Obesity Uncommon in Past, So Our Modern Diet Caused Obesity Due to More Efficient Gut Bacteria

Tags: High Sugar, Salt, Fat, More Efficient Gut Bacteria Based on Our Diet, Diet Books, Never Go Hungry Diet, Eating Every 2 to 3 Hours, Scientific Proof Type of Major Bacteria in Gut Leads to Obesity

It is ironic that many commercial diets seem to lead to obesity. It is no accident that following the model that government is bad as espoused by Reagan and followed through with a vengeance Even though I do not expect you to understand all the words in this excerpted five page article below at www.Medscape.com for doctors, you will understand the concept of what you eat matters a lot. A starvation diet never works because our system produces a hormone which activates your hunger response so if you want to lose weight long-term, never go hungry and change what you eat.

Avoid like a plaque any White Bread, White Flour based foods, and eat whole wheat and brown instead of white rice. There are many kinds of brown rice which maintains its fiber which helps you avoid the immediate high sugar level in your blood which converts to fat and over works the pancreas. Potato, especially with its skin, yams, and the like provide your carbohydrates.

Two new books on diet based on the latest scientific experiments are easy to read with "You on a Diet: Owner's Manual for Waist Management" the http://doctoroz.com team, Michael F. Roizen, MD, and Mehmet C. OZ, MD, the better one than the excellent "The Mayo Clinic Diet: Eat Well, Enjoy life, Lose Weight" Both are about $15 at Costco.

The excerpted article below based on scientific evidence and not error prone anecdotal diet suggestions. The bottom line is that the bacteria in our gut determines whether we are fat and obese rather than normal because of the higher efficiency in converting food in our gut to increased fat and weight (energy) than other major bacteria in our gut.

That is why white bread and flour which are high sources of sugar in our diet favors the bacteria that gets us to eat more so obesity must thrive. Saturated fats also must be controlled so greatly reducing meat, cheese, and other saturated fat sources is necessary. A combination of saturated fat, salt, and sugar is essentially in all Fast Foods because our bacteria craves these high calorie foods and our brain goes into ecstasy!

Jim Kawakami, Jan 19m 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

From Current Opinion in Gastroenterology

Obesity and the Human Microbiome

Ruth E. Ley …

Summary Large-scale alterations of the gut microbiota and its microbiome (gene content) are associated with obesity and are responsive to weight loss. Gut microbes can impact host metabolism via signaling pathways in the gut, with effects on inflammation, insulin resistance, and deposition of energy in fat stores. Restoration of the gut microbiota to a healthy state may ameliorate the conditions associated with obesity and help maintain a healthy weight.

Introduction

Up until the last few decades, obesity has been a rare physiological state. Now however, the number of obese or overweight humans has come to outnumber those suffering from malnutrition.[1] This is an unprecedented state for our species, resulting from a mismatch between our evolutionary biology and our modern environment. The human body is a complex system, made all the more complex through its interactions with the trillions of microorganisms that coat the body surface and densely populate the gut. Recent work has shown that the microbes of the gut may play a role in human metabolism and adiposity. Because they are environmentally acquired, microbes constitute one part of our environment that may contribute to the obese state. This review discusses the most recent findings and insights into the relationship between the human microbiota, obesity, and obesity-associated diseases. …

shotgun sequencing of the microbial community DNA, showed an enrichment in genes involved in energy extraction from food in the obese host's microbiome relative to that of the lean host's microbiome. A microbiota with greater energy extraction efficiency resulted in less energy left over in feces and greater levels of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) in the cecum. Furthermore, when the luminal contents from the ceca of obese or lean mice were provided to lean germ-free recipients, the mice receiving the microbes from the obese donors gained more weight over a 2-week period than recipients of the lean microbes, despite equivalent food intake.[3] In a study extending these observations to humans, 12 obese participants were randomly assigned to either carbohydrate-restricted or fat-restricted diets, and on average, the proportion of Bacteroidetes bacteria enumerated via 16S rRNA gene sequencing increased over time, mirroring reductions in host weight but not changes in diet.[4] Together these studies showed that the gut microbiota was generally altered in the obese host and could contribute to host adiposity in humans and mice.

Metagenomics and Obesity

A subsequent and much larger study of the microbiome associated with obesity conducted with humans also showed that obesity was associated with a depletion of Bacteroidetes, together with an enrichment in carbohydrate and lipid-utilizing genes in the microbiome as a whole. Turnbaugh et al.[5••] focused on twins to assess the gut microbiota's relationship to host weight. The fecal microbial communities of young adult female monozygotic (n = 31) and dizygotic (n = 23) twin pairs concordant for either leanness or obesity were compared, along with those of their mothers (n = 46), using a combination of traditional 16S rRNA gene clone libraries and high-throughput metagenomic analyses of the microbiome. Fecal samples were obtained from the majority of participants at an initial time point and then again 2 months later. Comparisons between all 154 participants showed obesity to be associated with reduced bacterial diversity and reduced representation of the Bacteroidetes. Furthermore, the microbiome differed between obese and lean hosts in much the same way it had in the obese mouse model, with obese host microbiomes enriched in gene categories involved in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. …

