1. The US must avoid war with China over Taiwan at all costs

2. Can altering the genes in our food really be safe? As ministers rubber stamp plans to change DNA in our crops and animals, a leading expert examines the implications

3. Revealed: pipeline company paid Minnesota police for arresting and surveilling protesters

4. Lawsuit Alleges Merck Hid Gardasil HPV Vaccine Adverse Events in Clinical Trials

5. New Vaccines For Next Generation COVID Virus Needed By 2022 Says BioNTech CEO

6. Democrats and Media Do Not Want to Weaken Facebook, Just Commandeer its Power to Censor

7. So-Called ‘Centrists’ Are Really Incredibly Dangerous Extremists

8. Facebook Is Weaker Than We Knew

9. Company Puts Profits Before Public Safety Over and Over Again, Claims Facebook Whistleblower

10. Fact sheet: EPA exposed for hiding chemical risks, favoring corporate interests

 

Todays Videos:

1. Jimmy  Dore – Study: Vaccines Being Administered Incorrectly

2.  TUCKER CLIP – FIRST 5 MINS

3. This Is How Social Media Is Destroying Your Life – The Fake Reality

 

 

American Journal of Medicine commentary says COVID-19 vaccines should be shored up with a plant-based diet

Studies suggest vegan diet boosts vaccine efficacy and reduces COVID-related morbidity and mortality

Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine & Rutgers New Jersey Medical School, October 5, 2021

“A solid vaccination program is lifesaving, essential, and insufficient,” begins the commentary “Shoring Up Vaccine Efficacy,” which appears today in the American Journal of Medicine. The authors say that in addition to vaccinations, health care workers should recommend plant-based diets to help patients improve their health and decrease vulnerability to COVID-19.

The authors point to a new study of health care workers whose immune response to the Pfizer vaccine was inversely associated with waist circumference. A 2021 study of health care workers in six countries revealed that those following largely plant-based diets had 73% lower odds of developing moderate-to-severe COVID-19, compared with those following other diets.

“This benefit may come from the fact that plant-based diets are associated with significantly lower body weight, lower risk of hypertension, lower plasma lipid levels, and lower risk of diabetes,” says Saray Stancic, MD, director of medical education of the nonprofit Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine and faculty member of Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. “A healthy vegan diet can benefit a large group of individuals who fail to respond adequately to vaccination yet do not have a classic immunosuppression condition.”

Dr. Stancic authored the commentary with Josh Cullimore, MBChB, MPH, of Brighton and Hove Clinical Commissioning Group in the UK, and Neal Barnard, MD, of the Physicians Committee.

“As of November 18, 2020, more than 60% of COVID-19 hospitalizations were attributable to obesity, hypertension, diabetes, or heart failure,” Dr. Stancic says. “We are suggesting, perhaps surprisingly, that a key, but neglected, part of our immunization strategy should be shoring up the cardiometabolic health of the patient to the extent possible.”

To improve health and decrease vulnerability to COVID-19 and other illness, the authors suggest three key strategies:

1. Doctors should encourage patients to improve underlying health conditions, including adopting healthful dietary habits, particularly a renewed emphasis on vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes, and plant-based diets. This recommendation aligns with the June 2021 American Medical Association policy urging governmental leaders to encourage individuals with underlying health conditions associated with COVID-19 morbidity and mortality to see their doctors to institute (or resume) appropriate treatment for those underlying conditions.
2. Medical practitioners should refer appropriate patients to registered dietitians as a matter of medical urgency. They should provide nutrition information and code nutrition messaging into their electronic medical records to be automatically given to patients at check out.
3. Hospitals should provide information about good nutrition to patients, families, visitors, and staff, and should model it with the foods they serve.

“To make an immunization program work, convincing people to roll up their sleeves for initial immunization and boosters as necessary is one key step,” Dr. Stancic says. “Improving their ability to respond to the vaccine is another. Evidence strongly suggests that urgently addressing underlying health conditions with, for starters, a healthier diet would not only reduce the likelihood of severe infection and death; over time it may also help vaccines to work better.”

