Dr. James Lyons-Weiler (PhD) is the CEO and Director of The Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge, which perform research in the public interest aimed at finding ways to reduce human suffering using funds donated from the public . His research program is currently focused on aluminum toxicity, autoimmunity, and the differences in health outcomes between highly vaccinated and unvaccinated children. A life-long biomedical researcher, he is best known for contributions to advances in medical bioinformatics, and for his three books, “Ebola: An Evolving Story,” (2016) “Cures vs. Profits: Successes in Translational Research,” (2016) and “The Environmental and Genetic Causes of Autism” (2017). A true-blue academic, Dr. Lyons-Weiler has directed the analysis of data from over 100 medical studies, served as Founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Cancer Informatics, serves on the Editorial Board of Cancer Research, and has published more than 57 papers in reputable journals. His blog jameslyonsweiler.com contains deep analysis of issue that confront us today on the mismatches that exist between biomedical science and public health policy. His institute IPAK can be visited at ipaknowledge.org

Compound derived from thunder god vine could help pancreatic cancer patients

Translational Genomics Research Institute (Phoenix), December. 14, 2020

The results of a pre-clinical study led by researchers at the Translational Genomics Research Institute (TGen), an affiliate of City of Hope, suggest how a compound derived from the thunder god vine — an herb used in China for centuries to treat joint pain, swelling and fever — is able to kill cancer cells and potentially improve clinical outcomes for patients with pancreatic cancer.

The medicinal plant’s key ingredient, triptolide, is the basis of a water-soluble prodrug called Minnelide, which appears to attack pancreatic cancer cells and the cocoon of stroma surrounding the tumor that shields it from the body’s immune system. Investigators recently published the study results in the journal Oncogenesis.

The study found that the compound’s mechanism of action is the ability of triptolide (Minnelide) to disrupt what are known as super-enhancers, strings of DNA needed to maintain the genetic stability of pancreatic cancer cells and the cancer-associated-fibroblasts that help make up the stroma surrounding the cancer.

“The cancer cells rely on super-enhancers for their growth and survival,” said Dr. Haiyong Han, a Professor in TGen’s Molecular Medicine Division and one of the study’s senior authors.

“We found that by disrupting these super-enhancers triptolide not only attacks the cancer cells, but also the stroma, which helps accelerate cancer cell death.

“While triptolide has been known to be a general transcriptional inhibitor and a potent antitumor agent, we are the first to report its role in modulating super-enhancers to regulate the expression of genes, especially cancer-causing genes,” said Dr. Han, who also is head of the basic research unit in TGen’s Pancreatic Cancer Program.

Pancreatic cancer is the third leading cause of cancer-related death in the U.S., annually killing more than 47,000 Americans.

“There is an urgent need to identify and develop treatment strategies that not only target the tumor cells, but can also modulate the stromal cells,” said Dr. Daniel Von Hoff, TGen Distinguished Professor and another senior author of the study.

“Based on our findings, using modulating compounds such as triptolide to reprogram super-enhancers may provide means for effective treatment options for pancreas cancer patients,” said Dr. Von Hoff, considered one of the nation’s leading authorities on pancreatic cancer.

Thunder god vine (Tripterygium wilfordii), also known as léi g?ng téng, is native to China, Japan and Korea. Traditional Chinese medicine has used the vine for more than 2,000 years as a treatment for everything from fever to inflammation and autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis. The chemical compound triptolide is among the more than 100 bioactive ingredients derived from the thunder god vine.

Apathy could predict onset of dementia years before other symptoms

Cambridge University, December 16, 2020

Apathy – a lack of interest or motivation – could predict the onset of some forms of dementia many years before symptoms start, offering a ‘window of opportunity’ to treat the disease at an early stage, according to new research from a team of scientists led by Professor James Rowe at the University of Cambridge.

Frontotemporal dementia is a significant cause of dementia among younger people. It is often diagnosed between the ages of 45 and 65. It changes behaviour, language and personality, leading to impulsivity, socially inappropriate behaviour, and repetitive or compulsive behaviours.

A common feature of frontotemporal dementia is apathy, with a loss of motivation, initiative and interest in things. It is not depression, or laziness, but it can be mistaken for them. Brain scanning studies have shown that in people with frontotemporal dementia it is caused by shrinkage in special parts at the front of the brain – and the more severe the shrinkage, the worse the apathy. But, apathy can begin decades before other symptoms, and be a sign of problems to come.

“Apathy is one of the most common symptoms in patients with frontotemporal dementia. It is linked to functional decline, decreased quality of life, loss of independence and poorer survival,” said Maura Malpetti, a cognitive scientist at the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, University of Cambridge.

“The more we discover about the earliest effects of frontotemporal dementia, when people still feel well in themselves, the better we can treat symptoms and delay or even prevent the dementia.”

Frontotemporal dementia can be genetic. About a third of patients have a family history of the condition. The new discovery about the importance of early apathy comes from the Genetic Frontotemporal dementia Initiative (GENFI), a collaboration between scientists across Europe and Canada. Over 1,000 people are taking part in GENFI, from families where there is a genetic cause of Frontotemporal dementia.

Now, in a study published today in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, Professor Rowe and colleagues have shown how apathy predicts cognitive decline even before the dementia symptoms emerge.

The new study involved 304 healthy people who carry a faulty gene that causes frontotemporal dementia, and 296 of their relatives who have normal genes. The participants were followed over several years. None had dementia, and most people in the study did not know whether they carry a faulty gene or not. The researchers looked for changes in apathy, memory tests and MRI scans of the brain.

“By studying people over time, rather than just taking a snapshot, we revealed how even subtle changes in apathy predicted a change in cognition, but not the other way around,” explained Malpetti, the study’s first author. “We also saw local brain shrinkage in areas that support motivation and initiative, many years before the expected onset of symptoms.”

People with the genetic mutations had more apathy than other members of their family, which over two years increased much more than in people with normal genetics. The apathy predicted cognitive decline, and this accelerated as they approached the estimated age of onset of symptoms.

Professor Rogier Kievit from the Donders Institute, Radboud University Medical Center at Nijmegen and MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit at Cambridge, said: “Apathy progresses much faster for those individuals who we know are at greater risk of developing frontotemporal dementia, and this is linked to greater atrophy in the brain. At the start, even though the participants with a genetic mutation felt well and had no symptoms, they were showing greater levels of apathy. The amount of apathy predicted cognitive problems in the years ahead.”

“From other research, we know that in patients with frontotemporal dementia, apathy is a bad sign in terms of independent living and survival. Here we show its importance in the decades before symptoms begin,” said Professor James Rowe from the Department of Clinical Neurosciences, joint senior author.

Professor Rowe said the study highlights the importance of investigating why someone has apathy. “There are many reasons why someone feels apathetic. It may well be an easy to treat medical condition, such as low levels of thyroid hormone, or a psychiatric illness such as depression. But doctors need to keep in mind the possibility of apathy heralding a dementia, and increasing the chance of dementia if left unaddressed, particularly if someone has a family history of dementia.

“Treating dementia is a challenge, but the sooner we can diagnose the disease, the greater our window of opportunity to try and intervene and slow or stop its progress.”

Vitamin D deficiency and low physical activity related to low HDL cholesterol levels in study of children and adolescents

Yonsei University College of Medicine (South Korea), December 10, 2020

According to news reporting out of Seoul, South Korea, research stated, “Dyslipidemia is one of the important influencing factors of cardiovascular health in the youth, and thus, assessment of its etiology is important. We aimed to investigate the association of dyslipidemia with vitamin D and physical activity in Korean children and adolescents.”

