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Recently Discovered Bioactive Compounds Can Kill Drug-Resistant Bacteria

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Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo
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Recently Discovered Bioactive Compounds Can Kill Drug-Resistant Bacteria
Clostridium difficile Bacteria

Researchers discovered new compounds in marine sponges that were capable of killing antibiotic-resistant bacteria.


Brazilian scientists discovered several compounds in a marine sponge from Fernando de Noronha, an island off the coast of the Northeast, that killed antibiotic-resistant bacteria.

Researchers at the University of So Paulo (USP) in So Carlos, Brazil, have identified a variety of bioactive substances in a marine sponge that was found on Fernando de Noronha, an island located about 400 km off the northeastern coast of Brazil. Some of the substances were able to kill bacteria that are resistant to current antibiotics, opening the door for the creation of new medications.


The study was funded by FAPSEP and its findings were published in the Journal of Natural Products.

“This marine sponge had been studied previously by groups outside Brazil, mainly in the 1990s. We used next-generation techniques to analyze substances from their secondary metabolism, look for new molecules, and test their biological activity. We were able to describe a number of novel compounds. The main potential detected was against drug-resistant bacteria,” said Vítor Freire, who conducted the study as part of his Ph.D. research at the São Carlos Institute of Chemistry (IQSC-USP).

Marine Sponge Antibiotics

Several substances that killed antibiotic-resistant bacteria were found by Brazilian researchers in a marine sponge native to Fernando de Noronha, an archipelago off the coast of the Northeast. Credit: Eduardo Hajdu/Museu Nacional/UFRJ


The World Health Organization (WHO) views antibiotic resistance as a serious worldwide public health issue. An analysis commissioned by the British government and released in 2016 predicted that in 2050, there would be 10 million drug-resistant bacterial infection-related fatalities annually. Therefore, it is crucial to develop new, powerful antibiotics.

Agelas dispar, a species endemic to the Caribbean and a portion of the Brazilian coast, is the marine sponge that was the subject of the study’s analysis. Marine sponges spend their whole lives attached to reefs or the ocean floor and are some of the oldest animals on Earth. They have evolved a sophisticated metabolism during millions of years of evolution, generating substances needed for competition with other invertebrates and defense against dangerous bacteria.

The substances with the most therapeutic potential identified in the study were three different types of ageliferin, named after the marine sponge genus Agelas.

“Another important factor is the ability of sponges to store symbiont microorganisms, which also help them defend themselves. When we analyze compounds found in sponges, we don’t always know what’s been produced by them and what comes from symbionts,” said Roberto Berlinck, a professor at IQSC-USP and principal investigator for the study.


The research was conducted as part of two projects led by Berlinck and supported by FAPESP.

The trials involving bacteria were performed at Adolpho Lutz Institute (IAL), the reference laboratory for epidemiological surveillance in São Paulo state, and led by André Gustavo Tempone, a researcher also supported by FAPESP.

Tumors and bacteria

Thirteen compounds were tested on an ovarian cancer cell line known as OVCAR3 but were not found to be biologically active. Other research groups that tested ageliferins on lung, colon and breast cancer cells did not observe anti-tumor action, and one had no effect on lymphoma cells. However, three ageliferins eliminated drug-resistant bacteria Escherichia coli and Enterococcus faecalis, which are extremely common and found in various environments as well as the human body; and Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, listed by WHO as priority targets for novel antibiotics and among the bacteria responsible for most hospital-acquired infections.

The researchers wanted to know whether the use of these ageliferins could lead to the destruction of red blood cells (hemolysis) in the intestines, a potentially lethal side effect often seen in patients undergoing chemotherapy who need antibiotics. In murine cells, the compounds did not cause this kind of damage, suggesting promising drug development potential.

The next step is to analyze other marine sponges using the same methodology. “Finding out how these substances are produced is extremely important as they’re distributed by several classes of sponge and could help treat diseases in the future,” said Freire, currently a postdoctoral researcher at the National Cancer Institute in the United States.

Reference: “Feature-Based Molecular Networking Discovery of Bromopyrrole Alkaloids from the Marine Sponge Agelas dispar” by Vítor F. Freire, Juliana R. Gubiani, Tara M. Spencer, Eduardo Hajdu, Antonio G. Ferreira, Dayana A. S. Ferreira, Erica V. de Castro Levatti, Joanna E. Burdette, Carlos Henrique Camargo, Andre G. Tempone and Roberto G. S. Berlinck, 15 April 2022, Journal of Natural Products.
DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.2c00094

The study was funded by the São Paulo Research Foundation.


Mysterious Interstellar Plasma Revealed by Twinkling Pulsars

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OzGrav
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Mysterious Interstellar Plasma Revealed by Twinkling Pulsars
Pulsar Artist's Illustration

Artist’s illustration of a pulsar. Credit: Carl Knox, OzGrav-Swinburne University


Occasionally pulsars—rapidly-spinning remnants of stars that flash like a lighthouse—show extreme variations in brightness. Astrophysicists predict that these short bursts of brightness occur because dense regions of interstellar plasma (the hot gas between stars) scatter the radio waves emitted by the pulsar. However, we still don’t know where the energy sources required to form and sustain these dense plasma regions come from. To better understand these interstellar formations, more detailed observations of their small-scale structure are required. A promising avenue for this is in the scintillation, or “twinkling,” of pulsars.

When a pulsar’s radio waves are scattered by the interstellar plasma, the separate waves interfere and create an interference pattern on the Earth. As the Earth, pulsar, and plasma move relative to each other, this pattern is observed as brightness variations in time and in frequency: the dynamic spectrum. This is scintillation, or “twinkling.” The scattering and twinkling occurs in small regions of the plasma thanks to the point-like nature of pulsar signals. Following specialized signal processing of the dynamic spectrum, we can observe vivid parabolic features known as scintillation arcs that are related to the image of the pulsar’s scattered radiation on the sky.


