J&J and other drugmakers go on trial over US opioid crisis

Biden’s Appeasement of Hawks and Neocons Is Crippling His Diplomacy

US Postal Service Running ‘Covert Operations Program’ To Spy On Americans’ Social Media Posts, Share With Agencies

Life satisfaction among young people linked to collectivism

Vaccine Passports: One Passport to Rule Them All

Klaus Schwab’s Own Words

Scientists launch study to find out if COVID-19 vaccines are causing period changes after hundreds of women notice irregularities

During pandemic’s first 9 months, depression and anxiety increased sharply among Americans

Here’s a List of Colleges That Will Require Students or Employees to Be Vaccinated Against Covid-19

Michael Hudson: Plato, Aristophanes and Aristotle on Money-Lust, 399-380 BC

  Climate Change Could Cut World Economy by $23 Trillion in 2050, Insurance Giant Warns

Meta-analysis concludes supplementation with some vitamins modestly effective against acute respiratory tract infection risk

Harvard University, April 21 2021.

The January 2021 issue of BMJ Global Health published the results of a review and meta-analysis which concluded that supplementing with vitamins C and D is associated with a lower risk of acute respiratory infections and a reduction in the duration of symptoms.

For their meta-analyses, Harvard University researchers selected 70 randomized trials that examined the effect of micronutrients on acute respiratory infection risk and symptom duration. Studies evaluated vitamins C, D and E, zinc and micronutrient combinations.

Analysis of 24 trials that examined vitamin C’s effect on the common cold and nonspecific acute respiratory infection risk among 8,344 adults resulted in a 4% reduction among those who received the vitamin compared to those who did not receive it. Symptom duration was reduced by 9% in vitamin C supplemented participants.

Vitamin E was associated with a 17% lower risk of common colds.

Pooled data from 20 trials that evaluated vitamin D’s effects among 9,902 adults resulted in a 3% lower risk of acute respiratory infection and a 6% shorter duration among participants who received the vitamin compared to control subjects. Among six studies whose outcomes were based on clinical diagnoses or lab testing, the risk was 18% lower.

Meta-analysis of 11 trials did not find a protective effect for zinc supplementation against respiratory infection risk; however, pooled data revealed a 47% decrease in the duration of symptoms among subjects who used zinc.

Multiple micronutrient supplementation was associated with a twofold shorter duration of symptoms.

“Our synthesis of global evidence from randomized clinical trials indicates that micronutrient supplements including zinc, vitamins C and D, and multiple micronutrient supplements may be modestly effective in preventing acute respiratory infections and improving their clinical course,” the authors concluded.

Association of sleep duration in middle and old age with incidence of dementia

University of Paris (France), April 21, 2021

Sleep dysregulation is a feature of dementia but it remains unclear whether sleep duration prior to old age is associated with dementia incidence. Using data from 7959 participants of the Whitehall II study, we examined the association between sleep duration and incidence of dementia (521 diagnosed cases) using a 25-year follow-up. Here we report higher dementia risk associated with a sleep duration of six hours or less at age 50 and 60, compared with a normal (7 h) sleep duration, although this was imprecisely estimated for sleep duration at age 70 (hazard ratios (HR) 1.22 (95% confidence interval 1.01–1.48), 1.37 (1.10–1.72), and 1.24 (0.98–1.57), respectively). This longitudinal study of nearly 8000 participants with repeat data on sleep duration and a long follow-up for dementia suggests short sleep duration in midlife to be associated with the increased risk of incident dementia. This finding was confirmed in analysis using sleep duration measured by an accelerometer. A further key finding is that the association between short sleep duration and dementia is not attributable to mental health. Persistent short sleep duration at age 50, 60, and 70 compared to persistent normal sleep duration was also associated with a 30% increased dementia risk independently of sociodemographic, behavioural, cardiometabolic, and mental health factors. These findings suggest that short sleep duration in midlife is associated with an increased risk of late-onset dementia.

Boswellic acids as a promising lead against Alzheimer disease

Tabriz University of Medical Sciences (Iran), April 13, 2021

New research on antituberculosis agents is the subject of a new report. According to news reporting out of Tabriz, Iran, research stated, “Biological activity of Boswellia extract (BE) has been attributed to its main active ingredients; i.e.”

