- Alzheimer's Could Be A White Matter Disease, Not Gray
Alzheimer’s Could Be A White Matter Disease, Not Gray
Authored by RJ Tesi via RealClearScience,
Alzheimer’s disease (Alzheimer’s) is conceptualized as a progressive consequence of two hallmark pathological changes in gray matter, in particular, extracellular amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, over the past several years, neuroimaging studies have implicated micro and microstructural abnormalities in white matter in the risk and progression of Alzheimer’s, suggesting that in addition to the neuronal pathology characteristic of the disease, white matter degeneration and demyelination are crucial features of patients living with the disease. A shift to focus on white matter abnormalities, rather than gray matter, can open up critical new avenues in Alzheimer’s pathology and could be potential treatment targets.
White matter vs. gray matter
The brain’s gray matter is mainly composed of neuronal cell bodies. Nerve cells in the gray matter are where memories are stored. Networks of nerve cell bodies process information in the brain. These neuronal networks are necessary for thinking, speaking, and most activities. White matter is made up of myelinated axons.
White matter disease is the degeneration of tissue in the largest and deepest part of the brain. White matter tissue contains millions of nerve fibers, or axons, that connect other parts of the brain and spinal cord and signal your nerves to communicate to one another. This ‘talk’ helps individuals think fast, walk straight, and perform other important cognitive functions. When diseased, the myelin, a fatty material that protects fibers in the brain, and the axons stop working and the brain and body halt normal functions.
Growing research supporting Alzheimer’s as a white matter disease
The observation that white matter abnormalities are characteristic of Alzheimer’s is relatively new. While changes to the gray matter in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s are well known and continue to be heavily investigated, the neuropathology of white matter abnormalities still remains mysterious and is mainly attributed to cerebral small vessel degeneration, inflammatory events, as well as loss of myelin and axonal fibers. However, white matter changes have been shown to develop very early, in prodromal phase (pre-Alzheimer’s) and precede the onset of clinical symptoms of dementia, underscoring the importance of their further investigation and focus.
A neuroimaging study in 2020 identified white matter hyperintensities, a significant contributor to Neuropsychiatric symptoms (NPS), such as apathy, irritability and depression, to be present in subjects evaluated with Alzheimer’s. Another recent study demonstrated that co-morbidities have an impact on white matter integrity in individuals living with AD and that early alterations in genes linked to myelin proteins in white matter occur in AD cases. These are just a couple recent examples of the growing data that support the vital role white matter abnormalities present in the development of Alzheimer’s.
The fact that most dementia remains incurable—including the cortical dementia of Alzheimer’s that continues as such a formidable threat to medicine and society—calls out for a new paradigm that may reveal new avenues to an effective response. Alzheimer’s as a white matter disease may stimulate such novel thinking, and can serve in a theoretical sense to broaden the clinician’s perspective in approaching dementia and its origins.
New hope for Alzheimer’s disease treatment
Historically, science hasn’t paid as much attention to our brain’s white matter as its gray matter.
We now know how important white matter is to our overall brain health and cognitive ability, as well as how declines in white matter structure are correlated with impairments in brain function. In the broadest sense, dementia must arise from dysfunction in or damage to neurons in the brain. However, the details of where, when and how the cognitive disturbance arises are crucial. Just as neuronal cell body pathology within gray matter is important, so is disease involving the segments of neurons within the white matter and their supporting structures.
Heightened consideration of white matter as a specific therapeutic target raises many new possibilities for Alzheimer’s treatment. Emerging possibilities for the treatment of white matter disorders can help reduce the burden of dementia that results from long-term consequences of myelin damage or dysfunction. An adaptation and adjustment to focus on white matter abnormalities, rather than gray matter in Alzheimer’s patients, opens promising possibilities for the science community to develop effective treatments for Alzheimer’s patients and potentially take steps forward in identifying a possible cure.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 23:55 - Chinese Offices Emptier Now Than During Peak Of Covid Lockdowns As Economy Crumbles
Chinese Offices Emptier Now Than During Peak Of Covid Lockdowns As Economy Crumbles
One week ago, we reported that China had found itself “On The Verge” of collapse as its “Welfare State Crumbles, Explosion In Social Unrest As Youth Unemployment Soars, Strikes Surge.” All of this was the result of Beijing’s very deliberate – and extremely risky – decision to not engage in a massive stimulus this time, unlike every previous occasion of sharp economist slowdown, and risk social unrest at best, or a full-blown revolution as an unthinkable worst case.
Here is the silver lining: all those revolutionaries will have brand new empty offices at their disposal when they finally take over. That’s because as the FT reports, offices in China’s biggest cities are emptier than they were during stringent Covid-19 lockdowns in what is the latest clear sign of how the country’s economic slowdown has crushed business confidence.
At least a fifth of high-end office space was vacant in the tech hub of Shenzhen in June, according to data from three real estate agencies, while office vacancy rates in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai were also higher than in June 2022. Naturally, with demand collapsing, rents are at least 10% lower than they were two years ago and in many cases much lower.
While a rise of flexible working has made it hard for developers to fill office space in cities such as London and San Francisco, and led to an unprecedented commercial real estate crisis, in Chinese cities – where far fewer people work from home – analysts said there is a much simpler cause for explosion in office vacancies: the collapsing economy…. which is amusing considering the centrally-planned central government has set a full-year economic growth target of about 5%. The reality is that China’s economy is shrinking at that rate, if not much faster.
“The biggest challenge is still the significant reduction in market demand due to the weakening of China’s economic growth expectations,” said Lucia Leung, greater China research and consultancy director at Knight Frank.
In Shenzhen, Colliers put its prime office vacancy rate at 27% in June, up from 20% in June 2022. Monthly rental prices at premium offices in the southern Chinese city are now about Rmb163 ($22) per sq metres, down 15% year on year, and expected to keep declining at this pace for the foreseeable future. This matches the trend seen by Knight Frank and JLL.
The three agencies have recorded similar vacancy rises in other cities. Shanghai had a vacancy rate of nearly 21% for its high-end offices as of June, up from 14% in June two years ago, according to Knight Frank. Rental prices have slipped 13% year on year, the agency’s data showed. JLL puts manufacturing hub Guangzhou’s prime office vacancy at 21% as of June and 12% for Beijing, up from 16 and 10% in 2022, respectively.
Companies are trying to reduce costs, and this has “led them to be more prudent in their office leasing decisions”, Leung said, citing rental reductions in lease renewals. This environment remains “challenging” in China, Leung added, with the overall vacancy rate expected to continue to rise this year and rents forecast to fall by 8 to 10 per cent year on year.
Said otherwise, absent massive, constant stimulus China – like the US – simply can not function in its current parameters, and the result will be constant overcapacity-driven deflation across every sector until the government finally capitulates and injects the next several trillion in stimmies.
Part of the problem is new supply, said John Lam, head of China property research at UBS. According to Colliers, in Shanghai alone there were almost 1.6mn sq metres of new prime office space will be completed this year, this is the highest level of new supply in the past five years.
While foreign companies including many US law firms have downsized or vacated their offices in Shanghai or Beijing over the past two years, the office rental market is largely driven by domestic companies. And the office rental market will only get worse as ever more Chinese companies move to cheaper office buildings to cuts costs, Lam said, while state-owned enterprises are also looking to cut costs.
One lawyer at a major Chinese firm said they recently cut half of their space in an office building in Beijing’s central business area due to “downsizing and cost-saving”.
Zhang, a leasing manager at an office building in Beijing’s Lido area, told the FT that some smaller clients “cannot hold on any longer”, and most tenants want to renegotiate rent. He said the prime office market environment was still “poor”. “Clients are downsizing,” added Zhang. “Those who used to occupy an entire floor might now use only half a floor, and those who had two continuous floors might also downsize.”
Hong Kong-based Hang Lung Properties’ office leasing revenue in mainland China fell 4 per cent year on year to Rmb556mn on “weakened demand” in the six months to the end of June, it said. The vacancy level in its flagship office building in Shanghai jumped from 2 per cent in June last year to 12 per cent in June this year.
“There will be downward pressure ahead,” chief executive Weber Lo told reporters last month. “What we hope to do now is to be able to keep our existing tenants.”
And as more tenants flee, more renters will be forced to shutdown and liquidate, forcing even more economic pain, even more economic contraction, as the Chinese feedback loop eventually forces the government to step in and short circuit China’s deflationary vortex.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 23:30 - UCSF Researchers Identify Major Driver Behind COVID And Long COVID, With Potential Treatment
UCSF Researchers Identify Major Driver Behind COVID And Long COVID, With Potential Treatment
Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco have identified fibrin, a natural protein involved in blood clotting, as a major driver of the COVID-19 disease, according to a new study.
