Today's News: November 27, 2019

World News

Canada’s largest newspaper: Catholic schools must back LGBT ‘rights’ or risk losing public funding
Life Site – Canada’s largest newspaper threatened Catholic schools in an editorial that unless they get in line with homosexuality and transgender “rights,” support will only grow for an end to their public funding.
The Toronto Star’s Monday editorial also excoriated beleaguered Toronto Catholic District School Board (TCDSB) trustee Mike Del Grande and called for the board to censure him.
Del Grande — along with Teresa Lubinski, Garry Tanuan and Nancy Crawford — voted November 7 after months of bitter debate not to add “gender identity, gender expression, family status and marital status” to the TCDSB’s code of conduct as prohibited grounds for discrimination.
The many delegates and opponents of the policy change argued that adding the terms endorses spurious gender ideology in Catholic schools in contravention of Catholic teaching, leading to great harm to students.
But eight trustees led by chair Maria Rizzo voted to include the terms, arguing that the board had to follow a ministry directive to align its code of conduct with the provincial code and the Ontario Human Rights Code.
And now LGBTQ activists are piling on in an all-out attack on Del Grande, who is running for chair of the board in an upcoming election that will be held November 28.
He’s under fire for proposing — in an act of mockery to make a point — an amendment duing the night of the vote that the board add other categories of sexual identities to the code, such as pedophilia, bestiality, sadism, polygamy, and cannibalism, arguing that doing so would be truly “inclusive.”
Del Grande later described the amendment — which was ruled out of order — as a “Howard Moscoe thing” referring to a former left-wing Toronto city councillor known for outspokenness, and “hyperbolic.”
Over a Thousand Migrants Storm Greece and Italy In Days
Breitbart – Both Italy and Greece have seen a new influx of migrants in the last several days, with Greece alone receiving over 700 migrants in 24 hours.
Italian authorities allowed several migrant transport NGO vessels to dock on both Sunday and Monday, with the French NGO Sos Mediterranée dropping off 215 migrants at the port of Messina on Sunday after recovering the migrants off the coast of Libya, Il Giornale reports.
A day later, the unpopular leftist Italian coalition government of the Democratic Party and the Five Star Movement, granted access to two more migrant transport NGOs, Open Arms, which landed 73 migrants in Taranto and Aita Mari which disembarked 78 migrants in Pozallo.
Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte celebrated the fact that both Germany and France then agreed to help relocate the migrants coming into Italy following the temporary system agreed upon in Malta earlier in the year that some have regarded as tenuous.
While Italy has seen a surge in new arrivals since the new government largely reversed the closed port policy of former populist Interior Minister Matteo Salvini, the numbers in Greece have seen an even more substantial increase in the last several weeks.
Over the weekend, Greece’s Aegean islands saw 643 migrants land by boat in 24 hours, while the Greek coastguard picked up another 60 migrants for a total of 703 migrants overall.
The new figures come just a week after Greece saw 1,350 migrants arrive last weekend.
Several islands in the Aegean, most notably Lesbos and Samos, have seen their migrant camps become severely overcrowded with an estimated 37,000 migrants living in conditions only meant for a few thousand at most.
U.N. Climate Change Report: Survival of Half a Billion People, ‘Entire Ecosystems’ at Stake
Breitbart – One week ahead of its next climate change summit in Spain, the United Nations (U.N.) has issued a scathing report on how G20 countries are doing too little to stop “man-made climate change,” and millions of people’s fates hang in the balance.
Aljazeera wrote about the Emissions Gap Report 2019, which said the planet would face “catastrophic climate changes if emissions are not cut by 55 percent by 2030 — a date that fits the globalist organization’s 12 years until doomsday narrative:
The rise of just half a degree in global temperatures means the disappearance of entire ecosystems upon which the survival of half a billion people on the planet depends. A rise of 1.5C puts one million of the world’s 7.6 million species at risk of extinction, and will kill off 75 percent of the world’s coral reefs. A rise of 2C will kill all the world’s coral, cause massive habitats and many insects to disappear, along with shorter rainy seasons, impacting harvests.
The report said the United States and China as the worst offenders but also said Russia and the European Union are not acting aggressively to cut emissions.
“G20 countries are collectively responsible for 78 percent of all emissions, but they are not doing enough to contain global warming within the 1.5-2 degrees Celsius temperature goals established by the Paris Agreement in 2016,” Aljazeera reported.
Pope Francis Suggests Moratorium on Nuclear Energy
Breitbart – Pope Francis said Tuesday that not only nuclear weapons but also nuclear power plants should be at least temporarily banned because of their destructive capability.
Doctors Speak Out, Say Julian Assange ‘Could Die in Prison’ Due to Horrific Treatment and Neglect
Free Thought Project – As TFTP reported in April, several men in black suits, surrounded by a dozen cops, raided the Ecuadorian embassy in London and kidnapped Julian Assange. Since that day, Assange has been rotting in solitary confinement as his health drastically deteriorated. “Unless the UK urgently changes course and alleviates his inhumane situation, Mr. Assange’s continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing his life,” the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Nils Melzer, said in a statement. That was more than a month ago and nothing has changed. Now, dozens of other doctors have issued a warning that if Assange’s conditions do not drastically improve and proper medical care given, this hero for freedom could die in prison.
As TFTP reported in April, several men in black suits, surrounded by a dozen cops, raided the Ecuadorian embassy in London and kidnapped Julian Assange. Since that day, Assange has been rotting in solitary confinement as his health drastically deteriorated. “Unless the UK urgently changes course and alleviates his inhumane situation, Mr. Assange’s continued exposure to arbitrariness and abuse may soon end up costing his life,” the UN special rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, Nils Melzer, said in a statement. That was more than a month ago and nothing has changed. Now, dozens of other doctors have issued a warning that if Assange’s conditions do not drastically improve and proper medical care given, this hero for freedom could die in prison.
French Farmers Descend on Paris in Fresh Revolt Against Globalist Regulations
Infowars – Around a thousand French farmers in tractors have descended on Paris in a fresh revolt against globalist government policies they say are ruining their standard of living.
The farmers assembled on the Avenue Foch, near the Champs Elysees and the Arc de Triomphe to decry regulations which they assert are devastating the agricultural sector.
Their main concern centers around “agri-bashing” by the media and politicians, where farmers are being blamed for environmental issues and pressured to amend their behavior in the name of preventing climate change.

