurons in mice during REM sleep. They aimed at better understanding how neural activation during REM sleep influences our day-to-day behaviour. They discovered that suppressing the activity of these neurons decreases the amount of food the mice consume. "This suggests that REM sleep is necessary to stabilize food intake", says Adamantidis. The results of this study have been published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).
Long-lasting effect on neuronal activity and feeding behavior
The researcher discovered that specific activity patterns of neurons in the lateral hypothalamus that usually signal eating in the awake mouse are also present when the animals were in the stage of REM sleep. To assess the importance of these activity patterns during REM sleep the research group used a technique called optogenetics, with which they used light pulses to precisely shut down the activity of hypothalamic neurons during REM sleep. As a result, the researchers found that the activity patterns for eating were modified and that the animals consumed less food.
"We were surprised how strongly and persistently our intervention affected the neural activity in the lateral hypothalamus and the behaviour of the mice", says Lukas Oesch, the first author of the study. He adds: "The modification in the activity patterns was still measurable after four days of regular sleep." These findings suggest that electrical activity in hypothalamic circuits during REM sleep are highly plastic and essential to maintain a stable feeding behaviour in mammals. 
It is a question of quality
These findings point out that sleep quantity alone is not solely required for our well-being, but that sleep quality plays a major role in particular to maintain appropriate eating behaviour. "This is of particular relevance in our society where not only sleep quantity decreases but where sleep quality is dramatically affected by shift work, late night screen exposure or social jet-lag in adolescents", explains Adamantidis.
The discovered link between the activity of the neurons during REM sleep and eating behaviour may help developing new therapeutical approaches to treat eating disorders. It might also be relevant for motivation and addiction. "However, this relationship might depend on the precise circuitry, the sleep stage and other factors yet to be uncovered", adds Adamantidis.
 
The key role of zinc in elderly immunity
Federal University of Juiz de Fora (Brazil), August 7, 2020
 
According to news reporting originating from Juiz de Fora, Brazil, by NewsRx editors, the research stated, “The COVID-19 infection can lead to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), mainly affecting patients aged 60 and older. Preliminary data suggest that the nutritional status can change the course of the infection, and on the matter, zinc is crucial for growth, development, and the maintenance of immune function.”
Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from the Federal University of Juiz de Fora, “In the absence of treatment for this virus, there is an urgent need to find alternative methods that can contribute to control of disease. The aim of this paper is to establish the relation between zinc and COVID-19. From the prior scientific knowledge, we have performed a review of the literature and examine the role of zinc in immune function in the infection by COVID-19. Our findings are that the zinc as an anti-inflammatory agent may help to optimize immune function and reduce the risk of infection.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Zinc supplementation can be a useful strategy to reduce the global burden of infection in the elderly, there is a need the increased reporting to improve our understanding of COVID-19 and the care of affected patients.”
 
 

The Gary Null Show - Welcome to the Woke Culture and its Nihilistic Agenda

Welcome to the Woke Culture and its Nihilistic Agenda
Gary Null and Richard Gale
Progressive Radio Network, August 7, 2020
As we witness the increasing populist persecution of politically correct language through the emerging cancel culture, we must pause for a moment.  What went wrong that in a blink of an eye so much hatred, disdain and condemnation has unfurled in the streets, the social media and on college campuses. Demanding that tenured professors should be limited in what they say and how it is stated is counterproductive to understanding that our institutions of higher learning have historically been forums to challenge and rebut ideas and preassumptions in order to inspire open dialogue and debate.  This is how critical thinking develops. Epigenetically ingrained beliefs and feelings are thereby examined outside the bubbles of culture, class, race and ethnicity, because the real world frankly doesn’t care about self-centered emotions nor supercilious appeals for focused attention.
Previous generations had their moments in the public arena to exhibit their tantrums and hurl vindictive vitriol at their real or imagined enemies. Again we are witnessing a new generation of youth stamping their feet, beating their chests with self-righteous indignation and screaming for justice.  “We are inclusive,” so they yell, “and you are the racist, bigot, misogynist and deplorable trash.”
But the euphoric high in the current rebellion will be short-lived. Populist rebellions and protests are usually coopted by more powerful entities eventually. And rarely do revolutions bring about the changes that its participants have idolized. Some scholars have observed a similarity between the current demonstrations of Black Lives Matter and Antifa with the French Revolution. But that too quickly splintered after heralding momentary success into the various factions of Robespierre’s Jacobins, Jacques Hebert and George Danton. And where did the revolution’s achievements end after Napoleon arrived?  Indeed successful widespread demonstrations can change the course of history and do trigger systemic change frequently. However there is no Rosetta stone that guarantees the desired outcome will be reached.
The belief that we are a systemically racist nation is fundamentally flawed otherwise there would have been no achievements from earlier mass protests such the civil rights movement, the early abolitionists, suffragettes, and the Vietnam War protests. The very idea that the best selling book White Fragility should be the new  bible is a travesty to critical thinking. Yes, it is proper to condemn slavery; any reasonable person would.  But the premise that being born White is an irreversible and unredeemable trait of racism, coded in our DNA as a biological sin, is not only juvenile and ill-founded but also intrinsically dangerous. How is it that an author can condemn all Whites as racist while denying this in and of itself is a racist argument?
Even if a person can provide the evidence that their family heritage had many abolitionists who fought for freeing slaves, it makes no difference. Any statement, any gesture or word uttered by a 10 year old or an elderly person in their later years can be used to cancel one’s life, including all the goodness that person may have done as a conscious and moral human being.
One criticism often heard against today’s younger generations is that they are historically illiterate. How can anyone say with moral and historical authority that the civil rights movement meant nothing and in a swoop of amnesia wipe away 70 years of accomplishments for liberating people of color.
In no small measure these past populist movements proceeded forward in the spirit of unity where the color of one’s skin did not limit anyone as a human being. Tens of millions of Americans joyfully embraced each other in cooperation at every level of society.  Now today’s protests are negating this legacy as if it never existed. Yet when Clinton, Bush, Obama-Biden, and now Trump, Democrats and Republicans alike, at the behest of the neo-con and military industrial complex decided it was in their financial and ideological interests to invade country after country, most of these populations were of color. Why isn’t the populist rebellion now calling out our nation’s addiction to military adventurism for its systemic racism and the destruction of foreign cultures? When China carries out its persecution and incarceration of its minorities, including Tibetans and Muslim Uygurs, why do our youth blissfully continue to purchase the latest mobile phones and computers manufactured in the Mainland? Instead, China is given a pass as fomenters of human suffering to have the luxury of the newest gadget to show our friends.
And how is it not racist when thousands of small businesses are destroyed in riots when the majority of the proprietors and owners are Black, Latino, Asian and Native American?  Is any effort being made by the demonstrations’ organizers to restore their lives? In the meantime, the media covers these crimes by saying there are no riots. Jerry Nadler tells us that Antifa riots are a myth; however, tell that to the people whose life savings and means of livelihood have disappeared and who don’t have a penny left.
On a more pragmatic level, when a group of liberals and intellectuals principally sign a petition, including Noam Chomsky, to ask that we show respect for freedom of speech, they are attacked and ridiculed with the intent to destroy their reputations and to silence their freedom of speech.  The disturbing question is whether those participating in the woke movement have contributed any understanding to the nation’s crises of income inequality and militarism at the level of a Noam Chomsky? What exactly have any of the most vocal protestors created in their lives that have made society a better place from their efforts?
The best we can do is learn the historical lessons of how racial injustice arises, and it is not based solely on color or biology. Rather it is a question of power, the control of a privileged elite for the sake of greater wealth and socio-political influence. That is the basis for how a society becomes corrupted, and it is a battle essential for transforming the destructive trajectory of our country that is not being addressed. When the central issues of woke culture rely solely upon how you feel or what you believe is right then the society becomes divided between insiders and outsiders because not everyone will share your personal sentiments and illusions. Wokeness avoids being held accountable for the consequences that our words and actions inflict on others of a dissimilar mind.  In the meantime the clock is ticking away the seconds as the planet furls into being unsustainable for supporting its 7.8 billion citizens.
If the woke left believes it has the power to bring Joe Biden and the powers behind him to the White House, it is probably correct. But what happens once they are in power?  Life worsens as it has done for each succeeding president in recent history.  Will the legions of wokeness take credit for that?  Certainly not.
Undoubtedly, the woke culture perceives itself as being wise. But wisdom doesn’t arise from being afflicted with ADHD, being self-righteous, and finding one’s worth in how audaciously confrontational one can be towards an enemy. Our wise women and men today are those who have seen many struggles and have incorporated their knowledge into making society more equitable, to bring jobs back, to erect means of protecting those who are disenfranchised by corporate and political greed and exploitation.  Nevertheless these are the reputations the woke want to destroy, individuals who have the insight to analyze and discern the faulty thinking and self-cherishing delusions behind cancelling the lives of others, such as Noam Chomsky, Gloria Steinem, Chris Hedges, etc.  It is an immoral mindset to believe that one has the right to destroy another’s accomplishments regardless of whether one agrees or not.
The current protests erupting throughout the nation is like Sherman’s March to the Sea, destroy everything and everyone in its wake, then take pride in your carnage. Unfortunately, Black Lives Matter, despite the truth and integrity of its stated mission, is run by the wrong leaders – juveniles acting like belligerent teenagers who stamp their feet before locking themselves in their bedrooms.
During the past decade, and particularly in the last three years, there has been a full throttle acceleration by the major social media firms – Google, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia – to cancel voices and platforms that represent honest journalism. These are the voices of free speech that challenge the political weaponization of education represented in White Fragility, medicine and class struggle. Many sites such as Globalresearch, GreenMedInfo, Truthout, Blacklisted News, and Anti-Media have been censored. Also cancelled, shamed and pillared are people with impeccable integrity for their criticisms against power, including Abby Martin and Chris Hedges. These are the people with the strength of character and wisdom to expose all levels of power engaged in hegemonic control, unmitigated greed and the corruption throughout our two party duopoly. Neither the political Right or Left have done anything to challenge these breaches of public trust.  And Biden will certainly continue this trend.
So now we face a wave of nihilists in the streets and the internet spreading their apathy, frustration, hopelessness and hostility against racism and a system that correctly needs to be criticized and dismantled. But its lack of wisdom is displaying a mob rule that goes far beyond the threshold of honoring free speech, individual rights, and the kind of empathy and compassion that is so much needed at this time in mass populist movement.  Out of the collective ignorance that plagues the current uprising is the vulnerability to become unwilling tools of the powerful who are far smarter and wiser on knowing how to manipulate and direct trends that otherwise are not in their best interests.  We are already witnessing this happening as hundreds of millions of dollars are dumped into Black Lives Matter by donors and organizations that should rather be targets of protest.  This is the cost of nihilism and being deluded by wokeness: those who believe they are in power and control have been puppets all along.

