Archive for January, 2011

Borrelia ticks in China

Link: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21223661&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

OBJECTIVE: To understand the carrying status of Borrelia burgdorferi in
ticks from the mountain areas from six representative provinces, including
Jilin, Shanxi, Gansu, Qinghai, Guizhou and Hunan in China. 

METHODS: Flagging and
trapping methods were used to collect ticks in forest area and culture
medium was used to isolate the pathogen. Nested-PCR was used to detect the
germ-carrying rate of ticks. 

RESULTS: More than 2200 ticks from six
representative provinces were collected and 1000 ticks were used to isolate
the pathogen. 13 Lyme disease spirochetes from ixodes persulcatus in
Changbai, Jilin province and 9 Lyme disease spirochetes from ixodes
granulatus in Daozhen, Guizhou province were identified. There were 1255
ticks used for PCR testing.
Specific fragments of the Borrelia burgdorferi in ticks were found from the
six representative provinces in China. The carrier rate was higher in Jilin
(Changbai 27.08%, Tonghua 20.41%), Qinghai (Huzhu 25.06%, Huangnan 21.11%)
and Guizhou (Daozhen 25.63%), than in Shanxi (Yuanqu 4.72%, Jiaocheng
3.64%). Result from the sequence analysis showed that the genotype belong to
Borrelia garinii in Jilin, Qinghai, Gansu, Shanxi provinces but Borrelia
valaisiana in Guizhou and Hunan provinces. 

CONCLUSION: Our data showed that there existed Lyme disease spirochetes in
all the six representative provinces in China, but the carrying rates of
ticks were different. Borrelia garinii was found in Shanxi province, and
Borrelia valaisiana in Hunan province.

Dr. Gordon comments on Thyroid Issues

There is an epidemic of patients who need thyroid support! The attached shows how thyroid can protect pregnancies from untoward outcomes.

Nonetheless, the current January 2011 Townsend Newsletter reports that the Oregon Medical Board is attacking a licensed MD there for prescribing thyroid when the T4 and TSH target levels they are insisting on were not present. They are ignoring all of the overwhelming clinical evidence that the patient needed and was benefited by the thyroid prescription. 

This is very sad since   subclinical hypothyroidism is EPIDEMIC in our toxic world. Just consider the levels of Fluorine and Bromide present today that induce iodine deficiency in our population, as one cause of suboptimal thyroid function. For many other causes please consider owning the $300 new text on Nutritional Medicine by Alan Gaby with nearly 30,000 references behind it.

But look at this report. How many miscarriages or other pregnancy problems would be eliminated if doctors were not living in fear of their medical licenses? If they read Broda Barnes’ book on Thyroid Disease later reviewed by Dr Stephen Langer and then the book, Hypothyroidism Type 2 by Mark Starr that brings the rationale for diagnosing borderline or subclinical hypothyroidism into clear focus.

We should err on the side of more thyroid support for patients since there are so many contributors to low thyroid function instead of putting doctors in harm’s way for practicing real medicine.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://www.peerview-institute.org/news/content.nsf/PaperFrameSet?OpenForm&pp=1&id=126B011F4ED45893852575D20063B434&refid=3473&specid=26&newsid=852576140048867C8525780F002FD1C6&locref=ntkwatch&u=http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&dopt=Abstract&list_s=21193190

Excerpt:

OBJECTIVE: To investigate whether levothyroxine (LT4) treatment has beneficial effects on IVF results and pregnancy outcome in infertile patients with subclinical hypothyroidism undergoing IVF/intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI).

DESIGN: Prospective, randomized trial.

SETTING: University-affiliated infertility clinic.

PATIENT(S): A total of 64 infertile patients with subclinical hypothyroidism, defined as an elevated serum TSH level associated with a normal free T4 level and without frank symptoms of hypothyroidism.

INTERVENTION(S): Patients were randomized into an LT4 treatment group or control group. For the LT4 treatment group, 50 μg LT4 was administered from the first day of controlled ovarian stimulation for IVF/ICSI.