Our news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Tabriz University of Medical Sciences: “Boswellic acids (BAs). BE/BAs possess a promising therapeutic potential in neurodegenerative disorders; including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). The multifactorial nature of AD pathophysiology necessitates the development of the disease-modifying agents (DMA). Recent multi-targeting approaches for the DMAs development have brought more attention to the plant-derived compounds regarding their better human compatibility because of their biologic origin. This review addresses the current knowledge on the anti-AD activity of BE/BAs based on the available in silico, in vitro, in vivo studies and clinical trials. The contribution of BE/BAs in inflammatory pathways, Tau and b-amyloid proteins, microtubule functions, oxidative stress, cholinesterase and diabetes/insulin pathways involved in AD have been discussed.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “BAs efficacy in different AD-related pathways has been confirmed in vitro and in vivo. They can be considered as valuable scaffold/lead compounds for multi-targeted DMAs in anti-AD drug discovery and development.”

Meditation could help anxiety and cardiovascular health

Michigan Technological University, April 23, 2021

It sounds like a late-night commercial: In just one hour you can reduce your anxiety levels and some heart health risk factors. But a recent study with 14 participants shows preliminary data that even a single session of meditation can have cardiovascular and psychological benefits for adults with mild to moderate anxiety.

John Durocher, assistant professor of biological sciences, is presenting the work of a team of Michigan Technological University researchers about mindfulness meditation and its ability to reduce anxiety

In “Mindfulness Meditation Reduces Aortic Pulsatile Load and Anxiety in Mild to Moderately Anxious Adults,” Durocher, along with fellow researchers Hannah Marti, a recent Michigan Tech graduate, Brigitte Morin, lecturer in biological science, and Travis Wakeham, a graduate student, explains the finding that 60 minutes after meditating the 14 study participants showed lower resting heart rates and reduction in aortic pulsatile load–the amount of change in blood pressure between diastole and systole of each heartbeat multiplied by heart rate. Additionally, shortly after meditating, and even one week later, the group reported anxiety levels were lower than pre-meditation levels.

“Even a single hour of meditation appears to reduce anxiety and some of the markers for cardiovascular risk,” Durocher says.

While it’s well-documented that meditation over the course of several weeks reduces anxiety, there have been few comprehensive research studies on the benefits of a single meditation session. Durocher’s team wanted to understand the effect of acute mindfulness on cognition and the cardiovascular system to improve how anti-anxiety therapies and interventions are designed.

Studying the physiological effects of mindfulness meditation

Durocher said the study hinged on a research design proposed by recent graduate Hannah Marti ’17. Marti, who graduated from Michigan Tech with a bachelor’s degree in Biomedical Engineering, will begin medical school in July at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Marti designed the mindfulness study to include three sessions:

• An orientation session during which researchers measured anxiety using the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) and conducted cardiovascular testing by measuring heart rate variability, resting blood pressure and pulse wave analysis;
• A meditation session that included repetition of the cardiovascular testing plus the mindfulness meditation–20 minutes introductory meditation, 30 minutes body scan and 10 minutes self-guided meditation–as well as repeating cardiovascular measurements immediately following meditation and 60 minutes after;
• A post-meditation anxiety test one week later.

During a body scan, the participant is asked to focus intensely on one part of the body at a time, beginning with the toes. By focusing on individual parts of the body, a person can train his or her mind to pivot from detailed attention to a wider awareness from one moment to the next.

“The point of a body scan is that if you can focus on one single part of your body, just your big toe, it can make it much easier for you to deal with something stressful in your life. You can learn to focus on one part of it rather than stressing about everything else in your life,” Marti says.

One participant in the study commented that following the session they were the least stressed they’d been in a decade.

Durocher says Marti was capable of designing such a study because of her experiences with research during her undergraduate studies at Michigan Tech and by securing support through two Pavlis Honors College and Portage Health Foundation internships.

“She had some experience during the first internship so she could propose her own study for the second one,” he says. “I helped to make minor adjustments, but Hannah did much of this project on her own.”

New avenues of research in the health sciences at Michigan Tech

The single session mindfulness meditation study and the NIH-funded study to come (see sidebar), are excellent examples of the emphasis on student participation in research at Michigan’s northern-most public university.

“In Michigan Tech’s health science research programs, I want our students to get hands-on experience that they can carry into their futures, gaining experiences to advance their educational careers or their professional careers,” Durocher says. “When they go for an interview, they have something real to talk about, there’s substance.”

Marti says this has been her experience.

