Stents Do Not Prevent Heart Failure

Every year, 60,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with heart failure, and many are treated with stents. In a large new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, my colleagues and I discovered that these procedures are unnecessary.

Heart failure is where the heart muscle becomes weakened, leading to symptoms of severe breathlessness that may cause premature death. The commonest cause is blocked blood vessels that reduce blood supply to the heart muscle. This is known as coronary artery disease.

A person with heart failure is treated with medication and sometimes with specialised pacemakers. Despite this treatment, many patients die prematurely or are admitted to hospital with wor sening symptoms.

People with heart failure also sometimes have a procedure to insert a stent – a small metal tube that is used to unblock a coronary artery. Stents are placed into the heart arteries by a cardiologist through tubes inserted either into the wrist or the groin and guided by X-rays.

Trials have shown that stents are a very effective treatment for people with heart attacks and angina, but their effects in patients with heart failure have remained uncertain.  READ MORE...

Lounge Scenes

An Appetite and Sun Connection

According to recent research from Tel Aviv University, exposure to the sun makes men more hungry but not women. The research, which was conducted using lab models, reveals how the metabolic mechanism is activated differently in men and women. 

According to the researchers, sun exposure in males of both animal species and humans triggers a protein called p53 to repair any DNA damage that may have been done to the skin as a result of the exposure.

Ghrelin, a hormone that increases hunger, is produced by the body in response to the activation of p53. The hormone estrogen prevents the interaction of p53 with ghrelin in females, which prevents the urge to eat after exposure to the sun.

Professor Carmit Levy and Ph.D. student Shivang Parikh of the Department of Human Genetics and Biochemistry at TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine led the groundbreaking study. 

 It was carried out in partnership with numerous Israeli and international researchers, including Tel Aviv Sourasky (Ichilov), Assuta, Meir, and Sheba Medical Centers, as well as Dr. Yiftach Gepner and Dr. Lior Bikovski from TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine and Professor Aron Weller from Bar-Ilan University. 

The study was published in the renowned journal Nature Metabolism.  READ MORE...

Movement

 

Mysterious Rings in Space

The James Webb Space Telescope captured the star WR 140 surrounded by strange concentric shells. (Image credit: NASA/ESA /CSA /Ryan Lau /JWST ERS Team /Judy Schmidt)

The James Webb Space Telescope captured mysterious concentric rings around a distant star that astronomers are still working to explain.


The image, taken in July, was released on Twitter by citizen scientist Judy Schmidt, prompting a torrent of comments and head-scratching. It shows a star known as WR140 surrounded by regular ripple-like circles that gradually fade away. The circles, however, are not perfectly round, but have a somewhat square-like feel to them, prompting speculations about possible alien origins.

"I think it's just nature doing something that is simple, but when we look at it from only one viewpoint it seems impossible, at first, to understand that it is a natural phenomenon," Schmidt told Space.com in an email. "Why is it shaped the way it is? Why is it so regular?"

Mark McCaughrean, an interdisciplinary scientist in the James Webb Space Telescope Science Working Group and a science advisor to the European Space Agency, called the feature "bonkers" in a Twitter thread.


"The six-pointed blue structure is an artifact due to optical diffraction from the bright star WR140 in this #JWST MIRI image," he wrote. "But red curvy-yet-boxy stuff is real, a series of shells around WR140. Actually in space. Around a star."

He noted that WR140 is what astronomers call a Wolf-Rayet star, which have spat much of their hydrogen into space. These objects are also surrounded by dust, he added, which a companion star is sculpting into the strange shells.

Astronomers will know more soon thanks to a scientific paper currently under review about this mysterious phenomenon.  READ MORE...

Annoying Cats

 

S O S -- Just Another Day

This morning, I woke up to a light rain and decided to walk my 1.4 miles anyway...  my time was about the same, even though the humidity seemed to be really high.  Walking is a necessary routine for me as I continue to recover from back surgery.

There will be no labor day cookouts for us today as the forecast claims a 90% chance of rain...  but, we had nothing really planned anyway so no big loss for us if the rain comes in buckets.

Since my wife and I are retired, we had no idea it was labor day until Friday when we heard someone talking about it while we were out.  Sunday, we went to our local Perkins Restaurant for brunch and I ordered my usual of an everything omelet with breakfast potatoes and pancakes.  My wife got the magnificent 7 which is 2 eggs, 2 strips of bacon and 3 pancakes.  She eats 1 pancake and gives me the other 2.  I eat half of my omelet and bring the other half and 5 pancakes home.

This morning, I had the other half of the omelet and breakfast potatoes and will then eat 1 pancake a day for the next 5 days for breakfast.  I will put sugar free jelly on a pancake and eat it before I walk.

After walking, I always make another cup of coffee and watch FOX News for a while as I cool down.  This morning the news casters focused on Biden's divisive speech, illegal immigration, the increase of crime and violence in big cities, the increase of illegal drugs and fentanyl, and how inflation is going to negatively impact the Liberals in November.

I listen to the same thing everyday and not only am I tired of hearing it, but I am tired of the liberals doing nothing about it.  Hell, they will not even talk about it as if it is of no concern to them at all.

When I was in business school, we learned that DOING NOTHING is actually a business strategy but in all case studies we discovered that DOING NOTHING was the worst strategy that you could take...  TAKING ACTION is always the best course forward.

One of these days, the people are simply going to get tired of this happening to them and their families and are going to do something about it with their votes.

