Tag Archive: University of California


Testing is already under way in China <i>(Image: Han Suyuan/Color China Photo/APt)</i>

Testing is already under way in China (Image: Han Suyuan/Color China Photo/APt)

New Scientist

THE US government has declared that H7N9 bird flu “poses a significant potential for a public health emergency”, and has given “emergency use authorisation” for diagnostic kits for the virus. This means tests can be used that haven’t gone through the usual lengthy approval process by the US Food and Drug Administration.

They are right to be concerned. H7N9 could be a tough adversary: New Scientist has learned that it provokes a weaker immune response than most flu, making vaccines hard to produce.

Although H7N9 is not, so far, transmissible between humans, it does cause severe disease in people, is easier to catch than other bird flu strains, and may need only a few mutations to go pandemic. The UK has already given doctors instructions on when to test people for H7N9, and how to manage any with the virus.

The US’s emergency authorisation will allow the use of a kit that looks for flu genes using a polymerase chain reaction test, which has been made specific for H7N9. The kit has had preliminary tests but would normally need more exhaustive tests to be approved. Innovative new diagnostics should eventually be authorised too, says Charles Chiu of the University of California in San Francisco.

This kind of fast, high-throughput screening for pandemic flu, possibly at borders, might allow early cases to be treated with antiviral drugs, potentially slowing the spread of the virus while vaccines are made.

The next emergency authorisation is likely to be for immune-stimulating chemicals called adjuvants to put in those vaccines. These were used in vaccines in Europe and Canada during the 2009 pandemic, but adjuvants suitable for flu are not currently approved in the US.

Read Full Article Here

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CDC: Current China Bird Flu Strain Can’t Cause Pandemic

Pedestrians wearing medical masks walk on the street outside National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, April 26, 2013. A 53-year-old Taiwan businessman contracted the H7N9 strain of bird flu while travelling in China, the first reported case outside of mainland China.

Pedestrians wearing medical masks walk on the street outside National Taiwan University Hospital in Taipei, April 26, 2013. A 53-year-old Taiwan businessman contracted the H7N9 strain of bird flu while travelling in China, the first reported case outside of mainland China.

 Reuters

May 06, 2013

NEW YORK — The head of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says the current strain of bird flu that is causing illness and deaths in China cannot spark a pandemic in its current form – but he added that there is no guarantee it will not mutate and cause a serious pandemic.

In an exclusive interview at the Reuters Health Summit in New York, Dr. Thomas Frieden, director of the CDC, said more than 2,000 people have been in contact with infected individuals, and only a handful have become ill.

Virtually all of the rest have had direct contact with poultry, the identified cause of the virus.

FILE - Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, is shown at the agency's headquarters, Sept. 3, 2009.
FILE – Dr. Thomas R. Frieden, is shown at the agency’s headquarters, Sept. 3, 2009.

“This particular virus is not going to cause a pandemic because it doesn’t spread person-to-person,” Frieden said. “But all it takes is a bit of mutation for it be able to go person-to-person.  I cannot say with certainty whether that will happen tomorrow, within 10 years or never.”

The new strain of bird flu known as H7N9, which began infecting people in February, has so far sickened at least 127 people and killed 27. According to the latest CDC estimates, the flu kills about 20 percent of the people it infects.

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Vitamin D Deficiency Linked to Type 1 Diabetes

 

ScienceDaily

 

A study led by researchers from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine has found a correlation between vitamin D3 serum levels and subsequent incidence of Type 1 diabetes. The six-year study of blood levels of nearly 2,000 individuals suggests a preventive role for vitamin D3 in this disease. The research appears the December issue of Diabetologia, a publication of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes (EASD).

 

“Previous studies proposed the existence of an association between vitamin D deficiency and risk of and Type 1 diabetes, but this is the first time that the theory has been tested in a way that provides the dose-response relationship,” said Cedric Garland, DrPH, FACE, professor in UCSD’s Department of Family and Preventive Medicine.

This study used samples from millions of blood serum specimens frozen by the Department of Defense Serum Registry for disease surveillance. The researchers thawed and analyzed 1000 samples of serum from healthy people who later developed type 1 diabetes and 1000 healthy controls whose blood was drawn on or near the same date but who did not develop type 1 diabetes. By comparing the serum concentrations of the predominant circulating form of vitamin D — 25-hydroxyvitamin D (25(OH)D) — investigators were able to determine the optimal serum level needed to lower an individual’s risk of developing type 1 diabetes.

Based mainly on results of this study, Garland estimates that the level of 25(OH)D needed to prevent half the cases of type 1 diabetes is 50 ng/ml. A consensus of all available data indicates no known risk associated with this dosage.

“While there are a few conditions that influence vitamin D metabolism, for most people, 4000 IU per day of vitamin D3 will be needed to achieve the effective levels,” Garland suggested. He urges interested patients to ask their health care provider to measure their serum 25(OH)D before increasing vitamin D3 intake.

“This beneficial effect is present at these intakes only for vitamin D3,” cautioned Garland. “Reliance should not be placed on different forms of vitamin D and mega doses should be avoided, as most of the benefits for prevention of disease are for doses less than 10,000 IU/day.”

Garland’s co-authors from UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Naval Health Research Center include Edward Gorham, PhD; Sharif Mohr, PhD; and Heather Hofflich, DO; Alina Burgi and Kenneth Zeng of the Naval Health Research Center, and Camillo Ricordi MD, of the University of Miami Diabetes Research Institute.

The study was supported by a Congressional allocation to the Diabetes Research Institute of the University of Miami through the Naval Health Research Center, San Diego, California.

 

 

Story Source:

The above story is reprinted from materials provided by University of California, San Diego Health Sciences.

Note: Materials may be edited for content and length. For further information, please contact the source cited above.


Journal Reference:

  1. E. D. Gorham, C. F. Garland, A. A. Burgi, S. B. Mohr, K. Zeng, H. Hofflich, J. J. Kim, C. Ricordi. Lower prediagnostic serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration is associated with higher risk of insulin-requiring diabetes: a nested case–control study. Diabetologia, 2012; 55 (12): 3224 DOI: 10.1007/s00125-012-2709-8

Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It

Activism : Human Rights – Freedom – Excessive Use Of Force – Police Brutality

UC Davis Protestors Pepper Sprayed

$1 million settlement: Pepper-sprayed students, alumni pleased

UC Davis students and alumni who were pepper-sprayed by campus police during a protest 10 months ago were pleased with the nearly $1-million settlement the university system has agreed to pay.

Each of the 21 students and alumni will receive $30,000, the University of California announced Wednesday.

The agreement, which must still be approved in federal court, also calls for UC to pay a total of $250,000 to the plaintiffs’ attorneys and set aside a maximum of $100,000 to pay up to $20,000 to any other individuals who join the class-action lawsuit by proving they were either arrested or directly pepper-sprayed, a university statement said.

PHOTOS: UC Davis pepper spray incident

The settlement also calls for UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi to write a formal apology to each of the students and alumni who were pepper-sprayed or arrested.

Fatima Sbeih, a plaintiff in the lawsuit who was pepper-sprayed, said in a statement the incident created a divide between students and campus police.

“Since Nov. 18, students have been afraid of the police. The university still needs to work to rebuild students’ trust and this settlement is a step in the right direction,” said Sbeih, who recently graduated with a degree in international studies.Another protester, Ian Lee, who is entering his sophomore year at the school, said in a statement that he participated in the demonstrations because of the “privatization of the university” and rising tuition costs.“I felt like the university silenced me,” he said in the statement.

A video released online, showing an officer spraying seated students directly in their faces at close range during an Occupy rally, had triggered outrage.

And UC’s own investigations and a shake-up at the UC Davis police force put the university in a weak position to argue against the students’ lawsuit.

The preliminary settlement, which was approved by the UC regents in a closed-door meeting earlier this month, will be paid through the UC’s self-insurance program, which officials said has about $600 million in reserves.

In April, a UC task force headed by former state Supreme Court Justice Cruz Reynoso found that UC Davis police had violated policy and that campus administrators mishandled the November 2011 campus protest.