Conclusion

An increasing number of studies relate imbalances in the composition of the gut microbiota to obesity and its associated diseases. The approaches used to characterize gut microbiotas vary widely, which might explain in part why the specific alterations in the microbiota associated with excess body fat, or weight loss, can also vary between studies. To compare studies will require some standardization of approaches or use of a variety of approaches within single studies. However, irrespective of the specific changes observed in microbial communities with respect to body fat, evidence suggests that microbes do indeed respond and contribute to host energy balance. They may do this using a number of different and possibly interactive signaling mechanisms involving innate immune responses, endocrine cells, and epithelial cells. An integration of mechanistically based investigations and microbial ecology studies using high-throughput sequencing will provide insights into how best to reshape host-microbial interactions to promote health. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/714569

Tags: H1N1 Mutations, For Profit and Non-Profit Govt Healthcare, Seasonal Flu, Cancer Spread from Injury

I have to congratulate the President Obama administration for their successful efforts in combating the Swine Flu. They get good marks from almost everyone. Imagine what would have happened if the incompetent who ran the CDC was still in charge? The Republicans not only kept cutting money for Medicare, but severely cut the CDC budget and did not budget to study the Bird Flu in Asia!

About half the doctors used cortical steroids to ramp down the immune response so may have saved the lives of many children and young who have an over-active immune response producing more Cytokines which increases inflammation. Young persons did to react badly to flu because often the Cytokine Storm which increases inflammation in the lungs increases the chance for secondary infections of pneumonia.

Everytime there is an injury to tissue in the body, the body's immune response is activated by Cytokine detected by the C-Reactive Protein Test and young persons have a much stronger response and often leads to death among young children because the kidneys are shut down from 0157-H7 deadly E-Coli in hamburgers which are prepared from scraps from all over the world.

Although we already have 300 mutations of HIN1 Swine, Bird, Human Flu, certain surface proteins involved in attachment to the surface of cells has not mutated, indicating that we can exploit this weakness. Does explain why older people did not get this very contagious flu. The primary source of Swine Flu came from a Pig Factory Farm in Wisconsin, not Mexico.

Authorities are scared that this virus may incubate in pigs with other deadly viruses to produce a much more lethal virus. Viruses break up into eight segments when they reproduce and they reproduce extremely fast. For example Indonesia has the greatest number of very deadly Bird Flu which is able to attach to tissues and human to human transfer occurs due to genetic reasons. If this flu virus combines with our Swine Flu virus, a deadly combination results.

The reason that Pandemics of flu does not extend for years is that rapid mutations can change the surface attachment structure to human lungs so it no longer becomes infectious. But the opposite can happen if this flu virus incubates in a pig and combines with a deadlier flu as we observed in 1918 which occurred in two steps. A milder flu first and then the killer by mutating further in Pigs. PBS had a special on this and the sorrow and photos of a huge number of children getting sick and dying. This one had what is called the death gene!

A record number of people got the seasonal flu vaccine this year in Oregon. The vaccine is the same as last year, but everyone who took it last year should take it again to boost its effectiveness. The Obama administration has done what should have been done before by doubling the dose of seasonal flu next year. The seasonal flu vaccine also protected people from the HIN1 flu virus!

They have also approved a batch process for making vaccine, a process which greatly improves the amount of vaccine produced.

Elderly people over 65 overwhelmingly die from flu because their weak immune response does not allow the vaccine to work well. However, a doubling of the dose next year will help a lot helping reduce the criticism that the vaccine does not work.

This Cytokine test can also detect the injury caused by cancer and heart disease. Unfortunately the Sixty Seven Percent high rate of obesity and to a lesser extent overweight Americans makes it very difficult to avoid inflammation making them more likely to get diabetes and cancer. Fat increases estrogen which accelerates breast cancers.

Not well publicized yet, but animal and human cell studies show clearly that injury to tissue surrounding a cancer tumor causes it to spread. Injecting cancer cells into mice cause it to spread rapidly. However the same cancer cells introduced into the blood stream without tissue injury, did not spread. Exploratory surgery to find cancers may not always be a good idea. It has been known for more than a few years that cancer cells spread to an injured site. It is normally difficult for cancer cells to spread and normally they won't be fatal unless they spread. Probably the operation to remove cancer cells from Senator Kennedy's brain caused it to spread more rapidly.

Autopsies of people who died and did not have visible cancer invariably had cancer tumors. So just about every has small tumors such as in prostate cancer. It is very slow growing but can spread more rapidly for a number of unknown reasons except the presence of testosterone. I have observed that aggressive men with high testosterone such as politicians, football players, and military men seem to get more than their share of prostate cancer.

We found the government cannot control the cost of Medicare and Medicaid because politics is involved. Rationing is possible in the Private sector for profits. The best medical facilities have lower cost such as the Mayo Clinic because unnecessary procedures and tests are not done. Allen,Texas has Medicare costs double the national average even though they have a relatively healthy population.

