Dinosaurs on LSD?

Image credit: Elenarts/Shutterstock.com

An analysis of a 100 million-year-old grass specimen perfectly preserved in amber says that the grass was topped by a fungus similar to ergot, the fungus that provided LSD. The study by researchers from Oregon State University, the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Germany, was published online this month in the journal Palaeodiversity.

The oldest grass fossil ever found is about 100 million years old. Image credit: Oregon State University

The analysis suggests that the fungus, the grasses it lived on, and animals that ate grass – including dinosaurs – co-existed for millions of years.

Ergot, a fungus that grow on rye and wheat is a toxin and a hallucinogen. The hallucinogenic drug LSD is derived from it. People who eat ergot-contaminated grains develop powerful muscle spasms and hallucinations.

The fossil was discovered in an amber mine in Myanmar. Amber begins as a tree sap that can flow around small plant and animal forms and permanently preserve them as it fossilizes into a semi-precious stone.

The fossil dates 97-110 million years ago to the early-to-mid Cretaceous, when the land was still dominated by dinosaurs and conifers, but the earliest flowering plants, grasses and small mammals were beginning to evolve. The fossil shows a grass floret tipped by the dark fungus.

George Poinar, Jr. is an internationally recognized expert on the life forms found in amber and a faculty member in the Oregon State University College of Science. Poinar said:

[The study] shows that this parasitic fungus may have been around almost as long as the grasses themselves, as both a toxin and natural hallucinogen.

There’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been eaten by sauropod dinosaurs, although we can’t know what exact effect it had on them.

The fungus in this grass specimen, which is now extinct, was named Palaeoclaviceps parasiticus. It’s very similar to the fungus Claviceps, commonly known as ergot.

Much later in evolution, grasses would become a powerful life form on Earth, creating vast prairies, nourishing herds of animals, and eventually providing for the domestication of range animals and the cultivation of many food crops. The rise of crop agriculture changed the entire development of the human race, and it’s now estimated that grasses compose about 20 percent of global vegetation.

Some grasses have natural defense mechanisms, and ergot may be one of them, helping to repel herbivores, the researchers suggest. It’s bitter and not a preferred food to livestock, and it’s still a problem in cereal and grass seed production, as well as pastures and grazing land.

In animal and human history, the fungus has been known to cause delirium, irrational behavior, convulsions, severe pain, gangrenous limbs and death. In cattle it causes a disease called the “Paspalum staggers.” In the Middle Ages it sometimes killed thousands of people during epidemics when ergot-infected rye bread was more common. It’s been used as a medicine to induce abortion or speed labor in pregnant women, and one researcher – whose findings have been disputed – suggested it may have played a role in the Salem witch trials.

More than 1,000 compounds have been extracted or derived from it, some of them valuable drugs. They also included, in the mid-1900s, the powerful psychedelic compound lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, that is still being studied and has been widely used as an illegal recreational drug.

Bottom line: An new analysis published online in February, 2015 in the journal Palaeodiversity of a 100 million-year-old grass specimen perfectly preserved in amber says that the grass was topped by a fungus similar to ergot, the fungus that provided LSD.

Read more from Oregon State University

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1z7lKZV

Image credit: Elenarts/Shutterstock.com

An analysis of a 100 million-year-old grass specimen perfectly preserved in amber says that the grass was topped by a fungus similar to ergot, the fungus that provided LSD. The study by researchers from Oregon State University, the USDA Agricultural Research Service and Germany, was published online this month in the journal Palaeodiversity.

The oldest grass fossil ever found is about 100 million years old. Image credit: Oregon State University

The analysis suggests that the fungus, the grasses it lived on, and animals that ate grass – including dinosaurs – co-existed for millions of years.

Ergot, a fungus that grow on rye and wheat is a toxin and a hallucinogen. The hallucinogenic drug LSD is derived from it. People who eat ergot-contaminated grains develop powerful muscle spasms and hallucinations.

The fossil was discovered in an amber mine in Myanmar. Amber begins as a tree sap that can flow around small plant and animal forms and permanently preserve them as it fossilizes into a semi-precious stone.

The fossil dates 97-110 million years ago to the early-to-mid Cretaceous, when the land was still dominated by dinosaurs and conifers, but the earliest flowering plants, grasses and small mammals were beginning to evolve. The fossil shows a grass floret tipped by the dark fungus.

George Poinar, Jr. is an internationally recognized expert on the life forms found in amber and a faculty member in the Oregon State University College of Science. Poinar said:

[The study] shows that this parasitic fungus may have been around almost as long as the grasses themselves, as both a toxin and natural hallucinogen.

There’s no doubt in my mind that it would have been eaten by sauropod dinosaurs, although we can’t know what exact effect it had on them.

The fungus in this grass specimen, which is now extinct, was named Palaeoclaviceps parasiticus. It’s very similar to the fungus Claviceps, commonly known as ergot.

Much later in evolution, grasses would become a powerful life form on Earth, creating vast prairies, nourishing herds of animals, and eventually providing for the domestication of range animals and the cultivation of many food crops. The rise of crop agriculture changed the entire development of the human race, and it’s now estimated that grasses compose about 20 percent of global vegetation.

Some grasses have natural defense mechanisms, and ergot may be one of them, helping to repel herbivores, the researchers suggest. It’s bitter and not a preferred food to livestock, and it’s still a problem in cereal and grass seed production, as well as pastures and grazing land.

In animal and human history, the fungus has been known to cause delirium, irrational behavior, convulsions, severe pain, gangrenous limbs and death. In cattle it causes a disease called the “Paspalum staggers.” In the Middle Ages it sometimes killed thousands of people during epidemics when ergot-infected rye bread was more common. It’s been used as a medicine to induce abortion or speed labor in pregnant women, and one researcher – whose findings have been disputed – suggested it may have played a role in the Salem witch trials.

More than 1,000 compounds have been extracted or derived from it, some of them valuable drugs. They also included, in the mid-1900s, the powerful psychedelic compound lysergic acid diethylamide, or LSD, that is still being studied and has been widely used as an illegal recreational drug.

Bottom line: An new analysis published online in February, 2015 in the journal Palaeodiversity of a 100 million-year-old grass specimen perfectly preserved in amber says that the grass was topped by a fungus similar to ergot, the fungus that provided LSD.

Read more from Oregon State University

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1z7lKZV

Raising awareness of cancer clinical trials

We often write about the latest research in our labs, and the early leg-work at the start of the journey to find new treatments for people with cancer.

Equally, the headlines are often filled with news of treatments already available to UK patients. Especially where cost is concerned.

But what about the bit in between? What happens on that long road from laboratory breakthrough to patients receiving the treatment?

Let’s look at that process, and our role in it. It’s time to talk about clinical trials.

