EiR Blog

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  As anyone who has ever had spine problems can tell you, it is one of the least favorite medical problems to have. Issues with the back, neck and spine can be some of the most painful moments in one’s life. What may not be painful for one individual can be excruciatingly painful for another. The bottom line, not everyone handles pain the same way, hence it is important whenever you first begin suffering from any such areas of pain to seek medical assistance.  So just what can be the causes of some of the worst spinal pain that one can endure?  Although spinal diseases can certainly be the culprit, many people oftentimes end up with spinal discomfort due to their own actions. Being overweight, not sitting properly during the day or sleeping at night, even improperly exercising can be harbingers of bad things to come.  Whether you end up...

  While most teenagers experience acne after reaching puberty, some acne cases are worse than over. There are a number of different types of teenage acne, and it can be caused by a variety of different factors. It can be difficult to successfully treat, and in the process, it can cause severe self-esteem and body image issues for the sufferer, as well as potentially leaving lasting scars. In order to recover from teenage acne, you need to treat the source as well as the effects. Acne Treatment First things first, consult with your doctor and get a referral to a skin specialist if your acne is still active. There are a variety of over-the-counter and prescription medications and cleansers that can be used to treat the many different forms of acne. What works for one person many not work for someone else. Be diligent in your efforts, don’t give up...

Did you know that sleeping naked is actually good for your health? That's right, it's time to take off those clothes and slip into your bed in your birthday suit! Here's why: Slows Aging -- At night, your body produces the hormone melatonin to help you sleep. As you are sleeping, the Human Growth Hormone responsible for cellular growth is produced. Both of these hormones are responsible for preventing aging, but are only produced as you sleep deeply. If you are too hot -thanks to those pajamas - you'll have a hard time sleeping, meaning less of the anti-aging hormones are produced.  Better Sleep -- Did you know that your insomnia may be caused by your body's inability to regulate your body temperature at night? Those with a lower skin temperature are able to sleep better, so take off those clothes and let your body cool off for a better...

  Recent studies and news indicate that women after age thirty five have more difficulty conceiving children. Once they start to grow older their eggs and overall fertility weakens. They are more likely to have a miscarriage.  A growing number of women won’t be able to conceive on their own. Woman will need help from other medical treatments and fertility assistance to increase the probability of pregnancy.   Women tend to wait until their mid to late thirties to have children. They want to establish their careers and financial stability. They leave little room for children until the time is attractive. Choosing the Right Time Women may want to focus on establishing their careers first before having children, but they shouldn’t wait too long. Male and females are having more trouble with fertility.  When is the right time to have a child? There is no right or wrong time for children....

  July 9, 2013 Common molecules made by bacteria in the gut may act as chill pills for the immune system. Molecules secreted by intestinal bacteria work to prevent misplaced immune attacks in inflammatory bowel diseases like colitis, a new study finds. “It is a huge advance,” says Sarkis Mazmanian of Caltech. “This opens up the notion that a very easy and potentially very safe therapy for inflammatory bowel disease could exist.” Decades of research have hinted that microbes play a role in immune-related diseases such as obesity, allergy, inflammatory bowel disease and colon cancer. But scientists have had difficulty pinpointing direct links between the bacteria in the gut and the army of immune cells that live there.   Some researchers have focused on individual microbial species among the gut’s teeming hordes to see how they affect the immune system. But Wendy Garrett’s team at Harvard University decided to look instead...

No matter how far I run, fruit smoothies I drink, or fast food restaurants I avoid, the struggle to fight daily food cravings and splurge like an emotional eater haunts me. At least once a week I have to stop myself from sitting down to watch a movie with a gallon of chocolate chip cookie dough. Exercise is half the battle of staying healthy. When coupled with eating right, we have the chance to transform our lives. I'm not a crazy "cut everything bad out of my diet" person in my nutritional approach. I believe in the simple and balanced habits that promote a healthy life overall. Denying the strawberry cake craving will drive a person mad. Learn to indulge in a healthy way.  Here are five tips that helped me eat healthier. 1. Stay Hydrated Instead of feasting on carbs and questionable snacks, drink water! Water hydrates you, gives...

  Last week, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) quietly announced it would be backing off a previous proposal to require fecal microbiota transplants to be conducted under either an approved biologics license application (BLA) or investigational new drug (IND) application. Now, however, it has announced the approval of fast track designation for an investigational product sponsored by Minnesota-based Rebiotix, potentially one of the first – if not the first – products to seek formal approval as an FMT product. Background An FMT is a transplant of carefully-selected bacteria found in ones' colon to another person to fight Clostridium Diffiicile (C. Diff), a notoriously hardy strain of bacteria that kills an estimated 14,000 people each year. Various published research has identified the FMT procedure as being one that can fight off C. diff infections by introducing so-called "good bacteria" back into a person's body. The idea is to overload the gastrointestinal tract...

