Saturday, November 30, 2013

Quotes of the Day

Way off topic, but fascinating anyway.

Controversial T. Rex Soft Tissue Find Finally Explained
The controversial discovery of 68-million-year-old soft tissue from the bones of a Tyrannosaurus rex finally has a physical explanation. According to new research, iron in the dinosaur's body preserved the tissue before it could decay.
The research, headed by Mary Schweitzer, a molecular paleontologist at North Carolina State University, explains how proteins — and possibly even DNA — can survive millennia. 
Here's the bit I like:
"The problem is, for 300 years, we thought, 'Well, the organics are all gone, so why should we look for something that's not going to be there?' and nobody looks," she said.
We do not see the lens through which we look.
-Ruth Benedict

Thursday, November 28, 2013

Drive Safely Please

Happy Narcolepsy Day Everyone!
Have a nice postprandial nap for me.

I am thankful that I now live in sunny Arizona.
And I have a beautiful new kitchen table.
Good times.

Wednesday, November 27, 2013

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Ewan McNay

Are Alzheimer's and diabetes the same disease?
In 2005, a study by Susanne de la Monte's group at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, identified a reason why people with type 2 diabetes had a higher risk of developing Alzheimer's. In this kind of dementia, the hippocampus, a part of the brain involved in learning and memory, seemed to be insensitive to insulin. Not only could your liver, muscle and fat cells be "diabetic" but so it seemed, could your brain.
Feeding animals a diet designed to give them type 2 diabetes leaves their brains riddled with insoluble plaques of a protein called beta-amyloid – one of the calling cards of Alzheimer's. We also know that insulin plays a key role in memory. Taken together, the findings suggest that Alzheimer's might be caused by a type of brain diabetes.
I've known that for five years and I'm a friggin housewife.
But of course-
"Perhaps you should use Alzheimer's drugs at the diabetes stage to prevent cognitive impairment in the first place," says Ewan McNay from the University at Albany in New York.
Yes, and don't forget to eat more fruits and grains too...
(/snark)

Everything Old is New Again

The Surfing Solution: How Seawater Can Help Treat Cystic Fibrosis
Cystic fibrosis, it turns out, doesn’t like salt water. Inhaling it rehydrates the airways, allowing mucus to flow more easily and be dislodged by coughing. Patients have used saline nebulizers to achieve this effect for years, and new units are under development that people can use during sleep.
Huh.   Cystic fibrosis is caused by a genetic inability to fight a bacterial infection.
The pharma I worked for spent millions of dollars and made even more millions of dollars repurposing the same antibiotic in different inhalable forms for CF patients.   They died anyway.

Saltwater is pretty effective for preventing skin and mouth infections too.   Go figure.

related post

Monday, November 25, 2013

More like this

It’s time to question the new guidelines on cholesterol drugs 
Why? Because the arbitrary cholesterol targets are not supported by scientific evidence. Let’s not forget that about three-quarters of people have normal cholesterol levels when they have heart attacks. That hasn’t changed during the great statins experiment of the past decade.
Logically, that means physicians should be prescribing fewer statins, not more. But the new guidelines are being sold as a “leap of faith,” a belief that statins can prevent heart attacks and strokes, even if that benefit doesn’t seem to come from controlling cholesterol.
Don't you think they should figure out how they work before deciding everyone needs them???

Sunday, November 24, 2013

Bwa ha ha ha ha

The first step has always been admitting you're an asshole...

The neuroscientist who discovered he was a psychopath
"The Psychopath Inside" author James Fallon on learning he was lacking in empathy and prone to aggression, violence.
Yo Doctors:  your bias is showing.   You only test acutely sick people.
Scan thyself, maniacs.

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic

This is what happens when you mess with people's orexin levels and dopamine receptors:

FDA: Anti-smoking drug Chantix linked to more than 500 suicides
In the last five years, 544 suicides and 1,869 attempted suicides have been reported to the FDA as “adverse events” in connection with Chantix, according to documents obtained by America Tonight under the Freedom of Information Act.
...
Moore continued digging into adverse event reports, particularly those involving violence. He co-authored a 2010 study in the Annals of Pharmacotherapy analyzing 26 acts of violence reported to the FDA as adverse events associated with Chantix.
...
“These cases had three striking characteristics,” Moore said in an interview at his Alexandria, Va., office. “First, the violence was absolutely unpredictable and senseless. Second, the victim was anybody who happened to be nearby. It could have been a fiancĂ©. It could have been mother. It could have been a police officer. And third, these people had no history of violence and were unlikely prospects for a violent act.”
It's horrific.
Here's the really despicable part though:
The FDA has asked Pfizer to investigate reports of violence by Chantix users and report back by 2017.
Must go weep now...