The healthcare corporations tried to cut costs by excluding ineffective procedures and tests, but because of the uproar, decided to cut life-saving procedures and highly selective elimination of sicker patients by raising their insurance until the companies had to drop health insurance. Only Regulations and an advisory panel in the current Senate bill will help prevent this. Read the book Healthcare, Guaranteed by Ezekiel Emanuel, Rahm Emanuel's older brother.

Jim Kawakami, Jan 6, 2010, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Flu increasing nationally, but not in Oregon

Weekly influenza update for Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010

Date: Tuesday, Jan. 5, 2010
Media questions: Alissa Bateman-Robbins, 503-490-6590, alissa.bateman-robbins@state.or.us

Influenza disease activity increased nationally during the week of Dec. 20-26, 2009, after eight consecutive weeks of decline. Oregon, however, is in one of two out of 10 national regions where current activity is considered “normal” instead of “elevated” for this time of year.

“January is often when seasonal flu spreads, but we know a record number of people have already received a seasonal flu shot. H1N1 vaccination is the best way to keep flu activity from increasing in Oregon,” says Mel Kohn, MD, MPH, Oregon Public Health director.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the national percentage of people who visited the doctor for influenza-like illness increased during the week of Dec. 20-26, possibly because fewer people schedule routine doctor visits during the holidays. Overall hospitalization rates remained unchanged from the previous week, but the proportion of deaths attributed to influenza increased.

Since September 1, 2009, 1,303 people in Oregon have been hospitalized from the flu and 63 people have died.

“Flu illness is holding steady in Oregon. The likelihood of flu activity remaining steady increases as more people get vaccinated against H1N1 flu,” says Kohn.

Kohn says January is a good time to get an H1N1 vaccine to help prevent increased flu activity in Oregon this winter and spring. “It’s also a great time for smokers to quit smoking, which will decrease their chances of complications from the flu or any illness,” he says.

For more information, visit www.flu.oregon.gov. Beginning Jan 16, the Oregon Public Health Flu Hotline (800-978-3040) will change its hours to 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Mon.-Fri., and 9 a.m.-noon weekends and holidays.

Re: Glad to Hear Your Son is got well from flu and pneumonia! Injuries Spread Cancers

Glad to hear your son is OK! Make sure he gets the pneumonia vaccine. About 30 percent of H1N1 deaths were attributable to pneumonia. A large majority of flu deaths happen from bacterial infections when the lungs are inflamed due to our body'a Cytokine reactions to the virus infection. About half the doctors used prednisone to prevent the sick person's body from over-reacting to the infection and producing a Cytokine Protein storm which can even destroy our organs. Tamiflu and the excellent approach taken by the Obama Administration according to most experts helped save many lives even with inadequate hospitals and critical care units.

I again emphasize that you and your family should get the H1N1 vaccine because it will protect you partly or completely from mutated Swine Flu virus and the pneumonia vaccine which should strongly protect a young person more than the elderly. The seasonal flu vaccine will be twice as strong to allow seniors with a weak immune system to more likely develop an immune response. A single dose does not seem to work as well for seniors who never got flu vaccinations in the past. There would not have been a shortage of H1N1 vaccine because growth promoters were not used which would have increased the supply by a factor of three!

H1N1 victims who die seem to get better until they take showers and have a relapse! A young actress is probably the latest victim who died or got ill in the shower. Many people keep shower water tank at much lower temperatures so bacteria can grow. My father complained of getting sick whenever he took a bath so he stopped for a while. I increased the water tank temperature to above 120 degrees which helped.

Take up to 2,000 international units of vitamin D3 and not less than 1,000. I take 3500 units daily since I moved out of Los Angeles. The decreased stress in Eugene help me gain ten pounds a few years ago from my weight in LA with even with a more vegetarian diet! Vitamin D may also help with allergies even though I never saw anyone publish this. It does help reduce colds and increase your immunity to diseases from cancer to osteoporosis to Autism during the birth and baby growth process. In order to get through the birth canal, the baby's brain size is about half of its final size. Incredible growth occurs in the first few years and synaptic connections form. Autism is thought to be due to faulty synaptic connections. The lack of enough vitamin D in curing osteoporosis even with vitamin D with calcium supplements is likely due to our body grabbing the vitamin D for essential other tissues in our body. Kidney dialysis and transplant patients should get lots of vitamin D because they are often likely to suffer osteoporosis.

CANCER GROWTH CAUSE! My aunt and a close friend's cancer spread much more rapidly when she had exploratory surgery to find out why she had pain and difficulty in eating. That thought came to me immediately more than a dozen years ago and seemed logical to me. The surgery must have caused her cancer to spread fast, but I could not find any research confirming my suspicion.

Just a few days ago an article appeared in Science Daily which proved that any injury to cells around a cancer tumor will likely cause it metastasize or spread fast. Biopsies may help spread cancer, but so far no definitive data because no one thought about this until now. That is why when my close friend in New Jersey operated twice on a tumor in her hip, her cancer must have spread rapidly because she died so quickly that I had to go there immediately to see her and luckily I did not wait because she died shortly after I visited. Her chronic pain was horrendous even with pain killers such as morphine. Perhaps the new approach to killing severe chronic pain which was in the November 2009 Scientific American with some already approved drugs for other treatments can be used in cancer cases at the option of the physician and the patient.