Our news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Yonsei University College of Medicine: “Data of 3183 subjects aged 12-18 years in the Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey were analyzed. Participants were divided into subgroups according to sex, body mass index, 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels, and lipid profile. The mean 25-hydroxyvitamin D level was 16.15 ng/mL, which was below normal. In total, 79.3% of the subjects had vitamin D deficiency. Females had lower vitamin D levels and a higher incidence of dyslipidemia compared to males. Vitamin D deficiency was significantly associated with high density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels. The low HDL-C group consisted of a higher proportion of subjects with vitamin D deficiency and low physical activity. This study suggests that vitamin D deficiency is prevalent in Korean children and adolescents.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Vitamin D deficiency and low physical activity are related with low HDL-C levels. Maintaining sufficient vitamin D levels and physical activity may help prevent dyslipidemia.”

Living near Nature may help improve your mental health amid coronavirus pandemic, study suggests

University of Tokyo, December 9, 2020

Living near nature might just help mitigate some of the negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on people’s mental health, according to a study by researchers from the University of Tokyo .

Published recently in Ecological Applications, it revealed that more frequent use of green spaces, such as parks and forests, and the presence of a green window view from within the home were associated with greater levels of life satisfaction, self-esteem and subjective happiness among adults living in a densely populated urban area.

Overall, the findings suggest that nearby nature may serve as a buffer in reducing the impact of a very stressful event, such as the pandemic, on humans, said Masashi Soga, the study’s lead author and an associate professor at UTokyo’s Graduate School of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

“Protecting natural environments in urban areas is important not only for the conservation of biodiversity, but also for the protection of human health,” added Soga.

A “nature-based” solution

During the first few months of the pandemic, numerous governments worldwide implemented strict lockdown measures and enforced public health policies like social distancing in an effort to stem the spread of COVID-19.

While these measures did help slow the transmission of the coronavirus to some extent, millions of people had to learn to adjust to the drastic changes in their routines, which included coping with the negative effects of the pandemic on their mental well-being.

In fact, recent studies suggest that social distancing guidelines, coupled with the fear of contracting COVID-19, are likely to result in a wide range of mental health issues, from an increased sense of loneliness to depression.

Interestingly, some recent studies found that spending time outdoors increases positive emotions and reduces negative ones. Other studies also showed that people visited green spaces more often during the pandemic. But it remains unclear how proximity to nature affects mental health patterns.

To this end, Soga and his colleagues conducted a survey on 3,000 adults living in Tokyo. The survey quantified the association between five mental health outcomes (subjective happiness, loneliness, depression and anxiety, self-esteem and life satisfaction) and three measures of experiences with nature (green views through windows of the home and frequency and duration of green space use).

When the researchers assessed the responses, they found that experiences with nature around the home and in green spaces can help prevent poor mental health or keep it from deteriorating during stressful times.

In particular, the responses indicated a positive relationship between mental health outcomes (life satisfaction, self-esteem and subjective happiness) and frequency of green space use around the home and green views from within the home. Respondents who reported using green spaces more frequently and lived in homes with green views from windows also showed reduced levels of loneliness, depression and anxiety.

According to the researchers, there are three possible pathways through which green space use promotes better mental health.

The first is the health benefits of direct interactions with nature. Spending time in nature gives a person access to multi-sensory experiences, such as smelling flowers or listening to birds, which may help improve his or her mental health status.

Second, green space use is likely to encourage people to exercise. Exercising is considered beneficial for mental health, too. Third, green spaces also provide avenues for members of local communities to interact.

But even if social distancing guidelines limit these interactions, seeing other people or signaling to others from a distance may already be beneficial for people’s mental health. The researchers are also inclined to believe the three pathways work synergistically.

Furthermore, the responses indicated that people with green views from their windows reported better mental status for all five of the mental health measures considered than those who used greenspaces but had no green views.

This suggests that even less immediate experiences with nature, like looking out the window to trees, can have beneficial effects on mental health comparable to those of more immediate and direct experiences with nature.

Overall, the results suggest that promoting experiences with nature can be used as a “nature-based solution” for better public health at a time when people are under higher levels of stress and are confined within their homes.

“Prescribing” nature

With the pandemic showing no signs of letting up, restrictions are expected to stick around for a while. During extraordinary times like these, it is important to take steps to prevent stress from affecting your mental health.

As Soga and his colleagues found, just looking out the window to trees, grass and shrubs can be restorative. It would also help to go down to a local park or wooded area and spend a few minutes there to relieve stress and reduce anxiety.

Be mindful of the breeze and take a moment to notice the colors of flowers or the smell of leaves. Listen to the sound of rushing water or twittering birds. Jog through a tree-lined street in the morning or take a short stroll around the neighborhood after lunch.

As the UTokyo study shows, such experiences with nature can confer immense benefits on one’s mental health.

Compound in lemon verbena may help normalize lipid metabolism in diabetics

Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (China), December 16, 2020

Lippia triphylla, commonly known as lemon verbena or lemon beebrush, is a flowering plant native to South America. It was brought by the Spanish and the Portuguese to Europe in the 17th century, where it is cultivated for its lemon-scented oil to this day. The leaves of lemon verbena can retain their odor for years; hence, they are currently used to make perfumes as well as herbal teas.

Lemon verbena is also known for its medicinal uses. For instance, lemon verbena essential oil is valued for its calming and digestive properties. It is also known for soothing abdominal discomfort and treating various ailments, such as nervous system-related problems, acne, boils and cysts. Lemon verbena leaves and flowers, meanwhile, boast antispasmodic, antipyretic, sedative and stomachic properties. The leaves, in particular, are used to make a medicinal tea that can relieve digestive disorders like flatulence, indigestion and acidity.

In a recent study, researchers at Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine explored another medicinal application of lemon verbena. Specifically, they looked at the effects of lemon verbena extract and its active component, acteoside (ACT), on abnormal liver lipid metabolism. The researchers reported their findings in an article published in the Journal of Natural Medicines.

Lemon verbena can reverse diabetes-related lipid metabolism disorder

According to studies, diabetes is linked to triglyceride metabolism disorder, which serves as an etiological factor in fatty liver disease, hypertension and cardiovascular disease. Diet-based therapy, which includes a balanced energy intake and the use of herbal supplements, is deemed a suitable approach to stop the progression of these diseases.

The leaves of lemon verbena, a member of the Verbenaceae family, are used for cooking as well as to make natural remedies. They are either cooked like spinach or used as a flavoring for salads. Many people enjoy eating lemon verbena leaves because of their strong yet delicious, lemon-like flavor. Because of the plant’s widespread use, long-term consumption of lemon verbena is considered safe.

The researchers found that treatment with lemon verbena extract and ACT significantly decreased serum and liver lipid content in vivo. It also increased the phosphorylation of the energy metabolism moderator, adenosine 5?-monophosphate-activated protein kinase (AMPK), and reduced the levels of two markers of lipid synthesis, namely, acetyl-CoA carboxylase (ACC) and fatty acid synthase (FAS).

AMPK is an enzyme that plays an important role in metabolism and the maintenance of cellular energy homeostasis. It is necessary for the activation of glucose and the breakdown of fats (fatty acid oxidation) when cellular energy is low. The addition of phosphate at specific sites (phosphorylation) activates AMPK and stimulates its activity by more than 100-fold.

ACC is a rate-limiting enzyme that regulates the synthesis of fats inside the body. Inhibiting ACC is an effective way of suppressing fatty acid synthesis, which can help stop lipid accumulation. FAS, meanwhile, is an enzyme that accelerates the synthesis of fatty acids. Like ACC, inhibiting the activity of FAS also helps prevent lipid accumulation.

The researchers also found that lemon verbena extract and ACT particularly enhanced the phosphorylation of ACC. Unlike the case with AMP, phosphorylation of ACC leads to its inactivation. In addition, ACT promoted lipolysis — the breakdown of triglycerides — and fatty acid oxidation by increasing the expression of adipose triglyceride lipase (ATGL), the enzyme that catalyzes the first step of lipolysis, and carnitine palmitoyltransferase (CPT)-1, the enzyme that activates fatty acid oxidation in the liver.

