Individuals took a minimum of 75mg a day of aspirin for 6 years. Twenty years later, these individuals had a 24% lower risk of developing colon cancer in the first place, and a 35% lower risk of death from colon cancer as compared to placebo.
This was especially important because the some of the cancers studied are found in a part of the colon that is not easily seen with current screening tests.
The populations studied were males at cardiovascular risk. Forty percent of the patients were smokers and most were males. Therefore, the effectiveness of aspirin for non-smokers or females is not known.
“Cross-talk” between cancer and immune cells.
We have long known that there is “cross-talk” between cancer and immune cells. Immune cells affect the growth of cancer cells and cancer cells affect immune cell inflammatory responses.
Inflammation and Cancer.
Studies have shown that patients with inflammatory bowel diseases, such as ulcerative colitis, or Crohn’s disease, are more likely to develop gastrointestinal cancers than the general population.
Inflammation of the gut occurs with the release of inflammatory cytokines and other immune molecules. They have been shown to contribute to the development and growth of gastrointestinal cancers.
Aspirin regulating immune balance.
Thus aspirin may be helping to regulate the body’s inflammatory responses, and helping to keep the body in immune balance, immune homeostasis.
Recently, a professional networking site directed me to a short note by Lisa Moreno-Dickinson, President of the stopcaidnow.org. The title of her article was “When Doctors Don’t Know How to Help From Misdiagnosis to No diagnosis … What Can a Parent Do?”.
CAID refers to Childhood Auto Inflammatory Diseases. These genetic disorders usually start in infancy or childhood and are reported to be the result of gene mutations. The periodic attacks of these conditions affect many different organ systems. They are characterized by sudden inflammation and fever onset, and symptoms such as rashes, headache, abdominal, chest, muscle, and joint pains, swollen joints and scrotum.
Much of the science suggests that these conditions are not autoimmune in nature. These individuals have no any significant elevations of autoantibodies, immunoglobulins, large immune molecules that are directed against self, nor activation of specific white blood cells.
Our knowledge of the complexities of the immune system, especially its inflammatory pathways, are still in their infancy as supported by the fact that cancer, colds, infectious, and chronic diseases are rampant.
I respectfully suggest that perhaps autoinflammatory investigators have not used the appropriate assay to find autoimmune responses because a) it does not exist yet, or b) it is difficult to “test for everything”.
A recent report suggests that there is an association between autoinflammatory conditions and mitochondrial health. Mitochondria are the power stations of a cell that provides it with the energy it needs to grow, divide, and “do its job”. They play major roles in healthy aging, degenerative diseases, cancer, and ultimately, cell death. The greater its metabolic or energy requirements, the more mitochondria a cell appears to have. As an example, a muscle cell may have thousands of mitochondria and a skin cell only a few hundred.
Antibodies to mitochondrial proteins have been reported in autism spectrum disorders, which are attributed to inflammatory conditions of the nervous system. Additionally children with severe autism have higher levels of inflammatory cytokines and certain immune molecules than controls.
In Blau’s syndrome, an autoinflammatory disease, symptoms are associated with the skin, joints, and eyes. It is often mistaken for sarcoidosis, a known autoimmune disease of the skin and other organs. Crohn’s disease is an inflammatory autoimmune bowel disease in which the immune system attacks its own digestive lining.
There are two genes, NOD1 and NOD2 that help regulate the production pro-inflammatory cytokines, immune molecules that cause inflammation. Mutations of these genes are found in a number of inflammatory disorders including Blau’s syndrome, sarcoidosis, and inflammatory bowel diseases.
Investigations of the pivotal role of gene regulation of inflammatory responses are underway; however, ways to neutralize the effects of such mutations may be years away.
Parents and clinicians do not have the luxury of just waiting. We know that inappropriate inflammatory responses are occurring in many, so why not determine whether the re-introduction of immune homeostasis, immune balance would make a difference in their quality of life?
