While the serotonin used in your gut doesn’t directly impact the brain, it does impact the enteric nervous system which communicates via the vagus nerve to your brain. So I don’t think it’s correct to say this doesn’t (or couldn’t) impact your mood (and indeed murine experiments demonstrate it does).
Or perhaps there are significant links demonstrated in murine models of the
multi-directional relationship of the gut-brain-immune axis, and that traditional models of disease are not sufficient to elucidate this?
There's even more evidence for CFS - the PACE trial is a notable example. These are politicized by certain patient advocacy groups and associated publishing circles but the evidence is considered pretty strong in the broader medical sphere.
Famotidine an old school H2 antihistamine used for acid reflux (pre PPIs), was found to have an additional mechanism of action via activation of the vagus nerve to inhibit pro-inflammatory cytokines in covid (via alpha 7 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (α7nAChR) signal transduction - https://molmed.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s10020-022...).
It has also been used quite extensively to combat post-covid neuropsychiatric symptoms.
I think the link here is that increased LPS/endotoxin production by your microbiota can induce acid reflux, cause neuroinflammation and psychiatric symptoms. Low acid production itself can result in a more inflammatory microbiome further exacerbating the problem. Long term fix would be working on the migrating motor complex, improve motility/gastric emptying and rebalance the microbiome by reducing gram-negative bacteria/pathobionts and increasing butyrate production via selective feeding. [I'm not a doctor, this is just the direction I've been working on things myself]
That's interesting about famotidine. This is also a treatment for MCAS, which is probably under-diagnosed because it's kind of obscure and the diagnostic criteria kind of suck currently. It can reduce stomach acid, so my doctor and I decided against using it as the first option in treatment, but may reconsider even though the alternative seems to be working. Thanks for the link and explanation.
Can you share any relevant resources or ideas you've gotten on reducing the opportunists and increasing butyrate production? I've coaxed and cajoled my MMC and other digestive processes back into shape, or so it seems, but am struggling on the microbiome angle. It's tricky because the list of foods that trigger symptoms is insanely long, so it's hard to get creative and experimental as far as that goes.
Some people really do have mast cell issues, but everyone and their dog thinks they have MCAS these days and it's questionable in my opinion. Often a diagnosis will be based on whether any of the MCAS-drugs work (rather than testing which is very problematic for MCAS). But as you see in the linked paper famotidine was effective in mice genetically engineered without mast cells, so at least in that instance it's not a mast cell issue.
The tricky thing with increasing butyrate production is that everyone's gut dysbiosis is different - and therefore, a prebiotic that works for one person may make someone else's condition worse. For example, I have big blooms in my Prevotella Copri population which would consume Inulin and make my butyrate production worse - but in people without a Prevotella Copri overgrowth, Inulin would improve their butyrate production.
I would look into 16S microbiome testing (I use Biomesight) and use that as a guide, as well as slowly trialing interventions and monitoring symptoms. None of this is perfect and you kinda have to be on the bleeding edge of science/alternative medicine to figure things out.
One thing that really helped me was just going to the gym. Basically strengthening my core improved my posture so that my esophagus isn't as crooked due to shitty posture.
I had years of dysbiosis type problems and found that the other main H2 blocker, Ranitidine, helped with my symptoms. Luckily I didn't take it that often or for too long, as it was found to be dangerously contaminated with a carcinogen when stored for too long. But that's not the point. The point is that an H2 blocker strangely offered relief.
How have you determined that the excess deaths are due to "covid restrictions" and not for example, long term sequelae of covid itself or other factors?
It's not particularly independent, but it is the last of the unreformed medieval municipal corporations. In earlier times every borough/city corporation was chartered ad hoc and often had completely undemocratic rules for membership (e.g. selection by the outgoing members, maintaining a self-selected oligarchy, or election by an extremely restricted franchise). There was a process from the Municipal Corporations Act 1835[0] onwards where the old order was reformed into a more modern (more uniform and more democratic) county/district/borough/city councils system. We eventually ended up with the local authorities we have today.
Except for the City of London. Here, a combination of the Victorian power of the Corporation, coupled with the tiny resident population of the City (and a consequent desire by central governments to leave elections in the effective hands of the companies who employ people in the City rather than those who live there) have left a body allowed to take its own direction. Along with the Council of the Isles of Scilly (weird because Scilly is far too small to justify its own principal authority, but too far from Cornwall to be conveniently governed by it) it is one of only two really sui generis principal local authorities in England.
That's a great explanation, but it's also worth adding that the City of London was the only city mentioned[0] in Magna Carta, which stated:
"the City of London shall have all its ancient liberties by land as well as by water"
These liberties being "ancient" even in 1215 AD means they date back to "time immemorial"[1] (that is, before 1189 AD) and thus their exact nature is not known. As such, replacing the legal basis for the City would likely have contravened or at least complicated the interpretation of that foundational document.
Yes - the traditional liberties of the City are long-standing and fought for. I'm not sure that being mentioned by name in Magna Carta was reason enough to leave it unreformed. The Cinque Ports have been reduced to essentially ceremonial status despite their mention (and the large majority of Magna Carta has simply been repealed over the years[0] - it's not a constitutional document in the sense that it's ever been entrenched).
Lots of kids suffer worse deprivations than having one parent in jail. Life is tough, but these kids probably have a better than average shot at a good life.
They'll be raised by a wealthy family with every material advantage in life. Some estimates have it that around 1 in 8 children in America go hungry at some point in their childhoods. So even if these kids are just fed regularly, that puts them ahead of millions of children.
The child did not lose a mother, if he/she never had one. Also she'll be out around the time the child will start elementary school. So yes the child will still be in a better spot than 99% of all children in single family households and probably than almost all in low income ones as well.
To get to the point of re-joining will take a long time with plenty of time for governments and minds in Europe to change.
Ultimately the EU is stronger with the UK as a member, and I’m sure if it’s willing to pay a high enough price it will be let back in (metrication, no-rebate, the euro etc).
> Ultimately the EU is stronger with the UK as a member
No, really, it wasn't. The UK always acted as the trojan horse of the US inside Europe and sabotaged practically every initiative that could make the Eu a more synchronized, powerful entity. It sabotaged all central initiatives. It even acted as de facto pusher of US trade deals like TTIP, which would turn the Eu into a colonial corporate backyard for the US.
Which is one reason there wasn't much reaction from the European countries' establishments to the UK leaving the Eu, and it even looked like they wanted to facilitate it as fast as possible.
