“Running Too Far? The Surprising Paradox of Endurance Exercise and Heart Health”

People often think that if you exercise a lot over a long time, especially if you do hard workouts like running ultramarathons, you will protect your heart. But a recent study called Master@Heart suggests this might not always be the case.

Researchers found that folks who have been doing endurance exercises their whole life actually had more gunk built up in their arteries, compared to folks who are fit and healthy but don’t do extreme exercise. This build-up, called plaques, can increase the risk of heart disease. And it didn’t matter what type of plaque it was; all types seemed to be more common in the long-term exercisers.

This surprising discovery was presented at a big meeting of heart doctors in March 2023, called the American College of Cardiology Scientific Session/World Congress of Cardiology. The study was also published online in a reputable medical journal called the European Heart Journal.

Ruben De Bosscher, the lead researcher from Catholic University of Leuven in Belgium, summed up the findings by saying that the study consistently found more plaque in the arteries of those who’ve been doing endurance exercises their whole life, no matter the type of plaque. “The study does nicely illustrate that exercise does not make you immune from heart disease. There is increasing evidence that there may be a point of diminished returns ― and at a certain point, an increased cardiovascular risk is seen in endurance athletes.”

The Masters@Heart study serves as a reminder that the path to health doesn’t always follow the law of ‘more is better’. It underscores the need for a balanced approach, where we respect the boundaries of our bodies, understanding that pushing those limits too far may have repercussions that contradict our original intent. More exercise is not necessarily better, just as more water does not necessarily equate to optimal hydration (hyponatremia, a condition characterized by low sodium levels in the blood, is a concern among endurance athletes. It typically occurs when athletes, afraid of dehydration, consume excessive amounts of fluids leading to dilution of sodium in their bodies. In severe cases, overhydration can be life-threatening).

Sometimes, less is indeed more.

“Criminal Sole-Searching: The Doctors and Big Nose George”

Big Nose George Parrot, an infamous desperado of a lawless band, terrorized the peaceful landscapes of Wyoming’s Powder River region, primarily targeting pay wagons and stagecoaches. The gang’s criminal ambition swelled to such a point that they plotted to derail a Union Pacific train near Medicine Bow, a plan that was luckily detected and thwarted by a vigilant crew.

Local law enforcement was mobilized to hunt down the gang members but, when two officers tracked them to Rattlesnake Canyon at Elk Mountain, they fell victim to the outlaws’ bullets. The gang scattered, evading capture by fleeing in different directions. The Union Pacific Railroad, seeking justice, ramped up efforts to catch these killers, placing a hefty bounty on their heads.

In a twist of fate, Big Nose George was apprehended in Miles City, Montana, not by pursuers but through his own drunken revelry. As he bragged about his criminal exploits, the locals seized their chance and sent a telegraph to alert authorities. In July 1880, Sheriff Rankin of Carbon County made the journey to Montana to escort George back to Wyoming to face trial.

George was condemned to the gallows on December 15, 1880, the sentence scheduled to be carried out on April 2, 1881. However, George would not await death idly. On March 22, he attempted an escape that ended in a struggle with Jailer Robert Rankin, injuring both men. Mrs. Rankin’s timely intervention with a firearm put an end to George’s freedom bid.

Word of the daring escape attempt spread like wildfire, stirring up a group of masked vigilantes. Fueled by anger, they overran the jail, seizing George and dragging him to a telegraph pole on Front Street. After two unsuccessful attempts, they finally succeeded in hanging him. His lifeless body was left suspended for hours before being removed by an undertaker.

With no next of kin to claim George’s remains, two local physicians, Doctors Thomas Maghee and John Osborne, seized the opportunity to study his brain, hoping to uncover the roots of his criminal tendencies. Lillian Heath, a young assistant to Dr. Maghee, bore witness to this unorthodox investigation.

The physicians dissected George’s skull but found his brain to be unremarkably similar to an average one. Dr. Osborne, however, ventured further into the macabre. He first fashioned a death mask from George’s face, then had the skin from George’s thighs and chest transformed into a pair of shoes and a medicine bag by a Denver tannery. To the dismay of Dr. Osborne, the shoes arrived without nipples, yet he wore them with pride nonetheless.

George’s remaining body parts were stored in a whiskey barrel filled with a salt solution and Dr. Osborne continued his morbid studies before finally interring the barrel and its grim contents in the yard behind Dr. Maghee’s office.

