Category Archives: Integrative Medicine

Suppose youve received the dreaded diagnosis and youre evaluating your options for treatment. While friends and family may be urging you to go the conventional route, you believe there must be a better, less toxic way than destroy to heal. Heres a glimpse into that other, often hidden world.

Dr. Nathan Goodyear started out as a gynecologist and pelvic floor surgeon. Once out of residency, however, he noticed that a lot of what he had been taught in medical school didnt work. Then, in 2006, he developed pheochromocytoma, a rare type of tumor that develops in the adrenal gland, causing it to excrete high amounts of norepinephrine, which, in turn, causes extremely high blood pressure and heart rate.

That experience pushed him to make the transition into the field of cancer research. For the past 5 1/2 years, hes been working with Brio-Medical, a holistic cancer clinic in Scottsdale, Arizona, and for the past six months, he has served as its medical director. He works with four other physicianstwo medical doctors and two naturopathic physicians.

Goodyear is a firm believer in the benefits of vitamin C in cancer treatment. Coincidentally, were both scheduled speakers at the Vitamin C International Consortium Institutes annual conference in Tampa, Florida, on Sept. 9 and 10.

He says the current approach to cancer has some significant limitations. Places like Brio-Medical are working to find better approaches.

The conventional approach seems to follow the logic destroy to heal, and I just dont know where that really occurs in nature outside conventional cancer treatment. Healing has to be your focus and goal to achieve healing. You have to heal to heal. Our healing strategy focus in cancer is to tap into the bodys designed capacity to heal itself through the targeting of the root causes, Goodyear said.

When you look at holistic natural therapies, theres this assumption by many, including conventional medicine, that we are just throwing darts up on the wall and hope they stick.

But in actuality, were following the science of genomics, epigenomics, transcriptomics, metabolomics, and immunomodulomics. This is the future of medicine thats here now, and were being incredibly specific and targeted for the dysfunction within the cancer, but with natural holistic or integrated therapy.

Examples of holistic therapies used for cancer include vitamin C in combination with artemisinin or artesunate (a primary malaria medication). This combo is very good for prostate and breast cancer in particular. Curcumin and melatonin both also have significant anticancer effects. Goodyear likes to combine hyperthermia with high-dose vitamin C and curcumin.

Studies have shown that when you give vitamin C with whole-body hyperthermia, you actually achieve a higher plasma ascorbic acid concentration. So thats going to impact the fight against cancer more, he said.

Mistletoe is another excellent cancer treatment.

One key point to be made about holistic oncology is that the earlier you start this kind of treatment, the better. Unfortunately, most patients who seek alternative strategies have already done tremendous damage to their bodies, particularly the immune system, with one, two, or even three rounds of chemo, which really impairs your bodys ability to heal naturally.

If we can get them earlier in the process before they get conventional chemo and/or radiation, the impact is huge, Goodyear said.

Before you destroy the immune system, one can actually heal with the immune system. I cant tell you how many ladies with breast cancer have been able to preserve their breasts with this cancer healing strategy. You can actually heal the body, not destroy it. That is a novel concept because when you destroy the immune system through conventional therapy, youre going to see cancer recur and spread.

Typically, its not the initial cancer that kills you. What kills is when the cancer spreads (metastasizes) to other areas of your body. This kind of cancer is typically treated with whole-body therapies, some of which, such as chemotherapy, can have devastating and fatal effects.

The literature is very clearespecially in the last five to 10 yearsthat 90 percent of morbidity and mortality associated with cancer is when it spreads, Goodyear said. Thankfully, research has provided a good understanding of how this chemotherapy and radiation-induced metastasis process occurs.

Maximum tolerated chemotherapy actually induces the mechanisms to spread the cancer. In breast cancer, maximum tolerated chemotherapy will reduce the primary tumor, yet at the same time, cause it to spread to distant locations in the body.

Other cancer therapies, such as radiation therapy, can also cause cancer. Sometimes even the surgeries to remove cancer and even biopsies to test for it can lead cancer to metastasize.

A lot of people that come to us, theyre so surprised. They ask, Why didnt I know about this? Why didnt I know that surgery can cause metastasis? Why didnt I know chemotherapy and radiation can cause metastasis?

The story of vitamin C demonstrates that the devil is in the details. Roughly 50 years ago, Linus Pauling demonstrated that intravenous (IV) vitamin C (10 grams per day for 10 days) improved cancer survival. Later, researchers at the Mayo Clinic tried to reproduce the results but didnt use IV vitamin C. They instead gave 10 grams orally and found no benefit.

In the academic battle that followed, Mayo won and for the next several decades, the conventional thought was that vitamin C doesnt work. That began to change in about the year 2000, when Dr. Ping Chen, a conventional oncologist, started looking into vitamin C and publishing papers on its pharmacokinetics.

Since then, there has been a combination of pushback against the idea that vitamin C works on the one hand and, on the other, growing research that points to vitamin Cs effects being as powerful as any drug.

Vitamin C does have drug-like effects, and I like to refer to it as a pharmaco-mimetic, but its still a natural biological molecule that cant be patented and hence cant be a drug. Also, to be clear, there are distinct differences between whole food vitamin C and ascorbic acid.

They really have two very different purposes. Whole food vitamin C isnt suitable for the treatment of cancer, but does wonders for general health support, as it interacts favorably with copper and iron in your cells and mitochondria. I only recommend and use high-dose IV vitamin C in cases of acute infection or illness, as it does have very potent drug-like effects.

Its actually inducing metabolic changes and epigenetics, Goodyear said. Thats the great thing about natural therapies. Conventional medicine will take an approach to kind of throw a monkey wrench into the bodys physiology to shut everything down without a holistic perspective of how that affects the whole body. Its a very compartmentalized approach.

A holistic approach is like a pebble thrown into a calm pool in the morning. Its effects ripple throughout the physiology of the body. That is the beauty of natural therapies.

Now in cancer and sepsis when were dealing with the major dysfunction found in cancer, where things have metabolically, genetically, immunologically gone off the rails, we have to come in and really work to turn the tide. Thats where the intravenous vitamin C delivery is required. Thats where the sodium ascorbate comes in because thats the only way were going to be able to change that tide.

When treating cancer, IV needs to be used because you simply cant take the high dosages required orally. Doses of more than 10 to 20 grams of ascorbic acid will cause loose stools when taken orally, but IV administration bypasses the limitation of the gut. It also allows the vitamin C to get directly into the blood to the extracellular fluid, into the tumor microenvironment, to penetrate the tumor and saturate the entirety of the tumor.

If you feel like youre coming down with an infection, such as a flu or cold, oral vitamin C is plenty adequate. Oral dosing of vitamin C, using a non-liposomal product, can double your blood level of vitamin C. Using liposomal vitamin Cwhich is what Ive been recommending for yearscan increase it threefold to fivefoldup to about 300 micromolar. So, liposomal vitamin C can make a big difference.

