Progressive Radio Network

EcoShock - 11.12.22

What if I told you alien matter has invaded everything, everywhere. That is not science fiction or a conspiracy theory, but just an awful fact. Matt Simon is a science journalist with Wired Magazine. He just published his new book “A Poison Like No Other: How Microplastics Corrupted Our Planet and Our Bodies”.  From San Jose California, we welcome Matt Simon to Radio Ecoshock.

The Gary Null Show - 11.09.22

VIDEO:
No Bill Maher, Democracy Is NOT On The Ballot (5:00)
Michael Moore’s Nonstop Lies & Gaslighting For Democrats – Jimmy Dore
Dem Party Turns On Anti-War Democratic Primary Winner (2:16 to 5:28)
Society is going to COLLAPSE -Neil Oliver ( 5:24)
Fear Psychosis and the Cult of Safety – Why are People so Afraid?  – Academy of Ideas (13:25)
The Great Reset and Transhumanism | Beyond the Cover (17:50)
 
Study shows eating prunes daily can help prevent bone lossPenn State University, November 3, 2022
People often eat prunes to boost their digestive health, but a study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition shows that consuming a handful of prunes a day may also help prevent bone loss when you are older.
Researchers from Penn State University reported that women in their 60s who consumed prunes had significantly less bone loss in their hips in a year compared to those who didn’t eat the dried fruits. This suggests that prunes can help reduce inflammation in the body, which is a key driver of bone loss.
The researchers recruited 235 women for the study. The volunteers had an average age of 62 and had already gone through menopause.
The participants were split into three equal groups:
One group didn’t consume prunes.Another group consumed at least 50 grams (g) of prunes a day, or four to six pieces daily.The last group consumed 100g of prunes, or 10 to 12 pieces daily.The volunteers ate the “Improved French” prune variety. All of their diet included calcium and vitamin D3 supplements, which can also help prevent bone loss.
The research team used scans to measure bone density in the hip, neck and hip socket at the start of the study, after six months and after one year. They found that the hips of the non-eaters had an estimated 1.1 percent loss of bone density a year after the study began.
Meanwhile, the bone density of those who consumed four to six prunes a day barely shifted.
The result was similar for the group that ate more prunes, but the researchers noted that any protective effect could be masked because of its much higher dropout rate.
Blood tests also showed that the women who consumed prunes had significantly lower inflammation levels than those who did not. There was no significant documented difference in bone mass in the spine or hip socket between the groups one year after the study began.
Tracing tomatoes’ health benefits to gut microbesOhio State University, November 7, 2022
Two weeks of eating a diet heavy in tomatoes increased the diversity of gut microbes and altered gut bacteria toward a more favorable profile in young pigs, researchers found.
After observing these results with a short-term intervention, the research team plans to progress to similar studies in people, looking for health-related links between tomatoes in the diet and changes to the human gut microbiome – the community of microorganisms living in the gastrointestinal tract.
“It’s possible that tomatoes impart benefits through their modulation of the gut microbiome,” said senior author Jessica Cooperstone, assistant professor at The Ohio State University.
The tomatoes used in the study were developed by Ohio State plant breeder, tand co-author David Francis, and are the type typically found in canned tomato products.
Ten recently weaned control pigs were fed a standard diet and 10 pigs were fed the standard diet fine-tuned so that 10% of the food consisted of a freeze-dried powder made from the tomatoes.
Fiber, sugar, protein, fat and calories were identical for both diets. The control and study pig populations lived separately, and researchers running the study minimized their time spent with the pigs – a series of precautions designed to ensure that any microbiome changes seen with the study diet could be attributed to chemical compounds in the tomatoes.
Results showed two main changes in the microbiomes of pigs fed the tomato-heavy diet – the diversity of microbe species in their guts increased, and the concentrations of two types of bacteria common in the mammal microbiome shifted to a more favorable profile.
This higher ratio of the phyla Bacteroidota (formerly known as Bacteriodetes) compared to Bacillota (formerly known as Firmicutes) present in the microbiome has been found to be linked with positive health outcomes, while other studies have linked this ratio in reverse, of higher Bacillota compared to Bacteroidota, to obesity.
Tomatoes account for about 22% of vegetable intake in Western diets, and previous research has associated consumption of tomatoes with reduced risk for the development of various conditions that include cardiovascular disease and some cancers.
But tomatoes’ impact on the gut microbiome is still a mystery, and Cooperstone said these findings in pigs – whose gastrointestinal tract is more similar than rodents’ to the human GI system – suggest it’s an avenue worth exploring.
New study examines how breathing shapes our brainsAarhus University (Denmark), November 8, 2022
“Breathe in… Breathe out…” or “take a deep breath and count to ten.” The calming effect of breathing in stressful situations is a concept most of us have met before. Now Professor Micah Allen from the Department of Clinical Medicine at Aarhus University has come a step closer to understanding how the very act of breathing shapes our brain.
The researchers synthesized results from more than a dozen studies with rodent, monkey, and human brain imaging, and used it to propose a new computational model that explains how our breathing influences the brain’s expectations.
“What we found is that, across many different types of tasks and animals, brain rhythms are closely tied to the rhythm of our breath. We are more sensitive to the outside world when we are breathing in, whereas the brain tunes out more when we breathe out. This also aligns with how some extreme sports use breathing, for example professional marksmen are trained to pull the trigger at the end of exhalation,” explains Professor Micah Allen.
The study suggest that breathing is more than just something we do to stay alive, explains Micah Allen.
“It suggests that the brain and breathing are closely intertwined in a way that goes far beyond survival, to actually impact our emotions, our attention, and how we process the outside world. Our model suggests there is a common mechanism in the brain which links the rhythm of breathing to these events.”
Stabilizing our mind through breathing is a well-known and used tactic in many traditions such as yoga and meditation. The new study sheds light on how the brain makes it possible. It suggests that there are three pathways in the brain that control this interaction between breathing and brain activity. It also suggests that our pattern of breathing makes the brain more “excitable”, meaning neurons are more likely to fire during certain times of breathing
Close friends linked to a sharper memoryNorthwestern University School of Medicine, November 1, 2022
Maintaining positive, warm and trusting friendships might be the key to a slower decline in memory and cognitive functioning, according to a new Northwestern Medicine study.
SuperAgers—who are 80 years of age and older who have cognitive ability at least as good as people in their 50s or 60s—reported having more satisfying, high-quality relationships compared to their cognitively average, same-age peers, the study reports.
Previous SuperAger research at the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center (CNADC) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine has focused on the biological differences in SuperAgers, such as discovering that the cortex in their brain is actually larger than their cognitively average, same-age peers.
“You don’t have to be the life of the party, but this study supports the theory that maintaining strong social networks seems to be linked to slower cognitive decline,” said senior author Emily Rogalski, associate professor at Northwestern’s CNADC.
Motivation is affected by oxidative stress, but nutrition can helpEcole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne. Novembre 7. 2022
In life, motivation can be the difference between success and failure, goal-setting and aimlessness, well-being and unhappiness. And yet, becoming and staying motivated is often the hardest step, a problem which has prompted much research.
How does stress affect our capacity for motivation?” asks Professor Carmen Sandi at EPFL’s School of Life Sciences. “If that is the case, could nutritional interventions that can affect metabolite levels be an effective vehicle to improve motivated performance?”
The researchers focused on an area deep into the brain called the “nucleus accumbens”, which is known to play a major role regulating functions like reward, reinforcement, aversion, and not least, motivation.
The idea behind the study was that the brain itself—like all tissues in our body—is subjected to constant oxidative stress, as a result of its metabolism.
The brain then is often subjected to excessive oxidative stress from its neurometabolic processes—and the question for the researchers was whether antioxidant levels in the nucleus accumbens can affect motivation. To answer the question, the scientists looked at the brain’s most important antioxidant, a protein called glutathione (GSH), and its relationship to motivation.
What they found was that higher levels of GSH in the nucleus accumbens correlated with better and steady performance in the motivation tasks.
“N-acetylcysteine, the nutritional supplement that we gave in our study can also be synthesized in the body from its precursor cysteine,” says Sandi. “Cysteine is contained in ‘high-protein foods’, such as meat, chicken, fish or seafood. Other sources with lower content are eggs, whole-grain foods such as breads and cereals, and some vegetables such as broccoli, onions, and legumes.”
“Of course, there are other ways beyond N-acetylcysteine to increase GSH levels in the body, but how they relate to levels in the brain—and particularly in the nucleus accumbens—is largely unknown. Our study represents a proof of principle that dietary N-acetylcysteine can increase brain GSH levels and facilitate effortful behavior.”
Purple corn found to improve libido in malesUniversity of Tlaxcala (Mexico), November 1, 2022
Purple corn (Zea mays) has been used as an aphrodisiac since the time of ancient Mexico. A study published in the journal Journal of Evidence-Based Integrative Medicine sought to understand the mechanisms behind this plant’s effect.
The researchers suspected that purple corn extract stimulated the ejaculatory response in males.They used an animal model composed of male rats able to copulate and male rats whose spinal cord had been transected. Three doses of purple corn extract (25, 50, and 75 mg/kg) were administered to the animals.The rats’ copulating behavior was noted before and after the administration of the extracts. In the control group, the researchers noted no change in the animals’ mount latency and the number of mounts performed. All doses, however, increased the number of intromissions performed by male animals. Ejaculation latency was decreasedIn the spinal group, the researchers successfully used the extract to stimulate an increase in the number of discharges of the ejaculatory motor patterns.According to the researchers, these are proof that purple corn extract has aphrodisiac effects.