One particular pulsar, called J1603-7202, underwent extreme scattering in 2006. This makes it an exciting target for examining these dense plasma regions. However, the pulsar’s trajectory still hasn’t been determined as it orbits another compact star called a white dwarf in a face-on orbit, and astronomers don’t have alternative methods to measure it in this situation. Fortunately, scintillation arcs serve a double purpose: their curvatures are related to the pulsar’s velocity, as well as the distance to the pulsar and the plasma. How the pulsar’s velocity changes as it orbits depends on the orbit’s orientation in space. Therefore, in the case of pulsar J1603-7202, we calculated the changes in the curvature of the arcs over time to determine the orientation.

The measurements we obtained for the orbit of pulsar J1603-7202 are a significant improvement compared to previous analyses. This demonstrates the viability of scintillation in supplementing alternative methods. We measured the distance to the plasma and showed that it was about three-quarters of the distance to the pulsar, from Earth. This does not seem to coincide with the positions of any known stars or interstellar gas clouds. Pulsar scintillation studies often explore structures such as this, which are otherwise invisible. The question, therefore, remains open: what is the source of the plasma that scatters the pulsar’s radiation?

Finally, using our orbit measurement, we are able to estimate the mass of J1603-7202’s orbital companion. It was calculated to be about half the mass of the Sun. When considered alongside the highly circular orbit of J160-7202, this implies the companion is likely a stellar remnant composed of carbon and oxygen — a rarer find around a pulsar than the more common helium-based remnants.


As we now possess a near-complete model of the orbit, it’s currently possible to transform scintillation observations of J1603-7202 into on-sky scattered images and map the interstellar plasma at Solar System scales. Creating images of the physical structures that cause extreme scattering of radio waves may give us a better understanding of how such dense regions form and of the role the interstellar plasma plays in the evolution of galaxies.

Written by PhD student Kris Walker (ICRAR-UWA) and Dr. Daniel Reardon (OzGrav-Swinburne University).

Reference: “Orbital Dynamics and Extreme Scattering Event Properties from Long-term Scintillation Observations of PSR J1603−7202” by Kris Walker, Daniel J. Reardon, Eric Thrane and Rory Smith, 28 June 2022, The Astrophysical Journal.
DOI: 10.3847/1538-4357/ac69c6

“Redlining” Linked to an Increased Risk of Heart Disease

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Guest Author
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“Redlining” Linked to an Increased Risk of Heart Disease
Heart Rate Disease Concept

The most common kind of heart disease in the US is coronary artery disease (CAD), which can result in a heart attack.


Discriminatory housing policies from the past may still have an impact on heart disease risk factors and outcomes today.

More than 60 years after they were outlawed, the historical discriminatory housing practices known as “redlining” are still connected to heart disease and related risk factors in the affected districts, according to a study recently published in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology. Health disparities have been related to a number of socioeconomic, environmental, and social variables. This research adds to the increasing body of evidence demonstrating the long-term cardiovascular impacts disparities may have on vulnerable groups.

The phrase “redlining” is used to refer to a variety of discriminatory housing practices. Its roots are in a government program from the 1930s when the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation produced maps of over 200 American towns with ratings based on racial/ethnic mix, housing conditions, and local surroundings.


The graded locations were color-coded as A (“best” or green), B (“still desirable” or blue), C (“definitely declining” or yellow), and D (“hazardous” or red) depending on the potential lending risk. The areas with a D-rating were referred to as “redlined” areas. Despite the fact that these housing practices were prohibited in the 1960s, throughout the course of the last century, their consequences and other forms of discrimination have persisted to shape social and environmental structures, worsening health inequities.

“We already know historic redlining has been linked with modern-day health inequities in major urban areas, including asthma, certain types of cancer, preterm birth, mental health, and other chronic diseases,” said Sadeer Al-Kindi, MD, a cardiologist at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute and Assistant Professor of Medicine at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland and a senior author on the study. “While ours is the first study to examine the national relationship between redlined neighborhoods and cardiovascular diseases, it’s logical that many of the socioeconomic, environmental, and social impacts of redlining on other areas of residents’ health outcomes would also be seen in heart disease.”

A previous study demonstrated that Black adults living in historically redlined areas had a lower cardiovascular health score than Black adults living in A-graded neighborhoods. The current study supports this finding and extends the demonstrated health inequality nationally, showing that redlining not only affects coronary artery disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease but also is associated with an increased risk of comorbidities and a lack of access to appropriate medical care.


The researchers used original Home Owners’ Loan Corporation (HOLC) graded data and calculated the percentage of intersection between each graded neighborhood boundary and the 2020 U.S. Census tract boundaries. They excluded any census tracts with less than 20% total area of intersection. The researchers used the graded intersections to generate a scale using their corresponding HOLC numeric scores (1-4 corresponding to A-D) and created a score that was transformed back into one of four categories: A (1), B (2), C (3) and D (4). The study defined redlined neighborhoods as D-graded census tracts and non-redlined neighborhoods as A- through C-graded census tracts.

The CDC PLACES database, which reports the prevalence estimates of census tract level health indicators, as well as census-tract level exposure of particulate matter and Diesel particulate matter from the Environmental Protection Agency’s 2021 environmental justice tool, were used to calculate potential environmental confounders. Other outcome variables and assessments used included: markers of health care access, cardiometabolic risk factors, and cardiometabolic outcomes. The researchers then linked HOLC-graded census tracts with the prevalence of cardiometabolic indicators and calculated the average of each indicator across census tracts in each HOLC grade.