  Posted: 17 July 2013  After deciding in June 2013 to begin fast-tracking fecal transplant procedures by scrapping an earlier requirement that would have mandated an approved Investigational New Drug (IND) application, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) had just released a new guidance document clarifying the enforcement approach it informally announced in June. Background Fecal transplants are a relatively new innovation involving the transfer of either fecal matter or the bacteria found within fecal matter from a healthy patient to a sick one. Various published research has identified the procedure as being one that can fight off Clostridium difficile infections by introducing so-called "good bacteria" back into a person's body. The idea is to overload the gastrointestinal tract with enough of the good bacteria to overwhelm the C. diff, thereby ending the infection. One device, known affectionately as either the "RoboGut" or the "RePoopulation Station," is essentially a small manufacturing facility...

How Fake Poop Can Cure Patients’ Stomach Ailments     RePOOPulate: How Fake Poop Can Cure Patients’ Stomach Ailments Using something called a "robo-gut," scientists have made ersatz fecal matter to help fix stomach ailments. It’s not the most glamorous invention, but if it works…    Fake poop: It’s not just something that elementary school kids love to play with. It can also keep people healthy. Emma Allen-Vercoe, a microbiologist at the University of Guelph in Ontario, revealed in early January that her synthetic poop, dubbed rePOOPulate, can cure gastrointestinal infections caused by a bacterium called Clostridium difficile (CDI) that can trigger severe diarrhea. Usually antibiotics can wipe out CDI, but in particularly bad cases, they don’t work. Allen-Vercoe’s artificial stool study, published in a new peer-reviewed journal called Microbiome, comes after years of the microbiologist’s work on a “robo-gut," a glass and stainless steel system that mimics the large...

  The phase I clinical trial of the procedure was conducted by members of the Pediatric Specialty Department of the Spectrum Health Medical Group at Helen DeVos Children's Hospital, the first in the country to study FMT in children. FMT is a process that involves infusion of human stool from a healthy donor into the intestine of the patient in an attempt to restore healthy microbial flora in the intestines of the patient. When used to treat a disease, human stool constitutes a drug and a biologic. Therefore, an investigational new drug approval was obtained from the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to utilize FMT for treating ulcerative colitis in this trial. The study results have been published online by the Journal of Pediatric Gastroenterology & Nutrition and will be featured in the June print edition. "FMT has been proposed as a promising new treatment option for recurrent...

  Only one of five patients with moderate to severe ulcerative colitis (UC) who were treated with fecal transplantation (FT) experienced clinical and endoscopic improvements following the procedure, according to an abstract presented at the 2012 United European Gastroenterology Week (abstract P374). Lead investigator Walter Reinisch, MD, associate professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at the Medical University of Vienna, Austria, conducted the procedure in two women and three men with moderate to severe UC who were resistant to previous other treatments. All participants were undergoing immunosuppressant therapy before FT and discontinued treatment before transplantation. All patients received antibiotics and probiotics for five to 10 days before the procedure and underwent a single bowel lavage immediately before transplantation. Healthy adult fecal donors were screened for enteric pathogens and viral diseases. Dr. Reinisch simultaneously administered a saline-diluted fecal solution via a nasojejunal tube (median 23.8 g) and an enema...

  Everyone's skin carries acne-causing bacteria, of which there are 'good' and 'bad' strains Having too much 'bad' bacteria is what causes acne Findings could pave the way for new treatments     Even celebrities cannot escape the acne-causing bacteria: Cameron Diaz succumbs to an outbreak of spots     But the days of spots may now be numbered after scientists discovered why some people are more prone to them than others.    The researchers, from UCLA, have discovered more about the bacteria that live on the skin and cause acne.   They have found that this bacteria contains ‘bad’ strains which cause pimples and ‘good’ ones that may protect the skin.   Having too much 'bad' bacteria is what causes spots, they say.   This is rather like an imbalance of good and bad bacteria in the gut causing digestive issues.  It is not yet clear why some people have...

I first read about the drug nimodipine (Nimotop) being used in very small dosages to treat chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and related 'environmental', or 'invisible' illnesses (e.g. fibromyalgia, multiple chemical sensitivity) over a decade ago. Looking back I am not sure what prompted me to cast it aside so easily as a treatment option but this is what I did. I think perhaps I was more focused on resolving my gut dysbiosis issues which I saw (and still see) as the main driver of my ill-health. I also was more averse to opting for pharmaceutical interventions than I am now. Regardless, after reading of the recoveries of Dr. Mason-Brown MD and psychologist Dr. Kristina Downing-Orr in the latter's book Beating Chronic Fatigue using nimodopine as the basis, I have decided it is time to give it a shot. In the intervening period since reading about nimodipine use in ME/CFS I...

