Commercialized Healthcare

Wait - y'mean profit-driven healthcare is becoming a problem?

Huh - whooda thunk it.

Call It A Win

...because it's a fucking win.

Young women now have 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death after HPV jab
3 days ago

Children vaccinated at age 12–13 against HPV (human papillomavirus) have close to zero risk of dying from cervical cancer before the age of 30, landmark new research reveals.

The first study of its kind shows deaths have fallen sharply since school-age girls began being offered it in 2008, and around 200 lives have been saved in England so far thanks to the vaccine.

Between 2020 and 2024, no cervical cancer deaths were recorded in women aged 20 to 24 - the first time that had happened over a five-year period.

Without vaccination, around 23 deaths would have been expected.

"It's incredible to think that a single jab can almost eliminate a particular type of cancer," said Prof Peter Sasieni, the lead researcher at Queen Mary University of London.

Overall, cervical cancer is still the 14th most common cancer among females in the UK, with 3,300 people diagnosed every year.

It is thought HPV, a virus which is spread through close skin-to-skin contact, causes 99% of those cases.

Most HPV infections clear up without any problems, but some cause abnormal cell changes and can lead to cancer years later.

The report's authors expect the numbers dying from the disease to continue to fall as more are given a HPV jab and vaccinated people grow older.

Cancer Research UK, which funded the research, described the findings as an "incredible milestone" but warned that vaccination rates in England were running below recommended levels.

"We know the HPV vaccine is extremely effective at stopping cervical cancer before it starts and for the first time these findings show it is saving lives," said the organisation's chief executive Michelle Mitchell.

'I'm a real advocate for this vaccine'

Alexandra Legg left school just before the HPV vaccine was introduced in England.

In 2021, just as she was planning her wedding, she was diagnosed with cervical cancer aged 30.

"I remember hearing the words and I just couldn't really breathe very well," she says.

"I was so upset - everything went through my head, it was so hard."

Her treatment involved the removal of lymph nodes in her abdomen, although surgeons were able to preserve a small part of her cervix, giving her a chance of becoming pregnant.

Alexandra and her three-year-old daughter Ivy, who was born after she had cervical cancer
Just a year later, Ivy was born. Her middle name is Marvella - meaning "miracle".

"Those nine months were so scary because I was at such risk of losing her at any point," she says.

Alexandra says her life could have been far less traumatic if she had been offered the HPV vaccine and urged those eligible to get it.

"I'm a real advocate for this vaccine and when Ivy is old enough, she'll be first in the queue," she adds.

Reduction in deaths 'tip of the iceberg'

Prof Sasieni, who specialises in cancer epidemiology at Queen Mary University of London, describes the reduction in deaths since the introduction of the vaccine as the "tip of the iceberg".

"As vaccinated generations grow older, we'll see many more lives saved from cervical cancer," he adds.

"New research shows just how vital it is to keep HPV vaccination levels high so more people are protected."

The UK government has pledged to eliminate cervical cancer as a public health problem by 2040.

But the latest data shows vaccination rates across the country have fallen below recommended levels.

Data from the UK Health Security Agency shows that 76% of girls in England were vaccinated by the age of 15 in 2024-25, well below the 90% that the World Health Organization (WHO) says is needed to eliminate cervical cancer.

"It's essential that the UK Government and health systems urgently address this with targeted action to reach communities where uptake is the lowest," says Michelle Mitchell at Cancer Research UK.

Dr Sharif Ismail from the UK Health Security Agency urged young people to come forward if they had missed being vaccinated.

Despite the rollout of the HPV vaccine, women aged 25 to 64 are still advised to attend cervical screening (formerly known as a smear test).

Boys have also been given the HPV vaccine since 2019, which helps to protect them against anal, penis, throat and mouth cancers, and reduces the risk of them passing the virus on to girls.

The Department of Health and Social Care in England said the study showed the "extraordinary impact of the HPV vaccination".

