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Friday, November 28, 2014
Excerpts from interview with Willy Burgdorfer, Ph.D., Lyme disease discoverer
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QLIWSkQdCmU
Tuesday, November 25, 2014
Exercise and gut flora diversity are positively correlated
Being physically fit appears to be associated with a greater diversity of gut bugs, researchers found.
In a case-control study, Irish athletes had a far wider range of intestinal microbes than did matched controls who weren't athletes, Fergus Shanahan, MD, of the University College Cork in Ireland, and colleagues reported online in Gut.
"Exercise seems to be another important factor in the relationship between the microbiota, host immunity, and host metabolism, with diet playing an important role," they wrote.
There's been much attention surrounding gut microbiota and its relationship with obesity and metabolism, but few have looked specifically at the effects of exercise on these gut microbes.
Shanahan and colleagues looked at 40 professional athletes from an international rugby team while they participated in pre-season camp -- a regulated environment -- and compared them with healthy male controls from the Cork region of Ireland.
They found that athletes and controls differed with respect to plasma creatinine kinase, a marker of extreme exercise, and inflammatory and metabolic markers. Athletes had less inflammation and better metabolism than did controls, they reported.
Athletes also had a far higher diversity of gut bugs -- 22 phyla, 68 families, and 113 genera compared with just 11 phyla, 33 families and 65 genera for controls with a low body mass index (BMI), and 9 phyla, 33 families and 61 genera for controls with a high BMI.
Athletes also consumed far more protein than controls, with protein accounting for 22% of their total energy intake compared with 16% of energy intake for low-BMI controls and 15% for high-BMI controls.
This high protein intake, as well as high levels of creatinine kinase, positively correlated with bacterial diversity, suggesting that both diet and exercise are drivers of biodiversity in the gut, Shanahan and colleagues wrote.
The results provide evidence that exercise has a beneficial effect on gut microbiota diversity, they concluded, but it also indicates that the relationship is complex since it's also tied to dietary extremes -- which is why further investigation is needed into the relationship, with a particular need for intervention-based studies to tease it apart.
In an accompanying editorial, Georgina Hold, MD, of the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, noted that the article is the first to report that exercise increases gut microbe diversity and that it "highlights that exercise is another important factor in the complex relationship among the host, host immunity, and the microbiota."
She added that future studies examining the impact of exercise and the nutritional value of foods in terms of relevance to gut bacteria are essential: "Developing new ways to manipulate the beneficial properties of our microbiota by finding ways to integrate health-promoting properties into modern living should be the goal."
Sunday, November 23, 2014
Bartonella causing liver disease
Thursday, November 20, 2014
NY Governor must sign Lyme bill
Several obituaries for Willie Bergdorfer
NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/health/willy-burgdorfer-who-found-bacteria-that-cause-lyme-disease-is-dead-at-89.html
The Week:
http://theweek.com/speedreads/index/272323/speedreads-medical-entomologist-who-discovered-lyme-disease-bacteria-dies
Ravalli Republic:
http://ravallirepublic.com/news/local/article_c1e2691a-7059-11e4-92e1-33a74bcd01ee.html
NBC Montana
http://www.nbcmontana.com/news/hamilton-scientist-who-discovered-cause-of-lyme-disease-dead-at-89/29828920
Tuesday, November 18, 2014
Monday, November 17, 2014
22-month-old baby dies from ehrlichiosis
Nashville Jury Awards $5 Million In Death From Tick Infection
Posted: Oct 13, 2014 7:40 AM PDTUpdated: Oct 14, 2014 6:41 AM PDTA local pediatric clinic and hospital were found jointly responsible for failure to diagnose the bacterial infection that led to the death of a young boy.
Nashville, TN, United States – - October 13, 2014 —
On October 2, 2014, a Nashville jury held a pediatric clinic and local hospital accountable for the wrongful death of 22-month-old Ryder Laurent. Ryder died on June 10, 2009, as a result of complications from ehrlichiosis, a tick-borne illness.
The jury ruled in favor of the Laurent family against Old Harding Pediatric Associates, which was found to be 50 percent responsible for Ryder's death. Vanderbilt University Medical Center was also found 50 percent responsible, but had resolved all issues associated with the case prior to trial.
"We are very pleased that the jury carefully listened to this tragic matter and rendered a verdict that was fair and just," said Ms. Laurent's attorney, Daniel Clayton, of Kinnard, Clayton & Beveridge in Nashville.
"Ms. Laurent did everything she could to get help for her son. The medical community let her down."
Ehrlichiosis is a bacterial infection transmitted by ticks. The disease causes flu-like symptoms in those infected and, as in the case of Ryder Laurent, can be fatal if it remains untreated.
According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), the antibiotic doxycycline is the first line treatment for ehrlichiosis. If it is administered within the first four to five days of symptoms, fever usually subsides within 24 to 72 hours and the infection is cured with no long-term problems.
