Is This Why Warren Buffett Dumped Billions Worth Of Bank Of America Stock?
Market observers have been puzzled by Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway’s abrupt selling of billions of dollars of its long-held stake in Bank of America since mid-July.
Buffett’s stock dumps could be driven by looming recession threats and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate-cutting cycle, which could begin as early as mid-September and dent the bank’s interest earnings. Or perhaps the 94-year-old billionaire has increased cash reserves to record levels because of elevated stock valuations amid the artificial intelligence bubble.
Whatever keeps Buffett up at night about BofA has certainly been intriguing across institutional desks, FinTwit X, and various financial media outlets. Some believe this could be a critical market inflection point. Since mid-July, the billionaire has trimmed about 13% of its BofA stake, generating $5.4 billion in proceeds…
… and adding to Berkshire’s record cash holdings.
The billionaire has remained silent about the stock dumps. Bloomberg noted Buffett sold an additional $982 million worth of stock earlier this week.
Another potential reason for Buffett’s sudden stock selling could be the fear that a US regulatory probe into anti-money laundering surrounding fentanyl cash laundering at Toronto-Dominion Bank could be expanded to major US banks.
In a conversation with Sam Cooper, an investigative journalist behind the Substack “The Bureau,” andDavid Asher, a former senior investigator for the State Department, Asher revealed, “And most of what we’re seeing is coming from this TD Bank case, and there’s a lot more. We’ll see which one of the big four US banks gets named next.”
Justice: absence of legal discrimination, access to justice, maternal mortality ratio, son bias
Safety: intimate partner violence, community safety, political violence targeting women, and proximity to conflict
Which are the Worst Countries for Women?
All of the bottom 10 countries for women are located in either the Middle East or Africa.
High maternal mortality rates, low education rates, and elevated rates of intimate partner violence were some key contributors to the low overall scores. Proximity to conflict also hindered the group’s rankings.
The average index score for the group, at 0.38, is around half the global average of 0.65.
Overall, the status of women deteriorated in 13 countries globally from 2017 to 2023. Somalia (#169), Haiti (#167), and Eswatini (#170) underwent the largest declines.
If you found this interesting, check out this visualization that looks at the best countries for women in 2023, revealing a very different regional perspective.
A Ukrainian soldier speaking to the Japanese broadcaster NHK has said that Western intelligence was used to monitor Russian troop activity in Russia’s Kursk Oblast before Ukrainian forces launched an invasion of the region.
“He says the Ukrainian military surveilled Kursk using drones and satellites, and detailed intelligence data provided by the West was crucial for the operation,” NHK reported.
The US has denied that it was involved in the planning of the invasion but has offered strong support by allowing Ukrainian forces to use US-provided armored vehicles, missiles, and bombs.
Ukraine is now pushing hard for the US to allow its weapons to be used for long-range strikes. Earlier this week the Pentagon repeated its same official line:
During a news conference on Tuesday, Pentagon Press Secretary Major General Patrick Ryder was asked whether the U.S. would reconsider its restrictions on Ukraine’s use of American-supplied missiles.
“You’ve heard us say that the Ukrainians can use U.S. security assistance to defend themselves from cross-border attacks, in other words counterfire,” Ryder said. “But as it relates to long-range strike, deep strikes into Russia, our policy has not changed.”
The Ukrainian soldier, who was described as a spokesman for a Ukrainian brigade, suggested one purpose of the invasion of Kursk was to demoralize the Russian civilian population.
“We should not forget about the moral and psychological factor of the Russian civilian population,” he said. “Our operation was planned both tactically and as a move to demoralize the enemy.”
While the fighting continues in Kursk, Russian forces are making steady gains in the Donbas and moving more rapidly toward the Donetsk city of Pokrovsk.
Western intel key to Kiev’s Russia incursion plan – US spy chief.
Ukraine has access to a trove of commercial satellite images, according to the head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency.
