Better nutrition can lead to better brain health, GSA publication shows

THE GERONTOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF AMERICA

“Insights & Implications in Gerontology: The Vital Role of Nutrition in Brain Health,” a new publication from the Gerontological Society of America, explores nutritional choices that have been shown to improve cognition and decrease the risk of cognitive impairment and dementia in older adults.

Consumption of a healthful diet is a behavioral strategy that can help to prevent the development of dementia as people age, the publication says. It also reports on the roles of vitamins and minerals in nutrition and brain function and focuses on how to implement person-centered conversations about the impact of diet and nutrition on overall wellness, including brain health.

Using a person-centered approach that ties conversations about nutrition to patient goals is an effective strategy for starting conversations about diet and health, according to Kathryn Porter Starr, PhD, RDN from Duke University School of Medicine and Durham VA Medical Center, who served as one of the faculty who oversaw the publication’s development.

“Broaching the topic of diet and nutrition can be challenging. I start by asking patients what their goals are,” she said. “These goals could include physical goals such as maintaining muscle mass, cognitive goals such as preserving memory, as well as functional goals such as being able to travel or play with grandchildren. Linking information about nutrition to helping adults achieve their goals is an effective strategy for stimulating motivation to implement healthy changes.”

The Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay, or MIND diet, is an example of a dietary pattern that is associated with improved cognition. This dietary pattern focuses on the consumption of vegetables (especially green leafy vegetables), nuts, berries, beans, whole grains, fish, poultry, and extra virgin olive oil while limiting red meat, processed meats, butter and margarine, regular cheese, pastries and sweets, and fried foods. People who consume this dietary pattern have been found to be the equivalent of 7.5 years younger in terms of cognitive abilities. The publication includes more details about the MIND diet and other dietary patterns that support healthy nutrition.

Ideally, individuals are able to obtain all necessary nutrients from their diet. However, the risk for inadequate vitamin and mineral intake increases as people age, and some people may benefit from consumption of fortified foods and or dietary supplements to enhance their nutritional status.

“I would love for everybody to get all of their micronutrients from food,” Starr said. Unfortunately, for most older adults, it’s really challenging to do that due to physiological changes that occur with aging and certain disease states that affect absorption, so we often recommend a multivitamin.”

Other publication faculty include Rose Ann DiMaria-Ghalili, PhD, RN, FASPEN, FAAN, FGSA from Drexel University; Sareen S. Gropper, PhD, RDN, LDN from Florida Atlantic University; and Roger A. Fielding, PhD from Tufts University School of Medicine. Support for “Insights & Implications in Gerontology: The Vital Role of Nutrition in Brain Health” was provided by Haleon.

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The Gerontological Society of America (GSA) is the nation's oldest and largest interdisciplinary organization devoted to research, education, and practice in the field of aging. The principal mission of the Society — and its 5,500+ members — is to advance the study of aging and disseminate information among scientists, decision makers, and the general public. GSA’s structure includes a nonpartisan public policy institute, the National Academy on an Aging Society, and GSA is also home to the National Center to Reframe Aging and the National Coordinating Center for the Resource Centers for Minority Aging Research.

 

Dartmouth researchers map how the brain regulates emotions

Study identifies multiple emotion regulation systems, providing targets for therapy

DARTMOUTH COLLEGE

Ever want to scream during a particularly bad day, but then manage not to? Thank the human brain and how it regulates emotions, which can be critical for navigating everyday life. As we perceive events unfolding around us, the ability to be flexible and reframe a situation impacts not only how we feel, but also our behavior and decision-making.

In fact, some of the problems associated with mental health relate to individuals' inability to be flexible, such as when persistent negative thoughts make it hard to perceive a situation differently.

To help address such issues, a new Dartmouth-led study is among the first of its kind to separate activity relating to emotion generation from emotion regulation in the human brain. The findings are published in Nature Neuroscience.

"As a former biomedical engineer, it was exciting to identify some brain regions that are purely unique to regulating emotions," says lead author Ke Bo, a postdoctoral researcher in the Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience Lab (CANlab) at Dartmouth. "Our results provide new insight into how emotion regulation works by identifying targets which could have clinical applications."

For example, the systems the researchers identified could be good targets for brain stimulation to enhance the regulation of emotion.

Using computational methods, the researchers examined two independent datasets of fMRI studies obtained earlier by co-author Peter Gianaros at the University of Pittsburgh. Participants' brain activity was recorded in an fMRI scanner as they viewed images that were likely to draw a negative reaction such as a bloody scene or scary- looking animals.

The participants were then asked to recontextualize the stimulus by generating new kinds of thoughts about an image to make it less aversive, before a neutral image was presented followed by another dislikable image. 

By examining the neural activity, researchers could identify the brain areas that are more active when emotions are regulated versus when emotions are generated.

The new study reveals that emotion regulation, also known in neuroscience as "reappraisal," involves particular areas of the anterior prefrontal cortex and other higher-level cortical hierarchies whose role in emotion regulation had not previously been isolated with this level of precision. These regions are involved in other high-level cognitive functions and are important for abstract thought and long-term representations of the future.

The more people are able to activate these emotion regulation-selective brain regions, the more resilient they are to experiencing something negative without letting it affect them personally. These findings build on other research linking these areas to better mental health and the ability to resist temptations and avoid drug addiction.

The results also demonstrated that the amygdala, which is known as the threat-related brain region responsible for negative emotion and has long been considered an ancient subcortical threat center, responds to aversive experiences the same way, whether people are using their thoughts to self-regulate down-regulate negative emotion or not. "It's really the cortex that is responsible for generating people's emotional responses, by changing the way we see and attach meaning to events in our environments," says Bo. 

The researchers were also interested in identifying the neurochemicals that interact with emotion regulation systems. Neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin shape how networks of neurons communicate and are targets for both illicit drugs and therapeutic treatments alike. Some neurotransmitters may be important for enabling the ability to self-regulate or "down-regulate." 

The team compared the emotion regulation brain maps from the two datasets to neurotransmitter binding maps from 36 other studies. The systems involved in regulating negative emotion overlapped with particular neurotransmitter systems.  

"Our results showed that receptors for cannabinoids, opioids, and serotonin, including 5H2A, were especially rich in areas that are involved in emotion regulation," says senior author Tor Wager, the Diana L. Taylor Distinguished Professor in Neuroscience and director of the Dartmouth Brain Imaging Center at Dartmouth. "When drugs that bind to these receptors are taken, they are preferentially affecting the emotion regulation system, which raises questions about their potential for long-term effects on our capacity to self-regulate." 

Serotonin is well-known for its role in depression, as the most widely used antidepressant drugs inhibit its reuptake in synapses, which transmit signals from one neuron to another. 

5H2A is the serotonin receptor most strongly affected by another exciting new type of treatment for mental health – psychedelic drugs. The study’s findings suggest that the effects of drugs on depression and other mental health disorders may work in part by altering how we think about life events and our ability to self-regulate. This may help explain why drugs, particularly psychedelics, are likely to be ineffective without the right kind of psychological support. The study could help improve therapeutic approaches by increasing our understanding of why and how psychological and pharmaceutical approaches need to be combined into integrated treatments.

"It's important to consider these types of connections that come from basic science," says Wager. "Understanding drug effects requires understanding the brain systems involved and what they're doing at a cognitive level."

Bo (Ke.Bo@dartmouth.edu) and Wager (Tor.D.Wager@dartmouth.edu) are available for comment. CANlab members Mijin Kwon, Guarini '24 and Michael Sun, a postdoctoral researcher at Dartmouth, and Thomas Kraynak at the University of Pittsburgh also contributed to the study.

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JOURNAL

Nature Neuroscience

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

People

ARTICLE TITLE

A systems identification approach using Bayes factors to deconstruct the brain bases of emotion regulation

ARTICLE PUBLICATION DATE

22-Apr-2024

WELCOME TO WOKE COUNTRY

Beyonce's 'Cowboy Carter' drips history — and joy

Agence France-Presse
March 29, 2024 

Beyonce is embracing her Texas roots with her new album, 'Cowboy Carter' (Theo Wargo/AFP)

Beyonce's "Cowboy Carter" is a full-throated ode to her southern roots, a rollicking revue of an album that also deals a vital history lesson on the Black lineage of country music.

