Monthly Archives: April 2022

Seth McFarlane’s ‘Ted’ Series Announces Its Main Cast – We Got This Covered

Posted: April 15, 2022 at 12:53 pm

Photo by Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images

The cast of Ted, the new Seth MacFarlane live-action series based on his 2012 film and its sequel, has been announced. MacFarlane will, of course, head the list as the voice of the eponymous Ted, a foul-mouthed teddy bear brought to life by an eight-year-old boys wish. Hell be joined by Giorgia Whighamof13 Reasons Why,Max Burkholderof Parenthood, andfrequent collaborator Scott Grimes,who stars on McFarlanes Star Trek parody The Orville, and has voiced Steve Smith on American Dad! since its 2005 premiere.

MacFarlane will direct all the episodes and will share writing, showrunning, and executive producing duties with former Modern Family writer/producers Paul Corrigan and Brad Walsh.

Ted will take place in 1993, prior to the events of the previous two movies, but after Ted has come to life. Burkholder will play the 16-year-old John Bennett, portrayed by Mark Wahlberg in the 2012 film, who lives in a working-class Boston home with his family and Ted, his best friend. Ted, in his own special and none-too-wholesome way, will help John as he navigates the minefields of teenage life in early 90s Boston.

Grimes will play Matty Bennett, a blue-collar conservative working dad of the typical McFarlane mold, whos trying his best to wear the pants in the family and frequently comes into conflict with his liberal niece, Blaire Bennett, played by Whigham. Blaires political correctness makes her a foil to her Uncle Matty, and will no doubt serve as the butt of many McFarlane-Esque skewerings all too familiar to the fans of Family Guy.

The mother of the household, Sue Bennett, has yet to be cast.

Tedwill be the second series produced under MacFarlanes and his production company Fuzzy Doors $200 million deal with UCP, a division of Universal Studio Group. Fuzzy Door president Erica Huggins will executive produce alongside Alana Kleiman and Jason Clark, who produced the Ted films. The series will stream on Peacock.

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The abortion culture and atrocity in Ukraine – The Christian Post

Posted: at 12:53 pm

By Wallace B. Henley, Exclusive Columnist | Wednesday, April 13, 2022Unsplash/Kelly Sikkema

The question from a TV interviewer veered off-script and bolted at me from the blue: Why do you think the Russians are committing atrocities in the Ukraine? Abortion, I answered so quickly it surprised even me.

The mindless massacre of the innocent during the Russian invasion of Ukraine has been stunning. It seems that in the eyes of the killers, human life has no intrinsic value, whether a babushka a grandmother struggling to flee, or a child clinging to its parents as they run through fiery streets in search of shelter.

What kind of people commit mindless massacre? What sort of culture produced them?

The United States is not guiltless. The U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Roe v. Wade legitimized abortion at a new level. Human beings objectified one another, often resulting in the devaluation of life to mere utility and convenience.

When a nations highest court sanctions a belief or behavior, it has spoken for the nation itself. In 1973, the Supreme Court stated, in the language of its ruling in Roe: We need not resolve the puzzling question of when life begins. When those trained in the respective disciplines of medicine, philosophy, and theology are unable to arrive at any consensus, the judiciary, at this point in the development of mans knowledge, is not in a position to speculate as to the answer.

Thus, in 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court was ambivalent about human life, and in 2022 a new Supreme Court appointee a woman was unable to say what a female is. Ironically, popular culture and its ardent supporters applauded her response while rejoicing that the new judge was a woman.

They could define what she could not. But ambiguity about life and being is worse than that. Confusion about essential identity leads to a society that cannot figure out who God is as well as who a human is and leads to a deadly ambiguity.

Uncertainty regarding gender is a matter of concern, but uncertainty about whether the being in the womb is a living human being and protected by the foundational right to life specified in the U.S. Declaration of Independence is a life and death matter.

One of the outcomes is the objectification of the person. Seeing human beings as objects of satisfaction and then obstacles blocking ones ambitions are characteristics of the abortion culture that has affected Russia and so many nations.

When life is devalued in the privacy of the womb, why should we be surprised when it is devalued in a nations public places?

Lenin and his fellow Marxists unleashed the abortion monster on Russia when they took over the country through the 1917 revolution. Abortion there grew to the extent that in some historic eras Russia has been the world leader in the number of aborted pregnancies.

During one period, 57% of pregnancies in Russia were aborted. It seemed the number of abortions would outstrip the birth rate.

Even Vladimir Putin was concerned enough to call for a reduction in abortions. A government policy there now aims to cut abortions in half by 2025 to deal with the demographic crisis.

While that goal is applauded by many, it exposes a problem: The push to slow abortion in Russia is based on pragmatics (the goal to solve the demographic problem). Unbounded abortion will not end until people are convicted in their hearts that policies sanctioning it constitute sin. But without the sense of Gods transcendence, the concept of sin is lost as well. All that is left is political correctness, enforced by self-righteous establishment elites whose legalisms are as restrictive as the religions they hate.

Russia isnt alone. Ukraine also showed up on lists of nations with the most abortions. Dr. Brian Clowes, in a 2017 Human Life International report, wrote that every one of Europes 48 nations is currently under replacement fertility levels ... Nine European nations have remained continuously below replacement since 1965.