The Gary Null Show - 08.06.20

The Gary Null Show is here to inform you on the best news in health, healing, the environment. 
If you would like to sign up for the new PRN Newsletter provide your email to Prnstudio@gmail.com
 
Cancel Culture doxxed me (as an ex-Google tech lead)
Millennials, Generation Zs trying to foster a workplace 'culture of victimhood'
 
Turmeric could have antiviral properties
Wuhan Institute of Bioengineering, August 5, 2020
Curcumin, a natural compound found in the spice turmeric, could help eliminate certain viruses, research has found. 
A study published in the Journal of General Virology showed that curcumin can prevent Transmissible gastroenteritis virus (TGEV) - an alpha-group coronavirus that infects pigs - from infecting cells. At higher doses, the compound was also found to kill virus particles. 
Infection with TGEV causes a disease called transmissible gastroenteritis in piglets, which is characterised by diarrhoea, severe dehydration and death. TGEV is highly infectious and is invariably fatal in piglets younger than two weeks, thus posing a major threat to the global swine industry. There are currently no approved treatments for alpha-coronaviruses and although there is a vaccine for TGEV, it is not effective in preventing the spread of the virus. 
To determine the potential antiviral properties of curcumin, the research team treated experimental cells with various concentrations of the compound, before attempting to infect them with TGEV. They found that higher concentrations of curcumin reduced the number of virus particles in the cell culture.
The research suggests that curcumin affects TGEV in a number of ways: by directly killing the virus before it is able to infect the cell, by integrating with the viral envelope to 'inactivate' the virus, and by altering the metabolism of cells to prevent viral entry. "Curcumin has a significant inhibitory effect on TGEV adsorption step and a certain direct inactivation effect, suggesting that curcumin has great potential in the prevention of TGEV infection," said Dr Lilan Xie, lead author of the study and researcher at the Wuhan Institute of Bioengineering.
Curcumin has been shown to inhibit the replication of some types of virus, including dengue virus, hepatitis B and Zika virus. The compound has also been found to have a number of significant biological effects, including antitumor, anti-inflammatory and antibacterial activities. Curcumin was chosen for this research due to having low side effects according to Dr Xie. They said: "There are great difficulties in the prevention and control of viral diseases, especially when there are no effective vaccines. Traditional Chinese medicine and its active ingredients, are ideal screening libraries for antiviral drugs because of their advantages, such as convenient acquisition and low side effects."
The researchers now hope to continue their research in vivo, using an animal model to assess whether the inhibiting properties of curcumin would be seen in a more complex system. "Further studies will be required, to evaluate the inhibitory effect in vivo and explore the potential mechanisms of curcumin against TGEV, which will lay a foundation for the comprehensive understanding of the antiviral mechanisms and application of curcumin" said Dr Xie.
 
A quarter of arthritis cases linked to excess weight
Weight loss from young adulthood to midlife was associated with substantially reduced risk of developing arthritis
Boston University, August 4, 2020
 
A new Boston University School of Public Health (BUSPH) study shows that weight loss between early adulthood and midlife lowers arthritis risk, and found no evidence of any persistent risk of arthritis for people who were heavier earlier in life and then lost weight.
The study, published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, also estimates that nearly a quarter of arthritis cases in the U.S., corresponding to 2.7 million people, are attributable to excess weight.
"Policies that address the social and structural factors that promote weight gain are urgently needed. Our findings suggest that such measures could have a significant impact on reducing the incidence of arthritis, a leading cause of disability and chronic pain in the US," says study corresponding author Dr. Andrew Stokes, assistant professor of global health at BUSPH.
"Although weight loss could represent a viable way to reduce arthritis risk at the individual level, we found that the best solution at the population level would be to prevent weight gain," says study lead author and BUSPH alumna Kaitlyn Berry, who was a research fellow at BUSPH while working on the study and is now at the University of Minnesota School of Public Health. 
The researchers used data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) on adults 40-69 years old, to categorize individuals based on the changes in their body mass indices (BMI) from early adulthood to mid-life, and analyzed the association between these BMI trajectories and the risk of developing an arthritis condition within 10 years.
Of the 13,669 people in the study, 3,603 developed an arthritis condition. Compared with those who had a BMI in the "normal" range in both early adulthood and middle age, those who went from the "normal" range to the "overweight" or "obese" ranges, those who went from the "overweight" range to the "obese" range, and those whose BMIs were in the "obese" range at both points were all significantly more likely to develop arthritis conditions. 
On the other hand, those whose BMIs went from the "obese" down to the "overweight" range had a significantly lower risk of developing arthritis compared to those whose BMI remained in the "obese" range. Additionally, those who lost weight had the same likelihood of developing arthritis as those whose BMIs stayed in the "overweight" range. 
"These findings highlight the need for lifelong public health measures to prevent obesity at younger ages as an important step to curb later life musculoskeletal and joint health problems such as osteoarthritis. This is particularly important as musculoskeletal pain is a leading cause of disability globally," says study co-author Dr. Tuhina Neogi, professor of epidemiology at BUSPH, professor of medicine at the Boston University School of Medicine, and chief of rheumatology at Boston Medical Center.
 
