Open Thread Friday

American's generally believe ourselves to be a science based culture. Often arguing about whose science is better at supporting their side of proposed regulatory or legislative change. Persuading us which product to buy or treatment to have prescribed.

This round of writing I have noticed fewer full research articles are available. Abstracts do not provide enough information to evaluate the quality of the research.


Why Most Clinical Research Is Not Useful

Practicing doctors and other health care professionals will be familiar with how little of what they find in medical journals is useful. The term “clinical research” is meant to cover all types of investigation that address questions on the treatment, prevention, diagnosis/screening, or prognosis of disease or enhancement and maintenance of health. Experimental intervention studies (clinical trials) are the major design intended to answer such questions, but observational studies may also offer relevant evidence. “Useful clinical research” means that it can lead to a favorable change in decision making (when changes in benefits, harms, cost, and any other impact are considered) either by itself or when integrated with other studies and evidence in systematic reviews, meta-analyses, decision analyses, and guidelines.
...
Conclusion
Overall, not only are most research findings false, but, furthermore, most of the true findings are not useful. Medical interventions should and can result in huge human benefit. It makes no sense to perform clinical research without ensuring clinical utility. Reform and improvement are overdue.

Do we get too caught up into mimicking cultures?

The “1975 Diet” and the Secret of Japanese Longevity

Japan boasts one of the longest life expectancies on earth, and it also a world leader in “healthy life expectancy”—the number of years of good health people can expect on average. Since diet is believed to play a key role in a population’s health and longevity, researchers around the world have been studying the benefits of the Japanese diet for some time now.

But what exactly is the Japanese diet? The people of Japan do not dine primarily on sushi, tempura, or other well-known Japanese specialties. Moreover, their eating habits have changed over the years. For our research, we used national surveys to compile weekly menus representative of the Japanese diet at various points in time over the past half century. In the following, we will take a look at the comparative health effects of these menus.

Epidemiology and prevention of hypertension in Japanese: how could Japan get longevity?

Population-wide screening of high BP by law begun in 1960’s; therefore, detection and pharmaceutical treatment of hypertension effectively decreased the prevalence of hypertension especially in elder population. However, as the mean BP decreased in the whole population including the younger generations, such a phenomenon cannot be explained merely by the widespread use of anti-hypertensive agents (e.g. 30% in 1986 to 40% in 2002 in hypertensive men [40]), but should be largely due to a change in the Japanese lifestyle and dietary habits. BP decreased despite unfavorable trends of other risk factors such as increased obesity (excluding young women) [41] and an increase in alcohol consumption [42]. A reduced consumption of salt would have contributed significantly to this decrease [43]. Several decades ago, people living in the northern part of Japan consumed as much as 20 to 30 g of salt per day [44]. The National Nutrition Survey reported that the daily salt intake of the Japanese decreased by 3.8 g, from 14.5 g in 1973 to 10.7 g in 2009—less than half of the estimated intake in the 1950s [45]. The salt reduction in Japan was accomplished in part by a campaign to reduce salt intake initiated by the Japanese Government in 1960’s, in addition to a big lifestyle change during the past several decades. People now do not need to preserve foods using salt through the spread of refrigerator and the development of distribution system, and the westernization of dietary habits reduced the use of soy sauce and miso (fermented soybean paste) which are major dietary sources of salt in Japan.

1 tsp salt = 6 gm, 30 gm would be 5 teaspoonful a day.

Not a lifestyle change we can easily make happen Shorter men live longer, study shows

Short height and long life have a direct connection in Japanese men, according to new research. Shorter men are more likely to have a protective form of the longevity gene, FOXO3, leading to smaller body size during early development and a longer lifespan. Shorter men are also more likely to have lower blood insulin levels and less cancer.

The article America’s Radioactive Secret referenced in yesterday's "The Evening Blues - 1-23-20" had many disturbing examples of how fracking brine is being spread around the country. The following was a method I have not seen mentioned previously.

But the new buzzword in the oil-and-gas industry is “beneficial use” — transforming oil-and-gas waste into commercial products, like pool salts and home de-icers. In June 2017, an official with the Ohio Department of Natural Resources entered a Lowe’s Home Center in Akron and purchased a turquoise jug of a liquid de-icer called AquaSalina, which is made with brine from conventional wells. Used for home patios, sidewalks, and driveways — “Safe for Environment & Pets,” the label touts — AquaSalina was found by a state lab to contain radium at levels as high as 2,491 picocuries per liter. Stolz, the Duquesne scientist, also had the product tested and found radium levels registered about 1,140 picocuries per liter.

Continuing the Journey into Chinese Medicine
This weeks example is more of how topics of interest don't seem to change much. The following translation mentions unusual longevity of the Japanese and women rulers.
Ancient Chinese Historian Describes Japan "Wei-Zhi" (297 AD)
[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5kvcALPPZoI]

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"America’s Radioactive Secret" gives new meaning to the old saying
'salt of the earth' and perhaps
'pounding salt' may be inferred to become
'fracking salt'

Thanks for the Japanese video.

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HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- We're following breaking news in downtown Houston, where an explosion has rocked a building on Fannin Street.

Eyewitness video from Eliud Balderas shows a raging fire shooting from the windows of the Lone Star Legal Aid offices.

https://abc13.com/witness-explosion-rocks-building-in-downtown-houston/2...

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Lily O Lady's picture

@QMS

There was an explosion in Houston today, but it was on Gessner Road. It was apparently pretty powerful. I don’t know how to post links. Ask the Google, but be sure to include the complete date. Then check the date on the results. Google loves to serve stale leftovers.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

RantingRooster's picture

@Lily O Lady from ABC13 in Houston.

https://abc13.com/5875224/

The origin of the explosion was at Watson Grinding and Manufacturing, a machining and manufacturing company, according to its website.

