Posts in “ In the News ”

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Wednesday, 1 May 2013 07:17

The U.S. population makes up 5% of the world population, yet are prescribed 2/3rds of all psychiatric drugs used worldwide. If this is not a sign of looming mental health collapse, we don’t know what is!

As a doctor, I can tell you that stress has reached pandemic levels, though many still hold back from admitting it to themselves or their peers. Our normalcy bias prevents us from taking notice that tens of millions of people in Western countries are dropping like flies from illness, depression and self-destruction. I came across this article by David Kupelain on Americans’ health and agreed with some of the observations made about the dire state of affairs:

  • Fully one-third of U.S. employees suffer chronic debilitating stress, and more than half of all “millennials” (18 to 33 year olds) experience a level of stress that keeps them awake at night, including large numbers diagnosed with depression or anxiety disorder.
  • Shocking new research from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows that one in five high-school-aged children in the U.S. has been diagnosed with ADHD, and likewise a large new study of New York City residents shows, sadly, that one in five preteens – children aged six to 12 – have been medically diagnosed with either ADHD, anxiety, depression or bipolar disorder.
  • New research concludes that stress renders people susceptible to serious illness, and a growing number of studies now confirm that chronic stress plays a major role in the progression of cancer, the nation’s second-biggest killer. The biggest killer of all, heart disease, which causes one in four deaths in the U.S., is also known to have a huge stress component.
  • Incredibly, 11 percent of all Americans aged 12 and older are currently taking SSRI antidepressants – those highly controversial, mood-altering psychiatric drugs with the FDA’s “suicidality” warning label and alarming correlation with school shooters. Women are especially prone to depression, with a stunning 23 percent of all American women in their 40s and 50s – almost one in four – now taking antidepressants, according to a major study by the CDC.
  • Add to that the tens of millions of users of all other types of psychiatric drugs, including (just to pick one) the 6.4 million American children between 4 and 17 diagnosed with ADHD and prescribed Ritalin or similar psycho-stimulants. Throw in the 28 percent of American adults with a drinking problem, that’s more than 60 million, plus the 22 million using illegal drugs like marijuana, cocaine, heroin, hallucinogens and inhalants, and pretty soon a picture emerges of a nation of drug-takers, with hundreds of millions dependent on one toxic substance or another – legal or illegal – to “help” them deal with the stresses and problems of life.

Likewise, the CDC has reported that antidepressant use in the U.S. has increased nearly 400 percent in the last two decades, making antidepressants the most frequently used class of medications by Americans aged 18-44. The U.S. population makes up 5% of the world population, yet are prescribed two-thirds of all psychiatric drugs used worldwide. If this is not a sign of looming mental health collapse, I don’t know what is!

With so many people on meds, I think we can basically say that the U.S. is a ‘zombie nation’. People are so out of touch with themselves and with reality that they think they have to use anti-depressants in order to ‘go back to normal’, not realizing that the reason why reality is shitty is because it is sending them a strong signal to sit up and take notice. Instead, taking mind-numbing drugs makes them even more ignorant of what is going on around them – the false-flag attacks, the fireballs raining down from the sky and Earth changes.

The pandemic is by no means confined to the U.S. One major study mentioned by Kupelain concluded almost 40 percent of Europeans are plagued by mental illness.

Consider this: Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Tuesday, 16 April 2013 09:38

I had the opportunity to listen to a talk given recently by Jon Vanderhoof, a pediatrician from the University of Nebraska. He was talking about the wonders and peculiarities of Lactobacillus GG and its role in digestive health.

Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG is a probiotic unlike any other because it has little “hairs”(pili) that helps it stick to the inner lining of the digestive system. It also acts as the good guy which promotes the proliferation of other good bacteria in the neighborhood and it survives stomach acidity, making it likely to reach the intestinal walls where it’s needed the most. Vanderhoof was presenting his clinical experience with the use of Lactobacillus GG in children’s gut problems and he seemed to be very pleased with the results.

