The drama surrounding COVID-19 vaccines continues as President Trump suggested that the executive branch would not support stricter guidelines for evaluating a COVID-19 vaccine. If approved, the new guidelines from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) would include additional specifications for clinical trial data and a committee of independent experts to review that data before any vaccine is approved. President Trump continues to promise a vaccine before the end of the year, despite experts saying that is unlikely. Trump asserted that the plan to introduce more guidelines was political in nature.

Related: Natural Coronavirus Prevention

That has to be approved by the White House. We may or may not approve it. That sounds like a political move. I think that was a political move more than anything else…”

President Trump

This announcement will add fuel to the growing anti-Trump-vaxxer movement taking place in the Democratic party. Vice presidential nominee Kamala Harris cast doubt on the efficacy and safety of a COVID-19 vaccine implemented during a Trump presidency earlier in September.

I will say that I would not trust Donald Trump, and it would have to be a credible source of information that talks about the efficacy and the reliability of whatever he’s talking about….I will not take his word for it.”

Senator Kamala Harris

Related: How To Detoxify and Heal From Vaccinations – For Adults and Children

The pandemic has been stressful for Americans, especially those who are working class, and a new study finds that stress reflected in our mental health. Available on JAMA Network Open, the study finds that rates of depression have tripled in the United States, rising from 8.5% before the pandemic to 27.8%. The data was collected from a survey with 1,441 participants conducted in April of 2020.

Spikes in depression are common during and after large scale trauma events. Researchers also evaluated the impact of stressors on the survey takers’ mental health. Lower-income individuals with less than $5,000 in savings who were exposed to a greater amount of stressors were most at risk for depression. This group was the most vulnerable before the pandemic and experienced a 50% increase in depression risk.

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While further data will be needed to assess the trajectory of depression in the US population and potential treatment for affected populations, it seems important to recognize the potential for the mental health consequences of COVID-19 to be large in scale, to recognize that these effects can be long-lasting, and to consider preventative action to help mitigate its effects.²⁸ In particular, this burden is being borne by economically and socially marginalized groups, suggesting that individuals with low income and with fewer resources may benefit from particular policy attention in coming months

Prevalence of Depression Symptoms in US Adults Before and During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Parkinson’s disease is a nervous system disorder that affects movement. As early as 2000, research has shown that Parkinson’s disease originates in the gut. Many studies have proposed that pathogens from the gut travel to the brain via the nervous system.

One animal study last year, for example, produced the best evidence to date of this gut-brain connection, demonstrating how misfolded proteins can travel to the brain through the vagus nerve. Another from earlier this year showed how some species of gut bacteria could inhibit the accumulation of these proteins, while another highlighted how altered neurons that regulate the digestive system may play a role in the early stages of Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s linked to overabundance of opportunistic gut pathogens

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A new study done in 2017 by neurologists from the University of Alabama has shown that opportunistic pathogens take advantage of the body’s weakened defenses, driving infection, in Parkinson’s disease. Researchers used advanced DNA sequencing and computational tools to analyze data from previous studies as well as new independent data. Researchers looked at 520 cases of Parkinson’s and 300 controls within the study.

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The best treatment and prevention for Parkinson’s Disease is having a healthy gut. To learn more about gut health and how to heal the gut, check out this article.

An increased number of google searches for gastrointestinal issues corresponded with an increase in COVID-19 cases, according to a new study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology. Researchers were inspired to look into this phenomena by the tendency of patients with COVID-19 to report symptoms like abdominal pain and diarrhea.

Our data underscore the importance of GI symptoms as a potential harbinger of Covid-19 infection and suggests that Google Trends may be a valuable tool for prediction of pandemics with GI manifestations…”

Kyle Staller, director of Mass General’s gastrointestinal motility laboratory

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Researchers used Alphabet Inc.’s Google Trends online tool to compare searches for diarrhea and loss of taste and appetite with reported COVID-19 cases. They found a positive correlation. Areas that experienced a high volume of gastrointestinal symptom searches, like New York, New Jersey, California, Massachusetts and Illinois, became states with high-disease burdens three to four weeks after the searches.