An electron microscope image shows SARS-CoV-2 (round gold objects), which causes COVID-19, emerging from cultured cells. NIAID via The Epoch Times Fibrin binds to proteins from the SARS-CoV-2 virus to form blood clots that are difficult to break down, the authors found. This clotting then drives the various inflammatory and neurological symptoms seen in COVID-19 and long COVID, the researchers found.
Previous studies have theorized that blood clotting is a consequence of inflammation. However, the new Nature study, published on Wednesday, shows the reverse: that the clotting comes first.
“We know of many other viruses that unleash a similar cytokine storm in response to infection, but without causing blood clotting activity like we see with COVID,” Dr. Warner Greene, senior investigator and director emeritus at Gladstone and co-author of the study, said in a press release.
“Our study is the first to report causality for fibrin as the root of inflammation and brain pathology after COVID infection,” Katerina Akassoglou, senior author and professor of neurology at UCSF, told The Epoch Times on email.
By blocking fibrin using a novel antibody, the researchers were able to reduce clotting and neurological symptoms, offering a new potential therapeutic for patients.
Furthermore, the new study offers an explanation for the increase in cancers following COVID-19 infections. The researchers found that the abnormal clotting between COVID-19 spike proteins and fibrins reduces cancer-fighting immune cells known as natural killer (NK) cells.
Abnormal Clots From Fibrin and Viral Proteins
Prior studies have shown that a type of COVID-19 viral protein, known as spike, can form irregular clots with other proteins involved in clotting, creating blood clots that are hard to break down.
“We showed that the binding of fibrin to spike forms clots that have very high inflammatory activity,” Akassoglou said.
Researchers tested their findings in mice, infecting them with COVID-19 Beta and Delta variants.
They found fibrin bound to COVID-19 spike proteins to form irregular amyloid-like clots that are difficult to break down using traditional therapies.
The researchers found that the spike and fibrin clots would be deposited in the blood vessels, lungs, and the brains of mice, leading to scarring and inflammation, potentially driving breathing and neurological problems seen in long COVID-19 patients.
In the brain, COVID-19 infection caused protein deposits to be formed in the mice brains, triggering inflammation in brain cells.
“Furthermore, we showed that fibrin induces toxic inflammation, while suppressing NK cells that clear the virus,” Akassoglou said.
Mice that were genetically modified to not produce the right fibrin proteins had less inflammation when infected with COVID-19, the authors found. Their cancer-fighting natural killer cells were also more active at clearing out COVID-19 spike proteins.
The authors wrote that the reduced NK activity may explain some of the cancer and autoimmune cases seen post-COVID-19.
Clots Without Infections
The researchers also showed that even when there are no infections, just introducing the spike proteins to the mice could cause the formation of these abnormal clots.
Researchers exposed mice to subunits of the spike protein rather than the complete virus and clots still formed. They suggest that in long COVID, it may be the remnant spike proteins driving the disease.
While COVID-19 mRNA and adenovirus vaccines cause the body to produce spike proteins, the authors said that the vaccines would not cause these clots. “In general, COVID-19 RNA vaccines lead to small amounts of spike protein accumulating locally […] and the protein is eliminated,” they wrote.
They also point to a study conducted in over 99 million vaccinated individuals, saying that it showed no safety signals for blood-related conditions.
The study, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found COVID-19 vaccines were linked to few adverse events. Though at certain doses, people who took the COVID-19 mRNA and/or adenovirus vaccines had a slightly increased odds of contracting various clotting diseases.
Other clinicians, including Dr. Keith Berkowitz of Centers for Balanced Health and nurse practitioner Scott Marsland at the Leading Edge Clinic, disagreed with the UCSF researchers’ statements in the study.
Marsland and Dr. Paul Marik, chairperson of Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, said that clotting is a common adverse reaction some people may experience following COVID-19 vaccination, though few studies have evaluated patients for such conditions.
Nonetheless, the clinicians said that they were pleased to see discussions opening up on the drivers of long COVID symptoms and possible harms from spike protein.
Therapeutics for Clotting
The researchers of the Nature study designed an antibody made to target fibrin and administered it to mice.
Mice that were previously infected with COVID-19 had an improvement in their inflammation, scarring, clotting, brain damage, and overall survival after being given the antibody.
Giving the antibody for prevention similarly reduced inflammation and organ damage.
Common anticoagulants, which are medications that prevent blood clots, can increase bleeding risks while this antibody does not increase the risk of bleeding, the authors said. It is highly selective for the inflammatory form of fibrin and does not have the adverse effects like those observed with some anticoagulants, Akassoglou said.
A humanized version of Akassoglou’s fibrin-targeting immunotherapy is already in Phase 1 safety and tolerability clinical trials in healthy people funded by the biotechnology company Therini Bio.
Outside of the monoclonal antibody tested, Berkowitz, who has been treating clotting in long COVID patients, suggest anticoagulants like nattokinase which has been shown to break down spike protein in cell studies.
Research by Resia Pretorius, distinguished professor and head of the physiological sciences department at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, has shown that a combination of three different anticoagulant drugs, including aspirin, clopidogrel, apixaban, and a proton pump inhibitor, helped reduce abnormal clots and improved long COVID symptoms such as fatigue, joint pains, brain fog, and more.
Marsland said he found sulodexide, a drug not FDA-approved in the United States but approved in Europe, to be highly effective in treating clotting without increasing people’s risks of bleeding. Sulodexide is a drug that is used to treat thrombotic diseases and diabetic neuropathy.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 23:05 - Zelensky Calls For India Peace Summit In Effort To Get BRICS In Ukraine's Corner
Zelensky Calls For India Peace Summit In Effort To Get BRICS In Ukraine’s Corner
Ironically at a moment Ukraine is still engaged in its highest risk operation of the entire war (the now three-and-a-half week-long Kursk ground incursion) the Zelensky government has of late been talking peace, which is only a fairly recent talking point.
On Friday Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky unveiled that he’s pushing for an international peace summit to be hosted by India aimed at ending the war with Russia. Zelensky reportedly raised the possibility with Narendra Modi during the Indian prime minister’s first-ever visit to Kiev last week.
The proposal is clearly part of Zelensky’s ongoing efforts to get powerful BRICS countries on board with Ukraine’s own ‘peace formula’. China has previously been a focus of Keiv’s efforts, and now it appears Zelensky is pivoting efforts toward New Delhi.
Beijing, however has sat on the sidelines–particularly when it came to the June 2024 peace summit held in Switzerland–despite pressure from Kiev for the Xi government to lean on Putin to end the invasion.
As for this new diplomatic focus on India, Bloomberg writes:
A Zelenskiy spokesman, Serhiy Nykyforov, said Ukraine is weighing holding the follow-up summit in a country of the Global South, including India “in particular.”
Ukraine’s ’10-point peace formula’ includes the demand that Russian forces immediately withdraw from all places it occupies in the country’s east (particularly the Donbass). But from Moscow’s point of view (and perhaps China’s) this is a non-starter.
Earlier this week Zelensky revealed that he intends to present the White House with a plan for victory against Russia. He specified that his plan will also be directly presented to Vice President Kamala Harris as well as former President Donald Trump as the two candidates head into the November election.
“The plan is prepared. I think it’s right that I first present this plan to the US President.” Zelensky was quoted in Ukrainian media as saying. “The success of this plan depends on whether we get what is outlined in it, or if we are free to use what is included.”
“Kursk region is part of our plan—Ukraine’s victory plan. It may sound overly ambitious to some, but for us, it’s an important plan,” Zelensky had revealed.
One of the stated aims of the Kursk operation is to humiliate the Russian government and military, and to show the West that Putin’s ‘red lines’ are are but bluffs and that there will be no significant retribution in terms of escalation.
Some pundits have pointed out that India will never give up its oil and trade relationship with Russia despite Ukraine and Washington’s pleadings…
“India should stop its rapid development, return to poverty and undo decades of fruitful ties with Moscow and in return we will insult Kali, sell military hardware to Pakistan and support Pakistan on the Kashmir issue in the UN.”
Zelensky’s shamelessness is something to behold. https://t.co/JC30jOO2l0
— Paul Antonopoulos 🇬🇷🇨🇾 (@oulosP) August 23, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
Ukrainian officials have expressed hope that Kursk can be used to invite more direct intervention of NATO countries. Ultimately, the end-game from Kiev’s point of view appears to be to use the invasion of Russian territory to build immediate leverage potentially going into the negotiating table. The strategy of getting China and India on board comes in this context.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 22:40 - Nearly Half of FDA-Approved AI Devices Not Based On Real Patient Data
Nearly Half of FDA-Approved AI Devices Not Based On Real Patient Data
Authored by Huey Freeman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Researchers from the University of North Carolina have called for more rigorous testing of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered medical devices, following a comprehensive study of nearly three decades of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizations.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in White Oak, Md., on June 5, 2023. Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times The study, published in Nature Medicine, found that nearly half of AI medical devices authorized by the FDA were not based on real patient data, raising concerns about their safety and effectiveness in real-world patient care.
