The spiritual aspect of the human soul, sadly, leaves its signature in epilepsy. In his classic book, Mystery of the Mind, (1975) epilepsy surgery pioneer Dr. Wilder Penfield, asked a significant question: “Why are there no intellectual seizures?” Epileptic seizures can be experienced in a variety of ways — convulsions of the whole body, slight twitching of a muscle, compulsive memories, emotions, perceptions of smells or flashes of light, complex motor behaviors such as chewing or laughing or even walking, or subtle moments of inattention. But seizures never have intellectual content. There are no intellectual seizures, which is odd, given that large regions of the brain are presumed by neuroscientists to serve intellectual thought. It is all the more remarkable when we consider that seizures commonly originate in these “intellectual” areas of the brain. Yet the outcome is never intellectual seizures.
Month: October 2020
Are vaccines really “safe and effective”?
Men of science have made abundant mistakes of every kind; their knowledge has improved only because of their gradual abandonment of ancient errors, poor approximations, and premature conclusions. — George Sarton, founder, History of Science Society The message that vaccines are safe and effective made perfect sense to my wife Lisa and me. Our beautiful boys would be fully vaccinated. I’d been vaccinated, and my wife had been vaccinated. It was the easiest decision two parents could make. You even get to kill two birds with one stone: protect your babies from infectious disease and contribute to herd immunity, and so protect others. What was the risk of something bad happening from a vaccine? The number thrown around — and still in wide use today — was “one in a million.” Losing faith in my pediatrician and ultimately the entire medical establishment triggered a massive case of cognitive dissonance for me, as it does for so many parents who trusted their pediatricians with their…
Mutated coronavirus strain recorded first in June causing most new infections in Europe
The majority of new COVID-19 cases in Europe stem from a mutated strain of the coronavirus that has been traced back to Spain and was spread across the continent over the summer by tourists, scientists said in a report Thursday. The variant most likely originated in farm workers in northeastern Spain, where it was first recorded in June, they said. The team of scientists from the University of Basel, ETH Zürich in Basel, and SeqCOVID in Spain said a suspected “superspreader” event accounted for early proliferation of the virus, which was then spread abroad by tourists and other travelers.
Anthony Fauci: 40 years of lies from AZT to remdesivir
Last week, US president Donald Trump committed a kind of blasphemy by attacking Anthony Fauci, his pandemic consultant and practically the spokesperson for the White House regarding COVID-19, saying that: “People are tired of hearing Fauci and all these idiots. He’s been here for 500 years. Fauci is a disaster. If I listened to him, we’d have 500,000 deaths.” A remarkable statement of historical dimension, since Trump is the first American head of state to cast doubt on Fauci, who has acted as the virus tsar for no less than six presidencies: Reagan, Bush, Clinton, Bush Jr., Obama and Trump. To make it clear, the logic behind Trump’s attack is scientifically unfounded. He refers to a statement of Fauci he made some months ago, according to which people should “not wear face masks.”. But even if all Americans had followed this advice, it would not have lead to a single extra death. The simple reason is that the COVID-19 death rate data show unambiguously that a viral cause for the…
High fat or ‘ketogenic’ diets could prevent, reverse heart failure
Research from Saint Louis University finds that high fat or “ketogenic” diets could completely prevent, or even reverse heart failure caused by a metabolic process. The research team, led by Kyle S. McCommis, Ph.D., assistant professor in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at SLU, looked at a metabolic process that seems to be turned down in failing human hearts. In an animal model, drastic heart failure in mice was bypassed by switching to high fat or “ketogenic” diets, which could completely prevent, or even reverse the heart failure.
