Persistent organic pollutants tied to higher blood pressure in teens after weight loss surgery

 Researchers from the Keck School of Medicine of USC have found that persistent organic pollutants (POPs)—synthetic toxic chemicals often found in food sources and stored in body fat—are associated with long-term higher blood pressure in adolescents who have undergone bariatric surgery, a weight-loss intervention.

The study, published in the journal Environmental Science & Technology, suggests that POPs diminish the beneficial effect of bariatric surgery on improved blood pressure due to disruptions in lipid metabolism, which is how the body processes fat. The researchers also identified a plausible biological pathway explaining the relationship between POPs and changes in blood pressure.

These findings could eventually lead to treatments to reduce the adverse health effects of exposure to these environmental chemicals on individuals with obesity, particularly for those pursuing weight-loss interventions such as bariatric surgery.

"While bariatric surgery is an effective treatment used to address severe obesity and improve cardiometabolic health, it also releases POPs stored in fat into the bloodstream," says Shudi Pan, the study's first author and a fourth-year Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Population and Public Health Sciences at Keck School of Medicine of USC.

Although their toxicity led many countries to start restricting the use of POPS more than 20 years ago, they remain a global health challenge since they persist for long periods in the environment. They have been detected at concerning levels worldwide, even in regions where these chemicals were never manufactured or used.

"POPs are considered an emerging risk factor for hypertension and our study provided us a unique opportunity to evaluate the relationship between POPs exposure and blood pressure. Until now, few studies have examined how POPs exposures in adipose tissue affect blood pressure," says Pan. "Similarly, the mechanisms underlying the relationship between POP mixtures and blood pressure have been unclear."

The study included data from 57 adolescents from the Teen-Longitudinal Assessment of Bariatric Surgery (Teen-LABS) consortium, who underwent bariatric surgery.

"We measured the level of POPs stored in adipose tissue before surgery. After, we assessed whether it affected blood pressure in the short term—at six months, and then five years after surgery," says Pan.

Pan's research found that POPs mixtures were linked to higher systolic blood pressure five years after bariatric surgery. Additionally, the researchers incorporated metabolomics to understand the underlying mechanisms of POP mixtures in adipose tissue on changes in blood pressure.

Metabolomics refers to the study of metabolites, which are small molecules or substances made when the body breaks down food, chemicals, or its own tissue—in this case, the breakdown of body fat after bariatric surgery.

"Through a technique called high-resolution mass spectrometry, we assessed these metabolites, thousands at a time, to determine what complex biological changes were occurring that led to changes in blood pressure," says Pan.

The researchers' analysis revealed that one particular pathway involved in the production of prostaglandin was key in influencing blood pressure changes in the long-term, making this one of the first studies to identify a plausible rationale.

Prostaglandin has long been proved to be involved in blood pressure regulation, and this study found that POPs modified prostaglandin pathways, contributing to disruptions in blood pressure regulations.

"While our study had a small sample size, we think the prostaglandin pathway is a key player in understanding the biological mechanism between POPs and the development of high blood pressure in this demographic and more research is needed to further understand this particular pathway linking POP exposures to blood pressure regulation," says Pan.

High blood pressure in adolescence is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular disease and cardiovascular disease mortality in adulthood. Interventions that can address early life hypertension can help reduce the risk of cardiovascular disease, which remains a leading cause of death worldwide.

More information: Shudi Pan et al, Metabolic Signatures in Adipose Tissue Linking Lipophilic Persistent Organic Pollutant Mixtures to Blood Pressure Five Years After Bariatric Surgery Among Adolescents, Environmental Science & Technology (2025). DOI: 10.1021/acs.est.4c13902

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-persistent-pollutants-higher-blood-pressure.html

Bacteria invasion of brain after implants threatens long-term device effectiveness

 Brain implants hold immense promise for restoring function in patients with paralysis, epilepsy and other neurological disorders. But a team of researchers at Case Western Reserve University has discovered that bacteria can invade the brain after a medical device is implanted, contributing to inflammation and reducing the device's long-term effectiveness.

The research, published in Nature Communications, could improve the long-term success of brain implants now that a target has been identified to address.