The Centers for Disease Control is investigating at least 100 reports of food poisoning, and 18 deaths, due to contaminated cantaloupes. DNA isolated from infected individuals has determined that Listeria is the responsible bacteria. Ninety-eight percent of 93 individuals contacted by monitoring agencies were hospitalized due to their infections. Because of lag times between consumption of these cantaloupes, illness, diagnosis, and laboratory confirmation, more cases are expected to occur.
Five percent of the human population has Listeria in its stool. It is also found in stools of non-human mammals, and birds. This may explain the fact that Listeria is found in water, soil, and animal feed.
Newborns, pregnant women, and individuals with immune disorders such as kidney disease, cancer, diabetes, and HIV/AIDS are at increased risk of becoming ill when infected with Listeria. In 89 % of cases, Listeria pass through the intestinal wall and enter the blood stream. From there, they are carried throughout the body and can end up in the brain, spinal cord, heart, eyes, liver, spleen, lungs, bones, and joints.
Instead of being attacked by immune cells, initially, Listeria hides in immune cells, multiplies, and infects other white blood cells. To stop the infection and return to immune balance, immune homeostasis, the body defends itself by releasing inflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, cell messages, and antibodies, large proteins that mark the bacteria for destruction by inflammatory immune cells.
About half of adults with Listeria infection will be diagnosed with meningitis, an inflammatory condition of the brain and spinal cord. Endocarditis, inflammation of the inner lining of the heart, results in deaths of about 50% of patients.
So, ultimately, excessive inflammation kills infected individuals.
Today, three immunologists, Drs. Ralph Steinman*, Jules Hoffman, and Bruce Beutler, won the Nobel Prize in Medicine/Physiology for adding to our scant knowledge of immune system responses to pathogenic microorganisms and cancer cells. Their studies should also provide a better understanding as to how excessive inflammation leads to autoimmunity, attacks on the body’s own healthy tissues.
Two decades ago Dr. Ralph Steinman and his colleague, Dr. Zanvil Alexander Cohn at the Center for Immunology and Immune Diseases, Rockefeller University in New York City, described dendritic cells, specialized immune cells that interact with other immune cells to define how the body will respond to underlying infection and disease.
Dendritic cells are essential to the body’s ability to control immune inflammatory homeostasis. Immune homeostasis is the delicate balance of all immune responses, especially inflammatory and anti-inflammatory responses, that that the body uses to fight disease. Too little inflammation may result in uncontrolled growth of pathogens or cancer cells, whereas too much inflammation, may result in autoimmune conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, lupus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn’s disease, etc.
Part of the role of immune homeostasis is to determine “what comes next” in meeting immune challenges. Dr. Steinman and his colleagues described an important phase of the immune response, “maturation”, which helps the body determine inflammatory and other responses to infection.
Dendritic cells are also important in helping the body maintain immunological “memory”. This assures a more rapid and thorough immune response if is attacked by the same pathogen another time. [Successful immunization depends on immunological memory.]
Dr. Jules Hoffman and his team, described how the immune system first recognizes invading pathogens and then helps trigger the immune system to go into its protective mode.
Dr. Beutler discovered the inflammatory cytokine, tumor necrosis factor, TNF, and a marker on certain bacterial cells that helps the body recognize that it has been infected, so that it can mount an appropriate inflammatory attack.
*The Nobel Committee has expressed “deep sadness and regret” at the news that Dr.
Steinman died a few days before its announcement. Typically, the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously, but the Committee has decided to proceed with bestowing the award on Dr. Steinman.
An article this week from Shirley Wang, a Wall Street Journal reporter, brought the public’s attention back to the fact that there is no cure for the usually fatal disorder, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a paralytic disease caused by the gradual degeneration of nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The breakdown of neruons interrupts the ability of muscles of the body to send messages to the brain. ALS results in difficulties in talking, swallowing, moving, and paralysis, and eventually, the loss of the ability to breathe.