Gary Null’s Daily Health News - 10.27.22

Peanuts Linked to Lower Breast Cancer Risk
Washington University in St. Louis & Harvard University, October 22, 2022
 
Girls ages 9 to 15 who regularly ate peanut butter or nuts were 39 percent less likely to develop benign breast disease by age 30, according to a new study.
Benign breast disease, although noncancerous, increases risk of breast cancer later in life.
“These findings suggest that peanut butter could help reduce the risk of breast cancer in women,” says senior author Graham Colditz, professor of surgery at Washington University School of Medicine and associate director for cancer prevention and control at Siteman Cancer Center at Barnes-Jewish Hospital.
Published in the journal Breast Cancer Research and Treatment, the findings are based on the health histories of 9,039 US girls enrolled in the Growing Up Today Study .
When the study participants were 18 to 30 years old, they reported whether they had been diagnosed with benign breast disease that had been confirmed by breast biopsy.
Participants who ate peanut butter or nuts two times each week were 39 percent less likely to have developed benign breast disease than those who never ate them.
The study’s findings suggest that beans, lentils, soybeans, and corn also may help prevent benign breast disease, but consumption of these foods was much lower in these girls so the evidence was weaker.
Past studies have linked peanut butter, nut, and vegetable fat consumption to a lower risk for benign breast disease. However, participants in those studies were asked to recall their high school dietary intakes years later.
 
Perinatal Brain DHA Concentration Has a Lasting Impact on CognitionNational Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism  October 20, 2022
 A new study on Proteomics is now available. According to news out of Bethesda, Maryland,  research stated, "Premature infants are deprived of prenatal accumulation of brain docosahexaenoic acid [DHA (22: 6n-3)], an omega-3 fatty acid [omega-3 FA (n-3 FA)] important for proper development of cognitive function. The resulting brain DHA deficit can be reversed by omega-3 FA supplementation."
"The objective was to test whether there is a critical period for providing omega-3 FA to correct cognitive deficits caused by developmental omega-3 FA deprivation in mice. Twelve timed-pregnant mice  were fed an omega-3 FA-deficient diet containing 0.04% a-linolenic acid, and their offspring were fed the same deficient diet (Def group) or changed to an omega-3 FA-adequate diet containing 3.1% ALA at 3 wk, 2 mo, or 4 mo of age. In parallel, 3 E14 pregnant mice were fed the adequate diet and their offspring were fed the same diet (Adeq group) throughout the experiment. Brain FA composition, learning and memory, and hippocampal synaptic protein expression were evaluated at 6 mo by gas chromatography, the Morris water maze test, and western blot analysis, respectively. 
Maternal dietary omega-3 FA deprivation decreased DHA by > 50% in the brain of their offspring at 3 wk of age. The Def group showed significantly worse learning and memory at 6 mo than those groups fed the adequate diet. These pups also had decreased hippocampal expression of postsynaptic density protein 95 (43% of Adeq group), Homer protein homolog 1 (21% of Adeq group), and synaptosome-associated protein of 25 kDa (64% of Adeq group). 
Changing mice to the adequate diet at 3 wk, 2 mo, or 4 mo of age restored brain DHA to the age-matched adequate concentration. However, deficits in hippocampal synaptic protein expression and spatial learning and memory were normalized only when the diet was changed at 3 wk."
The research concluded: "Developmental deprivation of brain DHA by dietary omega-3 FA depletion in mice may have a lasting impact on cognitive function if not corrected at an early age."
 