More than 11,000 HOLC-graded census tracts were included, comprising over 38.5 million inhabitants. The A-graded areas covered 7.1%, B-graded areas covered 19.4%, C-graded areas covered 42% and D-graded areas covered 31.5% of census tracts. The percentage of Black and Hispanic residents increased across HOLC grades (A-D, respectively). Across HOLC grades A through D, the researchers found statistically significant increases in the prevalence of coronary artery disease, stroke, and chronic kidney disease.

“We found neighborhoods with so-called better HOLC grades had higher cholesterol screening and routine health visits when compared to neighborhoods with worse HOLC grades. And the prevalence of adults 18 to 64 years old without health insurance nearly doubled from A through D-graded areas,” said Issam Motairek, MD, lead author of the study and a clinical research associate at University Hospitals Harrington Heart & Vascular Institute in Cleveland. “In each stepwise increase across the HOLC grading spectrum, from A to D, we also observed an overall increase in rates of diabetes, obesity, hypertension, and smoking.”


According to the researchers, the association between redlining and the prevalence of cardiometabolic conditions further illustrates that historic redlining practices may impact contemporary cardiovascular outcomes by traditional and non-traditional risk factors. Residents of redlined neighborhoods, particularly minorities, are known to have lower access to public transportation, health care insurance, and healthy food choices, which increases their risk for missed prevention and adverse health outcomes.

Disparities in environmental exposures and in socioeconomic attributes may help explain the poor health outcomes in redlined neighborhoods, which are often situated next to major sources of pollution and make residents more likely to experience the detrimental health effects of disproportionately higher exposure to air pollution, less green space and other environmental toxins. Residents of redlined neighborhoods also experience financial strain, dismantled communities, and racial discrimination which may lead to increased stress and associated adverse health events.

Study limitations include self-reported health outcomes in the CDC PLACES database, which may be mischaracterized. The study was also unable to measure confounders such as behavioral and genetic factors. The definition of redlining census tract boundaries has also not been standardized across studies.

Reference: “Historical Neighborhood Redlining and Contemporary Cardiometabolic Risk” by Issam Motairek, Eun Kyung Lee, Scott Janus, Michael Farkouh, Darcy Freedman, Jackson Wright, Khurram Nasir, Sanjay Rajagopalan and Sadeer Al-Kindi, 4 July 2022, Journal of the American College of Cardiology.
DOI: 10.1016/j.jacc.2022.05.010


Harvard Researchers Have Linked Spirituality to Healthier Lives and Longer Lifespans

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SciTechDaily.com
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Harvard Researchers Have Linked Spirituality to Healthier Lives and Longer Lifespans
The researchers believe that spirituality should be incorporated into the care of patients.

Spirituality is associated with improved health outcomes and patient care.

According to a study conducted by experts from Harvard School Of Public Health and Brigham and Women’s Hospital, spirituality should be incorporated into care for both severe disease and general health.

“This study represents the most rigorous and comprehensive systematic analysis of the modern-day literature regarding health and spirituality to date,” said Tracy Balboni, lead author and senior physician at the Dana-Farber/Brigham and Women’s Cancer Center and professor of radiation oncology at Harvard Medical School. “Our findings indicate that attention to spirituality in serious illness and in health should be a vital part of future whole person-centered care, and the results should stimulate more national discussion and progress on how spirituality can be incorporated into this type of value-sensitive care.”

“Focusing on spirituality in health care means caring for the whole person, not just their disease.”

“Spirituality is important to many patients as they think about their health,” said Tyler VanderWeele, the John L. Loeb and Frances Lehman Loeb Professor of Epidemiology in the Departments of Epidemiology and Biostatistics at Harvard Chan School.

The study, which was co-authored by Balboni, VanderWeele, and senior author Howard Koh, the Harvey V. Fineberg Professor of the Practice of Public Health Leadership at Harvard Chan School, was recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Balboni, VanderWeele, and Koh are also co-chairs of the Interfaculty Initiative on Health, Spirituality, and Religion at Harvard University.

Spirituality is defined as “the way individuals seek ultimate meaning, purpose, connection, value, or transcendence,” according to the International Consensus Conference on Spiritual Care in Health Care. This might involve organized religion, but it also includes means of discovering ultimate meaning through connections with family, community, or nature.

Balboni, VanderWeele, Koh, and colleagues evaluated and assessed the highest-quality data on spirituality in severe illness and health published between January 2000 and April 2022 in their analysis. 371 of the 8,946 publications dealing with serious illness fulfilled the study’s tight inclusion requirements, as did 215 of the 6,485 articles regarding health outcomes.

A Delphi panel, an organized, interdisciplinary group of experts, then assessed the strongest collective evidence and produced consensus implications for health and health care.

They noted that for healthy people, spiritual community participation–as exemplified by religious service attendance – is associated with healthier lives, including greater longevity, less depression and suicide, and less substance use. For many patients, spirituality is important and influences key outcomes in illness, such as quality of life and medical care decisions. Consensus implications included incorporating considerations of spirituality as part of patient-centered health care and increasing awareness among clinicians and health professionals about the protective benefits of spiritual community participation.

