pertussis, time-restricted feeding, cancer, intelligence, behavior, diet
Pertussis Epidemic — California, 2014 (2014)
“Notably, the peak age of disease incidence beyond infancy increased to age 14–16 years in 2014 compared with the peak among children aged 10 years during the 2010 pertussis epidemic… Children and teenagers born in the United State since 1997 have only received acellular pertussis vaccine, and the upper age of this cohort correlates with the peak age in incidence during both epidemic years… As long as currently available acellular pertussis vaccines are in use, it is likely that the “new normal” will be higher disease incidence throughout pertussis cycles.”
“Here we tested [time-restricted feeding (TRF)] in mice under diverse nutritional challenges. We show that TRF attenuated metabolic diseases arising from a variety of obesogenic diets, and that benefits were proportional to the fasting duration. Furthermore, protective effects were maintained even when TRF was temporarily interrupted by ad libitum access to food during weekends, a regimen particularly relevant to human lifestyle. Finally, TRF stabilized and reversed the progression of metabolic diseases in mice with preexisting obesity and type II diabetes.”
- see also: Graphical Abstract
Persistent Associations between Maternal Prenatal Exposure to Phthalates on Child IQ at Age 7 Years (2014)
“Maternal prenatal urinary metabolite concentrations measured in late pregnancy of DnBP and DiBP are associated with deficits in children’s intellectual development at age 7 years. Because phthalate exposures are ubiquitous and concentrations seen here within the range previously observed among general populations, results are of public health significance.”
“The amount of AFCs the Food and Drug Administration has certified over the years has increased more than 5-fold since 1950 (12 mg/capita/day) to 2012 (68 mg/capita/day). In the past 38 years, there have been studies of adverse behavioral reactions such as hyperactivity in children to double-blind challenges with AFCs. Studies that used 50 mg or more of AFCs as the challenge showed a greater negative effect on more children than those which used less.”
“As previously reported, among overweight/obese adults, after the eucaloric phase, participants who consumed the lower-carbohydrate vs. the lower-fat diet lost more intra-abdominal adipose tissue… After weight loss, participants who consumed the lower-carbohydrate diet had 4.4% less total fat mass… A modest reduction in dietary carbohydrate has beneficial effects on body composition, fat distribution, and glucose metabolism.”
Midwife-led units safest for straightforward births (2014)
“the evidence now shows that midwife-led care is safer than hospital care for women having a straightforward, low risk, pregnancy.
This is because the rate of interventions, such as the use of forceps or an epidural, is lower and the outcome for the baby is no different compared with an obstetric unit.”
Measuring the effectiveness of scientific gatekeeping (2014)
“Of the 808 eventually published articles in our dataset, our three focal journals rejected many highly cited manuscripts, including the 14 most popular; roughly the top 2 percent. Of those 14 articles, 12 were desk-rejected. This finding raises concerns regarding whether peer review is ill-suited to recognize and gestate the most impactful ideas and research.”
“Here we show that both neurons and cancer cells strictly inhibit cytochrome c-mediated apoptosis by a mechanism dependent on glucose metabolism. We report that the proapoptotic activity of cytochrome c is influenced by its redox state and that increases in Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) following an apoptotic insult lead to the oxidation and activation of cytochrome c. In healthy neurons and cancer cells, however, cytochrome c is reduced and held inactive by intracellular glutathione (GSH) generated as a result of glucose metabolism by the pentose phosphate pathway.”
- This is a little more technical than I generally include but it may be very important. It suggests that one of the reasons cancer cells resist cell death is because of their affinity for glucose. Thus, therapies target this affinity for glucose may have a secondary effect of increasing cell death of cancer cells.
Medication-induced mitochondrial damage and disease (2008)
“Damage to mitochondria is now understood to play a role in the pathogenesis of a wide range of seemingly unrelated disorders… Medications have now emerged as a major cause of mitochondrial damage, which may explain many adverse effects. All classes of psychotropic drugs have been documented to damage mitochondria, as have [statin] medications, analgesics such as acetaminophen, and many others… The most rational approach is to understand the mechanisms underlying mitochondrial damage for specific medications and attempt to counteract their deleterious effects with nutritional therapies.”