"We are boosting vaccine uptake so that more young people benefit from this life-saving protection - including rolling out catch-up HPV vaccination campaigns via community pharmacies," said a spokesman.

HPV self-testing kits are also being sent out to women who have not yet come forward for screening, he added.

Dr Noc

BKjr's dumbass claims about "mercury" in vaccines have been thoroughly disproved, so he has to crash around in search of another scary-sounding thing he can use to terrorize the rubes.

A Nerdy Thing

A Nerd Thing

From a while ago - not sure if I've posted this before, but it seems pretty important.

It'd be nice if I could count on my government to put my money where it helps, instead of always making sure it goes to parasite billionaires and vampire corporations.

Google AI summary:

As of early 2026, MIT faces significant funding reductions due to federal cuts, particularly with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) slashing support for university research. These cuts, which include a 15% cap on indirect costs, could reduce MIT’s funding by $30–$35 million annually, threatening research into cancer, Alzheimer's, and other diseases.

Key Impacts on MIT Cancer Research:Reduced Funding:

The NIH, under the second Trump administration, has targeted reductions in indirect costs—essential for lab infrastructure, safety, and operational costs.

Impact on Research and Staff:

The funding cuts are disrupting ongoing projects and creating a potential, significant impact on scientific output.

Broader Context:

These cuts are part of a broader federal push to reduce NIH funding by roughly 40% in fiscal year 2026.

Massachusetts Impact:

Massachusetts, which receives the largest share of NIH funding per capita, is seeing major reductions, with around 5,783 projects potentially affected.
Proposed Cuts & Opposition: While the administration has proposed drastic budget cuts to science agencies, some legislative efforts are exploring alternative funding levels.

These reductions pose a risk to the ongoing cancer research, which has been crucial in advancing treatments.

Further Exploration:

Read an in-depth analysis of the impact of these cuts on cancer research from The ASCO Post.

View a detailed report on the federal funding cuts and their impact on research in Massachusetts from STAT.

See a comprehensive overview of the proposed science funding cuts in the second Trump administration from Wikipedia.

A Clinical Critique

It's the Adderall, baby.

And BTW, to the list of people Trump hasn't sued for defamation - the many women who have accused him of all manner of assault over the years, and Michael Wolff, who put out a book and numerous print articles that trashed him mercilessly - let's not forget to add Noel Casler, who told us Trump was hopped up on stimulants every day, and that he'd shit himself frequently.

Trump has sued probably a hundred people for defamation, but he's never even hinted at any real possibility of suing the people who'd spill the real beans on him in discovery.

He hasn't even threatened Stormy Daniels for telling the world that his dick is smaller than average, and it's shaped like a mushroom.

But let's hear from some clinicians who know how to watch the guy.

The United Front Show

Dr Noc

BKjr is going to cost people their lives.

Oy

There can be no greater oxymoron than when somebody from the Trump gang calls together a "panel of experts".

"Don't let anybody tell you there's nothing wrong with vaccines, but let's go ahead and remove all mention of known problems that can be caused by pumping your ass full of hormones."

To be clear, my understanding is that hormone replacement isn't known to cause cancer, but an abundance of (eg) estrogen can feed it, causing an existing cancer to grow faster.

That's a simple non-clinician's take on it - kinda like BKjr not having one fucking bit of clinical background, and then providing guidance according to his crew of fellow Dunning-Kruger subjects.

If you have a medical problem, you don't call me, or a plumber, or a junky roids ranger - you call a real live, honest-to-god, licensed practitioner. You call a fucking doctor.

Today's Nerdy Thing

I guess we'll just have to cross our fingers that Trump and BKjr and all those assholes plutocrats don't fuck this up too.

Dr Knurick

I don't know what it is about certain people - like this mush-brained BKjr.

I think I get the part of it where anti-vaxxers say they're just pushing back on commercialized medicine.

But I don't think that's what's happening - at least that's not what they end up focused on. When your "movement" gets turned into a death cult, sponsored by the power of the federal government, then you're giving all of us a problem that should be exclusive to you.