Atrocity is an atrocity, whether in the battle-torn streets of a city under siege by a military aggressor, or a nation under siege by a worldview that struggles to define the very humanity of a child in the womb as well as identifying gender once outside the womb.

This is indeed deadly ambiguity.

The objectification of the human being is not the only characteristic of the abortion culture. Another is the loss of the secularized individual human spirit and the soul of the society of the belief in and sense of Gods transcendence and the human accountability that goes with it.

When men and women no longer revere God, they lose reverence and respect for the life He has created in the womb as well as the lives of innocents rushing to shelters amidst a fiery war.

The tragedies in Ukraine should appall us all, but not surprise us at all.

Wallace Henley is a former White House and Congressional aide. He is now a teaching pastor at Grace Church, The Woodlands, Texas. Wallace is author of more than 20 books, including God and Churchill, and his newest, Who Will Rule the Coming 'gods: The Looming Spiritual Crisis of Artificial Intelligence.

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No, Russian artists have not been cancelled – The Indian Express

Posted: at 12:53 pm

Today, they are trying to cancel a thousand-year-old country, lamented Russian President Vladimir Putin, speaking in a televised meeting with major cultural figures earlier this month. He was referring to several events involving Russian cultural figures who have voiced their support for the war being cancelled, especially in the West, since Russia invaded Ukraine.

One of those cancelled is Valery Gergiev, general director of the St Petersburg Mariinsky Theater and a friend of Putins, who was present at Fridays meeting. While most of the cancelled figures are alive, a small minority of the events cancelled included pieces by deceased icons such as Tchaikovsky performances of the composers pieces were cancelled in Italy, Japan and Croatia. However, that didnt stop Putin from drawing the spotlight to it in his speech. Theyre now engaging in the cancel culture, even removing Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and Rachmaninov from posters. Russian writers and books are now cancelled, he said.

Since its introduction into mainstream popular culture through college campuses and social media around half a decade ago, cancel culture has become a raging issue in the culture war in the West, sharply dividing conservatives and left-liberals. It has become an umbrella term that has different meanings according to who you ask but its essence remains a collective boycott and de-platforming of individuals, corporations or institutions for actions collectively deemed inappropriate or offensive.

Cancel culture itself has been called out for cancelling free speech, bullying, and a mob mentality. Depending on the offence and the extent of punishment meted out, cancel culture has been called everything from a distraction to a hyperbolic phase of the larger culture war, to Americas free speech problem.

Looking at the issue through the prism of conservative opinion provides insights into Putins remarks and the message behind them. Right-wing groups have increasingly portrayed cancel culture as emblematic of a far-left ideological hysteria rooted in outrage culture, fuelled by groupthink and authoritarian mob justice. Donald Trump, no stranger to calls for cancellation, made it a central talking point in his presidential re-election campaign in 2020, calling his impeachment trial constitutional cancel culture and cancel culture totalitarian.

He is by no means alone. More than half the delegates at the Republican National Convention 2020 mentioned cancel culture as a menace, and conservative state governments have sought to pass legislation seeking to curb it in the US. These groups see cancel culture as an indication of mob justice by moral zealots on the far-left, colloquially called social justice warriors, who weaponise social media to punish and hurt anyone, whether comic, writer, professor or scientist, for daring to breach a moral orthodoxy under the guise of political correctness.

As the political-cultural faultlines in the West have widened, the attitude to cancel culture has become a line that now sharply divides liberals and conservatives. It is in this sense that Putin invoked the term, comparing the Wests treatment of Russian culture to Nazi Germanys burning of books. These portrayals depict the person, institution, or in this case, the country being cancelled as the victim.

Putin hinted at this in his singling out of J K Rowling, who was cancelled for her views on transgenderism a topic still very much on the fringes of the public conversation outside the West. Recently, they cancelled the childrens writer Joanne Rowling because she the author of books that have sold hundreds of millions of copies worldwide fell out of favour with fans of so-called gender freedoms, he said. The Moscow Times, while reporting on Putins speech, quoted former president Dmitry Medvedev describing the Wests frenzied hatred as being pushed by the US to stoke Russophobia as part of what the Kremlin calls a special military operation.

With comments on cancel culture, Putin is giving a dog-whistle to conservatives and hard-right groups in Russia and around the globe, including the West. It should be seen as an effort to put a distortionary spin on the cultural and social sanctions imposed on Russia as a result of his actions since the invasion of Ukraine, and level the same charges against the West legitimised by their own conservative leadership and intellectuals.

Further evidence of Putin borrowing from the American conservatives playbook is the overblown portrayal of the cancelling of Russia visible in his referring to Russian writers and books being cancelled as if they were boycotted en masse. These are the same exaggerated terms in which mainstream US right-wing news media such as Fox News usually portray cancel cultures image and reach.

Noam Chomsky talks about how the true meaning of socialism never really reached the common masses because the two largest propaganda machines, the US and the USSR, had both peddled distorted definitions of the term. From Donald Trumps rhetoric in the US presidential election to Putins reference to the term, political divisions around cancel culture have also reached their apogee. We must be wary of its use to spread misinformation and shift the blame for the due consequences of waging war on a sovereign country.