Kiev had access to a wide array of satellite images for planning and executing…
Alzheimer’s disease (Alzheimer’s) is conceptualized as a progressive consequence of two hallmark pathological changes in gray matter, in particular, extracellular amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles. However, over the past several years, neuroimaging studies have implicated micro and microstructural abnormalities in white matter in the risk and progression of Alzheimer’s, suggesting that in addition to the neuronal pathology characteristic of the disease, white matter degeneration and demyelination are crucial features of patients living with the disease. A shift to focus on white matter abnormalities, rather than gray matter, can open up critical new avenues in Alzheimer’s pathology and could be potential treatment targets.
White matter vs. gray matter
The brain’s gray matter is mainly composed of neuronal cell bodies. Nerve cells in the gray matter are where memories are stored. Networks of nerve cell bodies process information in the brain. These neuronal networks are necessary for thinking, speaking, and most activities. White matter is made up of myelinated axons.
White matter disease is the degeneration of tissue in the largest and deepest part of the brain. White matter tissue contains millions of nerve fibers, or axons, that connect other parts of the brain and spinal cord and signal your nerves to communicate to one another. This ‘talk’ helps individuals think fast, walk straight, and perform other important cognitive functions. When diseased, the myelin, a fatty material that protects fibers in the brain, and the axons stop working and the brain and body halt normal functions.
Growing research supporting Alzheimer’s as a white matter disease
The observation that white matter abnormalities are characteristic of Alzheimer’s is relatively new. While changes to the gray matter in the pathogenesis of Alzheimer’s are well known and continue to be heavily investigated, the neuropathology of white matter abnormalities still remains mysterious and is mainly attributed to cerebral small vessel degeneration, inflammatory events, as well as loss of myelin and axonal fibers. However, white matter changes have been shown to develop very early, in prodromal phase (pre-Alzheimer’s) and precede the onset of clinical symptoms of dementia, underscoring the importance of their further investigation and focus.
The fact that most dementia remains incurable—including the cortical dementia of Alzheimer’s that continues as such a formidable threat to medicine and society—calls out for a new paradigm that may reveal new avenues to an effective response. Alzheimer’s as a white matter disease may stimulate such novel thinking, and can serve in a theoretical sense to broaden the clinician’s perspective in approaching dementia and its origins.
New hope for Alzheimer’s disease treatment
Historically, science hasn’t paid as much attention to our brain’s white matter as its gray matter.
We now know how important white matter is to our overall brain health and cognitive ability, as well as how declines in white matter structure are correlated with impairments in brain function. In the broadest sense, dementia must arise from dysfunction in or damage to neurons in the brain. However, the details of where, when and how the cognitive disturbance arises are crucial. Just as neuronal cell body pathology within gray matter is important, so is disease involving the segments of neurons within the white matter and their supporting structures.
Heightened consideration of white matter as a specific therapeutic target raises many new possibilities for Alzheimer’s treatment. Emerging possibilities for the treatment of white matter disorders can help reduce the burden of dementia that results from long-term consequences of myelin damage or dysfunction. An adaptation and adjustment to focus on white matter abnormalities, rather than gray matter in Alzheimer’s patients, opens promising possibilities for the science community to develop effective treatments for Alzheimer’s patients and potentially take steps forward in identifying a possible cure.
Chinese Offices Emptier Now Than During Peak Of Covid Lockdowns As Economy Crumbles
One week ago, we reported that China had found itself “On The Verge” of collapse as its “Welfare State Crumbles, Explosion In Social Unrest As Youth Unemployment Soars, Strikes Surge.” All of this was the result of Beijing’s very deliberate – and extremely risky – decision to not engage in a massive stimulus this time, unlike every previous occasion of sharp economist slowdown, and risk social unrest at best, or a full-blown revolution as an unthinkable worst case.
Here is the silver lining: all those revolutionaries will have brand new empty offices at their disposal when they finally take over. That’s because as the FT reports, offices in China’s biggest cities are emptier than they were during stringent Covid-19 lockdowns in what is the latest clear sign of how the country’s economic slowdown has crushed business confidence.
At least a fifth of high-end office space was vacant in the tech hub of Shenzhen in June, according to data from three real estate agencies, while office vacancy rates in Beijing, Guangzhou and Shanghai were also higher than in June 2022. Naturally, with demand collapsing, rents are at least 10% lower than they were two years ago and in many cases much lower.
