What Middle Class?

/ SupremeCmdr / 8 Comments

Hat tip to Mike Shedlock, a registered investment advisor at SitkaPacific Capital Management for highlighting the following video for his blog readers.

This is the portion of the blog post where I typically add a snarky comment.

Nope. Not going to joke about this.

Brussels Chicory Stabilizes Unstable Atherosclerotic Plaques and Reshapes the Gut Microbiota (in Mice)

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

Brussels chicory might help stabilize atherosclerotic plaques in mice by reducing intestinal permeability and gut microbial LPS production. This study provides a promising approach to slow the progression of atherosclerosis.

The Journal of Nutrition, Volume 152, Issue 10, October 2022, Pages 2209–2217, https://doi.org/10.1093/jn/nxac103

Does not look like mice food.

(Image borrowed from the internet. If you own the copyright on this photo let me know and I’ll delete immediately. If copyright infringement has occurred I assure you it was unintentional.)

Brussels chicory aka Belgian endive aka Witloof. We don’t eat much of this vegetable in the US. Maybe because virtually no one grows it.

Demand has grown such that California Endive Farms, who are the only commercial endive producer in the country, has had to expand their operations in order to keep up.

Belgian endive consumption in the US on the rise — https://www.infiniteherbs.com/belgian-endive-consumption-in-the-us-on-the-rise/

Number of Children Hospitalized for E-scooter Injuries Surge from 2011-2020

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Authors of the abstract, “National Trends in Pediatric e-Scooter Injury,” found hundreds of e-scooter injuries between 2011-2020. The rate of hospital admittance for patients increased from fewer than 1 out of every 20 e-scooter injuries in 2011 to 1 out of every 8 requiring admittance into a hospital for care in 2020…

Researchers examined a national database of pediatric e-scooter injuries that were seen in emergency departments at over 100 US hospitals from 2011-2020 to find out what kinds of injuries children were sustaining and if any trends existed. Over 10% of all patients had a head injury, including a concussion, skull fractures, and internal bleeding. The most common injuries were arm fractures (27%), followed by minor abrasions (22%) and lacerations needing stitches (17%). The average age was 11.1 years and 59% of patients were male. Admittance to a hospital rose from 4.2% in 2011 to 12.9% in 2020.

American Academy of Pediatrics. “Number of children hospitalized for E-scooter injuries surge from 2011-2020: During 10-year study, all e-scooter injuries rose, including head injuries and injuries requiring hospitalization.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/10/221007085739.htm (accessed October 7, 2022).

Nicotine Addiction (hook ’em while they’re young)

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Today, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, in coordination with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), released federal data from the 2022 National Youth Tobacco Survey (NYTS) on e-cigarette use among U.S. youth. The findings, published in Morbidity & Mortality Weekly Report, show that youth use of e-cigarettes remains high, with 2.5 million (9.4%) of the nation’s middle and high school students reporting current e-cigarette use. 

New Data Show More Than 2.5 Million U.S. Youth Currently Use E-Cigarettes — https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/new-data-show-more-25-million-us-youth-currently-use-e-cigarettes

News Addiction

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The results revealed that 16.5% of people surveyed showed signs of ‘severely problematic’ news consumption. Such individuals frequently became so immersed and personally invested in news stories that the stories dominated the individual’s waking thoughts, disrupted time with family and friends, made it difficult to focus on school or work, and contributed to restlessness and an inability to sleep.

73.6% of those recognized to have severe levels of problematic news consumption reported experiencing mental ill-being “quite a bit” or “very much” — whilst frequent symptoms were only reported by 8% of all other study participants.

61% of those with severe levels of problematic news reported experiencing physical ill-being “quite a bit” or “very much” compared to only 6.1% for all other study participants.

Taylor & Francis Group. “News addiction linked to not only poor mental wellbeing but physical health too, new study shows.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/08/220824102936.htm (accessed October 5, 2022).

Emotional Support…Squids and Shrimp

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“It has shrimp, it’s great, it’s so relaxing,” they said. “And then at the one hour and 22-minute mark, it gets inexplicably funky for about four minutes, and then goes back to being chill. It’s a whole experience.”

“Wow. This is truly the pinnacle of human creation,” one comment on the shrimp video reads. “The internet was made so I could chill alongside two shrimps.”

https://www.latimes.com/travel/story/2022-09-16/monterey-bay-aquarium-lofi-hiphop-squid-jellyfish-shrimp

I’ve got the shrimp playing now. Maybe I’ll do the squid later.

The pinnacle of human creation!