This column first appeared in the print edition on April 13, 2022 under the title The culture front. Priyaranjan is a researcher and writer

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S N Balagangadhara Interview Part IV: There Is Intellectual Poverty In Islamised Regions; India May Be Headed The Same Way If It Does Not Watch Out. -…

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What Does It Mean To Be Indian? S N Balagangadhara and Sarika Rao. Notion Press. 2021. Pages 214. Rs 349.

This is the fourth and final part of Swarajyas conversation with S N Balagangadhara.

Q: You make a statement that there is intellectual poverty in already Islamised regions on the Indian sub-continent, in places like Pakistan, Bangladesh and Kashmir. Why do you say this?

A. I say this because it is visible, isnt it? These regions have not produced any great intellectuals in the last centuries and the environment in these regions is hostile to intellectual development. While people of Pakistan and Bangladesh do flourish and grow when they go to study in other countries, there are no noticeable native intellectuals in these regions.

In fact, India is heading in the same direction: we dont have intellectuals and we are not creating them. Irrespective of whether the decline will take the form of economic poverty or not, if things dont change, the intellectual poverty in India will reach the same level as Pakistan or Bangladesh. For instance, if things in education (both secondary and higher) do not drastically change in the next 15 years, the educational landscape in India will soon resemble that of Black Africa in the 1930s. We simply do have less and less competent teachers in our educational landscape.

Take the example of the reaction of most Indian intellectuals to the movie The Kashmir Files and the massive response of ordinary people. If the first aspect demonstrates anything, it lays bare the absolute barrenness of Indian intellectual landscape. I have not read a single reflection or review that even minimally tries to understand what people are responding to when they respond to the movie. Like everything else, this too is another occasion for moralising lectures about communalism, posturing against the imputed hatred the movie apparently propagates combined with expressions of pseudo-horror about an allegedly partial portrayal.

Very few things can move the entire population like this movie did and I am still thinking about it. And perhaps will also write on the movie. Tragedies or violence are not new, especially when they are in the news every day. So, it cannot be that the overwhelming response of people had only to do with the horrors faced by the Pandits in Kashmir or the treachery of our ruling classes (politicians, intellectuals, and media). Shortly after the movie came out, I saw it in Belgium, I remember telling my daughter that this movie would enter the national consciousness of India.

I have a feeling that one of the reasons why this movie has had the kind of impact it has is because it addresses our deeply held intuitions about our culture regarding knowledge, Saraswati, learning and the destructions wrought on it. One of the horrors we experience is to the rape of Kashimra Puravasini there and to her becoming a total alien in her hometown. (One of the first shlokas we learn as very young children goes thus: Namaste Sharade Devi, Kashimrapuravasini)

Q: Religion expands in two ways: through conversions, and then later by expanding the same ideas through a secularisation of theology. Christianity expands by de-Christianising its format And this secularisation is brought about by violence. Religion, whether it remains religion of gets secularised, is about othering someone or something Is this what you are trying to say?

A. I dont speak of othering. It is a jargon which doesnt explain anything. To treat someone as the other might be bad if they are the same as you and you dont treat them that way. For example, if one is a Christian, and Christianity says, we are all children of god, to treat some people as the other might be wrong. But if someone is different from you, your refusal to see and acknowledge that difference is wrong, isnt it?

In fact, I say that when the West looks at other cultures, it does not see them as the other. It sees and thus transforms them into a pale erring variant of itself. The other becomes another.

I do not say that Judaism and Christianity also secularise themselves through violence. The emphasis on secularising violence seems truer of Islam. The Semitic religions see Hinduism as another religion: false, to boot, but a religion, nevertheless. They see each other as the other, ie, as deficient, or defective religions (or heresies).

Q: You broadly seem to suggest that colonialism seems to have made us strangers to our own access to culture, and also that we simply have not made enough efforts to understand Western culture. Thus, we dont know how we must respond to colonial ideas when they come back to bite us without our knowledge of it. We say and speak words that display our colonial consciousness. If Western efforts to understand us through their lenses did not bring us much good, why is the reverse process, of our understanding Western culture, going to do us much good? Should we not focus on understanding ourselves first?

A. Today, the ways and means that we possess to understand ourselves, the intellectual frameworks, the concepts, the interconnections between them, the social scientific theories are all entirely built by Europeans. I have shown in my work that they are based much more on their experience of the world than on how the world is. There are any number of examples: the idea that all cultures have religion; the idea of a unique self (soul) which all human beings have; the notion that the caste system characterises Indian society, etc.

So, if we must understand ourselves, we must study the Europeans in very concrete ways. Of course, we will study and understand them as Indians. That is precisely the point. To recognise, first and foremost, that there are cultural differences between us. We must study these to understand the theories we have about human beings. To understand what we say about ourselves when we claim that we too have a religion or pontificate that one must be true to oneself, and that the caste system must be eradicated, we must study the West.

We must understand the intellectual frameworks and their implications to understand our laws and to learn how to make laws which dont make a travesty of everything good and just. To understand ourselves, we must understand western culture. Whether we like it or not, colonialism happened, and colonial consciousness exists. The question is how we can get out of it and regain access to our experience. My research programme, Comparative Science of Cultures, formulates one way of doing it. We cannot return to a pristine past of pre-colonialism. The question facing us today is what does it mean to be Indian in the 21st century?

