Nearly 60 years after tobacco companies were first required to print warning labels on cigarettes to reduce smoking, statists salivate at the opportunity to pull the lever for labels on any other behavior they wish to deter, such as eating meat.

Last fall, a coalition of scientists proposed cigarette-style caution labels be placed on meat products for alleged hazards to the climate and human health. A study examining 1,000 meat-eating adults found labels espousing hazards to climate, health, and pandemics were enough to convince participants to opt for a non-meat meal. Given the success of warning labels at reducing cigarette use, researchers expressed optimism at the potential for similar warnings for deter meat consumption.

A dramatic drop in meat at the center of the American diet, however, offers far worse implications for public health than appreciated by the statist class of academics determined to manipulate behavior. The federal government’s recommendations to embrace a low-fat diet, for example, planted the roots for the twin epidemics of obesity and chronic disease overwhelming the health care system today after three generations dutifully followed the dietary guidelines. Americans increased consumption of grains and processed oils at the behest of the “experts” and now live in a nation where nearly 42 percent of adults 20 and older are obese and 6 in 10 suffer from at least one chronic illness.

For people of a normal weight, fasting for long periods can cause health complications, including increased strain on the heart, even with nutritional supplementation.

Therefore, fasts of this length should not be attempted by anybody. They are from a time in the 1960s where long-term fasts were being studied with frequency, but there are other studies from this time where patients experienced heart failure and in some cases died of starvation.

However, people with and without diabetes can experience benefits from fasting. Intermittent fasting, in particular, has shown to help the body repair damage without entering starvation, enabling an array of benefits, namely weight loss and reduced insulin resistance. Last year, American scientists revealed that short-term fasting also has health benefits for the heart.

Scotsman Angus Barbieri (1939 – 7 September 1990) fasted for 382 days,[1] from June 14, 1965 to June 30, 1966. He lived mainly on tea, coffee, sparkling water, and vitamins while living at home in Tayport, Scotland, and frequently visiting Maryfield Hospital for medical evaluation. He lost 276 pounds (125 kg) and set a record for the length of a fast.[2]

To most people, pulling into a highway rest stop is a profoundly mundane experience. But not to neuroscientist Rita Valentino, who has studied how the brain senses, interprets, and acts on the bladder’s signals. She’s fascinated by the brain’s ability to take in sensations from the bladder, combine them with signals from outside of the body, like the sights and sounds of the road, then use that information to act—in this scenario, to find a safe, socially appropriate place to pee. “To me, it’s really an example of one of the beautiful things that the brain does,” she says.

Scientists used to think that our bladders were ruled by a relatively straightforward reflex—an “on-off” switch between storing urine and letting it go. “Now we realize it’s much more complex than that,” says Valentino, now director of the division of neuroscience and behavior at the National Institute of Drug Abuse. An intricate network of brain regions that contribute to functions like decision-making, social interactions, and awareness of our body’s internal state, also called interoception, participates in making the call.

In addition to being mind-bogglingly complex, the system is also delicate. //

The human bladder is, at the most basic level, a stretchy bag. To fill to capacity—a volume of 400 to 500 milliliters (about 2 cups) of urine in most healthy adults—it must undergo one of the most extreme expansions of any organ in the human body, expanding roughly sixfold from its wrinkled, empty state.

To stretch that far, the smooth muscle wall that wraps around the bladder, called the detrusor, must relax. Simultaneously, sphincter muscles that surround the bladder’s lower opening, or urethra, must contract, in what scientists call the guarding reflex. //

Filling or full, the bladder spends more than 95 percent of its time in storage mode, allowing us to carry out our daily activities without leaks. At some point—ideally, when we decide it’s time to pee—the organ switches from storage to release mode. For this, the detrusor muscle must contract forcefully to expel urine, while the sphincter muscles surrounding the urethra simultaneously relax to let urine flow out.

For a century, physiologists have puzzled over how the body coordinates the switch between storage and release.