Keep Well in 2010! Jan 2, 2010

Jim Kawakami, Jan 2, 2009, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Christopher's pneumonia finally responded to antibiotic - I thought it might be viral since 90 percent of orange county flu was H1N1. This is second time his flu turned to pneumonia. I had so many people staying at my house -thank goodness no one else got sick. Most already had their bout with flu. I just keep resting so I do not succumb -haha. Have a great new year - I hope 2010 will be better for so many people.

Corporate Rule, Propaganda, Scots, Scots-Irish, Halberstam, Income Inequality, Predator State, Sharp Increase in Inequality

All of us often make the mistake that very smart people have good judgement too. Read "The Best and the Brightest" by David Halberstam. Very smart people also work for our CIA, NSA, and State Department. Think about how many mistakes they have made in the last quarter century!

History also teaches us that no matter how mighty, guerilla warfare is extremely difficult to overcome, especially since our behavioral norms, do not permit killing whole populations to kill a few. Small bands of guerillas throughout history do not defeat large armies, but they persist until the large armies retreat. That is why I disagree with the Afghan war continuing. The best we can do is to not permit them to spread. Give Northeast Pakistan to the Pashtun tribes there! That is what Pakistan did but we circumvented the wishes of Pakistan and spread the guerilla wars.

In about 1995, Al Gore, who has 15 more IQ points than J. F. Kennedy, convene a conference to protect us from terrorism. They then concluded that since we cannot fight them easily since they have access to powerful weapons helped greatly by "loans," drug money, and corruption. Improvised Explosive Devices IED are killing Americans every day, much more than bullets.

The top arms dealers are the United States, Israel, China and Europe. Banks are also involved because debt payments give them great incentive to loan money to terrorists in Africa and places around the world. A good movie, The International, two stars, starring Clive Owen on STRZ repeats Sunday morning Jan 3 and late afternoon in Oregon and probably later in the week shows how banks may even resort to murder to increase profits. Arms sales from China

The Romans, Normans, The Low Land Scots or more correctly Scots-Irish along with other tribes held off the Roman Army and the English for a thousand years! In books such as How the Scots Invented the Modern World: The True Story of How Western Europe's Poorest Nation Created Our World & Everything in It by Arthur Herman (Paperback - Sep 24, 2002) and Born Fighting: How the Scots-Irish Shaped America by James Webb (Paperback - Oct 11, 2005), we discover that a lot of modern American success and political bent as trumpeted by the Republican Party came from these people. In fact extended wars of greed and religion have shaped much of human history.

But not usually mentioned in many commentaries, is that the ones who actually transformed Scotland into the modern world were Irish invaders of northern Scotland mentioned in passing by James Webb in his book. Much of The Scots-Irish in Belfast were from Southwest Scotland, the territory often used by invaders.

Webb, a former marine, does mention that the Scots-Irish permeate our military as well as the Catholic Irish. In the same ways minorities have transformed the world's progress such as the ancient Sumerians did in Iraq and possibly Southern India, Jews our scientific, arts and financial systems, and increasingly women, East Asians, and South Asians has made a considerable impact on our scientific knowledge and progress.

Based on this history, I am inclined to conclude that our trend of developing into a feudal system of the wealthy and elites getting most of the fruits of our labor, our best schools, training, and opportunities, our country will likely decay into oblivion in the 21st Century. Why do I think that we made incredible progress after World War II? The GI Bill allowed many more to go to college from all classes and our elementary and high schools got enough money to get the best teachers, many of them women. California had the best educational system in the 1970s in the USA, but Proposition 13 and Reagan's tax cuts for the rich and corporations and budget cuts in education, allowing a high influx of Illegal immigrants into California, an act benefiting corporations greatly with cheap labor and as President making them citizens lowered the wages of working Americans severely.

But the Reagan Revolution destroyed equal opportunity which made me especially fearful that the rich and the elites who support them will use our army and police to protect their wealth and make running for the Congress, the Senate, and the President into a run of candidates for the status quo to maintain their power. His legacy and the Republican Party will be looked on by historians in a manner which history has been recorded. The winners write history and controls our future.

Even Some Conservatives are Worried About Income Inequality Between the Rich and 90% of Americans

By Chrystia Freeland, US Managing Editor and Often on MSNBC's Morning Meeting http://dylan.msnbc.com

Freeland The Financial Times (Jan 2, 2010)

Jim Manzi, Manhattan Institute, ... "If we let inequality and its underlying causes grow unchecked, we will allow out the middle class threatening social cohesion and eventually surrendering our international position." ...