"Understanding the role of bacteria in implant performance and brain health could revolutionize how these devices are designed and maintained," said Jeff Capadona, Case Western Reserve's vice provost for innovation, the Donnell Institute Professor of Biomedical Engineering and senior research career scientist at the Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center.

Capadona's lab led the study, which examined the presence of bacterial DNA in the brains of mouse models implanted with microelectrodes.

To their surprise, researchers found bacteria linked to the gut inside the brain. The discovery suggests that a breach in what is known as "the blood-brain barrier," caused by implanting the device, could allow microbes to enter.

"This is a paradigm-shifting finding," said George Hoeferlin, the study's lead author, who was a biomedical engineering graduate student at Case Western Reserve in Capadona's lab.

"For decades, the field has focused on the body's immune response to these implants, but our research now shows that bacteria—some originating from the gut—are also playing a role in the inflammation surrounding these devices."

In the study, mouse models treated with antibiotics had reduced bacterial contamination and the performance of the implanted devices improved—although prolonged antibiotic use proved detrimental.

The discovery's implications go beyond device failure. Some of the bacteria found in the brain have been linked to neurological diseases, including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and stroke.

"If we're not identifying or addressing this consequence of implantation, we could be causing more harm than we're fixing," Capadona said.

"This finding highlights the urgent need to develop a permanent strategy for preventing bacterial invasion from implanted devices, rather than just managing inflammation after the fact. The more we understand about this process, the better we can design implants that work safely and effectively."

Capadona said his lab is now expanding the research to examine bacteria in other types of brain implants, such as ventricular shunts used to treat hydrocephalus, an abnormal buildup of fluid in the brain.

The team also examined the fecal matter of a human subject implanted with a brain device and found similar results.

"This finding stresses the importance of understanding how bacterial invasion may not just be a laboratory phenomenon, but a clinically relevant issue," said Bolu Ajiboye, the Robert and Brenda Aiken Professor of biomedical engineering at the Case School of Engineering and School of Medicine and scientist at the Cleveland VA Medical Center.

"Through our strong translational pipeline between CWRU and the VA, we are now investigating how this discovery can directly contribute to safer, more effective neural implant strategies for patients."

More information: George F. Hoeferlin et al, Bacteria invade the brain following intracortical microelectrode implantation, inducing gut-brain axis disruption and contributing to reduced microelectrode performance, Nature Communications (2025). DOI: 10.1038/s41467-025-56979-4

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-bacteria-invasion-brain-implants-threatens.html

'Study confirms safety and efficacy of higher-dose-per-day radiation for early-stage prostate cancer'

 A new large-scale study co-led by UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center investigators provides the strongest evidence yet that a shorter, standard-dose course radiation treatment is just as effective as conventional radiotherapy for prostate cancer, without compromising the safety of patients.

The shorter approach, known as isodose moderately hypofractionated radiotherapy (MHFRT), delivers slightly higher doses of radiation per session, allowing the total treatment duration to be over four to five weeks instead of seven to eight weeks.

According to the study, patients who received this type of MHFRT had the same cancer control rates as those who received conventional radiotherapy. Additionally, the risk of long-term side effects affecting the bladder and intestines was no higher with MHFRT, confirming its safety.

The findings are published in The Lancet Oncology.

"We believe this data strongly supports that isodose MHFRT should become the preferred standard of care MHFRT regimen for prostate cancer," said Dr. Amar Kishan, executive vice chair of radiation oncology at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and co-first author of the study. "More broadly, there appears to be little reason to consider conventional radiotherapy over MHFRT for the types of patients enrolled in these trials given these results."

While MHFRT is now the most commonly used radiotherapy regimen for prostate cancer, concerns remain about whether delivering a higher daily dose increases the risk of urinary and bowel issues, such as urinary incontinence, chronic diarrhea and rectal bleeding.

To better understand whether there might be an increased risk of toxicity with the delivery of a higher dose per day of radiation, Kishan and the team of researchers examined data from more than 5,800 patients across seven randomized clinical trials comparing standard therapy with two different MHFRT approaches: isodose MHFRT, which maintains the total radiation dose at a level similar to standard therapy; and dose-escalated MHFRT, which increases the total dose in hopes of enhancing tumor control.