Read the end of article

Reference: “Spirituality in Serious Illness and Health” by Tracy A. Balboni, MD, MPH, Tyler J. VanderWeele, Ph.D., Stephanie D. Doan-Soares, DrPH, Katelyn N. G. Long, DrPH, MSc, Betty R. Ferrell, Ph.D., RN, George Fitchett, DMin, Ph.D., Harold G. Koenig, MD, MHSc, Paul A. Bain, Ph.D., MLS, Christina Puchalski, MD, MS, Karen E. Steinhauser, Ph.D., Daniel P. Sulmasy, MD, Ph.D. and Howard K. Koh, MD, MPH, 12 July 2022, Journal of the American Medical Association.
DOI: 10.1001/jama.2022.11086
The study was funded by the John Templeton Foundation.

Is America a Christian Nation?

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WRN Editorial Staff
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Is America a Christian Nation?
And Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” – Mark 12:17

Just before his crucifixion, Jesus bade farewell to his disciples, telling them, “My joy I leave with you.” (John 15:11) There was something different about the early Christians—a tranquility and certainty that was apparent to the outsider. One of the earliest observations made by a nonbeliever was, “See how these Christians love one another.”  

The early Christians not only loved one another and believed everyone equal in the eyes of God, but lived that way as well. They were cheerful in the face of adversity and imminent torture for they had no fear of death, no guilt, no regret. The early Christians set the example for all succeeding generations of Christians and Christianity as a great-hearted, inclusive, giving religion, its people generous, loving, humble and forgiving. And so it continues to this very day.

But a shadow of unseemly pride has darkened some corners of this religion of selflessness and joy. It manifests itself in the idea that ours is and should be a “Christian nation.”

Between 164 and 169 million American adults identify as Christian or roughly 65% of the population.  It’s down 12% from the figure a decade earlier but is still a decided majority. Does a majority of Christians make for a “Christian Nation?”

In another survey, 40% of Americans believe that God has granted America a special place in history.  36% believe that America is a Christian nation. And 25% would prefer that the U.S. be primarily made up of people of the Christian faith.  Does a widespread belief that ours is a Christian nation endowed by God with its own special destiny make for a Christian nation?

A long-dormant but emerging force is the “Christian Nationalist.”  As America becomes more diverse, as minority religions and those who no longer identify with a religion increase in numbers, so do the volume and boldness of the Christian Nationalist faction of American faith and politics, which bears as much resemblance to actual Christianity as a sword does to a plowshare or a spear to a pruning hook.

The Christian Nationalist profiles almost invariably as white and professing to believe in the First Amendment tenet of freedom of religion—as long as Christians come first in line for that freedom, with other religions given their obligatory nod but directed to the back. 

A Christian Nationalist may or may not identify as such (it is, after all, a relatively new term) but subscribes to a specific national and cultural template that involves first and foremost the words “America” and “Christian” to be synonymous or at least uttered in the same breath. As a Christian nation with a Christian template, certain things would need to be adjusted to fit into the paradigm. These would include history—as taught it would mandate a Christian-based curriculum predicated on God’s special relationship with America; immigration—with surgically precise restrictions on certain religions and ethnicities in order to ensure that diversity is nipped before it can get out of hand; and a redefinition and enforcement of moral codes, including stiff penalties for same-gender sex, premarital sex and other behaviors considered immoral.  Some Christian nationalists have agitated for a Constitutional amendment to recognize America’s Christian heritage and ethos. This ethos, given the distinctly white composition of avowed Christian Nationalists, would necessarily exclude or reduce to the status of lower caste citizens such as Black Americans, Asian Pacific Americans, Native Americans and others considered to be of a race other than white, a bin encompassing Muslims, Sikhs and yes, Jews.

Several prominent politicians have called for a raising of the flag to Christian Nationalism. One member of Congress has said, “We need to be the party of nationalism, and I’m a Christian and I say it proudly, we should be Christian nationalists.”  Another said, “The church is supposed to direct the government, the government is not supposed to direct the church. That is not how our founding fathers intended it. And I’m tired of this separation of church and state junk that’s not in the Constitution.”  And a former National Security Advisor thundered at a Texas church to rapturous ovations, “If we are going to have one nation under God, which we must, we have to have one religion. One nation under God, and one religion under God.”

One may contrast the heatedly exclusive and decidedly political rhetoric of the Christian Nationalist movement with that of Christianity itself, its loving kindness, its willingness to sacrifice and its love of one’s neighbor as exemplified by the Christian pursuit of the abolition of slavery in the past and its pursuit of justice—racial equality, the rule of law, and the application of principle over power, creed over culture, humbleness over heritage—in the present.

The Christian Nationalist sees America becoming more America—which is to say more diverse, more multifarious, more varied in faiths, colors, and moral centers—and feels the utmost pangs of personal threat. The patchwork quilt must be torn apart, believes the Christian Nationalist. The mosaic must be shattered. The rainbow must be bleached white.

Both the American Christian and the American Christian Nationalist profess to be motivated by love, and while there is truth to that, the difference is that whereas the American Christian Nationalist loves America, the American Christian simply loves Americans.

(Image CC BY 2.0)

MCT Oil Benefits and Side Effects – According to Science

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SciTechDaily.com
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MCT Oil Benefits and Side Effects – According to Science

MCT Oil


You may have heard of MCT oil, a relatively new supplement that takes the form of a colorless oil. MCT oil isn’t just a passing health trend, but a proven benefit to brain and gut health. MCT stands for medium-chain triglycerides, which are one of the easiest types of fat to digest and break down for fuel. Besides fueling the body and brain, there are several other benefits of MCTs to know about, as well as potential side effects.

What Are Medium-Chain Triglycerides?

When you think of triglycerides, you probably think of high cholesterol and heart disease. But triglycerides are a type of fat — in fact, they’re the most abundant type of fat found in your body. There are short-, medium-, and long-chain triglycerides, and your body uses all of them for fuel.

