Thursday, January 31, 2013

Microbial Metabolic Modification

Two articles. 

Gut Microbes at Root of Severe Malnutrition in Kids
"The gut microbes of malnourished children and malnourished mice do not appear to mature along a normal, healthy trajectory," says senior author Jeffrey Gordon, MD, director of the Center for Genome Sciences and Systems Biology. "Feeding the children and the mice a high-calorie, nutrient-rich food had a temporary, beneficial effect on their gut microbes, but not enough to repair the dysfunction. Our results suggest we need to devise new strategies to repair gut microbial communities so these children can experience healthy growth and reach their full potential."
and here's their first strategy-
Antibiotics Cut Death Rate for Malnourished Children
Severely malnourished children are far more likely to recover and survive when given antibiotics along with a therapeutic peanut-based food than children who are simply treated with the therapeutic food alone, researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis have found.
Malnutrition, much like morbid obesity, seems to be a metabolic illness.   I'm shocked, I tell you.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013

The Guinea Pig Generation

Genetics may explain severe flu in Chinese people
Some experts said it was an intriguing finding that shows a patient's response to a virus may determine how sick they will become.
 "The bug in someone who gets severely ill is not any different than the one that infects someone who has mild illness," said Michael Osterholm, director of the Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy at the University of Minnesota, who did not participate in the study. "It's the host that does all the damage to themselves."
If people carried the genetic variant, Osterholm said, their immune systems were more likely to kick into overdrive if they caught the flu, causing problems like organ damage or blocking their airways. Scientists have long recognized that diseases don't strike all populations equally. Caucasian people are more likely to get the crippling Guillain-Barre syndrome after vaccinations and flu epidemics are often more fatal in indigenous populations in Australia and Canada.

So people are differentially susceptible and caucasians are at a higher risk for autoimmune complications, and yet we ALL are told to get a flu shot.    I wonder whose idea that was...

Sunday, January 27, 2013

The Center of the Vortex

"The English Malady" was usually called "hysteria" in women or "hypochondria" in men. 

George Cheyne and his Work
His next book The English Malady 1733, included case histories of some of his patients and a lengthy account of his own battle with obesity and depression. To Cheyne the English Malady was melancholy, not obesity itself, but obesity was one symptom of that melancholy a lowness of spirits, anxiety, insomnia and nervous agitation which was the result of modern, urban life and immoderate and luxurious lifestyle. As Roy Porter points out, when diseases were labelled by nationality it usually signified contempt and dread; syphilis, for example, was known to the British as the French disease and to the French as the Spanish disease. By calling his syndrome 'the English malady', Cheyne was in fact flattering his readers. He saw the syndrome as arising from English wealth, civilization and refinement. Just as today's celebrities talk of food intolerances, burn-out and exhaustion and check into health spas, clinics and retreats, so the eighteenth century elite also believed themselves particularly susceptible to nervous disorders and dietary complaints.

280 years ago.   And all "experts" have done in the intervening centuries is change the name.

Friday, January 25, 2013

How do you spell relief?

Medical Cannabis Provides Dramatic Relief for Sufferers of Chronic Ailments
In the Hadarim nursing home, 19 patients between the ages of 69 and 101 were treated with medical cannabis in the form of powder, oil, vapor, or smoke three times daily over the course of a year for conditions such as pain, lack of appetite, and muscle spasms and tremors. Researchers and nursing home staff monitored participants for signs of improvement, as well as improvement in overall life quality, such as mood and ease in completing daily living activities.
During the study, 17 patients achieved a healthy weight, gaining or losing pounds as needed. Muscle spasms, stiffness, tremors and pain reduced significantly. Almost all patients reported an increase in sleeping hours and a decrease in nightmares and PTSD-related flashbacks.
There was a notable decline in the amount of prescribed medications taken by patients, such as antipsychotics, Parkinson's treatment, mood stabilizers, and pain relievers, Klein found, noting that these drugs have severe side effects. By the end of the study, 72 percent of participants were able to reduce their drug intake by an average of 1.7 medications a day.
My research indicates it improves mood yet doesn't mess up your blood sugar levels like alcohol.
Have a pleasant weekend.