The analysis found patients who received isodose MHFRT (60 Gy in 20 fractions) had similar cancer control and side effects compared to those receiving conventional radiation therapy, with no significant difference in the five-year progression-free survival (77.0% for MHFRT vs. 75.6% for conventional).

Patients who received higher dose-escalated MHFRT did not improve cancer control when compared to those receiving standard doses, with five-year progression-free survival rates being identical to conventional therapy (82.7% in both groups). Patient-reported outcomes also showed significantly higher gastrointestinal side effects (7.2% vs. 4.9%), particularly bowel issues.

While dose-escalated MHFRT was expected to improve outcomes, the data showed no additional benefit in cancer control and a higher risk of gastrointestinal side effects, noted Kishan. This underscores the advantage of isodose MHFRT, which provides the same effectiveness as conventional therapy without increasing toxicity.

"These findings reinforce isodose MHFRT as the standard of care, offering the same cancer control as conventional treatment but with fewer side effects than dose-escalated MHFRT," said Kishan, who is also a researcher in the UCLA Health Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center.

"Patients can safely opt for a shorter treatment schedule without compromising their outcomes, ensuring they receive effective care with fewer visits and minimal added risk. Less time in treatment can still mean the best possible results."

More information: Amar U Kishan et al, Hypofractionated radiotherapy for prostate cancer (HYDRA): an individual patient data meta-analysis of randomised trials in the MARCAP consortium, The Lancet Oncology (2025). DOI: 10.1016/S1470-2045(25)00034-8

https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-03-safety-efficacy-higher-dose-day.html

'China delays approval of BYD's Mexico plant, FT reports'

 China is delaying the approval for BYD to build a plant in Mexico over concerns that the technology developed by the electric vehicle maker could leak to the U.S., the Financial Times reported on Wednesday, citing two people familiar with the matter.

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2025-03-18/china-delays-approval-of-byds-mexico-plant-ft-reports

US attorney general calls attacks against Tesla property 'domestic terrorism'

 U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi on Tuesday condemned recent violent attacks on Tesla property, adding the Department of Justice has already charged several perpetrators.

"The swarm of violent attacks on Tesla property is nothing short of domestic terrorism," Bondi said in a statement.

"We will continue investigations that impose severe consequences on those involved in these attacks, including those operating behind the scenes to coordinate and fund these crimes."

Activists have lately staged so-called Tesla Takedown protests to voice displeasure over Tesla CEO Elon Musk's role in sweeping cuts to the federal workforce and cancellation of contracts related to humanitarian programs since President Donald Trump took office on January 20.

https://www.usnews.com/news/top-news/articles/2025-03-18/us-attorney-general-calls-attacks-against-tesla-property-domestic-terrorism

Ending the Department of Education Is Only the Beginning

 by Roger Simon

Randi Weingarten, the president of the American Federation of Teachers, had a meltdown on MSNBC’s The Beat over the demise of the Department of Education for which President Trump advocated during his campaign.

The department’s total budget for 2024 was $268 billion. DOGE notwithstanding, this a significant hunk of change to eliminate even in our dizzying era. Add to that another $80 billion, plus or minus, for their “discretionary spending.”

Ms. Weingarten was, in her own words, “spitting mad about this!” After all “it’s hurting the people who can’t vote. Children can’t vote.”

True enough, but the union prez might have saved her spittle for a dose of reality. The U. S. spends the second most in the world to tiny (and very rich) Luxembourg per public school student K-12 at $17,277, rising every year. New York and the District of Columbia are pushing $30K per annum with New Jersey and Connecticut not far behind.

But, according to the World Population Review, the U. S. ranks a mediocre 31^st in actual education achievement and is headed the wrong way. We do particularly badly in math, more than arguably the key to technological and personal advancement in modern times.

You don’t have to be a data nerd to see the immense discrepancy. China ranks 13^th. South Korea in this study is number one followed by Denmark. (Trump should hope the citizens of Greenland don’t notice that one.)

In any case, it can be said that rather than getting the bang for our bucks from the Department of Education we have been getting banged by our bucks.

