Health/Sick Care
NEW YORK (AP) — New York City residents may soon see warning labels next to sugary foods and drinks in chain restaurants and coffee shops, under a law set to go into effect later this year.
The rule requires food businesses with 15 storefronts or more to post a warning icon — a black and white spoon loaded with sugar — next to menu items containing at least 50 grams of added sugar.
Businesses will also have to post the following written label to accompany the logo: “Warning: indicates that the added sugar content of this item is higher than the total daily recommended limit of added sugar for a 2,000 calorie diet (50g). Eating too many added sugars can contribute to type 2 diabetes and weight gain.”
The city’s health department posted its proposed rule language last week and set a public hearing for late May. City officials and Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, approved the law last year. The rule is scheduled to go into effect June 19 for prepackaged food items and Dec. 1 for other items.
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Read More(Beyond Pesticides, April 26, 2024) Researchers build on existing research when assessing the relationship between long-term exposure to organophosphorus pesticides—widely used in food production and homes and gardens—and the human gut microbiome. In a new study published in Environmental Health, an interdisciplinary research team from University of California, Los Angeles determined, “that exposure to [organophosphorus pesticides] is associated with changes in the abundance of several bacterial groups and differential functional capacity in metabolic pathways supported by the human gut microbiome.”
The study draws upon data from a “Parkinson’s, Environment and Gene study (PEG)” in which 190 participants were asked to submit fecal samples and answer interview questions. “[The study] was initially designed to investigate the etiology of Parkinson’s disease (PD) and participants were recruited in two study waves [‘over the full 10-year exposure window’]: 2001–2007 and 2012–2017. At baseline, [Parkinson’s disease] patients were diagnosed within the past 5 years and randomly selected community controls were also recruited,” the research team shares in their Methodology section. “Since 2017, we invited previous study participants who could be contacted to enroll in a pilot study of the gut microbiome. In addition, we invited a household or community member of [Parkinson’s] patients to participate.” To be eligible for the study, it was determined that the participants did not have the following:
“acute/chronic gastrointestinal conditions; or
an immunocompromised state and/or were taking immunosuppressants;
antibiotic intake continuously or within the past three months”
The collection kit for the research was based on protocol developed under the Microbiome Core of the Goodman-Luskin Microbiome Center. The microbiome was assessed through bacterial DNA found in the fecal samples. A software, PICRUST2 was used to identify 16S RNA markers—“metagenomic profile of the gut microbiome”—to make predictions on relationships between pesticides and its genetic impacts. For the pesticide exposure assessment component, researchers use a geographic information system (GIS) method with data from California Pesticide Use Reports, land-use survey data from California’s Public Land Survey system, and residential use data from the participants. Researchers found “most abundance changes at the genus level associated with high ambient [organophosphorus pesticide] exposure belong to Lachnospiraceae (seven genera were increased and two were decreased) and Ruminococcaceae (3 genera were increased and 2 were decreased) families in the Clostridia class.” This is significant given these two families are related to anaerobic bacteria present in individuals with healthy gut microbiomes as they produce short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) “critical in maintaining the homeostasis of the gut microbiome including gut barrier integrity, immunomodulation and regulation of the metabolism of lipids, cholesterol, and glucose []. The production of SCFAs is determined by the type of dietary fibers, the fermenting bacteria, the gut environment, and the substrate []. Therefore, it is possible that the observed changes in SCFA-producing bacteria are an indicator of disturbed homeostasis of the gut environment due to chronic [organophosphorus pesticide] exposure, and the body’s response to such changes.”
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Read MoreFor years, researchers have been working on vaccines that aim to prevent viral infections by strengthening immune defenses at viruses’ doorway to the body: the nose.
A small study recently published in PNAS presents a similar, if lower-tech, idea. Coating the inside of the nose with the over-the-counter antibiotic ointment Neosporin seems to trigger an immune response that may help the body repel respiratory viruses like those that cause COVID-19 and the flu, the study suggests.
The research raises the idea that Neosporin could serve as an “extra layer” of protection against respiratory illnesses, on top of existing tools like vaccines and masks, says study co-author Akiko Iwasaki, an immunobiologist at the Yale School of Medicine and one of the U.S.’ leading nasal vaccine researchers.
The study builds upon some of Iwasaki’s prior research—which has shown that similar antibiotics can trigger potentially protective immune changes in the body—but it’s still preliminary, she cautions. For the new study, her team had 12 people apply Neosporin inside their nostrils twice a day for a week, while another seven people used Vaseline for comparison. At several points during the study, the researchers swabbed the participants’ noses and ran PCR tests to see what was going on inside.