He fears that the current system of income inequality has created a severe social and cultural gap between the highly educated elites and everyone else. What Manzi and Freeland do not mention is the financial power of corporate elites and the wealthy is used to gain use of our tax dollars to enrich themselves! Former reporter David Cay Johnston, writes about his in his book "Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and Stick You with the Bill)" Steven Greenhouse who is probably a former New York Times reporter wrote The Big Squeeze: Tough Times for the American Workers explained in the titles of some of his chapters: Worked Over and Overworked, Workplace Hell, Downright Dickensian, The Not-So-Golden Years, And The Two-Income Trap: Why Middle-Class Mothers & Fathers are Going Broke by Elizabeth Warren of Harvard (Current Oversight of TARP Funds) and Amelia Warren Tyagi, her daughter James K. Galbraith in The Predator State: How Conservatives Abandoned the Free Market and Why Liberals Should Too In Part II The Simple Economics of Predator and Prey

In chapter 7 "What the Rise of Inequality is Really About" Surveys indicate that the Danish people are the happiest in the world. Republicans tend to call them Socialists, but the Danish approach has a low degree of inequality which maintains the human need for a hierarchical system which has been found to be reconciled with an efficient, advanced, and wealthy system. In our current system most workers really hate their jobs, but rarely express it in surveys.

That is why Americans spend so much time in distractions, often at the job if they have a computer. Wal-Mart tries to control their workers by not allowing them to speak to each other unless monitored and even once had a policy of locking night workers so they could not leave even during medical emergencies. Monitoring of employees is more the rule than an exception. Now corporations are trying to monitor texting by employees from their cell phones during work and possibly secretly all the time. It is up for review by the Conservative Majority Supreme Court! Almost all corporate rulings helping corporations have been affirmative. The coercion

In contrast, chapter ten, The Rise of the Predator State discusses the corporate takeover of government under the second Bush Administration. That is why I often mention the fact that so many things were done by many former CEOs (dictator run government) with only corporate profits a concern that so far only a small part of what the Bush Gang screwed us will be found even in the next eight years.

Current history is also controlled by the elite via propaganda often seen on television by advertising and what they shows they allow to be shown. Of course, it would be too obvious if only one point of view by so-called supporting "facts", but propaganda is always a mix of truth, but propaganda is usually the most emphasized as we see in the front page of most major newspapers in the Headlines and First Few Paragraphs to Frame and Issue. Some Headlines could be deceptive as the one put on after the recount of the 2000 election Recount in Florida. The Times had in very large type on the Florida election that Bush Would Have Won Anyway.

After my reading the jump pages I found that the truthful headline should have been Gore Won in Any Version of the Recount! Gore was 5 percent ahead according to exit polls. Gore would have won by many more votes if Governor Jeb Bush, GW Bush's brother, did not remove 100,000 Democrats from voting by deleting them from their registration using false felons allegations. This was admitted by the Computer company that removed the votes, but GW Bush did nothing!

Also the Supreme Court violated the Tenth Amendment and Florida State Voting Laws by trumping the Florida Supreme Court.

There is still time, but all of us must pay attention and act. Kick out the radical Republican Party and maintain strong pressure on the Democrats to do what is best for most of us and our country. Now very few members of one class advance to another, but many have dropped down one or two class levels in our society. Only two percent of the bottom 25% finish college although the current grading system is a joke.

With the advance in weapons and money, it would be very difficult to have another French Revolution, but terrorism against the elites and wealthy is likely. The History Channel's "French Revolution" documentary has been well received by critics.

Jim Kawakami, Jan 2, 2010, Blogging at http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

Health: H1N1 Vaccine Weakness, Tanning Beds & Melanoma, Vit D, Autism increase 57% in 4 years, H1NI Vaccines

HEALTH

All of us often make the mistake that very smart people have good judgement too. Read "The Best and the Brightest" by David Halberstam. Very smart people also work for our CIA, NSA, and State Department. Think about how many mistakes they have made in the last quarter century!

Scientists are human and often do not want to admit they made a huge mistake in supporting the use of sunscreens and continually support using more all the time. I believe based on good more recent medical studies that many of our neurological brain diseases are caused by inadequate vitamin D for babies and their mothers. We shall soon seem whether this is correct.

Autism increased by 57% in the last four years and by coincidence, both 2007 and 2008, the levels were the same! Might be a coincidence, but more and more patients and doctors because aware of the benefits of vitamin D for neurological health even though it has been known for a very long time that vitamin D is required for brain development.

There is a strong correlation between a lack of sun and Autism in the northern verses the southern states in the USA!

About 15 or so years ago the French scientists developed a very good UVA sunscreen combined with an UVB block which worked very well. The Bush administration FDA stopped the approval of this sunscreen until late 2006, but still did not approve the UVA block so it could not be used by American sunscreen makers under license. Even with hundreds of sunscreens available in the USA, an ABC study showed only about three had effective UVA block and these are not among the favorite ones sold now. Consumer Reports later found about the same results.

The reason that melanoma mushroomed after UVB only sunscreens were introduced, especially in sunny Australia and in low sun Sweden where they monitored health effects more carefully. Both Australia and Sweden much earlier came to conclude the dangers of long sun exposure with sunscreens made then.

Many Europeans who migrated from Africa had to develop lighter skin likely by epigenetic shutting off or turning on of genes and reduced melanocytes in order to reduce melanin induced darker skin. This allowed our body to store vitamin D required by all cells of the body for overall health, and not just bones, something not appreciated until quite recently. So if they use tanning beds, they need to use them much more to get a tan exposing them to much higher levels of UVA. According to a recent ABC news report, tanning beds double or triple the UVA radiation used compared to the sun.