An international group of scientists recently reported in the journal Nature, that the lack of a certain protein might be the common underlying cause of neurodegenerative diseases such as ALS, dementia, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. The task of this specialized protein is to remove the debris of damaged nerve cells and help in their repair. When this function no longer occurs, normal transmission of signals from muscles to brain is blocked.
One individual commented on Ms Wang’s article. “It seems outrageous to me that in 2011 a quickly fatal disease that was brought to our national attention in 1939 continues to steal our best and brightest without any treatment and with few clues as to the cause. We must do better….”
I agree. Instead of treating a condition after damage has occurred, why not prevent excessive inflammatory responses from causing damage in the first place? The ALS Association does an excellent job explaining that, “The glia cells that usually support and nourish their neighboring neurons in the nervous system can become over active in certain diseases”. And that leads to over production of cytokines, immune signals, that are mediators of inflammation,and damage to the nerve cells.
Inflammation protects the body from infection and repairs tissue damage. But uncontrolled levels of inflammation damages healthy by-stander cells, and tissues. When it comes to the repair protein mentioned above, perhaps individuals with ALS, or other neurodegenerative diseases, are attacking this protein, and decreasing the quantities needed for clean-up and repair.
A body in immune homeostasis, immune balance, is unlikely to attack itself. Instead one approach that research should take is finding ways to help the body modulate inappropriate levels of inflammation.
This is the second part of a two day posting. Please see yesterday’s posting for the introduction to this posting. Thank you.
Cancer Risks
Responders are 19% more likely to develop cancer than their non-exposed colleagues, with skin, prostate, thyroid, and non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, being the most common of the cancers. Many of the airborne toxins to which individuals were exposed, benzene, volatile organics, metals, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, pulverized building materials, glass fibers, asbestos, lead, hydrochloric acid, polychlorinated biphenyls, organochlorine pesticides, and polychlorinated dioxins and furans are linked to causing cancer.
Cancer is an illness that may take years to develop and detect. Dr. Ware Kuschner, Stanford School of Medicine, CA says, “Carcinogenic effects, if any, will not be observed for a very long period of time.” [As an aside, according to the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, eight search and rescue dogs have died from cancer since their exposure to rubble from the Sept. 11 terrorist attack.]
Pulmonary Function Declines
We do not have sufficient data from the general population residing and working in lower Manhattan, nor detailed health information of individuals that returned to their home states or countries after their contributions to rescue efforts. However, of the rescue, recovery, and clean-up personnel that were monitored, 42% have respiratory problems.
Steep declines in pulmonary function were first detected after 9/11 and they have largely persisted. Over the last nine years, 28% of those monitored have had asthma and 42% sinusitis (inflammation of sinuses). They also suffer from upper airway cough syndrome (UACS) and sarcoidosis. Sarcoidosis is an inflammatory autoimmune disorder in which the body’s own immune system attacks and destroys the tissues of the body. There has been a 36-fold increase in the number of individuals with this disease that can affect the lungs, lymph nodes, eyes, skin, heart, liver, and brain. The hallmarks of the disease are clusters of inflammatory cells throughout the body and often, significant, life-altering declines in breathing and other bodily functions.
Inflamamtion: The Body’s Defense Against Perceived Threats
The immune system mounts an immune, inflammatory response when the body is exposed to pathogens, pollutants, or toxins. The inflammatory cells release immune factors, such as cytokines, cellular messages, that are involved in cell-to-cell communication with the “purpose” of recruiting more inflammatory cells into an area to help eliminate a perceived threat.
Pollutants and chemicals can trigger airway inflammation and increase mucous production. Other immune molecules cause narrowing of airways resulting in the contraction of the muscles lining the airways. The combination of inflammation and increased mucous makes it difficult for air to enter or leave the lungs and can result in breathing issues.
Additionally, lungs that do not function properly, areideal for the multiplication of molds, bacteria, and viruses. The lungs continue their struggle to eliminate pollutants and pathogens, resulting in a chronic, persistent, dry cough and worsened lung function.