MAIN OUTCOME MEASURE(S): Results of IVF and pregnancy outcome.

RESULT(S): There were no differences in patient characteristics between the two groups. Total dose and days of recombinant human FSH used for controlled ovarian stimulation were also similar. The number of grade I or II embryos was significantly higher in the LT4 treatment group than in the control group. There was no significant difference in the clinical pregnancy rate per cycle between the two groups. However, the miscarriage rate was significantly lower in the LT4 treatment group than in the control group. Embryo implantation rate and live birth rate were significantly higher in the LT4 treatment group. In the control group, both thyroid peroxidase antibody and thyroglobulin antibody levels were significantly higher in the miscarried subgroup than in the delivered subgroup.

CONCLUSION(S): LT4 treatment can improve embryo quality and pregnancy outcome in subclinical hypothyroid women undergoing IVF/ICSI.

Borrelia Genome Sequence

Link: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21217002&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

Department of Pathology, Division of Microbiology and Immunology, University
of Utah Medical School, Salt Lake City, UT 84112; Institute for Genome
Sciences, University of Maryland, School of Medicine, Department of
Microbiology and Immunology, Baltimore, MD 21201; Department of Biological
Sciences, Hunter College of the City University of New York, New York, NY
10065; Biology Department, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Upton, NY 11793;
Department of Medicine, Health Science Center, Stony Brook University, Stony
Brook, NY 11794; Department of Medicine, University of Medicine and
Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ 07103.

Human Lyme disease is caused by a number of related Borrelia burgdorferi
sensu lato species. We report here the complete genome sequence of Borrelia
sp.
isolate SV1 from Finland. It is a so far the closest known relative of B.
burgdorferi sensu stricto, but it is sufficiently genetically distinct from
that species that it and its close relatives warrant its candidacy as a new
species status. We suggest that it should be named Borrelia finlandensis

Genetics & Chemicals – With Comments from Dr. Gordon

Genetics also influences our ability to withstand the chemicals we are exposed to, as in this research on Parkinson’s disease. Remember some can eat fish and the mercury they consume clears in as little as 40 days whereas others take nearly 6 months to clear the same dose of mercury.

It might be best to at least do something every day from early childhood on such as extra C or EDD (Essential Daily Defense), which I suggest to start before age 1. Okay to use one cap per 20 # weight and 1 Gm of BioEn’R-G’y C (1/4 tsp) per 10 pound of weight or per 1 year of age during the entire lifespan. 

We have proof from Harvard that the lower level of lead in bones reduces dramatically the incidence of death from heart disease (i.e. high levels have 6 times the death rate) so this is a life time challenge we all face now that we have polluted our earth.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Excerpt:
From the aDepartment of Epidemiology, UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA; bDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, UC Berkeley, CA; cDepartment of Preventive Medicine, Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA; dDepartment of Neurology, UCLA School of Medicine, Los Angeles, CA; and eDepartment of Environmental Health Sciences, Center for Occupational and Environmental Health (COEH), UCLA School of Public Health, Los Angeles, CA.

BACKGROUND:: Human, animal and cell models support a role for pesticides in the etiology of Parkinson disease. Susceptibility to pesticides may be modified by genetic variants of xenobiotic enzymes, such as paraoxonase, that play a role in metabolizing some organophosphates. 

METHODS:: We examined associations between Parkinson disease and the organophosphates diazinon, chlorpyrifos, and parathion, and the influence of a functional polymorphism at position 55 in the coding region of the PON1 gene (PON1-55). From 1 January 2001 through 1 January 2008, we recruited 351 incident cases and 363 controls from 3 rural California counties in a population-based case-control study. Participants provided a DNA sample, and residential exposure to organophosphates was determined from pesticide usage reports and a geographic information system (GIS) approach. We assessed the main effects of both genes and pesticides in unconditional logistic regression analyses, and evaluated the effect of carrying a PON1-55 MM variant on estimates of effects for diazinon, chlorpyrifos, and parathion exposures. 

