Volume 5, Issue 12, December 29, 2017

Archives of Integrative Clinical Practice
Volume 5, Issue 12, December 29, 2017

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Arsenic in US Well Water Threatens Child Development

Megan Brooks

April 15, 2014

Exposure to arsenic in well water may contribute to reduced brain functioning in children, according to a new study from Maine.

The study of more than 200 children in grades 3 to 5 found that exposure to even low levels of arsenic in well water was associated with lower scores on intelligence tests by as much as 5 to 6 points, which may translate into problems in school.

Investigators led by Joseph Graziano, PhD, professor of environmental health sciences at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health in New York City, note that their findings in Maine build on earlier studies conducted by the same team in South Asia, and Bangladesh in particular, which showed similar results.

Story Source – Medscape site may require registration
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Contribution of intimal smooth muscle cells to cholesterol accumulation and macrophage-like cells in human atherosclerosis

Circulation. 2014 Apr 15;129(15):1551-9. doi: 10.1161/CIRCULATIONAHA.113.005015. Epub 2014 Jan 30.
Allahverdian S1, Chehroudi AC, McManus BM, Abraham T, Francis GA.

Abstract
BACKGROUND:
Intimal smooth muscle cells (SMCs) contribute to the foam cell population in arterial plaque, and express lower levels of the cholesterol exporter ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) in comparison with medial arterial SMCs. The relative contribution of SMCs to the total foam cell population and their expression of ABCA1 in comparison with intimal monocyte-derived macrophages, however, are unknown. Although the expression of macrophage markers by SMCs following lipid loading has been described, the relevance of this phenotypic switch by SMCs in human coronary atherosclerosis has not been determined.

METHODS AND RESULTS:
Human coronary artery sections from hearts explanted at the time of transplantation were processed to clearly delineate intracellular and extracellular lipids and allow costaining for cell-specific markers. Costaining for oil red O and the SMC-specific marker SM α-actin of foam cell-rich lesions revealed that 50±7% (average±standard error of the mean, n=14 subjects) of total foam cells were SMC derived. ABCA1 expression by intimal SMCs was significantly reduced between early and advanced atherosclerotic lesions, with no loss in ABCA1 expression by myeloid lineage cells. Costaining with the macrophage marker CD68 and SM α-actin revealed that 40±6% (n=15) of CD68-positive cells originated as SMCs in advanced human coronary atherosclerosis.

CONCLUSIONS:
These findings suggest SMCs contain a much larger burden of the excess cholesterol in human coronary atherosclerosis than previously known, in part, because of their relative inability to release excess cholesterol via ABCA1 in comparison with myeloid lineage cells. Our results also indicate that many cells identified as monocyte-derived macrophages in human atherosclerosis are in fact SMC derived.

PubMed Reference

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Changes in pain perception after pelvis manipulation in women with primary dysmenorrhea: a randomized controlled trial

Pain Med. 2014 Sep;15(9):1455-63. doi: 10.1111/pme.12404. Epub 2014 Mar 25.
Molins-Cubero S1, Rodríguez-Blanco C, Oliva-Pascual-Vaca A, Heredia-Rizo AM, Boscá-Gandía JJ, Ricard F.

Abstract
OBJECTIVE:
This study aims to evaluate the immediate effect of a global pelvic manipulation (GPM) technique, bilaterally applied, on low back pelvic pain in women with primary dysmenorrhea (PD).

DESIGN:
A prospective, randomized, double-blind, controlled trial.

SETTING:
Faculty of Nursing, Physiotherapy and Podiatry. University of Sevilla, Spain.

METHODS:
The sample group included 40 women (30 ± 6.10 years) that were divided into an experimental group (EG) (N = 20) who underwent a bilateral GPM technique and a control group (CG) (N = 20) who underwent a sham (placebo) intervention. Evaluations were made of self-reported low back pelvic pain (visual analog scale), pressure pain threshold (PPT) in sacroiliac joints (SIJs), and the endogenous response of the organism to pain following catecholamines and serotonin release in blood levels.

RESULTS:
The intragroup comparison showed a significant improvement in the EG in the self-perceived low back pelvic pain (P = 0.003) and in the mechanosensitivity in both SIJs (P = 0.001). In the between-group comparison, there was a decrease in pain perception (P = 0.004; F(1,38) = 9.62; R(2) = 0.20) and an increase in the PPT of both SIJs, in the right side (P = 0.001; F(1,38) = 21.29; R(2) = 0.35) and in the left side (P = 0.001; F(1,38) = 20.63; R(2) = 0.35). There were no intergroup differences for catecholamines plasma levels (adrenaline P = 0.123; noradrenaline P = 0.281; dopamine P = 0.173), but there were for serotonin levels (P = 0.045; F(1,38) = 4.296; R(2) = 0.10).

CONCLUSION:
The bilateral GPM technique improves in a short term the self-perceived low back pelvic pain, the PPT in both SIJs, and the serotonin levels in women with PD. It shows no significant differences with a sham intervention in catecholamines plasma levels.

PubMed Reference
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More People Pick Elimination Diets to Discover Food Sensitivities

By Sarah Nassauer
April 16, 2014

The adage that you are what you eat doesn’t quite ring true for some people. A growing group is swearing by the idea: You are what you don’t eat.

Elimination diets—which call for cutting out a certain food or group of foods—are having a moment. People often start the diets in an effort to cure a symptom that doesn’t necessarily seem worth seeing a doctor about: headaches, skin irritation, joint pain, digestive problem or just feeling tired. Maybe cutting out certain foods will help, they think. Weight loss often isn’t the primary motivation.

Eating in this manner is different than elimination diets intended to detect sometimes immediate and life-threatening allergic reactions, often done under close supervision of a doctor…..

Full Story – The Wall Street Journal

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The Benefits of High Cholesterol

People with high cholesterol live the longest.

This statement seems so incredible that it takes a long time to clear one´s brainwashed mind to fully understand its importance.

Yet the fact that people with high cholesterol live the longest emerges clearly from many scientific papers.

Consider the finding of Dr. Harlan Krumholz of the Department of Cardiovascular Medicine at Yale University, who reported in 1994 that old people with low cholesterol died twice as often from a heart attack as did old people with a high cholesterol….

Full Story

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Green Tea’s Impact on Cognitive Function Now Visible

Megan Brooks

April 16, 2014

Green tea appears to boost memory by enhancing functional brain connectivity, a new imaging study suggests.

A study led by Stefan Borgwardt, MD, PhD, from the Department of Psychiatry, University of Basel, Switzerland, shows that drinking a green tea extract enhances memory performance, a finding that researchers suggest may have important clinical implications for the treatment of neuropsychiatric disorders, including cognitive impairment.

This is “the first evidence for the putative beneficial effect of green tea on cognitive functioning, in particular, on working memory processing at the neural system level by suggesting changes in short-term plasticity of parieto-frontal brain connections,” the investigators write.

The study was published online March 19 in Psychopharmacology….

Full Story – Medscape site may require registration
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