In May, a separate draft report about campus responses to civil disobedience across UC urged administrators to use mediation instead of confrontation in most cases, although it said pepper spray might remain a necessary tool of last resort. A final version was released this month with no major policy changes.

ALSO:

UC to pay nearly $1 million in UC Davis pepper-spray settlement

For first time, Boy Scouts to review files on suspected predators

Detectives interview more than 70 in La Puente soccer hazing case

– Stephen Ceasar

Emotiv brain-computer interface

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With a chilling hint of the not-so-distant future, researchers at the Usenix Security conference have demonstrated a zero-day vulnerability in your brain. Using a commercial off-the-shelf brain-computer interface, the researchers have shown that it’s possible to hack your brain, forcing you to reveal information that you’d rather keep secret.

As we’ve covered in the past, a brain-computer interface is a two-part device: There’s the hardware — which is usually a headset (an EEG; an electroencephalograph) with sensors that rest on your scalp — and software, which processes your brain activity and tries to work out what you’re trying to do (turn left, double click, open box, etc.) BCIs are generally used in a medical setting with very expensive equipment, but in the last few years cheaper, commercial offerings have emerged. For $200-300, you can buy an Emotiv (pictured above) or Neurosky BCI, go through a short training process, and begin mind controlling your computer.

Brain hacking accuracy

Both of these commercial BCIs have an API — an interface that allows developers to use the BCI’s output in their own programs. In this case, the security researchers — from the Universities of Oxford and Geneva, and the University of California, Berkeley — created a custom program that was specially designed with the sole purpose of finding out sensitive data, such as the location of your home, your debit card PIN, which bank you use, and your date of birth. The researchers tried out their program on 28 participants (who were cooperative and didn’t know that they were being brain-hacked), and in general the experiments had a 10 to 40% chance of success of obtaining useful information (pictured above).

Read Full Article Here

 

 

DARPA's CT2WS threat detection system

After more than four years of research, DARPA has created a system that successfully combines soldiers, EEG brainwave scanners, 120-megapixel cameras, and multiple computers running cognitive visual processing algorithms into a cybernetic hivemind. Called the Cognitive Technology Threat Warning System (CT2WS), it will be used in a combat setting to significantly improve the US Army’s threat detection capabilities.

There are two discrete parts to the system: The 120-megapixel camera, which is tripod-mounted and looks over the battlefield (pictured below); and the computer system, where a soldier sits in front of a computer monitor with an EEG strapped to his head (pictured above). Images from the camera are fed into the computer system, which runs cognitive visual processing algorithms to detect possible threats (enemy combatants, sniper nests, IEDs). These possible threats are then shown to a soldier whose brain then works out if they’re real threats — or a false alarm (a tree branch, a shadow thrown by an overheard bird).

DARPA's CT2WS 120-megapixel camera

The soldier is linked into the computer system via an EEG (electroencephalogram) brain-computer interface that continually scans his brains for P300 responses. As we’ve discussed previously (see: Hackers backdoor the human brain), a P300 response is triggered when your brain recognizes something important. This might be a face of someone you know or the glint of a sniper scope — it doesn’t matter. P300 responses are very reliable and can even be triggered subconsciously.

Read Full Article Here

 

 

Crossroads News : Changes In The World Around Us And Our Place In It

Activism – Fundamental Rights :  Government -  Legislation – Retaliation

Prosecutors decide against charges for police officers who pepper-sprayed UC Davis protesters

  • Article by: Associated Press

DAVIS, Calif. – The University of California, Davis police officers who doused students and alumni with pepper spray during a campus protest last November won’t face criminal charges, prosecutors said Wednesday.

The chemical crackdown prompted widespread condemnation, campus protests and calls for the resignation of Chancellor Linda Katehi after videos shot by witnesses were widely played online. Images of an officer casually spraying orange pepper-spray in the faces of nonviolent protesters became a rallying point for the Occupy Wall Street movement.

But the Yolo County District Attorney’s office said in a statement that there was insufficient evidence to prove the use of force was illegal.

A task force appointed by the university concluded in April that the Nov. 18 pepper-spraying was “objectively unreasonable” and could have been prevented.

In reaching their conclusion, prosecutors said they relied on facts included in the task force’s report. Among them was the finding that the officers perceived they were dealing with a hostile mob and needed to spray the protesters to clear a path to safety.

John Pike, the police lieutenant who was shown in the videos pepper-spraying the protesters, told The Sacramento Bee (http://bit.ly/PrqZ1V0) he was relieved by the DA’s decision.

Pike was fired on July 31 by the campus police chief who took over the university’s police department after the chief who was in charge last fall stepped down.

The University of California’s governing board last week reached a proposed settlement with 21 current and former students who sued after being hit with pepper spray. The terms of the settlement have not been publicly released because a federal judge still needs to approve the deal.

 

Environmental

Deadly Bacteria Lurk in Deepwater Horizon Tar Balls

 

Stephanie Pappas

 

….Analyses of these samples showed a surprisingly high number of total bacteria in the tar balls – between 5.1 million and 8.3 million colony-forming units per gram, much higher than in sand or seawater. Most alarmingly, V. vulnificus numbers in tar balls were 10 times that in nearby sand and 100 times higher than numbers in seawater samples.

The finding was surprising, Arias said, though it makes sense that bacteria would thrive in carbon-rich tar balls. It’s likely the V. vulnificus live off the byproducts of other carbon-eating bacteria in these oily chunks, she said…..

 

Read Full Article Here

 

 

 

 

Fertilizer use responsible for increase in nitrous oxide in atmosphere

 

Berkeley CA (SPX)

 

University of California, Berkeley, chemists have found a smoking gun proving that increased fertilizer use over the past 50 years is responsible for a dramatic rise in atmospheric nitrous oxide, which is a major greenhouse gas contributing to global climate change. Climate scientists have assumed that the cause of the increased nitrous oxide was nitrogen-based fertilizer, which stimulates …

 

Read Full Article Here

 

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Cyber Space

 

China shuts political websites in crackdown

 

Two Chinese political websites say they have been ordered by authorities to shut for a month for criticizing state leaders, the latest move in a broad government crackdown on the Internet.

Officials told the Mao Flag website, named after late leader Mao Zedong, and the Utopia website, also known for a leftist political stance, to close for “rectification”, the websites said in separate announcements.

Authorities said their postings had “maliciously attacked state leaders” and given “absurd views” about politics, according to statements posted on the websites.

Those statements, dated Friday, were later removed. The operators could not be reached for comment and content on the sites was unavailable.

The latest moves come after a surge in groundless online rumors in China, including about a coup led by security chief Zhou Yongkang, following the March dismissal of rising political star Bo Xilai.

Two other sites, China Elections and April Youth, also appeared to be shut on Friday for what the operators claimed was maintenance and staff holidays, they said in separate micro-blog postings…….

 

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New Brit law allows big brother to spy on all online communication

 

By J. D. Heyes,

 

(NaturalNews) Remember, remember the fifth of November… So goes the opening line of a poem attributed to Englishman Guy Fawkes, a 17th century revolutionary who attempted to blow up the Parliament building on Nov. 5, 1605. The incident became known as the Gunpowder Plot, and Fawkes was caught, tortured and executed for the crime of treason. The premise of his actions was pure, if extreme: Fawkes believed he was working to throw off tyranny in an England that was increasingly being ruled by an iron…

 

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Survival / Sustainability

Week 1 of 52: Short Term Emergency Food Supply (List 1)

 

FEMA suggests that each family have a 2 week supply of food and water for their home. Starting a food supply does not have to be a budget breaker. By slowly accumulating emergency supplies, you will not feel the financial “burn” compared to having to pay for everything up front. Therefore, keeping in mind what type of emergencies that you are planning for, if there are any family members with medical needs, how long you want your food supply to last, and so on, will help you make the best choice for your family.

Taking time to read the nutritional information on the back of the food source and knowing other considerations, will help a person make the best choices for their needs. If a person needs to use their stashed food supply, having foods high in vitamins, nutrients, and proteins will provide their body with what it needs for needed energy and mental clarity…..

