ADR-Central

2012-01-16T05:44:00.000-08:00

DLA cuts--House of Lords UK Residents:

Please sign the petition and pass this on to your
disabled and chronically ill friends.

Over 36 died in Scotland recently due to cuts
and DWP incentives. Many more are expected
to die. The CULLING has begun.

The UK government's eugenic style of budgetary incentive
towards the chronically ill is obscene. Fight back!!
Tweet the House of Lords and sign the petition.

Thanks.
Beebs

URGENT - ask people to sign Pat's Petition TODAY

Last week the government was defeated three times on Welfare Reform.

Tomorrow there will be another debate in the Lords - this time on DLA.

Our contacts in the House of Lords say Pat's Petition is being watched
because it is a grassroots petition. High numbers of signatures give them
evidence of the strength of feeling behind everyone's actions. This is exactly what they need.

Sue Marsh is calling for a pause to reflect on DLA legislation in the light of
the Spartacus Report. If you want to support campaigners on Tuesday please help to get people to sign Pat’s Petition TODAY.

Pat's Petition asks for the government to stop and review all the changes to benefits that are creating a perfect storm. Pat's Petition has now reached almost 20,000 in a very short time.

Whether you've been on a Hardest Hit march, tweeted about the Spartacus Report or written to a Lord, please share the link as widely as possible in the run up to the vote on DLA on Tuesday. Keep sharing it so that Lord Freud and others know how many there are of us, watching their every move.

sign here
http://epetitions.direct.gov.uk/petitions/20968
is the link to the petition.

twitter at http://twitter.com/PatsPetition

See Pat's Petition on FaceBook
http://www.facebook.com/patsepetition

2011-11-09T10:40:00.001-08:00

Pharmacopoly

Listen to this well articulated manipulations of Big Pharma & FDA in allowing dangerous life threatening toxic drugs passed as "safe", inventing new diseases to fit Big Pharma's monopoly on health care, government health officials and medical professionals in collusion.

Lawlessness, anarchy, against the constitution, the FDA and Big Pharma ignore court orders!!

Watch live streaming video from projectcamelotlive at livestream.com

2011-04-18T08:16:00.000-07:00

Health Quest - a new forum. It focuses on holistic approach and solutions.
Discussions on various topics, cellular level and all systems.

All welcome to join, in particular, those who suffered adverse reactions (ADRs) from all antibiotics, including fluoroquinolones, lariam/mefloquine and those who had vaccines shots shortly before/after taking the aforementioned, (and other medications).

http://health-quest.proboards.com/index.cgi

FB: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100002311715945

The forum is an attempt at bringing all under one banner.
Should the forum fail due to lack of participation from members,
it will be shut down.
Health Quest:

http://health-quest.proboards.com/index.cgi

FB: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=100002311715945

Health Quest focuses on solution, prevention (as in recovery or preventing more damage), info and tips, and is a springboard for support and HOPE.

Although many of us suffered primary symptoms, some of us, suffered long term chronic illness resulting from damage caused by antibiotics (and lariam/mefloquine) known to reactivate certain infectious pathogens, damage to mitochondria cascading in chronic inflammation leading to diseases, such as cardiovascular, metabolic syndromes, myopathies and other dysfunctions at cellular level.

2011-03-18T04:30:00.000-07:00

Why is the UK Government consistently refusing to release information concerning ME/CFS? Information held by the UK Government will be not be made public until 2076....

2011-03-11T03:45:00.000-08:00

See few articles below about drug metabolism
and mitochondria.

Clearly, prevention is paramount, secondly, look at other options of dealing with health issues, and thirdly, be responsible for your own health issues. Read up on the pharmacological content of prescribed meds, validity, the science, effective?, side effects and adverse reactions. Read about what other patients themselves experienced, over a period of time. Most who suffer ill health do not make the association with off the counter meds and/or prescribed meds. It takes longer than a few weeks or months, sometimes years for inflammation to progress.

Nuclear Receptors and the Regulation of Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes and Drug Transporters: Implications for Interindividual Variability in Response to Drugs

1. Bradley L. Urquhart, PhD
2. Rommel G. Tirona, PhD
3. Richard B. Kim, MD

1.
From the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine (Dr Urquhart, Dr Tirona, Dr Kim), and the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology (Dr Tirona), University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

1. Address for correspondence: Richard B. Kim, MD, Division of Clinical Pharmacology, London Health Sciences Centre—University Hospital, Room ALL-152, 339 Windermere Road, London, Ontario N6A 5A5, Canada; e-mail: richard.kim@lhsc.on.ca.

Abstract

Erratic or unpredictable response to drugs remains a challenge of modern drug therapy. An important determinant of such interindividual differences in drug response is variability in the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes and/or transporters at sites of absorption and/or tissue distribution. Variable drug-metabolizing enzyme and transporter expression can result in unpredictable exposure and tissue distribution of drugs and may manifest as adverse effects or therapeutic failure. In the past decade, important new insights have been made relating to the regulatory mechanisms governing the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters by ligand-activated nuclear receptors. Specifically, there is compelling evidence to demonstrate that PXR, CAR, FXR, LXR, VDR, HNF4α, and AhR form a battery of nuclear receptors that regulate the expression of many important drug-metabolizing enzyme and transporters. In this review, the authors focus on clinically important drug-metabolizing enzymes such as CYP3A4, CYP2B6, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, UGT1A1, SULT2A1, and glutathione S-transferases and their regulation by nuclear receptors. They also review the nuclear receptor-mediated regulation of drug transporters such as MDR1, MRP2, MRP4, BSEP, BCRP, NTCP, OATP1B3, and OATP1A2. Finally, they outline how the drug development process has been affected by the current understanding of the involvement of nuclear receptors in the regulation of drug disposition genes. http://tinyurl.com/5t5qzcd

I was curious about comparative study for ADRs between Fqs and other antibiotics. Those who are suffering from ADRs, (NOT allergic reactions), from other antibiotics, take note. So yes, many of us, have/had ADRs from non FQs pre/post floxing!! Figures seem to vary, one other study show cephalosporins to be between 19-40%...

Abstract and Introduction
Abstract

Extensive pharmacologic and clinical development of quinolone antimicrobial agents has resulted in improved antimicrobial activity, pharmacokinetic features, toxicity, and drug-drug interaction profiles. Nalidixic acid and other early quinolones had limited use due to poor pharmacokinetics, relatively narrow antimicrobial spectrum of activity, and frequent adverse effects. Beginning with the development of fluoroquinolones, such as norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin, in the 1980s, the agents assumed a greatly expanded clinical role because of their broad antimicrobial spectrum of action, improved pharmacokinetic properties, and more acceptable safety profile. Although the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of the drugs have improved significantly, a major area of continued emphasis is to further reduce the frequency and severity of adverse events and drug-drug interactions. Older agents such as ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin are still extensively prescribed, but the focus of this article is on the newer fluoroquinolones (levofloxacin and other drugs that have been approved or have been under investigation since approximately 1997). http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/418295

For those who are still keen on taking antibiotics, read about the mitochondria cytoxicity, which means essentially, DNA damage. There are several articles posted on the forum about damage to mitochondria, worse offenders are: antibiotics (Fqs, macrolides, tetracyclines, clyndamicin, Rifamopin), anti-depressants and NSAIDs... This study is well designed and discusses glycation, cell death, lactic acidosis etc. http://aac.asm.org/cgi/reprint/AAC.00729-05v1.pdf

For those of us who are having problems with foods, vits & supps, and metabolozing drugs, read on...

It appears that minute dosage of anything is not being metabolized (for some of us), and reaches a level of toxicity. This can apply to some compounds in some type of foods. This partly explains the inability to metabolize, the aforementioned including environmental pollutants.

"Enzymes that metabolize xenobiotics have historically
been called drug-metabolizing enzymes, although they are
involved in the metabolism of many foreign chemicals to
which humans are exposed. Dietary differences among
species during the course of evolution could account for
the marked species variation in the complexity of the
drug-metabolizing enzymes.

Today, most xenobiotics to which humans are exposed
come from sources that include environmental pollution,
food additives, cosmetic products, agrochemicals, processed
foods, and drugs. In general, these are lipophilic
chemicals, that in the absence of metabolism would not be
efficiently eliminated, and thus would accumulate in the
body, resulting in toxicity. With very few exceptions, all
xenobiotics are subjected to one or multiple pathways that
constitute the phase 1 and phase 2 enzymatic systems. As
a general paradigm, metabolism serves to convert these
hydrophobic chemicals into derivatives that can easily be
eliminated through the urine or the bile."http://books.mcgraw-hill.com/medical/goodmanandgilman/pdfs/CHAPTER3.pdf

2011-02-20T15:03:00.000-08:00

Hyaluronic Acid eye drops may help with joints pains. It was reported that some experienced relief from this.

The article mentions Hyaluronic Acid in cream form for joints pains.

http://www.pingueculae.com/index.php/eye-drops/134-hyaluronic-eye-drops-supplements

In addition, since there is accumulation of uric acid in joints causing pains, it might be worth trying a diet low in purines:

http://www.ehow.com/facts_5004026_what-foods-have-uric-acid.html

2011-02-20T11:03:00.000-08:00

Those of who have active EBV, HHV-6 following your ADRs from antibiotics, see the article below. There is strong evidence that antibiotics can reactivate the mentioned infectious pathogens. Its likely it activates other infectious pathogens, since antibiotics are immune suppressants. It seems that antibiotics dysregulate the immune system. Many complained of lyme disease symptoms, subsequently found to carry active Borrellia Burg, which were previously dormant.

Adverse antibiotic-induced eruptions associated with epstein barr virus infection and showing Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease-like histology.
Carlson JA, Perlmutter A, Tobin E, Richardson D, Rohwedder A.

Division of Dermatology, Department of Pathology, Albany Medical College, Albany, New York 12208, USA. carlsoa@mail.amc.edu

The antibiotic-induced eruption of infectious mononucleosis is a well-known clinical phenomenon. Latent viral infection with herpesviridae (eg, human herpes virus 6 (HHV-6) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)) is suspected to play a role in the drug hypersensitivity syndrome. The cutaneous pathologic findings have not been reported in the former, and are infrequently reported in the latter entity. Herein, we describe the biopsy findings of a cefprozil-induced rash in infectious mononucleosis and a minocycline-associated drug hypersensitivity syndrome. Biopsy of these exanthematous eruptions revealed an acute vacuolar interface superficial and deep perivascular and interstitial lymphocytic dermatitis. CD8(+) lymphocytes predominated and were associated with non-neutrophilic nuclear (karyorrhectic) debris and numerous small CD68(+) and CD123(+) monocytes. These aforementioned features have been described in cutaneous lesions of Kikuchi-Fujimoto disease, an entity whose clinicopathologic findings overlap with both infectious mononucleosis and lupus erythematosus. Serologic evidence of active and chronic active EBV infection was found in both patients, respectively. No evidence of EBV or HHV6 was found in the cutaneous lesions. Plasmacytoid monocytes (CD68(+)/CD123(+) cells), which produce type I interferon, are believed to play a role in viral immunity by protecting other cells from viral infections and promoting survival of antigen-activated T cells. Their presence in these two putative examples of viral-drug immune dysregulation could be a clue to pathogenesis and represent a common cellular component of some adverse cutaneous drug eruptions.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16456....Pubmed_RVDocSum

2011-02-20T10:53:00.000-08:00

I was curious about comparative study for ADRs between Fqs and other antibiotics. Those who are suffering from ADRs, (NOT allergic reactions), from other antibiotics, take note. So yes, many of us, have/had ADRs from non FQs post floxing!!

Aside the well known side effects of FQs, other antibiotics also cause damage to tendons, CNS symptoms and so forth.

"adverse effects for various fluoroquinolones was 3-40%. By comparison, these same studies reported adverse event rates of 2-49% for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 6-35% for penicillins, 12-39% for cephalosporins, 19-23% for doxycycline, and approximately 39% for erythromycin.[10,11]"

Abstract and Introduction
Abstract

Extensive pharmacologic and clinical development of quinolone antimicrobial agents has resulted in improved antimicrobial activity, pharmacokinetic features, toxicity, and drug-drug interaction profiles. Nalidixic acid and other early quinolones had limited use due to poor pharmacokinetics, relatively narrow antimicrobial spectrum of activity, and frequent adverse effects. Beginning with the development of fluoroquinolones, such as norfloxacin and ciprofloxacin, in the 1980s, the agents assumed a greatly expanded clinical role because of their broad antimicrobial spectrum of action, improved pharmacokinetic properties, and more acceptable safety profile. Although the pharmacokinetics and efficacy of the drugs have improved significantly, a major area of continued emphasis is to further reduce the frequency and severity of adverse events and drug-drug interactions. Older agents such as ciprofloxacin and ofloxacin are still extensively prescribed, but the focus of this article is on the newer fluoroquinolones (levofloxacin and other drugs that have been approved or have been under investigation since approximately 1997).
Introduction

Fluoroquinolones are considered to be safe and well tolerated,[1-4] although there are some notable exceptions, for example, temafloxacin, trova-floxacin, and, more recently, grepafloxacin.[5-9] This is especially true when fluoroquinolones are compared with other commonly prescribed antimicrobials.[3, 4] A review of safety results from numerous controlled clinical trials revealed that, overall, the agents are not significantly different from -- and in some cases were superior to -- nonquinolone comparators or placebo in occurrence of adverse events.[10, 11] Overall rates of adverse effects and rates of drug discontinuation from premarketing clinical studies of fluoro-quinolones are summarized in Table 1. [2-4,6,7,10-44]

Fluoroquinolones are generally highly comparable with other classes of antibiotics in terms of overall frequency and severity of adverse effects, although specific adverse effects vary among drug classes. In comparative clinical studies, the overall frequency of adverse effects for various fluoroquinolones was 3-40%. By comparison, these same studies reported adverse event rates of 2-49% for trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, 6-35% for penicillins, 12-39% for cephalosporins, 19-23% for doxycycline, and approximately 39% for erythromycin.[10,11]

True rates of adverse effects are often extremely difficult to determine. Comparative clinical studies may report two types of adverse events: treatment-emergent and drug-related. Treatment-emergent adverse effects are reported by study participants during the study. These are frequently quite subjective and are often not related to the study drug(s). Therefore, adverse event rates associated with administration of placebo are often as high as those associated with active agents. Treatment-emergent event rates also reflect adverse effects that are drug related. Although these rates are often much higher than the frequency of true drug-related adverse effects, they are reported because of difficulty determining causality. Drug-related adverse effect rates, when available, are usually much more useful with regard to agents of different classes as well as to those of the same class. Adverse effect rates of fluoroquinolones summarized in Table 1 include those that were reported to be possibly or probably drug related.

Most adverse events caused by fluoroquinolones are comparable, although overall frequency and manifestation of certain adverse effects differ among agents ( Table 2 ).[4,10] Each fluoroquinolone tends to produce a characteristic profile of adverse effects; differences often are explained by structural features and related relationships of the class.[45] The events are typically mild and usually resolve during continued treatment or with discontinuation of therapy, although early discontinuation for an event is unusual. Gastrointestinal effects (e.g., nausea, diarrhea) and central nervous system (CNS) effects (e.g., headache, dizziness) are most common. Toxic effects that are observed only in animal models or that have not been shown to be clinically relevant in humans include chondrotoxicity, reproductive and developmental toxicity, genotoxicity, and carcinogenicity.[2-4,10,11] Concerns regarding bone and joint toxicities in juvenile animal models thus far have precluded approval of fluoroquinolones for treatment of infections in children. However, more recent data indicate that the agents may be safe in this population, and this is being actively explored.
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/418295

Read more: http://noquinolones.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=theories&action=display&thread=1813#ixzz1EWiceWCj

2011-02-01T02:41:00.001-08:00

Please send your ADRs stories to Public Citizen. You can choose anonymity or give as much info as you want.

If you or someone close to you has been harmed because of a medical error, please share your story.
Go to www.citizen.org/medical-error-stories

2011-01-18T04:20:00.001-08:00

Its no wonder that so many suffer ill health or ADRs from prescription drugs....

60 Minutes Exposes the Maker of the #1 Most Fatal Drug of 2009

From Dr Mercola's site:

Drug company whistle-blower Cheryl Eckard talks about her experience trying to fix problems at GlaxoSmithKline. Her discoveries about the dangerous practices of the company made her a key figure in a federal lawsuit.

...... Due to various production line failures, powerful medications were also getting mixed up. Potent and potentially dangerous drugs were literally ending up in the wrong bottles! The antidepressant Paxil was mixed into bottles of Avandia, a diabetes drug. And Avandia was found in packages of the over-the-counter antacid Tagamet. All in all, Eckard identified nine different mix-ups of various drugs. http://tinyurl.com/4dj8nfe

2011-01-11T12:53:00.000-08:00

See other posts on Triphala, an Ayurvedic compound used for gentle detoxing, over a long period of time. It contains anti-oxidants compounds from three Asian fruits. The mix is anti bacterial, anti-viral, purifies the blood and organs, as well as aids the digestive system and bowel movement if taken at night. It also has various other beneficial properties as well as protection against radiation.

The article below discusses the radioprotective effects of Triphala:

The evaluation of the radioprotective effect of Triphala (an ayurvedic rejuvenating drug) in the mice exposed to [gamma]-radiation.

Summary

The effect of 0, 5, 6.25, 10, 12.5, 20, 25, 40, 50 and 80 mg/kg b. wt. of aqueous extract of triphala (an Ayurvedic herbal medicine) administrered intraperitoneally was studied on the radiation-induced mortality in mice exposed to 10 Gy of [gamma]-radiation. Treatment of mice with different doses of triphala consecutively for five days before irradiation delayed the onset of mortality and reduced the symptoms of radiation sickness when compared with the non-drug treated irradiated controls. The highest protection against GI (gastrointestinal) death was observed for 12.5 mg/kg triphala, where a highest number of survivors were reported up to 10 days post-irradiation. While 10 mg/kg triphala i.p. provided the best protection as evidenced by the highest number of survivors after 30 days post-irradiation in this group when compared with the other doses of triphala. Toxicity study showed that triphala was non-toxic up to a dose of 240 mg/kg, where no drug-induced mortality was observed. The [LD.sub.50] dose i.p. o f triphala was found to be 280 mg/kg b. wt. Our study demonstrates the ability of triphala as a good radioprotective agent and the optimum protective dose of triphala was 1/28 of its [LD.sub.50] dose.

Key words: Triphala, radiation, mice, survival, acute toxicity, radioprotection ra·di·o·pro·tec·tion
n.
Protection against the harmful effects of radiation.

radi·o·pro·tec
..... Click the link for more information., Terminalia chebula Retz., Phyllanthus emblica Linn. or Emblica officinalis Gaertn. and Terminalia bellerica (Gaertn.) Roxb.

Cont/.. http://tinyurl.com/4fyyfee

2011-01-07T12:01:00.000-08:00

Another wonder cancer drug bites the dust!! None of these have shown to be helpful.

A significant percentage of newly diagnosed patients are turning to safer modalities. Sadly, most die of side effects from toxic drugs and invasive tests rather than the primary cancer. Furthermore, many cancer patients develop new cancers caused by chemo, radiation and arsenal of unnecessary drugs.

Breaking News: Popular Cancer Drug Declared More Harmful Than Helpful

The FDA has said that the controversial drug Avastin should be phased out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer. Recent studies show that its benefits are outweighed by dangerous side effects.

The announcement does not affect Avastin's status as a drug that can be prescribed for lung cancer, kidney cancer, colorectal cancer and brain cancer.

In 2008, the FDA granted Avastin accelerated approval for use to treat metastatic breast cancer. But studies have failed to show that patients getting Avastin lived longer than patients on standard chemotherapies.

According to CNN:
"Along with those disappointing findings, serious side effects became apparent in patients taking Avastin, including high blood pressure, internal bleeding, perforated internal organs, heart failure and heart attacks, and in some cases, even swelling of the brain."

Genentech, which makes Avastin, has a right to appeal the decision.

Folks, the best way of preventing breast cancer isn't a drug at all, and it's free! Sun exposure may be the single most effective means of reducing breast cancer, thanks to vitamin D, which forms in your body in reaction to sunlight. In a recent study, data collected over a decade from more than 67,000 women showed that women in sunny climes with high vitamin D levels were at a significantly reduced risk of breast cancer!

Sources:
CNN December 16, 2010
Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention December 2, 2010

Popular Breast Cancer Drug Proven More Harmful than Helpful

Avastin, which costs about $8,000 a month and is one of the best-selling cancer drugs in the world, is now being phased out in the US due to lack of effectiveness and dangerous side effects.

As reported by CNN, the FDA has deemed the drug to be more harmful than beneficial based on recent studies, and recommends phasing it out as a treatment for metastatic breast cancer.

The drug will still maintain its status as an approved therapy for lung-, kidney-, colorectal- and brain cancer, however.
The European Medicines Agency is also altering its recommendation, but rather than withdrawing approval entirely, Avastin will now only be prescribed in combination with the drug Paclitaxel for the treatment of breast cancer in the EU.

2010-12-23T15:39:00.000-08:00

Happy Holidays to everyone, and wishing you all a healthier 2011.

2010-12-21T09:46:00.000-08:00

Study identifies prescription drugs associated with cases of violence
By Michael C. Cohen, president of the Institute for Safe Medication Practices

The link between violence and prescription drugs has rarely been studied. However, a study published last week in the journal PLoS ONE identified 31 drugs that are disproportionally associated with reported cases of violence.

The study drew on reports of violence and aggression made to the Food and Drug Administration from 2004 through the third quarter of 2009. While far from definitive, these findings signal that more research is needed.

Leading the list in numbers of reports is the smoking cessation drug Chantix (varenicline).

Also associated with violence were psychoactive medications for depression (Prozac and Paxil), attention deficit disorder (Strattera), and sedative/hypnotic drugs.

The authors, Thomas J. Moore, a consulting senior scientist at the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, Joseph Glenmullen of Harvard Medical School, and Curt D. Furberg of Wake Forest University School of Medicine, selected cases from the ISMP QuarterWatch database, which is composed of computer extracts of all adverse drug event reports received by FDA.

A violent event was defined as any case report mentioning homicide, physical assault, physical abuse, homicidal ideation or violence-related symptom.

For the five-year study period, the authors identified 484 drugs that accounted for 780,169 serious adverse event reports of all kinds. This total included 1,937 (0.25 percent) cases that met the violence criteria.

Thirty-one drugs met study criteria for a disproportionate association with violence, accounting for 1,527 (79 percent) of the violence cases.

Included were 387 reports of actual homicide, 404 that were physical assaults, 223 cases with violence-related symptoms, and 896 homicidal ideation reports.

The prominence of Chantix was not a surprise. An association between that drug and serious psychiatric symptoms, including hostile behavior, was also a finding in a 2008 study by our group that looked at FDA adverse event reports in the fourth quarter of 2007. The authors of the present study had earlier linked Chantix to thoughts and acts of aggression/violence. The association also led FDA to require product label changes, including a boxed warning for the drug.

The authors conclude that their data "provide new evidence" that violent acts are "associated with a relatively small group of drugs" and that systematic studies "are needed to establish the incidence, confirm differences among drugs and identify additional common features."

Read more: http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20101220_Check_Up.html

2010-12-17T02:08:00.000-08:00

Buzzword "anti-oxidants" for the recent few years is holding pace. Some studies have shown that taking antioxidants can turn pro oxidants. The biochemistry is complex and complicated and further studies are needed for evaluation. So far, free radicals theories remain unconvincing, some are purely hypothetical based on conjecture. Caloric Restriction research shows promise, although its difficult to evaluate, since, it involves measuring life span of primates (non humans).

Few studies discuss the balance between "moping" up excess free radicals and upsetting biochemistry balance of free radicals, or if taking long term anti oxidants therapy, how would the body's natural defense cope under physiological stress? Its role in preventing further oxidization, or halting/reversing inflammation process?

Oxidative DNA damage preventive activity and antioxidant potential of plants used in Unani system of medicine

Mehar DARUKHSHAN Kalim email, Dipto Bhattacharyya email, Anindita Banerjee email and Sharmila Chattopadhyay email

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2010, 10:77doi:10.1186/1472-6882-10-77
Published: 16 December 2010
Abstract (provisional)

Background

There is increasing recognition that many of today's diseases are due to the "oxidative stress" that results from an imbalance between the formation and neutralization of reactive molecules such as reactive oxygen species (ROS) and reactive nitrogen species (RNS), which can be removed with antioxidants. The main objective of the present study was to evaluate the antioxidant activity of plants routinely used in the Unani system of medicine. Several plants were screened for radical scavenging activity, and the ten that showed promising results were selected for further evaluation.
Methods

Methanol (50%) extracts were prepared from ten Unani plants, namely Cleome icosandra, Rosa damascena, Cyperus scariosus, Gardenia gummifera, Abies pindrow, Valeriana wallichii, Holarrhena antidysenterica, Anacyclus pyrethrum, Asphodelus tenuifolius and Cyperus scariosus, and were used to determine their total phenolic, flavonoid and ascorbic acid contents, in vitro scavenging of DPPH * , ABTS * +, NO, * OH, O2.- and ONOO, and capacity to prevent oxidative DNA damage. Cytotoxic activity was also determined against the U937 cell line.
Results

IC50 values for scavenging DPPH * , ABTS * +, NO, * OH, O2.- and ONOO were in the ranges 0.007+/- 0.0001 - 2.006 +/- 0.002 mg/ml, 2.54 +/- 0.04 - 156.94 +/- 5.28 mug/ml, 152.23 +/- 3.51 - 286.59 +/- 3.89 mug/ml, 18.23 +/- 0.03 - 50.13 +/- 0.04 mug/ml, 28.85 +/- 0.23 - 537.87 +/- 93 mug/ml and 0.532 +/- 0.015 - 3.39 +/- 0.032 mg/ml, respectively. The total phenolic, flavonoid and ascorbic acid contents were in the ranges 62.89 +/- 0.43 -166.13 +/- 0.56 mg gallic acid equivalent (GAE)/g extract, 38.89 +/- 0.52 - 172.23 +/- 0.08 mg quercetin equivalent (QEE)/g extract and 0.14 +/- 0.09 - 0.98 +/- 0.21 mg AA/g extract. The activities of the different plant extracts against oxidative DNA damage were in the range 0.13-1.60 ug/ml. Of the ten selected plant extracts studied here, seven - C. icosandra, R. damascena, C. scariosus, G. gummifera, A. pindrow, V. wallichii and H. antidysenterica - showed moderate antioxidant activity. Finally, potentially significant oxidative DNA damage preventive activity and antioxidant activity were noted in three plant extracts: C. icosandra, R. damascena and C. scariosus. These three plant extracts showed no cytotoxic activity against U937 cells.
Conclusions

The 50% methanolic extracts obtained from different plant parts contained significant amounts of polyphenols with superior antioxidant activity as evidenced by the scavenging of DPPH * , ABTS * +, NO, * OH, O2.- and ONOO. C. icosandra, R. damascena and C. scariosus showed significant potential for preventing oxidative DNA damage and radical scavenging activity, and the G. gummifera, A. pindrow, V. wallichii, H. antidysenterica, A. pyrethrum, A. tenuifolius and O. mascula extracts showed moderate activity. The extracts of C. icosandra, R. damascena and C. scariosus showed no cytotoxicity against U937 cells. In conclusion, these routinely used Unani plants, especially C. icosandra, R. damascena and C. scariosus, which are reported to have significant activity against several human ailments, could be exploited as potential sources of natural antioxidants for plant-based pharmaceutical industries.

2010-12-16T04:03:00.000-08:00

Several studies show vitamin B1 warding off kidney failure in diabetic patients*
other studies are showing similar benefits in slowing progression of heart failure and improves survival rates post myocardial infarct.

* Rabbani N, Alam, SS, Riaz S, et al. High-dose thiamine therapy for patients with type 2 diabetes and microalbuminuria: a randomised, double-blind placebo-controlled pilot study. Diabetologia. 2008 Dec 5.

Benfotiamine improves functional recovery of the infarcted heart via activation of pro-survival G6PD/Akt signaling pathway and modulation of neurohormonal response.

Katare R, Caporali A, Emanueli C, Madeddu P.

Bristol Heart Institute, University of Bristol, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol, UK.
Abstract

Benfotiamine (BFT) is a transketolase activator that directs glucose to the pentose phosphate pathway. The present study investigated whether BFT improves the recovery after myocardial infarction (MI) and explored underlying mechanisms of protection. Non-diabetic and streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetic mice were supplemented with BFT (70 mg/kg/day in drinking water) for 4 weeks and then subjected to MI or sham operation. Cardiac function was monitored by echocardiography. At two weeks post-MI, intra-ventricular pressure was measured by Millar tip-catheter and hearts were collected for biochemical, immunohistochemical and expressional analyses. No treatment effect was observed in sham-operated mice. Post-MI mortality was higher in diabetic mice and hemodynamic studies confirmed the worsening effect of diabetes on functional recovery. Furthermore, diabetic mice demonstrated increased cardiomyocyte apoptosis, reduced reparative angiogenesis, larger scars, enhanced oxidative stress, and blunted activation of the pro-survival VEGF receptor-2/Akt/Pim-1 signaling pathway. BFT improved post-MI survival, functional recovery and neovascularization and reduced cardiomyocyte apoptosis and neurohormonal activation in diabetic as well as in non-diabetic mice. In addition, BFT stimulated the activity of pentose phosphate pathway enzymes, leading to reduction of oxidative stress, phosphorylation/activation of VEGF receptor-2 and Akt and increased Pim-1, pBad and Bcl-2 levels. These effects were contrasted on silencing glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase, the key enzyme in pentose phosphate pathway, or inhibiting Akt. BFT benefits post-MI recovery through stimulation of pro-survival mechanisms and containment of neurohormonal response. These results may have implications for the treatment of myocardial ischemia.

2010-12-15T15:10:00.000-08:00

Watch out for these drugs on the FDA monitoring list:

13 Drugs on Latest FDA List for Safety Monitoring

July 2, 2010 — A watch list of 13 drugs based on potential signs of serious risks or new safety information collected by the Adverse Event Reporting System (AERS) of the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) during the first quarter of 2010 has been released.

The FDA is studying all of the drugs to determine the need for any regulatory action.

A drug's appearance on the watch list does not mean the agency has determined that the drug poses the health risk in question. Physicians should not stop prescribing the drug, and patients should not stop taking it, according to the FDA.

The FDA is evaluating 2 antibiotics — azithromycin (Zithromax; Pfizer) and clarithromycin (Biaxin; Abbott) — to find out whether they are associated with liver failure. Suspicions about azithromycin and liver failure are not new. The label for the antibiotic states that adverse events discovered after the drug entered the marketplace — and for which a causal relationship may not be established — include "abnormal liver function including hepatitis and cholestatic jaundice, as well as rare cases of hepatic necrosis and hepatic failure, some of which have resulted in death." During clinical trials, cholestatic jaundice was a rarely reported adverse effect.

Postmarketing adverse events for clarithromycin have included infrequent cases of sometimes severe, but usually reversible, hepatic dysfunction, including cholestatic hepatitis, with or without jaundice. There also have been rare and fatal cases of hepatic failure "associated with serious underlying diseases and/or concomitant medications," according to the drug label. Cholestatic jaundice did not emerge as an adverse effect in clinical trials.

Two other antibiotics made it on the latest watch list. AERS turned up reports of pyloric stenosis linked to azithromycin extended release 2 g (Zmax; Pfizer) and pulmonary eosinophilia and eosinophilic pneumonia linked to daptomycin (Cubicin; Cubist Pharmaceuticals).

FDA Studying Anticoagulant to Determine Whether It Causes Blood Clots

Three other medications on the watch list are in the cardiovascular camp. The anticoagulant prasugrel (Effient; Eli Lilly), is being watched on account of thrombotic thrombocytopenic purpura — a rare and life-threatening disorder that causes clots to form in small blood vessels throughout the body. The drug's label warns that this disorder emerged as an adverse effect during clinical trials. Heartwire recently reported that researchers continue to debate whether the medication increases the risk for cancer.

Another drug, dronedarone (Multaq; Sanofi-Aventis), used to treat atrial fibrillation and atrial flutter, has come under surveillance because of reports of congestive heart failure. As reported by Heartwire, clinicians have considered dronedarone a safer alternative to amiodarone (Cordarone; Wyeth-Ayerst; Pacerone; Upsher-Smith) for patients with atrial fibrillation.

