Dubai was popular as ever with the famous crowd recently. The country has had a supermodel, rappers and even wrestlers post about their adventures on social media, so we've rounded them up for you to enjoy.
Flick through the gallery to see them and other celebrities who have been loving the Emirate in 2016.
Days after his mother passed away from leukemia, Louis Tomlinson courageously returned to the X Factor UK stage to debut his first solo single. Titled "Just Hold On," the song seems to memorialize this difficult moment in his life.
Moments before taking the stage with Steve Aoki, Louis thanked his fans on Twitter before saying, "Let's do this together tonight."
According to The Telegraph, Louis was determined to perform because it's what his mother wanted. In a series of tweets following the performance, Louis said, "Mum would have been so f*cking proud." Adding, "Sorry for swearing mum."
While Louis held it together during the duration of his uplifting performance, he later tweeted that it was harder than he could have imagined. The former One Direction singer also appeared emotional as Simon Cowell applauded his "bravery." Cowell said, "What you've just done - the bravery. I respect you as an artist and I respect you as a person. Your mum was so proud of you, Louis, she was so looking forward to tonight, she's watching down on you now and you've done her proud."
That was harder than I ever imagined. I want to thank everyone around me and all of the amazing fans out there that made that so special!
- Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) December 11, 2016
Feeling so much love around me and my family . Mum would have been so fucking proud ( sorry for swearing mum 😝 ) love you !
- Louis Tomlinson (@Louis_Tomlinson) December 11, 2016
This year has been an incredible year for the cast of Stranger Things, and they - especially the young guns of the Upside Down - are certainly not afraid to enjoy it. So naturally, when the teen actors who play Lucas, Dustin, Will, and Mike took to the Critics' Choice Awards red carpet, they turned it into their own private party. They posed for selfies with celebrities they admire, like Norman Reedus and Sterling K. Brown, and hammed it up for the cameras like only teenage boys can. Check out their fun behind-the-scenes snaps; there was nothing strange about their awesome night at the show! Now, where is their award for cast having the most fun on a red carpet?
This week the Department of Agriculture announced new rules for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Annie Gasparro reports in The Wall Street Journal.
“In a rare tuneup to the $74 billion food-stamp program, U.S. regulators deemed potato chips and ice cream too unhealthy to count as staple foods,” Gasparro writes. “The U.S. Department of Agriculture made other changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program this week that fell short of recommendations from many public-health advocates.”
Potato chips and ice cream had previously been included in the list of foods acceptable for purchase through SNAP because their primary ingredients — potatoes and milk — are considered staples by the Department of Agriculture.
Some advocates calling for reform to Supplemental #Nutrition Assistance Program #SNAP to incentivize healthy eating https://t.co/rA26Jz7HlO
— Nutrition Advocacy (@NutrAdvocacy) November 28, 2016
The new SNAP rules also prohibit stores that earn half of their sales from prepared meals or meals that are heated on site, such as microwavable pizzas or burritos, from accepting SNAP payments. Public-health advocates had wanted the threshold to be a mere 15 percent of sales, according to Gasparro.
In a second blow to public-health advocates, grape juice and foods with “multiple ingredients,” like canned soups and frozen pizzas, also remained on the list, Gasparro notes.
“I’m disappointed that the rules don’t go as far as what was proposed early this year,” Danielle Nierenberg, president of the nutrition advocacy group Food Tank, told Gasparro. “USDA has missed an opportunity to increase the availability of and access to healthier foods for low-income Americans.”
Many public-health and nutrition advocates saw keeping so many prepackaged foods on the SNAP staples list as a win for companies like Campbell’s and General Mills.
Others saw the new Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program rules as a fair compromise between the interests of public health and the prepackaged food industry.
“These are very implementable changes that are long overdue…. This is a way of nudging access (to healthy food) in the right direction,” Kevin Concannon, the USDA undersecretary for food, nutrition and consumer services, told The Chicago Tribune‘s Greg Trotter.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (#SNAP) will help about 20 million children each month this year: https://t.co/zW9Tu5NlmB http://pic.twitter.com/hpUDouA8vF
— Center on Budget (@CenterOnBudget) October 3, 2016
In addition to removing some foods deemed unhealthy from the list and prohibiting stores from selling primarily prepackaged foods, the new SNAP rules also require stores to carry a greater diversity of staple foods.
