Dec. 4, 2020 – Toronto, ON – For those feeling alone for the holidays, Callen Schaub will be online bringing his message of hope to fans worldwide. Join the brilliant abstract artist as he goes LIVE at 5pm EST every day in December on both Instagram and Tiktok. Known for his bold and thought-provoking contemporary art Callen, is inspired to conclude this very challenging year with a message of hope.
Viewers will be enthralled as Callen uses paint, natural forces and machines to cover various size canvases. Callen has rejected the art world’s implied exclusivity in an approach he calls The Fake Art Movement. Through it he tries to educate, inspire and raise awareness about anti-cyberbullying. Callen is a prominent advocate for mental health awareness. In an inspiring series of LIVES Callen will paint over seven canvases covered in hateful comments that have been directed at him through social media.
The LIVES allow Callen to engage directly with his audience expressing his emotions through colour. Callen’s use of vibrant colours represents a spectrum of energy and emotion, encouraging reaction and interpretation of his works.
The LIVES aim to provide comfort to those who are feeling alone and isolated this holiday season. This December will be unlike any other and many will find themselves away from family, friends and their traditional holiday celebrations. When asked what Callen wants the audience to feel while watching his LIVES he responded, “I want to give my audience the feeling of ease, natural beauty, and motivation. I hope my performance can draw them into the present moment.”
Callen’s stunning LIVES can encourage us all to reflect on this rather long and difficult year before it comes to a close. And if you think you will miss the fireworks this year, at the stroke of midnight, as we usher in 2021, Callen will suspend himself on a human rail — much like a zipline. He will “fly” through the air deploying paint onto a 10×20 foot canvas. The never done before concept will be completed on the largest canvas Callen has spun to date. This will be Callen’s final canvas of 2020 before he allows time for self-reflection in 2021.
In January, in support of mental wellness, Callen will go offline on social media. To represent his silence, he will post a 6 foot blank heart canvas, painted in UV reactive paint with the words “Just because you can’t see it, doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
The spontaneous healing of cancer is a phenomenon that has been observed for hundreds and thousands of years and after having been the subject of many controversies, it is now accepted as an indisputable fact. A review of past reports demonstrates that regression is usually associated with acute infections, fever, and immunostimulation. It is stated that in 1891, William Coley of New York’s Memorial Hospital developed the most effective single-agent anticancer therapy from nature, which faded into oblivion for various reasons. Cancer therapies have been standardized and have improved since Coley’s day, but surprisingly modern cancer patients do not fare better than patients treated 50 or more years ago as concluded by researchers in 1999. This article peeks into the history of immunostimulation and the role of innate immunity in inducing a cure even in advanced stages of malignancy. The value of Coley’s observation is that rather than surviving additional years with cancer, many of the patients who received his therapy lived the rest of their lives without cancer. In our relentless efforts to go beyond nature to fight cancer, we often overlook the facts nature provides to heal our maladies.Keywords: Acute infections, Coley’s toxins, cancer, fever, immunostimulation, spontaneous regressionGo to:
INTRODUCTION
The word spontaneous implies “without any apparent cause,”[1] and regression is defined as a decrease in the size of the tumor or in the extent of cancer in the body according to the national cancer institute (NCI).[2] Spontaneous regression occurs in most types of cancer and was recorded in the medical literature as early as 1742.[3] The standard definition of spontaneous regression as “the partial or complete disappearance of a malignant tumor in the absence of treatment or in the presence of therapy considered inadequate to exert a significant influence on the disease” was composed by Dr. Tilden Everson and Dr. Warren Cole in the 1960s,[4] with the further requirement that the original presence of cancer was proven by the microscopic examination of tissues.[5]
Spontaneous regression of cancer is not a rare occurrence as thought to be; in an average month during 2002, medical journals published more than four articles on the subject.[6]
Cancer is probably the deadliest of human ailments. Cancer fatalities account for 12% of all deaths worldwide each year.[7] Across the globe, 10 million people are diagnosed with cancer annually and almost 7 million die from cancer. The global cancer rates could increase to 15 million by 2020.[8]Go to:
HISTORY OF SPONTANEOUS REGRESSION
Spontaneous tumor regression is a phenomenon that has been observed for hundreds if not thousands of years. Although the term spontaneous implies “without any apparent cause,” a review of reports demonstrates that regression generally coincides with acute infections.[1] Savarrio et al claimed to report the first ever case of spontaneous regression of a neoplasm of the oral cavity of the subset of non-Hodgkin’s lymphomas known as Ki-1 anaplastic large cell lymphoma (ALCL). King et al. reported a case of complete spontaneous regression of metastatic cutaneous melanoma with parotid and neck lymph node metastases.[9]