The third cardiovascular drug on the watch list is ranolazine (Ranexa; Gilead), prescribed for patients with angina. Here, the FDA is investigating reports of torsades de pointes — a ventricular tachycardia that can lead to sudden death.

Two medications prescribed for narcolepsy — modafinil (Provigil; Cephalon) and sodium oxybate (Xyrem; Jazz Pharmaceuticals) — are under study for a possible association with convulsions. Physicians prescribe modafinil to counteract excessive sleepiness caused by narcolepsy, sleep apnea, or shift work. Likewise, sodium oxybate reduces daytime sleepiness, as well as the number of cataplexy attacks suffered, in patients with narcolepsy.

Perhaps the most well-known product on the watch list is the blend of estrogens marketed as Premarin (Wyeth), used to treat symptoms of menopause. It landed on the list based on reports of angioedema.

Potential Signals of Serious Risks/New Safety Information Identified by AERS, First Quarter 2010 http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/724545?sssdmh=dm1.624895&src=nldne&uac=128675HJ

2010-12-15T14:40:00.000-08:00

Corticosteroids are known to cause manic episodes, insomnia, and other CNS symptoms in many. This article concerns those who are using corticosteroids inhalers for asthma. Is it that helpful for asthma? There have been several articles warning about the dangers of beta2-agonists (LABAs) with corticosteroids. Later found to be of no benefits, (harmful), no longer advised for treating asthma. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/132495.php

Montelukast used to treat asthma has been linked to severe CNS reactions, including suicide ideation and self harm. http://www.leaderpost.com/news/Asthma+drug+linked+suicide+attempts+thoughts+self+harm/1768232/story.html

The article below, concerns inhaled corticosteroid and Diabetes Mellitus.

Inhaled Corticosteroid Use May Increase Risk for Diabetes Mellitus
Laurie Barclay, MD

December 15, 2010 — Inhaled corticosteroid use may increase the risk for diabetes mellitus, according to the results of a study reported in the November issue of the American Journal of Medicine.

"High doses of inhaled corticosteroids commonly used in patients with [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD)] are associated with an increase in the risk of requiring treatment for diabetes and of having to intensify therapy to include insulin," lead author Samy Suissa, PhD, from the Center for Clinical Epidemiology, Lady Davis Research Institute, Jewish General Hospital in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Department of Medicine, McGill University, said in a news release. "Therefore, patients instituting therapy with high doses of inhaled corticosteroids should be assessed for possible hyperglycemia and treatment with high doses of inhaled corticosteroids [should be] limited to situations where the benefit is clear."

The study authors note that although inhaled corticosteroids are recommended only for patients with the most severe COPD, current practice is that they are prescribed to more than 70% of all patients with COPD, including those with less severe disease. Because the prevalence of COPD and diabetes both increase with age, it is important to examine any possible interaction between inhaled corticosteroid use and worsened glycemic control.

Using the Quebec health insurance databases, the investigators identified a new-user cohort of patients treated from 1990 through 2005 for respiratory disease. Follow-up was through 2007, until diabetes onset, or until diabetes progression in the subcohort treated with oral hypoglycemics. To estimate the rate ratios of diabetes onset and progression associated with current use of inhaled corticosteroids, the investigators used a nested case-control analysis, with adjustment for age, sex, respiratory disease severity, and comorbid conditions.

Of 388,584 patients in the study cohort, 30,167 developed incident diabetes during 5.5 years of follow-up (incidence rate, 14.2/1000/year), and 2099 patients subsequently progressed from oral hypoglycemic therapy to insulin treatment (incidence rate, 19.8/1000/year).

Participants with current use of inhaled corticosteroids had a 34% increase in the rate of diabetes (rate ratio [RR], 1.34; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.29 - 1.39) and in the rate of diabetes progression (RR, 1.34; 95% CI, 1.17 - 1.53).

The highest inhaled corticosteroid doses, equivalent to at least 1000 μg/day fluticasone, were associated with the greatest risk increases (RR for rate of diabetes, 1.64; 95% CI, 1.52 - 1.76; RR for diabetes progression, 1.54; 95% CI, 1.18 - 2.02).

Limitations of this study include possible residual confounding and the possible underestimation of incidence of diabetes.

"In patients with respiratory disease, inhaled corticosteroid use is associated with modest increases in the risks of diabetes onset and diabetes progression," the study authors write. "The risks are more pronounced at the higher doses currently prescribed in the treatment of [COPD]."

This research was supported by grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, Boehringer-Ingelheim GmbH, and the Canadian Foundation for Innovation. Some of the study authors report various financial relationships with AstraZeneca, Boehringer-Ingelheim, GlaxoSmithKline, Merck, Pfizer, Merck Frosst Canada, Novartis, and/or Nycomed.

Am J Med. 2010;123:1001-1006. Abstract

2010-12-14T03:18:00.000-08:00

Stumbled on this vid, which is two years old now. Striking that other side effects and symptoms, and potential long term damage is omitted, including life threatening cardiovascular events:

2010-12-10T04:59:00.000-08:00

Published papers show limitations of scans, MRIs, ionic x-rays, contrast dyes, causing side effects. The latter, lists strokes, heart attacks, angina as possible side effects. Galdolinium, commonly used contrast dye is known to cause to nephrogenic fibrosing dermopathy (NFC). Apparently, it can appear even five years later. Reports of many with healthy kidneys prior to being administered contrast dye, complain of sub optimal functioning kidneys, some of failing kidneys, others of angina, chest pains, and heart attacks.

Below is a paper showing scans causing disturbance in the blood brain barrier, linking bleeding/strokes to scan as well as causing damage to the endothelial cells.

Blood-Brain Barrier Disruption By Low-Frequency Ultrasound
Matthias Reinhard, MD; Andreas Hetzel, MD; Sebastian Krüger, MD; Stefan Kretzer, MD; Jochen Talazko, MD; Sargon Ziyeh, MD; Johannes Weber, MD Thomas Els, MD

From the Department of Neurology (M.R., A.H., S. Krüger, S. Kretzer, T.E.); the Department of Nuclear Medicine (J.T.); and the Department of Neuroradiology (S.Z., J.W.), University of Freiburg, Germany.

Correspondence to Andreas Hetzel, MD, Department of Neurology and Clinical Neurophysiology, University of Freiburg, Neurocenter, Breisacherstr. 64, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany. E-mail andreas.hetzel@uniklinik-freiburg.de

Abstract

Background and Purpose— A recent study showed a dramatic increase in cerebral hemorrhage comprising atypical locations with low-frequency ultrasound–mediated recombinant tissue plasminogen activator–thrombolysis in humans. Here, we provide a possible explanation for this phenomenon by a side effect observed in a study using the similar ultrasound device.

Methods— The study was originally undertaken to investigate by transcranial Doppler sonography, positron emission tomography and perfusion MRI whether transcranial application of wide-field low-frequency ultrasound (300 kHz) improves cerebral hemodynamics in patients with cerebral small vessel disease.

Results— Showing no clear positive effect on cerebral hemodynamics in 4 patients and on cerebral perfusion (positron emission tomography) in 2 patients, the study has been terminated early because of a remarkable side effect in the first patient (a 62 year-old man) undergoing perfusion-MRI: detection of frontoparietal extravasation of Gadolinium contrast agent (applied during MRI perfusion imaging preinsonation) on MRI immediately postinsonation.

Conclusions— Abnormal permeability of the human blood-brain barrier can be induced by wide-field low-frequency insonation. The observed excessive bleeding rate with low-frequency sonothrombolysis might thus be attributable to primary blood-brain barrier disruption by ultrasound.

Key Words: blood-brain barrier • hemodynamic phenomena • leukoaraiosis • side effect • ultrasound
http://stroke.ahajournals.org/cgi/content/full/37/6/1546

2010-12-09T15:03:00.000-08:00

An excellent article in regards to grapefruit and CYPs 450. Many are unable to eat grapefruits following ADRs from Lariam, Fqs and other meds. Watch out if you are on meds. It is important to avoid grapefruit to avoid potentiating and toxicity. Read up on tangerines, mandarines, clementines, oranges.

Mechanism of Grapefruit Juice Interactions

Basic Mechanism of Action

Drugs that interact with grapefruit and/or grapefruit juice (GJ) undergo cytochrome p450 oxidative metabolism in the intestinal wall or liver. GJ contains various furanocoumarins which have been demonstrated to affect the cytochrome p450(CYP) system (especially at isoenzyme CYP3A4) by binding to the isoenzyme as a substrate and impairing first-pass metabolism, by direct inactivation or inhibition of the enzyme (mechanism-based inhibitors). The net effect on the CYP enzymes from this inhibition seems to be a selective down-regulation of CYP3A4 in the small intestine.26 For certain drugs which are known to be CYP 3A4 metabolized, less drug is metabolized prior to absorption, and greater amounts of these drugs reach the systemic circulation, leading to higher blood levels, and potentially to increases in therapeutic and/or toxic effects.

Naringin

Naringin is the main bioflavonoid in GJ. Naringin is not a potent CYP inhibitor, but is partially metabolized by enteral bacteria to naringenin, which is a potent inhibitor of p450 enzymes, and early research into GJ interactions proposed that naringin was the component of GJ responsible for the interactions,4-6 although it was thought possible that another unidentified component in grapefruit may also have been responsible, since giving naringin alone does not seem to cause the same degree of inhibition as GJ.4-5,21 Recent evidence clearly indicate that furanocoumarins, especially dihydroxybergamottin are the chemicals responsible for GJ interactions.

Furanocoumarins/Dihydroxybergamottin

Researchers have isolated a group of compounds from GJ called furanocoumarins, which appear to be specific CYP3A4 inhibitors.27-29 A study on extracts of GJ interacting with rat and human p450 found that naringin accounted for only 10% of the inhibition of CYP activity seen with GJ.28 In vitro results show that a compound known as 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin may be the chemical which accounts for the difference in effects on CYP3A substrates caused by GJ versus naringenin.27 A separate study with in vitro data determined that several compounds found in GJ inhibit CYP3A4 enzymes. Specifically, these were nootkanone (a sesquiterpene), and 4 derivatives of coumarin, geranyloxycoumarin, bergamottin, and 2 chemical with very long technical names, denoted as GF-I-1 and 4.29 Additional CYP3A inhibitory chemicals GF-I-5, GF-I-6 and bergapten have also been identified.132 The concentrations of nootkanone and bergamottin required to inhibit CYP3A4 enzymes however, was found to be higher than the naturally occurring concentrations found in GJ.

Results of confirmatory in vivo testing of CYP3A4 inhibition with externally administered GF-I-1, GF-I-4, GF-I-5 and GF-I-6 have not been published at present. It should also be noted that wide inter-individual variability in response to these interactions have been documented in studies.2,11

Start of New Article A recent study determined that the chemical moiety 5-geranyloxyfurocoumarine is essential for CYP3A4 inhibitory activity. This moiety is found in dihydroxybergamottin, as well as GF-I-1 and GF-I-4.127 A total of 6 furanocoumarin derivatives are suggested to be clinically active constituents of GJ.129

Commercial manufacturing of GJ is a multi-step process that includes washing of unpeeled fruit prior to squeezing whole fruits to juice. After squeezing, juice is heated for pasteurization, and volatile components may evaporate. Grapefruit oil, an important constituent of grapefruit peel, is sometimes added to the concentrate as a flavor enhancer.

A study found that epoxybergamottin, a furanocoumarin extracted from grapefruit peel is also an inhibitor of CYP 3A4. This compound has previously been found in only minor quantities in GJ, compared to 6'7'-dihydroxybergamottin. The authors note that it is possible that this compound could be distributed into the juice, during the commercial juice manufacturing process. Epoxybergamottin is not chemically stable in acidic medium, and may become hydrolyzed to 6'7'-dihydroxybergamottin.134

P-glycoprotein

A study performed in cellular models indicates that GJ significantly activates p-glycoprotein mediated reduction in bioavailability, partially counteracting the CYP3A4 inhibitory effects of GJ.42 This experiment was performed in laboratory (CaCo-2) cell cultures, and was not a human trial. The results of this experiment were later found to be due to a laboratory artifact and were retracted132, though the retraction was not published by the original author. Subsequent results indicate that GJ likely acts as a weak p-glycoprotein inhibitor.

Start of New ArticleA recent study using GJ and digoxin shed further light on p-glycoprotein effects in humans. In a randomized crossover fashion, 12 healthy volunteers (7 male, 5 female) were given a single oral dose of digoxin 0.5 mg with either water or 250 mL of SSGJ 30 minutes prior to the dose, and 3.5, 7.5 and 11.5 hours after the dose. A two-week washout between study periods was employed.

Compared to the water group, mean peak blood concentrations (Cmax) rose 21%, time to peak level (Tmax) rose 8%, and total drug exposure at 48 hours (AUC48) rose 9%. None of these changes were statistically significant. AUC at 4 and 24 hours also rose 9% and this was considered statistically significant.

The authors consider GJ a weak inhibitor of P-glycoprotein, since studies with other known P-glycoprotein inhibitors show larger increases in digoxin AUC. They concluded that the study did not support the role of GJ as an important P-glycoprotein inhibitor, and that the modest increases in digoxin concentrations observed did not require any recommendations to alter digoxin dosing or titration when taken with GJ.114

Start of New ArticleIn a similar study, 7 healthy volunteers (4 male, 3 female) received a single oral dose of digoxin 1 mg with with either water or GJ in a randomized crossover design. A washout of two weeks between study periods was employed.

During the GJ phase, 240 mL of SSGJ was consumed 3 times daily for 5 days prior to digoxin administration, and 6 days after digoxin administration, in an attempt to maximize the effect on p-glycoprotein.

Compared to water, administration of digoxin with GJ showed peak blood levels (Cmax) decreased by a mean of 16%, total drug exposure (AUC) increased 3%, Time to peak concentration (Tmax) increased 25% and half-life was essentially unchanged (decreased by 3%). None of these changes were determined to be statistically significant, although significant interindividual variability was observed.

The authors concluded that when results are taken with the previous study, GJ ingestion does not have a significant effect on intestinal P-glycoprotein activity, and that P-glycoprotein inhibition does not play an important role in grapefruit interactions.115

Seville Orange Juice

Start of New ArticleA trial of administration of cyclosporine with GJ and Seville orange juice, both of which contain 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin, was conducted recently. 7 healthy volunteers were given either water, single-strength GJ, or Seville orange juice 30 minutes prior to a 7.5 mg/kg dose of cyclosporine (Sandimmune® brand) in a randomized crossover design. The effect of Seville orange juice on CYP 3A4 concentrations in 2 individuals (via duodenal biopsy) and the effect of 6',7'-dighydroxybergamottin on p-glycoprotein activity in vitro were also assessed. The AUC for cyclosporine was increased 55% with GJ, whereas Seville orange juice did no significantly affect the AUC of cyclosporine. The two individuals who had duodenal biopsy showed clearly decreased enterocyte concentrations of CYP 3A4, suggesting that 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin is not solely responsible for the increased cyclosporine levels when given with GJ. The in vitro studies confirmed that 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin had no effect on p-glycoprotein.

So, if the two juices had similar concentrations of 6',7'-dihydroxybergamottin, why did cyclosporine blood levels increase with GJ, but not with Seville orange juice ? P-glycoprotein is known to play a significant role in cyclosporine availability, and based on this study, and in agreement with the study listed above, it is reasonable to conclude that GJ contains a compound or compounds that inhibit P-glycoprotein activity, which are not found in Seville oranges. Further studies are needed to identify inhibitors of p-glycoprotein in GJ and to evaluate the relative contribution of reduced p-glycoprotein and CYP 3A4 activity to the increased oral bioavailability of other drugs.51 Seville oranges may selectively "knock out" CYP 3A4 activity, while the inhibitor(s) of p-glycoprotein in GJ appear to be different from those compounds identified as inactivating CYP 3A4.132

Start of New ArticleEleven healthy volunteers (6 male, 5 female) received 30mg dextromethorphan daily for 5 days with either 200 mL single-strength GJ (study day 2), 200 mL seville orange juice (SOJ) (study day 4), or water (study day 1, 3, 5) in a linear, non-crossover fashion. Immediately, the non-crossover design raises a concern, since the effect of GJ on the enzymes is known to persist for 72 hours or more. A 3 -day washout was given after study day 2, and at least 7-days passed between study day 2 and 4. Blood levels were not collected in this study. Urine point assays, and 8-hour total urine concentrations were used to determine dextromethorphan availability in a complicated series of analyses, based partially on animal data, and some assumptions.

The fraction of the administered dose of dextromethorphan that escaped first pass metabolism were found to increase significantly and similarly when GJ or SOJ were taken with dextromethorphan on study days 2 and 4, although lack of an adequate washout period after GJ intake on day 2 was provided, the administration of SOJ with dextromethorphan produced an identical effect on the dextromethorphan pharmacokinetic profile as was observed with GJ. Two volunteers experienced drowsiness, but were found to be CYP 2D6 "poor metabolizers" (the alternate metabolic pathway for dextromethorphan and its metabolites). It also appears that both GJ and SOJ affected p-glycoprotein transport protein activity.94

Start of New ArticleTen healthy volunteers (5 male, 5 female) received a dose of felodipine 10mg with 240 mL of either fresh squeezed Seville orange juice, commercial orange juice, or grapefruit juice (diluted to contain the same total molar concentration of bergamottin and 6'7'-dihydroxybergamottin as the Seville orange juice). This study was conducted in randomized crossover design with at least a 7 day washout between study periods.

Seville orange juice increased felodipine AUC 76% and Cmax was increased 61%, compared to commercial orange juice (control). As expected, grapefruit juice increased felodipine AUC by 83% with Cmax increased 88%

An additional CYP 3A4 inhibitor, bergapten was found in seville orange juice, but not in grapefruit juice. Bergapten appears to have 1/3 the potency of 6'7'-dihydroxybergamottin when tested with midazolam in intestinal cell concentrations.132

Pomelo & Other Related Citrus Fruits

Start of New ArticleA case report exists of an interaction between tacrolimus and pomelo (also known as pummelo), a grapefruit-related citrus fruit. A patient taking tacrolimus post-renal transplant was stabilized on a tacrolimus dosage of 6 mg/day with tacrolimus blood levels stable in the therapeutic range of 8-10 ng/mL. A subsequent check of the tacrolimus level was increased at 25.2 ng/mL. The patient had no subjective symptoms. Upon further questioning, it was revealed that he had consumed approximately 100g of pomelo from his garden just prior to the tacrolimus on the day before blood sampling for tacrolimus level determination.117

Start of New ArticleFollow up testing by the above authors confirmed that some forms (1 of 3 tested) of pomelo juice extract were as potent inhibitors of CYP 3A4 as grapefruit juice extract in vitro. The pomelo extract had little effect on p-glycoprotein in a cellular model.124

Start of New ArticleIn 2004, Japanese researchers developed an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay specific for coumarin derivatives that contain the geranyloxy- side chain, known to be the chemical moiety in grapefruit responsible for CYP3A4 inhibition. This allowed other fruits to be screened for containing 6'7'-dihydroxybergamottin.

Of 15 fruits screened, white grapefruit (control), red pummelo (pomelo), sweetie (oro blanco), melogold, banpeiyu pummelo, hassaku orange, sour (seville) orange, lime and natsudaidai showed significant immunoreactivity, indicating the presence of furanocoumarin derivatives. Navel orange, sweet orange and yuzu showed slight immunoreactivity, while iyokan orange, satsuma mandarin, ponkan mandarin and dekopon mandarin showed minimal immunoreactivity.

The researchers noted that besides the Rutaceae family (grapefruit-like) many plants of other families such as Umbelliferae, Leguminosae and Moraceae also contain furanocoumarin derivatives. Many plants of these families are used as common vegetables or traditional medicines, and it is possible that furanocoumarin derivatives contained in these plants could change the pharmacokinetics of certain drugs.129

Start of New ArticleIn a related study, Japanese researchers performed in vitro testing of local citrus fruits by incubating citrus fruit residue with human liver extract, midazolam, and measuring residual CYP 3A activity. Fruit juice residues prepared from banpeiyu pummelo, hassaku orange, takaoka-(suisho) buntan pummelo and kinkan (Tamatama) inhibited microsomal CYP 3A activity. Banpeiyu pummelo inhibition was strongest, though weaker than the white grapefruit control. No significant CYP 3A inhibition was noted with ama-natsu orange, dekopon mandarin, hyuga-natsu orange, unshu-mikan (satsuma mandarin) or navel orange. These findings are in agreement with the above study which looked at enzyme-linked immunoreactivity testing.130

Start of New Article In another related study by Japanese researchers, in vitro testing of tropical fruits was performed by incubating citrus fruit residue with human liver extract, midazolam, and measuring residual CYP 3A activity. Residues prepared from star fruit, pomegranate, and common papaw significantly inhibited CYP 3A activity. In all three cases, inhibition was stronger than the white grapefruit control. No significant inhibition was noted with valencia orange, mango, rambutan, kiwi fruit, dragon fruit or passion fruit.131

Time course of GJ-drug Interactions

Start of New ArticleA research group conducted a study with simvastatin to characterize the duration of the GJ induced CYP 3A4 inhibition. Ten healthy volunteers (9 male, 1 female) received simvastatin 40 mg with either water as a control, and either 0, 1, 3 or 7 days after drinking high-dose GJ (200 mL double-strength GJ) three times daily for 3 days in a non-randomized crossover fashion. As seen with the previous study, significant increases in simvastatin levels after GJ intake were observed on the day 0 study when compared with water. Simvastatin AUC was increased 1250%, with Cmax increased 1104%. Time to peak concentration (Tmax) was also prolonged from 2 hours to 4 hours (100% increase). This effect was significantly reduced if 24 hours elapsed between the last GJ intake and simvastatin dosing. At this time, simvastatin AUC was increased 105%, and Cmax was increased 136%. The authors noted that the effect of even high-dose GJ 24 hours after ingestion is only about 10% of that seen with concurrent GJ and simvastatin intake. AUC and Cmax of simvastatin when taken on day 3 and day 7 after last GJ intake were not significantly elevated compared to control, indicating that the interaction potential of even high amounts of GJ intake dissipates within 3-7 days after last GJ ingestion.

This is useful for characterizing the time course of GJ-drug interactions, and fits with prior expectations that the GJ effect can last up to 3 days after last GJ ingestion.90

Cont/... http://www.powernetdesign.com/grapefruit/general/mechanism.html

2010-12-09T14:52:00.000-08:00

NovaMind Mind Map Branch: EMF and the The Mast Cell Response: learning from Olle Johansson and others...

2010-12-09T11:41:00.000-08:00

Taking a break from more serious topic. Lovely vids featuring wonders of our beautiful planet, with awesome musik.

Beautiful piano music

2010-11-30T07:38:00.001-08:00

MEDICAL JOURNALS PIMP FOR BIG PHARMA
By Jon Christian Ryter
June 19, 2010 NewsWithViews. com
http://www.newswith views.com/ Ryter/jon321.htm

PLoS Medicine a peer review journal for the Public Library of Science claimed in an article that the most respected medical journals have become much too dependent on revenue from the pharmaceutical industry from two sources. First, advertising revenue which, according to PLoS, is the least corrupting form of revenue since the pharmaceutical industry should have the right to reach their potential customers in the periodicals their customers-doctors- read. What is the bigger problem, and what corrupts the integrity of the advertising process in about 25 different medical journals according to PLoS in an article published by the Public Library of Science five years ago (but never read by the general public which does not generally subscribe to it) is the second source of "advertising" revenue. The PR firms hired by the pharmaceutical giants pay fees to the journals to print well-edited capsulated synopsis of the drug trials.

The PR firms know that when the drug trials are published in any medical journal, the drug and the test tacitly carry that journal's stamp of approval simply by appearing in it. According to PLoS, a favorable review in a periodical like the Journal of American Medicine and the British Medical Journal and Lancet which have global distribution is worth thousands of pages of advertising. The PR companies will sometimes pay upwards of a million dollars for reprints of the articles to send to drug distributors, pharmaceutical wholesalers and medical professionals. While the PR firms admit the recipients of the reprints seldom read them, what they rely on is the name of the prestigious journal printing the review of giving a new drug credibility in the marketplace it has not earned from evidence of their curative abilities. The more important the medical journal, the more credibility the drug receives in the eyes of the physicians who receive the reprints.

Many times the whole content of the written clinical tests are not all that favorable to the drug but that, of course, is not reflected in the capsulated, controlled synopsis that appears in the medical journals. In 1994, Dr. Paula Rochon, adjunct scientist for the Kunin-Lunefeld Applied Research Unit and several of her colleagues wrote a paper examining the impact of journals which were paid to publish controlled excerpts of clinical studies had on the medical community's acceptance of the drugs compared to actual medicinal value of the drugs examined. The study focused on one class of drugs only: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs designed to combat arthritis. They found 56 trials. Not one of the published reports on the clinical studies presented any facts that were detrimental to the drugs tested.

The group came back a decade later, in 2003, and did a follow-up study on the 56 trial drugs to see if the drugs were living up to their clinical claims. The article was published by Richard Smith, the CEO of UnitedHealth Europe. Smith was Editor-in-Chief of the British Medical Journal for 13 years and held that job when the aforementioned study on the new arthritis drug was done. In many cases the reality of the drugs did not match the printed rhetoric of the promises of the clinical study conducted a decade earlier.

The question raised by the Public Library of Science a decade later was: how do pharmaceutical companies get the results they want once the drug is approved and recommended by physicians to their clients. When we go to our HMO or PPO physicians and they prescribe medication, we assume-and have every right and expectation to assume-that the prescription our physician prescribes will relieve or cure whatever the prescription is taken for. According to Smith, the pharmaceutical companies and their PR firms get the results they want not by fudging the facts but by asking the right questions and providing the right answers. This comes from hiring the right PR top guns who know how to stay a step ahead of the peer review groups. They do this by isolating positive parts of the clinical studies and forcing the dialogue into those positive aspects while ignoring negative ones. Or they combine the results from different centers in multiple combinations to obfuscate negative results in some facet or facets of the clinical study.

These strategies, Smith noted, have been exposed in the cases of risperidone and odansetron. However, with the 56 clinical studies the PLoS were attempting to evaluate, there was an impossible amount of work to examine in order to ascertain how many of the trials were truly independent and not biased on behalf of the fees paid by the pharmaceutical company. Clearly, what the Big Pharma wants is their drugs approved and used, and the PR firms they hire are paid to get positive "reviews" from the medical journals and paid advertising and advertorial (paid editorial copy) in the form of capsulated clinical studies.

What it comes down to, if the world's most prestigious medical journals-which medical professionals read as the Bible of the industry-have sold their souls for money, it is no more factually believable than magazines like The Onion or Mad magazine, the satirical comic book most Americans of read as teenagers back in the 1950s and 1960s. Smith further noted that "...Journal editors are becoming increasingly aware of how they are being manipulated and are fighting back. But, I must confess it took me almost a quarter of a century editing for the BMJ to wake up to what was happening... [E]ditors ask for other related data [related to] the studies submitted to them...But editors do not know what other unpublished studies exist."

Editors generally do not know if they are doing an honest peer review on one product or on a gigantic clever marketing jigsaw. More than likely one or more editors have commented that the material they get, regardless if it's a precise document or a jigsaw puzzle will always be of high technical quality.

The question raised by Smith and investigators like Dr. Rochon is how do we prevent the most prestigious medical journals in the world from selling their editorial souls for money? How do we prevent them from becoming no more credible than Mad Magazine or The Onion? How do we prevent them from becoming an extension of the marketing arm of the pharmaceutical industry? Smith thinks the editors can demand the right to review the protocols, and insist that all trials be registered; and most of all, demand that all clinical studies are completely transparent.

That won't happen because the journal publishers and shareholders know those clinical studies are worth millions of dollars in revenue, and bring additional millions in print advertising dollars from the pharmaceutical industry to reward them for publishing the clinical studies. Meaning, of course, that the medical journals are not going to risk that revenue. So, if you're a doctor who generally reads the New England Journal of Medicine, the Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA or BMJ or Lancet in England, Canada or Australia for the latest life saving drugs, you might as well read something that will give you a chuckle.

Mad magazine was my magazine of choice as a kid. Give it a try. You have to say one thing about Mad. If you're older than 8 or 10 years of age, you'll always know when Mad's story line is an out-and-out lie or is colouring the truth. According to Smith and the editors of several other medical journals, you can't tell that from clinical studies published in the medical journals until you read the histories of the drugs about a decade later. By then, for some, it's too late. I guess that's why class action lawsuits are still in vogue.

2010-11-30T07:28:00.000-08:00

For several years now, reading medical/scientific journals, I came to the conclusion, that science/medicine is dogmatic in their approach and life threateningly flawed. Various research methodologies in statistical analysis, (I studied research methods and various statistical methodology and analysis using SSPS sofware some years ago now), led me to conclude that there were serious flaws in medical research. Its like a disease spreading through academia.

The whole structure of how research is conducted is shockingly flawed. A rebellion last year at Harvard University from medical students - against flawed theories heavily weighed on by Big Pharma. They wanted to study how to heal, not to maim!! A module at Kings College Medical School in London, teaching medical students how to interpret skewed statistical methodologies!!! That does not go far enough. Many of us, with a deep insight and mistrust of science, not only medical is pervasive.

Thanks to scientists such as Dr Ioannidis, making it possible for us, to understand and prevent further health disasters.

I came across this article (below) about a scientist, one of many, articulating succinctly what I found throughout my own hazy research on my quest for health.

My own observations is that most are ill because of medical interventions, and that, we have the an internal healing mechanism. The less it is interfered with, the more healing will take place. Tapping into the healing mechanism through means excluding medical intervention and prevention is of paramount importance. Its a personal choice. We are under constant assault from the time of conception. Parents who took vaccines and meds, environmental toxins, etc.. The mapping of the human genome proving to be a huge white elephant, and bla bla bla. My usual rant here.... ;D Anyhow, read this excellent article which mirrors my own and many of you there, thoughts on science, healing and so forth.

The article below encapsulates my own findings:

Lies, Damned Lies, and Medical Science
By David H. Freedman http://tinyurl.com/26olese

Cont/....

hat question has been central to Ioannidis’s career. He’s what’s known as a meta-researcher, and he’s become one of the world’s foremost experts on the credibility of medical research. He and his team have shown, again and again, and in many different ways, that much of what biomedical researchers conclude in published studies—conclusions that doctors keep in mind when they prescribe antibiotics or blood-pressure medication, or when they advise us to consume more fiber or less meat, or when they recommend surgery for heart disease or back pain—is misleading, exaggerated, and often flat-out wrong. He charges that as much as 90 percent of the published medical information that doctors rely on is flawed. His work has been widely accepted by the medical community; it has been published in the field’s top journals, where it is heavily cited; and he is a big draw at conferences. Given this exposure, and the fact that his work broadly targets everyone else’s work in medicine, as well as everything that physicians do and all the health advice we get, Ioannidis may be one of the most influential scientists alive. Yet for all his influence, he worries that the field of medical research is so pervasively flawed, and so riddled with conflicts of interest, that it might be chronically resistant to change—or even to publicly admitting that there’s a problem.

In poring over medical journals, he was struck by how many findings of all types were refuted by later findings. Of course, medical-science “never minds” are hardly secret. And they sometimes make headlines, as when in recent years large studies or growing consensuses of researchers concluded that mammograms, colonoscopies, and PSA tests are far less useful cancer-detection tools than we had been told; or when widely prescribed antidepressants such as Prozac, Zoloft, and Paxil were revealed to be no more effective than a placebo for most cases of depression; or when we learned that staying out of the sun entirely can actually increase cancer risks; or when we were told that the advice to drink lots of water during intense exercise was potentially fatal; or when, last April, we were informed that taking fish oil, exercising, and doing puzzles doesn’t really help fend off Alzheimer’s disease, as long claimed. Peer-reviewed studies have come to opposite conclusions on whether using cell phones can cause brain cancer, whether sleeping more than eight hours a night is healthful or dangerous, whether taking aspirin every day is more likely to save your life or cut it short, and whether routine angioplasty works better than pills to unclog heart arteries.

But beyond the headlines, Ioannidis was shocked at the range and reach of the reversals he was seeing in everyday medical research. “Randomized controlled trials,” which compare how one group responds to a treatment against how an identical group fares without the treatment, had long been considered nearly unshakable evidence, but they, too, ended up being wrong some of the time. “I realized even our gold-standard research had a lot of problems,” he says. Baffled, he started looking for the specific ways in which studies were going wrong. And before long he discovered that the range of errors being committed was astonishing: from what questions researchers posed, to how they set up the studies, to which patients they recruited for the studies, to which measurements they took, to how they analyzed the data, to how they presented their results, to how particular studies came to be published in medical journals.