To know more about the methodology of this approach, which the question raises, the second and third chapter in Reconceptualizing India Studies might help. They explicate my answers and their justifications.

Q: In a country where freedom of religion is written into the constitution, how do we defend Indian/Hindu rights if you do not even define it as a religion? How can law-makers even begin to understand the difference between religion and tradition, or the need to protect majority rights that are not religious in nature?

A. This is one of the big problems in India. We have no investments in research and development in social sciences. (The UGC does massively fund ideological propaganda by calling it funding social research.) There are also no institutions (political, legal, educational, or even charitable) which are interested in stimulating novel social scientific research.

If Hinduism is not a religion and current legal frameworks are primarily structured by Semitic religions, how can non-religious traditions hope to have the protections of law? This is not just a question for Hindus, but one that is also of crucial importance to other traditions like the native American or African. What would the frameworks or even minimal formulation of law look like which is not Semitic in nature but one which makes space for traditions too?

To get an idea of enormity of the question: despite decades of experience and knowledge, even a group of gifted intellectuals will have to do four to five years of full-time research to begin answering this question. There have been barely any attempts by Hindus to try and understand themselves, their social and institutional world, and their implications. Even to this day, people think that it is a definitional problem or a semantic discussion. (According to us religion is or Abrahamic definition of religion is). Our Supreme Court routinely cites the US juridical definitions to decide about cases involving religious disputes in India.

So, to answer the question about how lawyers can understand and argue about the difference between religion and tradition, first, social scientists must develop at least the beginnings of an alternative legal framework, legal definitions, etc. Second, it is a collaborative research project with people who specialise in the comparative science of cultures, religion and constitutional law and Indian law. Third, out of such a long-term collaborative project, some tangible results like providing a skeletal legal framework for traditions which can be integrated into existing legal structures could emerge. Such a project does not exist.

Further, to understand our laws, we must look at who the lawmakers are. Could it be seriously suggested that our current crop of MPs and MLAs even understand what they are legislating? Laws are written (the way the Indian Constitution got written) by third-rate bureaucrats in capital cities: neither they nor the legislators know what they are doing.

Q: The need to defend Hindu rights (we dont even get to run our own temples) have led to a political platform broadly called Hindutva, but social justice warriors want to pit Hinduism against Hindutva and there was even a global conference called to dismantle Hindutva. What should our reasoned stand on these issues be, if Hinduism is not even a religion?

A. Those defending Hindutva and those attacking it are both using the same intellectual framework. I have spoken of it in different places, including in What does it mean to be Indian? (Page 25). If Hinduism does not exist and India has no religion, what does it mean to speak of (Hindu) religious fundamentalism? How then do we understand the phenomenon of Hindutva? (See also my preface in Cultures Differ Differently.) None of the so-called India-scholars is raising these questions.

The conference you speak of was a marginal event, organised by academically fringe groups. But it gained wide-spread recognition because of the attention given to it by the people who got attacked by it. It surprises me that the so-called right-wing, in so far as it can be considered a coherent entity, has not realised that it now embodies and implements the PR strategy of these fringe scholars: bait Hindutva if you want to gain academic approval and social recognition.

There are two problems in the way the question is asked: (1) One is that there is a need to defend Hindu rightswhich led to the political platform of Hindutva. Yet the ruling party, which is considered Hindutva, has gone much further than the Congress in the appeasement of minorities and instituting welfare schemes. (2) The suggestion is that social justice warriors want to pit Hinduism against Hindutva. But the Hindutva, whether in the form of civil organisations or as a political party, has completely bought into social justice ideology. (When people claim that the victory of the BJP in the recent elections is the result of a pro-poor policy of the government, or that BJP wants to win the elections to promote socially just policies, one is enthusiastically espousing social justice slogans. Such people are also the real social justice warriors in India.)

The growth of social justice ideology and its conflation with political correctness is relatively new in the West. But the poisonous combination of identity politics, social justice and political correctness has existed in India for decades. The reservation system which has ballooned out-of-control, the atrocities act, etc, are expressions of social justice ideology promoted and encouraged also by the current ruling party. Hindutva is doing more to promote social justice warriors than Congress and its allies ever did. And yet, academic fringe groups sell the idea (which the Right strengthens) that there is caste atrocity and minority insecurityin India under the BJP, while the current ruling party is the best defender and protector of the so-called Dalits and minority religious groups.

It might be interesting to note that the notion of social justice is of Christian (Roman Catholic) origin, best formulated by their Pope in the twentieth century.Without a Christian framework within which to understand and endorse it, the entire social justice idea dissolves into incoherence.Leo Shields, commissioned as a Lieutenant in the US army and dies fighting in France in 1945, received a doctorate from the University of Notre Dame in 1941 for his dissertation on The History and Meaning of the Term Social Justice. There, he summarises it as follows:

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S N Balagangadhara Interview Part IV: There Is Intellectual Poverty In Islamised Regions; India May Be Headed The Same Way If It Does Not Watch Out. -...