U.S. News, Politics & Government

Trump seeks to designate Mexican drug cartels as terror organizations
Fox – President Trump said in a newly released interview that he is moving to designate Mexican drug cartels as terror organizations.
The decision reportedly has prompted the Mexican government to ask the administration for clarification, but Trump told Bill O’Reilly, in an interview posted to his website, that the process is well underway.
Hunter Biden suspected of smoking crack in DC strip club’s VIP room
Page Six – Hunter Biden was suspected of smoking crack inside a strip club where he dropped “thousands of dollars” during multiple visits — at the same time he held a seat on the board of a controversial Ukrainian natural gas company, The Post has learned.
The incident, which took place at Archibald’s Gentlemen’s Club in Washington, DC, late last year, represents the most recent alleged drug use by Biden, 49, who has acknowledged six stints in rehab for alcoholism and addiction that included a crack binge in 2016.
Workers at Archibald’s, located about three blocks north of the White House, said Biden was a regular there, with two bartenders and a security worker all instantly recognizing his photo and one worker identifying him by name.
Security worker Ranko Petrovic said Biden — the son of former Vice President Joe Biden, the Democratic front-runner to challenge President Trump next year — would routinely hole up in a VIP room and drink during his visits.
Although Petrovic said the club “had no issue with him,” former Archibald’s managing partner James Ritter said one occasion in late 2018 was marred by a “suspicion of drug use.”
“There was a smell of burning Styrofoam in the VIP room. We told him nothing illegal can go on here,” Ritter said.
The California DMV Is Making $50M a Year Selling Drivers’ Personal Information
A document obtained by Motherboard shows how DMVs sell people’s names, addresses, and other personal information to generate revenue
Vice – The California Department of Motor Vehicles is generating revenue of $50,000,000 a year through selling drivers’ personal information, according to a DMV document obtained by Motherboard.
DMVs across the country are selling data that drivers are required to provide to the organization in order to obtain a license. This information includes names, physical addresses, and car registration information. California’s sales come from a state which generally scrutinizes privacy to a higher degree than the rest of the country.
In a public record acts request, Motherboard asked the California DMV for the total dollar amounts paid by commercial requesters of data for the past six years. The responsive document shows the total revenue in financial year 2013/14 as $41,562,735, before steadily climbing to $52,048,236 in the financial year 2017/18.
The document doesn’t name the commercial requesters, but some specific companies appeared frequently in Motherboard’s earlier investigation that looked at DMVs across the country. They included data broker LexisNexis and consumer credit reporting agency Experian. Motherboard also found DMVs sold information to private investigators, including those who are hired to find out if a spouse is cheating. It is unclear if the California DMV has recently sold data to these sorts of entities.
In an email to Motherboard, the California DMV said that requesters may also include insurance companies, vehicle manufacturers, and prospective employers.
Asked if the sale of this data was essential to the DMV, Marty Greenstein, public information officer at the California DMV, wrote that its sale furthers objectives related to highway and public safety, “including availability of insurance, risk assessment, vehicle safety recalls, traffic studies, emissions research, background checks, and for pre- and existing employment purposes.”
Last carver of Mount Rushmore dies at 98
