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Thursday 21 February 2019

How a poor diet in your 20s lasts for life:

People who eat more fat when they’re young ‘face diabetes and heart disease risk as they age’
  • Researchers at Qingdao University, China, studied 217 healthy 18 to 35-year olds
  • Found that those with lower-fat diets had better microbiomes than their peers
  • Experts say this is a warning for Asian whose where dietary habits are changing
Eating a high-fat diet in your 20s and 30s heightens the risk of ill-health later on - and not just because of weight gain.
According to researchers at Qingdao University, China, fatty foods cause a reduction in, and mutation of, so-called 'good' bacteria in the gut.
Specifically, an unhealthy diet modifies microbiomes - which break down food in the stomach - and sparks a rise in inflammatory markers throughout the body.
The data, published online in the journal Gut, raises fears this could sow the seeds of metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, heart disease and stroke, over the long term. 
Taste test: Researchers at Qingdao University, China, studied 217 healthy 18 to 35-year olds
Taste test: Researchers at Qingdao University, China, studied 217 healthy 18 to 35-year olds
The researchers set out to see if different levels of dietary fat alter gut bacteria in healthy young adults from China.
Dietary habits in the Asian country are moving from being low-fat, high-carb to relatively high in fat and low in carbohydrates.
The researchers divided 217 healthy 18 to 35-year-olds of normal weight into three dietary groups.
The participants then received different ratios of carbs - white rice and wheat - and fat - mainly soybean oil.
Fibre and protein intake was kept the same between all the participants.
The three end diets were either low fat, where lipids made up 20 per cent of the participants' energy intake.
Moderate fat - equal to 30 per cent of energy intake - or high fat - where lipids accounted for 40 per cent of energy intake.
Each participant stuck to their particular diet for six months.
Its impact on their gut bacteria and inflammatory markers was assessed in blood and faecal samples taken at the start and end of the experiment.
After six months, participants in all three groups lost weight, with those on the low-fat diet shedding the most. 
But certain changes, with potential implications for long-term heath, were only evident in the samples from the high-fat group.
Warning: The data, published online in the journal Gut, fears this can sow the seeds of metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, heart disease and strokes over the long term
Warning: The data, published online in the journal Gut, fears this can sow the seeds of metabolic disorders, such as diabetes, heart disease and strokes over the long term
Although there were no major changes in the overall volume of gut bacteria among the three groups, the number of beneficial bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids, including butyrate, only increased in the low-fat diet group. 
By contrast, the numbers of these beneficial bacteria fell in the high-fat group.
And the number of 'bad' bacteria found in the guts of people with type 2 diabetes, for example, had increased.
Certain bacteria, such as Blautia species - which are associated with lower cholesterol levels - were abundant among those on the low-fat diet. 
Bacteroides species, which are associated with elevated cholesterol levels, were more common among those on the high-fat diet.
What's more, the higher-fat diet was associated with significant and potentially detrimental changes in long chain fatty acid metabolism.
This resulted in higher levels of chemicals that are thought to trigger inflammation. 
The opposite was true for the low-fat diet.
The researchers emphasise sampling was only done at the start and end of the trial.
And a more complete picture of microbial changes would have emerged with more frequent sampling.
As all three groups lost weight, it is also not entirely clear whether the weight loss prompted the changes seen, or vice versa.
And as the participants were all young, healthy and a normal weight, the findings might not be more widely applicable, they add.
But the findings do seem to illustrate the need to curb dietary fat, the scientists suggest.
'Compared with a lower fat diet, long-term consumption of a higher fat diet appears to be undesirable....for young healthy adults whose diet is in transition from the traditionally consumed lower fat, higher carbohydrate diet to one characterised by an appreciably higher fat content,' they concluded.
Their findings might also have implications for other countries. 
'These findings might also have relevance in developed countries in which fat intake is already high,' the researchers added.  

Look out for these things in your wee - they might be signs of cancer

Check for these signs and symptoms of prostate cancer

By
  • 10:49, 19 FEB 2019



Prostate cancer is the most common cancer in men in the UK.