While a rise of flexible working has made it hard for developers to fill office space in cities such as London and San Francisco, and led to an unprecedented commercial real estate crisis, in Chinese cities – where far fewer people work from home – analysts said there is a much simpler cause for explosion in office vacancies: the collapsing economy…. which is amusing considering the centrally-planned central government has set a full-year economic growth target of about 5%. The reality is that China’s economy is shrinking at that rate, if not much faster.
“The biggest challenge is still the significant reduction in market demand due to the weakening of China’s economic growth expectations,” said Lucia Leung, greater China research and consultancy director at Knight Frank.
In Shenzhen, Colliers put its prime office vacancy rate at 27% in June, up from 20% in June 2022. Monthly rental prices at premium offices in the southern Chinese city are now about Rmb163 ($22) per sq metres, down 15% year on year, and expected to keep declining at this pace for the foreseeable future. This matches the trend seen by Knight Frank and JLL.
The three agencies have recorded similar vacancy rises in other cities. Shanghai had a vacancy rate of nearly 21% for its high-end offices as of June, up from 14% in June two years ago, according to Knight Frank. Rental prices have slipped 13% year on year, the agency’s data showed. JLL puts manufacturing hub Guangzhou’s prime office vacancy at 21% as of June and 12% for Beijing, up from 16 and 10% in 2022, respectively.
Companies are trying to reduce costs, and this has “led them to be more prudent in their office leasing decisions”, Leung said, citing rental reductions in lease renewals. This environment remains “challenging” in China, Leung added, with the overall vacancy rate expected to continue to rise this year and rents forecast to fall by 8 to 10 per cent year on year.
Said otherwise, absent massive, constant stimulus China – like the US – simply can not function in its current parameters, and the result will be constant overcapacity-driven deflation across every sector until the government finally capitulates and injects the next several trillion in stimmies.
Part of the problem is new supply, said John Lam, head of China property research at UBS. According to Colliers, in Shanghai alone there were almost 1.6mn sq metres of new prime office space will be completed this year, this is the highest level of new supply in the past five years.
While foreign companies including many US law firms have downsized or vacated their offices in Shanghai or Beijing over the past two years, the office rental market is largely driven by domestic companies. And the office rental market will only get worse as ever more Chinese companies move to cheaper office buildings to cuts costs, Lam said, while state-owned enterprises are also looking to cut costs.
One lawyer at a major Chinese firm said they recently cut half of their space in an office building in Beijing’s central business area due to “downsizing and cost-saving”.
Zhang, a leasing manager at an office building in Beijing’s Lido area, told the FT that some smaller clients “cannot hold on any longer”, and most tenants want to renegotiate rent. He said the prime office market environment was still “poor”. “Clients are downsizing,” added Zhang. “Those who used to occupy an entire floor might now use only half a floor, and those who had two continuous floors might also downsize.”
Hong Kong-based Hang Lung Properties’ office leasing revenue in mainland China fell 4 per cent year on year to Rmb556mn on “weakened demand” in the six months to the end of June, it said. The vacancy level in its flagship office building in Shanghai jumped from 2 per cent in June last year to 12 per cent in June this year.
“There will be downward pressure ahead,” chief executive Weber Lo told reporters last month. “What we hope to do now is to be able to keep our existing tenants.”
And as more tenants flee, more renters will be forced to shutdown and liquidate, forcing even more economic pain, even more economic contraction, as the Chinese feedback loop eventually forces the government to step in and short circuit China’s deflationary vortex.
Researchers at the University of California San Francisco have identified fibrin, a natural protein involved in blood clotting, as a major driver of the COVID-19 disease, according to a new study.
Fibrin binds to proteins from the SARS-CoV-2 virus to form blood clots that are difficult to break down, the authors found. This clotting then drives the various inflammatory and neurological symptoms seen in COVID-19 and long COVID, the researchers found.
Previous studies have theorized that blood clotting is a consequence of inflammation. However, the new Nature study, published on Wednesday, shows the reverse: that the clotting comes first.
“We know of many other viruses that unleash a similar cytokine storm in response to infection, but without causing blood clotting activity like we see with COVID,” Dr. Warner Greene, senior investigator and director emeritus at Gladstone and co-author of the study, said in a press release.