Altogether these findings suggest that lemon verbena leaves and their major component, acteoside, can be used as natural medicine for the treatment of diabetes-associated lipid metabolism disorder.

Low-intensity exercise during adolescence may prevent schizophrenia

University of Tsukuba, Japan, December 15, 2020

Although schizophrenia is increasingly understood as a neurodevelopmental disorder, environmental factors are known to play an important role in the disease onset and progression. But now, researchers from Japan have found that exercise during a specific postnatal period may prevent the development of behaviors associated with schizophrenia.

In a study published this month in Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications, researchers from the University of Tsukuba have revealed that low-intensity exercise during adolescence, which is a critical developmental period, significantly reduced abnormal behaviors in a mouse model of schizophrenia.

An enriched environment during development has been found to have a number of positive effects on brain function, including the prevention of neurodevelopmental disorders. Although exercise appears to have a particularly important effect, the combination of variables present in enriched environments can make it difficult to isolate the mechanisms underlying the beneficial effects. To address this, the researchers at the University of Tsukuba developed a new exercise model in which mice ran on a treadmill at a fixed speed. They then tested whether low-intensity treadmill running prevented abnormal behaviors in a mouse model of schizophrenia.

“Previous studies have shown that exercise can enhance neuronal transmission and have other beneficial effects,” says lead author of the study Hikaru Koizumi. “However, the intensity, duration, and frequency of exercise have varied among studies using wheel running, making it difficult to determine how much exercise would be necessary to see these positive effects in humans.”

To address this, the researchers examined behavioral and neurological function in mice that had been exposed to phencyclidine (PCP) hydrochloride during perinatal development, which is a common model of schizophrenia. The mice were then exposed to 4 weeks of low-intensity exercise during adolescence, and tested to see whether they exhibited abnormal behaviors and associated neurological abnormalities.

“The results were surprising,” explains senior author Professor Hideaki Soya. “Our finding that low-intensity exercise could prevent abnormal behaviors indicates that exercise may directly contribute to the prevention of schizophrenia.”

This has important implications for the potential neuropathology of schizophrenia, especially given that the low-intensity exercise recovered changes in neural signaling associated with the expected behavioral abnormalities.

“Our findings indicate that mild exercise habits during development could have a powerful preventative effect in individuals who are genetically predisposed to schizophrenia. As such, exercise could be a particularly important consideration for individuals who are at risk for developing the condition,” says Professor Soya.

Mild exercise during development could prevent schizophrenia by masking or improving neurodevelopmental abnormalities present due to genetic inheritance. Specialized exercise programs for individuals who are at risk may be successful in preventing the development of schizophrenia, with serious implications for the quality of life in these individuals.

Amber-tinted glasses may provide relief for insomnia

Columbia University Medical Center December 15, 2020

How do you unwind before bedtime? If your answer involves Facebook and Netflix, you are actively reducing your chance of a good night’s sleep. And you are not alone: 90 percent of Americans use light-emitting electronic devices, such as smartphones and laptops, in the hour before bed, despite the fact that such behavior is associated with symptoms of insomnia. The obvious solution is to ditch the technology, but people rarely heed this advice.

Knowing that individuals with insomnia are also unlikely to change their ways, researchers from Columbia University Medical Center tested a method to reduce the adverse effects of evening ambient light exposure, while still allowing use of blue light-emitting devices. Their findings will be published in the January issue of Journal of Psychiatric Research.

Smartphones, tablets and other light-emitting devices are lit by LEDs, which have a peak wavelength in the blue portion of the spectrum. Blue light at night suppresses melatonin and increases alertness; the use of amber-tinted lenses that block blue light mitigates these effects.

The Columbia team, led by Ari Shechter, PhD, assistant professor of medical sciences, reasoned that selectively blocking blue light in the hours before bedtime would lead to improved sleep in individuals with insomnia.

To test their theory, the researchers recruited 14 individuals with an insomnia diagnosis to take part in a small study. For seven consecutive nights, participants wore wrap-around frames with amber-tinted lenses that blocked blue light or with clear placebo lenses for two hours before bedtime. Four weeks later, participants repeated the protocol with the other set of glasses.

The researchers found that participants got around 30 minutes extra sleep when they wore the amber lenses compared to the clear lenses. In self-reported sleep surveys, participants also reported greater duration, quality, and soundness of sleep, and an overall reduction in insomnia severity.

These findings are consistent with prior studies showing a benefit of blue-light-blocking lenses in improving sleep, but should be replicated in larger controlled studies, Shechter said.

“Now more than ever we are exposing ourselves to high amounts of blue light before bedtime, which may contribute to or exacerbate sleep problems,” Shechter said. “Amber lenses are affordable and they can easily be combined with other established cognitive and behavioral techniques for insomnia management.”

Many smartphones screens can now be adjusted to emit amber instead of blue light, and Shechter said these settings should help to improve sleep. “I do recommend using the amber setting on smartphones at night, in addition to manually reducing the brightness levels. But blue light does not only come from our phones. It is emitted from televisions, computers, and importantly, from many light bulbs and other LED light sources that are increasingly used in our homes because they are energy-efficient and cost-effective,” he said.

“The glasses approach allows us to filter out blue-wavelength light from all these sources, which might be particularly useful for individuals with sleep difficulties.”

The use of amber lenses also appeared to reduce blood pressure in the study’s participants (these data are published in Sleep Medicine). “Insomnia is often characterized by physiologic hyperarousal, which may account for the relationship between poor sleep and cardiovascular risk,” Dr Shechter explained. “Going forward, it will be interesting to examine whether this blue-light blocking approach can be useful for improving cardiovascular outcomes like hypertension in individuals with poor sleep.”

The paper is titled “Blocking nocturnal blue light for insomnia: A randomized controlled trial.”

Higher vitamin D levels, stronger immune response protect children from COVID-19

University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and University of Melbourne, December 14, 2020

In a new study, Petra Zimmermann and Nigel Curtis of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland and the University of Melbourne in Australia, respectively, have identified several key factors that could be driving these COVID-19 trends in children.

These factors include higher vitamin D levels, a stronger innate immune response, stronger blood vessels and frequent exposure to other pathogens, among others.

The full findings of the review appeared online in the Archives of Disease in Childhood.

Several factors protect children

Experts are still in the dark as to why children appear to have a lower risk of contracting the coronavirus and developing severe symptoms. Some experts suggest that severe COVID-19 infections in adults are influenced by risk factors that increase with age.

Meanwhile, others are inclined to believe that children have unique physiological characteristics that protect them from developing severe or life-threatening infections.

In their review, Zimmermann and Curtis studied these characteristics, which include undamaged cells along blood vessels, a strong immune system and higher levels of vitamin D, which plays a key role in immunity.

They also found that children generally have fewer angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) receptors. This receptor allows SARS-CoV-2 to infect cells.

These factors all work to influence disease outcome once COVID-19 enters the picture. For instance, healthy endothelial cells that line the heart and blood vessels are crucial for blood flow and clotting.

However, in adults with severe COVID-19 infections, endothelial cells tend to be damaged. When these cells are compromised, an individual would face an increased risk of stroke and heart attack. SARS-CoV-2 infects endothelial cells as well, causing inflammation.

Children tend to have healthy, undamaged endothelial cells. For one, children are less exposed to pollutants that can damage endothelial cells, trigger inflammation and impair blood circulation.

Furthermore, children are less prone to abnormal blood clotting, which can occur when endothelial cells are damaged, said Curtis.