The milestone was initially set by a Japanese pedometer company that was looking for something catchy for their advertising. Making things easier for them, the 10,000 number in Japanese looks vaguely like a person walking or running. You decide, here’s the Kanji symbol for 10K: 万 //

Singh points to studies that suggest an association between the number of steps you take and mortality. A 2023 study published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology suggested 2,600 to 2,800 daily steps was enough to produce health benefits, while a European study from 2022 found that increasing your step count by 1,000-step increments may lead to a 15% decrease in your risk of all-cause mortality. //

etba_ss
5 hours ago edited
The medicine and science fields should be viewed with the same amount of respect and intriguing that we do for lawyers and used car salesmen.

They are equally likely to be liars just trying to line their own pockets and bilk the system and screw people over.

The evidence for whether ivermectin impacts recovery, hospital admissions, and longer-term outcomes in COVID-19 is contested. The WHO recommends its use only in the context of clinical trials.

In this multicentre, open-label, multi-arm, adaptive platform randomised controlled trial, we included participants aged ≥18 years in the community, with a positive SARS-CoV-2 test, and symptoms lasting ≤14 days. Participants were randomised to usual care, usual care plus ivermectin tablets (target 300–400 μg/kg per dose, once daily for 3 days), or usual care plus other interventions. Co-primary endpoints were time to first self-reported recovery, and COVID-19 related hospitalisation/death within 28 days, analysed using Bayesian models. Recovery at 6 months was the primary, longer term outcome. //

Ivermectin for COVID-19 is unlikely to provide clinically meaningful improvement in recovery, hospital admissions, or longer-term outcomes. Further trials of ivermectin for SARS-Cov-2 infection in vaccinated community populations appear unwarranted.

The polio epidemic that gripped the United States in the mid-20th century remains etched in history as a harrowing chapter of disease and public health challenges. However, recent revelations and research shed new light on the potential link between DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane) and the misdiagnosis of polio cases during that era.

In the 1940s and 1950s, as the “polio epidemic” unfolded, outbreaks were notably clustered in regions with large commercial farms where DDT was extensively used as a pesticide. The timing of these outbreaks during the summer and early fall coincided with heightened DDT application and increased human exposure, particularly among children who frequented rivers, lakes, and streams contaminated with DDT runoff from agricultural activities.

What’s intriguing is that the symptoms of paralytic polio, a severe form of the disease, closely mimic those of DDT poisoning. Both conditions can cause muscle weakness, paralysis, respiratory difficulties, and neurological symptoms, leading to potential misdiagnosis and confusion among healthcare providers during the epidemic.

Further complicating matters was the widespread use and endorsement of DDT as a safe and effective pesticide, touted for its ability to control insect-borne diseases and improve agricultural productivity. The public perception of DDT as a panacea for pest control overshadowed potential health risks and unintended consequences, including its role in misdiagnosed polio cases.

The immune system can get kicked into overdrive when the fungi run riot. //

Fungi are an indispensable part of your microbiome, keeping the body’s host of microorganisms healthy as part of a system of checks and balances. But when you’re hit by an infection, fungi can be thrown out of equilibrium with other organisms inside you, leading to a more severe infection and other symptoms of illness.

For this reason, the pandemic immediately set off alarms for Iliyan Iliev, an immunologist at Weill Cornell Medical School. “We were thinking, the first thing that’s going to happen is people will start getting fungal co-infections,” he says. With the microbiome unbalanced, fungi might start running riot inside Covidpatients, Iliev reasoned. His fears were soon realized. //

This complex crosstalk between the gut microbiome and the immune system is an example of how most things in the body are intertwined... //

Now, Iliev and Kusakabe are interested in exploring how fungal overgrowth may appear in long Covid—and how immunity is affected. “What’s the impact of this reprogramming of the immune system by the fungus and the virus?” Iliev asks. “What happens long-term if you have suffered from that?”

A groundbreaking new study commissioned by Revolver News concludes that COVID-19 lockdowns are ten times more deadly than the actual COVID-19 virus in terms of years of life lost by American citizens. //

Revolver News set out to commission a study to do precisely that: to finally quantify the net damage of the lockdowns in terms of a metric known as “life-years.” Simply put, we have drawn upon existing economic studies on the health effects of unemployment to calculate an estimate of how many years of life will have been lost due to the lockdowns in the United States, and have weighed this against an estimate of how many years of life will have been saved by the lockdowns. The results are nothing short of staggering, and suggest that the lockdowns will end up costing Americans over 10 times as many years of life as they will save from the virus itself.