  Editor’s Comment: This study builds on previous research demonstrating abnormal bacterial gut flora in ME/CFS patients. In addition to causing numerous gastrointestinal symptoms, prior studies have found that abnormal gut flora in ME/CFS patients is linked to cognitive dysfunction (Maes and De Meirleir). This is the first study to demonstrate a complete remission of symptoms in a significant percentage of ME/CFS patients after the normalization of gut flora. The GI microbiome and its role in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome:  A summary of bacteriotherapy By Thomas Borody et al ~Source: Journal of the Australasian College of Nutritional and Environmental Medicine, December 2012 Abstract Introduction: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) has a complex and multifactorial etiology making treatment and definitive diagnosis, currently made through exclusion, difficult. Current therapies, such as cognitive behavior therapy and graded exercises, are inadequate and targeted to address symptoms, rather than the underlying disease pathology. Increasing evidence implicates the microbiota of the...

  Too much antibiotic can decimate the normal intestinal microbiota, which may never recover its former diversity. That, in turn, renders the GI tract vulnerable to being colonized by pathogens. Now researchers from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, NY, and Centro Superior de Investigación en Salud Pública, Valencia, Spain, show that reintroducing normal microbial diversity largely eliminated vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) from the intestinal tracts of mice. The investigators showed further that the findings may apply to humans.   The research is published in the March 2013 issue of the journal Infection and Immunity. The reduced diversity of microbiota wrought by antibiotics "allow[s] VRE to invade and thrive in the intestine, suggesting that bacterial species that are wiped out by antibiotics are key to preventing colonization by VRE," says first author Carles Ubeda of the Centro Superior de Investigacion en Salud Publica, Valencia, Spain. "We hypothesized that repopulating the mice'...

An antibiotic created from human sweat might fight off hospital superbugs and deadly strains of tuberculosis, scientists reported in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. The researchers, from Scotland, Germany, France and Spain explained that a protein found on human skin - Dermcidin - is activated in sweat (slightly acidic and salty environments) and kills harmful microbes by perforating their cell membranes. Dermcidin is a natural protein, part of our natural defences, that is present on our skin when we sweat. The authors wrote thatunderstanding how these natural defences work could help researchers design effective alternatives to conventional antibiotic medications. Until now, the scientific community could not fully explain how proteins produced by animals and plants have been fending off harmful bacteria, viruses and funguses for millions of years. If we can eventually unravel how proteins such as dermcidin work, we may be better equipped to fight off infections which...

  Scientists have long puzzled over why "bad" bacteria such as E. coli can thrive in the guts of those with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), causing serious diarrhea. Now UC Davis researchers have discovered the answer—one that may be the first step toward finding new and better treatments for IBD. The researchers discovered a biological mechanism by which harmful bacteria grow, edge out beneficial bacteria and damage the gut in IBD. This new understanding, published in the Feb. 8 issue of Science, may help researchers develop new treatments for IBD with fewer side effects than current therapies. IBD begins when "good" bacteria are mistakenly killed by the immune system, while harmful bacteria multiply — resulting in inflammation and damage to the intestines, and chronic episodes of abdominal pain, cramping, diarrhea and other changes in bowel habits. It's estimated that IBD, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, affects 1.4 million people in the...

  Help may be on the way for people with compromised immune systems, severe allergies, or who otherwise have to be wary of airborne nasties. A team of scientists have created something known as a soft x-ray electrostatic precipitator, or an SXC ESP for short. It filters all manner of bacteria, allergens, viruses, and ultrafine particles from the air – plus, it kills everything it catches. Electrostatic precipitators (ESPs) already exist, and work by applying an electrical charge to airborne particles, which are subsequently drawn to an oppositely-charged metallic collection plate. According to the researchers, however, ESPs aren’t very efficient at trapping smaller particles – specifically in the submicrometer and nanometer size range. HEPA filters are also very commonly used, although they require relatively frequent cleaning, and become energy-inefficient if those cleanings are missed. To create the SXC ESP, the scientists added a shielded soft x-ray emitter to an ESP....

  UK scientists have discovered a secret ‘Sat Nav’ that enables them to identify and zap a potential killer bug in the body’s system. Researchers at the Institute of Food Research (IFR) on the Norwich Research Park have uncovered how the food-borne bacterial pathogen Campylobacter jejuni can change its swimming behaviour to find a location with more food. Just as a rumbling tummy is a human body tells us it's time for lunch, so bacteria need to know when it's time to eat. Campylobacter is the most common cause of bacterial food-borne illness in the UK, with more than 371,000 cases annually. When people get infected, the bacteria need to find their way from the source of contamination, most often undercooked poultry, to the cells lining the gut, passing through thick layers of mucus. In these different locations, Campylobacter must find enough food to sustain itself as well as a...