Videos :

1. Interview with Dr. James Lyons-Weile [Jim] – 
   Dr. James Lyons-Weile [Jim] is the CEO and Director of The Institute for Pure and Applied Knowledge, which performs 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 has published three books:  “Ebola: An Evolving Story,”  “Cures vs. Profits: Successes in Translational Research,”  and “The Environmental and Genetic Causes of Autism” . 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, is currently the Editor-in-Chief of the journal Science, Public Health Policy & the Law, and has published more than 57 papers in reputable journals. He has created an online University (IPAK-EDU) to bring reason, logic and scientific facts to the debates in the public square. His blog JamesLyonsWeiler.com contains deep analysis of issues that confront us today on the mismatches that exist between biomedical science and public health policy.  IPAK can be visited at Ipaknowledge.org

2. Dr. Fauci is his MENTOR! An investigation into Dr. Peter Hotez Part 1 of 2 | Redacted News (10:00)
3. BRICS challenges US dollar, Saudi considers selling oil in other currencies: Financial multipolarity (4:00)
   

Drinking beetroot juice reduces high blood pressure, trial show 

Queen Mary University (UK), January 20, 2023

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.

The trial, conducted at Queen Mary University of London (QMUL) in the UK, was funded by the British Heart Foundation, whose senior research advisor Dr. Shannon Amoils remarks:

“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.

For the trial, Amrita Ahluwalia, a vascular pharmacology professor at QMUL, and colleagues recruited 64 patients aged 18-85. Half of the patients were taking prescribed medication for high blood pressure but were not managing to reach their target blood pressure, and the rest had been diagnosed with high blood pressure but were not yet taking medication for it.

The patients were randomly assigned to one of two groups. One group consumed a daily glass (250 ml or around 8.5 oz) of beetroot juice, and the other group had the same except their beetroot juice was nitrate-free (the placebo).

The patients consumed the juice every day for 4 weeks. They were also monitored for 2 weeks before and after the study, bringing the total trial period to 8 weeks.

The trial was double-blind, which means neither the administering clinicians nor the patients knew whether the beetroot juice they were given was the placebo or the active supplement.

During the 4 weeks they were taking the juice, patients in the active supplement group (whose beetroot juice contained inorganic nitrate) experienced a reduction in blood pressure of 8/4 mmHg (millimeters of mercury).

The patients in the active supplement group also experienced a 20% or so improvement in blood vessel dilation capacity and their artery stiffness reduced by around 10%. Studies show such changes are linked to reduced risk of heart disease.

There were no changes to blood pressure, blood vessel function or artery stiffness in the placebo group (whose beetroot juice did not contain nitrate) during the period of the study.

“These findings suggest a role for dietary nitrate as an affordable, readily-available, adjunctive treatment in the management of patients with hypertension.”

Omega-3 levels affect whether B vitamins can slow brain’s decline

Universities of Cape Town, Oslo, Oxford and the UAE January 19, 2023

While research has already established that B vitamin supplements can help slow mental decline in older people with memory problems, an international team have now found that having higher levels of Omega-3 fatty acids in your body could boost the B vitamins’ effect. 

The team, from the Universities of Cape Town, Oslo, Oxford and the UAE, studied more than 250 people with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) in Oxford. MCI is when brain function is below what is normally expected for a person’s age but is not significant enough to interfere with daily life. While it is not as serious as dementia, if untreated it often progresses to become dementia.

Dr Celeste de Jager said: ‘We previously found that B vitamins are able to slow or prevent the atrophy of the brain and memory decline in people with MCI. This was most effective in those who had above average blood levels of homocysteine, a factor related to B vitamin status that may be toxic to the brain. Scientists in our team initially found that there was a link between Omega-3 levels, homocysteine, and brain atrophy rates. We wanted to find out whether Omega-3 and B vitamins might interact to prevent cognitive decline.’

The participants were split into two randomly-selected groups, who received either a B-vitamin supplement or a placebo pill over two years. Their cognitive performance was also measured and the results compared with the baseline results from the start of the study.

Dr Abderrahim Oulhaj said: ‘We found that for people with low levels of Omega-3, the vitamin supplements had little to no effect. But for those with high baseline Omega-3 levels, the B vitamins were very effective in preventing cognitive decline compared to the placebo. This result complements our previous finding that B vitamins slow the rate of brain atrophy in MCI only in those with a good Omega-3 level to start with.’

The team also found that levels of DHA might be more important than levels of EPA, although they caution that more research must be done to establish whether this is true.

Why a high-fat diet could reduce the brain’s ability to regulate food intake

Penn State College of Medicine, January 25, 2023

Regularly eating a high-fat/calorie diet could reduce the brain’s ability to regulate calorie intake. New research in rats published in The Journal of Physiology has found that after short periods of being fed a high-fat/high calorie diet, the brain adapts to react to what is being ingested and reduces the amount of food eaten to balance calorie intake.

The researchers, from Penn State College of Medicine in the United States, suggest that calorie intake is regulated in the short-term by cells called astrocytes (large star-shaped cells in the brain that regulate many different functions of neurons in the brain) that control the signaling pathway between the brain and the gut. Continuously eating a high-fat/calorie diet seems to disrupt this signaling pathway.

Understanding the brain’s role and the complex mechanisms that lead to overeating, a behavior that can lead to weight gain and obesity, could help develop therapies to treat it. Obesity is a global public-health concern because it is associated with increased risk of cardiovascular diseases and type 2 diabetes. In England, 63% of adults are considered above a healthy weight and around half of these are living with obesity. One in three children leaving primary school are overweight or obese.