“Currently, retailers are required to carry three varieties in each of the four staple food categories: dairy products; breads and cereals; meats, poultry and fish; and fruits and vegetables,” Trotter reports. “Under the final rule, they’ll have to stock at least seven. And retailers will have to stock three of each variety — instead of six as initially proposed.”
As is often the case, multiple sides felt their concerns were not addressed by the new rules. Just as public-health advocates were disappointed by the compromise, so where many small retailers such as convenience stores.
“We are encouraged by what appears to be significant progress in the final rule, although we remain concerned that (the USDA Food and Nutrition Service) is still trying to penalize retailers for sales of items to non-SNAP customers,”Anna Ready, director of government relations for the National Association of Convenience Stores, said in a statement quoted by Trotter. “We are going through the rule in detail to determine how it will impact convenience stores and the SNAP customers they serve.”
It would be incredibly difficult for the Department of Agricultural to try to create and implement a system that could distinguish between the purchases of SNAP customers and non-SNAP customers. There would be too many ways to work around that.
While the new rules may have failed to satisfy public-health advocates, small retailers and those accustomed to being able to sneak a few treats like ice cream onto their shopping lists will likely feel the changes the most.
[Featured image by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images]
SNAP Rules Revised, Many Snacks And Prepared Foods Removed From ‘Staples’ List is an article from: The Inquisitr News
Hair loss is one of the more common, and unpleasant, effects of chemotherapy. But scalp cooling devices, or cooling caps, just may be what chemo patients need to avoid losing their hair while undergoing the treatment.
Chemotherapy is a form of treatment that works by killing quickly dividing cells, the Los Angeles Times wrote. But since that feature of cancer cells is also present in hair cells, that’s the reason why patients undergoing chemotherapy also end up losing their hair.
That isn’t as much of an issue to male patients as it is to females. According to the Daily Mail, over 75 percent of women suffering from cancer fear hair loss most of all when it comes to chemotherapy side effects. The publication also cited a study where one out of ten women admitted that they would rather opt for another form of treatment, or choose to have their treatment reduced if it means avoiding chemo hair loss.
https://t.co/0CY8mpAEzK : #BreastCancer #Chemotherapy – Scalp-Cooling Cap Reduces #HairLoss In Breast Cancer Patients Receiving Chemotherapy http://pic.twitter.com/SijQPnt1x8
— Anto IHQ (@AntoIhq) December 11, 2016
This common fear of hair loss in female cancer patients was shared in a statement from lead researcher Julie Rani Nangia, an assistant professor of medicine at Houston’s Lester and Sue Smith Breast Center. She appeared Friday at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium to reveal the results of trials done with scalp cooling devices, and discussed why avoiding hair loss, or alopecia, is especially important to women who go through chemo.
“Chemotherapy fights cancer by attacking rapidly dividing tumor cells. However, hair cells also divide rapidly so the drugs target them as well, which is what causes alopecia. Hair is important, especially to women. Hair loss can really affect how a patient feels.
If you have a heart attack, you won’t look different, but if you have cancer and lose your hair, everyone knows what you are going through. Some people embrace it, but for others, having something so private made public is embarrassing.”
The L.A. Times wrote about how scalp cooling devices are supposed to work for the people who wear them. And it’s as simple in theory as redirecting the chemotherapy agent in such a way that less of it gets to a patient’s hair follicles. With the scalp cooled to about 66 degrees Fahrenheit, blood vessels are constricted, with blood flow reduced by about 20 to 40 percent. As chemo drugs travel through a person’s bloodstream, that means less drugs reaching the follicles.
Fantastic coverage of the Paxman Scalp Cooler on The One Show – @3MBIC 3D Printed the moulds, great to be involved! https://t.co/cnB8V14dEi
— 3MBuckley Innovation (@3MBIC) August 9, 2016
The researchers worked with 95 women suffering from breast cancer and assigned to wear a scalp cooling device as part of the test, as well as a control group of 47 women with the illness who didn’t get to test the cap. Out of the women in the cooling cap group, 51 percent had a “good amount” of hair after four chemo cycles. This was a sharp contrast to the women in the control group, as the L.A. Times noted that none of them had hair after a similar series of four cycles.
