Anti-Depression Drugs Found Mostly Useless in Study
January 06, 2010
Los Angeles Times
By Shari Roan
Antidepressant medications probably provide little or no benefit to people with mild or moderate depression, a new study has found. Rather, the mere act of seeing a doctor, discussing symptoms and learning about depression probably triggers the improvements many patients experience while on medication.
Only people with very severe depression receive additional benefits from drugs, said the senior author of the study, Robert J. DeRubeis, a University of Pennsylvania psychology professor. The research was released online Tuesday and will be published today in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.
Hundreds of studies have attested to the benefits of antidepressants over placebos, DeRubeis said. But many studies involve only participants with severe depression. Confusion arises, he said, “because there is a tendency to generalize the findings to mean that all depressed people benefit from medications.”
The current analysis attempted to quantify how much of antidepressants’ benefit is attributable to chemical effects on the brain and how much can be explained by other factors, such as visiting a doctor, taking action to feel better or merely the passage of time.
Researchers reviewed six randomized, placebo-controlled studies with a total of 718 patients who took either an antidepressant or placebo. The patients were adults with levels of depression ranging from mild to very severe based on the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale, a questionnaire widely used in depression research. The studies did not exclude patients who were likely to have a strong response to a placebo. Researchers then compared the patients’ depression scores at the beginning of treatment with those after at least six weeks of treatment.
The study found that the magnitude of the drugs’ benefit increased with the baseline level of depression. The effect of treatment was similar in people with mild, moderate and severe symptoms, regardless of whether they took an antidepressant or placebo. Only the people who rated very severe on the depression scale at the start of the study showed measurable improvements on antidepressants.
Disinfectants Helping Germs Evolve into Superbugs
January 06, 2010
Natural News
By S. L. Baker
The opportunistic bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa is increasingly recognized as a cause of severe nosocomial infections — those are infections people contract as a result of treatment in a hospital or other medical center. In fact, a Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection can be life-threatening, especially if someone is immunocompromised.
The germ also causes chronic infections in cystic fibrosis patients. So it’s no surprise that disinfectants are widely sprayed, sloshed and wiped over surfaces in medical settings to supposedly protect patients. But now comes evidence the very act of relying on disinfectants to prevent Pseudomonas aeruginosa infections could be turning the already dangerous germ into a superbug that’s resistant to antibiotics as well as the disinfectant itself.
Germs adapt to survive
For a study just published in the January issue of the journal Microbiology, researchers from the National University of Ireland in Galway took laboratory cultures of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and added increasing amounts of disinfectant to the bacteria. They found this caused the germs to adapt over time so they could survive the disinfectant.
But something else also happened when the bacteria were exposed to the disinfectant. Remarkably, the germs became resistant to ciprofloxacin, a strong antibiotic widely-prescribed to fight Pseudomonas aeruginosa. And the germs became resistant to the drug even though they weren’t exposed to it.
How could this be possible? The scientists discovered that when exposed to the disinfectant, the bacteria adapted to more efficiently pump out antimicrobial agents (both the disinfectant and antibiotics) from the germ’s cells. The researchers also found the bacteria’s adaptation resulted in a DNA mutation that allowed the Pseudomonas aeruginosa microbes to specifically become immune to ciprofloxacin-type antibiotics.
Dr. Gerard Fleming, who headed the research team, warned in a media statement that the study results could mean “… residue from incorrectly diluted disinfectants left on hospital surfaces could promote the growth of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. What is more worrying is that bacteria seem to be able to adapt to resist antibiotics without even being exposed to them.”
Obviously, if disinfectants used to kill bacteria on surfaces to prevent their spread are actually making the germs stronger so they survive and go on to infect patients — and if antibiotics used to treat these infections are no longer effective — the results could be a serious threat to hospitalized patients. Dr. Fleming added that it is important for scientists to zero in on environmental factors that might promote antibiotic resistance, thereby creating superbugs.
“We need to investigate the effects of using more than one type of disinfectant on promoting antibiotic-resistant strains. This will increase the effectiveness of both our first and second lines of defense against hospital-acquired infections,” he stated.
