More Retirement Income Ahead!

/ SupremeCmdr / 7 Comments

Total individual life insurance policy sales increased 11% in the first quarter, compared with first quarter 2020. This is the highest growth in the number of policies sold in a quarter since 1983. New annualized premium also experienced significant growth, up 15% from prior year, according to LIMRA’s First Quarter U.S. Individual Life Insurance Sales Survey.

LIMRA: First Quarter U.S. Life Insurance Policy Sales Highest Since 1983 — https://www.limra.com/en/newsroom/news-releases/2021/limra-first-quarter-u.s.-life-insurance-policy-sales-highest-since-1983/

I don’t know who you are. I don’t know what you want. If you are looking for ransom, I can tell you I don’t have money. But what I do have are a very particular set of skills; skills I have acquired over a very long career. Skills that make me a nightmare for people like you.

Bryan Mills, played by Liam Neeson in the film Taken

I had my annual wellness visit earlier this week.

5.10 168 130/84 BMI 24.14 O2 sat 98%

CHOLESTEROL 175 mg/dL
TRIGLYCERIDE 69 mg/dL
HDL 65 mg/dL
LDL CALCULATED 96 mg/dL
NON-HDL CHOLESTEROL 110 mg/dL

All of my other labs were normal too.

I have multiple relatives who have lived well into their 90’s. My maternal grandmother lived to 100. I’m going to need another source of retirement income. And for all of my friends and colleagues who never thought I would make it this far…

AST 23 U/L

ALT 7 U/L

GGT 36 U/L (12/2015)

PSA 0.7 (9/2020)

SARS-CoV-2 infection induces long-lived bone marrow plasma cells in humans

/ SupremeCmdr / 2 Comments

Memo to Owners of Original Content

I have been to your website and read your Terms of Use. I understand you have granted me you a limited, personal, revocable, non-exclusive, and non-transferable license to use your Services for my personal, non-commercial use only and can print or download pieces of the Content for my personal and non-commercial use.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way…

“Last fall, there were reports that antibodies wane quickly after infection with SARS-CoV-2, and mainstream media interpreted that to mean that immunity was not long-lived,” said senior author Ali Ellebedy, PhD, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, Missouri. “But that’s a misinterpretation of the data. It’s normal for antibody levels to go down after acute infection, but they don’t go down to zero — they plateau. Here, we found antibody-producing cells in people 11 months after first symptoms. These cells will live and produce antibodies for the rest of people’s lives. That’s strong evidence for long-lasting immunity.”

Mild COVID-19 Induces Lasting Antibody Protection — https://ntk-institute.org/article/mild-covid-19-induces-lasting-antibody-protection

Here’s the link to the original research article abstract:

Turner, J.S., Kim, W., Kalaidina, E. et al. SARS-CoV-2 infection induces long-lived bone marrow plasma cells in humans. Nature (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-021-03647-4

Obvious but not Proven – PCOS and Covid-19

/ SupremeCmdr / 1 Comment

Roach’s and Gotluru’s research, published in the March issue of the journal Obstetrics and Gynecology, shows the potentially higher risk for PCOS patients comes down to “comorbidities, androgens and lipotoxicity.

“People with PCOS often have higher levels of and sensitivity to androgens, male sex hormones. This could “potentially directly affect the susceptibility to COVID-19,” Roach and Gotluru wrote. Androgens work as a “gateway,” in very simple terms, to let in Covid-19, Roach says.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/23/health/women-covid-pcos-high-risk/index.html — The women possibly at higher risk for Covid-19 that no one is talking about

Many thanks to Ol Red Hair for directing my attention to this article.

The Bottom Line – Got PCOS? Get vaccinated.

Type 2 Diabetes Risk and…Sardines?

/ SupremeCmdr / 12 Comments

Older people with prediabetes who followed a diet rich in sardines for 1 year show significant reductions in risk of developing type 2 diabetes compared with those placed on a similarly healthy diet but without the sardines, results from a new randomized trial show.

 “A 1-year, sardine-enriched type 2 diabetes-preventive diet in an elderly population with prediabetes exerts a greater protective effect against developing type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular events, by improving anthropometric parameters, blood chemistry profile, lipid composition in erythrocytes membranes, and metabolomics data,” report the authors in research published in Clinical Nutrition by Diana Díaz-Rizzolo, PhD, of the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues.

Sardines Linked to Reduced Type 2 Diabetes Risk — https://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/951528?src=rss#vp_1

Very small study with very interesting findings.

If I only liked sardines.

New Source For Jet Fuel

/ SupremeCmdr / 1 Comment

Researchers have developed an innovative way to convert plastics to ingredients for jet fuel and other valuable products, making it easier and more cost effective to reuse plastics. The researchers in their reaction were able to convert 90% of plastic to jet fuel and other valuable hydrocarbon products within an hour at moderate temperatures and to easily fine-tune the process to create the products that they want.

Washington State University. “New technology converts waste plastics to jet fuel in an hour.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210517124937.htm (accessed May 18, 2021).

Yeah I know this has absolutely nothing to do with mortality risk but it was SO COOL I had to post it.

PPI’s and Gastric Cancer Risk

/ SupremeCmdr / 5 Comments

Objective The association between proton pump inhibitor (PPI) use and gastric cancer related to Helicobacter pylori eradication has not been fully investigated in geographical regions with high risk of gastric cancer. We aimed to evaluate the association between PPIs and gastric cancer in Korea.

