Positive Health Online

Research Project – CAM & Cancer by University College Cork (UCC) Ireland

The Cork Area Hospital Group, supported by funding from the Irish Cancer Society, have launched a Research Project to access the level of demand and clinical outcomes from the use of CAM Therapies in Oncology Services. The Research is being conducted by UCC (University College Cork).

Participation is open until the end of March and submissions are invited from the following groups who would have used all modalities of complementary therapies alongside standard treatment protocols:

• People who currently have or have had cancer;
• Survivors of cancer;
• Family members who care for cancer patients;
• Oncologists, doctors, cancer specialists and other professionals who provide services to people who are undergoing cancer treatment. (This includes CAM Therapists who provide services to cancer patients.)

Further Information

Please register online - https://www.ucc.ie/en/oncamie/

The survey will be emailed out within 2 days of registering. You could also request a telephone survey. It will take about 50 minutes. There will be a space near the end where you can add your own comments and suggestions. All data provided will be kept confidential

All Irish CAM Therapy users are encouraged to participate in this project, regardless of the services used, be that yoga, massage, nutritional therapy, kinesiology, reiki or whatever has proved valuable. Active sharing from all CAM users within this community is necessary if we are to help create better support for Irish cancer patients

 

 

WHO Deletes Naturally Acquired Immunity from Its Website

by  Jeffrey Tucker

Originally Published in aier.org

https://www.aier.org/article/who-deletes-naturally-acquired-immunity-from-its-website/

Maybe you have some sense that something fishy is going on? Same. If it’s not one thing, it’s another. 

Coronavirus lived on surfaces until it didn’t. Masks didn’t work until they did, then they did not. There is asymptomatic transmission, except there isn’t. Lockdowns work to control the virus except they do not. All these people are sick without symptoms until, whoops, PCR tests are wildly inaccurate because they were never intended to be diagnostic tools. Everyone is in danger of the virus except they aren’t. It spreads in schools except it doesn’t. 

On it goes. Daily. It’s no wonder that so many people have stopped believing anything that “public health authorities” say. In combination with governors and other autocrats doing their bidding, they set out to take away freedom and human rights and expected us to thank them for saving our lives. At some point this year (for me it was March 12) life began feeling like a dystopian novel of your choice. 

Well, now I have another piece of evidence to add to the mile-high pile of fishy mess. The World Health Organization, for reasons unknown, has suddenly changed its definition of a core conception of immunology: herd immunity. Its discovery was one of the major achievements of 20th century science, gradually emerging in the 1920s and then becoming ever more refined throughout the 20th century. 

Herd immunity is a fascinating observation that you can trace to biological reality or statistical probability theory, whichever you prefer. (It is certainly not a “strategy” so ignore any media source that describes it that way.) Herd immunity speaks directly, and with explanatory power, to the empirical observation that respiratory viruses are either widespread and mostly mild (common cold) or very severe and short-lived (Ebola). 

Why is this? The reason is that when a virus kills its host, it cannot migrate. The more aggressively it does this, the less it spreads. If the virus doesn’t kill its host, it can hop to others through all the usual means. When you get a virus and fight it off, your immune system encodes that information in a way that builds immunity to it. When it happens to enough people (and each case is different so we can’t put a clear number on it) the virus loses its pandemic quality and becomes endemic, which is to say predictable and manageable. Each new generation incorporates that information through more exposure. 

This is what one would call Virology/Immunology 101. It’s what you read in every textbook. It’s been taught in 9th grade cell biology for probably 80 years. Observing the operations of this evolutionary phenomenon is pretty wonderful because it increases one’s respect for the way in which human biology has adapted to the presence of pathogens without absolutely freaking out. 

And the discovery of this fascinating dynamic in cell biology is a major reason why public health became so smart in the 20th century. We kept calm. We managed viruses with medical professionals: doctor/patient relationships. We avoided the Medieval tendency to run around with hair on fire but rather used rationality and intelligence. Even the New York Times recognizes that natural immunity is powerful with Covid-19, which is not in the least bit surprising. 

Until one day, this strange institution called the World Health Organization – once glorious because it was mainly responsible for the eradication of smallpox – has suddenly decided to delete everything I just wrote from cell biology basics. It has literally changed the science in a Soviet-like way. It has removed with the delete key any mention of natural immunities from its website. It has taken the additional step of actually mischaracterizing the structure and functioning of vaccines. 

So that you will believe me, I will try to be as precise as possible. Here is the website from June 9, 2020. You can see it here on Archive.org. You have to move down the page and click on the question about herd immunity. You see the following. 

“What is herd immunity?

“Herd immunity is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection. This means that even people who haven’t been infected, or in whom an infection hasn’t triggered an immune response, they are protected because people around them who are immune can act as buffers between them and an infected person. The threshold for establishing herd immunity for COVID-19 is not yet clear.”

That’s pretty darn accurate overall. Even the statement that the threshold is “not yet clear” is correct. There are cross immunities to Covid from other coronaviruses and there is T cell memory that contributes to natural immunity. 

Some estimates are as low as 10%, which is a far cry from the modelled 70% estimate of virus immunity that is standard within the pharmaceutical realm. Real life is vastly more complicated than models, in economics or epidemiology. The WHO’s past statement is a solid, if “pop,” description. 

However, in a screenshot dated November 13, 2020, we read the following note that somehow pretends as if human beings do not have immune systems at all but rather rely entirely on big pharma to inject things into our blood. 