Inflammation is Everywhere

Prenatal Inflammation Linked to Autism Risk
The risk of autism among children in the study was increased by 43 percent among mothers with CRP levels in the top 20th percentile, and by 80 percent for maternal CRP in the top 10th percentile. The findings appear in the journal Molecular Psychiatry and add to mounting evidence that an overactive immune response can alter the development of the central nervous system in the fetus.
"Elevated CRP is a signal that the body is undergoing a response to inflammation from, for example, a viral or bacterial infection," said lead scientist on the study, Alan Brown, M.D.... "The higher the level of CRP in the mother, the greater the risk of autism in the child."

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Read this book

It's going to be released in a couple weeks.

Bad Pharma is the story of the ways in which the pharmaceutical industry, with the help of regulators, doctors and academics, seeks to pervert and obfuscate the research done to test new medicines.
  "Drugs are tested by the people who manufacture them, in poorly designed trials, on hopelessly small numbers of weird, unrepresentative patients, and analysed using techniques which are flawed by design, in such a way that they exaggerate the benefits of treatments. Unsurprisingly, these trials tend to produce results that favour the manufacturer. When trials produce results that companies don't like, they are perfectly entitled to hide them from doctors and patients, so we only ever see a distorted picture of any drug's true effects."

Why you should buy it-
Because I overheard a "very prominent" researcher at the Narcolepsy conference say this to another:
"But those are the studies we don't publish, right?"
For Real.  Not Kidding.  Good thing I don't have cataplexy.
But I really wish I had heard what came before that...

Definition of the Day

Disingenuous-
  • Not straightforward or candid; insincere or calculating.
  • Pretending to be unaware or unsophisticated.
  • Wednesday, January 23, 2013

    The Worst Book in the World

    They've now done tests to determine if the new diagnoses in the DSM actually correlate to reality.

    DSM-5: A Ruse By Any Other Name 
    The fact is that the DSM-5 field trial results are worse than the results from DSM-III, the 1980 version that's served mostly unchanged for 30 years (DSM-IV made fairly modest changes.) The reliabilities have got worse - despite the editorial's claims of 'continued progress'. It's true that the DSM-5 field trials were a lot bigger and conducted rather differently, but still, it's a serious warning sign.
    Finally, there was great variability in the results between different hospitals - in other words the reliability scores were not, themselves, reliable. Some institutions achieved much higher kappa values than others, but it's anyone's guess how they managed to do so.
    Kind of technical, but a good article.

    Tuesday, January 22, 2013

    That's insane

    Invention Would Track Meds in Mentally Ill Patients, But Is It Ethical?
    Imagine if doctors could add something to their mentally ill patients’ pills so that they could tell on their smartphones whether the patients were taking the pills as prescribed.
    Inventor Don Spector has actually filed a patent that would do just that, and he did it after the Sandy Hook school shootings in Connecticut, which sparked a national debate about mental illness and privacy.
    “This isn’t house arrest, but it is an invasion of privacy to some extent,”  Spector, Chairman of the Board of Trustees at New York College of Health Professions, said of his invention. “But on the other hand, these are really people who shouldn’t be released without medication.”
    That's closing the loop.  The drug and insurance companies would have the entire vertical market locked up.  Guaranteed supply of mentally incapacitated patients.

    Now let's imagine that a whole bunch of crazy people actually get better using items they find at the grocery store and it becomes obvious those doctors and drugs weren't really helping them at all...

    Monday, January 21, 2013

    Quote of the Day

    I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word in reality.
    -Martin Luther King, Jr.

    One of my favorite things

    This photo.

    Sunday, January 20, 2013

    Hippie Flashbacks

    Old Song of the Day
    That's the guy who wrote "Hair" at the end.

    Also good.   with a psychedelically freaky ending.

