In my role as Director of Communications at Arena Stage, I supervise media relations in addition to marketing and a few other areas. As originally intended, this blog was developed to discuss arts marketing, however from time to time, I stray a little and write about topics that affect media relations, as will be the case today.
A couple of weeks ago, I found myself participating in a very interesting discussion via Twitter with Howard Sherman, Peter Marks, Trey Graham, Nella Vera, David Loehr and Kris Vire. This impromptu panel discussion was centered around the affects of social media on traditional practices in arts journalism. With both publicists and journalists recognizing that the traditional media landscape is changing, it made me think about what's next. Below are my thoughts that formed in the weeks since.
For a primer on the subject, may I suggest the following articles:
"Should Theater Critics be Allowed to Tweet an Opinion Before Writing a Review?" Washington City Paper, 10/20/2010
"Hey, Broadway-Based Spiderman Boosters: Twitter's Not a Supervillain" NPR, 12/1/10
"Will the Embargo Hold?" 2amt, 7/12/11
"Stop Telling Me What to Think About Your Show" The Craptacular, 7/12/11
From my point of view, the affects of social media on...
New Play Development
The days of developing new work under the watchful eyes of millions of New Yorkers may be over. And the Broadway tryout in major metropolitan areas could be as well. Why anyone would make the choice to develop new work directly on Broadway itself baffles me, as there is no room for error. I couldn't imagine a worse place to develop work. To be extraordinary, one must be able to take risks. With the rise of social media, every risk taken (and failure made) is a potential headline in the now influential blogosphere. In the past, producers and publicists had to concern themselves with crafting stories for professional journalists and preparing for traditional reviews, but in today's world, before the first review hits, public opinion can be persuaded by millions of tweets, Facebook posts and blogs. In some cases, by the time the impartial and professional critic walks through the doors of a theater, the verdict in the court of public opinion has already been rendered. As information travels at the speed of light to every corner of the world these days, it would not surprise me if the major development work for high profile, Broadway-bound productions starts to occur at smaller and smaller venues in more remote areas of the country. Even major regional theaters in large metropolitan areas may become too "exposed" to be able to shelter the development process of new work. My prediction: Places like Virginia Stage Company, a LORT D theater in Norfolk, VA which just recently produced a highly acclaimed pre-Broadway run of Bruce Hornsby's SCKBSTD, will become the new go-to places for development of high profile projects.
Preview Performances
A production is never fully complete until it is performed in front of an audience. Preview performances used to be a testing ground that allowed creatives the ability to make adjustments to a production and then try them out in front of an audience. Previews are handled differently depending on the company. I have worked for companies where previews were very rough, often times being obvious that the creatives and the cast were still in the process of creation. However, I have also worked for companies where in most cases, the first preview looked as polished as opening night. As marketers, we know the most powerful marketing tool is word-of-mouth, and social media allows for the development of instant word-of-mouth campaigns. These days, artists and administrators have to be prepared that the first preview will bring instant feedback, and that feedback will have a direct impact on sales. Some administrators, as mentioned in the aforementioned article entitled "Stop Telling Me What to Think About Your Show," try to appeal to audiences to halt or slow social media. However, as a paying member of the audience, patrons have every right to say what they think to whomever they want using whatever means they want to. Trying to control social media is a waste of energy, and asking audience members not to discuss the play is like telling a teenager not to do something. Even more ludicrous are the producers that are charging $150+ for previews, and then asking patrons not to share their experiences. Whoever advised them to do so obviously has very little understanding of the value of transparency which drives so many social media mavens. My prediction: Producers will forgo long preview periods, and will in turn rely more heavily upon the developmental runs as discussed in the previous paragraph.
Embargoes
In his excellent blog referenced above, Howard Sherman predicts that the embargo "has begun to crumble and that erosion will only accelerate as every single person who cares to becomes their own media mogul and true stars of the medium begin to achieve influence akin to that afforded by old media." I couldn't agree more. As of today, traditional journalists are expected to hold back on reviewing until a producer settles on an opening date and then invites the critic to see the production. In the meantime, "citizen reviewers" are blogging, tweeting, posting on Facebook and Yelping, thereby allowing everyone except the professional critic the opportunity to weigh-in. However, to pull a line from Spiderman, with "great power comes great responsibility." Professional critics are expected to act with journalistic integrity and to honor embargoes as they are the arbiters of culture for, in some cases, millions of readers. But there are grey areas. What happens when the same producer that requests an embargo from professional critics invites Oprah Winfrey to attend a preview, and then Oprah tweets her thoughts to her 6.7 million followers weeks before critics can? or when an advertising firm uses pull quotes from comments on Yelp or Twitter to promote a show in ad campaigns weeks before a show is officially open to review? My prediction: The use of embargoes between producers and the media will change in the next few years as social and traditional media will compete directly with each over for prominence.