Some devices used simulated images, not real patient data, which technically didn’t qualify as testing in real patients, also known as clinical validation.
Although AI medical devices serve many useful purposes, including detection of cancer and strokes on radiology scans, this study shows they also bring with them potential dangers.
“We shared our findings with directors at the FDA who oversee medical device regulation, and we expect our work will inform their regulatory decision making,” Sammy Chouffani El Fassi, a doctor of medicine candidate at the University of North Carolina Medical School and first author, said in an interview with The Epoch Times.
The study, completed in about 18 months, included eight authors, as well as a large team of consultants from academic institutions and corporations.
The study highlighted the rapid growth of AI medical devices, with FDA authorizations increasing from two to 69 annually between 2016 and 2022.
A Need for Higher Standards
Researchers recommend the FDA require clinical validation for all devices, meaning testing on real patients so scientists can see that they work, Chouffani El Fassi said.
Their analysis revealed that only 56 percent of approved devices had this validation.
After analyzing FDA authorizations from 1995 to 2022, researchers recommended establishing a “gold-standard indicator” of safety and effectiveness. Most authorized devices were for radiology, with 75 percent in this category. Nearly all were classified as intermediate-risk class II devices. Class II devices include diagnostic devices like X-ray machines, surgical devices like catheters and sutures, and therapeutic devices such as pacemakers and hearing aids.
“For the public to accept FDA authorization as an indication of effectiveness, the agency and device manufacturers must publish ample clinical validation data,” the researchers wrote.
Effectiveness Proven By Testing in Patients
“We believe having more clinical validations published will reduce barriers to implementation,” Chouffani El Fassi, said. “It will increase the public trust in the whole technology. It is powerful what this technology can do. It can predict the onset of disease before it even starts.”
Chouffani El Fassi acknowledged that the field is relatively new and that the full extent of potential harm is unknown.
The devices analyzed in the study were categorized as low-risk, he said. They are not intended to replace doctors but rather to assist and augment their work.
“There is a limit to what kind of harm they can do to people,” Chouffani El Fassi said. “That is why they get authorized. At the end of the day even if an AI health tool helps read a chest X-ray, for example, a human physician is going to read over that X-ray. The AI helps triage the scans and helps the physicians to look over some scans sooner.”
Testing in Patients Can Be Simple
Testing in patients is not always performed because they are a rigorous, costly process, Chouffani El Fassi said.
The study sought to establish a standard for clinical validation.
Researchers prefer prospective validation as they provide stronger evidence, according to Chouffani El Fassi. Prospective validation tests the AI machine on new data while retrospective validation tests the AI machine on historical data. In prospective validation tests, researchers may conduct randomized controlled trials to compare device users to a control group.
“That is the gold standard for medicine because you are comparing the group of health care professionals that used the device and a control group that did not use the device,” Chouffani El Fassi said.
The Epoch Times reached out to the FDA for comments. Two device manufacturers declined to comment.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 22:15 - Data Centers In 'Spy Country' Northern Virginia Face Seven-Year Hookup Wait
Data Centers In ‘Spy Country’ Northern Virginia Face Seven-Year Hookup Wait
Since the beginning of the digital age, most of the world’s internet data has flowed through massive data centers in Northern Virginia. The area is known as “Data Center Alley” because it’s home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers. Some call the area ‘spy country’ because of the number of data centers used by the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies.
The proliferation of AI data centers across Virginia’s Loudoun County has created a massive bottleneck of delayed hookups for large data centers by energy supplier Dominion Energy.
According to Bloomberg, because of the surge in hookup requests, data centers that require more than 100 megawatts of electricity could take one to three years and/or as long as seven years to be wired into the local power grid.
The longer wait time applies only to large data centers that need more than 100 megawatts of electricity and won’t affect projects that have already been evaluated, according to a letter the company’s transmission arm sent its regulated utility as well as co-ops and local utilities. Almost all loads that big in Dominion’s territory are data centers. -BBG
Dominion’s ability to beef up the power grid and supply data centers with additional load capacity appears to be challenged by the artificial intelligence boom. A presentation by the power company in June showed power demand by data centers in Virginia soared by 500% from 2013 to 2022.
Mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM Interconnection now requests Dominion to provide a 15-year data center forecast instead of a five-year outlook because of soaring power demand. The rise in power isn’t just due to AI data centers but also other electrification trends, including electric vehicles and 5G technology.
In a recent note, S&P Global showed that about 80% of the data center industry in Virginia is centered around Loudoun County.
Source: S&P Global The rapid acceleration of AI data centers has hit its first major hurdle: power companies are facing massive backlogs, delaying timely hookups.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 21:50 - Anti-Inflammatory Diet May Reduce Dementia Risk By Up To A Third: Study
Anti-Inflammatory Diet May Reduce Dementia Risk By Up To A Third: Study
Authored by Jennifer Sweenie via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A study published in JAMA Open Network this month uncovered a link between diet and brain health. The research revealed that individuals who adhered to an anti-inflammatory diet saw a 31 percent reduction in their risk of developing dementia.
Tatjana Baibakova/Shutterstock The observational study set out to examine the effects of an anti-inflammatory diet in those with an existing cardiometabolic disease, such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and stroke. The authors found that individuals with one of these risk factors are less likely to develop dementia if they adhere to consuming anti-inflammatory foods.
Abigail Dove, the lead study author and a doctoral student at the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm highlighted the uniqueness of their study in an email to The Epoch Times. “Our study is distinctive in that it delves into the relationship between diet and dementia within the context of a major dementia risk factor: cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs).”
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory severe enough to interfere with a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. It is caused by damage to brain cells, and the most common type is Alzheimer’s disease. There is an established link between diet and dementia.
A systematic review published in Frontiers in Neuroscience in 2023 found that certain dietary patterns may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, while a standard Western diet is a risk factor. Recent research has also linked blood sugar regulation to dementia, highlighting the importance of ongoing research in this field.
The new findings underscore the promising potential of dietary interventions in preserving cognitive function as we age. Understanding which foods promote inflammation and which prevent it may minimize your risk of developing dementia.
The Link Between Cardiometabolic Disease and Dementia
Cardiometabolic diseases are well-established risk factors for dementia. Dove pointed out, “Individually, each of these diseases [Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke] is associated with 1.5-2x increased risk of dementia, and this becomes even stronger for people who have more than one CMD (for example type 2 diabetes plus heart disease).”
Dove noted that this new research points to how dietary modifications may serve as a strategy to temper the likelihood of dementia in such a high-risk group of individuals. People with cardiometabolic diseases have more overall inflammation, making adopting an anti-inflammatory dietary pattern a potentially critical approach.
Dove said that an anti-inflammatory diet lessens systemic inflammation in the body, which may slow the progression of injury in the brain and the eventual development of dementia. It is still unclear as to why people with cardiometabolic diseases are more at risk of developing dementia than those without. The connection exists, but studies are still underway to uncover the precise mechanisms, she said.
“It seems that CMDs [cardiometabolic diseases] share similar underlying biology with dementia. The heart pumps blood through a vast network of blood vessels spread out throughout the entire body, including the brain,” Dove said. “Heart problems—for example an irregular heart rhythm or stiffening of the heart’s pumping chambers—can cause blood flow to the brain to become irregular, therefore restricting the brain’s supply of oxygen and important nutrients, gradually starving brain cells over time.”
“Type 2 diabetes can lead to brain wear and tear: when excess sugar from the blood enters the brain, it can break down the protective coating that surrounds brain cells, making them less efficient and more vulnerable to damage,” she continued, “Stroke occurs when blood supply to a part of the brain is cut off, essentially suffocating brain cells and leaving severely damaged tissue behind.”
Study Details
Using data from the UK Biobank, the researchers constructed a sample of more than 80,000 adults aged 60 and above without dementia at baseline. The individuals were tracked for up to 15 years, with a median follow-up period of 12.4 years. During the follow-ups, participants filled out a comprehensive food questionnaire.
The models were adjusted for baseline age, sex, education level, and caloric intake, as well as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and vascular risks, including body mass index, hypertension, smoking, and physical activity. The status of a genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, APOE ε4, was also assessed.
The study measured 206 foods and 32 drinks, ranging from vegetables and green tea to brownies and beer. However, the inflammation index calculated was not based directly on consumption of these particular foods. The researchers used a more nuanced approach to assess inflammation from diet. Each nutrient in the measured foods was designated an inflammatory effect score.
“The data about these specific foods and drinks was used to estimate the amount of different vitamins, nutrients, spices, etc. that people consumed. It is these more granular items that were used to calculate dietary inflammation,” said Dove.
“This is basically how strongly anti- or pro-inflammatory the nutrient is, based on meta-analyses of previous studies correlating the nutrient to inflammatory markers in the body,” she said.
