Things I Have Found After Research

“The autoAb panel included anti-IFN-α2, and five anti-nuclear autoAbs (ANAs) (Ro/SS- A, La/SS-B, U1-snRNP, Jo-1, and P1)”

The Inherited Autoinflammatory Syndrome: A Decade of Discovery

Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF)- recurrent attacks of fever with associated serosal inflammation, attacks last 1-3 days and recur between every 10 days and twice per year. Concern is amyloidosis. Use colchicine.

Hyperimmunoglobulinemia D syndrome (HIDS)- rarer, European, attacks last 3-7 days. Headache, abdominal pain, diarrhea, cervical lymphadenopathy, arthritis. High Igg. Anakinra (not colchicine).

TNF Receptor Associated Periodic Fever (TRAPS)- rare, Irish/Scottish, attacks last 1-6 weeks. Sterile peritonitis, pleuritis, arthritis, severe myalgias, migratory lymphedema, conjunctivitis, male hernias, erythematous rashes. Etanercept or Anakinra.

Cryptopyrinopathies (IL1 and IL6):

Familial Cold Autoinflammatory Syndrome (FCAS)- midsouth states, start in childhood and get worse. Pruritic, painful rash from cold exposure. Conjunctivitis, fever, joint symptoms, fatigue and headache. Rarely, hearing loss and amyloidosis. Anakinra.

Muckle-Wells Syndrome (MWS)- Europe, first two decades of life. Attacks triggered by cold, stress, and exercise. Fever, rash, arthralgias, abdominal pain and conjunctivitis. Sometimes deafness, nephropathy, amyloidosis. Anakinra.

Neonatal Onset Multisystem Inflammatory Disease (NOMID)- severe. Fevers, rash, hearing loss, major deforming joint disease, uveitis, chronic meningitis, cerebral atrophy, delayed development, amyloidosis, high death rate. Anakinra, steroids, etanercept, possibly thalidomide, as well as a newly developed humanized anti IL-6 receptor monoclonal antibody.

Cytokines and systemic lupus erythematosus

SLE is an autoimmune rheumatic disease that principally affects women in the childbearing years.1 The prevalence of SLE varies between ethnic groups, being approximately 1:250 among black women, 1:1000 in Chinese women and 1:4300 in white women. SLE affects the joints, skin and blood in over 80% of patients and the kidneys, central nervous system and cardiopulmonary system in 30%–50% of patients. Between 10% and 30% of patients have anticardiolipin antibodies that are associated with arterial and venous thrombosis. The majority of patients demonstrate systemic manifestations, which may include fatigue, malaise, fever, anorexia, nausea and weight loss.

Summary of new theory from Medscape:

Strange dreams serve an important purpose, he says, and help our brains understand day-to-day experiences in a way that enables deeper learning. Humans, he suggests in a recent study, actually expand their brain power in much the same way that artificial intelligence (AI) systems are trained to become smarter.

In fact, scientists are using deep-learning neural networks to train AI systems.

But when an AI system becomes too familiar with data, it can oversimplify its analysis, becoming an "overfitted brain" that assumes what it sees is a perfect representation of what it will encounter in future.

To counter that problem, scientists introduce a degree of chaos and randomization into their data to deepen machine learning and improve the accuracy of AI systems.

“There has been much evidence of the role of sex steroids in immune reactions. The most common factors are listed as follows:

(1) Effects of gonadectomy and hypogonadism

in male and female animals on humoral and cell-mediated immunity;

(2) Effects of estrogen and progesterone on interleukin (IL)-1 production by human monocytes;

(3) Presence of estrogen receptors in lymphoid and thymus cells;

(4) Various effects of the menopause, menarche, pregnancy and menstrual cycle on the severity of symptoms of autoimmune diseases;

(5) Abnormalities of estrogen metabolism during autoimmune diseases.”

“Sex hormones, such as estrogen and progesterone, can interact with multiple target sites, which by themselves can influence immune responses… These hormones affect the function of T cells, natural killer cells, B cells or macrophages”

“estrogens also decrease T-cell and natural killer cell responses. For example, women taking oral contraceptives exhibit a signifi- cantly lower T-cell proliferation than women not taking oral contraceptives”

“Progesterone resulted in only an increased leukocyte and T-cell concentration in the human endometrium. In the main, progesterone seems to suppress the immune system. For example, in vitro, it down-regulates T-cell proliferation in responding to mitogens, whereas in vivo, progesterone administration produced an increase in CD8+ T-cells”

“The predominance of autoimmune diseases among women suggests that estrogen and/or progesterone may modulate immune susceptibility.”

“To date, no explanation for the high prevalence of SLE in women has been formulated. Variations of the disease’s severity have been observed during the menstrual cycle. Female SLE patients have also reported a significant exacerbation of SLE during the luteal phase.”

“Emerging findings link COVID-19 to cognitive deficits, particularly attention, executive function, and memory. Psychiatric symptoms occur at high rates in COVID-19 survivors, including anxiety, depression, fatigue, sleep disruption, and to a lesser extent posttraumatic stress. Symptoms appear to endure, and severity of acute illness is not directly predictive of severity of cognitive or mental health issues.”

“performance in the MoCA [cognitive] test was impaired in 18 of 26 COVID-19 patients tested. This indicates that besides cranial nerve affection and other neurological symptoms that were reported previously, cognitive deficits are present in many COVID-19 patients requiring inpatient treatment. With an average score of 21.8/30, the MoCA indicates mild to moderate cognitive impairment in our cohort.”