Trials are a vital part of our research, and play a crucial role in making new treatments available to patients. They’re also critical to improving the ones we already have. We’re proud to be the leading UK funder of cancer clinical trials, supporting more than 250 trials across the country.

And the clinical trials we’ve funded have saved the lives of many thousands of people in the UK and all over the world.

But not everyone is aware of the role that Cancer Research UK plays in funding, setting up and helping run clinical trials. So this month, we’re running a campaign to raise awareness of our work in this area.

Below, you can read three personal accounts from the thousands of people who’ve taken part in trials. And there’s more about these trials – including the UK’s only Plain English database of cancer trials – on our website.

‘Treatment can buy you years of enjoyable life’

In 2006, Vinod from Solihul received what he refers to as a “fluke” prostate cancer diagnosis.

“I had a sore throat and went to my doctor, who I hadn’t seen for years. He said that since I was 60, he would do a full routine ‘MOT’ which included taking blood samples,” says Vinod.

Vinod said: “When I got my cancer diagnosis I thought: ‘This is the first day of my new life.’ I have lived every day to the full since then”

The blood tests showed a higher than normal level of a marker protein called Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). This raised a ‘red flag’, as higher levels of the protein can be a sign of prostate cancer.

A physical examination revealed that Vinod’s prostate was “very swollen and knobbly”. Further tests confirmed he had prostate cancer – and it was quite advanced.

“I was told it could either be a ‘pussycat’ or a ‘tiger’ – and mine was a tiger, which meant it could spread very fast,” he says. “After further tests, I was told the bad news that it had spread outside the prostate area. That was an absolute shock.”

Following some discussions about treatment, Vinod’s doctor told him about a clinical trial taking place in London that was testing the use of sounds waves – known as High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) – as a potential treatment for prostate cancer.

After six months of treatment Vinod’s PSA was right down. “For many patients the treatment brought a complete cure,” he says. “But a couple of months later my PSA levels started rising again.”

Unfortunately for Vinod, the treatment hadn’t been completely successful.

Even after another round of ultrasound, Vinod’s PSA levels continued to rise. So he was referred to another hospital nearer to his home in Birmingham where he was given radiotherapy. This helped, and since then follow-up tests show his cancer is under control.

“When I got my cancer diagnosis I thought: ‘This is the first day of my new life.’ I have lived every day to the full since then.”

Following his experience, Vinod is showing his support for clinical trials: “Even if you can’t be cured, treatment can buy you years of enjoyable life,” he says.

‘I might not still be here without it’

Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. And several weeks after initially finding the cancer, her doctors discovered that it had spread to her liver.

Kelly with Coco. She said: “The main aim of the trial was to keep things stable for me”

But it’s now two years since Kelly joined a clinical trial at The Christie Hospital in Manchester testing a combination of chemotherapy and the breast cancer drug trastuzumab (Herceptin).

And she’s really pleased with how things are going.

“The main aim of the trial was to keep things stable for me,” says Kelly. “It was always made quite clear to me that the treatment wasn’t a cure but, hopefully, it would keep the cancer from spreading.”

And so far the results have been encouraging: “I recently had my latest scan results. And, at the minute, I don’t have any measurable signs of cancer, which is really good news,” she says.

For Kelly, who’s married with three sons, Joshua, Ethan and Noah – plus a chocolate Labrador called Coco – it’s been important that the cancer and the trial itself haven’t stopped her from doing day-to-day things.

“From a personal point of view, I can be very honest and say I might not be here if it weren’t for the trial,” she says.

And that’s why Kelly is showing her support for clinical trials: “People who take part in clinical trials are paving the way for new cancer treatments to become available in the future. It’s definitely been a positive thing for me.”

‘From both my job and personal experience clinical trials are vital’

It’s close to 11 years since Nicki was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. And over the course of being treated, she’s taken part in two clinical trials.

Nicki said: “It was important to me to do something that might not only help my outcome, but could also help women diagnosed with breast cancer in the future”

Nicki, who works in Leeds as part of our regional press team, says that both her job and her personal experience have shown her how important clinical trials are. “Today, more and more people are surviving thanks to research, and cancer trials are crucial in helping to develop better and kinder treatments,” she says.

Fortunately, Nicki’s breast cancer was diagnosed early, which meant she was able to have surgery to remove the tumour – a procedure called a lumpectomy – rather than a full mastectomy. This was followed by radiotherapy, and the doctors also removed some lymph nodes to test for any signs that the cancer may have started to spread.

But these tests showed there were signs of cancer cells in her lymph nodes: she’d need chemotherapy, and further molecular tests showed that she might benefit from the hormone blocking drug tamoxifen and an antibody treatment that blocks cell growth called trastuzumab (Herceptin).

“Thanks to women who had agreed to go on trials before me, I was able to take tamoxifen and Herceptin, two life-saving drugs which are now standard treatments for certain types of breast cancer,” says Nicki.

It was at this point that Nicki was told by her consultant about clinical trials, and she signed up for a suitable one straight away.

“It was important to me to do something that might not only help my outcome, but could also help women diagnosed with breast cancer in the future.”

Watch this animation to find out how a randomised trial works

Nicki enrolled on a trial looking at whether different chemotherapy combinations reduced the risk of breast cancer coming back after surgery.

And for Nicki, taking part in the trials was a positive experience: “It gave me some control back over the cancer, and helped keep me strong and positive through my treatment,” she says.

“I also felt reassured by the extra and ongoing monitoring I had because of being on the trials.”

Trials play a vital role in helping develop new treatments, and improving the ones we already have, with each study carrying hundreds of personal stories.

And it’s through this type of research that we’re fortunate enough to hear those stories first hand, something Nicki sums up perfectly: “It will soon be 11 years since I was told I had cancer and I am very much still here, still working for Cancer Research UK, still living life to the full, and that’s thanks to research.”

Nick

• Find out more about our clinical trials research


• Search our clinical trials database for information about research across the UK

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/16SJCZu

We often write about the latest research in our labs, and the early leg-work at the start of the journey to find new treatments for people with cancer.

Equally, the headlines are often filled with news of treatments already available to UK patients. Especially where cost is concerned.

But what about the bit in between? What happens on that long road from laboratory breakthrough to patients receiving the treatment?

Let’s look at that process, and our role in it. It’s time to talk about clinical trials.

Trials are a vital part of our research, and play a crucial role in making new treatments available to patients. They’re also critical to improving the ones we already have. We’re proud to be the leading UK funder of cancer clinical trials, supporting more than 250 trials across the country.

And the clinical trials we’ve funded have saved the lives of many thousands of people in the UK and all over the world.

But not everyone is aware of the role that Cancer Research UK plays in funding, setting up and helping run clinical trials. So this month, we’re running a campaign to raise awareness of our work in this area.

Below, you can read three personal accounts from the thousands of people who’ve taken part in trials. And there’s more about these trials – including the UK’s only Plain English database of cancer trials – on our website.

