Summary: Study shows frying oil consumption worsened colon cancer and colitis in mice University of Massachusetts, August 26, 2019 Foods fried in vegetable oil are popular worldwide, but research about the health effects of this cooking technique has been largely inconclusive and focused on healthy people. For the first time, UMass Amherst food scientists set out to examine the impact of frying oil consumption on inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and colon cancer, using animal models. In their paper published Aug. 23 in Cancer Prevention Research, researchers showed that feeding frying oil to mice exaggerated colonic inflammation, enhanced tumor growth and worsened gut leakage, spreading bacteria or toxic bacterial products into the bloodstream. Rather, the new research suggests that eating fried foods may exacerbate and advance conditions of the colon. "In the United States, many people have these diseases, but many of them may still eat fast food and fried food," says Guodong Zhang. "If somebody has IBD or colon cancer and they eat this kind of food, there is a chance it will make the diseases more aggressive." For their experiments, the researchers used a real-world sample of canola oil, in which falafel had been cooked at 325 F in a standard commercial fryer at an eatery in Amherst, Massachusetts. "Canola oil is used widely in America for frying," Jianan Zhang says. To test their hypothesis that the oxidation of polyunsaturated fatty acids, which occurs when the oil is heated, is instrumental in the inflammatory effects, the researchers isolated polar compounds from the frying oil and fed them to the mice. The results were "very similar" to those from the experiment in which the mice were fed frying oil, suggesting that the polar compounds mediated the inflammatory effects. (NEXT) Research: Black Seed Oil Protects Pancreas Damage from Diabetes – Helps Heal Wounds Bu-Ali Sina University, August 23, 2019 The Mideast region of Eurasia has known that black cumin seed (Nigella sativa) “remedies all but death” for centuries. A study report published explained recent research on wound healing with diabetic rats using an extract of Nigella sativa or black seed cumin oil. None of the rats were naturally diabetic. Out of the 49 standard lab rats used, three groups of seven were rendered diabetic with a one-time injection of streptozocin. You may wonder why this study’s researchers bothered to chemically induce healthy lab rats into diabetes to test Nigella sativa’s wound healing properties. It’s because diabetics heal more slowly and worsen more rapidly than those not afflicted. The result was that the larger dose of the black cumin seed extract at 40 percent healed the inflicted wounds of diabetic rats almost twice as fast as the control group, closely followed by the 20 percent extract used on diabetic rats, leading the researchers to conclude: N. sativa extract significantly promoted wound healing in diabetic rats in comparison with control groups. Although the beneficial mechanism of the promotion of wound healing was not specifically studied, it is believed that the anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial properties of N. sativa would contribute to this enhanced wound healing. Black Cumin Seed Oil to Protect Against Pancreas Damage Leading to Diabetes This animal study’s report also published it was designed to confirm earlier studies showing that virgin olive oil and Nigella sativa (black cumin seed) oil protects the pancreas and preserves the pancreatic Beta cells that produce insulin. (NEXT) More than 100 vapers have contracted a severe lung disease, per CDC Centers for Disease Control, August 22, 2019 The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says that it’s looking into 153 possible cases of a mysterious lung disease that seems to be associated with e-cigarette use. The agency says it’s investigating the illness alongside 16 states where the cases were reported from June 28th to August 20th. The illness seems to start out gradually with symptoms that include difficulty breathing, shortness of breath, and / or chest pain. Some cases also involve mild to moderate gastrointestinal illness, including vomiting, diarrhea, and fatigue. No one has died of the still-unnamed illness. The CDC and impacted states haven’t identified a cause, but in all reported cases, affected people had used vapes. In multiple cases, these people also said they had recently used tetrahydrocannabinol (THC)-containing products. THC is found in marijuana, so it could be possible that people are vaping weed products. Vaping among high schoolers increased by 78 percent between 2017 and 2018, with more than 27 percent of high schoolers using e-cigarettes regularly. (NEXT) Essential oils could counter lung and liver ailments caused by air pollution Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale (France), August 23, 2019 Certain ingredients in essential oils made from plants such as cloves, anise, fennel and ylang-ylang could serve as a natural treatment of lung and liver conditions caused by air pollution. This is according to Miriana Kfoury of the Unité de Chimie Environnementale et Interactions sur le Vivant, Université du Littoral Côte d'Opale in France and the Lebanese University in Lebanon. It is the first of its kind to evaluate the value of using certain essential oil compounds to treat inflammation caused by the fine particles that are typical of hazy, polluted air, and that are known to be carcinogenic. Plants naturally contain various essential oils that are made up of different compounds. Some of these have been found to have antioxidant value, and to also be able to fight inflammation.Cytokin levels normally increase when the body's immune system is fighting a specific infection. "The findings provide the first evidence that natural essential oil components counteract the inflammatory effects of particulate matter, such as that contained in polluted air," says Kfoury. (NEXT) Melatonin boost a key to fighting breast cancer Michigan State University, August 24, 2019 Melatonin, a hormone produced in the human brain, appears to suppress the growth of breast cancer tumors. The brain manufactures melatonin only at night to regulate sleep cycles. Epidemiologists and experimentalists have speculated that the lack of melatonin, due in part to our sleep-deprived modern society, put women at higher risk for breast cancer. The latest MSU study showed that melatonin suppresses the growth of breast cancer stem cells, providing scientific proof to support the growing body of anecdotal evidence on sleep deprivation. Before the team could test its theory, the scientists had to grow tumors from stem cells, known as "mammospheres," a method perfected in the laboratory of James Trosko at MSU. The growth of these mammospheres was enhanced with chemicals known