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Author: Sima

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New research shows that wearing contact lenses could significantly change the bacteria of the eye’s surface, making it more susceptible to infection. NYU Langone Medical Center researchers analyzed swabs from both contact-wearers and non-wearers to determine the number and type of bacterial species that lived on the surface of their eyes—the eye’s microbiome as well as the skin below the eye.

They found that the eye microbiome of contact lens wearers is more similar in composition to the microbiome of their skin than the eye microbiome of non-lens wearers.

Note that infections often come when people don’t take proper care of their lenses—sleeping in them overnight, or not cleaning them well or often enough so most eye doctors have shifted to recommending daily lenses. 

From Medical News Today: Alterations to the eye microbiome of contact lens wearers may increase infections

Contact lens wearers - ever wondered why you are more likely to experience eye infections than your contacts-less friends? Researchers from NYU Langone Medical Center in New York City think they may have found the answer, in a study that used high-precision genetic tests to map the human microbiome....the NYU Langone researchers report that micro-organisms residing in the eyes of people who wear contact lenses daily more closely resemble micro-organisms residing in eyelid skin than the bacteria usually found in the eyes of people who do not wear contacts.

The researchers took hundreds of swabs of different parts of the eye, including the skin directly beneath the eye. Genetic analysis of swabs and used contact lenses allowed the team to identify which bacteria were present. Comparing nine contact lens wearers with 11 non-contacts users, the team found three times the usual proportion of the bacteria Methylobacterium, Lactobacillus, Acinetobacter and Pseudomonas on the eye surfaces (conjunctiva) of contact lens wearers than on the eye surfaces of the control group.

Examining the bacterial diversity using a plotted graph, the team observed that the eye microbiome of contact lens wearers is more similar in composition to the microbiome of their skin than the eye microbiome of non-lens wearers. 

Interestingly, the researchers say, Staphylococcus bacteria was found in greater amounts in the eyes of non-lens wearers. Staphylococcus is linked with eye infections, but is usually more prominent on the skin. However, the researchers are unable to explain why non-lens wearers have greater amounts of this bacteria, despite this group traditionally having fewer eye infections than people who wear contacts.

Study author Dr. Jack Dodick, professor and chair of ophthalmology at NYU Langone, says:"There has been an increase in the prevalence of corneal ulcers following the introduction of soft contact lenses in the 1970s. A common pathogen implicated has been Pseudomonas. This study suggests that because the offending organisms seem to emanate from the skin, greater attention should be directed to eyelid and hand hygiene to decrease the incidence of this serious occurrence."

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Prostate cancer diagnosis is scary enough, but knowing that dietary changes can increase favorable odds is good. Once again a Mediterranean style diet  or "healthy diet"(whole grains, fruits, vegetables, seeds, nuts, legumes, olive oil, and fish) is beneficial, while a Western diet (highly processed foods, red meat, processed meat, and dairy) is linked to higher rates of death. This study was from the Harvard School of Public Health and followed male physicians for an average of 14 years after prostate cancer diagnosis. From Science Daily:

Western diet may increase risk of death after prostate cancer diagnosis

After a prostate cancer diagnosis, eating a diet higher in red and processed meat, high-fat dairy foods, and refined grains--known as a Western diet--may lead to a significantly higher risk of both prostate cancer-related mortality and overall mortality compared with eating a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, fish, whole grains, legumes, and healthy oils, according to a new study from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.

The study, which appears online June 1, 2015 in the journal Cancer Prevention Research, offers insight on how diet may help improve survivorship for the nearly three million men living with prostate cancer in the U.S."There is currently very little evidence to counsel men living with prostate cancer on how they can modify their lifestyle to improve survival. Our results suggest that a heart-healthy diet may benefit these men by specifically reducing their chances of dying of prostate cancer," said Jorge Chavarro, assistant professor of nutrition and epidemiology at the Harvard Chan School and senior author of the study.