At risk for diabetes? Cut the carbs, says new studyTulane University, October 26, 2022
While low-carb diets are often recommended for those being treated for diabetes, little evidence exists on whether eating fewer carbs can impact the blood sugar of those with diabetes or prediabetes who aren't treated by medications.
Now, according to new research from Tulane University, a low-carb diet can help those with unmedicated diabetes—and those at risk for diabetes—lower their blood sugar.
The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, compared two groups: one assigned to a low-carb diet and another that continued with their usual diet. After six months, the low-carb diet group had greater drops in hemoglobin A1c, a marker for blood sugar levels, when compared with the group who ate their usual diet. The low-carbohydrate diet group also lost weight and had lower fasting glucose levels.
"The key message is that a low-carbohydrate diet, if maintained, might be a useful approach for preventing and treating Type 2 diabetes, though more research is needed," said lead author Kirsten Dorans, assistant professor of epidemiology at Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine.
The study's findings are especially important for those with prediabetes whose A1c levels are higher than normal but below levels that would be classified as diabetes. Approximately 96 million Americans have prediabetes and more than 80% of those with prediabetes are unaware, according to the CDC. Those with prediabetes are at increased risk for Type 2 diabetes, heart attacks or strokes and are usually not taking medications to lower blood sugar levels, making a healthy diet more crucial. 
 
How early fears play a role in future anxiety, depressionUniversity of Texas at Dallas, October 26, 2022
A recent imaging study led by a scientist at The University of Texas at Dallas has identified early risk factors linked to children's temperament and a neural process that could foretell whether an individual might develop depression and anxiety in adolescence and early adulthood.
The study, published Oct. 26 in JAMA Psychiatry, tracked a cohort of 165 individuals from 4 months old, between 1989 and 1993, through age 26.
Dr. Alva Tang, assistant professor of psychology in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences and corresponding author of the study, found that people who are more inhibited in early childhood and who also don't respond typically to potential rewards as adolescents are vulnerable to developing depression later in life, more so than anxiety.
When babies are exposed to novel objects, people or situations, some react positively and approach them without fear, whereas others respond with wariness or avoidance. This differentiation defines uninhibited versus inhibited behavior.
"We know that inhibited children are more likely to have anxiety disorders later, particularly social anxiety, that begins in late childhood to adolescence," Tang said. "Less has been known about depression, which generally has a later onset, in young adulthood. But we do know that people who have had an anxiety disorder are 50% to 60% more likely to have depression later in life, so inhibited children should have higher risk for depression as well."
The researchers found that the association between inhibition at 14 to 24 months of age and worsening depressive symptoms from ages 15 to 26 was present only among those who also showed blunted activity in the ventral striatum as adolescents. There was no similar association with anxiety.
"We found that behavioral inhibition was related to worsening depressive symptoms into adulthood. This supports the assertion that this temperament shows a stronger relation to developing anxiety in adolescence, but in adulthood it is tied more strongly to depression. However, not all inhibited children develop anxiety or depression," Tang said. "It was particularly the inhibited children who showed blunted striatal activity who were more likely to become more depressed in young adulthood."
 
Pressure chamber therapy is effective in the functional improvement of autism, study findsTel-Aviv University (Israel), October 26, 2022
A new Tel Aviv University study succeeded in significantly improving social skills and the condition of the autistic brain through pressure chamber therapy. The study was conducted on animal models of autism. In it, the researchers identified changes in the brain, including a reduction in neuroinflammation, which is known to be associated with autism.
Moreover, a significant improvement was found in the social functioning of the animal models treated in the pressure chamber. The study's success has many implications regarding the applicability and understanding of treating autism using pressure chamber therapy.
Fischer and Barak explain that hyperbaric medicine is a form of therapy in which patients are treated in special chambers where the atmospheric pressure is higher than the pressure we experience at sea level, and in addition are delivered 100% oxygen to breathe. 
Dr. Barak says that "the medical causes of autism are numerous and varied, and ultimately create the diverse autistic spectrum with which we are familiar. About 20% of autistic cases today are explained by genetic causes, that is, those involving genetic defects, but not necessarily ones that are inherited from the parents." 
"Despite the variety of sources of autism, the entire spectrum of behavioral problems associated with it are still included under the single broad heading of 'autism,' and the treatments and medications offered do not necessarily correspond directly to the reason why the autism developed."
Dr. Barak says that they "discovered that treatment in the oxygen-enriched pressure chamber reduces inflammation in the brain and leads to an increase in the expression of substances responsible for improving blood and oxygen supply to the brain, and therefore brain function. In addition, we saw a decrease in the number of microglial cells, immune system cells that indicate inflammation, which is associated with autism.
"To our surprise, the findings showed a significant improvement in the social behavior of the animal models of autism that underwent treatment in the pressure chamber compared to those in the control group, who were exposed to air at normal pressure, and without oxygen enrichment." 
 
Study reveals connection between microbiome and autoimmune disordersUniversity of Calgary, October 23, 2022 
Published in Cell, a study by Santamaria and Kathy McCoy, PhD, from the University of Calgary's Cumming School of Medicine (CSM) reveals a new mechanism in the gut microbiome that regulates pro- and anti-inflammatory cells. "We found that a protein expressed by gut bacteria called Bacteroides works to prevent IBD by rapidly recruiting white blood cells to kill a cell of the immune system that is responsible for orchestrating inflammatory bowel disease (IBD)," says McCoy. "We think that this mechanism is likely involved in preventing most people from developing IBD."
However, there is a flipside to the protein's call for help. "In some people, the white blood cells overreact to the presence of the IBD bacteria. This is what causes problems like IBD—it's not the bacteria itself, but the immune system's severe reaction triggered by the protein. These same overstimulated white blood cells are also the cells that cause other autoimmune disorders like diabetes," says Santamaria. 
"This discovery demonstrates the effect the gut microbiome has on the immune system and unearths a novel mechanism via which changes in the gut microbiome can increase the risk of autoimmune disorders. While we looked specifically at IBD, it is likely there are many proteins in the gut that contribute to the development of other autoimmune disorders via similar mechanisms."