In this case, the diagnosis and treatment both came too late for one little boy.
In May 2009, a tick bit Ryder Laurent while he was playing outside. Approximately two weeks later, he developed a fever and a rash on his face. Ryder's mother, Story Laurent, took her son to Old Harding Pediatric Associates in Nashville on Wednesday, June 3, because of his symptoms.
The pediatrician, Dr. Chris Patton, noted the recent tick bite on Ryder's chart, but advised Ms. Laurent that the bite had nothing do with her son's illness, citing an ear infection as the cause.
The following morning, the rash had spread all over Ryder's body. Ms. Laurent said that he had a high fever throughout the night, was experiencing episodes of disorientation and was patting his head like he had a headache.
She took Ryder back to Old Harding and saw Dr. James Keffer. Dr. Keffer failed to look at the chart from the day before, which would have revealed the recent tick bite, and diagnosed Ryder with an allergic reaction.
By Friday, with her child's symptoms worsening, Ms. Laurent took Ryder to Vanderbilt University Medical Center twice – once in the morning and once around midnight – and was sent home both times.
Finally on Monday, June 8, Ms. Laurent brought her son back to Vanderbilt, where an infectious disease expert made the presumptive diagnosis of ehrlichiosis. At that point treatment began, but it was too late.
Ryder Laurent died after suffering a brain herniation caused by ehrlichia meningitis on June 10, 2009. Ms. Laurent made the decision to give the gift of life and donated Ryder's organs.
For more information about us, please visit http://www.kinnardclaytonandbeveridge.com/Medical-Malpractice/
Contact Info:
Name: Daniel Clayton
Email: daniel@kcbattys.com
Organization: Kinnard, Clayton & Beveridge
Release ID: 65912
Discoverer of Lyme bacterium is in hospice
He is still aware of his surroundings but his health has been deteriorating all summer. We don't know how long he will live, but we have an opportunity to show our appreciation of his work. We hope that hearing from you will boost his spirits.
We have set up a website where you can express your thoughts to Willy about his life's work. We will share your words with his family. Please visit:
Saturday, November 15, 2014
Interacttive Lyme disease map
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Preliminary Agenda for Lyme Disease Advisory Committee Meeting
http://www.cdph.ca.gov/services/boards/ldac/Documents/LDACAgenda11-13-14.pdf
-Bob
Tuesday, November 11, 2014
The Mayday Project Responds to Dr. Paul Auwaerter's Defense of IDSA Guidelines for Lyme Disease
The Mayday Project welcomes the response by Dr. Paul Auwaerter to our concerns about the IDSA guidelines for diagnosis and treatment of Lyme disease, which were discussed in a recent Medscape article about Mayday's outreach to IDSA members at the IDWeek medical conference in October 2014.
Dr. Auwaerter's statement that there can be "productive collaboration among advocacy groups" was especially encouraging.
Mayday also appreciates the open-mindedness of the doctors and researchers who spoke with us at IDWeek, and those who read our open letter to IDSA members (http://tinyurl.com/IDSAletter). We gained valuable insight into the complications of battling emerging diseases, such as Lyme, and a better understanding about the dangers related to overuse of antibiotics.
Monday, November 10, 2014
High-fat diet postpones brain aging in mice
November 6, 2014
Sunday, November 9, 2014
Lyme is the most misunderstood disease since AIDS
Sat Nov 8, 2014
Gov. Andrew Cuomo should sign the Patients' Rights/Doctor Protection bill.
Holly Ahern, for The Poughkeepsie Journal (opinion page), Poughkeepsie, New York
With the possible exception of HIV/AIDS, no infectious disease in recent history has been as misunderstood, maligned or politicized as Lyme disease.
After more than two decades of controversy and government neglect, Lyme disease has become too large an issue to ignore any longer. A year ago, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that only 1 in 10 cases of Lyme disease were properly reported to public health agencies and increased the likely incidence to more than 300,000 new cases of Lyme disease in the U.S. per year. As a highly endemic state, a significant proportion of those cases are in New York.
Read the complete article:
http://tinyurl.com/mc6euzkhttp://tinyurl.com/mc6euzk
Letters:letterstoeditor@poughkeepsiejournal.com
or http://tinyurl.com/nbma5g3http://tinyurl.com/nbma5g3The mission of LymeInfo is to keep you informed of issues that might be of interest to Lyme disease patients. Postings are not meant to imply that we agree with the content of all items we distribute.
For Lyme information, see:
http://www.LymeInfo.net
A possible alternative to antibiotics
Ever since the development of penicillin almost 90 years ago, antibiotics have remained the gold standard in the treatment of bacterial infections. However, the WHO has repeatedly warned of a growing emergence of bacteria that develop antibiotic resistance. Once antibiotics do no longer protect from bacterial infection, a mere pneumonia might be fatal.
Alternative therapeutic concepts which lead to the elimination of bacteria, but do not promote resistance are still lacking.
