Not all repellents are equal

Here’s how to avoid mosquito bites this summer

Immo A. Hansen, New Mexico State University and Hailey A. Luker, New Mexico State University

A group of Anopheles mosquitoes taking a blood meal in an
experiment conducted by the New Mexico State University
Molecular Vector Physiology Lab. Hansen MVP lab

Now that summer is in full swing, mosquitoes have come out across the United States. The use of mosquito repellents can protect both your health and sanity this summer.

While mosquitoes leave bothersome, itchy bites on your skin, they can also pose a serious and sometimes deadly risk to your health. When a mosquito bites you, it may transmit harmful pathogens that cause dangerous diseases like malaria, Dengue fever, Zika and West Nile.

Avoiding mosquito bites

Mosquito females bite people to get vital nutrients from our blood. They then use these nutrients to make their eggs. One single blood meal can give rise to about 100 mosquito eggs that hatch into wiggling larvae.

Culex quinquefasciatus larvae Mosquito larvae feed by
filtering food from water. Getting rid of standing water
can reduce mosquito habitats. Immo Hansen

There are several ways to avoid getting bitten by mosquitoes, from wearing long, loose clothing and limiting time outside to placing screens over your windows and getting rid of standing water that mosquitoes might use to breed.

However, one of the best ways to protect yourself when you’re going to a place where hungry mosquitoes will be buzzing around is by using mosquito repellents.

Our team at the New Mexico State University Molecular Vector Physiology Laboratory has studied different types of mosquito repellents and their efficacy for over a decade. Here’s what you need to know to protect yourself this summer:

Daily Vitamin D Consumption May Reduce Cancer Mortality

Doesn't necessarily prevent cancer, but seems to help you survive it

By GERMAN CANCER RESEARCH CENTER 

A daily dose of Vitamin D could potentially decrease cancer mortality rates by twelve percent, according to an analysis of 14 top-tier studies involving almost 105,000 participants at the German Cancer Research Center.

Vitamin D deficiency is a widespread global issue and is notably prevalent among cancer patients. 

Averaged over the year, the vitamin D blood levels of about 15 percent of German adults are below the threshold for a pronounced vitamin D deficiency. Furthermore, a study found that 59 percent of colorectal cancer patients suffered from a deficiency of Vitamin D3, which also correlated with a poor prognosis.

The potential effects of vitamin D supplementation and the development or prognosis of cancer have already been investigated in numerous studies. “Based on current studies, vitamin D3 supplementation probably does not protect against developing cancer, but it could reduce the likelihood of dying from cancer. 

However, previous studies on cancer mortality have yielded very different results, and we were interested in the reasons for this,” said Ben Schöttker, an epidemiologist at the German Cancer Research Center. 

“By re-evaluating all previous studies on the topic, we wanted to help produce robust results on this issue, which is so relevant to population health.

Phony clickbait ads flooding the internet

Right-wing websites tied to former Trump lawyer scam loyal followers with fake celebrity pitches

by Craig Silverman for ProPublica

Illustration by ProPublica. Source Images: Screenshots taken by ProPublica of fake news stories accompanying AdStyle ads.

Oprah Winfrey looked upset.

The photo caught her midsentence, her left hand jabbing at the camera.

“They are twisting everything,” the TV icon was quoted as saying, under a red “BREAKING NEWS” banner.

The ad featuring the Winfrey image and quote ran on the conservative website DC Swamp Tales. It directed readers to a webpage that resembled a news article. The text spun a narrative about a television interviewer who unfairly berated Winfrey for promoting a revolutionary product that could “reverse Dementia instantly & for good.”

But there was no such dispute. Winfrey’s quote was fake, and her name and likeness were used without permission. The product, a low-dose, cannabis-derived gummy supplement, does not treat dementia, let alone reverse it.

“These ads are false. Oprah Winfrey does not have anything to do with these products,” Nicole Nichols, a spokesperson for Winfrey’s company Harpo Inc., told ProPublica.

Such scam ads have proliferated on right-wing websites worldwide in the past eight months. They use fake endorsements from celebrities including Winfrey, country music singers Dolly Parton and Reba McEntire, Twitter and Tesla owner Elon Musk, actor Ryan Reynolds, Canadian prime minister Justin Trudeau and former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder to promote dubious medicines and cryptocurrency frauds. 