However, when youre dealing with cancer, you need a minimum of 1,000 micromolar, or 1 millimolar, in the extracellular fluid to kill cancer cells, which is why you really need to use IV. In the case of large tumors or significant cancer spread, much higher plasma concentrations are required.

While the dosage is highly individual to each patient, as a general benchmark, Goodyear typically starts at 1.5 grams per kilogram, which for the average person would be somewhere between 100 and 200 grams per dose, three times a week.

So to be clear, I dont advise taking ascorbic acid for daily vitamin C requirements. I strongly suggest that you use whole food vitamin C, which is far superior as a daily source.

Vitamin C has a wide variety of effects, which can be generally classified into the following: genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, proteomic, metabolomic, and immunomodulatomic.

The point here is that vitamin C is not just directly killing cancer cells, what we would call cytotoxic effects. Vitamin C is actually working to change the metabolism of the cancer, Goodyear said.

What that means is, it creates an energy crisis. It actually depletes the body of certain intermediates that make it so this cancer, which is addicted to sugar, cannot use [the sugar] efficiently to make energy, so it dies. It also depletes [the cancer] of its ability to detoxify.

So to be specific, research shows that vitamin C depletes the cancer of reduced glutathione. And getting rid of that glutathione in that cancer eliminates its ability to handle the high oxidative stress that this pro-oxidative vitamin C therapy induces, which kills the cancer cell.

It also disrupts how cancer makes energy. And its fascinating because everybody looks at this and they ask, Well, how will this affect my healthy cells? This is the paradigm changer with vitamin C.

The environmentas much as the dose, as much as the delivery, as much as the tumor saturationthe environment encountered by that vitamin C dictates the result as much as the dose itself. So you can induce a pro-oxidative effect, a detoxification crisis, an energy crisis, in cancer cells, and healthy cells do just fine.

When you think of vitamin C, youre probably thinking its an antioxidant, which is true. But in high doses only available through IV, it actually becomes a pro-oxidant, and thats what allows it to kill cancer cells and gives it its antiviral and antibacterial properties.

And theres plenty benefits of that. Thats why its so helpful in viral and bacterial infections. Its countering that cytotoxic burst found in infection. Its donating an electron and becomes oxidized [which neutralizes oxygen], Goodyear said.

He noted that this is why vitamin C can help people with sepsis, including COVID-19 sepsis, and the cytokine storm that causes most of the fatal lung damage resulting from severe COVID.

Its different effects are dictated by the different environmentsit can become pro-oxidative, Goodyear said.

When vitamin C is pro-oxidative, it has a helpful effect on cancer patients.

Its delivering the oxidative stress to the tumor and creating it through hydroxyl free radicals, hydrogen peroxide, superoxide anions, he said.

Goodyear also uses melatonin for cancer treatment and monitors patients melatonin levels to ensure proper dosage. Typically, patients will start off with IV melatonin at a dose of 10 to 20 milligrams daily for two weeks to get the level up as quickly as possible while simultaneously taking oral melatonin at a dose of about 60 milligrams per day. The oral dose is then adjusted based on body weight and other parameters.

Ideally, your blood level is supposed to peak at around midnight. So with that in mind, if youre going to do the oral dose, you want to take the highest dose right before bed, maybe 45 minutes before, and then right before bed, he said.

The other doses, if youre going to do it three times a day, would be maybe 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. You really want to keep it away from solar noon. Otherwise, youre going to [impair your] chronobiology.

Goodyear said they try to adjust the dosing of melatonin so it harmonizes with the patients sleep cycle, but the first priority is the cancer.

When patients come to us, so many of them are in an advanced stage, so in that acute setting, we have to use these therapies in combination and sequence, together, to really turn the tide against the cancer.

Goodyear said his cancer clinic sees mostly patients with metastatic cancer who have already had treatment.

In those patients, in a six-week or maybe eight-week cycle, we can see a significant reduction in tumor burden, he said.

Our goal is no evidence of disease, but were going to typically seein most of our patients, well over 50 percenta significant reduction in that tumor burden while theyre here with us. The after-care is very important to continue that process. What were talking about here is at least a 50 percent reduction in the tumor that you can see clinically, through labs and through imaging.

Many of our patients will come in where the breast is a whole tumor, [or] their spine lights up like a Christmas tree. So its not like we have a patient coming in and they have a small little nodule, OK? These are patients that have failed chemotherapy twice or more, [have had] surgery, radiation [and the cancer] recurred, not just once, but often two or even more times.

Its a tough spot to be in, but if we can set a goal of no evidence of disease and see a 50 percent reduction in these patients, hey, thats something that we can work with because were not destroying the body; actually were working to heal the body.

As mentioned earlier, most of the patients have destroyed much of their bodies innate healing ability through repeated toxic treatments, which makes holistic treatment far less effective. Once chemotherapy damages your immune system, it becomes extraordinarily difficult to treat it.

I know how panic-stricken one can get when given a cancer diagnosis, but if youre in the early to mid stages, you have virtually nothing to lose by going holistic first. Your chances of total remission will be far greater than waiting until all other treatments fail, and you may be able to save your breasts and other parts of your body that would otherwise be cut out.

To make his point, Goodyear offers the case history of a woman with bilateral breast cancer who had been told she needed a bilateral mastectomy, bilateral radiation with chemo, and lymph node dissectionsix to 12 months of brutal and toxic treatments that would have left her disfigured.

When I was talking to her before she came, I said, Let me tell you my approach. Since youve not had any treatment, if we take this in a healing perspective and through a holistic integrative approach, you may just save your breasts, and you may negate the need for any of those other harmful therapies.

And in fact, now shes over two years outcancer-free, no breasts removed, no lymph nodes removed. So here is a person who was headed down that road that would be life-changing in a negative way. We hit the pause button.

She took a chance to think; she took a chance to read. And then she said, You know what? I want a different approach. We addressed it with a holistic evidence-based, integrative approach and now she has both breasts and shes living cancer-free.

She even had COVID and did great. When the immune system is not destroyed, things work so much better, and full-dose chemo destroys the immune system.

Goodyear and I cover a lot more ground in this interview than Ive summarized here, so I encourage you to listen to the full interview online. You can also find more information at Brio-Medical.com.

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Advanced Methods in Alternative Cancer Treatment - The Epoch Times

CHICAGO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE), a leading educator and provider of professional talent to the healthcare industry, has established a partnership between its two medical schools, American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) and Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM), and Southern California University of Health Services (SCU) to expand access to education for aspiring physicians looking to earn a Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree. Through this partnership, SCU students who graduate from the Master of Science in Medical Science (MSMS) program and get accepted to either AUC or RUSM, can receive up to $10,000 in scholarships or additional funding. The three-year agreement began in July 2022.