‘Treatment can buy you years of enjoyable life’

In 2006, Vinod from Solihul received what he refers to as a “fluke” prostate cancer diagnosis.

“I had a sore throat and went to my doctor, who I hadn’t seen for years. He said that since I was 60, he would do a full routine ‘MOT’ which included taking blood samples,” says Vinod.

Vinod said: “When I got my cancer diagnosis I thought: ‘This is the first day of my new life.’ I have lived every day to the full since then”

The blood tests showed a higher than normal level of a marker protein called Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA). This raised a ‘red flag’, as higher levels of the protein can be a sign of prostate cancer.

A physical examination revealed that Vinod’s prostate was “very swollen and knobbly”. Further tests confirmed he had prostate cancer – and it was quite advanced.

“I was told it could either be a ‘pussycat’ or a ‘tiger’ – and mine was a tiger, which meant it could spread very fast,” he says. “After further tests, I was told the bad news that it had spread outside the prostate area. That was an absolute shock.”

Following some discussions about treatment, Vinod’s doctor told him about a clinical trial taking place in London that was testing the use of sounds waves – known as High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) – as a potential treatment for prostate cancer.

After six months of treatment Vinod’s PSA was right down. “For many patients the treatment brought a complete cure,” he says. “But a couple of months later my PSA levels started rising again.”

Unfortunately for Vinod, the treatment hadn’t been completely successful.

Even after another round of ultrasound, Vinod’s PSA levels continued to rise. So he was referred to another hospital nearer to his home in Birmingham where he was given radiotherapy. This helped, and since then follow-up tests show his cancer is under control.

“When I got my cancer diagnosis I thought: ‘This is the first day of my new life.’ I have lived every day to the full since then.”

Following his experience, Vinod is showing his support for clinical trials: “Even if you can’t be cured, treatment can buy you years of enjoyable life,” he says.

‘I might not still be here without it’

Kelly was diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago. And several weeks after initially finding the cancer, her doctors discovered that it had spread to her liver.

Kelly with Coco. She said: “The main aim of the trial was to keep things stable for me”

But it’s now two years since Kelly joined a clinical trial at The Christie Hospital in Manchester testing a combination of chemotherapy and the breast cancer drug trastuzumab (Herceptin).

And she’s really pleased with how things are going.

“The main aim of the trial was to keep things stable for me,” says Kelly. “It was always made quite clear to me that the treatment wasn’t a cure but, hopefully, it would keep the cancer from spreading.”

And so far the results have been encouraging: “I recently had my latest scan results. And, at the minute, I don’t have any measurable signs of cancer, which is really good news,” she says.

For Kelly, who’s married with three sons, Joshua, Ethan and Noah – plus a chocolate Labrador called Coco – it’s been important that the cancer and the trial itself haven’t stopped her from doing day-to-day things.

“From a personal point of view, I can be very honest and say I might not be here if it weren’t for the trial,” she says.

And that’s why Kelly is showing her support for clinical trials: “People who take part in clinical trials are paving the way for new cancer treatments to become available in the future. It’s definitely been a positive thing for me.”

‘From both my job and personal experience clinical trials are vital’

It’s close to 11 years since Nicki was diagnosed with an aggressive form of breast cancer. And over the course of being treated, she’s taken part in two clinical trials.

Nicki said: “It was important to me to do something that might not only help my outcome, but could also help women diagnosed with breast cancer in the future”

Nicki, who works in Leeds as part of our regional press team, says that both her job and her personal experience have shown her how important clinical trials are. “Today, more and more people are surviving thanks to research, and cancer trials are crucial in helping to develop better and kinder treatments,” she says.

Fortunately, Nicki’s breast cancer was diagnosed early, which meant she was able to have surgery to remove the tumour – a procedure called a lumpectomy – rather than a full mastectomy. This was followed by radiotherapy, and the doctors also removed some lymph nodes to test for any signs that the cancer may have started to spread.

But these tests showed there were signs of cancer cells in her lymph nodes: she’d need chemotherapy, and further molecular tests showed that she might benefit from the hormone blocking drug tamoxifen and an antibody treatment that blocks cell growth called trastuzumab (Herceptin).

“Thanks to women who had agreed to go on trials before me, I was able to take tamoxifen and Herceptin, two life-saving drugs which are now standard treatments for certain types of breast cancer,” says Nicki.

It was at this point that Nicki was told by her consultant about clinical trials, and she signed up for a suitable one straight away.

“It was important to me to do something that might not only help my outcome, but could also help women diagnosed with breast cancer in the future.”

Watch this animation to find out how a randomised trial works

Nicki enrolled on a trial looking at whether different chemotherapy combinations reduced the risk of breast cancer coming back after surgery.

And for Nicki, taking part in the trials was a positive experience: “It gave me some control back over the cancer, and helped keep me strong and positive through my treatment,” she says.

“I also felt reassured by the extra and ongoing monitoring I had because of being on the trials.”

Trials play a vital role in helping develop new treatments, and improving the ones we already have, with each study carrying hundreds of personal stories.

And it’s through this type of research that we’re fortunate enough to hear those stories first hand, something Nicki sums up perfectly: “It will soon be 11 years since I was told I had cancer and I am very much still here, still working for Cancer Research UK, still living life to the full, and that’s thanks to research.”

Nick

• Find out more about our clinical trials research


• Search our clinical trials database for information about research across the UK

from Cancer Research UK - Science blog http://ift.tt/16SJCZu

Brian Clement and the Hippocrates Health Institute: Cancer quackery on steroids [Respectful Insolence]

I think we’ve spent enough time on Bill Maher’s antivaccine posturing for now. There really isn’t much more to say for now. I’m sure he’ll probably dump some pseudoscientific nonsense about medicine on his show to provide me with more blogging material. Today, I’m moved to revisit a certain cancer quack whose offenses are threatening to suck me into devoting as much attention to him in the coming days as I have over the last three years to Stanislaw Burzynski. I’m referring, of couse, to Brian Clement, the proprietor of the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida.

I first encountered Clement and his wheatgrass enema treatments for cancer a little over a year ago in the context of discussing the story of Stephanie O’Halloran, a young woman with metastatic breast cancer who was deceived by Clement into thinking he could save her life. He didn’t. He’s been featured most recently in my discussions of the death of one aboriginal girl (Makayla Sault) in Canada and the almost certainly impending death of another due to their parents’ having trusted Clement to treat their daughters’ lymphoblastic leukemia. My main point of discussion was primarily how the Canadian government and the the girls’ communities have failed them. Now I want to turn around and concentrate on the quack who led Makayla Sault to her death and is in the process of leading another aboriginal girl to her death.



