Kids With Autism Have Extra Brain Connections, Study Says

Researchers report that children with autism appear to have excess synapses – cellular connections – in their brains compared with typical children.

The scientists also believe it might be possible to reduce the number of extra synapses through drug treatment.
Synapses are the points in the brain where brains cells (neurons) connect and communicate with each other. Having excess synapses may have a major impact on how the brain functions, theorized neuroscientists at Columbia University Medical Center in New York City.

“It’s the first time that anyone has looked for, and seen, a lack of pruning during development of children with autism, although lower numbers of synapses in some brain areas have been detected in brains from older patients and in mice with autistic-like behaviors,” study senior investigator, David Sulzer, a professor of neurobiology, said in a Columbia news release.

His team also found that rapamycin, an immunosuppressant that helps prevent rejection in organ transplants and coats some coronary stents, can restore normal synaptic pruning and improve autistic-like behaviors in mice. The effect was seen even when the drug was given to the mice after they developed those behaviors.

The drug causes side effects that might prevent its use in people with autism, the researchers said. However, “the fact that we can see changes in behavior suggests that autism may still be treatable after a child is diagnosed, if we can find a better drug.” Sulzer added.

For the study, he and his colleagues examined 26 brains of youngsters with autism. All of the children had died from causes other that autism. Their brains were compared to 22 brains of children without autism.

Wisdom Wednesday: Quasi-vitamins

Traditional vitamins were discovered during the first half of the last century. There was an initial association between diet and health status that led early researchers to identify these essential nutrients. Until identified and labeled as vitamins, these chemicals were called “unidentified growth factors”. That term is still used today.

The term “vitamin” is specific for animal species, stage of development, and/or particular conditions of the physical environment and diet. For example, most primates (other than humans) can make vitamin C, so for them, it is not a vitamin. Guinea pigs, like humans, cannot make vitamin C, which is why they became so popular in research.

Of course, some of our traditional vitamins are not really vitamins. Vitamin D is a hormone not a vitamin, and is manufactured by skin cells when exposed to sunlight.

The quasi-vitamins meet the criteria of a vitamin for only a few species or only under certain conditions, and are not accorded the full status of a vitamin. Under the heading of only a few species are choline, carnitine, and inositol.

Choline is required in the diets of young poultry for optimal growth and freedom of leg disorders. It occurs in foods in the form of phosphatidylcholine (also called lecithin). The best food sources are egg yolk, glandular meats (liver, kidney, brain), soy, wheat germ, and peanuts.

New Method Shows How Bacteria Become Dangerous Pathogens

Two new papers published this month describe a new approach that combines whole genome sequencing – an ability to analyze the genetic code of bacteria in great detail – with plylogenetic reconstruction – an ability to trace the family tree of different strains of the same organism back to a common ancestor.

In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Prof. Gordon Dougan, from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK, who co-authored both papers describe how they worked out that typhoid fever emerged in humans about 450 years ago. The researchers suggest the disease may have moved from animals to humans when people began to inhabit denser environments and started living close to their livestock. They suggest the bacterium followed a similar path to whooping cough and tuberculosis – it became fixed in humans and spread around the world.

Over the centuries, typhoid fever appears to have accumulated genetic mutations – not as the result of any particular event, but through a gradual process known as genetic drift.

In the second paper, published in Nature Communications, Prof. Dougan and another set of colleagues traced the genetic development of the bacterium Streptococcus agalactiae or Group B Streptococcus (GBS), a cause of serious septicemia and shock in newborns.

Health News

I write three blogs per week. One of those, Wisdom Wednesday, comes from my clinical experience. The other two are from reviewing recently published studies on human health.

I spend some time virtually every day searching the internet for interesting research. I hope that the studies I write about have some impact and meaning for you personally. It is not always easy to find research worthy of review. Sometimes I go several days without finding a good study, then I might find two or three great reports at one sitting.

Today, I thought I would review a few of the rejects, studies that didn’t make the cut. All of these studies were published on Medline Today by the NIH (National Institutes of Health). It is, without question, my best source of information. I also look at WebMD, the New York Times, CBS News, and even Fox News. These are from the past week and a just a sample of the studies funded, conducted, and published on a daily basis:

• Employees Benefit from Natural Light, Study Finds
• Natural Lighting Brightens Nurses’ Outlook, Study Says
• Good Neighbors are Good for Your Heart, Study Says
• Health Tip: Practice a Well-Balanced Exercise Program- Don’t focus on just one form of activity.
• Lunch Box Hygiene Helps Prevent Foodborne Illness, Expert Says
• Many Seniors Get Unnecessary Cancer Tests - Screening should not be done when patients have less than a 10-year life expectancy research says.
• Losing Weight May Help Against Osteoarthritis – Too much weight can strain joints.
• Nearly 1 in 5 American Adults Consume at Least One Soda Per Day: CDC – Mississippi is the highest at 32%.
• Popular Southern Fare May Harm Your Kidneys, Study Finds – Fatty, sugary foods run risk of death due to organ problems.
• Many Shift Workers Use Drugs to Sleep, Stay Awake, Study Finds
• Study Hints at Link Between Poor Sleep, Suicide Risk – But fails to shows a direct cause and effect relationship.
• Forty Percent of Americans Will Develop Diabetes, CDC Predicts

I hesitated to include the last one because it is such an important issue. It’s just that the jury returned this verdict long ago. Why would the CDC make such a redundant announcement at this time? Besides, I believe the numbers are too low, it’s at least 50% of those currently alive.

