Drive-By

Things that caught my eye.

Anxiety can damage brain: Accelerate conversion to Alzheimer's for those with mild cognitive impairment

Led by researchers at Baycrest Health Sciences' Rotman Research Institute, the study has shown clearly for the first time that anxiety symptoms in individuals diagnosed with MCI increase the risk of a speedier decline in cognitive functions - independent of depression. For MCI patients with mild, moderate or severe anxiety, Alzheimer's risk increased by 33%, 78% and 135% respectively.

 Yes, well, infectious activity raises stress response, so maybe those people are sicker...
what a concept.

Disgust leads people to lie and cheat, cleanliness promotes ethical behavior, study shows
And guess what makes you feel disgust?   Gut dysfunction.  Nausea is a vagus thing.
Instead of having people think of clean things, why don't you try addressing the source of the problem?

Contact lenses tied to thousands of eye infections

Generic Drug Prices Are Skyrocketing, Senate Will Investigate

“U.S. antitrust laws protect consumers only from anticompetitive strategies such as price fixing among competitors. Manufacturers of generic drugs that legally obtain a market monopoly are free to unilaterally raise the prices of their products. The Federal Trade Commission will not intervene without evidence of a conspiracy among competitors or other anticompetitive actions that sustain the increased price.”

Yeah, my generic Valacyclovir costs exactly as much as the Valtrex did...

Why Are So Few Blockbuster Drugs Invented Today?

But this golden road to pharmaceutical riches, known as target-based drug discovery, has often proved to be more of a garden path. The first disappointment has been that most diseases affecting large numbers of people are not caused by a handful of mutations that can be unearthed as easily as digging potatoes in a field. Geneticists have called this the problem of “missing heritability,” because despite what they promised in the 1990s, they have found no single genetic variants that are necessary and sufficient to cause most forms of widespread diseases like diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s or cancer.

That's because those diseases aren't genetic, they're infectious.
They are looking for things that don't exist.
And ignoring things that do.

Keep Your Memory Intact, Limit Intake of Trans Fat

Medical researchers worked with 690 male subjects and 324 post-menopausal women, asking them to attempt to memorize a list of 104 words, and recite them back from memory. The volunteers were also quizzed about their diet and general health. Those who consumed the highest levels of trans fats remembered an average of 11 fewer words than the remainder of the study population.

This from the American Heart Association, who still cannot say the word Sugar.
But just to be clear- they are the people who created this trans-fat crisis in the first place.
The Crisco Generation.

Taking antibiotics during pregnancy increases risk for child becoming obese

A study just released by Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health found that children who were exposed to antibiotics in the second or third trimester of pregnancy had a higher risk of childhood obesity at age 7. The research also showed that for mothers who delivered their babies by a Caesarean section, whether elective or non-elective, there was a higher risk for obesity in their offspring.

Yeah, uh huh.
Body weight heavily influenced by microbes in the gut

Major Pile Management

Sorry I have been neglecting the blog.  I am ramping up for a couple writing projects.

So first, I need to clean my yard.  Ha.
I can't think with it a mess.  It nags at me.  And I was too sick to work on it last winter.  Need to do it while it is nice outside.

So this is what I am doing...  cleaning and rearranging my little portion of the desert.  Being all presidential and clearing the brush.   Moving most of the rocks and gravel.
I built rails for my fabulous beater truck.  
And I am learning the glorious utility of using a pitchfork for prickly things.

It's gonna take a while, but hopefully when I'm done I'll have some idea how to arrange my  thoughts too.

Weekend Research

The new strain of cannabis that could help treat psychosis

Although widely seen as a potential trigger for schizophrenia, marijuana also contains an ingredient that appears to have antipsychotic effects. Tom Ireland visits the UK’s only licensed cannabis farm and meets the man responsible for breeding a plant that might be of benefit to millions.

He works for a pharma.   This is not fringe science, people.  They just want you to think it is until they get their patents authorized.
 
They sell high CBD strains in the dispensaries here.   I find it does have the opposite effect of the high THC sativa strains that I use.  Makes me tired and unmotivated and gives me a headache.  I have not found it that useful.  
 
It may be because of some metabolic effect.   It may be altering glucose and insulin function like the other antipsychotics.   I am kind of sensitive to that.
I'm not septic right now, though.   Maybe I will save the rest for an immune episode.  Knock myself out instead of destroy my furniture.  Ha.

Everything old is new again.

Reconceptualizing major depressive disorder as an infectious disease

Although I agree with everything and will probably write to him and tell him to look up orexin...

This is not a new concept.   Not in any way.
BEFORE FREUD,  Melancholia was assumed to be an illness just like any other.

