Things that make me twitch

The emergence of neonatal group B streptococcal infections explained

Scientists from the Institut Pasteur have recently revealed the cause behind the emergence in the 1960s of neonatal infections due to group B streptococcus. These findings, published in Nature Communications on August 4, 2014, prove that the sudden emergence of infections caused by this bacterium resulted from the widespread use of an antibiotic, tetracycline, from the 1950s onwards.

Oh me, oh my.

Holy Wicked Twist Batman

Maternal bacterial infections trigger abnormal proliferation of neurons in fetal brain

"The finding was unexpected because in children and adults pneumococcal infections can lead to meningitis and the death of neurons," said the study's corresponding author Elaine Tuomanen, M.D., chair of the St. Jude Department of Infectious Diseases. "This study in a mouse model of the bacterial infection found that prenatally the opposite is true. The evidence suggests maternal infections cause a signaling event that leads to the proliferation and reorganization of neurons in the developing brain that is defective in some way, maybe due to overcrowding."
Researchers showed for the first time that pieces of the bacterial cell wall crossed the placenta and traveled to the fetal brain, triggering proliferation of immature neurons. Evidence suggested the proliferation was sparked by a previously unrecognized pathway that involves the innate immune system and a protein that regulates gene expression.
The proliferation resulted in a 50 percent increase in neurons in a region of the developing brain that becomes the cortex, which is responsible for thought, action and other higher functions.
Investigators also reported that mice exposed to bacterial cell wall early in fetal development later performed below average on measures of memory and cognitive functioning. Researchers also found evidence that treatment of maternal infection by the antibiotic ampicillin, which destroys bacteria and sends pieces of the cell wall into the bloodstream, led to a similar neuronal increase.
Tuomanen said the results raise questions about which class of antibiotics should be used to treat bacterial infections during pregnancy. "This study suggests widely used antibiotics like ampicillin that cause bacteria to burst and release cell wall may lead to changes in the developing brain," she said. "Such changes did not occur in mice treated with antibiotics like clindamycin that kill without releasing cell wall.

See the Pathology

Wife Texts Husband All The Hilarious Things He Says In His Sleep

“I was dealing with migraine issues that were seriously affecting my sleep, so I was often up into the wee hours,” Stamhuis said. “This kept me entertained.”

Yeah, this is not funny.
Migraines and REM behavior disorder are both symptoms of hypoventilation- impaired breathing- upper respiratory illness.
This couple is probably showing different manifestations of the same infection.

Zombie Shopping

It seems those good old boys up in Oregon need some supplies.
Since the Pacific Northwest is notoriously known for upper respiratory infections and depression, here's my suggestions:

Castille Soap, lots of it.
Baking soda
Soft toothbrushes
Foam Oral Swabs
Fluoride Mouth Rinse
Saline nasal spray
Kleenex
Q-tips
Olive oil
Chicken broth
White Tea
Aspirin

Those macho men are sick and cranky and experiencing the predictable emotional tantrums.   They really need to take some showers, brush their damn teeth, and do some vigorous mucous removal in their heads.  Start acting like grown men instead of snotty toddlers.

Invaders Eating His Head

I watched Going Clear last night.   It was fractally disturbing.
So many sad, sick people- made slaves to their anxiety.

This was the worst part:   L Ron Hubbard's teeth.   And perpetually saggy face.

He should have let go of the cans and looked critically in the mirror.

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Mark Joseph Stern

My 9-Year Love Affair With Melatonin

Falling asleep is hard work. After spending a day solving the complex puzzles of daily life, you are expected to lie down, turn off the lights, and quiet your whirring whirlwind of thoughts within a few minutes. In my early years, this process was fraught with frustration and despair: I would lie awake for hours, bored and desperate, staring at the ceiling, wondering why I couldn’t shut off my brain. I tried all the hippie methods—meditation, breathing exercises, even goddamn Sleepytime tea—but none of it eased me into slumber.
Then, around age 15, I discovered melatonin. I first spotted the drug on the shelf of a health food store—the kind that sells vegan dog food and horny goat weed. Melatonin struck me as marginally less scammy than most supplements, so I bought a bottle and took my first dose that night. Thirty minutes later, I was overcome with the drowsy feeling kids get after a day at the beach. Five minutes after that, I eased into sleep.
And that’s when the real fun began.
 There is a fair amount of research documenting the effectiveness of melatonin supplements as a sleep aid. But there is relatively little research to explain why it gives you trippy, totally bonkers dreams. This phenomenon is well-documented on the Internet but largely ignored by scientists, presumably because crazy dreams are not (yet) therapeutically relevant. Still, almost everybody I know who takes melatonin confirmed what I discovered on that first night: You will never dream as vividly as you do on melatonin.