Consumption of a blueberry enriched diet by women for six weeks alters determinants of human muscle progenitor cell function
Cornell University, August 5, 2020 
A new research study, published in the Journal of Nutrition, investigated how serum from subjects consuming a diet enriched with blueberries would affect the cells responsible for muscle growth and repair. The emerging study, "Consumption of a blueberry enriched diet by women for six weeks alters determinants of human muscle progenitor cell function," was conducted at Cornell University.
The study was conducted over six weeks with 22 women, 12 aged 25-40 and 10 aged 60-75. For the blueberry-enriched diet, participants consumed the equivalent of 1.75 cups of fresh blueberries/day, given as freeze-dried blueberries (19 g in the morning and 19 g in the evening), along with their regular diet. Participants were also asked to avoid other foods rich in polyphenols and anthocyanins. Serum was obtained from the participants 1.5 hours after consuming the morning dose of blueberries. The researchers then investigated how the serum would affect muscle progenitor cell function through proliferation or cell number, capacity to manage oxidative stress and oxygen consumption rate or metabolism.
The results showed the six-week blueberry-enriched serum obtained from the women aged 25-40 increased human muscle progenitor cell numbers in culture. There was also a trend toward a lower percentage of dead human muscle progenitor cells, suggesting a resistance to oxidative stress, as well as increased oxygen consumption of the cells. There were no beneficial effects seen in the muscle progenitor cells treated with serum from participants aged 60-75 who consumed the blueberry enriched diet.
"The consequences associated with the deterioration of skeletal muscle are a loss of mobility, decreased quality of life, and ultimately, loss of independence. Currently, research on dietary interventions to support skeletal muscle regeneration in humans is limited. This preliminary study of muscle progenitor cell function paves the way for future studies to develop clinical interventions," said Anna Thalacker-Mercer, Ph.D., the study's lead investigator. "While the results cannot be generalized to all populations, this study is an important step in translating findings from cell culture and rodent studies to a potential dietary therapy for improving muscle regeneration after injury and during the aging process."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), muscles lose strength, flexibility, and endurance over time. Muscle mass decreases three to five percent every decade after 30 years of age, and that rate increases over age 60. Therefore, strategies to improve muscle progenitor cell proliferation and lower oxidative stress may also benefit muscle regeneration during the aging process.
Research on the role that blueberries may play in promoting good health is ongoing across multiple areas, including cardiovascular health, diabetes management, brain health, exercise and the gut microbiome.
 
 
From mitochondria to healthy aging: role of branched-chain amino acid treatment
University of Turin (Italy), August 3, 2020
 
According to news originating from Turin, Italy, research stated, “Malnutrition often affects elderly patients and significantly contributes to the reduction in healthy life expectancy, causing high morbidity and mortality. In particular, protein malnutrition is one of the determinants of frailty and sarcopenia in elderly people.”
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Turin, “To investigate the role of amino acid supplementation in senior patients we performed an open-label randomized trial and administered a particular branched-chain amino acid enriched mixture (BCAAem) or provided diet advice in 155 elderly malnourished patients. They were followed for 2 months, assessing cognitive performance by Mini Mental State Examination (MMSE), muscle mass measured by anthropometry, strength measure by hand grip and performance measured by the Timed Up and Go (TUG) test, the 30 s Chair Sit to Stand (30-s CST) test and the 4 m gait speed test. Moreover we measured oxidative stress in plasma and mitochondrial production of ATP and electron flux in peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Both groups improved in nutritional status, general health and muscle mass, strength and performance; treatment with BCAAem supplementation was more effective than simple diet advice in increasing MMSE (1.2 increase versus 0.2, p = 0.0171), ATP production (0.43 increase versus -0.1, p = 0.0001), electron flux (0.50 increase versus 0.01, p< 0.0001) and in maintaining low oxidative stress. The amelioration of clinical parameters as MMSE, balance, four meter walking test were associated to increased mitochondrial function.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Overall, our findings show that sustaining nutritional support might be clinically relevant in increasing physical performance in elderly malnourished patients and that the use of specific BCAAem might ameliorate also cognitive performance thanks to an amelioration of mitochondria bioenergetics.”
 
 
20-year sedentary lifestyle linked to twice the risk of premature death: Being physically active is key to a longer life
Norweign University of Science and Technology, August 4, 202
It’s easy to fall into the habit of skipping exercise because you’re busy with work or chores. Yet according to a study, having a sedentary lifestyle for at least 20 years is linked to twice the risk of premature death, especially compared to those who exercise regularly.
Results from the Trøndelag Health Study (the HUNT study) was presented at ESC Congress 2019 and the World Congress of Cardiology.
The HUNT study was conducted to determine how changes in physical activity within two decades were linked to “subsequent death from all causes and from cardiovascular disease.”
Other studies on the association between physical activity and longevity only ask volunteers about their level of physical activity once and followed them for several years. However, physical activity is a behavior that constantly changes, highlighting the importance of looking into how these changes over time are linked to the risk of death later in life.
Physical activity levels linked to premature death risk
Researchers asked residents of Norway aged 20 and older to participate during three points: 1984 to 1986, 1995 to 1997 and 2006 to 2008.
For all three time points, the volunteers reported their frequency and duration of leisure time physical activity. The researchers then examined data from the first and third surveys.
Data for the analysis was obtained from 23,146 male and female volunteers. Physical activity was classified as:
Inactive
Moderate (Less than two hours a week.)
High (Two or more hours per week.)
The volunteers were divided into groups based on their activity levels for each survey. The physical activity data were linked to information on deaths until the end of 2013 via the Norwegian Cause of Death Registry.
The risk of death in the two physical activity groups was compared to the reference group, which included participants who reported a high level of exercise during both surveys.
Analyses were also adjusted for factors that influence prognosis:
Age
Blood pressure
Body mass index (BMI)
Education level
Sex
Smoking
Unlike volunteers in the reference group, participants who were inactive in both 1984-1986 and 2006-2008 had twice the risk of premature death and a 2.7-fold greater risk of dying from cardiovascular disease.
Compared to the reference group, participants with moderate activity at both time points had a 60 percent and 90 percent greater risk of all-cause and cardiovascular deaths, respectively.
Exercising consistently is key
Dr. Trine Moholdt, a study author from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology at Trondheim, Norway, explained that to reap the maximum health benefits of physical activity and prevent premature all-cause and cardiovascular death, people must be physically active consistently.
Moholdt noted that even if you had a sedentary lifestyle, you can still reduce your risk by exercising later in life. Adults should have at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise a week or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic physical activity a week to effectively boost their overall well-being.
But these numbers aren’t set in stone, said Moholdt. She added that even exercise below the recommended levels will offer some benefits.
Instead of focusing on how much you’re exercising, Moholdt suggests setting goals to be more physically fit. Consult a trusted physician for activities that suit your health condition.
Even smaller amounts of activity can help you be more physically fit, as long as your workout “makes you breathe heavily.” (Related: If you have an 8-hour desk job, exercise for 30 minutes daily to significantly improve your health.)
Set aside some time to go to the gym, or sneak in mini-workouts throughout a regular day. Moholdt recommends any exercise that you might enjoy, such as:
Using the stairs at work instead of the elevator.
Walking instead of driving to your destination.
Getting off the bus one stop early and walking the rest of the way.
Exercise during work breaks. Break out a sweat in the office break room by doing jumping jacks or squats.
Going for a long walk with your dog.
Enjoying a walk around the neighborhood with your family.
Following online workout videos if you can’t leave the house.
Some participants changed categories between surveys and those who went from inactive to highly active had a mortality risk “between those who were continually active or continually sedentary.” On the other hand, volunteers who went from highly active to inactive had a similar risk of dying like those who were inactive at both surveys.
Moholdt said that it’s never too late to start exercising even if you’ve been sedentary for most of your life. Starting exercise sooner ensures that you also see positive results sooner.
Moholdt concluded that you should start and maintain good exercise habits as early as you can. Being physically active doesn’t just help prevent premature death, it also helps improve your mental and physical health. Exercising regularly is key to having a longer and healthier life.
 