Adtalem and its leading medical institutions, AUC and RUSM, are committed to expanding access to education and supporting students to pursue medical education, said John Danaher, M.D., president of Adtalem Medical and Veterinary. This partnership will provide needed funding to a diverse group of students who have the talent but may not have access or opportunity to pursue their education and career path in the health sciences.

SCUs post-baccalaureate MSMS degree can be completed in as little as one year and seeks to strengthen students academic skills and credentials for entry into medical, dental, physician assistant, veterinarian, or other professional health care programs.

"This new agreement is excellent news for SCU MSMS students with dreams of becoming medical doctors, said Raheleh Khorsan, Ph.D., program director, MSMS Program at SCU. SCU is proud to have been educating medical science students since our MSMS Program began in 2020. This agreement creates the opportunity to increase the number of both medical sciences students, and future medical students at AUC and RUSM. It is through institutional agreements such as this that our common goal can be reachedto increase health sciences and medical students to fill the need for additional healthcare professionals for communities."

AUC and RUSM are part of the Adtalem family of institutions dedicated to healthcare workforce solutions and actively partner with mission-driven organizations to reduce educational barriers and empower career development. AUC and RUSM are committed to superior student outcomes and achieved strong residency placements with a combined 95% first-time eligible residency attainment rate for 2021-22 graduates and expected graduates (as of April 5, 2022).

To learn more about the agreement, please visit: https://www.scuhs.edu/wp-content/uploads/RUSM-and-AUC-Interview-and-Scholarship-Details.pdf.

About Adtalem Global

Adtalem Global Education (NYSE: ATGE) is a leading healthcare educator and provider of professional talent to the healthcare industry. With a dedicated focus on driving strong outcomes that increase workforce preparedness, Adtalem empowers a diverse learner population to achieve their goals and make inspiring contributions to their communities. Adtalem is the parent organization of American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine, Chamberlain University, Ross University School of Medicine, Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine and Walden University. Adtalem and its institutions have more than 10,000 employees and a network of more than 275,000 alumni. Adtalem was named one of Americas Most Responsible Companies 2021 by Newsweek, and one of Americas Best Employers for Diversity in 2021 and 2022 by Forbes. Follow Adtalem on Twitter @adtalemglobal, LinkedIn or visit Adtalem.com for more information.

About American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine

American University of the Caribbean School of Medicine (AUC) is an institution of Adtalem Global Education, a global education provider headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1978, AUC School of Medicine has more than 7,000 alumni, many of whom work in primary care or underserved areas. With a campus in Sint Maarten, affiliated teaching hospitals in the United States and the United Kingdom, and internationally recognized faculty, AUC School of Medicine has a diverse medical education program for todays globally minded physician. For more information visit aucmed.edu, follow AUC School of Medicine on Twitter (@aucmed), Instagram (@aucmed_edu) and Facebook (@aucmed).

About Ross University School of Medicine

Ross University School of Medicine (RUSM) is an institution of Adtalem Global Education, a global education provider headquartered in the United States. Founded in 1978 and located in Barbados, RUSM has more than 14,000 alumni and is committed to educating a diverse group of skilled physicians. RUSM is accredited by the Caribbean Accreditation Authority for Education in Medicine and Other Health Professions (CAAM-HP). For more information, please visit medical.rossu.edu and follow RUSM on Twitter (@RossMedSchool), Instagram (@rossmedschool) and Facebook (@RossMedSchool).

About Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU)

Over a century after Los Angeles College of Chiropractic (LACC), Californias first chiropractic school was established in 1911, it grew into Southern California University of Health Sciences (SCU), an expanded, multi-program university that is transforming and redefining health and healthcare education. SCU is committed to providing an academic community imbued with kindness, integrity, humor, and determination; and a culture of diversity and inclusion. SCU specializes in integrative whole-person healthcare education that goes beyond the diagnosis - and that treats the whole person. Since 1911, SCU has trained more than 18,000 future healthcare providers. For more information, visit scuhs.edu/.

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Adtalem Global Education Medical Schools Partner with Southern California University to Expand Pipeline of Physicians - Business Wire

LAS VEGAS, Aug. 03, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Healthy Extracts Inc. (OTCQB: HYEX), a leading innovator of clinically proven plant-based products for heart and brain health, has begun the launch of its premium Citrus Bergamot SuperFruit heart health supplement, BergaMet PRO+, on Fullscript.com, the nations leading care delivery platform for integrative medicine.

The launch, which is expected to be completed by the third quarter, will make BergaMet PRO+ available to the more than 70,000 healthcare professionals and their more than 5 million patients on the Fullscript care platform. It follows the recent entry of Healthy Extracts natural formulations for brain health into the retail marketplace through Natural Grocers stores nationwide.

Our launch on Fullscript dramatically expands our reach to healthcare practitioners and their millions of patients across the country, stated Duke Pitts, president of Healthy Extracts. Thousands of physicians trust Fullscript to provide the best health and wellness supplements on the market today, making this another strong validation of the clinically proven benefits of our BergaMet PRO+ for heart health.

As the result of more than 17 published clinical trials, Citrus Bergamot has been shown to improve heart health, support immune response and address metabolic syndrome. Healthy Extracts Citrus Bergamot has also been clinically shown to naturally reduce cholesterol by lowering LDL and increasing HDL.

According to the CDC, nearly 94 million U.S. adults aged 20 years or older have high cholesterol levels that puts them at risk of heart disease. Every year an estimated 35 million are prescribed statins to lower cholesterol, but these drugs can cause numerous negative side effects.

A peer-reviewed clinical study demonstrated that the naturally-derived, bergamot polyphenolic fraction (BPF) contained in Healthy Extracts Citrus Bergamot can significantly enhance the beneficial effects of rosuvastatin, one of the most prescribed drugs for reducing cardiometabolic risk.

Healthy Extracts is the exclusive U.S. and Canadian provider of the worlds highest strength Citrus Bergamot SuperFruit. BergaMet PRO+ has 47% BPF Gold potency as compared to the closest competitor at only 38% BPF.

PRO+ is organic, vegan friendly, non-GMO and gluten-free, and produced and tested by certified U.S. facilities.

Healthy Extracts full line of natural heath health formulations addresses the fast-growing, multi-billion dollar heart-health supplement market which is projected to grow at 5.9% CAGR to reach $24.8 billion by 2027, according to ResearchAndMarkets.

To learn more about and Healthy Extracts full line of clinically-backed, natural brain and hearth health products, go to bergametna.com or tryubn.com.

About FullscriptFullscript is a powerful care delivery platform for integrative medicine practitioners offering access to personalized treatment planning, ongoing wellness education, and healthcares best supplements and wellness products. With over a decade of development and used by more than 70,000 healthcare professionals serving over 5 million patients, Fullscript delivers the scale, technology and expertise to support the growth of integrative medicine and delivery of high-quality care. For more information, visitwww.fullscript.com.