Researchers examined health and diet data from 926 men participating in the Physicians' Health Study I and II who were diagnosed with prostate cancer. They followed the men for an average of 14 years after their diagnosis, grouping them into quartiles according to whether they followed a Western dietary pattern or a "prudent" (higher consumption of vegetables, fruits, fish, legumes, and whole grains) dietary pattern.

They found that men who ate mostly a Western diet (those in the highest quartile of the Western dietary pattern) had two-and-a-half times higher risk of prostate cancer-related death--and a 67% increased risk of death from any cause--than those in the lowest quartile. Men who ate mostly a "prudent" diet had a 36% lower risk of death from all causes.

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I know of a number of people in NY and NJ who have been struggling for years with persistent Lyme disease. So this research with the possibility of treatments that actually work is fantastic. And it gives support to all those people who say they still have Lyme disease after antibiotic treatment, but the medical establishment says they're wrong -  that it's all their mind or due to something else. Yes, they still have Lyme disease from persister cells that avoided the antibiotic treatment! Persister cells are drug-tolerant,dormant variants of Borrelia burgdorferi  (the bacterium that causes Lyme disease). And perhaps pulse-dosing antibiotics may work to get rid of the persister cells. The antibiotic they successfully used in the research is ceftriaxone (a cephalosporin antibiotic) - but only in cultures grown in a lab. Further research is needed. From Science Daily:

Researchers' discovery may explain difficulty in treating Lyme disease

North­eastern Uni­ver­sity researchers have found that the bac­terium that causes Lyme dis­ease forms dor­mant per­sister cells, which are known to evade antibi­otics. This sig­nif­i­cant finding, they said, could help explain why it's so dif­fi­cult to treat the infec­tion in some patients.

In other chronic infec­tions, Lewis' lab has tracked the resis­tance to antibi­otic therapy to the pres­ence of per­sister cells--which are drug-tolerant, dor­mant vari­ants of reg­ular cells. These per­sister cells are exactly what they've iden­ti­fied here in Bor­relia burgdor­feri, the bac­terium that causes Lyme disease.The researchers have also reported two approaches--one of them quite promising--to erad­i­cate Lyme dis­ease, as well as poten­tially other nasty infections.

Lyme dis­ease affects 300,000 people annu­ally in the U.S., according to the Cen­ters for Dis­ease Con­trol and Pre­ven­tion, and is trans­mitted to people via bites from infected black­legged ticks. If caught early, patients treated with antibi­otics usu­ally recover quickly. How­ever, about 10 to 20 per­cent of patients, par­tic­u­larly those diag­nosed later, who have received antibi­otic treat­ment may have per­sis­tent and recur­ring symp­toms including arthritis, muscle pain, fatigue, and neu­ro­log­ical prob­lems. These patients are diag­nosed with Post-treatment Lyme Dis­ease Syndrome.

In addi­tion to iden­ti­fying the pres­ence of these per­sister cells, Lewis' team also pre­sented two methods for wiping out the infection--both of which were suc­cessful in lab tests. One involved an anti-cancer agent called Mit­o­mycin C, which com­pletely erad­i­cated all cul­tures of the bac­terium in one fell swoop. How­ever, Lewis stressed that, given Mit­o­mycin C's tox­i­city, it isn't a rec­om­mended option for treating Lyme dis­ease, though his team's find­ings are useful to helping to better under­stand the disease.

The second approach, which Lewis noted is much more prac­tical, involved pulse-dosing an antibi­otic to elim­i­nate per­sis­ters. The researchers intro­duced the antibi­otic a first time, which killed the growing cells but not the dor­mant per­sis­ters. But once the antibi­otic washed away, the per­sis­ters woke up, and before they had time to restore their pop­u­la­tion the researchers hit them with the antibi­otic again. Four rounds of antibi­otic treat­ments com­pletely erad­i­cated the per­sis­ters in a test tube.