Design This study analysed the original and common data model versions of the Korean National Health Insurance Service database from 2002 to 2013. We compared the incidence rates of gastric cancer after 1-year drug exposure, between new users of PPIs and other drugs excluding PPIs, by Cox proportional hazards model. We also analysed the incidence of gastric cancer among PPI users after H. pylori eradication.

Results The analysis included 11 741 patients in matched PPI and non-PPI cohorts after large-scale propensity score matching. During a median follow-up of 4.3 years, PPI use was associated with a 2.37-fold increased incidence of gastric cancer (PPI≥30 days vs non-PPI; 118/51 813 person-years vs 40/49 729 person-years; HR 2.37, 95% CI 1.56 to 3.68, p=0.001). The incidence rates of gastric cancer showed an increasing trend parallel to the duration of PPI use. In H. pylori-eradicated subjects, the incidence of gastric cancer was significantly associated with PPI use over 180 days compared with the non-PPI group (PPI≥180 days vs non-PPI; 30/12 470 person-years vs 9/7814 person-years; HR 2.22, 95% CI 1.05 to 4.67, p=0.036).

Conclusion PPI use was associated with gastric cancer, regardless of H. pylori eradication status. Long-term PPIs should be used with caution in high-risk regions for gastric cancer.

Association between proton pump inhibitor use and gastric cancer: a population-based cohort study using two different types of nationwide databases in Korea — https://gut.bmj.com/content/early/2021/05/11/gutjnl-2020-323845?rss=1
  • Prevacid 24HR
  • Nexium 24HR
  • Prilosec OTC
  • Zegerid OTC

OTC PPIs are only intended for a 14-day course of treatment and can be used up to three times per year.

Over-The-Counter (OTC) Heartburn Treatment — https://www.fda.gov/drugs/information-consumers-and-patients-drugs/over-counter-otc-heartburn-treatment

I was thinking of a snarky comment but decided against posting any snark.

But if you routinely pop a PPI before and/or after chowing down on a meat lover’s pizza you can’t say you weren’t advised that maybe it might be a better idea to give up the pizza.

Diet Matters – You Studied What?

/ SupremeCmdr / 1 Comment

When the researchers looked at the functions of the genes in the three sample types, they found that the ancient and non-industrial groups contained a diverse array of genes linked with the breakdown of starches. This indicates that the diets of the ancient and non-industrialised populations were high in complex carbohydrates, like vegetables and grains.

What 2,000-year-old poo says about our gut bugs – https://www.abc.net.au/news/science/2021-05-13/what-two-thousand-year-old-poo-says-about-our-gut-bugs/100131336

I’m not quite sure what this research tells us other than eat more complex carbohydrates, the Paleo Diet and low-carb people are wrong, and the vegans of the world just might be onto something.

AND I think I missed my calling in life. Studying and researching ancient shit sounds like cool work.

HT – https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2021/05/links-5-13-2021.html

Update:

Here’s the mortality aspect from a different research study.

Salosensaari, A., Laitinen, V., Havulinna, A.S. et al. Taxonomic signatures of cause-specific mortality risk in human gut microbiome. Nat Commun 12, 2671 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-22962-y

Eating Leafy Green Vegetables (just a wee bit) Lowers Heart Disease Risk

/ SupremeCmdr / 13 Comments

Researchers examined data from over 50,000 people residing in Denmark taking part in the Danish Diet, Cancer, and Health Study over a 23-year period. They found that people who consumed the most nitrate-rich vegetables had about a 2.5 mmHg lower systolic blood pressure and between 12 to 26 percent lower risk of heart disease.

Lead researcher Dr Catherine Bondonno from ECU’s Institute for Nutrition Research said identifying diets to prevent heart disease was a priority.

“Our results have shown that by simply eating one cup of raw (or half a cup of cooked) nitrate-rich vegetables each day, people may be able to significantly reduce their risk of cardiovascular disease,” Dr Bondonno said.

Edith Cowan University. “One cup of leafy green vegetables a day lowers risk of heart disease.” ScienceDaily. http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2021/05/210504112604.htm (accessed May 9, 2021).

One cup raw or a half cup cooked daily. I’ll be the first to admit I don’t leafy greens on a daily basis. But now since my awareness level is higher I simply need to try harder.

I love spinach.

I don’t understand kale at all.

I have a package of organic baby bok choy leaves in the fridge which I actually bought before I read this article.

I wonder if parsley counts?

Alcohol (just a wee bit) Lowers CVD Mortality Risk

/ SupremeCmdr / 3 Comments

Moderate alcohol intake – defined as no more than one alcoholic drink for women and two for men per day – may be associated with a lower risk of dying from cardiovascular disease when compared with individuals who abstain from drinking or partake in excessive drinking, according to a new study. Of the 53,064 participants, 7,905 (15%) experienced a major adverse cardiovascular event: 17% in the low alcohol intake group and 13% in the moderate alcohol intake group. People who reported moderate alcohol intake were found to have a 20% lower chance of having a major event compared to low alcohol intake (in adjusted analysis), and also had lower stress-related brain activity. Kenechukwu Mezue, MD, the study’s lead author, cautions that these findings should not encourage alcohol use, but that they could open doors to new therapeutics or prescribing stress-relieving activities like exercise or yoga to help minimize stress signals in the brain.

SOURCE: American College of Cardiology, news release, May 6, 2021 accessed 05.08.21 — https://www.acc.org/latest-in-cardiology/articles/2021/05/05/14/48/new-acc-21-research-explores-flu-vaccines-sleep-htn-secondhand-smoke-alcohol-and-stress-acc-2021

My liver understands but does not necessarily agree with the findings of this study.