Researchers say where you live could add years to your life
People who live in blue states are living longer, and the gap is widening
Syracuse University, August 4 2020
 
Could where you live dictate how long you live? New research at Syracuse University's Maxwell School, published today in the Milbank Quarterly, shows Americans who live in so called blue states tend to live longer than those in red states, primarily due to state policies. Among the findings:
U.S. state policies since the 1980s have cut short American lives, particularly for women. U.S. life expectancy gains since 2010 would be 25% greater for women and 13% greater for men if states policies had not changed in the way they did, with many becoming more conservative.
Enacting more liberal state policies could raise U.S. life expectancy by over 2 years, whereas enacting more conservative state policies could reduce it by 2 years.
In the greatest gap between states, residents in Connecticut outlive their counterparts in Oklahoma by as many as seven years.
The study examined how state policy environments contributed to U.S. life expectancy trends from 1970 to 2014. It used information on 18 policy domains such as abortion and guns, each measured on a liberal-to-conservative scale, for every state and calendar year. The analysis then predicted U.S. life expectancy trends from all policy domains, controlling for characteristics of states and their residents.
"Americans die younger than people in other high-income countries," said Jennifer Karas Montez, sociology professor at Syracuse University's Maxwell School and lead author of the study. "This gap in life expectancy between the U.S. and other countries emerged in the 1980s and has grown ever since. Since that time, gaps in life expectancy between U.S. states also expanded. The difference between the highest and lowest life expectancy states has grown to 7.0 years--the largest ever recorded. These two trends are related: the dismal life expectancy trends of some states have been an anchor on overall U.S. life expectancy."' 
For instance, between 1980 and 2017, life expectancy rose by just 2.2 years in Oklahoma (73.6 to 75.8 years) but 5.8 years in Connecticut (74.9 to 80.7 years). Life expectancy in Oklahoma now falls between that of Serbia and Brazil, while Connecticut falls between Denmark and Costa Rica. 
The study found that Oklahoma and Connecticut differ in other ways. While these two states were diverging in life expectancy, they were also diverging in their policy orientation. Oklahoma made one of the largest transitions toward a conservative state policy environment among all 50 states. Conversely, Connecticut made one of the largest transitions toward a liberal state policy environment. This polarization in state policy environments has occurred across the U.S. and helps to explain the growing gap in life expectancy between states and the troubling trends in U.S. life expectancy since the 1980s. 
Among the 18 policy domains studied, 10 strongly predict life expectancy. More liberal versions of those policies generally predict longer lives and more conservative versions generally predict shorter lives. This is especially the case for policies on tobacco, immigration, civil rights, labor (e.g., Right to Work laws, minimum wage), and the environment. For instance, by changing its labor laws from the most conservative to the most liberal orientation, a state could experience a large 1-year increase in life expectancy. State policies have particularly important consequences for women's life expectancy. This finding reflects the reality that state policies such as minimum wage, EITC, abortion laws, and Medicaid are more relevant for women's than men's lives.
According to Montez, "During the 1980s and after 2010, overall changes in state policies had a negative impact on U.S. life expectancy. After 2010, the small gains in U.S. life expectancy would have been 13% steeper among men and 25% steeper among women if state policies had not changed in the way that they did, with many becoming more conservative."
If all 50 states enacted either liberal or conservative policies, what would happen to U.S. life expectancy? "If all states enacted liberal policies across the 18 domains, our study estimated that U.S. life expectancy would increase by 2.8 years for women and 2.1 years for men," said Montez. "However, if all states enacted conservative policies, U.S. life expectancy would decline by 2.0 years for women and 1.9 years for men. If all states followed current national policy trends, there would continue to be little improvement in life expectancy. This is partly due to countervailing forces: gains in U.S. life expectancy associated with some national policy trends (e.g., toward liberal policies on the environment and civil rights) would be offset by losses associated with other trends (e.g., toward conservative policies on abortion and guns)."
Montez said that trends in state policies since the 1980s have cut short many lives. "Improving U.S. health and longevity requires changing many of those policies," said Montez. "In particular, it is essential to enact policies that protect the environment, regulate tobacco and firearms, and ensure labor, reproductive, and civil rights." But Montez believes e nacting these changes in state policies will not be easy. "On the contrary: policymakers in many states have put the interests of corporations and their lobbyists--particularly the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC)--and wealthy donors over the interests and health of their constituents."
To drive home her point, Montez points out Oklahoma, for example, is one of the most active states in terms of enacting the corporate-friendly and politically-conservative policies promoted by ALEC, while Connecticut is among the least active states.
"Policymakers and the public must recognize," she said, "that putting profits over people cuts lives short."
 
Gut microbes shape our antibodies before we are infected by pathogens
University of Bern (Germany), August 5, 2020
 
B cells are white blood cells that develop to produce antibodies. These antibodies, or immunoglobulins, can bind to harmful foreign particles (such as viruses or disease-causing bacteria) to stop them invading and infecting the body's cells. Each B cell carries an individual B cell receptor (BCR) which determines which particles it can bind, rather like each lock accepts a different key. There are many millions of B cells with different receptors in the body. This immense diversity comes from rearranging the genes that code these receptors, so the receptor is slightly different in every B cell resulting in billions of possibilities of different harmful molecules that could be recognized. Intestinal microbes trigger expansion of these B cell populations and antibody production, but until now it was unknown whether this was a random process, or whether the molecules of the intestinal microbes themselves influence the outcome. 
In a research article published in the journal Nature, Dr. Hai Li, Dr. Julien Limenitakis, Prof. Stephanie Ganal-Vonarburg and Prof. Andrew Macpherson of the Department for BioMedical Research, University of Bern, and Inselspital, University Hospital Bern, have analyzed the billions of genes that code the antibodies in a system that allows the responses to individual benign intestinal microbes to be understood. 
The range of available antibodies depends on where beneficial microbes are in the body
The number of benign microbes living in our intestines is about the same as the number of cells in our body. Mostly these bacteria stay within the intestinal tube rather than penetrate the body tissues. Unfortunately, some penetration is unavoidable, because the intestine only has a single layer of cells that separate the inside of the tube from blood vessels that we need to absorb our food. 
Dr. Limenitakis used specially designed computer programs to process millions of genetic sequences that compare the antibody repertoire from B cells, depending on whether the microbes stay in the intestine, or whether they reach the bloodstream. In both cases the antibody repertoire is altered, but in rather different ways depending on how the exposure occurs. 
"Interestingly, this is rather predictable depending on the microbe concerned and where it is in the body, indicating that the intestinal microbes direct the development of our antibodies before we get a serious infection and this process is certainly not random", explains Ganal-Vonarburg.
There are different sorts of antibodies in the lining of the intestine (IgA) compared with the bloodstream (IgM and IgG). Using the powerful genetic analysis, the researchers showed that the range of different antibodies produced in the intestine was far less that those produced in central body tissues. This means that once microbes get into the body, the immune system has many more possibilities to neutralize and eliminate them, whereas antibodies in the intestine mainly just bind the bacterial molecules that they can see at any one time.
How the antibodies change when the body is exposed to different microbes
Over their life-span mammals face a huge variety of different microbial challenges. It was therefore important to know how once the antibody repertoire could change once had been shaped by a particular microbe when something else came along. The research team answered this question by testing what happened with the same microbe at different sites or with two different microbes on after another. 
Although intestinal microbes do not directly produce an especially wide range of different antibodies, they sensitize the central immune tissues to produce antibodies if the microbe gets into the bloodstream. When a second microbes comes along, the rather limited intestinal antibody response changes to accommodate this microbe (rather like changing the lock in one's door). This is different from what happens when microbes get into the blood stream to reach the central body tissues when a second set of antibodies is made without compromising the first response to the original microbes (like installing another lock, so the door can be opened with different keys). This shows that central body tissues have the capacity to remember a range of different microbial species and to avoid the dangers of sepsis. It also shows that different B cell immune strategies in different body compartments are important for maintenance of our peaceful existence with our microbial passengers. 
Dr. Li comments that "Our data show for the first time that not only the composition of our intestinal microbiota, but also the timing and sequence of exposure to certain members of the commensal microbiota, happening predominantly during the first waves of colonisations during early life, have an outcome on the resulting B cell receptor repertoire and subsequent immunity to pathogens."
 