Healing the Sick

Pope Francis to build showers for the homeless in St. Peter’s Square

Welcome to the Club, Asshole

Glenn Beck reveals serious illnesses

Conservative media host Glenn Beck disclosed he has been suffering from a serious illness that he says “quite honestly, has made me look crazy.”
“About five years ago … I had begun to have a string of health issues, that quite honestly, has made me look crazy and, quite honestly, I had felt crazy because of them."

Oropharyngeal and neurological dysfunction.   Yep.
A complete diet and lifestyle makeover.  Uh huh.

Sorry Glenn- You really were crazy.
And all those other crazy people really are sick.

Another Cuppa

Chemical in coffee may help prevent obesity-related disease

Researchers at the University of Georgia have discovered that a chemical compound commonly found in coffee may help prevent some of the damaging effects of obesity.
In a paper published recently in Pharmaceutical Research, scientists found that chlorogenic acid, or CGA, significantly reduced insulin resistance and accumulation of fat in the livers of mice who were fed a high-fat diet.

 Heh.  The caffeine is just a bonus.

Technical Terms

How an SHPOS Is Born

The acronym doctors use for the very worst of the worst patients.

Yes, well that explains a lot, now doesn't it.
Doctors calling cognitively impaired people "sub-human".

Compliance is the only metric that matters.  Everyone else is a piece of shit.
Like fat whiny girls for instance...

Spin With Me

We drink to self medicate the insulin resistance brought on by the infections.
But it's a wicked vicious circle.

Breakdown in gut barriers to bacteria may promote inflammation and craving in alcoholics

When patients were exposed to alcohol, the researchers found that the inflammatory response originated from gut-derived bacterial products that crossed the gut barrier, which in turn, activated specific inflammatory pathways in blood mononuclear cells.
Prior to undergoing detoxification, the observed inflammation correlated with both alcohol consumption and alcohol craving among the alcohol-dependent patients. Following detoxification, some, but not all, of the altered inflammatory processes were either partially or fully recovered.

So alcohol increases gut permeability.

And Pneumonia does too.

And

Coinfection with Streptococcus pneumoniae Negatively Modulates Influenza-Specific CD8+ T Cell Response 

Alcoholics have an abnormal CD8 T cell response to the influenza virus
 "It has also been known since the 1800s that alcohol use disorders are associated with increased susceptibility to lung infection – both viral and bacterial, including community acquired pneumonia and tuberculosis – acute respiratory distress syndrome, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," added Ilhem Messaoudi, associate professor of biomedical sciences at University of California Riverside. "Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying the increased susceptibility to lung infection and injury in individuals with alcohol use disorder is extremely important. Although several studies have demonstrated that this phenomenon is in part due to significant perturbations in the immune system, our understanding of the impact of alcohol abuse on immunity remains incomplete."

Pneumonia promotes Flu infection and vice versa.

And
Pneumonia patients nearly twice as likely to suffer from depression, impairments
Which make you prone to drinking..

So then maybe you go in the hospital.

Pneumonia is the second most common hospital-acquired infection
Sepsis accounts for approximately 15% of hospital acquired infections.
Cognitive and Functional Decline Often Follow Severe Sepsis

And just so you clearly see the swirling vortex to hell-


People with Alzheimer's usually die of Pneumonia.

There are about 4 million Americans with the disease, and the average length of time between diagnosis and death is eight years, although people can live with the illness 20 years or more. As the disease progresses, patients lose the ability to coordinate basic motor skills such as swallowing, walking, or controlling bladder and bowel. Difficulty swallowing can cause food to be inhaled, which can result in pneumonia. Inability to walk can lead to bedsores. Incontinence can result in bladder infections...  Such incapacitation again sets the stage for deadly infections. Doctors say it is possible that an Alzheimer's patient could progress to the point that damage from the disease to the centers of the brain that control breathing could cause death, but patients rarely get that far without an infection setting in. Once a patient is extremely incapacitated, there is little medical motivation to aggressively treat such infections.

They put you in a hospice bed, feed you pancakes and nobody brushes your teeth.
And you drown in septic delirium.

That was going to happen to me.  For sure.

The Source of the Vortex

Physician-dentist collaboration recommended in diabetes care

The researchers note that more older people visit a dentist than a primary care physician (in 2011, about 58 percent of those aged ≥65 years visited a dentist versus 38 percent who visited a primary care doctor). Diabetes has several oral manifestations and dentists can potentially identify patients with diabetes who are at risk. Patients could be placed on a recall program as a preventive measure, providing an opportunity for monitoring. Periodontal examinations can also be used to identify people with diabetes, with 92 percent accuracy seen in one study involving 506 dental patients. Dentists should also be trained to recognize patients at high risk for diabetes. Dentists and their auxiliary staff can also provide guidance for patients and help them attain glycemic control.

