autism, celiac disease, pertussis, IBS, sleep and Alzheimer’s, microbiome, marijauna

• Costs of Autism Spectrum Disorders in the United Kingdom and the United States
  • “The cost of supporting an individual with an ASD and intellectual disability during his or her lifespan was $2.4 million in the United States and £1.5 million (US $2.2 million) in the United Kingdom. The cost of supporting an individual with an ASD without intellectual disability was $1.4 million in the United States and £0.92 million (US $1.4 million) in the United Kingdom. The largest cost components for children were special education services and parental productivity loss. During adulthood, residential care or supportive living accommodation and individual productivity loss contributed the highest costs.”
• Neurodevelopmental Disorders and Prenatal Residential Proximity to Agricultural Pesticides: The CHARGE Study
  • “Approximately one-third of CHARGE Study mothers lived, during pregnancy, within 1.5 km (just under one mile) of an agricultural pesticide application. Proximity to organophosphates at some point during gestation was associated with a 60% increased risk for ASD, higher for 3rd trimester exposures…, and 2nd trimester chlorpyrifos applications… Children of mothers residing near pyrethroid insecticide applications just prior to conception or during 3rd trimester were at greater risk for both ASD and DD, with OR’s ranging from 1.7 to 2.3.”
• Risk of Pediatric Celiac Disease According to HLA Haplotype and Country
  • “We studied 6403 children with HLA haplotype DR3–DQ2 or DR4–DQ8 prospectively from birth in the United States, Finland, Germany, and Sweden. The primary end point was the development of celiac disease autoimmunity, which was defined as the presence of tTG antibodies on two consecutive tests at least 3 months apart. The secondary end point was the development of celiac disease, which was defined for the purpose of this study as either a diagnosis on biopsy or persistently high levels of tTG antibodies… The median follow-up was 60 months. Celiac disease autoimmunity developed in 786 children (12%)… In the adjusted model, the hazard ratios for celiac disease autoimmunity were 2.09 (95% confidence interval [CI], 1.70 to 2.56) among heterozygotes and 5.70 (95% CI, 4.66 to 6.97) among homozygotes, as compared with children who had the lowest-risk genotypes (DR4–DQ8 heterozygotes or homozygotes). Residence in Sweden was also independently associated with an increased risk of celiac disease autoimmunity (hazard ratio, 1.90; 95% CI, 1.61 to 2.25).”
• Whooping cough in school age children presenting with persistent cough in UK primary care after introduction of the preschool pertussis booster vaccination: prospective cohort study
  • “279 children aged 5 to 15 years who presented in primary care with a persistent cough of two to eight weeks’ duration… 56 (20%, 95% confidence interval 16% to 25%) children had evidence of recent pertussis infection, including 39 (18%, 13% to 24%) of 215 children who had been fully vaccinated.”
  • see also: Acellular pertussis vaccines protect against disease but fail to prevent infection and transmission in a nonhuman primate model
• Exercise and associated dietary extremes impact on gut microbial diversity
  • “As expected, athletes and controls differed significantly with respect to plasma creatine kinase (a marker of extreme exercise), and inflammatory and metabolic markers. More importantly, athletes had a higher diversity of gut micro-organisms, representing 22 distinct phyla, which in turn positively correlated with protein consumption and creatine kinase.”
• Increased fruit and vegetable intake has no discernible effect on weight loss: a systematic review and meta-analysis
  • “Studies to date do not support the proposition that recommendations to increase [fruit/vegetable] intake or the home delivery or provision of [fruits/vegetables] will cause weight loss.”
• Effect of 1 Night of Total Sleep Deprivation on Cerebrospinal Fluid β-Amyloid 42 in Healthy Middle-Aged Men
  • “Increasing evidence suggests a relationship between poor sleep and the risk of developing Alzheimer disease. A previous study found an effect of sleep on β-amyloid (Aβ), which is a key protein in Alzheimer disease pathology… A night of unrestricted sleep led to a 6% decrease in Aβ42 levels… whereas sleep deprivation counteracted this decrease… We hypothesize that chronic sleep deprivation increases cerebral Aβ42 levels, which elevates the risk of Alzheimer disease.”
• Frequency of abnormal fecal biomarkers in irritable bowel syndrome.
  • “Two thousand, two hundred fifty-six records were included in the study, of which 1867 (82.8%) included at least one abnormal value. Quantitative stool culture for beneficial bacteria (Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium) indicated low growth suggestive of intestinal dysbiosis in 73.1% of records, followed by abnormally elevated eosinophil protein X (suggestive of food allergy) in 14.3%, elevated calprotectin (suggestive of inflammation) in 12.1%, detection of parasites in 7.5%, and low pancreatic elastase (suggestive of exocrine pancreatic insufficiency) in 7.1%.”
• Consumption of Added Sugars from Liquid but Not Solid Sources Predicts Impaired Glucose Homeostasis and Insulin Resistance among Youth at Risk of Obesity
  • “Added sugars were assessed by 3 24-h dietary recalls at baseline.”
• Association Between Marijuana Exposure and Pulmonary Function Over 20 Years
  • “Occasional and low cumulative marijuana use was not associated with adverse effects on pulmonary function.”
• Histone modifications are associated with Delta(9)-tetrahydrocannabinol-mediated alterations in antigen-specific T cell responses
  • “The main psychotropic component in marijuana, Δ9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), has also been shown to mediate potent anti-inflammatory properties… In this study, we employed ChIP-Seq technology to examine the in vivo effect of THC on global histone methylation in lymph node cells of mice immunized with a superantigen, staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB)… Our results showed that THC treatment leads to the association of active histone modification signals to Th2 cytokine genes and suppressive modification signals to Th1 cytokine genes, indicating that such a mechanism may play a critical role in THC-mediated switch from Th1 to Th2… [T]he current study demonstrates for the first time that THC may modulate immune response through epigenetic regulation involving histone modifications.”