The causes of it are unknown, but as you get older, your chances of developing it increase.
The terrifying statistic is that one in two people in the UK will get cancer at some point in their lives.
And so it's extremely important that you notice the signs of cancer early.

Prostate cancer develops slowly, and many men don't see any symptoms for years, reports the Mirror.
It isn't until the prostate becomes large enough to affect the tube which carries urine out of the bladder and out of the penis that some of the tell-tell signs start to appear.
According to the NHS, there are seven things all men should be checking for in their wee which could be a tell-tell sign of the disease.
They are:
  • Needing to pee more frequently, often during the night
  • Needing to rush to the toilet
  • Difficulty in starting to pee (hesitancy)
  • Straining or taking a long time while peeing
  • Weak flow
  • Feeling that your bladder has not emptied fully
  • Blood in urine or semen
There are a number of tests which can help diagnose prostate cancer, all of which your doctor should be able to arrange.
They are a blood test, a physical prostate examination, and MRI or a biopsy.
If the disease is caught early it can be treated through radiotherapy or surgery to remove it.
However if it isn't caught until later it can spread to other parts of the body.
Experts don't know why, but prostate cancer is more common in men of African-Caribbean or African descent and Asian men are less likely to be affected.

Tuesday 19 February 2019

New sepsis test ‘could save thousands of lives’

A new rapid test for sepsis which could cut the time taken to get a result from up to 72 hours, to within three minutes has been developed by scientists.

The new sepsis test
The new test could cut the results time from up to 72 hours, to less than three minutes. Credit: University of Strathclyde
The test could save thousands of lives from the common and potentially deadly condition which is triggered by an infection, and experts hope it will be available on the NHS within three to five years.
At present, it can take up to 72 hours to diagnose sepsis, which kills an estimated 52,000 people in the UK every year.
Sepsis hit the headlines following the death of 12-month-old William Mead, from Cornwall, who died in December 2014 after health professionals failed to recognise he had the condition.
A sepsis infection can start anywhere in the body and can occur after chest or water infections, abdomen problems - such as burst ulcers - or even from cuts and bites.
It is caused by the way the body responds to germs, such as bacteria. The body’s response to an infection may injure its own tissues and organs.
If untreated, sepsis can lead to shock, multiple organ failure and death.
William Mead died of Sepsis in December 2014.
William Mead died of Sepsis in December 2014. Credit: Family handout
The new low-cost test, developed by researchers at Strathclyde University, uses a biosensor device to see whether the protein biomarker interleukin-6 (IL-6) is present in the bloodstream
IL-6 is a molecule secreted by the immune system and is often found in high levels in people with sepsis.
During research at Strathclyde, the new test picked up IL-6 within two-and-a-half minutes.
Experts hope the test will be used at the bedside in hospitals and in GP surgeries.
Its needle shape means it can also be implanted and used on patients in intensive care.
Dr Damion Corrigan
Dr Damion Corrigan said the new test could save lives. Credit: University of Strathclyde
Dr Damion Corrigan, from the department of biomedical engineering at Strathclyde, said: “With sepsis, the timing is key.
“For every hour that you delay antibiotic treatment, the likelihood of death increases.
“At the moment, the 72-hour blood test is a very labour intensive process but the type of test we envisage could be at the bedside and involve doctors or nurses being able to monitor levels of sepsis biomarkers for themselves.
“If GP surgeries had access they could also do quick tests which could potentially save lives.
“It could also be available in A&E departments so that anyone coming in with a question mark could be quickly ruled in or out.
“I would hope the test could improve survival rates by ensuring people get treatment more quickly.
“It’s not just saving lives, a lot of people who survive sepsis suffer life-changing effects, including limb loss, kidney failure and post-traumatic stress disorder.
“The test could stop a lot of suffering.”
An estimated 52,000 people die as a result of sepsis each year
An estimated 52,000 people die as a result of sepsis each year Credit: Lynne Cameron/PA
Dr Ron Daniels, chief executive of the UK Sepsis Trust, said earlier diagnosis and treatment across the UK could save at least 14,000 lives a year.
Symptoms of sepsis include a high or abnormally low temperature, fast heart rate and rapid breathing.
He said: “Any kind of test that enables us to identify sepsis earlier, before symptoms even present themselves, could help save even more lives and bring us closer to our goal of ending preventable deaths from sepsis.
“Systems like this are so important as, with every hour before the right antibiotics are administered, risk of death increases.
“No test is perfect in the identification of sepsis, so it’s crucial we continue to educate clinicians to think sepsis in order to prompt them to use such tests.”
According to The UK Sepsis Trust, early symptoms of sepsis usually develop quickly and can include:
  • high temperature (fever)
  • chills and shivering
  • a fast heartbeat
  • fast breathing
Symptoms of more severe sepsis can include:
  • feeling dizzy or faint
  • confusion or disorientation
  • nausea and vomiting
  • diarrhoea
  • not passing water for prolonged periods
  • cold, clammy and pale or mottled skin
The UK Sepsis Trust says it can be difficult to distinguish from flu and advises people "don't be afraid to say 'I think this might be sepsis'."
Getting antibiotics and fluid early can halt the progression of the infection.
https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-19/new-sepsis-test-could-save-thousands-of-lives/