Medium-Chain Triglycerides (MCTs) are a tasteless oil isolated and extracted from coconuts and palm kernels. There are four types of MCTs, known as C6, C8, C10, and C12. These represent the various fatty acids containing a medium-length carbon chain of 6 to 12 atoms. You can take MCT oil daily, but you may experience side effects when you start taking it.

Coconut MCT Oil

Benefits of Medium-Chain Triglycerides

Research suggests that MCTs can improve mental clarity, help with weight management, lower cholesterol levels, and protect brain health.

Boosts Mental Clarity

MCTs penetrate the blood-brain barrier, which controls the molecules let into the brain. Since they don’t need to be broken down, MCTs provide an instant source of energy for your brain that is healthier than glucose. In fact, MCTs don’t have the same “brain fog” effect that often follows eating sugary foods. If you’re trying to avoid simple carbohydrates, MCTs can keep your brain and body running while preventing sugar cravings.

Protects Brain Health

The brain’s ability to derive energy from glucose declines with age, leading to neurodegeneration and cognitive decline. MCT oil can protect your memory and cognitive function as you age. It provides all the energy brain cells require, and research suggests it can improve cognitive performance at any age.[1]

Reduces Your Heart Disease Risk and Promotes Fat Burning

Like many healthy fats, MCTs are good for your heart. They’re shown to have powerful anti-inflammatory properties and improve fat metabolism.[2]

Research shows supplementing with MCT oil daily can melt 1.1 pounds every three weeks.[3] MCTs increase fat oxidation, which means you burn more calories at the same time. MCTs also induce thermogenesis, which causes you to expend more energy to release body heat.

MCT Oil Side Effects and Dosage

MCTs can cause side effects, including flatulence, diarrhea, stomach pain, and bloating. If you haven’t taken MCT oil before, start with no more with a teaspoon in a day. Build up to no more than three or four teaspoons per day. If you experience any gastrointestinal problems like cramping or nausea, reduce your dose.

How Do You Take MCT Oil?

It’s easy to add MCT oil to your routine by putting it in your morning coffee, smoothie, cereal, yogurt, or oatmeal. You can even take it by itself. MCT oil is tasteless but has an oily consistency.

MCT Oil Summary

You can find MCT oil at health food shops. The only ingredient listed for an MCT oil product should be 100% medium-chain triglycerides. Some MCT supplements list the types of MCTs in the ingredients, such as C8 or C12. According to research, C6, C8, and C10 offer the most benefits.[4] Keep in mind that MCT oil is a source of calories and not a magic pill for weight loss. You still need to exercise and burn more calories than you expend to lose weight.

References:

  1. “The effects of medium chain triglyceride (MCT) supplementation using a C8:C10 ratio of 30:70 on cognitive performance in healthy young adults” by Jake S. Ashton, James W. Roberts, Caroline J. Wakefield, Richard M. Page, Don P.M. MacLaren, Simon Marwood and James J. Malone, 18 November 2020, Physiology & Behavior.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2020.113252
  2. “Medium Chain Triglyceride (MCT) Oil Affects the Immunophenotype via Reprogramming of Mitochondrial Respiration in Murine Macrophages” by Seungmin Yu, Gwang-woong Go and Wooki Kim, 5 November 2019, Foods.
    DOI: 10.3390/foods8110553
  3. “Effects of Medium-Chain Triglycerides on Weight Loss and Body Composition: A Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials” by Karen Mumme, PGDipSc and Welma Stonehouse, PhD, 1 February 2015, Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jand.2014.10.022
  4. “Medium-Chain Triglycerides and Health” by Volpe, Stella Lucia Ph.D., RDN, FACSM, ACSM-CEP, 2020, ACSM’s Health & Fitness Journal.
    DOI: 10.1249/FIT.0000000000000537


WHO recommends two new lifesaving medicines to treat Ebola

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officialinstitutions
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WHO recommends two new lifesaving medicines to treat Ebola
The World Health Organization (WHO) has called for countries to improve access to two lifesaving Ebola medicines, in its first guidelines on the viral disease, published on Friday. 
The recommendation follows review and analysis of clinical trials for the  monoclonal antibodies mAb114 (known as Ansuvimab or Ebanga) and REGN-EB3 (Inmazeb), which have demonstrated clear benefits for people who have tested positive for Ebola, which is often fatal. 

This includes older persons, pregnant and breastfeeding women, children, and newborns whose mothers were confirmed to have Ebola within the first seven days after birth. 

Trial by fire 

The clinical trials were conducted during Ebola outbreaks.  WHO said the largest trial was carried out in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, demonstrating that the highest level of scientific rigour can be applied even during Ebola outbreaks in difficult contexts. 

The UN agency also provided recommendations regarding therapeutics that should not be used as treatments, which include ZMapp and remdesivir. 

The new guidance, published simultaneously in English and French, will support healthcare providers caring for Ebola patients as well as policymakers involved in outbreak preparedness and response. 

It complements clinical care guidance that outlines the optimized supportive care that Ebola patients should receive – from the relevant tests to administer, to managing pain, nutrition and co-infections, and other approaches that put patients on the best path to recovery. 

‘Greater chance of recovering’ 

“This therapeutic guide is a critical tool to fight Ebola,” said Dr Richard Kojan, co-chair of the expert group selected by WHO to develop the guidelines, and President of ALIMA, The Alliance for International Medical Action. 

“From now on, people infected with the Ebola virus will have a greater chance of recovering if they seek care as early as possible. As with other infectious diseases, timeliness is key, and people should not hesitate to consult health workers as quickly as possible to ensure they receive the best care possible.” 

Fellow co-chair Dr Robert Fowler from the University of Toronto in Canada noted that Ebola used to be perceived as “a near certain killer,” but advances in care and therapeutics over the past decade have revolutionized treatment of the disease.  