If you don't want to get vaccinated, then OK, that part's up to you. But that makes you a potential threat to the herd - my herd - and I don't need anything extra to worry about. So do what you think you should do, but do that somewhere else - away from the rest of us.

Calling Dr Kennedy

Quick - somebody get hold of BKjr and tell him those evil science nerds are trying to inject heavy metals directly into our brains!

Research on reversing Alzheimer’s reveals lithium as potential key

Years of investigation by scientists at Harvard has revealed that lithium is deeply involved in Alzheimer’s disease, a finding that could lead to new treatments.

Seven years of investigation by scientists at Harvard Medical School has revealed that the loss of the metal lithium plays a powerful role in Alzheimer’s disease, a finding that could lead to earlier detection, new treatments and a broader understanding of how the brain ages.

Researchers led by Bruce A. Yankner, a professor of genetics and neurology at Harvard Medical School, reported that they were able to reverse the disease in mice and restore brain function with small amounts of the compound lithium orotate, enough to mimic the metal’s natural level in the brain. Their study appeared Wednesday in the journal Nature.

“The obvious impact is that because lithium orotate is dirt cheap, hopefully we will get rigorous, randomized trials testing this very, very quickly,” said Matt Kaeberlein, former director of the Healthy Aging and Longevity Research Institute at the University of Washington, who did not participate in the study. “And I would say that it will be an embarrassment to the Alzheimer’s clinical community if that doesn’t happen right away.”

Cue the private equity assholes to buy up all the lithium rights - can't have affordable healthcare now can we.

Yankner, who is also the co-director of the Paul F. Glenn Center for Biology of Aging Research at Harvard, said: “I do not recommend that people take lithium at this point, because it has not been validated as a treatment in humans. We always have to be cautious because things can change as you go from mice to humans.” He added that the findings still need to be validated by other labs.

Although there have been recent breakthroughs in the treatment of Alzheimer’s, no medication has succeeded in stopping or reversing the disease that afflicts more than 7 million Americans, a number projected to reach almost 13 million by 2050, according to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Pathology images from the brain of an Alzheimer's mouse model. The images show that when the mice are treated with a very low dose of lithium orotate, it almost completely eradicates the amyloid plaques and the tau tangle-like structures. (Harvard)

Lithium is widely prescribed for patients with bipolar disorder, and previous research indicated that it held potential as an Alzheimer’s treatment and an antiaging medication. A 2017 study in Denmark suggested the presence of lithium in drinking water might be associated with a lower incidence of dementia.

However, the new work is the first to describe the specific roles that lithium plays in the brain, its influence on all of the brain’s major cell types and the effect that its deficiency later in life has on aging.

Results of the study by Yankner’s lab and researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital and the Rush Alzheimer’s Disease Center in Chicago also suggest that measuring lithium levels might help doctors screen people for signs of Alzheimer’s years before the first symptoms begin to appear. Yankner said doctors might be able to measure lithium levels in the cerebrospinal fluid or blood, or through brain imaging.

How our brains use lithium

In a healthy brain, lithium maintains the connections and communication lines that allow neurons to talk with one another. The metal also helps form the myelin that coats and insulates the communication lines and helps microglial cells clear cellular debris that can impede brain function.

“In normal aging mice,” Yankner said, “lithium promotes good memory function. In normal aging humans,” higher lithium levels also correspond to better memory function.

The depletion of lithium in the brain plays a role in most of the deterioration in several mouse models of Alzheimer’s disease.

Loss of lithium accelerates the development of harmful clumps of the protein amyloid beta and tangles of the protein tau that resemble the structures found in people with Alzheimer’s. Amyloid plaques and tau tangles disrupt communication between nerve cells.

The plaques in turn undermine lithium by trapping it, weakening its ability to help the brain function.

Lithium depletion is involved in other destructive processes of Alzheimer’s: decay of brain synapses, damage to the myelin that protects nerve fibers and reduced capacity of microglial cells to break down amyloid plaques.