The reasons are twofold. First, local NBC affiliate WPTV West Palm Beach just did a story about Brian Clement and his Hippocrates Health Institute. Second, I know there is another story in the pipeline, to be published later this week. (Shameless bit of self-promotion: I was interviewed for it.) I’ll start with the WPTV story. When the other story comes out I’ll discuss it, either here or (more likely) on my not-so-super-secret other blog, where I can go into detail about specific patient anecdotes in much the same way I did about Stanislaw Burzynski’s patient claims.

Here is the story:

Overall, it’s not a bad start to uncovering the quack that is Clement. First, we learn that the HHI is posh. Very posh:

Eat raw, eat vegan and help your body fight disease.

That’s one of the claims that, each year, attracts thousands of people from around the globe to the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach.

But what the Contact 5 Investigators discovered about its director raises question if he’s giving the terminally ill false hope.

From the air in Chopper 5 the Hippocrates Health Institute is an impressive sight. Nestled on 50 acres of lush tropical South Florida landscape, for 30 years people from around the world have congregated at the West Palm Beach institute paying thousands of dollars to indulge in the zenful secrets of healthy living, nutritional counseling and natural healing. But the Contact 5 Investigators found its director pitching claims modern medicine has yet to discover.

That’s putting it mildly! Let’s take a look again at the sorts of treatments offered by Brian Clement as part of HHI’s “Life Transformation Program“. They include:

• Superior nutrition through a diet of organically-grown, enzyme-rich, raw, life-giving foods


• Detoxification


• Wheatgrass therapies, green juice, juice fasting


• Colonics, enemas, implants


• Exercise, including cardio, strength training and stretching


• Far infrared saunas, steam room


• Ozone pools, including: dead sea salt, swimming, jacuzzi and cold plunge


• Weekly massages


• Bio-energy treatments


• Med-spa & therapy services

For those of you who don’t remember what “implants” are. It turns out that wheatgrass “implants” are, in actuality, wheatgrass juice enemas:

When used as a rectal implant, reverses damage from inside the lower bowel. An implant is a small amount of juice held in the lower bowel for about 20 minutes. In the case of illness, wheatgrass implants stimulate a rapid cleansing of the lower bowel and draw out accumulations of debris.

Indeed, if you believe the hype on the HHI website, there’s nothing that wheatgrass can’t do. If the HHI is to be believed, wheatgrass can increase red blood cell count, decrease blood pressure, cleanse the blood, organs and GI tract of “debris,” stimulate the thyroid gland, “restore alkalinity” to the blood, “detoxify” the blood, fight tumors and neutralize toxins, and many other fantastically beneficial alleged effects. Basically, combine a raw vegan diet with a veritable cornucopia of other kinds of quackery, and you have the HHI.

Lately, it seems, Clement is getting into “vibration” and “quantum.” For instance, get a load of this video on Quantum Biology:

I admit that I didn’t watch the whole thing. Not even close. It was just plain too painful, given how much pseudoscience is packed into nearly two hours. Nor do I expect you to watch the whole thing; that is, unless you’re a total glutton for punishment. (Seriously, physicists and chemists viewing this video will feel a near-irresistible urge to claw their eyes out.) One brief example occurs at 1:11:30 or so, when he shows a highly simplified version of the cell followed by pure vitalism, where he talks about the “life force” gathered through nutrients. The cell is surrounded by words representing vitamins, protein, water, minerals, essential fatty acids, and oxygen (to which he verbally adds “electromagnetic frequencies.” After this, there is this text:

These elements with their varied frequencies are attracted to the magnetic energy of the cell. This allows building and life maintaining processes. It also expels exhausted and used matter from the cell.

Clement “translates” this to mean that if you have the life force in the cell and the life force in the nutrients, they’re attracted to each other.

Elsewhere, he describes quantum biology thusly:

Painting a picture to describe this fruitful exploration begins with yourself. Beyond the protein that holds your body together, the vitamin and mineral sheathing that covers it, the essential fats that fuel it and the water and oxygen that shape it, the underlying purpose for your body?s existence is the electricity that it takes in and creates. There is a continual and perfect communication from cell to cell and from gathering of cells (organs and / or skeletal) to gathering of cells. This communication also reaches beyond your body to all other life outside.

This rhythmic and energetic process is strong, yet fragile. It can be thrown off by a weakening of the anatomical integrity of the cells or their central electrical frequencies. This weakening can occur via poor nutrition, dehydration and / or polluted hydration, lack of oxygen, intake of heavy metals or chemicals or renegade electromagnetic fields such as cell phones, Wi-Fi, etc.

All abnormalities that have been labeled as diseases stem from the negative energies that are endured from the poor lifestyle choices and unsustainable environment that we have created on planet earth today.

Our core vulnerability stems from the reduction of bio-frequency that occurs in the cell, which heightens its fragility to make it ineffective in communication and contribution. When these disturbances are critical, they can even cause a cell to mutate.

When you ingest ionized, rich, raw plant-based foods, it provides foundational energy. You then have to consider avoiding negative energy fields or at least protecting yourself from them with electromagnetic field interrupting devices or tools.

What is more difficult to avoid and personally restrain from is the negative energy that we absorb or spew from discontented emotional states. Most of you have seen this and experienced it. Certain people, places or environments can make you feel uncomfortable, on edge and literally drained.

Arrrrgh! I can’t take any more! Not only is Clement spewing total and utter BS about quantum theory and science a la Deepak Chopra, but he explicitly embraces a “Secret”-like concept that “negative energy” from people’s “discontented emotional states” causes disease. Oh, and let’s not forget “toxins” needing “detoxification.” You get the idea. Clement understands neither physics, chemistry, nor biology. He thinks wheatgrass, either eaten or administered as enemas, is a cure-all. He treats cancer with a raw vegan diet plus a wide variety of quackery, even detox foot baths. He blathers spiritual nonsense about god, “energy” and consciousness.

And people with cancer believe it when he says he can cure them. Indeed, at the very beginning of the WPTV story, Clement is shown saying that stage IV cancer can be reversed and that the HHI has “had more people reverse cancer than any institute in the history of health care.” (Later in the report he says that the “only place we get oxygen naturally is from living food.” Oh, really? What about the air?) We also learn that Clement travels the world promoting the HHI, which explains how Makayla Sault, for example, heard about him. He’s given talks in Canada in areas where First Nations people live.

Yes, the report finds things that we mostly already know, such as the finding that Clement is not a physician, that he claims to be a “doctor of nutrition,” and that he got his doctorate from a diploma mill, the University of Science, Arts, and Technology. There is also an interview with the former director of nursing at the HHI, Steven Pugh, who reported that he told Clement that he was not a medical doctors and therefore, as a nurse, he couldn’t take medical orders from him. Hilariously (and simultaneously sadly) Clement flatly denies practicing medicine without a license and claims that his statement about reversing cancer was “taken out of context.” One wonders what “context” there could be that would make saying that acceptable.

