Drinking beetroot juice reduces high blood pressure, trial shows
Queen Mary University (UK), January 20, 2022
One glass of beetroot juice a day is enough to significantly reduce blood pressure in patients with high blood pressure, conclude researchers who conducted a placebo-controlled trial in dozens of patients. “This interesting study builds on previous research by this team and finds that a daily glass of beetroot juice can lower blood pressure in people with hypertension – even those whose high blood pressure was not controlled by drug treatment.” Beetroot contains high levels of inorganic nitrate. Other leafy vegetables – such as lettuce and cabbage – also have high levels of the compound, which they take up from the soil through their roots. In the human body, inorganic nitrate converts to nitric oxide, which relaxes and dilates blood vessels.
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Researchers recommend clinical trials for CBD to prevent COVID-19 based on promising animal data
University of Chicago Medical Center, January 20 2022
An interdisciplinary team of researchers from the University of Chicago has found evidence that cannabidiol (CBD), a product of the cannabis plant, can inhibit infection by SARS-CoV-2 in human cells and in mice. The study, published on January 20, 2022, in Science Advances, found that CBD showed a significant negative association with SARS-CoV-2 positive tests in a national sample of medical records of patients taking the FDA-approved drug for treating epilepsy. The researchers now say that clinical trials should be done to determine whether CBD could eventually be used as a preventative or early treatment for COVID-19. They caution, however, that the COVID-blocking effects of CBD come only from a high purity, specially formulated dose taken in specific situations. The study’s findings do not suggest that consuming commercially available products with CBD additives that vary in potency and quality can prevent COVID-19. “CBD has anti-inflammatory effects, so we thought that maybe it would stop the second phase of COVID infection involving the immune system, the so-called ‘cytokine storm.’ Surprisingly, it directly inhibited viral replication in lung cells,” said Marsha Rosner, Ph.D., Charles B. Huggins Professor in the Ben May Department of Cancer Research and a senior author of the study.
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Mediterranean diet associated with a lower risk of mortality in older adults
University of Barcelona (Spain), January 20, 2022
A greater adherence to the Mediterranean diet which had been assessed through an index made with biomarkers during a 20-year scientific monitoring is associated with a lower mortality in adults over 65. The study is based on the InCHIANTI project, conducted in the region of the Italian Tuscany, a study that has been carried out during 20 years in a total of 642 participants (56 percent women) aged over 65 or more and which enabled researchers to obtain complete data on food biomarkers.
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The best way to fix a sad mood: Whatever you think works best
Ohio State University, January 20, 2022
What’s the best way to improve a sad mood? It may be whatever skill you think you’re best at, a new study suggests. Think you’re good at mindfulness techniques? Then that may work best for you. Or do you believe a more cognitive approach is your strength? Then use that. Researchers found that people who were in a sad mood improved more quickly when they used a mood-improving method that they were told was their strongest skill. These participants improved more quickly than people asked to use a skill that they were told was a relative weakness. “We only studied mindfulness and cognitive skills here, but there are a variety of approaches to improving mental health,” he said. “The ones that you think would work best for you probably will indeed work best.”
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Tomato Juice Reduces Inflammation and Waist Size In Women
Tufts and Boston universities, January 20, 2022
A daily glass of tomato juice is known to significantly lower cardiovascular disease, cancer and even osteoporosis. A new study is now showing that it also has a direct effect on waist circumference, cholesterol, and markers of inflammation in women. Data from 30 women revealed that a daily glass of 280 mL of tomato juice containing 32.5 mg of lycopene was associated with an average reduction in waist circumference of 1.6 cm and more than one pound kg reduction in body weight.
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Does coffee help protect against endometrial cancer?
Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, January 20, 2022
Higher coffee consumption is linked with a lower risk of endometrial cancer, a type of cancer that begins in the lining of uterus, according to an analysis of relevant studies published to date. Also, caffeinated coffee may provide better protection than decaffeinated coffee. The analysis, which appears in the Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology Research, included 24 studies on coffee intake with 9,833 new cases of endometrial cancer occurring in 699,234 individuals. People in the highest category of coffee intake had a 29% lower relative risk of developing endometrial cancer than those in the lowest category.