BEST OF THE WEB: How the MEAN psychologists got us to comply with coronavirus restrictions
Introduction The British public’s widespread compliance with the Government’s draconian diktats has arguably been the most remarkable aspect of the coronavirus crisis. The unprecedented restrictions on our basic freedoms – in the form of lockdowns, travel bans and mandatory mask wearing – have been passively accepted by the large majority of people. Despite the lack of evidence for effectiveness of these extreme measures, and the growing recognition of their negative consequences, it seems most of us continue to submit to the ongoing restrictions on our lives. Why have we witnessed such capitulation? A major contributor to the mass obedience of the British people is likely to have been the activities of government-employed psychologists working as part of the ‘Behavioural Insights Team’ (BIT). After outlining the structure and stated remit of the BIT, I will describe the strategies deployed by this group of psychological specialists to shape our behaviours in line with the…
South Sudan confirms outbreak of vaccine-derived polio
Health officials in South Sudan on Thursday confirmed a new outbreak of polio, just months after declaring the wild version of the deadly virus eradicated in Africa’s youngest country. The health ministry said 15 cases of vaccine-derived polio – a form of the illness which occurs in rare incidents when the weakened virus in the vaccine mutates – had been identified in the country’s northwest. “Yes, there is an outbreak of vaccine-derived polio, and the Ministry of Health and its partners are working on it, and I think it is under control,” the ministry’s director general for preventative health services, Dr John Pasquale Romunu, told reporters. “It has affected quite a number of counties and states.” On August 25, South Sudan was among four African nations to receive confirmation that wild poliovirus had been eradicated within their borders – allowing the World Health Organization (WHO) to declare the entire continent free of the crippling disease. It was just the second time a…
‘COVID social distancing and isolation’: Youth suicides shoot up nearly 90% in Wisconsin’s second largest county
Suicides have increased by nearly 90% among youths in Wisconsin’s second-largest county when compared to last year. “When people are lonely, it’s really hard to cope,” Director of Emergency Services at Journey Mental Health Center, Hannah Flanagan, said. “The specificity about COVID social distancing and isolation that we’ve come across as contributing factors to the suicides are really new to us this year.” There have been 15 suicides among people under the age of 24 in Dane County as of mid-September. The county saw eight suicides among that age group in all of 2019, with the five-year average of suicides sitting at 10.
Scientists worry as more Americans say they’ll refuse COVID-19 vaccine
Tara Granger, 36, has worked as a nurse for two decades in Suffolk County, NY, and she and her two children have been vaccinated every year. “Drugs are my life,” she says. “It’s what I learned in school.” But she’s been questioning the promised upcoming vaccine for COVID-19, in large part because of what she’s witnessed firsthand about the financial incentives for vaccines. “It scares me that I got so many free lunches and free dinners because I pushed the flu vaccine,” Granger says. “What am I going to get when I push a COVID vaccine?” Granger got sick from the coronavirus earlier this summer and said she did “the opposite of what people said to do. I took my supplements and vitamins, and didn’t go to the hospital to be put on a ventilator and die. I was smart enough to say, ‘My immune system can fight this, I just have to find the right way to do it.’ ” Her job will require her to recommend the COVID vaccine when it’s available, but Granger said she won’t personally be getting…
The healthcare system isn’t interested in anything other than Covid… not even lung cancer
A new report has shown how people with lung cancer may have been misdiagnosed as coronavirus sufferers, which is already contributing to avoidable deaths. The obsession with Covid-19 is beginning to take its toll. The UK’s deadliest cancer, which kills around 35,300 people annually, may be in for a record-breaking year. And it is all thanks to lockdowns. As we know all too well, when it comes to cancer, early intervention is everything. With lung cancer, a delay of just 40 days to a surgery can cause a 16 percent increase in mortality, and three months can be the difference between a treatment and a death sentence. Now, a report by the UK Lung Cancer Coalition has lifted the lid on a scandal bubbling in the NHS: the appalling toll that government coronavirus rules are taking on lung cancer patients. Lung cancer referrals fell by 75 percent in spring. At least one third of patients with lung cancer have already died since the outbreak began. And according to Professor David Baldwin,…