Critically Speaking

Bedbug infestations have reached epidemic proportions.  They are found in homes and hotels everywhere in the world and come out at night to feed on the blood of the sleeping person.  Their bites produce inflamed, irritating welts, sometimes days after their bite. Because they are small and hard to find since they hide crevices, and because they are resistant to many insecticides, eliminating them has been challenging.  Dr. Edward Vargo, Professor of the Texas A&M University Division of Urban and Structural Entomology, is a bedbug expert who discusses the history of the bedbug human association, the reasons why they are difficult to eliminate, and the best practices to avoid unknowingly bringing them into your home.

 Key Takeaways:

• Bedbugs are everywhere, having undergone global population explosions in the last three decades
• They can hitchhike in your luggage, so it’s best to unpack your suitcases anyplace but on your bed
• They can be found in used furniture, especially things you find put out on the street, making it critical to carefully examine any used furniture before you acquire it. 
• Bedbugs can move between apartments in the same building.

"In almost every case, all the bedbugs in a building can be traced back to a single female, or very small group of females." —  Dr. Ed Vargo

Connect with Dr. Ed Vargo:

Texas A&M University: Urban and Structural Entomology Program at Texas A&M University

Bed Bug Biology and Management: Bed Bugs

BedBug Registry: The Bedbug Registry

Connect with Therese:

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net

Twitter: @CritiSpeak

Email: [email protected]

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

Today, Therese Markow and Dr. Alison Franklin discuss the emerging field of agroecosystems and the information we currently have and are currently researching, regarding antibiotic-resistant bacteria and antibiotic resistant genes. Dr. Franklin also explains what happens to the antibiotics in the wastewater and in animal waste that is going out into the environment and the impact on the environment, and, potentially, on human health.

 Key Takeaways:

• There are no standards in place for concentrations of antibiotic compounds in the treated water at the wastewater treatment plants.
• Bacteria in soil serves many different crucial roles and help cycle nutrients that we need to grow anything.
• The release of antibiotics and antibiotic resistant genes and bacteria into the soils can interfere with the important roles that soil bacteria play. 
• This is an emerging field. We are still at the point of trying to understand what the resistant bacteria and antibiotic-resistant genes means for health and health risks.

"Essentially, if bacteria were not in the soil, the soil would not be functioning how it should be, we wouldn't be able to grow anything. And, especially with the nitrogen cycle, it wouldn't be happening when some of the crucial steps in the nitrogen cycle are within the soil." —  Dr. Alison Franklin

Connect with Dr. Alison Franklin:

LinkedIn: Alison Franklin

Connect with Therese:

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net

Twitter: @CritiSpeak

Email: [email protected]

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

Magali Barba-Sevilla is a seismologist at the University of Colorado’s Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences and Department of Geology.

In today’s episode, Therese and Magali discuss the three different classes of earthquakes, why earthquakes can’t be predicted, how early warning systems work, and the real facts about how to be safe should an earthquake strike.

 Key Takeaways: 

• The most severe type of earthquake occurs when an oceanic tectonic plate, which is heavier than terrestrial plate, slides under the terrestrial plate.  These events are what are common in the ring of fire.
• Early warning systems function because shortly before an earthquake strikes, there are “primary waves” detectable only by seismologists and some animals, and seismologists can send signals to nearby urban areas that there are anywhere from a few seconds to a minute to seek protection.
• Contrary to many beliefs, the safest place to be is not under a doorway or in the “triangle of life”.  The best thing to do is to seek cover under a table and hold on to the legs in order to move with it when the shaking begins.

"I've heard that people think that earthquakes typically occur either in the morning or at night. But this is not true. They occur anytime. I think that the reason why people think that is is because they're woken up by them, and that makes them more memorable." —  Magali Barba-Sevilla

Connect with Magali Barba-Sevilla:

Bio: Magali Barba-Sevilla   

Article: Hazard Implications of the 2016 Wm 5.0 Cushing, OK Earthquake from a Joint Analysis of Damage and InSAR Data

Article: Satellite Imagery Measures Ground Motion Due to Oklahoma Induced Seismicity

Connect with Therese: 

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net

Twitter: @CritiSpeak

Email: [email protected]

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

Dr. Zehr is the scientific editor for the American Society of Radiologic Technologists, which produces two peer-reviewed journals, Radiologic Technology and Radiation Therapist.  Dr. Zehr holds a doctorate in biomedical science with focuses in cardiovascular physiology and fatty acid metabolism. 

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Kayla Zehr revisit male breast cancer, because recent investigations report that it is on the rise.   This is not a disease that only affects women. Men can and do get breast cancer, and they are getting it more frequently: the rate has been increasing, 26% in the last three decades. They discuss the similarities in breast cancer between men and women, as well as the increased risk for transgendered individuals. Men often ignore symptoms or feel stigmatized by breast disease and thus delay seeking medical examinations.   Thus, they are often diagnosed at a more advanced stage of the disease.  