Rhythmic activity during sleep may get fluids in the brain moving. //

Human brains (and those of other higher organisms) evolved to have billions of neurons in the functional tissue, or parenchyma, of the brain, which is protected by the blood-brain barrier.

Everything these neurons do creates metabolic waste, often in the form of protein fragments. Other studies have found that these fragments may contribute to neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

The brain has to dispose of its garbage somehow, and it does this through what’s called the glymphatic system (no, that’s not a typo), which carries cerebrospinal fluid that moves debris out of the parenchyma through channels located near blood vessels. However, that still left the questions: What actually powers the glymphatic system to do this—and how? The WUSTL team wanted to find out.

To see what told the glymphatic system to dump the trash, scientists performed experiments on mice, inserting probes into their brains and planting electrodes in the spaces between neurons. They then anesthetized the mice with ketamine to induce sleep.

Neurons fired strong charged currents after the animals fell asleep. While brain waves under anesthesia were mostly long and slow, they induced corresponding waves of current in the cerebrospinal fluid. The fluid would then flow through the dura mater, the outer layer of tissue between the brain and the skull, taking the junk with it.

Researchers in the Netherlands collected data from 2,700 children beginning at age 11 until they turned 25. In doing so, they polled them on their level of discontent with their gender and found that a majority grew out of any confusion they were experiencing. //

What this means is simple: The current institutionally-pushed trend, from the White House to the American Medical Association, of "affirming" and "transitioning" children is leaving them permanently damaged and unable to naturally work through their issues. From surgeries to hormone blockers, the "care" being given isn't care at all and is counter-productive to a child becoming comfortable with their natural body.

Confusion among children about gender is not new. What is new is treating it as a medical issue instead of a mental health issue. Children who feel uncomfortable about their bodies don't need adults pumping them full of drugs and telling them to dress like the opposite sex. They need adults to tell them the truth and guide them through what has always been a chaotic, confusing period for adolescents. //

Unfortunately, there is a lot of money to be made by "transitioning" children, and the medical establishment is firmly behind the practice. //

How do you change a status quo like that? It won't be easy, and it doesn't appear any amount of data will be enough. That means a lot more children are going to be harmed by those seeking to "affirm" their gender confusion. At its core, the practice is taking advantage of adolescent realities for personal and ideological gain.

But it’s not brain surgery. Every woman’s cycle is different to some degree, which is why it’s up to each of us to attune to the signals of our bodies. When women experience fertility-related symptoms, we do research and hypothesize what might be the issue. We change certain variables from cycle to cycle, observe the changes, and test the most effective ones repeatedly. Then we draw conclusions based on all the best evidence and testing. It’s science by definition. When it comes to my menstrual cycle, yes, I’m becoming the best expert.

The feminist left hates it. They’re all “pro-choice” until women choose to tell about their adverse experiences with birth control and detoxify their bodies of hormone disruptors. Invoking The Handmaid’s Tale is always in vogue, but Democrats’ ugly little secret is that birth control isn’t just the best way to control reproduction; it’s the best way to control women. The longer women remain single and childless, the longer they tend to be dependents of the state and therefore Democrat voters. The fewer times they go on maternity leave, the more soulless hours they can clock for their corporate bosses.

But look around. Are efforts to make women more like men making us happier? The “explosion” of females flushing their birth control offers a resounding no. Women bought the feminist lie for a while, but it only bankrupted them. It turns out that having your health concerns dismissed is not “empowering.” Masking symptoms isn’t “liberating.”

Despite the media’s hand-wringing about “effectiveness,” women — and men —have way better birth control options available, such as cycle syncing and natural family planning. So you’ve been told you have to ingest synthetic hormones every day… but did you know you’re only fertile about one week out of every month? Now, knowledge like that is empowering.

Protecting injured tissues through the use supports and braces is always a consideration, but for many, a more comprehensive approach may be needed.