Friday, November 22, 2013

Not Totally Off Topic

A Legacy of Obsession-

20 years ago today I met my husband.
In Dallas.   On the sixth floor of the book depository.   In front of the "sniper's nest".   Really.
We were both conspiracy geeks at the time.  But that crazy conference was enough to cure us.  Way more theories than evidence...

Anyhow, last week's Nova episode was the best analysis of the "magic bullet" ever done.  Lee Oswald really could have done it alone.   Whether someone else planned it with him is another subject.

I now believe his impulsive behavior and oppositional defiance indicate obsessive compulsive disorder.    Not only that- he had an acute bacterial infection as a child, surgery to correct it, and clearly shows facial symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia in many photos.
His life story is not only evidence of his megalomania, but in this photo one can clearly see active pathology on the left side of his face: a puffy and droopy eye, and swollen maxillary nerve.



Thursday, November 21, 2013

But of Course

Research shows that anti-fungal medicine may increase vulnerability to influenza and other viruses
Scientists at the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute have discovered evidence that a widely used anti-fungal medicine increases susceptibility to flu infection in mice and cell cultures. Published online in Cell Reports, the study shows that Amphotericin B, commonly given to cancer and bone marrow transplant patients to fight invasive fungal infections, neutralizes an important anti-viral protein, making it easier for viruses to infect cells. These findings suggest that patients taking the antifungal therapy may be functionally immunocompromised and vulnerable to influenza and potentially other viruses.
And the influenza immune response disables bacterial immunity...

Frakkin Microbial Whak-a-Mole.

Another Cuppa

Coffee May Help Perk Up Your Blood Vessels
A study of 27 healthy adults showed -- for the first time -- that drinking a cup of caffeinated coffee significantly improved blood flow in a finger, which is a measure of how well the inner lining of the body's smaller blood vessels work. Specifically, participants who drank a cup of caffeinated coffee had a 30 percent increase in blood flow over a 75-minute period compared to those who drank decaffeinated coffee.

Wednesday, November 20, 2013

Good Grief

PTSD raises risk for obesity in women
Women with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) gain weight more rapidly and are more likely to be overweight or obese than women without the disorder, find researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health and Harvard School of Public Health. It is the first study to look at the relationship between PTSD and obesity over time.
...
 "The good news from the study is that it appears that when PTSD symptoms abate, risk of becoming overweight or obese is also significantly reduced,"
...
Symptoms of PTSD rather than the trauma itself seemed to be behind the weight gain. "We looked at the women who developed PTSD and compared them to women who experienced trauma but did not develop PTSD. On the whole, before their symptoms emerged, the rate of change in BMI was the same as the women who never experienced trauma or did experience trauma but never developed symptoms," says Dr. Kubzansky.

All of this points to an ILLNESS.   If you're sick you get fat.   If you're not you lose weight.   And people who have trauma but aren't SICK don't get the symptoms.

Anxiety, depression, obsession and weight gain are all symptoms of the same damn infection.

Food for Thought

Probiotics a Potential Treatment for Mental Illness 
Several preclinical studies showed a link between specific probiotics and beneficial behavioral effects. These included one in which rats with depressive behaviors resulting from maternal separation displayed normalized behavior and an improved immune response after ingesting the Bifidobacterium infantis probiotic.
...
The investigators note that although human studies are still largely lacking, they did find some with promising results on behavior, including 1 showing that healthy volunteers who received Lactobacillus helveticus R0052 plus B longum for 30 days reported significantly lower stress levels than those who received placebo, as well as significantly reduced urinary free cortisol levels.
...
In 1 of the preclinical studies examined, mice that ingested L rhamnosus showed reduced anxiety scores and "altered central expression" on both the GABA type A and type B receptors.   And a study of human patients with chronic fatigue syndrome showed that those who consumed an active strain of L casei 3 times a day had significantly higher improvement scores on anxiety measures than did those who received matching placebo.