“What is herd immunity?

“‘Herd immunity’, also known as ‘population immunity’, is a concept used for vaccination, in which a population can be protected from a certain virus if a threshold of vaccination is reached.

Herd immunity is achieved by protecting people from a virus, not by exposing them to it. Read the Director-General’s 12 October media briefing speech for more detail.

Vaccines train our immune systems to develop antibodies, just as might happen when we are exposed to a disease but – crucially – vaccines work without making us sick. Vaccinated people are protected from getting the disease in question. Visit our webpage on COVID-19 and vaccines for more detail.

As more people in a community get vaccinated, fewer people remain vulnerable, and there is less possibility for passing the pathogen on from person to person. Lowering the possibility for a pathogen to circulate in the community protects those who cannot be vaccinated due to other serious health conditions from the disease targeted by the vaccine. This is called ‘herd immunity’,”

What this note at the World Health Organization has done is deleted what amounts to the entire million-year history of humankind in its delicate dance with pathogens. You could only gather from this that all of us are nothing but blank and unimprovable slates on which the pharmaceutical industry writes its signature. 

In effect, this change at WHO ignores and even wipes out 100 years of medical advances in virology, immunology, and epidemiology. It is thoroughly unscientific – shilling for the vaccine industry in exactly the way the conspiracy theorists say that WHO has been doing since the beginning of this pandemic. 

What’s even more strange is the claim that a vaccine protects people from a virus rather than exposing them to it. What’s amazing about this claim is that a vaccine works precisely by firing up the immune system through exposure. Why I had to type those words is truly beyond me. This has been known for centuries. There is simply no way for medical science completely to replace the human immune system. It can only game it via what used to be called inoculation. 

Take from this what you will. It is a sign of the times. For nearly a full year, the media has been telling us that “science” requires that we comply with their dictates that run contrary to every tenet of liberalism, every expectation we’ve developed in the modern world that we can live freely and with the certainty of rights. Then “science” took over and our human rights were slammed. And now the “science” is actually deleting its own history, airbrushing over what it used to know and replacing it with something misleading at best and patently false at worst. 

I cannot say why, exactly, the WHO did this. Given the events of the past nine or ten months, however, it is reasonable to assume that politics are at play. Since the beginning of the pandemic, those who have been pushing lockdowns and hysteria over the coronavirus have resisted the idea of natural herd immunity, instead insisting that we must live in lockdown until a vaccine is developed. 

That is why the Great Barrington Declaration, written by three of the world’s preeminent epidemiologists and which advocated embracing the phenomenon of herd immunity as a way of protecting the vulnerable and minimizing harms to society, was met with such venom. Now we see the WHO, too, succumbing to political pressure. This is the only rational explanation for changing the definition of herd immunity that has existed for the past century. 

The science has not changed; only the politics have. And that is precisely why it is so dangerous and deadly to subject virus management to the forces of politics. Eventually the science too bends to the duplicitous character of the political industry. 

When the existing textbooks that students use in college contradict the latest official pronouncements from the authorities during a crisis in which the ruling class is clearly attempting to seize permanent power, we’ve got a problem. 

About Jeffrey A Tucker

Jeffrey A. Tucker is Editorial Director for the American Institute for Economic Research.

He is the author of many thousands of articles in the scholarly and popular press and nine books in 5 languages, most recently Liberty or Lockdown. He is also the editor of The Best of Mises. He speaks widely on topics of economics, technology, social philosophy, and culture.

Jeffrey is available for speaking and interviews via jeffrey.a.tucker@gmail.com  https://www.aier.org/staffs/jeffrey-tucker/  

Acknowledgement Citation

Originally Published in aier.org

https://www.aier.org/article/who-deletes-naturally-acquired-immunity-from-its-website/

 

 

Major Science Review Shows Vitamin C is a Game Changer for COVID-19

Vitamin C can save the lives of those badly infected with COVID-19 and make symptoms of milder infections less severe. This is a key finding from a major review by senior experts from around the world, that has just been published, on the effects of vitamin C on the virus.[1]

Other findings include:

• Many severely infected patients have such low vitamin C levels they are suffering from scurvy;
• A controlled trial found high dose vitamin C more effective than a steroid;
• The vitamin C level of patients in intensive care predicts their chances of survival;
• Humans are one of the few animals that cannot make vitamin C.

Results from more than a 100 studies, included a gold-standard RCT (Randomised Controlled Trial) which showed that Vitamin C could cut the death rate of patients in intensive care units by 68%. The patients got vitamin C or sterile water from a drip.

A similar trial comparing a steroid drug (dexamethasone) with a placebo in June was hailed as a success. It reduced deaths by just 3%.

The amount of vitamin C needed to reduce deaths and time on ventilators in ICUs ranged between 6 and 24 grams a day, says lead author and nutritionist Patrick Holford.

Another author, Dr Anitra Carr, explained why such high doses are needed. “When you get a severe infection, your body uses up vitamin C at a much faster rate in order to support the immune system.

“That’s because humans are one of the few animals that can’t make vitamin C, so we can’t increase supplies when needed.” Dr Carr, who is associate professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand, points out that only animals that don't make vitamin C – primates, guinea pigs and bats – are susceptible to COVID-19.

Further support for using high doses come from studies showing that most COVID-19 patients coming into ICUs already have very low vitamin C levels.