Like so many quacks, Clement denies that he is running a “medical institute,” claiming instead that he runs a “natural healing” center and that he has a doctor on staff not to treat people but in case people get ill:

Talk about disingenuous dodges! Clement says he is not offering “medical treatments” but says that his medical team offers “alternative treatments,” including vitamins and hyperbaric treatments. The reporter (Katie LaGrone) asks about the vitamin treatments, which are administered intravenously and asks if that isn’t a medical treatment. Clement does some more dancing with terminology and says it’s an “alternative treatment” that he couldn’t get from his general practitioner. No kidding.

It’s equally depressing, albeit amusing, to watch Clement dance around questions about his educational background:

Particularly amusing, I must admit, is the part where the reporter points out that the University of Science, Arts, and Technology is widely considered a diploma mill and Clement replies that he worked three and a half or four years for 30 hours a week. Even if he’s telling the truth (which I must question), that’s a pretty darned easy PhD program. it would have been awesome if I could have gotten my PhD working only 30 hours a week.

The more I learn about Brian Clement, the more I wonder: How on earth has this guy been operating for three decades in Florida. Clearly, the State of Florida has utterly failed to protect its citizens from quackery. In fact, given how many people, such as Makayla Sault, come from all over the world, Florida has failed to protect everyone.

At the end of the report, the reporter asks Clement about accusations that he gives cancer patients false hope. He immediately replies, “There is no such thing as false hope.” Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Hope is important, but cancer patients need that hope to be tempered with a realistic assessment of their prognosis. Clement takes that away from them.

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I think we’ve spent enough time on Bill Maher’s antivaccine posturing for now. There really isn’t much more to say for now. I’m sure he’ll probably dump some pseudoscientific nonsense about medicine on his show to provide me with more blogging material. Today, I’m moved to revisit a certain cancer quack whose offenses are threatening to suck me into devoting as much attention to him in the coming days as I have over the last three years to Stanislaw Burzynski. I’m referring, of couse, to Brian Clement, the proprietor of the Hippocrates Health Institute in Florida.

I first encountered Clement and his wheatgrass enema treatments for cancer a little over a year ago in the context of discussing the story of Stephanie O’Halloran, a young woman with metastatic breast cancer who was deceived by Clement into thinking he could save her life. He didn’t. He’s been featured most recently in my discussions of the death of one aboriginal girl (Makayla Sault) in Canada and the almost certainly impending death of another due to their parents’ having trusted Clement to treat their daughters’ lymphoblastic leukemia. My main point of discussion was primarily how the Canadian government and the the girls’ communities have failed them. Now I want to turn around and concentrate on the quack who led Makayla Sault to her death and is in the process of leading another aboriginal girl to her death.



The reasons are twofold. First, local NBC affiliate WPTV West Palm Beach just did a story about Brian Clement and his Hippocrates Health Institute. Second, I know there is another story in the pipeline, to be published later this week. (Shameless bit of self-promotion: I was interviewed for it.) I’ll start with the WPTV story. When the other story comes out I’ll discuss it, either here or (more likely) on my not-so-super-secret other blog, where I can go into detail about specific patient anecdotes in much the same way I did about Stanislaw Burzynski’s patient claims.

Here is the story:

Overall, it’s not a bad start to uncovering the quack that is Clement. First, we learn that the HHI is posh. Very posh:

Eat raw, eat vegan and help your body fight disease.

That’s one of the claims that, each year, attracts thousands of people from around the globe to the Hippocrates Health Institute in West Palm Beach.

But what the Contact 5 Investigators discovered about its director raises question if he’s giving the terminally ill false hope.

From the air in Chopper 5 the Hippocrates Health Institute is an impressive sight. Nestled on 50 acres of lush tropical South Florida landscape, for 30 years people from around the world have congregated at the West Palm Beach institute paying thousands of dollars to indulge in the zenful secrets of healthy living, nutritional counseling and natural healing. But the Contact 5 Investigators found its director pitching claims modern medicine has yet to discover.

That’s putting it mildly! Let’s take a look again at the sorts of treatments offered by Brian Clement as part of HHI’s “Life Transformation Program“. They include:

• Superior nutrition through a diet of organically-grown, enzyme-rich, raw, life-giving foods


• Detoxification


• Wheatgrass therapies, green juice, juice fasting


• Colonics, enemas, implants


• Exercise, including cardio, strength training and stretching


• Far infrared saunas, steam room


• Ozone pools, including: dead sea salt, swimming, jacuzzi and cold plunge


• Weekly massages


• Bio-energy treatments


• Med-spa & therapy services

For those of you who don’t remember what “implants” are. It turns out that wheatgrass “implants” are, in actuality, wheatgrass juice enemas:

When used as a rectal implant, reverses damage from inside the lower bowel. An implant is a small amount of juice held in the lower bowel for about 20 minutes. In the case of illness, wheatgrass implants stimulate a rapid cleansing of the lower bowel and draw out accumulations of debris.

Indeed, if you believe the hype on the HHI website, there’s nothing that wheatgrass can’t do. If the HHI is to be believed, wheatgrass can increase red blood cell count, decrease blood pressure, cleanse the blood, organs and GI tract of “debris,” stimulate the thyroid gland, “restore alkalinity” to the blood, “detoxify” the blood, fight tumors and neutralize toxins, and many other fantastically beneficial alleged effects. Basically, combine a raw vegan diet with a veritable cornucopia of other kinds of quackery, and you have the HHI.

Lately, it seems, Clement is getting into “vibration” and “quantum.” For instance, get a load of this video on Quantum Biology:

I admit that I didn’t watch the whole thing. Not even close. It was just plain too painful, given how much pseudoscience is packed into nearly two hours. Nor do I expect you to watch the whole thing; that is, unless you’re a total glutton for punishment. (Seriously, physicists and chemists viewing this video will feel a near-irresistible urge to claw their eyes out.) One brief example occurs at 1:11:30 or so, when he shows a highly simplified version of the cell followed by pure vitalism, where he talks about the “life force” gathered through nutrients. The cell is surrounded by words representing vitamins, protein, water, minerals, essential fatty acids, and oxygen (to which he verbally adds “electromagnetic frequencies.” After this, there is this text:

These elements with their varied frequencies are attracted to the magnetic energy of the cell. This allows building and life maintaining processes. It also expels exhausted and used matter from the cell.

Clement “translates” this to mean that if you have the life force in the cell and the life force in the nutrients, they’re attracted to each other.

Elsewhere, he describes quantum biology thusly:

Painting a picture to describe this fruitful exploration begins with yourself. Beyond the protein that holds your body together, the vitamin and mineral sheathing that covers it, the essential fats that fuel it and the water and oxygen that shape it, the underlying purpose for your body?s existence is the electricity that it takes in and creates. There is a continual and perfect communication from cell to cell and from gathering of cells (organs and / or skeletal) to gathering of cells. This communication also reaches beyond your body to all other life outside.

