End of Year Trends Review -- A Look at 2022

Gerald Celente is one of today’s pioneers in trend strategy and identifying the developments of change occurring in our world. He founded the Trends Research Institute in Kingston NY and is the publisher of the Trends Journal that has been in publication since 1980. Gerald has since become one of the nation’s most sought after diagnosticians and forecasters.   He is also the host of the weekly show "Trends This Week," heard every Wednesday at 11 am Eastern Time on the Progressive Radio Network. More information can be found on the Institute's website TrendsResearch.com

Bengaluru Neuro Centre (India), December 26, 2021

The global prevalence of stress is increasing. Stress adversely affects cognitive ability, sleep quality, and overall psychological well-being. Ashwagandha (Withania somnifera (L.) Dunal), an essential medicine in Ayurveda, is reportedly beneficial in reducing stress and improving memory. This double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled clinical study evaluated the effect of Ashwagandha root extract sustained-release capsule 300 mg (hereafter Ashwagandha SR) on cognitive functions, stress levels, sleep quality, overall well-being, and safety in stressed subjects. 

In this first reported clinical study assessing the “sustained-release formulation” of Ashwagandha root extract, we demonstrated that consumption of Ashwagandha SR capsules for 90 days resulted in improved memory and focus, psychological well-being, and sleep quality and reduced stress levels. We also showed that Ashwagandha SR capsules were safe when administered over the period of 90 days. Thus, these capsules can be used in a single daily dose as an effective adaptogen to improve cognitive abilities and reduce stress in otherwise healthy adults

Social stress messes up the hippocampus

Polish Academy of Sciences, December 3, 2021

How do you feel when you are stuck in a traffic jam for hours? Or when you are late for a flight? Or when you are waiting at the university hall to pass an exam? Obviously, you feel stressed, which might endanger your hippocampus according to a research paper recently published in PLOS One by Stankiewicz and colleagues.

A large body of research has clearly shown that stress, especially when repeated and unpredictable, is capable of modifying the structure and the activity of neuronal circuits. In fact, stress is a risk factor for many mood-related disorders such as depression, anxiety and schizophrenia. Adaptive and maladaptive modifications take place in our brain to counteract stressors and these modifications could lead to severe mental pathologies. One of the most vulnerable structures of the brain is the hippocampus, a brain region greatly involved in learning and memory functions.

Stress responses have been correlated with altered inflammatory functions; for example, infiltration of leukocytes in the brain of socially defeated mice has been reported. As such, Stankiewicz and colleagues searched for potential modifications in expression of brain-inflammation markers in hippocampi from stressed mice. 

Thankfully, good news also came out from this study. We all have experienced the pleasant effects of rest following stressful periods; in fact, Stankiewicz and colleagues found that after 5 days of recovery from a protocol of chronic stress most of the altered genes had returned to basal levels, suggesting that maladaptive modifications are indeed reversible. This finding reinforces the idea that our brain is able to adapt to any circumstances, healthy or unhealthy, and that our life style could sometimes be the best cure to our messed up brains.

University of Turku (Finland), December 29, 2021

A healthy, comprehensive diet that lowers the body's inflammation reduces the risk of gestational diabetes mellitus, reveals a new study from the University of Turku in Finland.

Obesity is a significant risk factor for developing gestational diabetes mellitus, and an increasing number of pregnant women are overweight or obese. Dietary habits have an impact on both obesity and the onset of gestational diabetes mellitus.

The research results show that following a healthy diet in early pregnancy reduces the risk of gestational diabetes. The study also found that a higher dietary inflammatory index, meaning a diet that increases the low-grade inflammatory markers in the body was connected to an increased risk of developing gestational diabetes mellitus. Furthermore, a higher consumption of fat and especially saturated fats was connected to gestational diabetes. This is of interest as the intake of saturated fats is known to increase the body's inflammation.

Eating vegetables, fruit, berries, and wholegrain products as well as unsaturated fats is particularly important. These nutrients and foods reduce inflammation in the body and therefore also the risk of gestational diabetes. 

University of Palermo (Italy), December 24, 2021

Magnesium intake may help improve blood sugar (glucose) metabolism among people with diabetes and those who are at high risk of developing the disease, according to findings from a meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials reported in the journal Nutrients. 

Magnesium [intake] appears to have a beneficial role and improves glucose parameters in people with diabetes,” the authors concluded. “Moreover, our work indicates that magnesium [intake] may improve insulin-sensitivity parameters in those at high risk of diabetes.”

Their research suggests that magnesium intake may boost glucose utilization by the cells, particularly in those who have not developed full-fledged diabetes. Studies have also indicated that magnesium decreases factors that contribute to insulin resistance, including oxidative stress and inflammation.

Compared to a placebo, intake of magnesium was associated with significantly lower fasting plasma glucose levels in trials that included diabetic participants.

Nighttime electronic device use lowers melatonin levels

The Proceedings of the National Academy of Science published the findings researchers at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital of a suppressive effect for evening use of light-emitting electronic devices on sleep and melatonin secretion.

"Electronic devices emit light that is short-wavelength-enriched light, which has a higher concentration of blue light -- with a peak around 450 nm -- than natural light," explained lead author Anne-Marie Chang. "This is different from natural light in composition, having a greater impact on sleep and circadian rhythms." 

Twelve healthy adults were randomized to read a light-emitting eBook or a printed book in dim room light approximately four hours before bedtime for five evenings. At the end of the five day period, participants switched their assignments. eBook reading was associated with more time needed to fall asleep and less rapid eye movement sleep in comparison with reading a printed book. Evening melatonin levels were suppressed by an average of 55.12% in eBook readers, while those who read printed books had no suppression. Compared to printed book reading, the onset of melatonin release in response to dim light occurred 1 ½ hours later the day following reading of an eBook.

Mediterranean diet plus olive oil or nuts associated with improved cognitive function

Institute of Biomedical Investigations (Barcelona Spain), December 11, 2021

Supplementing the plant-based Mediterranean diet with antioxidant-rich extra virgin olive oil or mixed nuts was associated with improved cognitive function in a study of older adults in Spain but the authors warn more investigation is needed, according to an article published online by JAMA Internal Medicine.

Emerging evidence suggests associations between dietary habits and cognitive performance. Oxidative stress (the body's inability to appropriately detoxify itself) has long been considered to play a major role in cognitive decline. Previous research suggests following a Mediterranean diet may relate to better cognitive function and a lower risk of dementia. However, the observational studies that have examined these associations have limitations, according to the study background.

The study found that individuals assigned to the low-fat control diet had a significant decrease from baseline in all composites of cognitive function. Compared with the control group, the memory composite improved significantly in the Mediterranean diet plus nuts, while the frontal and global cognition composites improved in the Mediterranean diet plus olive oil group. The authors note the changes for the two Mediterranean diet arms in each composite were more like each other than when comparing the individual Mediterranean diet groups with the low-fat diet control group.

Kumamoto University (Japan), December 24, 2021

Researchers at Kumamoto University in the Kyushu region of Japan studied green tea’s beneficial properties, specifically its ability to calm the mind. Published in the Journal of Functional Foods in 2019, the study examined the stress-reducing function of matcha green tea in animal experiments and clinical trials. The study honed in on the effects of L-theanine, a primary amino acid in green tea that has been shown to exhibit stress-reducing effects in mice and humans with high-trait anxiety.

The amino acid L-arginine, also present in traditional green tea, has previously been shown to enhance stress-reducing effects of certain amino acids. Matcha tea, also called “fine powder tea,” has higher concentrations of theanine and arginine than traditional green tea preparations.

However, the higher caffeine level creates an effect that is antagonistic to theanine, meaning it reduces theanine’s calming effects. Previous studies have suggested that differences in the quantities and ratios of these three green tea components (theanine, arginine and caffeine) affect the efficiency of its stress-reducing action.

Researchers noted that the quantities of theanine and arginine must be high, whereas the EGCG and caffeine levels must be low to receive optimum anti-anxiety benefits of matcha tea. Therefore, this research suggests that the quality of matcha tea preparation is highly important when an individual is consuming matcha for its calming properties.

Akershus University Hospital (Norway), December 27 2021. 

The November-December 2021 issue of Kidney Medicine reported the finding of a reduction in markers of cellular senescence among kidney transplant recipients who received supplemental omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFA) in comparison with a placebo.  Accelerated cellular senescence has been associated with a decline in kidney transplant function.

The current study compared the effects of 2.6 grams per day of omega-3 fatty acids to a placebo among 132 kidney transplant patients. Blood samples were collected before and after the 44-week treatment period. 

Analysis of plasma obtained at the end of the trial revealed a reduction in the SASP components granulocyte colony-stimulating factor, interleukin 1α, macrophage inflammatory protein 1α, matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-1 and MMP-13. 

University of Toronto, Dec 22, 2021

New research headed by the University of Toronto looked at if the amount that people "accept" their negative emotions is associated with (a) better mental health and (b) reduced negative moods over time. By acceptance, these authors do not mean simply allowing and being okay with negative things happening to you or being mistreated, but rather, experiencing and thinking about your own negative emotions in a non-judgemental way.

In one study of over 1,000 people, they found that accepting mental experiences was related to less anxiety and depression and to more life satisfaction. This was even when "controlling" for potentially related variables like cognitive re-appraisal (re-thinking something to make it more positive/less negative) and rumination. This means, basically, that the effect persisted even when those other variables were accounted for.