Gary Null’s Daily Health News - 10.24.22

Carotenoids linked to lower diabetes
Utrecht University Medical Center (Netherlands), October 21, 2022
A prospective study of 37,846 subjects links higher carotenoid consumption to a lower risk of diabetes.
People who consume a diet high in antioxidant-rich carotenoids have a lower occurrence of diabetes, according to a new study. The researchers linked higher intakes of beta and alpha carotene with lower risks of type 2 diabetes.
The research analyzed data from validated food frequency questionnaires from 37,846 participants in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition, which followed subjects for a mean of 10 years. They focused on dietary carotenoid intake levels consisting of beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein, zeaxanthin and the total of these six carotenoids. The study also examined how smoking (tobacco, not carotenoids) played into the subjects’ risk of developing diabetes. Thirty-one percent of the subjects smoked.
 “This study shows that diets high in beta-carotene and alpha-carotene are associated with reduced type 2 diabetes in generally healthy men and women,” concluded the authors of the study, which appeared in the journal Nutrition, Metabolism & Cardiovascular Disease. Smoking, according the researchers’ analysis, made no difference in the risk of diabetes.
An earlier study linked low carotenoids with increased risk of colon cancer. Animal and human studies have found that beta-carotene can enhance many aspects of immunity. Some of this research has shown that beta-carotene boosts the activity of "natural-killer" cells, a type of immune cell that fights cancer.
 
Melatonin and CoQ10 for migraines
University of California, Los Angeles, October 20, 2022
Migraines affect about 12 percent of people in the United States, occurring more often in women, in people between the ages of 30 and 39, and within families.
A retrospective analysis of migraine sufferers found that emotional stress was a trigger for 80 percent of them, missing a meal was a trigger for 57 percent, and lack of sleep was a trigger for 50 percent.
In a study, patients who experienced migraine headaches two to eight times per month were randomly assigned to take either a placebo or 100 milligrams of CoQ10 three times per day for at least three months. The authors measured success as a greater than 50 percent reduction in the frequency of migraines. Only 14.4 percent of those who took the placebo showed this level of reduction, but 47.6 percent of those who took CoQ10 reduced their frequency of migraines by that amount.
Then there's the B vitamin riboflavin. Another study found that 59 percent of people who took a daily dose of 400 milligrams had a greater than 50 percent reduction in the frequency of migraines, compared to 15 percent of those who took a placebo. However, it took three months for riboflavin to show this benefit.
Knowing that sleep problems increase the risk of migraines, researchers compared the effects of 3 milligrams of melatonin to the effects of the anti-depressant amitriptyline or of a placebo. After three months, 54.4 percent of people who took melatonin had a 50 percent or greater reduction in frequency of headaches compared to 39.1 percent in the amitriptyline group and 20 percent in the placebo group. 
 
 
Study: Eating foods high in healthy fats helps fight off skin cancer
University Medical Center Groningen (Netherlands), October 21, 2022
A study has found that foods rich in healthy fats can help protect against skin cancer and boost the effectiveness of immunotherapy among skin cancer patients. Results showed that patients who followed the Mediterranean diet and received the drugs were more likely to survive and remain progression-free after 12 months.
The Mediterranean diet includes lots of superfoods like olive oil, nuts and fish, along with fruits, vegetables and whole grains. The diet is popular because it is associated with amazing health benefits such as a longer lifespan and protection against cardiovascular diseases.
For the study, researchers from the U.K. and UMCG tracked the diets of 91 patients with advanced melanoma. The volunteers were all taking Immune Checkpoint Inhibitors (ICIs). ICIs have worked well for those with melanoma, the most serious type of skin cancer.
Researchers analyzed the patients’ progress and gave them frequent X-ray check ups. The findings revealed that the patients following a Mediterranean diet responded better to ICIs and were also most likely to not get any worse a year later.
According to the results of the study, whole grains and legumes in particular also helped reduce the likelihood of patients experiencing side effects from the immunotherapy drugs kike colitis or inflammation of the colon.
Meanwhile, those who consumed a lot of red and processed meat experienced more side effects.
 
 
 
Exercise Matters Regardless of Genetics When it Comes to Longevity
University of California San Diego, October 21, 2022
A study from the University of California San Diego found that engaging in physical activity contributed to your longevity, regardless of genetic predispositions.
This study of over 5,400 postmenopausal women aged 63 and up examined the role fitness habits play in longevity. The findings? Even light activity makes a difference, correlating with a 45% reduced risk of death, compared with those leading a sedentary lifestyle. Meanwhile, moderate-to-vigorous activity was found to have an even greater impact, with a 54% reduced risk of death.
These results were consistent among the women, regardless of any specific genetic predisposition. "Even if you aren't likely to live long based on your genes, you can still extend your lifespan by engaging in positive lifestyle behaviors such as regular exercise and sitting less," concluded senior author and assistant professor at UC San Diego, Aladdin H. Shadyab, Ph.D.
The UC San Diego study sought to answer the question of whether this risk changes if the person is genetically predisposed to live a long life. The conclusion is that no, it does not. Exercise increased the likelihood to live longer regardless of the subject's genetic profile, just as being sedentary increased their risk to die younger than would have otherwise been predicted based on their genes.
When accounting for activity of the subjects and adjusting for variables like race, age, BMI, smoker vs. nonsmoker and overall health status the authors found:
The highest quartile for light physical activity had a whopping 45% reduced risk of death compared to those in the lowest quartile
The highest quartile of moderate-to vigorous activity category had a 54% reduced risk of death vs. the lowest
The highest quartile for sedentary time doubled their risk of death compared to those with the lowest sedentary quartile
This association of activity and longevity carried through even with the genetic risk score taken into account, confirming that the benefit of exercise on longevity was present, regardless of genetics. Shadyab emphasized the importance of these findings and physical activity's impact on living longer, stating, "Even if your genes predispose you to a long life, remaining physically active is still important to achieve longevity."
 
