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February 24, 2020 at 03:04PM
Month: February 2020
Only certain kinds, says reader.
____________
Is cinnamon Good For You?
James Walter
First, it is important to distinguish “true” (Ceylon) cinnamon from common (“cassia”) cinnamon. There is a glut of products sold and falsely labeled as “Ceylon” cinnamon—which are actually the cheaper cassia from China and Indonesia. Cassia, unlike Ceylon cinnamon, is slightly hepatotoxic and should not be taken as a supplement on a regular basis.
When you eat cinnamon, one of its breakdown products (metabolites) is the antioxidant sodium benzoate (NaB), a widely used food preservative, and a stabilizer in wine-making, added to stop fermentation. NaB’s oral toxicity is roughly equivalent to that of table salt (sodium chloride).
The potential benefits of cinnamon—or its metabolite NaB—in muscle-wasting diseases (e.g., sIBM, ALS) are as follows:
1. It induces muscle growth by upregulating ciliary neurotrophic factor (CNTF), which upregulates follistatin and p21-activated kinase (Pak1), thereby downregulating the muscle atrophy factors myostatin and activin. CNTF also controls muscle wasting in normal aging.
2. NaB is being investigated for treatment of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s [300-304], schizophrenia [306-311], and to enhance cognition in healthy persons [305]. In one study, oral administration of either cinnamon or its metabolite NaB suppressed tau phosphorylation, amyloid-beta (Aβ) fibril formation and neuronal degeneration in the hippocampus in a transgenic mouse model of Alzheimer’s disease [304]. Notably, tau phosphorylation and Aβ fibril formation are also hallmarks of sIBM, albeit in sIBM they occur in skeletal muscle as opposed to hippocampal neurons.
3. NaB increases the excretion of ammonia and excess amino acids (e.g., glutamine and glycine), hence is used clinically to treat urea cycle disorders. The benefits of depleting glutamine are discussed under (polyQ). Glycine has been found to be elevated in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) [312]. Of possible relevance is that TDP-43 contains a glycine-rich domain that enables TDP-43-mediated protein aggregation [313-315]. Glycine transporters are being investigated as clinical targets for retinal neurodegeneration [316].
Other effects of cinnamon/NaB not directly relevant to sIBM are that they lower blood sugar, and have variously been used to treat rheumatoid arthritis and hepatic encephalopathy.
References:
300. Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology June 2012, Volume 7, Issue 2, pp 424–435 Sodium Benzoate, a Metabolite of Cinnamon and a Food Additive, Upregulates Neuroprotective Parkinson Disease Protein DJ-1 in Astrocytes and Neurons Saurabh Khasnavis and Kalipada Pahan. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11481-011-9286-3
301. Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology June 2013, Volume 8, Issue 3, pp 739–755 Up-Regulation of Neurotrophic Factors by Cinnamon and its Metabolite Sodium Benzoate: Therapeutic Implications for Neurodegenerative Disorders Arundhati Jana, Khushbu K. Modi, Avik Roy, John A. Anderson, Richard B. van Breemen, Kalipada Pahan. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11481-013-9447-7
302. Saurabh Khasnavis, Kalipada Pahan. Cinnamon Treatment Upregulates Neuroprotective Proteins Parkin and DJ-1 and Protects Dopaminergic Neurons in a Mouse Model of Parkinson’s Disease. Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology, 2014; DOI: 10.1007/s11481-014-9552-2 https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4167597/
303. Lin, C.H.; Chen, P.K.; Chang, Y.C.; Chuo, L.J.; Chen, Y.S.; Tsai, G.E.; Lane, H.Y. Benzoate, a d-amino acid oxidase inhibitor, for the treatment of early-phase alzheimer disease: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Biol. Psychiatry 2014, 75, 678–685. https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(13)00739-7/fulltext
304. Modi, K.K.; Roy, A.; Brahmachari, S.; Rangasamy, S.B.; Pahan, K. Cinnamon and its metabolite sodium benzoate attenuate the activation of p21rac and protect memory and learning in an animal model of alzheimer’s disease. PLoS ONE 2015, 10, e0130398. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4478015/
305. Piper, J.D.; Piper, P.W. Benzoate and sorbate salts: A systematic review of the potential hazards of these invaluable preservatives and the expanding spectrum of clinical uses for sodium benzoate. Compr. Rev. Food Sci. Food Saf. 2017, 16, 868–880. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1541-4337.12284