Conservative publishers make money from each click on a deceptive ad, exploiting their like-minded readers.

The ads were placed by AdStyle, an ad network whose corporate website lists it as being registered in Delaware with an office in Boca Raton, Florida. Its website said it is “trusted by” major brands including Toyota, Ikea, EA Games and L’Oréal. 

But Florida and Delaware corporate registries have no record of AdStyle, which appears to be operated by a Latvian couple living in Italy. Spokespeople for Toyota and Ikea said they could not find any records of those companies working with AdStyle. EA Games and L’Oréal did not respond to queries.

What makes a patriot?

 

"Isn't diversity supposed to be a good thing?"

For more cartoons by Tom Tomorrow, CLICK HERE

Clear enough for ya?

 

A healthy bay in sight?

URI partnership creates a predictive model for public health

Kristen Curry

A URI partnership is using bot-derived data to predict harmful algal blooms. Researchers say that this approach could address this global problem in Narragansett Bay and beyond.

Narragansett Bay is well-known for its photo opportunities. At the University of Rhode Island’s Narragansett Bay Campus, oceanography Associate Professor Colleen Mouw and Ph.D. candidate Vitul Agarwal are snapping away—in the name of science.

Their collaboration was inspired by the cautionary summer of 2016, when an unprecedented harmful algal bloom spread high levels of dangerous domoic acid across New England waters, prompting the recall of more than five tons of potentially infected shellfish in Maine and the first bay-wide precautionary closure for shell fishing in Rhode Island. This unprecedented event was followed by another closure of shellfish harvesting in the bay the following summer.

Though the worst-case scenario of a recall never happened here, the threat of another harmful algal bloom leads researchers to wonder when the next bloom event might happen, and what can be done to prevent it.

The cause of these events remains unknown, but the implications for local economies and human health prompted researchers to study the plankton responsible for producing dangerous neurotoxins that can cause paralysis and even death in humans.

Postbiotics – The Latest Breakthrough in Gut Health

What they are, and why they are important

By UNIVERSITY OF MELBOURNE 

When it comes to our health, many of us are familiar with prebiotics and probiotics, along with their significant advantages for our digestive health, even if distinguishing between them can be challenging. But what about postbiotics?

For a brief overview, probiotics are living microorganisms, often referred to as ‘good bacteria’, that we ingest through our food to foster a healthy gut microbiota – the vast collection of trillions of bacteria typically residing in our intestines.

Probiotics such as Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, also known as lactic acid bacteria, are found in fermented foods including yogurt, sauerkraut, some cheeses, and certain fermented beverages, as well as dietary supplements.

Prebiotics are what the probiotics feed on, primarily the undigestible plant materials in our diet including fibers that only can be used by the probiotics and gut microbiota.

Fruits including bananas and apples, vegetables such as Jerusalem artichokes, leek and asparagus, onions, garlic, and also certain cereals, nuts, and legumes are rich in prebiotic compounds.

Certain combinations of probiotics and prebiotics can be used together to boost the beneficial effects of probiotics when consumed, and these are known as synbiotics.

So what are postbiotics?

Sound familiar?

How small wealthy suburbs contribute to regional housing problems

Paul G. Lewis, Arizona State University and Nicholas J. Marantz, University of California, Irvine

The line between Atherton, Calif., (right) and its neighbor
is obvious in property sizes. Google Earth

The odd headlines about little towns in the San Francisco Bay Area just keep coming.

First Woodside, a tiny suburb where several Silicon Valley CEOs have lived, tried to declare itself a mountain lion habitat to evade a new California law that enabled owners of single-family homes to subdivide their lots to create additional housing.

Then wealthy Atherton, with a population of 7,000 and a median home sale price of US$7.5 million, tried to update its state-mandated housing plan. Until very recently, 100% of Atherton’s residentially zoned land allowed only single-family houses on large lots. 

When the City Council considered rezoning a handful of properties to allow townhouses, strenuous objections poured in from such notable local residents as basketball star Steph Curry and billionaire venture capitalist Marc Andreessen.