This rhythmic and energetic process is strong, yet fragile. It can be thrown off by a weakening of the anatomical integrity of the cells or their central electrical frequencies. This weakening can occur via poor nutrition, dehydration and / or polluted hydration, lack of oxygen, intake of heavy metals or chemicals or renegade electromagnetic fields such as cell phones, Wi-Fi, etc.

All abnormalities that have been labeled as diseases stem from the negative energies that are endured from the poor lifestyle choices and unsustainable environment that we have created on planet earth today.

Our core vulnerability stems from the reduction of bio-frequency that occurs in the cell, which heightens its fragility to make it ineffective in communication and contribution. When these disturbances are critical, they can even cause a cell to mutate.

When you ingest ionized, rich, raw plant-based foods, it provides foundational energy. You then have to consider avoiding negative energy fields or at least protecting yourself from them with electromagnetic field interrupting devices or tools.

What is more difficult to avoid and personally restrain from is the negative energy that we absorb or spew from discontented emotional states. Most of you have seen this and experienced it. Certain people, places or environments can make you feel uncomfortable, on edge and literally drained.

Arrrrgh! I can’t take any more! Not only is Clement spewing total and utter BS about quantum theory and science a la Deepak Chopra, but he explicitly embraces a “Secret”-like concept that “negative energy” from people’s “discontented emotional states” causes disease. Oh, and let’s not forget “toxins” needing “detoxification.” You get the idea. Clement understands neither physics, chemistry, nor biology. He thinks wheatgrass, either eaten or administered as enemas, is a cure-all. He treats cancer with a raw vegan diet plus a wide variety of quackery, even detox foot baths. He blathers spiritual nonsense about god, “energy” and consciousness.

And people with cancer believe it when he says he can cure them. Indeed, at the very beginning of the WPTV story, Clement is shown saying that stage IV cancer can be reversed and that the HHI has “had more people reverse cancer than any institute in the history of health care.” (Later in the report he says that the “only place we get oxygen naturally is from living food.” Oh, really? What about the air?) We also learn that Clement travels the world promoting the HHI, which explains how Makayla Sault, for example, heard about him. He’s given talks in Canada in areas where First Nations people live.

Yes, the report finds things that we mostly already know, such as the finding that Clement is not a physician, that he claims to be a “doctor of nutrition,” and that he got his doctorate from a diploma mill, the University of Science, Arts, and Technology. There is also an interview with the former director of nursing at the HHI, Steven Pugh, who reported that he told Clement that he was not a medical doctors and therefore, as a nurse, he couldn’t take medical orders from him. Hilariously (and simultaneously sadly) Clement flatly denies practicing medicine without a license and claims that his statement about reversing cancer was “taken out of context.” One wonders what “context” there could be that would make saying that acceptable.

Like so many quacks, Clement denies that he is running a “medical institute,” claiming instead that he runs a “natural healing” center and that he has a doctor on staff not to treat people but in case people get ill:

Talk about disingenuous dodges! Clement says he is not offering “medical treatments” but says that his medical team offers “alternative treatments,” including vitamins and hyperbaric treatments. The reporter (Katie LaGrone) asks about the vitamin treatments, which are administered intravenously and asks if that isn’t a medical treatment. Clement does some more dancing with terminology and says it’s an “alternative treatment” that he couldn’t get from his general practitioner. No kidding.

It’s equally depressing, albeit amusing, to watch Clement dance around questions about his educational background:

Particularly amusing, I must admit, is the part where the reporter points out that the University of Science, Arts, and Technology is widely considered a diploma mill and Clement replies that he worked three and a half or four years for 30 hours a week. Even if he’s telling the truth (which I must question), that’s a pretty darned easy PhD program. it would have been awesome if I could have gotten my PhD working only 30 hours a week.

The more I learn about Brian Clement, the more I wonder: How on earth has this guy been operating for three decades in Florida. Clearly, the State of Florida has utterly failed to protect its citizens from quackery. In fact, given how many people, such as Makayla Sault, come from all over the world, Florida has failed to protect everyone.

At the end of the report, the reporter asks Clement about accusations that he gives cancer patients false hope. He immediately replies, “There is no such thing as false hope.” Wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong. Hope is important, but cancer patients need that hope to be tempered with a realistic assessment of their prognosis. Clement takes that away from them.

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MCC Turin

Updated pictures from mission control at Altec in Turin.

IXV Spacecraft Operations Manager Stephane Dussy CVredit: ESA/P.Shlyaev

IXV mission control centre at Altec, Turin, Italy. Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev

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Updated pictures from mission control at Altec in Turin.

IXV Spacecraft Operations Manager Stephane Dussy CVredit: ESA/P.Shlyaev

IXV mission control centre at Altec, Turin, Italy. Credit: ESA/P. Shlyaev

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Moon, Saturn and star Antares before dawn February 12

Before dawn tomorrow – February 12, 2015 – look to the right of the sunrise direction for the moon and golden planet Saturn. They’ll be near the upper part of the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. The bright reddish star Antares – Heart of the Scorpion – is also nearby. And you might notice a little arc of three stars in the vicinity of the moon and Saturn. These three are sometimes called the Crown of the Scorpion. Individually, the Crown stars are Graffias, Dschubba, and Pi Scorpii. While the moon is near the Crown of the Scorpion for only few days each month, Saturn will remain in the vicinity of the Scorpion’s Crown for the rest of 2015.

It’s rare when star patterns on our sky’s dome have anything to do with real associations of stars in space, but the Crown stars are thought to be loosely bound by gravity. All three are located at approximately the same distance, about 500 light-years away. All are thought to be members of the Scorpius-Centaurus group, which was first recognized by astronomers in the early part of the twentieth century.

About 100 stars are known in the Scorpius-Centaurus group, including Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius – also pictured on today’s chart. The moon, by the way, will move closer to Antares on February 13. The Scorpius-Centaurus stars share a common motion through space. They were probably all born from a single vast cloud of gas and dust. In other words, these stars are much like a family – loosely bound – sharing a common history.

If you’re clouded out on Thursday morning, don’t worry. The moon will be even closer to Saturn on Friday morning, as the chart below shows.

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

If you’re up before sunrise February 12-14, 2015, watch the moon slide down the ecliptic – pathway of the sun, moon and planets.

By the way, it’s a waning crescent moon that you’ll find in the predawn hours February 12. And, as the moon wanes this month, it’s also edging closer to Earth in its orbit, heading toward its monthly perigee, or closest point to Earth for the month. The moon will reach this month’s perigee only 8 hours after the moon turns new on February 18 at 23:47 UTC (6:47 p.m. CDT). That makes this month’s new moon a supermoon. It also happens to be a Black Moon.

