Immune system implicated in prematurity complication

"Now, Weitkamp and his colleagues have discovered that disruptions in immune system regulation — not previously considered to be important in NEC pathophysiology — may play a role in the disease. The findings, reported in the journal Gut, suggest a new target for therapeutic interventions for NEC.

NEC is an inflammatory disease that kills intestinal tissue. Premature babies, and particularly those who have early formula feedings (breast milk has protective properties), are at increased risk for developing NEC.

Using multiple cellular "markers" and flow cytometry to identify the Treg cells, they confirmed that premature babies have an abundance of Treg cells in the intestines. Babies with NEC had about 60 percent fewer Treg cells than babies with non-NEC problems.

The investigators also detected increased expression of inflammatory cytokines (immune system signaling molecules) — particularly those that suppress Treg cell development — in the NEC tissue samples. And in assays of cell function, they found that the Treg cells suppressed cytokine production by and proliferation of T cells.

Follow-up studies on tissue samples from infants who had a second surgery suggest that the reduction in Treg cells is not because of an immune system defect in the babies.

"We believe that the T regulatory cells we've identified are in fact functional Treg cells and that they are down-regulated at the time of NEC," Weitkamp said. "Our studies challenge the dogma that cellular immunity is not important in the immediate neonatal period or in the pathophysiology of NEC."

Now, Weitkamp and his colleagues including neonatology fellow Joann Romano-Keeler, M.D., are studying the intestinal microbiome — the collection of microbes colonizing the gut — in the surgically removed samples.

"We know that the microbiome and the immune system are important in shaping each other," Weitkamp said.

"We need to understand exactly how that works and which components typically found in human milk — such as certain vitamins, prebiotics and probiotics — are important for healthy microbiome and healthy immune system development."

http://www.sciencecodex.com/immune_system_implicated_in_prematurity_complication-88092

Preemis have been noted to have altered gut populations and also end up with higher rates of Autism. The problems do not begin from an altered gut ecology alone, but infant development along with gut cell function and immune response allows for a pathology that accomadates certain bacterial profiles and the interaction sets up the related inflamatory and immune rsponse cycle. This can be made more pathogenic I think by IV's containing glycerin elements and then baby formula with monoglycerides,diglycerides, and iron continues this process. Then add gylcerine suppositories that may help unbind a child temporarily, but make matters worse overall if their binding is due to bacterial issues. The abstract below says certain bacteria may produce an antimicrobial called reuterin.This could account for less diverse bacterial profiles in addition to the intrinsic gut immune responses.

Human faecal microbiota display variable patterns of glycerol metabolism

Abstract

"Significant amounts of glycerol reach the colon microbiota daily through the diet and/or by in situ microbial production or release from desquamated epithelial cells. Some gut microorganisms may anaerobically reduce glycerol to 1,3-propanediol (1,3-PDO), with 3-hydroxypropanal as an intermediate. Accumulation of the latter intermediate may result in the formation of reuterin, which is known for its biological activity (e.g. antimicrobial properties). To date, glycerol metabolism in mixed cultures from the human colon has received little attention. Using in vitro batch incubations of faeces from 10 human individuals, we demonstrated that glycerol addition (140 mM) significantly affects the metabolism and composition of the microbial community. About a third of the samples exhibited rapid glycerol conversion, yielding proportionally higher levels of acetate and 1,3-PDO. In contrast, a slower glycerol metabolism resulted in higher levels of propionate. Furthermore, rapid glycerol metabolism correlated with significant shifts in the Lactobacillus–Enterococcus community, which were not observed in slower glycerol-metabolizing samples. As the conversion of glycerol to 1,3-PDO is a highly reducing process, we infer that the glycerol metabolism may act as an effective hydrogen sink. Given the importance of hydrogen-consuming processes in the gut, this work suggests that glycerol may have potential as a tool for modulating fermentation kinetics and profiles in the gastrointestinal tract."

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1574-6941.2010.00974.x/abstract

Please try this link:
www.cbc.ca/nature of things/episode/autism-enigma.htlm
Answers must be found,our children and our families are
suffering.

www.cookingwithcanadasbest.com is a way you can donate to the Kilee Patchell-Evans autism research group that comes out of the U. Of Western Ontario (Dr. McFabe) and U. Of Guelph (Emma Allen-Vercoe). Most of the other stuff just seems like a waste of time.

The push back will come. This is the land of CAIRN, (Fombonne and friends) http://www.cairn-site.com/en/index.html

Off topic - but look what I found today at McGill's site..

Tireless research reveals secrets of the “sleep hormone”
http://www.mcgill.ca/newsroom/news/item/?item_id=212840

Read it. They are going to make a drug to act selectively on a single melatonin receptor. Ummm... and taking melatonin wasn't good enough?