Tuesday, November 19, 2013

And so it goes

Creigh Deeds’ son had mental-health evaluation Monday
Sen. Creigh Deeds was stabbed multiple times early today at his Bath County home and his son, Gus, is dead from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. Gus Deeds had been released Monday following a mental health evaluation performed under an emergency custody order, an official said.
...The son was evaluated Monday at Bath Community Hospital, Cropper said, but was released because no psychiatric bed could be located across a wide area of western Virginia.
The real tragedy is this happens all the time.  Just not to famous people.
Rest in Peace, young man.

Maniac of the Day

State Rep. Uses Sledgehammer To Destroy Homeless People’s Possessions

He clearly doesn't realize that self-righteous impulsive violence is how people lose their jobs and families and become homeless...

Me Oh My

Maps: The Mysterious Link Between Antibiotics and Obesity
The states with higher rates of antibiotic use also tended to have higher obesity rates.
Um... the southeast US is warm and moist.   There are more active microbes there.

Here's some other maps.   Those same states are also high in sleep disorders and heart disease and dental decay.  

Antibiotics mess up the intestinal microbe population and promote pathogenic strains.
They  may also contribute to gluten intolerance.
We should probably avoid them, but recurring infections are problematic too.
It's a real dilemma.

As I was Saying

The First Basic Principle-
Your risk of getting an infection is determined by your immune genes.

Gene Is Linked to Deadly Runaway Fungal Infection
For most people, a fungal infection like athlete's foot means a simple trip to the drugstore and a reminder to bring shower shoes to the gym. But in very rare cases, fungal infections can spread below the skin's surface and onto the lymph nodes, bones, digestive tract or even the brain. Researchers from The Rockefeller University and Necker Medical School in Paris have now discovered a genetic deficiency that allows the fungus to spread in this way, a condition called deep dermatophytosis. Their work suggests why treatments for fungal infection sometimes fail, and it gives weight to a genetic theory of infectious diseases, which proposes that a single genetic defect can cause an otherwise healthy person to become severely ill from a minor infection -- be it viral, bacterial or fungal.

Monday, November 18, 2013

Frakkin Respiratory Infections

Fungal infections can trigger and exacerbate asthma.   (abstract)

A molecule produced by those fungi has also been shown to affect dopamine cells.

Maniacs Running the Asylum

Why Doctors Don’t Take Sick Days
A 2005 outbreak of the norovirus stomach bug in a nursing home highlighted the role of medical personnel in spreading communicable disease. The most disturbing aspect of the case was that medical staff members continued to come to work while ill, well into the outbreak, despite strenuous and public exhortations to stay home. This may have prolonged the outbreak and led to more patients’ falling ill.
A survey of British doctors back in the ’90s found that 87 percent of G.P.’s said they would not call in sick for a severe cold (compared to 32 percent of office workers who were asked the same question). In Norway, a 2001 survey revealed that 80 percent of doctors had reported to work while sick with illnesses for which they would have advised their own patients to stay home. Two-thirds of these illnesses were considered contagious.
The rest of the article is a truly sickening display of narcissism.

Sunday, November 17, 2013

Pardon Me?

Against Medical Recommendations, FDA Approves Potent New Painkiller

FDA says new cholesterol drugs may not need outcome studies

More on Orphan Drug Profiteering

How a drug for few patients was turned into $81 million in sales
But when the November 2001 bulletin was published, its listing for Trisenox included a mistake. The bulletin made it appear that Trisenox was medically accepted for four diseases, instead of just one. Subsequent issues added three more diseases, leaving the false impression that Trisenox was accepted and reimbursable for seven diseases in all.
Marchese understood that a mistake in the bulletin could lead states to reimburse for unaccepted uses. He emailed the company’s sales director: “How pretty are those Compendia bulletins!!! … [M]an do I like working the system. I figure even if 1 state doesn’t check its [sic] a bonus!!”
To which the director responded: “[E]ven if it works in one state, it’s a HUGE win! … Getting rich is a very good thing and it can’t happen soon enough!”
Part 1 is here

Saturday, November 16, 2013

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain

Some nice person sent me this link:   CafePharma Forum for Jazz.

Lots and lots of interesting stuff from sales reps in there...
"85k base pay and pretty easy scoring some cougar tail at the Jazz sales meetings. Not the most money or the best tail out here but both could be worse. Welcome to Jazz Land. The products do suck though. Enjoy while you work on something better."
No scruples.  No shame.  None.

The Joke's on Us

Dwayne Kennedy sees a sleep specialist

5:23 min video   Some mature language.
Pay special attention at the 2 minute mark.   "Something funny" going on there.

