Use of Ayurveda Herb in PD Treatment

In 2018 the Deccan Chronicle published an article entitled: Kottayam: Neuroscientist Sees Ayurveda Cure. The article featured an interview with Dr. Ramachandran, director of the Center for Brain and Cognition in Tamil Nadu, India, and also a distinguished professor with the neuroscience program and department of psychology at the University of California, San Diago. Dr. Ramachandran was impressed by clinical trials conducted with regard to the ayurvedic drug “macuna pruriensis” which is a variety of bean rich L-dopa. Macuna pruriensis was shown in trials to be more effective than allopathic drug placebo and synthetic L- dopa used to treat Parkinson’s disease. Ramachandran is now planning to collaborate with other Indian doctors (including Dr. A.V. Sreenivasan of Chennai) in popularizing ayurvedic drugs that are effective and have fewer side effects. Dr. Ramachanran said that the disease (PD) must have been known to ancient Indian physicians who treated it with the ayurvedic herb.

Source: Kottayam: Neuroscientist sees Ayurveda cure

2020 Clinical Trial: Mannitol for PD

The NIH Clinical Trial published information on a study provided by Arkadir David of the Hadassah Medical Organization. The study took 60 participants and ran a phase II single center, randomized, double blind and placebo controlled study assessing the safety, tolerability, and effects of progressively increased dose of oral mannitol in PD. The study began in November 2018 and will end in December 2020. There were 60 Participants of both genders and aged 40 to 75 years. The study assessed the safety of mannitol by the number of treatment-related adverse events and significant changes in vital signs. Tolerability was tested by the level of discomfort. Other changes in participants that were monitored included changes in constipation assessment; Montreal Cognitive Assessment; Brief Smell Identification; change in levodopa-equivalent dose units; change in non-motor symptoms of PD scale and the change in the ratio of total-to-proteinase K-resistant a-syn in red blood cells measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Results of this study have not yet been posted.

Source: Safety, Tolerability and Effects of Mannitol in Parkinson’s Disease – Full Text View – ClinicalTrials.gov

 

Megadose Vitamin C – As An Antiviral Treatment

A study published by the NIH Clinical Trials looked at vitamin C infusion as a possible treatment for severe COVID-infected pneumonia. The study was sponsored by ZhiYong Peng of the Zhongnan Hospital. The study hypothesized that vitamin C infusion could improve the prognosis of SARI (Severe acute respiratory infection)patients. 12g vitamin C was infused in the experimental group twice a day for 7 days by the infusion pump with a speed of 12ml/h. Early clinical studies have shown that vitamin C can effectively prevent the cytokine surge caused by sepsis, and neutrophils accumulation in the lungs destroying alveolar capillaries. In addition, vitamin C can help to eliminate alveolar fluid by preventing the activation and accumulation of neutrophils, and reducing alveolar epithelial water channel damage. At the same time, vitamin C can prevent the formation of neutrophil extracellular traps and shorten the duration of the common cold. In a controlled but non-randomized trial, 85% of the 252 students treated experienced a reduction in symptoms in the high-dose vitamin C group (1g / h at the beginning of symptoms for 6h, followed by 3 * 1g / day). Among patients with sepsis and ARDS, patients in the high-dose vitamin group did not show a better prognosis and other clinical outcomes.

Source: Vitamin C Infusion for the Treatment of Severe 2019-nCoV Infected Pneumonia

 

 

All About Xylitol

Xylitol is a chemical compound and can be classified as a polyalcohol and sugar alcohol, specifically alditol. Xylitol is used as a food additive, often replacing sugar in foods. It occurs in several fruits and humans and animals naturally make trace amounts during the metabolism of carbohydrates. Xylitol is also produced commercially by fermentation of discarded biomass. Xylitol is water-soluble and like most sugar alcohols, xylitol is achiral. Xylitol has negligible effects on blood sugar because it is metabolized independently of insulin. There are no serious health risks for normal consumption. Increased xylitol consumption can increase oxalate, calcium, and phosphate excretion in urine. About 50% of eaten xylitol is not absorbed by the intestines in humans. Instead, 50–75% of this amount is fermented by gut bacteria to short-chain organic acids and gases. The liver metabolizes 50% of absorbed xylitol. The main metabolic route in humans is: in cytoplasm, nonspecific NAD-dependent dehydrogenase (polyol dehydrogenase) transforms xylitol to D-xylulose. Specific xylulokinase phosphorylates it to D-xylulose-5-phosphate. This then goes to pentose phosphate pathway for further processing.

