Interesting Stories

Full article: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/196744.php

Excerpt:

A possible cause of irritable bowel syndrome has been traced to a small piece of RNA that blocks a substance protecting the colon membrane, leading to hostile conditions that can produce diarrhea, bloating and chronic abdominal pain.

New research shows that this RNA segment sends signals that stop the activity of the gene that produces glutamine, an amino acid. Previous research has linked a shortage of glutamine in the gut with the seepage of toxins and bacteria through the intestinal wall, irritating nerves and creating disease symptoms.

Scientists say that trying to generate glutamine in the disordered bowel by silencing this RNA segment could open up a whole new way of thinking about treating the diarrhea-predominant type of irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). In the meantime, they are making plans to conduct a clinical trial to see if glutamine supplements could also reduce common IBS symptoms

This form of the disorder is characterized by diarrhea and bloating as well as chronic abdominal pain that is difficult to treat. About a third of IBS patients have the diarrhea-predominant type, another third experience consistent constipation, and the rest experience alternating bouts of diarrhea and constipation.

Full article: http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/court-grants-lyme-disease-autopsy-20100719-10hyx.html

Excerpt:

A SYDNEY woman has been awarded a Supreme Court injunction to have her dead husband tested for a disease the Health Department says does not exist in Australia.

Mualla Akinci’s husband, Karl McManus, died last Wednesday – three years after he was bitten by a tick she says carried Lyme disease, a bacterial infection which, if left untreated, can cause profound neurological damage.

Mr McManus, 43, from Turramurra, was bitten on the left side of his chest during filming for the television show Home and Away in bushland in Waratah Park, northern Sydney. Within six weeks he lost mobility in one of the fingers on his left hand. That quickly spread to paralysis in his left arm and across to his right arm.

Mr McManus was diagnosed with multifocal neuropathy after testing negative for Lyme disease, but Ms Akinci, a pharmacist, insisted he be tested again at clinics in the US and Germany. Both tests returned positive for Lyme disease.

She argues that Australian tests are inadequate because pathologists looks for antibodies in the blood, rather than for proteins in specific bacteria within tissue.

”Lyme doesn’t usually live in the blood. It lives in tissues unless someone’s system is flushed with it so it stands to reason that every test will come back negative,” Ms Akinci said.

The Health Department maintains that no case has been transmitted in Australia and the organisms that cause it – three species of the genus borrelia – are not carried here by wildlife, livestock or their parasites.

The NSW Health Minister, Carmel Tebbutt, said in May there was not enough evidence to support the existence of ticks carrying the borrelia organism.

”Until there is solid evidence to indicate that locally acquired Lyme disease is a significant public health matter in Australia, specific measures to educate the general public or clinicians are difficult to justify,” she said.

Full article: http://www.jneuroinflammation.com/content/7/1/3

Excerpt:

Luteolin, a plant derived flavonoid, exerts a variety of pharmacological activities and anti-oxidant properties associated with its capacity to scavenge oxygen and nitrogen species. Luteolin also shows potent anti-inflammatory activities by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa B (NFkB) signaling in immune cells. To better understand the immuno-modulatory effects of this important flavonoid, we performed a genome-wide expression analysis in pro-inflammatory challenged microglia treated with luteolin and conducted a phenotypic and functional characterization.

Excerpt:

Brain inflammation plays a central role in multiple sclerosis (MS). Dimethylfumarate (DMF), the main ingredient of an oral formulation of fumaric acid esters with proven therapeutic efficacy in psoriasis, has recently been found to ameliorate the course of relapsing-remitting MS. Glial cells are the effector cells of neuroinflammation; however, little is known of the effect of DMF on microglia and astrocytes. The purpose of this study was to use an established in vitro model of brain inflammation to determine if DMF modulates the release of neurotoxic molecules from microglia and astrocytes, thus inhibiting glial inflammation. Methods: Primary microglial and astrocytic cell cultures were prepared from cerebral cortices of neonatal rats. The control cells were treated with LPS, an accepted inducer of pro-inflammatory properties in glial cells, and the experimental groups with LPS and DMF in different concentrations. After stimulation/incubation, the generation of nitric oxide (NO) in the cell culture supernatants was determined by measuring nitrite accumulation in the medium using Griess reagent. After 6 hours of treatment RT-PCR was used to determine transcription levels of iNOS, IL-1beta, IL-6 and TNF-alpha mRNA in microglial and astrocytic cell cultures initially treated with DMF, followed after 30 min by LPS treatment. Moreover, we investigated possible involvement of the ERK and Nrf-2 transduction pathway in microglia using western blot analysis.