Reviews
For some reason, when Washington City Paper theater critic Trey Graham tweeted a response to a show that he was reviewing from the theater, it caused a little bit of a brouhaha. To get the facts straight, he was an invited reviewer attending a production that was open to review at the request of the theater. I guess a couple of actors who normally like to avoid reading reviews encountered the tweet, and were upset because a review caught them by surprise as it was delivered via social media, thus leading to a complaint. From a publicist's perspective, Trey was well within his rights to tweet his thoughts. Theaters can (as of now) embargo reviews based on time (when shows are available for review), but it is amusing to think that any institution would expect to be able to embargo based on delivery method. Social media is just a delivery mechanism, just like a newspaper is. Critics have every right to deliver their criticism via whatever mechanism they like. Journalism is a very competitive field, and often times being able to weigh-in first, or before others, creates a competitive advantage. As such, I am not surprised at all that critics are now sending immediate, albeit 140 character, responses. Although I disagree, Howard Sherman developed a well reasoned argument as to perhaps why critics should not tweet responses in his previously mentioned blog. That being said, as a publicist, I would argue that whether we think critics should or shouldn't tweet their responses is a moot point, as it isn't up to us. The fact is, they are doing it and we don't have any logical reason to ask them not to. My prediction: Many more traditional critics will start tweeting immediate critical reactions so that their responses are competitive in the fast paced environment of social media.
Minggu, 24 Juli 2011
Minggu, 10 Juli 2011
Another Type I Diabetic OFF INSULIN!
The following email letter epresses what can happen for ANY Type I diabetic when they follow The pH Miracle Lifestyle. They get off their insulin injections.
To learn more about preventing and reversing Type I and Type II diabetes read our book, The pH Miracle for Diabetes.
Hi Dr. Young,
I'm one of your microscopists, I came to the advanced class a couple of years ago.. I live on the Big Island of Hawaii.
I had a client come to me about 9 months or so ago, she brought her 9 year old daughter who had just been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I felt in over my head, but I worked with her as best I could, giving her free blood sessions and instructions and supporting her as she got her daughter on the pH MIRACLE diet. She also spoke with the mother of the 2 boys you helped become Type I diabetes free who also gave her some good support and instruction.
Within a week of being on a strict pH Miracle alkaline diet she had already cut her insulin in half and then some, so she was very encouraged and very determined. And fortunately her daughter was also very compliant. And to compound things, mom was in very poor financial straights but somehow managed to make it work.
Anyway, she moved to Texas about 5 months ago and she just contacted me this week to tell me her daughter has been off insulin for 4 months now!!! Another pH miracle for Diabetes.
Loving your Magnesium articles.
Aloha
Angela Lesle
I'm one of your microscopists, I came to the advanced class a couple of years ago.. I live on the Big Island of Hawaii.
I had a client come to me about 9 months or so ago, she brought her 9 year old daughter who had just been diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. I felt in over my head, but I worked with her as best I could, giving her free blood sessions and instructions and supporting her as she got her daughter on the pH MIRACLE diet. She also spoke with the mother of the 2 boys you helped become Type I diabetes free who also gave her some good support and instruction.
Within a week of being on a strict pH Miracle alkaline diet she had already cut her insulin in half and then some, so she was very encouraged and very determined. And fortunately her daughter was also very compliant. And to compound things, mom was in very poor financial straights but somehow managed to make it work.
Anyway, she moved to Texas about 5 months ago and she just contacted me this week to tell me her daughter has been off insulin for 4 months now!!! Another pH miracle for Diabetes.
Loving your Magnesium articles.
Aloha
Angela Lesle
Jumat, 08 Juli 2011
The Nonprofit Variant of Dynamic Pricing
I think for most of us that work in the nonprofit theater, our dream is to create exceptional art that is accessible to everyone. Speaking for me specifically, this is the reason I decided to make a career in the nonprofit resident theater, rather than some of my peers who opted for the commercial theater. There are times when I am envious of the visual arts, particularly in Washington, DC, which due to their funding models, many of which can provide exceptional art free of charge to the public. The predominant model for visual arts institutions in DC is based on uninhibited access. Wouldn’t it be great if the performing arts were the same way? The nonprofit resident theater model developed in a completely different manner however. In fact, Arena Stage was founded in 1950 as a for-profit entity, and thrived for years as such. From the very birth of resident theaters, patrons were charged to access the art, and we have had to fight to keep funding models in place that support accessible fees. With the development of the nonprofit model, it allowed previously for-profit resident theaters the opportunity to raise contributed funds (private donors, government entities, foundations, etc) in an effort to keep ticket prices as accessible as possible. Most resident institutions took advantage of this new found opportunity to improve access for all and to provide educational programs, however there were some that did not. Still to this day, in our community (not to mention on Broadway itself), nonprofit theaters and for-profit companies compete all the time, which seems to be somewhat unique to the theater world (do you know of any for-profit symphonies?).