RESULTS:: Carriers of the variant MM PON1-55 genotype exposed to organophosphates exhibited a greater than 2-fold increase in Parkinson disease risk compared with persons who had the wildtype or heterozygous genotype and no exposure (for diazinon, odds ratio = 2.2 [95% confidence interval = 1.1-4.5]; for chlorpyrifos, 2.6 [1.3-5.4]). The effect estimate for chlorpyrifos, was more pronounced in younger-onset cases and controls (</=60 years) (5.3 [1.7-16]). No increase in risk was noted for parathion. 

CONCLUSION:: The increase in risk we observed among PON1-55 variant carriers for specific organophosphates metabolized by PON1 underscores the importance of considering susceptibility factors when studying environmental exposures in Parkinson disease.

Fluoride Poisoning – With Comments from Dr. Gordon

Fluoride poisoning is the real problem contributing to a population of tired people whose thyroid function is compromised by iodine deficiency, which Fluorine aggravates.

This “news” that the federal government finally sees a little bit about the need to lower the level in water is just the tip of the iceberg. This, like vaccines, is hard to stop no matter how much damage these public health measures do to some. From the attached you will see that:

“Federal health officials have called fluoridation one of the 10 great public-health achievements of the 20th century, saying it significantly cuts the rate of cavities and saves money.

But for years, some groups have called for an end to fluoridation, arguing that it poses serious health dangers, including increased risk of bone fractures and of decreased thyroid function. Friday’s announcement did little to appease such critics.

“The only rational course of action is to stop water fluoridation,” said Paul Connett, executive director of the Fluoride Action Network, a nonprofit advocacy and fluoride-education group.

I point out that the fluorine industry would have to pay millions to bury this poisonous by-product of mining aluminum so there is little or no chance we will ever get rid of it. But we must continue to fight this issue.

See the January issue of Townsend article by Gary Null to learn how bad this fluorine issue is for us. It may help explain why some very well informed doctors are taking and recommending to their patients 50 milligrams not micrograms of iodine daily to fight back.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704739504576068162146159004.html?mod=djemHL_t

Excerpt:

The Wall Street Journal, 
•Health JANUARY 8, 2011 

Government Advises Less Fluoride in Water 

By TIMOTHY W. MARTIN 

The federal government lowered its recommended limit on the amount of fluoride in drinking water for the first time in nearly 50 years, saying that spots on some children’s teeth show they are getting too much of the mineral. 

Fluoride has been added to U.S. water supplies since 1945 to prevent tooth decay. Since 1962, the government has recommended adding a range of 0.7 milligrams to 1.2 milligrams per liter. 

But federal officials said Friday they would move the recommended limit to 0.7 milligrams per liter, or the bottom end of the current range, because people are getting more fluoride these days from other sources, such as toothpaste, mouthwash, prescription fluoride supplements, and fluoride treatments given by dentists. 

A study conducted between 1999 and 2004 by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that 41% of children between the ages of 12 and 15 exhibited signs of dental fluorosis, a spotting or streaking on the teeth. That was up from nearly 23% found in a study from 1986 and 1987.

The CDC believes the increase is due mostly to children swallowing toothpaste with fluoride when they brush their teeth. 

MRI & CT Scan Dangers – With Comments from Dr. Gordon

Cat, MRI’s and myocardial perfusion studies are potentially dangerous (cancer risk) and often offer no real benefit to patients.

This report about cumulative doses of radiation on today’s medicine and lack of real benefit to patients strongly supports my belief that they are hurting patients today with their drugs and surgery. Of course there is no real money in treating the causes, so this abuse will continue and we could easily imagine it getting worse when government steps in to fix health care.

“Moreover, despite abnormalities on myocardial perfusion scans being powerful predictors of future events, no study has shown that aggressive therapy in these high-risk patients can improve future outcomes, notes Lauer.”