Although the researchers believe that the cooling caps can work on any cancer patient with a solid tumor, Nangia said that her team went with breast cancer patients because of the bigger impact chemo hair loss could have on women. It bears mentioning, though, that the caps cannot be used by anyone suffering from leukemia or other blood cancers, as it works by limiting blood flow.
The scalp cooling device used in the trial is called the Orbis Paxman Hair Loss Prevention System. While the cap is currently under review by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, it will be pushed as an alternative to the FDA-approved DigniCap Scalp Cooling System, should it get the green light from the government.
[Featured Image by Chris Hondros/Getty Images]
Scalp Cooling Devices May Just Prevent Chemo Hair Loss In Patients is an article from: The Inquisitr News
Snoop Dogg's daughter Cori B. is inspiring young girls and women to find beauty in all shades.
Human trials are set to begin next year after researchers uncovered that drugs used to treat type 2 diabetes could be used to slow Parkinson’s disease progression, the Science Daily reports.
Parkinson’s Disease is a “progressive disease of the nervous system,” effecting over 10 million middle-aged and elderly people in the world which seems to get worse over time, but scientists say there may be a breakthrough in medical science since levodopa, which is a drug created in the 1960s to treat Parkinson’s disease.
In a recent study, scientists at the Van Andel Research Institute’s Center for Neurodegenerative Science in Great Rapids, Michigan found that MSDC-0160, which is an insulin sensitizer designed by Kalamazoo, a Metabolic Solutions Development Company, may be able to treat Parkinson’s disease.
In 2012, Dr. Patrik Brundin, who is the “director of Van Andel Research Institute’s Center for Neurodegenerative Science, chairman of The Cure Parkinson’s Trust’s Linked Clinical Trials Committee, and the study’s senior author,” thought MSDC-0160 would be the perfect drug candidate because of its “mode of action, proven safety in people, local availability and the start-up company’s interest in collaborating on drug repurposing initiatives.”
Diabetes #drug slows experimental #Parkinson's progression, human trials to begin next year https://t.co/GsFOdGiGUM @VAInstitute
— Medical Xpress (@medical_xpress) December 7, 2016
After conducting research on the drug for four years, the outcome exceeded his expectations. Brundin said: “We hope this will be a watershed moment for millions of people living with Parkinson’s disease.”
“All of our research in Parkinson’s models suggests this drug could potentially slow the disease’s progression in people as well.”
The co-founder of The Cure Parkinson’s Trust, Tom Isaacs, has been living with Parkinson’s disease for 22 years and says that “our scientific team has evaluated more than 120 potential treatments for Parkinson’s disease, and MSDC-0160 offers the genuine prospect of being a breakthrough that could make a significant and permanent impact on people’s lives in the near future.”
“We are working tirelessly to move this drug into human trials as quickly as possible in our pursuit of a cure.”
There is currently no cure for Parkinson’s disease and as the human lifespan continues to grow, scientists expect more people to be effected by the disease. However, if the human clinical trials are a success, this could mean that MSDC-0160 would be the world’s first therapy treatment to improve the quality of life and slowing Parkinson’s disease progression.
Parkinson's Disease Cure Update: Diabetes Drug That May Slow Progression Is Being Readied For Trials – Medical Daily https://t.co/0CW9EbzjRW
— Diabetes view (@Diabetesview) December 10, 2016
Those suffering from Parkinson’s disease will be less likely to experience frequent falls and cognitive decline. Brundin stated that MSDC-0160 may even “reduce or delay the need for medications that can have debilitating side effects.”
It was also reported that the laboratory experiments suggested that the new drug may reduce neuroinflammation.
Researchers say Parkinson’s disease and diabetes may seem like completely different diseases, but in fact, studies have shown that “some of the underlying molecular mechanisms share similarities.”
“Whatever the outcome of the upcoming trial for Parkinson’s, we now have a new road to follow,” said Brundin.
The drug used to treat type 2 diabetes have only been tested on mice and it seemed to show signs of improvement in “motor function, maintaining dopamine production, and protecting the cells lost in a number of models of the condition,” according to Claire Bale, who is the head of research at communications and engagement at Parkinson’s UK, which is a charity based in London.
