It is easy to grow your own tobacco. Cure it by hanging mature plants in a shed or somewhere they won’t be disturbed. You can use it as chew as soon as it is dry, but the flavor improves with age. Store it in mason jars when they have cured to a point you like. It will keep for many years and only improve. I use a very small amount, about 1 sq mm, for chew a few times a day. I add nothing to it, just a plain small piece of a leaf. Nicorette tablets are also good. One 2mg tablet can be used and reused a few times during the day. You do not need very much to get the benefit. ABN

Salk researchers find cannabinol preserves mitochondrial function and prevents oxidative damage to cells

LA JOLLA—Decades of research on medical cannabis has focused on the compounds THC and CBD in clinical applications. But less is known about the therapeutic properties of cannabinol (CBN). Now, a new study by Salk scientists shows how CBN can protect nerve cells from oxidative damage, a major pathway to cell death. The findings, published online January 6, 2022, in the journal Free Radical Biology and Medicine, suggest CBN has the potential for treating age-related neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer’s.

“We’ve found that cannabinol protects neurons from oxidative stress and cell death, two of the major contributors to Alzheimer’s,” says senior author Pamela Maher, a research professor and head of Salk’s Cellular Neurobiology Laboratory. “This discovery could one day lead to the development of new therapeutics for treating this disease and other neurodegenerative disorders, like Parkinson’s disease.”

Derived from the cannabis plant, CBN is molecularly similar to THC, but is not psychoactive. It’s also less heavily regulated by the FDA. Previous research by Maher’s lab found that CBN had neuroprotective properties, but it wasn’t clear how it worked. Now, this new study explains the mechanism through which CBN protects brain cells from damage and death.

Maher’s team looked at the process of oxytosis, also called ferroptosis, which is thought to occur in the aging brain. Growing evidence suggests that oxytosis may be a cause of Alzheimer’s disease. Oxytosis can be triggered by the gradual loss of an antioxidant called glutathione, causing neural cell damage and death via lipid oxidation. In the study, the scientists treated nerve cells with CBN, and then introduced an agent to stimulate oxidative damage.

They further found that the CBN worked by protecting mitochondria, the cell’s powerhouses, within the neurons. In damaged cells, oxidation caused the mitochondria to curl up like donuts—a change that’s also been seen in aging cells taken from the brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease. Treating cells with CBN prevented the mitochondria from curling up and kept them functioning well.

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Abstract

In the context of the escalating global health challenge posed by Alzheimer’s disease (AD), this comprehensive review considers the potential of melatonin in both preventive and therapeutic capacities. As a naturally occurring hormone and robust antioxidant, accumulating evidence suggests melatonin is a compelling candidate to consider in the context of AD-related pathologies. The review considers several mechanisms, including potential effects on amyloid-beta and pathologic tau burden, antioxidant defense, immune modulation, and regulation of circadian rhythms. Despite its promise, several gaps need to be addressed prior to clinical translation. These include conducting additional randomized clinical trials in patients with or at risk for AD dementia, determining optimal dosage and timing, and further determining potential side effects, particularly of long-term use. This review consolidates existing knowledge, identifies gaps, and suggests directions for future research to better understand the potential of melatonin for neuroprotection and disease mitigation within the landscape of AD.

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Story at a Glance:

•Elevated blood pressure is the most common chronic disease, and as the decades go by more and more people are declared hypertensive.

•Remarkably, at least 25% of all hypertension diagnoses are due to inaccurate measurements, and there is still no known reason for why over 90% of people are hypertensive.

•Aggressively treating everyone’s blood pressure is justified under the belief it prevents cardiovascular disease. However, in most cases it has never been proven to reduce heart disease—rather it only leads to a small reduction in strokes (hence why these medications were rebranded to treat “cardiovascular disease”).

•Many of the misunderstandings with heart disease arise from the fact that impaired circulation or damage to the blood vessels will cause blood pressure to go up and their correlation being misinterpreted to instead believe high blood pressure causes cardiovascular disease.

•In this article, we will discuss the actual causes of high blood pressure, the dangers of commonly used blood pressure medications, the safest pharmaceutical and natural ways to reduce blood pressure directly, and our preferred methods for treating the underlying causes of high blood pressure.

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A critical tool for monitoring the level of COVID circulation shows levels of the virus have surged to “very high” or “high” levels in more than half the states across the country, including three in New England, according to the CDC.

Wastewater surveillance data compiled by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention show the prevalence of COVID has hit “very high” levels in seven states, including California, Texas, and Florida.

Another 19 states are registering “high” levels, including New Hampshire, Maine, and Connecticut.

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link to audio, 67 min