The Gary Null Show

MacKay Children’s Hospital (Taiwan), August 15, 2021

According to news reporting from Taipei, Taiwan, research stated, “Vitamin D (VD) plays an important role not only in mineral balance and skeletal maintenance but also in immune modulation. VD status was found correlated with the pathophysiology and severity of inflammatory bowel diseases and other autoimmune disorders. Epithelial barrier function is primarily regulated by the tight-junction (TJ) proteins.”

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from MacKay Children’s Hospital: “In this study, we try to establish an animal model by raising mice fed VD-deficient diet and to investigate the effects of VD-deficient diet on gut integrity and zonulin expression. Male C57BL/6 mice were administered either VD-deficient [VDD group, 25(OH)2D3 0 IU/per mouse] or VD-sufficient [VDS group, 25(OH)2D3 37.8 IU/per mouse] special diets for 7 weeks. Body weight and diet intake were recorded weekly. Serum VD levels were detected. After sacrifice, jejunum and colon specimens were collected. The villus length and crypt depth of the jejunum as well as mucosa thickness of the colon were measured. Various serum pro-inflammatory cytokines and intestinal TJ proteins were assessed. The serum level of zonulin and the mRNA expression of jejunum zonulin were also investigated. We found that mice fed a VDD diet had a lower serum level of VD after 7 weeks (p < 0.001). VDD mice gained significant less weight (p = 0.022) and took a similar amount of diet (p = 0.398) when compared to mice raised on a VDS diet. Significantly decreased colon mucosa thickness was found in VDD mice compared with the VDS group (p = 0.022). A marked increase in serum pro-inflammatory cytokine levels was demonstrated in VDD mice. All relative levels of claudin (CLD)-1 (p = 0.007), CLD-3 (p < 0.001), CLD-7 (p < 0.001), and zonulin-1 (ZO-1, p = 0.038) protein expressions were significantly decreased in the VDD group when compared to the VDS group. A significant upregulation of mRNA expression of jejunum zonulin (p = 0.043) and elevated serum zonulin (p = 0.001) were found in the VDD group.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “We successfully demonstrated that VDD could lead to impaired barrier properties. We assume that sufficient VD could maintain intestinal epithelial integrity and prevent mucosal barrier dysfunction. VD supplementation may serve as part of a therapeutic strategy for human autoimmune and infectious diseases with intestinal barrier dysfunction (leaky gut) in the future. To our knowledge, this is the first study to demonstrate that VDD could lead to a significant upregulation in mRNA expression of the jejunum zonulin level and also a marked elevation of serum zonulin in a mouse model.”

Marymount University (US) and University of Guilan (China), August 24, 2021

In a study, researchers from Iran and the U.S. found that pumpkin seed oil can potentially treat hypertension in postmenopausal women. Their report was published in Complementary Therapies in Clinical Practice.

• Postmenopausal women are more likely to develop hypertension than men of the same age.

In sum, taking pumpkin seed oil may improve arterial hemodynamics in postmenopausal women.\

Kings College London, August 23, 2021

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London has found that both diet and exercise can influence the risk of cognitive decline (CD) and dementia by potentially influencing hippocampal neurogenesis (the process by which the brain produces new brain cells) long before their onset.

The study, published in Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association, suggests that altered neurogenesis in the brain could potentially represent an early biomarker for both CD and dementia.

The investigation studied how the blood of participants with and without CD and dementia could influence hippocampal neurogenesis in laboratory settings and whether diet and exercise were important factors. Specifically, blood samples of 418 French adults over the age of 65 were collected 12-years prior to CD and dementia diagnosis and tested on human hippocampal stems cells. Additionally, information on each participant’s sociodemographic, lifestyle, and clinical data were collected and incidence cognition status and dementia were measured every two to three years over a 12-year period.

Over the course of the study, the researchers established that 12 years prior to diagnosis, both CD and Alzheimer’s were associated with levels of neural stem cell death. The team also found that exercise, nutrition, vitamin D levels, carotenoid and lipid levels are all associated with the rate at which cells die off. Furthermore, physical activity and nutrition were key factors that then also determined CD status. Specifically, researchers found that reduced physical activity and increased malnutrition both increased cell death which in turn increased the risk for future CD.

While previous studies have established that diet and exercise have some protective effects against CD and dementia, these roles have been poorly understood at the neurobiological level. To date, studies on animals have shown how diet and exercise can directly influence hippocampal neurogenesis, potentially explaining how exercise and diet may biologically exert their effects, but this study sheds further light on this in the context of a human model.

Dr. Sandrine Thuret, the study’s lead investigator said, “Our study has demonstrated not only that there are individual markers of hippocampal neurogenesis associated with CD and dementia 12 years later, but also that there is some degree of specificity with respect to diagnoses of dementia subtypes. If an individual displays an increase in their levels of cell death during differentiation (when neural stem cells are becoming neurons), we can look at this as a potential warning sign of CD. Conversely, a decrease in levels of cell death during proliferation (the process by which a single cell divides into a pair) and reduced hippocampal progenitor cell integrity could be viewed as a predictor for Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular dementia, respectively.”

According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, there were a total of 525,315 people living with a dementia diagnosis in the UK in 2020. Rates of cognitive decline and dementia are expected to triple in prevalence by 2040.

Dr. Andrea du Preez, the study’s first author from King’s IoPPN said, “While more work is undoubtedly needed to fully understand how diet and exercise might modulate hippocampal neurogenesis, our findings may represent an effective early preventative strategy against CD and dementia.”

University College London, August 23, 2021

Mindfulness may provide modest benefits to cognition, particularly among older adults, finds a new review of evidence led by UCL researchers.

The systematic review and meta-analysis, published in Neuropsychology Review, found that, while mindfulness is typically geared towards improving mental health and well-being, it may also provide additional benefits to brain health.

The study’s lead author, PhD student Tim Whitfield (UCL Psychiatry) said that “the positive effects of mindfulness-based programs on mental health are already relatively well-established. Here, our findings suggest that a small benefit is also conferred to cognition, at least among older adults.”

The researchers reviewed previously published studies of mindfulness, and identified 45 studies that fit their criteria, which incorporated a total of 2,238 study participants. Each study tested the effects of a mindfulness-based intervention delivered by a facilitator in a group setting, over at least four sessions, while excluding mindfulness retreats in order to have a more homogenous set of studies.

The majority of studies involved a certified instructor teaching participants techniques such as sitting meditation, mindful movement and body scan, generally on a weekly basis across six to 12 weeks, while also asking participants to continue the practices in their own time.

The researchers found that overall, mindfulness conferred a small but significant benefit to cognition.

Subgroup analysis revealed that the effect was slightly stronger for people over 60, while there was not a significant effect for people under 60.

Tim Whitfield commented that “executive function is known to decline with age among older adults; the improvement in people over 60 suggests that mindfulness may help guard against cognitive decline, by helping to maintain or restore executive function in late adulthood. It might be easier to restore cognitive functions to previous levels, rather than to improve them beyond the developmental peak.”

When they investigated which aspects of cognition were affected, the researchers found that mindfulness was beneficial only to executive function, and more specifically, there was strong evidence of a small positive effect on working memory (which is one facet of executive function).

The researchers also analyzed whether mindfulness outperformed other ‘active interventions’ (such as brain training, relaxation, or other health or educational programs) or only when compared to people who were not offered any alternative treatment. They found that cognitive benefits of mindfulness were only significant compared with an ‘inactive’ comparison, which means they cannot rule out that the benefits may have been at least partly derived from an expectation of treatment benefits, or social interactions.

The researchers say that more research is needed into which characteristics of mindfulness training may be more likely to confer cognitive benefits, or whether delivering interventions over longer periods, or in intensive retreat settings, might yield greater cognitive benefits.

Senior author Dr Natalie Marchant (UCL Psychiatry) said that they “know mindfulness-based programs benefit mental health, and our paper now suggests that mindfulness may also help to maintain cognitive faculties as people age. Mindfulness practices do not share much in common with cognitive test measures, so it is notable that mindfulness training’s impact appears to transfer to other domains. While our review only identified a small benefit to executive function, it remains possible that some types of mindfulness training might deliver larger gains.”