"This is the first time, we think, that pulse-dosing has been pub­lished as a method for erad­i­cating the pop­u­la­tion of a pathogen with antibi­otics that don't kill dor­mant cells," Lewis said. "The trick to doing this is to allow the dor­mant cells to wake up.

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Once again, research results finding that some daily physical activity (here 30 minutes 6 days a week) is linked to a lower risk of death (here 40% lower risk from any cause for elderly men).

The researchers said the increased physical activity levels was as good for health as giving up smoking, and the men who regularly engaged in moderate to vigorous activity lived on average 5 years longer then sedentary men. In this study the men had been observed over a 12 year period.

From Science Daily: Half hour of physical activity 6 days a week linked to 40 percent lower risk of early death

Thirty minutes of physical activity -- irrespective of its intensity -- six days a week is linked to a 40 percent lower risk of death from any cause among elderly men, finds new research. Boosting physical activity levels in this age group seems to be as good for health as giving up smoking, the findings suggest.

The researchers base their findings on people taking part in the Oslo Study, which invited almost 26,000 men born between 1923 and 1932 for a health check in 1972-3 (Oslo I).Some 15,000 agreed....These were categorised as sedentary (watching TV/reading); light (walking or cycling, including to and from work for at least 4 hours a week); moderate (formal exercise, sporting activities, heavy gardening for at least 4 hours a week); and vigorous (hard training or competitive sports several times a week).

Some 6000 of the surviving men repeated the process in 2000 (Oslo II) and were monitored for almost 12 years to see if physical activity level over time was associated with a lowered risk of death from cardiovascular disease, or any cause, and if its impact were equivalent to quitting smoking.During the monitoring period, 2154 out of the 5738 men who had gone through both health checks died.

The analysis indicated that less than an hour a week of light physical activity was not associated with any meaningful reduction in risk of death from any cause. But more than an hour was linked to a 32% to 56% lower risk.

Less than an hour of vigorous physical activity, on the other hand, was linked to a reduction in risk of between 23% and 37% for cardiovascular disease and death from any cause.The more time spent doing vigorous exercise the lower the risk seemed to be, falling by between 36% and 49%.And men who regularly engaged in moderate to vigorous physical activity during their leisure time lived five years longer, on average, than those who were classified as sedentary.

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Interesting, but very preliminary observational research, and there could be various explanations for the results suggesting that the microbiome (community of microbes) of a toddler's gut may influence their behavior. The researchers did not think these differences were diet related, but they had not studied the diet in depth. From Science Daily:

Toddler temperament could be influenced by different types of gut bacteria

The microbiome of a toddler's gut may influence their behavior, a new study suggests. Researchers from The Ohio State University studied microbes from the gastrointestinal tracts of children between the age of 18 and 27 months, and found that the abundance and diversity of certain bacterial species appear to impact behavior, particularly among boys. The correlation exists even after the scientists factored in history of breastfeeding, diet and the method of childbirth -- all of which are known to influence the type of microbes that populate a child's gut. 

Christian and study co-author, microbiologist Michael Bailey, PhD, studied stool samples from 77 girls and boys, and found that children with the most genetically diverse types of gut bacteria more frequently exhibited behaviors related with positive mood, curiosity, sociability and impulsivity. In boys only, researchers reported that extroverted personality traits were associated with the abundances of microbes from the Rikenellaceae and Ruminococcaceaefamilies and Dialister and Parabacteroides genera.

"There is definitely communication between bacteria in the gut and the brain, but we don't know which one starts the conversation," said Dr. Bailey...Overall, associations of temperament with the gut microbiome in girls were fewer and less consistent than boys. However, in girls, behaviors like self-restraint, cuddliness and focused attention were associated with a lower diversity of gut bacteria, while girls with an abundance of Rikenellaceae appeared to experience more fear than girls with a more balanced diversity of microbes.

To identify correlations between gut bacteria and temperament, researchers asked mothers to assess kid's behavior using a questionnaire which measures 18 different traits that feed into three composite scales of emotional reactivity: Negative Affect, Surgency/Extraversion and Effortful Control. Scientists looked at the different genetic types and relative quantity of bacteria found in the toddler's stool samples along with their diets.

