Tag Archives: health

International, Technology, U.S.

Media Incompetence: Some media calling new flu outbreak H1N1 Swine Flu, FAIL! The new flu is an old version of H3N2

Recently several media outlets have reported that people in the midwestern U.S. have been infected with H1N1 swine flu.  They’ve even reported that instead of spreading from pigs to humans, it’s spreading human to human.

Well that’s because it isn’t H1N1!  According to the United Nations World Health Organization, and the U.S. Center for Disease Control, it’s an influenza A virus of the H3N2 subtype, a type of flu virus that circulates between humans.

Since July 2011, 10 people in the United States have been infected with it.  Why are some media outlets reporting it as H1N1?  If you read the USA Today, and ABC News articles, you’ll notice that H3N2 is only briefly mentioned.  For some reason the articles focus on the 2009 scare caused by H1N1.  More text is dedicated to talking about H1N1 than to this latest form of H3N2.  Call it a case of fear mongering by the U.S. media.

The problem is some international media outlets have picked up the story as an new outbreak of H1N1!

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Pacific Cod & Tuna contaminated with Cesium!

Greenpeace Japan has been monitoring radiation levels in sea food for the past several months.  They say Pacific cod and tuna are proving to be very susceptible to cesium contamination.

The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant is not only spewing radiation into the air, but pouring it into the Pacific Ocean.

Greenpeace Japan tested seafood in just five supermarkets in Japan, from October through the beginning of November.  Out of 75 samples, 27 were positive for radioactive cesium 134 and 137.

They found that Pacific cod was the most contaminated, along with Bigeye and Skipjack tuna.  The fish had been caught off the coasts of Hokkaido, Iwate and Miyagi.  These are areas directly affected by the radiation pouring into the Pacific Ocean.

The researchers discovered that canned fish could potentially be more contaminated, because in Japan regulations for canned fish are less strict than fresh fish.  Greenpeace Japan says they did find a small level of radiation in a can of mackerel.

Fukushima

Farmer Incompetence: Japanese fruit farmers to strip the bark off their trees, hope to prevent radiation contamination, more proof of a coming global food crisis!

Fruit farmers in Fukushima Prefecture (home of the radiation spewing Fukushima Daiichi nuke plant) say radiation is coating their trees and fruit. They’ve come up with a plan to stop the absorption of radiation; use power washers to strip top layers of bark.

The Japanese Central Union of Agricultural Cooperatives believes that by stripping the bark off the fruit trees, they can halve the amount of radiation contamination.  Major problem: Fukushima Daiichi is still spewing radiation!

By stripping the bark, in an ongoing radioactive contamination environment, they will actually increase the chances of contamination!

Fukushima

Government Incompetence: Radioactive Strontium found in Tokyo & Yokohama, for the second time!

A citizens group tested soil from three location in Tokyo and Yokohama, and found radioactive strontium, as much as 51 becquerels per kilogram.

The samples were taken at the end of October.  This is not the first time strontium 90 has been found.  At the beginning of October it was confirmed that samples taken on a building’s roof top, in Yokohama, was contaminated with 195 becquerels of strontium 90.

Strontium 90 has a half life of 28.8 years. It can cause bone cancer.

The citizens group believes the strontium 90 came from the disaster reactors at Fukushima Daiichi, which is about 170 miles from Yokohama.  However, the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology is claiming that it could not have come from Fukushima Daiichi.

The government officials say it would be more likely that strontium 89 would be coming from the failed nuke plant.  This doesn’t make sense, because strontium 89 is used medically, to treat bone cancer, and in rare cases to treat pain.  In my quick research I could not find anything that said strontium 89 is a by product of nuclear reactors.  The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency web site only said that it could be found around nuclear plants.

I can only conclude that the Japanese government officials don’t know what they’re talking about.  When you look up strontium 90 you’ll find that it is specifically a creation of nuclear fission, and found in nuclear fallout, so the citizens group is right!

Business/Economics, Technology, U.S.

It’s official, the people of the United States are Crazy! 1 in 5 on mental health drugs!!!