Major Depression Symptoms Improved with Chlorella

University of Western Australia, August 23rd 2021 

The symptoms of depression are often treated with drugs that can have long-term adverse side effects. A new study finds chlorella significantly reduces symptoms of major depression.

Research from the University of Western Australia in Perth has found that chlorella can significantly improve symptoms of depression.

The researchers tested 92 patients with major depressive disorder – a disorder that affects millions of people around the world.

The researchers split the patients into two groups. They gave 42 of the patients 1,800 milligrams of Chlorella vulgaris extract per day. The other 50 patients continued their standard care.

The researchers used a scale called the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) to test the patients’ symptoms of depression, along with the Beck Depression Inventory II (BDI-II) scale. Both of these have been used in clinical settings to establish the range of depressive symptoms and the severity of the diagnosis.

After six weeks of treatment with either the standard pharmaceutical treatment or chlorella extract, the researchers found that those patients who had taken the chlorella had significantly reduced scores in both depression tests. The BDI-II scores went down by over four points and the HADS scores went down by 3.71 points.

To give some reference, the HADS scale consists of 21 points, and anything over an 8 is considered symptomatic of anxiety or depression.

In addition to reduced total scores, the researchers also saw significant reductions in some of the subset scores. For example, physical and cognitive symptoms were significantly improved in the chlorella group, and subscales for depression and anxiety were significantly lower among the chlorella group.

The researchers concluded:

“This pilot exploratory trial provides the first clinical evidence on the efficacy and safety of adjunctive therapy with CVE in improving physical and cognitive symptoms of depression as well as anxiety symptoms in patients who are receiving standard antidepressant therapy.”

Chlorella is a microalga. It is a single-celled algae that is typically grown in controlled growth medium tanks. It is significantly high in protein, with over 40 percent protein, with all of the essential amino acids. It also contains proteins that stimulate growth hormone and brain neurotransmitters.

Concentrated extract was used in this study due to the fact that whole chlorella can be difficult for the body to break down the cell wall. An extract provides the contents of the cell after the cell wall has been broken.

University of Granada, August 20, 2021

According to news reporting out of Granada, Spain,research stated, “Studies regarding dietary patterns and cardiometabolic risk markers during pregnancy are scarce. The aim of the present study was to analyse whether different degrees of adherence to the Mediterranean diet (MD) and the MD components were associated with cardiometabolic markers and a clustered cardiometabolic risk during pregnancy.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from the University of Granada, “This study comprised 119 pregnant women from the GEStation and FITness (GESTAFIT) project. Dietary habits were assessed with a food frequency questionnaire at the 16th and 34th gestational weeks (g.w.). The Mediterranean Diet Score was employed to assess MD adherence. The following cardiometabolic markers were assessed: pre-pregnancy body mass index (BMI), systolic blood pressure (SBP), diastolic blood pressure (DBP), fasting glucose, triglycerides and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C). A greater MD adherence was associated with a better cardiometabolic status in cross-sectional (16th g.w. and 34th g.w.) and prospective analyses (MD adherence at the 16th g.w. and cardiometabolic markers at the 34th g.w.; SBP, DBP and HDL-C; all, p< 0.05). Participants with the highest MD adherence (Tertile 3) had a lower clustered cardiometabolic risk than those with the lowest MD adherence (Tertile 1) at the 16th and 34th g.w. (both, p< 0.05). A higher intake of fruits, vegetables and fish and a lower intake of refined cereals and red meat and subproducts were associated with a lower cardiometabolic risk during pregnancy (all, p< 0.05).”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “A higher MD adherence, a greater intake of fruits, vegetables and fish and a lower intake of refined cereals and red meat and subproducts showed a cardioprotective effect throughout gestation.”

Unhealthy diet during pregnancy could be linked to ADHD

King’s College London and the University of Bristol , August 20, 2021

New research led by scientists from King’s College London and the University of Bristol has found that a high-fat, high-sugar diet during pregnancy may be linked to symptoms of ADHD in children who show conduct problems early in life. Published in the Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, this study is the first to indicate that epigenetic changes evident at birth may explain the link between unhealthy diet, conduct problems and ADHD.

Early onset conduct problems (e.g. lying, fighting) and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) are the leading causes of child mental health referral in the UK. These two disorders tend to occur in tandem (more than 40 per cent of children with a diagnosis of conduct disorder also have a diagnosis of ADHD) and can also be traced back to very similar prenatal experiences such as maternal distress or poor nutrition.

In this new study of participants from the Bristol-based ‘Children of the 90s’ cohort, 83 children with early-onset conduct problems were compared with 81 children who had low levels of conduct problems. The researchers assessed how the mothers’ nutrition affected epigenetic changes (or DNA methylation) of IGF2, a gene involved in fetal development and the brain development of areas implicated in ADHD – the cerebellum and hippocampus. Notably, DNA methylation of IGF2 had previously been found in children of mothers who were exposed to famine in the Netherlands during World War II.

The researchers from King’s and Bristol found that poor prenatal nutrition, comprising high fat and sugar diets of processed food and confectionary, was associated with higher IGF2 methylation in children with early onset conduct problems and those with low conduct problems.

Higher IGF2 methylation was also associated with higher ADHD symptoms between the ages of 7 and 13, but only for children who showed an early onset of conduct problems.

Dr Edward Barker from King’s College London said: ‘Our finding that poor prenatal nutrition was associated with higher IGF2 methylation highlights the critical importance of a healthy diet during pregnancy. These results suggest that promoting a healthy prenatal diet may ultimately lower ADHD symptoms and conduct problems in children. This is encouraging given that nutritional and epigenetic risk factors can be altered.’

Dr Barker added: ‘We now need to examine more specific types of nutrition. For example, the types of fats such as omega 3 fatty acids, from fish, walnuts and chicken are extremely important for neural development.

‘We already know that nutritional supplements for children can lead to lower ADHD and conduct problems, so it will be important for future research to examine the role of epigenetic changes in this process.’

Taiyo Kagaku Co (Japan), August 24, 2021

A systematic review and meta-analysis published in a recent issue of Molecules found an association between oral intake or topical application of green tea catechins and a reduction in ultraviolet (UV) radiation-induced sunburn, which is an inflammatory reaction of the skin to UV exposure, clinically known as erythema.*

Catechins are a type of flavonoid that occur in plants such as Camellia sinensis (tea). Green tea catechins include (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG), well known for its anti-cancer and health-promoting effects, (-)-epicatechin, and many other similar molecules. These compounds have been recognized as having anti-inflammatory, antioxidant and photo-protective properties.

“To our knowledge, this is the first meta-analysis to assess the effectiveness of green tea catechins specifically on measures of ultraviolet radiation-induced erythema and related pro-inflammatory mediators,” authors Mahendra P. Kapoor and colleagues wrote. “Regular intake of as low as 540 mg of green tea catechins per day could be beneficial for the protection against ultraviolet radiation-induced erythema, wherein green tea catechin metabolites are bioavailable at the dermis and epidermis levels of the skin, and thus increase the minimal dose of radiation (MED) required to induce erythema.”

Dr Kapoor added that the study “suggests that green tea catechins can strengthen the skin’s tolerance to ultraviolet radiation-induced skin damage from radiation through the prevention of the ultraviolet radiation-induced perturbation of epidermal barrier functions.”

Study details: 12 weeks of green tea intake yields benefits

The meta-analysis included three randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trials and one non-double-blind, non-placebo-controlled study that examined potential protective effects of orally administered capsules containing green tea catechins against sunburn (clinically known as erythema) induced by solar-simulated UV radiation. Two additional studies that involved a single dose of topically administered catechins were separately analyzed.

Pooled analysis of data from three studies that evaluated erythema in skin exposed to UV radiation before and after 12 or more weeks of green tea catechin intake revealed a favorable effect in association with catechin intake. Both low and high doses of the green tea capsules were effective at decreasing low-dose UV radiation-induced erythema. It was also noted that a significant favorable effect was seen in the one study which assessed UV radiation-induced erythema after green tea intake for only six weeks, but as none of the other studies assessed this shorter duration of intake, further analysis was not performed.

When green tea catechins’ effects compared to a placebo were analyzed, pooling the data of two placebo-controlled trials confirmed their effectiveness against low-intensity UV radiation-induced erythema.

Pooling data from participants in the studies involving topical green tea catechins revealed significant benefit for green tea at higher UV radiation doses.

