SUBJ: The FDA as we’ve known it is finished
SUBtitle: Chronic migraine (CM) is relieved by Botox injections
Not all who wander are lost – country western lyrics
“…conveying along with him his jumbled cloud of thoughts whose self-protective and self-adjusting chemistry is known as mental health” – Iris Murdoch
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SHORT NOTES:
1..The FDA as we’ve known it is finished.
2..Chronic migraine (CM) is relieved by Botox injections.
3..Parkinson’s disease is related to neuroinflammation.
4..Exercise naturally reduces inflammation, including in the brain.
5..Medicare Part B covers acupuncture for the treatment of chronic low back pain.
6..We should seriously consider an initiative in the USA that would help to facilitate bringing the health care community into the 21st century.
7..The USA spent an estimated $12,742 per person on healthcare or, the highest per capita cost among similar countries.
8..Wealthy OECD countries averaged $6,850 per person.
9..27% decline in cavities among adults and 30% cavity reduction among children from fluoridation of water.
10..The Ugly – The increasing disregard for science as the backbone of American medicine!!
11..Higher adherence to healthy dietary patterns was associated with greater odds of healthy aging.
12..Caloric restriction still holds the crown as the very first and arguably still the most effective intervention.
13..The soft tissue degrades-Nucleus pulposus cells maintain the discs in the spine.
14..Communing with nature has well-known positive emotional and psychic effects that help regulate mood and even improve physical health.
15..Thirteen anti-aging startups on a mission to extend lives.
LONG NOTES:
“The FDA as we’ve known it is finished…I think it’s a waste of time to try to think of the FDA the way it was, and now we turn our attention to construct an FDA which is going to get the job done. For an administrative that proclaimed radical transparency, I haven’t seen transparency. No one I can find knows what to expect at this point.” Robert Califf, MD – Former Head of the US Food and Drug Administration in comments on social media
Chronic migraine (CM) is a severely disabling neurological condition characterized by episodes of pulsating unilateral or bilateral headache. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved onabotulinumtoxinA (Botox®) for the prophylactic treatment of CM in 2010.
Parkinson’s disease is characterized by Lewy bodies and the loss of dopaminergic neurons [1]. Recent work has found that this degeneration is related to neuroinflammation: the increase of microglial activity and inflammatory compounds within the brain [2]. The accumulated α-synuclein in the hippocampus has been found to be a key driver of this inflammation, and reducing neuroinflammation slows the rate of deterioriation [3], suggesting that treatments that suppress this process may be at least somewhat effective in treating the symptoms of Parkinson’s. Previous work has found that exercise naturally reduces inflammation, including in the brain, and that it may be effective against Parkinson’s disease symptoms [4]. Deriving plasma from exercising rodents, and injecting it into rodents suffering from Parkinson’s symptoms, has also been previously found to have beneficial effects [5].
Medicare Part B covers acupuncture for the treatment of chronic low back pain.
From Kevin Fickenscher: Health Care’s MASSIVE Project – I am proposing that we seriously consider an initiative in the USA that would help to facilitate bringing the health care community into the 21st century. I call it: Health Care’s Make America Strategically Strong In Virtual Execution Project or, Health Care’s MASSIVE Project. What does it entail? Well, for starters, we need to start educating our providers – of all stripes and types from physicians, to nurses, to pharmacists and anybody else involved in care delivery – on the basics of digital health. Yet, in today’s world, ALL – and I emphasize “all” of our next-generation studies are not provided foundational training in digital health…studies completed in 2022 by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. The findings noted that the USA spent an estimated $12,742 per person on healthcare or, the highest per capita cost among similar countries. For example, the wealthy OECD countries averaged $6,850 per person according to studies by the same Foundation. The reason? Basically, it comes down to higher prices for pharmaceuticals, hospital services, medical procedures (e.g. MRIs, CTs, etc.), and administrative costs…A new study published Diabetes Care and reported in Healio notes that “…diabetes mortality declined in the USA by 32.1%” over the course of two decades from 2000 to 2019. Furthermore, the decreases were noted among all racial and ethnic groups and in most U.S. counties. ..Fluoridation of water: You can examine the issue yourself by checking out a review of studies on the topic. At the same time, you need to consider the impact on dental caries. A comprehensive review of the effect of fluoridated water published in 2007 reported a 27% decline in cavities among adults and a 2018 study found 30% cavity reduction among children. .. The Ugly – The increasing disregard for science as the backbone of American medicine!!
You are what you eat – The researchers concluded that “higher adherence to all dietary patterns was associated with greater odds of healthy aging.” However, there were differences between dietary patterns. The strongest association between healthy aging and diet was observed for the Alternative Healthy Eating Index (AHEI), followed by the reverse empirically dietary inflammatory pattern (EDIP),, while the association for the healthful plant-based diet was the weakest.
Fasting and the immune system-Decades after the modern field of geroscience was born, caloric restriction still holds the crown as the very first and arguably still the most effective intervention. While fasting, a form of caloric restriction, offers numerous benefits [2], there are also many caveats and the practice should be undertaken with caution. For instance, several recent studies tie intermittent fasting to a higher risk of cardiovascular mortality [3]. By showing how the brain exerts top-down control over immune cells, we can further explore when and how fasting might deliver health benefits. It also opens up potential ways to treat infectious, inflammatory, metabolic, and psychiatric conditions.
The soft tissue degrades-Nucleus pulposus cells, which maintain the discs in the spine [1], are prone to the same age-related deterioration that other cells are. They become senescent, losing the ability to renew themselves [2], and they fail to perform their fundamental functions of extracellular matrix maintenance, thus leading to disc shrinkage and many of the back problems that people experience as they age.
We have reported on studies in this space, including a recent study that focused on targeting a specific pathway to fight senescence and restore function. These researchers, however, took an entirely different approach, using epigenetic reprogramming in an attempt to restore these cells to a youthful state. These researchers chose exosomes, intercellular signaling molecules that researchers frequently derive from youthful cells in order to benefit older tissues [4]. Instead of simply containing the common signals sent by youthful cells; however, they contained a plasmid that codes for OSK.
Every weekend, Louise and I visit Forest Park here in Portland, the largest wild area within a city in the world, with 5,200 acres and over 80 miles of trails. There are some pretty steep climbs and we try to get seriously out of breath. Not only is it good exercise and a nice opportunity to get away from our electronics and just talk with each other, but communing with nature has well-known positive emotional and psychic effects that help regulate mood and even improve physical health.
13 anti-aging startups on a mission to extend lives