Once an inflammatory score was calculated for each participant’s diet, Dove said, they were divided into three groups. One-third were categorized as having an anti-inflammatory diet, one-third as having a pro-inflammatory diet, and one-third as having a neutral diet.
MRIs were done to measure the total brain volume. “Reduced gray matter volume is an indicator of neurodegeneration (i.e., loss of brain cells), a key type of brain damage underlying dementia. In our study, CMDs and pro-inflammatory diet were both associated with lower gray matter volume,” said Dove.
“They were also both associated with smaller hippocampal volume,” she continued, “The hippocampus (which is composed of gray matter) is a region of the brain that is specifically dedicated to memory processing. Neurodegeneration/loss of volume in this area is an especially important marker for dementia, since memory loss is the key symptom of dementia.”
While the study found an association between lower systemic inflammation and more favorable brain markers in the MRIs with a lower risk of dementia, Dove noted that a causal conclusion cannot be drawn just yet, “Interventional studies in which participants are randomized to an anti-inflammatory vs. pro-inflammatory diet would be required to conclusively test this hypothesis.”
As to whether an anti-inflammatory diet could be beneficial for people seeking to mitigate their risk of developing dementia later in life, whether or not they have any cardiometabolic diseases, Dove said, “Yes, the main takeaway of the study is that adhering to an anti-inflammatory dietary pattern was associated with lower risk of dementia in both people with (-31%) and without (-21%) CMDs.”
Anti-Inflammatory Foods to Add to Your Diet
If you are seeking to minimize your risk of developing dementia, adding anti-inflammatory foods to your diet may help combat systemic inflammation. Examples include:
- Berries
Berries, including blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, contain a high amount of antioxidants known as polyphenols that can help fight inflammation. - Nuts
Nuts are rich sources of antioxidants with anti-inflammatory potential. A review published in Nutrients in 2023 found that tree nuts and peanuts can help lower risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases. - Fatty Fish
Fish such as salmon, sardines, anchovies, and mackerel are good sources of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids. - Avocado
Certain compounds in avocados are linked to anti-inflammatory properties. - Green Tea and matcha
EGCG, a component of green tea, is known to regulate inflammation. - Olive Oil
A study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences in 2018 found that oleocanthal, a compound present in extra virgin olive oil, has similar effects as the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen when ingested in the same amounts. - Vegetables
Leafy greens are high in the antioxidant beta-carotene, which reduces inflammation. Peppers, such as bell and chili, contain vitamin C and quercetin, both of which have been shown to lower inflammation. Sulforaphane, an antioxidant found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, is shown to prevent inflammation. - Turmeric
Turmeric is rich in curcumin, which has been shown to contain anti-inflammatory properties. - Mushrooms
Mushrooms are rich in antioxidants. Though more research is warranted, an animal study published in Antioxidants in 2019 found that lion’s mane may offer neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory qualities.
Inflammatory Foods to Avoid
While adding anti-inflammatory foods to your diet may help assuage systemic inflammation, removing common inflammatory culprits is another practical approach:
- Excess sugar and high-fructose corn syrup intake is linked to an inflammatory response.
- A diet high in refined carbohydrates, such as processed foods like bread, pasta, and cereals, is linked to neuroinflammatory processes in the brain.
- Fried foods may contain high amounts of harmful compounds (advanced glycation end products) known to contribute to inflammation. Frying food also increases trans fats, which can promote inflammation.
- Research ties heavy alcohol intake to systemic inflammation.
Naria Le Mire, a registered dietitian, shared which foods to avoid with The Epoch Times via email: “I always advise my clients to limit their intake of sugary beverages, pastries, high-fat animal products, refined carbohydrates like white rice and pasta, processed meats such as hot dogs, and alcohol to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and gut issues, which are connected to chronic inflammation.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 21:25 - Berries
- FBI Repeatedly Botches Child Abuse Investigations, New Report Finds
FBI Repeatedly Botches Child Abuse Investigations, New Report Finds
A scathing new report from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has found that the FBI has repeatedly failed to comply with its own policies and federal laws regarding the handling of tips on child sexual abuse. The audit, which follows up on the infamous mishandling of allegations against former USA Gymnastics physician Lawrence Nassar, uncovered significant gaps in the bureau’s response to serious allegations involving suspected child abuse.
The audit, covering the period between October 2021 and February 2023, scrutinized 327 incidents of alleged hands-on sex offenses against children and found that the FBI has been non-compliant in key areas, including mandatory reporting, victim services, and timely responses to ongoing abuse. Particularly concerning is the revelation that 13% of the reviewed cases were flagged for immediate attention due to substantial deficiencies that could have left children in harm’s way.
“We found the FBI does not document and process all incoming tips and allegations within Guardian and 40 percent of the incidents we reviewed did not include evidence that the FBI responded to an allegation involving active or ongoing child sexual abuse within 24 hours as required by FBI guidance,” reads the report.
Gaps in Mandatory Reporting
According to the report, FBI employees failed to comply with mandatory reporting laws in 47% of incidents involving suspected child abuse. In some cases, there was no evidence that FBI employees had made the required reports to state or local law enforcement or social services agencies. The lack of compliance persisted despite updated training and policies implemented after the Nassar scandal aimed at ensuring FBI personnel understood their obligations as mandatory reporters.
““In our review, we found that for 36 percent of eligible victims in our sample, there was no evidence that the victim received appropriate services or updates,” reads the report.
Moreover, even when FBI employees did report suspected abuse, they often failed to do so within the 24-hour window required by FBI policy. The audit found that only 43% of the reports were made within the mandated timeframe, and just 17% of those reports were fully documented as required.
Investigations Left Stalled and Unaddressed
One of the most troubling findings of the audit was the significant number of cases where the FBI did not take timely or adequate action in response to allegations of child sexual abuse. In one instance, the bureau received a tip about a registered sex offender allegedly involved in ongoing abuse but took over a year to initiate any substantive investigative action. During this period of inaction, the subject reportedly victimized at least one additional minor.
Another case highlighted in the report involved a complaint of sex trafficking of minors that languished without investigation for nearly a year. The report notes that such delays could have catastrophic consequences, potentially allowing abusers to continue preying on children.
Victim Services Lacking
The report also points to deficiencies in providing victim services, a critical component of handling child sexual abuse cases. In 36% of eligible cases, the FBI failed to provide victims with information about available services or case status updates. The lack of victim engagement raises questions about the bureau’s commitment to supporting those it is mandated to protect.
Internal Mismanagement and High Caseloads
The OIG’s findings suggest that some of the FBI’s deficiencies stem from internal management issues, such as high caseloads among agents in its Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking program. Agents often found themselves overwhelmed with cases, making it difficult to immediately respond to new allegations or properly document investigative steps.
The report calls for the FBI to re-evaluate the distribution of cases and enhance training for its employees to improve compliance with laws and policies governing child abuse investigations.
Looking Ahead
The OIG report comes as the FBI faces increased scrutiny from Congress and child advocacy groups regarding its handling of child abuse cases. The audit makes 11 recommendations for the FBI to improve its practices, including better oversight, stricter compliance with mandatory reporting laws, and enhanced victim support.
While the FBI has made some progress in addressing the issues identified in the Nassar report, the latest findings underscore the need for more comprehensive reforms. As child safety advocates demand accountability and action, the question remains: Will the FBI rise to the challenge, or will these failures continue to jeopardize the safety and well-being of the most vulnerable?
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 21:00 - Over Half Of People Worldwide Expect Harm From Their Water In Next 2 Years
Over Half Of People Worldwide Expect Harm From Their Water In Next 2 Years
Authored by Marina Zhang via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
A survey across 141 countries found that more than 52 percent of respondents “anticipate serious harm from drinking water in the next two years,” according to a recent study.
PeopleImages.com – Yuri A/Shutterstock The study, newly published in Nature Communications, analyzed data from more than 148,000 adults from the 2019 Lloyd’s Register Foundation World Risk Poll.
Researchers from Northwestern University and UNC found that in the United States, despite over 97 percent of the population having access to clean water, around 40 percent of people anticipated harm.
The lowest rate was reported in Singapore (0.9 percent) and the highest was reported in Zambia (54.3 percent).
The findings showed that having clean water access is not about building more infrastructure, “but a lot more about public perceptions of safety and trust,” the study’s lead author, Joshua D. Miller, a postdoctoral student at the University of North Carolina, told The Epoch Times.
But people’s perception may not be wrong, he said.
Perception vs. Reality
The big question with the finding is if people’s perceptions are true, Miller said.
He points to a recent report published in Science by Swiss researchers, which estimated that 4.4 billion people globally do not have access to clean water.
“We had originally thought it was around maybe about 2.2 billion, but as people started to aggregate more data and try to make some new water quality estimates … it’s now doubled … So that suggests to me that people’s perceptions are already ahead of where we are in the water quality world,” Miller said.
