Eva Sapi and Phyllis Mervine on Fox CT News - Lyme Video

Dr. Eva Sapi, an associate professor of cellular and molecular biology at the University of New Haven, and Phyllis Mervine, founder and president of LymeDisease.org, talk about some new research about the disease and what we can learn from Sapi's work.

LymeDisease.org recently contributed $150,000 to help fund Sapi's research. Almost a third of the money was raised through small donations from an online fundraising website. The money came from many people who either have Lyme disease or have a loved one who does.

LymeDisease.org, based in California, was founded in 1989 and advocates for the rights of lyme disease patients, educates about tick-borne disease and supports research. It maintains a nationwide network of online support and advocacy groups.

See the video: 

http://foxct.com/2013/12/11/new-lyme-disease-research-at-university-of-new-haven/

Read more: 

http://foxct.com/2013/12/11/new-lyme-disease-research-at-university-of-new-haven/#ixzz2nCRYA4TX

Toxo -- The cysts in our brains from cats-can improve our self-control

Do Cats Control My Mind?

New neuroscience research says that Toxo—the cysts in our brains from cats—can improve our self-control. For the 30 percent of people who have this infection, it's about more than promiscuity, schizophrenia, and car crashes.

James Hamblin 

Dec 5 2013, 12:06 PM ET

kevindooley/flickr

"It is definitely not smart to intentionally infect yourself. I've already had people ask."

A third of the world has been infected, though. Tiny cysts nested in one's brain and muscles attest. The parasite Toxoplasmosis gondii comes into us by undercooked meat, well-intentioned placentas, gardening soil, or, most infamously, cats. It is the reason that pregnant women are not supposed to empty litter boxes.

LLMD Richard Horowitz's Book Makes NY Times Bestseller List

On NY Times science bestseller list #10

SCIENCE BEST SELLERS

Science Bookshelf

By THE NEW YORK TIMES

Published: December 9, 2013

10. WHY CAN'T I GET BETTER? by Richard I. Horowitz. St. Martin's. A doctor's investigation of Lyme disease.

See the entire list of best sellers in the science category:

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/10/science/science-bookshelf.html?_r=0 

Inflammation may play key role in mental health disorders

USA Today (12/1, Karen Weintraub) reported that studies now "suggest a tighter link than was previously realized between ailments of the mind and body" in that immune system activation, including inflammation, may play a role in both. Researcher Georgia Hodes, of the Icahn Medical Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York, stated, "One of the things we need to stop thinking is that mental health is just a disorder of the brain." Just by "adding inflammation to their thinking has helped neuroscientists cast a broader net when searching for causes of and possible treatments for mental illness, mood disorders and neurodevelopmental conditions," according to researchers.

"Last time you had a bad cold, you likely had less energy than usual. You lay around and didn't have any enthusiasm for your usual activities. After it dragged on for a day or two, a sense of helplessness probably set in. It was hard to remember what feeling good felt like or how you could ever bound off the couch again.

In short, for a few days, you probably felt a lot like someone with depression.

And increasingly, scientists think it's no coincidence that a mental illness feels like a physical one.

A growing body of research on conditions from bipolar disorder to schizophrenia to depression is starting to suggest a tighter link than was previously realized between ailments of the mind and body. Activation of the immune system seems to play a crucial role in both."

Full article here:

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/12/01/immune-inflammation-mental-health/3712121/

Is Alzheimer’s Caused by an Infection?

By Michael A. Smith, MD

Research has shown that some common bacteria are consistently detected in the central nervous system of Alzheimer's patients.1

Doctors from the International Alzheimer Research Center in Switzerland published a study indicating a high probability of a causal relationship, not just an association, between spirochete infections and Alzheimer's disease.

What they discovered was pretty amazing. They found spirochetes in about 90% of Alzheimer's patients, while the bacteria were virtually absent in healthy age-matched controls.1

Could Alzheimer's disease be caused by this infection? Let's explore.

N.J. officials alert medical community about fatality from tick-borne illness | NJ.com

The state Department of Health sent a statewide advisory about a rare tick-borne disease to doctors and public health officials late yesterday, urging physicians to consider it as a possible cause for patients with viral encephalitis or meningitis.

A 51-year-old Warren County woman died in mid-May of Powassan virus, a tick-borne illness whose most dangerous symptom is encephalitis.

It was New Jersey's first case of a disease that, while extremely rare, is fatal in 10 percent of the cases. It is carried by the same tick that carries bacteria for Lyme disease — although only 1 percent carry Powassan.

Powassan differs from Lyme disease in another important way: While a tick has to remain attached to a person for at least a day to transmit Lyme, it needs only 15 minutes to spread Powassan.

The rest of the story:

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/nj_officials_alert_medical_community_about_fatality_from_tick-borne_illness.html

N.J. confirms Warren County woman died from state's first case of rare tick-borne disease | NJ.com

Five months after the death of a Warren County woman, the state Department of Health has confirmed she died of a rare tick-borne disease never before seen in New Jersey.