When two great minds come to similar conclusions about the current global push to vaccinate everyone with the COVID experimental vaccines, we should pay close attention.  Both highly experienced scientists have a totally negative view of the vaccination effort.  Worse than being ineffective, they point to negative health outcomes for the global population.  These two truth-telling acclaimed medical researchers make Fauci look as inept, deceitful and dangerous as he is.

The point made in this article is not only has Fauci pushed the wrong potentially disastrous pandemic solution, he has blocked the right one.

Much of what the two virologists say is very technical in nature.  This article simplifies their controversial messages without losing their essential meanings.  The public needs to understand their warnings that refute all the propaganda pushing vaccines from government and public health agencies as well as big media.

Warning: Keep reading and you may become depressed.

*

Dr. Luc Montagnier

First considered is the thinking of Dr. Luc Montagnier, a French virologist and recipient of the 2008 Nobel Prize in Medicine for his discovery of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV).  He has a doctorate in medicine.  But there is a lot more to conclude he is a great expert: He has received more than 20 major awards, including the French National Order of Merit and the Légion d’honneur.  He is a recipient of the Lasker Award, the Scheele Award, the Louis-Jeantet Prize for medicine , the Gairdner Award  the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement, King Faisal International Prize (known as the Arab Nobel Prize), and the Prince of Asturias Award.

He has worked hard to expose the dangers of the COVID-19 vaccines, still experimental but sadly may soon be fully approved.  The vaccines don’t stop the virus, argues the prominent virologist, they do the opposite — they “feed the virus,” and facilitate its development into stronger and more transmittable variants.  These new virus variants will be more resistant to vaccination and may cause more health implications than their “original” versions.

Montagnier refers to the mass vaccine program as an “unacceptable mistake” and are a “scientific error as well as a medical error.”  His assertion is that “The history books will show that…it is the vaccination that is creating the variants.”  In other words: “There are antibodies, created by the vaccine,” forcing the virus to “find another solution” or die.  “This is where the variants are created.  It is the variants that “are a production and result from the vaccination.”  Stop and think about these thoughts.  Have you heard a better explanation of variant creation?  I doubt it.

He is talking about the mutation and strengthening of the virus from a phenomenon known as Antibody Dependent Enhancement (ADE).  ADE is a mechanism that increases the ability of a virus to enter cells and cause a worsening of the disease.

Data from around the world confirms ADE occurs in SARS-CoV-2, which causes COVID-19, says Montagnier. “You see it in each country, it’s the same: the curve of vaccination is followed by the curve of deaths.”  Sounds like what we are now hearing more about, namely escalating breakthrough infections that kill some people.  And this spiral into disaster may have no end.

In a November 2020 documentary he emphasized harmful and irrational mask mandates as well as lockdowns, quarantines, abuses of government overreach, and supported use of effective COVID treatments such as hydroxychloroquine.  The film was banned by YouTube and most other mainstream outlets.  At that time Fauci had succeeded in blocking wide use of the cheap generic based treatments for COVID and pursued the wait for the vaccine strategy.

Montagnier has been a vocal critic of the mass vaccination campaign.  In a letter to the President and Judges of the Supreme Court of the State of Israel, which unrolled the world’s speediest and the most massive vaccination campaign, Montagnier argued for its suspension.  He said: “I would like to summarize the potential dangers of these vaccines in a mass vaccination policy.”  Here they are:

1. Short-term side effects: these are not the normal local reactions found for any vaccination, but serious reactions involve the life of the recipient such as anaphylactic shock linked to a component of the vaccine mixture, or severe allergies or an autoimmune reaction up to cell aplasia.  In this group we should include a number of lethal blood problems involving clots and loss of platelets that cause strokes, brain bleeds and other impacts.

Lack of vaccine protection:

2.1 In induced antibodies do not neutralize a viral infection, but on the contrary facilitate it depending on the recipient.  The latter may have already been exposed to the virus asymptomatically.  Naturally induced antibodies may compete with the antibodies induced by the vaccine.

2.2 The production of antibodies induced by vaccination in a population highly exposed to the virus will lead to the selection of variants resistant to these antibodies.  These variants can be more virulent or more transmissible.  This is what we are seeing now.  An endless virus-vaccine race that will always turn to the advantage for the virus.

Long-term effects: Contrary to the claims of the manufacturers of messenger RNA vaccines, there is a risk of integration of viral RNA into the human genome. Our cells have the ability to reverse transcriptase from RNA into DNA. Although this is a rare event, its passage through the DNA of germ cells and its transmission to future generations cannot be excluded.

His bottom line: “Faced with an unpredictable future, it is better to abstain.”  But most people will find it extremely difficult to resist all the coercion and vaccine mandates.

Back in April 2020, before all the talk of variants and before the rollout of the experimental vaccines, Montagnier urged people to refuse vaccines against COVID-19 when they become available.  His main point should always be remembered: “instead of preventing the infection, they [would] accelerate infection.”  Today, the newly occurring variants of SARS-CoV-2 that affect vaccinated people prove his thesis.  With his scientific thinking, mass vaccination may cause a new, more deadly wave of pandemic infection.

As to the much talked about and hope for herd immunity, he has said: “the vaccines Pfizer, Moderna, Astra Zeneca do not prevent the transmission of the virus person-to-person and the vaccinated are just as transmissive as the unvaccinated.  Therefore the hope of a ‘collective immunity’ by an increase in the number of vaccinated is totally futile.”

On the positive side, he advocated this: “The early treatment of infection with ivermectin and bacterial antibiotic because there is a bacterial cofactor that amplifies the effects of the virus. “

Dr. Vanden Bossche

The stark views of Montagnier have been shared by the esteemed Belgium virologist Dr. Vanden Bossche.  He too has considerable credentials that make his views worth consideration.  He has PhD degree in Virology from the University of Hohenheim, Germany.  He held faculty appointments at universities in Belgium and Germany.  He was at the German Center for Infection Research in Cologne as Head of the Vaccine Development Office.  He has been in the private sector at several vaccine companies (GSK Biologicals, Novartis Vaccines, Solvay Biologicals) where he worked on vaccine R&D as well as vaccine development.  He also worked with the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI) in Geneva as Senior Ebola Program Manager.

His views have been analyzed in a recent article.  He too has loudly called for a halt to mass-vaccination programs.  He believes that if the jabs are not halted, they could lead to the evolution of stronger and stronger variants of the virus until a “supervirus” takes hold and wipes out huge numbers of people.

This is his bold view:

“Given the huge amount of immune escape that will be provoked by mass vaccination campaigns and flanking containment measures, it is difficult to imagine how human interventions would not cause the COVID-19 pandemic to turn into an incredible disaster for global and individual health.”

Here is an essential element of his thinking.  Pretty much everything being done in the pandemic doesn’t guarantee elimination of the virus.  What is happening is selective viral ‘immune escape’ where viruses continue to be shed from those who are infected [both vaccinated and nonvaccinated] because neutralizing antibodies fail to prevent replication and elimination of the virus.

The evolutionary selection pressure on the virus through ‘immune escape,’ creates ever more virulent strains of the virus that have a competitive advantage over other variants and will increasingly have the potential to break through the antibody defenses.  Defenses provided by the vaccine induced immune system.  This is ‘vaccine resistance.’  What happens is that vaccine makers keep trying to outsmart variants, but fail.  So, they keep pushing boosters and yearly vaccine shots.  This is the more is better approach.  This is aided by suppression of many negative facts about the vaccines by big media.

A frightening forecast by Bossche is that the worst of the pandemic is still to come.  Hard to believe considering all the bad news propaganda about cases, hospitalizations and deaths.  But he thinks we are now experiencing the calm before the ultimate storm.  Imagine a new wave of infection far worse than anything we’ve seen so far is how Bossche thinks.

How does this happen?  There will be more mutants or variants to which the adaptive immune system from vaccine shots provides little resistance.  At the same time there will be decreased innate or natural immune effectiveness.  Unless people take a number of steps to boost their natural immunity.

Bossche consistently points to a lack of evidence that the existing global, mass vaccination program that has been mounted while there is still significant infection around, is unprecedented and there is no scientific evidence that this will work.  This is why he is largely ignored.

He stresses that historic vaccination programs have always emphasized the importance of vaccinating populations prophylactically in the absence of infection pressure.

