bookmark_borderNatural Air Purifiers, Aromatic Plants, and Phytoncides

By Daniel Brouse

Air pollution is: a leading cause of death worldwide, the leading cause of climate change, and the greatest threat to humankind. There is not much an individual can do about the outdoor air quality; however, there is a lot one can do to improve their individual air quality. The EPA reports, risks from long-term exposure to indoor pollution “include some respiratory diseases, heart disease and cancer, can be severely debilitating or fatal. It is prudent to try to improve the indoor air quality in your home even if symptoms are not noticeable.” In the Spring of 2023, wildfires in Canada made the symptoms noticeable to many residents in the United States. Outdoor air quality measured hazardous for days in a row. When people could see and smell the air quality, it became obvious. Their indoor air quality also became noticeably poor.

With extreme weather events increasingly impacting both outdoor and indoor air quality, a long-term breathing experiment is underway.

No matter where your virgin air comes from, most likely the best way to purify the air is with plants.

The most famous study was conducted by NASA to remove formaldehyde from the air and found spider plants removed 95 percent of the toxic substance from a sealed Plexiglas chamber in 24 hours.

As part of the long-term breathing experiment we have cultivated multiple generations of spider plants. They are a great place for a novice to get started. Spider plants thrive in bright to moderate light. In the spring and summer, once-a-week watering is sufficient. During the winter, the soil should dry between waterings. (Spider plants are almost as easy to care for as cacti.) Snake plants are also easy to grow in all kinds of lighting situations, require little watering, and are one of the best air purifying plants.

Aromatic Plants and Phytoncides
Almost all plants are good for air purification. The spider plant and snake plants are great for taking pollutants out of the air, as well as optimize sustainability. The long-term breathing experiment is also looking at adding to the air quality.

Aromatherapy and Forest Bathing are easy to implement in your natural air purification experiment. Many plants can help take contaminants out of the air while adding medicinal properties to the air. Rosemary, mints, basil, sage, and most other herbs can add anti-bacterial, anti-depressant, anti-anxiety, stress, pain relief and other beneficial properties to air quality.

During the Air Quality Crisis of 2023, the long-term breathing experiment collided with the Tree Extinction Experiment. As part of the tree experiment, we grow a small nursery of trees in containers. Their main purpose is usually outside to act as a windblock for the structure to help reduce heating and cooling energy needs. Luckily, during the hazardous air quality days we were able to bring some (spruce and oak) inside to help purify the air and add phytoncides. The US Department of Agriculture reports, “These chemicals are natural oils that plants use to defend themselves against unwanted pests such as insects, bacteria or fungi. Phytoncides improve the human immune system by increasing natural killer cell activity. These cells respond rapidly to virus-infected cells and tumor formation. Studies show that increased natural cell activity can last for more than 30 days after a trip to a forest, suggesting that a trip once a month would enable individuals to maintain a higher level of natural killer cell activity. Other benefits from phytoncides include an increase in anti-cancer proteins; a reduction in blood pressure, heart rate and stress hormones; reduced test scores for anxiety, depression, anger, fatigue, and confusion; and increased scores for vigor.”

Trees known to produce especially high levels of phytoncides include the evergreen trees (Cedars, Spruces, Conifers and Pine) and Oak trees.

Read the full article.

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Natural Indoor Plant Air Purifiers
Natural Indoor Plant Air Purifiers

bookmark_borderAir Pollution Cause of Cognitive Decline and Dementia

In a UK study, a causal relationship has been established between air pollution and cognitive decline / dementia. The primary cause is a decline in blood flow to the brain.

Cognitive decline, dementia and air pollution

COMEAP reviewed nearly 70 studies in human populations (epidemiological studies) which looked at possible links between air pollution and a decline in mental ability and dementia in older people. They also considered studies which investigated how air pollution might affect the brain.

From this review, it can be concluded that it is likely that air pollution does contribute to these effects. The most likely way this occurs is through effects on the circulation. It is known that air pollutants, particularly small particles, can affect the heart and blood vessels, including to the brain.