“Our study is the first to report causality for fibrin as the root of inflammation and brain pathology after COVID infection,” Katerina Akassoglou, senior author and professor of neurology at UCSF, told The Epoch Times on email.
By blocking fibrin using a novel antibody, the researchers were able to reduce clotting and neurological symptoms, offering a new potential therapeutic for patients.
Furthermore, the new study offers an explanation for the increase in cancers following COVID-19 infections. The researchers found that the abnormal clotting between COVID-19 spike proteins and fibrins reduces cancer-fighting immune cells known as natural killer (NK) cells.
Abnormal Clots From Fibrin and Viral Proteins
Prior studies have shown that a type of COVID-19 viral protein, known as spike, can form irregular clots with other proteins involved in clotting, creating blood clots that are hard to break down.
“We showed that the binding of fibrin to spike forms clots that have very high inflammatory activity,” Akassoglou said.
Researchers tested their findings in mice, infecting them with COVID-19 Beta and Delta variants.
They found fibrin bound to COVID-19 spike proteins to form irregular amyloid-like clots that are difficult to break down using traditional therapies.
The researchers found that the spike and fibrin clots would be deposited in the blood vessels, lungs, and the brains of mice, leading to scarring and inflammation, potentially driving breathing and neurological problems seen in long COVID-19 patients.
In the brain, COVID-19 infection caused protein deposits to be formed in the mice brains, triggering inflammation in brain cells.
“Furthermore, we showed that fibrin induces toxic inflammation, while suppressing NK cells that clear the virus,” Akassoglou said.
Mice that were genetically modified to not produce the right fibrin proteins had less inflammation when infected with COVID-19, the authors found. Their cancer-fighting natural killer cells were also more active at clearing out COVID-19 spike proteins.
The authors wrote that the reduced NK activity may explain some of the cancer and autoimmune cases seen post-COVID-19.
Clots Without Infections
The researchers also showed that even when there are no infections, just introducing the spike proteins to the mice could cause the formation of these abnormal clots.
Researchers exposed mice to subunits of the spike protein rather than the complete virus and clots still formed. They suggest that in long COVID, it may be the remnant spike proteins driving the disease.
While COVID-19 mRNA and adenovirus vaccines cause the body to produce spike proteins, the authors said that the vaccines would not cause these clots. “In general, COVID-19 RNA vaccines lead to small amounts of spike protein accumulating locally […] and the protein is eliminated,” they wrote.
They also point to a study conducted in over 99 million vaccinated individuals, saying that it showed no safety signals for blood-related conditions.
The study, which was funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), found COVID-19 vaccines were linked to few adverse events. Though at certain doses, people who took the COVID-19 mRNA and/or adenovirus vaccines had a slightly increased odds of contracting various clotting diseases.
Other clinicians, including Dr. Keith Berkowitz of Centers for Balanced Health and nurse practitioner Scott Marsland at the Leading Edge Clinic, disagreed with the UCSF researchers’ statements in the study.
Marsland and Dr. Paul Marik, chairperson of Front Line COVID-19 Critical Care Alliance, said that clotting is a common adverse reaction some people may experience following COVID-19 vaccination, though few studies have evaluated patients for such conditions.
Nonetheless, the clinicians said that they were pleased to see discussions opening up on the drivers of long COVID symptoms and possible harms from spike protein.
Therapeutics for Clotting
The researchers of the Nature study designed an antibody made to target fibrin and administered it to mice.
Mice that were previously infected with COVID-19 had an improvement in their inflammation, scarring, clotting, brain damage, and overall survival after being given the antibody.
Giving the antibody for prevention similarly reduced inflammation and organ damage.
Common anticoagulants, which are medications that prevent blood clots, can increase bleeding risks while this antibody does not increase the risk of bleeding, the authors said. It is highly selective for the inflammatory form of fibrin and does not have the adverse effects like those observed with some anticoagulants, Akassoglou said.
A humanized version of Akassoglou’s fibrin-targeting immunotherapy is already in Phase 1 safety and tolerability clinical trials in healthy people funded by the biotechnology company Therini Bio.
Outside of the monoclonal antibody tested, Berkowitz, who has been treating clotting in long COVID patients, suggest anticoagulants like nattokinase which has been shown to break down spike protein in cell studies.