How do doctors do that with a straight face?

Friday, November 15, 2013

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Prof John Blundell
Is 'addiction' an excuse to overeat?

No it's a real phenomenon.  But Psychology does seem to be just an excuse to be a righteous asshole...

Cause and Effect

Bingeing Boosts Diabetes Risk
In a cohort study of about 4,300 girls, those who binged frequently -- without "purging," or using laxatives or vomiting after a big meal -- had nearly a four-fold increased risk of developing type 2 diabetes, even after controlling for body mass index.
Binge eating involves taking in a large amount of food, which is usually highly processed and high in carbohydrates, especially sugar, Field said. This initiates a hefty insulin response, which could cumulatively exhaust the beta cells, raising the risk of insulin resistance.
Geez Louise.  This is really getting tedious.  Correlation vs Causation again.  
Why do "obesity experts" seem unaware that hypoglycemia induces binge eating?
The hyperinsulinemia comes first.  The pathology Always Always Always comes first.
I really wish someone would do some real science and perform hyperinsulinemic euglycemic patch clamp tests on those girls.

More fruits and vegetables, dammit!

Fatty Acid Produced By Gut Bacteria Boosts Immune System
A new integrative medicine paper examines the role of gut bacteria on the maturation of the immune system and claims evidence supporting the use of butyrate as therapy for inflammatory bowel diseases like Crohn's disease, based on mouse models.
They somehow neglect to mention-  butyrate is a component of Butter.   That evil animal fat everyone has been told to avoid.   Go figure.

Well how about that

Intermittent doses of nicotine decrease GABA utilization in the rat hypothalamus. 

That explains a whole lot, now doesn't it?

Thursday, November 14, 2013

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

 Kathryn Orzech, Ph.D

Lack of Sleep in Teens Linked to Higher Risk of Illness

"We showed that there are short-term outcomes, like more acute illness among shorter-sleeping adolescents, that don't require waiting months, years or decades to show up," Orzech continued. "Yes, poor sleep is linked to increased cardiovascular disease, to high cholesterol, to obesity, to depression, etc., but for a teenager, staying healthy for the dance next week, or the game on Thursday, may be more important. This message from this study is clear: Sleep more, and more regularly, get sick less."
Ummmm, No.    Correlation does not imply causation.  Even if it is chronological.
Who gave you a PhD?

Disturbed sleep IS A SYMPTOM of subclinical illness.

Try the reverse configuration-  get sick less, sleep better.

Working in his Sleep

Car Mechanic Dreams Up a Tool to Ease Births

What a great story.

Wednesday, November 13, 2013

Sounds Familiar

Soaring Prices, Not Demand, Behind Massive Hike in U.S. Health Spending

You kids on Xyrem know all about that.

Science Says

Electronic cigarettes 'could save millions of lives'

Not so Happy Hour

Symptoms of Parkinson's disease linked to fungus
The scientists discovered that the volatile organic compound 1-octen-3-ol, otherwise known as mushroom alcohol, can cause movement disorders in flies, similar to those observed in the presence of pesticides, such as paraquat and rotenone. Further, they discovered that it attacked two genes that deal with dopamine, degenerating the neurons and causing the Parkinson's-like symptoms.
Many, many fungi produce this compound and they grow on wheat and nuts and in dirt and the damp corners of your house.

1-octen-3-ol is also a mosquito attractant.

Beer Consumption Increases Human Attractiveness to Malaria Mosquitoes
Higher levels of exhaled breath (as measured with a CO2 analyser) were not associated with higher attractiveness and beer consumption did not affect CO2 expiration rate. We postulate that the metabolism of alcohol following beer consumption induces changes in breath and odour markers (i.e. increases the production of kairomones such as 1-octen-3-ol) that increases attractiveness to Anopheles gambiae.
Yeah, that just figures.   Beer and nuts.   My father's favorite things.   He can barely keep the liquid in the glass or swallow the damn peanuts, but will never give them up.

Update- the other person I know with tremors eats peanut butter every day.

Tuesday, November 12, 2013

What a Surprise

I'm shocked.  Just shocked.

Not on cholesterol meds? New guidelines may change that
In what's being called a tectonic shift in the way doctors will treat high cholesterol, the American Heart Association and the American College of Cardiology on Tuesday released new treatment guidelines calling for a focus on risk factors rather than just cholesterol levels. The new guidelines could double the amount of people on medication to lower their cholesterol, experts say.
Guess who will benefit the most from that?   Cardiologists.   Cha Ching!