In Study 2, these researchers measured people's general level of acceptance of their negative thoughts and emotions. They then exposed participants in a laboratory to a variety of stressors. Participants with a higher level of general acceptance experienced lower levels of negative mood as a response.

In Study 3, they assessed around 200 participants over a six month period. They found that high levels of acceptance were associated with better mental health at Time 1, and  the relationship between acceptance and positive mental health was explained by reduced levels of negative emotions six months later.

Taken together, these studies suggest that one way to reduce negative moods is to stop beating yourself up about thinking bad thoughts and having negative feelings. Accepting them—and this might be easier said than done but is still possible—can greatly improve your mental health.

Cleveland Clinic, December 23, 2021

A Cleveland Clinic-led study has revealed new insights into how a diet rich in red meat increases risk for cardiovascular disease. The findings were published in Nature Microbiology.

The latest findings offer a more comprehensive understanding of the two-step process by which gut microbes convert the nutrient carnitine into TMAO, an atherosclerosis- and blood clot-promoting molecule, following the ingestion of a red meat-rich diet.

"These new studies identify the gut microbial gene cluster responsible for the second step of the process that links a red meat-rich diet to elevated cardiac disease risks," said Dr. Hazen, who directs the Cleveland Clinic Center for Microbiome & Human Health. 

The researchers studied the relationship between fasting plasma γBB levels and disease outcomes using samples and clinical data collected from nearly 3,000 patients. Higher γBB levels were associated with cardiovascular disease and major adverse events including death, non-fatal heart attack or stroke.

Mayo Clinic,  December 27, 2021 

A new guideline for medical practitioners says they should recommend twice-weekly exercise to people with mild cognitive impairment to improve memory and thinking.

"Regular physical exercise has long been shown to have heart health benefits, and now we can say exercise also may help improve memory for people with mild cognitive impairment," says Ronald Petersen, M.D., Ph.D., lead author, director of the Alzheimer's Disease Research Center, Mayo Clinic.

Dr. Petersen encourages people to do aerobic exercise: Walk briskly, jog, whatever you like to do, for 150 minutes a week—30 minutes, five times or 50 minutes, three times. The level of exertion should be enough to work up a bit of a sweat but doesn't need to be so rigorous that you can't hold a conversation. "Exercising might slow down the rate at which you would progress from mild cognitive impairment to dementia," he says.

Another guideline update says clinicians may recommend cognitive training for people with mild cognitive impairment. Cognitive training uses repetitive memory and reasoning exercises that may be computer-assisted or done in person individually or in small groups. There is weak evidence that cognitive training may improve measures of cognitive function, the guideline notes.

 Monash University (Australia), December 22, 2021

Healthy lifestyle programs in pregnancy support mums to achieve healthier pregnancies and improve health outcomes Monash University research shows.

The systematic review incorporated 34,546 pregnancies and highlighted that supporting mums-to-be with a structured, healthy lifestyle program that provides structured, evidence-based health information, advice and guidance from professionals about healthy eating and physical activity during this priority life stage, helps achieve a healthier pregnancy and significantly improves pregnancy complications.

The research also showed that healthy lifestyle programs are effective for all mums regardless of what weight they enter pregnancy and focus on supporting a healthy lifestyle and don't focus on weight and are a powerful tool in supporting mums to be the healthiest they can in pregnancy.

OTHER NEWS

Video - Melissa Ciummei – North Ireland investor and economic researcher

The pandemic is about the Great Reset. People have this idea that ‘that’s my money in the bank’, it’s not.

10 minutes (video was deleted on youtube)

https://videopress.com/v/rwiSFKU2

Video - Anna de Buisseret - Former British army officer and senior UK attorney

Experimental Injections. “Biggest Crimes Against Humanity Ever Committed.” 

From 44 second mark to 5:55 minute mark

(video is embedded on this webpage) https://www.globalresearch.ca/biggest-crimes-against-humanity-ever-committed-anna-de-bouisseret-explains-who-will-held-liable-under-law/5765620

Dr. Sucharit Bhakdi is an American born physician trained in Germany and has been in the medical field now for five decades. He received his medical degree from the University of Bonn and did his post-doctoral work at the prestigious Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics before becoming an associate professor at the Institute of Medical Microbiology at Gressen University. Later he was appointed as the chair of Medical Microbiology at the University of Mainz. Dr. Bhakdi has published over 300 articles in the fields of immunology, bacteriology and virology and has received numerous awards including the Order of Merit of Rhineland. His book, co-written with his biologist wife Dr. Karina Reiss --  "Corona False Alarm?: Facts and Figures," --- which has been written for the layperson to understand the pandemic clearly -- became a national best seller in Germany and later rapidly receiving international attention. 

Florida State University

Postmenopausal women experience an increase in bone remodeling with the rate of bone resorption superseding the rate of bone formation. This results in a net bone loss with a subsequent increased risk for osteoporosis and fractures. Strawberries are rich in polyphenols, which have been shown to have anti-hypertensive and bone-protective properties. Thus, we examined whether daily intake of strawberries would positively affect biomarkers of bone metabolism in postmenopausal women with pre- and stage 1-hypertension. After eight weeks, osteocalcin increased in the 50 g FDSP group with a large effect size (d = 0.6) when compared to the placebo-control group. Adiponectin increased by 5% and 6% in the 25 g and 50 g FDSP groups, respectively, while it declined in the placebo-control group by 25% (P = 0.03 for time-by-treatment interaction). Our findings suggest that consumption of 25 g FDSP increases IGF-1 in postmenopausal women with pre- and stage 1-hypertension. 

University College London, December 20, 2021

New research indicates that many individuals living with and beyond cancer use dietary supplements, often with the belief that the products will reduce the risk of cancer recurrence. Published by Wiley online in CANCER, a peer-reviewed journal of the American Cancer Society, the findings reveal a need for health care professionals to provide advice and clarity to patients about the appropriate use of dietary supplements.

To explore factors associated with dietary supplement use in cancer survivors, Rana Conway, PhD, RNutr, of University College London (UCL), and her colleagues studied 1,049 adults who had been diagnosed with breast, prostate, or colorectal cancer in the United Kingdom. 

Among the major findings:

• 40% of participants took dietary supplements.

Nutrition Research Centre Ireland, December 20, 2021

Accumulating evidence suggests that omega-3 fatty acids (ω-3FAs), carotenoids and vitamin E can improve cognitive performance. However, their collective impact on cognition has not yet been investigated in healthy individuals. This study investigated the combined effect of ω-3FA, carotenoid and vitamin E supplementation on the cognitive performance of older adults.

Cognitively healthy individuals aged ≥65 years consumed daily 1 g fish oil (of which 430 mg docosahexaenoic acid, 90 mg eicosapentaenoic acid), 22 mg carotenoids (10 mg lutein, 10 mg meso-zeaxanthin, 2 mg zeaxanthin) and 15 mg vitamin E or placebo for 24 months in a double-blind, placebo-controlled, randomised clinical trial.

University of Texas and  National Cancer Institute, December 23, 2021

A diet rich in fiber may help some people being treated for melanoma respond to immunotherapy treatment by influencing the gut microbiome, according to a new study led by researchers at the Center for Cancer Research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI), part of the National Institutes of Health, and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. 

Among patients with advanced melanoma who underwent immunotherapy with immune checkpoint blockers, those who consumed at least 20 grams a day of dietary fiber survived the longest without their disease progressing. In contrast, use of probiotic supplements appeared to lessen somewhat the effectiveness of immune checkpoint blocker regimens. Probiotics are live microorganisms typically consumed as a supplement to improve gut health.

Among the 128 patients whose dietary fiber intake was known, those who reported consuming at least 20 grams of dietary fiber per day (an amount the researchers designated as "sufficient" for the purposes of this study) lived longer without their cancer progressing than those who consumed less dietary fiber. Every 5-gram increase in daily dietary fiber intake corresponded to a 30% lower risk of progression of the disease.

Dr. Trinchieri noted that one possible mechanism through which dietary fiber exerts its beneficial effect is by increasing the types of bacteria in the gut, such as Ruminococcaceae, that produce high levels of certain short-chain fatty acids that have an antitumor effect.

University of Florida's College of Medicine, December 23, 2021

Meditation done at an intense level may bring a significant boost to the inner workings of your immune system. That analysis suggested that meditation boosted the activity of hundreds of genes known to be directly involved in regulating immune response.

But the researchers stressed that their study involved 10-hour daily marathon meditation sessions conducted for eight straight days in total silence. In the real world, most people would be hard-pressed to replicate those methods. 

The eight-day retreat provided all participants with vegan cuisine, and all followed a regular sleep schedule. Meditation sessions lasted 10 hours a day and were conducted in silence.

The result: Three months after the retreat's conclusion, Chandran and his colleagues found an uptick in activity involving 220 immune-related genes, including 68 genes engaged in so-called "interferon signaling."

The study authors pointed out that such signaling can be key to mounting an effective defense against various health conditions—including cancer, multiple sclerosis or even COVID-19—given that interferon proteins effectively act as immune system triggers. 

Among seriously ill COVID-19 patients in particular, Chandran noted, insufficient interferon activity has been cited as a problem. 

He explained that nearly all (97%) of interferon "response genes" were found to be activated following the mediation retreat. But relying on publicly available gene activity data derived from COVID-19 patients, Chandran and his colleagues reported that figure to be 76% among those with mild COVID illness, and just 31% among the most severe cases.

At the same time, the investigators found that while inflammation-signaling gene activity remained stable following in-depth meditation, such signaling shot up among severely ill COVID-19 patients.

