Health & Fitness

A new 'image analysis pipeline' is giving scientists rapid new insight into how disease or injury have changed the body, down to the individual cell. It's called TDAExplore, which takes the detailed imaging provided by microscopy, pairs it with a hot area of mathematics called topology, which provides insight on how things are arranged, and the analytical power of artificial intelligence to give, for example, a new perspective on changes in a cell resulting from ALS and where in the cell they happen, according to a cell biologist involved with the study.

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Scientists have advanced knowledge about how two proteins fit together to form a pore that Shigella uses to invade intestinal cells. Targeting these proteins could hamper infection by this bacterial pathogen.

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Mathematicians have analysed global COVID-19 data to identify two constants which can drastically change a country's rate of infection.

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Researchers now show that stimulation of the anterior thalamus increases memory-related brain activity and restores memory function in rats with mammillothalamic tract (MTT) lesions. Their findings suggest that therapies involving targeted stimulation of the anterior thalamus could help with memory restoration in patients with brain injury.

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Science has the technology to measure the activity of every gene within a single individual cell, and just one experiment can generate thousands of cells worth of data. Researchers have now revolutionized the way this data is analyzed -- by using 3D video gaming technology.

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This article was previously published October 7, 2020, and has been updated with new information.

Beyond Meat is one of a handful of companies flooding the market with plant-based burgers and other fake meat products, billing them as a healthy, environmentally friendly alternative.

But before you fall for the marketing hype, be aware that these ultraprocessed junk foods are anything but natural, and Beyond Meat has even signed an agreement with the Jiaxing Economic & Technological Development Zone (JXEDZ) with plans to start producing its "beef," "pork" and "chicken" products in China.¹

China, meanwhile, is notorious for its rampant food safety issues, including problems with illegal additives and contamination.² It's because China has these problems that a recent opinion piece in Food Safety News³ is so relevant when it comes to Beyond Meat being manufactured in China.

The piece talks about the lack of transparency in food companies’ disclosure of food safety violations to the FDA. So, if chemical contamination and other problems are occurring with other types of food and you’re not hearing about it, who’s to say the same thing won’t happen with Beyond Meat and its lab-created products from China?

Jiaxing, the Chinese city where Beyond Meat plans "to design and develop manufacturing facilities in the JXEDZ, including a state-of-the-art production facility to manufacture plant-based meat products including beef, pork and chicken under the Beyond Meat brand in China," also happens to be the city where some 16,000 dead pigs were dumped into the Huangpu river, creating a toxic soup that threatened water supplies in 2013.⁴

Beyond Meat 'Delighted and Confident' Over China Deal

In a news release, Beyond Meat CEO Ethan Brown shared the company's enthusiasm for the newfound partnership with China:⁵

"We are delighted and confident that after several months of productive and collaborative discussions, we will partner with the JXEDZ to develop two production facilities, including one of the world's largest and technologically advanced plant-based meat factories.

We are very impressed by the capabilities and vision of the JXEDZ and they are the ideal partner for us in this vitally important country and market."

Production is expected to begin on a trial basis within months while full-scale operations are slated for early 2021. The question is whether U.S. consumers will receive the news of Beyond Meat being made in China with the same fervor.

As Food Safety News put it, "It remains to be seen how American consumers will respond. When USDA permitted China to process chickens raised and slaughtered in the U.S., Canada and Chile, thousands of American consumers protested because of China's dismal reputation for food safety."⁶

Beyond Meat has also stated that "China is a critical part of Beyond Meat's long-term growth strategy,"⁷ and in April 2020 they launched three Beyond Beef products in Chinese Starbucks shops.⁸ The brand is growing steadily, with total revenue increasing from $16.2 million in 2016 to $87.9 million in 2018.⁹ It was expected that its revenue would continue to rise, reaching $358 million in 2020, but it exceeded that, reaching $406.8 million.¹⁰

