Attention to other people is a fundamental role for social cognitive development in the early stages of life. However, infants born prematurely show a different attentional pattern.

In a new study, a Kyoto University team found evidence that such babies are less interested in other people compared to infants born full-term, when tested at 6 and 12 months of age. This new study brings light to the links between premature birth, development of social communication skills, and ultimately autism.

Recent studies illustrate that infants born prematurely are at more risk of autism.

"Autism occurs from a mix of genetic and environmental factors. Preterm infants get a tremendous amount of stress in the early days of birth, because the environment is profoundly different from that of the womb," says Masako Myowa-Yamakoshi, who heads the team. "This make them much more prone to developmental difficulties, even if they seem perfectly fine when they leave the hospital."

The US Food and Drug Administration is being sued by a coalition of environmental, fishing and consumer groups for its approval of genetically engineered salmon - the first such animal to ever be sold for commercial consumption.

The lawsuit announced Thursday challenges the FDA's power to approve the salmon, which can be grown twice as quickly as natural salmon. The plaintiffs, represented by the Center for Food Safety and by Earthjustice, argue that the agency doesn't have the power to approve and regulate genetically engineered (GE) animals as "animal drugs" under federal law.

"Those provisions were meant to ensure the safety of veterinary drugs administered to treat disease in livestock and were not intended to address entirely new [genetically engineered] animals that can pass along their altered genes to the next generation," said Earthjustice.

Today on the Health and Wellness show, we connected the "don'ts" in recent health news, and talked about what you can do to keep your health, wellness, and sanity. Between governmental control on medicine, environmental pollution, vaccines, the state of food, and many other things, we have plenty of issues to battle to keep our heads on straight. However, it is possible to approach the seemingly insane world with rationality and personal responsibility for your own state of health. As always, Zoya joined us with a pet health segment about the absurdity of vegetarian diets for your pet dogs and cats. Tune in weekly on Fridays on the SOTT Radio Network!

Running Time: 01:53:52

Download: MP3


Here's the transcript of the show:

New research may shed light on why vegetarians are almost 40 percent more likely to suffer colorectal cancer than those of the carnivorous persuasion. The study goes beyond an individual's diet though, pointing to a multi-generational factor at work.

A new study from Cornell University found a generation variation - or adaptive allele - that appears in populations who have subsisted on a vegetarian diet for generations. This adaptive allele is believed to have occurred to make it easier for vegetarians to absorb essential fatty acids from plants, but it also leaves them more susceptible to inflammation.

According to the study authored by J. Thomas Brenna, "The mutation, called rs66698963 and found in the FADS2 gene, is an insertion or deletion of a sequence of DNA that regulates the expression of two genes, FADS1 and FADS2. These genes are key to making long chain polyunsaturated fats."

Among the polyunsaturated fats are omega-3s and omega-6s, two important fatty acids that the human body cannot make itself. But research indicates that vegetarians with the adaptive allele who stray from a balanced omega-6 to omega-3 diet are at a higher risk of cancer and heart disease.

Breast-feeding: "It's only natural." It's a message women may have seen on Facebook or a state health department website, or heard on the radio, as part of a campaign launched in 2013 by the Department of Health and Human Services.

But, according to a pair of experts, this type of campaign could backfire in a big way. When federal and local health departments use the term "natural" to promote breast-feeding, it could inadvertently fuel concerns over other aspects of health and society that are seen as "unnatural," such as vaccines, genetically modified foods and assisted reproductive technologies, the experts warn.

Victims suffering side effects from cervical cancer vaccines that were once recommended by the government announced Wednesday they will file a lawsuit against the state and drugmakers.

"Many victims are still suffering from side effects of the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines Cervarix and Gardsil, which include overall pain and disorders of perception, movement and memory," lawyer Masumi Minaguchi, a representative from the planned lawsuit's defense team told a news conference in Tokyo.

Minaguchi said the victims will file the suit sometime after June against the central government, GlaxoSmithKlien PLC, the maker of Cervarix, and Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp., the maker of Gardsil, at four district courts in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and Fukuoka.

"The victims wish to live a peaceful life and prevent further suffering by finding out the truth (about the vaccine side effects)," Minaguchi added.

Last week at the inaugural Near Future Summit, a leadership conference of forward-thinking professionals, tech entrepreneur Peter Diamandis asked members of the audience to raise their hands if they'd been born vaginally.

He then asked them to keep their hands raised if they had also been breastfed and if, in more recent years, they'd avoided antibiotics, Z-Paks and major surgery. In the end, just a few dozen people in the audience of 250 or so still had their hands up.

This wasn't just an exercise in TMI: Diamandis was hoping to assess the microbiome status of his listeners. All of the aforementioned qualities suggest that a person's gut bacteria are healthy and undisturbed. Soon after Diamandis' straw poll, the medical philanthropist Lee Stein walked around handing out feces collection kits to the people who might be in possession of the perfect poop.

After an ongoing FBI investigation revealed incriminating information, Brad Harris, CEO of Novus Health Care Services, is being accused of ordering nurses to hasten the deaths of patients.

Novus Health Care Service is a company based in Frisco, Texas that provides in-house care for terminally ill and elderly patients. The company's website indicates clearly that Novus prides itself on the quality of care and "improved patient outcomes" as a result of the services its employees provide. However, an affidavit released by the FBI suggests Brad Harris has failed to comply with the principles of his own company.

A new study in mice demonstrates that manipulating the microbiome can influence the extent of brain damage caused by a stroke

The bacteria that inhabit our guts have become key players for neuroscientists. A growing body of research links them to a wide array of mental and neurological disorders—from anxiety and depression to schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease. Now a study in mice published this week in Nature Medicine suggests that striking the right microbial balance could cause changes in the immune system that significantly reduce brain damage after a stroke—the second leading cause of both death and disability for people around the globe.

Experts have known for some time that stroke severity is influenced by the presence of two types of cell, found abundantly within the intestine, that calibrate immune responses: Regulatory T cells have a beneficial inflammatory effect, protecting an individual from stroke. But gamma delta T cells produce a cytokine that causes harmful inflammation after a stroke.

A team of researchers at Weill Cornell Medical College and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center set about investigating whether they could tilt the balance of these cells in the favor of beneficial cells by tinkering with the body's bacterial residents. To do so, they bred two colonies of mice: One group's intestinal flora was resistant to antibiotics whereas the other's gut bacteria was vulnerable to treatment. As a result, when given a combination of antibiotics over the course of two weeks, only the latter's microbiota underwent change. The researchers then obstructed the cerebral arteries of the mice, inducing an ischemic stroke (the most common type). They found that subsequent brain damage was 60 percent smaller in the drug-susceptible mice than it was in the other group.

No Tribeca, no problem for the new documentary Vaxxed recently withdrawn from this year's New York film festival at the behest of co-founder Robert De Niro. It is safe to say that the buzz generated by the censoring of this film has overshadowed Tribeca's 2016 film festival. Adding more fuel to the soaring public interest was producer Del Bigtree's release of his uncut interview with ABC news regarding the film. In typical fashion, the mainstream media sliced and diced Bigtree's vital ten-minute interview into a few soundbites to frame an anti-vaccine narrative.

Fortunately for the millions wishing to see this film and make their own decisions, there is another theater right down the road from Tribeca's festivities. The Angelika Film Center will be hosting Vaxxed: From Cover-Up to Catastrophe with tickets going on sale Wednesday (TBA), March 30. The theater plans on premiering the film Friday, April 1. Those interested in showing the film in their own towns should subscribe at VaxxedTheMovie.com to get involved.