The 27-track, highly anticipated record out Friday is the second act of her "Renaissance" trilogy, a sonically diverse jamboree flavored with strings and pedal steel guitar.

Beyonce has been a versatile showbiz fixture for nearly three decades, but for all the caps she's worn, the Houston-bred megastar's cowboy hat has stayed within reach: Queen Bey has always been country.

But even the powerful artist -- who has more Grammy wins than any other artist in the business, ever -- has brushed up against the overwhelmingly white, male gatekeepers of country music who have long dictated the genre's perceived boundaries.

She notably received racist comments after performing what was then her most country song to date, "Daddy Lessons," at the 2016 Country Music Association Awards alongside The Chicks.

And while her first two singles off the album were released last month to chart-topping acclaim and ecstasy from fans, there were also predictable, bigoted eyebrow raises from some circles.

At the same time, news of her album magnified a wider conversation on the long history of Black artists in country music, and the persistent racist backlash they've continued to experience in those spaces.

A Texan raised by a mother from Louisiana and father from Alabama, Beyonce tackled the perceived "controversy" over her full country turn on the track "Ameriican Requiem."

"They used to say I spoke, 'Too country' / Then the rejection came, said I wasn't, 'Country enough' / Said I wouldn't saddle up, but if that ain't country, tell me, what is?" Beyonce sings on the track whose musical allusions include Buffalo Springfield's classic "For What It's Worth."

"Tread my bare feet on solid ground for years / They don't, don't know how hard I had to fight for this."

And with technical mastery she delivers a blend of styles including various country subsets as well as rap, dance, soul, funk, rock and gospel.

It's a full-color display of just how rich music can grow outside dusty strictures of genre.

"Genres are a funny little concept, aren't they?" says an intro to "Spaghettii."

"In theory, they have a simple definition that's easy to understand -- but in practice, well, some may feel confined."

- Beyonce X Dolly -


The album is rife with socio-cultural nods both in lyric and style, a honkified celebration of country-western's musicography and influences that's also grounded in the African American spirituals and fiddle tunes rock blossomed out of.

And "Cowboy Carter" features genre elders in the form of a broadcast from a fictional radio station -- a hint at well-documented struggles women and people of color still face getting airtime on country radio -- whose hosts included Willie Nelson, country pioneer Linda Martell and the legend herself, Dolly Parton.

In performing a rendition of Parton's "Jolene" -- the singer fears her partner might leave her for another -- Beyonce recalls her seminal album "Lemonade" that excavated the infidelity of her husband, Jay-Z.

Parton's intro lays bare the parallels in describing "that hussy with the good hair," a direct reference to the 2016 Beyonce track "Sorry."

Also on the sprawling album is a Beyonce cover of Paul McCartney's "Blackbiird," stylized with a double-i spelling.

McCartney wrote the 1968 song about the Little Rock Nine, Black teenagers who became Civil Rights Movement icons when they were the first to enter a previously all-white high school in Arkansas, ushering in desegregation in the US south.

- Beyonce-style ode to joy -

But as is her custom, Beyonce seamlessly blends her socio-political commentary with a full-blown party, a celebration of sex, mirth and her own self-love.

"Ya Ya" is a sultry, psychedelic soul mashup that manages to sample both Nancy Sinatra's "These Boots Are Made For Walkin'" and The Beach Boys, while still dropping point after point.

"My family lived and died in America," she belts. "Whole lotta red and then white and blue/ History can't be erased."

"Are you lookin' for a new America / Are you tired, workin' time-and-a-half for half the pay, ya-ya."

And "Sweet Honey Buckiin'" incorporates hip hop and house with strums on loop, among her songs that hat-tip to the first act of "Renaissance," which celebrated electronica's Black origins and evolution.

Tanner Adell, Willie Jones and Shaboozey, all acclaimed Black country artists, feature on "Cowboy Carter," as do Miley Cyrus -- Parton's goddaughter -- and Post Malone, stars who've also drifted between pop and country.

"Texas Hold 'Em," the album's lead single, includes Rhiannon Giddens -- who often uses her platform to celebrate the African American roots of country -- on the banjo and viola.

No matter how Nashville reacts to "Cowboy Carter," Beyonce has made it clear she'll have the last word.

"This ain't a Country album," she posted recently.

"This is a 'Beyonce' album."

Microdosing LSD: Are there benefits? What about risks?
2024/03/11

Better moods, higher concentration levels, more creativity - and all without the usual risks associated with hard drugs: Proponents of microdosing LSD - taking tiny fractions of the amount needed for the usual 'trip' - say it works wonders. And what does the science say? Frank Rumpenhorst/dpa

It doesn't take much LSD, short for lysergic acid diethylamide, to substantially alter a person's state of consciousness.

Compared with many other substances, the amounts are very small, says Dr Volker Auwärter, director of the forensic toxicology laboratory at the University of Freiburg Medical Centre in Germany: "Upwards of 50, 100 micrograms are said to be a psychedelic dose."

The European Monitoring Centre for Drugs and Drug Addiction (EMCDDA) calls the hallucinogen "one of the most potent drugs known."

But what happens if you greatly reduce the dose - to about 10 micrograms? Let's check the facts on LSD microdosing:

Claim: Taking minute amounts of LSD is safe.

Assessment: Possible side effects are still unclear.

Facts: A person who microdoses LSD typically takes about 10 micrograms, just a tenth or twentieth of the amount normally taken for a "trip," or psychedelic experience, says Dr Felix Müller, deputy senior physician at Basel University Psychiatric Clinics in Switzerland, where he's in charge of psychedelic-assisted therapy.

In contrast to people who take psychedelic drugs in higher doses, however, microdosers usually take another dose after a few days, says Müller, who's been doing research on LSD for about 10 years.

Randomized controlled trials on microdosing examine the regular intake of tiny amounts of psychedelic substances - about every three days over a prolonged period.

What does this means in terms of possible risks?

As with other hallucinogens, dependence on LSD doesn't occur, the EMCDDA says. Nor is there a risk of poisoning in the sense of toxic injuries to internal organs, even at high doses, according to Auwärter.

The risks that do exist, Müller says, are more to mental than physical health, adding that whether this also applies to LSD microdosing hasn't been conclusively determined. "[LSD microdosing] is a relatively recent phenomenon," he remarks. "And it's certainly conceivable that repeated use is another matter altogether."

Müller points out that pharmacologists once suspected that LSD could cause changes in heart valves, as had occurred a number of years ago with then-available medications that bound to and activated the same receptor in the body.

Accordingly, Dr Matthias Liechti, director of the Division of Clinical Pharmacology and Toxicology at Basel University Hospital and head of the Department of Biomedicine's psychopharmacology research group, says studies should investigate possible side effects on heart valve function from regular, months-long LSD use.

In a randomized controlled trial of microdosed LSD's effects on healthy adult men, published recently in the journal Biological Psychiatry, researchers from the University of Auckland's School of Pharmacy conclude that microdosing "appears to be relatively safe ... notwithstanding a risk of anxiety."

Müller cautions, however, that such studies are few and short-term, expressing surprise that people - "relatively naively" - would get involved with LSD microdosing. After all, he says, it's a bit like taking a medicine that hasn't yet been approved for use as it's still being tested for side effects.

What other risks are there?

LSD microdosers can't be sure of the amount they're actually taking. "Whether microdosed or taken in the 'classic' manner, the content of active pharmaceutical ingredient is never really known," says Müller, explaining that the only way to find out is to have it tested at an addiction prevention centre.

"LSD is usually sold dripped onto plotter paper - similar to blotting paper - that's cut into squares," Müller says. A square typically contains doses of 100 or 200 micrograms. Microdosers cut the paper squares into smaller pieces.

Dosing this way is "inexact though, of course" Müller says, just as it is when LSD is sold dissolved in water or alcohol - 100 micrograms per drop, for example - and further diluted into microdoses.

While Müller doesn't regard this as being physically dangerous - "extremely high doses" are necessary before LSD becomes problematic - he says the mental health effects of higher doses are stronger and longer lasting.

"When you microdose it's naturally possible to be way off the mark," he warns.

