|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Apr 14, 2023 8:18:08 GMT
An interesting blog about new scientific research, mostly health-related: salonium.substack.com/The author works for Our World in Data |
|
|
|
Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on Apr 23, 2023 19:06:36 GMT
An interesting blog about new scientific research, mostly health-related: salonium.substack.com/The author works for Our World in Data thanks for posting that Leftie. Already checked out the post on vaccinating against cancers… salonium.substack.com/p/6-vaccines-against-cancers…which was esp. interesting because it was looking at how vaccinating against HPV reduces cancers, because HPV degrades a protective protein known as p53. And alec said in the Covid thread that Covid also negatively affects p53… |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Apr 25, 2023 18:32:19 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 1, 2023 17:47:17 GMT
We all know that the USA spends a great deal of money on healthcare while still having a poor life expectancy, but it is remarkable how much EU nations' health spending varies with little obvious effect on life expectancy (includes non-EU Canada and Israel). I think the two countries in the bottom left-hand corner are Lithuania and Estonia. Attachment Deleted |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 2, 2023 10:11:04 GMT
Dr Chris Van Tulleken on Ultra-Processed Foods: inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/chris-van-tulleken-why-addicted-ultra-processed-food-quit-2309999Some quotes from the article Someone who has long felt an intense craving for junk food is virologist Dr Chris Van Tulleken, a self confessed UPF addict. He says he has tried cigarettes, alcohol, heroin (after an operation on a testicle), and yet nothing compares to the hit he gets from the food he loves. He has become fascinated by what, say, a Maryland chocolate chip cookie or a hot dog does to our brains to make us crave it so much.
We’ve been told for so long that we simply need to make different food choices, to eat better, to take more responsibility, but emerging science is beginning to show that ultra-processed foods may hack our brains in a similar way to smoking or drugs.
...
“It’s hard for some people to imagine UPFs being like cigarettes, but a diet full of UPF makes up for 22 per cent of all deaths, and is linked to more deaths around the world than high blood pressure, tobacco or other health risks, so it seems as though it could be helpful to consider UPF as an addictive substance, rather than simply unhealthy food which people like to eat.”
...
For the rest of us though, UPFs are everywhere. “It’s cheap and what lots of people can afford, and I strongly, wholeheartedly believe that our addiction to UPF isn’t about lack of willpower so much as the powerful effect it has on our brains,” he says.
That’s what appears to make it hard- but possible in theory- to quit. “There is an apparently established fact that food isn’t addictive,” says Van Tullecken, “but here’s the thing; it’s not ‘real’ food that’s addictive, it’s UPF, otherwise known as these ‘industrially produced edible substances’ that I loved so much.” |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 5, 2023 18:37:44 GMT
I thought that all animal testing for cosmetics had been banned, but it turns out an EU directive reinstated it (but only for the protection of workers making the cosmetics, not users of cosmetics). www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-65484552 |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 7, 2023 15:37:39 GMT
This "More or Less" episode is really worth listening to www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0fldqhbThere has been a decline in American life expectancy beginning around 2014 - opioid deaths is one major factor, homicides are also up - significantly just over 50% of homicides are suicides (which I didn't know before). |
|
|
|
Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 9, 2023 15:17:08 GMT
interesting read - regarding the slow-down with age, one theory is that it’s related to having more info. to sift through as we age so it takes a bit longer to process |
|
|
|
Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 9, 2023 15:19:31 GMT
This "More or Less" episode is really worth listening to www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/p0fldqhbThere has been a decline in American life expectancy beginning around 2014 - opioid deaths is one major factor, homicides are also up - significantly just over 50% of homicides are suicides (which I didn't know before). Wow, that was quite alarming! One in 25 five year olds in the US will not make it to their 40th birthday?! In the last two years, they have lost over a quarter century progress in life expectancy in the US. |
|
|
|
Post by c-a-r-f-r-e-w on May 9, 2023 15:22:56 GMT
That’s what appears to make it hard- but possible in theory- to quit. “There is an apparently established fact that food isn’t addictive,” says Van Tullecken, “but here’s the thing; it’s not ‘real’ food that’s addictive, it’s UPF, otherwise known as these ‘industrially produced edible substances’ that I loved so much.”
And even where they don’t make food more addictive, strictly speaking, they make it more desirable. Hence the rise in salted caramel, which incorporates the three triggers of salt, sugar and fat. (Though there is an argument for sugar being addictive) |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 10, 2023 9:45:24 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 15, 2023 14:25:43 GMT
Dr Chris Van Tulleken on Ultra-Processed Foods: inews.co.uk/inews-lifestyle/chris-van-tulleken-why-addicted-ultra-processed-food-quit-2309999Some quotes from the article Someone who has long felt an intense craving for junk food is virologist Dr Chris Van Tulleken, a self confessed UPF addict. He says he has tried cigarettes, alcohol, heroin (after an operation on a testicle), and yet nothing compares to the hit he gets from the food he loves. He has become fascinated by what, say, a Maryland chocolate chip cookie or a hot dog does to our brains to make us crave it so much.
We’ve been told for so long that we simply need to make different food choices, to eat better, to take more responsibility, but emerging science is beginning to show that ultra-processed foods may hack our brains in a similar way to smoking or drugs.
...
“It’s hard for some people to imagine UPFs being like cigarettes, but a diet full of UPF makes up for 22 per cent of all deaths, and is linked to more deaths around the world than high blood pressure, tobacco or other health risks, so it seems as though it could be helpful to consider UPF as an addictive substance, rather than simply unhealthy food which people like to eat.”