“Their levels are often undetectable’ says co-author Professor Paul Marik, Chief of Critical Care Medicine at Eastern Virginia Medical School. ‘That’s what you see in patients with scurvy. This infection induces scurvy. We can predict how likely patients are to survive by their level of vitamin C.”

Marik explains that to stop scurvy you need high doses of vitamin C. It is also vital for damping down the dangerous inflammation that develops as COVID-19 progresses and can be fatal.

By combining vitamin C with steroids and anticoagulant drugs Professor Marik and others have reduced the death rate of critical ill COVID-19 patients to less than 5%. “No-one is dying who doesn’t have both a pre-existing end-stage disease and is over 85 years old,” he says.

Another author on the paper, which is published in Nutrients, is David Smith, Emeritus Professor of pharmacology at the University of Oxford who is presenting the evidence to the National Institute for Clinical Evidence (NICE).

Philip Calder from the University of Southampton, who is Professor of Nutritional Immunology within Medicine is talking about the paper to the Nutrition Society today, to inform members of the UK’s Scientific Advisory Committee of Nutrition (SACN) who advise the government on policy.

The full scientific review paper, published today in the journal Nutrients, is viewable in the ‘science’ section of www.vitaminC4covid.com.

Reference

1. Patrick Holford, Anitra C. Carr, Thomas H. Jovic, Stephen R. Ali, Iain S. Whitaker,

Paul E. Marik  and A. David Smith. Vitamin C– An Adjunctive Therapy for Respiratory Infection, Sepsis and COVID-19. Nutrients 12(12): 3760. 2020. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12123760    https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/12/3760/htm

Abstract: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/12/3760

Full paper pdf: https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/12/3760/pdf 

Nutrients (ISSN 2072-6643; CODEN: NUTRHU) is a peer-reviewed open access journal of human nutrition published monthly online by MDPI.

Media Enquiries and Contacts

Chantal or Sophie at Panpathic Communications – Chantal@panpathic.com   Tel:  07788 184 649 or Sophie@panpathic.com  Tel: 01323440998;  07815 860 082.

 

 

Vitamin C For Covid Petition

Published from https://www.vitaminc4covid.com/vitamin-c-for-covid-petition/

Sign the petition

 

Vitamin C is a safe, inexpensive and highly effective anti-viral nutrient in the right amount, both for prevention of colds, reducing duration and severity, and for the treatment of covid-19 in the acute phase with life-saving potential. Yet it is classified as ‘false information’, not recommended by governments and rarely prescribed by doctors. This has to change. Sign our petition.

Watch the Campaign Film here and please SHARE!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwG3ebXDlKE&feature=emb_logo

Petition

We stand for public health and healthcare policy to be based on science with the aim of saving lives. We are calling for:

1. The government and its public health and nutrition agencies to thoroughly assess the evidence and fund studies of this inexpensive and safe nutrient.
2. The government, NHS, health care and medical associations to recommend to all citizens to supplement vitamin C during this viral epidemic, based on the available evidence.
3. Content on ‘vitamin C for COVID-19 or corona’ no longer being classified as false information in both digital, broadcast and print media.
4. GPs, doctors and nutrition practitioners to be allowed and actively encouraged to recommend vitamin C supplementation for anyone with cold symptoms or coronavirus infection to reduce duration and severity of symptoms as an allowable health claim.
5. All covid-19 patients to be tested for vitamin C status and treated accordingly.
6. Vitamin C to be given to all covid-19 patients as early as possible on hospital admission.
7. Intravenous vitamin C to be trialled as a standard adjunctive treatment for a

Sign the Petition

https://www.vitaminc4covid.com/#petition

Acknowledgement Citation

Published from https://www.vitaminc4covid.com/vitamin-c-for-covid-petition/

Sign the petition

Further Information

https://www.vitaminc4covid.com/

Patrick Holford pat@patrickholford.com

Dr Robert Verkerk robv@anhcampaign.org

Chantal Cooke Chantal@panpathic.com 

 

 

100+ International Experts Write Open Letter to Governments: Evidence Indicates Vitamin D Is Effective Against COVID-19

Published on https://vitamindforall.org/letter.html

More than one hundred prominent experts have united in calling for vitamin D levels to be raised significantly to fight the pandemic. In an OPEN LETTER to all world governments, health officials, and healthcare workers,[1]scientific and medical experts from the UK, US, and Europe say there is clear scientific evidence indicating that vitamin D reduces Covid-19 infections, hospitalizations, and deaths.[2]

In the letter,  sent to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Secretary of State for Health Matt Hancock today (21st December 2020), scientists are calling for immediate, widespread, increased vitamin D intake to 4,000 International Units (IU) per day (or at least 2,000) for healthy adults.[1]  (The letter is published on the web at VitaminDforAll.org)

Scientists say global patterns and risk factors for the Covid 19 pandemic and Vitamin D deficiency match precisely.[2,3] Vitamin D dramatically impacts immune function.[2,4] Research shows that low vitamin D levels markedly increase the likelihood of COVID-19 infections, hospitalisations and deaths. Given its exceptional safety, the group of scientists are calling for immediate, widespread, increased vitamin D intakes with most signatories declaring that they personally take at least 4,000 International Units (IU) per day - many take more.

Most experts recommend at least 10 times current RDA guidelines for adults in the UK. They point out this amount is universally considered to be safe [1] the discrepancy is due to a well-known statistical error identified 6 years ago.