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Thybulle on not getting fully vaccinated: I didnt see any benefits outweighing what I could seek from alternative medicine – NBC Sports

Posted: at 12:51 pm

Due to his decision not to get fully vaccinated and Canadas regulations, 76ers wing Matisse Thybulle is ineligible to play in Toronto during Philadelphias first-round playoff series against the Raptors.

Thybulle, via Noah Levick of NBC Sports Philadelphia:

Im not fully vaccinated, Thybulle said. This was a decision I made a long time ago. I thought a lot about what Id say here. Essentially, I made this choice and I thought I could keep it to myself, I could keep it private, but people are always going to wonder why.

I was raised in a holistic household where anti-vax is not a term that was ever used. Its a weird term that has kind of been thrown around to just label people. But we grew up with Chinese medicine and naturopathic doctors. With that upbringing, coming into this situation I felt like I had a solid foundation of medical resources that could serve me beyond what this vaccine could do for me.

As things escalated and as this situation has played out, Ive obviously had to reconsider and look at it differently. To that point, it got to the point last year during the playoffs where I did actually consider getting vaccinated and went through with getting the first shot, the first dose. At that point, I was under the impression that getting vaccinated meant that I could not get the disease and transmit it to other people. And I felt like if Im going to be a part of society, in the position Im in, I need to do whats right for the greater good. That argument of the greater good held a lot of weight for me. As things progressed, as this virus has changed many different ways, it just showed through the science that that wasnt the case anymore that even while being vaccinated, you could still spread the disease.

So for me and my reasoning, it felt like getting vaccinated was not something that I needed to do to protect other people. With that being considered and the holistic background of my upbringing and just the way I view medicine in general it felt like I was secure in treating myself not treating myself, but going to the doctors that I have to treat COVID if I did get it. And in the case that I did, I was able to go about it in my holistic way, and Im able to sit here today healthy and OK because of it.

One of the things my dad taught me growing up is youre free to do whatever you want as long as youre willing to accept the consequences of it, Thybulle said. Like I said, I considered deeply all the different avenues. And of course Ive accepted that this could hurt money, contracts, reputation. But I felt like this was the right thing that I needed to do for myself.

That was really hard, he said of discussions with teammates. I made this decision a while ago where this situation Im facing right now was not a factor. It wasnt a part of any of the decision-making, because at the time I would be available for my team and not restricted in any way to do my job. Having had the stance Ive had for almost a year now, I just felt like it couldnt be something that I could be forced to do because of rules or regulation changes. It just seemed like the right thing for me to just see it through.

What does he see as the downsides of receiving a second vaccine dose (which would wipe away those repercussions)?

My reasoning for getting it or not getting it wasnt really the downsides, Thybulle said. I just didnt feel like it would benefit me. I didnt see any benefits outweighing what I could seek from alternative medicine.

One big benefit to getting fully vaccinated that alternative medicine doesnt provide: Thybulle could have played Games 3 and 4 (and if necessary, 6) in Toronto.

Vaccinated people are less likely to contract and therefore spread coronavirus. Those reductions in likelihood became less pronounced as the omicron variant became predominant. But they still existed.

Perhaps Thybulle felt the reductions in likelihood werent significant enough to offset his inclination toward alternative medicine. That might be an understandable choice, especially if he held natural immunity from a prior coronavirus case. Theres room to debate where to draw the line on vaccine mandates, especially with coronavirus hospitalizations and deaths relatively low. The players union fought off a vaccine mandate from the NBA under the premise people should have some right to make their own medical decisions.

But Canadas rules exist. Thybulle cant pretend they dont. So fair or not, anticipated or not he and his team are facing a big downside from his decision.

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ACUPUNCTURE AND HERBS: A RECIPE TO HELP GERIATRIC PETS AND THOSE WITH CANCER – Yahoo Finance

Posted: at 12:51 pm

Veterinarians to Learn How Integrative and Conventional Medicine can be Combined to Treat Patients with Life Impacting Disease

ORLANDO, Fla., April 14, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Acupuncture, herbal medicine and other non-traditional options are growing in popularity for treating pets with cancer, chronic renal failure, severe pain associated with chronic arthritis and other ailments, even extending life for geriatric patients and improving quality of life.

A cat undergoes electroacupuncture treatment.

With acupuncture, the animal maintains a high quality of life and we can often extend life another three to five years.

Acupuncture for geriatric patients, cancer treatments that start with herbs and nutrition, and alternative treatments for common neurologic conditions are among the topics veterinarians from around the world will learn about from veterinary experts during the "Level Up: Integrative Medicine" virtual summit, presented by the North American Veterinary Community (NAVC), on Tuesday and Wednesday, April 19 and 21.

"As many people are open to integrative medicine to treat illness in humans, the same approaches are now being applied to help our pets live longer and enjoy a better quality of life," said Dana Varble, DVM, CAE, NAVC's Chief Veterinary Officer. "The Level Up virtual summits are another example of how the NAVC is opening the door for veterinary professionals everywhere to learn about advances in animal healthcare that can be used immediately in their practices."

Acupuncture offers an alternative treatment option for geriatric patients where conventional treatments may be difficult. During the session "Integrative Approach to Geriatric Patients," Huisheng Xie, BSvm, MS, PhD, professor of the Chi University, and Emeritus Professor at the University of Florida and the China Agricultural University, will discuss how acupuncture can relieve pain, alleviate other illness and extend an animal's life with a better quality of life.

