Xi Jinping + Putin + Trump a recipe for chaos

I think these three are a huge danger to the world. We are stuck with Xi Jinping and Putin of which Putin is the worst by far as he is a mass murder and inveterate liar of gargantuan proportions. Putin is a stain on the history of humanity. But Americans can stop adding Trump to this toxic mix. Vote for Kamala instead please. Trump is an aberration. I believe that he became popular because he is anti-politician. People became disenchanted with politicians for good reason and wanted something different and got it. But there is a strong argument for a 'normal' person in the White House and someone younger with a balanced and sensible approach to the presidency. Also Trump is now officially in the early stages of dementia 😱😎. That's what I say based in X reports!

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) are accused of cat cruelty by me over the Peke-face Persian

The flat-face Persian has been described as a piece of the furniture meaning passive and not doing anything. It can't apply to all flat-face Persians and certainly not to the traditional Doll-face Persian which is prettier anyway. 

But this passive and inactive character which might seem charming hides a far more serious reality: the inadvertent dumbing down of the extreme-bred Persian due to decades of misguided selective breeding as directed by the cat fancy particularly the CFA which has consistently promoted the Peke-face Persian.

The CFA's behaviour over decades is an act of animal cruelty; no less because 30% of Peke-face Persians according to the study referred to in the infographic suffer from hydrocephalus because of this cat breed's rounded and shortened (brachycephalic) skull.

There are other enormous health issues with this cat breed. Here is another: click this link: INFOGRAPHIC explains Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) in Persian cats in straightforward terms. There are more 😱 The Peke-face Persian is a disgrace.

Why Peke-face Persian cats can be ‘dummies’ by Michael Broad

And as explained in the infographic above this serious brain condition can cause cognitive deficits. To put that in layperson's language: Peke-face Persians are often as thick as bricks. That is sad. Extremely sad and as I said the CFA are animal abusers.

Strong words. A stark accusation but it must be factually true. The organisation should be prosecuted. In Germany the Peke-face Persian would never exist as it is an example of torture breeding.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Time for the cat fancy to do something about the Persian cat's polycystic kidney disease

It is well beyond the time when the cat fancy - and I'm referring mainly to the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) - does something tangible about the shameful health of the flat-faced Persian cat, created through decades of selective inbreeding of cats carrying the disease to fix the cats strange appearance which as a consequence, and as a side effect, has led to this breed suffering, interminably, from a nasty kidney disease which quite often proves fatal.

That disease, as mentioned in the title, is polycystic kidney disease (PKD). Cysts form on the kidney rendering the organ ineffective and it can start at a very young age. Ultrasound detects it which is why sometimes it cat shows you will see an ultrasound engineer on site to scan the interior of a Persian cat and other cats if need be. See video at end of article. The infographic sums it up.

Update: Some cat associations such as the UK's Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) require breeding Persians to be screened for the PKD gene defect. Langford Veterinary Diagnostics have documented a decreasing prevalence of the PKD gene in Persians in the UK, from ~28% in 2005 to ~2% in 2016, showing how effective this type of targeted intervention can be. - quote from the following study: Persian cats under first opinion veterinary care in the UK: demography, mortality and disorders.

Polycystic Kidney Disease (PKD) in Persian cats in an infographic by Michael Broad

I know I have banged this drum for far too long. I've become boring in constantly restating my distaste at knowing that the cat fancy has allowed this ill-health to be perpetuated for so long. The Persian cat was an extremely popular cat. In fact it was the top cat breed in terms of popularity for many years in America.

But nowadays, it has relinquished that top position to other cat breeds such as the Maine Coon. And it is very plausible to argue that a major reason is this inherited health problem combined with other inherited health problems such as tear duct overflow due to a distorted tear duct thanks to the flat face.

It's just not right. We don't have to be so obsessed with the appearance and in any case the cat fancy has overshot the mark with the Persian cat because initially they wanted the face to be a little more flat but now it has to be completely flat as if the cats been punched in the face. All the elements of the face of got to be in vertical alignment which is frankly madness. How did they get to this situation?

My answer to that is that the CFA administrators have been working in this closed shop for decades feeding off on another and supporting each other with what can only be crazy ideas. They think that the flat face is attractive compared to the traditional Persian cat which has a much more normal face which is in truth far more attractive. They tried to make that attractive Persian face more attractive but ultimately they went in the other direction and made the cat very unnatural and unattractive in my view and I would argue in the views of many others.

Let's tackle this PKD problem in Persian cats as soon as possible. The only way to do that is to lay down some laws regarding the breeding of this cat which would introduce fresh genetics into the Persian breeding lines to improve genetic diversity, to remove some of the inbreeding which would change the appearance of the cat but most importantly improve their health. And as mentioned to screen for PKD and 'cull' (remove) these cats from breeding programs.

Inbreeding causes inbreeding depression among other things. This is a weakened immune system and general ill-health.

Health supersedes appearance if we are really concerned about domestic cats. Unfortunately for many years appearance has trumped health in the cat fancy or in various elements of the cat fancy. I can't generalise because some breeds are healthier than others and clearly some administrators are more concerned about health than others.

On this page is an Infographic, as you can see, which was created by me and which summarises in a few words the important information about PKD in Persian cats. I hope it helps.