    The Circle of Insanity

    Please Take Away My Right to a Gun
    People like me who suffer from depression need to be kept safe from ourselves. I don’t want a gun in my house.
    This is the logic of suffering.
    These are the kind of excrutiating choices we make.

    Saturday, January 19, 2013

    Fun Fact for the Day

    This is Dr. Jean-Martin Chacot demonstrating "Hysteria" to his students in the 1870's.

    He would bring a young "indolent" woman in from the wards and frighten her until she passed out.

    Science!

    Simple Answers to Simple Questions

    Is PTSD Contagious?

    YES.

    It's a strep infection.   But that family looks gluten intolerant too.

    Friday, January 18, 2013

    Correlation Games

    Migraine With Aura May Lead to Heart Attack
    "After high blood pressure, migraine with aura was the second strongest single contributor to risk of heart attacks and strokes," said study author Tobias Kurth... "It came ahead of diabetes, current smoking, obesity, and family history of early heart disease."
    This is evidence of the trigeminal nerve being infected with the same microbes which cause atherosclerosis and kidney nephritis.   I'll just wildly guess it's those pesky periodontal pathogens that happen to spend all their time in direct contact with it...

    Thursday, January 17, 2013

    Blatant Malpractice

    Arizona mother gets shock after daughter’s trip to dentist
    Savannah's mom, Alecia White, took her daughter to have some routine dental work. The dentist informed White that her daughter had four cavities. White consented to have them filled. The dentist sedated 4-year-old Savannah, while White sat in the waiting room. When the procedure was done, the Whites went home, Savannah still feeling groggy.
    A short time later, White looked into her daughter's mouth. She was, to put it mildly, shocked. Her daughter's teeth (every single one of them) were capped with silver crowns.
    ...
    Investigative reporter Gary Harper contacted Dr. Richard Chaet, president of the Arizona Academy of Pediatric Dentistry. Chaet explained that while Savannah's dental work is shocking to look at, it was probably necessary. "This is a child who is obviously very high risk for decay," he said, noting that crowns will save other teeth from deteriorating.
    Excuse me?
    He didn't think they would notice?
    And please explain to me what part of BABY TEETH a dentist doesn't understand???

    This dentist did this because it was a pre-approved procedure for insurance reimubursement, not because it was medically prudent.  If it was, he would have gotten informed consent.   Now that little girl is going to need more invasive surgery, and may endure a lifetime of complications.

    SUE THE ARROGANT BASTARD INTO OBLIVION.

    The Power of Dopamine

    When it is good it is very, very good.
    Parkinson's Patients Treated With Dopamine-Enhancing Drugs Are Developing Artistic Talents

    And when it is bad it is horrid.
    Parkinson's Disease Medication Can Trigger Destructive Behaviors

    Back in the day

    Way back when the depression was at it's worst-   this is the one thing I thought was funny.  

    Wednesday, January 16, 2013

    Yes They Can

    Some Children Lose Autism Diagnosis
    Some children who are accurately diagnosed in early childhood with autism lose the symptoms and the diagnosis as they grow older, a study supported by the National Institutes of Health has confirmed. The research team made the finding by carefully documenting a prior diagnosis of autism in a small group of school-age children and young adults with no current symptoms of the disorder.
    I am very close with a person who fits this desciption.   It's a very real phenomenon.

    This indicates that in addition to any developmental problems-  Those Kids Are Sick And Can Get Better.   A spectrum of symptoms indicates a combination of causes.
    This result is evidence of an infection or other immune response that wanes over time.

    Fascinating

    Medicinal Toothbrush Tree' Yields Antibiotic to Treat TB
    In traditional medicine the antibacterial properties of the tree are used for oral health and to treat medical complaints such bronchitis, pleurisy and venereal disease. Twigs from the tree are traditionally used as toothbrushes. ...
    The compound under research, diospyrin, binds to a novel site on a well-known enzyme, called DNA gyrase, and inactivates the enzyme. DNA gyrase is essential for bacteria and plants but is not present in animals or humans.
    Toothbrushing sticks are common in developing countries and have been used since prehistory.  They seem to be every bit as effective as modern devices.   The antimicrobial properties of certain species of wood may evern make them a superior solution.  
    Don't expect the ADA to tell you that though. They get cash for putting their stamp of approval on all those plastic picks and flossers they recommend. I don't know about you, but I now get a whole bag of "free samples" every time I go to the dentist.

