pesticides and Alzheimer Disease, fever suppression, microbiome, IBS

• Population-level effects of suppressing fever
  • “While the data are incomplete and heterogeneous, they suggest that, overall, fever suppression increases the expected number of influenza cases and deaths in the US: for pandemic influenza… the estimated increase is 1%… whereas for seasonal influenza… the estimated increase is 5%…”
• Worldwide Increasing Incidence of Thyroid Cancer: Update on Epidemiology and Risk Factors
  • “thyroid cancer mortality, in spite of earlier diagnosis and better treatment, has not decreased but is rather increasing. Therefore, some environmental carcinogens in the industrialized lifestyle may have specifically affected the thyroid. Among potential carcinogens, the increased exposure to medical radiations is the most likely risk factor.”
• Synbiotic supplementation in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled pilot study
  • “Synbiotic supplementation in addition to lifestyle modification is superior to lifestyle modification alone for the treatment of [nonalcoholic fatty liver disease], at least partially through attenuation of inflammatory markers in the body. Whether these effects will be sustained with longer treatment durations remains to be determined.”
• A Diet Low in FODMAPs Reduces Symptoms of Irritable Bowel Syndrome
  • “Subjects with IBS had lower overall gastrointestinal symptom scores… while on a diet low in FODMAPs, compared with the Australian diet… and the subjects’ habitual diet. Bloating, pain, and passage of wind also were reduced while IBS patients were on the low-FODMAP diet. Symptoms were minimal and unaltered by either diet among controls.”
• Elevated Serum Pesticide Levels and Risk for Alzheimer Disease
  • “Levels of DDE were 3.8-fold higher in the serum of those with [Alzheimer Disease] when compared with control participants… The highest tertile of DDE levels was associated with an odds ratio of 4.18 for increased risk for [Alzheimer Disease] and lower Mini-Mental State Examination scores.”
• Cell – Microbiota Modulate Behavioral and Physiological Abnormalities Associated with Neurodevelopmental Disorders
  • “We demonstrate GI barrier defects and microbiota alterations in the maternal immune activation (MIA) mouse model that is known to display features of [autism spectrum disorder]… These findings support a gut-microbiome-brain connection in a mouse model of ASD and identify a potential probiotic therapy for GI and particular behavioral symptoms in human neurodevelopmental disorders.”