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Researchers correlate rheumatoid arthritis with solar cycles









What began as a chat between husband and wife has evolved into an intriguing scientific discovery. The results, published in May in BMJ (formerly British Medical Journal) Open, show a “highly significant” correlation between periodic solar storms and incidences of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and giant cell arteritis (GCA), two potentially debilitating autoimmune diseases. The findings by a rare collaboration of physicists and medical researchers suggest a relationship between the solar outbursts and the incidence of these diseases that could lead to preventive measures if a causal link can be established. Inspiring this study were conversations between Simon Wing, a Johns Hopkins University physicist and first author of the paper, and his wife, Lisa Rider, deputy unit chief of the Environmental Autoimmunity Group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences in the National Institutes of Health, and a coauthor. Rider spotted data from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, showing that cases of RA and GCA followed close to 10-year cycles. “That got me curious,” Wing recalled. “Only a few things in nature have a periodicity of about 10-11 years and the solar cycle is one of them.” June 16






The planet Mercury went direct on June 11 after a three week period of retrogression. In the wake of this direct motion we are now  seeing events which can be related to the station. A chart for Mercury SD at Baltimore, Maryland, where John Hopkins University is located, is shown here.  Notice that Mercury-Saturn  are on the horizon axis while Neptune is on the IC. In other words they are all in a paran aspect [1]. Mercury [4ge] is conjunct the star mu Tauri [4ge] in the knee of the Bull. In addition, Mercury (movement) is conjunct  the TNP Admetus and opposite Saturn (both linked to restriction).  Mercury is also conjunct the asteroid Hephaistos,  which is linked to problems with lower limbs. Neptune on the IC is opposite the medical asteroid Aesculapia connected to disease and illness. And finally Pluto [15cp] which aspects both ends of the horizon axis is conjunct the star Rukbat [17cp]. Alpha (α) Sagittarius, Rukbat, is a star on the horse's knee!

Saturn rules our bones and teeth as well as having rulership over our tendons and ligaments.   And the ruler of Capricorn is this planet.  Nowhere in the body is more important than these two items in our knees.  Saturn also rules the cartilage of our body whether it’s the discs between our vertebrae or the covering on our knee joints. Sometimes, the  knee joint, for whatever reason (probably genetic) produces too much fluid (Neptune) .   This is most often seen in people who have degenerative or other types of joint disease (rheumatoid arthritis, osteoarthritis). [2]

If we remember that Saturn  is the ‘capacity for organization’  while  Mercury is linked to the ability to see connections in a  ‘collection of data’ we begin to understand  how  Wing and his wife Rider were able to arrive at their remarkable  conclusions  at the  Mercury station.




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