SCIENZZZ and GAINZZZ

A study suggests that mental illnesses such as schizophrenia are caused by "junk DNA" written into our genetic sequence by viruses.

Around 8% of human DNA is made up of genetic sequences acquired from ancient viruses. These sequences, known as human endogenous retroviruses (or Hervs), date back hundreds of thousands to millions of years -- with some even predating the emergence of Homo sapiens.

Our latest research suggests that some ancient viral DNA sequences in the human genome play a role in susceptibility to psychiatric disorders such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and major depressive disorder.

Hervs represent the remnants of these infections with ancient retroviruses. Retroviruses are viruses that insert a copy of their genetic material into the DNA of the cells they infect.

Retroviruses probably infected us on multiple occasions during our evolutionary past. When these infections occurred in sperm or egg cells that generated offspring, the genetic material from these retroviruses was passed on to subsequent generations, becoming a permanent part of our lineage.

Initially, scientists considered Hervs to be "junk DNA" -- parts of our genome with no discernible function. But as our understanding of the human genome has advanced, it's become evident that this so-called junk DNA is responsible for more functions than originally hypothesised.

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Initial research suggested that Hervs regulate the expression of neighbouring genes with important biological functions. One example of this is a Herv that regulates the expression of a gene involved in modifying connections between brain cells.

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In our study, we profiled Herv expression in nearly 800 autopsy brain samples. This helped us identify DNA variations that influenced Herv expression in the brain.

We then cross-referenced this information with findings from large genetic studies which had compared genetic differences between tens of thousands of people -- both with and without mental health conditions. These studies identified variations in DNA associated with different psychiatric conditions.

We found that that the expression of four Hervs was linked with genetic susceptibility to major psychiatric disorders. The expression of two of these Hervs was associated with schizophrenia, one Herv with both schizophrenia and bipolar disorder, and one with depression.

Don't think about the fact that most of the world's population just injected itself with gene therapy to alter human DNA. When part of your brain begins wondering about that, just call it a Racist until it shuts up.

Here's something else you need to tell your Racist brain to take no heed of-- unexpectedly, most doctors endorsing drugs online are paid Big Pharma shills.

A team of medical researchers affiliated with several institutions in the U.S. has found that a high percentage of doctors posting endorsements regarding drugs on the social media site X were paid to do so by the makers of the drugs.

In their study, published in JAMA , the group searched for drug endorsements by doctors on X and then used a website called Open Payments to find out if they had been paid for their endorsements.

The United States is one of the few developed countries that allows pharmaceutical companies to advertise the drugs they make and sell, including via radio, television and social media sites. It is also legal in the US for doctors and other health care professionals to receive payment for endorsing the drugs featured in advertising.

In this new effort, the research team noted that the website Open Payments (run by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services) allows interested parties to identify doctors practicing in the U.S. who have received money for endorsements and the name of the party that paid them. The team had questions about doctors making endorsements on social media sites.

To learn more, the researchers focused their efforts on X, formerly Twitter. They began their study by searching for doctors who were posting drug endorsements and found 28 of them. They searched the name of each doctor on the Open Payments website to learn more about their endorsement history. They found that 26 of the doctors on X had received payments from the manufacturer of the drugs they were endorsing. They also found that 24 had received payments related to the specific drug they were endorsing.

26 of 28.

Remember, your brain is a Racist and you mustn't ever trust it.

Eating foods rich in fatty acids may help increase our longevity and keep our brains working at a "SuperBiden" level well into our autumn years.

They identified two distinct types of brain aging -- and the slower paced aging was associated with nutrient intake similar to what you would get from the Mediterranean diet, shown in previous studies to be one of the best for our bodies.

"We investigated specific nutrient biomarkers, such as fatty acid profiles, known in nutritional science to potentially offer health benefits," says neuroscientist Aron Barbey, from the University of Illinois.

"This aligns with the extensive body of research in the field demonstrating the positive health effects of the Mediterranean diet, which emphasizes foods rich in these beneficial nutrients."

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Fatty acids, like those in fish and olive oil, and antioxidants such as vitamin E, present in spinach and almonds, were among the beneficial biomarkers identified, as well as carotenoids, plant pigments found in carrots and pumpkin that have previously been found to lower inflammation in the body and protect cells from damage. Another beneficial biomarker associated with slower aging in this research was choline, which is contained in high concentrations in egg yolks, organ meats and raw soybean.

The word "inflammation" is the new hotness now. What they're talking about is just tissues being damaged -- inflamed -- by some foods or chemicals. Just like the linings of your nose and throat become inflamed when you're sick.

Internal body tissues which are chronically inflamed -- bothered, damaged, stressed -- by diet will tend to age and break down faster.

Next, the team wants to look at clinical trials across a significant amount of time to see how diet and nutrition might affect brain aging. It's possible that simple tweaks to what we eat could help cut down the risk of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's.