About Healthy Extracts Live Life Young AgainHealthy Extracts Inc. is a platform for developing or acquiring science-forward, clinically proven, plant-based proprietary products in select high-growth categories within the multibillion-dollar nutraceuticals market.

The companys subsidiaries, BergametNA and Ultimate Brain Nutrients (UBN), offer nutraceutical natural heart and brain health supplements. This includes the only heart health supplement containing Citrus Bergamot SuperFruit. This superfruit is known to have the highest quality and concentration of polyphenols and flavonoids, and with healthy heart benefits backed by more than 17 clinical studies.

UBN KETONOMICS proprietary formulations have been clinically shown to support brain health, including memory, cognition, focus and neuro-energy. UBN is pursuing intellectual property license opportunities for monetizing its IP portfolio of multiple issued and pending patents.

For more information visit: healthyextractsinc.com, bergametna.com or tryubn.com.

Forward-Looking Statements and Safe Harbor Notice

All statements other than statements of historical facts included in this press release are "forward-looking statements" (as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995). Such forward-looking statements include our expectations and those statements that use forward-looking words such as "projected," "expect," "possibility" and "anticipate." The achievement or success of the matters covered by such forward-looking statements involve significant risks, uncertainties and assumptions. Actual results could differ materially from current projections or implied results. Investors should read the risk factors set forth in the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the SEC on April 1, 2022, and future periodic reports filed with the SEC. All of the Company's forward-looking statements are expressly qualified by all such risk factors and other cautionary statements.

The Company cautions that statements and assumptions made in this news release constitute forward-looking statements and make no guarantee of future performance. Forward-looking statements are based on estimates and opinions of management at the time statements are made. The information set forth herein speaks only as of the date hereof. The Company and its management undertake no obligation to revise these statements following the date of this news release.

Food and Drug Administration Disclosure

The product and formulation featured in this release is not for use by or sale to persons under the age of 12. This product should be used only as directed on the label. Consult with a physician before use if you have a serious medical condition or use prescription medications. A doctors advice should be sought before using this and any supplemental dietary product. These statements have not been evaluated by the FDA. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure or prevent any disease.

BergametNA, Ultimate Brain Nutrients, UBN, Citrus Bergamot SuperFruit and F4T are registered trademarks of Healthy Extracts Inc.

Healthy Extracts Company ContactDuke Pitts, PresidentHealthy Extracts Inc.Tel (720) 463-1004Email contact

Investor & Media ContactRonald Both or Justin LumleyCMA Investor & Media RelationsTel (949) 432-7566Email contact

Media Contact:Tim RandallCMATel (949) 432-7572Email Contact

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at https://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/AttachmentNg/d7a2b2d9-baa2-4e62-b1f6-dbe625eef883

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Healthy Extracts to Launch on Fullscript, the Leading Integrative Medicine Platform for 70000 Healthcare Providers and 5 Million Patients -...

The addition of two key leaders will further enhance the company's business goals

PHOENIX, Aug. 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Fullscript, the leading care delivery platform for integrative medicine, has appointed Ninan Chacko, chief executive officer of Monotype, and Solmaz Shahalizadeh, founding partner of Backbone Angels, to the company's board of directors. As the first independent board members to join Fullscript, these two highly experienced leaders offer a wealth of knowledge and a dynamic background to advance the organization's growth strategy. This brings the total number of Fullscript board members to eight.

"It's an honor to have Ninan and Solmaz on our board," said Kyle Braatz, chief executive officer of Fullscript. "We were looking for individuals who had diverse perspectives, great leadership abilities, strong data and software experience, and vast knowledge of business development to strengthen our growth initiatives. We've more than succeeded in reaching this criteria."

Ninan has more than 20 years of global technology leadership experience. He has held executive positions at Travel Leaders Group, one of the largest retail, corporate, and entertainment travel companies in North America and the UK, along with PR Newswire, and Worldspan. Ninan brings his experience in digital acceleration and revenue generation to Fullscript.

"I am delighted to join Kyle and the talented team at Fullscript as they pioneer this innovative approach to integrative medicine," Ninan said. "I look forward to working with my board colleagues and the management team, drawing on my background in global technology leadership and strategic operations to support Fullscript's business goals."

As an executive, investor, and advisor in the technology and data space, Solmaz is well-versed in building companies and scaling businesses. She previously spent more than eight years as vice president and head of data at Shopify, building their entire portfolio of data and machine learning products, and overseeing a team of more than 500. Her extensive career also includes previous positions at Morgan Stanley and McGill University.

"Throughout my career, I have used technology to solve challenging problems and create new opportunities across multiple industries including healthcare and commerce," Solmaz said. "I'm thrilled to join Kyle and the Fullscript team and support them in their mission as they scale integrative medicine for everyone and tap into the power of data and machine learning to make it a reality."

To learn more about Fullscript, visit Fullscript.com.

About Fullscript

Fullscript is a powerful care delivery platform for integrative medicine practitioners offering access to personalized treatment planning, ongoing wellness education, and healthcare's best supplements and wellness products. With over a decade of development and used by more than 70,000 healthcare professionals serving over 5 million patients, Fullscript delivers the scale, technology and expertise to support the growth of integrative medicine and delivery of high-quality care. For more information, visit Fullscript.com or follow Fullscript on LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook and Twitter.

SOURCE Fullscript

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Fullscript Appoints New Members to its Board of Directors - PR Newswire

Today, Im going to discuss nutrients, herbs and amino acids that I have found helpful for my patients when they are stressed.

You may recall, Ive written about how to handle stress from a dietary and lifestyle standpoint. Today, Im going to discuss nutrients, herbs and amino acids that I have found helpful for my patients when they are stressed. Many of these supplements are focused on supporting the adrenal glands, which are responsible for producing stress hormones. Other supplements are focused simply on managing the stress load.

Vitamin C

Vitamin C is usually thought of as an immune support nutrient, but, when under stress, our adrenal glands use a lot of vitamin C. In fact, the adrenal glands are one of the organs with the highest concentration of Vitamin C in our bodies! To correctly produce one of our main stress hormones, cortisol, vitamin C is necessary. This vitamin is also important for proper balance of another stress hormone, adrenaline.

Vitamin B5 (dexpanthenol)

Dexpanthenol is another vitamin that the adrenal glands utilize heavily when under stress to produce adequate cortisol. Without B5, cortisol output may not be able to meet the needs of the person who is under stress.

Ashwaganda

Ashwaganda, also known as withania, is an herb that I love to use to help with modulation of stress hormones. What modulation means is that the herb doesnt push the adrenals to produce more or less hormone but, instead, gently promotes balance and healthy function of the adrenal glands. Ashwaganda is also useful for balancing other hormones, such as estrogen and testosterone.