It was interesting to see how researchers are approaching the role of food allergens and their role in modern diseases, a damage which doesn’t involve the classically allergic mediated reactions and its diagnostic tools with such things as a prick test. In fact, from a strictly mainstream medicine point of view, Vanderhoof explained that a host of inflammatory conditions along the digestive tube were increasingly associated with food intolerances. He gave the example of proctitis (inflammation of the rectum) as a reaction to gluten intolerance and other “idiopathic” diseases as well. He explained that gut motility issues (i.e. constipation) in small children were a result of gut inflammation due to food sensitivities. This is arguably the case for everybody else I should add! He emphasized that he was seeing children constipated as the only reaction to a milk allergy. Other less fortunate little ones were having blood on their stools and vomiting (among other things) in response to their mother’s awful diet. So of course, mothers are instructed to do an elimination diet when they are breastfeeding their babies.

Gluten also shows up in mother’s milk contributing thus to colics, failure to thrive, acid reflux, diarrhea, eczema, chronic diaper rash, vomiting, seizures and so forth. For more information see glutenfreesociety.org

The classical allergic reaction is IgE mediated (a component of your defense system) and it could send you to the emergency room for a life saving adrenaline shot. It can be that dramatic. But as classical as it may be, it is actually very rare. Most food allergens create great havoc through a non-dramatic but very harmful long-term effect.

The most common food allergens are from agricultural-based foods, either GMO or non-GMO. This is one of the reasons why a paleo or ketogenic diet can be very beneficial for a lot of folks with several different conditions or health problems.

Anyhow, the take home message is that Lactobacillus GG seems to be unique in its capacity to promote gut health and wellness in general, and that foods from the Agricultural revolution are at the root of mankind’s deteriorating health.

Vanderhoof seemed to imply that Lactobacillus GG would increase the chance that a baby would tolerate a certain food allergen better. But if the body reacts to certain foods as it does, it is probably because the food per se is very harmful and was never part of mankind’s natural diet to begin with. Arguably the case for GMOs and the so called Agricultural revolution! For more information see  Origins of Agriculture – Did Civilization Arise to Deliver a Fix?

Below are some assorted studies and quotes that are relevant to the topic at hand. Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Saturday, 2 March 2013 13:31

A ketogenic diet – a diet based on animal fats – is arguably the diet that made us thrive during our ancestral evolution.

I came across this information by reading an argument against a ketogenic diet. I decided to do some further research and what I found was astonishing to say the least. Those who are doing some ketogenic badmouthing through this argument are clearly shooting themselves in the foot since it is among the most jaw dropping information on the anti-cancer and anti-viral potential of a ketogenic diet that I have come across. As it happens it has been very well documented in the literature too. So let me introduce you to the subject via some of the critics:

Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2005 Jun;1043:201-10.

Ketosis leads to increased methylglyoxal production on the Atkins diet.

Beisswenger BG, Delucia EM, Lapoint N, Sanford RJ, Beisswenger PJ.

Dartmouth Medical School, Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center, 1 Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756, USA.

Abstract

In the popular and widely used Atkins diet, the body burns fat as its main fuel. This process produces ketosis and hence increased levels of beta-hydroxybutyrate (BOB) acetoacetate (AcAc) and its by-products acetone and acetol. These products are potential precursors of the glycotoxin methylglyoxal. Since methylglyoxal and its byproducts are recognized as a significant cause of blood vessel and tissue damage, we measured methylglyoxal, acetone, and acetol in subjects on the Atkins diet. We found that by 14-28 days, methylghyoxal levels rose 1.67-fold (P = 0.039) and acetol and acetone levels increased 2.7- and 6.12-fold, respectively (P = 0.012 and 0.028). Samples from subjects with ketosis showed even greater increases in methylglyoxal (2.12-fold), as well as acetol and acetone, which increased 4.19- and 7.9-fold, respectively; while no changes were seen in samples from noncompliant, nonketotic subjects. The increase in methylglyoxal implies that potential tissue and vascular damage can occur on the Atkins diet and should be considered when choosing a weight-loss program.