The mechanisms by which vitamin D helps fight viral infections are complex, but increasingly well-understood. Many have been outlined in research published years before the pandemic, but new mechanisms specific to SARS-Cov-2 are also now very well-understood.

The body of evidence is large and compelling:

• Multiple biological mechanisms have been identified showing how vitamin D directly influences COVID-19 outcomes.[2,3,4-8]
• More than seventy studies show higher vitamin D levels are associated with lower rates of infection and lower risk of hospitalisation, ICU, or death.[2,9–16]
• Early causal inference studies have been confirmed by recently published randomized controlled trials (RCTs) and quasi-experimental studies.[3,12–15,17-20]

In the UK, most people quickly become vitamin D deficient during winter.[18–20] High vitamin D levels can offer significant protection from COVID-19 and other diseases.[2] It may be months - even years - before a safe vaccine is widely available, but vitamin D is something actionable today. It’s safe, effective across a wide range of viruses, and it’s immediately available.[2] There is no need to wait for further clinical evidence. Given the many other health benefits to public health, remedying low vitamin D levels must be a priority.

The campaign’s main organisers are Dr Karl Pfleger (USA) and Dr Gareth Davies (UK) - both have backgrounds in Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, as well as Medicine. Pfleger is a former Google Data Scientist and Stanford PhD (AI & Computer Science); Davies is a prominent British AI Tech Entrepreneur and Imperial College PhD (Medical Physics). Both worked pro bono (unpaid) during the pandemic offering their skills and experience to help save lives. The two connected after reading each other’s’ work online: Davies published a preprint of a study in May 2020, proving that low vitamin D was the dominant cause of poor COVID19 outcomes.[3] The causal inference proof borrowed techniques from AI, Data Science and Physics and analysed 1.6M global data points of deaths and recovery data.

The letter has a growing list of 130 signatories from 24 different countries. More than one hundred are medical doctors or PhDs - many both - and more than 60 are professors. Two British MPs - David Davis and Rupa Huq - have also signed the letter.

Dr Davies says, "We knew back in March - it was obvious looking at the data. We distributed calls to action back then which went viral and triggered a lot of research. I collaborated with two medical doctors and we predicted higher BAME deaths before they started to appear in reports. Few people believed us, so we set out to formally prove it. It’s been very distressing watching our predictions unfold like this - especially seeing BAME doctors and nurses dying when we knew why. It’s been almost impossible to get heard above the noise until now. Government health advisory bodies, SACN and NICE, have actively blocked our efforts to save lives which is baffling. There’s a huge amount of anger and frustration right now. Every time we make progress they publish something either scaremongering about toxicity with backing evidence, or deny the mountain of evidence we do have for vitamin D benefits! They’ve refused to look. We sent them everything, but they ignored us. It’s scandalous, frankly - a clear dereliction of duty.

They’re small, local, closed panels of appointed people. We’re a large, global, open alliance of world-renowned experts with far greater levels of skill and expertise. Many of our signatories are leaders in their fields, including Vitamin D, Endocrinology and Epidemiology. We urge governments worldwide to listen to us instead.”

David Davis MP has been a vocal supporter of vitamin D throughout the pandemic and didn’t hesitate when asked to sign the letter. He says, “The evidence from several dozen studies show that vitamin D deficiency/insufficiency is implicated in compromising the body’s immune response to respiratory diseases in general and COVID-19 in particular. The likely effect of correcting this deficiency is to reduce the susceptibility to infection and reduce the morbidity and mortality amongst those who are infected by the virus. In the unlikely event that all this evidence is an artefact, the costs and health risks are minimal. In the much more likely event that the multiple sources of observational evidence, and the evidence from the growing number of RCTs, show a real causal role of vitamin D in activating and modulating the immune system, it would be irresponsible not to give vitamin D to all the groups who are at risk from COVID-19. It will save lives, improve population immunity, and help reduce the medical and economic impact whilst we await the universal roll out of vaccines. Furthermore, if it is to have any material effect the dosage has to be sufficient to correct the existing deficiency, which means up to ten times the UK recommended daily intake.”

Another signatory, Dr Helga Rhein is a recently retired GP in Scotland. She discovered the benefits of vitamin D over a decade ago and says, “Every day we’d come across patients with severe vitamin D deficiency. When we rectified it, we were surprised to find a wide range of complaints improved: aching legs, depression, frequent URTIs, IBS symptoms and others. The most surprising was the response in cancer patients whose quality of life improved.”

One of the signatories, Martin Hewison, is Professor of Molecular Endocrinology at Birmingham University and is one of the world’s leading authorities on Vitamin D. He strongly criticised SACN and NICE calling their reports “disappointing”.

He reacted to the latest NICE report comment, “NICE, SACN and PHE continue to promote the idea of vitamin D 'toxicity', despite no evidence of this in trials where up to 4,000 IU/day vitamin D were used. This obsession has become a major hurdle to better vitamin D health in the UK. Many vitamin D researchers have worked tirelessly over the summer to provide a framework in which vitamin D supplementation could be incorporated into the general strategies being used to defeat COVID-19. NICE, SACN and PHE have rejected this, and their new recommendations provide little or no help at all for the UK public.”

