New research: probiotic found in breast milk benefits nerves in gut, calms digestive disorders
June 25, 2010
NaturalNews
By: S.L. Baker
Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms similar to the “friendly” bacteria found naturally in the body’s digestive system. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), there’s evidence from a variety of studies that probiotic formulations can help treat diarrhea, urinary tract infections, irritable bowel syndrome and dermatitis (eczema) in children; probiotics may reduce the recurrence of bladder cancer, too.
Now Canadian researchers have published research in the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology (FASEB) journal that explains why certain strains of probiotics are particularly soothing to indigestion related problems. It turns out the probiotic strain Lactobacillus reuteri, which occurs in the gut of many mammals and is found in human breast milk, immediately and directly affects nerves in the gut.
For their study, scientist Wolfgang Kunze of the McMaster Brain-Body Institute and Department of Psychiatry at St. Joseph’s Healthcare in Ontario, Canada, and his research team took isolated pieces of small intestine removed from healthy and previously untreated mice. Then they added Lactobacillus reuteri to a warm salt solution which was sent flowing through the lumen, or hollow part, of the intestine. The pressure caused by natural contractions in the intestine sections was measured before, during and after adding the probiotic-containing solution. The scientists tested the electrical activity of single intestinal sensory nerve cells, as well.
The results? The researchers documented that the force of muscle contractions in the gut tissue decreased within minutes of exposure to the probiotic solution. This discovery explains why intake of probiotics can often alleviate symptoms of a whole host of digestive disorders such as irritable bowel syndrome, inflammatory bowel disease and constipation.
“Scientifically and evidence-based approaches to nutrition to correct potential bacterial imbalance in the intestine and thereby promote better health could possibly restore health in diseases associated with these imbalances,” Kunze said in a statement to the media.
This is the latest of a growing body of research backing up what many natural health advocates have said for decades — probiotics (which can be found in supplements and in many foods including yogurt, kefir, fermented and unfermented milk, miso and tempeh, as well as breast milk) can promote health and protect from illness. For example, as NaturalNews previously reported, researchers have found that taking probiotics may help people lose excess weight . And a study published in the journal Postgraduate Medicine concluded that taking probiotics regularly boosts the immune system in a specific way which helps the body fight off flu infections.
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Geithner says US can ‘no longer drive global growth’
June 25, 2010
BBC News
US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has told the BBC that the world “cannot depend as much on the US as it did in the past”.
He said that other major economies would have to grow more for the global economy to prosper.
He also played down any differences in policy between the US and Europe regarding deficit reduction.
Mr Geithner was speaking in Washington ahead of G8 and G20 meetings this weekend in Toronto.
He said all members of the group were “focused on the challenge of [building] growth and confidence”, and would be working to this end at the meetings.
The Group of Eight and Group of 20 rich and developing nations are assembling on Friday for three days of talks on emerging from the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.
UK Prime Minister David Cameron, who has arrived in Canada along with other leaders, said in an article for the Globe And Mail newspaper: “No-one can doubt the biggest promise we have to deliver: fixing the global economy.”
“I believe we must each start by setting out plans for getting our national finances under control,” he added.
Common goals
Many European governments have implemented severe austerity measures in recent weeks in order to cut debt levels.
In a letter to G20 leaders last week, US President Barack Obama warned against cutting national debts too quickly as it would put economic recovery at risk.
But Mr Geithner said the US and Europe “have much more in common than we have differences”.
“We all agree that we have to restore responsibility to our fiscal positions. Everyone agrees that those deficits have to come down over time to a level that’s sustainable,” he said.
But he said that the US and Europe would take “different paths, at a different pace” in order to reach the common goal.
“It’s going to require different things as we have different strengths and weaknesses,” he said.
Mr Geithner said the US was not in a position to work out what were the best policies for European countries to pursue.
‘Strong growth’
The treasury secretary said the US had laid out “very ambitious plans as well” to cut its deficit.
But he said the US was in a stronger position than many other economies to cut its debt levels.
“We’re in the very good position of being able to deliver relatively strong growth rates [compared] to what we’re seeing in other major economies,” he said.
Some commentators in Europe argue that austerity measures should only be introduced once strong growth has been secured in the wake of the global downturn.
This was a more widely held position until the Greek debt crisis focused policymakers’ minds on cutting debt levels.