Similar to other child behavior studies, researchers separated their findings by gender to analyze temperament. Overall, the study found few differences in the abundance and types of gut microbiota between girls and boys.Both researchers say that parents shouldn't try to change their child's gut microbiome just yet. Scientists still don't know what a healthy combination looks like, or what might influence its development.

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People are correctly raising the issue of whether the positive results (less diabetic nerve pain in type 2 diabetics) are due to the weight loss or to the vegan diet (which caused the quick weight loss)? I suspect it's the average 15 pound weight loss, which lowers inflammation and improves blood flow to the feet. And substituting whole plant-based foods (fruits, vegetables, whole grains, etc) for unhealthy highly processed foods has many health benefits, including controlling blood sugar. They all took B12 supplements because: B12 is found naturally only in animal products, so it's lacking in vegan diets; the diabetic medicine metformin lowers B12 levels; and a deficiency in vitamin B12 can actually cause nerve damage. Bottom line which applies to both diabetics and non-diabetics: some weight loss is good (if overweight), as is increasing beans, nuts, whole grains, vegetables, fruit and plant-based oils in the diet. From Medical Xpress:

Vegan diet might ease diabetic nerve pain

A vegan diet might help people with diabetes-related nerve damage shed weight and find some pain relief, a small pilot study suggests. Vegan diets are free of all animal products, including eggs and dairy. Instead, people get their protein, fat and all other nutrients from foods such as beans, nuts, whole grains, vegetables, fruit and plant-based oils.

In the new study, researchers tested whether a vegan diet could help people with type 2 diabetes and painful nerve damage in their feet or hands. The investigators found that over 20 weeks, the 17 people they assigned to the diet lost an average of 15 pounds. At the same time, blood flow to their feet improved and their pain eased up.

But it's not clear that you have to go vegan to do that. "It's hard to say that it's this particular diet, itself," said Dr. Maria Pena, an endocrinologist and weight-management specialist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City..... Losing extra fat can decrease inflammation in the body, and improve a person's mobility—both of which could help ease diabetic nerve pain, she explained. Plus, Pena said, better blood sugar control is key to reducing diabetic nerve pain—and the vegan dieters in this study did rein their sugar levels in. That shows the all-plant diet had benefits, according to Pena. But, she said, any diet that encourages weight loss and replaces processed foods with healthy "whole" foods might do the same.

About half of all people with diabetes eventually develop nerve damage because of chronically high blood sugar levels, according to the U.S. National Institutes of Health.The nerve damage—known as neuropathy—can occur anywhere, but most often affects the feet and legs. It can trigger sharp pain, burning sensations, tingling or sensitivity to even a light touch; it also makes people susceptible to serious foot problems, including ulcers and infections.

For the study, Wells and her colleagues recruited 34 adults with type 2 diabetes and painful neuropathy. They randomly assigned half to follow a vegan diet and take a vitamin B12 supplement; the rest took the supplement but stuck with their normal diets. The dieters were told to limit themselves to 20 to 30 grams of fat per day, and to load up on "low GI" foods, which are foods that do not cause a large surge in blood sugar.Breakfast might include oatmeal with raisins, Wells said, while dinner could be lentil stew, or a vegetable stir-fry with rice. After about five months, the vegan group had lost 15 pounds, on average, versus about 1 pound in the comparison group. They also reported bigger improvements on a standard pain-rating survey.

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Low levels of vitamin D are associated with low levels of testosterone in healthy middle-aged men. Note that hypovitaminosis D means low levels of vitamin D in the blood, defined by a lab test as "25-hydroxyvitamin D level below 30.0 ng/L. Interestingly, being overweight also seems to lower the testosterone level, and losing weight raises the level, and supplementing with vitamin D may raise the testosterone level in those with low levels (the German study mentioned in the article). And research with mice suggests that there is something about testosterone synthesis that needs vitamin D. From Medscape:

Low Vitamin D Tied to Testosterone Dip in Healthy Men

Low levels of vitamin D are significantly and independently associated with low levels of testosterone in otherwise healthy middle-aged men, according to a study presented at the American Urological Association 2015 Annual Meeting in New Orleans. 