Another signatory Dr David S Grimes, a retired gastroenterologist, has campaigned to get vitamin D taken more seriously for years. Dr Grimes says, “Medical research began to reveal the importance of vitamin D in defensive immunity forty years ago. It’s been a well-established scientific fact for years, so why have we had to watch intensive care units being overwhelmed and more than 60,000 people die? We could have protected people and services if we had just rectified well-known deficiencies. NICE and SACN have shown they are clearly unfit for purpose. They have ignored past and current research and instead assert ‘there is not adequate evidence to support the use of vitamin D’. They have denied the NHS the use of calcifediol, a rapid-acting form of vitamin D, in the treatment of Covid-19 pneumonia, despite it being shown in one clinical trial to have 96% efficacy. The UK has had 25,000 COVID-19 deaths since this study was published, yet NICE continues to claim ‘not enough evidence’. They have so much to answer for. They’re a national disgrace.”

References

1. Benskin LL. A Basic Review of the Preliminary Evidence That COVID-19 Risk and Severity Is Increased in Vitamin D Deficiency. Front Public Health 2020; 8: 513.
2. Giustina A, Adler RA, Binkley N, Bollerslev J, Bouillon R, Dawson-Hughes B et al. Consensus statement from 2nd International Conference on Controversies in Vitamin D. Rev Endocr Metab Disord 2020; 21: 89–116.
3. Pfleger K, Davies G, Boucher BJ, Umhau J, Kimball SM, Thakkar V et al. Over 100 Scientists, Doctors, & Leading Authorities Call For Increased Vitamin D Use To Combat COVID-19. https://vitamindforall.org/letter.html.
4. Martineau AR, Jolliffe DA, Hooper RL, Greenberg L, Aloia JF, Bergman P et al. Vitamin D supplementation to prevent acute respiratory tract infections: systematic review and meta-analysis of individual participant data. BMJ 2017; 356: i6583.
5. Arboleda JF, Urcuqui-Inchima S. Vitamin D Supplementation: A Potential Approach for Coronavirus/COVID-19 Therapeutics? Front Immunol 2020; 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2020.01523.
6. Das P, Samad N, Ahinkorah BO, Peprah P, Mohammed A, Seidu A-A. Effect of Vitamin D deficiency on COVID-19 status: A systematic review. medRxiv 2020; : 2020.12.01.20242313.
7. Pereira M, Damascena AD, Azevedo LMG, Oliveira T de A, Santana J da M. Vitamin D deficiency aggravates COVID-19: systematic review and meta-analysis. Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition 2020; 0: 1–9.
8. Santaolalla A, Beckmann K, Kibaru J, Josephs D, Van Hemelrijck M, Irshad S. Association Between Vitamin D and Novel SARS-CoV-2 Respiratory Dysfunction – A Scoping Review of Current Evidence and Its Implication for COVID-19 Pandemic. Front Physiol 2020; 11. https://doi.org/10.3389/fphys.2020.564387
9. Mansur J. Letter: low population mortality from COVID-19 in countries south of latitude 35 degrees North supports vitamin D as a factor determining severity. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2020. https://doi.org/10.1111/apt.15820
10. Martín Giménez VM, Inserra F, Tajer CD, Mariani J, Ferder L, Reiter RJ et al. Lungs as target of COVID-19 infection: Protective common molecular mechanisms of vitamin D and melatonin as a new potential synergistic treatment. Life Sci 2020; : 117808.
11. Palacios C, Gonzalez L. Is vitamin D deficiency a major global public health problem? J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 2014; 144PA: 138–145.
12. Cashman KD, Dowling KG, Škrabáková Z, Gonzalez-Gross M, Valtueña J, De Henauw S et al. Vitamin D deficiency in Europe: pandemic? Am J Clin Nutr 2016; 103: 1033–1044.
13. van Schoor N, Lips P. Global Overview of Vitamin D Status. Endocrinology and Metabolism Clinics of North America 2017; 46: 845–870.
14. Entrenas Castillo M, Entrenas Costa LM, Vaquero Barrios JM, Alcalá Díaz JF, López Miranda J, Bouillon R et al. “Effect of calcifediol treatment and best available therapy versus best available therapy on intensive care unit admission and mortality among patients hospitalized for COVID-19: A pilot randomized clinical study”. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol 2020; 203: 105751.
15. Annweiler C, Hanotte B, de l’Eprevier CG, Sabatier J-M, Lafaie L, Célarier T. Vitamin D and survival in COVID-19 patients: A quasi-experimental study. The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 2020; : 105771.
16. Annweiler G, Corvaisier M, Gautier J, Dubée V, Legrand E, Sacco G et al. Vitamin D Supplementation Associated to Better Survival in Hospitalized Frail Elderly COVID-19 Patients: The GERIA-COVID Quasi-Experimental Study. Nutrients 2020; 12. DOI: 10.3390/nu12113377
17. Rastogi A, Bhansali A, Khare N, Suri V, Yaddanapudi N, Sachdeva N et al. Short term, high-dose vitamin D supplementation for COVID-19 disease: a randomised, placebo-controlled, study (SHADE study). Postgraduate Medical Journal 2020. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/postgradmedj-2020-139065.
18. Afshar P, Ghaffaripour M, Sajjadi H. Suggested role of Vitamin D supplementation in COVID-19 severity. Journal of Contemporary Medical Sciences 2020; 6. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22317/jcms.v6i4.822
19. Davies G, Garami AR, Byers JC. Evidence Supports a Causal Model for Vitamin D in COVID-19 Outcomes. medRxiv 2020; : 2020.05.01.20087965.
20. Annweiler C, Cao Z, Sabatier J-M. Point of view: Should COVID-19 patients be supplemented with vitamin D? Maturitas 2020; 140: 24–26.