The phenomenon of spontaneous regression is also known as St. Peregrine tumor. Peregrine Laziozi (1265–1345), a young priest, was afflicted with cancer of the tibia requiring amputation of the leg; the lesion grew to a point where it broke through the skin and became severely infected. Miraculously, by the time his operation was due his physician was astonished to observe that there were no signs of the tumor. St. Peregrine’s tumor never returned.[7,10] Although numerous cases of spontaneous tumor regression have been published over the last several hundreds of years, such reports have become rare in the current medical literature;[1] virtually all of these reports note regression concomitant with infections including diphtheria, gonorrhea, hepatitis, influenza, malaria, measles, smallpox, syphilis, and tuberculosis as well as various other pyogenic and nonpyogenic infections. Observation of this non-specific effect led to the emergence of active cancer immunotherapies by the 1700s.[1,11]
In 1891, a young bone surgeon at New York Memorial Hospital began his search for a new approach to cancer treatment, after the loss of his very first patient to cancer. Serendipitously, he discovered the record of an immigrant patient who presented with an egg-size sarcoma on his left cheek.[10] The sarcoma was operated on twice and still recurred as a 4.5-inch grape-like cluster below his left ear. The extensive wound after surgery could not be closed and skin grafts were unsuccessful. Ironically, this failure to close the wound would play a key part in the patient’s eventual cure. The tumor progressed and a final operation only partially removed the tumor; the wound became severely infected with erysipelas by Streptococcus pyogenes and the patient developed a high fever. Little could be done to stop the infection, yet surprisingly, after each attack of fever the ulcer improved; the tumor shrank, and finally disappeared completely. On a subsequent review, the patient, still bearing a large scar from his previous operations, had no trace of cancer and claimed excellent health since his discharge– 7 years previously.[10,12]
Coley suspected that somehow the infection was responsible for the miraculous cure. He later realized that the patient’s activated immunity in response to the acute infection was the key factor in cancer regression. He decided to put his theory to the test and infected his next 10 patients with erysipelas.[12,13] Problems with this approach soon became apparent; sometimes it was difficult to induce an infection, other times there was a strong reaction and the disease regressed. However, occasionally, the infection was fatal. Due to its unpredictability, he developed a vaccine containing two killed bacteria, the Gram-positive Streptococcus pyogenes and the Gram-negative Serratia marcescens. Experimental work at the time suggested that the latter bacteria increased the virulence of the former.[14] In this way, he could simulate an infection with inflammation, chills, and fever without worrying about the risks of an actual infection. This vaccine became known as “Coley’s toxins.” Coley stressed that the technique of administration and the ability of the vaccine to induce mild to moderate fever was of paramount importance in the regression of cancer.[15,1] He successfully used his vaccine, in treating a man bedridden with an inoperable sarcoma involving the abdominal wall, pelvis, and bladder. The sarcoma regressed completely and the patient was followed up until his death from a heart attack 26 years later.[16]
Coley worked in the Department of Bone Service at the hospital, later becoming its chief in 1915, and her fathers discovery was further pioneered by Helen Coley Nauts Coley’s vaccine was widely and successfully used by other contemporaries for sarcomas as well as carcinomas, lymphomas, melanomas, and myelomas.[17] Coley’s immunotherapy regimen was so outstanding that even when applied to patients in their final stages of disease, some remarkable recoveries were obtained, with patients often outliving their cancer.[17,18] Coley was considered to have treated more sarcoma patients than any other physician up to that time.[17]Go to:
STIMULATED IMMUNOTHERAPY
Martha Tracy who formulated many of Coley’s vaccine observed that the most effective formulation was the one that induced both local and systemic reactions.[19]
Coley considered several points crucial to a patient’s survival. First and foremost was to simulate a naturally occurring acute infection, and thus, inducing a fever was essential. Injections were optimally administered daily or every other day for the first month or two. To avoid immune tolerance to the vaccine, the dosage was gradually increased over time depending on the patient response. The vaccine was injected directly into the primary tumor and metastases when accessible. Finally, a minimum 6-month course of weekly injections was followed to prevent disease recurrence. Ensuring a prolonged follow-up was the most difficult part of the treatment.[20]
In the past, coincidental infections had in fact inspired a wide variety of rudimentary cancer immunotherapies. Coley also discovered that many past physicians had used these infections to the advantage of their patients. Cancer immunotherapy was practiced thousands of years ago. In the writings of the Ebers Papyrus (c 1550 BC), attributed to the great Egyptian physician Imhotep (c 2600 BC), the recommended treatment for tumors (swellings) was a poultice followed by an incision which would result in infection of the tumor and therefore its regression.[21] By the 1700 and 1800 AD, crude forms of cancer immunotherapy became widely known and accepted.[1]
Before Coley’s discovery of his killed vaccines, using live bacteria to initiate an infection was a risky experiment between life and death. Coley emphasized that the induction of fever was the key aspect of his treatment, a strong febrile reaction was the symptom most associated with tumor regression. A retrospective study of the patients with inoperable soft tissue sarcomas treated with Coley’s vaccine found a superior 5-year survival in patients whose fevers averaged 38–40°C, compared with those having little or no fever (38°C) during treatment (60% vs. 20%).[22]