Will someone please tell me why "factors other than cholesterol" increase a person's need to reduce cholesterol?  

Here's all you really need to know:
AstraZeneca Applauds the Release of New U.S. Guideline for Management of Blood Cholesterol 

Yeah, I bet.  They have probably been drinking champagne and shopping for yachts all day.  Those donations to the AHA and ACC are paying off bigtime.

Brain Eating Zombies of the Day

Dr. Guy Fagherazzi and Dr. Francoise Clavel-Chapelon

Meat Products Could Raise Diabetes Risk: Study
"A diet rich in animal protein may favor net acid intake, while most fruits and vegetables form alkaline precursors that neutralize the acidity.  Contrary to what is generally believed, most fruits -- such as peaches, apples, pears, bananas and even lemons and oranges -- actually reduce dietary acid load once the body has processed them."
My emphasis.  The problem isn't renal acidity, it's oral acidity.   Acid in the mouth promotes bacterial infection which alters the intestinal microbiome and glucose metabolism.

They just gave a lot of people with hyperinsulinemia and carb addiction an excuse to become vegetarians.   Sheesh.

Correlation Games

Depression 'makes us biologically older' 
Telomeres cap the end of our chromosomes which house our DNA. Their job is to stop any unwanted loss of this vital genetic code. As cells divide, the telomeres get shorter and shorter. Measuring their length is a way of assessing cellular aging.
People who were or had been depressed had much shorter telomeres than those who had never experienced depression. This difference was apparent even after lifestyle differences, such as heavy drinking and smoking, were taken into account. 

Guess what is also strongly correlated to shorter telomeres?
Hyperinsulinemia.   Type 2 Diabetes.

I have "felt old" since I was in elementary school.

Quickie

Some 'Healthy' Vegetable Oils May Actually Increase Risk of Heart Disease
uh huh

Monday, November 11, 2013

This is Why

A veteran takes his or her own life every 80 minutes and that the number of suicides among veterans since 2001 has long since exceeded the number of combat deaths in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Sunday, November 10, 2013

See the Matrix

Too much of too little - A diet fueled by food stamps is making South Texans obese but leaving them hungry.

Behold the Glucose-Industrial-Medical complex...
Companies such as Coca-Cola, Kraft and Mars have spent more than $10 million in the past several years lobbying Congress to keep their products available to those using food stamps. “No clear standards exist for defining foods as good or bad,” the lobbyist said.

Yo Jazz

We know you don't care one flippin bit about us or our misery.

Pharma's Windfall- The mining of rare diseases
Thirty years ago, Congress acted to spur research on rare diseases. Today, we have hundreds of new drugs — along with runaway pricing and market manipulation, as drugmakers turn a law with good intentions into a profit engine.
Market manipulation= donating to doctors and patients organizations

(also posted at NN just for the fun of it.)

related post

Saturday, November 9, 2013

Pop Quiz

What is wrong with this woman?
More importantly, what is wrong with the many, many doctors she has seen?

This Explains a Lot

Like maybe why 75% of narcoleptics are female...

Gut reaction: Scientists study factors influencing intestinal microbes
"As you might expect, significant differences were found between the fecal microorganisms of mice fed a biochemically complex diet containing isoflavones and those that were fed a simple diet that lacked isoflavones," he said. "Interestingly, however, we also found that the microorganisms differed between mice that expressed estrogen receptor beta and those that did not."
Not only does estrogen increase insulin production, it alters the intestinal microbe composition.

Here's the abstract.

Friday, November 8, 2013

More trouble with Flu Shots

Allergic to Gummy Bears? Be Cautious Getting the Flu Shot
Do marshmallows make your tongue swell? Gummy bears make you itchy? If you've answered yes and are allergic to gelatin, you will want to take some precautions when getting the flu shot. While the vaccine is recommended for those six months of age and older, a case report being presented at the American College of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (ACAAI) Annual Scientific Meeting notes that individuals with a gelatin allergy can have a mild to severe reaction from the shot.

Update from the Center of the Zombie Vortex

Speaking of medical history-

Britain reports 'appalling' return of crippling 19th-century disease
Rickets, the childhood disease that once caused an epidemic of bowed legs and curved spines during the Victorian era, is making a shocking comeback in 21st-century Britain. Rickets results from a severe deficiency of vitamin D, which helps the body absorb calcium. Rickets was historically considered to be a disease of poverty among children who toiled in factories during the Industrial Revolution.
Yes, well now it's a disease of kids who don't drink milk because of the fat, are told the sun is dangerous, and sit inside and play video games all day long.