Further Information

The letter is published on the web at VitaminDforAll.org.

Source and Contact Info

Source: Ken Hooper: ken.hooper@cherishpr.com 

Contact: Dr Gareth Davies: gruffdavies.com/contact

Other UK Signatories Available for Interviews On Request:

Dr David Grimes

Rt Hon David Davis MP

Rt Hon Dr Rupa Huq MP

Acknowledgement Citation

Published on https://vitamindforall.org/letter.html

 

 

New Algorithm will Prevent Misidentification of Cancer Cells

Researchers from the University of Kent have developed a computer algorithm that can identify differences in cancer cell lines based on microscopic images, a unique development towards ending misidentification of cells in laboratories.[1]

Cancer cell lines are cells isolated and grown as cell cultures in laboratories for study and developing anti-cancer drugs. However, many cell lines are misidentified after being swapped or contaminated with others, meaning many researchers may work with incorrect cells.

This has been a persistent problem since work with cancer cell lines began. Short tandem repeat (STR) analysis is commonly used to identify cancer cell lines, but is expensive and time-consuming. Moreover, STR cannot discriminate between cells from the same person or animal.

Based on microscopic images from a pilot set of cell lines and utilising computer models capable of ‘deep learning’, researchers from Kent’s School of Engineering and Digital Arts (EDA) and School of Computing (SoC) trained the computers through a period of mass comparison of cancer cell data. From this, they developed an algorithm allowing the computers to examine separate microscopic digital images of cell lines and accurately identify and label them. This breakthrough has the potential to provide an easy-to-use tool that enables the rapid identification of all cell lines in a laboratory without expert equipment and knowledge.

This research was led by Dr Chee (Jim) Ang (SoC) and Dr Gianluca Marcelli (EDA) with leading cancer cell lines experts Professor Martin Michaelis and Dr Mark Wass (School of Biosciences).

Dr Ang, Senior Lecturer in Multimedia/Digital Systems, said: “Our collaboration has demonstrated tremendous results for potential future implementation in laboratories and within cancer research. Utilising this new algorithm will yield further results that can transform the format of cell identification in science, giving researchers a better chance of correctly identifying cells, leading to reduced error in cancer research and potentially saving lives.

“The results also show that the computer models can allocate exact criteria used to identify cell lines correctly, meaning that the potential for future researchers to be trained in identifying cells  accurately may be greatly enhanced too.”

Reference

1. Mzurikwao, D., Khan, M.U., Samuel, O.W. et al. Towards image-based cancer cell lines authentication using deep neural networks. Sci Rep 10, 19857 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-76670-6
   https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-020-76670-6

Source and Contact

Sam Wood: Tel: 01227 823581; s.wood-700@kent.ac.uk

 

 

Nutrition to Treat and Prevent COVID-19

by Doctor Y, Andrew W Saul, and Robert G. Smith

Published from orthomolecular.activehosted.com

https://orthomolecular.acemlna.com/p_v.php?l=1&c=184&m=188&s=c7ae1002d2f579a22c16a1b89c854212

Speaking out on nutritional therapy for COVID-19 is risky for medical doctors. Yet another physician is being threatened by his state licensing board for writing what you are about to read. We are not calling him/her "Doctor Y" on a whim, but rather by necessity.

"It is widely thought that no effective ways currently exist to stop the SARS-COV-2 virus except social distancing, wearing masks, and vaccines. These methods are believed to be effective, but many people have resisted distancing and masks, and the vaccines have had inequitable delivery around the world. Evidently new mutated strains of the virus are transmitted faster, and it is not certain how much protection will be available from the existing or newly developed vaccines.

"Information about effective prevention methods has been censored. The problem is that a huge body of knowledge exists about the immune system's nutritional needs that is relevant to the cause of severe pneumonia and death from COVID-19. But this body of knowledge is evidently not widely appreciated by the medical profession, the public, and government officials.

"It has been clearly shown over decades that several essential nutrients, including vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, zinc, and selenium, have anti-viral properties. [1-5] It is also known that a majority of hospitalized COVID-19 individuals have deficiencies in one or more of these nutrients. [6] Further, it is known that severe pneumonia as in COVID-19 depletes many of the body's essential nutrients. This often generates acute nutritional deficiencies that make COVID-19 more lethal. [7,8] And it has been shown in recent medical trials that simply administering vitamin C and vitamin D in huge but appropriate doses can effectively treat COVID-19 and prevent severe pneumonia and death. [8-18]

"Adequate nutrition has been shown in a variety of epidemiological studies to effectively prevent viral infection, including COVID-19. Just bringing the body's vitamin D up to an adequate level with inexpensive and safe supplements of vitamin D can reduce the risk of infection. [13-18] But this information about nutritional prevention and treatment of COVID-19 has not been widely appreciated by the medical profession. Apparently the problem has been that clinical trials of nutritional protocols, known to be effective in small cohorts of patients, have not been funded to be performed in large randomized controlled trials (RCTs). Consequently, large clinical trials of the nutritional protocols in preventing COVID-19 have not been published to establish "proof" that adequate doses of nutrients, including vitamins C and D, magnesium, zinc, and selenium are effective. Nevertheless, the nutritional protocol is inexpensive, very safe, and widely available around the world.