Ummmmm, this man has acute trigeminal neuralgia. He's wired and can't sleep because he can't feel his own headache. Looks like he's got a sinus infection...
Melatonin reduces the pain in his face so he passes out even though his stress hormones are racing and his cortex is still functioning.
Sound familiar?

Insomnia and Vivid Dreaming are symptoms of active head infection.
I say that's clinically relevant.
(Talkin to you, Dr. Dreamy)

Go Effin Figure

Deadly microbe dodges human immune system

Group A Streptococcus is one of the world's most fatal infectious diseases, with 600,000 cases annually.
...
"We studied M1T1, one of the most prevalent strains affecting the developed world," Dr Barnett said.  "It had previously been thought that autophagy, which is part of the immune response, efficiently defended the interior of cells against Group A Streptococcus." He said the research showed that in fact M1T1 produced an enzyme that breaks down the patient's immune proteins that fight bacterial infection.

"Our findings were vastly different to previous studies that used strains not commonly associated with human disease," Dr Barnett said. "We now know that Streptococcus can hide, survive and grow in cells."

Just Sayin

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

Tic Tic Tic Tic Tic

Microbiomes of human throat may be linked to schizophrenia

In the most comprehensive study to date, researchers at the George Washington University have identified a potential link between microbes (viruses, bacteria and fungi) in the throat and schizophrenia. This link may offer a way to identify causes and develop treatments of the disease and lead to new diagnostic tests.
"The oropharynx of schizophrenics seems to harbor different proportions of oral bacteria than healthy individuals," said Eduardo Castro-Nallar, a Ph.D. candidate at GW's Computational Biology Institute (CBI) and lead author of the study. "Specifically, our analyses revealed an association between microbes such as lactic-acid bacteria and schizophrenics."

You don't say.

Big fat clue in bold

Case report describes benefit of ketamine in child with PTSD

Ketamine may be beneficial for children with posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and episodes of severe aggression and emotional dysregulation, according to a case report published online Aug. 10 in Pediatrics.

Anna C. Donoghue, M.D., from the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, and colleagues report on a case of a 7-year-old boy treated with ketamine for PTSD and episodes of severe aggression and emotional dysregulation. The episodes involved destruction of property and the symptoms were refractory to multiple medical and behavioral interventions.
The authors note that the child demonstrated sustained remission from symptoms (eight to 13 days) when exposed to ketamine on two occasions: when he underwent surgery for tonsillectomy and when he underwent sedated magnetic resonance imaging. On both occasions the patient demonstrated a reduction in the intensity and frequency of aggressive behaviors and exhibited an ability to control his emotions.
"There is a growing literature supporting ketamine for treatment-resistant depression in adults and, more recently, PTSD," the authors write. "This case report suggests the need for future study using ketamine as a treatment option for children with a history of trauma and severe behavioral dysregulation who have not responded to first-line medication and behavioral therapy approaches." 

Yes, well, psychotropic medications and behavioral therapy do not address sepsis in any way.   But Ketamine does.
This is infection.    Period.  No emotional trauma required.
A hundred dollars says that kid had multiple rounds of antibiotics before that surgery.
And if they let it go on... he will end up with narcolepsy.  Hell, it's probably too late already.

Puffy droopy cheeks on that boy too.

The Circle of Insanity

Righteousness and a need to be obeyed are symptoms of mania.

Three days in jail without nicotine and and lacking proper sunshine and hygiene and eating shitty food is enough to make a chronically ill person septic and delirious.

See the Matrix.  and the Mirror.

As I was saying

Antibiotic exposure could increase the risk of juvenile arthritis

Previous studies indicate that about a quarter of antibiotics prescribed to children - and half of antibiotics prescribed for acute respiratory infections - are probably unnecessary.