“People have a good sense through taste and smell and historical experiences of experiencing harm from water knowing whether it’s safe or not to drink water.”
On the other hand, Miller highlighted that people’s perceptions drive behaviors that shape their health decisions and outcomes.
“When we mistrust our tap water, we buy packaged water, which is wildly expensive and hard on the environment; drink soda or other sugar-sweetened beverages, which is hard on the teeth and the waistline; and consume highly processed prepared foods or go to restaurants to avoid cooking at home, which is less healthy and more expensive,” Sera L. Young, the study’s senior author, said in a press release.
“Individuals who self-report exposure to unsafe water experience greater psychological stress … and are at greater risk of depression than those who do not,” the authors wrote in their study.
Corruption the Biggest Driver
The Nature Communications study showed that the public’s perception of corruption is the strongest predictor of their anticipation of risks from drinking water.
Several factors may explain why different countries have different rates of anticipation of harm.
Among these, public perception of corruption is the biggest factor, the study says, accounting for more than 50 percent of the differences among countries.
Additionally, countries that are corrupt also tend to have less clean water available and invest less in their communities and infrastructure, Miller said.
However, people’s opinion of the government cannot account for all the differences.
The authors also found that two-thirds of individuals who anticipate harm from water in the next two years said that their government did a “good job” in ensuring safe drinking water.
Other major factors that may increase a country’s rate of anticipation of harm include having a high proportion of people harmed by drinking water, and or having a high proportion of deaths linked to drinking water.
Growing Water Concerns
At the individual level, people who were female, educated, and reporting financial difficulties tended to anticipate harm from drinking water.
“I think people are increasingly becoming aware of water issues and other environmental threats,” Miller said.
“It’s just report after report of the dire situation we are in,” Miller said, listing increased floods, droughts, runoff, contamination, and extreme weather events that contaminate and damage water infrastructure.
Despite extensive water processing and purification to remove the contaminants, some remnants would remain.
At the same time, researchers are finding new chemicals and substances in the water supply that may pose risks to health, which require more studies and setting new regulations.
“I don’t want to malign utility providers in the United States, it is really difficult,” Miller said. “Every time we impose a new restriction or threshold at which they have to achieve water quality, that means more costs, and either they have to ask consumers to pay more or they aren’t going to meet the guidelines. And I think that’s the constant tension that the government faces with setting new regulations, and why sometimes it’s really slow.”
Though research may find contaminants that are potentially harmful, it is difficult for the government to make new regulations due to the cost implications.
“We really have to reckon with the value of water and how much we’re willing to pay for it,” Miller said. “There is a growing list of contaminants we are potentially concerned about, and there’s varying levels of evidence about how harmful they are and at what threshold. So I think it requires a lot of really clear public health messaging about what is in our water and whether it is harmful or not.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 20:35 - Chinese Narcos In Toronto Run "Command & Control" Fentanyl Laundering Network Used In TD Bank Case: US Investigator
Chinese Narcos In Toronto Run “Command & Control” Fentanyl Laundering Network Used In TD Bank Case: US Investigator
Toronto-Dominion Bank’s shockingly lax anti-money laundering (AML) program could be just the tip of the iceberg in the US government’s investigation into a Chinese Communist Party-run North American money laundering network that launders billions of dollars in fentanyl cash through a “command and control” structure based in Toronto. This revelation comes as more than 100,000 Americans and Canadians perish each year in horrific overdose deaths from fentanyl poisoning in what some call ‘reverse opium wars’ by China.
This week, Sam Cooper, an investigative journalist behind the Substack “The Bureau,” published an interview with David Asher, a former senior investigator for the State Department. Asher explained the Chinese command and control center for North American drug money laundering is controlled by Chinese Triad leaders like Tse Chi Lop, who are working with the CCP to facilitate global money laundering and drug trafficking operations that involve Mexican cartels flooding the US with illicit drugs.
Big Circle Gang leader Tse Chi Lop, a PRC immigrant from Guangdong who is a Canadian citizen, directed global drug trafficking and money laundering operations in North America from his base of Markham, Ont., US investigators say. Source: The Bureau Asher said this is all part of the CCP’s strategy of weaponizing drug cartels against Western countries.
He noted. “TD is really the tip of a deep iceberg, is how I’d put it on the record. What do TD Bank’s leadership in Canada know about what was going on in the US?”
He added, “And then the question is, this is the US. So what the hell is going on with TD Bank in Canada? We don’t know.”
“So the Chinese government is underwriting the reverse opium war, and we know that definitively,” Asher explained.
Given TD failed to effectively monitor, detect, and report suspicious activities of Chinese fentanyl laundering networks, Asher pointed out, “And most of what we’re seeing is coming from this TD Bank case, and there’s a lot more. We’ll see which one of the big four US banks gets named next.”
Here are the highlights from Cooper’s discussion with Asher:
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Chinese State-Triad Nexus: David Asher claims that Chinese Triads like the 14K and Sun Yee On have been co-opted by the Chinese Communist Party to facilitate global money laundering and drug trafficking.
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Toronto Command Center: US investigations indicate that key command-and-control operations for North American money laundering are based in Toronto and other Canadian cities.
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Chinese International Students Used as Mules: Tasked within Beijing’s foreign influence arm, the United Front Work Department, Chinese students are systematically used to deposit fentanyl cash for Triads and Mexican cartels into North American banks, Asher said.
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TD Bank Under Fire: TD Bank’s alleged involvement in laundering fentanyl-related funds has triggered regulatory and criminal investigations that could cost TD more than $4 billion, but Asher suggests this is just the tip of the iceberg.
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Major US Banks: Investigators believe financial institutions have been allowing internationals “from China on student visas to drop billions of dollars a month into all of the biggest banks in the US,” Asher said.
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Canada’s Inaction: Asher criticizes the Canadian government for inadequate cooperation in the Tse Chi Lop and broader fentanyl-trafficking and Triad money laundering investigations and suggests possible political and financial influences are hampering effective law enforcement.
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Fentanyl Crisis Link: The failure to disrupt these networks is contributing to the ongoing fentanyl crisis, which claims tens of thousands of lives annually in the US and Canada.
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Beijing Subsidizing Meth Trafficking: Asher disclosed that US Congressional investigators allege the People’s Republic is not only incentivizing fentanyl precursor exports but also methamphetamine sales.
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Call for Action: Asher, currently a Senior Fellow with the Hudson Institute in Washington, DC, calls for stronger international cooperation and more aggressive action to dismantle these sophisticated transnational criminal networks.
Recall in mid-April, the House Select Committee revealed the CCP used tax rebates to subsidize the manufacturing and exporting of fentanyl chemicals to Mexican cartels manufacturing illicit fentanyl drugs. Then, Chinese organized criminals in the US laundered the proceeds. Essentially, it’s an end-to-end Chinese Communist scheme.
Cooper noted on X that the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada “has total visibility on massive fentanyl laundering into Canada’s big banks, but I believe Justin Trudeau and his office/Cabinet would have to make this a priority RCMP enforcement concern, or nothing happens.”
If you missed this exclusive from The Bureau, the chart shows @FINTRAC_Canada has total visibility on massive fentanyl laundering into Canada’s big banks, but I believe Justin Trudeau and his office/Cabinet would have to make this a priority RCMP enforcement concern or nothing… pic.twitter.com/ZoBQfhhwCa
— Sam Cooper (@scoopercooper) August 30, 2024
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Copper told ZeroHedge his reporting in Vancouver uncovered how the Triads first used Chinese students to carry bags of drug cash into casinos, and the casinos washed these funds from fentanyl into luxury condos and mansions, driving Canada’s housing affordability crisis, along with fentanyl deaths. But when Covid shuttered Canadian casinos, the Triads just evolved, getting students to open bank accounts and carry bundles of fentanyl cash straight into bank deposits, across North America.
The full explosive interview regarding US government investigations into the CCP’s command and control money laundering network in North America can be viewed at The Bureau.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 20:10 -
- More Than Half Of Commercial Baby Foods Are Unhealthy
More Than Half Of Commercial Baby Foods Are Unhealthy
Authored by Huey Freeman via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Many foods marketed for infants and toddlers are unhealthy and may lead to increased obesity, poor dietary habits, and chronic diseases, according to a new study examining many of the most common products.
IvaD23/Shutterstock Researchers analyzing 651 products from 10 U.S. grocery chains discovered that 60 percent of the processed foods fell short of nutritional requirements set by the World Health Organization (WHO). The foods sampled were intended for children 6 to 36 months old.
“The lowest compliance was found for total protein and total sugar, with over 70% of products failing to meet protein requirements and 44% exceeding total sugar recommendations,” the researchers wrote in the study published last week in the journal Nutrients.
“Infant formulas, fortified milk, and oral electrolytes were not included because the U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates these products separately,” the authors added.
