Free Republic

Diabetic cardiomyopathy is a multifaceted complication of diabetes that lacks effective treatments. Berberine (BBR), a bioactive compound from Rhizoma coptidis, has potential therapeutic implications, but its precise role in diabetic cardiomyopathy has yet to be defined. In a new study, a diabetic cardiomyopathy model was established by administration of a high-fat diet and streptozotocin injection to C57BL/6J mice. Concurrently, the mice received BBR treatment daily for a duration of eight weeks. After the treatment period, myocardial injury, cardiac function, and the levels of oxidative stress and apoptosis were assessed. BBR significantly ameliorated cardiac dysfunction and histopathological damage caused by diabetic...

More than a dozen volcanos are erupting at the same time worldwide, and three new eruptions joined the list this week. The Smithsonian Institute’s Global Volcanism Program tracks new eruptions and updates its list of currently erupting volcanos on Wednesdays. The most recent update shows three new eruptions, bringing the list’s total to 19 eruptions at once. The list doesn’t include all erupting volcanos. The new volcanic eruptions have some people voicing their concerns on social media. “Volcanoes erupt simultaneously in Italy, Iceland, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Philippines, etc. Below is a volcanic activity map of 2013 vs 2023.Totally normal, right?”...

A year ago today, Oba Chandler was executed by lethal injection in Florida for the brutal triple homicide of a Willshire, Ohio mother and her two teenage daughters. Thirty-six-year-old Joan Mae “Jo” Rogers and her daughters Michelle, 17, and Christe, 14, were vacationing in Florida when they vanished on June 1, 1989. Three days later their bodies turned up in the Tampa Bay. All three were naked from the waist down and had their hands and feet bound, their mouths taped shut, and concrete blocks tied to their necks. Michelle had managed to free one arm before she drowned. The...

While high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes and smoking are well known heart disease risks, not everyone who has a heart attack has them. In fact, previous research has shown that 14% to 27% of heart attack patients have none of these risk factors. Now, a new study finds that these patients had one thing in common: they all tended to have high levels of coronary calcium. Results of the study show that scans that detect this kind of plaque buildup should be considered as part of their standard care, even in the absence of the four standard modifiable risk...

Nearly everyone can lower their blood pressure, even people currently on blood pressure- reducing drugs, by lowering sodium intake, reports a study. "In the study, middle age to elderly participants reduced salt intake by about one teaspoon a day compared with their usual diet. The result was a decline in systolic blood pressure by about 6 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg), which is comparable to the effect produced by a commonly utilized first-line medication for high blood pressure," said Deepak Gupta, M.D., MSCI. "We found that 70-75% of all people, regardless of whether they are already on blood pressure medications...

Hundreds of Jewish people headed to Tuesday’s pro-Israel rally in DC were left stranded when bus drivers staged “a deliberate and malicious walk-off,’’ a major Jewish organization said. The “anti-protest” left a charted flight from Detroit — about 300 people — on the Dulles Airport tarmac for about 11 hours before being sent back home, causing them to miss the entire March for Israel event. “I thought it was nuts, I thought it was crazy that we’re blocked from getting to the rally,” Jonathan Kaufman told The Post, adding that there were “frantic” calls to find out what was happening...

EXPOSED: Catholics for Choice is NOT Catholic. Surprised? We're not. This 5 minute video explains the background and digs deep into who "Catholics for Choice" really are. Follow the money.

MANCHESTER, N.H. — New Hampshire's secretary of state plans to announce the date of the first-in-the-nation primary Wednesday afternoon. Secretary of State David Scanlan has some options for when he can schedule the primary and comply with New Hampshire state law, which mandates that the presidential primary be held seven or more days ahead of a "similar election." If the primary can't be on a Tuesday, the secretary of state can call a special election for other days of the week. Scanlan has previously said that Saturdays are on the table if needed. Iowa has already set its caucus date...

Louise Fletcher in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Alabama-born Louise Fletcher won an Oscar for her portrayal of Mildred Ratched, the sadistic, tyrannical nurse who presides over the hospital ward which houses Jack Nicholson’s Randle Patrick McMurphy in Miloš Forman’s moving tragicomedy. Thanks to her perfectly calibrated performance, the character became a byword for institutional abuses of power, not to mention one of the most memorable movie villains of all time

A young Ohio man has pleaded guilty to attempting to burn down Community Church of Chesterland in Ohio in an attempt to halt the church from hosting its Drag Queen Story Hour. Aimenn D. Penny, 20, threw two Molotov cocktails at the church on March 25 the weekend before two planned drag queen events. He is slated to be sentenced in January, and could spend up to 20 years in prison for violating the Church Arson Prevention Act with a mandatory sentence of 10 years, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. The federal law was enacted in 1996 following...