Black Hills Fox – Nick Clifford, the last remaining carver of Mount Rushmore, has died at the age of 98. A source close to the family has told us Clifford passed away Saturday morning. A family member confirmed the death.
Clifford was the last living carver of Mount Rushmore for last 12 years. During the summers it wasn’t unusual for people to see him at the memorial greeting tourists and signing copies of his book.
We were at his birthday celebration back in July you can see that story here.
This is a developing story. Check back later for more details.
Questions or comments about this story? Do you have a tip for another story? Reach out to the author, Nick Reagan, directly.
President Trump Puts Jared Kushner In Charge Of Border Wall Construction: Report
Daily Caller – The president reportedly tapped his son-in-law Jared Kushner to lead the administration’s effort to complete hundreds of miles of border wall before the end of 2020.
President Donald Trump, frustrated over a lack of progress, tapped Kushner, a White House senior adviser, to expedite work on the U.S.-Mexico border wall ahead of the 2020 election, The Washington Post reported Monday, citing current and former administration officials. The major task adds to the list of Kushner’s other big-ticket items, such as securing a Middle East peace deal and shifting the U.S. immigration system to a more merit-based system.
Kushner — who told White House officials that Trump picked him to lead the border wall project — is holding biweekly meetings in the West Wing, according to administration officials who spoke to the Post. Executive-level White House gatherings about the wall, which used to be less formal, now require attendance from Cabinet-level officials.
During these meetings, Kushner reportedly asks those in attendance specific questions about construction progress, including where and how money is being spent. The president’s son-in-law is also demanding officials devise a new plan for construction work and provide a timetable for specific targets.
Critics argue he lacks an understanding of the government limitations that have lagged construction projects thus far, but Kushner allies say he is bringing a “private sector approach” to the administration’s efforts, according to the report.
Judge Rules In Favor Of Washington Man Who Had Guns Seized Over Satirical ‘Joker’ Meme, Incel Jokes
Information Liberation – A King County judge ruled in favor of 23-year-old Charles Donnelly and ordered the state to give him his firearms back after they were seized under red flag laws in early October because he made edgy jokes on the internet.
As it to be expected, the media is now furious that this memester’s out of context jokes were not enough to have him disarmed for life.
From The Independent, “Man who said ‘I will shoot any woman any time for any reason’ has confiscated guns returned by judge”:
A man who had his guns confiscated after writing on social media that he would “shoot any woman any time for any reason” has had the weapons returned to him by a judge.
Charles Donnelly, 23, also posted a photo of himself holding two AK-47-style rifles with the caption, “One ticket for Joker please”, a reference to the movie, online.
Authorities in his home city of Seattle, in the US, were so alarmed by the posts – which also included fantasies of hurting women – that they used new red flag laws to seize the 23-year-old’s weapons.
The haul included three handguns and three rifles, including an AK-47-style rifle and magazines.
But the whole arsenal – all legally owned – was returned to him after he appealed the action in court, claiming the posts were jokes meant only for his friends.
A judge accepted his arguments and handed them back, The New York Times reports.
They were obvious jokes.
Kim Wyatt, the prosecutor who lead the action against Mr Donnelly, told the October hearing that his posts “implied [a] threat of a mass shooting”.
She had him read some of his other online messages back to the court. “Kill all woman,” said one. “Prowling the Seattle streets for women to assault,” came another.