He also argues that if different types of vaccine were used that provided sterilizing immunity i.e., that prevented immune escape and killed all viruses in those vaccinated, the situation would be entirely different.  Most people do not understand that the current experimental vaccines do not actually kill the virus; and that both the vaccinated and nonvaccinated shed the virus.  These vaccines do not stop viral transmission.  And all the contagion control measures simply to not work effectively enough to stop wide spread of the virus in its various forms.

Here is his big picture view: “There is only one single thing at stake right now and that is the survival of our human race, frankly speaking.”

But there are more strong words recently said by Bossche to pay attention to:

“every person out there who is ‘partially’ or ‘fully’ vaccinated is a walking disease incubation system that puts everyone else at risk of contracting a deadly, vaccine-caused ‘variant’ that could kill them.  The ‘vaccinated’ are walking murderers spreading disease to others.  Getting injected for the Fauci Flu is not only foolish; it is also a form of murder in that unvaccinated people are now at risk of contracting the deadly diseases being manufactured inside the bodies of the vaccinated.  If Trump had never introduced the vaccine in the first place, the pandemic would have long ago fizzled out.  Since his vaccines continue to be pushed … however, the ‘Delta’ variant is spreading like wildfire, soon to be followed by other ‘variants’ as we enter the fall season.”

This too is a very strong view.  The “mass vaccination program is…unable to generate herd immunity.”  If true, there is little hope of seeing the COVID pandemic ending.

What is the solution?  Bossche has identified the needed alternative to the current massive vaccine effort.  It is this; “This first critical step can only be achieved by calling an immediate halt to the mass vaccination program and replacing it by widespread use of antiviral chemoprophylactics while dedicating massive public health resources to scaling early multidrug treatments of Covid-19 disease.”  This is referring to the early home/outpatient treatment protocols based on cheap, safe and fully approved generics like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine; these also work as preventatives.  Pandemic Blunder provides much data and advice on using this treatment approach.  So, both virologists support use of what Fauci has blocked.

These action recommendations were also made by Bossche “Provide – at no cost – early multidrug treatment to all patients in need.  Roll out campaigns to promote healthy diets and lifestyle.”  In other words, people need to take actions to boost their natural immunity, this should include vitamins and supplements, including this cocktail: vitamin C, vitamin D, zine and quercetin.

Conclusions

Take a moment to consider that Patrick Wood on the Bannon show on August 21 concluded that all the available data from the US and Europe shows some 100,000 people have died from the COVID experimental vaccines.  I agree with that assessment.  And by the time you read this FDA may have given full approval to the Pfizer vaccine.

After considering what these two experts have said it is appropriate to criticize what current government officials say, namely blame the unvaccinated for the surges in COVID cases, hospitalizations and deaths.  The major alternative to this thinking is that it is the vaccinated people who are creating pandemic problems, including the variants.  The strong conclusion is that the current vaccines are ineffective, nonprotective and dangerous.

What is needed is an entirely new approach to COVID vaccines. Perhaps there are companies working on this.  This would threaten the trillion-dollar business of the current vaccine makers.

If the people, agencies and institutions with all the power listening to these two very smart people they would devote all their energies to using alternatives to the current vaccines.  We have them.  Notably, the treatment protocols that so many great doctors have created and used to help their patients.

Many other physicians and medical researchers have called for a halt to the current vaccine bonanza for big drug companies.  In the meantime, on a daily basis for all those willing to look at the facts, it is clearer and clearer that the experimental vaccines are not effective.  It is insanity to keep doing or expanding what is not working.  That is the insane world we are now experiencing even as more and people die from breakthrough infections, blood problems and other bad vaccine health impacts.

Perhaps the ugly truth about the vaccines will be widely revealed only when there are massive, widespread deaths despite all the shots and jabs.  That will be too late to change pandemic management from money-driven stupidity to life-saving, medically moral actions.

*

Dr. Joel S. Hirschhorn, author of Pandemic Blunder and many articles on the pandemic, worked on health issues for decades.  As a full professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, he directed a medical research program between the colleges of engineering and medicine.  As a senior official at the Congressional Office of Technology Assessment and the National Governors Association, he directed major studies on health-related subjects; he testified at over 50 U.S. Senate and House hearings and authored hundreds of articles and op-ed articles in major newspapers.  He has served as an executive volunteer at a major hospital for more than 10 years.  He is a member of the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and America’s Frontline Doctors and has been a long-time contributor to the sites of Kettle Moraine.

International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics, August 18, 2021

The consumption of millets can reduce total cholesterol, triacylglycerols (commonly known as triglycerides) and BMI according to a new study that analyzed the data of 19 studies with nearly 900 people. The latest study was undertaken by five organizations and led by International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT).

The results published in Frontiers in Nutrition bring critically needed scientific backing to the efforts to popularize and return millets to diets, especially as staples, to combat the growing prevalence of obesity and being overweight in children, adolescents and adults.

The study showed that consuming millets reduced total cholesterol by 8%, lowering it from high to normal levels in the people studied. There was nearly a 10% decrease in low- and very low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (commonly viewed as ‘bad cholesterol’) and triacylglycerol levels in blood. Through these reductions, the levels went from above-normal to normal range. In addition, consuming millets decreased blood pressure with the diastolic blood pressure decreasing by 5%.

Dr S Anitha, the study’s lead author and Senior Nutritionist at ICRISAT, explained, “We were very surprised by the number of studies that had already been undertaken on the impact of millets on elements that impact cardiovascular diseases. This is the very first time anyone has collated all these studies and analyzed their data to test the significance of the impact. We used a meta-analysis, and results came out very strongly to show significant positive impact on risk factors for cardiovascular disease.”

The study also showed that consuming millets reduced BMI by 7% in people who were overweight and obese (from 28.5 ± 2.4 to 26.7 ± 1.8 kg/m2), showing the possibility of returning to a normal BMI (

Okayama University (Japan), August 17, 2021

Lung cancer is known to be the most fatal form of cancer. Chemicals like 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) found in tobacco are usually the main culprits behind smoking-related lung cancer causing cancer biologists to actively explore targeted treatments. Now, a research group led by Associate Professor ARIMOTO-KOBAYASHI Sakae at Okayama University has reported the potential of a berry-producing vine, Vitis coignetiae Pulliat (colloquially known as Yamabudo in Japan), against lung cancer in mice.

The team has previously shown that juice extracted from the Yamabudo fruit and 2,6-dimethoxy-1,4-benzoquinone (DBQ), a chemical found within it, have protective effects against skin cancer. Thus, in this study the potential of both these chemicals was investigated. Mice were first treated with NNK to establish lung cancer models and tumors that subsequently developed within their lungs were assessed. After 30 weeks, mice given Yamabudo juice or DBQ showed greatly reduced tumor size. To understand the mechanism of Yamabudo further, human lung cancer cells were employed. NNK induces cancer by facilitating a chemical change in the DNA structure, known as DNA methylation. To mimic this process, cells were exposed to MNNG (a chemical that artificially induces DNA methylation) and the effects of Yamabudo were studied. Indeed, cells that were treated with Yamabudo juice or DBQ showed lower levels of DNA methylation. 

The DNA methylation induced by NNK also plays a role in mutating the DNA, making all exposed cells susceptible to cancer. The methylated forms of DNA tend to form large complexes which can undergo damage more easily. Therefore, NNK-induced mutations were analyzed next to see if Yamabudo also plays a protective role in this regard. The number of NNK-induced mutations was, in fact, found to be considerably reduced by Yamabudo juice or DBQ. Yamabudo thus mitigated lung cancer by repairing the DNA damage caused by toxins. Lastly, the team also assessed biological pathways which typically help cancer cells proliferate. While all such pathways were active in the lung cancer cells, treatment with Yamabudo showed a dampening of these cancer-facilitating signals.

“Stimulation of repair of alkyl DNA adducts and suppressed growth signaling pathways are potential anti-tumorigenic targets of Yamabudo juice and DBQ in NNK-induced lung tumorigenesis,” conclude the researchers. Given the broad range of tumor-suppressing properties Yamabudo displays, it is one herbal medicine that should be explored further in lung cancer research.

