March 21, 2012

Conflicts of Interest in Vaccine Safety Research



Conflicts of Interest in Vaccine Safety Research

Accountability in Research. 19:65-88. 2012

Gayle DeLong, Department of Economics and Finance, Baruch College, New York,
New York, USA

Conflicts of interest (COls) cloud vaccine safety research. Sponsors of research have competing interests that may impede the objective study of vaccine side effects. Vaccine manufacturers, health officials, and medical journals may have financial and bureaucratic reasons for not wanting to acknowledge the risks of vaccines. Conversely, some advocacy groups may have legislative and financial reasons to sponsor research that finds risks in vaccines. Using the vaccine-autism debate as an illustration, this article details the conflicts of interest each of these groups faces, outlines the current state of vaccine safety research, and suggests remedies to address COls. Minimizing COls in vaccine safety research could reduce research bias and restore greater trust in the vaccine program.

March 15, 2012

Hyperbaric oxygen treatment for inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review and analysis


Hyperbaric oxygen treatment for inflammatory bowel disease: a systematic review and analysis

Daniel A Rossignol
Medical Gas Research 2012, 2:6 doi:10.1186/2045-9912-2-6
Published: 15 March 2012

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Traditionally, hyperbaric oxygen treatment (HBOT) has been used to treat a limited repertoire of disease, including decompression sickness and healing of problem wounds. However, some investigators have used HBOT to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis.

Methods

Comprehensive searches were conducted in 8 scientific databases through 2011 to identify publications using HBOT in IBD. Human studies and animal models were collated separately.

Results

Thirteen studies of HBOT in Crohn's disease and 6 studies in ulcerative colitis were identified. In all studies, participants had severe disease refractory to standard medical treatments, including corticosteroids, immunomodulators and anti-inflammatory medications. In patients with Crohn's disease, 31/40 (78%) had clinical improvements with HBOT, while all 39 patients with ulcerative colitis improved. One study in Crohn's disease reported a significant decrease in proinflammatory cytokines (IL-1, IL-6 and TNF-alpha) and one study in ulcerative colitis reported a decrease in IL-6 with HBOT. Adverse events were minimal. Twelve publications reported using HBOT in animal models of experimentally-induced IBD, including several studies reporting decreased markers of inflammation or immune dysregulation, including TNF-alpha (3 studies), IL-1beta (2 studies), neopterin (1 study) and myeloperoxidase activity (5 studies). HBOT also decreased oxidative stress markers including malondialdehyde (3 studies) and plasma carbonyl content (2 studies), except for one study that reported increased plasma carbonyl content. Several studies reported HBOT lowered nitric oxide (3 studies) and nitric oxide synthase (3 studies) and one study reported a decrease in prostaglandin E2 levels. Four animal studies reported decreased edema or colonic tissue weight with HBOT, and 8 studies reported microscopic improvements on histopathological examination. Although most publications reported improvements with HBOT, some studies suffered from limitations, including possible publication and referral biases, the lack of a control group, the retrospective nature and a small number of participants.

Conclusions

HBOT lowered markers of inflammation and oxidative stress and ameliorated IBD in both human and animal studies. Most treated patients were refractory to standard medical treatments. Additional studies are warranted to investigate the effects of HBOT on biomarkers of oxidative stress and inflammation as well as clinical outcomes in individuals with IBD.

March 13, 2012

Administration of thimerosal to infant rats increases overflow of glutamate and aspartate in the prefrontal cortex: protective role of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate


Neurochem Res. 2012 Feb;37(2):436-47. Epub 2011 Oct 21.

Administration of thimerosal to infant rats increases overflow of glutamate and aspartate in the prefrontal cortex: protective role of dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate.

Source

Marie Curie Chairs Program, Department of Pharmacology and Physiology of Nervous System, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, 02-957, Warsaw, Poland.