Meta-analysis finds higher circulating vitamin D levels associated with lower risk of gestational diabetes
Ahvaz Jundishapur University (Iran), August 5, 2020
 
According to news reporting out of Ahvaz, Iran, by NewsRx editors, research stated, “Several meta-analyses of observational studies revealed a modest increase in the risk of gestational diabetes (GDM) among pregnant women with low levels of serum vitamin D. However, no study examined a dose-response meta-analysis as well as a high versus low analysis in this regard.”
Financial support for this research came from Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences.
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, “We systematically searched PubMed, Embase, ISI Web of Science, and Scopus up to August 2019 to find prospective observational studies investigating the association of serum 25(OH)D with the risk of developing GDM. Using a random-effects model, the reported risk estimates were pooled. Nine cohort studies and six nested case-control studies were included in the final analysis (40,788 participants and 1848 cases). Considering linear analysis, each 10 nmol/L increase in circulating 25(OH)D was associated with a 2% lower risk of GDM (effect size (ES): 0.98; 95% CI: 0.98, 0.99; I=85.0%, p

The Gary Null Show - 08.05.20

The Gary Null Show is here to inform you on the best news in health, healing, the environment. 
 
 
 
Curb your anxiety by drinking a cup of matcha green tea
Kumamoto University (Japan), July 31, 2020 
 
 
Matcha can reduce anxiety by activating dopamine and serotonin receptors that are linked to anxious behavior, according to researchers from Kumamoto University in Japan.
Matcha, which literally means “powdered tea,” refers to the powder made from finely ground leaves of shade-grown tea tree (Camellia sinensis). Matcha has been used medicinally since ancient times. In Japan, in particular, it is used to help people relax, prevent obesity and treat certain skin conditions.
 
In a recent study published in the Journal of Functional Foods, Japanese researchers find evidence of the mental health benefits offered by matcha.
 
“The results of our study show that matcha, which has been used as a medicinal agent for many years, may be quite beneficial to the human body,” said Yuki Kurauchi, one of the study authors.
 
For their study, the researchers looked at the effects of matcha tea powder on mice using an anxiety test for rodents called the elevated plus maze test. This test features an elevated, plus-shaped, narrow platform with two walled arms that provide safety for the test animals. The idea behind the test is that animals experiencing high levels of anxiety will spend more time in the safer, walled-off areas.
 
Aside from matcha powder, the team also evaluated the effects of different matcha extracts and fractions.
 
The researchers found that the mice that consumed either matcha powder or matcha extract displayed reduced anxious behavior. They also found that the ethanol extract exhibited a stronger anxiolytic effect than the hot water extract. This meant that matcha contains two anxiety-reducing components, and that the water-insoluble component exerts stronger anxiolytic effects than the water-soluble component.
 
After conducting behavioral pharmacological analysis, the researchers found that matcha reduces anxiety by activating dopamine D1 and serotonin 5-HT1A receptors. According to studies, these receptors play a significant role in mediating anxiety.
The team concluded that while more study is needed, their findings emphasize matcha’s beneficial effects on mental health.
 
 
 
The effect of reiki and guided imagery intervention on pain and fatigue in oncology patients
Siirt University (Turkey),  31 July 2020.
 
Absract
This study was conducted to investigate the effects of Reiki and guided imagery on pain and fatigue in oncology patients. This quasi-experimental study with a pretest and posttest design was conducted with 180 oncology patients at the oncology clinic of Dicle University Hospital in Turkey, between July 2017 and February 2018. The patients were divided into three groups: Reiki, guided imagery and control, with 60 patients in each group. The Reiki and guided imagery group patients underwent their respective interventions for three consecutive days separately (25-30 min; mean: 15.53 min). The interventions of Reiki and guided imagery reduced pain and fatigue in the oncology patients. It is recommended that oncology nurses use Reiki and guided imagery in patient care.
 
 
 
Decreased concentrations of vitamin B12 associated with increased risk of high-grade cervical lesions
Federal University Ouro Preto (Brazil), July 31, 2020
 
According to news reporting originating in Minas Gerais, Brazil, research stated, “Diet and lifestyle play an important role in etiology of various tumors. Serum concentration of folate and vitamin B12may be associated with carcinogenesis since they are involved in DNA methylation and nucleotide synthesis.”
 
The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Federal University Ouro Preto, “However, the role of these micronutrients on development of cervical cancer is still controversial. Thus, the aim of this study was to analyze the association of lower status of folate and vitamin B12 with the risk of pre-neoplastic cervical lesions. Our sample group was divided in Control group (n=120) -women with normal cytology, and Case groups (n=57) -women presenting Atypical Squamous Cells of Undetermined Significance (ASC-US, n=21), Low Grade Squamous Intraepithelial Lesion (LSIL; n=16), and High-Grade lesions (n=20). We obtained cervical samples for cytology analysis and HPV detection, and blood samples for evaluation of serum concentration of folate and vitamin B12. No difference of serum folate was observed among Cases and Control groups. On the other hand, women with High-Grade lesions presented significant lower median concentration of vitamin B12 if compared to another groups. Then, we observed increased risk of High-Grade lesions among participants with low vitamin B12 levels was observed in relation to women that presented high levels of the micronutrient and from Control group [OR (95% CI): 2.09 (0.65-6.76), p=0.216], ASC-US [OR (95% CI): 3.15 (0.82-12.08), p=0.095], and LSIL [OR (95% CI): 3.10 (0.76-12.70), p=0.116]. Low concentration of vitamin B12 was associated with an increased risk of High-Grade cervical lesions.”
 
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Besides, we did not observe any difference of serum folate among women with normal cytology and women with pre-neoplastic cervical lesions.”
 
 
 
 
Why is cilantro so good for the brain? Science explains
University of California at Irvine, July 30, 2020
 
A study published in the FASEB Journal found that cilantro activates certain potassium channels in the brain which helps prevent seizures.
 
Also known as coriander, cilantro is an herb that is commonly used in traditional medicine. It has anticonvulsant, anti-depressant and anti-inflammatory properties that make it suitable for treating a host of medical conditions, including epileptic seizures.
 
But while its health benefits have been extensively studied, the precise mechanism behind cilantro’s powerful effects on the body remains obscure. The present study provides a molecular basis for the therapeutic actions of cilantro.
 
Cilantro activates neuronal potassium channels to alleviate seizures
 
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates that about 3.4 million Americans are living with epilepsy. Epilepsy is a neurological disorder characterized by abnormal brain activity that causes seizures or periods of unusual behavior, sensations and loss of awareness.
 
In the study, researchers at the University of California, Irvine looked at cilantro leaf metabolites to find the source of its antiepileptic activity. Metabolites are the intermediate products of cellular metabolism.
 
The researchers found that one particular metabolite, the long-chain fatty aldehyde (E)-2-dodecenal, activates several potassium channels in the brain. These channels are part of the voltage-gated potassium channel subfamily Q (KCNQ), which can be found in neurons. According to previous studies, KCNQ dysfunction can lead to severe, treatment-resistant epileptic seizures.
 
The researchers also found that (E)-2-dodecenal could delay chemically-induced seizures, suggesting its involvement in cilantro’s anti-convulsant activity. Geoffrey Abbott, one of the study authors, explained that by binding to a specific part of the potassium channels to open them, (E)-2-dodecenal was able to reduce cellular excitability.
 