One hour of exercise a week can prevent depression

University of New South Wales (Australia), October 3, 2021

A landmark study led by the Black Dog Institute has revealed that regular exercise of any intensity can prevent future depression – and just one hour can help.

Published today in the American Journal of Psychiatry, the results show even small amounts of exercise can protect against depression, with mental health benefits seen regardless of age or gender.

In the largest and most extensive study of its kind, the analysis involved 33,908 Norwegian adults who had their levels of exercise and symptoms of depression and anxiety monitored over 11 years.

The international research team found that 12 percent of cases of depression could have been prevented if participants undertook just one hour of physical activity each week.

“We’ve known for some time that exercise has a role to play in treating symptoms of depression, but this is the first time we have been able to quantify the preventative potential of physical activity in terms of reducing future levels of depression,” said lead author Associate Professor Samuel Harvey from Black Dog Institute and UNSW.

“These findings are exciting because they show that even relatively small amounts of exercise – from one hour per week – can deliver significant protection against depression.

“We are still trying to determine exactly why exercise can have this protective effect, but we believe it is from the combined impact of the various physical and social benefits of physical activity.

“These results highlight the great potential to integrate exercise into individual mental health plans and broader public health campaigns. If we can find ways to increase the population’s level of physical activity even by a small amount, then this is likely to bring substantial physical and mental health benefits.”

The findings follow the Black Dog Institute’s recent Exercise Your Mood campaign, which ran throughout September and encouraged Australians to improve their physical and mental wellbeing through exercise.

Researchers used data from the Health Study of Nord-Trøndelag County (HUNT study) – one of the largest and most comprehensive population-based health surveys ever undertaken – which was conducted between January 1984 and June 1997.

A healthy cohort of participants was asked at baseline to report the frequency of exercise they participated in and at what intensity: without becoming breathless or sweating, becoming breathless and sweating, or exhausting themselves. At follow-up stage, they completed a self-report questionnaire (the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) to indicate any emerging anxiety or depression.

The research team also accounted for variables which might impact the association between exercise and common mental illness. These include socio-economic and demographic factors, substance use, body mass index, new onset physical illness and perceived social support.

Results showed that people who reported doing no exercise at all at baseline had a 44% increased chance of developing depression compared to those who were exercising one to two hours a week.

However, these benefits did not carry through to protecting against anxiety, with no association identified between level and intensity of exercise and the chances of developing the disorder.

According to the Australian Health Survey, 20 percent of Australian adults do not undertake any regular physical activity, and more than a third spend less than 1.5 hours per week being physically active. At the same time, around 1 million Australians have depression, with one in five Australians aged 16-85 experiencing a mental illness in any year.

“Most of the mental health benefits of exercise are realised within the first hour undertaken each week,” said Associate Professor Harvey.

“With sedentary lifestyles becoming the norm worldwide, and rates of depression growing, these results are particularly pertinent as they highlight that even small lifestyle changes can reap significant mental health benefits.”

Tea associated with lower risk of upper respiratory tract infection

University of Shizuoka (Japan), October 1 2021.

Findings from a review and meta-analysis published on September 22, 2021 in the European Journal of Nutrition adds evidence to a protective effect of tea and tea catechins against the risk of upper respiratory tract infection (URTI).

Catechins are flavanols that occur in tea leaves, including epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which has shown antiviral effects.

Researchers selected four prospective cohort studies and six randomized controlled trials that examined the effects of gargling or consuming tea or tea catechins against the risk of viral upper respiratory infection, including influenza and the common cold, among a total of 3,838 subjects. The prospective cohort studies involved groups that customarily gargled black and green tea, drank black and green tea, or consumed a type of tea known as Goishi green tea. The randomized trials compared the effects of gargling with or consuming bottled green tea or green tea extracts (catechin solutions or capsules) to a placebo or water.