Prior to 2008, few companies had experimented with dynamic pricing, primarily because the technology wasn’t readily available to operationalize what had previously been a well thought out theory. The idea was relatively simple -- if your house was playing to less than 100% capacity, it was symptomatic of the failure to determine an optimum price. If an optimum price could be determined, which perfectly aligned demand and supply, every house would be at capacity. The first use of dynamic pricing by a nonprofit organization to my knowledge was at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2003, Deborah Rutter joined the symphony as their new president, and introduced the idea of dynamic pricing (resident theaters would experiment with dynamic pricing much later). Tessitura, an advanced new database system developed by the Metropolitan Opera, had entered the market in the early 2000s, but was so costly that only major symphonies, operas, presenters and commercial entities could afford it. However, Tessitura was robust enough to handle the operationalizing of dynamic pricing for those institutions that could afford it. From 2003-2008, most marketing directors at nonprofit resident theaters were aware of a new “dynamic” pricing model, but we didn’t have access to the technology to implement it. While very large nonprofits were experimenting with dynamic pricing, so were commercial entities. The Producers broke records in 2001 by establishing an unheard of top ticket price of $480 (which by the way, The Book of Mormon just surpassed on June 16 with a top ticket price of $487). I immediately began to notice a difference in how for-profit and nonprofit entities were applying the principles of dynamic pricing. From my observations, Broadway producers did not consider accessibility in the least when establishing ticket prices. They had responsibilities to their investors, and would charge the maximum price they could for every seat in the house. On the other hand, I noticed many nonprofit companies increased their top ticket price when demand warranted in order to keep a significant portion of their houses at very accessible prices. And even the top “dynamic” prices at nonprofits didn’t get anywhere near $480 (I wonder if this is what Diane Ragsdale meant when she said that "nonprofits are expected to leave money on the table?"). Whereas both nonprofits and for-profits were using the same pricing theory, it has been applied and operationalized very differently.
A tipping point for nonprofits occurred in 2008. By that time, Tessitura had been on the market for almost a decade. Competing database products were being developed and tested, and the pricing for Tessitura had decreased to a level that most nonprofit resident theaters could now afford it. In addition, the world experienced the beginnings of the global economic crisis during September of 2008. That fall, I gave a couple of speeches at national conferences, and the predominant question on the minds of arts administrators was how a crisis at such an enormous scale would impact organizations. We had models from 1987 and the 1970s, but all indications were that this crisis would far exceed anything we had ever weathered.
Some organizations cut back programming and reduced expenses in a hope to ride out the storm. Others recognized the crisis as an opportunity to reexamine business models. Most correctly identified that contributed revenue sources would be heavily impacted. As nonprofits operate on two revenue streams (contributed and earned), in order to maintain the same level of artistic excellence, maintain living wages for artists and offer extensive educational programs, many organizations looked for ways to bolster earned revenues. Nonprofit resident theaters became very good at maximizing revenues from non-ticket sources in order to maintain accessible ticket prices. New sources of revenue were popping up everywhere from real estate ventures, event rentals, restaurants, parking, corporate visibility opportunities, summer camps, bars, consulting services, and partnerships with for-profit ventures. However, new earned revenue streams took time to develop and decreases in contributed revenue were coming quickly. In order to maintain accessible ticket prices for a significant portion of the house, many nonprofits had to seriously consider a dynamic pricing model that allowed for an increase at the top pricing levels when demand warranted it. With a decrease in contributed revenue, organizations had a choice to make:
1. They could reduce expenses, cut programming and lay off staff in an attempt to resize themselves to match the new levels of contributed revenue available.
2. They could increase ticket prices at all price levels to make up for lost contributed revenue, however in doing so, making themselves less accessible across the board.
3. They could increase top ticket prices according to demand, and keep a significant portion of their inventory at accessible prices.
Not surprising to me, many nonprofit resident theaters went for option #3. To my knowledge, almost all the nonprofit resident theaters in the DC metropolitan area now utilizing dynamic pricing, and none so far have seen the negative ramifications as forecasted by some experts.
In today’s debates concerning for-profit vs. nonprofit incorporation, I am mindful of something Arena Stage Founder Zelda Fichandler said in a speech she gave in the 1960s: “while we are gathered here in the name of the nonprofit corporation (and, indeed, without the nonprofit income tax code, our American theater would simply not exist), being nonprofit does not really define us—our goals, our aims, our aesthetic, our achievements. What defines us, measures us, is our capacity to produce art.”
Ultimately nonprofit resident theaters should be measured by their capacity to produce art, and to make that art as accessible as possible without sacrificing excellence or their ability to compensate artists at reasonable levels. Given today’s new realities of reduced contributed revenue sources for many nonprofit resident theaters, the development of new revenue streams and the implementation of dynamic pricing allows institutions to make up for lost revenue without sacrificing their ability to be accessible to their communities.
Prior to 2008, few companies had experimented with dynamic pricing, primarily because the technology wasn’t readily available to operationalize what had previously been a well thought out theory. The idea was relatively simple -- if your house was playing to less than 100% capacity, it was symptomatic of the failure to determine an optimum price. If an optimum price could be determined, which perfectly aligned demand and supply, every house would be at capacity. The first use of dynamic pricing by a nonprofit organization to my knowledge was at the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. In 2003, Deborah Rutter joined the symphony as their new president, and introduced the idea of dynamic pricing (resident theaters would experiment with dynamic pricing much later). Tessitura, an advanced new database system developed by the Metropolitan Opera, had entered the market in the early 2000s, but was so costly that only major symphonies, operas, presenters and commercial entities could afford it. However, Tessitura was robust enough to handle the operationalizing of dynamic pricing for those institutions that could afford it. From 2003-2008, most marketing directors at nonprofit resident theaters were aware of a new “dynamic” pricing model, but we didn’t have access to the technology to implement it. While very large nonprofits were experimenting with dynamic pricing, so were commercial entities. The Producers broke records in 2001 by establishing an unheard of top ticket price of $480 (which by the way, The Book of Mormon just surpassed on June 16 with a top ticket price of $487). I immediately began to notice a difference in how for-profit and nonprofit entities were applying the principles of dynamic pricing. From my observations, Broadway producers did not consider accessibility in the least when establishing ticket prices. They had responsibilities to their investors, and would charge the maximum price they could for every seat in the house. On the other hand, I noticed many nonprofit companies increased their top ticket price when demand warranted in order to keep a significant portion of their houses at very accessible prices. And even the top “dynamic” prices at nonprofits didn’t get anywhere near $480 (I wonder if this is what Diane Ragsdale meant when she said that "nonprofits are expected to leave money on the table?"). Whereas both nonprofits and for-profits were using the same pricing theory, it has been applied and operationalized very differently.
