Alzheimer’s Symptoms Transferred via Microbiota Transplant

I can't tell if this includes fecal transplants or not. But beware.

Alzheimer’s Symptoms Transferred via Microbiota Transplant

Summary: A new study confirmed a link between gut microbiota and Alzheimer’s disease.

The research demonstrated that Alzheimer’s symptoms could be transferred to young, healthy organisms through gut microbiota transplants. Alzheimer’s patients exhibited a heightened presence of inflammation-causing bacteria, correlating with their cognitive state.

This discovery emphasizes the gut microbiome as a pivotal area of investigation for Alzheimer’s.

Key Facts:

1. Memory impairments in Alzheimer’s patients can be transferred to young animals via gut microbiota transplants.
2. Increased inflammation-promoting bacteria in the gut is directly connected to cognitive decline in Alzheimer’s patients.
3. The research suggests that early intervention by studying the role of gut microbes during the initial stages of dementia could lead to new therapeutic approaches.

Source: UCC

Researchers have discovered the link between the gut microbiota and Alzheimer’s disease.

For the first time, researchers have found that Alzheimer’s symptoms can be transferred to a healthy young organism via the gut microbiota, confirming its role in the disease.

The research was led by Professor Yvonne Nolan, APC Microbiome Ireland, a world leading SFI funded research centre based at University College Cork (UCC), and the Department of Anatomy and Neuroscience, UCC, with Professor Sandrine Thuret at King’s College London and Dr Annamaria Cattaneo IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Italy.

The study supports the emergence of the gut microbiome as a key target for investigation in Alzheimer’s disease due to its particular susceptibility to lifestyle and environmental influences.

Published in Brain, the study shows that that the memory impairments in people with Alzheimer’s could be transferred to young animals through transplant of gut microbiota.

Alzheimer’s patients had a higher abundance of inflammation-promoting bacteria in faecal samples, and these changes were directly associated with their cognitive status.

Professor Yvonne Nolan said: “The memory tests we investigated rely on the growth of new nerve cells in the hippocampus region of the brain. We saw that animals with gut bacteria from people with Alzheimer’s produced fewer new nerve cells and had impaired memory.”

“People with Alzheimer’s are typically diagnosed at or after the onset of cognitive symptoms, which may be too late, at least for current therapeutic approaches. Understanding the role of gut microbes during prodromal – or early stage- dementia, before the potential onset of symptoms may open avenues for new therapy development, or even individualised intervention,” said Professor Nolan.

Alzheimer’s is the most common cause of dementia, a general term for memory loss and other cognitive abilities serious enough to interfere with daily life. As our population ages, one in three people born today are likely to develop Alzheimer’s.

Funded by Science Foundation Ireland, scientists in UCC are working to develop strategies to promote healthy brain ageing and advance treatments for Alzheimer’s by exploring how the gut microbiota respond to lifestyle influences like diet and exercise.

Professor Sandrine Thuret, Professor of Neuroscience at King’s College London and one of the study’s senior authors said, “Alzheimer’s is an insidious condition that there is yet no effective treatment for. This study represents an important step forward in our understanding of the disease, confirming that the make-up of our gut microbiota has a causal role in the development of the disease.

“This collaborative research has laid the groundwork for future research into this area, and my hope is that it will lead to potential advances in therapeutic interventions.”

The research was conducted by Dr Stefanie Grabrucker, a postdoctoral researcher working with Professor Nolan, in partnership with postdoctoral colleagues Dr Edina Silajdzic at King’s College London and Dr Moira Marizzoni, IRCCS Fatebenefratelli, Italy. UCC collaborators were Professor Cora O’Neill, Dr Olivia O’Leary, Dr Sarah Nicolas, Dr Jane English, Mr Sebastian Dohm-Hansen and Dr Aonghus Lavelle.

Professor. John F. Cryan, UCC Vice President for Research and Innovation, who was also involved in this research said: “I’m delighted to be involved in this exciting study that further enhances our understanding of the significant role played by the gut microbiome in brain related diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, and recognises UCC and APC Microbiome Ireland as leading institutions in microbiome and brain health research.

“This research aligns with our UCC Futures Framework and the strategic plan for the University in the areas of Food, Microbiome and Health and the soon to be launched Future Ageing and Brain Science.”

