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Brain shock: The new Gulf War syndrome

Michael Bond
New Scientist
Tue, 28 Apr 2009 15:21 UTC
Image
© David Furst/AFP/Getty ImagesThe long-term effects of shock waves on the brain are subtle and hard to study.
One look at the effects of a bomb blast suggests that you'd have to be extremely lucky to emerge from one unscathed. If you were not burned by the explosion or blasted by shrapnel, the chances are you'd be hit by the shock wave. Travelling at several hundred metres per second, this causes massive fluctuations in air pressure which can knock you unconscious, rupture air-filled organs such as eardrums, lungs and bowels, and stretch and distort other major organs.

Soldiers serving with coalition forces in Afghanistan and Iraq know only too well how devastating bombs can be. The effect of shrapnel on bodies - amputated limbs, broken bones, lacerated and burned flesh - is plain enough. Less obvious and harder to understand are the long-term effects of the shock wave on the brain.

Weeks, months, or sometimes years after being concussed in an explosion, thousands of soldiers are reporting a mysterious clutch of problems. Dubbed post-concussion syndrome (PCS), symptoms include memory loss, dizziness, headaches, unexplained pains, nausea, disturbance of sleep, inability to concentrate and emotional problems.
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Bizarro Earth

How does weather affect the spread of flu?

Laura MacInnis
Alternet/Reuters
Tue, 28 Apr 2009 12:08 UTC
Weather experts are studying swine flu to see if climate could influence its spread and severity.

Determining the impact of cold, heat, dryness and humidity on the H1N1 strain -- which has killed up to 149 people in Mexico and had milder effects elsewhere -- could illuminate the countries and regions most vulnerable to infection.

Climate information may also provide clues into whether the virus is likely to return year after year on a seasonal basis.

Following are details about seasonality of regular flu, and the weather and other factors affecting its patterns, according to data from the World Health Organisation, World Meteorological Organisation, and leading scientists:
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Syringe

Flashback Baxter Sent Bird Flu Virus to European Labs by Error

Michelle Fay Cortez and Jason Gale
Bloomberg News
Wed, 25 Feb 2009 12:28 UTC
Baxter International Inc. in Austria unintentionally contaminated samples with the bird flu virus that were used in laboratories in three neighboring countries, raising concern about the potential spread of the deadly disease.

The contamination was discovered when ferrets at a laboratory in the Czech Republic died after being inoculated with vaccine made from the samples early this month. The material came from Deerfield, Illinois-based Baxter, which reported the incident to the Austrian Ministry of Health, Sigrid Rosenberger, a ministry spokeswoman, said today in a telephone interview.
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Attention

Flashback The Tamiflu Myth: What Big Pharma and the CDC Forgot to Tell the Doctors

Marshall Smith
Brother Jonathan Gazette
Mon, 05 Dec 2005 11:07 UTC
Tamiflu was developed several years ago after lab tests showed it slowed the replication of viruses in the lab dish. Tests in humans showed it reduced the normal 5 to 7 day course of Flu by 1.5 to 2.5 days. It did not prevent, cure nor reduce the effects of Flu. At best it is a palliative or pain reliever to "treat the symptoms," but not cure to the disease.

Most medical doctors mistakenly believe in the "anti-body" response of the immune system as the method by which the body fights viral infections. But not so. The body causes a fever above 101 degrees which stops the telomeres on the ends of the virus from allowing any viral replication.

The fever is the human or mammalian body's primary generalized immune system response to any viral infection. Any palliative treatment which reduces the fever of flu infections will prolong the infection and may lead to irreparable damage or death, mostly from the resulting viral pneumonia. But the pneumonia was caused by lowering the fever and allowing uncontrolled viral replication in the lungs. Most cold and flu medications, including aspirin and Tamiflu are in this palliative class.

