Stem Cells, DNA Methylation and Aids Numbers that don't add up - NewsGrabs 2 December 2007
Health Supreme's NewsGrabs are a selection of alternative health and other underprivileged news. Find what you may have missed in your everyday reading - watch out for these NewsGrabs on weekends.
Here is another week's worth of interesting stories and links collected for you:
Pine bark extract arthritis benefits -Skin Cells Reprogrammed into Stem Cells -
Japanese Consumers Will Not Accept GM Food -
Ten Percent of Food Sold in Copenhagen is Organic -
DNA methylation promotes tumors -
FDA panel to review Tamiflu's effect on brain -
Alzheimer drugs don't delay dementia onset -
5,000 Chantix complaints released -
Study says Males should be given HPV vaccine -
Global Campaign Vows to Fight Corporate Drug Monopoly -
Did Johnson&Johnson Hide The Risk Of Its Ortho-Evra Patch? -
Pfizer Settlement Talks With Nigeria Go Nowhere -
Book: Cancer Terrorists Unmasked -
Study: CT Scans Raise Cancer Risk -
Book: Surviving America's Depression Epidemic -
Video: The Business of Disease -
HIV/AIDS: NUMBERS THAT DON’T ADD UP -
China reports drop in HIV cases -
Video: Global Warming Tutorial -
Radioactive Ammunition Fired in Middle East May Claim More Lives... -
Top 25 Censored News Stories of 2007 -
- - -Pine bark extract shows arthritis benefits
"To our knowledge, this is the first randomised clinical trial to show the effectiveness of Pycnogenol, a dietary supplement with known antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities, in alleviating the clinical symptoms of knee osteoarthritis," wrote the researchers, led by Ronald Ross Watson from the University of Arizona.
Skin Cells Reprogrammed To Behave Like Embryonic Stem Cells
When University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers succeeded in reprogramming skin cells to behave like embryonic stem cells, they also began to redefine the political and ethical dynamics of the stem-cell debate, a leading bioethicist says. R. Alta Charo, a UW-Madison professor of law and bioethics, says the scientific finding could have far-reaching effects on the social dimensions of the ongoing controversy over embryonic stem cell research."This is a method for creating a stem cell line without ever having to work through, at any stage, an entity that is a viable embryo," Charo says. "Therefore, you manage to avoid many of those debates with the right-to life community."
I guess those researchers haven't been paying attention when umbilical cord stem cells were discovered three years ago. Perhaps that message got drowned out by the din of religious objections at the time.
Japanese Consumers Will Not Accept GM Food
Japanese consumers are opposed to genetically modified (GM) food and agriculture, and are actively building alliances to keep their country GM-free. As far back as 1997, nearly 500,000 Japanese signed a petition opposing GM food and demanding proper labeling. By 2002, the petition grew to over 2 million signatures. The majority of the Japanese public also wants GM foods to be labeled as such.With European and Japanese consumers firmly opposed to the covert introduction of genetically modified foods, where will the US supported push for frankenfoods turn next ?
Ten Percent of All Food Sold in Copenhagen is Now Organic
The latest is that the public sectors also have seriously jumped the organic wagon. Within the Copenhagen authorities 45 per cent of al food consumption today is organic but the target is considerably higher. With the environment strategy "Environment Metropolis: Our Vision 2015" the politicians wish that solely organic food is to be served in 90 per cent of the Copenhagen old-age homes and residential homes for children and young persons in 2015.
DNA methylation shown to promote development of colon tumors
The research directly demonstrated that hypermethylation switches off tumor suppressor genes—the "housekeeping" genes that keep cancer cells in check. The study, published December 1 in Genes and Development, found that hypermethylation boosted the number of intestinal tumors by 60-100 percent and significantly increased the average size of microscopic early-stage tumors.While DNA methylation has been correlated with tumor development in numerous studies of human cancers, this is the first in vivo work demonstrating a causal connection in mammals. Better understanding of the process is a promising pathway to the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of certain cancers with minimal side effects.