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"Quality of life in geriatric animals is one of the top concerns for pet owners and their veterinarians. Acupuncture works on the whole body by stimulating multiple internal systems that help the body respond to help with pain and even repair damaged tissue," said Dr. Xie. "What we achieve with acupuncture is that the animal maintains the highest quality of life as long as possible before the end of life which we can often extend another three to five years."

"Level Up: Integrative Medicine" summit attendees will also learn about integrative treatments for common neurologic conditions observed in general veterinary practice. Deanne Zenoni, DVM, CVSMT, CVMRT, CVA, an associate veterinarian at Tops Veterinary Rehabilitation and Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital as well as an instructor at the Healing Oasis, will lead an in-depth discussion about how exercise and hydrotherapy can be used to treat patients with degenerative myelopathy, a disease affecting the spinal cord which can lead to lameness, difficulty with stairs or reluctance to do certain activities.

"Just like in people, we target weak areas and work to help the dog maintain or regain independent mobility. Hydrotherapy is a whole body strengthening due to the resistance of the water but the buoyancy and warmth helps with improved weight bearing and range of motion of the pet," said Dr. Zenoni. "Exercises are something that can be done at home as part of the daily routine as well."

Additionally, summit attendees will learn how herbal medicine and diet can help a pet with a cancer diagnosis. Nicole Sheehan, DVM, CVA, CVCH, CVFT, MATP, owner of Whole Pet Animal Hospitals, will present a two-part lecture that addresses how herbs and nutrition are used, in addition to conventional treatments, to improve quality of life, maximize survival times, and provide practical strategies for pet owners to contribute to the healing process at home.

"Level Up" is a new series of virtual events developed by the NAVC and hosted on their virtual education platform, VetFolio, to help veterinary professionals take their careers to the next level. Registrants can receive up to four hours of continuing education. Click here to register.

About the NAVC The North American Veterinary Community (NAVC) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting and advancing veterinary professionals worldwide. The world's leading provider of veterinary continuing education, the NAVC delivers essential training, tools and resources for veterinary professionals to stay abreast of advances in animal medicine and provide the best medical care for animals everywhere. Through its commitment to innovation and excellence, the NAVC has developed a diverse portfolio of products and services, including: educational events, headlined by VMX, the world's largest, most comprehensive continuing education conference and launchpad for new products and innovations within the veterinary industry; a robust digital platform for virtual learning and engagement; the veterinary industry's largest and award-winning portfolio of trade publications; and an advocacy arm which unites the veterinary community and pet lovers. The NAVC was founded in 1982 and is headquartered in Orlando, FL. Since 2017, the NAVC has been recognized annually as one of the Top Workplaces by the Orlando Sentinel. To learn more about the NAVC's products and brands, visit https://navc.com/. To see our schedule of upcoming events, visit https://navc.com/calendar/.

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ACUPUNCTURE AND HERBS: A RECIPE TO HELP GERIATRIC PETS AND THOSE WITH CANCER - Yahoo Finance

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Achieving Healthy, Happy State of Mind through Alternative Medicine, Yoga – THISDAY Newspapers

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Happiness can be evasive given the negative news of political and economic hardships as well as lifes pressures in todays world but at the Happiness Centre, run by Indian entrepreneur and healthy lifestyle expert, Akshay Jain, the feeling of peace and harmony can be achieved through alternative medicine and meditation, reports Vanessa Obioha

In the latter part of 2021, Akshay Jain, an Indian entrepreneur who has taught happiness and is associated with the Art of Living Foundation set up a health and wellness centre: Happiness Centre.

The name of the centre often conjured activities that are associated with the state of happiness such as getting freebies or playing games with friends but the facility situated in a quiet neighbourhood in Victoria Island, Lagos offers therapies and techniques that can ease mental relaxation.

These therapies according to Jain who is the Managing Director of the centre, if wholly embraced will help Nigerians enjoy a healthy lifestyle.

Having lived more than a decade in Lagos, Jain is not a stranger to the hurly-burly of the city. Therefore, the Happiness Centre is designed in such a way to give one a state of peace and harmony. Its environment is surrounded by trees and plants to give room for interactions with nature.

Happiness means different things to people but is essentially about having a positive state of mind.

Happiness is a state of mind. It is the nature of the mind, Jain said in a recent encounter. When the mind is stressed, it shrinks your consciousness, but when you are happy, it is expanded. So stress is a major culprit here. It takes away from your nature and then all the negative emotions such as anxiety, and anger now affect you.

Indeed, in the world today, happiness can be evasive given the negative news of political and economic hardships as well as lifes pressures. While there are many ways one can achieve happiness on a short term basis such as indulging in drinking and smoking, Jain believes that one can be connected back to a state of happiness if one intentionally practises mind relaxation. This he said is the objective of the Happiness Centre.

Everyone knows that drinking and smoking are bad for ones health but people indulge in it because of the short term relief it provides. It is a form of escapism from this stressed world. Happiness however connects you to your inner self to give you peace.