Cold treatments can certainly be considered to help alleviate short term bouts of inflammation, but what about the beyond those steps?

This is where the intended role of T Shellz Wrap can help: by enhancing circulation to tissues, providing them with the needed nutrients and oxygen they need to help accelerate specific metabolic processes.

to what extent is providing IVF treatment to families the best option? To what extent does it truly protect the life of the mother and the unborn? //

This experience taught me a lot about the need to advocate for my own health. I can’t imagine how many women a year go into those clinics desperate for a child, blindly trusting these doctors and unaware of any restorative approaches to treating their reproductive systems. How many women wind up spending hundreds of thousands of dollars putting their bodies through so much pain? How many human embryos are created and frozen because the doctor was lazy — or greedy? How many doctors know the actual outcomes of IVF but aren’t upfront about the heartache and risks?

States like Alabama need to rethink how they are fighting the pro-life fight. Women need to know there are safer, more affordable, and more effective options. I’m so grateful I learned about this holistic method and was able to give birth to a healthy baby.

Tarsus Pharmaceuticals is developing such a pill for humans—minus the tasty flavoring—that could provide protection against the tick-borne disease for several weeks at a time. In February, the Irvine, California–based biotech company announced results from a small, early-stage trial showing that 24 hours after taking the drug, it can kill ticks on people, with the effects lasting for up to 30 days. //

Lyme disease is caused by the bacteria Borrelia burgdorferi, which gets passed to humans through the bite of an infected tick. In most cases, a tick has to be attached for around 36 to 48 hours before the bacteria can be transmitted. Symptoms include fever, headache, fatigue, and a characteristic skin rash that looks like a bullseye. //

The experimental pill that Tarsus Pharmaceuticals is testing is a formulation of lotilaner, a drug that paralyzes and kills parasites by interfering with the way that signals are passed between their nerve cells. Lotilaner is already approved as a veterinary medicine under the brand name Credelio to control fleas and ticks in dogs and cats. //

In a Phase II trial, 31 healthy adults took either a low or high dose of the Tarsus pill, or a placebo. Researchers then placed sterile ticks on participants’ arms and, 24 hours later, measured how many died. They also observed tick death 30 days after a single dose of the pill. At day one, 97 percent of ticks in the high-dose group and 92 percent in the low-dose group had died, while only 5 percent of ticks in the placebo group had. One month out, both doses of the pill killed around 90 percent of ticks. The company reported no serious adverse events from the pill, and none of the participants dropped out due to side effects. //

DNA_Doc Ars Praetorian
5y
561
"Without a vaccine for Lyme disease on the market, current prevention includes using insect repellents such as DEET and permethrin and wearing closed shoes, long pants, and long sleeves when in a tick-infested area."

Yes, if only we had a vaccine for Lyme disease...oh wait...we did.

The FDA approved a Lyme vaccine (LYMErix) in December of 1998. Shortly after, some people complained of arthritis and sued SmithKline Beecham, its maker. It didn't matter that it made no sense that the vaccine would cause arthritis at all (ie, no plausible mechanism of action), nor that Borrelia burgdorferi itself enters the joints and causes severe inflammation; the masses were convinced. So two large (~20,000 participants) two-year studies were conducted and confirmed the implausibility of the vaccine causing arthritis, but it wasn't enough. The media had publicized a possible connection, sales were decreasing as a result, and GlaxoSmithKline (as it was then known) was spending millions of dollars defending itself from numerous lawsuits filed by greedy attorneys.

Utimately, GSK withdrew the vaccine from the market. An effective vaccine beneficial for human health was taken off the market not because of any real safety issues, but because idiots ruined it for everybody.