Claim: Microdosed LSD enhances concentration and creativity.

Assessment: Studies haven't proven this.

Facts: Clinical evidence on whether tiny doses of LSD can boost concentration and creativity, and help combat depression and anxiety disorders is in short supply.

"Because of the small number of controlled trials that have been done, there's hardly any data on the effects of LSD microdosing," notes Liechti, who says the immediate effects are similar to, but weaker than, those from high doses.

Although there are indications of improved well-being in trial participants who are given a small dose of LSD compared with those receiving a placebo, "it's only on the day of treatment, not afterwards," Liechti says.

Moreover, due to the dearth of trial results, nothing can yet be said on to what extent - if any - LSD microdosing eases depression and anxiety, he adds. And the University of Auckland study showed no significant effect on creativity.

Reports of improved mood and cognitive functioning by LSD microdosers have been supported only to a limited extent in randomized controlled trials to date, according to the New Zealand researchers, and none have found lasting effects in these areas from repeated use of minute amounts of LSD.

LA REVUE GAUCHE - Left Comment: Search results for PSYCHEDELIC 

MYCOPHILIA

Exploring the therapeutic potential of natural mushroom compounds to address psychiatric disorders

Peer-Reviewed Publication

THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY OF JERUSALEM

New study indicates that mushroom extract might demonstrate superior efficacy compared to chemically synthesized psilocybin, especially in stimulating neuroplasticity and promoting the development of new connections between nerve cells—an essential attribute. This discovery unveils potential applications for addressing conditions such as depression, PTSD, and schizophrenia.

A new study led by Orr Shahar, a PhD student, and Dr. Alexander Botvinnik, under the guidance of researchers Dr. Tzuri Lifschytz and psychiatrist Prof. Bernard Lerer from the Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical Center, suggests that mushroom extract containing psilocybin may exhibit superior efficacy when compared to chemically synthesized psilocybin.

The research, focusing on synaptic plasticity in mice, unveils promising insights into the potential therapeutic benefits of natural psychedelic compounds in addressing psychiatric disorders. The study indicates that psilocybin-containing mushroom extract could have a more potent and prolonged impact on synaptic plasticity in comparison to chemically synthesized psilocybin.

Millions of individuals globally, constituting a significant portion of the population, grapple with psychiatric conditions that remain unresponsive to existing pharmaceutical interventions. Alarming statistics reveal that 40% of individuals experiencing depression find no relief from currently available drugs, a trend similarly observed among those with OCD. Moreover, with approximately 0.5% of the population contending with schizophrenia at any given time, there exists a pressing demand for innovative solutions tailored to those who derive no benefit from current medications. In response to this urgent need, psychedelic drugs are emerging as promising candidates capable of offering transformative solutions.

The study's preliminary findings shed light on the potential divergence in effects between psilocybin-containing mushroom extract and chemically synthesized psilocybin. Specifically, the research focused on the head twitch response, synaptic proteins related to neuroplasticity, and metabolomic profiles in the frontal cortex of mice.

The results indicate that psilocybin-containing mushroom extract may exert a more potent and prolonged effect on synaptic plasticity when compared to chemically synthesized psilocybin. Significantly, the extract increased the levels of synaptic proteins associated with neuroplasticity in key brain regions, including the frontal cortex, hippocampus, amygdala, and striatum. This suggests that psilocybin-containing mushroom extract may offer unique therapeutic effects not achievable with psilocybin alone.

 

Metabolomic analyses also revealed noteworthy differences between psilocybin-containing mushroom extract and chemically synthesized psilocybin. The extract exhibited a distinct metabolic profile associated with oxidative stress and energy production pathways.

These findings open up new possibilities for the therapeutic use of natural psychedelic compounds, providing hope for those who have found little relief in conventional psychiatric treatments. As the demand for innovative solutions continues to grow, the exploration of psychedelic drugs represents a crucial avenue for the development of transformative and personalized medicines.

Additionally - in Western medicine, there has historically been a preference for isolating active compounds rather than utilizing extracts, primarily for the sake of gaining better control over dosages and anticipating known effects during treatment. The challenge with working with extracts lay in the inability, in the past, to consistently produce the exact product with a consistent compound profile. Contrastingly, ancient medicinal practices, particularly those attributing therapeutic benefits to psychedelic medicine, embraced the use of extracts or entire products, such as consuming the entire mushroom. Although Western medicine has long recognized the "entourage" effect associated with whole extracts, the significance of this approach gained recent prominence.

A major challenge with natural extracts lies in achieving a consistently stable compound profile, especially with plants; however, mushrooms present a unique case. Mushroom compounds are highly influenced by their growing environment, encompassing factors such as substrate composition, CO2/O2 ratio, light exposure, temperature, and microbial surroundings. Despite these influences, controlled cultivation allows for the taming of mushrooms, enabling the production of a replicable extract.

This research not only underscores the superiority of extracts with diverse compounds but also highlights the feasibility of incorporating them into Western medicine due to the controlled nature of mushroom cultivation.

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JOURNAL

Molecular Psychiatry

DOI

10.1038/s41380-024-02477-w 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Animals

ARTICLE TITLE

Effect of chemically synthesized psilocybin and psychedelic mushroom extract on molecular and metabolic profiles in mouse brain

Unveiling Inaoside A: An antioxidant derived from mushrooms

Researchers in Japan discover a new antioxidant compound Inaoside A in the edible mushroom, Laetiporus cremeiporus

SHINSHU UNIVERSITY

 

IMAGE: 

RESEARCHERS FROM JAPAN DISCOVERED A NEW ANTIOXIDANT, INAOSIDE A, ALONG WITH THREE OTHER KNOWN BIOACTIVE COMPOUNDS, FROM LAETIPORUS CREMEIPORUS, AN EDIBLE MUSHROOM VARIETY.

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CREDIT: ATSUSHI KAWAMURA FROM SHINSHU UNIVERSITY, JAPAN

Natural products have unique chemical structures and biological activities and can play a pivotal role in advancing pharmaceutical science. In a pioneering study, researchers from Shinshu University discovered Inaoside A, an antioxidant derived from Laetiporus cremeiporus mushrooms. This breakthrough sheds light on the potential of mushrooms as a source of therapeutic bioactive compounds.

The search for novel bioactive compounds from natural sources has gained considerable momentum in recent years due to the need for new therapeutic agents to combat various health challenges. Among a diverse array of natural products, mushrooms have emerged as a rich reservoir of bioactive molecules with potential pharmaceutical and nutraceutical applications. The genus Laetiporus has attracted attention for its extracts exhibiting antimicrobial, antioxidant, and antithrombin bioactivities. The species Laetiporus cremeiporus, spread across East Asia, has also been reported to show antioxidant properties. However, the identification and characterization of specific antioxidant compounds from this species have not been conducted.

In a groundbreakng study, researchers led by Assistant Professor Atsushi Kawamura from the Department of Biomolecular Innovation, Institute for Biomedical Sciences, Interdisciplinary Cluster for Cutting Edge Research, Shinshu University, along with Hidefumi Makabe from the Department of Agriculture, Graduate School of Science and Technology, Shinshu University, and Akiyoshi Yamada from the Department of Mountain Ecosystem, Institute for Mountain Science, Interdisciplinary Cluster for Cutting Edge Research, Shinshu University, recently discovered the antioxidant compound derived from L. cremeiporus.

The researchers collected fresh fruiting bodies of L. cremeiporus from the Ina campus of Shinshu University. The obtained extracts were concentrated and partitioned between water and ethyl acetate. After this, the extracts were subjected to advanced chromatographic techniques, which led to the successful isolation of Inaoside A, a new antioxidant phenolic compound, along with three other well-characterized bioactive compounds, i.e., 5'-S-methyl-5'-thioadenosine (MTA), nicotinamide, and adenosine. They reported their findings in an article that was made available online on 20 January 2024 and subsequently published in the journal Heliyon.

“Our study marks the pioneering discovery of Inaoside A from an extract of the edible mushroom Laetiporus cremeiporus. To date, there has been only one prior report on the biological function of an extract of L. cremeiporus. We are the first to uncover the isolation of an antioxidant compound from L. cremeiporus,” states Professor Kawamura, highlighting the breakthrough research.