Here is a counter-argument and a fresh perspective on the subject: Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Monday, 18 February 2013 09:58

According to this article from the Scottish Terrier Club of America, if you have never lost a Scottish Terrier to bladder cancer – or, more properly, Transitional Cell Carcinoma – consider yourself extremely lucky. Research has suggested that Scottish Terriers are 20 times more likely to get bladder cancer than other breeds and it usually occurs in older dogs (average age 11 years). Such a diagnosis can be devastating to dogs and their owners alike. So you would be extremely pleased to meet Phoebe, a Scottish Terrier that got bladder cancer and survived it thanks to the love and care of their owners who did some alternative research and gave her vitamin C and a primal doggie diet. Let all pet owners and cancer patients know this story!

First, let us see the report from our good friend who brought to our attention this Doggie Miracle:

M]y uncles’ 12 year old dog (Scottish Terrier) Phoebe, had bladder cancer – Transitional Cell Carcinoma -, common in this race and mortal in almost all cases, and according to the analysis and the vet, it was an aggressive one.

The veterinary told them that in 6 months the dog was going to experience a remarkable health deterioration. He suggested an aggressive therapy with very strong medication and he wasn’t even sure that it was going to help in any way, maybe just to give her more time (in pain for sure). Well, my uncles didn’t want to subject her to a painful and hard therapy and medication so they decided to search for other options.

We were talking about it and the idea that the right nutrition could help to heal the body, and about the possible health damage caused by industrialized dog food loaded with carbs, chemicals and other stuff that it’s not part of a dog’s natural or proper diet. We discussed this idea [and a friend] suggested that changing her diet to lean meat may help her in someway.

When i came back to Mexico i researched a little bit under that idea, and there are some vets now promoting a proper diet for dogs to avoid some sickness – some race’s specific -, and some for treatment. In some articles, they also suggested to give them animal organs as heart and liver – from cows, pigs or chickens – (funny that this organs are the first eaten by the alpha wolf in a pack), and also found some articles about the use of small doses of Vitamin C (depending on the dog’s size) to treat cancer in dogs.

I shared the info with them, and since the end of September they decided to apply it with caution. So, in this case, all came down to getting rid of the industrialized dog food, a diet based on lean meat, heart and liver sometimes, and small daily doses of vitamin C. The result of the past week analysis: Phoebe has no trace whatsoever of this allegedly aggressive cancer, she even increased her weight a little bit, and she’s more active than before.

The vets and the people of the analysis lab are very surprised by this results. According to them, she should be dead or almost there by this time. My uncle’s are very very happy because they love that dog very much.

Phoebe - Wonder Doggie who heal from cancer with dietary changes and vitamin C.

Phoebe – Wonder Doggie who healed from cancer with lean meat, animal organs and vitamin C. Such a cutie!

Now let us look at Phoebe’s medical record, including the images where her cancer is gone. Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Sunday, 27 January 2013 10:03
Issue13Header_BlackDeath_small

Read the article linked in the image above “New Light on the Black Death: The Viral and Cosmic Connection”, this post contains some afterthoughts after a correspondent sent me a paper on the topic.

“Junk” DNA includes a whole subset of names such as introns, retrotransposable elements, and non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs). In fact, ncRNAs are often located near genes known to be important to both stem cells and cancer, to serve as enhancer elements which promote their gene expression.[1]  Stem cells are the cells that have the potential to turn into lots of other cells. So this junk DNA can influence how stem cells specifically differentiate into multiple cell types.

In fact, it is now estimated that 80% of our genome is biologically active with only 1% of our genome encoding for proteins:

Junk DNA Not Junk After All

A staggering batch of over 30 papers published in Nature, Science, and other journals this month, firmly rejects the idea that, apart from the 1% of the human genome that codes for proteins, most of our DNA is “junk” that has accumulated over time like some evolutionary flotsam and jetsam.The papers, representing 10 years of work of the ENCODE (“Encyclopedia of DNA Elements”) project, completed by hundreds of scientists from dozens of labs around the world, reveal that 80% of the human genome serves some purpose and is biochemically active, for example, in regulating the expression of genes situated nearby.