Background

DNA methylation: DNA methylation is a natural chemical process intended to regulate proper functioning of our genes. A chemical group known as the “methyl” group is usually bound onto specific regions of the DNA as a mechanism to prevent genes from being turned on when not in use. However, certain toxins and other external factors can also induce DNA methylation which sometimes prevents important genes (such as those that suppress cancer) from being active. Unfortunately, the methylated forms of DNA are passed on when cells replicate. DNA methylation thereby also abets the spread of cancer. Controlling DNA methylation is an important strategy in keeping certain cancers in check.

Dana Farber Cancer Institute, August 17, 2021

Consuming higher amounts of Vitamin D – mainly from dietary sources – may help protect against developing young-onset colorectal cancer or precancerous colon polyps, according to the first study to show such an association.

The study, recently published online in the journal Gastroenterology, by scientists from Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and other institutions, could potentially lead to recommendations for higher vitamin D intake as an inexpensive complement to screening tests as a colorectal cancer prevention strategy for adults younger than age 50.

While the overall incidence of colorectal cancer has been declining, cases have been increasing in younger adults – a worrisome trend that has yet to be explained. The authors of the study, including senior co-authors Kimmie Ng, MD, MPH, of Dana-Farber, and Edward Giovannucci, MD, DSc., of the T.H. Chan School, noted that vitamin D intake from food sources such as fish, mushrooms, eggs, and milk has decreased in the past several decades. There is growing evidence of an association between vitamin D and risk of colorectal cancer mortality. However, prior to the current study, no research has examined whether total vitamin D intake is associated with the risk of young-onset colorectal cancer.

“Vitamin D has known activity against colorectal cancer in laboratory studies. Because vitamin D deficiency has been steadily increasing over the past few years, we wondered whether this could be contributing to the rising rates of colorectal cancer in young individuals,” said Ng, director of the Young-Onset Colorectal Cancer Center at Dana-Farber. “We found that total vitamin D intake of 300 IU per day or more – roughly equivalent to three 8-oz. glasses of milk – was associated with an approximately 50% lower risk of developing young-onset colorectal cancer.”

The results of the study were obtained by calculating the total vitamin D intake – both from dietary sources and supplements – of 94,205 women participating in the Nurses’ Health Study II (NHS II). This study is a prospective cohort study of nurses aged 25 to 42 years that began in 1989. The women are followed every two years by questionnaires on demographics, diet and lifestyle factors, and medical and other health-related information. The researchers focused on a primary endpoint – young-onset colorectal cancer, diagnosed before 50 years of age. They also asked on a follow-up questionnaire whether they had had a colonoscopy or sigmoidoscopy where colorectal polyps (which may be precursors to colorectal cancer) were found.

During the period from 1991 to 2015 the researchers documented 111 cases of young-onset colorectal cancer and 3,317 colorectal polyps. Analysis showed that higher total vitamin D intake was associated with a significantly reduced risk of early-onset colorectal cancer. The same link was found between higher vitamin D intake and risk of colon polyps detected before age 50. 

The association was stronger for dietary vitamin D – principally from dairy products – than from vitamin D supplements. The study authors said that finding could be due to chance or to unknown factors that are not yet understood.

Interestingly, the researchers didn’t find a significant association between total vitamin D intake and risk of colorectal cancer diagnosed after age 50. The findings were not able to explain this inconsistency, and the scientists said further research in a larger sample is necessary to determine if the protective effect of vitamin D is actually stronger in young-onset colorectal cancer.

In any case, the investigators concluded that higher total vitamin D intake is associated with decreased risks of young-onset colorectal cancer and precursors (polyps). “Our results further support that vitamin D may be important in younger adults for health and possibly colorectal cancer prevention,” said Ng. “It is critical to understand the risk factors that are associated with young-onset colorectal cancer so that we can make informed recommendations about diet and lifestyle, as well as identify high risk individuals to target for earlier screening.”

The study was funded by grants from the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Department of Defense; by the American Cancer Society Mentored Research Scholar Grant; and by the Project P Fund.

Ng’s disclosures include research funding from Pharmavite, Revolution Medicines, Janssen, and Evergrande Group; Advisory boards for Array Biopharma, Seattle Genetics, and BiomX; and consulting for X-Biotix Therapeutics.

Kings College London, August 17, 2021

New research from the Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience (IoPPN) at King’s College London has found that both diet and exercise can influence the risk of cognitive decline (CD) and dementia by potentially influencing hippocampal neurogenesis (the process by which the brain produces new brain cells) long before their onset.

The study, published in Alzheimer's & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer's Association, suggests that altered neurogenesis in the brain could potentially represent an early biomarker for both CD and dementia.

The investigation studied how the blood of participants with and without CD and dementia could influence hippocampal neurogenesis in laboratory settings and whether diet and exercise were important factors. Specifically, blood samples of 418 French adults over the age of 65 were collected 12-years prior to CD and dementia diagnosis and tested on human hippocampal stems cells. Additionally, information on each participant’s sociodemographic, lifestyle, and clinical data were collected and incidence cognition status and dementia were measured every 2 to 3 years over a 12-year period.

Over the course of the study, the researchers established that 12 years prior to diagnosis, both CD and Alzheimer’s were associated with levels of neural stem cell death. The team also found that exercise, nutrition, vitamin D levels, carotenoid and lipid levels are all associated with the rate at which cells die off. Furthermore, physical activity and nutrition were key factors that then also determined CD status.  Specifically, researchers found that reduced physical activity and increased malnutrition both increased cell death which in turn increased the risk for future CD.

While previous studies have established that diet and exercise have some protective effects against CD and dementia, these roles have been poorly understood at the neurobiological level. To date, studies on animals have shown how diet and exercise can directly influence hippocampal neurogenesis, potentially explaining how exercise and diet may biologically exert their effects, but this study sheds further light on this in the context of a human model.

Doctor Sandrine Thuret, the study’s lead investigator from King’s IoPPN said “Our study has demonstrated not only that there are individual markers of hippocampal neurogenesis associated with CD and dementia 12 years later, but also that there is some degree of specificity with respect to diagnoses of dementia subtypes.

“Specifically, if an individual displays an increase in their levels of cell death during differentiation (when neural stem cells are becoming neurons), we can look at this as a potential warning sign of CD. Conversely, a decrease in levels of cell death during proliferation (the process by which a single cell divides into a pair) and reduced hippocampal progenitor cell integrity could be viewed as a predictor for Alzheimer’s Disease and Vascular dementia, respectively.”

According to Alzheimer’s Research UK, there were a total of 525,315 people living with a dementia diagnosis in the UK in 2020[1]. Rates of cognitive decline and dementia are expected to triple in prevalence by 2040.

Dr Andrea du Preez, the study’s first author from King’s IoPPN said, “While more work is undoubtedly needed to fully understand how diet and exercise might modulate hippocampal neurogenesis, our findings may represent an effective early preventative strategy against CD and dementia.”

Acupuncture improves symptoms of chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome compared to sham treatment

China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, August 17, 2021 

A multicenter randomized trial showed that 20 sessions of acupuncture over 8 weeks resulted in greater improvement in symptoms of moderate to severe chronic prostatitis/chronic pelvic pain syndrome (CP/CPPS) compared with sham therapy. Treatment effects endured over 24 weeks follow up. The findings are published in Annals of Internal Medicine.

CP/CPPS manifests discomfort or pain in the pelvic region for at least 3 of the previous 6 months without evidence of infection. Lower urinary tract symptoms, psychological issues, and sexual dysfunction may also be involved. Men with CP/CPPS may have a poor quality of life due to the many neuropsychophysiologic pathophysiology factors associated with the disorder, such as inflammation in the prostate, anxiety and stress, and dyssynergic voiding. Antibiotics, a-blockers, and anti-inflammatories are the mainstays of treatment in clinical practice, but they have limited effectiveness and are associated with adverse events with long-term use. Acupuncture has shown promise as an alternative treatment, but high-quality evidence is scarce.

Researchers from the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences randomly assigned 440 male participants (220 in each group) to either 8 weeks of acupuncture or sham therapy to assess the long-term efficacy of acupuncture for improving symptoms of CP/CPPS. The treatment was considered effective if participants achieved a clinically important reduction of at least 6 points from baseline on the National Institutes of Health Chronic Prostatitis Symptom Index at weeks 8 and 32. Ascertainment of sustained efficacy required the between-group difference to be statistically significant at both time points. The researchers found that compared with the sham acupuncture group, larger proportions of participants in the acupuncture group reported marked or moderate improvements in symptoms at all assessment points. No significant difference was found in changes in International Index of Erectile Function 5 score at all assessment time points or in peak and average urinary flow rates at week 8. No serious adverse events were reported in either group.