Cordyceps Mushrooms Also Fight Cancer
January 5, 2010
Natural News
By S. L. Baker
For thousands of years, the mushroom known as Cordyceps has been used in traditional Chinese medicine to treat problems ranging from coughs and fatigue to impotence and cancer. And once Western scientists started considering that anecdotal reports of the mushroom’s curative powers might be something more than “folk tales”, research started accumulating that backs up many ancient claims about Cordyceps’ health benefits. For example, scientists from the University of Nottingham in Great Britain say they’ve documented how Cordiceps can fight cancer — and the new discovery could increase the effectiveness of mushroom-derived cancer treatments.
For the study, published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry, Dr. Cornelia de Moor of the University of Nottingham and her colleagues investigated a drug called cordycepin, which was originally extracted from wild growing Cordyceps and is now prepared from a cultivated form of the mushroom.
“Because of technical obstacles and people moving on to other subjects, it’s taken a long time to figure out exactly how cordycepin works on cells. With this knowledge, it will be possible to predict what types of cancers might be sensitive and what other cancer drugs it may effectively combine with. It could also lay the groundwork for the design of new cancer drugs that work on the same principle,” Dr. de Moor said in a statement to the media.
The University of Nottingham scientists found that the Cordyceps-derived treatment has two important effects on cells that could impact the growth of malignant tumors. At low doses, cordycepin inhibits the uncontrolled growth and division of cells while at high doses it prevents cells from sticking together, essentially blocking the cells from growing.
The research team concluded that each of these effects most likely is the result of a single underlying mechanism — cordycepin interferes with how cells make proteins. Specifically, low doses of the mushroom-derived treatment interfere with the production of mRNA (the molecule that directs cells to assemble a protein) and at higher doses cordycepin directly interacts with the making of proteins.
“Our discovery will open up the possibility of investigating the range of different cancers that could be treated with cordycepin,” Dr de Moor stated. “We have also developed a very effective method that can be used to test new, more efficient or more stable versions of the drug in the Petri dish.This is a great advantage as it will allow us to rule out any non-runners before anyone considers testing them in animals.”
Click here for the full report
Prince Charles Calls for Alternative Medicine to Get Approval
December 1, 2009
Daily Mail
by Fiona Macrea
Prince Charles has clashed with the medical establishment by calling for alternative medicine to be given the official seal of approval.
The Prince, a long-standing supporter of complementary therapies, wants herbalists and acupuncturists to be formally regulated like physiotherapists and osteopaths.
His Foundation for Integrated Health says a system of registration will protect livelihoods under threat from new EU rules on the therapies.
But the Royal College of Physicians says it would confer an air of ‘respectability’ on a branch of medicine that is not proven to work.
The row centres on an EU directive that will from next year ban herbalists, including practitioners of Chinese medicine, from prescribing many treatments unless the law recognises them as health professionals.
The Foundation, which was set up by the Prince of Wales in 1993, says the solution is a system of registration, that would put herbalists on equal footing to physiotherapists and osteopaths. Acupuncturists would also be registered.
A spokesman for the charity said that without the scheme the therapies could be driven underground, and lives put at risk.
He added: ‘The Government is under pressure from a small but vociferous group of scientists who claim that regulation is about recognising professional status rather than protecting the public.
‘That is absolutely wrong. If Government caves in to their demands, public health will be put at risk.
‘Millions of us use herbal medicine – around a quarter of the population have done so at some time in their lives and about one in twelve have consulted a herbalist.
‘The Prince’s Foundation for Integrated Health fears that many will be unwilling to give up the remedies they believe help them, and instead resort to unregulated internet retailers or bogus practitioners.
‘There have been cases where the products they use have been found to be adulterated with unsafe, illegal pharmaceuticals – and to contain lead, mercury or arsenic.’
Dr Michael Dixon, the charity’s medical director, said: ‘No one deserves to die for no better reason than preferring herbal remedies to conventional medicine.’
A spokesman for the Prince said he had recently met Health Secretary Andy Burnham.
He added that one of the Foundation’s main objectives was to ’safeguard the millions of people who regularly use herbal medicine.’