Bottom line: Look for the Crown of the Scorpion to the east (or left) of the waning crescent moon in the predawn hours February 12.

A planisphere is virtually indispensable for beginning stargazers. Order your EarthSky Planisphere today!

Almost gone … EarthSky lunar calendars for 2015.

from EarthSky http://ift.tt/1CP1L70

Before dawn tomorrow – February 12, 2015 – look to the right of the sunrise direction for the moon and golden planet Saturn. They’ll be near the upper part of the constellation Scorpius the Scorpion. The bright reddish star Antares – Heart of the Scorpion – is also nearby. And you might notice a little arc of three stars in the vicinity of the moon and Saturn. These three are sometimes called the Crown of the Scorpion. Individually, the Crown stars are Graffias, Dschubba, and Pi Scorpii. While the moon is near the Crown of the Scorpion for only few days each month, Saturn will remain in the vicinity of the Scorpion’s Crown for the rest of 2015.

It’s rare when star patterns on our sky’s dome have anything to do with real associations of stars in space, but the Crown stars are thought to be loosely bound by gravity. All three are located at approximately the same distance, about 500 light-years away. All are thought to be members of the Scorpius-Centaurus group, which was first recognized by astronomers in the early part of the twentieth century.

About 100 stars are known in the Scorpius-Centaurus group, including Antares, the brightest star in Scorpius – also pictured on today’s chart. The moon, by the way, will move closer to Antares on February 13. The Scorpius-Centaurus stars share a common motion through space. They were probably all born from a single vast cloud of gas and dust. In other words, these stars are much like a family – loosely bound – sharing a common history.

If you’re clouded out on Thursday morning, don’t worry. The moon will be even closer to Saturn on Friday morning, as the chart below shows.

Enjoying EarthSky so far? Sign up for our free daily newsletter today!

If you’re up before sunrise February 12-14, 2015, watch the moon slide down the ecliptic – pathway of the sun, moon and planets.

By the way, it’s a waning crescent moon that you’ll find in the predawn hours February 12. And, as the moon wanes this month, it’s also edging closer to Earth in its orbit, heading toward its monthly perigee, or closest point to Earth for the month. The moon will reach this month’s perigee only 8 hours after the moon turns new on February 18 at 23:47 UTC (6:47 p.m. CDT). That makes this month’s new moon a supermoon. It also happens to be a Black Moon.

Bottom line: Look for the Crown of the Scorpion to the east (or left) of the waning crescent moon in the predawn hours February 12.

A planisphere is virtually indispensable for beginning stargazers. Order your EarthSky Planisphere today!

Almost gone … EarthSky lunar calendars for 2015.

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Update 06:30 CET

The IXV 'ground segment' – the computers, systems, software and networks on Earth that enable the ground team to communicate with the spaceplane – is being switched on. Internal checks and confirmations are being done at mission control Turin (MCC Turin), the ground tracking stations at Libreville, Gabon, and Malindi, Kenya, and on board the Nos Aries ship in the Pacific. Libreville station has already reported internal readiness, and is now waiting for data flow checks with Turin. Lift-off set for 14:00 CET from Kourou on board Veg flight VV04.

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The IXV 'ground segment' – the computers, systems, software and networks on Earth that enable the ground team to communicate with the spaceplane – is being switched on. Internal checks and confirmations are being done at mission control Turin (MCC Turin), the ground tracking stations at Libreville, Gabon, and Malindi, Kenya, and on board the Nos Aries ship in the Pacific. Libreville station has already reported internal readiness, and is now waiting for data flow checks with Turin. Lift-off set for 14:00 CET from Kourou on board Veg flight VV04.

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Occupational Health News Roundup [The Pump Handle]

NPR reporter Daniel Zwerdling reports on the failure of hospitals to protect nursing staff from preventable and often debilitating injuries, writing that nursing assistants and orderlies suffer three times the rate of back and musculoskeletal injuries as construction workers. In fact, federal data show that nursing assistants experience more injuries than any other occupation. Zwerdling starts his piece with the story of Pennsylvania nurse Tove Schuster:

While working the overnight shift, (Schuster) heard an all-too-common cry: “Please, I need help. My patient has fallen on the floor.”

The patient was a woman who weighed more than 300 pounds. So Schuster did what nursing schools and hospitals across the country teach: She gathered a few colleagues, and they lifted the patient as a team.

“I had her legs — a corner of one of the legs, anyway,” says Schuster, who was 43 years old at the time. “And as we swung her up onto the bed, I felt something pop. And I went ‘ooo.’ ”

She finished the shift in pain and drove straight home to bed.

But after Schuster woke up late that afternoon, her husband, Matt, heard her shouting. He says he ran to the bedroom and found her crawling across the floor. “I thought it was a joke at first,” he says. “And she says, ‘I can’t walk.'”

During Zwerdling’s investigation, he found that the traditional way nurses have been taught to move patients — bending the knees and keeping the back straight — is actually quite dangerous. And while some hospitals have been successful at reducing lifting-related injuries using special machinery and intensive staff training, most hospitals have not taken such action. But perhaps most alarming was this finding from the article:

Many hospital administrators overlook injuries among the nursing staff partly because they’re preoccupied with other priorities. Industry sources told NPR that nursing employees have traditionally ranked low in the hospital industry’s hierarchy.

“Too many hospital administrators see nursing staff as second-class citizens,” says Suzanne Gordon, author of Nursing Against the Odds. “Historically, hospital administrators have viewed nurses as a disposable labor force.”

To read the full investigative article, visit NPR.

In other news:

Salon: Writer Luke Brinker reports that Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has “dramatically escalated his war against labor unions,” signing an executive order this week that allows public employees to opt out of paying “fair share” fees that support collective bargaining. (Whether a union member or not, all employees in unionized workplaces benefit from collective bargaining activities, thus the application of fair share fees.) According to Brinker, Rauner has called the fees unconstitutional; however, the Supreme Court has upheld such fees as legal as long as they’re not used to fund political activities. The story reads: “Bruce Rauner’s scheme to strip the rights of state workers and weaken their unions by executive order is a blatantly illegal abuse of power,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch told the Sun-Times in a statement yesterday. “Perhaps as a private equity CEO, Rauner was accustomed to ignoring legal and ethical standards, but Illinois is still a democracy and its laws have meaning.”

The Hill : Senate Republicans are moving to block the National Labor Relations Board from speeding up union elections. Reporter Tim Devaney writes that labor officials and Democrats argue that the rule is needed to prevent companies from delaying such elections and intimidating workers. Currently, it takes about 38 days from the time a petition is filed to hold an election, but the new NLRB rule could shorten that time to closer to 10 days. Opponents, however, are describing the measure as an “ambush” election rule and a “sneak attack” on businesses.

