Botox - Fausta's Blog

Bringing his own color-coordinated lectern yesterday, Sarko made a media appearance in front of a friendly audience, the Columbia University World Leaders forum,

Columbia organizers said the French provided their own white lectern and light gray rug for the speech, and also requested a special espresso machine.

The podium and rug complemented the color-coordinated French first couple – including his black suit and white tie and her wraparound black top, gray skirt and black-and-white umbrella.

In a change from the usual protocol, Sarkozy entered the Low Library by walking up the middle of the grand staircase that faces the Columbia campus, instead of from behind a gold curtain like most other speakers.

While at it he asked for more government intervention,

“The world needs an open America, a generous America, an America that shows the way, an America that listens,” he said, calling on the U.S. to champion firm regulations of financial systems, from tax havens to hedge funds.

So much for his old days of being a leader interested in promoting free enterprise.

Sarko and Carla made a big show of affection for the media,

After arriving in New York on Sunday, the presidential couple left their hotel with arms wrapped around one another, smiling for cameras and kissing before going to lunch at the Boathouse restaurant in Central Park with Sarkozy’s son from his second marriage, 12-year-old Louis, who goes to school in New York.

There are [LANGUAGE WARNING: LINK NOT SUITABLE FOR WORK] rumors about the marriage.

Let’s hope the perineal training was worth it and things work out between the two.

Meanwhile, Carla and Sarko are having dinner with Michelle and Obama tonight. Michelle Obama’s Mirror hopes Carla wears underwear.

Sometimes the news cycle outdoes the tawdry reality shows in the battle of the botox. This is one of those times.

Via Greta, at Bloomberg, Botox May Move From Face to Brain, Study in Rats Says

Botulinum neurotoxin type A, sold as Allergan Inc.’s Botox remedy for wrinkles, can move from its injection site to the brain, a study shows.

Scientists injected rats’ whisker muscles with botulism toxin. Tests of the rodents’ brain tissue found that botulism had been transported to the brain stems, the researchers said in the Journal of Neuroscience published April 2.

You can read the Journal of Neuroscience article abstract here:

Botulinum toxins (BoNTs) are used increasingly to treat maladies from spasms and migraines to obesity and wrinkles. It has been assumed that the toxin remains localized at the injection site, where it cleaves proteins involved in vesicle fusion, thereby blocking neurotransmitter release. But now Antonucci et al. demonstrate that BoNT/A is retrogradely transported along microtubules, transcytosed, and taken up by afferent terminals. When BoNT/A was injected into one hippocampus in rats, it cleaved its target — synaptosomal-associated protein of 25 kDa (SNAP-25)—in the contralateral hippocampus, resulting in reduced neuronal activity. Similarly, when BoNT/A was injected into the superior colliculus or whisker pads, SNAP-25 was cleaved in the retina and facial nucleus, respectively. In the retina, BoNT/A remained active for at least 25 d after injection. Although cleaved SNAP-25 was detected only in afferents that projected directly to the injection site, it is not clear whether further transcytosis would occur over time.

The Bloomberg article says,

Scientists injected botulism toxin into one side of the hippocampus in each rodent brain, and into their superior colliculus, a visual center. From one side of the hippocampus, the toxin migrated to the opposite. From the visual center, the drug went to the animals’ eyes.

The effects of the injection into the hippocampus were still present six months later, the scientists wrote.

The FDA is evaluating reports of breathing difficulties and death after use of Botox and Myobloc, according to a posting in February on the agency’s Web site. Many of the most serious cases involved children who received the injections to treat arm and leg spasms associated with cerebral palsy, a use not approved by the FDA.

Prescribing literature for Botox and Myobloc now carries warnings about the risk of breathing and swallowing difficulties in patients with neuromuscular disorders. The FDA said the new data suggest that life-threatening side effects may occur in patients with other conditions, including children with cerebral palsy.

On a lighter mode, considering some of the statements regular Botox users make, these new findings are not really surprising.

Share on Facebook

Sarko does Columbia, heads to DC

Stay away from the Botox