    Tuesday, January 15, 2013

    Brain Eating Zombies of the Day

    Coca-Cola to Tackle Obesity for 1st Time in TV Ads
    The ad lays out Coca-Cola's record of providing drinks with fewer calories and notes that weight gain is the result of consuming too many calories of any kind — not just soda.
    Another attempt to confuse the facts and blame the patient.  

    That is not true.   Protein and fat do not cause obesity.
    Weight gain is caused by carbohydrates, especially sugar, and even more by fructose.  

    Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic

    2012 military suicides hit a record high of 349

    Monday, January 14, 2013

    The world we live in

    These two guys are running for President in the Czech Republic.

    That's tattoos on the right.

    Scary choice.   Pick your pathology.

    Your Tax Dollars

    Viagra for vets costs surge on war disorders
    The Department of Veterans Affairs has almost tripled spending on erectile-dysfunction drugs in the past six years as war-related psychological disorders contribute to sexual difficulties .
    Yoo-hoo, I think this might be more effective.   In oh so many ways.
    Put your money where your mouth is.

    Sunday, January 13, 2013

    Reason #483967

    That I scream at the television:
    Crest Dental Products for People over 50

    Alcohol-free anti-gingivitis rinse, "milder" toothpaste.   Things that would prevent "tender inflamed gums" from ever happening if they were used in their line of products for younger people.

    However, upon looking it up-  the toothpaste not only contains sodium lauryl sulfate, but also trisodium phosphate.   That's an industrial strength detergent I use to etch my walls before painting them.  Requires rubber gloves.

    SSDD.

    Saturday, January 12, 2013

    And so it goes

    Precocious, righteous. impulsive, dead.
    I read in one article he was so obsessive that he would only eat white food.
    Explains a lot.

    Aaron Swartz, Reddit co-owner, internet activist, commits suicide
    Rest in Peace, young man.

    Smoke and Mirrors

    Another fine "Public Awareness" initiative in the UK.

    'Drinking mirror' shows users effects of alcohol abuse over 10 years

    That is Dental damage, not Drinking damage.  

    Pardon Me?

    Promising Test For Detecting Parkinson's
    "We have previously shown in autopsies of Parkinson's patients that the abnormal proteins associated with Parkinson's are consistently found in the submandibular saliva glands, found under the lower jaw. This is the first study demonstrating the value of testing a portion of the saliva gland to diagnose a living person with Parkinson's disease. Making a diagnosis in living patients is a big step forward in our effort to understand and better treat patients."
     Sorry if my brain splatter got on you through the monitor.

    Friday, January 11, 2013

    Where Medical and Legal Theater Meet

    To create whatever outcome is the most beneficial to themselves.

    Supreme Court won't take combat veterans' mental health appeal
    The Supreme Court on Monday refused to consider a challenge by veterans who said delays by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs in processing combat-related mental health claims contributed to suicides by veterans.

    After it is approved

    Is when they find out how it really works.

    Ambien dose is too high, especially for women
    Here's something to lose sleep over.
    The feds issued an Ambien alert Thursday, warning millions of sleep-deprived people across the country that the popular sleep aid leaves women too drowsy to drive in the mornings. The Food and Drug Administration is requiring doctors to cut in half doses of Ambien and similar sleeping pills containing the active ingredient zolpidem.

    Silliness

    Stephen Colbert discusses Wheat Addiction  (video)

    some naughty language.

    Thursday, January 10, 2013

    No Comment

    Psychologists Cite Emotions as Top Obstacle to Successful Weight Loss

    Yo Doctors

    Stark Findings on Health 
    “We expected to see some bad news and some good news,” Dr. Woolf said. “But the U.S. ranked near and at the bottom in almost every heath indicator. That stunned us.” 
    You got some 'splainin to do.
    And don't blame the sick people.

