There's a rather long history of epidemiology showing an association of periodontitis with systemic chronic diseases, and the main candidate mechanism is that bacterial lipopolysaccharides, one of the most inflammatory compounds known, circulates from the gum to other tissues.

An older review, but still worthwhile:

Kaur et al, 2016. Unraveling the link between periodontal health and cardiovascular diseases. J Dent Sci Oral Rehab, 7, pp.28-35.

I'll admit to not having the best oral hygiene, largely because I haven't had any dental issues for 30 years. I brush maybe once a day. Floss once a week. But when I encountered the evidence on periodontitis and CVD I bought a bottle of Listerine and keep it in the car. Swishing Listerine around my mouth became part of the morning and evening commutes.

Omicron has tricks up its sleeve to evade either vaccine or naturally acquired immunity, and Paxlovid markedly improved survival rates, so that vaccine acquired immunity plays a lesser relative role in survival. 62% is no 92%, as earlier in the pandemic, but its better than nothing.

Depends on what you're donating.

Buying food in-country or elsewhere, so that fewer Afghans starve, might be justified on short term ethical grounds. But spending money on bribes and other corruption in country, ultimately to prop up this anti-human, anti-modernity state, is unproductive.

Back up and look across nations, and over longer timespans, and it may be a net benefit to humanity if Afghanistan under the Taliban rule becomes a cautionary tale, despite the humanitarian cost within the country. Also, if a nation cannot afford to feed itself without resort to opiate exports that harm the rest of the world, perhaps its citizens should be left to solve this without external assistence.

To be in such a fate of blissful ignorance. Of how the climate crisis will affect food security and civil conflict (bigger problems than sea-side real estate, IMO) over the next human lifetime. How these changes are likely to persist for the next several hundred generations after that.

And should the realization dawn that they've chosen an immiserated future for their children, grandchildren and further descendants, I expect they'll blame the climate scientists for not warning them urgently enough.

If we don't start recycling that poop to fertilize crops, or learn how to cost-effectively extract P from seawater, we have at best a few centuries of global populations that number in the billions.

How's this for euphemism:

>Fig. 1 shows the predicted global population passing through 7 billion in 2010 and shortly after peaking at 7.3 billion. It can be seen that after the peak, the population will sink down to a level of 5.5–4 billion people for as long as the low grade (1800–2250) and ultra low grade (1800–3300) deposits can be mined. High- grade reserves run out in 2040, low grade reserves run out around 2340 and the ultra low grades around 3100 AD. After 3100, the only market available P will be that recycled. The peak behaviour is evident, production from high-grade reserves occurs 1960– 2050, from low grade ore 2080–2220, and ultra low grade ore 2300–3600. When all of these are exhausted, a food-based population reduction will follow.

I agree here. I haven't bought any porcini powder, though I do regularly use a Taiwanese product Po Lo Ku (powdered shiitake & salt) as an umani ingredient.

I'm just miffed my local Chinese grocer has raised the price on fresh oyster mushrooms from $4/lb to $8/lb over the past 3 years. They remain my favorite for flavor. At least they still offer king oyster/trumpet (which has similar ergo levels), and which is a really interesting starting point for faux meats, at $5.

If I didn't have other plans for my life, I'd really look into growing oyster mushrooms commercially, which evidently do very well on pasteurized straw and spent coffee grounds. There was an outfit in Exeter UK which collected 30 tonnes of grounds from local cafes to upcycle to 7 tonnes of oyster mushrooms, though I think the people involved mostly do training/consultancy as GroCycle now.

I presumed they were cultivated because 'porcini' powder is sometimes reasonably priced ($40/lb), which implies a price for fresh mushrooms with ~90% water content of around $4/lb.

Thanks for the correction, and now I'm wondering how much adulteration is going on with the powder products, and how many consumers would know if they were getting porcini or some mix from cultivated ones.

I think we're within a decade or two of ergothioneine, produced only by fungi and some bacteria, being widely recognized as a conditionally essential micronutrient to prevent chronic disease.

Our bodies have a transporter that's highly specific for ergothioneine uptake (even some recognized vitamins lack an associated transporter), tissue levels are highest in organs subject to the most oxidative stress, and animals with genetic knockout of this transporter in worms, fish, and mice have higher oxidative stress and inflammation. In humans, higher plasma ergothionine levels are associated with lower all-cause and cardiovascular mortality, while lower levels are associated with more rapid cognitive decline.

Which widely available cultivated mushroom has the highest levels of ergothioneine? [edit: see below Porcini and] Oyster.

