The Gary Null Show

The Gary Null Show - 06.21.21

VIDEOS
 
1. Sen. Johnson and Dr. Pierre Kory on the impact of censorship in fight against COVID-19
 
2. New Rule: Getting It in the Nuts | Real Time with Bill Maher (HBO)
 
3.  Black father destroys critical race theory at school board meeting
 
4.  Wuhan 15,00 bat samples and their virus databases all wiped from the internet
 
5. Fauci, Gain-of-Function Research, and Wuhan Lab Funding. Joe Rogan with Krystal Ball & Saagar Enjeti
 
Krystal Ball and Sagaar Enjeti are political commentators and hosts of the YouTube show and podcast "Breaking Points".
 
CoQ10 supplementation associated with lower pro-inflammatory factors in randomized trial
Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences (Iran), June 8 2021 
 
A double-blind trial reported in the International Journal of Vitamin and Nutrition Research found a reduction in markers ofinflammation in mildly hypertensive patients given coenzyme Q10 (CoQ10) for twelve weeks. Participants who received CoQ10 also experienced an increase in adiponectin: a protein secreted by adipose tissue that has an anti-inflammatory effect and which has been found to be reduced in high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease.
 
"Considering that coenzyme Q10 has attracted noticeable attention in recent years for the treatment of cardiovascular diseases and hypertension in regard to its effect on inflammatory factors such as cytokines, it is therefore hypothesized that supplementation with coenzyme Q10 reduces the proinflammatory factors," write Nasim Bagheri Nesami of Iran's Shahid Sadoughi University of Medical Sciences and colleagues. "This study was conducted in order to determine the effects of coenzyme Q10 on proinflammatory factors as well as on adiponectin in patients with mild hypertension."
Sixty men and women were randomized to receive 100 milligrams CoQ10 or a placebo for a twelve week period. Plasma adiponectin, high-sensitivity C-reactive protein (hs-CRP, a marker of inflammation) and the cytokines interleukin 2, interleukin 6 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha were measured before and after treatment.
At the end of the study, participants who received CoQ10 had significant declines in interleukin-6 and hs-CRP compared with levels measured upon enrollment. They also experienced an increase in adiponectin, while levels in the placebo group slightly declined.
The authors suggest that CoQ10 could be prescribed as a supplement along with antihypertensive medication for patients with mildly elevated blood pressure, and recommend that further research be conducted to validate the current findings.
 
 
Exposure to nature during COVID-19 lockdown was beneficial for mental health
A study by the ICTA-UAB and the University of Porto analyses the effects of exposure to green spaces during the first months of the COVID19 pandemic in Spain and Portugal
Universitat Autònoma of Barcelona (Spain), June 18, 2021
A study carried out by the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology of the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB) and the Instituto de Saúde Pública of the University of Porto (ISPUP), concludes that exposure to natural spaces during the first COVID-19 lockdown in 2020 was beneficial for the mental health of Spanish and Portuguese citizens.
The research shows that, in Portugal, during the first confinement, people who maintained or increased contact with natural public spaces, such as parks and coastal areas, or who could contemplate these spaces from their homes, presented lower levels of stress, psychological distress and psychosomatic symptoms.
In Spain, those who maintained or increased contact with private natural spaces, such as indoor plants or community green areas, presented lower levels of stress and psychosomatic symptoms. This could be due to the fact that Spain adopted more restrictive measures for foreign circulation during the period analysed.
The research Exposure to nature and mental health outcomes during COVID-19 lockdown. A comparison between Portugal and Spain, published in the journal Environment International, was conducted between March and May 2020.
Dr Ana Isabel Ribeiro, researcher at the ISPUP and first author of the work together with Margarita Triguero-Mas from the ICTA-UAB says that "we decided to study whether natural, public and private spaces had a beneficial effect on the mental health of Portuguese and Spanish citizens, helping them to better cope with the negative effects of lockdown". For her part, Margarita Triguero-Mas adds that "people around us and ourselves talked about how we missed the park we crossed when we went to the office or the walk on the beach with our dogs, so we wanted to check to what extent contact with natural spaces was an important factor during confinement".
Several previous articles have also shown the positive impact of exposure to natural spaces on mental health, that is, in reducing stress, anxiety and improving psychological well-being as a whole. "Taking into account what is described in the literature, we wanted to evaluate whether people who enjoyed greater exposure to natural spaces during the first COVID-19 lockdown had better mental health indicators than those who had no contact with natural areas", explains Dr Ribeiro. At the same time, they wanted to investigate whether exposure to private natural spaces, such as gardens, orchards or plants, was more beneficial among Spanish citizens than among Portuguese, given that Spain applied stricter measures to restrict mobility than Portugal.
To carry out the research, the authors applied an online questionnaire, between March 27 and May 6, 2020, aimed at all citizens aged 18 years old or older, residing in Spain or Portugal. The survey covered aspects related to the frequency and type of exposure people had to natural spaces (public and private), before and during the first confinement; mental health questions to assess levels of stress, mental disorders and somatization symptoms, and sociodemographic issues. Of the more than 3,000 citizens (n = 3,157) who answered the questionnaire, 1,638 were Portuguese and 1,519 Spanish.
In both countries, during the confinement, there was a significant reduction in the use of public natural spaces, such as beaches, parks and gardens, and an increase in contact with private natural spaces, such as community gardens, urban gardens and plants, especially in Spain. People living in single-family houses (detached house) and flats located in cities were the ones who least maintained or increased their exposure to public natural spaces in both countries.
In Spain, where the measures during the period analysed were much more restrictive and it was forbidden to leave the house and public outdoor spaces were closed, the benefits of exposure to public natural spaces were not as relevant as in Portugal, but it was clear the importance of private natural elements. Among the Spanish citizens who participated in the study, 66% decreased the frequency of exposure to public natural spaces (compared to 54% in Portugal).
In Spain, people who had the opportunity to continue dedicating or increasing the time dedicated to caring for their plants had lower stress levels, while those who were able to continue enjoying or increasing the time of use of community green spaces had lower rates of somatization. 
In Spain, it is remarkable that the people who least maintained or increased the care of indoor plants were people over 65 years of age, those who lived with several people at home or those who were in a second residence during confinement. In contrast, the people who maintained or increased the care of indoor plants the most were those with children, but without dependent adults.
In Portugal, those who were confined the longest and those who commuted to work were those who least maintained or increased their contact with the natural public spaces. In turn, those who practiced physical exercise indicated greater exposure to these places. Portuguese citizens who managed to maintain or increase their exposure to natural public spaces showed lower levels of stress compared to those who did not. Likewise, those who contemplated natural spaces from their homes obtained improvements in all the mental health outcomes analysed: stress, mental disorders and somatization.
"This study clearly demonstrates the benefit of natural spaces for the mental health of the population in a context of public health crisis," says Ana Isabel Ribeiro. "Public authorities and decision-makers could implement measures that facilitate access to natural public spaces, in a safe and controlled manner, in the context of a pandemic. This is particularly important for the most socially and economically vulnerable population groups, and for those who have little access to these spaces in their private context", she emphasizes.
In addition, Dr Triguero-Mas adds that "our study is especially important for cities like Barcelona, where new buildings rarely have balconies or community spaces with vegetation. It is important to revalue how building remodelling or new homes can be healthier spaces that promote and prevent deterioration in the health of the people who inhabit them".
Flame retardants and pesticides overtake heavy metals as biggest contributors to IQ loss
New York University, June 2, 2021
 
