NephroPal: Nutrigenomics and Hypertension

NephroPal: Nutrigenomics and Hypertension

Celiac Disease: Eating Away at You?

The immune system learns to recognize the antigens from the body’s own cells as “self” and also to tolerate the many “nonself” tags on beneficial intestinal microbes and food particles. But in some people, the immune cells misread the antigens attached to HLA, mistaking, say, pollen for a cold virus or gluten for a toxin. Then they send out a faulty danger signal that makes their body’s own cells look suspicious, summoning other immune cells to attack the body’s tissue.

Continue reading "Eating Away at You"...

Dear Richard Dawkins

During the early part of my adult life, I was convinced that there was meaning to life, a higher power whose existence would reveal the meaning of life. Like most Americans, my search for meaning began with Christianity. Others were finding meaning at church, why not me? It soon became apparent that while some had found the meaning to life within the secure tenants of faith, it seemed I would not be one of those. Next in line was Nature. A few trips to the backcountry and I was convinced that finding the meaning to life was achieved by worshipping Nature! Well, that ended with too many bowls of granola and too many hippie festivals. Although I did learn that many of the hippies I met were studying Eastern Religions. Well, those religions had no more answers than the first religion, they were just different wrappings on the same old empty box!

Other attempts have included: extreme exercise, transcendental meditation, academic aspirations, cult worship, mathematical theorems, invocations of magick, etc. etc. Yet, not of these lived up to it's reputation, and I was always left feeling exactly the same as when I had started my journey.

Life continued along as it does, and I soon found myself taking a biology course at the local community college, never dreaming that this one little decision, would ultimately lead me right into the meaning of life! As a matter of study, we covered the usual introductory topics such as cell structure, genetics, heredity, etc. I discovered that I really liked biology, and began to read as much as possible. One of the books I read along the way was "The Selfish Gene".

Your book changed my view of everything: life, biology, the universe, science, religion, even parental love of a child. I began to see the truth for the very first time: that the answer to the age old question as to the meaning of life was not to be found. Humans are looking for something that is not there. By reading your book, I came to realize that there is no "Meaning of Life". No "Higher Purpose". No "Almighty Creator". We humans are quite simply the end product of millions of years of evolution. Nothing more than small ripple in an endless stream of genetic undercurrents. One skirmish in a timeless battle of molecular tug-of-war! To think that there is any more to life than that is simply mental fidgeting.

I was free of the burden of meaning for the first time. I could see the world clearly for what it was. My search was over, but another was beginning. I realized that without a so-called "Purpose In Life", I was free to choose whatever I wanted that purpose to be. Being the simple assemblage of reproducing genetic molecules that I am, it was now clear that I could choose any 'purpose' I wanted.

With all this in mind, it seems that the only way for living beings to achieve immortality, is to focus all our efforts on dispersing our DNA into the universe like willows seeds being released into the wind. Perhaps the Christians are somewhat correct about "The Rapture'... that "souls" will be lifted up into heaven! We need to immediately concentrate our collective intelligence on determining how to preserve the immortal DNA molecule on a trip across the solar system: encased in steel and glass? How would the DNA be released once a suitable environment was found? Rust via water? Whose DNA would be selected to make the journey? Maybe DNA is simply trying to reach the far ends of the universe... and we are simply the 'survival machines' destined to help them achieve this goal!

Would viral DNA/RNA be included in these 'space capsules'? By our current understanding of the definition of life, viruses don't make the cut. In other words, they do not meet the criteria that we use to define a living organism. Yet, their actions seem rather "life-like", and they rely on living things to multiply and thrive. In fact, research has shown that endogenous retro-viral DNA is directly responsible for the creation of the human placenta... which, as we know, is the key to helping humans develop large thinking brains!!

So, in closing, I would just like to say thanks you for shedding light on so many of my questions, and for inspiring many more.

Neurons prove we are all one...

Early effects of gliadin on enterocyte intracellular signalling involved in intestinal barrier function

"Despite the progress made in understanding the immunological aspects of the pathogenesis of coeliac disease (CD), the early steps that allow gliadin to cross the intestinal barrier are still largely unknown. The aim of this study was to establish whether gliadin activates a zonulin dependent enterocyte intracellular signalling pathway(s) leading to increased intestinal permeability."