306. Biol Psychiatry. 2018 Sep 15;84(6):422-432. doi: 10.1016/j.biopsych.2017.12.006. Sodium Benzoate, a D-Amino Acid Oxidase Inhibitor, Added to Clozapine for the Treatment of Schizophrenia: A Randomized, Double-Blind, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Lin CH, Lin CH, Chang YC, Huang YJ, Chen PW, Yang HT, Lane HY. https://www.biologicalpsychiatryjournal.com/article/S0006-3223(17)32297-7/fulltext
307. Chue, P.; Lalonde, J.K. Addressing the unmet needs of patients with persistent negative symptoms of schizophrenia: Emerging pharmacological treatment options. Neuropsychiatr. Dis. Treat. 2014, 10, 777–789. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4020880/
308. Hashimoto, K. Targeting of nmda receptors in new treatments for schizophrenia. Expert Opin. Ther. Targets 2014, 18, 1049–1063. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24965576
309. Khasnavis, S.; Pahan, K. Sodium benzoate, a metabolite of cinnamon and a food additive, upregulates neuroprotective parkinson disease protein dj-1 in astrocytes and neurons. J. Neuroimmune Pharmacol. 2012, 7, 424–435. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3189510/
310. Lane, H.Y.; Lin, C.H.; Green, M.F.; Hellemann, G.; Huang, C.C.; Chen, P.W.; Tun, R.; Chang, Y.C.; Tsai, G.E. Add-on treatment of benzoate for schizophrenia: A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of d-amino acid oxidase inhibitor. JAMA Psychiatry 2013, 70, 1267–1275. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapsychiatry/fullarticle/1746121
311. Lin, C.Y.; Liang, S.Y.; Chang, Y.C.; Ting, S.Y.; Kao, C.L.; Wu, Y.H.; Tsai, G.E.; Lane, H.Y. Adjunctive sarcosine plus benzoate improved cognitive function in chronic schizophrenia patients with constant clinical symptoms: A randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. World J. Biol. Psychiatry 2015, 18, 1–12. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26691576
312. (Praveen, 2014) Front. Synaptic Neurosci., 16 April 2014 The role of D-serine and glycine as co-agonists of NMDA receptors in motor neuron degeneration and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)
Praveen Paul and Jackie de Belleroche* |https://ift.tt/37R8pg1
313. Buratti, E., Brindisi, A., Giombi, M., Tisminetzky, S., Ayala, Y. M., and Baralle, F. E. (2005). TDP-43 binds heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A/B through its C-terminal tail. J. Biol. Chem. 280, 37572–37584. doi: 10.1074/jbc.M505557200
314. D’ambrogio, A., Buratti, E., Stuani, C., Guarnaccia, C., Romano, M., Ayala, Y. M., et al. (2009). Functional mapping of the interaction between TDP-43 and hnRNP A2 in vivo. Nucleic Acids Res. 37, 4116–4126. doi: 10.1093/nar/gkp342
315. Buratti, E., and Baralle, F. E. (2012). TDP-43: gumming up neurons through protein-protein and protein-RNA interactions. Trends Biochem. Sci. 37, 237–247. doi: 10.1016/j.tibs.2012.03.003
316. Glycine transporter type 1 (GlyT-1) is a potential therapeutic target in retinal neurodegenerative disorders http://semmelweis.hu/pharmacology/kutatas/neurofarmakologiai-kutatocsoport/glycine-transporter-type-1-glyt-1-potential-therapeutic-target-in-retinal-neurodegenerative-disorders/
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February 24, 2020 at 02:42PM
Google says many people ask this question so here is the correct answer: polar bears are not going extinct. If you have been told that, you have misunderstood or have been misinformed. Polar bears are well-distributed across their available habitat and population numbers are high (officially 22,000-31,000 at 2015 but likely closer to 26,000-58,000 at 2018): these are features of a healthy, thriving species. ‘Why are polar bears going extinct?’ contains a false premise – there is no need to ask ‘why’ when the ‘polar bears [are] going extinct’ part is not true.1
It is true that in 2007, it was predicted that polar bear numbers would plummet when summer sea ice declined to 42% of 1979 levels for 8 out of 10 years (anticipated to occur by 2050) and extinct or nearly so by 2100 (Amstrup et al. 2007). However, summer sea ice has been at ‘mid-century-like’ levels since 2007 (with year to year variation, see NOAA ice chart below) yet polar bear numbers have increased since 2005. The anticipated disaster did not occur but many people still believe it did because the media and some researchers still give that impression.