That was known for some time, but it is now official since September 2012 or so. Evolutionary speaking, it makes a lot of sense…

Viral “Junk” DNA

 

The greatest shock of genomic science was to find that the human genome contains more viral than “human” genes. That is, the human genome is made from thousands of viruses that infected our distant ancestors. They got there by infecting eggs or sperm, inserting their own DNA into ours.

The Human Papilloma Virus

The Human Papilloma Virus

Viruses are peculiar things that at a zoomed-in level may look very pretty or downright creepy depending on the virus. A virus may have DNA or RNA and the type of genetic material depends on the function and nature of the virus. Some are very infectious, others allowed us be alive since the gene that encodes for a protein that allows for babies to fuse to their mothers during pregnancy, is a virus gene.[2]

Most of the genetic diversity can be found in virus genes. Scientists agree that there are some 1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 viruses in the ocean and it matches almost nothing to any gene from any microbe, animal, plant or other organism, even from any other known virus.

All living things have hundreds or thousands of genes imported by viruses. There are a group of viral species known as retroviruses which insert their genetic material into the host cell’s DNA. When the host cell divides, it copies the virus’s DNA along with its own. Retroviruses have “on switches” that prompt their host cell to make proteins out of nearby genes. Sometimes their switches turn on host genes that ought to be kept shut off, and cancer can result. This is precisely what our junk DNA –ncRNA- seems to be doing “next” to genes that have to do with stem cells and cancer cells.

What is known as endogenous retrovirus – endogenous meaning generated within, are the viruses that lurk in the genomes of just about every major group of vertebrates, from fish to reptiles to mammals. Virologists have found retrovirus-like segments in our human genome and they were able to track its genetic code down to an original functioning virus. The virus was called Phoenix, for the mythical bird that rose from its own ashes.

It is known that part of our junk DNA, the retrotransposable elements, are viral in its origin. It includes the endogenous retroviruses. But it is now argued that ncRNA (non coding RNA) might be viral in its origin as well.[3]  This has interesting implications in the sense that epigenetic control of gene expression involves this junk DNA – ncRNAs.[4]  It would mean that our entire junk DNA (98%) might well be very functional epigenetically speaking (more info on epigenetics below), and active in the induction of regulatory genes that code for stem cells, or for reprogramming o modulating genes known to response to oxidative stress, DNA damage and p53 – a protein that regulates the cell cycle and is implicated in about half of all human cancers.

You might be wondering why we are reviewing all this viral genome potential. As it happens, the damage done by evil lectins – antinutrients – in our diet is through a lock and key mechanism, that is, a circulating lectin serves as a key that unlocks the cell to within it attaches. Evil lectins can initiate a cascade of events once they attach to the cell “mem-brain” that may lead to attraction of the immune system, cell death, production of chemicals, multiplication of the cell and so forth. It depends. And it might well depend on the adaptation response from the viral-like properties inside the cell, our “junk” DNA.

Harmful lectins – such as the ones found in gluten, soy, dairy, corn – cause inflammation and damage without a defense/immune response which end up being secondary to the initial damage. Some response in quite a drastic way (i.e. autoimmune diseases) others respond in a milder way, constituting thus the wide nature of symptoms among people.

Moreover, wheat’s evil lectin (WGA) and viruses share similar properties. For instance, when the influenza virus incorporates its own genetic material into our cells, the defense/immune system must attack its own virally transformed cell in order to fight the infection. WGA has access to our bodies and to our cells’ “mem-brain’s” through viral ports. Then they influence gene expression and trigger autoimmune attacks like viruses do. As John B. Symes, D.V.M. pointed out back in 2007: Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Monday, 21 January 2013 11:01

A couple of very interesting papers have come to my attention recently. The first one was published very recently in Clinical Endocrinology where they found that those who quit smoking had a 6-fold increase risk for autoimmune thyroid problems. There seems to be a complex interaction between smoking and the immune system in that the authors of the paper were speculating that “transition from current to ex-smoker may lead to limitation in activity, to chronic health conditions, to physical and psychological symptoms and to a higher hospital admissions“. Smoking is associated with a low prevalence of thyroid auto-antibodies, and autoimmune thyroid problems is a huge problem in the world today.