UK surgeons hail ‘world first’ op to tackle leading cause of sight loss

Surgeons have claimed a world first after carrying out a gene therapy operation to tackle the most common cause of sight loss in the UK.

The gene therapy operation in which a virus is injected into the eye through syringe.
The gene therapy operation in which a virus is injected into the eye through syringe. Credit: NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre
Age-related macular degeneration (AMD) causes the deterioration of cells in the macular, the central part of the retina, and affects more than 600,000 people in the UK.
Medics at the John Radcliffe Hospital said their pioneering operation could have a real impact on the quality of life and independence of those who suffer from AMD.
The John Radcliffe Hospital
The John Radcliffe Hospital. Credit: Steve Parsons/PA
Janet Osborne, 80, from Oxford, who underwent the procedure, has AMD in both eyes and, as is typical, her left eye has deteriorated more than the right.
She said her restricted vision makes simple tasks like preparing vegetables, sewing and recognising faces difficult.
She said: “I wasn’t thinking of me. I was thinking of other people. For me, I hope my sight doesn’t get any worse. That would be fantastic. It means I wouldn’t be such a nuisance to my family.”
Mrs Osborne’s operation is the first phase of the trial testing the safety of the procedure, said a spokesman for the National Institute for Health Research’s (NIHR) Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.
Her vision will be monitored regularly over the coming months to gauge the success of the operation.
The op involves detaching the retina and injecting a solution containing a virus underneath.
Janet Osborne
Janet Osborne Credit: NIHR Oxford Biomedical Research Centre/PA
Robert MacLaren, professor of ophthalmology at the University of Oxford, who carried out the procedure, said: “AMD is the number one cause of untreatable blindness in the developed world.
“A genetic treatment administered early on to preserve the vision in patients who would otherwise lose their sight would be a tremendous breakthrough and certainly something I hope to see in the near future.
“We’re harnessing the power of the virus, a naturally occurring organism, to deliver the DNA into the patient’s cells.
“When the virus opens up inside the retinal cell it releases the DNA of the gene we have cloned, and the cell starts making a protein that we think can modify the disease, correcting the imbalance of the inflammation caused by the complement system.
“The idea of this gene therapy is to ‘deactivate’ the complement system, but at a very specific point at the back of the eye, so the patient would otherwise be unaffected by it, and we hope that in future it will slow down the progression of macular degeneration.”
The therapy is intended to preserve what vision patients have remaining and halt the effects of AMD.
It is hoped the procedure can be used early enough before the deterioration of eyesight begins.
The clinical trial was carried out by Prof MacLaren with the support of the Oxford Biomedical Research Centre.
It was sponsored by Gyroscope Therapeutics, a UK company that develops genetically defined therapies for the treatment of eye diseases.
https://www.itv.com/news/2019-02-18/uk-surgeons-hail-world-first-op-to-tackle-leading-cause-of-sight-loss/

Thursday 14 February 2019

Robert O. Young - author of the "pH Miracle" book

Bad news continues to accumulate for "pH Miracle Living" quack Robert O. Young

March 16, 2016.