Immune Homeostasis, Immune Balance
A healthy person produces the right amount of inflammation in response to environmental and biological challenges. If WTC responders and others involved in rescue and clean-up of the 9/11 destruction, were able to control the amount of inflammation in their bodies , the body could finally start its healing process. Returning the body to inflammatory homeostasis, to inflammatory balance, would result in significant differences in the quality of their lives.
A Personal Note
It has been my conviction for years that a compromised immune system is at the root of the majority of health issues of World Trade Center responders, recovery and clean-up workers.
As a former New Yorker, I, as most Americans and overseas friends, took the attacks on America’s premier city personally and we still feel-grief and compassion, especially around this time of the year.
But what has really gnawed at me all these years is that surviving workers,–individuals who thought only of others and risked their lives to help despite terrible odds, are still suffering emotionally and physically.
I have been frustrated by my inability to reach the right people to share my decades long experience suggesting a different approach to helping individuals regain their health.
Based on decades of working with individuals having immune issues, I am confident that World Trade Centers workers would experience major quality of life changes if they were able to help their body regain its delicate balance—return to its optimum immune homeostasis.
These brave souls have visited physician after physician, clinic after clinic without a solution to what ails them. Ten years of searching for answers is long enough. It is now time for these individuals to take control of their own health by helping their bodies return to inflammatory homeostasis, balance.
I am not a health practitioner, but I am a scientist who can provide the facts to you. You will know within a short period of time whether or not my suggestions work for you.
I encourage you to contact me so we can start on the journey.
It is ten years since the horrific 9/11/01 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Washington, DC, and Flight 93 in Pennsylvania. On that day at the World Trade Center alone, there were approximately 3,000 murders.
These events have not only left the families, friends, and citizen survivors distraught and at great emotional and financial risk, but the heroic responders, the rescuers, recovery, and clean-up personnel, and civilians that lived and worked in the area, continue to pay a significant price in terms of their health.
There will never be a true accounting of how many individuals were exposed to smoke, thick-coatings of dust, combustion materials, asbestos, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs), dioxin, asbestos, and metals. Fire fighters, police, military members, paramedics, construction and iron workers, municipal employees, security workers, residents and workers in the area, and those that came from afar to help, were exposed to these toxic chemicals for days, weeks, and months. Fires burned for 69 days and even eight months after the destruction, workers were still searching for body fragments (1).
For some, the years may be receding from memory, but there are many individuals, and rescue and recovery dogs, that have, or are, still, paying a significant price for their heroic sacrifices. If they are still alive, their emotional and physical health has declined significantly, and no one seems to be able to help them.
Only limited funding has been available to study and monitor individuals that were at Ground Zeroand its surrounding environs. When researching information for this article I was surprised at the relatively few, peer-reviewed publications on this topic, and there is even less information on the effects of this trauma on children and adolescents.
Multiple Health Issues
A primary investigation now led by Dr Juan Wisnivesky, Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York, has said, “Our findings show a substantial burden of persistent physical and mental disorders in rescue and recovery workers who rushed to the site of the WTC and labored there for weeks and months. Many of these individuals now suffer from multiple health problems (2), since World Trade Center-related mental and physical health conditions often co-exist (3).
Mental Health Issues Persist
One year after 9/11, it was estimated that more than 420,000 people New Yorkers were suffering from post traumatic stress disorders (PTSD) as a result of the attacks (1). This month, the prestigious British journal, Lancet, reports that 32% of tested personnel experienced post traumatic stress disorders and 28% per cent experienced depression at some time after 9/11. The incidence of most of the disorders was highest in workers with greatest World Trade Center exposure (3,4). Other emotional problems such as recurring nightmares, flashbacks, self-medication with alcohol, etc. have also been persistent issues.
Tomorrow: 9/11 Responders: Cancer Risks, Pulmonary Function, Immune Homeostasis, Balance.