Lithium’s pervasive role comes despite the fact that our brains contain only a small amount of it. After examining more than 500 human brains from Rush and other brain banks, Yankner’s team discovered the naturally occurring lithium in the brain is 1,000 times less than the lithium provided in medications to treat bipolar disorder.

Li-Huei Tsai, director of the Picower Institute for Learning and Memory at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and who was not involved in the study, called it “very exciting,” especially when many in the field, including her own lab, have focused on genetic risk factors for Alzheimer’s.

“But clearly genetic risk factors are not the only things,” said Tsai, who is also Picower professor of neuroscience. “There are a lot of people walking around carrying these risk genes, but they are not affected by Alzheimer’s disease. I feel this study provides a very important piece of the puzzle.”

Pathways for treatment

Alzheimer’s treatments mostly help to manage symptoms and slow the decline it causes in thinking and functioning. Aducanumab, lecanemab, and donanemab, all lab-made antibodies, bind to the harmful amyloid plaques and help remove them.

Donepezil, rivastigmine and galantamine ― all in the class of medications known as cholinesterase inhibitors ― work by replenishing a chemical messenger called acetylcholine, which is diminished in Alzheimer’s. Acetylcholine plays an important role in memory, muscle movement and attention.

Yankner and his team found that when they gave otherwise healthy mice a reduced-lithium diet, the mice lost brain synapses and began to lose memory. “We found that when we administered lithium orotate to aging mice [that had] started losing their memory, the lithium orotate actually reverted their memory to the young adult, six-month level,” he said.

Lithium orotate helped the mice reduce production of the amyloid plaques and tau tangles, and allowed the microglial cells to remove the plaques much more effectively.

Yankner said one factor that might help lithium orotate reach clinical trials sooner is the small amount of the treatment needed, which could greatly reduce the risk of harmful side effects, such as kidney dysfunction and thyroid toxicity.

Aside from its potential in treating Alzheimer’s, Yankner said lithium orotate might also have implications for the treatment of Parkinson’s disease, an area his lab is investigating.

“That needs to be rigorously examined,” he said. “But we’re looking at a whole slew of disorders.”

Oh - And BKjr Is A Fuckin' Idiot

Statens Serum Institut

Large Danish Study: No link between vaccines and autism or 49 other health conditions
A new Danish study finds no association between aluminum in childhood vaccines and 50 different health conditions, including autism, asthma, and autoimmune diseases. The findings reaffirm the safety of Denmark’s childhood vaccination program.

An extensive new Danish register-based study - the largest of its kind - supports the safety of the national childhood immunization program. Analyzing data from over 1 million children, the study found no increased risk of autism, asthma, or autoimmune diseases in vaccinated children.

“Our results are reassuring. By analyzing data from more than one million Danish children, we found absolutely no indication that the very small amount of aluminum used in the childhood vaccination program increases the risk of 50 different health outcomes during childhood,” says Anders Hviid, Head of Department at Statens Serum Institut (SSI) and principal investigator on the study.

Aluminum, used as an adjuvant to enhance the immune response, has been a component in some vaccines since the 1930s.

Researchers from SSI used Denmark’s unique national health registers to follow children born between 1997 and 2018, investigating the associations between aluminum-containing vaccines and a total of 50 health outcomes - including asthma, allergies, autoimmune conditions, and neurodevelopmental disorders.

“This is the first study of this scale and with such comprehensive analyses, and it confirms the strong safety profile of the vaccines we’ve used for decades in Denmark,” says Anders Hviid.

The results are being published at a time of heightened international debate about vaccine safety which makes the Danish study highly relevant.

“In an era marked by widespread misinformation about vaccines, it is crucial to rely on solid scientific evidence. Large, population-based register studies like this one - tracking more than a million children over many years - is a bulwark against the politicization of health science which undermines public trust in vaccines. It is absolutely essential to distinguish real science from politically motivated campaigns - otherwise, it is the children who will end up paying the price,” says Anders Hviid.