The greatest value of Coley’s Toxins is evident in the lives of patients who received the therapy. Rather than surviving additional years with cancer, many of these patients lived the rest of their lives without cancer.[23,24]
The last recorded use of Coley’s Toxins anywhere in the world was in China in the 1980s as a primary therapy for cancer in an adult male who had terminal liver cancer involving large tumors in both lobes of the liver; he received 68 injections of Coley’s Toxins in 34 weeks. By the end of this course of treatment, all of the tumors had completely regressed.[25]
To most members of the medical community, non-surgical approaches to the treatment of cancer were simply of little interest. While most readers ignored Coley’s articles, a number of independently minded doctors began to make use of the new cancer treatment. Before the turn of the 20th century, at least 42 physicians from Europe and North America had reported cases of cancer that had been successfully treated with Coley’s Toxins.[26]
Stimulated immunotherapies ran a natural death in the latter half of the 20th century due to a number of reasons. First, with the newer concept of asepsis, cancer surgery like any other operation became a sterile procedure with fewer postsurgical infections especially after Lister’s aseptic techniques in the late 1800s. Second, by the time of Coley’s death in 1936, radiotherapy was an established treatment for cancer and chemotherapy was slowly gaining acceptance. Such therapies though highly immunosuppressive could more easily be standardized than Coley’s approach. Third, the administration of antibiotics further reduced the incidence of postsurgical infections and antipyretics came into routine use to eliminate fever and discomforting symptoms of an immune response, and the lastly due to an unfavorable approach of the medical industrial regulatory complex of the 1960s.[10,26]
Cancer therapies have been standardized and have improved since Coley’s day, but these improvements in treatment have resulted for the most part in prolonging the disease rather than curing it. For example, when the American Cancer Society claims, “Today, far more than half of all cancers are curable,”[27] it is referring to the fact that about 60% of patients diagnosed with cancer during the period 1989–96 survived for at least 5 years.[28] According to the National Cancer Institute, the 5-year survival rate includes persons who survive for 5 years after diagnosis, whether in remission, disease-free state, or under treatment.[29] This concept is far away from the ideal of achieving a cure for a disease-free state.[30] To this day, earlier diagnosis is the single most important contributing factor in the observed increase in 5-year survival rates.[26] Presently, the medical literature has dropped its duration of cancer survival rates from an older standard of 5 years to a mere 3 years and hence is the increase in the percentage of survival rates.[31]
Though modern therapies have added some years to the life of the average cancer patient, they have not reduced the patient’s chances of dying from the disease. In fact, a resident of the United States is more likely to die of cancer today (225.4 per 100,000) than in 1950s (195.4 per 100,000).[32,26]
The primary cancer therapies, namely, surgery, radiotherapy, and chemotherapy, widely accepted and practiced have their own pitfalls. The risks, deficiencies, cost, specialized skills, and medical ethics are often associated with these procedures. Even surgery, the most acceptable of the three in treatment of most tumors, has resulted in an ethical dilemma. Every time an incision is made into cancerous tumor, with even the least invasive type of incision called the needle biopsy, there is a risk of spreading the disease due to cancer cells entering the bloodstream or becoming implanted in the surrounding tissue. There are at least 10 published cases of tumors arising along the route taken by a biopsy needle.[26] Surgical excision usually done with an intention to cure also removes the protective barrier or the wall, body builds itself to protect itself from cancer metastasis. Surgery and the subsequent healing process greatly increases the risk of death by metastasis in certain cancer patients by disrupting tumor integrity, facilitating metastasis, directly seeding the tumor, inducing local angiogenesis, immune suppression, and enhancement of tumor growth.[33] Surgical stress also greatly enhances metastasis by increasing the expression of proteinases in the target organ of metastasis, metastasis being the primary concern of fatality in cancer patients.[34]
The effects of radiation are often temporary and have little impact on survival rates. One study of 3,000 breast cancer patients found that those receiving radiation in addition to surgery did no better than patients who received surgery alone.[28] The great disadvantage of radiation therapy is the same as that with surgery; it is simply not effective in the control of widely spread cancer. Chemotherapy and radiotherapy to some extent are highly immunosuppressive and therefore infections in these patients do not lead to any immunostimulation. Addition of antibiotics further deprives these patients of the benefits of an immune response and subsequent regression if any.[26]
Chemotherapy for head and neck cancer may result in a temporary reduction in the tumor size but has not translated into increased survival, control of the primary tumor, or decreased incidence of metastasis.[31] The FDA has approved more than 80 anticancer drugs, 40 of which are chemotherapeutic agents. These drugs interfere with cell division, an essential activity of the immune system, thereby profoundly suppressing the magnitude and the effectiveness of immune responses.[35,36] Hence the ability of the body to protect itself against an existing cancer is weakened; they are also neocarcinogenic which can lead to the development of new cancers that did not exist prior to the administration of chemotherapy.[26]