About this Alzheimer’s disease research news

Author: Kate O Sullivan
Source: UCC
Contact: Kate O Sullivan – UCC
Image: The image is credited to Neuroscience News

Original Research: Open access.
“Microbiota from Alzheimer’s patients induce deficits in cognition and hippocampal neurogenesis” by Yvonne Nolan et al. Brain

Retracted - Why Fish Oil Fails to Prevent or Improve CVD: A 21st Century Analysis

I must have missed this when it came out. So beware of false research, this is something a great stroke association would be up-to-date on. But shit we have no great stroke association, not even medicore. Good luck with your recovery because there is no one in the world that can definitely help you.
http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?PaperID=36133
Go to the link and download the paper if you want to see the original.

ABSTRACT

Short Retraction Notice
The paper does not meet the standards of "Food and Nutrition Sciences".
This article has been retracted to straighten the academic record. In making this decision the Editorial Board follows COPE's Retraction Guidelines. The aim is to promote the circulation of scientific research by offering an ideal research publication platform with due consideration of internationally accepted standards on publication ethics. The Editorial Board would like to extend its sincere apologies for any inconvenience this retraction may have caused.
Editor guiding this retraction: Prof. Dr. Alessandra Bordoni (EiC of FNS)
The full retraction notice in PDF is preceding the original paper, which is marked "RETRACTED".

More analysis of this here:

Anti-fish oil researcher netted two more retractions

Nearly complete human brain grown in US lab: scientist

But not written up in a reputable journal with peer review, so beware.
http://news.yahoo.com/nearly-complete-human-brain-grown-us-lab-scientist-143316655.html
An almost complete version of a tiny human brain has been grown in a US lab in a move that could bring major strides to the treatment of neurological diseases, a scientist says.

Rene Anand, a professor at Ohio State University, has grown in a dish a brain equal in maturity to that of a five-week-old fetus, his university reported.

"It not only looks like the developing brain, its diverse cell types express nearly all genes like a brain," Anand said.

Around the size of a pea, the brain in a lab dish includes multiple cell types, all major regions of the brain and a spinal cord, but lacks a vascular system, the university said.

It was grown from human skin cells and is claimed to be the most complete brain of its type grown yet.

Anand presented his research at a military health event in Florida on Tuesday.

Major scientific advances are usually published in peer-reviewed journals, where the claims are assessed independently before they are made public.

Anand and a colleague have co-founded an Ohio start-up company to commercialize the brain growth system, according to the university.
Anand expects the grown brain will allow easier and more ethical testing of drugs' effects on the mind, as scientists seek cures for brain disease and nervous system disorders, the school said.
"The power of this brain model bodes very well for human health because it gives us better and more relevant options to test and develop therapeutics other than rodents," Anand said in a university report on his research.

It could also be a boon for general neuroscience research as the brain allows a hands-on approach to genome studies rather than computer models currently used.

"Mathematical correlations and statistical methods are insufficient to in themselves identify causation. You need an experimental system –- you need a human brain," he said.

Beware of stem cell treatments

The California Medical Board's conclusion in stripping the license from a physician peddling stem cell treatments. 39 pages of detail on WILLIAM C. RADER, M.D., formed three
companies (Dulcinea Institute, Medra, Inc., and Stem Cell of America, Inc.).

Be careful out there.

What’s in Those Supplements?

We have no idea what is in the supplements we buy. All because of the stupidity of our Congress passing the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act of 1994 (DSHEA): (DSHEA) defined dietary supplements as a category of food, which put them under different regulations than drugs. They are considered safe until proven otherwise. Caveat Emptor.
http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2015/02/03/sidebar-whats-in-those-supplements/?

The New York State attorney general’s office accused four national retailers on Monday of selling dietary supplements that were fraudulent and in many cases contaminated with unlisted ingredients.

The authorities said they had run tests on popular store brands of herbal supplements at the retailers — Walmart, Walgreens, Target and GNC — which showed that roughly four out of five of the products contained none of the herbs listed on their labels. In many cases, the authorities said, the supplements contained little more than cheap fillers like rice and house plants, or substances that could be hazardous to people with food allergies.

At GNC, for example, the agency found that five out of six samples from the company’s signature “Herbal Plus” brand of supplements “were either unrecognizable or a substance other than what they claimed to be.” In pills labeled ginkgo biloba, the agency found only rice, asparagus and spruce, an ornamental plant commonly used for Christmas decorations.

More at link.

Molly Crockett: Beware neuro-bunk, neuro-bollocks, neuro-flapdoodle

A great TED talk. Beware any claims that purport to help your brain.
If someone tries to sell you something with a brain on it … ask to see the evidence. Ask for the part of the story that's not being told.” (Molly Crockett)
An 11 minute video worth watching, especially if you want to  believe the neuro headlines in newspaper and magazine articles.