WORST CITIES FOR OZONE POLLUTION
#1: Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
#2: Bakersfield, CA
#3: Visalia, CA
#4: Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA
#5: Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
#6: San Diego-Chula Vista-Carlsbad, CA
#7: Denver-Aurora, CO
#8: Houston-The Woodlands, TX
#9: Sacramento-Roseville, CA
#10: Salt Lake City-Provo-Orem, UT
#11: Las Vegas-Henderson, NV
#12: El Paso-Las Cruces, TX-NM
#13: San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
#14: New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA
#15: El Centro, CA
#16: Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
#16: Dallas-Fort Worth, TX-OK
#18: Fort Collins, CO
#19: San Luis Obispo-Paso Robles, CA
#20: Chico, CA
#21: Reno-Carson City-Fernley, NV
#22: Albuquerque-Santa Fe-Las Vegas, NM
#23: Redding-Red Bluff, CA
#24: Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI
#25: San Antonio-New Braunfels-Pearsall, TX

WORST CITIES FOR PARTICLE POLLUTION
#1: Bakersfield, CA
#2: Fresno-Madera-Hanford, CA
#2: Visalia, CA
#4: San Jose-San Francisco-Oakland, CA
#5: Los Angeles-Long Beach, CA
#6: Medford-Grants Pass, OR
#7: Fairbanks, AK
#8: Phoenix-Mesa, AZ
#9: Chico, CA
#10: El Centro, CA
#11: Sacramento-Roseville, CA
#12: Cincinnati-Wilmington-Maysville, OH-KY-IN
#13: Indianapolis-Carmel-Muncie, IN
#14: Pittsburgh-New Castle-Weirton, PA-OH-WV
#15: Bend-Prineville, OR
#16: Detroit-Warren-Ann Arbor, MI
#16: Redding-Red Bluff, CA
#18: McAllen-Edinburg, TX
#18: Philadelphia-Reading-Camden, PA-NJ-DE-MD
#18: Eugene-Springfield, OR
#21: Yakima, WA
#22: Chicago-Naperville, IL-IN-WI
#22: Houston-The Woodlands, TX
#24: St. Louis-St. Charles-Farmington, MO-IL
#25: Augusta-Richmond County, GA-SC
#25: Shreveport-Bossier City-Minden, LA

Air Pollution and Health

bookmark_borderCOVID-19 and Omicron Updates

2021/12/04
We’re starting to find out more about Omicron:
1)”Previous infection used to protect against Delta but now with Omicron that doesn’t seem to be the case,” said Anne von Gottberg, microbiologist at South Africa’s National Institute for Communicable Diseases.”
2) risk of breakthrough vaccination is also much higher. Out of 600 fully vaccinated travelers from South Africa, 61 tested positive for COVID. 16 of those were Omicron.
3) a much higher percentage of 20-30 years are being hospitalized
4) an alarming percentage of children under 2 are being hospitalized.
5) the Omicron variant has become dominant in South Africa. Cases of COVID have gone from 200/day, to 400, to 1,000 to 2,000, to 4,000, to 8,000, to over 11,000/day in as many days.
Remember, when you hear of cases being “mild”, that means mild for COVID (eg not hospitalized). All of the cases I’ve studied have been symptomatic individuals that are fully vaccinated.

Omicron Update December 9, 2021
Omicron Update:
* Pfizer says the booster offers protection
* Pfizer says 4th dose may be required
* South Africa says Pfizer offers 1/40th the protection as Delta
* Reinfection is 3 times more likely than with Delta
* South Africa cases are up 255% in a week
* 4x’s more transmissible than Delta
* UK cases could exceed 1 million by the end of this month
* typical seasonal viruses’ severity is up… suggesting recovery from COVID results in a compromised immune system. T cells may lose effectiveness against any pathogen

“In other words, Omicron is spreading in highly immune populations as quickly as the original virus did in populations with no immunity at all. If this holds and is left uncontrolled, a big Omicron wave lies ahead—bigger than we would have expected with Delta. Cases were already surging ahead of winter. The U.S. already had a too-low vaccination rate. And now Omicron threatens to eat away at the immunity we thought we had.”

Omicron and Other COVID Variants / the Long Term Pandemic

COVID and Cats: A scientist friend called me last night… wanted to make sure I stocked up on enough masks and supplies for the next round featuring Omicron. We got to talking about severity of variants and what the most likely scenarios are: 1) the virus stays for a prolonged period in an unvaccinated immune […]

bookmark_borderWhat Causes COVID Long Haulers?

