Cystic fibrosis therapy…

Cystic fibrosis patients over 12 years of age who have a particular genetic mutation now have a  newly approved  drug treatment.   This could offer hope for the 90% of patients who share this mutation, which means about 27,000 patients.  The drug combination appears to be more effective when used together than when used separately.  The CF diagnosis isn’t an automatic death sentence, but sufferers tend to acquire digestive problems,  diabetes,  and other life-shortening diseases and symptoms so they seldom reach age 50.

 

 

 

Oorah, Michael Campofiori!

Michael Campofiori  battled childhood leukemia and won.  Now he has fought his way through “The Crucible” and achieved his lifelong dream of becoming a U.S. Marine.   What a young man!

 

James Harrison, hero…

James Harrison is the most prolific blood donor in the world,  having kept a promise made at 14 to donate blood as often as possible,  prompted by being the surgical recipient of donated blood himself.

Soon after he began donating in 1954,  the Australian’s blood was found to have  unusually strong and persistent antibodies used to develop an injection called Anti-D, which helps fight against rhesus disease.  Rhesus occurs when a mother with RhD negative blood carries a baby with RhD positive blood, inherited from the father,  and the mother’s body produces antigens to destroy what it senses as a foreign threat — the baby’s red blood cells.  The result can be miscarriages,  stillbirths,  brain damage,  or fatal anaemia in newborns.   It kills thousands of babies a year.

But the Australian’s weekly blood donations since then have saved the lives of an estimated 2.4 million babies and earned him the moniker. “the man with the golden arm.”   He made his final donation last Friday,  aged 81,  when doctors declared he should stop for his own health.   Australia normally ends donations at age 71,  but  James Harrison’s special blood,  and his remarkable fealty to a promise made,  earned him the designation of hero.

 

Anti-mosquito…

If you’re worried about mosquito-borne diseases,  Consumer Reports has done some testing on the best sprays for your family,  so you  may find this useful.  Of course,  you also need to make sure there is no standing water anywhere in your yard.  Get rid of all the saucers beneath you plant pots, and change your pet’s water daily.

 

 

Columbus off the hook…

The skeleton of  a child  who died 170 years before Columbus came to America shows signs of syphilis,  so the disease likely existed in the Old World.   This will disappoint those who liked the theory that the voyager brought the affliction back from the New World.

 

 

When love becomes an instinct…

Some love is  powerful enough  to overcome the ravages of a mind-destroying disease,  transforming from an emotion into a bone-deep instinct requiring no memory beyond itself.   If you know such love,  you are blessed,  regardless of your circumstances.

 

 

 

 

Questionable link…

between  saturated fat  and heart disease, so stop denying yourself the occasional tasty T-bone steak.   Yes, it’s true that much of the government-approved  modern eating plan  is based on junk science or no science at all.

If you follow the Food Pyramid,  you will probably be overweight and likely be at risk for diabetes.   Why do you think there’s an explosion of juvenile diabetes?  Diabetes runs in my family.  I have the opposite,  low blood sugar  and if I ate half as many carbohydrates as recommended by Our Lady of Perpetual Dissatisfaction,  I’d be really obese and feel awful.  We’ve recently learned that whole milk leads to fewer weight problems in children than low-fat and fat-free.   The science on health and eating is not settled, though  the food nags insist it is,  just as the green Nazis claim global warming/climate change/global weirding is both science and settled.   Read the book  mentioned here  and get on the list to  buy the second one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The end of antibiotics?

The medical profession has been fretting about this for years,  even though doctors still continue to over-prescribe antibiotics at every level,  but could we actually now be close to  the tipping  point?

Maybe,  maybe not.

Oetzi the Iceman…

The 5,300-year-old  corpse found in the  permafrost of the Italian Alps in 1991  had a few health challenges,  including Lyme disease and a bad ticker,  according to a new report.   As technology continues to advance,  we may one day be able to determine definitively whether he was murdered.

United Nations diseased…

The United Nations produces misery in many places,  and is now  apparently spreading  terrible disease as part of it.