 

Read Full Article Here

 

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Articles of Interest

 

DHS Preparing For Civil War In The US?

 

Uploaded by alexhiggins732 on Apr 7, 2012

See background links below.

Recent massive ammo purchases by US domestic agencies, Obama’s Executive Order to prepare for martial law and recent anti-protests laws all point to one thing.

The US Department of Homeland Security and the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement Office have placed a massive order for ammunition. The two departments are asking for 450 million rounds of bullets to be delivered in a time-frame of five years. The contractor, Alliant Techsystems, was awarded the contract and will produce .40 caliber high-performance bullets to the agencies. The order has many wondering why would DHS and ICE need so many bullets. David Seaman, journalist and host of the DL Show, helps us answer why the order was placed.

But that is only the start. See the following links for a more complete picture.

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/03/18/prepare-martial-law-executive-ord&#8230;

Prepare For Martial Law! Executive Order Issued By Obama

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/03/16/dhs-order-450-million-rounds-40-c&#8230;

Why Did The DHS Just Order 450 Million Rounds of .40 Caliber Ammunition?

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/03/22/feds-buying-surplus-ammo-ordering&#8230;

Feds Buying Up All Surplus Ammo, Ordering Stores To Cease Sales?

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/04/04/usda-fish-wildlife-order-massive-&#8230;

The USDA and US Fish and Wildlife Order Massive Amounts Of Ammo

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/03/23/ruger-stops-accepting-firearms-or&#8230;

Ruger Stops Accepting Firearms Orders Citing Backlog Of 1 Million Orders In Q1

Coming To An Occupy Near You — The Military’s New Microwave Heat Ray Gun

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/03/14/coming-occupy-militarys-microwave&#8230;

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/07/24/pentagon-deploying-20000-troops-u&#8230;

Pentagon Deploying 20,000 Troops Within The United States To Prepare For Civil Unrest In Event Of Economic Collapse

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/08/11/martial-law-corporate-media-hints&#8230;

Martial Law: Corporate Media Hints At Military Plans To Take On The American People During Domestic Civil Unrest

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2011/12/06/analyst-mobilizing-army-occupy-ec&#8230;

US Army Preparing To Crush #OccupyWallStreet

http://blog.alexanderhiggins.com/2012/02/29/house-passes-trespass-bill-protes&#8230;

House Passes “Trespass Bill” That Makes Protests Illegal

 

 

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Collapse Then Crackdown …

 

 

 

 

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Festo – AirJelly

 

http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/9771.htm – Gently floating through the air
The first indoor flying object with peristaltic propulsion. Based on the recoil principle, eight tentacles powered by an electric drive let the jellyfish float through the air.

 

 

 

 

[In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit, for research and/or educational purposes. This constitutes 'FAIR USE' of any such copyrighted material.]

Food Safety

 

2012 Election: Where Do GOP Candidates Stand on Food Safety?

 

By Helena Bottemiller

Though food regulatory issues tend to fall behind top-of-mind policy concerns — such as the overall health of the economy, unemployment, ongoing war in the Middle East, and the price of gas — on the campaign trail, the GOP presidential…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/2012-election-where-do-gop-candidates-stand-on-food-safety/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120323

 

Salmonella from Mail-Order Hatcheries an Ongoing Concern

 

By Gretchen Goetz

Please sign here for your order of … Salmonella? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 35 Salmonella outbreaks have been linked to contact with live poultry from mail-order hatcheries since 1990. Just last summer, two clusters of…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/salmonella-from-mail-order-hatcheries-an-ongoing-concern/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120323

Utah Joins Iowa in Protecting Factory Farms From Cameras

 

By Dan Flynn

Utah this week became the second state to impose criminal sanctions against anyone taking photos or making videos inside factory farms without permission.Coming less than a month after Iowa became the first state to adopt a so-called “ag-gag” law, the…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/utah-joins-iowa-in-protecting-factory-farms-from-cameras/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120323

 

Drug-Resistant Microbes Prevalent in Some Soils: Study

By Gretchen Goetz

Mounting scientific evidence shows that animal antibiotics are contributing to a rise in drug-resistant bacterial diseases among humans. But a new study out of Poland has found high levels of these antibiotic-proof pathogens in the natural environment as well. And…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/drug-resistant-microbes-prevalent-in-soil/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120323

 

Why Do Beef Trimmings Need to be Sanitized?

 

By John Munsell

A central focus in the controversy over the use of ammoniated hydroxide to sanitize beef trimmings are the claims that the source meat may be highly pathogenic, otherwise destined for dog food or laced with dangerous bacteria.So why would the…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/pink-slime-by-usda-design/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120323

 

Health

 

Farming communities facing crisis over nitrate pollution, study says

 

By Stett Holbrook
Food & Environment Reporting Network

Nitrate contamination in groundwater from fertilizer and animal manure is severe and getting worse for hundreds of thousands of residents in California’s Central Valley farming communities, according to a study released Tuesday by researchers at the University of California, Davis.

Nearly 10 percent of the 2.6 million people living in the Tulare Lake Basin and Salinas Valley might be drinking nitrate-contaminated water, researchers found. And if nothing is done to stem the problem, the report warns, nearly 80 percent of residents could be at risk of health and financial problems by 2050.

High nitrate levels in drinking water have been linked to thyroid cancer, skin rashes, hair loss, birth defects and “blue baby syndrome,” a potentially fatal blood disorder in infants…..

http://openchannel.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2012/03/13/10657809-farming-communities-facing-crisis-over-nitrate-pollution-study-says

 

Holistic Health

 

Boost Your Metabolism, Burn Pounds – With This “DNA Changer”

 

By Dr. Mercola

New research published in the journal Cell Metabolism shows that when healthy but inactive men and women exercise even briefly, it produces an immediate change in their DNA.

Although the underlying genetic code in human muscle doesn’t change, exercise causes important structural and chemical changes to the DNA molecules within those muscles.

This contraction-induced gene activation, which modifies DNA at precise locations, appears to be early events leading to the genetic reprogramming of muscle for strength, and to the structural and metabolic benefits of exercise.

According to Science Daily:

“The DNA changes in question are known as epigenetic modifications and involve the gain or loss of chemical marks on DNA over and above the familiar sequence of As, Gs, Ts, and Cs.

The new study shows that the DNA within skeletal muscle taken from people after a burst of exercise bears fewer chemical marks (specifically methyl groups) than it did before exercise.

Those changes take place in stretches of DNA that are involved in turning “on” genes important for muscles’ adaptation to exercise…

Broadly speaking, the findings offer more evidence that our genomes are much more dynamic than they are often given credit for.”

Exercise Changes Your Biochemistry……

 

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/03/23/interval-training-and-metabolism.aspx?e_cid=20120323_FNL_art_1

 

Man Refuses Surgery and Loses Nearly 300 Pounds

 

By Dr. Mercola

Bryan Ganey weighed 577 pounds when he collapsed, struggling to breathe due to a pulmonary embolism (blood clot) blocking oxygen flow to his lungs.

In about 25 percent of patients, the first “symptom” of pulmonary embolism is sudden death, but Ganey was lucky – he recovered.

While in the hospital, doctors suggested he consider weight-loss surgery to shed pounds, but Ganey refused, as he knew several people who had gotten the surgery and suffered complications.

That, and he knew he could lose weight on his own once he put his mind to it …

130 Pounds Gone in the First 6 Months…..

 

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/03/23/weight-loss-surgery-vs-diet.aspx

 

Pet Health

 

Feline Aggression: When Fluffy Attacks

 

By Dr. Becker

A few years ago a retrospective study was conducted at the Animal Behavior Clinic at the Barcelona School of Veterinary Medicine to investigate behavior problems in cats

The study covered the time period 1998 to 2006 and included 336 cats with behavior problems.

Of the 336 cats, 178 were female (65 percent spayed) and 158 were male (77 percent neutered).

The mean age for problem presentation was 4.5 years.

The kitties came to their owners from a variety of sources.

Some were strays living on the street, some came from breeders, some from pet stores and a few were adopted from shelters.