A team of international scientists has tested a novel substance, which has been developed by Eduard Babiychuk and Annette Draeger from the Institute of Anatomy, University of Bern in Switzerland. This compound constitutes a novel approach for the treatment of bacterial infections: the scientists engineered artificial nanoparticles made of lipids, "liposomes" that closely resemble the membrane of host cells. These liposomes act as decoys for bacterial toxins and so are able to sequester and neutralize them. Without toxins, the bacteria are rendered defenseless and can be eliminated by the cells of the host's own immune system. The study will be published in Nature Biotechnology Nov 2.
Artificial bait for bacterial toxins
In clinical medicine, liposomes are used to deliver specific medication into the body of patients. Here, the Bernese scientists have created liposomes which attract bacterial toxins and so protect host cells from a dangerous toxin attack.
"We have made an irresistible bait for bacterial toxins. The toxins are fatally attracted to the liposomes, and once they are attached, they can be eliminated easily without danger for the host cells", says Eduard Babiychuk who directed the study.
"Since the bacteria are not targeted directly, the liposomes do not promote the development of bacterial resistance", adds Annette Draeger. Mice which were treated with the liposomes after experimental, fatal septicemia survived without additional antibiotic therapy.
Thursday, November 6, 2014
New Lyme and confections testing technology
An Optimized SYBR Green I/PI Assay for Rapid Viability Assessment and Antibiotic Susceptibility Testing for Borrelia burgdorferi
Abstract
Lyme disease caused by Borrelia burgdorferi is the most common tick-borne disease in the US and Europe. Unlike most bacteria, measurements of growth and viability of B. burgdorferi are challenging. The current B. burgdorferi viability assays based on microscopic counting and PCR are cumbersome and tedious and cannot be used in a high throughput format. Here, we evaluated several commonly used viability assays including MTT and XTT assays, fluorescein diacetate assay, Sytox Green/Hoechst 33342 assay, the commercially available LIVE/DEAD BacLight assay, and SYBR Green I/PI assay by microscopic counting and by automated 96-well plate reader for rapid viability assessment of B. burgdorferi. We found that the optimized SYBR Green I/PI assay based on green to red fluorescence ratio is superior to all the other assays for measuring the viability of B. burgdorferi in terms of sensitivity, accuracy, reliability, and speed in automated 96-well plate format and in comparison with microscopic counting. The BSK-H medium which produced a high background for the LIVE/DEAD BacLight assay did not affect the SYBR Green I/PI assay, and the viability of B. burgdorferi culture could be directly measured using a microtiter plate reader. The SYBR Green I/PI assay was found to reliably assess the viability of planktonic as well as biofilm B. burgdorferi and could be used as a rapid antibiotic susceptibility test. Thus, the SYBR Green I/PI assay provides a more sensitive, rapid and convenient method for evaluating viability and antibiotic susceptibility of B. burgdorferi and can be used for high-throughput drug screens.
Wednesday, November 5, 2014
The influence of inflammatory cytokines in physiopathology of suicidal behavior
Abstract
Background
Methods
Results
Limitations
Conclusion
Lyme physician in Sweden needs support
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
New Lyme conference videos available online
Dear blog readers:
I just received this message this morning from a Lyme disease group on the east coast of the US, in the Delaware/Maryland/Virginia area (abbreviated "Delmarva") and I want to pass it on. Here is what the news release said:
This past May, our group hosted a "Symposium on Tick-borne Diseases" - a full day conference with an incredible line-up of speakers. The conference was well-attended by medical and counseling professionals from several different states. The problem was, that we were mostly shut out by the medical community in our own backyard. So one woman who is friends with many doctors practicing on the mid-Delmarva area started asking why her friends weren't attending the conference. The answers were varied, but one that kept being repeated was that the doctors didn't want to be seen at the conference, because of peer pressure.
And thus, a YouTube channel was born which will eventually have all of the videos from our conference available. Right now, there are just two: Dr. Burrascano's presentation on Lyme disease; and Dr. Horowitz's presentation on tick-borne co-infections. In the coming days, the other four videos will be uploaded and made available. These include a presentation by Dr. Bransfield on the neuropsychiatric manifestations of tick-borne diseases; a presentation by Dr. Sunjya Schweig on the Lyme and gut connection; and another presentation by Dr. Horowitz on the Lyme-MSIDS Map which explains contributing factors preventing healing. We also filmed the question and answer session which will also be uploaded. During this session, Dr. Burrascano successfully enticed Dr. Horowitz to sing his now-famous Lyme song. It was a great day filled with excellent presentations and we're very happy to be able to provide the presentations on YouTube.
https://plus.google.com/u/0/b/105098768885957940064/105098768885957940064/videos
The channel's name is "Lyme Association of Delmarva" to reflect our upcoming name change.
Marilyn Williams
Lyme Disease Association of the Eastern Shore of Maryland