Vitamin C, 1000 mg (or more) 3 times daily
Vitamin D, 5,000 IU/day
Magnesium 400 mg/d (in malate, citrate, chelate, or chloride form)
Zinc, 20 mg/d
Selenium 100 mcg/d

"Although it might seem unlikely to many people that inexpensive vitamins could help to prevent a pandemic, they can. [13] Vitamin D is not merely a vitamin; it is an essential hormone used widely in the body and is required for the immune system to function. [14-19] While vitamin C at the RDA dose level can prevent scurvy, it is required at higher levels for the immune system to function optimally, especially under duress of illness. [7-12] Vitamin C is quickly depleted during an acute viral infection. [7,8]

"To understand why the knowledge about nutritional approaches to prevention and treatment of viral infection has not been widely appreciated, one needs to understand some background about medical trials. A large RCT performed on cohorts comprising many thousands of people is very expensive, and can only be performed by a large corporation that stands to profit from the results, or by a government agency that is publicly funded. But such a large RCT to test a nutritional protocol is unlikely, given that the nutrients it tests are ordinary vitamins and minerals that cannot be patented, and given that government agencies generally work with the pharmaceutical industry to develop new drugs that will help the private sector flourish. Thus, without a clear conclusion from a RCT that a nutritional approach is effective, it is often stated that "no proof exists" about the nutritional approach.

"While a lack of "proof" would be a justifiable reason to not recommend the widespread use of a drug protocol, a nutritional protocol differs in several ways from a typical drug protocol. First, the trial must be designed to test appropriate doses. Inadequate doses have little effect. Dosage recommendations in this article are larger than the "recommended dietary allowance" (RDA) because vitamin C, vitamin D, magnesium, selenium and zinc have been utilized for many years and are known to be safe at these doses (and even higher ones).

"A nutritional trial must also determine the existing levels of the essential nutrients to be administered for each individual upon entry into the trial. The problem is, everyone has some of each nutrient in their body, for the nutrients are essential and we cannot live without them. Someone who is deficient, or becomes deficient during the course of an infection, may have a large effect from taking a vitamin or mineral supplement, but someone else who does not have a deficiency will likely not show much benefit. And different individuals likely will have different deficiencies. All of these effects can easily confound a RCT that tests a nutritional protocol, which is why the benefit of nutritional protocols for the pandemic has not been precisely "proven."

"Thus, even though it is known that the nutritional protocol is effective for preventing a wide variety of viral infections, and has been shown in small clinical trials to be effective in treating COVID-19 to prevent serious pneumonia and death, there is currently a "lack of evidence" about its efficacy in preventing infection in large populations. This would be an acceptable justification for avoiding use of a drug, but the nutritional protocol is inexpensive, safe, and widely available to the public. [11-15] The problem is apparently that the medical establishment and government agencies have been so focused upon drug or vaccine treatments that they have dismissed the life-saving knowledge about nutrition for empowering the immune system and preventing and treating the COVID-19 infection. [13,23] The burden of proof that is necessary for approval of a prescription drug protocol (read "dangerous enough to require a prescription") is very different than the burden of proof necessary for widespread utilization of a safe nutritional protocol. We need to consume more of the essential nutrients in our food. [20-23] Larger supplemental doses in the nutritional protocol are safe. [1-23] Thus, claiming "no proof" is not a reason to dismiss adequately high and safe doses of vitamins and minerals."

This concludes Dr. Y's report. You may find that if you try to share this on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube that it - and perhaps you - will be blocked. When the mainstream media ignores the concerns of licensed physicians, and the social media actively censors them, we have a problem. [24-26]