Now this sort of makes sense

Lack of protein drives overeating
Humans' instinctive appetite for protein is so powerful that we are driven to continue eating until we get the right amount of protein, even if it means consuming far more energy than we need, according to new research from the University of Sydney's Charles Perkins Centre.
That sort of dovetails with this hypothesis. Eat enough carbs and fat, and you won't ever get a high enough level of protein.

But there's also binge eating caused by hypoglycemia.  Even with adequate protein intake.

Bacon and eggs will fill me up.
Bacon, eggs and pancakes will make me hungry all day.

Thursday, November 7, 2013

This is Why

Depression is the second biggest cause of disability in the world

At this rate, it will be number one in another 10 years.

Another Good Example

Inflammation-Linked Diet Associated With Depression In Women 

Depression has been linked to diet since the dawn of civilization...

Freud is the doctor who claimed it was not.   About a hundred years ago.

The Unknown Unknowns

As I was saying...

New Ligament Discovered‬ In the Human Knee
Despite a successful ACL repair surgery and rehabilitation, some patients with ACL-repaired knees continue to experience so-called 'pivot shift', or episodes where the knee 'gives way' during activity. For the last four years, orthopedic surgeons Dr Steven Claes and Professor Dr Johan Bellemans have been conducting research into serious ACL injuries in an effort to find out why. Their starting point: an 1879 article by a French surgeon that postulated the existence of an additional ligament located on the anterior of the human knee.
That postulation turned out to be correct: the Belgian doctors are the first to identify the previously unknown ligament after a broad cadaver study using macroscopic dissection techniques. Their research shows that the ligament, which was given the name anterolateral ligament (ALL), is present in 97 per cent of all human knees. Subsequent research shows that pivot shift, the giving way of the knee in patients with an ACL tear, is caused by an injury in the ALL ligament.
This is a perfect example of doctors confidently acting despite the absence of information.
This is basic anatomy, people.   Should have been found a hundred years ago.
Nonetheless, surgeons have performed millions of these knee surgeries assuming they knew what they were doing.

Everything Old is New Again

Brain may play key role in development of type 2 diabetes
In their paper, the researchers note that about a century ago, scientists believed the brain played an important role in keeping glucose in check. But since its discovery in 1920, the focus shifted to insulin, and today nearly all treatments for diabetes are devised either to increase insulin or increase the body's sensitivity to the glucose-regulating hormone.

The researchers propose a two-system model - the pancreatic islet system reacts to rising blood glucose by releasing insulin, and the brain-centered system enhances insulin-dependent glucose metabolism while also stimulating glucose effectiveness independently of insulin.

According to the research, the brain system is the one most likely to fail first. This puts pressure on the islet system, which can compensate and carry on for a while, but then also fails, causing further decompensation in the brain system. The result is a vicious cycle of deterioration that ends in type 2 diabetes.
Emphasis mine.  The history of science is my true passion-  I am writing a book about how most of my ideas have been around for thousands of years.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013

Uh Huh

Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Onset of Psychosis
Vitamin D deficiency is linked to first episodes of psychosis (FEP), new research suggests.
A study of almost 140 participants in the United Kingdom showed that those who were presenting to a psychiatric in-patient facility with an FEP had significantly lower levels of vitamin D than did their age-matched, healthy peers.
"What surprised us was the degree of difference between the patients and their matched controls, with patients being nearly 3 times as likely to have full-blown vitamin D deficiency," co–first author John Lally, MRCPsych, clinical research fellow in the IMPACT project at the Institute of Psychiatry in London, UK, and in the UK's National Psychosis Unit, told Medscape Medical News.
Here's the abstract.

I think this explains a whole lot of things.  Starting with Adam Lanza who spent his life in a basement playing video games...

Tuesday, November 5, 2013

All Hail the Germ Theory of Disease

Microbes in the Gut Help Determine Risk of Tumors
Transferring the gut microbes from a mouse with colon tumors to germ-free mice makes those mice prone to getting tumors as well, according to the results of a study published in mBio®, the online open-access journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The work has implications for human health because it indicates the risk of colorectal cancer may well have a microbial component.
Sounds simple enough.  Robert Koch used the same method to determine infectivity in the 1800's.   Somebody wanna tell me why this experiment wasn't done decades ago?????