Last night was one of those nights where, for whatever reason, I ran out of steam. Whether it was residual effects from the change to daylight savings time this weekend or just a day in the operating room, I don't know, but I crashed on the couch hard, at least until lighting and thunder from the storms rolling through between 2 and 3 AM woke me up for a little while.
Fortunately, I do have a little tidbit to post, a very good one as well. Remember, the "pH Miracle Living" quack, Robert O. Young? He claims to be a naturopath, but even that claim, like pretty much everything he claims, seems to be dubious at best. (Yes, he's even a fake quack.) Basically, to Young, cancer, AIDS, sepsis, and basically all diseases are due to "excess acid," and the cure is "alkalinization."
I first discovered Young nine years ago, and, since then, I've discussed his extreme quackery from time to time on this blog. Young claims to be able to treat cancer and—as is the case with so many quacks like him—a wide variety of other serious diseases, such as lupustype I diabetes (you read that right, not type II diabetes), metastatic prostate cancer, and cancer in general. Not surprisingly, Young is also quite antivaccine, publishing anecdotes from parents who believe their child is "vaccine damaged" and appeals to support antivaccine groups like the National Vaccine Information Center (NVIC).
Perhaps the most famous incident involving Young was his treatment of Kim Tinkham. At the time she encountered Young in 2008, Tinkham had recently been diagnosed with breast cancer, described as stage III, and was being urged to undergo surgery. She refused. In the end, Tinkham paid the ultimate price for her trust in Young.
When last I visited Young's sordid tale, he had been convicted of practicing medicine without a license, but the jury had deadlocked on the other charges, the ones that would garner him some serious jail time, the charge of fraud being the most prominent one.
Beautifully, Young's still in jail, and, as promised by the district attorney the last time I wrote about him, he is going to be tried again on the deadlocked charges:
Author of the well-known “pH Miracle” books, and philosophy, Young already was placed in prison Feb. 3. following being found guilty of two charges of practicing medicine without a license.
However a hung jury, after deliberating two weeks, found him innocent of one charge of practicing medicine without a license and didn’t convict him of six fraud and grand theft charges. Jury members voted 11-1 to convict on the two medical charges but deadlocked 8-4 on fraud charges.
Prosecutors said they would retry Young, 64, on the six fraud charges. “We have victims who are entitles to get verdicts,” Deputy District Attorney Gina Darvas said after refiling charges.
These are the charges:
Prosecutors in their original 13-page complaint, said Young charged four terminally ill patients at least $50,000 each for treatment. one paid more than $120,0 Prosecution witnesses included family members of cancer patients who had gone to the center and subsequently died.
Pfingst said people sought help from Young specifically because he was a naturopathic practitioner and not a medical doctor. Young never said his technique would cure cancer, Pfingst said. Needles used for intravenous treatments were applied by licensed doctors and nurses, he said.
Quacks like Young frequently retreat to this claim when busted. Never mind that Young has explicitly claim that cancer is cells "spoiled by acid" and that reversing it is easy with an "alkaline diet." Of course, quacks frequently use weaselly language with plausible deniability, a "wink, wink, nudge, nudge" sort of tactic that says they can cure cancer without actually explicitly saying it, in order to be able to defend themselves by claiming that they never told the patient that their quackery would cure them. Never mind that Young's multiple books and websites are bursting with claims about how cancer and all manner of diseases can be reversed by his methods.
So basically Young is at least as bad as Stanislaw Burzynski.
After nine years of following this quack's exploits and noting that while his trial was pending he was still traveling all over promoting his "pH Miracle Living" claims, continuing to bilk dying patients, and being very active on Twitter and social media promoting his business, I also take no shame in feeling intense schadenfreude over this:
Young had been out of jail on $100,000 bail earlier this year as his trial started and stopped several times before concluding. He even toured Europe during the last year, continuing to give large public lectures and conduct private consultations. With his convictions, however, his bail was increased to $700,000. His supporters have raised only $16,000 through an online crowdsourcing site for legal bills to date.
Young’s attorney, high-profile former San Diego District Attorney Paul Pfingst, told Vista Superior Court Judge Richard Whitney last week that Young was tapped out financially. A public defender now will represent him.
Yes! True, I have some doubts that Young is truly broke and suspect he must have substantial funds hidden in offshore bank accounts that he can't access from prison. Also, given that he is now facing a civil suit by a woman with stage IV ovarian cancer who was advised by him not to undergo conventional medical treatment. Even so, it is good to see him experience what so many of his patients did: The extraction of large quantities of his wealth. True, this time it was mostly legal fees and bail, but it's still good to see.
It would be even better to see Young spend the rest of his life in prison. Given that Young is now 63, it might not be outside of the realm of possibility, although I'd be surprised if he drew a sentence long enough to guarantee that.
Here's hoping I'm surprised in the coming year. Here's also hoping that Young will be forced to use prison food to "alkalinize" himself for many years to come.