Tian et al, 2023. Ergothioneine: an underrecognised dietary micronutrient required for healthy ageing?. British Journal of Nutrition, 129(1), pp.104-114.

MSRP: manufacturer's suggested retail price from the Zojirushi site.

Retailers discount. All of these are much less expensive in Asia, so there may be some 3rd party imports undercutting Zojirushi US or Zojirushi EU.

1. they all have manuals on the Zojirushi site
2. A thin coat of food safe silicone grease helps o-rings seat correctly in their channel. I use it on more things then I imagined, for example its the best product to use on the silicone seals on pressure cookers.

Products from the consumer insulated vacuum bottle maker with the best engineering/QC. And sometimes prices to match.

Here, we're probably looking at:

• (2L) Stainless Bottle SF-CC20 MSRP $66.49 USD
• Classic Stainless Lunch Jar SL-XE20 MSRP $71.99 USD
• (600 mL) Stainless Mug SM-WA60 MSRP $62.99 USD

I was recently in the market for a thermal carafe for coffee, and reviews for every competitor said: 'will keep warm for maybe 2 hours', while the Zojirushi reviews stated: 'we can brew the night before and wake up to hot coffee'. So I waited till the one I wanted popped up on Ebay (for $29 rather than $45), and yes, its hot out to 7-8 hours.

Having read quite a few of the prospective studies, there are usually considerable and sometimes fairly comprehensive attempts to statistically correct for other background and lifestyle factors.

For example, this study on Tehranian children and teens adjusted for age, sex, total energy intake, physical activity, family history of diabetes, intakes of dietary fiber, tea and coffee, red and processed meat, fruits and vegetables and BMI. This one on Taiwanese teens adjusted for Taiwanese region, age, physical activity, total calories, the intake of meat, fruit, fried food, food with jelly/honey, alcohol drinking and cigarette smoking. This one in Korean adults adjusted for adjusted for age, energy intake, household income, education level, alcohol consumption, smoking status, and physical activity.

It's obviously impossible to prove causality with prospective epidemiology. But when there the mass of benchtop, animal, case control and prospective studies pointing to the same conclusion, at some point its time to stop shilling for Coca-cola.

Hammers are a Wagner signature.

Silly. Yellow smells like sauteed turmeric, saffron, and cardamon.

If I recall correctly from service in the US Army Reserve decades ago, every officer is a sir, whether male or female.

NCOs are addressed by rank. After all, unlike the 'sirs', they work for a living.

Make the terms gender neutral. Be the change.

It's almost a universal that the moral 'values' MAGA republicans would impose apply only to others. Roger Stone isn't going to give up his wife-swapping, DJT Jr his blow, Fallwell Jr. his pool boy, or any of the well off ones legal and safe abortion for their own daughters.

Stochastic terrorism

>Since 2018, the term "stochastic terrorism" has become a popular term used when discussing lone wolf attacks. While the exact definition has morphed over time, it has commonly come to refer to a concept whereby consistently demonizing or dehumanizing a targeted group or individual results in violence that is statistically likely, but cannot be easily accurately predicted.
>
>A variation of this stochastic terrorism model was later adapted to describe public speech that can be expected to incite terrorism without a direct organizational link between the inciter and the perpetrator. The term "stochastic" is used in this instance to describe the random, probabilistic nature of its effect; whether or not an attack actually takes place. The stochastic terrorist in this context does not direct the actions of any particular individual or members of a group. Rather, the stochastic terrorist gives voice to a specific ideology via mass media with the aim of optimizing its dissemination.
>
>It is in this manner that the stochastic terrorist is thought to randomly incite individuals predisposed to acts of violence. Because stochastic terrorists do not target and incite individual perpetrators of terror with their message, the perpetrator may be labeled a lone wolf by law enforcement, while the inciters avoid legal culpability and public scrutiny.

What is the Amazon being cut down for? Principally, grazing land for beef and cropland to produce soy for animal feed.

Until Brazil chooses to regulate this, only international prohibitions on Brazilian beef or soy exports, or a marked global reduction in beef and other animal product demand, will have much impact.

Brazil has much to lose from Amazon deforestation. Only the atmospheric rivers of moisture from the Amazon prevent the La Plata basin from becoming scrubland or desert. But like most people in the world, they're not well enough informed to secure the welfare of their children and grandchildren.

Ship of Theseus territory, but I'd volunteer for it.

The same brain plasticity that I had as a toddler? Shoot that straight into my Broca's area, I wasn't exposed to foreign languages til late in life, and largely failed in my attempts to become fluent in Spanish and French.