Edited to mention that rasheverak and Jim Bacon ninja'd me and I didn't notice. :) //

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2870557/

DovePig Ars Praetorian
2y
9,267

A few points, as this short Wired article misses a few things or gets them wrong:

1. A multivalent Lyme vaccine is in clinical trials currently, from Valneva/Pfizer. Previous phases have shown it to be pretty promising.
2. DEET dissolves plastics like nylon pack straps and jackets, you are better off using another repellent Icaridin (Picaridin).
3. Permethrin is NOT a repellent, it's an insecticide. It does not repel ticks, it kills them as it's a neurotoxin, like other insecticides – that's why it's also poisonous any other invertebrates like helpful bugs and bees, aquatic wildlife, fish and even cats (!). I really wish some companies stopped falsely marketing permethrin as a safe repellent when it's not. It's safe when carefully applied to clothing, but shouldn't ever be sprayed wantonly in the environment, on lawns or in nature (Thermacell permethrin "candles" are banned in Finland in forests for that very reason).
4. Also, we had a Lyme vaccine two decades ago already. Safe and working, if only for the US strain of B. burgdoferi. Greedy lawyers and dumb antivaxxers stopped it and stopped the development of new vaccines for said two decades, as til now nobody would risk developing one only to have to stop it again. ETA: Darn, it says something good about Ars commenters that I've been ninja'd on this issue thrice already, good job ;-)

That said, a pill that could kill ticks upon attaching sounds really interesting, especially with all the other nasty diseases they carry (wait till you hear about tick‑borne encephalitis virus, which might not only kill you, but can really mess up your brain and memories permanently even if you survive it).

Rural populations still have lots of the gut bacteria that break down cellulose. //

Amazingly, humans also play host to bacteria that can break down cellulose—something that wasn't confirmed until 2003 (long after I'd wrapped up my education). Now, a new study indicates that we're host to a mix of cellulose-eating bacteria, some via our primate ancestry, and others through our domestication of herbivores such as cows. But urban living has caused the number of these bacteria to shrink dramatically. //

Present-day hunter/gatherers and those living in a rural environment, both of whom eat very high fiber diets, still had about 20 percent prevalence of these cellulose-digesting species. By contrast, those in industrialized countries had a prevalence under 5 percent.

In general, the more fiber in the diet of a culture, the more diverse their cellulose-digesting bacteria were. So, their diversity in humans has been going down as more of our population has shifted into urban living. //

You could try to rebuild your gut biome. If you haven't already, try eating live culture (not pasteurized after fermentation) fermented foods (think kosher refrigerated picklees rather than sterile jars) - yoghurt, kefir, kombucha, sauerkraut, pickles, kimchee, etc - this will help. As many different types of these as possible - each type of food has different species/strains of microflora, so the more types you eat, the wider a population will end in your gut. Kefir & kombucha especially, as they have dozens of strains of bacterias and yeasts.

Taste can sometimes be an issue. I personally don't like the raw yeast taste that sometimes can be found with kefir and kombucha. Other people really don't like the vinegar-y taste of kombucha, pickles, etc. I hide the yeast taste of kefir & kombucha in daily smoothies. Have no solution for those philistines that don't like pickles or kimchee. //

This is not virtue or anything like it. No doubt much of it is the blind luck of genetic chance. But evidence increasingly suggests that having absolutely wallowed in a diverse biological environment for my first couple of decades is the smartest thing I've ever unknowingly done.

Six different ground cinnamon products sold at retailers including Save A Lot, Dollar Tree, and Family Dollar contain elevated levels of lead and should be recalled and thrown away immediately, the US Food and Drug Administration announced Wednesday. //

The announcement comes amid a nationwide outbreak of lead poisoning in young children linked to cinnamon applesauce pouches contaminated with lead and chromium. In that case, it's believed that a spice grinder in Ecuador intentionally added extreme levels of lead chromate to cinnamon imported from Sri Lanka, likely to improve its weight and/or appearance. Food manufacturer Austrofoods then added the heavily contaminated cinnamon, without any testing, to cinnamon applesauce pouches marketed to toddlers and young children across the US. In the latest update, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has identified 468 cases of lead poisoning that have been linked to the cinnamon applesauce pouches. //

The FDA makes note that the elevated lead levels found in the six products announced this week are significantly lower than what was seen in the cinnamon added to the applesauce pouches. The six products contained lead at levels ranging from 2.03 to 3.4 parts per million (ppm), while samples of the cinnamon added to the applesauce had levels ranging from 2,270 ppm to 5,110 ppm in the cinnamon.