A tipping point for nonprofits occurred in 2008. By that time, Tessitura had been on the market for almost a decade. Competing database products were being developed and tested, and the pricing for Tessitura had decreased to a level that most nonprofit resident theaters could now afford it. In addition, the world experienced the beginnings of the global economic crisis during September of 2008. That fall, I gave a couple of speeches at national conferences, and the predominant question on the minds of arts administrators was how a crisis at such an enormous scale would impact organizations. We had models from 1987 and the 1970s, but all indications were that this crisis would far exceed anything we had ever weathered.
Some organizations cut back programming and reduced expenses in a hope to ride out the storm. Others recognized the crisis as an opportunity to reexamine business models. Most correctly identified that contributed revenue sources would be heavily impacted. As nonprofits operate on two revenue streams (contributed and earned), in order to maintain the same level of artistic excellence, maintain living wages for artists and offer extensive educational programs, many organizations looked for ways to bolster earned revenues. Nonprofit resident theaters became very good at maximizing revenues from non-ticket sources in order to maintain accessible ticket prices. New sources of revenue were popping up everywhere from real estate ventures, event rentals, restaurants, parking, corporate visibility opportunities, summer camps, bars, consulting services, and partnerships with for-profit ventures. However, new earned revenue streams took time to develop and decreases in contributed revenue were coming quickly. In order to maintain accessible ticket prices for a significant portion of the house, many nonprofits had to seriously consider a dynamic pricing model that allowed for an increase at the top pricing levels when demand warranted it. With a decrease in contributed revenue, organizations had a choice to make:
1. They could reduce expenses, cut programming and lay off staff in an attempt to resize themselves to match the new levels of contributed revenue available.
2. They could increase ticket prices at all price levels to make up for lost contributed revenue, however in doing so, making themselves less accessible across the board.
3. They could increase top ticket prices according to demand, and keep a significant portion of their inventory at accessible prices.
Not surprising to me, many nonprofit resident theaters went for option #3. To my knowledge, almost all the nonprofit resident theaters in the DC metropolitan area now utilizing dynamic pricing, and none so far have seen the negative ramifications as forecasted by some experts.
In today’s debates concerning for-profit vs. nonprofit incorporation, I am mindful of something Arena Stage Founder Zelda Fichandler said in a speech she gave in the 1960s: “while we are gathered here in the name of the nonprofit corporation (and, indeed, without the nonprofit income tax code, our American theater would simply not exist), being nonprofit does not really define us—our goals, our aims, our aesthetic, our achievements. What defines us, measures us, is our capacity to produce art.”
Ultimately nonprofit resident theaters should be measured by their capacity to produce art, and to make that art as accessible as possible without sacrificing excellence or their ability to compensate artists at reasonable levels. Given today’s new realities of reduced contributed revenue sources for many nonprofit resident theaters, the development of new revenue streams and the implementation of dynamic pricing allows institutions to make up for lost revenue without sacrificing their ability to be accessible to their communities.
Rabu, 06 Juli 2011
Magnesium the Light of Life
Magnesium the Light of Life
Inside chlorophyll is the light of
life and that light is magnesium
The capture of light energy from the sun is magnesium dependent. Magnesium is bound as the central atom of the porphyrin ring of the green plant pigment chlorophyll. Magnesium is the element that causes plants to be able to convert light into energy and chlorophyll is identical to hemoglobin except the magnesium atom at the center has been taken out and iron put in. The whole basis of life and the food chain is seen in the sunlight-chlorophyll-magnesium chain. Since animals and humans obtain their food supply by eating plants magnesium can be said to be the source of life for it is at the heart of chlorophyll and the process of photosynthesis.
A huge step forward for early life was the development of chlorophyll, a molecule that captures light energy from the sun in a process called photosynthesis. Chlorophyll systems convert energy from visible light into small energy-rich molecules easy for cells to use. The harnessing of the energy of visible light led to a vast expansion of early life-forms. Fossilized layers, three and half billion years old, have been found with evidence of blue-green algae that lived on top of tidal rocks.
Chlorophyll a (minus the alkyl side chain for clarity) with its
magnesium core. Chlorophyll is recognized as one of nature’s riches
sources of important nutrients where its rich green pigment is vital for the
body’s rapid assimilation of amino acids and for the synthesis of enzymes.
Magnesium is needed by plants to form chlorophyll which is the substance that makes plants green. Without magnesium sitting inside the heart of chlorophyll, plants would not be able to take nutrition from the sun because the process of photosynthesis would not go on. When magnesium is deficient things begin to die. In reality one cannot take a breath, move a muscle, or think a thought without enough magnesium in our cells. Because magnesium is contained in chlorophyll it is considered an essential plant mineral salt.
Without chlorophyll, plants are unable
to convert sunlight and carbon dioxide.
There is no life without magnesium.