It is absolutely inexcusable that this is not already standard protocol.

And so it goes

RIP Bernard Mayes

Of all his varied endeavors — he was a journalist, a professor and a gay rights activist among other things — Mr. Mayes was most proud of San Francisco Suicide Prevention, the hotline he set up in 1961 with a single red telephone in the city’s gritty Tenderloin District.

That was the year I was born.
And that was the last major innovation in suicide prevention.

And after some reflection-  I can't think of any others.

Bread and Circuses

Halloween: America’s No. 1 holiday for wasting money on garbage

And she's just talking about the costumes.
Doesn't even mention the toxic, addictive treats.

I think about this a lot since I gave up celebrating most of them- Holiday junk spending seems to be the only thing holding the retail economy together.
That "seasonal" section in the stores keeps getting bigger.   Aisles of candy, and aisles of decorations that change monthly.

Tweet of the Day

@pourmecoffee

"To be safe, we must quarantine anyone who even might get sick. Now let's go door-to-door and accept food from total strangers!"

How to Make Little Zombies

Boo!

As Scary as it Gets

1 in 6 hospitals struggles to stop infections

Invincible Bacteria in the Middle East

And as health systems deteriorate in surrounding countries, war-injured patients with complicated wounds are flocking to Jordan, the Middle East's top destination for medical tourism, for treatment, bringing fierce infections with them.
"We think that the Middle East is one of the hotspots globally for antibiotic resistance," said Richard Murphy, an infectious-disease specialist with Doctors Without Borders.

Oh oh oh oh oh...  Holds head with hands.

Angry young men with untreatable infections, and guns.
Mercy on us all.

The Walking Bread

Why do Zombies Lumber?

Two neuroscientists explain why zombies have so much trouble walking.

Silly Rabbits.   It's those Pre-Motor areas.... like the glucose sensitive lateral hypothalamus.   Which activate the basal ganglia and frontal cortex... 

Slow walkers are poisoned.
Feed us protein.   Seriously.

Fun with Medical History

 Why Did Our Ancestors Have Better Teeth?  (2 min video with mandatory ad...)

New research suggests the British had better teeth under the Romans 1,800 years ago than they do now. On a larger scale, did our ancestors all have better teeth? The video above explores the rise of tooth decay and gum disease, which were uncommon among early people.  

Yo Doctors

Overweight Crash Test Dummies Developed in Response to Rising U.S. Obesity Levels

This is on you.  100%.

Puppies Want You to Think Twice

The Internet celebrates National Cat Day

Penn vet professor investigates parasite-schizophrenia connection

Zombie Swag

From the conference...  the tote bags Christina made for us.

And the Zombie Survival Kit (omg another conference, another lunchbox- how awesome is that!) and Wheat Life magazine Kimberly brought for me.

This sounds familiar

Uncontrolled hypertension highest among patients with moderate-to-severe psoriasis

The amount of hypertension was directly proportional to the amount of immune activity.
Yep.

The Lie behind the Theater

Most People With Addiction Simply Grow Out of It: Why Is This Widely Denied?

Umm, because putting us "in treatment" and making us chronically ill validates their assumption?   Cognitively impaired customers are the very best kind...

The same thing is known about depression.   Most depressions resolve spontaneously within nine months.  Thats why treatment used to start at 6 months.   Now I think it's six weeks.   They give you drugs that don't work because you will probably get better anyway.

Drive By

MS drug candidate also shows promise for ulcerative colitis
Because it's in the guts, people...

Metformin beats other type 2 diabetes drugs for first treatment: study

Study finds asthmatics with Vitamin D deficiency are 25 percent more likely to experience acute attacks

The Problem with Geniuses

They think they're always right.

Google tells me it is Jonas Salk's 100th birthday.

Salk's work on influenza viruses has been associated with ethical controversy. The Associated Press reported that Salk authored a research paper describing a federally funded study that began in 1942. Salk injected patients in a state insane asylum in Ypsilanti, Michigan, with an experimental influenza vaccine, then exposed them to influenza virus months later to check the vaccine's efficacy. It is questionable at best whether any of these patients could have understood what was being done to them, or why.

Especially after that.  Huh.

Dear "Sleep Specialists"

One of the most fundamental things about narcolepsy that you don't understand is how sleepy we really are.
We are twice as tired as you realize   Because underneath those slack faces and paralyzed bodies-  we are obsessed and manic as hell...
That's how we survive your incompetence.
And that's how we will overcome it, with or without you.

We are the people we have been looking for.
The sleep experts.
And we know that now.