Veteran News

Military Families Becoming Gravely Ill from Contaminated Military Housing
Health Impact News – NOW is the time for all good men to come to the aid of their country!
Military Matters Foundation (MMF) is asking for your voice to protect the families of those who give their lives to protect all of our families. They are asking that over the next three days you contact U.S. senators in support of the need for military physicians to be trained to know how to recognize, diagnose and treat sick-housing caused illnesses.
Military families are becoming gravely ill from their contaminated military housing. They are being retaliated against and ridiculed when they complain. Military doctors are not being trained how to treat them, which causes them to become even sicker.
Their requests for insurance-covered referrals to environmental and functional medicine physicians, who do know how to treat the sick-housing-caused-illnesses, are being denied. This is leaving the injured families to have to pay from their own pockets for needed medical care. Most cannot afford it.
Reuters is calling the multi-billion-dollar fraud, designed for profiting from the squalid military housing conditions, an “Ambush at Home” for our service members and their children.
On December 3rd the Senate Arms Services Committee (SASC) is holding a hearing. They are going to ask military leaders of the Department of Defense (DOD) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) auditor questions of why and how the fraud in the contaminated military housing debacle grew to be so large that it is now crippling troop readiness; and what is being done to correct it.
No senator questions or oversight of the role the mis-training of military physicians plays in enabling the Ambush to continue????
The senators do not appear to be intending to ask any questions of what role the DOD has played via miseducating military doctors with scientific fraud. There is much fraud that has been sold to military doctors as legimitate science. It claims to prove that the military housing cannot cause the debilitating symptoms that the families report, including but not limited to brain injuries.
MMF is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. They network with other military advocacy organizations to help the military families who are greatly suffering from the ongoing fraud in military housing maintenance and in military health care.
They sent a letter on November 22nd to all the SASC senators
SUPPORT OUR TROOPS IN THEIR TIME OF NEED. They need YOUR VOICE to help to assure that the senators ask these questions. MMF and the military families are asking for the public to call and email SASC senator-members over the next three days (Nov 25th – 27th)
Visit the article for ways to contact your senator.

Economy & Business

Dollar rises after upbeat U.S. data
Reuters – The dollar rose on Wednesday helped by upbeat U.S. data even as continued uncertainty about the outlook for a preliminary U.S.-China trade agreement and a shortened holiday week in the United States kept currency moves muted.
U.S. economic growth picked up slightly in the third quarter, rather than slowing as initially reported, amid a stronger pace of inventory accumulation and a less steep decline in business investment.
Separately, data showed new orders for key U.S.-made capital goods increased by the most in nine months in October and shipments rebounded.
“The dollar is definitely supported by the data,” said Alfonso Esparza, senior currency analyst at OANDA in Toronto.
“The Fed has signalled that is done for the year and good data validates that thinking,” he said.
The U.S. Federal Reserve has cut rates three times this year and signalled its rate-cut cycle might be at a pause. A show of strength in U.S. economy is giving traders confidence the central bank will keep borrowing costs where they are for now.