There was also another study questioning the value of statin drugs. Although that is also old news, the drug industry, American Heart Association, and American Cardiologist Association have not yet shifted their position. That topic needs to be reiterated.

The Ebola viral outbreak is the most popular topic in health news over the course of the past few weeks. I wish that the interest was in the health of those living in Africa that are at high risk. However, I believe that the public is easily distracted by focusing on a health issue that won’t affect them directly rather than deal with the very real health dangers we face ourselves.

THE BOTTOM LINE:
A very small percentage of the research published on health care really advances the science. I suppose that is what gives me the drive and the material to write this blog. I will continue to try and find those pearls, both good and bad, to illuminate. I hope you continue to read along.

Wisdom Wednesday: Chaste Tree

This herb has been used for over 2500 years as a tonic for female hormonal issues. During the middle ages, the monks would chew the leaves to reduce their libido and “keep their thoughts on higher things.” The tree originates from the Mediterranean region but grows well in all sub-tropical climates.

I began using this herb about fifteen years ago. Like most nutritionists, I used it to treat PMS, irregular menstrual cycles, painful menstruation, etc. The herb was thought to have a direct effect on the ovaries so it was not used on men or postmenopausal women.

Within a couple of years, we began to use it to treat postmenopausal women, but only if they still had a least one ovary. It was very effective for hot flashes and mood swings.

Chaste Tree (or Monk’s Pepper) also had an antidotal use as a sleep aid. In addition, the full dose was given first thing in the morning rather than throughout the day like most supplements. The rationale for use and the application had been lost over the centuries.

New research on Chaste Tree was published ten years ago. The study focused on the traditional use as a sleep aid. They discovered that Chaste Tree does not directly influence the ovaries at all. Rather, it stimulates the pineal gland to make more melatonin. Clinically, melatonin production increases by 95% within two weeks.

Bone Drugs Don’t Lower Breast Cancer Risk

Drugs known as bisphosphonates – commonly prescribed to treat osteoporosis, don’t appear to reduce the risk of breast cancer as previously thought, new research finds.

“We found that postmenopausal women who took a biphosphanate for three or four years did not have a decreased risk in breast cancer,” said study author Trisha Hue, an epidemiologist at the University of California, San Francisco.

“Women who get bisphosphonates have a low bone mass density,” she said. “If you have low bone mass density, you probably have low estrogen.” This is because the hormone, which is depleted after menopause, helps regulate bone mass and strength. Many types of breast cancer need estrogen to grow, she said.

Previous studies that found the fringe benefit of reduced breast cancer risk were observational, meaning people taking the drugs happened to have lower breast cancer risk. But the research didn’t establish a direct cause-and effect relationship.

The new study, published in JAMA Internal Medicine looks at two randomized clinical trials that compared two popular osteoporosis drugs, Fosamax and Reclast, to see if the women taking the drugs were less likely to get breast cancer than women given a placebo. After nearly three years of follow-up, less than 1% of the women in each group developed breast cancer.

Experts Issue Guidelines for Treating Irritable Bowel Syndrome

Newly released guidelines for the treatment of irritable bowel syndrome and a type of constipation known as chronic idiopathic constipation reveal a number of proven treatments for those two common conditions.

“There’s a greater variety of approaches which reflect a greater understanding of the disorders,” said guidelines co-author Dr. Eamonn Quigley, chief of the division of gastroenterology and hepatology at Houston Methodist Hospital.


“We now have a better opportunity to improve the lives of our patients,” Quigley said.

The guidelines are published in the August issue of the American Journal of Gastroenterology.

An estimated 5 to 15% of the world’s population has irritable bowel syndrome, a condition that can cause symptoms such as abdominal pain, diarrhea or constipation, cramping and bloating, and gas. It can affect people at any age but is especially common when people are in their 20s and 30s, Quigley said.

The condition can be difficult to diagnose because other conditions share the same symptoms. Unlike other conditions, however, there’s no specific diagnostic test for irritable bowel syndrome, he noted. Physicians must rely purely on symptoms to make the diagnosis.

The new guidelines, released this week by the American College of Gastroenterology, say there’s evidence to support the following treatments for irritable bowel syndrome:
• Fiber (psyllium especially when compared to bran)
• Probiotics
• An antibiotic called rifaximin (Rifagut)
• Medications known as linaciotide (Linzess) and lubiprostone (Amitiza)

The irritable bowel syndrome guidelines also say that research has boosted the case for using antidepressant medications and psychological therapy.