Health & WellnessS


Ambulance

Three year old Hawaiian girl dies from brain injuries after dental clinic gives massive overdose

Alex Dobuzinskis
MSN News
Sat, 04 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC
finley boyle
Finley Boyle
A 3-year-old Hawaii girl who suffered massive brain injuries last month after a dental procedure died late Friday, said an attorney for the child's family.

Earlier this week, the family of Finley Boyle, 3, filed a lawsuit against dentist Lilly Geyer and Island Dentistry for Children in Honolulu, alleging that the child was given incorrect dosages of sedatives and that the hospital staff was not properly trained for emergencies.
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Arrow Down

Coming to a field near you: 'Agent Orange Corn'?

Andrea Germanos
Common Dreams Org
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 15:51 UTC
Corn
© jeffbalke/cc/flickrCritics fear the USDA's assessment of 'Agent Orange' crops will increase the use of toxic pesticides.

Despite widespread opposition from food safety, environmental and watchdog groups, as well as health professionals and concerned consumers, the USDA has paved the way for the commercial use of genetically engineered crops dubbed "Agent Orange" corn and soybeans.

In its Draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) released Friday, the agency said that its "preferred" option for Dow AgroSciences' "Enlist" corn and soybean, genetically engineered (GE) to be resistant to the herbicide 2,4-D, is to deregulate them.

2,4-D, the third most widely used herbicide in the U.S., is made by Dow Chemical, and was a component of Agent Orange. The herbicide has been linked to Parkinson's, birth defects, reproductive problems, and endocrine disruption.

Critics say that green-lighting these two genetically engineered crops will expand the use of toxic herbicides at the expense of public and environmental health, while padding the coffers of he pesticide industry.

"'Agent Orange crops' are designed to survive a chemical assault with 2,4-D. They will increase the use of toxic pesticides in industrial agriculture while providing absolutely no benefit to consumers," said Center for Food Safety executive director Andrew Kimbrell.

Some see a cautionary tale from Monsanto's Roundup Ready crops, which led to an increased use of glyphosate and the creation of "super weeds."
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Health

Jumping DNA in brain may be cause of schizophrenia


Asian Scientist
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 13:26 UTC
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LINE-1 retrotransposons are abnormally abundant in the schizophrenia brain and may be one of the causes of the disease, researchers say.
Retrotransposons, which are stretches of DNA often dubbed as "junk DNA," may play an important role in schizophrenia.

In a study published in the journal Neuron, a Japanese team revealed that LINE-1 retrotransposons are abnormally abundant in the schizophrenia brain. These transposons modify the expression of genes related to schizophrenia during brain development and may be one of the causes of schizophrenia.

Retrotransposons are short sequences of DNA that autonomously amplify and move around the genome. One class of retrotransposons, named long interspersed nuclear elements (LINE), make up a large part of the eukaryotic genome and are believed to contribute to diseases such as cancer.

LINE-1 have been shown to be more abundant in brain cells than in other cells, providing evidence for enhanced activity of LINE-1 in the human brain. However, the role played by LINE-1 in mental disorders, and in particular schizophrenia, remains unclear.

The team, led by Dr. Kazuya Iwamoto from the University of Tokyo and Dr. Tadafumi Kato from the RIKEN Brain Science Institute, demonstrated that the number of copies of LINE-1 is elevated in the post-mortem brains of patients with schizophrenia.

Comment: See also On viral 'junk' DNA, a DNA-enhancing Ketogenic diet, and cometary kicks for more information on "junk" DNA and their viral properties.

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Syringe

Report: UK Girl falls asleep up to 30 times a day after getting flu shot


CBS Atlanta
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 10:40 UTC
Flu Shot
© Andreas Rentz/Getty ImagesPhoto of a doctor’s office.

Edinburh, U.K. - A 15-year-old girl is reportedly falling asleep up to 30 times a day after getting a flu shot.

Australia's News Limited reports Chloe Glasson began suffering from narcolepsy four months after being injected with Pandemrix, a vaccine to combat against swine flu, in November 2009. She is one of at least 100 people to suffer from the sleeping disorder after getting vaccinated with Pandemrix.

"She has gone from being a bright, outgoing girl to one who cannot go out on her own," Rebecca Glasson, Chloe's mother, told News Limited. "She doesn't doze for more than a couple of hours at a time, but she can have disturbing dreams."