I realized in the 1980s due to reports out of Australia and Sweden that the sunscreens did not block UVA, the probable source for the mutation of DNA by UVA which can penetrate skin and clothing more easily than UVB, the Burning rays which does not penetrate as much because it reacts with the outside skin. Melanoma also occurs in areas not exposed to sunlight, but my previous statement about the likely penetration of UVA through clothing has not been considered as far as I know.

Carbon Dioxide Blanket Warming of our atmosphere has led to cooler upper stratosphere where ozone is produced. The chemical reaction needed to produce ozone from oxygen is slowed resulting in ozone depletion.Therefore we are subject more intensely to solar radiation, especially near the north and south poles.

Jim Kawakami, Jan 4, 2010 http://jimboguy.blogspot.com or google both ABC sunscreen evaluation.

Autism disorders increased by 57% in just four years, the CDC today reported.

By the end of 2006, one in 110 U.S. kids had an autism disorder diagnosed by age 8: one in 70 boys and one in 315 girls, reflecting a nearly fivefold higher risk for males.

The new CDC estimate of autism prevalence, obtained from analysis of child evaluation records in 11 states, is virtually identical to autism numbers reported for 2007 from a huge telephone survey reported last October. ...

"Two decades ago we were looking at a prevalence of one in 5,000 children. Now we're looking at one in 100. That really is a staggering increase," Geraldine Dawson, PhD, chief science officer of advocacy group Autism Speaks, tells WebMD. ... http://www.webmd.com/brain/autism/news/20091218/autism-jumps-57percent-in-just-4-years Dec. 18, 2009 –

Vitamin D Increases Our Immune System: Peoples Pharmacy http://www.peoplesPharmacy.com ... Q. I used to catch lots of colds every year. When I was tested for vitamin D a few years ago, it was really low. I took a lot of vitamin D to get into the normal range.

Since then, I've had only two colds, each three days long. Vitamin D made a huge difference in my immune system.

A. Research shows vitamin D is extremely important for the immune system. It helps to regulate T cells, which are important immune actors. It also turns on the gene that produces cathelicidin, a natural antimicrobial compound that fights infection (Future Microbiology, November 2009).

Since many Americans don't get enough vitamin D because we stay out of the sun, recommendations for supplementary vitamin D may rise beyond the current RDA of 400 IU daily. Many experts believe vitamin D intake should be five to 10 times higher than that. ... http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/health/2010642258_pharmacy03.html

Meta Study Indicates Overall that Vitamin D Supplements Improves Elderly Balance Medscape.com http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/709829?sssdmh=dm1.537483&src=nldne&uac=139471HK

... "Supplemental vitamin D in a dose of 700-1000 IU a day reduced the risk of falling among older individuals by 19% and to a similar degree as active forms of vitamin D," the study authors write. "Doses of supplemental vitamin D of less than 700 IU or serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations of less than 60 nmol/l may not reduce the risk of falling among older individuals."

Limitations of this study include potential publication bias and larger-than-expected variation between trials. "Doses of 700 IU to 1000 IU supplemental vitamin D a day could reduce falls by 19% or by up to 26% with vitamin D3," the study authors conclude. "This benefit may not depend on additional calcium supplementation, was significant within 2-5 months of treatment, and extended beyond 12 months of treatment....Active forms of vitamin D do not appear to be more effective than 700-1000 IU of supplemental vitamin D for fall prevention in older persons." ...

ScienceDaily.com Researchers at Rice and Baylor Found Weakness in Mutating H1N1 Flu Virus 300 Mutant H1N1 viruses examined

The researchers were looking in particular at hemagglutinin (HA), the protein "hook" that allows the virus to attach itself to and infect host cells. It's long been known that five regions of H1N1's HA serve as antigenic sites, the protein fragments that trigger the body's immune system. These antigenic sites, first mapped in 1981, shuffle their amino-acid sequences in the endless cat-and-mouse game that viruses play to survive. ...

For a virus to evade antibodies, all five antigenic sites would have to disguise themselves by mutating. The new finding led the researchers to believe the receptor-binding residues would also have to mutate, but not so much that the binding no longer works. "If the binding is abolished, the virus dies," said Ma, a Rice professor in bioengineering with a joint appointment at BCM.

Such dual-function residues are a likely bottleneck for the virus, he said, because they're under the tightest restrictions. Thus, they could be easier to track over time and may chart a path to predict future mutations that will aid in vaccine design. ... http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091210111201.htm

Approved Fast Method for Preparing Flu Vaccine: Use Bioreactors Instead of Chicken Eggs

ScienceDaily http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/12/091209193506.htm (Dec. 11, 2009) — A shortage of flu vaccines may soon become a problem of the past. Researcher Manon Cox has developed an alternative process for producing large quantities of safe and effective vaccines at twice to four times the usual speed. The process is based on using cells in bioreactors instead of fertilised chicken eggs, which have a limited availability. ...

The prompt availability of sufficient suitable vaccine is always a problem when facing the outbreak of a flu epidemic. At the moment, it takes three to six months to produce a vaccine to counter a new strain of flu virus using chicken's eggs. Moreover, there is no possibility of expanding production capacity in the event of a pandemic as the limited availability of fertilised chicken's eggs needed for production inevitably becomes an insurmountable problem.

