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Gut microbiome suffers huge shifts throughout IBD disease course

Patricia Inacio, PhD
IBD News Today
Thu, 16 Feb 2017 12:57 UTC
microbiome
© Shutterstock
The gut microbiome of people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) fluctuates more compared to those of healthy individuals. These findings suggest that therapies targeting some of these alterations within the gut microbes may prove beneficial to IBD patients.

The study, "Dynamics of the human gut microbiome in inflammatory bowel disease," was published in the journal Nature Microbiology.

IBD is partially caused by a deregulated immune response, which in many cases is activated due to alterations in the natural community of microbes that populate our gut, called gut microbiome. Previous studies showed differences in the gut microbiome composition not only between IBD and healthy people, but even within different IBD subtypes, including ulcerative colitis, colonic Crohn's disease, and ileal Crohn's disease.

However, all these studies were performed at a specific time point or with few individuals, and the gut microbiome fluctuations over the long term remained poorly understood.

Comment: Listen to The Health & Wellness Show: Some of my best friends are germs for more information:
The human body is teeming with billions -- nay, TRILLIONS -- of microbes with over a thousand different species populating the gut alone. We are covered with bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites from the top of our heads to the bottom of our feet, inside and out. How did we come to be populated with such a vast array of these little beasties and what's their purpose? What influence do they exert on our physical and mental health and, more importantly, what can we do (and what can we avoid doing) to keep our microbial community happy and in balance?


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Health

Dr. Paul Marik turns to vitamin C infusion as a treatment for deadly sepsis

Richard Harris
NPR.org
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 21:08 UTC
sepsis
© Getty Images/iStockphoto
Of the million or so Americans a year who get sepsis, roughly 300,000 die. Unfortunately, many treatments for the condition have looked promising in small, preliminary studies, only to fail in follow-up research.
It's hard not to get excited about news of a potentially effective treatment for sepsis, a condition that leads to multiple organ failure and kills more people in the hospital than any other disease.

But there have been so many false promises about this condition over the years, it's also wise to treat announcements — like one published online by the journal, Chest — with caution.

The study, from Eastern Virginia Medical School in Norfolk, Va., reported some remarkable success in treating patients who were at high risk of sudden death.

The story began in January, 2015, when Dr. Paul Marik was running the intensive care unit at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital. A 48-year-old woman came in with a severe case of sepsis — inflammation frequently triggered by an overwhelming infection.

"Her kidneys weren't working. Her lungs weren't working. She was going to die," Marik said. "In a situation like this, you start thinking out of the box."

Marik had recently read a study by researchers at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond. Dr. Berry Fowler and his colleagues had shown some moderate success in treating people who had sepsis with intravenous vitamin C.

Comment: Sepsis: Largely unknown complication of infection that hospitalizes a million patients yearly in U.S.

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Info

4 reasons why you don't need a tetanus shot


holisticlifemama.com
Mon, 20 Mar 2017 19:33 UTC
tetanus
Vaccination has been in the news a lot lately, and for all the wrong reasons as always. This week there has been the case of a young girl who contracted tetanus. As usual it's being used to convince us all to vaccinate, but tetanus is much more complex than many are aware. For starters it is not a transmissible disease. You cannot catch tetanus off someone.

Doctors now give the tetanus shot (given as the combined Dtap) to patients for everything from dog bites to kitchen knife wounds. It is a common practice that many don't question if they even need the shot. What are the risks? Does the injection even help prevent it? These are the questions we should all be asking when we are being told to have any kind of vaccine.

What Is Tetanus?

Tetanus, also known as lockjaw, occurs when the tetanus bacteria gets into the bloodstream and releases a nervous system toxin. The bacteria can be found extensively in cultivated soils. It also lives harmlessly in the gut of many animals. The infection caused by the bacteria is anaerobic (ie. it cant live in the presence of oxygen).
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Life Preserver

Doctors are recommending yoga over opioids for lower back pain

Alex Erickson
Collective Evolution
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 19:18 UTC
yoga for back pain
It's no secret that the abuse of and addiction to opioids, including heroin, morphine, and prescription pain relievers, is a serious global problem harming the social and economic welfare of all societies and the health of many individuals within them. The more loved ones we lose and the more families affected by it, the more we need to take a hard look at some of the biggest culprits behind the problem.

Over the past 25 years in the U.S., the total number of opioid pain relievers prescribed has escalated dramatically. In fact, the amount of prescriptions for opioids like hydrocodone and oxycodone increased from 76 million in 1991 to nearly 207 million in 2013.