 
Pesticide Free Organic Food Lowers Blood Cancer Risk by 86%
Centre of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics (France), October 22, 2022
Cutting out pesticides by eating only organic food could slash your cancer risk by up to 86 percent, a new study claims.
The biggest impact was seen on non-Hodgkin's lymphoma risk, which plummeted among those who shunned chemical-sprayed food, according to the survey of nearly 70,000 French adults. Overall, organic eaters were 25 percent less likely to develop any cancer, and their risks of skin and breast cancers dropped by a third.
The health benefit was far greater for obese people, they found. However, the diet had no significant effect on bowel cancer - which is soaring in numbers globally - or prostate cancer.'Our results indicate that higher organic food consumption is associated with a reduction in the risk of overall cancer,' lead author Dr Julia Baudry of the Centre of Research in Epidemiology and Statistics Sorbonne, Paris said.  'We observed reduced risks for specific cancer sites - postmenopausal breast cancer, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, and all lymphomas - among individuals with a higher frequency of organic food consumption.
 
Dr Baudry explained among the environmental risk factors for cancer there was growing evidence of a link between exposure to pesticides notably in farm workers and cancer development. 'Because of their lower exposure to pesticide residues, it can be hypothesised that high organic food consumers may have a lower risk of developing cancer.
 
The cohort, who were 78 percent female and an average age of 44 were broken up into four groups according their organic diet food scores. Factoring in known cancer risks, the proportion of participants in the top quartile for eating organic food who got certain cancers was a fraction compared to those in the bottom quartile.
 
The most common was 459 breast cancers, followed by 180 prostate cancers, 135 skin cancers, 99 colorectal cancers, 47 non-Hodgkin lymphomas, and 15 other lymphomas.High organic food scores were inversely associated with the overall risk of cancer being 25 percent less for those of the top quartile compared to the bottom.
 
WHO highlights high cost of physical inactivity in first-ever global report
World Health Organization, October 21, 2022
Almost 500 million people will develop heart disease, obesity, diabetes or other noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) attributable to physical inactivity, between 2020 and 2030, costing US$ 27 billion annually, if governments don't take urgent action to encourage more physical activity among their populations.
The Global status report on physical activity 2022, published by the World Health Organization, measures the extent to which governments are implementing recommendations to increase physical activity across all ages and abilities.
Data from 194 countries show that overall, progress is slow and that countries need to accelerate the development and implementation of policies to increase levels of physical activity and thereby prevent disease and reduce burden on already overwhelmed health care systems.
Less than 50% of countries have a national physical activity policy, of which less than 40% are operational
Only 30% of countries have national physical activity guidelines for all age groups
While nearly all countries report a system for monitoring physical activity in adults, 75% of countries monitor physical activity among adolescents, and less than 30% monitor physical activity in children under 5 years
In policy areas that could encourage active and sustainable transport, only just over 40% of countries have road design standards that make walking and cycling safer. 
The economic burden of physical inactivity is significant and the cost of treating new cases of preventable non-communicable diseases (NCDs) will reach nearly US$ 300 billion by 2030, around US$ 27 billion annually.
The report calls for countries to prioritize physical activity as key to improving health and tackling NCDs, integrate physical activity into all relevant policies, and develop tools, guidance and training to improve implementation.
 
 

Gary Null’s Daily Health News - 10.12.22

Component of citrus fruits found to block the formation of kidney cysts
University of London and Kingston University, UK   October 3, 2022
A study published in British Journal of Pharmacology has identified that a component of grapefruit and other citrus fruits, naringenin, successfully blocks the formation of kidney cysts.
Known as polycystic kidney disease, this is an inherited disorder which leads to the loss of kidney function, high blood pressure and the need for dialysis. Few treatment options are currently available.
The team of scientists from University of London and Kingston University London used a simple, single-celled amoeba to identify that naringenin regulates the PKD2 protein responsible for polycystic kidney disease and as a result, blocks formation of cysts.
To test how this discovery could apply in treatments, the team used a mammalian kidney cell-line, and triggered the formation of cysts in these cells. They were then able to block the formation of the cysts by adding naringenin and saw that when levels of the PKD2 protein were reduced in the kidney cells, so was the block in cyst formation, confirming that the effect was connected.
"Indeed, this study provides a good example of how chemicals identified in plants can help us develop new drugs for the treatment of disease," added Professor Debbie Baines from St George's, University of London.
 
Medical cannabis treats cancer and boosts the immune system, say scientists after reviewing more than 100 studiesRostock University Medical Center (Germany), October 1, 2022
A review of over 100 studies has shown that cannabis really is medicinal. Indeed, scientific analysis has shown that the cannabinoid compounds found in marijuana can stop cancer cells from dividing and spreading — and can even cut off blood supply to tumors. The researchers say that their findings prove that cannabis can be used as a cancer treatment. Does that mean plants will finally start getting recognized for their medicinal powers? One can only hope.
A team of German researchers, led by Professor Burkhard Hinz, have concluded that cannabis compounds can fight cancer. The scientists, say that an array of cannabinoids have medicinal value. 
Professor Hinz and his team have shown that over 100 different studies have indicated cannabis has the ability to treat cancer.
“In this context accumulating data from preclinical models suggest that cannabinoids elicit anti-cancer effects on several levels of cancer progression,” Hinz explained.
“Clinical studies are now urgently needed to investigate the impact of cannabinoids on cancer growth and progression in patients,” he added.
 