And what about the ATN's melatonin studies? Which is accessible to us all right now.
http://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/more-evidence-melatonin-eases-autism-associated-insomnia

So, the government will now likely outlaw another over the counter supplement and trademark their drug (much like what they did to Tryptophan when they needed to protect and trademark Fluoxetine). And, we'll have to wait a year to see a psychiatrist to poo-poo us about our children's sleep issues and someone somewhere will make a great deal of cash.

We have to DEMAND DEMAND DEMAND that more research like this happens and that it happens soon. Money should be pouring into this research and fund more research like it. Jill Bolte figured this out over a decade ago and NOTHING WAS DONE SINCE! (I was crying, were you crying?) It is a crime against our children who could recover if their guts were doing good. And we have to ask for solutions, not just causes. If I were rich I would offer a billion dollars to the scientist who developed a probiotic that cured 100 ASD kids in a study of 100 kids. Autism is a gut imbalance, not brain damage as this show pointed out. (Feel free to wear that on your t-shirt)

Lisa .. I want to thank you for alerting the AoA community to this excellent presentation that "highlights the possible and plausible connection between bacteria in the gut and the potentially devastating effects it has on the brain."

I enthusiastically share your ..HOPE .. "for that elusive, balanced viewpoint, for awareness, and compassion, and understanding….for the discovery of the cause and hope for a nugget of information that will be that “ah ha” moment for my child’s .. (in my case my grandson's) .. recovery."

FOUR YEARS AGO .. I read Jill Neimark's profound article in Discover Magazine: "Autism: It's Not Just in the Head" .. and .. I was just as "blown away" .. and .. "hopeful" .. her article would pave the way for scientists to .. at last .. begin exploring the "plausible connection between bacteria in the gut and the potentially devastating effects it has on the brain".

Jill's entire ground-breaking article can be read at: http://tinyurl.com/2pbkoz

Jill Neimark .. at that time .. identified Harvard neurologist Martha Herbert, as the author of a 14,000 word paper in the journal "Clinical Neuropyschiatry" .. "that re-conceptualizes the universe of autism, pulling the brain down from its privileged perch as an organ isolated from the rest of the body."

Worth mentioning .. Jill's article was written following the CDC's 2003 report which "suggested as many as 1 in 166 children" where thought to be on the autism spectrum. We all know the CDC's "suggested estimate" of children has INCREASED since then .. in spite of all those journalists who have prostituted their professions .. by simply parroting the convenient "plausible denial" of scientists .. who have no "scientific" recourse but to insist any increase in autism is due to a "broader definition" .. or .. "better diagnosing".

Also worth mentioning .. regarding the CDC's 2003 report ..

"The public's concern about autism has caught the ear of federal lawmakers. The Combating Autism Act, approved last December .. (2003 I think) .. authorized nearly 1 BILLION over the next FOUR years for autism-related research and intervention".

The obvious question arises:

How many of those 1 BILLION dollars were spent researching the "possible and plausible connection between bacteria in the gut and the potentially devastating effects it has on the brain.?

In any event .. Lisa .. YOU have re-newed my HOPE that " just maybe, one small Canadian news program, from the land of snow and ice, can throw a snowball that will grow into an avalanche."

Missed it on TV but will have to view it online.
I had signed some of David Suzuki's petitions and joined his facebook page and a few months later I received a fund raising call concerning ridding toxins from the environment from them. I explained how I would love to support them financially however due to my son's own illness from environmental toxins we were a one-income family. We had a brief discussion about thimerosal and aluminum and I asked the caller to please pass on a request to Dr. Suzuki to not overlook this source of environmental insults to our children.

It can be ignored easily enough.
Esp. if it is constipation than the other way.

Fascinating video, thank you for sharing.

My son no longer suffers from GI troubles whatsoever. It has taken us YEARS to achieve this through heavy metal chelation.

Remove the poison and repair the gut. So much of the current fixes are just treating the symptoms.

It really is the metals, folks.

New target for the Medical Industrial Complex - Dr Suzuki.

I should also add that David Suzuki is a well respected scientist and he was a genetics professor.

I meet lots of parents who say, "His stomach is fine. He eats only crackers, mac and cheese, bread and drinks only milk." I want to scream.

I saw a young adult with Asperger's in my town at the grocery store one day a couple of years ago. The cart contents blew me away - it was all English Muffins, Kraft Mac and Cheese boxes and milk - I swear to God. I just shook my head.

I haven't seen it yet but hope to. When I lived in Buffalo, I always admired David Suzuki's work - and missed him when I moved to other interior US locations. Recognition of a problem and acknowledgment of it's existence is the first step towards a solution, particularly with autism. When my children react unexpectedly, I'm the one judged to be an incompetent mother/teacher. Their autism and it's medical consequences are never given a moment's consideration.