......./

David Gorski, a surgeon and researcher at Detroit’s Barbara Ann Karmanos Cancer Institute, noted in his prominent medical blog that when he presented Ioannidis’s paper on highly cited research at a professional meeting, “not a single one of my surgical colleagues was the least bit surprised or disturbed by its findings.” Ioannidis offers a theory for the relatively calm reception. “I think that people didn’t feel I was only trying to provoke them, because I showed that it was a community problem, instead of pointing fingers at individual examples of bad research,” he says. In a sense, he gave scientists an opportunity to cluck about the wrongness without having to acknowledge that they themselves succumb to it—it was something everyone else did.

......../

If a study somehow avoids every one of these problems and finds a real connection to long-term changes in health, you’re still not guaranteed to benefit, because studies report average results that typically represent a vast range of individual outcomes. Should you be among the lucky minority that stands to benefit, don’t expect a noticeable improvement in your health, because studies usually detect only modest effects that merely tend to whittle your chances of succumbing to a particular disease from small to somewhat smaller. “The odds that anything useful will survive from any of these studies are poor,” says Ioannidis—dismissing in a breath a good chunk of the research into which we sink about $100 billion a year in the United States alone.

....../

And so it goes for all medical studies, he says. Indeed, nutritional studies aren’t the worst. Drug studies have the added corruptive force of financial conflict of interest. The exciting links between genes and various diseases and traits that are relentlessly hyped in the press for heralding miraculous around-the-corner treatments for everything from colon cancer to schizophrenia have in the past proved so vulnerable to error and distortion, Ioannidis has found, that in some cases you’d have done about as well by throwing darts at a chart of the genome. (These studies seem to have improved somewhat in recent years, but whether they will hold up or be useful in treatment are still open questions.) Vioxx, Zelnorm, and Baycol were among the widely prescribed drugs found to be safe and effective in large randomized controlled trials before the drugs were yanked from the market as unsafe or not so effective, or both.

“Often the claims made by studies are so extravagant that you can immediately cross them out without needing to know much about the specific problems with the studies,” Ioannidis says. But of course it’s that very extravagance of claim (one large randomized controlled trial even proved that secret prayer by unknown parties can save the lives of heart-surgery patients, while another proved that secret prayer can harm them) that helps gets these findings into journals and then into our treatments and lifestyles, especially when the claim builds on impressive-sounding evidence. “Even when the evidence shows that a particular research idea is wrong, if you have thousands of scientists who have invested their careers in it, they’ll continue to publish papers on it,” he says. “It’s like an epidemic, in the sense that they’re infected with these wrong ideas, and they’re spreading it to other researchers through journals.”

.../

Though scientists and science journalists are constantly talking up the value of the peer-review process, researchers admit among themselves that biased, erroneous, and even blatantly fraudulent studies easily slip through it. Nature, the grande dame of science journals, stated in a 2006 editorial, “Scientists understand that peer review per se provides only a minimal assurance of quality, and that the public conception of peer review as a stamp of authentication is far from the truth.” What’s more, the peer-review process often pressures researchers to shy away from striking out in genuinely new directions, and instead to build on the findings of their colleagues (that is, their potential reviewers) in ways that only seem like breakthroughs—as with the exciting-sounding gene linkages (autism genes identified!) and nutritional findings (olive oil lowers blood pressure!) that are really just dubious and conflicting variations on a theme.

Most journal editors don’t even claim to protect against the problems that plague these studies. University and government research overseers rarely step in to directly enforce research quality, and when they do, the science community goes ballistic over the outside interference. The ultimate protection against research error and bias is supposed to come from the way scientists constantly retest each other’s results—except they don’t. Only the most prominent findings are likely to be put to the test, because there’s likely to be publication payoff in firming up the proof, or contradicting it.

..........That we’re not routinely made seriously ill by this shortfall, he argues, is due largely to the fact that most medical interventions and advice don’t address life-and-death situations, but rather aim to leave us marginally healthier or less unhealthy, so we usually neither gain nor risk all that much.

Read the whole article here: http://tinyurl.com/26olese

2010-11-25T11:53:00.000-08:00

Many suffer from the inability to metabolize compounds from meds, foods, detergents, solvents, air pollution and so forth. The proposed theory concerns liver pathways. Other related mechanism includes the NO-ONOO theory from Dr Pall, NMDA, vanilloid, and TRPV receptors. Lack of digestive enzymes, dysfunctional pancreas, and detoxification pathways.

Although it advises eating certain foods, such as broccoli for instance, many cannot eat most foods. Likewise, it advises taking oxidants, which risk turning pro-oxidants.

See article below:

This document was provided by
Continuum Magazine
VOL. 5 No. 1

Once thought to be the seat of courage, love etc., the liver is central to our bodies’ endless process of removing unwanted chemicals. Leading British nutritionist and Director of the Society for the Promotion of Nutritional Therapy LINDA LAZARIDES takes a closer look.

One of our body’s most vital functions is to convert metabolic products and toxins into safe, soluble substances which can be eliminated via the urine or the gall bladder into the intestines. The liver plays an all-important role in this process – known as detoxification or biotransformation. Recent research has shown that many patients with chronic illnesses have a disordered liver biotransformation ability.

We simply don’t know all the diseases and health disorders which may be promoted by a toxic overload resulting from such dysfunction, but progress is beginning to be made in looking at specific detoxification pathways and relating underfunctioning of these to the development of disease.

Pathways

A number of biochemical ‘pathways’ – sequences of chemical changes – are involved in liver biotransformation. These are normally grouped into oxidation, reduction or hydrolysis reactions (Phase I) and conjugation reactions (Phase II). Phase I reactions are catalysed by a group of liver enzymes scientifically known as cytochrome P450 oxidases (or P450 oxidases or cytochrome p450s). These enzymes introduce oxygen into the chemical structure of toxins or metabolites. Typically, by this process the toxins are converted into intermediate substances – alcohols and aldehydes – then into acids, which are water-soluble, and can be excreted via the urine.

Phase I detoxification

The intermediate substances created during Phase I detoxification, which include – far more so than the original toxins. Their harmful effects are primarily controlled by antioxidant nutrients/enzymes: a plentiful supply of these substances is essential. Apart from free radicals, intermediate metabolites include chloral hydrate (which is identical to the knock-out drug often known as a ‘Mickey Finn’), epoxides, and endogenous benzodiazepines – substances similar to Valium and other tranquillisers and sleeping pills. This makes it easier to understand how chronic fatigue, for instance, can develop when a toxic overload is present.

The more P450 enzymes are induced in the liver, the more of the toxic intermediates will be present in the body. P450 enzymes are induced by caffeine, alcohol, dioxin and other pollutants, exhaust fumes, high protein diets, oranges and tangerines, organophosphorus pesticides, paint fumes, steroid hormones, and a variety of drugs including paracetamol (acetaminophen), diazepam tranquillisers and sleeping pills, the contraceptive pill and cortisone.

Aldehydes

Substances which can inhibit the action of P450 enzymes include carbon tetrachloride, carbon monoxide, barbiturates, quercetin and naringenin (found in grapefruit). The oxidation reaction can also be blocked by an excess of toxic chemicals, a lack of enzymes, lack of nutrients and/or loss of oxygen. Cant tolerate any of those either.

Such blocking results in a build-up of more toxic substances such as formaldehyde and other aldehydes in tissue. This can in turn lead to a spreading phenomenon, with increasing sensitivity to more chemicals such as ketones and alcohols, and eventually even to natural chemicals occurring in foods, pollen and mould. A build-up of aldehydes can in severe cases lead to tissue cross-linking, causing vasculitis with possible seizures and brain damage.

Although most aldehydes in the body are thought to occur as intermediate metabolites, external sources include exposure to formaldehyde gas (which is given off by new carpets, curtains and other furnishings) and breakdown products of ethylene glycol and methanol.

Two known sources of aldehydes are intestinal overgrowth with Candida albicans, as well as the peroxidation of polyunsaturated fats. The fatigue, foggy thinking and ‘brain fag’ linked with candidiasis may be due to an overloading of the detoxification system with aldehydes, which can even lead to a reverse reaction of aldehyde to alcohol. Extreme intolerance to alcohol consumption may occur in these individuals, as it does in those diagnosed with ME or chronic fatigue syndrome.

Amines

Cytochrome P450 and other oxidizing enzymes also oxidize amines such as phenylethylamine found in chocolate, tyramine found in cheese, and adrenaline, noradrenaline and dopamine. These are oxidized into aldehydes by the enzyme mitochondrial monoamine oxidase (MAO) – if this enzyme is blocked, for instance by MAO inhibitor drugs used to treat depression, tyramine, for instance, cannot be metabolized and hypertension can develop as a chemical sensitivity reaction.

Phase II detoxification (conjugation) There are five main conjugation categories, including acetylation, acylation (peptide conjugation with amino acids), sulphur conjugations, methylations and conju-gation with glucuronic acid. Some substances enter Phase II detoxification directly, others come via Phase I pathways.

Conjugation involves the combining of a metabolite or toxin with another substance which adds a hydrophilic (or water-reactive) molecule to it, converting lipophilic (or fat-reactive) substances to water-soluble forms for excretion and elimination. Individual xenobiotics and metabolites usually follow a specific path, so whereas caffeine is metabolized by P450 enzymes, aspirin-based medications are conjugated with glycine, and paracetamol with sulphate.

Acetylation

Acetylation requires pantothenic acid to function. It is the chief degradation pathway for compounds containing aromatic amines such as histamine, serotonin, PABA, P-amino salicylic acid, aniline and procaine amide. It is also a pathway for sulphur amides, aliphatic amines and complex hydrazines.

A proportion of the general population – perhaps up to 50 per cent – are slow acetylators. This rises to as high a level as 80 per cent among the chemically sensitive population. Their N-acetyltransferase activity is thought to be reduced, and this prolongs the action of drugs and other toxic chemicals, thus enhancing their toxicity.

Acylation

Acylation uses acyl CO-A, with the amino acids glycine, glutamine and taurine. Conjugation of bile acids in the liver with glycine or taurine is essential for the efficient removal of these potentially toxic compounds. Disturbed acylation by pollutant overload decreases proper levels of bile in the gastrointestinal tract, resulting in poor assimilation of lipids and fat-soluble vitamins, and disturbed cholesterol metabolism.

Toluene, the most popular industrial organic solvent, is converted by the liver into benzoate, which like aspirin must then be detoxified by conjugation with the amino acid glycine (glycination): large doses of glycine and N-glycylglycine are used in treating aspirin overdose. Benzoate itself is present in many food substances and is widely used as a food preservative.

Glycine is a commonly available amino acid, but the capacity to synthesize taurine may be limited by low activity of the enzyme cysteine-sulfinic acid decarboxylase. Damage can occur to this enzyme directly by pollutants, or by overload/over-use resulting in depletion.

Both taurine- and glycine-dependent reactions require an alkaline pH: 7.8 to 8.0. Environmental medicine specialists may alkalinize over-acidic patients by administering sodium and potassium bicarbonate in order to facilitate these reactions.

Glutathione conjugation, using the amino acid glutathione in its reduced form, is used for the transformation of xenobiotics such as aromatic disulphides, naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthacin compounds, aliphatic disulphides – and the regeneration of endogenous thiols from disulphides. There is a cycle of replenishment for glutathione, allowing it to be reformed after conversion to glutathione reductase. Heavy metals can inhibit this cycle, thus preventing replenishment.

Sulphur conjugation (sulphation)

Neurotransmitters, steroid hormones, certain drugs and many xenobiotic and phenolic compounds such as oestrone (one of the forms of oestrogen), aliphatic alcohols, aryl amines and alicyclic hydroxy-steroids employ sulphation as their primary route of detoxification. Steventon at Birmingham University (UK) has found that many sufferers from Parkinsonism, motor neurone disease and Alzheimer’s disease as well as environmental illness, tend to have a reduced ability to produce sulphate from the amino acid cysteine in their body, and instead accumulate cysteine.

Sulphate may be ingested from food, but is also produced by the action of the enzyme cysteine dioxygenase on cysteine. This process is known as sulphoxidation.

The body’s ability to conjugate toxins with sulphate is ‘rate limited’ by the amount of sulphate present; if there is inadequate sulphate, toxins and metabolites can accumulate, perhaps building up to levels which cause degeneration of nervous tissue after several decades.

Steventon’s findings are a matter for serious concern. How many individuals are given the opportunity to find out whether they are poor sulphoxidizers and to reduce their chances of developing the above mentioned diseases by improving their sulphoxidation ability?

Methylation

According to environmental medicine specialist William Rae, the process most often disturbed in chemically sensitive people involves methylation reactions catalysed by S-adenosyl-L-methionine-dependent enzymes. Methionine is the chief methyl donor to detoxify amines, phenols, thiols, noradrenaline, adrenaline, dopamine, melatonin, L-dopa, histamine, serotonin, pyridine, sulphites and hypochlorites into compounds excreted through the lungs. Methionine is needed to detoxify the hypochlorite reaction.

The activity of the methyltransferase enzyme is dependent on magnesium, and, due to the frequency of magnesium deficiency, supplementation with this nutrient will often stabilize chemically sensitive patients.

Glucuronidation

Glucuronic acid is a metabolite of glucose. It can conjugate with chemical and bacterial toxins such as alcohols, phenols, enols, carboxylic acid, amines, hydroxyamines, carbamides, sulphonamides and thiols, as well as some normal metabolites in a process known as glucuronidation.

For most individuals glucuronidation is a supplementary detoxification pathway. It is a secondary, slower process than sulphation or glycination, but is important if those pathways are diminished or saturated. Obese people seem to have an enhanced capacity to detoxify molecules that can use the glucuronidation pathway. However, damage to the capacity for oxidative phosphorylation which takes place in the mitochondria, is likely to diminish the capacity for glucuronide conjugation.

Overload

If the liver’s detoxification pathways are excessively stimulated and overly utilized, they eventually become depleted or begin to respond poorly – being suppressed by toxic chemicals. Once breakdown of the main pathways occurs as a result of pollutant overload, toxins are shunted to lesser pathways, eventually overloading them, and disturbing orderly nutrient metabolism. Chemical sensitivity may then occur, followed by nutrient depletion and finally fixed-name disease. Depleted immunity is also a potential outcome of a toxic overload.

Interesting facts

• Dr William Rae of the Environmental Health Centre in Dallas says that the most severely ill chemically sensitive patients not only have abnormally low antipollutant enzymes, in addition to toxic suppression and nutrient depletion, but in some instances antibodies are produced against cytochrome P450 and these may inhibit or decrease its effectiveness.

• Environmental medicine specialists have found that almost 35 per cent of chemically sensitive patients are deficient in intracellular sulphur. Not only can this hinder the detoxification of some sulphur-containing and other toxic chemicals, it can enhance the harmful effects of exposure to cyanide from foods such as cassava and almonds as well as from tobacco products. The hereditary disease known as Leber’s optic atrophy involves a defect in the ability to detoxify cyanide, and leads to sudden, permanent blindness on first exposure to cyanide in small amounts such as those ingested from smoking cigarettes.

• Many multimineral supplements in the UK omit iron and copper due to theories that individuals may already be overloaded with these nutrients. However if no overload is present, an unbalanced supplement may promote depletion of the minerals. The Environmental Health Centre in Dallas finds that intravenous infusions to replenish iron stores brings dramatic improvements for the chemically sensitive patient as part of their detoxification process. Copper is also found to help catalyse the cytochrome systems. (NB: self-supplementation with iron and copper should be cautious, to avoid iron and copper overload conditions).

• Although the liver is the primary site for oxidation of xenobiotics, the cytochrome P450 system is found in other tissues that are exposed to environmental compounds like the skin, lungs, gastrointestinal tract, kidneys, placenta, corpus luteum, lymphocytes, monocytes, pulmonary alveolar macrophages, adrenals, testes and brain, in both the mitochondria and in the nuclear membrane.

• Always rinse your washing-up carefully. Pollutants in the form of solvents and detergents can damage and penetrate cell membranes and damage the contents of the cell.

• Vitamin B3 has been shown to accelerate the clearance of aldehydes in some chemically sensitive patients.

• Molybdenum, although an essential element, competes with sulphate in its activation step to the important enzyme PAPS and can thus lower sulphate levels and impair sulphation ability. Environmental medicine experts warn that molybdenum supplementation may be contraindicated in individuals with poor sulphation ability.

• The substance naringenin, found in grapefruit, can significantly inhibit Phase I detoxification, as can grape-fruit itself. This may prove clinically useful in some situations where Phase I activity is too high, (as shown in liver function tests available from nutritional therapists).

• Persons who have been exposed to toxic chemicals, drugs and other xenobiotics, have increased requirements for some vitamins. Functional nutritional assays for vitamins B1, B2, B3, B6, B12 and folate, and serum levels of vitamins A, D, C and beta carotene were performed in a random sample of 333 environmentally-sensitive patients prior to treatment. 57.8% were found to be deficient in B6, 37.7% in vitamin D, 34.9% in B2, 32.2% in folate, 27.7% in vitamin C, 21.4% in niacin, 14.9% in B12, 5.6% in vitamin A and 4.6% in beta-carotene. (Ross GH et al: Evidence for vitamin deficiencies in environmentally-sensitive patients. Clinical Ecology 6(2):60-6, 1989.)

Adapted from the Nutritional Health Bibleby Linda Lazarides (Thorsons, £9.99). Published September 1997. Available from all good bookshops or by mail order from SPNT Books (see address below).
Foods to aid detoxification

Beetroot helps with liver drainage

Broccoli, cauliflower and other cruciferous vegetables these aid cytochrome P450 activity

Protein

Radish, watercress rich in sulphur.
Supplements to aid liver detoxification

B complex vitamins

Digestive enzymes may be necessary to ensure that protein is adequately digested and glycine is readily available

Essential fatty acids

N-acetyl cysteine (NAC)

Reduced glutathione

Selenium, zinc, magnesium and manganese possibly iron and copper if used with caution

Taurine (a useful combination product is magnesium taurate)

Vitamins C and E and beta carotene.
Liver herbs to aid detoxification

(traditionally known as ‘blood cleansing’ herbs)

Dandelion root cholagogue (stimulates liver secretions and bile flow)

Globe artichoke leaf promotes regeneration of the liver and promotes blood flow in that organ

Silymarin according to recent research, this herbal extract stabilizes the membranes of liver cells, preventing the entry of virus toxins and other toxic compounds including drugs. Promotes regeneration of the liver.

Turmeric a cholagogue like dandelion, but may irritate the gastric mucosa. Its advantages are its cheapness and ability to be used in cookery.

These herbs are best combined with wild yam, which helps to prevent liver spasms caused by gall bladder stimulating herbs.

For help with a liver detoxification programme, it is best to consult a nutritional therapist, who can arrange for (non-invasive) tests to determine which pathways need boosting.

For a list of nutritional therapists and other natural medicine practitioners in your area, send £1 plus sae to: Society for the Promotion of Nutritional Therapy (SPNT), PO Box 47, Heathfield,
Glossary

acetylation – combination with acetic acid

alveolar macrophages – rounded granular phagocyte cells in the alveoli of the lungs that ingest inhaled particulate matter

aldehydes – a class of organic compounds containing the atomic group C(Carbon)H(Hydrogen)O(Oxygen)

amines – organic compounds containing nitrogen

amino acids – the chief constituents of proteins; the “building blocks” of life

biochemical pathway – a series of chemical enzyme reactions, that converts one biological material into another

Candida albicans – a quite common fungus in humans, which when unchecked can cause illness

catalyse – speeding up of a chemical reaction by a substance which remains after the reaction

conjugation – the joining together of two compounds to form another

corpus luteum – a yellow glandular mass in the ovary

dioxins – a group of chemicals present as trace contaminants in herbicides

endogenous – arising from within the organism

epoxides – compounds containing one oxygen atom bound to two different carbon atoms

ethylene glycol – a solvent used as an antifreeze

gall bladder – the reservoir for bile, on the surface of the liver

hydrolysis – the splitting of a substance’s molecules by adding water (H 2 0): a hydrogen-oxygen molecule (HO-) being added to one fragment, and the hydrogen atom (H) to the other

hydrophilic – readily interacting with water

intracellular – within cells

ketones – a class of organic compounds containing the molecule C=O

lipids – fats and fat-like substances

lipophilic – readily reacting with fat

lymphocytes – an immune-system cell generated by lymph tissue

metabolic, -ism – all the processes which create and maintain, and use up, organised living matter

metabolites – any substance produced by metabolism

methanol – a solvent

methylation – the addition of a methyl, i.e. a molecule of C(Carbon) and three H(Hydrogen) atoms

mitochondria – small cell organelles, with their own nucleic acids, that through synthesis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) produce most of the energy for cells

monocytes – cells formed in bone marrow that travel to tissues, e.g. lungs and liver, to develop into macrophages

oxidation – the removal of electrons from the atoms of a substance; often by combination with oxygen

pantothenic acid – a member of the vitamin B complex

peptide – a compound of more than two amino acids

peroxidation – a chemical reaction creating an oxide with more oxygen than any other

polyunsaturated – denoting a chemical compound, particularly a fatty acid, having two or more double or triple bonds in its hydro-carbon chain

reduction – the addition of electrons to the atoms of a substance; often by combination with hydrogen

thiol – the univalient – S(sulphur)H(hydrogen) group

vasculitis – inflammation of a (usually blood) vessel

xenobiotics – substances foreign to the body

2010-11-24T10:57:00.000-08:00

Opponents of nutrition, epigenetics (vits & supps ability to switch on/off genes), herbal and indigenous medicine, herbal, phytochemistry, WATCH OUT...

The very medical journals promoting toxic meds, adhered to, in most instances, ineffective, are now investing billions in research (nothing new and done before) ;D promoting Vit D3, Fish Oil, and more.

Previously dismissive of research and studies by independent institutions, they are now preparing for a take over vits and supps etc... Every day, as if on cue, articles being published concerning therapeutic properties for these. [image]

The article below, is really nothing new!! Nutritionists have known for decades about nitrates contained in beet juice (and other fruits & vegs) promotes energy by less oxygen in take. It is claimed that athletes, those suffering from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases and the elderly would benefit.

Eating foods containing high content of nitrates, to increase endurance. NOT, cured bacon, ham, meats, hotdogs, INSTEAD, spinach, lettuce, and leafy vegetables.

Beetroot juice reduces high blood pressure too.

Those who continue to take toxic meds, do your home work, take a close look at compounds in those meds, and read up, simply does not make sense and does not cure!!

J Appl Physiol. 2009 Aug 6. [Epub ahead of print]
Dietary nitrate supplementation reduces the O2 cost of low-intensity exercise and enhances tolerance to high-intensity exercise in humans.
Bailey SJ, Winyard P, Vanhatalo A, Blackwell JR, Dimenna FJ, Wilkerson DP, Tarr J, Benjamin N, Jones AM.

Exeter University.

Pharmacological sodium nitrate supplementation has been reported to reduce the O2 cost of sub-maximal exercise in humans. In this study, we hypothesised that dietary supplementation with inorganic nitrate in the form of beetroot juice (BR) would reduce the O2 cost of sub-maximal exercise and enhance the tolerance to high-intensity exercise. In a double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover study, eight males (aged 19-38 yr) consumed 500 mL per day of either beetroot juice (BR, containing 11.2 +/- 0.6 mM of nitrate) or blackcurrant cordial (as a placebo, PL, with negligible nitrate content) for six consecutive days, and completed a series of 'step' moderate-intensity and severe-intensity exercise tests on the last 3 days. On days 4-6, plasma [nitrite] was significantly greater following dietary nitrate supplementation compared to placebo (BR: 273 +/- 44 vs. PL: 140 +/- 50 nM; P<0.05) and systolic blood pressure was significantly reduced (BR: 124 +/- 2 vs. PL: 132 +/- 5 mmHg; P<0.01). During moderate exercise, nitrate supplementation reduced muscle fractional O2 extraction (as estimated using near infra-red spectroscopy). The gain of the increase in pulmonary VO2 following the onset of moderate exercise was reduced by 19% in the BR condition (BR: 8.6 +/- 0.7 vs. PL: 10.8 +/- 1.6 mL(.)min(-1)(.)W(-1); P<0.05). During severe exercise, the VO2 slow component was reduced (BR: 0.57 +/- 0.20 vs. PL: 0.74 +/- 0.24 L.min(-1); P<0.05) and the time-to-exhaustion was extended (BR: 675 +/- 203 vs. PL: 583 +/- 145 s; P<0.05). The reduced O2 cost of exercise following increased dietary nitrate intake has important implications for our understanding of the factors which regulate mitochondrial respiration and muscle contractile energetics in humans. Key words: VO2 kinetics, exercise tolerance, exercise economy, slow component.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19661....Pubmed_RVDocSum

2010-11-24T10:50:00.000-08:00

The role of Epigenetics, rather than DNA, is involved in disease process.
Moreover, it puts the emphasis on compounds in nutrients (eg foods) that is often a determinant factor. (See vid below)

Basically, Epigenetics is about altering cell function with without changing DNA sequencing, and this is achieved by altering diet rich in methyl donors. I am now making a U-Turn, ;) and will be going back to reading up again on Methylation.

There are tons of evidence to show that the Genomics can't be used to determine if one will develop a particular disease. Furthermore, it has failed miserably to design medications specific to Genomics. Add to that, that gene polymorphisms are often open to interpretation and stats.

This means that a gene polymorphism for one type of particular cancer, is also associated with other disease process, but through Epigenetics, in this case, nutrients, can alter the course of disease process (if not too advanced).

Medical doctors are not trained in this field. Nutritionist, biochemists, biomolecular and molecular biology are much more knowledgeable concerning Epigenetics.

That is what it means to me, to prepare the terrain, right at cellular activity. Anything else, IMHO, is superficial, and will not bring long term healing.

This is why I chose Ayurvedic Medicine, which can be compared to Phytochemistry, and closest to repairing to methylation and damaged DNA. In essence. It uses various compounds (60% from fruits) to alter the course of cellular activities. To research methylation and Epigenetics would be too absorbing and time consuming, Ayurvedic, for me, right now is a short cut.

Various acclaimed Institutions and Teaching Hospitals, Vitamins and Supplements, and Sports Companies, as well as a Swiss Pharmaceutical Company are using Ayurvedic Medicine, the latter patented an excellent compound for cardiac dysfunction. Ayurvedic use different terminology, but overall, it is far more than just being a monotherapy. It works on all systems and functions in the body, applying diet and nutrition, psychology, meditation, breathing, spirituality etc..

Ayurvedic Medicine is becoming Westernized, and are slowly selling out. It is leading to being trivialized and corrupted.

Inevitably, this leads to a schism between purists and westernized Ayurvedic Practitoners. But then again, Western Science and Allopathic Medicine is not without polemics.

Professor Jeremy Nicolson has been working on metabolomics since 1980s and other scientists. Concluded was that there are far more metabolism variation than genetic variations.

From MIT:
About the Lecture
Forget cigarette smoking (well, not completely). The really bad news, says Leona Samson, is that by virtue of the act of living, a human body will be exposed to destructive threats from the environment, and from within itself. Charbroiled burgers, sunlight, pollution, and even how our bodies use oxygen all pose what Samson calls “insults” to the DNA of our cells.

Our success in fending off these inevitable DNA-damaging agents in the environment depends a lot on inheritance, Samson tells us. For instance, victims of the rare disease Xeroderma pigmentosum don’t have the capacity to repair DNA that’s been corrupted by UV radiation from the sun. Children with Xeroderma pigmentosum develop skin cancers. In the larger population, such cancers tend to occur much later in life. The reason, Samson says, is that most of us have a formidable array of mechanisms within our cells for detecting and mending defective DNA. Cells with flawed DNA that goes unrepaired must either die, or go on to mutate in often dangerous ways.

Samson wants to figure out how to protect cells against carcinogenic effects in the environment, and whether a tumor cell will be susceptible to treatment. She has been painstakingly studying the Saccharomyces cerevisiae yeast organism, trying to identify all the factors that determine whether or not DNA damaging agents kill or mutate cells. She interrogated each of this organism’s 5,800 genes, “asking one by one, which of you is making a product that’s important to helping a cell recover from damage.” In what was a “huge surprise,” Samson learned that there are more than 2,000 gene products involved in helping a yeast cell repair itself, “from areas of the cell never suspected before for being important” in this way. Now Samson must elucidate the complex cellular pathways that “talk to each other” when DNA is damaged -- and figure out “how to extend to humans, ultimately.”

2010-11-24T10:05:00.000-08:00

Kiwis could protect DNA from damage, says pilot study

By Stephen Daniells, 26-Jul-2006

Related topics: Science & Nutrition, Fruit, vegetable, nut ingredients

Two to three kiwis a day could keep cancer at bay by helping to repair damaged DNA, suggests a pilot study from the home of the fruit.

A pilot study from New Zealand has reported that a daily "prescribed" kiwifruit, in tandem with dietary advice and improved physical activity, led to a significant increase in repair of damaged DNA.

""Prescription" of daily kiwifruit may provide a sustainable population intervention that could reduce some of the risk factors associated with cancer," wrote lead author Elaine Rush from AUT University in Auckland.

Studies from the same university have reported that kiwifruit have laxative effects and could help combat serious cases of constipation, while studies from the University of Oslo have reported that two to three kiwifruit a day significantly reduced blood clotting in human volunteers and could offer protection from strokes and deep vein thrombosis.

The new randomised controlled trial recruited 12 healthy volunteers (six men, six women, average age 43, average BMI 27.5 kg per sq. m). For the first three weeks the subjects were left to live 'normally' with no dietary intervention. After week 3, all subjects were given lifestyle advice, including eating habits and physical activity.

After week 6, the subjects were randomly assigned to either the control (no kiwifruit) group, or to receive a daily dose of kiwifruit equivalent to one kiwi for every 30 kg of body weight.

Blood samples were taken at the start and at subsequent three week intervals to measure blood lipid levels (cholesterol, triglycerides) and to assess DNA damage markers.

No significant changes were observed for weight, blood pressure, or blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels for either of the groups.

This last result is at odds with the Oslo research that reported a drop of 15 per cent for triglyceride levels, although the intervention times are not the same, which limits the ability to directly compare.

http://www.foodnavigator.com/Science-Nutrition/Kiwis-could-protect-DNA-from-damage-says-pilot-study

2010-11-24T10:02:00.000-08:00

Extract from article:

"Think you’re being healthy by choosing a veggie burger instead of red meat? Think again.

...In an effort to make their products as low-fat as possible, many veggie burger manufacturers are turning to a potentially harmful chemical, according to an investigation by the non-profit Cornucopia Institute. It revealed in a recent report that most non-organic veggie burger brands contain a chemical called hexane, which is an EPA-registered air pollutant and neurotoxin.

This lovely chemical is traditionally reserved for shoe glue, leather products and roofing. ...
...So, they soak soybeans in hexane so they can separate the fat from the protein.

According to the Cornucopia Institute’s report, “if a non-organic product contains a soy protein isolate, soy protein concentrate, or texturized vegetable protein, you can be pretty sure it was made using soy beans that were made with hexane.”
...The Cornucopia Institute also revealed some popular veggie burger brands that absolutely do use hexane: Amy’s Kitchen, Boca Burger, Franklin Farms, Garden Burger, It’s All Good, Lightlife, Morningstar Farms, President’s Choice, Soy Boy, Taste Above, Trader Joe’s and Yves Veggie Cuisine.

Brands that do not use any hexane in their veggie burgers are: Helen’s Kitchen, Superburgers by Turtle Island, Tofurky, Wildwood and Morningstar “Made with organic”...+Sunshine Burger"

http://yourorganicgardeningblog.com/health-warningneurotoxin-in-veggie-burgers/

2010-11-24T10:01:00.000-08:00

Black Rice Is Cheap Way to Get Antioxidants

Authors and Disclosures

Information from Industry

Bacterial RTIs: Consider the importance of broad-spectrum coverage See coverage in community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) Read more

August 27, 2010 — Inexpensive black rice contains health-promoting anthocyanin antioxidants, similar to those found in blackberries and blueberries, new research from Louisiana State University indicates.

"Just a spoonful of black rice bran contains more health promoting anthocyanin antioxidants than are found in a spoonful or blueberries, but with less sugar and more fiber and vitamin E antioxidants," Zhimin Xu, PhD, of Louisiana State University Agricultural Center, says in a news release. "If berries are used to boost health, why not black rice and black rice bran?"