 

Labor Day Weekend

 When I was a lad, I remember our summers began and ended on holidays - on one side was Memorial Day and on the other side was Labor Day...  for some reason that is no longer what happens...  I suppose the teachers bitched to get more money and the school year was lengthened...  whatever happened, school now resumes before Labor Day.

Most people who don't go on a vacation this weekend, have cookouts either in their backyards or at a local park & recreation area...  some go camping, while others just stay at home and do nothing special.

For us (my wife and I), we are planning to stay at home as we do not want to be around a bunch of people regardless of the location...  it ain't nothing personal, it's just how we are in retirement...

But, with an above ground pool in the back yard, a large gazebo, and hot tub, there is very little that we are missing by not going on vacation.  We will probably cook some chicken or burgers on the grill...  but, more importantly, think of all the money that we are saving not to mention the aggravation we would experience with a bunch of assholes drivers on the interstate.

Pithy Thoughts

Hungry for Watermelon

 

Cancer Lurking in Your Tattoo

For millennia, tattoos have taken their place as an art form. And it seems as if everywhere you go, more people are embracing them as not only an art, but a fashion choice and a form of self-expression.

If you’ve ever gotten one, you may have thought the only concern would be the possibility of infection, but that’s not the case…

Despite the popularity of tattoos, it’s an industry that’s largely unregulated — at least when it comes to the actual ink that is used.

And after research at Binghamton University, we all may think twice before walking into a tattoo parlor…

“The idea for this project initially came about because I was interested in what happens when laser light is used to remove tattoos,” says John Swierk, Ph.D., the project’s principal investigator. “But then I realized that very little is actually known about the composition of tattoo inks, so we started analyzing popular brands.”

They even interviewed tattoo artists to see what they knew about the inks they use to produce those tats.

And what they found was just plain frightening.

The team discovered that while tattoo artists generally have a favorite brand, they couldn’t tell the researchers anything about the contents of the ink.

And it gets worse from there…   READ MORE...

Dr. Strsnge

 

Quiet Quitting at Work

The idea of slowly withdrawing from overworking has gone viral. This ‘quiet quitting’ has actually been happening for decades – but its newfound popularity says a lot about work now.

On a recent Monday morning, Gemma, 25, finally decided she needed to overhaul her working life. “I opened my inbox to a load of negative emails from the company’s founder,” explains the London-based PR worker. “I was then expected to deliver big results on a tight deadline. I’d just had enough.”

However, Gemma, whose full name is being withheld over career concerns, didn’t resign. Instead, she chose to remain in her current role; she performs her tasks, but has stopped going the extra mile. 

“I think it’s quite clear my spark has gone, and I just get by doing the minimum,” she says. “I used to be online hours before I started work; now, I don’t log on until after 0900. I used to work so late that I didn’t have time for myself; now, I close all work apps at 1800 on the dot.”

Gemma has ‘quiet quit’ her job, a move linked to a trend that first went viral on TikTok. The phrase was popularised by user @zkchillin in a July 2022 video that now has 3.5 million views, spawning an online phenomenon.  READ MORE...

Diving Into Water

She Changed The Game

The marked disappointment of the Arthur Ashe Stadium crowd, when Serena Williams hit her final forehand into the net, did not linger for long.

A rousing acclamation soon rang around the stadium for a woman who extended Ajla Tomljanovic into a fourth hour in their US Open third-round match, and whose brilliance spanned more than a quarter of a century.

She and her sister Venus changed the game, and the approach to life of many - whether they had been dreaming of a pro tennis career or simply a better, fairer future for themselves and their family.

Be yourself, was the message. Women, especially those of colour, do not need to hide their emotions or a desperate will to succeed. Many noses were put out of joint in the process, but corrective surgery had been long overdue.

Muhammad Ali and perhaps Billie Jean King aside, has any athlete made a greater impact on society than Serena Williams? And she may be only just beginning.  READ MORE...

Butterfly on Puppy

 

Sunday Morning Perspective

I wonder how long the hatred in this country will last against those who are not liberal minded or support the progressives?  We are a divided nation and out divisions are worsening instead of getting better...  We have little to no tolerance for the other side who believes differently than we do, and have no desire to try and understand their points-of-view.

Our issues are:

1. Abortion
2. Inflation
3. Student Loan Debt Forgiveness
4. Illegal Immigration
5. Illegal Drugs
6. Disinformation
7. Crime and Violence in cities
8. Slow Growing Economy
9. Push for Electric Vehicles
10. Termination of Gasoline
11. Solar Panels from China
12. Energy Grid Not Powerful Enough
13. Increased Racism
14. Raising Personal Taxes
15. Raising Corporate Taxes
16. Wealth Gap
17. Teaching CRT in Public Schools
18. Weaponizing DOJ & FBI
19. Lack of Respect for FBI
20. Legal Double Standards
21. Our Failing Educational Systems

Who Is To Blame?

• Politicians
• Voters
• Citizens & Residents
• Social Media
• Mainstream Media
• Corporate American
• Technology Companies

America no longer has the respect from the rest of the world...

The rest of the world believes that America will not come to their defense if needed...

Russia/China are waging economic war against America and our leaders don't understand or know how to stop it...

Will nuclear power destroy the world quicker than we anticipated?

Will China be able to control outer space before we do?

Are progressives destroying our military superiority?

Will immigration change America into a 3rd World Country?

Oopps