DNA hypermethylation has also been correlated with retrovirus expression as seen in Aids. Cal Crilly found the connecting links and wrote them up here and here.
The Vanishing of the Bees
This is a film in progress. You can see a trailer, get some information on what will be in the film and you can help with a donation if you like.
FDA panel to review Tamiflu's effect on brain
A Food and Drug Administration panel on Tuesday will review reports of abnormal behavior and other brain effects in more than 1,800 children who had taken the flu medicine Tamiflu since its approval in 1999, including 55 in the USA. Twenty-two of the U.S. reports were considered "serious," with symptoms such as convulsions, delirium or delusions, says Terry Hurley, spokesman for drugmaker Roche Laboratories.None of the U.S. cases resulted in death. But in Japan, Hurley says, five deaths have been reported in children under 16 as a result of neurological or psychiatric problems. "Four were fatal falls, and one was encephalitis in a patient with leukemia," he says.
Yet governments all over the world are spending rivers of money for stockpiling this drug, which apart from having serious safety problems is only marginally effective.An interesting (anonymous) comment on the article:
"Tamiflu is another pharmaceutical which was derived from a natural plant compound. In this case the source is the Chinese Star Anise plant from S. China. Gilead Sciences developed Tamiflu from this plant in order to create a product which could be patented and monopolized by the drug's licensee, Hoffman Roche. The original natural anti viral, biotivia's bioflu, from which Tamiflu is derived, is safe and effective but can not be patented since it consists of extracts of naturally occurring plants. Again greed triumphs over reason and safety. The natural compound is still available but ignored since Tamiflu was intoduced."
Alzheimer drugs don't delay dementia onset: study
Giving Alzheimer's drugs to people with early memory problems does not seem to delay the onset of the disease, researchers said on Tuesday. Three main drugs -- Aricept, or donepezil; Exelon, or rivastigmine; and Reminyl, or galantamine -- are currently approved for use in mild-to-moderate Alzheimer's disease.
DA releases over 5,000 Chantix complaints
Chantix (Varenicline tartrate) is a drug designed to help people stop smoking. The FDA approved the drug on a priority review basis in May 2006. It appears that the clinical trials that weren't required for the fast track approval are being done by an unsuspecting public now."After an initial report on Albrecht's death, News 8 requested, through the Freedom of Information Act, all the complaints filed with the FDA about Chantix. A computer disc was sent with 5,157 complaints, which were all filed in just one week after the News 8 report aired."
"Suicide was reported 55 times. Suicidal thoughts were mentioned in 199 cases and 417 people complained of depression."
Study: Males should be given HPV vaccine
"HPV16 is a common strain of the sexually transmitted HPV virus, another known risk factor for head and neck cancer."
... another known risk factor? That's code for "we really don't know shit". HPV is NOT proven to cause cervical cancer, much less head and neck cancer. And anyway, since when do we vaccinate risk factors? The fact that a very common and largely innocuous virus is present in many cases of people who have cancer, does not prove that it is causing cancer. Our insane fixation on "the virus" as an enemy image and our insistence on killing them all, is benefiting only one thing: The pharmaceutical bottom line.
Global Campaign Vows to Fight Corporate Drug Monopoly
The proposed plan is being drafted by the WHO's Intergovernmental Working Group on Public Health, Innovation and Intellectual Property (IGWG), which held a second round of discussions in early November. ''Our campaign wants to add to the IGWG's work, because we want to get our views heard at the January meeting," Kannikar told IPS.''At the heart of the plan is finding an optimal way to boost research and development of affordable healthcare products so people, particularly in the developing countries, can receive treatment for diseases, with an emphasis on neglected conditions including tuberculosis, malaria and HIV/AIDS," states a background note by Intellectual Property Watch, a Geneva-based on-line publication, distributed at the conference.
Did J&J Hide The Risk Of Its Ortho-Evra Patch?
