A British man is on the brink of becoming the first person in the world to be cured of HIV with the virus no longer present in his system following a clinical trial.

"It would be great if a cure has happened. My last blood test was a couple of weeks ago and there is no detectable virus," the unnamed 44-year-old patient told The Times, marking what could be a hopeful future for the 37 million people infected worldwide.

The new treatment, designed by scientists from five UK universities, uses a "kick and kill" method to eradicate the deadly virus.

HIV is difficult to combat as it hides from the immune system in dormant cells where it remains undetected. Current treatments, known as antiretroviral therapies (ART), slow the rate at which HIV multiplies in the body but cannot identify and eradicate it.

Selenium is a trace element a Swedish chemist, Baron Jöns Jacob Berzelius, discovered almost 200 years ago. Today, modern scientists recognize it as "an essential mineral of pivotal importance for human health," with anti-inflammatory, antiviral and anti-cancer potential.1

This mineral is also a powerful antioxidant, which plays itself out in many ways in regard to your health. You need only a little, though, to help keep your immune system and other functions humming along in proper order.

As much as your body requires selenium, taking the proper amount is crucial, because too much (such as 400 micrograms [mcg] daily) is associated with an increased risk of diabetes.2

However, unless you're taking a supplement, it's not likely you'll overdose on selenium through the foods you eat. In fact, most people have trouble getting what they need, and as many as 1 billion people worldwide have a selenium deficiency.

The trillions of bacteria that inhabit our gastrointestinal tract play an intricate and increasingly appreciated role in human health. Deemed by some as the "forgotten organ" ⁽¹⁾, new connections between these microorganisms and our physiology are being discovered all the time.

Bone health: The basics

Bone is not a static structure and is constantly being remodeled. Mature bone tissue is regularly removed from the skeleton by cells called osteoclasts (a process called resorption), and new bone tissue is formed by cells called osteoblasts (a process called ossification). Remodeling helps to reshape bone following fractures and also responds to mechanical loads like exercise ⁽²⁾. An imbalance in bone resorption and formation can result in bone diseases like osteoporosis and arthritis ⁽³⁾.

There are numerous measures of bone health. In humans, researchers often use a DEXA scan to determine bone mineral density. In rodent models, scientists can also measure bone mass, length, volume, and mineral composition to get a more complete assessment of bone structure. In general, higher bone mineral density is associated with reduced risk of fracture and bone disease. However, increased bone mineral density, bone mass, and bone length do not always suggest better bone health ⁽⁴⁾.

The association between gut microbes and bone

One of the key ways that researchers study the effects of the microbiota on an organ system is using mice that don't have one at all. Called "germ-free" (GF), these mice are born and raised in sterile incubators. Studies of skeletal health in GF mice have found mixed results. In one type of mice, GF mice had reduced bone mass compared with conventionally raised animals, which have a full consortium of microbes ⁽⁵⁾. In another type of mouse, the GF environment resulted in increased bone mass, while the conventional environment increased measures of bone turnover ⁽⁶⁾. Although it is difficult to reconcile these contradictory findings, the key feature of both studies was that the mere presence or absence of a microbiota significantly changed the structure of the bone.

Two and a half years ago Susan Baker spent three hours under general anesthesia as surgeons fused several vertebrae in her spine. Everything went smoothly, and for the first six hours after her operation, Baker, then an 81-year-old professor at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was recovering well. That night, however, she hallucinated a fire raging through the hospital toward her room. Petrified, she repeatedly buzzed the nurses' station, pleading for help. The next day she was back to her usual self. "It was the most terrifying experience I have ever had," she says.

Baker's waking nightmare was a symptom of postoperative delirium, a state of serious confusion and memory loss that sometimes follows anesthesia. In addition to hallucinations, delirious patients may forget why they are in the hospital, have trouble responding to questions and speak in nonsensical sentences. Such bewilderment—which is far more severe than the temporary mental fog one might expect after any major operation that requires general anesthesia—usually resolves after a day or two.

The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention apparently have a lot of dried and smelly scientific egg yolk to scrape off their agency's face but, more so, from its credibility rating as a First World Health Agency!

The CDC dropped the ball more than big time when it did not advise health agencies around the globe that most of the vaccines produced in the USA have glyphosate in them—think Roundup, the supposedly 'safe' herbicide that Monsanto makes and sells globally.

What huge health problems the CDC and ALL public health agencies—federal, state and local—have created for every person on the face of the earth by mandating vaccines for newborns, infants, toddlers, teens, adults and senior citizens, and which other gullible countries' health agencies mechanically follow as correct!

The pharmaceutical industry, and many doctors, appear to be making great efforts by to get as many people as possible vaccinated against shingles. Even if such an intervention was highly effective in preventing shingles, which certainly has not been shown to be the case, the information below should make it clear that such vaccinations are unnecessary. The side effects that would be suffered by a significant number of individuals need never occur in the first place. The real problem is that what is discussed below generates relatively little income for anybody in the healthcare industry. Regardless, you need to decide for yourself.