Most Prevalent Feline Behavior Problem: Aggression…….

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/03/23/feline-aggression-signs.aspx

 

This Month’s Real Story: Tate

 

By Dr. Becker

This month’s real story is about Tate, a female Norwegian elkhound.

Believe it or not, this good-looking gal is 14 years young.

Tate on December 3, 2011

When Tate’s dad took her for routine bloodwork on December 3rd of last year, her ALT (Alanine transaminase) liver enzyme was 1237.

The normal range for this enzyme is 12 – 118, so obviously Tate’s was extremely elevated.

ALT is found primarily in the liver, but it’s also found in smaller amounts in the pancreas, kidneys, heart and muscles.

ALT levels are a very important measure of liver health.

Low levels of ALT are seen in the blood when the liver is healthy.

But when the liver is diseased or damaged, it releases ALT into the bloodstream, which increases the levels. …….

http://healthypets.mercola.com/sites/healthypets/archive/2012/03/23/real-stories-tate.aspx

 

 

Wildlife

 

WARNING TO BIRD FEEDERS!

 

March 22, 2012 KONG TV News

 

Misc

 

They call him “Mr Gibbs”

 

A sick little girl and her dog

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32545640

“2012″ and Electromagnetic Effects on Consciousness

By Dieter Broers
Created 05/11/2011 – 09:18
Feature
Published on Reality Sandwich (http://www.realitysandwich.com)
The following is excerpted from Revolution 2012 by Dieter Broers (First English language edition 2010 ©2010 Scorpio Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin • Munich Translation by Robert Nusbaum) First published in German as a hardcover edition © 2009 Scorpio Verlag GmbH & Co. KG, Berlin.
I am convinced that we are currently in the midst of a process involving the restructuring of our neuronal networks, and that the catalyst of this process is the high solar-geomagnetic activity whose consequences are feared by so many people today. However, all facts and findings add up to the undeniable conclusion that this evolution will for the first time in human history enable us human beings to use the enormous potential of our brains.
David Samuels from Israel’s Weizmann Institute has estimated that the brain’s basic range of activities is driven by between 100,000 and 1 billion different chemical reactions every minute. The average human brain contains a minimum of 10 billion individual neurons or nerve cells — a figure that is even more astounding when you stop to think that each neuron can interact with many other neurons. In 1974 neurophysiologists discovered that some 10800 (10 to the 800th) interconnections come into play in this regard. The magnitude of this capacity is comparable with the following cosmic facts and figures: inasmuch as the atom is the smallest unit in the universe and the universe itself the largest, it is estimated that the universe contains a total of 1080 (10 to the 80th) atoms. In other words, the number of interactions in the human brain far exceeds the number of atoms in the universe.
Moscow University physicist Pyotra Anokin feels that the aforementioned estimate of possible interactions in the human brain is unduly low. According to his calculations, the potential number of structures that the human brain can create is so large that writing them out as a figure would translate into a line approximately 6.5 million miles long. So clearly we have not even begun to tap into the amazing potential of our brains — a situation that can be likened to using an area the size of a dust particle in a 500 room mansion.
The question then arises as to whether using our brains more efficiently will enable us to find an adequate response to the events of 2012. First of all, we need to realize that the brain and the mind are two different things. The mind can influence brain activity and vegetative processes by means of highly unusual suggestions, the most striking example being Buddhist masters whose ability to meditate enables them to put their brains in a tranquil state that palliates pain and that can even stop the beating of the heart.
Apart from this, what matters here is that our brains are always active whether we’re awake, asleep, calm or agitated, and are always seeking intensity, new experiences, and long term connections. When the human brain is exposed to new impressions, as well as mental and emotional stimuli, new synapses (interfaces between neurons) are created.
In other words, the human brain floats in a kind of rapturous harmony as long as it receives the right kind of stimuli. This is in keeping with the attendant electrochemical principle of all or nothing, which forms the basis for electrochemical communication between neurons — and in our context for interaction between the heretofore unused regions of the brain. If this weren’t the case, it would make no sense for us human beings to be endowed with a brain whose potential is never fully exploited. Indeed, it almost seems as though this miraculous organ were waiting for 2012 to finally prove what it’s capable of.
Apart from electrochemical information processing, our brain engages in other processes as well — processes that form the basis for our subconscious. According to the American physicist Evan Harris Walker, the human mind and human consciousness are not empirically measurable quantities. Walker believed that consciousness is not a chemical process or the like, but is instead attributable to a quantum mechanical tunnel process — a theory that is consistent with the views of a growing number of quantum physicists and brain scientists. Walker also persuasively showed that the brain’s synapses exhibit quantum mechanical phenomena, for which models have been posited by David Bohm and Basil Hilely. These authors report astonishing similarities between quantum potential and neurological connections in the brain.
These connections are far from being well ordered for in fact, chaos is the mainstay of the brain’s processes. This chaos, which comprises a veritable maelstrom of diffuse stimuli processing activities, is the precursor of a coherent equilibrium at higher levels. Creativity researchers have observed a similar phenomenon in which the creative mind initially processes totally chaotic and even contradictory concepts that ultimately translate into the beginnings of order and stability in the latter stages of the creative process. Hence, contrary to the law of entropy (order), evolution is moving toward negentropy (instability), a process that is at once feasible, useful and logical since it enables evolution to unfold in an “open system” so as to allow the brain to absorb new information and adapt in highly complex ways.
This prompted Ilya Prigogine to observe that each organized system dynamically shifts between a state of entropy and negentropy, i.e. between order and chaos. Moreover, Prigogine says, the greater the system’s potential instability, the more readily it adapts and changes. This principle fits the brain like a glove.
But where, then, is the seat of the mind, this mysterious locus of self awareness that amalgamates intuition, common sense, emotions and the intellect? For the moment I will leave it to neurologists to figure this out — although I will have more to say about this issue later on. First, though, I’d like to discuss the mental and psychological process of self discovery. The mind-brain system evolved out of a series of successive matrices. The first higher order matrix within which we move is undoubtedly the source of all life. According to Prigogine, for the infant brain a transition to a new harmonic matrix entails constant exposure to new resources that allow for the development of potential, self assurance, and skills.
These matrices, which are extremely concrete at the outset, become ever more abstract over time by dint of their exposure to perceptible reality, ultimately evolving into the matrix of pure creative thinking. Each transition to a new matrix is associated with unknown and unforeseeable experience that forms the basis for an increase in intelligence. According to Timothy Leary, each of us inherits a precoded draft of future organisms that differs considerably from the current human race and from most forms of human existence. And in the same vein, Michael Hutchison prophesied that the brain has learned more about itself over the past decade than during its entire history, and that henceforth human intelligence will evolve in quantum leaps.
Although I have already made the essential points regarding the effects of natural and artificial force fields on the brain, it should be noted here that phenomena such as the body’s rhythms that are controlled by the pituitary gland can be affected by electromagnetic fields, which can have a significant impact on moods, activity patterns and the circadian rhythm. So a great deal remains to be discovered in this domain.
Some years ago I was part of a research team that measured the brain waves of test subjects at regular intervals via EEG. We found that specific electromagnetic fields sporadically acted on the test subjects’ brains, without their being aware of this phenomenon. One of our most striking findings was that the test subjects’ brain waves could be altered via exposure of the brain to electromagnetic waves; and as if this weren’t astonishing enough, we also found that we could even control the test subjects’ brain waves using these fields. For example, the EEG frequency of a test subject with a predominant baseline frequency of 10 hertz could be increased to 12 hertz each time we exposed the subject to an exogenous 10 hertz electromagnetic field that was then increased to 12 hertz. We concluded from this that endogenous rhythms are governed by their exogenous counterparts.
These experiments convinced me beyond a shadow of a doubt that human cells and electromagnetic fields do in fact interact; and this may in fact be one of the primary reasons why I decided to write this book. These findings also opened my eyes to processes that were of fundamental importance for my own research in that I now had incontrovertible, empirical proof that electromagnetic fields have a direct impact on brain activity.
A short time later I stumbled upon another phenomenon that I couldn’t get out of my mind: specific force fields and force field intensity levels induce perceptions that could otherwise only be induced by the administration of psychoactive substances. A normal geomagnetic field allows us to maintain a normal state of alert consciousness, including our sense of time; whereas a severely abnormal geomagnetic field or the absence of a geomagnetic field provokes abnormal mental states and a derangement of our sense of time. In other words the effect of geomagnetic disturbances is very similar to that of taking hallucinogenic drugs.
Strange though this may sound, I can assure you that it’s anything but. Altered mental states are provoked by neurochemical processes and the production of psychoactive substances, i.e. endogenous hallucinogens. The mental anomalies experienced by the test subjects in the aforementioned experiments were induced by “surplus” production of such substances secondary to withdrawal of, or exposure to very weak geomagnetic fields. Thus, under certain conditions the brain has the capacity to produce so called illegal substances. In other words, a phenomenon that under “normal” circumstances could only be induced through the practice of meditation or the like can also be catalyzed by exogenous electromagnetic fields.
This raises the following questions: What exactly happens during such an event? Is this phenomenon beneficial, or can it be harmful or even addictive? The fact is that the brain has the capacity to produce a chemical for every emotion we experience — a phenomenon that forms the subject of Molecules of Emotion: The Science Behind Mind-Body Medicine by Dr. Candace Pert, Professor of Biochemistry at John Hopkins University whose observations in this regard can be summarized as follows: expansions of consciousness are provoked by a specific family of molecules. The basic difference between our daytime and nocturnal state of consciousness lies in the level of consciousness. While we are asleep, we are unaware of our existence and have no memory of our waking life, whereas the reverse situation prevails when we are awake. In other words, being asleep falls within the sphere of unconsciousness whereas being awake belongs to the domain of consciousness. Apart from this dichotomy, there is another level of consciousness known as enlightenment or satori, which I discuss at length below. Specific substances known as neurotransmitters are responsible for all three of these phases.