Excerpt:

Sleep and circadian rhythm disruption are frequently observed in patients with psychiatric disorders and neurodegenerative disease. The abnormal sleep that is experienced by these patients is largely assumed to be the product of medication or some other influence that is not well defined. However, normal brain function and the generation of sleep are linked by common neurotransmitter systems and regulatory pathways. Disruption of sleep alters sleep–wake timing, destabilizes physiology and promotes a range of pathologies (from cognitive to metabolic defects) that are rarely considered to be associated with abnormal sleep. We propose that brain disorders and abnormal sleep have a common mechanistic origin and that many co-morbid pathologies that are found in brain disease arise from a destabilization of sleep mechanisms. The stabilization of sleep may be a means by which to reduce the symptoms of — and permit early intervention of — psychiatric and neurodegenerative disease,Katharina Wulff, Russell G. Foster,

Full article: http://www.causes.com/causes/194098?recruiter_id=79835423

Excerpt:

Dear Members,
Patient Alliance for Neuroendocrineimmune… Disorders Organization for Research & Advocacy, Inc. (this is how you have to search for us if you need.) DBA as P.A.N.D.O.R.A. is holding a very good ranking on Chase Community Giving. We are the only organization from within our overall Neuroendocrineimmune Disorders (NEIDs) Community that has made to the top 200 ranking now at number 114. You can vote at http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving/charities/550795076-patient-alliance-neuroendocrineimmu-disorders-org-for-resech-amp-adv-inc

Full article: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20487023

Excerpt:

Mycoplasma gallisepticum is a major etiological agent of chronic respiratory disease (CRD) in chickens and sinusitis in turkeys. The pleuromutilin antibiotics tiamulin and valnemulin are currently used in the treatment of M. gallisepticum infection. We studied the in vitro development of pleuromutilin resistance in M. gallisepticum and investigated the molecular mechanisms involved in this process. Pleuromutilin-resistant mutants were selected by serial passages of M. gallisepticum strains PG31 and S6 in broth medium containing subinhibitory concentrations of tiamulin or valnemulin. A portion of the gene encoding 23S rRNA gene (domain V) and the gene encoding ribosome protein L3 were amplified and sequenced. No mutation could be detected in ribosome protein L3. Mutations were found at nucleotide positions 2058, 2059, 2061, 2447 and 2503 of 23S rRNA gene (Escherichia coli numbering). Although a single mutation could cause elevation of tiamulin and valnemulin MICs, combinations of two or three mutations were necessary to produce high-level resistance. All the mutants were cross-resistant to lincomycin, chloramphenicol and florfenicol. Mutants with the A2058G or the A2059G mutation exhibited cross-resistance to macrolide antibiotics erythromycin, tilmicosin and tylosin.

 

Excerpt:

MedWire News: Infection with Helicobacter pylori has a strong negativeassociation with reflux esophagitis, and eradication of infection raises the prevalence of esophagitis to that of non-infected individuals, conclude South Korean investigators.

The association between H. pylori infection and gastroesophageal reflux disease remains a matter of debate, particularly as the majority of studies that have examined the link have been vulnerable to the confounding effect of variables associated with both reflux esophagitis and H. pylori infection.

To adjust for confounding factors, Il Ju Choi, from the National Cancer Center in Goyang, and colleagues enrolled 10,102 individuals from a comprehensive screening cohort, of whom 4007 were followed-up after a median of 2 years.

Overall, 490 of the original 10,102 participants had reflux esophagitis, 76.1% of whom had grade A, 22.7% had grade B, and 1.2% had grade C esophagitis. While there were no age differences between those with and without reflux esophagitis, esophagitis patients had a significantly higher body mass index than those without esophagitis (25.1 vs 23.9 kg/m2).

 

USDA finds guinea pigs are more valuable than humans so they set their RDA of Vit C at 10-25 mg per KGM so that means if humans were as valuable they would have an RDA of  820 to 2000 mg a day instead of the current 75  mg for women and 90 for men.

If we get this new health care plan let’s plan to lobby for us to get equal rights with guinea pigs. 

This higher level of vitamin C going in all humans would save billions each year in needless healthcare costs. See Tom Levy MD’s book CURING THE INCURABLE; you need a copy in your office today. The 1200 references make your recommending BioEn’R-G’y C at one slightly heaping tsp no less than twice a day (providing 8 grams a day) something that there is a reference for in this useful compendium of vitamin C research papers by him.

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

Orthomolecular Medicine News Service, February 04, 2010

RDA for Vitamin C is 10% of USDA Standard for Guinea Pigs

Are You Healthier than a Lab Animal?
Comment by Andrew W. Saul
Editor-In-Chief, Orthomolecular Medicine News Service

(OMNS, Feb 4, 2010) The US RDA for vitamin C for humans is only 10% of the government’s vitamin C standards for Guinea pigs.

Wait a minute; that cannot possibly be true.

Can it?

The US Department of Agriculture states that “the Guinea pig’s vitamin C requirement is 10-15 mg per day under normal conditions and 15-25 mg per day if pregnant, lactating, or growing.” (1)
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