Rhodiola

Much like ashwaganda, rhodiola is an adaptogenic herb that helps us modulate our stress response. Rhodiola can increase the capacity to handle stress and help prevent the exhaustion that long-term stress can bring.

Magnolia bark

Magnolia bark has been used for centuries in Chinese medicine and I see it work very well as an anxiety and stress reliever. It can have a somewhat sedative effect, so it can be particularly useful for the type of stress that causes insomnia, which, of course, happens a lot!

L-theanine

Stress can often leave us tired, wired, unfocused, anxious and irritable. L-theanine is an amino acid that helps to calm and focus the mind. This amino acid helps with the production of dopamine and serotonin, which helps to improve mood. L-theanine also helps to maintain sleep and can promote alpha wave brain activity. Alpha waves are the prevalent brain waves we produce with meditation.

GABA

GABA is another amino acid that I utilize with my stressed patients. We make GABA naturally and it plays a big role in controlling stress, anxiety and fear. This amino acid works by decreasing activity in the nervous system, which results in a calming effect. Generally, the nervous system is overactive during a high stress time.

I hope you have found this list of supplements helpful. However, remember that this article should not be a substitute for medical advice. Its always best to get your medical advice from a practitioner who knows your health history, your current medications and a whole host of other facts about you as an individual. And, for expertise in herbs and amino acids for stress, your best bet is to see your friendly neighborhood naturopathic physician! FBN

By Amber Belt, N.D.

Amber Belt, N.D. is a naturopathic physician and co-owner of Aspen Integrative MedicalCenter where she helps patients get healthy from the inside out. She is also co-owner of Sage Sirona, which focuses on natural first aid and education. Dr. Belt has been practicing naturopathic medicine for more than 15 years and can be contacted viaaspenmedcenter.comorsagesirona.com. You can also call her office at 928-213-5828.

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Identifying the Top Five Supplements to Help Handle Stress - Flagstaff Business News

This podcast was produced for the AstraZeneca YOUR Cancer program by Scientific American Custom Media, a division separate from the magazines board of editors.

Transcript:

Megan Hall: Every year, the Cancer Community Awards, sponsored by AstraZeneca, presents an individual or organization with a Catalyst for Care Award. This award celebrates those who are making a patients experience as easy as possible during an extraordinarily difficult time. In 2021, the non-profit Unite for HER received the award for its work funding integrative therapies like acupuncture, massage and nutrition support for women whove been diagnosed with breast or ovarian cancer. As we prepared for this years awards, we reconnected with Unite for HERs founder and CEO, Sue Weldon, to hear more about whats happened since her organization received the award. Sue Weldon, thank you so much for taking the time to talk with me today. Im really excited to hear more about what youve been doing in the past year.

Sue Weldon: Aw, thank you for having us. Its been quite a year. You guys really springboarded us on this wonderful nationwide expansion as well. So Im happy to share.

Hall: Do you mind, for people who dont know your story, just giving us a brief summary of your own cancer journey?

Weldon: Yeah, absolutely. So in 2004, I was diagnosed with breast cancer. It was at a time where I had three small children and definitely felt they had the wrong girl, like a lot of people diagnosed. There was a lot of side effects and symptoms that occur during cancer treatment. As a young woman, when youre going through chemotherapy, youre sort of forced into this menopause. So I was having hot flashes every hour, on the hour. I wanted to have more children. I was emotionally depressed. I was in bone pain, neuropathy, all the things that come along with treatment itself.

Thats where I was learning how to treat the patient who was myself, and that whole woman, to get through. It was life changing for me. It just allowed me to really dive in and educate myself about integrative care, acupuncture, oncology massage, reiki, yoga. Nutrition was huge for me. Food became my medicine and something I could control. These were things I could control. The diagnosis, the treatment, I couldnt control any of that. Thats really how it all came about.

I remember being about a year out and feeling better. Six months of chemotherapy, bilateral mastectomy. It was a rough go. Lost a lot of weight. I was just getting myself back. Hairs coming back and I went to this event. It was Yoga on the Steps down in Philadelphia. I saw this young woman out the corner of my eye and I can see her face because she reminded me of myself. Her hair was gone and the yellowish skin and the hollow eyes. We all know that feeling.

I remember that feeling, that blank stare that I had when I couldnt believe it was me. So I went up to her and I shared. She asked how I looked so good and what did I do. We just had this connection. And when I share with her about the acupuncture and the yoga, meditation, the whole-food nutrition and plant-based diet, she started crying. Shes like, Oh, well good for you. I could never afford all that. That was my moment. That was the moment where I was like, oh my gosh, shame on me.

This is where we can make an impact. How can we get these types of therapies to everyone to get access? So I went home and said, Honey, all right. Were going to start a non-profit. Im not quite sure what it looks like, were all going to work for free for a while. But I want to make sure that we could be able to give and fund and deliver these types of integrative services. It started with 23 women in 2010, 2009, 2010. Had to have a fundraiser. Now were serving over 3,500 women all across the nation.

Hall: Lets say I am a woman who was just diagnosed with cancer and Im coming to you. Im coming to Unite for HER. What would you tell me about how you might be able to help me, what Im going to experience if I work with your non-profit or benefit from your services?

Weldon: Yeah. So I would welcome you into our community first, and just applaud you for making that step, right? To make the step, to reach out and get your resources, sometimes as women, we feel like weve got to do it all, right, and that we can handle it and we can stay strong. Then we just sort of talk through where they are with our wellness-program management team. Theyre extraordinary, our registered dieticians. Then we meet them there and say, Okay, this is how we can help you with these side effects and symptoms. By the way, youre not going to have any financial burden. Were going to offer you a wellness program with a passport. We call it a wellness passport of two thousand dollars worth of treatments.

Those two thousand dollars worth of treatments, you get to choose, right? You get to choose how its going to work for you. Some women may have sleep deprivation or depression and they might approach it differently. But the outcome may be the same, right? Some may dive into nutrition. Our cooking classes alone, our registered dietician team, theyre so dynamic and just so fun. To have a cooking class where youre with these women and youre taking your mind off of it, but youre learning whole-food nutrition and learning how this food is going to help with the metallic taste in your mouth or digestion, it just allows you to take control. Thats where we let them know that were going to, one step at a time, give you a little bit of that control and confidence back, and were with them for life.

Hall: What do you say to skeptics? People who say, what does acupuncture do? What do these things do? Really, they need chemotherapy. They need medical treatments. Does this really make a difference?

Weldon: Yeah. So lets make sure were correct in this. We are not an either or. We are in addition to. Yes, youre getting your chemotherapy. Youre getting your medical treatments. Youre getting your surgery. We are not preaching anything different than that. We are saying, in addition to that, were going to help you with your side effects and symptoms. When you have chemotherapy, you have stomach issues, you have bone pain, you have headaches, you have depression, you have neuropathy, you have hot flashes, this is all science and research based. This is in the journals, right, of the medical journals that talk about acupuncture helping with cancer patients.