Next, the researchers wanted to determine the structure of the newly found antioxidant compound. For this, they utilized one and two- dimensional NMR and other spectroscopic analyses. The structure of Inaoside A revealed a planar configuration. With a molecular formula of C17H24O7, the compound was found to feature a distinctive ribose moiety, identified as α-ribofuranoside through stereochemical analysis. Subsequent investigation into the absolute stereochemistry confirmed the D-ribose configuration, thereby reinforcing the planar structure of this compound.

The mushroom extracts were then isolated into fractions to determine the antioxidant activities of the four isolated bioactive compounds. These fractions were then examined by DPPH radical scavenging and superoxide dismutase assays. The findings were noteworthy as the DPPH radical scavenging activity exhibited by Inaoside A was significant, showing 80% inhibition at 100 μg/mL, indicative of its significant antioxidant properties. The IC50 value of Inaoside A was determined to be 79.9 μM, further highlighting its efficacy as an antioxidant agent.

What are the objectives of the researchers following the discovery of Inaoside? Professor Kawamura reveals, “We are now focusing on investigating the chemical compositions and biological properties of natural compounds obtained from mushrooms. Our goal is to uncover the potential of edible mushrooms as functional foods through this discovery.”

The identification of Inaoside A as an antioxidant from Laetiporus cremeiporus marks a significant breakthrough in natural product research, highlighting the potential of mushrooms as a source of therapeutic bioactive compounds. These findings may lead to the development of novel antioxidant-based therapies for various health conditions. Further studies should focus on synthetic research and detailed investigations into the biological activity of Inaoside A, aiming to harness its potential as a pharmaceutical lead compound.

 

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About Shinshu University

Shinshu University is a national university founded in 1949 and located nestling under the Japanese Alps in Nagano known for its stunning natural landscapes. Our motto, "Powered by Nature - strengthening our network with society and applying nature to create innovative solutions for a better tomorrow" reflects the mission of fostering promising creative professionals and deepening the collaborative relationship with local communities, which leads to our contribution to regional development by innovation in various fields. We’re working on providing solutions for building a sustainable society through interdisciplinary research fields: material science (carbon, fiber, and composites), biomedical science (for intractable diseases and preventive medicine) and mountain science and aiming to boost research and innovation capability through collaborative projects with distinguished researchers from the world. For more information visit https://www.shinshu-u.ac.jp/english/ or follow us on X (Twitter) @ShinshuUni for our latest news.

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JOURNAL

Heliyon

DOI

10.1016/j.heliyon.2024.e24651 

METHOD OF RESEARCH

Experimental study

SUBJECT OF RESEARCH

Not applicable

ARTICLE TITLE

Inaoside A: New antioxidant phenolic compound from the edible mushroom Laetiporus cremeiporus

The original punk? How William Blake became rock’s favourite poet


Neil McCormick
Sun, 18 February 2024

‘He gives hope to unappreciated artists’: detail from The Ancient of Days - Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge

William Blake is today exal­ted as one of the greatest British artists. His life mask is in the National Portrait Gallery, while a bust sits in Westminster Abbey. His poem “The Tyger” is among the most anthol­ogised in the English language, grappling with creation in terms that even children can grasp: “What immortal hand or eye / Could frame thy fear­ful symmetry?” Another, “And did those feet in ancient time”, later made into the hymn Jerusalem, has become the unofficial national ­anthem, sung at rugby matches, political party conferences and the Last Night of the Proms – which adds to the perception of Blake as an establishment man.

This week, William Blake’s Universe opens at Cambridge’s Fitzwilliam Museum, in which you will find such familiar pictures as Blake’s The Ancient of Days and the illustrations to his “prophetic book” Jerusalem: The Emanation of the Giant Albion. But you can also spot these images – or recreations – in the unlikeliest of places: a recent video by the Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson, Rain on the Graves, opens with a quote from Blake (“A Truth that’s told with bad intent / Beats all the Lies you can invent”) and ends with the heavy-metal singer clawing over Blake’s gravestone.

“The thing about Blake is that he appears unexpectedly,” observes John Higgs, the author of William Blake vs the World. “He comes to us in memes, horror films, video games and pop songs. These are not respectable routes for information. You fall off the tracks and Blake is there, waiting to be discovered.”

Blake’s posthumous reputation would have astonished the man himself, who “spent his life impoverished and misunderstood”, as Higgs points out. Born to shopkeepers in London in 1757, Blake never went to school, eked out a ­living as a printer and, in 1827, was buried in an unmarked grave.

“Blake was not a little Eng­lander,” notes David Bindman, co-curator of the Fitzwilliam exhibition. “He was part of a new European consciousness, the dawn of modernism – doesn’t like governments or churches, fascinated by the French Revolution and American Revolution, quite a fervent religious person, but nonconformist.” Blake was anti-slavery, pro-sexual freedom and women’s rights. “You can see his attraction to rock musicians and the counter­culture. He’s a philosopher and mythologist, whose work comes out of a tremendous psychodrama.”

Albion’s Angel rose, 1794 - © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

Bindman considers Jerusalem to be a “misunderstood poem about the building of a spiritual realm. Blake’s radical ideas encompassed a vision of the whole world as potentially in political and spiritual revolution” to which his attitude was essentially “apocalyptic”, believing “the destruction of the material world would be a cleansing act”. You don’t get much of that at the Last Night of the Proms.

Mark E Smith’s post-punk agitators the Fall recorded their own savage take on Jerusalem in 1988, its anti-government spin more in tune with Blake’s intent. And Blake’s influence cascades through rock, with references abounding in songs by Bob Dylan (Every Grain of Sand), the Doors (End of the Night), Led Zeppelin (Achilles Last Stand), Tangerine Dream (Tyger), the Verve (History), Pet Shop Boys (Inside a Dream), and the Libertines (Pete Doherty’s visions of Albion).

Donovan, Van Morrison and Nick Cave have all demonstrated a Blake­ian fascination with the power of imagination as a path to truth. Blake wrote in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell that, “If the doors of perception were cleansed everything would appear to man as it is, infinite.” It gave the Doors their name, whilst another Blake aphorism gave Jim Morrison his essential mythos: “The road of excess leads to the ­palace of wisdom.” (That didn’t end well for Morrison.)

Patti Smith is devoted to Blake, and edited a selection of his writings, published in 2007. She exulted in her introduction how Blake “did not jealously guard his vision; he shared it through his work and called upon us to animate the creative spirit within us”. And it was Blake’s devotion to his art that gave Kris Kristofferson – who studied the Romantic poets at Oxford – the courage to turn his back on a military career and take a job as a janitor in a Nashville recording studio.

In the 20th century, Blake entered the counterculture through Aldous Huxley, whose 1954 work on the transformative power of mescaline was titled The Doors of Perception, and thence via the experimental writer William Burroughs who intro­duced Blake to Allen Ginsberg (the latter, at the age of 22, was mas­tur­bating while reading Blake’s poetry when he experienced a hall­u­cination of Blake speaking to him). Ginsberg’s influence on Bob Dylan helped feed Blake into rock culture.

“There’s so much in Blake that was speaking to the postwar gen­eration, about sexual liberation, freeing yourself from the ‘mind-forg’d manacles’, it was all very psychedelic and anti-authoritarian,” notes Higgs. “So many people were ­convinced that he must have been on drugs to have all these visions, which is almost certainly not the case, but Blake was really invested in the idea that imagination is the divine quality of the universe.”



U2 are so in thrall to Blake that they named two albums in his honour, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Musicians are attracted to Blake “because he believed in the invisible realm and wanted to make it visible”, explains Bono. “That’s the call of so many artists in so many different mediums, to bring the inside to the outside, the unseen into the seen… to see heaven in a guitar riff and hold infinity in a bass line, to find eternity in a rock and roll show!”

The singer-songwriter Frank Turner composed one of the most beautiful songs about the artist, I Believed You, William Blake, questioning artistic conviction from the perspective of Blake’s wife, Catherine. “She is one of these neglected female historical figures, who had a fair amount to do with his artistic output and may have been the only person who ever had a handle on the true totality of his theology,” enthuses Turner. “Part of the reason why Blake remains so resonant is he’s so titanically weird, and impossible to pin down. You can get very lost in his poetry, in good and bad ways. A lot of it is pretty impenetrable but his imagery is extremely striking. He was a man out of time, and not successful in his own time. Yet he has achieved immortality, or longevity, at least. He still matters.”

