Health & WellnessS


Brain

A new understanding of Alzheimer's disease causes and cures

Sayer Ji
greenmedinfo.com
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 16:55 UTC
alzheimers
Alzheimer's disease is expanding unchecked throughout the modern world, despite billions spent annually on pharmaceutical interventions. Could the calcification of the brain play a role?

Despite the multi-billion dollar successes of conventional pharmacological interventions for Alzheimer's disease, lackluster treatment outcomes have revealed them to be an abject failure. The ongoing hypothesis for the past few decades has been that Alzheimer's disease is caused by a lack of the neurotransmitter acetylcholine, but acetycholinesterase inhibitors (drugs that inhibit the enzyme that breaks this neurotransmitter down) have failed miserably to produce anything but momentary palliative improvements, if that. In addition, post-marketing surveillance data now clearly shows these drugs may actually cause new, more serious neurological problems, such as seizures.
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Microscope 2

New study to investigate the dangers of glyphosate exposure - what impact is it having on the health of our pets?

Julie Wilson
Organic Consumers Association
Thu, 24 May 2018 16:26 UTC
doggie
We know that humans increasingly test positive for residues of glyphosate, the active ingredient in Monsanto's Roundup weedkiller. For example, in tests conducted by a University of California San Francisco lab, 93 percent of the participants tested positive for glyphosate residues.

In the European Union, when 48 members of Parliament volunteered for glyphosate testing, every one of them tested positive.

In October 2017, Time magazine reported on a study involving 50 Californians who were tested between 1993-1996 and again between 2014-2016.. Scientists found that not only did the number of people who tested positive for glyphosate residues increase, but so did the amounts of the residues detected.
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Health

What types of germs are lurking on your dish towel?

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Sat, 23 Jun 2018 16:21 UTC
hand towel
Hand-washing is one of the simplest ways to reduce exposure to potential disease-causing germs.1 This may also reduce your chances of getting sick and/or spreading infection. Regular and proper hand-washing drastically decreases the number of germs having access to your body, especially at key times such as before eating or touching your mouth, eyes or nose, after using the restroom and while cooking in the kitchen.

With drug-resistant infections on the rise, disinfecting your hands and your surroundings may seem like a good idea. However, research has clearly demonstrated this may exacerbate the problem rather than solve it. While the key to preventing the spread of contagious disease is hand-washing, doing it using proper products and techniques, as well as paying attention to how you dry your hands, are critical factors.

Teaching people proper hand-washing techniques may improve health in the community and reduce the number who get sick with diarrhea by 31 percent and respiratory illnesses, such as colds, by up to 21 percent.2 Through illness prevention, the number of antibiotics prescribed would also decline, as they are often prescribed unnecessarily for respiratory infections and diarrhea-related illnesses.3

However, it is equally important to pay attention to the products you use to dry your hands. In a recent study presented at the American Society for Microbiology, researchers found high growth rates of bacteria on kitchen towels used to dry hands and dishes and to wipe down countertops.4
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Health

Don't get rid of your tonsils and adenoids

Dr. Mercola
mercola.com
Wed, 20 Jun 2018 21:08 UTC
tonsils
A tonsillectomy is the surgical removal of your tonsils, two oval shaped pads of tissue located on each side of the back of your throat.1 Although the number of tonsillectomies has declined drastically in the last 30 years, the surgery continues to be one of the most commonly performed on children,2 with more than 530,000 done each year on children under 15 in the U.S.3

Administration of the guidelines for the surgery differ between countries. For instance, England's National Health Service (NHS) has classified the surgery as "of limited benefit,"4 with some commissioners unwilling to pay for surgery unless a child has had eight cases of tonsillitis documented by a physician visit in one year, strongly adhering to the letter of the Paradise Criteria for Tonsillectomy.5

This has resulted in a significant drop of routine tonsillectomies, with an increase in emergency admissions to the hospital for tonsillitis. While it may appear as if children are suffering more bad sore throats and infections in their tonsils, recent research finds the tonsillectomy childhood rite of passage may come with an associated long-term risk.6,7