The prediction of imminent extinction of the polar bear was an utter failure, as I’ve shown in this scientific paper (Crockford 2017) and my most recent book, The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Happened.
Examine the evidence and you will see that claims of polar bears going extinct are simply not true. So far, the response of polar bears to recent ice loss suggests that they will continue to thrive with even less summer ice than there has been in recent years as long as ice in winter (December-March) and spring (April-June) remains reasonably abundant, as has been the case to date. The most recent information available is summarized in the upcoming State of the Polar Bear Report 2019, to be released 27 February 2020 but see also the 2018 report (Crockford 2019b).
The graph below was constructed by NASA sea ice expert Walt Meier and published by the US National Snow and Ice Data Center in early October 2019. It shows clearly that summer sea ice (measured as the average for September) has not declined further since 2007 but has had a flat trend.
The graph below is from my book and shows the growth of global polar bear numbers since the 1960s. The final estimate 26,000-58,000 or 39,000 average) is my plausible and scientifically defensible ‘best guess’ based on extrapolation of recent survey results, summarized here and explained in detail in my book.
Footnote
One of Google’s top ‘suggestion’ when I search for the term ‘polar bear’ is a list of questions that people supposedly ask the most (‘People also ask’), including ‘Why are polar bears going extinct?’
The ‘answer’ provided is not an actual answer but a statement from WWF, an multi-national organization financially invested in promoting the idea that polar bears are suffering due to declining sea ice: it’s paid Google advertising meant to look like answers and facts:
‘Because of ongoing and potential loss of their sea ice habitat resulting from climate change, polar bears were listed as a threatened species in the US under the Endangered Species Act in May 2008. The survival and the protection of the polar bear habitat are urgent issues for WWF.’
Note the statement misleadingly says ‘sea ice’ when it really means ‘summer sea ice’ – the predictions of potential polar bear population decline were based exclusively on summer ice (Amstrup et al. 2007; Crockford 2017, 2019).
As I said above, ‘Why are polar bears going extinct?’ contains a false premise – there is no need to ask ‘why’, when the ‘polar bears [are] going extinct’ part is not true. This post is for the people who search the internet thinking that polar bears really are going extinct.
Another question Google offers is: ‘How many polar bears are left?’ Answer [my bold]:
‘In fact, the World Wide Fund for Nature (or WWF) estimates that there are only 22,000 to 31,000 polar bears left in the world. Jan 25, 2019’
Only? This global estimate, provided by the IUCN Red List (not the WWF) means there are almost three times more polar bears than the 10,000 or so there were in 1960 (Regehr et al. 2016; Wiig et al. 2015). But the Red List figure includes out-of-date estimates and low-balled guesses for many of the 19 subpopulations and my book (Crockford 2019) explains why this 2015 estimate sanctioned by the IUCN was almost certainly too low.
References
Amstrup, S.C., Marcot, B.G. & Douglas, D.C. 2007. Forecasting the rangewide status of polar bears at selected times in the 21st century. US Geological Survey. Reston, VA. Pdf here
Crockford, S.J. 2017. Testing the hypothesis that routine sea ice coverage of 3-5 mkm2 results in a greater than 30% decline in population size of polar bears (Ursus maritimus). PeerJ Preprints 19 January 2017. Doi: 10.7287/peerj.preprints.2737v1 Open access. https://peerj.com/preprints/2737/
Crockford, S.J. 2019. The Polar Bear Catastrophe That Never Happened. Global Warming Policy Foundation, London. Available in paperback and ebook formats.
Crockford, S.J. 2019b. State of the Polar Bear Report 2018. Global Warming Policy Foundation Report 32, London. pdf here.