Also:

Last night was one of those nights where, for whatever reason, I ran out of steam. Whether it was residual effects from the change to daylight savings time this weekend or just a day in the operating room, I don't know, but I crashed on the couch hard, at least until lighting and thunder from the storms rolling through between 2 and 3 AM woke me up for a little while. Fortunately, I do have a little tidbit to post, a very good one as well. Remember, the "pH Miracle Living" quack, Robert O. Young? He claims to be a naturopath, but even that claim, like pretty much everything he claims, seems…

If there's one thing that's frustrating about the U.S. justice system, it's just how slow the wheels of justice grind. For example, it's hard to believe that it was over two years ago that "pH Miracle" quack Robert O. Young was arrested for fraud, grand theft, and practicing medicine without a license, producing one of my favorite images ever on this blog, that of Young in a blue prison jump suit. The only way it could have been better would have been if it had been an orange jumpsuit, but unfortunately a contact in San Diego tells me that San Diego County doesn't use orange jumpsuits for its…

There is no doubt in my mind that Robert O. Young is among the worst cancer quacks I have ever encountered. I’ve never been able to figure out how he manages to continue to practice after over 20 years, given the egregiousness of his quackery. Indeed, I was overjoyed when I learned back in January when finally—finally!—I got to see Young in a prison jumpsuit being hauled before a judge after having been arrested and charged with 18 felony counts of grand theft and practicing medicine without a license, as well as administering intravenous treatments in an unlicensed facility. As I noted at…


Being a cancer surgeon and researcher, naturally I tend to write about cancer a lot more than other areas of medicine and science. It's what I know best. Also, cancer is a very common area for unscientific practices to insinuate themselves, something that's been true for a very long time. The ideas don't change very rapidly, either. Drop a cancer quack from 2014 into 1979, and he would probably be right at home. Of course, part of the reason is because the "elder statesmen" of cancer quackery today were just getting their starts in 1979. Still, the same ideas keep recurring even as far back…

Two women died of breast cancer yesterday. One was named Kim Tinkham. One was named Elizabeth Edwards. In some ways, these women were similar. True, one was older than the other, but both of them died far sooner than they should have, one at age 53, the other at age 61. Both engaged in activism about breast cancer. Both were ambitious, driven women. Both died in the presence of their friends and family. Both died within hours of each other. Both demonstrated the implacable killer that breast cancer can be. There the similarities end. One of these women (Kim Tinkham), for example, died…


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Robert O. Young - author of the "pH Miracle" book - MUST READ (Summary of articles on Dr Robert O Young and his pH miracle)