To effectively control the spread of cancer after the destruction or removal of the primary tumor, a systemic therapy is needed that can be delivered to the entire body that can destroy cancer wherever it might be lurking. This can be delivered by an active immune system of the patient by activating its immense potential.Go to:
DISCUSSION
Spontaneous regression is a well-authenticated and natural phenomenon. Its study may lead us to a better understanding of the natural history of neoplastic disease which so commonly progresses but rarely regresses.[37] The comparative rarity of spontaneous regressions today may result from the immunosuppressive nature of conventional cancer therapies.[1] The spontaneous healing of cancer, after having been the subject of many controversies, is now accepted as an indisputable fact. The percentage of spontaneous regression as quoted by Boyers is 1 in 80,000 and 1 in 100,000 by Bashford; it may be subjected to criticism but proves a remarkable fact that cancer is not an irreversible process.[38]
Regression is more commonly associated with groups of tumors like the embryonal tumors in children, carcinoma of the female breast, chorionepithelioma, adenocarcinoma of the kidney, neuroblastoma, malignant melanoma, sarcomas, and carcinoma of the bladder and skin.[38]
The impediment toward the spontaneous healing of cancer is due to the failure of recognition of cancer cells as non-self and dangerous by our immune system and hence it’s subsequent escape to establish the disease, as well as the nature of contemporary cancer therapies which trigger metastasis, suppress immune responses as well as compound any existing immune deficiency. The other major drawback is that primary cancer therapies especially the systemic ones are unable to differentiate between normal and abnormal, and therein lies their potential to harm.[26] The disturbance of tumor such as biopsy and surgical procedures cause a greatly increased number of cancer cells to enter the bloodstream, while most medical intervention (especially chemotherapy) suppresses the immune system. This combination is a recipe for disaster. It is the metastases that kill, while primary tumors in general, and those in the breast in particular, can be relatively harmless. These findings have been con-firmed by recent research which shows that surgery, even if unrelated to the cancer, can trigger an explosive spread of metastases and lead to an untimely end.[39]
So how can we help our system recognize tumor cells as “tumor cells” and aid in natural and biologic defence against cancer.
Infectious agents are present in nature that can cause cancer but we should also remember the dual role they play in preventing cancer. Acute infectious agents are a natural source of immunostimulants that challenge our immune system from time to time as well as pep it up to confront newer challenges evolution brings about like cancer.[40,41] [Figure 1] Cancer is a disease that springs up from within; it is a disease of our genes and inherited or acquired deficiencies in genome maintenance systems contribute significantly to the onset of cancer.[42] Though all of us develop cancer cells in our life time, not all of us develop cancer. The proportion of risk of cancer varies from person to person and the individuals’ exposure to common febrile infections as shown by epidemiologic studies. What helps the majority safe guard against cancer? Do acute infections have a direct and spontaneous role in the prevention and regression of cancer?[43]Figure 1
Immunostimulation in cancer regression
As early as 1899, British cancer researcher D’Arcy Power observed, “Where malaria is common, cancer is rare.”[44] Between 1929 and 1991, at least 15 investigations including 8 case–control studies examined the link between infectious disease and cancer and all but one have found that a history of infectious disease reduces the risk of cancer.[41,28]
Since spontaneous regression is often associated with a previous history of acute infections and fever, it is likely that fever-causing pathogens have a beneficial role to play in activating and stimulating the immune defenses which battle the invading pathogens as well as gain a new-found recognition of cancer cells and attack them vigorously. Fever whether natural (acute infections) or induced (Coley’s Toxins) stimulate a multitude of cascading, interlinking, and complex pathways of the immune system simultaneously releasing numerous products in the right quantity and qualities to combat the disease which may not be humanly possible to reproduce in vitro. This may explain why single cytokine therapy or immune products don’t give desirable results in cancer therapy, besides being expensive, toxic, and at times fatal due to the unnatural challenge they pose to the human system.[40,10]
The evidence and observations of rapid tumor regression following infection sometimes within hours suggest that the innate rather than the adaptive immune response is a primary mediator of tumor regression in such cases.[10] Unfortunately, even during cancer immunotherapy, an acute febrile reaction is often regarded as an unwanted symptom rather than an integral and healing component of the immune response.[1]
A review of previous reports suggests that the occurrence of fever in childhood or adulthood may protect against the later onset of malignant disease and that spontaneous remissions are often preceded by feverish infections. Pyrogenic substances and a more recent use of whole body hyperthermia to mimic the physiologic response to fever have successfully been administered in palliative and curative treatment protocols for metastatic cancer.[40]