‘So many thought he must have been on drugs to have all these visions’: Blake's Preludium in Europe a Prophecy, 1794 - © The Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge

The punk DIY spirit of Blake’s career adds to his appeal. Blake had his own printing press, put out his own hand-coloured books and staged his own exhibitions, despite a complete lack of commercial success (he only sold about 30 copies of Songs of Innocence and of Experience). “He’s doing all the artwork, he’s staging the show, and no one cared at all,” notes Turner. “As an indie artist, there’s painful echoes. Maybe that’s Blake’s endless fascination, he gives hope to misunderstood artists the world over that, in several hundred years, they’ll be the most famous artist of that era.”

Patti Smith’s 2004 song My Blakean Year addresses the struggles of an unrecognised artist. “I felt sorry for myself. And then I thought of Blake,” according to Smith. “His work never sold. He lived in poverty. When he spoke out, he nearly lost his life. What I learnt from William Blake is, don’t give up. And don’t expect anything. If you perceive that you have a gift, you already have life.”

William Blake’s Universe is at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge (fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk), from Friday to May 19 

Exclusive: Bionaut Labs raises an extension round in preparation for micro-robot clinical trials

Allie Garfinkle
Tue, February 6, 2024

Robyn Beck—AFP/Getty Images


Have you ever seen the movie Fantastic Voyage? I hadn’t, but everyone I talked to at or around medical micro-robots startup Bionaut Labs kept telling me I had to.

Once I watched it, I saw why—the movie, released in 1966 and starring Raquel Welch, is about a futuristic technology allowing people to shrink down, so tiny that they can enter the human body to do surgery. The movie may be psychedelic and far-fetched, but if Bionaut has its way, that future is imminent (sort of).

Bionaut is building micro-robots that precisely deliver drugs to hard-to-reach areas in the human brain. The company’s goal is to build “an elegant solution…that can reach places in the body we previously just couldn’t go,” said Bionaut CEO and cofounder Michael Shpigelmacher.

So far, the company’s animal testing has been successful, and Bionaut has now raised more cash in anticipation of what will be the company’s biggest challenge yet: human clinical trials later this year.

Fortune can exclusively report that Bionaut’s raised an extension round, which involved the Mayo Clinic, along with existing investors Khosla Ventures, Upfront Ventures, and OurCrowd. Fortune has also learned that Bill Gates’ Gates Ventures has invested, per two sources familiar with the matter. (A Gates Ventures representative didn’t return two requests for comment.)

To date, Bionaut has raised over $70 million, Fortune can confirm. In 2022, the company closed its Series B, led by Khosla, bringing the total the company had raised by then to $63.2 million, according to Crunchbase. Bionaut declined to disclose valuation.

Bionaut’s micro-robot is about the size of a grain of rice and is meant to move through the human body’s bloodstream and tissue to deliver drugs far more accurately than we can today. The micro-robot is controlled through magnetism—Bionaut’s scientists and engineers move the robot through the body by tweaking the electromagnetic field.

"We think that this paradigm that we're bringing in time could spawn a whole different generation of ways to treat diseases,” said Shpigelmacher, who previously cofounded PrimeSense, a 3D sensor technology company acquired by Apple in 2013 for a reported $345 million (some reports suggested as much $360 million or $400 million). PrimeSense’s technology became FaceID.

Eventually, the company aims to deliver a wide range of treatments dispersed throughout the body via “the Bionaut.” This in mind, Bionaut’s total addressable market is unknowable, but “any number you came up with would be big enough to justify the investment,” said Samir Kaul, Khosla Ventures founding partner and managing director. OurCrowd CEO and founder Jonathan Medved echoed that sentiment: "What I'm hoping for is that one tenth of the potential is realized.”

In the near-term, the company has decided to focus on the area most requiring precision drug delivery: the brain, with the goal of treating diseases like cancer and Parkinson’s. However, the first use case the company is bringing to bear in clinical trials will be comparatively simple: Dandy-Walker Syndrome, a condition characterized by accumulating brain fluid.

Still, Bionaut faces challenges by nature of what they do—biotech hardware is a famously tough-to-predict sector, said Kazi Y. Helal, PitchBook senior emerging technology analyst.

“They’re shooting for the stars by targeting neurology, so that’s a good moat,” he said. The trouble is, it doesn’t matter if you raise a Series C, D, or make it to an IPO, if you can’t get the technology to provide its practical, promised value.

“That’s the big risk for them, and that’s where I’m a little skeptical,” said Helal. “The validation of raising money’s nice, but what’s real is when it goes into a human and there are no toxic effects. We’re still waiting for that.”

So, is this just a far-fetched, psychedelic fever dream? Bionaut’s offices are decorated with sci-fi movie posters, so I’d say they know they’re dreaming—they just have the conviction to believe they can make their dream come true.

Ultimately, Bionaut’s moonshot is its purpose.

“This is what venture is meant for, right? These kinds of big, audacious ideas––not just functional, incrementally better technologies, but genuinely new modalities, truly revolutionary technologies,” Upfront Ventures partner Kevin Zhang told me.

If Bionaut’s successful, we could be far closer to something that, decades ago, was purely sci-fi. The Fantastic Voyage’s title card reads: “Someday, perhaps tomorrow, fantastic events you are about to see can and will take place.”

Well, perhaps not tomorrow, but maybe someday soon.

Op-Ed: Psychedelic psychotherapy – Just another moneymaking exercise?


ByPaul Wallis
DIGITAL JOURNAL
February 4, 2024

Image by © Tim Sandle.

The constant drone in the news about legalization of psychedelics in therapeutic roles is becoming a roar. What’s missing is any sort of coherent “this does that” information. Big money for psychedelic startups is also stirring in the depths of investment land.

…Which leads to a poignant question: So what?

Faddish use of microdoses has been around for years if not decades. It was a buzz thing in Silicon Valley for at least two minutes back when. Mental health is not the most reassuring of subjects for discussion, either. Mental health medications are more famous for problems than solutions.

In this rather turgid environment, the only solid information is that “someone would like to market psychedelics and make money from them, please”.

A pretty common critique is that there’s a lack of evidence for psychedelics in therapeutic roles. There’s some traction in that. Many traditional cultures use psychedelics for spiritual purposes, but not specifically as therapy.

To be fair, many respected research institutions are looking at psychedelics. This clearly isn’t all hype, but it’s a far from simple subject, too.

For example – Can a psychedelic trigger a psychotic episode in a person with mental health issues? How do you make sure to avoid that risk?

This is brain chemistry, and it’s tricky. If you know anything at all about depression, you’ll know the balancing acts involved. Anxiety is pretty grim, too, and you may not even know what triggers it or why.

There are supposedly thousands of psychedelics. How do you choose? How do you know what you’re getting? What’s the psychedelic equivalent of “bath salts”, for instance?

The market for these drugs are people in various conditions from baffled and bewildered to those understandably very wary of more heavily hyped meds that don’t work.

The health sector has done itself no favors with its current image of a purely moneymaking environment for consumers. Trust is no longer a factor in therapeutic options. Goldman Sachs said years ago that “curing patients wasn’t good for business”, and apparently the sector believed them.

So did the world’s much-gouged consumers. Any kind of faith in a new therapy good or bad is going to be colored by that motif. The fact that you can buy some of these new therapies on the street without the consultancy fees doesn’t add much lustre to the idea.

There’s another issue. Psychedelics are a very broad range of types of drugs. Organic psychedelics like mushrooms and mescaline are definitely not the same as synthetics like LSD.

People react very subjectively to these drugs. Some people are hyper-receptive, and the drugs simply don’t work on others. Some people don’t hallucinate on LSD. There’s no One Size Fits All.

Public perception of mental health isn’t exactly a major asset, either. The degree of general ignorance is pretty high at best. Add psychedelics and you have a particular mix of ignorance and ineptitude.

For instance:

How will bosses feel about people “tripping” at work?

How much stigma can you attach to someone with mental health issues in any environment?