Cox's new process demonstrates that it is possible to make a vaccine available in commercial quantities within 45 days. The new production method makes use of a baculovirus that multiplies only inside insect cells, and which cannot spread in vertebrates. The insect cells produce huge quantities of so-called HA proteins, which mobilise the immune system into fighting the flu virus.

The aspect that most slows down the production of vaccine according to the conventional method is the need for fertilised chicken eggs. Furthermore, this creates extra problems if the flu virus is also capable of infecting birds (as was the case in the Netherlands in 2003), as the egg production often grinds to a halt. In addition, the vaccines produced are not suitable for people with an egg allergy. The new production process using insect cells can be used on a large scale, at all times and simultaneously at various locations throughout the world. The process can easily be adapted to new influenza strains and enhance pandemic preparedness.

Meanwhile, the new production process has already been put through clinical trials involving three different strains of flu virus in 460 healthy people. None of the test subjects injected with the vaccine developed symptoms of flu, while 4.6% of those taking part in the control group contracted the disease naturally. Three follow-on studies involving approximately 3,000 people showed no striking or frequent side-effects. The vaccine also appears to protect people from influenza viruses that have undergone genetic changes and in more than 50% of cases, it results in better antibody production than the flu vaccines currently available.

Vaccines for the flu virus contain the HA protein (haemagglutinin) which, once in the bloodstream, puts the body in a state of high alert. The protein also stimulates the production of flu-specific antibodies. The same protein is found on the surface of a flu virus. When a vaccinated person encounters a flu virus , the antibodies produced attach to the proteins on the surface of the virus and inactivate the virus.

Mayo Clinic: UVA radiation and melanoma.

Tanning Beds Have Three Times More Melanoma Causing UVA, presumably to increase the rate of tanning, but not know if the time and intensity of time spent in tanning beds really cause melanoma over and above those who just spend a lot of time in sun with only UVB protective sunscreens. I am also not aware of the assumptions the researchers made to prove tanning beds do indeed cause more melanoma. They seem to often use an example of a redhead who can't get tans in the sun getting melanoma in a tanning bed. I recall that only 4,000 or so out of 50 million people who use tanning beds get melanoma! http://www.skincancerguide.ca/melanoma/what_causes_melanoma.html

Mayo Clinic on Melanoma ... Melanoma occurs when something goes awry in the melanin-producing cells (melanocytes) that give color to your skin. Normally, skin cells develop in a controlled and orderly way — healthy new cells push older cells toward your skin's surface, where they die and eventually are sloughed off. This process is controlled by DNA — the genetic material that contains the instructions for every chemical and biological process in your body. But when DNA is damaged, new cells may begin to grow out of control and can eventually form a mass of cancerous cells.

Just what damages DNA in skin cells and how this leads to melanoma is a matter of intense study. Cancer is a complex disease that often results from a combination of factors, including environmental and genetic factors, rather than from a single cause. Still, excessive exposure to ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a leading factor in the development of melanoma, whether the radiation is from the sun or from tanning lamps and beds. ...

UV radiation is produced by the sun. UV light is divided into three wavelength bands — ultraviolet A (UVA), ultraviolet B (UVB) and ultraviolet C (UVC). Only UVA and UVB rays reach the earth — UVC radiation is completely absorbed by atmospheric ozone, a naturally occurring substance that filters UV radiation. Commercial tanning lamps and tanning beds also produce UV radiation.

UVB light causes harmful changes in skin cell DNA, including the activation of oncogenes — a type of gene that, when turned on, can change a normal cell into a cancerous one. But UVA light may be more likely to damage melanocytes, leading to melanoma. Tanning lamps and beds mainly produce UVA radiation. UV radiation is most intense at the equator and at high elevations, but no matter where you live, your skin absorbs UV radiation whenever you're outdoors unless you wear protective clothing and sunscreen.

Other causes of melanoma
UV light doesn't cause all melanomas, especially those that occur in places on your body that don't receive exposure to sunlight. This indicates that other factors may contribute to your risk of melanoma. ... http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/melanoma/DS00439/DSECTION=causes

Making Stronger Dose Seasonal Flu Vaccines for Weak Immunity Seniors Shows Common Sense Finally Reigns! Reuters Dec 23, 2009 The vaccine uses a higher dose to produce a stronger immune response and better protect the elderly against seasonal flu, the Food and Drug Administration said.

The vaccine will be available for immunizing people in the fall of 2010 ahead of the next flu season, said Sanofi Pasteur, the company's vaccine unit.

The FDA said "non-serious" events such as redness and injection-site swelling were more frequent with the high dose vaccine. The rate of serious problems was comparable with Sanofi's regular-dose Fluzone.