Dr. Kirsteen Browning, Penn State College of Medicine, said, “Calorie intake seems to be regulated in the short-term by astrocytes. We found that a brief exposure (three to five days) of high-fat/calorie diet has the greatest effect on astrocytes, triggering the normal signaling pathway to control the stomach. Over time, astrocytes seem to desensitize to the high-fat food. Around 10–14 days of eating high-fat/calorie diet, astrocytes seem to fail to react, and the brain’s ability to regulate calorie intake seems to be lost. This disrupts the signaling to the stomach and delays how it empties.”

Astrocytes initially react when high-fat/calorie food is ingested. Their activation triggers the release of gliotransmitters, chemicals (including glutamate and ATP) that excite nerve cells and enable normal signaling pathways to stimulate neurons that control how the stomach works. This ensures the stomach contracts correctly to fill and empty in response to food passing through the digestive system. When astrocytes are inhibited, the cascade is disrupted. The decrease in signaling chemicals leads to a delay in digestion because the stomach doesn’t fill and empty appropriately.

More steps, moderate physical activity can cut dementia, cognitive impairment risk

University of California – San Diego, January 24, 2023

Senior women are less likely to develop mild cognitive impairment or dementia if they do more daily walking and moderate-to-vigorous physical activity, according to a new study led by the Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science at University of California San Diego.

In the online edition of Alzheimer’s & Dementia, the team reported that, among women aged 65 or older, each additional 31 minutes per day of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity was associated with a 21% lower risk of developing mild cognitive impairment or dementia. Risk was also 33% lower with each additional 1,865 daily steps.

“Given that the onset of dementia begins 20 years or more before symptoms show, the early intervention for delaying or preventing cognitive decline and dementia among older adults is essential,” said senior author Andrea LaCroix, Ph.D., M.P.H. at UC San Diego.

“Physical activity has been identified as one of the three most promising ways to reduce risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Prevention is important because once dementia is diagnosed, it is very difficult to slow or reverse. There is no cure,” said LaCroix.

For this study, the researchers sampled data from 1,277 women as part of two Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) ancillary studies—the WHI Memory Study (WHIMS) and the Objective Physical Activity and Cardiovascular Health (OPACH) study. The women wore research-grade accelerometers and went about their daily activities for up to seven days to obtain accurate measures of physical activity and sitting.

The activity trackers showed the women averaged 3,216 steps, 276 minutes in light physical activities, 45.5 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous physical activity and 10.5 hours of sitting per day. Examples of light physical activity could include housework, gardening or walking. Moderate-to-vigorous physical activity could include brisk walking.

The study findings also showed that higher amounts of sitting and prolonged sitting were not associated with higher risk of mild cognitive impairment or dementia.

Melatonin may lower prostate cancer risk

Harvard School of Public Health, January 19, 2023

Higher levels of melatonin, a hormone involved in the sleep-wake cycle, may suggest decreased risk for developing advanced prostate cancer, according to results presented  at the AACR-Prostate Cancer Foundation Conference.

“Sleep loss and other factors can influence the amount of melatonin secretion or block it altogether, and health problems associated with low melatonin, disrupted sleep, and/or disruption of the circadian rhythm are broad, including a potential risk factor for cancer,” said Sarah C. Markt, M.P.H., n the Department of Epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston. “We found that men who had higher levels of melatonin had a 75 percent reduced risk for developing advanced prostate cancer compared with men who had lower levels of melatonin.

To investigate the association between urine levels of the main breakdown product of melatonin, 6-sulfatoxymelatonin, and risk of prostate cancer, Markt and colleagues conducted a case-cohort study of 928 Icelandic men from the AGES-Reykjavik cohort between 2002 and 2009. They collected first morning void urine samples at recruitment, and asked the participants to answer a questionnaire about sleep patterns.

The researchers found that one in seven men reported problems falling asleep, one in five men reported problems staying asleep, and almost one in three reported taking sleeping medications.

The median value of 6-sulfatoxymelatonin in the study participants was 17.14 nanograms per milliliter of urine. Men who reported taking medications for sleep, problems falling asleep, and problems staying asleep had significantly lower 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels compared with men without sleep problems, according to Markt.

Of the study participants, 111 men were diagnosed with prostate cancer, including 24 with advanced disease. The researchers found that men whose 6-sulfatoxymelatonin levels were higher than the median value had a 75 percent decreased risk for advanced prostate cancer. A 31 percent decreased risk for prostate cancer overall was observed as well, but this finding was not statistically significant.

“Further prospective studies to investigate the interplay between sleep duration, sleep disturbance, and melatonin levels on risk for prostate cancer are needed,” said Markt.

Yoga: Modern research shows a variety of benefits to both body and mind from the ancient practice

University of Massachusetts, January 24, 2023

The popularity of yoga has grown tremendously in the past decade. More than 10% of U.S. adults have practiced yoga at some point in their lives. Yoga practitioners spend on average US$90 a month, and the yoga industry is worth more than $80 billion worldwide. 

As yoga has grown in popularity in recent years, researchers have studied its effects and are finding that it has great benefit for mental and physical health.

In one study with healthy untrained volunteers, researchers found that eight weeks of yoga improved muscular strength at the elbow and knee by 10%-30%. Flexibility at the ankle, shoulder and hip joints also increased by 13%-188%.

Research has shown that yoga practice can reduce risk factors for heart disease such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol and abdominal obesity. Studies on older adults have shown significant improvements in balance, mobility, cognitive function and overall quality of life. 

Yoga seems to be effective at managing pain, too. Research has found that yoga can improve symptoms of headaches, osteoarthritis, neck pain and low-back pain. In fact, the American College of Physicians recommends yoga as one of the options for initial nonpharmaceutical treatment for chronic low-back pain.

Yoga also provides many benefits for mental health. Researchers have found that a regular practice over eight to 12 weeks can lead to moderate reductions in anxiety and depressive symptoms as well as help with stress management.