The Greek crisis showed that governments with high levels of debt find it very difficult to borrow money from international investors, money that they need to service existing debts.
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White House, Google violate lobbying pledge
June 25, 2010
Washington Examiner
By: Timothy P. Carney
Maybe a $150 billion company with 21,000 employees and 20 percent profit margins doesn’t count as big business or a special interest if it talks about “changing the world from the bottom up, not from the top down,” as President Obama put it.
Maybe a millionaire who spends his days leaning on policymakers to benefit his company isn’t a lobbyist if he calls himself an “Internet evangelist.”
Or maybe Google’s cozy relationship with the White House — exposed more clearly by e-mails recently made public through the Freedom of Information Act — is just one more instance of the administration’s actions contradicting Obama’s reformer rhetoric about battling the special interests and freeing Washington from lobbyist influence.
Consumer Watchdog, a liberal nonprofit, used FOIA to obtain e-mails between White House Deputy Chief Technology Officer Andrew McLaughlin and his former colleagues at Google. McLaughlin was Google’s head of global public policy and government affairs, up until he joined the White House.
Despite the job title, McLaughlin wasn’t a registered lobbyist. Still, ethics rules created by an Obama executive order prohibit McLaughlin from “participat[ing] in any particular matter involving specific parties that is directly and substantially related to” Google. But the e-mails show McLaughlin has been involved with formulating policy that directly affects Google, regularly trading e-mails with Google’s “evangelist,” and lobbyist.
The topic of net neutrality — where the Obama administration and Google share a pro-regulation position that would profit Google — appears repeatedly in McLaughlin-Google e-mails.
When one news report suggested the White House was backing away from the pro-Google regulations, Google Vice President and Chief Internet Evangelist Vint Cerf wrote a worried note to McLaughlin, asking, “Has there been so much flack from the Hill that you guys feel a need to back away?”
McLaughlin reassured his former colleague, “Don’t be silly. No one’s backed away from anything.”
Later, when McLaughlin took heat in the media for publicly comparing AT&T — Google’s rival in the net neutrality debate — to the communist Chinese government, Google lobbyist Alan Davidson sent McLaughlin a heads up that a reporter had called Google about it. Davidson assured McLaughlin that he would get the Open Internet Coalition — a pro-net-neutrality lobby headed by Google — to “have your back.”
“Thanks,” McLaughlin wrote back. Davidson followed up the next day, taking credit for killing the story.
McLaughlin knew he was barred from dealing with Google, the e-mails show. When Cerf passed him an e-mail about Google Earth and an issue regarding a border dispute in Cambodia, McLaughlin responded, “in my current position, I’m recused from anything having to do with Google.”
When I asked the White House about McLaughlin’s e-mails, Rick Weiss, a spokesman at the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, responded that McLaughlin’s “e-mails to Vint did not run afoul of the pledge since Vint is a federal advisory committee member with whom Andrew is allowed to communicate on matters of relevance to that committee.”
But Cerf was using a Google.com e-mail address and writing about regulations Google was aggressively backing.
And only when I followed up with a question about the e-mails with lobbyist Davidson did Weiss admit “they did violate the President’s Ethics Pledge,” and note that McLaughlin had been reprimanded.
But what else is McLaughlin working on that directly affects his former colleagues with whom he is in regular contact? It’s hard to imagine many tech issues that don’t directly affect Google, and so it’s hard to imagine very many issues McLaughlin could work on that don’t clash with Obama’s ethics rules.
McLaughlin’s role is only one strand in the web of Google-Obama connections.
Google trailed only Goldman Sachs and Microsoft as a source of funds for Obama in 2008, providing $803,000 — 40 times what Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain raised from the company. Google chief executive Eric Schmidt was a fundraiser and adviser for Obama’s campaign.
Obama speaks a lot about battling the special interests. But, evidently, his friends don’t count.
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48% See Gov’t As A Threat To Individual Rights
June 24, 2010 by Duffy
Filed under Government
June 24, 2010
Rasmussen Reports
Nearly half of American Adults see the government today as a threat to individual rights rather than a protector of those rights.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that 48% of Adults see the government today as a threat to rights. Thirty-seven percent (37%) hold the opposite view. Fifteen percent (15%) are undecided.