“the orientation and language abilities on the MoCA in COVID-19 patients were in the range of healthy subjects, whereas memory and executive items were most severely affected, which makes general deterioration unlikely. The… battery corroborates the decline in memory and executive functions but not in general attention or processing speed. This specific pattern can hardly be explained by non-specific factors like fatigue”

“4/13 scans showed microembolic subacute infarcts, which is in line with a previous imaging series in COVID-19 patients”

“Together with our pathological sample that indicates innate immune activation, a systemic cytokine release or cytokine-related hyperinflammation may be a valid explanation for cortical dysfunction, leading to cerebral hypometabolism and cognitive impairment”

Key Driver of Fish Oil's Antidepressant Effects Revealed

Original Study: Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids protect against inflammation through production of LOX and CYP450 lipid mediators: relevance for major depression and for human hippocampal neurogenesis

“This ability of PUFAs [omega 3 polyunsaturated fatty acids] to protect neurones from the detrimental effects of inflammation is likely to be relevant for their antidepressant action, at least in the sub-group of patients with major depression characterised by immune dysregulation… characterised by an increase in the production of inflammatory cytokines”

“concentrations of EPA and DHA (both 10 µM), used in this study and in our previous in vitro studies… likely cannot be achieved with consumption of food rich in ω-3 PUFAs, but rather require therapeutic PUFAs supplements.”

“treatment with these metabolites prevented cytokines-induced reduction in neurogenesis and apoptosis… some evidence that higher levels of these metabolites were correlated with less severe depressive symptoms”

“treating human hippocampal cells with EPA or DHA before exposing them to cytokines prevented increased cell death and decreased neurogenesis… these effects were mediated by the formation of several key lipid mediators produced by EPA and DHA”

Which patients with systemic lupus erythematosus in remission can withdraw low dose steroids? Results from a single inception cohort study

Lupus Foundation of America Summary

“among the [glucocorticoid] withdrawal group, the rate of flares was significantly higher in serologically active clinically quiescent (SACQ) patients… duration of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) therapy and ≥5 year remission at withdrawal were protective factors, while a SACQ disease and history of lupus nephritis increased the risk of disease flare.”

Cervical transcutaneous vagal nerve stimulation (ctVNS) improves human cognitive performance under sleep deprivation stress

Medscape Summary

“Two groups (active or sham stimulation) of twenty participants in each group completed 34 h of sustained wakefulness. The ctVNS group performed significantly better on arousal, multi-tasking, and reported significantly lower fatigue ratings compared to sham”

“a middle aged man who presented to us with the complaints of documented body temperature fluctuations since two months followed gradually by hoarseness of voice, sexual dysfunction and syncope.”

“alternating periods of excessive heat and cold intolerance and body sweating which was associated with excessive shivering and documented fluctuations in body temperature throughout the day since past two months”

“hormone profile revealed pan-hypopituitarism and elevated titre of anti-TPO antibodies”

“treated with prednisolone along with hormone replacement. Rapid response within 30 days was observed in the form of subsidence of temperature fluctuations, improvement in general well being, sexual function”

Continuation of Antidepressants vs Sequential Psychological Interventions to Prevent Relapse in Depression: An Individual Participant Data Meta-analysis

Depression relapse in patients in depression remission was equivalent in patients who continued antidepressants as it was in patients who tapered off of antidepressants before or while undergoing preventive cognitive therapy or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy.

“Individual data from 714 participants… that compared preventive cognitive therapy or mindfulness-based cognitive therapy during and/or after antidepressant tapering vs antidepressant monotherapy were available”

“Two-stage random-effects meta-analysis found no significant difference in time to depressive relapse between use of a psychological intervention during tapering of antidepressant medication vs antidepressant therapy alone”

“the sequential delivery of a psychological intervention during and/or after tapering [off of antidepressants] may be an effective relapse prevention strategy instead of long-term use of antidepressants”

No safe level of alcohol consumption for brain health: observational cohort study of 25,378 UK Biobank participants

Medscape Summary

“No safe dose of alcohol for the brain was found. Moderate consumption is associated with more widespread adverse effects on the brain than previously recognised. Individuals who binge drink or with high blood pressure and BMI may be more susceptible.”

“Higher volume of alcohol consumption per week was associated with lower grey matter density almost globally… Widespread negative associations were also found between alcohol consumption and all the white matter integrity measures assessed”

Surprising results- completely counterintuitive.

“Investigators had assumed that IBS symptoms would worsen, fueled by new stresses and pressures related to a nationwide lockdown... Now, the hypothesis has changed... "We think that probably just staying at home in a more relaxed way, and in a more controlled environment, could have improved those symptoms," Stefanolo said in an interview.”

“The proportion of patients with severe IBS dropped from 50% (65 patients) in the prepandemic period to 30% (39 patients) during the lockdown”

“Patients reported improvements in global IBS symptoms, pain, and distention. Stool consistency was also improved... Similar improvements from the prepandemic period were observed in anxiety and somatization scores, as well as in symptoms of fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue.

By contrast, headache and pyrosis and/or regurgitation symptoms increased from the prepandemic period, possibly because of weight gain, according to Dr. Stefanolo who said that about 60% of patients reported weight gain during the lockdown.”