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Read MoreThe overuse of antibiotics could have exacerbated the spread of antimicrobial resistance, according to the World Health Organization.
The World Health Organization on Friday reported “extensive” overuse of antibiotics during the COVID-19 pandemic that could have increased the spread of antimicrobial resistance.
The organization found that only 8% of patients hospitalized with COVID-19 needed antibiotics for bacterial co-infections. However, about 75% of patients were treated with antibiotics. The highest rate of use was among people with severe or critical COVID-19 at 81% on average.
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Read MoreTen years after dipping its toes into the gene therapy pool in a licensing deal with Spark Therapeutics, Pfizer has gained FDA approval for the acquired treatment.
The U.S. regulator has endorsed Beqvez (fidanacogene elaparvovec-dzkt) for adults with the bleeding disorder hemophilia B. It becomes the first FDA-approved gene therapy for Pfizer and the second in the indication following CSL and uniQure’s hemophilia B treatment Hemgenix, which became the world’s most expensive drug at $3.5 million when it was approved in 2022.
Pfizer had the chance to undercut its rival on price but decided to charge the same $3.5 million for Beqvez. The therapy will be available to patients this quarter, a spokesperson confirmed on Friday to Fierce Pharma.
According to the CDC, the current number of males with hemophilia living in the U.S. is around 33,000. Hemophilia A is more prevalent, with 12 cases per 100,000 U.S. males, while there are just 3.7 cases per 100,000 U.S. males for hemophilia B.
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Read MoreBiotech company Acuitas Therapeutics and Germany-based CureVac (5CV.DE) have settled Acuitas’ lawsuit demanding credit for inventions related to COVID-19 vaccines, according to a filing on Thursday in Virginia federal court.
Acuitas sued CureVac last year in U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, claiming its scientists should have been named as co-inventors of CureVac patents covering technology used in messenger RNA (mRNA)-based shots. CureVac told the court on Thursday, opens new tab that they had settled their dispute and will ask to dismiss the case.
Representatives for Acuitas and CureVac did not immediately respond to requests for comment and for more information about the settlement.
Canada-based Acuitas said in the lawsuit, filed last November, that CureVac omitted Acuitas scientists from its patent applications after they collaborated to develop lipid nanoparticle mRNA-delivery technology during the COVID-19 pandemic.
CureVac denied the allegations in a February court filing.
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Read MoreThe FDA has refused to disclose how many samples it tested and from which stores the samples came, and a Freedom of Information Act request for the information has not yet yielded results.
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Read MoreAUTISM rates have escalated from 1 in 10,000 in the 1970s to 1 in 36 today, according to 2024 figures released by the US public health agency Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). As you might expect with such a worrying statistic, the CDC acted promptly and decisively: they renamed April’s ‘Autism Awareness Month’ and are now calling it ‘Autism Acceptance Month’.
This has rightly riled the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Children’s Health Defence (CHD), a campaign group founded in 2016 by a group of concerned parents and chaired by independent presidential candidate Robert F Kennedy Jnr. CHD said that ‘acceptance’ should be replaced with ‘unacceptable’.
But worse, the horrific increase might have been halted if the government had acted when the vaccine-autism link was first made but they did not. CHD say they have uncovered an alleged fraud used to dismiss the vaccine-autism link and filed a motion on National Autism Day, April 2, to compel the government to release the facts.
The case emerged because paediatric neurologist Dr Andrew Zimmerman, who originally served as an expert medical witness for the government in vaccine injury cases, has signed an affidavit saying that there are ‘exceptions in which vaccinations could cause autism’.
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Read MoreThe U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) detected a safety signal for seizures in young children following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination, according to a study published Wednesday in JAMA Network Open.
Several days before the FDA reported the safety signal for seizures in young children, the CDC released a new study showing the protection offered by the vaccine against severe illness and hospitalization in children plummeted quickly after vaccination.
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Read More‘I Knew They Were Killing People’: Whistleblower Says COVID Hospital Protocols Led to Patient Deaths
“Hospitals became the place where people go to die instead of the place where people go to get better,” said Zowe (not her real name), a medical coder who worked for several Phoenix, Arizona, hospitals during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an emotional testimonial with Polly Tommey on Children’s Health Defense’s (CHD) “Vax-Unvax” bus earlier this month in Salem, Oregon, the whistleblower exposed the practices and protocols that she believes led to patient deaths.
As a medical coder, Zowe’s job was to review patient records and assign codes for diagnoses and treatments. The codes determined how hospitals and physicians were paid.
“I call it the central intelligence of the hospital or the SimCity level view,” she said.
But Zowe said what she witnessed during the pandemic left her distraught and compelled her to speak out.
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