“I had so much to talk about in my medical school interviews,” she says. “I didn’t have to say ‘I just helped the professor do this,’ because with Dr. Durocher’s help, I was able to do most of the research myself.”

Case in point, Durocher notes that nearly 20 former students who participated in laboratory research with him have gone on to physical therapy programs, medical school or to pursue a research doctorate.

And just as important, after students move on to the next chapter of their lives, there remains the legacy of their involvement in research: research designs are used in future projects and upcoming students will carry the research forward.

Simple oral hygiene could help reduce COVID-19 severity, says study

University of Birmingham (UK), April 21, 2021

COVID-19 could pass into people’s lungs from saliva with the virus moving directly from mouth to bloodstream—particularly if individuals are suffering from gum disease, according to new research.

Evidence shows that blood vessels of the lungs, rather than airways, are affected initially in COVID-19 lung disease with high concentrations of the virus in saliva and periodontitis associated with increased risk of death.

The researchers propose that dental plaque accumulation and periodontal inflammation further intensify the likelihood of the SARS-CoV-2 virus reaching the lungs and causing more severe cases of the infection.

Experts say this discovery could make effective oral healthcare a potentially lifesaving action—recommending that the public take simple, but effective, daily steps to maintain oral hygiene and reduce factors contributing to gum disease, such as the build-up of plaque.

An international team of researchers from the UK, South Africa and the United States today published their findings in the Journal of Oral Medicine and Dental Research. They note emerging evidence that specific ingredients of some cheap and widely available mouthwash products are highly effective at inactivating the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Simple oral hygiene measures, including use of these specific mouthwash products, could help lower the risk of transmission of the virus from the mouth to the lungs in those with COVID-19, and help prevent severe instances of the infection.

Initial observations of lung CT scans from patients suffering from COVID-19 lung disease by Dr. Graham Lloyd-Jones, a radiologist, led to a collaboration between medical and dental researchers on the potential entry route into the bloodstream.

Co-author Iain Chapple, Professor of Periodontology at the University of Birmingham, commented, “This model may help us understand why some individuals develop COVID-19 lung disease and others do not. It could also change the way we manage the virus—exploring cheap or even free treatments targeted at the mouth and, ultimately, saving lives.

“Gum disease makes the gums leakier, allowing microorganisms to enter into the blood. Simple measures—such as careful toothbrushing and interdental brushing to reduce plaque build-up, along with specific mouthwashes, or even saltwater rinsing to reduce gingival inflammation—could help decrease the virus’s concentration in saliva and help mitigate the development of lung disease and reduce the risk of deterioration to severe COVID-19.”

The research team included experts from Salisbury District Hospital, UK; the University of Birmingham, UK; and the Mouth-Body Research Institute, Los Angeles, California and Cape Town, South Africa.

Their new model is based on the mouth providing a breeding ground for the virus to thrive, with any breach in oral immune defenses making it easier for the virus to enter the bloodstream. Moving from blood vessels in the gums, the virus would pass through neck and chest veins—reaching the heart before being pumped into pulmonary arteries and small vessels in the lung base and periphery.

“Studies are urgently required to further investigate this new model, but in the meantime daily oral hygiene and plaque control will not only improve oral health and wellbeing, but could also be lifesaving in the context of the pandemic,” added Professor Chapple.

Exercise shown to shrink tumors and reduce cancer spread

University of Copenhagen (Denmark) April 20, 2032

Doctors will often recommend exercise for their patients.  Conventionally speaking, the goal is usually to provide some ‘psychological benefit’ to patients who are at risk for depression after receiving a cancer diagnosis.  But, more importantly, can exercise help to shrink tumors?

Yes!  There is evidence that exercise is important for more than just its uplifting attributes. In fact, a growing numbers of studies reveal that exercise can slow down tumor growth and size, plus increase the effectiveness of other cancer therapies.

It’s true:  Exercise can reduce cancer tumors

A study out of Denmark published in the journal Cell Metabolism describes how mice undergoing intense exercise experienced a 50 percent reduction in growth, size and incidence of cancer tumors. The findings shed light on how exercise can boost cancer-fighting immune cells, giving hope that the same results can be duplicated in humans.

Scientists have long understood that infiltration of these natural cancer-fighting immune cells into a cancerous tumor is the key to controlling and regulating tumor size.  But, the question remains, how these specialized cells could be brought into action more effectively.