Xu and colleagues analyzed samples of black rice bran from rice grown in the Southern U.S.

He says black rice bran would be a unique and inexpensive way to increase people's intake of antioxidants, which promote health.

Black rice is rich in anthocyanin antioxidants, substances that show promise for fighting cancer, heart disease, and other health problems, Xu says.

He adds that food manufacturers could use black rice bran or bran extracts to boost the health value of breakfast cereals, beverages, cakes, cookies, and other foods.

Black Rice vs. Brown Rice

The most widely produced rice worldwide is brown. Millers of rice remove the chaff, or outer husks, from each grain to make it brown.

White rice is made when rice is milled more than is done for brown rice; the bran is also removed, Xu says.

The bran of brown rice contains high levels of one of the vitamin E compounds known as "gamma-tocotrienol" as well as "gamma-oryzanol" antioxidants.

Many studies have shown that these antioxidants can reduce blood levels of LDL "bad" cholesterol and may fight heart disease.

So black rice bran may be even healthier than brown rice, Xu says.

He and his colleagues also showed that pigments in black rice bran extracts can produce a variety of colors, from pink to black, and may be a healthier alternative to artificial food colorants that manufacturers now add to some foods and beverages.

He writes that several studies have linked some artificial colorants to cancer, behavioral problems in children, and other adverse health effects.

Currently, black rice is used mainly in Asia for food decoration, noodles, sushi, and pudding, and Xu says that he would like to see it eaten by more Americans.

Black rice bran could be used to boost the health value of foods, such as snacks, cakes, and breakfast cereals, Xu and his colleagues suggest.

This study was presented at a medical conference in Boston. The findings should be considered preliminary because they have not yet undergone the "peer review" process, in which outside experts scrutinize the data prior to publication in a medical journal.

2010-11-24T09:57:00.000-08:00

Walnuts, walnut oil, improve reaction to stress
October 4, 2010

A diet rich in walnuts and walnut oil may prepare the body to deal better with stress, according to a team of Penn State researchers who looked at how these foods, which contain polyunsaturated fats, influence blood pressure at rest and under stress.

Previous studies have shown that omega-3 fatty acids -- like the alpha linolenic acid found in walnuts and flax seeds -- can reduce low density lipoproteins (LDL) -- bad cholesterol. These foods may also reduce c-reactive protein and other markers of inflammation.

"People who show an exaggerated biological response to stress are at higher risk of heart disease," said Sheila G. West, associate professor of biobehavioral health. "We wanted to find out if omega 3-fatty acids from plant sources would blunt cardiovascular responses to stress."

The researchers studied 22 healthy adults with elevated LDL cholesterol. All meals and snacks were provided during three diet periods of six weeks each.

The researchers found that including walnuts and walnut oil in the diet lowered both resting blood pressure and blood pressure responses to stress in the laboratory. Participants gave a speech or immersed their foot in cold water as a stressor. Adding flax seed oil to the walnut diet did not further lower blood pressure. They report their findings in the current issue of the Journal of the American College of Nutrition.

"This is the first study to show that walnuts and walnut oil reduce blood pressure during stress," said West. "This is important because we can't avoid all of the stressors in our daily lives. This study shows that a dietary change could help our bodies better respond to stress."

A subset of the participants also underwent a vascular ultrasound in order to measure artery dilation. Results showed that adding flax oil to the walnut diet significantly improved this test of vascular health. The flax plus walnuts diet also lowered c-reactive protein, indicating an anti-inflammatory effect. According to West, that could also reduce risk

http://www.physorg.com/news205387690.html

2010-11-21T14:30:00.000-08:00

Interesting observation - MDs recently writing about restrictive application of therapies, and confusion about prescription drugs. In addition, there was also an article criticizing "Evidenced based medicine." These two will be added to the post as references.

The medical establishment in collusion with Big Pharma continues unashamedly, to discredit attempts by their ethical peers choosing less harmful modalities, or dare to expose fraudulent claims of prescribed
medications, and futile, avoidable surgery/butchery? Surgery is sometimes necessary, overall, far too prescriptive. Likewise, in a matter of life and death, medical intervention can be life saving.

Overall, The Hippocratic Oath matters little....

Informative vid from You Tube:

Excellent article written in the late 1970s, it speaks for itself, read on.

The Devil’s Priests

CONFESSIONS OF A MEDICAL HERETIC
By Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.

Published by Contemporary Books
ISBN Number 0-8092-4131-5
Available from Amazon Books and elsewhere.

The Devil’s Priests

CONFESSIONS OF A MEDICAL HERETIC
By Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.

Published by Contemporary Books
ISBN Number 0-8092-4131-5
Available from Amazon Books and elsewhere.

Dr. Robert Mendelsohn, known to millions through his nationally syndicated column as “The People’s Doctor”, was the national medical director of Project Head Start and chairman of the Medical Licensure Committee for the state of Illinois, USA. Among the many faculty and hospital posts he held, he was an associate professor at the University of Illinois Medical School and a director of Chicago’s Michael Reese Hospital.

Dr. Mendelsohn, world-famous physician and patient advocate, was a pioneer in the movement toward truth in the medical profession. Here he explains why Modern Medicine’s methods are often more dangerous that the diseases they are designed to diagnose and treat.

Although Dr. Mendelsohn’s book, ‘Confessions of a Medical Heretic’ was published in 1979, what he has written is even truer today. Dr. Mendelsohn writes about the doctors in the USA. The same parallels can be equally applied in many cases to other parts of the world.

One Click publishes an extract from Dr. Mendelsohn’s book entitled ‘The Devil’s Priests’. In relation to what is transpiring with the MMR Vaccine and ME/CFS patients in the UK, publication of this chapter would seem to be extremely pertinent at this time. The next time that any of you encounter a doctor such as Michael Fitzpatrick or a psychiatrist from the ‘Wessely school’, we suggest that you remember this chapter and use it to good effect.

The One Click Group

I always laugh when someone from the American Medical Association or some other doctors’ organization claims that doctors have no special powers over people. After I finish laughing, I always ask how many people can tell you to take off your clothes and you’ll do it.

Because doctors are really the priests of the Church of Modern Medicine, most people don’t deny them their extra influence over our lives. After all, most doctors are honest, dedicated, intelligent, committed, healthy, educated, and capable, aren’t they? The doctor is the rock upon which Modern Medicine’s Church is built, isn’t he?

Not by a long shot. Doctors are only human — in the worst ways. You can’t assume your doctor is any of the nice things listed above, because doctors turn out to be dishonest, corrupt, unethical, sick, poorly educated, and downright stupid more often than the rest of society.

My favorite example of how doctors can be less intelligent than the situation calls for is a matter of public record. As part of the hearings before the Senate Health Subcommittee, Senator Edward Kennedy recalled a skiing injury to his shoulder, suffered when he was a young man. His father called in four specialists to examine the boy and recommend treatment. Three recommended surgery. The advice of the fourth doctor, who did not recommend surgery, was followed, however. He had just as many degrees as the others. The injury healed. Senator Kennedy’s colleagues then proceeded to question Dr. Lawrence Weed, Professor of Medicine at the University of Vermont and originator of a highly popular patient record system for hospitals. Dr. Weed’s reply was that the “senator’s shoulder probably would have healed as satisfactorily if the operation hadn’t been performed.”

When doctors are formally tested, the results are less than encouraging. In a recent test involving the prescribing of antibiotics half of the doctors who voluntarily took the test scored sixty-eight percent or lower. We’ve already seen in the previous chapters how dangerous it is to have a doctor work on you. All of that danger doesn’t necessarily derive from the inherent risks of the treatment itself. Doctors simply botch some of those procedures. When I meet a doctor, I generally figure I’m meeting a person who is narrow minded, prejudiced, and fairly incapable of reasoning and deliberation. Few of the doctors I meet prove my prediction wrong.

Doctors can’t be counted on to be entirely ethical, either. The dean of Harvard Medical School, Dr. Robert H. Ebert, and the dean of the Yale Medical School, Dr. Lewis Thomas, acted as paid consultants to the Squibb Corporation at the same time they were trying to persuade the Food and Drug Administration to lift the ban on Mysteclin, one of Squibb’s biggest moneymakers. Dr. Ebert that he “gave the best advice I could. These were honest opinions.” But he also declined to specify the amount of the “modest retainer” Squibb Vice-President Norman R. Ritter admitted paying him and Dr. Thomas. Dr. Ebert later became a paid director of the drug company and admitted to owning stock valued at $15,000.

In 1972, Dr. Samuel S. Epstein, then of Case-Western Reserve University, one of the world’s authorities on chemical causes of cancer and birth defects, told the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs that “the National Academy of Sciences is riddled with conflict of interest.” He reported that panels that decide on crucial issues such as safety of food additives frequently are dominated by friends or direct associates of the interests that are supposed to be regulated. “In this country you can buy the data you require to support your case,” he said.

Fraud in scientific research is commonplace enough to keep it off the front pages. The Food and Drug Administration has uncovered such niceties as overdosing and underdosing of patients, fabrication of records, and drug dumping when they investigate experimental drug trials. Of course, in these instances, doctors working for drug companies have as their goal producing results that will convince the FDA to approve the drug. Sometimes, with competition for grant money getting more and more fierce, doctors simply want to produce results that will keep the funding lines open. Since all the “good ol’ boy” researchers are in the same boat, there seems to be a great tolerance for sloppy experiments, unconfirmable results, and carelessness in interpreting results.

Dr. Ernest Borek, a University of Colorado microbiologist, said that “increasing amounts of faked data or, less flagrantly, data with body English put on them, make their way into scientific journals.” Nobel Prize winner Salvadore E. Luria, a biologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, said “I know of at least two cases in which highly respected scientists had to retract findings reported from their laboratories, because they discovered that these findings had been manufactured by one of their collaborators.”

Another now classic example of fraud occurred in the Sloane-Kettering Institute where investigator Dr. William Summerlin admitted painting mice to make them look as though successful skin grafts had been done. A predecessor to Dr. Summerlin in the field of painting animals was Paul Kammerer, the Austrian geneticist, who early in the twentieth century painted the foot of a toad in order to prove the Lamarckian theory of transmission of acquired traits. When he was later exposed in Arthur Koessler’s book, The Case of the Midwife Toad, Kammerer shot himself.

Dr. Richard W. Roberts, director of the National Bureau of Standards, said that “half or more of the numerical data published by scientists in their journal articles is unusable because there is no evidence that the researcher accurately measured what he thought he was measuring or no evidence that possible sources of error eliminated or accounted for.” Since it is almost impossible for the average reader of scientific journals to determine which half of the article is usable and which is not, you have to wonder whether the medical journals serve as avenues of communication or confusion.

One method of judging the validity of a scientific article is to examine the footnote for the source of funding. Drug companies’ records regarding integrity of research are not sparkling enough to warrant much trust. Doctors have been shown not to be above fudging and even fabricating research results when the stakes were high enough. Dr. Leroy Wolins, a psychologist at Iowa State University, had a student write to thirty-seven authors of scientific reports asking for the raw data on which they based their conclusions. Of the thirty-two who replied, twenty-one said their data either been lost or accidentally destroyed. Dr. Wolins analyzed seven sets of data that did come in and found errors in three significant enough to invalidate what had been passed off as scientific fact.

Of course, research fraud is nothing new. Cyril Burt, the late British psychologist who became famous for his claims most human intelligence is determined by heredity, was exposed as a fraud by Leon Kamin, a Princeton psychologist. It seems that the “coworkers” responsible for Burt’s research findings could not be found to have actually existed! There is even evidence that Gregor Mendel, father of the gene theory of heredity, may have doctored the results of his pea-breeding experiments to make them conform more perfectly to his theory. Mendel’s conclusions were correct, but a statistical analysis of his published data shows that the odds were 10,000 to one against their having been obtained through experiments such as Mendel performed.

Doctors’ unethical behavior is not limited to the medical business. A doctor whose name is practically synonymous with development of a major surgical procedure was convicted of five counts of income tax evasion for omitting more than $250,000 from returns for 1964 through 1968. A few years ago the chairman of the Board of the American Medical Association was indicted, convicted, and sentenced to eighteen months in jail after pleading guilty to participating in a conspiracy to misuse $1.8 million in bank funds. According to the FBI, he and his codefendants had conspired to “obtain unsound indirect loans for their own interest. . .paying bank funds on checks which had insufficient funds to back them. . .and defrauding the government. . .”

Keep in mind that these shenanigans are going on at the highest levels of the medical profession. If this kind of dishonesty, fraud, and thievery is going on among the bishops and cardinals of Modern Medicine at Yale and Harvard and the National Academy of Sciences and the AMA, imagine what is going on among the parish priests at the other medical schools and medical societies!

Perhaps the most telling characteristic of the profession that is supposed to deliver health care is that doctors, as a group, appear to be sicker than the rest of society. Conservative counts peg the number of psychiatrically disturbed physicians in the U.S. at 17,000 or one in twenty, the number of alcoholics at more than 30,000, and the number of narcotics addicts at 3,500 or one percent. A thirty-year study comparing doctors with professionals of similar socio-economic and intellectual status found that by the end of the study nearly half the doctors were divorced or unhappily married, more than a third used drugs such as amphetamines, barbiturates, or other narcotics, and a third had suffered emotional problems severe enough to require at least ten trips to a psychiatrist. The control group of non-doctors didn’t fare nearly as badly.

Doctors are from thirty to one hundred times more likely than lay people to abuse narcotics, depending on the particular drug. At a semiannual meeting of the American Medical Association in 1972, surveys cited showed that nearly two percent of the doctors practicing in Oregon and Arizona had been disciplined by state licensing authorities for drug abuse. An even larger percentage got into trouble for excessive drinking. Even the AMA admits that one and one-half percent of the doctors in the United States abuse drugs. Various reform and rehabilitation measures over the years have not changed these percentages. Keep in mind that these figures represent only the identified cases. In Illinois, for example, Dr. James West, chairman of the Illinois Medical Society’s Panel for the Impaired Physician, reported that four percent rather than two percent of Illinois doctors are narcotics addicts. He further estimated that eleven-and-one-half percent were alcoholics - one in nine.

Suicide accounts for more deaths among doctors than car and plane crashes, drownings, and homicides combined. Doctors’ suicide rate is twice the average for all white Americans. Every year, about 100 doctors commit suicide, a number equal to the graduating class of the average medical school. Furthermore, the suicide rate among female physicians is neatly four times higher than that for other women over age twenty-five.

Apologists for the medical profession cite several reasons for doctors’ high rate of sickness. The drugs are easily available to them; they must work long hours under severe stress; their background and psychological makeup predisposes them to stretch their powers to the limits; and their patients and the community make excessive demands on them. Of course, whether or not you accept these reasons, they don’t explain away the fact that doctors are a very sick group of people.

Nonetheless, I prefer to look for more reasons. Fraud and corruption in the research process comes as no surprise to anyone who witnesses the lengths to which drug and formula companies go to doctors to their way of thinking. Free dinners, cocktails, conventions, and subsidized research fellowships still are only superficial explanations. When you examine the psychological and moral climate of Modern Medicine, you begin to get closer to understanding why doctors are so unhealthy.

Medical politics, for example, is a cutthroat power game of the most primitive sort. I much prefer political politics, because there you have the art of the possible, which means you have to compromise. Medical politics is the art of sheer power. There is no compromise: you go right for the jugular vein before your own is torn out. There’s no room for compromise because churches never compromise on canon law. Instead of a relatively open process in which people with different interests get together to try to get the most out of the situation that they can, in medical politics there is a rigid authoritarian power structure which can be moved only through winner-take-all power plays. Historically, doctors who have dared to change things significantly have been ostracized and have had to sacrifice their careers in order to hold to their ideas. Few doctors are willing to do either.

Another reason why doctors are less prone to compromise is because doctors tend to restrict their friendships to other doctors. Close friendships between doctors and non-doctors are nowhere near as frequent as among other professions. Consequently, doctors rarely have to defend their opinions among people who don’t share their background and who might offer a different point of view. Doctors can develop their philosophy in relative privacy, foray at intervals into the public scene to promote these ideas, and then rapidly retreat to the security of other doctors who support the views of the in-group. This luxury is not available to others in influential positions in public life.

Of course, doctors do see their patients. But they don’t see them as people. The doctor-patient relationship is more like that between the master and the slave, since the doctor depends on the complete submission of the patient. In this kind of climate, ideas can hardly be interchanged with any hope of the doctor’s being affected. Professional detachment boils down to the doctor rendering the entire relationship devoid of human influences or values. Doctors rarely rub elbows with non-doctors in any other posture but the professional.

Furthermore, since the doctor’s ambitions project him into the upper classes, that’s where his sympathies lie. Doctors identify with the upper class and beyond, even. They view themselves as the true elite class in society. The doctor’s lifestyle and professional behavior encourage autocratic thinking, so his conservative politics and economics are predictable. Most doctors are white, male, and rich—hardly in a position to relate effectively with the poor, the non-white, and females. Even doctors who come from these groups rarely return to serve and “be with” them. They, too, become white, male, and rich for all practical purposes and treat their fellows with all the paternalistic contempt other doctors do.

When asked where doctors learn these bad habits, I used to reply that doctors learned them in medical school. Now I realize they learn them much earlier than that. By the time they get to premedical training, they’ve picked up the cheating, the competition, the vying for position — all the tricks they know they need if they want to get into medical school. After all, our university system is modeled after the medical schools, and our high schools are modeled after our universities.

The admissions tests and policies of medical schools virtually guarantee that the students who get in will make poor doctors. The quantitative tests, the Medical College Admission Test, and the reliance on grade point averages funnel through a certain type of personality who is unable and unwilling to communicate with people. Those who are chosen are the ones most subject to the authoritarian influences of the priests of Modern Medicine. They have the compulsion to succeed, but not the will or the integrity to rebel. The hierarchy in control wants students who will go through school passively and ask only those questions the professors can answer comfortably. That usually means they want only one question at a time. One of the things I advise my students to do in order to survive medical school is to ask one question but never ask two.

Medical school does its best to turn smart students stupid, honest students corrupt, and healthy students sick. It isn’t very hard to turn a smart student into a stupid one. First of all, the admissions people make sure the professors will get weak-willed, authority-abiding students to work on. Then they give them a curriculum that is absolutely meaningless as far as healing or health are concerned. The best medical educators themselves say that the half-life of medical education is four years. In four years half of what a medical student has learned is wrong. Within four years of that, half again is wrong, and so on. The only problem is that the students aren’t told which half is wrong! They’re forced to learn it all. Supervision can be very close. There is no school in the country where the student-teacher ratio is as low as it is in medical school. During the last couple of years of medical school, you frequently find classes of only two or three students to one doctor. That doctor has tremendous influence over those students, through both his proximity and his life-and-death power over their careers.

Medical students are further softened up by being maliciously fatigued. The way to weaken a person’s will in order to mold him to suit your purposes is to make him work hard, especially at night, and never give him a chance to recover. You teach the rat to race. The result is a person too weak to resist the most debilitating instrument medical school uses on its students: fear.

If I had to characterize doctors, I would say their major psychological attribute is fear. They have a drive to achieve security-plus that’s never satisfied because of all the fear that’s drummed into them in medical school: fear of failure, fear of missing a diagnosis, fear of malpractice, fear of remarks by their peers, fear that they’ll have to find honest work. There was a movie some time ago that opened with a marathon dance contest. After a certain length of time all the contestants were eliminated except one. Everybody had to fail except the winner. That’s what medical school has become. Since everybody can’t win, everybody suffers from a loss of self-esteem. Everybody comes out of medical school feeling bad.

Doctors are given one reward for swallowing the fear pill so willingly and for sacrificing the healing instincts and human emotions that might help their practice: arrogance. To hide their fear, they’re taught to adopt the authoritarian attitude and demeanor of their professors. With all this pushing at one end and pulling at the other, it’s no wonder that doctors are the major sources of illness in our society. The process that begins with cheating on a biology exam by moving the microscope slide so that the next student views the wrong specimen, that continues with dropping sugar into a urine sample to change the results for those who follow, with hiring others to write papers and take exams, and with “dry labbing” experiments by fabricating results, ends with falsifying research reports in order to get a drug approved. What begins with fear and fatigue over exams and grades ends with a drug or alcohol problem. And what begins with arrogance towards others ends up as a doctor prescribing deadly procedures with little regard for the life and health of the patient.

My advice to medical students is always to get out as soon as possible and as easily as possible. The first two years of medical school are survivable because the students are relatively anonymous. The student should try his or her best to remain so, since if the professors don’t know him they can’t get to him. The last two years are more personal, but the student has more time off to recover from the assaults. If a student simply does enough work to pass and doesn’t get all wrapped up in the roller derby mentality, he or she can make it to the finish line relatively unscathed. Then, as soon as the student is eligible for a state license, I advise him to quit. Forget residency and specialty training because there the professionals have the student day and night, and he can really be brainwashed. That’s when the real making of the Devil’s priests occurs.

Doctors are only human. But so are the rest of us, and sometimes we need the services of all-too-human doctors. Because the doctor-priest acts as a mediator or a conduit between the individual and the powerful forces the individual feels he cannot face alone, a faulty conduit can result in some very powerful energy flowing into the wrong places. For example, when doctors are compared with other people in evaluating retarded and other handicapped persons, those who always give the most dismal predictions and the lowest evaluations are the doctors. Nurses are next lowest, followed by psychologists. The group that always gives the most optimistic evaluation is the parents. When I’m faced with a doctor who tells me a child can’t do certain things and parents who tell me that the child can do them, I always listen to the parents. I really don’t care which group is right or wrong. It’s the attitude that counts. Whatever attitude is reinforced and encouraged will prove true. I know doctors are prejudiced against cripples and retarded people because of their education — which teaches that anyone who is handicapped is a failure and is better off dead — so I can protect my patients myself against the doctors’ self-fulfilling prophecies of doom.

Yet doctors continue to get away with their attitude and their self-serving practices. Even though doctors derive a great deal of their economic status and power from insurance companies, the doctors are in control. So much in control, in fact, that insurance companies generally act against their own interests when the choice is that or weaken the power of doctors. Blue Cross and Blue Shield and other insurers logically should be searching for methods of decreasing unnecessary utilization of medical services. Occasionally, we see half-hearted attempts in this direction, such as the flurry of rules requiring second opinions before elective surgery, or the every-so-often policy of discontinuing reimbursement for procedures long fallen into oblivion. These efforts are more window dressing than anything else. They are introduced with considerable fanfare, rapidly generate a groundswell of controversy, and then quietly slip away. Regardless of how well-intentioned they are, they still address themselves only to the peripheral aspects of medical care and not to the areas where real money is to be saved. If insurance companies really wanted to cut costs, they would promote reimbursement for a wide range of simpler, more effective, cheaper procedures — such as home birth. And they would allow reimbursement for measures that restore and maintain health without drugs or surgery — such as diet therapy and exercise.

One of the most fascinating statistics I’ve ever run across is one that was reported by the Medical Economics Company, the publishers of the Physician’s Desk Reference. Among other questions, they asked a representative sampling of more than 1,700 people, “If you learned that your doctor had lost a malpractice suit, would it alter your opinion of him?” What amazes me is that seventy-seven percent of the people said NO!

Now I don’t really know if that means that people expect their doctors to commit malpractice or if they don’t care whether he does or not!

I do know that the insurance companies are bamboozled by the doctors into spending more money than they have to. I also know that only about seventy doctors lose their licenses every year — despite all the obvious corruption, sickness, and dangerous malpractice. Here we come to one of the truly wondrous mysteries of Modern Medicine. Despite (or because of?) all that fear and competition among medical students, doctors are extremely reluctant to report incompetent work or behavior on the part of their colleagues. If a hospital, for example, discovers malpractice by one of its doctors, the most that will happen is the doctor will be asked to resign. He won’t be reported to state medical authorities. When he seeks employment elsewhere, the hospital will most likely give him a shining recommendation.

When the famous Marcus twin-brother team of gynecologists were found dead of narcotics withdrawal during the summer of 1975, the news that the doctors were addicts came as a surprise to everyone but their colleagues. When the brothers’ “problems” were noticed the year before by the hospital staff, the twins were asked to take a leave of absence to seek medical care. When they returned to New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, they were watched for signs that they had improved. They had not. Were they then whisked off the staff and kept out of touch with patients before anyone was seriously harmed? Were they reported to state licensing authorities? No. They were told in May that as of July 1, they would not be allowed to work in the hospital. They were found to have died within days after they lost the privilege to admit patients to the hospital.

Another favorite example of doctors allowing their colleagues to commit mayhem on unsuspecting patients occurred in New Mexico. A surgeon tied off the wrong duct in a gall bladder operation and the patient died. Although the error was discovered at autopsy, the doctor was not disciplined. Apparently, he wasn’t taught the right way to do the operation, because a few months later he performed it again, wrong — and another patient died. Again, no punishment and no surgery lesson. Only after the doctor performed the operation a third time and killed another person was there an investigation resulting in the loss of his license.

If I had to answer the question of why doctors are so reluctant to report negligence in the practice of their colleagues yet so cutthroat when it comes to medical politics and medical school competition, I go back to the basic emotions engendered in medical school: fear and arrogance. The resentment doctors are taught to feel for each other as students is transferred to the patients when the doctor finally gets into his own practice. Other doctors are no longer the enemy as long as they don’t threaten to rock the status quo through politics or research which doesn’t follow the party line. Furthermore, the old fear of failure never goes away, and since the patient is the primary threat to security — by presenting a problem which must be solved, much like a medical school test — any mistake by a single doctor threatens the security of all doctors by chalking one up for the other side. Arrogance on the part of any professional group is always directed at the outsiders that the group fears most — never at the members of the same profession.

Obviously, doctors get away with more arrogance than any other professional group. If Modern Medicine weren’t a religion, and if doctors weren’t the priests of that religion, they wouldn’t get away with anywhere near so much. Doctors get away with substantially more than priests of other religions, because of the peculiarly corrupt nature of Modern Medicine.

All religions promote and relieve guilt. To the extent that a religion is able to encourage useful behavior by promoting guilt and relieving it, that religion is “good.” A religion which promotes too much guilt and relieves too little, or which encourages the wrong kind of behavior—behavior which will not result in the improvement of the welfare of the faithful — is a “bad” religion. An example of how a religion promotes and relieves guilt is the almost universal proscription against adultery. Obviously, if religions didn’t try to make people feel that adultery was “wrong” and encourage them to feel guilty about it, more and more people would do it and necessary social structures would weaken. People wouldn’t know who their parents were, property could not be orderly transferred from generation to generation, and venereal disease could threaten the existence of an especially energetic culture.

Doctors are so powerful precisely because they have, as priests of the Church of Modern Medicine, removed all the old guilts. Modern Medicine invalidates the old guilts which, strangely enough, held people to their old religions. Nothing is a “sin” anymore, because there is a physical consequence, the doctor has the power to fix you up. If you get pregnant, the doctor can perform an abortion. If you get venereal disease, the doctor can give you penicillin. If you are gluttonous and damage your heart, the doctor can give you a coronary bypass. If you suffer from emotional problems, the doctor has Valium, Librium, and other narcotics to help you get by without caring, or feeling. If those don’t work, there are plenty of psychiatrists.

There is one “sin” that Modern Medicine will make you feel guilty about: not going to the doctor. That’s OK, because the doctor is the priest who takes away every other guilt. How much harm can there be in guilt that drives you to the doctor every time you feel sick?

The doctor-priest gets away with a lot because he can claim to be up against the very Forces of Evil. When a priest is in a touchy situation and the probability for success is dismal, he escapes blame by saying that he’s up against the Devil. The doctor-priest does the same thing. When the prognosis is not good, he retreats into his mortality and admits that he’s only a man up against the Devil Then, if he wins, he’s a hero. If he loses, he’s a defeated hero — but still a hero. Never is he seen in his true light—as the agent of the Devil.

The doctor never loses, though he plays both sides against the middle and takes bigger risks than necessary. That’s because he has succeeded in identifying his rituals as sacred and potent regardless of their real efficacy. He uses his holiest implements to raise the ante and make the game more ominous than it really needs to be. If a mother comes into the hospital with her baby in the breech position and the fetal monitor says the baby is in distress, the doctor loses time in declaring it a life-and-death situation — which, indeed, becomes once he starts to perform a Caesarean-section delivery. Biologically, the doctor knows the C-section is dangerous. But game is no longer being played by biological rules. It’s a religious game, a ceremony, and the priest calls the shots. If mother and child survive, the priest is a hero. If they die, well . . . it was a life-and-death situation anyway.

The doctor never loses: only the patients lose. The adage that a doctor buries his mistakes still applies. We used to refer mistakenly to doctors as airplane pilots. If the plane goes down, the pilot goes down with it. But the doctor never goes down with the patient.

Doctors also escape blame by claiming that their failures are caused by their successes. If you point out, for example, that a disproportionate number of premature babies seem to be turning up blind in premie nurseries, the doctor will say that it’s the price you have to pay. “Gee, we managed to save these little I- and 2-pound babies. Of course they all end up blind and deformed. They’d be dead if we didn’t save them.” Doctors use the same excuse with the problem of diabetic blindness. The reason we have so much diabetic blindness, they say, is because we have succeeded in keeping so many diabetics alive longer. Doctors will use this “we managed to keep them alive longer” excuse for every disease they have trouble treating successfully — which includes all the major causes of non-accidental death. They absolutely ignore the biological facts that creep in and point the finger at Modern Medicine’s mismanagement of both health and disease. Doctors even manage to get away with blaming their own disease on their successes. When you point to the large numbers of dishonest, unhappy, and just plain sick doctors, the excuse usually runs something like this: “The reason for the psychological disability is our tendency to be compulsive, perfectionistic, easily given to a sense of guilt if our clinical efforts fail.” A president of the American Medical Association offered that one.

Doctors protect themselves further through the sacred language of the priest. A religion must have a sacred language to separate the discourse of the priesthood from the lowly banter of the masses. After all, the priests are on speaking terms with the powers that seep the universe on course. We can’t have just anyone listening in. Sacred language of doctors is no different from jargon developed by any elitist group. Its main function is to keep outsiders ignorant. If you could understand everything your doctor was saying to you and to other doctors, his power over you would be diminished. So when you get sick because of the generally filthy conditions in the hospital, he’ll call your infection nosocomial. That way, you’ll not only not get angry at the hospital, but you’ll feel privileged to have such a distinguished sounding disease. And too scared to get mad.

Doctors use their semantic privileges to make you feel stupid and convince you that they are genuinely privy to powers that you’d better not mess with. As long as their rituals are mysterious, as long as they don’t have to justify them biologically, they can get away with anything. They’re not even subject to the laws of logic. Doctors will, for example, justify coronary bypasses by saying that everyone who has one feels better. But if you ask to be treated for cancer with laetrile because everyone you know who has been treated with it feels better, your doctor will tell you that it hasn’t been scientifically proved effective.

Semantic isolation also serves to disenfranchise the individual from the healing process. Since the patient has no hope of knowing what’s going on, let alone assisting, why allow him or her any part in the process at all? The patient gets in the way of the ritual, so get the patient out of the way. That’s one reason why doctors aren’t interested in helping patients maintain their health. To do that, they’d have to inform them rather than work on them. Doctors aren’t going to share information, because that means sharing power.

To back them up, doctors have an enormous tonnage of technological gadgets which proliferates alarmingly. First of all, the patient must stand in awe of the array of machinery the doctor assembles to attack his problem. How could any single person — other than the doctor, who has the power — hope to control such forces? Also, the electronic wizardry adds weight to the doctor’s claim that he “did everything he could.” If it’s just a doctor standing there with a black bag, “all that he could” doesn’t mean very much. But if the doctor throws the switches on $4 million worth of machinery that fills three rooms, that means he did “all that he could” and then some!

Typical of any developed religion, the ceremonial objects in which the most power is concentrated reside in the Temple. The higher the status of the temple, the more machinery within the walls. When you get to the cathedrals and the little “Vaticans” of Modern Medicine, you are up against priests who have the weight of infallibility behind them. They can do no wrong, so they are the most dangerous.

The reforms that have been introduced in an effort to solve some of the problems I’ve talked about in this chapter don’t impress me as doing very much good. Rehabilitation programs, for example, don’t really attack the roots of the sicknesses doctors seem to fall prey to. That may be a result of their shying away from exposing the problem as a disease of the core of Modern Medicine. Of course, doctors are not trained to attack the core of any problem, merely to suppress the symptoms.

Attempts to keep doctors’ knowledge up-to-date also do little good, since what doctors don’t need is more of the same kind of information they received in medical school. That’s precisely what they get in most continuing medical education programs. They’re taught by the same people who taught them in medical school. Who’s responsible for keeping them properly informed?