Energy & Environment

‘Bomb Cyclone’ — Heavy Snow Jeopardizes Thanksgiving Travel Across U.S.
Breitbart – A storm packing heavy snow and high winds that wreaked havoc as it whipped through Colorado, Wyoming and Nebraska marched into the upper Midwest on Wednesday as anxious Thanksgiving travelers buckled up and barreled headlong into a busy, if not perilous, holiday week.
The wintry storm that left at least one person dead was expected to push eastward into South Dakota, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin, while a “bomb cyclone” weather phenomenon was expected to simultaneously topple trees, knock out power and dump snow as it rolled into California and Oregon.
Hotel California: Power Outage Strands Travelers at Oakland Airport
Breitbart – The Eagles famously sang in “Hotel California”: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”
Those words rang true for thousands of travelers at Oakland International Airport on Tuesday evening, as the transportation hub was hit by a power outage that stranded passengers in planes on runways and halted security lines in the midst of a busy Thanksgiving travel day.
Power outages have become a regular feature of life in Northern California in the past few months, as the Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), facing bankruptcy after massive insurance losses in last year’s devastating wildfires, has adopted a precautionary practice of cutting power in windy weather, lest a fault in transmission lines cause a spark that spreads rapidly.
Windy weather kicked in across the Golden State on Monday evening and into Tuesday, in anticipation of the first major winter storms. Weather reports indicated a “bomb cyclone,” in which air pressure drops rapidly.
The Los Angeles Times reported that although the power outage, which began around 7 p.m., was largely resolved within an hour, the problems it caused lasted several more: “Passengers posted about how their planes had landed at Oakland, but they were unable to get off. Others tweeted that they had deplaned but their bags had not arrived. Even more still said their flights were delayed several hours, forcing some of them to miss their connecting flights.”
This could be the biggest sea turtle swarm ever filmed
National Geographic – Biologist Vanessa Bézy has been studying this phenomenon, known as a mass arrival, or arribada in Spanish, for years. As part of her research, she filmed the reptiles, mostly olive ridley sea turtles, aggregating in the ocean before reaching shore. One lucky day, she recorded, via a drone, an immense gathering of the creatures—the greatest density of sea turtle species ever recorded.
“I immediately knew there was something special going on,” Bézy says of filming the turtle swarm in November 2016. “To this day I’m still blown away by the video. They look like bumper cars out there.”

Science & Technology

Revolutionary New Arm Cast is Waterproof, Breathable, and Itch-Free
Good News Network – Engineers in Chicago have designed a futuristic sleeve that could make itchy, foul-smelling, uncomfortable plaster casts a thing of the past.
Their startup company, Cast21, has created a waterproof, lightweight, and breathable alternative that can be worn while bathing, exercising, and even swimming in the ocean.
The patented design is constructed from a wide mesh sleeve filled with two liquid resins which are molded into the correct position for each patient—and it is even available in a range of vibrant colors.
Patients sporting traditional plaster or fiberglass casts are unable to clean underneath the molded brace, making the skin susceptible to rot and infection. When it is time to remove the hardened bandages, wearers are also forced to watch a doctor remove their casts using a circular saw.
“The majority of fractures happen in children, adolescents and the elderly,” said Cast21’s VP of engineering Veronica Hogg. “Those saws are very loud and all this debris flies off and it’s very messy, it can be extremely frightening. The cast saw also presents a risk of burns to the patient.
“Our product does not require that at all. It’s designed so that a physician can take clinical shears, snip through the tabs and pull it open easily. It was designed to completely eliminate the use of a cast saw and make the healing process far more pleasant for the patient.”
It Begins: Police Are Now Actively Using Robot Dogs
Infowars – Massachusetts State Police have become the first law enforcement agency in the US to use robotic dogs, in a first that has critics warning that the machines could be weaponized in the future.
WBUR News reports that the metal dogs, made by Boston Dynamics, have been leased to the police and used on multiple occasions in active law enforcement incidents since August.
The robots, named ‘SPOT’, have been used as ‘mobile remote observation devices’ according to records obtained by the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts.
Details on their use are scant, but the documents suggest that the dogs were used to provide troopers with images of suspicious devices or reveal where suspects were hiding.
Video of MA State Police testing the dogs shows one of the robots opening a door, mirroring footage released previously by Boston Dynamics.

