A major study looking at how our brains age was just released. The Amen Clinics, Google, John Hopkins, UCLA and UCSF collaborated to look at what factors contributed to accelerated aging in humans. Using SPECT scans they evaluated over 100 brain areas in over 60,000 people and compared individuals with different characteristics to estimate how…
Express Subway from Skull to Brain — A number of thrilling discoveries have arisen in recent months from the field of neuroimmunology. First researchers stumbled upon the brain’s lymphatic system despite believing for decades that none existed. Now researchers uncovered a mechanism for immune cells in the bone marrow of the skull to reach the…
It is difficult to go anywhere these days without seeing teens staring down at a smart phone screen. Meanwhile the epidemic of ADD and ADHD type symptoms has everyone up in arms. These researchers asked a simple question, “Could social media use be connected with developing ADHD?” I am not shocked by their findings of…
Have you ever started reading something so deep and so complex that you pause on the second page realizing you already are in over your head? I confess, this article “Advances in Biomarker-Guided Therapy for Pediatric- and Adult-Onset Neuroinflammatory Disorders: Targeting Chemokines/Cytokines” from Frontiers in Immunology did that to me. I am in awe of…
I recently commented on a study linking common childhood viruses (Human Herpes Virus 6 and 7) to Alzheimers disease. In that longer article I mentioned that the medical world is not quite ready to admit that some viral infections may play a part in the development of Alzheimers dementia. This article is another example of…
Functional MD’s like myself often find ourselves in the realm of medical concepts like methylomics, transcriptomics, and genomes when we are researching ways to alleviate our patient’s suffering. In searching for personalized therapy modalities for my patients, I find myself reading the latest research on a variety of issues. One research topic of late has…
Each year hundreds of millions of dollars are being poured into Alzheimer’s disease research and countless families are affected as a loved one begins the apparently irreversible downhill trajectory of this degenerative disease. Lives are being lost to this relentless thief. Are we any closer to discerning this thief’s entry points? Have we gained insight…
Have you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall of some conversation, listening in? Well, researchers are trying to do just that as your sweet little baby’s poop sends messages to his or her developing brain. Research methods over recent decades have allowed scientists to “see” so many more bacteria in our guts…
Functional MD’s tell some odd punch lines, like this one. They talk about their bacterial neighbors of course. Okay, not expecting any belly laughter on this one, but there is truth in this corny joke. My staff at Sanctuary Functional Medicine are used to my bad jokes though. Researchers constantly find new interactions between our…
As many of you are aware, I can be skeptical of the government at times. However in this case I look forward to the research that this government based study may provide in the coming years. The National Institutes of Health are moving forward and enrolling 9 and 10 year olds in a tracking study…