The second paper is very fascinating, considering that anti-smoking activists tend to be intolerant and judgmental Authoritarian Follower types. I’m going to quote some excerpts here:

Does insular stroke disrupt the self-medication effects of nicotine?

Schrand JR., Med Hypotheses. 2010 Sep;75(3):302-4.

Abstract

This paper explores the relationship between insular stroke and the disruption of tobacco use. A functional analysis of the role of the insula in maintaining homeostasis suggests that the insula monitors hypoxia and applies dyspnea to motivate the individual to regulate breathing. From its’ early usage, nicotine has been used to treat respiratory disorders. It increases respiratory drive, promoting better breathing. Insular stroke likely interferes with this self-regulation. A new self-medication model is proposed for tobacco use. The effect on public policy is discussed.

Background: the problem

Naqvi et al. [1] found that those who have had an insula lesion have an increased risk for disruption of smoking activity (odds ratio = 22.0) compared to lesions in other areas. [...]

Stress and respiration

Stress occurs when a threat to physiological equilibrium is perceived. It influences constructive behavior change in response to an unbalanced dynamic environment. Mild, short-term stress has a salutatory effect. However, chronic stress has a weakening effect on the neuro-immune systems response to life’s traumatic events and challenges respiration [5]. Recent studies document the particularly devastating effects of severe stress from Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE’s) [6]. The system is out of balance during the early development years. Childhood stress is related to asthma [7,8] and depression in adulthood [9]. Those with asthma are at increased risk for depression [10]. Those with stress related respiratory disorders are in need of treatment. The insula responds to this need and encourages medication seeking to achieve homeostasis.

Nicotine as self-medication

Functionally, the purpose of tobacco use is to deliver nicotine, a CNS and respiratory stimulant [11]. The Native American population has used tobacco for 2000 years. Tribal shamans used this medicinal herb to treat respiratory disorders [12,13]. In the late 1800’s, physicians used tobacco products to treat asthma [14]. ACE’s have a graded effect on tobacco initiation and use [15], especially in the current population [16]. Those with ACE’s are more likely to be depressed in adulthood [17]. Adolescents with prior or current asthma are 1.5 times as likely to smoke [18]. It has been proposed that nicotine is being used as self-treatment for sleep apnea [19]. It should not be surprising that many are unknowingly using this medicinal herb to treat stress related respiratory disorders. Yes, tobacco use has purpose. However, nicotine improves breathing only temporarily as long as nicotine is in the system.

What is described as ‘‘craving” for nicotine may be no more than chronic mild dyspnea or air hunger. It encourages re-administration as necessary to insure a continuous level of nicotine. Anything that improves breathing is likely to be compulsive to maintain homeostasis. Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Friday, 14 December 2012 10:00

“El mundo está lleno de cosas obvias que nadie observa, ni por casualidad.” Sherlock Holmes

Estoy enferma y cansada de la cultura contra el tabaco que se ha apoderado del mundo entero. He tenido suficiente de escuchar “¡no fume, es malo para usted!” La ignorancia que traiciona tales observaciones es absolutamente abismal, sobre todo viniendo de personas que deberían saber mejor. Así que para todos aquellos que me han preguntado ¿por qué fumo realmente? Voy a explicar mis razones en este artículo.

Los activistas antitabaco me han parecido ser del tipo intolerante, juiciosos seguidores autoritarios. Ellos creen y repiten como loros frases pegadizas cargadas emocionalmente, tomadas directamente de las propagandas gubernamentales contra el tabaquismo. Los médicos y no fumadores por igual son culpables de esto. Se sienten correctos al proveer de tales “consejos” y sin embargo no se dan cuenta de lo enfermos que se ven ellos mismos; y se olvidan de que, en muchos casos, sus propios problemas de salud fueron cuesta abajo cuando dejaron de fumar. Gracias a un pensamiento bastante serpentino, si son algún día diagnosticados con una enfermedad grave, más tarde culparán a sus “años de fumadores”, pasando por alto a los verdaderos culpables de las enfermedades de hoy en día: dietas chatarra con alto contenido de hidratos de carbono y la toxicidad a escala industrial que ha inundado a nuestro medio ambiente.