LETTER RE. WIKIPEDIA
To the Victims of Wikipedia’s Libel,
You are by now fully aware that the online encyclopedia Wikipedia has been exceedingly antagonistic against your careers and your personal stances on many issues that directly affect the principles of democracy, freedom of speech, medical choice and personal well-being. In particular, medical professionals and advocates for natural health have been categorically ridiculed, libeled and their careers canceled. This disturbing trend continues to worsen. Sadly, editors who support globalist agendas and the pharmaceutical industry now far outnumber those trying to make efforts to write opposing views in the spirit of neutrality and objectivity. Repeatedly I hear that efforts to correct the numerous inaccuracies, misinformation, biases and derogatory terms on biographical entries are exercises in futility. The encyclopedia’s parent organization, the WikiMedia Foundation, has been habitually unresponsive to demands for corrections and refuses to enforce its volunteer editors to abide by its editorial rules of neutrality when dealing with subjects regarding alternative medicine and the biographies of its advocates. Since Wikipedia is ranked in the top three websites that people turn to for information about current events, medicine and general health, and for biographical information about public figures and contemporary voices, I am convinced that numerous people have been wrongfully misled and dissuaded from seeking reliable information on Wikipedia. The Foundation refuses to assume responsibility and to be held accountable for the abuse being perpetrated by individual editors and groups promoting antagonistic ideologies. The consequence has been that your reputations have been seriously undermined and damaged. Over the years, voluminous complaints have been communicated and/or filed to the Foundation, including lawsuits, about the gross violations in Wikipedia’s editorial policies, misinformation and inflammatory and potentially libelous language. Based upon the evidence and my repeated encounters with the Wikimedia Foundation’s in-house and outside attorneys it is my belief that the encyclopedia’s efforts to advance a globalist and corporate-friendly ideology may be intentional. It is not merely the hundreds of thousands of physicians worldwide who rely on peer-reviewed supported therapies, but Wikipedia’s animus has spread far and wide to assure that its users have no objective choice over sound information about personal religious, socio-political or health decisions. Robert Kennedy Jr, Sharyl Attkinsson, Rupert Sheldrake, Abby Martin, Julian Assange and literally hundreds of others who have exemplary careers and who have been repeatedly accurate have had their accomplishments scrubbed and destroyed. Anonymous Wikipedia editors have made it their personal mission to paint them as promoters of misinformation and conspiracy theories should be verbally ostracized. The Foundation recently hired a new Executive Director, Maryam Iskander. Although I originally hoped this may signal a positive change in Wikipedia’s neutrality policies and new efforts would be forthcoming to rein in radical ideological editors, I am no longer optimistic. Ms Iskander happens to be an upcoming leader aligned with the World Economic Forum. I now have every reason to believe that Wikipedia will increasingly steer its editing closer towards the Great Reset agenda. Despite ours and others’ numerous attempts and failures to deal directly with the Foundation’s legal department and Board members to have misinformation corrected or biographies eliminated altogether, there are options that can be pursued by those who have been ridiculed, shamed and wrongfully characterized on Wikipedia. Each of us has lost something due to Wikipedia’s denial of truth. However, we can continue to record our personal achievements on our websites and through our allies. Second, we can continue to investigate and write critical essays and analyses exposing Wikipedia’s biases, negligence, misinformation, political partisanship, smear campaigns and its financial collaborations with private anti-democratic entities, corporate industries and government agencies. With the growing consolidation of various neoliberal and globalist Wikipedia editors’ presence, including the Skeptics of scientific materialism, into a reactionary movement, this is a critical moment for us to take the upper hand by cooperating together to challenge Wikipedia wherever there is demonstrable proof of ill-will and gross bias. I believe a grassroots national campaign to “Walk Away From Wikipedia” would capture the Foundation’s attention. For our part we have written over 70 articles exposing the encyclopedia, its senior editors and the Foundation’s corporate relations. Yet there remains much more to uncover and report. Best regards, Gary Null, PhD
(OTHER NEWS)
IRS To Require Facial Recognition To View Tax Returns
Zero Hedge, January 20, 2022
The US Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has partnered with a Virginia-based private identification firm which requires a facial recognition selfie among other things, in order to create or access online accounts with the agency. According to KrebsonSecurity, the IRS announced that by the summer of 2022, the only way to log into irs.gov will be through ID.me. Founded by former Army Rangers in 2010, the McLean-based company has evolved to providing online ID verification services which several states are using to help reduce unemployment and pandemic-assistance fraud. The company claims to have 64 million users. Some 27 states already use ID.me to screen for identity thieves applying for benefits in someone else’s name, and now the IRS is joining them. The service requires applicants to supply a great deal more information than typically requested for online verification schemes, such as scans of their driver’s license or other government-issued ID, copies of utility or insurance bills, and details about their mobile phone service. When an applicant doesn’t have one or more of the above — or if something about their application triggers potential fraud flags — ID.me may require a recorded, live video chat with the person applying for benefits. -KrebsonSecurity For the sake of his article, Krebs made himself a guinea pig and signed up with ID.me to describe the lengthy process that “may require a significant investment of time, and quite a bit of patience.” After uploading images of one’s driver’s license, state issued ID or passport. If your documents get accepted, ID.me will then prompt you to take a live selfie with your mobile device or webcam. That took several attempts. When my computer’s camera produced an acceptable result, ID.me said it was comparing the output to the images on my driver’s license scans. -KrebsonSecurity Once that’s accepted, Id.me will ask to verify your phone number – and will not accept numbers tied to voice-over-IP services such as Skype or Google Voice. Krebs’ application became stuck at the “Confirming your Phone” stage – which led to a video chat (and having to resubmit other information) which had an estimated wait time of 3 hours and 27 The international outrage followed Israeli occupation forces’ expulsion of a Palestinian family and destruction of their East Jerusalem home.
