Health & WellnessS


Syringe

Did the FDA just fast-track approve the HPV vaccine for adults?

Jeffery Jaxen
Greenmedinfo.com
Thu, 14 Jun 2018 19:31 UTC
vaccines
As Merck's HPV vaccine receives FDA approval for use in women and men ages 27 to 45, a new study adds to the growing concern that the vaccine has significant safety issues that are being ignored and/or actively suppressed.

Merck has recently announced that the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has accepted their vaccine application seeking approval for an expanded age indication for GARDASIL 9 for use in women and men ages 27 to 45. The FDA has granted Priority Review to Merck's application and has set a target action date of October 6, 2018. A Priority Review designation means the FDA is fast-tracking the process by directing extra attention and resources to the application as opposed to a Standard Review process.
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Question

Probiotics: Will they ever live up to the hype?

Rachel Gutman
The Atlantic
Thu, 07 Jun 2018 13:11 UTC
probiotics
© TIBRINA HOBSON / GETTY
Changing your microbiome takes more than just taking a pill full of bacteria.

"Altering someone's microbiome is as complicated as changing a rainforest or a coral reef," The Atlantic's Ed Yong told an audience at the National Institutes of Health on Tuesday. "It's not easy."

In conversation with Francis Collins, the director of the NIH, Yong discussed the future of microbial medicine. He argued that doctors should focus on an "ecological type of thinking" instead of the more simplistic approach behind "medically underwhelming" probiotic treatments. "It's not just thinking of microbes as a pill that you could give to someone to fix a lack of something," Yong said.

Comment: Learn more about the gut microbiome and probiotics. Listen to the SOTT Radio Health and Wellness Show - Gut Health

Also read: The benefits of probiotics
Everybody's talking about the benefits of probiotics. Probiotics are the "it" girl of the day. And like that supermodel who can be found on every magazine cover in the world--until she's replaced by the next "it" girl--it's hard to find any product that doesn't now have a probiotic enhanced version. There are probiotic: toothpastes1,gum2, flavored waters3, milk4, cookies, candies, and ice creams5, soap6, shampoo7.

You name it and companies are now "probiotisizing" it. How useful any of these products are is open to question; and the FDA, of course, has not approved probiotics for the treatment of any disease or condition. So in fact, most claims for the benefits of "probiotisized" products fall outside the law.8 Then again, just because some claims fall outside the law, doesn't mean they're necessarily untrue. But really, for the most part, isn't that the entire basis of alternative health: factual claims that are ahead of the law? So, despite the lack of support from the FDA and the FTC, it is pretty much known that probiotics offer a number of demonstrable benefits.


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Magnify

Lab-Grown meat startups backed by Bill Gates & Tyson Foods face FDA oversight

Anna Edney
bloomberg.com
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 19:43 UTC
fake meat
© Future Meat TechnologiesFuture Meat Technologies’ cultured chicken kebab at Machneyuda in Jerusalem.
Lab-grown meat startups that rely on animal cells to produce beef, poultry and seafood products have caught the eye of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, which has begun the process of regulating the industry.

Cultured meat, considered an environmentally sound alternative to the real thing, is made by harvesting cells from animals and growing them to make food. Companies like Memphis Meats Inc. and Future Meat Technologies have piqued the interest of investors such as food giants Tyson Foods Inc. and Cargill Inc., as well as billionaires Bill Gates and Richard Branson.

Comment: More disturbing information on the future of 'lab-grown' meat:

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Health

Parkinson's disease may be triggered by virus that kills 'good bacteria' in the gut

Clare Wilson
New Scientist
Mon, 11 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
Parkinson’s disease Lactococcus gut bacteria
© STEVE GSCHMEISSNER/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARYPeople with Parkinson’s seem to have less Lactococcus bacteria in their gut
Parkinson's disease could be triggered by a virus that kills a "good" form of bacteria in the gut. This may lead to a chain reaction of damaged nerves leading from the digestive system up to the brain.

Parkinson's disease is a progressive disorder of tremors, stiffness and difficulties in moving; it is known to involve the death of nerve cells in the brain, linked with misfolding of a protein found in nerve fibres called synuclein.

Although it has long been seen as a brain disorder, a recent theory is that the misfolding of synuclein starts in nerves of the gut, triggering a chain reaction of protein misfolding up the nerve fibres to the brain . But it's unclear what starts the changes to synuclein in the first place.

George Tetz of the Human Microbiology Institute in New York thinks gut microbes might be responsible. After analysing existing data on the gut microbes of 31 people with Parkinson's disease and 28 healthy people, his team found that the biggest differences were in the dairy bacteria such as Lactococcus species, and the viruses that prey on them.

Comment: Further reading:

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Pills

Thyroid support group calls for resignation of French health minister over disastrous medication reformulation


The Connexion
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 16:53 UTC
pill packets
Tens of thousands of complaints have been made following the release of the new drug formula.
A medical support group for thyroid patients in France has called for the stepping down of health minister Agnès Buzyn, the declaration of a national health crisis, and the removal of the new formula of thyroid drug Levothyrox.