A formal garden and estate operated by the National Trust
for Historic Preservation reflects the aesthetic of Woodside, Calif.
 Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

A council member argued that the town should “express and explain the specialness of Atherton … to succeed in reducing [the state’s] expectations of us.”

On first glance, these might seem like extreme cases of privilege, oddities from quirky California. But as our new book on the politics of housing shows, the ability of small suburban municipalities to limit multifamily housing is more the rule than the exception.

GOP Wants to Cut Funding for Clean Water Programs by 64%

'Far-Right Radicalism'

JESSICA CORBETT

The advocacy group Food & Water Watch on Thursday called out Republicans on a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations Committee panel for pushing a 64% cut to a pair of federal clean water funds in the next fiscal year.

"House Republicans should be ashamed of themselves," declared Mary Grant, the group's Public Water for All campaign director, in a statement. "Their spending proposal threatens the very safety of our country's water and wastewater systems for the sake of political showmanship."

The Interior, Environment, and Related Agencies Subcommittee, chaired by U.S. Rep. Mike Simpson (R-Idaho), on Thursday marked up a GOP appropriations bill for fiscal year 2024. A Republican fact sheet celebrates proposed "cuts to wasteful spending" and "claw-backs of prior appropriations," highlighting that it "reins in" the Environmental Protection Agency, "limits abuse of the Endangered Species Act," and provides protections for the fossil fuel industry.

The GOP proposal would slash appropriations for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) and Drinking Water State Revolving Fund (DWSRF). The former provides low-interest loans for infrastructure projects like wastewater facilities while the latter provides assistance for initiatives like improving drinking water treatment and fixing old pipes.

Big surprise

Damn straight!

 

Rep. Magaziner Pushes Back Against Republican Attacks on Socially Responsible Investing

Argues sensible investing protects pensioners from liability

Representative Seth Magaziner (RI-02), a founding member of the Congressional Sustainable Investment Caucus, joined his colleagues in condemning Republicans’ attacks on worker and retiree savings through their misguided war on “ESG investing.”

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee have declared July “ESG month,” voting on bills that will erode the retirement savings of working people by forbidding investors from considering environmental, social or corporate governance (ESG) risks that companies face when making investment decisions. 

Research has shown that companies that take steps to mitigate their environmental footprint, invest in consumer and workplace safety, and promote corporate diversity, among other ESG factors, tend to outperform their peers over the long-term. 

However, congressional Republicans remain determined to advance culture wars at the expense of working people by banning ESG considerations from investing.  

Why Does Eating Foods Cooked at High Temperatures Increase Cancer Risk?

Stanford Scientists Discover Surprising New Reason Why

By STANFORD UNIVERSITY 

A groundbreaking study led by Stanford scientists suggests that consuming foods cooked at high temperatures, like red meat and fried food, may lead to DNA damage and increased cancer risk due to absorption of heat-damaged DNA from these foods. 

While this discovery is preliminary and primarily observed in lab-grown cells and mice, it highlights a potentially significant pathway for genetic damage and calls for further investigation into the health implications of different cooking methods and food choices.

Scientists have recently uncovered a surprising and potentially important reason why eating foods frequently cooked at high temperatures, such as red meat and deep-fried fare, elevates cancer risk. The suspected culprit: DNA within the food that’s been damaged by the cooking process.

ACS Cent. Sci. 2023, 9, 6, 1170-1179

Depressing news about YouTube

Scientists uncover startling impacts of excessive YouTube on loneliness and mental health

By GRIFFITH UNIVERSITY 

Research conducted by the Australian Institute for Suicide Research and Prevention (AISRAP) suggests that regular YouTube users are more likely to experience increased levels of loneliness, anxiety, and depression.

The investigation was led by Dr. Luke Balcombe and Emeritus Professor Diego De Leo from Griffith University’s School of Applied Psychology and AISRAP. They aimed to comprehensively explore both the beneficial and detrimental effects of the world’s most popular streaming platform on individuals’ mental health.

They found the most negatively affected individuals were those under 29 years of age, or who regularly watched content about other people’s lives.

Lead author Dr Luke Balcombe said the development of parasocial relationships between content creators and followers could be cause for concern, however, some neutral or positive instances of creators developing closer relationships with their followers also occurred.