Why Fake Meat Products Aren't 'Natural'

Beyond Meat cites human health as one of its driving missions that will be achieved by shifting from animal to plant-based meat.¹¹ But it's widely known that ultraprocessed foods are the enemy of good health, even increasing the risk of premature death by 62% if eaten in quantities of more than four servings daily.¹²

What makes Beyond Meat an ultraprocessed product? According to the NOVA Food Classification system, designed by the Center for Epidemiological Studies in Health and Nutrition, ultraprocessed foods are:¹³

"[I]ndustrial formulations made entirely or mostly from substances extracted from foods (oils, fats, sugar, starch, and proteins), derived from food constituents (hydrogenated fats and modified starch), or synthesized in laboratories from food substrates or other organic sources (flavor enhancers, colors, and several food additives used to make the product hyper-palatable)."

A hallmark of ultraprocessed foods is their long ingredient lists. Beyond Burger's patties contain 22 ingredients. Among them are expeller-pressed canola oil, pea protein isolate, cellulose from bamboo, modified food starch and methylcellulose¹⁴ — hardly "health" foods. To morph these ingredients into a patty that resembles meat requires significant processing.

Even registered dietician Emily Gelsomin, a senior clinical nutrition specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital, said to the Harvard Health Blog, "Even though legumes are sourced for protein in the branded meatless options, their health benefits are somewhat blunted by the high degree of processing involved."¹⁵

Beyond Meat certainly doesn't want to highlight the heavily processed nature of its fake food, so on its FAQ pages where it explains how they "rebuild meat," it's stated:¹⁶

"Protein, fat, minerals, carbohydrates, and water are the five building blocks of meat. We source these building blocks directly from plants. Using heating, cooling, and pressure, we create the fibrous texture of meat from plant-based proteins.

Then, we mix in fats, minerals, fruit and vegetable-based colors, natural flavors, and carbohydrates to replicate the appearance, juiciness, and flavor of meat."

Impossible Foods Holds 14 Patents

Impossible Foods is another leader in the fake meat industry and one of Beyond Meat's top rivals. Its website also suggests its plant-based meat is better for you and the planet,¹⁷ even though the products resemble nothing found in nature. In fact, Impossible Foods holds 14 patents, with at least 100 more pending.¹⁸

The patents, which were uncovered by Seth Itzkan, environmental futurist and co-founder and co-director of Soil4Climate, include the following and offer proof of the unnatural nature of these fake foods; truly natural foods cannot be patented.¹⁹

Patent No. 10287568 — Methods for extracting and purifying nondenatured proteins	Patent No. 10273492 — Expression constructs and methods of genetically engineering methylotrophic yeast	Patent No. 10172380 — Ground meat replicas
Patent No. 10172381 — Methods and compositions for consumables	Patent No. 10093913 — Methods for extracting and purifying non-denatured proteins	Patent No. 10039306 — Methods and compositions for consumables
Patent No. 10087434 — Methods for extracting and purifying nondenatured proteins	Patent No. 9943096 — Methods and compositions for affecting the flavor and aroma profile of consumables	Patent No. 9938327 — Expression constructs and methods of genetically engineering methylotrophic yeast
Patent No. 9833768 — Affinity reagents for protein purification	Patent No. 9826772 — Methods and compositions for affecting the flavor and aroma profile of consumables	Patent No. 9808029 — Methods and compositions for affecting the flavor and aroma profile of consumables
Patent No. 9737875 — Affinity reagents for protein purification	Patent No. 9700067 — Methods and compositions for affecting the flavor and aroma profile of consumables	Patent No. 9011949 — Methods and compositions for consumables

Are Meat Eaters Being Misled?