>Gina Kolata of the NY Times reports that many athletes, both professional and amateur, often have difficulties in finding the right approach when they injure themselves. They spend thousands of dollars visiting physicians who are confident that they can help, but too often, the procedures are not very helpful.
Research clinicians are questioning the benefits of certain procedures recommended by physicians. Their concern is that there is little “credible evidence” to back up many of the methods that their colleagues use (1).
Most physicians would probably agree that the pain their patients experience is due to excessive levels of inflammation. Inflammation is essential for good healing, but it is just as important that inflammation be a controlled event.
“Inflammation is the immune system’s response to injury and infection, and quick decisions must be made when one or both are present. If the immune system detects an infection, it also looks for signs of injury (broken cell parts, spilled cell constituents). The reverse holds as well — after sensing an injury, the immune system searches for telltale signs of the presence of microbes launching an infection. In many cases, both an infection and an injury set off an inflammatory response. After massive tissue damage caused by trauma …, a systemic inflammatory reaction can set in (2).”
Tissue injury is associated with “an inflammatory soup bathing small nerve fibers”. The immune factors, cytokines, that make up this “soup” are initially pro-inflammatory (2). They trigger inflammation, resulting in pain sensation that occur throughout the body, including in the brain.
When athletes are injured, the key is for the body to heal the injury, and then down-regulate, “calm-down”, the inflammatory response and return to immune homeostasis.
Dr. Cynthia L. Ogden at the Centers for Disease Control reported this week that nearly 50% of Americans consume drinks containing sugar, such as soda and energy drinks on a daily basis. Five percent of this population drinks the equivalent of more than four cans of soda each day. Teenagers and young adults drink the most, with males consuming more sweet beverages than females. Most of the sugar drinks consumed outside of the home, are purchased at stores, not schools or restaurants, and lower- income individuals consume more sugary drinks than those with higher incomes (1).
Sugar drinks or sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are the largest source of added sugars in the diet of U.S. youths, and probably adults as well. Drinking excessive amount of calories contributes to the problem of obesity in this country (2). Previous studies have shown that the average teenager consumes about 300 calories a day from sugar-sweetened beverages. Over a period of a year, 300 calories/day is equivalent to an extra 30 pounds of weight!
The fat tissue around the belly, called abdominal or visceral fat, consists of immune-like cells that release pro-inflammatory cytokine molecules that result in body-wide inflammation. Extra weight around the midsection is linked to an increased risk of inflammatory diseases such as atherosclerosis (hardening and clogging of the arteries), heart attacks, diabetes, certain cancers, sleep apnea, arthritis, etc.
A healthy body controls the amount of inflammation it produces. Wellness is about maintaining “balance”, immune homeostasis. Balance one’s immune function and restore the proper and healthy balance of key systems that regulate the human body – metabolic, intestinal, hormonal, emotional, etc.–all mediated with the involvement of our immune systems.
An essential, simple step one can take to help the body regain immune and metabolic homeostasis and control weight, is to consume two or more servings/day of hyperimmune egg (http://www.HyperimmuneEgg.org ).
In addition, besides drinking less soda and other sugary beverages, incorporating the following steps will help achieve weight goals:
• Increase your physical activity-remember you have to use up more calories than you are consuming.
• Eat smaller portions then you typically consume.
• Increase intake of beans, nuts, lentils and colorful fruits and vegetables (berries, spinach, broccoli, etc.)
• Limit intake of:
Fast foods
Fried foods
Sugary desserts
Corn and potato processed products, (chips, nachos, French fries.)
White rice (use brown rice instead; it is higher in fiber and macronutrients)
Artificially-sweetened sodas and drinks—the body cannot tell the difference between “sweet”, and “sweet”
Many more bacterial genes than human genes are found in the body. Samples from 124 healthy Europeans found on average more than 530,000 unique genes in each sample and 99.1% were from bacteria. These bacteria live symbiotically, on, or in, our bodies. While we provide them with food and lodging, they help us stay healthy in many ways including helping us to digest our food, and providing vitamins and other nutrients for us to use.