Personally I like tests, as without a little fear patients will go off any health promoting program we suggest, but that is where we win and they lose. Our treatment does improve future outcomes every time.

I know that even though our TACT trial is not as effective as my current protocol for treating heart disease where I can usually discontinue all cardiac medications shortly after the patient goes on my total heart support program (Beyond Chelation-Improved,  Boluoke, Acetyl Carnitine, Ubiquinol, ACS, Zeo Gold, etc). However, most patients resent paying out of pocket for natural treatment that treats the causes. They still like their dangerous drugs that are now are at least the 4th leading cause of death in America. Their drugs are subsidized by our health care system.  It seems that if poison is free and real non-toxic health-care costs money, many will take their poison almost religiously. But here an expert on this says that cardiac perfusion studies are not really helping. That is because they are being treated under a defective outmoded paradigm. I use that same impaired perfusion study to motivate my patients to get well and stay well but not to  just have a stent put in and live on some “blockers’ for the rest of their lives.  It sounds as though the king is wearing no clothes and some are willing to point it out!

Sincerely,

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/708042?src=mpnews&spon=2&uac=81207PR

Excerpt:

August 27, 2009 (Atlanta, Georgia) — Medical imaging procedures expose many nonelderly patients to substantial doses of ionizing radiation, according to the results of a new study [1]. Myocardial perfusion imaging alone accounts for 22% of the radiation dose from all study procedures, while computed-tomography (CT) scans of the abdomen, pelvis, and chest account for nearly 38%, report investigators.

“Our findings that in some patients worrisome radiation doses from imaging procedures can accumulate over time underscores the need to improve their use,” write lead investigator Dr Reza Fazel (Emory University School of Medicine, Atlanta, GA) and colleagues. “Unlike the exposure of workers in healthcare and the nuclear industry, which can be regulated, the exposure of patients cannot be restricted, largely because of the inherent difficulty in balancing the immediate clinical need for these procedures, which is frequently substantial, against the stochastic risks of cancer that would not be evident for years, if at all.”

The analysis, which studied 952 420 adults aged 18 to 64 years in five US cities, is published in the August 27, 2009 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
During the study period, which ran from 2005 to 2007, 655 613 adults underwent at least one imaging procedure associated with radiation exposure. The mean effective dose was 2.4 mSv per person per year, although a wide distribution was noted. Moreover, the proportion of subjects undergoing procedures and their mean doses varied according to age, sex, and city. For example, approximately 50% of adults aged 18 to 34 years underwent a medical imaging procedure requiring radiation, whereas 86% of adults 60 to 64 years of age were sent for similar testing. Women also underwent imaging procedures significantly more often than men.

Dr. Gordon comments on Vulnerable Plaque and Heart Disease

Doctor Gordon’s Comments:

This is vital information; most bypass and stents are operating on the wrong lesions.

Vulnerable plaque is not identifiable at this point, yet is it the only one warranting attention. Most of the stents and bypass surgery are treating lesions that are little or no threat to the patient just like most of the prostate cancers being found would not have contributed to
the patient’s demise. And now we learn that most of the breast lesions discovered on mammograms also warranted nothing more than watch and waiting instead of the rush to surgery and chemo and radiation.

How can you practice advanced medicine and avoid these traps?

I have mentioned a multigated ECG from PREMIER HEART that really identifies significant coronary disease with a simple number. ZERO is what YOU want and that is what my report found.  If your report is a SIX, you will in all probability have a significant “event” like a heart attack in less than a year. The equipment costs $35,000 and the test takes 15 minutes and each report costs $50, as you use a supercomputer to review this special advanced ECG.

Read the attached report and look at how bad our competitors are doing who will not learn about IV and oral chelation, Boluoke, Co Q, etc.

Three-year data from 700 patients in prospect announced last fall showed that about 20% of patients with acute coronary syndromes treated with stents and optimal medical therapy have at least one more major adverse cardiac event within three years, but that 12% of these patients’ events were caused by lesions other than the original nonculprit lesion. 