One of the key neurotransmitters is serotonin, which keeps us in an awake state and is therefore also responsible for our sense of time. When we are under the influence of serotonin — an effect that can be heightened even by just a small embrace — we feel relaxed and happy. Acute serotonin deficiency can provoke negative effects ranging from extreme melancholy to manic depression. However, a substantially elevated serotonin level induces emotions ranging from euphoria to ecstasy.
Thus serotonin controls our moods. There is scarcely any difference between the chemical structure of serotonin and the hallucinogen “psilocybin”, which occurs in a mushroom that the peoples of some cultures used to take during certain rituals. For example the Mayans referred to psilocybin as the “Mayan mushroom,” and the Dervishes called it the “Sufi mushroom.” The plant was described by some as being the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil — an appellation not unlike the reference in Genesis to the fruit of the tree of knowledge.
LSD — the synthesized form of psilocybin — is a psychoactive substance that was first produced by the chemist Albert Hofmann in 1938 while he was doing research on ergot, which is the (toxic) dried sclerotium of the eponymous rye plant. Hofmann stumbled on the hallucinogenic effects of LSD when he inadvertently absorbed the substance through his skin. He then repeated this experience by taking 250 micrograms of LSD, which he felt was the smallest possible effective dose for a hallucinogen compared to mescaline, which was the strongest hallucinogen then known. However, Hofmann discovered that 250 micrograms of LSD was the equivalent of five times the normal effective dose of mescaline.
In addition to the aforementioned sleeping state (which correlates with unconsciousness) and the waking state (which correlates with consciousness), there is also the state of enlightenment or hyper-consciousness.
Neurochemical substances known as tryptamines are responsible for all three of these states. The human brain has the capacity to convert any of these tryptamines into another tryptamine. Just as serotonin transitions us between a waking and sleeping state, there is also an additional neurotransmitter known as melatonin (mentioned earlier in connection with the pituitary gland) that is responsible for our state of “consciousness” while asleep. Serotonin is converted into melatonin in direct proportion to how drowsy we are, until we actually fall asleep. The findings of sleep, consciousness, and neurochemistry research have shown that an additional neurotransmitter known as dimethyltryptamine (DMT) is produced in the brain during both deep sleep and hyper-conscious (enlightened) states, thus making DMT one of the most powerful psychoactive drugs of all.
Unfortunately we literally sleep through the heady albeit completely legal drug high constituted by the hyper-conscious (enlightened) state, and are thus completely unaware of its occurrence. In other words, though we experience this state, we are unconscious of it and thus have no memory of it either. Both psilocybin and the neurotransmitter DMT are members of the same chemical family. If we could directly experience this heightened state of consciousness, we would be able to perceive its actual consciousness expanding properties. But unfortunately this is beyond the realm of possibility for ordinary mortals, and is achievable only by spiritual masters when they reach a state of enlightenment.
Only a mental state in which we feel that we are “in harmony” with all things will enable us to ascend to this level of pure being. In this state, the unduly self important ego retreats into the cosmic realm, where it becomes one with all things. While asleep, we are disassociated from our ego and have no memory of its daily manifestations in our consciousness. This is also why, during deep sleep phases, we are able to reach an enlightenment-like state, one that is unencumbered by the ego or the excess narcissistic baggage that weighs us down during our waking hours.
It has been scientifically proven that on certain days while we are in a waking state, solar-geomagnetic disturbances cause our brain to produce psychoactive, consciousness expanding substances, provoking hallucinations whose incidence is higher during periods where specific geomagnetic conditions prevail. The medical definition of a hallucination is a deceptive sense perception that occurs in the absence of an external stimulus. This can involve experiences such as seeing objects that do not in fact exist or hearing voices in the absence of a speaker.
The salient feature of hallucinations (which can affect any of the senses) is that the hallucination is totally real for the person experiencing it, who cannot distinguish the hallucination from reality — thus making this experience altogether different from that of a daydream.
The events the cosmos has in store for us in 2012 can be compared to the effect of being handed a glass of juice into which someone has slipped some LSD without our knowledge. Such unanticipated altered states of consciousness have certainly occurred at other junctures in human history. For example, sudden outbreaks of hysteria provoked by hallucinations occurred regularly during the Middle Ages. Those affected were unaware that the bread they were eating contained ergot, whose active ingredient Albert Hofmann used to make LSD many years later. Inasmuch as the hallucinogenic effects of bread containing ergot were unknown at the time, those affected could only conclude that their altered mental state was a serious illness.
The analogy with this historical evolution and what awaits us in or around 2012 — with the predicted arrival of a massive solar storm — is clear, I think. For in that year force field disturbances are very likely to provoke not only disconcerting mental states, but also extremely pleasant ones. Even if you have your doubts about the term “enlightenment,” you should nonetheless begin meditating as soon as possible so that you will be receptive to these states. These changes within us are in the pipeline — of that there can be no doubt — so you’ll get an extremely useful head start if you begin instituting these changes now.
These mental states, which can be regarded as cosmic interventions, will directly impact our lives in various ways. Time will appear to move more slowly. Increased solar-geomagnetic activity will be associated with an increased incidence of altered mental states. We will experience nervousness, aggressiveness, depression and euphoria in turn. It would seem that the process that enables us to find the path to knowledge is currently occurring via a kind of cosmically induced correction. We will experience phenomena that affect geomagnetic fields and the like as an expansion of our consciousness that is tied to our personal history and current mental state.
Between 1983 and 2002, the cognitive neuroscience researcher Michael Persinger published the results of 240 investigations nearly all of which concerned consciousness expanding perceptions induced by magnetic fields.
These investigations were conducted as follows: A series of test subjects seated on a chair in a dark, acoustically insulated room was asked to put on a motorcycle helmet retrofitted with electromagnetic field-emitting solenoids that emitted very weak electromagnetic fields into the test subject’s brain that were the equivalent of roughly 1/20 of the geomagnetic field.
Dr. Persinger, who also conducted research for NASA, said in an interview that these experiments allowed him to use the brain as its own amplifier and play back brain wave patterns previously recorded via EEG.80 These fields exerted an extremely unusual effect. According to the German newspaper Die Zeit, “many of the test subjects felt a strange `presence’ while wearing Dr. Persinger’s motorcycle helmet, as if there was someone else in the room with them.”81 Moreover, some test subjects were absolutely convinced that they had sensed angel-like beings or a God-like presence, whereas others fled the room in terror and were overwhelmed by negative feelings.
Apart from the aforementioned proven effects of magnetic fields, these results show that whether a person remains stuck in their old ways of thinking or is receptive to new ways of seeing things is determined by their predispositions or energy field. One person might flee an unexplained presence in their field of perception; another might regard such a presence as part of their consciousness; and yet another might initiate a dialogue with the mysterious presence and be inspired thereby.
Studies conducted by Professor Andrew Newberg shed invaluable light on intra-meditation brain activity via investigations of eight Tibetan Buddhist monks and eight Franciscan nuns during meditation. The test subjects were asked to adhere to their normal meditation practices as much as possible during the experiments. To this end and in the interest of preventing the test subjects from being distracted from their meditation process per se, when a test subject felt they had reached a meditative state, they signaled this by tugging on a rope, whereupon a radioactive substance was intravenously injected into their bloodstream. This was done because radioactive particles gravitate to the most heavily perfused brain cells. Thus at the end of each meditation session, the test subjects underwent a SPECT (Single Photon Emission Computed Tomography ) scan, which allows for the visualization of radioactive particles. The measurement results during meditation demonstrated elevated perfusion in specific regions of the brain.
The region of the brain that is directly tied to meditation is the orientation- associated center in the parietal lobes, which thanks to the steady flow of information from the sense organs creates a clearly defined boundary between the body and its environment, and also creates a sense of time. Experiments conducted at Ludwig Maximilians University in Munich have shown that this region is susceptible to the effects of geomagnetic fields.
In the meditation experiments, Newberg reasoned that “shutting down” this region of the brain may allow the test subjects to achieve a sense of oneness with the world while meditating, since the boundaries between space and time were no longer perceptible. Buddhists term this nirvana, i.e. a dissolution into nothingness. The nuns, on the other hand, referred to it as the experience of becoming one with God. Thus it seems this state is characterized by a consciously perceived melding with hyperspace, which is a higher dimension whose existence was demonstrated by none other than Max Planck.
In any case, when the test subjects were in a meditative state the boundaries between the self and the world were dissolved – a phenomenon that is oftentimes (somewhat fuzzily) described as “being one with everything that exists.” According to Professor Newberg, when a person goes far enough the self disappears completely and the person experiences a sense of oneness, of infinite boundlessness. In other words, he feels that mystical experience is a biological reality that is scientifically perceptible, and that human beings are by their very nature mystical beings with an inborn capacity for effortless self transcendence.
Unfortunately Newberg uses his results to reduce religion to its mystical aspects, namely meditation and prayer. But surely for most religions people, their religion is more than just the promise or belief that a higher power determines their destiny. This view on the part of Newberg has come in for considerable criticism — for example from the philosopher and cognitive neuroscientist Detlef Linke, who in his book Religion als Risiko. Geist, Glaube und Gehirn (“Religion as a Risk. Mind, Faith and Brain”) took neurotheologists to task in these words: “Although neurotheologists are able to reconcile science and religion after many years of enmity between these two entities and in the coming years will undoubtedly shed even greater light on the biological processes of belief, their findings do not explain the phenomenon of religion. Even if it is true that men are animals who would rather embrace religious beliefs than think rationally and logically, one thing is certain: neurotheologists will never be able to prove the existence of God, since if God does exist, He is everywhere and not just in the brain.” Nonetheless, neurologist Vilayanur Ramachandran, Director of the Center for Brain and Cognition and Professor of Psychology in the Neuroscience Department at the University of California, San Diego, has identified a region of the brain he refers to as the God module, which he feels is closely tied to spiritual thoughts.
