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In patients with chronic kidney disease, the loss of podocytes—part of the kidney's glomerular filtration barrier—causes irreversible disease progression. So far, physicians and researchers have found no way to effectively prevent podocyte damage, loss, and deterioration leading to end-stage kidney disease. Laura Perin, Ph.D. conducted a study that is offering promising results. They fed animal models with chronic kidney disease a specialized low-salt, fasting-mimicking diet (LS-FMD) equivalent to the recommended daily intake for human patients with chronic kidney disease. The researchers found that six cycles of this diet slowed the deterioration of kidney structures and function in rodents. Crucially, it...

Hurricane Milton is set to make landfall late Wednesday or early Thursday in the Tampa, Fla., region after undergoing a rapid intensification this week that saw it become the third-fastest storm on record to reach Category 5 status, the most extreme classification on the hurricane scale. Less than two weeks earlier, Hurricane Helene escalated in a similarly short time span in the Gulf of Mexico before ravaging the southeastern U.S. The warming climate has been a large factor in these storms’ high intensity, as well as the pace of their intensification — and if temperatures continue to rise, future storms...

As sea levels rise and storms intensify, coastal real estate is seeing flooding and erosion like never before. From Dana Point, California, to Long Island, New York, and Nantucket, Massachusetts, some of the nation’s priciest coastal real estate is in an increasingly precarious position due to climate change. This year’s hurricane season is already underway, and the forecast is for “above-normal” activity, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). It predicts up to 13 hurricanes, with four to seven categorized as “major” storms. Various risk models have shown myriad projections for falling real estate values, but the effects...

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico wants an urgent investigation into how U.S. military-grade weapons are increasingly being found in the hands of Mexican drug cartels, Mexico’s top diplomat said Monday.Mexico’s army is finding belt-fed machine guns, rocket launchers and grenades that are not sold for civilian use in the United States.“The (Mexican) Defense Department has warned the United States about weapons entering Mexico that are for the exclusive use of the U.S. army,” Foreign Relations Secretary Alicia Bárcena said. “It is very urgent that an investigation into this be carried out.”

If the looting of retailers, hard drugs run rampant and a homeless population growing quicker than the regular one were not enough to make the Bay Area city of Oakland unlivable, add the challenge of so-called “sideshows.” Counter to the the carnival-inspired name sideshows have proven to be a menace to law-abiding citizens. Despite trying, the Oakland Police Department, which endured budget cuts, has not stopped the high-speed hoedowns. These days, sideshows are street spectacles that involve participants suddenly shutting down four-way intersections and even major bridges, and using the expanses of asphalt to put on displays of cars, often...

Former UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson called on the US to give Ukraine “what they need as fast as possible” a day after President Biden ruled out the possibility of sending F-16 fighter jets to the war-torn nation. “This is not the moment to delay any support for Ukraine. This is the moment to double down on our support. Give them what they need, whether it’s the tanks or the long-range artillery fires. They need to kick Putin out of the whole of the territory,” Johnson told Fox News Channel’s Bret Baier Tuesday during an interview on “Special Report.” Biden,...

Catholic Archbishop Carlo Maria Vigano, who has served in several high-level Vatican roles, said he encourages a three-day fast to bring "heavenly protection" for defendants charged in the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and for the nation as a whole "against the subversive attack of the deep state." Vigano, ex-Vatican secretary-general and former Holy See diplomat to the United States, called for a fast from Jan. 3 to 5, in a letter Saturday to Joseph McBride, an attorney for multiple Jan. 6 defendants. "In your message you tell me about your initiative to announce three days of fasting to propitiate heavenly...

Valsartan, an angiotensin II receptor blocker drug, delayed disease progression and improved cardiac structure and function in patients with early-stage hypertrophic cardiomyopathy, according to a recent trial. "This is the first time we have identified a treatment that may actually impact the underlying disease process, as opposed to just treating symptoms. In addition, if we can delay disease progression, this may ultimately mean that we can significantly impact the risk of sudden cardiac death in this population," said Philip Thrush, MD. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy is characterized by an abnormal thickening of the heart muscle. The disease results from mutations in the...

Explanation: Our Earth is not at rest. The Earth moves around the Sun. The Sun orbits the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy orbits in the Local Group of Galaxies. The Local Group falls toward the Virgo Cluster of Galaxies. But these speeds are less than the speed that all of these objects together move relative to the cosmic microwave background radiation (CMBR). In the featured all-sky map from the COBE satellite in 1993, microwave light in the Earth's direction of motion appears blueshifted and hence hotter, while microwave light on the opposite side of the...