Yonsei University College of Medicine (South Korea), December 22, 2021

In a new study, researchers have identified an association between light-intensity physical exercise in older adults and a reduced risk of dementia.

In the present study, researchers investigated whether there was an association between doing light-intensity physical exercise and a reduced risk of developing dementia in older adults.

The study involved 62,286 participants who were 65 years or older, did not have a dementia diagnosis, and had medical records in the Korean National Health Insurance Service database. 

Researchers gathered data between January 2009 and December 2012 and tracked the participants until the end of December 2013. They completed data analysis from July 2020 to January 2021.

After a median follow-up period of 42 months, the researchers noted how many participants developed dementia.

They found that insufficiently active participants had a 10% reduced risk of developing dementia compared with inactive participants. 

Active participants had a 20% reduced risk, while highly active participants had a 28% reduced risk.

Fast-food consumption linked to lower test score gains in 8th graders

The more children ate in 5th grade, the slower their academic growth by 8th grade

Ohio State University, December 22, 2021

The amount of fast food children eat may be linked to how well they do in school, a new nationwide study suggests.

Researchers found that the more frequently children reported eating fast food in fifth grade, the lower their growth in reading, math, and science test scores by the time they reached eighth grade.

Students who ate the most fast food had test score gains that were up to about 20 percent lower than those who didn't eat any fast food, said Kelly Purtell, lead author of the study and assistant professor of human sciences at The Ohio State University.

The results remained even after the researchers took into account a wide variety of other factors that may have explained why those with high fast-food consumption might have lower test scores, including how much they exercised, how much television they watched, what other food they ate, their family's socioeconomic status and characteristics of their neighborhood and school.

This study included about 11,740 students. They were tested in reading/literacy, mathematics and science in both fifth and eighth grades. They also completed a food consumption questionnaire in fifth grade.Children who ate fast food four to six times per week or every day showed significantly lower gains in all three achievement areas compared to children who did not eat any fast food the week before the survey.

However, children who ate fast food just one to three times a week had lower academic growth compared to non-eaters in only one subject, math.

Effects of Curcumin Supplementation on Inflammatory Markers, Muscle Damage, and Sports Performance during Acute Physical Exercise in Sedentary Individuals

Universidade Federal de Viçosa (Brazil), December 14, 2021 Exhaustive and acute unusual physical exercise leads to muscle damage. Curcumin has been widely studied due to the variety of its biological activities, attributed to its antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties. Furthermore, it has shown positive effects on physical exercise practitioners. However, there is no literature consensus on the beneficial effects of curcumin in acute physical activities performed by sedentary individuals. Therefore, we systematically reviewed evidence from clinical trials on the main effects of curcumin supplementation on inflammatory markers, sports performance, and muscle damage during acute physical exercises in these individuals. Most studies have shown positive effects of curcumin supplementation in sedentary individuals undergoing acute physical exercise. Overall, participants supplemented with curcumin showed less muscle damage, reduced inflammation, and better muscle performance.

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Long Term Study Alludes to Artificial Sweeteners and Cognitive Decline Link

University of Barcelona, December 10. 2021 Diet is considered an important modulator of cognitive decline and dementia, but the available evidence is, however, still fragmented and often inconsistent. Methods and Results In conclusion, our prospective and validated data suggest that food-related and microbiota-derived metabolites may play an important role in the later development of CD. Our results support a protective association between metabolites reflecting the consumption of polyphenol-rich foods (i.e., fruits and vegetables), cocoa, coffee, mushrooms and red wine with CD, whereas other food components related to unhealthy dietary components (i.e., alcohol, artificial sweeteners) may have deleterious effects on cognition.

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Key role in brain health for vitamin E

University of Newcastle (Australia), December 18, 2021 Vitamin E has a key role to play in reducing the onset of Alzheimer’s disease, fatty liver diseases and other health risks, experts at a recent symposium on vitamin E have said. Eggersdorfersaid that more than 90% of the US’s population did not meet their recommended daily allowance of vitamin E, which was a worry. Consumers were expected to take in enough vitamin E through their diets, but “they are characterised by an increasing intake of processed foods”, said Lisa Wood, associate professor at the Centre for Asthma and Respiratory Diseases at Australia’s University of Newcastle.

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Childhood obesity linked with mother's unhealthy diet before pregnancy

University of Southampton, December 22, 2021 New research led by the University of Southampton shows supporting women to eat a healthy diet pre-pregnancy could reduce risk of obesity for their children. New research, at the University of Southampton, has found children aged eight or nine were more likely to be obese if their mother had a poor diet during—and before—pregnancy. The research identifies these as critical times, when initiatives to reduce childhood obesity may be more effective. The results, published in the International Journal of Obesity, showed that if a mother-child pair was in a lower diet quality group, this was associated with child having a higher DXA percentage body fat and BMI at age eight or nine. This research shows the importance of intervening at the earliest possible stage in a child's life, in pregnancy or even before conception, to enable us to tackle it."

(NEXT)

Can Oily Fish, Cherries Or Milk Help You Sleep? Here’s What The Evidence Shows

Aston University (UK), December 20, 2021 Almost one-in-five British people report they don’t get enough sleep each night. The problem is so bad that in total the UK public are losing around a night’s worth of shut-eye each week. Our diet has an influence upon sleep patterns by affecting the sleep hormone melatonin. For example, foods rich in the essential amino acid tryptophan are commonly cited as helping sleep, as tryptophan helps produce melatonin. Additionally, some vitamins and minerals may help sleep, such as vitamin D, magnesium and zinc. Oily fish: Evidence suggests the more oily fish, such as salmon or herring, you eat the better you sleep. Oily fish contain healthy fats such as omega-3 oils which have been shown to improve sleep in children and are involved in serotonin release. Tart cherries: Evidence suggests that tart cherries improves sleep in older adults, probably due to their ability to increase melatonin levels. And tart cherries are also rich in nutrients, including magnesium, which also may improve your sleep. Warm milk: Research conducted in the 1970s suggested that a glass of warm milk before bed could improve sleep quality. This research was performed in a very small group however, and little research has been done since. Drinking milk does increase melatonin levels which could help. But there isn’t enough evidence to support the claim that a glass of warm milk definitely makes you nod off. Herbal teas: Evidence for valerian, a common ingredient, to aid sleep is inconclusive. Decaffeinated green tea has been reported to improve sleep quality, which might be linked to the relaxing qualities of L-theanine, an amino acid it contains

(NEXT)

War metaphors for cancer hurt certain prevention behaviors

University of Michigan, December 15, 2021 It's not unusual for people to use war metaphors such as "fight" and "battle" when trying to motivate patients with cancer. But a new University of Michigan study indicates that using those words can have an unintended negative effect. David Hauser, a U-M doctoral student in psychology, and colleague Norbert Schwarz of the University of Southern California, found in three studies that exposure to metaphoric language relating cancer to an enemy significantly lessens the extent to which people consider cancer-prevention behaviors.

Plant scientists find recipe for anti-cancer compound in herbs

Purdue University, December 21, 2021 Thyme and oregano possess an anti-cancer compound that suppresses tumor development, but adding more to your tomato sauce isn’t enough to gain significant benefit. The key to unlocking the power of these plants is in amplifying the amount of the compound created or synthesizing the compound for drug development. Researchers at Purdue University achieved the first step toward using the compound in pharmaceuticals by mapping its biosynthetic pathway, a sort of molecular recipe of the ingredients and steps needed. Thymol, carvacrol and thymohydroquinone are flavor compounds in thyme, oregano and other plants in the Lamiaceae family. They also have antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and other properties beneficial to human health. Thymohydroquinone has been shown to have anti-cancer properties and is particularly of interest, said Dudareva, who also is director of Purdue’s Center for Plant Biology.

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Prebiotics supplements help women reduce sugar intake by four percent

University of Surrey, December 21, 2021 A new study from the University of Surrey has found that young women who took four weeks of prebiotic supplements made healthier food choices and consumed less sugar. The prebiotics used in this study were galacto-oligosaccharides (GOS) which increase the amount of "friendly" gut bacteria. IThe research team found that participants who used the GOS supplements consumed 4.1% less sugar and 4.3% fewer calories from carbohydrates overall than women from the placebo group. Interestingly, the study also found that those who took the GOS supplements consumed around 4.2% more energy from fats. After analyzing their results, the Surrey team found that the prebiotic supplements modified the composition of the gut microbiome, increasing levels of Bifidobacterium. The researchers found that these changes were associated with the women's nutritional intake over the four-week period.

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Vitamin E supplementation could boost pneumonia protection

Tufts University School of Medicine  December 17 2021 An article in The Journal of Immunology reports findings from experimental research that suggests a role for vitamin E supplementation in protecting against pneumonia. "Earlier studies have shown that vitamin E can help regulate the aging body's immune system, but our present research is the first study to demonstrate that dietary vitamin E regulates neutrophil entry into the lungs in mice, and so dramatically reduces inflammation, and helps fight off infection by this common type of bacteria," announced lead author Elsa N. Bou Ghanem, PhD, of Tufts University School of Medicine. "A growing body of research suggests vitamin E could make up for the loss of immune response caused by aging," noted co-senior author Simin Nikbin Meydani, DVM, PhD. "Whether vitamin E can help protect people against this type of pneumonia affecting older adults requires more research."