Source: Xylitol – Wikipedia

Vitamin D | Linus Pauling Institute | Oregon State University

n a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 112 PD patients (mean age, 72 years) on standard PD treatment were supplemented with 1,200 IU/day of vitamin D or a placebo for 12 months. Vitamin D supplementation nearly doubled serum 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentration (from mean of 22.5 ng/mL to 41.7 ng/mL) in supplemented subjects and limited the progression of PD, as indicated by a greater proportion of patients who showed no worsening (as assessed by the Hoehn and Yahr stage and the United Parkinson Disease Rating Scale part II) in the supplemented group compared to the placebo group (243). It is not known whether vitamin D insufficiency has a role in the pathogenesis of the disease, but the repletion of vitamin D may provide health benefits that go beyond the prevention and/or the treatment of PD. For example, vitamin D deficiency may contribute to the increased risk of osteoporosis and bone fracture in individuals with neurologic disorders, including PD and multiple sclerosis (244-246). Interestingly, sunlight exposure was found to be associated with improved vitamin D status, higher bone mineral density of the second metacarpal bone, and lower incidence of hip fracture in a prospective study conducted in 324 elderly people with PD (247).

Source: Vitamin D | Linus Pauling Institute | Oregon State University

Benefits of Xylitol

Healthline published an article by Kris Gunnars, BSc. covering all aspects of xylitol. Xylitol looks and tastes like sugar but has fewer calories and doesn’t raise blood sugar levels. Several studies suggest that it has various important benefits. Xylitol is a sugar alcohol, found in small amounts in many fruits and vegetables and is therefore considered natural. Humans even produce small quantities of it via normal metabolism.  it doesn’t contain any vitamins, minerals, or protein. Unlike sugar, xylitol has negligible effects on blood sugar and insulin levels. Animal studies indicate impressive benefits for metabolic health. Xylitol can improve dental health, reduce ear and yeast infections, and has other potential health benefits. Some studies suggest xylitol may be able to protect against the effects of aging by increasing collagen production; protect against osteoporosis and feed the friendly bacteria in the gut acting as a soluble fiber and improving digestive health. Xylitol is toxic for dogs but for humans, it may cause digestive upset but is otherwise well tolerated.

Source: Xylitol: Everything You Need to Know

Sleep Master Class by Dr. Mark Hyman

Mark Hyman offers a 8-part Sleep Master Class to help you reclaim your sleep and support your immune system. In the course he walks you through the root causes of poor sleep and how to take practical steps to regain sleep and achieve better health. quality sleep can keep you lean, keep your blood sugar balance, keep you happy and even improve your sex drive. Sleep challenges have been associated with heart disease, diabetes, insulin resistance, weight gain, depression, anxiety, brain fog, and even neurological problems like Alzheimer’s. On the course, five experts discuss how we are sabotaging our sleep and how poor sleep can make us grumpy, stressed, and even sick. Learn how, what and when you eat, your light exposure, hormones, gut health, nutrient status, exposure to toxins, and other factors can affect your quality of sleep. Most importantly the course covers steps you can take to optimize your sleep.

Source: Sleep Course

All About mTOR, mTOR Inhibitors and mTOR Activators

SelfHacked published an article by Puya Yazdi, MD in September 2020 about mTOR and natural mTOR inhibitors and activators. mTOR responds to signals from nutrients, growth factors and cellular energy status and controls cell growth and proliferation based on regulating protein syntheses. mTOR is one of those things that’s good to have cycled. Sometimes we want to increase it to grow muscle and improve certain aspects of cognition, while the rest of the time we want to have low levels to increase longevity, decrease the risk of cancer, and reduce inflammation. Too much mTOR activation is associated with many diseases including neurodegeneration. There are mTOR inhibitors mainly used as immunosuppressants to prevent transplant rejection and in anticancer therapy and strategies such as ketogenic diets. mTOR activators include a variety of amino acids and the hormone insulin as well as proteins, excess carbs, Orexin, and more. For health and longevity, we’d want systemic mTOR levels to be low most of the time, with occasional periods of activation. Research suggests it’s preferable to have mTOR more active in your brain and muscles rather than in your fat cells and liver. Exercise is ideal because it does exactly this.

Source: All About mTOR + Natural mTOR Inhibitors & Activators – SelfHacked

Cold/Hot Exposure

סקירת מחקר מאלפת בהידרותראפיה,
ספויילר – שהייה במים קרים משפרת מנעד רחב של מדדים פיזיולוגים ויעילה במגוון מצבים רפואיים,
בפרט שעה של שהייה במים ב14 מעלות צלזיוס, מעלה רמות דופמין ונוראדרנלין במאות אחוזים

Scientific Evidence-Based Effects of Hydrotherapy on Various Systems of the Body

Human physiological responses to immersion into water of different temperatures.

New treatments for PD, in trials

direct administration to the brain (that’s new) of GDNF  (also new)

The FDA granted approval of Nourianz to Kyowa Kirin, Inc.

  • A universal feature of Parkinson’s is aggregation, or clumping, of the protein alpha-synuclein in the brains and body cells of people with the disease (similar to the amyloid clumps seen in Alzheimer’s disease). Multiple drug companies are conducting clinical trials to try to prevent or break up synuclein clumps, which scientists believe could stop PD in its tracks.
  • Several potentially disease-modifying therapies continue to advance via “repurposing” — scientifically evaluating drugs approved for various conditions for their benefit in PD. Isradipine (a hypertension drug) and inosine (an antioxidant supplement) are now in Phase III trials. The field also has seen promise in the diabetes drug exenatide and the cancer drug nilotinib.

New meds, in trial