Given these findings, the researchers are optimistic that more effective strategies involving cilantro can be developed for the treatment of epilepsy.
 
 
 
Cannabinoids may affect activity of other pharmaceuticals
Penn State University, August 3, 2020
 
Cannabinoid-containing products may alter the effects of some prescription drugs, according to Penn State College of Medicine researchers. They published information that could help medical professionals make safe prescribing choices for their patients who use prescription, over-the-counter or illicit cannabinoid products.
 
Kent Vrana, professor and chair of pharmacology at the College of Medicine, and Paul Kocis, a pharmacist at Penn State Health Milton S. Hershey Medical Center, compiled a list of 57 medications that may not function as intended when used with medical cannabinoids, CBD oil (hemp oil) and medical or recreational marijuana. The list was published in the journal Medical Cannabis and Cannabinoids.
 
The medications on the list have a narrow therapeutic index, meaning they are prescribed at specific doses - enough to be effective, but not enough to cause harm. Vrana says it's important for medical professionals to consider the list when prescribing medical cannabinoids and how it may affect other medications a patient is taking.
 
To develop the list, the researchers looked at the prescribing information for four prescription cannabinoid medications. This information included a list of enzymes in the body that process the active ingredients in those medications, which can include delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) and cannabidiol (CBD). They compared this information against prescribing information from common medications using information available from regulatory agencies like the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to identify where there may be overlap, called a drug-drug interaction.
The list contains a variety of drugs from heart medications to antibiotics and antifungals. As one example, researchers identified warfarin, a common anticoagulant that prevents harmful blood clots from forming, as having a potential drug-drug interaction with cannabinoid products. Often prescribed for patients with atrial fibrillation or following cardiac valve replacement, the drug has a narrow therapeutic index, and Vrana cautions that medical professionals consider this potential drug-drug interaction both when prescribing warfarin to patients on prescription cannabinoids or prescribing cannabinoids to a patient taking warfarin.
 
The researchers say that medical professionals should also consider patient use of CBD oil products and medical and recreational marijuana when using or prescribing drugs on the identified list. Most of those products lack government regulation and there is little to no prescribing or drug-drug interaction information for those products.
 
"Unregulated products often contain the same active ingredients as medical cannabinoids, though they may be present in different concentrations," Vrana said. "The drug-drug interaction information from medical cannabinoids may be useful as medical professionals consider the potential impact of over-the-counter or illicit cannabinoid products."
 
Vrana advises that patients be honest with their health care providers about their use of cannabinoid products - from over-the-counter products to recreational marijuana. He says that doing so can help ensure the safe and effective use of prescribed medications.
 
In addition to the identified list of 57 prescription medications with a narrow therapeutic index that is potentially impacted by concomitant cannabinoid use, a comprehensive list of 139 medications that could have a potential drug-drug interaction with a cannabinoid is available online. Vrana and Kocis plan to routinely update this drug-drug interaction list as newer medications are approved and real-world evidence accumulates.
 
Kent Vrana received a sponsored research agreement from PA Options for Wellness, a medical cannabis provider and clinical registrant in Pennsylvania, and this research was supported in part by the agreement. The College of Medicine and PA Options for Wellness have a 10-year research agreement designed to help physicians and patients make better informed clinical decisions related to cannabinoids.
 
 
 
Perinatal DHA supplementation improves cognition and alters brain functional organization in experimental research
University of Georgia, July 31, 2020
 
According to news reporting out of the University of Georgia, research stated, “Epidemiologic studies associate maternal docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)/DHA-containing seafood intake with enhanced cognitive development; although, it should be noted that interventional trials show inconsistent findings.”
 
The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from University of Georgia: “We examined perinatal DHA supplementation on cognitive performance, brain anatomical and functional organization, and the brain monoamine neurotransmitter status of offspring using a piglet model. Sows were fed a control (CON) or a diet containing DHA (DHA) from late gestation throughout lactation. Piglets underwent an open field test (OFT), an object recognition test (ORT), and magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to acquire anatomical, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), and resting-state functional MRI (rs-fMRI) at weaning. Piglets from DHA-fed sows spent 95% more time sniffing the walls than CON in OFT and exhibited an elevated interest in the novel object in ORT, while CON piglets demonstrated no preference. Maternal DHA supplementation increased fiber length and tended to increase fractional anisotropy in the hippocampus of offspring than CON. DHA piglets exhibited increased functional connectivity in the cerebellar, visual, and default mode network and decreased activity in executive control and sensorimotor network compared to CON.”
 
According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “The brain monoamine neurotransmitter levels did not differ in healthy offspring. Perinatal DHA supplementation may increase exploratory behaviors, improve recognition memory, enhance fiber tract integrity, and alter brain functional organization in offspring at weaning.”
 
 
 
Chlamydia: Greedy for glutamine
University of Wurzburg (Germany), August 3, 2020
 
Chlamydia are bacteria that cause venereal diseases. In humans, they can only survive if they enter the cells. This is the only place where they find the necessary metabolites for their reproduction. And this happens in a relatively simple way: the bacteria create a small bubble in the cell and divide in it over several generations.
 
What is the decisive step that initiates the reproduction of the bacteria? It has not been known so far. Researchers from Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburg (JMU) in Bavaria, Germany, have now discovered it. This is important because the first step in the reproduction of the pathogens is likely to be a good target for drugs.
 
Glutamine import into the host cell increases
 
In the case of Chlamydia, the first step is to reprogram the metabolism of their human host cells. The cells then increasingly import the amino acid glutamine from their environment. If this does not work, for example because the glutamine import system is out of order, the bacterial pathogens are no longer able to proliferate. This was reported by a JMU team led by Dr. Karthika Rajeeve, who has meanwhile been awarded a professorship at the Aarhus University in Denmark, and Professor Thomas Rudel in the journal Nature Microbiology.
 
"Chlamydiae need a lot of glutamine to synthesize the ring-shaped molecule peptidoglycan," explains Professor Rudel, who heads the Chair of Microbiology at the JMU Biocenter. In bacteria, this ring molecule is generally a building material of the cell wall. Chlamydiae use it for the construction of a new wall that is drawn into the bacterial cell during division.
 
Next, the JMU team hopes to clarify the importance of the glutamine metabolism in chronic chlamydiae infections. This might provide information that might help to better understand the development of severe diseases as a result of the infection.
 
Chlamydiae cause most venereal diseases in Germany. The bacteria are sexually transmitted and can cause inflammation in the urethra, vagina or anal area. If an infection is detected in time, it can be treated well with antibiotics.
 
Around 130 million people worldwide are infected with Chlamydia. The biggest problem is that the infection usually proceeds without noticeable symptoms. This makes it easier for the pathogen to spread, this leads to severe or chronic diseases such as cervical and ovarian cancer.
 
 
 
Baby boomers show concerning decline in cognitive functioning
Trend reverses progress over several generations, study finds
Ohio State University, August 3, 2020
 
In a reversal of trends, American baby boomers scored lower on a test of cognitive functioning than did members of previous generations, according to a new nationwide study.
 
Findings showed that average cognition scores of adults aged 50 and older increased from generation to generation, beginning with the greatest generation (born 1890-1923) and peaking among war babies (born 1942-1947).
 
Scores began to decline in the early baby boomers (born 1948-1953) and decreased further in the mid baby boomers (born 1954-1959).
 
While the prevalence of dementia has declined recently in the United States, these results suggest those trends may reverse in the coming decades, according to study author Hui Zheng, professor of sociology at The Ohio State University.
 
"It is shocking to see this decline in cognitive functioning among baby boomers after generations of increases in test scores," Zheng said.
 
"But what was most surprising to me is that this decline is seen in all groups: men and women, across all races and ethnicities and across all education, income and wealth levels."
Results showed lower cognitive functioning in baby boomers was linked to less wealth, along with higher levels of loneliness, depression, inactivity and obesity, and less likelihood of being married.
 
The study was published online recently in the Journals of Gerontology: Social Sciences.
 
