Saturday, October 31, 2015

THEY KNOW THIS


Metabolic endotoxemia initiates obesity and insulin resistance.
Diabetes and obesity are two metabolic diseases characterized by insulin resistance and a low-grade inflammation. Seeking an inflammatory factor causative of the onset of insulin resistance, obesity, and diabetes, we have identified bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) as a triggering factor...
This new finding demonstrates that metabolic endotoxemia dysregulates the inflammatory tone and triggers body weight gain and diabetes. We conclude that the LPS/CD14 system sets the tone of insulin sensitivity and the onset of diabetes and obesity. Lowering plasma LPS concentration could be a potent strategy for the control of metabolic diseases.
Why don't we all?  

Friday, October 30, 2015

Works for Me

Research finds new link between zonulin and 2 common inflammatory bowel conditions 
The researchers have discovered that people with non-coeliac gluten sensitivity (NCGS) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) have higher than normal blood levels of zonulin, suggesting an important role for the protein in the development of these conditions.
Speaking at the 23rd United European Gastroenterology Week (UEG Week 2015) in Barcelona, Spain, Professor Giovanni Barbara from the University of Bologna said the results may lead to new treatment strategies for these conditions. "We were intrigued to find that blood levels of zonulin were almost as high in patients with NCGS as in those with coeliac disease," he said.
...
 "Increased intestinal permeability has been implicated in a range of autoimmune conditions including coeliac disease, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis," explained Prof. Barbara. "Since zonulin is a key regulator of intestinal permeability, it is possible that this protein provides a common link between all these conditions."

Thanks for this, Sarah.

Tuesday, October 27, 2015

I'm tellin ya, Sociopaths all the way down...

It’s not just Paxil: Your antidepressant could be dangerous to your health
An explosive new report finds as many as a third of drug meta-analyses are written by pharma industry employees.
As the old saying goes....  It's not who votes, it's who counts the votes that matters.
And in this case, that would be people who do not care about other people's brains.

Sunday, October 25, 2015

Absolutely. 100%. Yes.

Could Depression Be Caused By An Infection? 

And you don't even need all these convoluted explanations how it works.
Infection reduces Orexin levels to one-sixth of normal.    It's a basic immune response to all kinds of infection.  You instantly have no energy and become cranky.
If your infection is chronic, well you experience this as depression.

Period. The End.

(unless of course you want to include all the other things that are caused by infections...  Anxiety, PTSD, ADHD, Schizophrenia, Autism, Bipolar, Alzheimer's, Parkinsons, Multiple Sclerosis, Alcoholism, Obesity, and all the "Addictions"...  I'm still working out all the details of that thesis, though.)

Saturday, October 24, 2015

Oh Really

Old rat brains rejuvenated and new neurons grown by asthma drug
The rats took part in a range of learning and memory tests. One of these, for example, involved the rats being placed in a pool of water with a hidden escape platform. At the start of the study, untreated young rats learned to recognise landmarks and quickly find their way to the platform, while the untreated older animals struggled at the task.
By the end of their six-week drug regime, though, old animals performed as well as their younger companions. “We’ve restored learning and memory 100 per cent, to a level comparable with youth,” says Aigner. He presented his findings last week at the Society for Neuroscience meetingin Chicago.
When the team studied the brains of the animals, they found that old rats that had been given Montelukast had 80 per cent less inflammation. They also had an enhanced level of new neuron growth compared with untreated old rats – about 50 per cent of that seen in young rats, says Aigner.
The team also found that the blood-brain barrier – which stops infectious agents reaching the brain and which weakens in old age – was stronger in treated old rats. “Structurally, the brain had rejuvenated,” says Aigner.
Yes, it seems Montelukast alleviates the inflammatory effects of Endotoxin.

I think we need to start a campaign to research this.    I want some, dammit.

Wednesday, October 21, 2015

On the Topic of Progressive Cell Loss

One of the fundamental misconceptions about Narcolepsy is the belief that orexin deficiency is static- either you have orexin producing cells or you don't. The fallacies that usually accompany this misunderstanding are:
  • If you do have cells, you produce orexin
  • And if you don't produce orexin, you don't have cells.
So let's start here:  Orexin production is not binary.
Orexin production fluctuates up and down regularly all day long in all people. That's how it works, high levels wakes us up and low levels puts us to sleep.  1
And many environmental triggers decrease orexin production without killing the cells.   2 3 4 5

Secondly- theres a pervasive idea that orexin cell loss is an all or nothing thing, either you have them or you don't, that they all get killed before you show symptoms. That is not true, even old dead narcoleptics still have between 5-10% of their cells left.  6

Most of this misunderstanding is the result of hasty conclusions. When orexin was first discovered, they had a bunch of old-time narcos who volunteered to be tested. And lo and behold they had no orexin.  And normal people did. So it was clear: Narcolepsy is a lack of orexin.  That's what the dog experiments showed.   Those narcoleptic dogs are unable to produce orexin.