This greater availability is a massive problem, and the finger has largely been pointed at doctors. Why? Dr. Sanjay Gupta explains:
The fact is, we have accepted the tall tales and Pollyannaish promises of what these medications could do for too long. As a community, we weren't skeptical enough. We didn't ask enough questions. We accepted flimsy scientific data as gospel and preached it to our patients in a chamber that echoed loudly for decades.Even worse, too many doctors who didn't actually believe the hyperbole surrounding opioids doled out long-term prescriptions regardless, in the same way doctors write antibiotic prescriptions for viral illnesses. In both cases, they don't work. In both cases, they can cause colossal harm.

Comment: Why Yoga? Healing research

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People 2

A conversation about sleep

Mae Chan
Prevent Disease
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 17:40 UTC
sleeping couple
We spend one-third of our lives in bed, yet little is known about the purpose of sleep, says Dr. Meir Kryger, Yale professor of medicine and clinical professor of nursing. For more than 40 years, Kryger has been working to answer some of the remaining questions about sleep through innovative research and clinical practice.

Whether you have a morning or evening chronotype is dictated by your biological 24-hour clock. Until the 1950s, most people thought of sleep as a passive, dormant part of our daily lives. We now know that our brains are very active during sleep. Moreover, sleep affects our daily functioning and our physical and mental health in many ways that we are just beginning to understand.

In his latest book, "The Mystery of Sleep," Kryger examines the many aspects of sleep and its disorders. Currently on sabbatical and participating in a popular sleep course at Stanford, Kryger is gathering information that he will bring back to a course for Yale students.

What led you to focus on sleep as a specialty?

I became interested in sleep before there was a sleep specialty. When I was a medical resident at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal, I had a patient, a gentleman who was having seizures while he was sleeping and was admitted to the hospital. I saw him one night struggling to breathe. I asked a friend of mine who was a neurosurgery resident to help set up equipment to study the patient while he was sleeping. We found that he stopped breathing, and his heart rate dropped while he slept -- at times there were 10 seconds between breaths. That was the explanation for his seizures. His heart was actually stopping.

Comment: See also:

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Attention

Lead poisoning affects dozens of California locales worse than Flint, Michigan

Joshua Schneyer, M.B. Pell
Reuters
Wed, 22 Mar 2017 04:37 UTC
water sink drain
© VICE News
Dozens of California communities have experienced recent rates of childhood lead poisoning that surpass those of Flint, Michigan, with one Fresno locale showing rates nearly three times higher, blood testing data obtained by Reuters shows.

The data shows how lead poisoning affects even a state known for its environmental advocacy, with high rates of childhood exposure found in a swath of the Bay Area and downtown Los Angeles. And the figures show that, despite national strides in eliminating lead-based products, hazards remain in areas far from the Rust Belt or East Coast regions filled with old housing and legacy industry.

In one central Fresno zip code, 13.6 percent of blood tests on children under six years old came back high for lead. That compares to 5 percent across the city of Flint during its recent water contamination crisis. In all, Reuters found at least 29 Golden State neighbourhoods where children had elevated lead tests at rates at least as high as in Flint. "It's a widespread problem and we have to get a better idea of where the sources of exposure are," said California Assembly member Bill Quirk, who chairs the state legislature's Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials.
Lead exposure map
© Reuters

Comment: In assessments, such as with toxic thresholds, values are designated in order to define a parameter. They are not per-se individual-specific to vulnerability.

See also:

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Life Preserver

Fibrocystic breasts and the iodine connection

Rosanne Lindsay, ND
Natural Blaze
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 00:00 UTC
fibrocysts iodine
Today, thyroid disease is epidemic. Eighty-percent of thyroid disease is experienced by women with at least fifty percent of cases going undiagnosed. Eight-four percent of women with thyroid disease have fibrocystic breasts. Is there a connection between low thyroid function and fibrocysts?

Thyroid disease is really iodine deficiency disease. Iodine is a trace mineral from food and is needed by every cell in the body. The body requires 12.5 g/day of iodine for full sufficiency. Of that, the thyroid takes 6 mg/day, the breasts take 5 mg, and the other glands, including the ovaries, grab about 2 mg.

In studies, when thyroid patients are supplemented with iodine, in the form of Lugol's iodine (potassium iodide plus iodine), two things happen: Not only does thyroid function return - and the need for thyroid hormone is reduced or eliminated - but patients see their fibrocysts melt away. That's because fibrocysts are partially developed follicles that have not ovulated. Follicles, including hair follicles, are direct targets of thyroid hormones; T3 and T4. This connection may explain why people with hypothyroidism often have the symptom of thinning hair and eyebrows. Bottom line: Iodine deficiency can lead to cysts in breasts and ovaries. When iodine is supplemented, fibroids and cysts reverse.

