Time for the tradition to continue….the all important IST News Dump….another week has passed us by and there are a few things that were missing in our MSM reporting.
Locally–Warnings have been issued to NOT eat raw seafood or go swimming in Gulf with an open cut because of the flesh eating bacteria that has been detected.
Personal–As it stands today I have about a month off of the poking and prodding and scans and doctors….a much welcomed break.
WE begin this Saturday with health issues…..
The big thing for the last few years has been those ultra-processed foods and the dangers…..
Americans are consuming slightly fewer ultraprocessed foods than in recent years, new CDC data shows—but more than half of daily calories still come from these factory-made foods, leaving experts little cause for celebration. The latest data, pulled from 2021 to 2023, shows that ultraprocessed foods made up 53% of adults’ daily calories on average, a modest dip from 56% between 2017 and 2018. Kids are still ahead of adults in this area, with 62% of their calories coming from ultraprocessed foods, down from 66%. Outside experts note those declines are small enough that they could amount to measurement errors, per the New York Times.
Ultraprocessed foods—widely marketed, industrially produced, and loaded with high-fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated oils, and other ingredients you wouldn’t find in your pantry—have been linked to a host of problems, including overeating, obesity, and heart disease. (A new study finds cutting ultraprocessed foods aids in weight loss.) The CDC’s findings follow years of warnings from health officials, including a recent push from Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his “Make America Healthy Again” campaign. But since this data was collected before that effort ramped up, any influence from the campaign isn’t reflected here.
Sandwiches (including burgers) steal the calorie crown for ultraprocessed foods across all age groups, contributing more calories to the daily total than sweet baked goods, salty snacks, and sugary drinks, according to the data shared Thursday, based on a self-reporting study involving 4,881 adults and 1,752 children. The evidence shows older adults and those with higher incomes eat slightly fewer ultraprocessed foods, which makes sense as food companies continue to market these foods to kids and families with tighter budgets.
A dangerous substance may be the key to treatment of Alzheimer’s….
Long used to stabilize moods in bipolar disorder, lithium may hold a surprising new promise: reversing memory loss and brain changes linked to Alzheimer’s disease. In a Wednesday study in Nature, researchers found lithium, which the brain naturally produces, is captured by beta-amyloid plaques—the same plaques associated with Alzheimer’s—making lithium less available where it’s needed. In experiments, mice with Alzheimer’s were given water containing low doses of lithium salts, resulting in reversed memory loss and pathological changes, per STAT News. While lithium has previously been explored as a potential Alzheimer’s therapy, past clinical trials using lithium carbonate did not show significant benefits and raised concerns about toxicity.
The new research, led by Harvard’s Bruce Yankner, focused on an organic lithium salt, lithium orotate. This version appears to reach brain areas outside the plaques more effectively and reversed cognitive decline in aging mice, even reducing the beta-amyloid plaque burden by 70%. Outside experts note that while long-term exposure to higher lithium levels in drinking water has previously been linked to reduced dementia rates, more research is needed. If follow-up studies confirm these results and identify a safe dosage, lithium orotate could move to human clinical trials as a preventive measure or treatment for Alzheimer’s. In the meantime, the study authors warn against self-medicating, as lithium can be dangerous if not carefully monitored.
It is a debilitating disease and any hope is better than none.
You know those scented candles that Aunt Lucy has around her house….they may not be a good idea….
There’s something cozy and homey about the aromas of scented candles. But beneath this pleasant smell, scientific research is uncovering a troubling truth: these products are polluting the very air you breathe.
Recent studies have revealed that all scented candles emit nanoparticles comparable to pollution from diesel engines. They release toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs), carcinogenic pollutants, and fine particulate matter that can damage your lungs, disrupt your hormones, and even increase the risk of chronic disease. This even applies to “flame-free” scented products like wax melts, scientists say.
https://www.zmescience.com/science/news-science/stop-using-scented-candles/
Then there is the robot surgeon…..
For over two decades, surgical robots have been an extra pair of steady hands. They help human doctors stitch, cut, and probe with superhuman precision, but always under the surgeon’s command.
