FUNCTIONAL MEDICINE BLOG
Includes over 800 monographs reporting on emerging studies in the medical and scientific literature of practical clinical importance, easily searched for content.
Allergy skin prick reactions change with lancet weight
IgE allergy skin prick test reactions differ with changes in lancet weight. Higher lancet weights cause larger wheal reactions.
GERD pathology caused by immune reaction, not acid
GERD (gastroesophageal reflux disease) may be caused by a dysregulated inflammatory reaction to the stimulus of gastric hydrochloric acid in the lower esophagus, not 'burning' by the acid itself, according to preliminary research just published in JAMA.
Mood disorders and thyroid autoimmunity
Mood disorders and thyroid autoimmunity are linked by aberrant levels of hematopoietic/neuronal growth factors...even before hypothyroidism has developed, and also in relatives of thyroid autoimmunity subjects, growth factors necessary for healthy brain function are at levels associated with a range of mood disorders including bipolar, depression and psychosis. They also include an important reminder that antibodies can predict clinical disease years in advance.
Lyme update: does longer-term antibiotic therapy help?
"Patients with subjective, vexing symptoms attributed to Lyme disease should not anticipate that even longer courses of antibiotics will produce relief, a finding that is in concert with results from previous trials."
New autoantibodies recognized for rheumatoid arthritis
New autoantibodies recognized for rheumatoid arthritis, including antibodies to oxidized collagen, can serve as early disease markers and tools for therapeutic monitoring.
Circadian rhythms of inflammation
Treatment of chronic inflammation can be enhanced and adrenal suppression minimized by circadian dosing of anti-inflammatory medication.
Depression, inflammation and light therapy
Research shows relief from depression by combining management of inflammation with bright light and chronotherapy to correct circadian dysregulation.
Antibiotics can adversely alter gut microbiome for a year
The fecal microbiome was severely affected by most antibiotics: for months, health-associated butyrate-producing species became strongly underrepresented...Clearly, even a single antibiotic treatment in healthy individuals contributes to the risk of resistance development and leads to long-lasting detrimental shifts in the gut microbiome.
Thyroid hormone conversion affects hypothyroid treatment
Dosing strategies solely based on a TSH definition of euthyroidism neglect the important role of FT3, which has recently emerged as an equally significant parameter in defining thyroid physiology... in cases where an FT3–FT4 dissociation becomes increasingly apparent following dose escalation of l-T4, an alternate treatment modality, possibly T3/T4 combination therapy, should be considered.
Pain chronic after injury, surgery due to neuroinflammation
"...the transition from acute physiological pain to persistent pain involves low-grade inflammation in the central nervous system (CNS), glial dysfunction and subsequently an imbalance in the neuron–glial interaction that causes enhanced and prolonged pain transmission."
Vitamin D necessary for mucosal barrier function
""Vitamin D, an important modulator of the immune system, has been shown to protect mucosal barrier homeostasis..."
Breast cancer, autoantibodies and autoimmune inflammation
"In this study, detection of autoantibodies in the sera from practically all women with breast cancer provides compelling evidence that an antigen-driven autoantibody response takes place in BC."
Inhaled steroids may worsen asthma with air pollution
Research recently published in the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology demonstrates that inhaled corticosteroids may in fact worsen asthma in the presence of CO (carbon monoxide).
Stunning discovery links brain and immune system
Investigators report in the prestigious journal Nature the stunning discovery of a central nervous system lymphatic system connecting the brain and immune system.
ALS and gluten sensitivity
In a study just published in JAMA Neurology, investigators report an association between some cases of ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) and gluten sensitivity.
Systemic inflammation drives brain neurodegeneration
n a richly valuable paper published recently in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience the authors describe the ways in which systemic inflammation causes neurodegeneration in the brain associated with cognitive decline and a host of neuropsychiatric disorders. In the short term this manifests the anorexia, malaise, depression, and decreased physical activity known as sickness behavior (SB) that occurs with inflammation due to infection. Permanent cognitive and behavioral changes due to neurodegeneration occur when inflammation is chronic. Discerning and targeting the causes of inflammation offers opportunities for treatment.
Mercury exposure at low levels induces autoimmunity
Methylmercury, at low levels generally considered safe, was associated with subclinical autoimmunity among reproductive-age females. Autoantibodies may predate clinical disease by years, thus methylmercury exposure may be relevant to future autoimmune disease risk.
Gluten intolerance acquired after gastroenteritis
Gluten intolerance can occur at any age due to a number of causes that contribute to loss of immune tolerance. The authors of a paper published recently in the journal Gastroenterology and Hepatology from Bed to Bench remind how a bout of viral or bacterial gastroenteritis can be the trigger.
Fatigue: inflammation and autoimmunity
Severe fatigue, associated with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or another disorder, has as a core underlying cause chronic inflammation...there are sufficient robust multiple lines of evidence to support the proposition that the severe fatigue and profound disability experienced by people with the neurodegenerative, neuro-immune and autoimmune diseases discussed here is largely driven by peripheral immune activation and systemic inflammation either directly or indirectly by inducing mitochondrial damage.
Women's heart risk lower with exercise 2-3x/week than daily
A large study using data from 1.1 million women recently published in the journal Circulation offers evidence that strenuous physical activity 2-3 times per week significantly lowered their coronary heart disease risk while more frequent strenuous exercise actually increased it.