As I’ve already said, you have to protect yourself. To do that, you need to remember the two major attributes of doctors: fear and arrogance. What you have to do is learn how to work on his fears without challenging his arrogance until you have the winning hand. Since doctors are scared of you and what you can do to them, you shouldn’t hesitate to use that fear. Doctors are scared of lawyers, not because lawyers are so powerful but because lawyers can ally themselves with you, whom the doctor really fears. If a doctor does you dirty, sue him. It is in courts and juries that you’re most likely to find common sense. Find a good lawyer who knows a lot about medicine and who is not afraid to put a doctor through the ringer. If there’s one thing a doctor doesn’t like it’s to be in court on the wrong end of a lawyer — because that’s one place where the patient has allies that can effectively challenge the doctor’s priestly immunity. The increase in malpractice suits is encouraging, since it means more and more people are being radicalized to the point where they challenge the doctor’s power to determine the rules.

If your doctor gives you trouble but not enough to take him to court, you need to be careful about how much you challenge him —not because of what he can or cannot do to you, but because how far you go will determine your effectiveness. If a doctor threatens you and becomes angry, you should stand up to him. Don’t back down. Threaten him back. When a person really threatens a doctor, the doctor almost always backs down if the person shows that he means it. Doctors back down all the time because they figure, “What do I need this one kook for?”

It’s important, though, not to threaten a doctor unless you are prepared to carry through. In other words, don’t reveal your rebellion until you have to, until you have the emotional commitment and the physical capability to carry on a successful campaign. Don’t get into an argument with a doctor with the hope of changing his mind on anything. Never say to the doctor who’s treating you for cancer with traditional chemotherapy, “Doc, what do you think about laetrile?” You won’t get anywhere, and you won’t get any laetrile, either. Don’t say to the doctor who recommends a security bottle for your baby, “But I’m breastfeeding and I don’t want to do that.” Don’t bring your doctor columns from the newspaper expecting him to change his mind or try something new. Don’t challenge him until you’re ready with an alternative action. Do your own homework.

What does a Catholic do when he decides that his priests are no good? Sometimes he directly challenges them, but very seldom. He just leaves the Church. And that’s my answer. Leave the Church of Modern Medicine. I see a lot of people doing that today. I see a lot of people going to chiropractors, for example, who wouldn’t have been caught dead in a chiropractor’s office a few years ago.

I see more and more people patronizing the heretics of Modern Medicine.

CONFESSIONS OF A MEDICAL HERETIC
By Robert S. Mendelsohn, M.D.

Published by Contemporary Books
ISBN Number 0-8092-4131-5
Available from Amazon Books and elsewhere.

2010-11-17T12:44:00.001-08:00

Foods and its effects on neurotransmitters for the intolerant and sensitives.

Many complain of "panick attacks." Other than the usual fight or flight regardless of stimulus, often, those symptoms are triggered by sudden release of catecholamines. It can be caused by medications, or other such as thyroid dysfunction, physiological stresses and less often, psychological.

Foods such as bananas, wine, cheese, walnuts, avocados, and in particular chicken skin, high in amines, can trigger a sudden release of catecholamines. Vanilla, Aspirin are known to be triggers. Chocolate - yummy, good for serotonin and endorphins. Increases tryptophan, precursor amino acid to serotonin, BUT, contains caffeine & theobromine, affects CNS too.

Quite a balancing act, concerning calming foods.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20382681

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/catecholamines-14697

Useful info on which food to avoid to
up serotonin, decrease or increase dopamine and so forth:

http://www.victorie-inc.us/neurogenesis_serotonin.html

http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/catecholamines-14697

2010-11-13T02:27:00.000-08:00

Judging by history, and more recently, various governments using the population as lab rabs, it would be naive to believe this practice has ceased.

Furthermore, there is a petition circulating around, as to why the UK government has sealed documents relating to ME/CFS, not to be made available to the public until 2072. See this petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/264/--if-gte-mso-9xml-wworddocument-wviewnormalwview-wzoom0wzoom-wpunctuationkerning/

See this article in The Observer:

Millions were in germ war tests

Much of Britain was exposed to bacteria sprayed in secret trials

* The Observer, Sunday 21 April 2002 10.23 BST
* Article history

The Ministry of Defence turned large parts of the country into a giant laboratory to conduct a series of secret germ warfare tests on the public.

A government report just released provides for the first time a comprehensive official history of Britain's biological weapons trials between 1940 and 1979.

Many of these tests involved releasing potentially dangerous chemicals and micro-organisms over vast swaths of the population without the public being told.

While details of some secret trials have emerged in recent years, the 60-page report reveals new information about more than 100 covert experiments.

The report reveals that military personnel were briefed to tell any 'inquisitive inquirer' the trials were part of research projects into weather and air pollution.

The tests, carried out by government scientists at Porton Down, were designed to help the MoD assess Britain's vulnerability if the Russians were to have released clouds of deadly germs over the country.

In most cases, the trials did not use biological weapons but alternatives which scientists believed would mimic germ warfare and which the MoD claimed were harmless. But families in certain areas of the country who have children with birth defects are demanding a public inquiry.

Cont/...
http://www.guardian.co.uk/politics/2002/apr/21/uk.medicalscience

2010-11-12T08:45:00.000-08:00

New label includes latest info about vits and supps, and politics behind the efforts of Big Pharma to suppress vital important info concerning these. If well informed about the benefits, contra-indications, and side effects, these are far less toxic than meds.

Keep well informed to avoid create an imbalance!!!

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, November 11, 2010

Vitamin C And The Law
A Personal Viewpoint by Thomas E. Levy, M.D., J.D.

(OMNS November 11, 2010) As a patient, you have the right to any therapy that is not prohibitively expensive, established to be effective, and not prohibitively toxic.

Any physician, or panel of hospital-based physicians, claiming that vitamin C is experimental, unapproved, and/or posing unwarranted risks to the health of the patient, is really only demonstrating a complete and total ignorance or denial of the scientific literature. A serious question as to what the real motivations might be in the withholding of such a therapy then arises.

A doctor has the right to refuse to see you or treat you. A doctor does not have the right to deny you any therapy that is inexpensive and known to be effective and nontoxic; if there is toxicity involved, the patient can discharge his responsibility for such toxicity with proper informed consent. A doctor does not have the right to deny you consultation with another doctor that may have conflicting medical points of view.

Just as ignorance of the law is no sound defense to legal charges brought against you, ignorance of medical fact is ultimately no sound defense for a doctor withholding valid treatment, especially when that information can be easily accessed

While a hospital may or may not have a legal right to dictate to its physicians what they may or may not do, the patient and the family of the patient have the legal right to sue that hospital for any negative outcome that is perceived to directly result from such interference in patient care.

The patient and the family of the patient also have the right to sue any physician that refuses to administer an inexpensive, nontoxic therapy that is established to be of use in the medical literature, such as vitamin C, especially when no other options other than permitting the patient to die are offered. Doctors have a very strong herd mentality, and they do not thrive well when forced to deal with a lawsuit alone, and possibly not even with the backup of their malpractice insurance company, which would seriously question why an approved medicine such as vitamin C was withheld from the patient. Remember that any insurance company always looks for a legal way not to pay expenses or settlements.

In a court of law, legal decisions regarding medical issues are usually decided by comparing a doctor's actions (or inactions) to the accepted standards of medical practice in the community in question. The legal sticking points relate to how different that community might be from others, and whether the accepted standard of practice is too far deviated from overall mainstream medicine norms.

The legal system struggles with reconciling something well-established in the medical literature, but not reflected in the standard medical textbooks. A case involving withheld vitamin C would not currently have any direct legal precedent of which I am aware, but there are multiple reasons to believe that the time is ripe for the law to rule for the patient's right to receive vitamin C in the hospital over the doctor's "right" to withhold it.

The time for changing the view of vitamin C by the law and mainstream medicine has arrived. Over the past 20 years, many more doctors have begun to routinely give 50 grams (50,000 mg) or more of vitamin C intravenously on a regular basis to patients with the entire gamut of medical conditions. These doctors have come from the same medical schools and postgraduate training programs as their unlike-minded mainstream counterparts, meaning they have the same traditional credentials and warrant equal consideration.

The law recognizes that there is no one perfect medical approach to a patient. Having an increasingly large body of doctors who recognize the importance of vitamin C will allow the courts to permit an additional "school of thought" as long as enough traditionally-trained doctors think that way. The question yet to be legally determined is, How many such doctors is "enough?"

Under United States law, the long-standing Frye standard (1923) held that expert opinion based on a scientific technique is admissible only where the technique is generally accepted as reliable in the relevant scientific community. This standard made it almost impossible for any technique embraced by a minority, however competent or appropriately trained, to ever coexist with, much less supersede, a technique embraced by the larger scientific community. Basically, majority always wins, and minority always loses.

The Daubert standard (1993) finally replaced the Frye standard.
Daubert held that the court should:

1. Evaluate whether the science can be or has been tested
2. Determine whether the science has been published or peer-reviewed
3. Consider the likelihood of error (quality and quantity of the data)
4. Evaluate the general acceptance of the theory in the scientific community
If the court is so inclined, the evaluation of general acceptance in the scientific (medical) community does not have to invoke the "majority rules" nature of the earlier Frye standard. Rather, it can allow the consideration that enough scientific studies embraced by enough qualified doctors could prevail legally. However, any final ruling would be heavily dependent on the particular facts of the case and the precise intervention requested of the court.

The principles of Daubert do not assure a victory for vitamin C proponents in a court of law, but they do allow an objective judge to see that the body of evidence supporting vitamin C usage is clearly established in the mainstream medical literature, warranting a thorough legal evaluation as to why it is not yet a permissible therapy. These principles allow for much more flexibility than the earlier Frye "majority rules" standard.

Also, with any individual case in which a doctor refuses to administer vitamin C and serious damage (including death) occurs, a strong legal case can be now be made that the burden of proof falls with the doctor to show:

1. That the therapy was exceptionally expensive, toxic, and/or unproven
2. That the patient's best interests were somehow best served by withholding vitamin C
Always try to make an alliance with your doctor and avoid an adversarial relationship if at all possible. Theoretically, if your doctor really wants to do what is best for the patient and is not more concerned with being told what to do, much stress and conflict can be avoided by all. However, do not hesitate to let your doctor know directly that you will avail yourself of all your rights or your family member's rights as a patient to optimal health care if so forced.

A very common "out" in all of these scenarios is to suggest that "further studies" should be done. More information is always useful, but vitamin C has already been researched more than any other supplement, or even most pharmaceutical drugs, in the history of the planet. Don't allow another 70 years of research to transpire before its proper use begins.

Stand up for your rights today. The way medicine is practiced will never change until the public demands it and the law legitimizes it. Remember, it's your body and your health. Doctors are answerable to you, not you to them.

Thomas Edward Levy, M.D., J.D. is a graduate of the Tulane University School of Medicine and the University of Denver College of Law. He board certified in Internal Medicine and is also a Fellow of the American College of Cardiology. He was admitted to the Colorado Bar in 1998 and the District of Columbia Bar in 1999. Dr. Levy is on the Editorial Board of the Orthomolecular Medicine News Service.

References:

Frye v. United States, 293 F. 1013 (D.C. Cir. 1923)
Daubert v. Merrell Dow Pharmaceuticals, 509 U.S. 579 (1993)

An expanded version of "Vitamin C and the Law" by Dr. Levy is available as a free pdf download at http://www.tomlevymd.com/downloads/VC.NZ.Sept.2010.pdf or http://www.doctoryourself.com/VC.NZ.Sept.2010.pdf

Nutritional Medicine is Orthomolecular Medicine

Orthomolecular medicine uses safe, effective nutritional therapy to fight illness. For more information: http://www.orthomolecular.org

The peer-reviewed Orthomolecular Medicine News Service is a non-profit and non-commercial informational resource.

Editorial Review Board:

Ian Brighthope, M.D. (Australia)
Ralph K. Campbell, M.D. (USA)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (Canada)
Damien Downing, M.D. (United Kingdom)
Michael Ellis, M.D. (Australia)
Michael Gonzalez, D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
Steve Hickey, Ph.D. (United Kingdom)
James A. Jackson, Ph.D. (USA)
Bo H. Jonsson, M.D., Ph.D. (Sweden)
Thomas Levy, M.D., J.D. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Erik Paterson, M.D. (Canada)
Gert E. Shuitemaker, Ph.D. (Netherlands)
Jagan Nathan Vamanan, M.D. (India)

Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor and contact person.
Email: omns@...

To Subscribe at no charge: http://www.orthomolecular.org/subscribe.html

2010-11-05T03:43:00.000-07:00

Please take note. Its well known that certain foods can and does affect glutamate receptors see this post: http://adr-centralreactiontomedications.blogspot.com/search/label/Brain%20and%20receptors%20%20EMS

I have been doing quite a lot of research concerning methylation, and am convinced, that this approach to regaining and preserving health is important for many of us. Some tips below, which may be helpful, concerning Glutamate and GABA, foods to avoid, food to eat, and some supps.

Copper inhibits conversion of glutamate to GABA by glutamate decarboxylase so avoid copper excess, or better stated, an imbalance between copper and zinc.

For those with normal to low level Vitamin D3, yep, that again, it is advised to take it for maintenance of Dopamine level, if that is low too. It stimulates the enzymes that generate dopamine level.

(Those who did some type of nutrigenomic testing: A COMT + or COMT ++ )(higher Dopamine), is favorable in the sense that this helps defend/tolerance against heavy metals, microbes and keep moods elevated.

Below is a short list of food excitory for (Glutamate-Gaba imbalance) those sensitive to glutamate:

Avoid these foods:

Sources of Excitotoxins

Monosodium Glutamate
Glutamate
Natural Flavor(s)
Maltodextrin
Carrageenan
Gelatin
Spice(s)
Seasoning(s)
Seasoned Salt
Dough Conditioner(s) Isolate
Autolyzed Yeast
Autolyzed Yeast Extract
Autolyzed Anything
Broth
Stock, Soup Base
Chicken/Pork/Beef “Flavoring”, Hydrolyzed Vegetable Protein (HPV)
Hydrolyzed Plant Protein, Hydrolyzed Oat Flour,, Hydrolyzed Anything
Yeast Extract, Sodium Caseinate, Calcium Caseinate, aseinate
Disodium Guanyiate, Disodium Inosinate, Disodium Caseinate
Hydrolyzed Protein, Chicken/Pork/Beef “Base”
Bouillon, Vegetable Gum,
Plant Protein Extract
Smoke Flavoring(s)
Malted Barley Flour, Malt Extract, Malt Flavoring(s), Malted Barley, Malted Anything
Textured Protein
Guar Gum
Soy Extract, Soy Protein, Soy Protein Concentrate, Soy Sauce
Whey Protein, Whey Protein Isolate, Whey Protein oncentrate
L-Cysteine
Ajinomoto
Kombu Extract
Natural Flavoring(s)
Barley Malt

What would help:

Pycnogenol and grape seed extract help balance Glutamate/GABA
Taurine helps in this balance (but contains sulfur so avoid if CBS (+)
Montief GABA
ZEN supplement which contains GABA and L threanine
Contains threanine, which has methyl groups; avoid if COMT (+)

I don't understand why it says to avoid threanine (iuf you are COMT +), which is found in green tea. It is supposed to increase alpha waves in the brain, is a caffeine antagonist, and is a relaxant. [url]http://www.vrp.com/articles.aspx?ProdID=art889&zTYPE=2[/url]

It also increases dopamine, GABA and reverses damage of glutamate excitotixicity. Which also, lowers, blood pressure.

Foods High In Serotonin (or Amino Acid Precursor Tryptophan)

Turkey, Chicken, Chicken Liver, Tofu, Almonds, Peanuts, Soy Nuts, Milk, Yoghurt, Cottage cheese, Spirulina (seaweed), Brewer’s yeast, Watermelon Seeds

Foods High In Dopamine (or Amino Acid Precursor Tyrosine)

Bananas, Red plums, Figs, Raisins
Eggplant, Green Bean pods, Italian broad beans
Salami, Sausage, Liver
Commercial gravies and Soy sauce
Salted dried fish (Herring, Cod)
Canned meats, Aged game
Canned meats, Aged game
Homemade yeast breads
Some alcoholic beverages (not all)
Yeast concentrates, Marmite, soup cubes
Aged Cheese (Blue, Boursalt, Brick, Brie, Camembert, Cheddar, Colby, Emmental, Gouda,
Mozarella, Parmisan, Provolone, Romano, Roquefort, and Stilton

http://heartfixer.com/AMRI-Nutrigenomics.htm

For those who have no sensitivities, and not done the nutrigenomic text or detoxigenomic test, good brain food list:

1. Acai berries
2. Almonds
3. Avocados
4. Bananas
5. Blackberries
6. Blueberries
7. Brewer’s yeast
8. Broccoli
9. Brown rice
10. Brussels sprouts
11. Cantaloupe
12. Cashews
13. Cauliflower
14. Cherries
15. Cheese
16. Chicken
17. Collard greens
18. Cranberries
19. Dark chocolate
20. Eggs
21. Eggplant
22. Fish
23. Flaxseed oil
24. Green Tea
25. Lean beef
26. Legumes
27. Milk
28. Oatmeal
29. Oranges
30. Peanut butter
31. Peas
32. Plums
33. Potatoes
34. Pumpkin seeds
35. Raspberries
36. Red cabbage
37. Red grapes
38. Romaine lettuce
39. Salmon
40. Soybeans
41. Spinach
42. Stabilized rice bran
43. Strawberries
44. Tomatoes
45. Tuna
46. Turkey
47. Walnuts
48. Water
49. Wheat germ
50. Yogurt

50 ways to kill your brain cells:

1) Sniffing paint — Yes, sniffing paint will give you a “high” for awhile, but it can really inflict severe brain damage. Avoid inhalants like paint and keep your brain cells healthy. Even worse than just killing your brain cells is the fact that sniffing paint has the potential to kill you — even on your first time. Stay away from this stuff and get help now if you are addicted.

2) Taking cocaine – Thank you captain obvious, right? It’s possible that not everyone out there knew that cocaine killed brain cells. Cocaine doesn’t just kill random brain cells either, it wipes out the brain cells in your brain’s pleasure center — brain cells that make you feel good and are triggered with positive emotion and pleasure. Want to keep having fun in life and feel pleasure? Stay away from cocaine.

3) Too much stress — A little bit of stress is healthy for everyone. It keeps you motivated and motivated to achieve goals. When stress gets out of hand to the point where you’re having adrenaline rushes, your body produces an excess of the chemical “cortisol.” Too much of that cortisol is what kills brain cells. Please don’t stress after reading this.

4) Getting a concussion – Unfortunately most people don’t have much control over getting concussions. The fact is, concussions are neuronal killers and should be avoided if at all possible. There are special precautions to take to avoid concussions such as: wearing a helmet in contact sports, wearing a helmet when riding your motorcycle, even wearing a helmet when riding your bike.

5) Rapidly shaking your head – Rapidly shaking your head around back and forth causes axons to tear, which causes brain cell death. A very easy way to prevent brain cell loss is by NOT shaking your head. You have complete control over the shaking of your head; don’t do it!

6) Eating junk food — What happens to your brain cells when they aren’t provided with the healthy nutrients they need to survive? They starve and die! A little bit of junk food won’t hurt, but unhealthy food on a consistent basis without any healthy food will cause brain cells to die. Again, you have complete control over what you choose to eat. Pick healthy foods and give your brains the adequate nutrients that they need to flourish.

7) Drinking too much alcohol — How many brain cells does one beer kill? Chances are good that drinking just one beer won’t kill any. Getting drunk probably won’t even kill any brain cells. Alcohol can cause a temporary chemical imbalance and structural changes. If you are an alcoholic or you frequently “drink too much alcohol,” you will most likely kill brain cells. MRI’s of alcoholic patients show a decreased brain volume.

8) Taking ecstacy (MDMA) – Common-day club drug, Ecstacy literally puts holes in your brain. Brain scans have compared healthy brains to brains of those who’ve used ecstacy and have found that the “brains on ecstacy” had holes in them. Ecstacy depletes serotonin manufacturing cells, which are important for keeping a positive mood and promoting relaxation. If you frequently go “clubbing” make the choice to stay away from “X,” as it is very common in clubs. Avoid this drug, and your brain will be much healthier than if you didn’t.

9) Dehydration – Without sufficient levels of water in the brain, ions get disrupted and the result is brain damage. Replenish your body and brain with necessary water levels to avoid dehydration and keep your brain cells healthy.

10) Using methamphetamines – Taking methamphetamines is probably the most uneducated decision you could possibly make. Not only are they one of the most addicting groups of drugs, they destroy lives and kill brain cells. The sad part is, methamphetamine use results in severe to permanent brain damage even long after the drug has been stopped. In my opinion, methamphetamines are the most dangerous group of drugs to get involved with. Stay away from them, get help now if you use them, and help a friend if you know they are a user.

11) Getting a contusion – A contusion is a severe bruise within the brain. It does cause neuronal death (brain cell death). Unfortunately, most people that have contusions couldn’t really do much to avoid them. Sports like boxing where taking jabs to the head is common, influences the development of contusions. Safety precautions: wear a helmet or hardhat when debris or other objects have potential to damage your head. The great-est Mohammed Ali suffered brain contusions from his heavy involvement in boxing.

12) Having a stroke – A stroke results from temporary loss of blood-flow to the brain. Usually, the damage from having a stroke is centralized in just one side of the brain. Strokes can cause anything from small lesions, to widespread cell death. Unfortunately strokes cannot be avoided, but there are things that you can do to reduce your risk: lowering stress levels and staying active are just a couple healthy activities that reduce risk of a stroke. An interesting fact: millions of brain cells die each minute a stroke is left untreated.

13) Avoiding exercise — The act of avoiding exercise doesn’t kill brain cells, however, the effects that are associated with lack of exercise happen to be killers. Exercise reduces stress levels, chance of brain damage, and even creates new brain cells. If you are avoiding exercise, you happen to be setting your brain cells up for an early death. Make time in your schedule to exercise and reap the benefits; exercise should never be avoided.

14) Sensory deprivation – We know from my “hearing voices” article that sensory deprivation may cause you to have auditory hallucinations. When your brain undergoes sensory deprivation for longer periods of time, you lose brain cells. When cells are not stimulated for long periods of time, your brain reorganizes itself; you naturally lose the unused, understimulated cells.

15) Taking absinthe — Most types of absinthe contain extremely high amounts of ethanol and a chemical called thujone; both of which can cause brain cell death. Thujone has the opposite effects of barbiturates like Xanax and in high doses can cause seizures and possibly death. It is definitely best to avoid absinthe and not put your brain at risk of damage.

16) Drinking too much water — The act of drinking too much water in too short of time period will actually flood your nervous system and kill off brain cells. How exactly does this work? When the ratio of water to sodium escalates, your brain swells and brain cells die in the process. Individuals on low-sodium diets may be especially vulnerable to “water toxicity.” It is important to stay hydrated, but be reasonable; you know what’s right for your body. Don’t go overboard and kill off your brain cells!

17) Being a chronic negative thinker — The act of simply thinking negative will not cause any sort of brain cell loss. Most people have negative thoughts that creep in their consciousness from time to time. It is when the negative thinking takes over, gets “out of line” and causes stress, and you to make unwise decisions such as taking drugs like Ecstacy to improve your mood at the club when you are probably losing brain cells. The side-effects and byproducts from negative thoughts are what make you more likely to engage in activities that kill brain cells. Negative thinking is an indirect killer; surround yourself with positivity and a healthy circle of friends!

18) Post traumatic stress disorder – Victims of post-traumatic stress disorder unfortunately deal with memory problems, anxiety, flashbacks, and happen to lose brain cells in the process. Post traumatic stress disorder causes the brain to produce a surplus of the stress hormone “cortisol,” which kills brain cells. Like other stress related disorders, they don’t lose a huge amount of brain cells overnight, but they definitely can lose a significant amount if they don’t get adequate assistance and treatment.

19) Head trauma – The scary thing about head trauma is that it not only kills brain cells, it also damages the brain’s ability to repair itself after the damage. Head trauma is linked to Parkinson’s disease and poor sensorimotor processing within the brain — always try to protect your head whenever engaging in a contact sport, working construction, riding a motorcycle, etc.

20) Elevated testosterone levels — Having too high of testosterone levels has been proven to be detrimental to your brain’s health and does kill brain cells. If you are taking supplements that increase testosterone levels, be aware that too much of the supplement could potentially cause the death of your brain cells!

21) Chemotherapy — Unfortunately for those who have undergone chemotherapy, the process not only kills the cancerous cells, but many of your good brain cells. In order to avoid cancer, take steps to reduce your risk of developing cancer such as: eating healthy, exercising, getting proper sleep, etc. Not everyone is able to avoid cancer, but you can certainly make an effort to try.

22) A single stressful event — Yes, you read correct — just ONE stressful event has the potential to kill off brain cells. If you live in a high-stress environment, are always on the go, and never take time to just chill, your mind is most likely overactive and you are losing brain cells. If you know that you will be exposed to stressful events, I recommend learning stress coping methods like meditation, deep breathing, guided imagery, yoga, etc. There are many things you can do to lower your stress response to hectic events.

23) Smoking cigarettes — The act of smoking cigarettes is not only detrimental to your physical health — it could be taking a heavy toll on your mental health. The fact is, scientists have found that “smoking” kills brain cells and stops the production of new brain cells (neurogenesis). If you are a smoker, work hard to kick the habit. If you are smoke-free, stay that way and encourage smokers to quit.

24) Taking steroids — Taking steroids is terrible for your brain and body. Steroids elevate testosterone levels and increase stress levels: 2 activities [mentioned earlier] that are known to deplete brain cell. Steroids cause early death, an increased suicide risk, and give the user absolutely ZERO fulfillment in the long-term. Take the time to lift the necessary weights and don’t expect to get “ripped” overnight; you will be better off in the grand scheme of life.

25) Extreme anxiety and panic — Anxiety and panic in extreme situations will definitely provoke feelings of stress, release cortisol, and will kill your brain cells in severe forms. Light and moderate forms of anxiety and panic may feel uncomfortable, but will probably not damage your brain. Learning valuable coping techniques by visiting a psychotherapist, using relaxation techniques consistently, and considering medication are all things that will stop you from losing brain cells from anxiety and panic.

26) Food additives — Food additives contain a group of compounds commonly referred to as “exotoxins,” which slow and destroy cognitive development in the brain. “Exotoxins” are not just present in a few foods, they are present in virtually ALL processed foods. To avoid future health problems and keep a healthy brain, your best bet is to eat healthy, non-processed foods.

27) Oxycodone abuse — Oxycodone abuse kills brain cells, heart tissue, damages kidneys, and has terrible side-effects. If you or someone you know abuses Oxycodone, seek help immediately! Your brain and body will thank you in the long run — Oxycodone is nothing to fool around with.

28) Exposure to electricity — Short and long-term exposure to electricity has terrible effects on your brain. Electricity doesn’t just cause you to lose a few brain cells either, it causes you to lose millions! If you or anyone you know works with electricity on a consistent basis, you may want to take special precautions or reconsider!

29) Exposure to lead — It is known that the early exposure of lead may lead to later brain aging in life. What about brain cell loss from lead exposure? Scientific evidence shows that exposure to lead leads to brain cell loss and damage years later. Scientists figure that a single exposure is equivalent to at least 5 years of brain aging. Avoid lead exposure at all possible costs and do what you’ve got to do to keep your brain healthy!

30) Mercury toxicity — Chances are good that you probably know that avoiding exposure to mercury is recommended. When a person is exposed to mercury, they can develop what’s known as “mercury toxicity” in the brain. Mercury toxicity is a known brain cell killer. I find it interesting that many old, tooth-fillings could be releasing mercury into your body and you could be a victim of mercury poisoning. To watch a boring, yet informative research video about mercury poisoning, check out this video.

31) Carbon monoxide poisoning — Yes carbon monoxide itself can kill brain cells, but the reason brain cells die in carbon monoxide poisoning is mostly due to the fact that inadequate amounts of oxygen get to the brain. To avoid carbon monoxide poisoning, take necessary household precautions such as installing a detector and check for burning.

32) Getting Lyme disease — Severe forms of Lyme disease cause memory impairments and brain cell loss if left untreated for a long period of time. Lyme disease is usually carried by deer ticks, but can be found in other types of ticks. To avoid Lyme disease, it is recommended to always check your body after long expeditions through the woods.

33) Exposure to pesticides — It is always important to take the necessary precautions when working with pesticides or being in an area around pesticides. Pesticides kill brain cells quickly and cause abnormal mental and physical development. If you are in an environment where pesticide exposure is common, get out, save yourself, or report the company and people using the pesticides to proper authorities. Pesticides are linked to Parkinson’s disease and many other forms of mental illness!

34) Certain types of cosmetics – Certain types of cosmetics have been proven to have an adverse interaction with mental health. Some forms of shampoo have ingredients that have been shown to kill brain cells. Be aware that certain types of cosmetics have ingredients that will kill or damage your brain cells.

35) Using cleaning solvents — Taking a good whiff of a solvent can really knock you out! If “sniffed” with the purpose to get high, solvents can cause severe brain damage and possibly death. They can cause severe learning impairments, declined social functioning, and reduce the capacity of your short-term memory. Most cleaning solvents, when used properly for their intended purpose (to clean), will not cause any harm. If you know someone that is abusing solvents, get them help! You are not only helping their brain, you are helping their life!

36) Ingesting aspartame — In case you didn’t know, aspartame is an artificial sweetener found in gum, candy, and Nutra-Sweet. Several studies made connections that link aspartame to brain cell destruction. It is a very controversial substance that has been proven to be bad for health in some studies, and has been proven safe in others. Either way, I’d avoid aspartame; it’s nothing to risk your brain cells over.

37) Indoor air pollution — Indoor air pollution affects the spinal cord, kidneys, blood cells, central nervous system, and the brain. Depending on the type of indoor air pollution, effects can range from being unnoticeable to causing brain cell loss. It is important to keep the air inside of your home and business clean and safe to breathe. Don’t underestimate the potential of indoor air pollution to be detrimental to the health of your body and mind!

38) Lack of quality sleep — We all know that when we don’t get enough sleep, we cannot properly function the next day! Not only does lack of quality sleep interfere with learning and social functions (left-hemisphere), it does kill brain cells. In order to prevent brain cell loss from lack of sleep, it is recommended to get good quality sleep. Some people run effectively on just 6 hours of sleep, while some need 9 to keep a clear head. You be the judge of what works best for your body and brain!

39) Using heroin – As you probably expected, using heroin will kill your brain cells. Heroin has been linked to Alzheimer-like brain damage. Opiate use has been associated with sped up aging in the brain. Heroin causes nerve-cell damage in essential parts of the brain. Don’t let a drug like Heroin ruin your brain and your life!

40) Paint remover — When you put paint remover on paint, it eats it away. When you inhale paint remover, it eats away at your brain! Paint remover, when sniffed, crosses the blood-brain barrier and eats away at your brain tissue and cells. Make the decision to help others that have a problem with “sniffing” or “huffing” paint remover by getting them psychological assistance and being around for support.

41) Welding fumes — Exposure to welding fumes is an extreme health hazard. Welding rod fumes have been linked to Parkinson’s disease and many other illnesses. Most fumes from welding are produced during “arc-welding.” The fumes enter and damage your lungs, nervous system, and deplete brain cells. If you are a welder, you may want to check out this informational guide from the American Society of Safety Engineers.

42) Outdoor air pollution – Like indoor air pollution, outdoor air pollution can have terrible side-effects. Places like Mexico City have so much air pollution that many citizens chose to wear masks and filters to protect themselves. Depending on the type and severity of the air pollution, you can potentially lose a lot of brain tissue. Chemical gases build up quickly and mix with each other, those gases get trapped in the environment, people inhale the gases, and brain damage / cell loss is a result.

43) Microwaving “popcorn” — It doesn’t really matter what you are microwaving, if you stand close enough to the microwave or have a “microwave” leakage, you are killing your brain cells. By just standing close to a microwave that is fully sealed while operating, you do risk losing some brain cells — but not nearly as many as if there were a microwave leakage. It is important to always check up on your microwave and to repair any possible leaks. It is recommended to always stand a minimum of 2 feet away from microwaves while they are cooking.