Research by Resia Pretorius, distinguished professor and head of the physiological sciences department at Stellenbosch University, South Africa, has shown that a combination of three different anticoagulant drugs, including aspirin, clopidogrel, apixaban, and a proton pump inhibitor, helped reduce abnormal clots and improved long COVID symptoms such as fatigue, joint pains, brain fog, and more.
Marsland said he found sulodexide, a drug not FDA-approved in the United States but approved in Europe, to be highly effective in treating clotting without increasing people’s risks of bleeding. Sulodexide is a drug that is used to treat thrombotic diseases and diabetic neuropathy.
Researchers from the University of North Carolina have called for more rigorous testing of artificial intelligence (AI)-powered medical devices, following a comprehensive study of nearly three decades of U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) authorizations.
The study, published in Nature Medicine, found that nearly half of AI medical devices authorized by the FDA were not based on real patient data, raising concerns about their safety and effectiveness in real-world patient care.
Some devices used simulated images, not real patient data, which technically didn’t qualify as testing in real patients, also known as clinical validation.
Although AI medical devices serve many useful purposes, including detection of cancer and strokes on radiology scans, this study shows they also bring with them potential dangers.
“We shared our findings with directors at the FDA who oversee medical device regulation, and we expect our work will inform their regulatory decision making,” Sammy Chouffani El Fassi, a doctor of medicine candidate at the University of North Carolina Medical School and first author, said in an interview with The Epoch Times.
The study, completed in about 18 months, included eight authors, as well as a large team of consultants from academic institutions and corporations.
The study highlighted the rapid growth of AI medical devices, with FDA authorizations increasing from two to 69 annually between 2016 and 2022.
A Need for Higher Standards
Researchers recommend the FDA require clinical validation for all devices, meaning testing on real patients so scientists can see that they work, Chouffani El Fassi said.
Their analysis revealed that only 56 percent of approved devices had this validation.
After analyzing FDA authorizations from 1995 to 2022, researchers recommended establishing a “gold-standard indicator” of safety and effectiveness. Most authorized devices were for radiology, with 75 percent in this category. Nearly all were classified as intermediate-risk class II devices. Class II devices include diagnostic devices like X-ray machines, surgical devices like catheters and sutures, and therapeutic devices such as pacemakers and hearing aids.
“For the public to accept FDA authorization as an indication of effectiveness, the agency and device manufacturers must publish ample clinical validation data,” the researchers wrote.
Effectiveness Proven By Testing in Patients
“We believe having more clinical validations published will reduce barriers to implementation,” Chouffani El Fassi, said. “It will increase the public trust in the whole technology. It is powerful what this technology can do. It can predict the onset of disease before it even starts.”
Chouffani El Fassi acknowledged that the field is relatively new and that the full extent of potential harm is unknown.
The devices analyzed in the study were categorized as low-risk, he said. They are not intended to replace doctors but rather to assist and augment their work.
“There is a limit to what kind of harm they can do to people,” Chouffani El Fassi said. “That is why they get authorized. At the end of the day even if an AI health tool helps read a chest X-ray, for example, a human physician is going to read over that X-ray. The AI helps triage the scans and helps the physicians to look over some scans sooner.”
Testing in Patients Can Be Simple
Testing in patients is not always performed because they are a rigorous, costly process, Chouffani El Fassi said.
The study sought to establish a standard for clinical validation.
Researchers prefer prospective validation as they provide stronger evidence, according to Chouffani El Fassi. Prospective validation tests the AI machine on new data while retrospective validation tests the AI machine on historical data. In prospective validation tests, researchers may conduct randomized controlled trials to compare device users to a control group.
“That is the gold standard for medicine because you are comparing the group of health care professionals that used the device and a control group that did not use the device,” Chouffani El Fassi said.
The Epoch Times reached out to the FDA for comments. Two device manufacturers declined to comment.
Data Centers In ‘Spy Country’ Northern Virginia Face Seven-Year Hookup Wait
Since the beginning of the digital age, most of the world’s internet data has flowed through massive data centers in Northern Virginia. The area is known as “Data Center Alley” because it’s home to the world’s largest concentration of data centers. Some call the area ‘spy country’ because of the number of data centers used by the Central Intelligence Agency and other intelligence agencies.