But the Royal College of Physicians is against statutory regulation on the grounds that it would make such treatments appear ‘credible’.
Back Pain During Pregnancy Reduced With Acupuncture
November 25, 2009
Natural News
By E. Huff
The unique circulatory network that exists between the mother and her developing child is delicate, leading many prenatal health providers to shy away from prescribing any pharmacological methods of intervention to alleviate the lower back pain associated with pregnancy. Since drugs carry heavy side effects for both mother and child, researchers have continued to investigate safer, simpler, more natural methods of mitigation.
Dr. Shu-Ming Wang of the Yale School of medicine suggests that simple, inexpensive acupuncture treatments offer a drug-free method of easing common back and pelvic pain in pregnant women and may help stave off perpetual chronic back pain throughout their lives.
Three groups of women were included in the study; one group receiving real acupuncture, the second group receiving acupuncture in “sham” points, and the third group receiving nothing but self-care. Eighty-one percent of the women in the legitimate acupuncture group experienced a 30 percent or greater reduction in pain while only 59 percent in the phony acupuncture group experienced such results. Of the group receiving no treatment, 47 percent indicated reduction in pain.
After only one week, 37 percent of the women receiving genuine acupuncture treatment were pain free compared to 22 percent in the fake group and only 9 percent in the self-care control group. Those who received veritable acupuncture treatment also experienced a significant improvement in mobility and function compared to the other two groups.
Though not all women remained free of pain in the weeks following the study, researchers indicate that longer-term treatments may produce more sustained relief. Further study is also needed to verify characteristically why some women respond more favorably than others to acupuncture treatment.
Acupuncture continues to make inroads into mainstream medicine due to its veritable effects on reducing pain. Studies conducted on a wide cross-section of pain conditions have seen favorable results, leading the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to support acupuncture as a viable treatment option.
From fibromyalgia and chronic headaches to cramps and arthritis, alternative and complementary doctors are witnessing excellent results in prescribing this inexpensive treatment option for their patients’ ailments rather than pharmaceutical drugs.
Cancer Industry Looking to Suppress a Cure
November 20, 2009
Impossible Dream
By Greg Caton
Many people who read the materials in our “suppression page” seem dumbfounded that so many effective cancer therapies could have been uncovered — only to be suppressed by the very establishment created to find and implement effective therapies.
That widespread suppression does exist and has been going on in the West – as least as it relates to cancer – for well over 100 years, this is a given. All you have to do is read a handful of the books discussed in the suppression page to realize that suppression is the standard operating procedure of the medical industrial complex.
This page doesn’t ask what … It answers why.
‘The Impossible Mandate Principles’
New Corollaries of Parkinson’s Law
Most students of business management are familiar with at least the first of Parkinson’s major laws — that “work expands so as to fill the time allotted for its completion.” First published in 1955 and expanded in the widely popular book, Parkinson’s Law: The Pursuit of Progress (1958), Professor C(yril) Northcote Parkinson, a noted British novelist and historian, came up with the principles to explain certain quirks of human behavior and how they relate to the management of organizations.
The left-leaning British press mocked Parkinson’s work as “satirical” – an orientation still accepted in many corners – even many dictionaries. But satirical or no, Parkinson’s Law and the corollary principles it spawned are hardly whimsical – but rather remind one of the famous Shakespearian adage, “Many a Truth has been spoken in jest.” Indeed, given the harsh political realities that study of Parkinson’s principles would reveal, it is no wonder its author chose to give his delivery a “tongue-in-cheek” spin.
The First Corollary:
“In only the rarest of circumstances can an organization succeed if the fulfillment of a singular assigned mission means an end to the purpose which created it. If not provided with a subsequent mission, the organization will actually impede the goal(s) for which it owes its very existence.”
The stated purpose of the American Cancer Society, and hundreds of lesser lights in what would become known as the ‘War on Cancer’ – (remember that one? That’s right. Richard Nixon) – is to find a cure for cancer!
Year after year, these organizations collect hundreds of millions of dollars promising that effective treatment for cancer is right around the corner. “We can complete the Mission. We can stamp out cancer in your lifetime. But we need your help!”