Dr. David A. Relman of Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA has found that when people take bacteria-killing antibiotics, the microbial ecosystem that returns is different from the microbe population prior to taking antibiotics. Moreover, if the same antibiotic is taken again, even 6 months later, the bacteria take longer to come back and the bacteria are even more different.
Dr. Relman says, “Everything comes with a cost,” he said. “The problem is finding the right balance. As clinicians, we have not been looking at the cost to the health of our microbial ecosystems.”*
Once again, the importance of balance in the body is paramount. Considering that over 75% of the immune system is represented in the gut, immune balance, inflammatory homeostasis, helps the body provide natural resistance to disease. If the immune system is not functioning properly, if it is in disorder, the physical and emotional aspects of our life and health will be out of balance and in disarray.
A body in immune homeostasis is able to respond appropriately to challenges by either “boosting” the “fire power” of an inflammatory immune response to “burn out” an infection, or suppress an inappropriately excessive immune response to the challenge. The key is to maintain immune homeostasis.
Dengue fever is caused by a virus that is carried by an infected female Aedes mosquito (called a vector) that injects the virus into a human while she is drawing her blood meal, a meal that she needs in order to reproduce. Over 50 million people, in over 100 countries, are infected every year with dengue. Until a report last week, there was still no way to control the disease. More on the study later.
The symptoms of Dengue Fever appear from a few days to two weeks after being bitten by an infected mosquito. The symptoms may be a sudden onset of high fever, nausea, vomiting, severe headache, muscle and joint pain, and pain behind the eyes, which worsens with eye movements.
The Response of the Immune System to Dengue
There are four genetically similar types of Dengue viruses (subtypes). When a person is exposed to the virus, specialized immune cells produce large proteins called antibodies, also known as immunoglobulins (Igs), that attach to the virus particles and mark them for destruction by incoming inflammatory immune cells.
Unfortunately, exposure to one of the four subtypes does not confer immunity against the other three types. Even more troublesome, because of the peculiarities of the immune response, if one has been previously exposed to one type of Dengue virus, exposure to another subtype may result in Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever. In this stage of the disease, there is a significant amount of bleeding and a person may go into shock. Unfortunately, this disease is frequently fatal especially in children or the elderly.
As in all immune responses, a controlled, well-modulated response is needed by the body when it is exposed to a pathogen like Dengue. When the immune system has a balanced inflammatory response to disease, when it is in immune homeostasis, a person is more likely to successfully fight infection and survive. The key is that the body has to generate enough of an inflammatory immune response to destroy the pathogen, but not so much inflammation that nearby healthy tissue is damaged.
Inflammatory Cytokine Storm
Too vigorous, inflammatory response to infection, for example to the Dengue virus during Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever, may result in destruction of the walls of blood vessels, bleeding, abnormal clotting, and loss of fluids (which can lead to severe dehydration).
This sort of extreme immune response is also reminiscent of what is seen in diseases such as SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), in which the body has an inflammatory or cytokine storm directed initially against the lungs, and goes on to destroy many different organs, resulting in death. [Cytokines are small immune molecules that trigger immune responses].
Decrease Mosquito Breeding Opportunities
Prevention- It Only Takes 15 Minutes:
There is no treatment for Dengue Fever, nor has vaccine development been successful. For now, the best way to avoid infection is to lower the risk of being bitten by an infected mosquito. Unfortunately, since the Aedes mosquito is active during daytime hours, nets around the bed are not an adequate solution.
However, all mosquitoes need water to complete their life cycle, so it is prudent to eliminate any standing water around the home. Think like a mosquito that is looking to lay eggs—it can be in any container imaginable, or a puddle that will not dry out within a few days.
Keep plant saucers, tarps, coolers, tanks, barrels, drums, bottles, tins, coconut shells, tires, buckets, and trenches, free of water.
Empty, cover them, or turn containers over when not in use, so water does not accumulate.
Keep containers of stored water covered at all times.