Acute infections and fever provoke an immediate and effective immune response that can fight infectious agents as well as cancer at the same time; similarly Coley’s Toxins were a highly effective anticancer treatment because they worked by stimulating a powerful immune response. By itself, a powerful immune response is sufficient to cure some cancers in some patients but cannot cure all cancers in all patients. A powerfully stimulated immune system is only part of the answer because cancer cells are frequently able to hide from the immune system. The immune system cannot kill what it cannot see.[26] The failure of the immune system to recognize cancer cells in the system is the major setback we face in our fight against cancer and this is compounded by the duality of the immune system of defense and repair; in the reparative mode the immune system can promote cancer growth in its attempt to repair what it perceives as a “sterile wound.”[Figure 2] This can be overcome by the generation of inflammatory products during an episode of fever, be it natural or simulated (Coley’s Toxins), when the well-studied defensive role becomes active at the onset of an acute infection, where cytotoxic cells seek out and destroy invading pathogens.[1,45]Figure 2
The dual nature of defense and repair of the immune system and its effects
Uwe Hobohm has recently observed about Coley’s Toxins that the following cascade might explain their effectiveness: “Fever generates inflammatory factors with co-stimulatory activity, which activate resting dendritic cells (DC), leading to the activation of anergic T cells, maybe accomplished by a second process, where a possible physical damage of cancer cells leads to a sudden supply of cancer antigens to DC.” In other words, fever is a state in which body’s own antigen recognition mechanism turns on to such a high level of activity that it becomes capable of recognizing cancer and microbial invaders. Specialized cells like the dendritic cells then communicate the identity of the pathogen to lymphocytes to establish active immunity against stealth diseases. Fever plays a beneficial role when body’s immunity is challenged, and helps in the natural destruction of cancer cells. Cellular damage occurs only at temperatures above 108°F, but much good is accomplished at lower temperatures.[16,46]
Acute inflammatory responses have also benefited terminal cancer patients in the reduction of cancer pain as well as fast wound healing. As observed by Coley, the immunological stimulation by his toxins led to a marked relief of pain, so that patients could often discontinue using narcotics. There was an extraordinary enhancement of wound healing and even bone regeneration when the toxins were injected into the tumors.[19] Similar observations on infectious amelioration of cancer pain and enhancement of wound healing have been reported by others.[47]
The recent 6-year Norwegian follow-up study on breast cancer in women also accepts the fact of natural regression in one-fifth of the untreated cases that were followed up; the authors concluded that this may reflect the fact that these cancers are rarely allowed to follow their natural course.[48]
It is interesting to note that the current primary cancer management procedures neither harness the benefits of patients’ own immune system nor stimulate it to achieve tumor regression but actively suppress it; thus it does not run parallel to body’s own defensive mechanisms but opposes its natural role. An ideal cancer management would involve the stimulation of the immune system, its complex effective and reproducible in vivo mechanisms that fight cancer. Acute infections are beneficial in the prevention and regression of tumors. In conclusion, childhood febrile infections can prevent cancer in adulthood. Asepsis, fever control, surgery, and immunosuppressive therapies are known to have an inverse relation to cancer regression, while acute infection, fever, and cancer vaccines by the virtue of immunostimulation induce regression of cancer even in the most advanced stage of disease and prove that cancer is not an irreversible process without a cure.[1,43]Go to:
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Cannabis reduces OCD symptoms by half in the short-term
October 20, 2020
Photo by Joel Muniz
By Sara Zaske, WSU News
PULLMAN, Wash. –People with obsessive-compulsive disorder, or OCD, report that the severity of their symptoms was reduced by about half within four hours of smoking cannabis, according to a Washington State University study.
The researchers analyzed data inputted into the Strainprint app by people who self-identified as having OCD, a condition characterized by intrusive, persistent thoughts and repetitive behaviors such as compulsively checking if a door is locked. After smoking cannabis, users with OCD reported it reduced their compulsions by 60%, intrusions, or unwanted thoughts, by 49% and anxiety by 52%.
The study, recently published in the Journal of Affective Disorders, also found that higher doses and cannabis with higher concentrations of CBD, or cannabidiol, were associated with larger reductions in compulsions.
“The results overall indicate that cannabis may have some beneficial short-term but not really long-term effects on obsessive-compulsive disorder,” said Carrie Cuttler, the study’s corresponding author and WSU assistant professor of psychology. “To me, the CBD findings are really promising because it is not intoxicating. This is an area of research that would really benefit from clinical trials looking at changes in compulsions, intrusions and anxiety with pure CBD.”
Carrie Cuttler
The WSU study drew from data of more than 1,800 cannabis sessions that 87 individuals logged into the Strainprint app over 31 months. The long time period allowed the researchers to assess whether users developed tolerance to cannabis, but those effects were mixed. As people continued to use cannabis, the associated reductions in intrusions became slightly smaller suggesting they were building tolerance, but the relationship between cannabis and reductions in compulsions and anxiety remained fairly constant.