Comment: Six reasons why iodine supplementation is essential
Iodine is indispensable in protecting against thyroid cancer, breast cancer, ovarium cancer as well as prostate cancer because all of these glands concentrate iodine more than other tissues. Deficiencies in iodine leave these glands vulnerable. Iodine also is indispensable for treating anything on the skin, even skin cancer mainly because it kills everything on contact that does not belong.

Breast tissue contains the body's third highest concentrations of this essential mineral, so shortfalls in iodine needs have a highly negative impact on breast tissue. Iodine shortfalls coupled with bromine and other toxic halogens cause fibrocystic breast disease and breast cancer.

High intake of iodine is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer. Low iodine intake is associated with liver cancer. Iodine is ideal for treating skin cancer. These are just the tip of the iceberg in terms of how important iodine is for cancer patients.
See also:

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The Health & Wellness Show: ‌Chemical Cocktails: Vaccine Excipients and the Autism Question


Sott.net
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 15:00 UTC
CDC autism
On this episode of the Health and Wellness show we take another look into the vaccine issue. The public believes that vaccines are specified viruses in sterile solutions free from undesirable contaminants. The stark reality is much different! Don't expect the mainstream media, health authorities, doctors or government agencies to to give you all the facts.

Contaminated faulty vaccines based on poor research have damaged hundreds of thousands of children all over the world causing an epidemic in childhood allergies, autoimmune disorders brain inflammation, developmental delays and Autism. Close to 1 million children will be diagnosed with Autism this year. What are these numbers saying about the chemical cocktails that are being injected into children at an alarming rate, fueling a 50 Billion dollar vaccine industry? While 'health organizations' continue to deny any relationship between Autism and vaccination. Scientists outside the US are researching the 'synergistic toxicity' of chemicals such as aluminum, and mercury and are presenting peer-reviewed science making a clear connection between immune activation events, aluminum adjuvants, and Autism.

Join us as we discuss this hotly debated topic and what can be done to slow or even reverse this heartbreaking epidemic.

Stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Health segment at the end of the show. The topic is, "Why cats are vomiting, and what can you do about it?"

Running Time: 01:34:46

Download: MP3

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Beaker

Medical arms race: Science versus antibiotic-resistant superbugs

Tomasz Pierscionek
RT
Fri, 24 Mar 2017 13:52 UTC
scientists superbugs
© David Oxberry / www.globallookpress.com
The death rate from bacterial infections plummeted following the discovery of penicillin. However, these microbes developed ways to resist our antibiotics. What threats do superbugs pose and what factors contribute to their emergence?

The discovery and development of antibiotics saved millions of lives during the latter half of the 20th century. Scottish bacteriologist Alexander Fleming, who witnessed soldiers with infected wounds perish while serving in the Royal Army Medical Corps during the First World War, per chance discovered a penicillin-producing mold in 1928.

However, penicillin was not synthesized into medicinal form until over a decade later. Its subsequent mass production during the 1940s is credited with saving many lives during the Second World War.

Although penicillin's use was initially restricted to military hospitals, it soon became accessible to the general public in industrialized nations. In 1946, penicillin first became available on prescription in the UK. People were jubilant over the discovery of a "wonder drug" that could cure many bacterial infections with high mortality rates, especially among infants and the elderly. For example, penicillin reduced the death rate of bacterial pneumonia from between 60-80 percent to 1-5 percent. Postoperative mortality rates also fell sharply.

Comment: And there you have it. Unless money can be made, human suffering counts for nothing in this psycho world.

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Biohazard

The health impact of today's most prevalent environmental toxin: Aluminum

Celeste McGovern
info.cmsri.org
Thu, 23 Mar 2017 23:52 UTC
aluminum
Every other year, for more than two decades, a small group of 70 or so scientists have been meeting at different locales across the globe to discuss their speciality: aluminum and its effects on living things.

The science of a metal used in industries from airplane manufacturing to food packaging may sound tedious, but this three-day Keele meeting (named for Keele University in the United Kingdom where it originated) produces a treasure trove of valuable information about the health impact of aluminium exposure. It's a conference of the latest science that the $186 billion aluminum industry denies and public health agencies pretend does not exist.

The 12th Annual Keele Meeting on Aluminum last week in Vancouver, Canada, sponsored by the Children's Medical Safety Research Institute, was no exception. Scientists from 16 countries discussed the latest research about how aluminum impacts plants, animals and humans. We inhale it in pollution, consume it in processed foods, slather it on in toiletries and inject it into ourselves and our babies in vaccines. Neurotoxic aluminium, according to increasing amount of scientific evidence, may stay in the body where it breaches protective barriers, induces wildly oxidative processes and fires inflammation, disrupts genetic transcription, impairs metabolism, accumulates in brain and breasts and testes, is linked to cancer, infertility, Alzheimer's disease and anxious, aggressive and autistic behaviour.
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