Empty refrigerator drip pans at least every other day.
Mr. Minchington Israel, Environmental Health Officer of the Government of the British Virgin Islands mantra is: “It only takes 15 minutes to go around the yard, … in search of stagnant bodies of water and do[ing] something about it.”
Mr. Israel also points out that since so many people have moved out of the countryside and crowded into urban areas, family and community-wide efforts are needed to slow mosquito population growth. In addition to the suggestions above, Mr. Israel strongly advocates:
Maintaining properties free of rubbish, junk, and overgrown vegetation.
Managing empty lots and abandoned properties.
Becoming knowledgeable as to where mosquitoes breed and eliminate these breeding areas.
Promising New Approach:
Last week the prestigious journal Nature, published results from an Australian research group reporting that they were able to stop the transmission of Dengue virus (ǂ). Researchers infected the Aedes mosquito with bacteria that “completely blocks the ability of the virus to grow in mosquitoes” (◊). The bacteria do not kill the mosquito, so the mosquito can continue to reproduce itself, and pass the bacteria to other mosquitoes. The infection is highly contagious so it spreads rapidly throughout the mosquito population. Successful testing in the wild supports its promise as a way to control vector populations. According to Flaminia Catteruccia, who works with malaria-carrying mosquitoes in London, “It’s an environmentally friendly approach that does not affect the mosquitoes, just the [growth of the] virus”(◊).
Personal Defenses:
If this concept works, it will take time for further studies to be completed and vector control to occur, so for now, taking personal responsibility is necessary. So in addition to the recommendations above:
Dengue carrying mosquitoes are active during the day, so netting around beds is not as helpful as in other mosquito-borne diseases.
Use mosquito repellents on your clothing and person.
Screen windows and doors against mosquitoes and use bed nets around ill, bed-ridden individuals.
Wear light-colored long-sleeves and slacks with thick socks.
A body in immune homeostasis, in immune balance, is better prepared to defend itself against infection.
To optimize one’s immune system: walk or be physically active in other ways for at least 150 minutes a week; eat in a nutritious manner; control your weight; eat darkly-pigmented fruits and vegetables on a daily basis; and consume fish or omega-3 supplements 2-3 times/week.
In addition, it is important to help the body achieve immune homeostasis, immune balance so that the body can battle illness and yet, control unchecked inflammation.
Hyperimmune egg contains a cocktail of antibodies and other active immune factors that help the body balance immune function. Consuming two or more servings/day of hyperimmune egg makes a major difference in your body’s ability to support immune health and heal itself.
Autism spectrum disorders are poorly understood disorders that affect a child’s communication, thought, and social processes, and often wreck havoc on families.*
Dr. Sally Ozonoff of University of California Davis, just reported on the results of the largest study ever of siblings with and without autism. The investigators of this international, multi-center study concluded that male infants with an autistic older sibling have a 26%increased probability that they too will develop autism. If an infant has more than one older autistic sibling, then there was a 32% probability that they would develop ASD.
Modulating immune responses, for example, maintaining immune
homeostasis or balance, may be a major contributor to getting individuals with ASDs healthy.
The immune system works constantly to maintain immune homeostasis (1). Immune homeostasis is important in the gut as well and to facilitate immune health the digestive tract contains one of the body’s largest immune compartments– gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) (2).
Organisms enter the body primarily through the mouth and end up in the intestinal tract. It is useful that 75-80% of the immune system is represented in the gut, to help defend thebody against infection. More immunoglobulin, antibody, is produced by the cells in the digestive tract, than anywhere else in the body. Embedded plasma cells, B-cells, produce large amounts of IgA, morethan the other antibodies, IgD, IgE, IgG, and IgM, combined (3,4).
Autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) are multi-factorial conditions which involve interactions of the gut (5,6), hormones (7), nervous (7), and immune systems (8). The relationship between some of these pathways is so suggestive that often it is called the immune-brain-gut triangle of autism. Immunological imbalances, such as impaired immune responses to certain pathogens (8) or excessive inflammation and/or responses of an autoimmune nature are often implicated as well (9-11).