    Wednesday, January 9, 2013

    All Talk. No Action.

    U.S. study:  One in 25 youth attempt suicide
    Just over 12 percent of the youth had thought about suicide, and four percent each had made a suicide plan or attempted suicide.
    Nock and his colleagues found that almost all teens who thought about or attempted suicide had a mental disorder, including depression, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) or problems with drug or alcohol abuse.
    More than half of the youth were already in treatment when they reported suicidal behavior. Nock said that was both "encouraging" and "disturbing."
    "We know that a lot of the kids who are at risk and thinking about suicide are getting (treatment)," he told Reuters Health. However, "We don't know how to stop them - we don't have any evidence-based treatments for suicidal behavior."
    Yes.  Disturbing.  That's the word.

    Tuesday, January 8, 2013

    An Offhand Hypothesis

    Dr. Atkins was probably a narcoleptic.

    At home with Dr. Atkins
    As a young internist, his life became a lot less funny and he became a lot bigger.
    Dr. Atkins: “I was gaining weight very rapidly. Like two pounds a month for several years.”
    John Hockenberry: “So you see yourself just inflating like a balloon.”
    Dr. Atkins: “Well everybody saw me doing that. I had three chins.”
    He suppressed the sleep and obesity using his diet, but still had the underlying strep infection. 
    The fact that he never was thin indicates a tendency to hyperinsulinemia.  He probably got low doses of gluten all his life.  Those two things are probably what affected his heart.
    Being a doctor in itself requires a certain amount of obsession.  And the oppositional defiance is just classic.  Rigorous righteousness.

    update:  while I'm at it.  him too.

    Doctor Assisted Dieting

    Another one of their great "Let's Try This!" moments.
    RoboBulemia.

    The future of dieting is gross
    A new weight loss gadget will suck food straight out of your stomach. Seriously. 

    How Psychs Think

    Expectant dads' mental health linked to kids' behavior
    It found that children whose fathers scored highly for psychological distress, depression and anxiety at week 17 or 18 of the baby's gestation had higher levels of emotional and behavioral difficulties at age 3, including disruptive behavior, anxiety and problems getting along with other children. 
    Yes, okay... 
    The data collected did not address how or why this association exists, but several "possible mechanisms" could be at work, she says. One possibility is a genetically transmitted risk to the child, she says. Or depression in the father could affect the mental health of the mother in such a way that the neonatal development of the child is affected. Another possibility: The father's prenatal mental state could predict his mental state after the child's birth, which "may also account for some of the associations found," she says.
    Or, there might be an illness that the father transmits to the child after birth.
    Never mind, that is clearly not worth considering.

    Monday, January 7, 2013

    How Doctors Think

    From a Medline Article
    How Responsible Are We for Our Obese Patients?
    "Since when are we responsible for what people eat, watch on TV, [or] what their hobbies are?"

    "Maybe we just need a good ad/marketing firm." 

    "We need to start by not having 70%-80% of us (physicians) being overweight and obese. Lead by example, or your voice can't be taken seriously."

    "We don't teach the essentials: avoiding calorie-dense food, which is essentially refined sugar and fat." 
    If doctors think that calorie dense food causes obesity, then that probably explains why so many of them are overweight themselves.   The same reason as the rest of us:  bad information from Doctors.

    I do like this quote though:
    An internist questioned the desire to change the status quo and even implied some complicity by pointing out, "We docs seem to do better and better as our patients get larger and larger!!"
    Imagine that.

    The Circle of Insanity

    Guess who has the highest incidence of Vitamin D deficiency?
    People in institutions.
    Hospitals, nursing homes, psych wards, prisons...

    Sunday, January 6, 2013

    Rerun

    Dance with me.

    Insanity Whak-a-Mole

    Former drunks make unstoppable runners 

    That's because they have underlying mania.  Once they stop suppressing it with alcohol, the dopamine takes over.  The compulsion to move and starve and injure oneself-  are symptoms, not solutions.