Massage helping to alleviate stress. Whole-food nutrition, I mean, theres so much science and data. Everything we do is backed by science and data. But rest assured, this is not an either or. This is in compliment with the standard of care. So we do it in line with your medical team. We are talking with them. We are connecting the different physicians together so that way we have this whole-patient care.

Hall: Sounds like youre just doing what the doctors dont have time to do or the training to do.

Weldon: Yeah. Both. I mean, they have such a big job to do and I am so in awe of our medical community and the strides that they have made. So much has changed since I was diagnosed. But what we talk about is that they treat the cancer, we treat the woman. We treat the physical, emotional part of that healing process, which actually makes them do better on treatment.

Hall: So lets move on and talk about the award that you received. So what did it mean to you to be nominated and then eventually win this Catalyst for Care Award?

Weldon: We were just so honored. I always put the we in there because Unite for HER just was able to now finally be looked at on the national stage. This award helped us with that, right? To be recognized for the work that we did. We were in the Philadelphia, New Jersey, Delaware area. When COVID hit, we expanded because we did our programming differently. We did a virtual. That means we could go anywhere. We mailed it right to their home. The award just came at that perfect time where people were recognizing the work that we did. Theres not many people doing integrative care and meeting them at their home, or right in their home community in such an impactful way.

So for us to be able to get that message out, and what an incredible team to work with, both Scientific American and AstraZeneca put us on this platform that allowed our story to be heard, came in and interviewed us and had this staff there and shared and interviewed our patients to tell this beautiful story. Thats powerful. That exposure is one area, but then the beautiful grant, such a generous grant on top of that that served another 100 women. Thats just extraordinary.

Hall: I understand that youre a judge this year. Can you give me a sense of what the nominees were like and what that experience was like?

Weldon: Oh my gosh. Wow. Extraordinary. To be on the other side of it and to be able to look at all those different non-profits or movers and shakers in the cancer community that really are all about whole-patient care. Theyre all doing it in different ways. But together, we have this collaborative approach, right? So yeah, it gave me a whole new respect on the whole judging process and what it took for us to be there. I cant wait to see this next person come up and feel all the goodness that we did.

Hall: What are you looking forward to in the next year? What gives you hope? How are you growing and changing?

Weldon: Were serving a lot of women now. So for us, its making sure our infrastructures strong so we can maintain it. We want to maintain our hands-on, engaged approach. We never want to lose that. Thats what made us who we are. So for us, we want to focus on making sure that all those services that were putting out there, that they get used, that theyre understood, that the education is put in front of them. How do we do that in a way that transcends across the nation like it did locally? We dont want to lose that high-touch feel that Unite for HER was known for. We dont want that to change, right? Even though were growing very quickly, our roots, were a hands-on experience. We have to work on that and continue to serve.

Our biggest priority is to make sure that we get to the ones that needs the most and prioritize a lot of those underserved communities. We developed a Spanish-speaking-only wellness program because we wanted to make sure we were embedded in the culture. Were leaning into making sure our women of color, our Black and brown women dont have this health-equity gap that is just so devastating. What can we do to do our part? So for us, were making sure that were getting into those communities and understanding and recruiting in a way that is so impactful.

Hall: Well, Sue Weldon, it was such a pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much for taking the time.

Weldon: Yeah. Well, thank you. It was great. I appreciate it.

Hall: Sue Weldon is the founder and CEO of Unite for HER. In 2021, the non-profit received the Catalyst for Care Award from the Cancer Community Awards, part of the AstraZeneca YOUR Cancer program. YOUR Cancer brings together the community that is working to drive meaningful change in cancer care. Visit YourCancer.org to learn more about the C2 award winners and the YOUR Cancer program.

This podcast was produced by Scientific American Custom Media and made possible through the support of the AstraZeneca YOUR Cancer program.

For more remarkable stories from the 2021 Winners of the Cancer Community Awards, visit our Heroes of Cancer Care collection.

[The above text is a transcript of this podcast.]

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A Source of Integrative Support for Breast and Ovarian Cancer Patients [Sponsored] - Scientific American

PAINWeek is committed to providing advanced pain education to APPs at all stages of their careers, and 2022 promises to be the best conference yet.."

MONTCLAIR, N.J. (PRWEB) August 04, 2022

Advanced Practice Providers are making a difference in pain management. Recent articles have asked, can advanced practice providers be the answer to the nursing crisis? [1] and noted that NPs and PAs are/will be 67.3% of the practitioners added to the workforce between 2016 and 2030, outpacing physicians. [2]

Presenter Theresa (Tracey) Mallick-Searle, MS, PMGT-BC, ANP-BC, of the Stanford Outpatient Medical Center, Division Pain Medicine, in Redwood City, California, commented, as APP attendance at PAINWeek continues to grow, so does the quality of its APP track offerings. PAINWeek is committed to providing advanced pain education to APPs at all stages of their careers, and 2022 promises to be the best conference yet. My session, Green Acres: Pregnancy & Pain in Rural Communities, will highlight the importance of adequate pain management during pregnancy.

Jeremy Adler, DMSc, PA-C, will discuss his trials, tribulations, and successes in the PA Perspective on Owning Your Own Practice. He commented, managing the complexity of patients with chronic pain generally requires a skilled and dedicated team. We have found that our team has thrived through joint ownership of the practice between PAs and physicians. This session will introduce some of the ways PAs can be either as owners, shareholders, or entrepreneurial in meeting the needs of patients. Dr. Adler is Senior Pain Management PA and Chief Operating Officer at Pacific Pain Medicine Consultants in California.

Lo and Behold: The Clinical Nurse Anesthetist Experience in Pain Management will be presented by Jackie Rowles, DNP, CRNA, ANP-BC, NSPM-C. Ms. Rowles stated, PAINWeek is the largest gathering of pain clinicians from across the nation and provides an avenue for all disciplines to come together to network and learn from one another. My lecture details the pathway, subspecialty education, and typical clinical practice day of a Certified Registered Nurse Anesthetist Pain Practitioner. Ms. Rowles is an associate professor of professional practice and director of the advanced pain management fellowship at Texas Christian University.

Other courses in the APP Track include:

PAINWeek will present over 75 CME/CE credit hours in tracks such as Behavioral Pain Management, Chronic Pain Syndromes, Health Coaching, Interventional and Integrative Pain Management, Medical/Legal, Neurology, Physical Therapy, Pharmacotherapy, and Psychedelics. Master Classes, Special Interest Sessions, and sponsored courses complement the agenda, along with tracks presented by the American Society of Interventional Pain Physicians and the International Pelvic Pain Society.