“Provision of best supportive medical care to patients, combined with monoclonal antibody treatment – MAb114 or REGN-EB3 – now leads to recovery for the vast majority of people,” he added. 

Timely access critical 

As access to these treatments remains challenging, especially in poor areas, WHO said they should be available where they are most needed, namely in locations where active Ebola outbreaks are occurring, or where the threat of outbreak is high or very likely.  

The UN agency stands ready to support countries, manufacturers and partners to improve access to the two medicines. 

“We have seen incredible advances in both the quality and safety of clinical care during Ebola outbreaks,” said Dr Janet Diaz, lead of the clinical management unit in WHO’s Health Emergencies programme.  

“Doing the basics well, including early diagnosis, providing optimized supportive care with the evaluation of new therapeutics under clinical trials, has transformed what is possible during Ebola outbreaks. This is what has led to development of a new standard of care for patients. However, timely access to these lifesaving interventions has to be a priority”. 

Ruslan Khalikov: Russia is destroying churches and pluralism in Ukraine

By
Jan Leonid Bornstein
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ruins of the Monastery of the Icon of the Mother of God Quickly-Hearing in the village of Fasova (Kyiv oblast)
ruins of the Monastery of the Icon of the Mother of God Quickly-Hearing in the village of Fasova (Kyiv oblast)

Ruslan Khalikov is an expert in religious studies, a member of the Board of the Ukrainian Association of Researchers of Religion, and he works on a project to document the effects of the war on religious pluralism in Ukraine, either in occupied territories or in the rest of the country. He and his colleagues documented a huge number of destruction of religious sites and buildings since the beginning of the war. We had the opportunity to talk to him briefly and ask him a few questions:

1. Can you describe briefly your research project?

Ruslan Khalikov
Ruslan Khalikov

Our project “Religion on Fire: Documenting Russia’s War Crimes against Religious Communities in Ukraine” was launched as a response to Russia’s full scale invasion of Ukraine. In March 2022 our organization, Workshop for the Academic Study of Religions, initiated the project, and from the very beginning it was supported by the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolitics and Freedom of Conscience and the Congress of Ethnic Communities of Ukraine. Later, the project gained support from the International Center for Law and Religious Studies (USA).

This project aims to record and document the damage suffered by religious buildings as a result of military actions of the Russian army in Ukraine, as well as killing, wounding and abduction of religious leaders of various denominations. During the war, our team has a goal to collect data on war crimes committed by the Russian Federation in Ukraine against religious communities of various denominations. The materials we collect can be used in future studies of the war’s impact on the religious communities of Ukraine, in preparing reports for international organizations, as well as evidence to bring the aggressor to justice.

ruins of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Zagaltsi (Kyiv oblast)
Ruins of St. Nicholas Church in the village of Zagaltsi (Kyiv oblast)

As by now, more than 240 religious buildings were affected by military actions, which we have registered in our database. About 140 of them are Christian Orthodox churches, monasteries, and most of them belong to the UOC (MP). Mosques, synagogues, halls of prayer, kingdom halls, ISKCON ashrams, buildings of other religious minorities are also suffering, and we register them also in the database. We also know about some fifteen cases of religious leaders murdered or killed by shelling, including military chaplains and civil volunteers from religious communities. Some local religious leaders have been abducted by Russian military forces, forced to leave their home and parish on the occupied territories.

2. What is the situation regarding religions in Ukraine during the ongoing war? In free Ukraine? In occupied territories?

The situation is very different, depending on the experience of believers in a particular area. Where the fighting and shelling are ongoing, or in places that were under a short-term occupation, we see an increase in cooperation between different religious organizations, even if before the invasion they treated each other as opponents. For example: between different Christian Orthodox churches, Orthodox and Protestants, Muslims and Christians. The main focus of cooperation is volunteering, humanitarian activities.

Congregations provide shelters to civilians during shelling, deliver humanitarian aid, supply army chaplains to military units (the law on chaplaincy has been fully adopted only this spring), organize blood donation, etc. In places where the fighting front is not so close, and where there is no daily and immediate threat to life, competition continues between religious organizations.

In the newly occupied territories, believers of a number of religious organizations, especially religious minorities, are expected to face restrictions in their practice. Denominations banned in Russia, such as Jehovah’s Witnesses, followers of Said Nursi, Hizb ut-Tahrir, will be also banned as Russian administrations strengthen there.

In the free territories, all religious organizations distance themselves as much as possible from ties with Russian co-believers. Even the Ukrainian Orthodox Church, which previously was in union with the Moscow Patriarchate, held a special Council on May 27 and deleted this connection from its charter.

On the contrary, in the occupied territories, several communities of this church are forced to go under the subordination of the Russian Orthodox Church. Although since 2014 until the current escalation, the communities in both Crimea and CADLR (Certain Areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions) were formally considered as parts of the UOC. Likewise, the Muslim communities of Donetsk and Lugansk regions in the occupied territories entered the sphere of influence of the Russian Council of Muftis and the Spiritual Assembly of Muslims of the Russian Federation, respectively.

3. Do you see an increase in religiously motivated crimes from the Russian part?

From the very beginning of the invasion, and even before it, Russian political and religious leaders, including President Vladimir Putin, Patriarch Kirill Gundyaev, Mufti Talgat Tadzhuddin, Pandito Khambo Lama Damba Ayusheev and others used the religious factor as one of the reasons for the invasion. They accused the Ukrainian side of violating the rights of the UOC, of ​​imposing Western values, and urged to rid the population of Ukraine from “religious oppression”. At the same time, with its invasion, Russia is not only destroying the landscape of religious pluralism in Ukraine, but it also is literally destroying dozens of temples of the UOC (MP), depriving believers of the opportunity to implement their freedom of religion and beliefs. In this sense, there is no growth, the degree of hate is consistently high.