Older adults living unhealthy lifestyles twice as likely to end up in a nursing homeOlder adults who lead an unhealthy lifestyle are twice as likely to end up needing a nursing home in comparison to their more active peers, a new study reveals.
Researchers at the University of Sydney found smoking, physical activity, sitting, and sleep quality to have a strong link to nursing home admission rates. Surprisingly, diet quality did not display the same connection.
Smokers were 55 percent more likely than non-smokers to end up needing nursing care. For the study, which is the first of its kind, researchers looked at data on more than 127,000 Australians who took part in a large study on healthy aging between 2006 and 2009. Study authors followed up with these patients for 11 years on average.
The team divided them into the three risk groups based on five lifestyle factors: smoking, physical activity, sitting, sleep quality, and diet quality.
One quarter of participants (24%) ended up in the lowest risk group with a score of nine or 10 points. Almost two-thirds (62%) were in the medium risk group with a score of six to eight points and 14 percent were in the unhealthiest group with a score below five points.
The Australian research team found people over 60 who eat badly and spend too much time on the sofa were 43 percent more likely to end up in a nursing home compared with the fittest retirees. Older people with a moderately healthy lifestyle were 12 percent more likely to need nursing home care than the healthiest seniors.
 
Paternal stress associated with children's emotional and behavioral problems at age twoKing's College London, October 11, 2022
New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King's College London and others has found an association between fathers who experience too much stress in the months following the birth of their child, and the child's subsequent development of emotional and behavioral problems at age two.
The research, published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, suggests that new fathers should be assessed for stress during the perinatal period as it presents an opportunity for early intervention to help prevent future difficulties for both father and child.
901 fathers and 939 mothers completed questionnaires on stress, anxiety and depression during pregnancy and three stages in the postpartum period, with a final survey taking place at 24 months.
Overall, around 7% of participating fathers experienced high stress at the first three stages measured in the perinatal period. This then rose to 10% at two years postpartum.
Researchers identified the strongest association between paternal stress at three months postpartum and childhood emotional and behavioral problems at age two, even when accounting for other factors like maternal stress, anxiety and depression. Paternal stress was more strongly associated with childhood outcomes than paternal depression or anxiety.
Dr. Fiona Challacombe, and lead author of the study says, "Our study found that paternal stress makes a unique contribution to child outcomes, particularly during the early postpartum months. Nonetheless, men may be reluctant to seek help or express their needs during this time and may feel excluded from the maternal focus of perinatal services. The rise in paternal stress at two years indicates that this does not dissipate over time—returning to work, chronic sleep difficulties and behavioral difficulties becoming more apparent may all contribute."
 
Stevia - A Natural Alternative For Your MetabolismAutonomous University of Yucatan (Mexico), September 28, 2022
Stevia's health benefits go beyond sugar reduction -- it could also be a natural alternative for treating metabolic disorders, such as obesity and type 2 diabetes, say researchers. If you're determined to sweeten your foods and beverages, consider using this amazing natural herb.
Publishing their findings in the peer-reviewed Journal of Medicinal Food, the Mexican researchers reviewed both in vitro and in vivo studies which looked at the beneficial effects reported for steviol compounds -- aqueous and alcoholic stevia extracts -- derived from the leaves, flowers and roots of the stevia plant.
These studies analysed the plant's anti-obesity, anti-hyperglycemic, anti-hypertensive and anti-hyperlipidemic effects, all of which make it interesting to tackle the symptoms of metabolic syndrome. This is characterised by factors such as abdominal obesity, inflammation and diabetes, that are associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases.
Stevia contains other compounds, such as phytochemicals, that provide beneficial properties to health.
Theses include: diterpenes, labdabos, triterpenes, stigmasterol, tannins, ascorbic acid, alkaloids, steroids, saponins, flavonoids, b-carotene, chromium, cobalt, magnesium, iron, potassium, phosphorus, riboflavin, thiamine, tin, zinc, apigenin, austroinilina, avicularin, b-sitosterol, caffeic acid, campesterol, caryophyllene, centaureidin, chlorogenic acid, chlorophyll, kaempferol, luteolin and quercetin.
The authors identify three separate rat or mice studies in which orally administered stevia for a period of between three and nine weeks led to a weight reduction.
One study looking for sucrose replacement in beverages found that that satiety levels of SR, aspartame, and saccharose were similar among each other but stevia reduced the glucose and postprandial insulin levels, write the authors.
Other human and animal studies identified stevia as beneficial in lowering blood pressure. For instance, one study, hypertensive patients were given 250 mg of steviosides for one year. "Results indicate that their systolic and diastolic APs decreased after 3 months of starting the treatment without any negative effect on the biochemical parameters."
 
Did the COVID-19 pandemic lead to changes in our personality traits?University of Illinois, October 1, 2022
Previous studies have shown that levels of neuroticism declined during the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. A new study published in PLOS One found that these changes in neuroticism were short-lived and normalized later in the pandemic in 2021-2022. 
However, other personality traits such as agreeableness, openness, extraversion, and conscientiousness declined during the later stages of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021-2022. 
The study found that younger individuals were especially susceptible to changes in personality traits during the pandemic, suggesting a disruption of the personality development and maturation process that normally occurs during young adulthood.
The five-factor model of personality  is a widely used model that describes personality based on the presence of five broad traits. The model includes the following five personality traits:
Extraversion — a tendency for outgoing, energetic, and assertive behaviorsNeuroticism — a tendency for persistent and excessive pessimism and anxietyConscientiousness — a tendency to be organized, self-disciplined, responsible, and hard-workingAgreeableness — a tendency to be empathetic, friendly, compliant, and trustworthyOpenness — a tendency to be curious, imaginative, and open-mindedThese personality traits remain relatively stable over an adult’s lifetime and are generally unaffected by personal experience. Previous studies have shown that individuals show a small change in personality traits with age. Specifically, conscientiousness and agreeableness tend to increase gradually with age, whereas neuroticism, openness, and extraversion tend to decrease.

Economic Update

Title: "Swedish Socialism Undone"Blurb: In this week's show, Prof. Wolff presents updates on SCOTUS decisions, on the chaos of a declining capitalism, French elections and a strongly resurging French left, and on the meaning of recent collapse of the cryptocurrency markets. In the second half of the show, Wolff interviews Eleanor Goldfield, Swedish-US media activist, on why and how Sweden is not socialist.