Risks Associated With Tonsillectomy Years After Surgery

Not all scientists agree with the guidelines for tonsillectomies, believing reducing the criteria could result in a reduction in hospital admissions and overall associated health costs.8,9 Now, a recent first-of-a-kind published study demonstrates early removal of tonsillar and adenoid tissue, which often shrinks in adulthood, may have long-term respiratory system effects.10 The study was a collaborative effort between Copenhagen Evolutionary Medicine, University of Melbourne and Yale University.
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Cheesecake

Metastatic cancer gorges on fructose in the liver


MedicalXpress
Thu, 26 Apr 2018 11:03 UTC
cancer cells
© CC0 Public Domain
Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that metastatic cancer cells can reprogram their metabolism to thrive in new organs. Specifically, the research shows that cells originating from colorectal cancer change their dietary habits to capitalize on the high levels of fructose often found in the liver.

The finding offers both general and specific insights into new ways of fighting metastatic cancer. It appears April 26 in the journal Cell Metabolism.

Cancer becomes much more deadly once it spreads to different parts of the body, yet treatments don't take their location into account.

"Genetically speaking, colon cancer is colon cancer no matter where it goes," explained Xiling Shen, associate professor of biomedical engineering at Duke. "But that doesn't mean that it can't respond to a new environment. We had a hunch that such a response might not be genetic, but metabolic in nature."

In the study, Shen and his colleagues found that certain metabolic genes became more active in liver metastases than they were in the original primary tumor or lung metastases. One group of metabolic genes stood out in particular, those involved in the metabolism of fructose. This struck the researchers because many Western diets are rich in fructose, which is found in corn syrup and all types of processed foods.

Comment: Fructose can wreck your health! As explained in our SOTT Focus:

The Age of Metabolic Syndrome - Inflammatory Fat Is Worse Than Obesity
Notice how foie gras (French for fatty liver and also a French delicacy) is made by force feeding large amounts of a wet mash of corn (not fat) to geese or ducks. Their livers balloon up to about 6-10 times their normal size, all packed full of fat. This serves as a good example of the fattening effects of carbs and how this promotes fatty deposition in the liver. The excess carbohydrates drive metabolic syndrome and it should come as no surprise that fructose is commercially derived from corn.

The role of fructose and sucrose (table sugar, which is a 50/50 split of glucose and fructose) in metabolic disorders has been reviewed extensively. Dietary fructose consumption in industrialized countries has increased in parallel with the increase in fatty liver, obesity, and diabetes and there is a direct association (Rebollo et al., 2012). The increased consumption of high fructose corn syrup, primarily in the form of soft drinks, is linked with complications of metabolic syndrome and an increase in liver enzymes. Unlike glucose, fructose stimulates de novo fatty acid synthesis (creation of fat) directly and promotes weight gain. Once absorbed from the digestive tract, fructose goes to the liver to be converted either to glucose or to fat. If insulin levels are high, its going to be stored as fat, not burned as sugar. It needs to be stored somewhere, and the liver makes do, in a pinch.

Fructose is also different from glucose in its ability to induce features of metabolic syndrome (insulin resistance, fatty liver, dyslipidemia, and intra-abdominal fat accumulation) both in humans and laboratory animals. The mechanism whereby fructose induces fatty liver appears to be independent of total energy intake (Lanaspa et al., 2012). So much for that low-calorie fructose meal!


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Ambulance

Brush with a venomous caterpillar sends Florida teen to the emergency room


CBS
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 12:43 UTC
southern flannel moth caterpillar
Southern Flannel Moth Caterpillar
A teen in Land O'Lakes, Florida, experienced what his mom said was "the worst pain he ever felt" after coming in contact with a venomous caterpillar. Fifteen-year-old Logan Pergola was doing volunteer landscaping work with his family on Saturday.

His mom, Andrea Pergola, said Logan was picking up tree branches when his arm brushed up against the caterpillar. It wasn't the kind of harmless little bug that kids find on playgrounds; it was a southern flannel moth caterpillar, and it was dangerous.

"He instantly felt a sharp, stinging pain and his arm went numb. Within 5 minutes he was dizzy, had lost color, was complaining of the worst pain he had ever felt & his eyes weren't super focused," Pergola wrote about her son on Facebook. "We tried to wash it off and I applied some garlic (it pulls venom out usually with bug stings)."

