Injecting autologous stem cells directly into the heart of patients with chronic heart failure appears to revers the disease according to a study published by Bodo-Eckehard Strauer, of Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany.

Injecting stem cells into the heart improve ventricular performance, quality of life, and survival, according to an open-label, nonrandomized study. Stem cell therapy had an almost immediate effect with reversing chronic heart failure as early as three months after administration. The benefits continued to appear up to five years later when patients were seen through follow up. Patients who, however, continued on the traditional pharmaceutical approach continued to deteriorate over the same five year followup period.

There were no negative side effects to the stem cell therapy. There are always negative side effects to pharmaceutical drugs.

This news comes at a time when the FDA is trying to position itself to "regulate" and control stem cell therapy like its a drug. Most stem cell therapies extract the host cells from the patient who will be receiving the therapy. They then incubate and culture the stem cells to make them robust and ready for deployment. Then they are injected back into the patient. The FDA would like to treat your own stem cells, harvested from your own body, like a drug.

Embryonic stem cells are no longer needed. Breakthroughs in harvesting autologous stems cells from skin tissue and bone marrow have been made successful. In fact the stem cells used to reverse chronic heart failure in the study came from the patients own bone marrow. There is no reason for eh FDA to stand in the way of legitimate doctors performing stem cell therapies here in the USA... but they will try.

Ask yourself why? If stem cell therapy is only 10% as effective as many of us believe it can be... who will suffer? Big Pharma. So who is the FDA really protecting? The question is rhetorical.

Bisphenol A has been discussed ad infinitum recently. Its clearly a dangerous substance that has been outlawed in many European countries yet the "Leader in caring for its people", the USA continues to allow it to be used in plastic products that are used to package, store and prepare foods. Well now a recent study published by Tamara Galloway and associates - the InCHIANTI adult population study" Environ Health Perspect -  showed a direct correlation to excreted BPA and lowered testosterone levels in men.

"These results are important because they provide a first report in a large-scale human population of associations between elevated exposure to BPA and alterations in circulating hormone levels," Tamara Galloway, PhD, of the University of Exeter in England, and colleagues noted.

BPA has a history of concern regarding its possible effects on the human endocrine system. Exposure occurs primarily through dietary means, although dental sealants, dermal exposure, and inhalation of household dust also may contribute to total daily exposure. BPA appears to have estrogenic activities and this may be the source of its effects on lowering serum testosterone levels in men.

The linkage between elevated  estrogen and lowered testosterone is well noted and occur through the negative feedback loop of the Hypothalmus-Pituitary-Testicualr axis.

Now the real question is when will the all mighty protector of public health - The FDA - step in and mandate a winding down of the use of BPA here in the USA. My bet is no time soon since the companies that manufacture these products appear to have greater clout with the FDA than the people it claims to protect.

Vote with your dollars. Educate yourself about which products have BPA and steer clear entirely of them. This goes doubly if you have young children because disrupting the endocrine system can have long lasting negative effects to a developing body.

You've been warned.

My first brush with fame.

 It was a cool night in September 1983 and I had taken my best friend Al out for his birthday. We went to the Golden Nugget downtown Las Vegas and had a great stake dinner, then preparing to go out and rip up the town. When we exited the Golden Nugget casino we saw a film crew working so we walked over to see what they were doing. A tall willowy blond with dramatic features stood near a fellow in jeans and a leather jacket - who was instructing the film crew.

It was a young Daryl Hannah and her then-boy-friend Jackson Browne. They were filming the music video for his new song Tender Is The Night. I guess I had a certain look that they liked because I was asked to be in the video. Its towards the end right at the 3:42 mark immediately after the black Town Car Low Rider pulls into the camera view. I was 25 years old at the time and have a tooth pick in my mouth and standing alone against the wall of the Four Queens casino. My hair was pretty short. The director said for me to look like I was searching for someone - "on the prowl" I think he said my motivation was. That was pretty easy living in Vegas in my 20's because I was always on the prowl.  I've been told that I looked like a young Robert De Niro. See if you can find me. Its a great song to listen to in any case.

Over a half a million eggs are being recalled due to salmonella poisoning.  Apparently, the recall includes 228 million eggs produced in Galt, Iowa by Wright County Egg, and distributed to wholesalers nationwide.

People who have eaten the contaminated eggs suffer from severe, painful stomach cramps, diarrhea and in the worst cases of the very young and very old - death.

Many of the eggs were sold under the Ralphs and Albertson brand. Other brands also include Lucerne, Mountain Dairy, Boomsma’s, Sunshine, Hillandale, Trafficanda, Farm Fresh, Shoreland, Lund, Dutch Farms, and Kemps. I especially like the irony in the Farm Fresh name.

A report from the OC Register said that: “The eggs are packed in a variety of carton sizes, from 6, 12 and 18. The cartons carry “plant” numbers P1026, P1413 and P1946, followed by “Julian” dates ranging from 136 to 225. The stamps are found on the end of the egg carton.”

These types of massive recalls and mass spreading of food borne disease will continue to occur as long as large food conglomeratesmass produce food. The FDA and USDA will see this as an opportunity to promote greater Government oversight and an expansion of their departments.  Decentralization of the food supply by patronizing the smallfamily farm is a very simple solution that will cost the consumer less in tax dollars and a better quality of food.