“It is disastrously naive to think
that a highly funded establishment set up to find a cancer cure could ever effectively work to that aim. All organizational structures assume macrobiological characteristics taken from the organisms who comprise them. In the current context, they are human – and like all animals, each is organically programmed to live, survive, grow, expand, procreate. And so it is with the organizations humans create. To ask the American Cancer Society or the National Cancer Institute to find a cancer cure is to say, ‘Now go. Be successful. And once you have achieved your aim, promptly commit suicide.’ For once a real cancer cure or cures are announced, the need for these organizations, which collect hundreds of billions of dollars in the aggregate annually for treatment and research – from governments, agencies, foundations, corporations, insurance companies, and private individuals – all of them, without exception, will have lost their reason for existence. That is why a cancer cure will never come from their quarter: the very nature of their mandate is a violation of Natural Law. It is a grand act of political expediency and managerial stupidity that has made what should have been an easy-to-solve medical puzzle and turned it into the single greatest act of man-made carnage in history — a fraud of unspeakable magnitude that has spanned more than a century, and has needlessly caused the premature deaths of tens of millions of people.”
Year after year more and more money is spent on a virtual potpourri of money-seeking cancer foundations, agencies and societies. And year after year cancer incidence grows higher and higher. What little progress is reported by the pollyannas of the cancer industry can primarily be attributable to early detection and prevention – activities which cannot begin to address, quantitatively, the large sums invested each year in cancer research and treatment.
Click here for the full report
Baby Boomers Doomed to Disability?
November 13, 2009
La Times
By Shari Roan
Americans entering their 70s today are experiencing more disabilities in old age than did the previous generation, researchers announced Thursday. The shift in health fortunes comes as a surprise and predicts future high disability rates for the baby boomers as well.
The study is the first to foretell the end of a two-decade trend in which people appeared to be functioning better in old age than those who came before, said lead author Teresa E. Seeman, a professor of medicine and epidemiology at UCLA’s David Geffen School of Medicine.
The oldest people in the survey had grown up with better nutrition and had better medical treatments, resulting in less disability, Seeman said. “The hope was, this was a portent of good things to come as this population got larger. But ours is the first data to suggest disability rates may be going up. If it’s true, it certainly suggests the baby boomers, whatever health benefits they’ve enjoyed up until now, may not enjoy such a rosy older age.”
Seeman and her colleagues compared data from two large national health and nutrition surveys, one conducted from 1988 to 1994 and another from 1999 to 2004. Among people 80 and older, the data showed improvements in disability rates over time, especially among women. There was no change in disability rates among people in their 70s. However, disability rates rose among people in their 60s.
Disability measurements assess how well an individual can perform daily activities, such as walking up a flight of stairs, managing personal finances and performing household chores.
The study, funded by the National Institute on Aging and published in the American Journal of Public Health, doesn’t explain why more people are becoming disabled as they enter their later years. But, Seeman said, rising levels of obesity appear to be the major factor; the greatest increases in disabilities were among non-whites and people who were obese or overweight.
“Normal-weight individuals do not show a trend of increasing disabilities,” she said. “It does seem to be that the increase is restricted to the groups that are overweight and obese. But part of the problem is that more and more people are overweight and obese.”
Obesity affects health in a number of ways, said Ellen L. Idler, a professor of sociology and epidemiology at Emory University and a gerontology expert. She was not involved in the study.
“The strain of excess weight on joints, the cardiovascular effects — definitely. Trends in obesity would lead you to expect more disabilities,” she said.
More people today survive heart attacks and strokes but may be left with related disabilities, she added. And with obesity rates even higher among younger and middle-age people, disability rates may continue to climb, Idler said.
Infertility Issues? Turn to Acupuncture
November 12, 2009
NaturalNews
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
Of all the available treatments for infertility, acupuncture isn’t one that people usually think of first. But as you’ll see here, it’s actually one of the safest and most effectiveness treatments for infertility known to modern science.