Zheng analyzed data on 30,191 Americans who participated in the 1996 to 2014 Health and Retirement Survey, conducted by the University of Michigan. People over 51 years old were surveyed every two years.
 
As part of the study, participants completed a cognitive test in which they had to recall words they had heard earlier, count down from 100 by 7s, name objects they were shown and perform other tasks.
 
Other research has shown that overall rates of mortality and illness have increased in baby boomers, but generally found that the highly educated and wealthiest were mostly spared.
 
"That's why it was so surprising to me to see cognitive declines in all groups in this study," Zheng said. "The declines were only slightly lower among the wealthiest and most highly educated."
 
Zheng also compared cognition scores within each age group across generations so that scores are not skewed by older people who tend to have poorer cognition. Even in this analysis, the baby boomers came out on bottom.
 
"Baby boomers already start having lower cognition scores than earlier generations at age 50 to 54," he said.
 
The question, then, is what has happened to baby boomers? Zheng looked for clues across the lifetimes of those in the study.
 
Increasing cognition scores in previous generations could be tied to beneficial childhood conditions - conditions that were similar for baby boomers, Zheng said.
 
Baby boomers' childhood health was as good as or better than previous generations and they came from families that had higher socioeconomic status. They also had higher levels of education and better occupations.
 
"The decline in cognitive functioning that we're seeing does not come from poorer childhood conditions," Zheng said.
 
The biggest factors linked to lower cognition scores among baby boomers in the study were lower wealth, higher levels of self-reported loneliness and depression, lack of physical activity and obesity.
 
Living without a spouse, being married more than once in their lives, having psychiatric problems and cardiovascular risk factors including strokes, hypertension, heart disease and diabetes were also associated with lower cognitive functioning among people in this generation.
 
"If it weren't for their better childhood health, move favorable family background, more years of education and higher likelihood of having a white-collar occupation, baby boomers would have even worse cognitive functioning," Zheng said.
 
There were not enough late baby boomers (born in 1960 or later) to include in this study, but Zheng said he believes they will fare no better. The same might be true for following generations unless we find a solution for the problems found here, he said.
 
While many of the problems linked to lower cognitive functioning are symptoms of modern life, like less connection with friends and family and growing economic inequality, other problems found in this study are unique to the United States, Zheng said. One example would be the lack of universal access and high cost of health care.
 
"Part of the story here are the problems of modern life, but it is also about life in the U.S.," he said.
 
One of the biggest concerns is that cognitive functioning when people are in their 50s and 60s is related to their likelihood of having dementia when they are older.
"With the aging population in the United States, we were already likely to see an increase in the number of people with dementia," Zheng said.
 
"But this study suggests it may be worse than we expected for decades to come."
 
 
 
Study: Experiencing childhood trauma makes body and brain age faster
Findings could help explain why children who suffer trauma often face poor health later in life
Harvard University, August 2, 2020
 
Children who suffer trauma from abuse or violence early in life show biological signs of aging faster than children who have never experienced adversity, according to research published by the American Psychological Association. The study examined three different signs of biological aging--early puberty, cellular aging and changes in brain structure--and found that trauma exposure was associated with all three.
 
"Exposure to adversity in childhood is a powerful predictor of health outcomes later in life--not only mental health outcomes like depression and anxiety, but also physical health outcomes like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer," said Katie McLaughlin, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at Harvard University and senior author of the study published in the journal Psychological Bulletin. "Our study suggests that experiencing violence can make the body age more quickly at a biological level, which may help to explain that connection."
 
Previous research found mixed evidence on whether childhood adversity is always linked to accelerated aging. However, those studies looked at many different types of adversity--abuse, neglect, poverty and more--and at several different measures of biological aging. To disentangle the results, McLaughlin and her colleagues decided to look separately at two categories of adversity: threat-related adversity, such as abuse and violence, and deprivation-related adversity, such as physical or emotional neglect or poverty.
 
The researchers performed a meta-analysis of almost 80 studies, with more than 116,000 total participants. They found that children who suffered threat-related trauma such as violence or abuse were more likely to enter puberty early and also showed signs of accelerated aging on a cellular level-including shortened telomeres, the protective caps at the ends of our strands of DNA that wear down as we age. However, children who experienced poverty or neglect did not show either of those signs of early aging.
 
In a second analysis, McLaughlin and her colleagues systematically reviewed 25 studies with more than 3,253 participants that examined how early-life adversity affects brain development. They found that adversity was associated with reduced cortical thickness - a sign of aging because the cortex thins as people age. However, different types of adversity were associated with cortical thinning in different parts of the brain. Trauma and violence were associated with thinning in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which is involved in social and emotional processing, while deprivation was more often associated with thinning in the frontoparietal, default mode and visual networks, which are involved in sensory and cognitive processing.
 
These types of accelerated aging might originally have descended from useful evolutionary adaptations, according to McLaughlin. In a violent and threat-filled environment, for example, reaching puberty earlier could make people more likely to be able to reproduce before they die. And faster development of brain regions that play a role in emotion processing could help children identify and respond to threats, keeping them safer in dangerous environments. But these once-useful adaptations may have grave health and mental health consequences in adulthood.
 
The new research underscores the need for early interventions to help avoid those consequences. All of the studies looked at accelerated aging in children and adolescents under age 18. "The fact that we see such consistent evidence for faster aging at such a young age suggests that the biological mechanisms that contribute to health disparities are set in motion very early in life. This means that efforts to prevent these health disparities must also begin during childhood," McLaughlin said.
 
There are numerous evidence-based treatments that can improve mental health in children who have experienced trauma, McLaughlin said. "A critical next step is determining whether these psychosocial interventions might also be able to slow down this pattern of accelerated biological aging. If this is possible, we may be able to prevent many of the long-term health consequences of early-life adversity," she says.

Gary Null - 08.04.20

The Gary Null Show is here to inform you on the best news in health, healing, the environment. 
 