Children also have fewer ACE2 receptors, which the SARS-CoV-2 virus hijacks and uses to infect cells. ACE2 receptors also increase with age. This explains their prevalence in adults and offers insight into why toddlers are less likely to develop symptoms than older children when infected with the coronavirus.

Children also have a stronger innate immune response, which can be explained by two things, the first being that children are more likely to be infected with various pathogens. Children pick up germs all the time from playing in the dirt or in the playground, where surfaces are hardly clean.

Several studies suggest that exposure to germs in childhood can boost children’s innate immune response to infections. This may help them build resistance to pathogens as they get older.

Zimmerman also noted that children with COVID-19 tend to have “co-infections” with other viruses. Having recurrent viral infections could lead to improved trained immunity in children, she added.

Children’s gut microbiota also differs in composition from that of adults. The gut microbiota can affect one’s immune response to infections. While it’s unclear how exactly the gut microbiota can affect the outcome of a COVID-19 infection in either children or adults, it cannot be dismissed entirely.

In addition, children have higher levels of vitamin D and melatonin than adults. Humans produce vitamin D when sunlight strikes the skin. In the body, vitamin D plays a crucial role in strengthening immunity. In fact, vitamin D has been extensively studied for its potential to significantly reduce COVID-19 risk, particularly in older adults. (Related: New research says vitamin D may reduce the severity of COVID-19.)

One study by Belgian researchers found that nearly 75 percent of severely ill COVID-19 patients they studied were vitamin D deficient upon admission to a hospital. The deficiency was also more pronounced in patients that had severe pneumonia.

On the other hand, melatonin, a hormone that regulates the body’s natural sleep-wake cycle, has been shown to also regulate the activation of the immune system. Melatonin can help reduce inflammation as well.

Overall, these factors seem to agree with prevailing observations that COVID-19 leads to less severe illness in children than in adults. Further studies are needed to confirm how these factors influence disease outcome.

Water may be an effective treatment for metabolic syndrome

Water suppresses vasopressin, a hormone linked to obesity, diabetes

University of Colorado, December 15, 2020

Researchers at the University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus have discovered that fructose stimulates the release of vasopressin, a hormone linked to obesity and diabetes. They also found that water can suppress the hormone and alleviate these conditions in mice.

“The clinical significance of this work is that it may encourage studies to evaluate whether simple increases in water intake may effectively mitigate obesity and metabolic syndrome,” said the study’s lead author Miguel A. Lanaspa, PhD, an associate professor at the University of Colorado School of Medicine specializing in renal disease and hypertension.

The study was published today in the journal JCI Insight.

Lanaspa and his colleague, Richard Johnson, MD, also a professor at the CU School of Medicine, wanted to understand why vasopressin, which maintains the body’s water levels, was elevated in those with obesity and diabetes.

They fed mice sugar water, specifically fructose, and found that it stimulated the brain to make vasopressin. The vasopressin in turn stored the water as fat causing dehydration which triggered obesity. Treating the mice with non-sugary water reduced the obesity.

According to Lanaspa, this is the first time scientists have shown how vasopressin acts on dietary sugar to cause obesity and diabetes.

“We found that it does this by working through a particular vasopressin receptor known as V1b,” he said. “This receptor has been known for a while but no one has really understood its function. We found that mice lacking V1b were completely protected from the effects of sugar. We also show that the administration of water can suppress vasopressin and both prevent and treat obesity.”

The researchers also discovered that dehydration can stimulate the formation of fat.

“This explains why vasopressin is so high in desert mammals as they do not have easy access to water,” Johnson said. “So vasopressin conserves water by storing it as fat.”

This data fits with observations showing that obese people often have signs of dehydration. It also explains why high salt diets may also cause obesity and diabetes.

The researchers found that water therapy effectively protected against metabolic syndrome – a collection of conditions including high blood pressure, high blood sugar and high triglyceride levels that increase the risk of heart disease, stroke and type 2 diabetes.

“The best way to block vasopressin is to drink water,” Lanaspa said. “This is hopeful because it means we may have a cheap, easy way of improving our lives and treating metabolic syndrome.”

Johnson summed up the findings this way.

“Sugar drives metabolic syndrome in part by the activation of vasopressin. Vasopressin drives fat production likely as a mechanism for storing metabolic water,” he said. “The potential roles of hydration and salt reduction in the treatment of obesity and metabolic syndrome should be considered.”

Researchers identify the compounds responsible for cashew’s anti-asthma effects

Landmark University and University of Ilorin (Nigeria), December 8, 2020

Researchers from Nigeria investigated the bioactive constituents of Anacardium occidentale, also known as cashew, and evaluated its effects on histamine-induced paw edema and bronchoconstriction. They reported their findings in an article published in the Journal of Integrative Medicine.

The leaves of A. occidentale have long been used for the treatment of inflammation and asthma, but the bioactive components responsible for these activities have not been characterized.
For their experiment, the researchers prepared extracts from the leaves of A. occidentale using ethanol as solvent.
They used gas chromatography and mass spectrometry to identify the active components of the extracts and their solvent-soluble portions.
Isolation and characterization of these components were done using column chromatography and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, respectively.
The researchers then measured the percentage of protection provided by the extracts using guinea pigs with histamine-induced bronchoconstriction.
They examined their anti-inflammatory effect by measuring the increase in paw diameter and calculating the percent edema inhibition in rats with histamine-induced paw edema.
The researchers reported that the A. occidentale extracts and their hexane-, ethyl acetate- and chloroform-soluble portions exhibited significant bronchodilatory and anti-inflammatory activities.
They identified oleamide (9-octadecenamide) as the most abundant compound in the A. occidentale extracts.
Compared with the extracts and their solvent-soluble portions, oleamide showed higher bronchodilatory (32.97 percent) and anti-inflammatory activities (98.41 percent).

Based on these findings, the researchers concluded that A. occidentale leaf can be used for the management of bronchoconstriction and inflammation, thanks to the bronchodilatory and anti-inflammatory activities of its active component, oleamide.

Health effects of alternate-day fasting in adults

Qingdao University (China), December 10, 2020

According to news originating from Yantai, People’s Republic of China, by NewsRx correspondents, research stated, “Alternate-day fasting (ADF) method is becoming more and more popular among adults. This meta-analysis aims to evaluate the effects of ADF on adults.”

The news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Affiliated Yantai Yuhuangding Hospital of Qingdao University: “Randomized controlled trials (RCTs) of ADF were searched using PubMed (1988 to March 2020), EMBASE (1995 to March 2020), and the Cochrane Controlled Trials Register. A systematic review was carried out using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analyses. The datum was calculated by RevMan version 5.3.0. The original references for relating articles were also reviewed. Seven randomized controlled trials involving 269 participants (152 in the ADF group and 117 in the control group) were studied. In this meta-analysis, compared with the control group, the ADF group showed statistically significant reductions in weight (p < 0.00001) and body mass index (p < 0.00001). Besides, the ADF group showed significant differences in terms of total cholesterol (p = 0.001), low-density lipoprotein (p = 0.01), triglycerides (p = 0.02), fat mass (p = 0.002), lean mass (p = 0.002), systolic blood pressure (p = 0.003), diastolic blood pressure (p = 0.007), and total calorie intake (p = 0.007).”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “At the same time, the analysis demonstrated that the ADF group had a same effect compared with control group in aspects of high-density lipoprotein (p = 0.27), homeostasis model assessment-insulin resistance (p = 0.55), and fasting blood sugar (p = 0.09). This meta-analysis suggests that ADF is a viable diet strategy for weight loss, and it has a substantial improvement in risk indicators for diseases in obese or normal people.”

Access to nature important for mental health during Covid lockdowns

People in European countries with the strictest COVID-19 lockdown policies were more likely to show symptoms of depression and anxiety, according to an international study investigating the impact of disconnecting from nature.