While you may assume that the allure of a plant-based burger applies most to vegans and vegetarians, research from market research firm NPD Group suggests that 95% of those who bought plant-based burgers were meat eaters.²⁰

"Plant-based burgers allow consumers to substitute without sacrifice. They get the 'burger' experience while assuaging their need for more protein and social concerns," Darren Seifer, NPD Group food and beverage industry analyst, said in Market Watch.²¹

NPD Group's report added that 18% of the U.S. adult population is also trying to add more plant-based foods into their diet, presumably for the health benefits, but adding a processed plant-based meat substitute is not the same as adding more vegetables. It seems many meat eaters are being misled when they purchase meatless burgers, as they think they're doing their health and the environment a favor.

Impossible Foods even claims that they have a better carbon footprint than live animal farms and hired Quantis, a group of scientists and strategists who help their clients take actions based on scientific evidence, to prove their point.

According to the executive summary published on the Impossible Foods website, their product reduced environmental impact between 87% and 96% in the categories studied, including global warming potential, land occupation and water consumption.²² This, however, compares fake meat to meat from concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), which are notoriously destructive to the environment.

"The pretense that this wealth-concentrating march of the software industry into the food sector is in any way good for people or the environment is predicated on a comparison with only the worst aspects of animal agriculture," Itzkan said.²³

Grass Fed Meat Is a Better Choice

A healthier and more sustainable choice to the typical CAFO burger would be to choose beef from grass fed cows. White Oak Pastures in Bluffton, Georgia, which produces high-quality grass fed products using regenerative grazing practices, commissioned the same analysis by Quantis and published a 33-page study showing comparisons of White Oaks Pastures emissions against conventional beef production.²⁴

While the manufactured fake meat reduced its carbon footprint up to 96% in some categories, White Oaks had a net total emission in the negative numbers as compared to CAFO produced meat.

Further, grass fed beef from White Oak Pastures had a carbon footprint that was 111% lower than a typical U.S. CAFO and its regenerative system effectively captured soil carbon, which offset the majority of emissions related to beef production.²⁵

It’s worth noting, too, that the Impossible Burger, which is made from GMO soy, contains Roundup ingredient glyphosate and its breakdown product AMPA,²⁶ at levels of 11.3 parts per billion — that’s 11 times higher than the glyphosate found in the Beyond Meat Burger.²⁷ Impossible Foods' scientists also fed leghemoglobin to rats for 28 days to determine the risk of allergic reaction or toxicity.

In plants, leghemoglobin is the protein that carries heme, an iron-containing molecule. Originally, Impossible Foods harvested leghemoglobin from the roots of soy plants, but deemed that method unsustainable. Instead, they turned to genetic engineering, which they use to insert the DNA from soy plants into yeast, creating GE yeast with the gene for soy leghemoglobin.²⁸

Dana Perls, from Friends of the Earth, pointed out that the rats exhibited alterations in blood chemistry after being fed leghemoglobin, which the company did not follow up on.²⁹

Consumer Reports senior scientist Michael Hansen added that there are no long-term studies of soy leghemoglobin in humans, even though the process to make it creates at least 45 other proteins as byproducts, which are also consumed and in need of further evaluation.³⁰ Even the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has raised concerns over the soy leghemoglobin in the Impossible Burger being a possible human allergen.³¹

On the other hand, grass fed animal products are better for the environment and public health. Levels of cancer-fighting conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), for instance, increase by two- to three-fold when cattle are grass finished as opposed to grain finished.³²

The ratio of dietary fats is also healthier in grass fed beef,³³ which is a whole food, not an ultraprocessed junk food. If you’re interested in saving the planet and supporting your health, skip the fake meat alternatives trying to disguise themselves as health foods and opt for real food that’s being raised the right way instead.

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In a November 21, 2021, tweet, cardiologist Dr. Aseem Malhotra writes:¹

“Extraordinary, disturbing, upsetting. We now have evidence of a plausible biological mechanism of how mRNA vaccine may be contributing to increased cardiac events. The abstract is published in the highest impact cardiology journal so we must take these findings very seriously.”