For now, research shows us that exercise supplies that surge of adrenaline that enables more effective movement of cancer-killing immune cells toward cancerous tumors.  Researchers at the University of Copenhagen determined that a surge of adrenaline, induced by high-intensity exercise, gave a boost to cancer-killing immune cells, pushing them toward lung, skin and liver tumors.

Increased blood flow is good for cancer patients

Other research shows exercise may be working to combat cancer in many other ways.  For example, a study conducted at Kansas State University involving prostate cancer tumor growth in rats found increased blood flow to slow the spread of cancer.

The rats were divided into two groups: those that exercised and those that were sedentary. Researchers found that exercising increased blood flow to the tumors by 200 percent. Tumors that have an abundance of oxygen-rich blood have a much lower tendency to metastasize and spread cancer to other regions of the body.

Another study by another group of researchers found that aerobic exercise brought about normalcy to human breast cancer tissues. The scientists believe that exercise is able to help tissue affected by cancer return to its pre-tumor state – effectively halting the development of more aggressive and dangerous tumor growth.

Exercise has also been found to be helpful in making conventional treatments more effective. Research has shown that exercise added to a conventional regimen of chemotherapy was more effective in shrinking tumors than when chemotherapy was administered alone.

And, even though I’m not a fan of chemotherapy (for good reason) – I still respect the decision of each person to decide what’s best for them.  Bottom line, no matter what treatment option is picked, one thing is very clear – exercise is good for cancer patients. (no doubt)

Simply put: There’s no downside to exercise for cancer patients.  Not only will they reap the mental and emotional benefits, but the anticancer benefits are worth the effort.  I’ve studied exercise, for over 30 years, and I’m continually amazed at how important physical activity is for human health.  My best advice – for beginners – is to start slowly (and comfortably), be consistent (very important) and enjoy it!

Probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus shows promise for treating inflammatory bowel disease and other

Probiotic strain LA1 has a therapeutic effect that both prevents and treats intestinal inflammatory disorders caused by “leaky gut,” report researchers

Penn State University, April 20, 2021 

Intestinal epithelial tight junctions (TJs) act as a functional and structural barrier against harmful antigens that promote intestinal inflammation in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other inflammatory conditions of the gut. A defective intestinal TJ barrier, sometimes known as “leaky gut,” plays an important role in exacerbating and prolonging intestinal inflammation. New research reported in The American Journal of Pathology, published by Elsevier, shows that the probiotic Lactobacillus acidophilus (L. acidophilus) strain known as LA1 can generate a rapid and sustained enhancement of this defective intestinal barrier and effectively treat intestinal inflammation by preserving and restoring the intestinal barrier.

The use of probiotics has emerged as a therapy for a number of intestinal disorders, including IBD and necrotizing enterocolitis; however, specific probiotic bacteria with true beneficial effects on intestinal disease need to be identified. In this study researchers used high-throughput screening to assess over 20 probiotic bacteria to determine their ability to increase intestinal barrier function, using both a cell culture model of the intestinal epithelial lining and live mice.

The probiotic bacterial species L. acidophilus, specifically the LA1 strain, produced a rapid and marked increase in intestinal TJ barrier; other strains within L. acidophilus had no effect. The researchers found that this particular strain interacted with intestinal cells in a unique way to activate pathways that tightened the intestinal barrier, treating intestinal inflammation. It attaches to the intestinal epithelial membrane surface by directly interacting with the toll-like receptor-2 complex, which alerts the intestine to trigger an immune response.

The researchers also performed in vivo proof-of-concept studies in live mice to investigate the effect of LA1 and another strain, LA3, in the enhancement of mouse intestinal barrier and the therapeutic efficacy of LA1 in maintaining intestinal barrier and protecting against induced colitis. They found that LA1, but not LA3, caused rapid and marked enhancement of small intestine and colonic epithelial barrier in mice. Treatment studies after the onset of colitis found that LA1 was also effective in the healing of intestinal barrier and colitis.

“Our data indicate that LA1 is able to prevent colonic inflammation formation and promote colitis healing,” said lead investigator Thomas Ma, MD, PhD, Penn State College of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, PA, USA. “The implications of the present findings are that this bacterial strain can be used in a wide variety of intestinal permeability disorders, including IBD, coeliac disease, alcoholic liver disease, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, and necrotizing enterocolitis, to treat inflammation associated with the leaky gut.”