Magnesium is a necessary element for all living organisms both animal and plant. Chlorophyll is structured around a magnesium atom, while in animals, magnesium is a key component of cells, bones, tissues and just about every physiological process you can think of. Magnesium is primarily an intracellular cation; roughly 1% of whole-body magnesium is found extracellularly, and the free intracellular fraction is the portion regulating enzyme pathways inside the cells. Life packs the magnesium jealously into the cells, every drop of it is precious.
Insulin and Magnesium
Magnesium is necessary for both the action
of insulin and the manufacture of insulin.
Magnesium is a basic building block to life and is present in ionic form throughout the full landscape of human physiology. Without insulin though, magnesium doesn’t get transported from our blood into our cells where it is most needed. When Dr. Jerry Nadler of the Gonda Diabetes Center at the City of Hope Medical Center in Duarte, California, and his colleagues placed 16 healthy people on magnesium-deficient diets, their insulin became less effective at getting sugar from their blood into their cells, where it’s burned or stored as fuel. In other words, they became less insulin sensitive or what is called insulin resistant. And that’s the first step on the road to both diabetes and heart disease.
Insulin is a common denominator, a central figure in life as is magnesium. The task of insulin is to store excess nutritional resources.This system is an evolutionary development used to save energy and other nutritional necessities in times (or hours) of abundance in order to survive in times of hunger. Little do we appreciate that insulin is not just responsible for regulating sugar entry into the cells but also magnesium, one of the most important substances for life. It is interesting to note here that the kidneys are working at the opposite end physiologically dumping from the blood excess nutrients that the body does not need or cannot process in the moment.
Controlling the level of blood sugars is only one of the many functions of insulin. Insulin plays a central role in storing magnesium but if our cells become resistant to insulin, or if we do not produce enough insulin, then we have a difficult time storing magnesium in the cells where it belongs. When insulin processing becomes problematic magnesium gets excreted through our urine instead and this is the basis of what is called magnesium wasting disease.
There is a strong relationship between magnesium and insulin action.
Magnesium is important for the effectiveness of insulin. A reduction
of magnesium in the cells strengthens insulin resistance. [1],[2]
Low serum and intracellular magnesium concentrations are associated with insulin resistance, impaired glucose tolerance, and decreased insulin secretion. [3],[4],[5]Magnesium improves insulin sensitivity thus lowering insulin resistance. Magnesium and insulin need each other. Without magnesium, our pancreas won’t secrete enough insulin–or the insulin it secretes won’t be efficient enough–to control our blood sugar.
Magnesium in our cells helps the muscles to relax but if we can’t store magnesium because the cells are resistant then we lose magnesium which makes the blood vessels constrict, affects our energy levels, and causes an increase in blood pressure. We begin to understand the intimate connection between diabetes and heart disease when we look at the closed loop between declining magnesium levels and declining insulin efficiency.
Though it would be a long stretch of the longest giraffe’s neck to compare insulin with chlorophyll we are walking a trail at the very nuclear core of life. It’s the magnesium trail and we find to our surprise that it takes us into intimate contact with the very structure and foundation of life. The dedication of this chapter is to the beauty of magnesium, to its meaning in life, in health and in medicine.
We were talking about chlorophyll and now insulin and putting magnesium in-between. Walking further along is the DHEA magnesium story and the DNA magnesium story. And then there is the cholesterol magnesium story. Every part of life is in love with magnesium except allopathic medicine which just cannot accept it in all its light, flame and beauty. Thousands of years ago the Chinese named it the beautiful metal and they were seeing something pharmaceutical medicine does not want to see for there is little money to be made from something so common.
Magnesium and DNA
Mechanism of electric conductivity in DNA. Magnesium (silver circles)
with no surrounding water supplies holes (light-blue circles) to the DNA, which
is an insulator. The supplied holes move along the DNA (light-blue line).
Magnesium ions play critical roles in many aspects of cellular metabolism. Magnesium stabilizes structures of proteins, nucleic acids, and cell membranes by binding to the macromolecule’s surface and promote specific structural or catalytic activities of proteins, enzymes, or ribozymes. Magnesium has a critical role in cell division. It has been suggested that magnesium is necessary for the maintenance of an adequate supply of nucleotides for the synthesis of RNA and DNA.
Magnesium plays a critical role in vital DNA repair proteins.
Magnesium ions synergetic effects on the active site
geometry may affect the polymerase closing/opening trends.
Single-stranded RNA are stabilized by magnesium ions.
Distinct structural features of DNA, such as the curvature of dA tracts, are important in the recognition, packaging, and regulation of DNA are magnesium dependent. Physiologically relevant concentrations of magnesium have been found to enhance the curvature of dA tract DNAs. The chemistry of water activated by a magnesium ion is central to the function of the DNA repair proteins, apurinic/apyrimidic endonuclease 1 (Ape1) and polymerase A (Pol A). These proteins are key constituents of the base excision repair (BER) pathway, a process that plays a critical role in preventing the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of most spontaneous, alkylation, and oxidative DNA damage.[6]
Magnesium ions help guide polymerase selection for the
correct nucleotide extends descriptions of polymerase pathways.[7]
Dr. Paul Ellis informs us that, “Magnesium ions are central to the function of the DNA repair proteins, apurinic/apyrimidic endonuclease 1 (Ape1) and polymerase A (Pol A). These proteins are key constituents of the base excision repair (BER) pathway, a process that plays a critical role in preventing the cytotoxic and mutagenic effects of most spontaneous, alkylation, and oxidative DNA damage.”[8] DNA polymerase is considered to be a holoenzyme since it requires a magnesium ion as a co-factor to function properly. DNA-Polymerase initiates DNA replication by binding to a piece of single-stranded DNA. This process corrects mistakes in newly-synthesized DNA.