Adverse outcomes from childhood exposures to lead and mercury are on the decline in the United States, likely due to decades of restrictions on the use of heavy metals, a new study finds.
Despite decreasing levels, exposure to these and other toxic chemicals, especially flame retardants and pesticides, still resulted in more than a million cases of intellectual disability in the United States between 2001 and 2016. Furthermore, as the target of significantly fewer restrictions, experts say, flame retardants and pesticides now represent the bulk of that cognitive loss.
NYU Grossman School of Medicine researchers found that IQ loss from the toxic chemicals analyzed in their study dropped from 27 million IQ points in 2001 and 2002 to 9 million IQ points in 2015 and 2016.
While this overall decline is promising, the researchers say, their findings also identify a concerning shift in which chemicals represent the greatest risk. Among toxin-exposed children, the researchers found that the proportion of cognitive loss that results from exposure to chemicals used in flame retardants, called polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PDBEs), and organophosphate pesticides increased from 67 percent to 81 percent during the same study period.
"Our findings suggest that our efforts to reduce exposure to heavy metals are paying off, but that toxic exposures in general continue to represent a formidable risk to Americans' physical, mental, and economic health," says lead study investigator Abigail Gaylord, MPH, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Population Health at NYU Langone. "Unfortunately, the minimal policies in place to eliminate pesticides and flame retardants are clearly not enough."
The substances analyzed are found in household products from furniture upholstery to tuna fish, and can build up in the body to damage organs, researchers say. Heavy metals, lead and mercury in particular, are known to disrupt brain and kidney function. In addition, they, along with flame retardants and pesticides, can interfere with the thyroid, which secretes brain-developing hormones. Experts say exposure at a young age to any of these toxins can cause learning disabilities, autism, and behavioral issues.
In their investigation, the researchers found that everyday contact with these substances during the 16-year study period resulted in roughly 1,190,230 children affected with some form of intellectual disability. Overall childhood exposures cost the nation $7.5 trillion in lost economic productivity and other societal costs.
"Although people argue against costly regulations, unrestricted use of these chemicals is far more expensive in the long run, with American children bearing the largest burden," says senior study author Leonardo Trasande, MD, MPP, the Jim G. Hendrick, MD Professor at NYU Langone Health.
Publishing online Jan. 14 in the journal Molecular and Cellular Endocrinology, the new study is the only long-term neurological and economic investigation of its kind, the authors say. The investigators analyzed PBDE, organophosphate, lead, and methylmercury exposures in blood samples from women of childbearing age and 5-year-olds. Data on women and children was obtained from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey.
The researchers used results from several previous environmental health studies to estimate the annual number of IQ points lost per unit of exposure to each of the four main chemicals in the study. Then, they estimated the lost productivity and medical costs over the course of the children's lives linked to long-term intellectual disability using a second algorithm, which valued each lost IQ point at $22,268 and each case of intellectual disability at $1,272,470.
While exposure to these chemicals persists despite tightened regulations, experts say Americans can help limit some of the effects by avoiding the use of household products or foods that contain them.
"Frequently opening windows to let persistent chemicals found in furniture, electronics, and carpeting escape, and eating certified organic produce can reduce exposure to these toxins," says Trasande, who also serves as chief of environmental pediatrics in the Department of Pediatrics at NYU Langone.
Trasande notes that the impact of these chemicals may be worse than their study can capture since there are far more hazards that affect brain development than the four highlighted in the investigation, and other potential consequences beyond IQ loss. "All the more reason we need closer federal monitoring of these substances," she says.
The study authors say they plan to explore the cost of exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals in other countries.
Red meat consumption may promote DNA damage-assoc. mutation in colorectal cancer patients
Study provides mechanistic link between red meat consumption and colorectal cancer development
Harvard Medical School, June 17, 2021
Bottom Line: Genetic mutations indicative of DNA damage were associated with high red meat consumption and increased cancer-related mortality in patients with colorectal cancer.
Journal in Which the Study was Published: Cancer Discovery, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research
Author: Marios Giannakis, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and a physician at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute
Background: "We have known for some time that consumption of processed meat and red meat is a risk factor for colorectal cancer," said Giannakis. The International Agency for Research on Cancer declared that processed meat was carcinogenic and that red meat was probably carcinogenic to humans in 2015. 
Experiments in preclinical models have suggested that red meat consumption may promote the formation of carcinogenic compounds in the colon, but a direct molecular link to colorectal cancer development in patients has not been shown, Giannakis explained. "What is missing is a demonstration that colorectal cancers from patients have a specific pattern of mutations that can be attributed to red meat," he said. "Identifying these molecular changes in colon cells that can cause cancer would not only support the role of red meat in colorectal cancer development but would also provide novel avenues for cancer prevention and treatment."
How the Study was Conducted: To identify genetic changes associated with red meat intake, Giannakis and colleagues sequenced DNA from matched normal and colorectal tumor tissues from 900 patients with colorectal cancer who had participated in one of three nationwide prospective cohort studies, namely the Nurses' Health Studies and the Health Professionals Follow-Up Study. All patients had previously provided information on their diets, lifestyles, and other factors over the course of several years prior to their colorectal cancer diagnoses. 
Results: Analysis of DNA sequencing data revealed the presence of several mutational signatures in normal and cancerous colon tissue, including a signature indicative of alkylation, a form of DNA damage. The alkylating signature was significantly associated with pre-diagnosis intake of processed or unprocessed red meat, but not with pre-diagnosis intake of poultry or fish or with other lifestyle factors. Red meat consumption was not associated with any of the other mutational signatures identified in this study. In line with prior studies linking red meat consumption with cancer incidence in the distal colon, Giannakis and colleagues found that normal and cancerous tissue from the distal colon had significantly higher alkylating damage than tissue from the proximal colon. 
Using a predictive model, the researchers identified the KRAS and PIK3CA genes as potential targets of alkylation-induced mutation. Consistent with this prediction, they found that colorectal tumors harboring KRAS G12D, KRAS G13D, or PIK3CA E545K driver mutations, which are commonly observed in colorectal cancer, had greater enrichment of the alkylating signature compared to tumors without these mutations. The alkylating signature was also associated with patient survival: Patients whose tumors had the highest levels of alkylating damage had a 47 percent greater risk of colorectal cancer-specific death compared to patients with lower levels of damage.
Author's Comments: "Our study identified for the first time an alkylating mutational signature in colon cells and linked it to red meat consumption and cancer driver mutations," said Giannakis. "These findings suggest that red meat consumption may cause alkylating damage that leads to cancer-causing mutations in KRAS and PIK3CA, thereby promoting colorectal cancer development. Our data further support red meat intake as a risk factor for colorectal cancer and also provide opportunities to prevent, detect, and treat this disease." 
Giannakis explained that if physicians could identify individuals who are genetically predisposed to accumulating alkylating damage, these individuals could be counseled to limit red meat intake as a form of precision prevention. In addition, the alkylating mutational signature could be used as a biomarker to identify patients at greater risk of developing colorectal cancer or to detect cancer at an early stage. Because of its association with patient survival, the alkylating signature may also have potential as a prognostic biomarker. However, future studies are needed to explore these possibilities, Giannakis noted.
Study Limitations: A limitation of the study is the potential selection bias of study participants, as tissue specimens could not be retrieved from all incident colorectal cancer cases in the cohort studies. Current studies from Giannakis and his colleagues are exploring the potential role of red meat intake and alkylating damage in diverse groups of patients.
Funding & Disclosures: The study was supported by the National Institutes of Health, the Stand Up To Cancer Colorectal Cancer Dream Team Translational Research Grant (co-administered by the AACR), the Project P Fund, the Cancer Research UK Grand Challenge Award, the Nodal Award from the Dana-Farber Harvard Cancer Center, the Friends of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Bennett Family Fund, and the Entertainment Industry Foundation through the National Colorectal Cancer Research Alliance and Stand Up To Cancer. 
Giannakis has received research funding from Bristol-Myers Squibb, Merck, Servier, and Janssen unrelated to this study.
Association of higher average daily polyphenol intake with Mediterranean diet adherence and decreased waist to hip circumference
University of the Aegean (Greece), June 14, 2021
According to news reporting originating from the University of the Aegean research stated, “Research data indicate the possible effect of both polyphenols consumption and Mediterranean diet adherence on metabolic diseases’ prevalence. The present retrospective study investigated the possible association of polyphenols mean daily intake with Mediterranean diet adherence and anthropometric indices in a sample of the Greek population.”
Our news reporters obtained a quote from the research from University of the Aegean: “A total of 250 healthy volunteers, aged between 18 and 65 years, were randomly recruited from central and northern Greece. Total daily polyphenols intake was estimated using a semi-quantitative food frequency questionnaire (FFQ) based on the NHANES study, while Med Diet Score was used for the degree of Mediterranean diet adoption. Daily polyphenols intake was identified by the Phenol Explorer database, and anthropometric measurements (BMI, waist-to-hip circumference, and body composition) were performed. The mean daily polyphenols intake was determined to be 1905 mg, while most of the participants had moderate or high mean consumption last year (67.5% of the sample were consuming more than 1000 mg/d). Moderate adherence to the Mediterranean diet (higher Med Diet Score) was associated with increased mean daily polyphenols intake (* * p* * = 0.016). Increased polyphenols intake and higher Med Diet Score were associated with decreased waist-to-hip circumference (* * p* * = 0.027, 0.004, respectively).”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Specific functional foods rich in polyphenols, such as sour cherry, tomatoes, black tea, and cocoa were associated with improved body composition indices. Larger epidemiological studies need to be performed for safer conclusions about whole population polyphenols intake and its association with metabolic disease biomarkers.”
Whole, natural fiber works best to protect gut mucosal layer, researcher says
University of Michigan, June 12, 2021
Dietary fiber plays an important role in protecting the gut’s mucosal layer, according to research presented at the recent Probiota Americas event.
It has long been known that the gut stays healthier and performs better with adequate fiber. But why? This is one of the questions that informed the research conducted by Dr Eric Martens, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology at the University of Michigan. Martens presented his research at the  IPA World Congress + Probiota Americas event, which was hosted by William Reed in Chicago last week. The event brought together 280 regulators, probiotics and prebiotics researchers and product developers. 
Protecting the mucosal layer
Martens said that his research showed that without adequate fiber in the gut, some organisms that might be nourished by that food source will look to alternative sources, one of which is the gut’s mucosal layer. That layer is a critical component of the gut wall, and when it is eroded or absent harmful bacteria have an opportunity to latch onto the cells of the wall itself.
“The core of our research is we are interested in the physiology of the many bacteria that live in the gut and defining at the functional and mechanistic level how they work with goal of understanding how the community works,” Martens said.
The study he presented used 14 different bacteria with defined characteristics in a mouse model. The study had three groups, a group fed a fiber free diet, one with a whole grain diet rich in natural fibers, and a third that had fiber added back in in the form of purified, prebiotic fibers.  His research found that the whole grain, natural fibers fostered a microbial community in which the muscosa-eroding organisms were suppressed the best. He postulated that this could be because the large, whole food particles typical of the natural fiber diet were best able to reach the distal regions of the gut and affect the microbial community makeup there, whereas the purified fibers may have been mostly digested by that point.
What Is the Liver Powerhouse Silymarin?
GreenMedInfo  June 17th 2021
 
Here's what science has found most beneficial about silymarin, extracted from milk thistle and known to be a friend of your liver mainly through its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties
When it comes to treating liver and gallbladder disorders, there is one name that stands out: silymarin. As a group of flavonolignans extracted from milk thistle, silymarin has been traditionally used for various protective benefits, from reinvigorating liver function to promoting breast milk production.
The milk thistle plant, scientifically known as Silybum marianum, is a prickly plant with purple flowers and milky white veins present on the leaves, thus its name. Silymarin is the group of plant compounds that act as its active ingredient.[i]
Silymarin is the main bioactive component of this medicinal plant. It is a mix of various flavonolignans, includings silybinin A and B, isosilybinin A and B, silychristin and silydianin.[ii] Milk thistle extract has a high silymarin content of approximately 65% to 80%.
Silymarin is famed for its antioxidant, antiviral and anti-inflammatory components,[iii] as well as its traditional use or treating the liver and restoring its health. In addition, milk thistle itself is generally considered safe to take. Side effects are rare, and in an oral form standardized to contain 70% to 80% silymarin, it appears to be safe for up to 41 months of use.[iv]
Silymarin's Liver-Protective Effects
Fights liver inflammation and liver damage. Mounting evidence shows improvements in liver function among people with liver diseases who have taken a milk thistle supplement.[v] This suggests protection against flavanone silibinin liver inflammation and liver damage through use of the natural -- silymarin's primary active component -- which was combined with phosphatidylcholine in a specific study to enhance its solubility and bioavailability.
Protects from toxins such as amatoxin, produced by Amanita mushroom, which can cause death if ingested. Two cases in the U.S. were treated with N-acetylcysteine, high-dose penicillin, cimetidine and silibinin.[vi]
Uncontrolled trials and case reports cited successful treatment with intravenous silibinin, a flavonolignan isolated from milk thistle extracts, in nearly 1,500 cases.[vii] Overall mortality in those treated with the formula was less than 10%, compared to more than 20%when using penicillin, or a mix of silibinin and penicillin.
Reduces liver fibrosis. In a randomized trial of 99 patients, the team administered silymarin in 700-milligram (mg) doses, or a placebo, given three times daily for 48 weeks.[viii] Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) activity score was reduced by 32.7% in the silymarin group compared to 26% in the placebo group.
Among the secondary outcomes were reductions in inflammation and fibrosis score in the silymarin group, leading the researchers to conclude that silymarin may decrease liver fibrosis, to be confirmed in larger trials. Fibrosis is the formation of abnormally large amounts of scar tissue in the liver.
Helps prevent liver cancer. Studies have concluded that the long-term use of silymarin significantly increases survival time among patients with alcohol-induced liver cirrhosis, a risk factor for liver cancer. Silymarin can also significantly reduce tumor cell proliferation, angiogenesis or new blood vessel formation, as well as insulin resistance.[ix]
The chemopreventive effects "have been established in several studies using in vitro and in vivo methods," according to the researchers, and combine well with anti-inflammatory and inhibitory effects on the metastasis or spread of cancer.
Contributes to liver regeneration. An animal study suggested that silymarin played a crucial role in accelerating liver regeneration after liver resection, a kind of surgery designed to remove cancerous tumors from the liver.[x] Liver regeneration is thought to evolve to protect animals from loss of liver due to toxins or tissue injury.
Silymarin for Breastfeeding, Neurological Support
Not to be ignored is silymarin's formidable list of other health benefits, such as boosting milk production in lactating mothers. A randomized trial found that mothers taking 420 mg of silymarin for 63 days produced more breast milk than subjects who took a placebo.[xi] Silymarin combined with phosphatidylserine and galega also increased milk production in moms of preterm infants, without any significant side effects.[xii]
Milk thistle is also a traditional remedy for neurological disorders such as Alzheimer'sand Parkinson's diseases. Its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory action mean it may be neuroprotective and help prevent the brain decline experienced with aging.

The Gary Null Show - 06.18.20

Are the Covid-19 vaccines “safe and effective”?
 