Below is a video of ultrasound scan on a Persian cat at a cat show in the US to check for PKD:

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Air pollution and noise might make men and women less fertile

A study has suggested that noisy neighbourhoods can make women less fertile while pollution can make men less fertile. Air pollution over five years was found to be associated with a 24% increased risk of infertility in men aged 32-45. For women, noisy neighbourhoods might be linked to a nearly 15% increased risk of infertility for those over 35.

It's been suggested that buildings should be better insulated against noise. This is a Danish study published in the British Medical Journal. They analysed the Danish National Patient Register data for 526,000 men and 377,850 women aged between 30-45 over the period 2000-2017.

The participants already had fewer than two children and were trying to have more children. The researchers were from the Danish Cancer Institute. They measured small particles in the air called PM 2.5 (particulate matter being a measure of air pollution) and noise pollution. They then cross-reference that with diagnoses of infertility as listed on the National register.

Noise

Women over 35 exposed to noise over 10.2 dB over five years experienced a 14% increased risk of fertility. This did not apply to women in their early 30s.

For men, there was a slightly increased risk of infertility due to road traffic noise among those in the 35-45 age bracket but it didn't affect men in their early 30s.

Globally

Globally, fertility rates have been decreasing. The researchers hope that their research might help in understanding this. The report says: "Political implementation of air pollution and noise mitigations may be important tools for improving birth rates in the Western world."

Mechanism

It's possible that noise pollution may increase infertility due to increased stress according to Professor Jill Belch, an expert in vascular medicine and air pollution from the University of Dundee's School of Medicine. She was not part of this research.

She said: 

"Noise pollution does not get enough attention in terms of ameliorating [fertility]; we know it has effects on mental health, hearing and sleep-even when asleep, noise is perceived as a danger signal causing the fight or flight response to occur, resulting in poor sleep quality."

She added that:

"The mechanism of decreased fertility in women could be related to these, or to a completely unknown mechanism, but the implications of this study, if validated, should require a soundproofing standard for all new bills."

She believes that the findings might have a "very profound" impact on future generations.

The mentioned links between noise and air pollution and infertility was found in those living in rural, suburban and urban areas and across different income and social class levels.

Professor Allison Campbell, the chief scientific officer of Care Fertility, said: 

"People trying to conceive should not be unduly concerned by this research and are advised to take proactive, proven steps such as avoiding smoking, limiting alcohol consumption and maintaining a healthy weight."

Allan Pacey, Professor of andrology at the University of Manchester said it was a good study that:

"It is possible that the real cause of this association lies with something that is not possible to measure. For example, the authors are clear that they did not have information on lifestyle factors such as alcohol use smoking or body mass index."

Cat context

There is always a cat context in terms of research about human health. It's obvious I know but I'll restate it. Cats live in our world. They live in the same environment in which we live. Their anatomy is very similar to ours. Their physiology is very similar to ours. It is likely that health issues generated from air pollution and noise can affect our companion animals in a similar way. There is no research on this as far as I know but we must always think of our companion animals when concluding that environmental factors can damage our health.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.

Putin bathes in the blood of living red deer whose antlers have been sawn off

Here are some interesting facts about Vladimir Putin and his health. It comes from The Times. I thank them for it.

They have been lots of discussions online about Putin's health and whether he is suffering from Parkinson's disease or even cancer but there are no signs that he is seriously ill. Hundreds of millions want him to be gravely ill but apparently he is not but he does have an army of doctors who follow him around on a day-to-day basis just in case.

Putin bathes in the blood of living red deer whose antlers have been sawn off

And no doubt he enjoys top quality healthcare but he is said to take regular baths in a liquid made from the blood of severed antlers of living Siberian red deer. Some Russians apparently believe that in doing this you can rejuvenate your powers and it can perform wonders for male potency. In an act of gross cruelty, I'm told that the answers are sawn from living dear once a year. I presume that the deer die from blood loss but I am not told this.

Secondly, Kremlin scientists have been ordered to unlock the secret of eternal life. Russian scientists have been ordered to come up with anti-ageing remedies by an official close to President Putin. This person is obsessed with eternal life. Putin will be 72 years of age next month.

The average life expectancy in Russia 67.

Research institutes have been told by the Russian health ministry to report as soon as possible on their efforts to tackle cellular ageing and osteoporosis, boosting the immune system and tackling cognitive and sensory disorders and decline.

They have to do it immediately as a matter of urgency. The anti-ageing research is thought to involve Mikhail Kovalchuk, 77, one of Putin's close friends.

He's the head of a nuclear research Institute and a leading member of the Russian Academy of Sciences.

He oversees a programme, financed by the state, into genetics that involves Putin's eldest daughter. He's crazy about eternal life and he told the president about it. And we are told that the "big boss [Putin] set the task and officials rushed to implement it in every possible way." That task is to find the secret of eternal life.

Clearly, Putin wants to be president for all eternity. That's another reason why he needs to be stopped as a matter of urgency.

Also, Mikhail Kovalchuk suggested to, I presume, Putin, that the Western countries are developing biological weapons that would only affect ethnic Russians. He has accused the United States of creating an artificial "sub-species of service people" who have limited self-awareness.

These are more examples of Putin's madness in my view. Of course, the deer therapy is accompanied with animal cruelty of the gravest kind but that doesn't seem to disturb them in the slightest. He presents himself as an animal lover but obviously isn't because in addition he has killed hundreds of thousands of animals both wild and domestic in Ukraine with his bombing, shelling and cruise missile attacks.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also: sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. Also, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable.