Nobody Cares about Your Health

[Rose Karuna]

My friend re-posted this on Facebook from "Kindness of the soul" Embarrassing for the US for sure.

RFKjr lecturing a health minister in Germany?
Gotta love the response.

RFK Jr: “Reports coming out of Germany show a government sidelining patient autonomy and limiting people's abilities to act on their own convictions when they face medical decisions. That is why I sent a letter to Germany's Federal Minister of Health, Nina Warken. In my letter, I made it clear that Germany has the opportunity and the responsibility to correct this trajectory, to restore medical autonomy, to end politically motivated prosecutions, and to uphold the rights that anchor every democratic nation.”

German historian Rob Schafer responded: “You seem to be laboring under the delusion that Germany is a colony for your conspiracy theories. Let me be blunt: Your brand of 'freedom'—the freedom to die of preventable 19th-century diseases—is an export we have no interest in buying. We established the world's first universal social healthcare system under Bismarck in 1883. You still do not have anything comparable.”

We are the nation of Koch and Virchow and have spent 140 years using state power to defeat disease through science AND solidarity. You, meanwhile, preside over a system where insulin is rationed like gold dust and medical bankruptcy is a national pastime. The fact that you think you have the moral standing to lecture the country that invented modern medicine on 'medical decisions' is not just arrogant, it is grotesque!
Keep your chaos on your side of the Atlantic.
Mind your own business.”

 

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[Isabeau]

On mice so far, but wow

Scientists achieve 'permanent disappearance of pancreatic cancer' in new study

The team searching for a pancreatic cancer cure included the ‘renowned Dr Mariano Barbacid,' a legend in the cancer research field

www.unilad.com

 

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Newborn dies after mother drinks raw milk during pregnancy

Raw milk is promoted by anti-vaccine Health Secretary Kennedy.

arstechnica.com

A newborn baby has died in New Mexico from a Listeria infection that state health officials say was likely contracted from raw (unpasteurized) milk that the baby’s mother drank during pregnancy.

In a news release Tuesday, officials warned people not to consume any raw dairy, highlighting that it can be teeming with a variety of pathogens. Those germs are especially dangerous to pregnant women, as well as young children, the elderly, and people with weakened immune systems.

“Raw milk can contain numerous disease-causing germs, including Listeria, which is bacteria that can cause miscarriage, stillbirth, preterm birth, or fatal infection in newborns, even if the mother is only mildly ill,” the New Mexico Department of Health said in the press release.

The health department noted that it could not definitively link the baby’s death to the raw milk the mother drank. But raw milk is notorious for transmitting Listeria monocytogenes bacterium. The Food and Drug Administration has a “Food Safety for Moms-to-Be” webpage about Listeria, in which it poses the question and answer: “How could I get listeriosis? You can get listeriosis by eating raw, unpasteurized milk and unpasteurized milk products… .”

 

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And by "shell," they don't mean something you' might put up to your ear to listen to the sea...

French hospital treats man with shell up his rectum

A hospital in Toulouse, southwest France, confirmed Sunday they had treated a man who was admitted with a shell lodged in his rectum -- after calling a bomb disposal team.

www.ctvnews.ca

A hospital in Toulouse, southwest France, confirmed Sunday they had treated a man who was admitted with a shell lodged in his rectum -- after calling a bomb disposal team.

A member of staff who insisted on anonymity confirmed the report in the local paper la Depeche du Midi.

“They (the medical team) discovered it and they called the bomb disposal team,” said the source.

The patient was admitted overnight Saturday to Sunday.

Important part of the article:

He told staff at Rangueil hospital that he had introduced the object into his rectum himself, the newspaper reported.

 

[Noodles]

Sounds like a potential case of... explosive diarrhea.

 

[Casey Pelous]

He told staff at Rangueil hospital that he had introduced the object into his rectum himself, the newspaper reported.

Say, what? No amusing tale about slipping in the shower and, "I guess the potato just kinda ...?"

If only Diogenes could be here to see this.

 

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If only Diogenes could be here to see this.

Don't be a cynic.

 

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Oh my. It appears the doctor in Dr. Mehmet Oz has finally kicked in. I'd like to see more of this side of him, rather than the huckster.

(This is from the New York Times, but I think it's outside the paywall.)

Oz Offers Forceful Call for Vaccination as Measles Becomes More Dire

Dr. Mehmet Oz has urged Americans to get vaccinated against measles, one of the strongest endorsements of the vaccine yet from a top health official in the Trump administration, which has repeatedly undermined confidence in vaccine safety.

Dr. Oz, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services director, told CNN on Sunday that there was a simple solution to the raging measles outbreak in South Carolina, which has infected more than 900 people and become the largest U.S. outbreak in recent history.

“Take the vaccine, please,” Dr. Oz said. He also pledged that there “will never be a barrier to Americans getting access to the measles vaccine.”

 

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FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social)

RFK Jr: I'm not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.

bsky.app

Jesus Asclepius Christ, this is the guy protecting America's health. What did we do wrong to deserve him?

Oh, right. Yeah, we kind of brought this on ourselves.

 

[Isabeau]

FactPost (@factpostnews.bsky.social)

RFK Jr: I'm not scared of a germ. I used to snort cocaine off of toilet seats.

bsky.app

Jesus Asclepius Christ, this is the guy protecting America's health. What did we do wrong to deserve him?

Oh, right. Yeah, we kind of brought this on ourselves.

He says in the vidéo “Where’s the kid.”

Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social)

The US Department of Health and Human Services just released this video.

bsky.app

 

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This is good for Illinois. Would be nice to see other governors working as hard for their states.

Governor JB Pritzker (@govpritzker.illinois.gov)

The cost of healthcare in this nation is ridiculously high, and while Trump’s budget makes it even more expensive, Illinois is standing up to protect its people. We've negotiated the elimination of $1 billion in medical debt for 520,000 Illinoisans across all 102 counties.

bsky.app

 

[Free]

We may be getting closer to a single, universal vaccine. Though with our present MAGA regime, I would have preferred seeing this coming out of Cambridge or such.

Single vaccine could protect against all coughs, colds and flus, researchers say

A Stanford University team have tested their nasal spray vaccine in animals but still need to do human clinical trials.

www.bbc.com

A single nasal spray vaccine could protect against all coughs, colds and flus, as well as bacterial lung infections, and may even ease allergies, say US researchers.

The team at Stanford University have tested their "universal vaccine" in animals and still need to do human clinical trials.

Their approach marks a "radical departure" from the way vaccines have been designed for more than 200 years, they say..

 

[Rose Karuna]

I learned today that you can develop an allergy to avocados at any time in your life. I LOVE avocados, I grew up with two trees in our back yard and ate them all the time.

Around December last year, I noticed a rash after dinner and got stomach cramps so bad that I seriously considered going to the ER. At first I wrote it off to flu or something like that, but it kept happening so I tried cutting stuff out of my diet and then re-introducing it to see if anything consistently made me ill. Sadly, avocados were the culprit.

My husband was not big on avocados so before he died I didn't eat them all that much. Now, when making meals just for me, I re-introduced avocados to my diet serving as a meat substitute as well as a topping for toast and putting them in my salads.

I thought the rash was mosquito bites at first but I clued into the fact (last night) that every time I ate something with avocado in it I got terrible cramps and a rash. Then I looked it up and sure enough, you can acquire an allergy to them. So I guess no more guacamole for me.

 

[Noodles]

Yeah, it seems like in general allergies can come.and go over time, kind of weird like that.

So maybe there is hope the avacados can return in a few years?

 

[Casey Pelous]

I learned today that you can develop an allergy to avocados at any time in your life. I LOVE avocados, I grew up with two trees in our back yard and ate them all the time.

Around December last year, I noticed a rash after dinner and got stomach cramps so bad that I seriously considered going to the ER. At first I wrote it off to flu or something like that, but it kept happening so I tried cutting stuff out of my diet and then re-introducing it to see if anything consistently made me ill. Sadly, avocados were the culprit.

My husband was not big on avocados so before he died I didn't eat them all that much. Now, when making meals just for me, I re-introduced avocados to my diet serving as a meat substitute as well as a topping for toast and putting them in my salads.

I thought the rash was mosquito bites at first but I clued into the fact (last night) that every time I ate something with avocado in it I got terrible cramps and a rash. Then I looked it up and sure enough, you can acquire an allergy to them. So I guess no more guacamole for me.

Ahem. I think you are well into a territory called, "Maybe I should see an allergist." It sounds like you had a pretty strong reaction to the oil of the avocado -- I believe that's the usual culprit. It would very much be a good idea to find out if you have developed other tree-nut allergies and to do so in a safe environment.

They might even be able to treat the allergy.

 

[Isabeau]

I went to see on Reddit and there was this long tread full of people who had developed an allergic reaction to avocados later in life. So many! They were describing severe stomach pain. Anyhoo, I have an avocado in a paper bag at the moment, waiting to be ripe enough to eat, and I’m eying it now with trepidation.

 

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A neurologist treated his mother's dystonia with ultrasound... and suddenly her Alzheimer's “activated” after remaining dormant for eight years

A focused ultrasound treatment for dystonia unexpectedly triggered cognitive recovery in an Alzheimer’s patient in Shanghai.

www.ecoticias.com

In a hospital in Shanghai, neurologist Sun Bomin was trying to ease his elderly mother’s muscle spasms when something unexpected happened.

The experimental procedure he used, a form of high-intensity focused ultrasound, did more than calm her dystonia. Her long-silent mind seemed to switch back on, challenging the entrenched idea that Alzheimer’s can only move in one direction.

For nearly eight years, Sun’s mother had lived with very advanced Alzheimer’s. In her nineties, she no longer recognized relatives, had lost her sense of time and barely reacted even to the death of close family members. Doctors sometimes describe this late stage as a kind of “passive silence”, where daily life shrinks to basic care and routine.

In 2024, as director of the functional neurosurgery center at Ruijin Hospital, Sun decided to treat her dystonia, a movement disorder that caused painful involuntary contractions and severe tongue protrusion.

The goal was to help her body, not her memory. She received a session of high-intensity focused ultrasound, guided by MRI, which concentrates sound energy deep inside the brain without opening the skull.

What happened next caught everyone off guard. Within weeks, carers and relatives reported that she was recognizing family again, expressing emotions and even handling mental tasks used in standard dementia tests, such as counting backward from one hundred in steps of seven.

If the trials described in the article continue to pan out, this is remarkable.

 

[Noodles]

Drinking coffee and staying tired? If you have ADHD – this is the reason

For most people, coffee is perceived as a natural stimulant, one that sharpens concentration, reduces fatigue and makes it possible to function better during the day. However, precisely among people with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, surprising reports are heard again and again: Caffeine has almost no effect, and sometimes even causes a feeling of calmness or drowsiness.

I wonder if I should get that checked.

 

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We all fart way too much.