If we talk about the increase in the number of religiously motivated crimes, then we can talk about it, first of all, in the occupied territories, where religious pluralism is declining, minorities are losing the opportunity to freely practice their religion. But even priests of the UOC-MP who are disloyal to the Russian administrations risk ending up in prison, they are periodically called in for interrogations or even kidnapped for a while, they are threatened on social media. If Russia decides to officially annex the captured territories, we can expect that a number of religious communities there will fall under Russian legislation on extremism, as it happened in Crimea. So far, Russian administrations do not feel confident enough to devote much time to religious repressions.

4. Anything you’d like to add?

I’d like to emphasize the need for assistance to Ukrainian religious minorities, as they may not be able to recover on their own after the destruction of religious buildings and the collapse of communities during the war. This will preserve the high level of freedom of religion and beliefs, as well as pluralism that the Russian Federation is trying to destroy. Ukraine also needs help in documentation of the war crimes, because the number of war crimes in general already reaches hundreds of thousands, all investigative bodies work with cases, and civil society is also engaged in documentation, but we need both institutional and resource support from European countries. And last one, please don’t stop raising awareness about the war in Ukraine, including the destruction of religious buildings – nothing has stopped yet, war is ongoing, and only united Europe can help to finish it.

ruins of the st. Andrew Church in the village of Horenka (Kyiv oblast)
Ruins of the st. Andrew Church in the village of Horenka (Kyiv oblast)

Tracking 30 Years of Sea Level Rise Around the World

By
Michael Carlowicz, NASA Earth Observatory
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0
Tracking 30 Years of Sea Level Rise Around the World
Tracking 30 Years of Sea Level Rise

1992 – 2022


Global mean sea level has risen 101 millimeters (3.98 inches) since 1992, and it continues to do so at 3.9 mm (0.15 inches) per year.

A new satellite was launched by scientists and engineers thirty years ago to examine how the waters rise and decrease over time, a job that was previously only possible from the coast. On August 10, 1992, TOPEX/Poseidon launched into orbit and began a 30-year record of ocean surface height all across the globe. The findings have verified what scientists had previously seen from the shorelines: the seas are rising, and the rate is accelerating.


Researchers have found that global mean sea level—shown in the line plot above and below—has risen 10.1 centimeters (3.98 inches) since 1992. Over the past 140 years, satellites and tide gauges together show that global sea level has risen 21 to 24 centimeters (8 to 9 inches).

Beginning with TOPEX/Poseidon, NASA and partner space agencies have flown a continuous series of satellites that use radar altimeters to monitor ocean surface topography. Essentially, the satellites monitor the vertical shape and height of the ocean. Radar altimeters continually emit pulses of radio waves (microwaves), which are reflected back toward the satellite by the ocean’s surface. The instruments calculate the time it takes for the signal to return, while also tracking the precise location of the satellite in space. From this, scientists can calculate the height of the sea surface directly underneath the satellite.

Since 1992, five missions with similar altimeters have repeated the same orbit every 10 days: TOPEX/Poseidon (1992 to 2006), Jason-1 (2001 to 2013), the Ocean Surface Topography Mission/Jason-2 (2008 to 2019), Jason-3 (2016 to present), and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich (2020 to present). The missions were built through various partnerships between NASA, France’s Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT), the European Space Agency (ESA), and the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).


Combined, the mission teams have assembled a unified, standardized ocean topography record that is equivalent to the work of a half-million tide gauges. The researchers accumulated and corroborated a data record that is now long enough and sensitive enough to detect global and regional sea level changes beyond the seasonal, yearly, and decadal cycles that naturally occur.

“With 30 years of data, we can finally see what a huge impact we have on the Earth’s climate,” said Josh Willis, an oceanographer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and NASA’s project scientist for Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. “The rise of sea level caused by human interference with the climate now dwarfs the natural cycles. And it is happening faster and faster every decade.”

The map at the top of this page shows global trends in sea level as observed from 1993 to 2022 by TOPEX/Poseidon, the three Jason missions, and Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich. Note the spatial variations in the rate of sea level rise, with some parts of the ocean rising faster (depicted in red and deep orange) than the global rate. Many of the anomalies reflect long-term shifts in ocean currents and heat distribution.

Global Sea Level Change Since TOPEX/Poseidon Launched 30 Years Ago

1992 – 2022


The altimetry data also show that the rate of sea level rise is accelerating. Over the course of the 20th century, global mean sea level rose at about 1.5 millimeters (0.06 inches) per year. By the early 1990s, it was about 2.5 mm (0.1 inches) per year. Over the past decade, the rate has increased to 3.9 mm (0.15 inches) per year.

In the line plot, the highs and lows each year are caused by the exchange of water between the land and sea. “Winter rain and snowfall in the northern hemisphere shifts water from ocean to land, and it takes some time for this to runoff back into the oceans,” Willis noted. “This effect usually causes about 1 centimeter of rise and fall each year, with a bit more or less during El Niño and La Niña years. It’s literally like the heartbeat of the planet.”

While a few millimeters of sea level rise per year may seem small, scientists estimate that every 2.5 centimeters (1 inch) of sea level rise translates into 2.5 meters (8.5 feet) of beachfront lost along the average coast. It also means that high tides and storm surges can rise even higher, bringing more coastal flooding, even on sunny days. In a report issued in February 2022, U.S. scientists concluded that by 2050 sea level along U.S. coastlines could rise between 25 to 30 centimeters (10 to 12 inches) above today’s levels.