According to the researchers, these findings show long-term efficacy of acupuncture and provide high-quality evidence for clinical practice and guideline recommendations.

Yunnan University (CHina), August 16, 2021

According to news reporting originating in Yunnan, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “Although the cause of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is still controversial, it is generally accepted that neuroinflammation plays a key role in AD pathogenesis. Thus, regulating the polarization of microglia will help in recovering from AD since microglia can be polarized into classical M1 and alternative M2 phenotypes, M1 microglia leading to neuroinflammation and M2 microglia acting as anti-inflammatory effectors.”

Financial support for this research came from National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

The news reporters obtained a quote from the research from Yunnan University, “Our previous study demonstrated that eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA), an essential n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acid, may modulate glial cell activity and functions, but it is not clear whether EPA plays a role in microglial polarization. Here, we aimed to test the hypothesis that EPA may regulate the polarization of microglia and subsequently alleviate neuroinflammation and neuronal damage. Male C57BL/6 mice were fed an EPA -supplemented diet or a palm oil -supplemented diet for 42 days. On day 28 of diet feeding, the mice received a single intracerebroventricular injection of beta-peptide fragment 1-42(A beta(1-42)) or saline. The polarization of M1 and M2 microglia was evaluated by western blot using the respective markers. Changes in inflammatory cytokine mRNA levels were examined using real-time PCR. Neurological deficits were analysed using the Morris water maze and TdT-mediated dUTP Nick-End Labeling (TUNEL) assays. EPA supplementation effectively reversed the increasing trend of M1 microglial markers and the decreased expression of M2 microglial markers in the hippocampus mediated by A beta(1-42) and normalized the A beta-induced upregulation of proinflammatory cytokines and the downregulation of anti-inflammatory factors. Consistent with these findings, EPA significantly improved cognitive function and inhibited apoptotic neuronal death in the hippocampus.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “These results demonstrated that EPA appears to have potential effects on regulating microglial polarization, which contributes to alleviating neuroinflammation and may have beneficial effects for preventing and treating AD.”

This research has been peer-reviewed.

University of Southern California  August 19, 2021 

Many people report positive health effects from practicing yoga and meditation, and experience both mental and physical benefits from these practices. However, we still have much to learn about how exactly these practices affect mind-body health. A new research article published in Frontiers in Human Neuroscience investigates the effects of yoga and meditation on brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), the activity on the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal (HPA) effects and inflammatory markers. By studying the participants of an intensive 3-month yoga and meditation retreat, the researchers found that the practices positively impacted BDNF signaling, the cortisol awakening response (CAR) and immunological markers, and in addition improved subjective wellbeing.

In this study, the retreat participants were assessed before and after participating in a 3-month yoga and meditation retreat that involved daily meditation and Isha yoga, accompanied by a vegetarian diet. The yogic practices consisted of physical postures, controlled breathing practices, and seated meditations during which the participants focused on mantra repetition, breath, emptying the mind and bodily sensation. The researchers measured psychometric measures, brain derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), circadian salivary cortisol levels, as well as pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. They also collected data on psychometric variables including mindfulness, absorption, depression and anxiety, and investigated the relationship between psychological improvements and biological changes.

The data showed that participation in the retreat was associated with decreases in both self-reported anxiety and depression as well as increases in mindfulness. The research team observed increases in the plasma levels of BDNF, a neuromodulator that plays an important role in learning, memory and the regulation of complex processes such as inflammation, immunity, mood regulation, stress response and metabolism. They also observed increases in the magnitude of the cortisol awakening response (CAR) which is part of the hypothalamic pituitary adrenal axis (HPA), suggesting improved stress resilience. Moreover, there was a decrease in inflammatory processes caused by an increase of the anti-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-10 and a reduction of the pro-inflammatory cytokine Interleukin-12 after the retreat. "It is likely that at least some of the significant improvements in both HPA axis functioning as exemplified by the CAR as well as neuroimmunologic functioning as exemplified by increases in BDNF levels and alterations in cytokines were due to the intensive meditation practice involved in this retreat," says corresponding author Dr Baruch Rael Cahn (University of Southern California, USA).

The research team hypothesize that the pattern of biological findings observed in their study is linked to enhanced resilience and wellbeing. "The observed increased BDNF signaling possibly related to enhanced neurogenesis and/or neuroplasticity, increased CAR likely related to enhanced alertness and readiness for mind-body engagement, and increased anti- and pro-inflammatory cytokines possibly indicating enhanced immunological readiness," explains Dr Cahn. "An intriguing possible link between the effects on BDNF and the CAR is hippocampal functional integrity, since increased BDNF levels due to physical exercise has previously been shown to relate with hippocampal neurogenesis and likely relate to its positive effects on well-being and depression."

In the light of previous studies of the positive effects of meditation on mental fitness, autonomic homeostasis and inflammatory status, the researchers think that their findings are related to the meditative practices that the retreat participants engaged in. However, they suggest that some of the observed changes may also be related to the physical aspects of the retreat - yoga practice and diet - and that the observed change patterns are a reflection of wellbeing and mind-body integration. The next step will be to conduct further research in order to clarify the extent to which the positive changes on mind-body wellness and stress resilience are related to the yoga and meditation practices respectively, and to account for other possible contextual factors such as social dynamics, diet and the impact of the teacher. "To our knowledge, our study is the first to examine a broad range of pro- and anti-inflammatory markers in a healthy population before and after a yoga-meditation intervention. Our findings justify further studies of yoga and meditation retreats assessing for the replicability, specificity and long-term implications of these findings," concludes Dr Cahn.

Today’s Videos:

Dr Piers Robinson is an expert on communication, media and world politics, focusing on conflict and war and especially the role of propaganda. He is presently Co-Director of the Organisation for Propaganda Studies, Convenor of the Working Group on Syria, Propaganda and Media and Associated Researcher with the Working Group on Propaganda and the 9/11 ‘War on Terror’. From 2016 – 2019, he was Professor and Chair in Politics, Society and Political Journalism at the University of Sheffield. He has also served on the boards of several academic journals. He has lectured at the NATO Defense College in Rome and briefed senior UK military commanders and diplomats, and his research interests focus on Organised Persuasive Communication and Contemporary Propaganda and his current projects include Propaganda and the Syrian conflict; Propaganda and the 9/11 Global War on Terror and Covid19.

According to news reporting originating from Selangor, Malaysia,  research stated, “Breast cancer is the most frequently diagnosed cancer and the leading cause of cancer death among women worldwide.”

Our news correspondents obtained a quote from the research from Monash University Malaysia: “Despite the overall successes in breast cancer therapy, hormone-independent HER2 negative breast cancer, also known as triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), lacking estrogens and progesterone receptors and with an excessive expression of human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2), along with the hormone-independent HER2 positive subtype, still remain major challenges in breast cancer treatment. Due to their poor prognoses, aggressive phenotype, and highly metastasis features, new alternative therapies have become an urgent clinical need. One of the most noteworthy phytochemicals, curcumin, has attracted enormous attention as a promising drug candidate in breast cancer prevention and treatment due to its multi-targeting effect. Curcumin interrupts major stages of tumorigenesis including cell proliferation, survival, angiogenesis, and metastasis in hormone-independent breast cancer through the modulation of multiple signaling pathways. The current review has highlighted the anticancer activity of curcumin in hormone-independent breast cancer via focusing on its impact on key signaling pathways including the PI3K/Akt/mTOR pathway, JAK/STAT pathway, MAPK pathway, NF-qB pathway, p53 pathway, and Wnt/b-catenin, as well as apoptotic and cell cycle pathways.”

According to the news reporters, the research concluded: “Besides, its therapeutic implications in clinical trials are here presented.”

Bioengineers at the University of California San Diego have developed a cancer immunotherapy that pairs ultrasound with cancer-killing immune cells to destroy malignant tumors while sparing normal tissue.

The new experimental therapy significantly slowed down the growth of solid cancerous tumors in mice.

