Health & WellnessS


Health

Flu season in the US causing supply shortages with some areas seeing double the patients

Dr. Maria Simbra
CBS
Wed, 24 Jan 2018 21:11 UTC
England Britain flu cold
Statistics from Public Health England show a 2.5 fold rise in cases in the last two weeks
The flu has hit so hard and heavy this year, some doctors are running out of supplies.

"I have heard from private practices that they are running short on the rapid flu tests," says Allegheny General Hospital Emergency Medicine physician Dr. Tom Campbell. "I think they could make some decision on who it was most important to get the test on, who was most at risk, and use the same number they might have left."

Restocking these 10-minute tests isn't so easy.

"We went to purchase more because of the use we've had this year, and they're not available," says Dr. James DeAngelo, of Allergy and Clinical Immunology Associates.

Comment: Flu season is proving to be particularly brutal this year:

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Health

Psilocybin mushrooms reduce authoritarianism and boost nature relatedness

Eric W. Dolan
PsyPost
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 12:35 UTC
magische pilze, magic mushroom, psilocybin
© Wikipedia
Psilocybin, the active compound in magic mushrooms, could make people feel more connected to nature and less likely to endorse authoritarian views, according to new research from the Psychedelic Research Group at Imperial College London.

The new study, published in the journal Psychopharmacology, is the first to provide experimental evidence that psilocybin treatment can lead to lasting changes in these attitudes.

Study authors Taylor Lyons and Robin L. Carhart-Harris write that "our findings tentatively raise the possibility that given in this way, psilocybin may produce sustained changes in outlook and political perspective, here in the direction of increased nature relatedness and decreased authoritarianism."

Comment: See also:

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Footprints

Is the way we walk wrong? People in the medieval era walked differently (VIDEO)

Shaunacy Ferro
Mental Floss
Sat, 07 Oct 2017 11:48 UTC
medieval age middle walk differently
© YouTube
A whole lot about medieval life would feel foreign to us now. No indoor plumbing, no toilet paper, no comforters, and a whole lot of blood letting. But you might not expect that you'd have to walk differently, too.

As this video spotted by Boing Boing points out, life in medieval Europe did not include well-soled shoes. If you had shoes, they were likely glorified leather socks. And to protect their tender feet from harm, people had to tread more carefully, unlike those of us whose cushy rubber soles allow us to stomp around modern cities.

Recorded in Germany's History Park Bärnau, an open-air museum that explores life between the 9th and 13th centuries, this video by Roland Warzecha illustrates the mechanics of movement in Western Europe prior to 1500. (Warzecha runs a martial arts school devoted to historical European swordsmanship in Hamburg.)

Comment: When we want to walk quietly, we walk on our tip toes, it takes more effort but we have better control and use a wider range of muscles, could that be a good thing?

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Health

Rise of autoimmune disease linked to intestinal permeability


The Institute of Functional Medicine
Thu, 25 Jan 2018 12:24 UTC
Leaky Gut
© health101.net
Since the onset of World War II in 1939, autoimmune diseases have increased dramatically worldwide,1 encompassing more than 80 disorders.2 Collectively, autoimmune disorders are among the most prevalent diseases in the US; they are the third most common category of disease after cancer and cardiovascular disease, affecting approximately 5-8% of the US population, or 14.7 to 23.5 million people.3 Statistics show that an estimated 78% of people with autoimmune conditions are women,3 and that these diseases are among the top 10 leading causes of death for girls and women of all age groups.1

Risk Factors

It is generally accepted that a common denominator in autoimmune disease is genetic susceptibility of the host immune system to misinterpret a benign environmental antigen as a threat.4 It is well known that the interaction between genes and the environment is fundamental to the immune response, but increasingly, research is validating a new paradigm in which genetic susceptibility coupled with increased intestinal permeability sets the stage for a specific environmental trigger. The trigger then causes a break in immunological tolerance and the onset of an autoimmune cascade.4

The intestinal epithelium is the largest mucosal surface in the body, and it provides an extensive interface with the external environment.4 Healthy, mature gut mucosa with intact tight junctions (TJ) serve as the main barrier to the passage of macromolecules into the gut. When the integrity of the gut barrier is compromised (TJ disassembly)-as is seen during prematurity or exposure to radiation, chemotherapy, and/or toxins-an immune response to environmental antigens that crossed the gut mucosa may develop, leading to autoimmune diseases.4

Comment: See also:

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Health

Spike in flu cases: seriously ill patients in limbo, waiting on hospital beds in US

Andy Marso
The Kansas City Star
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 17:01 UTC
Flu tent hospital
© Gina Ferazzi TNSA military grade medical tent is set up in the parking lot and used for overflow flu patients outside the Emergency Room at Loma Linda Medical Center in Loma Linda, Calif. Missouri and Kansas each have more hospital beds per capita than California and there have been no reports of tents in parking lots here. But there have been some delays in getting care.
As people with the flu streamed into Missouri hospitals this month, small facilities at times struggled to find places where they could transfer patients who needed higher levels of care.