Wise women

Jean Shinoda Bolen, M.D., is a psychiatrist, Jungian analyst and an internationally known author and speaker. She is a Distinguished Life Fellow of the American Psychiatric Association and a Diplomate of the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology, a former clinical professor of psychiatry at Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute, University of California Medical Center and a past board member of the Ms. Foundation for Women, the International Transpersonal Association, and the C.G. Jung Institute of San Francisco. She is the author of thirteen books in over one hundred foreign editions.  She is a NGO Permanent Representative to the United Nations Commission on the Status of Women from the Women’s World Summit Foundation (Geneva), also represents Pathways To Peace, The Millionth Circle, Earthchild Institute, Women’s Perspective, and the International Public Policy Institute. She is in three acclaimed documentaries: the Academy-Award winning anti-nuclear proliferation film “Women – For America, For the World,” the Canadian Film Board’s “Goddess Remembered,” and “Femme: Women Healing the World.
Photo attached
 
Kathleen Francis Ferrucci

Guns and Butter _071522

Gateway 21 and the Occult Imperium - Michael Hoffman, #439
Michael Hoffman begins Gateway 21 and the Occult Imperium with an explication of the Reign of Dead Matter and its supposed inevitability shepherded by spirits of agents on earth working for the coming of robotics; predictive programming; the Era of Must Be; the invisible empire; symbol manipulation; ritual murders; time is influenced by space; the Black Jack progression from 2001 to 2021

Ralph Nader_071422

We welcome back Dr. Bandy X. Lee, editor of “The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 37 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President,” to update us on her latest thinking about Trump’s hold on his followers and the conflicts within her own profession over their duty to warn. Plus, Ralph and Steve discuss the January 6th hearings.

The Gary Null Show - 07.13.22

The Colonization of the American Psyche
 
Richard Gale & Gary Null
Progressive Radio Network, July 12, 2022
 
 
 
We delude ourselves at our own peril by wrongly believing that government policy makers and the captains of private finance and industry are older and wiser. Because these people have managed to reach the top of their game, we assume they possess the intellectual acumen to steer a nation past its economic and social ills. We falsely believe they have the comprehensive skills to tackle the dire challenges that lie ahead such as a warming planet, growing cultural divisions, and an economic system on the verge of total collapse.  But as the years go by, more and more Americans are mounting questions with no realistic answers in sight. People feel we are charging blindly towards unaffordable energy costs, food insecurity, out-of-control debt and runaway inflation.  We realize we can no longer rely upon our leading institutions and the mainstream media. Our politicians constantly voice promises that are never fulfilled. 
 
We need to realize that the colonialist perspective, which has dominated American history since its founding, cannot be completely divorced from government efforts to manipulate and control factions within the population. A colonialist mindset can never offer constructive solutions to solve problems. Promoting common ground to simmer disharmony between seeming oppositional segments of society is counterintuitive to colonialism. Rather it must rely on instilling discord, conflict, and eventually violence, either psychological or physical, in order to keep conflicts alive, which in turn validate further control, surveillance and heavy-handed measures.  Our nation's leaders and institutions believe they are the adults in the room and we their children deserve their tough love. 
 
Consequently whatever can be weaponized in order to manipulate the sensitivities of others to keep conflicts alive is fair game. The emotions behind racial and gender tensions are weaponized to keep people divided. For example, Biden wants to criminalize parents who oppose school boards that seem determined to sexualize grammar school education. Religion has been weaponized whereby authentic religion barely exists in the American landscape anymore. Politicians on both sides of the aisle weaponize any issue contrary to their ideological goals. The Covid pandemic's controversies are manipulated so that science is weaponized against itself. Physicians and medical professionals who disagree with the pandemic's lockdowns, drug treatments, vaccine mandates and the wet market theory about the SARS-2 virus' origins, are censored, demonized and threatened with the loss of their medical licenses. However there are always blowbacks and serious repercussions when others are weaponized in order to colonize a perceived enemy psychologically or by physical force. 
 
A fundamental problem is that the average person expects very simple solutions to otherwise extremely complex problems. Regardless of the political divide, people expect instant transformation to be backed immediately by legislation. They want their emotional biases and self-righteous believes to written into law. And the easiest solution is to create a scapegoat and then keep the victim alive and wandering in the wasteland until the problem reaches its final solution. Nazis colonized the German psyche by scapegoating Jews, gypsies, and members of the LBGT community. But of course a final solution is never reached constructively and inevitably leaves catastrophic destruction in its wake. 
 
Instead we are led to a more rapid breakdown of the remaining threads of democracy. The educational system, the nuclear family, and the very moral fabric that keeps a culture healthy and vital collapse. Inescapably, whoever is the aggressor generates its own negative and destructive identity. The new cancel culture, which has now been absorbed into the federal government, has become the very cancer of hatred and vitriol it tries to marginalize and eradicate. One party or the other becomes vehemently juxtaposed to the opposing party as an enemy to be abolished; eventually that party identifies subliminally with the very pernicious characteristics it blames on its enemy. The powerless seize power by demonizing those less powerful. What we are witnessing is American culture being displaced by a hyperactive Hollywood dystopia.  People are displaced by technological robotism. News porn displaces pragmatic inquiry. And as we look around, we no longer have a culture that is even capable of defining itself in any way other than a psychological tyranny bent on coercive control. It is as if we inhabit a haunted house of horrors while being completely oblivious to that fact. 
 
Perhaps it is time to regard our nation's politick as grievously and mentally unstable. For many people this is self evident. The US is the world's most anxious, depressed and mentally disturbed nation. Despite the widespread use of psychiatric drugs to palliate symptoms and enormous resources spent to tackle the epidemic of mental disorders, Americans’ psychological health continues to worsen. Our ruling institutions believe they understand their own psychology but they are unquestionably clueless. The psychological fragmentation and creation of divisions in American culture are sometimes viewed as the Balkanization of American culture. This doesn’t suggest that the powers that be desire to carve up the nation into separate regions hostile and uncooperative with each other. That is counter-intuitive for any government or corporate ambition to strengthen political and economic control over a population. Nevertheless it has resulted in the red and blue factions becoming more distinctly divided and hostile. The Balkanization of the American psyche is the unwanted consequence of a mentally unsound political apparatus and an equally psychologically unstable media. 
 