Is management literate enough to get basic ideas like they’re there to manage, not to judge?

How long will it take for the world’s much-too-intelligent media to brand anyone taking these drugs as “hippies”?

If they had a clue, what would they do with it?

The merits of psychedelics as therapy are yet to be proven or disproven. The possibility of drivel is now 100%.

MAGA VS. TAYLOR SWIFT INC.

Why Taylor Swift is an antihero to the GOP − but Democrats should know all too well that her endorsement won’t mean it’s all over now

Matt Harris, Park University
Thu, February 1, 2024 

THE CONVERSATION

Travis Kelce celebrates with Taylor Swift on Jan. 28, 2024, after the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC championship game.

Patrick Smith/Getty Images

A pop icon falling for one of the NFL’s preeminent superstars may seem like a slice of Americana – a scene from a small-town high school magnified by a factor of 10 million.

But this is America in 2024 so, of course, nothing magical stays that way.

To be clear, public opinion data suggests that most Americans think Taylor Swift is good for the NFL. But with her beau Travis Kelce’s Kansas City Chiefs heading to a fourth Super Bowl in five years, and with Swift herself reportedly preparing for a journey across the globe to cheer him on in the big game, the right-wing talk machine has gone into overdrive.

Fox News host Jesse Watters suggested that Swift may be a Pentagon asset used to combat online misinformation. Former GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy tweeted that he thinks Swift and Kelce are being artificially propped up by the media pending an upcoming Swift endorsement of Joe Biden. OAN referred to the couple as a “Massive Super Bowl Psy-op,” a brainwashing campaign designed to indoctrinate citizens to an elite agenda and away from religion.

The idea that the Swift-Kelce romance is some sort of deep-state plot is perhaps gaining some traction in far-right circles because it lines up with other right-wing conspiracy theories and the right’s broader agenda.

Swift’s NFL fandom

Swift has endorsed Democrats in the past, including Joe Biden in 2020. Kelce, while not politically outspoken, was featured in a Pfizer ad touting the COVID-19 vaccine.

Republicans are more likely than Democrats to believe, without evidence, that a secret group of rulers is controlling the world, as well as that vaccines cause autism. While there isn’t public opinion data yet on the theories from Fox News and the right-wing echo chamber that the Swift-Kelce romance is an elaborate left-wing scheme, it contains elements of similar conspiracies for which partisan splits exist.

And opinions on Swift herself are similarly polarized. The singer is viewed favorably among virtually all groups in America, although Republicans are the only group in which as many members dislike Swift as like her.

Taylor Swift has brought a unique element to NFL fandom. I haven’t seen fans of my hometown Buffalo Bills make signs denigrating a pop star since they thought Jon Bon Jovi wanted to buy the team and move it to Toronto in 2014.

Yet, as a political scientist, I know it’s an open question whether any of this matters politically.

Fox News host Jesse Watters has speculated, without evidence, that Swift may be a Pentagon asset. 

Roy Rochlin/Getty Images

Oprah, Obama and celebrity endorsements

In the background of these conspiracy theories is the possibility that Taylor Swift could endorse Joe Biden. The Trump campaign is reportedly thinking about such a possibility, with allies talking behind the scenes about a “holy war” against Swift, brainstorming ways of painting her as a left-wing celebrity advancing an elite Democratic agenda.

But how much would such an endorsement matter?

In political science literature, a hallmark case of the power of celebrity endorsements is Oprah Winfrey’s 2008 backing of Barack Obama. Winfrey’s endorsement occurred during a primary in which he was taking on a more well-known opponent, Hillary Clinton.

Winfrey’s endorsement, wrote the authors of a prominent study of the case, led participants in the study “to see Obama as more likely to win the nomination and to say that they would be more likely to vote for him.” In other words, it helped advance public perceptions of Obama’s viability as a candidate.

A Swift endorsement of Biden would be different.

Swifties are largely suburban and young. Almost half are millennials, and over 10% belong to Gen Z. They represent a slice of the youth vote that candidates have attempted to court for decades, and the suburbs are increasingly a battleground in the country’s urban-rural divide. A Swift Instagram post in 2023 helped lead to 35,000 new voter registrations – and her ability to generate funds could also be invaluable to Biden.

But an Oprah-like effect is less likely for a Swift endorsement of Biden, who is running as an incumbent without a serious primary challenger and his status as the Democratic nominee is certain.

Further, polling demonstrates that the effect of a Swift endorsement could be essentially a net wash, with 18% of the public saying they’d be more likely to support a Swift-backed candidate and 17% saying they would be less likely to support Swift’s favored choice.

Even those numbers might be affected by partisan-motivated reasoning, where a person’s party identification colors their perceptions of information. Swift’s prior backing of Democrats and perceived liberalism might cause her supporters and detractors to use polling questions asking about a potential Swift endorsement to express support or disfavor of her, regardless of how her endorsement would actually influence their choice.

A Swift endorsement, if it comes, could be less important than Donald Trump’s response to that endorsement. 

David Becker/Getty Images

Not just a love story

Essentially, a Swift endorsement might matter at the margins, but there are many, many other factors at play in a general election. That’s especially true in an election between two men who have both served as commander in chief, a rarity in American politics.

A Swift endorsement, then, is perhaps less important in and of itself than Donald Trump’s response to a Swift endorsement of Biden.

Public opinion polling in the wake of Trump’s Access Hollywood remarks in 2016 showed that majorities of both women and men believed Trump had little or no respect for women. But Trump actually improved his numbers among women voters in 2020.

A Swift endorsement of Biden could bring out some of Trump’s worst impulses. Perhaps the effect of his response on how voters view him could be more important than her endorsement of Biden.

This article is republished from The Conversation, a nonprofit, independent news organization bringing you facts and analysis to help you make sense of our complex world.

It was written by: Matt Harris, Park University.

Read more:

Taylor Swift: Person of the year and political influencer

Trump-endorsed candidates would generally win even without his support – and that’s usually the case with all political endorsements


Seth Meyers on Fox News attacking Taylor Swift: ‘The conservative movement is so rotted’
Guardian staff
Thu, February 1, 2024 

Seth Meyers: ‘The conservative movement is so rotted, so intellectually bankrupt, that they have found themselves in a place where they are somehow enraged about a popular singer dating a football player.’

Late-night hosts continued to mock the right’s obsession with Taylor Swift on Wednesday evening, as several conservative commentators peddled baseless conspiracy theories about the pop star. “The conservative movement is so rotted, so intellectually bankrupt, that they have found themselves in a place where they are somehow enraged about a popular singer dating a football player,” explained Seth Meyers on Late Night.

The Fox News host Jesse Watters, for example, said Swift’s romance with the Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce was “cooked up in a lab”, while the ex-presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy called them an “artificially culturally propped up couple” staged for a Biden endorsement.

“Allow me to quote a Taylor Swift lyric when I say: you people are out of your fucking minds,” Meyers retorted. “I’m just kidding – that’s not a Taylor Swift lyric. It’s Seth’s version.

Related: Jimmy Kimmel on Taylor Swift NFL conspiracy theories: ‘They think football is fake and wrestling is real’

“Seriously, what is wrong with you?” he continued. “This is how much the Republican party has changed: there was a time when a famous singer dating a football player and spending quality time with his family would’ve been their dream.

“They used to elect politicians who were football players, or ones who look like footballs,” he added over a photo of Trump. “I don’t even know who you are any more, Republicans. Seriously, this is like such an innocent all-American thing. They’re kissing on the field after he wins the big game and she’s celebrating with his mom and dancing along with fans, how can you be mad at that?

“Without Taylor saying a word about the 2024 election, they have somehow spun themselves into an elaborate conspiracy theory where mysterious forces are manufacturing her fame in order to set up an endorsement of Joe Biden,” he concluded. “Because only a grand conspiracy would explain why she might prefer Joe Biden over a man who every day behaves worse than any man in a Taylor Swift song.”
Stephen Colbert

“With Trump’s nomination a near certainty, the Maga mob is now turning their focus to their leader’s last remaining political rival: Taylor Swift,” said Stephen Colbert on the Late Show.