The organisation behind this centre which is Art of Living has achieved great success all over the world in spreading peace and happiness. The mission of the organisation is to bring peace to eradicate violence and to bring smiles on everybodys face.

Elaborating more on short term happiness, Jain said that anything external or material can bring happiness but because its short-lived, it leads one to a new quest for happiness.

So we then tend to live life in pursuit of happiness. You do something for a day or two or whatever time, then next, youre looking for something else. So your happiness is somewhere in the future. But if you realise that your nature is happiness, you can be happy and still achieve what you want.

Contrary to the popular belief that religion plays a vital role in ones happiness, Jain argued that it can be attained through ones mental state and lifestyle. Yoga, he said, is one way to have a positive state of mind.

Yoga is a way of living. It means the union of mind, body and spirit. It is attained by the certain knowledge of life. It is done with means of physical postures, breathing techniques and meditation. A combination of these helps us to relax and focus positively because when the mind relaxes, that is the beginning of the experience of positivity.

The way Jain sees it, we feel negative emotions when our mind and nerves are too tight and the ripple effect causes our body to be stiff. Therefore, at the Happiness Centre, one is first taught the techniques to relax the mind and followed by emotional control.

There are courses and programmes tailored to achieve these. For instance, the level one programme is called the Happiness programme where breathing techniques and mind relaxation are taught. Jain emphasized that the programme is time tested and taught with the new insights researched and validated.

Another means Jain and his team of professionals help people achieve a healthy lifestyle is through alternative medicine known as Ayurveda. Ayurveda, meaning science of life, is an alternative medicine system that has been in existence for over 5, 000 years originating from India. It is acclaimed to be one of the best traditional medicine systems in India. It is heavily practised both in India and Nepal.

Relatively new in Nigeria, Jain said the practice is now formalised and has universities in India teaching aspiring doctors Ayurvedic medicine. At the centre, there is an Ayurvedic doctor that attends to patients with different ailments such as people suffering from diabetes or arthritis.

Jain however shrugged off critics who question the credibility of Ayurvedic medicine. Having been introduced to the alternative medicine in 2004 and seeing its benefits, as far as he is concerned, western medicine is constantly researching to find solutions to problems. Citing the COVID-19 pandemic, he noted that research is continuously done to find the best vaccine to deal with the capricious coronavirus.

I am not saying that western medicine is bad. It has its own twist. If you fall, if you break your hand, you have to go and get operated on. But there are certain types of diseases or certain lifestyle-related disorders, which can be fixed by natural needs and Ayurvedic products and which is much more healthy.

He stressed that there has been evidence at the centre of people treated via Ayurveda.

We have seen so many cases of diabetes being reversed. Very simple lifestyle changes. You start exercising and you have the right type of food and at the right time, you sleep well. You see how deeply impacted the product is.

He continued: There is a reason to satisfy the logical mind by evidence but human beings are such a complex structure where you dont have answers for everything today. We should be open to the traditions that have been passed on to us. The good thing is that it does not have adverse effects.

Committed to spreading the gospel of happiness in Nigeria, for the first time, the Happiness Centre marked the UN International Day of Happiness in Nigeria. The event was attended by the Minister of Information and Culture Lai Mohammed and representatives from the office of the First Lady of Lagos State as well as professor of political economy Pat Utomi who sits on the board of the centre.

It was a good occasion to spread awareness, information on how we can have a better life with the knowledge of meditation and breathing techniques which affects everyday life and lengthens your life. And secondly to understand and live a healthy life through Ayurveda, he concluded.

QuoteHaving lived more than a decade in Lagos, Jain is not a stranger to the hurly-burly of the city. Therefore, the Happiness Centre is designed in such a way to give one a state of peace and harmony. Its environment is surrounded by trees and plants to give room for interactions with nature

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Melatonin: What It Is, What It Does – Weston Today

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Content sponsored by Dr. Brijesh Chandwani, DMD

The pandemic left many people tossing and turning at bedtime because of an increase in anxiety as well as screen time. It also sparked an interest in melatonin as a sleep aid. So what is this hormone of darkness?

Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland, located in the center of the brain, which regulates the bodys sleep cycles or what is also called the circadian rhythm (body clock).

During the day, light switches off the production of melatonin (reference: http://www.natap.org). When the sun sets, production of this hormone is ramped up, giving the brain a signal that its time to sleep. It also plays other important roles in the body such as improving muscle recovery and inhibiting cancer.

However, certain lifestyle and other factors can impact the bodys natural melatonin generation (estimated to be between 10-80 micrograms per night). One is exposure to artificial light such as the increased use of devices long past the bodys normal bedtime or regular night shifts. Other factors that reduce melatonin production are age and obesity.

Melatonin supplements are now commonly used to treat sleep disorders, mainly circadian rhythm sleep disorders and sleep disorders experienced by shift workers. Some use it to reduce symptoms of jet lag. But it is also emerging as a beneficial therapy for certain people with migraines.

Migraines are a neurophysiological disorder within the trigeminal nerve (a major nerve for face, jaw and brain meninges) and other structures of the body. Quite debilitating, they can be triggered by poor sleep, stress, bright lights, loud noises, certain medications, altered sleep-wake cycles, etc. Melatonin supplementation can reduce migraines by improving sleep quality. Melatonin may also deactivate the hypothalamus which is implicated in the mechanism of migraine.