    A Big Lie

















    Um, that's not the way it works.   Bleaching your teeth only treats the symptom, and actually makes the problem worse- not better.

    The yellow film is bacteria from your cheeks and gums sticking to your teeth.  Hydrogen peroxide bleaches the teeth, but dries out those tissues and increases bacteria production.   It accelerates the problem you are trying to solve.  Go figure.

    You want to hydrate and heal your mouth so you make less infection.
    And if the ADA had any integrity at all they would educate you about that and dispute this claim.

    Saturday, January 5, 2013

    Things I wish I had known

    Vitamin D 'improves eye sight of elderly'
    When one-year-old mice were given vitamin D supplements - specifically, injected with safflower oil containing 0.9 micrograms of vitamin D every three days - deposits of a toxic molecule called amyloid beta were reduced.
    Prof Jeffrey continued: "The mice showed an associated improvement of vision."
    The researchers came up with the study idea after examining other findings showing vitamin D could reduce the build-up of amyloid plaques on the brain, which have been linked to the development of Alzheimer's disease .
    I looked this up because I was noticing I can see better.  My eyes are less strained.  Freakin me out.  

    This explains the desire to stay inside when ill.  Less light receptors...
    Damn.  Another vicious cycle...

    How to Create Sick People

    1.  Take the fat out of their diet. 
    2.  Tell them not to go out in the sun.
    3.  Feed them fructose and acid.

    Oh Yeah

    I forgot to mention I converted a wheat farmer last year.  Booyah.











    A narcoleptic young lady named Kimberly who lives and works on a wheat farm in Eastern Washington gets the Special Achievement in Irony Award.

    Friday, January 4, 2013

    Sounds Familiar

    How Bacterial Infections Persist through Antibiotics 

    I was going to try to explain this but she did a good job.

    A real nightmare

    CDC says 4.2% of drivers admit to falling asleep at the wheel
    A report released Thursday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said 4.2% of adults admitted to falling asleep at the wheel at least once in the previous month.  The report also found that people were more likely to fall asleep while driving if they slept six hours or less a night, fell asleep throughout the day or snored at night.
    ...
    Although the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it has found that only 2.5% of fatal crashes involve drowsy driving, the CDC said some studies show that number could be as high as 15% to 33%.  The CDC's report is based on the largest U.S. survey to date regarding sleep deprivation and driving. In a December study by the AAA, 30% of drivers said they had driven in the last month despite struggling to keep their eyes open.
    Reminds me of a lady who contacted me once-
    She said her family didn't realize the driver was sleeping because everyone else in the car was too.

    Thursday, January 3, 2013

    BrainWorm

    Adam Lanza spent hours playing video games in his basement.
    "There were no windows."

    Short Term Results

    Of my latest experiment on myself.

    I started taking 5000 IU Vitamin D3 on November 27.   I had bought some and tried it before and didn't see any difference.   I went back and looked at those pills, they are only 400 IU.   The new recommendations are much higher than that (1000 IU per 20 pounds of weight).

    This is what I have already noticed:

    All my epithelium is healing.   I feel like I'm rehydrating or something.

    My mouth and gums especially.    They don't seem as "ragged", I have more saliva production, and even my hygienist noticed there's much less plaque.

    My skin is improving.   Dry patches that I have been trying to treat for a year- have disappeared.

    My nerves seem calmer.   My reactions to stress are not as extreme.

    I do not have the urge to rip off my fingernails.   That's been bugging me for six months.   It subsided within a week or two.   Amazing.  

    Tuesday, January 1, 2013

    More Fruits and Vegetables!

    Still hungry? It could be that fructose in your drink
    This is your brain on sugar — for real. Scientists have used imaging tests to show for the first time that fructose, a sugar that saturates the American diet, can trigger brain changes that may lead to overeating.
    After you drink a fructose beverage, the brain doesn't register the feeling of being full as it does when simple glucose is consumed, researchers found.

    Brave New World

    This is how it begins...  we're doomed.

    Oompa Loompa Attack.

    zomg!