Perhaps it is more accurate to regard the belligerent quagmire of factional animosity towards the “other” as a fascist colonization of the American psyche. After Trump’s surprising 2016 electoral win, book sales dealing with fascism soared. Sales of Hannah Arendt’s Origins of Totalitarianism and Orwell’s 1984 skyrocketed.  However we should be very wary of our choice of words and the real life definitions we give them. Rather than assuming the reemergence of an early 20th century fascism on American shores, perhaps we might consider the term Americanism as a unique fascist ideology contrary and in opposition to the Constitution.
 
In 1938, a Yale Divinity School professor, Halford Luccock, gave a sermon at Manhattan’s Riverside Church. Luccock derogatorily coined the term Americanism.
 
“When and if fascism comes to America it will not be labeled “made in Germany’; it will not be marked with a swastika; it will not even be called fascism; it will be called, of course, ‘Americanism.” 
 
Similar predictive warnings were not uncommon in the 1930s. The prominent social commentator H.L. Mencken gave a similar prediction. Writing for the Baltimore Sun, Mencken wrote:
 
“My own belief, more than once set afloat from this spot, is that it will take us, soon or late, into the stormy waters of fascism. To be sure, that fascism is not likely to be identical with the kinds on tap in Germany, Italy and Russia; indeed it is very apt to come in under the name of anti-fascism.”
 
In her 1939 Harper’s Magazine article, Lillian Symes wrote about Huey Long’s suspected prediction that “Fascism would come to America in the name of anti-fascism” (a quote often wrongly attributed to Winston Churchill)
 
“If a fascist movement ever triumphs in America it will undoubtedly triumph in the name of our most popular slogan – Democracy, and under the leadership of some such “friend of the common people” as the late Huey Long…. Whoever its angels and whatever their purpose, it will speak the language of a populist left.”
 
The fragmented Balkanization of the American psyche has certainly given rise to warring populist factions. The triumph of cancel culture, in groups such as Antifa, the radicalized factions in the race-based and gender movements, the White Fragility phenomena, and Silicon Valley social media censorship is evidence of a new emerging authoritarian Americanism growing within the ranks of the left’s liberal populism. 
 
Roosevelt’s vice president Henry Wallace likewise observed signs that US’s weakness might flirt with fascism.  In April 1944, the New York Times quoted Wallace stating: 
 
“The American fascist would prefer not to use violence. His method is to poison the channels of public information. With a fascist the problem is never how best to present the truth to the public but how best to use the news to deceive the public into giving the fascist and his group more money or more power... They claim to be super-patriots, but they would destroy every liberty guaranteed by the Constitution… Their final objective, toward which all their deceit is directed, is to capture political power so that, using the power of the state and the power of the market simultaneously, they may keep the common man in eternal subjection." 
 
Wallace believed that the greatest weapon to prevent fascism was to prioritize the importance of human well being above dollars and profit. He saw evidence that ‘fascism in the postwar inevitably will push steadily for Anglo-Saxon imperialism and eventually war with Russia.” Although such a war would never erupt during America’s Cold War against the Soviet Union, Wallace’s warning now seems to be at our doorstep. “Already American fascists,” Wallace wrote, “are talking and writing about this conflict and using it as an excuse for their internal hatreds and intolerance toward certain races creeds and classes.”  If Wallace could hear the venom spewed by the neo-con cartel surrounding Biden in the Oval Office, he would certainly see America’s fascist moment on hand. However, domestically, the ultimate goal of American political conceit and elitism is to impose homogeneity across society. Thus we observe the government imposing an aberrant universal vanity not only on its own population but repeatedly upon other nations through electoral interference and military or intelligence intervention.
 
Another obstacle is that America’s attention skills are direly week. Most Americans emotionally react to wherever the headline of the day leads them. Their priorities about the nation’s most urgent challenges shift and change dramatically.  For example, when the economy is strong, global warming and the preservation of the environment are high on people’s lists. Today with rising popular uncertainty, confusion and aimlessness, the percentage of people who place climate change as the single most important threat barely reaches double figures. It is only the most conscientious among us who are aware of how our activities and habits contribute to greenhouse gas emissions and the depletion of the environment.  Our international climate change summits are utterly worthless. They are little more than weeklong seminars for world leaders to learn more platitudes and more talking points for political campaigns and press conferences. Since no nation is held legally accountable by international environmental treaties, everything is voluntary and nothing essential is done. It is all smoke and mirrors to cover over Washington’s guilt.
 
Good intentions without deep moral and spiritual understanding and resolve to act, are fruitless.  Once the intention fades from awareness, the potential to act constructively vanishes immediately. An amusing comparison can be made between Kim Kardassian’s sister Kylie Jenner and green activist Greta Thunberg.
 
Kyle Jenner is a fashion mogul billionaire with 300 million Instagram views. She claims to be a strong proponent of protecting the planet and the environment. Yet, typically of the rich and powerful, the sincerity of their claims are questionable. She has a closet stacked with hundreds of pairs of shoes. She is a massive consumer who travels in a private jet. Contrast Kylie's faux environmentalism with Greta Thunberg, and her 12 million social media followers, who rails against the acerbic hypocrisy of national presidents, prime ministers and business leaders. Kylie and Greta both claim to have a mission to protect the planet.  Yet one is a habitual spender; the other is an extraordinarily conscientious consumer. One is a plastic manikin of media hype and privileged elitism; the other aggressively challenges the fossil fuel, lumber, mining and livestock industries. Kylie flaunts empty words; Greta pragmatically persuades us in taking account of our lives. There can never be a sustainable future if we are unable to disengage from current American standards of living, consumerism, dietary habits and modes of transportation. 
 
Fortunately distrust in government and the media is growing exponentially. Yet sadly this will not solve our population’s growing disorientation in US’s new no-mans-land. Similar to the warnings given seven decades ago, the American media has been fully captured by private and secretive national security interests. We hear the dreaded dirge of a single official mantra; that is, increase irrational hope, surrender your independence and individuality, leave your reason at the door and obey your elected leaders and the unelected cartels that keep them in office. Only a tiny percent of the US population actually controls the larger national dialogues and agendas, both domestic and foreign. But a new generation of technocrats, groomed in the halls of the culture wars of division, condemnation and conquest are now entering the halls of government, finance and corporate boardrooms.  These are new shock troops that are leading the assault to colonize the American psyche, the mass formation of a distinctly American hive mentality, that forebodes far worse things to come in the near future.