Post Acute Covid Syndrome 19 (PACS19), long-COVID, and Long Haulers Syndrome are names for the condition that an individual has after recovering from the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Long-COVID is actually a combination of several conditions and syndromes.

There are over 60 proteins involved in the epigenetic response to COVID. So far out of these 60 proteins, three long-COVID epigenetic syndromes have been identified. There are likely many more. (The epigenetic changes are in addition to the organ damage caused by the virus.)

COVID-19 also causes other long term damage that we are still discovering.

Rogue Antibodies
Autoantibodies are antibodies (immune proteins) that mistakenly attack a person’s own healthy tissues and organs. A study published in Nature found “rogue antibodies involved in almost one-fifth of COVID deaths. The self-targeting antibodies attack type 1 interferons that play a key role in fighting infection. Antibodies that turn against elements of our own immune defences are a key driver of severe illness and death following SARS-CoV-2 infection in some people, according to a large international study. These rogue antibodies, known as autoantibodies, are also present in a small proportion of healthy, uninfected individuals — and their prevalence increases with age, which may help to explain why elderly people are at higher risk of severe COVID-19.”

Up to three percent of the population already has faulty genes that create these autoantibodies. Of those between the ages of 18 and 69, 0.18% had existing autoantibodies against type 1 interferon. “Autoantibodies were present in around 1.1% of 70- to 79-year-olds, and 3.4% of those over the age of 80.”

A follow up study, “New-onset IgG autoantibodies in hospitalized patients with COVID-19,” found “Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19), caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection, is associated with many different clinical features that are commonly found in autoimmune diseases, including arthralgias, myalgias, fatigue, sicca, and rashes. Less common manifestations of autoimmunity have also been observed in COVID-19 patients, including thrombosis, myositis, myocarditis, arthritis, encephalitis, and vasculitis. These clinical observations, and the increasing proportion of “recovered” patients with persistent post-COVID-19 symptoms (so-called “long haulers”, or “long COVID”) suggest that inflammation in response to SARS-CoV-2 infection promotes tissue damage in the acute phase and potentially some of the long-term sequelae. A subset of autoantibodies targeting traditional autoantigens or cytokines develop de novo following SARS-CoV-2 infection.”

“The team also found that individuals with genetic mutations that disrupt the activity of type 1 interferons are at higher risk of life-threatening disease” suggesting COVID causes changes to the genes resulting in the creation of rogue autoantibodies.

Coronavirus Transforms Pancreas Cell Function
When COVID infects cells, it impairs cell activity and can also change their function. When insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas become infected with the virus, they produce much less insulin than usual, and also start to produce glucose and digestive enzymes. “We call this a change of cell fate,” said study leader Dr. Shuibing Chen, who described the work in a presentation at the annual meeting of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes.

It is not clear whether the changes are long-lasting, or if they might be reversible, the researchers reported in Cell Metabolism, “SARS-CoV-2 infection induces beta cell transdifferentiation“. “Single-cell RNA sequencing and immunostaining from ex vivo infections confirmed that multiple types of pancreatic islet cells were susceptible to SARS-CoV-2, eliciting a cellular stress response and the induction of chemokines. Upon SARS-CoV-2 infection, beta cells showed a lower expression of insulin and a higher expression of alpha and acinar cell markers, including glucagon and trypsin1, respectively, suggesting cellular transdifferentiation. Trajectory analysis indicated that SARS-CoV-2 induced eIF2-pathway-mediated beta cell transdifferentiation, a phenotype that could be reversed with trans-integrated stress response inhibitor (trans-ISRIB). Altogether, this study demonstrates an example of SARS-CoV-2 infection causing cell fate change, which provides further insight into the pathomechanisms of COVID-19.”

Upregulation of IDO
Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) is an immune checkpoint molecule in the sense that it is an immunomodulatory enzyme produced by alternatively activated macrophages and other immunoregulatory cells. IDO is known to suppress T and NK cells, generate Tregs and myeloid-derived suppressor cells, and also supports angiogenesis.