Her death in early May was caused by the Powassan virus, an illness so uncommon that just eight other cases have been diagnosed in the United States this year.

The unnamed 51-year-old woman had developed symptoms that included fever, headache, a rash, and encephalitis, or inflammation of the brain. She was taken and treated at an unnamed hospital and died there, a health department spokesman said.

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2013/12/rare_tick-borne_disease_-_new_to_nj_-_kills_warren_county_woman.html

'Better' Levodopa Would 'Mean Everything to Me'

Here is something that came across my desk from the Michael J Fox foundation this morning. This is pretty exciting to me, considering that I have several up-and-down periods during the day when I am revisited by tremors, and then have to wait an hour after I take the next dose of medication before I get symptom relief.

-Bob

Posted by  Nate Herpich, November 21, 2013

The days vary greatly for Ellen Maguire, 54, an artist living with Parkinson's disease. Often, she spends hours working in her studio to create stained glass mosaics. But on other days, she feels like she's unable to get much done, stuck in a state of feeling like she's "moving through pudding."

Maguire experiences the roller coaster of "on/off periods" common to many people taking Parkinson's medication. Every three hours or so, she takes levodopa/carbidopa. On the good days, she can feel the medicine kick in quickly like magic; on the bad days, she feels little therapeutic effect.

"The off periods remind me almost every day that I have this disease," she says. "So I focus on the day I'm in because I never know what tomorrow will bring."

Improving an imperfect gold standard

It's a common refrain for many Parkinson's patients: What will tomorrow bring? Unpredictable on/off periods can greatly interfere with daily life, and are perhaps the major concern for people living with PD today. For this reason, in addition to looking for new drugs, The Michael J. Fox Foundation and the Parkinson's field at large are hard at work to improve existing treatments so that they more consistently deliver therapeutic benefits.

The key to success: finding better ways to deliver, and then maintain, therapeutic levels of levodopa in the bloodstream. "An improved delivery method is what I've always hoped for," says Maguire. "Something that would even out my days would mean everything to me."

Since it was first prescribed for Parkinson's in the late 1960s, levodopa has been the so-called gold standard therapy for PD. Today, people with Parkinson's take the drug in conjunction with carbidopa, a therapy meant to prolong the life of levodopa in the bloodstream, and, in turn, its therapeutic effect. But this combination, as Maguire can attest, is still largely imperfect.

Inhaled relief from on/off periods

The good news is, the past few years in PD research have returned significant and positive clinical study results for new therapies that have been shown to lessen on/off periods in people with PD.

This spring biotech Civitas Therapeutics announced positive clinical trial results for their inhaled formulation of levodopa, called CVT-301. The Phase 2a study, funded in part by MJFF, showed that, when administered to patients in an off state, CVT-301 provided a rapid improvement in motor function.

CVT-301 is designed to work as a sort of "rescue drug" to be taken in conjunction with the traditional pill form of levodopa/ carbidopa. The idea is that patients would be able to self-medicate by taking a puff from an inhaler when they feel an off period coming on. This puff would bring the amount of levodopa in the bloodstream back to a level that provides a therapeutic effect.

Read the rest of the story... 

https://www.michaeljfox.org/foundation/news-detail.php?better-levodopa-would-mean-everything-to-me

Warning: Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Linked to Nerve Damage

Many Lyme docs prescribe Cipro and Levaquin. I've even taken them myself. I do have peripheral neuropathy in my feet and legs, though who knows what that is from. I haven't taken these drugs in a very long time. When I did, it was not for long. Anyway, check out this article and perhaps click through to some of the links if you're taking any of these drugs. 

August 15, 2013

Warning: Fluoroquinolone Antibiotics Linked to Nerve Damage

The FDA is requiring updated drug labels and medication guides for fluoroquinolone antibiotics explaining the possibility of permanent peripheral neuropathy. The nerve damage may occur soon after these drugs are taken by mouth or by injection, and may be permanent.

RELATED CHART: Antibiotic Formulations

The affected fluoroquinolone drugs include: Levaquin (levofloxacin; Janssen), Cipro (ciprofloxacin; Bayer), Avelox (moxifloxacin; Bayer), Noroxin (norfloxacin; Merck), Factive (gemifloxacin; Cornerstone), and Ofloxacin.

Topical formulations indicated for the ears or eyes are not known to be associated with this risk.

RELATED: Infectious Diseases Resource Center

The FDA recommends discontinuing the fluoroquinolone if the patient develops symptoms of peripheral neuropathy. The patient should be switched to another, non-fluoroquinolone antibiotic unless the benefit outweighs the risk. Symptoms include pain, burning, tingling, numbness, weakness, or a change in sensation to light touch, pain or temperature, or the sense of body position.

For more information call (888) 463-6332 or visit FDA.gov.        

MTHFR - What the heck is it?

There's a lot of talk about MTHFR gene mutation in the Lyme world. Wondering what MTHFR gene mutation is all about? Here's a good, clear article about it.

http://ghr.nlm.nih.gov/gene/MTHFR