Why iodine deficiency during pregnancy may have disastrous consequences
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology February 7, 2022
Higher mammals, such as humans, have markedly larger brains than other mammals. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden recently discovered a newmechanism governing brain stem cell proliferation. It serves to boost the production of neurons during development, thus causing the enlargement of the cerebral...
Why iodine deficiency during pregnancy may have disastrous consequences
Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology February 7, 2022
Higher mammals, such as humans, have markedly larger brains than other mammals. Scientists from the Max Planck Institute of Molecular Cell Biology and Genetics in Dresden recently discovered a newmechanism governing brain stem cell proliferation. It serves to boost the production of neurons during development, thus causing the enlargement of the cerebral cortex – the part of the brain that enables us humans to speak, think and dream. The surprising discovery made by the Dresden-based researchers: two components in the stem cell environment – the extracellular matrix and thyroid hormones – work together with a protein molecule found on the stem cell surface, a so-called integrin.
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Broccoli and kale microgreens pack a nutritional punch that varies with growing conditions
American Chemical Society, February 16, 2022
Although microgreens were initially gourmet ingredients for upscale restaurants, they’ve become popular among gardeners and home cooks. Despite their “superfood” label, the levels of healthful compounds, such as phytonutrients, in most varieties of microgreens are unknown. Researchers in ACS Food Science & Technology now report that kale and broccoli microgreens grown in either windowsills or under commercial growing conditions are rich in phytonutrients, though the levels of some compounds varied considerably between the two environments. As indoor gardening has taken off in recent years, the most commonly planted varieties of these small seedlings are from the Brassica family, which includes broccoli, kale, cabbage and mustard. The mature, fully-grown versions of these vegetables are rich in vitamins, minerals and phytochemicals, and environmental conditions can impact the plants’ nutritional contents.
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Can EPA-rich supplements help brains work ‘less hard’ and boost mental performance?
Swinburne University (Australia) February 10, 2022
Omega-3 supplements rich in EPA may improve cognitive performance with a reduction in neural activity observed, indicating that the brain worked ‘less hard’, report researchers from Australia. On the other hand, DHA-rich supplements were associated with an increase in functional activation and no improvement in cognitive performance, according to results published in Human Psychopharmacology: Clinical and Experimental . Isabelle Bauer from Swinburne University and her co-authors said that this indicated that DHA-rich supplements are less effective than EPA-rich supplements for boosting neurocognitive functioning.
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Study ‘leaves little doubt’ about Pycnogenol’s benefits for menopause symptoms
Keii Medical Center (Japan), February 13, 2022
Daily supplements of extracts from the bark of French Maritime Pine may help reduce the symptoms of the menopause like hot flashes and night sweats, says a new study. Twelve weeks of supplementation with Pycnogenol were associated with significant reductions in scores of menopause symptoms, according to findings published in The Journal of Reproductive Medicine. The researchers recruited 170 perimenopausal women to participate in their randomized, placebo-controlled, double-blind, parallel-group clinical trial. The women were randomly assigned to receive either daily Pycnogenol supplements (60 mg per day) or placebo for 12 weeks. Results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the groups for estradiol, follicle stimulating hormone, insulin-like growth factor, IGF binding protein 3, and dehydroepiandrosterone, which meant there were no hormonal effects of Pycnogenol, said the researchers.
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Yale study links common chemicals to osteoarthritis
Yale University School of Environmental Studies, February 14, 2022
A new study has linked exposure to two common perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) with osteoarthritis. PFCs are used in more than 200 industrial processes and consumer products including certain stain- and water-resistant fabrics, grease-proof paper food containers, personal care products, and other items. Because of their persistence, PFCs have become ubiquitous contaminants of humans and wildlife. The study, published in Environmental Health Perspectives, looked at the associations between perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA) and perfluorooctanesulfonic acid (PFOS), and osteoarthritis, in a study population representative of the United States. “We found that PFOA and PFOS exposures are associated with higher prevalence of osteoarthritis, particularly in women, a group that is disproportionately impacted by this chronic disease,” said Sarah Uhl, who authored the study. Women in the highest 25% of exposure to PFOA had about two times the odds of having osteoarthritis compared to those in the lowest 25% of exposure.
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(OTHER NEWS)
OPED: The Earth Belongs to America
Caitlin Johnstone, February 14, 2022
The Wall Street Journal has an article out titled “U.S. Aims to Thwart China’s Plan for Atlantic Base in Africa“, subtitled “An American delegation wants to convince Equatorial Guinea against giving Beijing a launchpad in waters the U.S. considers its backyard.” The article quotes the former U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Tibor Nagy saying, “We’d really, really not like to see a Chinese facility” on the Atlantic, and discusses “American concern about China’s global expansionism and its pursuit of a permanent military presence on waters the U.S. considers home turf.” The Quincy Institute’s Trita Parsi has discussed the irony of WSJ yelling about China’s “global expansionism” over a potential military base in Equatorial Guinea without applying that label to the U.S., when the U.S. has hundreds of times the number of foreign military bases as China. Antiwar’s Daniel Larison wrote an article back in December eviscerating the ridiculous claim that a military base some six thousand nautical miles from the U.S. coastline could be reasonably framed as any kind of threat to the American people. But what really jumps out is the insane way the U.S. political/media class routinely talks about virtually every location on this planet as though it is a territory of the United States. The Wall Street Journal referring to the entire Atlantic Ocean as “America’s backyard” and “waters the U.S. considers home turf” follows a recent controversy over the U.S. president proclaiming that “Everything south of the Mexican border is America’s front yard.” This provoked many references to the so-called “Monroe Doctrine”, a nineteenth-century imperialist assertion that Latin America is off limits to any power apart from the United States, effectively declaring the entire Western Hemisphere the property of Washington, DC. It also follows another incident in which Press Secretary Jen Psaki remarked on the ongoing tensions around Ukraine that it is in America’s interest to support “our eastern flank countries”, which might come as a surprise to those who were taught in school that America’s eastern flank was not Eastern Europe but the eastern coastline of the United States. The casual way these people say such things reflects a collectively held worldview that you won’t find on any official document or in any schoolchild’s textbook, but which is nonetheless a firmly held perspective among all the drivers of the modern empire: that the entire world is the property of the U.S. government. That the U.S. is not just the most powerful government in the world but also its rightful ruler, in the same way Rome ruled the Christian world. It’s not something they can come out and directly say, because admitting they see themselves as the rulers of the world would make them look tyrannical and megalomaniacal. But it’s certainly something they believe. They’re about as obvious about it as could be. They make almost no effort to conceal it. And yet you’ll still get empire apologists like Michael McFaul saying nonsense like this: McFaul knows very well that the U.S. is an imperial power and that it demands a very large “sphere of influence”. Would you like to see a picture of America’s sphere of influence? Here you go: To live in the western world is to be constantly inundated with made-up stories about tyrants who want to terrorize the world while living under a globe-spanning power structure that is actually terrorizing the world. It’s just so bizarre watching these imperial spinmeisters try to frame nations like China and Russia as freakish and backwards while working to literally rule the world like a comic book super villain. The U.S.-centralized empire is quantifiably the single most destructive and evil power structure in today’s world. We shouldn’t want anyone to rule over the entire planet with an iron fist, but these monsters are the very least qualified among us to do so.