University of Exeter (UK), December 13, 2020

Led by the Basque technology center AZTI, and involving the University of Exeter, the study built on pre COVID-19 evidence that access to outdoor spaces benefitted mental health and wellbeing. Researchers sought to answer the question of whether being forced to disconnect from nature affected mental health. The study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, was carried out during the first wave of COVID-19 in Europe (March-May 2020).

The team of international researchers from Spain, United Kingdom and Norway invited citizens to voluntarily respond a simple questionnaire to check their behaviour and mental health status in the face of severe measures that restricted mobility. In less than 20 days, 6,769 people from 77 different countries answered the survey, although for analysis purposes we focused on 5,218 responses from 9 countries.

Dr Sarai Pouso, from AZTI, who led the research, said: “The main conclusion is that people who were under the strictest lockdown during the first wave of COVID-19 (those who were only allowed to go out for work or essentials purchases, as was the case of Italy and Spain) were more likely to show symptoms compatible with depression and anxiety, compared to countries with more relaxed lockdowns where people could still visit natural places such as parks.”

The researchers analyzed in greater detail the case of Spain, where, due to the epidemiological situation in March, the possibility for practicing outdoor activities, such as walking or playing sports, was totally forbidden. “The results indicate that having access from the home to outdoor spaces (e.g., garden, balcony) and having window views to open spaces or natural element (e.g., coast, park, forest) decreased the probability of showing symptoms of depression. Furthermore, people with access to outdoor spaces and with nature views, managed to maintain a more positive mood during lockdown”, adds María C. Uyarra, who together with Dr Ángel Borja and Dr Sarai Pouso, made up the AZTI team involved in the study.

The effects of having access to gardens and views of nature from the home were far less important in countries in where people were allowed, or even encouraged, to visit parks and other natural locations as long as safe social distancing recommendations were adhered to (e.g. Norway, United Kingdom).

Results suggest that, under stressful circumstances such as lockdown, allowing people to spend some time outdoors in nature may help reduce the likelihood of developing symptoms of depression and or anxiety. This may be particularly important for people without gardens or views of nature, who are more likely to have lower incomes and live in more built up urban areas, concluded the research team.

Looking at different population subgroups, women and young people were more likely to experience symptoms of depression and anxiety. However, the researchers remain cautious. “The study was unable to obtain a fully representative sample and did not include data from certain groups that may have been particularly affected by the lockdown situation, such as children or many older adults” says Dr Mat White, from the University of Exeter, United Kingdom.

Results suggest that if governments have to implement new lockdown measures in the near future, they should consider allowing the population to spend some time outdoors. “Spending time outdoors has a protective effect on mental health. Restoring and expanding green and blue spaces in urban areas increases the resilience of cities in the face of pandemics”, adds Erik Gómez-Baggethun, Professor at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences.

The study proposes that future urban developments should pay special attention to the inclusion of elements that would enable to contact with nature (e.g., more green areas in public spaces, etc.), as well as special attention to the most vulnerable sectors of the population.

“This research is important for so that future planners take into account that is crucial for people to have equal access to high-quality blue and green environments. We have now contributed to a robust and compelling body of evidence that tells us this access can both prevent and treat mental health issues, especially in urban areas. This is particularly key in the context of a pandemic, but actually it should be a planning priority that could improve our health, regardless of COVID-19” adds Lora E. Fleming, director of the European Centre for Environment and Human Health, from the University of Exeter.

“In summary, this study shows that the strict lockdown isolation to which certain populations (e.g., in Spain) were exposed had a negative effect on their mental health. However, we still do not know if these symptoms have been persistent or if they disappeared once the lockdown measures ended”, concludes Dr Pouso.

Reducing your intake of sugary drinks by 1 serving a day may lower diabetes risk by at least 10%

Harvard University, December 11, 2020

Researchers from the U.S. and China suggest that drinking a serving of water, coffee or tea in place of a sugary beverage may lower Type 2 diabetes risk by up to 10 percent.

In a paper published in the Diabetes Journal, they further revealed that swapping sodas and 100 percent fruit juices for diet sodas and artificially sweetened drinks did not seem to lessen diabetes risk.

These findings underscore the importance of decreasing sugar intake by replacing sugary drinks with healthier alternatives, according to lead author Jean-Philippe Drouin-Chartier, a postdoctoral fellow at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

Healthier drinks for lower diabetes risk

Sugary drinks, or beverages sweetened with added sugars, such as brown sugar, corn sweetener and corn syrup, are one of the leading sources of added sugars in the American diet. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 6 in 10 youths and 5 in 10 adults from 2011 to 2014 consume a sugary drink on a given day.

Frequent intake is widely associated with diseases and disorders like heart disease, obesity and Type 2 diabetes. For that reason, experts recommend cutting back on sugary drinks for a healthy weight and diet. As the present also shows, doing so could further lower diabetes risk.

The researchers examined more than 20 years’ worth of data from over 192,000 adult men and women who participated in three long-term studies, the Health Professionals’ Follow-up Study, Nurses’ Health Study and Nurses’ Health Study II.

They measured long-term changes in the participants’ sugary drink consumption based on their responses in food frequency questionnaires administered every four years.

After adjusting for variables such as body mass index, lifestyle habits and other dietary changes, the team found that replacing one daily serving of a sugary drink with water, coffee or tea was associated with a two to 10 percent lower risk of Type 2 diabetes.

Meanwhile, increasing one’s total intake of sugary drinks by more than four ounces a day over a four-year period was associated with a 16 percent higher diabetes risk in the next four years. Meanwhile, increasing the intake of artificially sweetened beverages, which contain low-calorie sugar substitutes such as aspartame and sucralose, was associated with an 18 percent higher diabetes risk.

But the researchers noted that the latter finding should be interpreted with caution as the participants who were already at high risk of diabetes could have had switched from sugary beverages to diet drinks. In addition, they’re more likely to be screened for diabetes, so they’re diagnosed more rapidly.

Nonetheless, these findings collectively reinforce current recommendations to replace sugary drinks with non-caloric beverages free of artificial sweeteners, according to senior author Frank Hu, a professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

“Although fruit juices contain some nutrients, their consumption should be moderated,” Hu added. (Related: The Dangers of Sugar and the Importance of Healthy Sugar Substitutes.)

Dietary intervention at the environmental level

Cutting back on sugary drinks is a common struggle that many people have to face at an individual level. But a review, published in the Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews, suggests that a more effective strategy may rest on enforcing changes in the physical or social setting where sugary drinks are bought or drank.

The authors of the review examined 58 studies that evaluated environmental strategies for reducing sugary drink consumption. The team found that the following interventions appeared to help people cut back on sugary drinks:

Printing product labels that were easy to understand and rated the healthfulness of beverages
Limiting the availability of sugary sodas in schools
Increasing the price of sugary sodas in restaurants and stores
Incorporating healthier beverages into children’s menus
Promoting healthier beverages in supermarkets

While they acknowledged that further research is needed, these findings nevertheless highlight the role of food safety agencies in promoting a healthy diet among their constituents.