Fail to Meet Nutritional Standards
The rising popularity of processed convenience foods for young children is concerning, Elizabeth Dunford, assistant professor of nutrition at the University of North Carolina and co-author of the study, told The Epoch Times.
“Early childhood is a crucial period of rapid growth and when taste preferences and dietary habits form, potentially paving the way for the development of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes and some cancers later in life,” Dunford said.
Many baby foods, specifically puree-based foods designed for weaning off breast milk or formula, may not be appropriate at the start of solid food introduction, according to Dunford, because they are high in sugar and low in fats, proteins, and other important nutrients such as iron. According to the study, 44 percent of baby foods exceed sugar requirements.
“Our findings highlight the urgent need for better regulation and guidance in the infant and toddler foods market in the United States. The health of future generations depends on it,” Dunford said.
The widespread use of foods not found in nature has been responsible for the rise in obesity among children, Katy Talento, epidemiologist and former lead health advisor to the White House told The Epoch Times. Talento was not involved in the study.
Low protein content is a significant factor in baby food because of the key role protein plays in development, Talento said. Babies are doubling the size of their bodies size during their first year, to build muscle, crawl, walk, and do all the things they need to do.
“Next to healthy fat, protein is the most essential thing for babies,” Talento said. In the study, more than 70 percent of products failed to meet protein recommendations.
Popular Pouches Pose Risks
Food pouches, the fastest-growing product segment, are among the unhealthiest of all baby foods, the researchers found.
“Snack-size packages had the lowest compliance with nutrient requirements,” the researchers wrote. “These findings highlight that urgent work is needed to improve the nutritional quality of commercially produced infant and toddler foods in the United States.”
The study showed that the use of pouches has grown by 900 percent during the past 13 years—dominating the baby food market with nearly 50 percent of all products on the shelves in 2023.
Another group of foods marketed for young children—snack and finger foods—had a low rating of compliance with nutritional and promotional guidelines.
This includes fruit and cereal bars, as well as puffed snacks. A nutrition guideline from the WHO expresses concerns with the composition and promotion of foods for infants and small children. Some of the concerns include frequently misleading product names and claims of “no added sugars” even though most of the energy from the food is through sugar.
“Together, pouches and snack foods make up the vast majority of the market and are likely to continue increasing in popularity as parents lean toward these products over homemade foods due to busy lifestyles, rising birthrates, and a growing number of women in the workforce,” the researchers wrote.
Squeeze pouches in other countries often contain warning labels stating that contents should be put onto a spoon or in a bowl and not sucked directly from the pouch, Dunford said. “However, in the U.S. we found an extremely small number of products that did this, with most in fact encouraging consumption from the pouch,” she added.
Talento said pouches prevent babies from developing proper relationships with food.
“Neurodevelopmentally, they need to smear the food all over their face,” she said. “They need to touch food; they need to smell it. They need to get in their hair, to really interact with it.”
The youngest children need their brains to be trained in healthy eating habits, by sitting them up and talking to them about what they are eating, Talento said.
“They need to learn about food, what it looks like and tastes like, and what is good,” Talento said. “It is an important part of the process, regardless of how inconvenient it may be. When we sanitize it, and we make sure there is literally no contact with food, except the little sucking nipple on the apple sauce pouch, they miss out on that.
“I think the real problem here is that parents are going to these foods at all. When you are weaning babies off breast milk or starting to combine breast milk with other food, what we ought to be doing is taking our human food that we eat ourselves and throwing it into a blender.”
Misleading Labeling Is Common
A more honest labeling of baby foods would have a significant impact on the consumption habits of babies, according to Dunford.
“As a mother of two young children myself, even as someone educated in this area, I still found myself drawn to products that made claims about healthiness,” Dunford said. “I feel if manufacturers were not allowed to display prohibited claims unless their products met a certain threshold of healthiness, that it would be much easier for parents to make healthier choices for their children.”
A major problem is that the regulatory agencies, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, are not looking out for the best interests of parents and children, Talento said.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 19:45 - Israel Withdraws From Khan Younis After Nearly Month-Long Major Operation
Israel Withdraws From Khan Younis After Nearly Month-Long Major Operation
Israel’s military has withdrawn from eastern Khan Younis following a nearly month-long major ground operation, which has left central parts of the southern Gazan city utterly destroyed.
On Friday, Gaza health authorities have recovered at least nine bodies in the rubble, following many civilian and militant deaths over the course of the IDF’s 22-day operation. Israel’s army has said the operations focused on Khan Younis and Deir al-Balah has killed over 250 militants over the past month.
The IDF has issued official statements in Arabic telling Khan Younis residents that they may return to their homes and (mostly destroyed) neighborhoods, if they still have homes to return to.
Anadolu/Getty Images The army has been cited as describing that “Tunnel routes used by the Palestinian militant group Hamas with a total length of more than 6 kilometres were destroyed during the operation and the bodies of six hostages recovered.”
These deceased hostage recoveries took place earlier this month, and the circumstances of their deaths are still under investigation.
An Al Jazeera correspondent currently based in central Gaza says that the IDF’s announcement of the end of Khan Younis operations and the ability of civilians to return is misleading and is a ruse.
“The [latest] Israeli evacuation orders are perceived as misleading and contradictory,” Hani Mahmoud has warned. “They are very similar to orders in which people were told to evacuate to area that were supposed to be safe but they ended up being killed in those areas.”
The Al-Jazeera correspondent continues, “This is what we’re seeing right now with the withdrawal [of Israeli troops] from some of the areas in the eastern part of Deir el-Balah City and from the eastern part of Khan Younis.”
Meanwhile a ‘polio pause’ in fighting is still expected to begin in central Gaza on Sunday…
Months of deteriorating conditions caused by ongoing war and siege have fuelled the spread of disease across the #GazaStrip@UNRWA and partners are ready to roll out a #polio vaccination campaign for over 640,000 children, but humanitarian pauses will be critical. pic.twitter.com/sftWcfjjY1
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) August 30, 2024
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But despite the hopes that limited pauses in fighting could allow some 2,000 UN health workers to begin vaccinating hundreds of thousands of Palestinian children could eventually lead to a more permanent ceasefire, all signs point to an IDF expansion in operations.
Israeli newspaper Haaretz and Israeli Army Radio have just reported that the Israeli government is expending an order for the recruitment of 350,000 reservists. This order is in effect through the end of 2024.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 19:20 - From Price Controls To Mass Starvation
From Price Controls To Mass Starvation
Authored by Peter St. Onge via Money Metals,
From taxes to spending, Kamala is the most left-wing major party candidate since George McGovern — who proposed a Universal Basic Income in 1972 and went on to win a single state.
But her most hare-brained scheme — so far — has been price controls, where she’s to the left of McGovern, threatening to punish grocery stores for daring to charge more than their costs.
In fact, grocery stores make 1 to 2 pennies on the dollar. Meaning they have to pass along costs that come straight from the Washington money printer.
That means price controls would, in short, break food.
Price Controls Always Fail
In a recent video I mentioned how price controls have been tried many times, and each time they failed so spectacularly they were repealed. After much pain, suffering, and empty shelves.
When France tried, they got a black market that actually did price gouge. Even Venezuela repealed price controls in 2016 after food shortages and nationwide riots.
But what do price controls look like in reality? For that I go to a great thread by Robert Sterling, a former M&A executive at one of the biggest food producers in America.
Robert walks us through a thirteen step process from grocery price controls to widespread food shortages — something we haven’t seen in this country since the Great Depression, when FDR also imposed price controls.
Stage One: Bankrupt Grocers
So, first, the government announces grocery stores can’t raise prices even though inflation continues — courtesy of the Fed and Wall Street. That means their costs keep going up, so those pennies of profit turn into losses.
Like any business that’s losing money, they shut down.
Of course, not all grocery stores are created equal — small ones lack economies of scale, and while rich people buy high-margin vegetables and expensive cuts, the poor buy low-margin packaged foods.
So the small stores and the low-income stores go first.
You get food deserts, as people in urban centers or rural areas have to drive miles — or take multiple buses — to find food. And, ironically, you get more concentration, as the little guys drop out.
The survivors increasingly aren’t even selling food. They shift shelf-space to things that aren’t price-controlled. Clothing, furniture, supplements.
Grocery stores start to look more like a Dollar Store, with a little food and a lot of junk.
As cities clear of food, you’d need police patrolling parking lots and armed escorts on delivery trucks — perhaps you could even have government-run groceries like Chicago just announced.
Stage Two: Bankrupt Food Producers
The only way to save any grocery stores is to price-control their costs. Meaning food producers like Kraft, Heinz, Tyson, Hormel.
Of course, again, Kraft’s costs aren’t being controlled — their ingredients, wages, parts and electricity. So now they’re losing money.
Like groceries, they wind down, closing marginal factories and running out equipment then not replacing it.