I have no reported fatal or non fatal heart attacks when patients are on my total program. Of course, I use that to motivate my patients to really take my heart program seriously!

Of course, if they do then most if not all can overtime improve their score and in time get to the zero if they are willing to do all that I advocate. The same way the $1000 BioClip test shows whose vascular age is inappropriate for their age. You do not want to be 50 years old and have vascular age of a 70 year old person. Again we can routinely reverse that vascular age score or that heart risk score but patients need testing before they will go on any program that costs them money.

Garry F. Gordon MD,DO,MD(H)
President, Gordon Research Institute
www.gordonresearch.com

Link: http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/724138

Excerpt:

From Heartwire 
Building Multimodality Pictures to Unlock the Secrets of Vulnerable Plaques
Reed Miller

June 24, 2010 (Hamburg, Germany) — Researchers are developing techniques combining intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) “virtual histology” (VH) with positron-emission tomography (PET) and computed tomography (CT) that they hope will someday predict which coronary plaques trigger MIs.

Dr Martin Bennett (Cambridge University, UK) discussed his group’s research into vulnerable plaque imaging here at the European Atherosclerosis Society (EAS) EAS 2010 Congress. “We know what a vulnerable plaque is–[it is characterized by] a loss of smooth-muscle cells, inflammation, platelet aggregation, expansion of lipid cores. But if we’re trying to detect these features with imaging, we need to focus on particular structural or functional components of those plaques that we can detect using noninvasive imaging techniques.”

IVUS VH, a technology developed by Volcano (San Diego, CA), analyzes ultrasound “backscatter” patterns to differentiate plaque constituents in IVUS coronary images. IVUS VH’s ability to identify fibrous tissue, fibrous fatty tissue, necrotic core, and dense calcification has been validated in postmortem studies with sensitivity and specificity up to 95% to 98%. By assigning different colors to different constituent materials in the vessel wall, IVUS VH can show the thin-cap fibrous atheromas, also known as vulnerable plaques.

Bennett and colleagues studied 200 patients with IVUS VH to see how the coronary substrate wall was different between patients with stable angina and unstable-angina patients. So far, the researchers have processed over 200 m worth of plaque, or about 750 plaques.

Probiotics prevent leaky gut

Link: http://www.biomedcentral.com/content/pdf/1471-2180-10-316.pdf

Excerpt:

he effect of Lactobacillus plantarum MB452 on tight junction integrity was determined by measuring trans-epithelial electrical resistance (TEER) across Caco-2 cell layers. L. plantarum MB452 caused a dose-dependent TEER increase across Caco-2 cell monolayers compared to control medium. Gene expression was compared in Caco-2 cells untreated or treated with L. plantarum MB452 for 10 hours. Caco-2 cell RNA was hybridised to human oligonucleotide arrays. Data was analysed using linear models and differently expressed genes were examined using pathway analysis tools. Nineteen tight junction-related genes had altered expression levels in response to L. plantarum MB452 (modified-P<0.05, fold-change>1.2), including those encoding occludin and its associated plaque proteins that anchor it to the cytoskeleton. L. plantarum MB452 also caused changes in tubulin and proteasome gene expression levels which may be linked to intestinal barrier function. Caco-2 tight junctions were visualised by fluorescent microscopy of immuno-stained occludin, zona occludens (ZO)-1, ZO-2 and cingulin. Caco-2 cells treated with L. plantarum MB452 had higher intensity fluorescence of each of the four tight junction proteins compared to untreated controls.

Conclusions

This research indicates that enhancing the expression of genes involved in tight junction signalling is a possible mechanism by which L. plantarum MB452 improves intestinal barrier function.