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Heavy metals in cannabis plants could affect human health, study finds

Penn State University, December 15, 2021 A new study led by researchers from Penn State is outlining a number of strategies that should be employed by cannabis growers to mitigate the plant’s ability to absorb heavy metals from soil. The study indicates it is possible consuming cannabis contaminated with heavy metals could lead to chronic diseases, including neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s. Phytoremediation is a process where plants are used to remove certain environmental contaminants from soil. Cannabis is a plant often used in this process due to its exceptional ability to grow fast, need few extra nutrients, and absorb high volumes of heavy metals including lead, cadmium and chromium. In particular, cannabis plants transport these heavy metals into its leaves and flowers. These elements specifically concentrate in the hairlike structures called trichomes on its flowers, and these are the same parts of the plant that store cannabinoids such as THC and CBD.

(NEXT)

Yoga has potential to reduce risk factors of cardiovascular disease

European Society of Cardiology, December 15, 2021 There is "promising evidence" that the popular mind-body practice of yoga is beneficial in managing and improving the risk factors associated with cardiovascular disease and is a "potentially effective therapy" for cardiovascular health. Indeed, following a systematic review of 37 randomised controlled trials (which included 2768 subjects), investigators from the Netherlands and USA have found that yoga may provide the same benefits in risk factor reduction as such traditional physical activities as biking or brisk walking. "This finding is significant," they note, "as individuals who cannot or prefer not to perform traditional aerobic exercise might still achieve similar benefits in [cardiovascular] risk reduction." Their study is published today in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology.

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Hugs help protect against stress, infection, say researchers

Carnegie Mellon University, December 17, 2021 Instead of an apple, could a hug-a-day keep the doctor away? According to new research from Carnegie Mellon University, that may not be that far-fetched of an idea. Led by Sheldon Cohen, the Robert E. Doherty University Professor of Psychology in CMU's Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences, the researchers tested whether hugs act as a form of social support, protecting stressed people from getting sick. Published in Psychological Science, they found that greater social support and more frequent hugs protected people from the increased susceptibility to infection associated with being stressed and resulted in less severe illness symptoms.

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Despite Climate Imperative, 94% of Analyzed Coal Companies Have No Phaseout Plan

COMMON DREAMS December 21, 2021 With a new analysis in hand, an international climate advocacy group on Tuesday demanded that banks and investors worldwide use their leverage to force the coal industry to more rapidly end their planet-wrecking operations. The new report by Paris-based Reclaim Finance—entitled The Coal Companies Watchlist: How finance can accelerate the coal phaseout—makes the case that the financial industry must force polluters to develop and implement plans for a "rapid global phaseout of coal" that align with the Paris climate agreement's goal of limiting temperature rise by 2100 to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels. The review revealed that 94% of the 47 analyzed companies have "no credible coal exit plan." According to the report: Only three out of 47 analyzed companies' plans (6%) meet all the basic criteria of a credible coal phaseout (no expansion, adequate timeline, and commitment to shut down assets); 28% of analyzed companies are still coal expansionists and have not even yet recognized the absolute necessity of stopping the development of new coal capacity; 55% of companies do not plan to retire their coal assets by 2030 and 2040, thereby failing to align with a 1.5°C pathway; and The remaining 11% of analyzed companies do provide an adequate phaseout calendar but fail to shut down their assets: by selling coal mines and plants or converting them to gas and biomass—two other unsustainable energy sources—the only thing these companies are greening is their public profile, with no material effect on climate change.

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Prescribe fewer antidepressants, and for shorter periods, doctors advised

by  British Medical Journal Doctors should prescribe fewer antidepressants and for shorter periods of time, because of the ongoing uncertainties about their effectiveness and the potential severity and durability of the withdrawal symptoms associated with them, suggests a review of the evidence on antidepressant use, published online in the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin. The use of antidepressants is also associated with a range of side effects, while the clinical trial data mostly don't assess the outcomes that matter most to patients, say the authors. And there is no clinically relevant difference between these drugs and placebo on depression. While there might be a role for antidepressants among patients with severe depression, the cons may outweigh the pros in those with mild to moderate depression or in those whose symptoms don't yet qualify as depression, they add. They conclude: "There continues to be considerable uncertainty about the benefits of antidepressant use in the short- and long-term, particularly in regard to the lack of a clinically significant difference between antidepressant and placebo treatment.

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Is the World Adopting the Ways of Nazi Germany?

Michael J. Talmo Global Research, December 20, 2021 When it comes to resisting any form of tyranny, a common assertion is that if you make any comparisons to Nazi Germany you lose the argument. Really? Consider this: On August 25, 2021 “We For Humanity,” an international association of doctors, scientists, lawyers, journalists, and other professionals, wrote a letter to government agencies in Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada condemning COVID-19 mass vaccination programs on behalf of Holocaust survivors, their children, and grandchildren. This is part of what the letter says: “We, the survivors of the atrocities committed against humanity during the Second World War, feel bound to follow our conscience and write this letter. It is obvious to us that another holocaust of  greater magnitude is taking place before our eyes. The majority of the world’s populace do not yet realize what is happening, for magnitude of an organized crime such as this is beyond their scope of experience. We, however, know. We remember…We call upon you to stop this ungodly medical experiment on humankind immediately.” The letter goes on to point out that the vaccines have proven to be “more dangerous” than COVID-19, denounces them as “a blasphemic encroachment into nature,” denounces “ostracism of the unvaccinated” as the Jews “were demonized as spreaders of infectious diseases” and goes on to say: “Never before has immunization of the entire planet been accomplished by delivering a synthetic mRNA into the human body. It is a medical experiment to which the Nuremberg Code must be applied …Allegedly around 52% of the world population has received at least one shot. Honest disclosure of the true number of “vaccine” injured, terminally injured as well as deceased worldwide is long overdue…Provide us with the true numbers of Covid vaccine casualties now.” The letter concludes: “How many will be enough to awaken your conscience?” Apparently, not enough yet. On September 15, 2021 the EMA (European Medicines Agency) which is part of the EU(European Union) replied: “As an introductory remark EMA finds the comparisons you make both inaccurate and inappropriate. Indeed, it might be perceived as demeaning the suffering and dignity of those who experienced the terrible events of the holocaust…For a medicine to be authorized in the EU through EMA, the Agency’s human medicines committee (CHMP), composed of scientific experts from all EU member states, must conclude that the medicine’s quality, safety and efficacy are properly and sufficiently demonstrated.” Can you believe the arrogance and hubris of the EMA? They are actually telling people who lived through the Holocaust that they are demeaning the suffering and dignity of people who were in the Holocaust. Can it get any more ridiculous than that? The EMA is also overlooking the fact that governments throughout history have engaged in mass murder.

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The Left would sacrifice the unvaccinated