The Association Française des Malades de la Thyroïde (AFMT) made the statement after receiving the results back for its own independent analytical study into the new drug, which it says shows anomalies in composition.

The new formula of Levothyrox, the primary treatment for people suffering from underactive thyroid problems and cancers, was released in February 2017 by manufacturing laboratory Merck.

It was supported by national agency l'Agence Nationale de Sécurité du Médicament (ANSM), who had asked Merck to reformulate the drug to be "more stable" than its predecessor.

Soon after, reports began to emerge that the new drug was not working, with up to half a million patients reporting the return of negative symptoms and even of thyroid cancers that had previously been kept in check by the old drug formula.

At one point, the AFMT said it was receiving over 1,000 complaints per day.
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Bug

The South African Usutu virus has made its way to Europe


The Connexion
Thu, 14 Jun 2018 16:44 UTC
culex mosquito
So far, one case of Usutu virus, which attacks the nervous system, has been confirmed in humans.
A mosquito-borne virus that was discovered in South Africa in 1959 and that can spread to humans who have been bitten has arrived in southwest France, health experts have said.

The Usutu virus, which attacks the nervous system, was first identified among animals in the Occitanie in 2015.

It is carried by the most common variety of mosquito in France - the Culex.

Comment: Forensic pathology: Tracing the origin of the Usutu Virus

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Brain

Deadly brain-eating amoeba hits Louisiana water supply


RT
Fri, 15 Jun 2018 09:17 UTC
Water running down a drain
© Carlos Barria/Reuters
A brain-eating amoeba has been detected in the Louisiana water system - the third time the potentially deadly organism has been found in the same district since 2015.

Naegleria fowleri, a parasite which causes fatal brain swelling and tissue destruction, was identified in Terrebonne water. All freshwater sources in the parish have been affected, including drinking water, water in the bayous and pools, and water used for showers and baths.

The fatality rate for those infected by the parasite is over 97 percent, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Officials from Consolidated Waterworks say the water is "perfectly safe to drink" - it's just not safe to get up your nose. Infection occurs when water containing the amoeba enters the body through the nose and travels to the brain where it destroys tissue.
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Ambulance

First human case of plague in Idaho since 1992 confirmed in child

Michael Katz
Idaho Statesman
Thu, 14 Jun 2018 03:26 UTC
plague
A child in Elmore County was confirmed to be infected with the plague this week, according to the Central District Health Department, marking the first human diagnosis in Idaho since 1992.

The child is recovering after receiving antibiotics.

Cases of plague in Idaho were diagnosed in squirrels as recently as 2016, though none have been found in southern Ada County or Elmore County this year. It is unknown whether the child was exposed to the disease in Idaho or during a recent trip to Oregon.

Comment: See also:

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Cow Skull

5 Fake sources of health science information - and how they could lead to your harm

Paul A. Philips
Waking Times
Fri, 08 Jun 2018 00:00 UTC
fake science
Through a lack of education many continue to be deceived into believing the corporate/banker sponsored fake science. The spin is made by paid off crooked scientific establishments, phony front men and tightly controlled mainstream media outlets for the ulterior motives, control and profit.

Those people not understanding this may consequentially suffer. A lack of education or understanding the fake science could lead to much harm through making a number of bad choices. Further, it will take double the efforts to re-educate: Deconstruct the misinformation, lies and propaganda related to the fake science in order to benefit from learning the real scientific knowledge.

To protect your physical, mental, health and well-being, here are 5 fake science sources and how they could lead to your harm if not carefully discerned:

1. Crooked Research Establishments

To understand how crooked scientific establishments work you have to realize that they are uncompromisingly tied into not just corporate moneyed interests, but also scientific and political agendas. Thus, essentially, through filtering, the science follows a narrow academic approach. -To get some idea of the background behind this narrow approach consider, for example, how Big Pharma stops its competitors and monopolizes the health industry.
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Life Preserver

Got the Gout? How to remove uric acid crystals from your joints


Collective Evolution
Sun, 10 Jun 2018 19:05 UTC
gout
A quick look at the average western diet presents an obvious truth when it comes to the state of wellness in the west; for the most part, we are eating ourselves sick.

Interestingly, how we combat the reality of our sick state is often disconnected from the reasons why we got sick in the first place; our diets. What if doctors prescribed dietary changes first before even looking at medication, especially if it's not needed? What if food was seen as a mechanism to prevent illness? I believe there is a growing body of people looking at our diets in this manner, but for the most part we're blind to the fact that our diet is likely one of the biggest contributors to why we are sick.

Of course emotions and our state of being is another huge factor, but let's start here for now.

A recent study found that a diet rich in acidic foods increases uric acid levels in the body, leading to conditions such as gout (form of arthritis), joint pain, and uric acid crystallization.

Comment: Additional helpful information:

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