Teacher’s Unions haven’t helped either. We have heard endlessly that if we only paid teachers more they would teach better. That is wrong for so many reasons it could be the subject of a book, but at base it is extremely insulting to teachers and their values.

Although they certainly should have pensions and health care, teachers in public schools should not be unionized in the first place. Public service unions in general engender inherently unfair collective bargaining since the union is negotiating with politicians, almost all of whom, unlike business owners, have little skin in the game. The support of the union leaders in the next election is more valuable to the pols than defending the interests of taxpayers disconnected from the process.

Whatever the problem, it’s going to be a difficult road getting close to a level of educational achievement that matches the spending. Here are just a few K-12 suggestions:

Encourage homeschooling and do not over-regulate it. Reason: it’s (mostly) free. Bigger reason: it works. “The home-educated typically score 15 to 25 percentile points above public-school students on standardized academic achievement tests (Rey, 2010, 2015, 2017: Ray & Hoelzle, 2024)” With those stats, our home-schooled students probably rank up there with the best in the world.

No masks of any sort in school, with a signed doctor’s note as an exception only in extreme cases. Otherwise stay home. (This goes for colleges and universities too, as we have seen too clearly of late. It probably should also apply to all public spaces as it does now in Switzerland.)

Seriously cut back on Adderall, Ritalin and similar ADHD treatments. We are excessively drugging our children, quite likely including with anti-depressants that are ubiquitous. This should be investigated. Abandon medications that do more harm than good. That’s most of them.

No cellphones or similar devices in school (It should go without saying.)

Eliminate what’s left of DEI and woke. Forget equity; it doesn’t exist. Teach meritocracy. (Again, this should go without saying.)

Give teachers authority and encourage them to take it.. Discipline is good for students. Lax discipline destroys their lives. But never use violence on a child (or a dog).

Vastly cut back on administrations and invite educated citizens from the working world who are not “licensed” teachers to offer their services. Their professional experiences can be a boon to students and inspire them for the future. .

Most importantly, abandon all textbooks that teach leftism, overt and covert. They are still by far the majority of school books at this moment. It will be hard to find good ones. They must be written and/or brought back from the sometimes distant past.

Also the teachers, most of whom are unconscious victims of the Marxist “long march through the institutions,” trained to teach with those leftist textbooks and their included lesson plans, must somehow be reeducated—a mammoth task. .

Offer classes in the trades early and often. Make it fine and honorable to choose to go to trade schools instead of college after graduating.

Give school boards to parents exclusively at younger grades. No age inappropriate sex education.

Have armed guards in schools. Train teachers who are willing.

This is all pretty top of the head and subject to revision, but it’s not hard to see we have a long way to go that will not be solved just by returning education to the states. That’s long overdue and necessary but hardly sufficient. I live in a red state that supposedly has good education but see problems all around me.

It used to be that our colleges and universities were so good they could overcome this K-12 deficit. That is even more from a bygone era. And it’s not just Ivy League schools like Columbia and Harvard; it’s all over the country in a self-replicating process.. With few, but laudable, exceptions, higher education has turned into a propaganda mill.

https://americanrefugees.substack.com/p/ending-the-department-of-education

Do We Have 677 Unelected Presidents?

 

By Clarice Feldman

There are almost 700 federal district court judges. I say “almost,” because while officially there are 677 of them, some retired judges have taken senior status and may sit from time to time on cases, so the figure is inexact on any given day. Since President Trump was sworn in for a second term, there has been an avalanche of cases seeking relief from executive actions. Last month alone, district court judges issued 15 temporary restraining orders. “That’s more nationwide injunctions than there were issued for the first three YEARS of the Biden Administration. District court judges are out of control.“    

A Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) is designed to maintain the status quo after a claim is made that there is an emergency requiring the court to maintain the matter in a holding pattern -- usually for 10-14 days -- until a hearing on the issue can be held. A TRO can be granted ex parte, that is with only the plaintiff being present and without a hearing on the issue at all. The plaintiff must show the likelihood of success on the merits of the claim and that the harm to him outweighs any potential harm to the opposing party. To get one, the plaintiff has to show the likelihood of irreparable injury if the court fails to act. After a hearing, the court may issue a Preliminary Injunction (PI) directing some action or continuing the initial restraint until a full trial on the matter is held. To obtain a PI that lasts throughout the course of litigation, the plaintiff must meet a higher standard of proof. “A TRO requires the applicant to show a substantial likelihood of success and immediate harm, while a preliminary injunction involves a more rigorous evaluation of the merits, balance of equities, and public interest.” 