The FDA has previously reported that 2.5 ppm is the limit being considered for bark spices, which includes cinnamon, by the international standard-setting body, Codex Alimentarius Commission.
So the six newly identified products are right around or just over that potential threshold and do not pose the same level of risk as the applesauce pouches. But the FDA warned that the elevated levels in the ground cinnamon could cause elevated blood lead levels after prolonged use, which the agency defined as months to years.

In the small town of Calhoun, Georgia, the Timms family has found itself embroiled in a heart-wrenching legal battle that further exposes the profound flaws within the state’s child welfare agency. The ordeal began when Brady and Carrie Timms’ three-month-old son Jameson was forcibly removed from their care following medical visits that quickly spiraled into a misdiagnosis and false accusations that brought about their current nightmare. //

The couple later petitioned the court to have Jameson examined at Boston Children’s Hospital by an expert. The court agreed, provided that two case workers with DFCS were also allowed to be present. The doctor diagnosed both Carrie and Jameson with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), a genetic condition that could explain the child’s symptoms and injuries. //

The family believed the diagnosis, which occurred with the DFCS agents present, would vindicate them. Unfortunately, the agency disregarded this critical evidence and refused to move toward reunifying the family.

The most common type of dementia, Alzheimer’s is caused by a buildup of amyloid proteins in the brain, with risk factors including age, family history, unhealthy lifestyle behaviors and certain medical conditions.

But in a study published in Nature Medicine, researchers from the University College London (UCL) linked growth hormone treatments to the development of Alzheimer’s, according to a UCL press release.

The researchers studied patients who received a type of human growth hormone that was extracted from the pituitary glands of deceased people (c-hGH).

The c-hGH has been shown to lead to greater amounts of amyloid-beta protein in the brain, the researchers found. //

The treatment in question has not been used for almost 40 years, having been abandoned in 1985 when it was found to possibly spread Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD,) which can also cause dementia, brain damage, and death. //

The study goes on to note that Alzheimer's disease is not contagious, which no doubt caused many White House staffers to breathe a sigh of relief.

The study, however, also notes that treatment with human growth hormone isn't the only cause of Alzheimer's disease.

In infant botulism, spores of Clostridium botulinum colonize the gastrointestinal tract after accidental ingestion and start producing toxin type A. The toxin makes its way into nerve cells and cleaves a critical protein complex necessary for the release of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, halting nerve signaling. Upon further investigation, the family revealed the baby seemed to have abdominal discomfort prior to falling ill and they had soothed him with honey—a known source of C. botulinum spores and botulism in infants. //

With the strong possibility that the boy had botulism, the doctors immediately ordered BabyBIG (Botulism Immune Globulin Intravenous), the only FDA-approved anti-botulism toxin antibodies used to treat infant botulism. It was developed by and is distributed from a unique program run by the California Department of Public Health. The faster infants with botulism get BabyBIG, the better, because the antibodies cannot get into nerve cells—they can only prevent the toxin from going into them. Once the toxin is in the nerve cell and cleaves its target protein complex, it takes four weeks for that protein complex to regenerate and reverse the toxin's actions.

The BabyBIG arrived from California, and doctors administered it to the baby 31 hours after he first went to the emergency room. About six days later, stool tests confirmed the presence of C. botulinum toxin type A. With the antibody blocking the toxin, the baby boy spent 10 days intubated until he started moving again on his own. He opened his eyes and could cough. He was discharged after 21 days and spent eight days in a rehabilitation facility. Three months later, he had fully recovered and was developmentally on track. And at his recent three-year checkup, he continued to do well.

In this case, the boy's exposure to honey gave a tidy explanation for why he developed botulism—the diagnosis that finally solved the riddle of his crying. But in most cases, the exposure isn't so obvious. Infant botulism is rare in the US, with an average of around 80 cases each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Clear exposure to honey or corn syrup only occurs in a minority of the cases, the doctors of the case report note. Instead, the condition is often linked to environmental exposures, such as rural living, dust production, or nearby soil perturbation. Its sporadic nature can make it yet more difficult to spot.