Calif. Governor Expected To Order Closure Of All Beaches And State Parks

After large crowds cooled off along the shoreline last weekend, Gov. Gavin Newsom warned that type of behavior would put the state's progress battling the coronavirus in jeopardy.

(Image credit: Marcio Jose Sanchez/AP)

* This article was originally published here

Higher thrombus risk in men with obesity in adolescence

Men with a history of obesity in their late teens are, in adult life are more at risk of a blood clot (thrombus) in a leg or lung, according to a new study. The risk rises successively and is highest in those who were severely obese in adolescence.

* This article was originally published here

Antibiotic exposure can 'prime' single-resistant bacteria to become multidrug-resistant

Researchers report that, for a bacterial pathogen already resistant to an antibiotic, prolonged exposure to that antibiotic not only boosted its ability to retain its resistance gene, but also made the pathogen more readily pick up and maintain resistance to a second antibiotic and become a dangerous, multidrug-resistant strain.

* This article was originally published here

Observer quotes David Williams on Tesla’s prospects during pandemic

Car sales are plummeting around the globe, yet Tesla sales –and its stock– are holding up for now.  It’s not exactly a healthcare story, but the Observer cited David Williams as a source anyway, in Tesla Seems Immune to Coronavirus’ Blow to Automobile Sales –But Is It?

“Although Tesla is not completely insulated from the downturn, I do believe that their situation is unique and they will be able to sell everything they make,” David Williams, president of Health Business Group, a management consulting firm, told Observer. Last week, Williams placed an order for a Tesla Model Y, “even though I don’t know when it will arrive or what the economy will be like at that time,” he said. “It’s a combination of wanting something fun and innovative and wanting to reduce my carbon footprint. I think my situation is typical of Tesla customers.”

The post Observer quotes David Williams on Tesla’s prospects during pandemic appeared first on Health Business Group.

* This article was originally published here

Tracking The Pandemic: How Quickly Is The Coronavirus Spreading State By State?

View our map and graphics to see where COVID-19 is hitting hardest in the U.S., which state outbreaks are growing the fastest and which are leveling off.

(Image credit: Daniel Wood/NPR)

* This article was originally published here

Comforting Spaghetti Squash Soup

Move over noodles, Spaghetti Squash Soup is here! Deliciously hearty and comforting, it’s the perfect meal to make you feel better inside and out when winter refuses to go…

It’s been so cold and snowy these past few days, I often catch myself wishing that I was still in Costa Rica!!! Trust me, I’d much rather be on the beach right now. Well, if the beaches weren’t all closed, that is…

But, there’s a positive side to this unusually cold weather: it gave me the perfect excuse to whip up a huge batch of soup! Seriously, can your think of anything more comforting and soul warming than a piping hot bowl of soup when winter is acting up?

Since I’d just baked a nice big spaghetti squash the day before and had tons of leftover, I decided to throw that into the soup, in place of noodles. Whoa! What a brilliant idea that was! Now, not only is this soup crazy delicious, but it’s also a veritable nutrition powerhouse!

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* This article was originally published here

Oven Baked Spaghetti Squash

So very easy to make and so deliciously tasty, Oven Baked Spaghetti Squash might very well become your favorite side dish or pasta replacement!

I remember when I was a kid, I used to totally despise spaghetti squash…

I wasn’t really big on squash period back then, but spaghetti squash, I particularly didn’t care for; I found it to be bland, tasteless, boring and I also wasn’t a fan of its somewhat strange texture. Mostly, though, I think that I disliked it mainly because it was used as a replacement for one of my favorite food items in the whole wide world: pasta!

But now that I’m all grown up, I’ve completely changed my mind about this fascinating vegetable. Not only do I ADORE its very unique, stringy nature, but I’m totally in love with its delicate, slightly nutty and buttery flavor.

Still, I rarely use it as pasta replacement, though. I much prefer to enjoy it as is, in all its glory!

I like to cook my Spaghetti Squash pretty much the same way I do my famous Oven Roasted Butternut Squash: roasted slowly in a hot oven until its flesh caramelizes a little bit and turns a beautiful shade of golden brown. Not only is the method super easy, but it also gives the squash a wonderfully delicious flavor, not to mention strikingly jaw dropping and mouthwatering good looks!