Despite his bizarre treatment of George’s remains, Dr. Osborne rose to local political prominence. He was elected the first Democratic Governor of Wyoming in 1892 and was even rumored to have donned the macabre shoes made from George’s skin to his inaugural ball in 1893. Later, he served under President Wilson as the Assistant Secretary of State.

George’s skull cap eventually ended up with Lillian Heath, who went on to be Wyoming’s first female physician. Over the years, the grim memento served as both an ashtray and a doorstop in her office, a curious keepsake from the intriguing tale of Big Nose George Parrot.

Source: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/wy-bignose/

“The Great Hot Dog Water Hoax: A Sizzling Tale of Gullibility and Wellness”

In 2018, in the lively city of Vancouver, performance artist Douglas Bevans undertook a peculiar experiment. His goal was to illuminate the gullibility that underlies much of the wellness movement. His tool for this grand revelation? A product as absurd as it was inventive – hot dog water.

Bevans pitched his tent at the Car Free Day Festival, peddling his unorthodox health elixir – bottles of hot dog water – at an astonishing $38 each. The bottles, each one housing a floating hot dog, were presented as “keto-compatible,” and as potent catalysts for weight loss.

But Bevans didn’t stop there. His wellness repertoire also boasted hot dog water lip balm, breath spray, and even a body fragrance. He promised that his products would augment brain function, induce weight loss, and even restore a youthful appearance. His lip balm, he claimed, was the ultimate remedy for crow’s feet.

“We noticed that some people were rubbing lip balm on their crow’s feet and they were swearing their crow’s feet were disappearing before their eyes,” Bevans remarked. One customer, after applying the balm to his balding scalp, insisted it was promoting hair growth, providing photographic evidence to support his claim.

In the grand scheme of his elaborate performance, Bevans managed to sell an astonishing total of 60 liters of his unconventional Hot Dog Water.

Yet Bevans’ true intentions were not profit-driven. Concealed in the fine print of his product brochure was the revelation – it was all a hoax. This was a satirical performance designed to expose the susceptibility of consumers to baseless health claims and pseudoscience within the wellness industry.

Bevan’s hot dog water gimmick not only grabbed the world’s attention but also sparked a conversation, making us think about the irrationality of the wellness movement, and urging us to question the validity of the wellness industry’s claims before we gulp down another bottle of, say, hot dog water.

War, On Drugs

On March 18, 1944, a Finnish ski patrol was ambushed by Russian soldiers. Whilst fleeing from the Russians, one exhausted Finnish soldier, Aimo Koivunen, was carrying his entire squad’s supply of Pervitin. Pervitin was a methamphetamine drug supplied to German and Finnish soldiers during World War II to help them stay alert and focused during long stretches of combat.

Aimo was running out of steam, and the mittens he wore prevented him from fishing out an individual pill, so he took an entire 30-man patrol’s supply of Pervictin as a single dose.

Aimo slipped in and out of drug-induced delirium. During his hazy confusion, he had somehow been separated from his entire squad, escaped pursuing Russian troops, and survived laying in a ditch for several days after stepping on a landmine. The only foods he managed to eat were pine buds and a raw bird he managed to catch.

By the time he was found, he had travelled 400 kilometres. He was taken to a Finnish hospital, where staff recorded his heart rate at 200 beats per minute and weighed him in at 43 kilograms (94 pounds).
Aimo Koivunen died in 1989, aged 72.

Testostergroan

Ageing, insecure men have always grasped for elixirs of youth. Today, the male anti-ageing movement is placing bets on testosterone, seemingly oblivious of the misspent efforts of similar-minded individuals back in the roaring twenties.

Over the last one hundred years, hormones have played a colourful role in the senescent male’s search for virility. A prevailing belief that eunuchs possessed inferior physical and mental abilities gave rise to pioneers in the field of hormone replacement. Scientists reasoned that testicles produced a magical substance that conferred youth, explaining the perceived frailty of eunuchs.

French physician Charles-Édouard Brown-Séquard injected himself with extracts from the crushed testicles of dogs and guinea pigs, hoping to regain his lost youth. Thousands of physicians offered Brown-Séquard’s treatment to an eager public, but the anecdotal success of these injections was hit-and-miss.

Hence, a Professor of Physiology at the University of Vienna, Eugene Steinach, invented a more elaborate treatment. He performed a partial vasectomy procedure known as the Steinach operation. In theory, he believed that the surgery would stimulate the production of anti-ageing substances. The rich and famous lined up for Steinach’s procedure—influential men like Sigmund Freud and William Butler Yeats went under the knife.