That's the charge contained in a lawsuit filed against the health care giant. Johnson & Johnson allegedly misled docs and the FDA for years by altering and withholding medical data about the patch, according to a motion filed in federal court in Toledo, Ohio, Bloomberg News reports. J&J faces lawsuits by 2,400 women who claim the patch releases high levels of estrogen that cause strokes, heart attacks, and blood clots in the legs and lungs. Internal documents and pre-trial interviews with J&J scientists show the company learned the risk in 1999 and misled the FDA when seeking approval in 2001 to market the device, Bloomberg writes in citing the filings.
Pfizer Settlement Talks With Nigeria Go Nowhere
That's what government lawyers are saying after a hearing in the capital city of Abuja. "They don't seem to appreciate the enormity (of what) we believe happened in Kano," Mariam Uwais tells the Associated Press. "They are trying to evade certain issues, but we are insisting that those issues have to be addressed and unless these issues are addressed we will not sit with them again," she told reporters outside a court building in the capital, Abuja. "In terms of liability, they don't seem to agree that they are liable."
Book: Devra Davis On the Offensive - Cancer Terrorists Unmasked
These days whenever I think of cancer I think of another cancer fighter, a cultural warrior named Devra Davis. Her new book, "The Secret History of the War on Cancer" is a disturbing, beautifully rendered work that details how corporate suppression, government inaction and social amnesia have combined to cause an epidemic that makes a mockery of President Nixon's War on Cancer in 1971. Ten million cancers over the last thirty years were entirely preventable argues Davis.
Study: CT Scans Raise Cancer Risk
Millions of Americans, especially children, are needlessly getting dangerous radiation from "super X-rays" that raise the risk of cancer and are increasingly used to diagnose medical problems, a new report warns. In a few decades, as many as 2 percent of all cancers in the United States might be due to radiation from CT scans given now, according to the authors of the report.X-rays were known to increase our chances of developing cancer decades ago. CT scans have notably increased exposure over normal x-rays, yet were used for years. Only now we are reminded that CT scans are cancer causing. Could this 'timely' reminder be related to the new CT scan machine recently introduced by Philipps that is said to reduce radiation exposure by as much as 80 per cent?The USA Today article on the study does mention it: "New machines being developed by Philips and Toshiba for CT angiograms, however, may be safer because they emit 80% less radiation than standard CT scanners, Brenner says."
And indeed a more recent article says that the hazards of CT scans have been overstated. How are we supposed to orient ourselves in such a mess of profit-driven science and media reports? Take things with a large grain of salt, I guess.
Book: Surviving America's Depression Epidemic
Throughout history many seekers, thinkers, and prophets have taught about overcoming despair. However, it would be difficult to top the greatness of Buddha, Spinoza, and Jesus. All three were rebels and heretics. All three rejected societal norms and religious orthodoxy. Buddha rebelled against both the caste system and religious rituals. Spinoza rebelled against hypocrisy in his community and certain aspects of accepted theology. Jesus rebelled against a materialistic society and religious authorities. Buddha gave up royalty and wealth, Spinoza was excommunicated and nearly assassinated, and Jesus sacrificed his life. Buddha, Spinoza, and Jesus all came to a similar conclusion about despair -- quite a different one than that reached by the modern mental health establishment...
Video: The Business of Disease
Wired Science examines how a new disease is invented and promoted to create a market for a drug. "Who decides when a disease or syndrome gets a name, a drug and its very own TV commercial? Host Ziya Tong takes a look at Restless Leg Syndrome, one of the newest diseases to hit the big time."
HIV DOUBLETHINK
What is the greatest tribulation for a continent ravaged by a deadly incurable virus spread sexually and from mother to child, where in many parts of that continent the infection rate is as high as 30%, occasionally even higher? Well ... high birth rates, of course...Contradictions in numbers are no stranger to the Aids industry. Trust the media to disseminate absurdities with a straight face.
HIV/AIDS: NUMBERS THAT DON'T ADD UP
Media coverage failed to report clearly that the revision was only of statistically calculated estimates, not of the actual situation those numbers pretend to describe. There is no obvious reason to lend any credence to the latest numbers, and sound reason not to. Detailed descriptions of the technicalities of the computer models can make the head spin, but it takes no expertise to recognize that the estimates are an affront to plain common sense. The ranges of uncertainty attached to UNAIDS's estimates are clearly nonsensical...