Researchers began the study in 2014 because of previous studies showing that antibiotics could predispose children to develop other chronic diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease. Disruption of microbial communities in the intestines and elsewhere appears to play a role in inflammatory bowel disease and other autoimmune diseases, including rheumatoid arthritis in adults. "Antibiotics are one of the better known disruptors of human microbial communities," Horton noted.

Researchers also found that upper respiratory tract infections treated with antibiotics were more strongly associated with juvenile arthritis than untreated upper respiratory tract infections. Additionally, they noted that antiviral and antifungal drugs were not linked to juvenile arthritis, suggesting that risk for arthritis was specific to antibacterial medicines.

Abstract

It's Everywhere

Bankers Are Taking ADHD Medicine to Get Ahead

This is an indication their brains are waning, not some clever voluntary enhancement.
And it makes them more impulsive.  
And they have your money.

Yo Doctors

You might want to think about the consequences of dealing with infected people all day.
And all those powerful aromatic molecules that permeate your environment.
And your frakking low fat diets.


Doctors Throwing Fits

One of the hardest parts of being a nurse is dealing with bullying doctors.

Things that make my head screech

I really need to take my own advice and stay off the damn computer.

Crashed Plane’s Co-Pilot “Hid” an “Illness” From Lufthansa, German Prosecutors Say

German prosecutors say that pilot Andreas Lubitz, suspected of intentionally crashing Germanwings Flight 4U 9525, may have hid an "illness" from his "employer and colleagues," while multiple German publications report that he had issues with depression.
Per the BBC, the German tabloid Bild says Lubitz had a "severe depressive episode" in 2009. The paper Der Tagesspiegel reports via a source that Lubitz was being treated for depression at a university clinic in Dusseldorf, and both Bild and another outlet say that a note in his "aviation authority file" recommended regular psychological treatment.

Ummm, I don't think that's the illness that was overlooked...

Could Better Psychological Testing Prevent a Tragedy Like the Germanwings Crash?
No. No. NO. NO. NO.    They caused this, dammit.

Brain Eating Zombie of the Day

Hadley Freeman

I had anorexia – but not because I wanted to look like a fashion model

A French plan to ban skinny women from the catwalk ignores the fact that anorexia is an illness. We need to look at the causes not outcomes of self-loathing.

Yes, yes we do.

Eating disorders are the only mental illness that people still assume is caused by something identifiable and external. No sensible person would ask anyone why they became schizophrenic, why they suffer from clinical depression. But eating disorders are different, and this is partly because of the behaviour of those who suffer from them. In the grip of the disorder, your world shrinks to the size of a pinhole: your brain fixates entirely on weight, calories; and, if you’re underweight, being so cold it feels like you have icicles for bones.

Yes, that's called hypothermia.  It's an indication of Endotoxemia- an intensely studied effect of infection and sepsis.
But you don't know that because crazy psychs have convinced the world otherwise.

So why did I stop eating? Because I was unhappy. Because I didn’t know how to express it vocally. Because I didn’t understand I was allowed to respond to my own needs. Because I was scared of growing up. The specific causes of eating disorders are varied, but those factors are pretty common.

They told you that bullshit.   And you believed it.  

Anorexia is a primary symptom of systemic infection.   You were sick.  And insulin resistant. To the point of nausea.
And every doctor and "medical professional" you consulted failed to notice that fact.   
That's why.

You're lucky you got better, not worse.
You are clearly aware of what happens when it gets worse.
Now stop validating the lie and perpetuating the cycle.

This.

Dopamine helps with math rules as well as mood

To test this, the researchers trained rhesus monkeys to solve “greater than” and “less than” math problems. From other recent studies, the researchers knew that certain neurons in the prefrontal cortex answer such questions – one half of these “rule cells” was only activated when the “greater than” rule applied, and the other half was only activated when the “less than” rule applied.
Meanwhile, physiologically small amounts of various substances were being discharged near the relevant cells. These substances can have the same effect as dopamine – or the opposite effect – and could be adsorbed by dopamine-sensitive neurons. The surprising result was that stimulation of the dopamine system allowed the “rule cells” to perform better and to more clearly distinguish between the “greater than” and “less than” rules. Dopamine had a positive effect on the “rule cells’” quality of work.