Perhaps this digression has changed your thinking somewhat as regards the meaning of the term instability. It is certainly true that solar-geomagnetic activity can induce instability in biological systems, and particularly in the human brain which is highly susceptible to electromagnetic and magnetic fields. But this doesn’t mean that we should be afraid of instability. We need to bear in mind that an existing element in an unstable situation must be used before it can give rise to something new.
Moreover, so-called hopeless patients have been successfully treated using the effects of solar-geomagnetic fields on the mind, perception and consciousness. This megawave therapy, as it is called, consists in the administration of electromagnetic fields that are identical to those found in nature. This therapy has achieved exceptionally high cure rates by virtue of the fact that for the first time the patients understand the cause of their disorder. Hence this therapy is closely bound up with a catalyzed process of consciousness, and does not at all involve a crude mechanistic procedure.
As with the motorcycle helmet experiments, the electromagnetic field stimulus is administered directly to the patient’s head so as to allow the electromagnetic waves to penetrate deep into the brain. Conversely, it has been observed that exogenous electromagnetic fields provoke psychosomatic symptoms.
On the other hand, healthy subjects that are exposed to these same therapeutic frequencies always report having experienced an altered state of consciousness, and in so doing indicate that they suddenly, inexplicably and joyfully saw the “things of this world” in a larger context. You might of course wonder whether such experiences might be attributable to dizziness or mere illusions – in other words, subjective pseudo-experiences that are provoked by electromagnetic fields.
The answer to these questions can be found in the objectivity of experiences that are induced by external phenomena. When these questions are considered in light of the therapeutic success that was achieved with these extremely ill patients, it is fair to say that the end justifies the means in such cases, which are in any case difficult to assess. Nonetheless, we can certainly regard force field-enhanced expansions of consciousness as good training for all of the mental states that await us in 2012 — and for which no test classifications of any kind are available.
These reflections also serve as a reminder that we will be communicating with cosmic phenomena in the near future. What will this entail from a biological standpoint?
For some three decades now I have been studying the effects of electromagnetic fields on biological systems. My initial investigations, which date back to 1980, led me to posit a theory that I later confirmed — namely that our cells communicate with each other via endogenous electromagnetic fields that regulate these absolutely essential cell dialogues. My research at the time on simple cell systems clearly revealed that administering specific electromagnetic fields to cells in a Petri dish had a regulating and controlling effect on these cells.
My research also demonstrated that stable cell systems that are deliberately desynchronized can be returned to their baseline state by administering the relevant electromagnetic fields. I repeated these experiments a number of times and validated them via statistical analysis. It should be noted, however, that this type of effect did not fall within the scope of the “state of the art” back then; in other words it was not included in college syllabuses. The genuinely astonishing nature of these findings prompted me to apply for a German patent for this therapeutic process in 1982 and a European patent in the following year, which I was awarded in 1986.
For me, these patents validated the fact that my discovery represented a genuine scientific breakthrough, which is primarily attributable to my unusual life’s path as a visionary, scientist, and specialist in the field of frequency research. These activities provided me with direct access to the academic institutions that were leaders in this field. Moreover, during my stint as manager of a research project for Germany’s Ministry of Research and Technology, I had the opportunity to establish an interdisciplinary team.
Our research results, which were presented at international symposiums and conferences, solidified my grasp of the subject matter that forms the basis for the present book. The most important results from my standpoint were those we obtained in our experiments with completely asymptomatic (i.e. healthy) test subjects. In these experiments we discovered that the electromagnetic fields to which we subjected the test subjects were consistent with human DNA and terrestrial resonance frequencies. The specific frequencies that came into play were a 150 MHz basic carrier frequency — which is the equivalent of a 6.5 foot long wave — with an 8 Hz frequency modulated on it.
It was discovered in 2002 that this is also the length of an uncoiled human DNA molecule. Our tests yielded the aforementioned effect only when this 150 MHz DNA resonance frequency was used and when other frequencies were modulated on this carrier frequency, which we found also occurs in nature. However, when human beings are exposed to unnatural electromagnetic fields the results are appalling. My exhaustive patent search unearthed at least a few patented inventions that are intended for an application quite different from the foregoing — namely involving specific electromagnetic frequencies that are used as weapons. This search also led me to the conclusion that certain force fields provoke panic and anxiety in human beings.
If you feel that I am advancing some kind of conspiracy theory here, an incident that was reported in the media may give you food for thought. What happened was that homeless people in London’s financial district reported feeling tightness in the chest and anxiety when exposed to certain electromagnetic fields. These effects were so severe that the homeless people were forced to flee their usual haunts.
I mention this sad tale so as to avoid creating the impression that electromagnetic fields are inherently beneficial. The nature of the effects of such fields is determined solely by their frequency and intensity.
All of the brain wave (EEG) measurements of the test subjects in the aforementioned experiments were realized with the subjects in a relaxed state, lying on their backs, with their eyes closed. Antennas concealed under a pillow that emitted precisely defined electromagnetic fields were positioned near the subject’s head. Brain wave sensors (EEGs) recorded all test subject brain waves during all of the experiments. As soon as the antennas began emitting electromagnetic fields, the electrodes attached to the subject’s head transmitted signals to the recording source in such a way that the test subject’s brain (i.e. neurons) emitted signals induced by electromagnetic fields that would not have been emitted in the absence of these fields.
Our test subjects exhibited field-induced alpha wave activity exceeding the norm by several hundred percent, which amazed both us and our subjects, since alpha waves normally indicate a semi-somnolent state. For example, alpha waves predominate when, in falling asleep, we transition to a sleep state, and conversely upon awakening from sleep. Natural healers induce an alpha state in their patients before beginning the treatment per se – but of course without the use of exogenous force fields. Genuine healers have the ability to induce such fields and heal their patients through force of will and conviction alone.
My invention allows an alpha state, which is regarded as the threshold between consciousness and unconsciousness, to be used for therapeutic purposes. Electromagnetic fields in the alpha range (as well as DNA resonance frequencies) are administered to the patient in such a way as to put him in an expanded state of self awareness. This in turn produces a therapeutic effect that chiefly stems from the fact that the patient is able to recognize the cause of his illness, which he had previously internalized as a trauma. This recognition process is undoubtedly strengthened by the fact that the patient remains in an alpha state so long as the effect of the electromagnetic fields remains constant.
At the juncture where the conscious and unconscious mind work in concert, a phenomenon known as “spontaneous healing” or “miracle healing” occurs. In this alpha state, where the patient is completely free of anxiety and obsessive thoughts, he has at his disposal all of his self healing powers — which however are only mobilized once he has recognized the actual cause of his illness.
In one experiment, a terminal patient suffering from an incurable disease was exposed to a simulated natural magnetic field, whereupon the patient saw extremely traumatic images in his mind’s eye. The patient initially refused to deal with these images, but after further treatment he confronted the images and realized how his life’s path had provoked his illness. This realization triggered the healing process in this patient.
Needless to say, these findings also apply to the situation the world is currently facing. By regarding the current global crises as a symptom of a disease and looking deep within ourselves, we will be able to identify the actual cause of this disease. That this cause is closely bound up with our navel gazing tendencies and endemic egotism will come as no surprise to anyone. So long as our efforts to save ourselves center around the symptoms of our condition, a long lasting cure will elude us. We can only save our planet if we first recognize the true cause of its illness. This kind of awareness can be obtained through the use of induced electromagnetic fields.
For example, if every human being on Earth were exposed to electromagnetic fields as was done in the therapy described above, a collective awareness on the part of all human beings would take hold, unlikely though this may sound. And what if these electromagnetic fields were already exerting their effect on the human race? If people were unaware of these field effects, their first reaction would be to doubt their sanity, which might prompt them to check into a psychiatric hospital on account of their “abnormal” mental state.
Such individuals would genuinely believe they had lost their mind and would be full of anxiety – which unfortunately bars all access to our higher consciousness. But if, on the other hand, we give ourselves over to a state of calm and tranquility — in other words, if we transition to our alpha state — we will readily perceive the overarching connections and feel liberated by them.
Many will not immediately recognize the cosmically induced changes in perception, and will at first glance dismiss them as the products of their own imagination. However, I know from my professional experience that a person’s willingness to open themselves to intuitive perceptions — a criterion referred to by psychologists as “mindset and setting” — is a precondition for success. Unless we are armed with the information we need, we may suffer rather than benefiting from the untoward effects of geomagnetic “anomalies.”
In the run-up to 2012, knowledge is and will be the gateway to positive experience. Many people realize that some of their best and most unusual ideas have come to them on days with particularly high solar-geomagnetic activity. This phenomenon has also been scientifically proven by NASA scientists. The cognitive neuroscience researcher Michael Persinger was the first to discover that test subjects exposed to specific magnetic fields suddenly gained extremely spiritual insights. These results are all the more amazing in that even hardened atheists reported experiencing deep religious feelings on being exposed to magnetic fields.
In view of the fact that electromagnetic fields can help a patient identify the cause of their illness, it is well within the realm of possibility that cosmic force fields could enable the entire human race to come to an analogous realization about our planet. We need to bear in mind here that the physical conditions are already in place that would enable each of us to enter and explore our inner worlds so that we can identify the mental baggage we tote around with us and determine what we need to do in order to rid ourselves of it. In short, the conditions for an expansion of consciousness are already in place.
Dieter Broers is a biophysicist who studies the use of electromagnetism for healing. He has a number of patented inventions.
Image courtesy of NASA Goddard Photo and Video [1].