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote

Lily O Lady's picture

@RantingRooster

I saw video on the morning news of nearby homes that were drastically impacted by the explosion.

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

@RantingRooster
tank of propylene

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@Lily O Lady
caught in the net again
feeling like a fish
out of the water

thanks lily o'

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Lily O Lady's picture

@QMS

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"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Lookout's picture

It is too bad that there are not more controlled studies on health and nutrition.

There is growing evidence that salt is not the villain we've been led to believe...

Salt is an essential nutrient required for blood pressure regulation, transportation of nutrients into and out of your cells, ion exchange, and brain-muscle communication.

Decades of scientific research have failed to show the benefits of a low-salt diet, and in fact tend to show the opposite. Low-salt diets are associated with higher cardiac risk across multiple studies.

All salts are not equal, in terms of their impact on your health. Processed (table) salt is health harming, while natural unprocessed salt is not only healing, but in fact essential for many biological functions
https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/05/end-war-o...

more here...
https://gettinghealthier.com/salt-health-benefits/

We use Redmond salt out of Utah

Hope you're doing well. Had a long productive day yesterday. Made the trip to McMinnville and got 20 more trees and berry bushes. Had my holes dug and manured and managed to plant them all. Then got a 1" rain last night.

Well off to do more chores this AM. Y'all have a good one!

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“Until justice rolls down like water and righteousness like a mighty stream.”

smiley7's picture

In my long ago memory, i recall a study of dogs being fed the same thing vs dogs given choices and apparently, the dogs with choice chose the foods their bodies needed. Cravings, for instance, often i crave turnip or collard greens; wonderment.

The Japanese diet includes foods that are mysterious to me, will pass it along to my son who loves all things Japanese.

Thanks for the morning start of the brain cells and hoping you've a great day.

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If our ancestors were from the far north where they had to eat lots of meat to survive, we are probably well adapted to a meat based, high protein, high fat diet.

On the other hand, if our ancestors were from the tropics where fruits and vegetables were plentiful, we are probably well adapted to a fairly high carbohydrate diet.

Darwinian case for diet.

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"This round of writing I have noticed fewer full research articles are available. Abstracts do not provide enough information to evaluate the quality of the research." Sci-hub has been valuable for when I want to read a full article.

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Anja Geitz's picture

The Japanese diet has changed with the times, and many believe that the spread of Western foods and eating habits among the Japanese is contributing to a marked increase in such lifestyle diseases as atherosclerosis (a condition where plaque builds up inside arteries) and diabetes.

Looking at the Japanese diet menu from the 1970's, I noticed a lot of vegetables and very low sugar. Say what you will about the French, I doubt you'll see them adopt our eating. Good to know that the American Food and Beverage Industry is hard at work destroying the health of other countries.

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There is always Music amongst the trees in the Garden, but our hearts must be very quiet to hear it. ~ Minnie Aumonier

enhydra lutris's picture

yet watched the video. The 1975 Japanese diet was an interesting read. One thing I noted is that the word "fried" is used just like that, "fried", whereas most Japanese "fried
food other than tempura dishes are usually stir-fried, which is a whole different animal. I noted that the diet, while vaguely familiar, is only semi-macrobiotic, which, imo, is the more rational and reasonable approach to that whole regimen anyway (moderation in all things).

have a good one.

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That, in its essence, is fascism--ownership of government by an individual, by a group, or by any other controlling private power. -- Franklin D. Roosevelt --

RantingRooster's picture

so sure about this statement "American's generally believe ourselves to be a science based culture." (no offense, I'm being snarky)

Since I'm technically homeless, and no real income to speak of, I'm stuck having to go to the "poor people's clinic" to get any type of "healthcare", if one could call it that. I went in to get checked out for Emphysema last year.

A little background
Back in 2013, when I nearly died from Acute Pneumonia and Septic Shock, "hours away from death" the doctor said. After I got out of the hospital (8 days w/3 in ICU, a liter of fluid drained from my lungs, and a $47 thousand dollar bill), I went back to the lung Doctor that treated me and he indicated I needed to get checked out for Emphysema.

So when I went in last March, this Doctor at the poor people's clinic only used a Stethoscope to see if I had any wheezing. I'm like, "Hey Doc, nowhere on the Mayo Clinic website does it indicate wheezing is an actual symptom."

She said we had to be "practical", ie code word for "we're not spending any money to actually diagnose your condition".

I have all the symptoms, except wheezing, not to mention I've had Chronic bronchitis basically every year since I was born, which, I was born with Acute Pneumonia and spent the 1st 6 months of my life in a Oxygen tent. And even when I was in the military at 18, I was diagnosed with Acute Pneumonia, nearly died, and spent a week in the hospital. (The Captain that did my initial diagnosis, only a fever, take some aspirin, was court martialed for incompetence.)

But hey, at the poor people's clinic, no lab tests, no x-rays, no lung function test, just a Stethoscope. Oh, but she was willing to write me a prescription, but didn't provide an actual diagnosis. I'm like, how the heck am I going to pay for this, when I have no steady income... (crickets)

Of course many of the poor people's clinics here in Texas, are "faith based" organizations. I guess I'm supposed to "pray away" the symptoms...

So when I hear..."American's generally believe ourselves to be a science based culture." I'm not so sure anymore... (Snarky, but not snarky...)

Drinks

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C99, my refuge from an insane world. #ForceTheVote