Why does it work so well? Because infertility isn’t usually a physical problem. It’s often an issue related to circulation or energy channels that govern the vitality of your body’s organs (including reproductive organs). Rebalancing those bioelectric channels can create enormous healing changes in the function of your reproductive organs.
And the best part? Acupuncture is non-invasive, surprisingly. The needles themselves are virtually painless and barely enter the skin. That’s a huge contrast to the highly invasive (and embarrassing) probing, inserting, extracting, injecting and poking around typically undertaken by conventional infertility clinics.
If you (or someone you know) suffers from infertility, you owe it to yourself to read the quotes that follow so you can educate yourself about the seemingly miraculous ability of acupuncture to treat (and cure) infertility.
Acupuncture treats infertility
A study found that auricular acupuncture was capable of producing results comparable to those of drug therapy in the treatment of infertility. I. Gerhard and F. Postneek, [Possibilities of Therapy by Ear Acupuncture in Female Sterility], Geburtshilfe Frauenheilke 48, no. 3 (March 1988): 165-71. A study examined the effects of moxibustion and acupuncture on 30 cases of infertility in women ranging from 24 to 37 years of age. Results showed that after just one course of treatment 9 women conceived, with another 8 conceiving after 2 courses of treatment.
- The Woman’s Encyclopedia of Natural Healing by Dr. Gary Null
In China, acupuncture has been used in the treatment of infertility for centuries. The first published account of this is seen in medical literature dating back to 11 A.D. The Chinese look at five principal organs – the liver, spleen, heart, lung, and kidney – and use acupuncture to release blockages from these systems so that energy or chi can move freely. This helps the body return to good health. Promoting fertility is one benefit that can be obtained. Acupuncture to kidney points releases psychological blocks that interfere with reproduction.
- Get Healthy Now with Gary Null: A Complete Guide to Prevention, Treatment and Healthy living by Gary Null
The women treated with acupuncture? Twenty-two pregnancies (and no side effects). Finally, a study at the Fertility Clinic Trianglen in Denmark concluded that “acupuncture … significantly improves the reproductive outcome of IVF (in vitro fertilization) and ICSI (intracytoplasmic sperm injection) compared to no acupuncture.” Best of all, acupuncture for infertility is truly a “whole person” treatment that looks at the woman as much more than just a dysfunctional reproductive system. “People come into my office and they’re completely unprepared for conception,” Lawrence told me.
- The Most Effective Natural Cures on Earth: The Surprising, Unbiased Truth about What Treatments Work and Why by Jonny Bowden, Ph.D., C.N.S.
In a preliminary trial, women who did not ovulate were treated with acupuncture 30 times over three months. Effectiveness was determined by a combination of measures indicating ovulation was returning to normal. Acupuncture treatment resulted in a marked improvement in 35% and slight improvement in 48% of trial participants. The beneficial results achieved with acupuncture may be due to alterations in the hormonal messages from the brain to the ovary. Auricular (ear) acupuncture has been studied in a preliminary trial and compared with standard hormone therapy for treatment of infertility.
Government Forced Vaccinations Coming in Ukraine
November 06, 2009
Infowars
By Kurt Nimmo
The darling of the globalist NGO “color revolution” in the Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko, has issued an official statement suggesting as president he will impose martial law on the country, force citizens to take toxic vaccinations, and outlaw demonstrations by the political opposition.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko has outlawed political rallies by Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and other opponents.
“I instruct the Government and the Ministry of Health to immediately start preventive and promotional work in areas where there is no epidemic, targeting primarily the special risk groups,“ declared Yushchenko. “This means that medical aid must be urgently reinforced by emergency, critical care treatment. It is generally known that the only way to prevent any infection is vaccination.”
In his declaration, Yushchenko made the Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council “the center of decision-making” and said that “failure to comply with its orders will immediately result in application to the law enforcement authorities.”
In addition, Yushchenko said demonstrations against the government during the growing flu epidemic would be considered acts of “criminal irresponsibility,” a hint that the government will crack down on opposition under the cover of protecting the public. “I have addressed the Prosecutor General of Ukraine with the request to institute criminal charges of negligence” against government officials “who, despite having daily information on the epidemic situation in the country, neglected it in pursuit of political dividends and ambition,” said Yushchenko.