According to several sources, Trump was “freaking out” over reports that Joe Biden is seeking an endorsement from the pop star. “C’mon Joe, seeking the endorsement of a pop star? Don’t you think that’s beneath the dignity of the office of Taylor Swift. She has to have standards!” Colbert joked.

Biden’s team has reportedly even considered sending the president to a stop on the Eras Tour. “Oh, that would be fun,” Colbert deadpanned. “I wonder what era he’d dress as. I’m gonna guess Mesozoic.

“Of course, we can’t even fantasize about Joe Biden screaming out the bridge to Cruel Summer without Donald Trump ruining it,” he added. “Because Trump is jealous now,” and privately claiming that he is “more popular” than Swift.

“What?! More popular than Taylor Swift? That is insane. Can you imagine Trump selling out stadiums in Tokyo?” Colbert reacted.

A jokingly self-described “Swiffer”, Colbert defended the pop star against the numerous far-right conspiracy theories attempting to discredit her. “Taylor is one of the few joyful things we have in this country and I’m not going to stand here and let Trump’s TV goons drag her into the hell slop of grievance and hair gel,” he said. “This country dumped Donald Trump and we are never, ever getting back together, like ever.”
Jimmy Kimmel

And in Los Angeles, Jimmy Kimmel relished the prospect of Trump being on the hook for as much as $300m in his civil fraud case in New York, on top of the $83.3m he now owes E Jean Carroll after a defamation trial. “Which means somebody is probably about to release a whole new batch of NFT trading cards,” Kimmel joked.

If penalized in the civil fraud trial, Trump could be barred from conducting business in his original home state of New York. “You think getting caught running a fake university would’ve triggered that penalty already,” Kimmel noted.

In a potential bid to distract from the former president’s many legal woes, “Trump’s campaign team has been working on ways to turn their culture warriors against Taylor Swift in the event she decides to endorse Joe Biden,” Kimmel said. “So if you’re a Republican, I guess enjoy her music while you still can before the Ayatollah Complain-y declares a fatwa on her.”

As for Trump’s claim that he was more popular than Swift, Kimmel did not mince words: “If Taylor Swift told her fans to storm the Capitol on January 6, they would’ve succeeded and they would be running the country right now.

“Who is he kidding?” he added. “If Donald Trump held a rally at SoFi stadium here in LA, they would still have enough empty seats to also hold a Taylor Swift concert that night.”


Why is the right obsessed with Taylor Swift?

Joel Mathis, The Week US
Wed, January 31, 2024 a

Taylor Swift performing on top of a red MAGA hat.


Any number of issues are at stake in the 2024 election: The future of democracy, immigration, America's role in helping Ukraine. It might be — again — the most important election of our lifetime.

This week, though, we're talking about Taylor Swift.

"Conservative media personalities are raging" over Swift, Axios reported, seeing the "pop megastar" — and onetime endorser of President Joe Biden — as a public figure whose fans "heed her calls to go out and vote." Right-wing figures like Fox News' Jesse Watters and Jeanine Pirro, former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, and Donald Trump lawyer Alina Habba have started speculating that Swift's relationship with football star Travis Kelce is part of "a deep state psyop orchestrated by the NFL and Democrats to work in President Biden's favor."

No. Really.

Swift's all-encompassing fame has even earned Trump's attention. Rolling Stone reported the former president has "privately claimed that he is 'more popular'" than the singer. Trump was even reportedly astounded when Swift beat him out for Time Magazine's 2023 "Person of the Year." (Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were actually the other finalists.) And his team is trying to figure out how to respond if Swift endorses Biden again. "Another left-wing celebrity who is part of the Democrat elite telling you what to think," sniffed a member of Trump's campaign team. What is going on?
What did the commentators say?

"The online world's capacity for wild, untamed nonsense is endless," Jeffrey Blehar lamented at National Review, a conservative outlet. Right-wing conspiracy-mongering about Swift and Kelce reflects "thinly veiled bleats of fear about Trump's standing with women." And for many American women — "except your 85-year-old nana" — Swift has become a "cultural avatar." But if those women abandon Trump, it's more likely because of things like the $83 million judgment he must pay after E. Jean Carroll's defamation lawsuit. "It won't be because of anything Taylor Swift said or did."

Conservatism's Taylor Swift obsession reflects the right's "inability to just be normal itself, even for a minute," Ross Douthat, himself a conservative, argued at The New York Times. Hostility toward the singer has been growing since she endorsed Democratic candidates in 2018 and 2020. But her relationship with Kelce "has transformed a merely unfavorable impression into outright paranoia." Too bad: The Swift-Kelce romance offers the "romantic iconography that much of the online right supposedly wants to encourage and support."

"Maybe Republicans should wonder why all the attractive, likable people hate them?" Brian Beutler asked at his Off Message Substack. There's no conspiracy in the Swift-Kelce romance: "At the highest echelons of the cultural elite, attractive people like Swift and Kelce meet and fall in love" all the time. The Republican Party should focus less on the strange conspiracy theorizing and focus more on "trying to be decent and likable" if it wants to appeal to women voters.
What next?

There's a danger to Trump in the right's Swift obsession, E.J. Montini argued at The Arizona Republic. Turning against America's most-beloved pop star is "the dumbest thing the MAGA cult and its media enablers have done." Why? Because a Swift endorsement really "could alter the election's outcome." One poll showed that 53% of Americans are fans of the singer. She has more than 500 million social media followers. She has reach that would make any campaign envious. Why mess with that? All the online hostility "may be guaranteeing that Swift, at some point, will endorse President Joe Biden."

If so, Trump's allies are prepared. Biden might be counting on Swift to save him, "but voters are looking at these sky-high inflation rates and saying, 'We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together,'" Jason Miller, a Trump adviser, wrote to Rolling Stone. At this point, though, the feeling might be entirely mutual.

Never mind all that election nonsense, though. Kelce's Kansas City team plays in the Super Bowl in less than two weeks. Swift, meanwhile, plays a concert in Tokyo the night before. Can she make it back to the United States in time to watch the big game? We'll find out. And bizarrely enough, the fate of the presidential election might ride on it.


Travis Kelce thanks Taylor Swift ‘for joining the team’
Lisa Respers France, CNN
Thu, February 1, 2024 


Welcome to the team, Taylor Swift.

With all her support for her boyfriend Travis Kelce, who is headed to the Super Bowl with the Kansas City Chiefs, Swift, of course, came up during Wednesday’s episode of Kelce’s podcast, “New Heights.”

His brother and co-host Jason Kelce, who plays for the Philadelphia Eagles, said, “Shout out to the newest members of the Chiefs Kingdom!”

“Taylor Swift, who has officially reached the Super Bowl in her rookie year,” Jason Kelce continued.

“Shout out to Tay!” Travis Kelce responded with a laugh. “Thanks for joining the team!”

He also confirmed the timeline of when he and Swift got together.

During an appearance on “The Pat McAfee Show,” Kelce said he and Swift had already been seeing each other by the time she appeared at one of his games in September to cheer him and the Chiefs on.

“Yeah, we had known each other close to a month up to that point,” Kelce said. “It wasn’t just an out of the blue, ‘Hey, come to the game.’”

In an interview with Time Magazine last year, Swift said the same, telling the publication, “By the time I went to that first game, we were a couple.”


MAGA World Is About to Meet Taylor Swift’s Fandom. It Won’t Go Well.
Catherine Kim
Thu, February 1, 2024 


Taylor Swift has many titles: cultural juggernaut; international pop star; billionaire businesswoman. She can now add MAGA conspiracy theory target to the list.

Far-right internet personalities and even a former Republican presidential candidate are spreading the notion that something is not quite right with Swift’s relationship with Kansas City Chiefs star player Travis Kelce — and that somehow the Super Bowl is rigged and it’s all leading up to a Swift presidential endorsement of Joe Biden.

Swift was once famously politics-averse, but she inched into the arena in 2018 when she endorsed Tennessee Democratic Senate candidate Phil Bredesen, and then she backed Biden in 2020. That may have first soured some conservatives on Swift, but in recent days, the right has seemingly launched a full-bore attack on her. It seems like incredibly foolish politics, particularly as the gender gap grows and Republican support with suburban women erodes.