In comparison with the control subjects, tea gargling and the intake of tea catechins was associated with a 21% lower risk of influenza and acute upper respiratory tract infection compared to the control subjects. When only randomized trials were analyzed, tea gargling or tea catechin consumption was also associated with a 21% lower risk of influenza and acute upper respiratory tract infection compared to the control participants. A similar reduction in risk was observed in an analysis of the prospective cohort studies.

“To our knowledge, the present study is the first to quantify the protective effects of tea gargling and tea catechin consumption against influenza infection and URTI,” the authors wrote. “Our findings suggest that incorporating tea catechin consumption and/or tea gargling into the daily routine may be effective nonpharmaceutical interventions for preventing viral respiratory infections, but further large-scale studies are needed.”

Cancer breakthrough: Exercise may stop disease in its tracks

Edith Cowan University (Australia), October 5, 2021

Forget bedrest, research from Edith Cowan University (ECU) has shown exercise may be a key weapon in cancer patients’ battle against the disease.

Exercise causes muscles to secrete proteins called myokines into our blood – and researchers from ECU’s Exercise Medicine Research Institute have learned these myokines can suppress tumour growth and even help actively fight cancerous cells.

A clinical trial saw obese prostate cancer patients undergo regular exercise training for 12 weeks, giving blood samples before and after the exercise program.

Researchers then took the samples and applied them directly onto living prostate cancer cells.

Study supervisor Professor Robert Newton said the results help explain why cancer progresses more slowly in patients who exercise.

“The patients’ levels of anti-cancer myokines increased in the three months,” he said.

“When we took their pre-exercise blood and their post-exercise blood and placed it over living prostate cancer cells, we saw a significant suppression of the growth of those cells from the post-training blood.

“That’s quite substantial indicating chronic exercise creates a cancer suppressive environment in the body.”

A formidable team

PhD candidate and research lead Jin-Soo Kim said while myokines could signal cancer cells to grow slower – or stop completely – they were unable to kill the cells by themselves.

However, he said myokines can team up with other cells in the blood to actively fight cancer.

“Myokines in and of themselves don’t signal the cells to die,” Mr Kim said.

“But they do signal our immune cells – T-cells – to attack and kill the cancer cells.”

Professor Newton said exercise also complements other prostate cancer treatments such as androgen deprivation therapy, which is both effective and commonly prescribed but can also lead to significant reduction in lean mass and an increase in fat mass. This can result in sarcopenic obesity (being obese with low muscle mass), poorer health and cancer outcomes.

All study participants were undergoing ADT and were obese, with the training program seeing them maintain lean mass while losing fat mass.

A fighting future

The study focused on prostate cancer due it being the most common non-skin cancer among men and the high number of patient fatalities – however Professor Newton said the findings could have a wider impact.

“We believe this mechanism applies to all cancers,” he said.

ECU is carrying out further studies, including a trial where patients with advanced-stage prostate cancer are put through a six-month exercise program.

Though results are still pending, Professor Newton said preliminary findings were encouraging.

“These men have high disease burden, extensive treatment side-effects and are very unwell, but they still can produce anti-cancer medicine from within.

“It’s important as it may indicate why men even with advanced cancer, if they’re physically active, don’t succumb as quickly.”

‘Myokine expression and tumour-suppressive effect of serum following 12 weeks of exercise in prostate cancer patients on ADT’ was published in Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Maintaining healthy DNA delays menopause

Cambridge and Exeter universities (UK), September 28, 2021

 

An international study of nearly 70,000 women has identified more than forty regions of the human genome that are involved in governing at what age a woman goes through the menopause. The study, led by scientists at the Universities of Cambridge and Exeter, found that two thirds of those regions contain genes that act to keep DNA healthy, by repairing the small damages that can accumulate with age. The study also found the first genetic evidence of a link between the timing of menopause and breast cancer, corroborating previous conclusions from observational evidence.

