Stuart Jeanne Bramhall's Blog: The Most Revolutionary Act , page 1191
April 21, 2017
Antibiotic Use Linked To Bowel Cancer Precursor
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In a long term study of 16,600 nurses, researchers found those between 20 and 50 who took antibiotics for two or more months were at higher risk for developing pre-cancerous adenomas.
There?s been a lot of talk surrounding antibiotics as of late, especially concerning how their overuse contributes to antibiotic resistance. Now, there?s additional concerns to take into consideration.
In recent years, there have been links between antibiotics and a range of conditions including irritable bowel disease, celiac disease, and even obesity.
In a new paper published in the journal Gut, researchers suggest that taking antibiotics for a long period of time is linked to the development of growths on the bowel that can cause cancer. Though experts urge the results of the study will require further investigation, and advise that people shouldn?t necessarily stop taking antibiotics, the study authors note that their findings only add to accumulating evidence that the diversity of bugs in the gut may play a part in the development of tumors.
In the study, researchers analyzed data from 16,600 nurses…
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After Donating $1 Million for Inauguration, Dow Asks Trump to Set Aside Pesticides Research
Dow Chemical bluntly asked the Trump administration to “set aside” research showing three of the organophosphate pesticides it manufactures pose threats to endangered species in letters obtained and published by the Associated Press on Thursday (April 20).
The company, along with chemical manufacturers Makhteshim Agan of North America, Inc. (also known as Adama) and FMC Corporation, requested the government to “direct that any effort to prepare biological opinions based on them be set aside,” according to one letter, sent to US Department of Commerce secretary Wilbur Ross.
The request comes after Dow donated $1 million to fund the inauguration ceremony of president Donald Trump. The company did not donate to either of president Obama’s inaugurations.
The research in question was conducted by federal scientists, who concluded that three common organophosphate pesticides—chlorpyrifos, diazinon, and malathion—posed a threat to almost 1,800 critically threatened or endangered species, or nearly every species the scientists studied, according to the AP. The scientists’ “biological assessment,” 10,000 pages compiling nearly four years of research, is under consideration by the three federal agencies responsible for enforcing the Endangered Species Act; the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Commerce, and the Department of the Interior are expected to put out new regulations for the chemicals soon.
One of the pesticides, chlorpyrifos, has also previously been found to cause brain damage in children. Despite the conclusions of his agency’s own scientists, Scott Pruitt, the administrator for the US Environmental Protection Agency which sets limits of toxins that affect human health, chose not to ban chlorpyrifos in a blockbuster decision that made headlines last month. . .
Could Birth Control Pills Make You Feel Bad?
It’s Not in Your Head: Your Birth Control Pills Might Be Making You Feel Crappy
A new study found that oral contraceptives lowered women’s quality of life. The average decrease was small, but for certain women the effects could be significant, researchers say.
2017 Study Abstract
Objective
To determine whether there is a causal effect of oral contraceptive (OC) treatment on general well-being and depressed mood in healthy women.
Design
Double-blind, randomized, and placebo-controlled trial.
Setting
University hospital.
Patient(s)
Three hundred and forty healthy women aged 18–35 years randomized to treatment, of whom 332 completed the data collection at follow-up evaluation.
Intervention(s)
A combined OC (150 μg levonorgestrel and 30 μg ethinylestradiol) or placebo for 3 months of treatment.
Main Outcome Measure(s)
Primary outcome measures: global score of Psychological General Well-Being Index (PGWBI) and the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI); secondary outcome measures: six separate dimensions of the PGWBI.
Result(s)
The OC treatment statistically significantly decreased general well-being compared with placebo −4.12 (95% CI, −7.18 to −1.06). Furthermore, OC decreased the following PGWBI dimensions compared with placebo: positive well-being −3.90 (95% CI, −7.78 to −0.01), self-control −6.63 (95% CI, −11.20 to −2.06), and vitality −6.84 (95% CI, −10.80 to −2.88). The effect of OC on depressive symptoms and on the PGWBI dimension depressed mood were not statistically significant.
Conclusion(s)
This study demonstrates a statistically significant reduction in general well-being by a first-choice OC in comparison with placebo in healthy women. We found no statistically significant effects on depressive symptoms. A reduction in general well-being should be of clinical importance.
A responsible physician should warn their patients that some women generally don’t feel well on the pill and, if this turns out to be the case, alternatives are available.
Via Could Birth Control Pills Make You Feel Bad ? — DES Daughter Network
Psychedelics: A Miracle Cure for PTSD?