Medco Health Solutions Inc., says the use of drugs, in the U.S., for psychiatric and behavioral disorders rose 22% from 2001 to 2010!

But that’s an overall percentage, the numbers get worse, and more revealing, when you look at specific drugs, conditions, gender and age groups.

1 out of 4 U.S. women are using mental health drugs, the majority are women older than 45.  But there is a alarming trend of increased use among men and and young adults.

More than 20% of U.S. adults used drugs for conditions like anxiety and depression, in 2010.  The study saw a big increase in the use of drugs to control ADHD, especially in adults!

There was a 150% increase in the use of ADHD drugs among people aged 20 to 44 between 2001 and 2010, and a doubling among women in the 45-to-65 group!  I wounder if this has anything to do with the fact that many ADHD drugs are related to ‘speed’?

ADHD drug use in the over 65 age group increased about 30% for men and women between 2001 and 2010!  Are ADHD meds being used to treat memory problems typically associated with old people?  Can you say incompetent doctors grasping at straws?

The Medco study was based on the number of prescriptions issued between 2001 and 2010.





Technology

Cancer cells highly efficient at recycling

A report published by the Science Translational Medicine says at least 30 types of cancer cells are highly efficient protein recyclers.

The reason why cancerous tumors actually grow fast (contrary to outdated medical theories) is that they have an accelerated rate of recycling, also known as chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA).

Scientists hope to develop an anticancer drug by finding a chemical that would interfere with the recycling process.

 

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: More Rice contaminated with Cesium!

The Fukushima Prefectural government says rice from a field in the Oonami district, in Fukushima City, are contaminated with 630 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.

The rice came from one farm.  There are 154 farms in the Oonami district in Fukushima City, they will now test all the farms.

Officials claim the contaminated rice is still in the warehouse and none was shipped to market.

Until now most contaminated rice, in Japan, was just under the government limit of 500 becquerels per kilogram of cesium.  This is the first time rice was found over the limit, and national government officials are now considering banning the sale of rice which comes from Oonami district.

International, Technology

Double Edged Sword: Cancer Gene actually fights Cancer

A team at the Nagoya University Graduate School of Medicine has been conducting research on a gene called TTF-1.  It’s associated with lung cancer, adenocarcinoma, which is the hardest to treat among all lung cancers.

Now researchers say it also fights cancer.  In healthy adults, where the TTF-1 gene has not gone renegade, researchers found that it produced a protein that prevents cancer metastasis (the spread of cancer from one part of the body to the rest of the body).

More research needs to be done to see how this double edged sword TTF-1 cancer gene can be used to stop cancer.

Fukushima

Government & Corporate Incompetence: Radiation levels increasing in Japanese Rivers!

Japan’s Environment Ministry reports that radiation levels in rivers, downstream of the radiation spewing Fukushima Daiichi, are only increasing.

The latest official readings come from samples taken back in September.

In northern Fukushima Prefecture, the cesium levels were 3,200 becquerels per kilogram in the upstream Niida River.  The cesium levels in the downstream side of the same river were 13,000 becquerels!  That’s triple the levels reported in May!

Cesium levels in the Mano River have doubled!

Kinki University Professor Yamazaki Hideo says the government should step up radiation monitoring in all rivers.

Business/Economics, Fukushima

Global Economic War: Japanese industry moving to China

Since the 11 March 2011 disasters, Japanese industries moving to China has increased 65%.  That’s according to the Chinese Commerce Ministry.

There are two big factors why Japanese industries are moving to a mortal enemy’s territory: Money and Electrical Power.

Since the March disasters, including the ongoing Fukushima Daiichi meltdown, about half of Japan’s nuclear power plants are shut down.  The problem is that Japan built it’s current industries around nuclear power.  There just isn’t enough alternative electricity sources to power Japan’s factories.

Also since March, the Japanese yen has been going up in value.  This makes it more expensive to build things in Japan; Japan has no significant resources so it must import everything.

Japanese media are finally getting concerned about the growing unemployment there, mainly because so many factories have shut down and moved out of the country.

I wounder how this will affect the plans to create a TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), especially since one of its goals is to block out China.