The proliferation of AI data centers across Virginia’s Loudoun County has created a massive bottleneck of delayed hookups for large data centers by energy supplier Dominion Energy.
According to Bloomberg, because of the surge in hookup requests, data centers that require more than 100 megawatts of electricity could take one to three years and/or as long as seven years to be wired into the local power grid.
The longer wait time applies only to large data centers that need more than 100 megawatts of electricity and won’t affect projects that have already been evaluated, according to a letter the company’s transmission arm sent its regulated utility as well as co-ops and local utilities. Almost all loads that big in Dominion’s territory are data centers. -BBG
Dominion’s ability to beef up the power grid and supply data centers with additional load capacity appears to be challenged by the artificial intelligence boom. A presentation by the power company in June showed power demand by data centers in Virginia soared by 500% from 2013 to 2022.
Mid-Atlantic grid operator PJM Interconnection now requests Dominion to provide a 15-year data center forecast instead of a five-year outlook because of soaring power demand. The rise in power isn’t just due to AI data centers but also other electrification trends, including electric vehicles and 5G technology.
In a recent note, S&P Global showed that about 80% of the data center industry in Virginia is centered around Loudoun County.
A study published in JAMA Open Network this month uncovered a link between diet and brain health. The research revealed that individuals who adhered to an anti-inflammatory diet saw a 31 percent reduction in their risk of developing dementia.
The observational study set out to examine the effects of an anti-inflammatory diet in those with an existing cardiometabolic disease, such as heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and stroke. The authors found that individuals with one of these risk factors are less likely to develop dementia if they adhere to consuming anti-inflammatory foods.
Abigail Dove, the lead study author and a doctoral student at the Aging Research Center at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm highlighted the uniqueness of their study in an email to The Epoch Times. “Our study is distinctive in that it delves into the relationship between diet and dementia within the context of a major dementia risk factor: cardiometabolic diseases (CMDs).”
Dementia is an umbrella term used to describe a range of symptoms associated with a decline in memory severe enough to interfere with a person’s ability to perform everyday activities. It is caused by damage to brain cells, and the most common type is Alzheimer’s disease. There is an established link between diet and dementia.
A systematic review published in Frontiers in Neuroscience in 2023 found that certain dietary patterns may slow the progression of Alzheimer’s, while a standard Western diet is a risk factor. Recent research has also linked blood sugar regulation to dementia, highlighting the importance of ongoing research in this field.
The new findings underscore the promising potential of dietary interventions in preserving cognitive function as we age. Understanding which foods promote inflammation and which prevent it may minimize your risk of developing dementia.
The Link Between Cardiometabolic Disease and Dementia
Cardiometabolic diseases are well-established risk factors for dementia. Dove pointed out, “Individually, each of these diseases [Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, and stroke] is associated with 1.5-2x increased risk of dementia, and this becomes even stronger for people who have more than one CMD (for example type 2 diabetes plus heart disease).”
Dove noted that this new research points to how dietary modifications may serve as a strategy to temper the likelihood of dementia in such a high-risk group of individuals. People with cardiometabolic diseases have more overall inflammation, making adopting an anti-inflammatory dietary pattern a potentially critical approach.
Dove said that an anti-inflammatory diet lessens systemic inflammation in the body, which may slow the progression of injury in the brain and the eventual development of dementia. It is still unclear as to why people with cardiometabolic diseases are more at risk of developing dementia than those without. The connection exists, but studies are still underway to uncover the precise mechanisms, she said.
“It seems that CMDs [cardiometabolic diseases] share similar underlying biology with dementia. The heart pumps blood through a vast network of blood vessels spread out throughout the entire body, including the brain,” Dove said. “Heart problems—for example an irregular heart rhythm or stiffening of the heart’s pumping chambers—can cause blood flow to the brain to become irregular, therefore restricting the brain’s supply of oxygen and important nutrients, gradually starving brain cells over time.”
“Type 2 diabetes can lead to brain wear and tear: when excess sugar from the blood enters the brain, it can break down the protective coating that surrounds brain cells, making them less efficient and more vulnerable to damage,” she continued, “Stroke occurs when blood supply to a part of the brain is cut off, essentially suffocating brain cells and leaving severely damaged tissue behind.”