Diabetes drug shown to slow experimental #Parkinsons progression – being trialled next year! https://t.co/ITl2IQuGwT @VAInstitute http://pic.twitter.com/SuSKRFOJTW
— Cure Parkinson's (@CureParkinsonsT) December 8, 2016
There have been other drugs tested, but they often showed signs of serious side effects — the new drug, MSDC-0160, however, seems to have a “better safety profile.”
Clinical trials on humans are set to begin next year but a specific date has not been released. Bale added that researchers are hoping to test “people in the early stages of the disease where the protective properties of the drug are likely to have the greatest impact.”
[Featured Image By Zaretskaya/iStock]
Type 2 Diabetes Drug Could Slow Parkinson’s Disease Progression, Human Trials To Begin Next Year, Says Researchers is an article from: The Inquisitr News
With so much to read about Kanye and the K-K-Kardashians, it’s no wonder that news of actual import gets overlooked. After all, why should anyone care about dangerous food additives and questionable growing practices when there are celebrities to watch and selfies to post? Truth is, there’s a whole lot of creepy stuff going on, and precious little of it makes headlines.
Take, for instance, MSG and aspartame. Both are suspected of contributing to and even causing a number of devastating health conditions, including Parkinson’s disease, chronic migraine headaches, and even cancer. When was the last time you heard a news report about either product? The fact that multinational corporations such as Ajinomoto and Monsanto knowingly add potentially deadly chemicals to the foods you eat should scare you into action.
One man’s voice rails against corporate food giants
Stephen Fox, Santa Fe gallery owner and erstwhile editor of the New Mexico Sun News, is an outspoken opponent of Ajinomoto. His consumer protection op-ed pieces have appeared in the Christian Science Monitor, USA Today, and other international publications. When Fox contacted this writer regarding the mess that Monsanto and Ajinomoto are making in Africa and around the world, I already knew enough to eschew migraine-causing MSG and the troublesome artificial sweetener called aspartame. Things revealed in subsequent conversations with Stephen alarmed the journalist in me enough to delve more deeply into the topic.
Fox referred me to an article by journalist Lily Kuo. The former Reuters news reporter whose work has appeared in The Atlantic and the New York Times delivered a disturbing piece about the Ajinomoto company in Quartz Africa magazine on December 8, 2016. MSG danger and the ubiquity of aspartame are the primary focus of the article in which she noted that the Ajinomoto company is in the process of purchasing a 33 percent stake in an African food distribution outfit called Promasidor. The $532 million deal was confirmed by Reuters who noted that PepsiCo also expressed interest in purchasing large stakes in the company that sells aspartame-sweetened drinks, processed foods and seasonings such as MSG in more than half the countries on the continent.
Ajinomoto products have been imported to Africa for years. This big buyout, however, marks the first time that the the largest manufacturer of aspartame on the planet has made such a bold money maneuver in Africa. Corporate investments on the continent are not unheard of, however. In 2015, Kellogg’s shelled out several hundred million dollars to buy a 50 percent stake in Nigeria’s largest food distributor.
Can the United Nations protect us from aspartame and MSG danger?
In 2006, Fox authored a resolution to create a new Undersecretary General for Nutrition at the United Nations. The new position, had it been approved, would serve to protect consumers worldwide from known neurotoxins, suspected carcinogens, and other harmful food additives. Following is a portion of the resolution, as published by Red Ice Creations:
“The General Assembly must recognize that there must be henceforth a cessation of all manufacturing of and addition to foods of carcinogens, neurotoxins, mercurial fungicides used in the international transport of coffee beans, bovine growth hormones, pesticides, herbicides, alcoholic beverages, tobacco, cottonseed oil, steroids, chemicals fed to chickens to accelerate the frequency of their egg laying, bleach used to whiten flour and sugar, “anti-caking agents” like sodium silicoaluminate added to flour, chemicals added to color and preserve meat, artificial sweeteners, hundreds of manufactured food products containing aspartame (also called NutraSweet), methyl bromide, calcium propionate, malathion, parathion, dieldrin, food coloring, sodium erythorbate, BHA, BHT, TBHQ, sulfides and sulfates added to dried fruits, and foods irradiated with radioactive strontium and cesium, just to name a few.”
In a November 17, 2006 press release, Fox offered an open letter to United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-Moon of South Korea. Fox noted that when the United States acts alone, they move too slowly on public health matters and had thus far failed to remove “such ghastly additives like aspartame, sodium nitrites, bovine growth hormones, and hundreds of other harmful chemicals from its own manufactured food products.” But that’s not all Fox had to say to the UN.