For more information, click here, or visit painweek.org.

PAINWeek accreditation provided by Global Education Group:

Global Education Group focuses on producing partnership-based CME for healthcare practitioners. The Global team works with a select group of medical education companies, associations, academic institutions, and healthcare facilities to develop and accredit live healthcare conferences and workshops as well as online activities. With each partnership or joint providership, Global brings accreditation expertise, project management excellence and grant funding intelligence. Based in Littleton, Colo., Global has accreditation with commendation from the ACCME and accredited with distinction from the ANCC. Global also holds accreditations to offer continuing education for nurse practitioners, pharmacists, dietitians, dentists, and psychologists. Global is a division of Ultimate Medical Academy.

1. https://www.mgma.com/resources/human-resources/can-advanced-practice-providers-be-the-answer-to-t2. https://www.fiercehealthcare.com/practices/growth-advanced-practice-clinicians-will-outpace-physicians-projections-predict

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The PAINWeek 2022 National Conference Presents the Advanced Practice Providers Track on Wednesday, September 7 - PR Web

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Data science researchers will build cloud-based learning modules for biomedical research.

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. With supplemental funding from the National Institutes of Health, a team of researchers led by Justin Zhan, professor of data science at the University of Arkansas, will collaborate with NIH and Google software engineers to build cloud-based learning modules for biomedical research.

These modules will help educate biomedical researchers on the ways that artificial intelligence and machine learning, both rapidly becoming important tools in biomedical research, can enhance and streamline data analysis for different types of medical and scientific images.

The new funding, $140,135, has been awarded through the National Institute of General Medical Sciences Institutional Development Award Program. Zhan partnered with Kyle Quinn, associate professor of biomedical engineering, and Larry Cornett, director of the Arkansas IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, which is administering the grant.

In addition to the Arkansas IDeA Networks support, case studies for the learning modules will be developed with support from the data science and the imaging and spectroscopy cores of the Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center.

Big data is transforming health and biomedical science, Zhan said. The new technology is rapidly expanding the quantity and variety of imaging modalities, for example, which can tell doctors so much more about their patients. But this transformation has created challenges, particularly with storing and managing massive data sets. Also, while the big data revolution transforms biology and medicine into data-driven sciences, traditional education is responding slowly. Addressing this shortcoming is part of what were trying to do.

The researchers will secure the technical expertise and resources needed to provide training to students and health-care professionals on the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning, as they apply to biomedical research.

Artificial intelligence is the ability of computer systems to perform tasks that have traditionally required human intelligence. One example of artificial intelligence is machine learning, in which algorithms and computations become more accurate than humans at predicting outcomes. This process demands tremendous computational power, more than standard computer clusters can handle.

The Arkansas researchers will parter with software engineers at Google and the National Institute of General Medical Sciences to address the computational requirements of artificial intellegence-driven research through the use of cloud computing. Cloud computing provides access to computing services over the internet, allowing faster and more flexible solutions in biomedical research.

The cloud computing modules developed by Zhans team will help researchers understand how artificial intelligence can be used in biomedical sciences to analyze big data. Case studies involving the identification of unique features in large biomedical image sets and the prediction of disease states is expected to help scientists, researchers and clinicians understand how to implement these powerful tools in their work.

About the Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center: Established by a $10.8 million NIH grant in 2021, the Arkansas Integrative Metabolic Research Center focuses on the role of cell and tissue metabolism in disease, development, and repair through research involving advanced imaging, bioenergetics and data science. Quinn is the center director, and Zhan directs centers Data Science Core.

About the University of Arkansas: As Arkansas' flagship institution, the UofA provides an internationally competitive education in more than 200 academic programs. Founded in 1871, the UofA contributes more than $2.2 billion to Arkansas economy through the teaching of new knowledge and skills, entrepreneurship and job development, discovery through research and creative activity while also providing training for professional disciplines. The Carnegie Foundation classifies the UofA among the few U.S. colleges and universities with the highest level of research activity. U.S. News & World Report ranks the UofA among the top public universities in the nation. See how the UofA works to build a better world at Arkansas Research News.

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Researchers Partner With NIH and Google to Develop AI Learning Modules - University of Arkansas Newswire

Photo credit: NPS, Patrick Taylor.

Boron is not an element often considered in lists of essential ingredients for life. It is not incorporated into any animal enzymes, fats, proteins, or nucleic acids, and few of us look at boron content in our food labels.Arizona State Universitys listdoes not even include boron making up any minute fraction of body weight. And yet, surprisingly, there would be no life without boron: no plants,no bones, and no brains. Why do we need it? And where does it come from?

The roles of elements Michael Denton describes in his Privileged Species series of books and videos, particularly inThe Miracle of the Cell(2020) andThe Miracle of Man(2022), are truly fascinating: especially the metalloenzymes like iron, copper, and magnesium, to say nothing of the exacting requirements for the common elements like oxygen, nitrogen, and (of course) carbon. It was never his intent, though, to discuss every element in the periodic table. His work can prompt others to help augment the case for the prior fitness of the universe for complex life. Recently we discussedone other element he passed over phosphorus that adds to the argument. Boron has a similar story to tell.

Boron, element 5 in the periodic table, is called a metalloid because, standing between metals and non-metals, it shares some properties with both. Containing 5 protons and 3 to 9 neutrons (with boron-10 and boron-11 being the most common isotopes in nature), boron has three valence electrons in its outer shell that can give rise to many compounds. It is never found in its elemental form naturally, but over 100 boron-containing compounds with hydrogen, oxygen, carbon, nitrogen, sodium, chlorine, and even aluminum are known. Many boron compounds, like boric acid, are water soluble. In its amorphous elemental form, boron is a brown powder that burns green in flame (see a demonstration video below). In fact, the green color in many fireworks displays comes from boron. Boron compounds have long been used to ignite rocket fuels from the days of Apollo up through todays SpaceX missions.

Before getting into its roles in biology, you might be interested to know that boron compounds have many uses in everyday life: in hand soap (Boraxo), roofing tile, charcoal, glass, ceramics, nuclear shielding, makeup, semiconductors, magnets, and much more, as theU.S. Borax Companylikes to boast. Many have heard about the historic20-Mule Teams that hauled borax in Death Valley and delivered it to Mojave, 165 miles away, a ten-day ordeal for intrepid miners and their mules in the 1880s. Farther southwest, theres a small town named Boron in the Mojave Desert that is the site of the worlds largest borax mine. It supplies half the worlds borates and boric acid. The other half is supplied by Turkey, where even larger deposits may exist untapped.