 

The findings, published in Nature Genetics, suggest that the reproductive cells or “eggs” in a woman‘s ovaries (known as oocytes) that repair damaged DNA more efficiently survive longer. This results in a later age at menopause, which marks the end of a woman’ reproductive lifetime.  Previous research has shown that DNA is regularly damaged by age and by toxic substances such as cigarette smoke – hence women who smoke go through menopause 1-2 years earlier on average than non-smokers. Our cells have many mechanisms to detect and repair such damage, but cells die when too much damage accumulates. DNA is also damaged and repaired during the production of eggs, therefore these genes might also act to enhance a woman’s pool of eggs which is set in early life.

 

In a collaboration involving scientists from 177 institutions worldwide, the authors undertook a genome-wide association study of almost 70,000 women of European ancestry.

 

Dr Anna Murray, a geneticist from the University of Exeter Medical School, and senior author on the paper, described the impact of the findings: “Many women today are choosing to have babies later in life, but they may find it difficult to conceive naturally because fertility starts to diminish at least 10 years before menopause. Our research has substantially increased our understanding of how reproductive ageing in women happens, which we hope will lead to the development of new treatments to avoid early menopause.”

 

Dr John Perry from the Medical Research Council (MRC) Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge co-led the study, and said:

 

“We have known for some time that the age at which women go through menopause is partly determined by genes. This study now tells us that there are likely hundreds of genes involved, each altering menopause age by anything from a few weeks to a year. It is striking that genes involved in DNA repair have such an important influence on the age of menopause, which we think is due to their effect on how quickly a woman’s eggs are lost throughout her lifetime.”

 

Whilst previous research has observed that an earlier menopause reduces a woman’s risk of developing breast cancer, this is the first study to confirm the link using genetic information. The researchers predict that every one year later that menopause occurs increases the risk of developing breast cancer by 6%.

 

Dr Deborah Thompson from the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at the University of Cambridge also co-led this large international collaboration and said: “One particularly convincing finding was that going through menopause earlier reduces your chances of developing breast cancer and we think this is because these women have less exposure to the hormone oestrogen over their lifetime.”

 

The next step is to understand in more detail how the genetic variations found in this study are causing alterations in the timing of menopause. Uncovering these mechanisms will hopefully lead to better treatment for conditions linked to menopause, such as infertility and also improved understanding of the heath impact of menopause, such as risk of osteoporosis and heart disease.

 

Menopause usually occurs between ages 40 to 60 years old, indicated by the end of natural menstrual cycles and in many women by physical symptoms, such as hot flushes, disrupted sleep, and reduced energy levels. Natural menopause before the age of 40 is often called primary ovarian insufficiency and occurs in 1% of women.

 

Pycnogenol joint health benefits illuminated in unique trial

University of Wurzburg (Germany), October 4, 2021

The present randomized controlled study aimed to investigate the in vivo distribution of constituents or metabolites of the standardized maritime pine bark extract Pycnogenol®. Thirty-three patients with severe osteoarthritis scheduled for a knee arthroplasty were randomized to receive either 200 mg per day Pycnogenol® (P+) or no treatment (Co) over three weeks before surgery. Serum, blood cells, and synovial fluid samples were analyzed using liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry with electrospray ionization (LC-ESI/MS/MS). Considerable interindividual differences were observed indicating pronounced variability of the polyphenol pharmacokinetics. Notably, the highest polyphenol concentrations were not detected in serum. Catechin and taxifolin primarily resided within the blood cells while the microbial catechin metabolite δ-(3,4-dihydroxy-phenyl)-γ-valerolactone, ferulic, and caffeic acid were mainly present in synovial fluid samples. Taxifolin was detected in serum and synovial fluid exclusively in the P+ group. Likewise, no ferulic acid was found in serum samples of the Co group. Calculating ratios of analyte distribution in individual patients revealed a simultaneous presence of some polyphenols in serum, blood cells, and/or synovial fluid only in the P+ group. This is the first evidence that polyphenols distribute into the synovial fluid of patients with osteoarthritis which supports rationalizing the results of clinical efficacy studies.