...
For the rest of us though, UPFs are everywhere. “It’s cheap and what lots of people can afford, and I strongly, wholeheartedly believe that our addiction to UPF isn’t about lack of willpower so much as the powerful effect it has on our brains,” he says.
That’s what appears to make it hard- but possible in theory- to quit. “There is an apparently established fact that food isn’t addictive,” says Van Tullecken, “but here’s the thing; it’s not ‘real’ food that’s addictive, it’s UPF, otherwise known as these ‘industrially produced edible substances’ that I loved so much.”More from Dr Chris Van Tulleken Strange as it may seem, food has replaced tobacco as the leading cause of early death globally. Each year, more people die in America from illnesses caused by poor diet than were killed fighting in every war in US history combined. In the UK the situation is equally dire.www.theguardian.com/books/2023/may/15/the-big-idea-why-we-need-a-new-definition-of-junk-food |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 26, 2023 16:32:39 GMT
The government is being urged to protect people from gas cookers as they pose health and environmental risks. www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-65722603"More than 36 million people in the UK cook with gas appliances and may be exposed to levels of indoor air pollution that would violate UK outdoor air pollution regulations, according to the Collaborative Labelling and Appliance Standards Program (CLASP)." |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Jun 11, 2023 11:35:08 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Jun 20, 2023 22:30:26 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Jun 26, 2023 8:59:12 GMT
NHS poor at saving people with treatable conditions from dying: www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-65992173The Kings Fund report is here: www.kingsfund.org.uk/publications/nhs-compare-health-care-systems-other-countries We Amongst similarly-wealthy countries the UK is second only to the USA in death rate from treatable conditions. This illustrates why spending on the NHS must be a priority. We need more doctors, more nurses, more specialists like radiographers, more equipment like CT and MRI scanners, and more beds to reduce average occupancy. The key factor in improving survival rates from cancer etc is earlier diagnosis and treatment. |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Jun 29, 2023 17:01:58 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Jul 31, 2023 12:34:17 GMT
I'm now reading Chris van Tulleken's book "Ultra-processed people" which is fascinating. It gives much of the background to his articles I have previously quoted. There is also a strong correlation between consumption of ultra-processed food and poverty because UPF foods are significantly cheaper than foods made from natural ingredients that require preparation. So it isn't just a question of banning the additives in UPF; we have to make better quality food available to everyone, ensure that everyone can afford it, and educate everyone to want it. This last part is the most difficult because there is no doubt that UPF has been engineered to be tasty (which is why people tend to over-eat it). Chapter 13 where Chris eats Pringles at Xand's house with Andrea Sella (Professor in the UCL Chemistry Department) is particularly revealing. |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on Jan 2, 2024 15:07:08 GMT
|
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 6, 2024 10:46:52 GMT
A couple of interesting developments (still looking at early stages though) www.theguardian.com/society/article/2024/may/06/scientists-create-vaccine-potential-protect-against-future-coronavirusesScientists have created a vaccine that has the potential to protect against a broad range of coronaviruses, including varieties that are not yet even known about.The experimental shot, which has been tested in mice, marks a change in strategy towards “proactive vaccinology”, where vaccines are designed and readied for manufacture before a potentially pandemic virus emerges.The vaccine is made by attaching harmless proteins from different coronaviruses to minuscule nanoparticles that are then injected to prime the body’s defences to fight the viruses should they ever invade.Because the vaccine trains the immune system to target proteins that are shared across many different types of coronavirus, the protection it induces is extremely broad, making it effective against known and unknown viruses in the same family.johnhemming.blogspot.com/2024/05/space-medicine-expert-and-oxford.htmlThis one's quite interesting because honeybee queens live much longer than honeybee workers The team is working to develop a protocol which improves gene expression in human beings in a similar manner to that which Royal Jelly turns worker bees into queen bees.
John Hemming, who won a Scholarship to study Physics at Magdalen College Oxford, before he graduated and created his first business said, “Royal Jelly causes cells in bees to produce more proteins. This is done by a mixture of increasing the acetylation of the histone and slowing down the deacetylation of the histone. This makes a worker bee much more healthy and creates the phenotype of the Queen Bee. We are trying to do the same for human beings to improve cognition, frailty and the immune system in older people. That is the target to win the Xprize.”Who knows whether this will work in humans, but it's good to see the XPrize approach stimulating new directions of research. I don't know that actual Royal Jelly has any effect on humans although it's sold in health food shops. |
|
|
|
Post by leftieliberal on May 30, 2024 21:34:19 GMT
Scientists have discovered a 50,000-year-old herpes virus – and perhaps how modern humans came to rule the worldOver the last few years, the silence has been shattered by pioneering research that analyses microbial DNA extracted from very old human skeletons. The latest example of this is a groundbreaking study that identified three viruses in 50,000-year-old Neanderthal bones. These pathogens still afflict modern humans: adenovirus, herpesvirus and papillomavirus cause the common cold, cold sores, and genital warts and cancer, respectively. The discovery may help us resolve the greatest mystery of the Palaeolithic era: what caused the extinction of Neanderthals.So homo sapiens may not have killed off the Neanderthals by being more intelligent than them, or by fighting them, but simply because they brought some nasty viruses with them from Africa that the Neanderthals had no resistance to. We have an exactly parallel example in the effect of measles on the native American population from the 16th to the 19th Century.
|
|