Sí, los cambios en la dieta, sobre todo desde la introducción de la agricultura mecanizada, la Revolución Industrial y la llegada de la Edad Moderna “iluminada”, han destruido sistemáticamente nuestra salud. El desajuste entre nuestra fisiología antigua – que prosperó con poco o nada de alimentos de origen vegetal comestibles – y nuestra dieta actual está en la raíz de muchas de las llamadas enfermedades de la civilización: la enfermedad coronaria, la obesidad, la hipertensión, la diabetes de tipo 2, cáncer, enfermedades autoinmunes, osteoporosis, etc, pero yo no estoy aquí para hablar de eso. Pueden leer más sobre ello aquí. Mi objetivo es defender los derechos de las personas que deciden fumar. Tal vez le sorprenda saber que, mientras que el porcentaje de la población que fuma se ha reducido en los últimos años (debido a la propaganda del gobierno), la incidencia de la enfermedad cardíaca no ha disminuido. La razón, ¡shock! ¡horror!, es que ¡fumar no es el verdadero problema, para empezar!

Casi todos los fumadores que conozco se sienten culpables de fumar y están planeando dejar de fumar algún día utópico cuando la vida se vuelva “menos estresante”. Por la forma en que van las cosas… ¡Buena suerte con eso! Llegué a Europa cuando todavía había una cultura de fumar y no era visto como el profundo “mal” que es hoy. Las prohibiciones europeas de fumar fueron introducidas durante mi tiempo aquí y, casualmente, el estado general de la sociedad se ha deteriorado gravemente durante el mismo tiempo. ¿Puede ese deterioro tener algo que ver con el reemplazo de la nicotina – un producto químico que mejora el aprendizaje y la memoria – con los medicamentes tranquilizantes y la tecnología disociativa de la Big Pharma (gran industria farmacéutica)? Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Saturday, 4 August 2012 09:52

La figura de reloj de arena de 12 horas, una forma de cuerpo en peligro.

Si te gustan las películas antiguas, habrás notado que la mujer de aquellos tiempos tendía a poseer hermosas curvas de reloj de arena, a la Marilyn Monroe. En nuestros días, tales figuras se han vuelto una rareza debido a que la mujer se ha vuelto “cuadrada” de forma. Investigaciones sugieren que en la actualidad hay cinco veces más mujeres de “forma rectangular” que aquellas con la clásica forma de reloj de Marilyn Monroe. Casi una de dos mujeres británicas caen en la categoría del rectángulo, una forma corporal masculinizada en la que existe poca diferencia entre las medidas de busto, cintura y cadera.

Según el CDC, cerca de un tercio de los adultos norteamericanos (33.8%) son obesos y aproximadamente 17% (o 12.5 millones) de niños y adolescentes de entre 2 y 19 años son obesos. En el 2010, ningún estado poseía menos del 20% de obesos. Otra estadística nos dice que más de dos tercios de los adultos en EEUU tienen sobrepeso o son obesos.

¡Dos tercios! ¡En el país donde la pirámide alimenticia de la USDA y el consumo de escasas grasas ha guiado las opciones de alimentación durante al menos dos generaciones!

A nivel mundial, con la expansión del modo de vida occidental (incluyendo la alimentación), la obesidad se ha más que duplicado desde 1980. En el 2008, 1500 millones de adultos, de 20 años y más, tenían sobrepeso y casi 43 millones de niños de menos de cinco años tenían sobrepeso en el 2010.

Según MyPyramid.gov, deberías consumir al menos 3 oz. de cereales de granos, panificados, galletas, arroz, cereal o pasta; idealmente 6 oz. Mucha de la gente que consume exactamente las cantidades recomendadas no ven una disminución de su peso en absoluto y de hecho podrían ver cómo aumenta su peso.