Regehr, E.V., Laidre, K.L, Akçakaya, H.R., Amstrup, S.C., Atwood, T.C., Lunn, N.J., Obbard, M., Stern, H., Thiemann, G.W., & Wiig, Ø. 2016. Conservation status of polar bears (Ursus maritimus) in relation to projected sea-ice declines. Biology Letters 12: 20160556. http://rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/12/12/20160556
Wiig, Ø., Amstrup, S., Atwood, T., Laidre, K., Lunn, N., Obbard, M., et al. 2015. Ursus maritimus. The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2015: e.T22823A14871490. Available from http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/22823/0 [accessed Nov. 28, 2015]. See the supplement for population figures here.
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February 24, 2020 at 01:49PM
Only Conservative MP Christopher Chope has looked to get to the bottom of the matter, launching a private members bill to force an independent review of the costs.
When the Committee on Climate Change (CCC) launched its report on the feasibility of entirely decarbonising the UK economy, we were told the expense involved was manageable. The CCC’s chief executive Chris Stark explained that the project ‘carried a cost – of one to two per cent of GDP – which was affordable’. His claims were noted approvingly by MPs during debates in Parliament on whether to enshrine a ‘net zero’ emissions target in law. While others complained about the lack of a clear cost-benefit case, CCC chairman Lord Deben put aside these concerns. He told the Lords: ‘the report has been recognised universally as the most seriously presented, costed effort…’ A recent leader in The Spectator said the CCC had been ‘admirably candid.’ If only.
The truth is that the CCC has not given a full estimate of its net-zero target. The only fact it has offered is that the cost would be one to two of GDP in the year 2050. It makes no statement about the cost before then. We only know this because of a response to a Freedom of Information request. So how much it will cost to get to net zero? Contrary to what The Spectator assured its readers, we still don’t know. In other words, it has not actually prepared a costing of the net zero project at all. This is an extraordinary admission given what Lord Deben said in the Lords debate.
Not long ago, another CCC member, the director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies, Paul Johnson, told The Week in Westminster that ‘the cost of getting to net zero by 2050 will be in the order of one to two per cent national income, each year between now and then’.
But how can this possibly be when no estimates have been prepared for all those intervening years? As Mr Johnson is not saying, and the CCC refuse to comment – or reveal the calculations behind the one to two per cent figure they quote so frequently – it is hard to have much confidence that the decision to go net zero is well founded.
We are embarked on a journey towards an economic revolution, some might argue to economic disaster. Yet those in charge don’t even seem to ask any basic questions about how much it’s all going to cost.
The Treasury itself has yet to complete an assessment. A leak to the FT last summer cited a letter from Philip Hammond (when he was chancellor) to the effect that the ‘CCC has estimated that reaching net zero will cost £50bn a year, but the department for Business, Energy and Industrial strategy puts the figure at £70bn’. Hammond was quoted as saying ‘on the basis of these estimates, the total cost of transitioning to a zero-carbon economy is likely to be well in excess of a trillion pounds.’ It could, of course, be far more. But we don’t know because none of the government departments involved have published a definitive statement on costs. Even the CCC haven’t done the sums.
The Commons Treasury Select Committee, meanwhile, decided to hold an inquiry into the economic opportunities of net zero; the bill to be paid at the end is apparently of little interest. Ofgem, allegedly the voice of the consumer in energy matters, has given no specific cost either, instead turning itself into a sort of corporate cheerleader for the net zero project. A joint report from the Royal Academy of Engineering and Royal Society looks remarkably like the CCC’s – lots of buzzwords, precious little engineering and hardly any mention of specific costs.
Only Conservative MP Christopher Chope has looked to get to the bottom of the matter, launching a private members bill to force an independent review of the costs. Its chances of becoming law are slim of course.
In the meantime, however, outsiders can come up with their own figures. My colleagues at the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF) have made a start, looking at National Grid’s plans for delivering a (near) zero-carbon electricity grid. National Grid, like everyone else, doesn’t cost these so-called ‘Future Energy Scenarios’, but the authors of the GWPF paper have done so, and reckon the bill will come in at around £1.4 trillion. And that is just the cost of the generating equipment – government levies and so on are extra. It amounts to around £50,000 per household, to be paid through soaring electricity bills, higher taxes, and higher prices for goods and services.
Full post
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February 24, 2020 at 12:15PM
Iowa Climate Science Education 