Melatonin can replace traditional medications if the major factor is sleep (think migraines in the middle of the night or morning or someone who has a circadian rhythm disorder). Additionally, melatonin supplementation could increase the efficacy of migraine medications.1

But its important to know when to take it because that can affect the outcome. For migraine and TMJ disorders, melatonin should be started at the dose of 3 mg two hours prior to bedtime and it can be increased up to 10 mg.2

Risk factors to consider

Mild side effects from melatonin include headaches, dizziness, nausea and daytime sleepiness.

About Dr. Chandwani

Dr. Chandwani is a board certified specialist in Orofacial pain (TMJ specialist) in Fairfield County. With his background in acupuncture and alternative medicine, he integrates western and eastern medicine in his practice.

Dr. Chandwani has offices in New York City and in Norwalk. He can be reached at (203) 842-8658 or (347) 494-4618.

For more information, visit tmdtmj.comInstagram: nyctmj.com

1Kurdi MS, Patel T. The role of melatonin in anesthesia and critical care. Indian J Anaesth. 2013;57(2):137-144. doi:10.4103/0019-5049.111837.

2Gelfand, A. A., & Goadsby, P. J. (2016). The Role of Melatonin in the Treatment of Primary Headache Disorders. Headache, 56(8), 12571266. https://doi.org/10.1111/head.12862.

3Grigg-Damberger MM, Ianakieva D. Poor Quality Control of Over-the-Counter Melatonin: What They Say Is Often Not What You Get. J Clin Sleep Med. 2017 Feb 15;13(2):163-165. doi: 10.5664/jcsm.6434. PMID: 28095978; PMCID: PMC5263069. Copy Download .nbib

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AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market 2022-Bring Opportunities To Grow In Future Bloomingprairieonline – Bloomingprairieonline

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Understand the influence of COVID-19 on the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market with our analysts monitoring the situation across the globe. Request Now

AYUSH and Alternative Medicine Market Overview | 2022 2028

The AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market report is a perfect foundation for people looking out for a comprehensive study and analysis of the AYUSH and Alternative Medicine market. This report contains a diverse study and information that will help you understand your niche and concentrate of key market channels in the regional and global market for AYUSH and Alternative Medicine. To understand competition and take actions based on your key strengths you will be presented with the size of the market, demand in the current and future years, supply chain information, trading concerns, competitive analysis and the prices along with vendor information. The report also has insights about key market players, applications of AYUSH and Alternative Medicine, its type, trends and overall market share.

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Major Companies:Baidyanath, Himalya Herbals, Ganga Pharmaceuticals, Patanjali, Hamdard

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Major Types of the Market are:Ayurvedic MedicinesHerbal MedicinesAroma TherapyHomeopathyReflexologyOthers

Major Applications of the Market are:WomenMenKids

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Regional Analysis For AYUSH and Alternative MedicineMarket

North America(the United States, Canada, and Mexico)Europe(Germany, France, UK, Russia, and Italy)Asia-Pacific(China, Japan, Korea, India, and Southeast Asia)South America(Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, etc.)The Middle East and Africa(Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Nigeria, and South Africa)

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Report Overview:The report overview includes studying the market scope, leading players, market segments and sub-segments, market analysis by type, application, geography, and the remaining chapters that shed light on the overview of the market.

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The Use of Complementary Alternative Medicine in HIV-infected Patients during COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Related Factors and Drug Interactions with…

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This article was originally published here

Acta Med Indones. 2022 Jan;54(1):97-106.

ABSTRACT

BACKGROUND: The use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) is widespread among patients with chronic disease despite lack of supporting evidence for most CAM types. Concerned regarding higher risk of COVID-19 for HIV-infected patients, probably increase the use of CAM during COVID-19 pandemic in this population. This study aimed to assess the prevalence and factors related to CAM use among HIV-infected patients during COVID-19 pandemic, then identify drug- to-drug interaction (DDI) of antiretroviral (ARV) drugs with CAM that they used.

METHODS: The study was conducted in HIV Clinic Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in September-October 2021, specifically targeting adults HIV-infected patients routinely using ARV. Demographic and clinical data, including COVID-19 and vaccine history, were taken from clinic survey and hospital medical records data.

RESULTS: 554 of 1275 patients (43.5%) reported using any type of ingested CAM during COVID-19 pandemic, mostly vitamins and/or minerals. Factors related to CAM use were history of COVID-19 infection (aOR 2.28; 95% CI 1.65-3.14) and 2-5 years ARV duration compared to more than 10 years (aOR 1.4; 95% CI 1.02-1.91). Five known potential interactions involving 20 patients and two potential weak interactions involving 8 patients were found, but many of other interactions categorized as unknown. Only limited number of patients (3.8%) were aware about the drug interaction between ARV and CAM that they used.

CONCLUSION: CAM was commonly used by HIV-infected patients on ARV during the COVID-19 pandemics, but patient awareness related to CAM-ARV drug interactions was exteremely low.

PMID:35398830

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The Use of Complementary Alternative Medicine in HIV-infected Patients during COVID-19 Pandemic: Its Related Factors and Drug Interactions with...

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