Levels of various immune related molecules including proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory cytokines, nitric oxide**, specific antibodies, and antibodies against self, are different from levels found in non-autistic individuals.
Other studies show that inflammatory mediators in autism involve activation of immune brain cells (9) of the brain which are play a role in neuron function and homeostasis.ǂ
Autistic children suffer from intestinal inflammation, colitis, and have large numbers of cells indicative of infection in the gut. When their digestive problems are treated, behavioral issues are positively effected (12,13).
Autistic children and adults that have approached immune homeostasis, have necdotally experienced significant differences in theirbehavior, grades, focus, cognitive function, and social abilities.
Polyvalent hyperimmune egg has been clinically shown to help the body support and modulate immune and digestive homeostasis (14-19). The ingredient is listed in the 2011 Physicians’ Desk Reference. † The technology is based on over 30 years of research and development, and is protected by numerous patents.
Hyperimmune egg has been shown to help the body support immune and digestive function, and modulate autoimmune responses. Consider incorporating hyperimmune egg to change the quality of life of children and adults with ASDs.
1 Crimeen-Irwin B, Scalzo K, Gloster S, Mottram PL, Plebanski
M. Failure of immune homeostasis — the consequences of under and over reactivity. Curr Drug Targets Immune Endocr Metabol Disord. 2005 5:413-22
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3 Brandtzaeg P, Baekkevold ES, Farstad IN, Jahnsen FL,Johansen FE, Nilsen EM, et al. Regional specialization in the mucosal immune system: what happens in the microcompartments? Immunol Today. 1999 20:141-51
4 van Egmond M, Damen CA, van Spriel AB, Vidarsson G, van Garderen E, van de Winkel JG. IgA and the IgA Fc receptor. Trends Immunol 2001 22: 205-11
7. Hu VW, Nguyen A, Kim KS, Steinberg ME, Sarachana T, Scully MA, Soldin SJ, Luu T, Lee NH. Gene expression profiling of lymphoblasts from autistic and nonaffected sib pairs: altered pathways in neuronal development and steroid biosynthesis. PLoS One. 2009 3;4:e5775
8 Kawashti MI, Amin OR, Rowehy NG. Possible immunological disorders in autism:
concomitant autoimmunity and immune tolerance. Egypt J Immunol. 2006 13:99-104
9 Cohly HH, Panja A. Immunological findings in autism. Int Rev Neurobiol. 2005 71:317-41
10. Castellani ML, Conti CM, Kempuraj DJ, et al., Autism and immunity: revisited study. Int J Immunopathol Pharmacol. 2009 22:15-9
11. Enstrom AM, Van de Water JA, Ashwood P. Autoimmunity in autism. Curr Opin Investig Drugs 2009 10:463-73
12 Galiatsatos P, Gologan A, Lamoureux E. Autistic enterocolitis: fact or
fiction? Can J Gastroenterol. 2009 23:95-8
15 Trentham D et al. Hyperimmune egg in the collagen-induced arthritis model and
anti-inflammatory assays. Int Soc Rheumatol Ther (ISRT) 1998 [Abstract] p.23
16 Greenblatt HC Adalsteinssön O Kagen L. Administration to arthritis patients of a dietary supplement containing immune egg: an open-label pilot Study J Medicinal Food 1998 1:171-179
17 Jacoby HI Moore G Wnorowski G. Inhibition of diarrhea by immune egg: a castor oil mouse model J Nutraceut Function Med Foods 2001 3:47
18 US Pat # 5,772,999 Method of preventing, countering or reducing NSAID-induced gastrointestinal damage by administering milk or egg products from hyperimmunized animals
19 Kizito FB. Improvements in quality of life for HIV/AIDS patients using hperimmune egg 3rd Int AIDS Soc Conf HIV Pathogenesis and Treatment 2005 Abst #. MoPe11.2C43