Soldiers of the Vine
Directed by Charles Shaw (2016)
Film Review
This documentary traces the experience of six US veterans with post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) who undergo treatment with the psychedelic ayahuasca, owing to their failure to respond to conventional treatment.*
Ex-GIs who have served in Iraq and Afghanistan suffer extremely high rates of PTSD, traumatic brain injury and suicidal depression. They commit suicide at twice the rate of the general population and US prisons, mental hospitals and homeless shelters are full of disabled veterans.
Studies show that psychedelic drugs, such as ayahuasca and ibogaine** are often helpful in treating heroin addiction and alcoholism. Their use in PTSD is still experimental.
In the film the six veterans travel to the Amazon jungle, where ayahasca is viewed as a sacred plant, to undergo a nine day healing ceremony with an indigenous shaman.
*Western medicine has no recognized treatment for PTSD.
**Ibogaine is legal for treating drug addiction in over 190 countries, including Mexico, Canada, Costa Rica, New Zealand, Russia, China and Ukraine. See Why Are We Sending Vets to Costa Rico (and Canada and Mexico).
April 20, 2017
Census: More Americans 18-to-34 Now Live With Parents Than With Spouse
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Reflecting their high unemployment levels, the Number 1 living arrangement today for Americans in the 18-to-34 age bracket, according to the Census Bureau, is to reside without a spouse in their parents’ home.
(CNSNews.com) – Four decades ago, in the mid-1970s, young American adults–in the 18-to-34 age bracket–were far more likely to be married and living with a spouse than living in their parents’ home.
But that is no longer the case, according to a new study by the U.S. Census Bureau.
“There are now more young people living with their parents than in any other arrangement,” says the Census Bureau study.
“What is more,” says the study, “almost 9 in 10 young people who were living in their parents’ home a year ago are still living there today, making it the most stable living arrangement.”
The Number 1 living arrangement today for Americans in the 18-to-34 age bracket, according to the Census Bureau, is to reside without a spouse in their parents’ home.
That is where you can now find 22.9 million 18-to-34 year olds—compared to the 19.9 million who…
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Time to Shut Down the FDA
Vera Sharav, at ahrp.org, has posted a piece about an investigation headed by NYU Professor Charles Seife.
Seife and his students probed the work of the FDA, the federal agency tasked with approving medical drugs for public use.
Sharav: “FDA documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act, revealed that the FDA has been concealing from the medical community and the public serious research misconduct; including fraud, deception, avoidable risks for human subjects — even deaths — that occurred in clinical trials [of medical drugs].”
Professor Seife (from his article at Slate magazine): “Reading the FDA’s inspection files feels almost like watching a highlights reel from a Scientists Gone Wild video. It’s a seemingly endless stream of lurid vignettes—Faked X-ray reports. Forged retinal scans. Phony lab tests. Secretly amputated limbs. All done in the name of science when researchers thought that nobody was watching.”
“That misconduct happens isn’t shocking. What is: When the FDA finds scientific fraud or misconduct, the agency doesn’t notify the public, the medical establishment, or even the scientific community that the results of a medical experiment are not to be trusted. On the contrary. For more than a decade, the FDA has shown a pattern of burying the details of misconduct. As a result, nobody ever finds out which data is bogus, which experiments are tainted, and which drugs might be on the market under false pretenses.”
“The FDA has repeatedly hidden evidence of scientific fraud not just from the public, but also from its most trusted scientific advisers, even as they were deciding whether or not a new drug should be allowed on the market. Even a congressional panel investigating a case of fraud regarding a dangerous drug couldn’t get forthright answers. For an agency devoted to protecting the public from bogus medical science, the FDA seems to be spending an awful lot of effort protecting the perpetrators of bogus science from the public.”
There is much more, but that taste should be enough to convince any sane person that the FDA is a rogue agency, dedicated to protecting and forwarding the profits of pharmaceutical companies. . .
“FDA … Continue reading →
via Shut down the FDA, start over —
Doctors Urge Us to Stop Using Plastic Food Wrap
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Studies show that phthalates leach into food from plastic wrap and containers and increase blood pressure in children and adolescents. There’s also evidence they may damage heart cells.
by Alexa Erickson, Collective Evolution
There’s a lot of controversy happening in your kitchen. While we tend to focus on how the foods we eat can work for or against our health, it’s truly so much more than that. How we cook our foods and how we store our foods has a lot of weight on our well-being as well. Plastic wrap, for instance, rose to fame in the 1950s, sold in rolls and used primarily for wrapping food. It’s since become a staple in many people’s kitchens.