The only real tricky part, if there is one, is in slicing that squash open… but even that, you’ll see, isn’t all that hard at all!

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* This article was originally published here

Helping the heart heal itself

Scientists have discovered a protein that works with others during development to put the brakes on cell division in the heart.

* This article was originally published here

Link between obesity and sleep loss

Can staying up late make you fat? Researchers found the opposite to be true when they studied sleep in worms: It's not the sleep loss that leads to obesity, but rather that excess weight can cause poor sleep.

* This article was originally published here

Antibodies could provide new treatment for OCD

Mental health conditions such as obsessive compulsive disorder could be treated in a new way using drugs that target the immune system, research suggests.

* This article was originally published here

Easy Vegan Tofu Scrambled “Eggs”

A quick, easy and delicious vegan alternative to Scrambled Eggs, this Eggy Tofu Scramble truly is the ultimate replacement. In fact, it’s so good you might even prefer it to the real deal!

When I said that I missed tofu, while in Costa Rica, it was mainly for this reason: Tofu Scrambled Eggs! This is definitely the one tofu dish that I missed the most.

Not that I minded eating a big plate of Gallo Pinto or avocado toasts most every morning, but sometimes, I would get a crazy craving for this, and there was just no way of satisfying it… So yeah, call me weird but it’s one of the first things I whipped up upon my return.

Funny thing is I never used to be a fan of scrambled eggs; I much preferred my eggs sunny side up, thank you very much. But now that I am vegan, this is the closest thing to eggs that I can in the morning, and believe it or not, I happen to find this tofu scramble even better than the real deal… I find the texture to be much more pleasant, for one, and well, so is the flavor!

If you are skeptical — even if you are not vegan — I urge you to give this recipe a try… I’m just about ready to bet that you too, will become a complete convert, and might get crazy cravings for it when you least expect it!

What have you got to lose? It takes mere minutes to make and costs practically nothing. Well, that’s if you’ve already got some Kala Namak — which you absolutely need if you’re gonna do this right — but if you don’t, you should totally get some. It’s fairly easy to find online and a little goes a long way, so it will last you a very long time.

That’s if you don’t start sprinkling it on everything…

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The post Easy Vegan Tofu Scrambled “Eggs” appeared first on The Healthy Foodie.

* This article was originally published here

Mysterious tuft cells found to play role in pancreatitis

Scientists have uncovered the formation of tuft cells during pancreatitis and the surprising role of these cells in immunity, using mouse models of pancreatitis. The findings could lead to the development of new biomarkers to test for pancreatitis and pancreatic cancer.

* This article was originally published here

Genomics used to estimate Samoan population dynamics over 3,000 years

A new study estimating the size of the Samoan population using contemporary genomic data found that the founding population remained low for the first 1,500 years of human settlement, contributing to understanding the evolutionary context of the recent rise in obesity and related diseases.

* This article was originally published here

Let the porn industry reopen the economy

Give the people what they want!

We’ve heard it over and over again. We can’t reopen the economy until we have a robust testing process in place for #coronavirus. Employees need to be tested frequently so they can return to work and stay on the job without infecting others and causing the whole worksite to have to close down and stay shut.

Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the CDC and much of the rest of the federal government have demonstrated sustained incompetence on getting testing going. Countries like Germany and China are organizing testing programs and restarting their economies.

Obviously we aren’t Asia or Europe. We need an American solution! And we need an adult in the room.

The obvious answer is to enlist the adult film industry in returning the economy to normalcy. The industry has operated a testing system successfully for years to stave off threats of infections from HIV and other sexually transmitted diseases.

From Rewire.News

The [Free Speech Coalition] took over managing sexual health protocols for the mainstream, straight porn world in 2011. It has since developed a set of testing guidelines known as the Performer Availability Screening Services (PASS) system. The guidelines have shifted over the years, but as of today, performers in the system test every two weeks for HIV, chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis, Hepatitis B and C, and trichomoniasis at a handful of clinics that partner with the FSC. If performers test positive for any non-HIV infection, a central database visible to agents, studios, and other performers automatically flags them as unavailable for work until they test negative. It also flags them if they have gone more than two weeks without being tested…

Unlike old systems of bringing copies of a recent test to a set, this database system protects performers’ real identities and medical information—and prevents test doctoring to hide results, an issue that has led to outbreaks of STIs like syphilis in the past.