Health

Radioactive Traces from the Fukushima Nuclear Disaster Found in California Wine
Live Science – Following the 2011 Fukushima nuclear power plant accident, radioactive waste leaked into surrounding areas and contaminated waters and food. Seven years later, traces of the disaster were found half a world away — in California’s wine.
A group of French nuclear physicists tested 18 bottles of California’s rosé and cabernet sauvignon produced in 2009 and onward and found that the wines produced after the disaster had increased levels of a man-made radioactive particle. Cabernet sauvignon, for example, had double the amount. [Tracking Japan’s Tsunami Debris (Infographic)]
They reported their findings in the pre-print online journal Arxiv.
The researchers used two methods to look for traces of a radioactive isotope called cesium-137. The first method was developed about 20 years ago and could detect the particles through the wine bottle, without destroying or opening it. Since the presence of cesium-137 prior to 1952 is impossible (it’s a man-made isotope first released into the surroundings by nuclear testing in the mid-20th century), it has proven quite effective for detecting fraud in old vintage wines, according to the study.
For a more accurate detection, the researchers destroyed the wines through heating and reducing them “to ashes,” they wrote. They tested for the cesium-137 in those ashes.
Though they did find increased levels of the radioactive waste, experts say there is nothing to worry about, according to The New York Times. There are no “health and safety concerns to California residents,” the California Department of Public Health told the Times.
The levels of radioactive toxins found in food and drinks outside of Japan is too low to be dangerous, according the World Health Organization.
Even in Japan at the core of the meltdown, though over 100,000 people were evacuated from their homes, there have been no deaths or radiation sickness reported so far, according to the World Nuclear Association. Further, most bottles of wine made after 1952 do contain at least a little bit of this nuclear twist.
Doctors Explain How Hiking Actually Changes Our Brains
Collective Evolution – While it may seem obvious that a good hike through a forest or up a mountain can cleanse your mind, body, and soul, science is now discovering that hiking can actually change your brain… for the better!
Aside from the almost instant feeling of calm and contentment that accompanies time outdoors, hiking in nature can reduce rumination. Many of us often find ourselves consumed by negative thoughts, which takes us out of the enjoyment of the moment at best and leads us down a path to depression and anxiety at worst. But a recent study published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that spending time in nature decreases these obsessive, negative thoughts by a significant margin.
To conduct this study, researchers compared the reported rumination of participants who hiked through either an urban or a natural environment. They found that those who walked for 90 minutes in a natural environment reported lower levels of rumination and they also had reduced neural activity in the subgenual prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain related to mental illness. Those who walked through the urban environment, however, did not report decreased rumination.
The researchers noted that increased urbanization closely correlates with increased instances of depression and other mental illness. Taking the time to regularly remove ourselves from urban settings and spend more time in nature can greatly benefit our psychological (and physical) well-being.
A study conducted by psychologists Ruth Ann Atchley and David L. Strayer found that creative problem solving can be drastically improved by both disconnecting from technology and reconnecting with nature. Participants in this study went backpacking through nature for about four days, during which time they were not allowed to use any technology whatsoever. They were asked to perform tasks requiring creative thinking and complex problem solving, and researchers found that performance on problem solving tasks improved by 50% for those who took part in this tech-free hiking excursion.
They also noted that both technology and urban noise are incredibly disruptive, constantly demanding our attention and preventing us from focusing, all of which can be taxing to our cognitive functions. A nice long hike, sans technology, can reduce mental fatigue, soothe the mind, and boost creative thinking.