Greater dietary antioxidant and fiber intake associated with decreased depressive symptoms in adolescent girls

Mashhad University of Medical Sciences (Iran), December 10, 2020

According to news originating from Mashhad, Iran, research stated, “To investigate the cross-sectional association between dietary intakes of antioxidants and fiber and depressive symptoms among Iranian adolescent girls. A cross-sectional population-based study.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, “Primary schools in two different cities located in northeastern Iran (Mashhad and Sabzevar). A total of 988 adolescent girls aged 12-18 years were included in the study. Subjects with no or minimal depression symptoms had significantly higher dietary intakes of a-carotene (p=0.01), b-carotene (p=0.006), lutein (p=0.03), and vitamin C (p=0.04) when compared with subjects with mild to severe depression symptoms. Soluble dietary fiber and insoluble dietary fiber intakes were also significantly higher in healthy adolescents compared to those with depression symptoms (p <0.001). In multivariate-adjusted model 2, the odds ratios (95% confidence intervals) of depressive symptoms were 0.61 (0.37-1.01), 0.42 (0.26-0.69), 0.50 (0.31-0.79), 0.71 (0.44-1.15), 0.51 (0.32-0.82) and 0.42 (0.25-0.68) for the highest versus lowest quartile of vitamin C, b-carotene, a-carotene, lutein, soluble dietary fiber, and insoluble dietary fiber cereal intakes, respectively.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “Dietary intake of some antioxidants and dietary fiber intake were inversely associated with depression symptoms among Iranian adolescent girls.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Symptoms Of Depression, New Research Shows

University of California at Los Angeles, UCLA, December 10, 2020

New UCLA-led research shows that behavioral interventions — mindfulness meditation and survivorship education classes — are effective in reducing depressive symptoms in younger breast cancer survivors, who often experience the highest levels of depression, stress and fatigue that can persist for as long as a decade after their diagnosis.

The results, presented at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium (ABSTRACT GS2-10), highlights how six-week interventions can reduce depression in younger women treated for breast cancer, and in the case of mindfulness meditation, improve related symptoms such as fatigue and sleep disturbance.

About 20% of breast cancer cases occur in women younger than 50. Persistent depressive symptoms, lasting two weeks or more, are especially problematic in this target population.

“For women in their 30s and 40s, the experience with breast cancer and its treatments is substantially different from that of older women,” said lead author Dr. Patricia Ganz, associate director for population science research at the UCLA Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center and distinguished professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA as well as health policy & management at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. “These women often require more aggressive therapy that can be both disruptive and disfiguring, which can cause high levels of distress, putting them at an increased risk for the negative effects of cancer diagnosis and treatment. Yet, little research has been done on strategies to reduce the depression and manage the stress of this younger population.”

Ganz, in collaboration with Dr. Julienne Bower, a professor of psychology and psychiatry/biobehavioral sciences at UCLA, and colleagues at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, developed two behavioral interventions to help reduce depressive symptoms in younger breast cancer survivors.

Both programs were tailored to younger breast cancer survivors and included six weeks of structured content delivered in a group format.

The mindfulness program, developed by the Mindful Awareness Research Center at UCLA, provided instruction in how to use mindfulness to work with difficult thoughts and emotions, manage pain, and cultivate loving kindness. The survivorship education program covered topics including quality of life and medical management after breast cancer; relationships and work-life balance, sexual health, and physical activity.

To test the effectiveness of the two intervention programs, the team enrolled 247 women diagnosed at age 50 or younger with early-stage breast cancer who had completed treatment between six months and five years earlier and had at least mild depressive symptoms.

The breast cancer survivors were randomly assigned to one of three options: survivorship education, mindfulness meditation, or a concurrent wait list control group who received the program of their choice at the end of the study. Assessments were conducted before the interventions started, post-intervention and at three- and six-month post-intervention follow-ups. The outcomes for women in the two intervention programs were compared to women who did not receive an intervention during the study period.

The team found that women in the mindfulness meditation group had significant reductions in depressive symptoms at post-intervention and at the three- and six-month follow-ups; over 50% of participants scored in the clinically depressed range before the intervention, which fell to 30% over the follow-up period. This group also had significant decreases in fatigue severity, sleep disturbance and hot flashes that persisted over the six-month follow-up.

For those in the survivorship education group, women also had significant reductions depressive symptoms at post-intervention and the three-month follow-up. However, this intervention did not lead to significant effects on secondary outcomes such as fatigue, sleep disturbance and hot flashes.

“Younger breast cancer survivors are in need of targeted, effective programs to help manage stress, depression, and other residual side effects of diagnosis and treatment,” said Bower, who is also a member of the Jonsson Cancer Center and the Cousins Center for Psychoneuroimmunology. “We are excited to have two new options to offer these survivors, and particularly the mindfulness program which is available online and can be accessed by women across the country.”

Coronavirus Scandal Breaking in Merkel’s Germany. False Positives and the Drosten PCR Test

By F. William Engdahl

Global Research, December 11, 2020

The widely-praised German model of the Angela Merkel regime to deal with the COVID-19 pandemic is now engulfed in a series of potentially devastating scandals going to the very heart of the testing and medical advice being used to declare draconian economic shutdowns and next, de facto mandatory vaccinations. The scandals involve a professor at the heart of Merkel’s corona advisory group. The implications go far beyond German borders to the very WHO itself and their global recommendations.

The entire case for WHO-mandated emergency lockdown of businesses, schools, churches and other social arenas worldwide is based on a test introduced, amazingly early on, in the Wuhan, China coronavirus saga.

On January 23, 2020, in the scientific journal Eurosurveillance, of the EU Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Dr. Christian Drosten, along with several colleagues from the Berlin Virology Institute at Charite Hospital, along with the head of a small Berlin biotech company, TIB Molbiol Syntheselabor GmbH, published a study claiming to have developed the first effective test for detecting whether someone is infected with the novel coronavirus identified first only days before in Wuhan. The Drosten article was titled, “Detection of 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) by real-time RT-PCR” (Eurosurveillance 25(8) 2020).

The news was greeted with immediate endorsement by the corrupt Director General of WHO, Tedros Adhanom, the first non-medical doctor to head WHO. Since then the Drosten-backed test for the virus, called a real-time or RT-PCR test, has spread via WHO worldwide, as the most used test protocol to determine if a person might have COVID-19, the illness.

On November 27 a highly-respected group of 23 international virologists, microbiologists and related scientists published a call for Eurosurveillance to retract the January 23, 2020 Drosten article.Their careful analysis of the original piece is damning. Theirs is a genuine “peer review.”

They accuse Drosten and cohorts of “fatal” scientific incompetence and flaws in promoting their test.

To begin with, as the critical scientists reveal, the paper that established the Drosten PCR test for the Wuhan strain of coronavirus that has subsequently been adopted with indecent haste by the Merkel government along with WHO for worldwide use–resulting in severe lockdowns globally and an economic and social catastrophe–was never peer-reviewed before its publication by Eurosurveillance journal. The critics point out that,

“the Corman-Drosten paper was submitted to Eurosurveillance on January 21st 2020 and accepted for publication on January 22nd 2020. On January 23rd 2020 the paper was online.”

Incredibly, the Drosten test protocol, which he had already sent to WHO in Geneva on 17 January, was officially recommended by WHO as the worldwide test to determine presence of Wuhan coronavirus, even before the paper had been published.

As the critical authors point out, for a subject so complex and important to world health and security, a serious 24-hour “peer review” from at least two experts in the field is not possible. The critics point out that Drosten and his co-author Dr. Chantal Reusken, did not disclose a glaring conflict of interest. Both were also members of the editorial board of Eurosurveillance. Further, as reported by BBC and Google Statistics, on January 21 there were a world total of 6 deaths being attributed to the Wuhan virus. They ask, “Why did the authors assume a challenge for public health laboratories while there was no substantial evidence at that time to indicate that the outbreak was more widespread than initially thought?” Another co-author of the Drosten paper that gave a cover of apparent scientific credibility to the Drosten PCR procedure was head of the company who developed the test being marketed today, with the blessing of WHO, in the hundreds of millions, Olfert Landt, of Tib-Molbiol in Berlin, but Landt did not disclose that pertinent fact in the Drosten paper either.

Certainly nothing suspicious or improper here, or? It would be relevant to know if Drosten, the Merkel chief scientific advisor for COVID-19, Germany’s de facto “Tony Fauci,” gets a percentage for each test sold by Tib-Molbiol in their global marketing agreement with Roche.

False Positives?