¿Puede haber una relación entre este consejo alimenticio y la epidemia de obesidad? ¿Puede ser que la raíz del problema de la obesidad sean nuestros consejeros de la salud que creen que la grasa animal causa enfermedades coronarias y aumento del colesterol, y que los carbohidratos de los granos y verduras son La Solución Saludable? Basándonos en ello, resulta que una alimentación restringida en carbohidratos y rica en grasas será desalentada por parte de ellos. Se supone que debemos consumir al menos el 45% de nuestras calorías de carbohidratos cuya mayoría deberían provenir de verduras, frutas y granos. Esta filosofía de alimentación es la dominante en nuestro mundo actual a pesar de los hechos citados más arriba, a pesar de que la epidemia de obesidad ha caído sobre nosotros paso a paso con esta filosofía de alimentación. Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Sunday, 8 April 2012 05:30

Toxo keeps popping up again and again on behavioral and neurological research. I talked about it awhile ago in Toxoplasmosis and Personality Changes,  but a friend brought to my attention the following paper:

Infect Genet Evol. 2012 Mar;12(2):496-8. Epub 2012 Jan 25.

Brain cancer mortality rates increase with Toxoplasma gondii seroprevalence in France.

Source

IRD, MIVEGEC (UMR CNRS/IRD/UM1), 911 Ave. Agropolis, BP 64501, FR-34394 Montpellier Cedex 5, France; Centre de Recherche de la Tour du Valat, Le Sambuc, 13200 Arles, France.

Abstract

The incidence of adult brain cancer was previously shown to be higher in countries where the parasite Toxoplasma gondii is common, suggesting that this brain protozoan could potentially increase the risk of tumor formation. Using countries as replicates has, however, several potential confounding factors, particularly because detection rates vary with country wealth. Using an independent dataset entirely within France, we further establish the significance of the association between T. gondii and brain cancer and find additional demographic resolution. In adult age classes 55years and older, regional mortality rates due to brain cancer correlated positively with the local seroprevalence of T. gondii. This effect was particularly strong for men. While this novel evidence of a significant statistical association between T. gondii infection and brain cancer does not demonstrate causation, these results suggest that investigations at the scale of the individual are merited.

Copyright © 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

There is still more research to be done, as it is usually said “correlation does not imply causation”. But toxoplasma gondii is turning out to be much more problematical than people will like to admit. In fact, I stumbled upon an interesting remark on the paper:

Latent T.gondii infections are traditionally considered benign by conventional medicine, but evidence is accumulating that the bradyzoite stages encysted in the brain during the latent phase are responsible for diverse neurological pathologies (see Flegr,2010 for a recent review). T.gondii is sufficiently common in humans that it could lead to a large proportion of brain cancer cases (Thomasetal.,2012).”

Toxoplasma gondii is the most common protozoan parasite in developed nations and up to 80% of the population may be infected, depending on eating habits and exposure to cats. After the initial acute infection, the latent and dormant form of T. gondii is found predominantly in nervous and muscle tissues in infected people. Until recently, latent infections in humans were assumed to be asymptomatic but personality profiles, behavior, and psychomotor performance tells a different story. The evidence accumulating is indeed a bit frightening.

The life cycle of Toxoplasma, © Marcia Hartsock

Take for instance this study: Read more…

Written by Gabriela Segura, MD
Sunday, 26 February 2012 04:29

Since the 1990s, there have been several legal entities created in France that are supported by the government whose sole purpose is to mandate what people can think and believe. These organizations have the capability (expressly designed into them) of bypassing and/or superseding any rulings of the European Court of Human Rights. These French organizations, for instance MIVILUDES, are essentially full-spectrum Fascism created and run by psychopaths and their Authoritarian Followers. Anybody who is discovered to have the slightest tendency to adopt alternative views is seemingly a danger because they are undoubtedly going to turn into an “apocalyptic cult” at any moment! The examples of the mass suicides of the People’s Temple, the Solar Temple and Heaven’s Gate are trotted out at the beginning of the 2010 MIVILUDES report, thereby making the label “cult” as scary as “Muslim Terrorist”. (Never mind that those events were CIA PsyOps designed as a sort of ’9-11′ against non-mainstream thinking, the way 9-11 was designed to initiate the War on Terror.)