For decades there’s been controversy surrounding plastic wrap, but now research is supporting the concerns. For instance, the phthalate chemicals used in the product, were found in a study of nearly 3,000 children in The Journal of Pediatrics to raise levels of blood pressure in children between the ages of six and 19.
“We know that phthalates damage the walls of arteries…
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April 19, 2017
Philly: Pack the Courts & Full Day of Action on April 24 to Free Mumia
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The aim of this legal challenge is to overturn all PA Supreme Court decisions from 1995-2008 that denied Mumia his freedom despite major evidence that the police and prosecution manufactured the “proof” of his guilt (someone else confessed to the crime) and suppressed evidence of his innocence. It’s based on a recent U.S. Supreme Court decision that an appellate judge cannot participate in a case in which he formerly had a personal role in a significant prosecutorial decision.
Wisconsin Bail Out the People Movement
Hosted by Mobilization4Mumia
Pack the courtroom and the streets to win freedom for Mumia Abu-Jamal!
Read Below for the Day’s Schedule and Different Locations:
8:00 – 9:00AM: Rally at the Criminal Justice Center, 1303 Filbert St., Philadelphia
9:00AM – ???: Court Hearing Begins at 9 am sharp (Supporters will take turns witnessing the court proceedings as the rally continues outside. Court proceedings will likely last no longer than a couple hours.
12:00 PM (Estimated Time Court Proceedings will end) – 3 pm: Rally and March
6:00 – 9:00 PM – “Resistance Matters: Medical and Legal Justice for Mumia and All Prisoners”
-In the evening, we are hosting an indoor event at the Arch St. United Methodist Church, 55 N. Broad St.
Mumia is innocent and was framed! 35 in prison is 35 years too long!
On April 24, Mumia Abu-Jamal’s birthday, there will be a court hearing on his…
View original post 280 more words
Americans Turn to Crowdfunding to Pay for Prescriptions
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A search for “prescription” on GoFundMe bought up roughly 13,600 results of past and current funding pages. For insulin — both for insulin pumps and the medication itself — there were almost 6,000 results.
(Source: www.businessinsider.sg)
Lonnie Cucinitti gets choked up when he thinks about all the people in his life who chipped in when he needed money for his four prescriptions.
The 76-year-old Texan launched a GoFundMe page in January with the hopes of collecting enough money to cover his 90-day prescriptions. He shared the fundraiser on his Facebook page, and he started receiving small donations, a few from people he didn’t know.
Most came from friends he had made while he was in the Navy, whom he’d met more than 50 years ago.
“It makes me very emotional to think that people I met 50 years ago would care enough to send $50,” he told Business Insider.
Cucinitti is one of many people who have turned to crowdfunding to cover routine medical expenses. While crowdfunding is mainly used for emergency medical costs, many still turn to sites like GoFundMe for costly…
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Breaking the Silence on 1965 CIA Coup (and Genocide) in Indonesia
The Look of Silence
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer (2014)
Tuesday night, Maori TV showed Joshua Oppenheimer’s 2014 ground breaking documentary about the 1965 Indonesian genocide instigated by the CIA. The documentary is available at the Maori TV website for the next 2 weeks: The Look of Silence
The clip below is a 2016 Al Jazeera interview with the filmmaker.
More than a million people were brutally killed after a 1965 CIA-backed military coup that overthrew Achmed Sukarno – who became Indonesia’s first president in 1945 after leading their battle for independence (from the Netherlands) for more than 20 years.
Genocide victims were accused of being communists, although most were union members, teachers, artists, intellectuals and landless farmers who opposed General Suharto’s new military dictatorship.
For the most part the killers have stayed in power, living alongside the survivors and the victims’ families who were threatened into silence. Fear and anti-communist rhetoric persist in Indonesia today.
For nearly 10 years, American filmmaker Joshua Oppenheimer researched and documented the atrocities.
He spoke to victims and their families as well as the perpetrators of the crimes, shedding light on Indonesia’s dark past and today’s impunity in his two films, The Look of Silence (2014) and The Act of Killing (2012).
His first film tells the story from the point of view of the killers – some of whom are celebrated as heroes in Indonesia today. The Look of Silence follows an optometrist, born two years after his brother was killed, as he confronts those responsible for his brother’s death.
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