Study Details
Using data from the UK Biobank, the researchers constructed a sample of more than 80,000 adults aged 60 and above without dementia at baseline. The individuals were tracked for up to 15 years, with a median follow-up period of 12.4 years. During the follow-ups, participants filled out a comprehensive food questionnaire.
The models were adjusted for baseline age, sex, education level, and caloric intake, as well as race, ethnicity, socioeconomic status, and vascular risks, including body mass index, hypertension, smoking, and physical activity. The status of a genetic risk factor for late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, APOE ε4, was also assessed.
The study measured 206 foods and 32 drinks, ranging from vegetables and green tea to brownies and beer. However, the inflammation index calculated was not based directly on consumption of these particular foods. The researchers used a more nuanced approach to assess inflammation from diet. Each nutrient in the measured foods was designated an inflammatory effect score.
“The data about these specific foods and drinks was used to estimate the amount of different vitamins, nutrients, spices, etc. that people consumed. It is these more granular items that were used to calculate dietary inflammation,” said Dove.
“This is basically how strongly anti- or pro-inflammatory the nutrient is, based on meta-analyses of previous studies correlating the nutrient to inflammatory markers in the body,” she said.
Once an inflammatory score was calculated for each participant’s diet, Dove said, they were divided into three groups. One-third were categorized as having an anti-inflammatory diet, one-third as having a pro-inflammatory diet, and one-third as having a neutral diet.
MRIs were done to measure the total brain volume. “Reduced gray matter volume is an indicator of neurodegeneration (i.e., loss of brain cells), a key type of brain damage underlying dementia. In our study, CMDs and pro-inflammatory diet were both associated with lower gray matter volume,” said Dove.
“They were also both associated with smaller hippocampal volume,” she continued, “The hippocampus (which is composed of gray matter) is a region of the brain that is specifically dedicated to memory processing. Neurodegeneration/loss of volume in this area is an especially important marker for dementia, since memory loss is the key symptom of dementia.”
While the study found an association between lower systemic inflammation and more favorable brain markers in the MRIs with a lower risk of dementia, Dove noted that a causal conclusion cannot be drawn just yet, “Interventional studies in which participants are randomized to an anti-inflammatory vs. pro-inflammatory diet would be required to conclusively test this hypothesis.”
As to whether an anti-inflammatory diet could be beneficial for people seeking to mitigate their risk of developing dementia later in life, whether or not they have any cardiometabolic diseases, Dove said, “Yes, the main takeaway of the study is that adhering to an anti-inflammatory dietary pattern was associated with lower risk of dementia in both people with (-31%) and without (-21%) CMDs.”
Anti-Inflammatory Foods to Add to Your Diet
If you are seeking to minimize your risk of developing dementia, adding anti-inflammatory foods to your diet may help combat systemic inflammation. Examples include:
Berries
Berries, including blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries, contain a high amount of antioxidants known as polyphenols that can help fight inflammation.
Nuts
Nuts are rich sources of antioxidants with anti-inflammatory potential. A review published in Nutrients in 2023 found that tree nuts and peanuts can help lower risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases.
Fatty Fish
Fish such as salmon, sardines, anchovies, and mackerel are good sources of anti-inflammatory omega-3 fatty acids.
Avocado Certain compounds in avocados are linked to anti-inflammatory properties.
Olive Oil
A study published in the International Journal of Molecular Sciences in 2018 found that oleocanthal, a compound present in extra virgin olive oil, has similar effects as the nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug ibuprofen when ingested in the same amounts.
Vegetables
Leafy greens are high in the antioxidant beta-carotene, which reduces inflammation. Peppers, such as bell and chili, contain vitamin C and quercetin, both of which have been shown to lower inflammation. Sulforaphane, an antioxidant found in cruciferous vegetables such as broccoli, cauliflower, and Brussels sprouts, is shown to prevent inflammation.
Mushrooms
Mushrooms are rich in antioxidants. Though more research is warranted, an animal study published in Antioxidants in 2019 found that lion’s mane may offer neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory qualities.