44) Having narcolepsy – Having narcolepsy — a disorder characterized by excessive daytime sleepiness and uncontrollably falling asleep at random times. Research has shown that having narcolepsy kills “hypocretin” brain cells which are located in the hippocampus. Individuals without narcolepsy have around 70,000 hypocretin brain cells, while narcoleptics have have between 3,000 to 10,000 (a significantly lower amount). Luckily new advances and treatments are constantly being developed to help with narcolepsy!

45) Formaldehyde — Formaldehyde can be found in forest fires, automobile exhaust, and tobacco smoke. Formaldehyde can deplete brain cells and decreases cell counts within the brain. Formaldehyde exposure can cause burning of the eyes and nose, coughing, difficulty breathing, and could possibly cause leukemia. For great physical and mental health, formaldehyde exposure should be avoided.

46) Radiation treatment — It is not surprising that radiation treatment damages brain cells. After all, radiation treatment works to damage the DNA of cancerous cells. Some other cells happen to get hit with the radiation intended to take out the cancer cells, and healthy brain cells die. Most medically accepted treatments of cancer involve the killing of both healthy and unhealthy brain cells.

47) Taking the chemical MPTP — MPTP is a neurotoxin that causes permanent symptoms of Parkinson’s disease by killing neurons in the substantia nigra area of the brain. It’s scary that there’s an illicit drug like this… Hopefully you never even hear about MPTP other than on the internet.

48) Laughing gas a.K.a. nitrous oxide — When nitrous oxide is used in a controlled setting like the dentist’s office, it is fine and will not cause brain damage — the amount of the substance is carefully monitored. It is when nitrous oxide is illicitly used and abused that results in brain damage and cell loss. No need to freak out the next time the dentist uses this stuff. Don’t use this stuff in a non-medical setting and you’ll be fine.

49) Using ketamine – The use of ketamine, a common type of anesthesia, prevents brain cells from picking up “glutamate” — a protein which is essential for cell communication and survival. Like nitrous oxide, ketamine use should be limited to medical professionals. Using the proper amount of ketamine probably won’t do much damage.

50) Taking PCP – Most commonly referred to as “angel dust,” the drug PCP (Phencyclidine) can cause memory problems, inability to control thoughts, and compulsive action. PCP has been correlated with frontal-lobe brain damage and like most drugs, aids in the process of brain cell death. PCP is dangerous, triggers dangerous behavior, and should be avoided to keep a healthy brain.

There are more drugs and activities that weren’t mentioned that kill brain cells.

http://4mind4life.com/blog/2008/07/18/brain-foods-list-of-50-good-brain-foods/

2010-10-08T11:20:00.000-07:00

Flu season is upon us. Thinking of flu shots? As can be seen on CDC site this year, they have incorporated the infamous H1N1 vaccine in the mix. :o yep, just to make sure .. Same in the UK, I am not sure about other countries.

Took an FQ, then Mefloquine, and five vaccines, end of 1996, early 1997. I reacted to tetanus which was given to me twice. Strangely, 13 years after the polio jab, the antibodies are extremely high. To date, no immunologists, and doctors have been able to tell me why.

Fast forward. I saw a Chinese TCM doc two weeks ago. I didn't tell her that I had my polio antibodies checked on a hunch two years ago. According to the TCM doctor, a lot of my symptoms and LT illness is caused by damage from vaccines. I didn't tell her that the antibodies for the polio vaccine 13 years were sky high when I had it checked two years ago.

She went saying that she believes that there was damage from FQ and Lariam, but that the prolongation of symptoms, illness and heart failure is a direct cause of the vaccines. I haven't told her about the very high antibodies of the polio 13 years later, but will do so during the next consultation.

I was told by a prominent microbiologist that I suffer from several mycoplasma infections. Tests are unreliable. Unfortunately, I could not start on his recommended antibiotics regimen, since they were Fluorquiolone antibiotics ;D

Read up Dr Garth Nicholson, Dr Shreibner, Dr Haarlvorsten et al
(all have impressive CVs and are well respected scientists)

Here are some informative vids about the truth concerning vaccines:

This vid is one of 10

2010-10-06T16:51:00.000-07:00

Still have faith in "Research" ????

This article below concerns fabricated research, in particular,
analgesics!!

See excerpt from article below:

A New Low in Drug Research: 21 Fabricated Studies

......../ "Some of the studies reported favorable results from use of Pfizer’s Bextra and Merck’s Vioxx, both painkillers that have since been pulled from the market. Others offered good news about Pfizer’s pain drugs Lyrica and Celebrex and Wyeth’s antidepressant Effexor XR. Doctors said Reuben’s work was particularly influential in pain treatment and that they were shocked by the news.

“We are left with a large hole in our understanding of this field,” Steven Shafer, editor-in-chief of Anesthesia and Analgesia, told Anesthesiology News, which first reported on the retractions. “There are substantial tendrils from this body of work that reach throughout the discipline of postoperative pain management.”

Cont/.. http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2009/03/11/a-new-low-in-drug-research-21-fabricated-studies/

2010-10-06T15:55:00.000-07:00

Oxygen Therapy detrimental for some

For those who are healthy, they may suffer no ill effects. For some of us, producing high level of free radicals, it may cause even worse symptoms.

The first time I was given oxygen, it made me ill with various symptoms lasting many weeks. The symptoms were very similar to oxidative stress, meaning, I could feel a high level of free radicals very similar post minimal physical exertion and/or high level of air pollution. Thereafter, whenever I was offered oxygen, I refused it.

This article explains why some of us may not benefit from oxygen therapy. Although, I was given small dose of oxygen, it had a detrimental effect on my health. For some of us, even a small dose of oxygen will produce too high levels of nitric oxide (NO), resulting in even higher peroxynitrite - harmful.

See excerpt from an article below:

"We knew it was bad but we did not know why," Su said. The good news is they may also have a solution.

Researchers found that within five days, mice placed in small oxygen chambers that mimic oxygen levels given in intensive care have dramatically elevated levels of peroxynitrite in their lungs. Free radicals, such as peroxynitrite, result from oxygen use and are safe at low levels. While it's a given that oxygen therapy produces free radicals, the significant increase in peroxynitrite was not known.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/10/101005104335.htm

2010-09-24T02:17:00.001-07:00

.

Interview with Peter Breggin, MD,
a psychiatrist denouncing the psychiatric profession and
psychotropics, articulating the futility of DNA and
amino tests etc. Dr Breggin is one of many neuropharmacologists,
psychologists, psychiatrists exposing this fraud.

Part I

Part II

Part III

Health Last Updated: Aug 26th, 2010 - 00:35:19

America’s mental illness epidemic: It turns out that the drugs are the problem
By Gary G. Kohls, MD
Online Journal Contributing Writer

http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=4946057639976740841&postID=868173407396183409

Aug 26, 2010, 00:19

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Tens of millions of innocent, unsuspecting Americans, who are mired deeply in the mental “health” system, have actually been made crazy by the use of or the withdrawal from commonly-prescribed, brain-altering, brain-disabling, indeed brain-damaging psychiatric drugs that have been, for many decades, cavalierly handed out like candy -- often in untested and therefore unapproved combinations of drugs -- to trusting and unaware patients by equally unaware but well-intentioned physicians who have been under the mesmerizing influence of slick and obscenely profitable psychopharmaceutical drug companies, a.k.a. BigPharma.

That is the conclusion of two books by investigative journalist and health science writer Robert Whitaker. His first book, entitled Mad in America: Bad Science, Bad Medicine and the Enduring Mistreatment of the Mentally Ill noted that there has been a 600 percent increase (since Thorazine was introduced in the US in the mid-1950s) in the total and permanent disabilities of millions of psychiatric drug-takers. This uniquely First World mental ill health epidemic has resulted in the life-long taxpayer-supported disabilities of rapidly increasing numbers of psychiatric patients who are now unable to be happy, productive, taxpaying members of society. Whitaker has done a powerful, albeit unwelcome job of presenting previously hidden, but very convincing evidence to support his thesis, that it is the drugs and not the diagnosis that is causing the epidemic of mental illness disability. Many open-minded physicians and many aware psychiatric patients are now motivated to be wary of any and all synthetic chemicals that can cross the blood/brain barrier because all of them are capable of altering the brain in ways totally unknown to medical science, especially when the patients are taking the drugs long-term. .

In Whitaker’s second book Anatomy of an Epidemic: Magic Bullets, Psychiatric Drugs, and the Astonishing Rise of Mental Illness in America, he goes much further in advancing this sobering reality. He documents the history of the powerful forces behind the relatively new field of psychopharmacology and its major shaper and beneficiary, BigPharma. Psychiatric drugs, whose developers, marketers and salespersons are all in the employ of the giant drug companies, are far more dangerous than the drug and psychiatric industries are willing to admit: These drugs, it turns our, are fully capable of disabling -- often permanently -- body, brain and spirit.

More evidence to support Whitaker’s well-documented claims are laid out in two important new books written by psychiatrist and scholar Grace Jackson. Jackson did a beautiful job of researching and documenting, from the voluminous basic neuroscience research (which is uniformly ignored by the clinical sciences) the unintended and often disastrous consequences of the chronic ingestion of any of the five major classes of psychiatric drugs. Her second and most powerful book: Drug-Induced Dementia: A Perfect Crime, proves beyond a shadow of a doubt, that any of the five classes of drugs that are commonly used in psychiatric patients (antidepressants, antipsychotics, psychostimulants, tranquilizers and anti-seizure/”mood-stabilizer” drugs) have shown microscopic, macroscopic, biochemical, clinical and/or radiological evidence of brain shrinkage and other signs of brain damage, which can result in clinically-diagnosable, permanent dementia, premature death and a variety of other related brain disorders that can mimic mental illnesses. Jackson’s first book, Rethinking Psychiatric Drugs: A Guide for Informed Consent was an equally sobering book warning about the many hidden dangers of psychiatric drugs.

This sad truth is that the seemingly knee-jerk prescribing (without very much information being given to patients about the long list of serious long-term adverse effects) of potent and often addicting/dependency-inducing psychiatric drugs has become the standard of care in American psychiatry since the introduction of the so-called anti-schizophrenic “miracle” drug Thorazine in the mid-1950s. (Thorazine was the offending drug that all of Jack Nicholson’s fellow patients were coerced into taking at “medication time” in the Academy Award-winning movie “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.”) Thorazine and all the other “me-too” early antipsychotic drugs are now universally known to have been an iatrogenic (= doctor or other treatment-caused) disaster because of their serious long-term, initially unsuspected, brain-damaging effects that resulted in a number of incurable neurological disorders such as tardive dyskinesia and Parkinson’s disease.

Thorazine and all the other knock-off drugs like Prolixin, Mellaril, Navane, etc., are synthetic “tricyclic” chemical compounds similar in molecular structure to the tricyclic “antidepressants” like imipramine and the similarly toxic, obesity-inducing, diabetogenic, “atypical” anti-schizophrenic drugs like Clozaril, Zyprexa and Seroquel.

Thorazine, incidentally, was originally developed in Europe as an industrial dye. That doesn’t sound so good although it may not be so unusual in the closely related fields of psychopharmcology and the chemical industry, especially when one considers that Depakote, a popular drug marketed initially as an anti-epilepsy drug but now is being heavily used as a so-called “mood stabilizer.” Depakote, known to be a hepatotoxin and renal toxin, was originally developed as an industrial solvent capable of dissolving fat -- including, presumably, the fatty tissue in human livers and brains.

Some sympathy and understanding needs to be generated for the various victims of BigPharma’s compulsive drive to expand market share and ”shareholder value” (share price, dividends and the next quarter’s financial report) by whatever means necessary. Both the prescribers and the swallowers of BigPharma’s drugs have succumbed to BigPharma’s cunning marketing campaigns, the prescribers having been seduced by attractive drug company representatives and their “pens, pizzas and post-it note” freebies in the office, and the patients being brain-washed by the inane and unbelievable (if one has intact critical thinking skills) commercials on TV that quickly gloss over the lethal adverse effects in the fine print while urging the watcher to “ask your doctor” about the latest unaffordable wannabe blockbuster drug. .

For a quick overview of these issues, I recommend that everybody with an open mind read a long essay written by Whitaker that persuasively identifies the source of America’s epidemic of mental illness disability (a phenomenon that doesn’t exist in Third World nations because costly psych drugs are not prescribed so cavalierly as in the US).

Whitaker and Jackson (among a number of other ground-breaking and whistle-blowing authors who have been essentially black-listed by the mainstream media and mainstream medical journals) have proven to most critically-thinking scientists, alternative practitioners and assorted “psychiatric survivors” that it is the drugs -- and not the so-called “disorders” -- that are causing our nation’s epidemic of mental illness disability. The Whitaker essay, plus other pertinent information about his books can be accessed at Mad In America. A recent interview on Wisconsin Public Radio can be accessed at www.wpr.org (at their radio archives link) and a long interview with Dr.Joseph Mercola can be heard here.

After reading and studying all these inconvenient truths, mental health practitioners must consider the medicolegal implications for them, especially if the information is ignored or if the information is dismissed out of hand by practitioners who might be tempted to not take the time to study this new information. Those people who are hearing about this for the first time need to pass the word on to others, especially their prescribing healthcare practitioners who should be equally concerned. This is important because the opinion leaders in the highly influential (for good or ill) psychiatric and medical industries have been marketed into submission without hearing the all the facts (which may have been intentionally hidden from them. If that is the case, they cannot be automatically blamed for. proceeding in a practice that some day might represent malpractice. It shouldn’t have to be pointed out that is the solemn duty of ethical practitioners who are in positions of authority to fully examine potential malpractice issues and then warn others, especially their patients, of the dangers.

Sadly, it must be admitted that most of the over-worked, double-booked care-givers in medical clinics have not yet heard the news that most if not all of the brain-altering synthetic chemicals known as psychotropic drugs (which are treated as hazardous waste unless they are packaged in a swallowable capsule!) have been marketed as safe and effective -- but only for short-term use. The captains of the drug industry know that the psychotropic drugs that they present for the FDA-approval have only been tested in animal trials for days and in clinical trials for 6 weeks. They also know -- indeed they hope -- that patients will be taking their drugs for years (despite no long-term trials proving safety and efficacy) as the only “treatment” for mental ill health. They know that their brain-altering drugs are also dependency-inducing (aka addicting, causing withdrawal symptoms when stopped), neurotoxic and increasingly ineffective (a la “Prozac Poop-out”) as time goes by.

The truth is that the people diagnosed as “mentally ill” for life are often simply those unfortunates who find themselves in acute or chronic states of crisis or “overwhelm” due to any number of preventable, curable and treatable (without the use of drugs) bad luck accidents such as poverty, abuse, violence, torture, homelessness, discrimination, underemployment, brain malnutrition, addictions/withdrawal, brain damage from electroshock “therapy” and/or exposure to neurotoxic chemicals in their food, air, water or prescription bottles.

Those labeled as the “mentally ill” are just like us “normals” who have not yet decompensated because of some yet-to-happen, crisis-inducing, overwhelming (however temporary) life situation. And thus we have not yet been given a billable code number (accompanied by the seemingly obligatory -- and unaffordable -- drug prescription or two signifying we are now chronically mentally ill. Unlabeled, we are likely to remain off prescription drugs but with a label and in “the system,” it is hard to “just say no to drugs.”

The victims of hopelessness-generating situations like simple bad luck, bad circumstances, bad company, bad choices, bad government, big business, and a competitive society that generates a few winners but mostly losers. America tolerates, indeed celebrates, punitive and thus fear-inducing social systems resembling in many ways the infamous police state realities of 20th century European totalitarianism, where people who were different or just dissidents were thought to be abnormal and therefore “disappeared” into insane asylums, jails or concentration camps without just cause or competent legal defense. And many of them were and are drugged with disabling psychoactive chemicals against their will.

The truth is that most, if not all, of BigPharma’s psychotropic drugs are lethal at some dosage level (the LD50, the lethal dose that kills 50 percent of lab animals, is calculated before efficacy testing is done), and therefore the drugs must be regarded as dangerous. The chronic use of these drugs is a major cause of cognitive disorders, brain damage, loss of creativity, loss of spirituality, loss of empathy, loss of energy, loss of strength, fatigue and tiredness, permanent disability and a multitude of metabolic adverse effects that can readily sicken the body, brain and soul by causing insomnia or somnolence, increased depression or anxiety, delusions, psychoses, paranoia, mania, etc. So before filling the prescription, it is advisable to read the product insert labeling under WARNINGS, PRECAUTIONS, ADVERSE EFFECTS, CONTRAINDICATIONS, TOXICOLOGY, OVERDOSAGE and the ever-present BLACK BOX WARNINGS ABOUT SUICIDALITY.

Long-term, high dosage or combination psychotropic drug usage could be regarded as a chemically traumatic brain injury (TBI) or, as drugs like Thorazine were known in the 1950s and 60s, a “chemical lobotomy.” That is a useful way to conceptualize this serious issue, because such chemically brain-altered patients are often indistinguishable from those who have suffered a physically traumatic brain injuries or been subjected to ice-pick lobotomies which were popular in the 1940s and 50s -- before the drugs came on the market.

America has a mental ill health epidemic on its hands that is grossly misunderstood because it is worsening, not by the supposed disease progression, but because of the neurotoxic, non-curative drugs that are somehow regarded as first-line “treatment.”

For more information of these extremely serious topics check out these websites: www.mindfreedom.org, www.breggin.com, www.icspp.org, www.cchr.org, www.drugawareness.org, www.psychrights.org, www.benzo.org.uk, www.quitpaxil, org, www.wildscolts.com, www.endofshock.com, www.mercola.com and www.madinamerica.com and follow the links.

Dr. Kohls is a family physician who, until his retirement in 2008, practiced holistic mental health care. His patients came to see him asking for help in getting off the psychotropic drugs that they knew were sickening and disabling them. He was successful in helping significant majorities of his patients get off their drugs using a thorough and therefore time-consuming program that was based on psychoeducational psychotherapy, brain nutrient therapy, a drastic change away from the malnourishing and often toxic Standard American Diet (SAD) plus a program of gradual, closely monitored drug withdrawal. Dr. Kohls warns against the abrupt discontinuation of any psychiatric drug because of the common, often serious withdrawal symptoms that can occur with the chronic use of any dependency-inducing psychoactive drug, whether illicit or legal. Close consultation with an aware, informed physician who is hopefully familiar with dealing with drug withdrawal syndromes (starting with the original prescribing physician), who will read and study the above books and become aware of the previously unknown dangers of these drugs and the nutritional needs of the drug-toxified and nutritionally-depleted brain.
Dr. Kohls is a member of MindFreedom International and the International Center for the Study of Psychiatry and Psychology. He is the editor of the occasional Preventive Psychiatry E-Newsletter.

Vids on Fox News and ABC News about the futility and addiction of so called anti-depressants and pain killers.

http://wn.com/Dangers_Of_Antidepressants_Suppressed_Fox_News

2010-09-01T15:09:00.000-07:00

More info about the ESEA prod

It is interesting, but it also tells that these scientists
were able to use water and salt and stabilitze some molecules
which have never been achieved before.

I read some of Emoto's theory about altering
the molecules of water, by using a vortex device.
Some have reported various sensations when trying doing
this clockwise, anti clockwise, and repeating the process altering
the direction.

The shady part here for me is the corporate style of marketing
this prod. Would it not be an irony if some of these men are fat
cats from Big Pharma? selling us snake oil, lol

watch this vid, very interesting:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=smJKRKo5n6U&feature=related

2010-09-01T08:17:00.000-07:00

Dr Jerry Tennant discusses
Body voltage, cells, pH balance and
tips concerning balancing body voltage,
hypthyroidism, adrenals,stomach acids, and more.

There were some contradictions, but overall
well worth watching!!

Part I vid:

http://www.globalpreneurs.com/playback.php?t=MzYzMjc1MjM2MjU2ODc5NjI4MzM0NA==

Part II vid:

http://www.globalpreneurs.com/playback.php?pl=YjRkMWQ2ZGQzODg5YzgzNWY1MGZlNWFjM2MyNTk4MDM2Mjg0MT&crmid=1&uid=6809

2010-08-15T07:32:00.000-07:00

I am starting a new blog focusing on disease state and symptoms resulting from adverse reactions to medications/iatrogenic/toxicity/vaccines/environmental and other.

It will be accessible to co-authors, guest scientists worldwide,(anti-establishment) and contributing members only. We will co-ordinate and liaise information from various sources with the outcome to greater understanding how to /prevent/reverse/halt the Dis-Ease process regardless of its manifestation.

Meanwhile, this blog will continue to operate, on a smaller scale.

Regardless of the symptoms and manifestation of the ensuing illness/symptoms, the mechanism caused by oxidization of the endothelial cells will result in various disease state, no matter the affects.

Inflammation, will cause varied disease state in individuals. All systems are connected, regardless. The focus will be on mitochondria, methylation, oxidization, ROS (free radicals) metabolism, inflammation, and other cellular and biochemical processes and more.

Healing involves knowledge and intuition. There are forces and energies which are non formulaic.

Equally, there are healing compounds which works both in allopathic medicine (side effects will occur in most) and other healing practices which are not explained. Often, scientific formulas hinder healing process, burdened with academic conflicts and pharmaceutical interests at the forefront of allopathic medicine.

Will blog about empirical and theoretical, whilst discussing various healing approaches.

Science uses the hypothetico-deductive method. The hypothesis itself derived from non logical thinking, observable, intuitive thought pattern to which logic was applied using formulas. The scientific process has to be ampliative in order to evolve.

2010-07-05T15:28:00.000-07:00

Watch this vid: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2502546838698762400#

Still wanna reach for your little candies?

MEDICAL JOURNALS PIMP FOR BIG PHARMA
By Jon Christian Ryter
June 19, 2010 NewsWithViews. com
http://www.newswithviews.com/Ryter/jon321.htm

PLoS Medicine a peer review journal for the Public Library of Science claimed in an article that the most respected medical journals have become much too dependent on revenue from the pharmaceutical industry from two sources. First, advertising revenue which, according to PLoS, is the least corrupting form of revenue since the pharmaceutical industry should have the right to reach their potential customers in the periodicals their customers-doctors- read. What is the bigger problem, and what corrupts the integrity of the advertising process in about 25 different medical journals according to PLoS in an article published by the Public Library of Science five years ago (but never read by the general public which does not generally subscribe to it) is the second source of "advertising" revenue. The PR firms hired by the pharmaceutical giants pay fees to the journals to print well-edited capsulated synopsis of the drug trials.

The PR firms know that when the drug trials are published in any medical journal, the drug and the test tacitly carry that journal's stamp of approval simply by appearing in it. According to PLoS, a favorable review in a periodical like the Journal of American Medicine and the British Medical Journal and Lancet which have global distribution is worth thousands of pages of advertising. The PR companies will sometimes pay upwards of a million dollars for reprints of the articles to send to drug distributors, pharmaceutical wholesalers and medical professionals. While the PR firms admit the recipients of the reprints seldom read them, what they rely on is the name of the prestigious journal printing the review of giving a new drug credibility in the marketplace it has not earned from evidence of their curative abilities. The more important the medical journal, the more credibility the drug receives in the eyes of the physicians who receive the reprints.

Many times the whole content of the written clinical tests are not all that favorable to the drug but that, of course, is not reflected in the capsulated, controlled synopsis that appears in the medical journals. In 1994, Dr. Paula Rochon, adjunct scientist for the Kunin-Lunefeld Applied Research Unit and several of her colleagues wrote a paper examining the impact of journals which were paid to publish controlled excerpts of clinical studies had on the medical community's acceptance of the drugs compared to actual medicinal value of the drugs examined. The study focused on one class of drugs only: nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs designed to combat arthritis. They found 56 trials. Not one of the published reports on the clinical studies presented any facts that were detrimental to the drugs tested.

The group came back a decade later, in 2003, and did a follow-up study on the 56 trial drugs to see if the drugs were living up to their clinical claims. The article was published by Richard Smith, the CEO of UnitedHealth Europe. Smith was Editor-in-Chief of the British Medical Journal for 13 years and held that job when the aforementioned study on the new arthritis drug was done. In many cases the reality of the drugs did not match the printed rhetoric of the promises of the clinical study conducted a decade earlier.

The question raised by the Public Library of Science a decade later was: how do pharmaceutical companies get the results they want once the drug is approved and recommended by physicians to their clients. When we go to our HMO or PPO physicians and they prescribe medication, we assume-and have every right and expectation to assume-that the prescription our physician prescribes will relieve or cure whatever the prescription is taken for. According to Smith, the pharmaceutical companies and their PR firms get the results they want not by fudging the facts but by asking the right questions and providing the right answers. This comes from hiring the right PR top guns who know how to stay a step ahead of the peer review groups. They do this by isolating positive parts of the clinical studies and forcing the dialogue into those positive aspects while ignoring negative ones. Or they combine the results from different centers in multiple combinations to obfuscate negative results in some facet or facets of the clinical study.

These strategies, Smith noted, have been exposed in the cases of risperidone and odansetron. However, with the 56 clinical studies the PLoS were attempting to evaluate, there was an impossible amount of work to examine in order to ascertain how many of the trials were truly independent and not biased on behalf of the fees paid by the pharmaceutical company. Clearly, what the Big Pharma wants is their drugs approved and used, and the PR firms they hire are paid to get positive "reviews" from the medical journals and paid advertising and advertorial (paid editorial copy) in the form of capsulated clinical studies.

What it comes down to, if the world's most prestigious medical journals-which medical professionals read as the Bible of the industry-have sold their souls for money, it is no more factually believable than magazines like The Onion or Mad magazine, the satirical comic book most Americans of read as teenagers back in the 1950s and 1960s. Smith further noted that "...Journal editors are becoming increasingly aware of how they are being manipulated and are fighting back. But, I must confess it took me almost a quarter of a century editing for the BMJ to wake up to what was happening... [E]ditors ask for other related data [related to] the studies submitted to them...But editors do not know what other unpublished studies exist."

Editors generally do not know if they are doing an honest peer review on one product or on a gigantic clever marketing jigsaw. More than likely one or more editors have commented that the material they get, regardless if it's a precise document or a jigsaw puzzle will always be of high technical quality.

The question raised by Smith and investigators like Dr. Rochon is how do we prevent the most prestigious medical journals in the world from selling their editorial souls for money? How do we prevent them from becoming no more credible than Mad Magazine or The Onion? How do we prevent them from becoming an extension of the marketing arm of the pharmaceutical industry? Smith thinks the editors can demand the right to review the protocols, and insist that all trials be registered; and most of all, demand that all clinical studies are completely transparent.

That won't happen because the journal publishers and shareholders know those clinical studies are worth millions of dollars in revenue, and bring additional millions in print advertising dollars from the pharmaceutical industry to reward them for publishing the clinical studies. Meaning, of course, that the medical journals are not going to risk that revenue. So, if you're a doctor who generally reads the New England Journal of Medicine, the Annals of Internal Medicine, JAMA or BMJ or Lancet in England, Canada or Australia for the latest life saving drugs, you might as well read something that will give you a chuckle.

Mad magazine was my magazine of choice as a kid. Give it a try. You have to say one thing about Mad. If you're older than 8 or 10 years of age, you'll always know when Mad's story line is an out-and-out lie or is colouring the truth. According to Smith and the editors of several other medical journals, you can't tell that from clinical studies published in the medical journals until you read the histories of the drugs about a decade later. By then, for some, it's too late. I guess that's why class action lawsuits are still in vogue.

2010-06-29T09:20:00.000-07:00

Pyschotropics DO NOT WORK

Sorry about the rant here, but I have seen what those drugs have done to my dearest and closest .... :-@! I have the full report in PDF format for those who want it, just send me a PM.

Psychiatric drugs & suicide in Sweden 2007
A report based on data from the
National Board of Health and Welfare
By Janne Larsson

The purpose of this investigation has been to find data about the preceding psychopharmacological treatment for all persons who committed suicide in Sweden 2007.

The conclusion is that a large percentage of the persons who committed suicide in Sweden in 2007 had received extensive treatment with psychiatric drugs within a year of and close to the suicide.

This is a report about suicides committed in Sweden (with around 9 million citizens) in 2007 and the psychiatric drug treatment that preceded these suicides.

The report has three main parts:

• It gives unique data about all suicides committed in 2007 and the psychiatric
drugs that the persons received within a year of the suicide.

• It compares these data with autopsy reports about psychiatric drugs found in
the blood (of 98%) of all the persons who committed suicide in 2007.

• It gives extensive information about the psychiatric drug treatment given
within a year to the subgroup of persons who committed suicide in 2007 and
then were reported to the National Board of Health and Welfare by reason of
law 3 - one third of all suicides committed that year.

The data presented on these pages should have been published by the responsible national authorities.

A large percentage of the persons who committed suicide in Sweden in 2007 had received extensive treatment with psychiatric drugs within a year of their suicide.

The idea that persons who are depressed are suffering from “chemical imbalances” and are deficient in the substance serotonin has been marketed by the pharmaceutical companies selling antidepressants (in the class SSRI, such as Prozac, Paxil/Seroxat, Zoloft) for more than a decade.

The intensive marketing has led persons to believe that their low mood is a deficiency disease – and that it is vital to supply the substance that corrects this deficiency – the antidepressant drug.

But there is no scientific evidence that a low mood is caused by a ”chemical imbalance” in the brain 10 11. The hypothesis has been rejected with the following words by one of the most well known names in the field: “The serotonin theory of depression is comparable to the masturbatory theory of insanity.” 12 (The old theory that masturbation caused insanity.)

The Swedish medical agencies and their psychiatric consultants have used old data from forensic toxicological screenings to mislead the public and to heavily increase the use of antidepressants and other psychiatric drugs.

The most important information in this area is the patients’ medical history, the treatment history. Antidepressants, neuroleptics and other psychiatric drugs may cause harmful changes in the brain and these brain dysfunctions do not vanish when the drugs are discontinued – in many cases they cause chronic dysfunction to the brain, exemplified by the known neurological harm caused by neuroleptics. Many patients also get serious withdrawal reactions; reactions that can be so severe that they can lead to suicide.

Better sources of information are the unpublished clinical trials of psychiatric drugs done by pharmaceutical companies, and the important studies done by independent researchers.

A number of these studies show that antidepressants and neuroleptics increase the risk of suicidal behaviour and directly cause effects that lead to suicide.

Considering the results presented in this report, it is no longer possible to say that ”more” of the same sort is the solution to the problem. It’s not “more psychiatry” – more psychiatric drugs – that is the solution. Politicians, trying to surpass each other in demanding more funds for a psychiatric industry that only means more “treatment” with psychiatric drugs, should know that they directly contribute to harming people and to the creation of more “results” of the sort presented in this report.

Subservient nodding and voting when psychiatric opinion leaders require changes in law, so that people can be drugged with force in their homes, and so that “drug treatment without exceptions” can be given for people with mental problems, only lead to an increase in the psychiatric results described earlier. This report clearly shows one thing: A large majority of persons committed suicide after having had “adequate drug treatment” – in the meaning used in psychiatry; the very treatment that should prevent suicide. There is no reason to believe that the reporting system for adverse drug events work better in other countries. The catastrophic state of these “surveillance systems” makes it possible to keep destructive drugs on the market year after year.

All it takesis for pharmaceutical companies to show that many persons have been exposed to these drugs, and that almost no adverse event reports have been submitted; the drugs must be “safe and effective”.

This example from Sweden shows that in 338 cases persons committed suicide after having been prescribed psychiatric drugs – and none of these cases were reported to the registry for adverse drug events. Instead of Eli Lilly claiming that the drug Zyprexa was involved in 0 cases of suicide in Sweden 2007, the fact was that the drug was involved in 52 cases in this subgroup of 338 persons. Instead of Wyeth claiming the same for Effexor, the fact was that the drug was involved in 41 cases in
this group.

The reporting system must be completely reformed right away. It must be made mandatory for health care professionals to directly report all suspected serious adverse drug effects, and persons not reporting must be disciplined. Patients must be fully informed about the actual harmful effects of the drugs and given the right to report these effects to the adverse events registry, with the promise of effective follow-up.

The reformed system must not give room for the now ruling psychiatric concealment ideology, where obvious harmful effects of psychiatric drugs are treated as “symptoms” requiring more drugs. Instead all these effects must be reported as suspected harmful effects from the drugs.

And, most importantly, the data presented in this report must lead to basic changes in the ways in which persons with mental problems are being cared for.

http://www.theoneclickgroup.co.uk/news.php?start=3660&end=3680&view=yes&id=4926#newspost

2010-06-29T08:40:00.000-07:00

Censored and not revealed in the press, many who are seriously ill with brain tumors, cancers, heart disease, and more, are being forced to go to work.

