Deadly ‘Climate Change’ Fungus Targeted In Drug Project
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
Dundee University team leading fight against Candida auris, a type of yeast that causes severe illness and spreads easily among hospital and care home patients.
These are the first two paragraphs.
A rapidly growing deadly fungus, thought to have emerged in humans due to climate change, is one of the targets of a £17.9 million drug project.
Candida auris is a type of yeast that can cause severe illness and spreads easily among patients in healthcare facilities. It was first seen in Japan in 2009 and has spread worldwide, with outbreaks in hospitals in the UK, South Africa, India and parts of North and South America.
These are points from the rest of a must-read article.
- The first cases in the UK were recorded in 2014 and numbers have been rising yearly since 2020.
- Found particularly in hospitals and care homes.
- Many infections occur when medical devices such as catheters or ventilators are fitted to patients.
- I’ve had my fill of catheters, when I had my stroke in Hong Kong.
- Immunocompromised people are most at risk.
I may be coeliac, but I tend to believe my immune system is like a platoon of SAS soldiers on steroids. It certainly gave the AstraZeneca viral vector Covid-19 vaccine a good kicking. But it welcomed the second dose, like a long-lost friend.
I asked Google if there was any interaction and got this reply.
While Candida auris is a serious fungal infection, it is not directly linked to celiac disease. However, Candida albicans, another type of yeast, has been implicated in the development or exacerbation of celiac disease through mechanisms like cross-reactivity and molecular mimicry.
I shall act responsibly and hope for the best.
But.
- Research at the University of Padua has shown, that diagnosed coeliacs sticking to their gluten-free diet, don’t get serious doses of Covid-19.
- Research at the University of Nottingham has shown, that diagnosed coeliacs sticking to their gluten-free diet, have a lower cancer rate, than the general population.
- I’ve very rarely had colds, flu and other infection, since my diagnosis as a coeliac and going gluten-free in 1997.
- I’ve never had Covid-19.
A Floridian restauranteur once called me one of the Devil’s children, as I was a coeliac. If that is true, she certainly looks after her own!
I’ve Got Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease
No doctor or anybody else for that matter seems at all bothered.
I did ask Dr. Google, if there was a link between pancolonic diverticular disease and coeliac disease and this paper entitled Prevalance Of Celiac Disease In Subjects With Diverticular Disease Of The Colon was indicated.
This was the conclusion of the researchers.
The results show an inverse relationship between
diverticular disease of the colon and celiac disease. These data
support that the presence of celiac antibodies may have a
preventive role in the development of colon diverticular disease.
The mechanism of the presented finding is still unclear. More
research is needed.
I can accept that conclusion.
Click this link to see what the NHS says about Diverticular Disease and Diverticulitis.
It’s not very helpful, but just a bit frightening.
Could it be, that my strong immune system is protecting me?
I have a few extra thoughts.
Living With Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease
I have now been living with Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease for around six months.
But I don’t feel that much different to say, when I was 18, 50 or 70.
In the mid-1990s, I was diagnosed as a coeliac using the new genetic test, in a couple of days between blood test and letter on the mat. So surely, at fifty, I must have had coeliac antibodies in my blood.
I asked Dr. Google how the standard coeliac test worked and got this reply.
The standard coeliac disease test involves a two-step process: blood tests to detect antibodies, followed by an intestinal biopsy to confirm the diagnosis. The blood test looks for specific antibodies produced when the body reacts to gluten, while the biopsy examines a tissue sample from the small intestine for damage characteristic of coeliac disease.
My excellent now-retired GP, told me, that the antibodies test was usually all that was needed.
So have I had coeliac antibodies in my blood, virtually all my life and have these played a preventive role in the development of colon diverticular disease?
So was I protected from a disease with a long and complicated name, by another disease, I didn’t know that I had?
Using AI To Inveestigate Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease
I have been impressed by th answers Google has given for other things using AI, so I’ve been asking a few questions on uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease.
Question: Does Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Make You Want To Poo?
AI Overview
Yes, uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease, also known as Symptomatic Uncomplicated Diverticular Disease (SUDD), can cause a change in bowel habits, which may include a feeling of needing to poo. This change can manifest as constipation or diarrhea, or a pattern of constipation followed by diarrhea.
From personal experience I’ll go along with that.
Question: Does Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Make You Want To Drink More Fluids?