Here is some background from the PASS website. Forgot about the titillating nature of the work for a moment. Replace “performer” with employee and there you have it. Why wouldn’t we want the same thing for other workplaces?

Performer Availability Scheduling Services provides guidelines and services for the adult production industry designed to ensure a safe and healthy work environment of performers and adult film professionals. The program includes:

1. A series of nationwide testing sites providing low cost, high-quality testing in a timely manner

2. Performers have electronic access to testing results directly from labs

3. Variety of medical providers for treatment of performers in need of medical follow-up

4. Consistent standards and guidelines for testing and treatment of adult performers

5. A secure database that ensures performer privacy and protects producer liability

6. Protocol for performer support in the event of a positive HIV test result, including funding for testing of 1st and 2nd generation partners

It’s time for Dr. Fauci to team up with stars of the adult film industry to replace the President’s daily briefing with a more informative, entertaining and productive replacement.

Strange times make for strange bedfellows. So be it!

—-

By healthcare business consultant David E. Williams, president of Health Business Group.

The post Let the porn industry reopen the economy appeared first on Health Business Group.

* This article was originally published here

Antiviral drug baloxavir reduces transmission of flu virus among ferrets

Baloxavir treatment reduced transmission of the flu virus from infected ferrets to healthy ferrets, suggesting that the antiviral drug could contribute to the early control of influenza outbreaks by limiting community-based viral spread.

* This article was originally published here

Creamy No-Bake Mocha Chocolate Vegan Cheesecake

A truly heavenly dessert that contains nothing but wholesome ingredients, this sinfully creamy Mocha Chocolate Vegan Cheesecake will totally blow your mind!

While in Costa Rica, there are a couple of things that I truly missed. One of them was tofu — call me weird, but I happen to love the stuff and not only is it very hard to find over there, but their firm tofu is the equivalent of our silky; so yeah… not very good for cooking! — and the other one was baking and creating yummy desserts! I just never found myself in a proper set-up for that…

I ended up getting back home not long before my birthday, and then Easter was just a handful of days later. With cheesecake being my favorite dessert in the whole wide world — the only one thing I truly miss since going vegan — and well, chocolate and Easter being so totally inseparable, I didn’t have to think very long before deciding that I was going to whip some kind of a Vegan Chocolate Cheesecake for the occasions.

The plan was to make the cake for my birthday — which I had to spend confined at home — and that should’ve given ample time to share the recipe with you in time for Easter, but then life got in the way, I had to get my water pump fixed instead, yay-fun-NOT, I’ll spare you the details… and so plans had to change!

But I still made the cake — boy ô boy, be happy that I did! — and I’m still sharing the recipe with you today! In time for next year’s Easter!

Joking aside, you can totally make this cake for just about any occasion, no need to wait for your birthday, or for Easter. And while it might look like it’s super complicated and seems like it would take forever to make, know that it really isn’t that hard at all, and that it comes together fairly quickly, too.

But honestly, the only thing you really need to know is that this heavenly cake is sinfully delicious. And yes, one can totally use the words heavenly AND sinfully together in the same breath. This cake is living proof of that! What’s more, you’ll never believe that it’s made with nothing but healthy stuff and wholesome ingredients.

Oh, and whoever you share it with will love you for the rest of their life!

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The post Creamy No-Bake Mocha Chocolate Vegan Cheesecake appeared first on The Healthy Foodie.

* This article was originally published here

Tumors hijack the cell death pathway to live

Cancer cells avoid an immune system attack after radiation by commandeering a cell signaling pathway that helps dying cells avoid triggering an immune response, a new study suggests.

* This article was originally published here

Researchers describe possible mechanism for link between obesity and breast cancer

It is widely accepted that higher levels of body fat increase the risk of developing breast cancer, as well as other cancers. A new article proposes a unique theory that a protein secreted by fat cells drives the development of breast cancer.

* This article was originally published here

Now metal surfaces can be instant bacteria killers

Engineers have created a laser treatment method that could potentially turn any metal surface into a rapid bacteria killer -- just by giving the metal's surface a different texture.