to fuel tumor growth, namely, the natural hormone estrogen, and estrogen-like chemical Bisphenol A, or BPA, found in many types of plastic food packages. Melatonin treatment significantly decreased the number and size of mammospheres when compared with the control group. Furthermore, when the cells were stimulated by estrogen or BPA and treated with melatonin at the same time, there was a greater reduction in the number and size of mammospheres. (NEXT) Acupuncture may yield pain relief for children who have complex medical conditions Gillette Children's Healthcare, (Minnesota), August 22, 2019 It appears that acupuncture may be a viable option for pain management when it comes to pediatric patients who have complex medical conditions. The study found that a significant portion of children who have chronic care conditions - many of whom are already on numerous medications - might benefit from the use of the low-risk and non-toxic benefits of acupuncture. The study was published in a recent edition of Medical Acupuncture. Many patients who have complex medical conditions such as cerebral palsy, spinal cord injuries and other brain and musculoskeletal conditions experience chronic pain. As a result, they are often medicated with drugs that can make them sleepy, gain weight and exacerbate mood swigs that burden both the child and their families, says Scott Schwantes, M.D., a pediatrician at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare and lead author of the study. (Child Abuse Article Next) Stanford University says vax court is abusive to parents Federal program for vaccine-injured children is failing, Stanford scholar says A Stanford professor has found that the federal Vaccine Injury Compensation Program has not lived up to its original goals of providing "simple justice" to children injured by vaccines. Lengthy delays and an adversarial tone characterize the program. BY CLIFTON B. PARKER A Stanford law scholar says a no-fault alternative dispute resolution system for resolving vaccine injury claims is not working as intended. The safety net that Congress created to protect children who suffer from vaccine injury is not working as intended, a Stanford law professor has found. “The bottom line is that the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program was supposed to offer ‘simple justice’ to vaccine-injured children. But it has largely failed to do so,” wrote Stanford law Professor Nora Freeman Engstrom in a new research article. Outside the court system Created by Congress in 1986 as the problem of vaccine injury hit crisis proportions, the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, or VICP, is a no-fault compensation system housed within the U.S. Court of Claims and funded by a 75-cent tax on each vaccine dose administered across the country. Vaccines are given to reduce the threat of common diseases, such as measles, chicken pox, smallpox and polio, and they save the lives of tens of thousands of Americans each year. However, vaccines also cause a very small proportion of those inoculated to sustain serious and sometimes fatal injuries, according to Engstrom. She said the VCIP uses a no-fault alternative dispute resolution system for resolving vaccine injury claims. Known as an “alternative compensation mechanism,” it is similar to workers’ compensation funds or the September 11th Victim Compensation Fund in providing payment to injured individuals outside the traditional court system. Engstrom, who also recently wrote an op-ed on this issue, noted the vaccine fund has adjudicated more than 14,000 petitions for vaccine injury since its beginning in 1986. In her research, she analyzed nearly three decades’ worth of data concerning the program’s operation. “The results are discouraging,” she said. “Despite initial optimism in Congress and beyond that such a fund could resolve claims efficiently and amicably, in operation the program has been astonishingly slow and surprisingly combative.” For example, Congress originally established a 240-day deadline for all adjudication decisions. But Engstrom reported that, in reality, the average adjudication takes over five years. “This is years longer than similar claims resolved by court judgment or trial verdict within the traditional tort system,” she said. The tone and nature of the experience is also disillusioning, she noted. Though claims within the system are supposed to be amicably resolved, in reality “the resolution of petitions is frequently antagonistic,” she said. Engstrom found that even when children are found to be entitled to compensation, governmental lawyers have sometimes hassled petitioners over relatively piddling amounts. For example, in one case, a dispute arose whether a 14-year-old girl with profound mental retardation was or was not entitled to a $40 pair of high-top tennis shoes. Perhaps as a result, Engstrom said, the vaccine program has heavily relied on lawyers. Early on, some hoped that procedures would be straightforward and collaborative enough to make it unnecessary to hire counsel. But Engstrom discovered that petitioners need counsel – and often highly specialized legal help – to have any chance at successfully resolving their claims. (NEXT) GOP LOBBYISTS HELP BRAZIL RECRUIT U.S. COMPANIES TO EXPLOIT THE AMAZON Lee Fang THE INTERCEPT August 23 2019 THIS SUMMER, fires are being used to clear wide swaths of the Amazon at an unprecedented rate. One-fifth of the Amazon has already been destroyed in the past 50 years; further industrialization of the rainforest risks destroying another fifth, a loss that would be catastrophic for the global ecosystem. The disaster is widely blamed on interests seeking to clear the world’s largest rainforest for cattle ranching, mining, and export-focused agribusiness. Documents reveal that those interests are being pushed in the U.S. by Republican lobbyists, friendly with President Donald Trump’s administration, who entered into talks with the Brazilian government to promote corporate investment in the Amazon. The crisis in the Amazon comes as Brazil is now governed by an administration openly hostile to environmental concerns and Indigenous communities. President Jair Bolsonaro, a former Army captain once viewed as a fringe figure in Brazilian politics, has been referred to himself as “Captain Chainsaw” for his drive to promote logging and agribusiness in the Amazon. Shortly after taking office in January, Bolsonaro slashed funding for Brazil’s main environmental agency by 24 percent. And this week, after a report by Brazil’s space research center revealed that fires in the Amazon are up 83% this year, Bolsonaro blamed the fires on international NGOsrather than his own anti-environmental policies. MEANWHILE, A MEMBER of the Brazilian government has contracted with Washington lobbyists to continue selling land and destroying the forest.