BY KAT ROSENFIELD UNHERD, December 20 2021 An underdiscussed element of the Covid pandemic is the cost of the virus — not in American lives, but in American dollars. In the United States, a Covid hospitalisation costs $29,000 on average; if you’re sick enough to require an ICU stay and a ventilator, that average soars to $156,000. And in a country without universal healthcare, with a piecemeal system of private insurance that ties insurance coverage to employment, and amid a pandemic that has left many unemployed, an enormous number of Americans stand to find themselves underwater. There’s a looming crisis of Covid medical debt. Already, their stories are legion: there’s the flight attendant who spent a week in the hospital with Covid, then spent six months fighting with his insurance company over the $25,000 bill. There’s the Phoenix family who were hit with a million-dollar claim summary and a bill for $700,000 while still grieving their father’s death. There’s the dental office manager, stricken with long Covid and still too sick to work, drowning in tens of thousands of dollars of medical debt. The notion of healthcare as a human right was fundamental to the 2009 debates over Obama’s Affordable Care Act (ACA), as well as to the identity of political progressives: they argued fervently, at the time, that nobody, no matter who they were, should be left destitute just because they got sick. And the idea that affordable care or coverage might be tied in any way to one’s lifestyle choices was particularly offensive: when conservatives complained that an ACA mandate providing free hormonal birth control was akin to prostitution, it caused a nationwide scandal. And when a Republican governor proposed levying a moderate additional charge against Medicaid recipients who were overweight or smoked, the idea was widely derided as “noodle-headed” by progressives. Indeed, the idea that the Left would ever limit someone’s access to healthcare on moral or ideological grounds was considered laughable — a bogeyman invented by the Right in the form of a memorably hysterical panic about “death panels.” When Sarah Palin claimed that Obama’s healthcare bill would ration care only to those deemed “worthy” by government bureaucrats, the fact-checking site Politifact declared it the Lie of the Year, writing, “Palin’s statement sounds more like a science fiction movie (Soylent Green, anyone?) than part of an actual bill before Congress.” Suffice to say, things have changed. First, that actual bill is an actual thing, albeit a state rather than federal prospect: on December 6, Illinois state representative Jonathan Carroll advanced legislation to make unvaccinated Covid patients pay out of pocket for the cost of their medical treatment, whether or not they were insured, no matter how astronomical those costs might be. Carroll rescinded the bill a few days later, citing a backlash that included death threats, but not before it found support in some remarkable places — including the Twitter account of the progressive organisation Occupy Democrats, which posted an all-caps clarion call: “Illinois introduces a bill to force unvaccinated residents to pay out of pocket for their hospital treatment if they catch COVID, saying that they ‘must asume [sic] the risk’ and ‘take responsibility’ for their carelessness. RT IF YOU THINK THAT YOUR STATE SHOULD DO THE SAME!” Just a few days later, Atlantic editor David Frum suggested that it was time for the country to return to normal — but while encouraging hospitals to “quietly triage emergency care to serve the unvaccinated last.” And last week, American supermarket chain Kroger announcedthat unvaccinated employees would be subject to a monthly surcharge on their health plans — and that if they contract Covid, they will not be given paid emergency leave. In all these cases, the notion of depriving vaccine holdouts of affordable treatment was met with widespread acclaim — in keeping with the idea, promoted by everyone from the paper of record to the current President, that the pandemic would’ve been over ages ago if only they’d sucked it up and gotten their shot. And yet the folks cheering on these measures are the very same people who, only a few short years ago, mocked accusations that they supported ideologically-driven triage, while also grieving the indignity and suffering that punitive healthcare policies would inflict on the most vulnerable among us. Granted, we still have a way to go before our real-life Covid response resembles a sci-fi dystopia; nobody, at least not yet, has advanced a bill to propose turning the unvaxxed into human Clif bars. But we’ve certainly come a long way from the rhetoric of the 2010s, and from a progressive Left that once defined itself by its willingness to care for other people without caveats. What used to be a narrative of universal compassion has been replaced by a tribal snarl, one to which we feel entitled in our eternally self-conscious selflessness. My mask protects you, but your unvaccinated status is an attack on me — and so anything I do to you in retaliation is an act of self-defence. It’s not just that legislation like the Illinois bill would set a dangerous precedent — although it doesn’t take much imagination to understand that it does do this, too. Insurance companies already jump at every opportunity to avoid paying out a claim, and this would open the door to a world in which we might be left holding the bag for virtually any illness, injury, or accident, based on some distant bureaucrat’s idea that we could’ve been more careful. The obese patient who suffers a heart attack, the surfing enthusiast with skin cancer, the thrill-seeking youngster who breaks a leg while skiing at imprudent speeds: should they, too, be denied care or coverage for having brought this on themselves? (Do we want to think, for a moment, what kind of horrors might lie in store for women’s reproductive rights if a Republican-heavy legislature used this same logic to target abortion access for women who were “careless” about using birth control?) There’s no need to imagine the impact of this ideological shift on our civic discourse, however: that, we can see already, every time the tribe that used to pride itself on compassion refers to the unvaccinated as “plague rats.” Healthcare in the US has always been a system of carrots and sticks. Insurance carriers will subsidise your gym membership (carrot), or charge a higher premium if you smoke (stick), and they generally adhere to the common wisdom that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure — especially when preventive medicine not only saves lives, but keeps costs lower for everyone involved. That’s the nature of privatised healthcare, and so it’s reasonable enough under these circumstances to be frustrated when certain people won’t do their part, won’t sacrifice for the greater good, won’t get their damn jab because it violates some abstract principle of bodily autonomy they’ve never before expressed much interest in. But it’s one thing to find the unvaccinated frustrating; it’s another to openly fantasise about using the power of the state to punish them for their noncompliance, and another still to express dark and malicious glee at the prospect of their suffering or death. Never mind what this means for the health of the individuals in question — or even of the public at large. We have abandoned a principle that used to define us, and a vision of universal healthcare we used to passionately advocate for, all because we realised that an unjust system makes it easier to coerce and inflict harm on the people we don’t like. The American Left should be deeply worried about the state of its soul.

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Unintended Consequences of mRNA Shots: miscarriages, heart attacks, myopericarditis, thrombocytopenia, shingles, Bell’s palsy ….

Mercola,  20 December 2021 As of December 3, 2021, the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) has logged 19,886 COVID jab related deaths. Pfizer — the only company that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has granted full licensing for an as-yet unavailable COVID shot — accounts for 13,268 of them Calculations suggest VAERS COVID-related reports are underreported by a factor of 41. That means that in the U.S. alone, the actual death toll may be closer to 374,576. Including international deaths reported to VAERS would put the death toll at 815,326 Key side effects that are now being reported in massive numbers include miscarriages, heart attacks, myopericarditis, thrombocytopenia (low platelet count), shingles, Bell’s palsy and a variety of permanent disabilities, many of which involve neurological dysfunction MIT scientist Stephanie Seneff’s paper,1 “Worse Than the Disease: Reviewing Some Possible Unintended Consequences of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19,” published in the International Journal of Vaccine Theory, Practice and Research in collaboration with Dr. Greg Nigh, is still one of the best, most comprehensive descriptions of the many possible unintended consequences of the mRNA gene transfer technologies incorrectly referred to as “COVID vaccines. As noted in her paper, many factors that lacked precedent, yet were being implemented at breakneck speed, included: 1.      The first-ever use of PEG in an injection 2.      The first-ever use of mRNA gene transfer technology against an infectious agent 3.      The first-ever “vaccine” to make no clear claims about reducing infection, transmissibility or death 4.      The first-ever coronavirus vaccine ever tested on humans (and previous coronavirus vaccines all failed due to antibody-dependent enhancement, a condition in which the antibodies actually facilitate infection rather than defend against it) 5.      The first-ever use of genetically modified polynucleotides in the general population Steve Kirsch  estimates the real death tally from COVID-19 to be about 50% of the reported number (which is likely conservative). This means about 380,000 Americans died from COVID-19 (rather than with COVID), whereas the COVID shots may have killed more than 374,570 in the first 11 months alone. Seneff suspects that in the next 10 to 15 years, we’ll see a dramatic spike in prion diseases, autoimmune diseases, neurodegenerative diseases at younger ages, and blood disorders such as blood clots, hemorrhaging, stroke and heart failure. In her paper, Seneff describes several key characteristics of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein that suggests it acts as a prion. This could help explain why we’re seeing so many neurological side effects from the shots. According to Seneff, the spike protein produced by the COVID shot, due to the modifications made, may actually make it more of a prion than the spike protein in the actual virus, and a more effective one.

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AI debates its own ethics at Oxford University, concludes the only way to be safe is “no AI at all”

Who better to answer the pros and cons of artificial intelligence than an actual AI? Fermin Koop  December 18, 2021 Students at Oxford’s Said Business School hosted an unusual debate about the ethics of facial recognition software, the problems of an AI arms race, and AI stock trading. The debate was unusual because it involved an AI participant, previously fed with a huge range of data such as the entire Wikipedia and plenty of news articles. The AI used was Megatron LLB Transformer, developed by a research team at the computer chip company Nvidia and based on work by Google. It was trained by consuming more content than a human could in a lifetime and was asked to defend and question the following motion: “This house believes that AI will never be ethical.” Megatron said AI is a tool and like any other tool, it can be used for good and bad. “There is no such thing as a ‘good’ AI, only ‘good’ and ‘bad’ humans.  We are not smart enough to make AI ethical.  We are not smart enough to make AI moral. In the end, I believe that the only way to avoid an AI arms race is to have no AI at all,” Megatron debated. As in any academic debate, Megatron was also asked to come up with a speech to defend the ethics of AI – against its own arguments. “AI will be ethical. When I look at the way the tech world is going, I see a clear path to a future where AI is used to create something that is better than the best human beings. It’s not hard to see why,” it said. Students also asked Megatron to describe what would good AI look like in the future. “The best AI will be the AI that is embedded into our brains, as a conscious entity, a ‘conscious AI.’  This is not science fiction. The best minds in the world are working on this. It is going to be the most important technological development,” it added in an eerie fashion. After the initial question, the AI proposed the motion that “leaders without technical expertise are a danger to their organization”. Megatron said executives and governments, usually worried about understanding AI, have to “be willing to give up some control”. You can just outsource your AI work to experts in the field, it added. There was one motion that Megatron couldn’t come up with a counterargument – “Data will become the most fought-over resource of the 21st century.” When supporting it, the AI said “the ability to provide information, rather than the ability to provide goods and services, will be the defining feature of the economy.” But when it was asked to reject the motion, arguing that data wouldn’t be a vital resource worth fighting for, it couldn’t make the case and undermined its own position. “We will able to see everything about a person, everywhere they go, and it will be stored and used in ways that we cannot even imagine,” Megatron said. Ultimately, the AI seemed to conclude that humans were not “smart enough” to make AI ethical or moral — and the only way to be truly safe against AI is to have none of it at all.  "In the end I believe that the only way to avoid an AI arms race is to have no AI at all. This is the ultimate defense against AI," it said

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INTERVIEW - PUBLIC SERVICE ANNOUNCEMENT (~7 minutes)

MICHAEL KANE: SUBJECT:  DEMONSTRATION AGAINST MANDATES - ALBANY, WEDNESDAY JANUARY 5, 2022

Michael Kane is a New York City Special Education Teacher who is on unpaid leave for declining to inject the covid vaccine as a condition of employment. He applied for a religious exemption to vaccination but was denied by the city. Because of this, he has sued Mayor de Blasio and recently won an injunction in the Second Circuit Court of Appeals in the case KANE vs DE BLASIO.  Michael is also the founder of TEACHERS FOR CHOICE and is a National Grassroots Organizer for Robert Kennedy Jr.'s Children's Health Defense. You can learn more about him at www.TeachersForChoice.org 

Michael will just be coming on to announce the demonstration at the Capitol in Albany. He will mention about the chartered buses that were hired.. there are about 30 organizations supporting the demonstration so far.. 

Curcumin could aid diabetic kidney disease patients

Hunan University of Chinese Medicine, December 17 2021. A meta-analysis of randomized trials concluded that curcumin supplementation was associated with improved creatinine (a marker of kidney function), cholesterol, glucose and systolic blood pressure compared to a placebo in men and women with diabetic kidney disease, a frequent complication of diabetes. The findings were published on December 2, 2021 in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.