The Gary Null Show - 06.17.21

Dr. Elizabeth Mumper is pediatrician, and the president and CEO of Rimland Center in Virginia that mentors medical practitioners and clinicians working with children with neurodevelopmental problems. She also runs a general pediatric practice -- Advocates for Children, and her Advocates for Families practice is devoted to caring for autistic children and those with learning disabilities.  Liz has received many awards for her work with children including a public service award from the National Press Club and being named Woman of the Year by the YWCA.  Earlier she was the medical director of the Autism research Center. Dr Mumper received her medical degree from the Medical College of Virginia and did her residency at the University of Massachusetts and the University of Virginia. Later she served as chief resident of pediatrics at the University of Virginia. She has traveled worldwide lecturing on children with autism and mentoring physicians internationally. Her website is RimlandCenter.com
 

The Gary Null Show - 06.16.21

The Gary Null Show Notes – 06.16.21
VIDEOS
1. RIGHT NOW – Robert Malone, Steve Kirsch, and Bret Weinstein! 2:17:34-2:42:00
Dr. Robert Malone is the inventor of mRNA Vaccine technology.
Mr. Steve Kirsch is a serial entrepreneur who has been researching adverse reactions to
COVID vaccines.
Dr. Bret Weinstein is an evolutionary biologist.
2. Former Pfizer VP and Virologist, Dr. Michael Yeadon – Del Bigtree. 
Sorry, Liberals. But You Really Shouldn’t Love NATO. 
Fauci Is Under Fire On All Sides Now
Wuhan Lab Controversy Illustrates How Government Funding Throttles Scientific Integrity
Why Democracies in G7 & NATO Should Reject U.S. Leadership 
Britain is a Parasite on Other Countries
EU Parliament Overwhelmingly Votes to End Caged Animal Farming
Biden’s Climate Irresponsibility
Thousands of women and children flee Haiti gang violence, Unicef says
Climate change leads to unprecedented Rocky Mountain wildfires
U.S. College COVID Vaccine Mandates Don’t Consider Immunity or Pregnancy, and May Run Foul of the Law
 
Brown Seaweed as an Intervention for Diet-Induced Obesity 
University of New South Wales (Australia), May 21, 2021
Abstract:
The therapeutic potential of grown in Australian tropical waters was tested in a rat model of metabolic syndrome. Forty-eight male Wistar rats were divided into four groups of 12 rats and each group was fed a different diet for 16 weeks: corn starch diet (C); high-carbohydrate, high-fat diet (H) containing fructose, sucrose, saturated andfats; and C or H diets with 5%mixed into the food from weeks 9 to 16 (CS and HS). Obesity, hypertension, dyslipidaemia, impaired glucose tolerance, fatty liver and left ventricular fibrosis developed in H rats. In HS rats,decreased body weight (H, 547± 14; HS, 490 ± 16 g), fat mass (H, 248 ± 27; HS, 193 ± 19 g), abdominal fat deposition and liver fat vacuole size but did not reverse cardiovascular and liver effects. H rats showed marked changes in gut microbiota compared to C rats, whilesupplementation increased gut microbiota belonging to the family. This selective increase in gut microbiota likely complements the prebiotic actions of the alginates. Thus,may be a useful dietary additive to decrease abdominal and liver fat deposition.
New health benefits of red seaweeds unveiled
Institute for Genomic Biology at University of Illinois, June 15, 2021
Red seaweeds have been prevalent in the diets of Asian communities for thousands of years. In a new study, published in Marine Drugs, researchers have shown how these algae confer health benefits.
“In the past, people have wondered why the number of colon cancer patients in Japan is the lowest in the world,” said Yong-Su Jin (CABBI/BSD/MME), a professor of food microbiology. “Many assumed that it was due to some aspect of the Japanese diet or lifestyle. We wanted to ask whether their seaweed diet was connected to the lower frequency of colon cancer.”
Although several studies have shown that Asians who eat seaweed regularly have lower risk of colon, colorectal, and breast cancer, it was unclear which component was responsible for the anti-cancer effects.
In the study, the researchers broke down the structure of different types of red seaweed using enzymes and tested the sugars that were produced to see which one of them caused health benefits. Among the six different sugars produced, agarotriose and 3,6-anhydro-L-galactose, or AHG, showed the most promise.
“After we produced these sugars, we tested their prebiotic activity using the bacteria Bifidobacterium longum ssp. infantis,” said Eun Ju Yun, a former postdoctoral researcher at the Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology. B. infantis is a probiotic bacterium; it colonizes the gut of infants and provides health benefits. Among the seaweed-derived sugars, the bacteria could only consume agarotriose, indicating that it works as a prebiotic i.e., it improves the growth of probiotic bacteria.
“We also tested another strain, B. kashiwanohense, and found that it also consumed agarotriose,” Jin said. “These results show us that when we eat red seaweed, it gets broken down in the gut and releases these sugars which serve as food for the probiotic bacteria. It could help explain why Japanese populations are healthier compared to others.”
The researchers also tested the sugars to see if they had any anti-cancer activity. “We found that AHG specifically inhibits the growth of human colon cancer cells and does not affect the growth of normal cells,” Yun said. The anti-cancer activity of AHG is due to its ability to trigger apoptosis or cell death.
“There is a lot of information on how red seaweeds are degraded by microorganisms in the ocean and in the human body,” said Kyoung Heon Kim, a professor of biotechnology and the co-advisor on the paper. “Our work explains why red seaweeds are beneficial by providing the molecular mechanism. We will continue studying their function in animal models and hopefully we will be able to use them as a therapeutic agent in the future.”
 
 
 
Hiking Workouts Aren’t Just Good For Your Body – They’re Good For Your Mind Too
University of Hertfordshire (UK), June 11, 2021
Before COVID-19, the popularity of hiking was on a downward slope in both adultsand children. But its popularity has spiked during the pandemic, seeing many more people taking to trails than usual. Hiking is not only a great way to get outside in nature, it also has plenty of physical and mental health benefits for those who take part.
Hiking differs in many way from taking a regular stroll around your neighbourhood. Not only is the terrain on many hiking routes uneven or rocky, there’s also typically some change in elevation, such as going up or down hills. People also tend to wear different footwear – such as hiking boots – which can be heavier than what they’re used to wearing.
These differences in terrain and footwear mean hiking has a higher energy expenditure (more calories burned) than walking on flat ground does. This is due to the fact that we need to use more muscles to stabilise ourselves when walking on uneven terrain.
While brisk walking at a speed of around 5km/h uses up to four times as much energy as sitting down and resting, hiking through fields and hills uses over five times. This means you can achieve the recommended 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity without even needing to go for a run or head to the gym.
The benefits of getting enough exercise are clear. Not only will it improve your physical health, sleep and stress management, exercise also reduces your chances of developing certain chronic diseases, such as dementia, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, depression and certain cancers. In older adults, some research suggests hiking may be able to improve hypertension.
Hiking is also beneficial even for those with pre-existing health conditions. Research shows hiking leads to weight loss and improves cardiovascular health in pre-diabetic adults, likely reducing their risk of getting type 2 diabetes. It’s also been shown to improve other aspects of health, including muscle strength, balance and flexibility in older adults with obesity. Even those who suffer with balance issues or joint problems can hike – as trekking poles may be able to reduce the load on the legs.
The popular form of hiking called Nordic walking – where participants use trekking poles to help them along – is also shown to engage the upper body and increase the intensity of the walking. Research shows this form of hiking increases cardiovascular health, weight loss, and muscle strength in people without any pre-existing health conditions, as well as those with chronic conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease.
A further health benefit of hiking is that it’s classed as “green exercise”. This refers to the added health benefit that doing physical activity in nature has on us. Research shows that not only can green exercise decrease blood pressure, it also benefits mental wellbeing by improving mood and reducing depression to a greater extent than exercising indoors c
 
This is why some research suggests healthcare professionals should recommend hiking to patients as a low-cost way of improving health where possible. In England, there’s even an initiative being piloted by the National Health Service to assess the health impacts of green prescribing – where patients are being prescribed outdoor activities – such as hiking or gardening – to improve their mental and physical health.
Get outdoors
Even if you’ve never hiked before, it’s easy to get started. There are plenty of apps you can download on your phone to help you navigate and find routes. These usually work with your GPS and are even easy to follow for those who have a poor sense of direction.
You can also try the 1,000 mile challenge if you want to start hiking. This encourages people to walk 1,000 miles in a year. This has helped many people – including my own parents – to be more active, especially during COVID-19.
 
If you have a young family (or simply want to make hiking more interesting), a more interactive way of getting out into nature is geocaching. This is where you following a GPS route to a location where someone has hidden a box or trinket of some kind. You can also record what you’ve found using an app. Geocaching is a worldwide phenomenon, so can be done almost anywhere in the world.
Hiking is a great way to get active and improve mental and physical wellbeing. And with many of us still likely to be vacationing locally this year, it can be a great way to get away from home and explore new sights.
Trial finds improvement in metabolic syndrome components, fatty liver, insulin resistance in garlic-intake participants
 
Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences (Iran) June 10, 2921
A randomized trial reported  in Phytotherapy Research found an association between intake of garlic and improvement in several components of metabolic syndrome—a cluster of factors that increase the risk of developing diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease. The trial also revealed a reduction in insulin resistance and fatty liver—conditions that are common among metabolic syndrome patients.
Metabolic syndrome is defined as the presence of three of the following five disorders: abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, elevated blood sugar and low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. 
The trial included 90 men and women with metabolic syndrome who received tablets containing 1,600 milligrams garlic powder (which provided 6 milligrams per day of the garlic compound allicin) or a placebo daily for three months. Blood pressure, fasting glucose, triglycerides, HDL cholesterol, gamma-glutamyltransferase (GGT, an enzyme that is elevated in liver disease and also is associated with cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk), appetite (including hunger, fullness, desire to eat and ability to eat), height, weight, waist circumference, food intake and physical activity were evaluated upon enrollment and at six and twelve weeks.[1, 2] Serum insulin levels were measured at the beginning and end of the study. 
At the trial’s conclusion, participants who received garlic had levels of beneficial HDL cholesterol that were significantly higher than the beginning of the study as well as higher in comparison with the placebo group, whose levels declined. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure, triglyceride levels, waist circumference, insulin and insulin resistance, GGT and fatty liver index (calculated by a standard formula using other measured parameters) were all reduced in the garlic-intake group compared to the placebo. All parameters related to appetite were also improved compared to placebo.
“To the best of our knowledge, there is no clinical trial evaluating the effects of garlic consumption on insulin resistance, appetite, and fatty liver index (FLI) as an accurate predictor of hepatic steatosis among subjects with metabolic syndrome,” authors Abbas Ali Sangouni and colleagues announced. 
“Our study demonstrated a significant decrease in the mean intake of calories after 3-month garlic powder [intake],” they also noted. “There is no clinical trial evaluating the effect of garlic on appetite.”
The current findings reveal a benefit for garlic intake against metabolic syndrome components and related factors. Considering garlic’s low cost and wide availability, as well as its prebiotic action and cardiovascular benefits, adding garlic to a healthy diet and exercise regimen could be an easy and effective measure to help protect against metabolic syndrome and its associated disease risks.
Evaluation of the effect of curcumin on pneumonia: A systematic review of preclinical studies
Isfahan University of Medical Sciences (Iran), May 3, 2021
Pneumonia is a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide and causes a significant burden on the healthcare systems. Curcumin is a natural phytochemical with anti-inflammatory and anti-neoplastic characteristics. The aim of this study was to conduct a systematic review of published studies on the effect of curcumin on preclinical models of pneumonia. A comprehensive search was conducted in PubMed/Medline, Scopus, Web of Science and Google Scholar from inception up to March 1, 2020 to recognize experimental or clinical trials assessing the effects of curcumin on pneumonia. We identified 17 primary citations that evaluated the effects of curcumin on pneumonia. Ten (58.8%) studies evaluated the effect of curcumin on mouse models of pneumonia, generated by intranasal inoculation of viruses or bacteria. Seven (41.2%) studies evaluated the inhibitory effects of curcumin on the pneumonia-inducing bacteria. Our results demonstrated that curcumin ameliorated the pneumonia-induced lung injury, mainly through a reduction of the activity and infiltration of neutrophils and the inhibition of inflammatory response in mouse models. Curcumin ameliorates the severity of pneumonia through a reduction in neutrophil infiltration and by amelioration of the exaggerated immune response in preclinical pneumonia models.
Healthy levels of vitamin D may boost breast cancer outcomes
 
Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center, June 10, 2021
Breast cancer patients who have adequate levels of vitamin D—the “sunshine vitamin”—at the time of their diagnosis have better long-term outcomes, a new study finds.
Combined with the results of prior research, the new findings suggest “an ongoing benefit for patients who maintain sufficient levels [of vitamin D] through and beyond breast cancer treatment,” said study lead author Song Yao. He’s a professor of oncology in the department of cancer prevention and control at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y.
The study also found that Black women had the lowest vitamin D levels, which might help explain their generally poorer outcomes after a breast cancer diagnosis, Yao’s group said. 
The findings were presented at the recent virtual annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology.
One oncologist unconnected to the research said the findings could offer women a simple new way to fight breast cancer.
Vitamin D “can be found in some foods and is made when sunlight strikes human skin,” explained Dr. Alice Police, a breast cancer researcher at Northwell Health’s Katz Institute for Women’s Health, in Westchester, N.Y. 
“This may be an opportunity for an important intervention in breast cancer outcomes for all women, but particularly in the Black population,” she said.
The study involved nearly 4,000 patients who had their vitamin D levels checked and were followed for a median of almost 10 years.
The patients were divided into three levels: vitamin D deficient (less than 20 nanograms per milliliter in blood tests); insufficient (20 to 29 ng/ml); or sufficient (30 or more ng/ml).
The study wasn’t designed to prove cause and effect. However, it found that—compared to women deficient in the nutrient—women with sufficient levels of vitamin D had 27% lower odds of dying of any cause during the 10 years of follow-up, and 22% lower odds for death from breast cancer specifically.
The team also found that the association between vitamin D levels and breast cancer outcomes was similar regardless of the tumor’s estrogen receptor (ER) status. The association appeared somewhat stronger among lower-weight patients and those diagnosed with more advanced breast cancers.
“Our findings from this large, observational cohort of breast cancer survivors with long follow-up provide the strongest evidence to date for maintaining sufficient vitamin D levels in breast cancer patients, particularly among Black women and patients with more advanced-stage disease,” Yao said in a Roswell Park news release.
Dr. Paul Baron is chief of breast surgery and director of the Breast Cancer Program at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City. He wasn’t involved in the new research, but called it “an important study, as it shows the significance of sufficient vitamin D levels towards improving long-term survival for breast cancer patients.”
For her part, Police said the findings highlight the importance for women of adequate vitamin D.
The difference in outcomes between Black and white breast cancer patients“narrowed with higher vitamin D levels at the time of diagnosis,” she noted. “This could be an important step in efforts to level the playing field for this disease: Let the sunshine in!”
Because these findings were presented at a medical meeting, they should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal
 
Researchers Say This One Tiny Life Adjustment Can Reduce Depression Risk
Harvard, MIT, and the University of Colorado, June 11, 2021
Research continues to pour in showing an increase in mental health problems from the COVID-19 pandemic (and government policies resulting from it). One medical study found that depression symptoms were three times higher than before the pandemic. A separate survey published by the Washington Post found one third of Americans now show symptoms of anxiety, depression, or both.
Fortunately, new research shows there’s an easy step we can all take to help prevent depression. Wake up an hour earlier.
That’s right, just one hour of sleep reduces a person’s risk of major depression by a whopping 23 percent.
The study, conducted by researchers from Harvard, MIT, and the University of Colorado Boulder, studied 840,000 individuals, and its findings are some of the strongest evidence that a person’s sleep schedule influences depression risk.
“We have known for some time that there is a relationship between sleep timing and mood, but a question we often hear from clinicians is: How much earlier do we need to shift people to see a benefit?” said Celine Vetter, assistant professor of integrative physiology at CU Boulder. “We found that even one-hour earlier sleep timing is associated with significantly lower risk of depression.”
The discovery is especially important as the increase in remote-working schedules has led many to sleep in later, which could have important implications on their mental health.
It’s also important because it’s a cheap and readily accessible option for treatment.
 
Americans face many barriers to mental healthcare. First and foremost, it is expensive. An hour-long therapy session costs between $65 – $250 per session without insurance. And thanks to bad government policies meddling in the insurance market, many therapists do not accept insurance at all. Furthermore, a more severe mental health diagnosis can be even more costly. Patients with severe depression who receive medical care spend nearly $11,000 a year on average, according to a report by CNBC.
The expense, coupled with a shortage in providers and medical deserts throughout large parts of the US, lead many to forgo treatment altogether. According to the National Council on Behavioral Health, 56 percent of patients want to access a mental health provider but face barriers.
Those barriers were of course increased during COVID as facilities were shut down and non-COVID patients were denied care. The numbers have already begun trickling in showing lockdowns led to greater drug use, youth suicides, and increases in depression and anxiety.
When one is struggling with depression, it is especially hard to overcome external barriers to care. Making a phone call can feel like climbing a mountain, and if you are rejected it can be all but impossible to summon the energy to keep looking and asking for help. But this new research shows individuals have the ability to take charge of their own circumstances by making small, daily changes that can help them fight their disease.
Alice Walker, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple,famously said, “People give up their power by thinking they don’t have any.” People often forget that they have power within themselves to confront their problems and in turn, seek protection from other external, earthly things—namely the government or their leaders. But this cycle produces dependency, not empowerment, which is not the life we as individuals were intended for.
 
In The Law by Frederic Bastiat he says, “Life, faculties, production—in other words, individuality, liberty, property—this is man. And in spite of the cunning of artful political leaders, these three gifts from God precede all human legislation, and are superior to it.”
When dealing with mental health issues—as full disclosure, I do—an important guiding principle is self-responsibility. Yes, you may face additional burdens that others do not in your daily life. But it is still your responsibility to confront them, work through them, and move forward. Ultimately, your mental health is your responsibility and no one can do that work for you.
This same principle can be applied more broadly to those without mental health issues too. Yes, there may be circumstances that are unjust or unpleasant, yes we may have barriers placed on our paths that are outside of our control (especially by the government). But we can control how we face (and hopefully overcome) those circumstances.
We can’t turn back the clocks on all that has happened over the past year and a half, but if we turn the alarm clock one hour back we just might be a step closer to regaining control of our health.

The Gary Null Show - 06.15.21

After receiving a bachelor’s degree from Baylor University, Dr. McCullough completed his medical degree as an Alpha Omega Alpha graduate from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. He went on to complete his internal medicine residency at the University of Washington in Seattle, cardiology fellowship including service as Chief Fellow at William Beaumont Hospital, and master’s degree in public health at the University of Michigan. Dr. McCullough is a consultant cardiologist and Vice Chief of Medicine at Baylor University Medical Center in Dallas, TX. He is a Principal Faculty in internal medicine for the Texas A & M University Health Sciences Center. Dr. McCullough is an internationally recognized authority on the role of chronic kidney disease as a cardiovascular risk state with > 1000 publications and > 500 citations in the National Library of Medicine. His works include the “Interface between Renal Disease and Cardiovascular Illness” in Braunwald’s Heart Disease Textbook. Dr. McCullough is a recipient of the Simon Dack Award from the American College of Cardiology and the International Vicenza Award in Critical Care Nephrology for his scholarship and research. Dr. McCullough is a founder and current president of the Cardiorenal Society of America, an organization dedicated to bringing cardiologists and nephrologists together to work on the emerging problem of cardiorenal syndromes. His works have appeared in the New England Journal of Medicine, Journal of the American Medical Association, Lancet and other top-tier journals worldwide. He is the co-editor of Reviews in Cardiovascular Medicine, and associate editor of the American Journal of Cardiology and Cardiorenal Medicine. He serves on the editorial boards of multiple specialty journals. Dr. McCullough has made presentations on the advancement of medicine across the world and has been an invited lecturer at the New York Academy of Sciences, the National Institutes of Health, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA), European Medicines Agency, and the U.S. Congressional Oversight Panel.
 