Related: How To Heal Your Gut

This study comes on the heels of another study that COVID-19 patients often have prolonged viral intestinal infections. Patients with gut infections continued to have positive stool tests, even after respiratory tests came back negative.

Cases of colon cancer are on the rise in young people, and a study found that people with gum disease are at a significantly higher risk of developing colorectal cancers. Those with gum disease had a 52% higher chance of developing colon cancer and a 43% higher chance of developing throat cancer. The study also found that people who had lost two or more teeth were also at a higher risk for stomach (33%) and throat (42%) cancer.

Participants with periodontal disease and a higher number of teeth lost had a higher risk of developing the two gastrointestinal cancers, even after adjusting for other major risk factors…” 

Mingyang Song, Harvard assistant professor of clinical epidemiology and nutrition

The world was shocked when Chadwick Boseman, the 43-year-old actor who portrayed Black Panther, died of colon cancer recently, but he was part of the growing group of young adults who have been diagnosed with colon cancer. From 2011 to 2016, the rate of colon cancer diagnoses in the United States rose by 1% every year in people aged 50 to 64 and 2.2% in people under age 50. After excluding skin cancers, colorectal cancer is the third most diagnosed cancer in the U.S.

Your gums are indicative of your body’s overall health.

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Data collected by the National Center for Health Statistics shows that suicide rates in youth aged 10-24 have increased by 57% between 2007 and 2018. This is a rise from 7 in every 100,000 people to 11. The U.S suicide rate within all age groups was 14 people in every 100,000 in 2018. More than a quarter of young adults reported seriously considering suicide in the last 30 days.

“There are many reasons to suspect that suicide rates will increase this year too, not just because of Covid-19 but because stress and anxiety seem to be permeating every aspect of our lives,”

Suicides Among U.S. Kids, Young Adults Jumped 57% in Past Decade

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Rural states showed the highest suicide rates, namely Alaska, South Dakota Montana, Wyoming, and New Mexico. Alaska was the highest with 31.5 young suicides per 100,000 young people. In contrast, Northeastern states, including New Jersey, Rhode Island, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts had the lowest suicide rates. That being said, New York, New Jersey, and Massachusetts saw 44%, 39%, and 64% increases in suicide rates respectively.

With the ongoing political, social, and socioeconomic stress in today’s climate, plus the added stress of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is likely that suicide rates will continue to rise.

Police in Portland have been using tear gas on protestors since May, and officials are worried about the effect of the gas on the health of the protestors and the water in the area, especially the Willamette River. Since July 24th, the state has received 160 complaints about tear gas, in addition to comments on social media.

While aren’t many studies on the long-term effects of tear gas exposure, which authorities have sprayed over protestors since George Floyd’s death on May 25th, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) says that prolonged exposure to riot control agents like CS gas can cause eye problems like scarring, glaucoma, and cataracts, and may possibly cause breathing problems such as asthma. A small sample of protestors has reported that frequent exposure to tear gas has altered their menstrual cycles. The Oregon Health & Science University released a statement on tear gas and COVID-19.

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While large gatherings in general provide increased opportunities for the transmission of COVID-19, the use of tear gas could significantly exacerbate the spread. Tear gas is a chemical that attacks the mucous membranes of the eyes, nose, throat and lungs and causes severe pain and irritation; exposure to tear gas can result in blindness, bleeding, crying and coughing. The release of airborne droplets through tear gas-induced coughing could accelerate the spread of COVID-19 and lead to a surge in new cases. Damage to the respiratory tract can put individuals at greater risk of adverse outcomes if they become infected with COVID-19.”

Danny Jacobs, President of OHSU

In addition to human health, environmental regulators are also concerned about the nightly applications of tear gas. The Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) has asked the Portland Bureau of Environmental Services to respond to that.

Due to the unprecedented amount of tear gas products used within the downtown area over the last 90 days, DEQ is requiring the City to conduct additional water quality monitoring…” 

Christine Svetkovich, DEQ Water Quality Manager

The DEQ has also asked the city to report on the collections of lead, copper, barium, zinc, perchlorate, total chromium, and hexavalent chromium in the water supply.