* This article was originally published here

Light driven proton pump in distant relative

Researchers investigated the group of microorganisms classified as Asgard archaea, and found a protein in their membrane which acts as a miniature light-activated pump. The schizorhodopsin protein draws protons into the organisms' body. This research could lead to new biomolecular tools to control the pH in cells or microorganisms, and possibly more.

* This article was originally published here

False-negative COVID-19 test results may lead to false sense of security

A new article calls attention to the risk posed by overreliance on COVID-19 testing to make clinical and public health decisions. The sensitivity of reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) testing and overall test performance characteristics have not been reported clearly or consistently in medical literature, the article says.

* This article was originally published here

Easy Comforting Vegan Stew

This Comforting Vegan Stew is super easy to make and only uses super simple ingredients that you probably keep in your fridge and pantry all the time…

I’m back from Costa Rica, people… or well, at least my body is! I definitely left my heart somewhere over there, buried at the foot of some majestic palm tree, right next to a fallen coconut. But as much as I’d have wanted to stay there forever, I had to come back, and even earlier than initially planned.

Truth is, I have been back for almost 2 weeks now, confined at home as is required by law, but it’s been such a strange return that I’ve been in a mixed state of shock and confusion ever since I got home. I don’t quite know what to do with myself. Or what to feed myself, for that matter.

All I can say is that comfort food ranks really high on my list of coveted sustenance. But when circumstances make it kinda hard to even stock the fridge and pantry, one has to keep things simple!

Well, good thing is it doesn’t come much simpler than this uncomplicated Comforting Vegan Stew. It calls for very basic ingredients that we all have at home, at practically any given time.

And it comes together pretty quickly, too! Not that lack of time really is an issue, these days… but hey. Quick is never a bad thing!

Leaves more time for meditating…

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The post Easy Comforting Vegan Stew appeared first on The Healthy Foodie.

* This article was originally published here

Cancer mutation in dual role

Analyses of cell signals provide insight into the origin of severe inflammatory symptoms that appear in various types of blood cancer and point to possible therapeutic approaches: In around one-fourth of patients suffering from juvenile myelomonocytic leukemia (JMML), there is evidence of mutations in the so-called KRAS gene in the leukemia cells. Patients affected by JMML carrying these mutations suffer particularly often from signs of inflammation, such as fever, weight loss, and an abnormal enlargement of the spleen. It was previously unknown how the sometimes severe inflammatory symptoms are connected with the cancer.

* This article was originally published here

Why don’t we have more hospital beds, doctors and ventilators?

Fact: The US spends much more on healthcare than other rich countries but has fewer hospital beds and doctors. That’s hurting us now as we battle COVID-19. In this podcast, Carecentrix CEO John Driscoll and I explain what’s going on and what we can do about it.

The post Why don’t we have more hospital beds, doctors and ventilators? appeared first on Health Business Group.

* This article was originally published here

New algorithm aims to protect surgical team members against infection with COVID-19 virus

Researchers have created an algorithm that aims to protect operating room team members who perform urgent and emergency operations from COVID-19.

* This article was originally published here

Using sponges to wipe out cancer

Manzamine A, a natural product derived from certain groups of sponges, can block the growth of cervical cancer cells, report researchers. Manzamine A targets a protein that is highly expressed in many cancers, including cervical cancer, and is the first reported inhibitor of this protein.

* This article was originally published here

Shoppers In Mexico Are Panic-Buying Beer During The Coronavirus Crisis

To the shock of many, alcoholic beverage production was listed as a nonessential business during the shutdown to aid social distancing. Then came the beer hoarding.

(Image credit: Julio Cesar Aguilar/AFP via Getty Images)

* This article was originally published here

Trump Reelection Team Aims To Use COVID-19 To Rewrite Narrative

As the Trump administration ramps up its response to the coronavirus, many in the president's reelection campaign see the outbreak as a chance to double down on his "America First" agenda.

* This article was originally published here

The Coronavirus Doesn't Discriminate, But U.S. Health Care Showing Familiar Biases

Most available coronavirus data doesn't include ethnic or racial demographics, but public health experts say they fear the response to the pandemic will lead to predictable health care disparities.

(Image credit: Ken Morris/Meharry Medical College)

* This article was originally published here

The discovery of new compounds for acting on the circadian clock

Scientists have succeeded in the discovery of novel compounds to lengthen the period of the circadian clock, and has shed light on their mechanisms of action.

* This article was originally published here