New welfare rules and regulations in the UK means that it is almost impossible to get disability unless paralyzed from head to toe!!!!

It is equivalent to a MASS CULLING, and this is not being reported in the Press!!

Instead the$150 billion assigned to US company Atos for a period of 7 years (banned from practicing in California for fraud) unfairly dismissing those who are chronically ill. Forcing them to choose between work or face the prospects of loosing your benefits.

Staff members are under pressure to put someone to work, because their salary is linked to how many people they sign fit for work. Atos doctors are given bonuses for signing "fit to work" and yes, you can guess what is going.

We are being vilified by politicians (and the press) as scroungers, cheats, and lazy!! I know of several instances of some on chemo being told they are fit to work by their encologists, despite being very poorly.

I know of one who collapsed at work suffering from a brain tumor, two women who collapsed and died and a man who was left alone in a wheelchair being refused social care. He died of dehydration and organ failure, unable to feed himself for several days.

UK members, those of you are reliant on disability, sign the petition:

http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/sack-atos-healthcare/sign.html

Doctors are being trained to say how well you look even when you look as if you are near death's door, unable to stand up. They are being trained to look at legal loopholes concerning tests and investigations. As we know, tests and investigations are ONLY SUPPORTIVE of a diagnosis which is based on symptoms and medical history.

There are several internet activists groups exposing this MASS SLAUGHTER & GENOCIDE.

It is not about saving money here, since, they are using this money to create dummy jobs within the DWP itself, but not to help the sick and vulnerable, instead, to PERSECUTE.

UK members who are interested in finding out more, send me a PM. Protect yourselves by keeping informed.

This is inhumane. Many are asking for a little to go to sleep, rather than facing worsening of health through destitution and dying of a slow death ....

Not worried, you should be ..

2010-05-23T09:53:00.000-07:00

* BIG thanks to the great filmmakers who have made these amazing films! May I be Frank, One Hour Fantasy Girl, Family Divided, Awareness GMW++ 1 day ago

Become a Fan on Facebook!
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Legend

Regent Showcase Theater: 614 N. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (directions)
Heaven on Earth: 7122 Beverly Blvd. (Upstairs), Los Angeles, CA 90036 (directions)
Marco Polo Loft: 716 Taft St. (Corner of Lincoln and Colorado), Santa Monica, CA 90404 (directions)
Opening & Closing Galas

Certain Adverse Events
When Sunday, May 23, 2010, 1 – 2pm
Where 1 PM (50 MIN)
Event type Fair/Festival
Ticket Web Link store.healoneworld.com…
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Heaven On Earth

For more Info: http://awarenessfestival.healoneworld.com/calendar.html?trumbaEmbed=view%3devent%26eventid%3d89412923

2010-05-23T06:02:00.000-07:00

This post,and others to follow, will complement research on CYPs, TPRV receptors and Vanilloid Receptors as well as "Altering Brain Chemistry" & "Electromagnetic" threads. It is all linked, all of it, what we eat, what we drink, what we inhale, ingest, meds, environmental, exposure to radio frequencies (RF), etc. All affect cell permeability.

On going research shows some success with calcium, manganese with SOD, Pantethine taurine. Manganese & SOD help with tendinitis too.

Before taking taking anything, check it out yourselves. It is not that simple.

For instance, ethnicity and diet is important here. Apparently, those who are of Mexican descent, seem to have higher content of SOD/Manganese (lucky guys). It binds to minerals. Vit K is supposed to help with tendinitis too, read that it stops calcifications, specially in soft tissues, microvessels. Look this up.

It's all connected. Because I excited the TRPVs with RAW tumeric, I have painful tendinitis, and some recurrence of neurological symptoms. Hence, the impetus and motivation for research.

2010-05-16T10:30:00.000-07:00

Professor Yiannis Samaras and Dr Effimia Eriotou found Thyme Essential Oil, (as in herb thyme) and Cinnamon Essential Oil are effective against MRSA!! It was suggested that these could be used as food preservatives instead of toxic chems. Known for thousands of years, validated in 2010!! http://tinyurl.com/ydopvre

Yummy.

See also the post on Black Seed Oil, which is under Glutathione Label

2010-05-16T10:28:00.000-07:00

Now for cheerier news, hard to find, but here goes:

For those who are skeptical as to why many develop cascade of symptoms and mulitiple disease processes post adverse drug/vaccine reaction, it is simple and complex.

Considering that many will develop mitochondrial dysfunction, inflammatory process, organ damage, autoimmune illnesses, and other, caused by injury to endolethial cells, leading to oxidization, high level of free radicals, and metabolic syndromes for which there are no labels, no diagnostic tests, over a period of years, we are often labelled as suffering from CFS.

Previous referenced posts have shown that antibiotics can activate dormant infectious pathogens, caused L-Carnitine dysfunction, mitochondrial dysfunction etc..

The XMRV virus has been linked to vaccine and is also transmissible through body fluids, and patients suffering horrific symptoms over many years, are also given the label of CFS/ME. XMRV is a retrovirus, similar to the HIV virus and prostate cancer.

I am not making a direct link between XMRV and ADRs - neverthelss, it deserves a mention
and could be applicable to some.

Considering that little is known about pathogenis of the virus, except that it plays a role in dysfunction of the immune system, undetectable at this time due to the limitations of immunology!!

The good news is that Canada, is the first country to have put a ban on ME/CFS sufferers donating blood.

Is it not curious that the Medical Research Council (MRC) in the UK refuses to release documents dating from 1988 to present in regards to ME/CFS? These documents are unobtainable even through the Freedom of Information Act 2000. These documents are under lock and key until 2071.

Meanwhile Canada is the first country to ban ME/CFS sufferers from donating blood.

2010-05-16T08:27:00.000-07:00

Study below about compounds in Triphala, at the end of the
Foreword.

When I started taking Ayurvedic compounds, a year ago, I had little faith , no understanding of how it worked, and was not interested in diet, and meditation even though, I had done meditation
a few years earlier, found it beneficial - SIGNIFICANTLY so!! to the point of being able to control my heart rhythm.

I still have no understanding of Ayurvedic Medicine. But, I can report that the healing experience brought on by prescribed compounds, is supported by blood tests and investigations (but then again those tests are very limited). This is not placebo, or coincidence. I have been ill from multiple ADRs for over ten years, mostly homebound/bedridden, and a stint in a wheelchair.

The healing process resulted in a total change in consciousness, brought on by experiencing the therapeutic effects of those compounds, whilst seeking to understand how Ayurvedic Medicine works, by reading about it in depth, and trying desperately to alter my diet accordingly.

The shift in consciousness, brought me closer to understanding what HEALING means, on cellular level, and that it takes TIME, and motivation to assist in your own HEALING. AVOIDING at all costs, DNA damage from meds, MRIs, Xrays, scans, RF from EMF etc.... I am at last physically feeling the effect of cells rebuilding.

Lastly, the Ayurvedic way, reinforced my convictions concerning allopathic medicine. IT DOES NOT WORK, is solely profit based, little science and no substance.

Even if I had not "discovered" Ayurveda, I had read enough "research" about allopathic medicine from medical and science journals, to feel utter contempt at the arrogance and skewed research and so much conjecture based on a mechanical way, materialistic of how physiology & biochemistry works.

It takes literally decades for the medical establishment to alter wrong assumptions, and moreover, oppose any other view points to protect their own interests and industry, rather than the patients.

A good example of this - Dr Hulda Clark and before her,other scientists, at the beginning of the last Century, showed, that many cancers originated from bacteria and viruses. They were cast aside, ridiculed whilst the establishment went on a witch hunt of such scientists, destroying their careers in the process, leaving them with no credibility.

Similar is happening with scientists showing evidence of how toxicity affects mitochondria, methylation, free radicals increase etc... for over 30 years!!! So many illnesses could have been erased, and so many patients could have benefited. Instead, more illness, more disability, unnecessary more deaths, and more money for Big Pharma.

There is no doubt that in life and death situation, some type of surgery may be life saving, but even then, there will be consequences, even, if not immediate, somewhere along the line, from meds, anesthetics, etc...

Although it is not necessary to meditate, it will assist in healing, there is little doubt of that. It oxygenates cells, brings down BP, promotes release of good hormones, whilst reducing toxic hormones and its effects, reduces CNS, realigns alpha, beta and other brain waves etc... I started again, today, and will try to keep this up.

Below is a study, amongst many concerning compounds from two fruits used in Triphala, which I have been taking daily for a year, except for a few weeks breaks. It even cleared the toxins from my eyes, I no longer need to wear reading glasses!! All my posts have been consistent concerning Triphala and my experience with Ayurvedic Medicine, I wish I started years ago, when first floxed!!

No matter how much analysis or research is done in the West about compounds in fruits and vegetables, there are limitations as to healing compounds. Far too much importance and credits are atributed to those tests, when Triphala has stood the test of time, for over 4000 years.....

Comparative study of the antioxidant and reactive oxygen species scavenging properties in the extracts of the fruits of Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Emblica officinalis

Bibhabasu Hazra email, Rhitajit Sarkar email, Santanu Biswas email and Nripendranath Mandal email

BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine 2010, 10:20doi:10.1186/1472-6882-10-20
Published: 13 May 2010
Abstract (provisional)

Background

Cellular damage caused by reactive oxygen species (ROS) has been implicated in several diseases, and hence natural antioxidants have significant importance in human health. The present study was carried out to evaluate the in vitro antioxidant and reactive oxygen species scavenging activities of Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Emblica officinalis fruit extracts.
Methods

The 70% methanol extracts were studied for in vitro total antioxidant activity along with phenolic and flavonoid contents and reducing power. Scavenging ability of the extracts for radicals like DPPH, hydroxyl, superoxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide, peroxynitrite, singlet oxygen, hypochlorous acid were also performed to determine the potential of the extracts.
Results

The ability of the extracts of the fruits in exhibiting their antioxative properties follow the order T. chebula > E. officinalis > T. belerica. The same order is followed in their flavonoid content, whereas in case of phenolic content it becomes E. officinalis > T. belerica > T. chebula. In the studies of free radicals' scavenging, where the activities of the fruit extracts were inversely proportional to their IC50 values, T. chebula and E. officinalis were found to be taking leading role with the orders of T. chebula > E. officinalis > T. belerica for superoxide and nitric oxide, and E. officinalis > T. belerica > T. chebula for DPPH and peroxynitrite radicals.

Miscellaneous results were observed in the scavenging of other radicals by the fruit extracts, viz., T. chebula > T. belerica > E. officinalis for hydroxyl, T. belerica > T. chebula > E. officinalis for singlet oxygen and T. belerica > E. officinalis > T. chebula for hypochlorous acid. In a whole, the studied fruit extracts showed quite good efficacy in their antioxidant and radical scavenging abilities, compared to the standards.

Conclusions

The evidences as can be concluded from the study of the 70% methanol extract of the fruits of Terminalia chebula, Terminalia belerica and Emblica officinalis, imposes the fact that they might be useful as potent sources of natural antioxidant.

2010-05-08T14:11:00.000-07:00

Good Detox recipe using various oils and a smoothie.

Watch out for spinach, some amines can exacerbate CNS, as well as tomatoes, chicken skin and other foods already mentioned here on this thread.

Coconut derivatives has salycylates compounds. Apparently, I read, it can interfere with oxygen transport if " they exceed a threshold concentration. They also occur in honey and prawns etc so certain combinations can lead to higher doses."

Aghhhh - such hard work to remain well, and prevent more symptoms!

Permission requested to copy and pasted:

Phospholipid exchange
From DoctorMyhill

* 1 The Recipe from Beverley Gibson
* 2 Using Other Oils

Phospholipid exchange is a technique for supplying the correct proportion of fats and oils in a bioavailable form to replenish cell membranes and membranes within cells.

This technique has been pioneered by Dr Patricia Kane, who has seen remarkable clinical results. She uses intravenous therapy, but good results are also possible with oral therapy. Together with sufferers I am experimenting with techniques to get the best results. The underlying principles are:

1. The basic membrane structure is made up of phosphatidylcholine . The best source of this is lecithin (available as egg, soya or sunflower lecithin). The trouble with lecithin is that it gets digested in the gut instead of being absorbed as phophatidylcholine. We are experimenting with juicing mixes to see if this will reduce the lecithin to tiny micelles, which will allow it to be absorbed as whole molecules.
2. Membranes then need the right proportion of omega 6 to 3 oils, i.e. 4:1. Hemp oil is very close to this ratio at 3.8:1. (Hemp oil is not the same as linseed oil!) So, add in a small amount of sunflower oil, say 5%. This is the equivalent of Patricia Kane's Body Bio-oil as in the recipe below.
3. Small amount of Eskimo oil (not necessaery if you already take VegEPA)
4. The perfect fuel for brain cells is coconut oil, which is rich in medium chain triglycerides.
5. Furthermore providing an abundance of clean oils helps to displace the toxic oils which have accumulated in the brain as a result of polluting heavy metals, pesticides, volatile organic compounds etc. That is to say these fats will also help detoxification.

The Recipe from Beverley Gibson

Here is the juice that I make 3 times daily - it takes around 5 mins. I use a Juice master available from http://www.juicemas ter.com/product. php?id=3

Juice the following:- (I buy organic and get it delivered to my door from Sainsburys)

* 1/2 lime
* 1/4 medium cucumber
* 1 stick of celery
* Handful of spinach
* 1/2 inch of broccoli stem and/or a few broccoli florets.

* Place all above into a blender and add:-

* 1/4 avocado
* Coconut oil 1 dessert spoon (10ml) (Coconut Oil must have been kept in the fridge in order to blend well)
* Lecithin 1 dessert spoon (10ml)
* Hemp oil 1 dessert spoon (10ml)
* Sunflower oil 1/4 teaspoon (1ml)
* 2-4 Ice cubes

Blend everything until smooth, pour and enjoy.
Using Other Oils

The proportion of omega 6 to 3 in other oils are as follows:

1. Peanut oil - very high!
2. Safflower oil - 152
3. Sunflower oil - 68
4. Corn oil - 54
5. Olive oil - 10
6. Palm oil - 10
7. Soybean oil - 7.7
8. Hemp oil 3.8
9. Canola oil - 2
10. Rapeseed oil - 2
11. Linseed oil - 0.3

You should aim for 4:1 ratio, so if you cannot access hemp oil or there is an allergy problem, make up another mix. So, for example 80% olive oil with 20% linseed oil would also give a 4:1 ratio.

2010-05-07T15:47:00.001-07:00

2010-05-01T12:08:00.000-07:00

Watch this Vid

Those who tell the unpalatable truths are often ridiculed, or thought of as eccentrics or conspiratory theorists.

For the most part, factual, a good watch.

2010-04-23T23:57:00.000-07:00

DSM-5 REVISION, FLOXIES BEWARE

Floxies and others suffering from ADRs, often develop horrific symptoms, for which there are (conveniently) no tests. The American Psychiatric Association (APA) revising Diagnostic and Statistical Manual for Mental Disorders (DSM-5), proposes to psychologize behaviors such as being justifiably show "concern" "and seeking help and understanding." It will be classified under somatic disorders!!!

Medical doctors and scientists are ignorant, deaf and blind, to symptoms/sufferings arising from ADRs... Most of those symptoms are functional occurring at cellular level. Rather than admit their ignorance and fear of repercussions, they opt for slapping a psychiatric label on to floxies and others.

On a personal level, I remember the days of inexplicable frightening symptoms being reported to doctors, met with deafening silence. Yet, when strong enough to research those symptoms, it was found that those receiving chemo, were suffering the same. There is a biochemical process manifesting itself for which there is limited rational explanation for most of those syptoms, that is TOXICITY from meds and vaccines. Rarely, if iatrogenic illnesses are acknowledged.

Keep in mind that Big Pharma will not allow development of tests linking toxicity from their medicines and vaccines.

Protect yourselves, do your research, use it to "justify" your symptoms, avoid being labeled as "mentally ill." it will be used against you for the rest of your life. Keep yourselves INFORMED.

2010-04-21T02:19:00.000-07:00

CFS & Autonomic Dysfunction

Here we are, suffering from autonomic dysfunction for years, and telling doctors that whenever we exert ourselves with minimal physical activities, we feel ill and CRASH,(see previous post on Oxidative Stress) - another published article showing biomedical supportive evidence of this. Are politicians death and blind? Instead, they continue to implement psychological bias!!!

Abstract:

Jones DEJ, Hollingsworth KG, Taylor R, Blamire AM, Newton JL (From the Institute of Cellular Medicine, Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre, and Institute for Ageing and Health, Newcastle University, UK). Abnormalities in pH handling by peripheral muscle and potential regulation by the autonomic nervous system in chronic fatigue syndrome. J Intern Med 2010; 267: 394-401. Objectives.

To examine muscle acid handling following exercise in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS/ME) and the relationship with autonomic dysfunction. Design.

Observational study. Setting.

Regional fatigue service. Subjects & interventions.

Chronic fatigue syndrome (n = 16) and age and sex matched normal controls (n = 8) underwent phosphorus magnetic resonance spectroscopy (MRS) to evaluate pH handling during exercise. Subjects performed plantar flexion at fixed 35% load maximum voluntary contraction. Heart rate variability was performed during 10 min supine rest using digital photophlethysmography as a measure of autonomic function. Results.

Compared to normal controls, the CFS/ME group had significant suppression of proton efflux both immediately postexercise (CFS: 1.1 ± 0.5 mmol L−1 min−1 vs. normal: 3.6 ± 1.5 mmol L−1 min−1, P < 0.001) and maximally (CFS: 2.7 ± 3.4 mmol L−1 min−1 vs. control: 3.8 ± 1.6 mmol L−1 min−1, P < 0.05). Furthermore, the time taken to reach maximum proton efflux was significantly prolonged in patients (CFS: 25.6 ± 36.1 s vs. normal: 3.8 ± 5.2 s, P < 0.05). In controls the rate of maximum proton efflux showed a strong inverse correlation with nadir muscle pH following exercise (r2 = 0.6; P < 0.01). In CFS patients, in contrast, this significant normal relationship was lost (r2 = 0.003; P = ns). In normal individuals, the maximum proton efflux following exercise were closely correlated with total heart rate variability (r2 = 0.7; P = 0.007) this relationship was lost in CFS/ME patients (r2 < 0.001; P = ns). Conclusion.

Patients with CFS/ME have abnormalities in recovery of intramuscular pH following standardised exercise degree of which is related to autonomic dysfunction. This study identifies a novel biological abnormality in patients with CFS/ME which is potentially open to modification.

Keywords: autonomic dysfunction; chronic fatigue syndrome; magnetic resonance spectroscopy; muscle bioenergetics

Document Type: Research article

DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2796.2009.02160.x

Affiliations: 1: From the Institute of Cellular Medicine 2: Newcastle Magnetic Resonance Centre

2010-04-10T12:54:00.000-07:00

More Health News for the bad ass

Electromagnetic Field Exposure (EMF)and Glutamate Receptors
EMF sufferers are a source of ridicule despite thousands of published article showing the damage caused by exposure.

Glutamate receptors

Those of us who do suffer from EMF, are often told it is psychosomatic. Vested interests plays a major role acknowledging both iatrogenic and environmental Dis-ease.

Professor Morrissey used to work for Motorola as a senior scientist. He developed an interest in how heat and radio frequencies affects cancer cells.

Professor Morrissey resigned to pursue research about the effects of cancer and electromagnetic field.

He started working for Nova Southeastern University, Assistant Professor in the Pharmacology Department.

A few days ago, he was murdered in his house. Two men came in, shot him dead, tied up his wife, and set the house on fire. The wife of Professor Morrissey miraculously escaped with her young son.

Scientists seem to have a shorter lifespan than other professionals, most meeting with violent deaths. Specifically, ethical scientists ..

See below the published article concerning EMF, Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS), and breakages in DNA strands. There are hundreds of articles reporting the same findings. Those who are suffering from CNS symptoms would benefit from minimizing exposure to EMF. It affects glutamate receptors!!

Neurosci Lett. 2010 Mar 31;473(1):52-5. Epub 2010 Feb 13.
Reactive oxygen species levels and DNA fragmentation on astrocytes in primary culture after acute exposure to low intensity microwave electromagnetic field.

Campisi A, Gulino M, Acquaviva R, Bellia P, Raciti G, Grasso R, Musumeci F, Vanella A, Triglia A.

Dipartimento di Chimica Biologica, Chimica Medica e Biologia Molecolare, Università degli Studi di Catania, Viale A. Doria 6, I-95125 Catania, Italy. campisag@unict.it
Abstract

The exposure of primary rat neocortical astroglial cell cultures to acute electromagnetic fields (EMF) in the microwave range was studied. Differentiated astroglial cell cultures at 14 days in vitro were exposed for 5, 10, or 20min to either 900MHz continuous waves or 900MHz waves modulated in amplitude at 50Hz using a sinusoidal waveform and 100% modulation index. The strength of the electric field (rms value) at the sample position was 10V/m. No change in cellular viability evaluated by MTT test and lactate dehydrogenase release was observed. A significant increase in ROS levels and DNA fragmentation was found only after exposure of the astrocytes to modulated EMF for 20min. No evident effects were detected when shorter time intervals or continuous waves were used. The irradiation conditions allowed the exclusion of any possible thermal effect. Our data demonstrate, for the first time, that even acute exposure to low intensity EMF induces ROS production and DNA fragmentation in astrocytes in primary cultures, which also represent the principal target of modulated EMF. Our findings also suggest the hypothesis that the effects could be due to hyperstimulation of the glutamate receptors, which play a crucial role in acute and chronic brain damage. Furthermore, the results show the importance of the amplitude modulation in the interaction between EMF and neocortical astrocytes. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Ireland

A simplified brief few words about Glutamate Receptors
by Beebs Tweet sourced from Neuronal science books
and journals:

Glutamate is found in the body including the brain. It is also responsible for memory and learning. For this purpose, if there is high concentraton of glutamate which is caused by extra cellular activity, either by medication, food, EMF or other toxicity, it will cause over-excitation. This will lead to cellular damage, which turns into an excitotoxin. This will cause agitation or manifest in various ways, if the NMDA receptors are involved, symptoms will differ when in contact with foods, solvents, etc.. I don't know the mechanism by which EMF is involved with glutamate receptors at this point.

2010-04-09T11:53:00.000-07:00

PolitiKo/Medico-legal & some good news

Life for independent thinkers, in the UK, is becoming more sinister with governmental interference and infringement on free speech, freedom of expression, persecution of journalists, and other free thinking individuals.

There is now sanctioned bashing of those who are sick, disabled, elderly and other maginalized and vulnerable population.

Dr Myhill, a GP with an excellent record, is being
hounded by the General Medical Council (GMC).
WHY? She uses vitamins and supplement mostly!!
see her site: http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/

She has been threatened several times with having
her license revoked. To date, Dr Myhill has not caused
harm to her patients, but help many improve.

Her patients supporters will campaign and testify on her behalf. Dr Myhill is once more under attacked from the GMC, who have decided to revoke her medical license despite having no grounds. Tried, judged and found guilty. This is not legal. Read more on her website, scroll down the page to categories and click on "My GMC Hearing." She needs our support, having valliantly supported us over the years, putting her own career at risk. http://www.drmyhill.co.uk/

In contrast, a doctor who KILLED 12 patients to keep them quiet, at a nursing home,
continues to practice:

Dr Jane Barton gave patients drugs to 'keep them quiet'

Dr Barton was overdosing her elderly and sick patients with opiates to keep them quiet. 12 patients died as a result. Read the whole article here:
http://www.portsmouth.co.uk/newshome/Dr-Jane-Barton-gave-patients.5347802.jp

http://tinyurl.com/ybrfj77

Although conditional, Dr Barton continues to practice, no more than a slap on the wrist from the General Medical Council (GMC). http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/hampshire/8486936.stm

Do you really believe medical and governmental health institutions have your best interest at heart? Do ya???

Well, think again ...

Mmm, still want your flu shot? Following the so called swine flu pandemic, frantic puppet scientist rushing around to publish their findings concerning flu shot vaccines, linked to boosting the risk of H1N1 infection.

Hey presto,
government officials are now squeaky clean,

OINK OINK

Read on:

H1N1 Spread Linked to Seasonal Flu Shots

The four new studies conducted by Canadian researchers conclude that the traditional seasonal flu vaccine seems to have boosted the risk of infection with pandemic H1N1 swine flu by almost double.

In one study, the researchers revealed to use ongoing sentinel monitoring system in order to assess the frequency of prior vaccination with the seasonal flu vaccine in people suffering from H1N1 swine flu in 2009 compared to people without swine flu.

The study discovered that seasonal flu vaccination was linked with a 68 percent boosted risk of falling in prey to swine flu.

"I do think that they did the best they could with the data they had", said Dr. Mark Loeb, an infectious diseases expert at McMaster University in Hamilton who was not part of the study and who seems to be sceptical about the study’s conclusion. http://topnews.us/content/215882-h1n1-spread-linked-seasonal-flu-shots

Canada is the first country to ban CFS/ME sufferers from giving blood.

How comforting!!

Canada bans blood donations from people with chronic fatigue

More good news from the UK

A Labor candidate was fired from his job for his shocking Tweets.

Stuart McLennan, posted outrageous Tweets about "slaves" "chavs" and "coffin dodgers" the latter is very scary considering many of us are terminally ill and for the elderly!! So, yep, we are dodging coffins, whilst doctors are speeding the process with murderous injections of morphine or simply withdrawing IV drips, read here: http://blog.taragana.com/n/british-doctors-complain-of-tick-box-approach-to-care-of-terminally-ill-patients-158753/ A Dutch doctor killed a patient because he needed her bed: http://www.chninternational.com/licenced_to_kill_dutch_euthanasia.htm Note that in Holland doctors are not penalized for killing newborn deformed babies. The approval of politicians leading to those who are unproductive to feel they have a duty to die ... in view of politicians allowing financial collapse, causing recession, there is a tendency, certainly in the UK, to make those who are ill, feel pressurized to work regardless of their condition, unless paralyzed from head to toe. Those who are bedridden because of chronic illnesses such as ME/CFS are denied medical care, investigations (unless there is other pathology), welfare & disability. There is a high suicide rate amongst ME/CFS sufferers in the UK, which essentially, is forced euthanesia.

Read more here about his offensive, foul-mouthed verbal garbage: http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23823138-labour-candidate-sacked-for-tweets-on-chavs-and-coffin-dodgers.do

Now, now, don't fall prey to long term chronic illness .. not safe to be a "coffin dodger" in Holland and the UK!!

The irony is that it is not the first time a UK politician mouths off its population - it will be of no surprise if McLennan resurfaces with a promotion after the general election in May 2010!! Watch this space.

2010-04-07T09:48:00.000-07:00

Drug Poisoning, Failing Health & some good news

There seems to be a pattern in regards to deaths associated with drug toxicity published articles. Replicated studies in various countries have shown in-hospital deaths to be 6 out 10 caused by medication. This paper discusses drug poisoning in Sweden, (in/out of hospitals not specified) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19397805

Dr Jeffrey H Cohen, will be publishing a paper in May this year. Dr Cohen based at West Viriginia School of Medicine, bases his study over a period of ten years from 1996-2006. The study mentions an increase of 400% poisoning from methadone, and benzos by 39% It would be difficult to establish in those cases if intentional.

My own view here is that we will see an increase of published research warning about "drug toxicities," invasive procedures, and futility of expensive diagnostic tools, and dentisty just as health care costs rise. Some countries with a model of socialized health care system, are now either minimizing patients'symptoms, or openly discouraging patients from having expensive investigative procedures. There is also a tendency towards pushing drugs that are on trial rather than prescribing older safer drugs. http://tinyurl.com/yfj7bw2

More striking news which ties up with the increase of the US population on meds and failing health at a younger age.

This article illustrates the above. Professor Linda Martin, published a study showing significant rise of disabilities and mobility problems amongst a population between the ages of 50-64 years old. http://tinyurl.com/y8dqure Interesting, could it be a associated with the rise in use of pharmaceuticals?

This ties in with expanding palliative care across the USA. There is an increase of 125.8% between the years of 2000-2008. http://tinyurl.com/y9mz7p5

2010-04-07T05:15:00.000-07:00

The Dark side of Scans - What your doctors don't tell you!!

CT Scans & other intrusive diagnostic tool, causes cancer & ineffective detection

High tech diagnostic tools are not more useful than taking a patient's medical history, examination, note of present symptoms. For instance, studies show that women who regularly examine their breasts, detect unusual lumps earlier. Some report show an increase of cancer risks by 50% following routine mammograms over a period of six years. There is no doubt that mammograms are to be avoided. Breast tissue is very sensitive to radiation, considering that radiation does cause cell mutation, is it worth the risk? see this thought provoking article: http://tinyurl.com/y9eko3b

Moving on, the article below discusses FDA corruption, suppression of information, self interest, and mentions the dangers of colonscopy.

In a nutshell, an efficient MD should be a good diagnostician without resorting to harmful high tech diagnostics tools unless - there is justifiable cause.

See the article below:

From Medscape Medical News

Experts Debate Extent of FDA Reform in Wake of Whistleblower Testimony

Robert Lowes

April 5, 2010 — Did a former consulting scientist at the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) lose his position — as he contends — because he blew the whistle about the risk for radiation exposure from computed tomography (CT) scanners used in colon cancer screenings?

Or is the FDA right when it claims that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) found no criminal wrongdoing after investigating the charges of Julian Nicholas, MD, who testified March 30 at an agency hearing on preventing unnecessary radiation exposure from medical imaging?

Although all the facts surrounding the case of Dr. Nicholas have yet to be sorted out, some FDA watchers say one thing is clear — the agency is still recovering from the antiregulatory, probusiness climate of the George W. Bush administration in which public health took a back seat.

"The new leadership of the FDA inherited a mess," said Diana Zuckerman, PhD, president of the nonpartisan National Research Center for Women and Families, which specializes in health issues. "You have a change of leadership at the top, but the vast majority of the people in the FDA at the office or center level are exactly the same [as before]."

"People got promoted during the 8 years of the Bush administration for reasons that had to do with ideology. They may be very capable and smart, but they also have a proindustry point of view, not a public-health point of view."

Like Dr. Zuckerman, Steven Nissen, MD, chair of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at the Cleveland Clinic, in Ohio, and a long-time FDA critic, thinks that the Nicholas case is a sign of a hangover from the Bush administration.

...............Dr. Nicholas said that his superiors in the agency's Center for Devices and Radiological Health pressured him to change his scientific opinion when he objected to letting a manufacturer — reportedly General Electric — market a CT scanner for "virtual colonoscopies." Nicholas said he warned FDA managers last year that such scans could significantly increase a patient's risk for cancer. His whistleblowing, he said, led the FDA not to renew his contract when it expired last October. http://tinyurl.com/yeyoheg

2010-04-05T02:12:00.000-07:00

Marketting of Madness

New Additons to DSM-V are sinister. The group of psychiatrists with strong ties with the psychopharmacology industry continues to "invent" more psychiatric disorders and subtypes, such as "Oppositional Defiant Disorder" (ODD) that's for anyone with a clear, analytical mind, and their own opinion, those who are defiant of authority!!!

"Antisocial Personality Disorder" that is for someone who is difficult, spiteful, mean, manipulative or a prick, yep, that too.

When your kid throws a tantrum, he is not just throwing a tantrum, he is suffering from "Temper Dysregulation Disorder with Dysphoria." There is now a "Pediatric Bipolar Disorder."

If you think about sex too often, you don't have a high healthy libido related to high testosterone, you are suffering from "Hypersexual Disorder."

Essentially, characteristics of personalities are now being turned into psychiatric disorders.

Considering side effects - Lucrative and assured income for the pharmaceutical companies.

The Wall Street Journal reports $10 billion in profits in 2009, for pharmaceutical companies selling psychotropics in the US. At this rate, it will double by end of fiscal year 2010.

Incidentally, the Federal Aviation Association (FAA) lifted the ban on pilots taking psychotropics. Some pilots will be granted waivers whist taking Prozac, Lexapro, Celexa, Zoloft and generics. http://tinyurl.com/ybn6rnc

Hum, Welcome Aboard ....

Incidentally, those who suffer from serious addictions to psychotropics, are no longer suffering from addiction. This has now been altered to a "chemical dependency." Sounds nicer. This is clever marketing ploy, making the lure of psychotropics even more attractive.

Hide your grief, or you will be labelled as being "depressive", don't be shy now, you will be labelled with "Social Anxiety Disorder", apprehension is now "Anxiety" etc..