The new vaccine was approved based on studies showing a stronger immune response compared with the original Fluzone. The company must conduct further studies to verify the high dose version decreases seasonal flu after vaccination, the FDA added. (Reporting by Lisa Richwine; editing by Andre Grenon) http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN2316757020091223

Filibuster Proof Healthcare Bill: Limit Abortions Credits Small Business Multi-state Plan Tax Rich Medicaid Help

I Strongly recommend Bill Moyers conversation with Mike Taibbi of Rolling Stone and Robert Kuttner of American Prospect http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12182009/profile.html You can read the transcripts, a summary of what is discussed, and I especially recommend watching the 30 minute video. I favor Kuttner's view based on is judgement in the past. Mike Taibbi is much younger, but a superb reporter, but I trust Kuttner's judgement more on what to do. Vote for the bill no matter what.

Most Democrats are corporate democrats. Keep this in mind in Obama's assessment on what strategy to follow in getting a Healthcare bill passed. They decided to get the Healthcare and Financial Lobby on their side as much as possible. Rahm Emanuel stacked the House Finance Committee with 15 freshman conservatives to play favor to Wall Street and the Banks so the funding for the Democratic Party will remain intact and partially neutralize the opposition to regulations. Senator Chris Dodd (D-CT) who is chairman of the Finance Committee got a stronger bill than Barney Frank (D-MA), chairman of the House Finance Committee who is liberal, could muster.

Obama also made deals with Big Pharma before the legislation to give them a deal to prevent Medicare from going for the lowest price in Drugs. I am not sure how much of a discount the insurance companies get for their drugs to allow a somewhat lower payment of those insured.

There is a plus and a minus for mandatory enrollment, but due to provisions of subsidies for those, as I recall, up to $90,000 or so for each family, most will be able to pay for it. I am not sure whether this is still in the final bill in the Senate. This article came out about 39 minutes ago.

Remember that 80 percent of Americans did not want to go to War after Pearl Harbor. Unfortunately, most news is not designed to allow a clear understanding of the issue or issues. Rachel Maddow http://rachel.msnbc.com and Keith Olbermann http://countdown.msnbc.com, Dylan Ratigan http://dylan.msnbc.com, and Joe Scarborough http://joe.msnbc.com explains what is happening more clearly. MSNBC has now overtaken CNN for 24 hours of news. Olbermann in a repeat now beats CNN's most favorite newscaster. Other shows I have seen The Ed Show 6 PM ET, 3 PM PT, and a number of others are better than CNN during the weekdays. I tape Meet the Press, 8 AM ET/PT (NBC) and Fareed Zakaria http://CNN/GPS at 1 PM ET Sunday and 10 AM PT.

Other news on Healthcare Bill I have not read yet. http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/ http://prescriptions.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/19/abortion-compromise-draws-fire-from-both-sides/ ,

One factor that really helped get this bill through Nelson is that he really likes President Obama a lot based on their friendship in the senate and his help in getting elected as senator in Nebraska. Reid also has fairly close ties because they are both conservative. Nelson met dozens of times with Reid and Obama.

Jim Kawakami, Dec 19, 2009, http://jimboguy.blogspot.com

President Obama Hails Senate Health Care Bill as Ben Nelson Jumps on Board

With New Compromise, Democrats May Pass Bill By Christmas Deadline

Excerpts: ... The changes that would impact the budget the most, according to the nonpartisan CBO, would be expanding eligibility for a small business tax credit -- there will be a $12 billion increase in such credits, beginning in 2010. Cost cuts will also come from increasing penalties on certain uninsured people, taking out provisions that would increase payment rates for physicians under Medicare and increasing the payroll tax by 0.9 percent on individuals that make more than $200,000 per year and couples who make more than $250,000.

Senate Democratic leaders also took out one of the most controversial aspects of the health care bill, the option of a government-run insurance plan and replaced it with a "multi-states" plan that would be managed by the Office of Personnel Management. ...

Democratic leaders also struck a compromise with Nelson to limit the availability of abortions in insurances sold in the exchange to be implemented in the new program. At the same time, he would also get millions in Medicaid funds for Nebraska, which boasts a heavy insurance and anti-abortion lobby.

"The bill also includes provisions Nelson won in negotiations shielding Nebraska from an unfunded mandate and new national protections barring public funding of abortion," said a statement issued by Nelson's office.

End for Senate Health Care Bill in Sight?

As for the issue of abortion, current law prohibits federal funding from going to abortion but Nelson and several Republicans wanted to take the language further. Nelson's office today said the new provisions would ensure that no public funds go toward abortion services, mandate that every state provide an insurance plan that does not cover abortion and gives each state the right to pass a law barring insurance coverage for abortion within state borders. ...

"I know this is hard for some of my colleagues to accept and I appreciate their right to disagree," Nelson told reporters today. "But I would not have voted for this bill without these provisions."

The move upset some anti-abortion lawmakers such as Rep. Bart Stupak, D-Mich., who this week told ABC News he will not vote for the final health care bill if it did not include his abortion language that is in the House health care bill. He also said there was enough momentum on the Senate front with his views. [Stupak is a member of the conservative Family (See Jeff Sharlet in his book "The Family," but bill actually written by Pike (R-PA).] ...

By HUMA KHAN
Dec. 19, 2009 http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/HealthCare/senator-ben-nelson-approves-health-care-bill-obama/story?id=9381054&page=2