Traditional treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder include exposure and response prevention therapy where people’s irrational thoughts around their behaviors are directly challenged, and prescribing antidepressants called serotonin reuptake inhibitors to reduce symptoms. While these treatments have positive effects for many patients, they do not cure the disorder nor do they work well for every person with OCD.
“We’re trying to build knowledge about the relationship of cannabis use and OCD because it’s an area that is really understudied,” said Dakota Mauzay, a doctoral student in Cuttler’s lab and first author on the paper.
Aside from their own research, the researchers found only one other human study on the topic: a small clinical trial with 12 participants that revealed that there were reductions in OCD symptoms after cannabis use, but these were not much larger than the reductions associated with the placebo.
The WSU researchers noted that one of the limitations of their study was the inability to use a placebo control and an “expectancy effect” may play a role in the results, meaning when people expect to feel better from something they generally do. The data was also from a self-selected sample of cannabis users, and there was variability in the results which means that not everyone experienced the same reductions in symptoms after using cannabis.
However, Cuttler said this analysis of user-provided information via the Strainprint app was especially valuable because it provides a large data set and the participants were using market cannabis in their home environment, as opposed to federally grown cannabis in a lab which may affect their responses. Strainprint’s app is intended to help users determine which types of cannabis work the best for them, but the company provided the WSU researchers free access to users’ anonymized data for research purposes.
Cuttler said this study points out that further research, particularly clinical trials on the cannabis constituent CBD, may reveal a therapeutic potential for people with OCD.
This is the fourth study Cuttler and her colleagues have conducted examining the effects of cannabis on various mental health conditions using the data provided by the app created by the Canadian company Strainprint. Others include studies on how cannabis impacts PTSD symptoms, reduces headache pain, and affects emotional well-being.
You can luxuriate in the creative genius of 43-year-old Maleonn in the Chinese documentary “Our Time Machine”. On the face of it this is a story of Maleonn crafting together what one might call a puppet show “Papa’s Time Machine”. But the puppets are creative masterpieces. The show is about a son who creates a time machine so he can venture into the past to retrieve his father’s memories. Maleonn’s 85-year-old father Ma Ke, a former artistic director of the Shanghai Chinese Opera Theatre, has Alzheimer’s.
Although you can be awed by the puppets this is also a story of the circle of life which is quite simple in that you are born and eventually you die. It is life that is in between and it may take you years to realize this simple truth. Maleonn makes this realization with the birth of his daughter and he is amazed by each time he shows his daughter to Ma Ke it is the first time he realizes he has a granddaughter. And he can’t remember he has been previously introduced to his granddaughter. The great joy shown by Ma Ke finally lets Maleonn come to terms with his father’s Alzheimer’s. Ma Ke also realizes his illness when he says, “The machine is broken. What can I do?”
As for the puppet show the best I can describe it is a fusion between Cirque de Soleil and The Blue Man Group.
The documentary was winner of “Best Cinematography” at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival. The film opens virtually at over 35 theatres in the United States on September 11th. For participating theatres http://timemachinefilm.com/#screenings
The film “Musical Comedy Whore” is a one-man song, dance and comedy show playing off Broadway in New York and is a raunchy autobiography of David Pevsner who both stars and is the writer of the play.
Pevsner is unabashedly gay and you are faced with a few of options here. Not everybody co-exists peacefully with the LGBTQ community. There are scores of gay bashers who will be disgusted by the homosexual promiscuity of Pevsner set forth in the play. And there are those, hopefully in the majority, who may be gay and delight in the originality, honesty and hope in the film. Then there are the straights who can look beyond anti-gay prejudice and see Pevsner as a gay man but a human being with a story to tell.
Pevsner realized his homosexuality early on this his life falling for the male lead in the 1960’s television show Flipper having a crush on the single dad male lead (Brian Kelly) whereas most were fixated on the dolphin Flipper.
He chronicles his life much of it in New York City, a “candy store for gays”. He worked on and off Broadway, a writer of songs for musicals, a nude model for photographers, an escort, a naked maid amongst other things.
His story is thick with the numerous sexual escapades he had in leather bars, gay bars, gay movie houses, saunas and gyms. He claims to have made notes with every man he slept with in his “book of lust”. No doubt an endless stream of promiscuity which at times he felt guilty and shame about. But if you can escape the strange daze of the concept for 10 minutes you are hooked into a fascinating and very honest story. Although you simply can not completely forget Pevsner is gay you may find you are so drawn into the narrative you realize that this is truly a story about a man and his sexuality as opposed to the story of a gay man.
There are LGBTQ films that focus on gayness and those more recently that focus on gays within a “human setting” which may include inclusion within a greater society than an isolated gay society.
Pevsner focuses on gay society but if you let it and you are open the gayness fades away and you are left with a fascinating story about a man who just happens to be gay.