The Gary Null Show - 06.14.21

The Covid-19 Pandemic and the Corruption of Genuine Science
Richard Gale & Gary Null PhDProgressive Radio Network, June 10, 2021Medical science has made such tremendous progress that there is hardly a healthy human left. — Aldous Huxley
For half a century, the pharmaceutical industry has shown near zero tolerance towards criticism against its unequivocal failures and medical catastrophes. Permanent disabilities and deaths due to unsafe drugs, such as Merck’s anti-inflammatory drug Vioxx, Pizer’s Bextra, synthetic hormone replacement therapy, thalidomide, and the earlier cellular pertussis and the 1976 influenza vaccines, are regarded as the collateral damage of getting unsafe medical products on the market. During the past two decades a tightly-knit and collaborative relationship has evolved between the pharmaceutical industry, federal health agencies, Congress, Silicon Valley, and the new culture of billionaire philanthropists such as Bill Gates. Due to the large web of funders favoring corporate financial interests and CDC-sponsored educational programs, the mainstream media is now the successful advertiser for pharmaceutical ambitions. As a consequence, modern medicine’s dire risks to public health are undermined. The broader picture and the darker players operating behind the tragic legacy of medical iatrogenic failures remain largely hidden from the public. In recent years those physicians, researchers and health advocates who dissent from the pharmaceutical narrative often face a formidable blowback resulting in censorship and destroyed reputations.
Over forty years ago, sociologist and philosopher Ivan Illich prophetically observed a conspicuous unfolding of modern medicine becoming divorced from itself and the ethical basis for treating illnesses. He wrote, “the medical establishment has become a major threat to health.” Illich was among the first poignant critics of the corporatization of medicine to address the problems of “medicalization,” the process by which very human non-medical conditions are redefined as medical diseases and then diagnosed and pharmaceutically treated as such. This has been a result of hardened scientific materialism’s ascendency as the final judge over national healthcare. Increasingly researchers, more often than not funded by private drug companies and backed by an army of lobbyists, are discovering ways to reevaluate health conditions with only flimsy clinical evidence into the actual etiology of disease — even infectious pandemics. Psychiatric practice, which today relies almost exclusively on a drug-based model, is the greatest serial offender. Yet systemic corruption throughout our national healthcare has been a boon for drug makers who can then develop novel medications for illnesses that could otherwise be treated by less expensive and safer drugless therapies “Modern medicine is a negation of health,” Illich wrote in his acclaimed book Medical Nemesis: The Expropriation of Health. “It isn’t organized to serve human health, but only itself, as an institution. It makes more people sick than it heals.” It is a system that today depends upon volumes of flawed medical clinical trials, financial incentives, institutional bureaucracy, revolving doors between government and private industry, rampant conflicts of interests, and an aggressive propaganda machine that has had enormous success in marginalizing and ridiculing critics both within and outside the medical complex. Our medical edifice has violated every defining principle of scientific inquiry that should place uncompromising value on objective, unbiased inquiry and open conversation and debate over conflicting views. To invoke the precautionary principle is a personal confession of heresy. Over the years, the steady rise in the number of class action and criminal lawsuits against pharmaceutical firms, Freedom of Information Act submissions, and false testimonies by federal health officials before Congressional subcommittees have confirmed Illich’s warnings.
For Illich the dangerous consequence is that conventional medicine has become depersonalized. Whereas in the past malpractice was treated as a serious ethical issue – and iatrogenic death, or fatalities due to medical error, is now the US’s third leading cause of mortality – it is simply perceived as a technical glitch that can be corrected by further technical solutions. As a result of persistent self-denial over conventional medicine’s inherent failures, the dominant medical paradigm that now governs the nation’s health has succeeded in barricading itself behind a monolithic propaganda machine and a compliant media with the ability to marginalize criticism and to hermetically seal itself from being called to legal account. Even worse, it has usurped the sovereignty we have over our bodies and transferred this power to a technocracy that deeply believes it is upholding the integrity of science. However it is a science solely molded in the image of medical bureaucrats and their powerful allies who have been christened as experts.
And all of these past medical failures, the estimated 90 percent of junk pharmaceutical clinical trials published in junk medical journals, institutionalized hubris, and the drug makers’ capture of our health agencies is being openly staged in the handling of the Covid-19 pandemic on the global theater.
When we are being lectured to recite the pandemic mantra in unison by Joe Biden, Governor Andrew Cuomo, the UK’s Boris Johnson, and one of the church of Scientism’s head priests Neil DeGrasse Tyson — “Follow the Science” – whose science is being referred to? Is it the 19th century mechanistic science, which continues to be the foundation for modern evolutionary biology, neuroscience, psychiatry and vaccinology? Is it the pseudo-science promulgated by the cult of Skepticism that pollutes hundreds of Wikipedia’s health entries? Is it corporate, pharmaceutical-based science; medical research and discovery motivated by astronomical commercial incentives to appease the hedonic financial appetites of shareholders? For Anthony Fauci, he has imagined himself as the incarnation of science. Replying to MSNBC’s Chuck Todd, Fauci made his self-proclamation, “what you’re seeing as attacks on me quite frankly are attacks on science.”
Or is it science that is meticulously vetted by a range of independent professionals who aspire to arrive at the truth of a medical problem or to find a medical solution? It is this latter group who are most inclined to impartially review the pros and cons of scientific papers, the clinical trials of a drug, vaccine, medical device and diagnostic tool; then, based upon the empirical evidence, a medical intervention’s value, efficacy and safety is properly determined. Sadly this latter group is rarely if ever invited to sit at the regulatory table or to advise national health policy. Rather, the pursuit of medical facts about disease and pandemics has ceased to be a evidence-based methodology of objective inquiry and has become a means to institute authority and control over a population. “You can’t really follow the science,” states the philosopher of science Matthew Crawford, “because science doesn’t lead anywhere. It can illuminate various courses of action; for example by quantifying the risks that attend each. It can help to specify the trade offs… but it can’t make the choices for us.” Modern medicine’s failure to recognize this has, in Crawford’s opinion, led to a “victimology joining hands with scientism.” That is, medicine as an ideology and not a science. The consequence is that those who question or challenge the dominant medical ideology are censored, cancelled and have their reputations destroyed
We must come to the conclusion that modern conventional medicine has lacked the enthusiasm to uncover scientific truths for many decades. The pandemic’s mantra, “follow the science,” has been waxed into a meaningless banality. It is an empty amoral platitude for bureaucrats and media pundits with MD and PHD decorating their names. Unlike the “hard sciences,” such as mathematics and physics, medical practice is “soft.” Medical certainty, as in the serious hard sciences, should have as its objective “value-neutral truth.” Medicine and medical discovery is equally an art form. It is supposed to be grounded upon scientific evidence in order to make reasonable decisions. The debate over whether the practice of medicine is an art or an empirically based science has raged for decades. Over two decades ago, the British Medical Journal published an article, “The Practice of Clinical Medicine as an Art and as a Science.” The authors spread out on the table the prime principle to govern medical research as a determining factor for publication.
“… scientific thinking should, must, be insulated from all kinds of psychological, sociological, economic, political, moral and ideological factors which tend to influence thought in life and society. Without those proscriptions, objective knowledge of truth will degenerate into prejudice and ideology.”
Unfortunately, none of the self-anointed captains now steering our global and governmental health agencies to confront the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic and the deeply worrisome escalation of Covid-19 vaccine injuries and deaths, has ever bothered to give this fundamental scientific axiom a moment’s worth of reflection. Reported Covid-19 vaccine injuries and deaths in the CDC’s Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System now dwarf those from all other vaccines during the past two decades combined. The “experts,” such as Anthony Fauci and the FDA’s new Commissioner Janet Woodcock – a 35-year careerist at one of our most discredited regulatory agencies, hold their high rank within the medical hierarchy because they were seduced to sacrifice “objective knowledge of truth” in return for prestige, power and wealth. They serve as the prejudiced and ideological protectors of authentic science’s antithesis: the pharmaceutical industrial complex
We do not need to stretch too deep into Western medicine’s history — back to the era of leeches, blood-letting and exorcizing neurological disorders — to find examples of medical consensus and treatments displaying humanity’s sheer stupidity. We have continued to inherit this madness up into the 21st century, and during the pandemic it blazes before our eyes.
Unfortunately, too many Americans and citizens in other nations are blindly willing to surrender their faith and trust to medical experts, the latest drug or vaccine on the market, and the federal regulators who are mandated to assure that these medications and vaccines have been scrupulously reviewed to evaluate their safety and efficacy profiles. We assume that medical interventions are evidence-based. We believe they are founded upon scientifically sound and reliable observation, data collection and analysis. Yet we only need to look at modern history to find many examples of Western medicine being categorically wrong.
In the 1940s and throughout the 1970s, millions of Americans smoked. In some households every adult smoked. Even physicians, who were viewed as the exemplars of health and knowledge, smoked regularly. Doctors would be featured on advisements endorsing different cigarette brands. After a smoker reached 40, being diabetic, overweight, or having a cardiovascular illness and emphysema was considered as normal aging. Medical leaders assured us that this could not possibly be associated with smoking. They were believed because they were of course the “experts.” To speak out against cigarettes as the culprit behind these preventable conditions was taboo. Consequently several generations of Americans suffered and died prematurely and needlessly because the science accepted by the nation’s health officials was unconditionally false.
California State University bioethicist and author of The Illusion of Evidence Based Medicine, Prof. Leemon McHenry views the epidemic of bad medical research as similar to dirty money laundering. After reviewing thousands of clinical trial documents, he observed the means by which pharmaceutical companies intentionally design flawed clinical trials favoring their drugs and vaccines, generate dubious data and then wash it through a corrupt methodology to make the product look clean at the other end. During an interview, Prof McHenry said it was like throwing darts at a door and then later drawing a target on the door so the darts appear to have hit a bull’s-eye. Drug makers have mastered these tricks and our regulatory officials are consistently fooled and left none the wiser.
For those who grew up in the Great and Baby Boom generations, stress reduction was virtually unknown. Exercise was perceived as unnecessary after high school and college. A plant-based or vegetarian diet was viewed as extreme. The different iterations of the American food pyramid, starting with the Food for Young Children guide in 1916 and leading up to the 1979 Daily Food Guide, suffered from a serious lack of knowledge and a misunderstanding about nutrition. There was little bimolecular understanding about the dangers of sugar and excessive salt. Processed foods, preservatives and chemical dyes were being completely ignored. The only dietary supplement that was widely recommended was iron and to a lesser degree Vitamin C. Today we can look back upon these national dietary standards as medieval; yet the horrendous lack of science that supported our unhealthy American lifestyle was part of a scheme to indoctrinate people. And private corporations profited exorbitantly by sustaining these illusions. In the 20th century alone, leading medical journals and government agencies would promote electroshock therapy, bariatric surgery, mercury amalgams and dental fluoride, diethylstilbestrol, synthetic hormone replacement, artificial sweeteners such as saccharine and Monsanto’s aspartame and vaccine ethylmercury. However, today researchers frequently publish research papers identifying the very serious health risks for these products, which earlier were supported by reams of fraudulent corporate-sponsored research to court regulators.
But despite all of the reliable scientific data, it has failed to rein in national health policies and the conduct of the CDC, NIAID and FDA to lessen the health risks Americans are exposed to daily.
It is now 15 months since the World Health Organization declared a pandemic on March 11th of last year. The mainstream media has followed in lockstep with the government’s public relations narrative. It has lied about the reliability of PCR testing as a gold standard; injuries and deaths from the J&J, Moderna and Pfizer vaccines are either rejected or reframed as unfortunate anomalies. We may hear about the rare non-promising study against the use of inexpensive Covid-19 treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin; but the many dozens of studies recommending these drugs are flatly ignored. Nor are our health officials telling us the truth about the adverse effects of prolonged mask-wearing, social isolation and quarantines, the vaccines’ safety profiles, the inflated numbers of Covid-19 cases and mortalities, and approving expensive novel drugs shown to be questionably effective.
While many criticize Big Pharma’s abuse of public relations firms to whitewash their noxious public image, in 2015, The Hill reported that the federal government spent over $4 billion on public relations services and over half of that went to the world’s largest firms. Last September, Trump’s Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) awarded the PR firm Fors Marsh Group $250 million to twist the handling of the pandemic in his favor. In 2012, Obama’s HHS gave $20 million to the Porter Novelli PR firm and $26 million to Ogilvy Public Relations for publicity damage control over controversies in his Affordable Care Act. Surely large PR firms have an enormous role within the cartel of governments’ health ministries, the World Health organization, the drug and vaccine industry, and billionaire donors who are now directing the pandemic.
Fortunately the faux scientific artifice upon which the authoritarians in power have defined the pandemic is crumbling. For the first time in medical history, tens of thousands of physicians and medical professionals are calling out our officials and the drug companies for vagrant acts of corruption and deception. Anthony Fauci’s control over the pandemic narrative is in jeopardy. The theory behind a natural origin of the virus is likely a sham; laboratory “gain of function” research to engineer pathogenic coronaviruses has been covered up with lies. We are discovering that health officials intentionally exaggerated SARS-CoV-2’s severity and sabotaged viable medical alternatives to curtail the progression of infection in a way that is scientifically sound, compassionate, and not jeopardized by pharmaceutical interests. ‘The deepest sin against the human mind,” Huxley warned, “is to believe things without evidence.” In the face of millions of unnecessary and preventable Covid-19 deaths due to the irresponsible authority handed to the Fauci-s, Gates-s, Tedros-s, and Matt Handcock-s of the world, a grave moral sin has been committed by allowing technocratic scientism to override medical evidence.