[2]

teaser:
Our research team found that brain waves could be altered and even controlled via electromagnetic waves, and that specific force field levels produce the same effects as psychoactive substances. That fluctuations in the electromagnetic spectrum can radically change consciousness could explain what will happen to humanity at the end of 2012.

Food Safety

Health Advocates: Science on Antibiotic Resistance Is Clear

By Helena Bottemiller

Citing an increased incidence of foodborne illness outbreaks caused by antibiotic-resistant pathogens, public health advocates are again ratcheting up pressure on Congress to limit routine, subtherapeutic antibiotic use in agriculture. At back to back briefings on Capitol Hill late last…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/health-advocates-science-on-antibiotic-resistance-is-clear/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120313

 

55 Congress Members Ask FDA to Label Genetically Engineered Foods

By James Andrews

On Monday, 45 U.S. representatives and 10 U.S. senators signed a letter to Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Margaret Hamburg in support of a legal petition that asks the FDA to require labeling of genetically engineered (GE) foods.The petition, filed by…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/55-congress-members-ask-fda-to-label-genetically-engineered-foods/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120313

 

‘The Lunch Tray’ Responds to Beef Industry Defenses of ‘Pink Slime’

By Bettina Elias Siegel

Lunch Tray readers following the astonishing progress of the Change.org petition launched here last week to get “Boneless Lean Beef Trimmings” (BLBT) out of school food (175,000 at present count) will hardly be surprised that the beef industry has started…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/the-lunch-tray-responds-to-beef-industry-defenses-of-pink-slime/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120313

 

USDA to Meet on Ground Beef Safety for Nutrition Programs

By News Desk

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has announced that the National Advisory Committee on Microbiological Criteria for Foods (NACMCF) is set to hold a meeting via conference call to discuss food safety questions from the department’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS)…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/usda-to-meet-on-ground-beef-safety-for-nutrition-programs/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120313

 

UK Food Standards Agency Considers Revising Raw Milk Rules

By Dan Flynn

Growing concern about the potential risk of Internet and vending machine sales of unpasteurized milk has the United Kingdom’s Food Standards Agency (FSA) thinking about revising the rules.The FSA Board will decide March 20 whether the agency should review its…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/uk-food-standards-agency-asked-to-re-work-raw-milk-rules/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120313

 

Health

 

CBO: Obama’s health law to cost less, cover fewer people than first thought

By Julian Pecquet

President Obama’s healthcare reform law coverage provisons will cost less but cover fewer people than first thought, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said Tuesday.

http://thehill.com/blogs/healthwatch/health-reform-implementation/215795-cbo-health-law-to-cost-less-cover-fewer-people-than-first-thought

 

New Finding: Consuming Trans Fats Linked To Aggression

In the first human study of its kind researchers have linked trans fatty acid consumption to increased aggression. Published in the Public Library of Science’s own journal, PLoS, March 5th 2012, researchers at the Dept. of Medicine at the University of California, San Diego, reported: ?

http://www.activistpost.com/2012/03/new-finding-consuming-trans-fats-linked.html

 

Pennsylvania Lake Water Sickened 18 Last Summer

By News Desk

An outbreak of E. coli O157:H7 last August, traced to a lake at Cowan’s Gap State Park in Pennsylvania, sickened at least 18 people and may have sickened as many as 42, the Pennsylvania Department of Health reports in the…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/pennsylvania-lake-water-sickened-18-last-summer/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120313

 

Red meat is blamed for one in 10 early

The Department of Health was last night urged to review its guidance on red meat after a study found that eating almost half the daily recommended amount can significantly increase the risk of dying early from cancer and heart disease.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9138230/Red-meat-is-blamed-for-one-in-10-early-deaths.html

 

Holistic Health

 

The “Safe” Garden Product that Can Destroy Your DNA

By Dr. Mercola

Have you ever used Roundup to kill weeds in your lawn or garden? As the most widely used herbicide in the United States, there’s a good chance you have.