Yes when Flipper was showing I loved Flipper and as a young boy could I understand and accept homosexuality? No. It was a long process to escape my prejudices to the point where I am today where there is so much hate in the world why can’t we all accept the LGBTQ community? Let them be and try and enjoy their culture and contribution to the arts. I am not saying you have to embrace the LGBTQ community but as a decent human being at least try and accept this community.
This play is about Pevsner “coming clean” and relating his experiences to make himself whole and not hide under the covers. Truth can be a powerful therapy.
The sad conclusion of the film is that as hard as Pevsner tries he can’t find true love and a sincere loving relationship. The last 30 minutes or so of the film quickly slip from comedy and sarcasm into a painful recounting of a loving relationship that simply couldn’t work. He sings he would be willing to give up his promiscuous lifestyle for love. In the meantime his coming clean has created words in a play that Pevsner feels he is the one who has been healed and in the end he considers himself a fabulous guy. He also says he is coming clean as he loves us all. I think his message is I really care about you humanity to tell you about how he has lived his life as a human and not simply a gay man.
An innovative, creative, inspiring film touched with humour and a bit of sadness.
A ground-breaking and friendly LGBTQ film. My biggest desire is to not have to refer to “LGBTQ films” but simply to a film. I think that Pevsner is taking us in this direction.
The VOD/DVD release date is September 1st on Amazon, iTunes, Google Play, VUDU and Fandango. Another interesting film distributed by Breaking Glass Pictures in Philadelphia.
Albert Camus was born in Algiers in 1913 and eventually moved to Paris. He died in 1960. “The Outsider” was published in 1942.
” But I reminded myself, it’s common knowledge that life isn’t worth living anyhow, And, on a wide view, I could see that it makes little difference whether one dies at the age of thirty or three-score and ten-since, in either case, other men and women will continue living, the world will go on as before. Also, whether I died now or forty years hence, this business of dying had to be got through, inevitably.”
. 2020 Aug;34(8):2067-2073. doi: 10.1002/ptr.6671. Epub 2020 Mar 16.
Herbal formulation “turmeric extract, black pepper, and ginger” versus Naproxen for chronic knee osteoarthritis: A randomized, double-blind, controlled clinical trial
Osteoarthritis is the most common articular disease that can lead to chronic pain and severe disability. Curcumin-an effective ingredient in turmeric with anti inflammatory property-plays an important role in protecting the joints against destructive factors. Gingerols and piperine, are the effective ingredients of ginger and black pepper, which may potentially enhance and sustain the effect of curcumin in this direction. To determine the effect of cosupplementation with turmeric extract, black pepper, and ginger on prostaglandin E2 (PGE2 ) in patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis, compared with Naproxen. Sixty patients with two different levels of knee osteoarthritis (Grade 2 and 3) were studied. Individuals were randomly assigned to receive daily turmeric extract, ginger, and black pepper together or Naproxen capsule for 4 weeks. PGE2 was evaluated by ELISA method. 24-hr recall was also assessed. All of participants completed the study. PGE2 decreased significantly in both groups (p < .001), but there was no significant differences between groups. The results of this study indicated that intake of the selected herbs twice a day for 4 weeks may improve the PGE2 levels in patients with chronic knee osteoarthritis similar to Naproxen drug.
Cork Away # 1: Australian Wine at The Liquor Control Board of Ontario
The Australian Winery Yalumba makes an excellent “Y Series Viognier” at a very reasonable price. This time we try an organic Shiraz available at the Liquor Control Board of Ontario.
It has a black cherry colour. As for aromatics black cherry, blackberry and a slice of blueberry pie. On the palate black cherry, cranberry all with a short finish. Unfortunately the acidity is a bit out of whack which doesn’t help this boring and uninspiring wine. Might match a tomato salad or a pasta with tomato sauce.
(Yalumba Organic Shiraz South Australia 2018, Yalumba, Angaston, Australia, $17.95, LCBO # 280883, 750 mL, 13.5% Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating DUD).
I have never been a fan of Robert Oatley wines but not enough to avoid them so we delve into a Cabernet Sauvignon from the Margaret River which as far as red wines go is known for its elegance and clarity and I would say produces a calmer and more sophisticated red wine.
On the nose it is loaded with blueberry but there are lesser beams of cherry and raspberry coulis. On the palate mild tannins and perfect acids which to me means you hardly notice its presence. More of that blueberry and some loganberry jam. There is a time and place for the more aggressive and bold Aussie reds and in the right mood with the right food that’s good on me mate. But this red is light on its feet and a good sipper. I might be persuaded to call this wine elegant. I’d pair it with grass feed New Zealand lamb or a kangaroo steak. And to help the Australians to keep their rabbit population down a rabbit fricassee.
(Robert Oatley Signature Series Margaret River Cabernet Sauvignon 2018, Robert Oatley Vineyards, Wilyabrup, Western Australia, $19.95, LCBO # 323741, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 90/100).