In this new analysis of data from of the World Trade Center CHEST program, blood samples from 824 men were analyzed for various parameters, such as 25-hydroxyvitamin D and total testosterone. Hypovitaminosis D was defined as a 25-hydroxyvitamin D level below 30.0 ng/L.

Level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were insufficient in 68% of the samples....Total testosterone was higher in men with normal levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D than in men with lower levels...."subjects with hypovitaminosis D still had significantly lower total testosterone than those with normal total testosterone (P = .019)," Dr McLaughlin and her colleagues report. When levels of 25-hydroxyvitamin D were lower, body mass index was higher than when levels were normal (30.8 vs 29.12 kg/m²; P < .001), waist circumference was greater (41.3 vs 39.8 inches; P < .001), and lipid profiles were less favorable.

In previous studies, testosterone levels were shown to be lower in mice who had the vitamin D receptor genetically deleted, said Dr McLaughlin."This suggests that there is something about testosterone synthesis that needs vitamin D," she explained.

In a small German study of healthy overweight men with a low baseline level of 25-hydroxyvitamin D and testosterone levels at the lower end of the reference range, there was a significant increase in total testosterone levels after 12 months of vitamin D 3000 IU daily (Horm Metab Res. 2011;43:223-225)...the German study was primarily a weight-loss study, and weight loss in and of itself causes increases in testosterone."We see that in patients who undergo bariatric surgery to remove visceral fat," he explained. "Once the weight loss has taken place, their testosterone levels normalize independent of anything else."

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New research finds much lower rates of endometrial cancer in women eating a Mediterranean diet. This means: fruits, vegetables, legumes, whole grains, seeds, nuts, fish, olive oil, little meat or dairy products, and moderate alcohol.

They use the term "womb cancer" in the article, but the medical term is endometrial cancer (or can be called uterine cancer). Other risk factors for endometrial cancer are being older (post-menopausal), being overweight, and taking estrogen-alone hormone replacement therapy.

From Science Daily: Eating a Mediterranean diet could cut womb cancer risk

Women who eat a Mediterranean diet could cut their risk of womb cancer (endometrial cancer) by more than half (57 per cent), according to a study published today (Wednesday) in the British Journal of Cancer. The Italian researchers looked at the diets of over 5,000 Italian women to see how closely they stuck to a Mediterranean diet and whether they went on to develop womb cancer.

The team broke the Mediterranean diet down into nine different components and measured how closely women stuck to them. The diet includes eating lots of vegetables, fruits and nuts, pulses (legumes), cereals and potatoes, fish, monounsaturated fats but little meat, milk and other dairy products and moderate alcohol intake.

Researchers found that women who adhered to the Mediterranean diet most closely by eating between seven and nine of the beneficial food groups lowered their risk of womb cancer by more than half (57 per cent).Those who stuck to six elements of the diet's components reduced their risk of womb cancer by 46 per cent and those who stuck to five reduced their risk by a third (34 per cent). But those women whose diet included fewer than five of the components did not lower their risk of womb cancer significantly.

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Another good reason to breastfeed. Exposure to pollutants like nitrogen dioxide and airborne particles can cause negative effects on motor and mental development in infants, but a new study says those effects are countered in babies who are breast-fed for at least 4 months by their mothers. Researchers in Spain began monitoring rural, pregnant women in 2006 and analyzed samples from 638 women and their infants at 15 months. They reported that babies who are breast-fed did not suffer from the potentially harmful developmental impact of PM2.5 (pollution particle matter) and NO2 (nitrogen dioxide). From Science Daily:

Breastfeeding protects against environmental pollution

Living in a city with a high level of vehicle traffic or close to a steel works means living with two intense sources of environmental pollution. However, a study conducted by the UPV/EHU researcher Aitana Lertxundi indicates that the harmful effect of PM2.5 pollution particle matter and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) disappears in breastfed babies during the first four months of life. According to the results of the research, breastfeeding plays a protective role in the presence of these two atmospheric pollutants.