Particularly targeted by these organizations are any and all individuals or groups which advocate practices such as alternative medicine (including nutritional approaches to getting and staying healthy), non-mainstream cancer therapies, yoga, meditation and other stress-relieving techniques, especially if such discussions include scientific support. Additionally targeted are any individuals who discuss ‘conspiracy theories’ (especially about 9-11, but also including economic collapse and NWO topics), UFOs/aliens, psychology other than Freudianism (especially if such discussions include cutting edge scientific support; Jungian psychology is especially targeted), Earth Changes and cometary bombardments (especially if it includes scientific support), increasing earthquake and volcanic activity (especially if it includes scientific support) and more. All of these activities, or even thoughts about these activities, will get you labeled as a cult or a follower of a cult and subject to some pretty frightening procedures designed to “help” you reorganize your thinking more in line with what is accepted by the mainstream authorities such as the American Medical Association (AMA), Big Pharma, Big-Agri, NASA and certainly the CIA. Anything that is not handed down from those authorities is labeled “pseudo-science”, no matter how credible the scientist or how accurate the research. In short, it is as much a war against real science – as opposed to the corrupt science that has dominated the world for the past 100 years and is used to support wars more than anything else – as it is against religious beliefs. Moreover, if you are researching religions (Bible scholars beware!), mysticism, ancient wisdom and alternative history, you are also a cult. And if you have no apparent cultic beliefs, it’s just a ruse; you are just trying to appear like a researcher to lure people in, waiting to turn into an apocalyptic cult at any moment. The whole approach is reminiscent of the Bush gang’s claims about WMDs vis-a-vis Iraq and Saddam Hussein, and I think you all realize what that kind of rhetoric led to.

The 2010 MIVILUDES report tells us:

The fact of offering people the possibility to search for mysticism, wisdom and a forgotten ideal world, all the while assuring them of happiness, can be an extremely efficient bait.

There exists as well the risk that current social topics may be used (such as ecological aspirations) in order to play on people’s anguish and anxiety such as: frustration concerning the meaning of life, solitude, the pervasive anonymity and isolation, the lack of interpersonal communication and social acceptance, the need for the religious and the sacred in one’s life, refusal of a crushing social way of life.

By feeding into this environment of social anxiety via the use of references to pseudo-scientific elements, even those which have not been verified, in reality these beliefs are a tool that promotes collective fear, with the purpose of exerting more power over people and, in extreme cases, this can possibly lead to a vital risk [risk of mass suicide!] for the members of the group, or to questioning mainstream society through more or less violent actions.

I think that the perceptive reader can see what this organization is set up for and what it is they are really afraid of: they are afraid of people waking up and recognizing that the lunatics have taken over the asylum! It is clear to any normal person with empathy that the authors of this report are inquisitors set up to defend the status quo of the rule of a pathological elite who are not fit to rule as evidenced by their psychopathic behavior and intolerance towards anything truly human and who are able (and have been able) to get away with the most outrageous human rights violations in modern day France.

Did you know that alternative medicine and homeopathy are labeled as cults in France? People have gone to jail and have had their children taken away from them for giving alternative treatments to their children even when they were told in advance by their doctors that the child’s case was terminal and they would die even with the mainstream treatments (chemotherapy and radiation?!). The parents were destroyed for seeking something, anything, that might save the life of their child or, at least, not subject them to the horrors of modern cancer treatments. (See Maître Jean-Marc Florand, avocat de monsieur et madame de M, in French.)

The fact is that it is the psychopaths who rise to the top who have no stress. Normal people who feel empathy and who have a conscience are the ones who are being crushed in this pathological society. To whom do French people turn to in order to get help for their sufferings and wounds? As it happens, the psychological sciences in France are as backward as almost everything else; they still consider Freud to be the only psychological authority! How Dark Ages is that? Most psychology in the rest of the modern world is NOT Freudian and more and more psychologists are coming to the realization – as Jung did – that Freud was a psychopath himself. Which means that psychological help in France can only add to people’s suffering. Read more…