Chloe Glasson will begin a new treatment of the specialist drug sodium oxybate at the Royal Hospital for Sick Children in Edinburgh, U.K., in hopes to get back to a normal sleeping pattern.

"I am putting a lot of faith in the treatment," Chloe told News Limited. "While the tablets won't cure me, they may offer the chance of a more normal life."

GlaxoSmithKline, the manufacturer behind Pandemrix, said in a statement they are researching how narcolepsy is reportedly triggered for some by the drug.

"Patient safety is our number one priority and we are researching how narcolepsy is triggered and how this vaccine might have interacted with other risk factors in affected individuals," they told News Limited in a statement. "We hope ongoing research efforts will enable us to provide more answers."

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends flu vaccinations for Americans older than 6 months.
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Coffee

3 hidden dangers lurking in your tea

Jordyn Cormier
Soren Dreier
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 06:38 UTC
teacup
© unknown
Tea is a miraculous thing. Bursting with antioxidants and health benefits galore, civilizations have been imbibing it for centuries. Drink it iced in the throes of summer or steaming hot to stave off that winter flu.

Any season, any time of day, tea is there to boost your health while bringing you serenity and comfort. But, wait... could there be a dark side to this naturally healing beverage? Thanks to modern food practices and processing shortcuts, harmful chemicals could be lurking in your teacup. Follow these 3 guidelines to make sure you are getting pure, delicious tea, and not a tainted impostor.

Always choose an organic, non-GMO tea. It is widely known that Celestial Seasonings is loaded with pesticides. But, did you know that even loose-leaf, high-end brands like Teavana have tested positive for dangerous pesticides in 100% of samples?

Just because a product has a natural design aesthetic does not mean that the product itself is of any true quality. Although they may appear upscale and natural, pesticide-ridden packaged tea offenders include Tazo, Bigelow, Republic of Tea, Twinnings, Yogi, Mighty Leaf, and Tea Forte, among others. Surprised?
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Health

Not yet?: Relapse of 'cured' HIV patients

Kate Kelland
IOLScitech
Fri, 03 Jan 2014 00:00 UTC
Scientists seeking a cure for Aids say they have been inspired, not crushed, by a major setback in which two HIV positive patients believed to have been cured found the virus re-invading their bodies once more.

True, the news hit hard last month that the so-called "Boston patients" - two men who received bone marrow transplants that appeared to rid them completely of the Aids-causing virus - had relapsed and gone back onto antiretroviral treatment.

But experts say the disappointment could lay the basis for important leaps forward in the search for a cure.

"It's a setback for the patients, of course, but an advance for the field because the field has now gained a lot more knowledge," said Steven Deeks, a professor and HIV expert at the University of California, San Francisco.

He and other experts say the primary practical message is that current tests designed to detect even very low levels of HIV present in the body are simply not sensitive enough.

As well as having the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the Boston patients both also had a type of blood cancer called lymphoma, for which they were treated using bone marrow transplants - one man in 2008 and the other in 2010.

They continued taking the antiretroviral Aids drugs, but eight months after each patient's transplant, doctors found they could not detect any sign of HIV in their blood.
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Bullseye

Leasing out integrity to Coca Cola

Jim Hightower
nationofchange.org
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 15:05 UTC
Image
Irony is dead. It has been garroted by reality.

For proof, check out the Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness. Sounds like a spa in Arizona where you might enjoy a cleansing regimen of aloe vera smoothies, doesn't it?

"There is no scientific evidence that connects sugary beverages to obesity," snapped a top Coke executive, adding that, "we don't believe in empty calories."

Oh, well, then - OK. But, in the off chance that you might want a more independent scientific source, try the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, billed as the world's largest organization of food and nutrition professionals. But wait - while Coke doesn't own that outfit, the academy does lease out its integrity to the cola giant.

Comment: Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics embraces the corporate fiction that sugary drinks pose no health problems! Read the following articles for important information about health problems associated with soda consumption. The Cocoa Cola corporation is just one more example of 'Big Food's' Big Money Influencing the Science of Nutrition:

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Chalkboard

How many steps does it take to make MSG?

Aaron Dykes & Melissa Melton
Activist Post
Sun, 05 Jan 2014 14:19 UTC
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MSG is so natural that it only takes GMO bacteria, 17+ steps and a lab to make it.

...because a natural food cooking process always involves treating genetically modified bacteria with penicillin, lye, a vat of acid, cryogenic freezing, silicon oil, and more lye...

Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) has become a very popular food additive over the past century, with Japanese scientists first isolating from seaweed for industrial purposes. The appeal, and danger, of MSG comes from the intense flavors of the free glutamate form of the non-essential amino acid, glutamic acid, which also delivers rapid stimulation to the brain and central nervous system when not in the bound form. These free glutamates have the tendency to overstimulate neurons to the point of cell death, while triggering an insulin response. More generally, MSG is used in food production to give cheap yet almost additive taste that arguably makes people crave more and more processed foods.

Comment: Sounds like another excellent example of what passes for human food these days: It's devolution baby! Destination nowhere under the stewardship of psychopaths
Anyone who has taken even a cursory look at what passes for human food these days can't but conclude that it is literally unfit to eat. Aspartame, BPA, fluoride, MSG, preservatives, cloned or irradiated meats, factory farming, GMOs, artificial colors, artificial flavors, nanoparticles - the list of franken-foods that we are asked to happily shove down our throats is ever-expanding and ever-more horrifying. It seems every day there's a different news story about how our food supply is being perverted in ways that take us further and further away from what actually nourishes our bodies, and therefore ever further from being able to think, move and generally function as we should.

One would be forgiven, therefore, for seeing some sort of agenda behind this perversion of our food. How else can we explain the corruption of the most essential ingredient for mental, emotional and physical health, if not by positing a grand conscious conspiracy on the part of the 'elite' to control the global population? A population that isn't able to think and do, isn't able to rebel, right? Surely a population that is addicted to food additives - and even addictive natural foods that alter our perceptions, like gluten, casein and sugar, and make us dependent on these foods - is a population that is easily molded to the machinations of a ruling class.


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Megaphone

Social Media as a megaphone to pressure the food industry

Stephanie Strom
New York times
Thu, 30 Jan 2014 13:39 UTC
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© Brendan Bannon for The New York TimesRenee Shutters with her son Trenton. She omitted all foods containing petroleum-based dyes from her son’s diet a few years ago.
Renee Shutters has long worried that food dyes - used in candy like blue M&M's - were hurting her son, Trenton.

She testified before the Food and Drug Administration, but nothing happened. It wasn't until she went online, using a petition with the help of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, that her pleas to remove artificial dyes from food seemed to be heard.

Mars, the candy's maker, is now hinting that it may soon replace at least one of the dyes with an alternative derived from seaweed.

"I've really thought about calling them," Ms. Shutters said about Mars. "I'm not trying to be this horrible person. What I'm really thinking is that this is an opportunity for their company to lead what would be an awesome publicity coup by taking these dyes out of their products."

While the F.D.A. continues to allow certain dyes to be used in foods, deeming them safe, parents and advocacy groups have been using websites and social media as powerful megaphones to force titans of the food industry to reconsider the ingredients in their foods and the labeling and processing of their products. In several instances in the last year or so, major food companies and fast-food chains have shifted to coloring derived from spices or other plant-based sources, or changed or omitted certain labels from packaging.
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Pills

7 drugs whose dangerous risks emerged only after Big Pharma made its money

Martha Rosenberg
Alternet
Thu, 02 Jan 2014 13:34 UTC
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A settlement for death or injuries down the road is just the cost of doing business.
Have you ever noticed how warnings about dangerous prescription drugs always seem to surface after the drug is no longer marketed and its patent has run out? Whether it's an FDA advisory or a trial lawyer solicitation about harm that may have been done to you, the warnings are always belated and useless. If a drug you took four years ago may have given you liver damage, why didn't the FDA tell you then? Why didn't the FDA recall the drug or better yet, not approve it in the first place?

The official answer from the FDA and Big Pharma is that problems with a drug are only seen after millions begin using it, which is why post-marketing surveillance is conducted. In other words - who knew? But in a startling number of cases revealed in court documents Pharma did "know" and clearly misled medical journals, the FDA, doctors and patients, hoping to get its patent's worth before the true risks of a drug surfaced.In other cases, Pharma and the FDA should have known before rushing a dangerous drug to market and making money at the expense of patients.

It is the business model for new drugs that provokes Big Pharma to bury risks and exaggerate benefits. A new drug under patent has a high price and no competition, and will make millions or even billions every year it is under patent. A settlement for death or injuries down the road is a nuisance and just the cost of doing business. Needless to say, the "forgiveness is cheaper than permission" business plan breeds shameless repeat offenders since the company makes money and no officers go to jail.
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