The team, led by the labs of UC San Diego bioengineering professor Peter Yingxiao Wang and bioengineering professor emeritus Shu Chien, detailed their work in a paper published Aug. 12 in Nature Biomedical Engineering.

The work addresses a longstanding problem in the field of cancer immunotherapy: how to make chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T-cell therapy safe and effective at treating solid tumors.  

CAR T-cell therapy is a promising new approach to treat cancer. It involves collecting a patient’s T cells and genetically engineering them to express special receptors, called CAR, on their surface that recognize specific antigens on cancer cells. The resulting CAR T cells are then infused back into the patient to find and attack cells that have the cancer antigens on their surface.

This therapy has worked well for the treatment of some blood cancers and lymphoma, but not against solid tumors. That’s because many of the target antigens on these tumors are also expressed on normal tissues and organs. This can cause toxic side effects that can kills cells—these effects are known as on-target, off-tumor toxicity.

“CAR T cells are so potent that they may also attack normal tissues that are expressing the target antigens at low levels,” said first author Yiqian (Shirley) Wu, a project scientist in Wang’s lab.

“The problem with standard CAR T cells is that they are always on—they are always expressing the CAR protein, so you cannot control their activation,” explained Wu.

To combat this issue, the team took standard CAR T cells and re-engineered them so that they only express the CAR protein when ultrasound energy is applied. This allowed the researchers to choose where and when the genes of CAR T cells get switched on.

“We use ultrasound to successfully control CAR T cells directly in vivo for cancer immunotherapy,” said Wang, who is a faculty member of the Institute of Engineering in Medicine and the Center for Nano-ImmunoEngineering, both at UC San Diego. What’s exciting about the use of ultrasound, noted Wang, is that it can penetrate tens of centimeters beneath the skin, so this type of therapy has the potential to non-invasively treat tumors that are buried deep inside the body.

The team’s approach involves injecting the re-engineered CAR T cells into tumors in mice and then placing a small ultrasound transducer on an area of the skin that’s on top of the tumor to activate the CAR T cells. The transducer uses what’s called focused ultrasound beams to focus or concentrate short pulses of ultrasound energy at the tumor. This causes the tumor to heat up moderately—in this case, to a temperature of 43 degrees Celsius (109 degrees Fahrenheit)—without affecting the surrounding tissue. The CAR T cells in this study are equipped with a gene that produces the CAR protein only when exposed to heat. As a result, the CAR T cells only switch on where ultrasound is applied.

The researchers put their CAR T cells to the test against standard CAR T cells. In mice that were treated with the new CAR T cells, only the tumors that were exposed to ultrasound were attacked, while other tissues in the body were left alone. But in mice that were treated with the standard CAR T cells, all tumors and tissue expressing the target antigen were attacked.

“This shows our CAR T-cell therapy is not only effective, but also safer,” said Wu. “It has minimal on-target, off-tumor side effects.”

The work is still in the early stages. The team will be performing more preclinical tests and toxicity studies before it can reach clinical trials.

Shaanxi University of Technology (China), August 10, 2021

According to news originating from Shaanxi University of Technology research stated, “Diabetic osteoporosis (DOP) is one of the complications of diabetes, with high morbidity, and high disability rate. Here, we established a diabetic rat model and administered lycopene to observe its effect on DOP.”

Our news editors obtained a quote from the research from Shaanxi University of Technology: “Our results showed that ten weeks lycopene treatment lowered blood glucose, improved diabetic induced polydipsia, overeating and body weight loss. Lycopene treatment also enhanced bone mineral density, restored bone mechanical and bone Micro-CT parameters of diabetic rats. Subsequently, lycopene decreased serum inflammatory cytokines levels and increased serum anti-oxidant indicators levels. Moreover, lycopene reduced the number of bone marrow adipocytes, and osteoclasts numbers of diabetic rats. The serum bone turnover markers levels were down-regulated after lycopene treatment. Meanwhile, the bone and serum OPG, RUNX 2 expression levels were up-regulated by lycopene in diabetic rats, and the OPG/RANKL ratio was also up-regulated.”

According to the news editors, the research concluded: “This study showed that lycopene could ameliorate diabetic induced bone loss via anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidation, and increasing OPG/RANKL ratio in diabetic rats. Lycopene could be used for nutritional intervention in patients with diabetic osteoporosis.”

Millions of people around the world seek mental clarity through meditation, most of them following or inspired by the centuries-old practices of Buddhism.

Anecdotally, those who meditate say it helps to calm their minds, recenter their thoughts and cut through the "noise" to show what really matters. Scientifically, though, showing the effects of meditation on the human brainhave proved to be tricky.

A new study from Binghamton University's Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science tracked how practicing meditation for just a couple of months changed the brain patterns of 10 students in the University's Scholars Program.

The seed for the research came from a casual chat between Assistant Professor Weiying Dai and lecturer George Weinschenk, MA '01, Ph.D. '07, both from the Department of Computer Science.

Weinschenk is a longtime meditation practitioner whose wife worked as an administrator at the Namgyal Monastery in Ithaca, which is the North American seat of the Dalai Lama's personal monastery.

"I developed very close friendships with several of the monks," he said. "We would hang out together, and I even received instruction from some of the Dalai Lama's teachers. I took classes there, I read a lot and I earned a three-year certificate in Buddhist studies."

Dai has studied brain mapping and biomedical image processing, and while earning her Ph.D. at the University of Pittsburgh, she tracked Alzheimer's disease patients using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans.

"I'm interested in brain research to see how our brains are really functioning and how all different kinds of disease affect our brain," she said. "I really have zero medical training, but I pick up all this knowledge or background from reading the literature and talking with the experts."

The two faculty members had neighboring offices and shared a conversation one day about their backgrounds. Weinschenk mentioned that he had been asked to teach a semester-long class for the Scholars Program on meditation.

"I told Weiying, 'Yeah, meditation really can have a transformative effect on the brain,'" Weinschenk said. "She was a little skeptical, especially about whether such a short amount of time spent learning how to meditate, whether that would make any difference. She suggested we might be able to quantify such a thing with modern technology."

For the fall 2017 semester, Dai secured grant funding, and their collaboration began. Near the beginning of the semester, she took the participants to Cornell University for MRI scans of their brains. Weinschenk taught students how to meditate, told them to practice five times a week for 10 or 15 minutes, and asked them to keep a journal record of their practice. (The syllabus also included other lessons about the cultural transmissions of meditation and its applications for wellness.)

"Binghamton University Scholars are high achievers who want to do the things they are assigned and do well on them, so they didn't require much prompting to maintain a regular meditation routine," he said. "To guarantee objective reporting, they would relate their experiences directly to Weiying about how frequently they practiced."

The results, recently published in the journal Scientific Reports, show that meditation training led to faster switching between the brain's two general states of consciousness.

One is called the default mode network, which is active when the brain is at wakeful rest and not focused on the outside world, such as during daydreaming and mind-wandering. The other is the dorsal attention network, which engages for attention-demanding tasks.

The findings of the study demonstrate that meditation can enhance the brain connection among and within these two brain networks, indicating the effect of meditation on fast switching between the mind wandering and focusing its attention as well as maintaining attention once in the attentive state.

"Tibetans have a term for that ease of switching between states—they call it mental pliancy, an ability that allows you to shape and mold your mind," Weinschenk said. "They also consider the goal of concentration one of the fundamental principles of self-growth."

Dai and Weinschenk are still parsing through the data taken from the 2017 MRI scans, so they have yet to test other Scholars Program students. Because Alzheimer's disease and autism could be caused by problems with the dorsal attention network, Dai is making plans for future research that could use meditation to mitigate those problems.

"I'm thinking about an elderly study, because this population was young students," she said. "I want to get a healthy elderly group, and then another group with early Alzheimer's disease or mild cognitive impairment. I want to see whether the changes in the brain from meditation can enhance cognitive performance. I'm writing the proposal and trying to attract the funds in that direction."

Though once skeptical about the subject, "I'm pretty convinced about the scientific basis of meditation after doing this study," she added. "Maybe I'll just go to George's class when he teaches it so that I can benefit, too!"

Cedars-Sinai Medicine Institute, August 9, 2021 

Can chemicals that are added to breakfast cereals and other everyday products make you obese? Growing evidence from animal experiments suggests the answer may be "yes." But confirming these findings in humans has faced formidable obstacles - until now.

