Free Republic

Low back pain seriously affects the quality of life and increases the economic burden on families and society[1,2]. Intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) is the main pathogenic factor of low back pain, but its pathological mechanism has not yet been elucidated[3]. Therefore, exploring the pathological mechanism of IDD and seeking new methods for the prevention and treatment of degenerative disc diseases is of great significance to human health. Nucleus pulposus (NP) cells play an important role by secreting a large amount of extracellular matrix (ECM) such as aggrecan and collagen type II to maintain the normal physiological function of the intervertebral...

Here is another race that wasn’t even close. New York Republicans made their choice, and it wasn’t Andrew Guiliani.ELECTION ALERT: NY GOP GovernorLee Zeldin | 3,497 | 38.02%Harry Wilson | 2,918 | 31.73%Rob Astorino | 1,405 | 15.28%Andrew Giuliani | 1,377 | 14.97%Estimated 2% in— Election Wizard 🇺🇸 (@ElectionWiz) June 29, 2022The Associated Press projects that Rep. Lee Zeldin has won New York State’s Republican gubernatorial nomination.Zeldin, a four-term lawmaker who represents New York’s 1st Congressional District, which covers the eastern half of Long Island, topped a field that also included Rob Astorino, the former Westchester County executive and 2014...

A creepy video captured by a man in Canada appears to show a pair of eerie figures stalking a deer in a forest and some suspect that the odd interlopers could have been Bigfoot. The strange scene was filmed earlier this year by Terence Leano as he was doing a live demonstration of his throat singing technique for his TikTok channel. As the start of the video, he acknowledges a deer that has emerged from the nearby woods in what he theorized was the creature "looking for where the sound was coming from" as he was talking to the viewers...

The Biden administration is ramping up efforts to slow the spread of monkeypox by distributing tens of thousands of vaccine doses, after facing criticism over its early response to a US outbreak primarily affecting gay men. The plan, announced on Tuesday, involves rapidly expanding access to doses of Bavarian Nordic's Jynneos vaccine - which has so far been limited - to prevent monkeypox in areas with the highest transmission and need. The announcement came just hours after advocates sent a letter to the White House slamming the administration's monkeypox response, saying that 1 million doses of the Jynneos vaccine already...

It’s not something I ever thought I would see… The use of coal as a way to generate electricity is on the rise. Given the politics around clean energy, it comes as a surprise to see the increasing use of coal – the dirtiest form of carbon-based fuel – to produce electricity. Last week was a bit of a shocker as Germany announced that it would pass laws to reopen previously closed coal-based power plants for the purpose of electricity production. It appears that there have been some unintended consequences from the European Union’s stance on Russia. Last week, Russia...

Missouri officials have declared a 'large fatality event' after a passenger train traveling from Los Angeles to Chicago hit a dump truck that was blocking a public crossing and completely derailed on Monday. Three people are dead -- including two on the train and one in the dump truck -- after the train's eight cars and its two locomotives came off the tracks, officials with the Missouri State Highway Patrol said. At least 50 people were injured, the Chariton County Ambulance Service said. At least nine patients were being taken to a University of Missouri Health Care hospital in Columbia,...

On Saturday, June 18 the price of bitcoin fell to around $17,700… its lowest price since 2020, and a 74% drop from its all-time high last November.Now, it doesn’t take much for bitcoin and crypto critics to declare the end of crypto… so when bitcoin fell below $18,000 for the first time in years, you can imagine what happened.It was once again the death of bitcoin as we know it… and the fifteenth declaration of bitcoin’s demise in 2022, according to Bitcoin Obituaries.But regular Daily readers know that these headlines aren’t anything new… we see them all year long, regardless...

The Walt Disney Co. has released its first teaser trailer for the Disney+ movie Hocus Pocus 2 just as star Bette Midler has launched her own campaign against pro-lifers by smearing conservative Supreme Justices and even mocking couples who have expressed the desire to adopt unwanted babies. Hocus Pocus 2 sees Bette Midler reprising her role as one of three witches from the 1993 cult favorite movie. The sequel will skip cinemas and begin streaming on Disney+ September 30. Watch below: Like many Hollywood celebrities, Bette Midler has spent the past few days rage tweeting about the Supreme Court’s historic...

“Ah Redfin,” Glenn Kelman wrote in an all-staff e-mail two weeks ago, “I’m sorry to say that we’re asking about 8% of our employees to leave…” The online real estate brokerage’s CEO went on to announce a sweeping layoff. It was either that or cease to exist… Redfin (RDFN) stock is down more than 90% since February 2021. And last month, demand came in at 17% less than the brokerage expected. It’s a brutal time in real estate. Last year’s manic market has cooled in a matter of months. Mortgage rates have soared, crushing demand. It might feel like another...

