Immunology

Hydrolyzed infant milk formula doesn't protect against allergic or autoimmune disorders, finds a new study. Allergic and autoimmune disease diagnoses have increased in prevalence in many countries and are leading causes of chronic illness among young people. Some studies suggest that early dietary exposures in infancy, such as intact cows' milk protein in the form of infant formula, can increase the risk of these diseases, while others say early exposure is necessary to prevent allergies. Current infant feeding guidelines, including those in North America, Australasia, and Europe, recommend…

Microbirthing, which involves taking a swab from the mother's vagina and wiping this over the baby's mouth, eyes, face and skin shortly after birth by Cesarean section, is a growing fad, but there is no evidence this 'vaginal seeding' does anything positive, according to an editorial in the BMJ. Around one in four babies are born via caesarean section in the UK.  The idea is that vaginal seeding allows a baby born via Cesarean section to come into contact with bacteria from the birth canal. The hope is this may boost their gut bacteria, and reduce risk of conditions such as…

A new editorial warns that newborns may develop infections from exposure to vaginal bacteria, and suggest that encouraging breast feeding and avoiding unnecessary antibiotics may be a much better idea for creating a healthy immune system in infants. The term vaginal seeding, also called microbirthing, describes wiping babies with vaginal fluid after they have been born by Cesarean. The belief is that this boosts poorly-defined beneficial gut microbes that keep our immune systems healthy and so may reduce the risk of developing conditions such as asthma, food allergies, and hay fever in later…

When Ebola hysteria broke out in the United States in 2014, mainstream media got a little crazy. While one person was afflicted, 28,000 people got heart disease with far less fanfare. Meanwhile, the National Institutes of Health engaged in political theater and claimed it couldn't work on Ebola because they lacked the budget. Science 2.0 noted that they had gotten $300 billion while one tiny company strugged to get money for clinical trials - and it's only help was from the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, rather than the NIH. Nonetheless, Congress gave the NIH more money. So American…

In a study of patients entering the hospital for acute stroke, researchers have increased their understanding of an association between certain types of stroke and the presence of the oral bacteria (cnm-positive Streptococcus mutans).  Strokes are characterized as either ischemic strokes, which involve a blockage of one or more blood vessels supplying the brain, or hemorrhagic strokes, in which blood vessels in the brain rupture, causing bleeding. In the single hospital study, researchers at the National Cerebral and Cardiovascular Center in Osaka, Japan, observed stroke patients to gain…

Scientists have identified a genetic mutation responsible for a rare form of inherited hives induced by vibration, also known as vibratory urticaria. Running, hand clapping, towel drying or even taking a bumpy bus ride can cause temporary skin rashes in people with this rare disorder. By studying affected families, researchers discovered how vibration promotes the release of inflammatory chemicals from the immune system's mast cells, causing hives and other allergic symptoms.  Their findings in the New England Journal of Medicine suggest that people with this form of vibratory urticaria…

Cover your coughs in the Carolinas and don't double dip in Denver, because when your team is in the Super Bowl, health can wait. A new paper in the American Journal of Health Economics found cities with teams in the Super Bowl see a rise in flu deaths. That's right, deaths.  Lead author Charles Stoecker of Tulane University School of Public Health along with economists Alan Barreca of Tulane and Nicholas Sanders of Cornell University looked at county-level statistics from 1974-2009. The researchers found having a team in the Super Bowl resulted in an average 18 percent increase in flu…

Raw cow's milk has a higher content of Omega-3 fatty acids than does pasteurized, homogenized or low-fat milk, and epidemiologists are saying this explains why children who consume unpasteurized milk are less likely to develop asthma. That has been the claim of raw milk drinkers, who point to less asthma in Amish communities. Epidemiology is often that technique; find a result, wonder about a cause, and see if two curves match. One of the curves is created using recall of things like diet. Ludwig-Maximilians-Universitaet (LMU) in Munich researchers using the PASTURE birth cohort match the…

Researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine and Veterans Affairs San Diego Healthcare System report data suggesting that e-cigarettes are toxic to human airway cells, suppress immune defenses and alter inflammation, while at the same time boosting bacterial virulence. The mouse study is published January 25 by the Journal of Molecular Medicine. "This study shows that e-cigarette vapor is not benign -- at high doses it can directly kill lung cells, which is frightening," said senior author Laura E. Crotty Alexander, MD, staff physician at the Veterans Affairs San…

A new study shows how dangerous autoimmune responses, seen in diseases such as lupus and multiple sclerosis, might be "dialed down" without compromising the immune system's ability to fight viruses and bacteria.  The new study in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences defines a mechanism at work in an anti-autoimmune drug candidate called ozanimod, currently in advanced phase 3 clinical trials for multiple sclerosis and ulcerative colitis. "The study uses a proof-of-concept tool compound called CYM-5442," said The Scripps Research Institute Professor Hugh Rosen, who led the new…