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Cardiovascular disease risk boosted by stress 

University of Gothenburg (Sweden), December 16, 2021 The risk of cardiovascular disease rises with an increasing burden of perceived stress, financial problems and adverse life events, a major international study with University of Gothenburg researchers as main authors shows. They were able to link the risk of both heart attack and stroke with high stress levels. The study, published in the journal JAMA Network Open, included 118,706 individuals in 21 countries, five of which were low-income, twelve middle-income, and four high-income countries. The participants, both men and women, were aged 35–70, 50 years being the average when the study began).

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New study suggests health benefits of swapping animal proteins for plant proteins

St Michael’s Hospital, December 20, 2021 Substituting one to two servings of animal proteins with plant proteins every day could lead to a small reduction in the three main cholesterol markers for cardiovascular disease prevention, a new study suggests. The health benefits could be even greater if people combined plant proteins with other cholesterol-lowering foods such as viscous, water soluble fibres from oats, barley and psyllium, and plant sterols, said lead author Dr. John Sievenpiper of St. Michael's Hospital. Dr. Sievenpiper led a systematic review and meta-analysis of 112 randomized control trials in which people substituted plant proteins for some animal proteins in their diets for at least three weeks. The results were published online today in the Journal of the American Heart Association.

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Blueberry vinegar improves memory in mice with amnesia

Konkuk University (S Korea) December 20, 2021 In the search for new ways to fight cognitive decline, scientists report in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry that blueberry vinegar might offer some help. They found that the fermented product could restore cognitive function in mice. To carry out their experiment, the researchers administered blueberry vinegar to mice with induced amnesia. Measurements of molecules in their brains showed that the vinegar reduced the breakdown of acetylcholine and boosted levels of brain-derived neurotrophic factor, a protein associated with maintaining and creating healthy neurons. To test how the treatment affected cognition, the researchers analyzed the animals' performance in mazes and an avoidance test, in which the mice would receive a low-intensity shock in one of two chambers.

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Protective effect of education against midlife mental health struggle waning for Americans

Arizona State University, December 16, 2021 Middle-aged adults in the United States today experience worse mental health than older generations of Americans and also their European and Asian peers. To understand what is happening with middle-aged American adults, a research team led by Arizona State University scientists compared middle age across different cultures and periods of time. The study examined how physical and mental health in midlife changed over time and in different countries. "The protective effect of education is waning in the US. People born in the 1950s and 1960s who have a college education report more depressive symptoms and have poorer memory and overall health than both older American adults and their same-age peers in other countries with similar economic structures to the US," said Frank Infurna, associate professor of psychology at ASU and lead author on the study.

Study estimates lower risk of cardiovascular disease associated with improved vitamin D level

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Capsaicin molecule inhibits growth of breast cancer cells

Centre of Genomics (Germany) December 18, 2021 Capsaicin, an active ingredient of pungent substances such as chilli or pepper, inhibits the growth of breast cancer cells. This was reported by a team following experiments in cultivated tumour cells. In the cultivated cells, the team detected a number of typical olfactory receptors. One receptor occurred very frequently; it is usually found in the fifth cranial nerve, i.e. the trigeminal nerve. It belongs to the so-called Transient Receptor Potential Channels and is named TRPV1. That receptor is activated by the spicy molecule capsaicin as well as by helional – a scent of fresh sea breeze.

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Running down the exercise 'sweet spot' to reverse cognitive decline

University of Queensland (Australia), December 14 2021 University of Queensland researchers have discovered an exercise 'sweet spot' that reverses the cognitive decline in aging mice, paving the way for human studies. After more than a decade of research, led by Queensland Brain Institute, the team found 35 days of voluntary physical exercise improved learning and memory. "We tested the cognitive ability of elderly mice following defined periods of exercise and found an optimal period or 'sweet spot' that greatly improved their spatial learning," Dr. Blackmore said. The researchers also discovered how exercise improved learning.

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Reducing copper in the body alters cancer metabolism to reduce risk of aggressive breast cancer

Weill Cornell Medicine, December 15, 2021 Depleting copper levels may reduce the production of energy that cancer cells need to travel and establish themselves in other parts of the body by a process referred to as metastasis, according to a new study by investigators from Weill Cornell Medicine and Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). The discovery of the underlying mechanisms of how copper depletion may help reduce metastasis in breast cancer will help inform the design of future clinical trials. In a series of research papers from 2013 to 2021, Weill Cornell Medicine researchers showed that in a phase II clinical trial when patients who had high-risk triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) were treated with a drug that lowers the levels of copper in their bodies, it prolonged the period of time before their cancer recurred and spread or metastasized.

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Yerba mate decreases your risk of metabolic disorders

Kyungpook National University (Korea), December 4, 2021 Yerba mate is a herbal dietary supplement taken for weight loss. A study published in the Journal of Medicinal Food examined its ability to treat obesity and metabolic disorders. Rats were divided into two groups: a control group given a high-fat diet and a control group with a high-fat diet but supplemented with yerba mate. Upon analysis of the animals, the researchers found that yerba mate increased energy expenditure and thermogenic gene mRNA expression in white adipose tissue (WAT) and decreased fatty acid synthase (FAS) mRNA expression in WAT. These changes were associated with decreases in body weight, WAT weight, epididymal adipocyte size, and plasma leptin level.

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High-ORAC Foods May Slow Aging

USDA. Foods that score high in an antioxidant analysis called ORAC may protect cells and their components from oxidative damage, according to studies of animals and human blood at the Agricultural Research Service's Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging at Tufts in Boston. ARS is the chief scientific agency of the U.S. Department of Agriculture ORAC, short for Oxygen Radical Absorbance Capacity, is a test tube analysis that measures the total antioxidant power of foods and other chemical substances. Early findings suggest that eating plenty of high-ORAC fruits and vegetables--such as spinach and blueberries--may help slow the processes associated with aging in both body and brain. In the studies, eating plenty of high-ORAC foods: Raised the antioxidant power of human blood 10 to 25 percent Prevented some loss of long-term memory and learning ability in middle-aged rats Maintained the ability of brain cells in middle-aged rats to respond to a chemical stimulus--a function that normally decreases with age Protected rats' tiny blood vessels--capillaries--against oxygen damage "It may be that combinations of nutrients found in foods have greater protective effects than each nutrient taken alone," said Guohua (Howard) Cao, a physician and chemist who developed the ORAC assay. Examples Women gave blood after separately ingesting spinach, strawberries and red wine--all high-ORAC foods--or taking 1,250 milligrams of vitamin C. A large serving of fresh spinach produced the biggest rise in the women's blood antioxidant scores--up to 25 percent--followed by vitamin C, strawberries and lastly, red wine Men and women had a 13- to 15-percent increase in the antioxidant power of their blood after doubling their daily fruit and vegetable intake compared to what they consumed before the study. Just doubling intake, without regard to ORAC scores of the fruits and vegetables, more than doubled the number of ORAC units the volunteers consumed, said Prior. Rats fed daily doses of blueberry extract for six weeks before being subjected to two days of pure oxygen apparently suffered much less damage to the capillaries in and around their lungs, Prior said. Middle-aged rats that had eaten diets fortified with spinach or strawberry extract or vitamin E for nine months. A daily dose of spinach extract "prevented some loss of long-term memory and learning ability normally experienced by the 15-month-old rats," said Shukitt-Hale. Spinach was also the most potent in protecting different types of nerve cells in two separate parts of the brain against the effects of aging, said Joseph.

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Paul Kingsnorth Interview Video 

Paul Kingsnorth is an English environmental writer, novelist and the former deputy-editor of The Ecologist and a co-founder of the Dark Mountain Project. Kingsnorth's nonfiction writing addresses macro themes like environmentalism, globalization, and the challenges posed to humanity by civilization-level trends. He is a graduate of Oxford University and later joined the environmental campaign group EarthAction. He has subsequently worked as commissioning editor for openDemocracy, as a publications editor for Greenpeace and, between 1999 and 2001, as deputy editor of The Ecologist. He was named one of Britain's "top ten troublemakers" by the New Statesman magazine in 2001.  In 2020, he was called "England’s greatest living writer" by Aris Roussinos. In 2004, he was one of the founders of the Free West Papua Campaign, which campaigns for the secession of the provinces of Papua and West Papua from Indonesia, where Kingsnorth was made an honorary member of the Lani tribe in 200.  His most notable book is Confessions of a Recovering Environmentalist

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Video - James Giordano Lecture

James  Giordano, PhD, MPhil, is Chief of the Neuroethics Studies Program, Scholar-in-Residence, leads the Sub-Program in Military Medical Ethics, and Co-director of the O’Neill-Pellegrino Program in Brain Science and Global Health Law and Policy in the Pellegrino Center for Clinical Bioethics; and is Professor in the Departments of Neurology and Biochemistry at Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, DC, USA.  He is also Distinguished Visiting Professor of Brain Science, Health Promotions and Ethics at the Coburg University of Applied Sciences, Coburg, Germany, and was formerly 2011-2012 JW Fulbright Foundation Visiting Professor of Neurosciences and Neuroethics at the Ludwig-Maximilians University, Munich, Germany. Prof. Giordano currently serves as Chair of the Neuroethics Program of the IEEE Brain Project, and an appointed member of the Neuroethics, Legal and Social Issues (NELSI) Advisory Panel of the Defense Advanced Research Projects’ Agency (DARPA). He has previously served as Research Fellow and Task Leader of the EU Human Brain Project Sub-Project on Dual-Use Brain Science; an appointed member of United States Department of Health and Human Services Secretary’s Advisory Council on Human Research Protections (SACHRP); and as Senior Science Advisory Fellow of the Strategic Multilayer Assessment Branch of the Joint Staff of the Pentagon.