“Other nations are not so slow. Even Republics in the most “disadvantaged” parts of the world, even those with the shortest life expectancy, like Somalia, Nepal, Haiti, Liberia and 8 other African nations, recognize what the intolerable biochemical mess USA manufacturers have gotten the USA into. By preventing these corporate errors in their nations, the life expectancy in poorer nations will increase; even while the USA’s decline.”
The resolution, which, according to Fox, was supported by India and 53 co-sponsoring nations, failed to pass.
Bid to ban (or at least properly label) Aspartame products in California goes belly up
In October 2016, Dr. Betty Martini of Mission Possible World Health International published an open letter to Michelle Ramirez of California’s Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment. Dr. Martini also filed a Citizen Petition to amend Proposition 65 to include aspartame in the Carcinogen Identification Committee (CIC)’s official List of Chemicals Known to the State to Cause Cancer or Reproductive Toxicity. Had the petition been approved, product packaging would have changed to include a warning about the potential health risks of the ubiquitous artificial sweetener. Dangerous or not, aspartame failed to be added to the list.
Are Aspartame and MSG danger real?
One of the most frightening things we know about aspartame is the way that Ronald Reagan forced its approval on his first full day as United States President on January 21, 1981. On that day, Reagan signed an executive order that severely limited the protective power of the Food & Drug Administration. Simultaneously, Reagan’s personal friend, Donald Rumsfeld, who happened to head the G.D. Searle company at the time, applied (yet again) to have aspartame approved for human consumption. Suddenly, after seven years of being turned down for FDA approval, aspartame became a legal food additive. Four years later, Monsanto bought the Searle company and Donald Rumsfeld received a hefty $12 million bonus.
A January 2007 study published by the International Journal of Experimental and Clinical Pathophysiology and Drug Research clearly indicates that aspartame ingestion alters gene expression in live test animals. Oncogene and tumor suppression genes are especially affected by aspartame. The study concluded that aspartame does indeed cause detectable and detrimental biological effects that include a significant increase in tumors of the lymphatic and central nervous systems. The study also concluded that aspartame ingestion may cause an upswing in kidney and bone marrow cancers. It can also make you fat. In other words, aspartame is not a healthful food additive.
This Is How Aspartame Causes Obesity https://t.co/YuCJOHrpms
— Dr. Joseph Mercola (@mercola) December 6, 2016
MSG (Monosodium glutamate) was discovered by Japanese scientists in 1908 and patented as a flavor enhancer by Ajinomoto shortly thereafter. Recognized by the FDA as “generally safe,” the powdery flavor booster is known to cause a number of adverse reactions in humans. Mayo Clinic says the most commonly reported MSG reactions include severe headaches, heart palpitations, flushing, sweating, chest pain, nausea, and facial tingling, burning or numbness.
MSG or Monosodium Glutamate And Your Health https://t.co/qmu5JPn7c7
— Chiropractor Dr Burt (@chiropracticrss) December 7, 2016
Stephen Fox was right when he told the UN that the United States takes too much time to protect consumers from potentially dangerous products like aspartame and MSG. Perhaps someday, Fox’s vision of a nutritionally aware United Nations Undersecretary General for Nutrition will come to fruition. In the meantime, it’s up to each global citizen to make their own consumer health decisions. The Inquisitr News will keep readers informed of the danger of MSG and aspartame as new information becomes available.
[Featured image via JK1991/Thinkstock/Getty Images]
Are Monsanto And The Ajinomoto Company Poisoning Africa? Aspartame, MSG Danger Revealed is an article from: The Inquisitr News
It's common knowledge that the British royal family loves to celebrate Christmas. In addition to upholding traditions that have been passed down over the years, Prince William and Kate Middleton have also made their own since welcoming Prince George and Princess Charlotte. But their enthusiasm for the holiday just got taken to a whole new place. The festive-themed wax figures of Kate, Will, Prince Harry, and Queen Elizabeth II, which aim to raise awareness for Save the Children, were unveiled at Madame Tussauds in London on Tuesday, and to say they're interesting is a bit of an understatement. While Harry rocks a green Christmas sweater complete with a snowman, the queen dons one featuring one of her beloved corgis (did you catch the crown?). But the weirdest outfit definitely goes to Kate and Will, who share a giant, two-person sweater with gingerbread, Christmas tree, and nutcracker designs. But one thing the wax figure artist seems to have forgotten? Their other arms! Sorry in advance for any nightmares this may cause.