Chicago Police Deputy Chief Migdalia Bulnes went to Camp Pendleton near San Diego, California , where 9,000 Marines become civilians every year, to replenish the city's police force, and took six former Marines who are now officers to help in the recruitment, she said Thursday. The department has recently hired 50 new officers but still needs more to operate fully, according to CBS. "The reality is that we need to fill the gaps quickly," Bulnes said.

Pro-abortion activists from the Woman’s March organization scaled a crane in Washington, DC, on Tuesday and unfurled a banner that read, “Biden Protect Abortion.” The stunt occurred in the 1500 block of North Capitol Street and P Street, NBC 4 reported. Women’s March proclaimed on Twitter that their “Summer of Rage is just starting” in response to the Supreme Court’s decision to reverse Roe v. Wade on Friday. “This team of activists, all from states such as Florida, Texas, and Michigan, states Biden needs to secure re-election, will scale a crane in Washington D.C. to send the President a clear...

Scott Adams @ScottAdamsSays So far, Trump’s second term has been a huge success. He has several major SCOTUS victories, looks better than ever compared to Biden, and the Jan6 theater just went full Jussie. You can’t win harder than that. 4:21 PM · Jun 28, 2022

Over the course of nearly 10 minutes on Tuesday (nine minutes and 43 seconds, excluding a whopping five teases), CBS Mornings sat enthralled by Hillary Clinton as she seethed over the Dobbs Supreme Court case overturning Roe v. Wade, boasting of her “fascinating” and “powerful” sit-down and “stark warning” for the American people that “women will die” and our system of government’s in danger because of abortion opponents. Co-host Nate Burleson teased the interview in the show’s Eye Opener: “And a stark warning from Hillary Clinton after the controversial decision to overturn Roe v. Wade.” Co-host and Democratic party donor...

“Yes, the Supreme Court just made a decision that guns are more important than these young women and their lives… I think we’re going to have a revolution of sorts,” Jennifer Siebel Newsom, producer and director of “Fair Play,” a recent documentary on gender roles within a heterosexual relationship, proclaimed on Sunday night’s CNN Newsroom. Host Pamela Brown welcomed both Newsom and the author of “Fair Play,” Eve Rodsky onto the show to discuss their recent documentary. The conversation quickly changed to that of “the main ways” that women have found a way into society by “managing their own fertility.”...

Meghan Markle has urged men to be 'more vocal' with their anger at the repealing of Roe v. Wade, as she revealed that Prince Harry's response to the news on Friday was 'guttural'. The Duchess of Sussex, 40, spoke to Vogue magazine in conversation with author and activist Gloria Steinem, 88, and journalist Jessica Yellin. Steinem declared the day after Friday's ruling that she would welcome women traveling to New York for an abortion into her own Manhattan home. She said that her husband was a feminist, and he reacted with anger to the Supreme Court's decision. Markle said that...

Justice Clarence Thomas has spent the last twenty summers driving to nearly forty states in his RV often meeting people who don’t have a clue he’s a judge. He spends his vacations taking in the natural beauty of the country and meeting its people.

Thanks to the overturning of Roe v. Wade, young women are confronting some basic truths about men and women that feminism has denied for the last half-century. Like other left-wing movements, feminism is based on a denial of reality (or, if you prefer, on lies). The best-known example is the feminist insistence that, except for physical differences, men and women are basically the same. This includes the central feminist belief about men's and women's sexual natures. For half a century, women have been told that their sexual nature is no different from male sexual nature -- just as men can...

Spine-related pain is increasingly common in older adults. While medications play an important role in pain management, their use has limitations in geriatric patients. Now a new review study has found acetaminophen is safe in older adults, but ibuprofen may be more effective for spine-related pain. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatories should be used short-term in lower dose courses with gastrointestinal precaution while corticosteroids show the least evidence for treating non-specific back pain. Additionally, nerve pain medications (gabapentin and pregabalin) can be used in older persons, with caution to dose and kidney function. Among their findings: Pain medicines gabapentin and pregabalin may cause...

The California Attorney General’s office leaked the names and addresses of the state’s legal gun owners. The private information of California’s gun owners was posted in publicly-accessible files to the California Department of Justice’s 2022 Firearms Dashboard Portal, The Reload reported. "We are investigating an exposure of individuals’ personal information connected to the DOJ Firearms Dashboard,” a spokesperson for the office told The Reload. “Any unauthorized release of personal information is unacceptable. We are working swiftly to address this situation and will provide additional information as soon as possible.” The Reload reported:

For many, after-work drinks are a common way of relaxing after a busy week. But one worker in Japan could be nursing a protracted hangover after he lost a USB memory stick following a night out with colleagues. Why? It contained the personal details of nearly half a million people. The unnamed man placed the memory stick in his bag before an evening of drinking in the city of Amagasaki, north-west of Osaka. He spent several hours drinking in a local restaurant before eventually passing out on the street, local media reported.