FDA Designates Psilocybin as “Breakthrough Therapy” for Severe Depression
Free Thought Project – For years, those who have been following and even participating in the benefits of psilocybin have understood and read about the ability of magic mushrooms to combat a number of ailments. From helping the terminally ill come to grips with their own mortality to treating PTSD and depression — psilocybin has a wide range of benefits. Up until recently, however, the government has ignored these benefits and prosecuted those for seeking them out. All that is now changing though, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has just granted Breakthrough Therapy status to psilocybin for its ability to clinically treat depression.
It is estimated that roughly 7% of the entire United States adult population has had at least one major depressive episode. That number represents over 17 million people, according to the most recent figures out of the National Institute of Mental Health. These numbers are concerning as they have been increasing year after year.
Despite the growing number of people prescribed antidepressants, depression rates continue to climb. It is time to try something new and while the government usually hinders the process of trying new things, because things have gotten so out of hand, the FDA seems ready to break that paradigm. The FDA has granted psilocybin therapy a Breakthrough Therapy designation in hopes of curbing the ever-increasing rates of depression.
According to the FDA, “Breakthrough therapy designation is intended to expedite the development and review of drugs for serious or life-threatening conditions. The criteria for breakthrough therapy designation require preliminary clinical evidence that demonstrates the drug may have substantial improvement on at least one clinically significant endpoint over available therapy.
“A breakthrough therapy designation conveys all of the fast track program features, more intensive FDA guidance on an efficient drug development program, an organizational commitment involving senior managers, and eligibility for rolling review and priority review.”
This designation is most often requested by pharmaceutical companies seeking to fast track their new drugs to the market. It is rare that natural medicines like psilocybin are considered for such designation. However, this is the second year in a row that the FDA has given this designation to psilocybin.
Music found to enhance mood, relieve depression and improve balance for the elderly
NaturalNews – Music is often used to express emotions or as a form of entertainment. A study published in the journal BMC Complementary and Alternative Medicine, however, used it for therapy and found that listening to music can reduce the risk of falls in older people.
For this study, researchers at McGill University and the University of Montreal in Canada looked at the effect of listening to music on the risk of falls in older people. To do so, they examined more than 100 participants who were admitted to a geriatric assessment unit in St. Mary’s Hospital Center in Montreal, Canada. Out of the 152 participants, only 61 attended music listening sessions while the remaining 91 participants did not attend music sessions.
To measure the effect of listening to the participants’ risk of falls, the researchers compared the Morse Fall Scale score upon admission and discharge, as well as its variation between both groups. The researchers also noted the participants’ age, sex, living situation, the reason for admission, the season of admission, Mini-Mental Status Examination scores, number of therapeutic classes taken daily upon admission, use of psychoactive drugs upon admission, and length of stay.
The researchers found that the Morse Fall Scale score of patients exposed to music greatly declined. This suggested a link between participating in listening sessions and to a reduced risk of falls in older people, particularly those admitted to a geriatric assessment unit.
The team explained that this positive effect may be due to the mood-enhancing effect of music, such as reducing depressive symptoms which have been linked to a higher risk of falls. Since patients had to walk to participate in the listening sessions, this physical activity combined with listening may also have positively contributed to the reduction in the risk of falls. Taken together, the findings of the study suggested that participating in music listening sessions may help lower the risk of falls in patients admitted to a geriatric assessment unit.