Another week of chaos and confusion is in the can….now it is time to look behind the front page to see what was missed.
Local–We had a couple of perfect Fall days this past week….highs at 75 and lows at 50….I shall enjoy for it will not last long.
Personal–My chemo started up again yesterday so I feel like crap today….I await my cancer doctor to make my PET scan appointment to look at the two new spots on my lung….something to dread….I will learn my fate Monday.
I will begin this session with news on the cancer treatment situation….some of the most frequent types may have a new treatment…..
A nanoparticle vaccine has shown great promise in preventing three types of cancer in mice, as well as stopping tumors from spreading when they were exposed to cancerous cells.
Cancer vaccines have moved from the sci-fi dream realm into actual scientific possibility within just a few short decades. We’re not just talking about the HPV vaccine, incredible though its success has been at preventing cases of cervical cancer. A vaccine against a virus, albeit one that causes cancer, is easier to conceptualize – we get vaccinated against tons of other viruses, after all.
But vaccinating against a non-infectious disease like cancer, with all its complex causes and different presentations, is much harder to wrap your head around – making this latest study perhaps even more impressive.
Researchers led by a team at the University of Massachusetts Amherst have developed a nanoparticle-based vaccine that has previously been shown to shrink and clear cancerous tumors in mice. Now, they’ve demonstrated it can also work to prevent three types of cancer: pancreatic cancer, melanoma, and triple-negative breast cancer.
Regardless of the type of vaccine, you need two key components: something to kick the immune system into gear, called the adjuvant, and the thing that you want the immune system to respond to, called the antigen.
Have you ever heard of the disease known as CKM Syndrome?
Almost 90 percent of US adults have at least one risk factor for a newly defined medical condition – but just as many, nine in 10, have never heard of it before. The American Heart Association hopes to change that by raising awareness of the condition, called cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic (CKM) syndrome.
“We want people to know that it’s really common to have heart, kidney and metabolic risk factors at the same time,” said Dr Eduardo Sanchez, chief medical officer for prevention at the American Heart Association, in a statement following a recent survey.
Of the respondents, only 12 percent had heard of CKM syndrome prior, but 72 percent said they were interested to learn more.
CKM syndrome “is a term to describe the interconnection between cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, and chronic kidney disease,” explains Tulane School of Medicine professor Keith C. Ferdinand in a paper in the American Journal of Managed Care.
Millions of people around the world are living with one of these conditions, but as scientists have learned more about them, they’ve realised just how closely linked they are. Comorbidities, such as having type 2 diabetes as well as cardiovascular disease, are common, and there are a number of overlapping risk factors.
Have a problem sleeping? Then there may be help for you.
A technique reportedly used by the military to fall asleep “anywhere” within two minutes has been seen by just about everyone on TikTok lately, and it might be worth a try if you are struggling to drift off.
Fitness “guru” Justin Agustin shared the hack to his followers, claiming that the technique was originally developed for fighter pilots, who need their sleep for concentration. He claims that the trick allowed soldiers to fall asleep at any time and any place, even if that’s on the battlefield. Which, if we’re honest, seems like a terrible location to power down for seven hours.
There is a plethora of shows about the paranormal……from ghosts to aliens to big foot to….well just about anything that is unexplained…..why do people believe this nonsense?
Everyone loves a good ghost story. Whether you’re a skeptic or a believer, there’s something about the eerie and the uncanny that we all enjoy. But for many people, the things that go bump in the night are not just the stuff of stories; they’re real. In fact, countless numbers of people across the world have their own stories of the strange, whether they’re ghosts, aliens, or any other spook. How do we explain that?
Join host Dr Russell Moul as we discuss the psychology underpinning paranormal experiences with Chris French, Emeritus Professor of Anomalistic Psychology at Goldsmiths, University of London. We explore everything from ghosts and psychic experiences to alien abductions and Satanic cults, and ask the big question: Is there really something strange going on, or is it all in our heads?
If you are interested in the paranormal then there is a great on-line library for you to consult….https://digitaloccultlibrary.commons.gc.cuny.edu/
Or this could help….https://www.openculture.com/2025/08/2178-occult-books-now-digitized-put-online.html
Do you have what some call the ‘sixth sense’?
Sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing – these are the senses we’re probably all familiar with. But we humans may not be limited to just five: some scientists argue for a “sixth sense” – though there are several contenders for what this might be – while others suggest we have way more. One candidate for this elusive extra sense is interoception – and now, researchers at Scripps Research and the Allen Institute have been awarded a $14.2 million prize to investigate it further.
