We are closing in on the last of yet another month….there is so much news that gets pushed aside for the silliness that is our clueless leader and his antics and rhetoric…..it is my gig to try and bring some of the missed news to my readers.
Local–Lots of Spring like weather so the different festivals have begun….the crab, the oyster, the crayfish, etc and this will continue through the Summer….there are 10 cities across the coast and they all have multiple festivals yearly….so always something to do.
Personal–Yesterday was another chemo session and I feel like crap…..this time the side effects are brutal.
Somewhere last week I did something that screwed my back up so I have been walking like the old man that I am.
Shall we begin?
I start with news from the UK and if any of my readers have more info please past it on…..
In parts of the UK, a $3.50 Cadbury chocolate bar now comes with a clear plastic force field around it. Sainsbury’s, Tesco, and Co-op are among the chains putting chocolate candy in anti-theft boxes as retailers and police say sweets are increasingly being stolen to be resold through illicit markets, reports the BBC. The Association of Convenience Stores says chocolate has shifted from being an item targeted by casual shoplifters to a staple of organized theft, alongside alcohol, meat, and coffee.
The Heart of England Co-operative reports losing nearly $340,000 to chocolate theft last year alone, calling it a “massive issue” and adding that a single offender can swipe thousands of pounds’ worth in a week. Some shop owners now fill shelves just halfway, move chocolate away from prime spots, install AI-linked CCTV, and pin photos of known shoplifters at cash registers to fend off thefts.
The British Retail Consortium logged 5.5 million shop theft incidents last year, as well as 1,600 episodes of daily abuse or violence against staff. Retail groups are pressing for more police support, tougher sentences for repeat offenders, and crackdowns on the networks reselling stolen goods. Britain’s “most prolific” chocolate thief was busted in September and sentenced to 20 months behind bars, per the Sun.
Do you do regular exercise? Then here is something to consider…..
February is when a lot of gym shoes start gathering dust—but economist Emily Oster argues in a New York Times op-ed that the real problem isn’t our willpower, it’s the way exercise research is framed and sold to us. Instead of focusing on how to keep people moving for the long haul, she writes, studies and headlines obsess over which workout is “best”: running vs. swimming, walking vs. jogging, Zone 2 vs. something else. The problem is that most of this research is nonsense: The gold-standard randomized trials we’d need to truly compare these regimens are so large and costly they rarely exist.
What we mostly have, Oster explains, are observational studies that blur the line between correlation and causation. Swimmers in one study looked worse off than runners—not because swimming “doesn’t work,” but because swimmers tended to have more health risks to begin with. Similar flaws underpin buzzy claims about step counts and “one minute of vigorous equals an hour of light” activity. Oster’s advice is that people find an exercise tailored to their own likes and lifestyle, and stick with it on a regular basis. “It doesn’t really matter which exercise people do—they just need to do it past February.”
Read the full piece
WE have seen a lot of info passed around about microplastics…..this one is disturbing….
Plastic has turned up in an unexpected place: inside most of the prostate tumors examined in a new study. NYU Langone Health researchers report finding microplastics in nine of 10 prostate cancers they analyzed—and at concentrations about 2.5 times higher than in nearby noncancerous tissue. The small pilot study, based on samples from 10 men undergoing prostate removal, will be presented at an American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting on Thursday. It is billed as the first Western research to directly compare plastic levels in prostate tumors and healthy prostate tissue, per ScienceDaily.
The team took stringent steps to avoid contamination with plastic used in labs, using nonplastic tools and carrying out testing in rooms designed for microplastic analysis. “Our pilot study provides important evidence that microplastic exposure may be a risk factor for prostate cancer,” study lead author Stacy Loeb said in a news release. One theory: The particles may spur long-lasting inflammation that promotes cancer development.
Loeb, a professor in the NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Departments of Urology and Population, says other research found possible links between microplastics and dementia and heart disease, but there was little evidence before now linking them to prostate cancer. Researchers stress the sample size is limited and larger studies are needed, but say the findings add to calls for tighter controls on plastic exposure.
- Stanford University School of Medicine urology professor Michael Eisenberg, who wasn’t involved in the study, tells NBC News that while the study doesn’t establish cause and effect, “we are finding many signals about the astonishing prevalences of micro/nanoplastics and the concerning associations with health problems.”
Now for your medical minute…..with a little history thrown in….
Rxcrement may not strike us as something doctors should use to treat patients. In fact, most people today would view feces with revulsion – but this was not always the case. In fact, there are many ancient Greco-Roman medical texts that mention the waste product being used for medical purposes. Now, researchers have found the first direct evidence that such remedies were used by some Roman-era physicians.
Ancient medicine was very different from its modern variation, though one could argue that the shadows of the past still linger in some areas of modern practice and wider culture. Regardless, for centuries before the advent of modern scientific medicine, health, illness, and treatment were all intimately wrapped up with scent and ritual. Consider the incense-filled temples of ancient Egypt or the perfumed baths of Imperial Rome; fragrances and smells played an important role in purification, healing, and protection.
It is within this complex medical framework that the use of feces in treatments fits. In addition to the use of strong-smelling oils, herbs, and resins for treating disease or warding off evil forces, excrement – particularly animal dung – was mentioned in numerous medical texts as a remedy for various ailments. Egyptian sources from the 16th century BCE describe the medicinal value of dung mixed with other aromatic agents.
Later still, authorities like Pliny the Elder and Galen regarded dung treatments as good for conditions such as inflammation, infections, and reproductive disorders. Although they may have been spoken about with euphemisms, they were nevertheless understood as part of ancient pharmacology.
They does it for me for this Saturday….I hope everyone has a lovely day and as always…..Be Well and Be Safe….
I Read, I Write, You Know
“lego ergo scribo”