Memory T cells are crucial for the immune system to remember how to fight pathogens. IDO is also related to the viscosity of body fluids and membrane function. Brain fog, dizziness, tinnitus, ear aches, vertigo, and pressure in the ears are some of the symptoms associated with epigenetic changes in the upregulation of Indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase.

Dr. Ade Wentzel said, “The epigenetic upregulation of IDO will determine the amount of quinolinic acid. Quinolinic acid comes from the kynurenine pathway. If the viscosity of the whole middle ear is increased then the ability to equalize will be less… same as having a cold. So, the ear isn’t equalizing correctly on increasing pressure. The same as when you land in a plane. If the viscosity in the semicircular canals is increased, the otoliths may well be lagging causing the vertigo. The otoliths usually “Float” in the semicircular canal and trigger tiny sensory hairs that allow you to detect position.”

NAD+ Deficiency
COVID both increases the breakdown of NAD+ and decreases the production of NAD+. “NAD regulates the inflammatory response in immune and non-immune cells through Sirtuins. Epigenetic regulation of histones and non-histone proteins is induced by sirtuins and is essential for the development, reprogramming, and differentiation of the immune system and its related pathologies. A deregulation of the NAD+ levels has been associated with metabolic diseases and aging-related diseases, including neurodegeneration, defective immune responses, and cancer.” — NAD-immune-system

The NAD+ deficiency results in a compromised immune system. The body can not properly metabolize vitamins nor mount a proper immune response. The NAD+ deficiency also resembles an autoimmune disease where the immune system appears to be attacking a healthy body. Without NAD+ regulating the immune system, the immune response becomes dysfunctional.

Though there is no cure for the NAD+ Deficiency Syndrome (CISP — COVID-19 Induced Secondary Pellagra), the symptoms can be treated with Niacin (Nicotinic Acid).

Increased Risk of Cancer
In the case of cancer and tumor suppression, COVID chooses people that have reduced P53 (the tumor suppression gene.) It is also possible that COVID further reduces functional P53 genes. “Mutations in p53 are found in most tumor types, and so contribute to the complex network of molecular events leading to tumor formation.” — The p53 tumor suppressor protein

COVID also suppresses NK cells. “A type of immune cell that has granules (small particles) with enzymes that can kill tumor cells or cells infected with a virus. A natural killer cell is a type of white blood cell. Also called NK cell and NK-LGL.” — Natural Killer Cell

COVID in Your Genes

COVID-19 Delta Variant and Vaccines

COVID Breakthrough Cases

MORE ON COVID: COVID-19 / SARS-CoV-2 / Novel Coronavirus

bookmark_borderCOVID, Health, and Wellness

ABOUT COVID:
Viral load and aerosolization appear to be the leading causes of contracting COVID… even if you are vaccinated. What does this mean?
1) To limit your viral load limit your exposure time. How do you know you are being exposed? You don’t. So, assume there are people carrying the virus — avoid contact with people outside of your circle. Social distance and avoid people without masks.
2) Airborne transmission is the primary way COVID is contracted. Normally, I would suggest staying outside… however, on days like today the air pollution is too high. Breathing outdoors will actually damage your lungs and make you more prone to COVID. So, stay home in air conditioning. Indoors in a public setting, without masks, in poor ventilation, with inadequate air filters is the most dangerous place to be.
3) Limit your exercise and stress level. Extreme exercise and stress consume NAD+. The lower your NAD+, the more susceptible your are. On days like today with high ozone levels, exercising outside causes irreparable damage to your lungs. Running everyday is one of the worse things you can do for your health. Limit your inflammation, Take a day or two off between workouts. Vary the types of exercise. Swimming is a good idea. Exercise is important, but exercise with thought.
4) the Delta variant appears to spread with very little viral load. A case in Australia shows a person contracting COVID simply by walking by someone in a shop. The greater your viral load, the more severe your disease and the more likely you will contract long-COVID. COVID eats NAD+.
5) Inadequate NAD+ has been linked to many mental health and neurological disorders.
6) Take the vitamin stack (Ade n’ Rob’s recipe). Ensure your NAD+ is at optimum level to avoid illness. Ade’s latest research shows that not only is NAD+ related to COVID severity, but that NAD+ is also related to many other diseases. Here is a diet based on their principles:
NAD+ Plus Immune System Diet