J. Christopher Lang, the CEO of Cass Regional Medical Center, said his hospital in Harrisonville has had to divert ambulances to other emergency rooms when his was full and hold patients who needed to go to bigger hospitals when those facilities were on diversion.

"We've run into it off and on over the last couple of weeks, so yes, there's been some inability to transfer to a higher level of care because of beds being full," Lang said.

Comment: This flu season seems to be a doozy, with multiple countries reportedly being overwhelmed. See:

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Heart

Scientists say obesity is like a contagious disease

Laura Kelly
The Washington Times
Wed, 24 Jan 2018 00:01 UTC
Obese person
© Associated Press/FileMore than one-third of the U.S. population is obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Obesity is deadly, epidemic and ... contagious?

A study in the Journal of the American Medical Association Pediatrics shows that being around obese people for extended periods makes it more likely that you will become obese.

The study also suggests that people who are surrounded by a community and environment that promote healthy living will mirror that lifestyle.

"Even though the word 'contagion' has a negative connotation, what we really want people to take away is that we can actually use it to our advantage," Ashlesha Datar, co-author of the recently published study, told The Washington Times.

Comment: This is rather silly. The idea that obesity is "contagious" leaves out all the factors that are actually contributing to the condition. It's not about where you are - it's about taking on the lifestyle habits of the community in which you're embedded. That doesn't make it "contagious" it simply outlines how susceptible we are to the social norms we're surrounded by. But by calling it a contagion and location dependent, we further the victim narrative and take away each individual's responsibility in their own health.

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Evil Rays

Mother of woman who died of flu urges young people to take symptoms seriously

Freya Drohan
Irish Central
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 16:16 UTC
Katharine Gallagher
© FACEBOOKKatharine with her parents Liz and Phil Gallagher
"Healthy, vibrant" 27-year-old Katharine passed away after contracting the disease, less than two days after she initially went to UrgentCare.

After initially thinking she was recovering, she was found dead on the bathroom floor by her devastated boyfriend of two years, Brendan Carey.

Comment: Taking one's health and well-being seriously is good advice, but there are more effective and safer ways to boost the immune system than getting a flu shot:

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Syringe

Just as in humans, vaccines for fish don't prevent disease

Marco Torres
Prevent Disease
Mon, 22 Jan 2018 20:45 UTC
fish vaccine
The use of vaccines on animals is common throughout the world yet efficacy in disease prevention is scant. A new study shows that vaccines used by commercial fish farmers are not protecting fish from disease.

The study was compiled by researchers at the University of Waterloo, the Pontifical Catholic University of Valparaiso and Chile's University of Valparaiso. It showed vaccinated fish tend to show more symptoms when contracting diseases, with the health impacts and ultimately deaths occurring as if they'd never received a vaccine.

"Today's vaccines are marketed to fish farms as necessary disease prevention and are even required by some insurance companies, but they are not nearly as effective as needed under real world conditions." said Brian Dixon, a professor in biology at Waterloo. "Some operators are giving five vaccinations per fish and then there are fish losses from the stress of receiving multiple handlings and injections."
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Attention

Buyer beware: US FDA just approved GMO rice

Heather Callaghan
Natural Blaze
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 20:22 UTC
GMO rice
Will the first ever GM rice from China make its way to the American table soon?

As we reported last summer, Big Agri pulled some maneuvers and made major inroads in China despite major opposition from China's people. Readers may be surprised to learn that Chinese citizens reject the notion of GMOs but they do. In fact, there is such a demand for organic there, that China is buying up arable land in other countries and trumpeting health campaigns to discourage meat and dairy consumption. Not only has this demand for better food caused food shortages there because of their issues with pollution, but it has also created a bevy of "fake organics" and questionable foods flooding other countries. Are we about to receive a flood of GM rice, too?

Now the FDA has essentially approved a product based on some data turned in by Chinese researchers. It did not conduct its own experiments. Although cultivation of this GM rice is not officially legal, the FDA stamp of approval was meant to set the ball rolling, and garner approval from other markets.
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Heart

The healing and pain relieving power of loving touch

Natalie Rahhal
Daily Mail
Tue, 23 Jan 2018 08:43 UTC
touch pain relief
New dads really should be in the delivery rooms when their partners deliver babies, as a new study inspired by that very scenario showed the real pain-relieving effects of a loving touch
If you're wondering what you can possibly do for your partner when they're in excruciating pain, just holding their hand could be enough, new research shows.

The familiar urge to reach for a hand when we're hurting, or desire to be held when we're sick, now has a biological explanation.

A Colorado University, Boulder study found that the mere touch of a partner can communicate empathy, and reduce the sensation of pain.

Women reported a milder pain experience from heat experiments when their male partners were in the room and holding their hands.

Comment: Touch is the primary language that communicates compassion and as such it is fundamental to bonding and health. It supports our immune system, reduces stress, stimulates oxytocin and dopamine, lowers blood pressure and heart rate, encourages sleep and best of all it has no side effects. It doesn't drain your batteries, but recharges you instead. Touch is life.

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