Genome sequencing can be used to determine whether a patient’s illness is genetic, but it usually takes weeks to get results. A new ultra-rapid technique can sequence a person’s genome and diagnose genetic diseases in just a few hours, earning it a Guinness World Record. All the information that makes up an organism is contained in its genome, including traits like eye color, as well as genetic diseases. By comparing a patient’s genome with a checklist of DNA mutations associated with certain inherited diseases, doctors can diagnose otherwise mysterious illnesses. Currently, this process usually takes a few weeks. But in...

Earlier this month, we brought you the story of a Fremont Chevrolet mechanic caught taking a customer's C8 Corvette for a high-speed joyride, and it was even worse than that classic setup makes it sound. The tech ran the car up to 148 mph on a public highway in a street race that went viral once the video from the car's Performance Data Recorder was shared online. Michael showed up at the dealership the next morning, the general manager, Boni, met him outside, and he was taken to his office where the paperwork was completed and the new car was...

Join with fellow FREEPERS to pray for PRESIDENT TRUMP and VICE PRESIDENT PENCE and for AMERICA: Government, Family, Military, Business, Education, Churches, and the Media. This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 1 JOHN 5:14 Religion Forum threads labeled [Prayer] are closed to debate of any kind.

Eric Holder's resignation, just 40 days before the midterm elections, shows how jittery Obama is about losing control of the Senate this November. While Holder likely is getting out of Dodge before federal judges weigh in and order the release of documents showing he covered up the Fast and Furious and IRS email scandals, the timing of his resignation suggests that Obama wants to be sure that he has time for a Democratic lame duck Senate to confirm a replacement. With so much dirty laundry stacked up in the closets of the Justice Department, Obama didn't dare let in an...

My computer was running like a tired old man. This Dell laptop is my surfing computer with nothing involving money or business. Windows 10 by default installs Defender firewall in real-time mode and I finally decided to get rid of it to see if the computer would act like a young person again.

I certainly didn’t fit the classic profile of the aging stroke victim. At the time of my brain explosion, I was 38. I’d run eight half-marathons and had a diet and exercise regimen that helped me cross those finish lines. But I also had an intense job that involved booking groups—including NBA teams—into hotels in San Francisco. That’s what I was doing at 2 a.m. on the Friday before Christmas in 2013, welcoming the Los Angeles Lakers to their hotel. I got four hours of sleep that night, then drove 90 miles to my mother’s house to drop off holiday...

**SNIP** Tien, 27, has been on hunger strike for 11 days. He and hundreds of others of Extinction Rebellion climate activists worldwide began fasting on November 17. Most people have stopped, but Tien is still not eating. “I desperately want to eat, but I would rather have a future,” he wrote in the Guardian. So far, he’s lost 12 pounds. Last week, Tien and other U.S. Extinction Rebellion hunger strikers occupied House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s outer office on the Capitol, demanding a meeting about Congress’ plans for environmental action. She barely acknowledged them—granted, she was likely consumed by last week’s...

Once again we see Islam being brought into the workplace. Today we learn that Minnesota Vikings safety Husain Abdullah, has decided that fasting and playing at a lower level, is more important than giving it his all for the team. Even while sprinting in the heat and humidity during drills, sometimes in full pads, Abdullah is adamant about his faith. He will not allow himself so much as a cup of water until the sun sets and before it rises. “I’m putting nothing before God, nothing before my religion,” Abdullah said. “This is something I choose to do, not something...

BEIJING, Sept. 9 (Xinhua) -- Chinese astronomers have detected repeated fast radio bursts (FRB) - mysterious signals believed to be from a source about 3 billion light years from Earth - with the largest and most sensitive radio telescope ever built. Scientists detected the signals with the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST) and they are carefully cross-checking and processing them, according to researchers at the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC). FRBs are the brightest bursts known in the universe. They are called "fast" because these blips are very short, only several milliseconds in duration....

The 18-year-old was returning from his successful driving test when officers in the town of Hemer checked his car with a laser speed gun. "Some things last for ever - others not for an hour," German police wrote in their statement. He is also facing a €200 fine, two points on his licence once it is restored, and his probationary period as a new driver has been lengthened from two years to four.

The McRib is back and better than ever! McDonald's premier rib sandwich has made its grand seasonal return to some 9,000 locations, the popular burger chain announced on Thursday. 'The McRib is made with 100 percent seasoned boneless pork, McDonald's signature sweet, tangy, barbecue style McRib sauce and served with dill pickles and mild, slivered onions on a toasted hoagie-style bun,' a company spokeswoman told KHOU.