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Endogenous retroviruses and the placenta

Heidmann believes that without endogenous retroviruses mammals might never have developed a placenta, which protects the fetus and gives it time to mature, which eventually led to live birth, one of the hallmarks of human evolutionary success over birds, reptiles, and fish. Eggs cannot eliminate waste or draw the maternal nutrients required to develop the large brains that have made mammals so versatile. “These viruses made those changes possible. It is quite possible that, without them, human beings would still be laying eggs.”

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One man's meat is another man's poison

Cf. [Lucretius De Rerum Natura iv. 637] quod ali cibus est aliis fuat acre venenum, what is food to one person may be bitter poison to others.

More here...

Meat may be the reason humans outlive apes

"Genetic changes that apparently allow humans to live longer than any other primate may be rooted in a more carnivorous diet."

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The Vegetarian Myth

"The truth is that agriculture is the most destructive thing humans have done to the planet, and more of the same won’t save us. The truth is that agriculture requires the wholesale destruction of entire ecosystems. The truth is also that life isn’t possible without death, that no matter what you eat, someone has to die to feed you."

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The Dark Side of Wheat

"Celiac disease reflects back to us how profoundly our diet has diverged from what was until only recently a grain free diet, and even more recently, a wheat free one. We are so profoundly distanced from that dramatic Neolithic transition in cultural time that 'missing is any sense that anything is missing.' The body on the other hand can not help but to remember a time when cereal grains were alien to the diet, because in biological time it was only moments ago."

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Reducing time to diagnosis

"We are giving back precious minutes to doctors so they can make informed and accurate decisions right at the time they need them most to save lives."

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Which symbol would you rather be?

Here is a great blog from The Smaltz on how the Food Wheel (trim, active and rolling) became the Food Pyramid (bottom heavy and stationary):

Continue reading "Which symbol would you rather be?"...

Sleeping with the Devil?

"The American Academy of Family Physicians today announced the Consumer Alliance, a new corporate partnership program, with its first alliance partner, The Coca-Cola Company."

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Atheism

Atheism has been systematically scapegoated and demonized. The idea that anyone can deny the existence of a god and escape a horrible fate is an anathema to most fundamentalists. I predict that in the near future, zealots will use non-believer hysteria as a pretext to set up an nation-wide religious apparatus.

(A hat tip to W.S. Burroughs)

In The Beginning...

Soon, scientists will be able to mimic the origin of life in the laboratory, as well as modify and possibly improve genetic processes. This will basically refute the theory of intelligent design, and force the creationists to redraft their dogma. In addition, fundamentalists will have to rewrite all their religious texts, replacing the word 'creator' with 'evolutionary biologists'. I don't think they will like that very much.

Darwin's Blunder

"Darwin may not have had the raw mental processing power of an Einstein or a Newton, but he had 'an almost superhuman ability to see things that other people did not notice.'"

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Jesus Venn Diagram

Zonulin is overexpressed in the intestinal mucosa of subjects with celiac disease

"Quantitative gene expression revealed that zonulin is overexpressed in the intestinal mucosa of subjects with celiac disease. To our knowledge, this is the initial example of a molecule that exerts a biological activity in its precursor form that is distinct from the function of its mature form. Our results therefore characterize zonulin as a previously undescribed ligand that engages a key signalosome involved in the pathogenesis of human immune-mediated diseases that can be targeted for therapeutic interventions."

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Schizophrenia and Gluten

A drastic reduction, if not full remission, of schizophrenic symptoms after initiation of gluten withdrawal has been noted in a variety of studies.

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Type 1 diabetes linked to immune response to wheat

Scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa have discovered what may be an important clue to the cause of type 1 diabetes. Dr. Fraser Scott and his team tested 42 people with type 1 diabetes and found that nearly half had an abnormal immune response to wheat proteins. The study is published in the August 2009 issue of the journal Diabetes.Scientists at the Ottawa Hospital Research Institute and the University of Ottawa have discovered what may be an important clue to the cause of type 1 diabetes. Dr. Fraser Scott and his team tested 42 people with type 1 diabetes and found that nearly half had an abnormal immune response to wheat proteins. The study is published in the August 2009 issue of the journal Diabetes.

Continue reading "Type 1 diabetes linked to immune response to wheat"...