Shingles is an infection resulting from the varicella zoster virus, usually manifesting in areas supplied by spinal nerves, known as dermatomes. More commonly known in medical circles as Herpes zoster, the infection is typically characterized by a blistering skin rash of extraordinary pain for most individuals. The initial infection with the virus is usually remote from the shingles outbreak, typically occurring in childhood when chickenpox is contracted. For years the virus remains latent in nerve cell bodies or autonomic ganglia. It is when the virus, for unclear reasons, breaks out of these storage sites and travels down the nerve axons that shingles occurs.

Left to itself along with mainstream therapies that include analgesics, antiviral agents like acyclovir, and corticosteroids, the rash will generally resolve in two to four weeks. The pain is generally lessened little by analgesics. Some unfortunate individuals can experience postherpetic neuralgia, a syndrome of residual nerve pain that can continue for months or years following a shingles outbreak.

On September 2, 2016, the Medical Board of California filed an accusation against Dr. Robert Sears, a Capistrano Beach pediatrician and author of several books, including a comprehensive guide to vaccines.

The Medical Board of California claimed Sears "was grossly negligent in his care and treatment of J.G., a minor, who he saw for six office visits between April 2014 and May 2015."

According the Medical Board, the first cause for discipline is that Sears did not follow the standard of care. The Board explains: "The standard of care requires that a physician evaluating a patient for possible reaction to vaccines obtain a detailed history of the vaccines previously received as well as the reaction/reactions that occurred. Based on that information the physician should provide an evidence-based recommendation for future immunizations."

The latest food safety scandal in China might be its most damaging. Earlier this week, a former doctoral student at one of the country's national testing centers for genetically modified organisms went public with allegations of scientific fraud, including claims that records were doctored extensively, that unqualified personnel were employed under illegal contracts and - most seriously - that authorities refused to take action when his concerns were aired privately.

On Wednesday, China's Ministry of Agriculture responded to a social media storm by suspending operations at the center.

That might take care of the current scandal, but the Chinese public's hostility toward GMOs won't go away so easily. Those concerns have only grown over the past decade as the government has increased its support of GMOs, including approval of the state-owned ChinaChem Group's $43 billion takeover offer for the Swiss seed giant Syngenta.

Many of you are probably familiar with castor oil as the go-to concoction that old-time healers recommend for a wide range of ailments — from constipation to colds and fever, and even as treatment against parasitical worms.¹ Castor oil is claimed to be one of the best remedies there is.

I have previously written about the mysteries — and potential health uses — of castor oil, and despite having minimal research backing up its potential medicinal effects, I do believe that there are notable benefits from using this versatile oil.

It's one of the most well-known natural remedies with a long enough history to at least warrant greater scientific exploration — nevertheless, a little careful at-home experimentation before using it wouldn't hurt.

The Uses of Castor Oil Date Back Centuries Ago

Castor oil is made by pressing the seeds of the castor plant (Ricinus communis), which is native to India, although it is now cultivated in Mediterranean countries such as Algeria, Egypt and Greece. In France, castor is grown as an ornamental plant because of its large and lovely foliage.²

Many ancient civilizations, including early Egyptians, Chinese and Persians, valued the castor plant for its many uses, such as fuel for lamps and as an ingredient in balms and ointments.

During the Middle Ages, the castor plant became well known in Europe for treating skin ailments. The Greek physician Dioscorides even described how to extract the oil from the plant, but warned that the seeds should be used externally only as they are "extremely purgative."³

Over the past two days a major health care summit has occurred in Ottawa at the Chateau Laurier Hotel. The summit, titled "A New Health Accord for All Canadians," is a partnership between the Canada 2020 think tank and the Canadian Medical Association (CMA). This summit featured variety of stakeholders and speakers including senator Chantal Peticlerc, Dr. Granger Avery the president of the CMA, Dr. Gaétan Barrette the Quebec Minister of Health and Social Services, and Dr. Jane Philpott Canada's Minister of Health. This summit comes at a pivotal point in the history of medicare with a new health accord being negotiated in coming months and an urgent need for national pharmacare (among many pressing topics).

So it comes as some surprise that when looking at this premier health summit the sponsors include a who's who of the petrochemical, health insurance, banking and pharmaceutical lobby (colloquially big pharma). In particular, one of the sponsors listed is the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the largest US pharmaceutical lobby group. When we say big pharma, this is generally who is referred to. For a think tank that calls itself independent, this seems like a conflict of interest. This isn't to say that there were not independent speakers or important topics that were covered over the two days, but it points to a worrying trend of American corporate interests further creeping into our medicare (not to mention the negative relationship between pharmaceutical promotion and quality, quantity, and cost of physicians' prescribing). When one of the founders of Canada 2020 was questioned about this on twitter, his response to a fair question was pejorative (in fairness he did later apologize somewhat stating he was, "tired, cranky and surprised that we're being pre-judged by progressives!")