Not labeled yet, worry not, there is a new label which might suit you, it is called the "Psychosis Risk Syndrome", for those who are strong indviduals, slightly eccentric, strong opinions. This will apply regardless of the fact, that you are NOT psychotic, delusional, or hearing voices. This new label is an extension to "Schizophrenia" mainly to identify those who are at risks of becoming "schizophrenic."

Are we so disconnected that the only way to "connect" and "belong" is by discussing which "mental illness" we suffer from (as if belonging to a special club) and which are the most effective psychotropics, how to dodge inter dosage withdrawal symptoms? It never fails to irritate me when I hear someone who is basically capricious, manipulative, high/low intensities of emotions, lacking in self control and social skills, proudly announce they suffer from "bi-polar" disorder!!! They then perpetuate this behavior by acting out what is conceived as being "bi-polar."

Wake up, Stop being fooled about brain chemical imbalances, there is NO scientific evidence to support this.

Read up and research about psychiatric labels and anti-depressants.

What you will find instead - a strong lobby of psychiatrists, conflict of interest, skewed research, scandals involving drugging of children, disgraced and corrupt psychiatrists linked with politics, coercion, compliance, submission, and greed.

We live in a dysfunctional society, there is no doubt that in order to survive, we all need to be slightly dysfunctional - nothing more ......

http://www.cchr.org/#/home (Watch "Making a Killing Video" psychiatrists tell you that psychotropics and psychiatrics labels HAVE NO SCIENTIFIC BASIS)
http://www.dsm-5diagnosis.com/
http://www.ahrp.org/cms/component/option,com_frontpage/Itemid,1/

Have some fun with the Disease Mongering Engine:
http://www.naturalnews.com/disease-mongering-engine.asp

2010-04-03T12:04:00.000-07:00

Black Seed Oil (Nigella Sativa)

An earlier post about Black Seed Oil, with references,
not listed some compounds such as WARNING -

Tried one drop of Black Seed Oil. Had immediate reaction.
Am devastated!!!

Went to check, it contains quinones ....
Many of us can't tolerate quinones, such as benzoquinones, anthraquinones (as in Aloe Vera), quinazoline, etc.

2010-03-30T01:20:00.000-07:00

Collateral Damage

ADRs, ME/CFS, GWVs, Infections, MCS, metabollic syndromes and other "Syndromes"

It is no coincidence that many suffering ADRs are labeled as suffering from ME/CFS.

The mechanism leading to long term illness, stemming from ADRs, vaccines and the aforementioned, triggers glycation, inflammation, oxidative stress, producing too much Nitric Oxide and other free radicals, leading to degeneration over a long period of time, spanning between ten to twenty years.

Dis-Ease state manifests over a period of time, affecting the individual with a myriad of symptoms. Symptoms vary, but the mechanism is the same - TOXICITY. The mechanism begins with oxidization of endothelial cells leading to apoptosis (programmed cell death).

The general consensus amongst progressive medical doctors and scientists is that TOXICITY or nutritional imbalances are main causes of degenerative diseases.

It has already been established that medication causes damage to the mitochondria, leading to progressive degeneration manifesting as diabetes, and other auto-immune illnesses, metabolic syndromes, (http://aac.asm.org/cgi/reprint/AAC.00729-05v1.pdf and http://www.ceri.com/mito.htm) such as depleting L-Carnitine http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez and http://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/carnitine.asp, antibiotics weakening the immune system, activating viruses such as EBV and HHV-6. L-Carnitine deficiency is very difficult to diagnose, can lead to dangerous arrythmia and heart failure!

Furthermore, the principle that drugs only benefit a small percentage of the population as in this article: http://jcp.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstr....ourcetype=HWCIT and hundreds more published articles, taking medicines is not only redundant, but will cause more harm.

Antibioitics can activate EBV & HHV6: http://tinyurl.com/yetmly3 and C.Difficile: http://tinyurl.com/ykqauw4

Likewise, antimicrobials are no longer effective, mutating pathogens, whilst weakening the immune system whilst causing even more damage to the digestive tract, which is 80% responsible for a healthy immune system!

Reading about oxidative stress, Nitric Oxide Cycle, Free Radicals, Inflammation over a period of two years, leads to the conclusion that preventing escalation of symptoms from ADRs is crucial to maintain good health.

Lastly, it is irrelevant if ME/CFS was triggered by an infection, which could have been triggered by the effects of antibiotics, or toxicity form vaccines, or medications. It will lead to oxidization and inflammation.

See articles below:

Treatment of myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a multisystem disease, should target the pathophysiological aberrations (inflammatory and oxidative and nitrosative stress pathways), not the psychosocial "barriers" for a new equilibrium.

Maes M, Twisk FN.

Patient Educ Couns. 2010 Mar 17. [Epub ahead of print]
Maes Clinics, Belgium.

In a recent article published by B. van Houdenhove and P. Luyten it is claimed that cognitive behavioral therapy and graded exercise therapy (CBT/GET) are evidence based and are the most adequate treatments to control symptoms and improve quality of life of patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). However, these authors do not disclose that their own treatments at the Belgian CFS Reference Centers with CBT/GET have proven to have no clinical effects. The Belgian minister declared in the parliament that CBT/GET at those centers are no curative therapies. Even more, measured by objective standards the CBT/GET approach has shown to be counterproductive. van Houdenhove and Luyten neglect or deny all scientific findings on the pathophysiology and possible medical treatments of ME/CFS. However, there is now a consensus that inflammatory and oxidative and nitrosative (IO&NS) pathways underpin the pathophysiology of ME/CFS in humans and in animal models as well. Human and animal data show that treatments which target IO&NS pathways are useful in treating ME/CFS. van Houdenhove and Luyten also propose that the time has come to shift treatment research in CFS from efficacy studies to effectiveness studies in 'real life'. In our opinion, future research should use a high throughput screening, made possible by the translational approach, in order to further examine the IO&NS pathways in detail; further delineate novel drug-targets in the IO&NS pathways and develop new drugs to treat this complex and serious medical disorder.

Medication-induced mitochondrial damage and disease.
Neustadt J, Pieczenik SR.
Montana Integrative Medicine, Bozeman, MT 59718, USA. drneustadt@gmail.com

Since the first mitochondrial dysfunction was described in the 1960s, the medicine has advanced in its understanding the role mitochondria play in health and disease. Damage to mitochondria is now understood to play a role in the pathogenesis of a wide range of seemingly unrelated disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disease, dementia, Alzheimer's disease, epilepsy, migraine headaches, strokes, neuropathic pain, Parkinson's disease, ataxia, transient ischemic attack, cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, retinitis pigmentosa, diabetes, hepatitis C, and primary biliary cirrhosis.

Medications have now emerged as a major cause of mitochondrial damage, which may explain many adverse effects. All classes of psychotropic drugs have been documented to damage mitochondria, as have stain medications, analgesics such as acetaminophen, and many others.

While targeted nutrient therapies using antioxidants or their precursors (e. g., N-acetylcysteine) hold promise for improving mitochondrial function, there are large gaps in our knowledge. The most rational approach is to understand the mechanisms underlying mitochondrial damage for specific medications and attempt to counteract their deleterious effects with nutritional therapies.

This article reviews our basic understanding of how mitochondria function and how medications damage mitochondria to create their occasionally fatal adverse effects.

In conclusion, staying from medication and finding the key to restoring health post ADRs is crucial. Doctors who risk their careers to expose this genocide should be taken seriously!!

Toxic Injury

According to toxicologists, varied and multiple toxicity symptoms will manifest from identical mechanism that is oxidization of endothelial cells.

Worth noting, the medical establishment is very quick at making judgments concerning toxicology of herbal remedies, but reluctant, even defiant about known adverse drug reactions (ADRS) and side effects ...

To recapitulate concerning the toxicology of Lariam/Mefloquine or other meds:

In general, pharmacologist accept that approximately, only 10% of meds are effective. Genetic variations, polymorphisms, biochemistry, ethnicity, weight, age, gender, body temperature, weather, etc ... all contribute to pharmacodynamics and pharmacokinetics. To date, it has not been possible to manufacture meds tailored for individuals precisely, because, there are so much that we don't know happening at cellular level.

The question here is why some don't react, rather, than, why we reacted? After all, Lariam/Mefloquine is toxic, as are fluoroquinolones and most meds.

The general consensus is that drug metabolism is unpredictable. http://tinyurl.com/yc6empe

DRUG METABOLISM/TRANSPORT

Nuclear Receptors and the Regulation of Drug-Metabolizing Enzymes and Drug Transporters: Implications for Interindividual Variability in Response to Drugs

Bradley L. Urquhart, PhD, Rommel G. Tirona, PhD and Richard B. Kim, MD

From the Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Medicine (Dr Urquhart, Dr Tirona, Dr Kim), and the Department of Physiology & Pharmacology (Dr Tirona), University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

Division of Clinical Pharmacology, London Health Sciences Centre-University Hospital, Room ALL-152, 339 Windermere Road, London, Ontario N6A 5A5, Canada.

Erratic or unpredictable response to drugs remains a challenge of modern drug therapy. An important determinant of such interindividual differences in drug response is variability in the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes and/or transporters at sites of absorption and/or tissue distribution. Variable drug-metabolizing enzyme and transporter expression can result in unpredictable exposure and tissue distribution of drugs and may manifest as adverse effects or therapeutic failure. In the past decade, important new insights have been made relating to the regulatory mechanisms governing the expression of drug-metabolizing enzymes and transporters by ligand-activated nuclear receptors. Specifically, there is compelling evidence to demonstrate that PXR, CAR, FXR, LXR, VDR, HNF4alpha, and AhR form a battery of nuclear receptors that regulate the expression of many important drug-metabolizing enzyme and transporters. In this review, the authors focus on clinically important drug-metabolizing enzymes such as CYP3A4, CYP2B6, CYP2C9, CYP2C19, UGT1A1, SULT2A1, and glutathione S-transferases and their regulation by nuclear receptors. They also review the nuclear receptor-mediated regulation of drug transporters such as MDR1, MRP2, MRP4, BSEP, BCRP, NTCP, OATP1B3, and OATP1A2. Finally, they outline how the drug development process has been affected by the current understanding of the involvement of nuclear receptors in the regulation of drug disposition genes.

2010-03-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

Watch and learn, btw, good musik, by ES Prometheus - Enjoy

2010-03-29T05:16:00.000-07:00

Since the Vids kept altering in the Video Bar,
those important vids concerning meds are now
embeded here instead:

2010-03-23T13:51:00.000-07:00

Glutathione - brief review

Reading assiduously about raising glutathione leads me to conclude that the safest option is by taking its precursors such as Black Seed Oil, which apparently, can raise Glutathione by 800% , or Rosemary Edible OIl by 400% together with Vitamins C, E, Selenium, Zinc, and riboflavins.

Black seed oil has properties which are also anti-mutagenic, immune enhancer, anti fungal, and is even being studied for reversing cancer, chemopreventive and more.

It scavenges Nitric Oxide, decreases cholesterol, and blood lipid peroxide, has anti-inflammatory properties on vascular cells, induces leukemia cell apoptosis, and chemo preventive amongst other benefits.

See 3272 studies on PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

and here: http://www.lef.org/prod_hp/abstracts/php-ab469.html

Rosemary Edible Oil is not to be taken long term. It is very potent and a powrerful antioxidant being fat soluble, it helps detoxify the brain, helping the central nervous system. It also holds anti-cancerous compounds. It is excellent for cognition, helps boosting memory, cognition, oxygenate blood flow to the brain.

In addition, it has antiviral properties, helps restore liver function from toxic chemicals.

Studies show it stimulates bile function leading to the liver getting rid of chemical toxins. Note that bile plays an important role in nutrition.

Rosemary is also effective for digestive issues, is an immune modulator, and known to help with brain circulation.

It is also effective as an analgesic and arthritis.

Moreover, it is anti-mutagenic, and will help fight toxic chemicals restoring gene function!! It can be used against radiation as when exposed to scans, ionic x-rays etc..

See 874 studies on PubMed: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entrez

Milk thistle if tolerated can stimulate the liver to rasie glutathione, but should not be taken for longer than two weeks, then stop the Milk thistle, and start again. It not a viable option, and may even cause toxicity in the long term.

2010-03-23T13:45:00.000-07:00

Mmm, rambling thoughts, some waffling, venting and ruffling feathers .. about the obscenity that is Big Pharma!!! Its absurd and grotestque.

Medications do not save lives and do not cure. It is a belief system based on flagrant lies and skewed research, in most instances.

Studies show that during World I & World War II wounded soldiers, lived longer, without all the modern high tech modalities than do soldiers hospitalized during the last thirty years. Emergency surgery can save life, but then side effects from anesthetics, analgesics, antibiotics, may cause illness later on.

In addition, studies show that 6 out of 10 deaths in hospitals are attributed to medications. (posted on the forum from medical journal).

All meds and vaccines affect the mitochondria leading to more disease state, eventually.

Those who keep taking Fqs and say they are fine, they will develop some type of illness and will not even make the correlation.

This process differs from ADRs or suffering from side effects. The end result is that it can kill, maim, cause slow disease process spanning over many years, leading to a poor quality of life.

A healthy diet, stress reduction, exercise, good nutrition, regular gentle detoxing, avoidance of environmental pollution, keeping away from dentists and doctors, keeping well INFORMED, will keep disease at bay. Vigilance and health conscious. Early signs of disease process can be treated and in most cases reversed.

When we do hear of people who have reversed their late stage cancers, condemned by oncologists, or those who were cured of "cystic fibrosis" or Parkinson, or regained their sights, why do most people choose to either ignore this or simply choose not to believe? Why the skepticism?

Why the lack of respect for those very doctors who are speaking out against Allopathic Medicine, loosing their jobs, reputation, and career in the process? Instead, they are stripped of their medical license to practice and rejected both by their peers and the very people they seek to protect!!

Why not take heed? Why are they almost ridiculed? Why would more MDs speak out if they are not being supported by us?

Ghost writers, falsified drug trials results, publishers colluding by conjuring out of thin air medical journals (Elsvier), excluding those suffering ADRs in Phase I during drug trial, paying large sum of money to psychiatrist to endorse dangerous ineffective psychotropics, and to scientists and doctors in regards to poorly designed stents, DSM-IV growing lists of "mental" disorders (shyness now called social anxiety etc..), WHO Executive Board Members are totally corrupt - affiliated with PharmaCorps, unrestrained, altered the definition of "pandemic" in order to sell dangerous untested vaccines, based on poor science, for PROFIT. Widespread corruption involving agronomy, politicians, The list is long ...

Why does the mass choose to believe the Establishment?

Whenever I am at a Hospital talking to patients, they proudly hold on to their box full of pills, whilst relaying information about their failing healths, side effects and long list of diseases caused by their meds. Some of them suffered ADRs but continue to ignore obvoius connection.. Instead, they rush around seeing more doctors, given new labels, and more pills,

These patients end up in a cesspool of symptoms, feeling even more ill. Dying of a slow painful death over a period of ten to twenty years, with poor quality of life, munching away those very pills that are killing them slowly.

Why do they bury their heads in the sand, hoping for a cure, whilst health degenerating further.

I met a man with diabetes Type II. He was talking about insulin, and I was talking about throwing it away, altering his diet, taking vits and supps. Thanks to his "life saving insulin" he had a heart attack, followed by valve dysfuntion, ulcers on his legs, chronic vertigo, and multitude incapacitating symptoms. Is his diabetes controlled or cured? NO, instead, he is now taking more pills, deteriorating. I doubt he will live beyond the age of 45.

Studies have shown that those who take anti arrythmic are more likely die of sudden cardiac death, than those who don't.

Recently, published - Aspirin is NOT effective as a blood thinner and is no longer recommended. Ha, but, BUT, it will be useful for something else. New research shows that taking Aspirin reduces the chances of developing breast cancer, the list goes on.

Allopathic medicine is not an option. There are other therapeutic modalities, less toxic, less invasive worth exploring. So called "Alternative Medicine" should be regulated, open to scrutiny, and validation.

Having spent the last two years or so reading up medical journals, it is apparent, that ALL meds cause damage to the mitochondria, regardless, of side effects of those unfortunate suffering ADRs. (see Mitochondria dysunction caused by meds published articles and FDA threads).

All meds will cause damage leading to diabetes, auto immune illnesses, malfunction of the immune systems, metabolic syndromes (for which there are no labels yet), cardiac dysfunction, organ failure, neurological and degenerative illnesses and more.

Unlike those who suffer from ADRs, disease state will take a few years to develop. The connection is rarely made.

A new paradigm is emerging in allopathic medicine, that is cellular medicine, and Epigenetics of vitamins, supplements and various compounds from fruits, vegetables, herbs etc... Phytochemistry is more or less the same.

Is it new? NO, it is 4000 years old and been practiced by Ayurvedic doctors and Chinese doctors successfully, if the disease is caught early, the patient is willing to make life style changes, including breathing exercises.

No longer angry, replaced by sadness. I see the children of my friends born, beautiful, healthy. A few years later, post vaccines, struggling with asthma, allergies, moody, over active, infections and autoimmune illnesses etc ..

Enough waffling for now!!

I stumbled upon this article (below) today, and thought, it might be of interest.

"Jail Time for Executives Might Stop Drug Crimes" -
BusinessWeek
FYI
http://www.ahrp.org

"When Drug Makers' Profits Outweigh Penalties" appearing in today's Washington Post is an updated version of David Evans' riveting, prize winning investigative report, Big Pharma's Crime Spree, published in Bloomberg News, December 2009. Some of the tables from the expanded Bloomberg Magazine version can be accessed here, Big Pharma's Crime Spree. One thing remains unchanged:

"Across the United States, pharmaceutical companies have pleaded guilty to criminal charges or paid penalties in civil cases when the Justice Department finds that they deceptively marketed drugs for unapproved uses, putting millions of people at risk of chest infections, heart attacks, suicidal impulses or death."

The biggest fine ever imposed in U.S. history, $2.3 billion against recidivist Pfizer, represented a mere 14% of the revenue stream from selling the drugs at issue over seven years.

"So immune to criminal sanctions was that the company launched its off-label Bextra campaign at the same time the company was pleading guilty to doing precisely the same thing with other drugs. The anti-inflammatory medication was later yanked from the market because of increased risk of heart attacks and stroke."

Rather than being tried for their crimes rogue corporate giants in the pharmaceutical industry is being subsidized and the financial industr (giants deemed "too big to fail")-is being bailed out by US taxpayers.

A follow-up on Evans' report, Bloomberg News columnist, Ann Woolner took the bull by the horns in her column, "Jail Time for Executives Might Stop Drug Crimes" published by BusinessWeek (below) noting that: "Pharmaceutical and medical device companies repeatedly signal they just don't seem to care what the law says if they can find a way around it."

For example, "internal documents show Johnson & Johnson planning a push for $302 million in geriatric sales for a drug after the FDA had said that for the elderly, the medication wasn't as helpful and carried more risks than the company had claimed.The company denies wrongdoing."

"Throwing a few company executives in jail might do the trick."

The problem is the difficulty in proving intent. However, the Food and Drug Act, allows misdemeanor convictions without proof of intent to do wrongdoing. But until now, the FDA did not prosecute pharmaceutical executives.

So, the very rogue pharmaceutical companies that have pled guilty to criminal marketing of toxic, mostly useless drugs who paid hundreds of millions-even over a billion dollars in fines-have continued to profiteer from defective hazardous products.

Unless the FDA enforces the prosecutorial provisions of the FDC; unless Congress supports health-care fraud prosecutions; and unless the Obama administration will prohibit taxpayer reimbursement for criminally marketed
drugs and medical devices, rogue companies will continue profit from harm producing, hazardous drugs that pose risks of disability and death.

2010-01-30T13:11:00.000-08:00

UK Persecution of ME/CFS sufferers, GWVs, ADRs, and victims of Iatrogenic illnesses

Many who suffer ADRs from meds, vaccines, environmental and iatrogenic illnesses are relentlessly persecuted in the UK. Most are given a diagnosis of ME/CFS - lack of both medical and social care, often leading to tragedy.

It should be simple to show toxicity from most drugs. Tests of DNA adducts would show traces of the offending medication, tissue samples, toe nail clippings, or even a hair sample, would probably show traces of the offending toxic medication. Yet, it is impossible to find a laboratory to test for residues of Lariam/Mefloquine or Fluoroquinolones in tissue samples.

The story of Sophie Mirza, diagnosed with ME/CFS is very significant. Many of us are diagnosed with ME/CFS. Sophie Mirza died after relentless persecution from UK health officials. Many are threatened by psychiatrists, psychologists of being sectioned. Medieval and cruel, it does not stop there. Sophie Mirza may unknowingly have suffered from an ADR to medication or vaccines.

Those chronically ill, specially those labelled with ME/CFS, are ground to a pulp by social security, social services, lack of medical care, denial by health professionals. This leads to fear, stress, and worsening of health. UK medical doctors no longer provide sick notes, clinical reports are misleading, omitting disabling symptoms, concealing positive results or blatant denial about the level of disability.

The welfare system and disability premiums are the lowest amongst the EU richest countries. It is barely sufficient and does not cover electricity, gas and other utilitiy bills. (Highest costs in the Western world, there is no regulatory price control). We have the highest rate of cold related deaths in the Western world!! The choice is between eat or heat, poor diet, leading to malnutrition makes it unlikely to recover from illness. Some countries in the EU cite the UK as the country where most chronically ill patients are unlikely to recover, (very low standard of socialized medicine) sinking even into deeper poverty (lowest social security amongst EU richest countries), and high cost of living.

Who would want to pretend to be ill under such draconian welfare system? Yet, many are "accused" of deception.

Despite being very weak and disabled, many are forced into physio leading to relapses and even more serious health issues.

As from October 2010, the criteria for being qualified as too ill to work will be very stringent, making most chronically ill patients "fit for work."

Unless paralyzed from head to toes, it will be very difficult to prove being too ill for work. The incentive is to force cheap labor for those too ill to work. If unable to go to work, we are told, work will come to you. Not accepting offer of work, will result in benefits being cut. Doctors no longer write sick notes. Clinic letters from hospital doctors are economical with diagnosis. It is a fight with clinicians, social services, and welfare. We are told, we have to "earn" welfare and disability. If forced to work from home, it will be equivalent to being paid $1 per hour.

Recently published in local regional newspapers, a man found dead in his apartment. He was unable to feed himself, social services refused care. Similarly, a woman was found dead on the floor of her kitchen. She was also refused care by social services.

A woman with a brain tumor was forced to work or face withdrawals of her welfare. She collapsed and could not continue to work.

A woman in her sixties, diagnosed with two cancers, underwent chemotherapy. Despite severe symptoms, doctors told her she was fit to work.

A man with cancer was told he had six months to live. He was told he had to work, and did not qualify for welfare.

Who would choose to be sick and ground to a pulp by a relentless pressure and a society increasingly hostile towards those who are ill - too ill to be productive? Who would choose to barely survive on minimum welfare and threats of dying of cold related illness during cold months?

Campaigners are muzzled, there is little free speech, the press is censored. Oh, and there is NO legal recourse. The UK opted out of the EU Social Charter.

Letters have been sent to Neurologists requesting that patients whose tests are negative, should be referred to a psychiatrist. Now, most of these tests are flawed. For instance, Mitochondrial diagnosis is very difficult to diagnose, tests are not specific with very low accuracy. There are metabollic syndromes caused by medications and vaccines, and environmental pollution, which are not identifiable, for which there are no tests.

Moving on to more persecution.

The told dying daugher she was lying, says mother Criona Wilson

Steve Bird

As Criona Wilson knelt beside her dying daughter’s bedside, she promised her that her death would not be in vain. Before the frail body of 32-year-old Sophia finally succumbed to the medical complications and ravages of ME, she replied in a whisper: “Then it’s all worth it.”

In the years that followed, Mrs Wilson, 66, a former midwife, dedicated her life to proving that her daughter’s condition was not a figment of imagination, nor one that merited her youngest child’s incarceration in a mental hospital.

Her battle saw her take on the medical profession and accepted thinking about the diagnosis and treatment of ME, also known as chronic fatigue syndrome. Eventually, in 2006, a coroner ruled that Sophia’s death was the result of myalgic encephalomyelitis — the first such ruling at an English inquest.

The fierce debate over ME has been highlighted once again by the case of Kay Gilderdale, who admitted assisting her daughter, Lynn, to kill herself after suffering from ME for 17 years. When she walked free from Lewes Crown Court on Monday, having been cleared of murder, Mrs Wilson was among those cheering her from the public gallery.

“I had to be there,” said Mrs Wilson yesterday. “It was such an important case. And the verdict was a vote for common sense in a trial that highlighted what people suffering ME and their carers have to face.”

Her daughter, Sophia Mirza, was a talented and popular arts graduate living with her mother in Brighton in 1999 when she contracted ME at the age of 25. She became confined to her bedroom and, just as Miss Gilderdale had, needed round-the-clock care.

In 2003 she was visited by a psychiatrist, even though Miss Mirza complained only of physical discomfort. The psychiatrist told her that she was making up her symptoms and if she continued to pretend to be ill he would section her under the Mental Health Act. Mrs Wilson said: “I knew my daughter. There was no way she was mentally ill or pretending.”

When the dread knock on her door finally came in 2003, there was little she could do. A policeman forced the door open and the psychiatrist and a social worker locked themselves into Miss Mirza’s room to prepare her for her trip to a psychiatric ward.

Her condition took a dramatic turn for the worse. After 13 days she was released and taken back to the care of her mother. “That spell in a mental hospital set her back terribly. We lost all faith in medical professionals. We were alone,” said Mrs Wilson.

In 2005 Miss Mirza could barely muster the energy to speak, eat or drink. She and her mother had already agreed that no doctors should be called in case she would be sectioned again. On November 25, 2005, Miss Mirza died in her bed at home.

Wiping tears from her eyes, Mrs Wilson said: “We did everything we could.” Determined to get to the bottom of why her daughter’s treatment had been so bad, she got hold of her medical records. After being contacted by the 25 Per Cent ME Group, which campaigns for those with the most acute form of ME, she agreed to her daughter’s body being examined.

At the inquest the next year a neuropathologist told the court that Miss Mirza’s spinal cord was inflamed and three quarters of her sensory cells had abnormalities. It was, the court heard, a clear physical manifestation of ME. The coroner ruled that she had died from “acute renal failures as a result of chronic fatigue syndrome”.

A year later, the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) issued its first guidelines on the diagnosis and treatment of the illness, describing it as “relatively common”, affecting up to 193,000 people in Britain. At the heart of that guidance is the need to take into account the opinions of the patients.Mrs Wilson is campaigning to get the Government to fund research into ME. “It’s not over yet.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/health/article7008987.ece

This week, a mother was acquitted of murder. The question here is not about assisted suicide, but how could the so called fourth richest country in the world, allow ME/CFS patients be persecuted with such vehemence, and ignored by all?

Trapped by ME, Lyn Gilderdale made it clear she wanted to die

Lynn Gilderdale, who was struck down by ME after a BCG vaccination at the age of 14. Photograph: Sussex Police/PA

Live Journal was the one place where Lynn Gilderdale felt safe uttering her deepest, most troubling thoughts. Using a specially-designed handheld computer, and adopting the pseudonym Jessie Oliver, it was on the internet networking forum that she shared her desire to die with her closest friends.

After suffering a severe form of ME which left her bedridden and unable to speak or feed herself for all of her adolescent and adult life, she had decided she was never going to recover, and wanted to ensure her life would end before total degeneration robbed her of all dignity.

The revelations about her decision were made to her parents, Kay and Richard, and her small group of friends in the last two years of her life. To those who were invited to share her innermost thoughts it was a painful, yet understandable, choice.

Many of them were girls and young women who suffered the same illness; some, such as Lynn, had been confined to their beds and housebound for years as a result of ME.

"She did mention to me and very few others that she had an overwhelming desire to die," said Emily Levick. "I recall the time I first read about it. I cried, and then immediately texted her, as she was so afraid that her friends would think badly of her for it, and I wanted to reassure her that I could never think badly of her.

"She had battled for so many years, and was so desperately tired. It was quite literally heart breaking to read something like that, but I did understand her reasons. I believe I would have felt exactly the same if I were in her situation."

Her mother and father were kept well informed of her decision. A Do Not Resuscitate note was placed on her medical notes under her own wishes and she later went a step further and directed that a "living will" should be drafted in which she stated her wish not to be resuscitated or subjected to any medical intervention if her quality of life was too poor.

"She knew it was very difficult to talk to me about that subject because no one wants to hear it coming from their daughter," said Richard Gilderdale, a former policeman.

"I always used to say to her I was a coward because I listened to what she said and then she would always look at me with a knowing look in her eyes and say, 'Look, it's never going to go away, dad.' Her feelings were that she had made up her own mind that she couldn't carry on."

Yet despite this clear statement of her intentions, and fresh guidelines from the director of public prosecutions to reassure relatives who help the terminally ill end their own lives, Kay Gilderdale was brought before the criminal courts this month charged with the attempted murder of her 31-year-old child.

After she was acquitted of attempted murder today amid applause in court, the trial judge joined campaigners, friends and lawyers to ask why was she ever prosecuted? http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2010/jan/25/lynn-gilderdale-me-assisted-suicide

2010-01-23T06:53:00.000-08:00

The decision and responsibility to take Glutathione ultimately lies with you. Clear analysis and critical thinking is of value when deciding which approach to take.

There are contradictions about the use of Glutathione, whilst, many alternative doctors are using this frequently as an adjunct therapy, be aware of the risks. Few alternative doctors are putting the patient first. Most are not up to date with the research, not treating the patient as individuals, using therapies in many instances that are unsuitable.

Early on, I chose to take ImmunoPro - undenatured when protein, containing amino acids and bonded ceystine. Another product which has excellent endorsement from the medical community is called "Immunocal." Many I know reacted to this. It is recommended to start with a tiny quantity and increase over a period fo time. According to a well known CFS doctor, ImmunoPro works well and is gentler than Immunocal. Milk thistle and various other compounds are known to raise Glutathione.

It can be bought in capsules forms, (liposomal), sublingual, spray, transdermal patches, cream or IV.

I didn't think, based on my research, that it was safe to boost Glutathione level, for me, unless done over a period of time. If the digestive system, liver and kidneys are not functioning optimally, in particular Liver Detox Pathway I & II, it made no sense to raise Glutathione, rather than working as an antioxidant, it was likely it would turn into an oxidant and cause even more free radical damage.

It can also be harmful to those on Anti-depressants or with severe CNS symptoms. Again, do your research, be cautious.

Some foods that are known to raise Glutathione: broccoli, cabbage, avocado, artichokes, brussel spouts.

The simplest and easiest read about Glutathione below:

RAISING GSH LEVELS

If glutathione is manufactured within the body, what can we do to maintain or increase GSH levels? Some pharmaceutical drugs can do it, and so can some natural sources. Eating glutathione cannot. There are many ideas about how to raise GSH levels in the body but only a few actually work – and some of them have side effects. In order to take advantage of the great potential of GSH in health and disease we must dispel the myths and clarify the facts. This requires an understanding of the biochemical makeup of this important protein.

GSH is a tripeptide – a protein made up of three amino acids – in this case, glycine, glutamate (glutamic acid), and cysteine. The chemical structure of glutathione does not easily survive the digestive process, so eating it will not raise GSH levels. The body manufactures it within the cell from building blocks (precursors) of GSH in our food. Glycine and glutamate are readily available in North American diets, but cysteine-containing proteins are much harder to come by. Figure 12 shows sources of these three component amino-acids of glutathione.

Cysteine – a sulfur-containing, or "thiol" amino acid – is responsible for the biological activity (bioactivity) of the whole molecule. Cysteine as an isolated amino acid has trouble getting from your mouth to your cells. Much of it is broken down or altered in the digestive tract and bloodstream. So we must take cysteine in a form that resists breakdown. If the body doesn’t get these sulfur-containing amino acids into the blood, we can’t make GSH.

Other thiol amino acids include cystine (different from cysteine) and methionine. Cystine is known as a "disulfide" amino acid because it contains two cysteine molecules connected by their sulfur atoms – a so-called dilsulfide bridge. Cystine is not generally found as a free amino acid. Methionine may serve as a glutathione building block, but it has the tendency to convert into homocysteine, which raises the risk of heart disease.

There are several ways to raise GSH levels. Both pharmaceutical and natural products are listed in figure 13 and described in this chapter. We also describe how GSH as a whole works with other nutrients or co-factors.

Cont/... http://www.msmusings.com/archive81/FYI,%20raising%20glutathione%20levels.htm