Abstract

Thimerosal, a mercury-containing vaccine preservative, is a suspected factor in the etiology of neurodevelopmental disorders. We previously showed that its administration to infant rats causes behavioral, neurochemical and neuropathological abnormalities similar to those present in autism. Here we examined, using microdialysis, the effect of thimerosal on extracellular levels of neuroactive amino acids in the rat prefrontal cortex (PFC). Thimerosal administration (4 injections, i.m., 240 μg Hg/kg on postnatal days 7, 9, 11, 15) induced lasting changes in amino acid overflow: an increase of glutamate and aspartate accompanied by a decrease of glycine and alanine; measured 10-14 weeks after the injections. Four injections of thimerosal at a dose of 12.5 μg Hg/kg did not alter glutamate and aspartate concentrations at microdialysis time (but based on thimerosal pharmacokinetics, could have been effective soon after its injection). Application of thimerosal to the PFC in perfusion fluid evoked a rapid increase of glutamate overflow. Coadministration of the neurosteroid, dehydroepiandrosterone sulfate (DHEAS; 80 mg/kg; i.p.) prevented the thimerosal effect on glutamate and aspartate; the steroid alone had no influence on these amino acids. Coapplication of DHEAS with thimerosal in perfusion fluid also blocked the acute action of thimerosal on glutamate. In contrast, DHEAS alone reduced overflow of glycine and alanine, somewhat potentiating the thimerosal effect on these amino acids. Since excessive accumulation of extracellular glutamate is linked with excitotoxicity, our data imply that neonatal exposure to thimerosal-containing vaccines might induce excitotoxic brain injuries, leading to neurodevelopmental disorders. DHEAS may partially protect against mercurials-induced neurotoxicity.
PMID:
 
22015977
 
[PubMed - in process] 
PMCID:
 
PMC3264864
 
Free PMC Article

March 11, 2012

I Know Why the Caged Bird Screams

by LJ Goes

It's a scream like no other.  You know something is wrong. You search for the cause.  No teeth coming in, no picky fabric irritating her skin, nothing to be afraid of.  In fact you say that over and over again. "It's okay peanut, it's okay, there's nothing to be afraid of." Your friends and family comfort you.  "He's probably just colicky.  Gassy."  You pat and pat and pat that tiny little back.  You coo and bounce, gently.  Nothing seems to stop the screaming. 

The screams eventually haunt your sleep. They chip away at your sense of self. Your family's sense of safety dissipates. You question your sanity.

During a presentation at a local school my friend (Blaze) heard these screams again - thanks to all her hard work, those days are long gone for her and her son P.  The memories came flooding back.  She barely made it to the parking lot in time to vomit. 

While out for a run, my friend  (Mama Mac) recalls encountering a mom with her screaming baby and shouting "Don't vaccinate that baby!" as she jogged passed them. 

It's that powerful - that terrifying - for those of us who know what caused it. 

"Mrs. Goes, today you will get 4 kicks to the stomach.  Looks like just below the ribs to the right.  3 blows to the left cheek.  Only 2 bites on your upper arms.  17 slaps in undetermined locations.  One bloodied lip. You'll be fine, but the iPad screen...looks like you're out another 250.00." 

"Good Morning Mrs. Goes.  Today you will receive two upper cuts to your lower right jaw.  Four head butts.  9 slaps to your calves and thighs.  One glass Pellegrino water bottle hurled at your face.  You'll be fine, but cleaning up the glass will be time consuming.  In the meantime, clean folded laundry will be thrown, your youngest will be slapped, and the Epsom salt will be tossed around your bathroom until the tile is no longer visible.  Only one direct hit to your stomach.  6 bites."

I'd accept either daily scenario readily and repeatedly if it meant an end to the screaming.  

The screaming puts the burden on me.  Is it the mito?  The yeast? Did he get some food he's not supposed to have? His eyes are dilated, he's tearing at his stomach and ripping off his clothes. Is it the PANDAS? Which one of the many systems that don't work is presently causing him the most discomfort? It's up to me to figure it out. It's up to me to take away the pain. I'm mom.  

The hitting, the violence...I'm just the recipient in that deal.  No responsibility on my end.  Plus, I've gotten used to it.  I haven't gotten used to the screaming. 

 I will never, ever get used to the screaming. 

The doctors say,  "Ignore that behavior Mrs. Goes.  If you pay any attention to him you are just re-enforcing it."  I immediately imagine a child  pinned under a car. I can see his body flailing and there's blood everywhere.  

Just ignore it.  