Reference:

Andersson NW, Bech Svalgaard I, Hoffmann SS, et al. Aluminum-adsorbed vaccines and chronic diseases in childhood. A nationwide cohort study. Ann Intern Med. 15 July 2025. [Epub ahead of print]. doi:10.7326/ANNALS-25-00997

Facts about the study

• Researchers from Statens Serum Institut (SSI) used Denmark’s unique health registers to analyze data from more than 1 million Danish children born between 1997 and 2018 to investi-gate potential long-term health effects of aluminum-containing vaccines.
• The study examined 50 different conditions and found no statistical association between aluminum content in vaccines and increased risk of developing autism, autoimmune diseases, asthma, or allergic conditions such as hay fever and food allergies.
• The study has just been published in the prestigious medical journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

Source: Statens Serum Institut (SSI)

Today's Nerds

Bless you, nerds.

A Doctor Speaks

Quackery Update

There's no such thing as "Alternative Medicine".

If a claim or a remedy or a therapy or a product has been thoroughly tested, studied, debated, peer-reviewed, published, and approved, then it's not alternative medicine anymore. It's just medicine.

Everything else is either hypothesis or flat-out quackery.

From a year ago:

5 months ago:

Today's Debunkment

Some History

Freedom House Ambulance Service was the first emergency medical service in the United States to be staffed by paramedics with medical training beyond basic first aid.

Founded in 1967 to serve the predominantly black Hill District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, it was staffed entirely by African Americans.

Freedom House Ambulance Service broke medical ground by training its personnel to previously unheard-of standards of emergency medical care for patients en route to hospitals.

The paramedic training and ambulance design standards pioneered in the Freedom House Ambulance Service would set the standard for emergency care nationally and even internationally.

On Stupid

Two days ago, I went in for the COVID booster I should've gotten 3 months ago, and as the nurse was entering my info into the records system, she noticed I was behind on other vaccinations as well.

So I got 5 jabs all at once. COVID, flu, pneumonia, tentanus (every ten years - I didn't know that), and pertussis.

Pertussis. Whooping cough. We're having to inoculate old people against whooping cough now because dumbass anti-vaxxers are convinced there's something wrong with the vaccines, so they're refusing to get the shot for their kids.

Sometimes, I just hate people.

(I felt like shit most of the day yesterday, but I seem to be in fine fettle today, thank you very much)

Anyway, here's a new guy talking about how Stupid can be more destructive than Evil.

Dunning Kruger is confirmed.

Today's Debunkment

• Aspartame is not carcinogenic
• Raw milk is not OK
• There's no mercury in vaccines
• Vaccines don't cause autism
• GMOs are everywhere, they've been around forever, and they're not harmful
• Parabens and aluminum salts in your deodorant aren't carcinogenic
• Pro-biotics supplements are junk
• Pre-biotics are just fiber
• Anti-vax conspiracy fantasies are stupid and dangerous
• Ozone therapy is bunk
• Sweating doesn't detox - that's what your liver, lungs, kidneys, and intestines are for
• Alkaline water / the alkaline diet are bunk
• In general, supplements are bunk
• There's no link between sugar and cancer
• BPA levels in products and the general environment are not high - and they're rapidly filtered out and excreted
• Sun screen is good
• Presence of toxic metalloids in tampons is wildly overblown
• There's no such thing as "alternative medicine". Clinicians are not hiding anything from you - there are no secrets of the ancients, lost to the ages.
• Cancer rates in young people are not "skyrocketing"
• Citric acid is not the black mold of your favorite homeowner's nightmare
• Don't sweat Lyme Disease
• Leaky Gut is not a real thing
• High fructose corn syrup is no worse than honey
• Cell phones don't emit the kind of radiation that can cause disease
• Underwire bras don't contribute to breast cancer
• You need fiber - carnivore diets are not good long-term

Overheard

Did you hear about the man

who went to the ER

because he was in dire need

of surgery on his balls,

but the doctors had to consult

their lawyers before

saving his life

and then he died?

Yeah, me neither.

Nobody has.

Ever.