The abstract he’s talking about is “mRNA COVID Vaccines Dramatically Increase Endothelial Inflammatory Markers and ACS Risk as Measured by the PULS Cardiac Test: A Warning,” published in the November 16, 2021, issue of the journal Circulation.² (ACS is Acute Coronary Syndrome).

Cardiac Risk Warning

The PULS (Protein Unstable Lesion Signature) cardiac test³ is a simple blood test that detects unstable cardiac lesion rupture, one of the leading causes of heart attacks. As noted by the authors of that paper, this is “a clinically validated measurement of multiple protein biomarkers,” which include:

• IL-16, a proinflammatory cytokine
• Soluble Fas, an inducer of apoptosis
• Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF), a marker for chemotaxis of T-cells into epithelium and cardiac tissue

These and several other proteins are indicative of your immune system’s response to arterial injuries that can result in cardiac lesions. These lesions can become unstable, and if they rupture, they can lead to a heart attack. 

So, based on the levels of these biomarkers, the test gives you a score that predicts your 5-year risk, as a percentage chance, of developing acute coronary syndrome (ACS). Elevated levels raise your PULS score while levels below the norm lower it.

COVID-Jabbed Patients More Than Double Their ACS Risk

According to the authors of the Circulation report:⁴

“The score has been measured every 3-6 months in our patient population for 8 years. Recently, with the advent of the mRNA COVID 19 vaccines (vac) by Moderna and Pfizer, dramatic changes in the PULS score became apparent in most patients. This report summarizes those results.

A total of 566 [patients], aged 28 to 97, M:F ratio 1:1 seen in a preventive cardiology practice had a new PULS test drawn from 2 to 10 weeks following the 2nd COVID shot and was compared to the previous PULS score drawn 3 to 5 months previously pre- shot.

Baseline IL-16 increased from 35=/-20 above the norm to 82 =/- 75 above the norm post-vac; sFas increased from 22+/- 15 above the norm to 46=/-24 above the norm post-vac; HGF increased from 42+/-12 above the norm to 86+/-31 above the norm post-vac.

These changes resulted in an increase of the PULS score from 11% 5-year ACS risk to 25% 5-year ACS risk. At the time of this report, these changes persist for at least 2.5 months post second dose of vac.

We conclude that the mRNA vacs dramatically increase inflammation on the endothelium and T cell infiltration of cardiac muscle and may account for the observations of increased thrombosis, cardiomyopathy, and other vascular events following vaccination.”

As noted by Malhotra, this is indeed extraordinarily disturbing. Patients who received a two-dose regimen of mRNA more than doubled their five-year ACS risk, driving it from an average of 11% to 25%. Just imagine the shape our medical system and society at large will be in if 1 of every 4 people who got the two-dose regimen ends up with acute heart failure.

Signs and Symptoms to Watch For

ACS is an umbrella term that doesn’t just include heart attacks, but also a range of other conditions involving abruptly reduced blood flow to your heart. Signs and symptoms of ACS typically begin very suddenly, and include:⁵

Chest pain/discomfort, often described as aching, pressure, tightness or burning sensations	Pain that radiates from your chest to your shoulders, arms, upper abdomen, back, neck and/or jaw
Nausea and/or vomiting	Indigestion
Shortness of breath	Sudden heavy sweating
Lightheadedness, dizziness and/or fainting	Unusual or inexplicable fatigue
Restlessness and/or apprehensiveness

If you suspect ACS, do not drive yourself to the hospital. Call for an ambulance, as it is a true medical emergency that may need prompt medical attention. Risk factors for ACS have historically included older age, high blood pressure, cigarette smoking, lack of exercise, unhealthy diet, excess body weight and diabetes.

SARS-CoV-2 infection was recently added to that list, but it seems we must also add the COVID jab as well. Those who got the injection for fear that COVID-19 might adversely affect their heart now face the grim reality that they’ve exchanged a potential risk for a more certain one.