Interoception is our sense of the internal state of the body. Are you hungry, sad, desperate for the loo? We know the answers to these questions thanks to interoception.
It is the process by which the nervous system continuously detects and interprets the body’s physiological signals to keep things running smoothly. Let’s say you’re hungry. An interoceptor – a sensor in a nerve cell – will receive a signal, which is then transmitted to your brain. It is processed in a region called the thalamus, which, in turn, triggers your stomach to rumble. The thalamus then sends the information to the insula to decode it – this is when you start to feel hungry. Now that you’re aware of that fact, you can act on it and find yourself something to eat.
While the five classic senses are external and require specialized sensory organs, interoception operates through a network of neural pathways that monitors, among other things, our circulation, digestion, and immunity. As a result, we are often not conscious of it, hence it has been described as our “hidden sixth sense”.
DAMN! How do I get on the list for these ‘grants”?
As we get older we scratch our heads in wonder just why does time seem to speed up the older we get….wonder no more….
Scientists may be closer to understanding why time seems to pass more quickly as we age — and brain scans of people watching an old Alfred Hitchcock show helped them address this enduring question.
In a study published Sept. 30 in the journal Communications Biology, scientists pulled data from the Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience (Cam-CAN), a long-term brain-aging research project. In total, 577 people had previously watched an excerpt from the old television series “Alfred Hitchcock Presents” — specifically, eight minutes of an episode called “Bang! You’re Dead.” As the study participants watched the clip, functional MRI (fMRI) scans were recorded; these scans would provide a measure of how the participants’ brain activity changed over time.
A little something for the funny bone….
What’s the logical next step for an ambitious adult performer? Sure, you could just continue your career, but eventually, some people get to a point where they want to close their DMs and hang up the skimpy outfits.
One of those people is Colombian performer Amaranta Hank, who recently announced her campaign for the Colombian Senate with possibly the best slogan of all time: “We like being on top, not on the bottom.”
I don’t know her political beliefs at all, but with branding that strong, I’m sure she’ll get far!
If their Senate is anything like ours she should provide a bit of zazz to their proceedings.
A quick stroll down memory lane….
In my youth I lived in Spain, Palma, Mallorca to be exact, and one of my favorite snacks was pistachios….back in those days they were red, crispy and salty….I miss that….
Today’s nuts are boring after eating the originals….why the change?
There are a couple of different accounts of why pistachios once only came in a vivid ruby hue. Some believe a Brooklyn-based pistachio vendor named Zaloom dyed his nutty fare to set him apart from other nut vendors, and the color caught on. But most experts agree that pistachios, which were almost exclusively imported from the Middle East (primarily Iran) from the 1930s through the ’70s and into the ’80s, were pretty unsightly, and so they were dyed red to hide their imperfections. It was very much a form of food styling. After harvesting and during the drying process, the pistachio shells would get stained. Even though this didn’t affect the flavor or texture of the nut, the flaws weren’t exactly conducive to the concept of “eating with your eyes first.” What better way to brighten up something ugly than with a pop of red? Of course, consumers had to be willing to have their fingers and lips stained after snacking.
By the 1980s, the United States saw a boom in domestic pistachio production. This was partially because, from 1979 and into the next decade, there were escalating tensions between the United States and Iran, with the U.S. issuing embargoes and sanctions on the Middle Eastern country. California began growing pistachios in large quantities, becoming the largest grower in America and the primary state responsible for feeding the country’s pistachio-cracking habit. Improved harvesting technology came about, with machinery able to pick, hull, and dry the nuts quickly, which left the shells in pristine shape. With these advancements, there was no need to hide any imperfections, and so red pistachio shells eventually became a thing of the past. It’s worth noting that Iran is still one of the largest producers of pistachios in the world.
Red pistachios used to be available at every gas station and convenience store, but today, you are hard-pressed to find them at all in any store. Luxurious pistachio cream and Dubai-style chocolates, however, are keeping pistachios more relevant than ever before. However, you can still order red pistachios online. They make a fun addition to holiday nut bowls, but consumers may want to consider the presence of red food dye, which wasn’t so much of a hot-button issue before the last millennium, but is a major cause of controversy in the food industry today.
Read More: https://www.thetakeout.com/1997870/why-old-school-pistachios-red/
To hide the imperfections? Why? No one eats the damn shell.
That does it for me today…..l still recovering from being juiced.
I hope everyone has a wonderful Saturday and as always….Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”