DHEA – Magnesium – Cholesterol
Low levels of DHEA are associated with loss of “pathology
preventing” signaling between immune system cells.[9]
Dr. James Michael Howard says, “Cancer and infections are both increasing and one of the basic reasons is reduced availability of DHEA, which stems from magnesium deficiency.” Also known as "mother of all steroid hormones" DHEA is converted in the body into several different hormones, including estrogen and testosterone. DHEA appears to restore immune balance and stimulate monocyte production (the cells that attack tumors), B-cell activity (the cells that fight disease-causing organisms), T-cell mobilization (infection fighting T-cells have DHEA binding sites), and protection of the thymus gland (which produces T-cells).[10] The data suggest that DHEA has a role in the neuro-endocrine regulation of the antibacterial immune resistance.[11]
All steroid hormones are created from cholesterol in a hormonal cascade. Cholesterol, that most maligned compound, is actually crucial for health and is the mother of hormones from the adrenal cortex, including cortisone, hydrocortisone, aldosterone, and DHEA. Cholesterol cannot be synthesized without magnesium and cholesterol is a vital component of many hormones. These hormones are interrelated, each performing a unique biological function with them all depending on magnesium for their function. Aldosterone interestingly needs magnesium to be produced and it also regulates magnesium’s balance.[12]
Dr. Mildred S. Seelig wrote, “Mg2+-ATP is the controlling factor for the rate-limiting enzyme in the cholesterol biosynthesis sequence that is targeted by the statin pharmaceutical drugs, comparison of the effects of Mg2+ on lipoproteins with those of the statin drugs is warranted. Formation of cholesterol in blood, as well as of cholesterol required in hormone synthesis, and membrane maintenance, is achieved in a series of enzymatic reactions that convert HMG-CoA to cholesterol. The rate-limiting reaction of this pathway is the enzymatic conversion of HMG CoA to mevalonate via HMG CoA. The statins and Mg inhibit that enzyme. Mg has effects that parallel those of statins. For example, the enzyme that deactivates HMG-CoA Reductase requires Mg, making Mg a Reductase controller rather than inhibitor. Mg is also necessary for the activity of lecithin cholesterol acyl transferase (LCAT), which lowers LDL-C and triglyceride levels and raises HDL-C levels.”[13]
Desaturase is another Mg-dependent enzyme involved in
lipid metabolism which statins do not directly affect.
DHEA is a steroid hormone produced by the adrenal gland and ovaries and converted to testosterone and estrogen. After being secreted by the adrenal glands, it circulates in the bloodstream as DHEA-sulfate (DHEAS) and is converted as needed into other hormones.Magnesium chloride, when applied transdermally, is reported by Dr. Norman Shealy to increase DHEA.[14] Dr. Shealy has determined that when the body is presented with adequate levels of magnesium at the cellular level, the body will begin to naturally produce DHEA and also DHEA-S.
Transdermal is the ultimate way to replenish cellular magnesium
levels. Every cell in the body bathes and feeds in it and even DHEA
levels are increased naturally, according to Dr. Norman Shealy
This effect is not seen in oral or intravenous magnesium administration and Dr. Shealy has a patent pending in this area. It is thought that transdermal application interacts in some way with the fatty tissues of the skin to create the affect. Studies link low levels of DHEA to chronic inflammation, immune dysfunction, depression, rheumatoid arthritis, Type-II diabetic complications, greater risk for certain cancers, heart disease and osteoporosis.
To increase your bio-available magnesium I offer in several forms:
1) Concentrated Liquid chlorophyll for magnesium ions to help build blood -
http://phmiracleliving.com/p-306-liquid-chloropheal.aspx
2) Magnesium chloride in our pHlavor salts and OsteoPlex I and II for improving bone health:
http://phmiracleliving.com/p-211-phlavor.aspx
http://phmiracleliving.com/p-554-osteoplex-i.aspx
http://phmiracleliving.com/p-555-osteoplex-ii.aspx
3) Magnesium oxide for cleansing the bowels:
http://phmiracleliving.com/p-356-phlush.aspx
4) Magnesium hydroxide and magnesium bicarbonate for buffering and eliminating environmental, dietary and/or metabolic acids:
http://phmiracleliving.com/p-560-activator.aspx
http://phmiracleliving.com/p-221-phour-salts.aspx
[1] Paolisso G, Scheen A, D’Onofrio F, Lefebvre P: Magnesium and glucose homeostasis. Diabetologia 33:511–514, 1990[Medline]
[2] Nadler JL, Buchanan T, Natarajan R, Antonipillai I, Bergman R, Rude R: Magnesium deficiency produces insulin resistance and increased thromboxane synthesis. Hypertension 21:1024–1029, 1993
[3]Ma J, Folsom AR, Melnick SL, Eckfeldt JH, Sharrett AR, Nabulsi AA, Hutchinson RG, Metcalf PA: Associations of serum and dietary magnesium with cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, insulin, and carotid wall thickness: the ARIC study. J Clin Epidemiol 48:927–940, 1985
[4] Rosolova H, Mayer O Jr, Reaven GM: Insulin-mediated glucose disposal is decreased in normal subjects with relatively low plasma magnesium concentrations. Metabolism 49:418–420, 2000[Medline]
[5] Resnick LM, Gupta RK, Gruenspan H, Alderman MH, Laragh JH: Hypertension and peripheral insulin resistance: possible mediating role of intracellular free magnesium. Am J Hypertens 3:373–379, 1990[Medline]
[6] Magnesium Increases the Curvature of Duplex DNA That Contains dA Tracts. Bozidar Jerkovic and Philip H. Bolton. Chemistry Department, Wesleyan University. Biochemistry, 40 (31), 9406 -9411, 2001. 10.1021/bi010853j S0006-2960(01)00853-4
[7] Critical Role of Magnesium Ions in DNA Polymerase ?’s Closing and Active Site Assembly. Linjing Yang, Karunesh Arora, William A. Beard, Samuel H. Wilson, Tamar Schlick. Department of Chemistry and Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences,
New York University
[9] Verthelyi D, Petri M, Ylamus M, Klinman DM. Retroviral Immunology Section, Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Food and Drug Administration, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA. Lupus. 2001;10(5):352-8.