There are 94 district courts and 12 federal courts of appeals, which hear and decide appeals from district courts. Generally, TROs are not appealable, but preliminary injunctions are. Some of the TROs issued against the administration read more like preliminary injunctions, and no matter how they are titled, if they do more than maintain the status quo for a short period, the appellate courts should step in and assert jurisdiction.

I agree with Bill Shipley: Most of these injunctions will not survive appeal. 

I think SCOTUS is going to end up staying several of these, take up a small number, and then issue a small number of decisions that will force District Judges to reconsider and rethink their rulings. But they are unlikely to take a lot of these cases up individually to decide them on the merits. They will rely on district judges to change their decisions, and the Appeals Courts to smack down those who don't.

In fact, one just did. 

Friday the Fourth Circuit smacked down a universal injunction. “On Friday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit reversed the much-covered nationwide injunction imposed by U.S. District Judge Adam Abelson in Baltimore regarding ending federal support for diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs. The three-judge panel ruled that Judge Abelson had gone “too far” in seeking to enjoin the federal government across the country.

The Fourth Circuit recognized that the executive orders “could raise concerns” about First Amendment rights that might have to be addressed down the road. However, it found Abelson’s “sweeping block went too far.” It also pointed out that the orders were not nearly as unlimited and sweeping as suggested by the district court or the media.”

The more urgent question is, what right does a district court (which handles the matters in a designated geographic area) have to issue a nationwide injunction, and that matter is now being raised to the Supreme Court by the Administration in a case challenging the President’s order on birthright citizenship which district court judges in Maryland, Massachusetts, and Washington have blocked nationwide.

According to Benjamin Weingarten:

The Trump Administration is taking the fight to end universal injunctions to the Supreme Court. "...[T]he government comes to this Court with a 'modest' request: while the parties litigate weighty merits questions, the Court should 'restrict the scope' of multiple preliminary injunctions that 'purpor[t] to cover every person * * * in the country,' limiting those injunctions to parties actually within the courts' power.... Universal injunctions have reached epidemic proportions since the start of the current Administration. Courts have graduated from universal preliminary injunctions to universal temporary restraining orders, from universal equitable relief to universal monetary remedies, and from governing the whole Nation to governing the whole world." ..."This Court should declare that enough is enough before district courts’ burgeoning reliance on universal injunctions becomes further entrenched."

Justice Neil Gorsuch has been critical of them and the Harvard Law Review notes how this practice  politicizes the law.

Morley said a single judge's power to enter a nationwide injunction incentivizes "extreme forum shopping," in which plaintiffs strategically bring their case in a specific court before a judge who will be most favorable to their arguments.

"There are outlier judges on all sides," he said. "You can go to that outlier judge and are systematically having the most controversial, cutting-edge, hot-button constitutional issues being settled and resolved by the ideological outliers rather than a more representative cross section of the judiciary."

In fact, the examination of nationwide injunctions published in the Harvard Law Review found that 92% were entered by judges appointed by Democratic presidents during the Trump administration. For the Biden administration, that portion grew to 100% imposed by judges named to the federal bench by Republican presidents. 

"If you see that kind of pattern, it cannot help but call the judiciary into disrepute," said Nicholas Bagley, a law professor at the University of Michigan. "It doesn't look like they're applying the law in a clear way. It will erode the judiciary's legitimacy, no question about it."

Bagley, who testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee about these injunctions in 2020, pointed to one key factor behind their rise: Politics.

It’s clear that the curtain must fall on the notion that hundreds of unelected district court judges of often outlying political beliefs and of various levels of judicial temperament and legal ability should be permitted to act as Chief Executive.

https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/03/do_we_have_677_unelected_presidents.html