Inflammatory Foods to Avoid
While adding anti-inflammatory foods to your diet may help assuage systemic inflammation, removing common inflammatory culprits is another practical approach:
Naria Le Mire, a registered dietitian, shared which foods to avoid with The Epoch Times via email: “I always advise my clients to limit their intake of sugary beverages, pastries, high-fat animal products, refined carbohydrates like white rice and pasta, processed meats such as hot dogs, and alcohol to prevent chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and gut issues, which are connected to chronic inflammation.”
FBI Repeatedly Botches Child Abuse Investigations, New Report Finds
A scathing new report from the U.S. Department of Justice’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) has found that the FBI has repeatedly failed to comply with its own policies and federal laws regarding the handling of tips on child sexual abuse. The audit, which follows up on the infamous mishandling of allegations against former USA Gymnastics physician Lawrence Nassar, uncovered significant gaps in the bureau’s response to serious allegations involving suspected child abuse.
The audit, covering the period between October 2021 and February 2023, scrutinized 327 incidents of alleged hands-on sex offenses against children and found that the FBI has been non-compliant in key areas, including mandatory reporting, victim services, and timely responses to ongoing abuse. Particularly concerning is the revelation that 13% of the reviewed cases were flagged for immediate attention due to substantial deficiencies that could have left children in harm’s way.
“We found the FBI does not document and process all incoming tips and allegations within Guardian and 40 percent of the incidents we reviewed did not include evidence that the FBI responded to an allegation involving active or ongoing child sexual abuse within 24 hours as required by FBI guidance,” reads the report.
Gaps in Mandatory Reporting
According to the report, FBI employees failed to comply with mandatory reporting laws in 47% of incidents involving suspected child abuse. In some cases, there was no evidence that FBI employees had made the required reports to state or local law enforcement or social services agencies. The lack of compliance persisted despite updated training and policies implemented after the Nassar scandal aimed at ensuring FBI personnel understood their obligations as mandatory reporters.
““In our review, we found that for 36 percent of eligible victims in our sample, there was no evidence that the victim received appropriate services or updates,” reads the report.
Moreover, even when FBI employees did report suspected abuse, they often failed to do so within the 24-hour window required by FBI policy. The audit found that only 43% of the reports were made within the mandated timeframe, and just 17% of those reports were fully documented as required.
Investigations Left Stalled and Unaddressed
One of the most troubling findings of the audit was the significant number of cases where the FBI did not take timely or adequate action in response to allegations of child sexual abuse. In one instance, the bureau received a tip about a registered sex offender allegedly involved in ongoing abuse but took over a year to initiate any substantive investigative action. During this period of inaction, the subject reportedly victimized at least one additional minor.
Another case highlighted in the report involved a complaint of sex trafficking of minors that languished without investigation for nearly a year. The report notes that such delays could have catastrophic consequences, potentially allowing abusers to continue preying on children.
Victim Services Lacking
The report also points to deficiencies in providing victim services, a critical component of handling child sexual abuse cases. In 36% of eligible cases, the FBI failed to provide victims with information about available services or case status updates. The lack of victim engagement raises questions about the bureau’s commitment to supporting those it is mandated to protect.
Internal Mismanagement and High Caseloads
The OIG’s findings suggest that some of the FBI’s deficiencies stem from internal management issues, such as high caseloads among agents in its Crimes Against Children and Human Trafficking program. Agents often found themselves overwhelmed with cases, making it difficult to immediately respond to new allegations or properly document investigative steps.
The report calls for the FBI to re-evaluate the distribution of cases and enhance training for its employees to improve compliance with laws and policies governing child abuse investigations.
Looking Ahead
The OIG report comes as the FBI faces increased scrutiny from Congress and child advocacy groups regarding its handling of child abuse cases. The audit makes 11 recommendations for the FBI to improve its practices, including better oversight, stricter compliance with mandatory reporting laws, and enhanced victim support.
While the FBI has made some progress in addressing the issues identified in the Nassar report, the latest findings underscore the need for more comprehensive reforms. As child safety advocates demand accountability and action, the question remains: Will the FBI rise to the challenge, or will these failures continue to jeopardize the safety and well-being of the most vulnerable?
