Medical News - Mostly Good
A free public service for a better community
Happy Day After Thanksgiving
I’m still recovering from overindulgence. Today’s letter is mostly medical news. Your comments, suggestions, and research topics are greatly appreciated via comment the button.
Kittens and puppies are calming after all the political discussion at dinner yesterday.
Coffee Cure? Not Quite
Neurodegenerative disorders, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s, affect millions of people in the United States, and the cost of caring for people who live with these conditions adds up to hundreds of billions of dollars each year.
Now, researchers from The University of Texas at El Paso may potentially have found a solution in used coffee grounds — a material that is discarded from homes and businesses around the world every day, according to a recent story in Sci Tech Daily.
Drinking coffee was not the answer, but by processing the used coffee grounds (cooking at 200 degrees F for 4 hours), they were able to reorient the caffeic-acid-based Carbon Quantum Dots (CACQDs). Their experiments showed that CACQDs have the potential to protect brain cells from the damage caused by several neurodegenerative diseases — if the condition is triggered by factors such as obesity, age and exposure to pesticides and other toxic environmental chemicals. Their work is described in a paper published in the November issue of the journal Environmental Research.
This is really cool stuff.
National Cancer Institute Head Selected
President Biden tapped W. Kimryn Rathmell to serve as the next director of the National Cancer Institute. Rathmell, a kidney cancer expert and the chair of medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, will assume leadership of the agency in December. She succeeds Monica Bertagnolli, whom the Senate confirmed as director of the National Institutes of Health this month.
As director of the cancer institute, Rathmell will play a central role in carrying out Biden’s “cancer moonshot” initiative, which is aimed at cutting the U.S. death toll from the disease in half over the next 25 years.
I’m so glad for setting noble goals to achieve.
Roundup Lawsuit
A Missouri jury ordered Bayer (BAYGn.DE) to pay $1.56 billion to four plaintiffs who claimed the company's Roundup weedkiller caused injuries including cancer, a verdict that could intensify investor pressure on the German drugs and agricultural chemicals company to change its legal strategy. The Cole County, Missouri jury found on Friday that Bayer's Monsanto business was liable for claims of negligence, design defects and failing to warn plaintiffs of the potential dangers of using Roundup, according to court documents.
We gave up weedkillers and use a concentrated vinegar. Works. As does ground up citrus peels.
RESOURCES
Healthcare Advocacy (Us)
Website
Our Newsletter resources including reproductive healthcare
Healthcare Advocacy Reading List
Find My Elected Officials
Contact the White House https://www.whitehouse.gov/contact/
Contact State and Federal Representatives
By phone: (202) 224-3121
By email: democracy.io
Important Healthcare Resources
League of Women Voters Healthcare Reform Toolkit
Organizations to Contact
National Nurses United Medicare4All
Physicians for a National Health Program
One Payer States
Healthcare Now
Reproductive Health
NARAL - Pro Choice America
Charley. chatbot abortion resource - make sure to use a secure incognito browser if you live in a state that has banned abortion
Planned Parenthood
Miscarriage and Abortion Hotline has references about where to procure abortion medications. They also assist women in the process of self managed abortion or miscarriage by phone or text and will respond in an hour. Details and hours of operation at their website.
United State of Women Reproductive health page (bottom of the page) has important resources such as medical support, access to Telehealth, prescriptions by mail, and legal support references.
Practice careful communications - The Digital Defense Fund has a number of tips to keep texts, calls, and internet use private. Here is their site.
If you need financial help with an abortion try abortionfunds.org
Claims Denials and Appeals & What to Do
Appeal a Healthcare Decision
Appeal/Negotiate a Hospital Bill
Disinformation Management
Cybersecurity Infrastructure Security Agency
Save Democracy
Chop Wood, Carry Water by Jessica Cravens
RESISTBOT
Link to the RESISTBOT site to learn more
Link to Chop Wood, Carry Water RESISTBOT write up
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The coffee grounds finding failed to mention how the baked coffee grounds need to be handled to be effective in preventing Parkinson’s disease. Ingested, injected, infused, inhaled, or topically applied? I’m sure they must be further refined and processed. Did I miss that in the paper? I was specifically looking for the answer. Thank you.
Sorry to hear you are suffering from overindulgence. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!
Thanks for this interesting news: “The Cole County, Missouri jury found on Friday that Bayer's Monsanto business was liable for claims [that included] failing to warn plaintiffs of the potential dangers.”
Lately I’ve been deluged with Medicare Advantage ads and promos. In the same vein as Monsanto, no MA ads mention:
1. Exorbitant rates of denial of care.
2. Care denials that harm patients and sometimes kill them.
3. Automating many care denials via AI and bulk rubber-stamp admin processes.
4. Looting the Treasury while perpetrating these denials.
5. Canceling your doctor’s best judgment on your behalf.
6. Trap: you can’t go back to original Medicare and have the same generous terms you left behind.
These warnings or omissions constitute blatant fraud and possible racketeering. They are similar to the frauds that produced billions in court judgments and settlements against the tobacco industry: https://www.facebook.com/ira.dember/posts/pfbid02cNSUzE4ZMhNek6WV4CcuLfiX2VPJYN3WZccmvLTDKg6iuj2b58ioJNCosQkRPTQRl
Even financial industry promos carry a mandated warning: “Investment involves risk of loss” -- though today I heard a version that said only “investment involves risk”, likely an example of regulatory capture and corruption. But MA moguls got them beat: no warning at all!