Since late January 2020, world mainstream media has inundated us all with frightening hourly updates on “the total number of coronavirus infected.” Usually they simply add each daily increase to a global total of “confirmed cases,” presently over 66 million. Alarming, but for the fact that, as Pieter Borger and his fellow scientific collaborators point out, “confirmed cases” is a nonsense number. Why?

The Borger report identifies what they call “ten fatal problems” in the Drosten paper of last January. Here we take up the most glaring that can easily be grasped by most laypeople.

Drosten & co. gave confusing unspecified primer and probe sequences. The critics note, “This high number of variants not only is unusual, but it also is highly confusing for laboratories. These six unspecified positions could easily result in the design of several different alternative primer sequences which do not relate to SARS-CoV-2… the confusing unspecific description in the Corman-Drosten paper is not suitable as a Standard Operational Protocol. These unspecified positions should have been designed unequivocally.” They add that

“RT-PCR is not recommended for primary diagnostics of infection. This is why the RT-PCR Test used in clinical routine for detection of COVID-19 is not indicated for COVID-19 diagnosis on a regulatory basis.”

Amplification Cycles

But even more damning for Drosten is the fact that he mentioned nowhere of a test being positive or negative, or indeed what defines a positive or negative result! The Borger report notes, “These types of virological diagnostic tests must be based on a SOP (Standard Operational Protocol), including a validated and fixed number of PCR cycles (Ct value) after which a sample is deemed positive or negative. The maximum reasonably reliable Ct value is 30 cycles. Above a Ct of 35 cycles, rapidly increasing numbers of false positives must be expected… scientific studies show that only non-infectious (dead) viruses are detected with Ct values of 35.” (emphasis added).

The WHO and Drosten recommend a Ct of 45 cycles and, reportedly, presently the German health officials do as well. Little wonder that as the number of tests is ramped up in the onset of winter flu season, PCR “positives” in Germany and elsewhere explode. As the critical authors point out, were the health authorities to specify 35 cycles maximum, the number of corona positive would be only less than 3% the present number! They note, “an analytical result with a Ct value of 45 is scientifically and diagnostically absolutely meaningless (a reasonable Ct-value should not exceed 30). All this should be communicated very clearly.

It is a significant mistake that the Corman-Drosten paper does not mention the maximum Ct value at which a sample can be unambiguously considered as a positive or a negative test-result. This important cycle threshold limit is also not specified in any follow-up submissions to date.” The authors add,

“The fact that these PCR products have not been validated at molecular level is another striking error of the protocol, making any test based upon it useless as a specific diagnostic tool to identify the SARS-CoV-2 virus.” (emphasis added).

In simple English, the entire edifice of the Gates foundation, the Merkel government, the WHO and WEF as well as the case for de facto forced untested vaccines, rests on results of a PCR test for coronavirus that is not worth a hill of beans. The test of Drosten and WHO is more or less, scientific crap.

Missing Doctor proof too?

This devastating critique from twenty three world leading scientists, including scientists who have patents related to PCR, DNA Isolation and Sequencing, and a former Pfizer Chief Scientist, is damning, but not the only problem Professor Dr. Christian Drosten faces today. He and the officials at Frankfurt’s Goethe University, where he claims to have received his medical doctorate in 2003, are being accused of degree fraud.

According to Dr. Markus Kühbacher, a specialist investigating scientific fraud such as dissertation plagiarism, Dr. Drosten’s doctor thesis, by law must be deposited on a certain date with academic authorities at his University, who then sign a legal form, Revisionsschein, verified with signature, stamp of the University and date, with thesis title and author, to be sent to the University archive. With it, three original copies of the thesis are filed.

Kühbacher charges that the Goethe University is guilty of cover-up by claiming, falsely, Drosten’s Revisionsschein, was on file. The University spokesman later was forced to admit it was not filed, at least not locatable by them. Moreover, of the three mandatory file copies of his doctor thesis, highly relevant given the global importance of Drosten’s coronavirus role, two copies have “disappeared,” and the remaining single copy is water-damaged. Kühbacher says Drosten will now likely face court charges for holding a fraudulent doctoral title.

Whether that is to pass, it is a fact that a separate legal process has been filed in Berlin against two people responsible for a German media site, Volksverpetzer.de, for slander and defamation, brought by a well-known and critical German medical doctor, Dr. Wolfgang Wodarg. The court case demands of the defendants €250,000 in damages for defamation of character and material damages to Wodarg by the accused in their online site, as well as in other German media, claiming they viciously and without proof, defamed Wodarg, calling him a “covid-denier,” falsely calling him a right-extremist (he is a life-long former parliament member of the Social Democratic Party) and numerous other false and damaging charges.

The attorney for Dr Wodarg is a well-known German-American attorney, Dr. Reiner Fuellmich. In his charges against the defendants, Fuellmich cites in full the charges against the Drosten test for coronavirus of Dr. Pieter Borger et al noted above. This is in effect forcing the defendants to refute the Borger paper. It is a major step on the way to refute the entire WHO COVID-19 PCR testing fraud. Already an appeals court in Lisbon, Portugal ruled on 11 November that the PCR test of Drosten and WHO was not valid to detect coronavirus infection and that it was no basis to order nationwide or partial lockdowns.

If the stakes were not so deadly for mankind it would all be material for a comedy of the absurd. The world health Czar, WHO chief Tedros is no medical doctor whose WHO is financed massively by a college dropout billionaire computer manager, Gates, who also advises the Merkel government on COVID-19 measures.

The Merkel government uses the Drosten PCR test and Drosten as an “all-wise” expert to impose the most draconian economic consequences outside wartime. Her Health Minister, Jens Spahn, is a former banker who has no medical degree, only a stint as a lobbyist for Big Pharma. The head of the German CDC, called the Robert Koch Institute, Lothar Wieler, is not a virologist but an animal doctor, Tierarzt. With this crew, Germans are seeing their lives destroyed by lockdowns and social measures never before imagined. There is science and then there is science. Not all “science” is valid however.

‘95% Effective’ May Not Mean What You Think It Means

December 10, 2020

By Thomas Neuburger. Originally published at Substack

Excessive haste could have fatal consequences, since public trust and wide vaccination are the only ways any vaccine, even the best ones, can work.

A note before I begin: This is not a recommendation not to be vaccinated against Coronavirus. It’s an encouragement to decide for yourself and your family when to be vaccinated and which vaccine to choose based on the most accurate information available. That said, let’s proceed.

“Done right, vaccines end pandemics. Done wrong, pandemics end vaccines.”
—Andy Slavitt here

People in the United States, along with people in all of the rest of the world, are eager for a vaccine that provides immunity to the Covid-19 virus. Drug manufacturers, with a market of tens of billions of injections to sell into, are eager to roll one off the production line. Both groups are highly incentivized to get a vaccine into distribution quickly.

Hundreds of Billions in Potential Revenue

Let’s look at the revenue side first. Here, for example, is what the three leading vaccine candidates are projected to cost in the UK according to a recent Sky News piece:

In two years the earth is projected to hold 8 billion people, and most leading vaccine candidates require at least two doses. Let’s be conservative: If Moderna, say, sold its Covid vaccine to 1 billion people at ₤28 (about $37) per dose, the revenue stream from those sales would turn into real money fast — $74 billion in revenue at retail prices in less than two years.And that’s for capturing less than a sixth of the global market. A vaccine manufacturer that captures a third of that market would swim in wealth till the climate crisis took us all.

For comparison, consider Moderna’s recent revenue profile. For the last few years, Moderna income has run between $60 and $200 million per year. Revenue for just the last quarter, however, jumped to $158 million. Moderna is clearly set for a windfall.

Needless to say, something like $100 billion or more in revenue would more than cover the cost of Covid vaccine development, so why the high price retail prices? One can only guess.

How Effective Is “Effective”?