But then they started testing as many people as would let them stick a needle in their spines... and bam, they soon found people who still did produce orexin, but passed out and slept in the doctor's office anyway.  So, since they couldn't go in those people's brains and figure out what was actually going on.... they just made another category to put those people into.

Since then, the evidence has clearly shown that there is a whole range of symptoms and cell loss and orexin levels that narcoleptic humans exhibit. Not only that, the symptoms are inversely correlated to orexin levels and these effects are cumulative.   7
Instead of two discreet diagnoses.... Type 1 and Type 2, the data actually indicates a progression of cell loss, orexin depletion and symptoms. Unfortunately, most sleep doctors cannot even name the five basic symptoms of narcolepsy, so yours is likely unaware of this development.  8

The current evidence supports the conclusion that narcolepsy is actually a combination of cell loss AND low production of orexin in the remaining cells. Erratic production causes symptoms in the beginning, but eventually the cells are killed.

This is why people who are tested close to the onset of symptoms may show orexin levels in the normal range.
And also why even if you do have viable cells, you still might not have any circulating orexin.

It is also why you should do something about it as soon as possible.

Thursday, October 15, 2015

It's Not Your Imagination

A couple for you.

Type 2 diabetes patients find exercise more difficult
All of the women exercised on a stationary bicycle at a low to moderate intensity similar to the work needed to walk one mile in 25 minutes. During the exercise, women reported how difficult it felt while also having blood drawn to test for lactate levels. Those levels are an important measure of effort because they increase in proportion to the level of exertion.
The researchers found significantly higher lactate levels during low to moderate intensity exercise in people with Type 2 diabetes than their counterparts without the disease. They also tended to score higher on the Rating of Perceived Exertion that measures how difficult people rate the exercise.
"Exercise effort is an important barrier to physical activity because it is modifiable," the study said, "and the perception of more intense effort during exercise has been associated with lower levels of usual physical activity."
According to Huebschmann, these findings suggest that common household activities like climbing stairs or carrying groceries would feel more difficult to people with Type 2 diabetes than to their counterparts without diabetes.
And guess what....  eating fruit before exercising makes this worse.
Sheesh.

Here's a great one from Denise.

Losing Neutrality: The Neural Basis of Impaired Emotional Control without Sleep
 Sleep loss is known as a robust modulator of emotional reactivity, leading to increased anxiety and stress elicited by seemingly minor triggers. In this work, we aimed to portray the neural basis of these emotional impairments and their possible association with frontal regulation of emotional processing, also known as cognitive control of emotion. Using specifically suited EEG and fMRI tasks, we were able to show that sleep deprivation alters emotional reactivity by triggering enhanced processing of stimuli regarded previously as neutral. These changes were further accompanied by diminished frontal connectivity, reduced REM sleep, and poorer performance. Therefore, we suggest that sleep loss alters emotional reactivity by lowering the threshold for emotional activation, leading to a maladaptive loss of emotional neutrality.

Emotional volatility.   Sounds familiar for some reason... wish I could remember.... ha.

Saturday, October 10, 2015

Brain Saving Zombie of the Day

















Apparently Jazz is giving away cookies at their booth.   Uh huh.

THIS IS WHY

Because we can come out of our fogs, and when we do, we want everyone to do the same.

Gina is at the NN Conference right now, has a booth, and is telling everyone who will listen that a gluten free diet changed her life.
And she's revving up the info barrage on her blog.  Here's her latest post.

Last year, Christina gave a talk on Diet and Narcolepsy.  You can access the video here.


This was my goal-  Just to wake y'all up enough that you could find the way out of the darkness.   And now you're off and running.

I must go weep now.

Thursday, October 8, 2015

Can You Hear Me Screaming???

Suicide attempts and self harm increase in wake of weight-loss surgery

Yes, it's amazing what can happen to your brain when you get a bunch of gut microbes in your bloodstream...

Okay, gotta go pace some more...

Friday, October 2, 2015

Just Sayin

Men in their twenties can be assumed to have unaddressed wisdom teeth problems.
And that often causes bacteremia and mania and delirium.

Thursday, October 1, 2015

Not my Imagination

Why It Was Easier to Be Skinny in the 1980s
A new study finds that people today who eat and exercise the same amount as people 20 years ago are still fatter.
Yeah, and they give a few of the standard options, but don't actually answer the question.

The answer to the question is wanton overprescription of antibiotics.
The cumulative effects are destroying our collective metabolism.