To explore how Swift’s influence has grown and how the attacks could backfire on the GOP, POLITICO Magazine reached out to Brian Donovan, a University of Kansas professor who teaches a popular college course called “The Sociology of Taylor Swift.”

“The Swiftie fan is arguably the most immersive and intense fandom in the U.S. right now,” Donovan said. “And to anger them is just political folly. They are a political force that I don't think anyone really should mess with.”

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Why is Taylor Swift suddenly at the center of the political conversation?

I think there is a cyclical reaction happening where we saw with the Barbie movie and with the Eras Tour, a kind of woman-centered cultural aesthetic take hold of the American imagination. And I think there's a ton of backlash to that driven by real basic sexism and misogyny.

If you look at the history of Taylor Swift, if you go back 10 or 12 years, her main critics were actually coming from the left. There was a feminist discourse that argued that she was too heteronormative, that she is supporting the patriarchy by writing these love songs with a straightforward, boy-meets-girl, happily-ever-after kind of narrative. So you would think that the right would embrace that. And for a while, when Taylor was more quiet about her politics, they had this notion that she was secretly one of them. You saw this in around 2017, 2018 when literal Nazis like Andrew Anglin or folks from the GamerGate community like Milo Yiannopoulos, were posting these memes that were suggesting that Taylor was secretly a white supremacist.

And so the fact that she had this political coming out in 2018, and started to embrace leftist causes, that was the first moment when the right rejected her. And as she gained cultural power over the last year, I think that's made her an easy target. You would think that her dating a football star would be something that would be satisfying to cultural conservatives — she's playing out a standard conservative script of falling in love with a football star — but the fact that she's not on their team is especially irksome for a lot of folks. On the right, it's seen as a betrayal.

Sexism and a sense of betrayal — is there anything else that might be fueling this hate we’re seeing from the right?

The intensity is coming from different levels. Again, it's this basic sexism. She is unmarried. She is an extremely successful businesswoman. And I know that a lot of folks on the right probably do not aspire to be a pop star, but a lot of them aspire to be successful in business. And she has lapped them over and over. She has become a billionaire based on her own artistry. And so there's a jealousy factor as well.

Another part of this is that she is not easily consumable as a sex symbol. What makes Taylor Swift so unique is that her celebrity persona, unlike pop stars of the past few decades — think of Madonna or Britney Spears — is not centered on the male gaze. She's not denying or muting her sexuality, but her performances are not catering to men. Her persona is crafted around this kind of goofy, almost nerd-like relatability and I think that is also irksome because she is not playing out the standard, patriarchal playbook of being a consumable Barbie doll sex symbol.

There’s a growing gender divide in politics. Do you think the conservative attacks against Swift will further alienate women voters from the Republican Party?

Absolutely. What is fascinating to me about this whole spectacle is it seems like political suicide. She certainly has appeal among women, but she has such a broad demographic appeal — racially, in terms of age, in terms of socio-economic status. It just seems like attacking her, from a strategic political standpoint, makes no sense whatsoever.

And that's why I think some of these attacks, they will be short-lived. Because the folks that have the money, that are putting resources behind these political campaigns, are going to talk to people like Vivek Ramaswamy and say, “This is not a good strategy for you.”

And it will alienate women voters in the long term, for sure, because Taylor's politics, they're not that radical. She's not the kind of radical feminist figure that they are painting her to be, and I think a lot of women see themselves in Taylor. She is highly relatable. And she, through her songwriting, lets us feel like we have a bond with her. And so the rabid attacks against her are going to turn people away on a very deep level.

Tell me more about the demographics of Swift’s fan base. Are there any notable traits or political trends?

Morning Consult did a deep dive into her fan base demographics. And they found, not surprisingly, that her main fan base is primarily white, primarily women and primarily millennial.

What's unique about Taylor Swift is the intergenerational appeal that she has. And you saw that over the summer with parents taking their daughters to the Eras Tour. She's been a star for 17 years. There are folks that I'm interviewing for my book that have literally grown up with her. She was there for them through all the different turning points in their life. So she can draw younger listeners who are experiencing her music for the first time, listeners who are millennials that see themselves in Taylor Swift, and fans that are my age and older that see an element of nostalgia in Taylor. So what is really powerful and unique about her is that demographically she has this cross-generational appeal.

Based on the folks that I've interviewed, she has a way of writing that, coupled with her celebrity persona and media appearances, connects uniquely with the experiences of young women. The Swiftie fan is arguably the most immersive and intense fandom in the U.S. right now. And to anger them is just political folly. They are a political force that I don't think anyone really should mess with.

What makes Taylor Swift’s fandom such a political force?

It's both the sheer number and the intensity of their devotion to Taylor Swift.

A lot of Swifties take their cues from Taylor Swift. During the pandemic, when she released the album "Folklore," she changed her entire aesthetic from the multicolored "Lover"-era aesthetic — which was this psychedelic, 1960s vibe — to this cottage-core, flannel vibe. Swifties went right along with it and started buying flannel and started adopting that style. And so she is very influential on a cultural level.

But also Swifties listen to her statements about politics as well and absorb them and act on them. And so I think that the fear coming from the right that she could make an endorsement that will act as a political force and be consequential for elections — that's not inaccurate. There's some truth there.

Swift has resisted the political arena for so long. What are her politics? Does she even want to be in the political limelight?

Her politics are fairly mainstream. She wants reproductive rights. She has come out and supported the Violence Against Women Act — some very fairly mainstream things that are not terribly controversial among a wide swath of the American electorate.

She had a moment in 2018 when she had a political coming out. She started speaking out in particular in support of LGBTQ+ rights. And there was a period of time when she became more politically active. That was when she supported Phil Bredesen against Marsha Blackburn. That’s when [then-President Donald] Trump said he liked her music about 25 percent less now. And for a lot of Swifties, and even those who weren’t into Taylor Swift, that was an important moment because it showed she was one of us. That she was in the same political orbit as a lot of us.

She hasn't really continued with that. The pandemic hit, and other than a tweet about the Dobbs decision and a speech that she gave during one of her concerts during Pride Month, she's been very relatively politically silent. And that's frustrated a lot of the more social justice-oriented Swifties and Swifties who are further on the left. So it's interesting that she's receiving criticism from the right for being this avatar of the left wing. And at the same time, she's receiving criticism from the more far-left Swifties for not being vocal enough.

Do you foresee Swift becoming any more political after the recent MAGA meltdown?

I don't think so. I think she'll endorse Joe Biden. And she might even make a campaign appearance or two, but I don't see her throwing herself into politics in a really robust way. Part of that is due to the fact that I just don't think she speaks the language of politics and activism. She’s a great storyteller and is brilliant at so many things. But I don't think she sees that as one of her strengths.

The other reason I don't think she is going to be more vocal about politics is personal safety. The article that ran in Rolling Stone that right-wing operatives are declaring a “Holy War” on her honestly frightened me. We're living in a time of heightened political violence and deep political polarization. And she is out in public performing for tens of thousands of people. Just on a pure safety level, her getting more vocal about politics might not necessarily be a good thing.

Would a Swift endorsement give Biden a major boost in popularity?

I don’t think so. The people who are already big Taylor Swift supporters, most of them are going to vote for Biden anyway. And looking at what happened in 2018, when she supported Phil Bresson — he still lost to Marsha Blackburn. So her endorsements, as important as they are, can only go so far. Where I think she can have an impact and maybe a big political boost for Biden is in getting out the vote. She touted a Get Out the Vote website on her Instagram account, and it drew 35,000 new voters within hours.

What do you think about Donald Trump reportedly grumbling that he’s “more popular” than Taylor Swift?

We know he loves the trappings of celebrity. And so it must irk him that she is both more popular than he is and has more money than he does right now. And so I think that her mere existence is tapping into some deep insecurities in his psyche. And we're seeing that play out by his surrogates, as well.

Why do we demand political alliances from celebrities? What does that say about our political atmosphere right now?

Increasingly, it seems like every consumer and entertainment choice we make is somehow politically coded. What beer one consumes, or where one goes shopping, whether it's Target or Walmart — all of these micro-decisions have somehow become part of political discourse, and it's exhausting. But I feel like there's comfort in that too. It's part of that relatability aspect that is so important for celebrity culture. We want to know the people that we're spending time and money on share our broad value system.