 Key Takeaways:

• Men, as in women, with a 1st degree relative with breast or ovarian cancer have a 2- to 3-fold increased risk of developing breast cancer themselves.
• Unfortunately, probably through lack of awareness or fear of stigmatization, men tend to be diagnosed when their breast cancer is at a more advanced stage and, thus, their treatment outcomes are not as successful as for women.
• Men should engage in the same self-examination processes as women and, if diagnosed, should be helped to not feel isolated.

"There were men with breast cancer who reported feeling isolated from some members of their family, some members of their friends and coworkers, because when they told people they have breast cancer, these individuals didn't know how to react or how to support them." —  Dr. Kayla Zehr

Connect with Dr. Kayla Zehr:

Article: Diagnosis and Treatment of Breast Cancer in Men.

LinkedIn: Kayla Zehr, PhD

Connect with Therese:

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net

Twitter: @CritiSpeak

Email: [email protected]

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it. 

Dr. Paul Offit is the Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Infectious Diseases and Director of the Vaccine Education Center at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and Maurice R. Hilleman Professor of Vaccinology at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania. His expertise is in the area of vaccines. 

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Paul Offit discuss the MMR vaccine, the history of it, and the current decay of measles herd immunity today.  Many parents are refusing to vaccinate their children, referencing politicians, actors, and social activists who lack correct information regarding the vaccine.  Even if an unvaccinated child recovers from measles, they may, years later, develop a fatal encephalitis from the measles virus that has hidden in their brains. Dr. Offit thus discusses not only the serious potential complications of measles during the illness but the risks of later and seemingly unrelated fatalities in the unvaccinated.  

 Key Takeaways: 

• School vaccine mandates were born in the mid-1970s, especially in big cities, as outbreaks were often spread in schools.
• In a portion of children who recover from measles, the measles virus still remains hidden in the brain and can result in encephalitis.
• You have the right to make decisions about your own health, but you don’t have the right to make your child a martyr for your cause.
• Many of those activating against vaccinations are still referencing an invalidated and retracted paper from 1998.

"Medicine’s hard enough – there is so much we can’t do - but this we can do! We can prevent this disease, so watching parents, knowingly, put their children in harm’s way, and putting those their children come in contact with in harm’s way, has been very hard to watch." —  Dr. Paul Offit

Connect with Dr. Paul Offit:

Book: Bad Advice: Or Why Celebrities, Politicians, and Activists Aren’t Your Best Source of Health Information and More!

Connect with Therese: 

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net

Twitter: @CritiSpeak

Email: [email protected]

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

Early puberty is not only on the rise in girls, but the long term psychological and mental health consequences are only recently becoming clear.  Dr. Frank Biro, Professor of Pediatrics, expert in early puberty, discusses with Therese exactly what puberty is, and the observation that girls as young as 7 or 8 are beginning to enter puberty.  In other words, little girls in primary school grades are developing breasts, underarm hair, and body odor, much earlier than their peers.  Research suggests that in some cases the early onset of puberty maturation is correlated with body mass index (BMI). Significant behavioral risks for girls who mature earlier than their peers include social problems, school failure, delinquency, depression and even suicide. 

Key Takeaways:  

• Breast development is the first outward sign of puberty in young girls. Studies with elementary schoolchildren show the onset of maturation is occurring in girls as young as 7-8 years old. 
• Some factors contributing to a higher BMI in children includes food consumption, chemicals in the environment, and physical activity. 
• Parents of early maturing girls are encouraged to be involved with their children and monitor their behavior closely.  Children are less likely to engage in risky behavior if they know their parents are monitoring their activities.  

"When we looked at the contributing factors we examined, body mass index was the single most important contributing factor to the earlier age of the onset of puberty maturation." —  Dr. Frank Biro 

Connect with Therese:  

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net 

Twitter: @CritiSpeak  

Email: [email protected] 

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

Ever heard of Glyphosate? 

If not, it's likely you've heard of the product "Roundup", the weed killer.  It's been in the news a lot because jurors in three separate trials have agreed that exposure to Roundup caused plaintiff's non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma and awarded a total of $2.4 billion in compensation and punitive damages against its manufacturer.  New dangers now appear to be presenting themselves.  A condition known as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, which increases risks of cirrhosis and liver cancer, is on the rise, as are deaths from the disease. Investigators at the University of California at San Diego School of Medicine have recently reported an association between glyphosate, the ingredient in Roundup, and this serious liver disease.  In today's episode, Therese and Dr. Paul Mills, one of the authors of the study, discuss the evidence for this association. 