When Alice “Sallie” Garrison passed this August, her dying wish was to be buried at First Baptist Church Hollins (FBCH) in Roanoke, Virginia. The 82-year-old wanted to be laid to rest beside her parents, siblings, and other extended family members, but the church initially denied her request because of her alleged failure to tithe, The Roanoke Times reported. FBCH Pastor Rev. Harvey Saunders reportedly told Garrison’s family members that their deceased loved one had been removed from church membership for failing to tithe. Church bylaws prohibit non church member from being buried in the church’s cemetery, The Roanoke Times said....

If you were thinking that those large pro-Palestine protests popping up everywhere seem awfully organized, you’re not wrong. Today the Free Press points out that at least four rallies, including one in New York which was later denounced as too extreme by AOC, were co-organized by a group called The People’s Forum.Based in Midtown Manhattan, The People’s Forum calls itself a “movement incubator for working class and marginalized communities to build unity across historic lines of division at home and abroad.” But a review of public disclosure forms show that multimillionaire [Neville Roy] Singham and his wife [Jodie] Evans have...

Surf lesson

We’ve been hearing for weeks that Ukrainian forces were making some progress along the Dnipro River.Three weeks ago, the marines crossed the wide Dnipro River in southern Ukraine’s Kherson Oblast and secured a bridgehead in the settlement of Krynky on the Russian-dominated left bank.From Krynky, the marines have advanced south—expanding Kyiv’s five-month-old counteroffensive and challenging foreign observers who seem eager to appease the regime of Russian leader Vladimir Putin.What happens next is anyone’s guess. But what happened before to make the Krynky crossing possible increasingly is becoming clear. The Ukrainian military electronically and logistically isolated Russian forces in Kherson, repositioned...

While it’s been a disaster in the wind industry lately (and fun as the dickens to cover) (Did I tell you Ørsted’s CFO and COO got the boot?), I hadn’t really had a chance to check in with the solar half of the big Green dream. You know, see if things are shaking out or just shaky?A quick glance around recent news reports is pointing to an industry wobbling like a bowl of Jello.Although I do like “clubbed like a baby seal” – that’s pretty descriptive.And it’s once again all based on the fantasy that the Green energy sector is...

You may remember Ryna Workman as the NYU Law student who, as Student Bar Association President, wrote a breezy note which refused to condemn the Hamas attack on Israel. “Israel bears full responsibility for this tremendous loss of life. This regime of state-sanctioned violence created the conditions that made resistance necessary. I will not condemn Palestinian resistance,” Workman wrote.The elected student president of the NYU Law School Bar Association just sent out a message refusing to condemn Hamas's mass slaughter and effectively cheerleading it. pic.twitter.com/mtn3ZUP4Li— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) October 10, 2023It was left to NYU to point out the obvious,...

New research finds that patients with lymphedema—swelling of the limbs caused by the accumulation of protein-rich fluids of the immune system—had twice the risk of developing skin cancer than patients without lymphedema. Patients with lymphedema had a significantly higher frequency of developing basal cell carcinomas and squamous cell carcinomas on the lower extremities, according to the retrospective study. The study contributes to growing information linking lymphedema to localized changes in immunity and a predisposition for cancer. The study reviewed data from 4,437 patients who were diagnosed with lower extremity lymphedema at Mayo Clinic in Rochester from 2000 to 2020. Compared...

On Tuesday, Michigan Judge James Redford ruled that Donald Trump will remain on the Michigan Presidential ballot for 2024. A Michigan judge on Tuesday dismissed a lawsuit that tried to use the 14th Amendment’s “insurrectionist ban” to remove Donald Trump from the state’s 2024 ballot.The judge separately ruled that Michigan’s secretary of state doesn’t have the power under state law to determine Trump’s eligibility for office based on the constitutional amendment.The rulings mark a major victory for the former president, who has a commanding lead in the 2024 Republican presidential primary race, according to recent polling. Recently, a ruling in...

If you were wondering what a President Nikki Haley would make a priority once she got to the Oval Office, wonder no more! She's going to take on ... social media? Haley appeared Tuesday on a Fox News forum called Voters' Voices, where voters from both sides of the political spectrum had the opportunity to question her about her policies. One voter, concerned about rising antisemitism on college campuses and disinformation seeping into schools, asked Haley: "Is there a limit to free speech?"Haley blamed the rise in antisemitic speech on the use of social media by young people. This led...

We all remember the holdout from the Los Angeles Times who refused to accept the notion that Hamas had beheaded babies during its attack on innocent civilians in Israel — he apparently would settle for nothing less than video of the beheadings to believe it was anything but Israeli propaganda. The IDF has held a couple of screenings for journalists of video taken by Hamas terrorists on October 7. Israeli actor Gal Gadot arranged for a screening in Los Angeles, which was crashed by Hamas sympathizers … the same ones tearing down posters of kidnapped children. Marc Rod of Jewish...