The Gary Null Show - 06.11.21

What does the FDA's recent meeting of the Vaccine and Related Biological Advisory Committee tell us about the government's handling of stopping the pandemic only by vaccination
 
Dr. Meryl Nass is an internal medicine physician in Maine and activist who specializes in treating patients with Gulf War syndrome, adverse reactions from the anthrax vaccine and vaccine safety and efficacy in general.  In the past she has testified on six separate occasions before Congress on behalf of veterans suffering from the causes of Gulf War syndrome. Meryl is also active in opposing vaccine mandates and critiquing the false claims and fear mongering about infectious disease epidemics and corruption within the medical industrial military complex.  She serves on the Board of the Alliance for Human Research Protection, a non profit organization run by Vera Sharav that advances medical ethics that uphold human rights and protect humans from wrongful medical interventions. Her work is cited in many professional articles and publications. She holds degrees from MIT and her medical degree from the Mississippi School of Medicine.  Dr Nass' website where she blogs is AnthraxVaccine.blogspot.com

The Gary Null Show - 06.10.21

 The Gary Null Show is here to inform you on the best news in health, healing, the environment. 

The Gary Null Show - 06.09.21

Plant-based and/or fish diets may help lessen severity of COVID-19 infection
 
Johns Hopkins University, June 8, 2021
Plant-based and/or fish (pescatarian) diets may help lower the odds of developing moderate to severe COVID-19 infection, suggest the findings of a six-country study, published in the online journal BMJ Nutrition Prevention & Health.
They were associated with 73% and 59% lower odds, respectively, of severe disease, the findings indicate.
Several studies have suggested that dietmight have an important role in symptom severity and illness duration of COVID-19 infection. But, as yet, there's little evidence to confirm or refute this theory.
To explore this further, the researchers drew on the survey responses of 2884 frontline doctors and nurses with extensive exposure to SARS-CO-v2, the virus responsible for COVID-19 infection, working in France, Germany, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US.
The participants were all part of a global network of healthcare professionals registered with the Survey Healthcare Globus network for healthcare market research. The researchers used this network to identify clinicians at high risk of COVID-19 infection as a result of their jobs.
The online survey, which ran between July and September 2020, was designed to elicit detailed information about respondents' dietary patterns, based on a 47-item food frequency questionnaire, over the previous year, and the severity of any COVID-19 infections they had had, using objective criteria.
The survey also gathered information on personal background, medical history, medication use, and lifestyle.
The various diets were combined into plant-based (higher in vegetables, legumes, and nuts, and lower in poultry and red and processed meats); pescatarian/plant-based (as above, but with added fish/seafood); and low carb-high protein diets.
Some 568 respondents (cases) said they had had symptoms consistent with COVID-19 infection or no symptoms but a positive swab test for the infection; 2316 said they hadn't had any symptoms/tested positive (comparison group).
Among the 568 cases, 138 clinicians said they had had moderate to severe COVID-19 infection; the remaining 430 said they had had very mild to mild COVID-19 infection.
After factoring in several potentially influential variables, including age, ethnicity, medical specialty, and lifestyle (smoking, physical activity), respondents who said they ate plant-based diets' or plant-based/pescatarian diets had, respectively, 73% and 59% lower odds of moderate to severe COVID-19 infection, compared with those who didn't have these dietary patterns.
And compared with those who said they ate a plant-based diet, those who said they ate a low carb-high protein diet had nearly 4 times the odds of moderate to severe COVID-19 infection.
These associations held true when weight (BMI) and co-existing medical conditions were also factored in.
But no association was observed between any type of diet and the risk of contracting COVID-19 infection or length of the subsequent illness.
This is an observational study, and so can't establish cause, only correlation. It also relied on individual recall rather than on objective assessments, and the definition of certain dietary patterns may vary by country, point out the researchers.
Men outnumbered women in the study, so the findings may not be applicable to women, they add.
But plant-based diets are rich in nutrients, especially phytochemicals (polyphenols, carotenoids), vitamins and minerals, all of which are important for a healthy immune system, say the researchers.
And fish is an important source of vitamin D and omega-3 fatty acids, both of which have anti-inflammatory properties, they add.
"Our results suggest that a healthy diet rich in nutrient dense foods may be considered for protection against severe COVID-19," they conclude.
"The trends in this study are limited by study size (small numbers with a confirmed positive test) and design (self-reporting on diet and symptoms) so caution is needed in the interpretation of the findings," comments Deputy Chair of the NNEdPro Nutrition and COVID-19 Taskforce, Shane McAuliffe.
"However, a high quality diet is important for mounting an adequate immune response, which in turn can influence susceptibility to infection and its severity."
He adds:"This study highlights the need for better designed prospective studies on the association between diet, nutritional status and COVID-19 outcomes."
 
Greater magnesium intake associated with reduced hostility among young adults
Columbia University, June 4, 2021
 
According to news originating from New York City, New York, research stated, “Hostility is a complex personality trait associated with many cardiovascular risk factor phenotypes. Although magnesium intake has been related to mood and cardio-metabolic disease, its relation with hostility remains unclear.”
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Columbia University, “We hypothesize that high total magnesium intake is associated with lower levels of hostility because of its putative antidepressant mechanisms. To test the hypothesis, we prospectively analyzed data in 4,716 young adults aged 18-30 years at baseline (1985-1986) from four U.S.cities over five years of follow-up using data from the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults (CARDIA) study. Magnesium intake was estimated from a dietary history questionnaire plus supplements at baseline. Levels of hostility were assessed using the Cook-Medley scale at baseline and year 5 (1990-1991). Generalized estimating equations were applied to estimate the association of magnesium intake with hostility as repeated measures at the two time-points (baseline and year 5). General linear model was used to determine the association between magnesium intake and change in hostility over 5 years. After adjustment for socio-demographic and major lifestyle factors, a significant inverse association was observed between magnesium intake and hostility level over 5 years of follow-up. Beta coefficients (95% CI) across higher quintiles of magnesium intake were 0 (reference),-1.28 (-1.92,-0.65),-1.45 (-2.09,-0.81),-1.41 (-2.08,-0.75) and-2.16 (-2.85,-1.47), respectively (Plinear-trend < .01).”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “The inverse association was inde-pendent of socio-demographic and major lifestyle factors, supplement use, and depression status at year 5. This prospective study provides evidence that in young adults, high magne-sium intake was inversely associated with hostility level independent of socio-demographic and major lifestyle factors.”
 
 
 
Study compares heart benefits of low-fat and plant-centered diets
New findings suggest that a plant-centered diet could help lower heart disease risk
University of Minnesota, June 7, 2021
There has been a long-standing debate as to whether a low-fat or a plant-centered diet is better at lowering the risk of cardiovascular disease. A new study that followed more than 4,700 people over 30 years, found that a plant-centered diet was associated with a lower long-term risk for cardiovascular disease. However, both diets were linked with lower LDL, or bad cholesterol, levels. 
"Since 1980, dietary guidelines in the United States and in Europe have recommended eating low amounts of saturated fat because of the high rates of heart disease in these regions," said research team leader David Jacobs, PhD, from the University of Minnesota. "This is not necessarily wrong, but our study shows that plant-centered diets can also lower bad cholesterol and may be even better at addressing heart disease risk."
The plant-centered diet emphasizes fruit, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, nuts and seeds, low-fat dairy, and fish. It also limits high-fat red and processed meats, salty snacks, sweets, and sugar-sweetened soft drinks. The low-fat diet is based on the Keys Score, a good formulation of the "low saturated fat" message, driven by saturated fat, but also including polyunsaturated fat and dietary cholesterol.
Yuni Choi, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Jacobs' lab will present the research as part of NUTRITION 2021 LIVE ONLINE, a virtual conference hosted by the American Society for Nutrition (ASN). 
"Our findings show that it is important to view diet quality from a holistic perspective," said Choi. "Targeting just single nutrients such as total or saturated fat doesn't take into account the fats that are also found in healthy plant-based foods such as avocado, extra virgin olive oil, walnuts and dark chocolate -- foods that also have cardioprotective properties and complex nutrient profiles."
The new research is based on participants in the four U.S. clinics of the Coronary Artery Risk Development in Young Adults study (CARDIA), which enrolled 5115 Black and white men and women in 1985-1986. During more than 30 years of follow up, there were 280 cases of cardiovascular disease, 135 cases of coronary heart disease, and 92 cases of stroke among the study participants. 
To assess eating patterns, the researchers conducted three detailed diet history interviews over the follow-up period. These diet history questionnaires determined what participants ate and then asked them to list everything consumed in that category. For example, participants who reported eating meat in the past 30 days would be asked what meat items and how much they consumed. This was repeated for around 100 areas of the diet. Based on this information, the researchers calculated scores for all participants based on both the Keys Score of the A Priori Diet Quality Score (APDQS), which captures the plant-centered diet. 
After accounting for various factors including socioeconomic status, educational level, energy intake, history of cardiovascular disease, smoking and body mass index, the researchers found that having a more plant-centered diet (higher APDQS Scores) and consuming less saturated fat (lower Keys Scores) were both associated with lower LDL levels. However, lower LDL levels did not necessarily correlate with lower future risk of stroke. Higher APDQS scores, but not lower Keys Scores, were strongly associated with a lower risk for coronary heart disease and stroke.
"Based on our study, we suggest that people incorporate more nutritionally-rich plant foods into their diets," said Choi. "One way to do this is to fill 70 percent of your grocery bag with foods that include vegetables, fruits, whole grains, nuts, legumes, coffee and tea."
The researchers are carrying out a variety of studies looking at how the APDQS diet score relates to various health outcomes. They are also interested in studying how different diets affect gut bacteria, which is known to influence many aspects of health and disease.
 
 
 
High caffeine consumption may be associated with increased risk of blinding eye disease
Mount Sinai School of Medicine, June 7, 2021
Consuming large amounts of daily caffeine may increase the risk of glaucoma more than three-fold for those with a genetic predisposition to higher eye pressure according to an international, multi-center study. The research led by the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai is the first to demonstrate a dietary - genetic interaction in glaucoma. The study results published in the June print issue of Ophthalmology may suggest patients with a strong family history of glaucoma should cut down on caffeine intake. 
The study is important because glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness in the United States. It looks at the impact of caffeine intake on glaucoma, and intraocular pressure (IOP) which is pressure inside the eye. Elevated IOP is an integral risk factor for glaucoma, although other factors do contribute to this condition. With glaucoma, patients typically experience few or no symptoms until the disease progresses and they have vision loss.
"We previously published work suggesting that high caffeine intake increased the risk of the high-tension open angle glaucoma among people with a family history of disease. In this study we show that an adverse relation between high caffeine intake and glaucoma was evident only among those with the highest genetic risk score for elevated eye pressure," says lead/corresponding author Louis R. Pasquale, MD, FARVO, Deputy Chair for Ophthalmology Research for the Mount Sinai Health System.
A team of researchers used the UK Biobank, a large-scale population-based biomedical database supported by various health and governmental agencies. They analyzed records of more than 120,000 participants between 2006 and 2010. Participants were between 39 and 73 years old and provided their health records along with DNA samples, collected to generate data. They answered repeated dietary questionnaires focusing on how many caffeinated beverages they drink daily, how much caffeine-containing food they eat, the specific types, and portion size. They also answered questions about their vision, including specifics on if they have glaucoma or a family history of glaucoma. Three years into the study later they had their IOP checked and eye measurements.
Researchers first looked at the relationship looked between caffeine intake, IOP and self-reported glaucoma by running multivariable analyses. Then they assessed if accounting for genetic data modified these relationships. They assigned each subject an IOP genetic risk score and performed interaction analyses. 
The investigators found high caffeine intake was not associated with increased risk for higher IOP or glaucoma overall; however, among participants with the strongest genetic predisposition to elevated IOP - in the top 25 percentile - greater caffeine consumption was associated with higher IOP and higher glaucoma prevalence. More specifically, those who consumed the highest amount of daily caffeine- more than 480 milligrams which is roughly four cups of coffee - had a 0.35 mmHg higher IOP. Additionally, those in the highest genetic risk score category who consumed more than 321 milligrams of daily caffeine - roughly three cups of coffee - had a 3.9-fold higher glaucoma prevalence when compared to those who drink no or minimal caffeine and in lowest genetic risk score group. 
"Glaucoma patients often ask if they can help to protect their sight through lifestyle changes, however this has been a relatively understudied area until now. This study suggested that those with the highest genetic risk for glaucoma may benefit from moderating their caffeine intake. It should be noted that the link between caffeine and glaucoma risk was only seen with a large amount of caffeine and in those with the highest genetic risk," says co-author Anthony Khawaja, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology University College London (UCL) Institute of Ophthalmology and ophthalmic surgeon at Moorfields Eye Hospital. "The UK Biobank study is helping us to learn more than ever before about how our genes affect our glaucoma risk and the role that our behaviors and environment could play. We look forward to continuing to expand our knowledge in this area."
 