In the last two years, doctors have been treating patients who have H5N1 Bird Flu. The results are that 50% or half of the treated patients die of viral pneumonia. Were the deaths caused by a "new" more virulent strain of Bird Flu or was it the "new" use of a new anti-viral called Tamiflu? A good doctor would know the difference.
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Pills

How Big Pharma Distorts Science to Get FDA Approval for Dangerous Drugs

Martha Rosenberg
AlterNet
Mon, 20 Apr 2009 10:48 UTC
How does Big Pharma keep getting dangerous drugs approved? Through the best articles and spokesmen money can buy.

In February the Justice Department charged Forest Laboratories with illegally marketing antidepressants Celexa and Lexapro to younger patients and burying a study that showed suicidal side effects in children. But the very next month the FDA approved Lexapro for depression in adolescents 12 to 17.

In March the Justice Department charged AstraZeneca with knowing and hiding the diabetes side effects of Seroquel. But this month the FDA considers expanding the antipsychotic's approvals to depression and anxiety.
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Info

Ubiquinol: Boost Energy Levels and Overall Health with Best Form of CoQ10

Barbara Minton
Natural News
Sun, 26 Apr 2009 10:17 UTC
Still wondering what form of Coenzyme Q10 to take? New research findings may help with the decision. Scientists have found that the ubiquinol, the reduced form of CoQ10, dramatically improves absorption of CoQ10 in patients with severe heart failure compared to supplements of ubiquinone, the unreduced form of CoQ10. In other findings, the high antioxidant status of ubiquinol has allowed it to significantly inhibit inflammation. And to top it off, prices for the more effective ubiquinol have come down to levels commensurate with those of the unreduced CoQ10 supplements in the ubiquinone form.
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Attention

Flashback FDA, Roche Warn Doctors on Tamiflu Dangers

Kim Dixon
Reuters
Tue, 04 Mar 2008 13:19 UTC
U.S. regulators and Roche Holding AG have warned doctors of psychiatric events, some of which resulted in death, seen in patients taking the flu drug Tamiflu, regulators said on Tuesday.
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Syringe

Flashback Tamiflu Vaccine Linked With Convulsions, Delirium and Bizarre Deaths

David Gutierrez
NaturalNews
Thu, 29 May 2008 18:00 UTC
An FDA advisory panel has recommended stronger warnings on two influenza drugs after reviewing evidence linking them to neurological and psychiatric problems that have led to deaths in some cases.

The current warning on Roche Laboratories' Tamiflu (generic name oseltamivir) urges close monitoring of flu patients, particularly children, for "increased risk of self injury and confusion shortly after taking Tamiflu." The panel recommended that this warning be strengthened to say that "in some cases, these behaviors resulted in serious injuries, including death, in adult and pediatric patients."
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Fish

Fish Oil and Fatty Fish Protect from Heart Failure

Sherry Baker
Natural News
Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:25 UTC
A new study just published in the European Heart Journal concludes that eating fatty fish and the marine omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil appears to protect men from heart failure. This is important news because heart failure (also known as congestive heart failure, or CHF) is an enormous health problem in the U.S. According to the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute, approximately five million Americans have the condition and about 300,000 die from heart failure each year.

Comment: Visit our forum discussion on the subject for more information on the benefits of fish oil.

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Health

Hydration is Vital for Optimum Health

Sheryl Walters
Natural News
Sun, 26 Apr 2009 08:19 UTC
The human body is made up primarily of water. In fact, approximately 75 percent of your body is water and 25 percent is solid matter. Water is essential for absorbing nutrients, eliminating waste, cellular activity and all of the actions necessary for life. Drinking enough water is vital for preventing disease and enjoying a sense of well being.

Without water, our bodies are unable to remove environmental toxins that most of us are exposed to daily. Generally speaking, people who suffer from chronic diseases are seriously dehydrated since the skin, stomach, liver, kidney, heart and brain rely on proper water intake. Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, chronic pain, headaches, chronic fatigue, high blood pressure, cancer, Alzheimer's, and many other diseases are often preceded by many years of not enough water. Many illnesses could be significantly improved by simply giving the body sufficient amounts of water so that toxins and waste can be removed.
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