Background: Mistletoe extracts are used as an adjunct therapy for cancer patients, but there is dissent as to whether this therapy has a positive impact on quality of life (QoL).Methods: We conducted a systematic review searching in several databases (Medline, Embase, CENTRAL, CINAHL, PsycInfo, Science Citation Index, clinicaltrials.gov,opengrey.org) by combining terms that cover the fields of “neoplasm”, “quality of life” and “mistletoe”. We included prospective controlled trials that compared mistletoe extracts with a control in cancer patients and reported QoL or related dimensions. The quality of the studies was assessed with the Cochrane Risk of Bias tool version 2. We conducted a quantitative meta-analysis.Results: We included 26 publications with 30 data sets. The studies were heterogeneous. The pooled standardized mean difference (random effects model) for global QoL after treatment with mistletoe extracts vs. control was d = 0.61 (95% CI 0.41–0.81,p < 0,00001). The effect was stronger for younger patients, with longer treatment, in studies with lower risk of bias, in randomized and blinded studies. Sensitivity analyses support the validity of the finding. 50% of the QoL subdomains (e.g. pain, nausea) show a significant improvement after mistletoe treatment. Most studies have a high risk of bias or at least raise some concern.Conclusion: Mistletoe extracts produce a significant, medium-sized effect on QoL in cancer. Risk of bias in the analyzed studies is likely due to the specific type of treatment, which is difficult to blind; yet this risk is unlikely to affect the outcome.PROSPERO registration: CRD42019137704.

Mercury is one of the most toxic elements and causes a multitude of health problems. It is ten times more toxic to neurons than lead. This study was created to determine if mercury could be causing Alzheimer’s disease (AD) by cross referencing the effects of mercury with 70 factors associated with AD. The results found that all these factors could be attributed to mercury. The hallmark changes in AD include plaques, beta amyloid protein, neurofibrillary tangles, phosphorylated tau protein, and memory loss—all changes that can be caused by mercury. Neurotransmitters such as acetylcholine, serotonin, dopamine, glutamate, and norepinephrine are inhibited in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, with the same inhibition occurring in mercury toxicity. Enzyme dysfunction in patients with Alzheimer’s disease include BACE 1, gamma secretase, cyclooxygenase-2, cytochrome-c-oxidase, protein kinases, monoamine oxidase, nitric oxide synthetase, acetyl choline transferase, and caspases, all which can be explained by mercury toxicity. Immune and inflammatory responses seen in patients with Alzheimer’s disease also occur when cells are exposed to mercury, including complement activation, cytokine expression, production of glial fibrillary acid protein antibodies and interleukin-1, transforming growth factor, beta 2 microglobulins, and phosphodiesterase 4 stimulation. Genetic factors in patients with Alzheimer’s disease are also associated with mercury. Apolipoprotein E 4 allele increases the toxicity of mercury. Mercury can inhibit DNA synthesis in the hippocampus, and has been associated with genetic mutations of presenilin 1 and 2, found in AD. The abnormalities of minerals and vitamins, specifically aluminum, calcium, copper, iron, magnesium, selenium, zinc, and vitamins B1, B12, E, and C, that occur in patients with Alzheimer’s disease, also occur in mercury toxicity. Aluminum has been found to increase mercury’s toxicity. Likewise, similar biochemical factors in AD are affected by mercury, including changes in blood levels of homocysteine, arachidonic acid, DHEA sulfate, glutathione, hydrogen peroxide, glycosamine glycans, acetyl-L carnitine, melatonin, and HDL. Other factors seen in Alzheimer’s disease, such as increased platelet activation, poor odor identification, hypertension, depression, increased incidences of herpes virus and chlamydia infections, also occur in mercury exposure. In addition, patients diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease exhibit higher levels of brain mercury, blood mercury, and tissue mercury in some studies. The greatest exogenous sources of brain mercury come from dental amalgams. Conclusion: This review of the literature strongly suggests that mercury can be a cause of Alzheimer’s Disease.

Ontology, the ideas we have about the nature of reality, and epistemology, our concepts about how to gain knowledge about the world, are interdependent. Currently, the dominant ontology in science is a materialist model, and associated with it an empiricist epistemology. Historically speaking, there was a more comprehensive notion at the cradle of modern science in the middle ages. Then “experience” meant both inner, or first person, and outer, or third person, experience. With the historical development, experience has come to mean only sense experience of outer reality. This has become associated with the ontology that matter is the most important substance in the universe, everything else—consciousness, mind, values, etc., —being derived thereof or reducible to it. This ontology is insufficient to explain the phenomena we are living with—consciousness, as a precondition of this idea, or anomalous cognitions. These have a robust empirical grounding, although we do not understand them sufficiently. The phenomenology, though, demands some sort of non-local model of the world and one in which consciousness is not derivative of, but coprimary with matter. I propose such a complementarist dual aspect model of consciousness and brain, or mind and matter. This then also entails a different epistemology. For if consciousness is coprimary with matter, then we can also use a deeper exploration of consciousness as happens in contemplative practice to reach an understanding of the deep structure of the world, for instance in mathematical or theoretical intuition, and perhaps also in other areas such as in ethics. This would entail a kind of contemplative science that would also complement our current experiential mode that is exclusively directed to the outside aspect of our world. Such an epistemology might help us with various issues, such as good theoretical and other intuitions.