A study published in Nature Communications details how Cedars-Sinai investigators developed a novel platform and protocol for testing the effects of chemicals known as endocrine disruptors on humans.

The three chemicals tested in this study are abundant in modern life. Butylhydroxytoluene (BHT) is an antioxidant commonly added to breakfast cereals and other foods to protect nutrients and keep fats from turning rancid; perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) is a polymer found in some cookware, carpeting and other products; and tributyltin (TBT) is a compound in paints that can make its way into water and accumulate in seafood.

The investigators used hormone-producing tissues grown from human stem cells to demonstrate how chronic exposure to these chemicals can interfere with signals sent from the digestive system to the brain that let people know when they are "full" during meals. When this signaling system breaks down, people often may continue eating, causing them to gain weight.

"We discovered that each of these chemicals damaged hormones that communicate between the gut and the brain," said Dhruv Sareen, PhD, assistant professor of Biomedical Sciences and director of the Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Core Facility at the Cedars-Sinai Board of Governors Regenerative Medicine Institute. "When we tested the three together, the combined stress was more robust."

Of the three chemicals tested, BHT produced some of the strongest detrimental effects, Sareen said.

While other scientists have shown these compounds can disrupt hormone systems in laboratory animals, the new study is the first to use human pluripotent stem cells and tissues to document how the compounds may disrupt hormones that are critical to gut-to-brain signaling and preventing obesity in people, Sareen said.

"This is a landmark study that substantially improves our understanding of how endocrine disruptors may damage human hormonal systems and contribute to the obesity epidemic in the U.S.," said Clive Svendsen, PhD, director of the institute and the Kerry and Simone Vickar Family Foundation Distinguished Chair in Regenerative Medicine. More than one-third of U.S. adults are considered to be obese, according to federal statistics.

The new testing system developed for the study has the potential to provide a much-needed, safe and cost-effective method that can be used to evaluate the health effects of thousands of existing and new chemicals in the environment, the investigators say.

For their experiments, Sareen and his team first obtained blood samples from adults, and then, by introducing reprogramming genes, converted the cells into induced pluripotent stem cells. Then, using these stem cells, the investigators grew human epithelium tissue, which lines the gut, and neuronal tissues of the brain's hypothalamus region, which regulates appetite and metabolism.

The investigators then exposed the tissues to BHT, PFOA and TBT, one by one and also in combination, and observed what happened inside the cells. They found that the chemicals disrupted networks that prepare signaling hormones to maintain their structure and be transported out of the cells, thus making them ineffective. The chemicals also damaged mitochondria - cellular structures that convert food and oxygen into energy and drive the body's metabolism.

Because the chemical damage occurred in early-stage "young" cells, the findings suggest that a defective hormone system potentially could impact a pregnant mother as well as her fetus in the womb, Sareen said. While other scientists have found, in animal studies, that effects of endocrine disruptors can be passed down to future generations, this process has not been proved to occur in humans, he explained.

More than 80,000 chemicals are registered for use in the U.S. in everyday items such as foods, personal care products, household cleaners and lawn-care products, according to the National Toxicology Program of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. While the program states on its website that relatively few chemicals are thought to pose a significant risk to human health, it also states: "We do not know the effects of many of these chemicals on our health."

Cost and ethical issues, including the health risk of exposing human subjects to possibly harmful substances, are among the barriers to testing the safety of many chemicals. As a result, numerous widely used compounds remain unevaluated in humans for their health effects, especially to the hormone system.

"By testing these chemicals on actual human tissues in the lab, we potentially could make these evaluations easier to conduct and more cost-effective," Sareen said.

University of Sheffield (UK), August 12, 2021

Approximately 6 million people in the U.S. are suffering from dementia, as well 50 million people worldwide. There is currently no cure for the degenerative condition and medical treatments often have side effects such as vomiting, loss of appetite, and muscle pains. Now, researchers say patients can greatly benefit from a type of treatment that doesn’t come with such downsides and helps their brain avoid additional decline.

A new study suggests that mixing with other people helps dementia patients stay sharp and fend off depression. Scientists say the type of treatment known as “cognitive stimulation” could make living with dementia easier for hundreds of thousands of people.

“Dementia is one of the biggest global challenges that we face,” says senior author Dr. Claudia von Bastian, of the University of Sheffield, in a statement. “Our research highlights that cognitive stimulation can be a safe, relatively cheap, and accessible treatment to help reduce some of the core symptoms of dementia and may even alleviate symptoms of depression.”

The researchers analyzed the use of cognitive stimulation as an effective treatment for people with dementia. They found that getting patients involved in social and group activities helped combat depression and boost global cognition.

Global cognition refers to five types of brain function: attention, memory, verbal fluency, language, and awareness. “It’s great that governments now recognize the importance for people to live well with dementia. We’ve seen far more energy and resources put into developing initiatives to support this, such as cognitive stimulation, which is now used widely across the world,” notes co-author Dr. Ben Hicks, of Brighton and Sussex Medical School.

“We still need to learn more about the key ingredients of cognitive stimulation which lead to these benefits and how they influence the progression of dementia. However, the absence of negative side-effects and the low costs of this treatment means the benefits are clear,” adds Dr. von Bastian.

More research is needed to determine whether cognitive stimulation and other non-pharmaceutical treatments could help the growing number of people who suffer fromdementia.

 “Our research is the first to comprehensively interrogate the evidence base for its effectiveness, using the most up-to-date statistical techniques. While early signs are positive, there’s an urgent need to improve the rigor of evaluative research and better assess the long-term benefits of cognitive stimulation. People with dementia need effective treatments, and, as a research community, this is what we must deliver,” added Dr. Hicks.

Toho University (Japan), August 18 2021

A randomized, double-blind study reported on in the International Heart journal found improvements in arterial stiffness and oxidative stress among type 2 diabetics who were supplemented with resveratrol.

The trial included 50 diabetic men and women who received 100 milligrams resveratrol or a placebo daily for 12 weeks. Cardio-ankle vascular index (CAVI, a novel diagnostic measure of arterial stiffness that is a marker of atherosclerosis) and blood pressure were assessed at the beginning and end of the study, in addition to blood assessments of oxidative stress and other factors.

At the end of the study, subjects who received resveratrol had significantly lower blood pressure, less oxidative stress and decreased arterial stiffness in comparison with values obtained at the beginning of the study.  Participants who received a placebo experienced no significant changes in these areas.

“The primary finding in the present study was that oral supplementation of resveratrol for 12 weeks decreased CAVI in patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus,” authors Haruki Imamura, MD, and colleagues at Toho University Sakura Medical Center in Japan write. “Many previous studies have demonstrated increased CAVI in atherosclerotic diseases such as acute coronary syndrome and stroke, and these reports indicate that CAVI reflects organic atherosclerosis.”

They suggest that a reduction in oxidative stress may be one mechanism involved in the improvement in arterial stiffness observed in this study among participants who received resveratrol. Improved endothelial function via increased nitric oxide production may be another mechanism.

Xi’an Jiaotong University (China), August 8, 2021

According to news reporting out of Xi’an, People’s Republic of China, research stated, “To investigate the mechanism of astragalus polysaccharides (PAS) in including the apoptosis of lung cancer tumor cells regulating the factor kappa B (NF-kappa b) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathways and the expression of apoptosis-related proteins. Of he 45 specific-pathogen (SPF) mice, 9 were selected as the blank control group (0.3 mL normal saline, 1d/time), and the remaining 36 were modeled as tumor-bearing mice.”

Our news journalists obtained a quote from the research from Xi’an Jiaotong University, “After successful modeling, tumor-bearing mice were randomly divided into the model control group (0.3 mL normalsaline, 1d/time), APS low-dose (50 mg/kg APS), APS medium-dose group (100 mg/kg APS), and APS high-dose (200 mg/kg APS). Each group was given continues medication for 20 days. The mRNA and caspase-1 were compered. The mRNA and protein expressions of NF-kappa B p53, and p38 in the model group were significantly higher than those in the control group (P 0.05). The expressions if Bcl-2 and FasL in the model group were significantly higher than those in the blank control group, while the expressions of BAX and capase-9 were significantly lower than those in the blank control group (P