AI Overview
Yes, individuals with uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease are often advised to increase their fluid intake. This is because adequate hydration helps soften stools, which can ease the passage of waste and reduce strain on the inflamed colon. Additionally, when experiencing a flare-up of diverticulitis, it’s common to be placed on a liquid diet to allow the colon to rest and heal, further emphasizing the importance of staying hydrated.
No doctor has told me to drink more fluids or suggested I go on a liquid diet. But I do drink a lot of fluids, including two or three bottles of low-alcohol beer per day.
Question: Is Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Helped By A Gluten-Free Diet?
AI Overview
A gluten-free diet is not specifically recommended or beneficial for uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease. While a high-fiber diet is generally recommended to manage and prevent diverticular disease, there’s no evidence to suggest that eliminating gluten from the diet provides any particular advantage.
As I am coeliac, I’m on a strict gluten-free diet anyway, and have been for the last thirty years.
I’m not particularly on a high fibre diet, but an experienced dietician told me to eat a small can of beans a week to lower my cloresterol levels. And it worked!
But from what I found earlier, it does appear that coeliac disease does help to protect you from uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease.
Question: Is Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Helped By Five Portions Of Fruit And Vegetables Per Day?
AI Overview
Yes, eating five portions of fruits and vegetables per day is generally recommended for individuals with uncomplicated pancolonic diverticular disease, as part of a balanced, high-fiber diet. This dietary approach can help to soften stools, reduce the risk of constipation and straining, and potentially prevent further complications.
I try to stick to a diet like this with a lot of non-alcoholic fluids.
Question: Is Uncomplicated Pancolonic Diverticular Disease Linked To Gallstones?
AI Overview
Yes, there is evidence suggesting a link between diverticular disease of the colon and gallstones, with some studies indicating a higher prevalence of gallstones in individuals with diverticular disease. Specifically, one study found that 45% of patients with diverticular disease had gallstones, compared to 22% in a control group, though this difference was only statistically significant in women.
I had gallstones and I described their removal in Goodbye To My Gallstones.
As the answer mentioned women and coeliac disease is more common, in the female of the species, I wonder if that accounts for the results quoted in the AI Overview.
AstraZeneca Withdraws Covid Vaccine After Drop In Demand
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on The Times.
This is the first paragraph.
AstraZeneca is withdrawing its Covid-19 vaccine worldwide, citing a “surplus of available updated vaccines” since the pandemic that target newer variants of the virus.
This was my experience of the vaccine.
I am coeliac and have a very strong immune system, as it gets all the fuel it needs.
When I had my first AZ vaccine, my immune system started to attack the chimpanzee adenovirus-based viral vector vaccine.
I felt dreadful and I’ve now been advised by doctors, not to have any more viral vector vaccines.
Interestingly, I had no reaction to the second dose, so my immune system had probably decided it was a friend.
When I had that second dose, there was all the controversy raging, about whether the AZ vaccine causes blood clots.
So I did an experiment, which I described in My INR Readings Before And After My Second AstraZeneca Jab.
I found that my INT bounced all over place, just as when a wheel hits a pothole.
Conclusion
I shall not be taking the AstraZeneca Vaccine for COVID-19 again and would think twice before allowing myself to be injected with a viral vector vaccine.
Why A Lucky Few May Help The Rest Of Us Beat Disease
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-title.
A British biotech firm believes patients who defy odds could hold the key in their blood.
These three paragraphs introduce the article.
Patient 82 should be dead. At the age of 63 he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. In most cases, he would not have lasted a year. But seven years on, patient 82 is alive. Not merely alive — thriving.
He enjoys gardening. He likes seeing his grandchildren. He enjoys life.
How? The answer, a British biotech company believes, could lie in his blood. Now, with the help of dozens of other anonymous patients, all of whom have defied their cancer prognoses, they hope to find it.
Note, that the company is Alchemab Therapeutics.
The article got me thinking about myself.
I belong to a group of people, who are twenty-five percent less likely to suffer from cancer according to peer-reviewed research at Nottingham University.
I am coeliac and adhere to a strict gluten-free diet.
There may be other benefits too!
I have not had a serious dose of the covids, although I may have had a very mild case at the beginning of 2020 after I shared a train with a large number of exuberant Chinese students, who had recently arrived at Manchester Airport and were going to their new University across the Pennines.
I have also since found at least another seventy coeliacs, who have avoided serious doses of the covids.