Background: COVID-19 vaccines have had expedited reviews without sufficient safety data. We wanted to compare risks and benefits. Method: We calculated the number needed to vaccinate (NNTV) from a large Israeli field study to prevent one death. We accessed the Adverse Drug Reactions (ADR) database of the European Medicines Agency and of the Dutch National Register (lareb.nl) to extract the number of cases reporting severe side effects and the number of cases with fatal side effects. Result: The NNTV is between 200–700 to prevent one case of COVID-19 for the mRNA vaccine marketed by Pfizer, while the NNTV to prevent one death is between 9000 and 50,000 (95% confidence interval), with 16,000 as a point estimate. The number of cases experiencing adverse reactions has been reported to be 700 per 100,000 vaccinations. Currently, we see 16 serious side effects per 100,000 vaccinations, and the number of fatal side effects is at 4.11/100,000 vaccinations. For three deaths prevented by vaccination we have to accept two inflicted by vaccination. Conclusions: This lack of clear benefit should cause governments to rethink their vaccination policy.

Both spiritual experiences and mindfulness as a psychological variable have been identified as components of wellbeing and health. As there is uncertainty about their relationship, we have investigated the impact of spiritual experiences and mindfulness as well as their interaction on distress in chronically ill patients. The unidimensional Daily Spiritual Experiences Scale (DSES), the multidimensional Exceptional Experiences Questionnaire (EEQ), the Freiburg Mindfulness Inventory (FMI), and the Brief Symptom Inventory (BSI) were administered to 109 chronically ill patients. Fifty-eight patients (53%) reported regular and frequent spiritual or contemplative practice from different traditions over an average of 14.7 years (SD = 13.7). Patients with regular spiritual practice reported more positive spiritual experiences, were more mindful and less distressed (p < .001). A stepwise linear regression analysis revealed that the EEQ subscale “negative spiritual experiences” (NSE) was the most important single predictor for psychological distress (R²=.38; β=.63). In contrast, both the EEQ subscale “positive spiritual experiences” as well as the DSES that also captures positives daily encounters with a transcendental realm or entity did not account for a significant amount of variance in distress. Further analysis of the regression model (R²=.57), confirmed that NSE was still the largest predictor for distress (β=.61) and that mindfulness (β=–.38) and the interaction between mindfulness and NSE (β=–.23) were the most important buffers protecting individuals from distress. Thus, mindfulness seems not only to be a clinically important protective factor for buffering generic distress, but particularly for distress derived from NSEs. This suggests that in addition to directly facilitating well-being and health by means of positive spiritual experiences, at least some form of regular spiritual or meditative techniques seem to endow an individual with a certain degree of resilience against negative spiritual experiences that is likely a consequence of increased mindfulness. If these findings are vindicated by further studies, spiritual experiences should not be conceived and measured as univariate but rather multivariate constructs.

Nose and mouth covering (NMC) has been made compulsory for children in many countries during the Covid-19 pandemic. We wanted to determine the average CO₂ levels in inhaled air with NMC in children between age 6 and 17. We used short term measurements under surgical masks and FFP2 masks according to European norm EN 149, compared to baseline in an experimental, intra-individually controlled study over 25 min. CO₂ content was measured every 15 s using an automated dual-wavelength infrared CO₂ measurement device (G100, Geotech, Leamington Spa, UK) over 25 min in a short-term experimental setting, with children seated. After baseline measurement children were provided with two types of commonly worn NMC: surgical masks and FFP2--masks in randomized sequence for 3 min each. We kept ambient CO₂-levels below 1000 parts per million (ppm) through frequent ventilation. We measured breathing frequency and pulse as potential physiological moderator variables. Forty-five children, 25 boys, 20 girls, with a mean age of 10.7 years (standard deviation 2.6) were measured. We measured 13,100 ppm (SD 380) under surgical mask and 13,900 ppm (SD 370) under FFP2 mask in inhaled air. A linear model with age as a covariate showed a highly significant effect of the condition (p < 1*10⁻⁹). We measured 2,700 ppm (SD 100) CO₂ at pre-baseline and 2,800 ppm (SD 100) at post-baseline, a non-significant small difference. Appropriate contrasts revealed that the change was due to the masks only and the difference between the two types of masks was small and not significant. Wearing of NMC (surgical masks or FFP2- -masks) raises CO₂ content in inhaled air quickly to a very high level in healthy children in a seated resting position that might be hazardous to children's health.