Pippa Middleton may not technically be a royal, but all eyes will certainly be on her when she ties the knot with fiancé James Matthews on Saturday, May 20, 2017. Us Weekly confirmed this week that Kate Middleton's younger sister will wed her longtime love at the St Mark's Englefield in Berkshire, UK, and that the couple has already sent their save the dates. After walking down the aisle in the historic church, wedding guests will head to Carole and Michael Middleton's home in Bucklebury for a garden reception. Pippa got engaged to the hedge fund manager - whom she's dated on and off since 2012 - back in July, and was soon seen beaming on the streets of London while showing off her stunning ring.
Many of us were first introduced to the 33-year-old event planner at Kate and Prince William's royal wedding in 2011; Pippa made headlines for her maid of honor gig, and it wasn't long before the public took interest in her life and sweet relationship with Kate. While Kate has reportedly decided to opt out as a member of Pippa's wedding party (she doesn't want to "upstage her sister"), we're sure she'll still have some hand in the big day, as royal author Judy Wade added, "Kate would want to be in the background as much as possible."
A new study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found an increase in cases of autism for babies born to mothers who received a flu vaccination in the first trimester, yet headlines are reporting that no link was found.
#wellbeing,#health,#healthmarket :No link between #flu or flu vaccine in pregnancy and autism: study https://t.co/thOzPftZQq
— Adam akram:wellbeing (@adamwellbeing) December 1, 2016
The study, Association Between Influenza Infection and Vaccination During Pregnancy and Risk of Autism Spectrum Disorder, was published November 28 in JAMA. This large-scale study looked at the medical records of nearly 200,000 children born between 2000 and 2010 at Kaiser Permanente hospitals in Northern California.
Less than a quarter (23%) of the children’s mothers received flu vaccines while they were pregnant. Of all of the mothers in the study (vaccinated and non-vaccinated), less than 1% were diagnosed with the flu while they were pregnant. The authors found no increased incidence of autism in the children of those mothers who contracted the flu during their pregnancy.
A total number of 3,101 (1.6%) of the children were eventually diagnosed with an autism spectrum disorder (ASD).
The study authors found that there was an increased incidence of ASD in children whose mothers received flu vaccines in the first trimester, though they said they could not be sure that it wasn’t coincidence or caused by other factors.
In trimester-specific analyses, first-trimester influenza vaccination was the only period associated with increased ASD risk (adjusted hazard ratio, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.04-1.39).
The researchers went on to say that they were able to get the numbers lower if they adjusted them in various ways, saying “this association could be due to chance” if they “corrected for the multiplicity of hypotheses tested.”
They said that there was not an increased number of ASD cases in children of mothers who received flu vaccines later in pregnancy.
Maternal influenza vaccination in the second or third trimester was not associated with increased ASD risk.
Despite this finding, news sources around the United States have been proclaiming that this study shows no increased risk of autism in children whose mothers received flu vaccines while pregnant. “Flu or flu shot during pregnancy won’t raise autism risk in child, study finds,” proclaimed the Chicago Tribune. “Study: Flu vaccine in pregnant women not linked to autism risk in children,” said the American Academy of Pediatrics’ News and Journals Gateway. “Flu Vaccine During Pregnancy Not Linked To Autism,” announced NPR.
Flu vaccine safe in pregnancy: study (AAP): A large study offers reassuring news for pregnant women: It's safe t… http://t.co/D0hbRaZ9
— Breaking Online News (@EliteGlobalNews) January 18, 2013
In every case, the fact that a correlation was found between autism and flu vaccination in the first trimester is buried much later in the article, and in some cases the results are further muddied. The Chicago Tribune mentioned the correlation six paragraphs into their report, admitting that there was a “suggestion” of increased risk for autism in the child if the mother received a flu vaccination during her first trimester, but saying “this statistic disappeared after the researchers further refined their analysis” and that “this study was a retrospective look at data, so it can’t prove or disprove any cause-and-effect relationships” about the higher incidence of ASD in those children.