As food producers downsize or go under, now you start getting actual shortages. And the only solution — once again — is price control the next level down. Farmers.
Stage Three: Bankrupt Farmers
Which brings us to the final stage. Because remember Farmers, too, are now forced to sell at a low price, yet their inputs like fertilizer or tractors are still going up.
They, too, go under.
You are now full Venezuela, with the only alternative to starvation a complete government takeover of the food supply, centrally planned from farmer to grocer.
As Sterling puts it, “The government will struggle to operate one of the most complex industries on the planet. The entire food supply chain starts imploding.”
“Imploding” as in starvation.
What’s Next
It’s very unlikely we’ll get to the point of starvation. For the simple reason that at some point the frog boils and the voters — or rioters — share their thoughts with policymakers.
That’s exactly why price controls fail, from France to Venezuela.
Having said, we managed it before under FDR.
And, unfortunately, if the morons running Kamala’s brain trust are dumb enough for price controls, they’re dumb enough for a whole lot more.
(Article image is Florence Thompson “Migrant Mother,” a migrant pea farmer family by Dorothea Lange in March 1936)
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 18:55 - 20 Migrants Attempt To Board California School Bus Full Of Children
20 Migrants Attempt To Board California School Bus Full Of Children
Today in “victories by our Border Czar Kamala Harris” it was reported that this past week a group of about 20 migrants tried to board a children’s school bus in California, “terrifying” the children.
And the incident came one day after another group of migrants were walking down the highway trying to stop another bus, according to a report by the NY Post. On Tuesday, at least 3 migrants were in traffic on Highway 94 trying to stop a bus that was ultimately forced to go around them.
Then, early Wednesday, about 20 people tried to board a bus at a stop near the highway while students were getting on for school.
Both incidents took place in the Jamul-Dulzura Union School District close to the Mexico border, according to the Post.
Mother of one child, Nicole Cardinale, said: “It was definitely really scary. Your initial shock is you’re helpless.”
“He said these adults — they weren’t kids — had backpacks on and they were trying to get on our bus … He said there was a lot of them,” she continued, stating that the kids were “really confused” by the episode.
She continued: “It’s just scary that these kids were put in that situation. If those 20 people would have gotten onto the bus and tried to take over the bus, these kids and the bus driver could have been in real danger.”
The NY Post writes that the district reported the incident to the California Highway Patrol, San Diego County Sheriff’s Department, and US Border Patrol. Of course, an “activist” assisting at the nearby border suggested the migrants might have seen the bus as a way to reach a safer area with support.
The Sheriff’s office commented: “The Sheriff’s Office takes issues regarding student safety very seriously and are working with the school district in order to keep the students and our community safe.”
And School district Superintendent Liz Bystedt is telling drivers to skip bus stops where there are migrants nearby. She said: “Please stay [vigilant] and if the bus drives by, please follow the bus to pick up your child at the next stop.”
Sounds like a reasonable long-term solution that’ll definitely stop the problem at its source…
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 18:30 - Federal Appeals Court: Illegal Aliens Do Not Have 2nd Amendment Rights
Federal Appeals Court: Illegal Aliens Do Not Have 2nd Amendment Rights
Authored by Eric Lendrum via American Greatness,
On Tuesday, a federal appeals court in New Orleans ruled that illegal aliens do not have the right to bear arms under the Second Amendment, due to the fact that they are not American citizens.
As reported by Fox News, a three-judge panel of the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals determined that federal law prohibiting illegal aliens from owning firearms is legal, as the Constitution does not apply to anyone who has entered the United States illegally.
The decision came as the result of an appeal by an illegal alien named Jose Paz Medina-Cantu, who had been arrested in Texas in 2022 by the Border Patrol. He was charged with illegal possession of a handgun, and illegally re-entering the country after having already been deported.
Although he pleaded guilty to the charges, his lawyers argued during his appeal that the gun charge was a violation of his Constitutional rights. In their appeal, the lawyers cited the landmark Supreme Court decision in the 2022 case New York State Rifle and Pistol Association v. Bruen, where the court ruled in a 6-3 majority that Americans do not have to provide a reason when seeking a concealed-carry permit. This ruling has led to numerous anti-gun laws across the country being challenged in court, with many being overturned based on Bruen’s precedent.
After hearing the appeal of the illegal’s lawyers, the three-judge panel ruled that the rights granted to American citizens by the Constitution do not apply to illegals.
“The Second Amendment protects the right of ‘the people’ to keep and bear arms. Our court has held that the term ‘the people’ under the Second Amendment does not include illegal aliens,” said U.S. Circuit Judge James Ho in a concurring opinion. “As to common sense, an illegal alien does not become ‘part of a national community’ by unlawfully entering it, any more than a thief becomes an owner of property by stealing it.”
“The Court has repeatedly explained that ‘an alien… does not become one of the people to whom these things are secured by our Constitution by an attempt to enter forbidden by law’… But that’s, of course, the very definition of an illegal alien – one who ‘attempts to enter’ our country in a manner ‘forbidden by law,’” Judge Ho continued. “So illegal aliens are not part of ‘the people’ entitled to the protections of the Second Amendment.’
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 18:05 - Bud Light Revives Classic Humor Ad With Shane Gillis Amid Weak Recovery
Bud Light Revives Classic Humor Ad With Shane Gillis Amid Weak Recovery
Following Bud Light’s disastrous social media partnership with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney, which triggered nationwide boycotts and left beer volumes struggling to recover, the brewer has yet to apologize for pushing the woke religion on its blue-collar, working-class customer base. Instead, they’ve now tapped comedian Shane Gillis for a new ad, this time, free of 100% far-left wokeism propaganda and back to the good ole’ days of downright classic humor.
Ad Age reports that Gillis’ appearance in the new television ad “revives an age-old brand joke—the guy who will do anything for a Bud Light—in a scene recalling Dean Wormer admonishing the Deltas in Animal House.”
Range Media Partners, Gillis’ agency, is behind the new ad, which the comedian co-wrote. “The Dean’s Office” shows a football player pressured to admit he cheated on an exam with the offer of a cold Bud Light. The move backfires when each of the onlookers in the room can’t resist confessing to their own embarrassing secrets. Frequent Gillis collaborators Steve Gerben and John McKeever (who also directed) also appear. -Ad Age
The new 30-second ad will air on Saturday during college football games across various networks, including ABC, ESPN, and NBC.
Bud Light’s move to revive classic ads without pushing the woke religion comes as the latest Nielsen Beer data shows Bud Light has yet to recover from the boycott that began in April 2023. Data also indicates Bud Light has been the worst performer in the AB portfolio this summer.
Here’s the ad.
Shane Gillis’ debut appearance as a Bud Light rep revives an age-old brand joke—the guy who will do anything for a Bud Light—in a scene recalling Dean Wormer admonishing the Deltas in “Animal House.” pic.twitter.com/9hZ4IfZD4f
— Ad Age (@adage) August 30, 2024
https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js
To sum up, the Bud Light boycott persists as customers were awakened that they were actually drinking overpriced crap light beer.
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 17:40 - Yelp Accuses Google Of Monopolization And Harming Local Search Businesses
Yelp Accuses Google Of Monopolization And Harming Local Search Businesses
Authored by Naveen Athrappully via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),
Local search company Yelp has filed a lawsuit against Google, accusing the tech giant of using its search engine monopoly to thwart competitors.
A Yelp sticker on a restaurant in the Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in this file photo. Petr Svab/Epoch Times The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California on Aug. 28. The complaint was brought to “safeguard competition, protect consumer choice, recover damages, and prevent Google LLC from engaging in various anticompetitive practices designed to monopolize the markets for local search services and local search advertising,” according to the lawsuit.
Yelp focuses on public reviews of local neighborhood businesses, with the company making money by selling local search advertising. The lawsuit accuses Google of abusing its “monopoly power in general search” to divert traffic away from competitors to its own local search product.
Companies such as Yelp are known as specialized vertical providers (SVPs) as they respond to user queries on a specific subject matter through proprietary, structured data unavailable elsewhere. Other SVPs include Glassdoor for jobs and employers, Expedia for travel, and Zillow for real estate and apartment rentals.
The lawsuit argues that on a level playing field, SVPs such as Yelp threaten Google given the ability of these platforms to siphon traffic and ad revenues away from the tech giant.
At one time, Google sought to acquire Yelp, an offering that was rejected. Google then began a “years-long mission” to restrict Yelp’s ability to reach customers through Google search, Yelp alleged.
“Google has engaged in numerous anti-competitive practices, including stealing information from Yelp’s website and passing it off as Google’s own; preferencing Google’s own local search results over Yelp’s; implementing a ‘OneBox’ feature to prioritize Google’s own inferior local search services at the top of the search results page; and even going so far as to tweak its algorithm and steer customers away from Yelp,” the lawsuit alleges.
Google’s actions to prioritize its local search products over competitors allegedly prevent other businesses from achieving scale and reaching more consumers.