Vaccine-Induced Thrombocytopenia

In related news, a paper published in the journal Blood Advances reviews “SARS-CoV-2 Spike-Dependent Platelet Activation in COVID-19 Vaccine-Induced Thrombocytopenia.”⁶ Thrombocytopenia is the medical term for low platelet count.

The authors point out that following the rollout of the mRNA and DNA-based COVID shots, more than 150 cases of thrombocytopenia have been reported. The reference for that statistic is a March 9, 2021, paper in the American Journal of Hematology,⁷ and injuries are stacking up at breakneck speed.

As of November 12, 2021, there were 4,387 cases of thrombocytopenia reported to the U.S. Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System (VAERS),⁸ so it’s far more frequent than what they’re stating. (There are also 9,332 reports of heart attacks, which we just discussed, and 13,237 reports of myopericarditis, i.e., inflammation of the heart and/or heart sack.⁹)

According to the authors, identifying the mechanism by which the shots cause thrombocytopenia would facilitate the development of a diagnostic test. Historically, heparin-induced thrombocytopenia has been diagnosed using a serotonin release assay (SRA).

Using SRA, a subset of critically ill COVID-19 patients have tested positive for platelet-activating immune complexes that can cause thrombosis. Other researchers have also showed IgG antibodies from critically ill COVID-19 patients can activate platelets, resulting in a thrombotic event.

Here, using a modified SRA, they discovered spike-dependent, platelet-activating immune complexes in a patient with vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia, suggesting the spike protein is the causative factor. They explain:¹⁰

“Our patient was a 25-year-old woman who presented to hospital 10 days after receiving the Moderna mRNA COVID-19 vaccine with fatigue, petechiae and wet purpura. The initial platelet count was 1,000 per cubic millimeter without evidence of schistocytes on blood smear.

Coagulation studies were within the normal range ... This also likely excludes the presence of a lupus anticoagulant, given the use of a lupus-sensitive reagent for PTT testing. Anti-platelet factor 4 (PF4)/heparin antibodies were not detected ... and the classic SRA test, with or without heparin or exogenous PF4, was negative.

Assays for drug-induced immune thrombocytopenia with washed donor platelets were also negative for platelet binding with vaccine, PEG2000, or SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein ... The patient was treated with dexamethasone and intravenous immune globulin (IVIg) for a presumed immune thrombocytopenic purpura. The platelet count normalized by day seven of treatment.

Additional serum testing identified SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein antibodies of the IgG ... IgA ... and IgM ... classes. Antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein were absent, confirming vaccine-induced antibodies without prior infection.

To further investigate the mechanism of thrombocytopenia, we tested the patient’s serum using a modified SRA with addition of recombinant SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein (Spike-SRA). We observed dose-dependent platelet activation with increasing SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein ...

The reaction was inhibited by an FcγRIIa blocker ... and IVIg ... confirming FcγRIIa-dependent platelet activation. Platelet activation was also demonstrated to a lesser degree with increasing amounts of Moderna vaccine ... and the excipient PEG2000 ...

Furthermore, platelet activation was not detected in a control sample from a patient who had received the Moderna vaccine and had not developed thrombocytopenia ...

Circulating Spike protein was detected in our patient’s serum using enzyme immunoassay testing ... Together, these results suggest that the thrombocytopenia in this patient was secondary to FcγRIIa-mediated platelet activation by SARS-CoV-2 Spike immune complexes.”

Potential Mechanism Identified

If you found the section quoted above to be too complex, here’s the take-home message: The mRNA shot may be causing an exceptionally low level of platelets through a mechanism that involves antibodies against the spike protein (anti-spike antibodies) resulting in depletion of platelets by activating them.

Platelets are specialized cells that stop bleeding, and they have ACE2 receptors, which is what the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein binds to. When the spike protein binds to the ACE2 receptor on the platelets, it activates them.