Now, technology has advanced far enough that robots can perform surgery on their own.
Researchers from Johns Hopkins, Stanford, and Columbia universities unveiled a robot that doesn’t just follow orders. It thinks, adjusts, cuts, all completely on its own.
“We were able to perform a surgical procedure with a really high level of autonomy,” Axel Krieger, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at Johns Hopkins, told the Guardian. “What we’ve done here is really a full procedure.”
The team’s creation, called SRT-H, removed gallbladders from pig cadavers in eight separate procedures. The robot completed each one with 100% accuracy—no human intervention required. It identified arteries and ducts, clipped them carefully, and snipped them free with surgical scissors.
Is this the future of surgery? I do not like this idea.
As long as I am on the health thing…..I want to nominate this quack as a snake oil salesman….
An unlicensed and untrained wellness practitioner is injecting bleach into people’s tumors — and now, he’s trying to enter an American market more primed for such unproven treatments than ever before.
As Wired reports, Chinese “inventor” Xuewu Liu’s alarming mix featuring chlorine dioxide, a highly toxic bleach compound, is injected directly into cancerous tumors in hopes of shrinking them.
Though he counts 20 success stories for his high-dose bleach injections, one woman who actually underwent Liu’s treatment, which costs about $20,000 and is currently only available at clinics in China and Germany, suggested the purported cure may have exacerbated her illness.
https://futurism.com/neoscope/unlicensed-bleach-injection
Pets are worth $90,000 a year in happiness….
It’s not often we think of “life satisfaction” in terms of a number. But in a world where it would seem everything has a currency attached to it, having a pet is worth quite a lot.
Obviously, any animal lover will tell you that having a pet companion is priceless. But, according to a study published in the Social Indicators Research Journal (which surveyed 2,500 British households), researchers Michael W. Gmeiner and Adelina Gschwandtner surmised that having a pet companion actually does have a quantitative financial value.
In an article for CNN, author Issy Ronald explains that this study “concludes that having an animal companion is worth up to £70,000 ($90,000) a year in life satisfaction—a metric economists use to quantify the ‘implicit price’ of otherwise intangible things.”
What’s even more interesting? The study finds that dollar (pound) amount is relatively the same as the financial “worth” of having a spouse or “meeting up with friends and relatives regularly.”
https://www.upworthy.com/pets-are-equal-to-spouses
Ever use Uber, the ride sharing app….here is something to think about….An FYI from your friend at IST….
Uber, long touting itself as a safe way to get around, dealt with a sexual assault or misconduct report in the US about every eight minutes from 2017 to 2022, the New York Times reports based on newly unsealed court records related to large-scale litigation against the company. That’s a far higher frequency than the ride-hailing giant has ever disclosed to the public. While Uber’s public messaging spotlights how rare incidents are, documents and interviews reveal the company has long been aware of the scope of the problem. Inside Uber, safety teams developed tools—ranging from algorithmic risk assessments to pilot programs letting women pair with women drivers—and debated the use of in-car cameras.
Yet, many of these measures were delayed, left optional, or quietly shelved, often due to protecting its finances and because of risk to Uber’s core business model, which relies on classifying drivers as independent contractors, the Times reports. This strategy, while cost-saving, limits oversight. The records show that between 2017 and 2022, Uber logged more than 400,000 reports of sexual assault or misconduct—well beyond the 12,500 or so serious sexual assaults the company admits to in its curated safety reports. Uber’s head of safety states that 75% of the cases are “less serious,” including unwanted comments or flirting.
But internally, employees have acknowledged sexual assault likely goes underreported. They also note attacks tend to follow patterns: often occurring late at night, involving intoxicated passengers, and usually perpetrated by men with low ratings or previous complaints. Uber reported it has rolled out features like GPS tracking, in-app emergency buttons, and optional audio or video recording, but it has stopped short of making many tools mandatory due to cost, legal complexity, and concerns over privacy and discrimination lawsuits. Still, the company says data from 2023 onward will show “critical sexual assaults” at their lowest level in years.
That is it for today….I hope everyone that visited was either entertained or informed or hopefully both….
Enjoy your Summer Saturday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”