This enables the tech behemoth to retain dominance in these markets, reducing competition in the ad space and allowing it to extract higher fees from advertisers, the lawsuit states.
Yelp argued that Google’s conduct has lowered its traffic and ad revenues. It accused Google of violating the Sherman Antitrust Act as well as California’s Unfair Competition Law.
The company asked the court to approve monetary damages and issue an injunction prohibiting the tech giant from engaging in anti-competitive practices.
A Google spokesperson defended the company against the lawsuit, telling multiple media outlets that “Yelp’s claims are not new” and that “similar claims were thrown out years ago by the FTC [Federal Trade Commission], and recently by the judge in the DOJ’s case.”
“On the other aspects of the decision to which Yelp refers, we are appealing. Google will vigorously defend against Yelp’s meritless claims,” the spokesperson said.
Google didn’t respond to The Epoch Times’ request for further comment by publication time.
The Google building in New York City on Feb. 26, 2024. Seth Wenig/AP Photo Antitrust Cases Against Google
U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta ruled in early August that Google violated antitrust laws in another case filed in October 2020.
The 2020 lawsuit accused Google of illegally paying mobile manufacturers, wireless carriers, and browser developers to become the default search engine, preventing people from exploring alternate choices. In 2021, Google paid such partners $26 billion to secure its leading market position, Mehta stated.
In an emailed statement to The Epoch Times, Kent Walker, president of Google global affairs, said that the decision “recognizes that Google offers the best search engine” but concludes that the firm “shouldn’t be allowed to make it easily available.”
Google is also facing an antitrust lawsuit filed by developer Epic Games, which accuses Google of monopolizing the market for distribution of mobile apps to Android users and the market for processing payments.
The FTC filed an amicus brief in the case, suggesting that the court take strict actions against such practices.
In May, the News/Media Alliance sent a letter to the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the FTC, raising concerns about “Google’s misappropriation of digital publishers’ content to power its generative artificial intelligence (“GAI”) products to enhance its monopoly power.”
When using such content for its AI, Google does not make any payment to the publishers, the letter said.
Google now plans to deploy its GAI products nationwide, it noted. For instance, Google aims to place its AI Overviews atop search engine results. AI Overviews offer a preview of a searched query.
Positioning such content at the top “will reduce click through to publishers’ websites even further and thus further strengthen Google’s monopoly,” the group said.
“Google’s AI Overviews will significantly reduce publishers’ ability to monetize their content through advertising, subscriptions, and affiliate links, and instead drive that monetization directly to Google.”
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 17:15 - Large US Bank Deposits Plunge, MM Fund Assets Hit New Record Amid Equity Chaos
Large US Bank Deposits Plunge, MM Fund Assets Hit New Record Amid Equity Chaos
For the fourth week in a row, money market funds saw inflows (+$21BN) which lifted the total AUM to a new record high of $6.26TN…
Source: Bloomberg
All of which took place as stocks puked hard and recovered.
Bank deposits, on the other hand, were flat the week-ending 8/21 (+$0.9BN on a seasonally-adjusted basis)…
Source: Bloomberg
But, on a non-seasonally-adjusted basis, US banks saw a large $85BN deposit drawdown… the biggest weekly decline since May…
Source: Bloomberg
WTF is a ‘seasonally-adjusted deposit’ anyway?
Excluding foreign deposit flows, this meant US domestic deposits tumbled $94BN last week (NSA)… or – after Fed fuckery – just $11BN (SA)…
Source: Bloomberg
The seasonally-adjusted flows saw small banks add $9BN in deposits while large banks saw $20BN in deposit outflows (as everyone and their pet rabbit piled back into NVDA?) On the other hand, non-seasonally-adjusted, large and small banks saw major deposits runs (-$86BN and -$8BN respectively).
Interestingly, on the other side of the ledger, small bank loan volume shrank (admittedly by just $372MN) as large bank loan volume surged (+$13.5BN) in the week-ending 8/21…
Source: Bloomberg
Finally, as stocks market caps soared back towards record highs this week, bank reserves at The Fed dipped once again…
Source: Bloomberg
That’s quite a divergence!!
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 16:50 - "Why Haven't You Done That Already?"
“Why Haven’t You Done That Already?”
Authored by James Howard Lunstler via Kunstler.com,
The Significance of the Passage of Time
DANA BASH: “You’ve been Vice President for three and half years. The steps that you are talking about now, why haven’t you done them already?”
KAMALA: “I’m very proud of the work we have done.”
She was speaking, you understand, but the main thing you noticed was the musical quality of her voice: sonorous, resonant, like one of the more obscure woodwind instruments, an alto clarinet or a basset horn, producing a sound like unto creamy dressing over the familiar word-salad of iceberg lettuce.
It would be ungentlemanly to bang on the particulars of Kamala Harris’s CNN interview performance, so I’ll proceed. The nocturne was 18-minutes long, all that survived from the 41-minutes CNN actually recorded, so you might wonder a little about the notes not played. The leitmotif throughout was “my values have not changed,” meaning, disregard any dissonance you might detect in the velvet honk of my voice. Mind the significance of the passage of time, not the music, Altogether, as nocturnes should, it had a soporific effect.
And now candidate Kamala Harris will go back to hiding on her campaign bus, which makes a different statement than, say, hiding in the basement a la “Joe Biden,” 2020. It’s the difference between going nowhere fast and going nowhere at all — though both concepts apply to the condition of the USA during the four years of “Joe Biden” (loved and revered by his comrades in the Party of Chaos, who threw the president under the very bus Kamala is hiding in).
Did you think Kamala would still be rising on the joyful billows of hot air that blew out of the Democratic Convention? Like so many of the magic tricks in the party’s repertoire, that one was a spoof of artificial levitation, to give the appearance of something holding up, like, say, the US economy, when there is actually nothing underneath. Nothing real, that is. What’s giving the economy its appearance of loft has been “Joe Biden” pouring government money into scores of party-connected NGOs as pure grift. The main effect of that is the inflation that everybody notices. Meanwhile, nobody gets hooked up to promised broadband and only eight EV charging stations get built for $7.5-billion allocated to the Department of Transportation.
The current prank, though, is to artificially pump-up Ms. Harris in the polls in the attempt to justify the coming ballot fraud to be executed two months from now, as engineered by election lawfare maestro Marc Elias, now on the Harris campaign payroll. That is, an effort to obviate any apparent discrepancies between actual poll numbers and harvested ballots flooding in at two o’clock in the morning on Nov 6.
As it happens, Ms. Harris’s poll numbers have begun to sink the past week, as the tactic of hiding the candidate from the press has backfired. As of August 29, Nate Silver has her chance of winning down at 42.7 to Mr. Trump’s 56.7. Voters have begun to notice that the candidate represents nothing except whatever happened the past four years in Biden-Land — which is to say, open borders, war for the sake of arms profiteers, flagrant censorship, inflation, cratering business activity, and overt DOJ political persecutions. Martin Armstrong, for instance, has estimated Kamala Harris’s true polling number in the ten percent range. Yikes.
So, what was the net effect of the CNN interview with Ms. Harris? It couldn’t have helped. They had to get her out of hiding, considering the significance of the passage of time in an election campaign. Even the in-the-tank news media was starting to complain about her holing-up on the bus. Dana Bash was surprisingly harsh at times when the veep confabulated about her plans to “fix” America’s problems, like asking, “Why haven’t you done that already?” The answer was the bizarre, “We can do what we’ve accomplished so far.” Roger that.
You’re probably wondering: how Mr. Trump will play this? He’d best be polite about it and assume that the voters can see and understand the obvious: that the Democrats have put up an especially inadequate candidate who can’t explain away the fiascos of the past four years. He doesn’t have to rub in so hard that it seems cruel. His own policy intentions are a quite clear alternative to four years of hoaxes, pranks, trips, gaslighting, and grift. Installing Ms. Harris without any input or votes from the party rank-and-file was about as desperate an affront to “our democracy” as anyone could imagine, like something straight out of the old Soviet politburo, picking an Andropov or a Chernenko. Mr. Trump should remind audiences of this at every opportunity if the Democrats keep yapping about “our democracy,” which seems to be all they’ve got.
Something is slip-sliding out there, perhaps the solidarity of the news media. Even The New York Times dissed Kamala Harris — Bret Stephens called her interview “vague and vacuous” the day after. One thing you have to give CNN credit for: they didn’t show a whole lot of Kamala Harris cackling in her trademark manner — to cover that mental vacuum. The cackle has been getting very mixed reviews, anyway, when you disconnect it from the fake “joy” trope. Maybe a laugh-riot is what’s in the missing 23-minutes that CNN edited out of the 41-minute recording.
* * *
Support his blog by visiting Jim’s Patreon Page or Substack
Tyler Durden
Fri, 08/30/2024 – 16:25
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