This is the most important info I've seen in ages. I've been assuming it, but it's nice to have evidence.   Explains so much about mania.
I think I can structure the entire swirling super-rant in my head around this.
Nice...

Welcome to the Club, Asshole

Glenn Beck reveals serious illnesses

Conservative media host Glenn Beck disclosed he has been suffering from a serious illness that he says “quite honestly, has made me look crazy.”
“About five years ago … I had begun to have a string of health issues, that quite honestly, has made me look crazy and, quite honestly, I had felt crazy because of them."

Oropharyngeal and neurological dysfunction.   Yep.
A complete diet and lifestyle makeover.  Uh huh.

Sorry Glenn- You really were crazy.
And all those other crazy people really are sick.

Spin With Me

We drink to self medicate the insulin resistance brought on by the infections.
But it's a wicked vicious circle.

Breakdown in gut barriers to bacteria may promote inflammation and craving in alcoholics

When patients were exposed to alcohol, the researchers found that the inflammatory response originated from gut-derived bacterial products that crossed the gut barrier, which in turn, activated specific inflammatory pathways in blood mononuclear cells.
Prior to undergoing detoxification, the observed inflammation correlated with both alcohol consumption and alcohol craving among the alcohol-dependent patients. Following detoxification, some, but not all, of the altered inflammatory processes were either partially or fully recovered.

So alcohol increases gut permeability.

And Pneumonia does too.

And

Coinfection with Streptococcus pneumoniae Negatively Modulates Influenza-Specific CD8+ T Cell Response 

Alcoholics have an abnormal CD8 T cell response to the influenza virus
 "It has also been known since the 1800s that alcohol use disorders are associated with increased susceptibility to lung infection – both viral and bacterial, including community acquired pneumonia and tuberculosis – acute respiratory distress syndrome, and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease," added Ilhem Messaoudi, associate professor of biomedical sciences at University of California Riverside. "Therefore, understanding the mechanisms underlying the increased susceptibility to lung infection and injury in individuals with alcohol use disorder is extremely important. Although several studies have demonstrated that this phenomenon is in part due to significant perturbations in the immune system, our understanding of the impact of alcohol abuse on immunity remains incomplete."

Pneumonia promotes Flu infection and vice versa.

And
Pneumonia patients nearly twice as likely to suffer from depression, impairments
Which make you prone to drinking..

So then maybe you go in the hospital.

Pneumonia is the second most common hospital-acquired infection
Sepsis accounts for approximately 15% of hospital acquired infections.
Cognitive and Functional Decline Often Follow Severe Sepsis

And just so you clearly see the swirling vortex to hell-


People with Alzheimer's usually die of Pneumonia.

There are about 4 million Americans with the disease, and the average length of time between diagnosis and death is eight years, although people can live with the illness 20 years or more. As the disease progresses, patients lose the ability to coordinate basic motor skills such as swallowing, walking, or controlling bladder and bowel. Difficulty swallowing can cause food to be inhaled, which can result in pneumonia. Inability to walk can lead to bedsores. Incontinence can result in bladder infections...  Such incapacitation again sets the stage for deadly infections. Doctors say it is possible that an Alzheimer's patient could progress to the point that damage from the disease to the centers of the brain that control breathing could cause death, but patients rarely get that far without an infection setting in. Once a patient is extremely incapacitated, there is little medical motivation to aggressively treat such infections.

They put you in a hospice bed, feed you pancakes and nobody brushes your teeth.
And you drown in septic delirium.

That was going to happen to me.  For sure.

Microbial Whak-a-Mole

Influenza A potentiates pneumococcal co-infection: New details emerge

Influenza infection can enhance the ability of the bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae to cause ear and throat infections, according to research published ahead of print in the journal Infection and Immunity.
In the study, the investigators infected mice with either influenza alone, pneumococci alone, or both at once, and then monitored the populations of bacteria and virus over time. They also monitored the mice for development of middle ear infection.
Influenza infection enhanced the bacterium's ability to colonize the nasopharynx, and to infect the normally sterile middle ear.

"As with most pneumococcal infections, it should be appreciated that localized nonlethal infections are much more common than the rapidly lethal presentations," says Swords.

Heh.  Yes it should.
Workin on it...