[10] Le Vert, Suzanne, HGH: The Promise of Eternal Youth (New York: 1997, Avon Books), pages 25, 26, 93, 106, 153, 172. ISBN: 0-380-78885-3
[11] J. Med. Microbiol. 1999; 48: 425)
[12] A deficiency in magnesium causes hyperplasia of the adrenal cortex, elevated aldosterone levels, and increased extracellular fluid volume. Aldosterone increases the urinary excretion of magnesium; hence, a positive feedback mechanism results, which is aggravated since there is no renal mechanism for conserving magnesium.
[13] Journal of the American College of Nutrition, Vol. 23, No. 5, 501S-505S (2004) Comparison of Mechanism and Functional Effects of Magnesium and Statin Pharmaceuticals Andrea Rosanoff, PhD and Mildred S. Seelig, MD Department of Physiology and Pharmacology, State University of New York, Downstate Medical Center, Brooklyn (M.S.)
[14] http://www.betterway2health.com/cwr-dhea.htm (Last visited December 11, 2005)
Nirates in Spinach Counteract The Acid Components of Metabolic Syndrome
Nitrates reduce oxygen consumption during physical exercise; however, they are also of potential significance to diseases involving mitochondrial dysfunction, such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease.... |
Popeye the spinach-eating cartoon character has much to teach us, new research from the Swedish medical university Karolinska Institutet shows. |
an alkaline lifestyle! The focus on green, leafy vegetable is crucial to health and wellness success. It has certainly contributed to the health of Sally Roman's 2 boys who where diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes.
To learn more about reversing Type 1 Diabetes go to:
For half a century, inorganic nitrate has been associated with negative health effects, but more recently, evidence of the contrary has mounted. In the 1990s, a research group at Karolinska Institutet demonstrated how the body can convert nitrate to NO, a molecule involved in many important bodily functions, such as blood pressure regulation, the immune defense, and cell metabolism. |
Selasa, 05 Juli 2011
Support Complementary and Alternative Medicine as Covered Medical Expenses
Washington, D.C. - A bill was introduced at the end of May that would expand the IRS code to include herbs, vitamins, minerals, homeopathic remedies, meal replacement products, and other dietary and nutritional supplements as “eligible medical expenses” - a move that is long overdue.
On May 26th Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-UT) and Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) introduced the Retirement Health Investment Act of 2011, (S.1098/H.R. 2010). The House version has already garnered 32 cosponsors and both bills are being reviewed in committee.
If you follow health care policy in the news then you already know that there are two health savings programs that help pay for complementary and alternative medical (CAM) treatments normally not covered by regular insurance. These are Flexible Spending Arrangements (FSAs) and Health Savings Accounts (HSAs). Currently CAM treatments are not considered eligible to be covered by HSAs.
The pH Miracle Group of Companies supports the bill as a critical step in the direction of parity for CAM treatments. However, we agree with the Alliance for Natural Health in its call for the bill's language to be amended. It must address that part of the healthcare reform act that threatens the very existence of HSAs.
HSAs are savings accounts exempt from federal income tax at the time of deposit. Each year any unspent funds accumulate and "roll over" to the following year. To make use of HSAs one must be covered under a high-deductible insurance plan - but starting in 2014 the healthcare reform act will allow high-deductible or catastrophic healthcare insurance plans for people only under the age of 30.
This means that beginning in 2014, people over the age of 30 will not be able to purchase an HSA because they will not be eligible for catastrophic plans—making any changes to HSAs irrelevant to them.
CAM patients have traditionally used such high-deductible plans to cover emergency services, and use HSAs for purchasing treatments not covered by traditional healthcare insurance. Without the preservation of both high-deductible healthcare plans and HSAs, CAM users may have to purchase additional - and expensive - health insurance with coverage they don’t need, while still having to spend money on alternative treatments not covered by insurance.
To be clear, the pH Miracle Group of Companies wholeheartedly supports S. 1098/H.R. 2010 and its fundamental goal of adding CAM treatments to the list of medical expenses eligible for coverage under HSAs. However, the healthcare reform act needs to be amended to allow for catastrophic plans for people over 30 years of age.