Brains are ubiquitous in modern marketing: Headlines proclaim cheese sandwiches help with decision-making, while a “neuro” drink claims to reduce stress. There’s just one problem, says neuroscientist Molly Crockett: The benefits of these "neuro-enhancements" are not proven scientifically. In this to-the-point talk, Crockett explains the limits of interpreting neuroscientific data, and why we should all be aware of them.
http://www.ted.com/talks/molly_crockett_beware_neuro_bunk.html

Rodenticides: Warfarin, still a good management tool

So you know exactly what you are taking for blood thinning.
http://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/resinf/opm/2012/00000023/00000003/art00011
Abstract:
Rodents have been a menace to man for generations inflicting billions of dollars of crop and commodity damage each year. Rats and mice serve as reservoirs of numerous diseases transmitted to humans, such as plague, leptospirosis, Lyme disease, and rat bite fever. Millions of people died during the middle ages because of the spread of plague by rat in Europe. Rodent control products have been developed over the centuries including traps, glues, and chemical methods (rodenticides). Initial acute, or fast acting products were introduced and contained chemicals having no antidotes, such as arsenic, ANTU (α-naphthylthiourea), sodium monofluroacetate, strychnine, and norbormide. It was not until the late 1950s that rodent control was dramatically changed by the development and marketing of warfarin. The chemical is classified as an anticoagulant, or blood-thinner, and inhibits the production of vitamin K within the rodent, resulting in death over several days. After warfarin's initial success, other anticoagulants were added to the marketplace, including coumatetralyl, chlorophacinone, pindone, and diphacinone. The compounds came to be known as 'first generation anticoagulants'. These novel rodenticides quickly reduced the use of acute rodenticides which have no antidotes. Beginning in the early 1980s the more toxic 'second generation' chemicals were introduced into the marketplace, including brodifacoum, bromadiolone, and difethialone. The use of the chemicals soon began to diminish the use of the less toxic first generation group. This took place because of the perceived genetic resistance developed in US rodents. The lower dose baits were seen as the newest rodent management success story. As early as 1958 there were reports of warfarin resistance in Scotland in the Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus). After prolonged use of warfarin in the US, resistance was documented (based on WHO criteria) and published. Consequently, more toxic anticoagulants were synthesized to overcome the genetic resistance reports. The rodent control industry over a period of only a few years, moved from the first to second generation rodent baits. The marketing strategy was to: 1) implicate first generation rodenticides as ineffective against rats and mice and, 2) argue that the newer baits could kill rodents in a 'single feeding' (2nd generation rodenticides) compared to the 'multiple feeding' required by the 1st generation products. In the professional pest control industry, the goal was to convince the technician that more bait would be required with the less toxic products. It was economically cost effective to use less bait in a rodent control program. It was a good marketing idea, but in reality the story had its flaws.

Report: Pradaxa tops FDA’s list for serious adverse events

Make sure you get from your doctor what to look for adverse events from Pradaxa or warfarin or statins.
http://www.cardiovascularbusiness.com/index.php?option=com_articles&view=article&id=34247:report-pradaxa-tops-fdas-list-for-serious-adverse-events
Dabigatran topped the list of direct reports to the FDA of serious adverse drug events in 2011, according to an analysis by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. Dabigatran (Pradaxa, Boehringer Ingelheim) had the largest number of direct reports, at 817, followed by warfarin, at 490.

Reports from both the manufacturer and direct reports pointed to 3,781 serious adverse events associated with dabigatran in the U.S. in 2011, according to the analysis. Analysts identified 542 patient deaths, 2,367 cases of hemorrhage, 291 cases of acute renal failure, 644 cases of stroke and 15 cases of suspected liver failure. The FDA approved the use of dabigatran for the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in non-valvular AF patients in 2010.

Warfarin had 1,106 cases overall in 2011, including 72 deaths. The authors noted that in past analyses, warfarin consistently ranked near the top for direct reports to the FDA.

“Two drugs that inhibit the formation of blood clots ranked first and second among all direct reports to the FDA in 2011, emphasizing that the combination of a vulnerable patient population and a powerful pharmacological action rank among the highest risks in prescription drug therapy,” the authors wrote in the report, QuarterWatch. “While a therapeutic goal of preventing strokes, pulmonary embolism, and other harm through unwanted blood clots is a worthy objective, these results demonstrate that treatment is accompanied by substantial risks.”

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) reported May 25 that its post-marketing data on dabigatran showed that the frequency of occurrence of fatal bleedings was significantly lower than what was observed in clinical trials. Nonetheless, the EMA called for an update of product information to give physicians clearer guidance on how to reduce and manage the risk of bleeding.