Red onions pack a cancer-fighting punch, study reveals
University of Guelph (Ontario), June 7, 2021
The next time you walk down the produce aisle of your grocery store, you may want to reach for red onions if you are looking to fight off cancer.
In the first study to examine how effective Ontario-grown onions are at killing cancer cells, U of G researchers have found that not all onions are created equal.
Engineering professor Suresh Neethirajan and PhD student Abdulmonem Murayyan tested five onion types grown in Ontario and discovered the Ruby Ring onion variety came out on top.
Onions as a superfood are still not well known. But they contain one of the highest concentrations of quercetin, a type of flavonoid, and Ontario onions boasts particularly high levels of the compound compared to some parts of the world.
The Guelph study revealed that the red onion not only has high levels of quercetin, but also high amounts of anthocyanin, which enriches the scavenging properties of quercetin molecules, said Murayyan, study's lead author.
"Anthocyanin is instrumental in providing colour to fruits and vegetables so it makes sense that the red onions, which are darkest in colour, would have the most cancer-fighting power."
Published recently in Food Research International, the study involved placing colon cancer cells in direct contact with quercetin extracted from the five different onion varieties.
"We found onions are excellent at killing cancer cells," said Murayyan. "Onions activate pathways that encourage cancer cells to undergo cell death. They promote an unfavourable environment for cancer cells and they disrupt communication between cancer cells, which inhibits growth."
The researchers have also recently determined onions are effective at killing breast cancer cells.
"The next step will be to test the vegetable's cancer-fighting powers in human trials," said Murayyan.
These findings follow a recent study by the researchers on new extraction technique that eliminates the use of chemicals, making the quercetin found in onions more suitable for consumption.
Other extraction methods use solvents that can leave a toxic residue which is then ingested in food, said Neethirajan.
"This new method that we tested to be effective only uses super-heated water in a pressurized container," he said. "Developing a chemical-free extraction method is important because it means we can use onion's cancer-fighting properties in nutraceuticals and in pill form."
While we can currently include this superfood in salads and on burgers as a preventative measure, the researchers expect onion extract will eventually be added to food products such as juice or baked goods and be sold in pill form as a type of natural cancer treatment.
 
 
Exercise likely to be best treatment for depression in coronary heart disease
 
RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences (Ireland), June 8, 2021
A study by RCSI indicates that exercise is probably the most effective short-term treatment for depression in people with coronary heart disease, when compared to antidepressants and psychotherapy or more complex care. 
The study, led by researchers at RCSI University of Medicine and Health Sciences, is published in the June edition of Psychosomatic Medicine. 
This is the first systematic review to compare treatments for depression in those with coronary disease and the findings provides valuable clinical information to help doctors determine the best treatment plan for patients.
The researchers reviewed treatment trials which investigated antidepressants, psychotherapy, exercise, combined psychotherapy and antidepressants, and collaborative care (i.e. treatments devised by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians with input from the patient).
To measure effectiveness, the researchers looked at factors including patient adherence to the treatment (dropout rate) and change in depressive symptoms eight weeks after commencing treatment.
The strongest treatment effects were found to be exercise and combination treatments (antidepressants and psychotherapy). However, as the combination study results have a high risk of bias, the findings of the review suggest that exercise is probably the most effective treatment. Antidepressants had the most research support, while psychotherapy and collaborative care did not perform very well.
"Depression is common in patients with coronary artery disease. Having both conditions can have a significant impact on the quality of life for patients so it is vital that they access to the most effective treatments," commented Dr Frank Doyle, Senior Lecturer Division of Population Health Sciences, RCSI and the study's first author.
"Our study indicates that exercise is likely to be the best treatment for depression following coronary artery disease. Our findings further highlight the clinical importance of exercise as a treatment as we see that it improves not only depression, but also other important aspects of heart disease, such as lowering blood pressure and cholesterol, in these patients." 
"We continue to see emerging evidence of the importance of lifestyle to treat disease - in comparison to other treatments - but further high-quality research is needed. People with coronary heart disease who have symptoms of depression should talk to their doctor about treatments that are most suitable for their personal needs, and clinicians can be confident of recommending exercise to their patients."
Dr Frank Doyle and the study's senior authors, Prof. Jan Sorensen (Health Outcomes Research Centre, RCSI) and Prof. Martin Dempster (School of Psychology, Queen's University Belfast), conducted the study in collaboration with researchers in the USA, The Netherlands, the UK and Denmark.
This study was also the first of its kind to establish a new method to conduct systematic reviews known as a hybrid review, which is a combination of umbrella reviews and systematic reviews.
 
Study examines link between obesity, food container chemical substitutes
University of Iowa, June 9, 2021
A new study from the University of Iowa shows that a pair of common chemicals that manufacturers use to make plastic food containers, water bottles, and other consumer products do not contribute to obesity to the extent of the chemical it's replacing.
The chemicals -- bisphenol F and bisphenol S (known as BPF and BPS) -- are being used increasingly by food packaging manufacturers as substitutes for bisphenol A (BPA), which studies have found disrupts endocrine systems and causes numerous health problems. BPA is used in many kinds of packaging for snacks and drinks, canned foods, and water bottles. The chemical is absorbed into the body mainly through the food or water it contacts in the container.
But concern was raised several years ago when numerous studies found BPA increases the risk of various health issues, in particular obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. A consumer backlash erupted after the studies received media attention so manufacturers started reducing the use of BPA in some consumer products or even eliminating it in so-called "BPA-free" products by replacing it with such alternatives as BPF and BPS.
However, little is known on the potential impact of BPF and BPS exposure in humans. The new University of Iowa College of Public Health study is the first to determine the health impacts of BPF and BPS exposure on obesity in humans. Using data from a nationwide population-based study conducted by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the researchers confirm that BPA is associated with increased obesity in humans. But the study found no links between obesity and either BPF or BPS at the current exposure levels.
However, the researchers warn that fewer products currently use BPF and BPS--BPA still has more than half the global market share for the chemicals, and the average concentration of BPF and BPS is about one-fourth that of BPA in the US population. Whether BPF and BPS pose an increased risk of obesity at the same population exposure levels as BPA remains unknown. Future studies will be needed to confirm the results, as BPF and BPS are likely to replace BPA in more consumer products.

The Gary Null Show - 06.08.21

Growing evidence fruit may lower type 2 diabetes risk
Research has found eating at least two serves of fruit daily has been linked with 36% lower odds of developing type 2 diabetes
Edith Cowan University (Australia), June 2, 2021
Eating at least two serves of fruit daily has been linked with 36 percent lower odds of developing type 2 diabetes, a new Edith Cowan University (ECU) study has found. 
The study, published today in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, revealed that people who ate at least two serves of fruit per day had higher measures of insulin sensitivity than those who ate less than half a serve. 
Type 2 diabetes is a growing public health concern with an estimated 451 million people worldwide living with the condition. A further 374 million people are at increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes.
The study's lead author, Dr Nicola Bondonno from ECU's Institute for Nutrition Research, said the findings offer fresh evidence for the health benefits of fruit. 
"We found an association between fruit intake and markers of insulin sensitivity, suggesting that people who consumed more fruit had to produce less insulin to lower their blood glucose levels," said Dr Bondonno. 
"This is important because high levels of circulating insulin (hyperinsulinemia) can damage blood vessels and are related not only to diabetes, but also to high blood pressure, obesity, and heart disease.
"A healthy diet and lifestyle, which includes the consumption of whole fruits, is a great strategy to lower your risk of developing type 2 diabetes."
Fresh is best
The study examined data from 7,675 Australians participating in the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute's AusDiab Study and assessed fruit and fruit juice intake and the prevalence of diabetes after five years.
Dr Bondonno said they did not observe the same beneficial relationship for fruit juice. 
"Higher insulin sensitivity and a lower risk of diabetes was only observed for people who consumed whole fruit, not fruit juice," she said. 
"This is likely because juice tends to be much higher in sugar and lower in fibre." 
Dr Bondonno said that it's still unclear exactly how fruit contributes to insulin sensitivity, but it is likely to be multifaceted. 
"As well as being high in vitamins and minerals, fruits are a great source of phytochemicals which may increase insulin sensitivity, and fibre which helps regulate the release of sugar into the blood and also helps people feel fuller for longer," she said.
"Furthermore, most fruits typically have a low glycaemic index, which means the fruit's sugar is digested and absorbed into the body more slowly." 
The study builds on Dr Bondonno's research into the health benefits of fruit and vegetables, particularly those that contain a key nutrient known as flavonoids. The research is part of ECU's Institute of Nutrition Research.
 
 
Ginkgo biloba leaves have multicomponent and multitarget synergistic effects on treatment of neurodegenerative diseases
Jiangsu Kanion Pharmaceutical Co (China), June 1, 2021
According to news reporting out of Jiangsu, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Ginkgo biloba L. leaves (GBLs), as widely used plant extract sources, significantly improve cognitive, learning and memory function in patients with dementia. However, few studies have been conducted on the specific mechanism of Neurodegenerative diseases (NDs).”
Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Jiangsu Kanion Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd., “In this study, network pharmacology was employed to elucidate potential mechanism of GBLs in the treatment of NDs. Traditional Chinese Medicine Systems Pharmacology Database and Analysis Platform (TCMSP) was used to obtain the chemical components in accordance with the screening principles of oral availability and drug-like property. Potential targets of GBLs were integrated with disease targets, and intersection targets were exactly the potential action targets of GBLs for treating NDs; these key targets were enriched and analyzed by the protein protein interaction (PPI) analysis and molecular docking verification. Key genes were ultimately used to find the biological pathway and explain the therapeutic mechanism by Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) analysis. Twenty-seven active components of GBLs may affect biological processes such as oxidative reactions and activate transcription factor activities. These components may also affect 120 metabolic pathways, such as the PI3K/AKT pathway, by regulating 147 targets, including AKT1, ALB, HSP90AA1, PTGS2, MMP9, EGFR and APP. By using the software iGEMDOCK, the main target proteins were found to bind well to the main active components of GBLs.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “GBLs have the characteristics of multi-component and multi-target synergistic effect on the treatment of NDs, which preliminarily predicted its possible molecular mechanism of action, and provided the basis for the follow-up study.”
This research has been peer-reviewed.
 