Lertxundi's study focusses on the repercussions on motor and mental development during the first years of life caused by exposure to the PM2.5 and NO2 atmospheric pollutants .... "In the fetal phase the central nervous system is being formed and lacks sufficient detoxification mechanisms to eliminate the toxins that build up," pointed out Aitana Lertxundi.

The PM2.5 particles measure less than 2.5 micra, in other words, they are four times thinner that a single hair and are suspended in the air. As they are so small they can easily penetrate the body and as they weigh so little they can spread without any difficulty through the air and can move far away from the initial emission source. The composition of these neurotoxic particles depends on the emission sources in the area. The INMA Gipuzkoa area under study has a high presence of neurotoxic particle matter made up of lead, arsenic and manganese from industrial activity and traffic. In comparison with urban averages where the main source of pollution is traffic, the concentration is lower.

One result of the study is that the existence of an inverse relationship has been detected between exposure to pollution particle matter and the motor development of babies. In this respect, the researcher highlights the fact that "these indices display an alteration with respect to the average and, even if they are not worrying, they are significant in that they reveal the relationship existing between air quality and motor development." The analysis of the data also shows that neither the PM2.5 particle matter nor the NO2 exert a harmful effect on babies breastfed on mother's milk for at least four months.

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This study, like previous research, found an association between increased dietary fiber intake (specifically from cereal and vegetable fiber) and a reduced risk of developing type 2 diabetes. However, they did not find this link with fruit fiber, and also if the person was obese. From Medical Xpress;

Study adds to evidence that increasing dietary fiber reduces the risk of developing diabetes

New research published today in Diabetologia (the journal of the European Association for the Study of Diabetes) indicates that consuming greater quantities of dietary fiber reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes. In this article the authors evaluated the associations between total fiber as well as fiber from cereal, fruit, and vegetable sources, and new-onset type 2 diabetes in a large European cohort across eight countries, in the EPIC-InterAct Study.

The authors divided the study participants into four equally sized groups from lowest to highest fiber intake, and assessed their risk of developing type 2 diabetes over an average of 11 years' follow-up.They found that participants with the highest total fiber intake (more than 26 g/day) had an 18% lower risk of developing diabetes compared to those with the lowest total fiber intake (less than 19 g/day), after adjusting for the effect of other lifestyle and dietary factors. When the results were adjusted for body mass index (BMI) as a marker of obesity, higher total fiber intake was found to be no longer associated with a lower risk of developing diabetes, suggesting that the beneficial association with fiber intake may be mediated at least in part by BMI.

When the authors evaluated the different fiber sources, they found that cereal fiber had the strongest inverse association: those with the highest levels of cereal and vegetable fiber consumption had a 19% and 16% lower risk of developing diabetes respectively, compared with those with the lowest consumption of these types of fiber. Again, these associations disappeared when the results were adjusted for BMI. By contrast, fruit fiber was not associated with a reduction in diabetes risk. Cereals accounted for 38% of the total fiber intake, and were the main source of fiber in all the countries involved in the study (with the exception of France where vegetables were the main source).

The authors also undertook a meta-analysis, where they pooled the data from this EPIC-InterAct study with those from 18 other independent studies (eight in the United States, four in Europe, three in Australia, and three in Asia). The meta-analysis included over 41,000 new-onset cases of type 2 diabetes and found that the risk of diabetes fell by 9% for each 10 g/day increase in total fiber intake, and by 25% for each 10 g/day increase in cereal fiber intake. They did not find a statistically significant relationship between increasing either fruit or vegetable fiber and reducing diabetes risk.