For such a simple atom, boron is surprisingly rare in the universe. Atomic physicists believe it is produced in small amounts by spallation reactions with cosmic rays or in supernova explosions, but not by stellar nucleosynthesis. This raises questions about how Earth got its supply a subject we will return to shortly. Natural boron minerals called borates can be found throughout Earths crust, on the ocean floor, and in volcanic deposits. If its depleted in soil, leaves turn yellow, but too much is toxic to plants. Farmers know that supplemental boron in fertilizer can increase crop yields to a point. In general, biology does not appear starved for boron.

So why is boron not incorporated into biomolecules? It stands right next to carbon in the periodic table but is extremely different in its actions.Like bromine, boron takes part in the synthesis of important compounds without residing in them. An essential trace element, boron acts as a regulator and facilitator of important biochemical pathways; for instance, it can extend the half-life of vitamin D and thereby increase its bioavailability. It plays essential roles in hormone production. Plants depend on boron for construction of their cell walls, and animals depend on it during bone formation. U.S. Borax explains its many roles in plant life:

Boron isan essential micronutrient, integral to a plants life cycle.Required only in small amounts, boron is necessary in plants tocontrol flowering, pollen production, germination, and seed and fruit development.Boron also ensures thehealthy transport of water, nutrients, and organic compoundsto growing portions of the plant.

As plants draw borates from the soil, the boron is distributed throughout the stems, leaves, roots, and other structures. When people eat plant-derived foods such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, and legumes they routinely absorb small amounts of boron. [Emphasis added.]

Most people get sufficient boron from plant sources like apples, coffee, legumes, and potatoes. We only need about 1.2 to 3 mg of boron per day, but there is nothing boring about boron, wrote Lara Pizzorno in theJournal of Integrative Medicine. Consider her astonishing list of benefits we get from the tiny amounts of this element that we ingest:

Boron has been proven to be an important trace mineral because it (1) is essential for the growth and maintenance ofbone; (2) greatly improveswound healing; (3) beneficially impacts the bodys use ofestrogen, testosterone, and vitamin D; (4) boostsmagnesiumabsorption; (5)reduces levels of inflammatory biomarkers, such as hs-CRP and TNF-; (6)raises levels of antioxidantenzymes, such as SOD, catalase, and glutathione peroxidase; (7)protects against pesticide-induced oxidative stressandheavy-metal toxicity; (8)improves brain electrical activity, cognitive performance, and short-term memory in elders; (9) influences the formation and activity ofkey biomolecules, such as SAM-e and NAD+; (10) has demonstratedpreventive and therapeutic effects in a number of cancers, such as prostate, cervical, and lung cancers and multiple and non-Hodgkins lymphoma; and (11) may helpameliorate the adverse effectsof traditionalchemotherapeuticagents.

Now that we are convinced of borons benefits, some may wish to monitor their boron intake or even ask their doctors about supplementation if they are at risk. But where did Earths boron come from? As stated earlier, it is relatively rare in nature, and so there should not have been large amounts in the solar nebula from which the rocky planets are believed to have accreted. This has led some to speculate that boron was delivered to earth in a late veneer of chondrites. That seems odd, though, because one could ask where those objects got it if not from the solar nebula. However the Earth got its boron, its here now. One might assume that plate tectonics would recycle it, as happens in other elemental cycles (e.g., carbon, nitrogen).

Even taking Earths current boron budget as a given, though, another issue was raised in a recent paper by Liang Yuan and Gerd Steinle-Neumann inGeophysical Research Letters. According to their models and computations, most boron should have sunk to the Earths core, because at high temperatures and pressures, it clings to iron.

Plate tectonics promotes the transport of surface rocks into the mantle, producing much of its chemical heterogeneity.Boron, a quintessential crustal element, is often used as a proxy for crustal contributions when found in mantle rocks and is, therefore, one of the central tools in geochemistry to trace recycling/mixing in the mantle. Using quantum mechanical calculations,we find that the chemical behavior of boron changes from lithophile (rock-loving) to siderophile (iron-loving) under pressuretemperature conditionsrelevant to core formation.Thus, much boron may have been transported to the core, and the core may be Earths largest boron reservoir, rather than the crust.

In other words, molten iron as it sank to the core should have carried most of this scarce element with it. Indeed, the two researchers believe that half of Earths boron budget is stored in the core now. How can it get up into the crust where plants and animals depend on it?

This opens a question that might interest design advocates looking for more evidence of Dentons prior fitness argument. Does the circumference and mass of our planet determine the availability of boron? Was there an issue of timing that prevented a runaway depletion of boron to the core? As the authors state, As metallic iron is present predominantly in the core and likely at percent level throughout the mantle, its impact on Earths boron budget merits consideration. Equal consideration must be given to requirements for any habitable planet capable of supporting complex life. I have not seen boron availability discussed by Denton or inThe Privileged Planetby Gonzalez and Richards (2004).

The authors mention that certain diamonds (Type IIb) contain excess boron. Other geochemists have taken that to be a proxy for tectonic recycling, but these authors challenge that interpretation. Rather than boron in Type IIb diamonds representing crustal recycling, its predicted siderophile nature suggests the fingerprint of a metallic reservoir. The reservoir cannot be in the core, though:

The hypothesis of a core contribution to the boron signature of Type IIb ishighly conjecturalas itrequires more than 2,000 km of vertical migrationof dense core componentswith minimal dilution of boronsignatures.

They suggest that molten iron moved into the mantle, carrying boron with it, and that the diamonds were erupted from there. (Diamonds can arrive suddenly at the surface from the mantle in rapid volcanic explosions called kimberlite eruptions.) Although they suggest some isotopic evidence for mantle reservoirs, their solution seems highly conjectural as well. Unless evidence for a self-sustaining boron cycle can be established, one might have to surmise that complex life appeared on Earth at a special time due to the limiting factor of boron availability.

The fact remains that Earths surface now seems to have plentiful boron for living organisms, even if industrial demand requires mining as much as can be found in isolated locations like California deserts and certain provinces in Turkey. In that regard, the boron budget resembles the phosphorus budget as support for Dentons prior fitness argument.

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Prior Fitness for Life: The Problem of Boron - Discovery Institute

Telehealth consultations provide a quick and easy way to incorporate integrative medicine modalities

Subscribe to The Vet Blast Podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Christopher Shapley, DVM, CVA, joins this episode of The Vet Blast Podcast with Adam Christman, DVM, MBA. Shapley shares plans for a telehealth platform that helps busy clinicians add integrative medicine into their treatment plans with only a quick, virtual consultation.

Below is a partial transcript. Listen to the full podcast for more.

Christopher Shapley, DVM, CVA: We're developing a platform for tele-integrative medicine. So basically, it's for veterinarians to call me...for those clients that want to do integrative medicine. So, they want to integrate herbs into the treatment modality; or they just want to exclusively do herbal medicine; or they've tried everything on the western side and it's time to crack open the eastern side of the medicine.

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Virtual integrative medicine consults with Christopher Shapley - DVM 360