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Israel Accused of ‘War Crime’ of ‘Ethnic Cleansing’ in Sheikh Jarrah
Common Dreams, January 20, 2022
Governments around the world on Wednesday joined human rights advocates in condemning Israeli authorities’ forced expulsion of a Palestinian family and the demolition of their longtime home in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of occupied East Jerusalem, with regional leaders accusing Israel of ethnic cleansing. Following a two-day standoff, Israeli occupation forces stormed two houses belonging to the Salhiya family in the pre-dawn hours Wednesday and forcefully evicted 15 people, many of them children, while attacking and arresting some of the residents, The Palestine Chronicle reports. Israeli forces then fired rubber-coated steel bullets at journalists and supporters of the family who were gathered outside the home before razing the houses with bulldozers, leaving the Salhiyas homeless and their belongings ruined and scattered on the ground. Later on Wednesday, Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh condemned the forced removal and home demolition, saying that “this crime is part of policies of persecution, racism, and ethnic cleansing against Indigenous landowners in favor of settlers.” Salhiya explained that his family had owned and lived in the home since they were expelled from the village of Ain Karem by attacking Jewish militias during the 1948 Nakba ethnic cleansing campaign carried out to seize as much land as possible for the nascent state of Israel. Israeli forces subsequently conquered East Jerusalem—along with the West Bank, Gaza, and Syrian Golan Heights—during the 1967 Six-Day War, and effectively annexed Sheikh Jarrah in 1980. Other international officials condemned the expulsion and demolition, but in softer language than the Arab leaders. Speaking Wednesday at the quarterly United Nations Security Council Linda Thomas-Greenfield, the United States ambassador to the U.N., said that “to make progress, both Israel and the Palestinian Authority must refrain from unilateral steps that exacerbate tensions and undercut efforts to advance a negotiated two-state solution. That includes annexations of territory, settlement activity, demolitions, and evictions—like what we saw in Sheikh Jarrah—incitement to violence, and providing compensation for individuals imprisoned for acts of terrorism.” Addressing the same forum, Norwegian diplomat Tor Wennesland, the U.N. special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, called on Israeli authorities “to end the displacement and eviction of Palestinians, in line with its obligations under international law, and to approve additional plans that would enable Palestinian communities to build legally and address their development needs.” Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Teuku Faizasyah said: “We condemn the forced evictions of the Palestinian family from their home in the occupied territories. It is a violation of international law and human rights.” The Turkish Foreign Ministry said in a statement that the expulsion and demolition “contravene international law and human rights.” In a joint statement, the foreign ministries of France, Germany, Italy, and Spain called on the Israeli government to “permanently halt eviction and demolition” in East Jerusalem, actions that the ministries said “contribute to fueling tensions on the ground.”
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Health declining in U.S. Northeast during Pandemic
University of Vermont, January 20, 2022
Skipping medications, weight gain, depression, anxiety, substance use, chronic disease, and food insecurity increased during COVID pandemic, new report finds As the COVID pandemic continues, new research reveals how people in Vermont and Maine are struggling with their mental and physical health. The findings detail numerous troubling health trends—including significant increases in anxiety, depression, weight gain, substance use, chronic disease, missed medications and food insecurity—since the pandemic’s onset. Key findings: Nearly 50% reported anxiety or depression during the pandemic. Roughly 40% reported weight gain. Roughly 29% reported food insecurity. Individuals with food insecurity were up to 7 times more likely to skip or stop medication for anxiety, depression, or hypertension, compared to food secure respondents. Those with persistent food insecurity (before and during the pandemic) were 8.8 times more likely to experience higher levels of stress, 2.6 times more likely to experience anxiety, and be diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and hypertension. Users of alcohol, tobacco, or drugs were more likely to increase substance use. Substance use was also associated with a higher prevalence of stress. Food insecure individuals were significantly less likely to consume fruits and vegetables and engage in physical activity than those who are food secure. LGBTQ+ individuals were more likely to be food insecure, 4 times more likely to report anxiety or depression, and experienced greater stress than non-LGBTQ+ individuals.