Research From The University Of Padua
This paper on the US National Library of Medicine, which is from the University of Padua in Italy.
The University followed a group of 138 patients with coeliac disease, who had been on a gluten-free diet for at least six years, through the first wave of the Covid-19 pandemic in Padua.
This sentence, sums up the study.
In this analysis we report a real life “snapshot” of a cohort of CeD patients during the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak in Italy, all followed in one tertiary centre in a red area of Northern Italy. Our data show, in accordance with Emmi et al., the absolute absence of COVID-19 diagnosis in our population, although 18 subjects experienced flu-like symptoms with only one having undergone naso-pharyngeal swab.
It says that no test subject caught Covid-19, in an admittedly smallish number of patients.
But it reinforces my call for more research into whether if you are a diagnosed coeliac on a long-term gluten-free diet, you have an immune system, that gives you a degree of protection from the Covids.
The Times article mentions the immune system.
I believe my immune system to be strong after the reaction I had to the Astra Zeneca vaccine. I didn’t feel well to say the least after my Astra Zeneca vaccine and my GP and other doctors felt that it could be due to my immune system, thinking that the chimpanzee virus-based vaccine was a danger and attacking it.
Significantly, I had no reaction to the second dose. So had my immune system recognised the vaccine as a friend not a foe?
My son, who my late wife was sure was an undiagnosed coeliac, died of pancreatic cancer at just 37.
How did my late wife know? Don’t question her intuition and also she felt that my son and myself felt the same to her touch.
It should be noted that my son’s daughter was born with a Congenital hernia of the Diaphragm. Congenital defects can happen to people, who have a coeliac father.
At the age of 20, my granddaughter is fine now, after heroic surgery at the Royal London Hospital, at just a few days old.
Coeliac Disease And Atrial Fibrillation
I am 75 and coeliac and I had or have atrial fibrillation. Cardiologists tell me that, the atrial fibrillation led to my stroke in 2011.
I should also say, that my father was an undiagnosed coeliac and he died from a stroke younger than I am now.
I typed the title of this post into Doctor Google.
I found this paper on Cureus, which is entitled Celiac Disease and Risk of Atrial Fibrillation: A Meta-Analysis and Systematic Review.
I will show two paragraphs from the Abstract,
This is the Introduction.
Several studies have found celiac disease may be associated with a variety of cardiac manifestations. Atrial fibrillation (AF) is one of the most common arrhythmias that can cause significant morbidity. However, the risk of atrial fibrillation in patients with celiac disease according to epidemiological studies remains unclear. The aim of this meta-analysis study is to assess the risk of atrial fibrillation in patients diagnosed with celiac disease compared to controls.
And this is the Conclusion.
A significant association between celiac disease and risk of atrial fibrillation was reported in this study. There is a 38% increased risk of atrial fibrillation. Additional studies are needed to clarify the mechanistic link between atrial fibrillation and celiac disease. Some of the limitations of this study are that all were observational studies, some were medical registry-based and there was high heterogeneity between studies.
One of the paper’s conclusions is more research needs to be done.
I know that I have a supercharged immune system, in that it seems to protect me from flu and the dreaded covids and it gave the AstraZeneca vaccine a good kicking. Research from Nottingham University has also shown, that coeliacs on a gluten-free diet have a 25 % lower risk of cancer compared to the general population.
So I asked Doctor Google if there was any link between the immune system and atrial fibrillation.
I found this paper on PubMed, which is entitled The Role Of Immune Cells In Atrial Fibrillation.
This was the Abstract.
Atrial fibrillation (AF) is the most common sustained arrhythmia, but its mechanisms are poorly understood. Recently, accumulating evidence indicates a link between immune response and AF, but the precise mechanism remains unclear. It should be noticed that the relationship between immune response and AF is complex. Whether immune response is a cause or a result of AF is unclear. As the functional unit of the immune system, immune cells may play a vital role in the immunological pathogenesis of AF. In this review, we briefly highlight the evidence on relationships between immune cells and AF, and discuss their potential roles in AF pathogenesis. We hope this review could provide new orientation and enlightenment for further research on AF mechanism.
One of the paper’s conclusions is more research needs to be done.
Conclusion
I feel a lot of research concerning coeliacs, their immune systems and atrial fibrillation should be done and this could lead to a better understanding of atrial fibrillation.
The Anonymous Widower 