Dr. Serge Voronoff developed a technique of grafting monkey testicle tissue into men. Sewing the monkey testicle onto a human’s scrotum was supposed to restore youth and prolong life. The tissue was initially harvested from criminals, but with demand outstripping supply, he switched to monkey gonads he could freely obtain from his monkey farm on the Italian Riviera.

Driven by the power of a placebo, Voronoff’s popular procedure led to a doping scandal in English soccer. When struggling Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club inflicted crushing defeats on rivals after Wolves’ players got monkey gland injections, other teams rushed to adopt the unorthodox treatment. The 1939 FA Cup Final was contested between two teams who relied on monkey glands to enhance performance, so the press called it the ‘Monkey Gland Final.’

Catnip for human catnaps?

Catnip (Nepeta cataria) is a plant used as a recreational drug to entertain cats but whether cats respond to it is genetically determined. The active compound in catnip which produces its stimulating effect in cats is called nepetalactone. This chemical, which mimics feline sex hormones, protects the plant by attracting lacewings that eat pests like aphids and mites. Nepetalactone also repels mosquitoes. Rubbing against catnip makes cats more resistant to mosquito bites.

Catnip has been used by humans for centuries as a natural remedy for headaches, digestive issues, and insomnia. Mostly employed as a herbal tea, catnip was smoked in the 1960s as a marijuana substitute.

Autumn skin colours

Green

Green Nail Syndrome is a greenish discolouration of the nail cause by Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection. This bacterium flourishes in wet environments, such as jacuzzis, contact lens solution, sinks, and bath sponges. When it grows, it produces green pigments called pyocyanin and pyoverdin. Pseudomonas aeruginosa can also result in green urine when causing urinary tract infections.

Yellow

Jaundice is a condition where the skin turns yellow because of a high level of bilirubin. Bilirubin, a yellow-orange bile pigment, is a breakdown product of red blood cells which is removed from the body by the liver.

Orange

Carotenemia is abnormal yellow-orange discolouration of the skin; usually due to excessive dietary beta-carotene intake. It may be caused by excessive intake of nutritional supplements or beta-carotene rich foods (such as carrots, spinach, sweet potatoes, broccoli, and winter squash).

Red

Erythroderma (“red skin”) is a serious condition marked by redness and scaling involving all or most of the skin. In most cases, it is triggered by an underlying condition or drug reaction. A serious reaction to the drug vancomycin causes the ‘Red man syndrome’.

Brain Gout

The breakthrough treatment for Bipolar Disorder was discovered by an ex-POW (prisoner of war) who injected guinea pigs with human urine. 

John Cade’s accidental discovery is even more fascinating if we consider that Cade’s theory was wrong, his observations were wrong, and his experiments do not meet modern-day standards.

During his time in a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp, Cade was put in charge of the psychiatric section, observing the disease-causing effects of vitamin deficiencies in his fellow prisoners. 

Later, as a psychiatrist, he wondered if Bipolar Disorder was caused by too much or too little of an unknown substance. He recognized that mania resembled an overactive thyroid while depression resembled an underactive thyroid. So it made sense to him that a chemical, like a thyroid hormone in the dysregulated thyroid states, was to blame. To find this substance, Cade took urine from people with mania and injected it into the abdominal cavities of guinea pigs. Thinking that the urine of manic patients was more lethal to guinea pigs than the urine of regular patients, he guessed that manics have higher levels of a toxin in their urine. Cade knew of two toxins in the urine: urea and uric acid. The amount of urea in the urine of manic and non-manic patients did not differ remarkably, so he began testing uric acid. 

Uric acid does not dissolve in water, and Cade needed a soluble form of uric acid to inject into the guinea pigs. Adding lithium to improve the solubility of uric acid, he injected the guinea pigs with lithium urate. To his surprise, the injections of lithium urate calmed the guinea pigs. Cade, of course, was wrong. The guinea pigs were not calm; they were poisoned. But Cade misinterpreted the signs of poisoning as calmness and wondered if it could calm humans too. He learned that the calming action was not due to urate but, instead, lithium. He started experimenting on himself before experimenting on his human patients. 

The psychiatric community took notice of Cade’s raw experiments and lithium was subsequently introduced as a new treatment for Manic-Depression (Bipolar Disorder). 

Lithium is a naturally occurring element named after the Greek word for stone (lithos) because it is present in rocks. Historically, people have frequented lithium-rich mineral springs for their supposed healing properties. 

Which beverage ‘takes the ouch out of grouch’? 