"That's just how it is with some kids.  They scream for no reason.  The spectrum."  More wisdom from the white coats.  They mumble something esoteric and irrelevant  that does not apply to my child.   It's hard for them to understand that all kids are not the same.  They absolutely positively must believe all kids are the same.  This is how current "preventative" medical science works. Someone who weights 5 lbs is the same as someone who weighs 230.  Someone raised in the inner city is the same as someone raised in rural Kansas.  Someone with a history of allergies, asthma and auto-immune disease is the same as someone without. Same.  No testing required.  Just shoot 'em up.  We'll find out if there's going to be a reaction soon enough.  And then we'll pretend it didn't happen.

I would scream too.
  
Our kids dwell in cages and the people who caused their imprisonment refuse to acknowledge they still exist. They live in bodies that are rebelling against them every second of the day.  My friends and I are running around them with a box full of band-aids. One for the intestinal dysbiois, one for the mitochondrial disease, one for the auto-immune damage, one for the methylation failure, one for the macrophagic myofasciitis sydrome, one for the metabolic dysfunction, one for the central nervous system damage.

We can't seem to properly apply all the bandages through the bars of the cage, though.  Some stick. Some fall off.  A lot of our little birds end up bleeding out, innocent little victims of iatrogenic illness. I've never heard of a person being burned alive who just silently sat back and allowed it to happen.  My son actually has a condition that at times causes his feet to feel like they are burning.  He's deficient in malic acid and B2.  No doctor told me.  My friends with master's degrees and sick kids...they told me.  Granny Smith apple full of the stuff really helps.  But then there's the cerebral folate deficiency...he can't handle phenols.  Don't get me started on the damage to his Krebb's Cycle! 

Let me stop you right here and ask...do I sound like an idiot to you?  Because, anytime my friends and I are given a platform to speak about our screaming children we are told we are passionate.  Emotional.  Understandably connected to the issue.  This really bothers me because, well, an overwhelming body of scientific evidence indicates our kids have every reason to scream.  They are medically ill. Profoundly, medically ill.  And their illness was caused by their physicians.  Physicians who say we should ignore their screams, like they ignore their pain.  

You'll have to excuse me.  Now I have to go scream.  Because some days when I put it all together like I did for you here, just now, it's too much to for me to take.  SOMEBODY HAS TO DO SOMETHING TO STOP THE MINDLESS IATROGENIC DESTRUCTION OF CHILDREN NOW!!  Do something.  If your child is one of the 54% of chronically ill kids that inhabit this country, it is YOUR DUTY to educate yourself.  Go to http://thinkingmomsrevolution.com/ to learn more. 

Much Respect, The Rev (LJ Goes)

March 1, 2012

Science: The GFCF Diet Works


Effectiveness of the gluten-free, casein-free diet for children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder: Based on parental report

Authors: Pennesi Christine M.; Klein Laura Cousino

Abstract:
Objectives: Studies on the gluten-free and/or casein-free (GFCF) dietary intervention for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASDs) suggest that some children may positively respond to implementation of the dietary intervention. Other research suggests that children diagnosed with ASD can be classified into subpopulations based on various factors, including gastrointestinal (GI) abnormalities and immune function.
Methods: This study analyzes parental report data collected using a 90-item online questionnaire from 387 parents or primary caregivers of children diagnosed with ASD on the efficacy of the GFCF diet. Parents reported on their child's GI symptoms, food allergy diagnoses, and suspected food sensitivities, as well as the degree and length of their diet implementation.
Results: Overall, diet efficacy among children whose parents reported the presence of GI symptoms, food allergy diagnoses, and suspected food sensitivities included greater improvement in ASD behaviors, physiological symptoms, and social behaviors compared with children whose parents reported none of these symptoms, diagnoses, or sensitivities (P < 0.05). Parental report of strict diet implementation, indicated by complete gluten/casein elimination and infrequent diet errors during and outside of parental care, also corresponded to improvement in ASD behaviors, physiological symptoms, and social behaviors (P < 0.05).
Discussion: These findings suggest that various intricacies related to diet implementation and GI and immune factors may play a role in differentiating diet responders from diet non-responders and substantiate the importance of further investigations into the various, nuanced factors that influence efficacy of the intervention among children with ASDs.