“What stands out from the satellite altimetry record is that the rise over 30 years is about ten times bigger than the natural exchange of water between ocean and land in a year,” Willis said. “In other words, the human-caused rise in global sea level is now ten times bigger than the natural cycles.”

NASA Earth Observatory video and image by Joshua Stevens, using TOPEX/Poseidon data courtesy of Josh Willis/JPL-Caltech.


Grain deal ‘victory for diplomacy,’ UN chief tells journalists in Ukraine

By
United Nations News
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Grain deal ‘victory for diplomacy,’ UN chief tells journalists in Ukraine
UN Photo/Mark Garten - Secretary-General António Guterres (right), Presidents Volodymyr Zelinskyy (center) of Ukraine and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye, brief the journalists at a press conference in Lviv, Ukraine.
Positive momentum on the landmark Black Sea Grain Initiative to help vulnerable people access food reflects “a victory for diplomacy” for those caught in a cost-of-living crisis as well as for Ukraine’s hard-working farmers, UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters on Thursday in Lviv, Ukraine.

Speaking at a press conference alongside Presidents Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Recep Tayyip Erdoğan of Türkiye, he expressed gratitude for the opportunity to visit “again during such a difficult period”. 

Despite that the Black Sea Grain Initiative was signed a few weeks ago, the UN chief reiterated that “there is no solution to the global food crisis without ensuring full global access to Ukraine’s food products and Russian food and fertilizers”.  

Assistance en route

In less than one month, 21 ships have departed from Ukrainian ports and 15 vessels have left Istanbul for Ukraine to load up with grain and other food supplies, recapped Mr. Guterres.  

“As we speak, more than 560,000 metric tons of grain and other food produced by Ukrainian farmers is making its way to markets around the world,” he said, including the first UN-chartered vessel carrying Ukrainian wheat to people suffering in the Horn of Africa from the worst drought in decades. 

Meanwhile, signs have been emerging that global food markets are beginning to stabilize as wheat prices dropped by as much as eight per cent following the signing of the agreements and the FAO Food Price Index by nine per cent in July – the biggest decline since 2008. 

Although most food commodities are currently trading at prices below pre-war levels, they are still very high. 

“Let’s have no illusions – there is a long way to go before this will be translated into the daily life of people at their local bakery and in their markets,” spelled out the top UN official, reminding that “supply chains are still disrupted [and] energy and transportation costs remain unacceptably high”. 

Only the beginning

Noting the rarity and inherent fragility of the agreements, Mr. Guterres upheld that they must be “constantly nurtured”. 

As the Joint Coordination Center (JCC) continues to work professionally and in good faith to keep the food flowing, he appealed that those involved “overcome all obstacles in a spirit of compromise and permanently settle all difficulties”.   

“Getting food and fertilizer out of Ukraine and Russia in larger quantities is crucial to further calm commodity markets and lower prices”, and essential to providing relief to the most vulnerable”.

The UN chief underscored the urgency of reversing the turmoil in the global fertilizer market, which is currently threatening next season’s crops – including a world-wide staple, rice.

Meanwhile, the UN will continue in solidarity with the Ukrainian people and national partners to help provide humanitarian support to people in need “wherever it is required,” he said. 

“We will do our best to scale up our operations to face the difficult the coming winter”.

Problem of war

“The heart of the problem that brings us here remains the war,” reminded the Secretary-General, reiterating that the Russian invasion is “a violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine” and of the UN Charter. 

The war has inflicted innumerous deaths, massive destruction, displacement, and dramatic violations of human rights, he stated, adding that in line with the Charter and international law, “people need peace”. 

UN Photo/Mark Garten

Secretary-General António Guterres (left) meets with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, President of Ukraine, in Lviv, Ukraine.

Nuclear threat  

The top UN official expressed his grave concern over the unfolding situation in and around Europe’s largest nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhia. 

“Common sense must prevail to avoid any actions that might endanger the physical integrity, safety or security of the nuclear plant,” he said, adding that the facility “must not be used as part of any military operation”. 

Mr. Guterres upheld the urgent need for an agreement to “reestablish Zaporizhhia as purely civilian infrastructure” and ensure the safety of the area. 

After making an assessment, with the agreement of both Russia and Ukraine, the UN Secretariat has determined that it can support the Organization’s nuclear overseer, IAEA, in conducting a mission to the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant from Kyiv.  

The UN chief outlined that military equipment and personnel should be withdrawn from the plant, no other forces or equipment should be deployed there and the area must be demilitarized. 

“Any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide,” he underscored.  

POWs 

The Secretary-General also called attention to the investigation of an “unacceptable” incident in an Olenivka detention facility on 29 July when a mysterious explosion tore through a prison housing hundreds of Ukrainian detainees.

“All prisoners of war are protected under International Humanitarian Law,” he reminded, adding that the international Red Cross “must have access to them wherever they are kept”. 

Fact-Finding mission  

Against this backdrop, the UN chief decided to establish a fact-finding mission – the terms of reference of which were shared with Ukraine and Russia along with the make-up of the team, including his intention to appoint General Carlos dos Santos Cruz of Brazil to lead this mission.  

Obtaining the necessary assurances to guarantee secure access to Olenivka and any other relevant locations is currently underway. 

“To put it simply, a fact-finding mission must be free to find the facts. The team must be able to gather and analyze necessary information,” he stated. 

“Above all, that means safe, secure and unfettered access to people, places and evidence without any interference from anybody”. 

In closing, the Secretary-General assured President Zelenskyy of the UN’s support in promoting “human rights, international law and the cause of peace”.

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