Launched shortly before the stock market crash in 1929, Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda proved a hit during the Depression. The soda appealed to a wide audience and recommended itself “for hospital or home use”. The drink’s name was later changed to 7-UP. During the Depression, 7-UP contained an ingredient which serves as our modern medical treatment for bipolar patients. Lithium. Lithium was listed on the 7-UP label until the 1940s. Today, lithium is the first line treatment for mania and bipolar depression. 

From LSD to AA

Members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) are sometimes referred to as “friends of Bill”. So who was Bill?

Bill Wilson was the co-founder of AA. He died 36 years sober, pleading for whiskey on his death bed. Instead, it was another addiction that killed him, namely tobacco. A heavy smoker, Wilson suffered from emphysema and developed fatal pneumonia. He continued to smoke despite needing an oxygen tank in the late 1960s.

Given his addictions, it seems ironic that Wilson searched to cure his alcoholism with another drug. The origin story of AA is deeply rooted in Bill’s experience with LSD. 

When LSD was discovered, the psychiatric community was very interested because LSD could make a normal person psychotic. That suggested a chemical basis for insanity, so if scientists could discover the chemical imbalance, they could cure schizophrenia. 

Two Saskatchewan researchers, Abram Hoffer and Humphry Osmond experimented with LSD on alcoholics and schizophrenics. Hoffer, Osmond and their wives all consumed LSD as part of self-experimentation while treating their Canadian patients. Both these prairie psychiatrists have fascinating backstories. 

Hoffer blamed schizophrenia on a substance in the body called adrenochrome. Although psychiatrists had long forgotten about Hoffer’s adrenochrome hypothesis of schizophrenia way back in 1950, Hollywood and QAnon conspiracies recently brought the word back into fashion and public awareness. The less said about such nonsense, the better. 

Hoffer’s colleague, Humphry Osmond gave us the term “psychedelic”. 

Whilst Hoffer and Osmond were experimenting with mescaline, a naturally occurring hallucinogen found in the peyote cactus, Osmond was approached by the famous poet and playwright Aldous Huxley. Huxley asked the Canadian psychiatrist for some mescaline. How would Osmond describe the experience of taking mescaline to Huxley? Osmond didn’t even have a word to describe mescaline’s effects. 

Huxley sent Osmond a rhyme with an invented word: “To make this mundane world sublime, just half a gram of phanerothyme”. Osmond, not liking the sound of that, responded with, “To fall in Hell or soar Angelic, you’ll need a pinch of psychedelic”.

Huxley, himself, was eager to look to the drug cabinet to solve the world’s problems. In his dystopian novel, Brave New World, Huxley introduces a fictional cure-all drug called Soma which he described as having “All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects.”

Back to Humphry Osmond. During this time, one of Osmond’s patients was Bill Wilson, co-founder of AA. 

Wilson used LSD in a medically supervised experiment. Under the influence of LSD, Bill claimed he experienced a spiritual awakening that allowed him to overcome his addiction to alcohol.

Bill’s spiritual interests went beyond the LSD epiphany because he believed that a 15th-century monk named Boniface and other spirits helped him write the Twelve Steps and Twelve Traditions, which detailed the basic principles of Alcoholics Anonymous. Wilson and his wife invited guests to their house to participate in seances using an Ouija board. 

Whatever text Bill Wilson may have attributed to ghostwriters, it is clear his writing was influenced by two intellectual powerhouses: Carl Jung and William James. Bill Wilson strongly identified with some of the concepts these two men endorsed. Wilson wrote to Dr Carl Jung. He had also read “The Varieties of Religious Experience” by William James. Bill Wilson recognized how Carl Jung promoted religious conversion to deal with a drinking problem and how James had written that “the only cure for dipsomania is religiomania.”

Bill Wilson’s spiritual experience with LSD inspired the discovery of Alcoholics Anonymous and kept him sober for 36 years. However, at the end of his life, he asked for a whiskey. But the nurse never gave him one. 

“Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is an international fellowship of support groups comprised of individuals in recovery, which offers emotional support and a structured “12-step” approach to achieving abstinence. A central concept in AA is that substance use disorders are a spiritual disease, and that recovery is a journey involving belief in a higher power, personal exploration, and acceptance.” 

A Malaria Prescription

Doctors used to prescribe malaria to treat syphilis. After observing that a high fever cured some patients of disease, doctors began to therapeutically inoculate patients with malaria parasites (known to cause high fever). Julius Wagner-Jauregg won the 1927 Nobel Prize in Medicine for demonstrating success in the treatment of dementia paralytica (caused by neurosyphilis) through inducing fever with malaria parasites. Unfortunately for patients, the mortality rate of malariotherapy was as high as 15%.