Comment: From Wired:
Never Touch Anything That Looks Like Donald Trump's Hair

Asp Caterpillars (Megalopyge opercularis) have a variety of nicknames: southern flannel moth, puss caterpillar, and the tree asp. They are considered the most highly venomous caterpillars in North America. The "hairs" of these caterpillars can break off and cause itching, but also hide an unpleasant surprise: sharp spines. The spines are connected to venom gland cells, and function like little hypodermic needles. The pain from injected venom is said to be intense, and lasts at least 12 hours.
Who knew caterpillars could be so dangerous?

See also:

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Health

33 children released from hospital after getting sick at 4-H camp in Florida

Andrew Krietz, Sean Streicher and Garin Flowers
WTSP
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 18:46 UTC
4-H Camp Cloverleaf
© Sean Streicher, 10News
Several children at a summer camp in Highlands County have been released from the hospital after mysteriously falling ill and being examined by doctors.

None of the 33 kids attending the Clover Leaf 4-H camp were seriously sick enough to require additional medical attention, aside from being hospitalized, according to county fire rescue. Three adults who also fell ill are under the same condition.

Highlands County Fire and EMS said the victims suffered a range of symptoms from fever to nausea and vomiting.

The medical mystery began Wednesday with kids getting sick. But emergency crews realized how bad it became among the group when a child passed out Thursday.
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Microscope 1

Viruses may play a role in Alzheimer's, new evidence shows

Lauran Neergard
AP
Fri, 22 Jun 2018 11:27 UTC
samples
Viruses that sneak into the brain just might play a role in Alzheimer's, scientists reported Thursday in a provocative study that promises to re-ignite some long-debated theories about what triggers the mind-robbing disease.

The findings don't prove viruses cause Alzheimer's, nor do they suggest it's contagious.

But a team led by researchers at New York's Mount Sinai Health System found that certain viruses - including two extremely common herpes viruses - affect the behavior of genes involved in Alzheimer's.

The idea that infections earlier in life might somehow set the stage for Alzheimer's decades later has simmered at the edge of mainstream medicine for years. It's been overshadowed by the prevailing theory that Alzheimer's stems from sticky plaques that clog the brain.

Thursday's study has even some specialists who never embraced the infection connection saying it's time for a closer look, especially as attempts to block those so-called beta-amyloid plaques have failed.

Comment: For an interesting read on the role of viruses and bacteria in diseases that are usually regarded as having a genetic cause, see:

Plague Time: The New Germ Theory of Disease by Paul Ewald

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Health

First human case of Keystone virus, spread by mosquitoes, reported in Florida

Ken Suarez
Fox News
Thu, 21 Jun 2018 07:58 UTC
mosquito keystone virus
It's mosquito season and it's almost impossible to avoid being bitten.

Concerns about mosquito-borne viruses like Zika and West Nile are renewed every year, but a mosquito-borne disease thought only to be transmitted to animals seems to have jumped the barrier to humans.

Scientists first discovered the Keystone virus in the Keystone area of Tampa 50 years ago.

Comment: Will Keystone be this year's Zika? With symptoms only as severe as rash and a mild fever, Keystone may need a lot more hype behind it before people start to get Zika-level hysterical.

See also:

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Syringe

Forget managing diabetes, reverse it

Sarah Hallberg
The Detroit News
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 15:02 UTC
insulin injection diabetes

Diabetes is reversible. That's the exciting conclusion of a study I'm leading at Indiana University Health.

Two hundred and sixty two patients with type 2 diabetes recently completed one year of a clinical trial examining the impact of a low-carbohydrate diet, which limits foods like grains and pasta while boosting consumption of healthy fats like avocados and butter. The diet didn't restrict calories.

Using smartphone technology, health coaches worked continually with participants to guide them through the changes while physicians monitored and adjusted medications.

Comment: What is amazing about low-carbohydrate intervention in diabetes (type II, in particular) is that it works so quickly. Mainstream detractors of the low carb approach are either ignoring the evidence or actively working to protect their own interests.

See also:

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