By QuarterWatch’s count, the FDA received 179,855 reports of serious, disabling and fatal adverse drug events in the U.S. in 2011, an increase of 9.4 percent from 2010. The majority, 88 percent, were submitted by drug manufacturers while the remaining 12 percent were submitted to the FDA by health professionals and patients.

In a section on suspect drugs linked to severe side effects in the U.S., the report listed simvastatin (Zocor, Merck) and rosuvastatin (Crestor, AstraZeneca) as first and second most frequently identified drugs linked to severe muscle damage in 2011. Simvastatin had 123 cases and rosuvastatin 73 cases. By contrast, atorvastatin (Lipitor, Pfizer) accounted for only 15 reported cases.

QuarterWatch is published by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices, a Horsham, Pa.-based nonprofit organization that monitors adverse drug events reported to the FDA. The QuarterWatch reports are funded through the institute and are based on analyses of computer excerpts that the agency releases for research use from its Adverse Event Reporting System.

Neurofeedback and stroke

I found this commercial site and decided to find more independent research.
This site lists Stroke as one of the treatment modalities but no research backing it up. But the generated waves look cool. I can't figure out how he would determine what brain waves would need to be generated for motor movement or aphasia. And would a different brain wave be needed for each finger movement?
Good sales pitch but I don't trust any of it.
http://www.braincoretherapy.com/
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Effect of Neurofeedback on Motor Recovery of a Patient with Brain Injury: A Case Study and Its Implications for Stroke Rehabilitation

http://thomasland.metapress.com/content/4g2f5plvrnm9bggn/

Abstract

This case study showed the effect of neurofeedback (NFB) training in a patient with a brain tumor and co-existing traumatic brain injury. The patient received 40 sessions of NFB intervention. Tests and videotaped recordings evaluated pre- and post-NFB intervention. This study demonstrated minimal to significant improvements in several functional tasks. The conclusion is that the use of NFB for a person with a head injury and brain tumor can be generalized to be used with stroke survivors.
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Using motor imagery based brain-computer interface for post-stroke rehabilitation

http://ieeexplore.ieee.org/xpl/freeabs_all.jsp?arnumber=5109282

Abstract

There is now sufficient evidence that using a rehabilitation protocol involving motor imagery (MI) practice (or mental practice (MP)) in conjunction with physical practice (PP) of goal-directed rehabilitation tasks leads to enhanced functional recovery of paralyzed limbs among stroke sufferers. It is however difficult to ensure patient engagement during MP in the absence of any on-line measure of the MP. Fortunately in an EEG-based brain-computer interface (BCI), an on-line measure of MI activity is used to devise neurofeedback for the BCI user to help him/her focus better on the task. This paper reports a pilot study in which an EEG-based BCI system is used to provide neurofeedback to stroke participants during the MP part of the rehabilitation protocol. This helps patients to undertake the MP with stronger focus. The participants included five chronic stroke sufferers. The trial was undertaken for 12 sessions over a period of 6 weeks. A set of rehabilitation outcome measures including action research arm test (ARAT) and motricity index was made use of in assessing functional recovery. Moderate improvements approaching a minimal clinically important difference (MCID) were observed for the ARAT. Small positive improvements were also observed in other outcome measures. Participants appeared highly enthusiastic about participating in the study and regularly attended all the sessions. Although without a randomized control trial, it is difficult to ascertain whether the enhanced rehabilitation gain is primarily because of BCI neurofeedack, the positive gains in outcome measures demonstrate the potential and feasibility of using BCI for post-stroke rehabilitation.
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Neurofeedback Training for a Patient with Thalamic and Cortical Infarctions

http://www.springerlink.com/content/u8225r95315230kt/

Abstract

One year after a left posterior and thalamic stroke, a 52-year-old male participant was treated with 14 weeks of theta reduction neurofeedback training. Imaging studies revealed left temporal, parietal, occipital, and bilateral thalamic infarctions along the distribution of the posterior cerebral artery. Neuropsychological testing demonstrated severe verbal memory, naming, visual tracking, and fine motor deficits. Additionally, alexia without agraphia was present. A pretraining quantitative electroencephalograph (QEEG) found alpha attenuation, lack of alpha reactivity to eye opening, and excessive theta activity from the left posterior head region. Neurofeedback training to inhibit 4–8 Hz theta activity was conducted for 42 sessions from left hemisphere sites. Over the course of the training, significant reductions in theta amplitude occurred from the training sites as assessed from the postsession baseline periods. Posttraining, a relative normalization of the QEEG was observed from the left posterior head region.

I do wonder if there is any difference in biofeedback and neurofeedback.