References

1. Klenner FR. (1948) Virus pneumonia and its treatment with vitamin C. J South Med Surg 110:36- https://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/194x/klenner-fr-southern_med_surg-1948-v110-n2-p36.htm
2. Klenner, FR. (1951) Massive doses of vitamin C and the virus diseases. J South Med and Surg, 113:101-107. https://www.seanet.com/~alexs/ascorbate/195x/klenner-fr-southern_med_surg-1951-v103-n4-p101.htm
3. Hunt C, Chakravorty NK, Annan G, et al. (1994) The clinical effects of Vitamin C supplementation in elderly hospitalized patients with acute respiratory infections. Int J Vitam Nutr Res 64:212-219. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7814237
4. Schwalfenberg, G. (2015). Vitamin D for influenza. Canadian Family Physician, 61: 507. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4463890
5. Dancer, R. C. A., Parekh, D., Lax, S., et al (2015). Vitamin D deficiency contributes directly to the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). Thorax, 70(7), 617-624. https://doi.org/10.1136/thoraxjnl-2014-206680
6. Arvinte C, Singh M, Marik PE (2020) Serum Levels of Vitamin C and Vitamin D in a Cohort of Critically Ill COVID-19 Patients of a North American Community Hospital Intensive Care Unit in May 2020: A Pilot Study. Med Drug Discov. 8:100064. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32964205
7. Abobaker A, Alzwi A, Alraied AHA (2020) Overview of the possible role of vitamin C in management of COVID-19. Pharmacol Rep. 72:1517-1528. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33113146
8. Holford P, Carr AC, Jovic TH, et al. (2020) Vitamin C--An Adjunctive Therapy for Respiratory Infection, Sepsis and COVID-19. Nutrients, 12:3760. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33297491
9. Saul AW. (2020) Nutritional treatment of coronavirus. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n06.shtml
10. Gonzalez MJ, Miranda-Massari JR, Rodriguez JR (2020) Antiviral Mechanisms of Vitamin C: A Short Communication Consensus Report. J Orthomol Med 35(2). https://isom.ca/article/antiviral-mechanisms-of-vitamin-c-a-short-communication-consensus-report
11. Player G, Saul AW, Downing D, Schuitemaker G. (2020) Published Research and Articles on Vitamin C as a Consideration for Pneumonia, Lung Infections, and the Novel Coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19). Orthomolecular Medicine News Service. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n20.shtml
12. Rasmussen MPF (2020) Vitamin C Evidence for Treating Complications of COVID-19 and other Viral Infections. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n25.shtml
13. Hancocks N. (2020) COVID-19: Scientists raise the vitamin D alarm. Nutra Ingredients. https://www.nutraingredients.com/Article/2020/10/01/COVID-19-Scientists-raise-the-vitamin-D-alarm
14. Downing D. (2020) How we can fix this pandemic in a month. Othomolecular Medicine News Service. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n49.shtml
15. Grant WB, Lahore H, McDonnell SL, Baggerly CA, French CB, Aliano JA, Bhattoa HP. (2020). Evidence that vitamin D supplementation could reduce risk of influenza and COVID-19 infections and deaths. Nutrients, 12, 988. https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/12/4/988
16. Castillo ME, Costa LME, Barrios JMV, et al. (2020) Effect of calcifediol treatment and best available therapy versus best available therapy on intensive care unit admission and mortality among patients hospitalized for COVID-19: A pilot randomized clinical study. J Steroid Biochem Mol Biol. 203:105751. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32871238
17. Ilie, P., Stefanescu, S., Smith, L. (2020) The role of Vitamin D in the prevention of Coronavirus Disease 2019 infection and mortality. Aging Clinical and Experimental Research, 32:1195-1198 https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40520-020-01570-8
18. Mercola J, Grant WB, Wagner CL (2020) Evidence Regarding Vitamin D and Risk of COVID-19 and Its Severity. Nutrients, 12:3361. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33142828
19. Kaufman HW, Niles JK, Kroll MH, et al. (2020) SARS-CoV-2 positivity rates associated with circulating 25-hydroxyvitamin D levels. PLoS One, 15(9):e0239252. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32941512
20. Bae M, Kim H (2020) The Role of Vitamin C, Vitamin D, and Selenium in Immune System against COVID-19. Molecules, 25:5346. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33207753
21. Passwater M. (2020) Do the Math: "MATH+" Saves Lives. http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n55.shtml
22. Gonzalez MJ (2020) Personalize Your COVID-19 Prevention: An Orthomolecular Protocol. Orthomolecular Medicine News Service http://orthomolecular.org/resources/omns/v16n31.shtml
23. Pfleger K, Davies G, Hollis BW (2020) Over 100 Scientists, Doctors, & Leading Authorities Call For Increased Vitamin D Use To Combat COVID-19. Scientific evidence indicates vitamin D reduces infections & deaths. https://vitamindforall.org/letter.html
24. O'Leary F (2020) YouTube slammed for REMOVING video of two doctors pushing for end to coronavirus lockdowns. The Sun. https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/11512656/youtube-slammed-removing-video-doctors-end-coronavirus-lockdown
25. Morley V (2020) YouTube issues statement on removal of controversial video interview with Bakersfield doctors. 23ABC. https://www.turnto23.com/news/coronavirus/video-interview-with-dr-dan-erickson-and-dr-artin-massihi-taken-down-from-youtube
26. Culliford E, Dave P (2020) YouTube says it will remove videos containing misinformation about COVID-19 vaccines. https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-youtube-says-it-will-remove-videos-containing-misinformation-about

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Albert G. B. Amoa, MB.Ch.B, Ph.D. (Ghana)
Seth Ayettey, M.B., Ch.B., Ph.D. (Ghana)
Ilyès Baghli, M.D. (Algeria)
Ian Brighthope, MBBS, FACNEM (Australia)
Gilbert Henri Crussol, D.M.D. (Spain)
Carolyn Dean, M.D., N.D. (USA)
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Damien Downing, M.B.B.S., M.R.S.B. (United Kingdom)
Ron Erlich, B.D.S. (Australia)
Hugo Galindo, M.D. (Colombia)
Martin P. Gallagher, M.D., D.C. (USA)
Michael J. Gonzalez, N.M.D., D.Sc., Ph.D. (Puerto Rico)
William B. Grant, Ph.D. (USA)
Claus Hancke, MD, FACAM (Denmark)
Tonya S. Heyman, M.D. (USA)
Suzanne Humphries, M.D. (USA)
Ron Hunninghake, M.D. (USA)
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Alan Lien, Ph.D. (Taiwan)
Homer Lim, M.D. (Philippines)
Stuart Lindsey, Pharm.D. (USA)
Victor A. Marcial-Vega, M.D. (Puerto Rico)
Charles C. Mary, Jr., M.D. (USA)
Mignonne Mary, M.D. (USA)
Jun Matsuyama, M.D., Ph.D. (Japan)
Joseph Mercola, D.O. (USA)
Jorge R. Miranda-Massari, Pharm.D. (Puerto Rico)
Karin Munsterhjelm-Ahumada, M.D. (Finland)
Tahar Naili, M.D. (Algeria)
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Andrew W. Saul, Ph.D. (USA), Editor-In-Chief
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