Not Your Imagination


Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity: Is It an Allergy?
news article.

Here's the abstract.

Conclusions:
Patients with Non-Celiac Wheat Sensitivity and multiple food sensitivity show several clinical, laboratory, and histological characteristics that suggest they might be suffering from non-IgE-mediated food allergy. However, other pathogenic mechanisms need to be considered.
Funny how "allergy specialists" seem to be completely unaware that other antibody isotypes exist.   It is IgG mediated.  I'm sure of it.  Plenty of studies already in the literature.  That's the paper I'm researching now.   Including how they alter the microbial population and promote bacterial infections.

Expected Behavior

Shire hits new peak as ADHD drug succeeds in treating binge eating disorder

Vyvanse is just another amphetemine derivative.  Improves glycemic control.   SSDD.

Fun with Microbes

Exploring The Invisible Universe That Lives On Us — And In Us
   5:28 min video.    animated microbiome 101.   

Monday, November 4, 2013

Their Vision of Your Future

Speaking of trigeminal neuralgia...

Botox to Treat 'Suicide' Headaches
The gear they have developed looks a pistol with a very thin barrel, just the thickness of a knitting needle. The barrel is inserted up through the nose of the patient, and by passing through a natural hole in the nasal wall, the mouth of the barrel comes to a bundle of nerves behind the sinuses.  The surgeon pulls the trigger of the pistol, which shoots a dose of Botox to the area around the nerve bundle. The whole process takes about a half-an-hour.
Paralyze your brain.   Can't imagine what might go wrong...

related post     another link

The Price of Doing Business

Johnson & Johnson to pay $2.2 billion to end U.S. drug probes 
In one of the largest health care fraud settlements in U.S. history, Johnson & Johnson will pay $2.2 billion to end civil and criminal investigations into kickbacks to pharmacists and the marketing of pharmaceuticals for off-label uses, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder said on Monday.

From 1999 through 2005, J&J and its subsidiary Janssen Pharmaceuticals Inc promoted Risperdal for unapproved uses, including controlling aggression and anxiety in elderly dementia patients and treating behavioral disturbances in children and in individuals with disabilities, according to the complaint.

Johnson & Johnson's conduct "recklessly put at risk" the health of children, dementia patients and others to whom the drug was prescribed at a time it was only approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat schizophrenia, Holder said.

Just thought I would remind y'all that your good buddies over at Jazz are using their billions to nullify this law so they can sell their evil shit to all kinds of mentally impaired people without testing it first.

Bwa ha ha ha ha

Zombie shopping

Sunday, November 3, 2013

Brain Eating Zombies of the Day

The American Heart Association.   All Day.  Every Day.

Brushing your teeth could prevent heart disease
Taking care of your gums by brushing, flossing, and regular dental visits could help hold heart disease at bay. Researchers at Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health have shown for the first time that as gum health improves, progression of atherosclerosis slows to a clinically significant degree. Findings appear online in the Journal of the American Heart Association.
Yes, well your experiment does not clarify how those people with periodontal disease improved their condition. The standard treatment of acute periodontitis is chlorhexidine rinse and antibiotics, NOT brushing and flossing, which are clearly inadequate given the amount of atherosclerosis and dental pathology in this country.

Nice try, AHA and ADA.  SSDD.

Saturday, November 2, 2013

Seriously

Scientists reduce behaviours associated with problem gambling in rats

This is a rather complex experiment, because first they have to make rats with gambling problems...
But the crucial sentence is at the end-
The D4 blocker drug used in the study has previously been tested on humans in attempts to treat behaviour disorders like schizophrenia but appeared to have no effect.
They have a drug.  They Must. Find. Someone. To. Sell. It. To.

Unfortunately for them-  compulsive Humans have been shown to have problems with their D2 receptors.

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Michael Kimmel

Why is it always a white guy: The roots of modern, violent rage 

He wrote an entire book about how the decline of white male power makes these guys angry.  Even though most of them are too young to remember white male dominance...

The fact is, caucasians are genetically much more likely to suffer from streptococcal infections.  And sugar consumption is at an all time high.   And young men are notorious about avoiding seeking health care unless their eyes are bleeding...

Holmes exhibits symptoms of Tourettes,  most of the rest show symptoms of trigeminal neuralgia