Our Great Awokening and France’s Great Terror
samuel gregg
As efforts intensify to purge anyone and anything from Western culture that offends the illiberal left’s sensitivities, the fanaticism which drives the Great Awokening has become abundantly evident. To question the 1619 project’s factual veracity, for example, is seen as evidence of implicit racism. Any confidence that the American Founding has something to teach the world is considered an instance of what Marxists call “false consciousness.” References to reason, evidence, rule of law, or the West’s Jewish and Christian heritages are viewed as the language of someone hopelessly in thrall to “Eurocentric” outlooks.
What impresses me, however, is less the historically-illiterate justifications offered for the decapitation of statutes of Christopher Columbus, than the righteous fury visible in the eyes of those shouting slogans like “Rhodes Must Fall!” Prudence, circumspection, and subtly are out. Raw emotion and ideological purity are in. You are either with us or against us. And if you don’t endorse everything that we—the woke—think, say and do, be prepared to face the consequences.
The problem is that once that particular tiger gets out of its cage, putting it back in is extremely difficult. There are always plenty on the left willing to be more radical than thou, and who will interpret any reticence to affirm wholeheartedly their positions as prima facie evidence of backsliding or outright treachery. That’s a dynamic which we’re seen before with people like Che Guevara and Lenin. But the standard-setter for such behavior was the French Revolution’s most violent stage, commonly known as la Terreur.
From Hope and Anticipation, to Fear and Trembling
Few events have been more thoroughly parsed, praised, and castigated as the French Revolution. That owes something to the sense that the Revolution was one of those rare occasions that represented a decisive break with the past. Contemporary witnesses describe the millenarian-like hopes that permeated French society in the immediate aftermath of 1789. But fascination with the French Revolution also has much to do with another factor: the penchant for frenzied violence which raised its head right from the beginning.
Every Revolution has its casualties. Loyalists were among those of the American Revolution. Many of them were subject to anti-Tory laws which ranged from being disenfranchised to large fines. Compared, however, to other revolutions, the Loyalists got off lightly. The Bolshevik seizure of power in October 1917 was followed by the targeting of anyone officially designated by the new regime as “former people.” Arbitrary imprisonment, confiscation of property, and terror were used ruthlessly against groups like the nobility, but gradually extended to categories who had hardly been friends of the Czarist regime: classical liberals, constitutionalists, businessmen, etc.
It was, however, the French Revolution which established the modern benchmark for systematic violence against anyone insufficiently in sync with the political views of whoever is in charge at any given moment. Many of the Revolution’s early leaders—people like the American Revolutionary hero, the Marquis de Lafayette—quickly became persona non grata as the revolutionary tumult escalated through successive thresholds of rage. Those revolutionaries who managed to transition through each stage were few in number. Many eventually found themselves strapped to a guillotine. Others eked out miserable existences in exile alongside the royalists who preceded them.
Over the past two centuries, many explanations have been offered for the frantic character of the Revolution’s violence. They include pent-up resentment against the old regime, fears of fifth columnists who might help invading foreign armies, concerns about counter-revolutionary plots, and the outbreak of full-scale popular uprisings in 1793 against the Paris government in provinces ranging from the Vendée to Brittany and cities like Marseille and Lyon. Virtually all historians of the Revolution underscore the widespread paranoia that occupied the minds of Revolutionary leaders but also many ordinary citizens, particularly those living in cities and for whom politics had become the be-all and end-all of life.
There was, however, something else at work which became apparent after Louis XVI’s execution on January 21, 1793, and the subsequent acceleration of tensions between the two groups which then dominated Revolutionary politics: the Girondins and the Jacobins. While the former were considered more moderate than the latter, both groups were firmly on the left of the revolutionary scale. That, however, didn’t save the Girondins from being destroyed by the logic that came to direct French political life and which resulted in thousands being executed before the Terror ended with the guillotining of the man most associated with it on July 28, 1794.
One Single Will
Given his public reputation as the Terror’s chief architect, many are surprised to learn that Maximilian Robespierre wasn’t the most extreme Jacobin. As a group, those associated with the Jacobin Club were divided into factions constantly at odds with each other. Some like Jacques Hébert, leader of the Hébertistes and editor of the radical newspaper Le Père Duchesne, were far to Robespierre’s left. Neither the Hébertistes’ inclination to militant atheism nor their desire for direct state control of much of the economy were to Robespierre’s taste. Others, such as Georges Danton, eventually gravitated to Robespierre’s right. Danton had played a major role in the Monarchy’s overthrow in August 1792 and did nothing to stop the September Massacres which followed. By late-1793, however, Danton had become convinced of the folly of persecuting the Church and was calling for an end to extreme revolutionary violence.
In a way, however, the details of these policy differences were unimportant to Robespierre and close allies like Louis Antoine de Saint-Just. What really mattered to Robespierre was that there could be no differences. According to Robespierre, France needed what he famously called une volonté une (one single will). In this ideal, he believed, was to be found the Revolution’s ultimate security and salvation from its enemies, foreign and domestic.
As a scholarship boy at one of France’s most prestigious schools, the Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Robespierre had been influenced by two sets of writings which featured significantly during the late-French Enlightenment. The first were classical texts which extolled the virtues of the Roman Republic and its leaders. The second were the works of Jean-Jacques Rousseau, especially his 1762 book Du contrat social(The Social Contract), and his popularization of what was called la volonté générale.
For Rousseau, the “general will” didn’t necessarily mean what an actual majority of people in a given political society wanted. Rather, it was the basis for the legitimacy of any government that acted for the well-being of all the people rather than sectional interests. Robespierre took this concept of the general will, but conflated the government and the people at the expense of the latter. “The Government,” he once proclaimed, “has to defend itself against all the factions which attack it; the punishment of the people’s enemies is death.” To criticize the government was thus to be against the people. Ergo, the government could claim that any strike which it launched against its opponents was a strike against “the people’s enemies.”
As Robespierre saw it, Revolutionary France was riddled with factions (including those which split the Jacobins) and threatened by those who wished to overthrow the government. Consequently, it was the responsibility of the virtuous to strike ruthlessly, in a manner akin to Marcus Junius Brutus’ slaying of Gaius Julius Caesar, against those who stood in the way of the “one single will.” For Robespierre, such enemies of the Republic included those Girondins who had compromised their revolutionary credentials by working with Louis XVI before August 1792, promotors of faction like Danton and Hébert, and those simply incapable of attaining republican virtue (nobles, old regime officials, clergy loyal to Rome, etc.). Expelling these disparate groups from the body politic was how you ensured the general will prevailed and finally realized a united, indivisible and virtuous Republic—that is, one single will.
Naturally, there was a raw power-play dimension to all this. Robespierre saw people like Hébert and Danton as threating his dominance of the government. But it is impossible to underestimate the effects of the depth of Robespierre’s commitment to his ideology: one which led to the inexorable conclusion that being a virtuous citizen of the Republic (like Brutus) meant being willing to use extreme violence (like Brutus) against its foes. Robespierre spelt this out in a speech in February 1794 when the Terror was at its height:
If virtue be the spring of a popular government in times of peace, the spring of that government during a revolution is virtue combined with terror: virtue, without which terror is destructive; terror, without which virtue is impotent. Terror is only justice prompt, severe and inflexible; it is then an emanation of virtue; it is less a distinct principle than a natural consequence of the general principle of democracy, applied to the most pressing wants of the country.
Such thinking is what resulted in about 17,000 people being officially “kissed by Madame Guillotine,” as the saying went, in the name of virtue.
Beware the Coming of the Reign of Wokedom
Two things eventually brought Robespierre undone. The first was the economic crisis which engulfed France in the form of food-shortages and rampant inflation throughout 1794. Given his preeminence in the revolutionary regime, Robespierre become increasingly unpopular among Paris’s hyper-politicized population.
More importantly, enough Revolutionary leaders recognized that the logical conclusion of Robespierre’s outlook was the destruction of anyone who did not fully adopt his positions, and therefore a series of continuous purges with no apparent endpoint. On July 26, 1794, Robespierre effectively confirmed such trepidations when he gave a speech to the National Convention and then to the Jacobin Club arguing that the time had come to “Punish the traitors, purge the bureau of the Committee of General Security, purge the Committee itself, and subordinate it to the Committee of Public Safety, purge the Committee of Public Safety itself and create a unified government under the supreme authority of the Convention!”
This call for the elimination of anyone not 100 percent behind Robespierre led enough Convention members to summon up the courage to purge the master-purger himself. After a short and violent political struggle, Robespierre and 21 of his supporters were guillotined on July 28 at the Place de la Révolution. The Terror was over. But it seared France’s political culture for decades afterward.
The parallels between the France of 1793-1794 and our present Great Awokening are not exact. The historical circumstances are very different. We are not living in the shadow of an old regime. The woke have not seized the levers of political power in the way that Robespierre and his followers did.
The primary similarity between revolutionaries like Robespierre and twenty-first century wokedom is a yearning for ever-increasing ideological purity, something which lends itself to identifying more and more categories of people and ideas as unacceptable. That generates chronic instability as people can never quite know if they and their ideas remain among the elect. Indeed, cancel culture cannot help but actively seek out opponents whose existence is seen as obstructing the creation of a new world purified of error. For without new enemies, it loses its raison d’être.
In this light, those contemporary Girondins who dominate larger municipal governments throughout America and who rule the universities throughout Western countries, would be foolish to imagine that the illiberal left can somehow be placated by letting them riot, loot small businesses, and destroy public monuments. Words like “compromise,” “tolerance,” and “moderation” do not form part of the lexicon of wokery. After all, once “one single will” has been established, such habits become superfluous.
Perhaps at some point, the woke will turn on themselves as they try to outdo each other in showing whose consciousness has been raised the most. Unless or until that happens, however, anyone who sits on the vast spectrum from the liberal-minded left through to conservative traditionalists should have no illusions that the woke—like Robespierre—will be satisfied with anything less than complete submission. And that would represent the end of liberty in any meaningful sense as well as the civilization which gave rise to it.