No mistaking this De Bortoli G.S. 2018 Yarra Valley Pinot Noir as a Pinot Noir on the nose with notes of raspberry and cherry in a smoky framework. Perhaps one might say a tad too much oak? But on the palate clean and pure with no oak interference. Raspberry, strawberry and cherry all very light on its feet. A Pinot Noir walking on air it would seem? Would be good with Arctic Char and wild rice or organic sweet potatoes. As it is so light and somewhat shy on its feet it is stereotypically far away from many Australian reds? Whatever your take this wine is well worth its $19.95 price tag.
Schild Estate was one of the first wineries I encountered in my wine review career. It rather blew me away. Here years later a 2017 Shiraz from the Barossa Valley. On the nose bursting with blackberry but some red currant and black cherry. Matured in American oak very skillfully! On the palate this is no Aussie fruit bomb but very light footed and sophisticated. Short finish. Would handle a grilled flank steak marinated in soy sauce, ginger and honey. Although the label says enjoy now or up to ten years I would consume by the end of 2021.
(Schild Estate 2017 Barossa Valley Shiraz, Schild Estate Wines, Lyndoch, South Australia, $ 19.95, LCBO # 66555, 750 mL, 14.5%, Robert K. Stephen A Little Birdie Told Me So Rating 91/100).
David Suzuki on November 27th in his “Nature of Things” presents an episode “The COVID Cruise” which is a behind the scenes look of The Diamond Princess cruise ship docked in Yokohama Japan in February with 3,700 passengers and crew on board. You may recall there was an outbreak of COVID-19 on the ship which was met with a quarantine which was not a great decision as all these people locked up in confined spaces and cabins created a petri dish for incubation. As epidemiologists say this was a “congregate setting”.
Gently narrated by Suzuki the story is primarily told through the crew and passengers. For some it was a time of fear and terror as their view was that of dozens of ambulances, police and media. The quarantine proved futile and 705 of the passengers and crew tested positive and 14 died.
Can any fault be placed on anyone? In retrospect yes but that is with the knowledge we have since gained about COVID-19. The crew toiled on delivering food and providing clean linens and in so doing became spreaders. The Japanese medicos on board crossed paths with the uninfected spreading the virus further. The evacuations appeared sloppily organized.
The crew received no training on COVID-19 as it was a new mysterious virus. However their initial reaction when the first case was confirmed was based on the Norwalk virus that has plagued cruise ships for years. So it was an enhanced cleaning protocol but that was insufficient.
One gets the impression the crew was without decent PPE to the point some went on Facebook pleading for help. The cruise line contract with crew prohibited them from talking to the media without corporate permission.
The passengers were mostly evacuated by their governments including the Canadians on board.
2020 saw 73 cruise ship COVID infections with 3,000 people infected and nearly a hundred deaths.
I really should stop here and let you hear the passengers and crew speak. Some are highly charged with emotion or terror. Others required Post Traumatic Stress Disorder counselling.
The lessons learnt are what most of us practice today in warding off COVID-19. But again that is now and not then.
One non-medical issue that jumps out at you is the sheer stupidity and or greed of cruise lines sending out 100 cruise ships out after the Diamond Princess. The first cruise since the cruise ship industry shut down was The Sea Dream 1 on November 13 with seven people so far becoming infected.
Kudos to Suzuki for his gentle narration and lack of finger pointing. If there is any finger pointing it was from crew and passengers.
“The COVID Cruise” airs on November 27th at 9 p.m. ET and for free streaming on CBC Gem.
Filmmakers Mike Downie (director) and David Wells (writer and producer) reveal as the world watched Wuhan the same drama was playing out on the Diamond Princess.
I never had the slightest interest in taking a cruise and now I am even less interested.
Welcome to the trial Common Pass which will be a prerequisite for travel and touted as temporary in the face of COVID-19 just as personal income tax in many jurisdictions was implemented to finance The Great War of 1914-18.
The Commons Project is partly financed by the Rockefeller Foundation. Now Rockefeller, There’s a name to associate with civil liberties!
The next step is to transform the Common Pass into a permanent tracking device or passport available to law enforcement, employers and government to track you and your personal information. And you’ll be sold down the river on this by the politico-medico elite, big business, Big Pharma and the media all in the name of the public good. Bark like a dog with a microchip in your ear. See the party line below.
CommonPass
For global travel and trade to return to pre-pandemic levels, travelers will need a secure and verifiable way to document their health status as they travel and cross borders. Countries will need to be able to trust that a traveller’s record of a COVID PCR test or vaccination administered in another country is valid. Countries will also need the flexibility to update their health screening entry requirements as the pandemic evolves and science progresses. Airlines, airports and other travel industry stakeholders will need the same. See the new party line developing below.
A Bird's Eye View of Fashion, Food, Travel, Culture, Beverage and Curiosity 