onsdag 26 november 2014

Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program



Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program

Bredesen DE. Reversal of cognitive decline: A novel therapeutic program.Aging (Albany NY) 2014;6(9):707-717.




"In the absence of effective prevention and treatment, the prospects for the future are of great concern, with 13 million Americans and 160 million globally projected for 2050, leading to potential bankruptcy of the Medicare system."


"Recent estimates suggest that AD has become the third leading cause of death in the United States"



"Neurodegenerative disease therapeutics has been, arguably, the field of greatest failure of biomedical therapeutics development."


"In the case of Alzheimer's disease, there is not a single therapeutic that exerts anything beyond a marginal, unsustained symptomatic effect, with little or no effect on disease progression. Furthermore, in the past decade alone, hundreds of clinical trials have been conducted for AD, at an aggregate cost of billions of dollars, without success. This has led some to question whether the approach taken to drug development for AD is an optimal one."


"Patient one: 

A 67-year-old woman presented with two years of progressive memory loss.


(1) She eliminated all simple carbohydrates, leading to a weight loss of 20 pounds; 

(2) She eliminated gluten and processed food from her diet, and increased vegetables, fruits, and non-farmed fish; 

(3) in order to reduce stress, she began yoga, and ultimately became a yoga instructor; 

(4) as a second measure to reduce the stress of her job, she began to meditate for 20 minutes twice per day; 

(5) she took melatonin 0.5mg po qhs; 

(6) she increased her sleep from 4-5 hours per night to 7-8 hours per night; 

(7) she took methylcobalamin 1mg each day; 

(8) she took vitamin D3 2000IU each day; 

(9) she took fish oil 2000mg each day; 

(10) she took CoQ10 200mg each day; 

(11) she optimized her oral hygiene using an electric flosser and electric toothbrush; 

(12) following discussion with her primary care provider, she reinstated HRT (hormone replacement therapy) that had been discontinued following the WHI report in 2002; 

(13) she fasted for a minimum of 12 hours between dinner and breakfast, and for a minimum of three hours between dinner and bedtime; 

(14) she exercised for a minimum of 30 minutes, 4-6 days per week.

PatientHistory, evaluationDiagnosisStatus
67F 3/32yr memory [down double arrow]; FH+aMCINormal x 2.5 yrs; working
"



"The positive results reported here are perhaps not surprising given that therapeutic programs have proven more effective than monotherapeutics in multiple chronic illnesses, such as atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, HIV, and cancer []. Indeed, chronic illnesses may be more amenable to therapeutic systems than to monotherapeutics."




måndag 24 november 2014

Tyrone Hayes + Penelope Jagessar Chaffer: The toxic baby | Talk Video | TED.com

Tyrone Hayes + Penelope Jagessar Chaffer: The toxic baby | Talk Video | TED.com



Filmmaker Penelope Jagessar Chaffer was curious about the chemicals she was exposed to while pregnant: Could they affect her unborn child? So she asked scientist Tyrone Hayes to brief her on one he studied closely: atrazine, a herbicide used on corn. (Hayes, an expert on amphibians, is a critic of atrazine, which displays a disturbing effect on frog development.) Onstage together at TEDWomen, Hayes and Chaffer tell their story.


Glucose Levels and Risk of Dementia — NEJM





N Engl J Med 2013; 
369:1863-1864 November 7, 2013
DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc1311765


CONCLUSIONS
Our results suggest that higher glucose levels may be a risk factor for dementia, even among persons without diabetes. (Funded by the National Institutes of Health.)



torsdag 20 november 2014

Vitamin C (Askorbinsyra), har ingen nämnvärd effekt på förkylning


Att äta en apelsin för att hålla sig frisk från förkylningar, verkar vara en skröna, och förresten så innehåller Paprika mycket mer Vitamin C än Apelsin.

Apelsin innehåller 66 % RDI/100Gram
Paprika innehåller 140-250 % RDI/100Gram




  1. Douglas RM, Chalker EB, Treacy B. Vitamin C for preventing and treating the common cold (Cochrane Review). In: The Cochrane Library, 3, 2001. Oxford: Update Software.
    http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/14651858.CD000980.pub4/abstract
     
  2. Anderson TN, Suranyi B, Beaton GW. The effect on winter illness of large doses of vitamin CCan Med Assoc J 1974; 111: 31-38.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1947567/
     
  3. Karlowski TR, Chalmers TC, Frenkel LD, et al. Ascorbic acid for the common cold. A prophylactic and therapeutic trialJAMA1975; 231: 1038-1042.
    http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=360168
     
  4. Elwood PC, Hughes SJ, St Leger AS. A randomized controlled trial of the therapeutic effect of vitamin C in the common coldPractitioner 1977; 218: 133-137.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/319446
     
  5. Tyrrell DA, Craig JW, Meada TW, White T. A trial of ascorbic acid in the treatment of the common coldBr J Prev Soc Med 1977; 31: 189-191.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC479021/

  6. Michels AJ, Frei B. Myths, Artifacts, and Fatal Flaws: Identifying Limitations and Opportunities in Vitamin C Research. Nutrients 2013;5(12):5161-5192. doi:10.3390/nu5125161.
    http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3875932/


tisdag 4 november 2014

Interaction between sphingomyelin and oxysterols contributes to ath... - PubMed - NCBI

Interaction between sphingomyelin and oxysterols contributes to atherosclerosis and sudden death - PubMed - NCBI

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23459228


Kummerow FA. Interaction between sphingomyelin and oxysterols contributes to atherosclerosis and sudden death. American Journal of Cardiovascular Disease 2013;3(1):17-26.

Abstract

Despite major public health efforts, coronary heart disease continues to be the leading cause of death in the United States. Oxidized lipids contribute to heart disease both by increasing deposition of calcium on the arterial wall, a major hallmark of atherosclerosis, and by interrupting blood flow, a major contributor to heart attack and sudden death. Oxidized cholesterol (oxysterols) enhances the production of sphingomyelin, a phospholipid found in the cellular membranes of the coronary artery. This increases the sphingomyelin content in the cell membrane, which in turn enhances the interaction between the membrane and ionic calcium (Ca2+), thereby increasing the risk of arterial calcification. Patients undergoing bypass surgery had greater concentrations of oxysterols in their plasma than cardiac catheterized controls with no stenosis, and had five times more sphingomyelin in their arteries than in the artery of the placenta of a newborn. The oxysterols found in the plasma of these patients were also found in the plasma of rabbits that had been fed oxidized cholesterol and in frying fats and powdered egg yolk intended for human consumption. Together these findings suggest that oxysterols found in the diet are absorbed and contribute to arterial calcification. Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (OxLDL) further contributes to heart disease by increasing the synthesis of thromboxane in platelets, which increases blood clotting. Cigarette smoke and trans fatty acids, found in partially hydrogenated soybean oil, both inhibit the synthesis of prostacyclin, which inhibits blood clotting. By increasing the ratio of thromboxane to prostacyclin, these factors interact to interrupt blood flow, thereby contributing to heart attack and sudden death. Levels of oxysterols and OxLDL increase primarily as a result of three diet or lifestyle factors: the consumption of oxysterols from commercially fried foods such as fried chicken, fish, and french fries; oxidation of cholesterol in vivo driven by consumption of excess polyunsaturated fatty acids from vegetable oils; and cigarette smoking. Along with the consumption of trans fatty acids from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, these diet and lifestyle factors likely underlie the persistent national burden of heart disease.