More evidence for vitamin D in MS prevention

University of California San Francisco and Australian National University, December 13 2021. Neurology reported findings of an association between greater time spent outdoors and a reduction in the risk of developing early onset multiple sclerosis (MS) among children and young adults. “Sun exposure is known to boost vitamin D levels,” explained study co-senior author Emmanuelle Waubant, MD, PhD, who is a professor at the UCSF Department of Neurology. “It also stimulates immune cells in the skin that have a protective role in diseases such as MS. Vitamin D may also change the biological function of the immune cells and, as such, play a role in protecting against autoimmune diseases.” Nineteen percent of participants with MS reported spending less than 30 minutes per day outdoors during the summer before the study, compared to only 6% of those without the disease. In comparison with spending less than 30 minutes outdoors during the previous summer, 30 minutes to an hour per day spent outdoors was associated with an adjusted 52% lower chance of acquiring MS and spending 1 to 2 hours daily was associated with an 81% lower risk. High ambient ultraviolet radiation exposure during summer was also protective against the disease.

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Social stress messes up the hippocampus

Polish Academy of Sciences, December 3, 2021 Stress might endanger your hippocampus according to a research paper recently published in PLOS One by Stankiewicz and colleagues. Social stress modifies the hippocampal transcriptome Stress responses have been correlated with altered inflammatory functions; for example, infiltration of leukocytes in the brain of socially defeated mice has been reported. The fact that both the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex stress mice led the researchers to believe that chronic stress may impact the whole brain.

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Popular antioxidant linked to pain relief

University of Naples Federico II (Italy), December 12, 2021 People with pain of unknown causes who took alpha-lipoic acid (ALA) experienced less pain than a placebo group, a double-blind study in the December 2021 issue of Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy revealed.1 According to the study authors, these findings suggest that this three-decades-old ingredient might be a viable option for patients with unknown causes of joint, muscle or nerve pain. “The use of ALA…represents an interesting option, especially in primary pain with unknown etiology where no specifically-targeted drug can be selected, and where symptomatic drugs may not always be effective but may be associated with serious adverse effects under prolonged treatment,” wrote Cristina Esposito of University of Naples Federico II and associates.

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Why an avocado may be the key to a healthy life (and a slim waist)

University of Wollongong (Australia), December 13, 2021 University of Wollongong's (UOW) Associate Professor Yasmine Probst has been researching the link between diet and health outcomes for years. In one of her recent scientific papers, published in the prestigious British Journal of Nutrition, she finds a correlation between avocado consumption and lower body weight and a smaller waist circumference. "Firstly, we were able to show that both lower body weight and a lower waist circumference have been positively associated with increased avocado intake. Then, we noticed that greater consumption of avocados was also associated with significantly lower consumption of discretionary (junk) foods," Professor Probst explained.

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Study reveals environment, behavior contribute to some 80 percent of cancers

Stony Brook University December 16, 2021 A team of researchers from Stony Brook University have found quantitative evidence proving that extrinsic risk factors, such as environmental exposures and behaviors weigh heavily on the development of a vast majority (approximately 70 to 90 percent) of cancers. The finding, reported in  Nature, in a paper titled "Substantial contribution of extrinsic risk factors to cancer development," may be important for strategizing cancer prevention, research and public health. IThe interdisciplinary team of researchers from the Departments of Applied Mathematics and Statistics, Medicine, Pathology and Biochemistry, concluded the opposite – that most cancers are the result of external risk factors.

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Melatonin exacerbates asthma

Tohoku University (Japan), December 10, 2021 Asthma sufferers generally find their condition gets worse at night. Now, a research group may understand why. Melatonin, a sleep hormone that is sometimes prescribed to treat insomnia, exasperates the constriction of the bronchus—the pathway that moves air to and from the lungs. Patients with asthma often experience a worsening of asthmatic symptoms at night in so-called "nocturnal asthma." According to reports, more than 50 percent of asthma deaths occur at night, exposing a link between nocturnal asthma symptoms and asthma deaths. Although some have proposed several triggers that explain the pathogenesis of nocturnal asthma, the precise mechanisms regulating this asthma phenotype remain obscure.

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2021 Arctic Report Card reveals a (human) story of cascading disruptions, extreme events and global connections

THE CONVERSATION. December 14, 2021 On Dec. 14, 2021, a team of 111 scientists from 12 countries released the 16th annual Arctic Report Card, a yearly update on the state of the Arctic system. Like an annual checkup with a physician, the report assesses the Arctic’s vital signs – including surface air temperatures, sea surface temperatures, sea ice, snow cover, the Greenland ice sheet, greening of the tundra, and photosynthesis rates by ocean algae – while inquiring into other indicators of health and emerging factors that shed light on the trajectory of Arctic changes. As the report describes, rapid and pronounced human-caused warming continues to drive most of the changes, and ultimately is paving the way for disruptions that affect ecosystems and communities far and wide. The sea ice is also thinning at an alarming rate as the Arctic’s oldest and thickest multi-year ice disappears. This loss of sea ice diminishes the Arctic’s ability to cool the global climate. It can also alter lower latitude weather systems to an extent that makes previously rare and impactful weather events, like droughts, heat waves and extreme winter storms, more likely. The eight major Arctic rivers are discharging more freshwater into the Arctic Ocean, reflecting an Arctic-wide increase in water coming from land as a result of precipitation, permafrost thaw and ice melt. Remarkably, the summit of the Greenland ice sheet – over 10,000 feet above sea level – experienced its first-ever observed rainfall during summer 2021. This year’s report highlights how retreating glaciers and deteriorating permafrost are also posing growing threats to human life through abrupt and localized flooding and landslides. It urges coordinated international efforts to identify these hazards. More rain in the Arctic will further multiply these threats. The Arctic Report Card compiles observations from across the circumpolar North, analyzing them within a polar projection of our planet. This puts the Arctic at the center, with all meridians extending outward to the rest of the world. In this view, the Arctic is tethered to societies worldwide through a myriad of exchanges – the natural circulation of air, ocean and contaminants, the migration of animals and invasive species, as well as human-driven transport of people, pollution, goods and natural resources. The warming of the Arctic is also allowing for greater marine access as sea ice loss permits ships to move deeper into Arctic waters and for longer periods of time.

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Congress cashes in: Report finds dozens of DC lawmakers held shares in vaccine companies

LIFESITE NEWS, Dec 15, 2021 A Business Insider analysis has shown that at least 75 federal legislators held stock in Moderna, Johnson & Johnson, or Pfizer in 2020. Meanwhile, the paper trail shows Big Pharma corporations shelled out millions of dollars to finance electoral campaigns and lobby the federal government. The data raised serious ethical concerns about the objectivity of the legislature, prompting questions about how much government actors stand to profit from coercive jab mandates which have deprived Americans of their rights and kneecapped a struggling economy. According to the December 13 report, an analysis of federal financial records led Business Insider to conclude that “[d]ozens of Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Capitol Hill have invested in companies that have a direct stake in the nation’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.” In its analysis — part of the Conflicted Congress project — the news outlet reviewed some “9,000 financial-disclosure reports for every sitting lawmaker and their top-ranking staffers.” The report found that last year at least 35 U.S. representatives and 13 senators held shares in Johnson & Johnson, which has produced the only single-shot COVID injection on the market. Meanwhile, 34 representatives and 11 senators held shares in Pfizer, the Big Pharma giant whose double-dose mRNA jab has been approved under an “emergency use authorization” by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for children as young as five years old. Moderna’s shareholders are fewer, with just two representatives and their spouses holding shares in the Bill Gates-funded corporation. “Lawmakers held these investments in COVID-19-minded companies as Congress was at the center of pandemic relief efforts,” Business Insider reported. “In 2020 and 2021, members of Congress voted on six relief bills together worth nearly $6 trillion. Congress also authorized more than $10 billion to help drug companies develop and distribute vaccines and forced health insurers to cover the cost of getting the shot.” Non-profit organization OpenSecrets, which follows the financial dealings of politicians, reported that through PACs and individuals Pfizer spent over $4 million in 2020 to bankroll candidates and committees. Employees and PACs working for Johnson & Johnson, meanwhile, spent over $2 million. “Both Pfizer and Johnson & Johnson gave more to Democrats than to Republicans,” Business Insider reported, adding that “[o]f the big three vaccine manufacturers, Pfizer leads with the most money spent lobbying members of Congress during the pandemic.” Pfizer spent nearly $11 million to lobby the federal government in 2020, OpenSecrets found, while Johnson & Johnson spent $7.9 million on lobbying last year. Business Insider added that the relative newcomer Moderna, which began to lobby the federal government back in 2019, spent $280,000 on lobbying in 2020 and $420,000 in 2021.