The Lyme disease vaccine–a public health perspective

Link: http://eutils.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/eutils/elink.fcgi?dbfrom=pubmed&id=21217171&retmode=ref&cmd=prlinks

Excerpt:

Lyme disease, which is caused by the spirochetal agent Borrelia burgdoferi,
is the most common vector-borne illness in the United States. In 1998, the
US Food and Drug Administration approved a recombinant Lyme disease vaccine
that was later voluntarily withdrawn from the market by the manufacturer.
Current Lyme disease prevention efforts focus on a combination of methods
and approaches, including area acaricides, landscape management,
host-targeted interventions, management of deer populations, and personal
protective measures, such as the use of insect repellant and tick checks.
Although these methods are generally safe and relatively inexpensive, the
primary limitations of these methods are that their effectiveness has been
difficult to demonstrate conclusively and that rates of compliance are
generally poor. An effective human Lyme disease vaccine that has been
adequately evaluated in the highest-risk population groups could be very
beneficial in preventing Lyme disease; however, it would need to meet high
standards regarding safety, efficacy, cost, and public acceptance.

Home Labs on the Rise

Excerpt:

Home Labs on the Rise for the Fun of Science
Wednesday, December 15, 2010

By PETER WAYNER, The New York Times

One day Kathy Ceceri noticed a tick on her arm and started to worry that it was the kind that carried Lyme disease. So she went to her home lab, put the tiny arachnid under her microscope, which is connected to her computer through a U.S.B. cable, and studied the image.

“It was,” she said. “Then of course I Googled what to do when you’ve been bitten by a deer tick.”

Ms. Ceceri’s microscope, a Digital Blue QX5, is one of several pieces of scientific equipment that make up her home lab, which she has set up on her dining room table in Schuylerville, N.Y. Home labs like hers are becoming more feasible as the scientific devices that stock them become more computerized, cheaper and easier to use. 

Ms. Ceceri has several microscopes and a telescope. Other home laboratories have tools like infrared thermometers, which can be used in the kitchen, and kits to analyze DNA at home.

Many of these tools work closely with home computers and come with software that enhances their power. Others mix low-cost computers into the hardware to deliver more precise control.

Some people who set up home laboratories are serious hobbyists in search of better tools; others are home-schooling parents equipping their children; and others are just curious.

 Ms. Ceceri, a writer, seems to fall into all three camps because she teaches her sons Anthony, 15, and John, 18, at home, and then she writes about some of their discoveries for a number of blogs like geekdad.com, geekmom.com and homebiology.blogspot.com.

 “This year we’re doing integrated science,” she said of her home science curriculum. “Anything we were looking at, we put under the microscope.”

 She explained that she and her children raised triops, tiny crustaceans, and examined the eggs under the microscope. “We took a really nice video of the paramecium and nematodes swimming around just holding a digital camera up to a microscope,” she said.

 Brian Haddock, a software developer from south of Fort Worth, who also writes about science topics on his blog, Reeko’s Mad Scientist Lab, particularly enjoys using a microscope with a computer.

 “Those U.S.B. microscopes are pretty cool,” he said. “They don’t magnify as much as one of those optical scopes would, but you can look at it on your computer screen. It’s got a big picture on your screen that’s easier to see instead of those little tiny images you squint at.”

 “Personally, I like the Carson zPix,” he said.

 The growth in home labs is helped by manufacturers who are building tools at affordable prices.

 ThinkGeek.com, an online store that sells items for home laboratories, among other things, offers three models of microscopes at various prices, said Scott Smith, a co-founder of the site.

Prices begin at $99, with models that offer 20x to 200x digital enlargements of whatever is being examined. The store’s high-end model costs $349, and it delivers what Mr. Smith characterized as sharper, better quality images for both hobbyists and businesses like jewelry shops.

Adding a computer interface to a telescope makes it possible to collect more detail than might appear to the eye looking through the optics. The computer can collect multiple images over time and combine the results, enhancing the appearance of the faintest items.

 “It isn’t just about capturing video or still images. It actually allows you to stack a whole bunch of still images to get those really beautiful, spectacular pictures of the night sky,” explained Timothy Burns, the director of marketing at Edmund Scientific, the scientific supplier, which stocks a wide range of telescopes for the casual and professional scientist.