In fact, millions of pounds are used every year on U.S. gardens, lawns and, extensively on farms growing genetically modified (GM) “Roundup Ready” crops.

You may forget about the herbicide soon after you spray it — and may never give it a second thought when consuming corn chips or countless processed foods that contain GM Roundup Ready corn and soy — but it doesn’t just magically disappear.

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2012/03/13/active-ingredient-glyphosate-in-roundup-herbicides-found-in-peoples-urine.aspx?e_cid=20120313_DNL_art_1

 

Allergen Allerts

 

Allergen Alert: Sulfites in Macaroon Cookie Mix

By Julia Thomas

Farmer John’s Herbs is recalling its “Mud Pie” Macaroon Cookie Mix due to undeclared sulfite allergens.The recalled cookie mix was sold in 400 g packages labeled “Mud Pie” Macaroon Cookie Mix with UPC 7 73353 60077 6 in stores in Alberta,…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/allergen-alert-sulfites-in-macaroon-cookie-mix/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120313

 

Allergen Alert: Stew Seasoning Packaging Error

By Olivia Marler

McCormick & Company has notified Publix Super Markets that it is recalling a single lot code of Publix Beef Stew Seasoning Mix because it may have been packaged in error with brown gravy and may contain undeclared milk.People with an…

http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2012/03/allergen-alert-beef-stew-seasoning-with-milk/?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=120313

 

 

30 Stupid Things The Government Is Spending Money On

March 2, 2012

By Michael Snyder
BlacklistedNews

http://www.blacklistednews.com/30_Stupid_Things_The_Government_Is_Spending_Money_On_/18240/0/0/0/Y/M.html

 

If you want to get paid for doing something stupid, just turn to the U.S. government.  The U.S. government is paying researchers to play video games, it is paying researchers to study the effects of cocaine on Japanese quail and it has spent millions of dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly.  The amount of money that the government wastes is absolutely horrifying.  Do you remember all of that political wrangling over the debt ceiling deal last year?  Do you remember how our politicians told us that there were cutting spending as much as they possibly could?  Well, it was all a giant lie.  As you will see below, the U.S. government is spending money on some of the most stupid things imaginable.  What makes all of this even worse is that we are going into enormous amounts of debt in order to pay for all of this.  We are borrowing billions of dollars a day in order to pay for stupid stuff that no government on earth should ever be paying for.  Trust me, you are going to find it hard to believe some of the stuff in this list.  It is almost inconceivable what our politicians are doing with our tax dollars.

The following are 30 incredibly stupid things that the federal government is spending money on….

#1 The U.S. government is spending $750,000 on a new soccer field for detainees held at Guantanamo Bay.

#2 The Obama administration plans to spend between 16 and 20 million dollars helping students from Indonesia get master’s degrees.

#3 If you can believe it, the U.S. government has spent $175,587 “to determine if cocaine makes Japanese quail engage in sexually risky behavior”.

#4 The U.S. government spent $200,000 on “a tattoo removal program” in Mission Hills, California.

#5 The federal government has shelled out $3 million to researchers at the University of California at Irvine to fund their research on video games such as World of Warcraft.  Wouldn’t we all love to have a “research job” like that?

#6 The Department of Health and Human Services plans to spend $500 million on a program that will, among other things, seek to solve the problem of 5-year-old children that “can’t sit still” in a kindergarten classroom.

#7 Fannie Mae is about to ask the federal government for another $4.6 billion bailout, and it will almost certainly get it.

#8 The federal government once spent 30 million dollars on a program that was designed to help Pakistani farmers produce more mangoes.

#9 The U.S. Department of Agriculture once gave researchers at the University of New Hampshire $700,000 to study methane gas emissions from dairy cows.

#10 According to USA Today, 13 different government agencies “fund 209 different science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) education programs — and 173 of those programs overlap with at least one other program.”

#11 A total of $615,000 was given to the University of California at Santa Cruz to digitize photos, T-shirts and concert tickets belonging to the Grateful Dead.

#12 China lends us more money than any other foreign nation, but that didn’t stop our government from spending 17.8 million dollars on social and environmental programs for China.

#13 The U.S. government once spent 2.6 million dollars to train Chinese prostitutes to drink responsibly.

#14 One professor at Stanford University was given $239,100 to study how Americans use the Internet to find love.

#15 The U.S. Postal Service spent $13,500 on a single dinner at Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse.

#16 The National Science Foundation once spent $216,000 to study whether or not politicians “gain or lose support by taking ambiguous positions”.

#17 A total of $1.8 million was spent on a “museum of neon signs” in Las Vegas, Nevada.

#18 The federal government spends 25 billion dollars a year maintaining federal buildings that are either unused or totally vacant.

#19 U.S. farmers are given a total of $2 billion each year for not farming their land.

#20 The U.S. government handed one Tennessee library $5,000 for the purpose of hosting a series of video game parties.

#21 A few years ago the government spent $123,050 on a Mother’s Day Shrine in Grafton, West Virginia.  It turns out that Grafton only has a population of a little more than 5,000 people.

#22 One professor at Dartmouth University was given $137,530 to create a “recession-themed” video game entitled “Layoff”.

#23 According to the Heritage Foundation, the U.S. military spent “$998,798 shipping two 19-cent washers from South Carolina to Texas and $293,451 sending an 89-cent washer from South Carolina to Florida”.

#24 The U.S. Department of Agriculture once shelled out $30,000 to a group of farmers to develop a tourist-friendly database of farms that host guests for overnight “haycations”.

#25 The National Institutes of Health paid researchers $400,000 to find out why gay men in Argentina engage in risky sexual behavior when they are drunk.

#26 The National Institutes of Health also once spent $442,340 to study the behavior of male prostitutes in Vietnam.

#27 The National Institutes of Health loves to spend our tax money on really bizarre things.  The NIH once spent $800,000in “stimulus funds” to study the impact of a “genital-washing program” on men in South Africa.

#28 According to the Washington Post, 1,271 different government organizations work on government programs related to counterterrorism and homeland security.

#29 The U.S. government spent $100,000 on a “Celebrity Chef Fruit Promotion Road Show in Indonesia”.

#30 The feds once gave Alaska Airlines $500,000 “to paint a Chinook salmon” on the side of a Boeing 737.

How in the world can our government be so foolish?

Anyone that claims that there is not a lot of stuff that can be cut out of the federal budget is lying to you.

All of this crazy spending is going to get us into a massive amount of trouble eventually.  Already, on a per capita basis the U.S. national debt is worse than the national debts of Greece, Italy, Ireland, Portugal and Spain.

We have accumulated the biggest debt in the history of the world and we are adding to it at a rate of about 150 million dollars an hour.

Our politicians strut around as if they are the smartest and wisest leaders in the history of the world, but the truth is that someday people will look back in horror at the decline of our once great society.

The federal government needs to stop spending so much money on stupid things and needs to stop pushing our national debt to nightmarish new levels.

Unfortunately, the corruption in Washington D.C. is so deep and so pervasive that it is going to be almost impossible to turn it around.

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