China reports drop in HIV cases
China has 223,501 people infected with HIV, the official Xinhua News Agency said Tuesday, a sharp drop in previously reported figures. In 2004, China scaled back the estimated number of people infected with HIV, the virus that causes AIDS, from nearly 1 million people to 840,000, and then further lowered the estimate to 650,000 in 2005. Experts have said the estimates are probably accurate because they are in line with a change in the way data are collected.China is one of several countries that are wising up to the US originated Aids fraud. Tests do not detect a virus, and retroviral drugs kill most of the sufferers. So it makes sense to limit the influence of this fraudulently created 'epidemic' on a country by limiting the number of cases. That's what we see China doing here.A more extensive discussion of the dance around statistical lies we see in these announced Aids numbers for China is on this blog.
Unfair seizure of coins
The company has been in business for 10 years and they have not been targeted by the U.S. government until now. In fact, both the United States Mint and the Federal Reserve have admitted that what the company was doing was perfectly legal.What is the reason for the raid by the FBI if the company had been operating lawfully for nearly 10 years?
Earlier this year the company began minting two new coins, the 2008 "Peace Dollar" with the words "STOP THE WAR" on the reverse side and the 2008 coin commemorating the presidential campaign of Ron Paul. The Feds just have to stop Representative Ron Paul somehow, since he is the only presidential candidate who is pro-liberty.
Video: Global Warming Tutorial by Australian Prof Bob Carter
This is a lecture on video in four parts. The link is part one. You will see links for parts 2, 3 and 4 on the YouTube page for part one. Most people accept the global warming theory on face value. The media are full of it and blame global warming for every storm and drought, but do not forget - in science it is best to look at all points of view before making up your mind. So here is Bob Carter's view and statistics. You do not have to be a scientist to understand what he says.
Radioactive Ammunition Fired in Middle East May Claim More Lives Than Hiroshima and Nagasaki
By firing radioactive ammunition, the U.S., U.K., and Israel may have triggered a nuclear holocaust in the Middle East that, over time, will prove deadlier than the U.S. atomic bombing of Japan.So much ammunition containing depleted uranium (DU) has been fired, asserts nuclear authority Leuren Moret, "The genetic future of the Iraqi people for the most part, is destroyed."
"More than ten times the amount of radiation released during atmospheric testing (of nuclear bombs) has been released from depleted uranium weaponry since 1991," Moret writes, including radioactive ammunition fired by Israeli troops in Palestine.
Top 25 Censored News Stories of 2007
Project Censored collects the top stories that didn't make the headlines in the press this year, although they should have. From the future of the internet to US torture and Halliburton actually selling nuclear technologies to Iran while its (neocon) owners advocate war against the country, to World Bank funding of the wall of shame being built to separate Israel from Palestine and Home Land Security contracting Kelloggs Brown and Root to build detention camps (concentration camps?) in the US heartland. Take your pick from the list and find out more...- - -
More information out there...There is much I cannot cover but other sources for this kind of information exist and are active.
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The Alternative Medicine Yahoo Group is another great place to get information on what is happening in the world of nutrition and other natural health options.
For the influence of electromagnetic waves from radio, mobile phones and other radio emitting devices, check out the emfrefugee group on Yahoo.
If you are interested in a different take on the news that isn't health centered but is certainly fun, check out Robin Good TV News.
Some more sites to keep up to date with the other side of world affairs, the stuff you won't find on tv:
http://www.whatreallyhappened.com
http://www.commondreams.org
http://www.stratfor.com/
http://www.globalresearch.ca/
http://rawstory.com/
http://www.truthout.org/And remember ...
"The individual is supreme and finds its way through intuition."
posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Sunday December 2 2007
updated on Wednesday August 15 2012URL of this article:
http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2007/12/02/stem_cells_dna_methylation_and_aids_numbers_that_dont_add_up_newsgrabs_2_december_2007.htm