Most Republicans (74%) and unaffiliateds (51%) consider the government to be a threat to individual rights. Most Democrats (64%) regard the government as a protector of rights.
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US Financial Conditions At Crisis Level
June 24, 2010
The Business Insider
By Vincent Fernando
Deutsche Bank has a new and improved index of U.S. financial conditions, and this index just slumped back towards the lows of our recent crisis.
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Japan Told To Go To Bed Early Due To Climate Change
June 24, 2010
Telegraph
By Danielle Demetriou
The Japanese government has launched a campaign encouraging people to go to bed and get up extra early in order to reduce household carbon dioxide emissions.
The Morning Challenge campaign, unveiled by the Environment Ministry, is based on the premise that swapping late night electricity for an extra hour of morning sunlight could significantly cut the nation’s carbon footprint.
A typical family can reduce its carbon dioxide footprint by 85kg a year if everyone goes to bed and gets up one hour earlier, according to the campaign.
The amount of carbon dioxide emissions potentially saved from going to bed an hour early was the equivalent of 20 per cent of annual emissions from household lights, “Many Japanese people waste electric power at night time, for example by watching TV until very late,” a ministry spokesperson told The Daily Telegraph.
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Gene Data For All Within Decade
June 24, 2010
Telegraph
By Alastair Jamieson
Genetic information will be available to most people in the developed world within 10 years, allowing better treatment and safer prescription of drugs.
Francis Collins, director of the US National Institutes of Health, believes mass genome sequencing of individuals would soon be possible at a cost of less than $1,000 per person (£670).
In an interview with The Times to mark the 10th anniversary of the sequencing of the human genome, he said bespoke genetic health care would identify those with a higher inherited risk of conditions such as heart disease, diabetes or cancer and reduce the diseases though drug treatment, early screening or diet and exercise.
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G20 In Toronto Goes Into A Complete Police State
June 24, 2010
The Globe and Mail
By Marcus Gee
At City Hall, employees arrived at work to find a burly security guard demanding their access pass before they entered the normally unlocked doors. At a downtown law firm, lawyers were told to leave their suits and high heels at home and dress casual-like to avoid being set upon by anti-capitalist rioters. At one provincial government office, bureaucrats were told in late afternoon that the building was going under “lockdown” because protesters were in the neighbourhood. Many scooted for exits to avoid being trapped in the closed-up building.
All of a sudden on Monday, our calm, mild, pacific city took on a changed feel as the security noose tightened in advance of this weekend’s G20 summit. In the downtown, packs of police officers on bikes roamed the streets – followed, incongruously, by a golf cart-type vehicle transporting water, juice and granola bars for the boys and girls in blue. Around the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, the shiny metal security fence neared completion, a ghastly thing, like all such barriers, that made the notoriously ugly convention centre that will welcome foreign leaders even more unsightly than usual.
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WHO To Tax Internet Usage To Fund Vaccine For Third World
June 24, 2010
Natural News
By Mike Adams
(NaturalNews) The United Nations’ World Health Organization (WHO) is pushing hard to impose global consumer taxes to help fund its various programs, including a new proposal that would tax the internet in order to pay for vaccines and other pharmaceutical medicines for third-world countries. Yes, you read that right – WHO wants every person in the world to help pay for drugs that make Big Pharma even richer.
Consider it a reverse Robin Hood ploy: They’re stealing from the working class and giving to the ultra wealthy drug companies!
Of course this isn’t the first time the UN has petitioned governments around the world to illegally tax citizens in order to further its own agenda. This body of unelected officials tried to push “cap and trade” legislation for supposed climate change just last year (but failed to do so because many countries simply refused the idea).
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HPV Vaccine Blinds 16-Year Old Girl
June 24, 2010
Natural News
By David Gutierrez
(NaturalNews) A 16-year-old girl lost nearly all of her vision within 10 days of receiving the second course of her vaccine against the human papilloma virus (HPV), reports a case study in the Journal of Child Neurology.
The HPV vaccine is designed to prevent infection by the strains of the virus that are responsible for the majority of cervical cancer and genital warts cases.
The study recounts the case of a previously healthy teenage girl who developed a headache on the left side of her head and began to lose vision in her right eye eight days after receiving her second HPV vaccine shot. Over the course of the following 48 hours, the pain spread across her head and she began to lose sight in her left eye as well.
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