The New York Times : Reporter Rachel Abrams writes that Ashley Furniture, one of the world’s largest furniture makers, has been hit with $1.7 million in fines related to unsafe working conditions at its plant in Arcadia, Wisconsin, that have resulted in more than 1,000 injuries. OSHA cited the company for dozens of violations, with U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez describing Ashley Furniture as an OSHA “frequent flier.” The company has also been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program for its failure to fix a number of safety issues. Abrams quotes Perez as saying: “I don’t quite understand how the worker can be to blame when the fact of the matter is, the machines lacked the proper safety mechanisms, which are not that expensive. This is not splitting the atom.”

USA Today : Oil refinery workers from Ohio to California have gone on strike, joining the biggest refinery work stoppage since 1980, according to reporter Mike Snider. He writes that the initial strike began after a negotiation breakdown between United Steelworkers and BP. As of this weekend, more than 5,000 workers nationwide had joined the strike. In a Huffington Post blog post, United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard writes that during previous negotiations, workers “struggled” to get their employers to include strong safety language in their collective bargaining agreements. In the post, Gerard remembers the workers who lost their lives in the 2010 Tesoro refinery blast in Anacortes, Washington; investigators eventually found that the piece of machinery that triggered the explosion was known by management to be faulty. Gerard quotes a striking worker: “A big part of this strike is that none of us wants to be the next person to lose his life for no good reason.”

Upworthy: Check out the new documentary, “The Hand That Feeds,” a film about immigrant and low-wage workers who are organizing against the odds for fair wages and working conditions. (We’ve posted the trailer below.) And visit the filmmakers’ Kickstarter campaign, which is raising funds to release the documentary nationwide, to learn more about the film and its subjects.

Kim Krisberg is a freelance public health writer living in Austin, Texas, and has been writing about public health for more than a decade.

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NPR reporter Daniel Zwerdling reports on the failure of hospitals to protect nursing staff from preventable and often debilitating injuries, writing that nursing assistants and orderlies suffer three times the rate of back and musculoskeletal injuries as construction workers. In fact, federal data show that nursing assistants experience more injuries than any other occupation. Zwerdling starts his piece with the story of Pennsylvania nurse Tove Schuster:

While working the overnight shift, (Schuster) heard an all-too-common cry: “Please, I need help. My patient has fallen on the floor.”

The patient was a woman who weighed more than 300 pounds. So Schuster did what nursing schools and hospitals across the country teach: She gathered a few colleagues, and they lifted the patient as a team.

“I had her legs — a corner of one of the legs, anyway,” says Schuster, who was 43 years old at the time. “And as we swung her up onto the bed, I felt something pop. And I went ‘ooo.’ ”

She finished the shift in pain and drove straight home to bed.

But after Schuster woke up late that afternoon, her husband, Matt, heard her shouting. He says he ran to the bedroom and found her crawling across the floor. “I thought it was a joke at first,” he says. “And she says, ‘I can’t walk.'”

During Zwerdling’s investigation, he found that the traditional way nurses have been taught to move patients — bending the knees and keeping the back straight — is actually quite dangerous. And while some hospitals have been successful at reducing lifting-related injuries using special machinery and intensive staff training, most hospitals have not taken such action. But perhaps most alarming was this finding from the article:

Many hospital administrators overlook injuries among the nursing staff partly because they’re preoccupied with other priorities. Industry sources told NPR that nursing employees have traditionally ranked low in the hospital industry’s hierarchy.

“Too many hospital administrators see nursing staff as second-class citizens,” says Suzanne Gordon, author of Nursing Against the Odds. “Historically, hospital administrators have viewed nurses as a disposable labor force.”

To read the full investigative article, visit NPR.

In other news:

Salon: Writer Luke Brinker reports that Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has “dramatically escalated his war against labor unions,” signing an executive order this week that allows public employees to opt out of paying “fair share” fees that support collective bargaining. (Whether a union member or not, all employees in unionized workplaces benefit from collective bargaining activities, thus the application of fair share fees.) According to Brinker, Rauner has called the fees unconstitutional; however, the Supreme Court has upheld such fees as legal as long as they’re not used to fund political activities. The story reads: “Bruce Rauner’s scheme to strip the rights of state workers and weaken their unions by executive order is a blatantly illegal abuse of power,” AFSCME Council 31 Executive Director Roberta Lynch told the Sun-Times in a statement yesterday. “Perhaps as a private equity CEO, Rauner was accustomed to ignoring legal and ethical standards, but Illinois is still a democracy and its laws have meaning.”

The Hill : Senate Republicans are moving to block the National Labor Relations Board from speeding up union elections. Reporter Tim Devaney writes that labor officials and Democrats argue that the rule is needed to prevent companies from delaying such elections and intimidating workers. Currently, it takes about 38 days from the time a petition is filed to hold an election, but the new NLRB rule could shorten that time to closer to 10 days. Opponents, however, are describing the measure as an “ambush” election rule and a “sneak attack” on businesses.

The New York Times : Reporter Rachel Abrams writes that Ashley Furniture, one of the world’s largest furniture makers, has been hit with $1.7 million in fines related to unsafe working conditions at its plant in Arcadia, Wisconsin, that have resulted in more than 1,000 injuries. OSHA cited the company for dozens of violations, with U.S. Labor Secretary Thomas Perez describing Ashley Furniture as an OSHA “frequent flier.” The company has also been placed in OSHA’s Severe Violator Enforcement Program for its failure to fix a number of safety issues. Abrams quotes Perez as saying: “I don’t quite understand how the worker can be to blame when the fact of the matter is, the machines lacked the proper safety mechanisms, which are not that expensive. This is not splitting the atom.”

USA Today : Oil refinery workers from Ohio to California have gone on strike, joining the biggest refinery work stoppage since 1980, according to reporter Mike Snider. He writes that the initial strike began after a negotiation breakdown between United Steelworkers and BP. As of this weekend, more than 5,000 workers nationwide had joined the strike. In a Huffington Post blog post, United Steelworkers International President Leo Gerard writes that during previous negotiations, workers “struggled” to get their employers to include strong safety language in their collective bargaining agreements. In the post, Gerard remembers the workers who lost their lives in the 2010 Tesoro refinery blast in Anacortes, Washington; investigators eventually found that the piece of machinery that triggered the explosion was known by management to be faulty. Gerard quotes a striking worker: “A big part of this strike is that none of us wants to be the next person to lose his life for no good reason.”

Upworthy: Check out the new documentary, “The Hand That Feeds,” a film about immigrant and low-wage workers who are organizing against the odds for fair wages and working conditions. (We’ve posted the trailer below.) And visit the filmmakers’ Kickstarter campaign, which is raising funds to release the documentary nationwide, to learn more about the film and its subjects.

Kim Krisberg is a freelance public health writer living in Austin, Texas, and has been writing about public health for more than a decade.

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