About effectiveness, much is claimed. From the same Sky News article:

The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine for use.

The government says the jab [vaccine], which has been given the green light by independent health regulator MHRA, will be rolled out across the UK from early next week.

Studies have shown the jab is 95% effective and works in all age groups. [emphasis added]

Moderna claims similar effectiveness — 94% — for its own vaccine candidate. But what does effectiveness mean?

To a lay person, a phrase like “95% effective” means one of two things: either that she or he, upon exposure to the virus, is protected 95% of the time, or that 95% of the people who take the vaccine are protected 100% of the time.

And this is where the mutual eagerness of the two highly motivated groups — the public; the profiteers — intersect. The public wants to hear “95% effectiveness” and think it knows what those words means. The drug companies want the same thing as the public; it wants the public to think it knows what those words mean.

But in the world of drug advertising, the word “effective” does not mean what you think it means. The other way to look at effectiveness is this: Based on the numbers released from phase 3 trials, the Pfizer vaccine is 95% effective, but 1% of the time. In the same way, the Moderna vaccine is 94% effective, but 2% of the time.

Relative Effectiveness

To sort this out, let’s look at real numbers, thanks to Twitter friend David Windt.

For the Moderna product, the phase 3 trial contained 30,000 individuals divided between those given the vaccine and those given a placebo. Let’s assume that individuals in each group were allowed to roam freely “in the wild” — that is, told to live their regular lives among the general population, including going out infrequently, staying masked, and practicing social distance — as opposed being proactively and aggressively exposed to the virus by the researchers, which would be highly immoral, to say the least.

In the Moderna vaccinated group, 11 people out of 15,000 got the virus (by Moderna’s definition of what “got the virus means”) for an overall infection rate of 0.07%. (There’s disagreement about whether the drug company’s “got the virus” measurements are well chosen; see the Forbes article “Covid-19 Vaccine Protocols Reveal That Trials Are Designed To Succeed.” But we’ll ignore that point for now.)

In the Moderna placebo group, 185 people of 15,000 got the virus, for an overall infection rate of 1.23%.

Do you see where this is headed? If you divide 0.07% by 1.23%, you get a 5.7% infection rate — or inversely, a 94% protection rate, which is what’s claimed. But that’s a percentage of a percentage, a ratio of a ratio, something called the “relative rate” in the medical profession. What this really means is that, of the 1.23% of people who would have gotten the virus in the vaccinated group, 94% of them didn’t.

But Moderna isn’t testing 30,000 people who are infected with the virus, or even 15,000 people. Only 185 people “got the virus” (by their definition) in the placebo group. That population was reduced to 11 people with vaccination. These are very small numbers.As stated above, the Moderna vaccine is 94% effective — but only 1.23% of the time.

(For another way to see that using a percentage of a percentage, or a ratio of a ratio, is confusing, consider an advertisement that claims a company’s new product is “twice as effective” as its old one. If the old product was effective only 2% of the time, and you knew this, would you buy the new one?)

Infection rates in those clinical trials seem low, by the way, which could be just an accident of statistics, or something off in their way of measuring who is counted as infected. From the start of the pandemic until now, the overall disease rate for Maricopa County, a high-infection zone, is 5034 per 100,000 people, or 5%. At the lower end, the overall disease rate for Multnomah County, a less-infected but still urban county, is 2363 per 100,000 people, or 2.4%.

Both rates are higher than the infection rates of the Moderna and Pfizer placebo groups. As stated, Moderna’s placebo group experienced a 1.23% infection rate, and Pfizer’s placebo group was infected just 0.75% of the time. Does this indicate a difference in how “infection” is determined, or just something else about these studies? Hard to tell at this point.

None of this is to imply dishonesty on the part of the drug companies. Measuring “effectiveness” using the relative rate of infection is common in that world. It’s just more meaningful when the overall infection rate of a pathogen is, say, 70% or higher, instead of 5% or less.

Absolute Effectiveness

For comparison, let’s look at the absolute numbers from the Moderna test. In the unprotected population, 1.23% of the people who could have been exposed to the virus, got it. In the vaccinated population exposed to the same conditions, a little less than 0.07% got the virus. Subtracting the two, the absolute gain in protection was 1.16% — that is, taking the vaccine bought you a little over 1% in absolute protection.

The numbers for the Pfizer vaccine are similar. According to Windt, “the infection rate was reduced slightly, from 0.75% to 0.04% – that’s “95% efficacy” [but] these results do NOT mean that 95% of those vaccinated are protected.” In absolute terms, taking the Pfizer vaccine reduced the risk of getting the virus by just 0.71%.

Do you trust any of these drug manufacturers and their massively under-tested vaccines enough that you would take whatever risk is associated with their product to gain that amount of protection? I know good doctors who won’t, and others who will.

Testing and Public Trust

I want to point to two articles about testing and public trust. First from MIT in November, consider this caution about public trust:

Covid-19 vaccines shouldn’t get emergency-use authorization

Public trust in vaccines is already in decline. The FDA should proceed with caution.

…The pace of covid-19 vaccine research has been astonishing: there are more than 200 vaccine candidatesin some stage of development, including several that are already in phase 3 clinical trials, mere months after covid-19 became a global public health emergency. In order for the FDA to approve a vaccine, however, not only do these clinical trials need to be completed—a process that typically involves following tens of thousands of participants for at least six months—but the agency also needs to inspect production facilities, review detailed manufacturing plans and data about the product’s stability, and pore over reams of trial data. This review can easily take a year or more.

Excessive haste could have fatal consequences, since public confidence and wide vaccination are the only ways any vaccine, even the best ones, can work: “Public health experts caution that vaccines don’t protect people; only vaccinations do. A vaccine that hasn’t gained enough public trust will therefore have a limited ability to control the pandemic even if it’s highly effective.” [emphasis mine]

This Forbes article from September, titled “Covid-19 Vaccine Protocols Reveal That Trials Are Designed To Succeed,” argues that the vaccine trials it examined measure efficacy by testing for the wrong things — the absence or presence of symptoms, especially mild ones:

One of the more immediate questions a trial needs to answer is whether a vaccine prevents infection. If someone takes this vaccine, are they far less likely to become infected with the virus? These trials all clearly focus on eliminating symptoms of Covid-19, and not infections themselves. Asymptomatic infection is listed as a secondary objective in these trials when they should be of critical importance.

It appears that all the pharmaceutical companies assume that the vaccine will never prevent infection. Their criteria for approval is the difference in symptoms between an infected control group and an infected vaccine group. They do not measure the difference between infection and noninfection as a primary motivation. [emphasis added]

Is this true of the latest trials? Last September is forever in Covid years. I’ll look at this side of the issue in a follow-up piece, but my early research says that the Forbes point is still valid. If this turns out to be the flaw Forbes thinks it is, public trust could be even more greatly eroded as these vaccines fail to deliver what’s we’re led to expect of them.

To Vaccinate or Not To Vaccinate?

As I said before, this is an not an encouragement reject the vaccines. It’s an encouragement to decide about them wisely by considering a number of factors — your need to feel “safe,” your need to end this constant quarantine, and society’s need to inoculate nearly everyone, versus your trust in the approval process, your personal level of caution, and the benefit of taking a relatively untested product to reduce your Covid risk by maybe 2% in absolute terms.

There are Covid hot-spots after all, areas of the country and the world where infections are soaring, and even low infection rates come at a heavy price. Covid has changed for the worse both the way we live and our economy. And people do die from it.

Maybe the first vaccines out of the gate, perhaps these three, will be everything a mother could want for her family and nation. But even if these products are are very very good, they have to be trusted to be effective.

If that trust is given blindly, and then betrayed, the consequences will be severe.

Virus-free. www.avast.com

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Preview YouTube video Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

Princess Bride, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.”

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