 
Diets that promote inflammation could increase breast cancer risk
Analysis of dietary patterns for over 350,000 women suggests eating more anti-inflammatory foods helps lower risk
Catalan Institute of Oncology and Biomedical Research Institute (Spain) June 7, 2021
 A new study of more than 350,000 women found that women with diets incorporating more foods that increase inflammation in the body had a 12% increase in their risk of breast cancer compared to women who consume more anti-inflammatory diets. The new findings are being presented at NUTRITION 2021 LIVE ONLINE. 
The study authors found that moving from a more anti-inflammatory diet toward one that increases inflammation upped breast cancer risk in an almost linear manner. Foods that increase inflammation include red and processed meat; high-fat foods such as butter, margarines and frying fats; and sweets including sugar, honey and foods high in sugar. Fruits, vegetables, legumes, tea and coffee all have potentially anti-inflammatory properties.
"Most studies examining diet and breast cancer risk have focused on single nutrients or foods rather than the whole diet," said the study's first author Carlota Castro-Espin, a predoctoral fellow at the Catalan Institute of Oncology and Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain. "People consume food not nutrients, thus examining overall dietary patterns, rather than single components of diets can lead to more accurate conclusions when analysing associations with a health outcome such as breast cancer." 
The new results are based on data from the European Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPIC) study, a prospective study that recruited more than 500,000 participants across 10 European countries starting in the mid-1990s. The study included more than 13,000 breast cancer diagnoses during approximately 15 years of follow-up. 
The typical diet for EPIC participants was measured for a year using food frequency or diet history questionnaires. The researchers used this information to calculate an inflammatory score for each study participant based on their intake of 27 foods. 
The researchers examined dietary patterns linked with inflammation because long-term, low grade inflammation has been linked with the development of breast cancer. The large number of women in the study allowed the researchers to take a more nuanced look at the relationship between dietary patterns and breast cancer risk. 
Their analysis showed that the increase in breast cancer risk due to pro-inflammatory diets appears to be more pronounced among premenopausal women. They also found that the association did not vary by breast cancer hormone receptor subtypes. 
"Our results add more evidence of the role that dietary patterns play in the prevention of breast cancer," said Castro-Espin. "With further confirmation, these findings could help inform dietary recommendations aimed at lowering cancer risk." 
As a next step, the researchers plan to evaluate the association of the inflammatory potential of diet and other dietary patterns with breast cancer survival using participants in the EPIC study. 
 
 
Emerging impact of quercetin in the treatment of prostate cancer
Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (Iran), June 3, 2021
 
According to news originating from Tehran, Iran, research stated, “Quercetin is a flavonoid agent detected in fruits and vegetables with anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and anticancer effects. This flavonoid can suppress cell cycle transition and induce apoptosis in neoplastic cells.”
Our news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences: “Therapeutic effects of quercetin have been assessed in diverse cancers including prostate cancer through the establishment of in vitro and in vivo experiments. Moreover, this agent might prevent the initiation of this type of cancer as it indirectly blocks the activity of promoters of two important genes in the pathogenesis of prostate cancer i.e. androgen receptor (AR) and prostate specific antigen (PSA). Several in vitro investigations have identified the differential influence of quercetin on normal prostate cells versus neoplastic cells, emphasizing its specific cytotoxic effects on cancerous cells. The most appreciated route of quercetin effect on prostate cancer cells is the detachment of Bax from Bcl-xL and the stimulation of caspase families. Besides, quercetin might enhance the effects of other therapeutic options against prostate cancer. For instance, a combination of TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL) and quercetin has been recommended as a novel modality for the treatment of prostate cancer.”
According to the news editors, the research concluded: “These kinds of strategies might overcome resistance to apoptosis in cancer cells. In the current paper, we summarize the recent data about the preventive and therapeutic influences of quercetin in prostate cancer.”
 
 
Breast microbiome modified by diet, fish oil
Wake Forest School of Medicine, June 4 2021. 
 
Findings reported on June 3, 2021 in Cancer Research add evidence to the effects of diet on the breast’s microbiome, the community of microorganisms that exists in breast tissue. 
“We have recently demonstrated that dietary patterns modulate mammary microbiota populations,” wrote David R. Soto-Pantoja and colleagues. “An important and largely open question is whether the microbiome of the gut and mammary gland mediates the dietary effects on breast cancer.”
To help answer this question, the researchers fed a high fat or a control diet to mice that are susceptible to developing breast cancer. Animals that received the high fat diet had a greater number of tumors, more rapid tumor growth and larger tumor size than those that received the control diet. 
Next, mice that were given high fat diets received fecal transplants from mice that received control diets, and control diet-fed animals received transplants from high fat diet-fed animals. The team found that animals that received the control diet developed as many tumors as mice that received the high fat diet.  
In a double-blind trial, breast cancer patients were given fish oil supplements or a placebo for two to four weeks prior to surgical removal of their tumors. The researchers observed a change in the microbiota of tumor and normal breast tissue in participants who received fish oil, including an increase in Lactobacilli (which has been associated with reduce breast cancer tumor growth in animals) in normal tumor-adjacent breast tissue of participants who received fish oil for four weeks. 
"Obesity, typically associated with a high-fat diet consumption, is a well-known risk factor in postmenopausal breast cancer," commented coauthor Katherine L. Cook, PhD, of Wake Forest University. "This study provides additional evidence that diet plays a critical role in shaping the gut and breast microbiome."
 
 
Self-administered aroma foot massage may reduce symptoms of anxiety
 
Okayama University (Japan), June 8, 2021 
Researchers at Okayama University conduct the first community-based study on the effects of self-administered aromatherapy foot massage on stress and anxiety symptoms. The results suggest aromatherapy massages might provide an inexpensive, simple way of managing anxiety.
 
The continuing popularity of complementary therapies, such as aromatherapy and massage, has prompted scientists to investigate the effects of such therapies on the body in more detail. Complementary therapies are said to reduce the symptoms associated with stress and anxiety, and therefore may reduce the chances of severe illness, such as hypertension and heart disease. The precise effects on the body following such therapies is unclear, however.
 
Previous studies have focused on the effects of massage and aromatherapy treatments on blood pressure and mental state in hospitalized patients in Japan, but none have been conducted on individuals living in the community. Now, Eri Eguchi and co-workers at Okayama University, together with researchers across Japan, have conducted the first study into the effect of aromatherapy-based foot massage on blood pressure, anxiety and health-related quality of life in people living in the community.
 
57 participants took part in the study; 52 women and 5 men. Baseline blood pressure and heart rate values were taken at the start and end of the four-week trial period, as well as at a follow-up session 8 weeks later. Participants also completed questionnaires on anxiety status and health-related quality of life at each stage of the trial. The participants were divided into two groups, and one group were taught to perform a 45-minute aromatherapy-based foot massage on themselves three times a week for four weeks.
 
The results suggest that aroma foot massage decreased the participants' average blood pressure readings, and state of anxiety, and tended to increased mental health-related quality of life score. However the effect of massages was not significant with changes in other factors such as physical health-related quality of life scores and heart rate.
 
In their paper published in March 2016 in PLOS One, Eguchi's team are cautiously optimistic about the potential for self-administered massage to reduce anxiety in the population: "[although] it was difficult to differentiate the effects of the aromatherapy from the effects of the massage therapy... [the combination] may be an effective way to increase mental health and improve blood pressure."
 
 
Aromatherapy and massage
Aromatherapy has long been used to relieve stress and anxiety in populations across the globe. Different aroma essential oils are said to have different properties, and are used to induce relaxation and promote well-being. Trials have indicated that certain essential oils, when inhaled, can reduce blood pressure levels and alleviate depression by stimulating the olfactory system.
Massage (in its many forms) also has a long history in therapeutic medicine, and the practice of manipulating key pressure points in the body to induce relaxation has been shown to improve mental and physical health. However, detailed scientific studies of the effects of aromatherapy foot massage – an increasingly popular treatment in Japan – on blood pressure and perceived quality of life are limited.
 
Significance and further work
While the trial carried out by Eguchi and her team is limited in some respects, their results provide an initial starting point from which to extend studies into the benefits of aroma foot massage for the general population. Their findings that massage, or the aromatherapy, or a combination of both, reduce blood pressurereadings (at least in the short term) warrants further investigation.
Eguchi and her team acknowledge that their decision to advertise for participants may have encouraged more health-conscious and pro-active people to apply. They also received far more applications from women than men, although their age-range (from 27 to 72) was diverse. Further work is needed to determine the effect of aroma foot massage on specific age and sex categories, for example, before such interventions are encouraged in the wider population.
 
 
Proteomics reveals how exercise increases the efficiency of muscle energy production
University of Copenhagen (Denmark), May 27, 2021
Mitochondria are the cell's power plants and produce the majority of a cell's energy needs through an electrochemical process called electron transport chain coupled to another process known as oxidative phosphorylation. A number of different proteins in mitochondria facilitate these processes, but it's not fully understood how these proteins are arranged inside mitochondria and the factors that can influence their arrangement.
Now, scientists at the University of Copenhagen have used state-of-the-art proteomics technology to shine new light on how mitochondrial proteins gather into electron transport chain complexes, and further into so-called supercomplexes. The research, which is published in Cell Reports, also examined how this process is influenced by exercise training. 
"This study has allowed for a comprehensive quantification of electron transport chain proteins within supercomplexes and how they respond to exercise training. These data have implications for how exercise improves the efficiency of energy production in muscle," says Associate Professor Atul S. Deshmukh from the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Basic Metabolic Research (CBMR) at the University of Copenhagen. 
Traditional methods provide too little detail
It is already well established that exercise training stimulates mitochondrial mass and affects the formation of supercomplexes, which allows mitochondria in skeletal muscle to produce energy more efficiently. But questions remain about which complexes cluster into supercomplexes and how.
To better understand supercomplex formation, particularly in response to exercise, the team of scientists studied two groups of mice. One group was active, and given an exercise wheel for 25 days, and the second group was sedentary, and was not provided the exercise wheel. After 25 days, they measured the mitochondrial proteins in skeletal muscle from both groups to see how the supercomplexes had changed over time. 
When scientists typically analyze how supercomplexes form, they use antibodies to measure one or two proteins per electron transport chain complex. But as there can be up to 44 proteins in a complex, this method is both time consuming and provides limited information about what happens to the remainder of the proteins in each complex. 
As a result, there is a lack of detailed knowledge in the field.
Proteomics helps supercomplexes give up their secrets
To generate much more detailed data, the team applied a proteomic technology called mass spectrometry to measure the mitochondrial proteins. By applying proteomics instead of antibodies, the scientists were able to measure nearly all of the proteins in each complex. This provided unprecedented detail of mitochondrial supercomplexes in skeletal muscle and how exercise training influences their formation. Their approach demonstrated that not all of the proteins in each complex or a supercomplex respond to exercise in the same manner. 
"Mitochondrial protein content is known to increase with exercise, thus understanding how these proteins assemble into supercomplexes is crucial to decipher how they work. Our research represents a valuable and precious resource for the scientific community, especially for those studying how the mitochondrial proteins organize to be better at what they do best: produce energy under demand,", explains Postdoc Alba Gonzalez-Franquesa.
The interdisciplinary project was a collaboration between the Deshmukh, Treebak and Zierath Groups at CBMR, and the Mann Group at the Novo Nordisk Foundation Center for Protein Research.