This platelet activation can lead to disseminated intravascular coagulation, i.e., a pathological overstimulation of your coagulation system that can result in abnormal, and life threatening, blood clotting, as well as thrombocytopenia (low platelet count) and hemorrhaging.

Doctors for COVID Ethics described this mechanism in a February 28, 2021, letter¹¹ to the European Medicines Agency (EMA). In that letter, they warned that, based on this mechanism, spike protein-based COVID shots are likely to cause blood clots, cerebral vein thrombosis and sudden death, which is precisely what we’ve been seeing ever since.

In essence, you basically end up with so many blood clots throughout your vascular system that your coagulation system is exhausted, hence the low platelet count. The low platelet count, in turn, is what allows for hemorrhaging (abnormal bleeding).

Questions Remain

A mystery that remains to be solved is why only certain people with antibodies to the spike protein (anti-spike antibodies) go on to develop symptoms of platelet activation and thrombocytopenia. Why not all of them? “One hypothesis is that platelet activation is dependent on unique spike protein epitopes, which are only recognized by a minority of identified antibodies,” the authors suggest.¹² In closing, they state:

“Our case ... highlights the applicability of the SRA to detect platelet activation disorders aside from HIT [heparin-induced thrombocytopenia]. Although classically done in the presence of heparin, it can be modified to include various antigens to elicit immune complex formation and identify platelet activation ...

Ultimately, the role of SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein requires further clarification in regards to platelet activation, as well as the role of vaccine- and PEG-dependent platelet activation. We postulate that a small subset of antibodies against the Spike protein, formed after vaccination, can activate platelets and cause thrombocytopenia.

The prevalence of this phenomenon remains to be clinically determined. Regardless, the modified SRA presented here may be a useful diagnostic test as more cases of vaccine-induced thrombocytopenia are recognized.”

COVID Jab Risks Clearly Outweigh Any Potential Benefit

Since well before the rollout of these COVID shots, scientists and doctors have sounded the alarm, pointing out a host of potential mechanisms by which they may cause harm. Now, nearly a year into it, many of our fears are turning out to have been warranted. They’re causing very serious cardiovascular damage, blood disorders, and reproductive dysfunction.

Worst of all, our health authorities have abandoned the mandate to protect public health and are covering up the wreckage on behalf of the profit makers. On top of that, doctors and nurses who speak out about the collateral damage they’re seeing are being silenced and persecuted by medical boards and government officials alike.

Now, we’re injecting these kill shots into children as young as 5. I see no way for this to end on a pleasant note. As a society, as the deaths and injuries, especially in children, continue to escalate, we’re going to face some excruciatingly difficult times.

To remind you of where this article started, people who have received two mRNA shots have more than doubled their five-year risk of acute coronary events, on average. If you’ve not yet taken the jab, I reckon you probably won’t at this point. But if you’ve already taken one or two, I strongly urge you to review the mechanisms of harm, and evaluate whether it’s worth it to continue with a third.

The adverse changes caused by the shots persist for at least 2.5 months. That’s the low end. We still do not know what the upper time limit is. It could be a year or more, and the risks certainly do not diminish with subsequent additional doses. In the November 12, 2021, OpenVAERS report,¹³ they added a graph showing vaccination rates and VAERS reports by state.

As you can see, there’s a clear correlation between the rate of “fully vaccinated” in a given state and the number of COVID injuries reported from that state. (Indiana, for some reason, sticks out as a lone exception with a disproportionately high number of reports to the number of fully “vaccinated.”)

The gray zones are population; blue bars are the number of fully vaccinated; the red bars are the number of reported injuries. (All numbers have been divided by 1,000.) This is yet another piece of evidence that we have a serious problem on our hands.

What Can You Do if You Have Jab Remorse?

If you now believe that getting the COVID jab was a mistake and wish to lessen your doubled risk of cardiac complications, there a few basic strategies I would advise.

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