At the very end of their story, Chicago Tribune did say that one pediatrician said more research is needed regarding the higher ASD risk for babies born to mothers who received flu vaccines in their first trimester. They quoted Dr. Andrew Adesman, chief of developmental and behavioral pediatrics at Cohen Children’s Medical Center in New Hyde Park, N.Y.
Additional studies are needed to clarify whether or not there is an association between first-trimester influenza vaccinations and later autism spectrum disorders, so that more informed recommendations can be made to pregnant women.
AAP News and Journals Gateway, too, admitted the link between vaccination in the first trimester and higher rates of ASD diagnosis — seven paragraphs down. They, too, mentioned the study author’s concerns near the end of their story. In the eighth paragraph (out of ten paragraphs total), they quoted the researchers about the need to study this correlation further.
While we do not advocate changes in vaccine policy or practice, we believe that additional studies are warranted to further evaluate any potential associations between first-trimester maternal influenza vaccination and autism.
In the case of NPR, the link between higher incidence of autism and flu vaccination in the first trimester was again buried late in the article. Here, it was mentioned in the sixth paragraph.
Don't miss @JAMAPeds https://t.co/jAgt8zKr0h on @NPR https://t.co/DIkTboLu7x
— JAMAPediatrics (@JAMAPeds) December 4, 2016
“But that could be due to chance, the researchers say,” they wrote, “given the small numbers of children in that group and the multiple hypotheses the study tested.”
NPR also mentioned towards the end of their story that the study did not look at whether the flu vaccines the mothers received contained thimerosal. They wrote that multidose containers of flu vaccine still contain thimerosal, a controversial preservative that contains small amounts of ethyl mercury. The FDA recommended that thimerosal be removed from vaccines given to infants back in 1999 because of concerns about vaccine safety.
It is worth noting that only 23% of the mothers who took part in the study received a flu vaccine at any time during their pregnancies. The number of women receiving flu vaccines during pregnancy has been climbing steadily over recent years. UPI reports that data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention showed that half of pregnant women had received a flu shot in the 2015-2016 season.
Over the past 20 years, credible studies have shown a possible link between autism and vaccination — and credible studies have shown the opposite. The science is far from proven on either side. That said, while the studies that claim to show no link get spread widely in the media, those that raise questions tend to be buried or criticized.
Among the reputable studies that showed possible links between vaccines and are a Utah State University study that found that “an inappropriate antibody response to MMR [vaccine], specifically the measles component thereof, might be related to pathogenesis of autism.” Likewise, a 5-year study of 79,000 children reported in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health found that found boys given Hepatitis B vaccine at birth had a three times increased risk for autism than boys vaccinated later or not at all (nonwhite boys were at greatest risk).
A study on infant monkeys who were given the 1990’s recommended pediatric vaccine regimen showed important brain changes warranting “additional research into the potential impact of an interaction between the MMR and thimerosal-containing vaccines on brain structure and function.” Another study suggested “likely involvement” of thimerosal in vaccines (such as flu shots) “in neurodevelopmental disorders such as autism.”
In addition, a study in The Journal of Child Neurology found a major flaw in a widely-cited study that claimed there was no link between thimerosal in vaccines and autism. The researchers wrote that “the original p value was in error and that a significant relation does exist between the blood levels of mercury and diagnosis of an autism spectrum disorder.”
The researchers noted that, like the link between aspirin and heart attack, “even a small effect can have major health implications,” and called on researchers to take a fresh look at that study.
If there is any link between autism and mercury, it is absolutely crucial that the first reports of the question are not falsely stating that no link occurs.
Scientists in other countries have also published research on a possible link between vaccines and autism. One study from Japan’s Kinki University supported “the possible biological plausibility for how low-dose exposure to mercury from thimerosal-containing vaccines may be associated with autism” and another from the University of British Columbia that found “the correlation between Aluminum in vaccines and [autism] may be causal.”
These are just a few of the studies that have raised questions about a link between autism spectrum disorders and vaccines, though they are rarely reported in the press.
It is important to note that the latest study did not definitively prove anything for or against flu vaccine safety during pregnancy. The higher incidence of ASD diagnosis in children whose mothers received a flu vaccination during their first trimester was a relatively small difference — but it was a difference that needs to be acknowledged and studied. It is also important to note that studies have linked many other factors to autism spectrum disorder, as well.
