drugs

Could Antibiotic Use Lead to Type 1 Diabetes?

In a new study, researchers found that repeated treatments with antibiotics increased the risk of Type 1 diabetes in the rodents. [1]
The finding is harrowing, considering that approximately half of all prescriptions written for antibiotics in the United States are inappropriate and that a recent study found that antibiotics are prescribed to children about twice as often as they should be. [2]

Untreatable-Gonorrhea Hits Spotlight While WHO Issues New Treatment Guidelines

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued new guidelines for treating gonorrhea that reflect the looming threat posed by antibiotic resistance.
Under the U.N. health agency’s new directives, gonorrhea, a sexually transmitted disease (STD), should no longer be treated with a class of antibiotics called quinolones, because quinolone-resistant strains of the disease have emerged all over the world. [1]

How Illegal Drugs and ADHD Medications are Polluting Urban Streams

Both legal and illegal drugs are polluting streams in and around at least 1 major U.S. city, a new study reveals. This includes amphetamines, which are biologically active and highly addictive. [1]
The pollution comes at a high cost, ecologically. Areas in some streams have high enough concentrations of amphetamines to alter the bottom of the aquatic food chain.
Study author Sylvia Lee said:

Study: If You’re a Coffee Lover, it Might Be in Your Genes

Scientists have identified a gene that may explain why some people have undeniable coffee cravings and hit the coffee pot multitudinous times a day. [1]
For the study, researchers looked at a population of people in villages in Italy, and conducted a genome-wide association study in which they examined markers in DNA and identified a gene called PDSS2 that could play a role in caffeine metabolism.

LIONEL PODCAST: Rejiggering Perception and the Collective Delusion of Connection

Straight talk. Beware. Confusing form over substance will be one of the cornerstones of the fall of the republic. Direct and honest discourse are not necessarily preferred if the message of direction is wrong and/or perilous. But we love a catchy phrase and pithy prose. It’s who we are. We live in boorish and churlish world of discourtesy and rudeness that we have transmogrified and shapeshifted into candor, verity and authenticity. Donald Trump creates, paves and constructs his own unnecessary speed bumps and that’s tragic. For him.