 Key Takeaways:  

• Glyphosate and its metabolite aminomethylphosphonic acid (AMPA) are detectable in urine, and their levels have been increasing over time. 
• Prior to the introduction of Genetically Modified Crops, and the agricultural use of Roundup, it was practically non-detectable in humans. 
• Glyphosate residue was higher in the urine of subjects with liver disease regardless of possible underlying factors such as age, body mass index, or race. 

"Glyphosate, as you must know, it's only just one of so many other herbicides and insecticides and fungicides also used on crops. So we've been exposed to hundreds of novel compounds that we weren't evolved and designed to really deal with and process metabolically and otherwise." —  Dr. Paul Mills 

Connect with Dr. Paul Mills: 

UCSD Profile: Paul J. Mills    

Connect with Therese:  

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net 

Twitter: @CritiSpeak  

Email: [email protected] 

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.   

In this episode, Therese Markow and Dr. Leon Barron discuss what is in our wastewater is, both before and after it goes through the treatment facilities. Wastewater treatment can vary among countries and even within a country, depending upon local population density and regulations.  Profiling what enters a water treatment facility reveals a lot about the health and pharmaceutical consumption of a given population. For example, cocaine use is higher in Europe than in the USA where methamphetamine is more commonly found at high levels in pretreatment wastewater. Even with treatment, not everything is removed from the water that we generally assume to be safe. For example, Dr. Barron’s recent research reveals that cocaine and other psychotropic drugs have been found in the rivers in “pristine” environments and that these drugs show up in the invertebrates and the fish that eat them.  While low levels are currently assumed to be safe for humans, longer term and more in depth studies on these levels for humans and fetal brain development are critical. International groups of collaborators, including Dr. Barron, are engaged in global monitoring of wastewater.

 Key Takeaways:

• With "Wastewater Based Epidemiology",  samples of the discharge into the sewage network can be screened, in effect drug testing an entire city in one go.
• It's very, very important that we understand where these drugs, especially pharmaceuticals and illicit drugs, are used,  where they end up and what effects they're having in order to take preemptive measures. 
• While the current exposure and effect on humans is currently thought to be minimal, the concentrations of these drugs in the water you consume, and their health effects, require further study.

"The wastewater can really tell us an awful lot about what city is doing." —  Dr. Leon Barron

Connect with Dr. Leon Barron:

Kings College London Profile: Dr Leon Barron

Research: Dr Leon Barron

Connect with Therese:

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net

Twitter: @CritiSpeak

Email: [email protected]

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. 

In this episode, Therese and Dr. Michael Metzger talk about various forms of cancer that are contagious, in other words, it can be passed from one individual to another.  More of these are being discovered across a range of animal species.  Some of the cases involve vertebrate animals and others, invertebrates such as clams and mussels.  They discuss how the fates of infected individuals vary from resistance to death and the implications for resistance to human cancer therapies. 

 Key Takeaways:  

• Dogs pass cancer by mating, resulting in tumors in the reproductive tract. 
• Tasmanian Devils pass cancer by biting during fights. 
• In marine mollusks, the cancer is thought to be spread in the water. 
• None of these cancers have been found to pass to humans. 
• The fact that some individuals are resistant, suggests that mechanisms exist which can be exploited in treating human cancers, once resistance is understood. 

“We think that, by understanding these really extreme cases of cancer transmission in the wild, we can understand things that we wouldn’t be able to learn from just studying human cancers." —  Dr. Michael Metzger 

Connect with Dr. Michael Metzger: 

PNRI Profile: Metzger Lab    

Twitter: @themetzgerm 

NIH Bibliography: Michael Metzger’s Bibliography    

Connect with Therese:  

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net 

Twitter: @CritiSpeak  

Email: [email protected] 

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.  

What happens when we remember something?  Therese Markow talks with neuroscientist Dr. Ben Albensi about how memory works, involving both chemical and structural changes.  They talk about the signals in the brain, the connections among different brain regions underlying memory, and the role of sleep in consolidating the memory process.  Dr. Albensi also describes what happens when a person suffers amnesia. 

 Key Takeaways:  

• Memory begins in the brain region called the hippocampus, from which chemical signals and neural connections then extend to other regions. 
• These connections are important for memory. 
• Enriched environments result in more connections. 
• Sleep is critical to the memory process. 

"We’ve learned from scientific evidence and experiments that sleep is critical to quality of memory and memory consolidation." —  Dr. Ben Albensi 

Connect with Dr. Ben Albensi:  

Hôpital St-Boniface Hospital Profile: Dr. Benedict C. Albensi    

Email: [email protected] 

Cell Phone: 973-668-0206  

LinkedIn: Benedict C. Albensi, PhD, BCMAS, CRQM 

Connect with Therese:  

Website:   www.criticallyspeaking.net 

Twitter: @CritiSpeak  

Email: [email protected] 

Audio production by Turnkey Podcast Productions. You're the expert. Your podcast will prove it.