That said, if there is indeed a link between flu vaccination in the first trimester and autism spectrum disorders, burying legitimate scientific concerns under reassuring headlines is putting propaganda before children’s health. This represents neither good science nor good reporting.
[Featured Image by Africa Studio/Shutterstock]
New JAMA Study Finds Link To Flu Vaccination In First Trimester And Autism: So Why Are Headlines Reporting The Opposite? [Opinion] is an article from: The Inquisitr News
Your beautiful four-legged canines can provide long-lasting companionship, sniff out drugs, and help aid law enforcement in solving crimes, but can their fascinating abilities go a step further into the world of medicine?
Can their sixth sense detect cancer in humans before doctors find it? According to a report in iNews, dogs are using their complex sense of smell to help doctors find malignant tumors before they reach a terminal stage.
Canines contain 200 million olfactory cells in their noses says, Global Animal, compared to humans five million which can be used to smell a malignant disease through their runny snouts. The report also describes how scientists have trained dogs to utilize their sensitive noses to sniff out lung cancer in a more recent study published in 2011.
How dogs could revolutionise the detection and treatment of cancerhttps://t.co/eYP7FLVB2C http://pic.twitter.com/RigUK4SWnR
— i newspaper (@theipaper) December 5, 2016
Furthermore, there have been various scientific tests conducted on our furry friends that support the belief in cancer-sniffing dogs. In 2004, James C. Walker, of the Sensory Research Institute at Florida State University, and his fellow colleagues had trained two dogs to detect melanoma tissue samples concealed on the skin of the healthy volunteers. They employed the same methods that experts use in training dogs to sniff out drug trafficking and forensic bombs.
An article from CBS News showcases a few methods of training involving Michael McCulloch, who conducts his work at Pine Street Foundation, a nonprofit group founded in San Anselmo, California. The group’s primary goals are working with cancer patients and their decisions of treatment.
McCulloch and his team trained five dogs that had only the basic obedience training to smell the difference in breath samples of people without and with lung cancer. The human volunteers had to breathe into tubes that would trap their breaths for the dogs to smell. The “tail-waggers” were rewarded with treats if they were to deliver precise results. McCulloch is optimistic that in the future dogs will replace high costs of invasive procedures to detect cancer.
“Who will win out in the end: Is the dog more accurate or is the laboratory more accurate? Is it the lab or the Lab?”
McCulloch adds that dogs would do a much better job at screening potential cancer patients with proper training. It affords dogs the remarkable ability to practice early cancer detection to improve the survival rate of those diagnosed with the often-deadly disease.
NHS Approves cancer detection dogs aren’t #Dogs amazing https://t.co/l1sFbohYx6 @ProstateUK @SU2C @CR_UK @MedDetectDogs http://pic.twitter.com/MO8S1I38QU
— K9Active.co.uk (@K9Active) November 3, 2016
After three weeks of training, the dogs and the team conducted their experiment where each dog was sent into a room to get a smell of some breath samples. A few had samples from people recently diagnosed with breast cancer and lung cancer, and the other samples were from cancer-free volunteers.
Since there are chemicals in chemotherapy treatments, these tests need only newly diagnosed patients that haven’t had any treatments at the time they gave their breath samples; the chemicals would alter the dog’s senses to smelling the isolated disease.
As of today, the cancer-detecting dogs are accepted for the NHS trial, an approval made by Milton Keynes of University Hospital. Reportedly, their trained dogs have detected prostate tumors in urine samples for 93 percent of cases. Researchers hope the trials foster changes in the way practitioners manage cancer screenings and change the way people view dogs tenfold.
Studies like the ones aforementioned are so remarkable because it reminds us of how special our Frisbee-fetching pals are and what they can do with their long snouts.
Dogs are incredibly inspiring and are in a fast race to compete with scientists; the compounds that are in the cancer samples that the dogs detect can be used to create an artificial sniffer so to speak.
Remember that everything you’ve just read today the next time you tell your dog to bring you your newspaper, as he may very well have news for you that the papers and doctors don’t know about, yet!
[Featured image: monkeybusinessimages/iStock by Getty Images]
Apparently, Dogs Have A ‘Sixth Sense’ To Detect Undiagnosed Cancers In Humans is an article from: The Inquisitr News