Please contact your Congress person in response to this bill sponsored by Senator Hatch.
Quality of Life: Change the Paradigm
| Quality of Life: Change the paradigm |
| Published 13-12-2010 - Pernille Knudtzon |
This issue, our health detectives conclude their investigation of Blood, the river of life, with a look at how perspectives of disease have shaped modern medicine as we know it. Hippocrates said: Let food be your medicine. Let medicine be your food. Modern medicine has got to where it is today partly through a scientific and philosophical debate that culminated in the early 19th century, between two of the leading microbiologists of their time: Antoine Bechamp and Louis Pasteur. Their argument over bacteriological theories changed the course of medicine. Pasteur’s view was that disease is caused by germs invading from outside, and that these micro-organisms do not change their characteristics and they can be killed with drugs and antibiotics. Bechamp, on the other hand, considered that micro-organisms can develop as various growth forms (pleomorphism), and change according to environmental conditions, how they develop depends on the state of the internal biological terrain. At the core of this terrain is the body’s pH balance as we have seen in the last two articles. Although both men acknowledged certain aspects of each other’s research, Pasteur was a stronger character, more flamboyant and a more vocal opponent to the quiet Bechamp. Pasteur also came from wealth with the right family connections, and went to great lengths to disprove Bechamp’s view. Pasteur’s viewpoint was eventually acknowledged by the scientists while Bechamp’s research disappeared into obscurity. We see the results of this dispute today practiced in every day medicine. When a body is out of balance, we try to restore it first with drugs then through surgery, removing the symptoms, rather than dealing with the root cause of the ailment. Medicine does not need to be seen as an either / or and for a complete picture in health care it is important to be open to other viewpoints. Some scientists who have contributed a different perspective to our understanding of health include Dr. Otto Warburg, who won the Nobel Prize in 1931 for his discovery of the role of oxygen deficiency in the cancer growth process. He discovered that as pH goes out of balance and our bodies become more acidic, our cells get less oxygen. Cancer thrives in acidic tissue and an oxygen deficient environment. German zoologist Gunther Enderlein used a Dark Field Microscope to visualize his hypothesis about how changes in the bio-terrain and pH gave rise to disease. Some of today’s pioneers include Dr. Gabriel Cousens, a leading figure in nutrition, fasting, detoxification, spirituality and health education, and Dr. Robert Young, who teaches “The New Biology", which encompasses theories about the cause and source of disease and how to prevent it through an alkaline diet and a physically active, low-stress lifestyle. Shifting the paradigm A century after the great medical debate, mainstream medicine still follows the road of Louis Pasteur, killing whatever makes us sick with drugs, antibiotics, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and surgery. Even though we now live in a world that has many generations of new antibiotics and drug developments there are still a lot of bacteria and especially viruses that are resistant to our treatments and conditions that are difficult to treat with drugs like cancer, diabetes and immune deficiency syndromes to name a few. Using this approach, we have to have a pill for a headache, then another pill for the damage that the painkiller did to our stomach, and so on. Sometimes a pain killer is all right, but it is important to remember that we are only treating the symptoms. Why not take a look at the terrain to get to the cause of the headache? Not enough water? Muscle tension? Hypertension? Eye problems? A different perspective would look at imbalances in the body due to nutritional, electrical, structural, toxicological, biological or emotional reasons. To get better, this balance needs to be re-established by working with the body not against it. The WHO predicts that 7 out of 10 admissions to hospital in 2020 will be due to lifestyle induced illnesses – can we afford to keep paying for our lifestyle induced illnesses like obesity, diabetes, heart and circulation problems? It is possible that the medicine of the future will not only have its roots in nutrition and food supplements, but will also be strongly tied to energy, or what is known as vibrational medicine. As we understand more about the energy of life, or Chi as it is called in Chinese medicine, one day we may walk into a health care practitioner’s office and as a routine procedure we would not only get a physical check-up, we would also get an energy or vibrational check up. This could be the new frontier for medicine – a change in the health-disease paradigm. Paradigm shift consequences The world we live in is becoming too toxic. As a result we humans are likewise too toxic. This toxicity is being reflected in the rise of illness/disease and the inability of “modern” medicine to do anything about it. Here we can contrast the two theories of infection and disease as we consider a changing paradigm in our understanding of health. Invasion of Germ theory • Infection/Disease arises from micro-organisms originating outside the body • Micro-organisms should be guarded against and destroyed to prevent illnesses • The appearance and function of specific micro-organisms is constant • Every disease is associated with a particular micro-organism • Micro-organisms are primary causal agents • Disease is inevitable and can “strike” anybody • To prevent and cure disease it is necessary to build defences and to destroy pathogenic micro-organisms Environmental Toxicity Theory • The susceptibility to illnesses/disease arises from conditions within the cells and the fluids in the body • Micro-organisms are beneficial and life-sustaining if the body is kept clean from toxins • The appearance and function of micro-organisms changes when the host organism is injured either mechanically, bio-chemically, electrically or emotionally • Every disease is associated with a particular condition • Micro-organisms become associated with disease only when cells, blood and interstitial fluid become toxic • Disease arises from conditions of increased toxicity • Preventing or curing disease consists of cleaning toxicity from the body in a way that does no harm |
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