"The present study identifies particular nutrient biomarker patterns that are promising and have favorable associations with measures of cognitive performance and brain health," says Barbey.

Speaking of inflammation, Republican Congresswoman Anna Palina Luna introduced two bills, one to ban food dyes, and one to ban high fructose corn syrup.

The Do or Dye Act targets toxic food dyes such as Red No. 40, Yellow No. 5, and Yellow No. 6, classifying foods containing these additives as adulterated under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

The Stop Spoonfuls of Fake Sugar Act seeks to classify any food containing high-fructose corn syrup as adulterated, also under the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act.

Congresswoman Luna emphasizes that these bills are a step towards preventing corporations and the FDA from allowing harmful ingredients that contribute to health issues like type 2 diabetes and various mental health conditions.

I'm not a super-fan of strongarm measures like this, but in her defense, I'd point out the FDA already has the authority to ban various ingredients in food. So the question isn't so much about giving the government such a power -- we already gave it to them, ages ago -- but whether Congress may instruct executive-branch petty bureaucrats about which ingredients should be banned. Of course Congress has that power, having created the FDA and delegated part of its own law-making power to the bureaucrats working there.

As you probably know, the "rule-making" power of executive bureaucrats is just Congress lazily, and perhaps unconstitutionally, empowering the executive to make law, so long as a court is willing to call these laws mere "rules" rather than full "laws."

I might also point out that America's high levels of obesity are a direct result of FDA rulings and advice, like the insane "food pyramid" telling people to eat 6-11 portions of bread and pasta per day while limiting meat. And for claiming that sugar isn't really all that bad. After being lobbied hard about it by Big Sugar. And for going along with the fiction that high-fructose corn syrups is a "good sugar."

I don't know. Argue amongst yourselves. I'm playing devil's advocate for her because she's a hottie.

If you need inspiration for getting some GAINZZZ, this triple blackbelt Life Coach at The Guardian has a fantastic motivational pitch for you -- getting healths and strong might turn you into a rightwing fascist.

Getting fit is great -- but it could turn you into a rightwing jerk

The more self-actualised you become, the higher you are on self-righteousness, blaming other people's problems on their failure to be as healthy as you

You had my interest, but now you have my attention.

[T]here is a dark side to wellness, which I always, for shorthand, thought of as political: getting fit makes you more rightwing. The mechanism is incredibly simple: you embark on this voyage of self-improvement, and more or less immediately see results. You feel stronger and more energetic, probably your mood lifts, and pretty soon you think you are master of your own destiny. You're still not, by the way: destiny does not care about your step count. But until that fact catches up with you, which it may never, there you are, high on self-righteousness. You can tell this has happened to you when you start inhaling performatively, like the hero of an Ayn Rand novel.

Whoa whoa whoa -- slow down, take it easy, you don't have to do anything more to sell me.

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So now you're almost your best self, except you could always be better, and this is when you start eating protein the whole time. What even is protein powder? I don't mean: "What's it made of?" -- I know my way around whey. I don't mean: "What does it taste like?", as, funnily enough, I quite like it, but that's only because it's the taste of pure virtue.

Dang this crazy bitch is getting me amped!

Short Fat Otaku did a video three months ago discussing the left's fetishization of health, fitness, strength, and pretty much every other positive and masculine-associated attribute. He makes a pretty compelling case: The left hates everything they associate with fascism, and as strength and masculine virtues are associated with fascism, they fetishize weakness. And fatness. And laziness. And cowardice.

And mental illness.

They also associate order and discipline with fascism, so they cultivate disorder, criminality, laziness, indulgence, and lack of self-control.

He also notes they hate virility, too, so they're anti-natalist -- they don't want humans reproducing -- and pursue non-reproductive sex themselves.

Revolutionary leftists, who support civil war and murdering their enemies, have noticed a Fitness Gap between the weakling soypuddles they're counting on to kill fascists for them, and the targets of their intended violence. They've noticed that the revolutionaries do not seem to be prepared to do the bloody work that The Cause will require.

So some of them are attempting to encourage the soypuddles to do some squats, by reminding them that the enemy is at the gym:

Starship had another test flight last week. Nice launch video. Here's the booster rocket landing.

There's a new tattoo removal technique, and hooboy, do I think that tattoo removal is going to be a big business for the next ten years. This guy's getting his full-face skull tattoo removed. I guess he realized that at some point he's going to need a job besides the three-days-a-year gig at his local Halloween haunted house.

Why is dating so hard in Current Year? This girl has some answers, and for some reason I am strangely compelled to believe everything she says. Almost like hypnotism.

Some good dogs just trying to do their best in agility exhibitions.

I did it!

Have you got any GAINZZZ?

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 04:20 PM

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