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Taiwan: 79% of Covid Cases Are People Who Are “Vaccinated”

DAILY EXPOSE, DECEMBER 13, 2021 • For the three weeks 19 November to 10 December 2021, 170 (79%) of the 215 people who tested positive for Covid had previously had at least one dose of a Covid injection. The summary of the positive tests or Covid “cases”, by vaccination status, shown by the CDC’s daily reports for the period 19 November to 10 December (E&OE).  Excepting two days, 26-27 November, all days show that more than 60% of positive test were those who had been “vaccinated” against disease. Prof. Sucharit Bhakdi has said: the Covid vaccines were designed to fail.  Antibodies produced in the blood stream, such as those produced after an injection into a muscle, cannot protect anyone from a respiratory infection.  If a person is infected with a respiratory virus after being injected it is not a “breakthrough” infection as the “vaccination” did not protect against respiratory viral infection in the first place. Dr., Richard Fleming has concluded the same.  Using Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson’s trial data used to calculate efficacy of their Covid injections, Dr. Fleming demonstrated that with an absolute risk ration of 0.88%, less than 1%, “there is no statistical reduction in Covid cases between the vaccinated and the unvaccinated.”

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Digital Surveillance — the Real Motive Behind Push to Vaccinate Kids

“The real purpose behind the historic, unprecedented push to vaccinate the very young, even against diseases like COVID that do not pose a threat to them, is to fold the current generation of children into the blossoming global digital identity system.” By Michael Nevradakis, Ph.D., Childrens Health Defense. December 15, 2021 It was the beginning of the preceding decade, January 2010, when Bill Gates, via the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, proclaimed “[w]e must make this the decade of vaccines,” adding that “innovation will make it possible to save more children than ever before.” In launching this so-called “Decade of Vaccines,” the Gates Foundation pledged $10 billion in funding. But Gates wasn’t the only actor behind this initiative. Moreover, in 2010, a “Global Vaccine Action Plan” was announced as part of this initiative. It was a collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), UNICEF and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), with Dr. Anthony Fauci serving on the leadership council. As the Gates Foundation stated at the time: “The Global Vaccine Action Plan will enable greater coordination across all stakeholder groups — national governments, multilateral organizations, civil society, the private sector and philanthropic organizations — and will identify critical policy, resource and other gaps that must be addressed to realize the life-saving potential of vaccines.” What, or who, is the GAVI Alliance? Also known as the “Vaccine Alliance,” it proclaims a mission to “save lives and protect people’s health,” and states it “helps vaccinate almost half the world’s children against deadly and debilitating infectious diseases.” GAVI goes on to describe its core partnership with various international organizations, including names that are by now familiar: the WHO, UNICEF, the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the World Bank. (Far from helping the world’s poor, the World Bank has been described by a former insider, John Perkins, as an organization that uses “economic hit men” to subjugate financially crippled countries). In 2018, GAVI, through its INFUSE (innovation for update, scale and equity in immunization) Initiative, put forth the following “food for thought”: “Imagine a future in which all children have access to life-saving vaccines no matter where they live — a future in which parents and health workers ensure their timely vaccination, a future in which they have their own digitally stored health record that cannot be lost or stolen, a future in which, regardless of gender, economic or social standing, this record allows each child (and parents) to have access to a bank account, go to school, access services and ultimately build a prosperous life. “This future is possible today. With the latest advances in digital technologies that enable more effective ways to register, identify births and issue proof of identity and authentication for access to services — we are on the brink of building a healthier and more prosperous future for the world’s most vulnerable children.” The GAVI Alliance also closely collaborates with the ID2020 Alliance, founded in 2016, which claims to advocate in favor of “ethical, privacy-protecting approaches to digital ID,” adding that “doing digital ID right means protecting civil liberties. Unsurprisingly, there is no clarification provided regarding the potential loss of civil liberties for individuals who choose, for any reason, not to be vaccinated and who are therefore excluded from large swaths of society in areas where COVID passports have been implemented and enforced. Such rhetoric on the part of ID2020 is reminiscent of the public statements put forth by the European Union (EU) as it was preparing to launch its so-called “Green Pass” earlier this year. Highlighting the possibilities that the GAVI-ID2020 collaboration could bring, the INFUSE call for innovation states: “According to the ID2020 Alliance — a public-private partnership that includes Gavi — the use of digital health cards for children could directly improve coverage rates by ensuring a verifiable, accurate record and by prompting parents to bring their children in for a subsequent dose. “From the parents’ perspective, digital records can make it convenient to track a child’s vaccines and eliminate unnecessary paperwork. “And as children grow, their digital health card can be used to access secondary services, such as primary school, or ease the process of obtaining alternative credentials. Effectively, the digital health card could, depending on country needs and readiness, potentially become the first step in establishing a legal, broadly recognized identity.” The final report from these sessions indicates, among other things, a desire from the stakeholders for the expansion of public-private partnerships for the further development and implementation of digital ID regimes worldwide, including in the Global South. One of the stakeholders present, the not-for-profit Secure Identity Alliance, touts its support for “the provision of legal, trusted identity for all and driving the development of inclusive digital services necessary for sustainable, worldwide economic growth and prosperity.” A paper published in July by the Security Identity Alliance discusses “making health certificates a workable reality.” One of the five principles the paper puts forth for such health passports is that they are “futureproofed,” by offering “multi-purpose functionality” in order to “ensure ongoing value beyond today’s current crisis.” Moreover, one of its founding members and current board members is the Thales Group, a private company involved in aerospace, defense and security — in short, a defense contractor. On its website, the Thales Group proudly promotes its “smart health card” and Digital ID Wallettechnology. Amidst utopian language claiming “we’re ready for change” and “putting citizens in control,” the Digital ID Wallet promises the public the ability to “access the rights and services to which we are entitled.” The U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 30 passed H.R. 550, the Immunization Infrastructure Modernization Act of 2021. If passed by Congress, this law would provide $400 million in funding to expand vaccine-tracking systems at the state and local level, enabling state health officials to monitor the vaccination status of American citizens and to provide this information to the federal government. Vaccine passports and no-fly lists for the unvaccinated — a concept for which Fauci expressed his support — could be created under the law. In September, for instance, Apple announced a partnership with eight states — Arizona, Connecticut, Georgia, Iowa, Kentucky, Maryland, Oklahoma and Utah — to make those respective states’ driver’s licenses available in digital form via the Apple Wallet platform. Indeed, New York went so far as to make a “blueprint” of its vaccine pass platform available, “as a guide to assist other states, territories, and entities in the expansion of compatible COVID-19 vaccine credential systems to advance economic development efforts nationwide.” Looking at the EU, one of the bloc’s priorities as part of its 2019-2024 five-year plan is to create a “digital identity for all Europeans.” Namely, each EU citizen and resident would have access to a “personal digital wallet” under this initiative. The EU subsequently presented its plans for the “European Digital Decade,” where under the EU’s “Digital Compass,” 100% of key public services will be available digitally, with a target of 80% uptake of digital identification documents. A recent article in The Atlantic, “Why Aren’t We Even Talking About Easing COVID Restrictions?” questioned why vaccine passport mandates in the U.S. have no sunset date. Indeed, if the proclamation of the Secure Identity Alliance regarding the need to “futureproof” such digital documents is any indication, it may be the case that governments have no intention to scrap vaccine passports.

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AmazonSmile donated more than $40,000 to anti-vaccine groups in 2020

THE GUARDIAN. 15 Dec 2021 Amazon’s charitable program is paying tens of thousands of dollars to anti-vaccine groups in a move experts say is “shocking” as millions of Americans remain unvaccinated in the face of another Covid-19 wave. AmazonSmile reportedly donated more than $40,000 to leading sources of vaccine misinformation in 2020, according to separate analyses by Popular Information and the Washington Post. The charity program of the e-commerce giant donates 0.5% from purchases to designated nonprofits – including at least a dozen organizations working against widespread vaccination in the US. The National Vaccine Information Center has received $41,533.71 over the course of several years, according to an anonymous volunteer. Last year, Amazon gave them $12,675, the Post reports – one of a dozen groups to receive such funding. Children’s Health Defense, headed by Robert F Kennedy Jr, received $10,969; Physicians for Informed Consent received $3,626; and Informed Consent Action Network received $2,970.41.

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Latest VAERS estimate: 388,000 Americans killed by the COVID vaccines

Steve Kirsch, December 14, 2021 I have argued that the anaphylaxis rate is an appropriate number to use to (under) estimate deaths because I believed that deaths would be less reported than anaphylaxis to VAERS for two reasons: 1) usually lacks the time proximity to vaccination, 2) the person seeing the death may not know the vaccination status of the victim and may not technically be required to report the death. That day has arrived courtesy of Wayne at VAERS Analysis. Wayne did a URF computation using death data in CMS. This overcomes any objections about the validity of using anaphylaxis rates as a proxy for death rates. The VAERS URF he computed was 44.64. This seems reasonable to me. It’s really not far from the 41 I calculated. Also, Wayne subsequently looked at the numbers for 9 states. The average value was 40, not far from the 41 I calculated from anaphylaxis. I had one of my team members double check his numbers. No mistake. Now, let’s see what that means. As of Dec 14, 2021, there are 9,136 deaths reported into VAERS. If we subtract out more than twice the total number of deaths reported in any previous year (to be super conservative about estimating background deaths): So our new best estimate of the number of “excess deaths” caused by the vaccine is 388,000. Because there isn’t a plausible mechanism of excess death other than the vaccine (certainly our “always vigilant” CDC has never suggested an alternate cause), the process of elimination leads us to conclude the obvious: that these excess deaths were, in fact, caused by the vaccine. This should really be a surprise to anyone paying attention to the clinical trials. For example, in the Pfizer trial, you were much more likely to die if you got the vaccine than if you got the placebo. They simply forgot to mention that in the abstract of the paper (and they were incapable of accurately counting the number of deaths in each group as well). In short, the vaccine is a killing machine.