On November 4, Yushchenko accused rival Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko, ex-prime minister Viktor Yanukovich and parliamentary speaker Volodymyr Lytvyn of ignoring the growing epidemic and organizing mass rallies for their own campaigns. “The first and most effective method of prevention is not to allow mass gatherings of people. But, ignoring this rule, hundreds of thousands of people were brought to Kiev for various events from different regions,” Yushchenko said in a televised speech, according to Reuters.
In late October, the government imposed a quarantine around the country and public events were banned, including the elections. Police enforced the compulsory wearing of protective face masks and citizens caught not wearing a mask faced harsh legal penalties.
On November 3, Ukraine shut down its schools, universities and cinemas, and banned public gatherings for the foreseeable future. Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko said “special regimes” designed to limit the movement of Ukraine’s citizens were being introduced in an attempt to prevent the spread of the mystery virus.
On November 2, Infowars Ireland reported that authorities in Kiev were spraying of “aerosolized medication” by aircraft over city. “The office of Emergency Response in the district of Desniansko, Kiev, are tonight (30th Oct.) strongly refuting reports that light aircraft were spraying a substance over the city intended to counter a ’swine flu pandemic’ in Ukraine,” Infowars Ireland explained. “It was reported that light aircraft were seen over the Forest market area of the city (close to the Forest metro station) and they were spraying an aerosol substance intended to ‘counter swine flu,’ this of course would constitute forced medication of the population.”
The office of Emergency Response in the district of Desniansko strongly refuted the accusation.
After the UN’s WHO sent an emergency team to Ukraine to monitor the outbreak which as so far infected 450,000 people and killed more than 80, it was determined the illness has been caused by H1N1 swine flu. British scientists are examining samples of a strain to determine whether the virus has mutated, Sky News reports.
Osteoporosis Treatments Using Fern Plant
October 30, 2009
Natural news
By SL Baker
An illustration from an 1887 book depicts the fabled “Vegetable Lamb of Tartary” as a plant with a tiny furry animal coming out of a long stalk. The reason? This wooly tree fern was once believed to literally produce sheep. That legend no doubt came about because the plant has masses of wool-like fibers that emerge on top. It grows in mountainous areas of China, northeast India, Malaysia, Myanmar, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan and has long been used in Asian medicine to treat rheumatism, muscle aches and pains, nerve pain, and body aches during pregnancy.
Now scientists studying the plant, known by its botanical name Cibotium barmoetz (C. barmoetz), have found evidence it contains several powerful phytochemicals. And these natural compounds could treat the bone-thinning disorder known as osteoporosis.
A research team from the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST) in Hanoi, Viet Nam; Chungnam National University in Daejeon, South Korea, and the Kyungpook National University’s Skeletal Diseases Genome Research Center in Daegu, South Korea, analyzed the so-called “vegetable lamb plant” as part of a larger study of Vietnamese plant-based folk medicine. In all, scientist Young Ho Kim and his colleagues isolated eight compounds from an extract of C. barmoetz rhizomes. Rhizomes are horizontal underground stems that are involved in the vigorous reproduction of these fern plants. They send new roots out of their nodes and into the soil, resulting in new stems shooting up to the surface.
As reported in the October issue of the Journal of Natural Products, published by the American Chemical Society (ACS), four of these compounds showed remarkable properties when tested in the lab. They halted the formation of 97% of osteoclast cells (which break down bone) in laboratory cultures without harming other cells. That’s important because normal strong bones depend on a healthy balance between osteoblasts (cells that build bones) and osteoclasts. If the production of osteoclasts is increased or if osteoblast production is decreased, then bones can become brittle and weak. So the C. barmoetz compounds might be able to treat osteoporosis by reducing an over-abundance of osteoclasts, thereby normalizing bone marrow function.
Osteoporosis is characterized by low bone mass and deterioration of bone tissue which can make you susceptible to fractures. According to the National Osteoporosis Foundation, 10 million people in the US now have osteoporosis (which literally means “porous bones”) and almost 34 million more are estimated to have low bone mass.
Click here for the full report
